March 1, 2022 • 28 mins
Anonymous phone calls from Wrestling Fans all over the world.
Curated by AEW Wrestler, Colt Cabana.
Be a part of the show by calling:
87-CABANA-34 (872-222-6234)
or sending a voice memo to:
87CABANA34@gmail.com
Two Bonus Shows A Month:
www.Patreon.com/ColtCabana
www.ColtMerch.com
www.ColtCabana.com
Music by:
twitter.com/MattKoonMusic
Podcast Art by:
instagram.com/Donna619
Curated by AEW Wrestler, Colt Cabana.
Be a part of the show by calling:
87-CABANA-34 (872-222-6234)
or sending a voice memo to:
87CABANA34@gmail.com
Two Bonus Shows A Month:
www.Patreon.com/ColtCabana
www.ColtMerch.com
www.ColtCabana.com
Music by:
twitter.com/MattKoonMusic
Podcast Art by:
instagram.com/Donna619
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Wrestling Anonymous. Please hold Welcome TooWrestling Anonymous. The Hotline podcast call in
show, where you the wrestling fanor the person with any kind of experience
based upon pro wrestling calls in leadsan anonymous voice, memo or message,
and I Cabata, host and curator, collect the calls, edit them up,
(00:25):
present them to you in a fun, short, easy little podcast.
This isn't the only podcast I do. Before we get to the calls,
three straight weeks of the art ofwrestling are headed your way and actually already
started. Download my talk with AlexReynolds of the Dark Order and make sure
you're subscribed. Also find the podcastPro Wrestling Fringe thirteen binge able stories about
(00:50):
fringe things that have happened in wrestling. The shows are free and include a
brand new one me and Colin Hunterof Kfabe News just worked on about Tyson
Kid and Davy Boy Smith Junior wrestlingfor the WWF or they even had their
driver's license. Maybe you want moreof this podcast and you can get that
too, over on the Patreon orjust five bucks. I put out two
(01:11):
more bonus shows. Those come outthe first and the fifteenth of the month.
Those are at Patreon dot com,slash Cold Cabana, don't forget to
rate, review and subscribe on Appleand Spotify. Put out your support on
social media. Spread the word.You got a friend, Tell them about
the show. Tell them this podcastis a great home for their weird story
(01:33):
to live. What about you?Do you have a great story to call
in? Maybe you were a manufacturerof my new upper deck card, which
I do have some of my personalcollection and will sign them over at coldmerch
dot com. But maybe you noticedI put fuck face on my singlet for
my card. You caught it andyou had it removed. Okay, maybe
(01:53):
that wasn't me, but I wishI had done that. Billy Ripken is
a legend. Go watch Jack ofAll Trades by Stu Stone in the movie
It's About Cards. There's two veryeasy ways to share a story with the
world. Email a voice memo toeighty seven Combanda thirty four at gmail dot
com. Or pick up the phonedial eighty seven Cabanda thirty four. That's
eight seven two two two two sixtytwo thirty four. The messages aren't coming
(02:17):
in. It's fast, and Iam calling you out for you to call
in the show eighty seven. Cabanathirty four is the number. Give it
a call and leave a message afterthe beer wrestling Anonymous, please hold A
(02:47):
handful of years ago, I wasat the local community college earning my associate's
degree. The local community college requiredus to have an X amount of volunteer
hour for like local nonprofits and whathave you. In my personal life,
I do a lot of graphic designand have been very fortunate to continue doing
(03:08):
so. So I worked with Iguess like the local coordinator at the college
in order to do graphics for likea local like military related nonprofit, like
dealing with veterans and what have you. So I showed up and I was
wearing like a WW shirt that Ibought at a local thrist store. I'm
(03:30):
sitting there meeting this woman who isin charge of this organization and we're talking
about graphic design and she sees myshirt and it's like, oh, you
you watch a wrestling I was like, yeah, yeah, I love wrestling,
and I watched Spring of Honor,you know, impact and all that
stuffy aunt the time. She's like, oh, yeah, I used to
data wrestler, did beauty. Niceguy. And this woman is probably in
(03:53):
her fifties, maybe maybe sixties.At this point, I am really difficult
to tell. And for some reasonI just said I don't believe you,
which for me is a very outof character to state something like that.
But I just found it, likethat's a really random claim, you know.
So she gets on her smartphone andpulls up Facebook and has loads of
(04:15):
like just random bar pictures of likeSid carrying her and like them on like
on dates and stuff like steamboat isn'tsome pictures, Piper isn't some pictures always
legitimately floored, Like I live inCharlotte, so it's very common, like
you know, JCP and all thatstuff be in the area. But it's
wild to see how interwoven everything wasat a time, even though lessons still
(04:41):
predominant here. I don't believe you. You are full of bullshit. Why
would she know that name? Sid? Udi? Udi? Either way in
your face, you got put inyour place. Her and Sid would get
down. Listen. They all mightnot look like lookers in their old years,
but when they were of partying age, when they wanted to know how
(05:04):
vicious said Vicious really was, theygot to know. It's the best when
there's somebody who's like, oh,yeah, I know this person and to
them either A, it's a nobodyor not important or B or whatever it
is. She knew him as thesexy man that she went on dates with
and was courting. She didn't knowhim as the master and ruler of the
(05:26):
world like we did. I'm gladshe called you out and she had such
a fun wrestling connection. In anon wrestling situation, my closest friends used
to go to the stumpy hotel barcalled hand Rams in Ashwabinen, which is
a suburb of Green Bay. Wewere there most saturdays. We always said
(05:48):
at the same table. The tablenext to us was also filled with regulars
the seeing people. They had theirtable, we had ours. Our groups
became fast friends. One in particularwas a little person that said he was
a wrestler. I wasn't under wrestling, so I did not know the extent
(06:09):
of I guess his fame. Abunch of saturdays later, we're all pretty
close and Tim and I were sittingat the bar. Our friends were at
our tables, were ordering beers,smoking our cigarettes. The air conditioner in
this shit bar is out, soit is super hot. We're all in
gym shorts and undershirts. My bestfriend Gary, his boot is notoriously always
(06:32):
hanging on This wrestler and I arewalking back from the bar for week at
our beers. He is in frontof me. He's walking to his table,
which is beyond ours. He turnsback and almost pullses, takes a
cigarette and ashes it into my friendsGary's but crack. We were laughing looking
at each other. Everybody on histable wanted to know what was going on,
(06:59):
you know, for him, andeverybody at my sable wanted to know
what was going on for me.He didn't say anything. It was just
kind of an unspoken thing. Istart liking wrestling around two twelve water Sigy
Wrestling Con. I thought it'd befunny to get my friend Gary a signed
picture of this guy, and soI told him the story. Him and
(07:20):
there is eighteen partner I believe theyhave, like a best friend given it.
