Latest / Scene Projects Sports Network / Matt Classic Creed on AIWF's Global Expansion, Wrestling History, and Iconic Matches

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Matt Classic Creed on AIWF's Global Expansion, Wrestling History, and Iconic Matches · Scene Projects Sports Network

• 0:01
  What's up, everyone?
• 0:02
  Welcome to another exciting episode of Beyond the Bell.
• 0:07
  Today, we have a very awesome guest here.
• 0:09
  He is a key leader in AIWF, which is an awesome wrestling federation that is known
• 0:16
  internationally.
• 0:18
  This here is Matt Classic Creed.
• 0:22
  Hey.
• 0:23
  Good good to be on, brother.
• 0:24
  Good to see you.
• 0:28
  It's great to have you on here.
• 0:30
  How are you doing today?
• 0:31
  Pretty good.
• 0:32
  It's it's nice.
• 0:33
  I'm I'm in the South, so it still feels like it's summer in the wintertime.
• 0:39
  So how did you get started with AIWF, man?
• 0:43
  Well, funny story.
• 0:45
  I got started with AIWF.
• 0:46
  I was working, actually, as a ring announcer at the time for for a guy I still know, Henry
• 0:51
  Dean, who ran in Lexington, North Carolina, and they ended up joining the AIWF.
• 0:56
  And then from there, it just, spiraled and continued, and I kept growing and moving up the
• 1:01
  ranks until my current today as executive director.
• 1:07
  That is awesome.
• 1:09
  That is a real story of getting in at the bottom and working your way all the way up to
• 1:15
  the top.
• 1:15
  I love it.
• 1:17
  Oh, yeah.
• 1:19
  And it's been, like, almost twenty years now, so it's been quite a while.
• 1:24
  That is awesome.
• 1:25
  I mean, heck, that's as long as I've been here, and you're already all the way up there that
• 1:29
  quick you did that.
• 1:37
  Oh.
• 1:39
  Oh, yeah.
• 1:39
  It's about took about twenty years, but, yeah, I've been in my current position quite a few
• 1:45
  years, but around the globe.
• 1:47
  Like, when we say we have world titles, we mean it.
• 1:49
  Like, our belts have been to England.
• 1:51
  They've been to Australia.
• 1:52
  They've been to to China.
• 1:54
  They've been to Jamaica, Canada, you know, everywhere.
• 1:58
  Austra yeah.
• 1:58
  Everywhere.
• 1:59
  Yeah.
• 2:00
  I've seen that, and I saw that you even just crowned Mexican national champion, an inaugural
• 2:06
  one.
• 2:09
  Yeah.
• 2:09
  We just crowned our first Mexican national heavyweight champion and Vito for Farrelli.
• 2:15
  He's this happened in Santa Barbara, California, and he was in there against
• 2:19
  Chandler Hopkins.
• 2:20
  He's a pretty well known wrestler in the Southwestern Region.
• 2:24
  You've seen him on, like, reality wrestling stuff.
• 2:26
  And, also, it was funny.
• 2:27
  The and if we have Latin American champion, Elijio Dos Caros was in the match.
• 2:32
  And Dos Caros, obviously, he's the son of Dos Caros.
• 2:35
  He's the brother of Alberto Del Rio.
• 2:38
  Yeah.
• 2:38
  I've heard about him a little bit.
• 2:41
  I've been trying to get in contact with him too.
• 2:46
  Yeah.
• 2:46
  He's very talented.
• 2:47
  He like I said, he he's had a pretty good career in Mexico.
• 2:50
  He was in the WWE for about a year, but he's been our Latin American champion for about six
• 2:55
  months now.
• 2:56
  He beat funny, another second, third generation guy and a silver king.
• 3:02
  So
• 3:04
  So you are just you are getting everybody.
• 3:08
  Oh, yeah.
• 3:08
  We got tons of great talent, tons of great champions.
• 3:11
  Got great partners in our organization, so we're very we're very blessed.
• 3:16
  If I remember it, correct me if I'm wrong, your world heavyweight title just switched hands.
• 3:20
  Correct?
• 3:21
  They just switched hands last night in Port Barry, Louisiana at the high school down there
• 3:26
  for golf states wrestling.
• 3:27
  A Mustang Mike who had held the belt basically almost a year.
• 3:31
  He lost in a triple threat match to the Lou Gotti won, who is the current America's
• 3:36
  champion.
• 3:36
  He's a Dallas based talent.
• 3:38
  And, also, Gil Grace, who was in there, who's also from Louisiana, he's our North American
• 3:42
  champion.
• 3:43
  And, like, yes.
• 3:45
  And Gil and Mike have been feuding for about twenty years down there.
• 3:47
  It's like Bill Dundee and Jerry Lawler, if I can make an analogy.
• 3:52
  Yeah.
• 3:52
  I mean, that's definitely something that's awesome to have is a good rivalry going on like
• 3:57
  that.
• 3:58
  Especially now you just had a wrestler make history last night being the first Americas and
• 4:04
  have world heavyweight champion at the same time.
• 4:08
  Yeah.
• 4:08
  We definitely gonna have to decide what to do.
• 4:10
  We'll probably have a special board meeting.
• 4:12
  I'm assuming tomorrow is a Sunday, so we'll probably wait till Monday.
• 4:16
  But we gotta sign.
• 4:16
  Are we gonna let Luke guy to keep that title, or are we gonna vacate?
• 4:19
  Are we gonna have a tournament, a battle royale, a decision match?
• 4:22
  We we don't know yet.
• 4:23
  We won't know till we have this board meeting.
• 4:26
  Yeah.
• 4:27
  You got you know, there's a lot of the creative avenues with something like that happening for
• 4:32
  sure.
• 4:33
  And then I saw you have Gallows and Anderson coming to I can't remember the name of the
• 4:40
  event now off the top of
• 4:42
  my head.
• 4:43
  Honor Honorary Wrestle Federation.
• 4:45
  They're up in Pennsylvania up toward, like, right above Pittsburgh area.
• 4:49
  And, yeah, they're coming to take on some guys.
• 4:53
  That is awesome.
• 4:57
  I that is something I will definitely be excited to see.
• 5:07
  So what was your vision when you got up to executive director with AIWF?
• 5:15
  I mean, I think my my vision has been always has been.
• 5:18
  It's like, leave wrestling better than it was.
• 5:21
  Like, leave it better than I found it.
• 5:23
  And, like, I just wanna foster cooperation.
• 5:25
  I wanna do some some big things.
• 5:27
  And we've done some big things.
• 5:28
  We have our television show, ADBF, across the globe.
• 5:31
  You can see it on multiple platforms, o t TT and OTA.
• 5:35
  And I just want to have fighting champions that actually I don't wanna see these world
• 5:39
  champions that are just in one town being a world champion.
• 5:41
  I mean, like I said, my champions, they're they're going coast to coast and around the
• 5:45
  globe.
