[00:00:00] Speaker A: The Legends of Memphis Wrestling Return to Jackson, Saturday, September 21st at the picture Perfect Event Center. It will be a night to remember. Featuring the stars you watched every Saturday morning on tv. Be there for the Fan Fest meet and greet at 3:30 and the official Memphis Wrestling hall of Fame induction ceremony at 7pm featuring Jerry the King Lawler, Superstar Bill Dundee, the Boogie Woogie Man, Handsome Jimmy Valiant, Dangerous Doug Gilbert, Wildfire Tommy Rich, the Rock n Roll Express, pg. 13 Downtown Bruno the Birdman, Coco Beware Dr. Tom Prichard, the Dirty White Boy, Tony Anthony, Nightmare Danny dav, Terry Golden, Sir Mo the Spellbinder, Tony Falk, Carl Fergie, Jerry Calhoun, Michael St. John and more. Plus a special reunion of the stars from TV5 Power Pro Wrestling and KAW. The Legends of Memphis Wrestling return to Jackson, Saturday, September 21st at the Picture Perfect Event center, sponsored by Budweiser Pro Shingle, Thomas Media Slide N Ride Rodeo and WBBJ tv. Tickets are on sale now. Go to eventbrite and search official Memphis Wrestling hall of Fame. [00:01:00] Speaker B: Sam. [00:01:25] Speaker C: Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Dangerous Conversations with Dangerous Doug Gilbert. I'm your host, Gene Jackson, and it's my pleasure, as always, to welcome the man with the plan, Dangerous Doug Gilbert. [00:01:36] Speaker D: Man, I don't know what this plan will be tonight because I've got one of the guys with me that when I was at my youngest, showed me some wild times. But anyway, Gene, you go ahead and tell the guys who is with us tonight. [00:01:50] Speaker C: Folks, let me tell you something. I. I'm very excited about this episode. Ever since Doug told me that he could get this gentle on, I've been looking forward to it. Been a fan of his. I followed pretty much his entire career. And of course I'm talking about the man that Doug Gilbert is going to be inducting into the Memphis Wrestling hall of fame September 21st in Jackson, Tennessee. The one and only, the Dirty White Boy, Tony Anthony. Tony, welcome to the show, man. [00:02:18] Speaker B: Well, thank you. Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here and it's great to meet you and it's great to see Doug. I tell you what, this. This boy right here, I love him to death. Me and him have been down the pike many, many years and all that. And I love this guy to death. I really do. And I. I loved his whole family. And I can't. I can't say enough about Dirty Dud. I could. [00:02:56] Speaker D: We'd probably have to cut out something that he said, right? But, but anyway, man, it's so great. Tony. [00:03:01] Speaker B: Oh, they. They ain't no doubt about that. [00:03:04] Speaker D: Hey, I. I love. There's a lot of things we don't. [00:03:07] Speaker B: Need to talk about. [00:03:09] Speaker D: You're exactly right. [00:03:10] Speaker C: But that's why we're not live, Tony. [00:03:13] Speaker D: There you go. There you go. I love having my friends on this show and, man, and. And this is one of the best ones and everything. And, man, I've had so many memories, and he's taught me so much about the wrestling business and about working and. Oh, there's just. There's so much as far as, like, when I was a kid and then when I had grown up and getting to be my tag partner and the first guy that I won a tag title with, and it was just. I mean, this guy here, he knows it all. He's a hard worker, tough son of gun. I mean, and. And like you said, I get to induct him into the Memphis Wrestling hall of Fame, and he should have been one of the first ones in the hall of Fame. Man. You're talking about a worker. And I mean, from every territory. This goes back in the. To the days when, like, when he was talking, when there was territories, he. He worked all the territories and I mean, drew money in all the terr. So, I mean, that's. I. I love having just. I love having him on here, but more than loving having on here, I love to have him down here in Jackson and everything and have him to grill for me. This is one of the best grillers I've ever been. I know that's not about wrestling, but. But, but this guy here, he kept us fed good, too. [00:04:31] Speaker B: Hey, ain't nothing wrong with that, man. [00:04:32] Speaker C: You folks. Folks can look at me and know that I'm as big a fan of eating as I am wrestling. So we could take this into a. [00:04:39] Speaker B: Whole different direction with Doug. [00:04:42] Speaker D: Oh, wait, good. [00:04:44] Speaker C: That's awesome. Doug, what's some of your earliest memories of meeting Tony? [00:04:49] Speaker D: Man, some of my earliest memories was I, like I told you before, you know, the different guys I would hang out with, my brother would be doing stuff. And like, we do TV or. At this point, I was like 13 years old, I think. And they'd be doing TV on Saturday mornings, and I'd go with my brother to the Friday night towns and they'd stay over in Memphis. And at this point, Tony was one of the grapplers, and him and Lynn Denton and everything. And I was hanging out with them and everything. And I mean, it was. I guess they was babysitting, basically, because, like I said, I was about 13 years old. And I thought they was the coolest guys that there. That they was and everything. And I just hung out with Tony and. Which, I mean, Lynn was there too, but I more hung out with Tony. And I'd go out with them and they'd take me and everything, which I didn't. Sure didn't have to do that. But they was so nice to me. And I remember one morning was getting ready to go to bed and I told Tony, I said, I'm just going to sleep. I wouldn't go back to my brother's room. I was just going to stay with them. He said, okay, you can sleep on the bed. And I said, no, I'll sleep in the floor. And he said, well, you sleep on the bed if you want, but. So he gave me a blanket and a pillow and everything. And they must have the. The temperature turned down to like 50. Whatever, the lowest it would go in the room. That's what they had it turned down to. And. And you know, I don't know. And I think back about it and we, we all did that though. [00:06:18] Speaker B: And. [00:06:18] Speaker D: And it was so crazy because our bones hurt. Well, nowadays our bones hurt so bad. I guess back then we didn't think nothing hurt on us. And we was 10 foot tall and bulletproof. But they had the temperature turned as low as it would go. It got to probably midnight or something. And I woke up and I was cold and I wound up and I thought when Tony woke up, I was all the way under his bed. And I mean, I think I was, you know, getting warmer if I'd get up under the bed and I had to cover over me and a pillow still with me and my head kind of on it. But underneath his bed. Well, he got up that morning, like to go to the restroom or go get in the shower or something. And he almost stepped on my. My ends of my legs and my feet. And I. I remember him saying, what are you doing? And. And I was asleep under his bed. [00:07:12] Speaker B: As soon as we walked in the room, me and Lenny, the first thing we did as soon as we walked into a room is we went. One of us went straight to the air conditioner and we cranked that sucker wide open. Because, you know, you get in a. Hot. In a building and everything with all the people in there and everything, and you just get hot. I mean, you know, that's just the way that it is. And then we'd come out, take a shower and all that. Well, anybody knows after you've been wrestling all night and in A hot building, you take a shower and everything come out. You're still sweating. Really? Yeah. We'd go back the room, first thing we'd do is crank that thing wide open. And like he said, I told him, I said, get in the bad boy. We'll, you know, and sleep. No, no, no, I'm gonna stay out here. So I thought he meant. And I got up, I guess about 4 o' clock in the morning or maybe 5, whatever, and I started to get up and I throw covers back and I started to step down and I look, now there's two big old feet sticking out from underneath. What in the world is this? And he was, he had crawled plumb up underneath the bed had. And just them two big naked feet sticking out. I was like, good God. And I said, what are you doing there now? Woke him up and asked him, I said, what are you doing? He said, I got cold. He should