October 20, 2025 • 49 mins
#cassidyriley #wcw #tna #gmbmpw
Welcome to Episode 21 of the Best Of jamesrockstreet Productions! Home to the Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling and Live and In Color with Wolfie D podcasts, Sheik's Shorts and more! So, sit back and enjoy as we bring you some of the very best stories, you'll never hear anywhere else! @GMBMPW @livewolfied @jamesrockstreet Everywhere!
Today we bring you the first half of episode 24 of Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling with Cassidy Riley! We talk his start in the business, his early days, WCW, Dusty Rhodes, TNA, WWE and so much more! Enjoy!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey, this is the original Hotshot and the VIP of
professional wrestling, Cassidy Riley, and you're listening to
Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling. Oh, it's always so good.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome toGive Me Back My Pro wrestling.
(00:48):
Hello, Sir. Don't know.
Now you know. Baby, this is Hot Rod Bigs,
Jared, Jimmy St. We're going to take them to the
limit One more time, baby. Right here.
Oh, give me back my pro wrestling.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome one more time to the Give Me
Back My Pro Wrestling podcast. And today once again, we have an
amazing episode. I really feel like we're kind of
(01:11):
hitting our stride here jut so. Anyway, welcome to the show My
Co host, my brother from the same father and mother, Jared
the plastic sheet St. What's up brother?
Yeah, I'm looking forward to today.
It's good. It's going to be a good
conversation. I think, you know.
Yeah, we we, you know, this guy that's been in the business, he
WCW, WWE, WWE, CW, whatever you want to call it T.
(01:34):
NAOV WWW. Yeah, I mean, yeah, whatever you
want to call it. So I mean, he's, he's been
around, he's been on the Indies.I mean, he's, he's got, he's got
some experience and should have some good stories for us and.
Plus, he's an incredibly nice guy.
I can't even tell you I'm going to tell him later in the show,
but he's on my Mount Rushmore for nicest guys in wrestling
(01:56):
ever because I mean, Joe Gomez is one of them for sure.
You know, had him on the Wolfie show.
And then of course, you know, Cassidy is also very nice.
I just was like, you know what, it would be cool to have him on,
you know, so many people during this time.
And of course, you know, one thing we would love to say is
Merry Christmas, but we'll get to that.
But everybody does a Christmas or whatever episode for this
(02:17):
time of year and I just didn't really want to do that.
I just kind of felt like, why don't we give them a gift
instead of making it a show? Let's give them a gift.
So hey, I hope y'all love Cassidy Riley.
You know, he's a great gift to anyone.
He's got a gift, man. I'm just excited to have him on
and you know, hopefully everybody enjoys it as much as
(02:38):
we do so. Yeah, hopefully he's he's just,
you know, talking mood. I'm sure he I'm sure he will be.
You've talked about how nice he is.
You know anybody that's nice to my brother, I'm I'm cool with
so. Well, Ditto.
Yeah. So.
Well, you know, with that being said, you know, our last episode
we had the wrestling superheroes.
And from what I can tell from downloads and listens and all
(03:00):
that and views and all that seems to be really well
received. You know, I think Cash with his
podcasting debut, I think he didpretty good.
What about you? Yeah, I think we've definitely
got Colossus cast in a in a future movie with the wrestler
if we need to so. Yeah, maybe Cassidy Riley can be
Colossus. Hey, Cassie Riley Colossus.
(03:21):
Yeah. Oh, man, he would be, you know,
Cassidy would be a great superhero man.
But anyway, yeah. So Cash, obviously.
You know, it's funny because youand I all text back and forth
with him. I'm like, hey, yeah, this guy
said this about the show and it's crickets.
Yeah. Crickets.
(03:42):
He just doesn't really care. And I get it.
I'm not trying to force something on him and make him,
you know, he's a video gamer, He's he loves, you know, his
friends and all that. And I get it.
I'm not trying to, you know, push my stuff on him.
And but it's just funny because I feel like that would give him
some, you know, feel good. You know, I was like, hey, but
it's like, yeah. He like, I don't care.
(04:04):
Crickets. And yeah, so I mean, whatever, I
think he could do it if he wanted to.
I mean, dude, everybody's got a podcast.
You know what I'm saying? Why not help?
But Long story short, get out ofschool, get a career, then do
the podcast. I'm just saying that was his
(04:25):
first time. And it was pretty funny because,
you know, he seemed like he was a natural.
The cool thing that I heard everybody say is it sounded like
we were having a lot of fun. And also, you know, the rapport
with us is, is easy because that's just a recording of one
of our conversations. Just.
Just yeah, we could have just been sitting there talking about
that and I was just recording basically.
That's kind of what I like aboutthis show, you know, is all of
(04:48):
my shows is it's just an audio conversation.
That's the deal. You know, even our interviews
where we do specifically ask questions directed at them, we
also want them to be able to conversate.
You know, they can direct the conversation as much as we do,
you know, so. I mean, I mean seriously though,
I mean, you look at even our biggest guests we've had, you
know, Greg Gonya and Magnum and and and Steve Roses all even and
(05:12):
they were all just super easy totalk to and super.
Yeah. Super nice SO.
And I mean, even though my tag on stomachs in my throat with
Magnum and my heart's beating fast with Greg, I'm sure you
felt the exact same way with Steve.
Steve was like a breakthrough episode for us.
You know, it was really something that, you know, you
and I came into our own as the hosts.
(05:34):
You know, that's how it should be.
That's how it will be. And you know, that's that on
that. But with Magnum and Greg, you
know, by the way, Greg has hit 4digits on downloads.
So it's awesome. I mean, I'm, I don't want to,
obviously I don't really. It's tacky to just say
specifics. But yeah, we were super
(05:56):
impressed by that. The other thing is, is the What
If episode on you? Tube with the.
Ultimate Warrior and Sting. That one has blown up.
Oh I know, 25,000 views on a short.
We made 25,000. I mean, yeah, it's, it's, it's
just like what? Something we're doing is cool
and something we're doing is right.
(06:16):
So we'll go with that. We'll take it.
Yeah, but it makes a guy want tojust, I mean, there's only so
many what ifs we can do, you know what I'm saying?
But to keep it at that quality of a level.
And I really feel like the stingin The Ultimate Warrior one
wasn't really something that a lot of people, a lot of comments
were like, oh, I never thought of that.
Oh, I never thought I'm like, you know, that's what we're here
for. Well, anyway, I think.
(06:38):
Do you have any more you'd like to before I?
Now let's get this interview going, man, Let's go.
All right, we'll be right back after these messages with our
Christmas gift to you, the VIP Cassidy Riley.
Are you a pro wrestling fan? We'll stop by Captain's Corner,
where you can get autographed photos, cards, magazines, and
figures from all of your favorite wrestling superstars of
(06:59):
the past, present, and future. You'll also be able to
participate in live signings in the weeks and months to come.
Make sure to stop by Captain's Corner on Facebook and give us a
holler. Remember, cheers to the working
man. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome
back to the Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling podcast.
Thank you all for sticking around.
(07:20):
Of course, this is a very important episode to us because
we got my buddy Cassidy Riley onthe show, the VIP.
What's up brother? How are you today?
Man, I'm doing fantastic. Thank you for having me.
I'm excited I I get to be the year end guest the the last show
of the year. And so thank you for for a huge
honor and allowing me to close your guys.
(07:41):
You're out on your show. Oh, man, that honor is all ours,
brother. So, you know, anytime we can
have a actual professional wrestler on the show, we're
going to take advantage of that.So thank you for coming on, man.
Yeah, My pleasure, man. Thank you guys for having me.
So how you doing man? How's things going with you,
brother? You doing all right?
Good man. Everything's good.
Everything's been real good, real busy.
(08:03):
You know, last part of the year,several shows by myself and Bam
Bam Malone are tagging Down by You Independent Wrestling, which
is based out of Louisiana. We won the tag belts last month.
So going into the new year, current tag team champion and I
don't know, at 46 years old and getting close to 30 years into
(08:25):
this business, I'm going to tellmy age a little bit here.
You know those opportunities arespecial and you appreciate them
more and more as they come along.
So everything's been good, man. I have no complaints and just
kicking along and seeing how much longer I can keep kicking.
Man, that's awesome cast. I saw that on Facebook man I saw
(08:45):
maybe it was Instagram or something.
I saw you with the titles and bam bam there.
That's really cool man. You know I'm a Co host on the
Wolfie D podcast as well. Everybody knows that I talk
about it too much. Probably what?
No. Anyway, that being said, on that
episode we had you on earlier inthe year, you were saying I
think I'm going to be wrapping it up.
(09:05):
But now you're the tag champs, man.
So, you know, hey, Congrats brother.
You know, you know how, you know, how wrestling is anybody,
anybody that's been involved in it for any length of time it
it's such a roller coaster and you know, it just when you, if
you, you think you're, you're about ready to get out or you're
trying to get out, it'll throw you one of those little dangling
(09:26):
carrots seem like, yeah, maybe just a little bit longer, maybe
just a little bit longer, you know, but at some point in time,
you, we everybody asks to be realistic.
And, and, and I'm at that point,you know, my career is
definitely as far as full time in the ring and actively in the
ring is, is really drawing closeto an end.
And then there's no doubt about it.
(09:47):
I can still, you know, I can still do it, but man, it hurts a
lot worse. It takes a lot longer to get
over and I but I still love it and I still still appreciate
every aspect of it. So I'm just treasuring, you
know, the matches that I do haveleft, the time that I do have
left to actively, you know, be at every show, every other week
(10:08):
or every month, whatever the case may be for the promotion.
Doesn't mean I still will come in and visit.
Doesn't mean that, you know, I don't want to be able to help
out somewhere behind the scenes.And, you know, I'm kind of
transitioning. I'd like to kind of transition
into some some some other avenues of the entertainment
industry, so. There you go.
(10:28):
Yeah, man, just you want to break a little news, We'll give,
I'll break a little news here onGive Me Back my pro wrestling
podcast, but I can't say too much.
But I just recently finished filming The Iron Claw and what a
great experience. And so that stuff like that is
more of what I'm willing to transition to be able to do post
(10:48):
wrestling. And when I do finally decide
that, it's time to give it up for good.
Brother that is awesome. I didn't know that man.
Now. That's no, nobody does.
Congratulations, we broke a secret on your show.
So if I get fired from the movienow, it's because of you and I'm
(11:09):
going to play in your podcast. Yeah, it's, you know.
I really, I can't say anything, but it was, it was a great
experience and I appreciate it. And I'll tell you what we'll do
is once the movie comes out, I'll come back, we'll do another
podcast, and we'll talk strictly.
Yeah, and we will talk world class in the Iron class.
So, OK, I'm not going to ask anymore about that because I don't
want to get you. You've already given us enough
(11:30):
here, but. You got a salivating go.
Yeah, I mean wow bro, I'm so proud of.