• 5:45
  And that's that's what I really, you know, wanna foster and have created.
• 5:51
  Yeah.
• 5:52
  And that's definitely something that, like, you've done very well.
• 5:56
  Along with it seems like getting a lot of, you know, independent wrestling federations, like,
• 6:02
  meeting with each other and a lot of the independent promotions starting to work
• 6:05
  together after working with you, they've kinda met each other through you.
• 6:11
  So Yeah.
• 6:11
  It's it's very helpful to put a faith on this one.
• 6:15
  Yeah.
• 6:15
  I mean, it's good to put like I said, put a face to somebody.
• 6:18
  I think people work better once they've met them in person.
• 6:21
  But I yeah.
• 6:22
  I facilitate a lot of deals every day.
• 6:26
  But, you know, thankfully, people trust me, and we've we've been able to be successful.
• 6:31
  Yeah.
• 6:32
  I mean, with what you've done, I can see why people trust you.
• 6:36
  You have done a lot of great things, and you are doing a lot of great things.
• 6:41
  So are there any new belts that you guys are planning to bring in at all or anything you can
• 6:46
  tell me?
• 6:47
  Or
• 6:48
  Yeah.
• 6:49
  We're definitely planning to, yeah, we're definitely planning to expand on our AWF
• 6:53
  Mexican national division.
• 6:55
  We want multiple weight class and all that.
• 6:57
  We're expanding up in Canada.
• 6:58
  I know I know the head of head of Kennedy has been talking about adding a women's belt and
• 7:04
  potentially tag team belts up there.
• 7:06
  We have a great Canadian heavyweight champion in Wesley Pipes, and he's been all over the
• 7:10
  world.
• 7:11
  He's been to The USA, Canada, Mexico.
• 7:13
  I mean, he's he's an international star in his own.
• 7:15
  Right?
• 7:16
  But, yeah, we got a lot of great things.
• 7:20
  You know what?
• 7:20
  What's the history of the belts there?
• 7:22
  You know, do you like, can you break that down a bit?
• 7:27
  Oh, yeah.
• 7:27
  You can go to wrestling oh, if you wanna look at the main titles, like the world title, the
• 7:31
  world tags, world cruiserweight, all that's on wrestletitles.com, and you can just type in a n
• 7:36
  w f.
• 7:36
  And it'll show you the whole whole entire history, and you can see, like, it again, this
• 7:41
  is just gonna tell you wins and losses, not the whole story, but you can see, like, it's
• 7:45
  changed hands in multiple states, multiple countries.
• 7:47
  And it it goes back from '9 oh, the oldest title, like, world title goes back from 1992 to
• 7:52
  now, and the other titles have been created along the way.
• 7:57
  So it was a lot like, you know, how a lot of them started with just the one title and then
• 8:03
  bringing them in as you go?
• 8:05
  Yeah.
• 8:06
  Pretty much.
• 8:06
  Like, we start out with, like, you know, world tag titles and, like, world our single world
• 8:10
  title.
• 8:11
  But then we've added, like, the cruiserweight title.
• 8:13
  We've added our deathmatch title.
• 8:14
  We've added, you know, our women's title, which our women's champion, Ava Brooks, she's about
• 8:19
  to be in California next weekend.
• 8:20
  So, I mean, she's she's been, I think, defending in eight states already since winning
• 8:24
  it last March this March, this past March.
• 8:27
  That is awesome.
• 8:29
  So have you worked with any bigger names in the the wrestling scene and the independent scene
• 8:35
  at all?
• 8:37
  Oh, a ton ton I've worked with tons of them.
• 8:39
  I mean, anybody you can think of from Boogie, William, and Jimmy Valiant to Ricky and Robert
• 8:44
  to, god, to Sean Hernandez to, like, every probably a lot.
• 8:49
  Andre Chase on WWE, he's he started with us in North Carolina.
• 8:54
  Cedric Alexander.
• 8:55
  I've known, yeah, I've known Cedric Alexander since his third match.
• 8:58
  That's crazy.
• 9:00
  I I did not know much about him, honestly.
• 9:03
  See, I I didn't have a lot of time to do much research for this one, so I'm learning as we go
• 9:08
  really too, I guess.
• 9:11
  Yeah.
• 9:11
  Andre Chase, he he started as the Bravado's in Ring of Honor, and the Bravado brothers
• 9:19
  actually started here in North Carolina.
• 9:23
  Oh, wow.
• 9:24
  Yeah.
• 9:24
  They're from Draper, North Carolina.
• 9:26
  Yeah.
• 9:27
  So there's a history with NIWF and building legends and champions.
• 9:32
  Yeah.
• 9:32
  Or or a a IWF AEW world champion, Adam Page.
• 9:37
  He started in the NIWF when he was, like, 17 years old.
• 9:42
  Wow.
• 9:43
  Yeah.
• 9:44
  So we have WWE and AW.
• 9:49
  Who do we have in TNA?
• 9:53
  TNA right now, I mean, we've worked with a lot of guys there.
• 9:56
  Like, we've worked with the Hardy Boy.
• 9:58
  We've had them on our events.
• 9:59
  We've worked with, like like I said, my buddy, Sean Hernandez.
• 10:03
  He he actually runs for us at in Texas in Austin, San Antonio.
• 10:07
  I mean, he's he's a seven time TNA tag team champion.
• 10:11
  Oh, wow.
• 10:13
  Yeah.
• 10:13
  A lot of very successful people.
• 10:16
  And, I mean, you've worked with my favorite tag team in all of wrestling history, so there's
• 10:22
  that.
• 10:27
  So what's
• 10:28
  the Yeah.
• 10:29
  We've had everybody.
• 10:31
  But, yeah, our our plans, we just wanna continue to grow.
• 10:33
  We wanna we're the fastest brand fastest growing brand in professional wrestling right
• 10:38
  now.
• 10:38
  Like I said, we got a lot of followers on I just checked our Facebook yesterday.
• 10:42
  We're at right at 23,000 followers.
• 10:44
  We just wanna keep keep growing growing the followers, growing the engagement, growing the
• 10:49
  brands we work with, growing, you know, our perception and our reality.
• 10:55
  Yeah.
• 10:56
  And that's a great thing that, like, you know, that you're trying to do.
• 10:59
  You are trying to make wrestling back to, like, the greats here.
• 11:03
  Like, you have a death match title.
• 11:05
  You do the hardcore stuff that a lot of guys don't anymore.
• 11:11
  Yeah.
• 11:11
  The hardcore the and we've got some legends being those champions, like legends like Madman
• 11:15
  Ponda, like Chuck Stein.
• 11:17
  A lot a lot of great deathmatch wrestlers have held that belt.
• 11:19
  It's currently held by Dean Mercer out in cal or in Colorado.
• 11:22
  Excuse me.
• 11:24
  Oh, wow.
• 11:25
  That is awesome.