have said, well, I didn't want to bother anybody. [00:08:54] Speaker D: Hey. And it was so cool. Even to me, us talking about this day. It didn't matter how cold I was. I wouldn't take any of that back. I mean, but, but it did. It felt like it was 20 degrees in that room that night and everything. But like I said, the further I'd get up under the bed, the warmer I'd get and everything. But, but you talk, you just times like that and stuff that you don't forget. Like I said, A 13 year old kid like I was. And Tony and them, you know, being good people and everything and taking care of me and let me hang out with them, which, you know, nobody got to do that stuff. That's that stuff. Anybody can say whatever they want, but nobody else got to do that stuff. That was, I mean, to me that, that meant the world to me. They just didn't know how much it meant to me. And then after that, like I said, then me getting to go on and be tag team partners with Tony, you talking about just a special, you know, I think we got kind of a. I don't be nerdy or sound different, but a special bond. [00:09:54] Speaker C: That's cool. [00:09:55] Speaker B: It was for me. It was for me too. Because when me and Doug hooked up and started working together, he would listen. He wasn't a type type of person. You know, there's a lot of guys, younger guys and everything. You try to tell them something and all that. Well, I know, I know. It's like they already know everything. He wasn't that way. He, Doug was always the type of guy that would listen and he learned. And that's the reason, like me and Lenny and other guys, we didn't mind talking to him and helping him out and telling him, you know, telling him different stuff, what he should need to do and all this kind of stuff, because he would listen. [00:10:47] Speaker D: Oh, and, and listen, Tony, I mean, Gene, believe me, I wanted them to critique, I mean, and, and watch and everything. And believe me, they did. And ask Tony, I mean, that they didn't. They wanted me to be good. It wasn't. No, just being easy on you. I mean, they would tell you. But that's how. I mean, they was my friends and stuff. I mean, Tony would take, you know, it wasn't all people thinks. Well, you was Eddie's brother, you was Tommy's son. Everybody was easy on you. It wasn't, it wasn't like people thinks. I mean, you asked Tony, if he didn't get on my butt a bunch, a bunch, A bunch that I needed. I needed to get better and needed to do things and he taught me things and everything. But you ask him and he'll tell you he got on my butt quite a few times and he needed to. [00:11:41] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, it's like if we're in the. I always tried to be a perfectionist. I always tried to do my very dead level best in the ring. And I expected whoever was my partner or my opponent, I expected them to be the same way. And then when Doug come along and we got together, I expected that same stuff out of him. And if he didn't, I'd tell him right up front, hey, boy. Yeah. After the match is like, hey, what are you doing? This is what you need to do. You need to pay attention, blah, blah, blah, yada, yada. Well, okay. And he would listen. And that's the thing that I think today, the younger wrestlers, they don't listen nobody. Because when they get trained and they get a little push, it's like, I know everything. I'm the big Coop to grow. I'm the next Hulk Hogan, I'm the next Andre the Giant, I'm the next Harley Race, the Ric Flair and all that. And they don't even come close to being that type of person. It takes time, it takes dedication and everything like that to become a good professional wrestler. And that's the way that it is, I think. [00:13:07] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, well, because those guys, I, I've. From the younger people I've been around, they, rather than respecting the veterans and trying to learn from the veterans, they think they know better. Like, oh, we don't do it like they did it back then and they think that they know something that you guys don't, which is just crazy. You know, you guys actually drew money. Who this, who in this era can you say the draws money? [00:13:32] Speaker D: You know, what was so cool and as far as like stuff that Tony would tell me and everything and I saw them do like him do when, when there was the grapplers and the dirty white boys and everything. But I mean their stuff was different than other people's and I mean it was, it was cool as far as looking and it was different and it was different type stuff. And I mean I knew if you learned, if you could learn that and then you put everything, you know, you put a little bit everybody. If you take a little bit from everybody. And I think Tony will tell you this also. Don't try to. You got so many people that tries to emulate one person. That's not what it's about. It's about learning. Like Tony said right at the go to be a professional wrestler. But if you take a little bit from this person, a little bit from that person, a little bit from another person and put all that together and be yourself, then you're somebody different. But Tony's stuff looks so good and it was so believable. I mean, you could not. If somebody wouldn't have listened. But exactly like Tony said, there's so many people that, that would. Wouldn't listen. Didn't want to listen and everything. But me, I knew the secret was to listen. [00:14:43] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's crazy if you look at the error you came up in, Doug, the benefit you had of all the experienced veterans around, guys like Tony who. I mean, we could. It would take us less time to name the territories Tony didn't work in than it would be all the ones he did. [00:15:00] Speaker D: Man, you're exactly right. [00:15:02] Speaker C: You know, I mean, honestly, he did them all. Man of knowledge there and drew money. [00:15:07] Speaker D: And all of them. [00:15:09] Speaker C: Absolutely. [00:15:12] Speaker B: Sorry about that. Matter of fact, that's. Lynn didn't call. Let me call you back, brother. Love you, bye. [00:15:22] Speaker D: Good, good deal. That's a grappler call. [00:15:26] Speaker C: Oh no, that's a well timed run in right there, man. We got both, both grapplers in one interview. [00:15:32] Speaker B: There you go. I called him earlier and he said, let me call you back. And I said, I. But I didn't think he'd call back now. [00:15:41] Speaker D: You're good. [00:15:41] Speaker C: No worries, man. [00:15:46] Speaker B: I talked to him at least once or twice a week, every week, so. [00:15:51] Speaker D: And he's still doing good right Tony. [00:15:53] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, he. He's done real good and still full of. Oh, wait a minute. I can't say that. But, nah. Lenn, my brother, he. He helped me out so much when I first broke in. I broke in and got with Kevin's. I went to NWA and Blackjack Mulligan, and Flair was there. And this was actually in Knoxville when they had the territory in Knoxville. And I asked him, I said. And I come out like, you know, I was a greenhorn. And I asked him, I said, would you mind watching my match? And I said, oh, yeah, kid, we'll watch it. And I'm figuring, well, okay, yeah, they just said that. Get me to go on and everything. So I'm in the middle of the match, and I look back, and back in the back, right there stood Ric Flair and Blackjack Mulligan, and they were both watching my match. And then when I come back, each one of them took me to the side, and they told me what I needed to do, what was good, what wasn't, and they both did that. And then that's the way I was. Lucky enough. I started in 79. 79. 