David Isley on GMBMPW!

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hey everybody, this is David Isley, Carolina's own.
Looking forward to being on to Get Me Back my pro wrestling.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome toGive Me Back My Pro wrestling.

(00:44):
You know, so 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, righthere.
Oh, give me back my pro wrestling.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome one more time to the Give Me
Back my Pro Wrestling podcast. And I am here, as always with my

(01:04):
brother from the same father andmother, Jared the Plastic Sheet
St. What's up dude?
Hey, man, not much, not much. Just ready for this interview,
man. It's looking at these, looking
at these questions. We got laid out.
It's going to be a good one. Yeah, I mean, you know, it's
just like man, I we've got it's 32 pagers in a row.

(01:25):
Yeah, man, they intimidate me when they get into the the
length they are, but it's they're always good so.
Yeah, definitely lots of great stories, lots of great people.
I guess we can go ahead and say as if they don't already know we
have Carolinas own David Isley on the show today, very excited
about that. So.
Yeah, man, he's, he's worked WCWWF, All Japan, I mean, and,

(01:50):
and numerous other places. So I mean, it's going to be
going to be some good stories. Absolutely.
And you know, got to thank TommyAngel for hooking this one up.
You know, I like this. You know, the way that it's
working right now, the domino effect of like, OK, this guy,
you brought this guy on and maybe the next guy who knows?
Well, yeah, who knows who will be next?
So. But, you know, last episode

(02:13):
before this is doing awesome. Once again, thank you all so
much for listening. I really appreciate that.
You know, Rick McCord, that episode, that was just another
guy, that man, he's just done everything.
It's like, wow, is this, is thisthe new norm for us?
You know what I mean? That we're just just to know
that that anybody is giving us their time is definitely
humbling, man. Very, very humbling.

(02:35):
Oh, absolutely. These guys, I mean, I've said it
and probably wore it out some with the the listeners, but I
mean these guys just continuallyhave been there and done that.
Yeah. And there.
And when you hear these names that we're gonna mention today,
you're gonna be like, man, I know this guy's wrestled
everybody. Yeah, I know.
It's it's just incredible. And again, we're so appreciative

(02:58):
of all these gentlemen who spenttheir time and did their whole
career and then are now spendingtheir time with us to tell their
story. You know, I'm not only glad that
they give us that opportunity, but that we have that platform
for them, you know, so and all these guys truly fit to give me
back my pro wrestling motto of, you know, hey, these guys are

(03:19):
the exact model of give me back my pro wrestling because they're
the pro wrestling that we want to be back to somebody to give
us back. You know what I'm saying?
So I think that made sense. But anyway, you all get it.
Give us back this pro wrestling that we're talking about.
Yeah, give me back that pro wrestling that you had.

(03:40):
Anyway, Long story short, fun episode, can't wait to bring him
on. So I say let's go ahead and
bring him on. Why not?
Do it. Let's get to.
It all right. Hey, by the way, he's a big UNC,
the Tar Heels fan, so I know. Let's just step aside.
Yeah, we'll, we'll just, we'll skirt around.
We're not even going to mention that, I guess.
Yeah. I mean, it's not that I have a

(04:01):
problem with it. It's huge, Jared, so I know.
I know it's my problem. All right, well, we'll just
leave that question in the tank.We'll be right back after these
messages with more from Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling and our
very special guest David Isley. Are you a pro wrestling fan?
We'll stop by Captain's Corner, where you can get autographed

(04:22):
photos, cards, magazines, and figures from all of your
favorite wrestling superstars ofthe 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 aholler.
Remember, cheers to the working man.

(04:43):
All right, we are back with morefrom the Give Me Back My Pro
Wrestling podcast. And just like we said in the
intro there, we've got one of the awesome guys of this
business. Some say he's a Thunderfoot,
some say he's just an all aroundgreat guy, but we know him as
Carolina's own David Isley. David, thank you for being on
the show with us today. Hey, looking forward to it guys.

(05:06):
I'm ready to talk some old stories that I haven't talked
about in a long time. I'm sure I've got some that you
know a lot of the folks and a lot of the fans haven't heard
from another perspective. So let's get into it.
Love it. Love it, man.
Yeah, that's what we're all about.
Yeah, yeah. So Jared, we always start with
your question. Kick it off, brother.
All right, David, so this this question right here just meant

(05:28):
to kind of show the listeners and us kind of your influences
or your favorite people you worked with.
Maybe give me your like top fouror top five like a Mount
Rushmore of professional wrestlers.
You know, that's a great question.
And look, looking back over the time, you know, I'm going to
kind of date myself a little bitbecause of, you know, because of

(05:50):
where I'm at in, in life now. But you know, when I was growing
up, you know, if I had to look at the the my top five rap rush,
Mount Rushmore's at the time, definitely would have been a
Wahoo McDaniel, a Jack Jack Briscoe, definitely a blackjack
Mulligan, probably a Mr. Wrestling, Tim Woods.

(06:11):
And you know, and you have to have, you know, you have to have
the major boy Ric Flair in thereas well.
You know, those were probably some of the guys that I looked
up to when, you know, when I wasstarting out and I just breaking
into the wrestling business. But you know, there's just so
many more names that were that influenced me over the years.

(06:31):
But that's that's a few off the top of my head that I can
remember that, you know that really, because you have to
understand guys, when I was coming through, we didn't, you
know, we didn't have the Internet back then.
We didn't have, we didn't have cable television till till later
on in the 80s. So when I was a kid growing up,
all I was able to get was Mid-Atlantic Championship

(06:52):
wrestling with Bob Caudle and, you know, Rich Landrum and David
Crockett. And then, and sometimes on
Saturday mornings, if I turn to my rabbit ears just right, I
could probably get a little bit of the Fuller's program out of
Tennessee. Yeah, yeah.
What a list, man. That's a great list.
And when you got Wahoo McDaniel on there, man, that's we, that's

(07:12):
a, that's a great, that's a great start to it, man.
It's a awesome list. And let's be honest, David,
let's be honest, man, all you need is Mid-Atlantic when it
comes down to it, right? Come on.
Well, you know, that's, that's, that's very, very true because,
you know, in 1975 I got my firstPro Wrestling Illustrated
magazine. Somebody gave it to me when I

(07:33):
was a junior in high school. And from that point on, I, I was
sucked in. I started watching it on
television around 19/19/74 75 and from that point out I was
just sucked in and and it's beenbeen like that ever since.
Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, that sounds similar to us.
We actually got into it way early in our life, but we were
seeing guys like you on TV, so it was pretty awesome, you know?

(07:56):
So there's the circle right there.
So you actually led me in a great direction there, David,
and I appreciate this going to be easy, man.
I can tell. So my first question always
starts like this. Tell us a little bit about your
younger days. Where were you born, your high
school? Did you just play sports?
That kind of stuff. Absolutely.
So I was born in Charlotte, NC in 1962.

(08:17):
So I'm 61 years old now. And you know, I was went to
school in Hendersonville, NC. So I was close to that to the
Asheville Civic Center where I actually saw the Mid-Atlantic
live events, you know, back, back, back in that time.
My father was with at the time Esso, which is now Exxon Mobil.

(08:40):
And we moved around a little bitfrom from Hendersonville, NC to
Greenville, SC. And then we spent, you know, the
last, you know, long, long few years up around Charlotte, NC
over into the Concord, NC areas is where I spent most of my
time. I technically graduated high
school in, in Concord, NC. I'm not as close to some of

(09:03):
those folks because I, I moved there, you know, when I was a, a
junior in high school. So, you know, the folks that
I've really bonded with and, andkeep in touch on a very regular
basis are the folks right right up the road from where I live
out here in Greenville, up in Hendersonville, NC.
So that's kind of where I was born and how it all started.
That's awesome. Yeah, well, I'm in Mooresville

(09:24):
now. Jared, my Co host and brother,
he went to College in Monroe. So we're we're all about
Mecklenburg County. So we all got yeah.
So yeah, we we have fun and and it's cool, man.
It's I I met, you know, a guy doing grand jury and actually
ended up meeting Tommy Angel through that and then through
Tommy, I've met you. So man, it's just like a big

(09:45):
snowball. I'm so stoked about this, you
know? It's good, you know, it's good
to reminisce about the old stories.
You know, I don't talk about them too much anymore.
And but you know, so I, you know, I had, I had to kind of
get back into my memory banks a little bit and kind of pull,
pull some of that out from quitea few years ago.
Well, we, we thank you immensely.
Absolutely. So, OK, so you brought it up now

(10:08):
you, you talked about getting your first magazine in high
school and being enthralled by then after.
And obviously, you know, I live in Mooresville now, so you
probably know what I'm leading to here.
Talk Talk about meeting Nelson Royal and getting your start in
the wrestling business. OK, so that's a great question.
So in 1984, I was working actually part time for Ricky

(10:31):
Steamboat at his Mid-Atlantic gym in Charlotte.
And I, I became very, very closewith Rick and his family, still
very close with Rick today actually, you know, he and I,
his birthday is also in February.
So I happen to be up in the Knoxville area back in February.
So I met him and his wife and took him out for his, for his

(10:53):
birthday at the end of the end of last February.
So a lot of the guys were comingin there working out, you know,
and some of the names that were coming in there working out at
that particular time were downtown Denny Brown, who was a
former N.W.A junior heavyweight champion.
Very, very close friend, very close friend of mine, Hector
Guerrero was a Hector Guerrero was a regular in there.

