December 14, 2024 • 51 mins
Pro wrestling manager Lucky P Larson joins the show to talk his wrestling career, growing up in Boston, working various promotions in Tennessee, SICW, Herb Simmons, Bert Prentice, Greg Anthony, Lanny Poffo, the upcoming SICW Fanfest in May 2025, what drew him to professional wrestling and 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):
Welcome everybody to the Pro Wrestling Wire Podcast, part of
Pro Wrestling Wire dot Net, AIWF Network and of course
Helix Rock Radio every Wednesday night from nine to ten.
This is Rick Delsanto Today I am joined by Lucky P. Larson.
What's going on? Esquire? Excuse me? Excuse me? Let me
(00:39):
get that right as squire. There you go, because it's legit.
You told me beforehand.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
So, yeah, I did not print these diplomas out of
out of a cracker jackbox.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
You can go to Staples.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
No, no, I did not. I went to Vanderbilt Law School.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
You can ask many of the uh nay that I
mentioned to you before we went on the air that
I've represented in this business. It is not just it
is not just a work. It is a shoot. I
am a lawyer and keep half our locker rooms out
of trouble.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
That's can't get any better than that, right, keeps the
roof over my head. Yeah, so let's talk about you,
your youth and stuff like that. When did you discover
pro wrestling?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I like to say, because it's true that because Lucky
pele Arson never tells a lie that I was a
fan of wrestling, before WrestleMania one. So I know that
I've been a fan longer than most of your viewers
and listeners and people in our locker rooms have been alive.
My dad used to take me every month to Boston
Garden because I'm from the world's greatest city, Boston, Massachusetts,
(01:50):
and went there every month. Picked it up very quickly,
was a fan very quickly, had my absolute favorites very quickly,
including one who stood above the rest. I'm sure we'll
get into that later, but I was a very devout
and loyal fan, and the more I got into it,
the more I got into it. And I think, as
(02:13):
my friends have said from back then, if me from
back then would know all the things that me now
has done in the last eight or nine years, me
from back then's head would explode it that, you know,
in the the grand ocean of this business, you know,
(02:36):
I'm an amoeba in the in the area in which
I work, Okay, I might be a bigger fish than that,
but in the grand scheme of the world, I'm an amoeba,
And I get it. Yet for someone like that to
have done all the things I've done still blows my mind.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Who are some of your favorites growing up, and how
did you decide to get into manage and how did
you decide on that's what you wanted to do in wrestling.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Well, my favorite is easy. I believe the most entertaining
professional wrestler of all time is without question, and I
phrase it like this, the man had such great control
of an audience that what he was the most hated
wrestler in the world, even though I rooted for him.
He was voted when PWI actually their awards mattered. He
(03:26):
was voted the most hated wrestler of the year two
years in a row. Then he turned face and the
very next year he was most popular wrestler of the year.
So most hated, most hated, most popular, And because I
was so sucked in by his charisma and his ability
to talk and his ability to entertain. While nobody would
(03:49):
say he was Brett Hart or Kurt Angle or he
who shall not be named in the ring, to me,
the most entertained professional wrestler of all time is without
a doubt, Rowdy Rotie Piper. And therefore I hated Paul
Cogan my entire growing up because Hogan would constantly screw
Rotty piper over.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Now, now to answer your second question, I will say
this my law firm where I was for twenty four
years until our senior partner passed away in the firm closed,
and I've been somewhere else since. At one point, our
(04:31):
receptionist was the cousin of Micropotter the Colorado did nop
who I knew of because I was a bit of
a wrestling junkie. My friends now call me the walking
Encyclopedia of useless wrestling information. But I growing up in Boston.
(04:52):
On our UHF channels, we had every independent that was
out there. We had Memphis, we had Global, we had ICW,
we had if it was on TV, we had it
in Boston. And so I remember the Colorado.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Kid and it was his Destination America. Like prior to
becoming Destination America, there was like another name for it.
I'm trying to remember. What did you do?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (05:14):
The channel?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Oh no, these were just the different channels in Boston,
like Channel thirteen, Channel ten out of New Hampshire, Channel whatever.
Because we had all the Boston was naturally the hub,
so we could get the New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut
channels and if any of them had wrestling, we would
get it. So I would end up taping wrestling on
my VCR and watch it, so I got I was
(05:40):
familiar with micro Pott as the Colorado Kid, and then
when he came to my firm once, I was known
to be a wrestling fan, and so my receptionist was
his cousin introduced me, and he and I became friends,
and through him, I ended up meeting the legendary promoter
that I worked or for the first six or so
(06:02):
years of my career, you want to call it that,
in Bird Prentice and Bert Prentice would ask me questions
because far be it from Bert to not take advantage
of a free opportunity for some professional advice that he
doesn't have to pay for. So I love Bert, very
(06:22):
loyal to Burt, indead to Bert forever. But Bert would
call me up all the time and ask me questions
and things, and I would always be happy to help him.
I certainly knew who Bird Prentice was, and eventually, after
I had helped him out a lot, he asked me,
you know, I know you're a big wrestling fan. Is
there you know a dream in wrestling that you've got?
(06:44):
Maybe I can help you with. I said absolutely. He
said what's that? And of course I named a wrestler
that I would like to meet and he said, yeah, no,
I don't know about that. Little did he know that
I would end up managing that person a number of times.
But he said, well, anything else, and I said, well,
I'm probably too old and out of shape to be
(07:07):
a wrestler. He said, well, tell you what, I think
you'd be a good heal manager. I think people would
hate you. I said, gee, thanks, I thank And so
he said, all right, we're going to do a show,
and if you want to be involved this, I'd love
to be involved. Are you kidding? I said, all right,
well you're going to manage Mike. Mike, although I've grown
(07:28):
to absolutely hate the Colorado kid, Mike Ropatta, when he
puts on face paint becomes the Joker and I manage him.
He and I are a great team. So I was
managing the Joker and another guy who was known as
the Riddler, and they went up against Daniel Leeds and Lt.
Faulk and I was told, all right, come up with
(07:49):
a character, come up with a name. He said, all right,
So that's a whole nother story. I'm not sure what
you want to get into, but regardless, I came up
with the name, and so I showed up. We did
the show, and I left and I thought it was
a one off, and I was like, well, that was fun.
I'm glad I got to be part of it, got
(08:11):
to put a match together, see how everything's done. And
then Bert called me a couple days later and said, so,
what did you think. I said, I had a blast.
He said, good, because you got to come back. I said, well,
I'm certainly happy to come back. I'd love to. What
do you mean I have to come back? And he said, well,
and I kid you not. And I know for a
(08:33):
fact that this is true because I know who it was.
He said that he started getting phone calls after the
show asking who the manager was because there were people
who said, again not my words, theirs, that I was
the most entertaining part of the show. And I said,
I don't believe that, and he said it's absolutely true.
(08:55):
And it turned out when I found out who they were,
they were the core of what soon became known as
the Legion of Lucky, which was my fan club. And
there's a Legion of Lucky Facebook page in addition to
the Lucky P. Larson Facebook page, and the club drew
(09:17):
to the point where we'd be on TV and they'd
even be acknowledged, like Jerry Lawler came on one time
and said, yeah, I know Lucky Pie's got a following.
Normally it's you know, the tax collectors and lawyers and
the dogcatcher, but you know, so they were acknowledging that,
you know, there was this group, and they would take
over and sit the entire front row of omen arena
(09:37):
shows and openly root for me and have all the
heels that I was managing, to the point where we
had a show in Burns, Tennessee once and probably seventy
five percent of the building were rooting for me, and
I was in virtually every match, and Bert got so
mad said we're not coming back here anymore because they
(09:57):
were turning on all his belo loved babyfaces, to the
point where eventually Bert pulled me aside and said, all right, look, Lucky,
you got two choices, he said, I'm either going to
turn you face or you're gonna have to piss off
your fans because I and so I just want to
I don't want to be a baby face. So I said,
all right. So literally I went out and I told
(10:20):
the Legion of Lucky they could all go to hell.
And I didn't need them, I didn't care about them,
et cetera, et cetera. And uh, you know, I told him, look,
you want to help me out, boom me out of
the building. And so they did so. And you know,
to me, the idea that it would have exploded like
it has blows my mind. Bert always said, oh, I
(10:41):
knew it would said, There's no way you could have
known that. You know, eight nine years later, I would
have sold out of like four batches of T shirts.
I would be have been the color commentator for three
or four different shows. I have managed so many people.
I've managed James Elsworth, Katie Lee, Tommy Rich, Doug Gilbert, Carlito,
(11:03):
Scott Steiner, Rhino the Moondog. I've been decked by Jerry
Lawler more times than I can count, by Doctor Tom
By the Rock and Roll Express, by Coco be Ware,
Rob Conway, Moose, Shane Strickland. I've been wormed by the Boogeyman.
I've been knocked out by Cowboy Bob Orton's cast. I've
(11:24):
been hit with Jimmy Hart's megaphone. I've been nailed by
Jim Cornett's tennis racket. I've been kicked in the face
by the Berserker, choked out by the Sandman while I
got tamed by Kimona. I've been slapped by Baby Doll.
I've tapped out to Miranda Gordy. I've stomped on two
Cold Scorpio and Tommy Dreamer and Shane Douglass and C. W.
(11:45):
Anderson and choked Brian Pillman Jr. And Uh, I've been
screwed over by Tommy Young. I've been screwed over by
Bobby Eaton who worked as a special ref. Uh. That
just literally all off the top of my head. And
of course I've worked with Missy Hyatt number of times.
So yeah, not bad for an amba and far of
(12:08):
for me to point out. I am at forty three
championships encounting including the current reigning SICW Classic champion, the
two Ton Monster, the Walking Mountain Kowalski.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Let's talk about that. I have that in my notes.