80. And I got around all these great, great guys like Ricky the Dragon, Steamboat Jay Youngblood, the Flares Gina Noly Anderson, you know, all these great old timers that knew the business. And then when I left there, I went to Louisiana for Watts, and actually Jake the Snake Roberts got me booked there, and I got that. And that's when me and Lenny got hooked up together. And Lenny taught me so much, so much about the business, and. [00:18:00] Speaker D: Hey, Tony. [00:18:02] Speaker B: What? [00:18:02] Speaker D: Like, how long had Lynn been working? He'd been working longer than you had. [00:18:06] Speaker B: Right. He started, oh, 100 million years, I guess. You know, he's worked forever. He has. I've been in it. I'm. I'm figuring 36 years or about. Yeah, about 36 years. And Lenny's been in it longer than I have, and he's still in it. He still does some stuff. [00:18:30] Speaker D: Yeah, I saw where he's gonna be at a match somewhere in Arkansas or miss. Or not Mississippi, Missouri, or is Arkansas or Missouri one? Gene, did you say that? [00:18:40] Speaker C: I think so. I've seen him on shows in both. He's got another grappler, and he still. [00:18:44] Speaker B: He still looks good and stocky, still works out every day. And I. Which is more than I do. I work out at the table. But Lenny's great. He. I love that man to death. He taught me so much. And me and him, we just clicked off right at the beginning. And he taught me. I. I can't tell y' all how much he did teach me and. About everything. Psychology, this, that. And then we became a tag team. We knew when we're going to do something, we could just look at one another and knew what the other one was going to do, so. And. [00:19:32] Speaker D: And you was his first partner, right? There wasn't another grappler, was they, Tony? What new you and Lynn was me. [00:19:38] Speaker B: And Lenny was the first. Right Then it was the first. And I was a grappler, too. [00:19:43] Speaker D: Okay, But. [00:19:44] Speaker B: But there was some other grapplers once me and Lenny split up. [00:19:50] Speaker D: Oh, I don't think anybody really counts that as grapplers. I think as far as. Yeah, right. Just the only grapplers was. Was you and Lenny. That's what I was thinking. Was thinking. And so, I mean. I mean, and Lenny was really smooth, right? I mean, he was. I mean, as far as singles, tag team and everything, like you said, he taught you a bunch for. I mean, and you knew a bunch anyway, so, I mean, he had to really be smooth. [00:20:16] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. He was one of the smoothest people that I knew. And as far as coming up with finishes, angles and stuff like that, he. He was great at it. And. But now he had a temper. If. If you crossed him. Him. And watch. I seen him peely's coat off at Bill Watts. It's like, hey, you don't talk to me that way. And he went to peeling it, and I. I went to peeling my jacket. I said, you two get in. And I said, first thing I'll do is hit that big cowboy right. [00:20:51] Speaker D: As. [00:20:52] Speaker B: Hard as I could. And I mean, that's the way we covered one another. We always. If Lenny got in a fight, I got in a fight, and vice versa. And that was just the way that it was. And. And everybody knew it. Dibiase come up and he. He tapped me on the shoulder. We was at interviews when all this happened and did Yossi. He tapped me on the shoulder and he said, come on, big man, back up. He said, it's all right. And I said, no. I said, if they get into it, I said, I'm hitting him. And he said, okay, but you don't need to. Everything's gonna sell. It's like, okay. [00:21:31] Speaker C: So, Tony, back in those days, you know, for a guy like Lynn to come up with a character like the grappler and get it over and establish it the way he had, how big of a deal was it for a guy like you who's breaking in and, you know, it's hard to find a Persona and to kind of find an identity for a guy like him to. To, you know, trust you with the grappler gimmick, to bring you on as his partner, make you the second grappler. How critical was that to your career at that point? [00:21:56] Speaker B: Point? Oh, it. It was very, very critical. It. It was just outstanding. I was just in awe. And I couldn't really take it all in at one time because it was like. It was blowing my mind. Here I was. I was still, you know, basically, uh, when I came in to, uh, for watch, I was basically doing jobs and all this kind of stuff when I first come in on TV and all that. And Watts even said, that kid right there, that Anthony kid, said he looks like a young Harley race because I had the big afro and all that. He said, he looks like a young Harley race and all that. And I was working with everybody, do whatever I was told to do and all that. And next thing I know, Lenny come up to me. He said, can you wear a mask? I said, I don't know if I can wear a mask or not. It went on in my life. He said. I said, what. What are you talking about? He said, well, Bill Watts is talking about putting me and you together as the Grapplers, as a tag team. And as soon as he said that, I was like, oh, my God, you know, I freaked out. I was like, oh, man, you know, this was a blessing, you know. And I said, well, I don't know if I can. He said, yeah. He said, I think you can do it. And Bill Watts thinks you can do it, so we know you can do it. He said, you just need a little more tutoring, all that. So you listen me, we'll get through with it and all that. And I said, yes, sir, Anything y' all want me to do, I'll do it. And at that time, I come from being a jobber and getting right in and started working my card, my way up, middle of the card, and even on up into the main events. And as a very early, early age, you know, so many helped me out so much, and it's unbelievable. I love him to death. There's nothing in the world I wouldn't do for the man. And I just. I give basically all my career and everything with what Lynn Denton has taught me and helped me with. Because every day I kept learning and learning something from Lenny. All right? [00:24:33] Speaker D: And see, that's the same thing, what we was talking about earlier, Gene, as far as Tony learned from Lynn, I Learned from Tony. It's. It's cool that people can pass on what other people has passed on to them. And I mean I know Tony learned from some other guys too, just like I did. But that was cool that Lynn give Tony the opportunity and he took the most of it and, and, and made a heck of career out of. [00:25:00] Speaker C: Absolutely. Tony, do you remember when and where you first met Eddie? [00:25:05] Speaker B: Oh, Lord have mercy. I believe if I ain't mistaken, it was in Louisiana. It was in Louisiana when. Let's see, Eddie. [00:25:22] Speaker D: And so that would have been 84 too. [00:25:27] Speaker B: I think so. [00:25:28] Speaker D: 84, 85. Somewhere around there, Gene? I think. [00:25:31] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah, Sting was there early. Early Sting, before he ever became Sting. He was there and all that. And a bunch of other guys came in and that's when I first met Eddie and we, we got been around him and all this kind of stuff. Eddie was a great guy. He really was. I can't talk enough about him. I mean he. He had his own way and I mean, and he was after the matches and everything. He didn't really want to associate with the boys afterwards. It was more like he had his. His own, his own thing going on. He might have a girlfriend or something like that. And he was laid back. Now, not to say that he wouldn't talk with us and all that kind of stuff, but he was kind of laid back. And then one night, me, Big John Nord, of course everybody knows Big john. He's about 6, 6, 300 pounds, big rock hard band and everything. A great person. Me, him and Lenny, we was going around. Well, we went down to his room. Well, we knocked on the door. Well, there's a girl come and open the door, said, can I help you? All said, yeah, we want to see Eddie. We want to talk to Eddie. Well, Eddie. And. And then when she opened, he said, well, he's not here. We just kind of walked in the room and no Eddie nowhere. And we checked out of the bed. We went over and I went over and I went, you know, like that on the bathroom door. It was locked. And I look, I looked at John Lyddy and I said, he's in here. We got over and Big John, he come up. Now just imagine this big mountain of a man leans over and squats down right in front of the bathroom door and goes. I mean barely knocking on it. And it then goes, I smell a weasel. [00:28:17] Speaker D: He's. [00:28:18] Speaker B: Oh, I smell a weasel in here. And we went to going on everything. Probably at last that door opened up. Deer come Eddie, he kept walking out that head down, his face, blood red. He said, what do y' all want? So we just wanted to say hi. And he's like, please leave. [00:28:46] Speaker C: I. I loved it. [00:28:47] Speaker B: Eddie was a great man, and he was so far ahead in the business as far as angles