Tony Garea on his relationship with Vince McMahon, not being in the WWE Hall of Fame, his favorite tag team partner

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast with Tony Garea
Hosts: Chad and JP (transcription by John Poz)
Twitter: @TwoManPowerTrip
Website: www.tmptempire.com
Interview available at Tmptow.podomatic.com

On not being in the WWE Hall of Fame: I got a call years ago from Talent Relations, I believe it was Mark Carano and he left me a message. I was in New Zealand at the time so when I came back I called them, to leave a message. I never found out exactly what they wanted, but I had a funny feeling it may have had something to do with going into the Hall of Fame. I don’t know for sure, but no one from the office has ever mentioned it. I have no bloody idea of why I’m not in, but I’m not losing any sleep over it (laughs). I’m not that old yet, maybe that’s why I’m not in (laughs).

His relationship with Vince McMahon Jr: I got along great with Vince Jr. I spoke with him on the phone quite often. I probably spoke with Pat Patterson more often because he was the booker, but Vince Jr. had a lot of other shit going on that he had to attend to with the business side. Pat was Vince and I was Pat on the road. Sometimes I was Vince on the road. It’s hard to explain, but we had to make a lot of decisions while out there on the road. Vince Jr. gave us a lot of responsibility.

Working for the WWE for a long tenure: I worked there for over 40 years, from about 1972 to around 2014. I had a couple of breaks in between there somewhere too. Well, I didn’t always agree with a lot of the stuff Vince Jr did like bringing in a lot of bodybuilder types, muscle guys, all these humongous guys at one point, but you can’t knock his track record of success.

Favorite tag team partner throughout the years: I’ve teamed with Pat Patterson, Rene Goulet, Dean Ho, Larry Zbyszko, Haystacks Calhoun, Eddie Gilbert, Brian Blair, but it would be Rick Martel, no question. It’s just that we had that chemistry and that psychology together. He was younger than me, but had just about the same experience level.

On what his Legacy would be: Work hard and make it real. My goal and idea for my career was to go out there and convince the fans that what I was doing was real.

Other topics include the differences between Vince McMahon Sr. and Vince McMahon Jr., the different eras he worked in WWE, working Harley Race for the NWA Title at MSG, being a tag team specialist, and more.

You can listen to other shows apart of the TMPT Empire including Shane Douglas’ Triple Threat Podcast, Taking You to School with Dr. Tom Prichard, Talking Tough with Rick Bassman, and the University of Dutch with Dutch Mantell.