The Ride Home
Dallas Danger and Brian Logan sit down and discuss in Q & A form "Making the Towns" podcast.
The Ride Home
Kayfabe On The Road
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You can learn more about pro wrestling in a car than you ever will in a ring, and this ride proves it. Brian Logan and Dallas Danger sit down for “The Drive Home,” a Patreon-style after show that goes deeper on the first chapter of Brian’s career and the territory-era world that raised him.
We talk about growing up in Southern West Virginia where the wrestling territories overlapped, how syndicated World Class Championship Wrestling became a weekly “palette cleanser,” and why production details like lighting, ring mics, and Bill Mercer’s willingness to stay silent made moments feel bigger. If you care about wrestling history, kayfabe, or how presentation shapes psychology, there’s a lot here that still applies to modern wrestling and modern media.
Then it turns into pure road-story truth: planning your weekends around TV airtimes before streaming, what the VCR changed, the personal relationships that get strained by the miles, and the unspoken rules of paying dues. Brian breaks down why he couldn’t ride with the boys at first, how veterans taught the business on long drives, and what brutal early training looked like on concrete floors and thin mats.
It all lands on legacy, memory, and the gear that carries it, including the reveal that Dallas owns Brian’s first pair of yellow “Hornet” boots. If you like honest wrestling storytelling with specific names, real places, and real lessons, hit play, then subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review so more fans can find it.
Cold Open And The After Show
SPEAKER_00I am your champion. Oh man, that's classic. I love it. I'm gonna climb that ladder of success all the way to the top. This is the Drive Home, the after show for the Making the Towns with Brian Logan. I am Brian Logan, and I'm here today with my best friend, my colleague, my confidant, Dallas Danger. How are you doing, Dallas?
SPEAKER_02I'm doing very well. Um it's a little weird not being the host. Yeah, it is.
SPEAKER_00Doing being reversed. Yeah, very reversed for us. Yeah, it is very, very uh different, but we'll get through it. Yeah, it'll be all right. So you have gathered some questions.
SPEAKER_02Um, so so I I listened to the episode and I was very excited to hear it and was uh really enjoyed it, first and foremost. Uh very happy with what you're doing. Um and I can't commit to being on the show with you every week. Right, time-wise, just scheduling wise, but I I figured, you know, I I have some follow-up questions and talking points, and we get together about once a week, anyways, to do our other show. And I said, Well, we can do a little Patreon wrap-up show, kind of give you somebody to bounce off of and go maybe into some more detail, or or you know, I mean, you're talking to yourself for I mean 40 some minutes, you know. I assume it'll be an hour moving forward when you're actually in the book.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
Growing Up On Territory Television
SPEAKER_02So this is a chance to to have a conversation beyond the regular podcast. And and you've already been doing a great job with the Patreon, which is cool to see, all the pictures, and um, you know, you've got great ideas for content there. And I figured, why not? Let's just uh let's just try this out and sure, see how it goes.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. We've uh put some pictures up on Instagram also, which is at Brian Logan uh making the towns, Instagram and Facebook, and they've been very popular, the Carrie Von Eric pictures. Um I think between now and next week I'm gonna put some of the Terry Funk on Instagram because I have some that aren't on uh Patreon that can go on the Instagram and keep that up and give a little taste of that. But uh yeah, let's get started. What's some of your questions?
SPEAKER_02Um, so my I I'm gonna try to go chronologically, but we'll probably jump around. Okay. Um, but but we imag we imagine that if you you're if you're on Patreon and you're listening to this, you've listened to the episode, so you kind of gonna be able to follow along at least, you know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, generally speaking. Generally, it's like the ride to the show, to the live event in the car. Uh it you know, the the podcast itself is the ride there. This is kind of the ride home after the show.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. We're rebooking the territory in the car now. Absolutely. Absolutely. Which which which, if you're not familiar, Brian and I have done countless times over the years. Yes, we we will rebook a territory in a heartbeat. I don't know that there's a territory we haven't rebooked in the car. No, there isn't. There isn't. Uh so the first takeaway I had listening was you growing up where you did, you were so fortunate to have access to as much different wrestling on television as you did. Um you went through everything. I mean, you you you had it all. And for you to be in Southern West Virginia and get to see the Von Erickson in Dallas was was a real treat. And and so I just kind of want to go a little more into that and just you know, people don't realize like nowadays if if you if you miss Raw on Monday or whatever wrestling show on whatever day, you can just go back and watch it on demand. You were literally setting your entire life to when wrestling was on TV.
