December 10, 2024 • 50 mins
Rick is joined by Mustang Mike. Mike talks his origins in professional wrestling as well as working the NWA against Tim Storm, Jax Dane and the territory system prior to the Lightning One era as well as the AIWF and possibly challenging for the World title in 2025 as well as we discuss the AIWF business model and how it works. Plus much more! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rick252/support
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:18):
Say, is it Rica del Santo. You're listening to Pro
Wrestling Wire Radio, part of Pro Wrestling Wire dot Net,
Helix Rock Radio, and of course the AIWF Network. You
can catch us each and every Wednesday night, nine to
eleven on Helix Rock Radio. I'm sitting down here tonight
with Mustang Mike.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
What's going on?
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Like, what's the brother? I appreciate you having me on
the on the show.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Yeah, And as we were saying off here, it's finally
glad to do this. As as we said, we tried
to do this a couple of times and uh and
uh yeah, we're finally making it happen.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
So oh yeah, well that'll late than never.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah, there you go, there you go. So, uh, let's
let's start from the beginning.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
I guess you can say how did you ever get
interested in the world of professional wrestle and then make
your where'd you find out the train and stuff?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Well, I mean most guys these days, I say most
a lot try to talk about it. You know, about
the fans and how yah you know this and that whatever,
and you know it's a separate part of the business
and all, and yes, which it is. But if if
if I can only speak for myself, but I grew
(01:24):
up as a wrestling fan, you know, watching the wrestling,
having my favorites. You know. I'm down here in South Louisiana,
so it was Mid South Junkyard Dog and the Free
Birds and you know Rock and Roll Express and all
that crew. Uh, you know, basically built watched promotion, so
watch that. And then of course wrestling didn't have the
(01:46):
the where you could see too much of it. Was
lucky enough to catch some Georgia Championship wrestling and some
world class wrestling and stuff like that. So just grew
up watching it, always admiring the sport, and it really
kind of fell in my lap. One day, I had
no idea that there was independent wrestling, you know, and
(02:08):
a buddy of mine was happened to be working with
a guy from Homer who was a professional wrestler on
the independent circuit, Bronco Bob, and he basically said, Man,
I'm working with a guy. He's a wrestler. And I'm like, yeah, yeah,
sure you are, you know, and you know this and
that whatever, And so I went met the guy and
sure enough, six foot five, three hundred and seventy pounds,
(02:32):
you know, and I'm like, man, I said, you know,
so he invited me to come to a show in Homer,
and I'm like, what do you mean, Like w w
W w f's coming to town, and he's like, no,
independent wrestling. I had no idea what that meant. So
I showed up at a show and went and watched
it and said, man, this is technically the real deal,
(02:54):
you know. And then he offered me an opportunity to
start training. And then, you know, I was twenty four
at the time, and uh kind of technically a late starter,
you know in world of wrestling on average, and uh
basically started training right out the gate, and you know, uh,
and that's how that's how it my foot got in
(03:15):
the door, you know.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Yeah, when you're exposed to professional wrestling through that incident,
is what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah, that's how I was exposed to becoming in the
business by meeting a guy who basically, uh, you know,
had been in the business three or four years. He
had a following. He was from Homer, uh, which Mid
South Wrestling had already done sold out, you know to
the UWF when went to you know, all the the
(03:43):
out join Yeah, right, but then Mid South somebody, a
guy named Frank Jefferies down at home, I actually rebranded
and started Mid South Entertainment. Uh And so basically he
did a lot of the Southern stuff. You brought in
some of the past names, the you know, the Michael
(04:04):
Hayes and you know, Terry Gordie and Junkyard Dog and
all those guys. So I got to meet a lot
of my childhood fans, you know, heroes that I was
actually intermingling with while I was kind of in the
middle of my training, right right.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
I know that when I discovered independent wrestling, it was
like a whole new world to me.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And it was just like.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
I'd have to say, it's like late eighties, early nineties.
I discovered the SAVOLDI TV and then I didn't go
to my first independent show until aout nineteen ninety four.
I was literally blown away by you know, I got
to see Little Guido about five years before he was
on National TV. You know, Bill Edie Demolition Acts as
he was coming off of to b FTV, Greg Valentine
(04:49):
the same There was a Jimmy Snook, a metal maniac,
you know, and it was just it was just kind
of an amazing thing. To see that there's a difference
between and to me, like you said, it was the
real deal, it was the nitty gritty. It seemed more
realistic to me, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah, yeah, no doubt. I mean, like I said, even now,
people don't realize. I mean, there's so many people that
I run into on a daily basis, and they, you know,
might meet me for the first time, and people say, hey,
Mike is a wrestler. Well, what's your name? Mustang Mike,
how come I've never heard of you? You know. They
they see the WWE, you know, and I'm like, well,
(05:27):
I mean I don't wrestle for w W. Well then
how are you a wrestler? And I'm like, well, you know,
without going into the long, drawing out story. And then
as time's going on, I've got people to hey, why
don't you come see a show? And then they come
and then they're like, wow, this is this is better,
you know, because you know, we're up close and personal
(05:49):
and my kids get to meet the wrestlers. That's the
fraction of the price. You know, We're we're sitting on
the front row for twenty five dollars instead of five hundred,
you know, and I'm like, and to the kids. To
a dad bringing his kid, that's all he wants is
to have a good time and feel like he's enjoyed
himself and not break the bank. Right.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
So absolutely, But you know, because WW ticket prices are
out through the roof right now. I was looking at
tickets to you know, even like Saturday Night's main event.
It's only like an hour from where I live, and
it's just like, you know, the tickets were like OUTLANDI
show was like, there's.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
No way it could take my kid to go see that.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
M Yeah, So I mean I take my kid to
an independent show. It's anywhere from ten to twenty dollars
it'll cost, you know, each, So it's a it's and
it provides good family entertainment.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah, I mean, that's that's what I get to. And
like I said, a lot of people just really don't
you know, realize what they could be getting, you know,
for the for the same value. I mean, sure, we
don't have the budget of all the super lights and
the pyro and and the big you know, ten thousand
seed arenas and stuff like that, But I said, I've
(07:01):
been I've been blessed. Uh you know, to start with
mid South and get my foot in the door with
a lot of the original crew you know down my
way in the South. And I know you up in
a different area, so you're your you know, local guys
of that areas are totally different than me. But but yeah, uh,
(07:23):
I got to have some tutelage from the Junkyard Dog,
you know, Terry gordye, uh, gentleman Chris Adams, you know,
Terry Taylor. I met a lot of those guys, uh,
you know from down this way One Man Gang. So
all those guys were kind of Southern you know based guys,
(07:44):
and uh and uh, you know, I was still uh
at twenty four years old. I had just had a son.
I was a single dad, and I didn't I was
big into sports, you know, a lot of you know, uh,
and I didn't really give wrestling one hundred percent right
out the gate. I loved it, but I didn't go
(08:07):
in it to want to wrestle every weekend and travel
all over the country and and do all that. And
uh so I really did the local thing, just Louisiana,
small shows for the longest time. And you know, as
years passed and UH started kind of you know, slowing
down on more of the sports and getting more into wrestling.
(08:29):
As you know, four or five years passed, then I
started kind of picking up a little steam and travel
a little more and doing a little bit. But like
I said, it's a I don't I don't regret not
doing it, but I think if I would have pushed
it a little further out of the gate that I
you know, a lot of people have told me, man,
you you belong in you know, WWE, and you should
(08:51):
have been in w c W and all that, and
I'm like, well, I appreciate you saying that, but it
was just it wasn't as much my goal to do
that at an early stage as some of these guys
is coming out at twenty two and that's their only goal,
you know, so and I'll take nothing from them. That's
what they want. But at the time I enjoyed, you know,
and hanging out with my friends and playing sports and
(09:14):
wrestling was kind of like another thing that I did.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
You know, right, right, so you grew up or you
were from southern Louisiana, right, so you got one of
the differences.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
It's like I grew up in Connecticut and I.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Always appreciated the Southern style wrestling as opposed to the
Northeast wrestling type of scene. You know what I mean,
because oh yeah, like like as I said before about
it like independent wrestling, It's like it was more nitty gritty,
and the difference between watching like say the w WFTV
watching like the NWATV. The arenas were darker, people had
more realistic sounding names, and it just seemed more realistic
(09:52):
to me as opposed to the cartoons that were on
WWF television. And that's what I appreciated about things like
the NWA Mid South World Class World Class. I used
to watch every single day of the week. It was
on ESPN when I was growing up in the late eighties,
the Legends of world Class TV program, So I used
to get to catch that every day after school. That's
(10:14):
the first thing I would do is watch World Class
every day after school, the aw A, stuff like that.
I always appreciated that kind of wrestling that was more
realistic and treated like an actual sport.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Yeah, I mean they really did. I mean, there's a
there's an old store. Because we're we're a commissioned state.
Some of the people who realize where the commission is.
And the reason we are is because Bill Watts wanted
it to be that way back when he was doing things.
He wanted the fans to be able to come to
the shows and have a realistic base on wrestling, you
(10:45):
know that it was legit and so you know, that's
how everything started with the Louisiana Commission being involved and
and and running it like it was, you know, a
real full sport, you know. And uh we still deal
with the Commission down here these days. But you know,
(11:06):
things are, things are way better than they used to be.
But but like I said that, they people take their
wrestling the heart down here in Louisiana. I mean, it's
it's the South is is. I'm sure I've been up
to Jersey and wrestled up there and uh my buddy
Andrew Anderson, and uh it's it's a different fan base
(11:26):
down here than there.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yeah yeah, and uh yeah, I'll be working in the
Carolinas actually later in the earlier uh in h five,
So I'm kind of looking forward at like breaking into
that area finally, because you know, I'm a huge like
Crockett fan and you know, fan of the wrestling from
the Carolinas and stuff. So yeah. Uh, let's talk about
(11:49):
some of it. I came across some of your matches
on YouTube. I got a chance to watch some of them. Uh,
you did team with Greg Valentine and Andrew Anderson at
what point?
