Todd Champion on GMBMPW!

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
This is Todd Champion and I'm onGive Me back my pro wrestling.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome toGive Me Back My Pro wrestling.

(00:42):
Hello, Said Oh no, now you know,baby, this is hot Rod Bigs,
Jared, Jimmy St. We're going to take them to the
limit One more time, baby, righthere on Give Me Back My Pro
Wrestling. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome
one more time to the Give Me Back my Pro Wrestling podcast.
And here I am, as always with mybrother from the same father and

(01:02):
mother, Jared the Plastic Chic St.
What's up Chic? How you doing brother?
I'm good brother, how about yourself?
Man, I'm just doing the thing here.
Got couple days off with the wife.
We're going to try to do some kind of adventure around the
house, maybe clean it or do some, do some.
Housework. Isn't one of those old school
books choose your own adventure kind of thing?

(01:24):
No, this is it. Well, yeah, She's choosing my
adventure. Yeah.
She'll flip the page and she's like page 22 says Jimmy cleans
out the garage or something. Exactly.
And that is what I do. Yeah.
Yeah. Anyway, now we're just, we're
just enjoying the long weekend and trying to get some things
done around the house. So you know how it is, man.

(01:47):
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
But man, got a cool show today. Definitely excited about this
one. Todd Champion.
Very cool man. Yeah, man, he's a he's, he's one
of those guys that's been aroundthe block and and he's got a lot
of lot on his resume and it's going to be interesting to hear
some stories from him. Oh yeah, for sure.
What? What's your first memory of Todd

(02:08):
Champion? My first good memory is probably
the Patriots I think. Yeah, yeah.
But then thinking back after, you know, like after I realized,
you know, the same person, you know, you think back of other
times you saw him and everythinglike that, but probably,

(02:28):
probably in the pay the Patriots, whatever, I can't
think. Yeah, I think that was like his
time of standing out a little bit.
But I think, you know, I remember him working as kind of
what Tommy and and David did on the on the Crockett shows, you
know, you know, he would kind ofbe like the bigger underneath
guy. But man, you know, I don't know.
It's, it's he's got a cool career.
You know, he's done it. He played in the NFL, Hollywood.

(02:52):
I mean, he's done a little bit of everything.
So, you know, yeah. Man, if you haven't seen him in
some aspect it's probably your fault.
Right, right. Yeah.
California guy, you know, born in North Carolina, ended up in
California, ended up playing theNFL and.
Like college ball in Utah State.Yeah, State.
Yeah, yeah, very cool man. So I'm very excited to have him

(03:15):
on. Definitely.
I, I'm, I'm, you know, we, we had some plans for one show, but
then this show turned into what it turned into and I'm actually
happier that it did. So we're.
Yeah. Sometimes.
Sometimes things not going as planned can work out pretty
good. Right, exactly.
But also, you know, we've also been having some great shows.
One of the, you know, of course we've Tommy, David, Pat, Rick,

(03:39):
you know, all these guys. But then we also just did our,
to start the year off, we did our New Year's resolutions for
pro wrestling and everybody seemed to like that.
We brought some of our buddies on with their resolutions, you
know, past guests and friends ofthe show and stuff like that.
And yeah, I think, I think it was received well.
I believe so. I'm glad they I'm glad they

(03:59):
still want to listen to us. If we didn't have, you know,
somebody on with us. A guest.
Yeah, that's the trick, right? Do you wanna.
It's like, do you lean so heavy into guests that you can always
have to have one or, you know, but.
I don't know. Hopefully, hopefully they like
us enough to tune in even without a guest so.
Yeah. I mean, you know, and I.
Did spice it up with our buddies, you know, wishes and

(04:22):
and hopes for the year. So you know, there's a little
bit of guest action on that show.
It's just mostly you and I though, which is the old school
way, right? So.
Going old school. Yeah, but definitely start of a
new year. Hopefully everybody had, you
know, fun New Year's Eve and andhas now ended up figuring out,
you know, 2024. We don't even have to write in

(04:45):
on checks anymore, right? We just have to kind of
remember. What's writing?
A check? Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, yeah. I don't know.
I know, You know, that's the oldschool way though, right?
So maybe maybe, you know, if we really like the old school,
maybe we need to start writing checks again.
Jared, I'm just, yeah. No thanks.

(05:06):
No thanks. How things going your way man?
Oh, they're good. They're good.
You know it's cold, but right, it's only going to get a little
colder over the next few days, Imean.
Yeah. It's a it's all those things
after you, after you get a little older, unless you just
really love the cold. I don't know how anybody would
want to live too far north, honestly.

(05:28):
Yeah, I mean, that's just a, that's a whole other reason not
to move to the North, right? All of our northern listeners,
we thank you all. Y'all are awesome, definitely
appreciate you. But when it comes down to it,
y'all can keep the cold up there.
Keep the cold. Yeah, well, I'd say let's go
ahead and get Todd on. What do you think, man?
Absolutely, man, I'm excited. All right, sounds good.

(05:49):
We'll be right back after these messages with Todd Champion on
Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to
Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling, the podcast that's based on the
old school but can still help you find the good stuff from
today. Jimmy St. and the Plastic Sheet

(06:11):
Jared are the undisputed tag team champions of the wrestling
podcast world. From thought provoking topics,
the superstar interviews to action figure expertise, this
team does it all. And all they ask is give me back
my pro wrestling every other Thursday, wherever you listen to

(06:36):
podcasts. All right, we are back with more
from the Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling podcast.
And we've got another great one,Jared.
I don't know how to say it otherthan just we've got an excellent
guest today, man. I mean that no better words to
say. It's a it's an honor to have
this gentleman on with us and I'd say we get it going all.

(06:57):
Right. Well, no better time than when
you have the champion here, AKA Todd Champion.
Welcome to the show, Todd. How are you, Sir?
Hey, I'm doing great man. How you guys doing?
Doing well, man. Excited to be talking to you,
brother. That's what we're fired up about
so. Well, I appreciate somebody
remembers me. There's more than you would I

(07:19):
Yeah, there's quite a few of us out here, I'm pretty sure.
So. So yeah, we always start every
show off with a very difficult question because that's just how
we do things. It's the plastic sheets.
Favorite question sheet. Take it away.
All right, Todd, so this question right here is going to
let kind of the fans know maybe how who were you were a fan of

(07:40):
or or who you enjoyed watching. But if you had like four or five
wrestlers, they're on your like Mount Rushmore of wrestling, who
would that be? Mount Rushmore Wrestling, that's
a good. There's a lot of dudes out there
that could be on that, but you said only only got 5.
Yeah, you can have 4, you can have 6-4.
Yeah, whatever, whatever you. Need, man.

