July 21, 2025 • 56 mins
#jeffdaniels #prowrestling #journeyman #gmbmpw
Welcome to Episode 8 of the Best Of jamesrockstreet Productions! Home to the Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling and Live and In Color with Wolfie D podcasts, Sheik's Shorts and more! So, sit back and enjoy as we bring you some of the very best stories, you'll never hear anywhere else! @GMBMPW @livewolfied @jamesrockstreet Everywhere!
Today we bring you the first half of episode 28 of Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling with 'The Crippler' Jeff Daniels! We talk his start in the business, his early days, his time in the Nashville scene, Continental, Smoky Mountain and so much more! Enjoy!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey guys, it's Jeff the CripplerDaniels, and you're listening to
Give Me Back, my pro wrestling podcast, TuneIn.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome toGive Me Back My Pro.
Wrestling. Hello.
(00:45):
So don't know now you know. Baby, this is Hot Rod Bigs,
Jared, Jimmy St. We're going to take him to the
limit one more time, baby, righthere.
Oh, give me back my pro wrestling.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome one more time to give me back my
pro wrestling. And I'm your host.
Jimmy St. And this is my brother.
From the same father and mother.The plastic sheet.
(01:07):
Jared St. What's up, brother?
How you doing today? I'm doing great, brother.
How about yourself? Hanging in there, man.
Just, you know, looking forward to getting a conversation in
with Jeff the Crippler Daniels. I'm excited for this one.
Yeah, man, it's gonna be good totalk to him.
The guy's been everywhere. I mean, people, people are
probably gonna say, you know, ifthey look him up on YouTube or
something, they're pregnant, Say, hey man, that I've seen
(01:28):
that guy before. Right, right.
I've seen him somewhere. I know, I know that guy from
somewhere. Yeah.
Jeff is a great guy. I got to know him in the
Nashville scene like most of thepeople that we interview on
here. And I tell you, he he was just
one of those guys that you gravitate towards.
It was just like, you know, like, oh man, I want to hear
what this guy's talking about, you know, and you know, he he's
(01:51):
a long time veteran that knows his stuff and doesn't mind to
talk to the young younger guys and share it with him, you know,
and for that, you know, that's why honestly, he's a treasure
for that scene, especially the Middle Tennessee, but also just
a whole, you know, he's a treasure.
So it's good to have Jeff on. You know, Jeff's just one of
(02:12):
those guys that you could literally talk to about a
million things. So I think I've got some good
questions. I know you've got some good
questions for him. I'm excited to see how that
goes. So.
Me too, brother. Yeah.
So to kind of do a little backtracking before we get to
Jeff, you know, the first thing to address, I guess right now is
that the last episode we had wasthe action figure episode,
(02:34):
seeing a lot of, you know, good listens and numbers and stuff.
So we're happy about that. Definitely appreciate that.
Also some fun feedback. And yes, Charlie, the announcer
of the muscle man look just likeRick Boucher.
So we got to we got to prove that on our Facebook page.
So that was hilarious. And yeah, so we, you know, I've
(02:55):
been having fun with that episode, so.
Do you think that was supposed to be like main gene esque or do
you think it looked like one of the Japanese and?
I think stuff like that, I thinkit's got to be one of the
Japanese announcers in my person, probably because he kind
of does have that like Japanese almost stereotypical look about
(03:16):
him a little bit. But I'm telling you, right, I
think it looks like Rick Boucherto me.
Yeah, but y'all go look up Rick Boucher if you don't know who
that is. But anyway, he was a long time
Congressman, House of Represent whatever from the state of
Virginia in our 9th district. So and some people might say it
Boucher, but no here I know, but.
(03:38):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Boucher. I like that Rica Boucher, I
mean. But that's how it's spelled, I
think. Like, oh, like in some Cajun
type that that name would type thing, Yeah.
Anyway, yeah, yeah, Rick voucher, long time guy there.
(03:59):
So anyway, we had a good time with the action figures.
So what's cool is the action figure shows kind of bring in a
different audience, you know, and so we've we've kind of
become a liaison of sorts. One of our new sponsors on the
show is insane. Shane's world.
He's got a Facebook page. He actually makes custom action
figures of these guys that we'retalking about and they're not
(04:23):
your normal custom. They're not like, you know, take
a head and a Triple H torso and you know, whatever legs and that
kind of thing. This guy, he has something that
like basically, I guess like a 3D printer and he prints these
guys up. I know he's done Troy Eaton, I
know he's done. Reno Riggins is the one that's
(04:44):
dropping soon, but go to Insane Shane's World on Facebook.
Look him up. He's got an ad now on our show
and we're running that with him because you know what, you know,
we've got the plastic sheet. I don't know, maybe we might see
a plastic chic action figure oneday.
We'll see, you know, things happen, right?
So. The sky is the limit, brother.
The sky is the limit. You have anything you'd like to
(05:06):
share before we get going to Jeff here?
Just thinking about some things,you know, they got the I saw
that CM Punk is possibly gettinghealthy again, so just something
to keep our eyes on if he actually appears in wrestling
again anywhere. Yeah, You know, it's funny.
Seth Rollins kind of opened the door for something there, but.
He did. That could just be, you know,
(05:27):
The thing is, is people we forget that wrestlers are
workers. You know, that's true, That's
true. And they could just be working
us and that's the thing. And once you it's, it's kind of
it's kind of a curse. Once you are or see enough of
the wrestling business and you're kind of get a little
smart to it, you start to see everything as a work.
(05:49):
We've talked about this before, but you know, like NFL, it's a
work, you know? Well, now there's supposedly
there's supposedly a prediction out there for the Super Bowl
that we'll see if it's true as of recording this, that the.
Rock is going to show up. Yeah.
CM Punk's going to get in there.No, supposedly the score is
going to be 3734 Eagles. That's.
(06:11):
That's supposedly a script from the NFL, they've said.
Well, that's a good, yeah, that's a good one, chic.
Who do you think will be the winner of the Super Bowl?
I'm going to say Chiefs. I don't know why, Chiefs.
You like? Patrick yeah, I just think that
they always seem to they always seem to make the plays when they
need to. Eagles quarterbacks a little
(06:33):
banged up or has been Jalen Hurts so I don't know if he'll
him. Holtz yeah, I mean, I'm sure
he's going to play unless they tell him he can't play.
So it's. Yeah, yeah, well, I guess we'll
see. But I hey, I'll go with the
Chiefs too. So we'll I was feeling the
Chiefs, but I just feel like Patrick's one of the top echelon
(06:54):
and they've got a great team around him.
So we'll see. You know it that hey, Chiefs and
Eagles, why not? So by this time it'll have
already happened and you know, it'll be almost out of their
minds now. So except for the team who wins.
So congratulations to whoever wins.
Exactly. All right, Well, I think that's
it for the opening right now. I want to just get to Jeff.
(07:16):
Let me get him on the line here.You guys hang out with us just
for a second. We're going to listen to a few
messages and we'll be right backwith some Jeff the Crippler
Daniels. Promotional consideration paid
for by the following This is Kroll and you're listening to
Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling with Jimmy St. and Jared the
(07:38):
Plastic sheet. Be sure to like, subscribe and
view all of our uswo and Saw wrestling content at Nashville
Wrestling Network exclusively onYouTube.
(07:59):
All right, we are back with GiveMe Back My Pro Wrestling Podcast
and y'all today we've got a veryspecial guest on the show.
I tell you, you know, we have topics, we have what ifs, we
have cool things. But when we get a cool guest on
the show, that's when I really feel like we're at our peak
right now. And this guy right here is a
absolute legend when it comes down to it.
(08:20):
He's done a little bit of everything and live to tell
about it. So welcome to the Give Me Back
My Pro Wrestling podcast. Mr. Jeff the Crippler Daniels.
How you doing brother? I'm good brother God.
Thank you guys for having me on.I appreciate it.
We're happy to have you on, excited to have you on.
You know, it's funny because I never clicked with you on
Facebook for some reason, because you're under your shoot
(08:41):
name and I'm like, man, I know this guy.
Why do I And we finally got together, man and friended each
other or whatever you call it. And then dude, you're on the
podcast. I'm I'm excited man, so.
You know, I shut my wrestling 1 down three or four years ago.
It just it was a hassle and you know, it just I wouldn't viable
(09:02):
anymore. I was retired and it was just a
bunch of bull on there all the time and I just Oh yeah, I got
to nerd messing with it. So I just shut it down.
Yeah, I understand, man. I don't blame you.
You know what's funny is I was in the business for a little bit
and a bunch of people friended me and all this stuff.
And then I get out of the business and then all those
friends kind of go away. And then I get on a podcast
(09:22):
about wrestling again with Wolfie and my brother here and
boom boom boom, everybody and their mother is trying to friend
me on here. So.
So I actually sent out the friendship to you.
So I'm not putting you in that realm.
Yeah, I appreciate that. Yeah.
Yeah, it's amazing. You get viable again and they
come out of the woodwork, don't they?
(09:45):
Yeah, that's a good way to say it, actually.
Hey, Jeff. So you know, one of the first
things I always like to ask to kind of start us off and it kind
of lets the audience know kind of where you come from in the
wrestling businesses. If if you could have a Mount
Rushmore of your all time favorite or just the all time
wrestlers to you, they could be impacted your life, your
(10:06):
favorite, or just people you like to watch.
Or it could just be your opinionof who's the best, and you could
even have a fifth one, four to five of your top wrestlers of
all time. So just after being in the
business or just like growing upwho I thought are just.
All of it. All of it, man, All of it.
Any or all? Yeah, the big influence on my
(10:27):
career made me want to be a professional wrestler was,
believe it or not, Ken Mantel when he was the world junior
heavyweight champion. Yes.
Ted Dibiase's got to go in there.
Ted's one of the best workers that was ever in this business.
Yeah, absolutely. Ricky Morton.
Oh yeah. Good, true close friend of mine.
(10:49):
I love Ricky to death, but he isthis business personified.
Yes, he is. And then, just because I love
him, superstar Billy Graham. OK, OK.
That's awesome. And that's a great Mount
Rushmore. And, and unfortunately, you
know, Billy Graham gets overlooked a lot with when it
(11:11):
comes to the all time greats just because he was a little bit
early for a lot of people. He was just a little bit.
Early for a lot of people, he was way before his time, but he
changed the landscape of professional wrestling.
He is what Vince turned Hulk Hogan into.
He had he had him there already.And you know the deal with the
(11:32):
Backlund taking that belt and instead of making a baby face
turn with with Graham, which would have got over because the
people had had begun to love himanyway.
Yeah, yeah. That was, that was missed
opportunity right there. That should have been he should
have been Hulk Hogan. Yeah, yeah, it's so true.
Hogan copying him. Yeah.
Do you think maybe he was too strong minded for Vince and
(11:55):
that's maybe why Vince? No, yeah.
No, it was old school mentality.They told him the day he won the
belt, the day he would lose the belt, they were grooming Bob
Backlund because they were tiredof having of a an ethnic
champion, because they had Brunowith the Italians, they had
Pedro with the Puerto Ricans. And, you know, and Vince always
(12:19):
wanted a Vince singer, always wanted a redheaded All American
champion. Yeah, OK.
You. Know but you know, Graham was
settling out doing big business,but Ben Senior was man of his
word. Everybody I've ever talked to
said anything he said you could take his word to the bank.
(12:40):
And you know to the day he took that belt off.
Graham. Wow.
That's crazy to think about because Billy Graham was so
special to not only other wrestlers like Dusty Rhodes and
Hulk Hogan and Scott Steiner andso many guys, but when it came
down to it, even boxers were taking some stuff from from the
Superstar so. Yeah, and even even like Jesse
(13:01):
Ventura. Graham said he.
Oh, yeah, Graham said. He took stuff from Muhammad Ali
too, you know. Well, I mean, it's probably a
give and a take, yeah. Yeah, but it was he's the one
that started it all. You know, Dusty patterned his
promos after him, you know, You know the the brother thing that
Hogan with brother this and brother that, you know, that was
(13:24):
superstar Billy Graham, you know?
Yeah. Look back on some old Georgia
Championship wrestling. There's one where Graham comes
in. He cuts his promo on a Ric Flair
gonna wrestling for the world title.