I wanted to talk about that. What is it like
working with Kowlosky in your relationship with him, and how
that just so happened to be put together well.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
When I came to SIICW. It was shortly after USA
Championship Wrestling went by the wayside, when Bert Prentiss passed away,
and Herb had come down there a couple of times
to USA with Travis Cook, who is a brilliant mind
and a good personal friend of mine misjudge, but Herb
(12:58):
was looking, I believe for someone else to do some
commentary work, and I fit the bill because I've been
doing commentary for USA, and as you can tell, I'm
clearly shy and you know, introverted and don't really talk
much about myself or wrestling. So I said, all right,
I'll give it a shot, and behind the scenes I
(13:20):
started to maneuver my way in, and then Kowalski and
Maler mcdarby, who is one half of the measuring stick
of tag team wrestling. The professionals started talking about the Boss,
this mysterious Boss, and when Kowalski had a Central States
title match, the Boss revealed himself to be me. May
(13:43):
Or may not have allowed Kowalski to use his briefcase
to knock out Gary Jackson and win the Central States
title before Bobby d stole it uh and I started
working with Kowalski and Maler mcdarby, who I worked with
for several months. Maller then took some time off came
back with Sean Santel as the professionals who I manage.
(14:07):
I've also brought in the greatest tag team on God's
Green Earth, Roughshot, Lamont Potts and the notorious Bradley Diggs,
the La Hustlers, the only three times, three times three
time SACW Tag Team champions under my watch. Kowalski has
won all three belts, the Tag Team Belts with Moller mcdarby,
(14:27):
the Classic Wrestling Championship, and the Central States Championship, all
under my watch. So I'd say we're doing pretty well.
And We've now recently brought in Axe Allwort, the most
dangerous man in SACW, the master of the pile driver.
People get carried out on a stretcher. So the Dogtown Underground,
which is my group at SIICW, is a powerful group.
(14:49):
And Kowalski stands atop the mountain, which is ironic because
he is a mountain. So anybody who wants to try
and knock him off have at it. See if you
can walk through the walking Mountain. I don't think so. So.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Uh wow, did you now if I remember correctly, did
not Kowalsky work against Greg Anthony last year? Who was
that earlier this year?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
No? No, that was in a steel cage.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Greg Anthony, who is a slimy sleeve bag of a
excuse for a champion. Basically from what I recall, used
ether to weaken. I mean, he is a man. He's
a monster of a man, but he's a man. As
I recall, he used ether, brass knuckles, a chain, kicked
(15:41):
him in his Kowalski's and then had the ref do
a fast count. Uh that that's how he defeated Kowalski
because he could never beat him Barren square one on one.
So I would never cheat, and neither would any of
my guys. I'm like Bill Belichick, you know, the greatest
coach in the history of football or probably any sport.
We're honest as a day is long. Never cheated a
(16:01):
Danner life, never lied, and Greg Anthony on his best
day cannot be k his worst without cheating.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
That seems a little far fetched. I think he used
all that, he used all that all that?
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Yeah, that's incredible.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Believe your own eyes or me.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Well, I saw I watched on TV.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
That's what I said. Believe your own eyes.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Yes, I mean I didn't see any of that.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Well, clearly what you saw was a I I mean,
as I've always said, do you think Tom Hanks really
met President Nixon and President Kennedy? Was Jeff Goldblin really
chased by dinosaurs? No, of course not. Did Greg Anthony
actually cleanly beat Kowalski?
Speaker 1 (16:42):
No, I saw a lot of shenanigans leading up to that.
That's all I saw.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah, And the shenanigans were all on the part of
Greg Anthony.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
All right, all right, So you guys are gonna gonna
meet look to meet Greg Anthony anytime against any time.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
That Greg Anthony would like to grow a set, have
a little courage and put the belt on the line
against a man who was bigger, stronger, and better than
him and has the greatest mind in professional wrestling in
his corner. We are more than welcome to that challenge.
Come on, big boy, come on, Golden boy, see what
(17:22):
you got.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
As luck would have it, I'll be talking to him
this coming Sunday, so I'll have to remind him of this.
If you don't mind, I'll let him know.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
You can give him a solid golden grade invitation to
get his whipped by Kowalski anytime you like.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Hmm. Interesting? All right, So before we move forward, I
want to ask you about Bert Prentice. So you enjoyed
working for Bert tremendously.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
He seemed like a really good guy. I spoke to
him once or twice. I actually tried to get him
into the podcast, but he he didn't seem too interested
in doing interviews so at all.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
As a whole, well, Bert was extremely, extremely old fashioned
when it came to the business, more so than most
anybody I've met. Herb is fairly old school as well,
which comes through in sicw which is one of the
reasons I think it is so good. But Bert was
(18:22):
the godfather of Tennessee wrestling. Everything went through Burt. He
was the glue that held it together. It was through Bert, obviously,
that I got to work with many of these talents,
and especially Jerry the King Lawler, who I have had
the pleasure or mispleasure whoever you want to call it,
of working with several times. He has beaten me up
(18:46):
more times than I can count. He's beaten me up
more than anybody in this business. But you know, will
never be over between me and Jerry Lawler.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Yeah yeah, I guess not.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
So.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
One of the things I enjoy about s I c
W is that the the presentation of the television program.
Herb's a great guy. He's been on the show before.
He will be returning next week. Actually, uh so, I'm
looking forward to talking to him again.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Can you can? You can have him thank thank me
for all of the entertainment I provide. Is the greatest
color commentary in the history of the business. I mean,
you know, it's Jesse Ventura, Bobby Heen and Guerrilla Munson
and Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross Taz and Lucky pe Larson
s Car. I mean I put Gordon Gordon solely to shame.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
The greatest of all time. You put the shame. Yeah wow, Okay,
all right, Gordon solely, Bill Mercer, Bob Coddle, those are
the those are that's.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
The I'm familiar with all of them. The greatest Mercer
from World Class, Bob Coddle from Georgia Championship Wrestling and
then h W c W days before and NWA towards
the end. There, there's little you can throw out there
that I'm not going to be aware of. But yeah,
I would say that my color commentary next to Doctor
(20:12):
Drew's play by play, the back and forth, the chemistry
that we've developed over the last couple of years. I've
actually had people tell me that that is some of
the best part of SICW.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yes, I mean, I think you and your group there,
I mean I think that it's. Uh, it makes for
good television, good wrestling television. It's a very good, old
school style product that's put on. It's it is studio
style wrestling. Uh. You know, there's a couple of rows
of people and you know there's no ring introductions really
(20:46):
as far as music and whatnot and entrances. You go
to it, dude.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
We do that on our big house shows. Yes, come
to a house. Generally what SICW does has a big
house show on Saturday nights and we have several hundred
people there. I mean they're generally between three to five
hundred people at those shows. And you have your music,
you have the introductions. I usually Interruptdrew and do my
(21:13):
own introductions because I'm just better than he is. But
then the TV is generally take Sunday mornings, and you're right,
it is not nearly the crowd you can see on television,
but it's done that way intentionally. It's not well, we
can't get people to come, because obviously we get plenty
of people to come on Saturday nights. We have a
(21:34):
smaller venue, fewer seats. It's more of a homeiet, as
you said, studio atmosphere. You go back and look at
WCW in the days or the old NWA days when
they have all the flags and the road Warriors would
run to the ring and beat up the Monkey Brothers
in five seconds. You didn't have much of a crowd
there either.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
At the most.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Yeah, when they'd go to the Greensboro Coliseum or the Omni,
they'd sell out and have thousands of people.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
So yeah, you guys use the TV to build towards
the house shows on Saturdays, which makes sense. It's very
old school style professional wrestling television, and I think that
Herb is very good at keeping with tradition and keeping
the product going in you know, because there's not a
lot of guys out there like that that are producing
wrestling like that anymore.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
That's why Herb has been doing this for fifty one years.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Yeah, yeah, and I love talking to him about it.
He's you know, there's a lot of great talent over there.
Is there anybody outside of the guys you manage that
you know that you got your eye on, that you
think that are great to.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Well, clearly, clearly if they're in the dogtown underground, they
are the best talent SICW has because I've managed them,
so I'm not going to put over somebody I don't manage. However,
there are some young upcoming stars in SICW because there's
always someone ready to take the next level and go
to the next step. And we've got big Nasty Glenn Williams,
(23:00):
who is the current Central States Champion, who will be
teaming with the Walking Mountain Kowalski at our upcoming show
in January against the thief Bobby d and that big
goofy gorilla brain, little Joey Helms, who have has tried
his hand against Kowalski and even myself a few times,
(23:20):
and every time he's either been helped out of the ring,
hand cup to the ring and beaten with my own briefcase. Yeah,
but he just he's a glutton. He wants to come back.
You know, he used to be under my tutelage. Then
he turned his back on me. He stole money from
Steven Ee, another good friend of mine, So we got
to beat his head in a little bit more. You know,
he's got a he's got a big strong body. I
(23:41):
don't take it away from him. But big strong body,
teeny little brain.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
That's a shame. That's a shame.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Uh. Let's see uh talents from sacw who are traveling
and making their name known. I personally don't like him.
I think he sucks. But Randon Burretta is certainly making waves. Yeah.
You know, I will never forgive him for teaming with
Bob Orton when Bob Orton knocked me unconscious with his
cast at all, because I told him to his face
(24:11):
that I would never forgive him for turning on Roddy Piper,
the greatest of all time, and he responded by knocking
me out. I didn't appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
It's a little irrational. Yeah, yeah, very much.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
So.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Yeah, tell me about you've you've had some action against
the big Texan at times.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
I have, and you know I have taken one for
the team. It is all over social media that The
Big Texan was again big big man. I'm not taking
anything away from him. He's a big man. Not as
big as Kwalski, but he's big. Not as tough as Kowalski,
but he's tough, but he's not very smart. See. Kowalski
(24:53):
is smart enough to have me in his corner, advising him,
giving him strategy, giving him encouragement. See I never your fear,
I never involved myself. I'm just there for moral support.
But the Big Texan decided he was going to take
his focus away from the Walking Mountain and on to
Lucky P. Larson Spider. So he chose to death an
(25:15):
innocent man and then stand there and gloat about his handiwork,
which of course allowed Kowalski to squash the Big Texan
from behind, knock him down, hit him with the k
bomb one two three, Still your class, aggressing champion. They
handcuffed me to the ring the match at Kowalski won
(25:36):
the classic championship. That didn't stop Kowalski. Kowalski is the
immovable object and with the brains of Lucky P. Larson
behind him, this man will be champion forever.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Wow, he's definitely a big man and a talented individual.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
He's won every single title there is to win in SIICW,
all of them. Name me anybody else in s i
c W who has won the Tag Team Championship, the
Classic Championship, and the Heavyweight Championship.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Top of my head, I cannot think about that.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
The Wrestling Championship, Yeah, beat the Big Texans, Central States Championship,
beat Bobby D. Tag Team Championship with Maler mcdarby, beat
h Gary Jackson and Billy McNeil. And actually he beat
Gary Jackson for the Central States title. It was Bobby
D who stole it from him. In my mind, I
(26:32):
keep thinking that he beat him too, but we were screwed.
