Dangerous Conversations w/Doug Gilbert & Tommy Rich Episode #42: Doug & Tommy's Dangerous 4th of July Celebration!

Happy Independence Day! The title of this week's show sounds like something you wouldn't let your children attend but we promise it's safe as the guys celebrate the fourth ofJuly by discussing some great wrestling cards of the past that happen to take place on the 4th of July.  Some fun stories and memories always come out of studying these old shows and this week is no exception. You'll hear stories from Doug & Tommy about: Jimmy Kent, Kim Duk, Jimmy Garvin, Scott Irwin, the Great Kabuki, Junkyard Dog, The Grappler,Kerry Von Erich, and many many more!  So grab a cold drink, take a burger off the grill, and hang out with Doug & Tommy for some "Dangerous Conversations" about old school wrestling on Independence Day!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
From titled belts to Hall of Fame Doug and Tommy.
Carved the name. Fits of fury and hearts of gold.
Every story, every fight retold.Tales of glory, laughs and cry.

(00:20):
10 sea warriors with hearts openwide.
In the rain, on the air, legendsliving without a care on the mic
they roared on the map, they sawdangerous conversations.

(00:42):
By 1 moon. Our guys came through the way
with this person in the race, inthe stage.
Hey, everybody. Welcome back once again to
Dangerous Conversations with Dangerous, Doug Gilbert and

(01:05):
Tommy Wildfire. Rich and guys, it's our 4th of
July celebration because today is the 4th of July.
So are you guys excited? I know Tommy's got some big
plans today. Oh yeah, all the families down,
man. We fixed the phone down.
Now, 4th of July, June, we'll shoot some fireworks and go out

(01:27):
and have big time tonight. Yeah, I always enjoyed 4th of
July, man. We did, you know, get together
and shoot fireworks and barbecueand make homemade ice cream and
stuff like that. So yeah, I'm, I'm looking, been
looking forward to this for a while.
And so I thought, you know, we kind of been, we've kind of
started a tradition here on holidays where we kind of go

(01:48):
through and look at some cards from some different holiday
show. So I found some different,
different cards from the 4th of July on different years.
And I thought we'd kind of go through some of these and talk
about some of the people. I know some of these names and
you know, some of we may have talked about before, but some of
these haven't come up. So I'm interested to hear what

(02:09):
stories and memories you have ofsome of these folks.
So we're going to start with andthere's there's actually 2 for
this year, but the first one we're going to talk about is
July the 4th 1981 Championship Wrestling from Florida in
Lakeland, FL at the Civic Centeropening match on this one's
Kelly Kaninsky defeated Gordon Nelson.

(02:31):
Any either one of those names orjust like Nick Kaninsky or any
of the Kaninsky. Hey, John.
Hey, Tommy. Do you remember Kelly?
I remember meeting him. Yeah.
He was in Georgia just for a minute, yeah.
I I met him. He worked for Watts the year
before I started and and he worked down there the the Matt

(02:52):
Bill 80 went to Japan and they had the mass superstar book and
they give Kelly bills, you know,stuff and I mean one of the
seven bills stuff and he worked as mass superstars, Dick
Murdoch's partner, but he was really nice guy.
Gene Kaninsky's son, right? Right, he was actually his real

(03:13):
son. Nick Gordon Nelson, if I
remember right, he was a tough one.
He was a junior heavyweight style, wasn't he?
OK, see, I was hoping you'd haveone of y'all have a little
insight because I wasn't familiar with Gordon Nelson.
I'm not real familiar with all the Florida guys.
He was, he was. Of course he was in his past
years when he was in Georgia. But I back in the day I heard he

(03:35):
was pretty tough cookie. Yeah, I always heard it also.
Now on the second match, Bubba Douglas defeated assassin #3.
So I did some checking and I wassurprised to find out who
assassin #3 is. And you guys may be surprised,
perhaps you won't be, but this Assassin was Mr. Saito under an

(03:58):
Assassin mask. Bang, that was actually a skinny
assassin, wasn't it? Yeah, I didn't realize Mr. Saito
had ever had been an assassin anywhere.
So that was that was a fun one. And and what year was that June?
1981 So another single match. L Grant Apollo defeated Buzz

(04:20):
Sawyer. And of course Buzz Sawyer is a
name people have heard on this show quite a bit.
What do you guys know about L Grant Apollo?
She does fix that. I hope Tommy knows something,
because I don't know that I knowanything.
I don't believe I do either. I'll grant.
Who was that? I'll grant Apollo.
I mean, he was from Cuba. He, he competed in Mexico quite

(04:41):
a bit and mostly wrestled in Florida.
And I I all the results I've ever seen to him was mostly
Florida. I think he was from lower
Atlanta. I.
Know the name and I I really don't even remember it and
that's probably my dumb head butI don't remember it.
All right, well, this next matchis going to have a couple of

(05:02):
names. You guys are going to recognize
one for sure. Texas bull rope match.
Tommy Gilbert defeated Jim Kent.You know what, my dad, I
remember my dad working a program with Jimmy Kent around
here. And then it's funny, Jimmy Kent
went to Puerto Rico when my dad and brother was there, and my

(05:25):
dad and Jimmy Kent, they was buddies and everything.
But I remember him being in those boot matches and the
different kind of gimmick matches.
But in this territory here, I know there was an angle on one
round for quite a few weeks. How'd your dad like Florida?
It was kind of a different feel down there than than the
Tennessee territories. Right.

(05:46):
I think as far as I'm going to say, I mean, when he was in
Florida, you know, one time he was in Florida for, I think Bob
Armstrong was booking for the Fullers and the other time he
was in Florida. The time you're talking about
right here, I think it's I thinkthat was for them.
There was one time he was in Florida and Dory Junior was

(06:07):
Booker, but he really liked Florida.
I mean he liked as far as it, you know, being warm and being
nice and everything. I went down there and visited
with him, you know, during the summer months.
He really liked it. Now here's a name that hasn't
come up here so far and any of the results we've went over in
the past. So A2 On one handicap match, the

(06:30):
Mighty Igor defeated the OutlawsDave and Joel Deaton.
The well I know, Tommy know was Joel.
I know. And who'd you say they were?
The mighty Igor, if you know, was, yeah, well known up in the
Sheiks territory, up around Detroit and up in the Northeast

(06:53):
mostly. I was kind of surprised to see
him down here in Florida in 1981, honestly.
Yeah, he he go. He came to Georgia and I met him
in Georgia. He was, he was quite a
character. And of course them deep lady.
They were a couple of characterstoo.
I mean, I was, I was always getting out and getting into it.
And this would have been early for them, especially Joel, I

(07:15):
think he was probably hadn't been in business long at all by
81, I wouldn't think. And who wasn't Joel?
And who? Dave, Dave Deaton, I don't know
if that's a legit. I called him Halse.
I think he was big. He was bigger than two.
He was even a real big boy. He ended up a little time in
jail. I can't remember what he did,

(07:36):
but he got a little trouble justin jail time come out and I
think he was already wrestling baby.
And then when he come out, that's when he teamed up with
Joel, Joel from right there around Warner Robins.
Yeah, Tommy, me, me and you wentdown there and wrestled that you
had somebody that bought a wrestling show down there by he

(08:00):
and he come and visit with us, remember?
Yeah, that was up like that was in Perry by Mistaken.
Is that right? That's not far from where you
lived, I think, right? Yeah, that's played like yeah,
next door to each other. So the next match was a Florida
Heavyweight title match. Charlie Cook defeated Dory Funk

(08:21):
Junior by disqualification. Now there was a Charlie Cook and
some Cooks that was around the like Tennessee and Arkansas area
later on like the 80s and 90s. Would this be the same Charlie
Cook or is this a different guy do you think?

