1 00:00:00,800 --> 00:00:10,679 This is the art of wrestling with professional wrestler called Cabana. All right, 2 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:14,240 how you doing? Come on in, sit down, Relax, You're about 3 00:00:14,279 --> 00:00:18,879 to listen to the art of wrestling. A professional wrestling podcast. It's a 4 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:22,079 life podcast is a personal journal. Tonight your ways, the minds of souls, 5 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:25,640 hearts and lives of people involved in the world a professional wrestling. I 6 00:00:25,719 --> 00:00:29,640 am your host. My name is Cold Cabana. I am a podcaster, 7 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:34,000 I am an actor, I am a dog owner, I am a fringe 8 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:38,679 performer. Most supportedly though, I am a professional wrestler, and I am 9 00:00:38,679 --> 00:00:43,200 coming to you live from my studio apartment in Chicago, Annois. Before I 10 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:46,359 go further is a fan supporting listener. To support a podcast supported by people 11 00:00:46,479 --> 00:00:49,280 just like you, we give it to you on whenever it comes out on 12 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:52,359 a Thursday. The best way that you can support rate, review, and 13 00:00:52,399 --> 00:00:56,159 subscribe on iTunes, tell a friend, tweeted, out, spread the word 14 00:00:56,439 --> 00:01:00,359 coltmerch dot com, t shirts, buttons, pictures, posters, DVD and 15 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:03,159 so much more. The best way to support though over on my Patreon. 16 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:08,840 Every single episode including this one ad free and the almost five hundred episodes on 17 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:15,079 the archives every month two bonus episodes of Wrestling Anonymous. Last month, Chris 18 00:01:15,159 --> 00:01:19,079 Cubas joined me. This month, Ian ric Abani joins me. We listened 19 00:01:19,079 --> 00:01:22,159 to calls, we put our two cents in, and we have a good 20 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:26,079 time. That and so much more a great way to support patreon dot com 21 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:30,280 slash Cold Cabana. I'm back with two episodes for August. These all happened 22 00:01:30,719 --> 00:01:36,719 at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame show that happens every single year in Waterloo, 23 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:38,599 Iowa. We did a live show, which I will put on next 24 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:42,680 week, but this week it was important to me to have Joe Milenko on 25 00:01:42,719 --> 00:01:47,840 the show. Brother of Dean Milenko, Joe Milenko, son of the Great 26 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:52,359 Milenko. Perfect timing as I head to the gathering of the Juggalos this week. 27 00:01:52,599 --> 00:01:56,200 But Joe Milenko is his own person, and I met him last year 28 00:01:56,239 --> 00:01:59,799 at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and he was so nice, very personal, 29 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:01,760 just like his brother, and I knew I was coming to the show. 30 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:06,040 I knew he was coming to the show. Seems like a guy who 31 00:02:06,079 --> 00:02:09,240 wouldn't mind talking about the past of wrestling. Seems to really love wrestling, 32 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:14,240 has such a history in professional wrestling, and I don't think a lot of 33 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:16,879 people ever kind of sit down and ask his story. So here I am 34 00:02:17,199 --> 00:02:21,439 a throwback to the art of wrestlings where I would grab the ones where we 35 00:02:21,479 --> 00:02:24,039 want to know their story and we talk to them, and that is Joe 36 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:30,280 Malenko. I was curious about his path as a Malenko brother and of course 37 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:32,479 of his father, so we get into it. Very fun to sit back 38 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:37,719 down and talk with wrestlers and Joe as a pleasure. We will get to 39 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:39,919 that, but I do want to make an announcement. I am headed back 40 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:45,599 to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and if you are in Scotland or near Scotland, 41 00:02:45,879 --> 00:02:51,280 August nineteenth to the twenty first, we are just doing three days myself and 42 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:55,319 John Hastings where we watch bad wrestling and do comedy and commentary to it. 43 00:02:55,759 --> 00:03:00,759 Tiny urel dot com slash ed Fringe Wrestling for tickets. They're just ten dollars. 44 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:05,639 The fringe is a favorite activity of mine for so many years now. 45 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:08,199 I didn't think it was going to happen, but luckily work is sending me 46 00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:13,560 to Germany, so I was able to sneak in a little trip to Edinburgh 47 00:03:13,879 --> 00:03:16,280 and we are going to do some fringe shows. As for me, this 48 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:21,319 is usually the part where I described my tales every single week. We haven't 49 00:03:21,319 --> 00:03:23,360 done an art of wrestling for a couple of months. I haven't really wrestled 50 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:25,639 for a couple of months. I think last time I was like, I 51 00:03:25,719 --> 00:03:30,000 haven't really wrestled, but now starting to get back into it a little bit. 52 00:03:30,719 --> 00:03:35,840 Opened the Ring of Honor Death before Dishonor show Me and Anthony Henry. 53 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:38,680 Anthony Henry a hell of a professional wrestler. Hope he gets more of a 54 00:03:38,719 --> 00:03:44,800 shot him and j D. I wrestled in Lowell, Massachusetts. I wrestled 55 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:47,879 at this show with Joe Malenko in Waterloo, Iowa, the show that I 56 00:03:47,919 --> 00:03:53,080 wrestled at every single year. I'm gonna be wrestling at the Gathering of the 57 00:03:53,199 --> 00:03:57,719 Juggalos. I'm gonna be wrestling in the Mall of America for first wrestling. 58 00:03:58,439 --> 00:04:02,719 I'm gonna be wrestling in Mesa, Arizona. Trying to get back on some 59 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:09,960 kind of wrestling schedule, but also very very grateful that at my age forty 60 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:13,280 two years old, I'm able to slow down a little bit. I was 61 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:19,360 given that time off through COVID and then through a reshuffling of my professional contract, 62 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:25,079 and it gives me an opportunity to understand who I am as a person 63 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:30,360 where I don't have to be so super focused on professional wrestling. Gives me 64 00:04:30,399 --> 00:04:35,839 an opportunity to work more here on the computer with my Twitch, trying to 65 00:04:35,839 --> 00:04:41,240 grow my Patreon, maybe trying to grow some projects where I don't have to 66 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:47,160 constantly travel all over the world every single week. But then I remember that 67 00:04:47,519 --> 00:04:53,639 I'm going to be doing one PW in Doncaster in October, I'm doing scott 68 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:57,560 I'm doing the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, I'm going to Germany. I got booked 69 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:02,319 for Qatar. So as I'm grateful for the slowing down, I don't know, 70 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:05,639 it always seems to speed up. But I will never complain because I 71 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:10,839 do know that there are some people who would love to have the opportunity to 72 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:14,680 do what I have done and what I am doing, and I will always 73 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:16,639 be grateful. That's the point of this podcast. That's the point of this 74 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:19,959 listen. It's the point of having someone like Joe Milenko on the show. 75 00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:24,879 We all have our stories, we all have our rich history, and we're 76 00:05:24,879 --> 00:05:29,040 gonna get into it with Joe Milenko in just a second before we get into 77 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:32,040 it though. Today's podcast is brought to you by Manscaped, and this catchphrase 78 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:34,800 is actually what they want me to say. Here we go. If you 79 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:41,720 haven't heard, it's smooth Sack Summer. Yep, that was on the paper. 80 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:45,680 Manscaped is the leader in below the belt rooming and they want you to 81 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:51,720 have a ball this summer. 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It's the perfect tag team partner for 91 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:30,240 your sack. Get twenty percent off and free shipping with the code Colt at 92 00:06:30,279 --> 00:06:34,360 manscape dot com. That's twenty percent off and free shipping with the code colt 93 00:06:34,399 --> 00:06:40,759 at manscape dot com. And make sure you have stay with me a smooth 94 00:06:40,959 --> 00:06:47,720 sack summer. You know, most most Sunday mornings we'd have bagels and then 95 00:06:47,759 --> 00:06:50,279 there was a little uh delia CRUs the street. So he go, he 96 00:06:50,399 --> 00:06:55,040 go get locks, he go get herring. Good filter fish. Actually, 97 00:06:55,079 --> 00:06:58,279 my grandmother made good filter fish, something best you ever had if you happen 98 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:00,000 to like a filter fish. But she's not here any longer, so you 99 00:07:00,079 --> 00:07:02,839 can't get My grandmother could fill to fish anymonger, did you that's on the 100 00:07:02,879 --> 00:07:05,920 recipe? No? Would you have? Would you even make it anymore? 101 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:10,680 You can't't even know where to start, right, I would just I just 102 00:07:10,759 --> 00:07:13,120 end up throwing a fish in a blend or somewhere. Yeah. Do you 103 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:15,560 cook? No? Right? Like? No, grand of course my grandma 104 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:17,879 did. I don't. I don't like I don't cook. Yeah, do 105 00:07:17,959 --> 00:07:23,120 we do? Us Jewish men not take that on or um? I don't 106 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:26,040 you know it's funny that you. I do like to cook. I just 107 00:07:26,079 --> 00:07:30,879 don't take the time. So maybe that's a wrestler's thing of pure laziness pretty 108 00:07:30,959 --> 00:07:32,759 much what you're you're on the road. I mean, the most we did 109 00:07:32,759 --> 00:07:39,040 in Japan as we grabbed the the ramen soup canisters and put a little water 110 00:07:39,079 --> 00:07:41,240 in there and heat them up in the room. But yeah, yeah, 111 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:43,879 just short of that, you're eating out all the time. Well, uh, 112 00:07:45,399 --> 00:07:47,399 okay, I appreciate you coming on and talking to me. Have you 113 00:07:47,439 --> 00:07:54,680 done anything things like this before? Once or twice? Once or twice? 114 00:07:54,759 --> 00:07:58,360 Yeah, So I think that's why I think I'm curious. I think a 115 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:01,600 lot of people are curious. I guess there's like a couple of things I'm 116 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:05,240 kind of interested in. Otherwise it's just bullshitting. Um. I think you 117 00:08:05,279 --> 00:08:09,000 know I'm important. I'm interested in like hearing kind of like your father's side 118 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:13,959 or your father's story through your lens, and then obviously like getting you know, 119 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:16,879 getting into wrestling and your wrestling aspect and all that stuff. Yeah, 120 00:08:16,959 --> 00:08:20,040 it was my life. And before we get going, I got to my 121 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:24,079 dad's song was Bagel's Bagels two for five. That's what keeps us Jews alive 122 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:28,480 now probably nowadays politically insensitive and people would scream in hollar, but he sang 123 00:08:28,519 --> 00:08:31,720 that when I was a little kid. Well, and then and then you'd 124 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:33,679 go get bagels. I mean, you wouldn't just sing me the song and 125 00:08:33,759 --> 00:08:35,879 say, okay, you're on your own. He makes me and then he 126 00:08:35,919 --> 00:08:39,799 gave me a bagel. Yeah, like okay, and you ate that way 127 00:08:39,799 --> 00:08:43,799 for the next twenty five years. Yeah. Well, my story was so 128 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:46,519 Bagel's bagels two for five. You'd get two bagels for five cents, which 129 00:08:46,559 --> 00:08:50,440 is crazy because I was thinking like five bucks for two basics. No, 130 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:54,200 no, no, no, Because um, in Irvington, New Jersey, 131 00:08:54,879 --> 00:08:56,480 so where we where we were, my grandfather was across the street. He 132 00:08:56,480 --> 00:09:00,320 had a hit a tailor shop. Because you know, the Jews came over 133 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:01,799 the United States and a lot of them did certain things, and a lot 134 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:05,559 of them besides besides taking over the movie industry and some other things, they 135 00:09:05,759 --> 00:09:11,879 became tailors and um, the cobblers, you know, shoe shoe people. 