This is the art of wrestling with professional wrestler called Kamanda. Oh all right,
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I am your host. My name is Cold Kamana. I am a commentator,
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Just a great way to support. It's always appreciated. Patreon dot com
slash Cold Cabana. Today on the show is Kevin Kelley. Kevin somebody who
I had on the books. I was doing a tour of New Japan Professional
wrestling in March of twenty twenty. I had the ticket in the United app
I had already upgraded to a first class ticket O'Hare to Tokyo, Tokyo to
O'Hare and then the world shut down and Kevin and I were unable to speak
at that time. But then since that time, I got booked on a
show with The Rock, and then I could ask Kevin about his time with
The Rock and of course all of the wonderful commentary that he has done over
the years, and not just commentary. When you're a personality like Kevin Kelly,
it's not just about go to work, talk about the matches, and
then go home. I mean it is for some, but for the most
part, if you want to be a success in wrestling and you're not a
professional wrestler, you have to be a jack of all trades unless you're literally
so good. Like let's say you're a referee, if you're literally the best
referee in the world. But I think Charles Robinson still on duty, learned
how to put up a ring. Kevin Kelly so good a commentary, has
won the Observer Award for years and years, but still always understood the importance
of doing everything. You get that foot in the door, and then you
keep your foot in the door. Kevin Kelly so great at that. And
we'll hear all about it, which will happen here on this show. So
that's so stay tuned. As for me, oh, I was in the
sheets a little bit this week. It's so funny to think about who are
the people telling the journalists the information, because it definitely wasn't me. I
didn't tell them anything. But it was reported that I signed a new contract,
and I did sign a new contract. There was something reported about Ring
of Honor that I have no clue about that. I just know I've signed
a new contract. I don't know who reported it. Somebody who knew something
obviously reported it. And I only say that because it just makes me think
of people that report stuff on a week where in my wrestling brain it's so
obvious that people are leaking stuff to people. I guess for me, someone
who's just been in wrestling for so long and knows the personalities like can see
a mile away that they've duped the wrestling journalism people or whatever it is.
But once a story gets out, it gets out and it spreads like wildfire,
and there's a true art to it. There's a true art to manipulating
the wrestling journalism world. And that might be my new podcast. It's no
longer gonna be the art of wrestling. It's gonna be the art of duping
the wrestling journalist. Maybe that's gonna be my next successful podcast venture. Otherwise,
for me, business as usual. I'm streaming, I'm trying to put
out content. I'm working out, I'm getting ready like Dennis Stamp. I'm
on the trampoline. I'm looking for the call, and between the call,
I am doing other outside shows. I'm doing comedy shows. I'm trying to
keep my brain moving, trying to stay inspired. A little sad that I
won't be doing the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year. I guess technically I could,
and I am now double boosted, but at the time of sign up
it just seemed a little scary to be in a very enclosed basement for thirty
days straight in Scotland. Hindsight, maybe I would be ready to go at
this present time, but who knows. Those numbers are changing every single week.
But I do recommend going back in the feed. There's so many different
Edinburgh shows. There's live art of wrestlings from Edinburgh, which include some pretty
famous comedians Ari Shaffer, Chris Gethard, Kyle Knane, even Nicky Ash before
she went to the WWE and Demo before he went to the WWE, Graato
being a silly Goose and so many more so, I recommend going back in
the feed checking out those past Edinburgh shows. There's so much fun if you're
looking for a mixture of both comedy and wrestling. Also, if you're looking
for a mixture of both comedy and wrestling, I suggest Marty and Sarah Love
Wrestling. What a fun pod cast that is Marty Rosa Sarah Shocky, two
real silly billies who also love wrestling. And I've been doing a podcast every
single week for like five years now, maybe even more. Marty and Sarah
love wrestling. But this is not Marty and Sarah love wrestling. This is
the art of wrestling. This is talking with people within the wrestling industry,
long form, very direct chats. I think you'll love it. We'll take
a quick little break and then let's go over to our talk with Kevin Kelly.
So you invested how much in this setup? Kevin already asking me the
audio questions. Come on, turn your fucking phone on, all right,
I'm a professional. This setup I've had for years, a couple of microphones.
Recently got a road sponsorship from Road Microphones and Cables Outstanding. I have
a zoom here. This is the travel still not turning off that I'm working
on it. There we go. I'm an old guy. The podcast equipment
has changed over the years, and I mean I'm not doing a week to
week podcast anymore. So it's not like I have to keep up to date.
I feel what I have works U and it is what it is.
Whatever you invested in that set up paid off, long since paid off,
since paid off. You know when it's funny, because I was when I
was in WWE. You're gonna call it E when you were there, No,
it was f Then they got the F out, but it was,
oh, I SDN studio equipment, you gotta have this, you gotta have
that minimum five grand. Now I do New Japan shows from home with a
USB port in my computer and free software and it works great. It costs
like two hundred dollars. So when you think, when we think about that
stuff, I just say, imagine in twenty years now or thirty years from
now, it's gonna be like like how people say you can like people say
you can podcast on your iPhone but it sounds shitty, Yeah, but you'll
be able to podcast on your iPhone like it's studio quality. Yeah. Sure,
I bought a little because I got a nice Senheiser headset, and but
I have a USB connection for that now, so I can take that with
me when I'm in Japan if I need to do something there, which invariably
I wind up having to do when you were when you say when you were
in WF and we'll get to all of it, But was there? So
was there? Radio talk? Was there? And I know you're talking about
announcing stuff, but if we're talking about podcasting and all of that, like
were you a part of the bite this or any of that kind of stuff?
Like was that their idea of like trying to get into Howard Stern type
radio? Or it was content for the fledgling website, which again at first
when I got there, they only had the AOL section. Oh I know
very well. Oh yes, I was as a child. How much long
distance you know, dollars were right, My parents know very well. Which
is another thing is saying in twenty years, right, in another twenty years,
internet will cause a sent it'll be free, So it will be Yeah.
It was a It was a way to get content. It was a
way to a lot of the genesis of the what it was known as the
attitude era. Came from the magazines because Vince Russo was the editor in chief
and pushed that philosophy of we need to be edgy, like we're doing on
Raw magazine. WWF magazine was you know, for everybody, but Raw was
sort of like the shoot, you know, the inside stuff, and that
was what he sold Vince on and why Raw took a discernibly edgier track.
