The Ride Home
Dallas Danger and Brian Logan sit down and discuss in Q & A form "Making the Towns" podcast.
The Ride Home
Trading Gimmick Photos To Escape The Cops
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I thought the comeback would be simple: shake the rust off, lean on a legends tag, have a little fun, go home. Then night two hits, the lineup changes, the referee situation goes sideways, the communication is a mess, and suddenly you’re doing real indie wrestling triage in front of a live crowd. We break down exactly how a veteran keeps a chaotic match from turning into a disaster, what you can quietly fix on the fly, and why the audience often never knows how close the wheels came off.
Then we jump back to 1994 and the territory grind that built the skill set to survive nights like that. We talk Smoky Mountain Wrestling, ring setup stress, and a tape full of opponents that still sounds unreal: Chris Candido, Dory Funk Jr, the future Ahmed Johnson, and a billed Von Erich in the same orbit. The bigger lesson isn’t nostalgia, it’s craft: repetition, pacing, and learning when “less is more” from masters like Bullet Bob Armstrong.
We also finally open the door on the Gangstas stories: New Jack, Mustafa, and what “real heat” meant in that era, including the infamous Malcolm X angle and the kind of road tension that turns your stomach. Add in classic Rock ’n’ Roll Express travel madness, and you’ve got a wrestling podcast episode packed with territory history, ring psychology, and behind-the-scenes decision making that today’s fans rarely hear.
If you’re into professional wrestling stories, indie wrestling reality, and the unfiltered logic of how wrestlers get through the night, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so we can keep building toward more live shows and more deep dives.
Cold Open And Welcome
SPEAKER_02I 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. Hello, everybody. Welcome to the ride home. I'm your host, Brian Logan. I'm here with my best friend and colleague, the one and only Dallas Danger. Dallas, how are you? You ready for this ride?
SPEAKER_00I'm I'm feeling, I'm gonna be honest, I'm feeling pretty good. And uh my only concern is doing uh a podcast for people that I've never met to hear uh in my current state, but you know what? We're gonna give it a go.
SPEAKER_02Well, we're gonna give it a go. You know, we've had a lot of downloads lately, and we've got a lot of new followers on the YouTube and subscribers, and they have found us and all those other catchphrases you're supposed to use with social media, they have done it. And uh and that's just been in the past 24 hours um since uh putting up and we'll talk a little bit more about this before we go, but uh putting up escaping addiction brings in a crowd, the Wolfie D story.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Well it's um that'll do it. I mean that'll that'll that'll get some eyeballs on what you're doing. And I mean, I think it's great that that um you're going back now and and putting up some of this work you you did, you know, at this point years ago.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_00Um just on the YouTube for for for totally free, you know, for people to just see. And uh it's really cool to see that getting a response.
SPEAKER_02Uh a friend of the show, Johnny Rose, over there in England, said uh this morning at about two o'clock, which I don't know what time that is over there. It's it's daytime for them, I think, if it's nighttime or however that works. But anyway, he said if I keep putting up movies, he's now gonna leave his house ever again. That he's just gonna stay home and watch them over and over and over. But he said that was good for him because he's uh uh he's antisocial like I am anyway. So he said he's okay with not leaving the house. Yeah. So, all right, let's get this
How The Two Podcasts Work
SPEAKER_02ride started. We are going over episode five of Making the Towns, and you have prepared for questions. Uh let me tell everybody if you're a first-time listener, we have a sister podcast called Making the Towns with Brian Logan, where I have kept journals for 30 years, and we go through the towns and count the the towns themselves, the matches, the monies, and the miles, and the bumps and the opponents. I do that by myself, and then this is the ride home. So it's just like going to a wrestling show, you're making the town. I'm talking about previous uh explo exploits and adventures, and then on the ride home, we rebook the territory, and you uh ask me in a QA format questions about the episode, and uh I try to answer them as best as possible. So here we go.
SPEAKER_00That was a great that was a great summation.
SPEAKER_02Well, if nothing else, I can summate.
SPEAKER_00So we're gonna we're gonna be a little all over the place. Uh I got a lot, but but um we're gonna get through it. It's gonna be great. So uh sometimes you gotta go back to the mountain for a little while. I mean uh I just have to say, like, I was completely floored and shocked when you were like, hey, I'll be doing the podcast again. Um you know it was I'm gonna go to some shows, and then it was I'm gonna do matches, and I was that's when I really hit the floor with my jaw because it was just I just we had we had talked you and I, Brian, for that eight months. And really longer than that in ways we had talked about things like like this was permanent, you know what I mean? Like there was a finality to us not being involved directly anymore, and so I was just taken completely off guard. Um, but but you seem to be having a great time, and um certainly this is gonna lengthen the potential lifespan of these podcasts because uh you know you went ahead and covered, you know, your first uh your first sort of you know loop coming back to it and um just history repeating itself with the rock and roll, you know, all these years later. Of course, of course, who else would you be in the ring with, right?
