[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, everybody, before we go in on this week's show, just want to let everybody know that the guys had a really busy week lined up this week. They got shows Wednesday night, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and they had a surprise show dropped on them for Thursday night that you'll hear more about probably next week.
Can't really talk about it right now, but again, we'll talk about it next week. But anyway, after. As we were recording this show, you know, we had a lot of distractions.
People were calling Doug and he was having extra calls, like I say, because of all the stuff they had going on.
About a little over midway through the show, Tommy had to step away to take care of something unexpected.
And so me and Doug finished out the show. So if this show feels a little disjointed at times and kind of feels like it kind of jumps around, that would be why we. We just wanted to make sure we got a show out for everybody this week, but not without its challenges. But it's still. It's still a fun episode, and you can still hear the guys talk about these different cards that we go over from the different posters that people sent us. And again, another. Another interesting and fun episode. But I just want to kind of explain, if you listen to it, you think, man, this kind of feels out of sorts. Well, it kind of was, but we did the best we could with everything these guys had going on. And we can talk more about it on next week's show, but for now, let's go ahead and check out this episode.
Right now.
[00:01:35] Speaker B: Doug and Tommy carved the name Fists of fury and hearts of gold Every story, every fight we told Tales of glory laughed and cry Tennessee warriors with hearts open wide.
[00:02:00] Speaker A: In the.
[00:02:00] Speaker B: Ring or on the air Legends living without a care on the map they roar on the map they soar Dangerous conversations Fans want to know Our gas kings stood in the waves.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: Hey, everybody. Welcome back once again to Dangerous Conversations with Dangerous Doug Gilbert and Tommy Wildfire Rich. Guys, we've made it through another week, and it's time to talk some old school wrestling once again. How are you doing?
[00:02:44] Speaker C: Good, man?
[00:02:46] Speaker D: Man, I'm doing great. Gene Had a good start to the week here and got the Henderson county fair out from in front of us. And now it looks like Friday night, which that would be tonight, wouldn't it? Ripley, Tennessee.
Saturday night, Dyersburg, Tennessee. Sunday night, West Tennessee Comic Con in Jackson, Tennessee. It's Carl Perkins Civic Center. So we've got a busy next few days. And then we go to September 20th, the Banana Festival in South Fulton, Tennessee, from 11 to 2. And then me and Tanya leave there on Saturday and go to Paraguard, Arkansas at the Greene County Fairgrounds for a horror convention and. And a.
Like a Horror Comic Con, I guess it would be called, with all your horror characters and everything. I guess me and Tommy fit right in there with those horror characters and everything. We'll be doing the Banana Festival that morning from 11 to 2 and then go over there to Perigueux, get there, sign some autographs and wrestle after that. Like I said, that's September 20th. Everybody come out and see at the South Portland, Tennessee, 11 to 2. Then we get right in the car and head over to Paragould to the Horicon at the Green County Fairgrounds. Prairie Good, Arkansas. That night we got a lot of stuff going on that October 4th. The Memphis Tigers, Memphis Lane wrestling night with the Tigers. And that will be at Memphis at the Tiger Lane there in Memphis, one of the old coliseums right over there beside us. It's kind of a cool night.
[00:04:13] Speaker C: Also, somebody say something about, man, I'm glad Dougie remembers all that Memphis Mafia on tours. What we talking about? Hey, and we're gonna be in Philly. We're gonna be across the country, man, this is like old school wrestling, man. Back in the day, somebody say, somebody. I am fired up about it. And hey, you know Ripley, Ms. Ripley, Tennessee. I mean, man, Paragu, go be at the Comic Con.
It don't get no better than that. I get home, come on, see my brother too. She. It don't get no better. I'm excited, man.
[00:04:51] Speaker A: It's like, yeah, the Memphis Mafia just burning up the roads. And, you know, I got a couple of buddies, we host a USWA podcast. And it's like the USWA is alive and well. These. All these towns you guys are naming off that y' all are going to be hitting. It's. It's just like the USWA days used to hit all those towns, right?
[00:05:08] Speaker D: Oh, man, it's really cool, Gene. Like I said, we've got more stuff coming up. We got other stuff that we've got in the works. We got a few things over there in Mississippi, I think, that you know about this coming in November, and we got a couple more things, I think, in October. But it's all shaping up real well. And like I said, me and Tommy have a great time going out.
[00:05:27] Speaker C: Hey, bottom line, the bottom line is Memphis MAFIA on tour. I mean, this is Memphis wrestling at the best. This is uswa. I mean, they bringing it back old school Wrestling. And it's just such a joy for me. It's such a pleasure to be back, man, you know, so I'm excited. And then next week we're back in Tennessee again. So, hey, long live uswa. Long live independence. And we're just glad to be here, man.
To all the wrestling fans and hey.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: If you want to bring the Memphis MAFIA Tour to your town, you can reach out. Let us know. Hit me up at the email address. Doug Gilbert podcastoutlook.com Let us know what you got going on and what your plans are and I will get you in touch with these two guys and we will make that happen. And then you will hear them on this show talking about coming to your event very soon on the Memphis Mafia tour.
2025 we called it, but man, all this steam behind it, it sound like it's probably going to roll right into 2026 as well. We'll see how things go, right?
[00:06:36] Speaker D: Oh, yeah, it roll on. Gene and me and Tommy will keep on making shows, meeting fans and old school fans, new fans, and me and Tommy have a great time.
Like I told you before, I wasn't the biggest a fan of going out, meeting people and signing things in the years past, but Tommy would try to get me to. Tommy was the one riding this. Usually I'll say I'm the one riding a lot of stuff, but on this, Tommy was always right. He'd like to go out and see the fans and talk to him. I like to kind of stay in my own little world now. I like to go out and talk to fans at a great time in Manchester, talking with a few fans up there, man. Like I said, it's cool. The, the old school fans and you fans, the, the grandparents, the, the their kids, their grandkids. It's kind of cool meeting all the different generations of fans.
[00:07:25] Speaker C: Hey, and you said, you said Manchester, man. My man, Bo James. Hey, I talked to him the other day and he was talking about you was class act, you was the show there. So hey, big shout out. I wish I'd have been there with you, bubba.
[00:07:39] Speaker D: I had a good time and like I said, that was my first time. Tommy's had a lot of encounters with, with Bo James and I've met Bo a handful of times, but I've never wrestled with him or anything. But he was my partner there that night, Gene in Manchester, and that's a good experience and I had a good time. Everything we talked about, maybe me and Tommy doing some fairs for him coming up, man.
[00:08:03] Speaker A: Yeah, that'd Be great. Yeah, Bo's a really good guy. He's a wrestling historian if there ever was one. He's got a couple of great podcasts people can check out if you want to hear about the history, especially wrestling in East Tennessee and out through them parts. He.
He's lived most of it, and what he didn't, he's talked to the people who were there and can tell you all about it. So make sure you. You check that out over on Bo's page. But I guess, you know, people send us. I was. I was gonna say, you know, you're talking about the meet and greets and everything, and I know you. You guys both have a great time talking with fans, and they, you know, come and tell stories and remind you of. Of things. But a lot of them I see at these, you know, they bring up old programs, magazines, pictures, just all kinds of cool stuff folks, you know, bring in and show you. And we get a lot of people sending to our Facebook page a lot of cool cards and posters from various shows that, you know, you guys were on Doug, your dad was on your brother, and different things, and. And I put them up over on the Facebook. We've got some really good ones lately, and people seem to really like it, like when we go through the old cards and you guys just kind of talk about, you know, what you remember about the matches and the guys involved in it. And I thought, you know, we'd go through some of the most recent ones we were sent and kind of see if it sparks any. Any memories for you guys and any interesting conversation, if that works for y'.