(11:14):
There was an old guy by the name, an old name that you, he
went by the wrestling name in the Mid-Atlantic area called
Bret Hart. That's really very Horowitz from
the from the WWF. So Danny Spivey was coming in
there to work out. Scott Hall was coming in there
to work out. You have Piper.
So at that particular time I wasstill living in Concord, but I

(11:37):
was working for Rick at the gym in Charlotte part time.
So actually my my, my former tagteam partner who who, who and I
who and I hooked up as the Thunderfost later on, Gene
Liggin Gene ran a gym in Charlotte.
So in 19, roughly 1986, a lot, alot of other people don't know

(11:59):
this as well. I kind of kind of piggyback a
little bit on our story, but Nicola Roberts, who went on, you
know, to be become baby doll here in the in the North
Carolina area. She was coming in there and, you
know, she was using jeans, tanning beds and her and I
actually dated a few times back in the back in the 80s.

(12:19):
And we're still, you know, stillvery good friends.
You know, she's married and family now, but we've, you know,
still, still very good friends. And so Nelson Royal was was
actually coming in there to workout he and his daughter Shannon,
they owned the, the other, excuse me, the the Western store
up in, up in Mooresville. So Jean knew that I had been

(12:42):
interested about in, in becominga professional wrestler.
And so Nelson and I got togetherat when he was in there working
out, he told me he was going to be having tryouts up in
Mooresville at his camp on his property up there in
Mooresville. So that's How I Met the guys

(13:02):
that I came through camp with. You know, you probably remember,
of course, Tommy Angel, but there were others that came
through the camp that I met thatfirst day.
Cold Steel. There was a, a wrestler by the
name of Mitch Snow who went on to become in, in the AWA, did
some work in the AWA. Ricky Nelson Jean's son, Brad

(13:23):
Anderson was there. There was also another guy from
Salisbury who worked underneath for the Crockets with us.
He went by the name Larry Stevens, but most people knew
him by LA Stevens from up in theSalisbury area.
And, and then later on through, you know, and what, what made it
really special for us is, and I I I will always say that Nelson

(13:45):
and Jean Anderson were a little bit harder on US in wrestling
camp because it was their first wrestling camp.
But a lot of people don't know later on through that camp, like
the second or third camp that came through there, we had, you
know, we had the names of like Ken Shamrock and Johnny Ace also
come through that that wrestlingcamp as well.

(14:06):
Yeah. So a lot, a lot of guys came
through that camp. So that's how we all got to know
each other very, very closely around 1986, you know, and it's
no secret Crockett, at that particular time, Jim Crockett
needed some, some guys, some underneath guys to come in and
work the TV's and, you know, come in there.
And because a lot of people don't really fully understand

(14:30):
the, you know, the real, you know, lot, lot of guys, a lot of
fans will say, well, he was justa job guy, just that and the
other. But if you, if you really ask
the, you know, a good veteran inthe business, a good, a good
quality underneath talent enhancement guy, they can either
make you or break you on television.
So, so, you know, we all do whatwe were there to do.

(14:53):
We were there to, you know, to, to per SE do a job and, and get
the top guys over and make them look good.
And, and, you know, and, and with that, you know, we continue
to get more work. JJ Dillon, who was the assistant
Booker at the time when I was there with, you know, and, and
Dusty was the head Booker there.JJ, you know, respected our
work. He respected our talent.
You know, he thought a lot of Nelson and Jean.

(15:16):
So he, when he was able to, he was able to give us, you know, a
few more bookings here and there.
So he kept us, he kept us very busy.
You know, while, while Crockett was running television, we, we
stayed extremely busy and we picked up some, you know, some
house shows here and there to put some extra money in our
pocket. So I'm always been very thankful
to JJ for keeping us busy back during those times.

(15:37):
Yeah, that's awesome. That is very cool.
You know, you just named so manyincredible people.
It's just like, it's just like you kind of like punching bag
right now. I'm just trying to take all that
in. That's amazing.
All those people that you were around at that time, you know.
So like as far as like your first match and like, was it,
was it for like a certain promotion or was it through?

(16:00):
Actually my, actually my very, very first match, I was scared
to death. I was actually, I was, I was
petrified because I, I, I was inthe ring, I was tagging with,
with Larry Stevens, LA Stevens. And we had our very first, our
very first match was with the, the, the Midnight Express, which

(16:21):
was beautiful, Bobby Eaton and lover boy Dennis Condrey.
And, and on the outside of the ring was big Bubba Rogers and
baby doll, who was also part of that part of that match as well.
So in Cornet course, Cornet Cornet was down at the, I think
at the announcer's table, you know, talking with, with, with

(16:42):
probably with Tony Shibani at that particular time.
But that was my first match and I was, you know, extremely
nervous, you know, and, and later on, you know, it was funny
because I would go back and, andwatch that match.
I haven't seen it in quite a fewyears, but I would go back and
look at that match and yeah, andI don't really remember what I
did, but I did something stupid and not knowing the difference

(17:06):
and, and I could just see a big grin on Bobby Eaton's face, like
he was just laughing, you know? So, but if you got to know
Bobby, that that that was just Bobby.
That's just what he was. Great, great, great guy.
So that that was my first match in my pro wrestling career.

(17:26):
I can't believe that it's uphillfrom there too, man.
That's a memorable first match. Yeah.
Bobby. Bobby Eaton, legitimately one of
the best workers of all time. I mean.
There's no question, yeah. And Bobby was just a sweetheart
of a guy, you know, and, and I could go on and on about, you
know, the guys we worked with, you know, and it and look, guys,
it's no secret there were betterguys to work with on television.

(17:49):
And, you know, there were some that were were not as easy to
work with. You know, anytime, anytime you
look at the booking sheet and you saw your name with either
the Rock'n'roll Express or or Jimmy Valiant or a Bugsy McGraw
or the Midnight Express or, or Jimmy Garvin, someone like that,
you knew that you were going to be taken care of.

(18:12):
And you know, I mean, even a guylike Aaron Anderson, another
sweetheart of a guy who really tried to work with the
underneath guys on television because he knew the value of
having a good match on television.
He didn't want to go out there unless unless we were they were
working at an angle like a, you know, like a bash or a war games
or something like that. He didn't want to go out there

(18:32):
and just and just beat the that,you know, the underneath guys up
on television. He he, he wanted to go out there
and have a match if he could. So I was never shy about, you
know, if I wanted to suggest something to art, he would
always try to work it in if he could, a spot maybe that I
wanted to do. So just another sweetheart of
the guy to work with in the ringthat you knew was going to take
care of you. Yeah, that's incredible.

(18:53):
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(19:13):
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(19:34):
Thursday, wherever you listen topodcasts.
Well, so we do this little thingwe like to call the name game.
And so it kind of, you know, we the way we do it is we say a
name and then you kind of bring up a thought or, or a little
story or whatever. Maybe if it jogs a memory,
whatever. So DJ hit the music.

(20:09):
I'm going to go ahead and start with this one because from my
list of matches that I can see, especially the ones that are on
TV, this was on December 28th, 1986.
You wrestled with Larry Stevens against Ollie and Aaron
Anderson. So talk about those guys.
Yeah. You know, that's a great
question. You know, and I, I, I do
remember something very, very vaguely about that match.

(20:33):
It's I mean, it's it, it came back to me later, but only, you
know, of course, new at the time, you know, and, and I'm
going to tell you that was probably one of my, you know, I,
I had only been in the wrestlingbusiness maybe three or four
months at that particular time. I had watched only growing up as
a kid. And so only I knew was, could be

(20:55):
very rough in the ring. So we were standing there kind
of at the gorilla position getting ready to go out.
Larry and I were standing there and, and ARN and Ollie were
standing there right in front ofus.
All of a sudden, Ollie takes hisfirst and he punches the, the,
you know, a wooden cabinet that sat right there in the in the at
the gorilla position. And he said, I, he said, I am in

(21:18):
a pissed off mood today and I'm going to beat somebody's ass out
here in this ring today. I am not, I am not in a good
mood. And I looked, I looked at Larry
and I said, we're getting ready to get killed.
So but when we got out there, Ollie was just as light as a
feather. I mean, he was just as light as

(21:38):
a feather. He was just playing a rib on us
because he he knew we were green.
He knew we wanted these guys. So but he, he really took good
care of us. But I but I got to tell you, I
was very nervous going to the ring.
Ollie is one of the best heels of all time.
Like just just pure heel like heis.