Why Silence Made Commentary Hit
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. They uh the West Virginia area or territory, as we call it now, uh was in the middle, uh, it was the uppermost of the Crockett territory and it was the lowermost of the WWF territory. So it was stuck in the middle. Uh the Mason Dixon line literally uh divided the two territories. And then with syndication with the 605 and ESPN, we were very lucky. And if you've watched any of the Von Erich uh Triumph and Tragedy uh DVD documentaries, they will tell you that their show got syndicated and they didn't know about it. And we were one of the WAY was one of those stations that picked it up, and we got it at Saturday mornings at 11 o'clock, and it it was really cool because they were so much different than everybody else, production-wise, wrestling-wise. So it was like in the middle of the day, you got this palette cleanser that was just really, really cool.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and a in a revolutionary territory in TV presentation. They lighted different, they mic'd up a lot more than other territories did. You know, nowadays, you know, they can't fart in the ring without you hearing it. Right. But back that back then it was unheard of. Yes. Because they didn't want you watching at home to hear them calling spots or them talking to each other in the ring and cooperating. Right. Now that that glass has kind of been shattered, it doesn't, it doesn't matter. But back then that was that was way ahead of its time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and one of the things that always stuck with me was Bill Mercer would lay out and let the uh action kind of speak for itself. So you would be, I know I was, I would watch it so intently, I would forget there was no commentary, and then I'd be like, oh, wait a minute, where's the commentary? And then Bill would say something.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And then it would be, you know, twice as more important because I I was I realized there wasn't nothing being said.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Bill was great. He was awesome. And and and had the had the stick and ball sport background to understand the art form of laying out. Yes. And something that when you hear, you know, like you hear Bruce Pritchard talk about Vince didn't have that. Yeah. You know, like he talks about the moment when Kane shows up in the WWF in what was that, 97, and they've built up to it and they've built up to it and they've built up to it. And Vince is freaking out, and oh my god, that must be Kane. And he's like, shut up. Just let it, you know, let them do it. You know, let let the let Taker's mouth without you hearing him go, Kane, just seeing him say that, yeah, let that be the moment. Yeah, and and and even Vince didn't didn't understand that at a at a level that a guy like Bill Mercer totally got.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean that sometimes you it's better to say nothing, to lay out and let the gravity of the situation explain it. You know, even if you got a you know, it's the end of the show and you have to come back next week and explain why you were speechless, it's it has more gravity of the situation then.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I don't know this. This is all speculation, but I imagine there was a lot of times that Bill didn't know what was coming.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I I don't think he knew what was coming. I mean, I think he had a match list, but uh and the general story, but I don't think he knew because I don't think they knew. I think they made it up as they went along.
SPEAKER_02Sure. And and you know, I've been in situations as a commentator where angles happen and I don't know they're coming, and I have to just react.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And and laying out in those situations sometimes is your your your the best tool in your toolbox.
Planning Life Around Air Times
SPEAKER_00Oh, absolutely. I mean, you know, the silence is golden sometimes. Yeah. So yeah, it was very special, and and I got so much wrestling. Um, and and you know, my my parents actually thought I was depressed.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because I didn't want to go anywhere and do anything. You know, and if we we my dad loved to watch movies, so we would go to the movie theater every Saturday and Sunday. Well, we had to had to schedule it to get the movies in. You know, we had to go, couldn't leave till 12 when world class went off. Yep. And we had and I'd have to give up like mid-Atlantic um until I got a VCR. But uh we'd have to be back by six so I could watch the evening show.
SPEAKER_02The VCR changed everything.
SPEAKER_00The VCR changed everything because then I could go out and do some things and and all that. But yeah, they thought I was depressed because all I wanted to do was sit home and watch TV.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But I couldn't miss a minute of it.
SPEAKER_02I was always that way Saturday mornings with uh with Smokey Mountain.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Good luck getting me out of the house Saturday morning until Smokey's off.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and now when we got Smoky Mountain, Smokey Mountain came on at 11 o'clock at night in uh in West Virginia. So we didn't get him during the day. We that was a stay up late.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we had uh we had CYB out of Bristol. Yeah. Um and so it was it was like it was the wrestling time slot. Yeah. You know, that was the thing with CYB. If you were doing wrestling on that station, it was that Saturday morning time slot because they knew that people were programmed from years and years of that exposure that they might not know it's coming and go, well, maybe there's wrestling coming. You know what I mean? It was it was a it was a it was the the the viewer was programmed, right? And that was that was valuable for and you know uh Jim Cornett has talked on his podcast a lot about the the the value of CYB and the Tri-Cities and having that time slot.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, it was Smoky Mountain was the Knoxville territory, quote unquote, but the the and that was the big town once a month because of the civic auditorium, but but the real big towns was Johnson City, because that was the first leg of the tour. So you would do Johnson City, Knoxville, and then you would do Beckley, West Virginia. So that was that was the loop of the of the big towns. So yeah, that was the first audience that saw whatever Smoky Mountain was was uh you know selling.
The Missing Girlfriend Story
SPEAKER_02All right. Now that the easy one's out of the way. Okay, there's one burning question from this first episode, this great first episode of Making the Towns with Brian Logan. Where in the hell was your girlfriend? Yeah. You were like, oh yeah, mom took me and my girlfriend, and then you're telling all these stories about this convention, and I'm going, this girl probably dumped him before they got home. Like she's nowhere to be found.
SPEAKER_00Well, that okay, her name was Tammy, and she uh I dated a cheerleader. I'm so proud of that. I I can't believe I pulled a cheerleader in high school. She was from the neighboring school in Fedville. So, like, all the Oak Hill girls dated uh college guys, and all the Oak Hill guys dated the Fedville girls. Yeah, and the Fedville guys dated all the Midland Trail girls, so it was all messed up.
SPEAKER_02Midland Trail is just like Blue Ball City, yes, exactly. Yeah, they they were just in trouble.
