The Ride Home
Dallas Danger and Brian Logan sit down and discuss in Q & A form "Making the Towns" podcast.
The Ride Home
A Non Sanctioned Fight Started A Riot
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A secret 21st birthday on the road, a friend you’d do anything to find again, and a “dream tryout” that turns into the hardest training of your life. We’re riding home and digging into the kind of pro wrestling stories you only hear when the miles are long and the guard is down, from Arkansas towns to Knoxville locker rooms to WCW TV tapings that never aired.
We talk about Eight Ball Jones, a talented indie wrestler with real charisma and unreal toughness, and why losing touch with someone like that hits harder the older you get. Then we rewind to a street festival shoot fight tournament with no doctors, loose bracketing, and a crowd that’s one bad call away from a riot. It’s part wrestling history, part cautionary tale, and a clear look at how wild mid-90s fight culture could get around independent wrestling.
From there, the conversation shifts to the WCW Power Plant tryout and what we thought it meant versus what it actually demanded. We break down the brutal calisthenics, the internal politics, the confusing push-pull of WCW communication, and the strange truth that some of the best enhancement matches never made TV because they were “too competitive.” We also share what WCW taught us about speed, calling spots like conversation, and how learning to talk a match can later help you teach the next generation one move at a time.
If you like wrestling road stories, WCW behind-the-scenes talk, and honest lessons from the independent wrestling grind, subscribe, share this with a friend who loves the business, and leave us a review so more fans can find The Ride Home.
Cold Open And Welcome Back
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. Hello, everybody, and welcome back. This is The Ride Home. I am your host, Brian Logan. I am here with my best friend, Dallas Danger, and we are going over the Making the Towns. I have kept a journal for 30 plus years in professional wrestling, and Making the Towns is my sister podcast. And uh it's like going to the show, and I talk about my career, and this is the ride home, the sister show to that show. That makes sense. That's why they're sister shows. And uh he asks in QA format questions so I can expand or uh tell other stories based on that podcast. So, Dallas, how the hell are you?
SPEAKER_01I'm doing okay. Uh happy to be here as always, and just uh ready to get into it.
SPEAKER_00Man, that was a hell of an opener, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_01It was something.
SPEAKER_00Of all the openers of all the openers I've done, that's the most recent.
SPEAKER_01That's that's absolutely true, pal.
SPEAKER_00So this is uh what is this, episode eight?
SPEAKER_01Episode eight, something, something dream tryout.
SPEAKER_00Right. Okay, fantastic. Fantastic. So I will turn it over to you without further ado, and you can hit me with some questions.
The 21st Birthday Story
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so the first thing I want to know is um you you mentioned your birthday, October the 2nd, 1995. And uh if I'm not mistaken, that would have been your 21st birthday.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01And I'm wondering, uh, you were in Arkansas, I'm wonder wondering if you have any memories of celebrating your 21st birthday in Arkansas.
SPEAKER_00Well, I do, um, but I can't I have to I I cannot tell the story because the people are still alive, but I will say two words. Missy Hyatt. Oh, goodness. I was sworn to secrecy, and to this day I have kept it secret, and uh, but that's how I spent my 21st birthday.
SPEAKER_01Fantastic. I don't I think uh for anyone who knows Missy Hyde at all, you don't really need to elaborate.
SPEAKER_00Well, I didn't figure, you know. Uh I love Missy. Uh I haven't seen her but a couple of times since then. She acts like she doesn't know me. And uh, you know, and it it's okay. I'm okay with that.
SPEAKER_01I think she spent a lot of birthdays with a lot of people.
SPEAKER_00Well, she I love Missy. I'll never say a bad word about her.
SPEAKER_01I wasn't saying that was a bad thing.
SPEAKER_00No, I'm just making it clear for the record that she is an angel. And God bless that girl. And uh yeah. They ought to they ought to write po they ought to write poetry about her.
SPEAKER_01I'm sure someone has at some point.
SPEAKER_00Probably, probably.
SPEAKER_01So, um sorry, that got me tickled.
SPEAKER_00It's a good one, right?
SPEAKER_01Well, I just you know, you you mentioned that date on the podcast that I was like, huh. He's never really talked about his 21st birthday. I wonder if there's any stories there, and now I know why you've never talked about it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, who gets to spend their 21st birthday like that?
SPEAKER_01Well, you did.
SPEAKER_00I did. I did, yes. In some some Arkansas town.
SPEAKER_01Okay, well, I'm gonna put you out of your misery and move on. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Also that night in the match, I hit a perfect moonssault.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00I just want to say it was probably the only time I hit a moonssault that wasn't crooked, and it was perfect. And I think that's what sealed the deal.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Okay, moving on.
SPEAKER_01Moving
Remembering Eight Ball Jones
SPEAKER_01on. So uh I have never heard you mention eight ball jones. And I know you said you lost contact with him and you don't know much about, you know, like you don't even know his his real name. Um, but tell me anything you've got on him and any any good stories um that you might have about eight ball jones.