It and we're not even 5 minutes into this podcast, we're
already, we're already dropping the ball.
Yeah, breaking. And I love it.
I love. It shoot man, everybody watch
out. Yeah, so OK, I don't even know
what to go next. Now everything is just RIP up my
(11:50):
work here. OK, Well bro, that is, yeah.
Yeah. Awesome, man.
Thank you. I appreciate it.
I'm I'm excited, I'm I'm excitedabout it.
I'm excited for it to come out and in all aspects it was a
great experience. Well, so we've even been talking
about this movie since the beginning when it, because this
movie is exactly what this podcast is about.
(12:11):
Give me back my pro wrestling, you know?
And the whole point of it is that me and my brother are just
recording our conversations. You know what I'm saying?
That's all we're doing, right? So it seems like that movie, and
again, I'm not asking for any more than you want to give, but
what I'm saying is, is it seems like that movie is really paying
attention to detail on stuff. So I'm happy for that, Yeah.
(12:34):
Thank you, man. And like I said, yeah, I'm
excited to see the final productas well as I know there's going
to be a lot of other people out there that aren't too.
Oh, yeah, definitely. Dude, that's really cool, man.
So, All right, Well, all right, that's it.
Forgive me back my here's here'swhere we go.
OK, so this is the Christmas time of year.
(12:56):
And So what we're going to do right now is we're going to go
back to the very beginning. All right.
Now ultimately I like to do verydeep research all over the
Internet, but sometimes the starting or the ending point for
me is Wikipedia. Now I know Wikipedia isn't
always correct because anybody and their mother can go on there
and change whatever it says. But here's what I'm saying.
(13:17):
I read something on Wikipedia, hear about you, and I'm just
picking some interesting pieces.But it says in the early years
that you became interested in wrestling at the age of 6 after
seeing a gory picture of Abdullah the Butcher in a PWI
issue. And the age of eight, you
actually received a pair of tights from your mother and aunt
as a Christmas present. So it's Christmas right now.
(13:38):
But tell us, is that true? Yeah, and I agree with you on
Wikipedia. And what's funny about Wikipedia
is they, you know, somebody had sent me a link to my A page at
one time, and I got to reading it and there was, you know,
several things that were incorrect.
And so I was going to go on there and I was just going to
fix it for them. Then they ended up kicking me
off for like a year. They wouldn't even let me edit
(13:58):
nothing for a year. I don't know who I pissed off by
doing that, but I was just trying to help them, you know,
give them some credentials. But that's true, man.
That's exactly true. Saw that picture of that do and
I can still remember it like to this day, like it was yesterday.
And because they changed my, youknow, it changed my life.
And it opened the world of these, you know, mythical
(14:20):
creatures and just this this storytelling that was
incredible. And as a 6-7 year old kid, man,
just captivated me. Sat down, you know, would watch
every wrestling program on TV from start to finish every week.
And back then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, almost every night of
the week you catch some type of wrestling program.
(14:41):
So that I mean, that's all I did.
And then, yeah, that that was probably one of my favorite
Christmas gifts ever as a kid. And somewhere there's a picture
running around with me and thosewrestling types that my mom and
my aunt made with some bandanas on.
She had dressed up like the Rock'n'roll Express.
Yes, Sir. Awesome man.
Were you Ricky or Robert? Man, I loved them both.
(15:04):
I just either one, I was such big fans of all of both of the
guys. But what's so funny is they
actually, and back then, like the wrestlers never did an
autograph sign on hardly ever atthe at the events Mid South was
it was in town and they were going to have an autograph
signing. And with the Rock'n'roll
Express, I'm like, Oh my God, this is fantastic.
So I'm standing in line with a million.
(15:25):
You know, there was probably 2000 other people, mostly women.
And when I get up there, I didn't have any, I didn't have
anything for my sign. So I just took my ticket
envelope and ripped it in half and let them sign the inside
where it was blank. And I handed the paper to to
Ricky and I called him Robert and he just looked at me and
said, I'm Ricky signed. It was just like, you know, you
(15:46):
could just tell, like I just kidding.
I'll just get they don't even know who we are.
And they killed me, man. They just crushed myself.
I was like, oh, I'm so stupid. How can I do that?
How can I call Ricky Morton? How can I call him Robin?
And and so and I reminded him that years later, once I kind of
got to know he laughed and who laughed, you know, and that's
(16:08):
the great thing about about thisbusiness in my career, like
those guys that I idolized and got me into wrestling.
Later, Robert Gibson will becomea very good friend of mine and
and be one of my trainers when Iwas in Ohio Valley wrestling for
WWE. So and it it kind of goes back
to everything in my career has kind of been such like full
circle and it it would just go back one other, you know, we can
(16:32):
kind of touch on that just a little bit more like so already
in my career, I was able to wrestle in Dallas and I was able
to wrestle at this moratorium. So getting back and you know,
then this deal come up with IronClaw, it was so special to me
because there was just another aspect of my career where it
comes full circle back around. So it's been like that for
(16:54):
years. And I'm telling you, and I think
that's one reason I am content with would be with it being too
close to the end of my career isI've got to experience and do so
much fun stuff with so many coolpeople and to where, you know,
I'm just happy with with with what it's giving me.
And I don't want to stick aroundand try to take too much.
(17:15):
Yeah, it does feel like you havereally squeezed every bit of the
drop of juice out of this sport you can get.
You know, it feels like, becauseI feel like you just been
everywhere, man. And I mean, you've had such a
cool career. I mean, did you get to Main
Event mania? No.
But hey, at the same time, I think you've done some
incredible stuff and I can't wait to get into some of this.
(17:35):
But before we get into that, onemore thing from Wikipedia and
then I'm going to stop. So it says you were initially
trained by Lolly, dude, correct?But then you got a little
finishing from Tommy Rogers and Terry Taylor.
Now, before we get to Lolly and those guys, talk about what led
up to that. Were you athlete in high school?
Did you play a lot of sports? What led you to wrestling?
(17:56):
Yeah, I did. I was actually on a state
championship football team and state championship baseball team
at high school and small school.But even in high school, I
graduated high school when I was17 and I still really hadn't
started feeling out a lot. It was after, you know, my
(18:18):
senior, my senior year, the football season, I just decided
I was at school only half a day.I still had another half the day
to where person was taking me. And you know, we're riding
school together. We're still in school.
So I had like 3 hours. So to kill time, I just got in
the weight room and I just really started kind of hitting
the weights and trying to get ingood shape.
And I really didn't start putting on any size until after
(18:42):
all of my high school sports days were over.
It was in the second-half of my senior year.
I started kind of bulking up up a little bit, but I just knew,
man, I knew that like I didn't, I don't know how to explain it
other than I I just knew that I had to at least try it because I
loved it so much and I didn't try it.
I'd always regret it. So just little, little ways, I
(19:03):
started trying to just chip awayat it.
OK, so how do I do this? How do I get involved in it?
That's some guys who are local, who are local wrestlers down
here at the time, the guy who just bugged them to death and
finally, you know, got them to where they they, they didn't
have a ring, but they would, they were showing me stuff
outside, you know, just laying some real basic foundation for
(19:26):
me. And then I got in touch with
with Lolly in the oven. Those guys are doing some TV at
Mississippi and Louisiana and Arkansas area.
And I just fell in and and, you know, he had a ring, so he
started training me. And then like Terry and Tommy,
Terry Taylor, Tommy Rogers, theywere coming in and doing the TV
for them. So when they were in town, I'd
get a chance to get in the ring with them some.
(19:48):
So. And that's kind of how it all
came about. But you know, I did play high
school, high school sports. Yeah.
But I think it was my love and drive for the wrestling that
that really got me there. Yeah, because, you know, I know
a lot of guys. We always joked around high
school that we were the four horsemen or, you know, we would
always walk. Around acting like we were
wrestling and there is even likea unofficial version of WCW
(20:09):
walking around the halls. You know, The funny thing is, is
you were actually we're close. You're November 21st, 76.
And I'm not trying to dox you. My son just taught me that word.
So I don't even know if I'm using it right.
I'm actually November 28th, 1978.
So I know the exact feeling. Graduating when I was 17 because
you probably started when you were 4, right?
(20:30):
You you were a November baby. So yeah, I know that feeling
too. So OK, then you meet Lolly and
you Start learning some stuff. What was your initial idea that
now again, I know it gets shot down as you meet other people
and you start to fine tune your craft and stuff, but what was
your initial idea for what you wanted to be in pro wrestling?
(20:53):
Obviously, you know, probably the top guy, but you know what
I'm saying? Like, what was your character
idea? Did you have a specific idea of
mine? I really, I didn't, I didn't, I
really didn't have a character. I did at all.
I just wanted to learn and you would see, you would like, I
would see guys. I, I don't know.
To me it was always more important about learning.
(21:13):
I didn't, they kind of talk to me learning the business and
then everything else will kind of come as it comes.
But if you don't have good foundation and good fundamentals
and you, you know, nothing else matters after that.
And so to me, those that's how you train the guys who end up
becoming the workers of the workers that that's almost all
of them. The guys that idolize, you know
(21:36):
who you know, Doctor Tom Pritchard and the guys who can
top trainers now to teach the best workers.
I think that's how they start. And that's kind of the the
fundamentals they instill in their kids.
And it just has that that systemalways seems to work no matter
what. You may not have the the the
brightest lights of your career.You may not headline
(21:57):
WrestleMania. You'll always have
opportunities. You'll always be able to pick up
the phone and get work. You, if you know if you have
those, found those foundations and those fundamentals.
So and I really wasn't creative enough at the time to have a
character. I was trying to do all I could
to learn the holds and the movesand how to do them right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. I was focusing on that more than
(22:18):
anything. I know the story here basically
because what's happened is Lollydid the main training and then
you've had Terry Taylor and likeyou said, Tommy Rogers finishing
touches and stuff and, and in additions after.
But you know, your your body is very similar to Tommy, I think.
I think you guys have a very similar look almost now.
And you know, he's one of the guys that's always had a great
physique about him. So, you know, that's a definite
(22:39):
compliment, by the way, so. Well, thank you.
Yeah, Tommy, man, I don't think Tommy gets enough credit.
For yeah, he definitely doesn't.He had a great drop kick, a
great punch and man he had so much fire.
I remember him telling me a story one time that when they
first got to, it was either the Mid-Atlantic or the Georgia TV.
(23:00):
He was really young before he was one of the fantastic.
He was just coming in and doing some preliminary matches.
He was, he was doing A tag matchwith somebody else and they got
in there and he, he just startedfiring up and they couldn't cut
him off. Like he just got, you know, he
just got fired up and they just couldn't stop it.
And that's kind of what led him to get to notice.
But he was like that his whole career.
He was just a little fireball man and just so good, you know,
(23:23):
technically good. And like I said, he just doesn't
get quite the recognition that Ifeel like he deserves.