SPEAKER_00But uh no, her and mom hung out. She she was a big wrestling fan. Um, she watched as much wrestling as I did. Yeah, and um she she stayed in the room with mom and they did girl things while I was down in the bar. Um the funny thing is she loved the Ultimate Warrior. Yeah, and that was her whole reason for going because she just she that was the end-all be-all. And then he was a huge dick, and he was a huge dick, and um she was giving me a hard time because she all her thing was she never thought I was big enough. Yeah, and I wasn't. Uh that's something I'll get into it later on in the podcast, is I as 6'1240, I was a small guy in the wrestling business back then.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, very small.
SPEAKER_00So I had they had a caricature guy that drove that drew the caricatures, and he took my head and put it on the Ultimate Warrior's body, and that was her present for the weekend. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I love it.
SPEAKER_00But uh the way me and her broke up was this is terrible. This is this. Oh gosh, here we go. Um I had been doing uh the loops for Smoky Mountain for a while, and we were still dating and talking on the phone and all that, but I didn't get to see her that often. And I had an off day, and this was before they changed the speed limits. So to go from Morristown to Beckley, you could only go 55. Yeah, you know, so I on my off day, it took four and a half hours to get from here to Beckley back then. And um I was uh I had an off day and was gonna go up to visit her, and I got to about uh uh Chillawe, Virginia, driving up there, and I was like, you know what? Life's too short, my day's off, I'm breaking up with this chick. Yeah, I was like, I'm not I'm not spending my only day on the road just to go up and see her for a few hours.
SPEAKER_02Well, and what a story that is, because that was very early on in your career, and you're learning that lesson of like I want to do this and I'm gonna continue to do this, but it's gonna cost me personal relationships.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and and here's the point I never actually broke up with her, I just stopped calling her. And fast forward, like this was like maybe 15 years ago, but fast forward I've been in the business like 15, 16 years. I run into her in Walmart. Yeah. And she's still hot about it. She was like, oh, you couldn't call me in 15 years, you couldn't call me once. And I was like, no, I couldn't do that. But uh, but yeah, no, I learned uh um organically, I guess, is the proper way to say that you know, your your off time is special and you know you travel so much, I wasn't gonna spend all that time on the road just to see her.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was like it was like another day of work, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And it just wasn't worth the time to to just drive up there.
First Live Show And Dream Cards
SPEAKER_02So a theme of this specific show of the drive home will will be that I've heard pretty much all of these stories. Right. But you're now with this podcast going into detail that even I haven't like I don't know or don't remember because it's you've told me these stories ten times and it's only come up once. Yeah. Um and I I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this next question, but but I I wanted I wanted you to kind of go into this. Um, the Smoky Mountain House show after the wedding. Okay. That wasn't your first live wrestling show, was it?
SPEAKER_00No, no, that was my first Smoky Mountain show. Right. I I had went to uh in 1987 I went and saw NWA and Beckley. And then after that, it took me a couple years to talk my parents into going for some reason. I don't know why, because they were usually really good about that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, but I I think it had something to do with so many people because they really drew back then. Yeah. Um but we started going to Charleston and Beckley and anywhere we could find wrestling. Um, my uh so 90 through 92 or 89 through 92, we went to all the matches. Yeah. So this was just my first Smoky Mountain house show.
SPEAKER_02Do you remember how much do you remember about your first live wrestling show? Uh almost all of it. And I have pictures from all of it. So let's talk about that. Okay. Tell me, tell me, tell me, you know, who was there, who were you excited to see?
SPEAKER_00So the opening match was uh Jimmy Valiant and Gary Royal, I think. Um yeah, Gary Royal. That was the opening match. So I got to see Boogie was the first first thing I saw. The second match was Lasertron and Thunderfoot. Nice. And the funny thing is, is I like I never sat front row. Um I would I I ran down from the bleachers because I was up in the in the big area, but I ran down for Lasertron. And when Lasertron comes by to shake my hand, I lean into him. This is just how how much of a mark I was. I was like, I know who you are. You're Hector Guerrero. And he just looks and goes on. You know, but I thought I was, you know, I had uncovered, you know, the Kennedy assassination.
SPEAKER_01That's so funny.
SPEAKER_00Um, then after that, we uh Bullet Bob Armstrong and Brad worked the Russians, I want to say. Um, and then uh Tim Horner wrestled somebody. I don't remember who he wrestled, but the main event was Rock and Roll Express and uh the Midnight Express. Nice. So it was it was five matches, you know, typical package show. Uh Rock and Roll brought it home and took the roof off that place.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and the talent pool at that level was such back then, and the business was so booming that that was probably a B town. Oh, yeah. With Boogie and the Armstrongs and Rock and Roll Midnight on top. That's your B town, and that's like I mean, there's people listening going, man, I would have loved to seen that show.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. We didn't get to see like Flair and Tully and Arn until we went to Charleston, and then you got like Barry Wyndham and uh, you know, the A the A Town guys.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So you got you know, you got uh you still had rock and roll, you know. It was uh I remember my first time at Charleston, I saw uh Ricky versus Tully and Robert versus Arn, and then Flair versus Ronnie Garvin, and Barry Wyndham worked excuse me, somebody.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Excuse me, but yeah. They uh um it was a it was definitely a B town and Charleston got a better deal, but you know, we never got Dusty Rhodes. We never we I never got to see him live. Um I never got to meet Dusty, I never got to see him live, and that's that's a shame. I really hate that I never got to do that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you're a big Dusty guy.
