Actually knocking out Vader’s eye:
I really couldn’t see. I saw him pull the mask off and grab his eye and I heard him say something. I didn’t know what it was, so I just looked and went on with it. I couldn’t see his eyeball, I didn’t know if his eyeball came out or it just messed up, I’m not sure what it is. People say it came out and he pushed it back in, I don’t know because I couldn’t see.
Facing the biggest Japanese stars of the 80s/90s wrestling scene:
I was very fortunate. I got to wrestle with all the great top Japanese guys. If I have a claim to “fame” it’s that I got to wrestle against (Antonio) Inoki, I got to wrestle against (Giant) Baba, Jumbo (Tsuruta), (Genichiro) Tenryu and then (Mitsuharu) Misawa and Kawada, (Kenta) Kobashi in that order and they were all just great. Tenyru was a great opponent and also I was teamed up with him a little bit. All those guys were really good and especially as things changed over there and certain people left, all of a sudden they had these three young guys in Kawada, Kobashi and Misawa. Misawa was already established but Kobashi and Kawada were coming up and I just happened to be in the right place and we had some great and did unbelievable business for about five or six years. You can go out and have a match and you can do your thing but your match is only as good as your opponent and I had some great opponents. All those guys fought from underneath and kept fighting from underneath and it took years for them to get over me but when they did the people believed in them because I beat the crap out of them for five or six years. So when they get there they have some legitimacy about what they are and how they got there. But they were great opponents, all three of them. I really enjoyed working with those guys.
The crazy crowds in Puerto Rico and wrestling Carlos Colon:
I call it a third world country, but of course it’s not. It was wild and completely different. The wrestling fans used to sell rocks so they could throw them at you. That’s kind of what you had to deal with and they would throw spark plugs. You grab a metal chair and the chair would be dented where your face is where spark plugs would be hitting it. Carlos was over and he was the top guy there and I got hooked up with him and he was a legitimate star in Puerto Rico for sure and I made a little money down there.
His brief stint in WCW and facing Lex Luger:
I hear negative things about Lex Luger but to me he was a good worker and he was obviously over. But as far as doing business and being a primadonna like I’ve heard a lot of people say about him, I never ran into that. He was in a great spot and he made some great money and I think a lot of that negative is a lot of guys being just jealous of him and Sting’s position and so fourth. They were in a good position and good for them. I never had a bit of problem with Lex Luger in the ring. We had some good matches and I wish him a lot of luck.
Stan Hansen also discusses his Bruiser Brody book “The Last Outlaw”, his traveling experiences, teaming with Danny Spivey, working in the US, briefly appearing in WCW, facing Lex Luger and his legacy on the pro wrestling business.
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Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
