The Worst of the Best Podcast

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alright well let's rock and roll into it you ready do it okay welcome to the
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worst of the best podcast you wanted the best well they didn't freak him naked so
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here's what you get from Canada Ryan and Reuben [Applause]
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[Applause]
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all right welcome to the worst of the best podcast I am your host and with me again today joining us to fill in for
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Ruben who has obligations to attend is drew he may have heard him he guest host
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on two of our well the only two third I have line episodes he was an amazing guest host then and he also guest host
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on last week's Matt Damon certainly not a downsized episode super-sized episode
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have Matt Damon today we are doing speaking of big bigger than life larger
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than life we are doing wrestlers the top wrestlers the 1980s and we're talking of
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course the only wrestlers that matter the WWF or WWE wrestlers of the 1980s
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we're gonna talk about what they mean to us why there are in the best list and
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however as per the rules of the show if you're first-time listener maybe you're here because you're wrestling fanatic so
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you came to listen to an episode about wrestling the way this show works we don't pick the best no no no we only
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pick the worst from that best even amongst the best wrestlers of the 80s there is somebody for some reason that
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is the worst all right drew how you doing very well thanks for having me
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back again thanks for bringing me and only to peek about my most enthusiastic
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nerd isms things that really get me going from a hobby standpoint we've talked about
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throw out of line we talked about the great Will Hunting I'm sorry it's Matt Damon and now we're gonna talk about
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some grapplers from the 80s nothing could be better no better way to spend my time that's awesome
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what's your first earliest memories of wrestling and what got you hooked on the wrestling especially because you're a little bit younger than me right yeah
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what gives you the authority to speak about eighty's wrestlers unfortunately I spend way too much time
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going back and watching the WWE Network I spend way too much time listening to
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well there's only about 85% of the podcast market is dedicated to
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professional wrestling as I am commuting around to town I'm listening to you know
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great voices of rustling of our age I'm listening to Conrad Thompson Bruce Prichard I'm listening to air fish-off
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listening to Tony Shivani I'm listening to David shoemaker and Peter Rosenberg
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these guys keep me up to date not just with what's going on now but take me back in time for that nostalgia
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for a lot of us wrestling is our nostalgia fix similar to music may be
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similar to some TV shows that you might watch even though I was a very very very
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small child during the 80s these wrestling moments from the 80s they
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still strike me as having that same value whether or not I watched the pay-per-view live or whether or not I
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remember that I watched it live or not what about you what was your experience growing up with wrestling in the 80s now
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only outside because you are I think you're eight or nine years younger than me I will say not to brag but I got to
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live as a child and a teenager through the best time the movies music for 275
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so when WrestleMania three came out I was eight years old I was like are you
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kidding me it was the talk of the town aren't you the jayapala not that Hogan's
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Cross I'm Piper's pit that was unreal we couldn't believe it we went to school
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the next day say can you believe Andrei turned heel man it broke my heart as a
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child that broke my heart wrestling has been in my blood as a young child when it was happening live
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my mother would let us watch Saturday night's main event and oh yeah this is
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like the early days this is pre raw a chorus pre Smackdown but this was their version of SmackDown a raw back in the
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day was Saturday night's main event did a felt like pay-per-view back when I was a kid we were young so my mom bless her
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heart she would let us nap so we go to bed at a 7 8 o clock at night and then
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she would wake us up at midnight to watch this locally on our TVs on our TV the best mom ever
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yeah no kitty with Saturday night's main event we were it was a Christmas morning I think we were more excited about the
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main event than than Christmas so these these tender and then they had just seen the heroes
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of yesteryears you know junkyard dog and rowdy roddy piper and I'll talk about these undercard guys the bumblebee twins
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one with a colleague in the killer bees the British bulldog yep Brian Blair but
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then yeah of course well we'll get into the big deep so as a young kid I mean wrestling was everything and I was a
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mark in that I truly believed it was real it didn't even occur to me I was
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young like I'll probably still believe in Santa when I was 8 years old to me seeing these men beating the crud on
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each other I was fooled I thought they were hitting each other I had no idea that things were scripted I had no idea
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what supports entertainment was this was wrestling these were men who were fighting for the title they were just as
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portrayed as we were where they turned heel and things like that yeah it wasn't till I forgot what a CH I was but I
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remember my dad kind of telling me like it's not real and I think I I know what
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he was saying as an adult but as a child I didn't understand what that meant because I would say to him I remember
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being so defensive or not defensive but defending what I saw saying is young Charles you know dad they're hitting you
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can't fake flying through the air I would say you can't fake those things I was trying to wrap my head around his
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what he was trying to say but now I know he was saying they was scripted that the outcome was predetermined before the end
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of the ring that there oh I don't want to hear hear I know I know I'm Kate babe
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only so we might have some listeners like what what's cafe what's a mark you
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said at the age of eight you were talking about somebody turning heel did you really say that no not at eight he
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said he's a bad guy he's a bad guy yes sorry yeah I'm retconning history a little bit because
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yeah I didn't know those terms to know those terms would indicate that this is not true you sure that you were wise
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enough that you had been taking the school that you understood the jargon as they did it and you could you know you
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could speak the kayfabe so to speak that you understood that it was all it was all the work so what happened to me my
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adult years ironically I think this is probably speaks too the adults who were raised on wrestling
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and you of course for the Attitude Era which would be a different episode once we kind of knew behind the current so to
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speak what became interesting to me as a fan is the shoots the behind the scenes
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the real-life feuds I then got me deep into the biographies the Mick Foley the
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biographies and the the rock biographies and every scrap of morsel that they
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would dare throw our way of the things that were real now is the irony is when are we being worked and when is it real
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when is it a shoot hearing the behind the scenes stuff and hearing these horses podcast and how the Montreal
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Screwjob of all these things it's just fascinating to me this so ironically
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it's taken on a different life and I but I think the flip side of that is is wrestling today will never have the
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magic of the Attitude Era in the 80s because we are too wise to it and so
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it's a kind of a conundrum they've done to themselves as well we know how the cookies made but now we want to see the
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cooks fight in the kitchen not eat the cookie in a year since Kate Davis died
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whatever year you might want to say that that happened they play around with how
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much do they want to give us that they want to work the boys as they do meaning
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that they would tell a story that that only three people know about like the Montreal Screwjob
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or do they want to lean into the athleticism which is what it seems like
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they do now which is to say look ously the stories are predetermined but you