So Bite this was a way to deliver content but also kind of be real
with the people. Now. Vince Russo wanted to be Howard Stern, So
when he first started doing the show with me, it was you know,
toilet flushing sound effects and wacky stuff, and then he quit doing it and
then we just made it more of an interview show. Was there ever radio
talk? Was that a thing they had done the radio WWF before I got
there, before you got there, and there wasn't. I never remember any
conversation about that. Because the belief at the time was that terrestrial radio was
going to be going away. It's still around, and that we needed to
embrace the new technology of the Internet and this new website WWF dot com to
have our fans and we could be in control of everything. Did you were
you did. You have a lot of it. Just by this two seconds
of talking, it seems like you were kind of in that world. Where
was that a part of your world? It was, and it wasn't at
first. When I first got hired in June of ninety six, I was
hired as just an announcer, but I didn't do very much. So I
was bored, and I got to know Vince Rousseau and I got to know
Jim Monsey's and those guys who worked on the magazines and on the AOL side,
and let me write, let me do some kind let me do something.
So I started doing that. And then after my first year writing,
which was what you, started doing magazine stuff. Yeah, okay, a
couple of editorial pieces, did stuff for you know, did some interviews which
went up. Mostly it was like text for the AOL side. I feel
we're wired the same where it's just like people would think, like you got
the dream job. You've been hired by WF and it's just like I don't
want to sit around and do nothing, right, I need to do something
I loves. Please, yeah, put me to work. And that was
a big issue for them with me. Oh, he's a wrestling guy.
Kevin Duddon never wanted to hire me. I don't know if you know the
story. It's so I came up for the audition because Vince wanted to step
away from doing announcing every week. So they had a big casting call,
brought a bunch of people in and we're gonna find the replacement announcer. Okay,
I'm gonna stop you a little bit. Were there people there like with
you or was it one at a time and you were only there one at
a time. I saw an attractive young lady sitting she had already done her
audition. She was waiting for the car to take her back, and then
I went upstairs to get makeup, and in my head it's a big like
because I do auditions and stuff like Gordon Soli's over there, and then like
Mike Adam Lee right like even like people from the like the guy from Channel
seven News. You're like, like Thomas Sulo from the news. What do
you guy? I have no idea why they picked me, but they did.
And it was a three person committee that was in charge of the search.
So it was Bruce Pritchard, a woman named Lisa Wolf who at the
time was ahead of hr and Kevin Dunn and I got picked two to one,
and Kevin Dunn was the loan dissenting vote. That's wild to know you're
gonna go. Did you how did you find that? And when did you
find that out? Way after the fact? Okay, yeah, add he
hard to like go to work every day knowing this guy didn't want you.
Then why does he hate well, why does he hate me? And probably
salty that you're there? He never liked me? And then I found out
so okay, so after the first year he didn't want me around anymore.
I only had a one year contract. I'd moved my family to Connecticut and
all on a one year contract, thinking they're gonna love me. It's not
gonna be a problem. I'm affable, look at me. But it was
out and Vince russ Kevin Dunn called Vince McMahon. Vince Russo told me the
story, and I have no reason to believe he was lying. I completely
believe in one had sent to be true. Kevin Dunn called Vince McMahon at
his house writing television with Vince Russo and said, I'm letting Kevin Kelly go.
And he said, Vince looked down the end of his glasses with a
look on his face like why, Well, he's a few different random non
reasons, and Vince Russo said, well, he likes to write. He's
really good writer. Could I have him for the magazines? Oh yeah,
you could absolutely have him, no doubt about it. Well I gotta go
see later, guys. And that was it. So then I got moved
over full time writing for the magazines. Cut and pay, of course,
but it was all right. And then three months later I got rehired back
in television. So now I was getting paid twice. That's wild because Vince
wanna being on TV wan on TV, or they ran out of or they
the week before. He was like, I don't like whoever's doing this?
Who else do we hear? Oh? He wasn't that. He wasn't as
flighty as he is of late, because you hear the stories. Yeah right,
it's just interchangeable. And you're saying it wasn't always like that. No,
No, Kevin Dunn brought in Michael Cole, and Michael Cole was hired
to replace me. Now we became friends, and as we were traveling together,
he's telling me the story about how he was hired to replace me.
The story starts to come out right, and we became good friends and traveled
together. So it was ah a trying time for a young guy. You
know. I was twenty nine, thirty years old and wife and a one
year old baby and so, but it all worked out. Yeah. Did
you then once you went to announcing did you go? Did you stick to
writing and the other technical stuff? I stayed. I was. I was
made the managing editor of WWF Publications with a separate paycheck. No, it
was all lumped and all, but I was. I had no idea what
a managing editor did. Yeah, I had to learn what the job was.
So I went to the publisher of the magazines and said, okay,
this is my job. Tell me what I'm supposed to do. Did you
feel nervous saying that, knowing that they would know nothing? Yeah? I
did. He just gave me was like, not really, No, I
did. Because these were magazine professionals that were hired to run these magazines,
and Vince Russo was the editor in chief, but they sort of had to
work to rein him in all the time, hit deadlines, et cetera,
et cetera. He was who was the publisher. Was it a company,
No, it was a I can't remember his name, Brad something grow other.
He was a magazine veteran, nice guy, and they had a copy
editor and they had designers who put the magazines together, and they had all
had magazine experience. So I was like, used to be such a big
biz Oh my gosh, we've sold half a billion copies a month of of
WWF and I think RAB was like three fifty. We had huge numbers for
a while. Now it's probably twelve and it's all digital. Um. But
yeah, so I had to kind of go around and say, listen,
I really don't know what I'm doing. Please forgive me. You know,
I'm going to learn the best I can, and we'll all work together and
we'll get this done. And I wound up getting along with everybody, so
it was a good team. And I still did stuff with dot com and
did television, so it was it all worked together nice. Um. Okay,
so obviously I like getting into like the struggles to get to where you
got. Hey, the shows are add for you over on Patreon. But
let's take a quick little break and we'll be right back. Um. I
do have a little I don't know if it's an ulterior motive when I came
here, but I don't know what your thought. I assume there's happy thoughts
about Twain Johnson The Rock, right, Oh yeah, yeah, So I'm
the Brooklyn Brawler on the Young Rock on the TV show, Yes, and
so I portray Brawler wrestling the Rock in his first match. We're there for
that, all right, turning Corpus Christy. And then the next night he
worked Chris Candido. I think I was there were stuffs, No, and
I've tried to remember it over the years. That might have been on HOW
shows. It was on HOW Shows. Then I didn't see it, Okay.
The first match I do remember him wrestling was against Owen Hart, which
was a dark match at TV before Survivor series. Yes, yes, and
Owen Hart was that was this was after Memphis, Yes, okay, right,
because in the I learned in the show that, like he does these
two matches, get sent to Memphis and then thinks he'll be in Memphis forever
and then eventually starts getting brought up and it was a that was the beginning
the genesis of the developmental system. So he was training with doctor Tom in
the warehouse and Stamford along with Mark, Henry and Braccas and the and then
Mark was learning from scratch, so was Braccas. Duane was a prodigy,
and it was just do more of this and less of that. Would you
walk into the to the what was it called tracks? This was before tracks.