136 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:16,480 Actually, his brother went down to Argentina and became a cobbler. They were. 137 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:18,720 My grandfather was across the street from us. If you go down his 138 00:09:18,799 --> 00:09:22,720 street, there was a synagogue to school, and just across the street from 139 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:26,399 that was a was an actual bagel factory, wasn't it wasn't like an Einstein 140 00:09:26,399 --> 00:09:30,000 bagel. It was a bagel factory and they made thousands and thousands, and 141 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:33,039 so you could just head on over to and on over grab a couple. 142 00:09:33,039 --> 00:09:37,679 They were hot. They're right off the right off the bagel Express, right, 143 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:43,120 boy, what was your bail of preference? Mine? Egg bagel? 144 00:09:43,759 --> 00:09:48,759 I mean I liked so, I'm a pretty regular plane bagel guy. I'm 145 00:09:48,799 --> 00:09:52,639 not am I'm like a purist when it comes to certain things. Um, 146 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:54,759 the only other thing was salt bagels. I love salt bagers. So you 147 00:09:54,799 --> 00:10:03,399 like your bagels like you like your wrestling. Plane borings, but pure boring, 148 00:10:03,559 --> 00:10:05,720 right him? Playing? So New Jersey is where you grew up. 149 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:09,919 Yeah, that's that, I assume hearing that. And it's interesting that you 150 00:10:09,919 --> 00:10:13,200 say that your dad would go and get you bagels every morning, just like 151 00:10:13,279 --> 00:10:18,679 my dad did. But my dad wasn't known as a legendary professional wrestler. 152 00:10:20,159 --> 00:10:22,639 Well, I mean in our neighborhood. I'm trying to think back because you 153 00:10:22,679 --> 00:10:24,960 know, obviously we're talking to sixty years ago. Yeah, but I think 154 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:28,399 of like just thinking of I guess wrestlers are on the road all the time. 155 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:30,679 That's what I think when I think of a son of a wrestler. 156 00:10:31,360 --> 00:10:33,039 Oh he was, Yeah, he was so. I mean when I say 157 00:10:33,080 --> 00:10:35,879 he went to get bagels, it wasn't every day. Okay, Well when 158 00:10:35,879 --> 00:10:41,279 he was in town, and especially on Sundays. Sundays was when he got 159 00:10:41,279 --> 00:10:43,000 bagels, and then he got other stuff from the Delhi across the street, 160 00:10:43,559 --> 00:10:48,559 because I was like, a you know, the special thing you got whitefish 161 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:52,960 whitefish was the other thing, whitefish herring. Um, My dad loved Borsh. 162 00:10:52,039 --> 00:10:56,240 He is a big Borsh guy. I can never I can ever really 163 00:10:56,240 --> 00:10:58,240 acquire a taste for beet juice. No, I'm not into it. I 164 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:01,720 didn't even know what that was. Sport. Yeah, So your dad Boris 165 00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:05,639 Milenko, Um, well that was part of his name, Okay, his 166 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:13,320 full moniker was the Great Professor Boris Maximilianovic Milenko. And would he stress that 167 00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:16,480 to you. No, not at all. Just to get the record straight, 168 00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:20,759 just to get the red Okay. Your grandfather, you said right away, 169 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:24,519 was so it was your grandfather And was he I'm guessing he wasn't in 170 00:11:24,559 --> 00:11:28,440 the wrestling industry, wasn't even a sports guy. Interesting, he was just 171 00:11:28,759 --> 00:11:33,679 he was just a small guy who could sew a whole suit from scratch. 172 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:37,879 Yeah, amazing Taylor, but not a sports guy. And then you are, 173 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:39,919 so your father just picked up wrestling, do you know, like, 174 00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:43,399 I don't know how much you have talked with your dad or know all these 175 00:11:43,399 --> 00:11:46,960 ins and outs of you know, I mean the same thing about all of 176 00:11:48,039 --> 00:11:50,799 us, um or at least most of us grown up. You don't. 177 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:56,720 You don't really sit and say, hey pop because my dad was popum, 178 00:11:56,399 --> 00:12:00,679 Hey pop? You know, tell me about your life before I came around 179 00:12:00,679 --> 00:12:05,879 and you ruined everything? And is there like, is there much on record 180 00:12:05,919 --> 00:12:11,840 about him that you've like since when did he passino? So since ninety four, 181 00:12:11,879 --> 00:12:16,919 have you like ever gone and started like research stuff or since the internet 182 00:12:16,919 --> 00:12:20,879 became prevalent the only thing the only thing that I ever researched, Well, 183 00:12:20,879 --> 00:12:24,000 I didn't research my daughter did um? So I was telling telling you previously, 184 00:12:26,159 --> 00:12:28,240 you know I have My grandfather was a tailor and he had a tailor 185 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:31,840 shop and he had he actually owned the building, and then the building was 186 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:35,799 a pest control place and he had the tailorshop on the ground floor, and 187 00:12:35,799 --> 00:12:37,840 then if you go up his stairs to the second floor, he had an 188 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:41,720 apartment and then there were two apartments above that, so he had he owned 189 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:43,720 a building. There were three apartments. There was a tailor shop, and 190 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:46,480 I mean I could still smell that place to the day. Not it wasn't 191 00:12:46,519 --> 00:12:50,360 a bad smell. It's just the smells of a tailors shop, you know, 192 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:54,679 the the cleaning materials. And he had this big steam press and stuff 193 00:12:54,679 --> 00:12:58,440 like that. Well when he came and he did that when he came from 194 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:00,600 Europe, and he did that. He came through in the changed his name 195 00:13:00,639 --> 00:13:03,399 to Simon, which our name was legally Simon. It's always been that, 196 00:13:03,679 --> 00:13:07,120 but I knew that it really wasn't before he got to the States. Now 197 00:13:07,159 --> 00:13:11,000 he had a brother, and his brother went down to Buenos Aires. They 198 00:13:11,039 --> 00:13:16,200 never saw each other again. In sixty years from the time that they split 199 00:13:16,279 --> 00:13:20,200 up coming over from Europe, they never saw each other again. So I 200 00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:24,679 never really knew what our full our real last name was. Karl Gotch gave 201 00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:28,240 me the name Joe Sarkoff when I went to was kind of a funny name 202 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:35,039 rather than jerkof Jello Sharkoff when I went to Japan, so I thought, 203 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:39,399 okay, maybe it's Sharkoff. And I don't remember why I even thought that 204 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:41,600 he would give me a name and it would be the correct name of my 205 00:13:41,639 --> 00:13:45,679 grandfather as he came to States. So my daughter, my younger daughter, 206 00:13:45,799 --> 00:13:50,320 she researched it Ellis Island stuff, and she found that it was Sierkin s 207 00:13:50,399 --> 00:13:54,080 I r K I N it was. It was seen in the records. 208 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:56,960 She had the records of him, you know, arriving on Ellis Island, 209 00:13:56,039 --> 00:14:00,240 the change of the name from Syrkin to Simon. And so now, if 210 00:14:00,279 --> 00:14:03,759 I wanted to do, I could check out when his aires and probably find 211 00:14:03,759 --> 00:14:07,679 a whole side of my family down there. Wait, but Carl got kind 212 00:14:07,679 --> 00:14:09,600 of got that close. He did get it pretty close. And maybe he 213 00:14:09,679 --> 00:14:13,600 did, and maybe he did that because my dad. I don't think my 214 00:14:13,679 --> 00:14:18,080 dad knew what well, I can't say. I don't think I never heard 215 00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:20,480 my dad say here was your last name before it was changed to Simon. 216 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:24,879 So I would think that my dad knew. And maybe my dad said something 217 00:14:24,919 --> 00:14:28,919 to Carl and he just said, okay, starkoff, right. Maybe that's 218 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:31,000 that's what he remembered, that's what he remember. Yeah, who the hellmet 219 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:33,720 were they? Buddy? Were they buddies? Carl and my dad were very 220 00:14:33,759 --> 00:14:37,720 close for instant yea, yeah. Yeah. When when Carl came into the 221 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:41,559 States, he came into Minneapolis first through God in his territory, and my 222 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:45,360 dad was up there, and nobody wanted to Nobody wants to bother with Carl 223 00:14:45,799 --> 00:14:48,960 for a number of reasons he was. He was a bit of a countrarian. 224 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:52,360 At that point. My dad walked up to him in the dress room 225 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:54,120 and said something to the fact, which is kind of strange because carls ten 226 00:14:54,159 --> 00:14:56,279 years older than my dad, or was ten years old in a minute. 227 00:14:56,720 --> 00:14:58,879 Um, my dad came up to Carl and said, hey, kid, 228 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:01,759 you know you want to go grab a bite. It was after the matches, 229 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:05,720 and from that moment on, Carl took a liking to my father because 230 00:15:07,039 --> 00:15:09,559 he was the only guy who extended his hand and said, hey, you 231 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:13,720 know, let's go talk. So from that from that point they were great 232 00:15:13,759 --> 00:15:16,039 friends for most of their life. Kind of fell apart a little bit last 233 00:15:16,039 --> 00:15:22,600 few years for a couple of reasons, but then re regathered their steam as 234 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:26,360 friendship right before my dad dynastic. Yeah, because when I think of so 235 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:30,399 people of my generation, I guess like I think of the Gotchas and Milincos, 236 00:15:30,399 --> 00:15:33,039 I think of like Florida, like both of them training people probably in 237 00:15:33,039 --> 00:15:37,559 like in their backyards. Like you know, I think there's something like ma 238 00:15:37,639 --> 00:15:41,960 Noor Suzuki doing like squats with Carl Gotch watching him in the other Japanese lads. 239 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:46,360 And then you know you hear the stories of like the Malinco camp in 240 00:15:46,399 --> 00:15:48,000 Florida. So yeah, it was all I mean, it was all one 241 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:54,879 big happy family, although was separated at some level Karl's Karl's training and the 242 00:15:54,879 --> 00:15:58,919 submission style stuff that he did, which was the precursor to MMA as we 243 00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:02,440 know what today. He had a lot of Japanese guys coming over to the 244 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:04,360 States and they would go to there, you know, I would, They 245 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:07,240 would a couple other guys here in the States. We'd all go out to 246 00:16:07,279 --> 00:16:11,600 his house and we trained his house. There were many days and I lived 247 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:14,159 out there in the back room. That was one thing. But then we 248 00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:18,519 also had our wrestling school, wrestling school, and a lot of guys came 249 00:16:18,519 --> 00:16:21,279 there to learn pro. Some of the guys that came there to learn pro 250 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:25,440 also wanted to learn to shoot, so you know, shoot fighting, so 251 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:27,000 we called it shooting. They would get on the mat and they you know, 252 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:30,960 they wanted to go through what it took to become a submission wrestler, 253 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:33,200 and you know, they would do a little bit of that, and a 254 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:38,919 couple of guys even went overseas as part of UM yeah uf U WFI at 255 00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:44,559 the time. Fujiwara Gumi. Um he came. Glenn Jacobs, Yeah, 256 00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:48,919 he was over there shoot fighting. He went over there and did well, 257 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:51,759 you know these were worked, Yeah, a lot of them were worked fights. 