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can't fake flying through the air and then landing on somebody but yes you know what is very obviously bodies
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colliding in great athleticism you can't fake a five sixty flip or whatever you
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might okay that seems to be the way that they go now and there's reasons for that it's one it's the death of kayfabe it's
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the death of people that are willing to live the gimmick as it is it's it's the end of all of the wrestlers going around
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pretending like they hate each other even when they're at Burger King but then the other thing is high-definition television you thought that they were
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hitting each other ask yourself what was the team you were watching on TV we're watching
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on might have been black and white I don't want to make any claims about how old you may be versus how old I am but I
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watch wrestling on black and white in some of my earlier years I know that sometimes just your grandfather is
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watching wrestling but he has it on ya you can't tell whether they're hitting each other or not on a black and white
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TV HD is much different so they've got to do different things from my standpoint I try to keep myself educated
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on that sort of very interesting backstage stuff like you do or not just what wrestlers did but why they did
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certain things and sort of backstage stuff that may or may not have been told at the time but it's been come out
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recently I'll tell you a couple sources that I rely on would be and you talked
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about some of the things that you would read out there well if you ever read any dirt sheets you ever read need your
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cheats explained to the listener with those are a dirt sheet would just be wrestling rumors right there she would
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be unofficial newsletter of things that a person who may or may not call
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themselves or a reporter and they or may not call themselves a journalist but this person happened to be backstage and
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they talked to the boys right right one of the boys said this or one of the promoter was said that and then you
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published that in the dirt sheets because that's an indicator of what really happened not what they put out on
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TV but it's somebody getting a fight with somebody did somebody steal somebody else's girl did somebody betray
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sort of some of the backstage ethics that may have been in play at the time and is that why something happened or
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didn't happen during the 80s as we're talking about those things but often had as much to do with politics or backstage
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sort of presentation as it did out on the stage or in the ring the dirt sheets are a way to do that I've relied on for
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my research some things that may be called dirt sheets things like the Wrestling Observer by Dave Meltzer 1982 it's a weekly
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newsletter that talks about upcoming plans and why things happen you know what's going to happen and why it didn't
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I've also relied on the longest currently published English language wrestling publication which is called
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pro wrestling illustrated a wrestling illustrated has been on newsstands since 1979
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and it's usually the one that you would go to pre-internet to get really cool pictures of your favorite muscly lately
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a headband anid hero right but it also does do things like they have votes for
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wrestler of the Year match of the year they give accolades those accolades or some of the ways that you determine do
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all the best and who are the worst okay well let's get into let's get into the list we'll draw from those feelings on
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the on the character what it meant to you as a child or later years and who they were to you you know that some of
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these guys on our list did not wrestle for the WWF or the WWE yeah yeah you're
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right you're right you're right and that's true when I was a kid I only knew about the WWE WWF it was until the
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Attitude Era and the internet that I was able to investigate and look at the other regions promotion promotions thank
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you well we'll get to those individuals that didn't fight during the 80s at least everyone's had their time in the
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WWE or WWF since then when I watched wrestling yeah there's a couple few on this list that did not fight that I ever
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saw on screen by only I heard about them by reading other wrestling magazines as a kid I think who was that individual
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why is he so popular why cuz he's known the WWE and I didn't understand about promotions and region areas where
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wrestlers were popular in you know ol Southwest USA for example you can pretty
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much put together like any combination of a noun and a direction and then some
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sort of synonym for the word group and you've come up with a wrestling promotion mid-south wrestling all
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wrestling association Pacific Federation of wrestling this just runs the whole
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gamut because there were hundreds for a short time or four at a time prior to
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the sort of emergence of the World Wrestling Federation under Vince McMahon jr. in the mid 80s there are some
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wrestlers that even after that happened in the mid 80s still resisted the urge of the need to go to Vince McMahon's
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promotion I like what else these are these are the big boys of you know the about as big as it gets I'm sure they'll
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be people to disagree with our top ten I think this is about as big as it gets input in the comments section yeah I
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hope so it'd be great we'll start with number ten yeah King Kong Bundy King Kong Bundy
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I remember when King Kong Bundy into the scene of course I don't have the stats in front of me as to when he entered but
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I remembered he was a nemesis to Hogan of course he seemed large in life he's kind of a gross looking guy you know
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whereas some of the wrestlers worked gross-looking he just he kinda he was a good heel he was kind of big and the
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hulked around and had his arms out with that invisible lad syndrome you know walking around with this kind of gut but
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he was tough and he would bleed from the hem which was always gross for me as a kid I had a hard time with the blood I
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was never a fan of them not a fan of that style of wrestling learned when they wouldn't the wrestlers of course
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you know we know they cut themselves a little mini blade on their forehead but it's a kid I thought they truly broke their head open on the still matches or
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whatever everything was so sharp in the ring that they were in right yeah well
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yeah I love how they you know they split their head open but they never got a bump on their head but in the process I never connected those dots you know that
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they would cut their skin open but they would never never have a lump on their head it was weird how to do that it was
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like they were geniuses and a very specific science so yeah King Kong Bundy
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and Hogan had a great cage match and I think buddy did cut his head open if not both of them for that match believe that
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they were really leaning on blood in that era was something they were in that they were in that big blue cage oh yeah
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yeah funny enough I had some wrestling toys and I had a King Kong Bundy toy that stretchy kind of plastic rubber toy
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that they have with the brussels they kind of bounce off each other they're you know the size of a Barbie doll I loved my King Kong high so I kind of had
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a soft spot for the old Bundy there because I had a toy of him that I grew attached to even though in the ring he
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was kind of a butt that's the sign of a good heel right is it you love the heel if you were going to get those toys you
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needed to get a good guy bad guy you have to fight each other and so they always sort of made sure to make
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the appropriate amount of good guys and bad guys so that hokodan can beat up on King Kong
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and if you needed to you could know the face Hulk Hogan against another bad guy once you got another one whoever that
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might be so I totally understand that whoever was they made you a bad guy and you got a bad guy
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so here's a clip of bundy as many of you know he wasn't a big talker but this clip here was from his later time in the
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WWF so Mean Gene is the interviewer here that we're gonna hear well might be a little more than 468 this guy just
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whistle through four plates of Eggs Benedict King Kong Bundy welcome back to New Haven you know little man wouldn't
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make a lot more sense to call me King Kong Bundy 6 foot 5 inches tall 468
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pounds call me mr. wonderful instead of some sawed-off the runt like orange or you know something Orndorff what's the
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most devastating move what's the great fool did fall under a pass he's got the piles King Kong Bundy can you picture