SPEAKER_02Absolutely absolutely. I mean, I was taken aback when I was sitting there, and I don't even remember what story I was telling Ashley, but apparently it had been one that I had said like 900 times, and she was like, You need to tell other people. And I was like, What do you mean? And she's like, You need to start the podcast back up because I've heard all these stories. You need to tell somebody else. And I thought she was joking. I was like, Oh, that's that's a pretty good one. You're coming in there pretty stiff on that one, honey. And uh she was like, No, seriously, you need to get these stories out so that everybody can hear it. And then she was like, Um, you know, do the podcast. And then I got contacted by Todd Rowe, who said, you know, hey, would you like to come in and do this? And he assured me that it was against the rock and roll and that it was going to be good and uh easy. And I said, I asked Ashley, and she said, Yeah, because it's a legends match, and I trust you with Ricky and Robert. And then next thing you know, we're off to the races, and I'm in both ankles deep.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So here's what I really want
Blaine Kentucky Chaos Night Two
SPEAKER_00to talk about.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_00Second night back in. Blaine, Kentucky, if I'm not mistaken.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_00At what point do you think to yourself I have made a dire mistake with all the crazy off-the-wall factors that went into that night and that match, and you know, the referees late, and you've got deaf partners, you know, tag team partners, you've got a completely green school principal on the other side. You know, you had already talked about you know, the night before things going a little bit crazy because Hoot had also not worked in a while. And uh I mean, yeah, at what point did you first say I have I have messed up by doing?
SPEAKER_02Well, they came to us, I was getting dressed, and they said we're gonna make it a six-man. And Punky, Ricky Morton, said, Yeah, it's gonna be a six-man, and I thought, oh, okay, this will be even great better because I won't have to do hardly anything in this. And then Todd was late, so about the time I'm finished and getting dressed, he comes in and I said, Hey man, and uh I said, You better get dressed. Roberts talked him into putting us on first, and he goes, Oh, I'm not in the match. They need me to do something else, and uh, you got two other partners. That's the point I was like, oh no. And then they introduced me to the to the guys, which I had met them the night before. Great guys, awesome guys, but they were green, green, green, green, green. And the the one guy had um John, I think was his name, he uh he had refereed them the previous night. So he was the referee. And then as we're going on and I'm getting prepared, and it's getting closer to bell time, they're just unfolding this tragedy of events here where there's no referee and they can't communicate, and Robert's sign languaging, and it's I'm just sitting there thinking, oh my god, this is well, and I thought this at the time when you told me about all this, how lucky that Hoot has the history with you know, the the people in his family who were who were hearing impaired and and knowing the sign language and being you know, having experience in communicating with people that can't hear you. Absolutely. And they were so when we were going over things for the match and everything, uh who was able to do the sign language, but then I noticed that they could read lips. So as long as they were looking directly at me, then they could understand what I was saying. So I used that to the my advantage in the match. I literally got up in their faces and was and talked real slow so they could they could read my lips.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But it was it was a good little match, I thought. I mean it was we weren't it wasn't WrestleMania and we weren't, you know, r rebuilding the wheel here, but um, you know, it was it could have been a hell of a lot worse, is what I'm getting at. It it was it was very good, it was better than the first night. And uh I thought the two kids did great.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I think if you if you're watching that match and you know what you're looking at, you know what I mean? Um like if you watch a match the way you and I and you know everybody else in the business um watches a match, I think it's a great illustration of the veteran presence of you and the rock and roll, because you guys did a really good job of keeping it contained and not letting it get out of hand in terms of the quality or you know, you never the the crowd wouldn't have known any of this stuff had you not gone on the podcast and told them. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02Right, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00It it it was it was the weaknesses were covered up and the strengths were were you know um magnified uh in a way that it takes all that all those years of experience you know to to pull off uh as it's uh that effectively. So um and I think to just the the the the the naked eye, the the regular fan, you know, it just looks like a match. Um you know um some fans might think it's boring because there's not 600 high spots and and you know nobody sells anything, but you know, that's that's your that's your personal taste, I guess. Right um at that point. So yeah, I mean it wasn't it wasn't bad, you know, especially when you consider all those things that were going on surrounding it and and and and you know the the the the obstacles I guess to making that happen and you know yeah so it it's just funny, you know, night two, and here we go. We're we're back, we're back on the indies, baby. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Everything you think is gonna happen probably is not gonna happen. The funny thing was is I did all of Robert's uh high spots that he wanted to do, which wasn't a lot, but for me it was because I hadn't taken more than a bump in a row in one night. You know what I mean? I I mean I wasn't taking multiple bumps, so I I want I wasn't blown up, but I wanted to get a rest before I got blown up. So I go over, and as I'm tagging uh John, I said, When you get in here, just pound on Punky. Just throw punches and pound on him and don't let up till he tells you. And the kid got in, and you know, he didn't throw the greatest punch in the world, but they were okay. They were they were believable. And uh he hit he hit Punky with about two or three of them, and Punky crawled over to me and looked up and said, Get your ass back in this ring. And I started laughing out loud because I was like, Oh man, he figured me out. You know, I thought I was just gonna be able to shout instructions and you know, we'd get through this, and uh, they were like, get back in the ring. So I did. And and it continued. But it was fun.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they the rock and roll didn't want to be in there with those kids any more than you wanted to be in there with that high school principal, man. I mean, y'all were it y'all were in it together at that point. You should have known better.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, the thing that was holding us all together was is that we they had to be in Georgia at a flea market the next morning at like 8 a.m. from Blaine, Kentucky, and I wanted to go home. And I was about six hours from home. So we were all holding to the thing that we were the opening match, because we should have been the main event. But it wasn't advertised as a main event, it was just advertised as appearing on the card. So cards subject to change. We talked the promoter into having it, you know, the well Robert talked the promoter into having it as the opening match. So we were we were holding fast and true to the spirit of the opening match and getting the hell out of there.
SPEAKER_00There you go. There you go. Well, um, yeah, I mean, anything else you want to cover from, you know, your your exploits thus far? I think you've had a another show or two since the since that episode was recorded. We're a little behind on the ride home. We'll uh I'm sure we'll get caught back up at some point to where we're doing we're reviewing episodes a little bit more immediately after they come out. But uh anything else you want to touch on about your exploits thus far?