258 00:16:51,799 --> 00:16:53,399 But yeah, he went over there once. So like, help me 259 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:57,879 with that timeline then, because in my head, if if the Minco school 260 00:16:57,919 --> 00:17:02,320 was in Florida, but you were up in Jersey. So did you move 261 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:03,839 down to Florida at the young age? Yeah, I moved down when you 262 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:07,880 moved down. It wasn't just me because I was a kid. I was 263 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:11,319 twelve or so. Okay, we moved down in sixty eight. Hey, 264 00:17:11,319 --> 00:17:14,319 the shows are at free over on Patreon. But let's take a quick break 265 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:18,720 and we'll be right back. So we came down the first time in sixty 266 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:22,920 two sixty three. Things get a little fuzzy after a few years on the 267 00:17:22,960 --> 00:17:26,000 earth. Um, sixty two sixty three, we came down the first time. 268 00:17:26,599 --> 00:17:30,079 That's the first time I ever met gotch as a twelve year old. 269 00:17:30,119 --> 00:17:32,759 Oh no, you were younger than I was. Yeah, at sixty two 270 00:17:32,839 --> 00:17:34,200 sixty three, so I would have been So I was born at fifty six, 271 00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:37,559 so I would have been six seven years old. Do you have like 272 00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:41,000 viving like not hell yet memories. I was scared to death, It's right, 273 00:17:41,039 --> 00:17:42,279 I was scared to death. I mean he was a he was a 274 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:48,240 He was just a big, bony, scary some bitch. And what would 275 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:55,079 you what would you call him, sir? Like grandpa Grandpa Goche? No, 276 00:17:55,039 --> 00:17:57,000 No, yeah, I mean I called him. I think I called 277 00:17:57,079 --> 00:18:00,960 him Carl when I was a young kid even and uh so that was sixty 278 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:03,079 two sixty three. We lived on clear Water Beach for a little bit. 279 00:18:03,119 --> 00:18:07,160 Then we then we went from there, we traveled more. We ended up 280 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:10,839 in San Francisco. We ended up out in Ohio, uh No, Omaha, 281 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:15,160 Nebraska, Saint Joe, Missouri. We were in Charlotte, North Carolina. 282 00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:18,440 We eventually made our way back to Tampa, and we ended up back 283 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:22,200 in Tampa in sixty eight, at sixty nine. And the rational reason for 284 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:25,319 that, rational in my mind my dad's eyes, was I need to I 285 00:18:25,359 --> 00:18:29,440 need to get someplace and settled in because my kids need to stop being gypsies 286 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:33,480 and um, you know, being at a school and stay there and get 287 00:18:33,519 --> 00:18:36,839 to know the kids. Yeah. Well, so the family was in Jersey, 288 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:40,000 but you were a traveling family then and ball you mean your grandpa, 289 00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:42,240 No, my grandfather stayed put. My grandfather, That's what I'm saying. 290 00:18:42,279 --> 00:18:45,519 So like you were there, just like to have those memories. But for 291 00:18:45,559 --> 00:18:48,119 the most part, you were. You were flying around. Yeah, we 292 00:18:48,119 --> 00:18:52,240 were on Well you didn't fly I mean very rarely. I didn't mean in 293 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:56,559 the actual Sano. We Yeah, you were driving around. We drove everywhere, 294 00:18:56,680 --> 00:18:59,799 okay, and who twenty four hours straight? Forty eight hours straight? 295 00:19:00,359 --> 00:19:02,920 Um, and and you know it's that typical thing. You got to sit 296 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:06,440 and look back at those days and you gotta laugh. Because the place that 297 00:19:06,559 --> 00:19:11,079 I the place that I resided in the car was that back ledge under the 298 00:19:11,119 --> 00:19:15,599 rear window, and I would lay out there. It was nice and toasty, 299 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:18,119 especially if you were driving in the wintertime. It's nice and toasty because 300 00:19:18,119 --> 00:19:19,720 you have got the sun coming through. You didn't have a seatbelt, you 301 00:19:21,039 --> 00:19:22,000 didn't have it. I mean, you were laid out as a little kid. 302 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:25,839 You you were, I mean if if my dad stopped short, I 303 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:27,599 was a projectile. Yeah, I was gonna hit two cars in front of 304 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:32,920 us. I mean, and I was thinking there's no internet obviously. So 305 00:19:33,079 --> 00:19:37,400 and you're driving forty eight hours. What do you just being the crap out 306 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:41,119 of your brother? He's been, he's he's annoying you. You're being the 307 00:19:41,119 --> 00:19:42,799 crap out of it you're doing. Mom and dad are yelling at you. 308 00:19:42,799 --> 00:19:45,880 Your dad put you out of the car. Your mom says, Laby, 309 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:48,400 you can't leave him here in the middle of Ohio. You gotta let him 310 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:51,680 back in the car. Wow. Is it comic books or anything or just 311 00:19:51,799 --> 00:19:56,400 there should have been? It was a comic book? My mom my mom. 312 00:19:56,480 --> 00:19:57,799 My mom was a chance smoker. I mean she would just smoke and 313 00:19:57,839 --> 00:20:02,599 smoke a smoke, so be in the car and you know sometimes I mean 314 00:20:02,799 --> 00:20:04,799 be dead a winner. Yeah, she'd have the window crack, maybe just 315 00:20:04,839 --> 00:20:08,920 a little bit, but it barely did anything. I'm surprised. Yeah, 316 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:12,519 I've got so much secondhand smoke. God knows. And is it just you 317 00:20:12,559 --> 00:20:17,119 and your brother? Yeah? Yeah, and another guy who wrestles. Yeah. 318 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:18,519 Did either of you pick up smoking or I guess I don't want to 319 00:20:18,519 --> 00:20:22,400 speak for him. And sometimes that's the thing, is like Jesus, like 320 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:25,319 Mom smokes, it's so gross, or Mom smokes, I'm gonna start smoking. 321 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:26,599 No, I hated it, Yeah, of course I hated it. 322 00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:33,000 So your your dad's lifestyle was constantly wrestling, and were you constantly going to 323 00:20:33,039 --> 00:20:34,240 the wrestling shows? And like, I don't know, like an overall like 324 00:20:34,319 --> 00:20:37,400 how did you feel about it? Were like looking back on it, like 325 00:20:37,839 --> 00:20:42,640 were you happy with how that maybe those first twelve years kind of worked or 326 00:20:44,319 --> 00:20:47,400 do you have do you have any kind of feelings of like maybe that wasn't 327 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:51,160 the lifestyle for for us or a father shouldn't be doing that. I don't 328 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:55,039 know, think and Andrew is see all of the about you know, yeah, 329 00:20:55,079 --> 00:20:59,519 because you know there were those moments, man, where you're There's not 330 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:00,839 much that I can say today that I haven't said before, at least at 331 00:21:00,839 --> 00:21:03,680 some point in my life to somebody. And I would always talk about the 332 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:07,359 fact that you know, I was I was a kid in the early sixties 333 00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:10,400 and I'm sitting in Madison Square Garden. It's my dad, and it's Wahoo 334 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:15,000 McDaniels and Bobo Brazil and Bruno Sam Martino and Um you know Pedro more Alice 335 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:18,039 a little bit later. I mean you you you know, the the stalwarts 336 00:21:18,039 --> 00:21:23,960 of wrestling history, and in the Northeast, you know, these are legendary. 337 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:27,359 Mark Sam Martino was a god in his day. Right, So you're 338 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:30,920 this little kid, You're around all these people, and I always, you 339 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:33,839 know, I always laugh about the fact that. And I another story I 340 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:37,640 tell all the time is here, I live in this little place in Irvington, 341 00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:40,319 New Jersey, you know, small house because I looked at it the 342 00:21:40,319 --> 00:21:41,319 other day on Google Maps and I went, oh, my god, how 343 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:45,400 we even live really? That's pretty funny looking. Yeah, and uh, 344 00:21:45,519 --> 00:21:47,680 you know, we used to have we used to have the Kentuckians come over, 345 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:51,880 so, um, you know Jake's dad, Jake the Snake's dad and 346 00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:55,720 uh Sam Houston. Yeah, so their dad was one of the Kentuckians. 347 00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:57,359 And then you know, so one day we'd have the Kentuckians show up. 348 00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:00,240 So these guys are sixteen sixty nine, and then the next day we'd have 349 00:22:00,759 --> 00:22:04,839 Lord Littlebrook or sky Lolo, you know, three foot two. So you 350 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:08,839 were one of those houses that had like the revolving door of wrestlers all the 351 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:12,440 time. Do you think it was because there was a sense of family in 352 00:22:12,599 --> 00:22:15,960 your household. Um, I don't know what was that. Look, my 353 00:22:17,039 --> 00:22:19,519 dad loved the business, okay, so that was you know, that was 354 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:25,559 his that was his woman. It was was the business. So as much 355 00:22:25,599 --> 00:22:27,240 as he could, he wanted to be around the boys. He really didn't 356 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:30,559 like being around too many other people there. And it wasn't that he was 357 00:22:30,559 --> 00:22:34,039 a jerk or anything. He just he just he hung in the business to 358 00:22:34,079 --> 00:22:38,160 which he you know, put forth all his effort because it was easier for 359 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:41,799 him. And you gotta remember back in those days, you know, the 360 00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:45,880 days of k fabe, which we would have never said twenty years ago. 361 00:22:47,519 --> 00:22:49,720 Um, you just want to You just wanted to hang by yours. You 362 00:22:49,759 --> 00:22:52,440 didn't want to have to deal with, you know, being grilled about the 363 00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:56,359 business. So I was gonna say explaining it, right, You just didn't 364 00:22:56,400 --> 00:22:59,599 want to deal with it, so you you just stayed with the boys. 365 00:23:00,519 --> 00:23:04,559 I don't remember really having I remember my mom having other friends besides the people 366 00:23:04,559 --> 00:23:10,000 in the business, but I really don't remember my dad having maybe a couple 367 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:14,160 through the years later on in his life as he got much older. Yeah, 368 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:21,920 he had friends who weren't pros but dry sense of humor. Um. 369 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:26,359 Really, he was a he was a very funny man. He was he 370 00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:30,759 was he was a he was very strong with you know, that whole self 371 00:23:30,799 --> 00:23:34,480 deprecating kind of thing. Um. Yeah, he would say things and be 372 00:23:34,599 --> 00:23:41,319 off based on purpose. And my mom would be historical ant number one number 373 00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:47,319 his number one UM comedy fan for about two days out of forty years. 374 00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:52,119 The rest of the time not so much. And then, um, so 375 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:55,440 you went to all these shows. Yeah, were you like this little kid 376 00:23:55,559 --> 00:24:00,799 like running around everyone playing with you or were you into it? Maybe? 