July 14, 2025 • 62 mins
#davewills #itsstillrealtomedammit #prowrestling #gmbmpw
Welcome to Episode 7 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 1 of Stories From Across The Street with Dave Wills! We talk all about his comment that went viral "It's still real to me dammit!", his wrestling fandom, Tosh.O 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 there. It's Steve Wills to crying rust
in the fan, and you're listeningto Stories from Across the
street with your host Jimmy Street right here.
I tell you Stories from across the street is fantastic.
It's awesome. It's it's, it's gonna be, damn
(00:20):
it. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome
(00:58):
one more time to the give Me back my pro wrestling podcast
and welcome to my very first episode of stories from across
the street. It's extraordinary people
telling extraordinary stories and yeah today I've got an
awesome one for my very first episode of stories from across
the street. I have an excellent one and
(01:19):
still real to me. Damn it, Dave Wills, we're going
to talk about what caused his emotional response.
We're talk about where it was. We're going to talk about the
guys on the panel, what it was that Terry Funk said and what
happened afterwards to this truly viral video that has taken
over not only wrestling but reallife.
I mean, there's people that say still real to me in so many
(01:43):
places and so many ways. And I think it's just going to
be really cool. And I just can't wait to talk to
him. Now, of course, as you've been
listening, this is on the Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling feed.
And that's where it will stay. This is just a thing that I'll
do randomly as stories become available.
And I know there's tons of wrestlers out there and I'm even
(02:04):
taking it outside of wrestling. I want to I want to test the
waters on this. I really want to see where it
can go and what it can do. And I'm excited about the idea
of people coming on and telling their story and whatever it is.
You know, honestly, the Kroll Jeremiah Plunkett Kojima story
could be the official first one,but because I didn't have this
(02:26):
idea at the time, I'm going to make Dave Wills the first
episode. So I thank y'all so much for
always listening to the Give Me Back my pro Wrestling podcast.
Thank y'all always for supporting us.
And I hope you support this venture with me as well.
But right now, let's go ahead and get our guest on today, Mr.
Still Real Dave Wills. We'll be right back.
(02:46):
Yeah, promotional consideration paid for by the following This
is Kroll and you're listening toGive Me Back My Pro Wrestling
with Jimmy St. and Jared the Plastic Sheet.
Be sure to like, subscribe and view all of our USWO and Saw
(03:10):
wrestling content at Nashville Wrestling Network exclusively on
YouTube. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome
one more time to the Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling podcast.
And today we got a very special episode going with stories from
(03:31):
across the street. And this is my very first one,
guys. And when I have a very first
episode, I've got to get a very special guest.
And I could think of none other than the man himself.
Still real to me. Damn it.
Dave Wills, Dave, welcome to my show, man.
Thank you for coming on. Ah, you're very kind.
You're most too kind. What can I say, Jimmy?
(03:53):
I I'm honored. I'm flattered.
I'm a touch in all the right ways.
They were the battles. No, no, not against McMahon way.
I didn't say that. Yeah.
What can I say? I'm in a bad place.
Well, yeah, that's the thing, man.
You have fought traffic, you have fought illness.
(04:13):
You have fought so much to come onto this show today, brother.
So thank you, first of all for doing that.
I know you're not feeling the best, but hey, we're going to
power through it. I feel like we're have a great
episode here. Thank you for doing that.
I'm feeling pretty good, probably about as good as the
Gaza Strip right now, but not I'm not feeling pretty.
(04:33):
All right, so. Yeah.
Well, thank you, Dave. Let's talk some wrestling and
let's talk some other stuff. Well, what you got Jimmy
talking? Well, let's get it.
So this whole show is all about people who have extraordinary
stories to tell. And honestly, man, I think of
you as what I would consider thenumber one wrestling fan of all
time. I am a huge wrestling fan.
(04:53):
My brother who Co hosts the showwith me is a huge wrestling fan.
All these people are huge wrestling fans, but I think
you're the guy in a sense that represents us all.
Honestly, I feel like you're thenumber one wrestling fan.
Of the Patriots saying of all ofthe sick at son of a gun.
So looking at you. Not not not all of it.
Seriously, it's weird. When I was a kid, I lived in
(05:17):
Atlanta. I still do.
We had a lot of people talk about superstars of wrestling
and think about the WCW, NWA6O5 and Georgia chip wrestling.
That's a little bit before my time.
I I couldn't get 17 because it was real snowy up in Acworth
because we had rabbit ears. We didn't have cable forever.
(05:39):
Well, I got an antenna. What do I need cable for?
Thanks, Ed. But we did have super step.
We did have a WATL 36 and we also had later when we did get
cable, WVEU 69. So 36 if my lack of social
(06:00):
interaction and social growth was not already stymied and
quite delayed. We had superstars of wrestling
with Joe Tedesino on from 8:00 PM till 3:00.
So like a fool, I try to stay uptill 3 and take it because I
(06:20):
wanted to watch Memphis and all.Yeah.
Then later you have to take trading and I got into that.
But it was tremendous. We got UWF, we got WWF, we got
World Class Continental, Georgia, right?
You know, Deep South, Southern Championship Wrestling.
I'm going back 8688. I just love the stuff I buy, the
(06:45):
wrestling magazines at the convenience stores like the Time
Saver and Ingle supermarkets andall this stuff.
And it was just tremendous, you know, because I love wrestling.
I thought it was just fantastic.I'd follow up Memphis through
the magazines. I had all kinds of favorite
wrestlers. Memphis was one of my favorite
(07:06):
territories at the time. I didn't get to see it very
much, but I I enjoyed it. I thought Lance Russell was one
of the best announcers ever and still do.
Amen. He'd go up there and be like,
OK, all right, what you going todo today, Dundee?
All right, here we are. Jody King coming out, you know,
(07:27):
and Dave Brown was just the bestsidekick ever.
Absolutely. All we, we, we did get earlier
in the night about 8:00 or 9:00 ten o'clock.
We got to see UWF and I got to see great announcers like Jim
Ross and Michael PS Hayes Bed Cowboy, Bill Watts on there and
all kind of people doing color commentary.
(07:49):
It was tremendous. And we got to see World Class
with Bill Mercer and Mark Lorenzand, and some of the stuff from
Georgia, we got to see some of that.
We got to see Continental with Gordon solely and whoever else
was there. It was just tremendous stuff.
(08:10):
I just love wrestling when I wasa kid.
And it was just, it was weird how I got thrown into notoriety
by going viral. And I really didn't even plan or
inspect that. That was the the the weird thing
of all things. It was just tremendous.
(08:31):
I just love being a wrestling fan and I'm sure they're priced
some that are, that are bigger fans than me.
They've traded more discs than me, purchased more discs than
me, what the more shows than me,but I don't know how I wound up
being the the guy. I guess because I'm I had the
notoriety eight years. Yeah, dude.
(08:52):
I mean, so yeah, let's talk about that real quick since, I
mean, this is the whole deal stories from across the street.
So the whole story that I want to talk about is essentially
that happening. I mean, not only, I don't know
many people that have gone viral, to be honest, I know very
few. So let's do a little background
on that. What was that event?
What year was that? I see one that went viral every
(09:16):
morning when I look in the mirror and that then I run and
hide, but there's it doesn't scared of what I see.
Believe me, that was Tony Hub, one of Tony Horne hunters, one
of his shows, I think it was Carolina Championship Wrestling.
(09:37):
It was a tribute to Starcade is what it was called.
It was in Greenville, SC beautiful.
As a matter of fact, you use an old Google machine that was at
the Memorial Auditorium in Spartanburg, SC and the dated
list is November 19th, 2005. They had all kind of talent
(10:03):
show. I'll give you.
I didn't stay for the matches. I just went up there for the
beat and greet because my favorite wrestler was going to
be there and I had the meeting and that was the barbarian, the
conga variety. There have been many Barbarians
in wrestling. John Nord, you know, of course,
(10:24):
Sione the Barbarian, you know and you know, but he was never
called Kong the Barbarian. But that's how they
differentiate him with the afterbooks, right?
I told Billy ACT. I met Bill Acker that day.
I told Bill Acker. I said, man, you got a lot of my
money when I was kid. He said I didn't get it and
other people got it. Great stories, but it was so
(10:49):
great because I got to go in there and see guys like I got to
go see guys like Jim Cornette. I got to go see guys like Lover
Boy, Dennis, Beautiful, Bobby, Tracy Smothers, people up there.
I got to meet Jerry Lawler for the first time, which was huge.
It's real. Terry Funk.
(11:12):
They had Dusty Rhodes, they had all kind of folks down there.
It was tremendous. I got to meet them.
But when I, when I met the Barbarian, I looked at my friend
Craig, my buddy Craig with me from Athens.
I drove up to Athens and then wetook off to Spartanburg and I
said, I got to these guys. I got to meet Barbarian, I got
(11:33):
to meet the Lawler, I got I got to see these guys.
So we took off that morning. Got it, It.
It was just a chance to go up there and see folks.
I'd already met Cornett and Condrey and eaten before at the
at the well, now they caught thegathering.
(11:55):
It's done by by Marty d'amato now, but it was done by the
price previously. Right, Greg Price.
Yeah. I got to see, I got, that's
where I got to meet Corny and Barb and all, and I got to meet
these guys and I thought they were just the greatest thing.
So sliced bread and got to meet,get to see Brad Armstrong and
(12:17):
and so many other folks, you know.
And it was, it was just a heck of a time and all the meet and
greet was tremendous. And I got to meet Lawler.
And I told Craig, I said, oh, mygoodness, this guy watched this.
I was a kid. I love this.
Yeah. This was such a huge fan of
Lawler and Dundee and Idol and Rich and all these guys from
(12:43):
Memphis, and Memphis was a territory that I love because
you never knew what was going tohappen.
You know, the faces became heelsand the heel faces.
You know, the guys who'd been your bad guys forever be good
guys, and the guys who'd be yourgood guys forever be would be
the bad guys. Midnight Rockers, the third
(13:05):
heel, you know, Manny Fernandez and Jimmy Jack.
Fuck, a turd face that's going on in Memphis.
It was always exciting. As a matter of fact, honestly,
yeah, I'm seeing more of that inWWE and I'm enjoying it a lot
more because you never know whatkind of acts you could come back
(13:26):
commercial when you get brawlingfrom the sake of brawling.
How many times we saw that in the Tennessee show, Amen.
Or Prentice or or or or Jared oror Lawler or Randy Hales or
whoever. I mean, and they, they had some
great matches on the car. They didn't stay for the car.
(13:46):
They just went there for the meet and greet.
Yeah. I'll give you a quick rundown of
what the show was. I'm looking at the Google
machine. Thunderfoot 2 defeats Tater
Kirby. Rocky King defeats George S with
Brick. Tony Atlas defeats Tracy
Smothers, The Mass Superstar with Whitey.
(14:07):
White defeats The Barbarian withJimmy Hart.
David Flair defeats Brad Anderson with Mike Stone, Greg
Valentine with Mr. Terrific defeats Jay Eagle, Bambi and
Lisa Moretti. That's your That's your Ivory
from WWF. OK, OK.
In Blondage, Amber O'Neill and Chrissy Vain.
(14:30):
Believe it or not, a couple of years back I ran into Chrissy
Vain with a big con down to Buckets in South Georgia.
Wow, she remembers. She says I was there.
