Various News – Steve Maclin, Jesse Ventura’s Tribute To Superstar Billy Graham, Fuller/Hogan

During a recent edition of Busted Open Radio, Impact Wrestling World Champion Steve Maclin recalled his WWE stint and called his release a blessing in disguise. He said,

“It’s more of a ‘thank you’ than anything too, it’s not a ‘rub it in your face.’ People are like, ‘Oh, you must be bitter with WWE,’ and no, I learned so much in the seven-and-a-half years I was there. I was stuck in the Performance Center for six-and-a-half of it. And then to debut in the PC, everything just felt wrong. It didn’t feel right at that time. When you look back at ‘things happen for a reason,’ they really do. Being released was the blessing in disguise that I never knew I had.”

Maclin will defend his Impact World Championship against PCO in a No DQ Match at Friday night’s Impact Wrestling Under Siege pay-per-view event.

WWE Hall of Famer Jesse Ventura paid his respects to the late “Superstar” Billy Graham, who he thanked for inspiring him to explore a career in professional wrestling.

Graham passed away last week at the age of 79 following a series of serious health complications in the hospital. Ventura said,

“He was the decade before me and Hulk Hogan and all of us in the ’80s. It was Superstar Billy Graham that was my inspiration that got me to become a pro wrestler. If he wouldn’t have happened, there wouldn’t have been a Hulk Hogan, there wouldn’t have been a Jesse Ventura, there wouldn’t have been many people in the business. That was the impact that Superstar had. He was the first wrestler who brought a bodybuilder’s body, a physique of that level into the world of pro wrestling with the tie-dye trunks, the sunglasses, and the hip talk and all that. His timing was perfect back then in the ’70s, and Superstar became the biggest star in professional wrestling for about three to four years when he defeated Bruno Sammartino for the then WWWF World Heavyweight Championship.”

During a recent interview with The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast, actor Kurt Fuller reflected on working on the 1989 movie No Holds Barred with WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan. Fuller portrayed evil television network executive Tom Brell in the film.

You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:

On working with Hulk Hogan: “I liked him a lot. He was really, a very down to earth guy. You could sit and talk to him face-to-face, and he’d be very honest about things. He’s very real. When he performed the wrestling, he was great. He knows where to be, how to be, and what to do. He’s a true professional and has a lot of charisma. It was like the first time he ever acted. He did, especially for the first time, a very good job. What he had that most people, people like me, never have is the kind of charisma that, you can’t take your eyes off him when he’s there. You’re drawn to him. It’s a very rare thing.”

His thoughts on Hogan’s acting: “I like him. He sold the character very well. In later movies, his acting got better. Believe me, I’ve worked with a lot of first time actors, and he was among the best first time actors I’ve worked with. He was a good guy.”

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