So on here, we've got like a theory, it's called like Sons of
the Road Warriors. So basically you take the powers
of pain, you take demolition. Even though these guys are
sometimes even older than them, their gimmick is the reaction to
the Road Warriors. And so Tommy is one of the sons
(23:46):
of the fabulous ones. You know what I'm saying to me,
if that makes any sense. That makes total sense.
I I would. I could totally see that, yeah.
And you know, those guys had similar characters and yeah,
similar word styles and gimmicksand, and all of it.
So yeah, I could. I could totally see that and I
would agree with that. And now a word from our sponsor.
(24:18):
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome toGive Me Back My Pro Wrestling, a
podcast that's based on the old school but can still help you
find the good stuff from today. Jimmy St. and The Plastic Sheet
Jared are the undisputed tag team champions of the wrestling
podcast world. From thought provoking topics,
the superstar interviews to action figure expertise, this
(24:42):
team does it all. And all they ask is give Me Back
My Pro wrestling. Every other Thursday, wherever
you listen to podcasts. You know, the fabulous ones to
me are are definitely the start of something.
(25:02):
But then the rock'n'roll, then the rockers, then the midnight,
you know, the midnight rockers Ishould say.
And then, of course, the fantastic.
At. 1st I didn't like them because they were replacing my
Rock'n'roll Express, you know what I'm saying?
But then you, you lose that and you're like, OK, these guys are
great on their own. They're they're kind of their
own thing, you know, so and Bobby Fulton and and Tommy
(25:23):
Rogers, man, what too great. There's such a great tag team.
And to me, you know, I know Bobby still around.
It's such a shame that Tommy is not around still.
I hate to hear, you know, that he had passed and stuff.
And did you have much contact with him throughout his life?
Yes, we, we kept in contact a little bit.
The last time I saw him was whenWrestleMania was in New Orleans
(25:46):
and they had a Mid South reuniondown in New Orleans that same
year. And he he had came in and we had
hooked up at at one of the showsthat I was on.
He came to see me and we got to visit a little bit and that was
the last time I got to see him. Yeah, it's a shame, man.
Probably a year, maybe 2 years before he passed away.
Yeah, yeah, I'm. Horrible with days.
(26:08):
Man, it's OK. Horrible with days.
That's what Wikipedia is for. No, I'm just kidding.
That's anyway you don't edit it.Yeah, you.
Just don't edit it. That's right.
Yeah, don't do that. Don't get kicked off Wikipedia
if you want to know how to ask Cassidy.
But other than that, don't get kicked off anyway, Yeah?
(26:28):
I'm the Robert of this pair. Jimmy's the Ricky and I had
brown hair, he had blonde hair, so we it was a natural fit for
us. Yeah, we both had mullets.
Yeah, we both had mullets. At one time.
We'd be very stylish now. Sweet.
Mullets, man. Yeah, those were small.
I had, I had a few, I, you know,I even remember like the short
(26:50):
hair on top with the perm in thebag.
Did you always have the? Perm Yeah, I had.
I had a natural like waviness tomy hair so I didn't really need
a perm I had. The rat tail so it was like a it
was a mullet with a rat tail added on so.
Sweet rat tails. Cassidy So I I was, you know,
falling out of YouTube rabbit hole watching some of your
(27:12):
matches and I came across one from WCW Saturday night where
you wrestled hell with Jimmy Hart.
And yeah, man, that just looked like a, that just looked like a,
a, a rough time and the and the finishing.
Story on that. Oh absolutely, absolutely.
That was my very first loop in with WCW.
(27:33):
My very first WCW show was the Spring Break show at South Padre
Island. So if you're going to go in,
what a better way to go in than the spring break show in?
Here right so we. Go down to South Padre Island
and when we pull across the the bridge going into the island, I
mean, there's just cars everywhere.
And keep in mind still my first WCW show.
(27:54):
So I'm like a Kitty candy store.We get to the hotel, we get out,
we're going inside. We're we're, we're checking in
and just fans everywhere. And it is, I mean, it was just
spring, spring break with a bunch of wrestling fans.
It was awesome. Plus I was getting paid really
good to be there at the end of that loop.
We were doing that. That show was in Beaumont, TX
(28:18):
and we, so we did Nitro on Monday, Thunder on Tuesday in
Beaumont on Wednesday I believe is what it was.
And that was for the Saturday night show in Beaumont.
I was originally scheduled to work with Lash Le Roux on that
show. So when we get to the building,
I go in, I see the line up and it's me and Lash and I'm
thinking, oh man, that's great, that's going to be fun.
You know, we had like 8 minutes,me and Lash at 8 minutes, about
(28:42):
the same size. We ought to be able to tear it
up. Then I come back later and I
Mickey Jay-Z racing the board and I see he's erasing my match
and I'm like, oh man, what happened?
And then he rewrites it. Cassidy versus Hell and I knew
Emory previously. We actually wrestled together in
Mississippi when we were both starting.
Sweetheart of a guy. So and it was the first time I
(29:03):
got seen in a couple of years. So I go and he's like, oh man, I
heard they switched it to me andyou and I'm like, yeah, he's
like, dude, I'm sorry. Because I mean, it's like it's
going to be lights out in 30 seconds because they're just
giving him this monster push. But what?
Come to find out, Frankie Lane was originally supposed to
wrestle Emory and he didn't wantto do the stretcher job.
So he went and had it changed and then he worked with Lash and
(29:25):
then I did, I did the job with Emory, which I didn't mind
because Emory was my friend and I was, like I said, it was my
first WCW trip. I was going to do whatever they
told me to do anyway because I wanted to come back because they
were paying me good. And then, but that's kind of the
back story on that. It was fun.
Emery was a great guy. He's another one of those guys
that was taken too early from it.
(29:46):
I think he at one point, he had potential to be a really big
star. Yeah, he had that monster look.
It was a. He was, he was a monster man.
He was a big guy. At at the end of that match with
the with the spike pile driver, I was like, Oh my God, I was
like. Yeah, my mom was there.
You thought it was real. Oh yeah, yeah.
(30:07):
Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah, that just shows how much
trust you have to have in the person you're in the ring with
to just to go with it. Yeah, his legs were so big.
I don't know if my head could have really, if I, if he wanted
them to, you know what I'm saying.
But I and like I said, I, I'd known him previously from, since
(30:27):
we had work shows together in Mississippi and I and I trusted
him. He was a good guy.
Yeah. Yeah, but he could have, you
know, really, if he'd hit the right thing, he could have
probably been something big. But yeah.
And they were kind of building him to that way.
I think he made his debut like from one night.
He appeared on Raw and destroyedsome people, him and Jimmy.
(30:48):
And then I don't know what happened after that.
They kind of just pulled the plug on it.
And it wasn't long after that, you know, he, he, he had passed
away. So I don't know, maybe the
company saw something, I'm not sure what it was, but he man, he
that guy had the size and potential would be a big.
Star and it's it's, you know, some of that time in WCW and
(31:09):
everything like that, that's when Russo and Bischoff were
kind of, you know, back and forth as far as who was
controlling things. So you know.
Yeah, and I mean, come on, let's, let's be real, WCW let
Steve Austin, you know what I mean?
Sometimes their judgment on talent was not the absolute
best. They let Triple H go.
Two of the two guys have become two of the biggest stars in the
history of the business. Kevin Nash, they let him go on
(31:34):
his first run. Scott Halt.
So their track record at times was not was not the best.
Right. Yeah, absolutely.
Couldn't say it. Better.
You know, and how cool was that,though?
Because I mean, we're both Southern boys here.
We're, you know, from Virginia, obviously the top of the South,
and you're from Louisiana, whichis literally the South, you
(31:55):
know? The bottom of the South.
Yeah, well, I mean, you're the South S, you know what I'm
saying? So send us some boudin while
you're at it. But anyway, so how is it getting
that with WCW, man? I mean, I know that was like our
wrestling, right? I mean, I assume that's the same
for you. Oh, it was, it was, man, it was
incredible. Yeah, it was.
(32:15):
I was so excited. You know, Bert Prentice had had
a deal with where he he was bringing in some of the power
plant guys because I was workingNashville at that time and man,
we were working sometimes four or five nights a week.
And we were steadily we had, we were steadily doing shows.
We had a nice little territory built up bird head regional TV.
(32:35):
So they would send some of the power plant guys in and start
getting some experience before they would go up and start
making their debuts on, you know, whether it'd be worldwide
or Nitro or Thunder or whatever it was going to be.
So in exchange for that, you know, they were taking a look at
some of us who were at Bert's territory at that time and
giving us opportunities to come up and and do TV with the, you
(32:57):
know, everything that was. So it was really awesome is just
that next step in your career where you finally get to go to
one of the major companies and now you're learning, OK, this is
how everything's done up here. You're starting to see behind
the scenes how how everything's put together and all that
affects what you do in the ring once you've had that experience
and see, I mean, you have to learn all aspects of the
(33:18):
business to be to be at the at that top level, I believe.
So when you first time you see that big production and just
several 18 Wheelers full of, youknow, production and satellite
equipment and all that, it's like, man, this is this is
incredible and it was awesome. Is there, is there, is there
anybody like you could like say like, you know, even when you
were like at that first point with WCW that you were like
(33:40):
somebody that was a big star in the company that was just like
amazing to you that you're like,they didn't have to be nice to
me, but they were just amazing. Well, one of the guys that comes
to mind was Billy Silverman, oneof the references.
And. Billy was always really, really
good to me. Billy was always kind to me.
He'd let me ride with him, you know, he, they, they took care
of his rental, rental car and hotels.
(34:01):
So Billy was gracious enough, you know, he'd pick me up and
let me ride with him and, and wewould room together.
And so, yeah, Billy Silverman. And he's a lifelong friend of
his days. He's one of the, you know, close
friends that I've made in this business.
And, and I always appreciated him.
And because he kind of gave, youknow, people would see me with
Billy and knew Billy was cool. They accepted me a little bit
(34:23):
easier because of that, you know, guys in the locker room.
So I, I, I, you know, I appreciate Billy doing that for
me. Yeah, Billy's Kay Fabian is on
the interview. But yeah, I got nothing but good
things to say about Billy. Billy No.
Tell him we don't bite, man Callhim.
Out. Call him out right now.
We can have all the time you need.
(34:44):
I give you permission to just light him up.
OK, I'll do that. I couldn't do that to Billy
though anyway, so, you know, youbrought it up man, and I don't
want to get past that. Too far is the Music City
Wrestling. So if anybody has been able to
be on YouTube lately and see anything from the history of
Nashville, I think it's Brian Turner's VHS rehab.
(35:06):
How cool has that been to see all that cool stuff that you
might have bought was lost to history?
Dude, I'm so thankful that Brianhas been able to find as much as
he has and has has been able to put it out there.
We had, we, I mean, we had so much fun during that era and we
had some really good talent. We were doing some really good
stuff considering, you know, thebudget that we had to work with
(35:28):
for the shows and the productionequipment at that time.