Speaker 3 (11:59):
So yeah, yeah, Greg.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Valentine an absolute legend as this. I can't say that
take nothing away from Andrew Anderson. He is you know,
he was he the current version of the Purple as
as well.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Correct. Yeah, I mean I met Andrew at WrestleMania when
it came down here to Louisiana. I think that was
around if I'm not mistaken, sixteen or seventeen. I think
it was. I was thinking with sixteen when WrestleMania came
and we met. By chance. They had a one of
(12:32):
the promoters at the time, Matt Riviera, which is out
of Arkansas area. He did a Mid South fan fest
the WrestleMania weekend and had some wrestling matches and brought
in all the Mid South guys and which you know,
Greg Valentine was more of a northern Northern based guy
(12:55):
a little bit, but he came in and him and
Andrew was tight and and we met and ended up
going to WrestleMania that weekend and ended up in the
same suite with him, and that's how me and Andrew
met and I met Greg, you know, for the first time,
and then we became close friends and co promoted and
did a lot of things. But yeah, that was one
(13:16):
of the deals where Greg came in, and I mean
he was way past his prime, but he still got
in the ring and did a six man tag with
us and did his part, and so it was, you know,
just an honored about it being the ring and you know,
be on a team with a guy who's done so
much as somebody like him. You know, right, right, what.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Year did you start professional wrestling or training? At least
I know that you're only a few years older than me,
not by much, but I just even trying to because
I remember seeing it, but I don't remember exactly what
the year was.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Yeah, I started. I started training in June of nineteen
ninety four, and my first match was in November of
nineteen ninety four. And uh, yeah, well it was to
tell you a quick story on how that happened in
professional wrestling, is you know, I wasn't training in full
time because I was involved in a lot of sports
(14:11):
and things, stuff like that. So I was training maybe
a couple times a month. It wasn't like I went
to a school and was there every night for you know,
six months or something like that. But I was doing
my job, you know, working work in the shows and
security and ring crew, and started at the bottom and
did some training that day before show, and coincidentally, one
(14:35):
of the the guys couldn't make it, and then of
course the promoters in a panic, and what are we
going to do? We need this guy to fill a
spot and turn around, they look around and like what
about Mike? Like yeah, what about Mike? Like wait, not
this Mike Like yeah you I'm like you mean wrestle live,
(14:56):
and like yeah, we we think you capable of doing it.
I'm like, well you a lot of faith in me.
I don't. I didn't have any you know, I had
knee pads and and shorts, but I didn't have any
ring the tire gear and stuff like that. And then
sure enough, you know, barred a few things, and you know,
of course they moved the cart around a little bit,
and UH called my buddy up at home, Hey, get
(15:19):
the camcorder. You better get over here. You know. It
was about forty five minutes away from my home, and
sure enough had had my first match impromptu, uh, and
come up with the name, and Bronco Bob you know
the rest he's going now was my mentor and it
kind of got me involved. So what's your name? You know,
(15:41):
I want to be Mike, you know, so Bronco Bob
Mustang Mike. And that's how my name became Mustang mic
right out the gate, and I've never changed it now.
I've had some alternate, alternate you know, monikers, uh, you
know that I've used, you know, depends on what I
was doing at the time. I'm working as the face
(16:01):
or the heel or whatever or some sort like that,
you know, and it might change. The name is a
kind of my few days as a bad guy to
maybe Magnificent Mike or something like that. But in general,
Mustang Mike is my base name and I'm still using it.
And I, just like I said, just made thirty years
my thirty year anniversary last month.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Well, congratulations, that's awesome. That's really cool. So you worked
for several different NWA territories during the prior to the
Lightning one era. What do you have to say about
working for the NWA You've worked with some legends through there,
and I'm going to ask you about the transition into
the Lightning one era. I guess we could do a
two parter there.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Yeah, well, like I said, that's how it kind of
worked out. NWA was matter of fact, Matt Riviera was
out of Arkansas area. He had a promotion. You had
Greg Anthony up there in Tennessee, and you had a
lot of affiliates back then in on the two thousand
and fifteen sixteen area. Everything was building up, and you know,
(17:07):
was fortunate enough to meet some really great guys, Tim Storm,
James Beard, uh, Rob Conway, Jack Stain, all those guys
were were super big the NWA at the time, and uh,
you know just started Andrew Anderson had a lot of
connections with guys, you know, being involved in the business
(17:29):
and all them doing stuff like that, and and started
getting booked on a few shows and and doing things,
and then you know, my name value got built up
a little bit, and uh, they had a big event
in uh that NWA saw what I was doing because
I was helping run a promotion called Golf Coast Wrestling
(17:50):
down here in Louisiana, and uh, of course in my hometown.
Of course it's gonna be I'm gonna be the big draw.
And uh they saw that I was putting you know,
four to five hundred people in buildings and stuff like that,
and they kind of nd WA's like, Okay, well that's
the kind of group we want to be involved in.
And we came in and helped work with Matt Riviera
(18:11):
on a show and and we did the first event,
which was called Cajun heat Uh brought in uh Rodney Mack,
you know, uh Rob Conway, Jack Stayne, you know, a
bunch of the tag teams from up in like Tennessee.
Uh Simon, I can't think of the n heat Seekers.
(18:34):
I believe he is it heat Seecert. Yeah, I believe
so up in the Tennessee area. And uh but like
I said, that's how it worked out. And being that
I was the hometown guy, Jax Dane was the world
heavyweight champion at the time, and they gave me that
match and uh, so crazy story about how that happened
(18:55):
is he ended up getting vertigo the weekend before and
couldn't wrestle me. Yeah. So Greg Anthony was the national
champion at the time, and he went ahead and said,
you know what God deserves. You know, He's did the
work and put this together. And Greg Anthony stepped up
and put the national title up and I won the
belt in front of about eleven hundred people in my hometown.
(19:19):
And I was in two thousand and seventeen. And so anyway,
that was my first real big opportunity with the NWA,
and you know, eventually lost the belt back to Greg
and then worked my way back through the ranks and
ended up facing Tyson Dean, which was the North American
(19:40):
Heavyweight champion. I won that in April of twenty eighteen,
and just when I thought everything was going my way,
Everything's going great. You know, hey, you know, can I
win that trifecta? Can I face you know go at
the time, I think Tim Storm had to built and
can I get the World heavyweight Championship? And uh, the
(20:03):
NWA went through the phase where they sold out and
uh not so sold not sold out, but sold it.
Uh and uh, you know, Billy took over and during
that transition, I was tried to be as hell. I
was a champion. I was the NBA North American Champion,
and they got rid of all the affiliates and uh
(20:25):
basically dropped everybody and then Base insad all the champions
had to surrender their belts except for the worldweight champion,
so I never technically lost the NWA North American Championship.
So you know, obviously that's hard, you know, to to
you know, know that that new transition I didn't fit in,
(20:46):
but you know, it's it's a business like anything else,
and they made their decisions. I don't know if it
was directly Billy's decision. They you know, you have all
you guys that go down the ladder that that make
calls on things and stuff. But the direction they had
it didn't include me, and so you know, uh, you know,
I wish things would have worked a little different and
(21:08):
wanted to still be involved with them and stuff like that.
And ever since they've kind of transitioned and started working
their way up different directions, you know, it's not being
in the cards for me to be involved with them.
So yeah, but that's.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Well, I noticed that they're you know, they got rid
of every territory. I mean, you know, I spoke at
length with Greg Anthony about this on an episode that
we did about a year ago, and uh, and you know,
now they're starting to add the territories back. It seems
like they have about six or seven added back and
they got they added and two out of Texas. Now,
so yeah, I wasn't they were spanning the texts.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Yeah, I know they I know they had one. I'm
not sure if it was two, but you could be right.
That's an area down there where Rodney Mack is down
San Antonio area. Uh as. I know they're doing something
maybe dog Town Wrestling or something like that.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, and then the announced Texas Style Wrestling and I
think James Beard is directly involved in that one.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Okay, okay, Yeah, James has been around forever. He's you know,
originated way back in the day with World Class. He
knows so many people. He's the quality guy, great guy,
always about the business. And you know, I think when
all that happened, you know, everybody other than the world champion,
(22:28):
Tim Storm kind of got you know, maybe put on
the side. And then now things are kind of working
kind of way back, you know, into trying to expand,
and I think it's smart business for them to get
affiliates and and spread the name. And you know, I
can understand when they wanted to change because at the time,
I think they might have had like fifty or sixty
affiliates and.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Over the place.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Yeah, but you know, in wrestling, you have some things
that are more quality and bigger than others, and some
are smaller and and maybe some of them was just
didn't really need to be an affiliate, wasn't doing the
things they needed to do to promote it and get
the crowds, And you know, you don't want to start
a new business, and you look like, okay, well hold on,
you've got a federation over here strawing seventy people. You know,
(23:14):
we don't And I can understand that. But my federation,
which was Golf Coast Wrestling, I ended up joining the
NWA and turned into NWA Golf Coast and it was
only involved with it for about six months when the
change happened. So then when that happened, of course I
had to give up NWA Golf Coast and I rebranded
(23:36):
into Golf State Wrestling, and that's my home promotion down
here in Louisiana, Golf State Wrestling. But like I said,
you know, if they did come to me now and say, hey,
you know, look, you put in some big houses and
we want to maybe revisit that again. It's not that
I wouldn't look at it from a business standpoint and
see if it would make sense. But you know, it's
(24:01):
all about decisions at the time and what's going on.
And uh, I know we'll be talking about the A
I w F and things and stuff like that, and uh,
you know, did some things with them already and and
and great quality group of guys and and I'm looking
forward to doing some some big things with them, you know,
especially some things coming up.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Yeah, what do you got in store with the A
w F? Are you gonna part of the the anniversary
event in March?
