I was supposed to be the referee in the title match that never happened. It was at the McNichols Arena in Denver. Verne wanted Hanson to put the belt back on Nick Bockwinkle, but didn't tell Hanson until that night. I remember a lot of hush-hush conversations with Verne and Greg going in and out of the shower room. I didn't know what was going one, but after awhile, Greg took me aside and said the Hanson/Bockwinkle match wasn't going to happen. Instead they put together a six-man tag as the main event. So I worked that match....six man tags are usually just chaos and this was no exception. As part of the finish, Larry Zbyszko was to throw me out of the ring. He did. I've taken that bump many times, but this time I screwed up. When I put my hand on the apron to flip out, my hand slipped and my face went full bore onto the apron. When I hit the floor, I knew something was wrong. I had broken my cheek bone and my eye swelled shut in about 30 seconds. An emergency room visit for me that night.

Many wrestlers worked in Japan. But southern wrestlers worked in Japayan.

I love Stan Hansen. Funny, that a guy who always played such a wild man can be so soft spoken.

He looks healthy and good for his age. took care of himself.

Met him a few years ago in Dallas. He was the fan friendliest guy there that day. Really down to earth and polite.

Stan seems like such a nice guy totally different then his character

More Stan Hansen please!! He's one of my favorites of all time.

Stan had a sweet deal in Japan. Was "over" big there and went back more often than almost any big name wrestler. Smart.

Hannibal! Please more Stan Hansen interviews!!!

Interesting, the rumor was Baba told him not to drop the belt because of commitments he had in Japan with the belt. By then, the AWA was a mess.

Another great interview. I truly appreciate your efforts Hannibal. You are building one fine archive that fans and wrestling historians will access for many years to come . Thank you.

Hansen was a scary-ass heel. I really enjoyed his matches.

I can't believe this is the same Stan Hansen who scared the sh*t out of nearly everyone in the wrestling industry back in the day. Damn I miss the good old days.

stan Hansen is right if you don't have confidence in yourself who else will? I mean you wanna see yourself at the top and you have to promote yourself to get there. if you don't wanna be a champion why are you in the business

Probably my favorite wrestler of all time next to Terry Funk

Thanks so much for posting this Hannibal........Stan Hansen is my favorite wrestler ever, and imo the BEST worker I've ever seen........Not really close to me either between him and 2nd place.........Watch his brutal matches in Japan from '81-'93..They're all over youtube.......Just completely unrivaled in the brutal excitement, reality, badassness, exciting a crowd, making it seem real and just nonstop action....NOBODY could do it like Stan.....My wrestling hero......And to me the best there ever was in the ring......

losing Hansen was the start of the beginning of the end for Verne. ..having it go to Bockwinkle who time had passed by was a mistake.

There's no doubt Verne had the early stages of CTE back in the mid to late 80's,he was making horrible decisions that eventually killed off the AWA

Stan Hanson knocked Vader eye out in a wrestling match many years ago. 2 powerful dudes.

THEHANNIBALTV, thank you for this. Stan was my favorite heel back in the day. it's so cool to hear his stories and to see what a genuine and soft spoken man he is, considering the whole Bad Man From Borger Texas character. This is awesome.

It is so weird to see STAN HANSEN speaking and not hollering, roaring, screaming, and "HOOOOOH!!!"

Stan Handson one of my favorite Wrestlers.

What a humble man!!!!!!

Hanson is so legit. Best in the history of the business.

Stan Hansen was one, mean tough man. His matches were brutal, uuuuuuu!!!!!!!

Stan looks like he is well. Happy to see it!

Thanks for posting this. Stan Hansen was awesome

This is great. Thanks for posting this.

There were not to many badder than "The Bad Man From Borger"

he really was great! Real good worker in the ring. Real rugged style.Big Ups to the Lariat!

just onev the all time greatest performers ever! stan hanson - a genuine legend-

I saw that match live when I was 13 (my first live wrestling match) and I remember being shocked that Martel more or less lost the belt cleanly. I also remember Dusty Rhodes defeated Ric Flair for the title that night, only for it to be overturned due to a previous illegal throw over the top rope.

Meanest bad guy in the ring nicest down to earth guy outside the ring you are one of my favorites stan

Please tell me you have more of this interview, esp. questions about Bruiser Brody!

Best match he had I thought in the AWA was him against David Sammartino. He just beat the bejezzus out of him. He had good matches with Slaughter,Blackwell and Leon White(before he became Vader) but just the brutality of the Sammartino match stuck with me.That and beating on poor Larry Nelson with his hat and chasing him from the ring all the time.

These are great shoots with all these amazing wrestlers great job Devon

Great job on this.

A straight up legend & one of my all-time favorites. As usual, great job Hannibal, appreciate all the numerous good interviews u post.

when will you be adding more the stan hansen interview?

stan you are rite the awa did not have no good tv wresling,at all when they try by going on espn,by then it was to late, they did not promote stan good.