SPEAKER_02Well, I was Yeah, no, I'll I'll I'll tell you about Saturday real quick. Um, and we can touch on it later in another episode too. I won't go directly in it, but uh I'm sitting at the gimmick table uh at this Blaine show and I get a Facebook message from uh Freddy up in West Virginia, and uh he's like, Are you working again? And I I couldn't say no because it's all over the internet. You know, like he literally knows where I'm at and what I'm doing. And I was like, Yeah, I guess I am. And he immediately says, Do you want to come in on the the fourth? And I was like, Oh, I don't know, you know what I mean? I'm thinking to myself, and you know, what's the circumstances here? And uh he said, Well, you can wrestle Onyx, my buddy Onyx, and I said, Oh, okay, that'll be good. And I volunteered and I quoted him an unreal price, and he met the price, and I thought, well, okay, that's good. Um, and because I thought that was gonna be the deal breaker, and it wasn't. And um so we he got me booked, and and I went Saturday, and that so now I I'm not even in the comfort of a tag team match. It's just me and Onyx, who used to tear it down in uh Parkersburg, West Virginia, about 15, 20 years ago. You know, that we we were great then, but you know, how would we be now? And uh there was five hundred and fifty people there at this fundraiser. I mean, that's I hadn't wrestled in front of a hundred people combined in the last five years, you know, and now there's there's five hundred and fifty of them, and I haven't had a match, you know, and you know, Onyx is a little older, and but he's in shape. I'm I'm a lot older and I'm not in shape. But we went out there and we had a good little match, and I didn't get blown up, and we did 10 minutes, which was good because I haven't gone over four minutes in the past five years. And uh it was it was good and I had a great time, and we're gonna continue to to do some of these things.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you you've you've shared with me that there's a lot in the works, you're having a lot of these conversations with with you know bookers and promoters, and I mean you're you know, as you as you put it here in episode five, um you know, you're I I guess at 51, I'm back. Yeah, yeah.
Getting Booked Again At 51
SPEAKER_02And you can you can read more, and let me plug the the blog LoganLogic on um IamYourchampion.com, and you can look you can read more about the match with Onyx, and there's a picture there of me and Onyx, and uh also about the rock and roll match, and both of the matches have the video right under the blog. So that's I am your champion.com in the uh LoganLogic section. But yeah, I'm I'm 51 years old and I'm back in the business. You know, the the ghost of Terry Funk is coursing through my veins.
SPEAKER_00Well, let's get back uh back in the saddle. We're
Back To 1994 And Ring Trouble
SPEAKER_00we're we're right back in 1994 now, and a really interesting time and just place for you to be, and and the the the the Jim Crockett revival.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um and your your list, well, okay, let's start with the ring. Um you you did a good job of explaining what was going on with the ring, why it wouldn't work as it was. Um who was responsible and how did they not get flawed is what I want to know.
SPEAKER_02For putting the ring up wrong?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, I I had two local guys that weren't even wrestlers that were part of the building that were helping me put up the ring, and so ultimately it would have been my fault.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So, you know, and and Anthony wasn't even there, it was just me, and I brought the ring down, had to drive that truck. That was the first time I ever drove a massive size truck, and uh, you know, I just got it. I I we just we set it up perfectly, except for that one little area, and I was like, oh man, I am we're screwed. We are really screwed because this is all steel. But the boys came together and we we fixed it like it was nothing. I mean, I thought Jimmy was gonna have a shitting conniption and shit a chicken, but what he he didn't. He said, I I've seen this before, I know exactly what to do. And and we did it and we fixed it, and it was it was perfectly fine.
SPEAKER_00So the your list of opponents on this tape is kind of like if you wrote down a bunch of random wrestlers' names, right? Well-known wrestlers, wrestlers people would know if they are fans of professional wrestling.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_00And and put them all in a hat and just drew five of them out.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, put them on a dartboard and just threw a dart at them.
SPEAKER_00Because in the same night, you wrestled against Chris Candido, Dory Foe Jr., the man who would become Ahmed Johnson, and a random fake Von Eric.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh, by the way, and Greg Mount.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So I don't know that I've ever come out and said this on the air. And if I have, I apologize for being redundant. But and I'm apologizing to the listeners, not you, Brad, because you've heard me say this about you in your life many times. You really are wrestling forest guys. I mean, so let's just get right into all this. Um, first things first, uh, memories of of those matches with Ken, uh that match with Candido, because up to this point you you had been around him a lot, but y'all were always on the hillside together. So this was your first chance to get in there and really see what all the hype was about.
SPEAKER_02Well, the thing I remember about Candido at that time was is that I got to show that I could do some high spots. Because with the other guys that I was looking around, and they were my heroes. Again, I can't ever stress that enough. These are guys that I grew up watching my whole life. I mean, Michael Hayes was there, and I played with his action figure, you know, almost every night from the time I got it until the time I got in the business. You know what I'm saying? I mean, so but their style is not fast paced, and I had just been doing the thrill seekers and Candido was did that faster pace. So, right out the gate, I got to work and do high spots and show that I could I could go. And I loved that, and I think that helped me that I that I worked him. Well, I worked Ted Allen first, and then I worked Candito. And I think that helped before I got to Dory, who was like, okay, this kid can work. I can do some stuff with him. Because me and Dory, not getting ahead of myself, me and Dory worked pretty well together. And Candito was a protege of Dory. He he Dory's the one that got Candido booked in Japan all those years and all those trips. So it it just helped me and Chris without you know just trying to get over actually got us both over by by you know trusting me to have the kind of match that we had.