[00:09:22] Speaker D: All, that's cool, man. Like I said. And one of the guys, like, in Manchester, I signed some things for. I asked you. He was showing me some cool programs that me and Tommy was in together. And I asked my man, how many of these do you have? And what I was actually talking about was like, did he have any extra. The same ones? And he said, doug, I've got about 4 to 5,000 difference. And, wow, no kidding. I said, I was actually talking about, did you have any duplicates of this? Because it was. Some of them was so cool and everything. And he said, I don't think I do, but I got 4 to 5,000. I said, where do you get them? He said, I get them from everywhere I can. Anywhere I see them, I'll buy them and put them up. And he said, then I'll just, you know, get a dozen or so, and then I'll come and meet y' all somewhere and get you all to sign them. But it was cool. The different, all the different parts. People that was in them.
[00:10:12] Speaker A: Yeah, man, that's a. That's a. That's a fun hobby. I've. I've got my share of them, but good Lord, I ain't got anything even remotely close to. To 4,000. That's amazing.
[00:10:22] Speaker D: My wife told me I need a new hobby. You think I need to start buying programs?
[00:10:25] Speaker A: I don't know if she would dig that if you told her you're going to start filling that.
[00:10:29] Speaker C: I got something I'll sell you, bubba.
[00:10:32] Speaker A: He'll even sign them for you, Doug.
[00:10:34] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:35] Speaker D: Oh, he'll sell them to me then charge me sign.
[00:10:38] Speaker A: That's how you do it right there.
[00:10:39] Speaker C: Yeah, I'll give them to you. Didn't charge you yet.
[00:10:44] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't, I don't know if she wants you to have that for a hobby. You start having to build on to the house to, to store all your programs.
[00:10:52] Speaker C: Stuff in.
[00:10:53] Speaker A: You got some cool stuff out there.
[00:10:55] Speaker C: He got. He. He tell you a story anyway. He got a bunch of stuff stored anyway.
Yeah, through the years of wrestling. You ain't lying. He got a bunch of stuff.
[00:11:05] Speaker A: I mean, you know as well as I do, Tommy, he could charge admission for folks to walk through there and look at all that stuff.
[00:11:11] Speaker C: Yeah, he got a wrestling dag on whatever you call it.
[00:11:16] Speaker A: Update Museum.
[00:11:18] Speaker C: Museum, yeah. Yeah. Thank you, thank you. Yeah, I mean, he got any stuff in a trophy, like a trophy case? He got some of his stuff in his dad. I may got bales hanging on his ceiling out. And he calls it his shop, but it's a museum. You ain't lying. Plus my favorite part is those big TV out there. That's why.
[00:11:39] Speaker D: Yeah, that's my favorite part too, Tommy.
But anyway, fellas, I appreciate it, but.
[00:11:45] Speaker A: Yeah, the first card I got here, I don't have a year, so I'm thinking maybe you guys we can probably pin down a year once we hear some of these names. But this isn't actually in Florida. This is at the Robarts Arena, Sarasota, Florida. It says Friday, September 11th. Nine matches in all, six title matches.
We've got a lights out special challenge match and this is listed as the opener between Mike Graham and Tully Blanchard. I imagine being down in Florida that might go a little different than perhaps it would in other parts of the country rather if this was happening like maybe in Southwest or something. But being down in Florida, I figure Mike Graham may have come out on the good end of this one. I Don't know. But then we had a Florida junior heavyweight title match, Mr. Saito taking on Jerry Briscoe. Now, man, that sounds like a heck of a match there, doesn't it?
[00:12:32] Speaker C: Oh, Jerry Briscoe. Man, I love Jerry, man. He was in Georgia. He was.
We got booging agent or something. He traveled on the road with us. Me and him and Roddy Piper was together.
Yeah, a lot of wild times with him. As a matter of fact, we was in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Terry Lee was with me. And.
Yeah, it was crazy night. Anyway, I won't go into no detail, but we had a wild night. He. I don't know if he tried to run over me. I just jumped on the car, but I busted the window out. And then we had to explain all that. Yeah, some of our rowdy days.
[00:13:07] Speaker D: Dang. You doing spots out in the parking lot?
[00:13:10] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:13:11] Speaker D: You trying to do Memphis TV in West Virginia?
[00:13:14] Speaker C: Well, what. What it was, is, is we stayed at the Holiday Inn, and the check in was at the bottom of the hill. And it was about.
Well, it looked like a mile. You had to ride.
Yeah, it looked like a ride. I made a ride up there look like a mile.
I just run. Tried to jump on the car. Yeah, you know, up a little bit, but they was toe up, too.
[00:13:44] Speaker D: Nothing wrong with that.
[00:13:46] Speaker A: Well, that one got out of hand between Mr. Saito and Jerry Briscoe. Who you think's taking down who there legitimately? We get into an amateur bout, we're thinking Briscoe, probably.
I'll say, say no. Slouch.
[00:14:00] Speaker C: I mean, you got that. You got to finish on it. But I'd say that was the Coen tiles right there.
[00:14:07] Speaker D: Yeah, I'd say they're definitely two really tough guys.
[00:14:12] Speaker A: Yeah, that's the thing about these posters. We got the poster, but we don't have the results. So we just have to kind of speculate on what we think might have happened. The next match. They got listed.
[00:14:19] Speaker C: Dang. You always got them results. I can't believe it.
[00:14:23] Speaker A: Yeah, these are just posters people sent me. I didn't have enough time to go back and then find the results, too. So we may follow up on that. I got a Florida heavyweight title match with Charlie Cook versus Buzz Sawyer. Now, we talked about Buzz Sawyer quite a bit. I think Charlie Cook's name may have come up once or twice, but I know he did a lot of wrestling out here in Florida and everything. Did he. Was he ever up in Tennessee much, that you guys remember?
[00:14:46] Speaker D: Yeah, he. He come through here, but Charlie Was one played pro football, wasn't it?
[00:14:52] Speaker C: Yeah, I think so. But Charlie was real cool guy, man. Charlie, he wrestled in Atlanta some too, but just a real good guy, man. Just, you know, went about his business and just, you know, I mean, I never heard him say a bad word, but yeah, Charlie was cool.
[00:15:10] Speaker A: Now here's a match that I think you guys will take an interest in. This is the Florida television title match.
Dory Funk Jr. Defending against Tommy Gilbert.
[00:15:22] Speaker D: I would say.
Trying to think year wise, Gene.
80s.
[00:15:31] Speaker A: More like 80s. Okay, that makes sense.
[00:15:34] Speaker C: Tommy, he did a lot of business down in Tampa that I made for Eddie Graham though, too, didn't he?
[00:15:39] Speaker D: I mean, yeah, he went down there. He went down there.
[00:15:45] Speaker C: Tommy was that old school wrestler. And that's what Eddie Graham loved, was him old school wrestlers, man. And Tommy, you know, top his game. Like I said, he beat me death one time. Boxing.
Not only he know how to wrestle, he knew how to box too.
[00:16:02] Speaker D: And that was, I think during the time you're talking about, Gene, was probably when Dory was booking. And I think my dad went down there a couple of different times when Dory was booking. Because I remember Dory actually told me this himself. Said when he started booking one time, he just brought my dad in and he went to try to work with a lot of the different guys in the territory. Now, by what it sounds. It was.
It was good talent there, by what you just named off and everything. But he said there wasn't nobody that he could have a match like he wanted to have with in that territory. And he brought my dad in and he worked with him and he said no, just none of them guys was like your dad, which, I mean, Dory really liked the way my dad worked, which that was Dory's style and everything. And. And he always. My dad was always in, you know, in good shape with Dory and like I said in Florida and out in Amarillo and everything when he went out there to work for him. But my dad always enjoyed working with Dora.