SPEAKER_00Well, eight-ball come down from Detroit, and he was a black man, ball headed, great shape, phenomenal shape, and uh had been an athlete his whole life, and he married a white woman very proudly. She'll factor into this story in a minute. Two of the nicest people you'll ever meet, and uh he wanted to do a pimp gimmick with her as the hoe. And this is way, way before The Godfather. And we were like, uh that's a little too much. That might not that might not play in East Tennessee in the 90s. So he did a pimp gimmick anyway without her. Well, she wanted to become a fitness girl, one of those fitness models, um, you know, that does the competitions. And she saw it on ESPN one day, and the next day she went out and joined the gym and became a a fitness comp competer or whatever you call those fitness competitions where they get in shape and jog and do all kinds of stuff. But uh he was tough. Um I had a pair of uh do you remember the Shawn Michaels white and gray motorcycle boots he had the first time?
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_00Okay, I went out and bought a pair of those. They were 85 bucks, and there was a biker shop right down the road from where I live. It's still there. And they carried these and I got them, but they already had the wrestling soles on them for the motorcycle, so I didn't have to do anything to them, but they have these plates on the outside, and the buckles are super, super thick because they're made for in case you wreck the motorcycle. Well, I did a Mexican sunset flip, which is where you run the guy into the ropes, he hooks the ropes, you flip you go backwards and do the roll, and you come up and you spin on his back into a sunset flip. When I spun, it got hung that that uh latch got hung on his head and ripped a three-inch chunk out of his head. And blood was everywhere. No sold it. Just no so like I'm freaking out. I'm like, oh my god, we gotta get stitch you you need stitches, you need oh my I'm so sorry. I took the boots off, you know what I mean? Like I was freaking out. He put a towel on it for a minute and then continued wrestling. It was nut. I mean, he just tough and I said, I mean, I was like, Don't you need care? And he said, Well, I got I heard a story one time that the Samoans are tough people and that they no-cell pain. I want to be like them. And he just no-sold pain. You couldn't hurt him. It doesn't matter what you you could run him over with a truck, he'd no-cell it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Just an incredible guy, incredible worker, um, funny guy to be around, found it so hilarious that he was married. I keep saying he's married to a white woman, not out of race. He would say that because she ran the household. Mama was in charge. And mama loved the fact that he was a wrestler. And anything that she said to do, he did it. And she was so behind him, like I've never seen, I mean, like Ashley is behind me, just totally his biggest cheerleader. Just two wonderful people, and you don't see that anymore of just two people that are just good people, you know. So, um, but eight ball worked around here. I think he did a shot for WCW once, maybe twice. But he worked all the independents around here. He worked for Terry Landell, he worked for uh everybody that ran Morristown and Tim. And he ran John he worked in Johnson City for Bubba Wayne, and he just he just stayed around here. Uh his only downfall was that Smoky Mountain went out of business by the time he got here, or I think he would have been part of the nation. Because he was that good and he was that funny. And he would have fit in great with the gangsters in Smoky Mountain. But he just he missed it by just a little bit. But it didn't slow him down, and you know, he he had a good career. You know, he was happy with his career. He he drove a chicken truck for Coke Foods here in Morristown, where they it's a chicken factory where they process the chicken, and he would bring the live chickens in and drop them off for whatever they do to him. So, but that's that's eight ball jones, and uh I w I wish I knew where he was, man. I I would love there's not a lot of people I'd love to see, but I'd love to see him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you you you mentioned on um on on this episode when he came up that you would love for somebody to get you a way to get in touch with him. So let's reiterate. If anybody knows A Paul Jones and has a way to get in touch with him, let us know because Brian would love to reconnect with uh with his old friend.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I would. Absolutely. Uh just I miss him to death. And where I'm in Morristown now, and he was somewhere around here, if he still is, that would be perfect.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely.
The Street Fight Tournament Riot
SPEAKER_01So next thing I've got, um so Tim decides to do this street festival shoot fight tournament.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And you did a great job of kind of illustrating, you know, how how the the sugar, the front sugar was enough to get you through a couple rounds, and then you get up against this like monster of a guy, and you're just like, I'm not doing this. And you eight ball, eight balls of the referee, and you tell him to deq you for refusing to compete, and it started a riot. What I want to know is was this the first time you had ever incited a riot?
SPEAKER_00Yes. Yes, it was the first time, and I stood there laughing. And you know, I probably shouldn't have. It probably isn't that funny. But when Tim got hit and his lips got got uh cut and it swelled up, and he's you know talking and he he's slurring, and he's like, Everybody stop it, everybody stop it. I just thought that was fucking hilarious. Because I tried to tell him this was a bad idea from moment one.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00And he just was hellbent on, well, they did it, and you know, they uh plan B, they were gonna they were doing those in Kentucky, and it was before Tough Man and Tough Man grew out of this. This is gonna be huge. And uh, you know, it might be the only bad idea that I've had heard Tim ha ever have. Because Tim's ideas are pretty good. You know, and he executes 85% of them, but this one just was not was not sane. It was it was crazy. It was the the guy that I was going to go against, we worked out at uh the gym together, and I'm all gassed up, so I'm about 260, pretty big. This guy dwarfed me, and they we trained together because they were training for the Mr. Knoxville competition, and I was in there working out with them, and I knew this guy was a monster, and he was like, We're probably gonna be in the finals together, and I was like, uh no, we're not, you know, because what I do and what you think you're gonna do are two totally different things, and I wasn't afraid of him, I was afraid of getting hurt.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_00Uh and then when I saw him put the guy through the ring ropes into the floor and his head get busted up, and I was like, Well, that's it, I'm done.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00But I had I had different colored trunks and boots and jacket for every round.