He gets swarmed by a bunch ofkids. Well, I'm halfway through
the story. I finished the story, and it just made me think he's
probably asked many cigarettes in many badbutt tracks. Yeah, like that was
absolutely no big deal to him.Man, Let me guess a little person
(07:43):
in Wisconsin, in the Green Bayarea. I have a guess as to
who that is, and I'm surea lot of you at home, probably
you have already deduced it. Butwe haven't gotten a lot of stories of
wrestlers at their local watering hole becominga local. And I assumed this person
that he's talking about as a friendof mine, and I know that he's
a regular at the local bar thathe lives at or lives near. And
(08:07):
I also know he's a little mischievousdevil. I would imagine from an outside
perspective seeing a little person roaming aroundthe bar action cigarettes and people's butt cheeks
just to pop that guy. Thatwas the only reason to make him laugh,
because he knew it would make himlaugh. And then to figure out
later when he's trying to tell yourfriend a story and you're not even big
(08:28):
attention because it's just a normal thing. So that's exactly what we're looking for
here at Wrestling Anonymous. These kindof stories, these kind of tales,
nobody would believe you, nobody wouldcare as much as we do here on
this Anonymous podcast. I'm a schoolteacher in South Carolina. I work at
a high school and I have astudent with me this school year. She
(08:54):
came to me as a student whohad been in a lot of trouble in
the middle schools and just going downa path that would cause her to not
be so successful in school. Sobefore she came to me, I had
heard about her, and after beinga teacher for so many years, you
kind of have your guard up ona student like this. But basically,
(09:18):
I've I've been with this student ofthis school year and she has been the
sweetest girl, really wants to turnher life around. As they has made
a's and these all throughout the schoolyears. She's really working hard. About
halfway through the fall semester, Inoticed that she wore an AW sweatshirt.
(09:41):
I watched AW weekly and I wentto her and I said and I said,
hey, I see you're wearing thatsweatshirt. Are you a big wrestling
fan? And she said, yes, I am. And that was a
great way for her and I toconnect. Every week we talk about Dynamite,
we talk about Rampage, you know. I asked her what she thought
(10:01):
of this or that, you know, and it's a real good way to
connect with her. But she's reallyturning things around. You know, really
working hard. Oh this is oneof those heartwarming stories for me. I
relate in terms of I was akid and if I found out any teacher
knew anything about wrestling, I wouldwork so hard to have a connection with
(10:24):
them, but you know, theywould keep their distance. So I really
like that this teacher is like awrestling fan and went really hard at the
student to have a bond with thestudent. This is what it's all about.
It's so nice to hear that evenbefore you found out about that wrestling
bond, that in your class shedid well. And yes, it is
(10:45):
about that connection with the student.From my days, I remember like I
was a saint in some classes withthe teachers I respected or respected me,
and I could be the biggest pieceof shit to a teacher if they,
I don't know, rub me theway or did something I didn't like.
So that says a lot about youas a teacher. Is right away you
got her respect and now you havethis thing. I don't want to say
(11:07):
that you could dangle over her,but hopefully makes her happier, more connected,
more focused, and like you said, on the right path to a
better life. Those are the formativeyears you're having an opportunity to really set
her on a path for a betterlife as opposed to a harder life.
(11:30):
And one of those keys gets tobe you were bond with wrestling. She'll
remember this for the rest of herlife. I remember mine, you remember
years she will. She will definitelyremember this. I'm assuming you know that
and understand that power as you moveforward. Wrestling Anonymous, please hold for
sponsors. In the late eighties,I went to college in Pittsburgh. Being
(11:56):
from a rural area, one ofthe things I was most excited about was
the ability to go to big sportingevents, including wrestling. I was always
a big NWA TBS six oh fivefan, and I was thrilled they were
going to have a house show thatfall in nineteen eighty nine at the Civic
Arena. A guy in my dormalways seemed to know a lot about wrestling
and amazed us by predicting what wouldhappen. I'd later learned that he got
(12:18):
one of the newsletters, but atthe time at the time I didn't know
those things existed. One of thosestorylines at the time was that Robin Green
had turned on Rick Steiner and beganmanaging the team of Doom. They wore
masks and tried their best not toreveal who they were. There. At
the start, the guy in mydorm told me that Doom was Butch Reid,
(12:39):
who I had seen briefly the WWF, and Ron Simmons, who I'd
seen on TBS a couple of times, but I didn't think much of it.
This guy said Simmons was going tobe big, he was all American.
They had big plans for him.I thought, yeah, yeah,
okay whatever. I was most excitedabout the big Rick Flair versus Terry Funk
title match and the Texas Death Match. There at the arena. I went
(13:00):
early, as I'd been in thestead Of Arena a few times for Penguin
games, and I knew where theplayers would part would sometimes wait for him,
and even though we couldn't get veryclose to them, sometimes they would
come over and sign stuff for us. So I thought I'd go and see
if any of the wrestlers came inthe same way a last. Whether my
time was wrong or I don't know, I didn't see anybody, and I
(13:20):
was about to go inside when anice link and pulled up and out of
the car got the team of Doom. I was amazed they were while dressed
in regular clothes, they got outwith their masks on. You know,
amazing they went to such links tokeep the secret. There were two ladies
with them who assume were their wives, and they got their bags and headed
(13:41):
in. But just as they starteddown the ramp, the one lady yelled
out, run get the door.Shocked. I was once again surprised.