(08:02):
Probably Ric Flair. Yeah, OK.
I'd say Arne Anderson. Oh man, love it.
I love it. AA is one of my favorite of all
time so. Yeah, I love Arne to death, and
that's a funny dude too. And then I would probably say
Ricky the Dragon Steamboats and I, and I'm using these guys to

(08:27):
these guys I worked with. And I know there's others in
different companies, but these are the guys that I I worked
with probably I would say Terry Gordy.
Oh yeah, a bruiser. I love it.
Yes, Terry and I were taxing partners in Japan, right?
Right. That's where I really got to

(08:48):
know him. And super dude, just just a
great guy. Probably Dusty Rhodes.
Yeah, OK, very cool and a great list, Yeah.
Then probably last but not leastwould probably be Nelson Royal.
Oh, man, Yeah. See, now that's where I live.
I live in Mooresville, the home of, of, of Nelson.

(09:08):
Yeah. So I'm, I know you're very
familiar. Yeah.
Yeah, my son lives in Mooresville and I went back
there when he got married and I hadn't been back.
So then I went by the Western store there to see him.
I mean, his wife. He passed away but but those
were the good old days when we were training there and I was
his first student. Yeah, yeah.
Wrestling school, yeah. Because you were kind of the

(09:30):
first one to show up on TV. I remember that.
And then there was like a whole bunch of other guys rolling in,
you know, and. Yeah, yeah.
It was interesting because I wasfresh out of football and I went
back to North Carolina to visit my grandparents who were still
alive. They lived in Kannapolis in
Shine Grove and that's where I lived in China Grove till I was

(09:51):
12. So anyway, so went back there
and I went into a sporting goodsstore and this guy friend of
mine owns sporting goods store and he goes, what are you doing
now? I said, well, I'm just going to
take a year off and I've been playing football since I was 8
years old. And I said I'm just, I'm just
going to take a break, take maybe travel, you know, do some
just stuff I haven't been able to do because my life was
consumed with sports, you know, for such a long time.

(10:13):
And and I said, I don't think hesaid you ought to get into
professional wrestling. I said, I'm not doing that
stuff. I didn't really hadn't paid
because I was living in California at the time.
So wrestling was more regional. So living in LA even there's so
much going on in LA. That's just another thing, you
know, so I and I didn't really pay that much attention.

(10:33):
And he says he they kept pestering me and pestering.
I said, OK, then what do you gotto do?
I haven't. I don't know anybody because I
know a guy named Nelson Royal, good friend of mine.
You need to go talk to him. And I said, well, shoot, I got a
week I could go talk to him. And if he didn't, you know,
nothing. If I don't think that's
something I'm going to do, I'll just go back to California and
started talking to Nelson. And the more we talked, the more

(10:55):
intrigued I got. And he pulled me in his office
at the Western store and sat me down, kind of told me a little
bit about the business and I said let's try it.
I got nothing to lose. And he says, well, I got a ring
in a barn. This was before they had the
heat put in and everything says I got this ring in a barn and
just come here and work out and we'll work out.

(11:16):
And then if I think, you know, you got the goods, you know,
we'll, we'll take the next step.I'll call Dusty.
Yeah, I said okay, and that's where it all started.
That's where all started right there.
That's awesome. That's awesome.
So just to be clear, you weren'treally a big fan of wrestling or
you weren't really a huge, you didn't know much about it?
Kind of. Is that the deal?

(11:36):
I knew, you know, living in and I heard people talk about it and
stuff, but it just wasn't a, I was so into football.
That was the only thing I knew. I mean, it was, it was football
or bust, you know, so wrestling was, you know, something that I
knew was going on and I I'd hearnames and oh, OK.
But it wasn't on my radar. And it didn't really get on my

(11:57):
radar till that fateful day whenI met Nelson Royal.
And that's what it all changed. You know, and it's so funny,
I've told the last few people that we've talked to, especially
the guys trained by Nelson. We had Tony Angel, David Isley,
several different guys. Your name come up and I've
always said this, that I think you are one of those wrestlers
that if you took like a, let's say a really good artistic

(12:20):
child, like maybe 12 or 13 yearsold, you know, they can really
draw really well. And I'm just like, OK, I want
you to draw what you think of asa pro wrestler.
Like what would they look like? And I've, I've said this several
times and then the listeners canattest, you know, I've said Todd
Champion is one of those guys that if you were to draw a pro

(12:40):
wrestler, you know, you could easily get Ox Baker, but you
could also easily get Sid, you know what I mean?
Or somebody like that. But I think you're one of those
dudes, man. You're you're definitely one of
those guys. So.
Well, it's funny because I've always been athletic.
As a kid, I just yeah, if it wasround, I could do it.

(13:00):
I played baseball, I played basketball, played football 3
sport guy for a lot of years. It was just anything around, you
know, racquetball. I was good at that, you know,
and and I was 65 at the time andand I was, well, I was playing
football 65 about two 8290 and then I ran A4 seven 42190 lbs

(13:21):
Wow, wow, yeah, yeah. This 510.
And as a junior in college when nobody was benching 500 lbs
broke the, you know, nobody at Utah State has ever lifted that
much. And I was just going into my
junior year from being a sophomore.
So I've always kind of had that.You know, sometimes you get
gifted things that you don't have to work hard at, you know,

(13:43):
Now I worked hard at my craft and, and what I did in sports,
but it was something I enjoyed doing.
And because I was good at it, itmade me enjoy it even more, you
know? Yeah, yeah.
No question. So Todd, talk to us a little
about about your NFL days and your time if the in football
like that. OK, well, you know, I I was
recruited, I don't know if you remember a guy named when I was

(14:04):
in high school. I moved to California when I was
14 years old to Los Angeles and.And I was just a little, I was a
redneck and I was in California to figure that one out, you
know, the only way. Yeah.
Yeah, basically. But we weren't living in Beverly
Hills. So, but the way I, the way I

(14:27):
made friends was on the footballfield.
And that's, that was kind of my social skill.
I didn't know anybody, but I knew how good I was in football
and I knew if I excelled well infootball, I'd make friends.
And that's how I did it. And you know, going into my
junior senior, I was being recruited pretty heavily on the
West Coast, few teams on the East Coast.

(14:47):
Carolina recruited me a little bit, Virginia and then of
course, Cal and and UCLA. People like that on the West
Coast. And then a guy walked in the
office one day and his name was,I don't know if you heard this
guy. You may, you may not, but I'll
be shocked if you haven't. Rod Marinelli.
Yeah. Oh yeah.
Roger and Ellie was was my strength coach and line coach at

(15:11):
Utah State. He yeah, he recruited me out of
high school and he was actually scouting somebody else and saw
me on tape and said, who is thatguy?
And that's how that's how. And then, you know, I went up on
a visit up there and fell in love with Utah.
I just, you know, I was just up there last year for homecoming.

(15:32):
I I take a week and I go up there and go in the mountains
and do all the fun stuff for thegame.
And yeah, so he recruited me outof high school and he was the
primary. Let's just say it's like he out
recruited the bigger schools. I mean, he made, he was there
when I was when it was time for me to go to lunch, he made sure
he was there 1st and he would take me off campus to go to

(15:54):
lunch so nobody else could talk to me.
That was pretty smart. That is and.
Yeah, yeah. So he'd take me wherever I
wanted to go and then just fill me full of food, you know, and
then take me back. And by that time all the scouts
had left because they. So.
So anyway, you know, I I signed my letter tip with Utah State
and Cal was after me pretty heavy.