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Well so so kind of kind of fall the way
we're talking about that now. Greg Anthony came in and
defended the world championship against me at my big show
this past July that we have had about nine hundred
people and in uh in Morgan City, Louisiana, with no
(24:48):
top names on the card, you know, I mean no, no,
no personality names and stuff like that. So that was
that was huge. He came in and wrestled me, and uh,
of course you always have your basic storylines that are
going on down here, and uh, you know, I'm I'm
the good guy, hometown guy, and they had the the
the bad guy put his name out thev Vladimir coole off,
(25:12):
he's our heavyweight champion, a Russian character and uh Uh
ended up interfering in the match. The match got called
out as a draw. So you know, people have been
talking about it and asking, hey, can you know Mustang
might deserve a rematch? Can we make some another stipulation
this and that whatever, And you know, I've been putting
in my time doing things. You know, Barrett Brown, the
(25:34):
UH Junior Heavyweight Champion come work on the show. So
basically I'm kind of aligning myself a lot more with
the ai WF. And just recently this weekend, if anybody's
out there and looking and looking at my page, Mustang
Mike uh we had had a show in UH in
New Orleans, UH with a different federation and uh Mark
(25:59):
him was there and he was dressed as Santa Claus
and I took a picture with him and said, hey,
I'm the world strongest Santa Claus. I made my wish
for something big to happen in twenty twenty five, and
I guess people started talking and getting on AIWF website
and doing things, you know, since then, and the announcement
(26:20):
was actually made just yesterday afternoon that I have a
big event down here February fifteenth, and they've awarded me
a world championship match against you know, if it's Greg
Anthony at the time, that's who it's going to be.
But if but that's I've been awarded the shot just
(26:41):
as of yesterday. So it's it's hot news. Not many
people know about it yet, but you know, since we're
talking about it, it's it's out there. So I'm looking
forward to if I can make that happen, i'd be
I'd love to be a big representative. And you know,
for the for the AIWF, I wrestled at about six
Southern Federations down here in Louisiana, Mississippi area. So and
(27:07):
you know, looking forward to some things. And I know
their big show is in North Carolina he was talking about.
I believe it's the first weekend in March.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Right, it's a two day event. It's the I think
it's the thirty second Extravaganza or I don't have the
name in front of me, but yeah, it's like a
big thirty two year anniversary show.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
So I would imagine that if I can pull that
off February fifteenth, that would that would put me in
the mix where I'd be heading over there. So I've
already kind of penciled that week in in and in
my in my book not to take anything else just
in case that door opens for me.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Well, I'm going to tell you that there's gonna be
a bustleoad of people from Connecticut coming down, probably loaded.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
We're renting a van.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Twelve of us are coming down for the weekend. I'm
traveling with a bunch of guys. Blood Saw, the Atlantic Champion,
is coming down there, and I'm coming down there with
him and a bunch.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Of the other guys as part of the AIWF.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
So for that weekend, that's a good little haul for y'all.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Uh yeah, yeah, we talked about it, and you know,
they asked me if I was interested in coming down,
and I guess I can break this news now. Matt
Classic has asked me if I wanted to do commentary
on some of the matches for that weekend, and I
have accepted. So I'm looking forward to coming down there.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
So yeah, well we we Well, let's hope out the way,
we'll we'll we'll run into each other for sure.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Absolutely absolutely. What do you think of the the AIWF
business model. I've you know, it's something that i've you know,
over the last couple of years, I've gotten really, i guess,
enamored with. You know, it's it kind of reminds me
of the old school NWA territory system and with the
exception of like, you know, there's just internet just what
(28:52):
one hundred and fifty brands and forty nine countries or
something similar to that, you know what I mean, it's
kind of it's kind of amazing, you know, because they
have people from all over the world and they take
it very seriously, some of these people from you know,
the international markets.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Yeah, I think it's the closest thing that I'm aware
of to the n w A you know, brand style.
You know, I think they're they're running hand, you know,
hand in hand. So, like I said, that's why I'm
I'm I'm excited about it, huh. Like I said in
in January, in July, when Greg came in, that was
(29:30):
my first kind of uh working against any ai w
F champion in that type of match. I've wrestled guys
who wrestled for the ai w F but never being
been a champion or something like that. So so yeah,
when when we worked that out for me to come
in and Greg come down here and give me that opportunity,
(29:52):
which I still can't thank him enough for for doing that,
I guess it opened some eyes. And you know, I've
been around a long time, thirty years, and I might
not be you know, known nationwide or too big of
a thing. You know, you have to follow independent wrestling
as in a whole right. But I've done a pretty
(30:12):
good bit of things. Like I said, I've wrestled up
in New Jersey several times, wrestled in Atlanta, wrestled in Florida,
wrestled in Vegas. I've wrestled Tennessee, Texas. You know.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
You've been to New York correct.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Yeah, yeah, because I was gonna say that's that's like,
I mean, you're missing that in the in the list,
and that's kind of a big I think it's a
big deal to come up to New York. I think
I think my good buddy Richard Ruiz, he filmed the event.
I guess it was the New England Big Apple something
extravagance or something like that. He was the him and
(30:48):
his company film Worthy guys that did the video for it.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
So yeah, yeah, yeah, because I know New York and
Jersey's right next to each other. So I was kind
of putting that in his his his same time. I've
wrestled three or four times up there with Andrew because
he had the n W a big apple during you know,
during that time, he was kind of the promoter guy
putting that together. He had a couple of partners that
he was involved in. But uh, but yet I was.
(31:16):
I was that was a good time going up that
way and seeing the whole different type fan base and
different part of the country and and all that. So
but yeah, I'm looking forward to to you know, of course,
my time in wrestling is isn't isn't going to be forever.
You know, I'm still in good shape, you know, I
(31:36):
stay in the gym and stay you know, working and
keeping myself in good shape. But I'm just turned fifty four,
you know, so as far as in wrestling years, thirty
years of beating up on your body and all the
sports and weightlifting and things that I've done over the years,
I've you know, it's it's an ongoing process to keep
myself in working condition.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Do you feel it every day when you wake up
every day?
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Yeah, I mean every day. I wrestled this weekend and
and you know, just things happened, you know, took a
took a DDT and kind of jam my next. So
like like right now, that's about that's that's but the
best I'm going right right now. So you know, get
the heat, ice and heat, and that's what happens. You know,
(32:23):
the guys who do this, you know, you wrestle on
a weekend if you don't have one or two matches
on a weekend, and then you know Sunday, Monday, Tuesday
is the is the therapy kind of getting yourself back,
kind of moving right again. And then now you got
to get back in the gym and get a few
days in before you do it again. So it's a
(32:44):
you know a lot of people out there just don't understand,
you know, what they want to call fake and reel
and all that and everything, but you know, you could
we people have talked about this for tons of years
and all have their views on it, but you know
what we put our bodies through. And some of these
guys that wrestle a lot more than me, and uh,
(33:07):
you know, and it's a it's a it's a rough business.
And I said, I wake up every morning sore, and
I know my loved ones tell me, Mike, when you're
going to stop, And well, yeah, it's easy to just
ask that and and be sincere and think the best
for me, you know. But it's it's a I guess,
a combination of a passion and a sickness. You know.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Well, when you love what you do, you know, it's
hard to stop, you know, and especially it's like it's
not really you know, you're not harming anybody, maybe your
own body a little bit, you know.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Right Well, like I said, even I think if I
stop at at this point, if I said no more,
you know, I'm still going to be sore. The soreness
is not going to go away, you know. And and
I'm the good thing about knowledge and wisdom is is
I don't put myself in bad situations, you know, going forward,
I'm not gonna you know, put myself in a in
(34:02):
a in a match or accept a match on on
something that's not in my wheelhouse the things I'm supposed
to do. But in the same token, I also have
enough love and respect for the business that I'm not
going to be that guy who says, oh, well I
can't do that. Well, if I can't do it, then
I don't need to be doing it, you know. So
uh So I'm just I'm just being logical and and
(34:23):
i know still that I've got some miles left in
the tank. And and especially if I can, you know,
pull off something big in February and win the world title,
then that means I'm just gonna have to double up
on the chiropractor and therapy and and and ice baths
and and if.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
You will leave if I win, you just you're just
going to get busier if you're the champion.
Speaker 3 (34:45):
That's well, that's what I'm saying. I mean, you know,
I know that I know that the phone calls will
come in a little more. And and like I said,
I've still got a lot of obligations that I've got
already on the books right now, you know, starting off
the or so that would probably increase. So, you know,
we we do what we do. We love it, and
(35:07):
the fans is out there, and that's the fans is
what really keeps us the drive going.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Yeah, have you ever had any serious injuries in the ring.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Nothing serious. Matter of fact, the I guess I've torn
my a c left a c L, I've torn my bicep,
and I've torn my left rotator cuff. And none of
the three were wrestling. It was all other sports. Now.
My only substantial injury that put me on the shelf
(35:38):
for a little while, and it not for long because
I was wrestling Tyson Dean for the North American Championship
and you know that hometown North American Championship NWA. You know,
I put myself out there and and tried to do
probably something that the young guys shouldn't be doing, uh,
(36:00):
split leg moon salt off the off the top rope
and didn't rotate far enough and landed based on the
back of my head and and gave myself a concussion,
tore all the cartilage in my sternum and in the
middle of the match, and uh, and then of course
there wasn't no way I was stopping and continued on
(36:21):
and ended up winning the belt. So luckily I had
a couple of weeks to recover till I had to
defend it again, you know, because I didn't I didn't
have any obligations because I wasn't the champion at the time,
So I was able to take about three weeks off
and kind of get myself back in shape and before
I needed to get back in there and do it again.
(36:43):
But that's the only thing, and that wasn't you know,
time consuming where I was out for a couple of months,
you know. So, but I've been I've been fortunate. I
knock on wood there. I mean thirty years, thirty years
of doing this, I've been. I've been good. Lord's been
looking out for him.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
So you were a part of an event that I
watched live on Fight A couple of my friends, actually
multiple of my friends were involved with on this show.
But you were part of the Night to Remember out
of Chicago.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
Yeah remember yeah? Yeah, yeah, that.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Was yeah, you won the North American title from there
the w A w Bill.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
Ye correct, Yeah that was that wasn't this July. That
was last July? Last yeah, last July. Yeah, I was, uh,
And that was the thing. Chas Morietti was putting that
together and everything, and he's the old school guy and
and thought the same thing. I kind of got the
(37:46):
snub with the n w A whenever I wasn't able
to retain the n w A North American Championship and
that title was up for grabs, and I was able
to wrestle on that card. Uh that was pretty stack
called as well, and wrestled one of the top competitors
from from that area up that way and I won then.
(38:08):
So I'm technically currently the WAW North American champions still.
I've had over the last year, I've had six title
defenses and with that belt. Matter of fact, I'm defending
that next month January eighteenth, at an event over here
(38:28):
in Louisiana. So that's my next title defense with that. Okay, So.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Yeah, my buddy's the House of Pain, are you familiar
with Yeah?