But he's moved on to bigger and better things.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
You travel around to some other organizations as well outside
of si c W. I say, I'm here the Pro
Wrestling Alliance, which is out of Tennessee, So you're still
working in Tennessee quite a bit from where you actually located.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Right now, Right now, I'm in my home office as
you can play beside.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
So I told you, I mean, where do you uh?
Where's your residence?
Speaker 2 (27:03):
My residence is in a suburb of Nashville.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Okay, so you're close to Nashville.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Okay, I am relatively close to Nashville. However, I am
not from Tennessee. I am from Boston. I'm from the
world's greatest city. You remember up there, we won the War,
which for some reason doesn't seem to sit well with
a lot of people around here when I remind them
of that. But you know it's not my fault. Grow
some teeth. Now, I will say this that, yes, I
(27:28):
work for SIICW in Illinois. I work for p WA
in Middle Tennessee. I work for Tennessee Championship Wrestling in
Middle and West Tennessee. I worked for Hub City Wrestling,
which is one of the most upcoming new strong promotions
in West Tennessee. I work for a number of promotions
(27:52):
when they come and request it. I've worked for TIWF
in West Tennessee. I've worked for Union City Wrestling and
Union City also in West Tennessee. For quite a while.
I worked with the Rat Pack at Revolutionary Wrestling Entertainment
out of Arkansas. I have worked at Battle on the Border.
I have worked I am in fact, a Hall of
(28:14):
Famer at the Rock and Wrestling Federation. So I've worked
for several different companies. I've worked for SPWA, I've worked
for Mid South Pro Wrestling, even had to suck it
up and take Greg Anthony's money because you know, I
was in such demand there. So yeah, I've worked for
a number of different promotions, won championships many many places,
(28:38):
from New South and Kentucky to wherever you want to go,
I've been there. I've even managed at CC in Nevada,
managing lover Boy Matt Riviera at the c C shows.
So and of course also managed it at Charlotte, North
Carolina in the Gathering, not the Gathering of Jugglers. Teammark
(28:59):
presents the Gathering, which is a great fan convention every August.
I've managed in the main event four out of the
five years and managing the other managed the other year.
Managed a couple of matches there as well. So I've
always been involved there. And Lucky pe Larson esquire the
Legion of Lucky the Dogtown Underground wherever I am we
(29:23):
take control. I manage Bam Bam Bundy and MJ. Davis
in Hub City Wrestling and they are taking over. I
manage the Dogtown Underground at SICW. I've managed a rat
pack for the last few years for they all went
their separate ways. So I'm usually the glue that keeps
(29:44):
together these strong units.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Yeah, I mean, it sounds like you're pretty busy out
there in Tennessee. It sounds like there's a million promotions
out there.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
There are a lot of promotions in Tennessee. There's no
question I have worked for a lot of them. I've
also worked for TAP. There are some I have not
worked for, but I have worked for a great number
of them.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Yeah. Wow, it's it's still pretty active down there. I mean,
I'm I live in Connecticut. I know I'd told you
that before, in town called Wallingford. I'm not sure if
you're familiar with it this.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
I worked for a summer in Hartford, and I even
remember the Hartford Whalers. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Well, I used to go to those games when I
was younger. My father used to take me to Uh well,
I grew up in New Haven. Used to go to
the New Haven Nighthawks games. But my dad was such
a hockey fan, we'd always go to the Whalers games
all the time.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Wasn't there also like a double a Red Sox minor
league team in New Haven?
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Oh? Yes, I'm trying to this was when was this
probably earlier two thousands. I'm trying to think was that
the Ravens.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Maybe I know that the reach of Boston sports is infinite.
I enjoy when the Predators play the Bruins, or the
Celtics played the Grizzlies, or the Patriots played the Titans.
A few years ago, the Patriots played the Titans on
a Sunday and the Bruins played the Predators on a Monday,
(31:06):
and this town was completely taken over by Boston sports fans.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
It must have felt good.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
It did. There's a new England Patriots fan club here
that I watched about eight Super Bowls at. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
That's incredible, really it is.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Yeah. I've got and I've got six Fain pictures on
my wall over there.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
That's awesome. Yeah. Do you you like living in Tennessee?
I mean I don't know, I've I've driven through Tennessee
once on a weekend.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Well, let's see, I can't stand country music. Well, uh,
I root for four teams, the Red Sox and Patriots
and Celtics and the Bruins. And uh, almost every show
I walk into I get boot out of the building.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
I guess you don't like Tennessee.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Of course at s i c W a little difference.
I took a friend up to sy CW with me
for a show and he said, you know, in Tennessee
they boo you. In Illinois they want to kill you.
I said, yeah, it's pretty accurate.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
How do you have to How far do you have
to drive from Tennessee to go into Illinois for How
often do you guys record?
Speaker 2 (32:22):
We generally have TV tapings once a month, once a month, okay,
table usually take four shows and it's about a four
and a half to five hour drive. But there's a
very good sushi restaurant on the way back.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Well, there you go, there you go.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
And then they do These people up there they do
not like me. There are a few, there are a
few smart, unique fans who wear my shirts and uh,
you know are are supporting me and the dog John underground.
But I'd say, of them want to see me get
beat up hurt? I mean, Gary Jackson broke my arm
(32:58):
up there. It's finally healed pretty well, but it took
several months and I had to wear a sling for
several months up there. Uh, you know, people would accuse
me of taking a tire and iron tire iron out
of my sling and hitting people with it. I mean,
just the things that they come.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Up with and the things they came up with. I
mean there's no cameras I'd see that. I mean, Bob
Orton held that cast for about a good two years
for that broken uh oh.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
I think he's held it a lot longer than that,
because he knocked me out with it just a couple
of years ago.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
That's incredible. That's incredible.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
Iron Mark Sharp had had an arm brace for years too. Yeah,
people just slow healers.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Iron Mike Sharp was on the first indie show I
ever went to the first time I when I discovered
independent wrestling. He was ever he was. It was a him.
I think it might have been Jimmy Snooker Northeast Championship
Wrestling out of north Haven, Connecticut.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
I met Jimmy Snooker number of times. It never got
to meet Iron Mike Sharp. But I had a very
very very close personal friend in professional wrestling who passed
away last year. We used to tell me stories about
Iron Mike Sharp.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Yeah, I hear from I'm friends with Mario Mancini, Paul Roma.
You know they run a school up here, and I
hear stories about everybody that you know, and Mario great storyteller,
and he sharing his memories. He's got a lot of
He's got some good things to say about Mike Iron Mike.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
You know, I will say this, I have met so
many of the talented men and women who have put
their bodies on the line over the last however many
years I've been doing this, and you know, I take
a shot every now and then, like from the Big
Texan or the people I mentioned earlier, but I'm not
(34:47):
in the ring taking the shots. They are all night long,
and so I've got nothing but respect for everyone who
gets in the ring. And one of the few people
I have not yet met who I wanted to and
still do is Mario Mancini, who was supposed to be
at the FanFest last year but couldn't make it, and
(35:09):
I actually was one of the few people there was
disappointed Mario Mancini didn't show up, you know, will other
people were in line to meet these, you know, high
top level stars. I'm wanting to meet someone I'd never
met before because I would like to talk to them.
So meanwhile, FanFest three coming up in a few months
(35:30):
and once again I will be bringing the Walking Riot,
the first Lady of Wrestling, my friend Missy Hyatt so well, I.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Have that down here in the notes. I was hoping
to get to talk a little bit about the FanFest
coming up May sixteenth and seventeenth, twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Yes, at the Hilton at the Airport this year. You
do not even have to go far from the airport
when you show up, and we will have a great
night of wrestling. We'll have bill after show on Friday,
then you'll have meet and greet Saturday, and then a
great night of wrestling, and I believe will once again
have the Bruiser Brodie Memorial Battle Royal. And I'd like
(36:09):
to know who's going to toss out a two ton
monster named Kowalski.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
Yeah. I wanted to go down there last year because
it seemed very interesting. I wasn't able to. I've had
I did a lot of conventions that or was that
this year?
Speaker 3 (36:22):
This year, excuse me, miss the greatest tag team on
God's Green Earth, the La Hustlers become the three times,
three times three time tag team Champions of s I
c W.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
I'm not sure I'll be making it this year. I'm sorry,
I have two weddings to help pay for, so two
of my daughters are getting married this year.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
What is more important? You got to get priorities in
your life. What's more important your kids are wrestling?
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Well, I'm did that's that will sometimes cause an argument here,
but pro wrestling is very important to my.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Life, so as well it should be.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
It is it is. So I go to a lot
of shows, I work a lot of shows, and you know,
it's it's amazing that pro wrestling, especially at this age.
I'm going to be fifty in a few months, but
it's it's amazing that, even still at this age, how
much love I have for professional wrestling. I think it's
(37:15):
it's just I've been a fan since probably nineteen eighty
four roughly. And yeah, I went to my first show
at four years later, my first live show, I just
watched it on TV. And then when I went to
my first live show New Hamen, Canada, is a television taping.
That's when I went through the whole obsession mode, you
know what I mean. And it's today I still watch wrestling.
(37:37):
I mean, what do you think about wrestling? Basically? Now
it's there's so much compared to when we were younger.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
I've always said there. To me, the biggest difference between
wrestling when I grew up and wrestling now is not
the fact that kay Fabe is on live support if
it's not completely dead, although we do try to keep
it alive at SIICW. It's not the fact that there
(38:08):
are spoilers on the internet. It's not the fact that
everybody seems to know everything. To me, the biggest problem
in wrestling today is the glut of pay per views.
And I'll tell you why. Because back in the day,
when we had WrestleMania once a year and that was it.