(08:41):
What do you think, Tommy? What would be your gift?
I, I would, I would just about have to say that would be the
same Charlie Cook. I mean, because of course I, I
remember Charlie Cook, he rousedin Tennessee.
I come to Georgia if it's the same one I'm thinking about.
Yeah, and the kind of bigger guy, Tommy, like 6-4 or.

(09:03):
Something. Yeah, he he was tall.
Tall. Thank you.
Kind of like a sunny king or something.
Yeah. This was probably him because it
says, it says here that he was he had a background in football
and baseball. He was 64264 and his wrestling
style was he was a powerhouse. So that sounds passed away and

(09:25):
2020 from Calhoun, GA originallyit says.
I believe that might be him. All right, Texas death
lumberjack match the assassin #1which would be Jody Hamilton
defeated sweet brown sugar Skip Young.
Oh my gosh, I went out and you're saying Jody, Tom did.

(09:47):
Tommy, do you ever have much interaction with Tom?
Messed up. Just when I first started, Tom
Modesto did the booking for NickGulas down there at Chattanooga.
That was about my only dealings I had with him.
But and and he was done working then, right?
He wasn't the assassin or nothing.

(10:08):
What perking man? I can't.
I don't think I ever worked withhim.
You didn't ever work with it. And what?
And so it was Jody against Skip Young.
Skip Young's and wound up being in Dallas and was what they call
him in Dallas. Sweet brown sugar.
Yeah. Sweet brown sugar.
And he, he come in here and he, he, he worked for about a month.

(10:35):
And somebody told me that he called like on a Saturday night
or Sunday or something. He called Jerry Jarrett, told
him he wanted to to he wanted togo home and Jarrett bought him a
bus ticket or something back back to Dallas.
Wow. That's what I thought.
I mean, that was the the story Igot.

(10:57):
And I mean he just disappeared. So I say it was pretty much
probably true. Yeah, sounds legit.
So on this same night, July 4th 1981 Tommy, you were in New
Orleans, LA at the Superdome in front of 18,000 people and this
is This is a pretty fun card here.
Opening match saw Ken Mantel defeat Buddy Landale in about 7

(11:21):
minutes. Did y'all have any dealings with
Ken Mantel? I don't know a lot about Kid
Mantel. I I never did worry.
I was in and out. That was that was the show that
I told you I worked at Superdome.
Make that $150.00 for bill. What?
And I won top matches, so I never did do much business with

(11:43):
Mr. Watts. But yeah, I I remember that I
was on that Superdome show. But it was, yeah, it was.
I mean it, it was a hell of a crowd, too.
Shoot, I would say if Gene said is what'd you say, 18,000
people? Yeah, 18,000 is the reported
crowd for that one. So sure it wasn't.

(12:03):
Sure, it didn't pack the Superdome, but that's a
respectable crowd compared to. Some of the Who'd you say Tommy?
Word kiss. We'll get to Tommy in a minute.
He wrestles the Super Destroyer,which was Scott Irwin, in a
Louisiana title match. That was good.
Scott. I I always enjoyed that he could
get an attitude every now and then, but I always enjoyed, he

(12:25):
was a hell of a worker. I mean, he he teamed up with
Bill 80 something. Of course that was his brother
Bill Irwin. And of course, they were
together in in Georgia and he went, I think when he was in
Georgia, he went into Super Destroyer.
You know, he was a good worker. Did did Niko Jean is a super
destroyer like one and two therefor a little bit.

(12:47):
Yeah, they would be Super Destroyers one and two, and then
without the mask, they would be the Long Riders as the.
And so usually they'd go into a territory with masks on and then
eventually they would lose them.And then they would have a whole
second run as the Irwins. And sometimes they would leave
the territory and then come backin as the Irwins without ever
being unmasked. Hey, they had a good run for

(13:08):
Vern, I think as as the, the what'd you say they was?
Called all riders, yeah, a lot more masked, yeah.
I don't think they ever did the AWA with the masks, I don't
believe. I don't think so either.
I remember seeing seeing them aslong riders.
I thought I thought it was good.Yeah, sold up in that area.
That's where they were from, anyway.

(13:31):
And, and they were a team that were able to like wrestle the
road Warriors up in the A to B at that time and actually give
them a, A, you know, a believable match, you know,
where people thought, oh, these guys might actually have a
chance to beat these guys, you know, rather than some of the
guys that the Warriors were justkilling at the time.
Right now, here's a here's a match with a little Memphis
flavor here. King Cobra defeated Carl Fergie

(13:52):
in 8 minutes in the second matchof the night.
Well, that's that. That's one of the books there
is. Yeah, because I I thought Carl
Fergie had mostly only refereed for Watts, but yeah, he's he's
wrestling and I didn't realize King Cobra had really worked
down there either, but I guess in 81 he did.
Third match Kim Duck defeated Tony Charles which Kim Duck

(14:16):
would going to be Tiger Chung Lee.
Do do do you remember Kim Duck as far as watching the Mark
Jean? I remember seeing this Tiger
Chung Lee by the time he was in the WWF in the.
I was. Into late 80s.
I was in Puerto Rico with him and he worked angle with Scott
Hall and, and they'd mess with him, you know, about his English

(14:37):
and stuff. But then I was in Japan with him
and man, he was super over over there in Japan and everything.
And his brother was one of the businessmen that bought
wrestling shows and everything. But, I mean, everybody was real
respectful of him. I mean, you know, and he was

(14:58):
really over over there. And Tony Charles, he was a
pretty tough customer too. He was a junior heavyweight guy
too. I think him and Les Thornton I
seen have a match one time. Just want the doggone as matches
I ever seen. He he was from England or where

(15:19):
was he from? Like.
So yeah, yeah, Tony Charles, double check that, yes, from
Wales over over around the the area of England that Adrian St.
I guess came from, from what I understand, not the Royal Forest
of Dean, but the actual whales, right.

(15:43):
And I think Kim Duck had like a career in movies and stuff.
After, yeah, he did. He played in, I don't know, a
handful of movies, but I've seenhe talked about parks and like
when we'd be on the bus in Japan, like I said, he'd have a
lot of stories. I mean, he, he did a bunch of
tours, you know, in his early, in his younger days with, with

(16:06):
All Japan, New Japan, and he'd go back and forth and, and then
like I said at the time I was with him, it was for
International Wrestling Association and, and, but he was
really, he was really cool. And like I said, he was really
over. He's really tough, dude.
Well, you know, there's that famous clip that was kind of
like a blooper thing, and not intentionally though, where he

(16:28):
was coming into the WWF. He was managed by Freddie
Blassie and they were going to do, you know, him chopping the
bricks in half and grill the monsoons out there and they
bring him out and he goes to chop him and they don't break,
does it? 235 and that blast.
He's just freaking losing it. He's had to turn away from the
camera monsoons covering his face and it turns out whoever

(16:49):
went and bought the bricks had bought fireplace bricks that had
the metal running through them, so there was no way he was going
to chop them so. So the rib was on him one.
Yeah. So nobody ever was able to prove
whether that was a pure accidentor somebody was playing a rib
when they bought the bricks and got the.
He was funny, like I said in Puerto Rico, he was working

(17:10):
programs with Scott Hall and he was saying which that's what
Scott Hall with a cowboy hat andeverything.
I don't know if y'all guys remember that, but like he, he
had his hair kind of bleached out blonde and he was trying to
say blonde outlaw and he would say you bron out raw and

(17:31):
everybody there would freaking die laughing.
And so Scott Hall goes out thereand and they're recording it and
he goes who is LeBron outraw? And when he said that we all pop
but but they would mess with him.
But he was a good, he was a goodhearted dude.
I mean, he was a big guy. He was like 6-4, you know, 6364

(17:53):
and a legit 280 or something like that.
Yeah. And you know who was real, real
good friends with him? Corporal Kirschner.
You remember Corporal Kirschner was in WWE, WWF rather he they
was really cool. Like when his son, I think it
was his son or daughter, I thinkit was his son graduated from

(18:14):
like somewhere in the Carolinas.Mike told me.
He said I'm going to get him a ticket, like a first class
ticket to come over here. He was living in Japan then or
Korea or something. And Mike got him a ticket to
come over here for his kids graduation, fly over here and
back home. So I always thought that was
really cool. Yeah, Yeah, we got.