It was in the physical television studio. They had a warehouse where back
in the day, this was where they stored all the merch. So there
was still boxes of merch like tucked in the corner and you know, would
if they needed a set piece or something like that. And then there was
a ring and it was the old Alaska ring that they had brought back from
when they said they didn't run Alaska anymore. So this ring was stiff.
It was one of those old stiff rings. So they had built a ring
just to keep an Alaska Is that what you're saying. They had had a
ring in Alaska for house shows, just for the year, over the years,
over the years, okay, And then the ring got shipped back to
Connecticut. No need for the Alaska Loop to have their own ring anymore.
And that became the training ring that doctor tom Uh you know, put Dwayne
and Mark and brought us through and would you walk into that area? Oh
yeah, it was an open area. In fact, you couldn't not see
it because you would go through the reception area, door would open up and
you'd be staring at the ring. Now do you look at these guys and
are you like, Wow, they are the future? Are you like,
look how green these fucking guys? Now? It was there was always something
good about all of them and everybody. You know, there wasn't a lot
of screaming and yelling because these were not kids off the street. You know,
these were trained professional athletes who looked fantastic, especially Brocus, my god.
And you know, Dwayne was there, Mark Henry was there, and
Tom was there, and they were working hard and sweating a lot, and
we'd go out to eat every once in a while and just laughing and joking.
Now, when you get to the when you get because in the show
there's this backstage area you know of Pad and Bruce and they're all looking at
at Rocky and I know it's written, but you know Brian's writing on the
show. Yeah, so so when when they get done with that, owen
Hart's the what's the mumbling in gorilla position or are you in grilla? I
was in the gorilla position for that because we were getting ready to go out
next to do the syndicated stuff. It was was well. The first thing
that happened. Owen at the time had a cast on his arm, the
bob Orton cast, and Dwayne not wanting to work the left arm because he
saw Owen had a broken arm, grab the right and Owen very quickly switched
hands that said, no, take over the left. So he's doing wrist
locks on a cast. Yeah okay, And it was so everybody popped at
that just because Owen made us laugh. And then the match was great and
Pat was there, Bruce was there, I think Vince was there too,
and they were like, this guy's got it, He's got everything we want.
Pat was a huge proponent. Yeah, that's how it's portrayed in the
show too. That's very accurate. That's that's cool. Okay, let's start
with you. You didn't grow your start with you. Your parents didn't grow
up in the magazine business, which I always find funny because my dad was
in the clothing industry and then years later I become a wrestler. But I
really just become a just entrepreneurs salesman. My dad was a photographer and shot
news for newspapers in New York and covered a couple of Madison Square Garden shows
back in the sixties. So you're a New York kid, New York kid,
and then in the city. I was born in Staten Island, lived
in Queens, and then when I was nine, we moved to Florida because
my grandfather had passed away. My dad was willed the house and he had
a business opportunity to set up a press service for the local radio stations,
etc. So we went down there. The business tanked and you know,
you've been around this stuff, yeah, for years, and it was so.
I didn't have an interest necessarily in photography or journalism. But the first
thing when I we got TV hooked up and the cable guy, we didn't
have cable to New York. Cable guy came on Saturday and set up our
cable and I turned the TV on and the first voice I heard was Gordon
Soli. So I started watching Championship Wrestling for Florida and I was hooked.
That was what I wanted to be. Cable guy in Florida, not in
New York cable guy in Florida hooked up the cable on our TV when we
moved to Florida. Gotcha, did your dad enjoy wrestling? The first time
I saw it, we were still in New York and I had it was
Saturday night Late was on at midnight and I was up because I had a
stomachache or something like that. I wasn't feeling good and Dad was up watching
whatever was on before wrestling. Then wrestling started, I was like, oh,
wrestling. And he got up, stood in front of the TV and
said, let me tell you what this is all about. It's all fake.
It's all a show. All this all that I don't care move.
This was after he had taken pictures at medicine. Yeah, and he explained
to me that, like he said, one guy was bleeding out of his
mouth in the corner, and whoever it was said, hey, get a
shot of this, and he spit this big, huge lugie of blood out,
and so Dad got the shot and he was like, oh, it's
all a show. So, being a father looking back at that, what
is your thoughts on your dad trying to do that? I don't know,
you know, he's trying to protect me. I guess in some way with
my kids because now I have two boys, and I always I always told
them that it was physical and very real, but you know, there was
a lot of show business to it, and none of them, neither of
them really had like an interest that there was no family business. Neither of
my sons are going to follow my footsteps into announcing. Right. You're telling
them that just because like it's coming up you as a kid, you were
in awe looking at a tough As soon as I got to Florida, I'm
buying the magazines and I'm I'm an obsessed fan nine ten years old. I'm
signing into the fan club. You know, Dusty Rhodes is my favorite wrestler.
It was awesome, and it was like the first because when I moved
there, I'm a New York kid in Florida. They all fun of my
accent and everybody wanted to beat me up every day. Have you worked on
your AX? Because I wouldn't. I couldn't even said that you were from
New York. I don't know it went away, yeah, because I didn't
get a Southern accent from living in Florida, but I can sound country if
I want, you know, and I probably would have thought you were,
and the New York accent softened, so it just wound up. I'm from
like Ohio, right somewhere in the middle equal here in midwestern right, Okay,
but yeah, that was it was hard to make some friends, maybe,
oh Florida terrible. But wrestling was like the one thing that I gravitated
towards. And I never wanted to be a wrestler. I always wanted to
be the announcer, and the matches themselves didn't because it was all squash matches
on TV. Occasionally get a good match, but I mostly cared about the
interview segments and the angles. That was what excited me. So that was
what I was always drawn to. And did you find other kids that liked
wrestling? One man and he became my best friend. Okay, did he
ever do anything with wrestling or anything like that? Did you stay obsessed like
you did? He came to a Ring of Honor show when we were at
Lanta. You wrestled Jay Lethal two out of three falls. Yeah, and
that giant conference room, Oh my gosh. And you know it was always
like he was like, Wow, I can't believe you you know, over
the years, I can't believe you did this. I can't believe it.
You know, he got in the car business, then he became a banker,
and he's a rich suburban guy now. And I've been a struggling wrestling
announcer. We're in the circus, right, yeah, right, But it's
the life I chose and the life you chose. Yeah, of course.
So, um do you go when you start getting like sixteen, and do
you start going to the matches and all the time? Yeah? Are you
right? Are you? Yeah? Maybe explain the championship wrestling for Florida loop
and where you are, Like, are you in Tampa Bay going to the
what was it the sportitorium? Yeah? I was on the other side.