(38:28):
Or you had WrestleMania and the Survivor Series and that
was it. Or you had WrestleMania, the Survivor Series and
SummerSlam and that was it. Or you had WrestleMania, Survivor Series,
SummerSlam and the Royal Rumble and that was it. And
it stayed that way for a while. Yeah, you had
four pay per views a year, meaning you had three
(38:50):
months between each pay perview to build up stories, angles,
to bring in the fans, to suck in the fans,
to make them care about something. Now, with a pay
per view every three weeks. We're putting matches on a
Friday that are going to take place on a Saturday
or Sunday pay per view with no build up that
(39:12):
fans have seen a thousand times. To me, that is
the biggest difference between wrestling now and wrestling then. Now
it's all about I'm going to do a triple Canadian
destroyer off the top rope through a flaming barbed wire
table and then you kick out at one and then
I'll beat you with a roll up. It is more
about high spots than it is about storytelling and emotion
(39:38):
and really grabbing somebody and bringing them in there. That's
why I said I am never going to say Roddy
Piper was the greatest ring technician of all time. His move,
his greatest move, is an ipoke. You know, I use
it when I'm in the ring, right because it's an
homage to him. You know, no one is going to
(39:59):
say yes, I mean, obviously Roddy Piper can wrestle, but
no one is going to mistaken for Shawn Michael's Brett
hardcurt Angle or he who shall not be named. But
he could talk you into any arena. He could be
a face, he could be a heel. He could be
the good guy, he could be the bad guy. He
could make you love him, he could make you hate
him because he told the story, because he was charisma personified.
(40:25):
I would rather follow that and watch that then see
somebody dive off the top rope do three flips. I mean, yeah,
that's talent, and I can't do that. But I'd rather
be engrossed in the storyline and really care about what happens.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
It doesn't keep me interesting.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
There's only so many times, and when you've seen a
triple Lindy, well, I'll soon before someone else tries to
do a quadruple Lindy and falls and breaks their ankle.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
Yeah, I mean I broke broke both.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
His ankles jumping off the top of the cage through
a table.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
Yeah, I saw it. Yeah, I you know, I've always
been especially in the last couple of years, I've always
been very uh trying to push this less is more
because it's it keeps you interested, doing the slower build
ups and the more of a storytelling. And then instead
of doing however many flips, however many every match, not
(41:22):
every match, but every show has to have a table
spot has to have a steel chair, spot has to
have a ladder, spot something something something, And it's just
like at this point, it's like you can predict when
it's coming. Do you know it's a little barrier around
the ring.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
Side Whenever you're sitting watching raw, you know when they're
going to commercial. Yeah, you know, if I'm watching it
on a DVR, I literally I'll sit there and when
I see the commercial spot coming, I'll fast forward through it.
And I'd say ninety eight percent of the time I'm right. Yeah,
you know, there's the occasional time when you know, oh,
(41:58):
I thought that was gonna be a commercial, But ninety
eight percent of the time I'm right because I and
you know, it takes a lot to you know, bring
me in these days to a false finish that really
I buy into. I've just seen it so much. And
that's why I think SI CW is different. We're telling stories,
(42:21):
you know, and I think that when you have shows
and TV, you know, that's what you know. Like I said,
I work at hub City now and hub City's got
television and we're trying We're on WBBJ out of Jackson,
and hub City is telling stories and trying to have
some old fashioned angles going with the people I manage.
(42:42):
You know, we had mister Kennedy come in recently and
I may or may not have you know, been accused
of choking mister Kennedy with my tie. I don't remember
that happening. But you know, he couldn't beat MJ. Davis
by penfall or submission. He had to you know, somehow
squeaz out of disqualification win, which you know we question.
But the bottom line is, you know, we're we're bringing
(43:05):
people in that people want to see. We're telling stories.
That's what s i c W is doing. That's what
Hub City is doing. You know, That's what Burt Prentice
used to do, you know, and that brings people in.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
Yeah, and Burt Prentice had a really good YouTube network
as well, where he had lots of different companies on
his YouTube network or you know, and the.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
Premiue Wrestling Network on on YouTube, and we had the
USA Championship Wrestling there and s I c W is
on YouTube. Yeah, Hub City Wrestling, as I said, is
on w BBJ, added Jackson, but their episodes are on YouTube. Uh,
we BBJ Air's Hub City every Sunday night and on
Tuesday nights. The Sunday night episode is put on YouTube
(43:50):
and I share it and I share all of those
on my page on the Lucky P. Larson page on Facebook.
And then at p W a H there's usually somebody
there who films a lot of our matches, and while
we don't necessarily have a TV show or a YouTube
channel for the company, a lot of our matches are
put on there. I also work with Sean Hoodrich at
(44:14):
Coastal City Wrestling Coastal Championship Wrestle c CW, which is
at the Troubadour in Nashville.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
Okay, that's not the Coastal that is basically out of Florida,
is the same one. They run a very good product
over there. They have a great thirty minute TV that
airs each and every week on YouTube as well.
Speaker 2 (44:34):
Yep, yeah, that is that's what I work for them
as well. I managed Sean Hoodrich. I've managed him against
their one of their champions, Charlie.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
Yeah, great guy.
Speaker 2 (44:44):
So you know, and we we've been there a few times,
always put on a great show. Sean myself and Sean Snake.
You know, we got a good picture up there of me,
Seawan and snake. He says, it's my lawyer and my serpent.
Which one's the bigger snake? You know?
Speaker 1 (45:03):
So we got a few more minutes left. I want
to ask a couple more questions and then we'll we'll
get out of here. But how important is television and
social media too wrestling in the modern age? I mean
we're sitting here talking about YouTube.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
I think it's extremely important because how else do you
advertise your product and how else do you make people
know about your big shows if it's not through television
or through social media and promotion. There's only so much
you can do. Yes, you should post your towns, Yes
you should spread the word. But social media, television, advertisement, commercials,
(45:41):
that's what gets people there.
Speaker 1 (45:44):
There's a lot of companies that don't do that, you
know what I mean. It's still don't seem to understand
that don't even have a YouTube channel, which I think
every company should at least have somebody out there filming
on a phone or something and uploading into YouTube.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
What I'm saying that SIICW is on YouTube every week
every Sunday night at eight o'clock. Central Hub City is
on WBBJ every Sunday night at ten thirty Central and
then who they say. SECW is available pretty much immediately
(46:16):
thereafter on YouTube. Hub City is available on Tuesday on YouTube.
Someone films the p WA shows and puts them up.
I believe it's Rusty Rex's wrestling page.
Speaker 1 (46:27):
I know Rusty, great guy.
Speaker 2 (46:29):
Yep. Yeah, and I've seen matches from CCW with Sean Hoodrich.
They put that up. They were commenting and what a
great show they had there a couple of weeks ago.
And the picture they put up was Shawn's match with
me in his corner.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
So yeah, yeah, that's awesome. Do you know Rusty personally
or just yeah? He I got to tell you he
is a guy that's on his social media. He posts
a lot of great he is a historian.
Speaker 2 (46:57):
Yeah, and he holds up he holds up two hands
and says ten if he likes it.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
So I like that. HEO is always posting stuff on
each and every Friday. He always asks everybody to share
shows in the comments so that everybody could find out
and see if there's any shows in their area. That's good,
that's good. Yeah. So I noticed you have T shirts?
Where can anybody find those? I'm interested in getting one.
Speaker 2 (47:24):
Well, my T shirts. Say shut up and you might
learn something. I've sold out of several batches of them.
If somebody wants one, you can easily message the Lucky P.
Larson page follow We've got over four thousand followers on
the Lucky P. Larson Esquire page on Facebook. I put
up every show I'm going to be a part of.
I've got pictures of pretty much every punt I've worked with.
(47:47):
I've got picked I forgot see, I told you it
was off the top of my head. I just remembered
a few more. I've been super kicked by Solo Sokoa.
I've been hit with a steel chair by Rakishi. I've
been low blowed by Brian Christopher. Those were do more
than I've forgotten about.
Speaker 1 (48:03):
Well yeah, yeah, and uh, basically you said your Facebook
page Lucky P. Larson. Is there any other place.
Speaker 2 (48:10):
That Facebook page? It's my smiling visage yelling into an
inner one microphone. And like I said, shut up, you
might learn something. We've got T shirts for sale, We've
got cards, we've got little key chains, whatever you want,
Lucky all your Lucky PE Larson Esquire needs. And yes,
(48:34):
I am a real a real lawyer like I said,
I've represented a lot of people in this business, some
you know may or may not want it known. One
who talked about it very openly in shoot interviews, So
I have no problem saying so because she said so,
and she was a very good friend of mine, and
I miss her dearly. Was Daphne Shannon Sproul. I was
(48:57):
one of her lawyers. And I've done some work for
a few of the Glow Girls. I've done some work
for a number of the Tennessee legendary wrestlers, a lot
of people. I've worked with a lot of fans. It's amazing.
They'll hate me during the show, but they'll come to
me on my way to my cars. I can ask
(49:18):
you a question. I always know it's going to be
about a case, so.
Speaker 1 (49:22):
I should have came to you when I had a
problem with my ex wife.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
But anyways, well, I've done a lot of that since
I've gotten involved. And of course I will give kudos,
as I will anytime you know, I'm talking wrestling. Bert
Pretis and Micro Potta get the credit for or blame
however you want to say it, for me being involved.
And one person I met through wrestling who became one
(49:47):
of my absolute best friends and I miss him every day,
is Landy Pofo.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
I've heard many great stories about him from people, friends
that have worked with him. Mario has spoken greatly about him,
you know. And I don't know if he's going to
come out to this year. I know he didn't make
it last year. I'm not sure if he's coming out
to the fan fits this year. I haven't seen him
post anything and I haven't spoken to him about it.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
But well, there are a lot of names yet to come.
I'll leave that to her. All I know is Missy
will be there this year. So but you know, I
talked to Lanny probably once a week after we moved
to Ecuador. I helped him write his Hall of Fame speech.
I still haven't memorized the fact. Before we got on this,
I actually recited the poetic part of it for you,
(50:28):
my heart. I was his guest at the after party
after WrestleMania and San Jose when Randy got into the
Hall of Fame, so he introduced me to pretty much
the roster. So that was quite an honor. So I
miss him a lot.
Speaker 1 (50:43):
Yeah, I want to thank you for taking part in
this episode tonight, and my pleasure.
Speaker 2 (50:47):
I love talking about wrestling. I know you can't tell.
I'm slightly passionate about.
Speaker 1 (50:52):
It just a little bit, just as just as much
as I am, probably, But we'll have to have you
back some time and maybe just talk about wrestling in
general anytime.
