"George 'The Animal' Steele Unchained: Savage, Andre & the Untamed Truth"

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Titlematchnetwork dot Com.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Welcome to another edition of the RF Video Shoot interview
series Sidaria, joined by a true legend in a sport
of professional wrestling, George Animal Steele. Thanks for being here today.
Talk slow, Sorry, Ev, Sorry about that. My very first
question for you would be is how you got started
in the wrestling business? Not that slow? Slower, slower, slow, slow?

(00:29):
How did you get started in the wrestling business?

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Do you want to talk to George or Jim Myers.
Let's just get it straight. Jim Myers, Oh, I thought so,
then we can talk. All right, great, you want to
talk to George.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Hey, slower?

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Are you slow down? Jim can talk? Okay, We'll talk
to Jim. Okay, I think you'd like that better.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
I guess, Jim, how you got started in the wrestling business?
Were you a fan of the business growing up? You
know what?

Speaker 1 (00:51):
This is gonna blow your mind. It's probably not gonna
be a very good interview because I'm gonna be very
straight with you. I was not a wrestling fan. I
never watched wrestling. I could care less about wrestling. I
was into football. I was just graduate from Michigan State University,
had blown in knee and started teaching for four three
hundred dollars a year in nineteen sixty one, right, not
a lot of money, especially I have two children with
a third win coming and a wife. So the first

(01:13):
year I struggled through that, I played at some semi
pro football for one hundred dollars a ball game, which
was huge in that time. I mean I ended up
playing twelve games, so it's twelve hundred dollars, and the
guy's playing in the NFL at that time was making
about four so you know what I'm talking about. Money
wasn't the same as it is now. So that first
of the year I struggled around. Then I went out

(01:34):
looking for a job as a bouncer at a bar
with a friend of mine. My friend was crazy stupid,
he was a huge wrestling fan, and so I found
out three things that night. Number one, you don't take
a friend if you're looking for a job as a
bouncer a bar. Number two, you don't drink a lot
of beer if you're looking for a job as a
bounster to bar. And number three, if you're sitting with
a guy that's a jerk that loves professional wrestling, you're

(01:55):
a lib will end up calling a promoter at two
thirty in the morning. He said, I want to be
a wrestler, and that's how it started. Wow, welcome up,
woke up. Bert Ruby, the local promoter in Detroit. He
invited me over the next day. Had no idea what
was going on. So I knock on the door. He
comes to the door and he says, oh, beautiful, I

(02:17):
know what I look like. So I figure out, oh,
switch hitter, right, and he invites me in. I meet
his mother in law and his couple of his wife
and two children. And one of his children, by the way,
little side story, right, is Alan Ruby. Have you heard
that name?

Speaker 2 (02:31):
I don't know who he is.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Alan Ruby is the head lawyer for Barry Bonds right
now who heavy duty people. Anyhow, Bert Ruby, the promoter,
invites me in, and I go in, and you know,
I feel better when I meet his family. Then he
takes me into his office and we start talking about
the and I don't know anything about the wrestling. Cood
care less all right, starts asking me questions and then
he says, take your shirt off. Oh, switch hitter again,

(02:57):
and then I take my shirt off. He goes, oh,
you definitely, starts pulling on the hair and my body.
Still no clue what's going on. But he liked the
thickness and the hair and the body, and he's thinking wrestling,
and I'm thinking what's going on. Anyhow, we talked a
little bit. He never smarted me into the business. He
sent me to with in Detroit area. He sent me
to a windsor to work out with four or five wrestlers.

(03:22):
This is old school, this is real old school, right.
So I go over there. It's in the basement of
a Catholic church. They got a ring set up, they
got all the workout stuff, and they go out and
they've worked my tail off for about thirty minutes. I
mean heavy duty stuff, really heavy duty. Then they say, okay,
let's get in the ring. And the deal is in
those days, they'd take you in the ring and beat

(03:42):
you up. Well, I have been from the street city, right.
I had a learning disability, so my big success was fighting.
So these guys are going to beat me up. Okay,
let's go so bing bing bang bing bang bang. About
forty five minutes later, they said, listen, don't tell Bert,
but we want to show you some stuff about the business.

(04:03):
And they started showing me how to work a little bit,
and right away I lost respect for it because to me,
they were challenging my integrity as an athlete. They were
doing this, they were doing it, and I've almost turned around,
walked up, honest with you, but I stick around, and
after about six months, not only I wanted this basically

(04:23):
about eight times I was in the ring, but about
eight months into the ring, I started learning a lot
about the business of working a match, and I developed
a real respect for the talent of working a match,
which is a lost art today, but back then it
was an art and how to control the crowd and
all this stuff, and it really become a challenge for me,
and one that I think that I mastered after a while.

(04:45):
But I learned it from masters, and I didn't learn
it at a stupid school with somewhere that wrestled five
or six minutes. I learned in the backseat of a car, No,
not with a woman, a right in the backseat coming
back after shows with a six pack of beer and
a Lognog sandwich or blowny blowout, and we'd have you
know soon as they come out, soon as they getting
the car before we stopped with a beer in the sandwich.

(05:06):
They would start critiquing my match. And these are old
timers that knew what they were doing, and they would critique, critique,
clip peer, clip pier and make you feel like we
were bare neckd sometimes because we were really tough and
what they were telling you. But they were right, and
that's where I learned the business. Unfortunately, the kids today
don't have that opportunity.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
We can talk about that coming up as far as like,
what is the hardest aspect of learning the business? Was
the bumping or the psychology or bumping?

Speaker 1 (05:30):
Who takes bumps? I found out earlier it's better to
give bumps than to take them. I mean, come on, no,
early on, I took a lot of pumps. It was
the part of you know, you had to and I
was pretty good at some of that. I was never
a kitten on the top rope and doing all that
silly stuff. But I could take a bump in relationship
with the story to make sense that I knew how

(05:51):
to sell it. But the hard part of it was
getting along with the people. And I'm not talking about
the fants. I'm talking about the boys. When you're a
young guy and the old school you come in, you
sit down and you kept your mouse shut and they
come over and when they wanted to talk to you,
they talked to you. You didn't. I mean it was
very If you didn't have expect for them, then you're
out of there. And it was it was a business

(06:12):
respect more than a physical respect.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
What do you remember about your very first match?

Speaker 1 (06:17):
It was toan Dyke Bill and Bert Ruby come in
and he said, I want you to go ten fifteen
minutes and a halfway shoot match because it would have
been to the gym for or five times. I didn't
want to work all right, so I said I want
you to shoot And I didn't really know what that meant,
but I so we went out. We really kind of
beat each other up in Kalamazoo, Michigan. After about twelve minutes,

(06:41):
I was breathing. But Ton dyke Bill, the old produce,
he was dying. He said let's finish his things. So
we bowm and being covered and that was my first match.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
Now, did the veterans when you first broke in Kate
fabe a lot or did they pretty much smart you up?

Speaker 1 (06:56):
Kate Fabi in this way? The first trip I made
to Kalamazoo, Michigan, for the first match, I was in
a tire with four wrestlers and one of them's in India.
What tribe were you from? He said, Oh, me from
Puerto Rican tribe. I mean, so you know, they were
working with kind of shoot with me. And when I
went for that first match, we went to the old

(07:18):
hotel in Detroit, which was the wrestling office. I'm about
the fifth floor and I walked in and there was
four or three guys playing both This was one of
the promoters and two businessmen from the area, big serious poker.
There was guys sitting all around the room, a lot
of them I hadn't met before. They were all wrestlers.
No one has said Hi, Hi, go to Alahuada. Really

(07:40):
just sit there and I walked in kind of uncomfortable. Finally,
genal Brito, the guy that was really breaking me up
and breaking me into the business, walking up and said,
oh Jim, it's whispering and we'll be going in the
cars here in a couple of minutes.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
And I mean, so I didn't really you know, what
do I know, how difficult was it back then? I mean,
obviously a call match with the locker room there was
you know, back in the old days, it was he
old locker room and face locker room, and nowadays, you know,
it's pretty much everyone's together. Was that the doll for
you guys?

Speaker 1 (08:07):
Oh? No, we were in the same locker room, but
go ahead. Uh. They put a manager with me, got
a game his name. It's very important that I do.
But he is only with me about maybe three months,
and he kind of This is one of my real
experiences from wrestling. He come back to the ring after
a match. Louis papenhaw Right thirty seven years old, come

(08:27):
back after a match on and felt dead. Wow, I
mean he died. And Johnny Gates is one of the
old time wrestlers who got beat all the time, said,
drag him back to the ring. Maybe I could cover
my get a pin, get him out there when he's
still warm. So I was like, whoa, this is a
pretty cool business. Yeah, And that's the guy was dead
and this guy is talking about taking him back out.

(08:49):
Let me get a pin. I will, whoa. That's the
way it was.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
Your first gimmick? Was it a student gimmick of life?

Speaker 1 (08:55):
We've better be careful with gimmicks, right first. A gimmick
is when I think someone of my answer, hit him
in the throat, knocked their freaking head off right. My character,
if you want to talk about my character, totally different ballgame.
I never looked at it as a gimmick. I started
wrestling as a student. When I talked to Bert Ruby
the first time, I told you know that I was
a school teacher and coach and so on, and we

(09:16):
didn't want to mix it to and I'm sure the
school didn't want to mix it, and so we put
a mask on me. I went to the ring in
the red cap and gown and I wrestled as a student,
which really fit because I was learning the business the student.
That kind of made sense. When Louis Papuano died, they
brought in a great wrestling protegee of my Gary Hart.

(09:36):
I was gonna ask you about one of the greatest
managers in the business. As far as I'm concerned. He
was much more than just a gimmick manager. Now I'm
sorry he's that word, but he just didn't go to
the ring with most of the guys. After our experience
with me, he was brought in to manage me. There
was no business locks to us at all. After that,
he knew enough to always have a lock and to
always have leverage with whoever he's working with. And we

(09:57):
learned that together from Burt Ruby every promoter word with
which was not a lot. I didn't go all over
the world because I was able to get over in
New York, but he want to go New results right
exactly be a break. But anyhow, we just uh, I
learned how to maintain leverage, get leverage on the promoter.
It's a game that you play. The big work is
not always in the rings. Sometimes it's in the dressing

(10:18):
room with the boys intimidating. You know, you just you
don't want to be challenged every time you out. They
got to respect your toughness. And then the promoter, the
one's going to pay you, so you gotta play games
with him and make him want you more than you
want him, which I was able to do because they
remained teaching. So it was a leverage that I always had. Right,
you had to turn around and go back to teaching.

(10:38):
I talked for twenty five years.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
Wow, I remember when you were w w F you
would pretty much work in the summer and then.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
Go back to school. It was a part time wrestling,
part time job for me.

Speaker 2 (10:47):
That's all it ever was as far as doing the
student character, how hard was that for you to play
that character? And I mean how far did that go?
How long did you stay with that?

Speaker 1 (10:56):
Well? I started with it my first mansion. I went
to Kalna Zoom, Michigan. I had the mask. Six weeks
later I was wrestling in the main events. That was
just bam right to the top. They needed somebody at
the time. I had a mask on and I had
this outfit. After take the cap and gown out, all
the hair showed and I had the top and you know,
it was all red and it was really a pretty character,
pretty correct charismatic thing, and then the look and I

(11:19):
knew nothing all right. Gary used to yell at me
two and it meant something. We had. It was like
playing football. We had thigals and they were real signals.
And then he ended up. One night we decided that
we were going to have a whistle. It blowed the
whistle two times, three times. We were way ahead of
our times. So then we were selling the whistles to
the crowd.

Speaker 3 (11:35):
So everyone else like they screwing me up. And we
sold a lot of whistles on was the first time
you met the original sheek. What are your memories of
a first time I met to original sheic.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
His very best friend who had really helped me a
lot learned the business was leaping. Larry Shane leaping. Larry
Shane was coming back. He had had a thing with
eight children, and he had always worked in the Detroit
area for Bert Ruby, who had a great promotion right
there locally, and that's where the Sheek started. Larry had
gone to Minneapolis to work a couple of matches, was

(12:09):
driving back and was killed in an aumobile accident. So we
were at Larry's funeral when the Sheep come in, and
he comes in, you know, dressed like the Sheek would, right,
I don't mean, and but very very silk suits, the
type of thing, real tight glasses, and they were like
brothers or very close. The thing that I always felt
was bad about that incident was if Larry Shane had

(12:30):
to die at that time and the Sheep came in
as a promoter in Detroit, they would have been dynamic
and we've all had tons of money because Larry was
the type of guy that would make sure that other
guys would getting paid properly. Too, but Larry died. The
Sheep came in about a year and a half later.
That's when I really met him, you know, And I
learned a lot of my character from the Sheik. I
look at the Sheik as one of the wildest greatest

(12:53):
heels in the history of the business. I look at
George Steele as one of the wildest greatest heels in
the business. But a lot of things. See the gimmick
right hiding, put it in my mouth and I'm standing
on them. All that I learned from the Sheik watching him.
He never wanted to using gimmick in Detroit, you know,
because that was his deal. Say, at one time, I
come to New York and I was back in there
for them, and he knew I was doing it at

(13:14):
Detroit because he started looking my bag. I said, my
hands out of my bag, So I got you got
a four an oubject. I said, you put your hands
in my bag, You'll be a fourn out. You know.
I'm all take care of your business here, but you
get out of my business right now, all right. And
that was important because again just laying that level of
who you are, all right, because you always had to
do in the business in those days.

Speaker 2 (13:34):
Who would you consider your mentor early on in your career?

Speaker 1 (13:36):
Bert Ruby? Okay, Bert Ruby. Bert Ruby taught me a little,
you know. He didn't take me to the ring and
teach me the wrestling part of it. He taught me
the leverage of the business and how to work promoters,
how to work the guys, how to work the business.
And he told me I had no intention. First of all,
who ever leave in the Detroit area. I was a
part time wrestler, school teacher and I was a number
school teacher, and I didn't want to leave my kids,

(13:56):
my family and all that. So it was very important
to me. So when we got to that part of it,
he said to me, he says, you'll always if you
go out on the road, you'll always have a safe
haven to come back to. Things don't go right. What
are you talking about? You going nowhere? But that was
really important those days. I mean, if I had left,
And I didn't leave the Detroit area until about four

(14:19):
years later, and Bruno San Martino came into Detroit to
wrestle a bulldog brower. Nice question, and I'm a little
bit ahead of you and a bulldog brower and him
had a match, and I was supposed to work that
night with a Mark Lewett. He was the main event.

(14:40):
The Sheikh was having some work done on his behind.
He had what do you call him? Tell him no
when you have him right, He had had a hemorrhoid operation,
and so he was going to work with him. And
I was supposed to work a tag team with with
Mark Lewin and the announcer from Detroit what's his name?