SPEAKER_00Love Dusty. Me too. Yeah, I mean, he's just the best, and and and you know, despite what they say, you know, I don't believe it was uh his fault they went two million in the hole, it was the accountant's fault. Sure. Because he should have caught it soon.
Kayfabe Rules And Paying Dues
SPEAKER_02Right, right, right. Meanwhile, the the accountant's family is listening, going, he told them. He told him six years ahead of time. We have the letters. It's yeah. Um, so something you touched on, and this was funny, me you and I laughed about this off air after I listened, uh, because this was another detail that if I if I had been told this at some point, I did not remember. Um, I just want you to kind of go in a little bit more detail for people that maybe don't understand why when you went down there with your dad to move down there and you went to that first show, why you had to drive yourself and follow Tim and you couldn't be in the car.
SPEAKER_00Well, because K Fabe was definitely alive, the code of conduct of to uh dispel disbelief. And they really couldn't have a conversation with me. Right. Because they were speaking a different language, and even though they were gonna teach me, they didn't want to teach me all in one car trip. Right. So I wasn't allowed to, you know, ride with them until I got smartened up to the lingo and uh smartened up to the business a little bit. So that's how protective it was, you know, and I had to pay my own trans and you know, uh everything. Yeah, I was just on my own, following him through the hills of Kentucky that I've never been in in my life. You know, I mean, I had just I'd never been to Tennessee, and I was in Tennessee for three and a half hours.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and then you're going to Kentucky.
SPEAKER_00And then I'm going to Kentucky, you know.
SPEAKER_02And not Lexington or Louisville.
SPEAKER_00No, no, Williamson, which is basically, you know, West Virginia in the coal fields. You're going the back road. Right. Um, and that was before interstate. So it was hills and you, you know, 25 miles an hour up the road, you know. Right. Yeah. I th I think it took something like five, six hours to get there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because that was before they even put Highway 23 in. And I mean, it's long now with Highway 23, much less back then. Sure. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02That probably sets you up pretty well though, because you've talked to me, and I'm sure we'll get to a lot of this as we go through the the books, but um, you know, you've told me about guys like uh was it Akbar that that you you would drive and a lot, and and you talk you've talked a lot about how much you learned in the car.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02Just being the wheel man.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, when I you know, fast forward many, many, many years later, after I'd been in the business a while, I worked uh the Louisiana um um New Orleans area, and um uh Akbar loved the young guys. So he as soon as I'm you know he saw that I was on the trip and and that I had a clue, he's like, Can I ride with you? And I was like, sure. And you know, those were two-hour drives, which wasn't bad, but that's quite a lot of time to spend with him. And he just would tell me about the Texas territory, yeah. You know, and and the best thing about him was I was smart to the business. I had been in the business for quite a while, but I was able to ask stupid questions, yeah. And he did not care, and and that's how you really get smartened up, you know. You a lot of these young guys get in the car and they, you know, they say something and then we give them a hard time because we're picking on them. But we're picking on them because we like them. Right. There's no stupid questions. You don't know anything unless you ask. And that's kind of how it was with Akbar and them, or whoever else I rode with.
SPEAKER_02Sure. Yeah, you've mentioned others too, uh, over the years. But you know, and that's the thing, you know, w another theme that that will come up a lot, and it came up very prominently in the in the first episode when you were talking about the differences between when you broke in and and the modern day. That's a good way now in 2025 to figure out if it's if if if somebody's if they're really one of the boys is being in the car with them. Yeah. It it's it's real, it's real easy to figure out how smart somebody is or how smart they want to be by being in the car with them on these long drives.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and you find out and here's I mean you find out what they're made of um uh personality-wise, everybody's gonna say something stupid or make a joke, or we're gonna pick on you, or whatever. But like I said, because we like you. The worst if you're in a car and the car is silent. Yeah. Because then you nobody wants to be there. Right. So, you know, you find out if, you know, does this kid want to learn? You know, is he gonna ask questions? Does he take the jokes and laugh it off? And does he feed up a thing where you can make fun of him again?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, you know, stuff like that. I mean, um that fast forward way ahead. I I recently, a few years ago, did a tour of uh Canada, um, which I can't wait till we get to that. I mean it'll be years before. Yeah, but it's gonna be great because it was the tour from hell. But Jake Roberts was there, and we ribbed Jake and took his cell phone, and he needed the cell phone because that's how he talked to Dallas Page's sponsor. Yeah. Now we only took it for like 45 minutes. It wasn't, but it was long enough for him to think that it was gone. Well, anyway, we get to a restaurant and uh we're ordering, and the young boys are on their phones instead of ordering, and we're starving, so we want to order as fast as possible. And he's like, Can you boys get off your phones? And I looked at him, I said, Hell, you can't even hold on to your phone. What are you talking about? And he just looked at me and smiled, and he said, Thank God one of the boys is here. And he put his head on my shoulder, and I hugged him, and I was like, That's what it's about, man. That's you know, getting to know each other and and being brothers. For sure.
Concrete Training And Brutal Workouts
SPEAKER_02Um so the gym in Jefferson City. Yes, is it still there?