I was on the other coast. Okay, So if I went to wrestling,
it was either Monday night West Pump Each Auditorium or the occasional Thursday spot
show in Fort Pierce at the Saint Lucy County Civic Center. And as I
got older, they started running Saint Lucy more so I went because it was
like twenty minutes closer than West Palm And who would your would anybody to take
you? Was it your mom? And dad or was it just your dad.
My dad got sick when I was eleven years old. He had a
stroke, so he was, you know, basically an invalid. And my
mom didn't really have a bunch of interest in driving me anywhere, so I
would wait for friends, you know, try to talk people into going with
me. And then once I got sixteen and I was driving, then I
went everywhere on my own. But when I was younger, my dad took
me. The first show I went to was at West Palm and Harley Race
and Rocky Johnson were the main event. Another tie it and I was scared
to death of Joe LaDue because he did an angle on TV with Jimmy Garvin
and I had nightmares. And when he came out in like the fourth match,
I hope prayed that he didn't see me, and he didn't believe it
or not, he didn't come after me. And yeah, so that was
just And I probably went to I don't know, when I was sixteen,
every week, every other Thursday, whenever it was there. Right, Hey,
the shows are ad free over on Patreon, But for now, let's
take a quick little break. We'll be right back. So how do you
would the correct term, be like, how do you weasel your way into
professional wrestling? Because it's like for the wrestlers, it's pretty cut and dry.
I think you go get trained, you pay someone in money, they
beat the shit out of you. And I feel everyone on the fringe of
wrestlers, right, I don't know if that's the correct term, right,
like the fringe of the interviewers, the bookers, you know that we still
get asked these questions. I'm sure you more than me. It's just like
how you do it, And it's like, well, there is no school,
so it's like you kind of have to just like befriend everybody and hope
that one day something opens up that you kind of get a foot in,
and then you just push and push, right, Yeah, it was the
luckiest way. So I went to Florida State and I was in communications radio
all because I wanted to get into wrestling when I was done, but I
didn't know how now at the time. Because I graduated in nineteen ninety WCW
still in Atlanta, and a friend of mine who wanted to get into sportscasting,
said we should go and become pages at CNN at the CNN Center and
then you could do the wrestling thing. I can get in with CNN Sports
and it'll be great. But I didn't have two nickels to rub together by
the time I was done with school. So I went back home and I'm
working at a local radio station, and wrestling at this point was kind of
in the back on the back burner. I didn't know how it was going
to get in a local promote. Are called the radio station and he said,
we're at the Saint Lucy County Fair. You guys are there? I
need a ring announcer. Is there anybody there? And the girl that took
the call said, Kevin, do you know anybody who would be a rigg
announcer for wrestling? The phone? Now, how come they weren't? Did
they know you were all obsessed? Were you obsessed at this point as much?
Oh? Yeah? And I talked about it, you know, all
the time. So how come she randomly just goes to Kevin, would you
know anyone? I was standing there? Because I was just standing there and
Carrie Hanson, sweet lady, she was wonderful. Uh. She just sort
of asked me, like who what? I said, I'll take the calls
me, you know, it's me you know where the shirts every day Perfect.
They didn't even have shirts back then. I've grown my hair out to
look like Dusty Rhode. Look at me. Um And and a friend of
a guy who I met through local promoter is still a friend of mine to
this day. And I got him like a part time gig at the radio
station, so it all sort of worked out. And then he said,
hey, after I did the ring announcing anybody on that show, we would
have known that Tommy Rogers was in the main event. Perfect And it was
so poured down rain were under a tent and they closed the fair, but
the wrestling was still going on because they had sold tickets. So there was
like twenty five ticket buyers and all the carnies because the rides were shut down.
Tough crowd, and we had we had fun. It was just awesome.
I got to be a ring announcer and professional wrestling and Tommy Rodgers in
the main event. And years later I saw I ran into him in Memphis.
Tommy, and I said, hey, by the way, you were
on the very first show that I was on, and I told him about
it and he was like, I remember that show. It poured down rain.
We thought the show was going to be canceled, as I guess,
yeah, and it's weird the stuff. Like both of us, we've done
thousands of shows and sometimes and I'm sure you thought, well, no way,
I remember You're like, I remember this match because this was my first
show. Of course, no way, Tommy Rogers remembers. I didn't think
he would know it. I've said, I'll tell you a funny story,
Tommy, and you probably don't remember that. The weird shows, they just
stick in our mind, and he certainly did. But then the guy who
was the promoter, Cliff Anderson, got hired for a fledgling television startup in
Orlando and said, hey, I think I got you an audition. Oh
sweet, And he got a bunch of us auditions wrestlers, etc. And
we all drove up to Orlando and tried out for Eddie Mansfield. No in
the IWF. I know that you. I mean I know that part of
your story that you were Freddie Mansfield. Eddie Manshield still going at it today,
right, he was on this dark side of the ring, Is that
correct? Yeah? So he's still like has his foot kind of in the
wrestling industry. When when we were in roh together. He called me out
of the blue and he wanted to be the book or a ring of honor.
He wanted me to get him in. I was like, oh,
okay, well they already have a booker and he's doing a pretty good job,
you know, but I'll certainly throw your name in the hat and whatever.
So what's this? What was Eddie Mansfield like at that time? Why
was he trying to start this up? Like, looking back, do you
do you look at him a different ways as when you met him as a
young guy just trying to get a foot into the wrestling industry. He was
always good to meet, Yeah, he wasn't you know. He was a
little sometimes shady with some of the boys. He said he got back into
wrestling because he was tired of and this is his quote, tired of looking
at all the same recycled horseshit. And that was his motto going back to
when he wrestled. He couldn't break through the glass ceiling or whatever it was.
And he just wanted to have new young guys, fresh faces, etc.
Etc. And give new wrestler is an opportunity. And he got a
TV deal. He worked somebody into something. How did the Sunshine Network okay?
And which is the thing? Yeah? And got the story is Kevin
Sullivan told me this. Mike Graham, Steve kern Eddie Mansfield went and met
with Universal Studios Florida about setting up TV tapings. The Florida office was going
to get going again, and Universal kind of was like, I'm not really
interested and you need to do this that the other and Steve Kernent Mike Graham
really weren't interested in whatever Universal had said. So those two leave and Eddie
stays and says, I can do what you want. So he double crossed
them and got the deal and set it up TV taping. You know,
same thing like Impact does, Like did you know TNA in the sound stage?
Fans come in from the park, they don't know who what are we
doing? We're just out of the sun and the air conditioning for an hour.
Let's watch a TV taping. Let's watch gangrel Yeah, it was we
had who do we have? We had Mondo Clean who became Damian Demento.
Love it and would love to hear the story on him. By the way,
give me a two minute like why was he on raw? And then
not a thing anymore? He was a handful he was allowed to do.