When I look at him I my eyes get big thinking how petrified I was seeing him on tv...I wanna meet this man...He is awesome to me

OMG! STAN LOOKS GREAT!

Stan Hansen deserved better promotion. He would have drawn more heat as a heel than Stonecold Steve Austin ever would have.

Stan Hansen= This guy made a lot of CASH. Smart businessman.

He comes off as a nice man.

He comes off so even tempered and unassuming in his shoot interviews. He has what many people struggle to get: sanity.

Stan looks great! Such a huge mark for his work in Japan...

Stan is an awesome person and a great Texas family man!

I would have loved to have seen him and Sgt. Slaughter in a feud for the AWA Belt. Hansen was a great heel and Slaughter could bave been as popular as Hogan back then.

Who would win between Stan Hansen vs JBL, who had a very strong lariat?

I've always been surprised that wrestling purist Verne Gagne put the belt on a brawler like Stan Hansen

This is Amazing.

I wish Stan was my grandpa.

Stan the lariat one of my all time favorites he accidentally hit me with his cowbell at least I thought it was an accident lol

One of the few wrasslers thaht when I saw him in the ring - -I thought he is really hurting his opponent. Very convincing

Pure greatness!!

Growing up I thought Hansen was legit Fucking crazy. He was scary back in the day. Like Funk and Foley he's a real down to earth friendly dude

Cool how the biggest heels in the ring are seem to be some of the nicest guys outside of it.

For someone who might be the scariest wrestler we’ve ever seen it always blows my mind how soft spoken he is!

I would think Hansen vs Henning would have been awesome!!

Stan Hansen is such cool dude...He scared the shit out of me when I was ten years old. When he beat Lugar for the US title I cried lol.

He has a lot of respect from Japanese pro-wrestling fans. So much so that, I could call him an honored Japanese wrestler.

great wrestler intelligent talker also my man

Man he looks good!!

I agree with what Hansen (allegedly) did to the AWA belt because at the time Hulkamania was sweeping the world and AWA needed someone that could be a box office attraction.

This interview is several years old but it's the first time I've heard Hansen's side of the AWA story. He understood that wrestling was about business and making money, including for himself. If he's not goijg to get box office opponents and angles, he's having his time wasted and will respond accordingly.

The greatest wrestler of all time

AWA史上最強クラス(傍流 ゴッチ、ジョナサン有り❗は含まず)の王者でした🎵♥️

Stan the man, one tough Cowboy. SEMPER FIDELIS

Hansen is awesome

He should of worked with Hogan in the Wwf that would of drew a lot of money..They did wrestle eachother in Japan..!!What a waste..

Man, imagine if Vern could have feuded Hogan and Hansen back in the day. That would have been a sellout!

Stan Hansen The lariat One of the best wrestlers ever

LARIATO!!!!!

this is in canada? did he wrestle? just appear?

Ya know?..

Verne was SO horrible by this time. You had Henning (who had great tv matches w/Stan), Jimmy Snuka (who a year earlier was instrumental in first Wrestlemania), Martel didnt re-debut in WWF till NOV so you had him, aging names like Sarge & Bockwinkle but Verne couldnt figure out how to run the title/company......shame

he squashed Martel

So the gave u the belt and told u to drop it and u declined ....okay way to go

He seems so easy going compared to the heel persona he portrayed during his wrestling days.

Many Japanese people think Stan is the god

"aaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! The belt got beat up ( it was beat up before l got it )....." Stan Hansen, ladies and gentlemen. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Stan hansen was a great wrestler

Love Stan but he didn’t know how to make anyone look good and it wasn’t believable anyone beating for the AWA belt at that time.

Now, what could have happened to the belt for it to get all banged up? 🤔 😂😂

wait I thought Stan was dead? I remember on the beginning of Monday night raw after the night of the hall of fame they put up a picture of Stan and said in loving memory

its guys like hansen who never was in wwf that name speaks for itself, that make me hate what vince did to wrestling... ! i was a very young kid at time so of course was first introduced to wwf , and it in the beginning was pretty well put together , but somehow just went comletely in wrong direction , and even as a kid recognized the problem , and wcw and gCW were always best ..

Hansen Martel was a good feud.

The lariat

This is off topic but where has the Ryback is legend guy lmfao?! Seemed like every time is watch something I'd see that on the comments lol

Man just wanted to wrestle in Japan

I hope to see him in an upcoming WWE game.

Stan Hansen could face the Incredible Hulk and I would still call that a match that would last 30 to 45 minutes.

Listening to this interview shows that yes it was fixed on how Nick Bockwinkle got the belt handed over to him on a silver platter.That is how fake wrestling really is.

Running over the belt and refusing to find an agreeable way to drop it was a really shitty thing of him to do, don't care what you say or how cool he was outside of that

I remember they were teasing a match in the Meadowlands between Hansen & Brody. A friend of mine said we're going. But Verne fucked everything up. Never understood why they wanted to put the belt back on Bockwinkel..