You know, everything's so much more advanced now, but we were
putting out some quality wrestling shows, man.
And, and a lot of that stuff I thought was lost forever.
So I, I really appreciate, you know, put it out there on
YouTube, the archives, and they now even my kids can go see it.
Yeah. And, you know, everybody who was
(35:49):
any type of fan from the 90s or late 90s, early 2000s of, you
know, the Nashville scene and they can see it too.
It was, it was really fun. I know he puts a lot of time and
effort into it. And I appreciate you doing that.
It's been a nice trip down memory lane for sure.
Dude, and it's incredible. And there's some stuff that's
just so crazy, like Wolfie D andChris champion storyline and you
(36:12):
know all that. But then watching some of your
matches that you know what, dude?
I mean, you can tell you were your body's feeling good.
You can tell there's, I mean, not to say you ever showed
injury, but what I'm saying is is you're you're like at 100%
and everybody is at 100% and they're just absolutely killing
it. Hey, my name is Tammy Reynolds.
(36:34):
I am the wife of that super coolguy that everybody knows and
loves, and I represent West SideSauces.
I make sauces, I bottle them, I seal them, I sell them.
I have a hot honey sauce, I havea sweet sauce, I have a hot
sauce. I have a white sauce that's so
(36:55):
yummy you can use it on everything.
They are absolutely amazing and I'm so proud of them.
We make them from scratch. So go on our website, West Side
sauces.com, check out our products, read about our story
and go online and order you someof these yummy sauces.
(37:15):
And Rick actually uses all of the sauces because he is a die
hard smoker and griller and so he likes really good sauces and
rubs and I make them. So how convenient is that for
him? Go on our website
westsidesauces.com, order you some samples and I think you'll
(37:36):
thoroughly enjoy them. Thank you guys, be blessed.
And you know the one thing, Bert.
I worked for Bert, you know, when I got a chance to, and Bert
was always very cool and fair tome.
But also at the same time, Bert has a lot of other kind of, you
know, some people hate him, somepeople love him.
(37:57):
I don't. I don't want to.
Not a lot of in between. Yeah, there's.
No Gray area on Bert. But Bert was always good to me
and that's all I can take it on.But I tell you what you know,
other than the fact that he saidTNA killed Nashville, which
again, I get that, but you know,Music City, man, I feel like was
really on the cusp of almost becoming something bigger.
You know, God, I agree. It was great it.
(38:20):
Like if you were to compare it to wrestling in the last five
years, it would have been like the Ring of Honor, I think to
WWE today. But then the thing was we we
were doing some really good stuff and we were all still
pretty young and we were all still learning so much.
That's I tell people all the time, like I, I knew how to
(38:42):
wrestle before I came to Nashville.
I learned how to work once I gotinto Nashville and started
working with those group of guys.
And it was just like taking it to another level from when you
talk about, you know, we talked earlier about those found
foundations and fundamentals that you're trained and that's
learning how to wrestle once youstep up and Start learning how
to work. And that's another level.
(39:03):
And I feel like I didn't really learn how to work until I got to
Nashville. And then I was in there with
some of the some of the best at that time and to be able to
learn from. So I appreciate Bert.
I have nothing to do things to say about Bert, you know, just
sad he's not here anymore. And when people like Bert die,
there's parts of the business that will die with it because
(39:25):
there's nobody else that's goingto be able to go.
And is promoting local shows 345nights a week in a small
tri-state area anywhere drawing houses or.
Drawing. House, you know.
Nobody's drawing. Houses, nobody use local TV
anymore. Everything's live streamed
either YouTube or Fight TV or whatever.
(39:45):
It's just a part of the businessis like, Like I said, when
people like him are going, that part of the business dies with
it. It does, and you know he.
Was a Carney in the good sense of the term.
You know what I'm saying? I mean, so many people are like.
Yeah, most of the time, yeah, but you.
Know what I'm saying? I mean the double.
Raffles. And the the certain things like
(40:06):
that, you know, stopping a matchbecause he hadn't ran a raffle.
And anyway, yeah, there's some funny stories there for sure.
Bert one time looked at me and Iwas, I was, I don't know that we
ever met during this time cast, but I was working a sheet
gimmick early on as a manager. And I come out there and Bert
looks at me and I'm extremely Caucasian, There's no question
(40:27):
about that. And Bert looks me up and down
and he says he's like, you're pretty good, but we got to get
you a new gimmick, kid. And I said OK and then.
Dutchman tell tells me I need a new and then we worked on a
different gimmick. So anyway, going from there, you
know Burton Music City and then obviously it morphed into USA
(40:47):
championship wrestling, you know, but right around that
time, you know you're meeting guys like AJ styles air Paris
all these guys talk about these guys I mean air Paris is one of
those guys and I know we've talked about this a little bit
on the other show air Paris to me is that that name that is
forever ingrained like your nametoo.
It's forever ingrained in a timeframe that these are the guys
(41:10):
that if you ignore these guys, you are not getting the whole
story basically. You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, well, guys like. David Young and Harris, AJ
Styles, Chris Harris, James Storm, you know, Ron Killings
hadn't made his big national debut, you know, had had that
that push lately. So at that time, man, there's
(41:32):
just so many guys in that in that time frame, Rick Michaels
was one of the another one of those great workers.
Him and Storm had some really good matches, but there was just
a. Such a.
Group of guys there at at that time between Georgia and
Tennessee and you know, Bill Barriers was promoting down in
Georgia and of course Burt was in in Nashville where they kind
(41:52):
of would swap talent in and out a couple of big shows throughout
the year. So you are seeing those guys
pretty regular, but that's what pushed you to be better man.
You would see those guys and be like, man, they're good and you
would study them and watch how what they did and the reaction
they got. And that's what helped me grow
as a performer and then getting in the ring with them and going,
(42:13):
you know, and doing it in the ring with them as well.
Guys who just wanted to be the best, who got the business and
was steadily learning and tryingto absorb more, wasn't afraid to
make them state and sure wasn't afraid to fix it and do better
the next time. Those are, some of, you know, my
most favorite times in my career.
We were all just coming up, justgiving it 100%, just cutting our
(42:35):
teeth and learning. And they're all good people.
Like we had so much fun. We had just such a good group of
guys together and, and like you said, if you didn't, I feel like
at that point we made people take notice on a more national
level. The, it's some because
sometimes, let's be honest, it was really hard getting a break
(42:55):
anywhere if you, if you performed in the South And we, I
used to say, like you couldn't hardly get paroled out of the
South into a major company that for whatever reason, I don't
know what it was. It was just so hard, you know,
to, to get a break if you, if you were trained in the southern
part of the United States. But I feel like that group of
(43:16):
guys really kind of spotlighted it, Man, there's some, there's
some really good talent down here who get it, you know, and I
was just honored to be a part ofthat And I loved working with
AAP there. Paris was my first acting
partner before Chase Stevens andwe had a really good run with
the New South and you know, Corey Williams and Ashley Hudson
those, that's another couple of guys that need to be on that
(43:38):
list. Absolutely.
If you didn't know what they were doing and you know, and
hadn't heard of them at that time, you wasn't seeing the
whole picture of one of the besttag teams or, you know, in in
the country at that time becausethey were dead gum.
They were dead gum. They were dead gum.
Good man. Me and Eric Paris had matches
with them and I just learned so much from a psychology
(43:59):
standpoint and how to and how I watched them, how they developed
those characters. And so Corey Williams got more
heat man than anybody I knew at the time.
It was just crazy. Yeah, I fell.
Down to. Ashley Hudson.
Corey Williams rabbit hole the other night and I was just like,
OK, this is the next one I'm watching and then I look at my
phone and it's slowly depleting battery just because I'm
(44:20):
watching increasingly amount of matches with those guys in and
you're exactly right. Anybody that gets a chance look
up Cassidy Riley, look up Corey Williams, look up Ashley Hudson,
look up air Paris, look up all those names.
Didn't you? Didn't you mention David Young,
who honestly, I have a great story about him, Moonshine and
Hammer Jack, that is, will tell that off.
But anyway, they were impressed that this Appalachian boy could
(44:43):
drink a little moonshine. And I was like, guys, this is in
my blood. Come on, you know I don't doubt.
Any any of those three names were you were enjoying every bit
of that moonshine? Yeah, we work so.
You know, please go out there and look up those names and you
will be you will be like, why are they not on the Mount
(45:04):
Rushmore of wrestling at this moment?
So obviously, AJ, what what's funny is you, you hit on an
interesting point. Some of the best wrestlers at
that point had very Southern accents between you.
James Storm. Come on, man.
You know what I'm saying, Frank.Yeah.
And then of course, and then AJ,of course, is probably the one
that has the. It's the most Southern.
(45:26):
And, you know, his song even says something about won't get a
little dude's redneck or whatever.
And it's just like, what? But I love it.
That song was initially wrote for.
Storm. Storm.
Yeah. James Storm.
Song. Yeah.
And anyway, well, I hate to see that, you know, you know it all
did and work out with with him getting into the WWE book, but
(45:46):
maybe things worked out the way it was.
But we'll talk to James on his show.
So that's right with. That being said.
Though WCW, R&B Security talk about that.
Was that just a way for you all to get a little screen time?
Yeah, and it was a way to get usup.
There and again it goes back to seeing how the machine is run
you know and and being a very small part you know on
(46:09):
television, but still getting paid really well to be there and
to learn. That's what that basically was
was about. We were there to learn and and
get an education and and have a small part in the show and it
was great man, because we were used all the time they use us
all the time. So we were constantly figured in
at some point in time to the show.
(46:31):
And with a lot of the big talent, you know, Goldberg and
Dallas Page and Hulk Hogan, shoot, man, even if you just
getting 20 seconds in the ring with those guys, to feel that
reaction from the crowd, you learning.
And that was that was just part of it was just such a great
learning experience. And and to be able to have been
blessed to have worked with someof the top guys that's ever been
(46:52):
in our business too. Yeah, listen up you bunch of
slack. Jawed.
Flea market freeloaders. If you think you know Memphis
wrestling, you don't know nothing till you've heard the
Retro Wrestling Review podcast. Brother.
Every week they're talking the real stuff.
Lawler, Jarrett, PG13, Yeah, andeven my Moon Dogs.
Watch long stories from Rd. interviews and folks who are in
(47:15):
the thick of it, brother. The blood, the beer and the bail
money. It's all on the Wrestle Copia
podcast network. Go to USW podcast.com or I'll
come down there and I'll slap taste out of your mouth.
(48:05):
Ladies and gentlemen, this is Jimmy St. and.
That was episode 21 of the Best of James Rock St.
Productions with the first half of episode 24 of Cassidy Riley
on Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling.
Cassidy has been there, done that from the Nashville Indies
to WC, www.eacting and more, andhe's a good dude too.
You can hear the full episode and more over on at G MB MPW or
(48:29):
Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling wherever you listen to podcasts
or simply click the link in the notes below.
