January 4, 2025 • 35 mins
Dr. John interviews famed wrestler Papa Stro Maestro
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Happy Christmas and live from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This
is doctor John Stamy and I am welcoming everyone to
Scary Cast. I hope you're all doing well tonight. I
hope Santa was good to you, and I hope you
had a wonderful, wonderful feast and it was a great
(00:22):
day for everybody. Tonight, we have got a very very
special guest. This is a dear old friend of mine
and he said he's gonna come on tonight, and I
hope he'll come on a couple of times because he's
so very interesting. He is one of the greatest professional
wrestlers in history. His great uncle was none other than
(00:48):
Gorgeous George, the man who invented professional wrestling, the idea
of the heel and the good guy. And he's just
comes from a great wrestling family. He's done great things.
He's been in the ring many many times with Rick Flair,
who is considered one of the greatest wrestlers that ever
(01:12):
graced the stage of wrestling, and he's just done so
many good things. He's also a wonderful person when it
comes to doing great things for people. He helps a
lot of folks in the philanthropies.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
That he works with.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
So without any further ado, I'm going to introduce the one,
the only, the greatest that I know, Papa Strow, Maestro
of wrestling. How are you doing tonight, Papa Strow?
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Oh, blessed to be here. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
We are so glad to have you here. This is
probably the first real feature interview that you've had in
quite a while.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Am I correct?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (01:58):
And we want you And I'm gonna go ahead and
tell you we want you back because you are. You
have been such a good friend of mine for years.
You've done great things in the ring and out of
the ring, so we want to highlight some of those
great things.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Are you ready?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Let's do it all right?
Speaker 1 (02:18):
So now you are in eastern North Carolina where you
grew up, and that's kind of where you became famous
for wrestling. Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (02:31):
You know I got a start there and which trends
sending me to other parts of the country and the
world for that matter. So this this is the place
where it all began.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
And that's right, and that's and that's you know what.
I can't even remember how did I actually meet you?
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Do you remember, Yeah, it was we met at the
Tidewater Comic Con in Virginia.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
That's right, thank you, Yeah, that's right. And you told
me who you were, and I immediately knew. I said,
oh my goodness, this is great. And uh, we've we've
been through a lot of great times. You we have,
we have roomed together on the road. We've had just
many great times. So where's what I would like for
(03:21):
you to do. This is going to be an interview
in three parts. First of all, for those that don't
know you, and even those that do, tell us a
little bit about your history in your early days in
professional wrestling, and don't forget those days when you worked
with Nelson Royal and Ole and Gen Anderson. Please include those.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
Okay, all right, Well, I pretty much grew up around
wrestling my whole life in mine wrestling, watching wrestling, and
partaking in amateur and collegiate wrestling, which uh transitioned me
into pro wrestling. And you're watching some of the greats,
(04:07):
you know, like the Funks, the Brisco's, Harley Race, Uh,
you know, Dusty Rhodes.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Black Jack Mulligan and Bruiser Brody, Stan Hansen.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Uh, some of the greatest of their time, and I
didn't find out the later on in life and my
wrestling career once I started of my relation to the
original Gordon George years ago. Turns out he's my granduncle,
which I found out due my grandfather. Uh, because at
(04:42):
the time I was being compared to the original Gordon
George and.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
His wrestling style, So it was.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Pretty much fate as it were, discovering that and which
inspired me to domin named Gorgeous George the third earlier
in my career, which took me all over the place
and led me to w CWS de Maestro. So it's
been quite the journey and really blessed.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
I was broken the business by John.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
You mentioned Cowboy Nelson Rural who's arguably one of the
greatest NWA Junior heavyweight champions in history. Gene Anderson who
was part with Oldie Anderson and Laards Anderson the Minnesota
rerecond Crew, one of the toughest wrestlers of his time,
and another legendary veteran, the Russian Bear Avon cole Off, who.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Named is anonymous in wrestling.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
History, one of the greatest old school www F champions
up in the era of Reno se Martino and one
of the greatest WA World Tag team champions with various
partners of Don Carnodle, Nikita Co Extutter. So yeah, it's
(06:05):
I was really lucky to be brought into the business
under their tutelage and guidance and wisdom, and thus in
turn meeting other greats in the business that helped me
along the way.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
So you know, I'm very blessed and grateful for that.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
You know, I've got two stories that I want to
share with everyone, And you know these stories.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
First of all, I was talking with you all.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
It was maybe about ten years ago, and I said,
you know, this guy that I know wants to get
a professional wrestler. He's going to have an event in
Sumter and he wants you know, a couple of stars there,
so can you come? And I gave you the date.
You said, no, I'm already booked that date. And I said, well,
(06:53):
do you know anybody that could help me? You said,
and you said yes, let me give you a call
right back.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
You know where this story is going, don't you.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
I sure do.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
You called me back about five minutes later he said,
all right, I've got Ivan Co Off, and the first
thing I said was, no, you don't. Ivan co Off
is one of the greatest wrestlers in history.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
You said, here's his number.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Call him, And all of a sudden, I heard the
seriousness in your voice and I said, oh my God,
and so I wrote the number down. I said, Okay,
I'm gonna call him right now. Three hours later I
called you back and stro it was truly a religious
(07:45):
experience to.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Talk to Ivan call Off.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
And he loved talking about wrestling because I was involved
in wrestling, you know, I was the announcer for the
Professional Wrestling Federation, the Italian Stallion's Wrestling Troop, and I mean,
I you a lot of wrestlers, and I had the
most fun talking to him. And believe it or not,
he came to the one and only Cape Frcomic Con,
(08:10):
the second one that I had. He was just He
was a phenomenally nice person and so very interesting. He
had so many great stories. So first of all, I
want to say thank you for introducing me to the
one and only Ivan coll Off.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
My pleasure.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
I'm so glad you guys had a chance to connect
and interact, you know, the true legend and industry and
those of us that knew. I even knew that he
was probably one of the nicest people you would ever
meet in the wrestling business.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
And you told me that it didn't matter who he wrestled,
he knew how to make them look good.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
So he was a machine, he really was.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
And just it was so great to get to know
him a little bit. He was a wonderful man. And
thank you first of all for letting me meet him.
