Derek Neal on GMBMPW!

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
This is the Kings Rd. Slayer Derek Nealon.
You're listening to Give Me BackMy Pro Wrestling.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome toGive Me Back My Pro wrestling.

(00:43):
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, righthere on Give Me Back My Pro
Wrestling. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome
one more time to the Give Me Back my Pro Wrestling podcast.
And I'm here, as always with my brother from the same father and
mother, the Plastic Chic Jared St.

(01:05):
What's up chic? How you doing, brother?
I'm doing great, brother. How are you just hanging and
banging, brother? Just doing this podcast and
thing, dude. Yeah.
Oh yeah. I don't know if I was doing
Macho Man or I don't know. Maybe you're doing Macho Hogan.
Macho warrior Rick Hogan, You know, that was a guy.
You heard of him? Yeah.

(01:26):
Yeah, Memphis, right? Yeah, wow, he's not doing too
good, let's just say that. But not in his health.
But he made some very bad decisions.
But anyway, I don't want to start Derek Neal's episode with
so going on. We've got an awesome guest
today. We've got the one and only the
real deal Derek Neal, the one and only Kings Rd.

(01:48):
Slayer. I mean, he's got all kinds of
names, but Derek's a real deal dude, man.
He he's actually, I would say one of the more busier guys that
we've ever interviewed actually on this show.
So. Yeah, man, he looks like he's
getting it done out there. Oh, dude, he's got a full time
job and he's got kids and he's also a full time wrestler, man.
He's he's wearing it out. But first of all, you know, I

(02:10):
know Derek, but we've known eachother from the past.
Second of all, Ben Jordan said, hey, you ought to get Derek Neal
on. Then when I said, hey, we're
bringing Derek Neal on, all these other guys were like, heck
yeah, that's awesome. So in turn, that means we're
going to have a good show today.I think that that I think the
predictors are out of a good episode, so.

(02:30):
Yeah, I think so too, man. It's I feel like all of them
have been going great and, you know, just feel like, let's add
another one to the list. Yeah.
And you know, the other thing isas we look at this paperwork and
stuff, much like Scott Spade, there's some different names on
there that always that, you know, sometimes we get in the
game of like too many guys are too close to one another and

(02:50):
they got so a lot of the same names on the lists and stuff
like that. So this will be nice to step
away from that a little bit and get some new fresh blood in and
and talk man. And by the way, we've got, I
want to announce it now, but we've got some incredible shows
coming up. So y'all just stay buckled in.
Definitely got some cool names coming up that are out of the
ordinary too, I think. And yeah, one name.

(03:13):
If we land the one name, I'm going to be so stoked.
But other than that, and I don'twant to let on too much yet just
because we haven't dotted the ISand cross the T's brother, you
know? So anyway, yeah, how you doing
man? You doing all right?
Yeah, I'm doing good man, doing good.
I might have AI might have a little surprise coming up for

(03:34):
you and little chic coming up. So we'll, we'll maybe discuss
that in the future, but. Oh yeah, here.
I keep going to the Macho Hogan.Yeah, I don't know.
I can't stop. You're channeling your inner
much today. Yeah, I woke up today and I
think I'm just macho man. Yeah.
Anyway, but Long story short, I like surprises and you know, you

(03:55):
always have a good surprise, so definitely really appreciate
anything you surprised me with, even if it's just a jump scare.
Yeah, keep my heart going. So it's a go.
It's a go in the next room whereMichelle is or something and be
like, if you go in there and you're like Elizabeth,
Elizabeth, then you know, you really like watch today.

(04:15):
Yeah, yeah. If I call Michelle Elizabeth,
Yeah, yeah. So obviously, you know, to kind
of talk a little bit more about what's been going on, the first
episode of Stories from Across the Street dropped and when that
was with Steel, Real damn it. Dave Wills.
Yeah, such a that was a fun episode with him, man.
Yeah, man, I've enjoyed listening to it, you know, cuz I

(04:35):
think, I think the thing we losesometime in this viral world of
little clips going viral is whatwhat's the, what's everything
behind it? You know what?
Why, why did this clip go so viral?
What was he thinking? What was he feeling that they
like you know what was said prior to it?
I mean cuz a lot of people don'treally know much about what was

(04:55):
said prior to it. They just know the clip that you
know, Tosh, Point O and YouTube and all these places are made
famous but they don't really know the the man or the story
behind it. Exactly.
And that was my whole point of it.
Now, not every episode is going to be a viral star, but I
wanted, you know, like past the 30 seconds of it's still real to

(05:16):
me. Damn it.
Thank you, Mr. Funk, for saying what need to be said, That kind
of thing. We didn't really know Dave.
Now, I know a lot of our listeners, our friends, Jean
Jackson, Doug Markham, they knowhim well.
Other guys have met him, like atthe Gulf Coast reunion, Shane
Morton, you know, Ben Jordan, those guys.
But when it comes down to it, you know, we didn't know know
Dave and I didn't know Dave other than past like he listens

(05:37):
to the podcast and stuff. And we appreciate that Dave.
But you know, I wanted to know the full details and and then I
wanted to hear more about the Tosh because really, you know,
the Tosh was kind of like almosttongue in cheek.
You know, they were playing along with each other there.
And I wanted the true story, youknow, like really what what what
made him so emotional and you know, him talking about the and

(05:59):
if y'all haven't listened, just go listen him talking about the
death of Eddie Guerrero. And then that caused Terry funk
to say, you know what he said? And that's what caused Dave to
be emotional And him being emotional led to him being on
tosh. It was just it was a great story
And I Dave's just awesome. And you know, I'm lucky now to
call him a friend and definitelyhe's he's a fun guy And you

(06:22):
know, he's already trying to help us.
Book yes man so I'm I'm excited about knowing Dave now better
so. You know, and dude, the fact
that the fact that the Barbarianis his favorite wrestler is so
cool to me. I mean.
Doesn't that tell you everythingyou need to know?
Like, like, it's so easy for somebody to say Hulk Hogan, Ric
Flair, Sting, Dusty Rhodes, Macho Man, Macho Man, yeah, I

(06:45):
mean, whoever is their favorite wrestler, But for the fact that
that barbarian is his favorite wrestler is just so awesome to.
Me, I know, I know. I think it's so cool because
it's original too, man. I mean, yeah, you know, he and
you know, The funny thing is, ishis like e-mail and everything
is like conga, you know. So it's it's like he's
definitely throwing his hat as far as to, you know, his his his

(07:07):
enjoyment. And Dave, if you listen to the
episode, I feel like you probably did at the very end.
The. We'll see you later.
That's barbarian saying that. So, you know, I was going to
change it up because I did get my buddy Tracy Byrd to write new
entrance music for the Stories from Across the Street Show.
But at the same time, I wanted to use the same ending with the

(07:28):
Ric Flair and all that. And so it ends with the
barbarian saying that we'll see you later from Body Slam.
Yeah. By the way, just nobody think
that we're, you know, The Beatles aren't breaking up here.
I'm just doing this show as an extra thing randomly when guys
have good stories. So don't you know Chic
understands the deal. So.
Addition additional content. Exactly.