and stuff like that. He. He was so far ahead of everybody else. I mean, he was ahead of his time. [00:29:05] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:29:05] Speaker B: And people. A lot of people couldn't understand it. It's like, you want to do what? And all that. And it's like when he was booking in Birmingham, he got with me and Pritchard, Tom Pritchard, and wanted us to come up with something, all that. Like that. And he said, I need something mean, devastating, and all that kind of stuff. Well, that's where the hanging angle come from. Me and Preacher come up with that. Yeah. I said, I hang. I said, I'll hang him, beat him up, drag him to the ring and hang him. Literally hanging. He's. Eddie looked at us, can you get anything any more violent? You know? What are you talking about? He said, well, I guess that'll work. So we did that, and it did real good. [00:30:01] Speaker D: Well, that's. That's one thing, Tony, that I told Gene on here, which a lot of bookers didn't want you to say a thing. But Eddie was great with guys about coming to you, saying, hey, I need something. Throw at me what you have. And I mean, I think Tony tell you this just like he just said. I mean, Eddie would always come to you when he. Tony, and say, this is what I'm thinking now. What do you have? Do you have anything to put with it? [00:30:27] Speaker B: Or. [00:30:28] Speaker D: That would make it better? Or what have you got? [00:30:31] Speaker B: Right? I mean, to me, that's a good booker. A booker comes to you, and you're in the angle. You're going to be in this angle. So why not get these two guys together and get what they think along with what Eddie was thinking, and get everything together and talk it out and come up with something that would absolutely. You know. [00:31:00] Speaker D: And then, like, I was selling Gene, but. But Tony, and you know this. A lot of bookers didn't want to hear your ideas. They just wanted all the credit for it, and they just wanted to do what they wanted. But. And then, like, in your and Tom's angle, like, Eddie would tell y' all what he wanted, then y' all would tell him what y' all had, then y' all would work out the best thing. And I was trying to explain this to Gene, what made all that good. [00:31:22] Speaker B: That's it. And you would gel everything together. It's like what I. I wanted or what I thought, and then what Tom Pritchard thought, and then what Eddie, as far as the booker was concerned, what he thought. We put it all together and then, okay, we've got all this going around and everything. Okay, here's what we're going to do. And we'd lay it all out and see, that's what makes a good booker. He don't come in a good booker. Don't just come in and say, okay, we're going to do this, do that. You're going to do well, what. I don't want to hear that, you know, that don't make a good booker. A good booker listens to his talent because his talent is the ones that are out there doing it. And. [00:32:11] Speaker D: And that's what I was explaining to Gene on a week or two ago, Tony, that, you know, a lot of people and bookers come in and just put their stuff on top. I told Gene that the. The guys that Eddie counted on right off the bat in Continental was you and Tom to get. Start drawing the money while everybody else was. Was getting over and everything. But I told him that, you know, that he talked with all y' all from the bottom to the top. I mean, y' all was the top guys. But all the way down to the bottom, he would talk and there was like, angles all the way from first or second match all the way to the end. And you had talent and talent that people before wouldn't have thought was talent that Eddie would make something out of. [00:32:52] Speaker B: Oh, exactly, right. I mean, he. To me, as far as I was concerned, as far as Eddie booking, he. He was an excellent booker, and he was ahead of his time. He really was. A lot of people would look like, he wants to do this, he wants to do that. It's like. And everybody's looking like. And it's like, hey, that's cool, you know, and different stuff. It's like he wanted to change the set in Birmingham, Alabama, the backdrop and everything for the show and all that. What better way to do it than to have me and Tom Pritchard? I tore that whole set down with Tom Prichard's head. I throwed him through everything. We took the backdrop, that everything, and then I went and hung it. So they had. The next week, they come out with a new backdrop and all that, because we destroyed it. And it made everything a lot better. It. It upgraded. We upgraded everything. But from, you know, it being old, older thing, background and all that. To where, boom, they come out with a brand new that was brighter color, popped out, stood out to people. And that's what you got to do in wrestling and change up. [00:34:19] Speaker D: And Gene, it made the people believe. Just that. Doing that. Just the set thing, plus the hanging. I mean, the hanging was enough. Instead, well, Tony throwing him through everything that there was, and then the people seen a totally different set, you know, it wasn't like anything they'd saw before. [00:34:35] Speaker C: That's what I wanted to tell you guys, just from the other side of the television, because I don't know when I'll get a chance to talk to y' all about this again, but I. You know, I lived in Aberdeen, Mississippi, and, you know, I used to beg my dad to take me and my buddy to the. To Continental when it would come to Columbus. And my dad was watching with me that night. And we're sitting there, and as you're dragging Tom Pritchard to the ring with the noose around his neck and my dad's jaws just on the floor, you know, and we're watching it, and we just can't believe what we're seeing. And after it's over with, he's like, when they're coming back to Columbus, I was like, I think, like, probably like two weeks. He's like, we gotta go see that dirty white boy just tried to murder Tom Pritchard. Ain't no telling what Tom's gonna do. And it's like, that's the one time I didn't have to beg my dad to go. He was like, oh, we're going to see this, man. This is crazy. So, just letting you know, it worked, man. Definitely worked. [00:35:22] Speaker B: That's good. [00:35:22] Speaker D: Hey, everybody was doing their job great, wasn't it? [00:35:32] Speaker E: Hey, guys, Ray Russell here, curator of the Wrestlecopia Podcast Network, inviting you guys to listen to many of the programs here as part of the Wrestlecopia brand, including, but not limited to the Wrestling Memory Grenade, currently covering the 1988 in the WWF project. You can also listen to the regional wrestling podcast, where we talk the territories, whether it's Jamie Ward with Georgia 81, Roman Gomez with the UWF in 1986, or Gene Jackson covering Memphis in 85. Three projects going on right now over there at regional wrestling. You can also listen to the Wrestling Stoop with the legend himself, Bob Roop. Bob goes back in time each and every week, covering not just his career, but countless stories and interactions with hundreds of wrestling names spanning his two decades in the business. But that's not all you can also check out the Puro Wrestling Academy with the professor of Puroresu, Mr. Dan Gennady. Dan and I go back in time and cover the history of of Japanese professional wrestling in the English language and you can listen to all of those shows and more. All part of the Wrestlecopia Podcast network located [email protected] that's wrestlecopia.com and anywhere your podcast streaming needs are met, from Apple to Spotify, Pocket Cast and beyond. And while you're at it, why not subscribe to our social media guys for all the latest goings on here at the Wrestlecopia Podcast Network. Plus, I'm constantly adding old school video clips and pictures from throughout wrestling history. You can follow us over on X formerly Twitter @WrestlingGrenade. That's @R A S S L I N Grenade. Also follow and like me facebook.comwrestlinggrenade and why not subscribe to YouTube.comwrestlinggrenade so if you're looking to support that next up and coming podcast brand, please consider making it wrestlecopia. [00:37:25] Speaker B: We did another deal in Mobile, I believe it was Mobile, and me and Pritchard got in the fight outside, took it outside and all that. Cameras came with us. Not that well. They