And that's when I really found out who the Maestro was.
The Maestro really knew everybody, and just I was so
grateful that I got to meet Ivan Cooff. It was wonderful.
(09:24):
And so tell us, Okay, first of all, I'll never
forget the stories that you told me about you being
in the ring with the great Rick Flair, arguably the
greatest wrestler in history, I mean, except for Gorgeous George,
Rick Flair has won everything, done everything. Can you you
(09:47):
got a few Rick Flair stories you can share with us.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Oh my gosh, I got a few. Sure.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
It's funny how throughout your life you have influences that
to keep occurring, reoccurring, if you will, and bumming into
Rick Flair periodically through points in my life. It's been
kind of fascinating. When I first met Rick Flair and
(10:20):
Blackjack Mulligan was at a convenience store years ago when
I was younger, and they had just got through wrestling
in an event and they were stopping to get some
refreshments before they had to the next town, and I
remembered helping them carry their drinks to their vehicle to
(10:42):
so because they were kind of worse for wear. And
years later, being into business, meet catching up with Rick
and Blackjack, and they actually remembered the time I helped
them carry the drinks their vehicle, and they bought me
a drink around that night. So, I mean, it's funny
how things come on full circle. And Rick's always been
(11:05):
a real class that guy. Uh.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
He loves life, he loves living it to its fullest.
Uh and phenomenal shape. I mean, people do.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Not know for sure how well conditioned an athlete Rick
Flair was.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
I mean, I've been on plenty.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Of shows where I would catch him in the park
a lot, hanging out for almost an hour doing the
Hindu squats and uh in the gym, don't stare master
like forever and you can carry on a conversation with.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Him and he's not even winded or tired. You know.
He was just tremendous shape. And I mean he was
one of.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
Those guys in the business that you put him there
with a broomstick and he'll make the broomstick a little superstar.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
And that was that was Rick Flair.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
Man, Hans and want a great influence in my career
and a good friend and a great mentor.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Well, yeah, thank you for sharing that with us, because
Rick Flair was truly my hero in wrestling until I.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Met you, Grace of all time man nature boy, he was.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
He was the absolute best. But then of course comes
the one and only the man that made legends. He
was probably five feet five, he was a little overweight,
but he truly had the greatest personality I have ever seen,
(12:42):
and that is the one and only Dusty Rhodes.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
You agree, oh, hands out. I mean, I mean he
was like a rock star wherever he went. I mean
he had he was so captivating and this charisma level,
Kara's chrismon level was off the charts amazing.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
And meeting them and once again having in fate.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
Keep reoccurring in life, you know, meeting up with Dusty
from different points in my career and.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Early early childhood.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
It's just it's just fascinating how things come together and intertwine.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
And uh, Dusty actually was.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
The guy that induced me down to the Giant years
ago and I was young.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Oh my, oh my god, I've got to stop you.
Please tell us the story of when you met Andre
the Giant.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
That is one.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Of one of my very favorite wrestling stories of all time.
I'm sorry for interrupting you. You you keep going into
these great stories and I want everybody to hear them.
Can you do that for me? Please?
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Oh? Absolutely? Yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Well, years ago I was at a wrestling event seeing
what he does he perform and in the parking lot
I saw Andrea the Giant pull up, which you know, he.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Was bigger than the car he was driving.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
And he's walking towards me right, and he's to this day,
I swear I've seen a lot of big guys in
my time, but he's still to this day the biggest
human being I've ever seen. And he comes up to
me and I'm like terrified, and it's like the first
time in life I feel like another human being was
(14:39):
going to eat me seriously. And Dusty came over Coincidentally,
he stops and he looks at me and says, a kid,
don't worry.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Andrea is cool. Babies they had lo Andrea daddy. And
I looked up at Andrea and you know.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
Stuck out his big, gigantic hand to.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Me is how do you do right?
Speaker 4 (15:07):
And I went to shake his hand in my hand
literally disappeared.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
I was like fine shirt.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
And he was the nicest guy, nicest guy. But at
first glance he was terrifying. I mean he had the
bushy hair, you know from I guess he was doing
uh the Sasquatch, remember the bondic bigfoot Sasquatch and six
million dollars man Lee Majors. And it's that's hilarious in
(15:38):
itself because years later I actually met Lee Majors and
I told him about that story and we got a good.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Laugh out of that.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
So but yeah, Dusty, throughout the years, I've been uh,
it's amazing how he kept reoccurring in my life. And
he was a very big advocate for me in the
wrestling industry. And you know, I can't thank him enough.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Well that's good, that's great, And you've got one more
story that I absolutely loved it has to do with
a gentleman that was late for wrestling and how the
great Dusty Rhoads handled that situation. Do you know the
(16:24):
one I'm talking about?
Speaker 3 (16:25):
I think so.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I've been tell us about that.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Well. I was on a big event years ago.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
I had a lot of big names in the industry,
the Steiner's, Roddy Piper, Bob Morton Jr.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
It's like who's who the industry? Right, A big show,
really big show.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
And this guy, uh, one of the guys that were
the toys for being late to the town, us to
get late the town and some of the boys, Uh,
they gave the phone to me and they did a
dare with me to call this guy up impersonating Dusty Roads.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
So so I did. I called and.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
Uh he answered the phone, and I did. I did
a Dusty voice to me, the.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Baby, what the hell you being?
Speaker 4 (17:25):
You're no progress, daddy, We got a solder, do get
your butt up here right now? And uh and and
the guy was like freaking out. You know, It's like
the dog ate his homework, you know. And I'm going
as fast as I can, Dusty, I'm almost there.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
I'm going a hundred.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
And I'm trying to up corpse and a right, I'm
trying not to laugh, right, and the boys that were
near me, they were they.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Were trying to keep him laughing too.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
And so he finally gets there, right, and he rushes
by us in a locker room and we're dying, right,
and we're trying to hold our breath. He goes up
to Dusty right, falls on his knees and he says.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
I'm sorry, Dusty, I'm sorry for being late. Please forgive me,
and uh, Dusty looks telling.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
Him, what the hell wrong with you?