SPEAKER_01Of course you did.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I and everybody else was in sweats. And I had ring music and the whole nine yards. I mean, it was just a spectacle. And then when I won, you know, everybody thought I was gonna lose, and I I luckily won two rounds. You know, I mean, it was a fluke. Basically, I was in shape and I waited until they got blown up, and then I hooked a sugar on them and they tapped out.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_00You know, it wasn't nothing spectacular, like I was, you know, I'm prank gotch or something. It just luck, smartness, and uh, yeah, and then then all hell broke loose.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, from the sounds of it, there were people started fighting each other at ringside, and it was just uh a a melee.
SPEAKER_00I want to say, I'm not a hundred percent sure that's why I didn't say this in the other podcast, but I want to say they were serving beer. And that that had something to do with it. I mean, I'm not sure, I may be wrong, they may not have been serving beer, but they were they were charged up.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, uh and and you know, those those style of events were getting popularized there, you know, mid-90s into the late 90s, with something we'll talk about. Um let me see here. It looks like we'll talk about it on the next write-off when when we cover episode nine, but but things are changing. Not just in the business, but in the country and in and and in mass media of all kinds, as far as the edginess and the uh the general tone. And so these these sorts of events were really popular, and you always hear nowadays the stories of just how wild the crowds were, and how you you thought the people in the crowd thought they were a part of the event, and that they could just jump in and join the fight at any moment. Um I want to say I want to say I've seen some documentary footage from an event like this. And I'm trying to think of where that would have been. Now I'm going down a rabbit hole that is pointless and um not fruitful and probably not great radio.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, the thing about the one we did is UFC was probably on its first, second, or third UFC back when it was the wild, wild west. So that wasn't sanctioned. This event had no oversight. Zero. Right. It wasn't boxing, it wasn't pro wrestling, it was just there. And there was no doctors, there was no weight classes. You weighed in and they tried to bracket you accordingly, but you know, you could have had a 600-pound guy and a hundred-pound guy, it w it would have worked out that way. But it it's really a wonder that somebody didn't get seriously hurt and that that the the no-armed guy didn't get sued.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because it was it was dangerous as hell. But I'm glad I was in it because it's a great story. I mean, I wrestled a bear and I wrestled in a non-sanctioned shoot fight.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, I mean, you won two. Yeah, just a winny record. I yeah, tough man uh career.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm two and one. I took fourth place. I wish I still had the trophy. I would love to have put a picture up of the trophy. It was so rinky dink, but I love that trophy. I I used to take that everywhere I went when I moved and everything. I made sure it was special to me. Because I had that and my uh Colefield Conference um championship that I had won when I was a kid and that one together. So those were two open tournaments that I did pretty well in, and I was proud of it.
Memphis Mafia And YouTube Memories
SPEAKER_01So you encounter a tag team in Knoxville called the Memphis Mafia. Yes. And I know there was a team that you encountered, um, I want to say it both, that you you later, when we did the ride home, said you thought it might be Jeff and Jamie, Jeff Storm and Jamie Gibson. Yeah. Is this is this Jeff and Jamie?
SPEAKER_00I'm I was thinking about this today, and I'm uh I'm 90% sure it was Jeff and Jamie. Yeah, I'm I'm pretty sure. I I think both of them were. I think they just kept changing their name, trying to find the right name.
SPEAKER_01Right. And you know, when uh excuse me, when I would encounter Jeff and Jamie much later, they they were the Memphis mom. Yeah. So that's kind of what made me think of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's when I when I met them. Because we were we've all become great friends since then. And but it in the beginning we were just acquaintances, I would just see them. I I knew them, but maybe not by name at first, but I knew I knew them. And then over the years we we grew to be great friends because we saw each other on so many shows. And and I love those guys.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. Great guys. Um you know, just left a big impression on me um in my early days doing TV and Evolution Championship Wrestling, which will come into play uh down the road with your story and your career. But uh I I've always said no matter what, I will always have respect for those two because they they were they were they treated everybody with the utmost respect when they didn't have to. They were they were the top guys there. It was their territory. They had I mean they had their spot in the locker room, and you knew it was their spot and you didn't dress there because that's where they dressed. Right. Um it was their it was their it was their deal. And uh for me to come in as a a totally green nobody third string announcer and and for them to just treat me like an equal from day one meant a lot. Um and and I've always tried to um give that respect back to them because uh I appreciated it so much.
SPEAKER_00Um you know anyways I picked Jeff to do when we took over Evolution, I know we're getting way ahead of ourselves, to do our first my first angle as champion as evolution champion. I picked Jeff and because I wanted to work a program with him because we had never we had worked, but we had never worked a program program. And I it was short-lived, but I thought it was pretty good. And we'll get into that.