I said I remember, you know. Six man tag Brad Armstrong, Jeff
Hardy and Jerry Lawler with Queen Renee defeat the Midnight
(14:53):
Express, Bobby Eaton, Dennis Condrey and Jim Cornette in the
ring. CCW title #1 Contendership match
Special ref Mcfoley, Dustin Rhodes, I mean you.
Dustin Rhodes No contest with Terry Funk.
Heavyweight title match vacant. Special Rev Jimmy Valiant, Dusty
(15:17):
Rose of Madam TA versus Tully Blanchard with Christy Ricci and
JJ Dillon won't wound up in a nocontest.
I didn't say so, but you see, you got some pretty good.
Star-studded. Yeah, Yeah, I have.
Some pretty good stars in the show.
Yeah. I think it's probably still
available in high spot, so I know it probably is, but the big
(15:41):
three was soon. Then they had a question and
answer. OK Yeah, it was emotional
because I was already tearing upbecause I was so happy to meet
guys like Waller and Barbarian and folks like that.
Yeah. And I looked at Craig.
I said Craig, I am that kid backin 7th grade riding my bicycle
(16:05):
down to the gas station in Acworth, GA, down to the time
saver service station, buying question books all over.
I'm shaking. This is real brother, this feel
and I go up there and I hug Barbarian.
The pictures you you can see I got tears in my eyes meeting
Barb and I think it's so cool that not only did I meet him
(16:29):
then, but now he's a friend, which is.
So amazing. Yeah.
It's just tremendous. But but it was just so cool to
be able to do that. And it was also very emotional
because Mick Foley came and I remember his interviews at ECW
about, you know, and he had beenthere and he had given some
(16:52):
great interviews at ECW and I'd remembered, and I watched his
career back from Memphis, World Class, N.W.A, you know, WBF, all
this stuff. And Harley Race came in the
wheelchair and all. And that was also the week that
Eddie Guerrero had passed. Oh man.
(17:12):
Eddie Guerrero had passed. And also, I don't ever disclose
who it is if you figure you can figure it out by looking back.
But there was a wrestler who waswith the WWF on the road who I
believe got sent home because hewas filled the hell up over in
Europe at the time. Yeah, OK.
(17:33):
I eventually told him who it wasand I told I told one of the
workers there and somebody said give him a call just to see if
he was sound, you know, and theywere checking him out, just
seeing if he was all right, you know, But I remember they were
asking, you know, who would you have liked to wrestle that you
(17:53):
did or who who would you like tohave?
You know, well, you know, who would you like to wrestle again?
It's good. And I, and I express it, talked
about, you know, the midnight Rockers and and they, the
question answer panel was hostedby Bill actor.
But Gary Funk, Jim Cornette, Dennis Condry, Bobby up there.
(18:16):
And they they'd asked him that question and they had asked, you
know, that. And then they asked Funk.
And Terry Funk says I'd like to have one more match with Eddie
Guerrero. Yeah.
If he were like, Oh my. He just, you know, heartbroken
because Guerrero, I mean, talk about the ultimate babyface man.
(18:39):
And he goes. And he talked about how he was
instrumental in bringing him in back in 89 to WCWNWA, whatever
it was for a tryout and funks that he had brought him in and
they didn't sign him. But, you know, he had been a
long time fan of Guerrero and, you know, I did that.
And he also went into talking about other things.
(19:02):
He said, listen, every. He said there's a lot of
problems in wrestling. And wrestling, it's not about,
you know, you can talk about allkinds of ways to solve it, but
wrestling needs to clean itself up.
Yeah. Even if it means we as veterans
need to withhold our love to people who we've mentored, who
(19:24):
aren't taking care of their business.
Right, We said at the end of theday, if you trace back any city
of any size, every single one ofthem has a crack house.
Yeah, you go back here in Spartanburg, they got a crack
house somewhere. Yeah, Amen.
They've. Traced back police reports for
(19:47):
the last five years and look at all the deaths that have
happened in that crack house. You will find out that wrestling
is way more than that crack house has in five years.
Yeah. Yeah.
If we need to withhold our love,we need to do that.
And I started it emotional because I started thinking about
(20:09):
Foley's interviews, about how. And later he came out for a
minute. And I thought about, you know,
he was giving interviews and ECWtalking about, you know, when I
lost my ear, it hurt because I didn't know the German word for
formaldehyde. You know, all this stuff.
(20:30):
People say I love pain. No, I don't.
It hurts. You know how many you guys who
you know love hardcore wrestlinghave called up the Dynamite Kid
and thanked him for all the dives that he's done out in the
floor? Sorry, you don't have a pot to
piss in or a window Throw it outof no Dynamite.
(20:53):
You're homeless, right? Crippled and bound to a
wheelchair. You love hardcore.
Yeah, right. But how many of you done that?
I started getting emotional thinking man Polly Races just
came in here in a wheelchair because he barely can walk.
One of the toughest men ever in a wheelchair, you know.
(21:16):
Forever. And his neck and back are shot,
you know, His knees are shot, you know, I mean, wrestling
rusters give up a Faustian bargain when you're taking bumps
off of a top turnbuckle or something.
Fans talk about all these high risk moves and work great and
all this stuff. It's not a damn video game.
(21:38):
You got people who have to pay prices.
You got to pay certain. You got to pay the piper.
You got to pay the bargain. Yeah, I mean, it's a Faustian
bargain. You, you know, you're known
because of what you did, but what you're known for is going
(21:58):
to hurt you. You know, when taking bumps,
backdrops, let's say a simple backdrop, you will don't think
much of it. But if you do it, if someone
does a flip over somebody's headand they're 6 foot tall, you're
taking a six foot fall on your back.
Yeah, yeah. That's something you're going to
recover from immediately. I mean, that's not you're going
(22:20):
to have a cumulative damage if it keeps on going right into the
story you're going to have. It's like a mini car crash
you're experiencing. And yeah, what people talk
about. Well, he didn't do nothing in
that match. Well, sometimes you don't have
to have to do a whole lot. If you tell the story, you know.
Walk and talk matches and been just as entertained.
(22:44):
Amen. As I have been entertained by a
lot of other matches that have the boom boom boom I I love your
your your chain wrestling, like with your Guerreros, your
Malenkos, you know, it's almost a bad word.
Your Benoit's for what he did inthe rink.
(23:05):
He was tremendous, you know, I didn't know the man.
I'm not going to, you know, you know, it's terrible for what he
was accused of. But I mean, at the same time,
what he did in the ring, I was afan of, you know, I enjoyed
seeing a lot of that, that kind of stuff.
I love watching Jonathan Greshamnow.
(23:26):
Yeah, I know. I watched John train.
I've watched him on some big shows, but I love that stuff.
I could watch him and Speed by Mike Bailey.
Go, go on and on and on. It's tremendous stuff, you know,
you know, various maneuvers and,and, and it's not a bunch of
backdrops. There's a bunch of chain
(23:47):
wrestling. It's tremendous stuff.
You know, there's a flavor to all kind of wrestling.
You could have some walk and talk.
You can have some ball and all over the place.
You could have something where you take a lot of bumps.
You can have silver. You don't take a lot of bumps.
You know, it's tremendous, right?
There's a variety wrestling, yeah, but that time in my head,
(24:08):
I'm thinking all this they can, man.
I've loved watching Terry Funk and Midnight Express and Jim
Cornette. The.
Greatest. Absolutely, absolutely.
And I've loved watched watching these guys, you know, and, and,
and I just want to thank them. Yeah, in my head, you know, you
(24:31):
know, I didn't want to see another death in wrestling.
I just wanted to thank you for the sacrifices you made in your
bodies to thank them. Well, when it came my turn to
ask the question with that in myhead, the idea was flawless.
The delivery maybe left something to be desired, or
(24:55):
maybe it didn't. You can't look back like that,
Dave, Personally, I think you know.
It's debatable. Maybe it did, maybe it didn't.
Maybe it came out the way it wassupposed to.
Because I was thinking about it.And when I went to speak in
front of the audience, I said, you know, instead of thank you
for what you did, thank you for what you did in your bodies, you
(25:19):
know, see another one meaning another death and rest right,
right, right over meaning another, you know, something
like that prescription death, what have you.
Sure. And then I guess I had a
momentary case of Tourette's or something ago.
(25:40):
It's still not every damn it blurred out.
That's when Audrey's like, take it easy, man.
Thank you guys. You're awesome and I wanted to
show appreciation. Well.
Yeah, yeah. I kind of couldn't believe it.
Well then apparently high spots whoever.
I think that they were the ones who were selling the DVD.
(26:01):
Yeah. They found the clip moving and
they understood it, and it was cut down and went out.
Somehow it wound up on Ebaum's World and some other viral
sites. That's it, yeah.
And it just went all over. And then the Kimmel people
wanted it and paid for overnightshipping.
(26:22):
Yeah. And it wound up on the Jimmy
Kimmel share. Yeah, Jimmy Kimmel had actually
invited me out there. They're like, well, do you think
you do that again? I said probably not.
Well, do you think this? They said, well, let me get back
to you. Well, we still want y'all.
At the time I had a shoot job. I'm a realist.
(26:46):
I was fleeting. I didn't know it at the time,
but viral fame never goes away. Just weird when you walk into a
Cat Dee's or a Chili's and we'llgo, hey, I know you, you know, I
know who you are. So you've been watching, Taj
(27:08):
toyed out. Yeah, yeah.
And now a word from our sponsor.Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to
(27:28):
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From thought provoking topics tosuperstar interviews to action
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(27:51):
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So I'm going to play the clip. Everybody will hear it again.
It's a 32nd clip. Next question, Jeff, where are
(28:12):
you? Right there.
Yeah. I just want to thank each and
everyone of y'all for all you'vedone to your bodies.
It's still real to me. Damn it.
I'll be. Thank you man.
Thank you all guys. They were awesome.
Thank you so much, Mr. Funk, forsaying what needed to be said.
(28:35):
I don't want to see it. I want to read the transcript of
what you said and brother, you have filled it in so incredibly.
You said, you know, I just want to thank each and every one of
y'all for all you've done to your bodies.
It's still real to me. Damn it.
Thank you all, guys. You're awesome.
Thank you so much for saying, Mr. Funk, what needed to be
(28:57):
said. I don't want to see another one
of these. And then it cuts off now, OK,
out of that. There are so many emotions going
through you. I see some of the fellow
audience members consoling you. I see so many things.
So. So the still real to me, damn
it. Now I've we're going to talk
about how it goes after that. But did it just come come out of
(29:20):
you naturally? Did that just feel like what you
needed to say? Wrestling at that point was
still real because I'm talking mentions and I'm talking to guys
who I've watched forever. I've met two of the greatest
wrestlers of all time. People can argue with me about
(29:40):
the barbarian. People can say the barbarian.
Yes, the barbarian. I love King Konga in Memphis.
I loved him as the barbarian. Didn't really care when they put
the antlers on him. I kind of like painted
barbarian, but I've been a huge fan of the Powers of Pain.
(30:02):
My one day, One day bucket for Mr. Promoter, whoever the hell
you are. Yeah.
I want to manage the barbarian. I don't care where it is.
Tennessee, Carolina, Georgia. Book it, OK?
Make it happen. It was OK.
We might be able to do this for the end of the year.
(30:23):
Yes, I got a South Carolina manager's license or wrestler's
license. Awesome.
If you want for Tennessee or Kentucky, let me know, I'll sign
up tomorrow. You don't need one for
Tennessee, but you do for Kentucky.