• 11:27
  I mean, you are just so it's been held by a lot of different people, and it just goes to show
• 11:33
  that people want to be part of AIWF, and that is great.
• 11:39
  Oh, yeah.
• 11:40
  We got like I said, our cruiserweight championship just changed hands down in right
• 11:45
  outside of of Austin and in Maxwell, Texas, actually, recently.
• 11:49
  And we're in negotiations to bring that belt to Mexico to be defended.
• 11:52
  And that belt, when Brett Brown had it, he defended it in London, England.
• 11:57
  Oh, wow.
• 11:58
  So all the belts have already kind of met made their way around the globe.
• 12:04
  Oh, yeah.
• 12:04
  Like, yeah, the shoot fighting champion, Mustafa Jordan, he's had a couple trials for
• 12:08
  AEW.
• 12:10
  He's he's defending his belt in Australia.
• 12:12
  He's based in Canada in Canada and in The United States.
• 12:17
  That is awesome.
• 12:20
  So my next question is, do you wanna tell them, like, about your current champions at all and
• 12:26
  what's going on there?
• 12:28
  Yeah.
• 12:28
  Like I said, Lou Gotti, he he he's had been the American champion for a while.
• 12:32
  He just won the world belt last night in Louisiana.
• 12:34
  Alou, he he's he travels all over.
• 12:37
  He's primarily based in Texas, but he travels to, like, Cleveland.
• 12:41
  He travels to, like, you know, Tennessee.
• 12:43
  Everywhere, he he travels everywhere.
• 12:45
  But like I said, Gil Gracie, he's a Louisiana talent.
• 12:48
  He's been North American champion for for a while now, and he's been like I said, he's been
• 12:52
  around twenty years.
• 12:53
  Hell and Mustang, Mike, they feuded for, like, twenty years, and they're they're gonna keep
• 12:57
  going at it.
• 12:58
  Orlando Christopher is our cruiserweight champion.
• 13:00
  He's based out of Texas.
• 13:02
  He's a very solid talent.
• 13:04
  He wrestled basically from Texas to the Midwest to the South, and he he he wrestled every
• 13:09
  weekend multiple times.
• 13:11
  We got our our our newest international champion, El Abagato, six foot nine, five
• 13:17
  hundred pounds, gigantic guy.
• 13:20
  Oh, wow.
• 13:22
  Yeah.
• 13:23
  Yeah.
• 13:23
  That's a giant even compared to me, and I'm a pretty big guy.
• 13:28
  Yeah.
• 13:28
  He's six nine, almost five hundred pounds.
• 13:34
  And he just like to spoil people.
• 13:35
  Yeah.
• 13:36
  And he lost to he well, he beat Paulo Thurasi who who's who's a he's kind of a jerk, but he I
• 13:42
  like the guy.
• 13:44
  Apollo Tirasse, he defended the belt in Ireland.
• 13:46
  He defended the belt in Spain.
• 13:47
  He defended in Canada, The United States.
• 13:50
  He defended all over the country and all over Europe.
• 13:53
  So
• 13:54
  That is awesome.
• 13:56
  So with, like, everything you do, are you just the executive producer?
• 14:02
  Or what what are what are all your roles here at a I dot w
• 14:08
  I mean, I'm I'm the executive director.
• 14:10
  I mean, it pretty much means the buck stops here if I wanna put it in layman's terms.
• 14:14
  And, I mean, I'm doing a lot.
• 14:15
  I'm I'm making sure everybody's you know, they're they're they're trying their best.
• 14:20
  They're trying to work with each other.
• 14:21
  They're trying to work within the system we've created, and I'm just trying to make sure we
• 14:25
  keep chugging along those train tracks.
• 14:28
  And do you still do any on screen stuff at all?
• 14:32
  A little bit.
• 14:32
  Not as much as I used to.
• 14:34
  I I've I'll I'll I'll call a couple matches a year.
• 14:38
  Yeah.
• 14:38
  I'm I'm trying to stay out the ring.
• 14:40
  It's been a little while since I've been in the ring, so I'm I'm I'm trying to stay out of that
• 14:43
  as I'm I'm getting a little older.
• 14:45
  But, you know, but we're
• 14:48
  for then?
• 14:50
  Oh, yeah.
• 14:50
  I I was trained by chief Jay Eagle.
• 14:53
  Chief Jay Eagle ran events
• 14:54
  in Wow.
• 14:56
  Yeah.
• 14:56
  Jay Eagle ran events in South Carolina for, like, thirty five, forty years.
• 15:00
  Amazing guy.
• 15:03
  Funny funny as crap.
• 15:05
  But his claim to fame, he trained the one man gang, Akim, back in the day.
• 15:14
  That is awesome.
• 15:15
  Yeah.
• 15:15
  I mean, I heard him.
• 15:19
  Yeah.
• 15:20
  Yeah.
• 15:20
  I mean, he's he's he's a legend down here in The Carolinas.
• 15:23
  Like I said, great guy.
• 15:24
  He taught a young kid like me.
• 15:27
  He put me doing all the little grunt work and and all that, and I worked my way up, and he
• 15:31
  said, okay.
• 15:33
  Wanna start when I turned 18, I just wanna start training with him.
• 15:36
  And, you know, I learned a lot.
• 15:38
  And like I said, he used to run events every Saturday night, so for for many, many years.
• 15:43
  Yeah.
• 15:43
  And, I mean, obviously, those events helped you, you know, turn into what you've done now,
• 15:48
  which is nicked the AIWF an absolute everything.
• 15:54
  Oh, yeah.
• 15:55
  100%.
• 15:55
  And you're you're always learning, and and you never stop.
• 15:58
  And somebody can always teach you something.
• 16:00
  That's what you have to know in any industry.
• 16:03
  Like, you can always gain valuable knowledge and and just talk.
• 16:07
  Just be honest and, like you know, just be cool about things.
• 16:11
  If you're just cool about things, you're gonna go a lot farther in any industry.
• 16:15
  Yeah.
• 16:15
  You're absolutely right with that.
• 16:18
  So with the Galas and Anderson on an event you guys are on, are there any other big names that
• 16:23
  you're working with here coming up?
• 16:27
  Oh,
• 16:27
  that's and housing, obviously.
• 16:30
  Yeah.
• 16:30
  Yeah.
• 16:31
  That's up in Michigan, up at Pure Pro, Michigan.
• 16:33
  He's taking on the continental champion Danny Astro.
• 16:36
  I know we got Lody coming in here in North Carolina where I live because Lody lives here
• 16:40
  as well.
• 16:42
  I know in North Carolina too who he he he oh, we got Enzo.
• 16:48
  We got, like, PCO.
• 16:49
  All of them were working up in Clayton, North Carolina, which is near Raleigh.
• 16:53
  Enzo.
• 16:53
  NCWA.
• 16:54
  Enzo?
• 16:55
  Yeah.
• 16:55
  W e, Enzo?
• 16:57
  Yeah.
• 16:58
  Oh, well, now that is awesome.