Speaker 3 (18:21):
You acting cuckoo? Baby? Oh it's hilarious.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Oh my goodness that you're acting cuckoo. That is a
phrase that I.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Will never forget.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
I mean, there were so many great stories that you
guys had and went through in professional wrestling, don't you agree?
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Oh? Absolutely too many. The acount. Yeah there was a
dull moment.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Yeah, definitely, there was never a dull moment. And thank
you for sharing those three stories that I am just
absolutely in love with because that's part of how I
grew up in professional wrestling, because I was the announcer
for the Professional Wrestling Federation of the Italian Stallion and
I met everybody, and I'll never forget. We were in
(19:14):
two things in Statesville. I gotta tell you this, but
you probably remember these. We were in Statesville, we were
doing a charity event, and back in the back room
there was Nelson Royal and I talked with that man
for two hours and he didn't want to let me go.
(19:36):
Nelson Royal loved his fans, and I told him how
I used to watch him when I was eight and
nine years old on Channel three WBTV in Charlotte, and
he and Paul Jones, they ruled the roost.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
And Nelson Royal.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Was absolutely the guy that every kid on on Sunday morning,
we would talk about the wrestling on television, and he
was our hero. Nelson Royal was a great, great hero,
don't you agree?
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Oh? Absolutely?
Speaker 4 (20:13):
I mean a great wrestler in this time. Do you
remember text Mackenzie yes years ago. I know I've seen
a few tag matches with Nelson teaming with him years ago,
and it was so good, so good.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Yeah, I mean, Nelson was great, and he was so
personable and you know what, he knew that he had
found probably his biggest fan ever, and he just wouldn't
stop talking and stayed with me.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
And after we.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
After we both got yelled at by the Italian stallion
it's time to get this show started.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
And he looked at the stallion he said, go away.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
And I'll tell you what. The Italian stallion, even as
short as Nelson Royal was, he would not he would
not go against whatever Nelson said. I mean Nelson. Nelson
ruled the roofs back then. He was, he was great.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
Remember that bit they did years ago on the n
W A uh TV where Dusty was teaching uh maybe
it all how to ride the horse?
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Oh my goodness, I'd forgotten about that.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
Yes, And and maybe it all took off of the
horse and it was cried the blues next to Nelson
Royal there and he took maybe though took my credit call.
Maybe he left me all alone by myself. And that
(21:51):
was that was that Nelson Royals ranch where that took
place there Moresville.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
All right, Now, I've got to ask you about one
more story that I learned. Wasn't there a truck driver
It came by Nelson's ranch and said, oh, wrestling is fake.
And and Nelson happened to have oly and Jean Anderson
(22:18):
at his ranch.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Do you remember that story.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Oh, yeah, yeah, I was. I was in Nelson's store.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
He has a western store there, right, uh, And and
like there's a road next to the store that goes
to is a you know, barn and ranch and wrestling school.
And and this truck driver walked walks in, right, and
he tells Nelson that and he wants to take on
(22:49):
to Anderson's thinking. You know, he was like me, he
wants to you know, tangle with him, right, And Nelson
just looks at me and says that they're up the stairs.
They're at the barn training, you know, just going up
(23:10):
there and to be more happy to meet you.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Right.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
So so the truck driver goes there, and about an
hour later, right, he comes back and he collapses. He's
all banged up. And I was like, oh my god.
Somebody called nine one one, and uh. Turned out he
(23:35):
went up there to he stepped in the ring with
Olie and Jean and they just snatched him in there.
And they didn't throw one punch, right, They just knee elbows, knees.
They just punished him right, stretched him and.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Determine as they stretched him, didn't they.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
They sure did? Oh?
Speaker 4 (23:59):
And then some but that drug governor ever complained about
Anderson's freaking.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Oh, the Anderson's had something called Tendon's strength. And can
you tell us, because there are a lot of people
that might have heard this in the past, but tell
us about tendon's strength, because if I'm not if I'm
not mistaken, you probably have some Tendon's strength as well.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
We certain people have Tendon's strength. They're deceptively strong. Gen
Anderson was one of them.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
I mean he. Danny Hodge was another one.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
I mean he They could grab you and you would
cry because a grip is so strong. I've seen Gen
Anderson grab someone by a thumb and add them on
their knees begging.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
I mean, I'm talking about big guys two fifty or over.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
Haven't on their knees crying. Please, Jane, let go right.
And you know Walliam Eagle.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
He's got it.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
Uh And Cowboy Bob Junior had it, and and I'm
sure he still does have it.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Randy, you know.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Right, because once you have it, you never lose it,
do you.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Yeah, It's like mountain climbers.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
That's why some mountain climbers can balance themselves on fingers
when they're hiking. It is because they have that tendon strength,
and yeah, it's it's an amazing thing to witness to
see people that do have it, you know, like they're
really deceptively strong.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Right. Well, look, thank you for reminding us of that,
and I hope everybody enjoyed that. Now I've got a
very important question for you. By the way, I never
tell my guests what I'm going to ask them, so
they get to just tell you the truth. All right,
tell me about your two toughest matches, sir?
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Would you do that?
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Two toughest matches?
Speaker 4 (26:08):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Man, I thought. I've had a lot of battles over
the years.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
I I some of the ones I had.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Rob van Dam really pushed to the limit.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
I mean it was during the time where it was
right before he went to E C W and rfe
our I went to W C W et cetera.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
And we were just as some stellar matches.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
We would even go an hour at times, so in
the ring, you know, like the old days where the
guys used to go an hour or more, but we
were really pushed ourselves. And uh, and it's it's it's
at the time we thought we could take on the world.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
You know, when you're young and we could do anything,
you know, And.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
I would say, uh, the Barbarian was another tough, tough guy.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
In which we would have a bunch.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
Of those Texas Death matches and false County Anywhere matches,
and oh man, it was always a battle a bar.