(15:04):
That Lord Lakeln Lord Lansun Lay and then me and
Killer call the Cox Well Cox and lou and Rowish
guys that were pulled deals. Anyhow, I got the nnounced
to work a return right to come back with Lewin.
I walk out and all of a sudden, as Louin
walks by, Cox jumps off off the april, grabs the

(15:26):
ring and boom and he gets blood. And that's your
next main event. And I standing like I got screwed.
I got screwed big time that night. I didn't get
my first main event in Detroit. But that same night
is when the Sheikhah when Bruno was there with the
entourage from New York, and they spotted me working with
somebody else and we got a great match and and

(15:47):
they come up to me afterwards and just ask me
a few questions in the story, And about two and
a half weeks later, Bruno San Martino called me, which
give me chills, because you know, there's a real champion
of the world. I thought, boy, And he said, I'd
like you to come to Pittsburgh to work a program
with you, and I said okay, and we went in
and we worked. He had just taken over his promoter

(16:10):
there and they had a pretty decent house about half full.
We worked our first week. I worked I think twice
before I worked with him, and when was just a
singles match with one of the guys, and then it
was a tag team with me and Bill Miller against
him and probably the Batman. Sounds funny now, but it
was Tony Marino. And then we worked in angle out

(16:33):
of that where it was Bruno nine of mean event
that was their first cello. Then we had three of
them in a row. Bam, bam, bam. It was time
to go back and teach. And this is during the
school year, by the way, but Detroit was a thirty
minute flight. I could coach football jump in the plane
was using driving me Grand rampants and to the thing,
and so that was really great. When I left there,
this is what made George Annel Steele. This is really

(16:55):
the key to my success. When I went there, after
I got done with a program, I'm back in, the
chic started telling me about how much Bruno was complaining
about how heavy I was, how stiff I was, and
I was stiff and so I was Bruno and he
worked that way. So anyhow, he's telling me that he
is really bad, mouthed me and knock at me. And

(17:16):
when I was in Pittsburgh, every show, Brunie would tell
me how much he enjoyed working with me. He would
show me the books and the actual house and what
percentage I was getting paid, how much money was getting
paid the only promoter that E did. And I was
getting paid very very well. I mean, my biggest paycheck
in Detroit was seventy five dollars, paid very very well.
I was making more money than that one match that

(17:37):
I make, you know, two matches for my whole school year. Wow,
So it was pretty huge. So anyhow, so I was
telling him the boy, I'm healy happy with the payoffs, right,
you know, not too happy because it was more. And
then the Sheik started telling me how he was complaining,
and then they started getting room to words back to
Bruno that I was complaining about the payoffs and that's

(17:58):
how you slipped people apart.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
Right.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
He called me up about six months later, and Bruno
was a hard yet. So it's George and he called me.
I started telling you that they need somebody in New York.
Minstig Man needs somebody to come into New York. And
I've recommended you, but you're a real jerk. We got
to get this straight downe And meanwhile I'm yelling at him,
You're a jerk. I remember going back and forth. Finally said,
shut up and listen a minute. I showed you in

(18:21):
the books. I showed you the payoffs and you were
happy with them. How come you knocked my payoffs? I said,
I never did. But you told me you enjoyed my matches,
you enjoyed working with me. How come you were knocking
my matches all over the country to these people? He said,
I didn't do that, So what did it do? It
bonded us. I mean it made us really partners in
a business situation. Right. And then so then he kind

(18:43):
of guided things for me going into New York and Pittsburgh,
and we became very very close. We fought my kick
in the ring. And people say as kids that they
think that because the business is a work that is easy.
It's not easy. I mean, if you're working them, you
we got blood the hard way. Often we did things tough,
and they still do that in some places. And I

(19:05):
don't believe in throwing the balls down, bump sun and
tax all that craft. I'm talking about working the crowd
and you never yet today and Vince's show, and Vince
should know better. But Vince was like a kid, and
most of my respect and business came from his dad,
mister Nigmahn right here, and and that's who I dealt
with personally, and it was really a close bond. When

(19:27):
the kid came on the scene. It was not that
I disrespect him, I don't, but it was not the same,
not the same level. And and uh, he's caught up
in a situation. I'm getting way ahead of myself. He's good,
So we back off of that. But kids today don't
have the opportunity to go and learn to work. They're
great athletes, you just don't know how to work.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
It's all spot, spot spot and.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
Talk talk talk talk talk talk. When you're talking. If
I'm in if I'm in the ring and I yelled
down to you, you're a big fat lady or whatever
I want to call you. That's not heat. That's that's
just the debate. It's not even sheep. It's just garbage.
I've got to go through my opponent and he's got
to sell it to you. Now I get heat, like
makes you want to write and me going to burn
the arena down, right. But if I'm just harling at you,

(20:10):
you learned back at me. I mean, yeah, it's not
just nothing.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
You came up with the name George Steele, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
We were in Pittsburgh, and I didn't want to use
my real name, Jim Myers, and so we're going back
and forth and were everyone'd like to get another name,
And Johnny Defhasier was in the locker room Giant and
Phaseier later on became president of the steel workers union.
He's from Pittsburgh, and he said, well, this is a
steel city. Why don't we call him Jim Steele. I said,
I like steel, I don't like Jim. And somebody else

(20:39):
said George. I said that sick So the good news
is this side in my body's about forty years old.
This other side is about seventy years old. I prefer
the George Steel side at times, but when I'm around
people that you know, I'm Jim Myers like.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
And I can ride at seventy members of Bill Miller.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
Oh man, what a great guy. We want a real
memory for Bill Miller. We were at the Sheep's House
and we were gonna which was in Lansing. We met
there for other business stuff and so on, about six
wrestlers and their families. We're going down to Cobyl Arena
for a big show. And the wives are going in
and getting ready, and my kids had come in. I

(21:17):
had all three our children with me, and my youngest one,
who is now fifty, was like four or five years old.
And as we went in, he snuck out and went
down by the pool, which was quite away from the place.
And Bill Miller's wife had just had her hair dyed
and was getting ready to go to the show. My
son is reaching for a ball in the pool of

(21:38):
fell in and if she wouldn't been there to die,
and he had died, and she dove in with the
air and the whole thing and saved my son's life.
That was our beginning, right, that was our beginning. From then,
I thought Bill Miller was one of the toughest, best,
most loyal people I ever met in the business. I
loved him to pieces. When later on, when I was
an agent and he came to a Columbus, Ohio to

(21:59):
a show, he was on the walker. It's got hardly walk,
but we were bonded so tight, and you know, I
saw him. I had tears in my eyes. He had
tears in his eyes, and seen him in about eight
years as a nature of the wrestling business, but what
a gentleman want to study? What a tough guy?

Speaker 2 (22:14):
Were you the animal?

Speaker 1 (22:14):
Yet at this point in time, you know the animal?
I guess that was always the animal. Uh, No one
ever sit down. They don't. They didn't have these creative
meetings that they have now. People started calling the crowd
because I would do the things that I do and look,
and they started started calling me an animal. You're an
animal here, an animal? So I get him. I'm not
an animal, I'm a people. And after a while I

(22:36):
just I kept doing that to go on TV. Quit
calling me an animal, and the fans are the ones
that named me the animal when I first went to
New York. How stupid was this? They had me George
the Bruisers Steel. That was my name going in and
I ton't I don't like that. I don't like that
George Steele. And then later on the fans picked up
on how to become an animal.

Speaker 2 (22:53):
At what point in your career did you gain more
confidence than yourself as a worker or a wrestler.

Speaker 1 (22:59):
I was full of confidence by the time I left Detroit,
when I was done being the student, I was prepared.
But I've been abound some I've been around some of
the best workers, in my opinion, in the business. Old
timers were just working one old territory and they were
just fantastic. And they taught me. They taught me all
angles of the business. I mean, I was ready. I

(23:20):
was really lucky that I didn't have to quit teaching.
Mister McMahon offered me an opportunity to go with I
know what's his name. He looks a lot like me
as ball head. He was a wild guy too, and
he wanted me us the wildest tag team, and we
were going to travel with Andre the Giant. He wanted
to quit teaching for a lot of money. But my
loyalty was to my family and to my coaching and teaching,

(23:43):
not to wrestling. And I know that song is terrible,
but wrestling was very good to me. Don't take that wrong, right,
but it was very very good. But my first love
is not wrestling. Never has that.

Speaker 2 (23:53):
How did the turnable bleeding start? What was the first
time he started doing that?

Speaker 1 (23:56):
Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, I mean everything started in Pittsburgh. Uh. They
used to have a we used to have a studio wrestling.
They got about it, maybe eighty people in the studio
and they had plied with around behind them, and they
had it was black and white TV, by the way,
so they had faces painted on the white faces painted
on the on the plywould make it look like a
bigger crowd. And then they would give away gifts, sometimes ashtray,

(24:19):
something not hard. But this one time they give away
before your time. But they used to have satin pillows,
couch pillows, real tight packed little satin things. I don't
know if you've ever seen there. Now, some old lady
got one. They give away like eighty of them. So
this old lady ringside Rosie was not part of the show,
but it was there. Always threw a pillow at me.

(24:41):
Now I got a pillow in the ring. What am
I going to do with a pillow in the ring?
I mean it's a tool. Everything's a tool to me,
you know, to use. I don't make a tool. It's
the only gimmick of God. But I'm looking at it
and I know if I if I sit on it,
it's gonna be a slow match. If I take it
and throw it at her, gonna throw eighty of them
back at me. I mean, I'm learning how of options.

(25:03):
I'm not real smart, but I thought, well, so I
bit it, and this thing exploded. He was packs so
tight and started going up in the air. So I
started throwing in the air. It's coming down like snow,
flying down, real light, lighter than air, sticking in my
hair like the abottable snowman. So now you know, I'm
really getting to that. And then I take my pillow

(25:23):
and I stick it over my opponent's head and I'm
choking him. Great TV man, I'm working that cameraon for it,
and he's selling, he's selling, and I take it off.
He's blue because there's stuffing is lighter than air. So
every time he breathe in, I'm filling his lungs lungs
of stuff and I almost killed him. So I go
to the dressing room and the guy's being like they
are they all laughing? You almost kill that one. I'm

(25:44):
one of the guys that if you get somebody to
throw a pillow at you every night, you could really
be something. And what's his name? Tony says, yeah, maybe
you could eat a turnbucal if we all laughed. About
two and a half weeks later, I was working with
Jase Strong, Chief j Strong, and the match just sucked,
and the people are sitting on their hands, and usually

(26:05):
I got a reaction, they weren't reacting at all. I
looked at the turnbuck but I thought, I wonder it popped.
It was over ever last night, and it popped open,
pulled the stuff out through that out, rubbed it. His
ee almost had a riot. Wow. And I learned right
then that I could do better with turnbuckets than I
can wrestle it. So turnbuckles happened in almost every match.

(26:25):
And the next thing you're gonna ask me is about
the green time. Well, I'll ask you about that coming
up with going to that right now, Okay, the green
tongue happened. Didn't guess where, Oh you're getting smart, you're
getting with it. Rather, I had a few drinks and
I we were getting ready for TV, and I didn't
want them to know it. Bruno was gone, we had
a new promoter, Ran and so I put some clorretes
in my mouth and went on live TV. And now

(26:48):
we have the color TV. Right, so the switchboard lit up. Whazis?
I didn't know my tongue was green and it lit up,
and they, you know, they blew over. I went to
there was on a set out of the following Friday,
I wrestled in the Civic Green and there was green
tongues hanging all over the place. I thought, God, that's funny.
I got over, but I never did it again for

(27:08):
another five or six months. Wasn't that smart yet? And
I thought, you know that green time that really got
We're gonna do that against the Ali react So I
hate some claris this time on purpose, went out. TV
went crazy, Live TV again in Pittsburgh, went to the arena.
They had green tongs all over the place. From that
time on, I had I'm guaranteeing the best breath in wrestling.

(27:29):
I had Cloris every time I wrestled now Pittsburgh.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
Was that like a I guess an outlaw promotion since
Bruno a.

Speaker 1 (27:35):
Little bit, no, no, no, no, Bruno wasn't playing ball
at that time. Blo Bruno was working. He was a
WWF champion and he was ruining the territory he got.
They'd give him that part of it to run. He
was the owner of it, and then he would come
in and do his shows in New York and so on,
and run his little operation over here, and he would
have the opportunity to bring in the top guys in

(27:55):
the Manson Square gardens in his own show in Pittsburgh.
So it was pretty pretty good business.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
When you taught and coached, did any of the students
recognize you at the school as being a wrestling early on?

Speaker 1 (28:06):
I had some kids, but one kid actually lived in Monroeville, Pennsylvania,
just outside of Pittsburgh. They brought in magazines at different
times for time. I'm gonna cover the whole thing. It's
a great question, and things good happen. They come and say,
you're George the Animal Steel. Look see no, but do

(28:27):
you really think I'm that ugly, and what's it going to?
You know, here's a student. No, no, you're not that ugly,
and my name is Jim Myers and I'm a football
coach here. No, I'm not George all Steel. And at
first it was just George Steele. No, I'm not George Steele.
They bring the magazines in and it was it was
like work at each other. This isn't my health class
in the I catch them with it and try to

(28:48):
hide it. What's that? That's you and the magazine? You
see that? Do you think I'm that ugly? And it
always played off that way. They ended up working with
me because they had to say, no, you know what,
are we going to get enough?

Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yes, that's great, I guess some how did you wind
up in the www F working for a Vince Senior?

Speaker 1 (29:06):
Well, I told you about Vincent brun making that phone
call and they wanted me there. So the following I
got a phone call from after I agreed. Then I
got another phone call from this is crazy from Bruno
and I had to go to the old hotel in Washington,
d C. Or TV Trent. You know, as they get older,

(29:28):
a lot of the schools away that's like the Franklin
Franklin Hotel. But they told me to take a cab.
No one's going to meet me at the airport and
fly in. Get on a cab, come to the Franklin
Franklin Park Hotel and go up to go to the
old rugby elevator and go up to the fourth floor.
Go in. They wanted me to go in. Not say
anything to anybody about me being anybody you know, check

(29:50):
in or nothing. Just go to the door, knock on
the door. And I did this littlettle man answer the
doors in his shorts and one of those muscle like
T shirts and really must have just an old cut
off shirt. It was Phil Zacho. Phil Oh, George, we've
been waiting for you. He walks me down in his

(30:10):
shorts in the hall to a vent to the room
where Bruno and Vince was waiting for me. It was okay, Pae.
Bruno came in the night before. No one saw me
come in the same time, and they didn't know who
it was. We're in ky, Pap and come on. But
we go in and we sit down and we started talking.
And I had a sport code on with the leathers,

(30:32):
look like a skull teacher, not a wrestler, right, And
Vince Senior says a couple of things. He says to Bruno,
Are you sure. Bunce says, yeah, sure, we sold off
four times. You know you need to think a better
look right now. Vince was this guy, you know, what's

(30:52):
what's this crap? But it's a lot of them coming
to the flamboyant colors and all that, just old gray
looking guy and he said, would you take your shirt?
Had the tie on? Did you take your stuff offside?
And here we go again some of these season Harry ah, Yes,
we saw the thickness boom. My first show in Madison
Square Gardens, very first one. I don't know anyone else
that ever did this. I did TV. The first time

(31:15):
I wrestled with Madison Square Guardens was against Artino the
WWF Championship. WWWF Championship and we won an hour through.
First time we won an hour through of my match.
And know they did we want to go an hour.
I didn't say no, I can't do it because that
would not be very good leverage, right, And it was
a great match. I mean I was so tired at
the end, but they didn't know it and I just

(31:36):
pushed myself like in a football training camp, and we
really and we worked hard that night. Thought my first
match was an hour and we had to return no
one else. I mean first match in Madison Square Gardens.
I'm not talking about having a build up match. Talked
about the first match Brunos Amartino. The second match of
return match, pretty powerful stuff.

