It's the lapsed fan wrestling podcast with Jack and carn s e O and JP Sorrow.
He's a lapsed fan and all my years and wrestling.
I never seen anything and it's the laps fan man like the one in the ring. Forget about Sado.
He the real king of swing.
When the bell.
Goes in the kick like me throwing in the corner, but gets rash like stick even Jerry King gets take off the crowd nodded in his head like its Steve low Brown.
Would you get low down?
We go even high up?
Flipp you on your head, but you know cool driver, you speak more and Dragon spits fire give you more shock than when he treats higher drop a more truth than the.
Con of sniper. Unless you with a coconut.
Roddy Pipper Jack a JP he like j.
H D drop the cupcakes and gold the brain Bob means the best podcast Frost start the close cloud.
If you all be as a flassic and pose boss, you get your finest text seed already I'll do what I can. You ready for music television one last time for the World Wrestling Federation. Do we have to at least until Sunday Night Heat came to the MTV of those years later. Unbelievable. We spent so much time over ten years of laps talking about how the MTV rock and wrestling connection, the war to settle the score, mister t Cindi Lauper, you know the whole story. I know
the whole story. Oh ww from the back of Hulk. Hogan became a pop culture sensation hit with the irony crowd, a cable television hit and something that was very much part of the eighties on Wei that washed over MTV. And this is the last stand. This is the nineteen eighty six WWF Slammy Awards. I almost thought you were gonna say iron chicic oh instead of irony. You thought he was gonna say iron cheek. Yeah, I did. He's
all over the thing. The fd IS. As we marched through the Colosseum collection, we came upon, as you know, the best of the Wwfonium seven, and in taking a look at it, we were like, wait a minute, the Slammy Awards are on this tape, or at least highlights of the very first Slammy Awards. We had to do it. I agree.
I mean, there's no there's no question about that. It makes me nervous, but yeah, it has to be done.
Land of a thousand casts. And what did you think had you seen this before? I take it I have never seen the this like the original Slammy Awards.
No, I.
Mean, I'll tell you what I really.
Like.
This to me was perfect evidence of the eight Like basically that the eighties, the eighties was built on cocaine. Yeah, that's just the way the eighties were. Like anything in the nineteen eighties, the decade of the nineteen eighties was built on cocaine.
And this is a prime example. Where do you see cocaine in the Slammy words?
I just see everything, just the fucking craziness, the wacky, the the insanity of the whole thing, of the whole idea. Like some maybe it's not even cocaine. Someone's on drugs coming up with this whole fucking idea. Well, Vin sick Man is on drugs coming up with this idea.
I mean, I know the whole thing was firmly tongue in cheek, but I didn't know it's because they were wiping the residue. I think that's the case.
It is.
It's just like like from you know, just the whole I mean, yeah, it's just I don't it's beyond me. It's beyond me like that you kind of take these really these are not steps that go in any logical direction, Like even things that have come into the mainstream and become like pop culture phenomenon. This, like the directions the WWWE was going is just it's beyond Yeah.
You cannot forget the critical context of how much every other wrestling outfit that was still operating in the country and indeed the world, was still trying to portray the whole thing as a shoot when they started doing this stuff. But it's even beyond that.
It's the idea that that they were like, well, you know what, Hey, you know, we got we'll do an album, right, we got we got MTV, We'll do an album. Hey, we did an album, Let's do an award show about the fucking album. The minds like like, like, the steps are just bizarre, absolutely bizarre.
He became acquainted as I did with the Slammies in like the nineties, in the two thousands. Yes, you thought it was like an award show for best of the year in wrestling.
Right, I had no idea that it was that it was that the original was the the initial idea was music based because I I think of the Slammies as you know, the leader of the new generation, right whatever, you know, those are the Slammies to me, and Hart parading around is right, two times Slammy Award winning Owen Hart just yeah, like they really did not I had no idea that, you know, because funny, I always thought Slammy was a play off of Emmy or Academy Award.
I really didn't guess that it was Grammy. But it's funny because that makes the most sense.
That's such a good point, Like, you know it actually, you know, it rhymes more with Grammy than it does with any of the other ones. Right, Yeah, it's almost like, well, they came up with their own Academy Awards for best Performance, right, but then they just, you know, because Graham rhymes with slam they just called it Slammys even though it's not music. But it is music. And not only is it music, boss, this isn't just a music award show. This is an
award show about the best of one particular album. This is an award show contained to only one record. I really wish that they hadn't that that that the last award was Album of the Year, Right, That's a good idea, would have been really fucking funny. I would I would have been okay with that. If you're not familiar. They just took the whole WWF troop, He'll face didn't matter, you know, full cartoon versions of themselves and just had
them do a series of songs. There's a series of tracks on the wrestling album, you know, just like these personality sketches and Nikolai Volkoff ranting and raving and Iron Chic and He'll Billy Jim doing the country boy routine Real American, which, as we talked about and we'll talk about, was originally intended for the US Express Peretundo and Wildem not Hulk Hogan. Hogan's on there, or at least his his song is. He's not on the eighty six Slammy Awards,
which is very interesting. Yeah, but if Piper is, and you know, we kind of it again. This is another one of those examples where I'm I'm really blown away by the lack of Hulk Hogan on a main you know, with with with like to me, there's no reason why Hulk Hogan wouldn't be on this show. This should have been all Hogan conspicuous by his absence, as they would say, brother, you know what else is mind blowing conspicuous? Dude. This came out on March first, nineteen eighty six, and MTV.
Yeah later that night, Saturday Night's main event on NBC Get the fuck out of This was a one two punch for WWA fans. Wow, that was the Hogan Morocco snmy where he gets ambushed by Well, that's why he wasn't on the show. I guess that must have been part of the calculate why. He probably was like, well, you know you can't pay on the show, pal, Well what, brother?
Why not?
Well you're in a Saturay Knight's main event. But that was pre taped.
But your point is taking but we pretaped it, Dude, Darry, they don't know that, right do you know that? Maybe you don't even know that?
Uh do we?
What?
Brother? What do you mean? Do we have to have a conversation?
Dude?
Like?
What what are you coming at me like that?
For?
Brother?
I was there, I had the match with Morocco. Dude, are you trying to hold me up before the second WrestleMania.
Brother, did you Hogan? Did you did you have a match with the Don Morocco War? Was your match happening later night? I mean nobody's seen a match with you in Morocco that people will watch it tonight. Where are you, Terry Brother? Want in Tampa?
Dude? Event is on Tampa. I appreciate what you're saying, brother, but I'm looking at this lineup, dude. Junk Yard Dog was on Saturday Night's main event. He was on the Slammies. Brother Valentine like, why does what are you doing? The dude? How does he transport across space and time? Brother? Brother? Are you gonna Are you going to ask me to lose the title to Bundy? Brother? Are you saying I lay down for Oakland? Dude? This tooty fruity motherfucker, Brother,
You tooty fruit in my ass? Right, Terry, That's not my business. You're tooting your own horn?
Dude?
What exactly serious? This is the Saturday's main event where it gets ambushed and hospitalized by Bundy to set up the rest of the look at that. And they also do the world premiere, or at least the network television premiere of the Real American Music Video with hul Cogan strumming the bass.
Wow.
With Mount Rushmore and the Twin Towers. They do that on this show, I know you would. According to my notes we'll get to they actually had Vince McMahon do a guest VJ spot on MTV earlier that night, and oh my God, introduced the world premiere of the Real American Music Video, which is so bizarre because it's talked about. When it was included on the wrestling album, it was not hul Cogan song. But apparently by the time we get to March nineteen eighty six, the decision had been
made that was to do we know? When? Did we have we deciphered the first time he came out to Real American No, first time he came out to it, I do not know. I'm sure that's discoverable, though we know, of course the first time he wore the winged eagle belt and things like that. Let's see first time Hulk Hogan came out to Real American. Brother to answer the question, dude, I see December thirtieth eighty five. That rings a bell? Wow? Okay. The album came out in October eighty five and uh.
By December thirty, they made the call because there are you know, clips of the US Express coming out at like TV tapings in Pennsylvania to the music, we've played it before over the years, So they did have a very short period of time and they used the the whole Kegan song that's on the record, tongue sa tongue, pung satung tongue. Right, you know what I mean? Can it in? Yeah? I actually I like that one quite a bit. I enjoyed that.
There it is.
Radio it is, let's fucking get it.
That's absolutely everybody like that.
Yeah.
Almost, come on, Jesse, Oh I got through it.
Yeah, well you may not get through the next cut with considering whom is.
Going to.
There's a Vince Words salad at the end. Huh, oh my god, want to take Vince even on the wrestling album. See, that's how the wrestling album played. They played the song and then there'd be these like little skits with Gene, Vince and Jesse in between. That's so annoying. Whul Cogan's theme literally bringing Jesse to vomit and that particular clip.
Oh good, Yeah, that's was That was the idea that was gonna be kind of like you know, the Rocky theme knockoff the I have the Tiger knockoff that they were gonna go with for Hogan and they did for a short period of time. That was also the theme song to The Hulk Cogan's Rock and Wrestling Saturday Morning CBS cartoon. Okay did use it that as well. I
dig that. But as we talked about last week when we read from the WWF magazine and their coverage of the first ever Slammys in nineteen eighty six, it was rock and roll at its finest. It was free, it was exciting, it was tough, and in the end it was fresh. Brother, I mean, what the fuck that means? And we'll both know as long as it's fresh, that's what matters. One thing you can also say about TLF. Yes, free, exciting, tough,
and in the end fresh. Maybe I should Maybe I should say it like Jim Rome would say it fresh. So really excited to get into this. It was not an expected rock we were going to turn over, but after we did that tape last time and got a little flavor of it, had to. I don't know, We're never gonna get another perfect reason to look at this show.
Yeah, agreed, like the I mean, that's it makes it made absolute sense, honestly.
And continues the theme of really stewing in nineteen eighty five, eighty six juices so far in twenty twenty five, as we looked at the first Saturday Night's main event, and we've spent a lot of time around this exact period on the continuum, on the Coliseum collection as well. So yep, it's it's in keeping. It's thematic.
Now.
Of course they would come back and do another Slam of the Awards in nineteen eighty seven. That one not on MTV. That one distributed is basically a syndicated television special that would come on at any random time in any random market and any random affiliate that they could find. Clearly MTV not interested in a repeat engagement. Yeah, I think we're good. Thanks, though they were good with WWF after this. This was the end. They never that's that's wild.
He's in the rock and wrestling area, never didy. Was it just bad business? Were they done?
Or was it?
You know?
What was the reasoning? Yeah, well, we'll get to it. We've talked about it before, but essentially it came down to all we have is Shawn a sales account in the book Sex Lies and Headlocks for essentially, Vince is like, well make me pal, I made you. Maybe I should buy MTV instead of you buying Oh yeah, of course remember that whole thing. Yep. So according to one person who talked to Shanna Sale who is at TV, that that's how it came down. Couldn't find ratings for the show,
which I think, say something. But it's funny because that night they did a great ten point zero on NBC for Saturday Nights main event, and that was the only rating anybody would care to look up or write about as far as wrestling in this particular. No, I'm wondering what you know? I mean, I don't know what what was What was MTV doing in terms of ratings at the do you know, like at the time, Mike was what's a what's a cable channel like MTV pulling in? Yeah,
it's a good question. It's the share. It's definitely different because it's cable compared to the ten point Oh I just hit you with and uh for Saturday Night's main event. Let's see the top you rated United States television programs of nineteen eighty six. This is going to be so dominated by network. It's not what I mean, I mean cable cable, right, These things are way too difficult to google.
I don't understand why it's so hard, but because you know, these lays, as we've been talking about in recent weeks, this has been kind of a this was kind of a thing, you know, covering the ratings. You know, you cared it was.
It was a big mean Let listen then, like we talked about, it was top ten. You'd see the top ten in newspapers in the TV section.
All right, So this is from the New York Times June twelfth, nineteen eighty six, headline, MTV makes changes to stop ratings slump.
Wow.
So this lammies didn't help at all. Wow. So the report reads, the change follows reports of sagging Nielsen ratings from MTV. The most recent average twenty four hour rating the channel released for the fourth quarter of nineteen eighty five was point six. Okay, that is a point six point ten, yes, representing holy shit. Point six represents, according to the article, six tenths of a percent of the homes equipped to receive.
MTV, which I believe, I mean, I don't know what eighty six was but at least in nineteen ninety in regards to twin peaks, it's like one point is like nine and twenty five thousand televisions, Yeah or whatever, Yeah, here are the household whatever.
If you do quick math, it's point it's six tenths of twenty eight point two million. That was the number of homes that in nineteen eighty six were equipped to receive MTV. And the way cable ratings work is supposed to broadcast, you do a percentage of people who can get the station, not a percentage of people who have televisions. So that ten for Saturday Night's main event being on network television NBC, is a percentage of people who have TVs,
not a percentage of people who have cable. So six tenths of twenty eight point two million is get it here? Twenty I mean that seems like a big number to me. Six tenths of twenty eight Okay, let's see, uh, sixteen sixteen million people and maybe not right to me? Six point six representing six tenths of a percent of the homes equipped to receive empty six percent, that's what I said, Yeah, what do you think?
No?
Not six tens of twenty eight two point two million, the point six like not one percent point six of a percent, it would be it would be so hold on the math majors out there were I know, right, not my specialty. So then mine neither equals time. So oh shit. So one hundred and sixty eight thousand people. There we go. Now that is a twenty four hour average. Oh my god, across the quarter the last quarter of nineteen eighty five. Okay, Oh I love it. I fucking
love it. That's that's what I like to hear. Jesus, Oh my god, that's reality. Hey, you're right, you know, one hundred six one thousand two in our homes. Yeah, that's just like so low. That's it's like it's like nobody compared to like it's like it's like one state cable stations now do like you know, seven eight, not all of them, but MTV is thought of as this huge deal, you.
Know, right.
I mean I guess, I mean, I guess when you consider eighty six, I mean, what was the cable situation, Like, I mean, I'm sure it was not obviously not nearly as prominent as it would be in like the mid nineties.
And stuff. But still, but if you told me thirty million people have MTV and you asked me what the average was in eighty five, yeah, I wouldn't guess. I'd go a million. Probably everyone fucking watching TBS. I don't know. Just because you have it doesn't mean you're watching it. I guess. I don't know. I mean everyone still watched the network even if they had cable, first prime time stuff.
But yeah, that's just a flavor. Yeah, we don't spend enough time thinking about that, like we think about WWF maybe cresting in terms of its popularity peak and MTV losing interest. Maybe it was MTV that was losing momentum exactly. They were the ones really riding high in eighty four. Or I want to buy it, Oh my god, I want to buy MTV. I believe that I own MTV'SOK, some deep value here. Pell looks like you're your value has come in quite a bit. It's like you're less
valuable than the WWE. We got to resurface this because we played it last time and it got short shrift because we had an audio issue, and we want to let you know we've figured out finally what it is. Did you know that some equipment lets you think you're muted when you're actually not. Isn't that a useful feature to have? Brother? Wouldn't you include that? What do you mean? What do you mean? I'm not what exactly? By the way, not good news for hul Cogin, not good news at all.
His fucking why are tapping apparatus? Listen?
There are people I know that there are a bunch of there are a bunch of sound folk out there, So I'm very curious. There's got to be a reason for it. But like so, so why would I why would there be a a setting in a recording device where you where you were based. It ignores all of your settings, ignores the the levels that you set, ignores mute and all this kind of stuff, like everything. What's the point of that? What does that do for anybody?
So what it is is you have a mixer board, and you have a mute button on the mixer board, and you think that when you mute your track that what happens in the room, such as opening a bag of chips or whatever, or playing with an action figure will not be picked up because your mic isn't hot, right, But there's actually a feature where when you export the audio, that stuff is still in there, even if your levels were not moving while you were recording right right, or
even if they were even if they were moving, even if they're going all over the place, even if I'm like lowering my audio like that was one of the things I was testing it out, and I was like, I didn't really know this feature, and I'm I lowered. Not only did I not use the mute because that baffled me to begin with, but then I'm lowering the audio and I'm like, how my levels at zero? How is it recording me right? Ignores it? And I don't understand.
I don't understand what the purpose would be of having a feature like that. I read some offhanded thing that gave me the impression it had something to do with musicians, like that's a useful function for musicians. I don't know. If I'm trying to mute myself from being recorded, how is that helpful? So stupid? I don't even want to
get into it. But the reason it's coming up is because when we played this incredible money clip during the Best of WW at Volume seven, there was that background interference.
But it belongs on this show. Anyway, we came into that Colisseum home video really having no idea that it was going to be such a fucking appetizer for the full slamming, not at all entre So here it is mean gene Oakerland on the streets of Baltimore, Maryland, where the nineteen eighty six Slammies were shot, doing just doing God's work. Okay, this is mean gen Oakland walking the streets of Baltimore before the Slammies go off inside the
civic arena, interviewing workaday baltimoreans. If that's even what you say about their level of excitement of what's going to be happening that evening.
Who's gonna win the Slammies tonight?
Who's wrestling with you?
Are you?
Are you wrestling to you?
Are you going to be busy later on? We could wrest all night. Listen.
I watch you every Saturday.
You're wonderful. We're not watch wrestling.
We watch you well. Thank you. I might mention that to somebody back in the office. Thank you have a nice weekend. Excuse me, ladies, I wonder if I could prevail upon you for just a comment or two. Come on, and if you would Slammys are taking place in Baltimore tonight. They're not in Los Angeles, they're not in New York, they're not in London. They're in Baltimore. Does that excite you at all? Well, I'm not from Baltimore. Oh can I ask where you're from? Delaware? Or from Delaware? What
part of Delaware? Wilmington, Wilmington, what part of Wilmington. Well it's you probably west west from West Wilmington. I've never heard of it. Thank you well, strange running into you, my dear, So good to see you again. You are the kids? Oh, they're fine, terriffic. Say, the slam are taking place here in Baltimore tonight. They're not gonna be in Kansas City. They're not gonna be in my second
favorite town of Cleveland. They're gonna be in Baltimore. Who do you think is gonna win for the Best Artist Autum Video Land of a Thousand Dances, The.
Land of a Thousand Dances. Who's up for the award?
Virtually every wrestler known the man?
Oh?
I think what does it?
Little Richard do your song?
Yes, as a matter of fact, little Richard does my song? Why don't do his? I think you're definitely gonna win. What's your name? Sweet Michelle? Michelle, you are lovely. You're also cold and will warm it up tonight. You know where I'm at?
Right?
Pike's Phil Hilton? The second sir, just the second sir, sir? Excuse me, Joy, Can I have just a moment of your time?
It's not going to prevail upon you momentarily.
Come on, Yeah, this is what the World Wrestling Federation pal. Who's gonna win the Slammies tonight?
Huh?
James Brown's you know what's over here tonight?
Don't you?
Slammy Awards? How are you? Goodness? See what's your.
Off of all? I'll see your tv U Twrest Kogan and hat Hogan?
Uh, mis tee, let's see writing writing paper.
And everybody everybody said, well, wait a minute, and I can't let you run away with this. You know, I'm just excited to be in Baltimore. I understand. Baltimore is the crab capital of the world.
Yes, h I hear that.
Who's gonna win the slam East tonight? Who's your favorite?
My favorite is?
Uh?
For really, wait a minute, who's your favorite? My favorite is Hawt Hogan? Wait a minute.
Hell, it's me.
Uh he's saying real good to thank you, thank you. That's all I wanted to hear the best cut of the wrestling album. I'm sure you voted, and I don't know if we could just get maybe just a little, uh, a little enlightenment here as to who you might have voted for.
Well, I'll be honest with you.
I have to be a professional here and and I really it's very important that I totally this is not a big mystery.
I am a professional. I'm employed by this.
Wait a minute, pal, you're talking to me. You're not talking to some ja bronkly. Now, you can tell me who you you.
Can tell me.
Let's get out of the street here before we get hit. You can tell me who you voted for. I won't say a word. Trust me, it'll be a k fave deal all the way.
I think that my friends would be very upset with me. You might be upset with me.
I will see you tonight at the Slammys in Baltimore, not Boston. That's right right here. Are you from Wilmington, Delaware?
No, sir, I'm from right here in Baltimore.
To Riney, Baltimore, Number one, where are your books from Bottimore Randallstown And it's not as a suburb of Baltimore. Yes, all right, Now the best cut on the wrestling album? Who do you pick to be the winner?
You Tod Fruity.
Finally, two and a half hours the interviews, and I finally find the people I've been looking for. Thank you, good luck. We'll see you tonight, glads. Myself along with the other great ones in the World Wrestling Federation prepare for the Slammy tonight here in Baltimore at the Civic Center, sold off crowd. By the way, I've been looking over some of the landmarks of this great city on Chesapeake Bay.
This tablet was erected by the Maryland State Dental Association, and I couldn't be so excited about any one thing in all my life. But the real action tonight is going to be taking place here at the Civic Center, this gorgeous facility, in.
This gesture, so beautiful building you can see.
This is modern architecture put together by some of the great architectural minds in the great state of Maryland. And it's here tonight where you're going to be seeing slammies. All right, visiting with more people regarding the upcoming Slammies competition. Hey, how are you my friends? The Slammies are going to be in Baltimore tonight at this great facility, the Civic Center. Are you going to be there?
Am I going to be there?
We're not only going to be there, but we're going to do it. Well wait a minute, guess that's right.
You like wrestling?
How about this? We're going to be here tonight.
We're gonna do it.
Are you guys ready for that? Do you think what I want to do it? He's my guy. Come on, guys, I gotta get started.
Thank you?
All right?
Right here?
Break her up, frank her up.
It's the Lapsed Wrestling Podcast.
He's the Lapsed Fan Wrestling Podcast with Jack and Carnacio M J.
Pisarro.
I mean, I can't, Jean do it. We're gonna do it like you gotta funk? What is it about?
Like?
It's not like that anymore. When you put a camera on somebody on the street, they're like camera ready, all of them, you know, your camera ready out of the womb. In America these days now.
Now we've had you know, we've had you know, practice with the Instagram we're shooting, we're showing ourselves that we're prepared to put on the best versions of ourselves.
We're not where we are trained. We've self trained to be camera ready. These most of these people are having seizures into the camera lens or running away. In some cases, yes, they were about being seized upon. But just such a man, does that put you there? Does that put you in the time and place?
Just that?
I think I think we're gonna do it tonight. Boss slammis this one hour show that like someone God bless them, uploaded to YouTube. This is one of those tough ones because all those MTV shows, they're nowhere to be found on official w W channels. As we know, the Water Settle, the Score, the Brawl to Settle at all, all that ship nowhere to be found.
Right right, it's gone. I mean it's it's yeah, because the MTV shit the right to have them. But that's a whole different story.
Yes, yeah, they've been in circulation for years, so they're not particularly hard to find. But it was fascinating because I think when the WW network came out, they did put the Water to Settle the Score up and then took it down. Yeah, one of them was up for like two maybe like a week before it was taken
down and amazing, and this definitely fits that category. I mean, I've never seen anything ww's ever put out with the complete slammis that Colosseum video is the closest will get And yeah, not like that's one of the colisseums they ever uploaded to the network or to Peacock. No, they never, they never. It's kind of funny. They never uploaded any of the best of to the.
Home video. Yeah section, Yeah, it's kind of interesting. I wonder why they never did that, Like never, They did pretty much every other tape to a certain point up until like nineteen ninety two or three, but after that they didn't. They didn't put up any like no, no best us like that. All was hidden, and I do wonder why.
Yeah, Jesse went to her commentary tracks having won the lawsuit, had to be you know, removed because he was due royalties. So maybe maybe the best us are the ones that have so many different matches that I mean, but we see him, we see him on tons of them, you know, but him on any that are on Peacock. I'm pretty sure. Okay, that was always the demarcation line to me, I mean back in the day, but not now. Yeah, yeah, it's
it's wild. So this is something you know, they've never uploaded or made available, but someone has it, has it taped off television and put it up there. Other wonderful sources may even have original source copies. I'm also sorry, sorry to rep but but I'm it's just off the top of my head.
Yeah.
I'm also surprised too that that w w WE allowed MTV to have some kind of ownership of those yea of those shows that just so seems to be either a major glitch you know, you know, or or like just I can't imagine Vin mick Man ever doing that. Oh, he's still learning lessons, you know, he's he's not the sophisticated IP operator that he would come to be later. You know, he's just eating eating out of Dick Eversoll's hand and trying to learn his way.