[00:17:04] Speaker A: Now, as you mentioned it, looking at the rest of the card, I think you're right. This is going to be 80 or 81 once we see some of the other guys on the card here in just a. Mom.
[00:17:11] Speaker D: That's what I was gonna say. I thought maybe 81, but 80.
[00:17:17] Speaker A: I think the main event's gonna pin it to 81. We'll see here in just a second. Southern title match. Bobby Jaggers versus Coco Samoa. I don't know that we've talked about either one of these Fellows, thus far on the show, Bobby Jaggers and Coco.
[00:17:28] Speaker D: Samoa, well, by the time you had to be around Bobby Jagger, so Bobby.
[00:17:32] Speaker C: I don't know Coco Samoa, I don't know who that is, to be honest.
But Bobby Jaggers, man, short, heavyset, boy, that, I mean, I say boy, he was a man, but, but he was just, he was always laughing and smiling and just a great guy. I mean, I don't know what folks say about it, but I always had a good time being around him and I mean, but could wrestle his butt off too.
[00:17:59] Speaker D: Gene. I like Bobby, I was just around him a handful of times and a lot of those is when I was a lot younger, before I ever got into business. But man, he, he was funny and he would tell some stories and, and stuff.
Yeah, I mean, it was all the truth, whatever any of it was, he was funny. But I remember the guys mess with him and just ag him on getting to tell some stuff and he was, he was funny like I said. But like Tommy said, he's always smiling and happy and stuff, but he was a funny guy.
[00:18:33] Speaker A: Now here's an interesting match for Florida. So the semi main event on this show in Sarasota. Brass knuckles title match. Terry Funk versus Jerry Lawler.
[00:18:46] Speaker D: Huh? That, that, that is interesting. I wish Lawler went down there, you know, to Florida a few different times. And I mean everything like his deal, he had that deal set up in Hawaii that he went to Hawaii on vacation. They asked him to work while he was on vacation. He worked. They put the Hawaiian, whatever they called.
[00:19:06] Speaker A: It, they didn't call, oh yeah, the Polynesian.
[00:19:09] Speaker D: Yeah, the population weight belt. Well, then he told me, he said, then they started wanting to come down there like every Friday or every other Friday. And he said he figured they just gonna fly him down there one time and take the belt off of him. Well, they flew him down there to work in somebody and he said he figured he'd dropped the belt and they come now we want you to beat him. And he said he was thinking when my go come back. He didn't ask him that or nothing, but they caught him in like two weeks.
We need you to come back the following Friday night. And he said finally he just had to tell him, look, you're going to have to take this Polynesian title off me. But he wound up just, you know, he went on a vacation and come back as their champion.
But, but I thought that was interesting.
[00:19:48] Speaker A: So then the main event, and this is the one, I think that timestamps it to 1981 your main events, an NWA world heavyweight title, Texas Death Rules. The champion, Dusty Rhodes, defending against the assassin, number one. And I think Dusty won his first title in 81, if I'm not mistaken. So I think that pretty much seals that for us.
[00:20:08] Speaker D: Yeah, I would say. I was gonna say 81. 80, 81 or 80, but. Yeah, I would say it does.
[00:20:14] Speaker C: And that would have been 81.
[00:20:17] Speaker A: That's right. That's what I'm thinking about. Dusty one in 80. That's right.
There you go.
[00:20:23] Speaker D: But just a Dusty one at 80 and Harley won it in 81. Is that what you'll say?
[00:20:28] Speaker C: Tommy won it and 81, so it had to be 80.
[00:20:32] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, so a couple interesting, you know, semi main and main. You got Funk and Lawler and a semi Dusty and the Assassin, which I assume would be Jody Hamilton there.
[00:20:43] Speaker D: Well, that's what I was fixed. I should say that that would have been interesting, but, I mean, that would have been a good match. Back in Jody. Jody was good worker and everything. And I mean solid.
[00:20:54] Speaker C: This could be Liam and Trim, too. Back then, I mean, Jody. I mean, even when I wrestle with Jody and Deep south wrestling, I mean, he did the Assassin thing and he got hit. But Jody. Jody's one of them. Another like Jerry Blackwell. I mean, I don't know if he could throw that drop kick like Jerry Blackwell did, but Jody could get up and go to. I mean, Jody could go.
[00:21:17] Speaker D: Jody was like.
To us, or to me being a kid, like, growing up here. Roger Smith. Like a Roger Smith, you know, Roger Smith and Don Bass was partners. Roger Smith was always Don's partner here. He was the one that was bigger, that could move and really go and everything. I always had a lot of respect for.
For him and everything, but. Yeah, that. But I always thought Jody was great, too.
[00:21:39] Speaker C: Like I said, I mean, hey, they did Dirty Roads too, right? Yeah, right. Dirty Roads. Yeah. Hey, he could do dust pretty good, too. Yeah.
[00:21:49] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:21:50] Speaker C: Dirty Roads. Yeah, I remember that.
[00:21:53] Speaker D: Dirty Roads. And Harley Davidson. You remember who Harley Davidson was?
[00:21:57] Speaker A: Tommy and Jean, he'll be the gym one.
[00:22:00] Speaker C: He was from Boulder Green, right?
[00:22:02] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah.
[00:22:03] Speaker C: Okay. I can't remember his name, but he went to New York, did the hillbilly gimmick.
I don't remember his name, but. Yeah, I know who you're talking about.
[00:22:12] Speaker D: Yeah. James, as far as the gimmick, he'll be. He'll be like Jim, remember that song?
[00:22:17] Speaker C: He'll be legit. Okay. Yeah, yeah.
You talk about a great guy now to whoop anybody's butt. He wanted to probably. But y' all remember from Bowling Green, and you know, he was just a good people man, and he didn't forget where he came from either.
[00:22:37] Speaker D: Y' all remember who they brought up there to be as. As his uncle.
[00:22:43] Speaker A: Stan Frazier.
Oh, Uncle Elmer.
[00:22:47] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:22:48] Speaker D: And do y' all remember who. Who they brought up there to be his cousin.
[00:22:53] Speaker A: Laney? Well, they did a couple. Lanny Keane was one. Was.
[00:22:57] Speaker D: What did they call Randy, though?
[00:22:59] Speaker A: He was Cousin Junior, I think.
[00:23:01] Speaker D: Cousin Junior. But who was the other one? Do you remember that?
[00:23:03] Speaker A: Cousin Luke, which was Gene Pettit, I think is his name.
[00:23:09] Speaker D: Right. But. But Laney was. Is one. I really like what you said that first, but the, the other one, I didn't figure you'd get the, the other cousin, but yeah, that was the, the whole plan.
[00:23:19] Speaker A: And then because Lanny's one that came back and was Cujo. Moondog. Cujo.
[00:23:24] Speaker D: Right.
[00:23:25] Speaker A: Several different gimmicks there.
[00:23:27] Speaker D: Yeah, but. And he was really a great guy. I mean, me and Tommy messed with him a lot. He was just a super friendly, just a cunt. He was for real country boy and man, he was. He was fun to be around.
He liked to have a good time all the time.
[00:23:46] Speaker A: Nothing wrong with that.
Yeah, we're gonna. We're gonna run across another match with. With Plyboy Frazier here in just a little bit. This next one we know, it's.
[00:23:55] Speaker C: Oh, Jean, you know, you, you pretty hip on your dog. On, you know, one of the best angles I ever seen.
[00:24:01] Speaker A: What's that?