Speaker 3 (38:40):
Yeah, they won the tag belts that night.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
Yep, they won the North American Tag Belts. They've they've
been still holding them. There's a picture of me out
there with them when they got back to Connecticut holding
those belts up. Okay, they are still defending those belts
all over all over the country, so that's great.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
That's great. Yeah, I Metam, had him for the first time,
and great guys, and uh yeah, I'm glad they still
got hold of them.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Yeah, good bunch. Of good guys.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
All right, so let me ask you part of this
for Wrestling two two five, which I I've recently discovered
this this Oh yeah, and it seems they seem to
be doing, uh something very good. I mean, they got
a YouTube series going on. It seems like they're they're
they're packing in decent sized crowds.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
Yeah, they're they're legit. I mean, they've got YouTube. They've
actually got a local TV segment that they're doing. They
they're drawing really nice houses. I technically call it my
sister company. The promoter who's putting who's involved in putting
it on Mike Woodrow from down here in Louisiana. I
(39:51):
actually helped train him. You know. I think it's been
about fifteen years and uh, and they've kind of started
as part of Golf Coach Wrestling at the time, and
then as they got bigger and wanted to rebrand, they
started Pro Wrestling two to five. They're based out of
basically the plaquemin area, which is not far from Baton Rouge.
(40:13):
Do events around surrounding areas around there. But they've got yeah,
if you're out there, list look up Pro Wrestling two
to five. They've got YouTube, plenty of TV YouTube, solid wrestlers.
They bring in guys from basically all over and have
a wide base of guys who've done a lot with
(40:34):
you know, a w stuff, impact, Ring of Honor, you know, solid,
solid base of up and coming guys. I mean, some
of these guys that come through there is definitely gonna
be somewhere at some point in time.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
No, I was shocked when I saw it because it's
an I have a list of ongoing YouTube series that
I add to the list. Break it down by day,
what ears at, what day, what time it airs, just
so I could, you know, people looking for wrestling.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
I listed it on the website.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
And I found this today or the other day, and
I was just surprised that I hadn't heard of it.
The crowds are packed. There's so many people in the
damn crowd. I was just, yeah, it seems like it's
just a really really good products. It's like I want
to explore it a lot more, you know.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
Yeah, yeah, nobody will be upset about looking at what
they got going on. I mean they bring in talent
from all over the South. I mean from Texas all
the way to Florida and like I said, great production value.
You know, got ringside commentators TV, you know, but they're
(41:42):
they're growing and by leaps and bounds. They're running probably
about probably fifteen shows a year. Fifteen sixteen shows a
year maybe actually a lot. I think that's what they've
had up to date. But I think their calendar right now,
because I've got some bookings with him is is is
(42:03):
gonna be on pace to beat that they're picking up
new towns. But uh, there there are somebody to watch
for right there.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
Yeah, I I urge everybody that's listening to to get
out there and watch that. A couple more questions before
we get out of here. I know we talked a
little bit about uh Tim Storm, and you know, he's
to me, he's just a gem of a professional wrestling
that he's still involved in the business. Uh you know,
he's not. He's still wrestling, but not you know what
(42:35):
he was once?
Speaker 3 (42:36):
Uh sure, and.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
He's very good at in the broadcast here, I think
as well.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
Yeah, yeah, I don't you know, I guess the way
everything happened with nw A, I don't keep up with
them as much as you know normally I would have.
But but yeah, what I've seen of his broadcast abilities,
and I mean he's still obviously rest I mean I've
had the luxury of wrestling him a couple of times,
(43:03):
uh you know, with him and against and against him,
so you know, matter of fact, I have I have
a proud to say I have a win against you know, uh,
two former nw A heavyweight champions. I've beaten Jack Stain
and and Tim Storm. So that's I guess, uh, you know,
something good to have on my my win list. But
(43:27):
uh but yeah, man, I mean such a good dude.
Uh you know him and him and James Beard. You
got almost mentioned them in the same breath. Man, those
guys are just good as gold. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:39):
I actually did have James Beard on the show last year,
probably December. It was right before the Iron Claw came out,
like a couple probably like a few weeks, and uh
so we we really heavily went into that and you
know obviously some of his career questions and stuff like that.
But I got to tell you, uh, he was very
kind and just went into like extreme detail and every
(44:00):
question like every answer he gave.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
It was a really nice guy.
Speaker 3 (44:03):
Yeah. I'm always filmed down here in back Ruge not
not too far from us.
Speaker 2 (44:08):
Yeah, yeah, really.
Speaker 3 (44:10):
Yeah, Baton Rouge, that's where where it was filmed. As
a matter of fact, they they rented my Ring to
do training in so uh so I had I can't
think of the guy's name name, the the star.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
But zachn was in it.
Speaker 3 (44:28):
That it was it was working out in my Ring,
So I got a little bit of star power being
in there.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
Uh, you know, I really didn't have this question in
the works. But did you end up watching that movie?
Speaker 3 (44:42):
Wait a minute, let me think about this. Yeah, yeah,
I did. I forgot because I didn't watch it right away.
I kind of kind of waited and I ended up
watching it, and I was, uh, you know, a lot
of people was kind of disappointed, uh, you know on
some fact with the movie, with the you know, leaving out.
(45:02):
You know, I believe it was was it Mike Chris
Chris Chris, fine, Eric, And you know, I understand, it's
it's it's it's a it's a it's a movie. You
got to have time to better fit everything. In my
personal opinion, I think, you know, I think if you're
talking about the family's history, my personal opinion is I
(45:23):
think he probably should have been included, even if it
wasn't a big part. Uh, some sort of mention or
some kind of way they could have fit something in there.
And I think their reason was that they it was
such a a dramatic, you know, sad thing would happen,
they didn't want to add more sadness to it. But
I mean, hey, you know, if you're telling something fairly true,
(45:46):
you know, a documentary almost like movie, you know, yeah,
but hey, you know that's why they make the big
bucks in the in the directors and all those guys
make those decisions.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
Yeah, I took my wife to go see that. Then
she does not watch wrestling, doesn't even know who they are,
you know, nothing like that.
Speaker 3 (46:06):
So she really.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
Enjoyed the movie, Whereas you know, I enjoyed the movie enough,
but there was also a lot of factual faults to.
Speaker 2 (46:16):
It, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
Like if I went in not knowing anything about the
van Erks, not watching him every day for you know,
ten or so years on TV, then you know, I
probably would have enjoyed it like it was brand new.
But I knew like a lot of the history. So
it's like I knew certain things that were just not
factual things that were not in the same timeline or
(46:37):
this didn't happen this way, and so you know, but overall,
I have to say that I did enjoy it, you know.
Speaker 3 (46:44):
Yeah, I mean I think it was it was it
was good for people to put a state who's maybe
watched it as not a you know, long a full
wrestling fan and got to kind of put shed a
little light on the reality of the business, you know,
and what some of these guys have been through and stuff.
Of course, yeah, everything wasn't probably you know, one hundred percent,
(47:07):
you know, and which us to involve in the wrestling business.
You can look at it and critique it, you know,
and stuff like that, when others that don't know what
we know, you know, just went along with.
Speaker 2 (47:18):
It, right right.
Speaker 1 (47:20):
Uh, before we get out of here, is there anything
else that you have coming up that you want to
throw out there?
Speaker 3 (47:26):
Well, like I said, Uh, we just had a We
had a great year with my home based federation, Gulf
State Wrestling. We had nine shows this year. Our average
fan base is uh, we averaged probably around three hundred
and fifty to four hundred fans, which is really good
for the independent wrestling and our super show that we
(47:49):
do every July. We we drew nine hundred, so that's
that's uh, that's something to be you know, I'm very
happy about and proud of. We're starting off next year.
I've got January eighteenth. If people out there look up
Gulf State Wrestling, they can look us up. We've got
some stuff on YouTube, not as much as two to five,
but you know our Facebook channel. Uh. And then February fifteenth,
(48:15):
I have that big opportunity, and you know, we've got
some other things coming behind that, but those first two
starting off the year, and hopefully that leads into me
going to North Carolina for the big AIWF show uh
in March. And then like I said, I have plans
to go to wrestle Mania this year and in Vegas
(48:35):
as well. So if I do have that belt, maybe
that'll open up some doors that way to get some
some more exposure over there. That I mean, I've wrestled
several times over there for for ccuh, Colin Flowell Alley
and you know, which is a great group of guys.
If you if you look into anything and people don't
(48:56):
know what Colin Flower Alley Club is, you know, for
the histor of our business, you know. I know we
didn't talk much about that, and I didn't think about
it till right now. But that's a that's a big
part of professional wrestling where everything's come from.
Speaker 2 (49:09):
Yeah, and but but.
Speaker 3 (49:12):
Yeah, that's about it. I mean, like I said, uh,
you know, look me up on Facebook Mustang Mike. Also
on Instagram Mustang Mike Boom is my moniker on there.
But I appreciate the time and and and uh, you know,
for the people who end up watching this, it's not familiar,
you know, look it up. Boom is my Boom is
(49:35):
my my logo there, Mustang Mike, mister Boom is my
You got you.
Speaker 1 (49:40):
Got the YouTube channel for your for yourself your single stuff?
Speaker 3 (49:43):
Yeah, I do have. You can look up Mustang. The
easiest way is pull it up Mustang Mike Wrestler and
a lot of my matches will come up on there,
and then it also links me in to some of
the other stuff that I might have wrestled with with
Pro Wrestling two two five, they'll tag me as Mustang Mike,
so it kind of tags in. So if you go
on YouTube and put in Mustang Mike Wrestler, because there's
(50:04):
a Mustang Mike who deals with cars. One of us
two is gonna come up. So if you put Mustang
Mike Wrestler, you can see a lot of my stuff.
Speaker 2 (50:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (50:15):
Well, I want to thank you for coming by today.
I'm glad we got to do this today. I'm definitely
gonna have to have you back, especially if that February
fifteenth date, that that result works out. We're gonna have
to plan on that now.
Speaker 3 (50:26):
Yeah. Yeah, And like I said, if that works out,
i'll see you in March, and uh, you know, I'll
be down there and we'll we'll run into each other.