SPEAKER_00Yeah yeah so yeah and I I I didn't even mention Ted Allen who you spoke so much about that's why he's not in my notes is because I feel like you've covered everything with him.
SPEAKER_02Well I just episode I just want to say I love Ted and he was the greatest wingman of all time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah yeah you you you laid all that out yeah yeah we don't need to rehash it I just he's he's the guy so yeah so Ted Allen Chris Candino then this this weird six man with Dory Funk Jr and Ahmed and and Mark Von Erich who I who I looked up because you you said on it on the episode you had no idea who he was.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_00And literally he he's a little blip on the Wikipedia page for the von Erich family as someone who's been billed as a fictional member of the family since 1990 and it mentions one angle in global with Skandar accusing him of being an illegitimate son of Chris. And that's it. That's like that's who he is. You know what I mean? But I think you've got to really have a deep understanding or at least a beyond base level understanding of that Dallas territory to know what a thing this is. For them to just put the Von Erick name on somebody to try and get him over. But but yeah so so I mean just what a what a weird time and place.
SPEAKER_02Yeah it really was I mean the uh you know what are the odds of me wrestling that guy that that's just a blip you know I mean had I not had it writ written down in the book would anybody have even remembered him would he would he even be mentioned on a podcast had it not been written down in a book absolutely and they always had to have a Von Eric no matter what because that's that's the way the territory worked in Dallas and this was you know a taping for the Dallas market.
SPEAKER_00And uh but yeah those three guys what a combination right yeah I I just it's just I'm just overwhelmed with all the thoughts of the you know you know this was very likely the only time all of these people were together at the same in like in the same building at the same time.
SPEAKER_02Oh without a doubt without a doubt because um Ahmed Johnson was up in WWE shortly after that I mean I don't know for sure so I I but I'm gonna say like six months. You know it wasn't very long at all. I mean that don't quote me on that but uh yeah I mean and Dory and I remembered working the most with Dory that I got in the ring took the forearms uh you know the the spin and toe hold all that stuff and uh that just was so you know meant so much to me and uh you know and Marty took those pictures that went to the Japanese wrestling magazine that I was in the Japanese wrestling magazine without ever doing a tour of Japan because Dory was trying to get me to go to Japan. So they were kind of foreshadowing you know this kid as just in the magazine and you know you'll go you're gonna see him one day. And then I end up never going to Japan which is one of the biggest heartbreaks of my whole career. Thanks Marty Jannetti. Yeah um all right so all the while still still making all the towns in Smoky Mountain um working on top a lot at this point with with White Boy um how cool was it for you to get the win as the Hornet in that oh it was incredible I mean that was at that point that was the highest moment of you know the place that I sat as a a literal kid watching wrestling and now I get the win in the ring you know in that building with my family my friends everybody at ringside I mean it was it was incredible huge huge yeah um very very cool very very cool and and and you know and and and I you talked a lot about the money going down and what that kind of was foreshadowing you know in retrospect.
SPEAKER_00Obviously nobody really knew at the time um at least you weren't privy to any of that but right you know but at the same time you talked about your your ringtime going up and now they're trusting you with working you know multiple gimmicks and working as yourself and they're they're giving you some victories you know you're you're you're you're just moving along you know what I mean you're kind of making those steps forward yeah so it's very cool alright so we obviously took uh a uh eight month hiatus for doing these shows right prior to that we had billboarded for a couple weeks talking about the thrill seekers and the gangsters yeah and we've covered we've covered the thrill seekers but we get to episode five and we get to the I'm listening to it back and we get to the first mention of the gangsters and you just breeze right past it.
The Gangstas And Real Heat
SPEAKER_00Did I really and I was like what does he do with it? We have told people what great stories we're gonna have when we get to the gangsters and then we didn't get we yanked him you just yanked the rug right out from under so this is your opportunity to talk about because you were really trusted with the with those early gangsters matches and and and everything that went on in those matches and after those matches and um I mean footage of those is was used on dark side of the ring for crying out loud.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_00So so here is your chance to to actually talk about the gangsters coming in what that was like what that meant for you and then anything else you you want to say about the gangsters well I love I love New Jack and and Mustafa I they were they are great guys.
SPEAKER_02New Jack was um he's passed on now but they jimmy knew that he wanted to do the the Malcolm X on a white boy and he didn't trust anybody else to do it but me because they would complain or they would um you know not do it right or not sell it or just mess up the whole thing. Well when he told me you know hey you're gonna get this X drawn well okay what they didn't tell me was is that they were going to sharpen the the eyeliner pencil before they did it. And you ladies who know you don't have the eyeliner sharpened so when he they put the X on my forehead they carved that X into my head that was my first gig marks I had an X for a long time on my forehead scarred you know before I had other other marks from you know bleeding in the matches and it hurt like hell it really I mean I'm sitting there and I if you notice you watch I kind of grimace and it and it's kind of like a hokey grimace. It's because I was scared to put it over that I wasn't out cold but it hurt like hell so I grimaced to try to bear the pain because they they dug at some bitch in there. I mean they really really dug it in there but uh no I got to work with them several times and um you know later on I would go to ECW and have a tryout match and as soon as I walked in the building Newjack gave me a hug and if you know Newjack he's not a hugger and gave me a hug and he announced he said this motherfucker right here he's the reason we're I'm here so he's the one that put me over when nobody else would and he said he's my boy everybody needs to know that and I was like whoa that's some heavy stuff right there man and when I say announced it I mean he he announced it like it was a meeting you know um I said he had an ECW jacket and I said man I really like that jacket he tried to give me the jacket I I wouldn't take it because I wasn't gonna take you know because it was cold and I didn't want him to be without a jacket but I was like man I love that jacket he's like here you can have it you know New Jack was just that type of guy with me he just he never forgot what I did for them and be honest it wasn't that big of a deal for for me I'm not saying it wasn't a big deal for the match it was not a big deal for me to do it. I was happy to do it I was a privilege to do it it was another day at the office but to Newjack it meant the world because that's what launched their stardom and he never forgot about that.