• 17:00
  That is wow.
• 17:04
  I haven't heard that name in years.
• 17:07
  Yeah.
• 17:08
  He's coming to North Carolina, like, know in the upcoming show for NCWA.
• 17:11
  Oh, we also got, like, CW Anderson from ECW Fame, which I just saw CW a couple weeks ago,
• 17:16
  actually, at The Gathering.
• 17:19
  At The Gathering?
• 17:21
  Yeah.
• 17:21
  The gatherings in in Charlotte.
• 17:23
  It's a not not the Jugalogue gathering, but the gathering
• 17:26
  I was like, that that was longer than a couple weeks ago.
• 17:30
  And I could see you going there too for the wrestling.
• 17:34
  Oh, yeah.
• 17:35
  I mean, those guys I know a lot of guys over there that it's it's a fun time from what
• 17:38
  everybody tells you.
• 17:39
  I've never been personally, but they they have an event in Charlotte called the same thing,
• 17:43
  and they had, like, Arn Anderson.
• 17:44
  They had I met the great Muda for the first time.
• 17:47
  Oh, wow.
• 17:48
  Person.
• 17:49
  Yeah.
• 17:50
  So, like yeah.
• 17:51
  Like I said, I was hanging out with my friend Sean Hernandez from TNA.
• 17:55
  I was there with him.
• 17:56
  And mother friend, Jevadiah, who who has a emotional support chicken called Betsy.
• 18:02
  Emotional support chicken.
• 18:04
  This is a live chicken.
• 18:06
  Yeah.
• 18:06
  She she has paperwork.
• 18:08
  So, like, you can't turn her down.
• 18:09
  She fly on the plane.
• 18:10
  She get she's about to go to to Japan when he wrestled in Japan coming up.
• 18:17
  That's awesome.
• 18:19
  Yeah.
• 18:19
  He's a he's a he's a former from Amish country.
• 18:22
  So
• 18:26
  So you're going to Japan.
• 18:28
  What what
• 18:29
  I'm not going to Japan.
• 18:30
  My buddy invested the chicken oil.
• 18:33
  Oh, they're going there.
• 18:35
  I thought it was another AIWF thing.
• 18:38
  No.
• 18:39
  They're going there, and then we we know the guys, and we work we primarily work with heat
• 18:43
  up in Japan, which is a pretty good promotion.
• 18:45
  And as funny at the gathering too, I got to hang out with the great Sasuke.
• 18:49
  So I mean and it was funny.
• 18:51
  Nobody was hardly talking to the man and, like, dude, he was awesome.
• 18:56
  Oh, wow.
• 18:56
  That's I don't understand not talking to people.
• 19:02
  Well, I just think they didn't know who he was.
• 19:04
  They thought that this is yeah.
• 19:07
  But I just don't think they're familiar with Japanese wrestling.
• 19:11
  I don't even know.
• 19:13
  I I've heard the name once or twice.
• 19:15
  I don't really know who they are.
• 19:16
  You know, I'd walk up and talk to them.
• 19:18
  Probably wouldn't
• 19:19
  Yeah.
• 19:19
  But, well, yeah, he had his mask on, his full gear.
• 19:23
  But, yeah, he, like Sasuke, he found a Mishinaku pro, and I he was supposed to be the
• 19:28
  WWF lightweight champion before they put on Taka instead.
• 19:32
  And, like but he's he's also held the held the j crown, which is, you know, the guys like
• 19:36
  Liger, Dragon, all those guys held back in the nineties.
• 19:39
  So
• 19:42
  have you partnered with any bigger promotions on shows at all?
• 19:46
  Anything like triple a or anything like that?
• 19:49
  I I would say the biggest promotion part of our organization is probably IWRG.
• 19:55
  They run-in Nacapon, Mexico, which is, like it's about an hour north of Mexico.
• 19:59
  They're they're on TV every week.
• 20:01
  They have a 3,000 seat arena they run two times a week.
• 20:07
  Oh, wow.
• 20:08
  They're probably, like, they're probably, like, right under that triple a CML level.
• 20:12
  If I
• 20:12
  have anything to compare them to, I'd compare them to, like, Crash at Tijuana.
• 20:18
  I I haven't heard of that, actually.
• 20:22
  Oh, okay.
• 20:22
  Crash at Tijuana was Conan's promotion and before rejoined triple a and all that.
• 20:27
  But they run-in Tijuana, and they run, like, you know, a couple thousand people a week.
• 20:33
  But, yeah, we got a great time.
• 20:34
  That's why we've been focused on, like, we're crowning that new NAFN national Mexican
• 20:38
  heavyweight championship, and we're gonna do a lot more of the World Lucha Libre coming up in
• 20:44
  the next year.
• 20:45
  Because we think Lucha Libre is a great brand, is a great style, And we just think, like, you
• 20:51
  know
• 20:51
  Lucha Libre is really like, it's a very like, it's its own style of wrestling.
• 20:58
  And I've even seen a a few promotions now implementing, like, a Lucha Libre championship
• 21:03
  to, you know, separate.
• 21:07
  Yeah.
• 21:07
  For sure.
• 21:07
  For sure on that.
• 21:08
  And there's lot of great promotions here in The United States that that focus on that as well.
• 21:14
  But, yeah, we just we're trying to, like, crown more championships than that and expand in that
• 21:19
  world.
• 21:19
  And, like, you know, it's been it's been going alright.
• 21:21
  Like I said, IWRG is our main partner in the Lucha Libre scene.
• 21:25
  Like I said, they run, you know, 3,000 seats there.
• 21:28
  I mean, what what promotions do you know that have a 3,000 seat arena they run twice a week?
• 21:33
  Their own arena?
• 21:34
  Yeah.
• 21:35
  I mean, very few, if any.
• 21:37
  Yeah.
• 21:38
  Yeah.
• 21:38
  They have their very own arena down there in, like Ross said, like, North Mexico City.
• 21:44
  But yeah.
• 21:44
  And then they have TV every week, the Sierra Nolan TV.
• 21:47
  So they're doing a great job down there, and it's been around a while.
• 21:50
  And that's that's where, Rio Del Car Del Sicaros is actually based out of.
• 21:56
  And and like I said, we had
• 21:58
  So you're partnered with just a lot of promotions.
• 22:01
  I get a lot of great names in, and you get to do a lot of awesome shows, which leads which
• 22:08
  actually leads into my next question.
• 22:11
  What's your favorite show you've gotten to help put together?
• 22:16
  My my favorite show is always we have an anniversary weekend here in North Carolina, and
• 22:21
  I'm a big part of that.
• 22:22
  And I so, like, to celebrate our being around for so long, and that's when we try to bring
• 22:27
  in, like, peeps from all over.
• 22:29
  And it's just it's just a big party that weekend, and we have a good time.
• 22:33
  And you're gonna see some of the best matches, and we just try to put together some creative,
• 22:37
  interesting matches and some title matches.