(07:50):
We're just, I mean, I'm just, I've got so many ideas.
I've got. I was talking to Kroll last
night and I thought up two showsfor him.
And it's just like, Jimmy, you don't have enough time.
Quit making up show ideas, you know?
So, brother, it's like under thewire sometimes, you know?
So anyway, well, I'm gonna shut up.
I think we've got our intro here, but I think we should just

(08:12):
get our guest Derek on. What do you think?
She. Yeah, man, let's get to it.
I'm anxious to talk to it. All right, we'll be right back
after these messages for more ofGive Me Back My Pro Wrestling.
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(08:33):
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Make sure to stop by Captain's Corner on Facebook and give us a
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man. All right, we are back with more
from the Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling podcast.

(08:53):
And like I told everybody in theintro, we've got an excellent
guest. We've got the Kings Rd.
Slayer, Derek Neal. Derek, welcome to the show,
brother. Thank you for coming on.
Hey, thanks for having me boys. Appreciate it.
Absolutely, ma'am. Our pleasure, man.
Good to have you. Yeah.
Yeah, we're excited for this. You know, I tell you, brother, I
was looking at your match history and it's just like,

(09:14):
where do we stop? Like there's like Part 2, Part
3, part 4. I swear to God, man, you're the
busiest wrestler I think I've talked to.
And I mean, because a lot of theguys, they wrestle back in the
Outlaws and, you know, we don't unfortunately talk to as many
current guys and and you know, man, I know you've been doing it
what, 20 years almost? I'm looking at your I don't see

(09:34):
a stopping point brother. So how you feeling today?
Well, I'm I'm, I'm glad I got the weekend off.
Yeah, rest the rest, the body upa little bit.
But yeah, I just hit 2020 years for my first match in February
of this year. Wow.
Wow, that's awesome. Yeah, I started, I started

(09:55):
young. I was, I started training like
16 weeks before I turned 17 and then and then I had my, I had my
first match a few months later and then obviously like kept
continuing to train as you know,as I was working.
Yeah, that's cool, man. Well, you know, to kind of start
the show off here, we always start with the Sheik's favorite
question here, Sheik. Take it away all.

(10:16):
Right, Derek, this is going to just tell us your influences and
tell the listeners your influence is in the wrestling
business. If you could give us a list of
four or five guys like your Mount Rushmore of wrestling, who
would that be? Oh man, that's that's so tough
because honestly, there's so many greats out there.
But I'm going to. I'm going to have to say Rick

(10:39):
Rick Rick Flair is my GOAT. You.
Know, I know we've always had the debate right, Flair, Flair
and Michaels. But for me it's Flair.
No offense to Michaels, I mean he's one of the best ever, but
but you know, Flair was kind of a mold for that, I think in my
opinion. And then as far as two guys that
that have heavily influenced me,especially in the last, I would

(11:02):
say 10 years of as far as how I wrestle, how I carry myself, I'm
going to have to go with Stan Hanson and Bam Bam, Terry Gordy.
I know like those guys aren't talked about enough.
I don't, I think I think Gordia was probably one of the best big
man to to ever do it. I've never seen a guy, I still
haven't really seen a guy that moves like like he did,

(11:25):
especially if you go back and look at his, you know, a lot of
his all Japan stuff like amazing.
And I would have to probably sayStone Cold Steve Austin, you
know, you know, growing up, growing up for me, you know,
when I was when I was, you know,like late, late elementary
school and to, you know, going into junior high, that was the

(11:47):
attitude era. And there was I, I and I can at
least confirm, you know, in my school years, there was nobody
that wasn't talking about Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Exactly. Yeah, yeah.
Exactly. From the from the from the nerdy
kid to the to the All Star quarterback, you know, of the
junior high football team, they're all talking about it.
And everybody was. Yeah, exactly.

(12:09):
That's awesome. No, that's true, though.
And, you know, like Stone Cold, man, it's funny because he, you
know, was stunning Steve. And like nobody.
It seems like people always forget about the earlier Stone
Cold too. You know, even though he wasn't
Stone Cold. Man, he was amazing.
Exactly. I love that, The Dangerous
Alliance and stuff. Yeah, man, yeah.

(12:30):
Hollywood blondes. I was so jealous.
I, you know, I was trained by, by Chris Michaels and I was
looking back for YouTube and Chris actually got to work with
Sunning Steve at 94. Yeah.
Yeah, I came across about a month, a month or so ago, yeah.
That's wild. That's awesome.
Yeah, I mean, I was, I was thinking back to my high school

(12:52):
days like everybody was either obsessed with Stone Cold, the
NWO or DX or something like thator.
Goldberg, you know, yeah. You know, the Goldberg you'd
have, you'd have people startingto talk about the rock in the
nation too, you know? Oh yeah, yeah.
Absolutely, yeah. It's just, if you really think
about it, it was a really hot time for fashions or.

(13:12):
Absolutely, absolutely was yeah,yeah, OK, well, that's AI think
those four are awesome and I love to see those big bruiser
dudes, which makes sense for you.
You know, that's kind of what the way you wrestle and I love
that man. And you know, The funny thing is
is like, I don't think we've heard Terry Gordy on anybody's
list. So you get extra points for

(13:32):
that. And then Stan handsome.
We've we've had it on a couple guys list, but still tiny
Wangers. Man, I love that dude.
That movie is great. I know people, some people are
shit on that movie, but I think it's awesome.

(13:53):
Yeah, man. Dude.
Oh, dude, totally. I love it.
Just for his part, you know whatI'm saying?
Like, stands fine. It's so funny.
And then you got Bill Edie at the start.
You know, wrestling. It's awesome.
The the Stan Hanson part or the What's that smell?

(14:16):
Those are like the two best parts of the movie, probably.
I know. Man, I love it.
This is the way he would react to such was awesome.
I think we, I think we just figured out your Part 2 is we're
going to do a watch along if no holds barred.
Yeah. All right.
Sounds good. All right.
Well, after we do the Rushmore question, we always start with

(14:39):
this and you, you know, we've kind of talked a little bit
about stuff and we're just goingto do it again.
So the younger days, man, where were you born?
Where did you go to high school?That kind of stuff, OK.
So I was, I was born here in Bowling Green, KY, lived here my
entire life. And then as far as high school,
I graduated from Bowling Green High School, which a lot of

(14:59):
people don't really know becausehe was always built from
Mudwick, Kentucky, but that's the same high school Hillbilly
Gym went to. Yeah, yeah, he was a.
Crazy story and I just I know it's kind of a Segway, but it
was my first time meeting a big name wrestler.
So this was back in the Coliseumvideo days.

(15:20):
So I'm, I'm at, I'm at my buddy's house and we're watching
the Stone Cold Steve Austin, like the, the first like VHS
that ever dropped, you know, kind of covering his career a
little bit. Watch it.
And I go outside and I see this just this big ass man across the
road watching his giant Lincoln Continental, big white Lincoln
Continental. And it was Hillbilly Jim.