Man, it's superstar Billy Grahampersonified.
Yeah, yeah. That's awesome.
Well, we'll bring you back for the Superstar Billy Graham show,
(13:46):
but but today we're going to talk Jeff Krippler Daniels.
How you how you feel about that brother?
Hey. I'm excited.
Let's go. All right, so I always start
this off, man, and it kind of goes back a little further than
a lot of podcasts. Go talk about your younger days,
man. Where Where'd you grow up?
What were you from, brother? Well, I was born in Houston, TX,
grew up in Louisiana, just across the state line from Texas
(14:08):
in a town called the Ritter, which is about 40 minutes north
of Lake Charles. So as as you all know, Jetson
crippled Daniels from Lake Charles, LA.
So yeah, buddy, that's where that came from.
You know, I played football, youknow, baseball, you know, that
was, we didn't have, believe it or not, didn't have amateur
(14:29):
wrestling. OK, Yeah.
Yeah. So what did you play in
football? What was your position?
Linebacker on defense or nose guard depending on which defense
we were running and I played full back or strong back
position on offense. Nice, nice, nice.
All right. What about baseball?
(14:50):
What'd you play in baseball? What's first baseman?
I'm left-handed. OK, yeah, that sets you up.
Yeah. That's awesome.
Yeah. Oh, a lefty, too.
A southpaw, huh. Gotcha.
Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's awesome.
Who'd you like? Did you?
Were you a Stroh's fan growing up?
Fans My dad was a huge Oakland A's fan.
Yeah, OK. And the Oakland A's played the
(15:13):
Saint Louis Cardinals in the World Series when I was just a
little kid and I saw those SaintLouis Cardinals jerseys and I've
been a Cardinals fan every since.
Yeah, OK, OK. Well, we won't tell you who we
like, but we'll we'll just, it ain't the Cubs.
We'll say that it's it's maybe another team y'all beat up on in
the Central, the Reds. It can't be perfect, can't we?
(15:38):
I'm a Bengals fan because Joe Burrow, you know I'm.
You buy you Bengals. Yeah, I figured you would be.
Yeah, yeah. Jamar Chase.
Yeah, so I know we're talking sports here, and I don't want to
kind of go too far with that, but I don't want to cut you off
either. But at what point did pro
wrestling come in around that time?
(15:58):
Well, I mean, you know, from thetime I was a kid, my grandfather
was a huge wrestling fan. You know, I grew up watching the
Leroy Mcgurk's wrestling and then later Bill Watts took over
and it became Mid South. But I, you know, that's what I
grew up on. And then I had family in
Houston. I'd go there and I'd get to see
Paul Bosch's wrestling, you know, So, you know, that's what
(16:21):
I grew up on. And when I got out of school, I
moved to Houston. I was working in Houston and I
used to go down to 1919 Caroline.
It was the wrestling office, Paul Bosch.
And every Friday I'd go down there, you know, I miss, you
know, Miss Bosch. I want to be a professional
(16:42):
wrestler. Oh, kid, you don't want to do
this. You're going to starve to death,
You know, you're not big enough,you know, blah, blah, blah.
And I did it every Friday, everyFriday, man.
He said, well, you know, if if Nick Kozak comes around, I'll
ask him if he's interested or ifTiger Conway comes around, I'll
ask him if he's interested, you know, And I kept doing it.
(17:04):
And after about a year I walked in there one Friday and he said
you are not going to give up foryou and said, no, Sir, I want to
be a wrestler. And he said, come back here.
It's the first time I ever got to go back into the office part
man. He had pictures of everybody on
that wall that had been to Houston, you know, and he took
the phone. He called San Antonio.
He called Joe Blanchard. He said, Joe.
(17:26):
He said, I got a kid here. It's very persistent.
He said I'm going to send him toyou and I want you to take care
of him, OK, Which I learned later, I want you to take care
of him. Meant don't take his money and
break his leg and send him home,right?
You know. So I went down to San Antonio
and Eric Embry was the trainer, but Eric was leaving, going to
(17:49):
Dallas and I ended up bruising Bob Sweet and training and
thought the boy had a little bitto do with it too.
Yeah. She just left.
This was 85 early 85, late 84. Early 85.
OK, awesome, awesome. And you said the sheep herders.
You know, I've had Luke on podcast before and great guy.
(18:11):
You know, The funny thing was, is we talked too much about the
bushwhackers and all I wanted todo was talk about the sheep
herders. You know what I mean?
Because Luke was the Booker there.
Joey took the book back over andyou know, I was training with
like Mannyville Oboes and some of those guys.
Rudy Gonzalez was in there, you know, Dusty Wolf.
(18:34):
Oh yeah, yeah. And then your top guys, you had
Scott Casey, of course Tully would come in sweet tan.
You know, the Stomper was in andout of the spoiler, You know, I
mean, Al Madrid, Yeah, You know,he had, he had everybody.
He did. That's amazing.
Al Perez, yeah. Yeah, Did you ever, did you ever
(18:55):
talk to Gary Hart at all? Gary wasn't in there.
Gary was in Dallas at that. Time.
Got it. And that's all the boys were
going up there because Joe was about to shut down.
He was about to sell out to FredBaron for that All Star Texas
All Star deal. I got in, I got started and then
Joe did his deal, took his moneyfrom burn up there, sold the
(19:19):
Fred Barons and you know Fred kept a few of the top guys.
We cleared house, man. So here I am just getting
started and now I don't have a job.
Floor falls out from under you, Yeah.
Yeah, so, you know, I'm trying to get into Dallas at this point
and you know, they bring me up and they do a thing or two with
me. You know, nothing big, just
(19:41):
under card doing some TV show upon the House show.
Funny. Later, later on, I came back and
I left there because I wouldn't do anything.
And I went out to California andwas working for California
Championship Wrestling. It was Victor Rivera, Steve
Strong. You know, it was after the
(20:04):
Olympic stuff. All that was dead and gone at
that point, right? Right.
But man, I was, I was starving to death out there.
I tried to get on up San Francisco, couldn't get anything
there. Ended up got a little break
buddy. Mine, gorgeous Joey Jackson was
up in Portland. So I got a little spot up there.
(20:25):
I was there for a minute and I was just like, man, it's too
damn cold up here. So I came back home and, well,
I'll try to figure out what I can do.
Well, I got back to Louisiana and a buddy of mine said, man,
they're starting a new promotionhere in Louisiana.
So really. So he introduced me to the guy
and it was Edward Falk and Jim Carpenter with that IWF, the
(20:47):
International Wrestling Federation.
Right. OK, Yeah.
So well, actually at the time itwas Jim Carpenter had it then I
knew Edward Faulk from refereeing and I got I got
Edward into it. Edward, you know, just basically
muscled right in on Jim and tookover.
And I thought, well, I'm in, I'min a great position.
(21:08):
You know which I was. I, you know, I worked on top
there for a couple of years, youknow, and I, I had who, who are
guys to work with. You know, we'd bring in one man
gang. All the Mid South guys would
bring in me and a guy, Amos Moses.
But me and Amos, Jack Curtis putus together as the new
(21:31):
Rock'n'roll Express going to tryto play off that Louisiana.
So and then they brought in likeIceman and Brick House brown
Blackbirds to work as we worked in, we worked to Rock'n'roll
RPMS, you know, And then I got cross ways with Edward because
he owed me a bunch of money. And so Mike Davis sent me over
(21:52):
to Continental, which had just died because everything was
dying then, you know? I'm in the territory, Yeah, I.
Think your name was Cheryl Dunn.I was running it at that point
and I worked over there for a month or so.
I was like, no, which I knew from Houston, Tommy Samano Lee,
that's going to get better. And I was like, no, I'm going
back to Louisiana, man. So I went back and then I got
(22:14):
picked up with a world class andbelieve it or not, it is funny
story, Great Muda. It was his first trip to the
States and he was doing the Super Black Ninja.
Right. Yes, yes.
And the guy he was working, Mudawould give him that spin kick
and he kept bumping out of the ring to the floor.
(22:36):
And Akbar hated that. Akbar said if that son of a
bitch falls out of the ring one more time, you got your gear,
will you? I said, yes, Sir, I do.
He said, well, the spot's yours.And showed up that night Black
him Coliseum in Lafayette. He bumped out of the ring and
they sent him home. And I picked up working the rest
of that tour with Muda as the Super Black Dragon, a super
(22:56):
black ninja. Wow, OK.
How was that, man? I mean, because you're kind of
getting some seasoning on you. He was green and he was stiff.
A job to him in WCW. Years later and he was the
easiest, smoothest guy in the whole world.
Wow, so OK, you've been telling a great story so I'm not messing
(23:18):
up your flow, but talk about what was your very first match
and who was it against? Bob Sweet Tan.
Bob Sweet Tan And how did that go?
How did you feel? We we did about about 10 minutes
and of course he piled drive me and beat me.
You know, he was breaking me in.They kind of married me to him
and we worked our way up to mid,you know, to mid card before he
(23:40):
broke off and went into something big again.
But I mean, you know, he carriedme around, took care of me,
broke me and got me used to crowds and, you know, steady
talking to me. Look, here's how you do this.
Here's how you do this. This is what we're going to do
now, you know, and then riding in the car, I would drive him,
you know, and just him and and all those guys down there were
(24:02):
just the wealth of of knowledge,you know, and anybody willing to
learn back then, if you would shut up and listen, they would
teach you everything that you needed to know.
Yeah, you know, that's that's. Still true, you know.
Yeah, and I will tell you first time I ever got color was hard
way by sweet and we're working mid card and he had me in the
(24:26):
headlock. We were down and he supported
Krauts flat kids and said we gotto get them up.
You know, we're building to the main event.
He said maybe we'll get a littlecolor.
I said well I don't have a bladeBob.
He said you don't need one. He's back on the corner.
He backed me in the corner and popped me over my left eye.
(24:47):
Yeah, he said did that hurt? I said no.
He said. I still got the touch and by the
time blood was just all over me,I thought, wow, no, not no,
nothing. He just popped right down over
that Oracle bone and split me wide open.
Yeah. Bunch of tape in the back to
(25:07):
tape it up. And then of course from then on
the next two or three nights, you know, you just bump it and
I'm bleeding, right? Yeah.
Sweet and hard way being my first time.
That's that's AI mean. Honestly, that was the first
time I ever got color was a hardway too.
But we'll well, this is not my show.
So, so sweet tan. So when you're working him, are
(25:28):
you? It's like you're learning on the
job, right? So who would you say was the
next person to kind of take you on as your teacher, essentially?
I mean, I bounced around at thatpoint.
I mean, Akbar had a lot. Akbar liked me a lot.
Love Akbar, yeah, he's, he was one of my biggest influences,
yeah. Oh yeah, He used to beg me to
(25:49):
move back to Dallas. Please go back to Dallas, man.
I'm in Nashville. I'm good.
Yeah, yeah. I need you so bad down here,
kid. You just don't understand.
Yeah, You know, in which anytimeI wanted to go that way, I
picked up the phone and I was booked as long as I wanted to be
booked over that way, you know, which was really good.
I got some good stuff in global work, Calvin Knapp, stuff like
(26:11):
that. But as far as in the ring, when
I was with IWF, I'd made that little trip out West, you know,
and it was just kind of on my own.
And, you know, those guys were cliquey out there.
So everybody kind of stayed to their self.
You weren't too, you weren't, you know, and it's, it's what it
was. But I got back into IWF for
Louisiana with with them. And before me and Amos tagged
(26:34):
up, Jerry Stubbs came in and, you know, Jerry took a liking to
me, kind of took me under his wing.
We even tagged together and had the IWF tag belt.
So which was the first title I ever had.
But you know, and Jerry was like, you look, here's what you
do. And you don't let nobody tell
you this. Don't let nobody tell you that.
You know, you're your own man and you're you make your own
(26:56):
money. And if you don't like what
they're doing, you make a call and move down the road.
Don't sit somewhere and be unhappy.
You know, this is marked me up to the to the business end and
also polishing me up as a workertoo.
I mean, he is phenomenal. Jerry Stubbs is one of the most
underrated wrestlers in the world.