• 22:40
  And, like, hey.
• 22:41
  Like, let's say some guys are shooting down in Texas.
• 22:42
  We might say, hey.
• 22:43
  Order book you for this day in North Carolina, and we'll book them against each other here so
• 22:47
  they can take that feed to a new area.
• 22:52
  Oh, wow.
• 22:53
  Yeah.
• 22:54
  I really an anniversary week like that is really awesome to do.
• 22:58
  So what would you say is, like you know, even if you have to pick a few with, like, your
• 23:01
  favorite match out of, like, those, you know, the one that I really remember, I guess,
• 23:08
  seeing.
• 23:09
  Yeah.
• 23:10
  One of the ones that we that we did really well, we had Ricky Morton.
• 23:12
  He won the world title and won one year for us.
• 23:16
  You know?
• 23:17
  Like I said, we love Ricky.
• 23:18
  We love his son, Carrie.
• 23:19
  We love all the Mortons, but he did a great job of that.
• 23:23
  We also had like I said, it was great.
• 23:25
  My buddy, Uli Waskin, came last year.
• 23:27
  He come all the way from Nigeria to The United States.
• 23:31
  Oh, wow.
• 23:32
  All the way from Nigeria?
• 23:35
  Yeah.
• 23:35
  He flew into Florida, and he took a bus to North Carolina.
• 23:38
  I picked him up here, and then we had to put him back on a bus, he flew back out from
• 23:42
  Florida.
• 23:43
  He flew from from from Miami to Lagos.
• 23:48
  Oh, wow.
• 23:50
  Yeah.
• 23:51
  So you really are just getting worldwide talent from all over coming in and working with you.
• 23:59
  Yeah.
• 23:59
  Yeah.
• 24:00
  Ole Olaf, he's the head of our African operations.
• 24:03
  Yeah.
• 24:03
  And they run yep.
• 24:05
  They run-in Nigeria and, like, Cameroon and all that stuff.
• 24:10
  Yeah.
• 24:10
  I noticed you even have an African hall of fame.
• 24:13
  I read something about that earlier.
• 24:15
  I forgot about your
• 24:16
  What about oh, yeah.
• 24:17
  We're we're putting yeah.
• 24:19
  Yeah.
• 24:19
  We're putting some of the guys from down there that's really helped our organization, and
• 24:24
  we're putting them in our hall of fame, the AWF hall of fame.
• 24:27
  It's what it is.
• 24:27
  But AWF hall of fame, we got everybody, anybody you can think of, and all of them have worked
• 24:33
  for us.
• 24:33
  We got, like, China in there.
• 24:35
  We had some of China's very first matches back in the day.
• 24:39
  Wow.
• 24:39
  China definitely still one that broke my heart when I was younger and definitely, like, I
• 24:47
  loved seeing matches and being able to go back and watch old ones too is still awesome.
• 24:54
  Yeah.
• 24:54
  We got guys like Wahoo McDaniel in there who who's a legend.
• 24:57
  He he was part of our early beginnings.
• 25:00
  Buddy Landell, who I mean, Buddy Landell could have been the NBA world champion if he showed
• 25:04
  up.
• 25:06
  You said the NWA?
• 25:08
  Yeah.
• 25:09
  He was supposed to beat Ric Flair for the NWA world title.
• 25:12
  Wow.
• 25:12
  Back in the eighties.
• 25:13
  And now Yeah.
• 25:14
  You guys are the next NWA.
• 25:16
  You're the new NWA when you think Good.
• 25:19
  Doing what they did, but at a bet like, it feels like it's, I don't know, more solid
• 25:24
  operation where the gears are turning better and things are more stable already.
• 25:31
  I mean, the like, that's our thought process was why can't you unite?
• 25:34
  Why can't you work together?
• 25:36
  Why can't you share your resources?
• 25:38
  And, like, a lot of guys having problems, but, like, a lot of guys on our board actually used
• 25:41
  to be on the NBA board.
• 25:43
  Like, Blachard, who's the head of the in Canada, he's been on the NBA board.
• 25:48
  I'm a friend Jim Miller.
• 25:49
  He's the NBA president.
• 25:52
  So
• 25:52
  Wow.
• 25:53
  So, yeah, I mean, you I guess you definitely have some good people around you.
• 26:01
  Oh, yeah.
• 26:01
  Oh, yeah.
• 26:02
  We're doing doing good things.
• 26:04
  I mean, the industry is just it's crazy to realize how many people have, like, you know,
• 26:11
  met this person or worked with that person or are friends with this person.
• 26:15
  Like, my last interview, this guy is in the Texas death match, and he's fought New Jack.
• 26:21
  Okay.
• 26:22
  I New Jack used to live here in Greensboro.
• 26:24
  I knew New Jack very well before he passed.
• 26:27
  Wow.
• 26:27
  See, like, that's things, like, you don't expect.
• 26:30
  You know?
• 26:31
  But, like
• 26:32
  Yeah.
• 26:33
  Like, DJ, he was he was one of a kind in that, a very great guy.
• 26:37
  But he was real.
• 26:38
  That's I'm gonna I'm gonna leave it at that, but he was a he was a real guy.
• 26:41
  That's what I hear from everybody.
• 26:43
  I'm like, that's you know, it's great.
• 26:48
  Look.
• 26:50
  So do you have any like, I guess, have I asked about any big events coming up or anything yet?
• 26:56
  Well, we we we always have great events coming up.
• 27:00
  Like I said, my my focus right now is getting to our anniversary weekend, which is March 20
• 27:05
  through March 22 in Mount Airy, North Carolina.
• 27:08
  That's where we started, and that's that's the May if you watch Andy Griffin show, that's
• 27:11
  where Mayberry came from because Andy Griffin's from there.
• 27:13
  And they yeah.
• 27:15
  They have a big Andy Griffin museum and everything, but we got not one, not two, but
• 27:20
  three days of pro wrestling action, Friday through Sunday.
• 27:24
  And that is just awesome.
• 27:26
  I wish I could make it down there.
• 27:28
  I might even have to try to make it down there.
• 27:31
  So can you reveal anything that you plan to do there yet, or is it still kind of under wraps?
• 27:38
  Well, it's it's not under wraps, under wraps, but we're gonna have several title bouts that
• 27:42
  have been signed already.
• 27:44
  We also have been doing the ANBF Sensational sixteen tournament, which has been, like,
• 27:48
  different promotions have hosted it.
• 27:50
  Like, it got hosted in Cameroon, Canada, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Madison, Indiana,
• 27:57
  Matt here in Mount Air, North Carolina, but we're West Virginia, but we're getting down to
• 28:02
  the final four.
• 28:03
  And the final four will be that weekend starting on Friday, and and then finals will be
• 28:08
  Saturday night.
• 28:08
  And whoever wins that tournament, they win money, they win a future world title shot, and
• 28:14
  god knows what other prizes.
• 28:18
  That is awesome.