(15:41):
His mom lived across the street from a friend.
Wow. I got a piece of, I got a piece
of notebook paper and I walked over there and got his
autograph. Dude, I.
Was watching his car, that is. Awesome, sweetheart.
Of a guy I, I would later, I'd later see him every once in a
while when I was working at Kroger, like before breaking in

(16:03):
the business. And I, I remember one time I
specifically saw him right afterthe, the, the gimmick battle
royal deal at WrestleMania 17th.And, you know, that's, I
remember that specific conversation because that's when
I kind of like braved up enough to tell him that I to tell him I
wanted to try and be in the business.
Yeah. And yeah, I mean, you know, the

(16:24):
only thing I mean, I'm sure he'sprobably, you know, looking at
this £120 kid like, you know, what the hell are you doing?
But but, you know, he did, he did give me, give me, you know,
well wishes of good luck, I guess, you know, breaking in.
That's. Awesome.
So I would assume in the same high school he probably played
some sports. Did you also play some sports at
Bowling Green? I did.

(16:46):
I, I was a little bit, a little bit of a different bird, as you
would say. I did play football on up until
junior high. But at the same time, and being
from the South, this is probablygoing to, you know, not some
people for a loop, but I played hockey, hockey.
Nice. OK, I thought I remembered that
about you. Yeah, I.
Was AI was a Sinner and I playedI was I played both.

(17:12):
So you know, you have roller hockey on in line skates, right?
So I played that and I played ice.
I played both. Now I would play, we, we had an
in line league here locally, butI would have to go to Nashville
to play ice because I was the closest ice rink around that was
regulation size that that had a league.
And you know, I was pretty good,pretty good at it too, as far as

(17:34):
like roller roller hockey here in our town.
And in high school I won the scoring title like 3 out of four
years, dude. I.
I scored the overtime winner forthe championship my sophomore
year and the and the and the game-winning goal and the and
the penalty shootout my senior year.
That's awesome. Dude.

(17:55):
It was kind of like what we alsohave a college here, you know,
you have Western Kentucky University and they would they
would put me under other guys names, but I I would be a ringer
if I got missed and I was doing that as a freshman in high
school playing college club level Dude, that's.
Awesome. So I was pretty good at it.
And I mean, the original plan for me before, you know,

(18:17):
breaking in the business was University of Louisville, which
is only like an hour and a half up the road from me At the time
they had, they did have men's team NCAA.
It is Division Three. My, my plan was to actually go
and walk on my freshman year in college, but they actually
closed the program due to budgetcuts at the end of my sophomore

(18:39):
year. And then a few months later I
started training to be a wrestler.
That's. Amazing.
Yeah. So I mean how would you
translate, you know, being a hockey player to wrestling?
How would you translate that? Well, I.
Mean, honestly, it's pretty easy, at least with like if you
look at the like inline hockey, there's no contact allowed, you
know, as far as like, you know, body checks or anything like

(19:00):
that. But ice hockey there was so it
it was pretty easy to translate,you know, transfer violence from
ice hockey to to progress. Like it wasn't very hard.
That's cool. Like, I mean, I think it's cool,
man, that you, you, you know, first of all, that's an original
sport for this show. You've you've already said Terry
Bam Bam Gordy. Now you've said you played
hockey. I think you're the first

(19:20):
wrestler to say you played hockey on the show.
So I'm thinking this is turning out to be a great episode, man,
I'm excited. So we're on the.
Start for a hot start, Bubba. Let's just hope I don't start
slowing taper off towards the end, you know?
Well, that's how you got to do it, man.
You know, that's the Southern, that's the outlaw way, man.
That's the outlaw. Way of doing it that's right.

(19:42):
So when did you start liking wrestling?
Very. Early, my grandfather was who
got me interrupted. Now he would being where he was
in Kentucky, he would get a lot of the Google TV in Nashville.
Yeah, that's. Awesome, he watched.
You know, like Tojo, Zebra Kidd,Gypsy Joe, a lot of those guys.

(20:04):
So he's the one that was the bigwrestling fan.
And when I was young, I, I want to say I was like 4 or five
years old, he found some old VHStapes and, and gave them to me
to take home. And you know, some of them were
like, like WWF Saturday TV. And then but one tape that I'll
never forgive is obviously it was WrestleMania 3 that he

(20:25):
recorded on VHS. And as cliche as it sounds, I I
did watch obviously watch Savageand Steamboat.
And then that was it, yeah. Yeah, true.
Yeah. So I would say since about 5
years old is kind of when I fellin love with it.
That's awesome. I mean, who wouldn't, you know,
I think that was very similar for us.

(20:45):
I mean, I remember I, I, I feel like, you know, we watched
Crockett a lot when we were growing up.
But also we definitely, I remember WrestleMania 3 was we
rented that and my dad was trying to pick apart like, oh,
here's where it was fake. And I'm like, shut up, dad,
that's not fake. You can't tell me, you know, you
know, that's just a parent thing, right?

(21:06):
And my dad was never a wrestlingfan, so they always like to try
to pick that out. Now I would say, dad, it's
fixed. It's not fake.
Shut up, you know You know my. My, my dad was kind of in the
same boat and so and even hated the idea of me training and all
that. Yeah.
And then he I got it was I was probably over a decade into my

(21:29):
career when I got him to come watch me at a show.
And then? He saw me just, like, piss off
300 people, and he just got a kick out of that.
Now he thinks it's awesome. Yeah.
Yeah, exactly. And I, you know, it's funny, I
feel like if my dad would have come to see me do a little bit
of what I did, I think he would probably have at least
appreciated the theatrics. Oh yeah.

(21:49):
I like honestly, like I I remember when we were all all
together, you were, you were a little bit of a heater.
Aw, thanks. Man, I appreciate you saying
that, brother. Yeah, I wish we could have
worked more together, brother. I I really do man.
You know, you were, you were doing a lot of stuff outside of
there. So I I was just kind of in that
area and stuff, so. As a brother, he always knew how

(22:10):
to push my button, so I started with.
My brother, yeah. Exactly, brothers.
Are good at that my that's that my I got a younger brother seven
years difference and it's been afew years but my my mom
apologized to me for all the allthe drownings and spankings I
got from the times that my brother claimed that I hit him
and I never did exactly. Well I was dumb enough to write

(22:33):
my brothers initials on the wallbefore he could write so I was
trying to get him in trouble. But there's such a big gap
between me and my brother. So it was never like physical
between us, but it was psychological war, yes.
Exactly. I used to tell him to run to the
fridge to get me something to drink and I would act like I was

(22:55):
timing him and I would be like, oh, that's the fastest one ever.
Next time I bet you can beat it.You know it's horrible, man,
right? It's horrible.
I know. Yeah.
Well, anyway, enough about us. Back to you, Derek.
So, all right, so we we talked alittle bit about it before the
show started, but I can't let this go unmentioned.