He was a lot to deal with. So he had a cool look.
They were like, let's use this guy. He got there. They were
like, ah, yeah, okay, right, he was Johnny Rod's guy,
so you know there was link. Okay. He looked impressive but kind
of wrestled like a real old timer. But it was twenty two years old.
Yeah he was, and it was a nice guy and wanted to get
into comedy, wanted to get into doing different things, which eventually he did,
like on some public access stuff in New York. It was an actor
kicking around for a while, but Eddie knew him because Eddie went after the
whole wrestling thing blew up. He was in New York for a while and
I think he was trying to become an actor or something and met Phil,
met Mondo clean. They became friends and brought Phil down to Florida becoming world
champion. They all can't do They all can't be on NBC. You know
what I'm saying. No, they can't from Chicago, fire right, I
mean good, still get the checks for that. They'll getting royalties from pd
T. It's beautiful. Oh that's right, And Fire. I did Fire
too, that's right, I remember you on Fire. I definitely saw that
one. I've doubled down. I'm betta go look for Sergeant Void when we're
done here today. Oh, he might be around. I'm hello. So
who else was done? Oh gosh? Uh? Well, when Blackjack Mulligan
got out of prison, we used him. He was great, he was
awesome. Now are these like the equivalent of like what I'm doing in two
thousand and eleven, Like they're just like indies for guys, like no,
one's under contract or it was another date, just another date. Yep.
Yeah, that's kind of my question. And they Eddie was trying to tell
the boys us a territory. It's a territory now, and they were like,
no, it's not. We run like two shows a month. What
are you talking about. None of us are full time. We all have
to either have jobs or do whatever. No, it's a territory. It's
a territory. And it never really took off. Money. Money was the
big issue because it was expensive to produce TV and who's paying for it?
He different investors that kicked in money from time to time. Universal No,
no, no, no, they allowed the space or not even that.
They gave him the space, gave him an office too. He had an
office in Universal. Oh, it wasn't a territory then he had an office.
Right, that was the booking golfice. Yes, so you got the
gig as announcer. Charlie Platt was supposed to be the play by play guy,
and I was supposed to do the ringside interviews. Now, Charlie Platt
was the old Continental announcer, which is how Eddie knew him. The day
of the first taping at Universal. Now, the day before, we had
shot tons of pre tapes in the park and I had done all the stand
ups in etc. Etc. The next day, first day taping matches,
Charlie Platt's supposed to be there, and Eddie says to me, where are
you going to be today? I don't know, Probably standing over there by
the camera. No, you're gonna be sitting next to me doing commentary.
What. Yeah, Charlie Platt had allergic reaction to penicillin. Oh okay,
I think he had no allergic reaction and not getting paid or didn't feel like
coming down, and so I did play by play. I had no idea
what I was doing when I was rotten. But I did know what I
was. I knew what I wanted it to sound like, because in the
same way I knew how to do a sunset flip in my first day of
school training. They didn't have to teach me how to do it right.
I wrestled in ninth grade on the high school team and the coach wanted to
see something that we I forget what it was, and I did a small
package and he was like, where did you learn that? TV? Du
no no no go run damn. At first, was he impressed, like
that was an actual wrestling move. I know nothing about it are wrestling,
I don't know what he was impressed. He was a weird guy. He's
a weird old guy, but he got bad boy when I when I told
him where I got it from. Satis thought on TV small package right gets
him every time. Hey, the shows are AD free on Patreon, but
let's take a quick little break and we'll be right back. So essentially,
do you just build up a resume that looks good but haven't gotten paid,
Like you're not making money, but you're just like getting this TV credit almost
a little bit and started then because then Eddie kind of fell off a little
bit nice said Hey, I'm gonna work for other people, and he got
really mad at me for doing that. Whatever, So I started doing different
indies around Florida, and but I was almost done with the business as commentary
or as ring announcer, ring announcing, right, because who's no, they're
not putting VHS tapes, are they? No, it's not a business,
none of it, none of it. But I got to sit in and
learn from a lot of really good folks like Cuban, Assassin, Dave Sierra,
Nasty, and Need Brady, guys that were veterans that knew how TV
should be done and knew how live events needed to be produced, so they
let me sit in. Cuban was great because he let me sit in on
finish meetings and that was really like the first time I had exposure to that.
And he used the Eddie Graham vernacular to describe a finish when the time
is right. So, but that was where I met Dwayne the first time
in Hudson, Florida, at a small, a small shitty show with Rocky
Johnson in the main event. And he's in the finish meeting. He's wrestling
Cuban and the finish was when the time was right. Ned Brady hits the
ring DQ and we beat you down and we'll run out some baby faces to
make the save. And Rocky says, that's fine. I got my kid
here with me tonight. He's going to do something in wrestling. Would it
be okay if he made the save? Yeah? Sure, why not?
So down, you know everything's going to form. Beaten on poor Rocky Johnson
and out wearing his number ninety four University of Miami Jersey Dat slides in,
throws those open hand punches like we've seen and clean's house and sends the heels
scattering. So this is when he was just like training with Rocky essentially.
I think so, yeah, he was in college. He was still playing
for University of Miami, gotcha, And I think had you know the bug
for sure, So it was probably just training with Rocky wherever. That's so
funny and h and that was the first time I met him Hudson, Florida
at the flea market. And that's that was in the not that that specific
one was in the show, but the idea of Rocky Johnson doing these shows
was in the show. The NBC show right that I'm a part of the
young rack watch it on NBC twoes in. But I do watch the show
as a wrestler, knowing that he was this territorial guy, and then I
see stories about him working at Circuit City, and it just kind of like
blows my mind, you know, like he was on top, he was
making money. It's like, where did it all go? Was there a
relationship with Rocky Johnson at that point or where you could like you could like
understand it or see it or see the frustration or understand his mindset. I've
been again growing up when I did you know he and Tony Atlas were tag
team champions and he was a top guy in Georgia and etcetera, etcetera.
I never understood like why. I didn't even think about the why I do
now though, And how did he what happened to his money? Because he
had to have made good money, but you know, things happen. Was
it weird to see him like coming from a job at not that you're watching
him come to the arena at the Circuit City. He wasn't taking his pen
in off, you know, but we did. I didn't really know like
what these guys did you know, he was in shape, he was a
veteran guy, older guy son in college. I assumed he just did this
for fun or just to keep busy. And it was weird when I first
met Dwayne, you know, it was kind of like he didn't want to
push his dad too much into the act, and there was a little bit
of hesitancy there, I think from his part to have dad involved. Dad
eventually did get involved a little bit, and then it kind of went away.
And then they hired Rocky to be one of the trainers at OVW.