377 00:24:00,839 --> 00:24:02,519 You know, I don't want you to speak for your brother, but were 378 00:24:02,519 --> 00:24:07,119 you Were you both into it? Was? Yeah, because I was. 379 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:08,519 So. I'm four years older than my brother, and that's not you know, 380 00:24:08,559 --> 00:24:12,559 that's not significant, but especially in those earlier days, I was a 381 00:24:12,559 --> 00:24:17,640 guy. I was a kid running around, more and more interactive my kid. 382 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:22,880 My brother was a small child, so I got to know the old 383 00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:26,160 timers. I was more out and about than my brother was. Um, 384 00:24:26,319 --> 00:24:29,440 but it wasn't it wasn't just happening. A lot of times I would just 385 00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:32,039 sit there and sit there next to my mom and watch some matches, you 386 00:24:32,079 --> 00:24:34,279 know, would be in the back and watch some matches in fact one one 387 00:24:34,519 --> 00:24:37,640 h you know, And this happened a few times because I was I still, 388 00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:41,200 you know, you can be told certain things as a small child, 389 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:45,279 but you still don't grasp it fully. And I remember there was one house 390 00:24:45,319 --> 00:24:48,240 show. It was a small town somewhere out in the wherever, the Midwest 391 00:24:48,319 --> 00:24:52,440 or something, and my dad hits a guy and guy goes out of and 392 00:24:52,559 --> 00:24:55,880 my dad was a heel. Guy hits My dad hits a guy now refers 393 00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:57,440 in the middle, arguing with my dad, and the guy goes under. 394 00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:02,400 The ring comes down, it comes through the under, the ring comes back 395 00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:06,000 up the other side of the ring. My dad's standing looking I'm a little 396 00:25:06,119 --> 00:25:11,400 kid, I'm dad, watch out. And my mom my mom, My 397 00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:15,599 mom almost threw me under the chair. She's like, shut up, boom 398 00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:18,519 because yeah, it's my dad. Man, this guy sneaking up on my 399 00:25:18,559 --> 00:25:22,519 father. Of course, did he give did he ever give you a sit 400 00:25:22,559 --> 00:25:25,400 down and be like you gotta boom me? Did you say you gotta boom 401 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:32,240 me? Nah? Not really? And then any any guys that like like 402 00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:37,119 looking back to find memories of someone being like not like a big brother, 403 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:40,720 But I don't know, there's a special place in my heart for like the 404 00:25:40,759 --> 00:25:44,839 wrestler that always goes over the kids and makes friends with them. I had 405 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:48,599 a lot of I had a lot of second dads, um, And not 406 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:52,720 to take anything away from my father, because here's here's he was my pop. 407 00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:56,359 But I had a lot of I had a lot of guys who really 408 00:25:56,359 --> 00:25:59,480 stepped up and were really great with me. Don Curtis was one. I 409 00:25:59,519 --> 00:26:02,480 didn't spend a lot of time around down but he was just a phenomenal man. 410 00:26:03,039 --> 00:26:06,400 In fact, I just talked to his wife, Dottie half an hour 411 00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:11,519 ago. EDWARDO Perez, who wrestled in the h He was from Buenos Aires. 412 00:26:11,519 --> 00:26:15,519 He wrestled in Florida for a long time. It's from Kansas City originally 413 00:26:15,519 --> 00:26:18,839 and then well through one of his areas to Kansas City back down to Florida. 414 00:26:18,279 --> 00:26:21,640 Um, he was like he was like a dad, you know, 415 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:26,240 m Jacob Groby, Hans Mortier at the time. So I had had a 416 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:32,039 half a dozen, had had a half a dozen pro wrestling fathers who watched 417 00:26:32,079 --> 00:26:33,240 out for me and took care of me. And in fact, I was 418 00:26:33,279 --> 00:26:40,119 just down at the at the Dragos Says Museum here in Waterloo, and they 419 00:26:40,119 --> 00:26:44,319 had a thing about Abe Jacobs, who wrestled with Don Curtis as a tag 420 00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:48,000 team. Abe was a New Zealander. Um, I think he's still around. 421 00:26:48,039 --> 00:26:49,599 He's gonna be in his he's gonna be in his late eighties, maybe 422 00:26:51,599 --> 00:26:52,599 I think so. I don't. I don't. I think he's still with 423 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:59,759 us. But Abe, you know, before I so in seventy seventy eight 424 00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:03,119 or seventy seven, right before the summer of seventy eight, I guess, 425 00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:07,400 I was up in Charlotte and Abe worked with me to get me ready to 426 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:10,119 go down to Mexico City because I was going to go down there work for 427 00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:14,079 Flores at the time for that summer. So this would have been seventy summer 428 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:18,559 seventy eight. And just guys did then, you know, they they kind 429 00:27:18,559 --> 00:27:21,920 of if you were if you were a son of one of the guys in 430 00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:25,240 the business, especially my dad, because you pretty well thought of Yeah, 431 00:27:25,319 --> 00:27:26,319 you know, they just all they just all kind of took care of me. 432 00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:30,359 Um. I mean that out of a place to be. That obviously 433 00:27:30,359 --> 00:27:32,480 makes me think. I think of Abe Jacobs, I think of your father. 434 00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:36,240 I think of me as a Jewish wrestler. And then is that so 435 00:27:36,359 --> 00:27:41,519 is that stuff that both you you know or your father? Is that stuff 436 00:27:41,559 --> 00:27:45,640 that was talked about? Was would you was like I feel like Abe Jacobs 437 00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:48,960 is like probably one of the more famous ones, as is your father. 438 00:27:48,079 --> 00:27:53,200 Right, So I don't know if that was like in the atmosphere at that 439 00:27:53,279 --> 00:27:56,240 time. I guess anytime it's you know, you mean, you mean the 440 00:27:56,480 --> 00:28:03,359 thing Jewish Jewish side of this? Um did did you know? Did the 441 00:28:03,359 --> 00:28:06,319 bad stuff was talked about? Not the good stuff, Okay, the bad 442 00:28:06,319 --> 00:28:10,279 stuff, the anti Semitism that existed, and it was strong, you know, 443 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:11,759 and he was It was strong. It was strong with me as a 444 00:28:11,839 --> 00:28:15,599 kid when I lived in Jersey, and it was strong with my dad when 445 00:28:15,599 --> 00:28:18,720 he was trying to make it in the business. And even when he succeeded, 446 00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:21,000 there were a lot of you know, there were a lot of issues 447 00:28:21,039 --> 00:28:23,359 of being a being a Jew. Would he come home and talk about it 448 00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:27,640 or would you see it at the matches? I mean I I experienced it 449 00:28:27,839 --> 00:28:33,720 firsthand through his eyes, and yeah he would. My dad wasn't a complainer, 450 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:37,240 so he was he was a pretty you know, he was a pretty 451 00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:41,319 easygoing person. He loved life. Yeah, He didn't complain about it, 452 00:28:41,359 --> 00:28:45,200 but he he made me aware of it. You know. I think it 453 00:28:45,279 --> 00:28:47,440 was one of these things that, hey, Jody, you're gonna be out 454 00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:51,519 there and you're gonna try and make things go for yourself whatever that means, 455 00:28:51,559 --> 00:28:56,839 you know, come to some modicum of success measured by whatever. And in 456 00:28:56,920 --> 00:29:00,079 order to do that, you're gonna find that you're probably at some point to 457 00:29:00,599 --> 00:29:03,720 fight against you know, who you are as a you know, as a 458 00:29:03,799 --> 00:29:07,599 Jewish man. Okay, I'll deal with it, right, And that was 459 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:10,799 there like a brother ship though I think of because I think of a Jacobs 460 00:29:10,799 --> 00:29:14,079 are just um, not really not that you know, not that I not 461 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:17,839 that I recollect them. And it wasn't like it wasn't like all the Jews 462 00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:21,279 gathered together, got to stay together, right, Okay, Okay, so 463 00:29:21,359 --> 00:29:23,359 you move when you're Jewish ress room. Yeah, there's a Jewish dressing room. 464 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:27,160 And now you're two doors down. Jews are down two doors now, 465 00:29:27,559 --> 00:29:32,039 and there's a missus daughter. Right, don't forget. The shows are ad 466 00:29:32,079 --> 00:29:34,160 free on Patreon. But right now we'll take a break. We'll be right 467 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:37,440 back. So you moved it when you're when you're twelve to Florida. I 468 00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:42,039 guess maybe let's talk about your galloping into the industry. But it's like you 469 00:29:42,039 --> 00:29:45,640 you were one of these kids who was probably in it since you were a 470 00:29:45,759 --> 00:29:48,200 child, right, Yeah, you know, the one the one thing that 471 00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:53,119 I said about my dad, he my dad made things available, didn't push, 472 00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:59,359 didn't persuade, didn't course, none of that stuff. Definitely not at 473 00:29:59,359 --> 00:30:02,480 a level that was, um, you know, like a stage mom or 474 00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:03,559 something like that. It was, hey, this is what I do for 475 00:30:03,559 --> 00:30:07,079 a living. You know, if you if you like it. I'm not 476 00:30:07,079 --> 00:30:10,480 gonna tell you whether I like it or not to like it, but if 477 00:30:10,519 --> 00:30:12,000 you do end up liking it and you want to do something, I'm trying 478 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:15,839 to help you if I can. Um. And you know, my dad 479 00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:18,880 ran a lot of independent stuff at some point in his life. So you 480 00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:21,720 know, obviously book my brother and I on his shows. Before my brother 481 00:30:22,519 --> 00:30:25,480 end up really doing well here in the States. I picked up in Japan 482 00:30:25,599 --> 00:30:30,359 mostly because of Carl and my dad's my dads connections, and I mean very 483 00:30:30,359 --> 00:30:33,960 early. You said I never did this for a full time living. Yeah, 484 00:30:33,319 --> 00:30:37,920 was that I don't know, like was that a conscious but it was 485 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:41,599 by design, by design that I was almost I was on you know, 486 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:44,720 at times, I was almost prideful about the fact that I and this is 487 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:47,519 gonna sound terrible, and I'm almost, you know, almost like umpany. 488 00:30:47,599 --> 00:30:49,920 But I was one of the guys that used the business instead of being used 489 00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:52,720 by the business. And for a lot of guys who's being used and spit 490 00:30:52,759 --> 00:30:56,160 out by the business, you know, I always wanted to make sure that 491 00:30:56,319 --> 00:31:00,480 whatever happened in the ring, I had something to fall back on. My 492 00:31:00,559 --> 00:31:03,920 dad. My dad, I almost said, he drove that home with me. 493 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:06,000 He really, and you know it's not like he drove it home, 494 00:31:06,039 --> 00:31:10,400 but he he through everything he did, he helped me to understand. And 495 00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:12,519 I guess I guess I watched him too, and I knew that my dad 496 00:31:12,559 --> 00:31:15,519 had nothing to fall back on, and so I just figured, Okay, 497 00:31:15,519 --> 00:31:18,359 well I've better, I've better make sure, I better make sure something is 498 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:22,720 there. And so yeah, I went to college. I went pharmacy school 499 00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:27,319 and got my pharmacy degree. Always dabbled in the resting business because it was 500 00:31:27,359 --> 00:31:30,319 just fun. I mean, you know, in pharmacy, no matter what 501 00:31:30,359 --> 00:31:33,039 you're doing, whether or not you're working a you're working in a hospital job, 502 00:31:33,079 --> 00:31:37,279 you're working for the pharmaceutical industry, or you're working in community based practice 503 00:31:37,319 --> 00:31:41,599 setting or something along those lines. I'm an oncollegy pharmacist, so I've played 504 00:31:41,599 --> 00:31:45,119 in the area of cancer care for thirty years. But you know, at 505 00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:48,000 no point in your time as a pharmacist, and no point in your career 506 00:31:48,039 --> 00:31:52,160 as a pharmacist, you ever have you know, sixty seventy thousand people chanting 507 00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:56,720 your name, you're right? Or do you ever go wow, this is 508 00:31:56,720 --> 00:31:57,880 a lot of fun. Yeah, and yeah, and if you show up 509 00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:02,720 the pharmacy in a paradise greased up. Okay, So what what age