(16:15):
They called me after the fact and said, you know, if you ever
change your mind, you got a fullride here.
I said OK, well, thank you. At least I got some fall back
plans just in case. You never know.
But anyway, went up there and just fell in love with Utah
State and had a good career up there and enjoyed my time. 83 I
was a senior and didn't get drafted, but I was free agent

(16:39):
and went to the Rams and did really well there in 8485 and
then got traded to San Franciscoand tore my hamstring so bad I
didn't walk. And I was, yeah, I was right
before and I and I was already in the 2 deep rotation and I
didn't practice yet. It's at 300 LB four 740.

(17:02):
Yeah, it was funny because I wassuch an avid.
I was such a gym guy, running, lifting maybe.
And I think I over trained because I went on the beach at
Half Half Moon Bay in San Francisco and put Army boots on
and I'd run in the sand. And so we had one of the one of
the I can't remember his name now, one of the wide receivers.

(17:24):
Hey, I'm going to go jogging on the Sam.
Big mistake running with a wide receiver.
That's like, anyway, I did, I went with him and we were I was
keeping up with him and then allof a sudden he just started
pulling away and pulling away and pulling away.
Next thing I know he's like, he looks like a little Ant down
there. I'm just barely getting there
and he's coming in the opposite direction.
You know, I think I over over trained and then I went to do my

(17:46):
speed work that afternoon and I was out there doing speed work
and man, I was running some 40s and things and I just took that
big stride and I heard this big pop and I thought somebody shot
me in the leg. That's how bad it was.
And I fell on the ground and I couldn't, I couldn't straighten
my leg out. That hamstring had just, like, a
rubber band just balled up, you know, And so all summer, it

(18:10):
wouldn't heal. And I and I, we're getting close
to, you know, fall camp and and summer camp, and I wasn't
healed. I wasn't healed.
I wasn't healed. And it wasn't coming.
Wasn't coming. And by the time camp started, I
still wasn't ready. Yeah.
And so they released me and thatwas, you know, that was the
heart disheartening for me because I was already too deep.

(18:31):
You know, I was on the team. There was no questions.
But I couldn't, I couldn't walk,couldn't run because, you know,
it took, it took over a year forthat to heal.
And that's that's when I went back to North Carolina.
After that, I said, OK, I'm done.
My my body's telling me something here.
Yeah, you know, and that's when I went back to North Carolina
and, and, and the the wrestling career started at that point.

(18:54):
Yeah. And so it's in 1986.
You've been trained by Nelson, you're one of his first
students. You've got, you know, you're one
of the first to TV as well. And and it shows here your your
very first match. Was that with Ivan Koloff?
Am I correct about? That no we I was actually doing
dark matches in between. Gotcha.
OK. Cool.

(19:15):
And, and my name was still my real name and, and, and I'd go
out and I'd have these really good matches, you know, and the
people were starting to get my and I didn't, you know, this is
all still new to me. I'm still new to the business.
You know, I'm green. I don't know how it all works.
I just, I just show up and do myjob right.
So I get there. It's probably about the 5th or

(19:36):
6th dark match. Six weeks into it and Dusty
goes, Hey, Todd, come here. I want to talk to you.
I remember forget it was in in Greenville, SC.
And he pulls me in the shower and then, you know, and, and in
typical dusty fashion, he goes. Come here, baby.
I want to talk to you for a second.
Oh. You get extra points.
That's for the impersonation. Yeah, I go, what's up, Dusty,

(19:56):
because I've been thinking long and hard about you.
And I said what, you going to fire me?
He goes, no, but I'm not going to fire you.
I'm going to change your name. I said what?
I'm going to change your name. He said I'm going to change your
name to Todd Champion. It's got a nice ring to it.
Yeah, and I and then he goes, Alden Coach, you wear to the
ring with your last name on it, Take them off.
Put Todd Champion. So anyway, so that's, that's how

(20:20):
that name Dusty created that name.
He all Dusty was a good visionary, creative guy, you
know, and he he made a lot of guys careers.
I see 1,000,000 bucks with you champion.
Oh yeah. And I think even funnier story.
So my first match was against the Golden Terror.
I didn't have a finishing move and I said, Dusty, I don't have

(20:41):
a finishing move. He goes do the backwards elbow.
I went, how do you do that? Yeah.
Then he was in the backroom showing me, you know, do it this
way. Anyway, I figured it out while I
was had the match and I had a really good first TV match and
kind of my career kind of went from there.
After that, you know, the, the matches got better.

(21:03):
You know, I got better as a, as a, as a wrestler.
And one of the biggest, probablymost exciting things other than,
you know, winning these titles is I've probably been in the
business maybe a year and you know, I was always the first or
second, third guy of the match, right?
Every time mid card lower because you had all these great

(21:23):
guys, you know doing their thingand they.
Oh yeah. Oh, no doubt.
I called myself the curtain Jerker, you know, And so I walk
in one day, it was ATV tape and,and I'm looking at the sheet,
seeing the order of the show andthe matches.
And I wasn't on the first, second or third match or fourth
match or anything. I look down.
I'm wrestling Ric Flair for the TV title.

(21:47):
I about took a crap in my shortswhen I saw that.
Wow man, I'd. Say so and.
Everybody, everybody in the locker room, we're going to just
relax, just relax, just relax. I said, I don't know, I was, I
was nervous as you can be, you know, sweating and all kinds of
stuff before the match. And, and I never forget the, the
header right before the match came on, it says champion versus

(22:10):
champion. And I said, wow, you know, so
went out there, went out there and went 25 minutes with Rick
Flair and a main event match on television.
And I think that was kind of theaha moment for me.
I realized, shoot, I can do thisand probably be pretty good at
it. And I know.

(22:31):
And when you're working with professionals, that's why I
named Rick Flair is one of the mounted Rushmore guys because he
knew I was green. He knew I was nervous.
He knew, you know, I was just, and I was, you know, still had
this football mentality, you know, and he just looked at me
and just look, just relax. Listen to me, you'll be fine, he
said. Oh, by the way, don't hurt me.

(22:56):
I mean, because that's the thing, right?
You know he's working seven nights a week, you know So
correct, right? Correct.
And so with a guy like that, youknow, you respect him so much
because and he did take care of me and he he was having me do
things I didn't know I could do.And that really built up my
confidence. And did you do the bill?
Did you do the bill with him? Did you do the bill with him

(23:19):
where you threw him off? This was before that, before he
was doing that. But I will tell you he made me
look like I knew what I was doing and I didn't.
And after the match, everybody came in the locker room and
said, man, that was a hell of a match.
And I said, well, all I did was listen to what he told me to do,

(23:39):
you know? Keep your mouth shut and your
ears open. That's the.
That's exactly right. And and that and I think that
was the key, you know, when you were talking about, you know,
drawing, drawing a professional wrestler and and this if, if I
didn't have the athletic ability, I don't think I could
have pulled it off. Yeah, there's a lot of big guys.