Speaker 2 (31:54):
How does that go?

Speaker 1 (31:55):
And go? Powerful? Great? And we both sold out. See
the other thing I hadn't been I hadn't been there,
but I've been on TV for only at that time,
nine weeks, and they were I walked out the place
when nuts, and they just went nuts because I was
pretty vicious and I never I never worked a real
good match at TV. I just really chopped meat. Right.

(32:17):
If I was wrestling you, you might be able to breathe,
but that would be about of it. It was all mine.
So they were really anxious to see if put a
compete here.

Speaker 2 (32:25):
Now members of working with aut Jay strombo.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
Jay was a great worker, the laziest ever worked with.
You didn't want to do that, all right. I mean
I'm Steph and He's like, whoa hard again? I'm leaving?
And we worked one night probably the best match we had.
I was working with Pedro Morales in Boston and Fabam
Knight and the Boston Gardens very weak advance, and the

(32:54):
Globe had come there to cover my match with the Chief.
The promoter at the time was the am for and
he was really, you know, trying to pump the match
because it was really a weak and they wanted me
to go out and have about ten minute match and
beat Jay so my hand would go up so I'd
be all right. In the Boston Gardens and the guy
running the agent at that time was Animal Scold and

(33:15):
the other one Seboldi and Jeli Seboldi, and he says,
we want you to go about ten to ten minutes,
but we beat him. Get your hand. I said, how
is that gonna sell tickets? They've got a bad advance.
I'm not doing that. He says, that's what Vince wants.
So I really don't care what that wants. Talk about
leverage now right, this is what we're gonna do. I'm
gonna go out. Chief is gonna be in the fire corner, uh,

(33:38):
doing his little dance. When I come out, I said,
I'm gonna act like I want to attack him. And
then he's gonna turn his back, turns back right back
on me, and as I attacked him, he's gonna closeline
me and put me in a sleeperhole. I'm gonna fight it,
fight this sleeper. I'm gonna fight it, and I'm gonna
go to sleep. And you're gonna raise his hand. He's

(34:00):
I can't do that. You'll kill everything. You're going to
raise his hand, and the chief is going to start
dancing with excitement. And when he does, he's going to
look back at me, and I'll be laying there like
I'm dead. He starts dancing again. The fans will see
me start to crawl behind him, know him playing possible,
and then I get chills. I talk about this. This
is great, right and then he so when they when

(34:22):
I did that, the fans and he stopped and look smaller.
And it was in the North Attleborough and I've land
still again. He starts dancing again. When he turns this
how I got the foreign object out and I beat
him the red child. He's got blood all over him.
I left him in the floor bleeding, and the photographer

(34:44):
proof the newspaper had it there in the article was
the headlines of the sports page, second page that George
Steell lost but doesn't pay to beat him, and they
had this picture. And then we sold up here, we
sold up the box. Tig is on the right up
because all and then we come back to the little arena.
Then it was back down too, So that was what

(35:04):
I'm a good matters. But then we did nothing.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
Did you like working that territory or early on?

Speaker 1 (35:08):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (35:08):
Yeah, I mean why wouldn't you Exactly who'd you travel
with back then?

Speaker 1 (35:12):
M Back then things were a lot different. I traveled
with the knout very often. He was Charlie was a
little bit of whack hole, but he was a good guy.
Later on, with drugs and so on become the business.
I traveled by myself because I was a school teacher
and coach. I just didn't afford to take a chance
and bust them with somebody having something even in their bag,
being guilty by association.

Speaker 2 (35:34):
When you went to the w w F the first time,
did it come out to the media that you were
a teacher at part time at all?

Speaker 1 (35:39):
No? No, we covered that pretty well, except I was
doing an interview and I did a lot of magazine here.
The first couple of years I was doing one in Portland, Maine,
and after the interview that the promoter was really excited
that I played football and should state and that I was,
you know, a coach, and he slipped it out and

(36:00):
it went there and it just spread like this year,
and I no one else ever mentioned it one magazine.
But it was great because when you put something in
people's mind and they hear things word of mouth, it
makes him wonder about you. And so now and now
the wilder and crazier I got. Some people said, yeah,
I heard he's a school teacher. So it really built
into the whole image at George Steel, which was really

(36:22):
is the businesses, the work. So the more different things
you have going down on people's minds about you, the
better off it is.

Speaker 2 (36:29):
What about Grilla montsu and some of your memories working with.

Speaker 1 (36:31):
A Gorilla, I only worked with Gorilla a few times. Really,
he was a heel. I was a heel. Later on
he turned as after he become part of the partnership
in the in the WWF, he became a bit of
a baby face. I think I worked with him three times.
I traveled with him a lot. Right to actually get
in a ring with him. He was a good athlete.
He was a big old looked like a tub slob
type thing, but he was He was a stud athlete.

Speaker 2 (36:51):
He could go, oh yeah, yeah, what about Pedro.

Speaker 1 (36:55):
Pedro is a good guy. I had a match with Pedro,
the funniest manager had this spot show up in the
northern New York I might have been it might have
been a farther north than that. It might have been
on the state. But there's a spot show. And I
got a referee that's just to you know, doesn't really
get it. And Pedro's left handed and we start to
match him. Boom boom boom. I put a wrist lock

(37:16):
out just to use holes. Maybe this is why I
should I quit using holes. But I put a wrist
lock out and it's kind of standing there. I says,
hit me. He says like, can't you got my left hand?
I said, hit me, lay it in. He said, can't
you got my left hand? I said, ring my bell.
The referee turn around, ding ding ding, and they rang
the bell. Well scoldand was running the show, and Scoland

(37:39):
had already left. He called Vin Senior, untild. We had
a great match of things were over. He left early.
He didn't know and then the promotion called up. They
wanted their money back because we may have been and
gone to Lessen in a minute. And so I said,
I said, well, the stupid referee rang the bell. He said, well,
why didn't you just keep fighting with him? I said,
they kept ringing the bell I did. I said, finally,
I just figured screw it.

Speaker 2 (37:59):
I left that.

Speaker 1 (38:00):
We said, well, you got me in trouble with Vince.
I said, well you should have stuck around.

Speaker 2 (38:04):
Now you went down for a break period of time.
You worked Georgia just for a couple of shots down there.
What were results on Olli Anderson? Now you're getting some
meat politics.

Speaker 1 (38:14):
See I was. This is when the w W it
was NWA right, we're starting to spread out off of
their TV. And they had come to Detroit and Dusty
Road had come to Detroit with Carrie Heart, my own manager,
and the guy with the name Steve Arms, which which
was a did a lot of promotions and TV stuff
for the About West. And they stopped by my house
because Henson Jerry in a long time. We're just going

(38:35):
to make a trip with her. I'm not on the
car as their teaching time. I'm not wrestling anywheres and
we're riding down. We stopped the Old Sheep's house and
it was kind of a mess. I mean, things were
tough at that time for him, and but we talked
a lot. So Dusty, you know, in fact, they bring
you into the NWA me and you work at tag

(38:55):
team against these guys will really get you over. So
I said, okay, I was going to And the gimmick
was it was great gimmick and this is a gimmick,
not a character. They put me in a cage and
they put a cloth a on the cage, and I
was shaking every now and then. And but the people
they got a wild man in there, got a wild
man in there. And finally Dusty comes over and opens

(39:15):
it up. First of all, when I was doing it's
kind of a I knocked it off one. But Dusty
comes over to the door. I come out with just
kills someone. Boom boom boom, boom boom, and we're going
to wrestle.

Speaker 4 (39:26):
I think it was Piper, and I think right, I
think it was Oli, and there was the other one
Piper right Piper.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
No, I don't think it was Piper. I don't think
it was I don't think it was mart the picture yet,
but it might have been. I mean I was so
it didn't matter to me because what happened was we
did the bing bing bing bing bing. I went back home.
It's just TV now, right, And so we're building up
for a show in the omni and the next one,
and so I wasn't supposed to go back to the
next week's TV show because Dusky couldn't be there, and

(39:55):
we were partners and they were playing this year Whose
Boss game, and they was using me as a tool,
a big mistake because I'm not a tool ready both
of them. So I come back in. I go home.
I must have go go back in. I get a
phone call. We need you to come back in for
the TV this time. So I go back in and

(40:16):
Dusty's not there, and they've got this kid I can't
think of. This is just a real quick thing. The
blond hit a guy that was such a big name
for me, Tommy Rich, Tommy Rich. They got him speaking
for me. Now they're kind of tagging us and kind
of pushing Dusty out. But Dusty's going to be my partner,
but he's going to talk for you. So they're really
cutting into what we were doing right and I knew

(40:37):
that right away. And this is shady, and I don't
do shady. So I come in for the for the
Omni shows. Sold out. They haven't had a good show
in a long time. This place has packed out and
we're in the back room and they said, now we
want you, you come out. We just want you to
hit holding. If it was Piper or whoever, they're going
to fly and they just boom and we're going to
do this and this and this and this, thinking, yeah, okay,

(40:59):
you want to play a game with me. Wrong guy
to play with. So I go out and as soon
as I hit the ring, only doubles up back. I
saw it. I killed it dead and never went back.
It was the one show deal. And that's why it
was the one show deal. That had been straight with me,
I'd have been straight with them. But you're going to
play games using me. I had New York. What do

(41:20):
I need to play it for? Come on?

Speaker 4 (41:22):
Give me a break? Absolutely, or your thoughts on only
as a person. I wasn't around that much, you know.
It was just that those those three you know, the
two TVs in the house show.

Speaker 1 (41:34):
I thought he was a big bag. Will win, but
kind of. I don't know if he could back it
up or not. We never got to a point where
we found that out. But he ran a pretty tight ship.
I thought. I was impressed by him somewhat. He said
one thing later on in a book, in a book
that he read, that that really is true. He was
talking about the marks and the smart marks and the historians.

(41:54):
And I'm very strong in the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame,
and that's my love and it was one of the
founders of it, and it's a real deal. But a
lot of the guys that are on the committees to
vote into the Hall of Fame don't really get it.
Because the guy wrestled in every territory in the country.
We were doing territories in Japan and so on and
so forth. Does not make him a great rank worker.

(42:15):
A great worker is a guy like Oli or some
of these guys Larry Shane that could go into one
territory and make top money for thirty years and never
have to leave. You understand what I'm saying. If you
got to leave, that means you're not getting over there anymore.
You got to go find somewhere else. So I always
had a problem with that part of the business. A
lot of people don't understand it. I mean personally, I
went to New York for a lot of years only

(42:37):
in the summertime. I made a fortune in New York.
Why would I want to go to anywhere else? And
if I could do that, most guys can't do that.
I'm not really gatistic, but I put myself for now.
The reason I was able to do it is I
wrestled the champion. It could be Bruno, it could be Pedro,
it could be Bob, Bobby, or even I'm the only
guy that worked with a Hulk. I've worked with all

(42:58):
four of them over that period time, and that's a
long period of time. But the gift was I had
leverage because I would go two or three months and
have all main events. There's another whole story of that too,
about money. Now I have all main events and then
I go back and teach. Why is that so good?

(43:18):
They only saw me lose to the champions, and so
I never the other guys that came in, let's just
talk with because he's never won. Really, they come and
work a program with Bruno in the gardens, then they
would work at the next program let's say in Boston,
and they would get beat in the gardens by whoever
by the baby face. Then they would work Philadelphia and
they make one, two or three shows, it didn't matter.

(43:40):
And they work Philadelphias another get beat in New York
and in Boston, and they're looking good in Philadelphia. Then
they get beat by Bruno there and they go, yeah,
they work their way around the horn. They're there for
nine ten months and they've been beat by Bruno all
over the place and everybody else. Because when they're done
in Boston, they're still in the car and vents. They
had to pay him. I learned a lot of my
business and psychological working with the promote was sitting on

(44:01):
the toilet the first time. It was the Two Toilet
Stories in Detroit, and I hear Bert Ruby talking to
Louis Klein and and Larry Shane don't go to sleep
over there, jesus, I'm talking.

Speaker 5 (44:18):
I look over the guy's sleeping on the bed.

Speaker 1 (44:22):
I can't believe that. Anyhow, I'm sitting on the toilet
and they start talking about me some when you come
up right, you know. And Larry Shane and Luke Klein
are complaining about their payoff, and Burt says, what are
you talking about. I'm giving you some of the students.
I'm the main event. I'm giving you some of the
students' money. So it's like, wait a minute. I had

(44:42):
no idea how much money. Still haven't made seventy five dollars.
My miss payoff was ninety. It was ninety. Still haven't
made ninety yet. And I hear that. So the next
day I'm really I'm I'm all the way home and
I'm not sleeping good that hot. So I come back
the next day and I said to Burt, I said,
why are you taking some of my money and giving
it to Low and Larry? He said, because they work

(45:04):
full time in your part time. You got another job.
You don't depend on wrestling. Wait a minute, I said,
the school decided to pay me half because I'm wrestling,
and you're paying me half because I'm teaching. I'd be
working two jobs for one payoff and done that up.
He said, you got a choice, you can leave. I'm
making seventy five dollars a night. I was looking for
a job as a bouncer for fifteen dollars a night time.

(45:26):
That was huge in the sixties. Are you kidding me?
I ain't walking away. And then a little bit later,
you want me to work a program with his son Alan,
He was an announcer, and I refused to do that.
So I didn't work for four weeks. And that one
conye is very important in how I learned the business.
So I go back in and I said, he called
me and he said they're ready to go to work.
I said, yeah, so I went. I said, how can

(45:47):
you didn't book me? He said, because you refused to
do something that I wanted you to do and you
have no leverage. Always make sure you have leverage before
you make any decisions in wrestling. Whooa, it's go on. Now.
I'm on the toilet at Hamburg, Pennsylvania. Vince Senior and
Vince Junior walks in. They don't see me, but I
see their feet at the latrine right they're doing their

(46:09):
whiz thing. My feet up because they're talking about me
and Vince Junior saying, why don't we bring Georgian all
the time and take such good care of them financially
and everything. Ben Senior says, because it's a good deal.
How's that? He says? We bring him in for three months,
we sell out all over the Northeast. He leaves, we

(46:31):
don't have to keep paying them in New York because
the other guys when they're going to when they're getting
beat and they're still paying them top money, so they're
making a lot of money. He says, we don't have
to pay him that money all the way through while
he's going around. We can pay him big time for
three months and he's out here. We don't have to
worry about huntil next year and he comes in. We
can do it all over and we've been doing it
at that time, it's like seven years. He said, why
would we quit? He's the best deal we've got going

(46:53):
me me leverage bingo. Wow, what's always keep your feet
up in the toilet?