(18:35):
We'll have to talk some more about Mike Kirschner on here.
Sometimes I think there's a lot of misconceptions about that
dude that. Me and him had a lot of fun in
Japan. So another the next match after
that when the Great Kabuki defeated Don Diamond.
What about 9:00? Minutes.
Well, man, I'm not sure Tommy can probably tell you something
about Don Diamond, but I had a blast with great Kabuki in Japan

(18:59):
and everything. He for about the last two years
that I went over there real Rickor he was like the Japanese
booking guy for the company and he traveled on the on the bus
with us and you know, he stayed wherever we stayed all the time.
And like, I think Tommy's mixinga lot of stories here in the US
with Kabocha. But he was just, he was a good

(19:20):
dude. And I mean, he's a hell of a
worker. Do you have to be involved in
one of his retirement matches, didn't you?
I actually was this, this is a heck of a store.
And I tell people this is one ofthe Maxes I tell people I really
like. But it was in Japan and it was
Kabuki's retirement with Terry Funk myself, Kabuki against

(19:41):
three guys and at Cork and Hall.And it was full of man, people
was with it. I mean, you know, I mean, shoot
all all, you'd have to step in the ring and man, it was like
people be going wild. You know, that Corgan Hall that
was in Japan, That was, yeah, that was the place.
Boy, they turned out for it. I mean, yeah.

(20:02):
Tony, you know anything about Don Diamond?
He was in Georgia for a little bit.
He was, I mean, he was a nice fella.
I mean, the good worker. I mean he can work good.
Where was he from? Tommy, you remember.
I know I I want to say out California somewhere, but I
ain't positive. I don't know, it doesn't say

(20:24):
here. That's why I was wondering.
I know the name but I just don'tknow much about him but.
He was dark pledged kid had curly block, curly sandy blonde
hair. I mean, not, you know, not that
I'm saying he's good looking, but anyway, you know, he's a
good looking guy. He would.

(20:44):
Have got over in Nashville, you're saying?
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, what what Berta
said. Gene.
Oh honey, having a Music City. You know what with Tommy in the
next match, Jimmy Garvin defeated Frank Dusick in 4
minutes. Frank Dusick's a guy I've heard

(21:05):
different stories about. Did you guys ever have any
dealings with Frank? Tommy, what was the tag team he
was in? What wasn't?
He was somebody in it, like A tag team.
That he was. Dang, what?
It it wasn't the Dusic brothers,was it Tommy?
Yeah, that's what I was about tosay.
I'm pretty sure he tagged. I don't know if it really was

(21:26):
his brother, but they were the Dusic's.
What Tommy or Gene can remember what?
What was the other one's name? Let me see here.
Let me Scroll down. And Tommy, for me to remember
that, I think they'd had to because that would have been
early years. That would have been when I was

(21:46):
a kid. Do you do you remember Frank
Deucey? Yeah, I remember Frank and he
come to Georgia I think and teamed up.
He wrestled in Oregon I think. But he when he come to Georgia,
I think he teamed up with RIP Oliver or some something like
that was his name. Well, I know RIP Oliver was it.

(22:09):
I know RIP Oliver was in Oregon for a long time, most of his
career. He wrestled in the in Oregon and
the Carolinas and I don't know why I'm not finding anything
with I know there was a Dusic Brothers, but everything I'm
finding in this results is all singles matches of his.
Well, I was supposed to say, I'mpretty sure here when I've been

(22:30):
really young, they come through here and the Dusic brothers, I'm
not sure what the brother's namewould have been.
Yeah, what? What Daddy Dusic was it?
I'm not finding it. Maybe some, maybe a listener
will come, will send us a message and we can update it
next week on who the other Desick brother was, because I

(22:51):
know there was. Here we go.
Now that's the Oates brothers. Never mind.
Yeah, there's him typing with, with RIP Oliver like you talked
about. But I know there's another
Desick. We'll we'll figure this out by
next week. But I know people have said here
long enough. Listen to me stammer and stutter
while I'm looking through this. Tommy knows his history.
He does. I don't look bit of it, but

(23:13):
they've teamed up in Georgia's region, I know.
Right. And then of course, Jimmy
Garvin. What do you guys any experiences
with Jimmy Garvin? Oh, Jimmy.
Jimmy was quite the character too, especially when he teamed
up with the Free Birds. But Jimmy was always just a
happy soul man. Jimmy's always cool.

(23:33):
I always loved Jimmy. Yeah, Jimmy was always nice to
my Gene, who seemed like a good dude.
And then went on to be an airplane pilot.
God, I seen him that long ago. He's got his head shaved like
you. It's almost big as yours.
Well, he had all that hair. You didn't realize how big his
head was, but when he came back,ball head is like whoa, he had

(23:55):
quite a melon up under all that.Hair.
I know. I said.
I'm sitting on the table and he came up and he said, hey, he
said, how you doing? He said, you don't Remember Me,
do you? And I thought, hell no.
Anyway, he got mad almost. He said, yes, I'm Jimmy.
And I said, Oh my God, yeah. I just, I didn't recognize.

(24:17):
Well, I mean, that was a signature, that big old hairdos,
what everybody remembered about him, you know?
Yeah, I laughed when Tommy was talking about a convention.
Oh, I just like his head was so big.
That's true. Yeah, Tommy caught me after that
convention. He's talking about Gene, he
said. Man, some might come up to me,
he said shake my hand like I knew him.

(24:37):
I didn't know him. Said he wound up saying he was
Jimmy Garve and Tommy said he was ball headed.
I didn't have no idea what it was.
I would. I could have never.
I would have never known for $1,000,000 I couldn't get to.
So then the next match, that's the Louisiana title match, Super
Destroyer defeats Tommy Rich, and Tommy gets the heck out of

(24:57):
there with his $150.00 and doesn't look back.
No, I don't blame him. And and Tommy tells Jim Barnett,
don't ever send me there again. Well, so the next few matches,
here's a couple of guys who probably didn't get $150.00 Mid
South North American title match.
Paul Orndorff defeated Jake Roberts in 25 minutes to win the

(25:19):
North American title. Well, you know, I mean, Jake
stayed there for for some years.Jim, I mean, he had a good run.
I mean, what's had to have likedhim and everything?
And you know, his dad was there forever also, and I think his
brother was there. So I think they all come through
there. Yeah, how?

(25:42):
How was Paul Orndorf? He was a pretty intense guy,
right? Did you?
I'm sure you worked with him some, didn't you Tommy?
I bet. Yeah, I worked.
He was. He was always baby.
Well, he was a he'll too, but I never did wrestle him.
I teamed up with a couple of Georgia.
But he was. I made Paul agree.
I made good people. I just wanted him.
You didn't want to mess with. I mean, he was, he was pretty

(26:05):
tough, pretty tough fella. I mean, I guess you guys said
bad Bader, I reckon. I was about to say, famously
slapped. Around and Gene, I think he come
through here when I was a kid. That was when I was really
young, you know, when he was just making the territories.
Yeah, I think it was like 7879. He came through and and worked

(26:26):
with Lawler for the Southern title.
I forgot about that and heard that on a a show recently and I
was like, man, I totally forgot Orendorf was in Memphis.
So that's what it. Yeah.
I mean, I think he was here for,I don't know, maybe, I mean it
was for a little stretch, maybe 6-8 weeks something, you know,
something like that. And I think they have had him
programmed with Lawler and maybeDundee at one point.