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that happening can you see that happening and yet you take the Avalanche the greatest movement official wrestling
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3,000 pounds per square inch when I hit obviously that was in King Kong bunnies
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later years when he was sort of speaking for himself there were a lot of years when he use a mouthpiece which would be
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at different times it would be Jimmy Hart he made his first match in the WWF
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actually in March 16th of 1985 where he was managed by Jimmy Hart Jimmy Hart
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spoke for him he then went on to have different people like Bobby Heenan speak
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for him and he was part of the Heenan family King Kong Bundy actually wrestled
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from March 7th 1981 until July 26th of
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2007 well that's really really long career he just recently passed away
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actually marched fourth of 2019 he passed away in New Jersey as a result of
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complications from diabetes but as you heard in that clip he was very proud of
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the size he was probably second only to Andre in terms of being a size based
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villain for people like Hulk Hogan Ritchie walk in that steel cage match for the WWF
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Championship in WrestleMania - that was a resume that took place in Atlantic
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City unfortunately King Kong Bundy after that map not have a lot of success as a main
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eventer at WrestleMania 3 he was involved in a six-man tag team match where his partners were midgets King the
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ring 97 he lost in the finals to Randy Macho Man Savage and he ended his WWF
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career in late 1987 while he was sort of engaged in a feud with Bam Bam Bigelow
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remember Bam Bam Bigelow yes yes yes yeah you were the flame leotards in the
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flame leotards he shaved things into his head I wasn't completely bald but the
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hair that he did have he used to do sort of interesting things for this hairstyle King Kong Bundy did not ever win any
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championships while he was in the World Wrestling Federation he won the world
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class Championship Wrestling American Heavyweight Championship twice in 1982
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but that is not considered a very significant title in the grand scheme of things do you remember when King Kong
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Bundy was an actor in the late 80s right yeah yeah two episodes of America's
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children yeah yeah yeah I saw those because I was pretty in very good job yes when it was streaming that I liked
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rewatched them and I rewatched him when I go WOW King Kong Bundy was in this one I was in love with Christina Applegate
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oh my goodness because you have to keep in mind when it started the show started I think in 8087
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I was 12 years old okay so you will ride around the time for that raunchy comedy
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it's al Bundy's name is it yet only old theater and he's great a mother family
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as well so I think he's still doing stuff he's the King Kong Bundy of acting I think yeah waited 11 seasons as a
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merit of children and 11 seasons of Modern Family go figure I you know he's made his money in
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Hollywood at only can't fund he could have gotten that longevity right did you ever see the movie that King Kong Bundy
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was in it was a Richard Pryor movie called move ain't a'no and 1988 did you
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ever see that one no I did not I missed that one it was somewhat of a small part
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apparently you know in that era when wrestlers were getting movie hearts and King Kong Bundy was Hulk Hogan's foe at
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a Wrestlemania so if Hulk Hogan was getting movie parts then why not King Kong Bundy King Kong Bundy had his last
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match in Somerset Kentucky against Hacksaw Jim Duggan in 2000 oh yeah yeah
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the mentally handicapped Duggan oh yeah okay he was simultaneously used to go
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against Hogan many times but he also did have a lot of famous clashes with the other big big huge guys of the era
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there's I mean people have written biographies on these guys there's a lot to say about it every one of these for
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sure for me I only kind of have memories I haven't done a lot of research so so
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your stats stuff is really interesting I just I don't have it like always speak to the memory and the feeling of my
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wrestler you remember that bloody cage match I'm here to tell you about his time in the
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Von Erichs territory no boy all right the next we have is Rowdy Roddy Piper
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fellow Canadian by the way that's right yeah he's the only one on our list that's a fellow Canadian for you I mean
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I'm a Floridian so eventually we'll get to the point where you okay we know which guys from Florida way the
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Floridians seem to be a little bit higher on our list than Rowdy Roddy Piper well and I love Piper I mean he
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was kind of like the first not bad guy what kind of bad guy he was just like he was just such an antagonist yes yeah he
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was it was a prick yeah and but he was so fun it was a great talker he was a
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great talker and he yeah but Airy the the good guys which was you know sort of
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the first sign of being a great heel was that you could carry the good guys who weren't that great talkers they were
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better at flexing their muscles Roddy Piper was better at getting them into some pretty ridiculous situations where
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they would eventually kick his butt yeah yeah he always get himself in trouble basically his mouth got him in trouble but he was a pretty tough guy too and
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you kind of got the feeling that in real life he was probably pretty tough guy too did you know that he claims he did a tour of duty with the
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Canadian Army I probably have heard that but I know I can't speak to it yeah if
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he was born in Saskatoon Saskatchewan in 1954 well yeah this wrestling match when
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he was 14 years old in Churchill Manitoba and after that that was the max
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that involve midgets as well by the way match he claims that he did a tour of duty with the Canadian Army no it's just
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one of the many things that add to the mystery that is Roddy Piper because he
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sort of did it all he was a lot of places he did a lot of things rowdy Piper is very well rounded wrestler in
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all the ways and he of course had a little bit bigger acting career at the King Kong Bundy well you remember the
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movies that he was in right did you see they live yeah yeah where he sees aliens
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with these glasses that's right that's right somehow someway that movie had a budget of 3 million it made 13 million
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it was declared a hit and not only that it said over the years it's become its own cult classic that's right it's
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become a big cult classic I don't assume that you saw either of the other things he did as an actor in
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the 80s did you see the home video called body slam no I missed party - I'm
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gonna Street the home video movie called body slam that was in 1986 it was also
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in a movie that was a post-apocalyptic comedy in 1988 it was called return to
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frog town I never saw when he was originally there so I guess he went back I'm sorry I went back where - frog town
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no sir yeah so he was there before but I guess this story dealt with going back this
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story was all about like keeping you wanting more so when they said return to frog town they immediately wanted you to
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go and see if you could find the original frog town well I've got it here it says health is called hell comes to
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Frogtown and comes to frog down yeah I don't have that movie in my research
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tell me about Hell comes to frog town maybe it was known by two different titles it's very pot with these
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sorry hell company so he did return that was the original film hell comes to Frogtown was part 1 part 2 was returned
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to frog town when did he'll come to fog town come out well how the hell how has
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come to frog town in the 1988 but he returned to frog town in 1993 five years
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later okay well there it was he spent a lot of time dealing with fog town maybe
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that's why he wasn't winning WWF champ well you know why it's called hell comes to frog town his name is his name is Sam
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hell yeah that's the character that he plays it was a pun that lasted all of 30
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seconds yeah what in Sam hell the once al that's right other characters names are count Sodom
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played by william smith looney tunes isn't it fantastic that roddy piper was
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in a movie with a guy named Will Smith and it wasn't that well Smith yeah that's pretty good actually I didn't
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catch that he unfortunately has passed away as well he did he passed away in