And I guess that's true because I guess, you know, a lot of those shows would have happened, Yes, this would have been you know, it would have happened before prior to yeph the So maybe that's for.
A contract that was drawn up when he needed MTV more than MTV needed him, and my god, like whatever, whatever you need, pal, you know, just let's get on MTV. That sounds fucking great. You know, we're doing it in the garden anyway, and you know Cindy's lapper is going to be involved anyone, So the let's just put on MTV.
That's gravy. So there probably wasn't a lot of thought put into securing rights to broadcast rights later on with whatever napkin the MTV contract was written on, because there was apparently not much in the way of like contingency planning, like what if what if? So they just went from show to show and all of a sudden, when there was just the slightest hint of friction, they were gone, and of course more than happy to be nested on NBC by that point, so it wasn't like they were
without a home to transition to. But yeah, the Slammies, and the only reason the Slammy has happened is we've just telegraphed is because the wrestling album existed, and any history lesson on the very first Slammy Awards in the creation of the slammis has to have a lot to do with the Wrestling Album Again came out in the fall of nineteen eighty five. You've all probably seen it
by now, if not heard it. It's the one with you know, the full litany, the full mosaic of WWF aracter is standing in a recording studio and then it's got Jesse, Vince and Gene. As we learned from our pal Brian Penry, the original WF creative director, a very laborious process to superimpose the image of the announcers over the photograph of all the the assembled wrestlers on that album cover. But yeah, it came out on vinyl and it was It's what they call and what they called
and still call, a novelty record. It's sure, it's not created by musicians professional musicians. It's not intended to really be consumed and perceived by music fans. It's just a it's a brand extension for people who were already buying wrestling shit.
Right, It's like, uh, I mean, it's like, haven't needed a champion novelty record here?
It is the wrestling album. It's not meant for.
When Albert Kim's thousand pounds up Beat comes runnering at you, it can mean only one thing. He wrestling album with Paul Cogan's Theme a Reel and Rogan Elily Jims Don't go.
Less with a.
Most performances by Roddie Piper and Nickolai Holko, Captain Lou Kimmy Hart Mean Jean have a junk yard Dog. We have the wrestling album on Epic record and teams, I'll paout your record store.
Can you imagine no, that's just coming on during like Matt Locke, you know that would be pretty tremendous time. Seriously, with lunchboxes, the cartoon, the l j n's, it's all starting to happen all at once. That the home videos crazy, all of these people that want to license the ww It had its moment. It's like when the Ninja Turtles
were red hot. You know, everyone's tripping over themselves to slap that that I p on any number of you know, foreign sourced plastic to try to sell as many you know, pieces of ship with a yeah, a whole coching uh likeness on it as they possibly can. And here is their attempt at at music, and here's their attempt at an award show. And it's all tongue in cheek. The irony crowd. You know, it's not like they're of course,
of course taking themselves very seriously. Of course two traditional wrestling fans total anathema, Like my god, there's heels and faces on the same stage. Ever, either're leaning into how the general public wants to laugh at wrestling anyway, Yes, yes, and they're trying to own that, which is like the whole point of pride is pushing against that, resisting that as a wrestler, and like taking it personally and attacking
people that call you a phony. Here's Vince, you know, orchestrating a presentation that were he's come laugh at us, you.
Know, right, I know that's exactly it. Like it really is like that kind of like almost almost desperate, you know, Like to me, you know, you can either you can certainly say that they're that they're able to make fun of themselves, but at the same time, there's almost a.
Kind of.
Sadness to the fact that we're that willing to make fun of ourselves just to have people watch us.
I now, you know what it's like. To me, it's like the kid who's unpopular but who does a funny party trick, so he gets invited to the party, and he just comes to that party, man, and he'll do that party trick as many times in succession as you want for anybody that asks, because he's just blown away that he has a chance to impress upon an upper cast, you know, and just what else you want me to do?
You know?
But they had the cross currents. They had Mister T, they had Cindy Lapper, they had celebrities that were you know, Cindy Lapper won the Grant me and walked on stage with Hulk Hogan behind her is her bodyguard. Like Hogan hosted SNL, Mister T in the eighteen was the biggest show on television. It's like, this is unbelievable that they ended up in this position where this many people we're willing to just have some fun and make some money doing pro wrestling, and you know, TV, what do they do?
They just chase the stars around and try to create stuff that they can pretend they architected and deserve credit for and deserve to be paid millions of dollars for them. Really they're just starfuckers, you know, just chasing the hottest thing and building you know, phony architecture around them as if they have any particular talent, and so WWF was and it's involvement with celebrities was the perfect springboard to
some of those eyeballs back then. So we get the wrestling album, we get the Slammy Awards, and we get this here treatment and one of it's kind I'm not really sure. I don't know, have we done an episode before that's like just about a TV special like this, I'm not sure what if there's any corollaries. It kind of feels like that episode of Baywatch that we did
for Flair almost. Yeah, I mean, the only other thing could think of that would be I mean maybe like I mean, that's still like a pay per view, like a regular kind of odd ball television. I mean, I guess Thunder and Paradise. Yeah, yeah, that's right. But still that's I mean, this is that you know that that even has that was also for that was a Hopper thing too. Yes, we were put into that position, but I think Brandon from a Jersey actually put that one
on the table. Yeah yeah, but one where it's like, here's something a wrestling company did with a totally different audience than the wrestling fan in mind. That's right, that's a rare breed in and of itself, and this, this is definitely a step outside of our It's almost like a sounds like the WBF special, you know, right, And you know that was the other thing I was going to say too, It's kind of like the WBF thing.
But you know, Jesus so bizarre. We're doing it. We're ripping off the band aid and we're going to figure out why. Well, we're going to try to figure out why the slammy's happened. I don't know if I don't know if that's possible, but but of course so we can. We got to remind you. We're obliged to remind you lest you forget that the only reason something like this is possible is because people on like your free loading bitch ass, are willing to pay for it, and you
deserve there ever, they deserve a gratitude. It is patreon dot com slash the lapsed fan. That is where the nucleus lies, that is where all of the the atoms collide, and for your Patreon dollar, no shortage of material Heading into WrestleMania season. We just finished the live call of the twenty twenty five Elimination Chamber. We watch modern WWE so you don't have to. And in this case post I think they missed something. You know, I'll tell you
it is. I know people, I guess you know. It's funny.
I didn't even and this wasn't you know, usually I'm all over the you know, I don't know what happened Sunday that I was not really looking at Patreon or any really of our of our social media stuff because I always usually, you know, check in and see what's going on.
But I didn't. And people were amazed that. People were skeptical that we'd be able to avoid it, but I honestly didn't know shit. And people sleeping like people sleep on how much your Twitter feed adjusts to the fact that you were watching the show, and like you get this impression that everybody's talking about it. It's like, if if Twitter or whatever Facebook doesn't think you were watching the show, they're not going to show you a million videos about it, right exactly.
So it was, uh, yeah, it was a hell of a fucking That was honestly one of the biggest surprises that I've I think I've seen. Honestly, I said it, I said it, and I still stand by it. Honestly, I keep thinking about it. I think I think it may be one of the most shocking he will turn since Bashing the Beach ninety six, Honest to god. Well, so you lean into what's Cody's going to do, what Rock's going to do the whole time, it's the the
overwhelming thing is going to be what Sina ends up doing. Yeah, you know, that's pretty You never really thought about that because they were They really did a great job playing up the whole.
You know, uh uh John Cena Memorial Tour.
Yes, you know, like really, let's just like, you know, let's do kind of the best the best of John Cena year and man did they fucking and.
How got how gotten to Dwayne is by the suggestion that he's flying by the seat of his pants and you know, just trying to manufacture stuff. It's going to take a long time before they admit that this was not a big master plan, that yeah, this is a last minute pivot where yeah, they fucking made it up the fucking night of I don't doubt. I don't doubt that Rock has you know, been trying to convince Sena for some time to go heal after it was such
a success for him the year before. I'm not saying that you won't find it being suggested before it took place, but come on now, but great, still great, still awesome. We're still the beneficiaries. Can't wait to see how it plays out. And that's worth a year's worth of Patreon dollars alone just to hear our reaction, because indeed, as the Boss said, we were able to somehow shelter ourselves from spoilers despite it being on a delay for us.
And yeah, the Senior Hill turn and here we go, the WrestleMania double live calls coming your way coming up Easter weekend. This is the time to lean in Patreon dot com slash the lapsed fan. Of course, Wrestle Mamia oh yes, continues to roll out like clockwork every single week as the boss Man.
But yeah, you know what, and this week started WrestleMania season. Wow, honestly with Wrestle Wrestle Mamia, we did. People would have just heard my mom and I watch you know, Ria Ripley versus Becky Lynch at at last year WrestleMania forty.
Fascinating choice my mom.
You know.
Every now and again I realized I probably should have my mom watch women wrestlers. And she had been asking about WrestleMania when we went to so Mania, and I was like, oh, you know, I probably should throw that out there, and you know, see what, you know, that might be a good one for her to watch.
I can't wait to see a reaction to that one.
Yeah, you gotta listen to a reaction for that one. I'm sure it's you know, she does end up saying always usually I don't like the women fighting. I don't think the women should fight each other.
That's great. So yeah, that's of course the mote tier. Only the tip top tier on Patreon has access to that. Uh, you know, we don't let everyone in the living room carpet with us, you know what I mean? No, No, you got to past the piper for that. Listen, listen, I keep that about as private as I used to correct. All right, that's exactly right. So yeah, let no one know, or only let's select few know, exactly. So yeah, join the Boss Man and Mama Sorrow looking at matches from the past.
Uh.
In a one of a kind ways, we somehow managed to tap that voice that we all had growing up of I'm gonna I'm gonna humor my son watching this, but right, I'm gonna ask some questions that really blow the whole illusion up.
Yeah, and then and then then you fucking get lost, and then they get lost into it, and then you realize the whole thing.
That's why we watch wrestling exactly, because even the skeptics in the room exactly end up going for the ride in a subtle way, but in a real way nonetheless. So yeah, wrestle mommy, available to you and under the cinemat. I mean, this Twin Peaks thing, this fucking David Lynch thing, wow, wow, I you know it.
I was.
I was.
I'll be the first to admit when I decided to do it, I was kind of like, all right, I mean, it'll be fun to go through Twin Peaks. I'm not sure what we're gonna get out of David Lynch in terms of da da da, but he is the gift that keeps on giving. Oh my god, all right, he is. He He really was more fascinating than I ever thought
he was. And I thought he was fascinating, but he really is one of the most really one of the most genuine people I think we've ever dived in to on cinemat Well, you know what he is.
The more I think about it, he's somebody who mastered the form and function of a normal person. But this filmmaking, there's this is not a normal person. No no, no, no no no, like be that normal and be this genius when the putting the cameras on.
He's somebody. He's the person who is able to really like separate his his kind of like you know, human being side and his artistic side and kind of in a weird way keep them separate.
But also they're able to interact, you know.
What I mean, Yes, because because he's not a wacky, weird person when you talk to him, but he is the darkest thoughts, yes, the darkest ideas and ideas that are not that that don't follow human logic. I mean, we watched this, you know, we watched that one clip of of of Lost Highway, uh last time, and I mean just how chilling and bizarre, and I mean that's postmodernism in a box. If you ask me right there, what.
Was the gentleman's name with the face?
Uh?
The the actor or the or the the actor is Robert Blake? I mean a lot playing the fucking playing the man of mystery who calls who's at your house? Mystery man who's at your house? When you call your house, even though he's standing right in front of your off site smiling, and they both and then he laughs at you on the phone and in front of you. I mean that's yeah, It's almost like Lynch needs to have that separation.
This is it.
Okay, here we go. You're at a party, you go over to the bar, you get a drink, and you're just minding your own business and them here's where it kicks in. Then a man walks in. This walks in to the room where you are and you're just minding your own business. And he comes in and he talks to you, and then he says, I'm at your house.
Right now.
Wow.
And then he gives you the phone. You call home and he answers the phone. The theory is right in front of you, but he's in front of you.
What do you do?
I get a milkshake? Oh, I'm just gonna you know what it's all said and done as amazing as Twin Peaks is. And the riot's taking us on. That's what I'm gonna remember, is him spending no less than fifteen minutes describing the three times in his life that he's had the perfect milkshake.
Yes, seriously, I mean that's that's why it was like, I mean that again, the first thing I was looking, I was just looking for for interviews, for tidbits of information that first week, and there it is.
I mean, I'm sorry, and it was just the greatest thing. If you're not listening or if you're not hip to it what we're doing with Twin Peaks, your straight bitch, that's the only conclusion you can reach because this is this is the heart of what storytelling means. You know, wrestler and wrestlers wrestling talks about storytelling. You know, Okay, all right, you want to learn about that. And there are wrestling connections.
You know.
We talked about the course Fandango Tyler Breeze segments they did, yep, mimicking Twin Peaks on Rock. I mean in a weird way.
You know, that does qualify Twin Peaks the whole fucking thing. So maybe someday we'll come back to it. Absolutely, but this will be the end of the you know, our next it will be our last portion of the David Lynch tribute with the last two episodes of the season one of Twin Peaks, and you know, will wrap it up. It's gonna leave You're not gonna be satisfied. I'll tell you that.
It's a different kind of journey.
Yeah, it's it's uh, it's gonna wrap it up, and it's it and only the way you can, honestly, because because we're the the it's gonna be kind of it's it's gonna be interesting, how really the the the end of of and it's fitting too, and I was hoping it would kind of end up being like this and at the end of David Lynch's life kind of coincides again with with Twin Peaks towards the very end. And so it's a it's a nice uh, it's a nice way to close out under the state that continues cooking
on a level few other podcasts operate at. You already knew that, and it's available to ep and above. By the way, I gotta tell you something actually in regards to in regard to how much the scene of thing impacted me, I didn't even tell you this yet today this morning, all right, I was like, I actually was like I need more yes, I need more, And I actually decided, well, the only thing I can really like, it's not like fucking I can't throw on the Today
Show and they're gonna be fucking talking about that. She knows me talking about it and legitimate. So I said, you know what, I'm gonna fucking throw on that press
conference they always had. They always did the fucking post and I'm fucking watching Triple H and he's just talking about But I was like, I needed I needed extra, I needed something else because because I because I can't wait until Tuesday morning to see what John Cena is until, like, you know, see what is on on YouTube that John Cena.
Said, and then you saw he just came out and picked the mic up and dropped it and left. I didn't even get that far, actually, honestly, I had to that. I was watching Triple H talk about it and and whatever, and it was like, I haven't had that need in a long time, long time. So that's saying something absolutely. Boss Index is humming. We'll see if the returns kicking, but yeah, that's definitely a special moment that you want
to experience with us there. And I do wonder, you know, as we've talked about how part of me hopes he comes out with his nWo shirt, like, yeah, oh, he's got to change the gear up somehow, you would think, I really hope.
So if they don't, If they don't, if they go fucking to Tonk on this ship and don't change him at all, I'm gonna be pissed.
Wow. Yeah, the games they get now, the games got to change it. They got to change it. Oh. We've talked, you know a lot about how the state of Sina's hair resembles the state of David Lynch's hair, Yes, in so many ways, and how poetic it really is, and true, I do wonder before we get back to the Slammys, how David Lynch would think about the John Cena Hill turn, how he would react to the turn of events we saw in Toronto this past weekend.
You know, I was sitting at my home, all right, I want you to so, I'm at my home. I'm sitting in a brown leather chair, all right, brown leather chair. It's still I hate to say it, it smells a little bit like cigarettes. It's my smoking chair. I've used it for about fifteen years. I bought it fifteen years ago. At a used furniture shop down on Santa Monica Boulevard. I bought it on a Tuesday at about three two forty six pm, and I brought it home and I put it and it's been in the same spot. I've
moved furniture in the room around the chair. The chair has been in the same spot. It is my TV chair. And I said, you know what, I'm going to put on? Wrestling. I don't watch wrestling. I don't watch wrestling. I don't care for it, but I do find it to be fascinating. Yes, I enjoy all art forms. So I picked up the remote. I held it in my left hand. With my right hand, I pressed power and I put on the television and I said, okay, I've got to stream this. And I
called my daughter. I said, Jennifer, how do I stream WrestleMania? And she said, Dad, I don't know. I said, okay, and I hung up. Then I called somebody else. I called Kyle McLachlan. I said, Kyle, how do I watch wrestling? And he said, David, you gotta get Peacock. I said, Kyle, I don't like birds in the house. He said, no, you gotta buy the app. I said, okay, and he came over and he helped me buy the app Peacock and I put on the wrestling and I watched this
guy John SENA. Wow, I gotta tell you, John SENA, this guy wears wears gene shorts. And now I haven't seen gene shorts in years. I don't even know how you do gene shorts.
I said, there he is.
He's there, and he's in the rings, and he wins. He wins in the giant dome cage that they have. I mean, wow, what a cage. You've never seen a cage like this before. It's brilliant, it's beautiful, sleek and black. It's just amazing.
It has it has these amazing compartments. And inside this is what makes it unbelievable.
Inside the cage are tiny compartments, little apartments right for the wrestlers to stay in until they get called out, so they don't wrestle right away. They sit in their little compartment and they watch. You see, it's like a movie. You're what they're watching.
It's as if they're unleashing Wolverine one at a time before they participate.
John Cena wins and it looks like a big celebration. Everybody's happy. Outcomes Codin's Road, the son of somebody, I don't know who he's a son of, preferring to his dad. He was great about his dad. I'm sure that his dad was a great, great guy to have a son like this man. And he comes out and he gets in the ring. Two men in the ring, one in George, one in a beautiful suit, one wearing a suit, one wearing jean shorts, one one with bleach blonde hair, one with skin like Robert Blake in Lost.
Highway, and the one with the Robert Blake skin is now going to match the other guy for his belt. He says he's going to he's going to match up with the champion.
And then the cage. The cage at this point is gone. It vanishes. You wouldn't believe it if you saw it that vanishes. I didn't see it go anywhere. And then down comes Dwayne Johnson, movie star. I don't know what he has to do with the wrestling people, but there.
He is, to say nothing of Travis Scott. And then.
Dwayne and John Cena they look at each other, and John Cena it's like it's like he was in a trance, the most exciting trance I've ever seen. I've seen people in trances, but this was something beyond.
He had the Frank Silva look in his eyes. He looked he looked like Frank Silva as Bob Scary and I said, wow wow. And then he kicked the champion in the nutsack. He fucked him up, and you could tell the people that was the last thing they expected. People didn't know it was going to happen.
This was the most exciting thing I've seen on television in twenty five years.
I had eighteen cigarettes during the whole time. Who and a piece of cherry you to find, no doubt. David Lynch takes in see the successor to his pompadour. Turning on Cody Rhoads available for your Patreon dollar.
I turned to Kyle. I said, Kyle, that John Cena. He's got my hair. He's stealing my hair. Now he's got my attention. I've got more of it. I've got more of it. Right, have a great day, I said, you know, Kyle, thank you for getting me peacock. I hope you have a beautiful night. It's good to see you. Please don't eat in my house.
Get a lapsed fan wrestling podcast.
He's a fan wrestling podcast with Jack and Jo.
Yeah, I mean personally, to watch the evolution of the David Lynch imitation under the cinemat has been one of the great privileges of my life and I hope you're sharing with us in it. Over at patreon dot com slash the Lapsed Fan. Of course, if you're headed to Mania, or if you're headed to any of the Road to WrestleMania events, you gotta wear lab Schwag Pro Wrestling T's dot com Slash the Lapsed Fan for the full suite of our off the top of our head T shirt creations.
Yes, even when we do have a Twin Peaks line, yes, currently out there, so you can get your your Lapsed Peaks, your Lapsed Peaks, you can get your what we.
Do what we do took off. What we do it took off. It's still the fucking greatest thing. Oh my god, What We dowd continues. That was last year and so much more. Of course, the Chopped tea store for your higher end apparel needs like like hoodies and pants and fanny packs and hats and wonderful things all there for you in your consumption cameo. If you want to get in touch with any of the rogues gallery of lapsed characters, Yes, and put them to use. Maybe there's a maybe there's
a work. Yes, maybe there's an Easter message or a Saint Patrick's Day message you'd like to have delivered by one of the lapsed characters or something like that. No shortage of ways to elevate your lapsed experience and contribute to the pot that makes this this all possible. Do you know there is a guy named Patrick Sower who once wrote the wrestling album An Oral History. Boss. Oh no, we are definitely the beneficiaries of such Oh my god, it begins and shout out to him. He published it
just last year as a matter of fact. Why because apparently it landed with enough cultural boom that it warranted a look back.
It is.
It is a curious piece of pop culture. Ethemera like, even if you don't care about wrestling, if you see this thing, what's the story here? I'm sure I'm sure you do. On November thirtieth, nineteen eighty five, the piece begins one of the most original, influential, and inconsequential albums and Rock and Roll History debuted at number one hundred and seventy four Oh my God on the Billboard Top
two hundred chart. The record would scratch, claw and eye gouge its way to number eighty four, where it remained for two weeks in January nineteen eighty six before crashing back down on the mat. Wow. But that is not where the wrestling and vinyl connection began. The WWF was, for all intents and purposes late to this particular party we've talked about in forums like the Lapsed Funk how
there was a pretty robust industry already in Japan. It's true Builton around having at least as far as we can see, the foreign American wrestlers do record albums such as Terry Funk, Hulk Hogan of course, echibanus Hogen Son. Hogan Son is number one soon Panson, I mean, I mean he under that from paying off the Pacific that ended up being the anthem of the whole damn thing
for Hulkogen in Japan. Abdul the Butcher did a record as well when he was a huge superstar in Japanese pro wrestling and all over endorsements and advertisements and television commercials and things like that. Here in the States, there were a couple of record companies that had given it a shot before the wrestling album was minted and came out, not the least of which was a label called Rhino Records, which made its bones doing reissues of Monkeys albums. The Monkeys,
I think a run around. I didn't. I didn't know that. Actually, the Monkeys had kind of a resurgence in the eighties. They they were like the rebroadcast the television show The Monkeys, which is basically the Beatles, Right, that's what we're supposed to be thinking they are like, right, So there's like a reissue of them that put this Rhino Records label on the public consciousness. We mentioned Novelty Records. Have you heard of Damien Demento. You've heard of Damian Demento. I
know you've heard of him, But doctor Demento. Do you know what that is? Yes, you tell the people. I don't really know too much. I've heard him. I don't really know too much about him. I honestly, I i've heard him. I only know him because the Simpsons. Actually, oh really, I knew he was a radio personality, but he's uh. He's mentioned on The Simpsons a couple of times that I remember he gave weird Al his break. He's a guy who was based Okay, yeah, all right.
He was like the first DJ to put out albums that were like not music. They were just like like novelties, right like these like you know, like the Monster Mash kind of stuff.
You know.
Yeah, and uh yeah. He had a show called the Doctor Demento Show in the seventies and it was a place you could listen to crazy ass songs. You know that he would that he would surface and give give credence to and in the wrestling album. As I'm reading about, it kind of fit into that tradition of albums that were produced not for artistic merit, but just what if we did this? And before that, there is also a little cottage industry of doing this with celebrities who weren't
necessarily who couldn't necessarily carry a tune. But you know, you put him in the you put him in there with contract musicians for an afternoon and they could just talk, you know, the Terry Funk. He's not singing on that thing. He just rock and roll. He's just reading off a piece of paper. Yeah, and it'll it might sell. And early to this particular game was Jesse The Body of Ventura. Mmm, sure, one of many hours. Yeah, we've we've heard him and
he did a rock album as well. Did you did you pull this one out during I did for a made for TV biography? No, no, I pulled it out for I think it was Running Man, Running Man. We did Running Man.
I think that's when I'm pretty sure it was the last Jesse movie that we did.
And here we are in March eighty six. He's starting to uh make Vince very uncomfortable with the predator opportunity. Mm hmm you know, oh yeah, for sure, that's starting to bubble up, just as the body becomes hey, I
got my union. Yeah, because this is a weeks out from the famed WrestleMania Too thing where all the scuttle butt was the guys were going to set out WrestleMania to get a union done, with Jesse running point and a hulk stooged to the effort out to Vince, and Vince was able to neutralize it before it ever took shape.
And so Jesse is starting to spread his wings already after becoming oh yes, a national household name as the color commentator on Saturday Night's Main Event, which, as we covered a few weeks ago, started in May of nineteen eighty five. But he got a taste of and I'm sure had an ax to grind around WWF, basically copying you know. He had a version where he got all the money Jesse the Body of Ventura, the Body Rules.