(21:59):
Well, you know, a lot of people,a lot of people don't notice
about Ollie, but Ollie was stabbed right here in
Greenville, SC many, many years ago.
And, you know, he, you know, that knife from when one of the
fans stabbed him, you know, justby the by a split inch, you
know, missed his heart. Sure.
He. Oh, wow, man.
Yeah. That's scary, and these new guys

(22:21):
think they got it rough, you know?
Well, you know, there's a difference now.
You know, back back in the days when I was, you know, when we
were telling the real story, we had storylines, storylines that
played out for for for a number of weeks, months and years at a
time. Ollie and Gene are what we call

(22:42):
heat magnets. And they really, really got a
lot of heat in course now the wrestling business has changed
so much. They're not really out there
trying to get heat anymore. But the angles that they ran
back in the day really, really got some fans upset.
Yeah, no kidding. Yeah, yeah, all.
Right. How about Nikita Koloff?

(23:03):
Wow. Nikita.
Yeah, Nikita. Nikita and I are very close.
I haven't talked to him in a while, but Nikita lived pretty
close to me in Concord, NC. I I got to be very close with
Nick back, back when he owns Nikita's gym in in Concord, NC.
I was very close with Nick. Nick was married at the time to

(23:25):
a young lady down in Alabama whoyou which you guys probably
know. She ended up developing cancer
And he, he, he tried to do what he could to, to try to heal the
cancer. And, but you know, of course
she, you know, ended up passing away.
I don't really remember what year that it was, but Mandy
ended up passing away several, you know, after a certain period

(23:49):
of time. And but, but Nick and I have
always, I was actually a pallbearer in, in Mandy's
funeral. And so that that's, you know,
but, but Nick and I traveled together on the road quite a
bit. I, I've got a quick Nikita
Koloff story. So, Nikita, he had a Cadillac

(24:12):
back in the day, a white Cadillac with tinted windows,
and he was going out of town. And he, you know, he and I were
very close. And I said, hey, Nick, you're
going to be out of town. I said, you know, can I can I
take your car? Take your car out if, if I need
to. Yeah.
And he said sure, Yeah, yeah. Go ahead, Go ahead, take the
car. Well, I took his car and I drove

(24:35):
it down to Myrtle Beach, SC. And.
And so, so, so back-to-back during those days, it, you know,
it was no secret. I, you know, I'm, I'm not the
same guy that I was back in those days, those days, thank
goodness, But I kind of frequentfrequented a lot of adult
entertainment businesses. And, and so I had, I had the

(24:58):
car, you know, full of the ladies, you know, in the car one
night and we were riding around all riding around Myrtle Beach.
And so when I finally went back to to Concord, Nikita had not
been home. And to this day, I still don't
know how he found out. But he came up to me and he
says, what are you doing hangingaround in Myrtle Beach with

(25:20):
adult entertainers hanging out my car window.
And I still to this day never know how he found that out.
He did. He had his sources in the KGB.
Yeah, he really did. He really did.
Holy cow. That Yeah.
Wow. We're starting with an
incredible story. There you go.

(25:43):
Oh, man. Yeah, Nikita's a a great guy.
I got to meet him a couple times.
Very nice man. Very, very.
Yeah. Absolutely.
So the next name on the list is the superstar Bill Dundee.
You know superstar Bill Dundee, I was never around Bill too
much. You know, I was around him a
couple of times in, you know, back to the Crockett.

(26:07):
He came in and and I don't really, really remember why
Dundee was brought in. I, I do know that hot stuff.
Eddie Gilbert was was around some during that time and he was
there as well. I don't know whether it was part
of the deal. Maybe the Crockett George S
would certainly know more about that than me.
But why they were there in the territory at that time.

(26:29):
But but Bill was always a solid worker.
He was an old school worker. So that is something that I
particularly enjoyed was the oldschool type of work that we did
back in the day. Not all the, you know, all, not
all the high flying, you know, we got a hold, we worked it
that, that sort of thing. So I, I didn't know Bill real

(26:51):
well. I only worked with him a couple
of times on television. But that, that's really the only
memories that I have. Bill, I never really got to know
him too well. Yeah, yeah.
Well, our listener base is a lotof them are in Tennessee.
I bring up certain games mainly because of that, you know, and
Bill, I've met him a couple times and every time that he's
been in the back, I did a littlework as a manager back in about

(27:12):
10 years ago in Nashville. And that's How I Met all these
wrestlers that I know. And every time he was on a show
and I would he would be watching, she was like, oh,
they're killing the business, they're killing the business.
You know, that's, you know, Bill, Bill is very old school,
you know, just like, just like Nelson Royal was, you know, I, I
look at some of the things they do now and I'm certainly not

(27:34):
knocking the, the business and what what it's turned into.
It's not necessarily for for me,but, but, but the way that I was
brought up, you know, I was brought up to, you know, back
when kayfabe was, was really alive and, and well.
And, you know, I spent my whole career protecting the business
and, you know, protecting the behind the scenes, the secrets
of it. And it's still hard sometimes,

(27:57):
you know, to have conversations with certain people about, you
know, kind of kind of doing an expose.
Of the business right, right because.
IA part of me still feels reallystrange about talking about some
of those things because of. Course.
We we just didn't do it. You just don't do it.
You didn't do it. No.

(28:17):
And I mean, we're gracious for that because a lot of guys are
very, you know, a very against certain things about it.
But, you know, we've got Jim Cornett, who's probably one of
the biggest kayfabe guys ever atthe time, you know, telling the
whole story. It's kind of hard, you know?
But I remember, you know, we, we, we protected the business,
you know, yes, yes, back in the days when, when I was, you know,

(28:41):
if, if I had just worked an angle with, with somebody and,
and, and I happened to be in a gas station with the, with those
guys, if we ended up, you know, if they were there before me, I
would get back in the car and leave because I didn't want to,
I did not want to expose the business or I didn't want to be
seen talking with that person that I had just had a match with
and a, you know, in a public place.

(29:02):
We we just did not. We just didn't do that.
Yeah, that's, that was the way the business was, man.
That's, I think in a lot of ways.
I miss that era, you know, in a lot of ways, you know?
Well, you know, and that's what I and guys, that's what I tell
people. If you know, if you never really
experienced Jim Crockett promotions live, you know, what
you see on on YouTube and and you know, maybe on the WWE

(29:26):
Network and things of that sort just doesn't do it justice.
If you really weren't, if if youweren't a part of the Great
American Bash, if you weren't, you know, if you weren't on the
front row watching it, living itand breathing it and traveling
with the guys, you just can't really appreciate how how how
much, how over Jim Crockett Promotions territory really was.

(29:50):
Hey, man. Yeah, You know something, You
know something though, those onething that YouTube at least, and
maybe WWE Network or whatever iskept alive is there are so many
people influenced by those Ric Flair promos, those Dusty Rd.
promos, I mean, and Jim Cornette.
And on that little set in the Atlanta studio there, would you

(30:11):
just see all those people cutting promos?
Those are Big little. Like if you go anywhere that
just shows clips, you see a lot of those.
I mean, just because they're so memorable, they're so good and
so much better than anything youcan see today, honestly.
You know, and I can remember when I see some of those now I
can, I can vividly remember, youknow, where I, you know, because
the Atlanta, the TBS studio was not a real big studio.

(30:33):
And we were there on Saturday mornings at 9:00 in the morning
filming and, and sometimes it was extremely cold in that, in
that, that little building. It was extremely cold.
But yeah, it was, it was hard towork a crowd in front of, you
know, in a studio environment like that.
It it, it could be a little bit tough at 9:00 in the morning at

(30:54):
9:00 in the morning, I bet. Yeah, how about two of the OR A
tag team that gets like the biggest pop ever, the Road
Warriors. Oh my gosh.
You know, I, I became very, veryclose with with Joe.
Road Warrior Animal. I became very close with Joe
and, you know, his brother, you know, John, Johnny Laurenitis.

(31:16):
Yeah. And and they also have another
brother down in Atlanta, a Mark Laurenitis.
But I became very close with those guys later on, later on
down the road. But another, another situation
that that comes to mind is, you know, you, you cannot fully
understand unless somebody was there or like me who was

(31:40):
standing in the ring. When you hear the Road Warriors
music coming on and you see those guys busting through the
door and, and they're running, they're running at that, you
know, that ring 90 miles an hourand they get up under the ropes
and they and they come in there and they're, they're wild.