The guy in my dorm was right. Doom number one dude go back to
the car, shut the door,and headed back down into the arena.
And I thought I heard him mutteror something under his breath, which looking
(14:03):
back now I could guess was probablyDamn or k fabe or you dummy.
I told you not to call meRon. I'm trying to hide my secret
identity. I related to this onea lot because I think I've told the
story before. When I was akid, I had no clue who Doom
was, but they were big andbad and awesome, and I thought they
(14:24):
were the coolest. And then whentheir mascot take it off, I was
like, that's where they've been.But I was also an eight or nine
year old at the time, soit was perfect for me, the eight
or nine year old kid. Idon't know about an adult. I'm sure
all the adults knew exactly who Doomwas at the time. That part I
absolutely loved and obviously a loved one, totally exposing because why would they know
(14:48):
or should they know? Their husbandis going to work, or their boyfriend
or their brother or whatever it is. They're going to work and they're just
coming along to this little show thatthey're doing. But to us, it's
everything in a moment that we neverforget, and we call a podcast about
two thousand and seven, two thousandand eight. I don't remember the year
(15:09):
exactly, but I'm in college.I am back home in Bruce, Mississippi,
which is about seventy miles south ofMemphis, and I'm with a friend
and he's never been to a wrestlingshow before. There's a local wrestling show
with the National Art Armory. Isee that Handsome Jimmy Valliant is going to
(15:31):
be there. I'm like, dude, we gotta go, we gotta go
see Handsome Jimmy. We had priorcommitments for other things. We end up
coming, but it's the last threeshows of the night. The promoter or
the man at the door was niceenough to let us just walk in.
He said, don't worry about it, because missed so much. I said,
thank you about some popcorn, abouta hot dog, about a dream.
(15:52):
Handsome Jimmy had already wrestled sadly,but he's hanging out in the bag,
so I just go and talk tohim. Fast forward to the main
event. It Handsome Jimmy and Iare still talking and he tells me,
oh, the boys are just oneare the promoter's son. And I'm like,
oh, okay. He's like,you should you should wrestle with him
a little bit. I said,okay, So I started calling him paper
(16:14):
chaps. There's about forty fifty peoplebetween us, and we're job jacking back
and forth. The wrestler, yourkid calls me a horror, and I'm
just like why, and so Isuperlie en after the horror is the one
that gave birth to you. Allof a sudden, this kid's mom comes
out and goes, who you fuckingsaid it? Who you fucking called me
(16:37):
a horror? And this kid thatjust finished wrestling farm Wire tag team match
is coming after me and a groupof people, and Handsome Jimmy just looks
at me and he goes, Ithink you ought to get out of here,
boy, and I just huffed,and I am now banned from the
National Guard Armory in Bruce of theCity. Well that's a sound like Southern
(17:00):
wrestling. Oh that's so fun,and you've been banned from the Natural Guard
memory. You came in for agood time. And Jimmy, he's persuasive,
the boogey woogie man. You listento him. You got peer pressured
into calling that woman in front ofher face that she is a whore.
How dare you? How dare you? I think that's the right thing.
(17:22):
You partook in the wrestling fan game. You did the correct thing, and
the mom did too, although Ithink you were doing it ironically, I
don't think she was. And JimmyValiant, who's been around the world a
million times and has been to notonly some of the biggest shows in the
world, but has wrestled all ofthe smallest shows in the world. I've
been on some with him there.He was just taking it in another day
(17:45):
on the job for him, andI bet Jimmy Valiant has zero recognition of
that, but at the time hegot a nice chuckle out of it.
I started training with Chris hero anda little Jim in Middletown with his friend
Adam and his friend heart Rob Halsley. We did a show in Troy,
Ohio at this little bitty gymnasium.I believe it was the promoter's niece or
(18:10):
something like that. He carried outa chair, yelled at her, put
her to made her sit on thechair. It was like Chris's first match
as maybe first second match as thewife Beater. We're in the back and
there's this guy named the legend LarryLane. He was teaching us farm bars
and stuff like that, and soChris had his chair that he's going to
carry out as his gimmick as thewife Beaters. Larry comes in. He's
(18:33):
an old guy, probably in hisseventies, graps Chris's chair, gets fuck
naked and sits on Chris's chair withhis manhood laying across the seat of Chris's
chair while we're sitting there tying upour boots off in and it was just
the most awkward thing ever. Itwas my first time being in a wrestling
locker room. But Chris Heroes veryfirst chair of the wife Beater gimmick had
(18:59):
an old man's balls on it.It was hilarious. Yeah, I guess
you could relate that to let's say, balls mahoney. He always came out
with his chair. That was hisgimmick. He held on the chair,
and that was the same thing thatChris was doing very early on in his
career with that character that he's playing. That he smartly changed his name and
became Chris Hero, but at thetime, he was a guy who came
out with a chair. So justimagine, this is your weapon, this
(19:22):
is your Jimmy Hart megaphone, thisis your mister Fujie Kane, this is
your chair, and an old wrestlerjust plops his balls out and drops it
on there. The fun part isas a wrestler for many years, this
is a zero surprise to me.It's just what happened. The first thing
that comes to my mind is ashow I did in Tijuana was super porky
(19:45):
years ago, and he couldn't havebeen more naked or sitting on a chair.
And yes, I shouldn't be lookingat him, but believe me,
that's all he wanted was for everybodyto look at him. He was probably
naked on that chair for a goodten to fifteen minutes, and here I
am years later. Shouldn't be talkingabout it, but of course you talk
about it, especially what it relatesto. A call on your very own
(20:07):
podcast, Wrestling Anonymous, please holdfor sponsors this past That day, I
went to my very first independent showand I was really excited. So when
I got there, about five feetnext to me, there was this old
couple which, if I had todescribe them, they looked like wrestling grandpa
(20:33):
met a cowboy and they were alldressed up as cowboys, and you know,
good for them, and they werereally into the show. So when
it came in time for the mainevent, and I felt bad because this
is my first indie show and Ihad no idea who these people were.