SPEAKER_00It is no. It the the actual building is not there. There is a Optimus Fitness Center. They have moved it, and they've moved it uh up near the Walmart, and it's like a nice clinic now. Um, it was a fitness center then. Now it's more of a rehab place. Yeah. So technically the business is there, but the uh I there's some other business in the actual building.
SPEAKER_02But the building still stands.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the building still stands. Yeah, without a doubt.
SPEAKER_02Would you be able to find it?
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, without a doubt. Yeah, it's easy to find.
SPEAKER_02We're we're we're we're gonna we're gonna go there for the Patreon one day. Okay, that'd be great. Yeah. That'd be real cool. Yeah. Just yeah. Just real quick, we'll get out of the car, we'll we'll film you you there and what it is now and talk about it. I think that'd be cool.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that'd be really cool. Um, we can also go to uh eventually, once we got the school established, Tim uh and I was working regular loops, me and Anthony. Um he had other students and he rented a an old school and um we can go to it. It's it's uh it's some kind of facility now. We can't go in it, but I can take you there and show you where we learned in the ring stuff. Yeah. Once we had a ring to put up. So there's there's all those little things here and there in town still.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we can we can definitely uh definitely check that out. Um yeah, it was a big question I had was like, is that building still? Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I'd love to just take you to that building and I wish you could go we could go in it and you could see those floors because when I say concrete floors and uh racquetball courts and little inch mats, I I mean exactly that. Yeah. I mean sunset flips, flat back bumps, arm drags, body slams, everything on concrete.
SPEAKER_02So when you got in the ring, it wasn't so bad.
SPEAKER_00It wasn't bad at all. Yeah, it wasn't really bad at all. I mean, I was first seven years, I was rubber man. I was fine because I was young.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, I mean, I hurt my ankle the first tour I did in Canada, which was I think '95. So we'll get to that pretty soon.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, other than that, I I didn't get hurt or anything, really. I mean, a couple things here and there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, I mean, every everybody's gonna start hurting when you when you make a living throwing your body at the ground, but right.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, they uh by the time we got done with that school, I mean, and and again, I can't overstate how much overworking out it was. Tim Horner in his three-hour workouts was bullshit. Uh and I have told him that. That's craziness to work out three hours five days a week and then go down and wrestle for a couple hours.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but that's that was how it was back then. They wanted you wore out because if you could do it and be sharp and keen, totally depleted.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, what would you be if you were fresh for 10 minutes?
SPEAKER_02Then you can drive six, eight hours and go do it. Yeah, absolutely. And it's not that big of a deal because you're tired, but you know, you're not three-hour workout tired. You're just I'm sick of being in the car tired.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, I we used to get back from uh from working out, and it was like it's a five-hour deal. We would make lunch or early dinner, depending on what time it was, and then I would just lay in bed, I'd turn the TV on and lay in bed completely prone and flat and not move. Yeah. Because I was so sore from the concrete.
Being The Punching Bag Who Stayed
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Um so at what point did did you find out or figure out and how did that all kind of get to where you knew that you were really there to be Anthony's punching bag and for them to take the money?
SPEAKER_00Well, they actually told me, Cornette told me that um early on. I mean, after I had, I guess after I started the loops, because he uh he he come to me and he's like, We we didn't have any hopes for you at all. We just you we're just gonna beat you up and send you on your way, but you never left. You never went home. And I mean, and here I am 32 years still, and we're I still haven't went home.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, they they had me when when Tim or was told by my dad he's your boy now, don't let him get hurt. My dad meant that. Tim took that seriously, and I took it seriously too of you know, this is your decision in life. This is there's no turning back, you know, and and I'm thankful for that. Because there were many times in my career where I wanted to just quit and go home because of some political, you know, shenanigans of of well, like WCW. Right. We'll get we'll get there. We'll get there.
SPEAKER_02We'll get to WCW.
SPEAKER_00And um, you know, and I'd want to quit, and they'd be like, no, you know, you've made your bed. That's you're gonna you're gonna stay in this. Yeah, you know, and of course it was just for a few hours of me being upset, and I never seriously thought about ever getting out of the wrestling business. Right, right. Until recently. Until recently. And that's and that's just the body. I've aged out. It's not the the mind is there. Sure. The the the legs aren't.
Why The Podcast Hook Works
SPEAKER_02No, yeah, that's yeah. Um before I get into my last point, okay. Um, because it's less of a question and more of something I just want to get on record. Um do you do you have anything you want to know from me as as a listener, first listener? Well, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, I mean, what what what did you I mean, what do you think about it?