That's awesome. Yeah.
So I know that wrestling is not just a one time.
(27:19):
You know, the light bulb goes off and you know everything.
But do you remember when the first light bulb went off in
your mind and you were like, OK,I started to get something
there. I'm getting it now.
Do you remember that time? Yeah, we're doing that stuff
with Stubbs. You know, it was serious
learning Tree, sure, But after when me and Amos were together
(27:40):
and Brick House and Iceman came in, you know, and I still was
let out. If you kids can't work, we're
gonna eat your ass alive. We went out there and tore the
house down with me. Like, brother, I work with you
anywhere. And he would get me, get us
bookings, you know, out of thereto go work them.
And of course, then Brick, who was always in trouble, bless his
(28:00):
heart. And then he brought in that kid
from Dallas, Mr. Ebony, and that, you know, they did that
for a while. But working with him, I really
started to understand psychology, you know, and how to
sell, when to sell, how much to sell, you know, But when I, I
think when the light really cameon for me was when I, when I
(28:22):
first, when I finally turned heel because I'd worked so long
as a babyface, I knew what that babyface need.
I knew what I needed to do to get that babyface over to make
me viable. Good heel.
If you're going to get heat, yougot to give that babyface 90% of
everything. And no one went out.
(28:43):
But I would say probably around 90 when I came up here for
Jarrett, I came up here for Jerry Jarrett and worked here a
few months and, you know, they switched Booker's back to
Lawler. So it's a good cop, bad cop
thing. You know, you're Jarrett's
Booker and you work and then Lawler takes over and you're
(29:04):
gone or vice versa. So at that time, Tom Pritchard
and Ricky Morton, dirty white boy, they're all like, hey,
brother, just come on, come to Smokey Mountain.
We'll get you in down here. So I went to Smokey Mountain and
me and Chris Michael. Yeah, it's the first time I ever
saw you wrestle Jeff. I was in Smoky Mountain, so.
Me and Chris went down there andtore the house down and both got
(29:27):
jobs. I mean we tore up.
We did like we had this 15 minute match worked out and
coordinates as it sounds. Great guys.
Can you do it in six? Yes Sir.
Minute hot spot, man. I mean, we never stopped moving
except I bumped out of the ring one time and the only reason I
(29:48):
did that was so he could do a plancha over the top on me, you
know. And of course he had Bob Collin,
Dutch Mantel doing commentaries so they made us smell like a
million. Dollars and Chris Michaels was
old Chris Comet around that timeI do believe.
Correct. Chris Comet.
Yeah, Yeah, me and him had been working here around Nashville
doing the independent stuff. See, when I finished up with
(30:09):
Jared, I was like, well, shit, Idon't know what I'm going to do,
you know? And somebody says, well, you
need to call Chris Champion. So I called Chris and Chris
like, oh, brother, I can use you.
You know, I'm booking here, I'm booking there, I'm booking here.
I can work you four or five nights a week.
I was like hell yeah, you know, and that's where I started
meeting the guys around here. Ashley Hudson had just come over
from Australia, was Greenfield, you know, Chris was just
(30:34):
breaking in. There was a ton of guys, man.
And you know, me and Chris hung together and booked stuff
forever. And we, when I got the booking
job for NWAI, brought Chris in as my assistant because just me
and him flowed well together with our thoughts and stuff.
But yeah, I would say probably 9090 ones when the light bulb
(30:54):
came on, you know, really felt at home and felt like I was a
journeyman starting to turn intoa general.
Yeah, because, you know, right about this time you're starting
to really do some stuff as far as doing, you know, not only
being a general in the in the local areas, but also you're
starting to become a Carpenter too.
I mean, you were a Carpenter. I'm saying that in the wrong
way. Absolutely no.
(31:15):
No, absolutely. I'm proud to be a Carpenter.
That's a little job to have, andit always keeps you working.
Absolutely. And now a word from our sponsor.
(31:37):
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome toGive Me Back My Pro Wrestling,
the podcast that's based on the old school but can still help
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Jimmy St. and the Plastic Chic Jared are the undisputed tag
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(31:59):
figure expertise, this team. Does it all and all they ask is
give me back my pro wrestling every other Thursday wherever
you listen to podcasts. I was going to ask you, Jeff, I
did a little research about you.I saw that you started some with
(32:22):
WWF in, is it August of 92 or something like that?
Is that right? Yeah, downtown Bruno who had got
me in up here, he was down therein IWF with the RPMS when I was
ready to leave Louisiana. So man you and it was me and Big
Jim Ryder. I don't know if you guys knew
him. He looked just like one man
gang, but me and him, Bruno said.
(32:44):
Look, y'all come up, I'm going to introduce you to to, Lawler
said. All right, so we drove up to
Memphis. We left the show and Belle Chase
Louisiana on a Saturday night, drove to Memphis, went to Mid
South Coliseum. On Sunday we went out and
watched Jerry Lauder play softball and met him.
And Monday we went to the Coliseum and Jerry said, yeah,
(33:06):
I'm always looking for some new guys.
He said, can you be here for TV Saturday?
Oh shit, that's a week away. So yeah, yeah, we can be here.
So we drove back to Louisiana, got our crap together, come up
here for TVI got a job, but Jim didn't.
He told him that big guys are a dime a dozen up here.
I can get big guys all day long.But he kept me and Dominique, so
(33:29):
you know, and from then on it's me and her work together
forever. WWF stuff.
Bruno got me in up there becausehe had just went up.
And I remember my first night inwas the Von Braun Center in
Huntsville and it was building up to Kamala and Undertaker in
the Coffin Match Survivor SeriesSummer Slam.
(33:52):
Yeah. Yeah, but I had the last TV
match with Kamala before the pay-per-view.
OK. And you know, I knew I knew Jim
from down in Louisiana because, you know, all the Louisiana guys
know all the Louisiana guys, youknow Cassidy O'Reilly, you know
Cassidy Riley, I love Pier. You know, a bunch of the boys,
(34:13):
Kevin Northcutt, all them guys. We, you know, any time they're
coming through, I had a book in for him because, you know, we
all stuck together. Right, right.
We love Cassidy on this show forsure.
So I love Cass man. He's one of my favorites for
people in the whole world. And yes, he is.
And so I go out there with Kamala.
You know, that's when he was doing the deal where he would,
(34:34):
you know, pin you on your stomach and they're trying to
tell him, roll him over, roll him.
You know, that whole deal. I did this deal where when he
gave me the splash in the middleof my back, when he hit me, I
threw both arms up and let my eyes roll back in my head, you
know, just flop dead and you know, he had to.
They rolled me over finally and pinned me.
(34:55):
When I walked through the curtain at the gorilla position,
Vince McMahon himself was standing there and he said,
guys, that's how I want Kamala sold.
So I picked up a bunch of that, but I work.
I work Papa Shongo. The next night in Nashville,
which was a cakewalk. He said, hey, we can work or we
can work the gimmick. I said, what do you want to do?
(35:17):
He said, I want to put you in a trance and pin you without us
taking a bump. I said I'm your huckleberry, you
know? Yeah, I did that little run with
WWF and then I picked up some stuff with WCW and I got in down
there. When Bill Watts was in, I got
back in. So yeah, I did TV's off and on
down there. Yeah, because then you're
(35:38):
working Barbarian Tony Atlas, then you work in Texas,
Shanghai. I mean, you're working all that
stuff, man, so. Yeah.
Takes slides and you're in. That's yeah.
Ron Slinker's kid. Yeah, OK.
Yeah. Yeah, Tex, he's a chef now, I'm
pretty sure, and he's like a five star chef somewhere.
And then we talked to Shanghai, which is, you know, Henry Godwin
(35:58):
and he's, you know, he's still big, raw bone, son of a gun, you
know, and great guys, both of them, you know.
So yeah. Is he cooking down in Florida?
Is he back in Florida? I think so, yeah.
I think that's where Dennis is. Yeah.
Absolutely. Yeah.
So. But yeah, barbarian man.
I mean, that's as big as a guy you can get.
I mean, I know Papashanga is a big old boy, but you know.
(36:22):
It was easy, easy, easy because I, me and Joey Mags were
friends, which was, you know, Manny Fernandez had him under
his wing. So and Manny and and Barbie were
great friends. So of course I got to hang
around those guys. Me and Joey did drive him up and
down the road. So, you know, he was easy now.
(36:42):
If he didn't like you, he'd killyou.
Him and me both. But if he liked you, he was easy
as a feather. And Tony had just come back.
He was working in those army pants.
He'd been painting the houses. And I worked him in a single
match. Also Tony.
I watched that match. Earlier, yeah, he was like they
they said go home. He said we can.
(37:05):
I said, Tony shoot me, give me go from clothesline.
I'll duck it when I come back, grab both hands full of my hair.
I'll layout for a big bump when I pop right back up.
Hit me with that. Yeah, but that sounds good.
That's what you did? Yeah.
He couldn't think of a finish. I thought of it on the fly right
there. Yeah.
Of course I didn't get credit for it.
(37:25):
They told him how great he looked.
Yeah, yeah. So in the ring with Kamala and
I, I don't want to dial too far back here, but are you talking
to Kamala before the match and he's he's keeping the gimmick in
the match or are is he talking to you a little bit?
No, I, I got dressed in the samedressing room with him, him,
Bruno and and Brawler and all those guys.
(37:47):
And, you know, he's just like, we just go out there and do a
little serious robot brother, You know what you're saying?
That's the thing. You're chopping me up.
You know, I'm going to try to drop Kiki.
You're not going to sell it. I'm going to come up, you're
going to chop me to death and give me a splash.
He said pretty much what we all do, Jeffrey.
That's what we going to do, Jeffrey.
(38:07):
Yeah. Kamala's great.
Yeah. So you're working.
Kamala. Papa Barbarian.
I know this is kind of a quintessential list here, but in
that time, though, you're also doing the USWA Smoky Mountain
thing. Now, you kind of alluded to it
earlier where, you know, Jarrettwould take the book and then you
would have a spot or Lawler. They weren't that way, right?
They would literally clear the house sometimes just to start a.
(38:30):
Whole new. Wood so they would do a blow off
on their feuds and then it was start overtime and then Lawler
took the book for six months. Tell me.
And so that's what led you to Smoky Mountain.
Yeah, I mean like the clean house, you know, all the under
talent gets clean. They bring in new guys, you
know, they keep a handful of guys that are always in and out
of there. You know, of course Jeff and
(38:52):
Jerry are there and the Moon Dogs are always there anytime
they want to be there. Billy Travis is in and out
between there and Dallas all thetime.
Yeah, Eric Embry had had his wreck and was out, so you know.
Talk about my favorite, Tony Falk.
Tony Falk. I love Tony, man.
Me and Tony friends forever. Met him in Dallas.
(39:15):
He was actually, he was refereeing at that point in
Dallas, you know, and I was in there for a cup of coffee and,
you know, they really have a spot for me because all the top
San Antonio guys were coming up there.
You know, that's where I first met Eric too, because Eric left
there right after I started training and a little bit with
(39:35):
him in Dallas, a little bit morewith Global and then, you know,
up here in USWA. And it's funny because Jarrett
was taking over the book. I worked Eric Tuesday night at
the at the Louisville Gardens and he went back and he told
Jerry, he said, Laura, don't getrid of this kid.
(39:56):
He said, man, he can work his ass off.
Laura said no, no, I'm getting rid of him.
And he did. But then.
We go full circle. The last couple of years that I
was still working, anytime Laurawas working independence around
here, he didn't want to work anybody but me so.
Right. He asked for you.
Yeah. So it's like you stuck around
(40:17):
long enough for him to validate.OK, now I can work with him, you
know. But he always loved working with
Dominique, too, man, sure. You know, he's like, I remember
how he says she wearing flats orshe got heels.
I said she got heels. He said get her to give you one
of them boots and dig that heel in my eyes and all right, you
(40:37):
got it. So we played with the boot for
15 minutes for he pile drive me.Yeah, I got to manage Dutch
against Lawler and he, he is great.
Dutch Iggied me 33 times, I think, which is hilarious
because that was a total rib. But what's funny is early on
when I was out there and you andDominique were working, you
(40:58):
know, people would say sit at the curtain and watch Dominique.