Speaker 2 (47:01):
Yeah, it's a good lesson. What are some of your
memories working with Andrea the Giant words?

Speaker 1 (47:06):
Andre? Twice? Three times. One time he was working up
in New Hampshire and I hit a nutshot and he
chased me around the ring and I rolled in the
ring at nine he got counted out. He was pissed.
It was hot. And the other time I wrestled with
him was in Buffalo, New York at the Old armory

(47:31):
for the PSI area. And Andrea was drinking wine that
night and eating garlics. And I'm not talking a little guy,
He's eating the whole thing good. And I was in
a different locker room particularly night, and you guys watch
I have fun with George. So we go in the ring.
He grabs me. He puts me in a corner, takes

(47:51):
those hands are like slobbery and garlic and wine all
over my face and the smell was horrible. I got
his thumb on it, jerked on it and got away
from him. He come across the ring, caught me again,
Jammy in, give me the garlic. Tep me again. I
caught his thumb again, got away from him, rolled out

(48:12):
of the ring and went and left. That was it.
That was That was enough of rongery.

Speaker 2 (48:17):
Around seventy seven he went back to w w F
and I think superstar Willie Graham was on top. Now,
how different was that around that?

Speaker 1 (48:23):
It was? You know, it was a real good thing,
really when they decided to do that. First of all,
one of the first times I was really swerved by
the promotion. Billy had told some fans and new magazine
people to show up in Baltimore because he's gonna win
the title. I'm in the terrafory at the time, right,
And so they called the captain Lula Avana was managing

(48:48):
me and Captain Luke Privy nuts talking. So he's talking
to me and he says that they're going to give
you the belt. Why he's going to put the belt
on you. I said, I'm going back to school. I
don't need and he said, no, no, it has to talk.
They they had buzzed. They had buzzed Lou because they
knew he'd talked to everybody. The word would get also
make it a little maybe George's getting it so to

(49:09):
be a little bit of a thing, which wasn't really
gonna happen at all. And because I called Bruno when
I got home after that trip, I said, Bruno, what's
this about the He's no, I said, they just feeding Luda.
Get the crap out there. Billy's gonna, you know, grab
it for me over there. So that so what they
had at that time, Billy, when you first come on,
wasn't It wasn't what they wanted. Quite it was. Billy

(49:33):
was the greatest heel change. I think it was. So
what I'm saying, but it just didn't hook on right
at first because its Bruno or you beat Bruno. I mean,
God Almighty, you beat Jesus Christ himself, some people thought,
and so it wasn't. But we had Ken Ptero Tero right,
and George Steel wasn't there at the time, and we

(49:54):
had a lot of heat on its both of us.
So we had like three main events. The money went
to the champion, which was which was Billy, but the
other two carried heavyweight. We were talking with all three
was working heavyweight matches, and that's when the WWF started
going from one main event to stronger cards to support it.

(50:14):
That's when that started, because it used to be if
you were working with Bruno, with the guy leaving, the
guy coming in and you and the rest of it
was just locals. So that's when that started to support Billy.
But that's not to put down to Billy. Belly should
have been champion for five or six years. As far
as I'm concerned. They should have switched it into a
babyface year and a half two years out. The reason

(50:35):
that they didn't is a big business man, Senior mister
mc mahon's biggest fear was always a riot and with
a heeled heel. I mean, that's why they wrestled and
put the bills on Billy in Baltimore, because Baltimore wasn't
doing great business at the time and the chances of
a riot was a lot less than yeah at New York.

Speaker 2 (50:55):
Well, speaking about Albano, what are your memories of Captain Lewin?
Do you remember I'm always getting fired at TVs.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
Fired at TV. I remember tipping mister Man's desk over,
called him an Irish diss and an Irish dad, a
little pocket talking. He was beautiful. He was beautiful. I
first ran into him when I was in Pittsburgh. Him
and Tony Altimore kind of took me under the wing.
My first memory of the two of them Northeast. Come
in here now and I'm a hay seed, all right,
coming to New York and Boston, Philadelphia, Northeast. First summer.

(51:22):
Every time we went anywheres, I rode with both of them.
They had cards I did, and I didn't run a car.
That rode with him. And we stopped to eat lunch
every day. They would grab my tab sana every day
and I kept him no, no, I'll pay my own way.
Oh you can buy the gas, but da da da dada.
Every day they bought me lunch the whole summer. When

(51:42):
it's getting ready to leave, they brought a paper bag
in had all the all the bells that I had
walked out on and they hadn't paid right to give
one of great win rip. That's great rip. But that's
that's how I remember them too.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
What about Ivan Plutsky? What are you remembers working with Ivan?

Speaker 1 (52:01):
Iven had a great look. We weren't on the same
page often right. He had the hammer of the polish hammer,
But I remember working with him the outstanding memory I
have on him. I could have broke his s frigging neck.
Was in Springfield, Massachusetts, and I'm on the apron and
I'm selling and I'm and he's really laying him up.

(52:24):
I'm selling and I'm selling. I look up and he's
still laying in on me. But he's sitting on the
far corner on top of the turnbuckle, laughing like heck you.
There's a little old lady with an umbrella just beating
me to death. And I'm selling it because I think
it's him. I'm not looking. I'm selling it. And she
said it was hard to bring him blood out. I think, God,
we take care of each other, don't weag? In this businessman?

(52:45):
That's my biggest memory. What about a Stanstasiac I wasn't
around standing that much. He was there more in the
winter time when he won the belt. I was there
right afterwards. He was a great guy, just a real
great guy. Ribs and stuff like that, out of fun,
just a real solid great guy.

Speaker 2 (53:03):
How different was it? Also when you went back and
you worked with Backland, he was on top, I believe.

Speaker 1 (53:08):
The next year I ran into Bankland in Japan before
it was ever a champion. He's a skinny looking runt kid,
and he wanted me to take this picture back to
mister mcmon to give to him. And I'm looking at
the cat because he looked like a young howdy duty.
He really had to do it. But it was a
great kid. And I ran with We did the alleys
and everything in Japan, and I told Evince about him,

(53:29):
laughing about Okay, here's a kid. I wanted to go
to New York next summer. When I came in the
following the summer after Japan, Bobby was there and they
asked me to put him over to get him ready
to be championed. Bobby had a suit that his wife
had made up. Bobby's a pretty frugal, great guy, and
he had the suit that his wife had made and

(53:51):
his senior wanted me to tear it off of him,
which I did, and he started to make a comeback.
And then I was leaving. That was my last TV
show and I was going back to teach. I said,
I'll do that if you guarantee me a few shots
of them next summer. He so guarantee you the three.
So being big leverage, bang, I did the thing, did
it right, and he ran me off come back. When
we made a great program, I thought Bobby was right

(54:13):
there with the greatest champion of all time. Now people
are gonna laugh when I say that, because people mimicked him.
They called him how the duty. They really wanted the
heels to beat him. But that's the that's the gimmick.
He sold out. He sold out all the time. And
without that charge that Bruno had, totally different. Bruno was
the greatest champion of all time. What could Bruno have

(54:35):
been if he wasn't champion? Think about that, just another
Italian wrestler that's not a knock because it's a great ones,
but he wouldn't have been what he was. Bobby also
had to have the belt. These two guys had to
be champions, and they wouldn'tdraw you a dime.

Speaker 2 (54:50):
Billy Graham says Bob was When we did an interview
with him, he said that Bob was always paranoid.

Speaker 1 (54:53):
Do you agree, well, yeah, yeah, absolutely. At first he
got he gave it, arrested Bobby probably more than anybody,
and he gained a lot of confidence. He knew that
I was out there to take care of him and
make him look good. One summer, Vince Seniors and mister
ring Man came in and said, George, He says, I
know you're going back to school. I need to get
this kid over. He'd been champion maybe three years. He

(55:15):
had two years. He says, once you wanted to beat
in about twenty seconds. I said what he said? I
wanted you to give me seconds? I said, Vince, they'll
do it. But that's stupid, they said, because they're going
to get him over. I can get him over, but
not in twenty seconds, and it's going to kill me off.
I said that what you want to do? He said, well,

(55:36):
let's talk about it. What do you want to do?
And then the following year, well, he worked at program
and it was at the end of the program and
I was going back to teach. And the year before
was one shot with Bobby and the guards. I had
tore through them in Boston and place else. It was
one in the guard right, That's that's why I said, no,
this other one. I had two shots with him. I
think it's two. And the second shot he said, I'd

(56:00):
like you to put them over in about twenty seconds.
This is good. He said, why are you doing it now?
You wouldn't do it? Then, I said, because it makes
more sense. Right now, we can do it. I said,
I can do it in a way where it'll keep
him good, make him great, and it ain't gonna hurt me.
He said, how you're gonna do that? I said, to watch.
You didn't buy a ticket, so you get a free seat.
And we went out and I did the boo boo
boom boo boom boom. Well, people don't realize I worked

(56:21):
a lot of returns with Bruno. Often it was the
same return both nights, come back to the third and
night do the same finish. I mean we did. I
did the same thing a lot of times with Pail
and it wasn't We never talked to anything but the finish, right,
but we did it in such a way that it
left it hot. You don't sell tickets during the match.
You sell tickets after the match. And that's where I

(56:44):
was a master of sawing tickets after it was over with.
I'd struggled through a match. When it was over with,
the people were ready to buy more tickets to see
what's going to happen in stage two? What was the
finished for the match with that Bob? Seconds Bob smacked him.
I ran his head into the turn buckle, which I
a million times. He pushed me off. I'd come back.
I'd use the gimmick ontom only once I ran him in,

(57:05):
he pushed me off. I come back. He covered me one,
two three, I got up. I sold it right, but
sold it like I was selling possible again, like with
a chief. And he's raised his hand and raising his belt.
They attacked him, left in the land and left.

Speaker 2 (57:19):
Awesome and eighty one. It seemed that you wrestled all year.
Did you take a sabbatical at the time? What year
around eighty one?

Speaker 1 (57:25):
No, No, I flew in it out a lot. But
I was coaching football at the time and we had
a great and I coached wrestling until eighty two, so
I was coaching football and wrestling. So I was gonna
work on the fall in the winter. I'm flying for
just special shots. Is that when Bobby was championed? I
believe so yeah, I was just, you know, as they
needed somebody. They went through periods of time when they
had the heels, they would come in and not get

(57:47):
over right. That might you know what that might have been. No,
it wasn't. I got called one time. Black Jack Mulligan
was a heck of a guy. It's a tough guy.
I was wrestling the program with Andre the Giant, but
every night he was asking for more money. So events
called me up. Net was one timmer. I didn't come in.
I was working for the bear Man in Canada and
they called me and they want me to come in

(58:07):
and replace the black Jack Mulligan. And this is the
main events with Bobby would be on the bill, on
the title, on the match main event, I would be
right underneathing worth non breaking the same money. And that's
wanted me to come in. I said, let me think
that over events leveraging, all right, right? So I called
him back the next day and I said, I don't
think so. He said, why not? You're working with the

(58:28):
Bearman didn't make any money. I said, well, we've got
three problems. He said. It's the Number one. If I
come in because I'm a part time wrestler and undercut
a guy's pay, I become what you call a scab
and another scap, and I would lose respect for all
the guys in the business who would expect me very highly.
Number Two, if I did that, I'm gonna end up

(58:49):
fighting with black Jack Mulligan. I said, Now, I'm not
afraid of that, and be a heck of a fight.
But what's the point. I mean? Then I would agree
with it. You should be hot. We're going to have
a physical deal over it for what for a few bucks?
Number Three? Are you sure you want to do it?
Let me think about it. He called me the next day, said,
book Oh, I told you got to pay me the
same money. All right, he's asking for me. Now, you

(59:10):
got to pay me that way. Now, if you're paying
me the money, I'm not a scap. So then he said,
let me call you back the next day, so he
called me back Nexte. So I thought it over. If
I got to pay him to say you do the
same money I'm gonna pay him, I might as well
keep him. I said, good decision.

Speaker 2 (59:23):
What are you memberies of the Grand Wizard and guys
like Freddie Blassing.

Speaker 1 (59:28):
Grand Wizard, you know, with the sheep's manager, and you
try when I was there, before I ever came to
New Yorker, I was a student and he was just
a great guy. So we came in here, we bonded naturally.
He was my first manager in here. First two years
I wrestled in New York, I didn't have a manager,
and I did all my own interviews from being able
to talk to going oh, it's quite a switch, right,

(59:50):
never had a manager, and if the idea was, why
waste the manager on a guy that's gonna be here
three months? So second time I come in, he did
Greek business first time. Second time I did great business.
And next time I had Ernie as my manager and
Grand Wizard and this fabulous is just really good and
you know, we were friends from my back, so it

(01:00:10):
was it was a good thing. I needed somebody to
talk because now enough leverage. It was over strong enough
in the w w w F that we need somebody
to talk for me when I wasn't available, all right,
So that was that's the rule he played. Later on,
Luke played that war role and then Preddy Blassie and
Freddy was Freddie was not about money with Perdy. Freddie

(01:00:32):
was like a brother with me. We were really close
and uh, first time he managed me in the gardens,
H made a pretty good payoff and I and I
outed him and I give him a hundred dollars. One
hundred dollars bread Blassie doesn't mean anything, pretty cry and
tears of advice. He said, you're the first guy that
ever had enough respect for me to show me one

(01:00:55):
hundred dollars. He says, not the money. You know, we
were we bound a pretty.

Speaker 2 (01:01:00):
Good You went away for a little bit and you
came back and I think it was around nineteen eighty
four when he returned. And then you were being managed
by mister Fuji. What a your memories about being managed
by mister Fuji? And did he have a rebbya?

Speaker 1 (01:01:15):
Uh? You know, really it goes way back before he
tried to pull the rib on me and we reversed
it on him when we first came into the w W.
This would have been in the probably early seventies or
late seventies. First time he came into the knock, tried
to rib on me, and I had everybody in the
locker room for over a month. I talked to him.
He'd walk it high and everything. It was more than

(01:01:38):
a month and maybe a week and a half. Right.
Time blends after a while, and he was ready to
leave the territory. We're driving the nuts. And finally I said,
you remember that ribbit pulled on me? Brother? We just
pulled one on you, oh brother, never so they didn't
mess with me, right?

Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
Did you find it more competitive around this period of
time because it seemed like a lot of guys were
now fighting for the top hill spot?

Speaker 1 (01:02:00):
M m. You know you got to understand the business
you're talking about. Eighty four, Yeah, I was, My career
was over. You got to remember I was at the
age where it was over really and truly, or should
have been. And Vince Senior was still he was still
alive in eighty four, I think eighty three before he died.

Speaker 2 (01:02:22):
Right around period of time.