Speaker 2 (51:03):
Like I said, I'm always happy to talk about myself,
I'm always happy to talk about wrestling, happy to talk
about Boston sports.
Speaker 1 (51:09):
All right, thank you very much, my pleasure.
Welcome everybody to the Pro Wrestling Wire Podcast, part of
Pro Wrestling Wire dot Net, AIWF Network and of course
Helix Rock Radio every Wednesday night from nine to ten.
This is Rick Delsanto Today I am joined by Lucky P. Larson.
What's going on? Esquire? Excuse me? Excuse me? Let me
(00:39):
get that right as squire. There you go, because it's legit.
You told me beforehand.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
So, yeah, I did not print these diplomas out of
out of a cracker jackbox.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
You can go to Staples.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
No, no, I did not. I went to Vanderbilt Law School.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
You can ask many of the uh nay that I
mentioned to you before we went on the air that
I've represented in this business. It is not just it
is not just a work. It is a shoot. I
am a lawyer and keep half our locker rooms out
of trouble.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
That's can't get any better than that, right, keeps the
roof over my head. Yeah, so let's talk about you,
your youth and stuff like that. When did you discover
pro wrestling?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I like to say, because it's true that because Lucky
pele Arson never tells a lie that I was a
fan of wrestling, before WrestleMania one. So I know that
I've been a fan longer than most of your viewers
and listeners and people in our locker rooms have been alive.
My dad used to take me every month to Boston
Garden because I'm from the world's greatest city, Boston, Massachusetts,
(01:50):
and went there every month. Picked it up very quickly,
was a fan very quickly, had my absolute favorites very quickly,
including one who stood above the rest. I'm sure we'll
get into that later, but I was a very devout
and loyal fan, and the more I got into it,
the more I got into it. And I think, as
(02:13):
my friends have said from back then, if me from
back then would know all the things that me now
has done in the last eight or nine years, me
from back then's head would explode it that, you know,
in the the grand ocean of this business, you know,
(02:36):
I'm an amoeba in the in the area in which
I work, Okay, I might be a bigger fish than that,
but in the grand scheme of the world, I'm an amoeba,
And I get it. Yet for someone like that to
have done all the things I've done still blows my mind.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Who are some of your favorites growing up, and how
did you decide to get into manage and how did
you decide on that's what you wanted to do in wrestling.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Well, my favorite is easy. I believe the most entertaining
professional wrestler of all time is without question, and I
phrase it like this, the man had such great control
of an audience that what he was the most hated
wrestler in the world, even though I rooted for him.
He was voted when PWI actually their awards mattered. He
(03:26):
was voted the most hated wrestler of the year two
years in a row. Then he turned face and the
very next year he was most popular wrestler of the year.
So most hated, most hated, most popular, And because I
was so sucked in by his charisma and his ability
to talk and his ability to entertain. While nobody would
(03:49):
say he was Brett Hart or Kurt Angle or he
who shall not be named in the ring, to me,
the most entertained professional wrestler of all time is without
a doubt, Rowdy Rotie Piper. And therefore I hated Paul
Cogan my entire growing up because Hogan would constantly screw
Rotty piper over.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Now, now to answer your second question, I will say
this my law firm where I was for twenty four
years until our senior partner passed away in the firm closed,
and I've been somewhere else since. At one point, our
(04:31):
receptionist was the cousin of Micropotter the Colorado did nop
who I knew of because I was a bit of
a wrestling junkie. My friends now call me the walking
Encyclopedia of useless wrestling information. But I growing up in Boston.
(04:52):
On our UHF channels, we had every independent that was
out there. We had Memphis, we had Global, we had ICW,
we had if it was on TV, we had it
in Boston. And so I remember the Colorado.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Kid and it was his Destination America. Like prior to
becoming Destination America, there was like another name for it.
I'm trying to remember. What did you do?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (05:14):
The channel?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Oh no, these were just the different channels in Boston,
like Channel thirteen, Channel ten out of New Hampshire, Channel whatever.
Because we had all the Boston was naturally the hub,
so we could get the New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut
channels and if any of them had wrestling, we would
get it. So I would end up taping wrestling on
my VCR and watch it, so I got I was
(05:40):
familiar with micro Pott as the Colorado Kid, and then
when he came to my firm once, I was known
to be a wrestling fan, and so my receptionist was
his cousin introduced me, and he and I became friends,
and through him, I ended up meeting the legendary promoter
that I worked or for the first six or so
(06:02):
years of my career, you want to call it that,
in Bird Prentice and Bert Prentice would ask me questions
because far be it from Bert to not take advantage
of a free opportunity for some professional advice that he
doesn't have to pay for. So I love Bert, very
(06:22):
loyal to Burt, indead to Bert forever. But Bert would
call me up all the time and ask me questions
and things, and I would always be happy to help him.
I certainly knew who Bird Prentice was, and eventually, after
I had helped him out a lot, he asked me,
you know, I know you're a big wrestling fan. Is
there you know a dream in wrestling that you've got?
(06:44):
Maybe I can help you with. I said absolutely. He
said what's that? And of course I named a wrestler
that I would like to meet and he said, yeah, no,
I don't know about that. Little did he know that
I would end up managing that person a number of times.
But he said, well, anything else, and I said, well,
I'm probably too old and out of shape to be
(07:07):
a wrestler. He said, well, tell you what, I think
you'd be a good heal manager. I think people would
hate you. I said, gee, thanks, I thank And so
he said, all right, we're going to do a show,
and if you want to be involved this, I'd love
to be involved. Are you kidding? I said, all right,
well you're going to manage Mike. Mike, although I've grown
(07:28):
to absolutely hate the Colorado kid, Mike Ropatta, when he
puts on face paint becomes the Joker and I manage him.
He and I are a great team. So I was
managing the Joker and another guy who was known as
the Riddler, and they went up against Daniel Leeds and Lt.
Faulk and I was told, all right, come up with
(07:49):
a character, come up with a name. He said, all right,
So that's a whole nother story. I'm not sure what
you want to get into, but regardless, I came up
with the name, and so I showed up. We did
the show, and I left and I thought it was
a one off, and I was like, well, that was fun.
I'm glad I got to be part of it, got
(08:11):
to put a match together, see how everything's done. And
then Bert called me a couple days later and said, so,
what did you think. I said, I had a blast.
He said, good, because you got to come back. I said, well,
I'm certainly happy to come back. I'd love to. What
do you mean I have to come back? And he said, well,
and I kid you not. And I know for a
(08:33):
fact that this is true because I know who it was.
He said that he started getting phone calls after the
show asking who the manager was because there were people
who said, again not my words, theirs, that I was
the most entertaining part of the show. And I said,
I don't believe that, and he said it's absolutely true.
(08:55):
And it turned out when I found out who they were,
they were the core of what soon became known as
the Legion of Lucky, which was my fan club. And
there's a Legion of Lucky Facebook page in addition to
the Lucky P. Larson Facebook page, and the club drew
(09:17):
to the point where we'd be on TV and they'd
even be acknowledged, like Jerry Lawler came on one time
and said, yeah, I know Lucky Pie's got a following.
Normally it's you know, the tax collectors and lawyers and
the dogcatcher, but you know, so they were acknowledging that,
you know, there was this group, and they would take
over and sit the entire front row of omen arena
(09:37):
shows and openly root for me and have all the
heels that I was managing, to the point where we
had a show in Burns, Tennessee once and probably seventy
five percent of the building were rooting for me, and
I was in virtually every match, and Bert got so
mad said we're not coming back here anymore because they
(09:57):
were turning on all his belo loved babyfaces, to the
point where eventually Bert pulled me aside and said, all right, look, Lucky,
you got two choices, he said, I'm either going to
turn you face or you're gonna have to piss off
your fans because I and so I just want to
I don't want to be a baby face. So I said,
all right. So literally I went out and I told
(10:20):
the Legion of Lucky they could all go to hell.
And I didn't need them, I didn't care about them,
et cetera, et cetera. And uh, you know, I told him, look,
you want to help me out, boom me out of
the building. And so they did so. And you know,
to me, the idea that it would have exploded like
it has blows my mind. Bert always said, oh, I
(10:41):
knew it would said, There's no way you could have
known that. You know, eight nine years later, I would
have sold out of like four batches of T shirts.
I would be have been the color commentator for three
or four different shows. I have managed so many people.
I've managed James Elsworth, Katie Lee, Tommy Rich, Doug Gilbert, Carlito,
(11:03):
Scott Steiner, Rhino the Moondog. I've been decked by Jerry
Lawler more times than I can count, by Doctor Tom
By the Rock and Roll Express, by Coco be Ware,
Rob Conway, Moose, Shane Strickland. I've been wormed by the Boogeyman.
I've been knocked out by Cowboy Bob Orton's cast. I've
(11:24):
been hit with Jimmy Hart's megaphone. I've been nailed by
Jim Cornett's tennis racket. I've been kicked in the face
by the Berserker, choked out by the Sandman while I
got tamed by Kimona. I've been slapped by Baby Doll.
I've tapped out to Miranda Gordy. I've stomped on two
Cold Scorpio and Tommy Dreamer and Shane Douglass and C. W.
(11:45):
Anderson and choked Brian Pillman Jr. And Uh, I've been
screwed over by Tommy Young. I've been screwed over by
Bobby Eaton who worked as a special ref. Uh. That
just literally all off the top of my head. And
of course I've worked with Missy Hyatt number of times.
So yeah, not bad for an amba and far of
(12:08):
for me to point out. I am at forty three
championships encounting including the current reigning SICW Classic champion, the
two Ton Monster, the Walking Mountain Kowalski.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Let's talk about that. I have that in my notes.
I wanted to talk about that. What is it like
working with Kowlosky in your relationship with him, and how
that just so happened to be put together well.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
When I came to SIICW. It was shortly after USA
Championship Wrestling went by the wayside, when Bert Prentiss passed away,
and Herb had come down there a couple of times
to USA with Travis Cook, who is a brilliant mind
and a good personal friend of mine misjudge, but Herb
(12:58):
was looking, I believe for someone else to do some
commentary work, and I fit the bill because I've been
doing commentary for USA, and as you can tell, I'm
clearly shy and you know, introverted and don't really talk
much about myself or wrestling. So I said, all right,
I'll give it a shot, and behind the scenes I
(13:20):
started to maneuver my way in, and then Kowalski and
Maler mcdarby, who is one half of the measuring stick
of tag team wrestling. The professionals started talking about the Boss,
this mysterious Boss, and when Kowalski had a Central States
title match, the Boss revealed himself to be me. May
(13:43):
Or may not have allowed Kowalski to use his briefcase
to knock out Gary Jackson and win the Central States
title before Bobby d stole it uh and I started
working with Kowalski and Maler mcdarby, who I worked with
for several months. Maller then took some time off came
back with Sean Santel as the professionals who I manage.