You just watch her, you're goingto learn a lot from her.
Just watch her. And I did it.
It was great stuff. She knew timing really well.
Of course y'all were such a welloiled machine, you know what I
mean? Absolutely, man.
You know, You know where she learned?
Yeah. Yeah, I loved her, man.
(41:20):
He'd bring her in to wrestle. We'd always take some girl with
us and he'd put her over big. I'd go in and do a job for
somebody and he'd put her over big.
Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah.
You a pro? Wrestling fan We'll stop by
Captain's Corner, where you can get autographed photos, cards,
magazines, and figures from all of your favorite wrestling
(41:40):
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You'll also be able to participate in live signings in
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Corner on Facebook and give us aholler.
Remember, cheers to the working man.
Jimmy was mentioned something there a while ago.
Makes me made me think of something.
(42:01):
It's always nice to to hear. You always hear about wrestlers
being rivers and everything likethat.
Who's like the best ribber or what's the best rib you can tell
us about or something like that to the memorable cow?
Man, I got a couple of them but it is pretty bad.
(42:23):
I better not tell the Jimmy Garvin one.
Whatever you want to tell brother.
Yeah, whatever you want to tell.Man, no, no.
There's enough guys. You'll get that story out of
somebody. I would say that's river.
Golly, man, it's so hard. Yeah.
(42:43):
Tracy mothers pretty good River.Yeah, Tom Pritchard's a pretty
good river. Dirty white boy.
Yeah. Ricky and Robert, you can't ever
count them out. Robert Fuller Roberts a pretty
good one. Yeah.
Is there anyone you can say thatthat won't hurt the innocent?
(43:03):
Yeah, they were all just like simple ribs, you know, like
somebody suitcase and, you know,they don't have a key to get in
it or, you know, sure, stuff like that, you know, siphon all
the gas out of your car, little stuff like that.
I've heard the one where you know you, you go to wrestle your
match, you come back and one of your shoes is missing, but then
(43:26):
two towns later in the loop you find your shoe again.
So you had to go home in your wrestling boots or something and
you know your shoe would show upbut.
Yeah, yeah. First thing you do when you get
the bills is put your boots on. Yeah, well if you don't, one of
them will be missing. Right.
And and also, that's probably how much time of your life have
you spent tying up your boots, man?
(43:47):
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's the old Congress
in. Oh, legendary, yeah.
Yeah, we were all, everybody wasstaying there, right?
So, yeah, Billy Travis had a place to stay.
So he always gave me and Dominique his room over there.
You know, he said you'll stay atthe Congress.
(44:07):
He said, you know, it's paid for.
You know, I I'm not staying there tonight because of course
him and Jeff were running aroundtogether doing what you know,
Jeff did. So and I remember and there was
this kid, Sean Baxter. I don't know if y'all remember
him or not. Sean Baxter.
(44:28):
Brandon. Baxter, Brandon Baxter was it?
Yeah, but it wasn't him. OK.
He did a rock and roller gimmick.
But anyway, Eric Gimbry and and Terry Adonis.
Do you know Terry Adonis? Yes, I do, definitely.
Yeah, well they H bombed him. Oh man.
(44:52):
He was talking, he was talking shit, you know, oh, you know,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He was talking shit.
So Terry said where you get thiskid?
So they H bombed him, handcuffedhim to the fence around the
swimming pool, poked him in the ass with a hair brush, left him
(45:12):
buck naked and Terry wrote on his chest.
Thanks for a good time, Terry. Oh my gosh.
Yeah, even saying left the territory never came back.
That's a that's a pretty brutal rib right there, man.
That's, that's yeah, that's pretty stiff.
Yeah. Wow.
That's. Still not as not as good as the
(45:33):
Jimmy Garvin, but I just, I can't.
I love Jimmy still alive, and I'm not going to do that.
I understand, I understand. Well, isn't it true that you
could have been a Garvin brother?
Yeah, but see that? There you go.
Jimmy Garvin loved me to death. Yeah, but when I started, when I
turned Hill, Akbar said, hey, look, look how much success that
(45:57):
Jimmy's had working with Precious.
Yeah. Yeah, it's, I mean, it's great,
he said. He said, look, Dominique Leslie,
it's my wife. Leslie is beautiful, he said.
Why don't you do something with her?
I tell my wife she don't know anything about the business.
He said she don't need to know anything about the business.
(46:19):
Let her be stiff, she's on the floor.
If she ain't kicking the shit out of them guys, then ain't
nobody gonna believe it. I said, well, I know you're
right. You know.
He said let me, let me talk to her.
So that's how she got started. But yeah, Jimmy told me.
He said, man said brother, you just, but we can do some stuff
together. He said just why don't you be a
(46:40):
garden? I said oh you know why, You
know, I want to make it on my own and blah blah blah.
And I look back to that now, youstupid idiot.
What the hell was I thinking? Yeah, I can't blame you bro, you
know? Offered to give me the rub and I
was too stupid to know what he was doing.
(47:02):
Yeah, so you bring up a great point, having your wife in the
business. I mean, when I signed up for the
business, you know, that was on the list of don'ts, you know
what I mean? How did you all that took some
balls, man, because I've heard alot of guys said don't ever
bring your girl around, you know.
But of course, you all were a team.
That's one thing. Whereas she wasn't necessarily
staying in the back a lot by herself, you know, and well.
(47:25):
You know, I was I was single fora long time before me and her
got married. So, you know, I had my had my
run up and down the road back inthe territory days doing my
thing. So you know, you know, you know,
me and her married. We're trying to raise a family.
You know, I got kids and you know, I was, believe me, the
(47:46):
last thing on my mind when I wasout there was chasing arena rats
or, or doing something I wasn't supposed to be doing.
I was busy trying to make sure that I didn't get stiffed on my
pay. You know, I got grocery money to
bring home and I said, well, look, you know, you do this, you
get double the pay. Smart.
(48:07):
That's a great idea. Yeah, we, we broke her in and
you know it, it took her a little while, took her about a
year or so to really get good, you know, And I'd throw those
guys outside the ring, man, and she would walk a mud hole in
their ass. They come back and go, God,
brother, she is so stiff. I said, man, that's a girl.
If you can't take that, you don't need to be here.
(48:29):
You know, I said that my whole career, every time she'd walk
somebody's ass up and down. Yeah, that's a girl, man.
If you can't take that, come on.That's a girl, man.
So, yeah, yeah. I mean, so, you know, also
during that same time, I mean, in 92, I'm looking at this list
(48:50):
of the guys and and the people you worked with in Smoky
Mountain. You know, Rock'n'roll, Tracy
Smothers, Kevin Sullivan, stud stable, the Armstrongs.
I mean, you weren't so many great people in that time.
And I know you said Kamala and Papashanga and Barbarian and
Tony Atlas, but these are dudes on a different level than those
guys, no? Disrespect Sullivan.
I I didn't deal with Kevin Sullivan.
(49:11):
Got color for him. Got 14 stitches at the top of my
head because I raised up when hecame with a chair and it was one
of the wooden chairs and it caught me right on the crease,
man. And it laid me wide open.
He was like, holy shit, brother.Yeah, sorry.
No, it's good. So he hung me in a tree of Woes,
and I had a big puddle of blood on the mat when I was done.
(49:34):
So at the end of it, Bob Armstrong says, man, look, I'm
going to bring you out of here on TV.
Don't clean that up real good. It's the whole deal that
Sullivan needs to be banned, he needs to be have his license
taken, he can't wrestle, blah, blah, blah.
And then of course, you know, hewas doing the deal with Brian
Lee, right? You know, And Brian says, well,
(49:55):
you know, I'll never get my revenge if if you get rid of
him, blah, blah, blah. So you know.
I love that time of wrestling, man.
I did. I love that time, absolutely.
Yeah, we'll see. Kevin would see.
I was there the night that the Japanese guy, what was his name?
God, I believe, man, he's a big,big time Japanese guy now.
(50:16):
The guy that gapped his arm wideopen and Sullivan stuck the deal
in it. Yeah, yeah, Hold on.
I know it. I know it.
Dang, The good news is that I can trim some of this stuff out
here. Are you talking about?
What is? What is his name?
(50:37):
Geez. Kimura.
Yeah. OK.
Kochiro Kimura. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, that's him. Yeah, man, he laid, you could
see, almost to the bone of his bicep.
And so they even someone's like,Oh my God, this is bad, but I'm
going to stick this thing in it.You know, we went out there to
(50:58):
to try to break all that up. You know, I was taking bumps and
all that for Sullivan, and you know, he's still on him and
they're bleeding everywhere. You know what's up?
I never got to work with Dominique there because Candida
was in there with. Sonny.
Yeah, Tammy. Yeah.
But she never got to do any Smoky Mountain with me, which
(51:19):
sucked. We work together everywhere else
so. Yeah, that that doesn't, I mean,
I get what and maybe was that Cornett's call was that he just
like brother can't bring it in your we already got that.
No, I, I think it's because I, Iwouldn't bobble.
I was in a Carpenter position, you know.
Sure, sure. You know well that that night
with Ken Amura, I worked the Rock'n'roll Express and that's
(51:44):
when they had Aaron Anderson under the sheet.
You know, like they were poking the bear.
You know we worked lock and rollthat night.
Yeah. Yeah, that was yeah, I was a
wealth of knowledge working withall those guys and riding up and
down the road, you know, I'd be in a band with with White Boy
and and Tom Pritchard and and Ricky Morton and, you know, Tim
(52:07):
Horner, all those guys. Did you ever did you ever hear
Tim Horners version of Shameless?
No. The Garth Brooks Classic.
No, but I did. I did see Tracy Smothers whip
his ass one night. That's even better than that
I've. Always heard Tracy was one of
(52:27):
those legit tough guys like you were talking about Barbarian and
being earlier I heard. Tracy is legit tough.
But the sweetest man you've evermet too?
Yeah. Was he not the sweetest person?
I mean, seriously, I didn't. I've never been on the wrong.
Side of him, he would ask about my kids before he asked how I
was doing. Yeah.
(52:48):
Yeah, the saddest thing was I got to manage him twice.
And then the last time we workedon a show together there in
Millersville, he was there and he said, brother, I need you
tonight. And I said I'm out there twice
tonight. And I and they, the guy, I don't
want to say the name, but the Booker wouldn't let me go out
there with Tracy because I was already working in in two other
angles which I would have tradedboth of those for working with
(53:12):
Tracy. You know, now I know it.
Yeah, it would. It would have been.
Yeah. Yeah.
Me and Crimson, after I trained Crimson got him in, you know, he
took over the book for a little while up at Millersville and I
was coming in doing commentary and writing TV.
And, you know, they, they were just like, man, I just can't
(53:33):
justify paying him this much money to talk on the microphone.
And they're like, he's like, dude, are you stupid?
He's writing your TV for you. Hey everybody, Jean Jackson here
inviting you to check out the Retro Wrestling review where
each week I'm joined by some great Co host to help me review
classic episodes of USWA Championship Wrestling.
(53:55):
And right now we are doing week by week reviews of 1993.
But we don't just do reviews. Sometimes we get a chance to
interview some of the people whowere there and lived it.
Plus do watch alongs. It's a lot of fun.
So check out new episodes that drop every Wednesday at
wrestlecopia.com and define links to everything being
associated to the podcast. You can go to uswapodcast.com.
(54:23):
Hi, this is Mike Nathan, host ofthe Reckless abandoned podcast
with Mike Nathan, 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
Nicole. We talk wrestling, we talk pop
(54:43):
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
choices and always remember, No Dollar, No dice.
(55:18):
Hey, hey y'all, this is Jimmy here.
And that was episode 8 of The Best of James Rock St.
Productions with the first half of episode 28 of The Crippler.
Jeff Daniels on Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling Jeff's a great guy
and had a great career. He was a journeyman wrestler in
the days of the territories and has the stories to go with it.
From dumping a plate of food in a wildcat's lap to Smoky
(55:40):
Mountain Wrestling and more. You can hear the full episode
over on at G MB, MPW, or Give MeBack My Pro Wrestling.
Wherever you listen to podcasts or simply click the link in the
notes below. We hope you've enjoyed a look
back in the archives of James Rock St.