Speaker 1 (01:02:24):
Yeah, he called me in my last Garden Show that
I saw him alive, and we'd gone way back, and
I told you I traveled with him and I would
come in. I do the true TVs with him, and
later on Benn he come in. He would drive and
the old man said here. I said, you're your offensive here,
so it's pretty close. And he called me in the gardens.
The last Garden shows, going back to teach had tyrn

(01:02:46):
his eye. He said, the Georgia says, over your last run.
He said, you're at an age where we don't want
to push you so far that it becomes ridiculous. Well,
you've been a top star here. We want to leave
you with that and leave the fans of that in press.
And I teared my eye to it because of the business,
because of a relationship. Right, I was coming to an end,
and we kind of shut hands, and that was the

(01:03:08):
end of my career as far as I was concerned.
He died that spring and I got a call from
Vance Junior wanted me to come back in. He had
this idea, and I didn't think it was a very
good idea, but I came back in and we played
at the heel for a while with it, and then
that's when we did a little switch. And then they

(01:03:29):
wanted me to quit teaching, and I didn't think that
would work. But I was had twenty five years of coaching,
so I was really ready to quit teaching and coaching.
So as we made that switch to Babyface or whatever
you want to call it, I called it to him
from being a serious heel to a cartoon character. But
the business was becoming a cartoon character, LP, So I

(01:03:53):
accepted that challenge. I went that direction and it worked totally.
You know money why it worked out great. I was
was right underneath the hull most of the time with
Randy Savage, and then that one of the greatest matches
they ever had was probably Randy and and well the
dragon was the thing. Steamboat steamboat. That was kind of,

(01:04:16):
you know, the end of the cartoon thing for me
really too, But my career was over before that. When
me and mister McMahon had the discussion, that's when it
probably should have been over. And then greed took over
my part and I made a ton of money after that.

Speaker 2 (01:04:30):
How different was Vince Junior compared to his that.

Speaker 1 (01:04:33):
Because it's very much like his dad at first, but
as things changed and it was not his fault. Become
a corporate business that just started expanding and growing and
going there. You know, I love that Benny, I really do,
but more like a son than a all right, the
different levels of looking at people. I don't live down
at him, don't. I don't mean that at all. But

(01:04:55):
the reason that I have so much respect for him
is there was business was aging, the climate and our
society was changing, and he had balls and real balls.
WrestleMania one. If that hadn't worked, it would have been
over and they had lost it all. WrestleMania three two,

(01:05:16):
which one we had the three shows was on to Okay.
I was sitting next to him in the Nassau Coliseum,
and if that wouldn't have worked, he went from one
show to another show, another show via the satellites that
would have failed. He had to give all that money
back he lost, and he's sitting I was sitting right
next to him. And when we connected from New York

(01:05:37):
to Chicago, yeah, and then we connected from Chicago to
La Yeah. I mean to me, that that's what it's all.
I mean. He was out on the edge and he
could have been mister nothing. A thing that happened way
back when. And this is loyalty. I've always been loyal
to a weakness at times, and Vincent's pretty lod are.
We had a little falling out there at because he

(01:06:00):
that's my nay later on, if you want to know it.
But early on, Vince Junior had just really come to
with his dad for maybe two or three years, and
there was a guy named iron Ore. They started promoting
I W A. And they ran a show in in
competition in Roosevelt Park in New Jersey, right across the
river from the Gardens, and I remested with Bruno. The

(01:06:21):
following Saturday. There was a Friday show. I believe I'm
telling you right. Most of our shows were on Monday,
but I think this was a Saturday show. And they
had a show on Friday night, and Vince Senior paid
the New Jersey Commission and he paid some other Ruffians
to go to the show. Savoldi's kid was one of them.

(01:06:43):
And it was an outdoor show and when the show started,
they rushed the ringside seats and started a ride and
the rain it wasn't real bad, but the misty. It
was a cool night, so a lot of bad things
went on I was the following night, I was a
main event with Bruno Sammartino, and the Gardens advance was
really down because of this deal. Over here. They had

(01:07:04):
all the superstars, They had Ernie Ladd, they had Ivan
col Off, they had the mask Mixican. What was his name,
No mess carrots right, and they had quite a card.
And one of the guys was helping a book. It
was George Cannon from Detroit. He had called me and
they offered me more money than I was going to
make that whole summer to show up at Roosevelt Gardens,

(01:07:27):
not necessarily wrest. I would just my hand in the
air be part of that organization. Then no show of
the Gardens the next night. And if I'd done that,
probably wrestling history today would not be the same because
I would killed the Gardens. But Bence had been so
good to me, and we had that relationship, and I
had a relationship with Roto and all that stuff that

(01:07:50):
I didn't even bat an eye. I said, no, I
can't do that. And I was talking to George Cannon
who was talking for Iron Horn, and the money was astronomical.
Said I can't do that. It's not about money. My
life I'm not a prostitute. I sell out. And then
he said, well, we'll call you in Vince's office, and
this is in the old arena, Philadelphia Arena. We'll call

(01:08:12):
you in Vince's office. We'll talk money to you there,
and they'll have to pay you more money. You can
really put the screws to him that way, and you know,
collect money from him and hurt him that way. I said, now,
I got plenty of leverage. It would not be good leverage.
So I turned it down, right, the whole thing down.
And I'm not you know, I think I did the
right thing. But if not, then where would Vitty be today? Charle?

(01:08:34):
But more important, what would wrestling me to do? Who
could have carried the ball like he has? Even because
where the kids as gonna come from? Me? They didn't
know the territories they learned how to work.

Speaker 2 (01:08:44):
Back around this time in eighty for eighty five, how
crazy was the drug and party scene.

Speaker 1 (01:08:47):
He was getting strong, really strong.

Speaker 2 (01:08:49):
Just because of traveling and stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:51):
Yeah, I mean you had to have uppers to go
to the ring, you had to have dollars to sleep,
you had to have steroids. Did look good route, but
you had to do certain things to survive. I worked
the seven straight days when we started the road thing, right,
and that's when I quit teaching and went full time.
And it's eighty seven straight days and seven days in

(01:09:13):
a row. It's New York LA, New York LA, New
York LA. I mean, it was San Francis, crazy of it.
East coast, west coast, all the way. I mean, it's
killing it.

Speaker 2 (01:09:21):
Did you get mixed up into any of the pills
at a time or not really.

Speaker 1 (01:09:24):
I got really hooked on halcions or sleeping pills so
I could sleep at night. I was never involved in
the other stuff a little bit, you know. I never
really got into the cocaine, but I'd sniffed some of it,
just enough to see what it was all about. Never
did anything for me. Never did to marijuana much. I

(01:09:45):
smoked her three times, Like this is a joke. I mean,
I just didn't need it. I was pretty high on life,
I think. But it was all around me. It was
all around me steroids. I mean, I can remember, even
as an agent, guys punching each other in about with
the needles, needles laying all over the place. It was huge.
It was legal, that's what people forget about. There was

(01:10:06):
no law I gifted. It all started with the WWF.
I think, I think the things that are going on
today in baseball and football or whatever is really out
of touch. It's not reality. It's Mitchell Report. The guys
who have always done whatever they can to be the

(01:10:27):
top of their game. Guys were taking uppers when I
was in college in nineteen sixty one and sixty two.
We were taken in college. They were taking in pro
football scooping Bennie's to be up for a ballgame and
taking them at halftime. Again, it wasn't steroids. They weren't
around yet. I got a whole history on steroids. Where
do they come from? How they start? Alexis? Do you

(01:10:47):
remember that name? You probably don't. Alexis was a power
lifting in Russia in the sixties and they were killing
us in the Cold War, and there's killing us in
power lifting in the Olympics. We sent some people over
to find out what they were doing, come back and
end up someone's runing York And I don't want to
talk about that too much, but a lot of people
involved in that don't want to hear about it.

Speaker 4 (01:11:06):
What are you memories of about Roddy Piper around this
r eighty forty five. Right, he was crazy. He was crazy,
He's fun while he uh my first really recollection of Roddy.

Speaker 1 (01:11:18):
He come into territory and these guys are coming in
and I was looking at a lot of them, like,
you know, young punks, just be honest with you, because
I've been there for twenty years, all right, And Roddy
come in and I gained a lot of respect for Riddy.
The first first time I remembered him, he says, can
I ride the new George? I said, I don't have
a card. Says I'm going to run a car. You're
riding with me? So I got nine. I'll stop him,

(01:11:41):
get some beer. I'm figuring the six back. He comes
out with a case and I throwing bottles over the backs.
He's like, what you know, this guy's nuts. And then
he said to me, he says, after about four beers,
he says, I got He said, I want to write
you for a reason. I got something I got to
tell you. So what's that? He says, you are a
detriment to the business. You're running the business, said Biggie Party.

(01:12:01):
He says, we take guys heads and run them into
the turnbuckle, and you go over, invite him and show
him he's just got stuffing in there. I said, Roddy,
who's stupid? I said, you ever seen me run my
head into the turnbuckle and take a bump from it?
I said, I'd take the bump over the top and
hit the post and come back. And I said, I's
how I lose my mattres. I'd never taken them and

(01:12:21):
do one of those ten things, and I've never done
it to somebody, and I've never done it myself. So
if you're dumb enough to do that, don't blame me.
Look in the mirror, buddy. That's good. And we got
real tough respect for each other at that time. Roddy
was a great worker. He was a better talker than
he was worker. Right. Believe me, his work was dan
because everybody's work with me, you couldn't work. At the time.
The guy that I got a lot of respect for

(01:12:44):
was the model Rick Martel. Rick Martel, because we're telling
who took Rick early on, I was a great worker.
Ring technician called him and tell his story. Now he's
doing the same match over night, and it's a routine like,
because I call that performing instead of working. And I
talked to him and I say, why are you doing
the same match every night? He said, George, we fly

(01:13:04):
every morning, we get to a time, we go to
the gym, we do it, die, we do it, workout,
we do what we gotta do, and then we go
to the ring. He said, this winter he started up
to worry because I know what I'm doing. So the
business had changed. No one was working anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:13:16):
So you know that's why I say, And you got
iron cheek stories from around the circle there.

Speaker 1 (01:13:23):
Iron sheep was beautiful. The iron sheep was beautiful first time.
In fact, you saw him today and I walked in.
You heard the story first time. He's, you know, gonna
work with the George Steele And he says to Nicola I, wocop.
I wasn't there. What am I gonna do with his animal?
And you don't take a soup, lex, You don't do this,
you don't do this, you don't do nothing. Nikola I said,

(01:13:45):
just listen and you'll have a great match. We come
and I didn't know this conversation. So we come back
afterwards and he's, oh, thank you, thank you thing because
we had him scream in USA, US and USA, and
he didn't have to take a soup lex they didn't
have to get get to the TV later on. Have
you ever noticed he's got false keith up here now.
They used to be released, you know, and then when
they fell out, right, I got him Coo the one

(01:14:07):
I got him so having in Toronto, and I was
going to use the chair on him, and I grabbed
a chair that wasn't a folding chairs sitting chair, right,
So I'm going to bring it down this way. And
in our business you got to trust your opponents. The
Sheikh Nikolaia the biggest blockers in the world. So as
I'm coming down with that chair, his hands go up here.

(01:14:29):
And so I come back after the match and he says,
you knock my teeth. You almost knocking my teeth out.
What do you do? I said, no, you almost knock
your teeth though. He said, what do you mean? I said,
I got a chair, it's I brought it right here.
You put your hands up to block it, right, yeah,
I said, all right, you block it here? Where does
the bat go? He said in my mouth? I said,

(01:14:50):
you knocked your teeth out. He says, you're right, George
I sawry.

Speaker 2 (01:14:55):
Were you surprised around this period of time, this is
one Vince was pretty much taken over all different territories
and they were getting pretty popular. Resurprised that, hell, this
is pretty much becoming a monopoly at the time.

Speaker 1 (01:15:05):
No, no, no, I go back to the Eddie Horn
Eddie iron horny story was talking about when they're in
the competition, right, Vince was in the car at that time.
I was riding with Vince Senior and Vince Junior, and
Vince Senior was really beside himself. That's when Vince Vince
Senior started doing TV and Channel nine, so because he
used to be on the Spanish station Midnight, right, and

(01:15:26):
he started doing the Channel nine to compete with Iron Horn.
But when he knocked iron Horn out of the box,
he still had Channel nine. Move started forward. Vince did
not start the war. The nw A first came into
Baltimore and was talking about they were going to come
into New York, so on and so forth. But Vince,
because of the Iron Horn thing, was itching for a fight.

(01:15:49):
He was really itching for one the kid, right, And
so when they come in there, they did.

Speaker 2 (01:15:55):
The Metal Lands, they did Claire Steam Out there.

Speaker 1 (01:15:56):
Maybe they did the Medal Lands, but before that they
did the first one was Bolt Baltimore, than they did
the Middle Lands and were talking about the gardens and
the whole bit. That's when Vince took the Mitch off
and they started buying their talent and everybody else's talent,
and it was a whole new ball games. And that's
when the business. That's when I became a cartoon character.
I mean, now we're not wrestling, we're just selling tickets

(01:16:17):
anyway we could.

Speaker 2 (01:16:18):
What are your memories of the very first big match
that you had with Hogan? I mean, Janoklin still talked
about to this day, cartoon. I was pissed.

Speaker 1 (01:16:27):
Iissed, was in Minneapolis and Fuji was, you know, my manager, right,
And we've done a match on TV to set this up. Well,
whenever I did a return match or something on TV,
to set the match up as the heel, I beat
somebody up and they they could come back and I
would run. In this case, I never beat anybody up.

(01:16:47):
He just beat us up and we ran and I thought,
this is stupid, this ain't gonna work. But haul Cogan
was not what we had. Haul Cogan was a whole
new package, and I'll cut on that a little bit too.
But when we when we did that, we got there
and they said, well, we're going to do this. We're
going to do this, and Hogan is going to do this.
Me and G's going to sit on top of them.
Jesus primate. This is a cartoon. And the business hadn't

(01:17:11):
become a total cartoon yet. It was still a heel,
and it really didn't settle right with me. About two
months later is when I understood the rest of business
had changed. And you might not have seen this, but
I got video if you want buy me. It's the
wedding between Butcher for Sean and his wife, and there

(01:17:34):
was a whole cartoon. And then for the reception, Vince
went out and bought a bunch of vodka and Booze
got us all drunk and take that too. It was
all shoot. It was yeah, absolutely, the pie fight. Everything
was a shoe. When it was all over with, I
was slipping and slide with the pies and the champagne
sporting on. I went over and I put my arm
around because I was still like it felt like it

(01:17:57):
was a kid. And I put my arm around and
I said You're not going to show this on TV?
Are you? He said, why not? I said, because you'll
kill the business. He said, do you really think so?
I said, no, I know, so he said, well we're
going to find out. He put it on three shows
in a row on USA Network, three weekends in a row,

(01:18:18):
and we went from like number fifteen on USA to
number one. That's when I realized that business was changing.
Being a cartoon was funny and it was going to
make a lot of money. And when to me, that
video shows the change in the business.

Speaker 2 (01:18:33):
I remember that.