was 510 00:32:02,759 --> 00:32:08,079 your first match? In my head, it was fourteen? Well, I 511 00:32:08,079 --> 00:32:10,839 mean I played around, you know, I played around at a young age, 512 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:16,640 but my first real match probably probably eighteen eighteen nineteen. And what were 513 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:22,279 the steps? Was it like Dad teach me or Carl teach me for X 514 00:32:22,279 --> 00:32:24,559 amount of weeks or like you had to have known how to do this stuff 515 00:32:24,599 --> 00:32:27,519 or maybe yeah, I don't know, No, I did, I you 516 00:32:27,519 --> 00:32:30,920 know, like I didn't. I didn't have the I didn't have the finer 517 00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:35,640 points um pulled together yet. But I had the basic mechanics of how to 518 00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:38,319 work a match and at least I could go in and out of holds and 519 00:32:38,799 --> 00:32:42,319 yeah, that was that was pretty easy, and it was. It was 520 00:32:42,359 --> 00:32:46,279 really only later on in life by you know, then understanding what I needed 521 00:32:46,279 --> 00:32:49,960 to do in the ring. I could then talk to my dad and other 522 00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:52,799 people and go, okay, so how do you how do you really have 523 00:32:52,839 --> 00:32:53,920 a match out of this? You know? I mean you can you can 524 00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:58,720 go through the paces or you can have a match that that takes a house 525 00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:00,400 down right, you know, And they're two different things. And who was 526 00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:04,359 the first one to like really to explain that to you? Um? My 527 00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:07,079 dad, Yeah, my dad, my dad. It's hard to talk about 528 00:33:07,079 --> 00:33:09,880 your dad in such glowing turns because he's your dad, and people go, 529 00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:14,880 well, he's your dad. But it's beyond that my dad had. If 530 00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:16,720 he wasn't my dad, I would still say this. He had an amazing 531 00:33:16,799 --> 00:33:22,880 ring psychology. And again this is one of those stories. So, um, 532 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:28,519 you're not getting this new so Ford Homer astute Armory. My dad's in 533 00:33:28,559 --> 00:33:31,720 the ring. So first, first off, Tony Charles and Billy Robinson two 534 00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:37,279 British men, two british men who had a well. Tony wasn't British, 535 00:33:37,279 --> 00:33:42,680 he was from he was a Welshman algi only to Tony Um. So they 536 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:45,400 had a they had an amazing match. I mean they pulled out all the 537 00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:49,480 stops and they did all the gimmicks and it was it was it was great 538 00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:54,799 to watch for me because I enjoyed. I enjoyed what they did because I 539 00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:58,759 know, I knew what it takes for them. I knew what it took 540 00:33:58,799 --> 00:34:00,359 for them to do that. But the rest of the crowd at Ford, 541 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:06,960 Homer, Hastley, Armory Um didn't get off their hands. And for the 542 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:10,599 listener, I mean it's very like technical they put on Yeah, they put 543 00:34:10,639 --> 00:34:15,599 on a Tritish they put on a typical British technicals show. Yeah, and 544 00:34:16,039 --> 00:34:20,719 they were amazing, and they were great and and even even their you know 545 00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:22,639 their English style, you know their English style upper cuts and stuff I did. 546 00:34:22,639 --> 00:34:25,599 It looked like tear your head off. And Tony Charles had a drop 547 00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:29,960 kick that was amazing. I mean, these guys they were they were great 548 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:32,079 hands. But it was a typical style and it was a lot of back 549 00:34:32,079 --> 00:34:35,360 and forth. It was just it was just too much for the crowd, 550 00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:37,079 and the crowd really couldn't pull the psychology from what they were doing it. 551 00:34:37,679 --> 00:34:40,199 Just it didn't it didn't tell any story, you know, it was just 552 00:34:40,559 --> 00:34:44,719 it was just a lot of athleticism, like a lot of stuff todays. 553 00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:51,079 So so you know, I'm watching this and Tony and Billy get done, 554 00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:54,480 and they get upstairs, and my dad's now down and Tony comes and I'm 555 00:34:54,559 --> 00:34:59,719 standing at the top of the railing and Fort Homer Hestley Armory by the dress 556 00:34:59,800 --> 00:35:01,960 room. You'd have to know the place. What's what state? Oh, 557 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:04,800 this is Florida, Tampa, Flarida. Okay, yeah, they used to 558 00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:07,920 call the Madison Square Garden of the South, so they oh, this is 559 00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:14,920 Florida championshipress Claria Championship, breshing Um. This was probably mid seventies or right 560 00:35:15,039 --> 00:35:17,719 as I was so seventy four. I graduated high school seventy four, so 561 00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:21,840 probably some time around there, because when my dad came in, I think 562 00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:24,000 just for a couple of shots towards the end of his career there because he 563 00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:28,599 was up in the Carolina's So he comes in, ton Charles and Billy Robinson 564 00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:30,599 get done. Tony comes up through the dress room. He stands next to 565 00:35:30,639 --> 00:35:34,679 me on the on the balcony. We're overlooking the ring and my dad gets 566 00:35:34,679 --> 00:35:37,440 in the ring. You can just my dad starts out slow and I forget 567 00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:38,440 who he was in with. It really didn't matter at the time. He 568 00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:42,119 could have been in wing with a broom you know, the proverbial broomstick, 569 00:35:42,239 --> 00:35:45,559 right, and he's doing his thing, and you could just feel the crowd, 570 00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:49,000 you know, just you can just feel the pulse of the crown and 571 00:35:49,119 --> 00:35:52,199 all of a sudden, you know, you feel the heat gathering and my 572 00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:57,239 dad just did two fingers in the eye and the polace erupted. I mean, 573 00:35:57,280 --> 00:36:00,440 you would have thought you would have thought that my dad just did this 574 00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:02,920 spot that was like amazing. He just did the old you know, three 575 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:05,920 s two, just two fingers in the yeah, because he was known for 576 00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:07,920 that. It was it was it was a silly gimmick. In fact, 577 00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:13,920 Luthez He used to make fun of him for his silliness. And Tony Tony 578 00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:15,400 Charles would stand next to me. He looks over me because he didn't see 579 00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:20,119 it, and he's looking at me like this, he's what do you do? 580 00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:22,719 What crazy thing? Like, what do you do? And I said, 581 00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:25,480 did he did this? You just and you just see him trying to 582 00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:29,800 process this and his mind, and you know, you can tell that he 583 00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:31,559 was thinking to himself, I just went out there and destroyed my body for 584 00:36:31,639 --> 00:36:35,840 twenty minutes, did everything that I could ever possibly do in a ring, 585 00:36:36,119 --> 00:36:37,320 and this guy does two fingers in the eye. He took the house down. 586 00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:40,960 He brought the house down, and I and my thing after that was 587 00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:44,960 it wasn't just that he did that, it was when he did it. 588 00:36:45,199 --> 00:36:46,800 He didn't do it one second too early, he didn't do it one second 589 00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:50,280 too late. You know, it's it was his timy. Man, he 590 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:53,199 just knew, he just knew when he had to do something to make that 591 00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:57,400 crowd pop. And you couldn't hear yourself think in that place at times. 592 00:36:57,760 --> 00:37:00,880 And he was good at that. And really, you know, there's a 593 00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:02,960 level of that that you can't teach. You can get to a certain point, 594 00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:07,119 but you know, there's only so many guys that have that kind of 595 00:37:07,519 --> 00:37:10,760 timing where they just know they had that sense of the crowd. And it's 596 00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:15,239 years of years of years of matches, yeah and things, and you're dead 597 00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:16,320 put. A little bit of luck I've had. I've had a couple of 598 00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:21,239 matches like that in my life that just kind of popped up and yeah, 599 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:23,800 and after the match, you're like, holy crap, that felt really good. 600 00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:28,079 Yeah, that was a good match. Yeah. Okay, So the 601 00:37:28,079 --> 00:37:30,639 first match was just on an independent I don't even remember where it was. 602 00:37:31,559 --> 00:37:38,599 I mean, it wasn't for all Japan. It was Madison, Yeah, 603 00:37:38,639 --> 00:37:43,400 probably yeah, probably on the outskirts of Tampa somewhere, just a random Okay, 604 00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:49,719 but your trajectory is Japan. I think that's where I did. That's 605 00:37:49,719 --> 00:37:52,800 where I did most of my stuff whatever my stuff was, okay, yeah, 606 00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:54,440 most of Japan. Okay, I did you know I did. I 607 00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:58,159 did show for w c W. I did a couple of things there, 608 00:37:58,199 --> 00:38:00,280 a couple of things for w W at the time. But I think I 609 00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:05,480 wrestled to Dark Match for WWE, and did I forget even what I did? 610 00:38:07,239 --> 00:38:09,440 And then and then we had yeah, I had a very non memorable 611 00:38:10,079 --> 00:38:15,119 um US career. And then you know, then again we had independent productions. 612 00:38:15,159 --> 00:38:20,079 One was called Global Wrestling Alliance, which ran out of Miami, South 613 00:38:20,119 --> 00:38:22,559 Florida. It was actually it was actually a penny stock at the time. 614 00:38:22,599 --> 00:38:28,039 And then we uh, you had Don Curtis and Louis to lettum Ran ran 615 00:38:28,119 --> 00:38:30,679 a promotion out of Jacksonville for a while. Um, we had TV up 616 00:38:30,719 --> 00:38:34,800 there, so you know, we we had TV a few times. Smaller 617 00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:38,360 promotions never really got anywhere. It was so hard, especially in the days 618 00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:44,440 of the territory right before you know, the explosion of Vince and Crew and 619 00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:49,960 Turner. Would you couldn't you couldn't compete against the guys who owned the territories. 620 00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:52,519 Would you travel with your dad to these shows? Yeah? Sometimes? 