Productions. Check us out next week to see
what else we have in store. Until then, friends follow at G,
MB, MPW and at James Rock St. everywhere.
(56:03):
Peace with a tear in my eye. This is the greatest moment in
my life. This has been a James Rock St.
(56:42):
production.
Hey guys, it's Jeff the CripplerDaniels, and you're listening to
Give Me Back, my pro wrestling podcast, TuneIn.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome toGive Me Back My Pro.
Wrestling. Hello.
(00:45):
So don't know now you know. Baby, this is Hot Rod Bigs,
Jared, Jimmy St. We're going to take him to the
limit one more time, baby, righthere.
Oh, give me back my pro wrestling.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome one more time to give me back my
pro wrestling. And I'm your host.
Jimmy St. And this is my brother.
From the same father and mother.The plastic sheet.
(01:07):
Jared St. What's up, brother?
How you doing today? I'm doing great, brother.
How about yourself? Hanging in there, man.
Just, you know, looking forward to getting a conversation in
with Jeff the Crippler Daniels. I'm excited for this one.
Yeah, man, it's gonna be good totalk to him.
The guy's been everywhere. I mean, people, people are
probably gonna say, you know, ifthey look him up on YouTube or
something, they're pregnant, Say, hey man, that I've seen
(01:28):
that guy before. Right, right.
I've seen him somewhere. I know, I know that guy from
somewhere. Yeah.
Jeff is a great guy. I got to know him in the
Nashville scene like most of thepeople that we interview on
here. And I tell you, he he was just
one of those guys that you gravitate towards.
It was just like, you know, like, oh man, I want to hear
what this guy's talking about, you know, and you know, he he's
(01:51):
a long time veteran that knows his stuff and doesn't mind to
talk to the young younger guys and share it with him, you know,
and for that, you know, that's why honestly, he's a treasure
for that scene, especially the Middle Tennessee, but also just
a whole, you know, he's a treasure.
So it's good to have Jeff on. You know, Jeff's just one of
(02:12):
those guys that you could literally talk to about a
million things. So I think I've got some good
questions. I know you've got some good
questions for him. I'm excited to see how that
goes. So.
Me too, brother. Yeah.
So to kind of do a little backtracking before we get to
Jeff, you know, the first thing to address, I guess right now is
that the last episode we had wasthe action figure episode,
(02:34):
seeing a lot of, you know, good listens and numbers and stuff.
So we're happy about that. Definitely appreciate that.
Also some fun feedback. And yes, Charlie, the announcer
of the muscle man look just likeRick Boucher.
So we got to we got to prove that on our Facebook page.
So that was hilarious. And yeah, so we, you know, I've
(02:55):
been having fun with that episode, so.
Do you think that was supposed to be like main gene esque or do
you think it looked like one of the Japanese and?
I think stuff like that, I thinkit's got to be one of the
Japanese announcers in my person, probably because he kind
of does have that like Japanese almost stereotypical look about
(03:16):
him a little bit. But I'm telling you, right, I
think it looks like Rick Boucherto me.
Yeah, but y'all go look up Rick Boucher if you don't know who
that is. But anyway, he was a long time
Congressman, House of Represent whatever from the state of
Virginia in our 9th district. So and some people might say it
Boucher, but no here I know, but.
(03:38):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Boucher. I like that Rica Boucher, I
mean. But that's how it's spelled, I
think. Like, oh, like in some Cajun
type that that name would type thing, Yeah.
Anyway, yeah, yeah, Rick voucher, long time guy there.
(03:59):
So anyway, we had a good time with the action figures.
So what's cool is the action figure shows kind of bring in a
different audience, you know, and so we've we've kind of
become a liaison of sorts. One of our new sponsors on the
show is insane. Shane's world.
He's got a Facebook page. He actually makes custom action
figures of these guys that we'retalking about and they're not
(04:23):
your normal custom. They're not like, you know, take
a head and a Triple H torso and you know, whatever legs and that
kind of thing. This guy, he has something that
like basically, I guess like a 3D printer and he prints these
guys up. I know he's done Troy Eaton, I
know he's done. Reno Riggins is the one that's
(04:44):
dropping soon, but go to Insane Shane's World on Facebook.
Look him up. He's got an ad now on our show
and we're running that with him because you know what, you know,
we've got the plastic sheet. I don't know, maybe we might see
a plastic chic action figure oneday.
We'll see, you know, things happen, right?
So. The sky is the limit, brother.
The sky is the limit. You have anything you'd like to
(05:06):
share before we get going to Jeff here?
Just thinking about some things,you know, they got the I saw
that CM Punk is possibly gettinghealthy again, so just something
to keep our eyes on if he actually appears in wrestling
again anywhere. Yeah, You know, it's funny.
Seth Rollins kind of opened the door for something there, but.
He did. That could just be, you know,
(05:27):
The thing is, is people we forget that wrestlers are
workers. You know, that's true, That's
true. And they could just be working
us and that's the thing. And once you it's, it's kind of
it's kind of a curse. Once you are or see enough of
the wrestling business and you're kind of get a little
smart to it, you start to see everything as a work.
(05:49):
We've talked about this before, but you know, like NFL, it's a
work, you know? Well, now there's supposedly
there's supposedly a prediction out there for the Super Bowl
that we'll see if it's true as of recording this, that the.
Rock is going to show up. Yeah.
CM Punk's going to get in there.No, supposedly the score is
going to be 3734 Eagles. That's.
(06:11):
That's supposedly a script from the NFL, they've said.
Well, that's a good, yeah, that's a good one, chic.
Who do you think will be the winner of the Super Bowl?
I'm going to say Chiefs. I don't know why, Chiefs.
You like? Patrick yeah, I just think that
they always seem to they always seem to make the plays when they
need to. Eagles quarterbacks a little
(06:33):
banged up or has been Jalen Hurts so I don't know if he'll
him. Holtz yeah, I mean, I'm sure
he's going to play unless they tell him he can't play.
So it's. Yeah, yeah, well, I guess we'll
see. But I hey, I'll go with the
Chiefs too. So we'll I was feeling the
Chiefs, but I just feel like Patrick's one of the top echelon
(06:54):
and they've got a great team around him.
So we'll see. You know it that hey, Chiefs and
Eagles, why not? So by this time it'll have
already happened and you know, it'll be almost out of their
minds now. So except for the team who wins.
So congratulations to whoever wins.
Exactly. All right, Well, I think that's
it for the opening right now. I want to just get to Jeff.
(07:16):
Let me get him on the line here.You guys hang out with us just
for a second. We're going to listen to a few
messages and we'll be right backwith some Jeff the Crippler
Daniels. Promotional consideration paid
for by the following This is Kroll and you're listening to
Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling with Jimmy St. and Jared the
(07:38):
Plastic sheet. Be sure to like, subscribe and
view all of our uswo and Saw wrestling content at Nashville
Wrestling Network exclusively onYouTube.
(07:59):
All right, we are back with GiveMe Back My Pro Wrestling Podcast
and y'all today we've got a veryspecial guest on the show.
I tell you, you know, we have topics, we have what ifs, we
have cool things. But when we get a cool guest on
the show, that's when I really feel like we're at our peak
right now. And this guy right here is a
absolute legend when it comes down to it.
(08:20):
He's done a little bit of everything and live to tell
about it. So welcome to the Give Me Back
My Pro Wrestling podcast. Mr. Jeff the Crippler Daniels.
How you doing brother? I'm good brother God.
Thank you guys for having me on.I appreciate it.
We're happy to have you on, excited to have you on.
You know, it's funny because I never clicked with you on
Facebook for some reason, because you're under your shoot
(08:41):
name and I'm like, man, I know this guy.
Why do I And we finally got together, man and friended each
other or whatever you call it. And then dude, you're on the
podcast. I'm I'm excited man, so.
You know, I shut my wrestling 1 down three or four years ago.
It just it was a hassle and you know, it just I wouldn't viable
(09:02):
anymore. I was retired and it was just a
bunch of bull on there all the time and I just Oh yeah, I got
to nerd messing with it. So I just shut it down.
Yeah, I understand, man. I don't blame you.
You know what's funny is I was in the business for a little bit
and a bunch of people friended me and all this stuff.
And then I get out of the business and then all those
friends kind of go away. And then I get on a podcast
(09:22):
about wrestling again with Wolfie and my brother here and
boom boom boom, everybody and their mother is trying to friend
me on here. So.
So I actually sent out the friendship to you.
So I'm not putting you in that realm.
Yeah, I appreciate that. Yeah.
Yeah, it's amazing. You get viable again and they
come out of the woodwork, don't they?
(09:45):
Yeah, that's a good way to say it, actually.
Hey, Jeff. So you know, one of the first
things I always like to ask to kind of start us off and it kind
of lets the audience know kind of where you come from in the
wrestling businesses. If if you could have a Mount
Rushmore of your all time favorite or just the all time
wrestlers to you, they could be impacted your life, your
(10:06):
favorite, or just people you like to watch.
Or it could just be your opinionof who's the best, and you could
even have a fifth one, four to five of your top wrestlers of
all time. So just after being in the
business or just like growing upwho I thought are just.
All of it. All of it, man, All of it.
Any or all? Yeah, the big influence on my
(10:27):
career made me want to be a professional wrestler was,
believe it or not, Ken Mantel when he was the world junior
heavyweight champion. Yes.
Ted Dibiase's got to go in there.
Ted's one of the best workers that was ever in this business.
Yeah, absolutely. Ricky Morton.
Oh yeah. Good, true close friend of mine.
(10:49):
I love Ricky to death, but he isthis business personified.
Yes, he is. And then, just because I love
him, superstar Billy Graham. OK, OK.
That's awesome. And that's a great Mount
Rushmore. And, and unfortunately, you
know, Billy Graham gets overlooked a lot with when it
(11:11):
comes to the all time greats just because he was a little bit
early for a lot of people. He was just a little bit.
Early for a lot of people, he was way before his time, but he
changed the landscape of professional wrestling.
He is what Vince turned Hulk Hogan into.
He had he had him there already.And you know the deal with the
(11:32):
Backlund taking that belt and instead of making a baby face
turn with with Graham, which would have got over because the
people had had begun to love himanyway.
Yeah, yeah. That was, that was missed
opportunity right there. That should have been he should
have been Hulk Hogan. Yeah, yeah, it's so true.
Hogan copying him. Yeah.
Do you think maybe he was too strong minded for Vince and
(11:55):
that's maybe why Vince? No, yeah.
No, it was old school mentality.They told him the day he won the
belt, the day he would lose the belt, they were grooming Bob
Backlund because they were tiredof having of a an ethnic
champion, because they had Brunowith the Italians, they had
Pedro with the Puerto Ricans. And, you know, and Vince always
(12:19):
wanted a Vince singer, always wanted a redheaded All American
champion. Yeah, OK.
You. Know but you know, Graham was
settling out doing big business,but Ben Senior was man of his
word. Everybody I've ever talked to
said anything he said you could take his word to the bank.
(12:40):
And you know to the day he took that belt off.
Graham. Wow.
That's crazy to think about because Billy Graham was so
special to not only other wrestlers like Dusty Rhodes and
Hulk Hogan and Scott Steiner andso many guys, but when it came
down to it, even boxers were taking some stuff from from the
Superstar so. Yeah, and even even like Jesse
(13:01):
Ventura. Graham said he.
Oh, yeah, Graham said. He took stuff from Muhammad Ali
too, you know. Well, I mean, it's probably a
give and a take, yeah. Yeah, but it was he's the one
that started it all. You know, Dusty patterned his
promos after him, you know, You know the the brother thing that
Hogan with brother this and brother that, you know, that was
(13:24):
superstar Billy Graham, you know?
Yeah. Look back on some old Georgia
Championship wrestling. There's one where Graham comes
in. He cuts his promo on a Ric Flair
gonna wrestling for the world title.
Man, it's superstar Billy Grahampersonified.
Yeah, yeah. That's awesome.
Well, we'll bring you back for the Superstar Billy Graham show,
(13:46):
but but today we're going to talk Jeff Krippler Daniels.
How you how you feel about that brother?
Hey. I'm excited.