SPEAKER_01Sure, yeah, we will, but but I agree.
SPEAKER_00I thought we got some great uh great matches, great footage out of that deal, and um, you know, shame nobody saw it, but well, it's it's on YouTube now, everybody can see it.
SPEAKER_01There you go. I like you know, it was so cool. Just real quick, we were at uh Southern State Wrestling uh this past week as we're recording, and uh it was great to see some of the guys from WFS come up and say, Hey, uh I went back on the YouTube and watched some of those old matches, and and you know, the you know, laughing about not remembering much about that that date or that show or that match and just you know being reminded and um that was really cool, you know. So to see the response everybody's giving that stuff on the YouTube is is great, and I want it to I want it to keep coming in. Even if you think it sucked, I I would love to hear what you've got to say about any of the WFS uh product.
SPEAKER_00Well, and that's why I'm getting it out there, why we're getting it out there to everybody, is so they can see it and everybody can see it for free. And you know, a lot of those matches when I was putting my stuff up, I remember, but I don't remember every move in the match. And I mean I remember that I had that match, but I don't remember, you know, what happened in it because there's been so many. And I think that's what the WFS boys were were doing, and and it was it was very cool. I mean, I watched a couple of my matches from WFS and was like, That's not bad. That's not bad at all.
SPEAKER_01Well, you know, we we we we we I feel like we end up teasing the WFS era every time we do one of these shows, but Um I I when I took over booking WFS, I had pretty high standards. So uh you as well as everybody else, uh I I always appreciated everybody trying to raise their game to those standards.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, I'm sure there's a lot of great matches that nothing we don't remember at all on some of these shows.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, but they're getting the fact that we're getting them up on YouTube, and I know the couple of the past week or so we've not got as many up on YouTube, and I'll be honest why um I have a memory problem on my phone, and that's one of the ways we transfer the the clips to Facebook to get them up there uh to showcase them so they're on uh YouTube. And then with my uh puppy stuff, I was didn't have time to get them up there, but we're getting ready to put up more WFS stuff starting tomorrow. So there's a lot of WFS stuff there, and there's a lot more coming.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there's tons, tons of footage. I mean, we we did it a lot. So so uh can't wait to to hear what everybody thinks uh once we get it you know more and more of it up.
The Hip Fracture That Stayed
SPEAKER_01Um you talked about fracturing your hip, uh your buttocks, you know, and and that that whole deal. Um how long did it take you because you know I I think um I get into you working less a little bit down the road, but it seemed like immediately you you worked through it. So I'm just wondering how long it took you to get to a hundred percent after that, or was it never the same after that?
SPEAKER_00It's never been the same. That night it killed me. Um the next day, the next couple of days I could move and walk, but I had to work through it. It's the whole thing like the finger. It was when I broke my finger, I couldn't go to the doctor because especially with a hip. I mean, if it was really broken and shattered, they would have wanted to put me in a big cast, and I couldn't do that. So as long as I could walk and still take bumps, even though it hurt like hell, I just tough through it, and it's never been the same. I mean, I'll wake up mornings where I'm laying on my uh left side and it's just killing me, and I gotta move off my left side because my broken ass.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But it's such a small fracture, it's a hair I've I've had x-rays since then. It's a hairline fracture. There's nothing they could have done to it. It just it was just there. But it's one of those little things that just has a lot of pain with it. And and the doctor has said that that, you know, there's definitely nothing you can because I had it looked at like a couple years ago, because I went and uh got a full body everything MRI, CT scans, everything to find out what was wrong with me. And that was one of the things, and they were like, Yeah, it I'm sure it hurts, but you know, we can't do anything about it definitely now, and there's probably nothing they could have done then.
SPEAKER_01Right. Yeah, hairline, it's just it just is what it is.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and it was just a quirky thing. I just I the you know, let's just I'm guessing, but let's say it was normally 10 feet from the ring, it just happened to be six feet from the ring.
SPEAKER_01Right. You you you you said in the episode you kind of misjudged it, and that's how this all kind of came to be.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they were it was a shortened uh railing. It was a different railing than I was used to the Smoky Mountain railing or no railing or a rope. And wherever we got this, this was an old NWA railing, and it was a lot closer to the ring, and I didn't realize that it was that close. But I took that bump over the top rope and landed ass first right on that, right on that bar.
SPEAKER_01Sounds brutal.
SPEAKER_00Oh, it was. I couldn't move for a minute. It was one of those things where you're just stuck in a position, you're just like, oh my god, you know, like it hurts so bad I can't move. Yeah, and the referee's like, you gotta get back in the ring, and I'm like, I can't, you know, and and eight ball came out to ringside, he's like, What's going on? I said, I broke my ass. And he's like, No, seriously. I said, I broke my ass.
SPEAKER_01Seriously.
SPEAKER_00Seriously. And and he he grabbed me and threw me back in the ring, so I had no choice, you know, and there we go, we're off to the races again.