Speaker 1 (01:18:33):
So me doing the thing and the Tuesday Saturday night
made event. When I switched for Baby Place to Yeal.
That wasn't planned. I mean the switch was planned, but
what happened wasn't planned. We didn't talk that kind of stuff.
First of all, I was a hard head. Somebody started
telling me to do something, was going to do something else, Eric,

(01:18:55):
my manager, that knows little bit about that. I'm just
a heart head when it comes to stuff like that.
And so when they started talking about it, I was
gonna go out. I was gonna be in the six
man tag and I was going to go to tag him,
and they're going to turn their back and they were
gonna leave me. And that was kind of the end
of George Steele supposedly, and that's the way it was
supposed to be. Probably no one knows what was in
the back of Vince's mind. They sent Lou out figuring

(01:19:17):
I get a couple more matches out of me. That's
no one told me what to do. It just like
somebody inter ven. I dropped on my knee, put my
head in his belly, and he started popping little pats
in my head like I was a little sick animal,
and the roof went off. The ceiling was an immediate
serious babyface. Now I had two options. I had two

(01:19:37):
options because nobody told me what to do. I could
have went out and just been a powerful like like, oh,
he owned the territory. So it could be like that
Dick the Bruiser, not sell anything. Just go out and
bo bo booboa, because this one won't tell me what
to do. He wouldn't you never never did ever. And

(01:19:57):
the other thing, I could go out and try to
be a baby feet and that's what I did. My
wife said, my wife's my inspiration. Anyhow, she said, why
are you doing that? She said, you're not there. You
just give me. You should just go out and just
palm people and screw it, palm until they're dead, like
you always did. I said, well, I'm a baby fast
and I like, I shouldn't have done that. It was
a huge mistake on my part. But I asked Bobby
Heena said, what do you think about me going on

(01:20:19):
just being strong? He said, well, like Dick the Bruiser.
He says, well, Dick the Bruiser was the character. Or
you don't own this when you cannot do that? He
was wrong. I was wrong. I should have done I first.
Did you know we were talking about earlier on learning
about the rest of the business. My wife, it didn't
come to many matches, a pretty smart lady, and she
uh uh one time she is a student. I'd walk

(01:20:39):
to the ring with my cap and gown on it
all right, get in the ring, take it off, and
become the student. She said, why do you do that?
Why do you have to wait to the ring to
become your persona? Why don't you come out of the
locker room and be what you're going to be? If
you remember George still coming out after that chairs flying run,
run through the crowd chase people. My wife told me

(01:21:01):
to do that. It wasn't any creation. A group of
people are writers, and it just makes a lot of sense.
If you're going to be a wild man, you're a
wild man from the time you come out the door.
Now my character. I can be sitting there having a
smoke because I smoked in those days, shooting the breeze,
having telling the stories and say George, you're on now.
I walked through the door and George turned on me.

(01:21:23):
It's just automatic. I don't know how that worked. It
was just an automatic thing with me. It always was.
It wasn't oka, I'm going to go out and do
this year, this year, this year. Never never thought like
that at all.

Speaker 2 (01:21:32):
When you're hotels on the road and fans are around,
did you go into character?

Speaker 1 (01:21:35):
Did you depended? I see the mystique of going both ways.
I'm not Pat Patterson. You're going both ways with the fans.
Keeps it, keeps it powerful. If you come up to
me and say, George, how you doing, I'm fine. You're
coming to me a two weeks later, how you doing, George? Yeah,
you just dropped your drawers, put them back away, and

(01:21:59):
I and I have got over with you. Now, if
I did this all the time with you, then I'm
just another guy. If I did this all the time
with you, nay. But if I do it back and forth,
say I started the I started the wild Stuff in
Pittsburgh again, I would do great interviews. I was pretty
good interview by the way, when I give him to the Northeast,
do really good interviews. And then I start going and

(01:22:22):
I'm snapped like a psychological thing, right, and then I
might and then I come back and be normal again.
So my whole character was always kind of done that way.
When I went off off the roof was and I
was pissed. When I did this. I was doing an interview,
very good interview. I had a manner standard by Fred Blavesy.
But I'm doing the talking, and Vince said, cud, don't

(01:22:43):
ever cut one of my interviews before. He said, well,
the people are calling you an animal. You're making too
much sense for an animal. Why don't you go a
little cookie? Now? I'm hot right now now, I'm taking Okay,
you want a cookie? So they come back on, he said.
He asked me, and he said, that's what I want.

(01:23:07):
I went ship, I mean, that's not what I want
to do. But that's when it is. So now now
he's the boss and that's what he wants and that's
not what I want to be, and that's when it changed.
But it worked out really pretty good. I did better
interviews than any of the guys. I was a better
talking than Piper. I'll tell you why. Listen carefully. Piper
would take a thousand words, tell you the story, tell

(01:23:31):
you something about that too. I could. I was. I
was wrestling. This is a good example of the one
man gang. Like a mohawk, the tattoo on each side.
Here's my interview in Jesus, what are.

Speaker 5 (01:23:45):
You gonna do with the one man game? He asked
me again, tattoo?

Speaker 1 (01:23:57):
So now I know he is one word? What about
the tattoo? What are you gonna do when you wrestle him? Biker?
He's a biker. Now I got your you know, and
the people are saying they're helping me say it because
I'm well the biker. And then boo boo biker. Then
my next line was you're picturing a biker, try thickle,

(01:24:24):
he's not a tough biker. And then hurt hammer locked
four words. Everybody watching the interview for thirty five forty
seconds is saying the words I'm trying to say. Rather,
I'm good spitting out thirty five or forty. I got
my message out and they're feeling sorry for me. They
can't right, and I'm going to the bank. Tell me

(01:24:48):
it's good stuff. And a lot of people that are
real purists now really don't like George Steele because I
made that turn.

Speaker 2 (01:24:55):
Screw them, you know what I mean? What about Jimmy Snooker.
A lot of people who worked with Jimmy said it
was sometimes he was hard to work with because he
was messed up. What did you get along with him?

Speaker 1 (01:25:05):
Oh? Yeah, And there's a lot of guys that were
messed up in those days. If you had a routine
and were doing a performance with him, and I was
a worker, I can work with that. You do anything
you want to do, I turn it into a positive.
I wasn't into it. We're gonna do this, this and
this and this, and not smarting to remember all that stuff,
but I knew if you did this, I could do this,

(01:25:26):
and I can knew how to sell it to the crowd.
And if I was going to do something to him,
I would like Let's say I was gonna use the
gimmigon right, sell this gimmick boom, and he would sell it,
and then people I would yell that loud, and people
at crowd, you know they sit in the crowd, I'd
call him a name.

Speaker 5 (01:25:45):
Us O me right, all right, sell, They're thinking I'm.

Speaker 1 (01:25:50):
Screaming at him. I learned that way back. I was
wrestling hay Stacks Calhoun and they wanted him to get blood. Right, Well,
hay Stacks Calhoun was always wanting to get blood. May
with the break cut himself, so he said, well you
cut me. Okay, you got a deal there, bud. So
the fans saw me cut him. Why would I hide it?

(01:26:10):
Right right? Let me come on, I'm gonna cut him.
He used something on him. Yeah, okay, right, you got heat,
and I was doing it to myself. A different story.

Speaker 2 (01:26:22):
So I just slaughter working with large.

Speaker 1 (01:26:23):
Could you wake up? Sorry to slaughter, Sergeant Slaughter. Sergeant
Slaughter came in, had a great run his first time in.
I had a great one. At this point, I've been
in maybe eleven fifteen years. Someone's around there and he
come in. We're sitting at what I call the King's table,
it's my later on if you want to know about that.
We're sitting what I call the King's table, and the

(01:26:47):
his runs over with he said, his seven month run.
He was there before I got in, and I'm coming
in and I'm doing my thing, and it's time for
him to go back to Carolina's really, and so he's
finishing up. So he's in there. We're all sitting at
dinner and he's begging, vinced. I don't want to leave
because he needed so much money, right, he didn't realize it.
If he stays, his money's going now, and he's begging

(01:27:09):
to stay, which kills his leverage. I'm thinking, what kind
of business guy is this? Right? So after dinner that night,
I was talking to him and I said, you know,
charge leave when you come back, put your demands on.
That's when you have your leverage. You don't have any
leverage right now. And the more you beg, the weaker
you get. And he quit begging. He left, He went
back with Caroline's and come back a huge superstar the

(01:27:29):
next time around. But that's exactly what happened. You just
don't beg promoters. I mean, my mentor, Bert Ruby told
me early on I'm started to learn the business. Never
call the promoter. Never call the promoter, Eric Simms or
anybody else looking for work, because now you're on their terms.

(01:27:53):
We're talking about leverage again. You understand what I'm talking about.
If they call me, now, I'm in charge of the deal.
If I call, they're in charge of the deal. I
never called in my forty years in the business anyone
saying I need some work. First of all, I never
knew the work right. Secondly, it's stupid business to do that. Now,
what are you in education? Are you?

Speaker 2 (01:28:13):
Yes? Very much so they started professional wrestling. I guess
my very well.

Speaker 1 (01:28:16):
No.

Speaker 2 (01:28:17):
My last question I'm talking about we still got somewhere
to go. One of the most important feuds of your career,
I would say to the casual fans, would be with
Randy Savage. You're most known for that feud. What are
your memories of working with Randy.

Speaker 1 (01:28:28):
Randy was a great worker, He had great, great work ethics.
Randy was very very jealous of Elizabeth. It was not
a show. I was answer very very jealous of Elizabeth.

Speaker 2 (01:28:37):
Did you find it hard to work with Randy because
of that?

Speaker 1 (01:28:39):
No other guys did, right, I found it easy, because
what would I do. I would tell him, Randy, Randy,
don't worry about me, a gun, I'm fifty years old.
I got a daughter roller than her, all right, And
he kind of relaxed, and I said, just as he
said to the ring, I said, the boy, I've great
round with some of these young brods around here, run
around talking to walk away and he was hot. I

(01:29:01):
played with him all the time like that, just because
I got out of the ring when I wanted from him.
And I think Randy liked me. Would go way back
to when his dad was wrestling in Detroit and he
was a little kid, so I knew him way back when.
I think there was some respect the In fact, I
worked with the one time early on when he was
still in Detroit, and he's a little skinny kid. Don't

(01:29:22):
juice it all on him, right, And I beat him
up pretty bad, but I was working, and he filled
me later on when we were on a program day,
right ark, you went out and just beat the trog
of me and come over afterwards and said thank you.
I thought I thought you were mad at me, but
I worked stiff, and so you know, we went way back. Randy. Actually,
I think I was a great platform for Randy. I

(01:29:43):
think I think people still remember those matches, and I
think he went from there to the next level of
being the ww champion, And I think there was a
springboard that got him there to work with all.

Speaker 2 (01:29:54):
How was Elizabeth to work with?

Speaker 1 (01:29:55):
Beautiful sweetheart? Really a sweetheart?

Speaker 2 (01:29:58):
What are your thoughts of her passing?

Speaker 1 (01:30:00):
Terrible? It was terrible. I mean lifestyles and see, those
are the things that really throw me up in the business.
Have ever been to my website? You should? What is
your website? Say, Georgia Animalsteel dot com. Okay, you should
go there. And I got wrestlers. I show pictures of Christmas,
Birthday cards and Christmas cards that I got from families,
family pictures of all these different guys that have died

(01:30:21):
and left their family. I mean, that's where it gives
me in the chest. But I've got Owen Hart and
his kids, and Mister Perfect and his kids, all little
kids at the time. But I say those things, and
when all this started happening, I just put them out
with me because that's the reason I wrestled, was not
because I want to be a wrestler. I want to
do the best for my family, and those guys were
in the same boat. They got hooked up on some

(01:30:42):
other stuff, but they were there to support their family.
People laugh today. I go on a website called rootso
sometimes and this is a sports website, but they're really
not wrestling, and they're quite a bit. That's aw fake.
That's wrestling has never been fake. I mean, man, I've
been in the wrestling business loan or than most and
still alive. It's never been fake. What you see is real.

(01:31:04):
Do we know who's gonna win, Yeah, do we know
who's gonna lose. Yeah, it's pre determament. But when you're
laying when you're working, I used to scream with people
of those limp lay it in because I'm gonna lay
it in right, And it was a Wrestling is one
of the toughest businesses there is when it's done right.
And way way back when it was it was you know,
you had to play all the games, which you had

(01:31:24):
better be tough for they eat you alive.

Speaker 2 (01:31:27):
Was it weird for you to be a baby face
around this period of time because you were a heel
for so long?

Speaker 1 (01:31:30):
Or I was never really a baby face. It was
a cartoon, right, But you know, an example of what
I did and how and how I could do it.
This is crazy, but it worked. When Madison Square Gardens,
we're in a six man tag. The opponents are I
think it's John Studd and somebody else and Bobby Heaton, right,

(01:31:50):
and me and uh uh the All American team that
I went baby face with Rotunda. Yeah, okay, where where they?
And they want to get out of it. They don't
know how to end the match. They're sitting there saying,
how are we gonna? They don't want to beat anybody.
I said, let me finish the match. You don't want
we don't want you to beat him. I said, listen

(01:32:10):
to me. So I go out. Here's the match. We
got him going? Really, I jump out of the ring.
I run and I grab a chair. I come in
the ring. I go after Eat and he dives out.
I go after he dives out of it. So I
go after my guys. Crazy right, they dive out. I
turn around, Who's there a referee? Big disqualification. I'm better
than everyone? Right, And no one got you know, got beat,

(01:32:33):
no one got hurt, and it was just you know, thinking, did.

Speaker 2 (01:32:36):
You notice Vince change personality wise? As the company got
more successful.

Speaker 1 (01:32:42):
That's a great question. The changes that I saw in
him were necessary. He's tried to be one of the
boys and Vince don't know this to this day. When
Vince first become part of the WWF working for his
dad is a little kid before he was even an announcer.
And then they announced her from the ring. The TV
guy from Pittsburgh, what was his name? Uh? He did

(01:33:08):
He did all the TV in Pittsburgh for Bruno Great
TV announced they brought him into the Pittsburgh from Pittsburgh
Philadelphia to do it here and the name will come
to me in a minute. And he asked lo and
behold everybody. Year of doing the TV in Philadelphia, he
asked for a raise. Vince Senior fired him instead of
giving him a raise and brought Junior in. Everybody loved

(01:33:31):
this guy. I can't think it was his name right now.
I love him. I can't think it was his name.
It'll come anyhow. Everybody loved him. So when Vince came
in to replace him, everybody hated Benny Brat, the boss's
kid getting the break and we lost. You know that
A lot of heat on him and Vince Junior learned
the promotion business from Erning Roth when he first started

(01:33:53):
running into doing towns up in the kid caught in
that area, right ernye Roth was his partner, and he
taught him how to promote via the old man. Every
time they rode together. It was a chief at this point,
must have become an involved promotion strong bow and midman.