621 00:38:52,599 --> 00:38:57,679 Yeah? Or was it uw F I or UWF when you was that like 622 00:38:57,760 --> 00:39:00,440 your that was my intro into Japan, right, and so like how long 623 00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:04,559 did it take to get to there? Well, out to LA was about 624 00:39:04,599 --> 00:39:07,880 it for four or five hours, and then from LA to thank you, 625 00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:15,039 thank you beautiful well man, I don't know, probably uh when did I 626 00:39:15,079 --> 00:39:17,320 go the first time? Eighty three? Maybe to Japan down It probably took 627 00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:21,960 me six or seven years before you were doing little shows, and literally I 628 00:39:22,079 --> 00:39:24,639 was just doing little which maybe we were also, you know, keep in 629 00:39:24,679 --> 00:39:30,760 mind, probably the greatest if if the Molco family has a legacy besides you 630 00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:34,159 know, having matches, and some of the match has been pretty damn good. 631 00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:37,599 We trained a lot of guys we were Yeah, we had the school 632 00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:42,840 we placed a lot of guys. I lose track of some of the boys 633 00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:46,920 that we got into the business. Both we WCW WWE guys who went out 634 00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:50,760 to you know, major promotions around the country when the you know, when 635 00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:54,679 the regional efforts were still running strong and did well. Um, so so 636 00:39:54,840 --> 00:39:59,280 tell me, like if you're if you said it from eighteen to twenty four, 637 00:39:59,440 --> 00:40:00,639 you were doing that, but you were doing the school Like how would 638 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:05,000 how would it work? Like you go to you go to college, you 639 00:40:05,079 --> 00:40:07,599 come home, you helped training, you're there, you're watching it. I 640 00:40:07,599 --> 00:40:08,719 would I would get there as much as I could. You know, my 641 00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:12,719 dad really was the school. Well, we had in different places. We 642 00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:15,639 had uh we had in the back of a judo plays in Tampa called ed 643 00:40:15,719 --> 00:40:22,400 Mally's Florida Judo. Then we had a building out in Stepfner or something one 644 00:40:22,400 --> 00:40:27,880 of the rural areas of that your real last name who what my real last 645 00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:31,000 name is, serkan Yan? Yeah. Yeah. Then we had like a 646 00:40:30,760 --> 00:40:35,199 in in a field behind some guy's house. Um, he was a pipe 647 00:40:35,199 --> 00:40:37,440 fabricator, but he let us use this warehouse that he had behind his house. 648 00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:43,920 So we uh, we wrestled out the warehouse and then warehouse their house, 649 00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:52,400 um you know, Frankenstein and then uh and then um Brooks was Jewish 650 00:40:52,440 --> 00:40:53,320 dude, and I've never seen it. Don't yell at me, are you 651 00:40:53,400 --> 00:40:59,960 seriously? Oh my god? You know, being with a Mazza Bryers, 652 00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:06,440 um so. And then we got a little place. We actually wrestled out 653 00:41:06,440 --> 00:41:10,199 of a mattress factory, Florida mattress for a while. We with Wally von 654 00:41:10,280 --> 00:41:15,159 Strohei, and my dad got Wally to let us open the place and go 655 00:41:15,199 --> 00:41:17,039 in there. We wrestled out there for a while, and then we wrestled 656 00:41:17,039 --> 00:41:22,679 in an industrial park, Dab's Industrial Park. And at this time, you 657 00:41:22,719 --> 00:41:25,400 know, you hear the stories. It's like maybe the Monster factory and like 658 00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:30,719 the mid eighties was the first one to like publicize like we'll teach you the 659 00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:35,599 business. Um. So it's always weird to hear about wrestling story like wrestling 660 00:41:35,639 --> 00:41:39,480 schools kind of like seventies and eight like early eighties and not exposed. But 661 00:41:39,519 --> 00:41:44,800 like you know, like there wasn't like an actual well to my knowledge, 662 00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:47,360 like these like mass schools. I guess no, I mean they didn't have 663 00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:51,119 the you know, they didn't have first of all, I mean you know 664 00:41:51,400 --> 00:41:54,760 WCW. You know w c W, the power Plan, you know WWE 665 00:41:55,159 --> 00:41:59,639 had, uh, you know, the Championship Wrestling Florida deal with Steve with 666 00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:01,400 current and at the time who took over a lot of our guys when my 667 00:42:01,480 --> 00:42:05,679 dad and my brother closed up shot because getting back to our school, my 668 00:42:05,719 --> 00:42:07,760 dad and my brother really ran. I would show up, work out, 669 00:42:08,039 --> 00:42:10,760 teach a little bit, you know, play some games, and then get 670 00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:15,360 the hell out of there. We were we were, I mean we were 671 00:42:15,599 --> 00:42:17,159 we were one of the few schools. First of all, my dad barely 672 00:42:17,199 --> 00:42:20,960 charged people a lot of times. Yeah, he was. He was a 673 00:42:21,039 --> 00:42:23,159 terrible businessman. Yeah, in my head, it's like a racket, Like 674 00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:25,159 he's like, no, it wasn't. But for my dad it was. 675 00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:28,639 It was anything. But I mean he just he just loved the business. 676 00:42:28,679 --> 00:42:31,960 And it was sad because he probably could have done fairly well because he had 677 00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:36,199 the you know, he had the pedigree and he had the uh, he 678 00:42:36,239 --> 00:42:38,719 had the results of guys who went and did pretty well. You know, 679 00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:44,440 the Canes of the World and the Mark Muros and the tugboats and I mean 680 00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:46,239 the list goes on. You know, Gang Grell and a bunch of guys 681 00:42:46,320 --> 00:42:49,880 who came out of school who did okay, um, so he could have 682 00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:52,119 played off of that, and he probably could have milked the hell out of 683 00:42:52,119 --> 00:42:53,679 guys who came in. He just didn't do that well. I always laugh 684 00:42:53,719 --> 00:42:57,360 with you know, you know Norman smiling. Yeah, Norman one of the 685 00:42:57,360 --> 00:43:00,800 greatest guys around. Man. Norman's awesome guy. Um trade trained me in 686 00:43:01,039 --> 00:43:04,360 a little bit in the w W system. I mean we trained, you 687 00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:07,960 know, we trained Norman. Yeah, and uh yeah, I think Norman. 688 00:43:07,159 --> 00:43:09,719 I think Norman's feet of my dad was like seven hundred bucks he came. 689 00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:13,199 I may be I may be wrong about this, but I don't think 690 00:43:13,239 --> 00:43:15,880 I am. If Norman never corrects me out say okay, yeah, but 691 00:43:15,199 --> 00:43:17,519 yeah, I think I think his few was like seven hundred bucks or something. 692 00:43:17,519 --> 00:43:21,719 My dad to start or you know, for however many weeks, and 693 00:43:21,760 --> 00:43:22,880 then he came to my dad later, I says, hey, late Larry, 694 00:43:22,920 --> 00:43:24,840 I you know, I'm a little short. My dad said, you 695 00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:27,880 know, sort of, don't worry about it. And I don't think. 696 00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:30,679 I don't think Norman ever paid him back anything. It was funny at an 697 00:43:30,760 --> 00:43:31,880 event one time, I said, hey, Norman, my dad before he 698 00:43:31,920 --> 00:43:35,519 passed away. He said, get that son of a bitch's money from him. 699 00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:38,679 Last thing, the last thing. It was the last thing you ever 700 00:43:38,719 --> 00:43:42,920 do you need to collect the money from Norman. Yeah, but that that 701 00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:45,039 was who he was. Man, He just he he didn't he didn't care 702 00:43:45,039 --> 00:43:47,519 about this stuff. He wasn't the guy. He wasn't the guy to hit 703 00:43:47,559 --> 00:43:50,840 you for two thousand dollars, tell you that you were going to be a 704 00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:53,679 superstar, and then you know, two weeks later you were looking for him. 705 00:43:53,920 --> 00:43:55,719 Right, Which, there's a lot, so many, a lot of 706 00:43:55,719 --> 00:43:59,920 stuff that goes on my dad guy and guys and guys who never did anything 707 00:44:00,039 --> 00:44:01,719 themselves, who opened up at school and say I'm gonna make you something, 708 00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:07,119 and you know when there's opportunity that that's when they come out, right. 709 00:44:07,199 --> 00:44:10,199 Yeah, it's it sucks. Don't forget. The shows are ad free over 710 00:44:10,280 --> 00:44:14,679 on Patreon. But right now we'll take a quick break and then we'll be 711 00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:17,960 right back. When I think about you, like then, the most notorious 712 00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:22,679 thing for me is kind of watching the Malaco Brothers in All Japan. Um, 713 00:44:23,440 --> 00:44:28,840 so I guess maybe you can help me tell like getting there and tagging 714 00:44:28,840 --> 00:44:31,920 with your brother. Yeah, I mean we uh don't tell me to lay 715 00:44:34,880 --> 00:44:39,000 my jokes. Only flying well one time per per podcast. So yeah, 716 00:44:39,079 --> 00:44:45,360 Lord Blair's was in Hawaii, and I think I think Mark Karl, I 717 00:44:45,400 --> 00:44:47,280 think Karl made the connection with Lord Blairs at the time for me, but 718 00:44:47,320 --> 00:44:50,599 it was from my brother as well. And so Lord Blair's got us book 719 00:44:50,639 --> 00:44:53,440 the first time, and then uh yeah, I mean we just started going. 720 00:44:53,800 --> 00:44:57,760 Things kind of clicked. You know. The nice thing about the nice 721 00:44:57,760 --> 00:45:02,000 thing about Baba was he recognized before the States recognized that he could get a 722 00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:05,800 lot out of his junior heavyweights, you know, that he could get a 723 00:45:05,840 --> 00:45:08,360 lot out of his smaller guys. Um. And a lot of that was 724 00:45:08,440 --> 00:45:12,480 due to the fact that a lot of the Japanese boys were smaller guys, 725 00:45:12,679 --> 00:45:15,679 but they were just phenomenal performers. I mean, I love the working over 726 00:45:15,679 --> 00:45:19,800 there because I never you know, with the exception of a couple of the 727 00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:22,440 guy Jane and I never got on the ring with a guy who I looked 728 00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:25,119 at one with a slacker, you know, he who's who's just holding back 729 00:45:25,119 --> 00:45:29,440 and not giving you everything he needs to give to make a match happen. 730 00:45:30,039 --> 00:45:31,079 Um. So it was, it was. It was a great place to 731 00:45:31,119 --> 00:45:35,760 be in Baba. Baba was just good about cultivating that. And he you 732 00:45:35,800 --> 00:45:37,599 know, if you if you worked, if you worked hard for him, 733 00:45:37,760 --> 00:45:40,440 he'd take care of you. And he you know, he took us up 734 00:45:40,480 --> 00:45:43,920 and pay and rewarded us. You know, we were never going to be 735 00:45:44,800 --> 00:45:45,960 and we were never going to be at the level of the World Warriors or 736 00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:50,320 the stand Hanson's of the world. But you know, he took care of 737 00:45:50,400 --> 00:45:53,960 us and brought us back and we had we had the opportunity pretty much within 738 00:45:54,039 --> 00:45:57,400 reason, call our shots as to how much we wanted to be there. 739 00:45:57,679 --> 00:46:00,920 I was restricted because I was a farm. Yeah, So tell me about 740 00:46:01,239 --> 00:46:05,519 like what your gaps were you there or what? What do you think like 741 00:46:05,559 --> 00:46:08,880 eighty eight to something? Well, start, I think I started. So 742 00:46:08,920 --> 00:46:14,639 I started with u WF in eighty three. If I'm not again, that's 743 00:46:14,760 --> 00:46:19,079 famous, if I'm not mistaken phrase. Yeah, Um, everything else is 744 00:46:19,119 --> 00:46:21,639 a blurner. I mean, I know, I know, the like tours 745 00:46:21,679 --> 00:46:24,280 of late eighties, I was going pretty strong with all with All Japan. 746 00:46:24,679 --> 00:46:27,599 You were going, I'm doing a bunch of tours, right, Yeah, 747 00:46:27,639 --> 00:46:29,760 I was doing a bunch of tours. Yeah. So then my brother kind 748 00:46:29,760 --> 00:46:31,639 of pulled away for a while because he started here in the States, and 749 00:46:31,719 --> 00:46:35,960 so I ended up going and doing my own thing. I was tagged up 750 00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:43,280 with you know, Kobashi who became pretty special became Yeah, shamrock Can was 751 00:46:43,400 --> 00:46:50,039 my tag partner, and that was fun experience. How are you taking off 752 00:46:50,159 --> 00:46:52,960 of what do you because? Correct me if I'm wrong? Like your vision 753 00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:54,199 is like I got to make sure I have this job to go back to, 754 00:46:54,840 --> 00:47:00,199 right, Yeah, So what tell me about your thoughts as uh as 755 00:47:00,239 --> 00:47:05,199 that kind of the struggle, that kind of struggle of thinking, you know, 756 00:47:05,280 --> 00:47:07,719 as all I can say, it was a blur. Man. I 757 00:47:07,800 --> 00:47:10,440 look back and I think, if I add all the things up that I 758 00:47:10,480 --> 00:47:14,000 was doing at the time, looking back, you know, hindsight, if 759 00:47:14,079 --> 00:47:15,599 I if I add all the things up, it was more than twenty four 760 00:47:15,599 --> 00:47:20,320 hour a day, and it took up more time than than than was available 761 00:47:20,880 --> 00:47:22,719 on a clock. Did you I'm not sure. How the hell did you 762 00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:27,199 have a pharmacy job? Yeah, and you said I need three weeks off 763 00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:30,199 every seven weeks. I would just I would just get time off. You 764 00:47:30,280 --> 00:47:35,000 know. The new thing about So here's anything about pro wrestling. It's a 765 00:47:35,039 --> 00:47:37,239 novelty. There's not a lot of pro wrestlers out there, and there's not 766 00:47:37,320 --> 00:47:39,400 a pro a lot of pro wrestlers, you know, there's a lot I 767 00:47:39,480 --> 00:47:43,079 run into guys who say, yeah, my my cousin was a pro wrestler. 