The good guy won the championship fromthe heel, and as the ring announcer
was handing the ray of the championshipto hand to the winner, the old
(20:59):
cowboy that's the title away from thering announcer, Anne started parading around the
ring celebrating with the new champion,and I was like, man, this
is my first indie show and that'smy experience. Well, yeah, that's
exactly how your first indie wrestling experienceshould be some random old dude dresses a
(21:22):
cowboy, grabbing the belt and celebratingwith the new champion or the winner or
the local wrestler who let's assume waseither his son or his neighbor or his
grandkid. But I'm really hoping thatit was part of an angle, and
it's like Cowboy Bob Orton or DoryFunk or somebody really wrestling famous that everybody
knew what was happening. But thisguy was just like, I don't know,
(21:45):
some old cowboy guy just interjected himselfin the show, and I guess
that's what happens at wrestling shows.And yes, even if it was somebody
famous, forget everything. I said, that's exactly what happens at independent wrestling
shows and cherished them for the restof your life. During the sixties and
(22:06):
seventies, wrestling was held at theFortgand Gardens, and the wrestlers would sit
in the dressing rooms of the hockeyplayers, and there was a big separation
between them, you know, sothey couldn't I couldn't talk to each other.
I go in there into the dressrooms to say hello to the wrestlers,
and pick up the programs and shitchat and everything. On occasion,
(22:33):
George got to ask, you wouldask me to pass this note on to
someone, usually Nick bok Legal,and sometimes you'll wait for an answer,
sometimes not. So I do thisand then go back to selling programs and
et cetera, et cetera, neverthink anything of it. One day I
got the note. Never read them, you know, just past them.
(22:56):
It happened to be Nick lock leglehwas very very the k Fame and looked
at me and what should hang?Scribbled the thing and brought it back to
the thesis dressing room, gave itto George and you read it, and
gave it to I don't know,but very indignant. Wait a minute and
back and this went back and forth, and finally Nick looks at me,
(23:21):
backed me into according me, saysyou tell lad Evan, And then I've
heard a voice and the being kFame so stopped. He wrote down an
answer. Very indignant, I broughtit back and that was the end of
it. Now fast forward to nowadayswith podcasts and and such, and it
(23:47):
done on me that what I wasprobably doing was passing on the finish to
some matches or went particular Nick Bodwinkle, there's match and he didn't like it.
I thought, if I had onlyread some of those messages, I
wonder if the mystique of pro wrestling, because I totally believed in it at
(24:17):
the time, if that would havedisappeared, or if it would have made
any difference at all. First ofall, wrestling, grandpa, can we
get you out of that car please? You can't be doing messages while driving
in a car and reaching in theWendy's bag. Okay. Second of all,
you totally should have looked. Whydidn't you look? No one was
(24:38):
going to know if you looked.There wasn't like cameras in the sixties or
the seventies in the hallways to seeif you looked. You should have looked,
even if you kept it to yourlast dying breath, not telling anyone,
you should have looked. You haveto look. Wrestlers passing notes back
and forth and you're the person.Come on, lastly, that was text
messaging back the sixties. Isn't thatcrazy? I mean, they were just
(25:03):
talking to their opponents, but theywere in separate locker rooms because the fans
wanted them in separate locker rooms.They wanted to believe, and they needed
to talk to each other about somethingthat was text messaging. Find the little
kid who's selling programs, who's allowedto go into both locker rooms and use
them as a messenger pigeon. That'sall. You were a wrestling messenger pigeon,
(25:26):
and you were probably great at it. And we'll never know if the
mystique would have been ruined for youor not, but we appreciate that had
happened and you were able to callin Wrestling Anonymous. Please hold for the
credits. Hey, thanks for listeningto this week's episode of Wrestling Anonymous.
Today's show was edited and produced bymyself in my studio apartment in Chicago,
(25:52):
Illinois. Music is by Matt CoonMusic on Twitter, podcast cover are by
Dona six one nine on Instagram,and voiceover work by at Sarah Joy Shockey.
I'm on social media Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.
Everything is at Cold Cabana, ohDownload and Binge Pro. Wrestling Fringe
the podcast short stories about the weirdfringe things in wrestling. Listen to all
the past art of Wrestling archives andthe three new ones coming up. They're
(26:15):
all available on the Art of Wrestlingpodcast feed where you can download them all
with ads for free, or grabthem ad free on my Patreon, Patreon
dot com Slash Cold Cabana. Signup now at the ten dollar tier and
I'll give you a vinyl sticker andi'll send it to your house. I'll
also personally write your address and giveyou a fun little nickname while I may
add it. Or sign up atthe twenty dollar tier and I'll send you
(26:36):
an autographs swear word each month.Collect them all. I just sent out
all of the January and February stickers. Thank you for your patients. The
March one will come April first.Don't forget about the first and the fifteenth
of the month, new different bonuscalls at the Patreon. I do the
bonus calls live to subscribers of mytwitch Twitch dot tv Slash Cold Cabana.
Twitch is free. It's a veryfun community of video games and other stuff.
(27:00):
Subscribers get their perks. All myshirts and custom video messages are over
at pro wrestling tis dot com SlashCold Cabana, where I have a new
Maxwell Street t shirt. Please pickthat up or head on over to Coltmerch
dot com where you can buy allof my other Cold Cabana merch including signed
upper Deck Colt Cabana cards from mypersonal collection and all the usual goodies.