(24:00):
Yeah, there's a lot of big guys with good looking bodies, but
they can't walk and chew gum at the same time.
Right, Right. You know, so there's a lot of,
you know, stuff out there. So my athletic ability is
probably what carried me for 10 years.
Well, hey, man, I mean you, you did it.
So, so let me ask you, because, you know, this, this podcast
probably would not exist if it were not for Mid-Atlantic.

(24:22):
We were born in Southwestern Virginia near Bristol, TN area,
tri-cities that. And so we're obviously big
Mid-Atlantic fans and, and that's what basically molded our
fandom as a kid, you know? And how was it working with
Crockett? I did.
Yeah, I did. I mean, we weren't buddy buddy
or anything, but they really took me under their wing and

(24:45):
kind of mentored me. And and a Magnum TA was another
one. He should have been on the
Rushmore too. Magnum and I got to be pretty,
pretty good friends during that time.
And, and he would see me and just smile and laugh, you know,
because he knew I was nervous half the time and you know, but
he was such a nice guy and, and we were in Charlotte for the

(25:06):
gathering 2 years ago. I got, I hadn't seen him in
years. You know, when he had his
accident in the in his Porsche. We were went out to dinner and
we were, we were two nights prior to that, we were out to
dinner with each other. And yeah.
And then, you know, he was in the hospital and you know, it
was, it was, it was pretty, pretty heartbreaking at that

(25:28):
point in time. Yeah, You know that, You know,
Magnums doing that Power Town line with Greg Gonyon and the
guys from, you know, the action figure line.
And so we got in kind of tight with the guy who owns the Power
Town and started it, Steve Rosenthal.
And we interviewed Steve and we were like, OK, this is great.
We've interviewed the guy who did the old Rimco Wrestling

(25:49):
action figures when we were kids.
That's all we need. And at the end of the show, he's
like, hey, man, would you guys like to have Magnum on?
And we're like, of course, yeah.Yeah.
Definitely like to have Magnum on.
And so we had Magnum on really early.
I mean, honestly, like very early in this podcast.
And it was like, hold on, is this the path we're taking now?

(26:10):
Like, Are you ready? For this, you know.
It's been. Magnum was such a genuine nice
guy. He is, and you can tell, yeah.
Yeah, he there's not a, there's probably not a mean bone in that
guy's body. And I really believe if he
hadn't gotten hurt, he would have been the next big thing.
I think he could have been bigger than Hulk Hogan beyond.

(26:33):
I agree. Yeah, I think so too.
Because he had a hairline, you know what I'm saying?
Nothing like Hogan, but he he had that look.
Women loved him, you know what I'm saying?
The women loved him. The men respected him, you know,
Right, Right. And I think he would have been
WWF Champion. I don't think just the N.W.A
champion, I think he would have ended up WWF Champion.

(26:55):
I think they, yeah, I really believe he would have a long,
illustrious career if he hadn't gotten that right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We, we did a whole thing earlier
on, right around the time we hadMagnum on.
We, we made this little thing upabout what if Sting went to the
WWF and Ultimate Warrior went to, to Crockett.
And, you know, we basically found out that The Ultimate

(27:18):
Warrior probably wouldn't have lasted and Sting would have
probably did really well. But part of the reason that
Sting was able to be so successful so early 'cause
Magnum's wreck, you know? And there may not have been that
spot to be the top dog had it not been for Magnum getting
hurt, you know? Correct.
Correct. I mean, that's exactly right.

(27:38):
I mean, you know, fate is a funny thing, You know, you just
never know, just never know. So, you know, I, I every day,
you know, I, you know, I see a lot of the guys now and they're,
you know, and there's some of the guys are, you know, little
beat up. And of course I am too.
But, but my health is, I've beenpretty lucky with my health.

(27:59):
And, you know, I just got told Christmas Eve I'm going to be a
grandfather again. So I'm pretty pumped up about.
Congratulations. Yeah, man, I appreciate that.
Yeah, Yeah. So.
You don't look like a grandfather, let's just say that
so. You know, I'm trying not to,

(28:19):
that day's coming, but I'm goingto keep, you know, going to the
gym and working out and doing what I can do.
And yeah. And yeah, because I during my
tenure with WCWI, owned a healthclub in Lawrenceville, GA Todd
Champion, Todd Champions, All Pro Athletic Club and DDP came
and did autograph sessions and guys and had Jake the Snake who

(28:39):
lived in Lawrenceville. He's always working out and he'd
come in and he did some autograph sessions for me.
So I've been a gym rat for a long I've been a gym rat for a
long time. I mean you can.
Tell Todd to be honest. Yeah, no doubt.
I was but in WCWI was up to like310 I think.
OK, OK. And and now I'm a I'm a slim

(29:01):
trim 275. OK, well, there you go.
Yeah, I mean, there were pictures.
I was looking through pictures of you just to to make
promotional images for the show coming up.
And I was like, my God, this dude is as big as the warlord
here. Like he is Jack.
And I wrestled the Warlord too, wrestled the Barbarian and all

(29:22):
those cats. And we were all in N.W.A and
wrestling in those outdoor football stadiums and yeah, all
that, you know, the high school gymnasiums.
I mean we we did, we did the loop, that's for sure.
Definitely. So in around this time after the
issue like went to Central States, talk about that move a
little bit. Yeah, That was, we were in the,

(29:43):
you know, they were N.W.A was looking to expand.
And at that time, you know, territories were kind of going
away little by little. They were selling out to the
big, the bigger promoters. And so Jim Crockett had worked a
deal with Bob Geigel to come in and bring a team in to Kansas

(30:04):
City. And we were in baby faces and
heels from from my era and my kind of my guys and come in
there and work that territory. And so we went out to Kansas
City. And I hate to say it, but it
didn't turn out like they thought it was.
It was probably I'd already paidmy duties, but I paid them more

(30:28):
in Kansas City than I did anyway.
Well, I was under a guarantee. I said I ain't going unless I
know I'm making this much money because I'm not going to.
I'm not going to drive up to an arena and I have 50 people there
and make 10 bucks. I'm not doing.
I'm a businessman, too. So.
So they took a group of us, me, Sam Houston, Jean Liggin, Joel

(30:50):
Deaton. I was, you know, they tagged me
up with DJ Peterson. Yeah.
DJ look just like Magnum. And at that point I knew

(31:29):
something was wrong. I I told one of my guys driving
home, I said, I don't know if the Crockett's snorting or not,
just no, but they're trying to sabotage this place.
They don't want us here. They don't want us here.
They don't want us here. And six months into it, I called
Crockett and I called Dusty. I said, you know this.
I told him what was going on andthat's going to these towns, not

(31:49):
being promoted and, and they, they agreed with me and I said,
I, I can't do this. I said get me back to get me
back to Carolinas as fast as youcan.
And so that's basically, we wentout there and we, we were
central state tag champions against Thunderfoots and all
that. And, and it would have been a
really good place to, you know, young guys could come in and

(32:12):
work a territory if they would have done it right.
Well, with Dusty and Jim Crockett not being there to kind
of oversee it and letting the other guy that they bought out
oversee it, I think hurt us. It would have been a lot better
if if maybe Jim Crockett junior or Dusty would come in once a
week and make sure everything was going away.