just so happened to be beer bottles sitting out there. And Preacher's on top, man. I grabbed one of them beer bottles, Boom. I smashed it across, you know, across his head and everything. Boom. He went down like a shot in the head and all that. And I got up, stared off, car come rolling up, I jumped in it and we left. And to do that, you know, that, that got a lot of tension too. It's like, you know, and this was after the hanging, you know, and I hit him in the head with a beer bottle. And ambulance come, towed him off and all that kind of stuff. And they said, how you gonna do it? And especially Pritchard, he said, yeah, how you gonna do it? How you gonna bust a beer bottle over my head? And I said, don't worry, I'm just gonna get it and hit you with it. He said, we need to talk about this. I said, well, don't worry about it, because I did a little research on it and you could empty them. Had fun doing that. [00:38:56] Speaker C: With several Tony before you got the right one. [00:38:58] Speaker B: There you go. [00:39:00] Speaker D: About eight probably. [00:39:02] Speaker B: And then once, once I got, you know, so many gone, then I figured, okay, I got it figured out, but I got to empty these others too. So anyway, I baked them for so long, I just stuck them in the oven, baked them for so long took them out and put them into cold water. Well, as soon as it got into cold water, you could hear it just went. And you could look at it and the whole thing was cracked all over. Well, you ease it down real easy and put it in the six pack carrier. Then all you had to do was get it out, hold it in the palm of your hand, slap it and it just shattered. I mean it, it was like nothing nice. What? Nothing. [00:39:54] Speaker D: Like magic. [00:39:55] Speaker B: That's it. It was like magic. And boom. Glass goes everywhere. And, and, and Pritchard, he. He played it up right. I mean he looked like somebody shot him in the head. He just, boom, hit it. And of course, you know, everybody went wild and all that kind of stuff. [00:40:13] Speaker C: Poor Tom kept coming out in the bad end of this deal, didn't he Tony? [00:40:16] Speaker D: I mean, yeah, that's what made people want to buy tickets to see Tom beat up Tony. And that, that didn't happen for a long time. But anyway, Gene, do you, do you remember the TV Tony's talking about here? [00:40:28] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. I remember that whole feud. And later when I got into tape trading, that was some of the first tapes that I wanted to get a hold of with some of the old Continental, especially during that era where Eddie was booking. And I remember watching this. Re watching this whole feud again, you know, week in and week out as it, as it played out and still held up. You can watch it now and it's just as good now as it was back then. [00:40:50] Speaker D: And I was telling Tony that was some of the freaking most brutal. People talks about tough things and tough guys shoot some of those matches that Tony and Todd. Well, basically all the matches that Tony and Tom had. God, I've been in easier fights than some of those that I've seen and everything. But that's how. I mean, but it drew money. I mean and Tony, I've told Gene this. I mean at the end of the day and you know, the booking strategies and everything, at the end of the day it's dollars and cents. It's how many tickets you sell. I mean, yeah, Tom, it's all about. Yeah, I mean, and I told Gene that's what is going to keep people happy. Because if you're making more money then you're happier. And I mean, and, and Tom and Tony was carrying the territory. Tony was the, the hill that everybody wanted to see get beat, but he didn't get beat. I mean, and, and if he did get beat on down the road, he'd get his heat right back that same night. And he was just as hot or hotter leaving the place after getting beat than he was before. And that's a secret, right, Tony? [00:41:59] Speaker B: No. Yeah, beyond the shadow of a doubt. I mean, it's like in that same building, me and Danny Davis went at it. And I went out one night and was working Danny and we. We got on it. And you know how Danny Davis, the Nightmares, they do their cute stuff and all that. Well, he did something cute. I nailed him. He went through the ropes, went out. I nailed him a few times. And he kept going back and back closer and closer to his picture table. Well, and it. It was smart. Smart thinking. He had a bunch of old pictures on there. It wasn't selling real good. He said, destroy my picture table. I said, what? He said, destroy my picture table with me. And I went, I can do that. So here we go. Boom, boom. I get him back and I just pick him up and slam him right in the mid middle of his picture table. Table gets busted, pictures are going everywhere. I'm picking him up. I beat. I tore it up and everything left him laying and went off. They wasn't a pitcher there. He did not sell. Had sweat on him. Sweat on the pictures and all that. Now, see, if you stop and think simple, that's great. That is great thinking. Because he's wanting to get rid of these pictures because he's got new pictures coming in. So how can I get rid of these? And then. Oh, they got sweat on. Oh, bless his heart. That mean old son of a. That dirty white just destroyed him and all that. And buddy, they were going like that. But. [00:43:50] Speaker D: And I mean. And I mean, I mean, Tony. Danny was a baby face. Baby face, though, also, right? I mean, I mean, you know, we. We see people that don't want to be baby faces now. They want to be meaner than the heels are. But I was telling Gene before, but like a baby face in those days, like Danny. Danny was a baby face. I mean, like, right. I mean, he really was. And I mean, the people believed in him. And I mean, you talking about sympathy, Tony beating on him and throwing him through his tables of people. Oh, they eat that alive. [00:44:21] Speaker B: Oh, they. They did. And what he did, the. The very next week, we had a day or day or two off, which was unusual. And the next time we. We met up, he called me and said, can you get to the arena about 15 minutes earlier than you normally do? I said, why? He said, well, I got something for you, if you don't mind. And I said, sure. Okay. So I showed up earlier and he said, pull your car up next to mine. So I did. He opened his trunk, he said, open your trunk. Open my trunk. He came out with a couple of cases of beer and put in trunk of my car and slammed it. He said that that's for you helping me get rid of all my pictures and all that. And he would do that, you know, to whoever he was working with if they were doing the right thing and working hard and all that kind of stuff. Because the hills, we couldn't sell pictures and we wasn't making anything. And these guys getting a paycheck and plus got the gimmicks. And Danny was one of the only people that would thank you very much. And he would give a little bit to the heels that he was working with. And that ain't nothing but respect. [00:45:54] Speaker D: Yeah. And. And Danny knew that, that the heels was the ones getting him over for him to be making that money and sell them gimmicks and everything. But that's, but, but Danny was your consummate pro also. But he was a baby face. Baby face. The people like it when you got heat on him. The people believed it, I mean, and they would get mad at you. And that's what I told Gene. Tony, like Tony was always me and Tony was both heels in Continental the whole time and everything. But I got the privilege of working with one of Tony's friends. I bet he stays in. Maybe in contact with now, but with Danny, but also Jerry Stubbs. And I've told people, Tony, how much, how much Jerry helped me. My brother put me in a program with Jerry. With. In a program with Jerry and Jerry, I mean Tony and Tom, Danny, that's three hard workers. And you throw Jerry right in there with a man. He is Jerry. I told people that Jerry was one of the smoothest workers that I don't think got credit for what he did and everything. [00:46:53] Speaker B: I tag teamed with Jerry, I worked against Jerry and he. He's just an absolute pleasure to work with. And he is the best looking guy in a mask. He's got the head for it and the body, honest. He. Yeah, you look through, you go through and you pull up all the masked men and