(27:21):
I still print out my labels andshipping myself. For information on me and
updates on live independent wrestling shows likemy parents said, Glori Pro Wrestling and
St. Louis on Sunday, Marchtwentieth, go to Colcabana dot com for
details. Aw will be touring Orlando, Texas, Jacksonville and Moore. For're
ticket information and information on how youcan watch All Elite Wrestling every Wednesday and
(27:41):
Friday night on TNT and TBS Mondayand Tuesday on YouTube. Head on over
to All Elite Wrestling dot com.Eighty seven Cabana thirty four is the number
that's eight seven two two two twosixty two thirty four or email in voice
memo to eighty seven Cabana thirty fourat gmail dot com. The show it
only works if you give it acall, So give it a call please
(28:03):
and thanks, thank you for calling. Goodbye
Wrestling Anonymous. Please hold Welcome TooWrestling Anonymous. The Hotline podcast call in
show, where you the wrestling fanor the person with any kind of experience
based upon pro wrestling calls in leadsan anonymous voice, memo or message,
and I Cabata, host and curator, collect the calls, edit them up,
(00:25):
present them to you in a fun, short, easy little podcast.
This isn't the only podcast I do. Before we get to the calls,
three straight weeks of the art ofwrestling are headed your way and actually already
started. Download my talk with AlexReynolds of the Dark Order and make sure
you're subscribed. Also find the podcastPro Wrestling Fringe thirteen binge able stories about
(00:50):
fringe things that have happened in wrestling. The shows are free and include a
brand new one me and Colin Hunterof Kfabe News just worked on about Tyson
Kid and Davy Boy Smith Junior wrestlingfor the WWF or they even had their
driver's license. Maybe you want moreof this podcast and you can get that
too, over on the Patreon orjust five bucks. I put out two
(01:11):
more bonus shows. Those come outthe first and the fifteenth of the month.
Those are at Patreon dot com,slash Cold Cabana, don't forget to
rate, review and subscribe on Appleand Spotify. Put out your support on
social media. Spread the word.You got a friend, Tell them about
the show. Tell them this podcastis a great home for their weird story
(01:33):
to live. What about you?Do you have a great story to call
in? Maybe you were a manufacturerof my new upper deck card, which
I do have some of my personalcollection and will sign them over at coldmerch
dot com. But maybe you noticedI put fuck face on my singlet for
my card. You caught it andyou had it removed. Okay, maybe
(01:53):
that wasn't me, but I wishI had done that. Billy Ripken is
a legend. Go watch Jack ofAll Trades by Stu Stone in the movie
It's About Cards. There's two veryeasy ways to share a story with the
world. Email a voice memo toeighty seven Combanda thirty four at gmail dot
com. Or pick up the phonedial eighty seven Cabanda thirty four. That's
eight seven two two two two sixtytwo thirty four. The messages aren't coming
(02:17):
in. It's fast, and Iam calling you out for you to call
in the show eighty seven. Cabanathirty four is the number. Give it
a call and leave a message afterthe beer wrestling Anonymous, please hold A
(02:47):
handful of years ago, I wasat the local community college earning my associate's
degree. The local community college requiredus to have an X amount of volunteer
hour for like local nonprofits and whathave you. In my personal life,
I do a lot of graphic designand have been very fortunate to continue doing
(03:08):
so. So I worked with Iguess like the local coordinator at the college
in order to do graphics for likea local like military related nonprofit, like
dealing with veterans and what have you. So I showed up and I was
wearing like a WW shirt that Ibought at a local thrist store. I'm
(03:30):
sitting there meeting this woman who isin charge of this organization and we're talking
about graphic design and she sees myshirt and it's like, oh, you
you watch a wrestling I was like, yeah, yeah, I love wrestling,
and I watched Spring of Honor,you know, impact and all that
stuffy aunt the time. She's like, oh, yeah, I used to
data wrestler, did beauty. Niceguy. And this woman is probably in
(03:53):
her fifties, maybe maybe sixties.At this point, I am really difficult
to tell. And for some reasonI just said I don't believe you,
which for me is a very outof character to state something like that.
But I just found it, likethat's a really random claim, you know.
So she gets on her smartphone andpulls up Facebook and has loads of
(04:15):
like just random bar pictures of likeSid carrying her and like them on like
on dates and stuff like steamboat isn'tsome pictures, Piper isn't some pictures always
legitimately floored, Like I live inCharlotte, so it's very common, like
you know, JCP and all thatstuff be in the area. But it's
wild to see how interwoven everything wasat a time, even though lessons still
(04:41):
predominant here. I don't believe you. You are full of bullshit. Why
would she know that name? Sid? Udi? Udi? Either way in
your face, you got put inyour place. Her and Sid would get
down. Listen. They all mightnot look like lookers in their old years,
but when they were of partying age, when they wanted to know how
(05:04):
vicious said Vicious really was, theygot to know. It's the best when
there's somebody who's like, oh,yeah, I know this person and to
them either A, it's a nobodyor not important or B or whatever it
is. She knew him as thesexy man that she went on dates with
and was courting. She didn't knowhim as the master and ruler of the
(05:26):
world like we did. I'm gladshe called you out and she had such
a fun wrestling connection. In anon wrestling situation, my closest friends used
to go to the stumpy hotel barcalled hand Rams in Ashwabinen, which is
a suburb of Green Bay. Wewere there most saturdays. We always said
(05:48):
at the same table. The tablenext to us was also filled with regulars
the seeing people. They had theirtable, we had ours. Our groups
became fast friends. One in particularwas a little person that said he was
a wrestler. I wasn't under wrestling, so I did not know the extent
(06:09):
of I guess his fame. Abunch of saturdays later, we're all pretty
close and Tim and I were sittingat the bar. Our friends were at
our tables, were ordering beers,smoking our cigarettes. The air conditioner in
this shit bar is out, soit is super hot. We're all in
gym shorts and undershirts. My bestfriend Gary, his boot is notoriously always
(06:32):
hanging on This wrestler and I arewalking back from the bar for week at
our beers. He is in frontof me. He's walking to his table,
which is beyond ours. He turnsback and almost pullses, takes a
cigarette and ashes it into my friendsGary's but crack. We were laughing looking
at each other. Everybody on histable wanted to know what was going on,
(06:59):
you know, for him, andeverybody at my sable wanted to know
what was going on for me.He didn't say anything. It was just
kind of an unspoken thing. Istart liking wrestling around two twelve water Sigy
Wrestling Con. I thought it'd befunny to get my friend Gary a signed
picture of this guy, and soI told him the story. Him and
(07:20):
there is eighteen partner I believe theyhave, like a best friend given it.