(32:00):
I mean, they are wide open and you know, when you get in the
ring with them, you're not goingto, they're not going to give
you anything. If you're working underneath,
they're just going to go in there.
They're they're going to beat you up and that's just what
you're there for. And and that's what you did.
And, but I remember one time working with those guys and I

(32:21):
don't know that I was the first I, but I do know that I was
probably one of the first was when they did that finish.
And I don't remember what the name of it was when when I got
on, when I got on top of animalsshoulders and and then hawk
would dive off with the clothesline and the animal
would, would, would cut you a flip backwards and you land on

(32:43):
your stomach. I remember the first time I took
that on Atlanta TVI mean, JJ just came busting through the
the door and he he looked at me,said hi there.
Are you OK? Are you OK?
And I said, I'm fine. I said I'm fine.
Yeah. So that was a that was a little
bit of a, a scary move. And so many, many years later,

(33:05):
many years later, when the Warriors actually went to the
WWF, you know, I had a little more credibility those guys, you
know, back then. So when we ventured up to the
WWF to do some underneath, you know, work for those, some some
TV for the, for, for WWF, you know, I had a chance to work for
those guys again up there. And I remember animals saying,

(33:27):
Isley, are you in a flipping mood tonight?
And I'm. Not.
And I said I said, well, Joe, I said, do I, do I have a choice?
He says. Not really so, but at least he
was honest about it. So then he said, no, if you want
us to fall back with you, we'll fall back with you.
I said, yeah, I, I much rather, I think I'm at the stage of my

(33:47):
life now. I, I, I'd appreciate if you'd
fall back with me when, you know, when Hawks coming off the
top. So they, they were, they, they
graciously did that for me and took care of it.
So that was all good. And that was a very rare thing.
I know they did that for guys like maybe like Ivan and you
know, some of those guys, but they didn't do that a lot.
So you can tell they really. Respected.

(34:07):
You. But you have to understand that
when, when they got to the WWF, you know, things were a little
bit different when they got up there.
You know, I'm, if I had to, whatI, what I'm trying to say is the
agents, the road agents for the WWF at the time, they were
extremely big on taking care of the guys that came there for TV

(34:29):
and gave their bodies to the talents, top guys.
They were extremely saying, hey,I mean, I remember, you know,
Larry Stevens working with The Ultimate Warrior Warrior and
Warrior knocked him out on that with a clothesline on
television. And I and I, you know, and I
vividly remember Jay Strongbow, as soon as warrior came back
through, he was screaming at him, do not do that again.

(34:51):
If you can't do it right. Do not hurt these guys.
We did not have that when we were down working for Crockett.
They just pretty much just ate us up.
And you know, every how we landed, that's that's how we
landed. But it was just a it was a
different business. It was a different company and a
a different time and different place.
Yeah, yeah. Now, is it true that you have a

(35:13):
story about Hawk? Yeah, actually, I do, Hawk.
So we were down in Jacksonville,FL, you know, and, and I had
been in the business a few yearsnow and actually I was with
Tommy Angel when this happened. You know, back in the days, back
in the days you could smoke cigarettes, as you guys probably
remember, you could smoke cigarettes inside a restaurant.

(35:35):
So I, we were sitting at a, in a, in a restaurant and you know,
at the time I was weighing probably 230-220-5230.
Tommy was probably 250 animal and Hawk both probably close to
300 at that time. And I, I remember we were
sitting at a table and, and somesmoke was coming over the back

(35:57):
of the, the, from the table beside us was coming over our,
our booths. And then all of a sudden it got
quiet in Hawk with that voice ofhis, he goes, God, I hate smoke.
And and some guy who was sittingthere kind of leaned over to see
who we were. As soon as as soon as he saw the

(36:18):
four of us sitting there eating,he took a cigarette and put it
out. So I, I remember that very, very
clearly. Very clearly like.
That is awesome. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
In some cases that might have been a fight, but that was not a
fight. Yeah, well, he he would not have

(36:38):
been one of the guys that you'd want to pick a fight.
With right. Never.
Yeah, never. No, no, it's funny.
Watch that guy it. Would have you know, the voice
would have probably made me dropit in my drink or something, you
know? Mike was a was a very
intimidating man. He was a very, very and he was
so brutally strong. Him and Animal both were just

(37:02):
just brutal, totally strong, youknow, And you know, when when
they pressed us over their head,we didn't have, we didn't have
to help them. I mean, they were they, they
could do it all on their own. They didn't need us to help.
Yeah, not at all. Well, so OK, the next guys,
again, you brought them up a little earlier in your first
match, but I kind of want to draw a comparison because 87 was

(37:24):
kind of a a weird year for the Midnights, especially because
they had Bobby and Dennis at thestart and then it was Bobby and
Stan at the end. And honestly it came in and it
was seamless. You know, they were great from
the start and great from the finish there.
But I guess draw a little comparison of Bobby and Dennis
versus Bobby and Stan. Well, you know, they're, they
are, you know, and I even have achance to work with Randy Rose,

(37:46):
who was part of the others at the midnight.
He he he came in there for a little bit, a little, a little
bit of a short time as well whenI was there.
But talking with, you know, the the midnight of Dennis and
Bobby, those guys really just got a lot of heat by themselves.

(38:07):
You know, they could really, they could really draw the heat,
you know? And, you know, they, to me, they
seemed much more like the territory tag teams.
Old school. So to speak.
You know, and then you had then you had kind of that showman
come in with with Stan Lane, who, who was a, you know, part
of a very successful tag team with Steve Kern called the

(38:30):
fabulous ones up in up in the upin the Memphis area.
So, you know, Stan was more Stanto me was more of that that that
showman type of of wrestler and and and I think Dennis and and
Bobby were probably more of the kind of the heat, the drawing
the heat type of tag teams. That makes total sense.

(38:52):
Yeah, you know, but but Stan, you know, they were both
successful. They they both had, they both
had good runs. Not taking anything away from
either either tag team. They were both very easy to work
with. But but but there was a, you
know, a a little bit different of a style between the original
Midnights and then the ones withwith Stan and was staying in

(39:13):
Bobby. That makes total sense, yeah.
Yeah. I like, I like that.
Another guy that's just an amazing worker and from a a long
line of from a family of great talent, Brad Armstrong.
You know, that's a that's, that's a great, great family
right there. I had, I had the privilege of

(39:33):
working with all of those guys. I think it's some point.
I I did not have a chance to work with Brian BG.
Yeah, I did. I did not have a chance to work
with him, but I have many, many matches with Brad and Bob Bullet
Bob. I had many, many chances to work
with those guys and they were always just such smooth in the

(39:55):
ring. The Bob, you know, Bob would be
smoking a cigarette before he went to the range.
And yeah, you, you couldn't, youcouldn't blow him up.
He was in great shape. But Bob was just Bob and Brad
both just, you know, if you ask any old school, you know,
wrestler. The territory guy, who would you
like to have as an underneath guy in your, you know, in your

(40:16):
territory, it's always a Brad Armstrong because he can go in
there. If you you know, if you can't
have a, if you can't have a goodmatch with Brad Armstrong,
something's wrong. Yeah, no joke.
He was that smooth and I had an I also.
I remember one night at the old at the Coliseum, I want to say

(40:36):
it was maybe Ranger Ross that had not showed up that night.
I happened to I happened to be there at one night and Ranger
Ross had not showed up and only was had the book at that time.
And he and he asked me, he said,Isley, if you got your gear with
you. And I said I do.
He said, well, Ranger Ross isn'there yet.
You know, if I'm going to give him 10 more minutes and if he's
not go get your gear. I've got you in the opening

(40:58):
match with Iraq, the man which was Brad Armstrong.
And. So, so I, I ended up having that
match in the Coliseum with, with, with Brad, but Brad was
just always such a smooth workerand I always enjoyed working
with, you know, when he was tagging with Timmy Horner.
I always enjoyed working with both those guys in the Lightning
Express. Yeah, Super, just a super, super

(41:22):
mid, mid card tacking. Yeah.
Absolutely great tag team. I love that lightning express.
They you know, I always love Brad and Bullet Bob.
I feel like, you know, Brad is probably as smooth, almost as
smooth as Ricky Steamboat in a lot of cases.
But he also had that same fire that bullet had, you know, it's,
it's an interesting combination,you know?