[00:24:03] Speaker C: You talk about Plowboy Frazier when Jerry Lawler took him out, or Jerry. Jerry. Jerry Lawler gave him the diamonds. Give him a diamond ring or whatever it was. Yeah, and then Jerry J. Brought him out and said, if it's a real diamond, it won't buzz. And JJ Hit that, hit that thing that splashed everywhere. One of the best deals I received.
[00:24:24] Speaker D: That was good.
[00:24:25] Speaker A: Yes.
Yeah, there's a lot of fun stuff with him over the years. This one here, we don't. It doesn't say what. Some of these ads are funny. This is clip from a newspaper, clearly. So it doesn't have the town, but it says, world's Greatest Professional wrestling. Wednesday night, August 16, 1972.
It's got three matches listed. It says opening matches. Opening match, Bull Molino versus Billy Mitchum.
Now, does either one of those names ring a bell for you?
[00:24:54] Speaker C: Damn, you talk about. Excuse my English, man, but you talk about before I got the business. Dougie born, man.
I mean, I, I'll be honest with you. I don't know neither one of them, to be honest. You Dougie?
[00:25:06] Speaker D: Did you say Billy Mitchell?
[00:25:08] Speaker A: Yeah. Billy Mitchum. M I A M I T C H U m.
I'd have come closer.
[00:25:14] Speaker D: If you said Billy Mitchell. I think that sounds close.
[00:25:17] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, then the next match is Cowboy Frankie Lane and Eddie Marlin taking on the Masked Blitzer and Billy Hamilton.
[00:25:26] Speaker D: I'd say you're around the freaking 70s somewhere.
[00:25:29] Speaker A: Oh, it's 72. This one's actually got a date on it. This one's 1972.
[00:25:33] Speaker D: Did you say the Blitzer?
[00:25:35] Speaker A: Masked Blitzer.
[00:25:37] Speaker D: And Billy, was y' all naming stuff after freaking deer or Blitzen or something or what was doing up in Jerry Jarrett's dinner during them years?
[00:25:47] Speaker C: Now I remember Cowboy Frankie Lane.
[00:25:49] Speaker D: Yeah, I remember him working against my dad.
[00:25:53] Speaker C: Yeah, he was. I mean, I don't know. I.
He was. Matter of fact, when I rest, when I first started, he got through and.
I don't know, he wasn't very personable guy. You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, but I mean, he. But he could work now. He can work, you know. You know.
[00:26:15] Speaker A: Now listen to this main event here. All right? Main event. Grudge Tag Team Match. Ron and Don Wright versus Sputnik Monroe and Tommy Gilbert.
[00:26:24] Speaker C: You know what?
[00:26:24] Speaker D: My dad. I've always said this to y' all and other people that's asked me. People ask me what my dad think about sputting. I told him in the den of my mom and dad's house, and Tommy come there quite often and.
But my dad had pictures of him and a lot of different guys. And it was all the guys that was in these pictures, guys that he really respected. And he had one that just. He really thought a lot of that was of him and Sputnik. And he had a lot of respect for Sputnik. And everything that I'd heard about Sputnik, other than just being a man's man, seemed to be different than. Than my dad. Other than that they seem to be, you know, everything you heard about. I'm not saying everything Sputnik did was bad, but just a lot of the stuff he did was wilder than what my dad's path was and everything. But. But my dad really respected Sputnik and everything. Like I said, he had a big 8 by 10 picture of my wall like his. All 8 by tens, like beside in the den, like that was where my dad's office was. Was in and then and everything. He had all his stuff kind of hanging down there on the wall. But he really respected Sputnik I mean, by all the stories I got, Sputny was really a tough guy and everything. And I think that was one of the things my dad really liked about him also.
[00:27:45] Speaker C: Well, and I'm gonna tell you, too, though. I mean, you know, Spudsy. Old Spudsy. That's what they called him. Old Spudsy, too, though. I mean, he ran Bill street, you know, and he come from an old school, I mean, like Tommy. I mean. And I mean, it was respect. I mean, you know, I met Sputnik a couple of times and he just was old school, wrestling. And I made it, you know, be down on Bill Street. You'd be in a bar room fight every night if you wanted to be. But he covered, you know, and just. I can see him and Tommy getting along, man. Tommy, Tommy. You know, if he liked you, he liked you, and if he didn't, he didn't. But I can see them getting along, man. I mean, he like Tommy, like me. So, you know, a credit reference. I mean, I. I'm glad to be in this family. You know what I'm saying?
[00:28:35] Speaker A: Absolutely. So for the younger listeners who may not. They may have heard these names and not really be aware, have you guys got any, like, interesting stories or what do you guys know about Ron and Don, Right, that maybe listeners might not be aware of?
[00:28:49] Speaker D: Well, Gene, to be honest, I. I know Ron and Don. I've heard the names where. I've seen it on the cards and everything, but they was more East Tennessee type fellas than they was Middle or West. And I know my dad worked with him a lot when he was in East Tennessee, but as far as me getting to see him and everything, I might have seen him when I was a kid, a handful of times, but I was never around either one of them very much. What I was gonna say is, I'm sure Tommy was. Or I'm sure Tommy run into him working wise, I would imagine Tommy did. Tommy, did you ever run into Ron and Don right when you started the business?
[00:29:24] Speaker C: Oh, Lord, yeah. But up in Tennessee, they was like, hey, that was like God's riding Don, right?
One time, guy was supposed to get busted open. He told him, you don't need to. He had this thing on his. Like a brass knuckle thing, but it had a chisel piece.
He hit that boy. I thought, oh, my God, this ain't business. I need to be here. But I. Of course, I never let nobody hit me like it, but it was like a big old chisel blade. He hit him right in the dog on. He had busted his head.
And Rod yet was Rod, he'd take his false teeth out and poke you in the eyes and stuff. People being hollered, man. Yeah, they were some characters.
[00:30:11] Speaker D: And. Well, that's what I was telling Tommy. I knew as far as. As much that. That I might have been around a handful of times when I was a kid, but. But I told him, you know, they was real popular in East Tennessee.
[00:30:22] Speaker C: Yeah, well, see, when I first started, they sent my butt with Nick Gulas up there so I could learn and. And then come in fresh to Memphis. I mean, that was good for me, but. But, yeah, Ron, Don, right, man, Tennessee, that was that area that, you know, they was over like nobody's business.
[00:30:43] Speaker D: And Gene, Tommy's talking about that thing that you. You slid this thing on over your hand, and it was a metal little notch out thing, and they would punch you dead in the forehead, and it would go in your head and cut you open. It was one of the dangest things before I saw the steel. That was Troy Graham from some of them Old Timers had one. And he was showing it to me and he was saying. I was looking at it, like, gosh. And he was looking. He said, I'm gonna give this to somebody and tell them to hit me with it tonight. I said, hit you? And it was just like a. It was like across your hand, like this far across, like from finger to finger. And it was just notched up just where it would cut you. I mean, you punch it right in your head and it would cut you just.
[00:31:30] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, one leg. That's all it took.
[00:31:32] Speaker D: Yeah. I mean, one lick is about to kill somebody with it, I would think.
[00:31:36] Speaker A: And they said it'd leave like a D. Like a little divot in your head, like you're saying it's angled where it goes in.
[00:31:41] Speaker D: Yeah, it would.
And it's about.
[00:31:44] Speaker C: That is about as long, as wide as a chisel, too. I mean.
[00:31:48] Speaker D: Yeah, about that wide where my fingers are and about that wide sideways. And it just goes. And it's up about that high. Oh, you know, from there and everything, it's a different. It was a different. I remember when Dream showed it to me, I thought, oh, my goodness, I'm glad if somebody's gonna do it, it's gonna be you and not me.
[00:32:12] Speaker A: Yeah, he'd be the one. He'd be the one for it. But.