Let's go. All right, so I always start
this off, man, and it kind of goes back a little further than
a lot of podcasts. Go talk about your younger days,
man. Where Where'd you grow up?
What were you from, brother? Well, I was born in Houston, TX,
grew up in Louisiana, just across the state line from Texas
(14:08):
in a town called the Ritter, which is about 40 minutes north
of Lake Charles. So as as you all know, Jetson
crippled Daniels from Lake Charles, LA.
So yeah, buddy, that's where that came from.
You know, I played football, youknow, baseball, you know, that
was, we didn't have, believe it or not, didn't have amateur
(14:29):
wrestling. OK, Yeah.
Yeah. So what did you play in
football? What was your position?
Linebacker on defense or nose guard depending on which defense
we were running and I played full back or strong back
position on offense. Nice, nice, nice.
All right. What about baseball?
(14:50):
What'd you play in baseball? What's first baseman?
I'm left-handed. OK, yeah, that sets you up.
Yeah. That's awesome.
Yeah. Oh, a lefty, too.
A southpaw, huh. Gotcha.
Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's awesome.
Who'd you like? Did you?
Were you a Stroh's fan growing up?
Fans My dad was a huge Oakland A's fan.
Yeah, OK. And the Oakland A's played the
(15:13):
Saint Louis Cardinals in the World Series when I was just a
little kid and I saw those SaintLouis Cardinals jerseys and I've
been a Cardinals fan every since.
Yeah, OK, OK. Well, we won't tell you who we
like, but we'll we'll just, it ain't the Cubs.
We'll say that it's it's maybe another team y'all beat up on in
the Central, the Reds. It can't be perfect, can't we?
(15:38):
I'm a Bengals fan because Joe Burrow, you know I'm.
You buy you Bengals. Yeah, I figured you would be.
Yeah, yeah. Jamar Chase.
Yeah, so I know we're talking sports here, and I don't want to
kind of go too far with that, but I don't want to cut you off
either. But at what point did pro
wrestling come in around that time?
(15:58):
Well, I mean, you know, from thetime I was a kid, my grandfather
was a huge wrestling fan. You know, I grew up watching the
Leroy Mcgurk's wrestling and then later Bill Watts took over
and it became Mid South. But I, you know, that's what I
grew up on. And then I had family in
Houston. I'd go there and I'd get to see
Paul Bosch's wrestling, you know, So, you know, that's what
(16:21):
I grew up on. And when I got out of school, I
moved to Houston. I was working in Houston and I
used to go down to 1919 Caroline.
It was the wrestling office, Paul Bosch.
And every Friday I'd go down there, you know, I miss, you
know, Miss Bosch. I want to be a professional
(16:42):
wrestler. Oh, kid, you don't want to do
this. You're going to starve to death,
You know, you're not big enough,you know, blah, blah, blah.
And I did it every Friday, everyFriday, man.
He said, well, you know, if if Nick Kozak comes around, I'll
ask him if he's interested or ifTiger Conway comes around, I'll
ask him if he's interested, you know, And I kept doing it.
(17:04):
And after about a year I walked in there one Friday and he said
you are not going to give up foryou and said, no, Sir, I want to
be a wrestler. And he said, come back here.
It's the first time I ever got to go back into the office part
man. He had pictures of everybody on
that wall that had been to Houston, you know, and he took
the phone. He called San Antonio.
He called Joe Blanchard. He said, Joe.
(17:26):
He said, I got a kid here. It's very persistent.
He said I'm going to send him toyou and I want you to take care
of him, OK, Which I learned later, I want you to take care
of him. Meant don't take his money and
break his leg and send him home,right?
You know. So I went down to San Antonio
and Eric Embry was the trainer, but Eric was leaving, going to
(17:49):
Dallas and I ended up bruising Bob Sweet and training and
thought the boy had a little bitto do with it too.
Yeah. She just left.
This was 85 early 85, late 84. Early 85.
OK, awesome, awesome. And you said the sheep herders.
You know, I've had Luke on podcast before and great guy.
(18:11):
You know, The funny thing was, is we talked too much about the
bushwhackers and all I wanted todo was talk about the sheep
herders. You know what I mean?
Because Luke was the Booker there.
Joey took the book back over andyou know, I was training with
like Mannyville Oboes and some of those guys.
Rudy Gonzalez was in there, you know, Dusty Wolf.
(18:34):
Oh yeah, yeah. And then your top guys, you had
Scott Casey, of course Tully would come in sweet tan.
You know, the Stomper was in andout of the spoiler, You know, I
mean, Al Madrid, Yeah, You know,he had, he had everybody.
He did. That's amazing.
Al Perez, yeah. Yeah, Did you ever, did you ever
(18:55):
talk to Gary Hart at all? Gary wasn't in there.
Gary was in Dallas at that. Time.
Got it. And that's all the boys were
going up there because Joe was about to shut down.
He was about to sell out to FredBaron for that All Star Texas
All Star deal. I got in, I got started and then
Joe did his deal, took his moneyfrom burn up there, sold the
(19:19):
Fred Barons and you know Fred kept a few of the top guys.
We cleared house, man. So here I am just getting
started and now I don't have a job.
Floor falls out from under you, Yeah.
Yeah, so, you know, I'm trying to get into Dallas at this point
and you know, they bring me up and they do a thing or two with
me. You know, nothing big, just
(19:41):
under card doing some TV show upon the House show.
Funny. Later, later on, I came back and
I left there because I wouldn't do anything.
And I went out to California andwas working for California
Championship Wrestling. It was Victor Rivera, Steve
Strong. You know, it was after the
(20:04):
Olympic stuff. All that was dead and gone at
that point, right? Right.
But man, I was, I was starving to death out there.
I tried to get on up San Francisco, couldn't get anything
there. Ended up got a little break
buddy. Mine, gorgeous Joey Jackson was
up in Portland. So I got a little spot up there.
(20:25):
I was there for a minute and I was just like, man, it's too
damn cold up here. So I came back home and, well,
I'll try to figure out what I can do.
Well, I got back to Louisiana and a buddy of mine said, man,
they're starting a new promotionhere in Louisiana.
So really. So he introduced me to the guy
and it was Edward Falk and Jim Carpenter with that IWF, the
(20:47):
International Wrestling Federation.
Right. OK, Yeah.
So well, actually at the time itwas Jim Carpenter had it then I
knew Edward Faulk from refereeing and I got I got
Edward into it. Edward, you know, just basically
muscled right in on Jim and tookover.
And I thought, well, I'm in, I'min a great position.
(21:08):
You know which I was. I, you know, I worked on top
there for a couple of years, youknow, and I, I had who, who are
guys to work with. You know, we'd bring in one man
gang. All the Mid South guys would
bring in me and a guy, Amos Moses.
But me and Amos, Jack Curtis putus together as the new
(21:31):
Rock'n'roll Express going to tryto play off that Louisiana.
So and then they brought in likeIceman and Brick House brown
Blackbirds to work as we worked in, we worked to Rock'n'roll
RPMS, you know, And then I got cross ways with Edward because
he owed me a bunch of money. And so Mike Davis sent me over
(21:52):
to Continental, which had just died because everything was
dying then, you know? I'm in the territory, Yeah, I.
Think your name was Cheryl Dunn.I was running it at that point
and I worked over there for a month or so.
I was like, no, which I knew from Houston, Tommy Samano Lee,
that's going to get better. And I was like, no, I'm going
back to Louisiana, man. So I went back and then I got
(22:14):
picked up with a world class andbelieve it or not, it is funny
story, Great Muda. It was his first trip to the
States and he was doing the Super Black Ninja.
Right. Yes, yes.
And the guy he was working, Mudawould give him that spin kick
and he kept bumping out of the ring to the floor.
(22:36):
And Akbar hated that. Akbar said if that son of a
bitch falls out of the ring one more time, you got your gear,
will you? I said, yes, Sir, I do.
He said, well, the spot's yours.And showed up that night Black
him Coliseum in Lafayette. He bumped out of the ring and
they sent him home. And I picked up working the rest
of that tour with Muda as the Super Black Dragon, a super
(22:56):
black ninja. Wow, OK.
How was that, man? I mean, because you're kind of
getting some seasoning on you. He was green and he was stiff.
A job to him in WCW. Years later and he was the
easiest, smoothest guy in the whole world.
Wow, so OK, you've been telling a great story so I'm not messing
(23:18):
up your flow, but talk about what was your very first match
and who was it against? Bob Sweet Tan.
Bob Sweet Tan And how did that go?
How did you feel? We we did about about 10 minutes
and of course he piled drive me and beat me.
You know, he was breaking me in.They kind of married me to him
and we worked our way up to mid,you know, to mid card before he
(23:40):
broke off and went into something big again.
But I mean, you know, he carriedme around, took care of me,
broke me and got me used to crowds and, you know, steady
talking to me. Look, here's how you do this.
Here's how you do this. This is what we're going to do
now, you know, and then riding in the car, I would drive him,
you know, and just him and and all those guys down there were
(24:02):
just the wealth of of knowledge,you know, and anybody willing to
learn back then, if you would shut up and listen, they would
teach you everything that you needed to know.
Yeah, you know, that's that's. Still true, you know.
Yeah, and I will tell you first time I ever got color was hard
way by sweet and we're working mid card and he had me in the
(24:26):
headlock. We were down and he supported
Krauts flat kids and said we gotto get them up.
You know, we're building to the main event.
He said maybe we'll get a littlecolor.
I said well I don't have a bladeBob.
He said you don't need one. He's back on the corner.
He backed me in the corner and popped me over my left eye.
(24:47):
Yeah, he said did that hurt? I said no.
He said. I still got the touch and by the
time blood was just all over me,I thought, wow, no, not no,
nothing. He just popped right down over
that Oracle bone and split me wide open.
Yeah. Bunch of tape in the back to
(25:07):
tape it up. And then of course from then on
the next two or three nights, you know, you just bump it and
I'm bleeding, right? Yeah.
Sweet and hard way being my first time.
That's that's AI mean. Honestly, that was the first
time I ever got color was a hardway too.
But we'll well, this is not my show.
So, so sweet tan. So when you're working him, are
(25:28):
you? It's like you're learning on the
job, right? So who would you say was the
next person to kind of take you on as your teacher, essentially?
I mean, I bounced around at thatpoint.
I mean, Akbar had a lot. Akbar liked me a lot.
Love Akbar, yeah, he's, he was one of my biggest influences,
yeah. Oh yeah, He used to beg me to
(25:49):
move back to Dallas. Please go back to Dallas, man.
I'm in Nashville. I'm good.
Yeah, yeah. I need you so bad down here,
kid. You just don't understand.
Yeah, You know, in which anytimeI wanted to go that way, I
picked up the phone and I was booked as long as I wanted to be
booked over that way, you know, which was really good.
I got some good stuff in global work, Calvin Knapp, stuff like
(26:11):
that. But as far as in the ring, when
I was with IWF, I'd made that little trip out West, you know,
and it was just kind of on my own.
And, you know, those guys were cliquey out there.
So everybody kind of stayed to their self.
You weren't too, you weren't, you know, and it's, it's what it
was. But I got back into IWF for
Louisiana with with them. And before me and Amos tagged
(26:34):
up, Jerry Stubbs came in and, you know, Jerry took a liking to
me, kind of took me under his wing.
We even tagged together and had the IWF tag belt.
So which was the first title I ever had.
But you know, and Jerry was like, you look, here's what you
do. And you don't let nobody tell
you this. Don't let nobody tell you that.
You know, you're your own man and you're you make your own
(26:56):
money. And if you don't like what
they're doing, you make a call and move down the road.
Don't sit somewhere and be unhappy.
You know, this is marked me up to the to the business end and
also polishing me up as a workertoo.
I mean, he is phenomenal. Jerry Stubbs is one of the most
underrated wrestlers in the world.
That's awesome. Yeah.
So I know that wrestling is not just a one time.
(27:19):
You know, the light bulb goes off and you know everything.
But do you remember when the first light bulb went off in
your mind and you were like, OK,I started to get something
there. I'm getting it now.