So I would love to be able to dothat, but the barbarian is one
of the greatest. Jerry Lawler.
I watched him forever. I enjoyed his fused with Dundee,
(30:46):
with Idol and Rich. I thought so much that stuff was
tremendous. I love the stuff with the Bill
and Buddy Show. They VHS and DVD.
I got to see so much of that. I thought Dundee was great as a
heel, great as a face. Later I get to meet superstar
(31:07):
Dundee and if conversations withhim and I think he's tremendous.
It's just everybody I I really have.
I've met Wolfie DI think Wolfie D is tremendous.
I got to meet Jerry Jarrett and Jeff.
I thought they're tremendous guys and I just enjoy their
work. It it was brilliant how they got
(31:28):
Jeff over in Memphis. I would he first debut.
This is a pretty boy from guys like DJ Khan and Moon Dog spot,
Raging Bull, Manny Fernandez. I'm like, you know, you know,
he's not a wuss. He's tough.
He's still fighting back. He's he's challenging Robert
(31:50):
Fuller, you know, he's pretty tough, you know, got over, you
know, it's just great stuff. And I just love the way how they
were able to brilliantly, in my opinion, book Memphis.
I think a lot of promotions, I could do a lot with that.
I enjoyed N.W.A when they did. I enjoyed them when they come to
(32:12):
Atlanta with the studio show. Yeah.
And and God, they had so much talent when they would come to
Atlanta, Corrigan's, Billy Corrigan's group whenever they
had all this and and Trevor Murdoch and, you know, Eli
Drake, LA not yeah, so many of those guys and all.
(32:38):
Yeah. You know the question mark,
Josephus, God just being in the room with the question mark.
Love, Josephus. If you hadn't watched that in
N.W.A on their studio show, go back and watch it.
Oh, please explain it. But it's like you had like 200,
(32:58):
you know, so many people in the audience, OK, It's like
everybody in the room picked andthey said that SOB is our
favorite wrestler ever tonight. And I thought, this is the
greatest thing I've ever seen. It harking me back to the days
(33:19):
of a center stage theater which used to go through.
And it was tremendous because the fans there were were guys
(33:44):
who who you would know later. You had Craig Johnson, who lived
in Atlanta at the time, John Horton.
You had Scott Hudson, Steve Brazac, the Truth, who was on
ECW and Wild Side, Scott Hudson on WCW.
And it was just tremendous. You know, all of you know all of
(34:04):
us, you know, yeah, you know, you know, you know, non
believing sheet reading fans areup there just enjoying
ourselves. Say it's a it was a level of
pride whenever they had I guess Doug Dillinger was taking a
coffee break or something. But probably a moving text sign
(34:25):
right in front of the camera during the text in Shanghai gets
Vinny Vegas and doubt Diamond Dallas page match.
We're up there, you know, just cheering for texts and
everything. It was tremendous.
But I'm like this is the greatest thing.
So I spare Ed seeing question mark it like harken me back to
(34:48):
the days of that. I hope Billy brings it back to
Georgia, but I know he's got heat with GPTV because Georgia
public broadcast and decided to,you know, cut his attendance and
his big pay-per-view from, you know, 25750 down like 75 and he
(35:09):
had a refund. My God, the H Georgia.
So hopefully one day he'll be back and if not, I'll just have
to head up the Nashville or somewhere Kentucky hopefully.
Come on up. I'll come on that.
Believe me, when yoga In and Outburger, I'll be up there often.
We'll see you there, brother. Hey brother, give me a double
(35:31):
double. Make it like a crystal.
I'll be happy. There you go.
Take that, Travis Kelce. I got my own hamburgers, but
man, you big Swifty. But, you know, it was just
tremendous. But then they have all those
emotions going through my mind thinking about the Memphis
(35:55):
program and meeting Bill after and talking about, you know,
wrestlers and all. And we just had and, you know,
Craig and I thought about staying, but we had to get back.
But on the way back, I just thought about it and I said,
man, I kind of got choked up there.
And then I was actually on a tape trading board.
(36:15):
And yeah, we, we, we may or may not have been trading DVDs that
may or may not have had some copyright things or may or may
not have been allegedly, allegedly positive.
But I, I just want to get me. It wasn't like I was getting,
you know, it wasn't like, you know, I was trying to get WWF
(36:37):
product or WCW product, WWE product.
I was trying to, you know, get like years of Memphis, which I
did it, which is great. Now it's all now I see I spent
all this money on it for nothingbecause YouTube's got everything
or the Gary Parsons networks goteverything, you know?
(36:58):
Right, Big friends. Friends with those guys.
Yeah. Well, yeah.
So the emotion obviously is something we've all felt.
Emotions going in there and it just came out because it that on
that day, if it ever had been before and never would be again,
which it still is, but it ever would be.
(37:18):
It was definitely still real to me.
And like I tell people right now, I say you can call
wrestling predetermined. Sure, you can say that.
OK, it may be fixed if if you want to go that far right, there
may be a set winner and a loser,but damn it, it's never damn
(37:42):
thing. Never, never faint.
Yeah. Ask your wolfie D's.
Ask your superstar done these. Ask your buddy Landells.
Yeah, Ask your jury, the King ofOlars.
I mean, hell, ask Jeff Hardy. Ask if these guys do about
cripple their damn bodies. I mean, wrestlings never faint.
(38:04):
You know, someone said, well, you know, I think it's fake.
I said it's as real as your imagination, real as you follow
comic books. This is real as as Iron Man is
Wonder Woman as fat and as Superman is not, you know, as
(38:28):
real as Jr. Ewing if you dated reference.
But So what? I love Dallas and Falcon up
there. When I was like 9 years old
drinking coffee, watching that again started development.
That's that's why I couldn't geta date in high school with a
(38:48):
fist full of 50s and a bag of blow.
And I hadn't either, of course. You know what?
Go out today. Hey, who cares?
I want to see what Dick Slater'sdo it on, you know?
I want to see #1 Paul Jones is up there, you know?
(39:10):
Yeah, you know. But you know, it's as real as
your biggest dreams and your greatest hopes.
It's definitely real. Yeah.
Amen. Amen.
Are you a pro wrestling fan? We'll stop by Captain's Corner,
where you can get autographed photos, cards, magazines, and
(39:31):
figures from all of your favorite wrestling superstars of
the past, present, and future. You'll also be able to
participate in live signings in the weeks and months to come.
Make sure to stop by Captain's Corner on Facebook and give us a
holler. Remember, cheers to the working
man. So while I didn't go on Kimmel
(39:52):
later, the Tosh Point O folks did call.
Yeah, how was that man? How was that?
It was good. They made arrangements to fly me
out of Atlanta to Los Angeles. It was filmed.
It was actually filmed. I'll go ahead and drop some
dish. It's been long enough.
(40:13):
The show's out of production now.
I'll go ahead and drop some dish.
It was filmed in Culver. They put me up in Culver City is
where they put me up at a Renaissance.
I was on the plane. It was real weird because I met,
(40:34):
I saw Dibiase on the and I thought, I wonder if he's going
out here transferring from Mississippi or where he came
from, if he's, if he's going outfor this.
So no, no, no, that's being error.
He must be going out in a crusade or some kind of ministry
or something. So at the time I was doing a
little podcast of my own today, the dangerous joke.
(40:57):
So I gave him my number later that night and told him I'd love
to have him on and, and all. And I thought, I wonder what
he's doing. I didn't ask you what he was
doing. It's none of my business, but I
thought it was so cool to be able to meet Ted Dibiase that
was. Kind of fave brother, right?
(41:19):
So I got I got to meet Teddy andthen I got off the plane and
then they had a guy pick me up and this little bitty, this
little bitty micro car, I don't know if it was a Yugo or what.
It was pretty small. So it was some production gate
that he picked me up and he saw I got to give you this.
He had me two 50s. I said, what's this right here?
(41:41):
He said, oh, that right, There'sPerdean money.
I said, what? I need Perdean money.
You're taking care of everything, right?
Yeah. He said, don't ask me, I've been
told to give you this. So he took me to the
Renaissance. It was no, what was here's a
Radisson's what it was. So I go over there.
Well, I got 100 bucks in my pocket.
(42:01):
I'm like, what am I going to do with this?
So I would tell and rested for awhile and I thought, and I never
went into this detail with any other show before.
Stories from Across the Street brings you breaking news from
over 15 years ago. I.
Love it. For tremendous stuff, Yeah,
(42:22):
yeah, yeah, yeah. We're not bringing you news or
bring you history, exactly. Yes.
I go up there and I'm thinking, ah, hell, what am I going to be
in in Los Angeles again? So I go over there and I talk to
the front desk and I talked to the front desk and I get them.
They had a little shuttle bus and I got in the shuttle me over
(42:43):
the fox rent a car. So I rented a car for the night
for about I think it was like 50-60 bucks.
OK. So I drove all around Los
Angeles just checking everythingout.
I mean, just looking around. I drove down to five.
I drove down all these other places.
I should have got In and Out Burger.
(43:04):
I didn't, but I just drove all around there just checking.
And I drove out into the Walk ofFame and saw where they had, you
know, stars you where they had all the stars with their
fingerprints and the concrete and everything.
Saw the little wax museum and all.
(43:25):
And it was just tremendous to dothat.
I got back about 3:00 in the morning and I was going to try
to bring the car back then, but they says no, you have to wait.
So I slept till like 6 and then I got up.
They said at six somebody being here and I got them to take me
back to return the car. It may have been AI can't
remember. Yeah I said hey, y'all couldn't
(43:48):
take me back earlier and I really wish I could have taken
me back or I could have gotten some more sleep.
You know they said well, well ifyou'd like we can give you
breakfast. I'm like oh sure that's great.
So that's so I go there. By the time I finish eating,
here comes the guy in his car. He comes, picks me up and takes
me over to the studio. It was at the same place where
(44:11):
they take the Tennis Network of all places.
I don't exactly was, but it was over there and it was pretty
cool. I walked into one of the
bathrooms right there because I I drank a lot of black coke, had
to recycle some of it and there's Coco beware spray paint
(44:34):
hair. And they had, you know, and
later I ran the Sergeant Slaughter and Dibiase and all
these other guys and all. Now do these guys know who you
are by chance from the clip? I don't even know, but I, I just
found it tremendous that I thinkthey were put up at the Grand
(44:54):
Hyatt or something, if I'm not mistaken, that he had helped
help set some stuff up with. That is what Jimmy Hart told me
about. I'm like, wow, one of the
greatest managers in Memphis. I'm not surprised.
There's Memphis Tail up there. He had Coca wear, he had
(45:15):
Slaughter. He was in Memphis, $1,000,000
land. He was in there for a cup of
coffee. So I got to do that, got to, you
know, play with Slaughter a little bit and talk to him and
all. So I mean, it was pretty cool.
So we're up there 1st and Tosh is getting prepped for his intro
for his stuff where he's playingUltimate Warrior where he is,
(45:41):
they're playing old YouTube clips of Ultimate Warrior
interviews. And he was doing a bunch of
talking and everything. So that that was kind of neat.
And what was funny was they didn't know it, but I saw some
paper, some papers on the side of the table.
(46:01):
So I picked up and start readingthem.