SPEAKER_01Oh goodness, man. Piling up these little nagged injuries. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean, we've we've we've talked about two or three, and that's just the ones we've talked about. There's no telling how many aren't, you know what I mean, you don't have memory of, or aren't in aren't aren't really in the book, or yeah, yeah. Anything like that, you know. I mean, because because I mean, uh, it's just part of it. I mean, you're you're traveling, you're taking bumps, and then you're getting in the car and bunching up for hours, you know, and it's it's gonna hurt sometimes.
SPEAKER_00I remember reading Mick Foley's book when it came out. I was at Harley Race's house, and I was let me just name drop. And uh I was he has that in his book, he has a a po a picture poster with all the injuries point diagrammed out. And I remember at the time going, well, I only got a couple, that's not too bad. Now I'm I'm as bad. It's all over the place. It'd just be covered with everything hurts.
SPEAKER_01Right, yeah.
Getting The WCW Tryout Date
SPEAKER_01So you you give your you get your WCW tryout, your official tryout. You've done some uh enhancement work for them, but this is your actual look, and you you you get you get the you're accepted to the power plant. Um what so I I just want to dig more into that. So what what exactly did you know ahead of time? Did you know ahead of time that if this goes well, you would be going to the power plant? Did you think if this goes well, I'll just have a spot on TV and I'll just be one of the boys? Um and then it was just to start there.
SPEAKER_00Okay, well, I before Jody Hamilton, the assassin, was handling the enhancement talent booking. And Tim had got me booked, or um um I can't think of his name, one of those CTE moments. Uh Mark uh Kyle. Mark Kyle, killer Kyle. Sorry, folks. One of those injury things uh had been getting me booked. And I called him on my own, and he said, Well, we're not booking third party anymore. Everybody has to go to the power plant. And I said, Well, I'm already trained, but how do you how do you go to the power plant? He said, Well, you come down and we do a tryout, and if we like you, we keep you and sign you up, and you go through the power plant, and then you start doing jobs and we go from there. And I was like, Well, okay, can I get a slot? Can can I get get in there? And he gave me a date right there for a try-out. And that was so I knew that if I had come if I completed the tryout, I would get a spot. And we went through the tryout and it was all calisthenics. It was hard, it was very little entering wrestling. Now they came to me before we started because I had wrestling boots on. That was the only thing that saved me was those crepe soles when I was doing those squats. Because I had support for my ankles and my knees. And they said, Look, we know you've worked, um, don't smarten anybody up, don't, you know, keep Kfabe. Try not to overshine that you know things, as if to don't offer up information just out of the blue. And he said, after the tryout, we'll we'll definitely be talking to you. So I knew that before we even tried out. And then we had three guys made it, and those two of the three didn't come back, and I was the only guy to come back.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so you so the other two guys got picked, but were like, no, that's too much for me, and just never never came back.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they they made it through, and they were good looking guys, they were they were muscled up guys and did pretty well and were in pretty good shape, but it was so physically hard. I mean, it was the hardest thing I've ever done. And it was three days, and I remember I would go down and work out all day, and I was staying at the days in the days in there where we go when we stayed uh at the baseball thing to go see the braves. And uh I would stay there, and I would go over to the Waffle House and get uh two um omelets and go straight to sleep. And I got up to use the toilet, and because of the squats, I couldn't even sit down because my legs wouldn't move. And then I'd get up, I'd go get two more omelets, and I'd go and do day two and day three and same same way. And then afterwards, I stayed there for two days and just slept because I couldn't move, I couldn't get out of the bed.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So when you when you did when you did those shots before and did some jobs with WCW, who who was was Jody still booking then or or was it somebody else entirely?
SPEAKER_00It was Terry Taylor, I think. See, I didn't have a lot of interaction with them. The assassin wasn't at the the TV tapings that I saw. Now he might have WCW had a lot of people at the building, so just because I didn't see him doesn't mean he wasn't there. But I didn't see him, I don't think he was there. Terry Taylor, I believe, was the one that was putting the matches, the putting the enhancement jobbers in uh the slots. And, you know, this will be you go, you wrestle him and you go wrestle him. Um which is one of the problems that WCW had was, you know, Joe Blow likes you. Well, John Doe wants somebody else, but wants to use you over here, and then the third guy would say, Oh no, we're gonna give you the biggest push in the world. And you and this is all in 15 minutes. This isn't like I mean, it's like you were literally walking down the hallway, you run into three guys, and it's three different things. And the whole WCW ran like that. Yeah, it was terrible.
SPEAKER_01So before we get too far into that, how what so when what were your immediate thoughts when you got to try out, when you got there, when you realized like, yeah, this was gonna be like you were gonna be getting some sort of job or some sort of spot. Um what what were your immediate thoughts and feelings at that point before you get in there and realize how things are?