Do you remember that time? Yeah, we're doing that stuff
with Stubbs. You know, it was serious
learning Tree, sure, But after when me and Amos were together
(27:40):
and Brick House and Iceman came in, you know, and I still was
let out. If you kids can't work, we're
gonna eat your ass alive. We went out there and tore the
house down with me. Like, brother, I work with you
anywhere. And he would get me, get us
bookings, you know, out of thereto go work them.
And of course, then Brick, who was always in trouble, bless his
(28:00):
heart. And then he brought in that kid
from Dallas, Mr. Ebony, and that, you know, they did that
for a while. But working with him, I really
started to understand psychology, you know, and how to
sell, when to sell, how much to sell, you know, But when I, I
think when the light really cameon for me was when I, when I
(28:22):
first, when I finally turned heel because I'd worked so long
as a babyface, I knew what that babyface need.
I knew what I needed to do to get that babyface over to make
me viable. Good heel.
If you're going to get heat, yougot to give that babyface 90% of
everything. And no one went out.
(28:43):
But I would say probably around 90 when I came up here for
Jarrett, I came up here for Jerry Jarrett and worked here a
few months and, you know, they switched Booker's back to
Lawler. So it's a good cop, bad cop
thing. You know, you're Jarrett's
Booker and you work and then Lawler takes over and you're
(29:04):
gone or vice versa. So at that time, Tom Pritchard
and Ricky Morton, dirty white boy, they're all like, hey,
brother, just come on, come to Smokey Mountain.
We'll get you in down here. So I went to Smokey Mountain and
me and Chris Michael. Yeah, it's the first time I ever
saw you wrestle Jeff. I was in Smoky Mountain, so.
Me and Chris went down there andtore the house down and both got
(29:27):
jobs. I mean we tore up.
We did like we had this 15 minute match worked out and
coordinates as it sounds. Great guys.
Can you do it in six? Yes Sir.
Minute hot spot, man. I mean, we never stopped moving
except I bumped out of the ring one time and the only reason I
(29:48):
did that was so he could do a plancha over the top on me, you
know. And of course he had Bob Collin,
Dutch Mantel doing commentaries so they made us smell like a
million. Dollars and Chris Michaels was
old Chris Comet around that timeI do believe.
Correct. Chris Comet.
Yeah, Yeah, me and him had been working here around Nashville
doing the independent stuff. See, when I finished up with
(30:09):
Jared, I was like, well, shit, Idon't know what I'm going to do,
you know? And somebody says, well, you
need to call Chris Champion. So I called Chris and Chris
like, oh, brother, I can use you.
You know, I'm booking here, I'm booking there, I'm booking here.
I can work you four or five nights a week.
I was like hell yeah, you know, and that's where I started
meeting the guys around here. Ashley Hudson had just come over
from Australia, was Greenfield, you know, Chris was just
(30:34):
breaking in. There was a ton of guys, man.
And you know, me and Chris hung together and booked stuff
forever. And we, when I got the booking
job for NWAI, brought Chris in as my assistant because just me
and him flowed well together with our thoughts and stuff.
But yeah, I would say probably 9090 ones when the light bulb
(30:54):
came on, you know, really felt at home and felt like I was a
journeyman starting to turn intoa general.
Yeah, because, you know, right about this time you're starting
to really do some stuff as far as doing, you know, not only
being a general in the in the local areas, but also you're
starting to become a Carpenter too.
I mean, you were a Carpenter. I'm saying that in the wrong
way. Absolutely no.
(31:15):
No, absolutely. I'm proud to be a Carpenter.
That's a little job to have, andit always keeps you working.
Absolutely. And now a word from our sponsor.
(31:37):
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome toGive Me Back My Pro Wrestling,
the podcast that's based on the old school but can still help
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Jimmy St. and the Plastic Chic Jared are the undisputed tag
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From thought provoking topics tosuperstar interviews to action
(31:59):
figure expertise, this team. Does it all and all they ask is
give me back my pro wrestling every other Thursday wherever
you listen to podcasts. I was going to ask you, Jeff, I
did a little research about you.I saw that you started some with
(32:22):
WWF in, is it August of 92 or something like that?
Is that right? Yeah, downtown Bruno who had got
me in up here, he was down therein IWF with the RPMS when I was
ready to leave Louisiana. So man you and it was me and Big
Jim Ryder. I don't know if you guys knew
him. He looked just like one man
gang, but me and him, Bruno said.
(32:44):
Look, y'all come up, I'm going to introduce you to to, Lawler
said. All right, so we drove up to
Memphis. We left the show and Belle Chase
Louisiana on a Saturday night, drove to Memphis, went to Mid
South Coliseum. On Sunday we went out and
watched Jerry Lauder play softball and met him.
And Monday we went to the Coliseum and Jerry said, yeah,
(33:06):
I'm always looking for some new guys.
He said, can you be here for TV Saturday?
Oh shit, that's a week away. So yeah, yeah, we can be here.
So we drove back to Louisiana, got our crap together, come up
here for TVI got a job, but Jim didn't.
He told him that big guys are a dime a dozen up here.
I can get big guys all day long.But he kept me and Dominique, so
(33:29):
you know, and from then on it's me and her work together
forever. WWF stuff.
Bruno got me in up there becausehe had just went up.
And I remember my first night inwas the Von Braun Center in
Huntsville and it was building up to Kamala and Undertaker in
the Coffin Match Survivor SeriesSummer Slam.
(33:52):
Yeah. Yeah, but I had the last TV
match with Kamala before the pay-per-view.
OK. And you know, I knew I knew Jim
from down in Louisiana because, you know, all the Louisiana guys
know all the Louisiana guys, youknow Cassidy O'Reilly, you know
Cassidy Riley, I love Pier. You know, a bunch of the boys,
(34:13):
Kevin Northcutt, all them guys. We, you know, any time they're
coming through, I had a book in for him because, you know, we
all stuck together. Right, right.
We love Cassidy on this show forsure.
So I love Cass man. He's one of my favorites for
people in the whole world. And yes, he is.
And so I go out there with Kamala.
You know, that's when he was doing the deal where he would,
(34:34):
you know, pin you on your stomach and they're trying to
tell him, roll him over, roll him.
You know, that whole deal. I did this deal where when he
gave me the splash in the middleof my back, when he hit me, I
threw both arms up and let my eyes roll back in my head, you
know, just flop dead and you know, he had to.
They rolled me over finally and pinned me.
(34:55):
When I walked through the curtain at the gorilla position,
Vince McMahon himself was standing there and he said,
guys, that's how I want Kamala sold.
So I picked up a bunch of that, but I work.
I work Papa Shongo. The next night in Nashville,
which was a cakewalk. He said, hey, we can work or we
can work the gimmick. I said, what do you want to do?
(35:17):
He said, I want to put you in a trance and pin you without us
taking a bump. I said I'm your huckleberry, you
know? Yeah, I did that little run with
WWF and then I picked up some stuff with WCW and I got in down
there. When Bill Watts was in, I got
back in. So yeah, I did TV's off and on
down there. Yeah, because then you're
(35:38):
working Barbarian Tony Atlas, then you work in Texas,
Shanghai. I mean, you're working all that
stuff, man, so. Yeah.
Takes slides and you're in. That's yeah.
Ron Slinker's kid. Yeah, OK.
Yeah. Yeah, Tex, he's a chef now, I'm
pretty sure, and he's like a five star chef somewhere.
And then we talked to Shanghai, which is, you know, Henry Godwin
(35:58):
and he's, you know, he's still big, raw bone, son of a gun, you
know, and great guys, both of them, you know.
So yeah. Is he cooking down in Florida?
Is he back in Florida? I think so, yeah.
I think that's where Dennis is. Yeah.
Absolutely. Yeah.
So. But yeah, barbarian man.
I mean, that's as big as a guy you can get.
I mean, I know Papashanga is a big old boy, but you know.
(36:22):
It was easy, easy, easy because I, me and Joey Mags were
friends, which was, you know, Manny Fernandez had him under
his wing. So and Manny and and Barbie were
great friends. So of course I got to hang
around those guys. Me and Joey did drive him up and
down the road. So, you know, he was easy now.
(36:42):
If he didn't like you, he'd killyou.
Him and me both. But if he liked you, he was easy
as a feather. And Tony had just come back.
He was working in those army pants.
He'd been painting the houses. And I worked him in a single
match. Also Tony.
I watched that match. Earlier, yeah, he was like they
they said go home. He said we can.
(37:05):
I said, Tony shoot me, give me go from clothesline.
I'll duck it when I come back, grab both hands full of my hair.
I'll layout for a big bump when I pop right back up.
Hit me with that. Yeah, but that sounds good.
That's what you did? Yeah.
He couldn't think of a finish. I thought of it on the fly right
there. Yeah.
Of course I didn't get credit for it.
(37:25):
They told him how great he looked.
Yeah, yeah. So in the ring with Kamala and
I, I don't want to dial too far back here, but are you talking
to Kamala before the match and he's he's keeping the gimmick in
the match or are is he talking to you a little bit?
No, I, I got dressed in the samedressing room with him, him,
Bruno and and Brawler and all those guys.
(37:47):
And, you know, he's just like, we just go out there and do a
little serious robot brother, You know what you're saying?
That's the thing. You're chopping me up.
You know, I'm going to try to drop Kiki.
You're not going to sell it. I'm going to come up, you're
going to chop me to death and give me a splash.
He said pretty much what we all do, Jeffrey.
That's what we going to do, Jeffrey.
(38:07):
Yeah. Kamala's great.
Yeah. So you're working.
Kamala. Papa Barbarian.
I know this is kind of a quintessential list here, but in
that time, though, you're also doing the USWA Smoky Mountain
thing. Now, you kind of alluded to it
earlier where, you know, Jarrettwould take the book and then you
would have a spot or Lawler. They weren't that way, right?
They would literally clear the house sometimes just to start a.
(38:30):
Whole new. Wood so they would do a blow off
on their feuds and then it was start overtime and then Lawler
took the book for six months. Tell me.
And so that's what led you to Smoky Mountain.
Yeah, I mean like the clean house, you know, all the under
talent gets clean. They bring in new guys, you
know, they keep a handful of guys that are always in and out
of there. You know, of course Jeff and
(38:52):
Jerry are there and the Moon Dogs are always there anytime
they want to be there. Billy Travis is in and out
between there and Dallas all thetime.
Yeah, Eric Embry had had his wreck and was out, so you know.
Talk about my favorite, Tony Falk.
Tony Falk. I love Tony, man.
Me and Tony friends forever. Met him in Dallas.
(39:15):
He was actually, he was refereeing at that point in
Dallas, you know, and I was in there for a cup of coffee and,
you know, they really have a spot for me because all the top
San Antonio guys were coming up there.
You know, that's where I first met Eric too, because Eric left
there right after I started training and a little bit with
(39:35):
him in Dallas, a little bit morewith Global and then, you know,
up here in USWA. And it's funny because Jarrett
was taking over the book. I worked Eric Tuesday night at
the at the Louisville Gardens and he went back and he told
Jerry, he said, Laura, don't getrid of this kid.
(39:56):
He said, man, he can work his ass off.
Laura said no, no, I'm getting rid of him.
And he did. But then.
We go full circle. The last couple of years that I
was still working, anytime Laurawas working independence around
here, he didn't want to work anybody but me so.
Right. He asked for you.
Yeah. So it's like you stuck around
(40:17):
long enough for him to validate.OK, now I can work with him, you
know. But he always loved working with
Dominique, too, man, sure. You know, he's like, I remember
how he says she wearing flats orshe got heels.
I said she got heels. He said get her to give you one
of them boots and dig that heel in my eyes and all right, you
(40:37):
got it. So we played with the boot for
15 minutes for he pile drive me.Yeah, I got to manage Dutch
against Lawler and he, he is great.
Dutch Iggied me 33 times, I think, which is hilarious
because that was a total rib. But what's funny is early on
when I was out there and you andDominique were working, you
(40:58):
know, people would say sit at the curtain and watch Dominique.
You just watch her, you're goingto learn a lot from her.
Just watch her. And I did it.
It was great stuff. She knew timing really well.
Of course y'all were such a welloiled machine, you know what I
mean? Absolutely, man.
You know, You know where she learned?
Yeah. Yeah, I loved her, man.