So now we're gonna go to something that may be a little more familiar with Tommy. This is Tuesday night, August 18, 1980. One at the Macon Coliseum in huge letters at the bottom, they got it written twice. Free parking. Free parking. So that was. That was a big deal. Apparently, here at the making Coliseum and opening match, you got David Sierra vs Bruno San Martino Jr so that would be later known as Fidel Sierra, Cuban Assassin.
And then, of course, David San Martino, Bruno's son. I know you guys, especially Tommy, I know you've worked with Fidel Sierra, Cuban Assassin, quite a bit.
[00:32:55] Speaker C: And what a great guy, too, man.
Me and him staying, you know, not steady contact, but we text each other every now and then, man. Yeah. Very good people.
[00:33:06] Speaker A: And a great worker to boot.
[00:33:08] Speaker D: Oh, talking about you.
[00:33:09] Speaker C: Talking about Dave?
[00:33:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:11] Speaker D: Oh, Dave's a great guy. I mean, Dave's a super fun guy.
[00:33:15] Speaker C: So you still talk to him every.
[00:33:16] Speaker D: Once a while, Tommy?
[00:33:17] Speaker C: Every now and then, just text and I don't.
But yeah, he'll text me every now and then, tell me what's up.
[00:33:23] Speaker D: Well, that's cool. I always enjoyed being around Dave. I don't text with him or like Tommy does anything, but when I see him, I enjoy. I enjoy talking to him. He's always really nice and fun and everything.
[00:33:36] Speaker C: Yeah, another happy guy, man. Yeah, Everybody say stuff about all those rasters. A lot of us are really happy guys. For real, man.
[00:33:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
So you were around here, Tommy. You're going to turn up in the main event here.
What do you remember about David Sammartino? How was. Was he a good guy or was he kind of.
[00:33:56] Speaker C: He was his daddy's son that wasn't as big as his daddy.
[00:34:00] Speaker A: He had to carry that name.
[00:34:02] Speaker C: Best I can do for you.
[00:34:04] Speaker A: I hear you.
[00:34:04] Speaker C: You know, and. And he could work some, but he thought he was privileged, you know. That's best. I tell you, it might be inappropriate, but I don't care.
[00:34:14] Speaker A: No, I mean, that's nicer than most people.
Next match, Kevin von Erich versus Brian St. John. And a lot of people don't realize that, you know, Kevin Von Erich came here in Georgia in 81, but he was here for a little while and stuck around for a bit. How was he?
[00:34:29] Speaker C: He was crazy.
[00:34:31] Speaker A: That's what everybody says.
[00:34:33] Speaker C: It was crazy. He come in one time to Georgia, told me and him were fitting to be the world tag team champions, you know, because I was off at Lead tv, it never happened.
[00:34:45] Speaker D: But hey, now. And they probably.
[00:34:47] Speaker C: David, I met David and even Kevin, even, you know, hey, the craziest, you know, I thought was Kevin. But he ended up being the most.
[00:34:58] Speaker A: Mellow one, you know, the one that Made it.
[00:35:02] Speaker D: But yeah, but now in all reality they probably told Kevin that when Kevin come in just to get him, get away from or something. Getting by the timing. But then Jean, there's one thing I've been want to mention on here that I run through. You always run through all the, all the stuff, have all the answers to the questions and everything. Well, other day I was looking at at tag team champions. Do you know on here who has been three time NWA six man tag champion?
[00:35:36] Speaker A: Three times?
[00:35:38] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:35:40] Speaker A: Well I know Tommy held it with Ricky Morton and Terry Taylor.
[00:35:46] Speaker D: That wasn't N.W.A.
[00:35:48] Speaker A: Well, yeah, I guess by then you're technically WCW then.
[00:35:51] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:35:53] Speaker A: Well, I'm gonna.
[00:35:54] Speaker D: And I'm gonna tell you look here, you hit the nail on the head. You name one of them that was part of the tag team champion. But there was one guy on all three sets of the NWA 6 man. Well, there was two guys it was the same and one guy was different. But guess which guy. Now Tommy's the one guy that same. You guess the name of the. The guy that was one of his three, two partners. The other.
[00:36:19] Speaker A: Now I know he held a six man title with Tojo, I think and I want to say. Was it George Gulas?
[00:36:27] Speaker C: Shut up.
And so.
[00:36:35] Speaker D: So who are we saying would have been Tommy's partner all three times on this six man team?
[00:36:42] Speaker A: Surely it wasn't Ghoulas.
It was.
[00:36:48] Speaker C: But now.
[00:36:49] Speaker D: Who, who? Another who?
[00:36:51] Speaker C: Bobby?
[00:36:53] Speaker D: Try again.
[00:36:54] Speaker C: Okay, Dundee.
No, no.
[00:37:01] Speaker A: All right. Wasn't Tojo the other time one of.
[00:37:05] Speaker D: Tommy's other George Goolis.
[00:37:07] Speaker A: One of his idols though. That throws a kink in it, man. I'm trying to picture who that would be.
[00:37:14] Speaker D: Tommy, how'd you forget this one with the fabulous one.
[00:37:19] Speaker A: Jackie Fargo, Tommy and George Goulas for six man tag team Chins shoots.
[00:37:24] Speaker D: Yeah, George Goulis and Tojo and Tommy twice.
[00:37:29] Speaker A: Wow.
I've got to track down a picture of them three together with the belts. That's tremendous.
[00:37:36] Speaker D: Where's that picture at?
[00:37:37] Speaker C: It told you I was on one job scared.
[00:37:40] Speaker A: Move that, move that camera around. I bet it's hanging on the wall somewhere around there.
[00:37:48] Speaker D: Now I saw that the other day, I thought I gotta say something about this.
Tommy never mentioned that to him about him and George Goolas being so tight.
[00:37:56] Speaker A: You don't like to brag. He tries to be humble on here.
[00:38:00] Speaker D: There you go.
[00:38:01] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:38:01] Speaker A: Is that somebody we get on here as a guest sometime. Tommy, can you get a hold of him?
[00:38:06] Speaker D: Hear that genius?
[00:38:07] Speaker C: Did you think you get George to.
[00:38:08] Speaker D: Be on here As a guest.
[00:38:11] Speaker C: Oh, let's call him right now.
[00:38:17] Speaker A: All right.
[00:38:18] Speaker D: What you think of this? That Tommy was.
Was his partner three times.
How many other partners do you think he had like Tommy? I bet he was six dozen times.
[00:38:29] Speaker A: Oh, gotta be some kind of a record. I'm sure of all the times he held the title.
Well, I just made my night. I was. I was not aware. I knew he. I know I knew him and Tojo held it, but I did not know Jackie Fargo teamed up with Tommy and Georgia.
[00:38:44] Speaker D: Yeah. If you were looking somewhere the Gulas Chronicles, you. You'll find those little tidbits.
[00:38:52] Speaker A: Well, that picture may not be on Tommy's wall, but I bet that picture was on Jackie's wall at some point. I'm sure that was one of his proudest.
[00:39:01] Speaker C: One.
Jackie was a businessman and plus he like. For what reason? Him and Nick always got along. I don't know if I don't know. You know, Nick always told. Told all the boys. He said, kid, I'll have you farting through silk.
Well, most of the guys that come in in a Lincoln, they left on Greyhouse.
I guess he paid Jack because Jackie never left and Jackie always drove a Lincoln. So, you know, I mean, you know, he was one of Nick's guys. I mean, because. Yeah, they always. I mean, he always liked n Dick.
[00:39:43] Speaker D: And you know, Tom, it always shocked me, which I think we've said this before, but, you know, I figured Jackie would have went with Jerry when he broke apart. But Jackie stayed with Nick for a good long time right there. Saying that Jerry was gonna make it.