That didn't last too long because it was some guys they're on top and they
may not know how to teach. They know what they did to get themselves
over to get their match over, but they may not be great to teach.
I don't think Dwayne needed teaching. I think he just was naturally.
He was going to get it no matter what. Okay, so you so
you were about to quit wrestling, yeah, ninety four. I was like,
this sucks. I'm done and your dream yeah I know, but it
wasn't really going anywhere. And my wife and I were talking about having a
baby, and I was like, maybe maybe this is it. And then
I got hired a radio show that was very popular in Florida at the time,
and morning show. They wanted to do wrestling because one of the guys,
Fez Watley, who just passed away recently. It was on the Ron
and Fed show on Sirius for years. He was a big he loved wrestling,
did Rick Clair impressions on the show. Pistol Pez Yes, And so
they set up an angle on the radio show and was like, well,
we'll do a wrestling event. It'll be a lot of fun. We'll do
it at a bar. Now, Cuban Assassin was a big mentor of mine,
and at the time bar show started to become a thing, and Cuban
had one rule. You don't work in bars. You wrestle in arenas.
You want to work at a bar show, you don't work for me.
And so here I am the best payday. I have gotten three hundred dollars
to ring announce for this huge radio show. And I'm in a bar and
I'm looking out and I see my wife, who's now pregnant in the crowd.
I'm like, and the music guy on the show is doing body shots
off woman in the ring. I'm like, this is not what I got
into wrestling for this isn't Gordon solely. I was like, I'm done.
So we went out to eat a couple nights later and talking about it,
and two days later I got a call. I got an audition with WW
Had you been putting in to get that audition? Not really? A guy
who was involved with the IWF with Eddie Mansfield's deal got hired to help set
up the thing that they were doing at Universal because they took over the spot
when Eddie wasn't doing it anymore. And so I got an audition warming up
the crowd. So I was the a boo guy telling people to cheer and
booing whatever time for the comeback, start clapping and got to meet and work
with everybody. Talked with Eric Bischoff afterward and he said, you know,
did fine, absolutely great, but hired mean Gene, don't really have a
spot for you. And then I was like, ah, bummer. Then
I talked to Billy Gunn just casually because we were friends, because that's where
the smoking guns came from. The w Hey, you guys are coming down
to Florida doing a Loupa House shows. Let me know if they need a
local ring announcer, see if you can, because at the time they weren't
flying finkel In or whatever. He said, Okay, I'll ask. And
while I'm at the WCW audition, Billy Gunn calls me on my pager and
I call him in between shows. Yeah, what's up? You need to
call Bruce Pritchard. Oh about ring announcing? No, they want to bring
you up for an audition. What so I called Bruce right there. Hey,
Bruce, Kevin Kelly, Hey, good to hear me. What are
you doing? Oh I'm doing an audition right now with WCW. What you
haven't signed a con check? No? No, I haven't offered one.
Do you think he loved? Like just saying those letters makes him go oh
shit, Oh it's I knew it immediately worked it out. You knew what
you were doing. Yeah, and he's Hogan there it's a god no how
the matches kind of the ships? So uh yeah, brought me up June
sixth and started on June twenty four. Nice um? And then how long
with those guys? Seven years? Seven years? Yeah? Yeah almost?
And then I think about like long, Well, first of all, did
you ever meet Gordon Sildy and work with him. No, but I did
interview him on Bite This when he released his book. I did. Wait,
it was Bite This, the one on USA network at like ten am
in the morning. No, that was Live Wires, that was bye bye,
this was their radio stay there. It was just the Internet show.
Okay, okay, okay. So I somehow through through Finkel, I got
Gordon's number. We did an interview with him, and I slobbered all over
him on the phone. And you had the right to book anybody on that
show, anybody too. Youah, the freedom. You guys had the freedom
at that point. Nobody paid attention to what we were doing. Okay,
And earlier before you talked about that, like Russo was able to push Vince
McMahon to into going into this way of booking or whatever it might. Did
you ever see anyone else that kind of had that power over him? Did
you ever try to have that power over I never did. I don't feel
I don't take you as that kind of guy. Knew I did not have
that power. But the only other one that had power over him was Shawn
Michaels. Because Sean could do whatever he wanted, and he and Vince would
scream at each other, and Vince would Sean would curse him like you would
believe, and Vince loved him and no matter what Sean did, he was
never going to get fired. Yeah, but that was it. But yeah
he had Vince had. Brusso had like a hypnotic thing over McMahon for a
while. Right, he got him to be like, change the whole attitude
of the company. Take it in a completely different direction. And what everybody
like in the back that wasn't Vince Russo just would it be like scuttle butt
or small talk would be like this is wild that this is happening. They
hated it, hated it. Pat, Pat liked Pat was okay with it.
Pat didn't care. He was kind of checked out at the time.
He was pretty much retired. He was living in Florida. He'd come in
and singing on cruises. Yeah, he just sang my way and loved his
life. Bruce went along with it, but didn't like it. Jim Ross
didn't like it because Jim Ross was trying to book house shows and TV was
constantly changing, so the lineups had to constantly change. One of the biggest
changes was Jim Ross would book the pay per view card and Vince Russo got
that stopped, so that now the pay per views were booked through television,
which kind of works. Hey, the shows are ad free on Patreon.
But let's take a quick little break and we'll be right back. Is there
a moment that you have that's like your stamp on WWF at that time history,
that's maybe you behind the scenes that people don't know about, or something
that you're really like. I kind of hate like exact questions, but I
don't know if anything comes out. No, it's good because I there were
a couple of things that I did. Vince Russo was sort of stuck for
a big moment, a match or main event or whatever it was for the
upcoming week's Raw. And it was the time that Steve had won the belt
from Steve Austin and won the belt from Sean, and Vince was doing the
you know, he wanted a corporate champion, and they used to when a
new champion was crowned the next Raw show, Vince would present the belt to
the new champion champion cuts of promo. Well, this time with Steve,
he wore the belt. Vince did down to ringside and I came up with
the idea. While Vince and I are at Russel and I are at lunch
at a and w Roupier at the Stamford male to Steve Auston is annoyed that
Vince McMahon wore the belt and you keep talking about a corporate champion. What
you're really talking about is you, Vince. So I'm gonna give you a
shot here, and you know we can do this easy way. We're gonna
do this a hard way, easy ways. You faced me in the main
Vince tonight for the w WF Championship. Hard way is I beat your ass
right here, right now. And Vince mcmaon versus Stone Cold Steve Auston is
the main event. Knowing that they wanted to get to dude love. Dude
comes down to say whoa brothers, Peace and love, Peace and love,
and he turns on Steve and Vince. Russel was like, holy shit,
that's great. And we went back to the office and he said, what
are you gonna I said, what are you gonna do? Is I'm gonna
try to get in with Vince and talk to him about it. Beth finally
called him up to the office. He sat down with Vince. He came
back down twenty minutes later. How'd it go? He went for it?