It's like rodeo ride and you just hang on enjoy
the ride, bar and.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
You're saying, enjoy the ride. I know it was tough.
I know it was hard. But you guys loved doing
what you did, didn't you. Oh.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Absolutely, we all had a passion for it, and.
Speaker 4 (27:34):
It was just.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
It wasn't even work being the ring together.
Speaker 4 (27:39):
It was like we created magic, you know, and the people,
the audience, they vibed with that magic and wanted more
just as much as we did.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
So it was a beautiful thing.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
It certainly was. And I tell you what.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
I grew up in Morganton, North Carolina, and we me
and my friends every Sunday at Sunday school would talk
about the matches that we saw on television. I would
stay up until midnight to watch the wrestling on wls
TV channel thirteen. It was midnight to one, and then
(28:15):
of course in the afternoon it was channel four, and
then later in the afternoon. This was Saturday. It was
of course WBTV, and I mean, we just loved it.
It was part of our lives. We thought it was great.
And I want to say thank you Rob Kellum, the
maestro of wrestling, for being part of the experience of
(28:39):
so many young kids that aren't young anymore. But we
loved what we saw. And I guess you saw that
in the faces of the young kids that would come
up to you, wouldn't you. Oh.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
Absolutely, it was such is a pleasure to see the
younger audience and the fans from around the world come
to you and saying how much you inspire them. And
I mean, it's it's it's such a wonderful thing to
be a part of. And I can't thank them enough
(29:18):
for their inspiration, inspiration and because they inspired me as
much as I hopefully inspire them.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
So you know, it is a misual thing, really is.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
I'll tell you what. You inspired so many of my friends.
We loved you, and I am I am so lucky
that I was the guy that got to meet a
lot of you and be around you and find out
just how magic you're.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
You're right, there's a word called.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Magic and professional wrestling is magic. You guys know how
to do what you do. It's tough. It's not easy,
am I correct?
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Oh yeah, it's such a tough industry.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
I mean, if people realize how how tough our industry is.
It takes a certain breed of individual to do what
we do.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Right. And I've got one more wrestler I want to
ask you about because he was truly one of my
favorites and you don't know who it is, but it
is the absolute the man, Randy Savage. Did you get
to know him some?
Speaker 3 (30:32):
Oh, yep, sure did.
Speaker 4 (30:34):
It was It was an honor to get to know Randy,
and Randy was a big help him and hultkvid or
big help when I signed on with WCW full time
years ago and to be involved with them and the
money and night wres, it was huge. And you know,
(30:56):
at that time I will always cherish.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Yeah. I thought that Hulk Cogan and Randy Savage were
just two of the greatest in the world, and you
were too. I mean, I've seen so many of your
matches and I just love them. You've been a co
host on Scary Cast for years. You've been with Brady Hicks,
You've been with some of the greatest announcers of all time,
(31:22):
and every one of them loves you. I can tell
you that. And I'm going to put you I hope.
I'm not going to put you on the spot, but
I would like to have you back a number of
times because you've got, in my opinion, the best stories
in the world. And you know, and you can tell
us about Gorgeous George, who was and I want to
(31:43):
make this extremely clear, Gorgeous George was the man that
invented the sport of professional exhibition wrestling that we have today.
Do you agree?
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (31:57):
Yeah, he put pro wrestling on TV map UH in
his time. I mean, he was a real trail blazer.
He was the first wrestler to make that transition from
wrestling to Hollywood to the UH entertainment.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
All All World number one.
Speaker 4 (32:20):
And he influenced some of the many icons of the
sports world and entertainment world at which I got their interact.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
Later on with my career. You know, the great.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
Muhammad Ali, James Brown, uh or just two of the
influences that Gorgeous George had in the sports and entertainment world.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
So Rober that's a big resume.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
It really is, and.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
He was absolutely by the way, he was the number
one entertainment revenue general in nineteen fifty six and nineteen
fifty seven. Now I know we call are they whoever
they are call wrestling entertainment. It is not. It is
(33:12):
one of the toughest sports out there. They just have
nowhere else to put it, so they call it entertainment.
But he was, without a doubt the number one thing
person everything in wrestling nineteen fifty six, in nineteen fifty seven.
Gorgeous George. And we're so grateful to be talking with
(33:35):
you about him. And I would love for us to
talk a bit more about Gorgeous George when we have
you on Scary Cast again. So, Papa Strow, the Maestro
of wrestling, will you come back and will you be
a regular, and will you tell us about wrestling because
I don't know about you, but I love wrestling. Will
(33:56):
you will you come back again?
Speaker 3 (33:58):
I'd love too.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
You're you are just such a phenomenon and I'm so
glad that we had you here. I want to thank
you for being here because you're just You're just someone
that brings me back to my childhood and you make
me remember when we really had heroes, and you were
one of my heroes. So I want to say thank.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
You, oh, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
You have anything else, I'm gonna let you close the show.
Do you have any other story or statement you would
like to say to your fans?
Speaker 3 (34:35):
Thank you for sticking with me through the years. I've
got more things to come.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
You can go to my YouTube channel YouTube dot com
slash c slash Stro Maestro or look for Stro Maestro
on YouTube dot com. Also, I have merchandise on sale now.
It's part of my rebranding at on tespring dot com.
Just look for Maestro rub Kellum and you'll see all
(35:03):
the new merch on sale as well as my cat,
Glory Kat has merch as well. But yeah, yeah, thank
you so much all of.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
You from around the world for sticking with me.
Speaker 4 (35:17):
And there's more to come, so stay in touch.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
All I got to say is we're thrilled to be
sticking with you because you are. There's only one Maestro,
and we're so proud to have you as we move
into twenty twenty five to have you on this show.
Thanks a lot.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
I'll do the.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Quick call around when we're done and Papastrow the maestro
of wrestling. You are number one with Scary Cast.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Okay, thank you so much, God bless you. Merry Christmas,
talk to you soon.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
You're the best.