Well, I didn't know it, but it might as well have been the the
Tosh point O Observer as opposedto the wrestlers over newsletter
because it I was smart and myself up because it pretty much
was questions that I was about to be asked and other stuff and
(46:23):
stuff like that and all. And what's funny was the
producers who were big, who werebig wrestling fans, I guess,
along with eyes. I mean, it's that we've been
looking forward to having you out here because we're big fans
of these guys too. So a lot of the producers were
wrestling fans about two, like 2-3, four hours of sleep too.
(46:47):
Kind of interesting. So up there, he's up there
saying stuff and and talking andthen I'm up there being a little
snarky and everything and they finally say, OK, Dave, OK, OK,
let us smarten you. One of the producers looks at
this is OK, we get it. You know, I won't go into total
(47:08):
detail because I'm not going to drop a bunch of profane bombs on
the show, but we get it. You're funny AF OK, so you know
you're funny is you know what? But here's the game, OK, The
viral video stars who appear on Tosh porno in the web redemption
(47:31):
because I got a web redemption. It was a chance to where I had a
chance to do something and we'rehad a chance to, you know, speak
or whatever, and I got a chance to do a redo.
OK. These are extraordinary people
in extraordinary situations. Yeah, Daniel Tosh, That's how
(47:55):
they do. Got you.
OK. The premises stories from across
the street. Amen.
Exactly. So that was the gimmick.
OK, so I had to tone it down a little bit.
But yeah, it it was funny because, you know, they were
asking questions, you know, certain certain things.
It's like, it's like you think Art Anderson is a pussy.
(48:17):
No, I do not. You know, stuff like that, you
know, just commit this little questions right there.
One guy said, Dave, when we would you did the Figure 4.
I forget. Well, one of the wrestlers told
me, they said, Dave, you, you honestly sold the Figure 4 very
some of the workers out there onthat.
I say you're probably not wrong on that.
(48:40):
Maybe you put that over and reversed it.
You sold the reversal. They're like you're selling, you
know. So one of the funniest things
was Fast forward a few years later, I've had a show in
Knoxville in in the back. I decided to go up there.
(49:00):
They were going to have a a showin Knoxville, then they're going
to have a show in OVW. Yeah, they're going to show.
And I think they're going to show one place, like in
Ringgold, GA, there's a show in Knoxville, then they were going
to have a show up in of an OVW. So I thought, well, hang on,
I'll just go and do a loop just to visit, you know, so to go up
(49:25):
there and got to see, you know, Cornett got to see all kinds of
stuff. That was a great little show
because Cornettes in there. And what was funny was they they
had a ring that was delivered that that sucked.
And they, if Jim Cornette is nothappy there, there is no
(49:45):
question it's not happy. Yeah.
Right, exactly. Yeah, and everybody within a, a
decent radius know about. OK, exactly.
I knew this was a bad idea. Plus this is at some like,
church school or something. I, I, I know there's no God.
(50:05):
Oh no, it's at a church. And then there is a God.
He hates me. So we're waiting for guys to
live there. My friend who I love that they
have Doctor Tom Bridgewater, what is he doing in my locker
room? And immediately Doctor Tom runs
(50:26):
over there and start stopping meand I start and then record it,
says Dave, watch, you're selling.
Better to have these guys in theOVW locker room.
No, it's true though. Tremendous fun.
I got to do that. I got to meet Kitty Baldwin for
(50:47):
the first time. I remember whatever I saw
bowling. I love Kitty.
Yes, Sir. Well, it's still let you call me
out out of dinner. I'll go ahead where you want to
go. I'll go ahead and buy.
That's. Awesome.
I love big big. The world's most famous best
friend, right? Come on.
I'll tell you right it, it, it was tremendous.
(51:11):
I, I, I haven't told him right time just didn't just being able
to hang out with some of the guys.
Then The funny thing is, like people didn't know it, but I'd
managed before then too, and andannounced and stuff like that.
I went to the Gulf Coast Wrestling reunion they have in
Mobile. That was a tremendous thing, one
(51:33):
of the first years I went. Oh yeah.
Well, the first years I went, and it is for workers and people
who've been in the business. I found out that I qualified,
which I was shocked because I'd,you know, done some announcing
and I'd done a little managing here and there and I didn't feel
I'd done anything. But I was told that I qualified.
(51:53):
So I of course went. And I remember one of the first
things I saw was I was walked inthe door and looked at a table
and I see a bunch of guys sitting around and it's Boris
Zhukov, Tiger Conway Junior and Han Stone, Ron Garvin.
I said that's a pretty good start.
(52:15):
Any Hall of Fame you want to start?
Yeah. Then I got to meet guys like,
you know, Norman, Frederick, Charles and Pork Chop Cash and
Ben Jordan. I was popping for Ben Jordan.
Who? Loved Ben, one of my best
friends love him. Who was a great guy and I got to
get Roberto Soto and Robert and Ron Fuller and Jimmy Golden and
(52:41):
all these guy all over that Continental bunch.
I love the fullers and the gold.Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, yeah, Adrian St. and company and all and Robert
Gibson and all. It was just tremendous to be
accepted in that, even though I thought I hadn't done anything.
And you got to go to the shootout in Texas and Texas
(53:02):
Shootout and see guys who who are so much fun to grappler, you
know? Was dirty white boy there?
No, it was the grappler, Lynn Denton.
Gotcha I I figured he might haveTony with him as well but.
No, it was him. I got to hang out with The Dirty
blondes a little bit. Eddie Man, who some people talk
(53:24):
about, well, you know, 2020. I love the guy.
He he, he has always been a goodguy to me.
I've heard he's a great guy. He.
He he is a fun guy. And man, I tell you right now,
someone said, Dave, I didn't know you had a party.
I said tell. I met Eddie.
I didn't either. He taught me the joys of what we
(53:48):
did, of of of what was it here. He told me the joke, the joys of
cram, roll, apple and cranberry juice.
I think I aged a week. I think I aged a couple of
months in a week. Yet adds one of the real cool
(54:11):
and everything. I love him.
Like I said, people can say whatthey want.
I judge people by how they treat.
Amen. Yeah.
If good to me, I think more about it.
Yeah, that's great. I just said last had enjoyed it
and all and and had fun. And then The funny thing was I
(54:32):
didn't know much about Tosh porno because people, you know,
when I came on the show, I did tell them that I did want a
couple of things. I didn't want this to be
something where we're poking funat dead rasters.
I didn't know about the Owen Hart crack you that Tosh made
later right Paul Bear Percy Pringle told me that that he
(54:58):
enjoyed that till Tosh did that and he he he he what do through
it about that. Yeah, nobody was and that was
kind of low. But you know, for what they did
with me, they were great. And Coco did come on my little
podcast and talk and I've seen slaughter many times since and
(55:19):
and Sarge is a great guy. He, he, he, he, he, he he's a
friend. I I'll message you.
He's an immature but her DMS andall and he he, he's just a cool
guy and everything and and and and Coco's always been cool and.
Coco's great. Yeah, and and I, I just speak
the word to him and. Except to Steve Kern.
(55:41):
Ain't that funny, I tell you, It's just the damnedest thing.
Well, Carl has been great to me.Carl and Lane have been
tremendous. Yeah, he's amazing.
Yeah. It's amazing.
Some guys I don't even think know who I am, know who I am.
I don't think I'm. I don't realize how much the the
(56:03):
viral thing is when. Dude, the boys love you.
Like seriously, I talked to WolfEd and I said, hey, I've got
Dave coming on my show. He's like, I love that guy.
Every time I bring you up to oneof the boys, they say those
words. I love that guy.
The boys love you, dude. Here's the weird thing.
OK, now I'll go ahead and get a plug out.
(56:25):
Coming up, they got a movie called The Unbreakable Bunch
that's supposed to be coming outsoon.
Now stars Glacier and Ernest Miller and I think these Abyss
goes got to roll and the Gangreland a bunch of other folks got
to roll in there. Stan Hanson, Big Ron Reese, Big
(56:46):
Ron Studs in there. I met Ron Reese.
I try to learn something every day.
And when I met Big Ron Stud, I looked at his head and his head
was about the size of a Dodge Neon that I drove years before.
I wonder that Ron Reese is really, really, really, really,
(57:09):
really hot. OK, yeah.
But it said a tribute for Shocker Sean Evans, who was a a
wrestler who was that who they were fundraising for in Atlanta
and he was talking. He said I know who you are.
You're the crying rest of that said Oh my God, Ron or Big Ron
Stud knows who I am. That's awesome day.
(57:29):
Yeah, I saw the video and I sentit to Norton in Japan.
I'm like, holy hell, Scott Norton has seemed, Oh my God,
he's one of the toughest guys ever.
Amen. Yeah.
Maybe, you know, big, big Scott,you know, Flash Scott Norton,
big Scott Norton and all. And I'm like, and I don't really
realize that it's with the England and all these other
(57:51):
places and I have no, I have no gravitas and how big this
thing's got. And I've always tried to stay
humble. Speaking of Steve Kerr, and I've
taken one thing he said an interview to Hart one time in an
interview, he he was talking to Lance Russell or Babe and Dave
Brown. He said, well, you know it.
(58:14):
Well, you know, I've always saidit's nice to be important.
Jackie Fargo always taught me that it's nice to be important,
but it's more important to be nice.
So that's what I do, you know? Yeah, it's a smart way to go.
Humble because you know, you know, some people are thrilled
to meet me and I, you know, I, Itry to remember names and stuff.
(58:38):
It gets hard sometimes, but it'sreally it, you know, if I can
give them a good experience, that's what I want to do because
I don't really, I, I don't really want to get a lot of heat
with a lot of folks. But of course not.
Too, I, I want to, you know, youknow, treat somebody you know
(58:59):
nice, you know, because it's, you know, you, you, you don't
want to meet somebody you're looking forward to meet or
you're happy to meet and then treat you like a Dick.
I mean you. Know there's this Southern
saying and you draw more flies with honey, right?
Is that true or what? Come on, SO.
Hey, I've grown up in Acworth, GA I I they talk about Cobb
County, Georgia and the big bossman.
(59:20):
I've lived in Cobb County every day of my life.
We had our Acworth. That's where two places Sony
from across the street. Hey everybody, Jean Jackson here
inviting you to check out the retro wrestling review where
(59:41):
each week I'm joined by some great Co host to help me review
classic episodes of USWA Championship wrestling.
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 dropevery Wednesday at
(01:00:03):
wrestlecopia.com and define links to everything associated
to the podcast. You can go to uswapodcast.com.
That's right, it's the talk of Middle Tennessee, the channel
you love to hate and the channelyou hate to love.
It's Brian Turner from Brian Turner's VHS Rehab.
(01:00:26):
And if you're looking for matches from Wolfie D to Jerry
Lawler to Dusty Rhodes and the team that put a pimp before your
eyes and a goatee between your thighs, Booty KO and Athena go
to lostwrestling.com. See, I made it easy for you.
Brian Turner's VHS Rehab Booyah.Hey y'all, this is Jimmy here.
(01:00:55):
And that was episode 7 of the Best of James Rock St.
Productions with the first half of episode 1 of Steel Reel.
Dave Wills on story from across the street.
Dave is a great supporter of wrestling and a great friend.
You can hear the full episode over on at G MB MPW or Give Me
Back My Pro Wrestling wherever you listen to podcasts or simply
click the link in the notes below.
(01:01:17):
We hope you've enjoyed a look back in the archives of James
Rock St. Productions.
Check us out next week to see what else we have in store.
Until then, follow at G, MB, MPWand at James Rock St.
everywhere. Peace with a tear in my eye.
