Brooke Hogan Interview

 
Brooke Hogan on getting into the wrestling business:
"I love that I get to prove people wrong, because people think 'Oh it’s Hulk Hogan’s daughter.' But I have seen behind the scenes. I have heard the meetings. I have watched the creative process. I mean I am the best intern there is. I’ve been around it for so long. Me and Dixie Carter were throwing around some ideas and as I was doing that, she was like 'you know more about this than I thought you would.' So that’s how the whole thing came about. My dad didn’t actually even know that I was talking to her about doing this. Actually I think I gave him a heart attack."

  
Brooke on meeting with Dixie Carter:
We have been working together for the past year and a half on my music and we would always have lunch and creative meetings about my music. But it would always turn into wrestling, and she would always tell me about what happened on the show that night. I would then throw out an idea and she would say ' I had no idea you knew so much about it.' I’m like, ‘Duh.’ I came from the household that the main plans were going on in. She said 'ever since Karen Jarrett left and isn’t managing the Knockouts any more, we haven’t had anybody to wrangle them in. I’m so busy on focusing on everything else, do you think while you’re recording your album, you can take a day or two out of the week and come help me out the girls? So I said, ‘Man I always said I wouldn’t get into wrestling.’ Not because I didn’t want to, because I love it, and I’m not the type to worry about public opinion. I just thought it was such a humongous deal for me to get into wrestling and I knew there would be so many people hating it or loving it. It’s more about helping Dixie who helped me with my music. She is bogged down with so much. It’s like where do you find a woman who knows wrestling as much as I do and who has been around it so long, to be able to trust and make decisions that you would make. There is no one out there right now in the business that can kind of take the load off Dixie and trust to make the right decisions. I don’t know how long this will last." 

What can we expect from the Knockouts division:
"I think everyone is forgetting that they have a story and they have drama in their lives. What I admire so much about TNA is right now fans think that they know wrestling. They are like 'oh everything is set up, all the storylines, all the plans, it’s a soap opera for men.' And its true, that’s been happening for years in the wrestling business. What TNA is doing now is, and they couldn’t do it without whats really going on right now, these girls, they all actually have drama happening. There are people that are divorced, both working for TNA, dating other people. There is craziness going on. What’s great about TNA is that they are going back to real life and these matches are going to be between people who really have something to fight out. If they want to hurt each other, that’s their thing. But as far as I’m concerned we are making this more real. That’s why I’m coming in. There are personal issues behind closed doors that we need to resolve."

Thoughts on her dad Hulk Hogan:
"I think when he saw TNA, he saw a baby egg that he could crack and make something of it. It takes years and years and years to grow a company like Vince McMahon. The whole time Vince was growing his company , my dad was right there next to him. My dad worked with Vince Sr, when Vince Jr came in and he asked my dad to help him. So my dad for years helped Vince run WWF. My dad was there for the whole thing. I don’t think people realize that he was behind some of the creative stuff and storylines. My dad is just so seasoned. I think if TNA had 20 years under their belt, the PR, and the machine, and the publicity that Vince McMahon has, I think actually they could run neck and neck. But the thing is, it’s a little boutique company that they are trying to grow slowly and it doesn’t happen overnight."

On what Knockouts could carry the division:
"I think Velvet Sky is incredible. I think she is really, really good. ODB I think has already made a name for herself. I think she is self-sufficient. She has her little gimmick. She is a little raunchy. That’s what I love about her. But if you met Velvet in person, she is the sweetest, sweetest person. So polite. Such a sweetheart. That girl works so hard. She is dieting and training. She is wrestling in the ring even when they are not taping or filming. She is just working her butt off. I really think she deserves a push. I think she could be the next big thing in the Knockouts division."