(26:50):
And everybody who was anybody made their way through Memphis
at some point. I mean, it's hard to find
anybody who went on to be a big star that didn't come through,
at least for a little while. So now here's an interesting tag
team right here. Mid South tag team title match,
the Junkyard dog and Dick Murdoch defeated the Samoans
Alpha and Sika in 21 minutes. How's that for A tag team?

(27:13):
Dick Murdoch and JYD, that's great tag.
Team, I think. I felt they tore that building
down. I mean, Murdoch, you know,
Murdoch and the small ones. I mean, that had to be a hell of
a match, I guarantee you. And, and I mean all of those
guys was over down there. I mean and and as far as and and

(27:34):
what you that this is still the one you said drew 18,000. 18,000
and this is 81, so all these guys have their working shoes
on. Right.
And and someones wear shoes but the other guys didn't.
Hey, that that Murdoch could go.And I mean, JYD, somebody told
me at one point what said I don't want you to do a lot of

(27:56):
stuff, but I want what you do tolook good.
And they, you know, just kind offor their programming to do is
finish and to do, you know, a half a dozen things which dog
didn't always do the most. But what he did, he's always
meant something. And I mean, everything he's done
meant something. I mean, from when he got out
there to every little action he did, which I mean, I've told

(28:18):
people for if he was there and watched him in that territory, I
don't know how anybody could really have ever been any more
over than he was. Because I mean, I mean, he was
in that area, in New Orleans andeverything.
He was. The man, Yeah.
Oh, I agree. I'm saying I made it.
You know, he was. I mean, you mentioned Rastam.

(28:40):
Jyd's name was in it. I mean, he.
Yeah. And why would he come to
Georgia? I mean, he just.
He just knew how to get over to people.
People tell it man, because. JYD and he anybody can say
whatever they want, Jim, but he was a good dude.
I travelled with him and and Butch Reed, man, I had some good
times with those fellows. Yeah, that's awesome.

(29:03):
That's what anybody who was actually there says that, you
know, JYD, that people are down there just treat him like a
member of their family like that.
He just, you can't wrap your head around how beloved he was
if you aren't there. So then semi main event North
America, sorry. American heavyweight title
Carrie Von Erich defeated formerguest of the show, The Grappler

(29:23):
Lynn Denton, in 19 minutes. And and and they tell me Lynn
was really over down there. I mean, I mean, he said he got a
lot of heat on him and somebody told me he had a lot of heat
with the people and had a lot ofheat with Bill Watts too.
So I don't know what he done to him, Tommy, but I think he might
have told me and you that also Gene didn't.

(29:44):
He he did, I think it was because he wanted to get paid
and you know, that always got heat with Watts, you know.
What? What do you tell me?
And you though Gene he he finally started making good
money and then he quit. I'm.
Sorry, yeah, what the final straw was what happened.
But yeah, something happened in him and by then he was tagging

(30:05):
with Tony Anthony and they just took off Memphis.
So then the main event, I guess the I guess these guys probably
had an angle go. And so the main event was a
lights out match, unsanctioned. The junkyard dog defeated Paul
Lorndorff in 5 minutes and and 30 seconds.
So that was a way to send everybody home happy.

(30:28):
Well, man, like I said that thatwhole card is stacked from
bottom to top and but I mean youhad to have a little something
for everything. Like I said, if you grew 18,000
some odd people and what would we say Jean?
The I was looking at 87 and the ticket prices up here was 545

(30:50):
and six. What would we think in 81 that
would have been? 81, if I probably would have
been the high end, you know whatI mean?
It probably been like maybe I don't know, 2-3 and five or
something like that, or might even been some dollar tickets
back then at the Superdome. But I figure 5-6 bucks probably
was like ringside and 81 if I had to guess.

(31:14):
That that was still, that was still a lot of money back then.
Oh. For sure, Tommy man, I went home
with a lot of money in his pocket, but somebody did that
night. For sure man named Bill Watts,
but I'm sure JYD got his fair share as well.

(31:43):
Relive the glory days of Memphiswrestling with the Retro
Wrestling Review USWA Podcast. Each week we go back in time to
review USWA Championship Wrestling from the 1990s,
episode by episode. Join us for watch alongs, behind
the scenes stories, and exclusive interviews with people
who were there and lived it. Whether you grew up watching it
or you're discovering it for thefirst time, this podcast is your

(32:06):
ringside seat to Memphis wrestling history.
It's all a part of the Wrestle Copia Podcast network.
Listen now at USA. Wapodcast.com.
So let's talk about July 4th, 1986.
Doug, you had brought up that, you know, the Great American
bashes get went on and, you know, in July.

(32:26):
And I was always a big fan of those when I was a kid.
I always loved the bash tour andgetting the tapes and seeing all
the difference. You know, Dusty always loaded it
up with gimmick matches. You know, you'd have 10 matches
and eight of them would be some kind of, you know, stipulation
of some sort of. But now here's here's the thing.

(32:46):
July 4th, 1986, Jim Crockett Promotions decides to book the
Liberty Bowl in Memphis, TN. They drew it.
Care to guess what Jim Crockett Promotions drew at the Liberty
Bowl in Memphis in 1986? People wise or gate?
Wise. Yes, people wise.

(33:07):
I'd say they drew 1200 people. You got to guess.
Probably not that many. Well all right they they least
overshot y'all but your damn close is 1900 people and 1900
people in the Liberty Bowl had to look like a bomb scare.

(33:28):
I mean, holy, yeah. I mean, you could set you could
set the ring up against one sideand put a little box, you know,
around that and put put 1900 people in there.
And Gene, it's shocking that that I don't remember that
because you when you said that Ithought, Dang, that's something.
But but that shows usually everything through them days.

(33:52):
I can remember and everything, but I don't remember them coming
to the liberty belt. That must have been. 86 Eddie
would have been in Mid South, right?
You probably. Have been but still I watched
like RTV and the other TV's and I don't remember it, you know?
Apparently nobody knew they wereat the liberty, but maybe that

(34:12):
was the problem. They didn't advertise.
What was the? I'll tell you what the problem
was. People, people, people wanted to
see Memphis wrestling. They didn't care about no other
wrestling. I mean, they, they mean they
never really drew in Memphis, right?
I mean, that's kind of the the story going through the years
was Memphis. Was long fans.
I mean, they love, they love that Memphis wrestling man.

(34:33):
And I'm not sure that I rememberthat.
I know that. But I know when you said the
Liberty Bowl, I, I did bigger, you know I did bigger was good.
Ten matches in front of 1900 people at the Liberty Bowl.
We'll move these a little faster, but if you like, say if
you hear a name and got got a comment, please do.
Opening match saw Black Bart defeat Todd champion.

(34:58):
I know you got to have a story about Black Bart.
Black Bart was a great pill. I traveled with him a lot in
this territory in Memphis and him and Tony Anthony come in at
the same time and there's like Atag team and they singles and
everything. But then I I travelled with him
a lot for Watts. Awesome.
He worked Watts and when the Crockett bought Watts out and

(35:22):
everything, Bart worked for them.
One of the funny stories I will never forget him telling me was
Ron Bass called him and he told him, he said, man, come on,
Vince is going to give us a pushif you'll come on and come to
New York right now. And so he went and talked to

(35:43):
Dusty and talked to Crockett andCrockett said, I'll just stay
and I'm going to get you a contract.
So it went weeks and weeks and weeks went by and Bart said, Dad
Gummet said, he still ain't giving me no contract.
So he went to Crockett's office.I was there in Charlotte, and he
went in the front door, Crockett's office.