We hope you've enjoyed a look back in the archives of James
Rock St. Productions.
Check us out next week to see what else we have in store.
Until then, follow at G MB MPW and at James Rock St.
everywhere. Peace with a tear in my eye.
(48:51):
This is the. Greatest moment in my life.
(49:24):
This has been a James Rock St. Production.
Hey, this is the original Hotshot and the VIP of
professional wrestling, Cassidy Riley, and you're listening to
Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling. Oh, it's always so good.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome toGive Me Back My Pro wrestling.
(00:48):
Hello, Sir. Don't know.
Now you know. Baby, this is Hot Rod Bigs,
Jared, Jimmy St. We're going to take them to the
limit One more time, baby. Right here.
Oh, give me back my pro wrestling.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome one more time to the Give Me
Back My Pro Wrestling podcast. And today once again, we have an
amazing episode. I really feel like we're kind of
(01:11):
hitting our stride here jut so. Anyway, welcome to the show My
Co host, my brother from the same father and mother, Jared
the plastic sheet St. What's up brother?
Yeah, I'm looking forward to today.
It's good. It's going to be a good
conversation. I think, you know.
Yeah, we we, you know, this guy that's been in the business, he
WCW, WWE, WWE, CW, whatever you want to call it T.
(01:34):
NAOV WWW. Yeah, I mean, yeah, whatever you
want to call it. So I mean, he's, he's been
around, he's been on the Indies.I mean, he's, he's got, he's got
some experience and should have some good stories for us and.
Plus, he's an incredibly nice guy.
I can't even tell you I'm going to tell him later in the show,
but he's on my Mount Rushmore for nicest guys in wrestling
(01:56):
ever because I mean, Joe Gomez is one of them for sure.
You know, had him on the Wolfie show.
And then of course, you know, Cassidy is also very nice.
I just was like, you know what, it would be cool to have him on,
you know, so many people during this time.
And of course, you know, one thing we would love to say is
Merry Christmas, but we'll get to that.
But everybody does a Christmas or whatever episode for this
(02:17):
time of year and I just didn't really want to do that.
I just kind of felt like, why don't we give them a gift
instead of making it a show? Let's give them a gift.
So hey, I hope y'all love Cassidy Riley.
You know, he's a great gift to anyone.
He's got a gift, man. I'm just excited to have him on
and you know, hopefully everybody enjoys it as much as
(02:38):
we do so. Yeah, hopefully he's he's just,
you know, talking mood. I'm sure he I'm sure he will be.
You've talked about how nice he is.
You know anybody that's nice to my brother, I'm I'm cool with
so. Well, Ditto.
Yeah. So.
Well, you know, with that being said, you know, our last episode
we had the wrestling superheroes.
And from what I can tell from downloads and listens and all
(03:00):
that and views and all that seems to be really well
received. You know, I think Cash with his
podcasting debut, I think he didpretty good.
What about you? Yeah, I think we've definitely
got Colossus cast in a in a future movie with the wrestler
if we need to so. Yeah, maybe Cassidy Riley can be
Colossus. Hey, Cassie Riley Colossus.
(03:21):
Yeah. Oh, man, he would be, you know,
Cassidy would be a great superhero man.
But anyway, yeah. So Cash, obviously.
You know, it's funny because youand I all text back and forth
with him. I'm like, hey, yeah, this guy
said this about the show and it's crickets.
Yeah. Crickets.
(03:42):
He just doesn't really care. And I get it.
I'm not trying to force something on him and make him,
you know, he's a video gamer, He's he loves, you know, his
friends and all that. And I get it.
I'm not trying to, you know, push my stuff on him.
And but it's just funny because I feel like that would give him
some, you know, feel good. You know, I was like, hey, but
it's like, yeah. He like, I don't care.
(04:04):
Crickets. And yeah, so I mean, whatever, I
think he could do it if he wanted to.
I mean, dude, everybody's got a podcast.
You know what I'm saying? Why not help?
But Long story short, get out ofschool, get a career, then do
the podcast. I'm just saying that was his
(04:25):
first time. And it was pretty funny because,
you know, he seemed like he was a natural.
The cool thing that I heard everybody say is it sounded like
we were having a lot of fun. And also, you know, the rapport
with us is, is easy because that's just a recording of one
of our conversations. Just.
Just yeah, we could have just been sitting there talking about
that and I was just recording basically.
That's kind of what I like aboutthis show, you know, is all of
(04:48):
my shows is it's just an audio conversation.
That's the deal. You know, even our interviews
where we do specifically ask questions directed at them, we
also want them to be able to conversate.
You know, they can direct the conversation as much as we do,
you know, so. I mean, I mean seriously though,
I mean, you look at even our biggest guests we've had, you
know, Greg Gonya and Magnum and and and Steve Roses all even and
(05:12):
they were all just super easy totalk to and super.
Yeah. Super nice SO.
And I mean, even though my tag on stomachs in my throat with
Magnum and my heart's beating fast with Greg, I'm sure you
felt the exact same way with Steve.
Steve was like a breakthrough episode for us.
You know, it was really something that, you know, you
and I came into our own as the hosts.
(05:34):
You know, that's how it should be.
That's how it will be. And you know, that's that on
that. But with Magnum and Greg, you
know, by the way, Greg has hit 4digits on downloads.
So it's awesome. I mean, I'm, I don't want to,
obviously I don't really. It's tacky to just say
specifics. But yeah, we were super
(05:56):
impressed by that. The other thing is, is the What
If episode on you? Tube with the.
Ultimate Warrior and Sting. That one has blown up.
Oh I know, 25,000 views on a short.
We made 25,000. I mean, yeah, it's, it's, it's
just like what? Something we're doing is cool
and something we're doing is right.
(06:16):
So we'll go with that. We'll take it.
Yeah, but it makes a guy want tojust, I mean, there's only so
many what ifs we can do, you know what I'm saying?
But to keep it at that quality of a level.
And I really feel like the stingin The Ultimate Warrior one
wasn't really something that a lot of people, a lot of comments
were like, oh, I never thought of that.
Oh, I never thought I'm like, you know, that's what we're here
for. Well, anyway, I think.
(06:38):
Do you have any more you'd like to before I?
Now let's get this interview going, man, Let's go.
All right, we'll be right back after these messages with our
Christmas gift to you, the VIP Cassidy Riley.
Are you a pro wrestling fan? We'll stop by Captain's Corner,
where you can get autographed photos, cards, magazines, and
figures from all of your favorite wrestling superstars of
(06:59):
the past, present, and future. You'll also be able to
participate in live signings in the weeks and months to come.
Make sure to stop by Captain's Corner on Facebook and give us a
holler. Remember, cheers to the working
man. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome
back to the Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling podcast.
Thank you all for sticking around.
(07:20):
Of course, this is a very important episode to us because
we got my buddy Cassidy Riley onthe show, the VIP.
What's up brother? How are you today?
Man, I'm doing fantastic. Thank you for having me.
I'm excited I I get to be the year end guest the the last show
of the year. And so thank you for for a huge
honor and allowing me to close your guys.
(07:41):
You're out on your show. Oh, man, that honor is all ours,
brother. So, you know, anytime we can
have a actual professional wrestler on the show, we're
going to take advantage of that.So thank you for coming on, man.
Yeah, My pleasure, man. Thank you guys for having me.
So how you doing man? How's things going with you,
brother? You doing all right?
Good man. Everything's good.
Everything's been real good, real busy.
(08:03):
You know, last part of the year,several shows by myself and Bam
Bam Malone are tagging Down by You Independent Wrestling, which
is based out of Louisiana. We won the tag belts last month.
So going into the new year, current tag team champion and I
don't know, at 46 years old and getting close to 30 years into
(08:25):
this business, I'm going to tellmy age a little bit here.
You know those opportunities arespecial and you appreciate them
more and more as they come along.
So everything's been good, man. I have no complaints and just
kicking along and seeing how much longer I can keep kicking.
Man, that's awesome cast. I saw that on Facebook man I saw
(08:45):
maybe it was Instagram or something.
I saw you with the titles and bam bam there.
That's really cool man. You know I'm a Co host on the
Wolfie D podcast as well. Everybody knows that I talk
about it too much. Probably what?
No. Anyway, that being said, on that
episode we had you on earlier inthe year, you were saying I
think I'm going to be wrapping it up.
(09:05):
But now you're the tag champs, man.
So, you know, hey, Congrats brother.
You know, you know how, you know, how wrestling is anybody,
anybody that's been involved in it for any length of time it
it's such a roller coaster and you know, it just when you, if
you, you think you're, you're about ready to get out or you're
trying to get out, it'll throw you one of those little dangling
(09:26):
carrots seem like, yeah, maybe just a little bit longer, maybe
just a little bit longer, you know, but at some point in time,
you, we everybody asks to be realistic.
And, and, and I'm at that point,you know, my career is
definitely as far as full time in the ring and actively in the
ring is, is really drawing closeto an end.
And then there's no doubt about it.
(09:47):
I can still, you know, I can still do it, but man, it hurts a
lot worse. It takes a lot longer to get
over and I but I still love it and I still still appreciate
every aspect of it. So I'm just treasuring, you
know, the matches that I do haveleft, the time that I do have
left to actively, you know, be at every show, every other week
(10:08):
or every month, whatever the case may be for the promotion.
Doesn't mean I still will come in and visit.
Doesn't mean that, you know, I don't want to be able to help
out somewhere behind the scenes.And, you know, I'm kind of
transitioning. I'd like to kind of transition
into some some some other avenues of the entertainment
industry, so. There you go.
(10:28):
Yeah, man, just you want to break a little news, We'll give,
I'll break a little news here onGive Me Back my pro wrestling
podcast, but I can't say too much.
But I just recently finished filming The Iron Claw and what a
great experience. And so that stuff like that is
more of what I'm willing to transition to be able to do post
(10:48):
wrestling. And when I do finally decide
that, it's time to give it up for good.
Brother that is awesome. I didn't know that man.
Now. That's no, nobody does.
Congratulations, we broke a secret on your show.
So if I get fired from the movienow, it's because of you and I'm
(11:09):
going to play in your podcast. Yeah, it's, you know.
I really, I can't say anything, but it was, it was a great
experience and I appreciate it. And I'll tell you what we'll do
is once the movie comes out, I'll come back, we'll do another
podcast, and we'll talk strictly.
Yeah, and we will talk world class in the Iron class.
So, OK, I'm not going to ask anymore about that because I don't
want to get you. You've already given us enough
(11:30):
here, but. You got a salivating go.
Yeah, I mean wow bro, I'm so proud of.
It and we're not even 5 minutes into this podcast, we're
already, we're already dropping the ball.
Yeah, breaking. And I love it.
I love. It shoot man, everybody watch
out. Yeah, so OK, I don't even know
what to go next. Now everything is just RIP up my
(11:50):
work here. OK, Well bro, that is, yeah.