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July 31st of 2015 from a heart attack his last match was four years prior to
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that August 12 2011 work he teamed with a bunch of old-timers he a match for
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what you may not know but it's called the Juggalo Championship Wrestling promotion three out of it I have yeah
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right yeah a match we teamed with Bob that's Randy Orton's father team with
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Bob Orton to fight Mick Foley and Terry Funk that was in 2011 that was a two
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months after he thought the Miz for the WWF Championship and a match on June 13
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2011 in Nassau calls the new man resident rest of the 57 a eye wrestling
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for the title at 57 something that he did did you know that he lost half of
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his hearing in a match with Greg Valentine in 1983 it was in a dog collar
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match against Greg Valentine where he lost half the Naseer because Greg Valentine smashed
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the dog collar against his head tomorrow Roddy Piper obviously he was a very big
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part of the Andre the Giant and he'll turn he feud with Hulk Hogan and that in the mid-1980s he was a big part of
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Wrestlemania 1 he was actually named the match of the Year by Pro Wrestling
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Illustrated the 1985 for his match against Hulk Hogan and mr. t at
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WrestleMania 1 yeah so this guy is a match the year under his belt so give him credit to that he had a real-life
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spat with Vince Russo he blamed Vince Russo on Owen Hart's death who else
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Roddy Piper didn't get along with everyone as you can imagine didn't get along with everyone you have a clip of
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Roddy Piper that don't don't you what I'm doing out of the kindness of my heart I have a gentleman here named
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Frank Williams Frank Williams first of all I don't know where you're come from
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Columbus Ohio from Columbus Ohio I've wrestled in Columbus Ohio I've never
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lost a match in Columbus Ohio have you ever lost a match yeah you have see it
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seems odd to me when you're talking about fighting careers in a career like my own myself I went on the premise of
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never having to lose a match I've never lost a match in my whole career I've had different things happen to me but I have
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never actually lost a match because I figured once you were defeated one time that it would take that oomph away from
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you that you needed yourself you're just the opposite I have never seen you win a match in my whole career of watching you
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and I seen you've been around you fought some tremendous fighters I've seen what you've done but you lack the guts you lack the
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authority to go in there you lack the guts of when you're against the ropes what you do is instead of going after a
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man you just back off from them maybe a little coward ISM maybe what you do maybe should be making pizzas I'm not go
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or nobody I'm not afraid of nobody otherwise that will be attractive wait a second wait a second just relax relax this is this is verbal this is not
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physical beaches or something like I said I'm not afraid of nobody I'm
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always in sorry no matter what I got a room for nobody you got no room for nobody that's a
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wonderful thing you got no room for nobody but you're a lousy wrestler it's as simple as that I might be allows the
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wrestler I'm still in there I'm not afraid leave it simple as this as a lot
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of people know this was one of the more iconic roddy piper catchphrases being the host Piper's pit
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he was the different kind of honker he was a different kind of promo he always interviewed people they always
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turned it into a fight and that was sort of the first the first kind of attitude that he has been mimicked by wrestlers
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throughout the ages that have these sort of interview segments I'm partial a little one that we listen to not just
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because it's the first one where he used the phrase soon as you think you know the answers I changed the questions
30:24
that's what he said but he was also chatting with a guy from my hometown and climb so high so I appreciate that and
30:30
he kicked that guy's butt but he deserved it yeah nice all right governor Ventura governor picture is he is he
30:37
number eight on our list ten yes number eight quite the life ain't quite the life actor governor wrestler to try and
30:44
talk about Jesse Fincher and just talk about his 80's wrestling career is kind of wild right because once he got into
30:51
the 90s he got very politically oriented he obviously had some success in that realm these days I don't know your
30:59
opinions about Jesse Ventura but I take a largely as a conspiracy theorist that's what I said now that's where he's
31:05
at right now yep that's where he is right now you've done some odd casts on conspiracy theories do you take any of
31:11
your source material from Jesse Ventura I don't think we've taken any of our
31:16
source material from him but I think he buys into some topics we brought up are you familiar with anything in specific
31:22
well a lot of it of course is the I'm gonna see here I know
31:27
he's big on well 911 probably I can't
31:35
even imagine what Jessica jury has to say about 911 is he the kind of guy that says that they're the few wouldn't burn
31:42
hot enough well he had his own TV show called conspiracy theory with Jesse
31:47
Ventura it says here that Ventura will hunt down answers plunging viewers into a world of secret meetings midnight
31:52
surveillance shifty characters and dark forces it aired on truTV and you know I
31:59
never seen one he had three seasons of that and that of course I got shut down by the Illuminati so the Illuminati he's
32:06
also written books on conspiracies and well you know whatever the case may be he's made money from believing in
32:12
conspiracies he's made money from it so bless his heart and he's still alive so he's the first one on our list right now who still breathing air that's right
32:20
that's right we don't have to tell any stories about when or how Jesse died he was born in Minneapolis in 1951 July
32:28
15th his first match with central states wrestling April 24th of 1975 you could
32:35
be some jobbers in that match he actually had his very final match in 1990 on March 25th where he teamed with
32:43
the very last guy we talked about he had a tag team match with Roddy Piper against the orient-express that was a
32:49
WWF match in Los Angeles Jess even sure is one of the guys that from a title
32:55
perspective is the less accomplished than the others on our list right from some regional tag titles in some of
33:01
those nwa territories with people like adrian adonis and buddy bros but he
33:07
never rose to have any titles in the WWF no he was voted by the Wrestling
33:12
Observer the best color commentator yeah in 87 88 89 that's how I knew that's
33:18
really kind of hide he was a really when his glory days and those promotional wrestling circuits I only kind of knew
33:25
him as a kid as the guy that always kind of cheered for the heels when yeah when he was commentating he'd always
33:31
smack-talk Hogan and other things I very rarely saw him wrestle as a kid he was very eloquent he was very proposed we're
33:38
gonna listen to a promo later where he's just saying all these words that you're not going to hear any of these other promos that
33:43
we're gonna hear as this guy was quite intelligent with the way that he structured his promos in the way that he
33:48
approached things will be going against my guest at this time and on the line the intercontinental championship of the
33:54
world for you Jesse the body Ventura welcome back to the Bay Area well you
33:59
know what this is gonna be truly indeed a sad day for old Chico from Tijuana well he's from Tekoa Mexico while we're
34:06
yeah that's a suburb but Tijuana who cares you know you ever been down there you ever face Chico's revenge when he'd
34:12
sell you one of them tacos Wow 24 hours later you pay for it means along with a little Mexican temple and yes let me say
34:19
this to you Chico it's gonna be a double loss to you number one after I whip you for your Intercontinental title you're
34:25
facing a lawsuit from me my man for coming out on national television and lyin lyin to all the people in the Bay
34:33
Area telling them Jesse the body Ventura hit you with brass knuckles Chico
34:39
Santana the last time in that tag match when me and the Macho Man slapped you
34:44
and that Pedro Morales from here all the way to San Jose we even and when they
34:50
were done they even asked us they didn't know the way to San Jose I got that the first time because we knocked about
34:56
Chico all you got was a fish sandwich and what you gonna say this time what
35:02
will the excuse me this time Chico when Jesse the body lazed a big fist right in
35:07
the chops and you're down for the 10 count you not only lose the Intercontinental title but you lose all
35:13
that money when I take you to court Chico for lyin for slander for doing
35:18
what you did to me say it [Music]
35:30
this was sort of an example of Jesse Ventura at his greatest not politically
35:35
correct not anything that you'd hear anybody say in 2020 but he was you know
35:41
he said it in such a way that you understood that he was experienced and that he was intelligent
35:47
I mean gene was great about giving all these guys a sort of outlet to be their characters Jesse's character was a
35:53
little bit smarter than the average bear he had some pretty entertaining feuds with Hulk Hogan you got to challenge
35:59
whole program for the World Wrestling Federation title a couple of times while he was in the WWF he never wanted he
36:06
eventually sort of retired around mid 1985 he really did not have much of a
36:12
late 1980s because part of this was because he got into an acting career like some of these other guys I assume
36:20
that you've seen the first predator movie of course many times I probably know him best from the predator we did
36:25
anything else at this point my life I was gonna say what did you think about his performance in the first predator baby it was incredible he he doesn't
36:32
have time to bleed that's for sure was
36:38
going to have x-rays in that movie and he was going to be memorable the people from that movie despite the fact that he
36:44
died or I he died yeah oh yeah I know only one the didn't die was female and Arnold that's right so Jesse Ventura you
36:51
know he was part of the WWF throughout the 80s that's where he sort of made his name he famously sued the WWF in the
36:57