But let's hope that, let's hope that both things work out.
Speaker 2 (50:40):
Absolutely, thank you again.
Speaker 3 (50:42):
All Right, We'll see y'all later.
Say, is it Rica del Santo. You're listening to Pro
Wrestling Wire Radio, part of Pro Wrestling Wire dot Net,
Helix Rock Radio, and of course the AIWF Network. You
can catch us each and every Wednesday night, nine to
eleven on Helix Rock Radio. I'm sitting down here tonight
with Mustang Mike.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
What's going on?
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Like, what's the brother? I appreciate you having me on
the on the show.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Yeah, And as we were saying off here, it's finally
glad to do this. As as we said, we tried
to do this a couple of times and uh and
uh yeah, we're finally making it happen.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
So oh yeah, well that'll late than never.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah, there you go, there you go. So, uh, let's
let's start from the beginning.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
I guess you can say how did you ever get
interested in the world of professional wrestle and then make
your where'd you find out the train and stuff?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Well, I mean most guys these days, I say most
a lot try to talk about it. You know, about
the fans and how yah you know this and that whatever,
and you know it's a separate part of the business
and all, and yes, which it is. But if if
if I can only speak for myself, but I grew
(01:24):
up as a wrestling fan, you know, watching the wrestling,
having my favorites. You know. I'm down here in South Louisiana,
so it was Mid South Junkyard Dog and the Free
Birds and you know Rock and Roll Express and all
that crew. Uh, you know, basically built watched promotion, so
watch that. And then of course wrestling didn't have the
(01:46):
the where you could see too much of it. Was
lucky enough to catch some Georgia Championship wrestling and some
world class wrestling and stuff like that. So just grew
up watching it, always admiring the sport, and it really
kind of fell in my lap. One day, I had
no idea that there was independent wrestling, you know, and
(02:08):
a buddy of mine was happened to be working with
a guy from Homer who was a professional wrestler on
the independent circuit, Bronco Bob, and he basically said, Man,
I'm working with a guy. He's a wrestler. And I'm like, yeah, yeah,
sure you are, you know, and you know this and
that whatever, And so I went met the guy and
sure enough, six foot five, three hundred and seventy pounds,
(02:32):
you know, and I'm like, man, I said, you know,
so he invited me to come to a show in Homer,
and I'm like, what do you mean, Like w w
W w f's coming to town, and he's like, no,
independent wrestling. I had no idea what that meant. So
I showed up at a show and went and watched
it and said, man, this is technically the real deal,
(02:54):
you know. And then he offered me an opportunity to
start training. And then, you know, I was twenty four
at the time, and uh kind of technically a late starter,
you know in world of wrestling on average, and uh
basically started training right out the gate, and you know, uh,
and that's how that's how it my foot got in
(03:15):
the door, you know.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Yeah, when you're exposed to professional wrestling through that incident,
is what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah, that's how I was exposed to becoming in the
business by meeting a guy who basically, uh, you know,
had been in the business three or four years. He
had a following. He was from Homer, uh, which Mid
South Wrestling had already done sold out, you know to
the UWF when went to you know, all the the
(03:43):
out join Yeah, right, but then Mid South somebody, a
guy named Frank Jefferies down at home, I actually rebranded
and started Mid South Entertainment. Uh And so basically he
did a lot of the Southern stuff. You brought in
some of the past names, the you know, the Michael
(04:04):
Hayes and you know, Terry Gordie and Junkyard Dog and
all those guys. So I got to meet a lot
of my childhood fans, you know, heroes that I was
actually intermingling with while I was kind of in the
middle of my training, right right.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
I know that when I discovered independent wrestling, it was
like a whole new world to me.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And it was just like.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
I'd have to say, it's like late eighties, early nineties.
I discovered the SAVOLDI TV and then I didn't go
to my first independent show until aout nineteen ninety four.
I was literally blown away by you know, I got
to see Little Guido about five years before he was
on National TV. You know, Bill Edie Demolition Acts as
he was coming off of to b FTV, Greg Valentine
(04:49):
the same There was a Jimmy Snook, a metal maniac,
you know, and it was just it was just kind
of an amazing thing. To see that there's a difference
between and to me, like you said, it was the
real deal, it was the nitty gritty. It seemed more
realistic to me, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah, yeah, no doubt. I mean, like I said, even now,
people don't realize. I mean, there's so many people that
I run into on a daily basis, and they, you know,
might meet me for the first time, and people say, hey,
Mike is a wrestler. Well, what's your name? Mustang Mike,
how come I've never heard of you? You know. They
they see the WWE, you know, and I'm like, well,
(05:27):
I mean I don't wrestle for w W. Well then
how are you a wrestler? And I'm like, well, you know,
without going into the long, drawing out story. And then
as time's going on, I've got people to hey, why
don't you come see a show? And then they come
and then they're like, wow, this is this is better,
you know, because you know, we're up close and personal
(05:49):
and my kids get to meet the wrestlers. That's the
fraction of the price. You know, We're we're sitting on
the front row for twenty five dollars instead of five hundred,
you know, and I'm like, and to the kids. To
a dad bringing his kid, that's all he wants is
to have a good time and feel like he's enjoyed
himself and not break the bank. Right.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
So absolutely, But you know, because WW ticket prices are
out through the roof right now. I was looking at
tickets to you know, even like Saturday Night's main event.
It's only like an hour from where I live, and
it's just like, you know, the tickets were like OUTLANDI
show was like, there's.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
No way it could take my kid to go see that.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
M Yeah, So I mean I take my kid to
an independent show. It's anywhere from ten to twenty dollars
it'll cost, you know, each, So it's a it's and
it provides good family entertainment.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah, I mean, that's that's what I get to. And
like I said, a lot of people just really don't
you know, realize what they could be getting, you know,
for the for the same value. I mean, sure, we
don't have the budget of all the super lights and
the pyro and and the big you know, ten thousand
seed arenas and stuff like that, But I said, I've
(07:01):
been I've been blessed. Uh you know, to start with
mid South and get my foot in the door with
a lot of the original crew you know down my
way in the South. And I know you up in
a different area, so you're your you know, local guys
of that areas are totally different than me. But but yeah, uh,
(07:23):
I got to have some tutelage from the Junkyard Dog,
you know, Terry gordye, uh, gentleman Chris Adams, you know,
Terry Taylor. I met a lot of those guys, uh,
you know from down this way One Man Gang. So
all those guys were kind of Southern you know based guys,
(07:44):
and uh and uh, you know, I was still uh
at twenty four years old. I had just had a son.
I was a single dad, and I didn't I was
big into sports, you know, a lot of you know, uh,
and I didn't really give wrestling one hundred percent right
out the gate. I loved it, but I didn't go
(08:07):
in it to want to wrestle every weekend and travel
all over the country and and do all that. And
uh so I really did the local thing, just Louisiana,
small shows for the longest time. And you know, as
years passed and UH started kind of you know, slowing
down on more of the sports and getting more into wrestling.
(08:29):
As you know, four or five years passed, then I
started kind of picking up a little steam and travel
a little more and doing a little bit. But like
I said, it's a I don't I don't regret not
doing it, but I think if I would have pushed
it a little further out of the gate that I
you know, a lot of people have told me, man,
you you belong in you know, WWE, and you should
(08:51):
have been in w c W and all that, and
I'm like, well, I appreciate you saying that, but it
was just it wasn't as much my goal to do
that at an early stage as some of these guys
is coming out at twenty two and that's their only goal,
you know, so and I'll take nothing from them. That's
what they want. But at the time I enjoyed, you know,
and hanging out with my friends and playing sports and
(09:14):
wrestling was kind of like another thing that I did.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
You know, right, right, so you grew up or you
were from southern Louisiana, right, so you got one of
the differences.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
It's like I grew up in Connecticut and I.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Always appreciated the Southern style wrestling as opposed to the
Northeast wrestling type of scene. You know what I mean,
because oh yeah, like like as I said before about
it like independent wrestling, It's like it was more nitty gritty,
and the difference between watching like say the w WFTV
watching like the NWATV. The arenas were darker, people had
more realistic sounding names, and it just seemed more realistic
(09:52):
to me as opposed to the cartoons that were on
WWF television. And that's what I appreciated about things like
the NWA Mid South World Class World Class. I used
to watch every single day of the week. It was
on ESPN when I was growing up in the late eighties,
the Legends of world Class TV program, So I used
to get to catch that every day after school. That's
(10:14):
the first thing I would do is watch World Class
every day after school, the aw A, stuff like that.
I always appreciated that kind of wrestling that was more
realistic and treated like an actual sport.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Yeah, I mean they really did. I mean, there's a
there's an old store. Because we're we're a commissioned state.
Some of the people who realize where the commission is.
And the reason we are is because Bill Watts wanted
it to be that way back when he was doing things.
He wanted the fans to be able to come to
the shows and have a realistic base on wrestling, you
(10:45):
know that it was legit and so you know, that's
how everything started with the Louisiana Commission being involved and
and and running it like it was, you know, a
real full sport, you know. And uh we still deal
with the Commission down here these days. But you know,
(11:06):
things are, things are way better than they used to be.
But but like I said that, they people take their
wrestling the heart down here in Louisiana. I mean, it's
it's the South is is. I'm sure I've been up
to Jersey and wrestled up there and uh my buddy
Andrew Anderson, and uh it's it's a different fan base
(11:26):
down here than there.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yeah yeah, and uh yeah, I'll be working in the
Carolinas actually later in the earlier uh in h five,
So I'm kind of looking forward at like breaking into
that area finally, because you know, I'm a huge like
Crockett fan and you know, fan of the wrestling from
the Carolinas and stuff. So yeah. Uh, let's talk about
(11:49):
some of it. I came across some of your matches
on YouTube. I got a chance to watch some of them. Uh,
you did team with Greg Valentine and Andrew Anderson at
what point?