SPEAKER_00But go ahead I was just gonna say and and and what was the I mean they make so many people uncomfortable when they first got to Smoky Mountain because they and and you know if you're listening to this and and you don't like the person I'm about to mention that's fine but you're you're entitled to your opinion and I will fight to the death to defend your right to have it but we talk about the genius of Jim Cornet because that went against everything Smoky Mountain was built upon for that that presentation and just the the little detail stuff was was masterful there but like what you know do you do you remember the boys being hesitant about it? Was there a split?
SPEAKER_02Was it just all the fan perception um and Bob Cottle that were uncomfortable um you know what what what was the vibe in the room like when they when they showed up well mine the boys were fine with the heat they they relished the heat um bob Cottle didn't Bob Coddle was scared to death of them um you know when they came out and you know said OJ was right or OJ was innocent or whatever they said about OJ, that the he the crowd was took that to heart at a time when that was extremely controversial. But I think the boys that did have a problem with them was because they were scared to work them themselves. I remember Ricky wasn't scared to work them but was but had numerous talks with you guys got to lighten up. I'm Ricky Morton you don't have to hit me as hard as you can you know if you just hit me I'll sell it don't worry about it but you don't have we got to do this every night. You don't have to keep hitting me you know um but one night we we're in some small town Kentucky there's one road into the town off of the interstate that's in and out and we go in and we do the spot town and uh Jimmy says he gets word and he says uh we want you to put uh New Jack in the trunk of your car What you need to put New Jack in the trunk of your car drive out of town and um we're gonna meet you down on the interstate and they'll get him out of the car. And I was like why? And they were like you know okay no problem but why? And they said well the clan is in town and they're burning crosses all the way out of town. So what we're gonna do is is we're gonna put him in your car and we're gonna put your car in the middle and all the boys are going to drive out together in a in a procession so that they can't tell who's in what car and we're gonna drive out of town. So I come from a place in near Feadville West Virginia Oak Hill where the Klan would march every summer but I never went there and watched it and you know it was you I'd see the pictures in the newspaper but I never experienced the Klan. Well we're driving out and it's it's pitch black and you know there's no highway lights this is just a little country road every single yard had a had a cross burning and it was eerie as hell but we got him to the to the interstate safe nobody nothing happened at all and we got him out of the car and got him back into the right car. But uh it was it was the first time I experienced nuclear heat white heat because it's the hottest and that was you know the we're we're gonna kill you heat I I hadn't experienced that it at first hand. I I'd heard about it but never saw it and that's uh that's that's one of my favorite stories because I I you know I that that's history that's you know for better or worse and this is worse that's history yeah and and this is another one that that I don't know that we would have the point of reference in the book when we get to WFS to put it you know in the proper place in in chronological order so I'll tell it here you know the when we when we when we found out New Jack had passed away we were at a show yeah and we were setting up and um you know you and me and April Graves who we will talk plenty about when we get to WFS.
SPEAKER_00Yes um just a a a real I just a real unique guy that fit right in with us because he didn't fit in at all with us. And that's what made him so great uh in WFS but anyhow you know he New Jack had a big role in in his training um and upbringing in the business and so he was very emotional and you told a lot of these stories then just sitting it was a show at a bar so we sat at the bar and you know talked about New Jack and um yeah just uh it's really cool to to again you are wrestling for Scott because here we are weeks removed from the from the random wrestler's name out of a hat in the lineup of opponents and now you're the guy trusted for that that spot and again in over the last couple few years dark side of the ring used that footage yeah you know um to tell Newjack's story and you know yeah man just really cool stuff and and I just I'll never forget the first time I listened to episode five you you got to okay and then we worked the gates says all right and then the next night and I was like what is he doing he's just he's just reading he's just reading the words on the page at this point.