SPEAKER_02I mean, no, I I I I was very excited to hear it because I was a big fan of the concept and all the ideas you had. Uh, and this came together rather quickly, it felt like anyway. Um, and we talk all the time. We talk pretty much from the time we get up till bedtime every day. Right. Um, at least texting, and and and and so it seemed to come together very quickly, but you had all these great ideas, and this is such a you know, it's not an it's not a novel premise really as a podcast, but you know how many guys are doing wrestling podcasts about their own career and they can go back and they've got everything documented. Yeah. And and they're gonna and and nobody's gonna go through every match they've ever had because so few guys were that good at record keeping. Right. You know, and and and and God bless Sandy Scott.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I know, I know, and and me hearing it and and and understand I'm so thankful that I wasn't stupid enough, I was smart enough, I guess is the better way to say it, to listen to him. Yeah. Uh which is what I I mean they could have said run out in front of this train, and then when you become an angel, you can you can go back to wrestling. You know, I would have jumped in front of that train in a second. Sure, yeah. So when he said do it, I just assumed everybody did it. Right. You know, I didn't know that that guys just make up matches. Uh I've had 6,000 matches. Okay, well, prove it. Yeah. You know, not just because you heard Roddy Piper say that on a documentary, show me. You know, and I can actually show you however many matches. I've not had 6,000 matches. So uh I and I know the time frame it took me to get to 1200.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh, and what uh how hard that was. So when when I hear these independent guys say they've had four and five thousand matches, they're lying.
SPEAKER_02Uh yeah, another good way to separate the the the real boys from everybody else these days. Yes, absolutely. The honesty. Yes, the honesty, you know, and just knowing the answer to the question.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02I think a lot of guys get asked that question and they think I gotta come up with a big number. Yeah. And they just throw something out, and you're and then you're going, well, that's not possible because I've done this for 32 years for a big chunk of that at a very full-time seven-day a week level, and I don't have half that. Like you said, six thousand is crazy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's it's I mean, you know, those New York guys in the 80s had that because they were working, you know, twice a day or every day and short and Sunday. But it's very hard to get it in modern wrestling if you're not if you're just an independent guy.
SPEAKER_02Well, even on the even in the big companies now, they don't they don't work six, seven days a week twice, twice on Sundays anymore. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_02And I'm not saying that's good, bad, or indifferent. It's just it's not like that anymore.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I mean, you know, it is so I'm just so lucky that I have those journals and those books, and and I I had been thinking about doing the podcast for a while. We've talked about doing wrestling podcasts, and we couldn't come up with a hook on it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I just got thinking more serious about it. So I thought about that for a long time, and then I just decided, you know what? I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna pull this book out and I'm gonna just go through each little thing and you know, and see what we can come up with.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. But uh circling back to your your original question, I I I I was I'm a big expectation guy, and I try to curb my expectations as to not be disappointed, because disappointment is only bred of expectation. And I was not disappointed for a second. Um, I was riveted, even though again I've heard these stories, because there's a level of detail here that even I, as as like your brother, I don't know these things. Right. You know, and again, we talk all the time. I've heard these stories countless times, some of them, over and over again. And and there's there's just you're going into a level of detail that I don't think you've ever been able to to go into.
SPEAKER_00Right. Well, you know, I I wrote worker, last of a dying breed, available on Amazon.com. Shameless plug. And uh it's more emotional, it's more about my private life. I mean, it's all about wrestling, but it's all like okay, I was doing this on the right hand in wrestling, but on the left hand, I was feeling this way as a human being. Yeah. This is more uh geared towards the wrestling aspect of it. I'm gonna try to leave all the emotional, um, personal stuff out because if you want to know that, then it's literally in the book, you can read the book. Right. Um, this is more about the industry and what I was thinking per each event that I worked.
The Yellow Hornet Boots Reveal
SPEAKER_02Yeah, right on. Um, so yeah, um I mean, obviously, my my first reaction to hearing it from you know, was well, I have questions. Like I I want to talk to you about this. I want to I want to go beyond even what you said. Yeah, and that's how we came to doing this this little deal. Um the last thing I'm ever gonna do, I want to preface the the last point I have. The last thing I'm ever gonna want to do is make this about me until we get to the parts where that is a relevant aspect of the story. Right. Brian and I ran a territory together for a handful of years, and we that's way down the road, but I will be way more involved in telling those stories because they're not just Brian's stories, they're Brian and Dallas stories because we were you think I I talk about how much we talk now. We we were attached at the hip. Oh, yeah, going through that. Yeah. Um, and it was such a a big deal for me and such a great time that I look back on really fondly, even with all the frustrations that again we will get into when we get to the WFS era. Um so I'm not gonna make this about me, but I don't think you had ever told me this. It's possible you had, and I didn't remember it, but I feel like I would have remembered this. Okay. I am now the owner of the yellow hornet boots. Yeah, and I did not realize that that was your very first pair of wrestling boots. Yeah. And so I mean, I grew up on Smokey Mountain wrestling. I I watched WCW and WWF and and any wrestling I had access to. But Smokey Mountain for me was the first time that I had my wrestling.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02These are towns that I know, these are towns that some of them I've been to. Smoky Mountain on a rare occasion would come to the little bitty farming town that I grew up in in Virginia, and that was huge for me as a young kid, and I remember the Hornet showing up, yeah, and I remember the Hornet winning the TV title, which we'll get to very soon. Yeah, very soon on the podcast. On the next episode. Yeah, so so that's a little teaser for the next episode. But um for me to grow up and not only get into the industry, um, which has been just a a dream come true, but to become such good friends with the guy behind the hornet, and to now in my own personal collection have the boots and the mask, not the candido mask, but the eventual like permanent hornet mask, I I have that too. Yeah, as Brian knows because he gifted me those things. Um, but to find that those boots that I have, uh, which already meant so much to me because the symbol of the boots um to someone like yourself who dedicated a life to the industry and sacrificed so much and gave up so much just to lace those things up every day. Yeah. Um to find that this that that that was the first pair you ever had, like they they mean so much more to me now. And that was like uh, you know, that was towards the end of the episode. So for me, it was like the icing on the cake at the end of that first episode. I was like, man, that just um reinvigorated me in a lot of ways, and and uh and I I want to thank you for that.