look at, just look at them. Jerry Stud is the best looking guy in a mask. And you know, I'm. [00:47:28] Speaker D: Hey, he's got a face, you know. [00:47:31] Speaker B: He is the best looking guy in a mouse. [00:47:34] Speaker C: I get what you're saying, but I. [00:47:36] Speaker D: Think, I think what Tony's saying. He's got a face that a mask is made for. [00:47:42] Speaker C: Yeah, I was Gonna say it sound like you were roasting at first, but. [00:47:44] Speaker B: Then that's it, take it off. There's the heel. [00:47:49] Speaker C: That's true. That was the great thing, man. In Continental you could put the mask on him. Mr. Olympia was the baby face. And then he popped that mask off. And he's just an awesome people. He could transition back and forth and the crowd got with it. Either way, man, he could make it work. [00:48:02] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, right. [00:48:03] Speaker D: And I mean, I mean, he was so smooth. Yeah, he was so smooth, wasn't he, Tony? I mean that's, that's just, that's the thing. I don't think people realize or he kind of got the credit for that. He deserved, man. He was. Like I said, Eddie put me in a program with him. Tony was in program with Tom, I was a program with Jerry. Danny would always be in the program with somebody. But everybody had all up and down the card to me, like Tony was talking about what a good booker is. I mean, when you haven't got but like six matches and five of them's angles, I mean, you got a little bit of something. You try to have something for everybody to see. [00:48:39] Speaker B: Well, see, Eddie was type of guy. You have five or six matches. Well, you got your open match, then you come back to the second match where you got an. You start an angle there. Third match you've got an angle going there and then right on up and you've got more angles, hotter angles, hotter angles. That way you got angles all the way up the card. Well, once the blow off at the top goes, they can go back to the bottom and it just moves up and you've got a next. [00:49:18] Speaker D: Your next. [00:49:21] Speaker B: You built from the ground floor. [00:49:25] Speaker D: That's what Tony. I was kind of explaining that to Gene, which I think Gene knows. And he's watched all the different angles and TVs and everything. But I told him it kind of rotated. You rotate the top, then you come on back down, then you start back up with Eddie Book. And that's kind of the way it was and everything. And that kind of kept everybody good. And everybody thought like, see if he. [00:49:46] Speaker B: Was a good booker, that's way all your good bookers would do. But the difference between Eddie and the other bookers is Eddie would come up with different stuff and people would look like, what, what's this? You want to do this? Yeah. No, it ain't that I want to do it. This is what we're going to do, you know, and it was totally different. And that's what separated Eddie from Everybody else, the other bookers is he was ahead of his time. He started doing stuff nowadays. They look how they're doing it nowadays. Well, Eddie was on the ground floor building up to that. And that's what everybody else is doing today. [00:50:35] Speaker D: That's exactly right. Tony and I sure appreciate you coming on here with us and us talking, which we could do three more shows together and talk about our times and everything. But I think Gene probably wants to ask you a few. Well, I think you said you had a few questions. [00:50:48] Speaker C: You want a handful of questions. I want to. Well, one thing about what we were just talking about, one of my favorite memories of Tony that I want to, I want to talk about real quick because it goes along with Jerry Stubbs. The very first steel cage match I ever saw live and in person down there in Columbus was the nightmare cage match where you and Jerry wrestled the nightmares. And I don't know if you remember the finish of that, but you know, it was perfect because you got both crowd reactions because at one point the referee gets bumped, the nightmares escape the the cage, the crowd goes wild. But you guys come out, you lay them out, you get the door open, got the bot, you got the bolt cutters, you get the door open, you throw the nightmares back in the cage. And when the referee gets up, he sees you guys on the floor. So you got the pop when they got out, then you got, when you guys got out and you guys managed to leave a steel cage match, you know, with more heat. And then you went a whole nother round with those guys. And we came back the next month to see what was going to happen next. It you and Jerry as a tag team is very underrated. Like, I know you've had some great partners with Lyn and Doug and everybody, but I always remember that tag team of you and Jerry in like 87. [00:51:54] Speaker B: Oh, I, I, I love working with Jerry. Jerry was easy, wonderful partner to work with. Me and him work kind of like me and Lenny did as far as we were both in and out, in and out, in and out. That's what made a good tag team. It's kind of like the Andersons in and out, right? [00:52:18] Speaker D: I tell everybody, Tony, that like you and Jerry and, and this goes even back to when I was going, when all the territories was going when I was in school. Like, one of my early memories is of, of Jerry and Arn before Arn left the Florida territory. Jerry and arm was, was really good and then you and Jerry was really good, but Jerry was just so smooth. Like I Said when I worked that program with him, I thought, man, you couldn't. And I told Gene this, Tony, I'd get in the ring with Jerry. And, you know, like you said, I just keep my mouth shut. I wouldn't say a word and anything that he said. But then one night I got in the ring and he never told me this, never said nothing to me. I got in the ring and I locked up with him. He said, what are you going to do now? I said, whatever you say. He said, I'm not gonna say a word. You call it. And that. That was. That was Jerry. And that was just him seeing like we'd been working for like a two weeks or something. And I thought, oh, my gosh, I hope I do this right and everything. [00:53:17] Speaker B: But, I mean, let you call the match. [00:53:20] Speaker D: Exactly. And he did. [00:53:22] Speaker C: He did. [00:53:23] Speaker B: He did. [00:53:23] Speaker D: He did not. Right. He did not open his mouth to. [00:53:28] Speaker B: Let you do it. [00:53:30] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:53:30] Speaker B: That's the reason he closed his mouth now. Right. He was all already set that if you'd screwed up, he'd started right. [00:53:39] Speaker D: And you're exactly right. And I knew that. But you talking about. But I thought I just had so much respect, Gene, for. For Jerry, just like I do Tony and everything. It was, you know, I had to start just right then. And it wasn't no us talking about this was going to happen or nothing. This was just in the ring, just out of the blue. I thought, you know, I was just used to him and me respecting him and. And everything. But he said it was time. Yeah, I'm not saying a word. [00:54:06] Speaker B: And I thought, see, nowadays you have to have writers for everything. Yeah. You know, in the WWE and all these other places, you got to have riders and all that. Okay, first of all, what does the writers know about professional wrestling? Absolutely nothing. They just put a bunch of stuff. They look at fans like, okay, we'll put this here. You do this and you do that and all that, and none of it makes any sense. It's just like. I don't know what you would call it, but it don't make sense. You go back to the older days to where guys I. I've gone in the ring and all I knew was the finish. [00:54:54] Speaker D: Finish. [00:54:55] Speaker B: That was. [00:54:55] Speaker D: That was it. Yeah, I've told Gene that before. [00:54:58] Speaker B: That's like working with Eddie. It was a pleasure working with Eddie Gibbon. Me and him. Eddie was the heavyweight champion in Memphis. I worked him. We had the finish laid out, and that was it. And me and him went in the ring. We never laid out anything Else or nothing else. We just knew the finish. Me and him got in the ring and we actually stole the show and pissed Lawler off. And I like Jerry, don't get me wrong, but it pissed him off because he couldn't