Yeah. Awesome, man.
Thank you. I appreciate it.
I'm I'm excited, I'm I'm excitedabout it.
I'm excited for it to come out and in all aspects it was a
great experience. Well, so we've even been talking
about this movie since the beginning when it, because this
movie is exactly what this podcast is about.
(12:11):
Give me back my pro wrestling, you know?
And the whole point of it is that me and my brother are just
recording our conversations. You know what I'm saying?
That's all we're doing, right? So it seems like that movie, and
again, I'm not asking for any more than you want to give, but
what I'm saying is, is it seems like that movie is really paying
attention to detail on stuff. So I'm happy for that, Yeah.
(12:34):
Thank you, man. And like I said, yeah, I'm
excited to see the final productas well as I know there's going
to be a lot of other people out there that aren't too.
Oh, yeah, definitely. Dude, that's really cool, man.
So, All right, Well, all right, that's it.
Forgive me back my here's here'swhere we go.
OK, so this is the Christmas time of year.
(12:56):
And So what we're going to do right now is we're going to go
back to the very beginning. All right.
Now ultimately I like to do verydeep research all over the
Internet, but sometimes the starting or the ending point for
me is Wikipedia. Now I know Wikipedia isn't
always correct because anybody and their mother can go on there
and change whatever it says. But here's what I'm saying.
(13:17):
I read something on Wikipedia, hear about you, and I'm just
picking some interesting pieces.But it says in the early years
that you became interested in wrestling at the age of 6 after
seeing a gory picture of Abdullah the Butcher in a PWI
issue. And the age of eight, you
actually received a pair of tights from your mother and aunt
as a Christmas present. So it's Christmas right now.
(13:38):
But tell us, is that true? Yeah, and I agree with you on
Wikipedia. And what's funny about Wikipedia
is they, you know, somebody had sent me a link to my A page at
one time, and I got to reading it and there was, you know,
several things that were incorrect.
And so I was going to go on there and I was just going to
fix it for them. Then they ended up kicking me
off for like a year. They wouldn't even let me edit
(13:58):
nothing for a year. I don't know who I pissed off by
doing that, but I was just trying to help them, you know,
give them some credentials. But that's true, man.
That's exactly true. Saw that picture of that do and
I can still remember it like to this day, like it was yesterday.
And because they changed my, youknow, it changed my life.
And it opened the world of these, you know, mythical
(14:20):
creatures and just this this storytelling that was
incredible. And as a 6-7 year old kid, man,
just captivated me. Sat down, you know, would watch
every wrestling program on TV from start to finish every week.
And back then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, almost every night of
the week you catch some type of wrestling program.
(14:41):
So that I mean, that's all I did.
And then, yeah, that that was probably one of my favorite
Christmas gifts ever as a kid. And somewhere there's a picture
running around with me and thosewrestling types that my mom and
my aunt made with some bandanas on.
She had dressed up like the Rock'n'roll Express.
Yes, Sir. Awesome man.
Were you Ricky or Robert? Man, I loved them both.
(15:04):
I just either one, I was such big fans of all of both of the
guys. But what's so funny is they
actually, and back then, like the wrestlers never did an
autograph sign on hardly ever atthe at the events Mid South was
it was in town and they were going to have an autograph
signing. And with the Rock'n'roll
Express, I'm like, Oh my God, this is fantastic.
So I'm standing in line with a million.
(15:25):
You know, there was probably 2000 other people, mostly women.
And when I get up there, I didn't have any, I didn't have
anything for my sign. So I just took my ticket
envelope and ripped it in half and let them sign the inside
where it was blank. And I handed the paper to to
Ricky and I called him Robert and he just looked at me and
said, I'm Ricky signed. It was just like, you know, you
(15:46):
could just tell, like I just kidding.
I'll just get they don't even know who we are.
And they killed me, man. They just crushed myself.
I was like, oh, I'm so stupid. How can I do that?
How can I call Ricky Morton? How can I call him Robin?
And and so and I reminded him that years later, once I kind of
got to know he laughed and who laughed, you know, and that's
(16:08):
the great thing about about thisbusiness in my career, like
those guys that I idolized and got me into wrestling.
Later, Robert Gibson will becomea very good friend of mine and
and be one of my trainers when Iwas in Ohio Valley wrestling for
WWE. So and it it kind of goes back
to everything in my career has kind of been such like full
circle and it it would just go back one other, you know, we can
(16:32):
kind of touch on that just a little bit more like so already
in my career, I was able to wrestle in Dallas and I was able
to wrestle at this moratorium. So getting back and you know,
then this deal come up with IronClaw, it was so special to me
because there was just another aspect of my career where it
comes full circle back around. So it's been like that for
(16:54):
years. And I'm telling you, and I think
that's one reason I am content with would be with it being too
close to the end of my career isI've got to experience and do so
much fun stuff with so many coolpeople and to where, you know,
I'm just happy with with with what it's giving me.
And I don't want to stick aroundand try to take too much.
(17:15):
Yeah, it does feel like you havereally squeezed every bit of the
drop of juice out of this sport you can get.
You know, it feels like, becauseI feel like you just been
everywhere, man. And I mean, you've had such a
cool career. I mean, did you get to Main
Event mania? No.
But hey, at the same time, I think you've done some
incredible stuff and I can't wait to get into some of this.
(17:35):
But before we get into that, onemore thing from Wikipedia and
then I'm going to stop. So it says you were initially
trained by Lolly, dude, correct?But then you got a little
finishing from Tommy Rogers and Terry Taylor.
Now, before we get to Lolly and those guys, talk about what led
up to that. Were you athlete in high school?
Did you play a lot of sports? What led you to wrestling?
(17:56):
Yeah, I did. I was actually on a state
championship football team and state championship baseball team
at high school and small school.But even in high school, I
graduated high school when I was17 and I still really hadn't
started feeling out a lot. It was after, you know, my
(18:18):
senior, my senior year, the football season, I just decided
I was at school only half a day.I still had another half the day
to where person was taking me. And you know, we're riding
school together. We're still in school.
So I had like 3 hours. So to kill time, I just got in
the weight room and I just really started kind of hitting
the weights and trying to get ingood shape.
And I really didn't start putting on any size until after
(18:42):
all of my high school sports days were over.
It was in the second-half of my senior year.
I started kind of bulking up up a little bit, but I just knew,
man, I knew that like I didn't, I don't know how to explain it
other than I I just knew that I had to at least try it because I
loved it so much and I didn't try it.
I'd always regret it. So just little, little ways, I
(19:03):
started trying to just chip awayat it.
OK, so how do I do this? How do I get involved in it?
That's some guys who are local, who are local wrestlers down
here at the time, the guy who just bugged them to death and
finally, you know, got them to where they they, they didn't
have a ring, but they would, they were showing me stuff
outside, you know, just laying some real basic foundation for
(19:26):
me. And then I got in touch with
with Lolly in the oven. Those guys are doing some TV at
Mississippi and Louisiana and Arkansas area.
And I just fell in and and, you know, he had a ring, so he
started training me. And then like Terry and Tommy,
Terry Taylor, Tommy Rogers, theywere coming in and doing the TV
for them. So when they were in town, I'd
get a chance to get in the ring with them some.
(19:48):
So. And that's kind of how it all
came about. But you know, I did play high
school, high school sports. Yeah.
But I think it was my love and drive for the wrestling that
that really got me there. Yeah, because, you know, I know
a lot of guys. We always joked around high
school that we were the four horsemen or, you know, we would
always walk. Around acting like we were
wrestling and there is even likea unofficial version of WCW
(20:09):
walking around the halls. You know, The funny thing is, is
you were actually we're close. You're November 21st, 76.
And I'm not trying to dox you. My son just taught me that word.
So I don't even know if I'm using it right.
I'm actually November 28th, 1978.
So I know the exact feeling. Graduating when I was 17 because
you probably started when you were 4, right?
(20:30):
You you were a November baby. So yeah, I know that feeling
too. So OK, then you meet Lolly and
you Start learning some stuff. What was your initial idea that
now again, I know it gets shot down as you meet other people
and you start to fine tune your craft and stuff, but what was
your initial idea for what you wanted to be in pro wrestling?
(20:53):
Obviously, you know, probably the top guy, but you know what
I'm saying? Like, what was your character
idea? Did you have a specific idea of
mine? I really, I didn't, I didn't, I
really didn't have a character. I did at all.
I just wanted to learn and you would see, you would like, I
would see guys. I, I don't know.
To me it was always more important about learning.
(21:13):
I didn't, they kind of talk to me learning the business and
then everything else will kind of come as it comes.
But if you don't have good foundation and good fundamentals
and you, you know, nothing else matters after that.
And so to me, those that's how you train the guys who end up
becoming the workers of the workers that that's almost all
of them. The guys that idolize, you know
(21:36):
who you know, Doctor Tom Pritchard and the guys who can
top trainers now to teach the best workers.
I think that's how they start. And that's kind of the the
fundamentals they instill in their kids.
And it just has that that systemalways seems to work no matter
what. You may not have the the the
brightest lights of your career.You may not headline
(21:57):
WrestleMania. You'll always have
opportunities. You'll always be able to pick up
the phone and get work. You, if you know if you have
those, found those foundations and those fundamentals.
So and I really wasn't creative enough at the time to have a
character. I was trying to do all I could
to learn the holds and the movesand how to do them right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. I was focusing on that more than
(22:18):
anything. I know the story here basically
because what's happened is Lollydid the main training and then
you've had Terry Taylor and likeyou said, Tommy Rogers finishing
touches and stuff and, and in additions after.
But you know, your your body is very similar to Tommy, I think.
I think you guys have a very similar look almost now.
And you know, he's one of the guys that's always had a great
physique about him. So, you know, that's a definite
(22:39):
compliment, by the way, so. Well, thank you.
Yeah, Tommy, man, I don't think Tommy gets enough credit.
For yeah, he definitely doesn't.He had a great drop kick, a
great punch and man he had so much fire.
I remember him telling me a story one time that when they
first got to, it was either the Mid-Atlantic or the Georgia TV.
(23:00):
He was really young before he was one of the fantastic.
He was just coming in and doing some preliminary matches.
He was, he was doing A tag matchwith somebody else and they got
in there and he, he just startedfiring up and they couldn't cut
him off. Like he just got, you know, he
just got fired up and they just couldn't stop it.
And that's kind of what led him to get to notice.
But he was like that his whole career.
He was just a little fireball man and just so good, you know,
(23:23):
technically good. And like I said, he just doesn't
get quite the recognition that Ifeel like he deserves.
So on here, we've got like a theory, it's called like Sons of
the Road Warriors. So basically you take the powers
of pain, you take demolition. Even though these guys are
sometimes even older than them, their gimmick is the reaction to
the Road Warriors. And so Tommy is one of the sons
(23:46):
of the fabulous ones. You know what I'm saying to me,
if that makes any sense. That makes total sense.