• 28:20
  I'm Yeah. Glad
• 28:20
  Glad appreciate it.
• 28:22
  Get down
• 28:22
  there to get some live coverage of it.
• 28:26
  Yeah.
• 28:26
  I we've been posting some of the matches.
• 28:28
  And if you follow our TV program, it'll be across the globe.
• 28:32
  They've been putting updates every week on there as they get them.
• 28:35
  And like I said, you can get that on YouTube.
• 28:37
  You can get it on like, there's a couple stations, like, Pittsburgh, in Chicago, in New
• 28:43
  York City, and all that.
• 28:44
  But, like, it's basically just look it up on YouTube or look it up on yeah.
• 28:49
  Just look it up on YouTube, n o b f across the globe every week.
• 28:52
  And we're 35 episodes in right now.
• 28:55
  So are there any countries that you guys haven't expanded into yet that you want to or
• 29:00
  plan to?
• 29:02
  Yeah.
• 29:02
  Yeah.
• 29:03
  There's there's a couple, I think.
• 29:05
  I've always wanted to get in New Zealand.
• 29:07
  I haven't found anybody New Zealand doesn't have as vibrant wrestling scene as you would
• 29:11
  like.
• 29:12
  And that's because we're doing great in Australia.
• 29:14
  Australia, they just had the former well, he's Trevor Lee.
• 29:19
  I forgot what they caught him in WWE.
• 29:22
  But
• 29:22
  That's gonna EME because I know it.
• 29:27
  Oh, Cameron Brown just like caught him in WWE.
• 29:30
  Yeah.
• 29:31
  Yeah.
• 29:32
  He we just he just fought for the the the Australian championship recently, like, about
• 29:36
  two months ago.
• 29:38
  And so, like, they're doing really vibrant down there.
• 29:41
  We definitely wanna do more in Japan.
• 29:43
  Japan is going okay, but we wanna expand over there.
• 29:45
  We got some big stuff going on in China.
• 29:47
  We got several groups running events all throughout China.
• 29:51
  And so, like, it might be time to to crown a championship out there.
• 29:54
  They're doing, like, in multiple cities, you know, from Hong Kong to Shanghai.
• 29:59
  So
• 30:02
  And then have you guys thought about doing what a lot of those sports and most are doing with
• 30:07
  The Middle East expansion at all, or is that kinda something that you don't wanna be a part
• 30:12
  of?
• 30:12
  I mean
• 30:13
  We we we'd be open to it.
• 30:15
  In The Middle East, we do work with a promotion in Dubai, and they they do pretty decent.
• 30:22
  But that that's that's about as as far as we went in The Middle East is like Dubai.
• 30:25
  And mean, guys are great.
• 30:27
  They're they're great guys, and, you know, they're they're doing what they do.
• 30:31
  But they're not, like, they're not, like, rich like the sheikhs of Saudi Arabia.
• 30:35
  You know what I'm saying?
• 30:35
  No.
• 30:38
  But and then, like, you know, we did great India and Pakistan over the years because we
• 30:43
  have a Pakistani group, and they run, like, like, a resort festival type circuit.
• 30:48
  And then India god.
• 30:49
  India, they had a free show that over 50,000 people come to it out on the street.
• 30:55
  Insanity.
• 30:56
  Oh, that is just crazy.
• 30:59
  But you gotta love it.
• 31:01
  It just shows that wrestling is love no matter where you go.
• 31:05
  People want to see wrestling.
• 31:09
  Yeah.
• 31:10
  They they did they did a great job, but they don't run very often.
• 31:13
  They run, like, couple shows a year.
• 31:14
  Like I said, most of their shows are are free.
• 31:16
  And, like, in Africa, their shows are, like a lot of them are government are ran by the
• 31:21
  government.
• 31:21
  And it's they they do big stadiums, but, like, it's just kinda it's when you see it sometimes,
• 31:26
  it's like, well, you know, thousand people, but it's a 5,000 person stadium.
• 31:30
  You're like, damn.
• 31:32
  But, like, yeah, they've ran, like, 5,000 seat stadiums over there in Africa.
• 31:37
  Oh, wow.
• 31:38
  That's Yeah.
• 31:40
  They're just
• 31:41
  I don't know.
• 31:42
  Now.
• 31:43
  And what what yeah.
• 31:44
  Well, South Africa does great too.
• 31:46
  They have something called the Coca Cola Rumble every year sponsored by Coca Cola.
• 31:49
  And they sold out, like, about a 4,000 seat venue down there.
• 31:54
  Wow.
• 31:54
  Sponsored by Coke, and we haven't heard of it.
• 31:57
  That's crazy.
• 32:00
  In South Africa.
• 32:01
  Yeah.
• 32:01
  And and the AWA, the African Wrestling Alliance.
• 32:04
  Yeah.
• 32:04
  Sean Koons runs it.
• 32:05
  He's a German, actually, but he's lived in South Africa most of his life.
• 32:09
  But he he's he wrestled kinda wrestled forty years now.
• 32:13
  His claim to fame is he was tag team champions for Otto Wance's CWA out in Germany and Austria
• 32:18
  back in the day.
• 32:19
  Oh, wow.
• 32:21
  A promotion you definitely hear about when you look anywhere at the history of wrestling or,
• 32:27
  like, you know, worldwide wrestling and things.
• 32:31
  Yeah.
• 32:31
  I mean, CWA was fun.
• 32:32
  That's where guys like Chris Benoit, William Regal, Fit Finley, David Taylor.
• 32:37
  Like, everybody went over there, and they they would had torn seasons where they would tour
• 32:41
  for several weeks.
• 32:42
  And they talk about living in the caravans.
• 32:43
  If you've heard Bradshaw talk about it, you've heard William Regal talk about it his book,
• 32:47
  they would live in the caravans for several weeks and then go back home.
• 32:53
  Yeah.
• 32:53
  That's just I mean, that was how it was.
• 32:58
  So
• 32:58
  Yeah.
• 32:59
  That's just
• 33:00
  your opinion on the and this one, it's kinda wrestling.
• 33:05
  It's what's your opinion on the, like, the allowance of marijuana in the wrestling scene
• 33:10
  now as it's become more widely accepted by wrestlers to smoke?
• 33:15
  I I mean, I would just hope people knew when to do it on their own time and, like, not before
• 33:20
  the matches.
• 33:21
  I would hope people would know that.
• 33:22
  Like, what you do in your own time is on you, and that's that's how I feel about it related
• 33:26
  to any business, any wrestling, all that.
• 33:29
  Just don't don't be high.
• 33:30
  Don't be drunk before a match.
• 33:33
  Yeah.
• 33:34
  And I kinda share the same sentiment there.
• 33:36
  I don't understand the point of, like, a lot of people, you can see them backstage slamming
• 33:42
  beers and not just that doesn't make sense to me.
• 33:45
  That's dangerous.
• 33:48
  Yeah.