(23:16):
We are all three huge CincinnatiReds fans, so obviously, you
know. Yeah, this.
And this was one thing. Yes.
Exactly to our heart to our hearts and souls, but it shows
that we're true fans of baseball.
Let's just say that because if we love the Reds, we must really
love baseball. So, but anyway, Long story
short, we've we've grown up Redsfans now in our area of

(23:39):
Virginia. The Reds were the team before
the Braves came along. You know what I'm saying?
Because, you know, WLW 700 AM would would beam almost
everywhere in the South. And you know when when you could
hear the Reds on, it's just likeit's in our blood.
But I always used to say we bleed Cincinnati red because,
you know, that's just how our family.
It was my grandfather's favoriteteam, my father's, my mine and

(24:01):
my brothers. And, you know, anyway, so I
think it was cool. And that was something you and I
early clicked on because, you know, I think either you had a
Reds bag or maybe I was wearing a hat and you were like, I, I
think it was something you had. And I said, oh dude, you're a
Reds fan. And then that automatically made
me like you. So maybe even.
The hat, It might have been the hat.
I wore red cats a lot. And then, you know, I did.

(24:24):
I do. Got a Berry Larkin jersey.
So. Yeah.
And A and a Ken Griffey, Yeah. I've got one of the red 80s
style, the V cut neck with the red all over and it's got Larkin
because I think Larkin's probably must was that was.
It is it. Is it the Cooperstown
collection? Yes, it is.
Exactly, I got the. I got the exact same one.

(24:44):
Yeah, I got. I actually got it at a Great
American ballpark, that is. Well, hey, that's awesome.
I got mine online. So you, you've beat me.
I get it. That's cool.
I quit going to bad games because every time we go they
lose. So it's just like, man, I don't
want to be a jinx, you know, I, I was.
Lucky that day we did win. It's been a few, it's been a few

(25:08):
years, but it was I that's when Chappie was closing was closer.
Oh, OK. Very cool, yeah.
Milwaukee was in town and it was.
It was truly a sight to behold watching Chappy pitch, because
when he would throw, like the only thing you would hear is
just the head of the Mitt. You couldn't even see the ball.
It was absolutely insane. Yeah, I did.

(25:29):
And, you know, I think that was probably when, like, Rich Hall
used to kill us for the Brewers.I remember him playing for the
Brewers, Yeah. We had we had Hall, they had
Hall, they had Braun, maybe our.Coach Derek Bell, too.
Yeah, yeah. Corey Hart was there, which is
Corey Hart's also a product of bowling grade.
He he graduated from the same school as my wife same year.

(25:51):
Nice. And he and he played.
I saw him play at the Nashville Sounds too, when they were, when
they were a Brewers organization, I think.
Are they still there? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
They yeah, they, I believe they're still AAA from Owossee.
Yeah, yeah. I always hated that, but it was
cool, you know, still cool to see teams play now.
Like what? What?
You've heard about the White Soxmoving right?
Right. Yeah.

(26:12):
Yeah, supposedly. Nashville's a contender for for
the for them, which I mean, I think they should have MLB years
ago and I would love. To.
Yeah. Yeah, OK, so you're just still
going to be a Reds fan though, because you're a Bowling Green
guy. So it's not Oh yeah, that ain't
going. To change, I mean, for, for a
long, so for a long time, I mean, you know, Cincinnati

(26:33):
geographically was the team, Yeah, was the team.
I mean, and now, you know, it's usually like Cincinnati Cubs or,
or, you know, Saint Louis, that's where my wife's
originally from Saint Louis. So me and my father-in-law, we
have some, we have some fun chats, that's all.

(26:53):
I love it. They're die hard.
Cards fans can't hate them for it, you know where they're from,
but I respect. That, yeah.
Yeah, if. You're from there.
It's cool, but come on, you know, I'm just kidding.
I'm just kidding because for sure like.
You can't knock it if that's where they're from, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, I respect it. So other than that, you should
be a Reds fan no matter where you live.
If you don't live in the city ofthe team, you got to be a Reds

(27:16):
fan. That's just the new rule.
Yeah, I mean it's. It's like where And especially
like where, like where I live, you know, that's the closest
proximity to to MLB team, Yeah. Exactly.
Exactly. So, yeah, yeah.
I think it's really close for where I'm where we're from and
where Jared lives. It's like either the Reds or the
Braves are probably the closest.Maybe the I don't think the
Nationals are close enough. But are you?

(27:38):
Are you boys originally in West Virginia?
No, we're. We're from, well, southwestern
Virginia, so like near Bristol, TN really we're like 45 minutes
from almost every state line basically.
So yeah, all. Right.
Yeah, yeah. I've wrestled like 1 town I've
wrestled at like it's in like way Eastern Kentucky, but it's
called Whitesburg, Kentucky. Oh, I know.

(28:00):
Little town man, small small town like.
Like, you can spit and hit Virginia.
Yeah, exactly. You know, like, dude, yeah.
So I assume it's similar for wrestling, but they have a radio
station there. It's kind of like alternative
radio radio station there. And my band would come into
Whitesburg and actually play a show.
It was like a stop on our tours and dude, those kids would pour

(28:23):
out of the mountain to come watch music, man.
So I'm assuming it's similar forREST.
Yeah. Yeah.
Because I mean, really, you know, towns like that.
And honestly, like as as silly as it sounds like, well, I mean,
when I was coming up, like that's where you would see the
bigger houses where in the little towns because there
wasn't much going on, right? Exactly.
Exactly. That's cool.
Yeah. Anyway, well, let's let's get

(28:45):
like you were going. Let's get back to wrestling
here. So obviously you said you were
trained by Chris. So is that kind of talk about
the start of wrestling for you? How'd you get into it?
OK. So the start of wrestling for
me, there was a local and it's been a couple of times as a kid
I have gone and watched, you know, I'm sure.
Have you guys heard of Del Man? Oh of.
Course. Yeah, absolutely legendary.

(29:08):
Promoter in the state of Kentucky and all that, but like
he would run shows. So that's kind of how I got
introduced to like independent or I was in the 90s.
So I guess you could say outlaw,whatever.
Yeah, that, that's how I got kind of introduced that there
was a, a different world outsideof WWF or WCW.

(29:29):
And so, you know, I did go to anindependent show as a young kid
and yeah, I, I met this guy. I can't remember his name.
Shit. Kenny something I it might come
to me later, but his first name was Kenny.
He was a promoter. And then I did meet this other
guy named Randall Hessen, who's Kid Dynamite, who said he was

(29:50):
going to train me. And he did for the first few
sessions. And with within one of it's kind
of weird because at that time, like the promotion that Kenny
ran, they lost the building. And then Terry England from UCW
here in Kentucky to take it. Well, Well, Randall continue to
work for for Terry and Chris just happened.

(30:14):
Chris Michaels just happened to watch one of my training
sessions and before the show that night kind of pulled me to
the side and told me that he thought as far as like basics
and things like that, I was doing well and I seemed to have
potential. Yeah.
So you know, Long story short, you know, Randall tried to

(30:34):
continue to get me to pay him money even though he wasn't
training me. So he he rented me out.
He rented me out of a few 100 bucks.
You know what I'm? Saying and then.
I ran in, I ran into Chris at another town called Cave City,
not too far from where I live. And, you know, I kind of told
Chris to deal because where we already talked before where he

(30:54):
thought I had, you know, done decent.
And you know, and then Chris, weworked out an agreement where
Chris would charge me so much per session.
And honestly, compared to the expertise and experience that
Chris had to other trainers, it was a sweetheart of a deal I
bet. Yeah, yeah.