(14:07):
I've also brought in the greatest tag team on God's
Green Earth, Roughshot, Lamont Potts and the notorious Bradley Diggs,
the La Hustlers, the only three times, three times three
time SACW Tag Team champions under my watch. Kowalski has
won all three belts, the Tag Team Belts with Moller mcdarby,
(14:27):
the Classic Wrestling Championship, and the Central States Championship, all
under my watch. So I'd say we're doing pretty well.
And We've now recently brought in Axe Allwort, the most
dangerous man in SACW, the master of the pile driver.
People get carried out on a stretcher. So the Dogtown Underground,
which is my group at SIICW, is a powerful group.
(14:49):
And Kowalski stands atop the mountain, which is ironic because
he is a mountain. So anybody who wants to try
and knock him off have at it. See if you
can walk through the walking Mountain. I don't think so. So.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Uh wow, did you now if I remember correctly, did
not Kowalsky work against Greg Anthony last year? Who was
that earlier this year?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
No? No, that was in a steel cage.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Greg Anthony, who is a slimy sleeve bag of a
excuse for a champion. Basically from what I recall, used
ether to weaken. I mean, he is a man. He's
a monster of a man, but he's a man. As
I recall, he used ether, brass knuckles, a chain, kicked
(15:41):
him in his Kowalski's and then had the ref do
a fast count. Uh that that's how he defeated Kowalski
because he could never beat him Barren square one on one.
So I would never cheat, and neither would any of
my guys. I'm like Bill Belichick, you know, the greatest
coach in the history of football or probably any sport.
We're honest as a day is long. Never cheated a
(16:01):
Danner life, never lied, and Greg Anthony on his best
day cannot be k his worst without cheating.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
That seems a little far fetched. I think he used
all that, he used all that all that?
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Yeah, that's incredible.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Believe your own eyes or me.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Well, I saw I watched on TV.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
That's what I said. Believe your own eyes.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Yes, I mean I didn't see any of that.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Well, clearly what you saw was a I I mean,
as I've always said, do you think Tom Hanks really
met President Nixon and President Kennedy? Was Jeff Goldblin really
chased by dinosaurs? No, of course not. Did Greg Anthony
actually cleanly beat Kowalski?
Speaker 1 (16:42):
No, I saw a lot of shenanigans leading up to that.
That's all I saw.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah, And the shenanigans were all on the part of
Greg Anthony.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
All right, all right, So you guys are gonna gonna
meet look to meet Greg Anthony anytime against any time.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
That Greg Anthony would like to grow a set, have
a little courage and put the belt on the line
against a man who was bigger, stronger, and better than
him and has the greatest mind in professional wrestling in
his corner. We are more than welcome to that challenge.
Come on, big boy, come on, Golden boy, see what
(17:22):
you got.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
As luck would have it, I'll be talking to him
this coming Sunday, so I'll have to remind him of this.
If you don't mind, I'll let him know.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
You can give him a solid golden grade invitation to
get his whipped by Kowalski anytime you like.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Hmm. Interesting? All right, So before we move forward, I
want to ask you about Bert Prentice. So you enjoyed
working for Bert tremendously.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
He seemed like a really good guy. I spoke to
him once or twice. I actually tried to get him
into the podcast, but he he didn't seem too interested
in doing interviews so at all.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
As a whole, well, Bert was extremely, extremely old fashioned
when it came to the business, more so than most
anybody I've met. Herb is fairly old school as well,
which comes through in sicw which is one of the
reasons I think it is so good. But Bert was
(18:22):
the godfather of Tennessee wrestling. Everything went through Burt. He
was the glue that held it together. It was through Bert, obviously,
that I got to work with many of these talents,
and especially Jerry the King Lawler, who I have had
the pleasure or mispleasure whoever you want to call it,
of working with several times. He has beaten me up
(18:46):
more times than I can count. He's beaten me up
more than anybody in this business. But you know, will
never be over between me and Jerry Lawler.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Yeah yeah, I guess not.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
So.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
One of the things I enjoy about s I c
W is that the the presentation of the television program.
Herb's a great guy. He's been on the show before.
He will be returning next week. Actually, uh so, I'm
looking forward to talking to him again.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Can you can? You can have him thank thank me
for all of the entertainment I provide. Is the greatest
color commentary in the history of the business. I mean,
you know, it's Jesse Ventura, Bobby Heen and Guerrilla Munson
and Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross Taz and Lucky pe Larson
s Car. I mean I put Gordon Gordon solely to shame.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
The greatest of all time. You put the shame. Yeah wow, Okay,
all right, Gordon solely, Bill Mercer, Bob Coddle, those are
the those are that's.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
The I'm familiar with all of them. The greatest Mercer
from World Class, Bob Coddle from Georgia Championship Wrestling and
then h W c W days before and NWA towards
the end. There, there's little you can throw out there
that I'm not going to be aware of. But yeah,
I would say that my color commentary next to Doctor
(20:12):
Drew's play by play, the back and forth, the chemistry
that we've developed over the last couple of years. I've
actually had people tell me that that is some of
the best part of SICW.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yes, I mean, I think you and your group there,
I mean I think that it's. Uh, it makes for
good television, good wrestling television. It's a very good, old
school style product that's put on. It's it is studio
style wrestling. Uh. You know, there's a couple of rows
of people and you know there's no ring introductions really
(20:46):
as far as music and whatnot and entrances. You go
to it, dude.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
We do that on our big house shows. Yes, come
to a house. Generally what SICW does has a big
house show on Saturday nights and we have several hundred
people there. I mean they're generally between three to five
hundred people at those shows. And you have your music,
you have the introductions. I usually Interruptdrew and do my
(21:13):
own introductions because I'm just better than he is. But
then the TV is generally take Sunday mornings, and you're right,
it is not nearly the crowd you can see on television,
but it's done that way intentionally. It's not well, we
can't get people to come, because obviously we get plenty
of people to come on Saturday nights. We have a
(21:34):
smaller venue, fewer seats. It's more of a homeiet, as
you said, studio atmosphere. You go back and look at
WCW in the days or the old NWA days when
they have all the flags and the road Warriors would
run to the ring and beat up the Monkey Brothers
in five seconds. You didn't have much of a crowd
there either.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
At the most.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Yeah, when they'd go to the Greensboro Coliseum or the Omni,
they'd sell out and have thousands of people.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
So yeah, you guys use the TV to build towards
the house shows on Saturdays, which makes sense. It's very
old school style professional wrestling television, and I think that
Herb is very good at keeping with tradition and keeping
the product going in you know, because there's not a
lot of guys out there like that that are producing
wrestling like that anymore.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
That's why Herb has been doing this for fifty one years.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Yeah, yeah, and I love talking to him about it.
He's you know, there's a lot of great talent over there.
Is there anybody outside of the guys you manage that
you know that you got your eye on, that you
think that are great to.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Well, clearly, clearly if they're in the dogtown underground, they
are the best talent SICW has because I've managed them,
so I'm not going to put over somebody I don't manage. However,
there are some young upcoming stars in SICW because there's
always someone ready to take the next level and go
to the next step. And we've got big Nasty Glenn Williams,
(23:00):
who is the current Central States Champion, who will be
teaming with the Walking Mountain Kowalski at our upcoming show
in January against the thief Bobby d and that big
goofy gorilla brain, little Joey Helms, who have has tried
his hand against Kowalski and even myself a few times,
(23:20):
and every time he's either been helped out of the ring,
hand cup to the ring and beaten with my own briefcase. Yeah,
but he just he's a glutton. He wants to come back.
You know, he used to be under my tutelage. Then
he turned his back on me. He stole money from
Steven Ee, another good friend of mine, So we got
to beat his head in a little bit more. You know,
he's got a he's got a big strong body. I
(23:41):
don't take it away from him. But big strong body,
teeny little brain.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
That's a shame. That's a shame.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Uh. Let's see uh talents from sacw who are traveling
and making their name known. I personally don't like him.
I think he sucks. But Randon Burretta is certainly making waves. Yeah.
You know, I will never forgive him for teaming with
Bob Orton when Bob Orton knocked me unconscious with his
cast at all, because I told him to his face
(24:11):
that I would never forgive him for turning on Roddy Piper,
the greatest of all time, and he responded by knocking
me out. I didn't appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
It's a little irrational. Yeah, yeah, very much.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
So.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Yeah, tell me about you've you've had some action against
the big Texan at times.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
I have, and you know I have taken one for
the team. It is all over social media that The
Big Texan was again big big man. I'm not taking
anything away from him. He's a big man. Not as
big as Kwalski, but he's big. Not as tough as Kowalski,
but he's tough, but he's not very smart. See. Kowalski
(24:53):
is smart enough to have me in his corner, advising him,
giving him strategy, giving him encouragement. See I never your fear,
I never involved myself. I'm just there for moral support.
But the Big Texan decided he was going to take
his focus away from the Walking Mountain and on to
Lucky P. Larson Spider. So he chose to death an
(25:15):
innocent man and then stand there and gloat about his handiwork,
which of course allowed Kowalski to squash the Big Texan
from behind, knock him down, hit him with the k
bomb one two three, Still your class, aggressing champion. They
handcuffed me to the ring the match at Kowalski won
(25:36):
the classic championship. That didn't stop Kowalski. Kowalski is the
immovable object and with the brains of Lucky P. Larson
behind him, this man will be champion forever.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Wow, he's definitely a big man and a talented individual.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
He's won every single title there is to win in SIICW,
all of them. Name me anybody else in s i
c W who has won the Tag Team Championship, the
Classic Championship, and the Heavyweight Championship.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Top of my head, I cannot think about that.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
The Wrestling Championship, Yeah, beat the Big Texans, Central States Championship,
beat Bobby D. Tag Team Championship with Maler mcdarby, beat
h Gary Jackson and Billy McNeil. And actually he beat
Gary Jackson for the Central States title. It was Bobby
D who stole it from him. In my mind, I
(26:32):
keep thinking that he beat him too, but we were screwed.