768 00:47:43,360 --> 00:47:45,719 What's his name, Yeah, the masked Uh, you know, the 769 00:47:45,800 --> 00:47:49,440 massed assassin. Oh, that massed assassin, the guy in you know, 770 00:47:50,280 --> 00:47:52,679 the guy in some small town in Minnesota. There are diamond does, but 771 00:47:52,760 --> 00:47:57,159 guys who really do it and who can talk about it and who've had a 772 00:47:57,239 --> 00:47:59,599 chance to work in the ring with some you know, some big, some 773 00:47:59,679 --> 00:48:04,199 big guys. That's a novelty. So the people that I worked for and 774 00:48:04,199 --> 00:48:07,320 the people that I deal dealt with back then and even today, I'll be 775 00:48:07,400 --> 00:48:10,800 doing business deals and you know, people will say, so I heard you 776 00:48:10,840 --> 00:48:13,639 wrestle, and I'll say, yeah, here's what I did. And they 777 00:48:13,639 --> 00:48:15,199 were like, oh my god. And then they'll check on the Internet and 778 00:48:15,199 --> 00:48:17,519 they're like, I can't believe I was dealing with a What's just dealing with 779 00:48:17,519 --> 00:48:22,679 the company in Belfast. They're an Informattish company. They deal in they deal 780 00:48:22,719 --> 00:48:28,079 in data coming out of labs off of these milecular tests, off off of 781 00:48:28,199 --> 00:48:30,719 tumors. And here I am talking with these people, you know, these 782 00:48:30,760 --> 00:48:35,000 high brow folks, and the guy said something about wrestling, and before you 783 00:48:35,039 --> 00:48:37,480 know it, the whole conversation was about wrestling, because it's a novelty. 784 00:48:37,880 --> 00:48:40,840 And sometimes I get bored and you know, think, oh my guy, 785 00:48:40,840 --> 00:48:45,039 we're talking wrestling again. But it serves a purpose. It's got me the 786 00:48:45,039 --> 00:48:47,800 opportunity to do a bunch of other stuff, and it gets me sometimes. 787 00:48:47,840 --> 00:48:52,400 It gets to me business deals because it's I'm the guy who's a wrestler. 788 00:48:52,639 --> 00:48:57,000 Well, and also you're you're not masked Assassin number seven. They see a 789 00:48:57,000 --> 00:49:00,920 clip of you a boudicon right or whatever it is, which is pretty well. 790 00:49:00,920 --> 00:49:02,039 And then look, my brother had. My brother had a lot of 791 00:49:02,119 --> 00:49:06,760 notoriety. He was a phenomenal hand in the ring. If they have no 792 00:49:06,840 --> 00:49:10,400 clue on God's Green or who the hell I was, most people most because 793 00:49:10,440 --> 00:49:14,960 I'll say Milenco, somebody they'll say Dean Minco again. My favorite, my 794 00:49:15,000 --> 00:49:19,360 favorite, my favorite story is I met a fan fest in Charlotte. I 795 00:49:19,360 --> 00:49:22,199 was brought in because they were getting my dad an award um as part of 796 00:49:22,239 --> 00:49:27,320 the mid midst mid Atlantic Championship Pressing deal back in the day. So they 797 00:49:27,360 --> 00:49:30,960 bring me in I'm talking to Paul Orndoff, and Paul's talking to me, 798 00:49:30,960 --> 00:49:32,119 and some fans seeing me talking to him, and then I go to get 799 00:49:32,159 --> 00:49:36,719 on the elevators, the elevator with these fans and they're like, oh, 800 00:49:36,800 --> 00:49:37,880 you know him, Do you know Paul? I said, yeah, you 801 00:49:37,880 --> 00:49:40,800 know, we used to We used to know each other in Tampa pretty well. 802 00:49:40,800 --> 00:49:43,880 You know, when he was dressing I was drestling and stuff. And 803 00:49:43,960 --> 00:49:47,079 they went, you wrestle. I said yeah, I said Molenco And they 804 00:49:47,159 --> 00:49:51,079 look and they go Dean Molenco and I said no, Joe, and they 805 00:49:51,079 --> 00:49:57,760 went oh, and then they turned and they started talking. But I, 806 00:49:57,760 --> 00:50:00,880 I mean, you know, was I was, I a little bit maybe, 807 00:50:00,039 --> 00:50:04,519 But I was also laughing. I mean because I I knew my players. 808 00:50:04,559 --> 00:50:06,960 I know my players. My brother had a hell of a career and 809 00:50:07,000 --> 00:50:09,559 he was probably one of the best technicians ever, even Jerry Jerry Briscot one 810 00:50:09,599 --> 00:50:12,840 time just walked up to me out of the blue, and so I just 811 00:50:12,880 --> 00:50:15,400 want to let you know that of all the people who I ever considered, 812 00:50:15,639 --> 00:50:17,079 you know, the technical guys, your brother may have been the best. 813 00:50:17,679 --> 00:50:22,000 I'm damn yeah, yeah, you're not too shabby yourself, Yes, for 814 00:50:22,079 --> 00:50:27,920 sure. And then and and I guess those tours, years of tours of 815 00:50:27,920 --> 00:50:32,039 all Japan, who was who are you hanging out with? And I don't 816 00:50:32,039 --> 00:50:36,719 know if it's like the scrape like because I have my experiences of Japan, 817 00:50:36,880 --> 00:50:39,679 of Japanese tours, and and I'm a romantic like that, Like when I 818 00:50:39,719 --> 00:50:43,239 when I toured Japan, I always think like these are the this is what 819 00:50:43,280 --> 00:50:45,480 the ones before me did or England, like this is the you know I 820 00:50:45,559 --> 00:50:49,559 used to do those buttling camp if you remember those, Like I'd be like, 821 00:50:49,639 --> 00:50:51,880 you know, the ones before me did this. And there's something that 822 00:50:51,960 --> 00:50:53,400 always sticks with me. And I feel like I'm doing the job and I 823 00:50:53,440 --> 00:50:58,280 am a wrestler and so you know, and I like to be in the 824 00:50:58,320 --> 00:51:00,039 moment of what I'm doing though, so is your touring with all Japan, 825 00:51:00,079 --> 00:51:04,840 which is huge at the time, like who are you with? Who are 826 00:51:04,880 --> 00:51:07,000 you hanging out with? And then also like how are you taking in these 827 00:51:07,639 --> 00:51:10,840 experiences? So when my brother was there, my brother and I spent a 828 00:51:10,880 --> 00:51:15,639 lot of time together. Um, Doug fur Nest was probably my arguably maybe 829 00:51:15,760 --> 00:51:20,920 my best friend overseas, so we spent a lot of time. I would 830 00:51:20,920 --> 00:51:23,079 train with him because he was just you know, he was a freaking beast 831 00:51:23,159 --> 00:51:27,360 man. Um, you trained Doug. You trained legs with Doug Furness, 832 00:51:27,400 --> 00:51:30,280 you trained legs. No, No, if hans are butts, well the 833 00:51:30,320 --> 00:51:35,159 only butts are your butts to the ground, because you don't you don't squat 834 00:51:35,199 --> 00:51:38,960 halfway down, and you squat with Doug for ness. Uh And then um, 835 00:51:39,280 --> 00:51:45,679 stand Hanson, I got to be I like him. He's just a 836 00:51:45,840 --> 00:51:47,639 he's just a good guy. And so you know, I would hang I 837 00:51:47,639 --> 00:51:51,239 would hang around him a lot because it's the great thing about hanging with stand, 838 00:51:51,280 --> 00:51:52,480 especially if you're going out with him at night, is all you had 839 00:51:52,519 --> 00:51:55,320 to do is hang back and just walk behind him, because he was a 840 00:51:55,360 --> 00:51:59,239 bowl in a china shop, and he would just go through the entire city. 841 00:51:59,239 --> 00:52:05,079 It was almost like zillah, yeah, run everybody, oh real Japanese. 842 00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:07,559 Yeah, he was just and he just bulled his way through the whole 843 00:52:07,559 --> 00:52:09,400 city and you just walk behind him and laugh your ass off. But also 844 00:52:09,440 --> 00:52:13,239 like right, a monster in the ring, but seemed like a sweet man. 845 00:52:13,320 --> 00:52:15,039 No, he's he's a great guy, great attitude. Great Yeah. 846 00:52:15,039 --> 00:52:19,119 I was gonna say not, may you tell me? Probably not an egomaniac 847 00:52:19,199 --> 00:52:21,800 or I don't know, no, but but knew that he was good. 848 00:52:21,840 --> 00:52:22,800 But I knew that he was good. Yeah, I mean definitely knows. 849 00:52:23,239 --> 00:52:28,440 He definitely knew that he was top dog over there. Cool no no, 850 00:52:28,440 --> 00:52:30,519 no, no, no questions ask you. He knew, he knew who 851 00:52:30,519 --> 00:52:34,800 he was. And I did have a question about Baba, because it's I 852 00:52:34,800 --> 00:52:37,679 don't know as an American who just like you know, I don't know you 853 00:52:37,679 --> 00:52:40,480 hear Baba an okie like you hear these things, um like who was he 854 00:52:40,559 --> 00:52:45,159 a nice man? Like? Who was he was? Do you have experiences? 855 00:52:45,239 --> 00:52:47,679 So I had, I had, you know, I had minimal direct 856 00:52:47,719 --> 00:52:52,320 interactions with him. Okay, Baba, just you know if look, if 857 00:52:52,320 --> 00:52:54,599 you were staying or if you're you were the road Warriors or maybe you were 858 00:52:54,639 --> 00:53:01,360 Abbey abdulla um. That's the stories for another podcast. Yeah, if you 859 00:53:01,559 --> 00:53:06,039 if you were any of those guys, you probably got more Baba time, 860 00:53:06,440 --> 00:53:14,000 gotama time song. And I see some guy in big, big parachute pants. 861 00:53:14,559 --> 00:53:21,000 It's time. But I think it's like an old grandpa with giant parachute 862 00:53:21,000 --> 00:53:23,239 pants. But he, um, he was Baba, you know it was 863 00:53:23,320 --> 00:53:27,599 it was a giant um and I I'm almost worried. You know, he 864 00:53:27,599 --> 00:53:31,400 would talk to me about and just briefly you know, oh he's had that 865 00:53:31,480 --> 00:53:35,519 d voice and just call you over and you ask you what you want to 866 00:53:35,519 --> 00:53:37,079 do, if you you know, you wanted to you know, you talk 867 00:53:37,119 --> 00:53:39,760 a little bit about Monte Air and maybe talk to you about how many more 868 00:53:39,760 --> 00:53:43,480 tours or you know what, what you want to come over for the year 869 00:53:43,559 --> 00:53:45,159 or something if you were lucky enough and we had you know, we had 870 00:53:45,199 --> 00:53:50,039 that kind of mid mid tier space where we could talk to him about money 871 00:53:50,079 --> 00:53:54,320 and time in Japan. Um. And this was sort of right about the 872 00:53:54,320 --> 00:53:58,400 time my brother was leaving and doing back here in the States. So, 873 00:53:58,719 --> 00:54:00,599 I mean, I know he was larger than life. But like, did 874 00:54:00,599 --> 00:54:02,480 you see him that way? Were you like intimidated or anything or no, 875 00:54:02,519 --> 00:54:05,639 not at all. No, he was No, he was just he was 876 00:54:05,679 --> 00:54:08,000 a fixture, you know. I mean, he wasn't he wasn't intimidating. 877 00:54:08,000 --> 00:54:12,079 He didn't try to be intimidating. He was just a he was just a 878 00:54:12,280 --> 00:54:15,320 big He was just a big big man. Okay. Um he even went 879 00:54:15,360 --> 00:54:19,880 so far one time. So Kobashi and um this kid Kokuchi. Yeah, 880 00:54:20,519 --> 00:54:23,599 yeah, Kobashi and Kokuchi. They wanted to they were they were up and 881 00:54:23,639 --> 00:54:27,159 comers, you know, they wanted to push them. So Baba flew my 882 00:54:27,199 --> 00:54:30,519 brother and I did to um Honolulu, and so we stayed in Hawaii and 883 00:54:30,559 --> 00:54:36,480 we had a week long Malenco school in Hawaii, and we just trained Kobashi 884 00:54:36,880 --> 00:54:40,239 and Kokuchi. So we spent a lot of time when we were there with 885 00:54:40,320 --> 00:54:45,159 Baba and those guys and a couple of other his you know, his his 886 00:54:45,239 --> 00:54:47,239 underlings. Yeah. Um, that's the most time I ever spent with Boba 887 00:54:47,239 --> 00:54:50,440 directly. And now when you talk about that, like, are you like, 888 00:54:50,880 --> 00:54:52,000 oh, wrestling is the best I did? I went to Hawaii for 889 00:54:52,000 --> 00:54:58,360 a week or is that just one of like so many memories And you're I'm 890 00:54:58,360 --> 00:55:01,000 pretty I'm pretty good about stopping, you know, smelling the roses sort of 891 00:55:01,039 --> 00:55:07,119 thing. I realized and recognized at every juncture that was pretty lucky to be 892 00:55:07,199 --> 00:55:10,519 where I was and to experience what I was experiencing and to see what I 893 00:55:10,519 --> 00:55:14,800 mean, even look, we travel up the coast and Mount Fuji would be 894 00:55:14,800 --> 00:55:16,960 sitting there in the you know, in the distance, but not so distant 895 00:55:16,960 --> 00:55:20,159 that you couldn't see it, and you're just you just sit there and you 896 00:55:20,199 --> 00:55:22,880 go, holy crap, that's freaking gorgeous, you know, or you'd be 897 00:55:22,119 --> 00:55:27,840 driving up into into a guido and supporting you know, the snow would be 898 00:55:27,880 --> 00:55:30,320 falling down and it's just the most beautiful landscapes. And I mean, and 899 00:55:30,320 --> 00:55:34,920 they just people just treated you so well, you know, they they just 900 00:55:35,000 --> 00:55:37,679 they were they were kind, and they were friendly, and they were um, 901 00:55:37,719 --> 00:55:40,760 you know, they were appreciative of you as an athlete. They didn't 902 00:55:40,880 --> 00:55:44,440 you know, no, no, at no time did you ever get all 903 00:55:44,480 --> 00:55:47,079 you know that stuff's fake or they just you were a sportsman and they treated 904 00:55:47,159 --> 00:55:50,920 you like that. Even though it was professional wrestling. You were no different 905 00:55:50,920 --> 00:55:52,920 than you know, one of their sumo guys. It was. It was 906 00:55:53,199 --> 00:55:57,360 pretty amazing stuff. And you would go out and they would you know, 907 00:55:58,239 --> 00:56:00,159 you know, they called the service, right you you know, people would, 908 00:56:00,199 --> 00:56:05,360 people would take care of you and and they were just so appreciative just 909 00:56:05,400 --> 00:56:10,519 to be with you somewhere. And the sponsors, yeah, the sponsors where 910 00:56:10,559 --> 00:56:14,880 they provide for you. And right hey, the shows are ad free on 911 00:56:15,000 --> 00:56:17,920 Patreon. This will be our last break stick with us. We'll be right 912 00:56:17,960 --> 00:56:23,360 back as you. I think he's slowed down because you always had this plan 913 00:56:23,400 --> 00:56:29,119 of like, I'm in pharmacy, But was there a point of realization of 914 00:56:29,199 --> 00:56:31,199 just like, wow, this is kind of winding down. I'm gonna go 915 00:56:31,239 --> 00:56:37,599 back to I'll be I'll be the pharmacy guy. I think it's um So, 916 00:56:37,679 --> 00:56:42,880 it's a two pronged deal. One is just the nature of trying to 917 00:56:42,920 --> 00:56:46,960 succeed in this world and make serious money and do really well. And that 918 00:56:47,079 --> 00:56:50,599 wasn't you know, the rest of the world wasn't my place. I wasn't 919 00:56:51,079 --> 00:56:53,000 that wasn't going to happen. I wasn't six six, I wasn't two eighty. 