(41:20):
He'd bring her in to wrestle. We'd always take some girl with
us and he'd put her over big. I'd go in and do a job for
somebody and he'd put her over big.
Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah.
You a pro? Wrestling fan We'll stop by
Captain's Corner, where you can get autographed photos, cards,
magazines, and figures from all of your favorite wrestling
(41:40):
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You'll also be able to participate in live signings in
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Corner on Facebook and give us aholler.
Remember, cheers to the working man.
Jimmy was mentioned something there a while ago.
Makes me made me think of something.
(42:01):
It's always nice to to hear. You always hear about wrestlers
being rivers and everything likethat.
Who's like the best ribber or what's the best rib you can tell
us about or something like that to the memorable cow?
Man, I got a couple of them but it is pretty bad.
(42:23):
I better not tell the Jimmy Garvin one.
Whatever you want to tell brother.
Yeah, whatever you want to tell.Man, no, no.
There's enough guys. You'll get that story out of
somebody. I would say that's river.
Golly, man, it's so hard. Yeah.
(42:43):
Tracy mothers pretty good River.Yeah, Tom Pritchard's a pretty
good river. Dirty white boy.
Yeah. Ricky and Robert, you can't ever
count them out. Robert Fuller Roberts a pretty
good one. Yeah.
Is there anyone you can say thatthat won't hurt the innocent?
(43:03):
Yeah, they were all just like simple ribs, you know, like
somebody suitcase and, you know,they don't have a key to get in
it or, you know, sure, stuff like that, you know, siphon all
the gas out of your car, little stuff like that.
I've heard the one where you know you, you go to wrestle your
match, you come back and one of your shoes is missing, but then
(43:26):
two towns later in the loop you find your shoe again.
So you had to go home in your wrestling boots or something and
you know your shoe would show upbut.
Yeah, yeah. First thing you do when you get
the bills is put your boots on. Yeah, well if you don't, one of
them will be missing. Right.
And and also, that's probably how much time of your life have
you spent tying up your boots, man?
(43:47):
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's the old Congress
in. Oh, legendary, yeah.
Yeah, we were all, everybody wasstaying there, right?
So, yeah, Billy Travis had a place to stay.
So he always gave me and Dominique his room over there.
You know, he said you'll stay atthe Congress.
(44:07):
He said, you know, it's paid for.
You know, I I'm not staying there tonight because of course
him and Jeff were running aroundtogether doing what you know,
Jeff did. So and I remember and there was
this kid, Sean Baxter. I don't know if y'all remember
him or not. Sean Baxter.
(44:28):
Brandon. Baxter, Brandon Baxter was it?
Yeah, but it wasn't him. OK.
He did a rock and roller gimmick.
But anyway, Eric Gimbry and and Terry Adonis.
Do you know Terry Adonis? Yes, I do, definitely.
Yeah, well they H bombed him. Oh man.
(44:52):
He was talking, he was talking shit, you know, oh, you know,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He was talking shit.
So Terry said where you get thiskid?
So they H bombed him, handcuffedhim to the fence around the
swimming pool, poked him in the ass with a hair brush, left him
(45:12):
buck naked and Terry wrote on his chest.
Thanks for a good time, Terry. Oh my gosh.
Yeah, even saying left the territory never came back.
That's a that's a pretty brutal rib right there, man.
That's, that's yeah, that's pretty stiff.
Yeah. Wow.
That's. Still not as not as good as the
(45:33):
Jimmy Garvin, but I just, I can't.
I love Jimmy still alive, and I'm not going to do that.
I understand, I understand. Well, isn't it true that you
could have been a Garvin brother?
Yeah, but see that? There you go.
Jimmy Garvin loved me to death. Yeah, but when I started, when I
turned Hill, Akbar said, hey, look, look how much success that
(45:57):
Jimmy's had working with Precious.
Yeah. Yeah, it's, I mean, it's great,
he said. He said, look, Dominique Leslie,
it's my wife. Leslie is beautiful, he said.
Why don't you do something with her?
I tell my wife she don't know anything about the business.
He said she don't need to know anything about the business.
(46:19):
Let her be stiff, she's on the floor.
If she ain't kicking the shit out of them guys, then ain't
nobody gonna believe it. I said, well, I know you're
right. You know.
He said let me, let me talk to her.
So that's how she got started. But yeah, Jimmy told me.
He said, man said brother, you just, but we can do some stuff
together. He said just why don't you be a
(46:40):
garden? I said oh you know why, You
know, I want to make it on my own and blah blah blah.
And I look back to that now, youstupid idiot.
What the hell was I thinking? Yeah, I can't blame you bro, you
know? Offered to give me the rub and I
was too stupid to know what he was doing.
(47:02):
Yeah, so you bring up a great point, having your wife in the
business. I mean, when I signed up for the
business, you know, that was on the list of don'ts, you know
what I mean? How did you all that took some
balls, man, because I've heard alot of guys said don't ever
bring your girl around, you know.
But of course, you all were a team.
That's one thing. Whereas she wasn't necessarily
staying in the back a lot by herself, you know, and well.
(47:25):
You know, I was I was single fora long time before me and her
got married. So, you know, I had my had my
run up and down the road back inthe territory days doing my
thing. So you know, you know, you know,
me and her married. We're trying to raise a family.
You know, I got kids and you know, I was, believe me, the
(47:46):
last thing on my mind when I wasout there was chasing arena rats
or, or doing something I wasn't supposed to be doing.
I was busy trying to make sure that I didn't get stiffed on my
pay. You know, I got grocery money to
bring home and I said, well, look, you know, you do this, you
get double the pay. Smart.
(48:07):
That's a great idea. Yeah, we, we broke her in and
you know it, it took her a little while, took her about a
year or so to really get good, you know, And I'd throw those
guys outside the ring, man, and she would walk a mud hole in
their ass. They come back and go, God,
brother, she is so stiff. I said, man, that's a girl.
If you can't take that, you don't need to be here.
(48:29):
You know, I said that my whole career, every time she'd walk
somebody's ass up and down. Yeah, that's a girl, man.
If you can't take that, come on.That's a girl, man.
So, yeah, yeah. I mean, so, you know, also
during that same time, I mean, in 92, I'm looking at this list
(48:50):
of the guys and and the people you worked with in Smoky
Mountain. You know, Rock'n'roll, Tracy
Smothers, Kevin Sullivan, stud stable, the Armstrongs.
I mean, you weren't so many great people in that time.
And I know you said Kamala and Papashanga and Barbarian and
Tony Atlas, but these are dudes on a different level than those
guys, no? Disrespect Sullivan.
I I didn't deal with Kevin Sullivan.
(49:11):
Got color for him. Got 14 stitches at the top of my
head because I raised up when hecame with a chair and it was one
of the wooden chairs and it caught me right on the crease,
man. And it laid me wide open.
He was like, holy shit, brother.Yeah, sorry.
No, it's good. So he hung me in a tree of Woes,
and I had a big puddle of blood on the mat when I was done.
(49:34):
So at the end of it, Bob Armstrong says, man, look, I'm
going to bring you out of here on TV.
Don't clean that up real good. It's the whole deal that
Sullivan needs to be banned, he needs to be have his license
taken, he can't wrestle, blah, blah, blah.
And then of course, you know, hewas doing the deal with Brian
Lee, right? You know, And Brian says, well,
(49:55):
you know, I'll never get my revenge if if you get rid of
him, blah, blah, blah. So you know.
I love that time of wrestling, man.
I did. I love that time, absolutely.
Yeah, we'll see. Kevin would see.
I was there the night that the Japanese guy, what was his name?
God, I believe, man, he's a big,big time Japanese guy now.
(50:16):
The guy that gapped his arm wideopen and Sullivan stuck the deal
in it. Yeah, yeah, Hold on.
I know it. I know it.
Dang, The good news is that I can trim some of this stuff out
here. Are you talking about?
What is? What is his name?
(50:37):
Geez. Kimura.
Yeah. OK.
Kochiro Kimura. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, that's him. Yeah, man, he laid, you could
see, almost to the bone of his bicep.
And so they even someone's like,Oh my God, this is bad, but I'm
going to stick this thing in it.You know, we went out there to
(50:58):
to try to break all that up. You know, I was taking bumps and
all that for Sullivan, and you know, he's still on him and
they're bleeding everywhere. You know what's up?
I never got to work with Dominique there because Candida
was in there with. Sonny.
Yeah, Tammy. Yeah.
But she never got to do any Smoky Mountain with me, which
(51:19):
sucked. We work together everywhere else
so. Yeah, that that doesn't, I mean,
I get what and maybe was that Cornett's call was that he just
like brother can't bring it in your we already got that.
No, I, I think it's because I, Iwouldn't bobble.
I was in a Carpenter position, you know.
Sure, sure. You know well that that night
with Ken Amura, I worked the Rock'n'roll Express and that's
(51:44):
when they had Aaron Anderson under the sheet.
You know, like they were poking the bear.
You know we worked lock and rollthat night.
Yeah. Yeah, that was yeah, I was a
wealth of knowledge working withall those guys and riding up and
down the road, you know, I'd be in a band with with White Boy
and and Tom Pritchard and and Ricky Morton and, you know, Tim
(52:07):
Horner, all those guys. Did you ever did you ever hear
Tim Horners version of Shameless?
No. The Garth Brooks Classic.
No, but I did. I did see Tracy Smothers whip
his ass one night. That's even better than that
I've. Always heard Tracy was one of
(52:27):
those legit tough guys like you were talking about Barbarian and
being earlier I heard. Tracy is legit tough.
But the sweetest man you've evermet too?
Yeah. Was he not the sweetest person?
I mean, seriously, I didn't. I've never been on the wrong.
Side of him, he would ask about my kids before he asked how I
was doing. Yeah.
(52:48):
Yeah, the saddest thing was I got to manage him twice.
And then the last time we workedon a show together there in
Millersville, he was there and he said, brother, I need you
tonight. And I said I'm out there twice
tonight. And I and they, the guy, I don't
want to say the name, but the Booker wouldn't let me go out
there with Tracy because I was already working in in two other
angles which I would have tradedboth of those for working with
(53:12):
Tracy. You know, now I know it.
Yeah, it would. It would have been.
Yeah. Yeah.
Me and Crimson, after I trained Crimson got him in, you know, he
took over the book for a little while up at Millersville and I
was coming in doing commentary and writing TV.
And, you know, they, they were just like, man, I just can't
(53:33):
justify paying him this much money to talk on the microphone.
And they're like, he's like, dude, are you stupid?
He's writing your TV for you. Hey everybody, Jean Jackson here
inviting you to check out the Retro Wrestling review where
each week I'm joined by some great Co host to help me review
classic episodes of USWA Championship Wrestling.
(53:55):
And right now we are doing week by week reviews of 1993.
But we don't just do reviews. Sometimes we get a chance to
interview some of the people whowere there and lived it.
Plus do watch alongs. It's a lot of fun.
So check out new episodes that drop every Wednesday at
wrestlecopia.com and define links to everything being
associated to the podcast. You can go to uswapodcast.com.
(54:23):
Hi, this is Mike Nathan, host ofthe Reckless abandoned podcast
with Mike Nathan, 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
Nicole. We talk wrestling, we talk pop
(54:43):
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
choices and always remember, No Dollar, No dice.
(55:18):
Hey, hey y'all, this is Jimmy here.
And that was episode 8 of The Best of James Rock St.
Productions with the first half of episode 28 of The Crippler.
Jeff Daniels on Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling Jeff's a great guy
and had a great career. He was a journeyman wrestler in
the days of the territories and has the stories to go with it.
From dumping a plate of food in a wildcat's lap to Smoky
(55:40):
Mountain Wrestling and more. You can hear the full episode
over on at G MB, MPW, or Give MeBack My Pro Wrestling.
Wherever you listen to podcasts or simply click the link in the
notes below. We hope you've enjoyed a look
back in the archives of James Rock St.
Productions. Check us out next week to see
what else we have in store. Until then, friends follow at G,
MB, MPW and at James Rock St. everywhere.
(56:03):
Peace with a tear in my eye. This is the greatest moment in
my life. This has been a James Rock St.
(56:42):
production.
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