Holy shit. So it's like the idea of a Steve versus Vince match,
but you only said it in passing to get to something else. But it
was the how to get how to get to dude Love, That's what I'm
saying. Yeah, But like so this was like a really small idea in
that promo with the big idea of DoD Love versus Steve, but Vince said
yes, and then it literally became became the whole company, became the whole
company. It was. And the other thing that I pitched, which they
did. I had the idea that Vince and this came from my wife because
we're both big soap opera fans, and the whole love triangle thing with Stephanie
and test and you know, were they going to get married? This and
that well, Triple H of course, being the thorn in the side of
Vince, would do anything he could to try to ruin anything Vince wanted,
and ruining the wedding would be the best way to do it. Now,
what I pitched was different than what they did. Stephanie at the time had
gotten dinged like the week before it got caught up in the wash in some
fight and I pitched it like, okay, so something happens again and she
gets you knocked loopy. And then later on the night after the main event,
what there's a wedding going on, and we see the long hair,
you know, the shot from behind Stephanie and her dress. We assume it's
Test and then she turns that she's kind of loopy after you know, exchanging
vows. You've made me the happiest woman in the world. And it's not
test, it's triple h oh. You have no idea how happy you've just
made me. So that came from the young and the restless. Yeah,
probably all my children. And so I wrote it up in a big email
and sent it to Vince Kevin Dunn Jr. Et cetera, et. And
Vince wrote back in five minutes, all caps, that's great shit. And
Shane was one that I sent it to. Shane came down to my office.
Dude, that idea is crazy. And they did it their own way,
but eventually it was what we got. Now, were you on the
writing team or were you just chiming your shit chiming shit in There was not
a writing team. Were people upset by this? Do you think? No?
I think so. I mean that's how wrestling works. Man like this,
Why is he sending and ship? Who knows? But it was it
was kind of a thing at the time. It was sort of an open
they were saying, please send in your Yeah, it was an open submission
thing. And Vince never had a problem with it. Great, And I
don't remember any other stuff I would have sent him and just I would email,
you know, kind of thoughts of the show or whatever, and a
couple of people did that, but um, yeah, it was It was
just I had a spark of an idea. Great, So that was it.
I was thinking that. So I was thinking about longevity and wrestling,
and it's hard for announced and especially after you're no longer with At the time,
the only company that's on television right right at the time was wc W.
It was gone when they were gone, when you were gone, when
you parted ways. The only thing that was going was TNA, right,
which was just getting started. And as soon as I got fired, which
I knew was going to happen, because they were just cutting, cutting,
cutting by department. We've seen we've seen that yeah, And so I got
home and I called Jeff Jarrett and Jeff said, I would love it,
but I don't have any money to pay you. I said, well,
if anything changes, let me know. Nothing ever changed. And you were,
I mean, you were scrambling to stay in wrestling, or you're like,
I have the skill, I need to put it to you. I
was scrambling trying to get a job. I was out of work eleven months
and was in danger of losing our house to foreclosure. And then I tweaked
my resume instead of emphasizing the television portion of it, but I went to
the sales portion of it because it was always selling wrestling as sales. So
that's what I became. I became a salesman. And what was your tweet?
What did you say? You sold pay per views? Okay, sold
merchandise sold, live event tickets sold, sold, sold, and just kind
of kept a foot in wrestling. And then yeah, and then next thing,
I guess that's I mean, how it is, especially if you're putting
your body on the line. Do you worry about like as you're getting older,
Like I mean, you're obviously the best, but like you know,
I worry as a wrestler like, oh then my forties, now, will
they stop using me? I don't know if that if that's if that creeps
into your head or that's just my own paranoida. I kind of worry about,
uh, my mind, because at some point I'm gonna lose my mind
and my voice, and at that point it'll be time to go. Plus
I travel back and forth to Japan. So how long am I gonna want
to make these flights? You know, great at the beginning, right,
it's fun, fantastic another flight? Can I come in the last minute and
leave first? Um? But no, it's it's cool. And the folks
in the New Japan side and the tvous Eye side are wonderful. They make
my life so easy, no stress. And then I mean, I know,
Dave Melter isn't the end all be all of professional wrestling, but uh,
you know, there was all this time where New Japan becomes very hot,
New Japan, USA becomes very hot. You're the voice of New Japan.
And after years of maybe like not getting any would you say, awards,
not even from Melter, but just maybe from the wrestling world, Like
you're you're all of a sudden recognized for the work you do. It is
nice. It was. It was a gratify gratifying was it like, hey,
I told you fuckers? No, no, no, it was very
gratifying. It really was just to be in that class of again, Gordon
Solei, you know, kind of like he's he was recognized during his era
when there were so many great announcers of being you know, the best,
and now the field is much smaller. So I'm it's like being the valedictorian
in a class of five. You know, nothink the field is smaller now,
Oh you're saying because territories there was so much rest, right, there
was everybody is on television, and there was all these different people you could
choose from voices regionally. I mean you had Gordon Souley, Lance Russell,
Vince mcmaan, Jim Ross, Bob Caudle, et cetera, et cetera,
all these legendary names. And now there's you know, the the WWFE announcers
are criticized because the product is so bad, right and you know, aw
announcers have gotten a great deal of credit and just fiably so because they do
a really good job. And the Tony Schivanni coming back you know, it's
been a nice story. So yeah, it does feel good to be recognized.
You. I see that the WWE announcer world, it just seems like
everyone loves them. They come in as a new announcer. It just seems
like an ongoing theme. They come in as a new announcer, and I'll
just put like Matt Striker and maybe Corey Gray's you know, but you don't
have to name anybody like whatever. But like it's like we see them,
everyone's like, yes, they know wrestling, they get wrestling, and then
people seem to like spite on these people. I'm not saying right or wrong.
Well I am saying wrong. I hate it as a as someone my
friends like kind of at first getting this love and then a world almost turning
on them a little bit. Is that like a theme just from from a
wrestling from a wrestling announcer standpoy looking at it? Is that just seemed to
be that place? Or is that Is it a hard business from like a
wrestling announcer to like stay hot. I guess it's boy, it's easy to
stay hot when you work for the companies that I've worked for Gotch, I
worked for Ring of honor when it really was fantastic. Not the early days
fantastic, but the later they hit a great stride yet they had you know
again, it was remarkable. And then I went from there to New Japan
at its zenith. So it's been pretty easy for me to kind of ride
the coattails and promotions that are good. I've never worked for anybody that's terrible.
Yeah, And I don't know what that would be like. Is it
because they change Do they change their style because Vince is in their ear?