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you for saying that, man. I'm I'm glad you appreciate those, and I'm glad that that you have them. I'm glad they they survived and you know they were I I they were from uh B and A boots. Um I remember when Tim was like, You're gonna get black or white ones on. I say, I'm getting yellow. And he was like, No. And I was like, Yeah, I'm getting yellow. Dusty's wearing yellow now. Because that's when Dusty had gone to New York and he went from the cowboy boots to the um um the regular uh wrestling boots for for two or three weeks. Yeah. And they were uh they were 18 inch high because Sid wore the big ones. They were calf leather because that's what all the old timers wore, and and they lasted longer. Yeah. And then they were yellow because of dusty.
SPEAKER_02Then those things are still in great shape. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00They were they're they held up better than any of the indestructible.
SPEAKER_02Yes. They are they are you know, they've got miles on them, don't get me wrong. But if you polished them up and shined them up and they would look almost branded. They could be worn today and are in good enough condition that that that wouldn't be a a detriment to somebody who wanted to wear them. Uh, but they're mine.
SPEAKER_00They they found their rightful home.
SPEAKER_02I guess they did. I guess they did. But yeah, that's so cool for me to, you know, and and and and I've met so many and been in locker rooms with so many of those Smoky Mountain guys, and and you know, gotten to spend I mean, getting to spend time with Tony Anthony, the dirty white boy, a couple years ago at WrestleKade was just a real treat. Yeah. You know, because they say never meet your heroes. Right. And I get why. I totally understand that, and I have had other experiences in my life that prove that to be true at some level.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02There's not one Smoky Mountain guy that I have met and and not just like, oh, hey, how you doing? Yeah. Like actually had conversations with that I can say, well, I guess I wish I'd never met him. Yeah. You know, Tracy Smothers was a doll of a human being.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. I miss Tracy every day.
SPEAKER_02Everybody loves Tracy. Everybody who ever came in contact with him. Um Punky and Hoot. Yeah. You know, Hoot Hoot's an asshole, but he's he's our asshole. You know, um, you know, but Punky has been uh nothing but great to me over the years, and and I've spent some time with him and been on shows with him. And um, and then obviously, you know, my again, my best friend was the Hornet and uh and the Inferno and Kendo and himself every now and then.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we'll talk about this later in the podcast, but uh there used to be like six guys that were jobbers or enhanced. I prefer jobbers because they're out there to do a job. I don't know why that became a derogatory term.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, because that's what you're literally there for is to do the job. Sure. The job, the job squad. The job squad, right. So um pin me, pay me. Exactly, exactly.
SPEAKER_02So that then I mean you would you would have been perfect in the job squad just just because you'd have worn the shit out of that t-shirt that said pin me pay me because you you lived that.
SPEAKER_00I did. I did, you know.
SPEAKER_02I I joke with Brian all the time that he's he's the uh he's the um the going expert on what the lights and the roofs of buildings look like. I know what they all look like.
SPEAKER_00When when I ran Apex Wrestling, again, that's way down the road in the podcast, but uh I put a sign on the on the the top of the studio that said Pin Me Pay Me. Yeah, and I never told anybody it was there. You had to look up and see it to know it was there. And guys would come back just horse laughing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. You know, that's awesome. I don't think you've ever told me that either.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was just a little teeny, you know, sign. Yeah, you know, and and I just loved that no no one knew it was there until you saw it.
SPEAKER_02So you were in that position and you needed to be reminded that there was a reason you were doing that.
SPEAKER_00Yes, and it was hidden behind a light, sort of, so that the crowd couldn't see it either. So you literally had to be in that position to see it.
SPEAKER_02We'll again way down the road, but we'll we'll get to uh we'll get to lights that the crowd can see. Yes, yes. Oh, y'all gotta stick around because there's a lot more great stories as this thing goes along.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I mean, there's there's tons of them, and you know, just the I'm gonna talk about the guys and the good opponents, the bad opponents, you know.
SPEAKER_02Um Yeah, Brian has assured me that this is a gloves-off podcast.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, when we get to certain guys, I'm gonna tell you what I really think about them. But I'm also gonna tell you about the guys I loved and why I love them. Yeah. Or still love them. You know, but but you know, I I have a handful of people, not a lot, because I've tried to be get peace with it, but there's a couple of people that that I'm I can't wait to say what my opinion is.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. But and and and that's I need people to understand that are gonna listen to this when you when you start burying guys that you've worked with. That is really saying something because Brian's education in this business set him up to get a match out of damn near anybody. Yes. I mean, you were trained as correctly as correctly gets as far as professional wrestling goes. And for you to be that kid that you talked about in the first episode and be in the room with the Dirty White Boy and the Rock and Roll Express and Tracy Smothers and all these guys with all this experience and to learn from them.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And to be taken under all those wings. And like you said, you were their little brother. Yeah. As soon as you were in the in the door and in the room, you were the little brother. And those guys looked out for you. And uh, I'm just looking so forward to to you getting into all these stories about all these guys, and then you know, the evolution of you becoming one of those guys and passing your knowledge and your experience on to others. Yeah. You know, and and and there's there's I mean, there's just there's great stories about us running running the territory and me not realizing guys were Brian Logan products and just finding them on my own and going, we need to book this guy. And Brian going, Yeah, I trained him. Yeah, yeah. I know that guy. I've got his I've got his number. You know, yeah, let's get him in. Yeah. I mean, just just great, great stuff on the way. I hope y'all liked the first episode. I hope y'all like that we're doing this little drive home to follow up and and and you know, keep this on the Patreon Um for a little extra extra bonus content and everything. Uh, but that's that's really what I had. Um, you know, I think once we get into certain stuff and certain people, I'll have more questions because again, we're gonna get into details and we're gonna talk about people that I don't I don't know, we've not talked about me, you know, personally as much. So uh but that that's what I had for the first one. And um again, I'm I'm looking forward to the next one.