very early 90s about royalties and he sort of got himself blackballed because he was one of the first people that was
37:04
really interested in getting his royalties from his commentary work and as they would continue to sell these
37:09
videos he was just very smart very shrewd about his business tactics and
37:15
his fists McMann off in all the right ways from my understanding good all
37:20
right so he's alive but the next one that were about to talk about is not regarding this individual Dusty Rhodes he was the first one he's the first one
37:27
on her list where I only knew about him through other wrestling magazines I just knew at the time when I was a kid that
37:33
he was a big-time Resler and the other circuits but I was not familiar with them until the internet era when I could go back and
37:39
look at matches and interviews and and also the biographies and podcasts to get
37:44
to know his influence and personality fair enough but you started probably grew up at a certain point knowing his
37:50
son WF and then eventually you would know his other son it was in the WWF it
37:57
has now created all elite wrestling right right what's right right he's left
38:03
a certain legacy different than some other people he's got these surrogates kind of continuing his name in a lot of
38:09
different ways did you have Udacity when he did join the WWF in the late no I
38:15
stopped watching at that point I I would say no I don't think I ever remember in Washington Russell that's probably the
38:21
best thing he could say once he joined the WWF in 1989 he was given incredibly
38:27
embarrassing gimmick that involved him wearing polka dots I heard about that yes you part of that was whether you
38:34
believe this or not but the dirt sheets would report the polka dots and very goofy gimmick and the losing streak that
38:42
he went on when he joined the devil ups in the very late 80s was due to his
38:47
success in promotions that were competitors with the deputy deputy F so
38:52
he sort of got himself into that situation by being a little too good at what he did Dusty Rhodes was originally
38:58
a part of the NWA Alliance he was really originally part of those territories that made up the NWA in the late 70s he
39:06
won his very first world title in 1981 over Harley Race he beat Harley Race for
39:13
the NWA World Championship on June 21st 1981 that was a title reign that only
39:19
lasts about three months and it was sort of used to set up Ric Flair for Ric Flair's first title run that would
39:26
happen in September of 1981 so both dusty and Rick both got their
39:32
first big breaks right within three or four months of each other in terms of
39:37
winning their first world titles dusty won another world title five years later you won that over Ric Flair at the great
39:44
American bash in 96 on July 1 that was about a two-week time rain
39:50
where he got the hold the belt for two weeks and Lee eventually lost a back to Ric Flair the wrestling observer gave
39:56
Dusty Rhodes the best Booker award in 1986 year the dust he agreed to win I
40:03
guess he agreed to win the title and then get back in two weeks okay whether
40:09
that was a decision that he wanted to win it but he was willing to give it back well maybe it was a decision where
40:16
he really didn't deserve to win it at all but he just wanted it so he said give it to me for two weeks okay when
40:22
your broker and you're the wrestler it's an interesting position to be in and dusty was in that position in the
40:27
nineteen eighties he won the max of the year in 1986 for his steel cage match
40:32
with Ric Flair he certainly did not win the WWF Championship at any point so
40:38
what he has to his credit is that two-time reign with it and W a championship that lasted less than four
40:44
months total other lists so far he's probably got the biggest career success he had a lot of career success and he
40:51
got to the World Championship what he also did was he was as a Booker he was innovative in the way that wrestling was
40:59
presented in the way that it was turned into a TV first product in the 1980s the
41:06
NWA had regular TV tapings that was a new thing it was even before Monday
41:11
Night Raw was regular to have a regular TV show and to want to do things for a
41:17
weekly process that was new and dusty was doing the booking you ever heard of a dusty finish or maybe but I couldn't
41:24
tell you what it is a dusty finish is something that's become synonymous with his method of booking his method of
41:30
booking was to let a heel champion someone like a Ric Flair or someone like a Harley Race or even a Dusty Rhodes at
41:37
times to have the championship fight against a good guy face have the face
41:43
win the whole crowd would go wild thinking that the face had won the title and then the decision would be
41:50
overturned by a referee or authority figure at some point so you would have a
41:57
lot of fake championship wins or foe celebrations at least within two or
42:03
three minutes after the crowd had kind of died down then you'd find out that they didn't really happen
42:09
that I could dust these enduring legacy as a Booker that continued throughout the 90s he sort of put his mark on the
42:16
industry in that way as well dusty fans
42:23
welcome you back man first of all I would like to thank the
42:30
many many fans throughout this country that rope caught the letter gesture of the America dream while I was down
42:39
secondly I want to thank Jim Crockett Promotions for waiting and taking the dye because I know how hard it was stark
42:46
identified it is to the resin fair that is the Jim Crockett Promotions and duster of the American dream
42:53
would that wait got what I wanted Ric Flair the world's heavyweight champion I
43:00
don't have to say a lot more about the way I feel about Ric Flair no respect no
43:08
Anna there is no other among thieves in the first place he put hard times of Dusty Rhodes in his
43:15
family you don't know what hard times are that it hard times or when the
43:20
textile workers around this country out of work they got four or five kids and can't pay the wages can't buy the food
43:28
four times or when the auto workers out of work and they tell him gold and hard
43:34
times or when a man has worked at a job 30 years 30 years thank you for watch
43:40
keep in the butt and say hey a computer took your place daddy that's hard time
43:47
that's hard time that hard-times interview is an
43:53
emotional piece for me it's his space persona it's his common man his every man is
43:59
working man persona that was what he did best the way that he spoke the Lisp it's
44:05
just so iconic I've heard a lot of people reflect on that as maybe one of the best professional wrestling
44:11
interviews ever and it's sort of hard to put your finger on that it really
44:16
depends on what you like in an interview but Dusty Rhodes was emotional and he told a good story there and it wasn't
44:24
just about this guy hit me a chair in the ring it was about his reason for
44:30
existing as a wrestler and I feel like that could sloth sometimes we don't hear a lot of those types of interviews these
44:36
days all right beautiful coming to number six I think this is fair the Ultimate Warrior very another
44:43
very dead wrestler on her list so far
44:49
were one for five pair alive one for five as far as doom is still with us
44:55
okay so ultimate warrior you know he would draw strength from the Warriors above he would and to the ring full he
45:03
would exude half his energy running to the ring I think that's why his matches were so short because he was so out of
45:09
breath he would charge me the ring and I remember he'd slam the the ropes there and called down the energy of the
45:15
Warriors and had very little wrestling skill he pretty much was just your he got the crowd going he was a in and out
45:22
in the flash and was angry and makeup would never last the whole match either he was fall off throughout the match it
45:29
always bothered me that the makeup was cheaply done where it wouldn't last the match it bothered me that he would do
45:35
that but then do you remember when he would go to something that looked like a decal or something that looked like it
45:43
was glued on that was worse for Canadian listeners what he said there was a deckle I don't understand the question
45:50
and I won't respond no decal the states you guys call them decals in Canada we call them decals is
45:56
there a reason for that I don't know why guys there's a reason why you call them decals it's weird I served in the US military
46:02
for four years on the base there working with the US Navy someone told me to go get a decal for my car I was like
46:08
why and I had to ask what that was and they explained they looked at me like you don't know what a sticker is so just
46:17
use the term stinger decals what you put on your car window or for parking pass and that's what
46:22
they're taught me to get so and I'm only seeing that cuz we have a lot of Canadian listeners so a decal is a sticker or deckle I'm not even joking
46:29
I'm thrilled to know that you have a lot of listeners no matter what oh yeah I wish maybe one day maybe this wrestling
46:35
episode might give us a couple wrestling as you said it's pretty big on the on the podcast circus but maybe people are
46:40
tired of hearing about it so who knows that'll ever happen I think there's a constant need for more wrestling content
46:47
I'll see if this one pops as they say I do have a Ultimate Warrior story tell me
46:54
about your story I had stopped watching wrestling at this point this was 1990 I
47:01
was at the Atlanta Georgia Airport flying from Florida to Seattle I was
47:07
with my friend who took me to Disneyland and it's a long story how I ended up with my friends found me Disney World
47:12
story and we were returning flight back so we just did the Florida 2 to Atlanta Georgia
47:18
and I'm in the airport and I'm 15 years old I'd stopped watching wrestling at this point this is 1990 I stopped
47:24
watching wrestling probably 86 87 I'm 12 years old you don't watch wrestling
47:29
anymore when you're 12 years old as a kid back then yeah exactly I was running
47:35
two films I think I knew Breaston was quote-unquote fake so the appeal of the outcome of the matches was really lost
47:40
on me right anyway so I was not watching wrestling anymore I saw this guy sitting
47:45
a few seats away I could see that he was big I could tell this guy was big and my brain went to that this was a Seattle
47:52
Seahawks a football player because I noticed a couple people had gone up to him and he shooed them away now I'm like
47:58
okay well he wants to be left alone because he's a football player and he's going to Seattle Seahawk on back home
48:04
from a football game why he's by himself I would I didn't think anything of that I just thought maybe he's just you know he's a football player and then I looked
48:10
at him closely again I'm like oh my goodness his hair was pulled back in a ponytail well I never seen a football over that
48:16
long hair for and I'm looking closer I'm like oh my gosh I said you're the ultimate
48:21
warrior he looked at me said shut up kid
48:27
so that's your story true story true story that is incredibly in line with
48:35
all of the research that I've done about Jim Hellwig in his response to kids yeah
48:43
so I met Quantico met the ultimo era for a microsecond I was in his in his life
48:50
as I caused him irritation that I found out who he was under no makeup the long hair in a ponytail and he was worried in
48:56
the casual attire because I didn't dawn on me I'd only seen the warrior dressed up and makeup and bands around his
49:03
biceps cutting off the circulation I've never seen him just as a person that's a great story
49:11
you are blessed to have at least the benefit of being casually dismissed by a
49:17
former WWF World Champion it makes sense it was definitely he was probably the
49:25
only way that that would have ever happened I can't imagine he would have called me over and said hey do you want to talk with rustling there kid yeah
49:31
[Laughter]
49:36
this character eventually did emigrate or migrate into a character that he had
49:42
the little warrior it's just like the Hulk at the little hulksters and tried to be that guy but he was only that guy