This is the greatest moment in my life.
(01:02:06):
This has been a James Rock St. production.
Hey there. It's Steve Wills to crying rust
in the fan, and you're listeningto Stories from Across the
street with your host Jimmy Street right here.
I tell you Stories from across the street is fantastic.
It's awesome. It's it's, it's gonna be, damn
(00:20):
it. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome
(00:58):
one more time to the give Me back my pro wrestling podcast
and welcome to my very first episode of stories from across
the street. It's extraordinary people
telling extraordinary stories and yeah today I've got an
awesome one for my very first episode of stories from across
the street. I have an excellent one and
(01:19):
still real to me. Damn it, Dave Wills, we're going
to talk about what caused his emotional response.
We're talk about where it was. We're going to talk about the
guys on the panel, what it was that Terry Funk said and what
happened afterwards to this truly viral video that has taken
over not only wrestling but reallife.
I mean, there's people that say still real to me in so many
(01:43):
places and so many ways. And I think it's just going to
be really cool. And I just can't wait to talk to
him. Now, of course, as you've been
listening, this is on the Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling feed.
And that's where it will stay. This is just a thing that I'll
do randomly as stories become available.
And I know there's tons of wrestlers out there and I'm even
(02:04):
taking it outside of wrestling. I want to I want to test the
waters on this. I really want to see where it
can go and what it can do. And I'm excited about the idea
of people coming on and telling their story and whatever it is.
You know, honestly, the Kroll Jeremiah Plunkett Kojima story
could be the official first one,but because I didn't have this
(02:26):
idea at the time, I'm going to make Dave Wills the first
episode. So I thank y'all so much for
always listening to the Give Me Back my pro Wrestling podcast.
Thank y'all always for supporting us.
And I hope you support this venture with me as well.
But right now, let's go ahead and get our guest on today, Mr.
Still Real Dave Wills. We'll be right back.
(02:46):
Yeah, promotional consideration paid for by the following This
is Kroll and you're listening toGive Me Back My Pro Wrestling
with Jimmy St. and Jared the Plastic Sheet.
Be sure to like, subscribe and view all of our USWO and Saw
(03:10):
wrestling content at Nashville Wrestling Network exclusively on
YouTube. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome
one more time to the Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling podcast.
And today we got a very special episode going with stories from
(03:31):
across the street. And this is my very first one,
guys. And when I have a very first
episode, I've got to get a very special guest.
And I could think of none other than the man himself.
Still real to me. Damn it.
Dave Wills, Dave, welcome to my show, man.
Thank you for coming on. Ah, you're very kind.
You're most too kind. What can I say, Jimmy?
(03:53):
I I'm honored. I'm flattered.
I'm a touch in all the right ways.
They were the battles. No, no, not against McMahon way.
I didn't say that. Yeah.
What can I say? I'm in a bad place.
Well, yeah, that's the thing, man.
You have fought traffic, you have fought illness.
(04:13):
You have fought so much to come onto this show today, brother.
So thank you, first of all for doing that.
I know you're not feeling the best, but hey, we're going to
power through it. I feel like we're have a great
episode here. Thank you for doing that.
I'm feeling pretty good, probably about as good as the
Gaza Strip right now, but not I'm not feeling pretty.
(04:33):
All right, so. Yeah.
Well, thank you, Dave. Let's talk some wrestling and
let's talk some other stuff. Well, what you got Jimmy
talking? Well, let's get it.
So this whole show is all about people who have extraordinary
stories to tell. And honestly, man, I think of
you as what I would consider thenumber one wrestling fan of all
time. I am a huge wrestling fan.
(04:53):
My brother who Co hosts the showwith me is a huge wrestling fan.
All these people are huge wrestling fans, but I think
you're the guy in a sense that represents us all.
Honestly, I feel like you're thenumber one wrestling fan.
Of the Patriots saying of all ofthe sick at son of a gun.
So looking at you. Not not not all of it.
Seriously, it's weird. When I was a kid, I lived in
(05:17):
Atlanta. I still do.
We had a lot of people talk about superstars of wrestling
and think about the WCW, NWA6O5 and Georgia chip wrestling.
That's a little bit before my time.
I I couldn't get 17 because it was real snowy up in Acworth
because we had rabbit ears. We didn't have cable forever.
(05:39):
Well, I got an antenna. What do I need cable for?
Thanks, Ed. But we did have super step.
We did have a WATL 36 and we also had later when we did get
cable, WVEU 69. So 36 if my lack of social
(06:00):
interaction and social growth was not already stymied and
quite delayed. We had superstars of wrestling
with Joe Tedesino on from 8:00 PM till 3:00.
So like a fool, I try to stay uptill 3 and take it because I
(06:20):
wanted to watch Memphis and all.Yeah.
Then later you have to take trading and I got into that.
But it was tremendous. We got UWF, we got WWF, we got
World Class Continental, Georgia, right?
You know, Deep South, Southern Championship Wrestling.
I'm going back 8688. I just love the stuff I buy, the
(06:45):
wrestling magazines at the convenience stores like the Time
Saver and Ingle supermarkets andall this stuff.
And it was just tremendous, you know, because I love wrestling.
I thought it was just fantastic.I'd follow up Memphis through
the magazines. I had all kinds of favorite
wrestlers. Memphis was one of my favorite
(07:06):
territories at the time. I didn't get to see it very
much, but I I enjoyed it. I thought Lance Russell was one
of the best announcers ever and still do.
Amen. He'd go up there and be like,
OK, all right, what you going todo today, Dundee?
All right, here we are. Jody King coming out, you know,
(07:27):
and Dave Brown was just the bestsidekick ever.
Absolutely. All we, we, we did get earlier
in the night about 8:00 or 9:00 ten o'clock.
We got to see UWF and I got to see great announcers like Jim
Ross and Michael PS Hayes Bed Cowboy, Bill Watts on there and
all kind of people doing color commentary.
(07:49):
It was tremendous. And we got to see World Class
with Bill Mercer and Mark Lorenzand, and some of the stuff from
Georgia, we got to see some of that.
We got to see Continental with Gordon solely and whoever else
was there. It was just tremendous stuff.
(08:10):
I just love wrestling when I wasa kid.
And it was just, it was weird how I got thrown into notoriety
by going viral. And I really didn't even plan or
inspect that. That was the the the weird thing
of all things. It was just tremendous.
(08:31):
I just love being a wrestling fan and I'm sure they're priced
some that are, that are bigger fans than me.
They've traded more discs than me, purchased more discs than
me, what the more shows than me,but I don't know how I wound up
being the the guy. I guess because I'm I had the
notoriety eight years. Yeah, dude.
(08:52):
I mean, so yeah, let's talk about that real quick since, I
mean, this is the whole deal stories from across the street.
So the whole story that I want to talk about is essentially
that happening. I mean, not only, I don't know
many people that have gone viral, to be honest, I know very
few. So let's do a little background
on that. What was that event?
What year was that? I see one that went viral every
(09:16):
morning when I look in the mirror and that then I run and
hide, but there's it doesn't scared of what I see.
Believe me, that was Tony Hub, one of Tony Horne hunters, one
of his shows, I think it was Carolina Championship Wrestling.
(09:37):
It was a tribute to Starcade is what it was called.
It was in Greenville, SC beautiful.
As a matter of fact, you use an old Google machine that was at
the Memorial Auditorium in Spartanburg, SC and the dated
list is November 19th, 2005. They had all kind of talent
(10:03):
show. I'll give you.
I didn't stay for the matches. I just went up there for the
beat and greet because my favorite wrestler was going to
be there and I had the meeting and that was the barbarian, the
conga variety. There have been many Barbarians
in wrestling. John Nord, you know, of course,
(10:24):
Sione the Barbarian, you know and you know, but he was never
called Kong the Barbarian. But that's how they
differentiate him with the afterbooks, right?
I told Billy ACT. I met Bill Acker that day.
I told Bill Acker. I said, man, you got a lot of my
money when I was kid. He said I didn't get it and
other people got it. Great stories, but it was so
(10:49):
great because I got to go in there and see guys like I got to
go see guys like Jim Cornette. I got to go see guys like Lover
Boy, Dennis, Beautiful, Bobby, Tracy Smothers, people up there.
I got to meet Jerry Lawler for the first time, which was huge.
It's real. Terry Funk.
(11:12):
They had Dusty Rhodes, they had all kind of folks down there.
It was tremendous. I got to meet them.
But when I, when I met the Barbarian, I looked at my friend
Craig, my buddy Craig with me from Athens.
I drove up to Athens and then wetook off to Spartanburg and I
said, I got to these guys. I got to meet Barbarian, I got
(11:33):
to meet the Lawler, I got I got to see these guys.
So we took off that morning. Got it, It.
It was just a chance to go up there and see folks.
I'd already met Cornett and Condrey and eaten before at the
at the well, now they caught thegathering.
(11:55):
It's done by by Marty d'amato now, but it was done by the
price previously. Right, Greg Price.
Yeah. I got to see, I got, that's
where I got to meet Corny and Barb and all, and I got to meet
these guys and I thought they were just the greatest thing.
So sliced bread and got to meet,get to see Brad Armstrong and
(12:17):
and so many other folks, you know.
And it was, it was just a heck of a time and all the meet and
greet was tremendous. And I got to meet Lawler.
And I told Craig, I said, oh, mygoodness, this guy watched this.
I was a kid. I love this.
Yeah. This was such a huge fan of
Lawler and Dundee and Idol and Rich and all these guys from
(12:43):
Memphis, and Memphis was a territory that I love because
you never knew what was going tohappen.
You know, the faces became heelsand the heel faces.
You know, the guys who'd been your bad guys forever be good
guys, and the guys who'd be yourgood guys forever be would be
the bad guys. Midnight Rockers, the third
(13:05):
heel, you know, Manny Fernandez and Jimmy Jack.
Fuck, a turd face that's going on in Memphis.
It was always exciting. As a matter of fact, honestly,
yeah, I'm seeing more of that inWWE and I'm enjoying it a lot
more because you never know whatkind of acts you could come back
(13:26):
commercial when you get brawlingfrom the sake of brawling.
How many times we saw that in the Tennessee show, Amen.
Or Prentice or or or or Jared oror Lawler or Randy Hales or
whoever. I mean, and they, they had some
great matches on the car. They didn't stay for the car.
(13:46):
They just went there for the meet and greet.
Yeah. I'll give you a quick rundown of
what the show was. I'm looking at the Google
machine. Thunderfoot 2 defeats Tater
Kirby. Rocky King defeats George S with
Brick. Tony Atlas defeats Tracy
Smothers, The Mass Superstar with Whitey.
(14:07):
White defeats The Barbarian withJimmy Hart.
David Flair defeats Brad Anderson with Mike Stone, Greg
Valentine with Mr. Terrific defeats Jay Eagle, Bambi and
Lisa Moretti. That's your That's your Ivory
from WWF. OK, OK.
In Blondage, Amber O'Neill and Chrissy Vain.
(14:30):
Believe it or not, a couple of years back I ran into Chrissy
Vain with a big con down to Buckets in South Georgia.
Wow, she remembers. She says I was there.
I said I remember, you know. Six man tag Brad Armstrong, Jeff
Hardy and Jerry Lawler with Queen Renee defeat the Midnight
(14:53):
Express, Bobby Eaton, Dennis Condrey and Jim Cornette in the
ring. CCW title #1 Contendership match
Special ref Mcfoley, Dustin Rhodes, I mean you.