(36:05):
And Crockett told him a story that his lawyer had had a heart
attack, which at that time, Crockett probably had 10
lawyers, right? But his lawyer had a heart
attack. So.
So Bart leaves there and he goeson back on the road for a week
or two and supposedly every day he's going to get a contract.
So then he goes back to the office.
When he gets back to Charlotte, he goes in the front door and I

(36:26):
said, Crockett, run out the backdoor.
I laughed at Bart. Bart said, gosh Dang, it ain't
no telling how much money that bastard cost me.
But I laughed because they said,you know, Ron Bassett told him
they was going to give him the tag straps and New York and
everything. He said my God, I I trusted him
and stayed and never did a contract but but Bart was a good

(36:49):
country guy. What he told me, wasn't he
around Bart or something? He was in Georgia for a while.
I didn't. I wasn't around him, but with
you. I didn't travel with him nuts,
but he was always just super nice fella.
I didn't see him mad by once or twice, you know, And I wouldn't
want to piss him off. Nobody.
He told me one time Genie wore apair of tennis shoes to one of
the buildings and he said Dusty looked at him and said if I ever

(37:13):
see you in anything other boots again, I'm firing you.
You have Black Bart running around in tennis shoes kills the
business for. Sure.
Second match, Eddie, I'm sorry, Hector Guerrero defeated
Thunderfoot, which in this instance, Thunderfoot was David
Osley. A lot of times it was Joel

(37:34):
Deaton we talked about earlier, but in this instance, David
Osley. Next match.
Does that name, do you know who that is?
Gene. Osley, yeah, I saw him.
I saw him work on TV a lot like his.
You know, like a handsome enhancement guy on TV.
I guess. For Crockett next match, Wahoo

(37:58):
McDaniel defeated Jimmy Garvin, which they had a big angle
throughout the Great American Bash that year.
We've already covered Jimmy Garvin and we've covered in the
past Wahoos, they will move pastthat a bunkhouse match.
Manny Fernandez defeated Shaska Watley.
I know you worked a lot with, you know, Mr. Watley early on,
right, Doug? Oh yeah Pez was was my partner

(38:21):
and my start out being my manager.
I was going to ask you and Tommyand I figured we are both might
know, but do y'all remember who my brother put together and
called the job Tones? I do.
It was, it was. It was Pez, Watley and Tiger
Conway Junior. Yeah.

(38:43):
Was you ever around him anytime?Paz.
I know he's around Paz now that Tiger Conway just.
Just a little bit. I, I, I mean, I know I knew him
and as a matter of fact, probably when he was teamed up
with Paz, as a matter of fact, when I met him.
Well, I speak since I he was quite a character, he said.

(39:05):
Yeah, that was a fun tag team whenever they put them, put them
guys together. Next match, Coal Miner's glove
match. Boy, I bet this was something
here. Handsome Jimmy Valiant defeated
Baron Von Raschke. It was a lot of walking,
talking, going on, I'm sure. I can't say neither one of them.

(39:28):
That's what I was thinking when I read that result this morning
when I was finally like, who's on the pole now?
The ball, the Paul Jones have togo out there and get it.
Yeah, I can't picture neither one.
I guarantee that's it. Either but but but yeah, I
can't. I mean that.
I would love to see that match. I guarantee that was probably a

(39:51):
short problem. Had to be, had to be.
They must have just threw it up in the air and whoever grabbed
it and called it got it. But yeah, this was the summer.
Well, not the summer. My God, it went on for years.
But this is when Jimmy Valiant had his.
Years long feud with Paul Jones as a manager and and all these
different people would come through.
And of course, this summer JimmyValiant would defeat Pez Watley

(40:15):
on the bash to her hair match and Pez got his head shaved and
Tony Shivani said the famous line as after the match Watley's
grabbing up wads of his hair offthe mat and Tony Shivani says
grab another Brillo pad and I'm thinking holy, did he just say?

(40:36):
Yeah, that that would have been there in the Boogie Jam too.
What had some college like you'dcome here with?
Was it Crusher Crew, Chef on it,the Assassin Hood or which one I
think. It was Hercules Hernandez, I
think was under the hood at thatpoint.
Well, I think they had a couple of different, yeah, ones of

(40:57):
those guys. But like, one come to Memphis,
man, you talking about big business?
And they just brought the assassin one, but they called it
the Boogie Jam. Turin showed the thing.
Then they shaved his beard or cut handsome beard in Charlotte
and they taped all that. Then they went around to
different territories, some different territories, and they
drew big money. Yeah, that was a big part.

(41:20):
They would unmask the assassin, like here and then the different
territories, and nobody knew whothat was.
I mean, cover his head up, like whether it be Hercules or, or
like I said that Crusher buried or so or whoever it was, you
know, didn't nobody here know? But it was just the thing about
unmasking somebody. Yeah, that's how they kept
drawing. It was kind of like, you know,

(41:40):
Boogie was and, you know, putting some Memphis style into
into the Crockett because, you know, they were unmasking
assassins. They shave Paul Jones's head,
they cut Jimmy's beard, they shave Pez Watley's head, you
know, so it was constantly those.
Something. Was happening so it kept the
interest up. Yeah, they kept getting heat
back. I mean, they would make the

(42:01):
people happy, but then they would get heat right back.
And then they would do somethingelse to make people happy, but
then get the heat right back. As long as you kept heat on the
heels, you draw money. Absolutely.
Tag team match. This was a good one.
The Rock'n'roll Express defeatedARN and Ollie Anderson in A tag
team match. I know you you guys are very

(42:21):
familiar with with I know the Rock'n'roll Express and I know
Doug. You've said in the past that you
were a fan of the Andersons watching, you know, watching
them back in those days, and I don't.
Yeah, I was never a fan of Ollie, which I mean, it's just,
I mean, as far as really, I likeArm, but I mean, I tell people

(42:42):
what people don't know is like they never seen Arm before.
He went to Atlanta when he was in Florida.
When Arm was with GE Stubbs, I thought they was like one of the
best tag teams. I mean, you could have sent GE
with Arm to the Crockett or whatever and them two could just
stay together and they would would have got over this suit

(43:03):
because Arne patented his stuff a lot after.
Gee, I don't even know. I think Arne did some stuff on
his own. It was really good and
everything. But if you'd have seen him in
Florida, you'd I think you'd thought what I think.
Yeah. The next match was a taped fist
match and Tully Blanchard defeated Ron Garvin by

(43:23):
disqualification. So this was, you know, like a
boxing style match with the fisttape.
They put a couple of these on the the video cassette that came
out and I guess the story was that Tully had broke Ron
Garvin's hands. So then they he told him that,
you know, Tully didn't want to wrestle him because his fists
were taped. So then Garvin says, well, all

(43:44):
right, will you tape your fist? And we'll have tape fist
matches. And it had some pretty funny
spots in there with, you know, JJ Dillon involved, I think
Wahoo usually 2nd and Ron Garvinin the corner.
And how did you get? So I know like a lot of people
have some strong feelings about Ollie Anderson, kind of like you
just said, Doug. And I know a lot of people feel
you know certain ways about Tully Blanchard.