It was called Slash Showdown with Mister V. It came out in nineteen eighty four and it had two tracks on it had the Body Rules and Showdown with Mister V and written and produced by Mark O'Ryan. Here is kind of a progenitor, a forerunner of what the wrestling album would become, with a key voice on the wrestling album himself, Jesse Ventura. He had it. Turns out he already had his reps in of course, a form of tracks like this one Body Rules Power. I got speech his body every.
Ring, if.
If if my RepA when I wrestled. I got the head, I got the boos, I got the.
Raves to get you want trouble, you be sorry.
We body.
I got the buyer. I got the buyer.
Suddenly doesn't seem like it came so far out of left field. The wrestling album No not at All, the Body Rules, things like this had already been created. And in the same year that WWF got Wrestling Album on the shelves, the aforementioned Rhino Records came out with a
compilation called Wrestling Rocks. Really Yes, this is just a full track list of songs recorded by wrestlers independent of WWF's involvement, such as Pencil Net Geek by Fred Blassie, which became which was already as calling card, and the issuance of this song on vinyl just further cemented that. It's where you might hear a re issuance of the NRBQ song Captain Lou Captain Lou Alban which I know makes you very happy. Yeah, yeah, I could do without
that one forever. That's a lot on that. When we did the Colosseum home video on Captain Lou as part of the Coloseum collection, Captain Captain Pooh Captain Pooh Albana, Fred Blassie, King of Men, Exotic Exotic Adrian Street does a track on the album called Imagine What I Could Do to You? Some of these pre existed How about Boogie woogie Man, Jimmy Valliant bringing you son of a Gypsy Man? Boss, how about not not a fan? No, but here's the taste of what some of those tracks
sounded like. Again, four runners to the wrestling album. Here's Freddy Blassie.
Yeah.
When I was a kid, life was going swell until something happened blew everything the hell. That night my daddy stumbled in all Dale and weak set a woman up the block just gave birth to a geek.
Mom said, sell it to the circus.
What the heck?
Dad said, Nope, this one's a pencil nag.
And if there's one thing lower than a sideshow freak, it's a gritty, scum sucking pencil nag.
Geek.
Why did that tickle you? The rhyming I don't know this. The rhyming is is hysterically stupid. We go from kind of joyous to do you want to hear Jerry Lawler try to say, m.
No, you're looking for growing the right way. You're looking for trouble. You write nothing. I was wont to stand enough.
I'll you back. It was agreed, Well.
Mess around with.
Trouble by Jerry the King Lawler. Is that what it's called yes you're looking as your teenagers daughter with me with me? Yeah, right exactly. No no, no wrestling, no, no, no no. We got echoes of this, didn't we During the attitude I well remember they would come out with these like bootleg wrestling albums, like these fake like knockoff
versions of the WWF entrance themes and such. Yes, yes, this would follow wrestling around for years because it sold copies in eighty four and eighty five apparently, So that's kind of the uh, that's kind of the conditions. I find it kind of wild that there was these precursors to the wrestling album, Like WWF wasn't taking a leap of faith here and putting this album out. It was like,
there's already a precedent for this kind of thing. Yeah, I mean, I guess that is true, that it's kind of already out there and that, But that's more Vince than like creativity. You know. Vince is much more motivated by like, wait a minute, somebody else is making money in this business, Like I can do it four times better. We beat them, right, deacintly, we got to take care of that shit. Not my idea, but I can I'm offended by somebody you know doing it instead of me.
So let's get further oriented here. Let's turn to the York Daily Record. If we can and what this article is going to do. We'll get a couple here. Let me try to get myself properly oriented. This is going to get us oriented with you know, how WWF is being covered at this point in time and some of the first mentions of what would become the Wrestling Album. We want to know what was going on in music at the time as well as what was going on
at WWF at the time. Sure, so we're going to present the Boss with several exhibits to share with you on this front. Right, Let's see if I can get the right one here. Bere with me. I'm gonna send you a few and then I tell you which one is to look for. Where is it coming in? It's coming in hot No? Is it coming in email? Okay? Yes, So let's see what we can what we can learn from the Boss here. All right, you're gonna be you're gonna be taking a look at the article York Daily Record, Monday,
December thirtieth, nineteen eighty five. Let me see here is this article in the York Daily Record out of York, PA. And this is I thought kind of a helpful little compendium, including I mentioned of the wrestling album for what's happening in the music scene right around the time the wrestling album hit storage shelves? What was hot? What was not? Boss? All right? Look who ruled? Oh my god, so we're talking eighty which what was the date again? Yeah? This
is December thirtieth, nineteen eighty five, on Monday. He's the living section with us be in the top right hand corner. Let's see here by Lynn Margolis. Ah, there it is all right. I ruled, The Boss ruled at that's right. That's what was happening in music area.
Music scene was dominated by Springsteen's Born in the USA. The public clamored for Phil Collins, begged for Brian Adams, and went crazy for wrestlers. But when the records, But when record stores and radio stations were asked what buyers and listeners requested most during nineteen eighty five, their response was nearly unanimous. Bruce Springsteen. The Boss Is Born in
the USA. LP just finished its eightieth week on Billboard Magazine's Top ten album list and four out of five local records to contacted mentioned it as the top selling album of the year.
Yeah, Bruce Springsteen sold really well for us this year.
Aha, said Walt, said Walt piet trom store manager of the West Manchester Mall.
WEE three record shop. That's catchy.
The same was true at the Music Merchant in Queensgate Shopping Center, at the Listening Booth in York Mall, and at Camelot Music also in the West Manchester Mall. Billboards year end issue released this week says Springsteen and his Eastreet Band had both the hottest selling album and the most popular concert tour in nineteen eighty five. Rolling Stone also puts Born in the USA at the at the top of its top one hundred album chart for nineteen
eighty five. Rising Lean WYCRFM program director Keith Allen reported Springsteen was not a top requested artist at ninety eight YCR this year. None of his songs were top request songs for this year. Allen said, although the New Jersey Rocket had five singles on the charts during nineteen eighty five, I love that we need to find a way to just take Springsteen down or not.
Well, yeah, we can't, all right, just celebrate him exclusively.
We have to be objective about it, of course. However, Springsteen had two songs in the top ten list of requests at Starview ninety two WHTFFM. Glory Days is third on that station's list of top ten songs for eighty five,
and Trapped is number five. According to program director Mike Onadeco, this stat station's list of the top ten most requested songs in nineteen eighty five is as follows, Money for Nothing, Dire Straits from Brothers in Arms, If You Love some Buddy, Set Them Free, Sting from the Dream of the Blue Turtles, Glory Days, Springsteen from Born in the USA, Little by Little, Robert Plant from Shaken and Stirred, Trapped Springsteen USA for
Africa album That Was Yesterday, Foreigner from Agent Provocateur, Cannonball, super Tramp from Brother Where You Bound? Theme from the TV series Miami Vice. Wow, That's spectacular.
It is.
Jan Hammer from the Miami Vice. Not to be confused with Van Hammer from the Miami Vice soundtrack. Small Town, Small Town, Small Town, John Cougar, Mellencamp from Scarecrow and Power of Love, Huey Lewis and The News from sports. Most of the record shops mentioned several of these same titles and artists when listing this year's top sellers. Having to pick up the phone and call a record store in a mall, O, my god, I figure out what was selling spectacular Looking at the dumb ass Spotify charts.
Yep, yep.
Patron of We three said Money for Nothing was a big seller, along with Madonna's Into the Groove extended play. Madonna sold well all through the year. Patron reported, great insight. Oh yeah, I'll tell you Madonna was fantastic. Just one of the you know I I I keep keep track of, you know, the numbers and the Madonna just just blew them all away.
I keep track of the numbers. I don't doubt it. Amazingly, he was the only source ioped here. Amazingly, he was the only source contacted for this story. It says that no, I wish more, I wish it stopped there. I wish it just amazingly.
He was the only source contacted for this story to mention the artists who wound up first on Billboard's list of the top pop artists for nineteen eighty five. Kelly Rhodes, record manager at The Listening Booth said the store's biggest selling singles included besides Money for Nothing, Hearts Never, Mellencamp's Small Town Former Eagle, Glen Fries You Belong to the City, and Miami Vice Lionel Richie's Say You Say Me from
the movie White Knights, and a variety of others. Albums and demand of the York Mall store included Tears for Fears, songs from So Cheers for Fears, songs from The Biz, No Big Chair, the Miami Vice soundtrack, LP Brian Adams, Reckless, Motley Cruz, Theater of Pam. That's funny. Hey, that's funny. No, because what's his name from Motley Crue? Wasn't he Sidney Pam Anderson? But not here, not in eighty five, that's true. Yeah,
it was in the nineties. Yeah right, Indeed, that's fucking funny. Yes, that's really funny, zz Tops, Eliminator, and several heavy metal titles. Stephanie Motzo Ball, Soup manager of Camp Kamala Music West Manchester Mall stores, said Reckless in Phil Collins No Jacket Required were very popular this year.
Since No Jacket is doing so well face value. An earlier Collins album has picked up again, right, Miss Mazzo said, mister Mister is really taking off, and so is Eddie Murphy. To just pick up, ma'am, try to do an interview, she said, referring to the albums Welcome to the Real World and how could it be respectively, added Miss Motso, the Fat Boys sell really well. It's amazing.
Wow.
The three member rap band has recorded two LP's Fat Boys and the Fat Boys are back and they're featured in a top drawing rap movie, Crush Groove. Soundtracks from the movies Saint Elmo's Fire and The Big Chill have also been popular, Miss Motso, said Tom Baum, manager of the Music Merchant, said Melancamp's recent appearance in Hershey boosted his sales locally. He also named releases by Brian Adams, Tears for Fears, Zz, Top Dire Straits, Heart, Glen Fry,
and Phil Collins as the year's heaviest sellers. I also heard that King Kong Bundy was one of the year's heaviest sellers, as was Peter. But the biggest surprise of the year for Baum, miss Matso and other record dealers was the Christmas season success of the wrestling album.
Imagine getting the wrestling album under the tree.
I mean I would have I would have I would have fucking blown you know, I would have fucking creamed my pants if that happened.
Wow, I mean it just would have been like this wrestling thing. Yeah, it's like you couldn't buy You couldn't be a wrestling fan before this and buy shit like that to have. I couldn't have action figures.
I mean, no, can you imagine, like, like, you know, if you were a kid in the seventies watching you know, MSG shows, like you wouldn't No, no, you you like you could dream of this ship. Yeah, you know you dream of this ship.
Stuff came into existence after huole Caamania, you know, was formed so that those earliest hulkamaniacs didn't have a million pieces of you know, swat to own. Not at all. Fucking crazy wrestling album The Christmas of eighty five.
Yep, a conglomeration of sounds from everybody who is anybody in the wrestling arena. The MTV video hit prompting sales of the album is loosely based on the tune Land of a Thousand Dances, said Patron. The wrestling album was our biggest holiday seller, our biggest holiday seller. That's crazy.
And then it continues alonely do you have to go backwards one not to get the right clip picks up with not music? Oh yeah, I gotta yeah, I say it's gonna zoom into it.
Uh.
He reported seeing a lot of parents buying the six ninety nine LP for their kids, adding now we sold out on almost every and almost we saw that.
Hold on, he just can I start over again? We sold out of it almost every week, yeah, laughing. Petron noted that the album was almost universally panned, and he recalled Billboard Magazine's comment as sing as they're they're pretty good wrestlers, you know, and that's that's fucking that's a hoot. That's a fun. Just to be clear, you own a record store, right, that's I do.
I do.
I own a record store that but you know I do. I do read Billboard magazine. You're laughing at wrestling.
I like to well, absolutely listen. I like to uh, I like to listen. I'm a I'm a music specialist when first and foremost so you know, I'm a I You know this is this is not only my job, but my passion.
I appreciate your tone either. I mean, of the things I sell are real, aren't they? I mean, listen, I'm I'm selling. I sell real albums.
I don't.
I don't, you know, put on fake fights. So let's let's just let's cool. The thrust is there, right, thrust?
Oh?
I can't believe you could be alive at a time when like this kind of an article is obliged to include the wrestling album. Like they didn't want to put that in there, but they had to.
Of course they have to. You know, when it when it's when it when it kind of comes out of nowhere, you know that that's it's huge.
And to think of it competing with Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, and Van Halen just too much for me.
A bizarre belong in that company. Now there they were yep, yep, all because of a fucking fad every year.
Guys back then, especially guys like George Steele and stuff, who knew what it was like a decade before this. They are now rock stars. It's like the damnedest thing. They're doing the same thing they've been doing, you know, to pact arenas, but not to national celebrity like that.
Right, and and right, and they're exactly and and they're and they're right. They have an album like what they they're on a nationally released album. Of the album's continued success, Miss Matso said, added this.
One I would definitely call amazing. She's talking about the wrestling album. Yes, oh my god, she's a pipstart through huh.
Uh.
You know, I'm I believe in irony. You didn't say that. I love motifylomb You know, I just I think that if you view the world with an ironic lens, it kind of like, you know, things make more sense that way. You know. I believe in irony and ironic symbolism. Yeah, I believe in irony, but ironically, I don't believe in irony my clothes. What I do believe in, however, is the blurring of high and low culture.
You know, see, where I like to kind of focus my energy is where lines are blurred. You know, Oh my god, I don't like being on one side or the other. I like this kind of like where they blur, and wrestling is it kind of obliterates the line between high and low art.
It's like one big blur, hyper theatrical, you know, it's like, right, it's think of the pastiche entertainment. But at the same time it's athletic. Yet it's like watching a live action cartoon. It's like an what it's like an Holian of camp. It's just a layer upon layer of pastiche. Do you see I mean, like, if you look up pastiche in a dictionary, they're going to show a wrestling ring. Just think about this. It's wrestlers pretending to not be fighters,
but pretending to be musicians. Who I mean, but but well, but it's their characters. It's wrestlers pretending to be characters who are pretending to be musicians.
Think about that. These are these are men who are pretending to be wrestlers. Okay, and it's not like the men are the musicians. It's the characters who are the rock stars.
Like whoa, I mean, Budrillard teaches us that, I mean, wrestling is already a syml lacrum. You know, I believe you know I am. I consider myself to be a practicing postmodernist. Well sounds like practicing pediatrist or something, But it sounds like a like a clinical practicing postmodernist. You know, I have a doctorate in post modernity. So I am
a doctor of post I'm a doctor postmodernist postmodernomics. But I ask you, if wrestling is simulation of a fight, doesn't this become a simulation of a simulation this album? I mean, if what they do is simulating a you know, a sporting athletic endeavor, you know, here the simulation is simulating something else. The real is long gone. All that's left are layers of performance. I mean, what we're looking at this wrestling album is the dawn of artificial intelligence.
What the fan wrestling podcast He's lapsed fan wrestling podcast.
With Jack and car and.
It's it's artificiality creating its own thing, Like like, these are not real people, they're characters and they're creating an album.
What is it?
What does it mean when someone pretending to be someone who's pretending to be someone creates something that doesn't exist? The where does it end? Like if from here? What if this album like spawned a country? What is this country? Like the wrestling album Flag is put down in a fictional land and from there a fictional population. Does it become real or does it just become or does it all the mirrors of collapsing identities? Are we exactly like? Where? What is the identity we seek?
Right?
That's the question the wrestling album. Let me write, I'm writing that down.
What is.
The identity we seek? That is the question presented by the wrestling album?
Is it not?
That?
Is it?
Are you done? Nope?
At Downtown Record Company, one Market Way West, the biggest selling LP this year has been Freddie Jackson's rock Meet Tonight Wow. The single of the same title is ranked number one on Billboard's chart of the Top Black Singles for nineteen eighty five. We Are the World both the album and single versions. The Bandwagon hunger relief song by artists joined together as USA for Africa, also sold well
at the store, according to manager Patty Grobe. None of the other store managers mentioned that song's early nineteen eighty five success, but Starview ninety two's on Deaco said Live Aid ranked with Springsteen's shows as the top concerts of the year. Billboard names Live Aid as the fourth largest grossing concert of the year, while listing seventeen Springsteen concerts among the top one hundred money making gigs in nineteen
eighty five. Since area radio stations base play lists partially on record store sales, and record sales are based partially on radio airplay. It's hard to determine which influences the other. More, Patron said his store sells a lot of top forty tunes as well as an above average amount of black oriented heavy metal music. Top ten very closely parallels to national top ten.
He noted.
He did mention a few deviations, mainly requests for albums by groups popular in local night spots. Those included three LPs by Maryland based Kicks and two releases an album and an LP an EP rather by The Sharks, a Lancaster band. Local record business pros neglected mentioned neglected mention of one of the Billboard's top pop duos, Wham, who recorded two of the magazine's top three pop singles for
nineteen eighty five. That feat was equalled only by two other artists in the last thirty years, Elvis Presley and the Beatles. Nor did programmers or dealers mention another hot pair Hollid Oats or Tina Turner or Prince And what of last year's hottest artists? Remember Cindy Lauper and Michael Jackson, who apparently they're yesterday's news no longer favored buy record store customers and radio station listeners here. But that's the way the record spin at least in nineteen eighty five.
Wow, what a time.
So think about that, Like, ironically, ironically, the wrestling album is making more news than Cindy Lauper. Absolutely, that's hilarious. And it's her machine behind it. I mean who produced it, exactly, Dave Wolf Exactly, Dave Wolfe. He always comes back to Dave Wolf. The guy Roddy Piper body slammed after breaking
the record over Abano's head in Madison Square Garden. The cops get involved, and Dave Wolf was Cidi Lauper's manager and boyfriend who is a pretty big wrestling fan who had gone to the garden throughout his life and gone to shows with his parents and stuff. And when he gets when he gets in the soup, all of a sudden he's suggesting angles bringing in the biggest pop star in the country. And yeah, he starts to get a little more leeway to suggest more projects, including the wrestling album.
So let's return here to this after kind of to set the table for us oral history piece that lays out the history of the Wrestling album by Patrick Sour big tip of the cap because he documents a lot of stuff and runs down a lot of things that no one would ever think to ask about this this album.
So kudo's there. So Dave Wolf said, my dad was a wrestling fan back in the days of Bruno and Haystacks Calhoun. Wow, he got me into a young He got me into a young six or seven in high school. He took me to a match in Stamford, Connecticut, where they set up a ring in the football field. I was in seventh heaven. Once I started to understand the theater of it, wrestling became a passion of mine.
Of course.
Cyndi Lauper then releases her debut album She's So Unusual in nineteen and eighty three, and we know that girls just want to have fun. Video prominently featured leuel Bano, who she met on an airplane to Puerto Rico. As we've talked about in several forums, including the Colisseum video on luell Bano. So that puts her squarely into the wrestling world. That's kind of the first dipping of the
towel in the water. Yeah, and then Dave Wolf brings Cindy Laupper to Lenny Petsy, who was an executive producer of the Wrestling album as well as Cindy Lappers She's so unusual and signed her to Portrait Records out of a band she was in called Blue Angel, and they really kind of make her a singles star in the
wrestling parlance. Interesting, and they wanted more of the young male demographic buying her record, so they cooked up the storyline with Cindy Lapper owing Captain Lleue Albano record royalty. And to figure all this out, Wendy Rector, of course, being represented as the woman of the eighties by Cindy Lapper, takes on the fabulous Mula who was Loue Albano's charge slash yeah, the bad girl in the situation and let
me get into it. The piece includes an interview with the drummer on the Wrestling album, a guy by the name of Jim Browler who had quite a career across top ten Billboard singles. Like everyone in town, he told the author, I knew Dave Wolf, who was the link between rock and wrestling. He wasn't the only pro wrestling fan around though a lot of us grew up with it. I watched the old guys in w R Channel nine, but nobody talked about wrestling until Dave put it together
with the music. All of a sudden, guys came out of the closet looking around sheepishly until we figured out that a bunch of us were wrestling fans. It was like cocaine. Nobody admits to want to blow until somebody breaks it out and everybody's doing it right want. Everybody fucking wants it, but nobody wants to be the one to suggest it. That's pro wrestling fandom right there, looking at each other like am I in safe company for the big reveal?
Right?
The big reveal? Yep? So yeah, it's Dave Wolf. I mean Cindy Lauper, she likes wrestling, but she's not a fan of it. She's not like a a devote It was really Dave Wolf who ushered her into this world and into this circumstance. So we all know the big angle with Dick Clark in the ring and Madison Square Garden.
Oh yeah, where they broke the record over Lebano's head that was supposed to be presented to City Lauper by Hogan and stuff for such a wonderful career, and in rock and roll, the rock and wrestling connection was born. Wolf Telling, the author of this oral history. I don't recall the exact chronology, but I came up with the idea for the wrestling album. I talked to Lou and Roddy about it. They said, great, make a deal with Vince. I did, and then went to Epic Records and it
came together. I hired all the producers, songwriters, musicians, and picked the wrestlers. Everyone involved was into it. Of course, the participants would include guys like Hillbilly Jim, who's Don't Go Messing with a Country Boy was an anthem and WW for years, Right Boss passed on to the Godwins as well. Yeah, right, Exactly. What's really tough about it is that you know, you don't hear it because they don't have the rights to it. It's a song that
somebody else was able to claim rights to. So when you watch Peacas, we I don't understand, like, how did that happen? I know, how did they lose?
Just that they well, well not only that they're there, are they're well they also don't have uh eat them cakes or whatever the fuck they're Oh, that's true. Yes, they don't have that in case we grab them cakes right right, Like, you know, I don't understand how they can own the album but not own these songs.
Every song, Yeah, I mean it's I'm sure there was different deals cut with every songwriter and guest vocalists and whoever. You know, in some cases the song rights were disputed. In some cases perhaps it was unquestioned that WWF had dominion over them. They're still I mean, I'm sure that there's probably legal ship up the wazoo. But like you'd think you'd think that they would want to own all their ship. Yeah, you think that that would have been a thing over the course of the years that Vince
would have wanted to do. Probably happened to They thought they had the rights in their primitive legal department at the time, and then somebody. It just took someone to contest it and then I call fuck it, you know. So, I mean, I don't know that again, it just seems weird, like why not you know, own that shit. I don't know, it just seems weird. We'll get more color as we go. Dave Wolf saying, Vince Love the basic concept, so he gave me free reign, but we also collaborated. He sat
down and pointed out things that should be tweaked. In the early days we had a great working relationship. It didn't last. Everything changes with that guy, but while making the wrestling album, we had fantastic rapport. It's a novelty album. Wolf continued, But novelty can't be done right if it isn't treated with respect. If the idea is better than the execution, then you have nothing. I couldn't do things, halp hazardly. I was committed down to the last detail.
Silliness requires serious thought beforehand to flourish. No Dave Wolf coming with the philosophy. Huh oh yeah, absolute silliness requires serious thought beforehand to flourish. I think I know a podcast that serves as proof of concept there, huh right? Or is they Jimmy Hard as well? And he's an asset,
I mean, you know with the Gentries. He had been a rock musician for decades and it was actually had a hit song in the sixties before even getting involved as a professional wrestling manager in the Memphis territory, which being a Memphis native and making his name in music city.
You know, knew quite a bit about it and had done all kinds of music on Memphis wrestling television before ever coming to WWF, so he was perfectly positioned to help we see him actually perform a live concert, don't we, Boss at the Slammies.
Hmm?
Indeed, heart putting it down for us. So he what a weird? What a weird? I mean, because you know they're not singing live? Well do you mean they're live singing? You mean? Yeah, yeah, it was broadcast live on MTV from the Uh well that that I believe.
But you know that they weren't actually singing, right, it looks like it, I mean, it suddenly becomes like a very polished sound.
We gotta remember before Millie Vanilli, people weren't as people were much more credulous, you know, people weren't as weren't as good at listening for the difference. That kind of fascinates me actually, like a time in America where people actually couldn't appreciate whether you were lip syncing or not, whereas now it's like there's never any doubt. So Dave Wolf, one of the driving forces is that I wanted every
wrestler to have their own walk in theme music. Before the wrestling album, it was always Eye of the Tiger or something like that. Why not give these guys their own unique songs. I didn't audition anyone. I went with my gut feeling. Roddy was interesting because he was my friend, but I wasn't entirely sure he could handle it. I knew he would get uptight if it wasn't going well, so he'd feel real, he'd feel insecure, and we wouldn't get authentic Roddy Piper. The song was perfect for him
and he nailed it. Funny thing the song is actually what's it actually called boss? The song he does on the album, it's called for Everybody. Oh, it was inspired by the real song called for Nobody, Fuck Everybody, Fuck Fuck Everybody, which is a song by Mike Angelo and the Idols. That's amazing that had come around this point in time. So yeah, there's a lot of that on the wrestling album. You know, the Land of a Thousand Dances, you know, has a progenitor. It has a version of
it from whatever it was Swing days. We'll get to it, but on the record, it's for Everybody, Wolf says the way he sang it, it sounds like the original version. Everybody got the point, he says. We wrote some songs. Other guys picked classics, like means gen Oakerland who covered two Dy Fruity okraland could really sing. So could Mouth of the South, who did Eat Your Heart out. Rick Springfield, you know, said this was the thing.