Dustin Rhodes No contest with Terry Funk.
Heavyweight title match vacant. Special Rev Jimmy Valiant, Dusty
(15:17):
Rose of Madam TA versus Tully Blanchard with Christy Ricci and
JJ Dillon won't wound up in a nocontest.
I didn't say so, but you see, you got some pretty good.
Star-studded. Yeah, Yeah, I have.
Some pretty good stars in the show.
Yeah. I think it's probably still
available in high spot, so I know it probably is, but the big
(15:41):
three was soon. Then they had a question and
answer. OK Yeah, it was emotional
because I was already tearing upbecause I was so happy to meet
guys like Waller and Barbarian and folks like that.
Yeah. And I looked at Craig.
I said Craig, I am that kid backin 7th grade riding my bicycle
(16:05):
down to the gas station in Acworth, GA, down to the time
saver service station, buying question books all over.
I'm shaking. This is real brother, this feel
and I go up there and I hug Barbarian.
The pictures you you can see I got tears in my eyes meeting
Barb and I think it's so cool that not only did I meet him
(16:29):
then, but now he's a friend, which is.
So amazing. Yeah.
It's just tremendous. But but it was just so cool to
be able to do that. And it was also very emotional
because Mick Foley came and I remember his interviews at ECW
about, you know, and he had beenthere and he had given some
(16:52):
great interviews at ECW and I'd remembered, and I watched his
career back from Memphis, World Class, N.W.A, you know, WBF, all
this stuff. And Harley Race came in the
wheelchair and all. And that was also the week that
Eddie Guerrero had passed. Oh man.
(17:12):
Eddie Guerrero had passed. And also, I don't ever disclose
who it is if you figure you can figure it out by looking back.
But there was a wrestler who waswith the WWF on the road who I
believe got sent home because hewas filled the hell up over in
Europe at the time. Yeah, OK.
(17:33):
I eventually told him who it wasand I told I told one of the
workers there and somebody said give him a call just to see if
he was sound, you know, and theywere checking him out, just
seeing if he was all right, you know, But I remember they were
asking, you know, who would you have liked to wrestle that you
(17:53):
did or who who would you like tohave?
You know, well, you know, who would you like to wrestle again?
It's good. And I, and I express it, talked
about, you know, the midnight Rockers and and they, the
question answer panel was hostedby Bill actor.
But Gary Funk, Jim Cornette, Dennis Condry, Bobby up there.
(18:16):
And they they'd asked him that question and they had asked, you
know, that. And then they asked Funk.
And Terry Funk says I'd like to have one more match with Eddie
Guerrero. Yeah.
If he were like, Oh my. He just, you know, heartbroken
because Guerrero, I mean, talk about the ultimate babyface man.
(18:39):
And he goes. And he talked about how he was
instrumental in bringing him in back in 89 to WCWNWA, whatever
it was for a tryout and funks that he had brought him in and
they didn't sign him. But, you know, he had been a
long time fan of Guerrero and, you know, I did that.
And he also went into talking about other things.
(19:02):
He said, listen, every. He said there's a lot of
problems in wrestling. And wrestling, it's not about,
you know, you can talk about allkinds of ways to solve it, but
wrestling needs to clean itself up.
Yeah. Even if it means we as veterans
need to withhold our love to people who we've mentored, who
(19:24):
aren't taking care of their business.
Right, We said at the end of theday, if you trace back any city
of any size, every single one ofthem has a crack house.
Yeah, you go back here in Spartanburg, they got a crack
house somewhere. Yeah, Amen.
They've. Traced back police reports for
(19:47):
the last five years and look at all the deaths that have
happened in that crack house. You will find out that wrestling
is way more than that crack house has in five years.
Yeah. Yeah.
If we need to withhold our love,we need to do that.
And I started it emotional because I started thinking about
(20:09):
Foley's interviews, about how. And later he came out for a
minute. And I thought about, you know,
he was giving interviews and ECWtalking about, you know, when I
lost my ear, it hurt because I didn't know the German word for
formaldehyde. You know, all this stuff.
(20:30):
People say I love pain. No, I don't.
It hurts. You know how many you guys who
you know love hardcore wrestlinghave called up the Dynamite Kid
and thanked him for all the dives that he's done out in the
floor? Sorry, you don't have a pot to
piss in or a window Throw it outof no Dynamite.
(20:53):
You're homeless, right? Crippled and bound to a
wheelchair. You love hardcore.
Yeah, right. But how many of you done that?
I started getting emotional thinking man Polly Races just
came in here in a wheelchair because he barely can walk.
One of the toughest men ever in a wheelchair, you know.
(21:16):
Forever. And his neck and back are shot,
you know, His knees are shot, you know, I mean, wrestling
rusters give up a Faustian bargain when you're taking bumps
off of a top turnbuckle or something.
Fans talk about all these high risk moves and work great and
all this stuff. It's not a damn video game.
(21:38):
You got people who have to pay prices.
You got to pay certain. You got to pay the piper.
You got to pay the bargain. Yeah, I mean, it's a Faustian
bargain. You, you know, you're known
because of what you did, but what you're known for is going
(21:58):
to hurt you. You know, when taking bumps,
backdrops, let's say a simple backdrop, you will don't think
much of it. But if you do it, if someone
does a flip over somebody's headand they're 6 foot tall, you're
taking a six foot fall on your back.
Yeah, yeah. That's something you're going to
recover from immediately. I mean, that's not you're going
(22:20):
to have a cumulative damage if it keeps on going right into the
story you're going to have. It's like a mini car crash
you're experiencing. And yeah, what people talk
about. Well, he didn't do nothing in
that match. Well, sometimes you don't have
to have to do a whole lot. If you tell the story, you know.
Walk and talk matches and been just as entertained.
(22:44):
Amen. As I have been entertained by a
lot of other matches that have the boom boom boom I I love your
your your chain wrestling, like with your Guerreros, your
Malenkos, you know, it's almost a bad word.
Your Benoit's for what he did inthe rink.
(23:05):
He was tremendous, you know, I didn't know the man.
I'm not going to, you know, you know, it's terrible for what he
was accused of. But I mean, at the same time,
what he did in the ring, I was afan of, you know, I enjoyed
seeing a lot of that, that kind of stuff.
I love watching Jonathan Greshamnow.
(23:26):
Yeah, I know. I watched John train.
I've watched him on some big shows, but I love that stuff.
I could watch him and Speed by Mike Bailey.
Go, go on and on and on. It's tremendous stuff, you know,
you know, various maneuvers and,and, and it's not a bunch of
backdrops. There's a bunch of chain
(23:47):
wrestling. It's tremendous stuff.
You know, there's a flavor to all kind of wrestling.
You could have some walk and talk.
You can have some ball and all over the place.
You could have something where you take a lot of bumps.
You can have silver. You don't take a lot of bumps.
You know, it's tremendous, right?
There's a variety wrestling, yeah, but that time in my head,
(24:08):
I'm thinking all this they can, man.
I've loved watching Terry Funk and Midnight Express and Jim
Cornette. The.
Greatest. Absolutely, absolutely.
And I've loved watched watching these guys, you know, and, and,
and I just want to thank them. Yeah, in my head, you know, you
(24:31):
know, I didn't want to see another death in wrestling.
I just wanted to thank you for the sacrifices you made in your
bodies to thank them. Well, when it came my turn to
ask the question with that in myhead, the idea was flawless.
The delivery maybe left something to be desired, or
(24:55):
maybe it didn't. You can't look back like that,
Dave, Personally, I think you know.
It's debatable. Maybe it did, maybe it didn't.
Maybe it came out the way it wassupposed to.
Because I was thinking about it.And when I went to speak in
front of the audience, I said, you know, instead of thank you
for what you did, thank you for what you did in your bodies, you
(25:19):
know, see another one meaning another death and rest right,
right, right over meaning another, you know, something
like that prescription death, what have you.
Sure. And then I guess I had a
momentary case of Tourette's or something ago.
(25:40):
It's still not every damn it blurred out.
That's when Audrey's like, take it easy, man.
Thank you guys. You're awesome and I wanted to
show appreciation. Well.
Yeah, yeah. I kind of couldn't believe it.
Well then apparently high spots whoever.
I think that they were the ones who were selling the DVD.
(26:01):
Yeah. They found the clip moving and
they understood it, and it was cut down and went out.
Somehow it wound up on Ebaum's World and some other viral
sites. That's it, yeah.
And it just went all over. And then the Kimmel people
wanted it and paid for overnightshipping.
(26:22):
Yeah. And it wound up on the Jimmy
Kimmel share. Yeah, Jimmy Kimmel had actually
invited me out there. They're like, well, do you think
you do that again? I said probably not.
Well, do you think this? They said, well, let me get back
to you. Well, we still want y'all.
At the time I had a shoot job. I'm a realist.
(26:46):
I was fleeting. I didn't know it at the time,
but viral fame never goes away. Just weird when you walk into a
Cat Dee's or a Chili's and we'llgo, hey, I know you, you know, I
know who you are. So you've been watching, Taj
(27:08):
toyed out. Yeah, yeah.
And now a word from our sponsor.Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to
(27:28):
Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling, apodcast that's based on the old
school but can still help you find the good stuff from today.
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From thought provoking topics tosuperstar interviews to action
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(27:51):
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Every other Thursday, wherever you listen to podcasts.
So I'm going to play the clip. Everybody will hear it again.
It's a 32nd clip. Next question, Jeff, where are
(28:12):
you? Right there.
Yeah. I just want to thank each and
everyone of y'all for all you'vedone to your bodies.
It's still real to me. Damn it.
I'll be. Thank you man.
Thank you all guys. They were awesome.
Thank you so much, Mr. Funk, forsaying what needed to be said.
(28:35):
I don't want to see it. I want to read the transcript of
what you said and brother, you have filled it in so incredibly.
You said, you know, I just want to thank each and every one of
y'all for all you've done to your bodies.
It's still real to me. Damn it.
Thank you all, guys. You're awesome.
Thank you so much for saying, Mr. Funk, what needed to be
(28:57):
said. I don't want to see another one
of these. And then it cuts off now, OK,
out of that. There are so many emotions going
through you. I see some of the fellow
audience members consoling you. I see so many things.
So. So the still real to me, damn
it. Now I've we're going to talk
about how it goes after that. But did it just come come out of
(29:20):
you naturally? Did that just feel like what you
needed to say? Wrestling at that point was
still real because I'm talking mentions and I'm talking to guys
who I've watched forever. I've met two of the greatest
wrestlers of all time. People can argue with me about
(29:40):
the barbarian. People can say the barbarian.
Yes, the barbarian. I love King Konga in Memphis.
I loved him as the barbarian. Didn't really care when they put
the antlers on him. I kind of like painted
barbarian, but I've been a huge fan of the Powers of Pain.
(30:02):
My one day, One day bucket for Mr. Promoter, whoever the hell
you are. Yeah.
I want to manage the barbarian. I don't care where it is.
Tennessee, Carolina, Georgia. Book it, OK?
Make it happen. It was OK.
We might be able to do this for the end of the year.
(30:23):
Yes, I got a South Carolina manager's license or wrestler's
license. Awesome.
If you want for Tennessee or Kentucky, let me know, I'll sign
up tomorrow. You don't need one for
Tennessee, but you do for Kentucky.
So I would love to be able to dothat, but the barbarian is one
of the greatest. Jerry Lawler.