(32:33):
It was planned, but and it wouldhave and it would have, it would
have went over it really would because a couple weeks, yeah,
the first couple weeks we were there and we did television.
We packed out these little gymnasiums and places.
And then, you know, it's just the television, you know, could
have been better. But looking back as hot as 2020.
But, you know, after six months of being there and through the,

(32:55):
you know, those winters are brutal up there to begin with.
And so we're up there and it's ice cold and you're driving on
the plains in Kansas and you don't see a tree, a House of
nothing for a couple 100 miles. And you know, so it was, it was
rough. It was right.
But we did it. We did it.
And then once they they kind of got wind of what's going on in

(33:17):
Kansas City, they pulled us all back to the Carolinas.
Gotcha. This is Kroll and you're
listening to Give Me Back My ProWrestling with Jimmy.
Street. And Jared the plastic sheet.
Be sure to like, subscribe and view all of our USWO and Saw
wrestling content at Nashville Wrestling Network exclusively on

(33:42):
YouTube. And you come back to
Mid-Atlantic and it's 87 and man, things are hot.
You know, things are burning up.And yeah, you work.
You work some great guys. Now, these are some interesting
names I want to bring up here real quick.

(34:03):
So one of them is you work A tagteam called the New Breed with
your brother Chris Champion. Now talk about talk about
working him and especially having Chris Champion and Todd
Champion. How was that?
Yeah, it was. It was cool.
Those were two. They were really nice guys.
Florida guys, yeah. Yeah, they're Florida guys.

(34:23):
I liked their gimmick a lot. I did too.
Yeah, I. Think it was a good heel
gimmick. So as far as wrestling, yeah, I
don't know what happened to him during that time.
I think Sean, I think Chris got hurt in a car accident and Sean

(34:44):
has, I don't know the full storyabout what happened to Sean
Royal, but I know Chris came back and started doing like a
more of a Karate Kid gimmick kind of deal.
And yeah, yeah, I can't imagine him kicking you in the face
being 66 like you are. But I know doing that, like
David Isley told a story about him busting his lip and stuff
and flare getting hot about it. But, you know, I, I was just

(35:07):
curious because especially you being Todd champion and and, and
our listeners are a heavy base in Tennessee.
We have a lot of listeners in Tennessee because I'm friends
with a lot of the wrestlers fromthe outlaw scene in that area.
And my daughter just graduated from Tennessee last year.
Oh, cool. Congrats, man.
That's a very cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's very

(35:29):
cool. So.
So anyway, they're big Chris Champion fans because that's
where Chris Champion wound up out there in Tennessee and
stuff. And anyway, Long story short,
that's why I was curious about that.
Another name I wanted to bring up, and we've never been able to
ask any other people about this,but Jared and I, when we grew
up, there was a movie that was out at the time when we were
younger, we loved it. It was called Body Slam.

(35:51):
It had Roddy Piper, it had the guy from a team in it.
It had the tongue. Barbarian.
Yeah, Barbarian And this guy. I want to ask you about T Joe
Khan. How was he?
Oh, man, I love, I love Tji called him TJ, but he was, he
was another Minnesota guy and came down there and did that

(36:16):
gimmick and he did it well. He did it well.
He was, you know, I don't really, you know, when I look
back on my career, I didn't havea beef with anybody.
I got along and I was just happyto be there, you know, And so
everybody I worked with and we always had good matches and, and
just kind of did our thing. But yeah, T Joe Khan was a

(36:38):
super, super dude. He he worked his gimmick really
well, kind of like Nikita did, you know, he worked his gimmick
really well. And and you know, the one thing
about, you know, you talk about giving me back my pro wrestling
is believability. And, and we were, I mean, it was

(36:59):
really back then you did not do somebody else's finishing move.
You did not do that. Everybody, everybody respected
your finish. So that was your finish for
whatever. Backwards elbow was my finish.
And of course, Ric Flair was thefigure for, you know, things,
things finished. You didn't use those as

(37:19):
finishes. That was for those top guys to
do. And so believability was a big,
big deal. If it didn't look right to you,
it probably not going to look right to the wrestling fans.
So don't do it. So that, that's, that was the
difference in the business back then is we, we took pride in

(37:42):
doing things that you go, damn, I don't want that guy, you know,
drop kicking me or put me in thefigure for because it was, it
was, it was believability. And so we were very, very
protective of the business back then.
And I could go off for days about believability in the
current product and we'll just skip all that.
But that is definitely a part ofgive Me back My pro wrestling

(38:05):
absolutely is the is the believability of it.
So you know. But anyway, it's, it's, it's,
you know, it's kind of like football.
Football's changed a little bit.It's gotten softer.
I believe it's back when I, whenI played, you know, a crack back
block was a good block. It wasn't illegal.
Now you can't, you know, we, youknow, lower your head and run

(38:26):
into somebody, you know, that's targeting now that gets you
kicked out of the game. So as, as the game progresses,
fans progress, you know, things change.
You know, I'm, I'm probably my own worst critic.
I don't like watching myself forsome reason.
I, I go, why did I do that? Why did I do this?
You know, I critique myself probably too much.

(38:48):
But at at the end of the day, you know, the next product is
it's just, it's just a differentworld.
It's just a different animal. You know, there's more TV
exposure now than ever. I'm kind of, like I said, a
little bit of old school, but maybe I'm just out of touch.
But I, we didn't do a lot of talking in the ring.
You know, we, we told the story in the ring and that did our

(39:12):
talking before. You know, the interviews were
kind of a side thing, you know, the, but being, being in the
ring and being able to tell a story and bring those crowds up
and bring them down and bring them back, that's where the art
form comes in. And that's what I was used to.
We didn't have to tell a story before we got out there.
We were telling the story in thering and people got it.

(39:33):
People got it. They saw it and and they they
understood it. And so, you know, that's the
difference now, you know? Yeah, yeah.
It is. You're right.
Sounds like there's a wrestling match at your house, Jared.
And it probably is downstairs. So around this time, Jim
Crockett Promotions bought out Watts and UWF.