But he's moved on to bigger and better things.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
You travel around to some other organizations as well outside
of si c W. I say, I'm here the Pro
Wrestling Alliance, which is out of Tennessee, So you're still
working in Tennessee quite a bit from where you actually located.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Right now, Right now, I'm in my home office as
you can play beside.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
So I told you, I mean, where do you uh?
Where's your residence?
Speaker 2 (27:03):
My residence is in a suburb of Nashville.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Okay, so you're close to Nashville.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Okay, I am relatively close to Nashville. However, I am
not from Tennessee. I am from Boston. I'm from the
world's greatest city. You remember up there, we won the War,
which for some reason doesn't seem to sit well with
a lot of people around here when I remind them
of that. But you know it's not my fault. Grow
some teeth. Now, I will say this that, yes, I
(27:28):
work for SIICW in Illinois. I work for p WA
in Middle Tennessee. I work for Tennessee Championship Wrestling in
Middle and West Tennessee. I worked for Hub City Wrestling,
which is one of the most upcoming new strong promotions
in West Tennessee. I work for a number of promotions
(27:52):
when they come and request it. I've worked for TIWF
in West Tennessee. I've worked for Union City Wrestling and
Union City also in West Tennessee. For quite a while.
I worked with the Rat Pack at Revolutionary Wrestling Entertainment
out of Arkansas. I have worked at Battle on the Border.
I have worked I am in fact, a Hall of
(28:14):
Famer at the Rock and Wrestling Federation. So I've worked
for several different companies. I've worked for SPWA, I've worked
for Mid South Pro Wrestling, even had to suck it
up and take Greg Anthony's money because you know, I
was in such demand there. So yeah, I've worked for
a number of different promotions, won championships many many places,
(28:38):
from New South and Kentucky to wherever you want to go,
I've been there. I've even managed at CC in Nevada,
managing lover Boy Matt Riviera at the c C shows.
So and of course also managed it at Charlotte, North
Carolina in the Gathering, not the Gathering of Jugglers. Teammark
(28:59):
presents the Gathering, which is a great fan convention every August.
I've managed in the main event four out of the
five years and managing the other managed the other year.
Managed a couple of matches there as well. So I've
always been involved there. And Lucky pe Larson esquire the
Legion of Lucky the Dogtown Underground wherever I am we
(29:23):
take control. I manage Bam Bam Bundy and MJ. Davis
in Hub City Wrestling and they are taking over. I
manage the Dogtown Underground at SICW. I've managed a rat
pack for the last few years for they all went
their separate ways. So I'm usually the glue that keeps
(29:44):
together these strong units.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Yeah, I mean, it sounds like you're pretty busy out
there in Tennessee. It sounds like there's a million promotions
out there.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
There are a lot of promotions in Tennessee. There's no
question I have worked for a lot of them. I've
also worked for TAP. There are some I have not
worked for, but I have worked for a great number
of them.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Yeah. Wow, it's it's still pretty active down there. I mean,
I'm I live in Connecticut. I know I'd told you
that before, in town called Wallingford. I'm not sure if
you're familiar with it this.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
I worked for a summer in Hartford, and I even
remember the Hartford Whalers. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Well, I used to go to those games when I
was younger. My father used to take me to Uh well,
I grew up in New Haven. Used to go to
the New Haven Nighthawks games. But my dad was such
a hockey fan, we'd always go to the Whalers games
all the time.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Wasn't there also like a double a Red Sox minor
league team in New Haven?
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Oh? Yes, I'm trying to this was when was this
probably earlier two thousands. I'm trying to think was that
the Ravens.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Maybe I know that the reach of Boston sports is infinite.
I enjoy when the Predators play the Bruins, or the
Celtics played the Grizzlies, or the Patriots played the Titans.
A few years ago, the Patriots played the Titans on
a Sunday and the Bruins played the Predators on a Monday,
(31:06):
and this town was completely taken over by Boston sports fans.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
It must have felt good.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
It did. There's a new England Patriots fan club here
that I watched about eight Super Bowls at. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
That's incredible, really it is.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Yeah. I've got and I've got six Fain pictures on
my wall over there.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
That's awesome. Yeah. Do you you like living in Tennessee?
I mean I don't know, I've I've driven through Tennessee
once on a weekend.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Well, let's see, I can't stand country music. Well, uh,
I root for four teams, the Red Sox and Patriots
and Celtics and the Bruins. And uh, almost every show
I walk into I get boot out of the building.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
I guess you don't like Tennessee.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Of course at s i c W a little difference.
I took a friend up to sy CW with me
for a show and he said, you know, in Tennessee
they boo you. In Illinois they want to kill you.
I said, yeah, it's pretty accurate.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
How do you have to How far do you have
to drive from Tennessee to go into Illinois for How
often do you guys record?
Speaker 2 (32:22):
We generally have TV tapings once a month, once a month, okay,
table usually take four shows and it's about a four
and a half to five hour drive. But there's a
very good sushi restaurant on the way back.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Well, there you go, there you go.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
And then they do These people up there they do
not like me. There are a few, there are a
few smart, unique fans who wear my shirts and uh,
you know are are supporting me and the dog John underground.
But I'd say, of them want to see me get
beat up hurt? I mean, Gary Jackson broke my arm
(32:58):
up there. It's finally healed pretty well, but it took
several months and I had to wear a sling for
several months up there. Uh, you know, people would accuse
me of taking a tire and iron tire iron out
of my sling and hitting people with it. I mean,
just the things that they come.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Up with and the things they came up with. I
mean there's no cameras I'd see that. I mean, Bob
Orton held that cast for about a good two years
for that broken uh oh.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
I think he's held it a lot longer than that,
because he knocked me out with it just a couple
of years ago.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
That's incredible. That's incredible.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
Iron Mark Sharp had had an arm brace for years too. Yeah,
people just slow healers.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Iron Mike Sharp was on the first indie show I
ever went to the first time I when I discovered
independent wrestling. He was ever he was. It was a him.
I think it might have been Jimmy Snooker Northeast Championship
Wrestling out of north Haven, Connecticut.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
I met Jimmy Snooker number of times. It never got
to meet Iron Mike Sharp. But I had a very
very very close personal friend in professional wrestling who passed
away last year. We used to tell me stories about
Iron Mike Sharp.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Yeah, I hear from I'm friends with Mario Mancini, Paul Roma.
You know they run a school up here, and I
hear stories about everybody that you know, and Mario great storyteller,
and he sharing his memories. He's got a lot of
He's got some good things to say about Mike Iron Mike.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
You know, I will say this, I have met so
many of the talented men and women who have put
their bodies on the line over the last however many
years I've been doing this, and you know, I take
a shot every now and then, like from the Big
Texan or the people I mentioned earlier, but I'm not
(34:47):
in the ring taking the shots. They are all night long,
and so I've got nothing but respect for everyone who
gets in the ring. And one of the few people
I have not yet met who I wanted to and
still do is Mario Mancini, who was supposed to be
at the FanFest last year but couldn't make it, and
(35:09):
I actually was one of the few people there was
disappointed Mario Mancini didn't show up, you know, will other
people were in line to meet these, you know, high
top level stars. I'm wanting to meet someone I'd never
met before because I would like to talk to them.
So meanwhile, FanFest three coming up in a few months
(35:30):
and once again I will be bringing the Walking Riot,
the first Lady of Wrestling, my friend Missy Hyatt so well, I.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Have that down here in the notes. I was hoping
to get to talk a little bit about the FanFest
coming up May sixteenth and seventeenth, twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Yes, at the Hilton at the Airport this year. You
do not even have to go far from the airport
when you show up, and we will have a great
night of wrestling. We'll have bill after show on Friday,
then you'll have meet and greet Saturday, and then a
great night of wrestling, and I believe will once again
have the Bruiser Brodie Memorial Battle Royal. And I'd like
(36:09):
to know who's going to toss out a two ton
monster named Kowalski.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
Yeah. I wanted to go down there last year because
it seemed very interesting. I wasn't able to. I've had
I did a lot of conventions that or was that
this year?
Speaker 3 (36:22):
This year, excuse me, miss the greatest tag team on
God's Green Earth, the La Hustlers become the three times,
three times three time tag team Champions of s I
c W.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
I'm not sure I'll be making it this year. I'm sorry,
I have two weddings to help pay for, so two
of my daughters are getting married this year.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
What is more important? You got to get priorities in
your life. What's more important your kids are wrestling?
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Well, I'm did that's that will sometimes cause an argument here,
but pro wrestling is very important to my.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Life, so as well it should be.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
It is it is. So I go to a lot
of shows, I work a lot of shows, and you know,
it's it's amazing that pro wrestling, especially at this age.
I'm going to be fifty in a few months, but
it's it's amazing that, even still at this age, how
much love I have for professional wrestling. I think it's
(37:15):
it's just I've been a fan since probably nineteen eighty
four roughly. And yeah, I went to my first show
at four years later, my first live show, I just
watched it on TV. And then when I went to
my first live show New Hamen, Canada, is a television taping.
That's when I went through the whole obsession mode, you
know what I mean. And it's today I still watch wrestling.
(37:37):
I mean, what do you think about wrestling? Basically? Now
it's there's so much compared to when we were younger.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
I've always said there. To me, the biggest difference between
wrestling when I grew up and wrestling now is not
the fact that kay Fabe is on live support if
it's not completely dead, although we do try to keep
it alive at SIICW. It's not the fact that there
(38:08):
are spoilers on the internet. It's not the fact that
everybody seems to know everything. To me, the biggest problem
in wrestling today is the glut of pay per views.
And I'll tell you why. Because back in the day,
when we had WrestleMania once a year and that was it.