920 00:56:53,159 --> 00:56:57,760 I didn't have I didn't have the tool. I wasn't gifted the tools 921 00:56:57,840 --> 00:57:00,960 to be the superstar, you know. I was gifted some other stuff to 922 00:57:01,000 --> 00:57:04,400 be where I was at, and I was okay with that. So if 923 00:57:04,440 --> 00:57:07,000 I was gonna do anything special, was going to be outside of the rescue 924 00:57:07,039 --> 00:57:10,519 business. But then the other prong, which is a more hurtful one. 925 00:57:10,960 --> 00:57:15,280 Your body just starts not being able to do what it did. And you, 926 00:57:15,559 --> 00:57:17,800 I mean, I don't care who you are, it's inevitable, right, 927 00:57:19,079 --> 00:57:22,199 um No, you made you. He's not not for Ric Flair, 928 00:57:23,159 --> 00:57:27,559 maybe not for Ric Flair. But you know, I mean and we all 929 00:57:27,719 --> 00:57:30,400 we all have one more match. I mean, in my head, I 930 00:57:30,440 --> 00:57:32,599 could get out there and wrestle again. And then if I go out there 931 00:57:32,599 --> 00:57:36,519 and I do that and I go to take a bump, I embarrassed myself. 932 00:57:36,559 --> 00:57:39,159 I did. I did a couple of matches not too long ago. 933 00:57:40,000 --> 00:57:43,599 I'm sixty six now, so this would have been, you know, four 934 00:57:43,679 --> 00:57:46,320 or five years ago. I'm in the ring and yeah, I'm taking a 935 00:57:46,360 --> 00:57:50,960 bump, but I'm taking it and I'm going down in sections you know where 936 00:57:51,239 --> 00:57:52,679 where I used to just I mean, I used to splatter. I didn't 937 00:57:52,719 --> 00:57:54,800 take a bump. I didn't take a bump as good as some of the 938 00:57:54,880 --> 00:57:59,239 Japanese kids who just used to. I used to say they splattered because they 939 00:57:59,239 --> 00:58:02,400 went down so far ass and hit the canvas so hard and you just got 940 00:58:02,400 --> 00:58:06,760 this amazing pop when they went down. It was just it was so quick, 941 00:58:06,800 --> 00:58:10,440 and it's just I love that. I think it was um Terry Gordy's 942 00:58:10,599 --> 00:58:15,079 cousin, Richard Slater, Okay, yes, sladdic Richard. Yeah he was 943 00:58:15,079 --> 00:58:17,920 a Noah guy. But all Japan before that, yeah, yeah, I 944 00:58:17,960 --> 00:58:22,119 mean, and you'd come off the ropes and ed him hit him with tackle 945 00:58:22,719 --> 00:58:29,199 and unbelievable. I mean he just damn just right down and so fast. 946 00:58:29,599 --> 00:58:31,400 You're like, holy crap. Yeah, when you say that, I picture 947 00:58:31,519 --> 00:58:36,199 like different coaches being like attack the mat. That's what I hear it attack 948 00:58:36,280 --> 00:58:38,480 the mat. Yeah, that sounds familiar. Well, but I mean that's 949 00:58:38,719 --> 00:58:43,960 so you couldn't do that at a sixty two. I couldn't do that at 950 00:58:43,960 --> 00:58:45,360 sixty two. I definitely can't do it that. I know. I can't. 951 00:58:45,559 --> 00:58:47,719 Your mind tells you you can, right, I mean Terry, you 952 00:58:47,760 --> 00:58:52,079 know, Dorry Functional comes over to Japan and uh gets in the ring. 953 00:58:52,360 --> 00:58:58,480 Yeah, I don't want to do that though. Two things for me and 954 00:58:58,719 --> 00:59:01,440 I really I really hit heavy on this when I was a kid to myself 955 00:59:01,840 --> 00:59:06,719 because I saw I saw people trying to hang on too long. I said, 956 00:59:06,719 --> 00:59:08,079 I'm not gonna do that because I'm not gonna embarrass myself. I'm you 957 00:59:08,079 --> 00:59:10,480 know, if if I can't have a decent match, I'm not gonna do 958 00:59:10,480 --> 00:59:14,400 it. And I've actually gone against that because I probably should have stayed out 959 00:59:14,400 --> 00:59:17,079 of the ring the last time I was in the ring. But the second 960 00:59:17,079 --> 00:59:21,000 thing is is just hanging around the business I don't. You know, people 961 00:59:21,000 --> 00:59:22,880 say, hey, you do watch this if you you know, did you 962 00:59:22,920 --> 00:59:24,400 go to a raw it was in town last night, or like, no, 963 00:59:25,320 --> 00:59:27,719 I don't want to be I don't want to be that guy. I 964 00:59:27,719 --> 00:59:30,840 don't want to be that guy who you know was hanging outside of the dress 965 00:59:30,920 --> 00:59:34,840 room and hey, you know how you doing right? Used the russ right, 966 00:59:34,920 --> 00:59:38,079 Yeah, yeah, I get it for sure. Yeah, I just 967 00:59:38,199 --> 00:59:42,239 I thought that was always made me. It just always made me sad when 968 00:59:42,239 --> 00:59:45,920 I was a younger kid and I would watch some of the quote unquote old 969 00:59:45,960 --> 00:59:49,880 timers hang around still. Well, I mean, it's great that you were 970 00:59:49,920 --> 00:59:52,480 at the Iowah Hall of Fame, the National Wrestle of Hall of Fame. 971 00:59:52,239 --> 00:59:57,280 So like, what's inspired you to come here? I guess I came here 972 00:59:57,360 --> 00:59:59,719 last year. Jerry Briscoe told me about it. I mean a few people 973 00:59:59,760 --> 01:00:01,360 told about Jerry. Jerry said, hey, you need to go, and 974 01:00:01,400 --> 01:00:05,039 I said okay, and I came up here and on I had a good 975 01:00:05,079 --> 01:00:10,079 time. Number One, Jerry and I have a history. He's considerably older, 976 01:00:10,119 --> 01:00:13,320 and I'll remind him of that every day. But you know, we 977 01:00:13,360 --> 01:00:15,719 have a history that goes back to the early seventies. So you know, 978 01:00:15,760 --> 01:00:19,400 we're talking fifty years worth of knowing each other when we were kids. He 979 01:00:19,519 --> 01:00:22,840 was an older kid. But when we were kids, I didn't like him 980 01:00:22,239 --> 01:00:24,559 and he didn't like me, and we talked about that all the time. 981 01:00:24,599 --> 01:00:29,280 Well, we just we didn't like each other. We were jerks, um 982 01:00:29,719 --> 01:00:31,280 to put it nicely. Yeah, And then you know, as you get 983 01:00:31,280 --> 01:00:36,400 older and you start talking and yeah, now I was realized, you have 984 01:00:36,400 --> 01:00:38,480 a lot of comments. We have a lot of comment Our history is a 985 01:00:38,480 --> 01:00:42,280 lot of the same stuff. Just growing up in Tampa. You know, 986 01:00:42,360 --> 01:00:46,000 his brother, Jack was phenomenal. He was Jack was a sweetheart, and 987 01:00:46,079 --> 01:00:50,000 you know, I knew him real well through my dad and um, so 988 01:00:50,159 --> 01:00:52,239 Jerry and I've become pretty good friends. And when he came up here the 989 01:00:52,280 --> 01:00:54,400 first time last well it wasn't his first time. When he came up last 990 01:00:54,480 --> 01:00:57,239 year, he said, hey, you know, you need to come up 991 01:00:57,239 --> 01:00:59,599 to this thing. This thing is pretty good. And then you know, 992 01:00:59,599 --> 01:01:00,840 then I got here and it was nice to see some of the people I 993 01:01:00,880 --> 01:01:05,719 hadn't seen for a while. Yeah, that's great. And and Dan Gabele 994 01:01:06,000 --> 01:01:08,400 was like this, yeah, mega hero of mine. Back in the early 995 01:01:08,400 --> 01:01:13,159 seventies, when he you know, when he took gold in the seventy two 996 01:01:13,519 --> 01:01:16,159 and um, I have a chance to which was which was an awkward meeting 997 01:01:16,159 --> 01:01:22,400 because I'm looking at him going hey, um here ago it was like a 998 01:01:22,400 --> 01:01:23,920 hero you're you're a hero of mine, I was hero of yours. Well 999 01:01:24,000 --> 01:01:28,239 somebody was a hero of somebody. And he was looking to be going, 1000 01:01:28,519 --> 01:01:30,800 oh that's nice. Yeah, yeah, I need to go now. And 1001 01:01:30,840 --> 01:01:35,639 at that at your age, you don't maybe you're like, well, my 1002 01:01:35,760 --> 01:01:38,280 days of feeling these feelings are probably behind me, right and then boom here 1003 01:01:38,280 --> 01:01:43,519 you are like being nervous to a man. It was Dan Gabele. I 1004 01:01:43,599 --> 01:01:45,440 appreciate you coming on. This is so nice to talk to you. Parting 1005 01:01:45,440 --> 01:01:51,880 words scan the rest in business, stay time, I'll go to a good 1006 01:01:52,159 --> 01:01:54,079 go to a good school. I don't spend two thousand dollars again. Nowhere 1007 01:01:54,079 --> 01:01:58,760 you still if you want to do that, send me two thousand dollars school. 1008 01:01:59,079 --> 01:02:01,159 You're starting a new one. But yeah, it's a post office box. 1009 01:02:07,039 --> 01:02:08,719 When I asked Joe what he'd like me to plug, he told me 1010 01:02:08,800 --> 01:02:13,840 to convince someone to start a gofund me for him so he can retire. 1011 01:02:14,079 --> 01:02:17,800 But I would say, maybe donate to cancer research so cancer can be cured, 1012 01:02:19,280 --> 01:02:22,320 and then he'll be out of a job and forced to retire. About 1013 01:02:22,320 --> 01:02:25,159 that. We got another show next week, but before we leave, I 1014 01:02:25,239 --> 01:02:34,480 do have some plugs and coming my Patreon paton dot com slash col cabanas where 1015 01:02:34,480 --> 01:02:37,599 you can listen to ad free archives of almost five hundred episodes of the Art 1016 01:02:37,679 --> 01:02:43,920 of Wrestling, ad free archives of Wrestling Anonymous and new bonus Wrestling Anonymous episodes 1017 01:02:44,280 --> 01:02:47,519 just for the Patreon twice a month. Last month was with Chris Cubis. 1018 01:02:47,639 --> 01:02:52,719 This month was with Ian Ricabani and we listened to calls and we gave our 1019 01:02:52,719 --> 01:02:57,000 thoughts for different tiers. I'll also send you a vinyl sticker every month, 1020 01:02:57,159 --> 01:03:00,760 and I will handwrite your envelope and I will give you a very fun nickname. 1021 01:03:00,079 --> 01:03:05,079 Check out older episodes of Wrestling Anonymous and Pro Wrestling Fringe. New ones 1022 01:03:05,159 --> 01:03:07,599 do pop up time to time, just like the Art of Wrestling. Go 1023 01:03:07,679 --> 01:03:13,079 grab some Merchcultmerch dot Com, brand new upper Deck signed cards, a brand 1024 01:03:13,079 --> 01:03:16,400 new comic book signed by me and Daniel Warren Johnson. I got new autograph 1025 01:03:16,480 --> 01:03:21,840 pictures up there. Leftover stickers from the Patreon micro brawlers, they'll be gone 1026 01:03:21,880 --> 01:03:24,440 soon. The usual fun it's all up there, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, 1027 01:03:24,480 --> 01:03:29,239 TikTok, and YouTube. That's all at Coldcabana. I'm on Twitch all 1028 01:03:29,280 --> 01:03:32,679 the time playing games. I just started Fortnite, Twitch dot tv, slash 1029 01:03:32,719 --> 01:03:37,719 Coldcabana Cult Wrestling at gmail dot com is my very public email. That's where 1030 01:03:37,719 --> 01:03:39,920 you can hit me up for shows, conventions, or any business or non 1031 01:03:40,000 --> 01:03:44,519 business stuff. Send me something fun to my po box, which can be 1032 01:03:44,559 --> 01:03:49,960 found at the bottom of my Websitelcabana dot com. Upcoming events this week, 1033 01:03:49,960 --> 01:03:53,199 I'll be at the Gathering of the Juggalos Tuesday, August ninth, Championship Wrestling 1034 01:03:53,199 --> 01:03:58,239 in Irvine, California. Of course the nineteenth through the twenty first at the 1035 01:03:58,280 --> 01:04:01,039 Monkey Barrel and then bro Scotland. Come see me and John Hastings at the 1036 01:04:01,159 --> 01:04:06,039 Edinburgh Fringe Saturday September three. I'll be in Mesa, Arizona for Party Hard 1037 01:04:06,079 --> 01:04:11,679 Wrestling's final show. September tenth, I'll be at the Mall of America for 1038 01:04:11,800 --> 01:04:17,559 First Wrestling Saturday Night trow and October first, i head back to one PW 1039 01:04:17,719 --> 01:04:23,599 the Doncaster Dome, where I will team up with my buddy mister Burridge, 1040 01:04:23,639 --> 01:04:29,679 and we will become Team Shag once again. Podcast cover art designed by Jimmy 1041 01:04:29,760 --> 01:04:31,960 Lee. Photo by James muscle White. Thanks to our forever sponsor, One 1042 01:04:32,000 --> 01:04:35,400 Hour Tease dot Com. They help run Pro Wrestling Teas dot Com. That's 1043 01:04:35,400 --> 01:04:40,480 where you can buy all of my shirts and cameo style video messages called shoots 1044 01:04:40,559 --> 01:04:45,400 right over at Pro Wrestling Teas dot com slash Cold Cabana. We'll be back 1045 01:04:45,440 --> 01:04:48,840 next week with a wildlive show, and then we got shows in September and 1046 01:04:49,079 --> 01:04:55,199 October. Stay subscribed. The podcast was never gone and it's not going anywhere 1047 01:04:55,320 --> 01:04:58,639 anytime soon. As long as I could sit down with some people that I 1048 01:04:58,679 --> 01:05:02,039 think are super interesting, the show will go on. This has been the 1049 01:05:02,159 --> 01:05:19,480 art of wrestling for Cold Cabana. I'm Cold Cabana. Thanks. I guess 1050 01:05:19,719 --> 01:05:28,400 maybe your back off very easy, just chit chat. I want to say 1051 01:05:28,440 --> 01:05:30,800 hello. Tell me what you had for breakfast this morning? You hear your 1052 01:05:30,880 --> 01:05:33,679 levels? What do you think I had for breakfast this morning? What am 1053 01:05:33,719 --> 01:05:36,679 I? I'm a Jew? What did I have from boxing? Bagels? 1054 01:05:36,760 --> 01:05:41,320 Well? I didn't have locks, but I didn't have a bagel I was 1055 01:05:41,360 --> 01:05:44,039 given when I was a kid, my dad would sing, bagels, bagels 1056 01:05:44,039 --> 01:05:47,960 two for five. That's what keeps us Jews alive. Can we can? 1057 01:05:48,000 --> 01:05:50,519 I keep that as the start of this whole thing. If you want a 1058 01:05:51,119 --> 01:05:54,599 bagels, bagels two for five, that's what keeps us Jews alive.