(41:42):
Brad was an excellent worker, anextra good seller.
He knew how to get, you know, get the guy over that he was
working with. And I remember being in the ring
with him several times when I was first breaking in and man,
he really blew me up. He was, he was in that good of
shape, that good shape, and he had a body like he had a body

(42:03):
like a Greek Adonis. Exactly.
And he kept it too. That was the other impressive
part, you know. He really did.
Yeah, really did. Well, the next guy I've got on
this list is actually, you know,I've hated this guy before, but
I've also cheered for this guy, and he always had that valet
with him. Precious.
But I always like just Jimmy Garvin.
Gorgeous. Garvin you know, I actually had,

(42:24):
I had a chance back in Charlottea couple of years ago.
Jimmy and Ronnie were having breakfast at the, at the Hilton
there for one of the signings. And I had I had gone to see my
good buddy Stan Hanson and we were having breakfast with those
guys. And you know, Jimmy was always
such a just a pleasure to work with in the ring.

(42:48):
And he was one of those guys that he was very, very smooth.
He's he's another guy, you know,if you go in the ring with
Jimmy, you know, you know that you're going to be taken care
of. He was not what we call stiff.
He can make your stuff really look good.
Like he was really hurting you. But you know, he was just so

(43:10):
smooth in the ring. Now that Ronnie, on the other
hand, was a little bit more a little bit more vicious.
And you know, that's just a likenight and day with Jimmy and
Ronnie. They're just totally two
different styles. I'm glad you brought Ronnie up
too because I just watched a match with you and Ronnie, so
that was awesome. You know, and Ronnie, you know,

(43:32):
Ronnie was one of those guys that you know, he he could take
the he could take a beating and he he wanted you to fight him.
And if you didn't, he was just going to eat you up.
And that's just the way he was. You know, we we tried, but you
know, he just, he just ate us up.
That's just all he wants to it. That's just all he wants to
that. But that was just Ronnie's

(43:54):
style, It was nothing against him, that was just his style.
Yeah, yeah. How about Dick Murdoch?
Murdoch I probably worked with afew times on television, you
know, he he was another guy thatwas extremely smooth.
You know, Dickie was old school,you know, he and Dusty were very
tight, you know, so you know, Dickie, I remember had the the

(44:19):
brain Buster finish his, his finish was just so smooth.
I mean, it's, it's, it's a, you know, the way he protected you
in the ring, the way he got yourneck and the way, you know, when
you're, you know, it's like a standing suplex.
Then you come down for the, you know, for the bump or whatever.
But he really took care of you. But Dickie's just one of those

(44:39):
old school guys that, you know, he, he took care of you on
television. He was not out there trying to,
to abuse you, not trying to beatyou up or, or, you know, or hurt
you. He actually went out there and
tried to take take care of you. But you got to understand Dickie
was that old school type wrestler.
That's just the way they worked.Now, could could, could he hurt
you? Absolutely, absolutely Dickie.

(45:01):
Dickie was, you know, he, he could be vicious, but, but, but
he always took great care of me when I was in the ring with him,
always took care of me. Oh yeah, I always loved those
promos when Cornett was managinghim and he was paying him like
he was kind of like a mercenary for the Midnight Express.
Yeah, exactly. And Jimmy would be cutting his

(45:21):
promo and he, he's really into it.
Dick's just standing there laughing, like smiling.
Oh yeah, he's, he's popping for it, you know?
Well, I, I remember, I remember when there was some 6 manns
being done with, with Ivan and Dickie, Dickie Murdoch and
Vladimir Pietrov and they were doing some tagging and he knew

(45:43):
how he knew how green Vladimir was.
He knew it. And, and some of the things that
he was screaming the ring at that particular time.
I mean, you know, he, I rememberyou can, you can if you watch
this particular match, you can hear, you know, you can hear the
fans out there really giving them a hard time.

(46:05):
And, you know, he screams at thetop, top of the top of his
lungs. Hey, Tony, can you shut these
Cape havens up out here? You know, that's the way Dickie
was, you know, just laughing andhaving a good time in the ring.
But a lot of people never saw that because we we protected the
business. But yeah, but Dickie, Dickie was
just a super, super good guy. Yeah, that's awesome.

(46:26):
That's awesome. OK, Well the next team is
definitely probably my favorite tag team of all time from being
a child, The Rock'n'roll Express.
Oh my gosh, we can talk about those guys forever.
You know, Rick, Ricky and Robertand I still, you know, I my, my
actually my phone still rings from Robert from time to time
and we still keep in touch. And you know, they're just A tag

(46:48):
team that if if you never if younever experienced them live, you
can't appreciate how how over those guys were in the
territory. There's no telling.
There's no telling. You know how many of those
Rock'n'roll posters they sold back in the day, the merchandise
sales, you know, the what we hadback at that time we're, we're

(47:10):
probably astronomical, you know,the numbers they they probably
did. But as far as two nice guys and,
and protecting you and taking care of you in the ring, you
won't find 2 better, two better guys and Ricky Morton, Robert
Gibson, you just won't. And those guys were just such
such great babyface. You know, the way Ricky Morton
sold so sold the move or he soldsold the hold.

(47:33):
You know, it's like Ricky told me one time he said I can sell,
I can sell an arm bar like I'm on the way to the electric
chair, you know, right. So you just won't find 2 better
baby faces than Ricky and Robert.
You just won't not as a not as asolid babyface tag team.
One of the best. Yeah, absolutely, no question.

(47:53):
And so the next two guys, I'm going to go ahead and bring them
up because here's the thing, youguys were known as, you know,
Tommy Angel, Larry Stevens, RickNelson.
You know, you guys were kind of like, I would say like a second
era of the underneath guys who kind of looked a little more
compatible with the guys that were on TV.
These guys, however, we rememberGeorge SI got to throw George in

(48:15):
there, love George. But these two guys right here
actually were kind of that original crew that stayed around
and actually ended up winning a match and going to the Crockett
Cup. Brandy and Bill Mulkey.
You know the monkeys, I haven't seen those guys in a in a long
time. They, they used to live right
down here in Anderson, SC and Multimania.

(48:39):
I remember I had, I had gotten my, my shoulders separated.
So I was on the sidelines at home for about 8 weeks.
And I remember when they had that match with the Gladiators
and they won on television that,that night.
I was actually, I was actually on the card that night when they
sold out the Anderson Civic Center, when they had that match
against the, the, the, the Midnight Express.

(49:03):
Yeah, I was. Myself and Larry Stevens were on
that card that night and we had a nice pay off that night
because. Then.
Yeah, we did. We got paid on, you know how
many, how many people showed up not on a contract basis, so,
right. Yeah.
So the more, the more people that were there, the better we
got paid. So, yeah, the monkeys were, you

(49:25):
know, that was just something different.
It was good to see. It was good for the business at
that particular time and the people loved it.
Yeah, they definitely did. We popped and that was Gary.
That was Gary Royal and George S, right?
Am I correct about that? Yeah.
Two fantastic workers. You can't say enough about
George and and Gary as far as workers, you know, you know,

(49:47):
Gary, gorgeous Gary Royal, you know, came, came in from the the
Kansas City Territory and he wasa former for N.W.A, you know,
junior heavyweight champion. Something else a lot of people
don't know about about Gary is that if you go back and watch
Starcade or when Piper and Valentine were having the the
doll collar match, Gary was the manager right in the ring there

(50:10):
with Valentine, you know, right,right at the opening of that.
Wow. OK.
With the block with the bleach blonde hair.
Very cool. Yeah, he had a suit on.
So, yeah, Gary's just another another great worker.
I I, I can't even tell you how many times I've worked with Gary
in the ring, but just such a night off, just such an easy.
He and I just always had very smooth matches.

(50:31):
But when you say that, you've also got to say again too, if
you can't have a good match withGeorge and and Gary, something's
wrong, right? Something's wrong.
Yeah. I literally just talked to
George the other day and he was just coming off of his table at
Wrestlecade and he was doing a favor for me, recording a clip
and he was like, brother, brother, I can't talk, but I'm
coming off this to do this for you.

(50:53):
And you know, so if George S left his table, you mean
something to him. So exactly 100.
Percent correct. If he's going to leave that
gimmick table for a minute, you know you must be special.
Yeah. Well, I felt that He's a great
guy. Yeah.
I hope that we'll have him on soon, hopefully, because you
know, we can't have you guys on and not have George on, right?
So. That's exactly right, George.

(51:15):
You know, George, you know I remember.
George, you know, when we, you know, tell you a quick story
about us going and you know this, maybe it's something you
guys want to talk about, but I remember when we were going,
what we got to do, we were invited up to do television for
the WWF and George was part of that crew with us.
And as soon as we walked in the door, you know, Vince McMahon

(51:37):
walked, walked up to us and thanked us for coming.
He called us by name, which we were all, we were all surprised
that he called us by name. And we're like, how in the world
does he know who we are? And you know, it's like George
said, look, we're his competition down there with the
Crocketts. You know, he he knows, you know,
that's his business is to know what's on television for the
other product. So.