(01:34:15):
And he's pumping him to get all the information again
and how to work a man's always learned how to
work a man. The old man come to me, he
said so much. And I was always pulling ribs and
it was in and out, and I was really had
a great relationship with the talent before I become an agent.
And he asked me, he says, could you get some
of the heat off my kid off, Junior? So I

(01:34:38):
started inviting to my little parties and my little git
togethers and ding ding ding ding ding. One night we
had Petero was in the room, three or four heels,
a couple of baby faces, and Vinnie was there with us,
having a few beers, and they might have been smoking
something that I wasn't smoking, right, you know. We were
just kicking back in the room and this guy come

(01:34:58):
in with one of the wrestlers with his girlfriend Jewish guy,
and he was acting like he knew it all and
he walked. He says, oh, now, Vince no respect from
the boys at this time. This is when they switched
for him.

Speaker 5 (01:35:13):
Ah, I knew it was all show you guys all
bring together and at all buddies.

Speaker 1 (01:35:18):
Now, this is when kay Fabe was strong. Vince came
off the bed that he was sitting on, never touched
the ground hard. They had the guy through the door
and was going to throw him over the second deck
on the cars. When Kim Peterra caught him, he would
kill the guy. Problem, but he was at that point
he became the real deal because he was protecting kay Fabe,

(01:35:39):
and that was very huge back in those days. And
kay Fabe was never ever ran by the promoters. That
was the boys deal. It was our business. When never
wanted the promoters that they have art business and if
you're coming into screwing my business, you got to deal
with me. So when he did that, he became more
popular with the wrestlers. The word went around right away
that he protected kay Fabe, and then he was accepted. Wow.

(01:36:01):
Then later on he wanted to be one of the boys,
and that's when he screwed up the big party and
his cops comment they found out, how you can you
want to go to be the boss?

Speaker 2 (01:36:10):
Is that when I think Bret harvesalis about that story.
They've given him the finishes and stuff on the bed.
I think they went in somebody's hotel room and a
lot of the boys were giving Vince to finishes probably
same night. Yeah, I guess around WrestleMania to what was
your thought? Were they were gonna put the icy belt
on you it all? Were they gonna give you the title?

Speaker 1 (01:36:30):
Okay, here, let me tell you about the title.

Speaker 2 (01:36:31):
You didn't need it because you're already over.

Speaker 1 (01:36:33):
So that's exactly right, right, And you put a title
on a guy that's not that's good but needs something
you don't need it. If you don't need it, why
give it to you? Whit waste it?

Speaker 2 (01:36:42):
Did you think when they brought mister t to kind
of exposed the business a little bit?

Speaker 1 (01:36:45):
Or were already we were already exposing it. He was
just another when they got me hired. When they brought
uh refrigerator, Oh yeah, for the for the for the
Chicago deal. Bob Wolf is the guy that brought Cydia
Lupper No, No, Bob, Bob Wolf. He is the guy

(01:37:07):
that brought uh the Union into football, and he brought
the Union into basketball. He was the first agent, very
dear friend of mine. He wanted to organize wrestling and
I left him. I said, no way, you can't organize
wrestling because it's different than basketball and football. It's a
totally different deal. The only way we could ever have

(01:37:28):
a union in wrestling is if you made vincement Mann
Senior the president of the union, and then he's already there.
It won't work, and the guys will, the guys will
will work for less cut each other's throat. What about
British Bulldogs?

Speaker 2 (01:37:42):
What were they like?

Speaker 1 (01:37:43):
Great? Down outside of the ring. They were idiots?

Speaker 2 (01:37:45):
You saw that a lot of guys.

Speaker 1 (01:37:47):
Yeah, yeah, great guys, great guys.

Speaker 2 (01:37:50):
When we did an interview with Bruno, he talked about
when he came back in eighty six, he was really miserable.
What do you remembers of Berno when he came back
for the little brief.

Speaker 1 (01:37:56):
Front Bruno was doing commentary I think more than a run, right, yeah,
and that's the period of time paper and they did
the tag nice well. He was doing TV right, And
he come up to me one night and he's telling
me because we were close, We were real close for
a lot of years. He said, George, what do you

(01:38:17):
think about this stuff going on? All this cartoon stuff
and da da da dada. Well, I'm already doing a
little bit of the cartoon. I said, watch my match tonight.
Then asked me, that's the night that Johnkyard Dog did
the same stuff and I started dancing with the kids
and all that stuff. I come back. He come up
with me, you're one of them. I said, yeah, Brun,
I'm a worker. Learn how to do it. That's great.

Speaker 2 (01:38:37):
What was j like to work with?

Speaker 1 (01:38:39):
Oh? J y D was a great He was fantastic.
Jy D, George Steele and probably Tito Santana were three
guys that like to stir the crap and really make
it stink in the locker rooms. We'd start stories and
ribs and jy D would always tell people how much
money he made. He would be lying. He tell me
me a lot more than what he really did, right,
and you know, and then he'll start believing it. Because

(01:39:01):
wrestlers bull crap so much in the road, they tell
some stories. They started believing the stories and they're not true.
They're there stories, and he believe them. Who's getting holdier
part of the work, I guess. Anyhow, He's going on
and on with that. And finally I said, is that
all you got? What he lies? Right? Is that all

(01:39:22):
you got? But they're really screwing you. I turn around,
What did you get? I wouldn't answer, that's not your
business business? And so he really, you know, I did.
But he was funny. He was the Junkyard Dog. Two
things that was great about the Junkyard Dog. Remember when
we go into a town and he was getting pretty high, right,
he say, I'm going for a walk. I'm going to

(01:39:43):
my hood. He didn't come back the next day. The
the funniest thing is back to the real life. We're
at WrestleMania, maybe two or three one of those, and
his wife is my wife are talking to each other.
His wife was pretty sharp, by the way, so is he,
but in a different way, right, And she says, dog,
he got hotel syndrome. I said what she Yeah, the

(01:40:05):
dog got motel syndrome. He come home, he got motel syndrome.
Pat said, And my wife says, what's that? She's oh,
he leaves the light on, he leaves the TV, and
he takes the show away. He throws the towel on
the floor. It's like Motel Centram. We gotta learn to
give her. So he was just livered at home like
he was on the room. And I thought it was
pretty funny.

Speaker 2 (01:40:23):
What about hockey? Tom was like working hockey?

Speaker 1 (01:40:25):
Hockey talk was beautiful, He was beautiful. He did his gimmick.
I mean, per uh, he knocks everybody now, But he's
a pretty good guy, really right. And he was a
good worker, not a great worker. He was a better
yeah person, but I'm gonna teach you yet he was
a better character. It was almost a gimmick sometimes. But yeah.

(01:40:48):
What about Jake the Snake, Oh man, Jake to Snake
was one of the finest minds in the business. He
used to love him and Jake to Snake and work
with them and so psychology wise, yeah, and I had
a lot of fun with him until I changed my
lifestyle a little bit, quite a little bit. But Jake
was just a real great performer in the ring, great
knowledge and I lost soul. I mean, what else can

(01:41:10):
you say? Just a lost soul. But yeah, I think
the World of Jake. I thought the World of Jake
the way it was in the business.

Speaker 2 (01:41:16):
You got to team up with all the Crusher in
Chicago in eighty seven. Was that a good Yeah? It
was just like a one time deal.

Speaker 1 (01:41:22):
I remember, so must have been really powerful.

Speaker 2 (01:41:25):
And you said you liked to working with Ricky Steamboat
and stuff at Wrestle Media three.

Speaker 1 (01:41:28):
Know, I didn't say I like working with him at all.
I didn't say that at all. Okay, I said they
had one of the greatest matches of all time. It
was a performance. It wasn't the work right performance.

Speaker 2 (01:41:38):
I mean like working with him in the rain.

Speaker 1 (01:41:40):
Now, as far as wrestling, I'll tell you what happened
working around you know, you want a story with a
ring story, I'm all done working with Randy Savage. Our
programs kind of becoming history, and I'm turning the plug
over to Steamboat to work with Randy Savage for wrestling.
I think it was three cool my home down and

(01:42:00):
we worked after we were switching around a little bit.
We worked at a match in Club at Ohio. It
was a tag team match, Randy and Honky Tonk against
Me and Steamboat. And they're talking the match and a
lot of them. They want to really get over because
they're going towards about Romania, and I'm an old dummy,
I guess. So they're telling that we weren't even part

(01:42:22):
of the deal. So I finally said to me, what
do you think? I said, well, I think that Honky
Tonk and George Steele should start the match. Get it
up there a little bit, do something where they get
me going a little bit, and I give the hot
tag to Steamboat and he comes in and cleans houses

(01:42:44):
data from there. Oh no, we got to get over.
We gotta get it. Started him thinking, don't do it,
don't do it, don't do it. They wanted to start
the match, so they did. They went out, they did
all their spots and all this here stuff. They tagged
Honkey Talk for no reason at all, and they tagged me.
The roof went off. It just killed everything they'd done.
So when the roof went off, they jump on the

(01:43:06):
floor and they start fighting each other, trying to trying
to get the attention back. Well, it's too late. And
when they started fighting, I grabbed Hockey Talk. I said, relax.
He said why, I said, we leaves idiots out there fighting.
Let them fight. When they're done, we'll start our match
again quite compete. So we did that so and towards
the end we got the people where we wanted them.
They had a big pop. We go to the dressing

(01:43:28):
room and Randy's kind of begatistical with this stuff, maybe
talking out of school. We gonna screw him, That's what
I'm doing right now. This is a shoot. He starts
complaining about not not complaining. They're they're hugging each other.
Great match, great match. What do you think. I wasn't
gonna say a word. What do you think to me?
I said, well, I thought it was a most stupid

(01:43:48):
they never seen in my life. We waste a lot
of effort, get a lot, had a lot more of
doing nothing than all the crap he did. And then
we had to bring it back. We had to give
it to you three different times and get it over
the right way, and you know had been done this way,
this way, this way. My thought the business was never, ever, ever,
ever to get George Steel over. It was always to

(01:44:08):
get the match over, and whatever we were trying to
do to get that over and to get over. If
they would have got the match over first and then
got themselves over. We've been dynamited, right, but it got
it got a big poppety. But a pop is not over.
It's just a pop overs when they's a drooling. And
so I told him that, and in the locker room

(01:44:31):
was a referee, Honky talk man, Randy, Me and Steamboat.
The next day, I go to the go to Joe
Louis for a show, and Randy comes into me like,
I mean, I don't know what he thought. You know,
I got to talk to you. He'd lost it all
night and sure, sure, Liz got hell all night. I

(01:44:51):
got to talk to you. So we go in the
shower room. He starts to see stuff, give me about
three times in chest. I grabbed him and I said, listen, yeah,
I mean one more time, I'm taking you. They could
be a swirly. You know what sorely is. I'm going
to shove your head of the toilet and flush it.
Jack Lines is outside. He's like aged in the show.
He's just died, laughing because he knows now that I'm not.
And h Randy cooled down right away and they kind

(01:45:13):
of blew away. And then so I told him they run, said, Randy,
never ever ever come at me like that. I'm not.
This is when I started to get sick. I said,
I'm not feeling that. Well, there's still a man. Don't
ever do that again. And he didn't. So I had
great respect for Randy and I understood where he was
coming from that. But he didn't want somebody to knock
his work in front of other guys. But he asked me,

(01:45:34):
all right, so I'm going to be a suck up
and line home. That's not my style. But again we
had great Mattress probably have more money with Randy than
I did. Brun up to the playoffs and right, thank you?

Speaker 2 (01:45:44):
Were you surprised when Harley came over to the company?

Speaker 1 (01:45:47):
Kind of right? Kind of we were. We were in
Kansas City for a show and the word was around
it Harley was going to come to shoot fans. Ah,
everybody's gonna shoot Vance and there was a big rumor.
And Harley's just a great, big puppy. He's a tough guy.
He's a puppy though. Uh most of the guys that
are really tough guys and puppies when it comes down

(01:46:09):
to it.

Speaker 2 (01:46:10):
How did you get into the movie? We'll actually we
worked for them. Talk about Edwards WrestleMania four. Who came
up with the idea of the mind puppet.

Speaker 1 (01:46:18):
M that's funny. That's a great question too. Hell Billy Jim,
he said, travel by himself and he always carried this
un stuffed animal with him. And it's called Earl the
n stuffed dead dog or early early dead cat, right cat,

(01:46:39):
early dead cat. Had thought it looked like it had
been run over by a car, and his eyes across.
He always knew that in his bad No, me and
my wife will standing next door to I mean, he called,
it's always always loved you. He says, that thing. That's
what's that? That's my early dead cat, my traveling partner.
I don't need a woman. I got my car, alright.
Look that Can I use that to night? He said,
what for? I said, can I use it? I don't

(01:47:01):
have to tell you my whole life. Can I use it?
So I'm doing an interview with me and Jean and
he's asked me questions and I got it behind it
he didn't know. I got he didn't. I never I
think to pull ribs on it. I never told him
anything this character stuff. So he asked me about the match,
and I'm going oh, he asked me something else. Oh,
I'm not wrestling Earl and he says so Finally I said.

Speaker 5 (01:47:23):
Oh, dead cat.

Speaker 1 (01:47:24):
I pulled the dead cat out, and I mean he
flipped out, and the fans at home, you know what
crazy because there's the stop stuff. Now, Well, Vince sees it.
Next TV comes and I said, what are you doing?
Is what do you mean? He says, you're selling the
heck out of Earl a dead cat. Why don't we
come up with your own gimmick that we can sell
that some money. I said, well, what would that be?
He says, I don't know. You design it? So I

(01:47:46):
designed it mine. I named it mine because when kids
fight over a toy, what do they say?

Speaker 2 (01:47:50):
Mine?

Speaker 1 (01:47:51):
What does George say? Mine? And we had it so
that he had to belt throw on it, so it
hit the ring and it would go like this here,
and I was getting too old to take up off,
so I had my opponent to get mad at me
and take the doll and kick it. And when they
kicked the doll, I would sell it. They'd kick it again,
on sell it and then they could come back. No
bus just may come back. They took the bus. So

(01:48:12):
mind he'll carry my career another two years. I was
going to ask you, why did you end up leaving?
And did you leave on good terms? That's when I
got sick. Okay, that's when I got sick. I lived
on great terms. I became an agent. I never I
told you earlier. I never called and asked for anything.
Vince called me and wanted me to be an agent.
This after been about a year and a half, two
years real sick, and I told him no. I said,
I've always been one of the boys, and to be

(01:48:33):
an agent, you got to be a stooge. And there's
no way that George skills the stooge. You can't do that.
And we went back and forth for about an hour,
and then he said, talk to your wife. She's smarter
than you are, and i'll call you back tomorrow. Let's see,
because I really want you to be an agent. So
he called me back the next day and I talked
to my wife. She said, what do you want to do?
I said, I don't want to do that. It's just
a bunch of crap, and I don't want to put
up with the boys. I don't want to do that.

