Beyond the Mat - Barry Blaustein VS. Mike Samples
Right now, the movie BEYOND THE MAT is getting a lot of publicity and being seen by millions of people. The man behind the movie, Barry Blaustein, has put a lot of hard work and much effort into this project and it has paid off. I know him personally, he is a very good guy, BUT, on our first meeting, he really put the whammy on Mike Samples.
This was in Memphis, about three years ago. Larry Burton called me and told me that his friend, Barry Blaustein, was coming into Memphis to begin filming some wrestling video for a Ron Howard production and he wanted Barry and I to meet. As it so happened, I was the booker in Memphis (USWA) at that time, and we were doing a show that evening at a Casino in Missouri. Larry paid for me to go and rent a new luxury car and he and I picked up Barry at the airport and he rode to the Casino show with us.
The town was about 2 hours away from Memphis and it was a very enjoyable trip. At that time, my personal car was a Buick Park Avenue, a very nice car, but this big luxury car was even better and we talked the entire way, making the trip TO the building go by very quiclkly. Little did I know that it would be the trip COMING HOME from the casino that would be so rough.
Barry had a broadcast quality digital camera with him and when we got to the building, we left it in the trunk, for safe keeping until later. Before the matches started, Barry came over and got the keys from me to go and get his camera, "just give the keys to Larry", I told him, since I had lots of work to do that night. Barry said that he would and that was that. This was a Friday night. The next morning, of course, we would be at the television station, doing a live 90 minute t.v. show and I already had the t.v. laid out and written up, but you always had minor changes and fine tuning to do, so I always liked to get back to the Marriot, where we stayed, as early as possible on Friday nights, just to go over everything and be ready for the chaos of Saturday morning. Since Barry was staying at the Marriot, also, everything, seemed, cool.
When the night was finished and we had gotten dressed, I packed my wrestling bag and my briefcase and went to the other dressing room to get Larry and Barry and get out of there. Larry Burton was waiting for me and told me that Barry had decided to ride back to Memphis with Jerry Lawler and that he would want to ride to the t.v. station, on Saturday, with me. "No problem", I said, "let's head back to Memphis". We wnet to the car and I remembered that Barry was supposed to give the keys to Larry, so I asked him for the keys. "I don't have the keys", said Larry, "you've got them". "Barry was supposed to give them to you after he got his camera out of the trunk", I told him. "Well, he didn't", said Larry.
So, here we are, in the parking lot of a casino in Missouri, it is about 10:30 at night, we've got a two hour trip back to Memphis, and t.v. in the morning. We've got a brand new $50,000 car sitting there and no keys. Since I had other responsibilities, I was the last one of the boys to leave, so we really are stuck. "Larry", I said, "we may have a problem here". Now Larry Burton is one of those guys that nothing stops. He is like a pit bulldog. You can't shake him. "No problem", he said. "I'll call Lawler on his cell phone and get him to bring the keys back". This would have been a great idea, except Jerry Lawler's cell phone was at his home, being charged up at the time. "We may have a problem", said Larry, when no one answered the cell phone.
Next, we did the obvious thing. We called a locksmith. Now, keep in mind that by now, it's 11:00 at night and we are in Missouri at one of those casino's that happens to be in the middle of nowhere. So, it's about 11:30 or so before the locksmith gets there. In my mind I am thinking, o.k., we leave here at midnight, get to Memphis @ 2:00, I get to bed, get up @ 7:30, shower and get to the t.v. station at 8:00, t.v. starts at 10:30, so no problem. After working about 30 minutes or so, the locksmith tells us what a great car we've got. "Nobody's going to steal this baby", he said. "But, I can't get into it myself, so we're going to have to call a better equipped locksmith for a bigger town to get in here". As I see myself slowly doing some very evil things to Barry Blaustein, I start to think that we really do have a problem.
At about 1:30 in the morning, a good looking truck pulls into the parking lot, slides open his side door, hooks up his lap top computer, contacts a satellite, gets the proper key codes, and by 2:00 a.m., we are in the car and leaving the casino, with a two hour trip ahead of us. I drop Larry off and head to the Marriott. As I go to my room, I stop and consider going by Barry's rooming and choking him to death. It is after 4:00 a.m. and I've got to be at the t.v. station by 8:00.
I go to the room, get a quick 2 and a half hours sleep and get up and shower. As I am getting ready, the phone rings and it is Larry. "Don't forget to pick up Barry", he says. Again, I ponder the exact amount of jail time that I might get for dragging him, tied to the bumper, all the may to the t.v. station. As I knocked on his door, he opens it, with a big embarrassed grin holding the car keys at arms length, "did I cause you guys a lot of trouble?", he asked. "nah,", I said, "no trouble, you ready to go?"
What could I do?
T.V. went well that day, in spite of the previous night. In my match, I had beat the daylights out of a t.v. guy, named Nick Dinsmore, and near the end of the match, I had him reverse me into the corner and I was going to do an upside down "headstand" on the second turnbuckle. This one, happened to have an exposed cable clamp, and I peeled open my scalp and blood went everywhere. I quickly pinned Nick and then went ahead to the announcer's desk where the Truth Commission came out and jumped me. Blood was everywhere and when I got to the back, I still had to run the rest of the show. Afterwards, Barry filmed the doctor as I got 12 stitches in the top of my head. "You certainly have impressed me, Mike," said Barry. "I really didn't expect all of this". Feeling a little tired, I looked up from the doctors table at Barry, "neither did I, Barry", I said, "neither did I".
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