He gets swarmed by a bunch ofkids. Well, I'm halfway through
the story. I finished the story, and it just made me think he's
probably asked many cigarettes in many badbutt tracks. Yeah, like that was
absolutely no big deal to him.Man, Let me guess a little person
(07:43):
in Wisconsin, in the Green Bayarea. I have a guess as to
who that is, and I'm surea lot of you at home, probably
you have already deduced it. Butwe haven't gotten a lot of stories of
wrestlers at their local watering hole becominga local. And I assumed this person
that he's talking about as a friendof mine, and I know that he's
a regular at the local bar thathe lives at or lives near. And
(08:07):
I also know he's a little mischievousdevil. I would imagine from an outside
perspective seeing a little person roaming aroundthe bar action cigarettes and people's butt cheeks
just to pop that guy. Thatwas the only reason to make him laugh,
because he knew it would make himlaugh. And then to figure out
later when he's trying to tell yourfriend a story and you're not even big
(08:28):
attention because it's just a normal thing. So that's exactly what we're looking for
here at Wrestling Anonymous. These kindof stories, these kind of tales,
nobody would believe you, nobody wouldcare as much as we do here on
this Anonymous podcast. I'm a schoolteacher in South Carolina. I work at
a high school and I have astudent with me this school year. She
(08:54):
came to me as a student whohad been in a lot of trouble in
the middle schools and just going downa path that would cause her to not
be so successful in school. Sobefore she came to me, I had
heard about her, and after beinga teacher for so many years, you
kind of have your guard up ona student like this. But basically,
(09:18):
I've I've been with this student ofthis school year and she has been the
sweetest girl, really wants to turnher life around. As they has made
a's and these all throughout the schoolyears. She's really working hard. About
halfway through the fall semester, Inoticed that she wore an AW sweatshirt.
(09:41):
I watched AW weekly and I wentto her and I said and I said,
hey, I see you're wearing thatsweatshirt. Are you a big wrestling
fan? And she said, yes, I am. And that was a
great way for her and I toconnect. Every week we talk about Dynamite,
we talk about Rampage, you know. I asked her what she thought
(10:01):
of this or that, you know, and it's a real good way to
connect with her. But she's reallyturning things around. You know, really
working hard. Oh this is oneof those heartwarming stories for me. I
relate in terms of I was akid and if I found out any teacher
knew anything about wrestling, I wouldwork so hard to have a connection with
(10:24):
them, but you know, theywould keep their distance. So I really
like that this teacher is like awrestling fan and went really hard at the
student to have a bond with thestudent. This is what it's all about.
It's so nice to hear that evenbefore you found out about that wrestling
bond, that in your class shedid well. And yes, it is
(10:45):
about that connection with the student.From my days, I remember like I
was a saint in some classes withthe teachers I respected or respected me,
and I could be the biggest pieceof shit to a teacher if they,
I don't know, rub me theway or did something I didn't like.
So that says a lot about youas a teacher. Is right away you
got her respect and now you havethis thing. I don't want to say
(11:07):
that you could dangle over her,but hopefully makes her happier, more connected,
more focused, and like you said, on the right path to a
better life. Those are the formativeyears you're having an opportunity to really set
her on a path for a betterlife as opposed to a harder life.
(11:30):
And one of those keys gets tobe you were bond with wrestling. She'll
remember this for the rest of herlife. I remember mine, you remember
years she will. She will definitelyremember this. I'm assuming you know that
and understand that power as you moveforward. Wrestling Anonymous, please hold for
sponsors. In the late eighties,I went to college in Pittsburgh. Being
(11:56):
from a rural area, one ofthe things I was most excited about was
the ability to go to big sportingevents, including wrestling. I was always
a big NWA TBS six oh fivefan, and I was thrilled they were
going to have a house show thatfall in nineteen eighty nine at the Civic
Arena. A guy in my dormalways seemed to know a lot about wrestling
and amazed us by predicting what wouldhappen. I'd later learned that he got
(12:18):
one of the newsletters, but atthe time at the time I didn't know
those things existed. One of thosestorylines at the time was that Robin Green
had turned on Rick Steiner and beganmanaging the team of Doom. They wore
masks and tried their best not toreveal who they were. There. At
the start, the guy in mydorm told me that Doom was Butch Reid,
(12:39):
who I had seen briefly the WWF, and Ron Simmons, who I'd
seen on TBS a couple of times, but I didn't think much of it.
This guy said Simmons was going tobe big, he was all American.
They had big plans for him.I thought, yeah, yeah,
okay whatever. I was most excitedabout the big Rick Flair versus Terry Funk
title match and the Texas Death Match. There at the arena. I went
(13:00):
early, as I'd been in thestead Of Arena a few times for Penguin
games, and I knew where theplayers would part would sometimes wait for him,
and even though we couldn't get veryclose to them, sometimes they would
come over and sign stuff for us. So I thought I'd go and see
if any of the wrestlers came inthe same way a last. Whether my
time was wrong or I don't know, I didn't see anybody, and I
(13:20):
was about to go inside when anice link and pulled up and out of
the car got the team of Doom. I was amazed they were while dressed
in regular clothes, they got outwith their masks on. You know,
amazing they went to such links tokeep the secret. There were two ladies
with them who assume were their wives, and they got their bags and headed
(13:41):
in. But just as they starteddown the ramp, the one lady yelled
out, run get the door.Shocked. I was once again surprised.
The guy in my dorm was right. Doom number one dude go back to
the car, shut the door,and headed back down into the arena.
And I thought I heard him mutteror something under his breath, which looking
(14:03):
back now I could guess was probablyDamn or k fabe or you dummy.