I never I never. I always wondered why tooty Fruity was his song. I never understood where the connection was because I remember him coming down in more you know, mean Gene coming down in more recent years, like since like WW closed, and they'd introduce him and he had come down to touty Fruity.
I'm like, I don't get it, right, Why, what the fuck is this song all about? For him?
Right?
I had no idea. I had no idea if this was it. It's it where it comes from. There's a lot of that with the wrestling album and the first Slam, he said, connects a lot of the pieces of why, Yes, the presentation of these big stars of the rock and wrestling era was such as it was, it did come down to this, Yeah, tooty Fruity Oakland really singing soaking Mouth of the South, who did the song eat your
Heart Out, Rick Springfield, Jimmy Hart. Dave Wolf says had been part of a band called The Gentries, who had a Top five hit Keep On Dancing. He was a real rocker. Nikolai Volkoff was deadly serious about kadamia. He had a somewhat operatic voice, stayed in pitch and could really belt it out. And he also was very serious about diarrhea. Yea, he could belt a lot of things out. He also delch a lot of things out. It's true, yes,
but according to Dave Wolf, it was heartfelt perfect. It's turned to h to Jimmy Art for a quick insight into what he's been up to during this point in time. This is from his book. When I was hired by the WWF, Vince told me he wanted to do music for the company. Wanted me to do music for the company as well as the in ring stuff, which is exactly what I wanted to do. I'd been putting rock and wrestling together since the late seventies when I cut
that song and video for Handsome Jimmy Valliant. So that song, that Jimmy Valliant song, and that Rhino Records thing that compilations was from the seventies and Memphis Hackett's What Wow really started everything, Jimmy Hart says, but the WWF took music, like everything else, to a new level once again. It was the difference between flying first class and riding four
to a car in Memphis. Cindy Lauper, the pop star who had hits with girls Just Want to Have Fun and True Colors, brought the WWF rock and roll credibility. A huge fan of Captain Leewell Banel, one of Vince's wrestlers and managers, Lauper got Vince to let her use lou in a video. One thing led to another, and before you knew it, the WWF was doing promotion with MTV Rock and Wrestling. As I already knew, messed together perfectly. Cindy was managed by her boyfriend Dave wolf and he
was friends with Dick Clark. I think they all approached Vince with the idea of marrying her stuff with the w w F, and eventually a storyline was created that would get her involved in the first WrestleMania. Later, Dave Wolfe decided time was right to do a wrestling album. M he approached me, Jimmy, I know that you sing. Have you got a song for it? Yeah? I said, I've got a song called Eat Your Heart Out. Rick Springfield Springfield was one of the hottest crossover stars of
the early eighties. He had a hit record with Jesse's Girl and a starring role in the soap opera General Hospital. I didn't know Rick Springfield was on General Hospital. I didn't know that either. Anyway, that record, which was called, appropriately enough, the Wrestling Album, was pretty bizarre, even by w w F standards. Jimmy Hart right, Captain Lou Albano did a track on the history of wrestling means You Oakerland, one of our announcers, performed Tudy Fruity, the old Little
Richard hit, Nikolai Volkoff sang Kairamia. Rick Deringer also featured on one tune. So there was some solid music on there. It's been re released a couple of times and it's still available. Yeah, they did. They put it out on CD not too long ago. Actually, I remember getting the Resting Album on CD. Very strange reissue because if I remember right, it was done kind of before they had their nostalgia wave. They put it out like at the
tail end of the Attitude era. What is this back on the shelves for it was so bizarre.
Yeah, I remember that too. I remember it being kind of in a weird and maybe they Yeah, I don't know why. Yeah, I don't know why they do that, but I do remember that.
A second record, pile Driver too, which we'll get to. The nineteen eighty seven Slammy Awards is very much tied up on the pile Driver album, which was their second release. And I didn't even fucking know they had two fucking night albums. It's the one with hul Cogan with a
construction hat on the cover of it. It's right, And that'll make a perfect entree when we get to that Colisseum home video On the Colisseum collection, there's a pile Driver Colosseum home video release that includes or at least a coincident with the eighty seven slammings. And that one's a lot more famous interesting than the first one, right because it has Vince doing stand back, just him just going completely insane and a leisure just losing his fucking mind.
What is he doing? I mean again, talking.
Talking prophetically, well, talk about cocaine, right, all right, that's that's it right there, jesus.
A lot of Vince documentaries, including the Netflix one, made a lot of hay out of that performance and the lyrics contained therein for sure, as they should. But the Hogan was actually at that one playing bass. If you've ever seen that clip of Hogan playing bass on like a stage, right, it's from the eighty seven to eighty six Slammies. That one also has the famous Hardley Race Jim Duggan brawl where they brawl all over the place,
not unlike the brawl that breaks out here. The idea was like, you know, what if an award show broke down into complete chaos, you know, and all the actors or all the singers just started punching each other on stage. That's that's Vince's big idea, going back to the fucking Uncle Elmer wedding and the Mother's Day.
Right case, It's always about these like events like this fucking breaking down, yeah, and.
These animals just being unleash. Right. A second record, Pile Driver, was released in nineteen eighty eight. I stumbled, oh no, Jimmy Hart, I didn't know this. I submitted the demolition theme song. Did you know? The Demolition theme song is on that on Pile Driver. Now, yeah, I think I knew that one and crank it out that, both of which Rick Deringer was on guitar for. Rick Deringer's on
guitar for Hulk Cogan's Real American as well. Right right, So he also brings us hang Hangs, Hang Pangs, Hang Tang good for him, as well as Honky signature tune hon Ko Honker Tonky Man Hunker what no hunka Honka Honky talk Man. They took my demos, Jimmy Wrights cut the tracks and included all three songs on the album. My work earned a couple of awards from Sea Sack, a company that licenses music performance rights. I went to the awards prison during Country Music Week in Nashville. It
made a brief acceptance speech. This is a lot more fun, I said, than getting beer thrown on me every night. Eventually, Rhino Records put together a compilation of old wrestling music. Yeah, it wasn't eventually, Jimmy. It was actually I think pretty much at the same time or even slightly before the release of the wrestling album called Wrestling Rocks. They included Son of a Gypsy, which is one of Jimmy Hart's songs and ever since, no matter where I've worked, my
music's been on every wrestling album. JJ McGuire, who co wrote a lot of my wrestling stuff, was in my second group of Gentries. My booking agency had called me when I was looking to put together that band and said they had a guy who could play just about anything bass and drums and keyboards that would be perfect for the band. I hired him right away and he stayed with me through the years. Everything had come full circle from the Gentries to wrestling and in a way
back again. You didn't Nikolai Volkov's grandfather was an opera singer. Boss I did not know that as you see him belt out the opera here on the wrestling album, don't you Yeah? Yeah you do? You do? You impressed? As an Italian man? Uh, you know, he's fine. I don't know, like it's not not the finest sound we've ever heard come out of his mouth. No, No, I think I know what that would be.
You're not exactly operatic, but it's uh, you know, he's fine. You know, he's got he's got that kind of like you know, this is what an opera singer is. Supposed to sound like hard or horror horr, you know, like like creating an operatic sound when it's like okay that you know, you don't really have that talent.
Yeah, yeah, you're like you're like mimicking it almost right, right, he tells. The author of the oral history piece, does Nikolai Volkov. My grandfather was an opera singer, and I like classical music myself. My grandfather took me to his teacher for a singing lesson, but I see all my friends outside swimming in summertime. One lesson was enough for me because he wanted to swim. I guess what he's
trying to say in his somewhat broken English. I still feel good going into the studio after David told me to sing Karameia, even though I have one day to learn it, the guy said, do it again, do it again. We did it ten times to get the timing in the tempo. They had present professionals who knew what to do. So on Karamia, I think I did a good job. As for Grab Them Cakes, that was a song that David Wolf had written in the disco days of the early seventies or the late seventies. Rather you know.
I actually, you know, it's a good song. Yeah, it's pretty good. I like a good funk song, so it was fun. There's plenty of boooo right there. Yeah, it's got a nice little, you know, bassline going.
Do you know who his co singer is in that song? Have you heard of Vicky Sue Robinson? I don't know her. She's on stage with Junkyard Dog in the eighty sixth Lamies, which is actually more of a coup than you would think. Have you ever heard turn the Beat Around? Oh? Yeah, that's her. That's her. It's her, no shit, okay. And she performed with the Junkyard Dog here on the Wrestling
album and on the Slammies. Yes, she had quite a career beyond that, but that was really her her number one hit and as mentioned, don't go messing with the Country Boy. This was penned by, according to the oral History piece, two pedigreed songwriters by the name of Marshall Chapman and Doc Pomus, and it's still as of recently.
I don't know if it's still the case to this day, but as of just a few years ago it would still play all the time on Serious XM as the opening song for a serious XM show called Moonshine Matinee Really Yep, which is a weekly serious XM radio show hosted by one of the two authors of the song. And that's got to be Wow, Why this one's all tied up in weirdness?
You know?
Yeah, they must own that one. And if grab them cakes has the woman from Turn the Beat Around on it. I'm sure she got herself some rights too. I mean, I guess I just maybe, you know, go and use it, use it on the slammies, use it on the album. But like Forever More on, you know, a million entrances of the Hillbilly Jim and the Godwins across your entire video catalog? Do you have to pay for that? You know that wasn't contemplated by the original deal. That's my guess.
It's just kind of funny, like you know, I mean, I know that it constantly costs money, as you know, but it just seems weird, like you'd think, I don't know, they used it throughout the fucking nineties, right, Like you'd think, like, no, I'm not going to do that either, you know, why do it?
Then?
Like?
What is it?
Then?
On weekly television but now that it's streaming, and you know, from when I've gathered, streaming royalties are significantly less, yes, than you know, broadcast royalties. So like just how to understand, Like, what's what's the big deal? Yeah, so I'm sure there's gonna be some other kind of always assume that it's
just she didn't complain about it until later. You know, they just did it for years without her ever complaining and then somehow that hit into it unless she Yeah, I don't know, Well, it's really it's country Boys that I'm talking about. Country Boys has played a lot more than grab them ass cakes?
Hey, Yeah, what are the cakes anyway? And that's song I don't ten know, Like are they is it ass cheeks?
Like?
Is it actual cakes? Are we grabbing cakes? I mean looking at Junkyard Dog's waistline the Junk Food Dog in nineteen eighty five, and.
He listen, listen, listen, he ain't grabbing them. He's just devouring them cakes. Grab them Swiss cake rolls, right, but yes, grab them cockcas Till Billy Jim tells the author of the oral history piece, I'm from the South, so I learned to play guitar and sing at nine years old, way back when I would go out and do little gigs. I didn't enjoy the hassle of it all that much, so I didn't stick with it. But the background helped
me both of my careers, wrestling and radio. Yeah, he wanted to be a radio hosted hill Willi Jim did he really?
Yeah? He would actually be. I think on that Moonshine Matinee'd be involved in that. I'm happy I came along at the right time. He says, if you missed the sixties, you've got a hole in your musical soul. Point is, I've been a big music fan my whole life. So the first time I read the lyrics they sent me for Don't Go Messing with a Country Boy, I said, oh man, this sucks. I don't want to do this.
It's hokey as hell. That was the whole point, Jim, of the whole fucking thing, right, And here, in a Shoots interview he did years later with Hannibal, He'll Billy Jim reflex on you know, as as goofy as it might have been, this w F music experiment put some trophies on his wall that some really great musicians never had.
The first song that I did, that don't go messing with a country boys song.
I did part of that in New York and I finished it with a great late producer, Joel dorn Over in Philadelphia, and they had the band on there that played it was Joel Wiseburn and Deliverance.
You know, there was a great movie out called Deliverance.
Yeah, years ago were Reynolds and.
U and John Boyd and that song. Yeah, that's the same wow, same guy did that. They're the ones who did the track on me. And of course Marshall Marshall Chapman, she's the one who wrote it.
Her and U.
Maybe Shelf Silverstein had something to do with.
It in Nashville.
But it's funny how those things happen. I mean, you know, with and with studios and stuff like that. There's a lot of that going. You never even see those things. Assistant was kind of a one off thing that I just had a dream about. You you know, that waking up along thing. It's kind of a little cool thing
about the road. I didn't enjoy it as much, of course, as I did that don'tal message country boy thing, because I heard it all the time and it was my theme thing, you know, all over the world with that, and he had that, he'll be a Jim Temple thing.
You knew what was happening, you know.
And it's funny how people get those things. It's funny.
I've often been around the country like we do, and you know, when you're got you go eat at night, maybe if there's a little restaurant there and a little lounge, you go in and see acts and musicians and entertainers, and you find just find sometimes around the country you find some of the greatest entertainers that are just struggling a little funny far away towns that you never go to. And then you and I'll be thinking, you know, set
here I am. I've got two gold records for songs that I did on those wrestling album wrestling albums and Pile Driver on Epic records on my wall and home, and here are these great musicians.
These guys are playing and singing and and they'll never even get a look at It's all about being the right place at the right time.
Right the fan.
Wrestling podcast, He's Fan Wrestling Podcast.
With Jack and well, at least he gets it. At least he's not claiming here it was a musical genius. Yeah, yeah, that must burn your ass if you work your ass off in.
Music along idiots. I mean, I'm that's gonna be the way for anybody. I mean, you know, I mean, I'm sure, I'm sure with the with the wrestlers, it probably hit a little bit harder. But I mean, you can I can imagine any kind of journeyman performer or musician just trying their fucking hardest and then all of a sudden, some fucking one hit wonder comes out and ugh, you know, it's like gonna be miserable, not even.
One who wonder. Like these guys are any musicians, They're like being forced Well I know I'm saying this is gonna but I'm what I was trying to say is that I'm sure it's not uncommon for musicians to kind of like feel that way, but it must hurt a little extra when these bozos do it. Right. Yeah, they're
being ushered into the music business. They're not even like trying and like landing on a hit because they're goofballs, right, They're being forced to show up at a studio and lay down a track that they don't even want to do. And that's one of the biggest records of nineteen eighty five, and that goes double gold in Canada. And like he said, he's got he's got old records on his wall. And can you imagine, you know, the caliber of musical talent that wasn't able to get that, And there's goofy ass.
Hillbilly Jim. Here's one of the writers of the song, recounting a conversation with his co author or her co author. I think it is uh yeah, in her memoir it's called Goodbye Little Rock and Roller. I've got just the right person standing right here in my apartment. She's a terrific songwriter. Yeah, from Nashville, knows all about country music. Yeah, no problem, Okay. After hanging up the phone, Poem has turned to Chapman and said, you're not gonna believe the shit.
They're wanting a song for some wrestler, a guy named Hillbilly Jim. It's Cindy Lauper's people. They're doing an album of singing wrestlers. They've got Hulk Hogan and everybody, but they want a theme song for this Hillbilly Jim guy. Something you shoot me in the head please, something like fucking kill Me the Ballad of Davy Crockett, and I went and listened to the Ballad of Davy Crockett, and I can definitely hear the influence. Yep, you up for it.
We wrote it, Chapman says, in like fifteen minutes. Oh, I spent that long on it. Don't go messing with a country boy. They wanted to go messing with a country bitch. Yes, he'll billy. Jim was pissed actually because he thought he kind of came off like a hillbilly bitch in the song. He says, Marshall Chapman didn't know me from a monkey and a damn zoo. She just happened to walk through the door. That's how it happened. I bet more big things started out Kookie than you'd
ever believe. So he's definitely Marshall Chapman, who he's calling a monkey and a damn zoo, is somebody that definitely has something to do with why he doesn't have writes to the song because he's very sour about Marshall in this interview. That's really funny. Chapman says they wanted a theme song for a wrestler in bib overalls. I didn't watch wrestling, so I just wanted the Davy crocketty idea, a backstory, killed a bear when he was only three,
et cetera. I also thought of the old folks song about John Henry, about how strong he was, so I wrote the lyric. When I was a little bit boy baby, I cut my teeth on a big old tree. He'll billy Jim, He'll billy Gims. H'll billy Jim. Still gives me shit about that line, but it scanned well. He'll billy Jim. My character was a big old guy from mudliy Kentucky who wasn't supposed to be sharp or worldly. I didn't have fancy moves. I had a gimmick. I'm
a country boy. I read the sophomoric lyrics and knew what they were doing. There was one good part. They got the guy who played the fiddle and Deliverance do my music. So I went in and did my thing. Hill Billy said, I gotta have fiddles in her memoir.
I like how that's exciting. The guy who fucking did the deliverance theme or whatever.
That's not cool to you.
I mean, it wouldn't, it wouldn't I wouldn't care, like I don't know, Like I don't know, that wouldn't be a big deal to me, like having I mean, listen, I guess it would be cool, but I wouldn't probably make notice. Like if I did a song and the trumpet player who did the Godfather theme fucking like I was like, Oh, that's pretty cool, but I'm like, I don't I don't think i'd make note of that. I was like, you know, I would only tell people who you know, I can tell my dad that story because it's.
Like because it's almost funny now, because yeah, right right, Like I don't know, it's a weird thing to almost brag about, right. And her memoir, Chapman said Poem has told her it sounds real stupid. We'll probably make a shitload of money, Billy Jim. As years went by, I realized, don't go message to the country Boy is the wrong chord for me. I think it was a lo G should have been.
A d.
How about an F Here's the director of the Land of a Thousand Dances, which is the video with all the wrestlers. They perform it at the end of the Slammys, but they had a video come out before that of them doing it, and they play it on the Slamy Awards broadcast as well. His name is Ed Grillis. He says, I worked with Cyndi Laupper for a long time, going back to her band Blue Angel. I directed the videos for Girls Just Want to Have Fun. She bop in
time after time. So yeah, the guy who did the Land of a Thousand Dances WWF wrestling album video did Girls Just Want to Have Fun and time after time as well. Okay, I had my own connection to wrestling apart from that, I spent six months tried to get.
But I guess I mean, I wonder why Land of a Thousand Dances. Yeah, of all the songs, weird song, of all the songs to cover, it's a weird song to cover.
That's weird. But like I mean, I don't know. To me, that's just not one that I would have thought of to cover. It does have that kind of like, you know, it sets up nicely for like a huge ensemble because like everyone can come in with like the wrestling funs. Yeah, on each it is weird, like it is weird. Oh it's great, I like it.
I like it.
Nah no, no, no, no, I love that song, but it's it's just a weird. I don't know, it's weird to me that that would be a song that they would choose.
Right, Yeah, there's not quite clarity on how that song ended up being these songs for the moment, but yeah, I agree with you, it did click into place. And you know when you were reading that article about what was hot music in nineteen eighty five and they mentioned we are the world, That's what I think of when I see this, right, you know, putting all those music stars together in one stage.
I don't understand what the they change the title to with adding a question mark, and two I don't understand why they do that, Like what the purpose of that was? Question mark for a land of a thousand for lant of thousand dances? They like they they they technically changed the title by adding a question that he goes land of a thousand dances question mark exclamation point, exclamation point, question mark.
That is so weird. I don't know what that does to the song. Well described me the state of my fucking psychology when I'm listening to the song, right, my guess that's probably it ed grills, The director writes, I spent six months trying to get Vince McMahon to work on a movie with me, a movie with me. He finally agreed, and we went to all the major Hollywood studios trying to get them to do a wrestling film. We tried for a couple of years. It wasn't happening,
but it was another project we explored in The Madness. Wow, I don't want that would be like I wonder what he do, because you know, it would be just another like marketing thing. It would it wouldn't be like a really serious movie. It would just be like Hulk Hogan and a million other wrestlers are forced into a script that got written. I mean, no holds barred. Yeah, probably, Yeah, that's probably it. Dave Wolf says for the album, I got clearance to rewrite the verses of Land of a
Thousand Dancers. I wrote all the lines and pre arranged wrestlers to record backstage at a match. We curtained off a studio and I brought them in one time, one at a time to sing. This was the track that called for a video at Girls Remembers. It was actually shot in Poughkeepsie, which was a regular stop for WWAF
at the time. Of course, they at the mid Hudson Civic Center where they started taping a lot of their television in at eighty six and arena, he says, where I believe there was a WAF card the following night. There was a lot of work on the day of the shoot. We had the morning and afternoon to set out wrestler close ups and stuff like that before bringing in the live audience for that night for the shoot. And there's actually a ticket stub, Brother, what I know?
I can't agree more. Actually, it's really concerning that they're bringing all these fans in for a shoot, Like, what fu You don't run that by all Cogan? Yeah? Right, all these people here for a what brother, a shoot of all the things? What do you buller? So wow, there's actually and shout outs to Matt for finding this, there's a ticket stub from ticket Tron that's out there that someone saved of reporting as an extra for the
UH for the Land of a Thousand Dances video shoot. Yeah, that's kind of one piece of e femera that exists. You can take a look there if you'd like, But there it is. Yeah, Mid Hudson Civic Center. What they called Mayor m Ai R Hall wrestling video shoot first twenty five admitted. And so we know because of this ticket stub that the Land of a Thousand Dances video was shot on October second, nineteen eighty five. That's wild,
it is. That's what you needed to get in. So some extra hung on to his ticket and ended up on the on the internet. But yeah, that was the thing. These guys were so fucking busy and ticket Dron. Ticket trona know what what a dated business that is the fucking I mean with the fucking uh, like the.
Uh and the logo with all the fucking like first of all the rainbow colors and then you get all the uh. I don't know, I look like repeat letters. I don't recall that. But it's like Ticketron is like flying towards you that.
Ticket drawn right, yes, where you get yeah, some noise like that, Yeah, God, ticket drawn, the tickets for the future. It's like you just started your your fucking uh I don't know, like started Tetris on the Atari.
So get your tickets, got your tickets for tomorrow. Your ticket to tomorrow is today, ticket Dron.
The way he says the Land of a Thousand dances video was supposed to unfold, was an idea that would work one time after that the audience would know what was coming. So we shot it once and it played. Yeah that's true. If it all breaks down, Yeah, the breaking Kfe brother this a huge fight. Yeah, that's crazy. There was an audience there like that. But these guys were flying all over the place so much that like
you had to do it in one shot. You didn't have more than six hours with these guys before they had to make the next town. And this is the era where like they were so clueless about like how ragged they were running these wrestlers. Right as Vince tries to cut into all these new markets that he'd never been to before, WWF had really never been to. Like the week of this whole thing, they were in New Orleans for the first time, trying to fuck with Bill Watts,
who's still in business down there. But they're bringing the Dog. They're bringing Junkyard Dog to New Orleans, of course, absolutely, like they brought Hogan and Jean and the rest and
then Jesse Ventura to Minneapolis, you know the playbook. Yeah, and uh, with no real consideration for like the wear and tear on these guys with no rest and no chance to fucking by the by, like, you know, four six, eight weeks of this, you're like you can't even walk, you know, like you don't even know where you are, you don't know what city you're in. You're deprived of sleep, you're just especially if you're a guy who had a routine in the business before this, yep, yeah, and you
can't like you don't have that decompression period anymore. These guys are getting fucked up, and they were taking a lot of things to get up so that they could keep earning, because this is money like they'd never seen before. Sure, you can't just go and sit out when all of a sudden, WWF seen to it that you're making like ten times which you ever made for a wrestling match, and then all these extra checks are coming in for
all this extra shit, you better fucking be there. It doesn't matter what you got to put in your system to be there. Goddamn right, get those ivs, you stupid bitch, Get out there. You're going to pass up this opportunity. Come on, damn, you're making real money to a fake sport and you're complaining. Make my fucking on the plane, piece of shit, sh get on the fire. God. I haven't slept in seventy eight hours. You know what, I haven't slept in three years? To have as a fuck?