I I would. I could totally see that, yeah.
And you know, those guys had similar characters and yeah,
similar word styles and gimmicksand, and all of it.
So yeah, I could. I could totally see that and I
would agree with that. And now a word from our sponsor.
(24:18):
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome toGive Me Back My Pro Wrestling, a
podcast that's based on the old school but can still help you
find the good stuff from today. Jimmy St. and The Plastic Sheet
Jared are the undisputed tag team champions of the wrestling
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the superstar interviews to action figure expertise, this
(24:42):
team does it all. And all they ask is give Me Back
My Pro wrestling. Every other Thursday, wherever
you listen to podcasts. You know, the fabulous ones to
me are are definitely the start of something.
(25:02):
But then the rock'n'roll, then the rockers, then the midnight,
you know, the midnight rockers Ishould say.
And then, of course, the fantastic.
At. 1st I didn't like them because they were replacing my
Rock'n'roll Express, you know what I'm saying?
But then you, you lose that and you're like, OK, these guys are
great on their own. They're they're kind of their
own thing, you know, so and Bobby Fulton and and Tommy
(25:23):
Rogers, man, what too great. There's such a great tag team.
And to me, you know, I know Bobby still around.
It's such a shame that Tommy is not around still.
I hate to hear, you know, that he had passed and stuff.
And did you have much contact with him throughout his life?
Yes, we, we kept in contact a little bit.
The last time I saw him was whenWrestleMania was in New Orleans
(25:46):
and they had a Mid South reuniondown in New Orleans that same
year. And he he had came in and we had
hooked up at at one of the showsthat I was on.
He came to see me and we got to visit a little bit and that was
the last time I got to see him. Yeah, it's a shame, man.
Probably a year, maybe 2 years before he passed away.
Yeah, yeah, I'm. Horrible with days.
(26:08):
Man, it's OK. Horrible with days.
That's what Wikipedia is for. No, I'm just kidding.
That's anyway you don't edit it.Yeah, you.
Just don't edit it. That's right.
Yeah, don't do that. Don't get kicked off Wikipedia
if you want to know how to ask Cassidy.
But other than that, don't get kicked off anyway, Yeah?
(26:28):
I'm the Robert of this pair. Jimmy's the Ricky and I had
brown hair, he had blonde hair, so we it was a natural fit for
us. Yeah, we both had mullets.
Yeah, we both had mullets. At one time.
We'd be very stylish now. Sweet.
Mullets, man. Yeah, those were small.
I had, I had a few, I, you know,I even remember like the short
(26:50):
hair on top with the perm in thebag.
Did you always have the? Perm Yeah, I had.
I had a natural like waviness tomy hair so I didn't really need
a perm I had. The rat tail so it was like a it
was a mullet with a rat tail added on so.
Sweet rat tails. Cassidy So I I was, you know,
falling out of YouTube rabbit hole watching some of your
(27:12):
matches and I came across one from WCW Saturday night where
you wrestled hell with Jimmy Hart.
And yeah, man, that just looked like a, that just looked like a,
a, a rough time and the and the finishing.
Story on that. Oh absolutely, absolutely.
That was my very first loop in with WCW.
(27:33):
My very first WCW show was the Spring Break show at South Padre
Island. So if you're going to go in,
what a better way to go in than the spring break show in?
Here right so we. Go down to South Padre Island
and when we pull across the the bridge going into the island, I
mean, there's just cars everywhere.
And keep in mind still my first WCW show.
(27:54):
So I'm like a Kitty candy store.We get to the hotel, we get out,
we're going inside. We're we're, we're checking in
and just fans everywhere. And it is, I mean, it was just
spring, spring break with a bunch of wrestling fans.
It was awesome. Plus I was getting paid really
good to be there at the end of that loop.
We were doing that. That show was in Beaumont, TX
(28:18):
and we, so we did Nitro on Monday, Thunder on Tuesday in
Beaumont on Wednesday I believe is what it was.
And that was for the Saturday night show in Beaumont.
I was originally scheduled to work with Lash Le Roux on that
show. So when we get to the building,
I go in, I see the line up and it's me and Lash and I'm
thinking, oh man, that's great, that's going to be fun.
You know, we had like 8 minutes,me and Lash at 8 minutes, about
(28:42):
the same size. We ought to be able to tear it
up. Then I come back later and I
Mickey Jay-Z racing the board and I see he's erasing my match
and I'm like, oh man, what happened?
And then he rewrites it. Cassidy versus Hell and I knew
Emory previously. We actually wrestled together in
Mississippi when we were both starting.
Sweetheart of a guy. So and it was the first time I
(29:03):
got seen in a couple of years. So I go and he's like, oh man, I
heard they switched it to me andyou and I'm like, yeah, he's
like, dude, I'm sorry. Because I mean, it's like it's
going to be lights out in 30 seconds because they're just
giving him this monster push. But what?
Come to find out, Frankie Lane was originally supposed to
wrestle Emory and he didn't wantto do the stretcher job.
So he went and had it changed and then he worked with Lash and
(29:25):
then I did, I did the job with Emory, which I didn't mind
because Emory was my friend and I was, like I said, it was my
first WCW trip. I was going to do whatever they
told me to do anyway because I wanted to come back because they
were paying me good. And then, but that's kind of the
back story on that. It was fun.
Emery was a great guy. He's another one of those guys
that was taken too early from it.
(29:46):
I think he at one point, he had potential to be a really big
star. Yeah, he had that monster look.
It was a. He was, he was a monster man.
He was a big guy. At at the end of that match with
the with the spike pile driver, I was like, Oh my God, I was
like. Yeah, my mom was there.
You thought it was real. Oh yeah, yeah.
(30:07):
Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah, that just shows how much
trust you have to have in the person you're in the ring with
to just to go with it. Yeah, his legs were so big.
I don't know if my head could have really, if I, if he wanted
them to, you know what I'm saying.
But I and like I said, I, I'd known him previously from, since
(30:27):
we had work shows together in Mississippi and I and I trusted
him. He was a good guy.
Yeah. Yeah, but he could have, you
know, really, if he'd hit the right thing, he could have
probably been something big. But yeah.
And they were kind of building him to that way.
I think he made his debut like from one night.
He appeared on Raw and destroyedsome people, him and Jimmy.
(30:48):
And then I don't know what happened after that.
They kind of just pulled the plug on it.
And it wasn't long after that, you know, he, he, he had passed
away. So I don't know, maybe the
company saw something, I'm not sure what it was, but he man, he
that guy had the size and potential would be a big.
Star and it's it's, you know, some of that time in WCW and
(31:09):
everything like that, that's when Russo and Bischoff were
kind of, you know, back and forth as far as who was
controlling things. So you know.
Yeah, and I mean, come on, let's, let's be real, WCW let
Steve Austin, you know what I mean?
Sometimes their judgment on talent was not the absolute
best. They let Triple H go.
Two of the two guys have become two of the biggest stars in the
history of the business. Kevin Nash, they let him go on
(31:34):
his first run. Scott Halt.
So their track record at times was not was not the best.
Right. Yeah, absolutely.
Couldn't say it. Better.
You know, and how cool was that,though?
Because I mean, we're both Southern boys here.
We're, you know, from Virginia, obviously the top of the South,
and you're from Louisiana, whichis literally the South, you
(31:55):
know? The bottom of the South.
Yeah, well, I mean, you're the South S, you know what I'm
saying? So send us some boudin while
you're at it. But anyway, so how is it getting
that with WCW, man? I mean, I know that was like our
wrestling, right? I mean, I assume that's the same
for you. Oh, it was, it was, man, it was
incredible. Yeah, it was.
(32:15):
I was so excited. You know, Bert Prentice had had
a deal with where he he was bringing in some of the power
plant guys because I was workingNashville at that time and man,
we were working sometimes four or five nights a week.
And we were steadily we had, we were steadily doing shows.
We had a nice little territory built up bird head regional TV.
(32:35):
So they would send some of the power plant guys in and start
getting some experience before they would go up and start
making their debuts on, you know, whether it'd be worldwide
or Nitro or Thunder or whatever it was going to be.
So in exchange for that, you know, they were taking a look at
some of us who were at Bert's territory at that time and
giving us opportunities to come up and and do TV with the, you
(32:57):
know, everything that was. So it was really awesome is just
that next step in your career where you finally get to go to
one of the major companies and now you're learning, OK, this is
how everything's done up here. You're starting to see behind
the scenes how how everything's put together and all that
affects what you do in the ring once you've had that experience
and see, I mean, you have to learn all aspects of the
(33:18):
business to be to be at the at that top level, I believe.
So when you first time you see that big production and just
several 18 Wheelers full of, youknow, production and satellite
equipment and all that, it's like, man, this is this is
incredible and it was awesome. Is there, is there, is there
anybody like you could like say like, you know, even when you
were like at that first point with WCW that you were like
(33:40):
somebody that was a big star in the company that was just like
amazing to you that you're like,they didn't have to be nice to
me, but they were just amazing. Well, one of the guys that comes
to mind was Billy Silverman, oneof the references.
And. Billy was always really, really
good to me. Billy was always kind to me.
He'd let me ride with him, you know, he, they, they took care
of his rental, rental car and hotels.
(34:01):
So Billy was gracious enough, you know, he'd pick me up and
let me ride with him and, and wewould room together.
And so, yeah, Billy Silverman. And he's a lifelong friend of
his days. He's one of the, you know, close
friends that I've made in this business.
And, and I always appreciated him.
And because he kind of gave, youknow, people would see me with
Billy and knew Billy was cool. They accepted me a little bit
(34:23):
easier because of that, you know, guys in the locker room.
So I, I, I, you know, I appreciate Billy doing that for
me. Yeah, Billy's Kay Fabian is on
the interview. But yeah, I got nothing but good
things to say about Billy. Billy No.
Tell him we don't bite, man Callhim.
Out. Call him out right now.
We can have all the time you need.
(34:44):
I give you permission to just light him up.
OK, I'll do that. I couldn't do that to Billy
though anyway, so, you know, youbrought it up man, and I don't
want to get past that. Too far is the Music City
Wrestling. So if anybody has been able to
be on YouTube lately and see anything from the history of
Nashville, I think it's Brian Turner's VHS rehab.
(35:06):
How cool has that been to see all that cool stuff that you
might have bought was lost to history?
Dude, I'm so thankful that Brianhas been able to find as much as
he has and has has been able to put it out there.
We had, we, I mean, we had so much fun during that era and we
had some really good talent. We were doing some really good
stuff considering, you know, thebudget that we had to work with
(35:28):
for the shows and the productionequipment at that time.
You know, everything's so much more advanced now, but we were
putting out some quality wrestling shows, man.
And, and a lot of that stuff I thought was lost forever.
So I, I really appreciate, you know, put it out there on
YouTube, the archives, and they now even my kids can go see it.
Yeah. And, you know, everybody who was
(35:49):
any type of fan from the 90s or late 90s, early 2000s of, you
know, the Nashville scene and they can see it too.