(31:16):
You know. You know, Chris Goutheartedly is
like one of the best, one of themost good hearted guys I've ever
known. He's very, I think he's very
selfless, in my opinion. Super.
Underrated super super like Bobby Cole level underrated on.
It's the The man couldn't have abad match if he tried, that's

(31:38):
what. Chase Stevens said in an
interview we did with him. He's like, I've tried to have a
bad match with Chris and could not do it.
It's just, I mean, do it you. Can't do it with that guy.
Yeah, possible. I no kid.
So you know. He took a young kid under his
wing, you know, 17 years old, showed him the ropes.
And it's funny that you mentioned Chase, like, you know,

(31:59):
Chris would let me train with Chase as well.
You know, Chase had a few students.
Yeah. And I would train with Chase in
in Cave City. I would train with with Chris in
Cave City. I would even train with Chase
sometimes in Madison, TN when Tony Falk was was running USW
down there. Yeah, yeah.

(32:21):
And you know, that's, you know, those, those guys helped me out.
Yeah. I think that they could see that
that I wanted it bad enough and I was willing to do whatever it
took to to be to be a professional wrestler.
Yeah, I was lucky that those that those guys pulled in to,
you know, to to help me out. That's very, I mean, even Chase
gave me Chase gave me a per session rate as well.

(32:44):
Oh cool. Cool.
Yeah. Because a lot of guys are like,
it's 1500 down, 1500 later, whatever.
And you know, or it's 500 now and then they run you to death
and then when you come back it'smore another 500 and.
Yeah. And.
That's kind of how it was back then, you know, like, you know,
they they wrote boys in stretch them, whatever, try to make them
quit because they were, you know, heavily more trying to

(33:06):
protect the wrestling. Now I'm not going to say it sit
here and say it was easy for me.I mean, you know, they they they
they ran it all me. They tested me, you know, to see
if if this is what I really wanted or not.
But you know, I got through it. I love it.
I think it's awesome promotional.
Consideration paid for by the following ladies.

(33:29):
And gentlemen, welcome to Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling, the
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 to
superstar interviews to action figure expertise, this team does

(33:53):
it all. And all they ask is give Me Back
My Pro wrestling. Every other Thursday, wherever
you listen to podcasts. So Derek, when was when do you
consider like your first match, when do you when was that and
what like promotion promoter wasthat for and so?

(34:15):
My. First match was, is that
anything? It's like February 23rd of O3
Small small promotion in Gallatin, TN called SWA.
Yeah. Yeah, I can't.
I can't remember exactly what the letters stand for.
It's, I think the Southern Wrestling Association has been a

(34:36):
long time, but I worked with a local.
I worked with the local promoterthere.
His name was Tim Scruggs. He had a hooded gimmick that he
did called Master Dragon and that that was my very first
match. I with as far as the finish that
I remember he had me on the up and up, had him on the heels and

(34:59):
you know, he he got the gimmick out blasting me over the chain
123, whatever. But that was my first experience
in this little tiny VFW hall in Gallatin.
That's cool, yes. That's very cool so in 2004 you
actually end up making your way to the USWO and it it shows that
your very first match with the USWO was with Fairing Fox.

(35:22):
Now if I'm wrong please correct me, but is that no you're.
You're, you're right. I, well, I paired with Fairing
Fox, so give me a little back story.
So I, I did the stuff in Gallatin.
Chris Michaels actually had his own promotion called UCW
Tennessee. OK.
OK, got you. Based out of Springfield, I did

(35:43):
some work there in O3 and then and then whenever I finally old
enough to get my Kentucky wrestling license, I I did.
I did work in Kentucky in the fall and winter of O3 on in the
O Four. I kind of bounced back and forth
between Kentucky and Tennessee. And then it was the fall of O

(36:03):
Fours when I come to Madison, TNfor USWO and I ended up teaming
with with Richard Lowe and Firefox as the fashionable
males. I never forget it.
What we did, we did a thing where we where we we took a
spike and we gouged out Thai Blade's eye.

(36:24):
And. We did it in Madison, it was on
Harris St., you know, Madison, TN and I'll never forget it
because we had to get like I'm very early in my career, but we
had to get like a escort to our car because we.
Had to go. Cheap right off the job.
That's awesome dude. Man, you're learning it fast,
quick. You know, I was lucky that that

(36:45):
I got to experience that. Like you would think that's
scary and yeah, it sounds scary,but like in the grand scheme of
things, it's it's an adrenaline rush that that I just can't
explain. But eventually I did turn the
turn babyface and and began to work with fan a little bit.
So it might be the first match that you saw.

(37:07):
I'm not sure, but but yeah, I did, I did get to do it.
And like Faron was great becauselike, I didn't know.
I didn't know shit about TV, local, whatever.
Like didn't know nothing, you know, like Faron.
Faron was a guy that taught me how to work hard can taught me
how to look at the camera when cutting a promo, you know, and,

(37:28):
and, and like the little things as far as like your facials,
intensity, things like that. Like Faron showed me all that
very, very early in my career. I was very lucky that that he
got to do that for me. That's awesome.
Man, that's very. You know, he, he showed he's,
he's the first person that I ever worked with in my career
that showed me how television works.
That's. Awesome, man.
But I mean that that's important.

(37:50):
And you're learning it early on too, which is awesome.
Yeah, very. You know, yeah.
And, you know, like, and just like guys like, you know, like
Tony and and Kroll, you know, giving, just giving us a young
guys a chance. Yeah.
For, for people to watch our stuff.
Not only, you know, for the people buying the ticket, but
for people who happen to click it over to the channel or we're

(38:10):
on TV. Yeah.
Exactly. That's very cool, so.
I see here in 2007 you worked for UCW and you tagged with Doug
Vines and Ricky Morton. How was working with that?
Like even like I, I want to say it may have been like O 6 maybe
I got to work with Doug Vines and you know, and Doug, Doug is

(38:33):
really known for working for Angelo Papas.
Exactly the. Papas, man, that's.
Yeah, he's one of the ballroom brawlers.
Yeah. As far as a person, one of the
funniest guys ever. I mean, yeah, absolutely
hilarious. But like whenever I started, you
know, in late O3 at UCW in Tennessee, Doug was doing a lot

(38:54):
of the booking then at that time.
I learned. I learned so much from him and
eventually we got to where like we were booked in an angle
against each other. I still have that.
I still have the blow off. I think laying on it's it's on
VHS laying around in my house somewhere.
But I learned a lot from Doug. Like as far as like the

(39:15):
psychological aspect of the gamedrawing heat get getting people,
you know, it's downright gettingpeople to care, you know, as far
as what you're doing, that's awesome.
Man, that's awesome. I got to get Doug Mines on a
podcast, man, Doug. As Doug, as a wealth of
knowledge and, and like very as somebody that like I'm, I'm

(39:36):
extremely grateful for that. I got to have that early in my
career. Yeah.
How'd you feel tagging with Ricky Morton?
I think it was like a six man tag or maybe but it.
It it was a, it was a six man tag.
It may have been Brownsville, KY.
Maybe. I think, I don't know.
I think you're right. I think you're right, yeah.