I watched him forever. I enjoyed his fused with Dundee,
(30:46):
with Idol and Rich. I thought so much that stuff was
tremendous. I love the stuff with the Bill
and Buddy Show. They VHS and DVD.
I got to see so much of that. I thought Dundee was great as a
heel, great as a face. Later I get to meet superstar
(31:07):
Dundee and if conversations withhim and I think he's tremendous.
It's just everybody I I really have.
I've met Wolfie DI think Wolfie D is tremendous.
I got to meet Jerry Jarrett and Jeff.
I thought they're tremendous guys and I just enjoy their
work. It it was brilliant how they got
(31:28):
Jeff over in Memphis. I would he first debut.
This is a pretty boy from guys like DJ Khan and Moon Dog spot,
Raging Bull, Manny Fernandez. I'm like, you know, you know,
he's not a wuss. He's tough.
He's still fighting back. He's he's challenging Robert
(31:50):
Fuller, you know, he's pretty tough, you know, got over, you
know, it's just great stuff. And I just love the way how they
were able to brilliantly, in my opinion, book Memphis.
I think a lot of promotions, I could do a lot with that.
I enjoyed N.W.A when they did. I enjoyed them when they come to
(32:12):
Atlanta with the studio show. Yeah.
And and God, they had so much talent when they would come to
Atlanta, Corrigan's, Billy Corrigan's group whenever they
had all this and and Trevor Murdoch and, you know, Eli
Drake, LA not yeah, so many of those guys and all.
(32:38):
Yeah. You know the question mark,
Josephus, God just being in the room with the question mark.
Love, Josephus. If you hadn't watched that in
N.W.A on their studio show, go back and watch it.
Oh, please explain it. But it's like you had like 200,
(32:58):
you know, so many people in the audience, OK, It's like
everybody in the room picked andthey said that SOB is our
favorite wrestler ever tonight. And I thought, this is the
greatest thing I've ever seen. It harking me back to the days
(33:19):
of a center stage theater which used to go through.
And it was tremendous because the fans there were were guys
(33:44):
who who you would know later. You had Craig Johnson, who lived
in Atlanta at the time, John Horton.
You had Scott Hudson, Steve Brazac, the Truth, who was on
ECW and Wild Side, Scott Hudson on WCW.
And it was just tremendous. You know, all of you know all of
(34:04):
us, you know, yeah, you know, you know, you know, non
believing sheet reading fans areup there just enjoying
ourselves. Say it's a it was a level of
pride whenever they had I guess Doug Dillinger was taking a
coffee break or something. But probably a moving text sign
(34:25):
right in front of the camera during the text in Shanghai gets
Vinny Vegas and doubt Diamond Dallas page match.
We're up there, you know, just cheering for texts and
everything. It was tremendous.
But I'm like this is the greatest thing.
So I spare Ed seeing question mark it like harken me back to
(34:48):
the days of that. I hope Billy brings it back to
Georgia, but I know he's got heat with GPTV because Georgia
public broadcast and decided to,you know, cut his attendance and
his big pay-per-view from, you know, 25750 down like 75 and he
(35:09):
had a refund. My God, the H Georgia.
So hopefully one day he'll be back and if not, I'll just have
to head up the Nashville or somewhere Kentucky hopefully.
Come on up. I'll come on that.
Believe me, when yoga In and Outburger, I'll be up there often.
We'll see you there, brother. Hey brother, give me a double
(35:31):
double. Make it like a crystal.
I'll be happy. There you go.
Take that, Travis Kelce. I got my own hamburgers, but
man, you big Swifty. But, you know, it was just
tremendous. But then they have all those
emotions going through my mind thinking about the Memphis
(35:55):
program and meeting Bill after and talking about, you know,
wrestlers and all. And we just had and, you know,
Craig and I thought about staying, but we had to get back.
But on the way back, I just thought about it and I said,
man, I kind of got choked up there.
And then I was actually on a tape trading board.
(36:15):
And yeah, we, we, we may or may not have been trading DVDs that
may or may not have had some copyright things or may or may
not have been allegedly, allegedly positive.
But I, I just want to get me. It wasn't like I was getting,
you know, it wasn't like, you know, I was trying to get WWF
(36:37):
product or WCW product, WWE product.
I was trying to, you know, get like years of Memphis, which I
did it, which is great. Now it's all now I see I spent
all this money on it for nothingbecause YouTube's got everything
or the Gary Parsons networks goteverything, you know?
(36:58):
Right, Big friends. Friends with those guys.
Yeah. Well, yeah.
So the emotion obviously is something we've all felt.
Emotions going in there and it just came out because it that on
that day, if it ever had been before and never would be again,
which it still is, but it ever would be.
(37:18):
It was definitely still real to me.
And like I tell people right now, I say you can call
wrestling predetermined. Sure, you can say that.
OK, it may be fixed if if you want to go that far right, there
may be a set winner and a loser,but damn it, it's never damn
(37:42):
thing. Never, never faint.
Yeah. Ask your wolfie D's.
Ask your superstar done these. Ask your buddy Landells.
Yeah, Ask your jury, the King ofOlars.
I mean, hell, ask Jeff Hardy. Ask if these guys do about
cripple their damn bodies. I mean, wrestlings never faint.
(38:04):
You know, someone said, well, you know, I think it's fake.
I said it's as real as your imagination, real as you follow
comic books. This is real as as Iron Man is
Wonder Woman as fat and as Superman is not, you know, as
(38:28):
real as Jr. Ewing if you dated reference.
But So what? I love Dallas and Falcon up
there. When I was like 9 years old
drinking coffee, watching that again started development.
That's that's why I couldn't geta date in high school with a
(38:48):
fist full of 50s and a bag of blow.
And I hadn't either, of course. You know what?
Go out today. Hey, who cares?
I want to see what Dick Slater'sdo it on, you know?
I want to see #1 Paul Jones is up there, you know?
(39:10):
Yeah, you know. But you know, it's as real as
your biggest dreams and your greatest hopes.
It's definitely real. Yeah.
Amen. Amen.
Are you a pro wrestling fan? We'll stop by Captain's Corner,
where you can get autographed photos, cards, magazines, and
(39:31):
figures from all of your favorite wrestling superstars of
the past, present, and future. You'll also be able to
participate in live signings in the weeks and months to come.
Make sure to stop by Captain's Corner on Facebook and give us a
holler. Remember, cheers to the working
man. So while I didn't go on Kimmel
(39:52):
later, the Tosh Point O folks did call.
Yeah, how was that man? How was that?
It was good. They made arrangements to fly me
out of Atlanta to Los Angeles. It was filmed.
It was actually filmed. I'll go ahead and drop some
dish. It's been long enough.
(40:13):
The show's out of production now.
I'll go ahead and drop some dish.
It was filmed in Culver. They put me up in Culver City is
where they put me up at a Renaissance.
I was on the plane. It was real weird because I met,
(40:34):
I saw Dibiase on the and I thought, I wonder if he's going
out here transferring from Mississippi or where he came
from, if he's, if he's going outfor this.
So no, no, no, that's being error.
He must be going out in a crusade or some kind of ministry
or something. So at the time I was doing a
little podcast of my own today, the dangerous joke.
(40:57):
So I gave him my number later that night and told him I'd love
to have him on and, and all. And I thought, I wonder what
he's doing. I didn't ask you what he was
doing. It's none of my business, but I
thought it was so cool to be able to meet Ted Dibiase that
was. Kind of fave brother, right?
(41:19):
So I got I got to meet Teddy andthen I got off the plane and
then they had a guy pick me up and this little bitty, this
little bitty micro car, I don't know if it was a Yugo or what.
It was pretty small. So it was some production gate
that he picked me up and he saw I got to give you this.
He had me two 50s. I said, what's this right here?
(41:41):
He said, oh, that right, There'sPerdean money.
I said, what? I need Perdean money.
You're taking care of everything, right?
Yeah. He said, don't ask me, I've been
told to give you this. So he took me to the
Renaissance. It was no, what was here's a
Radisson's what it was. So I go over there.
Well, I got 100 bucks in my pocket.
(42:01):
I'm like, what am I going to do with this?
So I would tell and rested for awhile and I thought, and I never
went into this detail with any other show before.
Stories from Across the Street brings you breaking news from
over 15 years ago. I.
Love it. For tremendous stuff, Yeah,
(42:22):
yeah, yeah, yeah. We're not bringing you news or
bring you history, exactly. Yes.
I go up there and I'm thinking, ah, hell, what am I going to be
in in Los Angeles again? So I go over there and I talk to
the front desk and I talked to the front desk and I get them.
They had a little shuttle bus and I got in the shuttle me over
(42:43):
the fox rent a car. So I rented a car for the night
for about I think it was like 50-60 bucks.
OK. So I drove all around Los
Angeles just checking everythingout.
I mean, just looking around. I drove down to five.
I drove down all these other places.
I should have got In and Out Burger.
(43:04):
I didn't, but I just drove all around there just checking.
And I drove out into the Walk ofFame and saw where they had, you
know, stars you where they had all the stars with their
fingerprints and the concrete and everything.
Saw the little wax museum and all.
(43:25):
And it was just tremendous to dothat.
I got back about 3:00 in the morning and I was going to try
to bring the car back then, but they says no, you have to wait.
So I slept till like 6 and then I got up.
They said at six somebody being here and I got them to take me
back to return the car. It may have been AI can't
remember. Yeah I said hey, y'all couldn't
(43:48):
take me back earlier and I really wish I could have taken
me back or I could have gotten some more sleep.
You know they said well, well ifyou'd like we can give you
breakfast. I'm like oh sure that's great.
So that's so I go there. By the time I finish eating,
here comes the guy in his car. He comes, picks me up and takes
me over to the studio. It was at the same place where
(44:11):
they take the Tennis Network of all places.
I don't exactly was, but it was over there and it was pretty
cool. I walked into one of the
bathrooms right there because I I drank a lot of black coke, had
to recycle some of it and there's Coco beware spray paint
(44:34):
hair. And they had, you know, and
later I ran the Sergeant Slaughter and Dibiase and all
these other guys and all. Now do these guys know who you
are by chance from the clip? I don't even know, but I, I just
found it tremendous that I thinkthey were put up at the Grand
(44:54):
Hyatt or something, if I'm not mistaken, that he had helped
help set some stuff up with. That is what Jimmy Hart told me
about. I'm like, wow, one of the
greatest managers in Memphis. I'm not surprised.
There's Memphis Tail up there. He had Coca wear, he had
(45:15):
Slaughter. He was in Memphis, $1,000,000
land. He was in there for a cup of
coffee. So I got to do that, got to, you
know, play with Slaughter a little bit and talk to him and
all. So I mean, it was pretty cool.
So we're up there 1st and Tosh is getting prepped for his intro
for his stuff where he's playingUltimate Warrior where he is,
(45:41):
they're playing old YouTube clips of Ultimate Warrior
interviews. And he was doing a bunch of
talking and everything. So that that was kind of neat.
And what was funny was they didn't know it, but I saw some
paper, some papers on the side of the table.
(46:01):
So I picked up and start readingthem.
Well, I didn't know it, but it might as well have been the the
Tosh point O Observer as opposedto the wrestlers over newsletter
because it I was smart and myself up because it pretty much
was questions that I was about to be asked and other stuff and
(46:23):
stuff like that and all. And what's funny was the
producers who were big, who werebig wrestling fans, I guess,
along with eyes. I mean, it's that we've been
looking forward to having you out here because we're big fans
of these guys too. So a lot of the producers were
wrestling fans about two, like 2-3, four hours of sleep too.