It was, it was really fun. I know he puts a lot of time and
effort into it. And I appreciate you doing that.
It's been a nice trip down memory lane for sure.
Dude, and it's incredible. And there's some stuff that's
just so crazy, like Wolfie D andChris champion storyline and you
(36:12):
know all that. But then watching some of your
matches that you know what, dude?
I mean, you can tell you were your body's feeling good.
You can tell there's, I mean, not to say you ever showed
injury, but what I'm saying is is you're you're like at 100%
and everybody is at 100% and they're just absolutely killing
it. Hey, my name is Tammy Reynolds.
(36:34):
I am the wife of that super coolguy that everybody knows and
loves, and I represent West SideSauces.
I make sauces, I bottle them, I seal them, I sell them.
I have a hot honey sauce, I havea sweet sauce, I have a hot
sauce. I have a white sauce that's so
(36:55):
yummy you can use it on everything.
They are absolutely amazing and I'm so proud of them.
We make them from scratch. So go on our website, West Side
sauces.com, check out our products, read about our story
and go online and order you someof these yummy sauces.
(37:15):
And Rick actually uses all of the sauces because he is a die
hard smoker and griller and so he likes really good sauces and
rubs and I make them. So how convenient is that for
him? Go on our website
westsidesauces.com, order you some samples and I think you'll
(37:36):
thoroughly enjoy them. Thank you guys, be blessed.
And you know the one thing, Bert.
I worked for Bert, you know, when I got a chance to, and Bert
was always very cool and fair tome.
But also at the same time, Bert has a lot of other kind of, you
know, some people hate him, somepeople love him.
(37:57):
I don't. I don't want to.
Not a lot of in between. Yeah, there's.
No Gray area on Bert. But Bert was always good to me
and that's all I can take it on.But I tell you what you know,
other than the fact that he saidTNA killed Nashville, which
again, I get that, but you know,Music City, man, I feel like was
really on the cusp of almost becoming something bigger.
You know, God, I agree. It was great it.
(38:20):
Like if you were to compare it to wrestling in the last five
years, it would have been like the Ring of Honor, I think to
WWE today. But then the thing was we we
were doing some really good stuff and we were all still
pretty young and we were all still learning so much.
That's I tell people all the time, like I, I knew how to
(38:42):
wrestle before I came to Nashville.
I learned how to work once I gotinto Nashville and started
working with those group of guys.
And it was just like taking it to another level from when you
talk about, you know, we talked earlier about those found
foundations and fundamentals that you're trained and that's
learning how to wrestle once youstep up and Start learning how
to work. And that's another level.
(39:03):
And I feel like I didn't really learn how to work until I got to
Nashville. And then I was in there with
some of the some of the best at that time and to be able to
learn from. So I appreciate Bert.
I have nothing to do things to say about Bert, you know, just
sad he's not here anymore. And when people like Bert die,
there's parts of the business that will die with it because
(39:25):
there's nobody else that's goingto be able to go.
And is promoting local shows 345nights a week in a small
tri-state area anywhere drawing houses or.
Drawing. House, you know.
Nobody's drawing. Houses, nobody use local TV
anymore. Everything's live streamed
either YouTube or Fight TV or whatever.
(39:45):
It's just a part of the businessis like, Like I said, when
people like him are going, that part of the business dies with
it. It does, and you know he.
Was a Carney in the good sense of the term.
You know what I'm saying? I mean, so many people are like.
Yeah, most of the time, yeah, but you.
Know what I'm saying? I mean the double.
Raffles. And the the certain things like
(40:06):
that, you know, stopping a matchbecause he hadn't ran a raffle.
And anyway, yeah, there's some funny stories there for sure.
Bert one time looked at me and Iwas, I was, I don't know that we
ever met during this time cast, but I was working a sheet
gimmick early on as a manager. And I come out there and Bert
looks at me and I'm extremely Caucasian, There's no question
(40:27):
about that. And Bert looks me up and down
and he says he's like, you're pretty good, but we got to get
you a new gimmick, kid. And I said OK and then.
Dutchman tell tells me I need a new and then we worked on a
different gimmick. So anyway, going from there, you
know Burton Music City and then obviously it morphed into USA
(40:47):
championship wrestling, you know, but right around that
time, you know you're meeting guys like AJ styles air Paris
all these guys talk about these guys I mean air Paris is one of
those guys and I know we've talked about this a little bit
on the other show air Paris to me is that that name that is
forever ingrained like your nametoo.
It's forever ingrained in a timeframe that these are the guys
(41:10):
that if you ignore these guys, you are not getting the whole
story basically. You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, well, guys like. David Young and Harris, AJ
Styles, Chris Harris, James Storm, you know, Ron Killings
hadn't made his big national debut, you know, had had that
that push lately. So at that time, man, there's
(41:32):
just so many guys in that in that time frame, Rick Michaels
was one of the another one of those great workers.
Him and Storm had some really good matches, but there was just
a. Such a.
Group of guys there at at that time between Georgia and
Tennessee and you know, Bill Barriers was promoting down in
Georgia and of course Burt was in in Nashville where they kind
(41:52):
of would swap talent in and out a couple of big shows throughout
the year. So you are seeing those guys
pretty regular, but that's what pushed you to be better man.
You would see those guys and be like, man, they're good and you
would study them and watch how what they did and the reaction
they got. And that's what helped me grow
as a performer and then getting in the ring with them and going,
(42:13):
you know, and doing it in the ring with them as well.
Guys who just wanted to be the best, who got the business and
was steadily learning and tryingto absorb more, wasn't afraid to
make them state and sure wasn't afraid to fix it and do better
the next time. Those are, some of, you know, my
most favorite times in my career.
We were all just coming up, justgiving it 100%, just cutting our
(42:35):
teeth and learning. And they're all good people.
Like we had so much fun. We had just such a good group of
guys together and, and like you said, if you didn't, I feel like
at that point we made people take notice on a more national
level. The, it's some because
sometimes, let's be honest, it was really hard getting a break
(42:55):
anywhere if you, if you performed in the South And we, I
used to say, like you couldn't hardly get paroled out of the
South into a major company that for whatever reason, I don't
know what it was. It was just so hard, you know,
to, to get a break if you, if you were trained in the southern
part of the United States. But I feel like that group of
(43:16):
guys really kind of spotlighted it, Man, there's some, there's
some really good talent down here who get it, you know, and I
was just honored to be a part ofthat And I loved working with
AAP there. Paris was my first acting
partner before Chase Stevens andwe had a really good run with
the New South and you know, Corey Williams and Ashley Hudson
those, that's another couple of guys that need to be on that
(43:38):
list. Absolutely.
If you didn't know what they were doing and you know, and
hadn't heard of them at that time, you wasn't seeing the
whole picture of one of the besttag teams or, you know, in in
the country at that time becausethey were dead gum.
They were dead gum. They were dead gum.
Good man. Me and Eric Paris had matches
with them and I just learned so much from a psychology
(43:59):
standpoint and how to and how I watched them, how they developed
those characters. And so Corey Williams got more
heat man than anybody I knew at the time.
It was just crazy. Yeah, I fell.
Down to. Ashley Hudson.
Corey Williams rabbit hole the other night and I was just like,
OK, this is the next one I'm watching and then I look at my
phone and it's slowly depleting battery just because I'm
(44:20):
watching increasingly amount of matches with those guys in and
you're exactly right. Anybody that gets a chance look
up Cassidy Riley, look up Corey Williams, look up Ashley Hudson,
look up air Paris, look up all those names.
Didn't you? Didn't you mention David Young,
who honestly, I have a great story about him, Moonshine and
Hammer Jack, that is, will tell that off.
But anyway, they were impressed that this Appalachian boy could
(44:43):
drink a little moonshine. And I was like, guys, this is in
my blood. Come on, you know I don't doubt.
Any any of those three names were you were enjoying every bit
of that moonshine? Yeah, we work so.
You know, please go out there and look up those names and you
will be you will be like, why are they not on the Mount
(45:04):
Rushmore of wrestling at this moment?
So obviously, AJ, what what's funny is you, you hit on an
interesting point. Some of the best wrestlers at
that point had very Southern accents between you.
James Storm. Come on, man.
You know what I'm saying, Frank.Yeah.
And then of course, and then AJ,of course, is probably the one
that has the. It's the most Southern.
(45:26):
And, you know, his song even says something about won't get a
little dude's redneck or whatever.
And it's just like, what? But I love it.
That song was initially wrote for.
Storm. Storm.
Yeah. James Storm.
Song. Yeah.
And anyway, well, I hate to see that, you know, you know it all
did and work out with with him getting into the WWE book, but
(45:46):
maybe things worked out the way it was.
But we'll talk to James on his show.
So that's right with. That being said.
Though WCW, R&B Security talk about that.
Was that just a way for you all to get a little screen time?
Yeah, and it was a way to get usup.
There and again it goes back to seeing how the machine is run
you know and and being a very small part you know on
(46:09):
television, but still getting paid really well to be there and
to learn. That's what that basically was
was about. We were there to learn and and
get an education and and have a small part in the show and it
was great man, because we were used all the time they use us
all the time. So we were constantly figured in
at some point in time to the show.
(46:31):
And with a lot of the big talent, you know, Goldberg and
Dallas Page and Hulk Hogan, shoot, man, even if you just
getting 20 seconds in the ring with those guys, to feel that
reaction from the crowd, you learning.
And that was that was just part of it was just such a great
learning experience. And and to be able to have been
blessed to have worked with someof the top guys that's ever been
(46:52):
in our business too. Yeah, listen up you bunch of
slack. Jawed.
Flea market freeloaders. If you think you know Memphis
wrestling, you don't know nothing till you've heard the
Retro Wrestling Review podcast. Brother.
Every week they're talking the real stuff.
Lawler, Jarrett, PG13, Yeah, andeven my Moon Dogs.
Watch long stories from Rd. interviews and folks who are in
(47:15):
the thick of it, brother. The blood, the beer and the bail
money. It's all on the Wrestle Copia
podcast network. Go to USW podcast.com or I'll
come down there and I'll slap taste out of your mouth.
(48:05):
Ladies and gentlemen, this is Jimmy St. and.
That was episode 21 of the Best of James Rock St.
Productions with the first half of episode 24 of Cassidy Riley
on Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling.
Cassidy has been there, done that from the Nashville Indies
to WC, www.eacting and more, andhe's a good dude too.
You can hear the full episode and more over on at G MB MPW or
(48:29):
Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling wherever you listen to podcasts
or simply click the link in the notes below.
We hope you've enjoyed a look back in the archives of James
Rock St. Productions.
Check us out next week to see what else we have in store.
Until then, follow at G MB MPW and at James Rock St.
everywhere. Peace with a tear in my eye.
(48:51):
This is the. Greatest moment in my life.
(49:24):
This has been a James Rock St. Production.
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