Haku Recalls Working with Andre the Giant, Talks About Old vs New Locker Rooms, WCW, and More

Former WWE and WCW star Haku aka Meng joined VOC Nation’s In the Room Podcast to talk about his time in the business, working with Andre the Giant, his children becoming wrestlers, and more. Here are some highlights:

On what he’s doing now: “I left wrestling. I’m in the car business now.”

On his kids joining the wrestling business: “I’m grateful…every father is grateful to see their children become successful, whatever it is (they may do). Something that I worked hard on was that I let them know I would love for them to go to college. I didn’t have the education, so I wanted them to have the education. Both me and my wife agreed on that. I’m glad that they did well and came back from college and told me they wanted to be wrestlers…I’m proud of them.”

On never working at the top of the card: “It never bothered me. I did my part, and they gave me whatever they wanted to give me and I ran with it…I have no regrets looking back or anything. I always believe that there is a reason for everything that happens, and (me being at the top of the card) didn’t happen.”

On his various tag teams: “It was always the office who bring me my partners…(I liked) all of them. It’s not an easy thing to have partners…to have somebody to rely on you, to believe in you, and you have someone to believe in, I want them to believe in me – – I want my partner(s) to believe that I’m always right behind them to protect them. We’re a team. There was no favorites, they’re all the same to me. It just happens that some of them were championship (teams) and some of them (weren’t).”

Tagging with Andre the Giant: “With Andre, I respected him and it was an honor to be his partner…I remember asking him when we won the belt – – it was my responsibility to take care of the belt and carry it – – he turned around and said ‘don’t worry, everything will be alright. Just carry your belt and I have mine.’ And he did. He always carried his belt in his bag.”

What Andre was like outside the ring: “(Andre thought) he was the same as you; he never thought that he was bigger. If he drank 16 beers, you had to drink 16 beers with him. If he drank two or three cases, you had to drink two or three cases with him. There were so many times I had to find the door on the way back to my room; he thought it was funny… Before coming into WWF, we met in different places – the NWA days and all that stuff…we met again in Hawaii, we worked for Chief Peter Maivia, so we knew each other before they put us together in WWF…It was fun to be around him, and it was fun to be in the ring with him.”

On being part of Andre’s final run in WWF: “I remember the last time that we were together in Toronto for Wrestlemania 6. It was unbelievable. My whole family was there and it was a great Wrestlemania for me…I appreciate everything about wrestling more now than when I was in (it)…You get to see from outside in nowadays.”

On the difference in the locker rooms then and now: “WWF is different from WWE and WCW because of all the talents that were there…The way that (the) old timers grew up together in WWF…and then when we went to WCW, most of us were still there. Then coming back to WWE, it was different…the new generation started showing up, and it was different in the dressing room all the way around.”

Link to the interview here:

In the Room airs live on VOC Nation every Tuesday night at 9PM ET with Pro Wrestling Illustrated contributor Brady Hicks, former WCW star The Maestro, Kathie Fitzpatrick, legendary guests, and listener calls.

VOC Nation provides daily, interactive talk radio, geared toward the professional wrestling community.

Other notable VOC Nation show hosts include former WWE/AWA announcer Ken Resnick (Wrestling with History – Wednesdays), former WCW performer The Maestro (WCW Retro – Thursdays), former TNA Impact talent Wes Brisco (Brisco and Big Ace), former WWE and TNA star Shelly Martinez (Shelly LIVE – Tuesdays), and more!

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