SPEAKER_00Well, I believed it at face value. I mean, they sold it as you know the the top school. That's the only reason I went retrained is I looked at it as um Tim and Tom and Corney were like high school, and this was like college, and that I was going to go get a college degree, which I did. WCW did give me a college degree in a lot of good stuff and a lot of bad stuff. Um, but I thought that they were gonna develop me. And, you know, the first month or two, you you know, you're in the program and you're happy to be in the program and you're just toughen it out. You don't realize, you know, you you're like, well, I gotta get in better shape. That's the problem. It's on me. It's it's a me problem. It's not a they it can't be a them problem because they're a big company. They're they're where you want to be. So you gotta work harder and get your slot in a different way than what you're used to, which is why you came there was to learn more. So there for a while I was happy and content and thought I was learning more, and I was, and looking back, there was a lot of things they said. Um one in particular is they said that my lockup was too amateur-ish. And it was. I was bent over because of the placement of my hand on my right hand on the elbow for the collar and elbow lockup, and they taught me a way for my body type to stand up by putting the fist in the middle of the chest so that I'm tall. So basically I was 6'1, but I was 5'7 locking up. They showed me how to be 6'1, 6'3 with wrestling boots by standing up straight more. So there were good things. It was just later on you didn't advance past that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
Power Plant Reality Check
SPEAKER_01And I mean, how quickly does the worm start to turn, so to speak? I mean, what at what point do you realize oh, this isn't what I thought it was gonna be?
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna say about eight weeks.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00About eight weeks. I mean, six to eight weeks, you're you're starting to notice things. Um after uh whenever they had the next tryout, and now I'm supposed to be one of the guys yelling at the new guys, and the other guys relished that. And I didn't like that. I I mean I didn't want to say, you know, you're a piece of shit, you know, do some more sit-ups. I wanted to be uh now, I'll get in the ring and I'll stretch you, but I'll stretch you in a way that teaches you something. I that's the way I was brought up was in wrestling, was to learn, teach. And they were just trying to get rid of guys, and that's about the time that I realized, wait a minute, I used to be one of those guys, and they're trying to get them to go away, and I just didn't go away. Did I really accomplish something by you know being in the power plant and and you know making this tryout, or did I just not go away? And that, you know, I still to this day I don't know. I mean, I don't know why they took me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So I notice as we get into as we approach the summer, well really the s from the spring into the summer of ninety-six, you are working way less frequently.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01And I'm just wondering, is that because you're at the power plant? Is that due to the the fracture? What exactly is going on? Because at one point I think you jumped from like April to July.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01In between decks.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, that was me being at the power plant. That I was at the power plant five days a week and training there, and at first they didn't want you to work other shows. You you were there. Uh that was one of the things I didn't like because I was a firm believer on ring time. You need to be working, you need to be working every day. You know, I'm getting paid, but I need to be having those matches too. I mean, there's a difference in being in ring shape and being in gym shape. And I was in gym shape and ring shape, but I was losing my ring shape. So that was me being at WCW uh at the power plant not working, just going to the power plant.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
Manny Fernandez TV Startup
SPEAKER_01And so as you're starting to get some dates and and uh work some of these independents again, you mentioned this new startup pilot TV show for Manny Fernandez and Buck Roger.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_01Um what were they like to work for? Um who was really running the show, who was doing what? Um, how did that territory kind of work as far as the office?
SPEAKER_00Well, they were crooks, but they were lovable crooks. They they looking back now, they were trying to get the boys to pay for the territory. But it was such a good work, and they were so happy to be around and such good guys, and I loved both of them, and and I wasn't stupid, I knew something wasn't right, you know, that this was a crazy concept, but crazy concepts work, and I I bought in thinking I just want to see where this goes. You know, this is this is a great opportunity if this flies, and I was got along with him so so well, and Buck Robley, who I knew nothing about. Just, hey, here's this legend from Mid-South, Buck Colonel Buck Robley, and I got to know him and started hanging out with him, and um just I just really, really liked him. And I never got to see him again, which is a shame. I I I don't even I don't know if he's still alive, I don't know if he passed on, but the during this time was the only time I spent with him, and I never saw him again. But they uh Manny was getting the towns and organized the TV. Um and Buck was booking and doing all the the legwork. And and that that formula w seemed on face value to be working.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, and and I I just I I was kind of blown away at the you can buy into the territory, and I I was not surprised to hear that you bought in.
SPEAKER_00Well, yeah, I mean it was 150 bucks. I was making that in WCW for one match, and they said you're gonna make seventeen hundred dollars. And there's a contract. I mean, they put in the contract, you're gonna make seventeen hundred dollars next month. And I thought, well, I'll pay 150 bucks and take the gamble. You know, just in case on a fluke that it would work. I mean, I remember talking to my dad, and my dad was like, it's 150 bucks. You know, that's a night drinking. You know, that's going out on a on a on a wild excursion somewhere one night. What if it does work? And what if you do make 1700? You don't give it to him, you don't make it. So I tried it. And it didn't work.