49:49
for a couple of months truth be told coming into the WWE he was called the dingo warrior he was not everyone's
49:56
favorite locker room person as superstar on the WEF he wasn't even really part of
50:02
that for very long he came into the WWF in June 17th of 1987 where he fought the
50:10
Brooklyn brawler a lot of people's first matches were against the Brooklyn brawler god bless him that was imagined
50:15
Wichita Falls he then had kind of like a feud with King Harley Race and then he
50:21
got into it with the honky Tonk Man and he won his Intercontinental Championship from the honky Tonk Man did you like the
50:28
honky Tonk Man right I'll say this with the honky Tonk Man he was my first introduction to wrestling
50:35
podcasting you listen to yeah yeah he
50:40
really spill some beans on people I can only imagine that that's the absolute
50:46
worst thing to listen to you talk me and still with us is he still alive I think he is I really
50:51
don't know yeah he's still alive he's 67 he currently lives in Gilbert Arizona
50:57
can you even imagine how on earth is a man named the honky Tonk Man living in Arizona he needs to be in the Tennessee
51:03
Kentucky area no further it's just don't understand how that works you know I forget how I found that
51:09
podcast this was like years ago and when I first started a podcast seven eight years ago and he had a podcast a very
51:15
crummy podcast where he was just honky tonking on everybody so it certainly wasn't anything like the well refine
51:23
historical pointed conrad thompson podcast that we're talking about these
51:28
days though this was just honky-tonk venting yeah it's psychic - oh really
51:34
the roadie I can't remember yeah it was called that's raised it's an online radio show right now it's called the
51:40
honky Tonk Shake Rattle roll yeah that should be illegal oh it's on Apple podcast here we are talking about a
51:47
competitor I suppose well I I don't know how many episodes he's got recently here yeah it's only got a few episodes on
51:55
Apple but still they're honky Tonk Man the last episode was honky Tonk Man shake right overall returns to the
52:00
airwaves April 2018 but then he quickly disappeared after that again inevitably he was going to say something really
52:07
stupid that would just get him either a violation of a non-disclosure or a
52:13
non-disparagement agreement that he's you know clearly a part of he needs such
52:19
as probably keep his mouth shut there's my opinion in other action for the Intercontinental Championship king haku to meet the Ultimate Warrior the
52:26
question that arises in my mind is why would a king what for anything else everything eyes everything that he is
52:33
supposed to have then why would he want why would he want to challenge the power of the ultimate
52:39
one must be the thing that I get around my waist you don't have to deal with me King you
52:47
have to deal with all the Warriors that were riding on all these body parts of
52:54
mine if you think that your title and your desire and you have what they take
53:01
to come a child you a warrior then bring it bring it with all the fire and fury
53:07
that you can muster because there's only one place to go when you challenge the warrior the olds with warrior to face
53:16
king haku Friday night January 13th at the Nassau come it's a little bit less crazy than a lot of the stuff he got
53:22
into in the early 90s but a lot of people remember that it was cocaine addled in the rest yeah yeah yeah we we
53:29
know that his energy that he got was not from the ultimate warrior spirit and sky
53:35
was just what was swimmin in his nose that's right may you rest in peace mr.
53:41
warrior now this guy is alive Ric Flair Oh Ric Flair yeah well move on to Ric Flair Ric Flair is alive he currently
53:48
lives in Lawrenceville Georgia which is not too far from some of my family lives so I'm just in that area from time to
53:54
time he made his debut in December of 1972 and in grethel 2011 where he has
54:03
last match against sting so he had a almost 40 year wrestling career this was
54:10
after his very well publicized retirement match with Shawn Michaels and several quasi retirement matches with
54:18
people in the 90s but in the eighties Ric Flair was known as the guy that had
54:24
the belt he had the NWA World title and 80s he never came to the WWF in the 80s
54:31
of course we know the WWF was really only a thing for about 83 on but Ric
54:38
Flair wrestled and the NWA territories and he held their title on seven
54:43
occasions he won his first title from Dusty Rhodes in September of 1981 he
54:49
held it for 631 days and then he lost it to Harley in st. Louis you wanted back about half
54:57
a year later 167 days later in Greensboro they lost it again to Harley
55:02
Race about 118 days later in Wellington New Zealand that's right this guy was
55:08
traveling the world defending his title it's a little bit different situation and you had with some of the WWF guys
55:14
who fought mostly in Canada or the Northeast he won that title back from Harley Race two days later in Singapore
55:21
he held that title for 44 days and they lost it to Kerry Von Erich and Texas in
55:26
May of 1984 then he got it back two weeks later in Yokosuka Japan this is a
55:34
guy that's won World titles in many different places throughout the world it's pretty cool I thought he held that
55:41
title for 790 three days before he lost it again to Dustin Rhodes in Greensboro
55:47
North Carolina and 1986 dusty only helped well for two weeks and then he gave it back to Rick in st. Louis I'm
55:55
gonna Rick held it for another 412 days we lost at the Ronnie Garvin he did that
56:00
on September 25th 1987 you won that belt back from Ronnie Garvin in less than two
56:06
months in Chicago he held it for another 450 two days joy Lawson Ricky Steamboat
56:12
in February of 1989 he wanted back 76 days later for his seventh time during
56:19
that decade on may 7th 1989 in Nashville Tennessee and he held it again for 426
56:27
days that time he formed the four horsemen which is his famous stable with JJ Dillon Arn Anderson Olli Anderson
56:35
these are the guys that would sort of build their legacy alongside Rick and Rick couldn't have done it without him
56:40
he was the wrestler of the year for pro wrestling in this illustrate 1981 1984
56:47
85 86 and 89 he was the wrestler of the year for the Wrestling Observer for 82
56:54
83 84 85 86 and 89 he had the match of the year between those two publications
57:02
a combined 10 times this is the wrestler of the 80s if you look
57:07
you know he thought all the guys that people know about the only mark on his legacy didn't work for the W yes yeah as
57:14
a kid that was the thing you know I was like he's no Hogan he's no Hogan and they really played on that in 1991-92
57:21
when Flair finally came did you watch any of those you were a little older no
57:26
I'd stopped watching that point but I would have gone back and then during again during the Attitude Era the Monday
57:31
Night Wars I saw some of that action they spent the whole 80s setting up the entire wrestling industry for Hogan
57:37
versus Flair right when they eventually got both of those guys in st. promotion at the same time they screwed up of
57:45
course of course so that's where we are with Ric Flair god bless Blair he's got a legacy just
57:50
like Dusty Rhodes his daughter is a dozen time Women's Champion in the WWF
57:56
right now she's chasing his legacy if she does anything right she's gonna beat his 16 world titles pretty quickly and
58:04
her LeFleur yeah she just Ashley goes by Charlotte yeah she's a nothing to sneeze
58:10
at nothing this news that she's a tall drink of water yeah I would let her do a full body press on me if she needed she
58:17
practice from moon salts on you yeah what's that move when the tape the
58:22
thighs and squeeze your head it's called the thank you can I have another I'd be dead in two seconds but die happy
58:29
so Ric Flair for you if you didn't experience them in the WWE no yes of
58:35
course I mean through magazines of course again through my study of wrestling in the internet days yes I am
58:41
very familiar with them and and the time that I saw in the NWO and what have you yeah oh gosh the NWO was a lot of stuff
58:52
his work in the 80s is absolutely remarkable he really carried the ball for them for an entire decade and then
58:59
being the NWA which eventually became WCW which of them became WWF and that's
59:04
a mouthful to the world Nature Boy Ric Flair [Music]
59:12
to be humble when you're looking like Ric Flair and their camp last night's
59:20
events as I walked out of New York City today every woman was in a hundred yards both
59:29
holler here comes the boss and Bruce Springsteen was nowhere to be seen
59:36
Bruce Springsteen if you can follow my act in New York then you will be the
59:42
boss now let's talk about what's happened Baltimore Philadelphia mega PA you know
59:49
girls I know you like it when I slide I need go you see the difference between me and a
59:58
lot of these so-called Big Time Stein that I've custom-made with the clothes I
1:00:03
get the big Rolex watches I got everything that's going on I'm the
1:00:09
best-looking man alive I'm not Dusty Rhodes sit in the control room with a bit of a tow truck driver
1:00:16
head out I'm not wearing blue t-shirt
1:00:23
I'm alligators Rolex watches and you see
1:00:30
then I can roll up this shirt and I can drive I don't want digger be glad I'm the
1:00:45
world champion now you look at Magnum PA he looks like Jim Cornette with his
1:00:53
clothes off Magnum how can you possibly expect to be the world champion put a
1:01:01
body like that he Williams and you want
1:01:11
to jump on this when you're Ric Flair
1:01:23
and you're the world champion Tony you just gotta call it as your food yeah
1:01:31
it's pretty good Randy Iron Sheik now this the next one he's never four on the
1:01:36
list he is definitely the first bad guy that I can remember well he wasn't definitely a WWF that guy
1:01:42
and he was definitely one of the traditional foreign bad guys as a trope
1:01:48
of a wrestling he'll on a foreign bad guy I don't know if anything beats four
1:01:54
and bad driver right enemy of the state there's an immune this day especially in
1:01:59
the 80s he gave his interviews and sometimes he did not speak English and that was a problem and then
1:02:07
teen 80s right how dare you not speak English well looking old known some person the states quite frankly we're
1:02:13
gonna listen to a promo in a second that has him being reminded that he does know how to speak English and that's kind of
1:02:19
funny to me because these kinds of guys that part of their gimmick was be confusing because that's frustrating and
1:02:27
that will piss people off right [Laughter] currently resides the fateful state of
1:02:33
Georgia Fayetteville Georgia yeah yeah he currently resides in Georgia but he was originally born in Tehran Iran is he
1:02:42
truly a sheik or he's just from my room he's absolutely not ashy he's just a dude from Iran he wrestled all over like
1:02:52
some of these guys he eventually came to the WWF from 1983 to 1987 very very very
1:02:58
quickly after joining the WWF in December 26th of 1983 he beat Bob
1:03:05
Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Championship this was a shock not just
1:03:10
because I'm Sheik was only in the WWF for a few months but also because Bob Backlund had had WWF Championship for
1:03:19
2135 days he had held that title since February 20th of 1978 took it from the
1:03:25
good guy Bob Backlund who I don't know if you follow the American politics but after he left wrestling he became a
1:03:31
senator every yeah no good reason other than people didn't knew his name right you know he held that title for five
1:03:38
years and he lost Iron Sheik he only held it for a very short time he held it for 28 days and then who'd he lose it to
1:03:44
lost the Hulk Hogan right that's right do you have any vivid memories of when
1:03:50
Hulk Omaha Bishop I probably saw this kid I don't remember I've gone back and
1:03:56
I've seen it since I've watched so many Hulk Hogan thal G's and matches I've seen them win it from the Sheik and how
1:04:02
crazy the crowd popped its incredible thing to watch on YouTube we want to watch that it's a fantastic match on
