Vince and Linda McMahon, Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin were the guests on CNBC's "The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch" last night. The whole idea of their appearances was to plug Monday's move to USA. Deutsch referred to it a few times as "rasslin'", which no doubt made Vince's day.

The first guest on the show was Hulk Hogan, who appeared via satellite. Deutsch said that the recent episode of his show where he had Hogan and his family on to push "Hogan Knows Best" was one of their best and highest rated programs. Hogan said that his show works because they are “normal and real”. He acted as if none of it was scripted and that they were just normal people in regular everyday situations. OK Hulkster, whatever you say. Deutsch asked what made Hogan come back to wrestling at 52. Hogan said that Vince McMahon called him and they were going to "re-launch the brand", since Hogan was older and had knee and hip replacement. The idea was that his competing days were done, so they were going to take his character in a new direction. He said that from there he found out his brand was still strong and that his body could hold up to wrestling, so he came back. When asked what has made Hulk so popular, he said it's because he was a good wholesome character that people identified with, a hero. He said that he thought we were past needing that kind of guy, then 9/11 happened and with hatred everywhere, the character still works. Donny said that his character is about hope and All-American ideals. Hogan said that in WCW, he turned heel because that is what the fans wanted at the time, but they "got sick of the negativity" and it's come full circle today.

Deutsch said that wrestling is a diversion business and with all the bad stuff going on in the world, wondered if they take that into account when booking. Hogan said that they do, but you also have to take into account what is going on in the world as well. Deutsch asked Hogan to defend wrestling against all of the complaints people can make about it (violent, anti-female, etc.). He said it's been around for a long time and it's best asset is that in the end, it's about good over evil. Hogan also talked about the job of athletes and entertainers as being 24-7 and are the property of the public. He said people need to take that responsibility seriously and give back to the fans. They came back from break airing the "We're moving" WWE commercial. Deutsch promoted the move back to USA. In studio, they were joined by Vince and Linda McMahon. Hulk and Vince joked that their wives are the real bosses of their families. Deutsch asked about their past creative differences and what brought them back together and Vince said that it made sense for business and the "fact that we should be together. We should never be apart. Ever." Deutsch talked about how the arrival of Hogan's character in 1984 started the big boom. He asked what made it work back then. Hulk put over Vince as being the guy who laid out the blueprint and it took the two of them to make it successful. He said he has been successful working with others, but never as much so as he was with the McMahons. Deutsch asked about how the creative process worked with Hulk and Vince put over Hogan saying that he brought more to the table than he was taking credit for. He said he helped, but the performer is who gets it done and that Hogan has done it for years. It was a serious lovefest.

Deutsch asked Hulk to compare working for Vince and his father. Hulk said that when both men told you something, you could take it to the bank. Bret Hart would no doubt disagree with that. He said that the differences are that dad was more restrained in how he promoted compared to his son. He said that if dad were still alive, son probably wouldn't have been able to do some of the things he has done, but Hulk is on son's team. He likes the way the son takes things to the edge. Hogan mentioned how Vince always gave him the right guidance. He said sometimes he didn't listen and mentioned going on the Arsenio Hall show (where he was asked about steroid use). He said Vince told him not to go on but he was "hell bent" on doing it and it was probably the worst mistake he ever made. He said that when he went on the show, he wanted to take a "diversionary cute tactic and it blew up in my face". He said that Vince wanted to play it straighter (and that means don't work people about it). He asked Hulk if there was ever a time when he had a good idea and Vince wouldn't do it. Once again, he put over Vince and said he could tell us a time when he was dead wrong and Vince was right. He talked about bringing in Mark Calaway and Vince said he was going to be the Undertaker and Hogan said it would never work. He was wrong. He asked Hogan his favorite wrestlers of all time. He said Andre The Giant first, then Billy Graham and then Jimmy Snuka because he had what Hulk wanted. Vince said Dr. Jerry Graham was his all-time favorite. He talked about riding around in a red Cadillac in 1959 riding around with Graham, saying it was the most wonderful thing in the world.

Deutsch then asked Vince to tell a story to embarrass Hogan. Vince said that he has good stories on the Hulkster and Hogan responded that he had some on Vinnie Mac as well. They kept it easy and talked about Hogan wearing a helmet with a fist on it in the ring, which bombed. Hogan talked about how the first time they went to the NAPTE convention, they weren't invited but crashed it anyway. He said that someone was giving Hogan static for being there and Vince jumped in and almost beat the guy up. Deutsch asked about working with his own family now on his series and Hogan said that the more they learn about TV, the harder they have gotten to work with. He said going to wrestling is a day off, despite working 16 hours, compared to being home. Deutsch asked the Macs if it ever gets to be too much to talk about wrestling at home. Linda says usually not, but with the internet Vince is always checking his email. (He's probably reading website too!). Hogan then said he learned a lot from Vince McMahon about how to successfully run a business. He then asked when Vince would hop back in the ring again with Hogan. Vince said tune in Monday because you never know. Deutsch said to Vince that he was just called out and Vinnie said he had to go back to the gym. Deutsch asked Hogan about calling out Steve Austin for a match and he said, "That's one that needs to go down". He said people thought they would never see it but now that Hogan's back, it's something that should happen. They went to break and Deutsch said Hogan was leaving but would be back tomorrow night. Then on a break, they said that Jesse Ventura would be on tonight as well.