(39:56):
But you know, what were your thoughts on that?
There again, you know, people are, you know, promoters are
shrinking and regions and other promoters are expanding and I
think it was a good thing. Texas is, you know, Texas is a
great area. You know, it's it's got a lot of
pro wrestling history there. So I think that was a smart move

(40:16):
on his part. I think it was a smart move,
like, you know, expanding the N.W.A name, you know, and in the
talent and it just gives you more talents.
What it does. You got all the guys in Texas,
you got all the guys in the Carolinas, and you've got a
plethora of talent there that you know, it's just take your
pick. Did you feel any crunch on worry

(40:36):
about your position at all or were you still feeling
comfortable? No, I never, you know, I was, I
competition doesn't scare me. I love it.
You know, I thrive on stuff likethat.
So I I had that football mentality, you know, if you're
going to beat me, you're going to have to beat me.
Right. You're going to have to take it
from me. Yeah.
Yeah, you're going to have to take it from me, and I'm going

(40:57):
to make damn sure I'm competing.And if you take it from me, you
deserve it. Yeah, but I'm not going to give
it. But I'm not going to give it to
you. Around this time Nelson's guys,
a lot of them are going up to WWF and work and I know Tommy,
George, John David, a lot of those guys as you're going up.
I do see that in 88 you work a dart match with Barry Horowitz.
Was that a try out for the WWF? Yeah, they called me Bobby.

(41:21):
The brain called me and said, hey, we want you to come.
And so I went. I had a good match.
But at that point in time, you know, I guess this was Turner
had already bought out Crockett Promotions, I think.
Yeah, it's right at this time, yeah.
Yeah. So I had left and went back to
California. So I was kind of thinking, well,
I'm, I'm, I'm not going to go back because after my contract

(41:42):
it was ran out with WCW then, you know, and, and things just
changed, you know, and that's fine.
Things change. And I didn't feel comfortable
anymore in the business like I did because, you know, Dusty
wasn't around, you know, he didn't have any control.
It was higher ups that some guys, some of the higher ups and
they were marketing guys, but they weren't wrestling guys.

(42:04):
And I think, and I think that's was the downfall of WCW as it
got too corporatey to the point where, you know, guys had no
clue, you know, but that's in the rearview now.
But when I looked at it, I just said when my contract was up and
I went to Japan and, and all this and, and, and with WCW and
then I got to try out, my heart really wasn't in it anymore.

(42:25):
I was engaged to get married. Was kind of going to go in a
different direction. OK, well, I had a good match.
I mean the match was my matches were still good but just never
came to fruition and I was OK with it.
I mean, but you seem like the ideal WWF guy to me.
I mean, I can see Vince like wiping his chops off, like

(42:46):
saying, Oh my God, this is my next champion pal.
I mean, what did they say to youas far as how it was the
reaction? They didn't say a lot.
They came up, said great match, great match and we'll be in
touch and I said OK, this is in I think in Greensboro, NC I
think is where it. Was.
I think you're right. Yeah, Yeah.
And so, you know, at that point,you know, I'm, I just, if they

(43:08):
had to call me, it'd been great.They didn't call me.
I wasn't going to lose sleep over it because I'd already had
other plans, OK. And so having having a Plan B is
always good. You're right, you're right.
So. You know, it's like playing any
sport. There's going to come a time
where you know, you're not goingto be able to perform at your
highest level. Your body's not going to react
like it used to. And I, and I think it hurts my

(43:30):
heart to see some of these guys.They're still, you know,
wrestling and maybe they have to, and it hurts my heart to see
on me and going out there and taking the pounding every night.
So my, my long term plan was I'mgoing to open up.
I'm going to do a business, I'm going to control my own destiny
And and kind of go in a different direction at that
point. Yeah, because you, you kind of

(43:51):
once you're to the point that you realize, hey, man, this,
I've had my shot at this. I've had my shot at this.
I'm not gonna get tripped up by my what ifs.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna do something about it, you know?
Yeah, and when Turner bought outWCWI, went back to California
for a year and I was in the Screen Actors Guild in
Hollywood. That's smart.
I did Tango and cash. I did Rocky 5.

(44:14):
That's. Awesome.
Everybody. I I did voice overs for
Everybody's All American with Dennis Quaid and Jeff Scalene.
It was just on the other night. I don't know if you have you
seen Everybody's All American. I've seen that.
Yeah. What we're we're what party?
Did all the voice overs for all the football scenes.
I was calling like, yeah, I did all the voice overs for that.
And I did mat loss. Yeah, I did a couple mat loss

(44:35):
with Andy Griffith, a couple LA Laws, and then I was on the set
of Tango and Cash when Dusty called me and yeah, I've been
yeah. And Dusty Magnum called me and I
was Dusty goes, what are you doing, kid?
I said, well, Dusty, I'm, I'm kind of busy right now.
I'm on the set of Tango and Cashbecause what are you doing on
the set of Tango and Cash? I said I'm in it.

(44:56):
He goes, OK, OK, anyway, got to know Sylvester Stallone pretty
good and bodyguards, we're all friends and stuff like that and
went to a couple of his parties.And that's very cool.
But after that, Dusty said, callme when you done.
I said, I said, OK. And so I called him and he goes,
let me tell you what we're doing.
And he started going into the, you know, the Patriots vision

(45:18):
and all that. And I said, well, dust, I said,
I'm got some good stuff going onout here.
He said, just I'll fly you back to Atlanta, let's talk.
And I said, OK. So I flew back and I was going,
I don't know if you remember a movie, what he called Stone Cold
with Brian Bosworth. Yeah.
But I was going to double him and fight scenes and stuff
because we're got out. I could throw a punch and not

(45:39):
hurt somebody. And so they all wanted me in
their fight scenes, even Stallone.
So. So anyway, I was flying back to
Atlanta. I got a call the day before
saying, hey, we want you to comein and do three weeks on the set
with Brian Bosworth. And I said, well, let me, I've
got to go to Atlanta and meet with some people and I get back
with you. He said, yeah, that's fine.

(46:01):
And I flew back and met Dusty and talked to Magnum and, you
know, started talking, you know,contracts and then it then there
were guarantees. And I, you know, I said I, you
know, if I'm going to come here,I need to have a guarantee, a
long term guarantee or at least a three-year guarantee or
whatever. Yeah.
And, and cause back in those territories, they paid you on
the House a percentage dependingon what part of the card you

(46:22):
were on. And, you know, Turner's got D
pockets. I knew it.
And so I didn't have an agent. So I called my cousin who's a
lawyer in Nebraska, contract lawyer, and they asked me the
contracts and I sent them to him, let him look at them.
And then then I looked and I said, well, am I making more
money doing this or am I making more money doing that?