(39:56):
Which is I, I actually, if if memory serves me correct, I did
a double shot that night. Yeah, I think I went is either
that I think I went from either is either Franklin or Nashville
to Brownsville. Which you, you don't hear about
double shots much anymore? No, you.
Don't. Yeah, that's.
Kind of thing in the past it is,but getting to work with

(40:18):
somebody like Ricky was was wild.
I mean, it was because, you know, I did watch Ricky growing
up as a kid, you know, and just,it's definitely the, you know,
that's a real, that's a real feeling, right?
Like if you see like somebody you looked up to as a kid,
whether they were an athlete, television personality,
whatever, you know, and it's almost like a pitch me moment.

(40:41):
I guess that's the only thing I could I could compare it to.
And then like now I'm fast forwarding way later on.
But like, even getting to work with Ricky and Robert was, I
couldn't believe this shit was happening, You know what I mean?
I'm sure, dude. I'm sure.
Yeah. Yeah.
Because, you know, that was our tag team growing up before I

(41:03):
dyed my hair clear. I was blonde and my brother was
dark hair. So we were Ricky.
We were Ricky and Robert. And so, you know, I even had
people call me Ricky sometimes I'll be like, my name is Jimmy,
but call me Ricky. You know, we were totally crazy.
Story. Yeah, I was, I was in Tennessee,

(41:23):
like working for Chris at the time.
And OK, Chris got got Bobby to come in.
It's the first time I ever met Bobby.
OK, so like Chris is doing this angle, Bobby comes in and then
like him and Chris have it out and then like it's it's like a
we're we're all backstage in this one single room, but

(41:44):
there's 2 doors, you know. So we got like a baby in a hill
door, right. And well, during the during the
schmalz thing, like I wasn't working that night.
Saw security. Yeah.
OK, I watched I. Watched Chris throw Bobby into
the wall and Bobby just like head bust the shit out of this
wall man. And.
Puts like the big ass hole in itand I'm like you know, I'm

(42:07):
sitting here like what the is going on.
It's like, you know, it's like intermission.
I go back to the back and Bobby's laughing his ass off
drinking his coffee. I'm like, this is some bitch
crazy. You know I don't.
Think I like it. My life.
That's the first time that And that was the first night I met
Bobby Eaton, you know? Yeah.
God, is that really? But.

(42:30):
Sweetheart, Another guy, Man Bobby.
Bobby was the best. He really?
Was man and getting to know him and the the just a little bit
that I did, he was he honestly got me over with a lot of the
veterans at saw because I had worked with him some in
Virginia. And then I came out and then
managed him a match up in Kentucky for Porter and then
actually managed him again at Porter's in Nashville.

(42:53):
And then I got to and then I getto saw and he's sitting there
and I walk in immediately and you know, that back row were
like Reno and Cersei and Wolfie would sit back on the back wall.
They're kind of in front of the green.
So I walked up to Bobby. He jumps up and says, hey,
brother. And he gave me a big hug.
And I look out of the corner of my eye and I see Reno and Wolfie
looking at each other. They're like, who the hell is

(43:15):
this guy? You know, like Reno makes these
like hand gestures and you can imagine it.
He's like, well, if Bobby likes them, it's all right, you know?
So yeah, that was awesome actually.
I just, I, I talked to Reno not too long ago on the phone just
that's awesome. I was kind of catching up and
stuff. Yeah, great guy.

(43:36):
He's going to be on the show soon.
Yeah, we're we're going to get y'all got to get.
Him on I'm going to tell you right now that man has got like
a great a great amount of stories that he could share I
mean he's. Not only has he can talk about
the Mount Rushmore, we'll probably ask him like out of the
guys you wrestled, who is on theMount Rushmore?
Because it's all of them, you know, so.

(43:57):
Oh, yeah, man. Like he's done as far as like
the guys who are the guys in this business, Like he's been in
the ring with all of them, Yeah.Exactly.
I mean it really. Has, you know, yeah.
Well, we'll get back to Derek Neal now.
So Derek, in 2000, 2008, you make your way back to the USWO
and you're actually working there pretty regularly.
And there for the first while, you're absolutely married to

(44:20):
Richard Lowe. You're working him constantly,
but you also, you know, you're tagging with White Tiger, you're
working Kevin Dunn Press Norte. You pass the heavyweight title
back and forth with our buddy Mike Jablonski.
Obviously you get the work. Jamie Dundee as the convict.
Then you're you another guy. You end up getting married to
Damian Payne. You guys work together a lot.

(44:40):
Tim Ronesto, you tag with Psychomed Medic.
Talk about your time there, especially during that time,
man. The the memories like instantly
came flooding back right when you said that, like with
Jablonski, like that was the first time like so during that
time in in like what when I was working with Jablonski and I got

(45:01):
the USW heavyweight championship, I think that's in
that timeline if I'm not mistaken it.
Is yes, Sir, Yeah, I. Did get AI was working with with
Damian Payne and I can't remember if it was a Friday or
Saturday night. I remember it was Valentine's
Day because I got heat with my wife because I took a booking.

(45:22):
You know I. Did the deal try to smooth it
over and go out to dinner beforemaking the town?
Right? Of course.
Yeah, come on, baby. Help me out.
I. Took AI took AI took a drop kick
from Damian Payne or you know, John Wayne Murdoch.
What his fault. I think it was just a he caught

(45:43):
me at the right place, but I endup getting a Gray 2 tear in my
AC joint and then I'm trying to think.
I think that night, that last night that took no is during
that time we worked with Mitch rider in a freeway was me,
Jablonski and Mitch, and I've never forget that night, man, I

(46:06):
was I was riding with Mitch rider.
My headlights went out in my car.
That's for a whole nother story.If you got time, almost stabbed
the hobo. Almost stabbed the hobo at the
stadium in. So.
Let's go ahead. We'll preface that first.
So it was a Saturday night show and at that time, that's when

(46:26):
when Tony fought build the Shields, You know, they was like
kind of Co promoting together, running that ATL wrestling on
Saturday night and that night they had that was a big show,
like the the main event that night was was was wrestling dad.
You know, Chris, that's my dad. I call him dad all the time
because he's old. Don't tell him that he worked

(46:47):
with Nick with with Dinsmore. All right, I got this shitty 87
Honda and the the light, the stick that controls the the the
headlights broke out of the motor.
Had it happened once before on the other cars.
So I'm trying to like stick up the only thing I got to my
pocket knot. The first time I had a a

(47:08):
Flathead screwdriver in the middle of a tornado warning.
The lights on. I had I had all I had was a
little case pocket knife. And I'm sitting here trying to
Jimmy it, trying to get the headlights come on and I have my
window down and this hobo just comes up in my window, sticks
his head in there and goes hey, and almost stuck the blade right

(47:28):
in this neck. Oh my God, part part of life.
I dog cut that some veggie that you know, that scares me, man.
Like, Oh yeah, I'm like, I'm like, God, young guys probably
just asking for money. You know, I like, you know, I'm
glad I didn't stick him and thenthen, but at the same time I'm
mad because he come up in there in my space, right?