Who gives up? I don't get a ship. I'm not here. Come on, man, you want to get listen? You want to keep your job? Right? You want to stay employed? Do you need me to fuck you up? I will kill you right now. I have no problem doing it. Kill you for complaining killing I have no problem doing it. And then I'll kill your family with my bare hands. I'll destroy you. Get your fat ass up there. Complain to me about sleep. I don't sleep by choice, So why don't you suck it up before I kick you
in the ball? Take your mother's life? About that? I have your mother. I have your mother's phone number on speed dial, and I will call her and I will say, listen, ma'am, I'm coming over to kill you. Be prepared, right. How does that make you feel? M mmm? You're getting hungry for that success? Are you going to continue being a bitch? You see the opportunity I'm putting in front of you. I'm giving you ever seen money, and you're complaining to
me about sleep. You're a fucking prick, a piece of shit. What's going to happen if you don't do what I say going forward? If you don't do what I say, if you don't listen, if you don't follow every single instruction, I will devour your life. I will rip it to shreds, I will shit it out my ass, and I'll flush it down the toilet, and I won't think twice about it. I don't need you. I don't need you at all. You're just a seat filler. I'll get someone else to do it.
You need.
The wrestling album is what you need. You need the wrestling. Anybody else on this planet whatever. Put you in a studio pal and put you on to think anybody would give you a legitimate career doing anything. No, I am giving you opportunity. But I don't need to give you an opportunity. I could walk out there in the street and grab some asshole and say, get in here and be him, because I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna murder him, so I want you to be him. It's that simple.
You're not replaceable, and I'll forget you ever existed. Get up there and sing, sing, bitch, god, Dad, are you afraid of Come on, man, are you afraid of success? Provided to provide it, he knows when his ship has come in Nicola. Despite the existence of that ticket we just shared with you, remembers it this way. They forgot to advertise for a live audience. A couple of hours before the shoot. They sent me in meat loaf who
was a drummer in the video. No shit. If you look on the stage, yeah, totally, that is meat Loaf drumming on the land of a thousand. Nance's weird. Nikolai Volkoff says, they sent me a meat loaf who was a drummer in the video, to a radio station and tell people to show up. We did good. It sold out, so so was the last minute affair grills. The director says, when you have fifty heels and fifty baby faces, you're going to get a reaction. All the WWF guys did
whatever they wanted to do. We let them decide. Not a surprise, but they totally got into the brawl. We had four or five cameras going so we could do all those quick cuts. When the melee kicked off, the crew got their heads bashed in and the wrestlers didn't care who was in front of them. I was backstage, so I was okay. Dave took a beating. He dug it. I'm sure Nikolai Volkoff Cidi Lauper is in the video,
but she has a wig on while playing guitar. At the end, we have a big smash, everybody fights everybody. She was swinging her guitar and a sharp edge accidentally scratched my leg. It started bleeding terribly. I said, Cindy, you don't like me too much. Look what you just did to my leg. She almost fainted. I felt so bad. Wiped the blood off with my hand. Look it's fine. I admire her so much. I never forgot that ed Grills.
I do have one odd memory from the video shoot at Leslie, who everyone knows is brutus, Beefcake came up to me and said, my name is Eddie too. I don't know if, oh, he did not say it like that. I don't know if that was supposed to make us friends or what, but he found that really interesting. What's going on here? Come on? Can you picture Beefcake? Her such a funk? Hey, brother, my my named Eddie two. It's crazy Wow. Another Eddie. Wow, s's a not common name. Wow. Man, Yeah,
that is crazy. So uh hi Ben good? I mean I'm just ed, you know, just Eddie. Ah, what do you need? I'm busy here. No, I just thought it was cool we had the same first name. So I guess we're best friends now.
Yeah?
Yeah, yeah?
So where are you from? Kind of busy here where nowhere? Not from anywhere, not from not from what you're saying, right, you know, not from anywhere you need to be. He keeps saying we're both named Eddie, and how crazy that is. I'm starting to wish you were the Man with No Name. We turned to the Memoirs of the Man with No Name, Brutus beef Cakes book. The music video for Land of a Thousand Dances was a who's who of the nineteen eighty five WW roster and a recording studios. Downstage, we
were all wearing our full ring gear. That's so bizarre to show up at a set like this listening no shirt on.
We're all wearing a ring. Listen, listen, listen. We need to emulate your characterizations on telephone. Hell, so we need you need to be in ring gear, and we need you know we need to have h you know, you need to listen right under the lights. All right. We're creating music video here, all right. We are entering the realm of music video, so we need to be on top of shit, all right, ring here music video, that's what we're about, all right. Forget what you've done, your
play up, k fabe the best you can. But remember we are here in the music video arena. That's where we are. This is not this is not the mid Hudson Civic Center. This is the the the WWE Music Video Center of arena. Welcome to the WWE Music Video Center. They have like other shows there that's not wrestling because it's the Midhountain Civic Center. They have like you know, Shakespeare and the WWF Video Center called the Music Videos Video Center. Ww Coming to the w w F Music
Video Center. Shane Youn shine up before communism? Did you like the Grinch there? And the Christmas time Kevin Hart performing at the WWS Video Center. Someone whip up that logo. I want one of those Crew T shirts from back in the day. The music video for Land of a Thousand Dances was a who's who of the ninete eighty five w w roster on a recording studio soundstage, Brutus Beef kick rights. We were all wearing our full ring gear,
singing in unison and dancing, Yes, dancing. That little few seconds you saw of all of us on screen took me. I don't know they call it dancing. It's just sensible step touching, you know, it's not. Actually, what more resembles dancing is what you guys do in the ring. Yeah, that's ballet, isn't that? A little few seconds U saw all of us on screen took nearly all day long to shoot. It was all laid out to look really chaotic, but in reality, it took a lot of work to
get that look of insanity. You know, hey, Brutus, just to let you know. Yet, most people have seen DVD features, they know how long shit takes the film. And then you had the director right before Brutus saying and actually we just let the wrestlers do whatever they want. And
it didn't take a look at all. Right, it took like fifteen minutes as we didn't have a chance to do more than one take, because I imagine the drugs probably made it seem like it was long, absolutely compared to how how accustomed they were to getting a quick fix back then. By comparison, it seemed long then. Later on that night, we were all rushing off to wrestle on a show. Rick Darringer was also there on stage
with Sidney Laupper. Sidey. Lauper was in her disguise, probably because she didn't want to be associated with such a pool of bad talent. I always assume that too. For my spot in the video, they had me standing on the stage right next to meet Love. I thought that was just awesome. He was there all positioned on a drum set, but he was not really playing the drums. He was just there to looked the part. That's interesting.
I had already been around deren during Cindy and got to know them, but I remember seeing meat Loaf was really cool. I was kind of a fan. We had Hey, you look like me? Is your name Ed? We had he does look like meatof doesn't you look like me? If your name Ed?
Meatloaf does kind of look like ed Leslie? Yeah, I guess now, But yeah, we had a long day on that. I mean, I fucking fucking uh. You know, honey baked Ham looks like ed Leslie.
If a honey baked ham, wore like thirteen silver bracelets on his wrist, spikes and skulls and stuff. He gave us an interview though fas like Greg Valentine did that one time partner oh man, But I remember seeing meat loaf was really cool. I was kind of a fan. We had a long day that stage, over and over and over singing that thing. Santana thought the whole thing was ridiculous. I would look over at Hi while the group was singing Nana, Nana, Nana. I remember I could
see him laughing. Oh, should have gotten a cameo, fucking fucking Tito. I'm sure we haven't. Da Oh he's his cameos have always been so wonderful. This is w w F Hall of Famer, Ariba. I have a message here for JP. JP. Your friend Jack wanted to know what do I remember about shooting the Land of a Thousand Dances music video. Well, I remember it was hot that day, and I hope you enjoyed this cameo Reba. Well, his
wife's like, do you want to drink? In the background, and we're like getting you know, we're getting a view way up his fucking nasal passages. Just like clear shot. Oh my goodness, I remember I had a croissant that day, and that's it. That's all I remember. I remember we filmed that. Hope you enjoyed this cameo. Well, JP, it was a thing.
I'll tell you that.
It was not nothing, despite what you may think. It was a thing that happened. I saw him laughing over and over again under his breath and shaking his head. Why are you laughing, Tito, I asked him between takes. I think I just have a horrible voice to have a song on an album, he said, laughing. Every wrestler had to film their individual parts separately, and then we
had to film the group parts as well. Then get this in the evening at the show, we had to perform the bit for the live crowd, even for even more footage. For the next two weeks, all I had in my head was that stupid riff.
No no, no, no no.
Those bastards must have played that song one hundred times that day. The music video played everywhere as well. It was on MTV NBC's Friday Night Videos, which I was a dick. Ever song production Saturday Night's made event. All the w B programming, its reach was surprising and pretty amazing. None of the singles received any real heavy radio airplay, but the WWF Wrestling Album as a whole reached number eighty four on the album sales charts. Kids everywhere owned it.
Brutus Beefcake calling being on set, Dave Wolf I came up with the idea for the Slammies, the first ever award show for a single record. I won for the Best Executive Producer on the Wrestling Album. I was the only one nominated in the category. I'm looking at my salammy right now. Browler, who is the drummer, says, all the guys came together at the had Factory studio for the photo shoot. This is the photo shoot for the
wrestling album cover. I believe that Brian Penry talk to us about when we interviewed him a couple of weeks ago. It was incredible, just wall to wall, real live cartoon characters. But I heard Hull Cogan and Brutus Beefcake choreographing that night's match. I knew it wasn't really real, but Mann did my bubble burst. It was entertainment, sure, but listening to them planted out totally fucked up up the mystical, magical quality wrestling held for me. Boss Vince is getting
to it and he's dismantling it. Oh my god, he doesn't really care at this point. Somebody we heard from earlier says our attitude was let's have a blast and if we sell records, great, and then we did a lot of them. Miss McMahon was supportive from the get go. I'm not sure the marketing people at Sony knew what to do with him with the Wrestling Album. He was a big help in that department. We promoted it on
WWF shows every Saturday. Lots of cross merchandising. Record stores loved it because it brought in young male buyers who weren't necessarily music kids. Not necessarily music kids. A wrestling fan No, okay, I'll believe that when I see it. I don't really like their youth. No, I don't think music's really a thing, right, But I gotta boy the wrestling home. I bought the Wrestling Album because Brodie Piper is a great worker. You know, I I you know, I'm I I I I. I'm not buying that. I'm
only gonna buy the Rick Flair Wrestling album. He actually can have five star matches. Well, I'm not gonna buy. I'm not gonna buy WWE's thing, you know, because I don't want like a circus album. I want like a real wrestling album. Guys, have the circus album? A real wrestling album? What a vision quest the soundtrack? That's what you mean right by real wrestling? I sure hope. So I hate to burst your bubble about Flair versus Garvin
forty five minutes. That's phony too. It's planned ahead of time, you know when we're gonna get that, right, We're going to get you know, the you know, how about the nw A wrestling album. Like when you say you're looking for the wrestling album, you're you're talking about that plan stuff, pre arranged wrestling or like the actual Olympic wrestling Yes at Strawberries. Oh wait, wait you want that? What do you want the the fake stuff? Were you're talking about?
You know, Olympic wrestling albums, which of which there are many. His fucking damn Gable on the cover shooting the low Inside Circle.
Yeah, they're like real, real wrestling albums are basically just recordings of matches.
You know.
That's great to listen to the sound sounds of matches, no commentary, nothing, just breathing and smacking the mat thumped albums. Yeah yeah, it's like, oh it's so good. Yeah yeah, I can feel the excitement. Marshall Chapman the aforementioned Marshall Chapman says, I've called the Wrestling Album the most dubious cultural achievement of the twentieth century. But I'm also sorry, what say that again? The Wrestling album. This is a person who wrote the Hillbilly Jim lyrics. It was being
very sardonic about the whole thing. I've called the Wrestling Album the most dubious cultural achievement of the twentieth century. Wow, I'm probably the only Nashville songwriter who has ever received a royalty check from the WWF. The drummer Browler says the Wrestling Album isn't artful, but it is a snapshot of a moment. The eighties were a funny time, both sonic. That's all we do. Listen, that's all we need.
We do.
We do snapshots of momentary incidents. That's what you do, snapshots of momentary ww The ww is a company where we take snapshots of momentary incidents and exploit said, snapshots for full full cross functional gain.
Full cross functional monetary and emotional gain.
The emotional gain that's a fringe benefit of WWF emotional gain. Well, that's right. That is the equivalent of smiles on faces and you know anuses and chairs, right. I think Browler puts it well. The eighties were a funny time both sonically and stylistically.
Wow, yes, for sure they sonically and stylistically, that's tremendous.
Indeed, were just quickly to visit what Brian Penry told us about putting together the Wrestling album cover. He remembers it was a process that took over a period of weeks. And since it's a double album, when you open it up, there's a there's you know, a different scene in there of the Hit Factory in New York where many luminaries like Billy Joel and others have recorded over time. And he said, very few of the people you see on the cover art of the Wrestling album were in the
same room at the same time. They had to like squash them all together. In some instances, people were totally in totally different cities than where some of those guys were. He says, for ample, when you look on the cover and Vince has his arm on gene Okolin's shoulder. They were shot against a backdrop and dropped in to the image. They were shot elsewhere because they had a show brother be shot elsewhere. What do you mean if he's not here? Brother? What is who's shooting on me?
Brother?
What is there some kind of technology you've been hiding for me that means he can be here when he's not here? Why are you shooting.
Now?
When you when you say.
Take that? Just the.
The potential scenarios are like stacking up in his head like one hundred miles an hour, keeps the moment. He is like ready to react about one scenario another one? Who pops in his brain right.
Now?
What?
What?
What are we doing? Are you shooting?
Hm?
You're shooting the music video without me? Dude? Did you? This is all on my back brother? And I wasn't invited to the Land of a thousand dances videos? Well, the land of a million about a million hull Camania? How about? How are we doing? You know, Terry brilliant. I'm gonna put in a call right now to Dave. We're gonna put this together. The Land of one thousandania a million million. Sorry, yes, a thousand is not nearly enough.
The Land of a million hul Camania. Okay, all right, uh Dave, Dave Vince mc mann of the w w E. We are thinking about adding a a a another track to the album. Uh, Land of a million Hulkamania. Let's yeah, uh yeah, brother, yeah? What what are you doing?
Well?
Fit the sentence, brother, yeah, the Land of a million? Whole comania for the the wrestling album to to to to brother, what to do right away? To do a wrestling album to do right away? Wrestling album two do right away?
I never said right away?
What what?
Why?
Are you in a rush? Were falling over? Will you? Nickolo me? Brother? No, no, Terry, I'm not. I'm moving all right. Wrestling album to do on a momentary basis satisfied. If wrestling album, if I may impress upon you momentarily, if I may impress upon the momentary of the Shakespeare's way of saying it, come on in here, thou shalt shal thou shalt commit to the uh, the endeavor of adding said track to the wrestling album to do at the momentary appropriate time. Land of a Million hulk Mania
is thou mission right, thy mission right? And thou shalt thou shalt obey all comania brother? Ten commandomy just a problem? Take commandmentitude? Whoa You're gonna commit me with fucking fucking tablets? Brother? Demandments are we're talking about what you're saying? Ten demandments? Amendments or demandments.
There's like.
Wrestling podcast, the wrestling podcast that knows the boys need their candy. It's the Lapsed Fan. He's the Lapsed Fan Wrestling podcast with Jack and Carno and Jpro.
What's funny is that what came after the person said basically what he just said, but what he hears it from somebody else. It's really alarming because it's like, I thought that was only my head, Like, like, what what do you just say? That's what I was just worried about, And now you're saying what do you saying in my mind?
Brother?
How are you saying that I'm thinking out loud?
Did you?
It's not hard to get him fucking going, man, It's not to hit him go. When he was not on the Slammies or in the Land of a Thousand Dances, a lot of meetings, a lot of problems, a lot of problems. Had to assuage a lot of concerns about what but the subtext was not including him. Yeah, Brian Penry told us about He had to use a side text machine, which I've never heard of, which is like
the earliest digital printing machine. I've ever seen one of these things what they are, but it's like one of the earliest ways to do like a graphic like this where you can superimpose different images into the same frame. And that's all over the wrestling album. So interesting trivia there, thanks to Brian and all the work that that took as part of his duties. He remembers Mona Flanbay as well. She made some scary sounds come out of that trumpet.
He says. I don't know if he's talking about Mona Flambee or not when he says that, Yeah, so it's cool check out that interview because he goes he goes into his house and goes to find his copy of the wrestling album to explain to us what it is he sees as he flips through it. But the important track in so many ways to me at least, is real American. It's quite absolutely, Isn't it quite wild to think that this is where Real American was birth. On
this album, it's crazy, absolutely crazy. Here it sits and here we feel it in so many ways. And if you listen to the track on the Wrestling album, there's absolutely no mistaking the fact that they intended it for Barry Wyndham and Mike Rotundo, because as soon as the song concludes on the Wrestling album, we have a interjection from Vince McMahon himself and his crew. What taking it abundantly clear that that was the song inspired by the US Express. Take a listen.
I can't believe that's for Windom and Rotundo.
Derringer, you should have buried yourself in spade buried. Come on, just eat your heart out.
Wow, yep, I can't believe that's for Wyndham and Rotundo. Wom and Rotundo a piece of trivia there, that's wild and that song itself, Real American has a bit of a oral history in its own writer writer by the name of Quinn Myers and at magazine by the name of mel once did an oral history on a whole Cogan and Real American.
Now.
While Derringer is the guitarist on the song and it's actually a fairly celebrated guitarist and has done work in collaborations with several high profile acts over the years. That is not his voice. Were you aware that it is not Derenger who actually sings this side? No, I'm curious who is it. He's some obscure lead singer at a New York named Bernard Kenny, and you're not really gonna find much else that he did. I believe he sang
with his brother under the term the Kenny Brothers. There's a couple of YouTube videos they give you a little glimpse into who they are. One little snippet on YouTube says the Kenny Brothers an amazingly talented nineteen eighties New York based band. In late winter early spring, they recorded
four songs at Tiki Recording Studios on Long Island. On one of the songs, this is how you know because it says here in the YouTube comment on this song Bernard Kenny, who co wrote Real American with Rick Deringer and sang lead vocal. So he's the i AMA. That's his voice. Wow, it's not Rick Derringer that he's passed away. According to this comment on YouTube, they never made it big enough to even have any clips about them and
newspapers that I could fire anything like that. But according to this commenter, Bernard Kenny has since passed away the voice of Real American. The Mel magazine article says in nineteen eighty five, Derringer was eleven years removed from his hit single rock and roll Hoochie Coo, and twenty years removed from the classic number one track hang On Slop Sloopy, on which he sang leave vocals. Yeah, don't ask me, man. It has to sound weird to be a song title.
We know this.
After working extensively with bands like the Edgar Winter, Grew, Bear Supply and Bonnie Tyler, Rick Deringer bounced around shredding guitar solos for Barbara streisand and writing songs with his partner at the time, Kenny. And this must be the Kenny we're talking about this, Bernard Kenny. Maybe not. But one of those songs, of course, was Real American. And while the two didn't know what it would eventually be used for, as soon as they wrote it, they knew
it was destined for glory. So how about that Real American was not written because there was a open space on a pro wrestling record album. It already existed, the song.
They were just I thought I remember that, Yeah, I thought I remember that being a thing, that it was a real song, that that w eventually just kind of claimed ownership for me.
We're trying to find a home for it. Derrenger, writer and producer of Real American, told mel magazine. My writing partner Bernard Kenny and I sat down one night in nineteen eighty four and we had the idea to write the most patriotic song of all time. Oh my god, what a weird fucking thing. That's also like, that's fucking Reagan right there. Oh, totally so fucking Reagan era yep. And we wanted to express that in the song. So
that was the whole objective behind it. When we sat down a few hours later, the song Real American was born. After it took the Matt long to fucking write this song a few hours for the rights of every man. After, I guess after it was written in this take a while, Derenger says, we actually played it and it brought us to tears. Get the fuck out of time. I knew he had done such a good job and it was destined to be a hit. What a bunch of this is like the original and I'm proud to be an American,
you know, right right? But there is there's the I remember. I remember.
I remember as a when I was in high school, like, so, did you ever have like those weird like fundraiser nights in high school? Like they'd have like a casino nice Yeah, the casino night. I remember, they have this fucking idiot lounge singer, you know, come in and like he was doing like a mix of like variety ship stand up and and uh and and songs and stuff like he's
it's mostly tongue in cheek the whole time. And then he's gonna, you know, we're gonna take it down for a little bit here, I mean sings I'm proud to be American. Like he makes this whole big fucking deal about I was like, oh my god, Like, what the fuck is such a weirdo.
There's no faster way to like change the mood in a room then play that song.
I know he's like so passionate, and it was just like this is the weirdest thing, Like, dude, you're you're singing at a casino night at a high school like.
What are you doing?
Yeah, exactly, keep with the goofball ship, all right, that's gonna play.
Don't don't start preaching, moron. So we hear what Bernard Kennedy sounds like, and we've heard it a million times. We could, you know, do it off the top of our heads. Yes, but you know there was actually records out there of Derringer himself singing real American really, And this is what it would sound like if Rick Deringer, the guy most associated with Old Cogan's Real American, actually sang the lyrics. And I want you to picture Oul
Cogan making his way to the ring to this. All right, Oh my god.
I am a real American, fight for the rights of every man.
I am a real American, fight for what's right, fight for your life.
Wow.
Wow, when it comes.
Crashing down and it hurts inside, you gotta leave a hand.
They don't have to hide.
I thought it was take a stand it don't Yeah, I think that you my friends, my friend.
I gotta take a stand.
No, No, I gotta be a man. I am a real Parican.
The right stuff, iry man.
I am a real Pican.
Robots right by your life.
Sometimes I think they would have went back to the other whole theme pretty quickly.
Yeah, well, although you know, I do, uh, I do appreciate the drums and that, like there's yeah, there's a really heavy on like on on on uh on the drums.
That's I don't know, I like that. It's a nice listen. It's not the it's it's it's what they would do.
That's the kind of version you'd put on uh, like a Forcible Entry album, right, you know, like it's it's that kind of like you know when they play the when they have the weird version of the Triple H theme and it's like, you know, it's not it's not the real thing, but it's it's kind of cool to have that version as well.
I agree, you know, like that would be. Yeah, Like I like it's it's very interesting and I like it. I don't not like it, but it's just not it's not the real thing. He's and he's replacing the words. I don't know if he's doing that on purpose or if he just I don't know, doesn't remember the words.
Oh maybe maybe it's original. Maybe he's like, this is what I wanted. When I say it, I'll bring it home Rick it while we're in your vision.
I stand strong about that.
And wrong, don't take trouble boy.
Don't take control.
Inside out.
Pizza.
I am.
Got it.
I heard I heard some of like the the actual mix of the of the regular one in that Yeah yeah, at the very at the right before the chorus hit, it sounded I could hear kind of like that that that that kind of synthesizery like weird, not weird, but it sounded like the whole Cogan version a little bit.
It's uh, the same instrumentals. Interesting when he says, uh, and I don't take trouble for very long? Yeah, you know what. I always thought it said there what and I don't take control for very long? You know, like the like the United States, they just take you know, they displace the regime and they take control for a year and they're gone and then we leave. Right's exactly right, take control for very long, which would be a very
strange thing to put in. I also just love the idea, like it's it's so you know again, this is so like like it's a fighting song, Yeah, is what it is. Like It's like it's a fighting song, like you're not even you know, it's it's it's not talking about freedom, it's talking about fighting for freedom.
You know.
That's the fucking funniest part of this whole thing. It's it's literally about fighting people. Yes, they don't say who, but it's anybody, I guess who's going to take away my freedom. During the course of the music video that they came to came up with for this song, he rips a headshot of Mamar Gadaffi in half from Libya Hogan does does the half god in the mel I mean, is he was he threatening America's freedom?
Yeah?
He was, you know, death to America blah blah blah. I mean yes, but was he actually threatening America? Because like, did was there? I mean, did we need to?
I mean terror, I understand terror, But was you know, were they invading America taking our freedom?
No?
They weren't invading America. No, right, That's what I mean.
Like, the song is talking about people taking away my freedom and I will fight those motherfuckers.
And it's like, I mean, they're not taking yours away, they're taking away others away. Yeah, a lot of people, you know, it's not he was. He was Reagan's enemy, you know, he was like sure, he was like, Bush's Saddam Hussein. You know the same thing.
Of course, of course, listen, I get that. I totally get that. It's it's still fucking bizarre.
It is.
It is bizarre.