(46:42):
You know, and I kind of did the math in my head and I go, well,
if I stay here this long, I'll make more than I'm doing the So
I called the studio and said, hey, I'm, I'm going to have to
bow out of the Brian Bosworth thing.
You go, why, why, why? We I said, can I, I'm going to
go back into my professional wrestling and I got to, I got to
move back to Atlanta. So that's how it got me back

(47:03):
here. Well, I just recently watched
that movie very recently. I mean, it was just like maybe a
week ago. And I know there's a scene where
Tom McGee, the wrestler, that kind of, he had a good match
with Bret Hart, but never reallygot everything else together.
He was a Canadian guy. There's a scene where he's
fighting Bosworth on the on the beach, I think early on or

(47:23):
something, or somebody. Anyway, Long story short, I can
totally see you doubling Bosworth, though.
That's pretty crazy, you know? Yeah, that's actually, I'd
already told, I told my mom, I said I'm going to do this, this
will be fun. This is 3 weeks and yeah, you
know, I was in, I was in the union, so paid pretty good.
And, and you know, and I'm, you know, I'm doing the business and

(47:44):
I already knew my kind of, therewere producers when I, when I
did Matlock, they wanted me to be a boxer.
And the whole storyline was built around this promoter who
put this guy in the ring with meand I kill him.
I. Accident, but he knew I was
going to beat the snot out of him and I hit him and knocked
him out and killed him and all that.
So they called me before the thethey had people coming in the

(48:05):
interview and tryouts where theyget you in the ring.
You yes, stay, you go whatever they had already told me before
the interview. I had the part, but I still had
to go through the motions. Got you.
So I get there and I do my boxing thing and there's like 15
guys there and all right, everybody can leave.
Todd, you stay. And I just sat there, you know?
Are you a pro wrestling fan? We'll stop by Captain's Corner,

(48:28):
where you can get autographed photos, cards, magazines and
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

(48:48):
man. I got to ask, how was Andy?
I tell you what I did, Matt, when I did the Matlock, the
first Matlock with him, he was, you know, he's, he's a big North
Carolina guy. And, and we started talking
about Raleigh and Charlotte and all, you know, the little towns
in between and we just hit it off.
I mean, yeah, yeah, I loved him today.

(49:10):
He's super nice, you know, and, and, and so anyway, so that's
How I Met him. And then I'm paying on cash.
Kurt Russell and I got the big buddies and we were doing, I was
doing a fight scene with Stallone in the prison where
we're fighting. And then he kicks me and I'll go
flying to the table and all thatfun stuff.
And but before all that, me and Kurt Russell were talking and he

(49:31):
had a, he had a cabin somewhere in North Carolina, talk about
how beautiful it is. And I told him that's where I'm
from. And next thing I know, I'm in
his, I'm in his trailer. And we're sitting in there
talking for about an hour and a half.
And they had to come get us to get back on the set.
But so. Yeah, so I had some interesting,
interesting times as far as thatgoes.
You know, I look back, I wonder if I stayed, I wonder what I'd

(49:53):
be doing now. But you know you.
Know you never know. You never know.
Man, that's crazy. I'm so glad you brought that up.
That's very cool. So it looks like in round 89 you
went to All Japan, is what? What was your connection here?
Is it Nelson help in that? It was, it was Nelson.
He he came to me and said, hey, so they said they they want some
talent. Japan, I want to send you there.

(50:15):
I said, shoot, I'll go, but I didn't know my acting partner
was going to be Terry Gordy either.
So I got there and so next thingI know, Terry's on the plane
with me and we're talking and I,this was my first trip, you
know, and everybody else, they, they've been on this trip
probably 10 times before I got there.
So they all knew how to, you know, go to sleep.
And then I was miserable the whole time, sitting in that

(50:36):
little dinky seat of mine. And and we get there and and
Terry, you know, we wrestled giant bobba and and all those.
Jumbo Seruta and John Tinta and yeah.
Yeah, all those cats. And it was funny because I've
never been there since it was myfirst experience.
And we fly in, get our hotel andthen, you know, got a couple

(50:58):
hours of sleep. Then they banged on the door,
said, hey, we got to go. And we got up, gotten a limo and
they took us to the Tokyo Dome. And I didn't realize the
pageantry there, that the way they do things.
I mean, we got there and Terry goes, we got to go to the ring.
I said, for what? So they got to give us some
flowers. I said give us flowers because,
yeah, so we get I'm standing in the ring and the streamers are

(51:19):
falling and music playing and they they're giving us flowers.
And I'm like, man, it's like theSuper Bowl or something.
Yeah. Anyway, so, you know, we wrestle
in Japan and all the little towns in between.
And so that was a that was a great experience.
No doubt, man. I mean, how, how was I guess
Terry? Did you learn anything
interesting from Terry that maybe you didn't know before,

(51:42):
other than the pageantry? Yeah, yeah, I did Terry's.
It was funny because I'm in the ring and I lock up with this
dude. I can't remember his name,
Japanese partner, and these guysbarely spoke any English.
And so Terry tags me in when I get in, when we're doing
something, Guy backs me in a corner and he starts kicking

(52:03):
Roundhouse, kicking the shit outof me, laying them in.
And I'm like, and I'm looking over at Terry and I'm getting
pissed. And Terry's looking at me with
this kind of that granny had that little pirate smile he's
got. And he looked at me and goes,
just kick his ass, he'll stop. And I went, what?
OK. So.
This guy's roundhousing me, kicking me.

(52:25):
And that's when I realized, you know, they wrestle stiff here.
They don't wrestle like so I grabbed his leg and I threw a
forearm, hit him right in the jaw, dropped him, dropped him.
And I, I got him on the mat and I cross faced him, held him down
the mat and I said you want to fight or you want to wrestle.
And after that, after that, we had a great match.
It was awesome. That's awesome.

(52:47):
So you just had to show them that you were going to kick too
if you needed a, you know, and. And I and I watched Terry get in
the ring and I said, holy crap, he's beating the snot out of
these guys. They're not getting pissed off
at him. That's how, that's how they
were, that they wanted it that way.
And once I got acclimated, you know, it was, you know, get out
there and be physical. And that's right up my alley

(53:08):
after playing football. So that was that.
That worked out perfect. And Terry was a great guy.
He could drink tons of sake. I couldn't keep up with him.
He he took us and we went to thethis men's club where that you
get a massage and a steam and then you sit around in your robe

(53:29):
all day or whatever. So he took me one of them
places. He said, I'm telling you.
And you know, Terry Gordy had this deep, gravely voice.
He talked like this. He said, he says Todd, He said,
now this old lady, she's going to give you a massage and she's
going to hurt you. And she weighs about 80 lbs.
So anyway, so we get in there, Yeah, it's funny, but we get in

(53:52):
there and sure enough, man, you know, I've done the whole wash
yourself, bathe and all that. And the same, I lay down, I'm
laying down. And this little, little Bony
Japanese lady, and she was pretty old.
And I said, man, this, she ain'tgoing to do nothing.
And I'd say when she was done with me, I was in tears and I
was sweating. She she hit every nerve that I

(54:14):
had, every knot I had. And she would literally stand on
the table and drop down and dropher elbow in the middle of my
back and find those knots. And that was the best sleep that
night I got in years. We went and had dinner.
I went back to the room and I slept like a baby.
I felt great too. That was awesome after that.
But man, I couldn't, didn't realize it was.