SPEAKER_01I'm glad you didn't make me you know, poke and prod for that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, no, no, it didn't work. But we did some great TVs. Uh, R
The Top Rope Breaks Mid Match
SPEAKER_00Truth was on the TV. That's where I met R Truth for the first time. That's also the first time that I had the rope break on me. I hit the rope and the top rope broke, and I went tumbling to the floor, and I held the rope the right way. There's a way where you grab the rope and wrap your arm underneath so that if the rope breaks, you flip over and your other hand can catch you. It caught me perfectly. Everybody in the building, including my family and Buck Robley, thought I was dead, and they all rushed over and broke Kfabe to see if I was alive. And then what a pop when I got back in the ring and we finished the match without a top rope.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And uh the guy that I did that uh aired my Apex TV had those tapes, and he would not come off of them. They never paid for the tapes, and because it had uh R-Truce and some other stars on it, he would he kept it to his dying day. He kept it. And he wouldn't let me see them, he wouldn't let me have them, I couldn't purchase them. He was just holding on to them. So I was close to getting them back in the apex days, which would have been the early 2000s. And uh, but uh they're somewhere in Oak Hill sitting at somebody's house.
SPEAKER_01If they're not, you know, already been burned at a well, hopefully they're they they're not.
SPEAKER_00I mean, the his girlfriend at the time knew uh the wrestling that they had and all this, so I like to think that she kept it. And his family, uh his father-in-law was Shirley Love, who was the original commentator for the WAY Wrestling. So I like to think that they kept it, but who knows? Who knows what happened to them? But nobody's gonna see them. I'll tell you that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
The Konnan Match They Shelved
SPEAKER_01So you mentioned you work Conan on WCW TV for the I. IWA world title. Is this the match? I think you've told me about this match. Is this the match where he gave you too much offense and they wouldn't air it?
SPEAKER_00Yep. Sure was. Yep, was. Sure was. They my heel belly came out for a minute. Get back in there, pal. Um yeah, it was too, it was supposed to be a squash match to get Conan over, but Conan's mindset was, what a better way to get over by having a contest. So, you know, when people say bad things about Conan, I d I I'm not one of them. Because his psychology was right on point. He was like, I'm gonna beat somebody by making him a contender, and how do I make him a contender? Well, by him almost beating me for this belt. And Jimmy Hart was right there working his behind off the whole match, trying to get the crowd into it and and and cheerleading for Conan, and it was awesome. And the way he caught me, he caught me in a bear hug and turned it into a DDT out of my comeback. So I'm making a full-fledged comeback where I um am covering him several times, and then I hit the ropes and he grabs me in the bear hug and DDTs me, it came out of nowhere. And they wouldn't air it. They didn't air a lot of my matches because they were too competitive.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, just guys, just guys giving you respect.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, giving me, you know, they they had they WCW did so many matches with these TB tapings at MGM. You know, they would do 10, 15 matches in three days. And they would wrestle all sorts of enhancement talent guys. So when they got a guy that they knew could work, they were so happy to work. You'd have these great matches out of nowhere. And I kept having these great matches, and they kept not airing them. And that's why I disappear for a while because I it appears that I'm nowhere doing nothing, but I'm filming these matches, and they just won't put them on air.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And that that leads me perfectly into the last bullet point I had in my notes for episode eight.
Learning WCW Speed And Spot Calling
SPEAKER_01Uh, you mentioned as you're going through and you're talking about your segment with Benoit and all these different guys you're working on these tapings, that it represented a much higher level of competition for you in WCW than you were used to. And it's fascinating because you go and do these indie shows and you're a tough guy, and you're working the more green guys and the underneath guys. And then you get to WCW and it's a complete role reversal, and you're the green guy, you're the guy in there with these stars. And I just want to know like what was the biggest adjustment in that? Like, what was the real challenge in balancing both and just sort of again adjusting to being in the ring with guys that were way more seasoned than you?
SPEAKER_00The one thing that I learned from the WCW competition is it's faster. And they call spots like they're nothing, like it's a conversation, like tackle, drop down, hip toss, drop, kick, arm, drag, cover me, slam, cover me, get back up, go to the corner, backdrop, cover me. I mean, like it's nothing. You couldn't do that on an independent show. The guy would get lost. Yeah. And they would sometimes you would pre-go over it, and most of the time we really didn't. Um, they would just call these long spots and expect you to get them. And it helped me learn to where I could almost recite a book while I'm going through matches and going through things. And that was one of the things later on, you uh about five years down the line, that promoters and guys, when I would work promoters, they would say he's smooth as silk because he he just talks to you the whole time. And I did. You know, I the whole time I was just talking and saying everything and walk them through, and I could just about get anybody to do anything, and that was because WCW did it that way, and it becomes second nature. So they were teaching me to up my game, but also I was smart enough to listen to what Tim had taught me about lower, you know, mirror your opponent's style. So if your opponent is a two, then you need to be about a two and a half. If your opponent's an eight, then you need to be an eight. You know, make sure that you can adjust to everything. But WCW competition was fashion because it had to be, because it was on national TV. You couldn't just have a lull or make a mistake. Um, and that was the one thing that I with Michael Wall Street that I hate to this day. I forgot to grab the hold again. And it was and he just said, grab the headlock. And I grabbed it. It was that quick. Nobody noticed it. Like you would not even pick it out if I didn't say it. But to this day, I'm like, man, I can't believe that we did that long spot, and I forgot the headlock.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but you know, and that's worse than everybody else.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, you know, nobody on the face of the planet has a clue if they would watch the match. Because as soon as he says it, I just grab it. Very nice and nonchalantly. But I know I was supposed to grab it anyway. I forgot to get it again. And it bugs me to this day. I wish I could go back and grab it and get it again. It's funny how little things bother you like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But uh WCW, I'm glad I went through the experience. I hated it at the time, but I learned a lot. And looking back, it it when you are two years in, you think you know everything. When you're five years in, you're like, Well, I didn't know anything at two years. When you're eight years in, you think, well, I know everything now, but I didn't know nothing then. Looking back now, I realize how much I learned at WCW, even though it was like pulling teeth.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00They taught me a lot that I use to this day.