(01:48:54):
So I told him, I said, I don't want to
do that. It's why not? I said, well, because number
when you went your agents to be stooges on the boys,
and I said, I'm one of the boys. I don't
want to go in that direction. And you want to
hear what you want to hear, and Under said, what's
going on? And that's not the way I play the
game bands he said, that's why I want you. He said,
that's exactly way I'm calling you. I need somebody that'll

(01:49:15):
tell us what's going on and be straight with us
and straight with the boys, no b yes about it whatsoever,
he said. And I know how much you love the business.
I know how much you respect the business, and that's
why I want you to be an agent. He said,
try it for three months. This is after fifteen months.
Try it for three months, and if you don't like it,
would just shake hands and say goodbye. I'm dyslexic. I'm
very dyslexic. Right, So now he's got to be counting

(01:49:36):
the money. So the first night it was like a
thousand dollars short, and so crazy, one hundred dollars short.
So and then you give a report, I told him,
I said, well, you want to count your money. You
lost a hundred to night jerk. But he understood that,
and so he had me doing the money end of
it for like three months, and I was I hated
it because I'm just doing every night like I had
that all right, and so I was ready to quit.

(01:49:58):
And he said, well, I'm going to make you a uh,
the head agent, and you're gonna be over the shows,
use your your knowledge there. I really fell in love
with that. I really liked it. Unfortunately, at that point
in time, we started bringing some people in that thought
they were bigger than the business.

Speaker 2 (01:50:15):
I was gonna ask you, did anybody give any problems?

Speaker 1 (01:50:17):
Well, they're not really problems. They were problems for themselves,
but it was it was a pain in the body.
And yeah, there's a lot of names, but they I
felt like they didn't respect their business. K Fane was dead,
so it might have been me out of sync with
what was going on. But I'm a whole school. And
we used to have a dog by the name of
Matilda that the bulldogs had. Well, the big guy, the

(01:50:40):
big muster, the big strong guy they wrestled them all
the time. Were the black pads name to me? Anyhow,
he gave me to the dog, right, yeah, no, you
know he didn't bring the dog to the show. You
know what for the people caring Matilda, the Matilda would
change him, Alma Johnson. No, no, no, no, no, this

(01:51:01):
guy he was the big Samoan's partner or tag team
worlard warlord. Yeah, that's what I'm trying to think of,
the warlord and he bring Matelda in and through the crowd.
I mean it's like that. And then the guys were
traveling together and they were this and all those years
that I never saw Bruno in the public, right, all
the time we talked, they saw him in public. And

(01:51:23):
we were very close friends, so it might have been
me out of touch more than them.

Speaker 2 (01:51:27):
They brought you back a couple of times, and I
think you were a part of the oddities, like one shot.

Speaker 1 (01:51:31):
Yeah, yeah, the artist of the oddities.

Speaker 2 (01:51:34):
How did you wind up doing the movie?

Speaker 1 (01:51:35):
Uh with I guess Edward because of my tremendous acting aquility.
It's a fantastic actor. Because I looked like the ugliest
guy in the world. I looked like Tory Johnson. Tory Johnson.
They called me and started telling me about tour Tim
Burton did and He said, you're going to be a
movie star, just like Tim Burton. I think, and I'm
going to be a movie star. Then I researched the part,

(01:51:56):
and I found out that Tim Burton or that Tory
Johnson was the first guy to make monster movies without makeup.
That's how I got them part. Do it. We did, Paul.
We were out there for three months. It was really
first class and the movie turned out really pretty well.
It was just a real great experience. Who would like

(01:52:17):
to be in the I wasn't just an extra. I
was a starring role, right, huge role. And yeah, it
was great. In fact, I said towards the end when
we went out there, I tell my wife, we're not
gonna get excited about this crap. It's just a one
shot deal. But I started looking at agents just before
we left, and they wanted me to move to Florida,
to California, and I live in Cocoa Beach. I have

(01:52:38):
a great lifestyle. And they said, we can get your
work all the time as a character actor and so
on and so forth. You of work every week. I said, no, no, no, no,
If you can get me a good part, call me
from Florida. I'm not moving here in this classic crazy world.
That's not my style. So I'm a beach guy.

Speaker 2 (01:52:52):
How did you burn a bridge with Vince? Was it
because of the Nitra appearance?

Speaker 1 (01:52:57):
Yeah, I'm not sure. You know, we never talked after that.
It all started the leverage guy, and it all started
before that. Really, Vince called me. I told you that
earlier to the agent when they decided to let me go.
I felt like Vince owed me a phone call. Just again.
It's principal with me, and principles are very important. Vince

(01:53:20):
had Jim what's his name, the Oklahoma guy, Jim Ross,
called me and he told me that they were kind
of done with me, and I resented that. I resented
a big time, So I didn't say anything for a while.
He said that Vince is going to call you. He
did tell me that, and I knew that Vince wasn't
gonna call me because Vince is emotional, and when when

(01:53:42):
I can say things about our relationship me him and
his father, and he'll started hearing. He's very He's a
great guy, very emotional and emotional people are great people usually,
and so he couldn't call me probably, But I knew that,
and so I give him about a year and a half,
two years, and they called me one me to do
this thing. And I was in Buffalo, was a Buffalo

(01:54:04):
for WCW where we did the thing the kid that's
running Tian Tina. Anyhow, I told my wife, I said, well,
I said, you know, I give Vins a chance to call.
I'm real huge and so is Vince. I'm closing being
the closer relationships. I said, I got to do closure
on Vince before he does that me. He doesn't called me,

(01:54:25):
so I'm gonna do closure. I'm gonna do this show. Yeah.
I think they paid me. I think four thousand dollars.
It certainly wasn't about the money, but it was about
me sending a message, and boy did that message go
in there big time. I never you know, I got
a lot of friends that were around. Mens call me, boy,
he's really hot. That's all right. He had a chance

(01:54:46):
to call me. You know what I'm saying, all right,
and I did that is just to close our relationship
because a lot of things were going on and they
were calling me to do this and do that. I
didn't want to do it until he called me. They've
called me three or four times to sign this Legends
contract they're doing now. I haven't done it. I will
not do it until he calls me, and he hasn't
got the I thought I liked him because he's got balls,

(01:55:08):
because had the balls to call me because he knows
that he was wrong.

Speaker 2 (01:55:12):
You once said the biggest mistake you made was not
taking Evince to a wrestling gym and uh bring them.

Speaker 1 (01:55:19):
Yes I can. When I told you that when he
first came in and then his dad wanted me to
uh uh get the guys to like him, I should
have taken them at that time to the gym and
taught him respect for the business like they were trying
to teach me respect. I think everybody needed to have that,
especially if you're going to be in that power seat
that he was in. His dad never had that. It

(01:55:40):
made him a better resident promoter today. If he would
have had more respect for the business and he could
still be doing what he's doing today. What do you
respect the wrestlers more?

Speaker 2 (01:55:48):
Are you surprised he's actually getting in the rings sometimes
in wrestling or.

Speaker 1 (01:55:51):
No, not at all. That's his ego, right, that's his ego.
He always wanted to do that. His dad wouldn't let
him wrestle. He he dyed his hair blind and wanted
to be uh uh uh doctor Bill Miller, Doctor Bill Miller, uh,
doctor Jerry Graham. He wanted to That was his idle.
He wanted. He wanted to wrestle when he's a little kid.
He's always wanted to wrestle.

Speaker 2 (01:56:10):
Who are your favorite opponents that you liked wrestling?

Speaker 1 (01:56:14):
Uh? Bruno was a real hardcore, good hard worker. Loved
working with Bruno. I loved working with Bobby Backland. I
loved working with Adrian Adonnas. I say that people go, oh,
Adrian is one of the greatest minds in the ring.
He really knew how to work. I mean, it's just

(01:56:34):
he was. He was phenomenal and regrets looking back on
your career, No, no, I'm The best thing I did
was keep it part time.

Speaker 2 (01:56:42):
Any good road stories or ribs that stick out.

Speaker 1 (01:56:44):
Well, I think I told you a couple two or
three of them.

Speaker 2 (01:56:46):
Oh you're gonna talk about sarget slaughter at the table.
Huh you were gonna talk about Sargeant Slaughter and the
King's Table.

Speaker 1 (01:56:52):
Oh, well, that's not a rib so much. The King's
Table was in Uh, we do TV in Philadelphia, mister McMahon,
the old Man would only come in for TV as
the Hamburgs, and it would be Philadelphia, the old Spector
of the Old Arena, all right, and then Hamburg, and
in between we would stop in writing Pennsylvania and everything was.

(01:57:15):
It was usually the heels, but the top guys would
come to that, and that's when Sergeant Slaughter was began.
But why I was going to tell you about the
King's thing is there was a time when Bruno dropped
the belt the first time and I walked out too.
I called Ben and told me I had to go back,
and it's football problems to do. That might have been
the second time, I'm not sure which, but anyhow I
walked out of them because of bad dayoffs and didn't

(01:57:38):
have the leverage yet, so that'd have been the first time.
And Bruneli talked to me and was going to go
back and just work in Pittsburgh. So and so when
BRUNELOI dropped the belt, the story was that I'd broken
his used the chair and hear his shoulder real bad
and the doctor told him not to wrestle. But he
came into Madison Square Gardens and wrestled cold off and
lost the title. So we had an angle with that

(01:57:58):
and the the angle went. When he come back, I
walked out. So now the following year, Evince calls me
to want to come back. When he called me up
to come back, this's when I had my leverage. It's
when I started making big money. And he were sitting
at the King's table and he looks at me and
he says, I respect the guy. If he doesn't get
a good payoff, complains about it. I always make it right,

(01:58:22):
which guys would complain to give a couple two hundred dollars.
I looked him right in the eye and he put
his lasted down the end of his nose, looked Hm
right in the eye and con mnded him a little bit,
and I said, I got to tell you, I respect
a promoter that pays me what I'm worth. And if
I got to come back and beg for my money,
he gets my ass. He sit back like this, here's bad.
Never got another bad payoff. Huh, leverage.

Speaker 2 (01:58:44):
Do you think the character like George Hamilsteele could still
get over today? Absolutely?

Speaker 1 (01:58:48):
I think the art of the work it would be fantastic.

Speaker 2 (01:58:51):
What do you think's wrong with today's wrestling.

Speaker 1 (01:58:53):
I'm not sure anything's run us a multi billion dollar business.
You know, wrestling has always been a business. It's a
very siful business. I hear everybody knocking it in all
this here. I think it had to change from what
it was. But did you ever watch before your time
at the video of the Green Bay Packers when Vince
Lombardi was coaching. They look like they were running in
mud compared to what it is today. It's a different

(01:59:14):
play played football, different society is different when they first
when Vince first brought the one of the biggest stars
he developed in was The Rock. When he first bought
him in. He pushed him really hard with a real
clean baby face, and it was stunk. He didn't get
over at all. Turn him a little bit here and
change it. The Rock got over with the eyebrow and
the people's elbow. Not great stuff, but a great, great mind.

Speaker 2 (01:59:37):
I guess I would you ever be shocked if you
were to go back to do like a one time
appearance for Hall of Fame or something like that.

Speaker 1 (01:59:45):
I probably wouldn't do that. You know, First of all,
Vince would have.

Speaker 2 (01:59:49):
To call me, I call are you surprised to see
some guys still in the ring like Brick Flair. Are
you surprised that some guys just won't know when to
let it go?

Speaker 1 (01:59:57):
That's sad, But I you know, I went a long
time too. I mean I was fifty years old and
still working as a heel. So you know, if you
could do it, there's a place where you throw the
ball in and everybody's got to do it in the room.
I'm not going to criticize that.

Speaker 2 (02:00:13):
You still wrestle today on the indies, like what's no
no No.

Speaker 1 (02:00:16):
I wrestled to get out of bed at seventy years old.
I go to the Indies and I signed autographs. I'd
like to talk to the fans because he couldn't do
that earlier on. I enjoy interplay with the fants. I
might get in the ring and have a manager or
some little chubby guy throw somebody, bite his arm and
right head a turnbuckle, and I said, I no, I
don't wrestle. You kidding me?

Speaker 2 (02:00:37):
Who is your favorite and the least favorite bookers to
work for?

Speaker 1 (02:00:41):
You know what? How many bookers did I worked? I
never worked for the Spens pretty much? Who was pretty much?
It well, he was, yeah, and then he hit Pat Patterson.
I never really was with book and I was already
an agent. I never had. I never worked for a booker.
The only time I worked for a booker was when
I went to Atlanta, And I told you what.

Speaker 2 (02:00:59):
I did, right right, If you were to, I guess,
put down three of your top matches for your grand
children to watch, what would they be?

Speaker 1 (02:01:06):
I said, please don't watch them? Uh, you know any
of my Bruno matches. They were a class as any
of my Bobby matches, except a couple of them. I
got really carried where you're using it for an object.
But any of the Bobby matches, any of Bruno's matches,
any of Papros matches, except when he couldn't he just
left hand. They were all pretty good matches. Savage matches

(02:01:28):
they've seen. You know they're there. Ah, Adrian Adonnas, Yeah,
great matches. I'm dulligent. He was the mastermind in the ring.
We thought on the same page. I guess I'm being
the autistical we were. We were masterminds in the ring.
Favorite town, favorite town, New York City probably. I love
New York, I love Boston, I love Philide, I think

(02:01:52):
Philadelphia fans in the wildest and the wall. Uh. I
just as a heel. I loved him. I love being hated.
I just really loved. We didn't even get into my
learning disabilities and all that, which is a whole other story.
Sometimes we might do that. It's pretty powerful stuff. It's
the basis for the whole character of George Steele, because

(02:02:12):
I really lived it as a kid, really a real deal,
playing football, almost lost my tongue, sticking my tongue up
with four face masks, and I couldn't talk in high
school for about a year, and the teacher asked me
if I a new teacher come in the second semester,
our teacher got pregnant, and then new teacher come in
and she had the kids stand up and tell their
name and a little bit about themselves. And I just

(02:02:32):
lit my tongue off in October, and this was like January.
I couldn't shut my mouth. It was swollen and it
was black. They didn't know if it was going to
take her now. They put a disc in there. That's
why I have a little lisp right. And I was dyslexic,
so I had learned to splitty on top of it,
and she asked me to stand it and all the
kids stand up and tell their name me we're going
to do for Christmas or what they did for Christmas?

(02:02:55):
I said, and she said, sit down, dummy. You can't
even talk. And I didn't speak in time with a
sophomoren college, I wouldn't talk in classes or anything back
because they had a learning disability. They would send me
to the gym so I'd become a great athlete, right,
not necessarily great student. But I do have always be
on my master's toward my doctorates, so you know I'm
being a dumby. I did all right?

Speaker 2 (02:03:16):
Is there anything you want to see? To your fans
out there, I love.

Speaker 1 (02:03:19):
You, Thank you for everything you've done. I hope that
I haven't heard angry feelings over the course of the years.
Everything I did was for the right reason. I thought
sometimes I was a real idiot. You know that's the deal.

Speaker 2 (02:03:32):
Thanks for being here. If there's a great interview.

Speaker 1 (02:03:34):
I watched thousands of exclusive shoot interviews right now on
Title Match Network dot Com.

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