I told you not to call meRon. I'm trying to hide my secret
identity. I related to this onea lot because I think I've told the
story before. When I was akid, I had no clue who Doom
was, but they were big andbad and awesome, and I thought they
(14:24):
were the coolest. And then whentheir mascot take it off, I was
like, that's where they've been.But I was also an eight or nine
year old at the time, soit was perfect for me, the eight
or nine year old kid. Idon't know about an adult. I'm sure
all the adults knew exactly who Doomwas at the time. That part I
absolutely loved and obviously a loved one, totally exposing because why would they know
(14:48):
or should they know? Their husbandis going to work, or their boyfriend
or their brother or whatever it is. They're going to work and they're just
coming along to this little show thatthey're doing. But to us, it's
everything in a moment that we neverforget, and we call a podcast about
two thousand and seven, two thousandand eight. I don't remember the year
(15:09):
exactly, but I'm in college.I am back home in Bruce, Mississippi,
which is about seventy miles south ofMemphis, and I'm with a friend
and he's never been to a wrestlingshow before. There's a local wrestling show
with the National Art Armory. Isee that Handsome Jimmy Valliant is going to
(15:31):
be there. I'm like, dude, we gotta go, we gotta go
see Handsome Jimmy. We had priorcommitments for other things. We end up
coming, but it's the last threeshows of the night. The promoter or
the man at the door was niceenough to let us just walk in.
He said, don't worry about it, because missed so much. I said,
thank you about some popcorn, abouta hot dog, about a dream.
(15:52):
Handsome Jimmy had already wrestled sadly,but he's hanging out in the bag,
so I just go and talk tohim. Fast forward to the main
event. It Handsome Jimmy and Iare still talking and he tells me,
oh, the boys are just oneare the promoter's son. And I'm like,
oh, okay. He's like,you should you should wrestle with him
a little bit. I said,okay, So I started calling him paper
(16:14):
chaps. There's about forty fifty peoplebetween us, and we're job jacking back
and forth. The wrestler, yourkid calls me a horror, and I'm
just like why, and so Isuperlie en after the horror is the one
that gave birth to you. Allof a sudden, this kid's mom comes
out and goes, who you fuckingsaid it? Who you fucking called me
(16:37):
a horror? And this kid thatjust finished wrestling farm Wire tag team match
is coming after me and a groupof people, and Handsome Jimmy just looks
at me and he goes, Ithink you ought to get out of here,
boy, and I just huffed,and I am now banned from the
National Guard Armory in Bruce of theCity. Well that's a sound like Southern
(17:00):
wrestling. Oh that's so fun,and you've been banned from the Natural Guard
memory. You came in for agood time. And Jimmy, he's persuasive,
the boogey woogie man. You listento him. You got peer pressured
into calling that woman in front ofher face that she is a whore.
How dare you? How dare you? I think that's the right thing.
(17:22):
You partook in the wrestling fan game. You did the correct thing, and
the mom did too, although Ithink you were doing it ironically, I
don't think she was. And JimmyValiant, who's been around the world a
million times and has been to notonly some of the biggest shows in the
world, but has wrestled all ofthe smallest shows in the world. I've
been on some with him there.He was just taking it in another day
(17:45):
on the job for him, andI bet Jimmy Valiant has zero recognition of
that, but at the time hegot a nice chuckle out of it.
I started training with Chris hero anda little Jim in Middletown with his friend
Adam and his friend heart Rob Halsley. We did a show in Troy,
Ohio at this little bitty gymnasium.I believe it was the promoter's niece or
(18:10):
something like that. He carried outa chair, yelled at her, put
her to made her sit on thechair. It was like Chris's first match
as maybe first second match as thewife Beater. We're in the back and
there's this guy named the legend LarryLane. He was teaching us farm bars
and stuff like that, and soChris had his chair that he's going to
carry out as his gimmick as thewife Beaters. Larry comes in. He's
(18:33):
an old guy, probably in hisseventies, graps Chris's chair, gets fuck
naked and sits on Chris's chair withhis manhood laying across the seat of Chris's
chair while we're sitting there tying upour boots off in and it was just
the most awkward thing ever. Itwas my first time being in a wrestling
locker room. But Chris Heroes veryfirst chair of the wife Beater gimmick had
(18:59):
an old man's balls on it.It was hilarious. Yeah, I guess
you could relate that to let's say, balls mahoney. He always came out
with his chair. That was hisgimmick. He held on the chair,
and that was the same thing thatChris was doing very early on in his
career with that character that he's playing. That he smartly changed his name and
became Chris Hero, but at thetime, he was a guy who came
out with a chair. So justimagine, this is your weapon, this
(19:22):
is your Jimmy Hart megaphone, thisis your mister Fujie Kane, this is
your chair, and an old wrestlerjust plops his balls out and drops it
on there. The fun part isas a wrestler for many years, this
is a zero surprise to me.It's just what happened. The first thing
that comes to my mind is ashow I did in Tijuana was super porky
(19:45):
years ago, and he couldn't havebeen more naked or sitting on a chair.
And yes, I shouldn't be lookingat him, but believe me,
that's all he wanted was for everybodyto look at him. He was probably
naked on that chair for a goodten to fifteen minutes, and here I
am years later. Shouldn't be talkingabout it, but of course you talk
about it, especially what it relatesto. A call on your very own
(20:07):
podcast, Wrestling Anonymous, please holdfor sponsors this past That day, I
went to my very first independent showand I was really excited. So when
I got there, about five feetnext to me, there was this old
couple which, if I had todescribe them, they looked like wrestling grandpa
(20:33):
met a cowboy and they were alldressed up as cowboys, and you know,
good for them, and they werereally into the show. So when
it came in time for the mainevent, and I felt bad because this
is my first indie show and Ihad no idea who these people were.