Speaker 3 (11:59):
So yeah, yeah, Greg.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Valentine an absolute legend as this. I can't say that
take nothing away from Andrew Anderson. He is you know,
he was he the current version of the Purple as
as well.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Correct. Yeah, I mean I met Andrew at WrestleMania when
it came down here to Louisiana. I think that was
around if I'm not mistaken, sixteen or seventeen. I think
it was. I was thinking with sixteen when WrestleMania came
and we met. By chance. They had a one of
(12:32):
the promoters at the time, Matt Riviera, which is out
of Arkansas area. He did a Mid South fan fest
the WrestleMania weekend and had some wrestling matches and brought
in all the Mid South guys and which you know,
Greg Valentine was more of a northern Northern based guy
(12:55):
a little bit, but he came in and him and
Andrew was tight and and we met and ended up
going to WrestleMania that weekend and ended up in the
same suite with him, and that's how me and Andrew
met and I met Greg, you know, for the first time,
and then we became close friends and co promoted and
did a lot of things. But yeah, that was one
(13:16):
of the deals where Greg came in, and I mean
he was way past his prime, but he still got
in the ring and did a six man tag with
us and did his part, and so it was, you know,
just an honored about it being the ring and you know,
be on a team with a guy who's done so
much as somebody like him. You know, right, right, what.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Year did you start professional wrestling or training? At least
I know that you're only a few years older than me,
not by much, but I just even trying to because
I remember seeing it, but I don't remember exactly what
the year was.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Yeah, I started. I started training in June of nineteen
ninety four, and my first match was in November of
nineteen ninety four. And uh, yeah, well it was to
tell you a quick story on how that happened in
professional wrestling, is you know, I wasn't training in full
time because I was involved in a lot of sports
(14:11):
and things, stuff like that. So I was training maybe
a couple times a month. It wasn't like I went
to a school and was there every night for you know,
six months or something like that. But I was doing
my job, you know, working work in the shows and
security and ring crew, and started at the bottom and
did some training that day before show, and coincidentally, one
(14:35):
of the the guys couldn't make it, and then of
course the promoters in a panic, and what are we
going to do? We need this guy to fill a
spot and turn around, they look around and like what
about Mike? Like yeah, what about Mike? Like wait, not
this Mike Like yeah you I'm like you mean wrestle live,
(14:56):
and like yeah, we we think you capable of doing it.
I'm like, well you a lot of faith in me.
I don't. I didn't have any you know, I had
knee pads and and shorts, but I didn't have any
ring the tire gear and stuff like that. And then
sure enough, you know, barred a few things, and you know,
of course they moved the cart around a little bit,
and UH called my buddy up at home, Hey, get
(15:19):
the camcorder. You better get over here. You know. It
was about forty five minutes away from my home, and
sure enough had had my first match impromptu, uh, and
come up with the name, and Bronco Bob you know
the rest he's going now was my mentor and it
kind of got me involved. So what's your name? You know,
(15:41):
I want to be Mike, you know, so Bronco Bob
Mustang Mike. And that's how my name became Mustang mic
right out the gate, and I've never changed it now.
I've had some alternate, alternate you know, monikers, uh, you
know that I've used, you know, depends on what I
was doing at the time. I'm working as the face
(16:01):
or the heel or whatever or some sort like that,
you know, and it might change. The name is a
kind of my few days as a bad guy to
maybe Magnificent Mike or something like that. But in general,
Mustang Mike is my base name and I'm still using it.
And I, just like I said, just made thirty years
my thirty year anniversary last month.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Well, congratulations, that's awesome. That's really cool. So you worked
for several different NWA territories during the prior to the
Lightning one era. What do you have to say about
working for the NWA You've worked with some legends through there,
and I'm going to ask you about the transition into
the Lightning one era. I guess we could do a
two parter there.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Yeah, well, like I said, that's how it kind of
worked out. NWA was matter of fact, Matt Riviera was
out of Arkansas area. He had a promotion. You had
Greg Anthony up there in Tennessee, and you had a
lot of affiliates back then in on the two thousand
and fifteen sixteen area. Everything was building up, and you know,
(17:07):
was fortunate enough to meet some really great guys, Tim Storm,
James Beard, uh, Rob Conway, Jack Stain, all those guys
were were super big the NWA at the time, and uh,
you know just started Andrew Anderson had a lot of
connections with guys, you know, being involved in the business
(17:29):
and all them doing stuff like that, and and started
getting booked on a few shows and and doing things,
and then you know, my name value got built up
a little bit, and uh, they had a big event
in uh that NWA saw what I was doing because
I was helping run a promotion called Golf Coast Wrestling
(17:50):
down here in Louisiana, and uh, of course in my hometown.
Of course it's gonna be I'm gonna be the big draw.
And uh they saw that I was putting you know,
four to five hundred people in buildings and stuff like that,
and they kind of nd WA's like, Okay, well that's
the kind of group we want to be involved in.
And we came in and helped work with Matt Riviera
(18:11):
on a show and and we did the first event,
which was called Cajun heat Uh brought in uh Rodney Mack,
you know, uh Rob Conway, Jack Stayne, you know, a
bunch of the tag teams from up in like Tennessee.
Uh Simon, I can't think of the n heat Seekers.
(18:34):
I believe he is it heat Seecert. Yeah, I believe
so up in the Tennessee area. And uh but like
I said, that's how it worked out. And being that
I was the hometown guy, Jax Dane was the world
heavyweight champion at the time, and they gave me that
match and uh, so crazy story about how that happened
(18:55):
is he ended up getting vertigo the weekend before and
couldn't wrestle me. Yeah. So Greg Anthony was the national
champion at the time, and he went ahead and said,
you know what God deserves. You know, He's did the
work and put this together. And Greg Anthony stepped up
and put the national title up and I won the
belt in front of about eleven hundred people in my hometown.
(19:19):
And I was in two thousand and seventeen. And so anyway,
that was my first real big opportunity with the NWA,
and you know, eventually lost the belt back to Greg
and then worked my way back through the ranks and
ended up facing Tyson Dean, which was the North American
(19:40):
Heavyweight champion. I won that in April of twenty eighteen,
and just when I thought everything was going my way,
Everything's going great. You know, hey, you know, can I
win that trifecta? Can I face you know go at
the time, I think Tim Storm had to built and
can I get the World heavyweight Championship? And uh, the
(20:03):
NWA went through the phase where they sold out and
uh not so sold not sold out, but sold it.
Uh and uh, you know, Billy took over and during
that transition, I was tried to be as hell. I
was a champion. I was the NBA North American Champion,
and they got rid of all the affiliates and uh
(20:25):
basically dropped everybody and then Base insad all the champions
had to surrender their belts except for the worldweight champion,
so I never technically lost the NWA North American Championship.
So you know, obviously that's hard, you know, to to
you know, know that that new transition I didn't fit in,
(20:46):
but you know, it's it's a business like anything else,
and they made their decisions. I don't know if it
was directly Billy's decision. They you know, you have all
you guys that go down the ladder that that make
calls on things and stuff. But the direction they had
it didn't include me, and so you know, uh, you know,
I wish things would have worked a little different and
(21:08):
wanted to still be involved with them and stuff like that.
And ever since they've kind of transitioned and started working
their way up different directions, you know, it's not being
in the cards for me to be involved with them.
So yeah, but that's.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Well, I noticed that they're you know, they got rid
of every territory. I mean, you know, I spoke at
length with Greg Anthony about this on an episode that
we did about a year ago, and uh, and you know,
now they're starting to add the territories back. It seems
like they have about six or seven added back and
they got they added and two out of Texas. Now,
so yeah, I wasn't they were spanning the texts.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Yeah, I know they I know they had one. I'm
not sure if it was two, but you could be right.
That's an area down there where Rodney Mack is down
San Antonio area. Uh as. I know they're doing something
maybe dog Town Wrestling or something like that.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, and then the announced Texas Style Wrestling and I
think James Beard is directly involved in that one.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Okay, okay, Yeah, James has been around forever. He's you know,
originated way back in the day with World Class. He
knows so many people. He's the quality guy, great guy,
always about the business. And you know, I think when
all that happened, you know, everybody other than the world champion,
(22:28):
Tim Storm kind of got you know, maybe put on
the side. And then now things are kind of working
kind of way back, you know, into trying to expand,
and I think it's smart business for them to get
affiliates and and spread the name. And you know, I
can understand when they wanted to change because at the time,
I think they might have had like fifty or sixty
affiliates and.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Over the place.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Yeah, but you know, in wrestling, you have some things
that are more quality and bigger than others, and some
are smaller and and maybe some of them was just
didn't really need to be an affiliate, wasn't doing the
things they needed to do to promote it and get
the crowds, And you know, you don't want to start
a new business, and you look like, okay, well hold on,
you've got a federation over here strawing seventy people. You know,
(23:14):
we don't And I can understand that. But my federation,
which was Golf Coast Wrestling, I ended up joining the
NWA and turned into NWA Golf Coast and it was
only involved with it for about six months when the
change happened. So then when that happened, of course I
had to give up NWA Golf Coast and I rebranded
(23:36):
into Golf State Wrestling, and that's my home promotion down
here in Louisiana, Golf State Wrestling. But like I said,
you know, if they did come to me now and say, hey,
you know, look, you put in some big houses and
we want to maybe revisit that again. It's not that
I wouldn't look at it from a business standpoint and
see if it would make sense. But you know, it's
(24:01):
all about decisions at the time and what's going on.
And uh, I know we'll be talking about the A
I w F and things and stuff like that, and uh,
you know, did some things with them already and and
and great quality group of guys and and I'm looking
forward to doing some some big things with them, you know,
especially some things coming up.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Yeah, what do you got in store with the A
w F? Are you gonna part of the the anniversary
event in March?
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Well so so kind of kind of fall the way
we're talking about that now. Greg Anthony came in and
defended the world championship against me at my big show
this past July that we have had about nine hundred
people and in uh in Morgan City, Louisiana, with no
(24:48):
top names on the card, you know, I mean no, no,
no personality names and stuff like that. So that was
that was huge. He came in and wrestled me, and uh,
of course you always have your basic storylines that are
going on down here, and uh, you know, I'm I'm
the good guy, hometown guy, and they had the the
the bad guy put his name out thev Vladimir coole off,
(25:12):
he's our heavyweight champion, a Russian character and uh Uh
ended up interfering in the match. The match got called
out as a draw. So you know, people have been
talking about it and asking, hey, can you know Mustang
might deserve a rematch? Can we make some another stipulation
this and that whatever, And you know, I've been putting
in my time doing things. You know, Barrett Brown, the
(25:34):
UH Junior Heavyweight Champion come work on the show. So
basically I'm kind of aligning myself a lot more with
the ai WF. And just recently this weekend, if anybody's
out there and looking and looking at my page, Mustang
Mike uh we had had a show in UH in
New Orleans, UH with a different federation and uh Mark
(25:59):
him was there and he was dressed as Santa Claus
and I took a picture with him and said, hey,
I'm the world strongest Santa Claus. I made my wish
for something big to happen in twenty twenty five, and
I guess people started talking and getting on AIWF website
and doing things, you know, since then, and the announcement
(26:20):
was actually made just yesterday afternoon that I have a
big event down here February fifteenth, and they've awarded me
a world championship match against you know, if it's Greg
Anthony at the time, that's who it's going to be.