• 33:48
  You know, like, definitely after your match, it's cool.
• 33:50
  Or it's it's cool to go to the bar.
• 33:52
  It's cool to go wherever.
• 33:54
  But, like, you know, respect who you're working for, respect who you're working with, and, you
• 33:59
  know, try to do the best you can.
• 34:03
  Exactly.
• 34:04
  And then so you work in Texas.
• 34:06
  What's your opinion on the lack of drug testing in Texas with wrestling?
• 34:12
  Well, I mean, wrestling sports entertainment, brother.
• 34:14
  Like, I don't I don't think anybody needs drug tested.
• 34:18
  I just wonder with, like, the dangers and things of with drugs possibly.
• 34:23
  You know?
• 34:24
  Well, man, you just have to, you know, make sure everybody's on up and up and they're
• 34:27
  capable to perform.
• 34:29
  Like, I have seen guys before that they were not capable of performing.
• 34:32
  You gotta set them out.
• 34:33
  You gotta be like and sometimes you will have to fire them and not bring them back.
• 34:37
  But, like, you know, like, like, what you do on your own time, again, that's on you.
• 34:41
  But just be able to perform in in a in a safe manner.
• 34:45
  Alright.
• 34:46
  Yeah.
• 34:46
  I get it.
• 34:47
  Yeah.
• 34:47
  I mean, that makes sense to me.
• 34:50
  So did you guys start with a ring, or were you guys backyard back in when you started in 1992?
• 34:58
  Oh, no.
• 34:59
  My partner, mister Dean Puckett, he he was trained by Wahoo McDaniel in 1988.
• 35:05
  And he had the ring, and he he actually started a funny story.
• 35:08
  He started with a charity show.
• 35:09
  He did a a show for some a kid that was sick, it just went from there, and it's kept
• 35:14
  continuing because we've ran continuously in that market since 1992, at least once a month.
• 35:21
  Oh, wow.
• 35:21
  That is awesome.
• 35:23
  Yeah.
• 35:23
  We even got a ticket for it during COVID.
• 35:25
  So
• 35:29
  That's great.
• 35:30
  I mean, you guys Yeah.
• 35:31
  We got We had a we got a fine from it because, you know, they shut down everything.
• 35:37
  I hate to say it, like, it's great that you still did it.
• 35:40
  You know?
• 35:40
  That's what I meant, but not great that you got fine, but it's great that you still did it.
• 35:44
  You know?
• 35:45
  Yeah.
• 35:46
  And, I mean yeah.
• 35:48
  And, I mean, you just had to be safe, and we tried to be as safe as we could.
• 35:51
  But, you know, it was a tough time for everybody.
• 35:53
  But like I said, we ran consistently up there in North Carolina since 1992.
• 35:58
  And like me, personally, I promote events in seven states.
• 36:01
  I promoted in Georgia, Alabama, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina.
• 36:06
  I promoted in Tennessee, and I promoted in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• 36:11
  So you just you go everywhere and you do everything, it feels like.
• 36:16
  You
• 36:17
  Yeah.
• 36:17
  I used to go everywhere and everywhere.
• 36:19
  Yeah.
• 36:20
  It didn't matter.
• 36:21
  I was like, yep.
• 36:21
  Cool.
• 36:22
  Yeah.
• 36:22
  I'll come around there.
• 36:23
  Yep.
• 36:23
  You want me to run?
• 36:24
  Cool.
• 36:24
  Yeah.
• 36:25
  I'm coming.
• 36:27
  And, like, yeah, like I said, I've I've had fun with it, and it's been good.
• 36:31
  And, I mean, we've got a good, very strong organization.
• 36:34
  And, you know, the sky's the limit, man, and you just gotta keep it that way.
• 36:41
  Yeah.
• 36:41
  Exactly.
• 36:42
  And so I've noticed that it seems like AEW allows, you know, some of their, like, lower
• 36:47
  talent to go in and do matches on the independent scenes.
• 36:51
  Have you tried working with any of them yet?
• 36:53
  We've had a few of their guys over over the years, but a lot of those guys, they're not I
• 36:59
  would say they're they're not under contract, if you know what I'm saying.
• 37:02
  They're on, a pay per deal with AEW.
• 37:05
  They're match by match
• 37:07
  kind of deal?
• 37:08
  Yeah.
• 37:09
  For the most part.
• 37:11
  And they do let some of their guys like, I know, like, Billy Gunn has a deal, they were
• 37:14
  letting him work for, like, QT Marshall, and he was working for Scott Damore up up in Canada
• 37:19
  from Maple Leaf.
• 37:20
  You can't tell Billy Gunn no.
• 37:23
  Yeah.
• 37:24
  That's that's true.
• 37:25
  And but, like, they are allowing you know, they're they're making them upset.
• 37:30
  They're, you know, they're letting people work places if you if you just talk to them.
• 37:34
  But another guy need to do.
• 37:36
  Another guy speaking of a, David, another guy there that started with us.
• 37:39
  Willie Yuta started with us.
• 37:41
  Really?
• 37:42
  Yeah.
• 37:43
  He trained in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina at the Academy down there.
• 37:48
  So another question because I've noticed he's become a real popular name and a driving force
• 37:53
  in the independent scene.
• 37:54
  Have you worked with Zillow Fatu?
• 37:57
  I haven't worked with Zillow Fatu.
• 37:59
  No.
• 38:00
  But I I can see why he's become popular and and such, and he's got a certain aura about him,
• 38:06
  which is marketable.
• 38:07
  I mean, they all everyone in that family seems to have their own aura and, like, their own,
• 38:13
  like, personality and character, and it's crazy.
• 38:18
  Oh, yeah.
• 38:18
  I mean, I mean, we grow up in it.
• 38:20
  I mean and there's a lot of that out there.
• 38:22
  Guys grow up in the industry, and and they continue to thrive.
• 38:26
  I mean, Piper's daughter, Nevin, she's she's doing great.
• 38:30
  I know her.
• 38:31
  Yeah.
• 38:33
  Yeah.
• 38:33
  She's she's doing great, and I've I've seen like I said, like, Carrie Moore, he's third
• 38:37
  generation wrestling.
• 38:38
  I think I think Carrie's amazing.
• 38:41
  Absolutely.
• 38:43
  I can see why you do.
• 38:47
  But, I mean, yeah, there there's like yeah.
• 38:49
  You gotta and, I mean, our whole goal on the level we're at is, like, finding the next big
• 38:55
  thing.
• 38:56
  And, like, you wanna find that next big thing, but then inevitably, they're gonna get signed.
• 39:01
  But, again, another story from Ricky Morton.
• 39:03
  Morton's he's told me too much in twenty years.
• 39:07
  But he's like, you know, you're gonna see the same people going up the ladder that you see
• 39:11
  coming back down that ladder.
• 39:13
  So try to be the best you can to everybody.
• 39:15
  Don't be a dick.
• 39:16
  You know?