(46:47):
Kind of interesting. So up there, he's up there
saying stuff and and talking andthen I'm up there being a little
snarky and everything and they finally say, OK, Dave, OK, OK,
let us smarten you. One of the producers looks at
this is OK, we get it. You know, I won't go into total
(47:08):
detail because I'm not going to drop a bunch of profane bombs on
the show, but we get it. You're funny AF OK, so you know
you're funny is you know what? But here's the game, OK, The
viral video stars who appear on Tosh porno in the web redemption
(47:31):
because I got a web redemption. It was a chance to where I had a
chance to do something and we'rehad a chance to, you know, speak
or whatever, and I got a chance to do a redo.
OK. These are extraordinary people
in extraordinary situations. Yeah, Daniel Tosh, That's how
(47:55):
they do. Got you.
OK. The premises stories from across
the street. Amen.
Exactly. So that was the gimmick.
OK, so I had to tone it down a little bit.
But yeah, it it was funny because, you know, they were
asking questions, you know, certain certain things.
It's like, it's like you think Art Anderson is a pussy.
(48:17):
No, I do not. You know, stuff like that, you
know, just commit this little questions right there.
One guy said, Dave, when we would you did the Figure 4.
I forget. Well, one of the wrestlers told
me, they said, Dave, you, you honestly sold the Figure 4 very
some of the workers out there onthat.
I say you're probably not wrong on that.
(48:40):
Maybe you put that over and reversed it.
You sold the reversal. They're like you're selling, you
know. So one of the funniest things
was Fast forward a few years later, I've had a show in
Knoxville in in the back. I decided to go up there.
(49:00):
They were going to have a a showin Knoxville, then they're going
to have a show in OVW. Yeah, they're going to show.
And I think they're going to show one place, like in
Ringgold, GA, there's a show in Knoxville, then they were going
to have a show up in of an OVW. So I thought, well, hang on,
I'll just go and do a loop just to visit, you know, so to go up
(49:25):
there and got to see, you know, Cornett got to see all kinds of
stuff. That was a great little show
because Cornettes in there. And what was funny was they they
had a ring that was delivered that that sucked.
And they, if Jim Cornette is nothappy there, there is no
(49:45):
question it's not happy. Yeah.
Right, exactly. Yeah, and everybody within a, a
decent radius know about. OK, exactly.
I knew this was a bad idea. Plus this is at some like,
church school or something. I, I, I know there's no God.
(50:05):
Oh no, it's at a church. And then there is a God.
He hates me. So we're waiting for guys to
live there. My friend who I love that they
have Doctor Tom Bridgewater, what is he doing in my locker
room? And immediately Doctor Tom runs
(50:26):
over there and start stopping meand I start and then record it,
says Dave, watch, you're selling.
Better to have these guys in theOVW locker room.
No, it's true though. Tremendous fun.
I got to do that. I got to meet Kitty Baldwin for
(50:47):
the first time. I remember whatever I saw
bowling. I love Kitty.
Yes, Sir. Well, it's still let you call me
out out of dinner. I'll go ahead where you want to
go. I'll go ahead and buy.
That's. Awesome.
I love big big. The world's most famous best
friend, right? Come on.
I'll tell you right it, it, it was tremendous.
(51:11):
I, I, I haven't told him right time just didn't just being able
to hang out with some of the guys.
Then The funny thing is, like people didn't know it, but I'd
managed before then too, and andannounced and stuff like that.
I went to the Gulf Coast Wrestling reunion they have in
Mobile. That was a tremendous thing, one
(51:33):
of the first years I went. Oh yeah.
Well, the first years I went, and it is for workers and people
who've been in the business. I found out that I qualified,
which I was shocked because I'd,you know, done some announcing
and I'd done a little managing here and there and I didn't feel
I'd done anything. But I was told that I qualified.
(51:53):
So I of course went. And I remember one of the first
things I saw was I was walked inthe door and looked at a table
and I see a bunch of guys sitting around and it's Boris
Zhukov, Tiger Conway Junior and Han Stone, Ron Garvin.
I said that's a pretty good start.
(52:15):
Any Hall of Fame you want to start?
Yeah. Then I got to meet guys like,
you know, Norman, Frederick, Charles and Pork Chop Cash and
Ben Jordan. I was popping for Ben Jordan.
Who? Loved Ben, one of my best
friends love him. Who was a great guy and I got to
get Roberto Soto and Robert and Ron Fuller and Jimmy Golden and
(52:41):
all these guy all over that Continental bunch.
I love the fullers and the gold.Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, yeah, Adrian St. and company and all and Robert
Gibson and all. It was just tremendous to be
accepted in that, even though I thought I hadn't done anything.
And you got to go to the shootout in Texas and Texas
(53:02):
Shootout and see guys who who are so much fun to grappler, you
know? Was dirty white boy there?
No, it was the grappler, Lynn Denton.
Gotcha I I figured he might haveTony with him as well but.
No, it was him. I got to hang out with The Dirty
blondes a little bit. Eddie Man, who some people talk
(53:24):
about, well, you know, 2020. I love the guy.
He he, he has always been a goodguy to me.
I've heard he's a great guy. He.
He he is a fun guy. And man, I tell you right now,
someone said, Dave, I didn't know you had a party.
I said tell. I met Eddie.
I didn't either. He taught me the joys of what we
(53:48):
did, of of of what was it here. He told me the joke, the joys of
cram, roll, apple and cranberry juice.
I think I aged a week. I think I aged a couple of
months in a week. Yet adds one of the real cool
(54:11):
and everything. I love him.
Like I said, people can say whatthey want.
I judge people by how they treat.
Amen. Yeah.
If good to me, I think more about it.
Yeah, that's great. I just said last had enjoyed it
and all and and had fun. And then The funny thing was I
(54:32):
didn't know much about Tosh porno because people, you know,
when I came on the show, I did tell them that I did want a
couple of things. I didn't want this to be
something where we're poking funat dead rasters.
I didn't know about the Owen Hart crack you that Tosh made
later right Paul Bear Percy Pringle told me that that he
(54:58):
enjoyed that till Tosh did that and he he he he what do through
it about that. Yeah, nobody was and that was
kind of low. But you know, for what they did
with me, they were great. And Coco did come on my little
podcast and talk and I've seen slaughter many times since and
(55:19):
and Sarge is a great guy. He, he, he, he, he, he he's a
friend. I I'll message you.
He's an immature but her DMS andall and he he, he's just a cool
guy and everything and and and and Coco's always been cool and.
Coco's great. Yeah, and and I, I just speak
the word to him and. Except to Steve Kern.
(55:41):
Ain't that funny, I tell you, It's just the damnedest thing.
Well, Carl has been great to me.Carl and Lane have been
tremendous. Yeah, he's amazing.
Yeah. It's amazing.
Some guys I don't even think know who I am, know who I am.
I don't think I'm. I don't realize how much the the
(56:03):
viral thing is when. Dude, the boys love you.
Like seriously, I talked to WolfEd and I said, hey, I've got
Dave coming on my show. He's like, I love that guy.
Every time I bring you up to oneof the boys, they say those
words. I love that guy.
The boys love you, dude. Here's the weird thing.
OK, now I'll go ahead and get a plug out.
(56:25):
Coming up, they got a movie called The Unbreakable Bunch
that's supposed to be coming outsoon.
Now stars Glacier and Ernest Miller and I think these Abyss
goes got to roll and the Gangreland a bunch of other folks got
to roll in there. Stan Hanson, Big Ron Reese, Big
(56:46):
Ron Studs in there. I met Ron Reese.
I try to learn something every day.
And when I met Big Ron Stud, I looked at his head and his head
was about the size of a Dodge Neon that I drove years before.
I wonder that Ron Reese is really, really, really, really,
(57:09):
really hot. OK, yeah.
But it said a tribute for Shocker Sean Evans, who was a a
wrestler who was that who they were fundraising for in Atlanta
and he was talking. He said I know who you are.
You're the crying rest of that said Oh my God, Ron or Big Ron
Stud knows who I am. That's awesome day.
(57:29):
Yeah, I saw the video and I sentit to Norton in Japan.
I'm like, holy hell, Scott Norton has seemed, Oh my God,
he's one of the toughest guys ever.
Amen. Yeah.
Maybe, you know, big, big Scott,you know, Flash Scott Norton,
big Scott Norton and all. And I'm like, and I don't really
realize that it's with the England and all these other
(57:51):
places and I have no, I have no gravitas and how big this
thing's got. And I've always tried to stay
humble. Speaking of Steve Kerr, and I've
taken one thing he said an interview to Hart one time in an
interview, he he was talking to Lance Russell or Babe and Dave
Brown. He said, well, you know it.
(58:14):
Well, you know, I've always saidit's nice to be important.
Jackie Fargo always taught me that it's nice to be important,
but it's more important to be nice.
So that's what I do, you know? Yeah, it's a smart way to go.
Humble because you know, you know, some people are thrilled
to meet me and I, you know, I, Itry to remember names and stuff.
(58:38):
It gets hard sometimes, but it'sreally it, you know, if I can
give them a good experience, that's what I want to do because
I don't really, I, I don't really want to get a lot of heat
with a lot of folks. But of course not.
Too, I, I want to, you know, youknow, treat somebody you know
(58:59):
nice, you know, because it's, you know, you, you, you don't
want to meet somebody you're looking forward to meet or
you're happy to meet and then treat you like a Dick.
I mean you. Know there's this Southern
saying and you draw more flies with honey, right?
Is that true or what? Come on, SO.
Hey, I've grown up in Acworth, GA I I they talk about Cobb
County, Georgia and the big bossman.
(59:20):
I've lived in Cobb County every day of my life.
We had our Acworth. That's where two places Sony
from across the street. Hey everybody, Jean Jackson here
inviting you to check out the retro wrestling review where
(59:41):
each week I'm joined by some great Co host to help me review
classic episodes of USWA Championship wrestling.
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 dropevery Wednesday at
(01:00:03):
wrestlecopia.com and define links to everything associated
to the podcast. You can go to uswapodcast.com.
That's right, it's the talk of Middle Tennessee, the channel
you love to hate and the channelyou hate to love.
It's Brian Turner from Brian Turner's VHS Rehab.
(01:00:26):
And if you're looking for matches from Wolfie D to Jerry
Lawler to Dusty Rhodes and the team that put a pimp before your
eyes and a goatee between your thighs, Booty KO and Athena go
to lostwrestling.com. See, I made it easy for you.
Brian Turner's VHS Rehab Booyah.Hey y'all, this is Jimmy here.
(01:00:55):
And that was episode 7 of the Best of James Rock St.
Productions with the first half of episode 1 of Steel Reel.
Dave Wills on story from across the street.
Dave is a great supporter of wrestling and a great friend.
You can hear the full episode over on at G MB MPW or Give Me
Back My Pro Wrestling wherever you listen to podcasts or simply
click the link in the notes below.
(01:01:17):
We hope you've enjoyed a look back in the archives of James
Rock St. Productions.
Check us out next week to see what else we have in store.
Until then, follow at G, MB, MPWand at James Rock St.
everywhere. Peace with a tear in my eye.
This is the greatest moment in my life.
(01:02:06):
This has been a James Rock St. production.
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