(54:36):
It was a deep tissue from hell, yeah.
They like it the stiff massages too, right?
Yeah, I guess I, you know, it was funny because I just, I
didn't believe him. And man, this lady walked in
there and she, she made me feel like I was two years old when
she was done. I was sweating and crying and
screaming and yelling and he waslaughing the whole time.

(54:58):
So, and you being a big protein eating monster, did you do OK on
the diet in Japan as far as whatthey ate or did you?
I lost 15 lbs in Japan and I waseating all the time.
I was eating all the time. And I didn't realize that a lot
of the guys, and of course they didn't tell me this either.
They brought their own tuna withthem and they bought bags of

(55:21):
tuna. And then you go to a restaurant,
you know, and they're eating fish and you get tired of all
that. And they would say, just bring
me some rice. And they bring a big thing of
rice. You got to get that big cans of
tuna, yeah, fill it on top of the rice.
And that's how they kept their protein up.
OK, that makes sense. Yeah, so.
So I learned that lesson, you know.
I heard that was a thing with Brody, that Brody liked to carry

(55:42):
around a ton of tuna cans and hewould just hammer down on the
tuna. And that was one way he stayed
cheap and didn't spend a lot of money, but also got his protein
so. Right, right.
Because because at the time you know Japan, even back then, you
know hamburger was 5-6 bucks. Right.
Yeah, yeah. And, and I, I, you know, so

(56:02):
that's how guys did it. So I learned I'd go buy a bunch
of tuna too. And that's what I do.
I just follow along with the crowd and, and it made sense.
I mean, it was good, it was healthy.
And you know, I just couldn't get full on their food no matter
what I did, I couldn't get full.So I had to get, you know, I had
to do like everybody else and borrow some tuna from somebody
or Terry, give me a couple cans.And, and that's what we did, you

(56:24):
know, so, so being, you know, being a big history buff, you
know, I was interested in World War 2 and stuff like that.
So going to, you know, see wherethe bomb, you know, in in
Nagasaki and all that, just seeing those museums, man, that
was that was pretty impressive. Yeah, and, you know, I've been
to Pearl Harbor. My brother has too, and I always

(56:45):
see a ton of Japanese people there and it's always like, what
are y'all here for? Maybe they felt the same way
about you being in Nagasaki. But anyway, yeah.
Yeah, yeah. They're like, what's he here
for? What's he looking at?
What is he? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Don't. Yeah, but you know, don't mess
with America is all I got. To say exactly.
Well, of course, Todd, you're gonna say that of course, Mr.

(57:06):
Patriot. I love it so well, Speaking of
that, before we get to, to, to the WCW conversation some more,
you actually, and I never knew this and, and tell me if I'm
right about this because this isa so a total assumption.
All right, you're 6/6 blonde, big, rugged dude, but you had
some, like you said, Hollywood looks about you and you're

(57:29):
working in Mexico and you working as a character.
KGB. Was that by chance a a a throw
off of like Dolph Lundgren's Rocky Ivan Drago at all?
Yeah, Yeah, it was. It was.
And it went over pretty good there.
Yeah, I enjoyed it. I I, you know, when living in

(57:51):
California, I used to go to Mexico all the time.
So I kind of knew my way around.I mean, when I was in high
school, we drive to Tijuana on the weekends and it was just a 2
hour ride straight down to the border.
That was before the border got really stiff, but you could go
down there and park your car andwalk and not worry about
getting, you know, mugged or whatever.
Right. But back then by the cartel or

(58:13):
whatever. Yeah, yeah, it wasn't like that
back then. You know, you go, you got you
declared. No, I got nothing.
Okay, see, go ahead. That's what the water was.
But you know, now it's like different animal.
But back then, so I had, I was pretty familiar with the area
and the character. It did OK, it did fine.
I mean, I was, I was cool with it.

(58:33):
I was cool with it. But you know, you got to try new
things. You never you know some guy you
got to reinvent yourself every once of.
Course. Yeah, nothing wrong with.
That so I was, I was open. I was open to whatever we
decided to do. I said, well, let's give it a
shot, see what happens. Yeah.
Now, what do you think about bumping in those rings down
there? Well, they, those rings weren't

(58:53):
like the rings in WCW and the rings I was used to because it
was basically a boxing ring witha man on it, right, Right.
And then they were a little stiff.
They were the ropes. I can't remember which magic
was, but there was a couple matches before me and the rope
broke and the guy fell out into the crowd, get the ropes and the

(59:14):
the Marine rope broke. And I said I'm not getting them
ropes and go out there. They had to go out there and fix
them and all that. But yeah, it was just different.
It was a different, different deal, but it was OK.
I mean, you get like anything else, you look, you work with
what you got, right? So.
Right. Exactly.
Exactly. It was kind of like in Japan.
The last match I had, it was an outdoor match, and it was in

(59:36):
this real small Japanese town. I said, shoot, how's it going to
get people coming? This thing, the thing was
packed. It was right after a typhoon to
come through and so the ring, the ring wasn't covered.
So you went out there and took bus where you hit the mat, water
would fly up out of the bath, right?
But you're squeezing a. Sponge Yeah, yeah.
So every time you hit water, just fly everywhere.

(59:56):
But so you just, you work with what you got, you know?
Right, right. Hey everybody, Jean Jackson here
inviting you to check out the Retro Wrestling review where
each week I'm joined by some great Co host to help me review
classic episodes of USWA Championship Wrestling.
And right now we are doing week by week reviews of 1993.

(01:00:18):
But we don't just do reviews. Sometimes we get a chance to
interview some of the people whowere there and lived it.
Plus do watch alongs. It's a lot of fun.
So check out new episodes that drop every Wednesday at
wrestlecopia.com and define links to everything being
associated to the podcast. You can go to uswapodcast.com.

(01:00:41):
Hi, this is Mike Nathan, host ofthe Reckless abandoned podcast
with Mike Needham. We invite you to jump on your
favorite podcast platform and search for the Reckless
Abandoned podcast and give us a listen.
I'm sometimes joined by a part time podcaster, part time Co
host and full time wife Kipni Nicole.
We talk wrestling, we talk pop culture, we talk local events,

(01:01:04):
local happenings in West Tennessee and a ton of other
stuff. But be sure to check out the
Reckless Abandoned Podcast, findus on Facebook.
Also look up the micro group Podcasting Family on Facebook
and see some of our other podcasts we have out there.
Until next time, make good choices and always remember, no
Dollar, no dice. Ladies and gentlemen, this is

(01:01:38):
Jimmy St. and that was episode one of the best of James Rock
St. productions with the first half of episode 55 of Todd
Champion on Give Me Back My Pro Wrestling.
You can hear the full episode over on at G MB, MPW or Give Me
Back My Pro Wrestling, wherever you listen to podcasts.
We're taking things in a new direction here on the show and
we've got many more episodes to go.

(01:02:00):
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.

(01:02:44):
We'll see you later. This has been a James Rock St.
production.

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