WWE Hall of Famer “Mean” Gene Okerlund spoke with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated about his career and more. During the interview, he was asked about jumping from WWE to WCW. He noted that going to WCW helped the promotion a lot. He noted that he went to WCW alone then they brought in Bobby Heenan shortly thereafter. He joined WCW in 1993 while Heenan joined in 1994. He believes that this led to Ted Turner going after bigger names such as Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, which eventually set up the NWO being created with Hogan. “Virtually all of the top stars went over there, and that was a storyline that had legs for a couple of years.”
When asked about working Hogan, he noted that the chemistry he had with Hogan dated back to their time in Minnesota in AWA. “He had a lot of magic and a lot of charisma, and the fans will tell you everything if you wait long enough, but this was instantaneous.” He added that Hogan won people over in his first month in AWA and that he is arguably the biggest star ever in professional wrestling.
Okerlund also discussed the origin of his nickname and more. You can read the full interview here.