1:04:07
YouTube one of the things a lot who don't know is that in the build-up to that match that match that was set for
1:04:13
January 23rd of 1984 that match was supposed to be Sheik versus Backlund
1:04:18
it's supposed to be a rematch of the champ match very quickly briefly before the
1:04:24
match Backlund back out and it was Hogan and so she didn't have any time to prepare was that whole sort of thing he thought
1:04:31
he was fighting someone else so Hogan got the jump on him and Hogan held that title for as we will hear hoping held
1:04:37
that title for years after he doesn't beat the Sheik the Sheep went on to stay with the WWF he had a tag team with
1:04:43
Nikolai Volkoff they were a bunch of bad guys they had the Tag Team Championship for about 78 days after WrestleMania 1
1:04:51
and then after that the sheet got arrested for driving around New Jersey with hacksaw jim duggan one of them was
1:04:58
high on coke one of them was high on weed and so she caught the WWF for a couple of years after that I'd like to
1:05:05
bring it at this time if I may he is from Tehran Iran he is a former
1:05:11
heavyweight champion of the world he is the Iron Sheik Iron Sheik what do we have here number one turn the book
1:05:16
around frontward this is a world you don't have to insult me Iranian writing is the opposite English now say iranian
1:05:24
writing I was California couple weeks ago thousand what does it say what does
1:05:29
it say just said the ROC police cameraman zoom to that thing very good yeah he's got it in their production
1:05:36
before even I am speak up before to speak to dead people Chad Mottola mention of and Agana irani
1:05:43
insisted on california santa came across salaam azúcar ram rama fatiha mention
1:05:49
more Islamic Arab Kaurava City monitor later become the
1:05:54
coma and shake what are you saying come on you speak pretty good English for the benefit of all of us here let's try a
1:06:00
little luck well I just try to set you that marriage and everybody know Iran is one of the
1:06:06
oldest country in the world and long long long ten ago wrestling come from
1:06:12
Iran first a personal chef donor parasya the new name is Iran now I come to
1:06:19
America and I'll show today are American people everybody asked me in the street
1:06:25
what happened to Bob Backlund I said I hurt him so bad i I heard his shoulder
1:06:32
after that come he has to leave the travel WWF to return
1:06:38
now routine bother me soldier another and that Eliot Hulk Hogan anywhere I go
1:06:45
talk about my belt I think I remember
1:07:01
that that was pretty good primal I did it I did enjoy cheeky baby giving his
1:07:06
traditional humble you kind of approach that was what he was good at he was very
1:07:12
very strong he'll and he was very frustrating to deal with for a lot of people a lot of people you know kids
1:07:17
hated him because it was foreign people's David Boren that's awesome all right speaking of foreigners that's
1:07:25
right Andre the Giant larger-than-life turned heel on Hogan he never really
1:07:30
peaked again after that yeah under the giant was in the WWF for quite some time
1:07:35
prior to his match with Hogan but that match at WrestleMania 3 is what everyone
1:07:40
thinks of for several reasons one people are under the impression that that match of us minion 3 was the first time and
1:07:46
the only time to anyone ever bodyslam Andre right Rick they just were pretty
1:07:51
good at making that assertion and making a scene true Andre and Hogan were actually rivals for several years prior
1:07:59
to that they had a match at what was called the showdown at Shea Stadium in 1980 and that was in the WWF it was in a
1:08:06
baseball stadium it was pretty cool under the giant had a lot of feuds with some other guys and WPF most of the big
1:08:13
guys he had feuds with killer Colin he had feuds with Big John Studd about who
1:08:18
was the biggest and the baddest what of entually as they wanted to turn him into
1:08:23
something significant have him go out for the championship he hadn't turned on Hulk Hogan and that was at that Piper's
1:08:29
pit episode that you talked about that one where he grabbed the cross and he slapped Hogan on the chest and somehow
1:08:36
hope he started bleeding and I don't really understand all that it was an accident that was real blood it was an accident
1:08:41
it was a happy accident at the show the necklace how she cut the Hogan skin oh you heard
1:08:47
I didn't know that yeah but it added a great visual to the moment of what they
1:08:52
were doing there he fought whole coconut WrestleMania 3 he in the rumors are that he drank 14
1:08:57
bottles of wine before that magic and smoke yeah he was alcoholic of his time part of it was because his thyroid issue
1:09:05
and his issue with being such a large man was painful to him it was painful to
1:09:11
him we're evil most of his career so being in that match with Hogan and then he didn't
1:09:17
really rise to the occasion or he wasn't really a man a big guy after that well part of that was because he wasn't
1:09:24
really able to have matches after that ones of significant importance or once
1:09:29
that would be legitimate it was always sort of hiding behind some sort of gimmick being the fact that he couldn't
1:09:35
walk to the ring so they had to have cards to take him or Huey and he matches where most of his match he was just sort
1:09:41
of hanging on the ropes right but despite all of that after his match with Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 3 he did get
1:09:48
the WWF Championship one time he won at one time you won in the 1988 and
1:09:53
February 5th at the main event he won it from Hulk Hogan in a match that they had
1:09:59
had 50 matches prior to that he couldn't be Foucault's and he finally beat her up remember what he did after he won that
1:10:05
belt I can't you'll tell me I watched the biography on my HBO or wherever that
1:10:10
was was really good but I can't remember he won the championship from Hulk Hogan
1:10:16
for the very first time this very first World Championship ever he sold it to Ted DiBiase I was ready to trade Biasi
1:10:24
Ted DiBiase did not get to call himself a world champion instead the president
1:10:30
of the WWF vacated that title and that's what the championship tournament at
1:10:36
WrestleMania for that's what led to the next person in our list to get their first WWF Championship and that's what
1:10:43
really ended under the Giants time in the top of them some chain man
1:10:50
okay Axl begging you don't worry static
1:10:55
and you don't wanna get that Paulo because you so stupid you have to one
1:11:01
last work you challenge me you're gonna put me run with that 2x4 but there is my
1:11:08
turn to put you down but the way I want to take you down dr. Duggan I don't need a 2x4 the only
1:11:16
thing I need is just mine I've sat down and I will get you by that
1:11:23
make and our squeeze and squeeze it squeezed I had
1:11:29
our squeezin tell me that just leave it there to say a year and you will get
1:11:37
lots of durian because what you asked for it you will get it and you will get
1:11:43
it the giant way it was man man and when man I'm mad baby
1:11:50
one other thing when he's mad when he's man he's dangerous more
1:11:57
dangerous than any human walking less harm so mr. Duggan you get your board
1:12:04
ready because as far as I'm concerned you okay that's right
1:12:09
Andre used the mouthpiece for much of his career Bobby the brain Heenan was the best of all the mouthpieces this
1:12:15
promo was a little bit of him talking after Andre set him up and rest in peace
1:12:20
Andre and recipies Bobby the brain Heenan and rest of peace Mean Gene Okerlund boy that's right all of them
1:12:26
speaking of breasts in peace I will say this right now my favorite wrestler of all time Macho Man Randy Savage that's pretty
1:12:33
fantastic that we both agree on that as I was looking at this list I was wondering what does Ryan thank who's his
1:12:39
guy I pray to God he wasn't a King Kong Bundy fan the thought crossed my mind
1:12:44
that maybe in the ways that we agree on different things maybe we agree that Macho Man Randy Savage just won best I
1:12:51
love this style I loved his energy I loved his wrestling ability he was a
1:12:56
great heel but is a heel that you felt sorry for and that's great heel Manship
1:13:02
he was bad but he was misunderstood I think hit though he spoke use this every
1:13:07
vein popping you can almost feel the painful way that he spoke the way that he was just a jerk in real life
1:13:15
Elizabeth alone I mean my gosh I mean what young boy was not in love with Elizabeth macho's association with
1:13:21
Elizabeth gave him a level that was unlike any of these other characters
1:13:27
that we've talked about none of these other characters I mean Andrei and Bundy
1:13:32
they had Bobby Heenan as their manager Elizabeth was macho's manager Vichy was
1:13:37
much much more than that from the way that he would protect her or zealously
1:13:43
guard her from just all the different things that he experienced it sort of made you feel like it wasn't just Randy
1:13:50
going through what Randy was going through Randy was going through these things with Lizbeth they were a team
1:13:56
once the mega powers formed Elizabeth was the most important part of that team
1:14:02
she was involved with the champion and the former world champion but was the focal point of that storyline it
1:14:09
was Elizabeth you can't say enough and of course rest in peace Elizabeth my
1:14:14
favorite as well matcha was born in my hometown of Columbus Ohio Oh like matcha was denoted
1:14:20
from where he hailed from or he was billed from the city that I currently live in in Sarasota Florida there are
1:14:26
different things here in town that sort of celebrate his existence because he did you know have an impact on this
1:14:33
community it's a sad thing that he's gone there's so many wrestlers right now CM Punk and Dolph Ziggler and these
1:14:39
different guys that are wrestlers right now that look back at that macho as their inspiration for what they do and
1:14:45
rightfully so yeah he passed away in 2011 the age of 58 yeah can't believe Elizabeth died at the age of 42 I'm 2
1:14:53
years older than she was let's just hope that you haven't engaged in the recreational activities there's drugs I
1:14:59
took her drugs it was drugs and she was living with lex luger at the time living an unhealthy lifestyle the acute
1:15:07
toxicity so as a mixture of paint colors of vodka yep in terms of macho's legacy
1:15:13
obviously he had the one WWF championship run he had very significant
1:15:18
run where he got to take the vacant title from the tournament at WrestleMania 4 he held that title for an
1:15:25
entire year until he lost it at WrestleMania 5 the entirety of that year was the mega power storyline so the
1:15:33
entirety of that year was him being embraced by Hulk Hogan who was the former champion and a lot of people
1:15:38
thought no one else could be champion but Hulk Hogan because he had held that title for four years
1:15:44
macho took that title and as a heel and as a smaller character he defended all
1:15:52
sorts of people I think he defended it like 40 sometimes over the course of that year he held it for exactly one
1:15:58
year and then he lost the Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 5 which led to Hulk Hogan holding it for another year after that
1:16:04
the title itself was you know sort of held in chunks but macho got one of those very good chunks that testament to
1:16:12
what they thought of him and his drawing power and how he could work with the people that were in the industry at the
1:16:17
time and people around the world but leave that that mega-power storyline is probably the best storyline that
1:16:23
wrestling ever told and I think you and I are here to say that it was certainly an interesting part of the wvf in the
1:16:29
mid 80s it took up a lot of their time and I loved it yeah yeah yeah having marshal man Hogan
1:16:35
together was an unstoppable force three young child's eyes yep and they got to be people like Andre and DiBiase and
1:16:42
they have some great wins as a team it was very rare for two good guys to be a team like that usually two good guys