SPEAKER_02I was probably so ner I get so nervous doing these podcasts by myself because I I'm scared to death they're gonna think it's boring. And so I'm trying to balance the facts with the stories and my mind just leaps ahead sometimes and that's a prime example of you know we were we were preparing to tell these stories and you know we we didn't get to it. But that's why we're do we do the ride home so that we don't miss
Ring Time Versus Money Lessons
SPEAKER_02it. That's exactly why is so that you know if I've left something out or somebody finds something interesting we can talk about it. Absolutely absolutely so we're gonna keep this moving because I still got a few things to get to all right we got plenty of time a lot of meat on the bone as I like to say here with episode five so you know at this point we're we've we've reached we've reached a point for you where you're talking about you were one match at a taping and you made 50 bucks and you were like that was good for one match but also I'm used to working two three four times in a taping and I really wanted the ringtime so you're you you know by the by the fall of 94 you're in a place where in your life and your career where ringtime was about as valuable to you as money was absolutely I mean honing your craft the money would come um and I was always told that I was always shown that but you had to hone your craft and you had to get get better at it in order to make the money. And I you know even though the money goes up and down with the economy which was something I didn't understand until I became an adult way later in life that um you know you had to get good at what you were doing and the only way to do that was repetition night in and night out. You know some of these guys nowadays work once a month you can't you can't learn a craft like that. You're you know Father Time will catch up with you. That was one of the advantages that I was so um thrilled to have when I broke in is that there was still a lot of places to work yeah absolutely and and for you know we we we we talk ad nausea and you even you even said you know you felt like a broken record but you still the the initial introduction that you had and the people around you and and like you said now at this point you know a couple years you know you know not quite two years in I guess you know you do have the opportunity to work a lot of different places but you're still in there with people that are better than you a lot of the time. Yeah you know and and that kind of brings me right into the next couple things I have so um any memories of the first match with the bullet with Bob Armstrong well now you can talk about uh uh opposite end of the spectrum from the Thrill Seekers and Candido to Bullet Bob Armstrong now Bullet Bob Armstrong was a master he knew exactly what he was doing and he did as little as possible and got the maximum return for the little bit that he did. So the match was super super easy but you had to understand the mindset of guys like me at the time you know we're thinking you got we didn't grasp less as more yet. So working with Bob showed me okay yeah it's great that you can do the flips and you can catch the guy with the flips and you can do all this cool stuff and run fast and all this stuff. But sometimes it means more to do very less very little and make it count a hundred percent a hundred and ten percent five hundred percent and that was the advantage that I had wrestling him was just learning to do that. And the fact that they stuck me in there with Bob because Bob was older and now that I'm at where I'm at, you know they wouldn't have just stuck anybody in there with Bob if they thought that you know they were gonna hurt him or make him look silly or anything like that. So again it's just showing that they had confidence in my ability that I could do everything. I could do the the flip and flopping and I could also do the old school you know test of strengths work the donut hole and do do people know what the donut hole is?
SPEAKER_00Probably not.
SPEAKER_02Okay the donut hole a donut hole doesn't exist. There's no such thing as a donut hole. You either have donut or You don't have donut. There's no hole. So when sometimes when the guy goes to pull the the the foreign object out of his tights, there's nothing in his hand. And it's called the donut hole. So you're working the donut hole because you're working nothing as if it's something, just like a donut hole. So I learned to I learned to do that with the bullet.
SPEAKER_00I feel like you should clip that for your social media, for your TikTok, and do and get the video of the the more the more you know scar fly by.
SPEAKER_02I will do that. I will absolutely do that. That's a good idea.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know. That's what happens when I when I take uh when we do this on my day off, and I've had some very uh I want to be clear, very uh legally uh acquired and possessed THC. Yes. So you're welcome.
SPEAKER_02You're all gummied up and uh you know we're we're we're throwing out the hit.
SPEAKER_00So
Road Stories With Rock And Roll
SPEAKER_00all right, so it's time to start traveling with the rock and roll. And I just want to know what the how did that come about? You know, what what was the conversation like? You know, whose idea was it? Did they approach you both of them? Kind of just take me through how that kind of started.
SPEAKER_02I'm at home in my apartment in Morristown, and uh the phone rings, and it's Ricky Morton. Now, Ricky Morton's never called me, but you know, he he was welcome to call me. And uh he says, Hey, uh what are you doing on such and such date? Nothing. Well, uh, you're going to St. Louis with us. We're gonna start going a lot of places. St. Louis is gonna be the first place, and you you and Anthony are gonna be the infernos, and you're gonna tour with us, and you're gonna make a hundred bucks a night. Okay, kid, talk to you later. Click. And I was like, uh okay, I guess I'm going to St. Louis.
SPEAKER_00So then you have to now call Anthony.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. I well, I think Robert called Anthony. I think it was one of those deals because they were closer, me and Punky were closer, and I think they did it at the same time so that that we couldn't smarten each other up to anything.
SPEAKER_00Okay, right. That makes a lot of sense.
SPEAKER_02Not that there was anything to smarten up because we weren't smart enough to know to smarten anything up. But you know, but then I do talk to Anthony immediately. Uh, you know, he's at his apartment, and and I'm like, Yeah, I guess we're going to St. Louis. And he's like, Yeah, we're going with rock and roll. So that's what we did. Did uh did I tell the story about Robert on that first trip uh smoking a joint?
SPEAKER_00No, I know this story, and you did not tell that story.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so they they rent a Lincolntown car, and they're gonna drive us, which was really nice and very spacious. I had never been in a Lincolntown car pre previously, and uh had plenty of room, plenty of room for our bags and everything. So we're driving. We get on the interstate and we're at about Knoxville, and uh Hoot gets in the car, Robert, and uh he fires up a joint. No problem, no big deal. Keep going, fires up another one, keep going, fires up another one, keeps going. This is going on for hours, fires up another one. Finally, Ricky and me are like, Hoot, you can only get so high. At a certain point, you have smoked yourself sober, and you're just wasting your weed. And he's he just continues to smoke joints one after another, after another, after another, the way I smoke cigarettes. Never phased him, he never slurred a word.
SPEAKER_00But I mean that that that's that that's a true professional right there.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely, absolutely, and then you know, we get to town and then they ribbed us. I know I told that story.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you you you told the diner rib story, and the other story you told was how it's your dad had told you no matter what, don't go to East.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And the first thing they do is pull up and just start screaming.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00The rock and roll's here and they're looking for something.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00And you want to talk about funny now, but not funny at the time. I mean, I think that takes the cake in that department.