Happy Christmas and live from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This
is doctor John Stamy and I am welcoming everyone to
Scary Cast. I hope you're all doing well tonight. I
hope Santa was good to you, and I hope you
had a wonderful, wonderful feast and it was a great
(00:22):
day for everybody. Tonight, we have got a very very
special guest. This is a dear old friend of mine
and he said he's gonna come on tonight, and I
hope he'll come on a couple of times because he's
so very interesting. He is one of the greatest professional
wrestlers in history. His great uncle was none other than
(00:48):
Gorgeous George, the man who invented professional wrestling, the idea
of the heel and the good guy. And he's just
comes from a great wrestling family. He's done great things.
He's been in the ring many many times with Rick Flair,
who is considered one of the greatest wrestlers that ever
(01:12):
graced the stage of wrestling, and he's just done so
many good things. He's also a wonderful person when it
comes to doing great things for people. He helps a
lot of folks in the philanthropies.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
That he works with.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
So without any further ado, I'm going to introduce the one,
the only, the greatest that I know, Papa Strow, Maestro
of wrestling. How are you doing tonight, Papa Strow?
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Oh, blessed to be here. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
We are so glad to have you here. This is
probably the first real feature interview that you've had in
quite a while.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Am I correct?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (01:58):
And we want you And I'm gonna go ahead and
tell you we want you back because you are. You
have been such a good friend of mine for years.
You've done great things in the ring and out of
the ring, so we want to highlight some of those
great things.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Are you ready?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Let's do it all right?
Speaker 1 (02:18):
So now you are in eastern North Carolina where you
grew up, and that's kind of where you became famous
for wrestling. Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (02:31):
You know I got a start there and which trends
sending me to other parts of the country and the
world for that matter. So this this is the place
where it all began.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
And that's right, and that's and that's you know what.
I can't even remember how did I actually meet you?
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Do you remember, Yeah, it was we met at the
Tidewater Comic Con in Virginia.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
That's right, thank you, Yeah, that's right. And you told
me who you were, and I immediately knew. I said,
oh my goodness, this is great. And uh, we've we've
been through a lot of great times. You we have,
we have roomed together on the road. We've had just
many great times. So where's what I would like for
(03:21):
you to do. This is going to be an interview
in three parts. First of all, for those that don't
know you, and even those that do, tell us a
little bit about your history in your early days in
professional wrestling, and don't forget those days when you worked
with Nelson Royal and Ole and Gen Anderson. Please include those.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
Okay, all right, Well, I pretty much grew up around
wrestling my whole life in mine wrestling, watching wrestling, and
partaking in amateur and collegiate wrestling, which uh transitioned me
into pro wrestling. And you're watching some of the greats,
(04:07):
you know, like the Funks, the Brisco's, Harley Race, Uh,
you know, Dusty Rhodes.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Black Jack Mulligan and Bruiser Brody, Stan Hansen.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Uh, some of the greatest of their time, and I
didn't find out the later on in life and my
wrestling career once I started of my relation to the
original Gordon George years ago. Turns out he's my granduncle,
which I found out due my grandfather. Uh, because at
(04:42):
the time I was being compared to the original Gordon
George and.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
His wrestling style, So it was.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Pretty much fate as it were, discovering that and which
inspired me to domin named Gorgeous George the third earlier
in my career, which took me all over the place
and led me to w CWS de Maestro. So it's
been quite the journey and really blessed.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
I was broken the business by John.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
You mentioned Cowboy Nelson Rural who's arguably one of the
greatest NWA Junior heavyweight champions in history. Gene Anderson who
was part with Oldie Anderson and Laards Anderson the Minnesota
rerecond Crew, one of the toughest wrestlers of his time,
and another legendary veteran, the Russian Bear Avon cole Off, who.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Named is anonymous in wrestling.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
History, one of the greatest old school www F champions
up in the era of Reno se Martino and one
of the greatest WA World Tag team champions with various
partners of Don Carnodle, Nikita Co Extutter. So yeah, it's
(06:05):
I was really lucky to be brought into the business
under their tutelage and guidance and wisdom, and thus in
turn meeting other greats in the business that helped me
along the way.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
So you know, I'm very blessed and grateful for that.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
You know, I've got two stories that I want to
share with everyone, And you know these stories.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
First of all, I was talking with you all.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
It was maybe about ten years ago, and I said,
you know, this guy that I know wants to get
a professional wrestler. He's going to have an event in
Sumter and he wants you know, a couple of stars there,
so can you come? And I gave you the date.
You said, no, I'm already booked that date. And I said, well,
(06:53):
do you know anybody that could help me? You said,
and you said yes, let me give you a call
right back.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
You know where this story is going, don't you.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
I sure do.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
You called me back about five minutes later he said,
all right, I've got Ivan Co Off, and the first
thing I said was, no, you don't. Ivan co Off
is one of the greatest wrestlers in history.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
You said, here's his number.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Call him, And all of a sudden, I heard the
seriousness in your voice and I said, oh my God,
and so I wrote the number down. I said, Okay,
I'm gonna call him right now. Three hours later I
called you back and stro it was truly a religious
(07:45):
experience to.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Talk to Ivan call Off.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
And he loved talking about wrestling because I was involved
in wrestling, you know, I was the announcer for the
Professional Wrestling Federation, the Italian Stallion's Wrestling Troop, and I mean,
I you a lot of wrestlers, and I had the
most fun talking to him. And believe it or not,
he came to the one and only Cape Frcomic Con,
(08:10):
the second one that I had. He was just He
was a phenomenally nice person and so very interesting. He
had so many great stories. So first of all, I
want to say thank you for introducing me to the
one and only Ivan coll Off.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
My pleasure.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
I'm so glad you guys had a chance to connect
and interact, you know, the true legend and industry and
those of us that knew. I even knew that he
was probably one of the nicest people you would ever
meet in the wrestling business.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
And you told me that it didn't matter who he wrestled,
he knew how to make them look good.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
So he was a machine, he really was.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
And just it was so great to get to know
him a little bit. He was a wonderful man. And
thank you first of all for letting me meet him.