1:16:48
would fight with each other because they both wanted the same thing essentially that's what it came to it came to that on the title front and it came to that
1:16:55
on the Elizabeth front what made it one of the best storylines ever I'm talking about the former Intercontinental
1:17:01
Champion of the world Macho Man Randy another thing means nothing nothing
1:17:07
means nothing what do you mean by that war I'm talking about all the way to the top yeah oh yeah yeah tell you something
1:17:28
right now card stacked against the Macho Man Randy Savage in WrestleMania 3 hey let me see
1:17:33
it yeah of the World Wrestling
1:17:39
Federation the Macho Man Randy Savage is not happy with your decision yeah the
1:17:46
World Wrestling Federation there is no doubt a powder dare you means you know
1:17:52
go and you know that I'm the cream of the crap oh wait a minute Randy I'm gonna ask you very seriously
1:17:58
do you blame mr. jack Tunney the distinguished president of the World Wrestling Federation for Ricky Steamboat
1:18:03
being the Intercontinental Champion today yeah yeah your viewers here you
1:18:10
know I'm living in a nightmare and I am The Queen
1:18:16
anyway championship belt must fall but the world it's about cuz hole : yeah him
1:18:24
the cream yeah the cream of the crop there is no one the Macho Man Randy
1:18:32
Savage unbalanced off-balance doesn't matter I'm better than you are yeah
1:18:38
and I'm talking everyone in the World Wrestling Federation funny yeah gonna
1:18:50
stop me nothing's gonna stop me you know just out of curiosity Randy and I certainly don't want to diminish your
1:18:56
tremendous god-given talents but but I'm very curious I haven't seen Elizabeth lately yeah she's on the outside of the
1:19:03
ring this you know Furyk matches you to
1:19:14
the bottom and because they can't handle the Macho Man Randy Savage that's
1:19:21
definitely one of my favorite promos ever it's short it's sweet macho has the cadence that we all know about him the
1:19:29
way that he refers to himself from the third person and the way that he sees life the way that he is sort of a
1:19:36
perpetual underdog even in his own mind even when he's the champion or about to be the champion so macho definitely if
1:19:44
not my favorite wrestler one of my favorite wrestlers oh yeah yeah but there's a number one though and I think
1:19:51
he rightfully is number one because of what he's done for wrestling there's a lot of debate about this even now but I
1:19:58
think I think the base should be put to rest at Hulk Hogan belongs to top I don't know who else could have done what
1:20:03
he did at the time that he did it no no there's really no one else that that could take Coco's spot for all that they
1:20:10
may hear about the politicking or all you may may hear about the creative control and the things that don't work
1:20:18
for me brother Hulk Hogan was given the ball he was allowed to run with it he had the
1:20:23
championship for three years in the mid 80s he got it for another year after that in the late 80s
1:20:30
he initially started out as a heel doing squash matches but after defeating
1:20:35
Antonio Inoki to become the first IWGP tournament winner he came back to the
1:20:41
WWF and within months he was the WWF Champion took that off of Iron Sheik that was just a transitional thing but
1:20:48
they gave it to him to run with he held the championship for 1474 days he
1:20:55
defended it 173 times he eventually lost to Andres we talked about Andre only had
1:21:01
the belt for a month and then it was vacated Hogan got it back as soon as he could a year later at WrestleMania and
1:21:07
then he held it for another year before he lost it to warrior all of wrestling was centered around either Hogan had the
1:21:13
champion or Hogan was the championship or Hogan was passing the torch Hogan was the guy or the guy to make the guy
1:21:20
there's no debate about that I don't know we all have emotional moments about Hogan and the little Hulkamaniacs and I
1:21:27
was I was the littlest hulkamaniac the tiniest local maniac said my prayers and
1:21:32
I took my vitamins and I believed in myself of course I was a young child at the heyday of the 80s when he was at the
1:21:39
peak of the world and I truly when I believed the wrestling and when I saw him got beat and we got that energy and
1:21:44
he hauled up I I believed it you know when I got so emotional when he would come back and when all was right with
1:21:50
the world when Hogan won a match when he lost a few times he did it was so Harper
1:21:56
it didn't make sense to me as a child so even though I believed it was real it would still didn't make sense with this
1:22:01
guy who could Hulk up why is he losing a little bit of a weird conundrum he was
1:22:07
Superman they gave him kayfabe immunity didn't matter who it was coming at him it didn't matter you know what they
1:22:13
threw at him he was able to take all of their blows and take all of that
1:22:18
negativity and he was still able to come out as the victor and to us I think all
1:22:24
great cartoons are all great children's stories it does not matter what the bad
1:22:29
guy throws at you the good guy still wins and that was the whole Cohen story over and over again as you become older
1:22:35
you look back at those things and you just go oh my god when is hoping to finally lose he's been waiting
1:22:40
five years or three years ten years the way that they were going then and the marketing that they were doing to
1:22:47
children at that time that was exactly what we needed it was a storybook he had
1:22:52
sort of countless gigantic enemies thrown at him over and over again
1:22:57
hundreds of times a hundred and fifty times he defended that championship before he lost to Andre you know he beat
1:23:05
Andre a dozen times before he eventually lost it to Andre and there was some shadiness about that kind of thing and
1:23:11
in the meantime you know what he was doing he was leaving to be in Rocky three and he was leaving to do what was
1:23:17
the other movie did he did a old Bard I must have as a kid maybe I think I feel like I did the reasons why he would
1:23:24
lose the championship and why we would be shocked it's because he needed to leave for a little while to do a movie yeah well that's behind the scene stuff
1:23:31
a kid does an oboe but then when he started doing his movie run I was well and to not watch him wrestling I even thought it was embarrassing that Hogan
1:23:37
was doing stuff like this her nanny and suburban commando and Thunder in paradise I was not watching us at all
1:23:42
during these moments in my mind's eye probably in the wrestling's eye it was over the PD was over I was 10 years
1:23:47
later that's how I felt when the rock did that there you go interesting I said this is
1:23:52
my hero this is this is the guy that that I feel the closest to he's just leaving just losing it bleep and do this
1:23:59
the cameo in the mummy or whatever it was he was doing little did you know little did he know
1:24:05
he would become the the absolute biggest thing in Hollywood ever screws back ice a few months in the WWF it was well
1:24:12
worth it in the long scheme but Hogan was inspirational he was bigger than wrestling rock and wrestling on MTV his
1:24:18
different movie aspirations there's no reason why he wouldn't be number one of the 80s there's really no reason why he
1:24:24
wouldn't be number one of you couldn't argue against him being number one on people's list of all-time because he's
1:24:30
Oklahoman he's synonymous with the industry yeah oh yeah he's the he is
1:24:35
what he is and he's only 66 which is weird so back in the Attitude Era which was 20 years ago was 2000 even then that
1:24:43
was like late days NWO just only 46 isn't it funny because the funny thing is right now you know how old Chris
1:24:49
Jericho is no Chris Jericho's pushing 50 AJ Styles AJ Styles
1:24:54
than 40s that's weird because well everyone seen Hogan was washed up and old when he's 46 but that's not old
1:25:01
Hogan got injured several times when Hogan got injured he got 1980s back repair right he got
1:25:09
some pretty stiff boards and screws stuck into his back and neck that's not
1:25:14
the way we do it these days so Hogan well he was a benefit and he was a victim of his time when they went
1:25:20
to fix Hoke Hogan from fallin on his back on those concrete rings for ten
1:25:26
years they fixed him with some really stiff screws or something of the sort
1:25:32
and it's always interesting to look back and find out how these wrestlers you know look upon that now they think about
1:25:38
that now they talk about that very I know there's a lot we didn't talk about this is an episode that will deal with
1:25:45
all the incidents all the stories but it's thousands and like we said there
1:25:51
are podcasts literally just dedicated to the wrestling world and we just barely even not even scratch the surface we
1:25:59
haven't me too pulled our hand over a pocket they even touch the surface you said it but I think we did some good
1:26:05
yeah you did an excellent job and I thank you I really do I do thank you for your
1:26:10
research and for your input as a guest host you more than adequately fulfilled
1:26:15
your role and I hope our listeners enjoyed your discussion I learned some things I haven't heard before and hope
1:26:21
some of those tears did too but that being said there is somebody that might
1:26:27
be the worst I would guess top ten and what are your reasons for that worst did you play the last Oklahoma we'll do that
1:26:34
right now let's do it right now [Music]
1:27:33
[Music]
1:28:15
[Music] that was so good that was right before
1:28:22
WrestleMania 3 it hits all the high notes just the best form of euphoria getting into who we dealt with in the
1:28:29
top 10 we've got your Bundy your Piper Ventura Ventura and chic and flair
1:28:39
warrior Hogan warrior savage yeah of
1:28:45
course you know we talked about who who is sort of the objective best who is our
1:28:51
subjective favorite right those are at the top nobody's gonna make those the worst no and then we sort of spend some
1:28:58
time on a sidetrack that was not wrestling and this is the guy I'm going with I don't know how this list
1:29:04
got put together this guy's got no titles this guy only really wrestled
1:29:10
half of the decade I know he's got significance in the world today but
1:29:16
Jesse Ventura is the worst of the eighties of this list yeah Jesse Ventura
1:29:22
is not our guy he was impressive probably can fill the air time like I
1:29:28
can know he didn't do anything for me to his career in the 80s was cut short and
1:29:33
he didn't really accomplish anything during it he didn't main event at WrestleMania like King Kong Bundy it must've been a WrestleMania like Roddy
1:29:40
Piper and he didn't have the championship like Iron Sheik so I think this is a pretty easy answer it's been
1:29:46
Chara I like it I don't always agree sometimes it's not as fun when we when we do agree yeah I think as far as
1:29:53
wrestling goes he's had a more interesting life outside the ring which is it this is so the good thing his life
1:30:00
outside the ring is silly but but it's
1:30:06
interesting enough that I'd rather talk about his conspiracy theories then about
1:30:11
his recent career because I think even as a wrestler he wasn't that great I think he was just up Schulman well they all are but you know to me he wasn't
1:30:17
that great of a wrestler he's a fairly okay commentator but Gerry Lara and Jim
1:30:22
Ross are much better he's popular he's well-known but he's out of these guys I
1:30:27
would rather watch any other wrestling match than then a Jesse resting match and right on yeah all right brother
1:30:33
thank you so much for coming on the show and remember in front of every silver lining there's a cloud and we're here to
1:30:39
help you find it thank you so much drew for coming on and giving us schooling us on the Hard
1:30:44
Knocks of wrestling and appreciate it I could tell it's your passion and thank you your perfect guest host for this
1:30:49
topic well it wasn't hard times daddy it wasn't hard times [Music]
1:31:16
thanks brother for coming on and I was not fading out I was listening this rest
1:31:21
of my