follow it. And he knew he could because he didn't have the grade of personnel in the ring that could follow me and Eddie. And I love working with people like that, you know. [00:55:53] Speaker D: Oh, that's what. That, that's what Tony makes it not, like, work, which, I mean, we'll call it working with people, but it makes it like not working, don't it? I mean, because it's so easy, right? I mean, and people don't understand that part of it. I mean, I mean, you can sit here and say it 10 times, but I still don't think they will understand what, what we're saying. And the, the enlightenment and the joy it gives you of when you get done with a match like that and thinking about it, how, you know, how. [00:56:22] Speaker B: How cool exactly, you got after it's over with, you come back, you're sweating, you're out of breath and all that, but you're still pumped up and you feel good. It's like, because when you leave, either they're going or you son of a. You did your job and it makes you feel good. And then especially if a couple guys try to jump the rail or something like that and you get a. On them, it's like, oh, excuse me. [00:56:56] Speaker D: Right. [00:56:57] Speaker B: Sorry that happened. [00:57:00] Speaker D: But that shows how good you did your job. [00:57:02] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:57:03] Speaker C: A couple more quick questions. The last one's going to tie back into the hall of Fame to tie all this together, but this one's just really for me and my buddy Ray Russell from WrestleCopia. We've been. We've been covering 1985 Memphis Week by week. And we were covering. When you and Lynn came back as the Dirty White Boys you got on the wrong side of Jimmy Hart became Baby Faces Baby Face Dirty White Boys, Which. Which feels. Feel strange that you guys pulled it off. [00:57:28] Speaker D: You guys, that sounds strange. [00:57:31] Speaker B: It does. [00:57:32] Speaker C: When we were watching, I was like, I don't know how I feel about Baby Face Dirty White Boys, Ray. I'm like, they're making it work, but this ain't. This ain't how I like my Dirty White Boys. But you guys ended up feuding, and I'm. I'm kind of wondering if this didn't have something to do with you guys leaving. You guys did a short feud with a tag team called the Terminators. Can you tell me what it was like working with the Terminators. You guys ended up. They ended up signing a loser leave town match. And I told Ray, I'm like, there's no way. They keep the tournament and the dirty white boys end up leaving, and you guys end up leaving. And I'm like, well, these guys probably left because they were having to wrestle the freaking Terminators. [00:58:11] Speaker B: Well, I guarantee. [00:58:12] Speaker D: I guarantee they left because they had somewhere else to go. [00:58:15] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:58:17] Speaker B: Those guys were. They were easy to work with. Well, I say easy. I mean, they were very snug, and me and Lenny was very snug. I mean, yeah, I'd rather have, you know, big forearm across chest and it pop and feel it and all that. It's just, you know, down. Get off me. You know, lay it in. And we did that. But the reason we left then is they wanted to take the mask off. They said, well, have them pull your mask off. And Lenny bounced straight up and said, no, that's not happening. Said, we're not taking the mask off, so we'll put them over, but we're not taking the mask off. This and that and all that. And the final show where that was supposed to happen. Big night and all that. Me and Lenny, we walked because they said, well, you. You're all gonna take the mask off. Lean looked at him, said, are you gonna take it out? [00:59:23] Speaker C: Because there was a difference between you guys leaving as the grapplers and coming back as the dirty white boys, then having the mask removed. Right. That's kind of the deal. Right, right. [00:59:32] Speaker B: And then when we come back as white boys, see, we left and they said, well, you know, and, oh, I can't think. The old man's name that Run Douglas. Yep. [00:59:44] Speaker D: Got coffee. Buddy Wayne. Buddy Wayne got called Marlin. Eddie Marlin. [00:59:50] Speaker B: Eddie Marlin. Eddie Marlin. He come in and said, well, you guys gonna have to do this. And me and Lane looked at him, said, no, see, that's where you're wrong. We don't have to do this. Well, then you can leave. Lenny looked at me and he nodded, and I went down. We picked our bags up and walked out. And that's when. That's when they was wanting us to take the mask off. Then we left and he said, well, y' all probably won't. Won't be able to come back here. And then he said, looking for a job. When we found it, found this one. So we left. And it wasn't three months, four months down the road. They wanted us back in as Dirty White Boys, when they found out we changed dirty white boys and all that, they wanted us back in, come in, had a good run and all that kind of stuff. So, you know, as politics, all that, they think me and Lenny was just looking out over our career. Right. [01:00:52] Speaker D: You know, y' all was doing what was best for yourselves and. [01:00:56] Speaker B: Exactly. And if you'd done that in Memphis, Memphis would have put it on every television in the world. Yeah, that's where they were. They can say it went now. I love Memphis territory. I do. But at that particular time, that's what they would do. And then. So you, you couldn't go from place to place with the mask on. There's like, oh, y', all, this person. [01:01:24] Speaker C: They done sign you, right? [01:01:27] Speaker D: That's it. Hey, go ahead, go ahead, Doug. The whatever questions more you got for Tony. I was going to say, what. What's our lineup for the hall of Fame again? I was going to get. Before we go off here, get you done. [01:01:41] Speaker C: Well, that's what I was going to say. You know, the hall of Fame, you were getting inducted alongside the Rock and Roll Express. And the Grapplers had some amazing matches over the years with the Rock and Roll Express. I was going to see if you could talk to us a minute about your memories of working with those guys and. And how well y' all mesh together. [01:01:59] Speaker B: Oh, it was just absolutely a pleasure to work with Hoot and Punky, that was their nicknames. And the Rock and Roll Express was a great team, great workers. Me and Lenny, we loved. We loved them. Death, they loved us. We work good together. Everything we would set up and Ricky Morton, Punky, you talking about somebody that knew how to sell and he was the right size to work. When you went, went to getting the heat on him, he would come up and look like he was literally crying. And I'd seen girls, especially in the Memphis Coliseum on the front row. They would sit there and I would get him down. He'd be, you know, like flopping around, crying all that. And I'd say, those girls, this is for you because you like him right there back. And boom. I blast him and begging and they go. And I mean literally start bawling. And I said, we got this crowd in the palm of our hands. These two guys were great, good looking guys. The girls liked them. They had the rock and roll stuff going on and boom. And anybody that couldn't work with them, couldn't work. That's the way it was. And we just, we had a blast with them. I mean, absolutely. Well, Memphis started Working two shows a night. They had two teams. You had your A team and your B team. Well, if you pissed the promoters off, you got on the B test. Well, imagine who got on the B team. It was me, Lenny and the Rock and Roll Express. We got on BT and then you had Stan and Steve, the fabulous ones, going against, I think maybe Lawler Dundee, somebody like that, on the A team. Well, it got to be that B team was out selling the A team. We were drawing more money than the A team. Wow. And then they. They decided, okay, we need to put this back together. But no, those guys are absolutely wonderful to work with. It was a total pleasure. Pleasure to work with them. You knew every time you stepped in the ring he was going to have a good match because these guys showed up to work. They showed up with, I was going to say a clear head, but. [01:04:54] Speaker D: Let'S say that anyway. [01:04:56] Speaker B: They showed up with everything, ready to roll. And it was