But if but that's I've been awarded the shot just
(26:41):
as of yesterday. So it's it's hot news. Not many
people know about it yet, but you know, since we're
talking about it, it's it's out there. So I'm looking
forward to if I can make that happen, i'd be
I'd love to be a big representative. And you know,
for the for the AIWF, I wrestled at about six
Southern Federations down here in Louisiana, Mississippi area. So and
(27:07):
you know, looking forward to some things. And I know
their big show is in North Carolina he was talking about.
I believe it's the first weekend in March.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Right, it's a two day event. It's the I think
it's the thirty second Extravaganza or I don't have the
name in front of me, but yeah, it's like a
big thirty two year anniversary show.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
So I would imagine that if I can pull that
off February fifteenth, that would that would put me in
the mix where I'd be heading over there. So I've
already kind of penciled that week in in and in
my in my book not to take anything else just
in case that door opens for me.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Well, I'm going to tell you that there's gonna be
a bustleoad of people from Connecticut coming down, probably loaded.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
We're renting a van.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Twelve of us are coming down for the weekend. I'm
traveling with a bunch of guys. Blood Saw, the Atlantic Champion,
is coming down there, and I'm coming down there with
him and a bunch.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Of the other guys as part of the AIWF.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
So for that weekend, that's a good little haul for y'all.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Uh yeah, yeah, we talked about it, and you know,
they asked me if I was interested in coming down,
and I guess I can break this news now. Matt
Classic has asked me if I wanted to do commentary
on some of the matches for that weekend, and I
have accepted. So I'm looking forward to coming down there.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
So yeah, well we we Well, let's hope out the way,
we'll we'll we'll run into each other for sure.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Absolutely absolutely. What do you think of the the AIWF
business model. I've you know, it's something that i've you know,
over the last couple of years, I've gotten really, i guess,
enamored with. You know, it's it kind of reminds me
of the old school NWA territory system and with the
exception of like, you know, there's just internet just what
(28:52):
one hundred and fifty brands and forty nine countries or
something similar to that, you know what I mean, it's
kind of it's kind of amazing, you know, because they
have people from all over the world and they take
it very seriously, some of these people from you know,
the international markets.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Yeah, I think it's the closest thing that I'm aware
of to the n w A you know, brand style.
You know, I think they're they're running hand, you know,
hand in hand. So, like I said, that's why I'm
I'm I'm excited about it, huh. Like I said in
in January, in July, when Greg came in, that was
(29:30):
my first kind of uh working against any ai w
F champion in that type of match. I've wrestled guys
who wrestled for the ai w F but never being
been a champion or something like that. So so yeah,
when when we worked that out for me to come
in and Greg come down here and give me that opportunity,
(29:52):
which I still can't thank him enough for for doing that,
I guess it opened some eyes. And you know, I've
been around a long time, thirty years, and I might
not be you know, known nationwide or too big of
a thing. You know, you have to follow independent wrestling
as in a whole right. But I've done a pretty
(30:12):
good bit of things. Like I said, I've wrestled up
in New Jersey several times, wrestled in Atlanta, wrestled in Florida,
wrestled in Vegas. I've wrestled Tennessee, Texas. You know.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
You've been to New York correct.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Yeah, yeah, because I was gonna say that's that's like,
I mean, you're missing that in the in the list,
and that's kind of a big I think it's a
big deal to come up to New York. I think
I think my good buddy Richard Ruiz, he filmed the event.
I guess it was the New England Big Apple something
extravagance or something like that. He was the him and
(30:48):
his company film Worthy guys that did the video for it.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
So yeah, yeah, yeah, because I know New York and
Jersey's right next to each other. So I was kind
of putting that in his his his same time. I've
wrestled three or four times up there with Andrew because
he had the n W a big apple during you know,
during that time, he was kind of the promoter guy
putting that together. He had a couple of partners that
he was involved in. But uh, but yet I was.
(31:16):
I was that was a good time going up that
way and seeing the whole different type fan base and
different part of the country and and all that. So
but yeah, I'm looking forward to to you know, of course,
my time in wrestling is isn't isn't going to be forever.
You know, I'm still in good shape, you know, I
(31:36):
stay in the gym and stay you know, working and
keeping myself in good shape. But I'm just turned fifty four,
you know, so as far as in wrestling years, thirty
years of beating up on your body and all the
sports and weightlifting and things that I've done over the years,
I've you know, it's it's an ongoing process to keep
myself in working condition.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Do you feel it every day when you wake up
every day?
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Yeah, I mean every day. I wrestled this weekend and
and you know, just things happened, you know, took a
took a DDT and kind of jam my next. So
like like right now, that's about that's that's but the
best I'm going right right now. So you know, get
the heat, ice and heat, and that's what happens. You know,
(32:23):
the guys who do this, you know, you wrestle on
a weekend if you don't have one or two matches
on a weekend, and then you know Sunday, Monday, Tuesday
is the is the therapy kind of getting yourself back,
kind of moving right again. And then now you got
to get back in the gym and get a few
days in before you do it again. So it's a
(32:44):
you know a lot of people out there just don't understand,
you know, what they want to call fake and reel
and all that and everything, but you know, you could
we people have talked about this for tons of years
and all have their views on it, but you know
what we put our bodies through. And some of these
guys that wrestle a lot more than me, and uh,
(33:07):
you know, and it's a it's a it's a rough business.
And I said, I wake up every morning sore, and
I know my loved ones tell me, Mike, when you're
going to stop, And well, yeah, it's easy to just
ask that and and be sincere and think the best
for me, you know. But it's it's a I guess,
a combination of a passion and a sickness. You know.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Well, when you love what you do, you know, it's
hard to stop, you know, and especially it's like it's
not really you know, you're not harming anybody, maybe your
own body a little bit, you know.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Right Well, like I said, even I think if I
stop at at this point, if I said no more,
you know, I'm still going to be sore. The soreness
is not going to go away, you know. And and
I'm the good thing about knowledge and wisdom is is
I don't put myself in bad situations, you know, going forward,
I'm not gonna you know, put myself in a in
(34:02):
a in a match or accept a match on on
something that's not in my wheelhouse the things I'm supposed
to do. But in the same token, I also have
enough love and respect for the business that I'm not
going to be that guy who says, oh, well I
can't do that. Well, if I can't do it, then
I don't need to be doing it, you know. So
uh So I'm just I'm just being logical and and
(34:23):
i know still that I've got some miles left in
the tank. And and especially if I can, you know,
pull off something big in February and win the world title,
then that means I'm just gonna have to double up
on the chiropractor and therapy and and and ice baths
and and if.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
You will leave if I win, you just you're just
going to get busier if you're the champion.
Speaker 3 (34:45):
That's well, that's what I'm saying. I mean, you know,
I know that I know that the phone calls will
come in a little more. And and like I said,
I've still got a lot of obligations that I've got
already on the books right now, you know, starting off
the or so that would probably increase. So, you know,
we we do what we do. We love it, and
(35:07):
the fans is out there, and that's the fans is
what really keeps us the drive going.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Yeah, have you ever had any serious injuries in the ring.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Nothing serious. Matter of fact, the I guess I've torn
my a c left a c L, I've torn my bicep,
and I've torn my left rotator cuff. And none of
the three were wrestling. It was all other sports. Now.
My only substantial injury that put me on the shelf
(35:38):
for a little while, and it not for long because
I was wrestling Tyson Dean for the North American Championship
and you know that hometown North American Championship NWA. You know,
I put myself out there and and tried to do
probably something that the young guys shouldn't be doing, uh,
(36:00):
split leg moon salt off the off the top rope
and didn't rotate far enough and landed based on the
back of my head and and gave myself a concussion,
tore all the cartilage in my sternum and in the
middle of the match, and uh, and then of course
there wasn't no way I was stopping and continued on
(36:21):
and ended up winning the belt. So luckily I had
a couple of weeks to recover till I had to
defend it again, you know, because I didn't I didn't
have any obligations because I wasn't the champion at the time,
So I was able to take about three weeks off
and kind of get myself back in shape and before
I needed to get back in there and do it again.
(36:43):
But that's the only thing, and that wasn't you know,
time consuming where I was out for a couple of months,
you know. So, but I've been I've been fortunate. I
knock on wood there. I mean thirty years, thirty years
of doing this, I've been. I've been good. Lord's been
looking out for him.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
So you were a part of an event that I
watched live on Fight A couple of my friends, actually
multiple of my friends were involved with on this show.
But you were part of the Night to Remember out
of Chicago.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
Yeah remember yeah? Yeah, yeah, that.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Was yeah, you won the North American title from there
the w A w Bill.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
Ye correct, Yeah that was that wasn't this July. That
was last July? Last yeah, last July. Yeah, I was, uh,
And that was the thing. Chas Morietti was putting that
together and everything, and he's the old school guy and
and thought the same thing. I kind of got the
(37:46):
snub with the n w A whenever I wasn't able
to retain the n w A North American Championship and
that title was up for grabs, and I was able
to wrestle on that card. Uh that was pretty stack
called as well, and wrestled one of the top competitors
from from that area up that way and I won then.
(38:08):
So I'm technically currently the WAW North American champions still.
I've had over the last year, I've had six title
defenses and with that belt. Matter of fact, I'm defending
that next month January eighteenth, at an event over here
(38:28):
in Louisiana. So that's my next title defense with that. Okay, So.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Yeah, my buddy's the House of Pain, are you familiar
with Yeah?