[00:39:56] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean that. Well, I mean, of course you figured Nick was. Nick was the foundation of Tennessee wrestling. I mean, back in the day, especially when, you know, Jackie came in.
So, I mean, he was loyal. And that's one thing about Jackie. He was always loyal, man. You know, I mean, he. Like when we did the fabulous thing, man, me and. Me and Eddie, I mean he was always. Man, he was always giving us pointers and you know, whatever else went with that, we always did.
[00:40:30] Speaker A: Yeah, who better to give you pointers on that?
So a couple more matches on this 81 Georgia card I find interesting. The semi main event was a Georgia heavyweight title match with Ken Patera defended against Bruce not yet Butch Reed, which probably was a fun match, right?
[00:40:49] Speaker C: Hey, if anybody has any story about Butch Reed, I was Ral Butcher Bunch. But I think Dougie was around Butch a whole lot more. And you talk about a great guy, man.
And that's another one you talk about when we Talk about being in a bar fight. You want somebody on your side, I'd want butchering. Man, I knew Butch real good. He come to Georgia and we got along good. But by getting good stories, Doug would have them because Butch was. I mean, y' all traveled together, right?
[00:41:16] Speaker D: Yeah, man, me and Bush Trap travel together a bunch. Man, I had. I just get. Just a guy in business and man, I really respected Butch a lot.
[00:41:26] Speaker A: So flack as a travel partners, you were like the unofficial third member of DOOM almost, right?
[00:41:32] Speaker D: Oh, yeah, man, I had a great time with. With Butch and, and Ron and man, I just. I had a great time. Like I said, my brother was. Was tight with both of them and like I said, my dad and Butch was always real cool. And Butch was just. If you look at any of his stuff from his early days through all of it, he was just a solid. I mean, he was a workhorse. I mean, Butch was heck for me.
[00:41:55] Speaker A: So an interesting main event here and I guess we'll address this as people are listening. Tommy had had to leave. He had something come up he had to do. But this main event, it almost sounds like. Like it's backwards here.
Super Fly Jimmy Snuka and Terry Gordy taken on Michael Hayes and Tommy Wildfire Rich. So you got a different free bird on each side of the ring here. You got Tommy teaming up with Michael Hayes and Snooka teaming up with Terry Gordy. That's just a fun tag team match.
[00:42:23] Speaker D: That does sound interesting and everything, but I guarantee it was, and I'm sure it was interesting, just. But I mean, because I. For those talented guys in the ring and everything. So it didn't matter who. I think anybody could be a heel and anybody could be a baby face, which I'm sure Tommy and Michael was the baby faces, I would think and everything. But I mean, man, you talking about four great workers, that's, well, three and a half. Well, I shouldn't say that. I guess Michael's great, but Terry was great and Tommy's great and Jimmy was great and Michael was what Michael was blessed art. But I mean he could make people hot and everything else. So I mean, he done his job.
[00:43:00] Speaker A: Yeah, most definitely.
So skipping ahead to. Somebody sent a card. It is from the Sports center in owensboro, Kentucky. Thursday, August 11th. I'm guessing this is going to be probably 85, 84 maybe once we start hearing some of these matches.
You got the Moondogs with Jimmy Hart taking on Bobby Eaton and Stagger Lee, which of course was Coco Ware.
And then the second match and this is the reason I picked to even mention this card right here.
Giant Rebel, which you know who that is, right?
[00:43:41] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:43:42] Speaker A: Giant Rebel versus Eddie Gilbert. So Eddie wrestles the Giant Rebel on this one.
[00:43:48] Speaker D: You think?
[00:43:48] Speaker A: How did any working with him, you think?
[00:43:50] Speaker D: And he scratched his head on the ring on the way to the ring that night.
[00:43:54] Speaker A: I bet he knew he had his work cut out for him that night.
[00:43:58] Speaker D: And do you remember, you remember when Pablo would give somebody his finish? He would like it, like everybody could say, but he was pat. He would pat his hand on his leg, but I mean, he wouldn't milk it, raised it up and pat it, but he would just like do his hand out like this and pass leg. I used to laugh. Everybody said, what's he gonna do? I said, look at his hand slapping his leg. But it would just go out and he would pat it and then drop big leg. But it's like me and Tommy was watching the other night. I watched when Tommy was real young, he kind of worked a little angle with Tommy and he trapped like four or five legs on Tommy within less than a minute. And I thought, dang, he big guy, he can get up and get down.
[00:44:35] Speaker A: Yeah, that's early in his career for a guy his size. He could really, he could really move around then. You know, by this point in 84 and 85, he's. He's pretty limited. But man, you see those. Find those old matches. I was kind of, you know, shocked to see that at how, you know, quick and limber he was at one point.
[00:44:56] Speaker D: Yeah. And I mean, you got to figure everybody don't realize this. I think he just started here, you know, he started and of kind. California, right. Gene, do you know that?
[00:45:03] Speaker A: Right. He was the convict out there.
[00:45:05] Speaker D: Convict out there. And, and did quite a few things out there before he wound up working his way down here and everything. But I mean, then you know how long a career he had here before he went back up to, to Vince and then he done well up there with that and then come back here and you know, I mean, you know, Fraser had a long run and he.
[00:45:29] Speaker A: Was a hillbilly, he was a playboy, Right. He was Kamala too.
[00:45:34] Speaker D: He was the mask what, what Lawler put that. Lone Ranger.
[00:45:40] Speaker A: Yeah, the Lone Ranger. I forgot about that.
[00:45:43] Speaker D: The Lone Ranger. One time he called him a little bit of everything.
[00:45:46] Speaker A: Big old fly boy with a little Lone Ranger mask. And he's out there acting like nobody knows who he is. That was hilarious.
[00:45:52] Speaker C: Right? I love that.
[00:45:53] Speaker D: I. I thought that was great.
[00:45:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:56] Speaker D: But I Thought it was great.
[00:45:58] Speaker A: He got all the rings and the gold chains. He was Playboy Frazier, he had them track suit, seed wear out there and anything he did was entertaining and that's.
[00:46:07] Speaker D: What was the best. And that was the longevity in all this stuff. And it's staying fresh. I mean, it wasn't just the same thing week after week after week.
[00:46:16] Speaker A: And I think kind of Vince McMahon missed out just using him only as the hillbilly. Like, you know, he had that little, around the time that Stan was there, you know, he had like that Tuesday night Titans talk show and stuff. If you use some of those other, you know, Playboy, Frasier and some of that, he could have got a lot more mileage out of him as just as an entertainment, you know, character for that kind of stuff. But he didn't stick around very long. But I hear there's, there's good reason for that. But we'll save that for somebody else can tell about that on their podcast, I suppose.
[00:46:44] Speaker D: Yeah. But anyway, now I, I always love Fraser. He's a great guy, everything but he was, he was a funny guy.
[00:46:52] Speaker A: So then We've got a USWA flyer from 1994 Scottsburg, Indiana National Guard Armory. We got Billy Travis and the opener against Mean Mike Miller, which we've talked about both those guys quite a bit on here.
[00:47:07] Speaker D: Oh yeah, I'm a big fan of Billy's and I'm a big fan of Mike's.
[00:47:12] Speaker A: Absolutely.
The Hornet versus Richard Lee.
And I remember the Hornet.
I can't think of the guy's name, but basically he was doing kind of like a sting thing, I believe, if I remember right.
[00:47:26] Speaker D: Yeah, I think, I think you're right on that and everything. But what I was going to ask you, do you hear of Mike Miller doing any podcast or anybody talking to him?
[00:47:38] Speaker A: He's popped up and done. He did a couple of them. He did one with Captain Nick from Captain's Corner right before he did that big Portland Expo around the same time that me and you interviewed Lynn Denton.