just an absolutely pleasure. It was my pleasure to get to work with these guys. Some of these guys like getting inducted into this hall of Fame. Jerry Lawler. It was pleasure to work with him. Handsome Jimmy Valiant. Pleasure to work with that man. The Rock and Roll Express. The nightmares. Well, I don't know about Doug Gilbert. No, no. These guys is part of history, my history. And I have nothing bad to say about any of them because everybody worked their butts off. And that's what got everything over, was the guys gelling together, working together and good friendship. [01:06:01] Speaker C: So we, you know, somebody who's getting inducted the same amount as you, and I think it's. It's kind of appropriate and poetic. We talked about him earlier in the show. Is none other than Dr. Tom Pritchard's going to be right there alongside. [01:06:14] Speaker B: I forgot about Doc. Great work, Great worker, me and him. Oh, Lord have mercy. We didn't have matches. We had see who could beat one another half death. [01:06:25] Speaker D: They had battles. [01:06:28] Speaker B: That's it. [01:06:29] Speaker D: And, and. But two. Two guys that. That know so much psychology that. That other guys don't know. And, and two guys that talk that taught so many people a lot, which, like I said, Tony taught me a world. And, and I mean, when I was around Tom, he taught me also. But like the. Just those two guys right there have helped so many people. And the people, you know, don't understand Tony, I can say that, but people don't understand what I'm talking about. And they don't know how much I appreciate what you've done for me and so many other guys. How much you Taught guys and, and made people that, that a lot of people couldn't make look good. Tony. Made them look good. [01:07:14] Speaker B: Well, thank you. I really appreciate those kind words and it's all true. [01:07:21] Speaker C: Thanks in the mail, dog. [01:07:24] Speaker B: No, but I, I really appreciate that and I enjoyed this business so much and, and the people that I, I've met and the people I got to work with, I. At least 85, if not more percent of the people I got to work with, I enjoyed working with them. Of course, you have those at few percentage. It's like, right? Oh man, it's like pulling your teeth, pulling your hair. It's like, can you just do something? You know, and some guys can't. You know, it's like, you know, if I was a Road Warrior, I'd be down to Road Warrior. But who shook the ring? Ultimate Warrior. Yeah. Didn't have a clue. And I'll say that right up front. A lot of people may say I'm wrong. I don't know. Who are you? Well, I mean, I may and I, I call it like it is the best thing that he could do. He could run to the ring real fast, slide in, jerk that rope up and down like that and then matches over for him. I mean, that's the way I took it. He had no skills really. And it was just. He had a good body, the character, the outfit and everything. And then the people he worked got him over. He didn't get himself over. The people that he worked against got got him over. And that's it. That's my personal opinion. And you know, a lot of people say, ah, you're just jealous of him now. [01:09:08] Speaker D: Let. [01:09:08] Speaker C: No, I don't think anybody where I'm at right now. [01:09:13] Speaker B: Then be him. [01:09:15] Speaker C: I don't think anybody would disagree, Tony, that understands wrestling. All those things you said about him was true. And it's kind of like another Pritchard you guys know, always says and then the bell rang where it all goes downhill for that guy. But that's it, man. Thank you so much for, for taking this time with us, Tony. It's. Man, it's been a real pleasure getting to talk to you. I've been a fan through your whole career, so it's a real thrill for me to get to talk to you and ask you some of these questions that I've always wanted to know. And just thank you for all the, the entertainment over the years. And man, I can't wait to get to Jackson and see my, my buddy Doug induct my, My new friend, Dirty White. Boy, Tony, Anthony on that stage. It's going to be a really cool night. And nobody's more deserving than you, my friend. [01:10:00] Speaker B: Well, thank you very much. It was a pleasure meeting you tonight and I've. I've had a blast tonight. I hadn't done this in a while, and it's been a lot of fun. I got got to see Doug and meet a new friend, and I really appreciate you guys. [01:10:18] Speaker D: Hey, Tony, it will be great seeing you on the 21st. And like I said, you should have been one of the first ones in the Memphis Hall Wrestling hall of Fame. You're that great and everything. But I appreciate you being on here with us. And, man, thanks for everything that you've always helped me with and that you've taught me and that you've done for my brother and helped him with also. And like I said, Europe, like I've always told everybody, you're a top notch guy. [01:10:42] Speaker B: Well, thank you very much, brother, and I appreciate those kind words and I love you and I look forward to seeing you. Send you on the what, 20. 21st. [01:10:54] Speaker D: 21St, man, I love you too. And I'll see you on the 21st. And we'll be inducting you in to the Memphis Wrestling hall of Fame that night. [01:11:01] Speaker B: Well, thank you very much. It's an honor. [01:11:03] Speaker D: Okay, good deal. We'll see. We'll see you, Tony. [01:11:05] Speaker B: All righty. Bye. Bye. [01:11:07] Speaker D: Bye bye. [01:11:16] Speaker C: Hey, folks, before we get out of here, I just want to take a moment to remind you to check out Doug Gilbert podcast.com There you can find links to all things related to this podcast and to Doug himself. There are links to the Dangerous Conversation Facebook page where we post all sorts of great content regularly involving the Gilbert family. There's the Dangerous Conversations x Twitter that we have. Plus there's a link to the dangerous Doug Gilbert Facebook and X pages where you can keep up with everything Doug has coming up, like show signings, conventions, you name it. And it's all going to be posted right there by Doug on his social media. He appreciates the support. And if you really want to show support, check out the Gilbert family pro Wrestling tees store featuring a tremendous array of T shirts featuring Doug, Eddie and their father, Tommy Gilbert. And if you've enjoyed listening to this show, please subscribe, rate, and review the show on whatever your platform of choice is. It really helps us out and it helps us build the podcast for the future. And if you want to see a plethora of matches, promos and angles involving Doug and Eddie and Tommy you can check out the Gilbert Family playlist on our YouTube channel over at YouTube.com Retro Wrestling Archive, but that link is available at Doug Gilbert podcast.com and last but certainly not least, we are proud to be a part of the Wrestlecopia Podcast Network. Going over to wrestlecopia.com and check out all the great wrestling related podcast and content that our friend Ray Russell provides for you over there. You'll certainly be glad that you did hey everybody, Gene Jackson here inviting you to check out the Retro Wrestling Review where each week I'm joined by some great co hosts who help me review classic episodes of USWA Championship Wrestling. And right now we are doing week by week reviews of 1993. But we don't just do reviews. Sometimes we get a chance to interview some of the people who were there and lived it. Plus do watch alongs. It's a lot of fun. So check out new episodes that drop every Wednesday at wrestlecopia.com and to find links to everything associated to the podcast, you can go to uswapodcast.com. [01:13:31] Speaker B: This is. [01:13:31] Speaker F: Wrestling nostalgia, the podcast that dives into wrestling history. Hey wrestling fans, I'm Dave Dynasty and if you enjoy podcasts that are knowledgeable in history, Wrestling Nostalgia is for you with great guests and fun interviews. There are over 200 episodes in our archives. We chat with several first time guests and often cover topics not discussed on other podcasts. Look up Wrestling Nostalgia on your favorite podcast platform and visit all of our links at linktree rasslepod that is L I N K T R.ee ra s s L E O D and remember, wherever you go, whatever you do, be good, be safe and keep on growing.