• 39:17
  Exactly.
• 39:18
  And, like like, I've I've seen that so many times.
• 39:23
  The guys get signed, and they come back down.
• 39:26
  And, you know, they're on they're made more money by the than the regular guys on the show,
• 39:31
  but they're in the same building that you're in.
• 39:33
  And you have to you have to think like that as a wrestler.
• 39:35
  Like, and these guys are in the same building I'm in.
• 39:37
  We're on equal footing.
• 39:39
  You know, how much money you're making?
• 39:41
  Like, I don't know.
• 39:42
  I've heard a lot about, like, you know, a lot of, like, old guy old a lot of older legends.
• 39:47
  You know?
• 39:47
  Like, when they were on the Internet and they'd be in a show, like, 20 people, I feel like
• 39:51
  they're better than everyone because they made a thousand dollars for the show.
• 39:54
  Mhmm.
• 39:55
  But you're performing for 20 people for a thousand dollars.
• 40:00
  Yeah.
• 40:00
  I mean and it's it's it's it's what it is.
• 40:02
  Like, I mean, it's
• 40:03
  in front of 20,000 or the guy who has.
• 40:07
  But, I mean, they're also just trying to make as much money as they can to survive.
• 40:10
  Yeah.
• 40:11
  And, like, you know, it's kinda sad in a way, but it's it's it's good that they can still
• 40:16
  perform.
• 40:17
  They can still make a living at it.
• 40:19
  But, like, to the farther off television, the less draw power you have.
• 40:24
  Exactly.
• 40:27
  I mean, especially with a lot of them, you know, not using social media.
• 40:33
  But I guess we're getting a little, long here.
• 40:36
  I've got one more question, and then I think I'm gonna let you go.
• 40:40
  I just wanted to
• 40:40
  ask,
• 40:42
  who is your Mount Rushmore?
• 40:44
  You know, like, your your top four.
• 40:47
  Any any promotion, any wrestlers, all time, anywhere.
• 40:52
  Yeah.
• 40:53
  Ric Flair is obviously my number one.
• 40:55
  I'm I'm a Carolina boy.
• 40:56
  I mean, I I thought Ric Flair was the best boy.
• 40:59
  Was from Carolina, it's always the nature boy.
• 41:02
  It's always the way.
• 41:03
  And I've I've I've met Rick several times, and we actually had a son, Reed Flair, work for us
• 41:08
  here in the NABF.
• 41:09
  We had David too.
• 41:10
  David's about to go in our hall of fame coming up in March.
• 41:13
  But but Reed, yeah, Reed's in our hall of fame, and he he was working with us.
• 41:17
  Right before he went to all Japan, then he came back to America.
• 41:20
  But, yeah, Ric Flair is number one for sure.
• 41:22
  Number two, Rich Steamboat, man.
• 41:25
  Another I know I'm I'm a southern guy, Rich Steamboat and Flair, but also if you look at
• 41:30
  Steamboat from his WWF run when he, like, fought savage and all that, Like, Rick
• 41:34
  Steamboat was just a fabulous talent, and, like, he was he was a lot better show than he
• 41:38
  was given credit for as well.
• 41:40
  Well, yeah.
• 41:41
  Absolutely.
• 41:43
  Definitely.
• 41:45
  I mean, that like, I try to, like, talk like, you make all the great points, you know, with
• 41:54
  things.
• 41:54
  It seems like you just you hit the points.
• 41:59
  I I get I've been I've been in the game a long time.
• 42:02
  Third, I'm gonna I'm gonna go with Steve Austin.
• 42:04
  I mean, Steve Austin is just iconic.
• 42:06
  I mean, Stone Cold, that was the attitude era.
• 42:08
  That was but even even before that, when he was in WCW, Steve Austin, he was amazing talent.
• 42:14
  Like, amazing with his his facials, with his with his moves, his technical moves.
• 42:19
  He could brawl.
• 42:20
  He he really do it all.
• 42:22
  Yeah.
• 42:22
  And
• 42:22
  then it just Stone Cold just caught one.
• 42:25
  I still strongly believe that Stone Cold is the reason we got the attitude era.
• 42:30
  I believe that he kicked
• 42:34
  Yeah.
• 42:35
  1100%.
• 42:36
  And then, like, my number four and it's just for a lot of different reasons.
• 42:41
  I'm a I'm a go with Mick Foley.
• 42:42
  You what you can call him, catch Jack, mankind, whatever.
• 42:45
  Foley just he put on a show, and he just he had that versatility.
• 42:49
  And, I mean, he he was a world champion several times, but he could do so many different
• 42:53
  characters.
• 42:54
  Like, he was different as Dude Love than he was as Mankind.
• 42:56
  He was different as Cactus Jack.
• 42:58
  He could he could do the hardcore stuff.
• 43:00
  He could do you know?
• 43:02
  You just wanna see what the heck is this guy gonna do next?
• 43:05
  I mean, you never knew.
• 43:06
  I mean, he could be hardcore, insane, a hippie, or himself.
• 43:13
  Yeah.
• 43:18
  And I just feel like he's a he's a humble guy too, and he's, you know, he's done a lot of
• 43:22
  good.
• 43:23
  And you know?
• 43:23
  But, like, I mean, he's he's very, I think, underrated when it comes to, you know, his time
• 43:29
  at WCW, his time at WWF, etcetera.
• 43:31
  I mean, he's a he's a true legend.
• 43:33
  Yeah.
• 43:34
  I mean and even his early career, it feels like people really don't give that the credit it
• 43:39
  deserves.
• 43:41
  Yeah.
• 43:41
  Yeah.
• 43:41
  That's that's what talking about.
• 43:42
  The running elbow drop off the apron that he was famous for in WCW and in, like, Texas and
• 43:47
  stuff.
• 43:48
  Like, nobody else is doing stuff like that.
• 43:51
  No.
• 43:51
  He he kicked off a whole different, like, style of moves that people started doing different
• 43:58
  crazier things trying to come up with the next crazy move that would grab attention.
• 44:03
  And even, like, at the only UWF pay per view for Herb Abrams, Mick Foley is the only guy
• 44:08
  that went out in the crowd and brawled in front of, you know, 500 fans in a 2,000, 3,000 seat
• 44:13
  building.
• 44:16
  Yeah.
• 44:17
  Exactly.
• 44:20
  But I think it's I think I'm gonna have to let you go here.
• 44:24
  It was great having you on, Matt.
• 44:27
  Oh, yeah.
• 44:28
  We can talk again.
• 44:31
  I appreciate
• 44:31
  all the stuff we have going on here.
• 44:34
  I definitely wanna hear from you after that gals in the Anderson show and all that.
• 44:41
  But thank you
• 44:43
  so brother.
• 44:44
  You thank you.
• 44:46
  You have a great day, and check us out on social media at a w f russling.
• 44:49
  Thanks so much.
• 44:52
  No problem.
• 44:53
  Thank you for coming on here.