The good guy won the championship fromthe heel, and as the ring announcer
was handing the ray of the championshipto hand to the winner, the old
(20:59):
cowboy that's the title away from thering announcer, Anne started parading around the
ring celebrating with the new champion,and I was like, man, this
is my first indie show and that'smy experience. Well, yeah, that's
exactly how your first indie wrestling experienceshould be some random old dude dresses a
(21:22):
cowboy, grabbing the belt and celebratingwith the new champion or the winner or
the local wrestler who let's assume waseither his son or his neighbor or his
grandkid. But I'm really hoping thatit was part of an angle, and
it's like Cowboy Bob Orton or DoryFunk or somebody really wrestling famous that everybody
knew what was happening. But thisguy was just like, I don't know,
(21:45):
some old cowboy guy just interjected himselfin the show, and I guess
that's what happens at wrestling shows.And yes, even if it was somebody
famous, forget everything. I said, that's exactly what happens at independent wrestling
shows and cherished them for the restof your life. During the sixties and
(22:06):
seventies, wrestling was held at theFortgand Gardens, and the wrestlers would sit
in the dressing rooms of the hockeyplayers, and there was a big separation
between them, you know, sothey couldn't I couldn't talk to each other.
I go in there into the dressrooms to say hello to the wrestlers,
and pick up the programs and shitchat and everything. On occasion,
(22:33):
George got to ask, you wouldask me to pass this note on to
someone, usually Nick bok Legal,and sometimes you'll wait for an answer,
sometimes not. So I do thisand then go back to selling programs and
et cetera, et cetera, neverthink anything of it. One day I
got the note. Never read them, you know, just past them.
(22:56):
It happened to be Nick lock leglehwas very very the k Fame and looked
at me and what should hang?Scribbled the thing and brought it back to
the thesis dressing room, gave itto George and you read it, and
gave it to I don't know,but very indignant. Wait a minute and
back and this went back and forth, and finally Nick looks at me,
(23:21):
backed me into according me, saysyou tell lad Evan, And then I've
heard a voice and the being kFame so stopped. He wrote down an
answer. Very indignant, I broughtit back and that was the end of
it. Now fast forward to nowadayswith podcasts and and such, and it
(23:47):
done on me that what I wasprobably doing was passing on the finish to
some matches or went particular Nick Bodwinkle, there's match and he didn't like it.
I thought, if I had onlyread some of those messages, I
wonder if the mystique of pro wrestling, because I totally believed in it at
(24:17):
the time, if that would havedisappeared, or if it would have made
any difference at all. First ofall, wrestling, grandpa, can we
get you out of that car please? You can't be doing messages while driving
in a car and reaching in theWendy's bag. Okay. Second of all,
you totally should have looked. Whydidn't you look? No one was
(24:38):
going to know if you looked.There wasn't like cameras in the sixties or
the seventies in the hallways to seeif you looked. You should have looked,
even if you kept it to yourlast dying breath, not telling anyone,
you should have looked. You haveto look. Wrestlers passing notes back
and forth and you're the person.Come on, lastly, that was text
messaging back the sixties. Isn't thatcrazy? I mean, they were just
(25:03):
talking to their opponents, but theywere in separate locker rooms because the fans
wanted them in separate locker rooms.They wanted to believe, and they needed
to talk to each other about somethingthat was text messaging. Find the little
kid who's selling programs, who's allowedto go into both locker rooms and use
them as a messenger pigeon. That'sall. You were a wrestling messenger pigeon,
(25:26):
and you were probably great at it. And we'll never know if the
mystique would have been ruined for youor not, but we appreciate that had
happened and you were able to callin Wrestling Anonymous. Please hold for the
credits. Hey, thanks for listeningto this week's episode of Wrestling Anonymous.
Today's show was edited and produced bymyself in my studio apartment in Chicago,
(25:52):
Illinois. Music is by Matt CoonMusic on Twitter, podcast cover are by
Dona six one nine on Instagram,and voiceover work by at Sarah Joy Shockey.
I'm on social media Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.
Everything is at Cold Cabana, ohDownload and Binge Pro. Wrestling Fringe
the podcast short stories about the weirdfringe things in wrestling. Listen to all
the past art of Wrestling archives andthe three new ones coming up. They're
(26:15):
all available on the Art of Wrestlingpodcast feed where you can download them all
with ads for free, or grabthem ad free on my Patreon, Patreon
dot com Slash Cold Cabana. Signup now at the ten dollar tier and
I'll give you a vinyl sticker andi'll send it to your house. I'll
also personally write your address and giveyou a fun little nickname while I may
add it. Or sign up atthe twenty dollar tier and I'll send you
(26:36):
an autographs swear word each month.Collect them all. I just sent out
all of the January and February stickers. Thank you for your patients. The
March one will come April first.Don't forget about the first and the fifteenth
of the month, new different bonuscalls at the Patreon. I do the
bonus calls live to subscribers of mytwitch Twitch dot tv Slash Cold Cabana.
Twitch is free. It's a veryfun community of video games and other stuff.
(27:00):
Subscribers get their perks. All myshirts and custom video messages are over
at pro wrestling tis dot com SlashCold Cabana, where I have a new
Maxwell Street t shirt. Please pickthat up or head on over to Coltmerch
dot com where you can buy allof my other Cold Cabana merch including signed
upper Deck Colt Cabana cards from mypersonal collection and all the usual goodies.
(27:21):
I still print out my labels andshipping myself. For information on me and
updates on live independent wrestling shows likemy parents said, Glori Pro Wrestling and
St. Louis on Sunday, Marchtwentieth, go to Colcabana dot com for
details. Aw will be touring Orlando, Texas, Jacksonville and Moore. For're
ticket information and information on how youcan watch All Elite Wrestling every Wednesday and
(27:41):
Friday night on TNT and TBS Mondayand Tuesday on YouTube. Head on over
to All Elite Wrestling dot com.Eighty seven Cabana thirty four is the number
that's eight seven two two two twosixty two thirty four or email in voice
memo to eighty seven Cabana thirty fourat gmail dot com. The show it
only works if you give it acall, So give it a call please
(28:03):
and thanks, thank you for calling. Goodbye
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