Or are they still doing their same thing but because the product is so bad
that they get blamed for not changing. You're you're such a good announcer,
and yet you're having to explain all this nonsense and your credibility is in the
toilet. So I never have had to do that. When you were there
in ninety six, seventy or whatever, did you see like the fans,
like could you read the room almost of like people turning on announcers people?
Did people turn on you? No? Because in that time, the wrestling
fan, you know, no, because the product was getting hot. Okay,
it was coming up, and by the time we got to ninety nine
two thousand, it was as hot as ever. I mean, I don't
know what the Twitter version was back that like message boards and AOL, the
grands to or whatever. The only thing we ever did for AOL was we
would do a pole at the end of a pay per view and we would
provide some comments and the pole results to Vince and if a baby face won
the main event, overwhelmingly thumbs up for the whole show, and the opposite
was true if the heel won. And so we were giving these reports to
Vents every time, and eventually I talked to Bits about it. I said,
it's pretty much the same, so there's no real need for it anymore.
He's okay, bell, I was it. Hey, the shows are
ad free on Patreon. This will be the last break and then we'll be
right back. And then can you tell me about sitting there and what like
the difference of announcing matches for Steve Auston announcing matches for like Okada, Do
you do you do you look back and and tell yourself like this one guy
was bigger than the other guy, or this is like how it is,
or this is what main event wrestling is. Do you have what are your
thoughts when you kind of compare the big names that you've been able to do.
Main event guys do very little. They do their best stuff and they
put it in the right spots. You can see it as when I look
at the evolution of wrestlers over time, you know, like most recently we
were talking about it with El Desperado in the junior heavyweight ranks, who right
now, for me, for my money, is the best at that weight
class. He's amazing. When he wrestled Ibushi in twenty fourteen, he was
throwing a bunch of stuff at the wall hoping to see what's stuck. Now
he's got it figured out and he does less and he gets a better reaction.
When he was in I mean when he was in Noah with me,
he was just a dude, right, just a dude. Yeah, he
wrestled like a dude back in the day. But now he's a star.
And once you figure out how to wrestle like a star, then you just
make sure that you're putting your stuff in, letting whoever my opponent is,
let them do their thing. I'm going to wrestle your match, but I'm
gonna get my stuff in and at the end, I'm gonna get my hand
raised, what about comparing the Tanahashi to the Tanahashi, No Kada to Austin
though, like you're in the arena, you're seeing I mean, I know
that was like maybe the peak of wrestling ninety eight or whatever, But is
there like, do you see the comparisons or are you like these guys You
just can't be like Steve Buston, he was one in a million or whatever.
Well again Steve Austin in the Rock versus Okada and Tanahashi, they're they're
so different, but they have that aura about them and they give the people
what they want and again just do it in such a way. It's a
master of psychology. All four of them were in their own way. Steve
was that constantly you had to stay on him and stay on him and stay
on him. And Tanahashi you leave him alone, you let him stay there
and sell. And Okada is more like the Rock in terms of pure athleticism
and being able to overcome whatever you know, the opponent throws at him.
Just amazing stuff. So there are there are similarities, there are differences,
but there's that are that presence and when you can when somebody comes out the
music hits and you get that whole reaction. In Japan, it's like,
Okay, this guy's getting to that level, and you know, Hiromu has
it, Nito has it. Uh, There's there's guys up and down the
card to do. But when when you get to that level, then it's
like, Okay, now I'm playing with house money because I'm made, I'm
all set. I don't have to do anything else. And it's fun to
watch as a spectator, as a commentator, and to commentate all completely.
I love it, And because sometimes I'm trying to figure out how to say
less. That's and that's another thing that I do now, is I say
less than I ever have before. I let the pictures tell the story,
and especially if they're doing a strike exchange one two one two, what am
I going to say? Let's hear it, let's hear the strikes, let's
hear the crowd. And is that a lesson that you kind of taught yourself?
Like what do you do you remember? Like moments, there's just moments
watching it back and being like why am I talking here? Yeah? Some
of that and Jim Ross was a great mentor to me as well, speaking
in soundbites was the first thing, and then laying out was another. The
power of laying out cannot be understated. Kevin Kelly is on Twitter at real
Kevin Kelly and his next big commentary gigs are June twelfth, Dominion in June
twenty sixth, The Forbidden Door. Watch both of them over at mgpwworld dot
com. While you're at it, go check out myself and Yano in the
twenty nineteen Global Tag League. It's like a three week long SNL skid.
All right, The Art of wrest League is not over. I'll definitely be
doing some more, but we'll take a quick pause in the rotation. It
won't be weekly. Stay subscribed still, Tell friends you never know when these
shows will pop up. And right now I'm gonna get into some plugs and
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ad free archives of wrestling Anonymous and new boninous Wrestling Anonymous episodes just for Patreon
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I give you a real fun nickname too. And don't worry, Wrestling Anonymous
isn't done. There will be new episodes on the feed. There just was
one last week. Also, grab some merch at coltmerch dot com. Brand
new signed upper deck cards and major pod cardmark cards are available. I have
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I'm on Twitch all the time, playing games, Twitch dot tv, Slash
Coldcubana, Cult Wrestling at gmail dot com is my very public email, and
that's where you can hit me up for shows, conventions, or business or
non business stuff, or send me something fun to my po box, which
you can find on my website colcobata dot com. I'm coming June thirtieth in
Atlanta Terminus presents Modern Age Grappling. I'll be fighting Brian Johnson. Also July
twenty second and twenty third, I'll be at the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame
in Waterloo, Iowa, doing a live podcast which will be on the feed.
I'll be wrestling in so much more nwhof dot Org. July twenty ninth,
Matt Classic is heading back to Luchevavoom in Los Angeles, gen Con dot
Com in Indianapolis on the fourth of August, and then on the fifth of
August, the Gathering of the Juggalos podcast. Cover Arn't designed by Jimmy Lee.
Photo by James muscle White. Thank you to our sponsor One Hour Teas
dot Com. They help run Pro Wrestling Teas dot Com. That's where you
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that's it. That is the show for the way. Hope you had fun.
Love doing these. Can't wait to come back with a new batch,
but for now, this has been the art of wrestling For Cold Cabana.
I'm Cold Cabana. Thanks your levels. Hello, Hello, well hi,
yes, I'm sorry, I have a big voice. All right, tell
me what you have for breakfast? Coffee? Just cut well, by just
saying one word, Kevin, just I only had coffee. I tried to
get hotel coffee downstairs, and it was brown hot water. It was disgusting,
so I ordered Uber Eats instead. All right, I also had brown
hot water, but for something different. Check check check. All right.
I'm to make you turn your chair to me a little bit, sure,
so we can conversate without breakingness. Well, I don't want to break anything, okay,