SPEAKER_02Oh, it does. And uh I think I left this out too. Uh Robert's driving. I I think this is night two. It might be night one, but it might be night two. Anyway, uh, no, it had to be night one because it because he was had it was his turn to drive, but he had been smoking all night. Well, he drives like some so many of the guys like a bat out of hell, and drives, you know, 100 miles an hour, literally. And uh, we get pulled over. And the car smells like weed and everything, and on top of this, Robert's wallet is in the trunk. So the cop is standing there and he's like, I need to see your driver's license and registration. Robert's like, Oh, it's in the trunk, and opens the door and pops the trunk and gets out. The cop grabs his gun, it doesn't, you know, pull it out, but he's on the gun. Sir, get back in the car, get back in the car, and Robert's like, Oh, I'm I'm sorry, I was just getting my my wallet. He said, Okay, get out of the car, place your hands on the car, walk to the back, and get in your trunk and get your wallet, and that's the only thing to get out. Well, Robert comes out with a picture of the Rock and Roll Express to show who they are. Well, at that point, the whole the whole damn meet and greet begins. And now they're signing autograph pictures for the guy and his family and everybody at the precinct's family, and that's how they got out of the ticket was by trading uh gimmick pictures for to this cop to get out of a ticket. And then we we go across the little bridge there and uh by the arch. I'm looking at the arch that I'd seen in pictures my whole life, and they take that exit that says East St. Louis, and I was like, holy shit, we're going straight to East St. Louis, and yeah, they got out of the car and was looking for crack. I don't think I said that in the other one, but that's what they were looking for. They were looking for crack.
SPEAKER_00Well, you you very much framed it as you didn't know you had a hunch, but you didn't you you didn't see you were involved.
SPEAKER_02Right. Well, they didn't they didn't get crack. They were looking for crack. They actually said Rock and Roll Express, looking for crack, looking to hook up, not 5-0, is what they were screaming. And um Robert and them are gonna kill me when they hear this. Robert's gonna beat the shit out of me and stretch me like there's no tomorrow. Um But I think they ended up with Coke is what I think they ended up with.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But, you know, and then he sold the pictures to get the money back, and I mean he was he's handy with a gimmick picture. I mean, if you're in trouble, he's the guy, you know. Oh, and on this trip too, um Anthony and him are playing the lottery on scratch-offs because back then the lottery wasn't everywhere, so I think it it was the Kentucky lottery or yeah, because you gotta go through that little that little teeny bit of western Kentucky. And they stopped at a we stopped at a gas station and uh they got lottery tickets, and uh Robert won like 500 bucks and Anthony won $200 on the scratch offs.
unknownWow.
SPEAKER_02So they were at me and Punky were pissed.
SPEAKER_01I'd say so.
SPEAKER_02Because we didn't get none of that money. Because we weren't buying lottery tickets because we didn't do that. So, but they were already up 700 bucks and we hadn't even made it out of Kentucky yet.
SPEAKER_00Oh man.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, what a and by the time and let me let me just reiterate this. I'm 18 years old.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I had been in six months to a year prior, I was in college as a freshman, and six months before that, I was in high school. You know, I mean, I mean, I wasn't innocent. I I lived in high school, you know. I like to think I was a cool cat, but probably wasn't. Um and uh but I was eighteen years old going through all this. I mean, if we'd have got arrested that night, he got pulled over, I would not have fared very well in jail.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I I was a pretty boy and and it wouldn't have gone well.
SPEAKER_00But thank God we didn't, so yeah, yeah, it all it all worked out.
SPEAKER_02It all worked out.
SPEAKER_00So so that however many thirty-two years later you could you could work uh the rock and roll expression in the wonderful hills of Kentucky once again.
SPEAKER_02Once again, bringing it, running it back, as the kids say. We're gonna run it back. And Robert in that match, well wait a minute, Robert in that match that first night, I don't know what struck him, but he was like, get the heat on me. When have you ever seen the Robert get the heat? And he never and he just kept running away from me. Just blowing me up. Just just me chasing him corner to corner. But anyway, all right.
SPEAKER_00Sounds like a rib to me.
SPEAKER_02It was, it was a big rib, and I knew it was, and you know, what are you gonna do? I mean, catch him, that's all you can do.
SPEAKER_00Could that have maybe potentially been a receipt for a little incident in an elevator in Winston-Sale, North Carolina?
SPEAKER_02Oh, that might have absolutely been the receipt. I never even thought about that. Yeah, um, should I tell that story real quick?
SPEAKER_00Uh well, I think you have to now.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so it's Robert Gibson and Boogie, Jimmy Valiant, and myself in the elevator at WrestleKate, and we're going up, and uh, I'm up like 10 10 stories, and Boogie's up like 11, and and Robert is up very high in the in the building. And Robert's like, oh man, I gotta, I gotta take a shit. And at that moment, me and Boogie just look at each other out the side of our eyes and nodded. And Boogie hits every button for every floor. And Robert's like, you assholes, you don't understand. And we were like, Yeah, we do. We totally do. And it was a great rib, and it was a good moment just to laugh, the three of us. And uh, yeah, I didn't even think about that, but that might have been the receipt. It might have absolutely been. It could have been. What a clever receipt all these years later.
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh. So the last thing I've got from episode five, you uh and you should know better. This is
GI Joe Fandom And Collector Dark Side
SPEAKER_00this is famous last words. You use the phrase more on that some other time.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_00Well, the literal point of this podcast is that this is some other time.
SPEAKER_03Right, right.