(44:06):
Did you guys ever have any dealings with him?
What do you think about Tully, both as a worker or just as a
person in general? The the few times I was around
Tully, he was real nice Gene, which I'm sure Tommy's been
around Tully more than I am, I think.
I went out to San Antonio with his dad, you know, on the San

(44:27):
Antonio, San Antonio, TX on thatarea out there.
I went out and wrestled for Joe and Tully was out there and, and
Tully was always, always nice tome too.
I sent him and matter of fact, the night I was there he
wrestled Gino Hernandez in the main event.
And they, I mean, they told the bill, damn, I made it.

(44:48):
And Gino was over. Like some of course told his dad
he was. He told he was over and Gino was
over. They had a hell of a match.
And and to what some people don't realize, Gene's how good
an athlete till he was. He played football and scored
back at West TX and everything, but I mean he was a super
athlete, which is so Gino. But like Tommy said, I mean they

(45:11):
I think wasn't that Southwest? Ain't that what his dad's true
for the style team? Southwest Championship
Wrestling. You know, like I said, it was
actually. Remember it was only ESP in
there for a while. Yeah, and then end up on the USA
Network briefly before the WWF come and scooped it up from
them. And I mean that that was that
was some, I remember watching some of those shows.

(45:33):
They had good talent out there. You know, the tag team of Tully
and Gino was over huge out thereand then eventually they split,
which would have been around thetime Tommy's talking about and
they had that whole feud. But yeah, most people just know
Tully from the Four Horsemen andtagging with RN in the WWF.
But you know, he had that whole run out there for his dad and
Southwest with Gino. That was I wish there was more

(45:55):
footage of it out there for for people to see, but there is some
out there on YouTube you can check out if you're listening to
this. So the next match, Russian
Chain, A tag team Russian Chain match the Road Warriors Hawking
Animal with Paul Ellering defeated the Russians Ivan
Koloff and Crusher Khrushchev. The say that once for G there's

(46:17):
a. Double Russian chain match
Hawking animal against Ivan Koloff and crusher Khrushchev
Darso. That was a stealth encounter.
I imagine so it's got it, you know, the whole dynamic of the
chain match and trying to pull each other around all that
having you know, 2 sets of people will chain together.
I'm sure that was an interestingmatch to try to make make work.

(46:41):
But you know, people love Warriors in 86, so that's.
What, you say you got 4 big fellas in there yanking on one
another? Yeah, when when Ivan Co lost the
little guy, you know, you got some big dudes in there, so.
Yeah, kidding. And then the semi main event,
the world title match, Ric Flairdefeated the Russian Nightmare

(47:02):
and Nikita Koloff. This is where Nikita's wrestling
Flair as a heel. I think Flair's even maybe
halfway a babyface right here. If I remember correctly this is
before the turn cuz Nikita didn't turn until after Magnum
had his car wreck. And our main event was a steel
cage six man tag team match. Again like I said Dusty loaded

(47:23):
these things up with with just gimmick matches galore.
But in the main event, Dusty Rhodes, Magnum TA and Baby Doll
against the Midnight Express andJim Cornette, which usually
ended with Baby Doll laying out Cornet and getting the pen to
send everybody home happy on these bash shows.
Well, that's cool. Which I mean that that whole

(47:44):
month, June, that they every night they do one of those
shows, right. What like I remember one year it
was like 29 shows in July or something like that or 28, seven
something. You know, that that one year
they said the that Dusty Bet Crockett something about it
would do $1,000,000 or something.

(48:05):
And yeah, he bet him if it did, If it did do me and he buy Dusty
a Mercedes or something and I forget what if it didn't, but it
wound up doing it. They wound up buying Dusty
Mercedes. I mean paying him and buying
Mercedes. Yeah, I did so well in 85.
By this year in 86, they did allthese shows in stadiums and

(48:27):
arenas and they was also, they don't mention it in these
results, but Dusty was also booking like some some events
had Willie Nelson, some had David Allen Coe, some had Waylon
Jenkins Jennings, but they always had a big country act on
the, you know, show as well. Right.
And, and, and you know what thatwas that was great and

(48:48):
everything. But I think at that point the
wrestling was really drawing what what made to be drawn.
But that was just it was giving them something extra, which is
always good to give somebody something extra.
But man, they paid those guys a lot of money.
Yeah, yeah. They're the return on investment
in booking those country stars for for people who were already

(49:09):
coming out to see the wrestling.It just most people say that it
was, you know, Dusty want to hang out with those guys.
So they were his friends and he wanted to show off and book
them. And that's really what it was
all about. And you have to think so.
It ain't like they needed it on the show.
So. No.
And like I said, what come to those shows was was wrestling
people. I mean, I mean, they might like

(49:30):
getting to stay and watch the the guys at the end sing, but
but what what drew those crowds was wrestling fans.
Absolutely. So we got one more card we're
going to take a look at here from July 4th, 1994.
It's a USWA card. The Mid South Coliseum in
Memphis. You guys are on this one

(49:53):
prominently, so we'll go down the line here.
Opening match saw Jeff Gaylord defeat Bull Pain.
I know we've talked a little bitabout Jeff Gaylord in the past,
but what do you guys think of Bull Pain?
Oh, Frank is interesting Moody fella.
I mean, he's fine. I mean he's fine.
He was just always A1 Moody guy.And, you know, he was the, I

(50:21):
remember him. And I was trying to think what
his partner's name was the, the Texas, what did they call him?
The Hangman. Texas hangman, Yeah.
Yeah, they was. He was part of that tag team,
the original guys. I was trying to think of his
partner's name, but I can't. You might.
You might know it, Gene. I think there was a couple
different ones. I'm trying to think of who his
main partner was that he teamed with.

(50:45):
See if I can jump back here. Yeah, but but yeah, he was, he
was interesting, which you know,then he changed his from that
the mask where they wear the whole, all the black.
I think the mask was red the that they'd wear.
And then he changed from that toboil paint and put the like the
back or leather stuff on and andkind of changed his gimmick.

(51:07):
And he worked in here a lot as that.
And I think he wound up in Kentucky and a little bit there
quite a few years. Now he lives in Florida.
Yeah, I don't think a lot of people realize how long he'd
have been around because, you know, he'd been Rick Gantner and
had been up in the AWA and and that's.
Where he's from, right, Gene? Yeah, yeah, He was from up

(51:29):
around there and he broke in there and then, you know, the
Texas hangman. And then, you know, by the time
he called, I remember people going, oh, there's this new guy
named Bull Payne back then in the 90s when he first popped up.
And come to find out, like now, this new guy's been wrestling
for 15 years. You know, he just didn't realize
it until later, way later on. But second match, the Colorado

(51:51):
kid defeated Tony Falk. I don't know that we've talked
much about either one of these guys.
What do you think about Tony Falk?
I've never heard anybody that dislikes Tony Falk.
Are y'all going to prove that they're wrong or?
Tony Falk, I always let you. I always like Tony, man.
He never had a bad thing to say.He was always, you know, just he

(52:14):
was there. Of course, his son, I guess his
son wrestles now that was rasted, I mean, and he just he
dressed Tony. Tony was my buddy Wayne here.
He where I always wanted polyester dressing up nice and
his sons. The other day I seen him.
I don't know where it was a couple of months ago or
something, maybe a few months ago.

(52:36):
But anyway, he was dressed up the same, same, you know, they
just always, always dressed nice.
I always respected that. Don't tell me he had on a
polyester suit. Anytime.
You know Tony drove that into him.
Hi, His, His son's a good kid. They caught him Lt. which I'm
trying to think what his real name is, but he's a real

(52:58):
respectful young man and everything.
Tony's always good to everybody.I mean Tony from Paduca Gene.
Yeah, the pride of Paducah, KY, Tony.
Yeah, and everything. Tony was funny.
We we messed with him all the time.
He was always really nice to allof us.
And wasn't he a guy kind of like, you know, we've talked
about with Danny Davis where newpeople would come in the

(53:20):
territory or guys that were justgetting started?
You know, they put him with TonyFalk and have them work the loop
with them. Because Tony could work with
like young guys and kind of helptrain people and kind of, you
know, work with them in the ringis what I've always been told
anyway. That that's, that's probably
soldier because I mean, Tony could work with about anybody.