(38:28):
Or you had WrestleMania and the Survivor Series and that
was it. Or you had WrestleMania, the Survivor Series and
SummerSlam and that was it. Or you had WrestleMania, Survivor Series,
SummerSlam and the Royal Rumble and that was it. And
it stayed that way for a while. Yeah, you had
four pay per views a year, meaning you had three
(38:50):
months between each pay perview to build up stories, angles,
to bring in the fans, to suck in the fans,
to make them care about something. Now, with a pay
per view every three weeks. We're putting matches on a
Friday that are going to take place on a Saturday
or Sunday pay per view with no build up that
(39:12):
fans have seen a thousand times. To me, that is
the biggest difference between wrestling now and wrestling then. Now
it's all about I'm going to do a triple Canadian
destroyer off the top rope through a flaming barbed wire
table and then you kick out at one and then
I'll beat you with a roll up. It is more
about high spots than it is about storytelling and emotion
(39:38):
and really grabbing somebody and bringing them in there. That's
why I said I am never going to say Roddy
Piper was the greatest ring technician of all time. His move,
his greatest move, is an ipoke. You know, I use
it when I'm in the ring, right because it's an
homage to him. You know, no one is going to
(39:59):
say yes, I mean, obviously Roddy Piper can wrestle, but
no one is going to mistaken for Shawn Michael's Brett
hardcurt Angle or he who shall not be named. But
he could talk you into any arena. He could be
a face, he could be a heel. He could be
the good guy, he could be the bad guy. He
could make you love him, he could make you hate
him because he told the story, because he was charisma personified.
(40:25):
I would rather follow that and watch that then see
somebody dive off the top rope do three flips. I mean, yeah,
that's talent, and I can't do that. But I'd rather
be engrossed in the storyline and really care about what happens.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
It doesn't keep me interesting.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
There's only so many times, and when you've seen a
triple Lindy, well, I'll soon before someone else tries to
do a quadruple Lindy and falls and breaks their ankle.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
Yeah, I mean I broke broke both.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
His ankles jumping off the top of the cage through
a table.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
Yeah, I saw it. Yeah, I you know, I've always
been especially in the last couple of years, I've always
been very uh trying to push this less is more
because it's it keeps you interested, doing the slower build
ups and the more of a storytelling. And then instead
of doing however many flips, however many every match, not
(41:22):
every match, but every show has to have a table
spot has to have a steel chair, spot has to
have a ladder, spot something something something, And it's just
like at this point, it's like you can predict when
it's coming. Do you know it's a little barrier around
the ring.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
Side Whenever you're sitting watching raw, you know when they're
going to commercial. Yeah, you know, if I'm watching it
on a DVR, I literally I'll sit there and when
I see the commercial spot coming, I'll fast forward through it.
And I'd say ninety eight percent of the time I'm right. Yeah,
you know, there's the occasional time when you know, oh,
(41:58):
I thought that was gonna be a commercial, But ninety
eight percent of the time I'm right because I and
you know, it takes a lot to you know, bring
me in these days to a false finish that really
I buy into. I've just seen it so much. And
that's why I think SI CW is different. We're telling stories,
(42:21):
you know, and I think that when you have shows
and TV, you know, that's what you know. Like I said,
I work at hub City now and hub City's got
television and we're trying We're on WBBJ out of Jackson,
and hub City is telling stories and trying to have
some old fashioned angles going with the people I manage.
(42:42):
You know, we had mister Kennedy come in recently and
I may or may not have you know, been accused
of choking mister Kennedy with my tie. I don't remember
that happening. But you know, he couldn't beat MJ. Davis
by penfall or submission. He had to you know, somehow
squeaz out of disqualification win, which you know we question.
But the bottom line is, you know, we're we're bringing
(43:05):
people in that people want to see. We're telling stories.
That's what s i c W is doing. That's what
Hub City is doing. You know, That's what Burt Prentice
used to do, you know, and that brings people in.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
Yeah, and Burt Prentice had a really good YouTube network
as well, where he had lots of different companies on
his YouTube network or you know, and the.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
Premiue Wrestling Network on on YouTube, and we had the
USA Championship Wrestling there and s I c W is
on YouTube. Yeah, Hub City Wrestling, as I said, is
on w BBJ, added Jackson, but their episodes are on YouTube. Uh,
we BBJ Air's Hub City every Sunday night and on
Tuesday nights. The Sunday night episode is put on YouTube
(43:50):
and I share it and I share all of those
on my page on the Lucky P. Larson page on Facebook.
And then at p W a H there's usually somebody
there who films a lot of our matches, and while
we don't necessarily have a TV show or a YouTube
channel for the company, a lot of our matches are
put on there. I also work with Sean Hoodrich at
(44:14):
Coastal City Wrestling Coastal Championship Wrestle c CW, which is
at the Troubadour in Nashville.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
Okay, that's not the Coastal that is basically out of Florida,
is the same one. They run a very good product
over there. They have a great thirty minute TV that
airs each and every week on YouTube as well.
Speaker 2 (44:34):
Yep, yeah, that is that's what I work for them
as well. I managed Sean Hoodrich. I've managed him against
their one of their champions, Charlie.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
Yeah, great guy.
Speaker 2 (44:44):
So you know, and we we've been there a few times,
always put on a great show. Sean myself and Sean Snake.
You know, we got a good picture up there of me,
Seawan and snake. He says, it's my lawyer and my serpent.
Which one's the bigger snake? You know?
Speaker 1 (45:03):
So we got a few more minutes left. I want
to ask a couple more questions and then we'll we'll
get out of here. But how important is television and
social media too wrestling in the modern age? I mean
we're sitting here talking about YouTube.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
I think it's extremely important because how else do you
advertise your product and how else do you make people
know about your big shows if it's not through television
or through social media and promotion. There's only so much
you can do. Yes, you should post your towns, Yes
you should spread the word. But social media, television, advertisement, commercials,
(45:41):
that's what gets people there.
Speaker 1 (45:44):
There's a lot of companies that don't do that, you
know what I mean. It's still don't seem to understand
that don't even have a YouTube channel, which I think
every company should at least have somebody out there filming
on a phone or something and uploading into YouTube.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
What I'm saying that SIICW is on YouTube every week
every Sunday night at eight o'clock. Central Hub City is
on WBBJ every Sunday night at ten thirty Central and
then who they say. SECW is available pretty much immediately
(46:16):
thereafter on YouTube. Hub City is available on Tuesday on YouTube.
Someone films the p WA shows and puts them up.
I believe it's Rusty Rex's wrestling page.
Speaker 1 (46:27):
I know Rusty, great guy.
Speaker 2 (46:29):
Yep. Yeah, and I've seen matches from CCW with Sean Hoodrich.
They put that up. They were commenting and what a
great show they had there a couple of weeks ago.
And the picture they put up was Shawn's match with
me in his corner.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
So yeah, yeah, that's awesome. Do you know Rusty personally
or just yeah? He I got to tell you he
is a guy that's on his social media. He posts
a lot of great he is a historian.
Speaker 2 (46:57):
Yeah, and he holds up he holds up two hands
and says ten if he likes it.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
So I like that. HEO is always posting stuff on
each and every Friday. He always asks everybody to share
shows in the comments so that everybody could find out
and see if there's any shows in their area. That's good,
that's good. Yeah. So I noticed you have T shirts?
Where can anybody find those? I'm interested in getting one.
Speaker 2 (47:24):
Well, my T shirts. Say shut up and you might
learn something. I've sold out of several batches of them.
If somebody wants one, you can easily message the Lucky P.
Larson page follow We've got over four thousand followers on
the Lucky P. Larson Esquire page on Facebook. I put
up every show I'm going to be a part of.
I've got pictures of pretty much every punt I've worked with.
(47:47):
I've got picked I forgot see, I told you it
was off the top of my head. I just remembered
a few more. I've been super kicked by Solo Sokoa.
I've been hit with a steel chair by Rakishi. I've
been low blowed by Brian Christopher. Those were do more
than I've forgotten about.
Speaker 1 (48:03):
Well yeah, yeah, and uh, basically you said your Facebook
page Lucky P. Larson. Is there any other place.
Speaker 2 (48:10):
That Facebook page? It's my smiling visage yelling into an
inner one microphone. And like I said, shut up, you
might learn something. We've got T shirts for sale, We've
got cards, we've got little key chains, whatever you want,
Lucky all your Lucky PE Larson Esquire needs. And yes,
(48:34):
I am a real a real lawyer like I said,
I've represented a lot of people in this business, some
you know may or may not want it known. One
who talked about it very openly in shoot interviews, So
I have no problem saying so because she said so,
and she was a very good friend of mine, and
I miss her dearly. Was Daphne Shannon Sproul. I was
(48:57):
one of her lawyers. And I've done some work for
a few of the Glow Girls. I've done some work
for a number of the Tennessee legendary wrestlers, a lot
of people. I've worked with a lot of fans. It's amazing.
They'll hate me during the show, but they'll come to
me on my way to my cars. I can ask
(49:18):
you a question. I always know it's going to be
about a case, so.
Speaker 1 (49:22):
I should have came to you when I had a
problem with my ex wife.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
But anyways, well, I've done a lot of that since
I've gotten involved. And of course I will give kudos,
as I will anytime you know, I'm talking wrestling. Bert
Pretis and Micro Potta get the credit for or blame
however you want to say it, for me being involved.
And one person I met through wrestling who became one
(49:47):
of my absolute best friends and I miss him every day,
is Landy Pofo.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
I've heard many great stories about him from people, friends
that have worked with him. Mario has spoken greatly about him,
you know. And I don't know if he's going to
come out to this year. I know he didn't make
it last year. I'm not sure if he's coming out
to the fan fits this year. I haven't seen him
post anything and I haven't spoken to him about it.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
But well, there are a lot of names yet to come.
I'll leave that to her. All I know is Missy
will be there this year. So but you know, I
talked to Lanny probably once a week after we moved
to Ecuador. I helped him write his Hall of Fame speech.
I still haven't memorized the fact. Before we got on this,
I actually recited the poetic part of it for you,
(50:28):
my heart. I was his guest at the after party
after WrestleMania and San Jose when Randy got into the
Hall of Fame, so he introduced me to pretty much
the roster. So that was quite an honor. So I
miss him a lot.
Speaker 1 (50:43):
Yeah, I want to thank you for taking part in
this episode tonight, and my pleasure.
Speaker 2 (50:47):
I love talking about wrestling. I know you can't tell.
I'm slightly passionate about.
Speaker 1 (50:52):
It just a little bit, just as just as much
as I am, probably, But we'll have to have you
back some time and maybe just talk about wrestling in
general anytime.
Speaker 2 (51:03):
Like I said, I'm always happy to talk about myself,
I'm always happy to talk about wrestling, happy to talk
about Boston sports.
Speaker 1 (51:09):
All right, thank you very much, my pleasure.
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