And that's when I really found out who the Maestro was.
The Maestro really knew everybody, and just I was so
grateful that I got to meet Ivan Cooff. It was wonderful.
(09:24):
And so tell us, Okay, first of all, I'll never
forget the stories that you told me about you being
in the ring with the great Rick Flair, arguably the
greatest wrestler in history, I mean, except for Gorgeous George,
Rick Flair has won everything, done everything. Can you you
(09:47):
got a few Rick Flair stories you can share with us.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Oh my gosh, I got a few. Sure.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
It's funny how throughout your life you have influences that
to keep occurring, reoccurring, if you will, and bumming into
Rick Flair periodically through points in my life. It's been
kind of fascinating. When I first met Rick Flair and
(10:20):
Blackjack Mulligan was at a convenience store years ago when
I was younger, and they had just got through wrestling
in an event and they were stopping to get some
refreshments before they had to the next town, and I
remembered helping them carry their drinks to their vehicle to
(10:42):
so because they were kind of worse for wear. And
years later, being into business, meet catching up with Rick
and Blackjack, and they actually remembered the time I helped
them carry the drinks their vehicle, and they bought me
a drink around that night. So, I mean, it's funny
how things come on full circle. And Rick's always been
(11:05):
a real class that guy. Uh.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
He loves life, he loves living it to its fullest.
Uh and phenomenal shape. I mean, people do.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Not know for sure how well conditioned an athlete Rick
Flair was.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
I mean, I've been on plenty.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Of shows where I would catch him in the park
a lot, hanging out for almost an hour doing the
Hindu squats and uh in the gym, don't stare master
like forever and you can carry on a conversation with.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Him and he's not even winded or tired. You know.
He was just tremendous shape. And I mean he was
one of.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
Those guys in the business that you put him there
with a broomstick and he'll make the broomstick a little superstar.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
And that was that was Rick Flair.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
Man, Hans and want a great influence in my career
and a good friend and a great mentor.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Well, yeah, thank you for sharing that with us, because
Rick Flair was truly my hero in wrestling until I.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Met you, Grace of all time man nature boy, he was.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
He was the absolute best. But then of course comes
the one and only the man that made legends. He
was probably five feet five, he was a little overweight,
but he truly had the greatest personality I have ever seen,
(12:42):
and that is the one and only Dusty Rhodes.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
You agree, oh, hands out. I mean, I mean he
was like a rock star wherever he went. I mean
he had he was so captivating and this charisma level,
Kara's chrismon level was off the charts amazing.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
And meeting them and once again having in fate.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
Keep reoccurring in life, you know, meeting up with Dusty
from different points in my career and.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Early early childhood.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
It's just it's just fascinating how things come together and intertwine.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
And uh, Dusty actually was.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
The guy that induced me down to the Giant years
ago and I was young.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Oh my, oh my god, I've got to stop you.
Please tell us the story of when you met Andre
the Giant.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
That is one.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Of one of my very favorite wrestling stories of all time.
I'm sorry for interrupting you. You you keep going into
these great stories and I want everybody to hear them.
Can you do that for me? Please?
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Oh? Absolutely? Yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Well, years ago I was at a wrestling event seeing
what he does he perform and in the parking lot
I saw Andrea the Giant pull up, which you know, he.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Was bigger than the car he was driving.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
And he's walking towards me right, and he's to this day,
I swear I've seen a lot of big guys in
my time, but he's still to this day the biggest
human being I've ever seen. And he comes up to
me and I'm like terrified, and it's like the first
time in life I feel like another human being was
(14:39):
going to eat me seriously. And Dusty came over Coincidentally,
he stops and he looks at me and says, a kid,
don't worry.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Andrea is cool. Babies they had lo Andrea daddy. And
I looked up at Andrea and you know.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
Stuck out his big, gigantic hand to.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Me is how do you do right?
Speaker 4 (15:07):
And I went to shake his hand in my hand
literally disappeared.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
I was like fine shirt.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
And he was the nicest guy, nicest guy. But at
first glance he was terrifying. I mean he had the
bushy hair, you know from I guess he was doing
uh the Sasquatch, remember the bondic bigfoot Sasquatch and six
million dollars man Lee Majors. And it's that's hilarious in
(15:38):
itself because years later I actually met Lee Majors and
I told him about that story and we got a good.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Laugh out of that.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
So but yeah, Dusty, throughout the years, I've been uh,
it's amazing how he kept reoccurring in my life. And
he was a very big advocate for me in the
wrestling industry. And you know, I can't thank him enough.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Well that's good, that's great, And you've got one more
story that I absolutely loved it has to do with
a gentleman that was late for wrestling and how the
great Dusty Rhoads handled that situation. Do you know the
(16:24):
one I'm talking about?
Speaker 3 (16:25):
I think so.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I've been tell us about that.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Well. I was on a big event years ago.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
I had a lot of big names in the industry,
the Steiner's, Roddy Piper, Bob Morton Jr.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
It's like who's who the industry? Right, A big show,
really big show.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
And this guy, uh, one of the guys that were
the toys for being late to the town, us to
get late the town and some of the boys, Uh,
they gave the phone to me and they did a
dare with me to call this guy up impersonating Dusty Roads.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
So so I did. I called and.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
Uh he answered the phone, and I did. I did
a Dusty voice to me, the.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Baby, what the hell you being?
Speaker 4 (17:25):
You're no progress, daddy, We got a solder, do get
your butt up here right now? And uh and and
the guy was like freaking out. You know, It's like
the dog ate his homework, you know. And I'm going
as fast as I can, Dusty, I'm almost there.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
I'm going a hundred.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
And I'm trying to up corpse and a right, I'm
trying not to laugh, right, and the boys that were
near me, they were they.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Were trying to keep him laughing too.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
And so he finally gets there, right, and he rushes
by us in a locker room and we're dying, right,
and we're trying to hold our breath. He goes up
to Dusty right, falls on his knees and he says.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
I'm sorry, Dusty, I'm sorry for being late. Please forgive me,
and uh, Dusty looks telling.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
Him, what the hell wrong with you?