(53:41):
Then they would stick him like in some programs with different
people at different times and they'd use them in a lot of
different ways and they try to get some heat on them at
different times and everything. But he'd always, I mean, he was
always a good guy. He'd go along with anything that
they wanted and everything. So they really liked his
attitude. I think poor Tony's the only guy

(54:02):
that's probably had his head shaved almost as many times as
you did in Memphis over the year.
That's that's about right. I was going to say, you remember
Boy Tony when they called him Boy Tony.
Yes, I do. Remember, after Boy George, that
was Boy Tony. I do remember that.
Interesting deal. Yeah, and Tracy Smothers called
him the F Word on. On.

(54:25):
Memphis TV and not not the four letter one.
Either, Gene, you can't call people that.
No, not today they would have, oh Lord, they would have banned
poor Tracy from the the businessand the world.
But anyway, Doug Basham defeats the Spellbinder in the third
match. Doug Basham's guy that you guys
saw last year at the Memphis Hall of Fame, probably for the

(54:48):
first time in quite a while, right?
Yeah, he was. He's Danny's nephew, right?
He's one of the inducted Danny into the Hall of Fame.
Yeah, He's always been super nice to me and everything.
Good guy. Yeah, he's a guy we talked about
getting on the show sometime. Maybe we'll we'll.
Make Yeah, he actually asked me.He said he'd love to come on

(55:08):
here, point when we was at that show and I told him we'd have
him on here sometime. Of course, the spellbinder Dale
Rios is a guy that we did a whole interview with, but ended
up having to scrap it due to technical problems.
It never aired, so we'll probably get him back on here
one of these days as well. Yeah, he he actually just called
me earlier, right before we got on here and everything.
Yeah, we can get him whenever wewant.

(55:30):
We just got to give him be at home or be somewhere where he's
not riding. Yeah, yeah.
He was in his car that day and that that did not pan out.
But he's a good guy, so next match and here's another guy who
who may be on the show one of these days we can ever get him
to figure out this whole stream yard thing.
Reggie be fine. Defeated Coco, beware by

(55:51):
disqualification. We'll have to get him on here
when he goes to visit Tommy. Get it.
Get him on there. Set aside.
Tommy down. There, I love Reggie B.
Oh, Rage is great. We got some stories about Reggie
which he'd be fun to have on here.
And let's listen to his side of things with Reggie's Reggie.

(56:13):
We don't numbers on him, he wouldn't be able to talk.
We've been trying. I'm I'm trying to get Reggie on
here, but there's one in particular that I hope that
Reggie gets on here that that y'all can tell and hear his side
of that one. I don't, I don't know if there
can be a side of that one, but no one Reggie, he'll have, he'll

(56:34):
have an answer to it of some description for sure.
Oh, yeah, he, he called me the other day, asked me something.
I laughed at him. He was pretty funny.
But you know, I always when I get to Dallas, I holler at
Reggie and I try to take him outto dinner and everything and
treat, treat and everything. So Reed's always actually,

(56:55):
Reed's always been a nice man. Yeah, I always, always found
Reggie very entertaining over the years.
He's one of them guys that clearly understood his role at
every, you know, step of the wayand it was always excellent at
it on TV. I've always liked watched him as
a kid. Now, Tommy, we talked about, you
know, you and Eddie wrestling Coco and Norville as the Pyt's,

(57:21):
but by this time in 94, I guess he's a heel most time.
Did you guys really cross paths with him much like by the USWA
days Coco? Yeah, a little bit.
I may just well, the main, the main time was when they did the
PYT thing with Noah Bell. We probably spent the most time
with him and then he was, I don't know where else he went,

(57:43):
but. He he he went to he went to
Watts down there for a good while Tommy before he went to up
there for Vince and then but I didn't he go from there up there
Gene. Yeah, he went straight from
Watts to Vince and then stayed there for a long time and and
then went back to to Memphis andkind of bounced around.

(58:05):
I I racked my brain. Doug, I cannot remember ever
seeing you. Russell Coco, beware.
Did that never happen? Yeah, I worked with Coco.
I worked at Coco at, at a casino, at a casino show or two
down in Tunica. But, and, but I actually, I
worked Eastern quite a few timesat different spots, shows and
stuff that I Coco was always super, super nice to me and, and

(58:27):
everything. I've got nothing but good things
to say about Coco, man. You talking about an athlete and
work or if he wanted to go, he could go with with anybody.
Yeah, I always heard what, you know, what a natural, you know,
he was for wrestling. They said as soon as they got
him in the ring training that, you know, he just took to it
and. So yeah, he, he was really, like

(58:47):
I said, I've got nothing but good things to say about Coco.
He was always super nice to me. And I mean, I, I never seen him,
you know, somebody had done something to him for him to be
in disrespect for anything like that.
Coco was just super nice guy. Next there was a USWA women's
title match. It was funny.
This USWA women's title would just appear and disappear

(59:10):
depending on if they had any women in the territory.
They needed to have and needed to have a reason for a match.
It would just. Show up.
I think that's probably 'cause one time there's friends Moodle
up and why they appeared disappeared.
Well, this round saw Debbie Combs as the champion and she
defeated Susan Sapphire. Debbie Combs, you know, she was,

(59:32):
she was a talented lady wrestlerthat would come in and out of
Memphis and Nashville and. You going to laugh?
She stopped by. Do you remember her stopping by
saying this team not we was in Jonesboro?
Yes, I do. And she had a woman with her.
Tommy, do you remember this or did you even hear this?
She had a woman with her. And I said, she asked me, I

(59:53):
don't know who she was. I said, yeah, I know who you
are. You know some of the deals.
Somebody asked you. And I said, yeah, I know who you
are. And I thought I knew who Debbie
was. And I said, I don't guess I know
this lady with you. And she said we're, that's my
like there was a team. She said.
And I thought A-Team, I thought,I don't remember this one

(01:00:13):
wrestling. And she said, no, not wrestling.
We're bounty hunters. I said y'all 2 are bounty
hunters, which you know, Debbie might have could have been.
I remember her being kind of tough and everything but this
other woman. Her Mama with me want Miguel
Gorgon. That's what I told her in
Jonesboro. I said, I remember your Mama got
me so embarrassed, which her Mama said over there.

(01:00:36):
And like, if she was young like I was, she'd say go ahead and
get undressed. And you'd think, who is this
lady? But core she was.
She was something once she died.Yes, she was that was that was
some fabulous movie here and there, but you know core it was
the mean women back in. And then the next match, Brian

(01:01:01):
Christopher defeats Doug Gilbertby disqualification.
Yes, you and Brian had a couple of matches during the during
these times in Memphis, didn't you, Doug?
Yeah, yeah, we had, we had a couple through there and I was
you come out some every night was like you hear Tommy come out
working with different guys for a long time.
It's like every night you workedhard, but it's like a night off.

(01:01:23):
I mean, you know what, it was there.
There's so many of them, so manydifferent, you know, as you work
weeks and months and then it winds up turning into years
together. It winds up in so many matches,
but in so many different gimmickmatches and angles that build up
to different things and different storylines.

(01:01:45):
And then it winds up turning into where you, you wind up
switching and you're as partner and then you wind up at some
point turning back. But it, it was like I said,
through there, you couldn't ask.I couldn't have asked for any
better as far as I appreciate the guys that booked it.
Plus I appreciate having the opportunity to be able to work
with like a lot of those guys during that time.