SPEAKER_00So say anything you'd like to about being a G.I. Joe mark.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay. All right. Well, I other than wrestling and girls and baseball, my other love was G.I. Joe. I had all the little action figures, and that was my main toy until they invented wrestling action figures. So from 1981 all the way through till about 85, that was my my jam, man. I love G.I. Joe. I love the cartoon, everything about it. I love the backstories and how each little figure has its own personality and it comes with cards, and it, you know, you get to know the people like Ricondo is more comfortable in the jungle in a tree by himself reading a book than he is in, say, the uh Arctic. You know, I found that so interesting that they went that in depth. And I've actually had dinner with Larry Hama, who wrote the comics. I went to uh GI Joe con in 2013 and actually it was a breakfast, and I got to have breakfast with Larry Hama, who who wrote all those backstories, and that was cool as hell. But I've collected at one point, I've sold it now, but I had every GI Joe figure army built, meaning that I had all the ranks of all the soldiers. So if there were 20 um turtle soldiers, which are uh cobra vipers, I had 20 of them. If I had, you know, if there were 10 Arctic soldiers, I had 10 of them. Anyway, so I sold that collection when they came out with the six-inch action figures because I didn't have enough room. So uh now I collect all the six-inch action figures when I can find them, and I've just I love G.I. Joe. Um I used to go to the conventions until they killed a girl, which there was uh on on this uh message board called His Tank, there was a girl whose screen name was Cherry, and she was the meet and greeter. She would be when you first went on there, she would be your first friend. It's kind of like Facebook, but it's all G.I. Joe. And uh she would be like, Hi, welcome to the community. If you need anything, just buzz me and I'll I'll kind of tour you around and all this stuff. Well, the this one guy, Monkey Wrench, was his screen name, he goes to her house in North Carolina and kills her. And I was like, man, that's some heavy shit right there. So I I stopped going to the conventions because those those cats take their their collecting seriously. Like I'm a serious collector, but they take their collecting seriously. There's a huge difference in the two. You know, like I like to look at my toys, but you know, I don't want to kill anybody over them. You know. I don't I don't think that with somebody needs to die over a scarlet figure. But uh I've just always been a huge GI Joe mark, and I still love it to this day. And and you know, me and the puppies watch the cartoons. Dogs love G.I. Joe cartoons because of the colors and because of the laser sounds. Every time the guns go off, their little heads tilt. So me and the puppies watch G.I. Joe all the time.
SPEAKER_00All right. Well, there you go. We've covered it.
SPEAKER_02We have, we have covered it. So this has been a great episode, don't you think?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I agree. This has been a lot of fun, a lot of good stuff. I hope everybody's enjoying it and uh you know, keep spreading the word. Obviously, you know, people are talking about it and sharing it with each other because you know that's how these you know these social networks get built, really, is is um by word of mouth. So, you know, hope everybody's uh enjoying all these stories. And uh yeah, I mean we're we're certainly enjoying, you know, giving you Brian the platform to tell all these stories.
SPEAKER_02Well, I'm enjoying telling the
Social Plugs And Closing Thoughts
SPEAKER_02stories. Real quick, let me plug the socials. Follow me on Facebook at making the towns. Also on Instagram, you can find me at Brian Logan underscore making underscore the underscore towns. So that's Brian Logan making the towns on Instagram. I am your champion. Exclamation point on YouTube. There are tons. I think today I put up uh we put up Escaping Addiction, which is the Wolfie D documentary, and I put up a match against me against Joe Briggs. I think there's 157 um titles on there now videos, but uh the dirty white boy uh uh documentary is on there, the Wendell Cooley documentary is on there, worker the movie is on there, as well as the OBW run, the my WWE matches, just everything. And uh also I am your champion on TikTok and Three Crows Entertainment at LoganYour Champion X. But if you have all that and you want to follow me and find me and all that, but you don't want to look all that up, all you have to do is go to IAMYourchampion.com. Right there on the first page at the bottom. There are quick, easy buttons. You just click them and you can go right to each one and just hit the hit the notifications, hit the subscribe, hit the finds, the follows, and all that good stuff. And uh the uh Making the Towns is on Friday nights at 8 p.m. Eastern on the Radio King app as well as all of your podcast platforms that you normally listen to this podcast and the other podcasts. So uh want to get out there. We we really want to do some cool live stuff, and you gotta have followers and subscribers for that. I mean, it it if you don't want the notifications, don't click the notification. But if you'll give me a subscribe, I'd really appreciate that, especially on YouTube. Um, we've had about 50 yesterday people that subscribed, which is a lot in a day for us. And um, you know, it it doesn't mean very much to you to hit the button, but it means the world to us to get all those subscribers so we can do some really cool live stuff at the shows with some of the boys and stuff. So so yeah, that's the social media, man.
SPEAKER_00Pirate Flag Radio on the Radio King app.
SPEAKER_02Yes, is that not what I said?
SPEAKER_00You just said the Radio King app. You meant that you love Pirate Flag Radio.
SPEAKER_02Pirate Flag Radio on the Radio King app, absolutely. That's where uh 8 p.m. Friday Eastern Standard Time. And uh, you know, none of this stuff has a paywall anymore. So we are done with paywalls, we are giving it to everybody free. This goes around. One of the things that I want to make sure is, because this this might be my last run. Might not be, might be my tenth to last run, but it might be my last run, and I just want to have fun with all this. So we're giving things away for free. We're not trying to make money, we're just trying to celebrate the life that I've had in pro wrestling.
SPEAKER_00Well put.
SPEAKER_02So, all right, we will see you on the next ride home and next making the towns until later. I am Brian Logan along with Dallas Danger, and I am your champion. I 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.