Dirty White Boy Bonding And Respect
SPEAKER_00Well, uh, you want to hear real quick uh how I became friends with Dirty White Boy?
SPEAKER_02Yes, tell me.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so we're at some town, I don't know where. It's early on in my career, and I mean I I had met him and had been around him, but we were not friends yet. And he asked me, he said, Do you want to run down to the store and go grab some beer? And I said, No, I'm good. Because I was scared to death. Yeah. What was I gonna say? You know? And Brian Hildebrandt, Mark Curtis, came up to me. He said, Are you insane? Are you crazy? And I was like, Why? And he's like, You have an opportunity to be in a car for 10 minutes with somebody one-on-one. You need to take that opportunity, and it hit me, I was like, Oh, I guess I do. So I went to Tony and I said, I'm sorry, I'm so green, I don't even know what I want to do. And he's like, Get in the car, and we became friends, and we've been friends ever since.
SPEAKER_02And what a great human being. Yes, I mean, just um in the environment of WrestleK, the year that we were fortunate enough to to be working with him and um handling all of his appearances and stuff that weekend, and just to see these modern fans, and this is not a dig on anybody personally, they just don't know what they don't know. Right. Walking up to him and talking to him as if he was a fan, yeah, not even knowing who he was, but then also sitting in that autograph room on Sunday of WrestleCade and watching Caprice Coleman walk up and shake Tony's hand and say thank you and and and show that respect for for the guys that paved the way and and came before. And you would think Caprice Coleman, the last guy in the world he would want to talk to was the guy called the Dirty White Boy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But he was so gracious and he wasn't the only one. Yeah. That whole weekend, but that was the one that really got me when Caprice walked up and was just like, you know, and Caprice can talk. I mean, he's a preacher for crying out loud. He can talk. And and hearing him just lay it out like, man, it's so amazing to meet you and be able to tell you that that I I appreciate what you did and I respect your career, and I'm so happy you're here right now. Um, you know, not a fan, not a guy who bought a ticket, a guy who was there getting paid.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, and doing business.
SPEAKER_02And and came over in our little corner we had and and and and and just laid all that out. And to see what that meant to Tony was was great. And and just again, to get to spend time with him.
SPEAKER_00I mean, Tony is such a special guy in this industry. There, there's the boys, and then there's and your brothers, and then there's guys you just get close with. And Tony is such a nice guy, and he's so funny. Yeah, he's hilarious. Oh my god, the way nobody delivers a one-liner like him. And it's just you don't you just don't see it coming, and he hits you with it. And and then, you know, when I got to work with him in the main events early on, um I wasn't ready for main events, you know, right place, right time, and him taking the time to not just gobble me up. I mean, part of it was he had to get you know 20 minutes of a main event, but sure. But he he could have just come out there and gobbled me up and not taught me anything. He was he taught me how to be a main event guy in my first year.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, yeah. Um, I don't know that there's anybody who spent any length of time outside of a couple minutes with Tony Anthony that does not have an inside joke. So yeah. The gummies. The gummies, the the bears, and that's no uh you get no context on that because that's our little thing and it will always be our little thing. But uh, but that's all I got for this go-round, man.
SPEAKER_00I well I uh we've this is a good little drive home, man, and uh I look forward to doing more of these with you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's gonna be fun, and and I'm I'm I'm I'm I know we're we're way way in the future on this, but I I'm so looking forward to getting to uh running WFS and me making towns with you and and and I mean ultimately being involved directly in your your last match, which again meant so much to me and and I know it meant a lot to you for me to be there.
SPEAKER_00And yeah, it did um and what and what a finish. I don't want to let it out the bag, but it wasn't what we thought it was gonna be.
SPEAKER_02No, and uh we'll tell the story, but but I got a little surprised in the moment. Uh it's a good thing I could hear the ring announcer that night because I was kind of going, huh?
What Comes Next And Final Plug
SPEAKER_00I was going, huh? What just happened? Yeah. Yeah. So, well, all right, guys. Uh be sure to uh tune in to Making the Towns with Brian Logan, a new podcast. Uh wherever podcasts are available. I hope you enjoy it. We're gonna enjoy doing it. And uh thank you, Dallas, for this uh the drive home. I'm still weren't learning the name of the drive home. And uh, well, that's it for now. I am your champion.