It's a weird it's a weird fucking uh, it's it's a you know, when you really when you take it out of a wrestling context, because wrestling is all about fighting, and you put it into a legitimate song context, it's like, I mean, I guess it could have been the theme for the fucking uh.
What do you call it?
The fucking h Millius movie there to del Mairte No exactly, Nah, the Patrick Swayzee. No, Patrick Swayze, fucking Charlie Sheen that you're talking about it, I can't think of it. Red Don, red Don, thank you? Yeah, like that that could be the theme, like the Darringer version, could be the theme for Red Down.
Yeah, easily, yep. Yeah, it's of the time, definitely. In the mal magazine piece, Browler, who was the drummer in the band, says, usually I wouldn't step out and say the stuff, but Bernard Kenny, the real singer, is one of the most one of the great singers who never became famous. He says. Don't get me wrong, Rick's a great singer and a brilliant fucking cat, but Bernard is the unsung hero of this song. You haven't heard that
voice anywhere else. Unfortunately, that was a big break for him, and he got shut down in terms of getting credit. One of those great old music biz stories. I remember him having a bit of a bug up his ass about getting sort of screwed out of his credit for this thing. Fascinating. Rick Deringer says to Mail Magazine. When the wrestling album came along, we had the whole thing put together and really organized, and we still hadn't used real American anywhere yet, so we thought this wouldn't be
a good use of it. How about that real American was an afterthought on the album That's wild and tell why it went to the US Express, Derringer says, we didn't. Later, we didn't alter the original at all of the song for the WWE. We just laid down the legit version we imagined and that was the one that they used. We were really happy about all that, but still somewhere in the back of my mind, I thought, Man, this song should be somehow more legit than just a wrestler's
theme song. Ah, Rick, that's a weird that's not our wrestling works. Pell live live that fucking dream, dude, take it in joy exactly. Don't look at gift tors in the mouth because res wrestling keeps songs alive twenty thirty years longer than they should be exact cult of personality. I know people love that song anyway, but you know what I mean. Like that song, yeah, but as a tell like no one else right, exactly the wrestling. We wanted to write this fabulous patriotic song for all Americans.
Rick says, we saw it somehow on a different level than a wrestler's theme song. So in some ways I was a little let down. Oh shut the fuck up, dude. Okay, Well, but he was. That's what happens, all right, That's what happens. As much as he looked down on that use case, he wasn't above appearing on WWF television was Rick Deringer to promote said song and the forthcoming wrestling album. Here's a clip from an October nineteen eighty five edition of
Piper's Pit on WWF television. Rick Darringer steps into the pet himself.
You're finally familiar with have a scene if you're like to.
This gentleman's name is Rick Berenger. He's playing with Daker.
Winter, Johnny Winters, Frankenstein.
He's one of the best guitar players in the world.
We are the world, we are the guy.
Why don't you take those silly looking sunglasses out? First of all, because I want to I know your credentials as a guitar players, being one of the best of all.
I know he's got a live.
Age a program coming up with Cindy Lauper and Woo and Rob Stewart, and he is going.
To be playing with them. And i'd want you to know now that.
You're in Piper's Pitt, that you play the guitar for a living and I beat people up for a living.
Soul Pillsbury, Dauboin, Why you're here, Just don't get too brilliant with me. And this is good old Laces here he my bodyguard.
I understand you're you're doing an album with wrestlers singing on him.
I came here with the Good Spirits and I Roddy because all right, because I feel like I'm excited about this record.
I'm doing the Junkyard Dog has done.
A great song. Of Yard Dog is doing a great great song.
Jimmy Hart has done a fantastic song.
Kill Billy.
Jim has done a great thing.
We got plans to do, Captain Lou Albano, I'm really excited about it.
Wait, get your hands off my micro I'm excited about this. Well, wait, wait a second.
If junk you're a dog and all them guys help out, help out myself.
Man, you know I could sing a heck of a song.
Man, I could be a rock and roller.
I could sing a great song.
Don't you think you're gonna give me the opportunity to show everybody how great i'd be.
I didn't know about this. I've been working closely with David.
Woolf, and I thought we can I do a song?
Can I do a song?
There?
Look, I got nothing to getst you coming in the studio.
If you want to make a jerk out of yourself, let me tie your something.
Your little pips would shut them down, set them down.
Let me tell you something, your little jerk, I'll tell you I'm gonna have a thought.
That we go off the air. Wow.
So that's Rick Derringer. I mean, that's the one of the latest segments I ever heard, and he has no idea what he's fucking doing.
No clue. So you can hear the promotional apparatus kind of kicking in the gear for this forthcoming wrestling album something else that had happened eighty five. In addition, We Are the World is the Chicago Bears, who were super Bowl bound in nineteen eighty five, came out with the super Bowl Shuffle. Now this was much more of an inspiration to the rustle rock Rumble that one vern Gan yet would Leater oversee as part of a SuperClash, right, it was SuperClash, Yes, available in Life and Death of
the ABA. Yes, made a lot of fun with that one. Eighty seven, I think it was. And here though, I think it's it's kind of part and parcel of the whole you know, mood of like these ensemble songs with people who weren't musicians but were celebrities in the eighties. Yeah, getting to do these songs. This is what it sounded like on the NFL side. And you can definitely hear Russell rock rumble vibes even more so than the Land of a thousand dances. That's get it. T LF.
Shut shut, We're.
You know, we're not here. We're just.
Well they called me sweetness, and I liked the dance running the ball. It's like making more dance. We had the goals's trained in camp to give Chicago goals for more tamp and we're not doing this because we're greening.
The Bears are doing it the kneed.
We didn't come here look for truck Bok.
Were just.
A lapsed fan wrestling podcast, the wrestling podcast that knows the boys need their candy. It's the Lapsed Fan. He's the lapsed fan wrestling podcast with Jack and Carno and JP Soo.
I mean that's it. Actually, it kind of sounds a little bit more like jive soul bro. Yeah, you know they got a little bit of inspiration there. Yeah, yeah, for sure. So what was on Vince's mind? You know, we've heard from Dave Wolf, We've heard from Rick Deringer, we've heard from the drummer and the producer and the director and some of the wrestlers on set, and we've heard from what was Vince thinking. Well, it's hard to get a lot of insight, but we're not completely bereft
of it. This article here that I've just laced you with is from the Tampa Tribune, and fortunately for us, as part of an article about, you know, the typical Hulkogan's all the rage Wrestling's coming to Tampa? What's this circus all about? That got some time with Vince McMahon in this article towards the end of nineteen eighty five, and this is December seventeenth, to be exact, And it turns out a lot is swishing around in his mind,
including the forthcoming Slammy Awards presentation. Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness, let's get acquainted with how the Hulkster and Vince McMahon's enterprises we're being written about heading into the year nineteen and eighty six. Also, I love that fucking that Punky Brewster. Is it above the fucking Yeah, it looks like her. The Santa Posa looks like I think it's a Punky Brewster looking the Sleigh Moonfry brother brother mean, we mean, fry dude, what's going on?
Ah dohn Fry Right, Wrestling's Hulk comes to Tampa. Hulk Hogan alias Terry Bolea of what.
They put that in the paper Brother. The kidding me Dude's scheduled to take on Terry Funk.
In one of eight matches Saturday. All right, that's I don't know, it's a little side like a sub headline there. Uh Hulkamania. You can't escape it. Hulk Hogan, the country's most famous wrestler, seems to be everywhere. Look in the bookstores you'll find Hulk Hogan's ugly mug brother glaring off a slick calendar looking. Look at the toy stores, you'll find the Hulk Hogan action figure, a newcomer that's throwing
a headlock on the he Man toys this Christmas. Look at Saturday Morning cartoons you'll find an animated version of The Hulk Hogan Rock and Wrestling Show. Where's the live action version of the Hulk Hogan Rock and Wrestling Show? I know, fact like there's any other version right. Look in the record stores you'll find the Hulkster and his
pals have a new album out. And look at television on any given weekend and you'll find Hulk Hogan and the wrestlers from the Worldlessing Entertainment on channels ranging from MTV to USA Cable and WFTS Channel twenty eight and WRTV in New York, and come Thursday Night, The Hulk will be at the University of South Florida Sundome for one of the four hundred or so live events that will be staged Brother this year by the WWE. Hulk defends the world title against Terry Funk in one of
eight matches scheduled. The WWE, headed by promoter Vince McMahon, is a high powered promotional organization that has catapulted wrestling from the dregs of the of a low budget, blue collar existence to the heights of popularity. Wrestling has become respectable, at least in appearances. For example, the event here Thursday night will be taped for NBC's Main Event, a Wrestling TV special that will air in place of Saturday Night
Live at eleven thirty pm January fourth. This is the third main event this season for NBC, and because the ratings for the previous ones have been much higher than the ratings for Saturday Night for Saturday Night Live, I don't think that's true. Yeah, I think that Saturday Night Life reruns. He doesn't say. I thought he doesn't say that at all.
Brother.
There are likely to be more, there's little doubt that Hulk Hogan alias Terry Belaya of Tampa Brothers Twice is the superstar of WWE, But the brains behind the glitz and glamour of a glamour of professional wrestling is the forty year old McMahon, the kingpin of the WWE. Only a few years ago, professional wrestling operated on a smaller scale. The country was divided. You want to put down as this, you want to talk about the fact that before the WWE,
they were, you know, it was divided. We have unified the entertainment industry. We have unified all of entertainment for everyone to enjoy in a way that has never been done. Entertainment has never been this organized. Only a few years ago, professional wrestling and operated on a smaller scale. The country was divided up into different sections run by different promoters. There were no national heroes. Bouts were held in armories
or high school gyms. Certainly not in baseball arenas, in baseball stadiums in Chicago or football stadiums in Minnesota.
Never, not at all, except you have to ignore when it did happen though for the exactly of course.
Then cable television came along and McMahon, who had knack, not a knack, but who had knack for showbiz, capitalized on his stable of outrageous talent. What happened was a combination of factors, including a little bit of luck. McMahon said in a telephone interview, the major difference is how we view wrestling from a production and promotion standpoint. We brought the entertainment value to a higher level. That's the
major philosophical difference in what we do. We are in the entertainment business and we want the fans to get their full value right.
So he's thoroughly transitioned onto that bullshit. Now, McMahon knows the business well. His grandfather promoted boxing in Madison Square Garden. His father promoted boxing and wrestling. I grew up in the business. I did everything from taking tickets to putting up rings. He knew that giving full value that meant that there could be nothing too outrageous for the World
Wrestling Entertainment Wrestlers. At the beginning of its rise to fame, the WWE, which is based in Connecticut, managed to reach into millions of homes because it was carried by w r TV in New York, York, a station that has offered on many cable systems that gave the w w E NASH nationwide exposure. In addition, McMahon launched a wild and crazy talk show originally originally called The Tuesday Night Titans on the USA Cable Network. The show has since
moved to Friday nights and is now called TNT. Formatted much like the Johnny Carson Show. TNT quickly became the darling of the yuppies, hipsters, and those looking for a high camp experience. I doubt that I emphasis on high. We're looking for a high camp experience. McMahon a handsome must thank you. We hear that, a handsome, muscular fellow played it straight as he tried to interview characters who would often challenge each other and then break up the furniture.
We try to be different. When you have people eccentricities that you know that some of our people have, why not use that to the optimum. Why not show off the very talents that make them stars in the ring?
Did he say eccentricities in the article?
When you have people with eccentricities, my god, that some of our people have, why not use that to the optimum, not the optimum effect, but the optimum The fuck is he doing? Following the success of the TNT show, McMahon began rubbing elbows with celebrities such as David Letterman and Dick Eversoll, the former producer of Saturday Night Live. Last year, ever Saw and McMahon joined forces to produce the main event series. It was the first time since the nineteen
fifties wrestling had received network recognition. McMahon said they picked Tampa for the third show because they wanted a quote warm locale. You know that may not mean much to you down there, but in many parts of the country it will be freezing cold on January fourth, So we thought the people I would like to see some warm weather,
McMahon said from an inside of an arena. Apparently, in addition to taping the eight matches that are slated for Thursday night, McMahon's crew will also be shooting at Adventure Island. He's ordered about two dozen curvaceous women for the event. Yes, well, you know, the we do appreciate curves and the WWE we think that curvaciousness is a is a a brand that may transcend the televised entertainment the equivalent.
Did you say curvaciousness is a brand? Yes, a nice stand by that apparently. Apparently you do all the weight of the w WE and legal aspects behind me. Before you go running off of the mouth too much. Remember the legal aspects have been engaged as well.
The card promises all sorts of excitement for the WWE fan included our matchups such as Rick Hunter facing King Kong Bundy, and a peace match between Corporal Kershner representing the United States and Nikolai Nikolai spelled n I c h O l I Volkov representing Russia. The Cold War was never like this. McMahon expects there that there will be more main events and that the WWE will be back in Tampta.
We've got a great following down there. He also feels the interest in wrestling hasn't peaked yet. What's next?
We go, well, you know, we're thinking about an award show for the Spring Wow.
It would be like the Grammys, and we'd call it the Slammies, and it would be a show where everything you ever wished would happen at one of those events would happen. That's his mentality. His mentality in the Slammies, is like, because that's how he thinks is we don't watch the Grammys and we want nothing more than for all these musicians to just start beating the ship out of.
Each other, right, we want we want these fucking crazy as Shenanigans to break down.
Of course we don't. And no, not at all, not even close. I just want to see the great serenaded and give speeches and you know, have quality set up for recognition exactly.
But no, what people really want to see is they want to see They want to see the then the musicians harassed the interviewers, right, they want to see the musicians fight each other when when they when one isn't given the award. I mean, this is what people want to see.
I've asked people, and for good measure, they can throw food around and maybe make jokes about schatology.
I you know, I I walk around my neighborhood and I say, hey, you know what do you want to see an award show? Do you want to see violence at an award show? And they said, well, I don't know.
I said, you do, don't you start? I know you, I know you do.
I know you want to see violence in an award show. Sure, sure, whatever, Vince, just whatever you say there, it is fact. He expects it will be carried by a major network. And you know, there could be a movie too. You know, we're talking to Warner Brothers right now. A WWE wrestling movie is very possible.
Possible.
Apparently nothing is impossible when it comes to McMahon and the WWE.
Just love getting to him when it's in the formative stages, in the larval stages in his mind. Yes, thinking about doing something in the spring.
We got ideas for a potential award program comes springtime. You know, let maybe a different style of vehicle that may promote other aspects of the WWE and the ww talent roster that may You.
Know, we.
Have a multitude of brand extensions that could entertain people for eons and decades to.
Come, eons, first in decades. He I love how he starts. He starts the line of thought.
With, well, yeah, well, well, you know we have various you know, we're always brainstorming here and me and the creative department of the World's Entertainment here in Stanford, Connecticut. We believe that brainstorming is the basis for all ideas.
Well thank God for that. So that's him in the months before the slam He's how about weeks after the Slamies April fifth, nineteen eighty six, The Financial Post in Toronto, Pro Wrestling's rich new grip promoter Vince McMahon took an old idea and made it big money spectacle on both sides of the border. It's sport, showbiz, vaudeville, and morality play all rolled into one. Wherever you heard that whole
fucking litanyah right, it takes place. He met a carnival like atmosphere and sports arenas in the biggest cities, in the smallest of towns. It's rolling across the continent like a jug or not. Professional wrestling Ryal Wrestling Federation style is rapidly becoming a multi million dollar, multi media, multi u name it phenomenon. The brains behind all this, braun is the Wiley Vince McMahon, president of Titan Sports Incorporated of Greenwich, Connecticut. His company controls the WWF and its
myriad of clever spinoff, licensing and merchandising enterprises. He's a third generation promoter who not content with the little wrestling empire in the Eastern US he inherited from his father and grandfather several years ago, is taking his show all over the US. In Canada, prior to McMahon in his
show of Bravado Wrestling was strictly a regional affair. There we go with promoters working within smallish boundaries, tying up several states or provinces exclusively and leaving outside markets to their competitors. Yes, I mean well, Neil, those are the things that we know. We contributed to the nationalization of professional entertainment as a whole, as well as the oil industry. Absolutely, we we solidified oil to create a base of uh sort of o peck emphasis on peck. And then they
get Jack Tunny quoted. He says this idea has been around for years. Says, in admiring Jack Tunny press, Can we can we get someone to just write something in the voice of Jack Tunny. Please, I don't care who it is, Jack, say this. Please just sit go and say this. Listen, answer the phone. They're going to ask you a question. Ignore the question, just say what's on the paper? How funny is it a legitimate news reporter
interviewing Jack Tunny like he's the actual president of the data. Yes, I mean, well, we want you to if you if you're interested, we do. I wouldn't mind you to introduce you to somebody, to introduce you to the president of the company. Uh, you know who was of a much more important status than I am. I'm simply the the the the developer of sorts, mister Jack Toney. Jack, please standings, please meet this reporter here. I believe his first name
is Howard. Thank you, Howard. Hey, I sound like David Lynch.
Yeah.
Yeah, Jack Toney had Lynch qualities. He did just a small touch of Lynch. He was like a lost, lost lost Lynch. Yes, yeah, but yeah. They're also interviewing him in his capacity is, as they say, here, Canada's top wrestling promoter based in Toronto, which, of course, when Vince made the deal to push into Toronto, he formed a venture with the Tunny family and they split profits, and they split them richly. The Tonnies got pretty much the best deal of anyone that got into bed with Vince.
I think that's really the key right there. It's really about venturing, right, That's what it was.
It was.
It was business venture after business venture. I mean, I should take that back. We haven't seen all the language of all the NDAs. So maybe some people got better money for getting into bed with Vince. But as far as as far as this goes, well, I can tell you and there have been many women who've gotten plenty of money and going to bed.
With me.
And you, and you're proud of that fact. Hey, listen, I believe in paying for services. I believe in the service industry. How amazing is it that he makes that sound noble? I believe in paying for sir, well, I guess when you put it that way.
I do too.
Absolutely, it's not a it's not so abnormal as people like to put it. I believe it is indeed truly normal, not abnormal.
A lot of people, Tenny says, get great ideas and then fold up when they run into restrictions. But he had the guts to keep going. Okay, say can you do that again?
Please?
I don't think it was delivered in the proper tonality. This idea of is right Tony's saying. You know, other promoters have tried to take over the entire world before. It didn't back off Vince Junior back didn't back off another's diad. They got cold, They got cold feet when the globe was at stake. Now they got cold feet once they got to Toronto. Three weekly okay. McMahon's marketing arsenal includes the use of this as well as the
Northern territories right. Three weekly syndicated TV shows on nearly one hundred and ninety independent stations in the US and Canada. Eight annual ninety minute specials. Good, No, there's eight Saturday nights made events? Is there eight? Or six? Is there eight?
Well?
In eighty six there were no. Usually it's like six. But but you know, hold on, that's something I think in eighty eighty six there were there were quite a few.
Yeah, and this article was written in eighty six, and fairness to the author, so they have no way of knowing whether NBC would order less uh in the future years.
So we're looking at I mean one, two, three, four, five, five five five okay, so five and eighty six.
But there were I'll tell you what, But but there were.
Eight?
When was this article written? Eighty six?
What?
What?
What month? I'll hold on's exactly how many? April fifth, nineteen eighty six? Oh god, I mean so at that point one, two three, there have been five at that point in total starting losing a five five Yeah, they have been five six yeah. I mean maybe maybe that's a little glimpse on the curtain. Maybe maybe NBC had an option for eight. You know, yeah, maybe exercise it. Why else would you put a number in there?
You know?
A weekly animated children's TV show on CBS called Hulk Hogan's Rock and Wrestling. Hogan is the WWA World Heavyweight Champion. The show is the network second most popular Saturday daytime program. I don't know if you're aware, but the current champion is Hulk Hogan. Let me introduce you to our our Matt n Idol, if you will. That was Awithstanding, America's
SWEETHEARTY know what, he's a He's a matine idol. He's also a late night idol, right emphasis It depends on depends on when, what type of day he's idling, but he is an idolator. He does engage in idolatry. And when I talk about a matinee idol, I put the emphasis on Matt. He's a matte idol. There's no way, there's no way. There's never been a profile of Hulkgan where it says matinee IDOL and m at R all capital letters. Oh that had to happen. That's pretty wild.
Think about this. They're on NBC, they're on USA, they're on CBS in the form of rock and Wrestling, and they're on MTV. Yeah. They are as wild. Yeah, every platform. I mean, it's like it's kind of funny, you know that make a big deal out of being on you know, USA and Fox. Yeah, you know, yeah, and it's like nothing. So they were, they were all over the place, and they were not just on these stations. They were like hot commodities on these stags were these days were sought after. Yep,
we were the station. A hot selling album on CBS Epic Records, featuring songs from many of the WWF top wrestlers in three rock music videos to help sell it. A bi monthly self promoting magazine called WWF that bos the circulation of two hundred thousand, nearly twice that of its nearest BI monthly. That's what it says. Yeah, I think it was at that point. Wow. Yep. Oh, it's a good trickle question for that. Back in the day, I know she talk about the agonizing months between.
Really, I mean, that's just it like, you know, you think about the four weeks, I have two weeks instead of four weeks. I mean I would have I would have I would have wet myself for that.
Yeah. When I read that, it kind of gets me excited because whenever I've seen like archives of the magazines, it always seems like there's a ton missing. But maybe it's just the BI monthly era. Yeah, I have to say, I do not know when they went monthly wrestle Maybe BI monthly is two months, yeah, every two months. What would be two in a month. There's not a word for that as far as I know, I'm thinking two in a month. Maybe BI weekly, wouldn't it if it's two in a month, I.
Guess, well, I guess that's true every Yeah. See that's what I was thinking. You were saying that that would have been great. BI monthly would have been awful.
Oh no, bye bye. Weekly weekly would have been like the deserver, fucking just on fucking run off a roof to grab well. They would have had to hire six editors a year, because I mean, Jesus Christ, that's a lot of work. WrestleMania, now in its second year, an annual close circuit TV extravaganza held each spring. TV stars like Joan Rivers and Kathy Lee Crosby will help notte
WrestleMania to April seventh as well. Mister T will box in it, and sports personalities like William the Refrigerator, Perry and Ed two Tall Jones will wrestle in it. Yeah, when we played that Chicago Bears a super Bowl song, no shortage of wressel Mania. Two participants in that thing. Absolutely, The licensing of more than forty products and toys, the staging of more than eight hundred shows annually in the
US and Canada. You can say that staging of is going to say staging of multitude of matches as well staging of fights. Yes, all this in less than two and a half years. New York based LGN Toys Limited is the master toy lice see of the WWF, selling everything from eight inch wrestling dolls there it is oh Helkamania exercise equipment. How many young hulkamaniac rock and wrestling kids opened a LJN on Christmas morning in eighty six a week to have their grandmother call it a doll?
Did you get the doll?
Or what he get?
One of those dolls. Did you get one of those wrestling dolls?
Grandma?
Fuck you right, That's where all started. The dolls were the main feature of the wrestling line. Last year. More than four million, four million were sold in the US at six to eight dollars. While you're having a lot of things on the table, While we have a lot of things on the table, I should say wrestling has improved the company, no question about it, says Andy Popolardo, who is l jn's advertising manager. Wrestling. All of a sudden,
it has become so popular. It's like Americana almost took a very careful note when he read that one that I am Americana. And this from Peter Budge, director of product manager of CBS Record Canada, which distributes the Wrestling album in Canada on its Epic label in Canada, we're very close to going platinum, which is one hundred thousand units for an item perceived as a novelty record. That's phenomenal, he said. All of pro wrestling is riding the wave
of popularity generated by the WWF. One broadcast salesman at Titan Sports estimates paid attendance at pro wrestling is increased by one third in North America in the past year. After the WWF, there are two other major wrestling promotional groups, the older National Wrestling Alliance based in the southern US, and the American Wrestling Association, which operates in the midwestern US.
Quote since the WWF took off, there is also a lot of little groups coming out of the woodwork every day, says joh my God, he's not talking about awn NWA, and he says that a series. Not No, says John Ort, publisher of New Jersey based Wrestling Eye magazine. Do you remember wrestling? I No, I don't know that one at all.
We know and then you'd see that on the newstands, one of roughly twenty five such publications on the market, twenty five different wrestling magazines, going wow, you imagine, God, just drop me off, drop me off, because Saturday's accounted for. Saturday's accounted for. Oh as, come on, all right, that's just I would actually want to go shopping. So yeah, so I could go to the magazine area and have like, of course, are you kidding?
I was.