(51:57):
He. Knew all of us and that's why we
were invited to come up and, and, you know, and, and work on
the on the television up there. But they were so happy to have
us, you know, and, and, and you know, Tommy may have told you
this before, but you know, we were getting ready to leave that
night and, and Bobby Heena walked up to us.
There were six of us and he handed us $100 bill And he said,
guys, I know they said much, butsplit it amongst you and have

(52:18):
have a beer on me on the way home.
We so appreciate you guys. So, so appreciate you guys
coming up here and making our guys look good on television.
Because if, if you got a bunch of crappy underneath talents
enhancement guys on television, your, your show's going to look
terrible. But if you got some, if you got
some that you know, they know what they're doing, they know

(52:40):
how to have a match, it just makes the program so much
better. Now you ask a guy like Ricky
Morton, if you ask him say, well, who was the best worker in
the, you know, in the, in the territory back in the, in the
Crockett days? And he said, look, that's,
that's a big, that's a big question.
He said everybody could work back.
You know, who was on the card back in those days all the way

(53:00):
from all the way from the top guys down to the underneath job
guys, They were all, they all knew how to have a match.
So that that's, it's just that some got more, some got more
television time than others, youknow, but that's just the way it
worked out. We knew what we were there to
do. We we knew we had a job there to
do. And I, I feel like that, you

(53:21):
know, with my best work came after I left Crockett, after I
left WCW, you know, and I went into Japan and, you know, and,
and, you know, became, became close with Stan Hanson.
And you know, that that's when I, I really learned how to work
was after I left and got away from doing, you know, doing
televised matches. Yeah, well, I promise we'll get

(53:43):
there, brother. We're it's coming soon.
We got just a little bit more here.
Go ahead, Jared. How?
About the total package Lex Luger.
Yeah, Lex was another guy that, you know, he had a body like
$1,000,000 Lex. Lex was not not the most
technical wrestler in the world and I think he would tell you
the same thing. But he knew the talents that he

(54:06):
has. His body was just unbelievable.
That's why they caught him. The total package.
You know, he he he's another guythat really protected, protected
the underneath guys on television.
He never ever hurt, ever hurt meone time.
Never, ever. He was so easy to work with in
the ring, you know, and what yousee now, he's so appreciative

(54:26):
of, you know, he he may not remember your face or or your
name, but if you know, if you tell him, hey, we weren't, you
know, television with each other, you know, many times back
in the Crockett days, you know, he says, look, I don't remember
it, but I just want to say thankyou.
He said, you know, you guys put your bodies on the line for US
night in, night out. He said, I just want to say
thanks. You know, that's always, that's

(54:48):
always nice to hear. Yeah, yeah.
No doubt, no doubt. And now we'll word from our
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(55:11):
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I have a hot honey sauce, I havea sweet sauce, I have a hot
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yummy you can use it on everything.

(55:34):
They are absolutely amazing and I'm so proud of them.
We make them from from scratch. So go on our website
westsidesauces.com, check out our products, read about our
story and go online and order you some of these yummy sauces.
And Rick actually uses all of the sauces because he is a die

(55:56):
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, come order you some samples and I think
you'll thoroughly enjoy them. Thank you guys, be blessed.

(56:19):
Well, you know, Jared brought upone of them, and then we've
talked about Ollie and Arne, butI want to bring up the Four
Horsemen as a whole. How is that being around that
crew man you? Know, you know, you had, you had
Ollie and Ollie and art and Flair.
You know, you had Tully in thereat that particular time.
Nobody can really fully understand the magnitude of how

(56:42):
over the Four Horsemen really were.
That whole era of the Four Horsemen was just unbelievable.
They did Crockett did incrediblebusiness.
You know, any time that we were on the cards where we were paid,
you know, by the, by the, by thepeople who were there buying a
ticket, we always knew we were going to have a good payday.

(57:03):
And, but, but nobody can really appreciate how, how over the
four horsemen were the original 4 horsemen.
They just don't have a clue of, of really what, how, how popular
those guys were back in the day or, and, and how much, how much
heat those guys got. I mean, a guy like Holly
Blanchard, you know, it's like they say he got heat in the

(57:25):
dressing room with the guys. So you knew, you knew he could,
you knew he could draw heat withthe people out in the audience.
So just a a a tremendous error that if you never experienced it
live you, you just can't fully appreciate it.
Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. This this other group they were

(57:45):
they were heat magnets of their own, the fabulous free birds.
Yeah, Mike, Michael Hayes and and Gordy, you know, I, I got
very close with Terry when I wasin Japan.
But, and, and matter of fact, you know, MM works behind the
scenes now for the, you know, for the WWE.
And he was actually, my, my son had called me recently and

(58:05):
wanted to take my, my grandson to see a match up in Charlotte
for TV. And I had sent Michael a, an
e-mail, you know, to his WWE account and said, hey, if if you
got time to see us for a few minutes, great.
If you don't, I know you're busy.
But he wrote me back, you know, within about, you know, maybe 3
or 4 minutes said, hey Dave, great to hear from you.

(58:27):
He said, I, I, TV's are kind of hard, hard to manage.
And you know, if I have chance to get to catch up with you, you
know, don't expect me to. But you know, the best time to
see me is like at a house show or something like that.
But you couldn't ask for for fortwo better guys as far as Terry
Gordy and and and Michael Hayes as far as guys in in and out of

(58:50):
the ring. But I'm, but I'm going to tell
you one thing. Terry was a rough man.
I, I would, I would put him up. I would put him up against
anybody. All I can say is thank God he
like me when when he was taggingwith Doctor death.
Those were two rough individuals.
And I'm I'm so thankful they took care of me.

(59:11):
And but I you, you just can't imagine the strength of Terry
Van Bam Gordy. You just can't.
Oh no, I died. I have no doubt I got a golly.
I love those guys though. They were like, they were, you
know, the Rock'n'roll Express had their own rock'n'roll vibe,
but they were like rock stars too, man, Those free.
Birds you know. You know, I, I remember the free
birds when they were, you know, kind of in the Georgia, the

(59:33):
Georgia territory. I never really got the, I never
got to witness them too much when they were working for the
Von Erichs out in Texas. I saw matches, I saw matches of
it and I saw the crowds they drew out there.
But I never really got to experience that.
But I did see them when they were here working for Georgia.
And that's another territory that they really popped really

(59:53):
hard was, you know, was for the Georgia Championship Wrestling.
Absolutely, absolutely. Well, the next guy on our list,
and I think you know this guy pretty well, but I always
thought, you know, there's all these guys that if you were to
draw him. If you I would just say, hey,
Dave, draw a pro wrestler, you could easily draw Lex Luger, you
could draw Hawking Animal, you could draw Sting, you could draw

(01:00:14):
Sid. But this guy, I always thought
if you drew a pro wrestler and just drew what you thought, I
think you would draw him as Toddchampion.
Yeah, you know, Todd, Todd had an incredible look.
You know, Todd was a, was a verybig guy.
Todd was about 6 foot, I don't know, 6 foot 5-6 foot 6, maybe

(01:00:35):
275, two 180 lbs. Former football player for the
Rams and former college footballplayer for Utah.
And Todd and I were very, very close.
Todd and I hung out together quite a bit outside of the ring.
We traveled together quite a bit.
I, I remember vividly about, about Todd is, you know,

(01:00:57):
sometimes I would have a, when he and I were riding down the
road together after a match, youknow, I would be in the, in the
passenger seat and, you know, ifhe saw me dozing off asleep and
he'd slam all brakes and then wake me up.
Yeah. So Todd was another Todd was
another great guy that I really enjoyed.
But, you know, being around in and outside of the ring, you

(01:01:18):
know, he had, you know, he had asuccessful little run with, you
know, Curtis Thompson, who was firebreaker Chip.
And they did the little, yeah. I, I can't remember the taxi
they had maybe down in WCW for awhile, but they, they, they had
a good little run together for awhile.
But Todd just a, just a super guy in and out of the ring,
lives down in Atlanta, GA. Now he and I do still keep in

(01:01:41):
touch much and you know, I'm thankful that we're able to do
that. But he God, man, what a what a
big guy he was and he's incredibly strong.
I was, I was another guy who wasjust incredibly.
Strong. Absolutely.
About the warlord. Oh man, I I loved him Terry, you
know, another guy that you know,brutally strong in the in the

(01:02:04):
gym. I mean, I, I have seen this guy
personally myself. I've witnessed it.
You know, him doing behind the take presses with 315 lbs and
yeah, Oh yeah, yeah. I mean, he was just a monster of
a man. But you know, the tag team with
him and the the barbarian, just another the powers of pain or
whatever, just a just a super, super sweetheart of a guy and