SPEAKER_01Well, and I knowing you here and now, much later in your life and in your career, you always, we have been on really bad shows together that you would think you would just want to phone it in and get it out and never look back. And you always find a way to just keep that cavalier attitude and get something out of it. And you know, this late, this many years later, it wasn't always you learning something, but a lot of times it was you teaching something. And that was the positive. Well, now at least that kid knows something he did a little bit better. And there this wasn't all for not the the no kind of the the the money being gone, or the oh my gosh, I'm embarrassed even the on the show, all that can kind of be forgotten when you leave that positive impact. Um or like like you're talking about here early on in your career, you know, just learning everything you can when you can't.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, when when I go to a show now, then whenever if I hope my opponent can do one thing well. If they can do one, even if it's a clothesline, like we worked the principal the other the uh on the uh the show in Kentucky. I was like, what can you do really good? And he was like, I can throw a clothesline. I said, Okay, we got one thing. We got one daggum thing we can work on. If we can do that well, I can teach you one more thing. And I taught him to chop. So he went into the match doing the clothesline, now he can do the clothesline chop. Now that's not a lot, but it's something. And now he can do two moves instead of one, and that's my goal. If you can just do one thing well, now it all falls apart when you can't do nothing well. It goes to shit quickly. You know, it goes, it gets really bad. But if you can do one thing well, I can have a match with you. If you can stand in the middle and do that thing, I can work around you, and we can get through this. And hopefully you'll you'll know two things at the end.
Sponsor, Links, And Sign Off
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, I think that's a good place to bring it home. That's all I had. And um, yeah, I hope everybody can take uh take a lesson there for not just as a wrestling business, but for life.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Well, this has been a great show. I've really enjoyed it. We've had a lot of fun. This show has been brought to you by W Energy Drinks, Zero Sugar, no artificial colors or flavors, no secret formulas, no hidden ingredients, and gluten-free. Made in the USA. It has clean, smooth energy for sharper mental focus, uh, unique flavors, and it is built for anyone. All you do is put a little bit in a shaker and put some water in it, about 150 milligrams of caffeine per serving with great uh flavors like cherry lime, retro rainbow sherbet, uh gummy bears, s'amoors, uh beach and peach, and much, much more. And uh I absolutely am loving it. I had two of those today because today was a long day and I was falling asleep with the puppies, and they woke me right back up because I had a longer lunch today. So if you get a chance, go to dubby.gg and use your champion as the promo code and get 10% off on WENERGY Drinks. Also, follow us on Facebook and find us on Instagram and YouTube and TikTok and X and all the social medias. All you have to do, folks, instead of giving you all the little uh um handles and everything, go to IamYourCampion.com and there are buttons there on the front home page. You just click on those buttons, it'll take you to whichever one you want to go to, whether it's Facebook or Instagram or whatever, and uh it'll take you right there, and you can uh click the button to follow us or find us or subscribe or whatever. Um the YouTube we talked about, it is I Am Your Champion exclamation point. Uh please subscribe and hit that bell if you don't want the notifications. I get that a lot of times you have a lot of uh notifications and you don't want that bell just constantly ringing, but please go over there and subscribe. We're trying to get as many subscriptions as possible so that we can do some live uh interviews and segments from these events that I go to, and uh it's growing exponentially. You guys are doing a great job. We will go back to putting up some of the footage on a daily basis starting tomorrow with some of the WFS, but I am your champion at exclamation point, and that is on the YouTube. And uh be sure to also go to the shop. We got a lot of cool things over there, a lot of ring use stuff. Just go to the shop page on IamYourChampion.com. Also, there's $10 t-shirts, there are uh slam buddies, which are really cool for the kitties and the dogs, all kinds of stuff there. Just check us out, and if you don't really want to buy anything, just go take a look. It don't cost you anything to take a look, and uh, you know, just check out the cool stuff that we got on there. We we're doing this not to necessarily monetize, we're done with streaming service, we're putting the videos up on YouTube for free. We're not gonna monetize the YouTube, it is there just to celebrate the stuff that I have done. You know, we are uh I realize that I'm at the end of my career, whenever that may be, and I just want everybody to see all the work that I've put in, and I thank you guys that are making the towns and getting the ride home. I am Brian Logan for Dallas Danger. This has been uh filmed or recorded in Morristown, Tennessee for Three Crows Entertainment. And remember, 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.