WWE Legend The Warlord recalls meeting Hulk Hogan & Vince McMahon [Exclusive]
WWE Legend The Warlord (real name Terry Szopinski) recently sat down with SK Wrestling's Lee Walker for an exclusive interview discussing his life, career and the current state of wrestling.
The Warlord was asked about initially signing with WWE (then WWF) in the 1980s, and it was a story with a few interesting twists and turns. Specifically, how The Warlord and his partner ran into some of the most influential names in the industry rather quickly:
“It’s a little bit of a story. Actually, my partner Barbarian got a call one night from Grizzly Adams who was behind the scenes with WWF (WWE) at that time. They call us on the Thursday night, and Barbarian gave me a phone call at my house and said "Terry, listen. WWF would like us to come to Atlanta tomorrow"... So we get to the airport the next morning, we have tickets waiting for us, and we fly to Atlanta. We get there, there’s a limo waiting. Takes us to a really nice hotel close to the airport. Gives us a key, we go up to the room, open the room, who’s sitting there? Pat Patterson, who was the booker, Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon. Which… Wow! This was amazing, you know?”
The Warlord and The Barbarian were very interested in signing with WWE
The Warlord then went on to discuss how he and his partner, The Barbarian (real name Sione Havea Vailahi), were signed to the company, despite still having obligations with the NWA. Needless to say, The Barbarian was very keen:
“We sat down with them. They went through the whole spiel with the look and that stuff, you know. At that time my partner, he really didn’t talk that much. And he just looks at them and goes “When would you like us to start?” I was like, Barb, we’ve got this thing coming up with the NWA. (They said) We want you to start Monday. This was a Friday. I’m like, Monday... That quick?! But hey, if Barb wants to do it, we do it.”
The Powers of Pain - the team of The Warlord and The Barbarian - would go on to become one of the most exciting and influential tag teams of all time, feuding with many top names and teams including Demolition and Hulk Hogan throughout their respective careers.
You can watch the interview in its entirety at SK Wrestling's official YouTube channel below:
If any quotes are used from this interview please give a H/T to SK Wrestling.