(01:02:28):
but just incredibly strong. But he's another guy, just light
as a feather, wouldn't you for anything.
He just would not. None of none of his none of his
moves hurt. I mean they were all super easy
to take. Yeah, let me ask you this, being
that you're buddies with the Road Warriors and now when they
put the powers of pain together,I think what we saw it as was

(01:02:49):
that like the evil Rd. Warriors, how did you guys take
the 2 tag teams that were massive monsters that almost
looked almost similar, you know?You know, that's I, you know,
watching, watching those four guys go at it in the ring.
You know, I felt sometimes the with the Road Warriors, you, you

(01:03:12):
either loved them or you hated them.
And. And, and the, and the Warriors
people just really got behind that gimmick.
I mean that that gimmick of theirs was so over that, you
know, you would have everybody in the building cheering for the
Warriors. And but you know, when you had
the, the powers, the pain, then you had Uncle Ivan Koloff who

(01:03:33):
managed them, or maybe maybe Paul Jones managed them a little
bit at one time, little bit of both.
It, it was very believable because you had four men that
were just incredibly big and you, you just wanted to see who
was going to win as far as who was the strongest of the four.
And, and, and, and I don't thinkat that particular time, I mean,

(01:03:57):
if I was going to put my money on somebody, I mean, you, you,
you can't you, they, they were all strong individuals.
But, but, but a guy like the barbarian and, and, and, and the
warlord and, and, and road war animal, they were just so
freaking strong. I mean, it's unbelievable that
the, the feats of strength they did in the, in the gym.
I mean the bench presses they did.

(01:04:19):
And but you know, you've got guys like Hawk and Animal who
came out of that, that whole clan of up there in, in
Minnesota with Eddie Sharkey grew up there.
Rick came out, it came out of that current Henning.
They all came out of that, that Minnesota territory up there.
But just man, 4 incredibly strong men you know, and I saw

(01:04:39):
him working out in the gym many times and my eyes were just
amazed every time I saw him working out.
That's the yeah, no doubt. No doubt.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, this next one, it's so
funny. We've been talking about all
these towering big men, but thisnext guy was never what you
would say. Towering always had a great body
about him though, and a evil persona in Kevin Sullivan.

(01:05:02):
You know, Kevin, I never really.Well, I'll tell you a quick
story about Kevin. So he was very smug in the ring.
He was another guy that really did not give a whole lot of the
the underneath guys on television.
He did not really give us a whole lot on on on television.
George will be the first George S be the first to tell you that

(01:05:24):
you know, when he hung you upside down in that tree of woe
and you know, when you see him coming at you across the ring,
you know, you you better cover up a little bit because you know
he doesn't care. He doesn't.
He didn't care how he landed when he, you know, when he came
into hit you in the turnbuckle with that finishing move, you

(01:05:44):
better, you better take care of yourself.
And but Kevin, I was actually down at the TBS studio one time.
And you know, back in the in those days, you know, there were
showers. There was a hallway of showers,
a few dressing rooms. But at the end of the hall,
that's where some of the the ladies dressed.
And I remember Missy Hyatt was sitting down there at the end of
the hall. I was coming out of the shower.

(01:06:06):
I mean, I had a towel and my flip flops on.
Missy was sitting down there at the end of the of the hallway.
Well, Kevin Sullivan walks by me.
He Yanks my towel off of. Oh my God.
Yeah. So I'm, I'm, I'm standing there.
I'm standing there butt naked inthe hallway.
Missy Hyde's looking at me and I'm trying to bend down and get
my towel and kind of cover up. And I'll just, I'll, I'll never,

(01:06:29):
I'll never, never forget that. Yeah, yeah.
Wow. Right, right.
Oh, goodness. All right.
The next, the next name or namesI guess I should say is the
sheep herders. But you know, a lot of people
might know as the bushwhacker so.
Yeah, 22 great guys to work within the ring. 2 smooth guys.

(01:06:51):
I'll tell you a quick story about them.
They had just given their noticeto to Crockett.
They were leaving, they were leaving the Crockett territory
going to work for the WWF. Actually, Tommy and I were
tagging with together that on television down in Atlanta
against the the sheepherders. And I remember those guys coming

(01:07:14):
up to us because they liked us. They liked us a lot.
And I remember them coming up tous and say, guys, let's have
let's have some fun tonight. And I said, what do you got in
mind? We're we're going to let you,
this is our last match before we, you know, on TV before we go
go to work for the WWF. We're going to let you throw us
around a little bit tonight. So, so Tommy and I were in

(01:07:36):
there. We were slamming them on
television. You know, we were getting a few
of our spots in and, and I can hear Jimmy Crockett, you know,
we're, we're walking through the, through the curtain back in
the back. And I, I, I overheard Jimmy
saying, who in the hell let themdo that?
But nothing he could do about it.
But they, I mean, that's just the way those guys were.

(01:08:00):
They were probably, I don't, I don't know the reason why they
left, but they they let me and Tommy throw them around that
night on on television a little bit, which probably did not go
over real set real well with Jimmy Crockett.
Right. Well, I've, I've interviewed
Luke before and he told the story about it, how he said he
one day at the studios, he got acall and it was from Pat
Patterson. And he said, you mean we're

(01:08:20):
going to do that? And we're not going to be the
same brutal tag team. We've been in the territories.
So we're going to get paid what you're telling me, and we're
going to have a pretty easy doing a comedy gimmick.
Yeah, I think we'll do that. So.
Yeah, I mean, that's a no brainer.
A no brainer. Yeah, because the sheep herders
were a brutal tag team. And then I see them as the

(01:08:41):
Bushwhackers and I'm like, holy cow, these guys have really
calmed down, you know? A lot of bloodbaths those guys
had down in Puerto Rico. Oh, no doubt, no doubt.
Yeah. Yeah.
Well, the next guy on the list, he comes up so much through your
match history that I wanted to bring him up here because this
was, I think the first match with him was Mike Rotunda.

(01:09:02):
Yeah, Mike, you know, I, I tagged, I had a lot of singles
matches with Mike and they had alot of tag matches with Mike.
I always got along extremely well with Mike because Mike was
very good friends and still is with Danny Brown down in, in, in
Florida, in Saint Pete. So I, I knew Mike very well from
Danny and he always took care ofme on, on television.

(01:09:25):
But Mike was just a another guy,super, super collegiate wrestler
out of Syracuse. He can wrap you up and tie you
up like a pretzel. He was always pretty, pretty
quiet, but he was one of those guys you didn't want to try him
in the ring because he can really wrap you up and hurt you.

(01:09:46):
But MM, just just a super incredible guy.
I can't say enough positive things about Mike.
Just a super, super good guy to work with in the ring.
Just a solid map technician, so to speak.
You know, you put him in the ring with a guy like him and
Mark Fleming. I, I don't, I don't, man.
I don't know who's going to I, Iwouldn't know who to put my

(01:10:06):
money on that 122 rough, 2 roughand tough guys.
But but but but for all intents and purposes, MM was just a
super incredible athlete. That's awesome.
You know, this brings up a question because we're bringing
up a lot of these guys and this is kind of basically around the
time that Crockett purchases UWFfrom Bill Watts.
Tell me how you felt about that.Did you, I mean, did you have

(01:10:29):
any concerns, learns about your job at that time?
You're working some great guys, you know, but.
Yeah. You know, we saw what what I
really thought of at the time isafter we kind of got the full
story of what was going on, you know, back Crockett had the, you
know, had the Crockett show, butthen then he also had the UWF
show, which he kept going for a while.

(01:10:50):
So we were able to kind of get some double work, so to speak.
So really we had all really already established our name at
that particular time and we we actually saw it as a benefit for
us because, you know, we Crockett needed us.
I mean, he needed us to be on television.
He had to switch us up a little bit from time to time, but we

(01:11:14):
just saw it as an opportunity toget more work.
And that's kind of what we were there for.
We wanted to work more, wanted to make more money.
It was just a it was an easy transition for us.
You know, I think that's when Steiner and, and staying and
some of those guys were, were brought in from the, from the
UWF at the time. But to, to me, it just, it was
just an opportunity for us to, you know, to get more work and,

(01:11:36):
and to make more money. Well, that's awesome.
I mean, that's all you can ask for, I think, you know, in the
long run of things, you know. So the next guy I want to bring
up is is probably another one ofthese insanely strong guys, I'm
going to guess is Ron Simmons. Oh my God, yeah.
Ron, just another. You know, I remember working

(01:11:57):
with Ron early on in his career and Ron was just so brutally
strong. You know, when Ron would throw
me into the rope, you know, I mean, he would just shove me so
hard. I would like lose my balance
sometime because he was just so his adrenaline was so high and
he was so strong. And, and I remember telling him,
hey, don't shove me so hard. Just push me and I'll, I'll go,

(01:12:21):
I'll, I'll run for you and I'll come back.
There's no need for you to, you know, to, to, to sling me into
the ropes because I'll, I'll getthere.
But I, I, it just makes us both look bad if you know, if you do
that. So he understood, you know, I,
you know, about, about working, he understood.
So he just needed to relax a little bit more.
But my gosh, he turned in to be such an incredible athlete.