Speaker 3 (38:40):
Yeah, they won the tag belts that night.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
Yep, they won the North American Tag Belts. They've they've
been still holding them. There's a picture of me out
there with them when they got back to Connecticut holding
those belts up. Okay, they are still defending those belts
all over all over the country, so that's great.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
That's great. Yeah, I Metam, had him for the first time,
and great guys, and uh yeah, I'm glad they still
got hold of them.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Yeah, good bunch. Of good guys.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
All right, so let me ask you part of this
for Wrestling two two five, which I I've recently discovered
this this Oh yeah, and it seems they seem to
be doing, uh something very good. I mean, they got
a YouTube series going on. It seems like they're they're
they're packing in decent sized crowds.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
Yeah, they're they're legit. I mean, they've got YouTube. They've
actually got a local TV segment that they're doing. They
they're drawing really nice houses. I technically call it my
sister company. The promoter who's putting who's involved in putting
it on Mike Woodrow from down here in Louisiana. I
(39:51):
actually helped train him. You know. I think it's been
about fifteen years and uh, and they've kind of started
as part of Golf Coach Wrestling at the time, and
then as they got bigger and wanted to rebrand, they
started Pro Wrestling two to five. They're based out of
basically the plaquemin area, which is not far from Baton Rouge.
(40:13):
Do events around surrounding areas around there. But they've got yeah,
if you're out there, list look up Pro Wrestling two
to five. They've got YouTube, plenty of TV YouTube, solid wrestlers.
They bring in guys from basically all over and have
a wide base of guys who've done a lot with
(40:34):
you know, a w stuff, impact, Ring of Honor, you know, solid,
solid base of up and coming guys. I mean, some
of these guys that come through there is definitely gonna
be somewhere at some point in time.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
No, I was shocked when I saw it because it's
an I have a list of ongoing YouTube series that
I add to the list. Break it down by day,
what ears at, what day, what time it airs, just
so I could, you know, people looking for wrestling.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
I listed it on the website.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
And I found this today or the other day, and
I was just surprised that I hadn't heard of it.
The crowds are packed. There's so many people in the
damn crowd. I was just, yeah, it seems like it's
just a really really good products. It's like I want
to explore it a lot more, you know.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
Yeah, yeah, nobody will be upset about looking at what
they got going on. I mean they bring in talent
from all over the South. I mean from Texas all
the way to Florida and like I said, great production value.
You know, got ringside commentators TV, you know, but they're
(41:42):
they're growing and by leaps and bounds. They're running probably
about probably fifteen shows a year. Fifteen sixteen shows a
year maybe actually a lot. I think that's what they've
had up to date. But I think their calendar right now,
because I've got some bookings with him is is is
(42:03):
gonna be on pace to beat that they're picking up
new towns. But uh, there there are somebody to watch
for right there.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
Yeah, I I urge everybody that's listening to to get
out there and watch that. A couple more questions before
we get out of here. I know we talked a
little bit about uh Tim Storm, and you know, he's
to me, he's just a gem of a professional wrestling
that he's still involved in the business. Uh you know,
he's not. He's still wrestling, but not you know what
(42:35):
he was once?
Speaker 3 (42:36):
Uh sure, and.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
He's very good at in the broadcast here, I think
as well.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
Yeah, yeah, I don't you know, I guess the way
everything happened with nw A, I don't keep up with
them as much as you know normally I would have.
But but yeah, what I've seen of his broadcast abilities,
and I mean he's still obviously rest I mean I've
had the luxury of wrestling him a couple of times,
(43:03):
uh you know, with him and against and against him,
so you know, matter of fact, I have I have
a proud to say I have a win against you know, uh,
two former nw A heavyweight champions. I've beaten Jack Stain
and and Tim Storm. So that's I guess, uh, you know,
something good to have on my my win list. But
(43:27):
uh but yeah, man, I mean such a good dude.
Uh you know him and him and James Beard. You
got almost mentioned them in the same breath. Man, those
guys are just good as gold. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:39):
I actually did have James Beard on the show last year,
probably December. It was right before the Iron Claw came out,
like a couple probably like a few weeks, and uh
so we we really heavily went into that and you
know obviously some of his career questions and stuff like that.
But I got to tell you, uh, he was very
kind and just went into like extreme detail and every
(44:00):
question like every answer he gave.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
It was a really nice guy.
Speaker 3 (44:03):
Yeah. I'm always filmed down here in back Ruge not
not too far from us.
Speaker 2 (44:08):
Yeah, yeah, really.
Speaker 3 (44:10):
Yeah, Baton Rouge, that's where where it was filmed. As
a matter of fact, they they rented my Ring to
do training in so uh so I had I can't
think of the guy's name name, the the star.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
But zachn was in it.
Speaker 3 (44:28):
That it was it was working out in my Ring,
So I got a little bit of star power being
in there.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
Uh, you know, I really didn't have this question in
the works. But did you end up watching that movie?
Speaker 3 (44:42):
Wait a minute, let me think about this. Yeah, yeah,
I did. I forgot because I didn't watch it right away.
I kind of kind of waited and I ended up
watching it, and I was, uh, you know, a lot
of people was kind of disappointed, uh, you know on
some fact with the movie, with the you know, leaving out.
(45:02):
You know, I believe it was was it Mike Chris
Chris Chris, fine, Eric, And you know, I understand, it's
it's it's it's a it's a it's a movie. You
got to have time to better fit everything. In my
personal opinion, I think, you know, I think if you're
talking about the family's history, my personal opinion is I
(45:23):
think he probably should have been included, even if it
wasn't a big part. Uh, some sort of mention or
some kind of way they could have fit something in there.
And I think their reason was that they it was
such a a dramatic, you know, sad thing would happen,
they didn't want to add more sadness to it. But
I mean, hey, you know, if you're telling something fairly true,
(45:46):
you know, a documentary almost like movie, you know, yeah,
but hey, you know that's why they make the big
bucks in the in the directors and all those guys
make those decisions.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
Yeah, I took my wife to go see that. Then
she does not watch wrestling, doesn't even know who they are,
you know, nothing like that.
Speaker 3 (46:06):
So she really.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
Enjoyed the movie, Whereas you know, I enjoyed the movie enough,
but there was also a lot of factual faults to.
Speaker 2 (46:16):
It, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
Like if I went in not knowing anything about the
van Erks, not watching him every day for you know,
ten or so years on TV, then you know, I
probably would have enjoyed it like it was brand new.
But I knew like a lot of the history. So
it's like I knew certain things that were just not
factual things that were not in the same timeline or
(46:37):
this didn't happen this way, and so you know, but overall,
I have to say that I did enjoy it, you know.
Speaker 3 (46:44):
Yeah, I mean I think it was it was it
was good for people to put a state who's maybe
watched it as not a you know, long a full
wrestling fan and got to kind of put shed a
little light on the reality of the business, you know,
and what some of these guys have been through and stuff.
Of course, yeah, everything wasn't probably you know, one hundred percent,
(47:07):
you know, and which us to involve in the wrestling business.
You can look at it and critique it, you know,
and stuff like that, when others that don't know what
we know, you know, just went along with.
Speaker 2 (47:18):
It, right right.
Speaker 1 (47:20):
Uh, before we get out of here, is there anything
else that you have coming up that you want to
throw out there?
Speaker 3 (47:26):
Well, like I said, Uh, we just had a We
had a great year with my home based federation, Gulf
State Wrestling. We had nine shows this year. Our average
fan base is uh, we averaged probably around three hundred
and fifty to four hundred fans, which is really good
for the independent wrestling and our super show that we
(47:49):
do every July. We we drew nine hundred, so that's
that's uh, that's something to be you know, I'm very
happy about and proud of. We're starting off next year.
I've got January eighteenth. If people out there look up
Gulf State Wrestling, they can look us up. We've got
some stuff on YouTube, not as much as two to five,
but you know our Facebook channel. Uh. And then February fifteenth,
(48:15):
I have that big opportunity, and you know, we've got
some other things coming behind that, but those first two
starting off the year, and hopefully that leads into me
going to North Carolina for the big AIWF show uh
in March. And then like I said, I have plans
to go to wrestle Mania this year and in Vegas
(48:35):
as well. So if I do have that belt, maybe
that'll open up some doors that way to get some
some more exposure over there. That I mean, I've wrestled
several times over there for for ccuh, Colin Flowell Alley
and you know, which is a great group of guys.
If you if you look into anything and people don't
(48:56):
know what Colin Flower Alley Club is, you know, for
the histor of our business, you know. I know we
didn't talk much about that, and I didn't think about
it till right now. But that's a that's a big
part of professional wrestling where everything's come from.
Speaker 2 (49:09):
Yeah, and but but.
Speaker 3 (49:12):
Yeah, that's about it. I mean, like I said, uh,
you know, look me up on Facebook Mustang Mike. Also
on Instagram Mustang Mike Boom is my moniker on there.
But I appreciate the time and and and uh, you know,
for the people who end up watching this, it's not familiar,
you know, look it up. Boom is my Boom is
(49:35):
my my logo there, Mustang Mike, mister Boom is my
You got you.
Speaker 1 (49:40):
Got the YouTube channel for your for yourself your single stuff?
Speaker 3 (49:43):
Yeah, I do have. You can look up Mustang. The
easiest way is pull it up Mustang Mike Wrestler and
a lot of my matches will come up on there,
and then it also links me in to some of
the other stuff that I might have wrestled with with
Pro Wrestling two two five, they'll tag me as Mustang Mike,
so it kind of tags in. So if you go
on YouTube and put in Mustang Mike Wrestler, because there's
(50:04):
a Mustang Mike who deals with cars. One of us
two is gonna come up. So if you put Mustang
Mike Wrestler, you can see a lot of my stuff.
Speaker 2 (50:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (50:15):
Well, I want to thank you for coming by today.
I'm glad we got to do this today. I'm definitely
gonna have to have you back, especially if that February
fifteenth date, that that result works out. We're gonna have
to plan on that now.
Speaker 3 (50:26):
Yeah. Yeah, And like I said, if that works out,
i'll see you in March, and uh, you know, I'll
be down there and we'll we'll run into each other.
But let's hope that, let's hope that both things work out.
Speaker 2 (50:40):
Absolutely, thank you again.
Speaker 3 (50:42):
All Right, We'll see y'all later.
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