Speaker 3 (18:21):
You acting cuckoo? Baby? Oh it's hilarious.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Oh my goodness that you're acting cuckoo. That is a
phrase that I.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Will never forget.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
I mean, there were so many great stories that you
guys had and went through in professional wrestling, don't you agree?
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Oh? Absolutely too many. The acount. Yeah there was a
dull moment.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Yeah, definitely, there was never a dull moment. And thank
you for sharing those three stories that I am just
absolutely in love with because that's part of how I
grew up in professional wrestling, because I was the announcer
for the Professional Wrestling Federation of the Italian Stallion and
I met everybody, and I'll never forget. We were in
(19:14):
two things in Statesville. I gotta tell you this, but
you probably remember these. We were in Statesville, we were
doing a charity event, and back in the back room
there was Nelson Royal and I talked with that man
for two hours and he didn't want to let me go.
(19:36):
Nelson Royal loved his fans, and I told him how
I used to watch him when I was eight and
nine years old on Channel three WBTV in Charlotte, and
he and Paul Jones, they ruled the roost.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
And Nelson Royal.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Was absolutely the guy that every kid on on Sunday morning,
we would talk about the wrestling on television, and he
was our hero. Nelson Royal was a great, great hero,
don't you agree?
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Oh? Absolutely?
Speaker 4 (20:13):
I mean a great wrestler in this time. Do you
remember text Mackenzie yes years ago. I know I've seen
a few tag matches with Nelson teaming with him years ago,
and it was so good, so good.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Yeah, I mean, Nelson was great, and he was so
personable and you know what, he knew that he had
found probably his biggest fan ever, and he just wouldn't
stop talking and stayed with me.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
And after we.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
After we both got yelled at by the Italian stallion
it's time to get this show started.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
And he looked at the stallion he said, go away.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
And I'll tell you what. The Italian stallion, even as
short as Nelson Royal was, he would not he would
not go against whatever Nelson said. I mean Nelson. Nelson
ruled the roofs back then. He was, he was great.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
Remember that bit they did years ago on the n
W A uh TV where Dusty was teaching uh maybe
it all how to ride the horse?
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Oh my goodness, I'd forgotten about that.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
Yes, And and maybe it all took off of the
horse and it was cried the blues next to Nelson
Royal there and he took maybe though took my credit call.
Maybe he left me all alone by myself. And that
(21:51):
was that was that Nelson Royals ranch where that took
place there Moresville.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
All right, Now, I've got to ask you about one
more story that I learned. Wasn't there a truck driver
It came by Nelson's ranch and said, oh, wrestling is fake.
And and Nelson happened to have oly and Jean Anderson
(22:18):
at his ranch.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Do you remember that story.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Oh, yeah, yeah, I was. I was in Nelson's store.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
He has a western store there, right, uh, And and
like there's a road next to the store that goes
to is a you know, barn and ranch and wrestling school.
And and this truck driver walked walks in, right, and
he tells Nelson that and he wants to take on
(22:49):
to Anderson's thinking. You know, he was like me, he
wants to you know, tangle with him, right, And Nelson
just looks at me and says that they're up the stairs.
They're at the barn training, you know, just going up
(23:10):
there and to be more happy to meet you.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Right.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
So so the truck driver goes there, and about an
hour later, right, he comes back and he collapses. He's
all banged up. And I was like, oh my god.
Somebody called nine one one, and uh. Turned out he
(23:35):
went up there to he stepped in the ring with
Olie and Jean and they just snatched him in there.
And they didn't throw one punch, right, They just knee elbows, knees.
They just punished him right, stretched him and.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Determine as they stretched him, didn't they.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
They sure did? Oh?
Speaker 4 (23:59):
And then some but that drug governor ever complained about
Anderson's freaking.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Oh, the Anderson's had something called Tendon's strength. And can
you tell us, because there are a lot of people
that might have heard this in the past, but tell
us about tendon's strength, because if I'm not if I'm
not mistaken, you probably have some Tendon's strength as well.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
We certain people have Tendon's strength. They're deceptively strong. Gen
Anderson was one of them.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
I mean he. Danny Hodge was another one.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
I mean he They could grab you and you would
cry because a grip is so strong. I've seen Gen
Anderson grab someone by a thumb and add them on
their knees begging.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
I mean, I'm talking about big guys two fifty or over.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
Haven't on their knees crying. Please, Jane, let go right.
And you know Walliam Eagle.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
He's got it.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
Uh And Cowboy Bob Junior had it, and and I'm
sure he still does have it.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Randy, you know.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Right, because once you have it, you never lose it,
do you.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Yeah, It's like mountain climbers.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
That's why some mountain climbers can balance themselves on fingers
when they're hiking. It is because they have that tendon strength,
and yeah, it's it's an amazing thing to witness to
see people that do have it, you know, like they're
really deceptively strong.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Right. Well, look, thank you for reminding us of that,
and I hope everybody enjoyed that. Now I've got a
very important question for you. By the way, I never
tell my guests what I'm going to ask them, so
they get to just tell you the truth. All right,
tell me about your two toughest matches, sir?
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Would you do that?
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Two toughest matches?
Speaker 4 (26:08):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Man, I thought. I've had a lot of battles over
the years.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
I I some of the ones I had.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Rob van Dam really pushed to the limit.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
I mean it was during the time where it was
right before he went to E C W and rfe
our I went to W C W et cetera.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
And we were just as some stellar matches.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
We would even go an hour at times, so in
the ring, you know, like the old days where the
guys used to go an hour or more, but we
were really pushed ourselves. And uh, and it's it's it's
at the time we thought we could take on the world.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
You know, when you're young and we could do anything,
you know, And.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
I would say, uh, the Barbarian was another tough, tough guy.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
In which we would have a bunch.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
Of those Texas Death matches and false County Anywhere matches,
and oh man, it was always a battle a bar.