(01:02:07):
As far as to to have the opportunity, like I said, Lawler
then went to mainly then done itwas doing everything for Vince
and then he'd pop in every once in a while now.
But you know, it was that's whenthey kind of the territory kind
of went to us guys to have a chance to to on top to draw.

(01:02:29):
Yeah, You know, there's certain feuds that guys kind of get
linked. You know, you say Lawler, you
automatically say Dundee, you say Tommy Rich, you
automatically kind of say Buzz Sawyer.
And I know I always with when I think of Brian or you, I always
thought Brian Christopher and Doug Gilbert like it became like
one of those famous feuds in wrestling.
So that that's really. Cool.
Yeah. And and you know, it's it's

(01:02:50):
funny, Gene, you say that like even when you say like Tommy
Buzz, you think about the TBS and the national exposure that
Tommy and Buzz drew at that timeand say Lawler and Dundee as far
as here in this territory, so many sellouts, you know, every
money, not at the cost, Sam. And then that's what I tell
people because people would you say that and they'd say you and

(01:03:13):
Brian, people get hot. I didn't draw as much money as
as Lawler and than they did. Well, look, didn't nobody didn't
nobody ever drive in Atlanta as much as Tommy Buzz did probably
for the the ever weekly towns and stuff.
But what I'm saying is at different times he was going to
drive different amounts that andyou know, but I think for, for

(01:03:35):
during the years that we're talking about, I think me and
Brian did pretty well. And, and like I said, as far as
drawing money in this territory for, for territories that was
done and gone. This territory was still still
here. And myself and Tommy drew money
with, with Jamie and Woofie and Tommy drew money with Brian.
I drew some money with Brian. And I, I think we've done pretty

(01:03:58):
well right there at the end wheneverybody else was done out of
business. Yeah, but no doubt at USWA it
was, you know, last with dying breed.
I mean, and it drew up, I mean up to win.
I mean it still drew. I mean, I mean it did.
It didn't do what it did back in96.
But nobody else was doing what they did.

(01:04:19):
Either you know, they were shut down or draw a small head.
Yeah. Overall, it's it's, it's been a
hell of a ride for Dougie and myself.
So couple more matches we'll runthrough here and then we'll wrap
this one up. Three-way tag team match PG13
beat the Eliminators and the Japanese team of Araya and

(01:04:40):
Okano, who were in from the timefrom Wayne.
Yeah, that was I brought those fellas in.
There was different times I'd bring different, different of
the guys from Wing Company and the WA company over and they'd
stay with me and travel and theytravel with me and Tommy.
You, you laugh. I got one of them driving me and
Tommy. And he didn't he, he knew a

(01:05:00):
little bit of English, but he sure didn't have no driver's
license or, or or nothing else but me and Tommy.
Tommy had a, a, a minivan. We'd go in and I had a link in
the stuff that we go in and we'dget back set and talk.
We'd mess with them, but we they'd always have a good time.
They'd stay here like a couple months usually and then they'd

(01:05:21):
go back home and everything would put them in different
little angles with people. But you're going to laugh at the
time when the eliminators come here.
They said, Doug, we got somebodythat we want you to manage and I
ain't never managed anybody. And I said, why do you?
Why do you want me to manage them for us?
I said, well, we need somebody to go out with them and kind of
tell them what to do. And I mean, shit, they weren't

(01:05:43):
going to do what they want to doanyway.
But I mean, I can tell them that.
They tell me, tell them Jamie Wolf is look at me.
They've worked with Jamie and Wolf a lot and they were just
killing Jamie and Wolf and they said they'd tell me.
They said just tell them to easeup and to, to cut their promos,
you know, they were both from upnorth and everything and they
they'd say some wild stuff and they'd tell me something to say

(01:06:04):
at the end of it just to cover, you know, like the angles and
whoever that was working against.
And I think that lasted about 6 or 8 weeks and I finally total
all of them. I said I'm going to think this
is really working. Like y'all like y'all want it
to. I said, but I'll do it if y'all
want. But I mean, I, you know, I was a
father's thing. I didn't think I was a manager,
but then again they use me for alot of things.

(01:06:27):
So this next match this I'm trying to picture this one.
This sounds interesting. USWA heavyweight title match,
The Dream machine defeated Moon Dog Spot.
I bet that was something. I can tell you there's a lot of
barking going on, but. Yeah, a lot of twisted, some Bob
wire and a lot of bark. Next match, a unified world

(01:06:52):
heavyweight title match the kingJerry Lawler defeated Tommy
Wildfire Rich by disqualification.
Don't know what Tommy would havedone to get disqualified, but
I'm sure he was set up and framed by someone.
I'm sure he. Didn't I'm sure what his fault.
Oh, I don't think so either. I don't think.
And then in the main event, a six man tag team elimination

(01:07:15):
match. Huh.
I said that's a heck of a car from top to bottom.
Yeah, and it still ain't over with.
We got a six man tag team elimination match.
Doug Gilbert, the Dream Machine and Tommy Rich defeated Brian
Christopher, Jerry Lawler and Moon Dog Spot.
So didn't send them home happy that night unless they were big

(01:07:36):
fans of the bad guys. But hey, bad guys have got to
win sometimes, right? Hey, Got.
To get one of the bad guys everyonce in awhile.
That's right, even on the 4th ofJuly.
There you go. All right well, man, we've had
several more cards, but you know, we you guys had some great
stories about some different people and I was a lot of fun.

(01:07:58):
I enjoy when we do these becauseit's just, it's a lot of names.
A lot of times it might not necessarily come up otherwise.
And I, I get a lot of great feedback on these shows from
people saying they love hearing you guys talk about some of the
more obscure people. Not as a knock on saying they're
obscure, just saying that the time frame they were in don't
necessarily pop up just in average conversations we have

(01:08:19):
here. So hey Tommy, you think Gene can
spell obscure? No, I can't even say it.
No, I know what you're saying, Gene.
You're right, which a lot of people tell me they like the
listen because we talked about different guys that they've
heard about and seen but didn't know much about and everything.
I think it's real cool that we talked about them also.

(01:08:41):
Well, we're going to wrap this up because hey, it's the 4th of
July. I know you guys want to get out
there and shoot some fireworks and eat some BBQ.
Tommy's going to be up in Wainwright and he's got a all.
Right. It's will, right?
Will right. I'm sorry.
Tommy can be in Wainwright and will right listen if I get out.
There, he's going to be all right, Thomas.

(01:09:02):
Is back, right? And hey.
Listen, if we get Tommy and Geneboth right, hey, let's get out
there and have a good time on the 4th and be safe.
Listen everybody, be be cool. In the heart of Tennessee, Bone
fry, Dug and Tommy taking rings and strides.

(01:09:24):
Memphis legends never backing down.
Wrestling warriors. They wear the crown.
You scurry away. Glory in their face.
Final legends break in chains inthe square circle.

(01:09:45):
They made their names podcast champions.
It's their claim to fame on the might.
They roar on the map. They saw dangerous conversations
when swarming boom. Our guys came through in the way

(01:10:07):
if it's wrestling race in the sea.
From tidal belts to Hall of FameDoug and Tom, they carved the
name fits of fury and hearts of gold.
Every story, every fight retold tales of glory, laugh and cry.

(01:10:33):
10 sea warriors with hearts openwide in the rain on the air they
dreams of living without a care.On the map, they roared.
On the map, they saw dangerous conversations, plans.

(01:10:55):
Wanna move our gas cans ruling the waves If this wrestling
waves in the stage?