>As I was leaving, this particular Hall of Famer decided he needed
to get something off his chest. In a drunken, slurring manner, the legend says to me, “Hey you. Mr. Cryme
Tyme. I want to talk you. You and your partner are a mockery to my business. I helped build this business
with my own two hands. If it was up to me, you all wouldn't be here. We should have never accepted your
kind in the business to begin with. I can't wait to get every last one of you out. You’re a mockery! You hear
me? A damn mockery!”
>He was really driving the “mockery” point home. His wife (well, his wife at the time) was there,
and she was completely embarrassed. “Don't mind him,” she said. “He doesn't mean anything that’s
coming out of his mouth.”
>Well, back then I was naive. I also had a tremendous amount of respect for this man. Had. I didn't
want to believe that what he was saying to me had anything to do with race. I rationalized it and said to
myself, “Self, maybe he's referring to us OVW guys, or the younger talent who he felt didn't pay their
dues.”
>Self then replied, “Nope. This old b*stard is a racist.”
>I didn't want to believe he was a racist. Someone being a racist was so taboo to me. Back then,
when I thought of someone as a “racist” I automatically thought of someone who openly hated black
people and was, I don’t know, the classic KKK stereotype. I clearly had no clue at the time what a racist
really was. What is a racist, you might ask? The average person thinks that racism is all about hating
another race. That's part of it, but its much deeper than that. Being a racist means that you consciously or
unconsciously practice racism. Racism is a system of supremacy. Racism is believing that your race is
superior to all other races, and that you should receive special privileges, and you sometimes act that out
by disenfranchising other races.
>Racism has nothing to do with hating or loving anybody. You could love your next door neighbor,
your employees, or even your significant other who happens to be black…but still, deep down (and
maybe without even realizing it) believe that you are superior to them. Since I had so much respect for
this man for what he has done for wrestling, I gave Mr. "This is my business" the benefit of the doubt.
It wasn't until the second time I crossed paths with him and his wife (at the time) at a hotel bar
overseas- and he really let me have it- then it finally sunk in. I was in my bed, minding my own business,
when, out of the blue, my hotel phone rings. It was the front desk. They were told to inform me that my
presence was needed downstairs. They said that the champ was looking for me, and wanted me to join
him and to have a few drinks and cigars. I didn't want any heat, so of course I got dressed and went
downstairs.
>As I got downstairs, a bunch of the boys are drinking, smoking cigars, playing cards, just having a
good ol' time, APA Style. (If you don't know who the APA is, all I gotta say is…DAMN! )
Anyway, I'm downstairs and the champ says, "JTG is in the house! Go get yourself a drink from the
bar. Put it on my tab.”
>I go to the bar, and Mr. "This is my business " is there with his wife, and, just like before, he’s
obliterated. I order my amaretto sour, and here he goes with his bar promo. "You must think you’re so
over, huh?”
>To be honest, I did think I was over. Anyway, back to the promo…
>Back in my day, we would have held you down and cut those stupid cornrows out of your head.
>You know that, boy? And there would of been nothing you could have done about it. Nothing!”
>I didn't know how to respond. Should I even respond? The guy is hammered.
>His wife just shook her head and said, “I'm sorry. I'm taking him up to his room now.”
>He stopped her and said, “No, he needs to hear this.”
>While they were going back and forth, I exited stage left with my drink.
>Me staying- or me saying anything back- would had done nothing good for my career.
>If I delivered some ground-breaking, motivational, emotional, moving, "I had a dream” speech… he
wouldn't remember it anyway.
>If I cussed him out, I would have been “wrong” and possibly fired.
>If I kicked his ass, I would have gotten heat with Randy for stealing his gimmick as the “Legend
Killer” …and then definitely fired.
>And if the legend kicked my ass, I would have been the laughing stock of the locker room, it would
of been all over the dirtsheets, and I would have also been fired.
>It was a no-win situation. In this case, playing the Game meant keeping quiet and walking away.
.....unfortunately I checked both their wiki pages and I don't think Hogan was ever around JTG....the timelines don't match up