It's like rodeo ride and you just hang on enjoy
the ride, bar and.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
You're saying, enjoy the ride. I know it was tough.
I know it was hard. But you guys loved doing
what you did, didn't you. Oh.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Absolutely, we all had a passion for it, and.
Speaker 4 (27:34):
It was just.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
It wasn't even work being the ring together.
Speaker 4 (27:39):
It was like we created magic, you know, and the people,
the audience, they vibed with that magic and wanted more
just as much as we did.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
So it was a beautiful thing.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
It certainly was. And I tell you what.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
I grew up in Morganton, North Carolina, and we me
and my friends every Sunday at Sunday school would talk
about the matches that we saw on television. I would
stay up until midnight to watch the wrestling on wls
TV channel thirteen. It was midnight to one, and then
(28:15):
of course in the afternoon it was channel four, and
then later in the afternoon. This was Saturday. It was
of course WBTV, and I mean, we just loved it.
It was part of our lives. We thought it was great.
And I want to say thank you Rob Kellum, the
maestro of wrestling, for being part of the experience of
(28:39):
so many young kids that aren't young anymore. But we
loved what we saw. And I guess you saw that
in the faces of the young kids that would come
up to you, wouldn't you. Oh.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
Absolutely, it was such is a pleasure to see the
younger audience and the fans from around the world come
to you and saying how much you inspire them. And
I mean, it's it's it's such a wonderful thing to
be a part of. And I can't thank them enough
(29:18):
for their inspiration, inspiration and because they inspired me as
much as I hopefully inspire them.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
So you know, it is a misual thing, really is.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
I'll tell you what. You inspired so many of my friends.
We loved you, and I am I am so lucky
that I was the guy that got to meet a
lot of you and be around you and find out
just how magic you're.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
You're right, there's a word called.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Magic and professional wrestling is magic. You guys know how
to do what you do. It's tough. It's not easy,
am I correct?
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Oh yeah, it's such a tough industry.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
I mean, if people realize how how tough our industry is.
It takes a certain breed of individual to do what
we do.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Right. And I've got one more wrestler I want to
ask you about because he was truly one of my
favorites and you don't know who it is, but it
is the absolute the man, Randy Savage. Did you get
to know him some?
Speaker 3 (30:32):
Oh, yep, sure did.
Speaker 4 (30:34):
It was It was an honor to get to know Randy,
and Randy was a big help him and hultkvid or
big help when I signed on with WCW full time
years ago and to be involved with them and the
money and night wres, it was huge. And you know,
(30:56):
at that time I will always cherish.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Yeah. I thought that Hulk Cogan and Randy Savage were
just two of the greatest in the world, and you
were too. I mean, I've seen so many of your
matches and I just love them. You've been a co
host on Scary Cast for years. You've been with Brady Hicks,
You've been with some of the greatest announcers of all time,
(31:22):
and every one of them loves you. I can tell
you that. And I'm going to put you I hope.
I'm not going to put you on the spot, but
I would like to have you back a number of
times because you've got, in my opinion, the best stories
in the world. And you know, and you can tell
us about Gorgeous George, who was and I want to
(31:43):
make this extremely clear, Gorgeous George was the man that
invented the sport of professional exhibition wrestling that we have today.
Do you agree?
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (31:57):
Yeah, he put pro wrestling on TV map UH in
his time. I mean, he was a real trail blazer.
He was the first wrestler to make that transition from
wrestling to Hollywood to the UH entertainment.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
All All World number one.
Speaker 4 (32:20):
And he influenced some of the many icons of the
sports world and entertainment world at which I got their interact.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
Later on with my career. You know, the great.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
Muhammad Ali, James Brown, uh or just two of the
influences that Gorgeous George had in the sports and entertainment world.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
So Rober that's a big resume.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
It really is, and.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
He was absolutely by the way, he was the number
one entertainment revenue general in nineteen fifty six and nineteen
fifty seven. Now I know we call are they whoever
they are call wrestling entertainment. It is not. It is
(33:12):
one of the toughest sports out there. They just have
nowhere else to put it, so they call it entertainment.
But he was, without a doubt the number one thing
person everything in wrestling nineteen fifty six, in nineteen fifty seven.
Gorgeous George. And we're so grateful to be talking with
(33:35):
you about him. And I would love for us to
talk a bit more about Gorgeous George when we have
you on Scary Cast again. So, Papa Strow, the Maestro
of wrestling, will you come back and will you be
a regular, and will you tell us about wrestling because
I don't know about you, but I love wrestling. Will
(33:56):
you will you come back again?
Speaker 3 (33:58):
I'd love too.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
You're you are just such a phenomenon and I'm so
glad that we had you here. I want to thank
you for being here because you're just You're just someone
that brings me back to my childhood and you make
me remember when we really had heroes, and you were
one of my heroes. So I want to say thank.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
You, oh, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
You have anything else, I'm gonna let you close the show.
Do you have any other story or statement you would
like to say to your fans?
Speaker 3 (34:35):
Thank you for sticking with me through the years. I've
got more things to come.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
You can go to my YouTube channel YouTube dot com
slash c slash Stro Maestro or look for Stro Maestro
on YouTube dot com. Also, I have merchandise on sale now.
It's part of my rebranding at on tespring dot com.
Just look for Maestro rub Kellum and you'll see all
(35:03):
the new merch on sale as well as my cat,
Glory Kat has merch as well. But yeah, yeah, thank
you so much all of.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
You from around the world for sticking with me.
Speaker 4 (35:17):
And there's more to come, so stay in touch.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
All I got to say is we're thrilled to be
sticking with you because you are. There's only one Maestro,
and we're so proud to have you as we move
into twenty twenty five to have you on this show.
Thanks a lot.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
I'll do the.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Quick call around when we're done and Papastrow the maestro
of wrestling. You are number one with Scary Cast.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Okay, thank you so much, God bless you. Merry Christmas,
talk to you soon.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
You're the best.
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