That was one of my fucking stops, always one of my stops, you know, at I had, I had, you know, basically four stores I wanted to go to. When I went to the mall, it was usually KB Toys even you know, obviously into my twenties. As long as KB was around, I was seeing what what wrestling figures were available, to see what's going exactly. I would go to Suncoast Video. I would go to I don't know, straw whatever it with strawberries or some some record shop. Yes, I would
go to. And then I would go to the magazine, the magaz the Hudson News, so that I could see what, you know, what wrestling magazines were available, who was on the cover? What can I what is what is getting me interested?
Right?
Always it was amazing and time that will never you know, it's been ripped away from us. Yeah, it has. It has. We say it all the time. Physical media, and that includes magazines, media of physicality. Anyway, the WWAF refuses to supply with pictures for his magazine. They've preferring to keep total control of its product. You don't have to like them, the WWF, but they've done a lot for themselves and the rest of the business indirectly, whether they've wanted to
or not. McMahon is a genius in his own time. You've got to give the devil his due, he says. McMahon's marketing prowess has unveiled a new and growing audience. It's not purely the blue collar sport. A lot of people think it is, says one Titan salesman. The professional managerial class and upper income people are well represented. A lot of people have come out of the closet to admit they're wrestling fans. Mcmon's that's so funny. Even did you know the professional managerial classes out there?
Oh?
Those are the days, man, you're still coming. I mean, listen, we're still coming out of closet for that ship. Look, it's not all blue collar. This guy owns eight TGI Fridays in Greater Cleveland. Mcmon's leading attraction is the charismatic Hogan at six eight three ten pounds.
The hulkster is wit charismatic dude, charismatic brother?
What is that? What was that? A?
Is that sarcasm? Dude? Right?
Well?
Are you saying that, I'm what do you mean by Charris? What's your what's your deal?
Dude?
Are you saying I have the riz brother? The rizz t is the Tis or ish Tis? Wait? Is nay, brother who mhmm, it works now tis tis now the witching of the night. Tis but my name, that is my enemy. But now when when you say tiss at the bar, dude, he starts, he starts reading like old English, tis for for it is, it's right, tis nobler, nobler for what tis is nobler than what brother w W. I can get behind that, dude, brother, laser spine I'm nobler. What if Hogan came back and did the triple H
offensive set, he'd do the laser spinebuster? You know that, right? Yes?
I do, I do.
I can confirm that he would do that at six A, three hundred ten pounds the whole state budget. I can't believe we didn't say that during TNH. I can't believe. I can't believe that either. That's tremendous. Shout out to the homie John who's taking another jaunt through TNH. God blessed those those brave souls. Oh my god. Yeah, I won't is as imposing a figure outside the ring as he is inside.
I don't know.
Just something tells me us resurfacing TNA like we did that time is going to lead to I don't know. Just like a short term moment of TNA nostalgia where people are going to be looking back at what happened. A former rock musician in Bodybuilder, Hogan is one of
the most sought after celebrities in Hollywood. He has made appearances on Saturday Night Live, love Boat in the A Team, He has his own animated TV show, numerous licensed products, countless personal appearances, not to mention beating up opponents with names like the Magnificent Morocco, Big John stud and King Kong Bundy three or four times a week.
Wow.
WWF's original strength lay in Madison Square Garden in New York, considered the mecha wrestling in North America, but the phenomenon has spread to the NaSTA County Coliseum on Long Island. Oh wow, that's a fucking You talk about a brand extension, that's a forty five minute drive. I can't. I can't believe they're going that far. Spectrum in Philly, the Meadowlands in New Jersey, in the Capital Center in Orlando, Ver, Maryland.
Yet I mean all these fucking I mean, listen, not even Philadelphia is that far.
Those are all markets they were in before this expansion, right exactly, very curious to put it that way. Well, Madison is where Garden is historically been a wrestling sellout with its twenty two thousand plus fans. Even prior to its WWAF association. The other four locations now played a packed houses of fifteen to seventeen thousand, where's before they were in the nine to ten thousand range. Drawn up motor Tunny switched to the WF from the NBA in
July nineteen eighty four and hasn't looked back. We've been hasn't looked back because he doesn't know how. He was busy in Alzheimer's patient through the whole We've been bringing in shows to make Believe Garden since nineteen thirty one, and we've always done well, but with the WWF we've been doing a capacity business twice a month for the past five months. Donny also brings WF cards into smaller arenas all over Ontario elsewhere.
I've been oh to tell you that the WWE is better than anything I've done.
And that's a quote, and this is not set under duress or in there any personal fear of reprisal. It says here that I chose to tell you this elsewhere in Canada. Alberta and Quebec are also wrestling hot beds, although they don't get WDBF cards yet. Oh that's not true. They were going to Quebec already definitely out and that Jacques came in in eighty four. I think it was, yeah, something like that. Yeah, Alberta and Manitoba get AWA cards,
Quebec gets the IWF. Well, that's true. That was the Deno Bravo outfit, but that was not the only game in town. They had already started to do some shows up there in the US. Mcmaon the wrestlming and two is seeking to crack the major markets of Chicago and Los Angeles. Wressellmingia two will feature three live shows emanating from the Los Angeles Sports Arena, Nassau Coliseum, and the
Rosemont Horizon outside of Chicago. The key matches from each will be piped across the continent live on close Circuit TV. There will be more than one point five million people paying up to fourteen dollars a ticket to watch WrestleMania two in North America, including twelve locations across Canada. How do you know, I guess they already sold one point five million closed circuit tickets. That's fucking amazing. Wow, that's crazy. The WBF stars all have exclusive contracts with Titan Sports
for their services. Yeah, I'm sure they do. Yeah right, yeah, Ironclad pushed in front of them at a TV tape being signed or get shot in the head, you know, once they realized how much money is coming in. I've never threatened if I didn't have to. Didn't we read the contract?
Yeah?
We read it because because it came out where he was like, we're all riding this wild train together, where the exactly it's a fucking bullshit. Yeah yeah, Jerry Briscoe found a copy in his archives, right, kind of the first contracts they issued around to the talent once this all this mania started to happen, and the rights to
merchandise their names on all the licensed product lines. Nobody signing the checks will tell you the exact figures, but many of the top good guys and bad guys are said to be making in the two hundred to four hundred thousand dollars range, and Hogan's anual net worth has been pegged it anywhere from two point four million to four million dollars by the WWF and at one million dollars by wrestling eyes ort. But wrestlers earn every penny they make. As far as Toney is concerned, it's a
hell of a grind. They're up in the morning nearly every day to travel. They wrestle three or four times a week, and when they're not fighting, they're doing TV interviews. They're just isn't any time to sit at home and count their money, because it's gone by the time they
get home. Exactly, They've already spent it on alcohol, drugs, yes, sex women, yeap hotel rooms that the company won't pay for meals, the company won't pay for health insurance, the company won't pay for rental cars, the company won't pay for I mean, listen, listen, I mean you know what do you want all those things paid for?
You need?
I mean, you know we're talking about you know, where where do you think the money comes from? And we're giving you everything we can and you want us to spend more on you. But you know what about the company?
Right?
What about us? The only reason they pay for your flight tickets is so you can't try to cafade the deal and get there late. Right, Exactly, exactly the way. We know that you're there. We know where you are, when you are, and why you are, and you take the Red Eye. You know, you always take the earliest flight so that you never have an excuse of being late. So what's really so different from wrestling today compared to bygone eras? They look better, work out more, and our
TV production is much better. Toney says, yeah, they work out more, all right. Gorgeous George Yukon, Eric Whipper Watson, they were big stars, but nothing like Hogan. He's big in every corner of the world. If you look took the Junkyard Dog, yes that's another wrestler, or the author. We go and hopped a plane to Egypt, they'd know him there. Oh my god, they'd know him there. Huh, boss, I guess they would. If you're saying that, if he was telling me that, then I'm then it must be true.
All these conditions resulted in, among other things, our topic de jure, the nineteen eighty six Slammies, and with it coming up in MTV, if you happen to be flicking the channel, says, we used to do so joyously in America. This may have been something you came across.
You've heard of the Oscaris, You've heard of the Grammys, now MTV, the World Wrestling Generation Grace at the Slammies.
Drive and the slam Is.
That's because I'm different.
I love it.
The best best performing single artist. I'm gonna have to pid myself, don't forget such a watches Baby.
Seven thirty eight o'clock launched the first.
Claws, MTV Baltimore Civic Center, the Slammy Awards.
Rock and Wrestling at its best.
Seven thirty eight. It's like the Jeopardy time slot right exactly so bizarre. It's so bizarre. Playboy Magazine with this excerpt, February first, nineteen eighty six, after the Wrestling album came out. The rock and wrestling connection, much valuehooed by my part time employer, MTV, is that both are ninety five percent posturing and five percent substance, and my experience this ratio tends to hold for the rest of life as well.
But it is easier to discern and rock and wrestling, which I think makes both activities such inviting targets for politicians across the ideological spectrum. Okay, we need to let this author go yes, yep. I think it's about the worst sentence I've ever read in my life. I think he has I think that the fork needs to be stuck inside this gentleman and playboy paid more per word than anybody in those days. There is good posturing motivated by P. T. Barnum style greed and the desire to
have fun. And there is evil posturing motivated by paranoia and the desire to look like a hero. While weaseling on the MX. What the wrestling album at paranoia? What do you mean? What by various stars of the word Wrestling Federation is posturing at its best? He declares, the wrestling album Boss posturing at its best. Indeed, I think we got to the bottom of that with Budrillard and with the help of dere Dah for one thing, the producers Rick Derringer, Joel Norn, Dave Wolf and Monaflombay Cindi
Lauper's new alter ego. We're smart enough to know that funny music isn't funny. Serious music in a silly situation is funny. Serious music in a silly situation is funny? Were you talking about it? What the you saying? He's just trying to say these songs are serious in a silly way in and of themselves, oh my god. But when presented by wrestlers, they take on a silliness that makes them actually funny. No, no, wrong, that's wrong. Listen, that's objectively wrong. Yeah, you get to stop, man, this
guy's gonna fucking stop. Hence, the musicians are playing crisp pop in various styles and are not competing with the singing wrestlers for exuberant awfulness. And boy are the singing wrestlers exuberantly awful. Particular standouts are Rowdy Roddy Piper's for Everybody actually Fuck Everybody, and Nikolai Volokov's astoundingly slurred Kadamia. The one exception is Deringer's Real American, which is serious we are an embattled minority style nationalism, which is a load. Okay,
this playboy writer calls Real American a load. One way to look at it, drop a load.
Hm.
But if the rest of this record gets any radio play at all, it could be one of the great party records of the year. If you can't get off on silliness this transcendent, you're probably a politician. Oh my god. The fuck. Honestly, how was the god like the work that writers did in the eighties to like intellectualize things, man, my goodness and like the like to be witty and have this you know, the intellectual is the wrong word. Yeah, you're right.
Yeah, like they're trying they're trying to be like smart, allgy and trying to be you know, uh kind of I don't know, ahead of the curve is not the right term, I think, but like they just want to be you know, I don't know, they're just obnoxious. Like the fact that the fact that that that people that there were people who signed off on this as good writing is is just unbelievable.
Yeah, like they're editors that said, yeah this works. Love It a time in America where you could just be like, yeah, it's no worse than politics. Hun, Everyone's like, ah ha, exactly, that's so dated. It sounds so forced now, you know sound I mean it sounds forced, then sounds forced. Then sure, Yeah, that that was that was the sensibility at the time. It was like we're all above politics, you know, but if you don't follow politics, then you're not part of
the writerly class. Comment exactly, Come on, I mean can't be part of the commentary unless you watch what are you reading?
Though?
You know you're you're making comments and stuff, but you don't even know what you're talking about.
You know.
Of all the people that lampooned it, most brilliantly, and I think we excerpted this on our Wrestlmania one show all those years ago, was MTV themselves when they did that whole thing. Remember in the cafe where the intellectuals that they recruited to sit around and talk about the
dialectics of wrestling. Remember that, yes, they were mocking New York intellectuals, but they hired actual intellectuals to talk about pro wrestling in a total tongue in cheek way, and they put it on the on the broadcast and a lead up to things when they were showing all these rock stars commenting on who they thought who they wanted to win, between hul Coke and Roddy Piper.
It's funny, you know, it's it's it's uh, you know, it's materialization.
We talked about the fact that the same night of the nineteen eighty six Slammis was Saturday night's main event. I don't know if you know this, Boss but you do appreciate that right after the Slammys finished, they did a house show in the same building, right. Wow, I did not know that they sold those tickets just to watch a half hour stage show. Well, they bought tickets to watch a four hour staged show. But you get my point.
Now.
There was a whole event with Piper and Orndorf and a steel cage in the main event right there in Baltimore, and in fact, Ventur and Monsoon were on hand for commentary. The only video, curiously that's emerged of the matches that night are not the high profile ones, but a lot of the j brone matches, which apparently they aired in some for some form or other. I've seen them, but I've seen them sort of isolated, not as part of
a broader television broadcast. But really, yeah, at some point on one of their syndicated shows or something, they must have aired these and we'll talk about which ones have survived on videotape. But yes, the house show that followed it took place right there in the Baltimore Arena, fourteen thousand in attendance. It was Jim Powers defeating Barrio. It
was George Wells beating Jose Luise Rivera. It was Danny Spivey beating Ron Shaw, Siva Offy pinning Renegoula, The Junkyard Dog pinning aj Pertruzzi, Antony Atlas pinning Iron Mike Sharp.
There was also Nikolai Volkov and the Iron Cheek defeating George Steele and Corporal Kirchner, King Kong Bundy pinning Hillbilly Jim and Paul Orndorf again defeating Ruddy Piper in a steel cage match where apparently Piper had according to a comment on YouTube underneath the Slammies where someone who apparently was at the show was reflecting, Piper had his pants pulled down at a particular juncture in the contest, and Orndorf snaked out of the cage crawling through the door.
But yeah, this is wild that there was a wrestling show right after the first Slammings. And here's just a taste of the kind of things Gorilla and Jesse were saying on the few matches they did commentate that ended up seeing the light of day.
Very Oh take an exception to some of our ring signers here were John Park once again. SRO signs went out early about ten days ago this Baltimore Civic Center was sold out to capacity for this World Wrestling Federation and Wrestling at Club Agenda.
Well, I'll tell you, Gorilla, that's the key now.
Even to get tickets to come to the live events, you've better plan on getting them about two weeks ahead of tilon you go and there won't be none to get.
Well, you should get them the night that you're here. Yes, you should get them to the next event because they usually always go on so at that time, Lobby the wise man, you'd know that during because I understand it. You're generally at the paper your seat here, don't you trust? Thank God, I don't have to, Jack, I figure if you reserve that all the time? An I nice because I'm paying for it.
I get my scream to make me.
Pay for your well Frob, how about right not nice? Counter by burialgate deft pressure by reaching it, pushing out back to the time.
It's the Lapsed Fan Wrestling podcast, the wrestling podcast that knows the boys need their candy. It's the Lapsed Fan. He's the Lapsed Fan Wrestling Podcast with Jack and se.
Mg so Yes Barrio Barrio not Barrio Barrio in the fucking Barrio Spaghettio. Yeah. Yeah, there we go against Jim Powers there excerpted. Uh, they're talking a lot about the sold out crowd, and yeah, I'm sure would have sold out anyway, considering how hot they were at the time, But they're not mentioning the people are there to see
the Slammies. It's like, right, an afterthought. But yeah, when they show like the wide shot to start the Slam Awards broadcast in MTV, you do, in fact see a ring set up, and it's you see it, and you just think it's part of like a set design, you know. Yeah, that's what I thought. I thought it was just kind of part of the set, and I didn't realize it
was a thing not there to work. The Saturday It's main event that night, as mentioned, was from Phoenix, and it had been taped on February fifteenth and airing here on March first, and it includes, as mentioned, the premiere of Real American. I guess you could say the network television premiere of Real American. It has some interesting pre roll. You know that before they started playing natural Song on Saturday Night's main event, they played archival footage of JFK saying,
ask not what you can do for your country? Oh my god, are you here? Ask not what your country could do for you? Yeah? Why, I don't know. I guess they thought that was relevant. Yeah, and keeping with what they wanted to portray about Ulk Hogan at the time. Okay, it's weird. The video also shows him tearing up a picture of Gadaffi. As we mentioned, by the time they aired the video on the broadcast, Hulk had already been
totally ambushed and sent to the hospital. My Ginggong Bundy, So it's almost like a it's a bit tearful, you know, for wrestling fans. There was an mentioned in one of the newsletters. The guys that between the sheets picked this up and the newsletter I haven't heard of before, but somebody who was live in attendance in Phoenix for this taping said that not only you know, was the Hull cogaan angle harrowing for the live crowd, but they actually
got on the microphone and told the live crowd. According to this newsletter report, it wasn't the observer, but it's another one. They told the crowd that we can't get a pulse on Hul Cogan. Oh No, they did not. That's what That's what was reported. Imagine that. I'm sorry,
ladies and gentlemen. We apologize for the delay. We are tending to Hulk Hogan right now as closely as we can medically, and I regret to say it might be quite a while at the moment I hesitate to say, but we do not have a pulse on Hulk Hogan. We do not have the audience, the pulse of the audience. Clearly, you imagine the children crying, I mean exactly, like, what are they thinking, Well, you gotta get as much emotion out of the crowd for this. I guess this is
the NBC angle that's gonna sell WrestleMania. You can't. You can't leave anything on the table. That's awful. But as mentioned the reason I carved out the Real American premieers, the network television premieers. There is evidence, though I couldn't find video of it, and I'm sure if it did exist, it would be very easy to find. Of Vince McMahon as guest vjay on MTV earlier in the day presenting the premiere of the Real American Video for the music
television audience. Here's a blurb MTV and Wrestling tangle again. The first maybe annual maybe not Slamy Awards will be telecast live from before the eyes of fourteen thousand avid wrestling fans at the Civic Center in the heart of downtown Baltimore, Maryland, Friday March first, seven thirty pm Eastern Time only on MTV. Host of the show as none other than the Voice of the Ward Wrestling Federation, Vince McMahon.
Among the well muscled nominees who have promised to show up that nighter, Freddy Lassie Jesse, the Badi Ventura and Captain Lewell Bano. Okay, you're promoting the managers and the commentators. That's who you're promoting. Okay, Emily needs somebody. Mtvvjays Alan Hunter and Martha Quinn will be in Baltimore to offer color commentary during the history making event that not turned
out to be the case. Alan Hunter was, of course the mtvvj that was backstage for War to settle the score and has been a couple of historical documentaries about the first WrestleMania that whole time period since, and he was integral. He was the guy that sits with Gene Okerland and kind of narrates this whole idea of rock and wrestling before we get to the Hogan Piper match on war to settle the score. But he was not on the slamm He's Martha Quinn, however, was We'll get
more acquainted with her in a little bit. She's backstage in a sweater trying to figure out what the fuck is George Steele's problem for instance. Yes, oh my, I know she is just ah, she doesn't want to pold woman, that poor woman. I mean, it is just it's so awful. I feel for her. I do so, it says here. Vince McMahon to guest vjay prior to the Slammy telecast. Vince McMahon will be a guest vjay on MTV Wednesday, February twenty six, So it wasn't earlier that day. It
was a week before. Wednesday, febru twenty six, from ten to eleven pm Eastern Time, McMahon will introduce the world premiere of Haul Cogan's new video Real American, with music by Rick Deringer, and reveal a little behind the scenes Slammy information. But I wouldn't give to see that clip. We don't have such luck, right, I know, I mean, that's just that that sucks. I would I would hope, if I would hope, I would hope too. Absolutely, This from the Los Angeles Times in May of that year,
Sound and Vision, rock and Round the Flag. Is it too late to reschedule the bi centennial? Now that rock and rollers finally are getting into the American spirit on Moss about a decade too late. The MTV channel is starting to look more like something that could be called the USA Network that already exists. So I'm gonna get this Chris Willman on the phone. This guy's an idiot. These guys are I mean, honestly, you know, I just want to have such clever turns a phrase always does it.
Also clearly don't want to be doing this. They don't even like put in the time to kind of like gussie it up for no reason. Just tell us convey the information please, I mean, don't have to be dry, but like, what was that all about?
Right?
This new patriotism takes many forms. There's Jackson Brown singing that he wished these United States were in the right for America, and then there's the America right or wrong flavor of novelties like the collaboration between wrestling heavyweight Hulkgan and rock lightweight Rick Derringer. Ouch, Wow, Wow, Real American. Neither vision of the Red, White, and Blue is very compelling, unfortunately,
at least not in the video translation. There is something uniquely American, though, in the fact that the bottom of this barrel of current video clips is scraped by a bad actor taking on a new career. Ratings are based on a scale of zero to one hundred. Okay, so he's rating a series of patriotic albums at the time, of course, Real American being among them. On the wrestling album he writes ul Coogan and Rick Dernder's Real American,
directed by Ed Gorillas. Derringer had good sense not to make an appearance in this video for a song from the Wrestling outl but the haltster provides ham enough for one hundred clips. While the missing singer promises to fight for the rights of every man. The hunky wrestler is seen entering the ring to best an opponent dressed in red or crumpling up a photo of Gadaffi or playing air guitar against a rear projection backdrop of Mountain majesties
and spacious skies. Like Brown's video, this one also uses stock war footage, but of the more victorious type i e. Pre Nam. The sheer imbecility of a guy in tights equating himself with World War two vets might be more offensive if it wasn't such a rare example of Dada at its most heightened and aggressive. Did they fucking call this dada?
Wow?
I'm going to send you the direction and I'm gonna make you read it back to not only me but yourself, and the people go ahead. Oh my god, this is the kind of stuff that WWF's fucking rise in the eighties. Da Da, dadaist art. Jesus Christ. The sheer imbecility of a guy in tights equating himself with World War two vets might be more offensive if it wasn't such a rare example of Dada at its most heightened an aggressive level performances reality. I mean, you know, dada, isn't it fitting?
Is it's definitely uh you know, da da? How so it just you know, it's anti establishment, it is uh uh you know, it comments on its own absurd. It's it's a it's a public gathering demonstration. You know, I mean we're talking. It falls under the whole fucking thing there. Does it comment on its own absurdity? Of course it does.
Does it blurred the lines between art and life? I mean that's the Slammy Awards right there. Yes, okay, that is the Slammy Awards.
Man.
I would have loved to share a romagine. This is great. Okay, this is on the Wikipedia page of Dada. Okay. Yes, the work of French.
Poets, Italian futurists and German expressionists would influence Dada's rejection of the correlation between words and meaning.
That's it Data, Yeah, exactly.
I was waiting for some going to play, Hi Dada, We're gonna go there on the slant? Do you dare I consider me a Dadaist Thedaist?
Oh, oh my goodness, here we go. According to Hans Richter, Dada is not art.
It is.
It is.
Anti art. Wow, that's pro wrestling. Yes, it is, it is anti art. I like that. Where art was concerned with traditional aesthetics, Data ignored aesthetics. If art, if art was if art was to appeal to sensibilities, Dada was intended to offend. It is pretty funny to call him dada intended to offend, that's intended to offend. That's Roddy Piper, right, that's everything, absolutely, that's Aron't she can Nikola Volkhov and anybody who got heat the old, the old fashioned way.
Dada attempted to reflect onto human perception and the chaotic nature of society. I don't know, man, something everything is dada too, she beware of dada. Empty Dadaism is a disease self kleptomania. Man's normal condition is dada. But the real dadas are against dada. A quote for by Tristan Sarah and the Romanian ofvant Guard poet. Yeah, the real dada is what.
The real dadas or against the data. Yeah, everything is dada. Beware of dada.
That's that's what they used to tell Stephanie.
Stephanie, beware dada because everything is dada, but the real data against dada.
Yeah.
Oh, so you're saying, are you saying Sean O'Shea is my dad? Is that what you're saying?
Perhaps mister o'she real da Da against the da Da. It's a Romanian poet, I Robailian bullet. I'm no expert, but I think Barth would see the Slammies as a ritual of exaggerated meaning.