(47:51):
Right. That's a hell of a night.
My old lady went to like a concert like Louisville and had
to like come pick me up like after the concert like 4:00 AM
down in Nashville. He went back home with Bowling
Green and then we had to drive back home last day.
Like ride out for me. Get the ride back, you know?
Yeah. Oh man.

(48:11):
Oh man. And now a word from our sponsor.
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(48:35):
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(49:15):
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some samples and I think you'll thoroughly enjoy them.
Thank you guys, be blessed. But yeah, yeah, during that

(49:43):
time, I'm sorry I got so segwayed, but you know, yeah, I
got to work with, you know, Jablonski and even Mitch.
And that was kind of my, my, my break in to the Midwest, you
know, was because of that, because.
Of that match. That we had, and then, you know,
Reneso got to work with him in Nashville, but I also got in
Shelbyville. Yeah.

(50:04):
OK, at the time. You know, the the Mullins
brothers were the promoters downthere, right?
And I worked a match or two withhim down there at the I think
it's called Stadium Cab Company down in Shelbyville on Stadium
Cab I-24 a little bit. Yeah.
Yeah. A lot of history there, you
know, during that time, who who else did you mention there?

(50:25):
So I mentioned. You know, you were, you were
married to Richard Lowe. We talked about that.
You tag with White Tiger. Yeah.
Kevin Dunn, Chris Norte, Jamie Dunn, D you know all that.
Norte, Man. Heard that name in a while, man.
No. Well, you were with him a lot.
You looked like you worked around.
I was, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

(50:45):
No, I like Norte. Good guy.
Another fellow Cincinnati Reds fan.
Exactly. He was a Giants fan, and then he
moves to Cincinnati and gets a real team.
Well, he was originally from, hewas originally from California,
I think, wasn't he? I think so, yeah.
I think so, yeah. I'm pretty positive.
Yeah. So he, he was he.
He goes the right side of things, so he sure did, no?

(51:05):
Not a bit, not a bit. I was in a bad spot.
I was in a bad spot one time coming through Nashville.
And I was like, man, I I need a soft place to fall tonight,
brother, can you help me out? And he was like, yeah, come on.
And I did. It was nice.
He I've always liked Norte, so it's been good.
He's good people, man. Like I, I've honestly,
throughout my career and workingwith him, I, I never had a bad

(51:26):
interaction with him. Now he did have A tag partner, I
think, New York gangster. Yeah, I did not have a good so
interaction with him one time and had to get held back in the
locker room. I'd love to hear about that.
No, it was it was kind of over, over a finish and how things

(51:47):
went in the match. Basically things did not go
according to plan. So I kind of lost my shoot a
little bit. But.
I never had a problem with Norteat all.
I mean, he's always been cool with me and respectful.
He's a cool dude. He is.
You know, as far as business, you know, you always try to do

(52:07):
business. You know what I mean?
I got to. Manage him against Ricky Morton,
which was one of my life's goalswas to manage against Ricky
Morton. So it was fun.
Yeah. Yeah.
But Norte was that was, that wasfun, man.
It wasn't very long. And Ricky was like, you know,
the nicest thing Ricky said to me was like, brother, I wish we
used you more. And I'm like, it's OK, buddy.
I didn't need any of that. I just needed to stand out

(52:27):
there, right. You know, I'm in the record
books against Ricky Morton. That's all I need, you know so
but. But yeah, like, man, that time,
like at the stadium in like, it was wild.
Like, because if you think aboutit like you had ATL Wrestling,
you had UFWO. Exactly.
There's a guy, there's a guy named Billy Woodard, like he

(52:49):
would run this A1 wrestling. OK, sometimes, man, I wouldn't
work three nights a week in the same building.
Wow, wow. You know, it wasn't like if you
think about it like it was a lotlike it was good for us boys,
you know, getting work, but likeit's kind of bad for the
promoters, you know, because right, and then it ain't a knock

(53:09):
on nobody, but you know, you kind of over saturate the area,
right, You do. Yeah, yeah.
You know, you basically had fournights of wrestling in East
Nashville with if you counted Porter on Thursday, you know, so
it was. Kind of a running joke.
Like I'd hear guys like sometimes talk about it, like
when I was like early in my career, like 04/05, you know,
you talk about the boys. You know, we could be 40 miles

(53:30):
and work five nights a week. You really?
Could man, it was easy actually,you know, I mean.
Sometimes I would do it, you know, I, I would do, I would do
the double shot from Laverne to Nashville, you know?
Try to clean up a little. Bit on some money, might as
well. Right, right.
So you, you were, you brought him up and and I do want to talk

(53:50):
about it like you said that you got into Mitch Ryder's XCW
Midwest out there. So obviously you did get out
there into another territory from working at the USWO talk a
little bit about what what got you there especially, you know.
Man, so like obviously a lot of it was like, so during that time
that you're talking about like, like Jablonski and all that, you

(54:12):
know, I told you, I got the AC joint tear.
The, the doctor. It got to the point where the
doctor told me like, look, you know, you, you're going to take
time off or you're going to worsen it and completely tear it
and we're going to have to drillyour, drill your collarbone down
onto your shoulder. So I went in, I went in that
night. I'll never forget it.

(54:33):
So I might talk about a little bit of my party indiscretions.
Yeah, sure. But it's time, you know, you had
the, you had the sparks energy drink, right?
The alcohol energy drink. Very.
Much. Remember that one?
Yeah. So yeah.
We, I would call this the doublewhammy.
So like you would, you'd take a pint of Jager, you knock it down

(54:54):
and you chase it with the sparks, Yes.
Wow, that's like a super Jager bomb.
The double whammy. I like the shoulder buddy of.
Mine see, and I was even playingadult league hockey at the time,
like roller hockey, you know, with the shoulder being bad.
Buddy of mine was Kyle Cracker, you know, good old Canadian guy,

(55:15):
you know, good guy. He got me all taped open stuff
so I can get through this match and I get down to the stadium,
back down my stuff. So I get through this shit and I
feel nothing. I go through.
The match where I can get through it, I and I took a
couple months off and then, you know, and then when I was ready
to come back, you know, it's kind of it's kind of perfect

(55:35):
timing because, you know, my second son Jackson was about to
be born around that time. And then like we already like we
already had to stop his labor twice.
And like both times I was on theroad and she had to go in, go in
and get the labor stop. So, you know, so like I was
like, well, you know, I'll probably be good, take time off

(55:57):
while, you know, to heal and andthe baby and all that.
So I did that, got to talking toChris and, you know, Chris got
me put in touch with Todd Morton, who was Booker for for
Mitch at ACW Midwest, but he's also booking for another
Kentucky promotion. They ran kind of closer to
Lexington, KY, So I went out there and worked Todd and, you

(56:19):
know, me and Todd really hit it off.
Me and Todd Morton, which Todd Morton's had a great career in
his own right, you know. Together in.
Memphis and he did a lot, he dida lot of enhancement stuff in
WCW. Like he did a lot of really good
things. And yeah, and then Todd got me
in there. You know what?
Todd kind of finished my name Mitch.