He did one promoting that. And then I think I remember hearing him on Wolfie D's podcast, I think, which that was also set up through Captain Nick as well. But yeah, he's done a couple. I would love for us to get him on here.
[00:48:06] Speaker D: How did they say that? How did that do in Portland? Did you hear? Or it's, oh, what now?
[00:48:12] Speaker A: It did well, they're actually planning a second one. They just, just recently like in the last two weeks announced the Portland Expo too. So I guess it did fairly well. For them to book it.
Kind of risky.
Yeah, had to have.
[00:48:27] Speaker D: He just called me the other day, told me he's on the way to the bank. So he still got that money in his pockets.
[00:48:33] Speaker A: Well, that's, that's good.
And then this was the, the main event on this card and I think this was a typo and sometimes you see some typos, these wrestling posters, but Unified world title match hot stuff. Eddie Gilbert defending against the rock and roll expert Rick Morton.
[00:48:54] Speaker D: Yeah, he's a rock and roll expert.
But anyway, yeah, Ricky, Eddie worked a program with Ricky and, and he actually dropped the, the unified title to him in Memphis. And then he won it back like the week or two weeks after that. Left it on him for a week or two. And he thought that was a good thing, which Lawler told him at the time, do what, you know, he wanted, what he thought would do best because Law was up there for fence all the time and everything. But Eddie always loved Ricky's work. You know, they work great together. Both of them was great and everything. So I thought that was a good deal and a good thing to do for the territory and for business wise.
[00:49:34] Speaker A: Absolutely. I remember watching that as a kid because they had that really great match there in the studio, live on television. You know, they had a title match in the midst of that, you know, the few weeks that you're talking about, and it wasn't, it wasn't something you normally saw, you know, world title matches there on tv. So it really stood out. And of course with those two, it was a really good match.
[00:49:56] Speaker D: Yeah. And like I said, I thought that was really good. It was really good for tv. It was good for the territory and it was good for, for both of them. It sure didn't hurt either one of them. It was good for business.
[00:50:09] Speaker A: No, and I thought it was good looking back on it, you know, Ricky was coming out of, you know, everybody kind of considered him a tag team guy, the Rock and Roll Express guy. So it really helped established him as a single, you know, going in there and having that feud and winning.
[00:50:24] Speaker D: And that's what someone asked him. I heard a while back someone asked him about that time and he said that, you know, a lot of times people don't look at the things that you think means some of the best times of your career, but they, they don't think they do. He said that was one of the ones that he'll look at that people don't think and he'll think is one of the high points.
So I thought that Was cool. I'm saying that.
[00:50:49] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. That was because I was, I was a big Rock and Roll Express fan as a kid. And then seeing him come to Memphis and then wrestling for the title against Eddie and everything, I, I remember it very fondly. So I'm glad to hear that's a, A high point for him too.
Here's an interesting card from the Mid South Coliseum, Sunday, June 19th.
This is going to be 80, 81 or 2. We'll go through some of these matches and see what you think here.
Opening match, Jimmy Garvin versus Radimias.
[00:51:24] Speaker C: Do you remember?
[00:51:25] Speaker D: Yeah. Now you, you know which Jimmy Garvin this is, right?
[00:51:29] Speaker A: This isn't Gorgeous Jimmy, right?
[00:51:32] Speaker D: No, this is Terry actually.
Terry Sims or I think. What garbage was it? Terry Garvin or what? What year did you say that?
[00:51:43] Speaker A: Now this would have been like 81 or 2. This would have been pretty terrible. It might have been actual Jimmy Garland.
[00:51:48] Speaker D: Yeah, that would actually be Jimmy Carter.
[00:51:50] Speaker A: Yeah, there's a couple of people here you wouldn't think of being on the card in Memphis. So there you got Jimmy Garvin.
This next team, what's that do you.
[00:52:00] Speaker D: Got another two Garbins on there?
[00:52:03] Speaker A: No, there's only other Garbins on this one.
[00:52:05] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:52:06] Speaker A: Unless they're in our mask because this team here is the Exterminators taking on Sylvester Ritter and the pro.
So this is pre junkyard dog here.
[00:52:18] Speaker D: Yeah, that's cool. And the pro, it seems like, it seems like just for me being a kid, I remember the stoneware, but I don't remember. I don't know who there was.
[00:52:30] Speaker A: Then you got a no disqualification match with Rocky Johnson versus Mike Stark.
[00:52:37] Speaker D: Huh. That would have been an interesting one.
[00:52:40] Speaker A: Mike Stark was a guy that had been like a football player.
[00:52:43] Speaker D: He was Lord Humongous, remember?
[00:52:45] Speaker A: Yeah. Eventually became Lord Humongous.
[00:52:47] Speaker D: The, the, the. The. Well, he was the original Lord Humongous.
[00:52:52] Speaker A: Before Man Camp and.
[00:52:53] Speaker D: But before anybody.
The movie come out and Lawler the first time brought that gimmick. Nobody else had used that gimmick. And Lawler brought it to the Mid South Coliseum workings him. And he used a guy out of Memphis that was a bodybuilder and his name was Mike Star.
[00:53:13] Speaker A: Would this have been before or after Humongous?
[00:53:20] Speaker D: I think he worked once or twice in law or made him that gimmick. So I'd say before, wouldn't you think?
[00:53:27] Speaker A: I'm thinking so. I'm thinking, yeah, I think so because.
[00:53:30] Speaker D: I think he used him a couple times and he thought Man, I can do something with this guy. And then he kept him off just a little bit and then. But all he would work really was Memphis and around Memphis like he didn't go to Nashville and he was a football coach in Memphis.
[00:53:46] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah, I knew. I knew football was a big part of his story.
[00:53:50] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:53:51] Speaker A: So next up, Southern tag team title match. Phil Hickerson and Dennis Condrey defending against Tommy Rich and Tommy Gilbert.
[00:54:01] Speaker D: That's been a good match and I mean interesting and I mean for around here, for anywhere though that would have been interesting in a money tight match was because I mean my dad work and sale and everything and so Tommy and man. You said Phil and. And are you still in Dennis?
Yeah, man. Dennis was great. Dennis was my partner for a while. I love that. I learned a lot from Dennis. Dennis is one of the good guys.
[00:54:27] Speaker A: And this may be. I don't have the results but you know this might have been one of the matches where Tommy and. And your dad won the tag team titles. You know they had a.
[00:54:38] Speaker D: That's what I was going to tell you. Remember I told you Tommy's one of the only person I know that one tag calls with my dad, my brother and myself.
[00:54:46] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:54:47] Speaker D: And everything. I think that's really cool. And like I said, Tommy's made the rounds and be with all of us.
[00:54:56] Speaker A: So then the next match. A thousand dollar Challenge match Buildundee vs Leroy Brown and if Brown must pin dundee twice in 15 minutes to win the $1,000.
[00:55:07] Speaker D: Did.
Did you ever say. Have you looked at any of the. The Leroy Brown any of his stuff? Gino then maybe the.
You probably seen him and Ray Candy together as the Express. But I mean I like some of that pre stuff. It's just funny with. With him with different managers and stuff. I say it's funny. I think it's entertaining to me.
[00:55:30] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. I've seen. I've seen more clips of that. I got to see a lot of stuff but I have seen like clips of different matches of Leroy Brown pre Pre Zamboo Express.
Now here's a heck of a Southern heavyweight title match. We've already talked about this guy a couple times but he got the Giant Frazier challenging Paul Orndorff. So Orndorff versus Frazier sounds like an interesting match.
[00:55:54] Speaker D: I was fixing to say. Yeah, that would kind of be odd. Odd matchup when you thing.