(01:12:43):
Yeah, no joke, no joke. But the.
Strength. But his strength alone was just
just impeccable. I mean, he was just just stupid
strong. Yeah, yeah, I've heard a story
about him in a bar fight and he had a broken arm and he was
still handling the guy easily with just his one arm, so.
Yeah, he's a, he's another guy that I, you know, you're very

(01:13:05):
thankful if he likes you, right,Human.
A dark alley. Yeah.
Yeah. I wouldn't want to do that.
Yeah. Well, the next one on the list
is actually this guy I think is one of my all time favorites,
but it's because he was just another one of those that seems
so athletically gifted and smooth is Barry Windham.
Yeah, I mean, you can't say you can't say enough good things
about Barry. I mean, his his work at that

(01:13:28):
particular time when I was around Barry, when you say
smooth that that's literally goes hand in hand with Barry
Windham. His work was just gosh, guys, I
mean, you just can't. He's just he's just another guy
that, you know, if you're going to go into the ring with him,
he's going to give you a little bit in the match.

(01:13:48):
He's going to make you look good.
He's going to beat you in the end, but he's going to make you
look good a little bit too, likeyou beat somebody.
Right. Right.
Exactly. Yeah, exactly.
So, but just incredible. I mean, he was so smooth in the
ring. But I'm just always thankful
that, you know, that I had a chance to meet his father at one
point. Blackjack Mulligan.

(01:14:08):
I was never, yeah, I never had achance to, to work with
Blackjack. But, you know, growing up as a
kid and, and seeing Blackjack, you know, on television, that
really made made my day. And, you know, when I was able
to walk up to his father and say, hey, I was such a huge mark
for Blackjack Mulligan when I was growing up.
And I just wanted to say thanks and it's all but just such a

(01:14:29):
such such a great family. But two group 22 very smooth
workers. But Barry, Barry and Kendall
both. I mean, I I never really knew
Kendall Kendall that well, but Igot to know Barry a little bit
from his time it with the Crockett.
But just what a smooth, smooth worker in the ring.
Well, you know, he you did work Kendall, though.
How were they? Pretty, smooth.
Pretty. Similar, Yeah, I mean, I would

(01:14:51):
say, I mean, look, Kendall was no his.
Talent was, was, was never as asas good as as Barry's, right?
Right. Barry was just on another
different level. Kendall was.
Good to work with. Not not taking anything away
from Kendall, but Barry. Barry was just in a league of
his own man. He was so smooth and I don't
want to say anything negative either but in any lied about.

(01:15:12):
These guys, but I always, it waslike they were the tallest,
leanest dudes and they always were the smallest trunks.
It was like their thing man. But well, I tell you what man,
Barry the the women loved Barry back.
In the way oh, no doubt yeah, I bet yeah, yeah, yeah.
They they loved they. Loved Barry back in the day.
Yeah, I I believe every bit of that.
You're right. I know.

(01:15:34):
My my. Female cousins were big fans of
him, let's just say that. Oh yeah.
I mean, what, what? What young girl didn't like a
you know. A blonde headed, blue eyed young
man. I mean, who during that time?
I mean, who would love that, right?
And he always had those awesome boots.
I just, yeah, yeah, we're big. Fans of Barry Windham, for sure.
Absolutely. Yeah.
So the next guy I'm going to bring up was actually part of

(01:15:55):
that coming over from UWF. And you brought up his sometimes
on again off again lady Missy Hyatt there.
But I'd love to hear a little bit about hot stuff.
Eddie Gilbert. Yeah.
You know, Eddie was just some, you know, I never, I never
really got to know. Eddie too much because I don't
remember what year he passed away.
Yeah, right. But but Eddie, I got to know him

(01:16:16):
A. Little bit, you know, just.
Working in the, in the, in the locker room there a little bit
and I had a couple of masses with him and just another he he,
he was a guy that had such a mind for the business.
You know, Eddie, Eddie had booked territories before, I
think he maybe had booked down in Puerto Rico some, but he had
a really, a really creative mindfor the wrestling business.

(01:16:38):
And just a, you know, another guy that was extremely and he
was not a big guy. Eddie was not no, he was not.
He was not a big guy. But I one thing that I do
remember about him, he had one of the prettiest drop kicks that
I had ever seen. And that's that's one thing that
I do that I do remember about Eddie is that smooth drop kick

(01:16:59):
of his. Yeah, Eddie, you know, we had to
bring him up because of our Tennessee listeners of.
Course, but he's definitely an acolyte of Lawler.
You know, it definitely had those elements about him, but he
also had his own thing about him.
Jared and I are often discuss and we may even make it an
episode in the future about whatif?
What would he be doing? He not passed away.
I feel like one of the two big companies would be having him in

(01:17:21):
their offices. I'm sure you know, that's,
that's, that's a great point. And you know, I could have.
Easily seen him and you know, kind of and, and I don't know
whether he was ever part of Smoky Mountain or did anything
with that. I, I don't really remember.
But you know, since you guys have got a lot of Tennessee
listeners, you know, you you can't, you can't, you can't talk

(01:17:42):
about Tennessee and not talk about nature Boy Buddy Lambel
there. There's there's another another
Tennessee guy right there who was just another smooth, smooth
operator in the ring. I mean, he was just a another
Matt technician. And if you couldn't have a good
match with Buddy, well, something was wrong.
But that was your fault. Absolutely right.

(01:18:03):
Right. Just another good Tennessee guy.
Right there. That's great.
I'm glad you brought him up. There's a funny story.
Jared, were you with me? The night that I went to watch
wrestling up at the Southwest Virginia Community College, I
don't remember that. I don't think you were.
Well, anyway. One night he had the main event
of the match. And my buddy who I was with, he
said, hey, do you want to go to the locker room?

(01:18:24):
And I'm like, I don't think we need to do that.
I don't think we should. He's like, no, I work here.
My dad works up here. I can go anywhere I want.
I said OK, And we go in the men's locker room and of course,
all the wrestlers are in there. And as we open the door, buddy's
standing there and I can't tell if he has trunks on or not.
He has his boots on. He has a shirt on.
And that's all that it looks like he has and he is, he's

(01:18:46):
yelling, he's yelling about something and he sees the door
open, stops. He says, hey fellas, how y'all
doing? You enjoy the show?
Thank y'all for coming out. And he, we, we like realize we
should not be in there. We close the door.
And as soon as we close the door, he says, hey, Tommy, I
thought you said you had somebody on the door.
Man, we've got guys coming in left and right.

(01:19:09):
He was, it was so funny because he was going off.
He stopped when he saw us, gave us the leg.
Thank you all for coming out. And we close the door and he
starts going back off. And that was just, it was like,
you know, his personality. I mean, there's just a guy.
You can't help but love the guy.I mean, he's another one of

(01:19:30):
those guys. I think about all the.
Time, I mean he. He always crosses my mind
periodically when I'm thinking about wrestling.
But but buddy Landell is was just a a great, great human
being and so sad that he he he'snot with us anymore.
But but just another incredible talent that, you know, that I
had such a good time being in the ring with him.

(01:19:51):
Absolutely. I believe that.
Yeah. That's awesome.
I'm so glad you. Brought him up thank you relive
the glory days of Memphis wrestling with the.
Retro Wrestling Review USWA Podcast Each week we go back in
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(01:20:12):
the scenes stories, and exclusive interviews with people
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It's all a part of the Wrestle Copia Podcast Network.
Listen now at US wapodcast.com. Hi, this is Mike Needham, host

(01:20:34):
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Needham, we invite you to jump on your favorite podcast
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(01:20:56):
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(01:21:28):
Ladies and gentlemen, this is Jimmy St.
And that was episode 17 of The Best.
Of James Rock St. Productions with the first half
of episode 49 of David Isley on Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling.
David is one that we were able to get through our buddy Tommy
Angel. He was awesome and has some
great stories to go with it. You can hear the full episode
and more over on at G MB, MPW orGive Me Back My Pro Wrestling

(01:21:51):
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. This is the greatest moment in

(01:22:14):
my life. This has been a James Rock St.

(01:22:45):
production.

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