(56:40):
Mitch was like, yeah, let's bring the kid in and then
actually rewind back. Mitch had kind of like a fever
system called XCW Ground Zero. I did that.
Right. Before I took my time off and I
did, I think I did a three-way with it may have been Danny and

(57:02):
Payne and Shane Smalls, I can't remember for sure.
I did. I think that's what it was and
that took my time off, but but then I came back when I was
ready to come back off the injury, I started doing those
Kentucky towns and then I I got to beat Bull Pain for the first
time. This was a trip and me and Bull
hit it off pretty good. And then I got the XTW Midwest

(57:26):
and like through that, like I saw it as a heel.
I think I was a heel the whole time.
My first match with XTW is actually against Plunky Punkett.
And. Gordon, Indiana And I was that
no, I think that I was actually a babyface for that match.
I went over. So I like my stuff when they

(57:46):
make me a hill and they're like,I got to be with like the who's
who. And this is how I really learned
how to work like a hill. So I got to be in a stable with
Todd Morton, Cody Hawk and Bull pain.
Wow. Wow, that's a crew.
Yeah, that is. That's awesome, man.
Wasn't. Ever I got to learn a shit ton

(58:07):
like this is such a great time in my career.
So like I had that and then likethey had Mike Gucci coming in as
a supernova or Simon. No, he's the Simon Dean.
And so like he, he was on, you know, he was, he was building
up. Eventually it built up to him
and Chris for the title because I I want to say Simon had the
championship whenever the bowl off happens.

(58:29):
But but Simon is right around the time Simon got released from
OVW. And so like he was, he was
giving me advice and didn't haveto, Yeah, I just watching my
matches. I come back as I hey, do this,
do this and do this. And I made sure the next time I
come back through it and I wouldwork on that, but I make sure I
pretty much had it down to a teeat the next date because they

(58:51):
would only run like the first Tuesday of every month for
Mitch. So I made sure I had it down to
a tee and like like basically I was getting free training from
AW, former WWE talent scout for like 1/2 a year.
Dude, that's awesome. That's amazing.
You know, I'm very. Lucky I got to do that.
Like for those six months, I gotto dress next to Ricky Morton

(59:12):
and and Ricky actually told me, hey kid, grab a chair, please
come sit next to me. And I just listened and like, I
wasn't, I wasn't only taught notabout, like, things about the
wrestling business, like, but like all those things that he
taught me, like I could apply itto real life.
Yeah. That's amazing.
I mean, dude, can you, Can you imagine?
I mean the young Derek Neal sitting there thinking he was

(59:35):
going to be sitting there chewing the fat with the man
himself. I mean, that's crazy, dude.
That's great. I mean it's.
Crazy like that time was so wild.
Like, I had that, like I got to work with like one guy that that
I don't think he talked about enough.
And, and he should be. His name's Chad Collier.
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

(59:56):
He. He.
Was one of the last students of being out of the de Milenko
school. Yeah, I worked with him right
when he come back from Japan, dude, he's doing this character
called, I think it was like a super metal master or metal
master when I got to work with him and he was, he was
literally. In the opening, while we're

(01:00:17):
working, he's really putting himself in hold for me, doing it
for me. I'm like, what the fuck, How are
we getting here? And The funny thing is, I I
don't think he's working shows anymore, but I know the
motherfucker does magic like magic tricks.
Wow. OK, that's cool.
So no figure. Yeah, the guy should have.

(01:00:39):
The guy should have had a job like, yeah.
Yeah, see that? And like I, I eventually found
his Ring of Honor stuff that he did.
Holy shit, that guy was great. Yeah.
Yeah, You know, and you talked about Bull Payne.
Anybody go out there and look upBull Payne's history?
And I don't want to change it from Chad, but Bull Payne
wrestled in the AWA when it was hot, 84 to 90, and then he's in

(01:01:02):
WCW in everywhere. He was one of.
The one of the original type of payments exactly.
The he was one of the original. Yeah, I.
Think he was psycho maybe maybe or something in that team.
But anyway, I know they're yeah,the Texas hangman is probably
his most famous tag team. But when it comes down to it,
that dude was jobbing in the AWAduring the big days 84 man.

(01:01:23):
I mean, seriously, that's like the Remco toy days, you know, so
that or like. He was, he was doing, he was
doing global. And like I think, I think in
AWA, he may have been, he may have been quick.
Rick Gatner, yeah, I think. You're right, exactly.
If memory serves me correct, Like Bull, like I learned so

(01:01:44):
much from that guy, man, I really did.
Yeah, go. Look at his history up.
I I did anybody listening right now go look at if you don't know
it already, go look up Bull Pain's match history.
It's amazing. So yeah, so in. 2010 for MECW.
Looks like you work Kyle. O'Reilly, yes.
Man, what a situation. So I actually talked to the to

(01:02:06):
somebody about this not long ago.
But yeah, I work Colorado. That was very, he may have just
signed his first ROH contract orright before it.
I want to say during that time, I think he that there was a time
where he was, he was based out of Saint Louis and he's living
with Davy Richards. So I want to take that close to

(01:02:28):
this time. But I I work, I had a match with
him and Daniel Engler or Rudy Charles.
Rudy Charles. Yeah, he was the referee.
He was the referee in my match. Perfect situation.
Kyle was was a true pleasure to work with.
I I got to work with him a couple more times after that,

(01:02:48):
but man, like we, we just went balls to the walls and just we,
we kind of beat the shit out of each other a little bit.
But but like he was he was a really, really fun to work with.
He really loves. That's awesome.
Relive the glory days of Memphiswrestling with the Retro
Wrestling Review USWA Podcast. Each week we go back in time to

(01:03:11):
review USWA Championship Wrestling from the 1990s,
episode by episode. Join us for watch alongs, behind
the scenes stories, and exclusive interviews with people
who were there and lived it. Whether you grew up watching it
or you're discovering it for thefirst time, this podcast is your
ringside seat to Memphis wrestling history.
It's all a part of the Wrestle Copia Podcast Network.

(01:03:33):
Listen now at uswapodcast.com. Hi, this is Mike Needham, host
of the Reckless Abandoned podcast with Mike Needham.
We invite you to jump on your favorite podcast platform and
search for the Reckless Abandoned Podcast and give us a
listen. I'm sometimes joined by a part
time podcaster, part time Co host and full time wife Kitney

(01:03:56):
Nicole. We talk wrestling, we talk pop
culture, we talk local events, local happenings in West
Tennessee, and a ton of other stuff.
But be sure to check out the Reckless Abandoned Podcast, find
us on Facebook. Also look up the micro group
Podcasting Family on Facebook and see some of our other
podcasts we have out there. Until next time, make good

(01:04:18):
choices and always remember, no Dollar, no dice.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is Jimmy St. and that was episode
18 of The Best of James Rock St.Productions with the first half

(01:04:41):
of episode 46 of Derek Neal on Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling.
I've known Derek for a while nowand glad to see he's still
making a go of it. Keep at it, brother.
You can hear the full episode and more over on at G MB MPW or
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

(01:05:02):
Rock St. Productions.
Check us out next week to see what else we have in store.
Until then, follow at G, MB, MPWand at James Rock St. everywhere
Peace with a tear in my eye. This is the greatest moment in
my life. This has been a James Rock St.

(01:05:50):
production.

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