Let me, let me, let me tell you, all right, I think Barth would have been the front fucking row absolutely all right, like just soaking in the absurd post modern example in front of him. Yes, just how many okay, how it's commenting upon itself exactly. He would be obsessed with this cafe merit that's being celebrated, the bizarre, like this perception of humanity right through the lens of absurdity. Yep, okay,
he would have. He would have fucking like he let me tell you, the moment after the first award happened, he would have been on his feet, standing ovation who wins. He wouldn't have sat down again, and he would say, you know who wins, the Slammy doesn't matter. What matters is the pageantry of pretending it does. Yes, oh ah, the slam Slammies. Okay. And that night at NBC they had the Mister T bob Orton boxing match to set up Piper and Mister T at WRESTLMINGA two. They had
Bundy squash Jobber, Steve Gator Wolf. They had Hogan beat Morocco viadiqu when Bobby Heenen ran in stomped his head, and then they had Bundy splash Hogan until he was hospitalized. They had Beefcake and Valentine over the British Bulldogs in a preview of the Wrestleminia two tag team Tanitnele match that they had, and the broadcast closed out with Junkyard Dog versus Adrian Adonnis. Vince McMahon is out there, he's on the stump. They go to the NAPTI convention, the
National Association of Television Producers and Executives. I think it is where you, you know, put on a show on a convention show floor to try to get people to advertise on your television network. Yeah, and here's a report that survived all these years from some local television station I think napt He was in New Orleans that year, and they actually had done a show in New Orleans.
I think we mentioned earlier, right around this time where Vince Man they've set up a ring in the middle of this convention hall where these more tony Gria can have a fake wrestling match against I think Rene Gula, which is just awesome. There's all these people, all these convention goers in suits sitting there trying to burst out laughing at what it is they're watching. But what we get at the very tail end of this report, after some nat sound if you will, is just Vince in
his at his most nineteen eighty six. I want you to picture him with the vest underneath his suit jacket. You know what I mean, that extra layer. Yep, Yep, there we go, yep, nineteen eighty six.
WWF right here, I guess a bullet here this afternoon from Upland, New Zealand debt. He is a former five time co holder.
On the World Wrestling Confederates in tag team Championship belts. Wait in at two hundred and thirty eight pounds. Welcome to the Orleans Tolly Carrea Ouria along fall pound.
Explain with the best scene was expleen?
Okay, what is the role with wrestling at a convention like this? What do you guys get entertained? Yes, exactly what we do as we do at an arena. That's what we do at a convention. Why I like this, That's why at this booth you will see nothing but jampack people and other booths. You won't see too much traps. How would this stack up against all the other kinds of product shows that they sell at this convention. I would say we'd do extremely well in terms of the
television ratings that we get. We just did a ten point five on the last Saturday night Areen event for any you see, which is the highest late night.
Rating in over three and a half years.
It's indicative of what our overall ratings are doing a ververy product. So wrestling, the popularity wrestling hasn't peaked yet, well, it certainly not in the World Wrestling Federation. Wrestling has always been around for years and years, but the World Wrestling Federation has it, and it's our brand of excitement.
Its starners and numbers, and definitely not.
Exactly is this as this is exactly what we've seen with watching one of these matches, but I can see it's the same.
It's somewhat uh more more of demonstrations. Actually here at the little bit all in out competition, we hear a lot of magectives used to describe the show's being sold here, dynamic, exciting, zany whatever.
Why would you describe this this program?
I really think it defies description, honestly, I mean there's something here for everyone, and it's just the World Wrestling Federation.
It pretty weuch speaks for itself. Thank you, thank you. God's so noxiously.
And that's called that's called that's called a beautiful belly.
The Pelly Superets right Overland belly was.
Well executed by the former amateur.
It's the laps Fall Wrestling Podcast, the wrestling podcast that knows the boys need their candy.
It's the Lapsed Fan.
He's the Lapsed Fan Wrestling podcast with Jack and Carnacio m JP sooro.
I mean, what are you here in Vince though we entertain That's his answer, and they ask is wrestling peaked? And he's like, well, I want to say, well you think of his wrestling as peaked, but I don't.
Know what you think of wrestling peak. But you know, I mean here in the World Rossling Federation, I believe that we haven't been around long enough to have peaked yet, Like, what the fuck? We've only been around a couple of years.
What are you talking about? Man, We've been around a couple of years, been on television holding a microphone since nineteen seventy three. You well, not to forget the wrestling product itself. I mean we're talking about the the the mountain climbing of the entertainment prospects of entertainment television formatting. Well, you know when you put it that way, and we're really proud of it. No, we're really proud of what we do. There's something for everybody, Well what we do.
It's funny you say there's something here for everybody, Vince, because I don't see anything here for people who think wrestling is a complete fucking waste of time and a joke. I don't see anything for them. So that's most people.
But the way, But I just just love Vince in his element, getting this kind of like soft touch media attention for the first time and still somehow finding a way to like talk shit, you know, Like there he is like some of the other no one the other booths gives a shit about what's going on in our booth has a line, you know.
I mean, people are innested in what the Rustling Federation I has to offer, the the entertainment prospects and the what the entertainment battlefield if you.
Will, And did you know what defies description? Boss?
Did you know that? You know?
I like to think that what we're doing is actually a classic example of data.
Oh shit, imagine if you went there with this interview with the guy would be fucking lost. You know, we are you know we we we we model our our format and you know, uh, entertainment design on a data basis. We consider ourselves to be a German expressionist, especially that of my kid, but I could I'm I consider myself to be an American expressionist, right, an American Dada and our talent signed on the data line.
In terms of my I mean, it's actually on. And this is why I can say we are practicing dataists. Is that I can say with full confidence and that notwithstanding that I am an American data.
Well, there's another working title for the Netflix one on
a multitude of level. You know, at some point we became aware that our talent was thinking about union unionization over disgruntlement of their royalty payouts as we exploit so many new licensing revenue streams here the World Wrestling Federation and Titan Sports, Inc. So what I thought I'd do to kind of drive the point home to our talent that it's us creating the value and thus we at Titan Sports that deserve the line and share of profits
for these exploited likenesses. What I would do is sit a talent down disclosed to them precisely how much in dollars that we had sold of merchandise featuring their likeness. I would then produce a briefcase with that denomination in American dollars to them. And then what I would do is I'd make them sit there and watch as I took every last dollar that I was owed and left them with barely one percent of what was in the briefcase, and I made them watch me put it in my pocket.
I like to remind them exactly of where they stand in the grand scheme of things, and so I like to talk money about them when they are when they haven't eaten in at least seven hours, and while they're there and while they are starving and they are desperate for money, I will eat dinner in front of them, right so they can understand that you have to reach for the brass ring in order to eat the brass ring.
And here you see now four hundred thousand dollars that you helped us generate in toy sales and merchandise sales. And I just like you to watch pal as I take thousand dollars bands until three hundred and ninety thousand of this money has gone into my own pocket. I'd
like to say that you know what you have. You know when you when you consider the fact I mean this is this is only fair when you consider exactly well, yes, it is your physical likeness, but the the there are many layers as to what goes on in the creation of this merchandising opportunity. And you know, as much as your likeness is what is selling the product, it is the people behind the scenes, the platform putting the product together.
It's the platform, and this certain platform that actually has done the hard work. If I say platform, if I say platform enough, suddenly I'm owed eighty percent of revenues. I mean, listen, we we are, we are you know, we are working. We are performing on a multitude of platforms, right, and we have to consider, you know, the value and the worth of each individual platform on a need to
know basis. Vince is just like he's playing pretend on being a real businessman, you know what I mean, Like he's learning in real time, like what stuff gets people to go, what the fuck you're talking about? And what stuff gets them to nod along. I mean, you know this is this is just simple business, you know, mathematics. Can you help me out here? I want to wear I want to wear designer sweaters too. I want to design Dick Eversol sweatered sweaterd during this era, and he's
very much sweatered in this piece. This is a I believe it's a BBC news report. It's also from nineteen eighty six, so it's timely. And they actually sit down with Vince in the old Hollyhill Lane address uh wow, in Stanford. They show the exterior of the building, which is fascinating to look at. Just saw that they have taken down Boss the WW logo from atop of the old Titan tower. It's just the faded kind of black outline where it used to be. You can kind of
make it out, but it's just it's gone. What a disgrace, What a disgrace. I mean that tower has been there our entire lives as wrestling fans. Yep, A beacon in like this quaint area. You know, it's the new headquarters is surrounded by a million other glistening office towers. It's not it is visually distinct because they made a big show of it, but it's Titan Towers was like this little weird headquarters for the wrestling stuff in the middle of this neighborhood in Stamford. It's like a it's like
a three family next to it. You know, when I saw that the logo was gone, it's just black up there, so sad, so sad. I don't know, man, just awful. I don't know. So here he is. They're just gonna destroy it. There's no I mean, no one's going to buy that ship. What did Vince say at the live show in Philly lapsed? Vince? He said, you know the day will come when the building comes crumbling down, and in that moment you will think of me, and you will be grateful that I inherited this earth, because who
are you wrestling fans if not for me? Listen, I said it, and I believe it. Wow, there's Vince.
The World Wrestling Federation is no stranger to hustle or bustle. His head off is in peaceful Connecticut wrestling impresario Vince McMahon to see the creative inspiration which is.
The secret of his success.
From there, Hulk is scheduled for a premiere of his cartoon series.
Handed turned amun wrestling from an old fashioned grunt and groan spectacle into an unfolding military for mass audiences.
For the hype leading up to the match is very carefully. Man literally looks upon that hype the same way the producer of Dynasty or Dallas looks at his supreme corse. Here they have one man who sits in a room a year round and writes a scenario six months in advance for what's going to happen leading up to these matches.
And the wrestling business, it's a question of two or more individuals going out to the ring wrestling, having a little bit of applause or what have you from the audience, and it's time to go home until the next match.
That's not really what we do.
We're in the sports entertainment business, yes, And there is a huge philosophical difference between being in strictly the wrestling business and being in the sports entertainment business.
As we are amidst the scramble for quick bucks and instant excitement, a lone voice of dissent is making itself heard.
I think it's stresses everything which is dirty undided. I think It teaches that you've got to be dirty in order to be successful in this life.
Senator Abe Bernstein as a New York lawyer who wants to introduce legislation to have McMahon's shows banned.
It glorifies brutality and physical violence and reminds me of the Roman days of gladiators.
You don't see knives, you don't see guns, you don't see rapes, you don't see anything at all like that that's portrayed in anything.
That we do as long as family oriented environment.
Oh so it's the laps editor who's on television. That's what that is right there, he's coming for it. Hi, this fucking bullshit, this bullshit carnival he's doing that. We don't do rapes that they would bring that they would dust that one off for the attitude era.
Well, we don't do rapes unless it's the raping of the giants, right, does raping of dignity count pal right exactly? Listen, we don't listen, we don't. We don't televise rape. We don't televise, uh, televise.
That's a big difference. And we don't do you know, we don't. You know, these are these are certainly things that differentiate us from uh any of your any of your your network, your primetime network, uh entertainment vehicles. We we what we do is really family oriented, action, adventure, comedy entertainment. You know, we're telling stories and we are you know, we we simply are out there to put a smile on the fans' faces. And you know, we
don't do any of the negative things. You know, we're not out there uh uh you know, doing drive by shootings, right, you know we're not. We're not talking about portraying hard like some of them primetime hits. We're not portraying murder. You know, we would never ever think to do that. We certainly don't put people on fire. We we don't drop people from high altitudes. We don't pay we don't pay off investigators to drop cases charges against our wrestlers.
You know, we don't use you know, barbed wire weaponry that we'll never do that ever. You know, we don't we don't do stories of sexual uh uh desire and and incestual opportunities. Now, I know why'd be aware of data such a Only Vince has ever said these two words together. Incestual opportunities I'm not saying the two words have never been said side by side, but they've never been said with this air of like a corporate path that could be taken. Like he's not talking about, you know,
some perv uncle who like has access to his niece. No, when he says ancestral incestual opportunities, he's talking about the chance to somehow make commerce out of incest just one of many categories we can choose to enter that we choose not to enter, at least not yet, not until she gets some plants. So that's fine, That's what I'm trying to say. I can't get the problem. We don't do rape, but I can't get over him in the officing r ah so fucking Rich's So it's just unbelievable.
Just think of what that says about the popularity at WWF at the time that you know, this British news station would send these guys all the way across the country the world rather to go to the fucking headquarters and interview Vince and wondering what the fuck is this shit about. That's what it is. As much as we talk about eighty five, and it was transformative Wrestlinginia one Saturday.
It's main event, water Settle to score all this incredibly important stuff that happened eighty five, the integration with Cindy Lauper, which kind of kicked off in eighty four, but it was eighty six where like the Blitz happens because finally everyone's caught up to it, you know, sure, and they've come out with the Wrestling Album, which gives another pretense to look in at WWF again and at the end of the year. So eighty six is full of crazy
publicity about this thing. They were excited to see them come to Baltimore. Boss, I can tell you that, yeah, and if you can share with us, The Insights has featured in the Monday, March third, nineteen eighty six editions. So this is just a couple of days after the Slammies took place in Baltimore. One of their columnists, Kevin Cowherd, has a different thoughts. First of all, he's got to change that name. This is totally inappropriate. I mean, you
want to talk about right up our alley. This is like exactly the column that the Lapse editor would assigned.
Uptown Saturday night. The Civic Center is a perfect cold of noise and haze and chaos. By the time the tag team of Nikolai Volkov and the Iron Sheek climbs into the ring, a chorus of booze rains down. Volkov and the Sheik you should know are the bad guys. The Sheik is wearing a burnoose and waving his omnipresent Iranian flag. Volkov carries a whip. He has introduced it's hailing from Moscow, Russia, although there is evidence to suggest
he's a former amateur weightlifter from Hackensack, New Jersey. The noise level climbs two decibels. Volkov and the Sheiks strut about the ring and wave their fists. Their manager, the nefarious classy Freddy Blasi, helps calm the sellout crowd of some fourteen thousand by waving his cane menacingly and thundering his trademark you pencil necked geeks at the fans. And
then it happens. The moment we've all been waiting for, ladies and gentlemen, intones the ring announcer, mister Volkov requests, but you all rise and join in the singing of the Russian national anthem. Well instant bedlam. Beer cups come hurtling in the direction of the ring, so do pennies, bottle caps, even a chair. I pray silently that no one has seen fit to bring along a hand Grenade's a fucking idiot. Volkov and the Sheik appear not to
notice the debris. Both have snapped in two attention, saluting respectfully.
It's so funny to me, how when you look at mainstream media articles about WWF at this point, how Volkov and Chic resonate so much. It's so true, the observer, they'd like to stand out more than Hogan.
Yep, yep, Usa Usa. The crowd chance predictably, Yes, dirty stinkin Russians, screams a kid next to me. You believe the nerve of these dirty stinkin Russians, right, I tell him I am most certainly do not. Maybe ten minutes later, Volkov and the Sheik extract their revenge. Volkov slams a chair over the head of good guy Corporal Kirshner, rendering him all but unconscious. With the referee suitably distracted, the Sheiks slaps the dreaded camel clutch on Kirshner's partner George.
The animal steel a good camel clutch, by the way, is supposed to be better than better than ether for putting your opponent's lights out, better than ether, better than ether. It's a band, Yeah right. Volkov and the Sheik are declared the winners. Seconds later, Kirshner looks as if he needs a stretcher. The animal is so distraught that he starts eating one of the turnbuckles, spitting sawdust in the air. Some sawdust fucking stuffing.
Is what it is.
Yeah, he thought that was sawdust in the turn dust. Yeah, yeah, it's smart guy coward.
Coward is fighting coward right, Yeah, let's get it, Kevin Pussy more like about it. An ocean of booze crashes down once again. I thought the bad guys always lose, says a woman to my ride. It's a game of inches, I tell her, and a sad day for America someone else's someone else said no way, give me guys. All sorts of disparaging remarks are regularly attached to pro wrestling
and the people who pay to watch it. The thing that scares me the most about wrestling fans, manager Bobby the brain Heenan always says.
Is that they can vote and they can breed.
Oh Heenan Sports Illustrated reports that wrestlers themselves are foo fond food for thought, are fond of telling this joke question? What has fourteen teeth and an IQ of fifteen a the first ten rows of any wrestling crow? Oh god, booh we go Yet if the Civic Centers show this past weekend as any indication pro wrestling's gaudy appeal, with its vaunted rock and wrestling connection and its emphasis on
slick showbiz packaging has never been greater. One other thing, Baltimore is fast emerging as a flagship city for the worldlessing entertainment, which currently dominates the industry, which is one reason the WWE designed to hold the much heralded Slammys Awards Slammy's Awards Right ceremony here Saturday, as well as the long awaited steal quote quote steel cage unquote match between former tag team partners and now bitter arch rivals Rowdy Roddy Piper and Paul mister Wonderful Orndorf.
Yes, what's that a real steal cage? No, he doesn't, it's in't quotes. What's that you say? You never heard of the Slammies. Here the jack Oh go ahead say it so yeah, yeah, right listen, I'm just gonna say not my words. This is a quote by Kevin Coward. It up with the Slammies line before it again. What's that you say you never heard of the Slammies? Here the Japs bomb Pearl Harbor oh Man.
Anyway, the Slammys arret of wrestling with the Grammys art of the music industry. It seems a group of ww wrestlers got together and cut an album called, oddly enough, the Wrestling Album That Deserved.
Yes, indeed, they.
They filmed a music video as well, an updated beef and bronze version of that old standard Land of a Thousand Dances. The album, by the way, is cleaning up. They're backing up armored cars to the ww offices here with this has nothing to.
Do with any any kind of money being there. You know what's in those armored cars. It's not just to take away.
So here was the wrestling industry in Baltimore this weekend, patting itself on the back and handing out it's quote Slammys unquote and generally preening over the healthy spread of Matt Mania for This Country. For the record, Rowdy Rdy Piper won a Slammy for quote best performance unquote in the video.
It's got kind of rules. I gotta say, Yeah, he's winning me over. Yeah. This enraged Bobby the brain Heenan, who claimed he should have won in a landslide since and I'm quoting here, I voted ten thousand times myself.
Except he didn't. He voted for didn't know for himself. But it's fine. He voted for Bundy.
He just voted for someone who didn't win, is what he's saying. Right, Well, well, he says he's saying that Bobby the brain Heenon should have Bobby Heenon thinks he should have won. That's not what he means. By I voted myself, he means right, not for myself. Right, He just voted that many times for Bundy. He even threw a microphone at Master of Ceremonies and super promoter Vince McMahon and then stalked off stage. Me and gene Oakerland
won the category of quote Best Wrestling Commentator unquote. This so infuriated Jesse the Body of Ventura that he had to be physically restrained from attacking the legendary guerrilla Monsoon. Yes, he's pissed that Gene Okerland won, so he has to fight off Monsoon Soon, stopping him from getting to Gene. I guess, yeah, I guess the quote Junkyard Dog unquote one for best solo performance on the album. Like he needs another award. Ah, He's expected to gross over three
hundred thousand dollars this year alone. The Dog celebrated by celebrated by.
Mugging the evil Jimmy the Mouth of the South Heart, the bullhorned toting manager of such near dwells as King Kong Bundy.
This guy watched the fucking thing at all. Now, he just collected all the names and just tried to have fun with him.
By now you understand the tone of the evening festivities. Clearly this was no Book of the Month club meeting, but there was more. Rock star Cindi Lauper, appropriately disguised as the dizzy yet alluring Mona Flombay, made a guest appearance. Guitarist Rick Derringer played, so did Leslie West, once the guiding forest of the seminal rock group Mountain MTV, the music television station, showed the proceedings live to a nationwide audience.
Piper called Lauper a scuzz head perfect and why shouldn't wrestling celebrate on this cold March evening. Despite dire predictions to the contrary, pro wrestling is still booming. It's still hip, even chic to tune into America's newest hulking heroes at the good times. Roll arenas are still bursting with wrestling fans each month. The Nielsen ratings are holding steady, which is to say they're still sky high. People everywhere are still talking pile drivers in sleeper holes, buying Hulk Hogan
posters and Superfly Jimmy Snook dolls. Business has never been better. The quote steel cage unquote match between Piper and Orndorf is proceeding with proper drama, and the span of five minutes, Piper has rammed Orndorf's face into the steel cables. What the steel cables?
There's different? You know those cages aren't made out of ring ropes, right right, They're not? Yeah, exactly.
Gouged his eyes, knead him in the groin, stomped on his Adam's apple, and butted him in the forehead. A less worthy opponent would surely be on his way to the emergency ward. Yet Orndorff remarkably looks as fit and rested as a man just returned from a you make in vacation. Then it happens. With a superhuman burst of strength, Orndorf explodes from Piper's grasp and hurls himself through the steel cage door. Under the rules, he wins as the first man out of the cage. Predictably, Piper does not
take this loss gracefully. Stunned for a moment, he then stands and are you ready?
Decks. The referee levels him with a blow to the head. The Civic Center is up in arms once more. The booze roll in like thunder across a Kansas prairie. Piper grins an evil grin, then struts off, and as the arena lights flick on and we stream for the exits, we are all agreed in one thing that Piper is really a scuzz head. Oh man, chef's kiss, what a listen coward? He did it, he came back. I'll say
that that is. Send the local columnist from the big, big metropolitan paper to see what all this wrestling fuss is about.
By the way, if you want, if you're curious about getting a Mitsubishie at Jerry's Mitsubishi Clearance, you can get a nineteen eighty six Mirage for fifty eight ninety five, or you can get a Mighty Max for fifty eight ninety five.
Imagine those prices. How about a crabcake at Jimmy's. How about a Primadoro at a Please? At Sabatinos, you can get a nineteen eighty six starry On for fourteen. Do you think Kevin Coward came away thinking every WWF show has an awards part to it. I bet I bet He's like, you know, well, I guess that's what they do.
Huh.
They do the awards thing, do the matches, and they do a fake ward ceremony. Academy of Oscars, Yeah, a fake Academy Awards. They got the Oscars, they got the Mabels, they got the Mo's. It's right, it's out of control. So wow, that's Baltimore. That's the Slammies. And as we know, when the curtain closed on Rowdy Roddy Pipers, Cowherd illustrates there for the evening, So too, did the lights go down on the seminal yet short relationship between the Word
Wrestling Federation and music television. It doesn't get more ads than that. And here from SHAWNA.
Sale's book Sex Lies in Headlocks, The Real Story of Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Entertainment, we get a snippet from his reporting of how it all came to an end. The ensuring Feurer made Vince McMahon's business so hot. The third MTV special, The War to Settle the Score, aired live and in prime time. To ensure crossover appeal, a new member was added to the cast, Mister t, whose career had been launched by Rocky three and was at his mass appeal height as the star of NBC's
action show The A Team. On February eighteenth, nineteen eighty five, The War replaced The Brawl as the highest rated show in MTV history. By now, it was obvious that MTV had transformed Vinie's business, Yes and markets Like Saint Louis, The ratings for his syndicated show were doubling. Inside MTV. That fed a perception that the network was giving more than it was getting.
MMM.
The perception was particularly acute with Garland's boss Robert Pittman quote. A year after we made the first deal with Vince, it occurred to Pittman that he made one mistake, says Garland. Ah, he didn't ask for a piece of the action. Kept saying, look at how big we made it. We put MTV's seal of approval on it. Why don't we have a cut.
So Pittman asked McMahon to a conference room in the company's corporate office and told him the price of continued exposure would be a cut of his gross McMahon's reply was short and to the point. As good as you've been to us, We've been good to you, and I'm not asking for a piece of MTV.
Wow.
That was pretty much the end of that relationship, Garland says, Oss. How about the nineteen eighty six Slammy Awards, toll, oh.
Man, we have twenty four, yes, and that's probably not you know, I mean. The problem is is that they show the goddamn music video, right, yeah, that that really raps it up.
Literally ding ding ding kills it kills it, no pun intended, yeah, or pun completely intense, like when the pinball gets caught in the two Yeah, that little lane there bounces back and forth for a minute.
Yep, I mean you can't even see everybody, and I'm sure that there are more in there but Gorilla Monsoon, Mister Fuji, Fredn's Blassie, Lou Albano, Paul Orndorf, Howard Finkel, Randon Savage, Rawden's Piper, the Iron Sheets, George Steele, gene Oakerland, Arnold Scoland, Jay Strongbow, Bobbins, Heenen Heenan, John's Valiant, Nikolaifel Cough, King Kong Abundance.
SD Jump King Kong Abundance. Yes, Adrian Adonis, Terrence Funk, Fabulous Moolah, Uncle Elmer, Jim Knightheart and the junk Yard Dog. And with that business to spelled, it's time to raise the mood up in this piece. Let's get ourselves some twoty fruity. Let's grab some cakes. What do you say, boss, I'm I'm I'm ready to get slammied. Time for the nineteen eighty six Slammy Awards. On the other side of this break, keep it close,