[00:56:00] Speaker A: Absolutely.
I don't know I can see or north getting frustrated and try. I guarantee we didn't see no pile driver from Paul Orndorff in this match at least. So.
[00:56:10] Speaker D: Yeah, I guarantee you didn't. You didn't see a whole lot from. From Paul and you didn't say a whole lot from.
From Frazier, but it's cool. Just us talking about Frazier brings up a lot of memories. Maybe, like I said, all the different gimmicks and, and different things like Tommy said, to deal with the diamonds and everything. Just stuff like that. Classic.
[00:56:32] Speaker A: There's a. There's a guy who just recently put out a. A book telling the life story of. Of Frazier that I want to try to get a hold of. I'd be interested in reading that.
Yeah, I know he was. I know he was a very interesting guy. And out of the ring, right?
[00:56:47] Speaker D: Oh, yeah, he sure was. And like I said, Gene, all these, all these different people and coming up, like I said, just coming off Henderson County Fair, showing Lexington, me and Tommy had a great night there. And like I said, basically tonight, Friday night, Ripley, Tennessee, me and Tommy will be in Ripley Saturday night. Tomorrow night we'll be in Dyersburg, Tennessee. Sunday, we'll be at the West Tennessee Comic con in Jackson, Tennessee. Gene, we've got a lot of stuff coming up. September 20th, which will be the following Saturday. We'll be at the Banana Festival in South Fulton, Tennessee from 11 to 2. That's right about 11am to 2. We'll be there. Then we'll be heading out after that to go to Perigord, Arkansas, the Green County Fairgrounds and Paragould over there to a Horicon and to do a signing there. And then there's wrestling after the signing there. Like I said, that's in Paragould, Arkansas and everything. Then we'll go by October 4th, we'll go to Memphis, to Tiger Lane in Memphis, Tennessee. Right out there beside the Mid South Coliseum. Myself, Wildfire Time. Rich Jerry the King Lawler, Mouse out, Jimmy Hart. There'll be a whole Cocoa Bee where there'll be a whole number of guys that. From the past. Everybody, we do a meet and greet and we have a little wrestling show there. But man, I just. Like I said, we've got a lot of places coming. We'll be over there in Mississippi coming up in November, and we'll be here and there. Gene, just adding.
[00:58:08] Speaker A: Add more dates all the time, folks. So like I said, if you. If you're interested in bringing the Memphis Mafia to your event, whatever that event may be, wrestling event appearance for his, you know, autograph signings, you know, whatever you got. We're. We're willing to hear you out and See if we can't make it happen.
[00:58:30] Speaker D: So oh yeah, we'll listen that email.
And Black Gene said anything as far as Twitter. If you're on Twitter, real Doug Gilbert, uh, face, uh, book fan page, Dangerous D over the Instagram real Doug Gilbert prorest.com Gilbert Family Store. Like I said, we've got all kind of stuff going on and if you want to watch the show on the app talkingwest10.com you can go on there and, and watch on Wednesday nights and we do a little show for hour on there and everything. But anyway, Gene, you got, you've got a ton of stuff going also, right with your podcast and stuff?
[00:59:07] Speaker A: Oh yeah, every week right now we are reviewing the entire year of 1991 in the USWA. Right now we're finishing up February.
The Texas versus Tennessee feud is just getting kicked off here.
Eric Embry is turned on Eddie and Eddie is reluctantly teaming up with the King. That's what we have got coming out or had come out this past Wednesday and that was, that was a lot of fun. Then both guys had to put up $25,000 bonds saying they wouldn't turn on each other when they teamed up to wrestle Emory and Pritchard. So a lot of fun stuff there. You can check out everything related to that
[email protected] and also check out the YouTube channel YouTube.com@retro wrestling archive. We've got over 3, 500 videos on that channel. It's got tons of Doug's matches, Eddie's matches, Tommy Gilbert's matches, Tommy Rich's matches, plus just everybody under the sun. Every, almost every episode that's available to the USWA is on that channel. We're currently finishing up uploading the rest of the CWA Memphis show. So if you want to watch some old wrestling, that's the place to go and do it. We've got anything you want. And add new stuff every single day.
[01:00:26] Speaker D: Doug.
Man, that sounds great, Gene. Everybody can go and watch some of the high points of all of our careers. And man, this is like I love the USWA stuff and you're saying 91, 92 to. Yeah, to that point you're getting to the point where soon right there after me and Brian I think start our program and then after that me and Tommy have a program with PG 13. And man, that was a good time for my career and we, I done a lot of good things with a lot of different guys, a lot of different talented guys and everything and man, we just had, we had a big time and Like I said, we drew some money. I think it was last Money that was driven, not because it was me or just them, it was just the, the talent of all the guys together. And like I said, this wound up being the last program, the last territory other than the, the big two that was left. I mean, everybody else who shut the doors and the last one to do it was, was, was Jared. And like I said, he kept, he kept running Monday through Saturday every week. And until then, yeah, we'll have to.
[01:01:32] Speaker A: We'Ll have to get you up one of these Sunday mornings when we record and get you to come on the USWA show with us and, and give everybody some insight to what's going on at the time where, the time period we're covering. Because like I say, it's, it's a lot going on. You know, Steve Austin was there and Jamie had just turned on his dad and was running around as JC Ice, baby. And Bruno was uptown wearing his tuxedo and his top hat and everything.
A lot of good stuff going on.
[01:02:00] Speaker D: Yeah, it seemed like things was changing weekly, wasn't it?
[01:02:04] Speaker A: Absolutely. A lot happening. So a lot of reasons to get out to that Mid South Coliseum and then all the other towns around the loop there. But I guess it's time to wrap this one up.
[01:02:14] Speaker D: Man, you ain't kidding. I've had a good time talking about me and you and Tommy talking about the, the different cards and the different territories and that was fun. Always going, getting different guys in there and having Tommy's take on my take on your take on them and, and you know, I think we all three throw a little bit different in at the, the guys and everything and I think that's cool, but let's, man, like I said, I hope everybody's enjoyed it and we love talking about the different, like I said, different guys, the different feuds, the different eras and everything. But listen to you. Thanks for everybody watching. Hope you've had a good time. Peace. Be cool.
[01:03:01] Speaker E: Relive the glory days of Memphis wrestling with the Retro Wrestling Review USWA podcast. Each week we go back in time to review USWA Championship Wrestling from the 1990s, episode by episode. Join us for watch alongs behind the scenes stories and exclusive interviews with people who were there and lived it. Whether you grew up watching it or you're discovering it for the first time, this podcast is your ringside seat to Memphis wrestling history. It's all a part of the Wrestlecopia Podcast Network. Listen
[email protected].
[01:03:36] Speaker B: In the heart of Tennessee on pride dug in Tommy ticking rings and stripes Memphis legends never backing down Wrestling warriors they wear the crown.
[01:03:58] Speaker C: You.
[01:03:58] Speaker B: Scurry away glory in their veins.
[01:04:04] Speaker C: Fighting.
[01:04:05] Speaker B: Legends breaking chains in the square circle they made their name hotline as champions it's their claim to fame on the ma they roar on the map they soar dangerous conversations fans wanting more gas cage ruin the way Memphis wrestling ragin the stage from from title belts to hall of fame Doug and Tommy carved the name Fists of fury and hearts of gold Every story, every fight we told tales of glory laughed and cry Tennessee warriors with hearts open wild.
[01:05:07] Speaker A: In.
[01:05:07] Speaker B: The ring legends living without a care on the m they roar on the map they soar dangerous conversations fans wanting.
[01:05:20] Speaker D: More.
[01:05:25] Speaker B: My gas keep stood in the way if it's wrestling raising the stage.
