*PG-13 Prodigy Interview With Bob Ryder*
RYDER: So far you haven't been in the ring up there except for the match on RAW
several months ago. Are you going to continue to be outside of the ring, or do
you think they'll let you work tag matches?
WOLFIE: We'll probably eventually get in the ring, but right now we're just
happy to be getting paid just to walk to the ring.
JAMIE: We don't have to get bodyslammed, they just pay us to walk to the ring. I
like that.
RYDER: Right now they just fly you up for TV Tapings and PPV's?
JAMIE: Yeah, that's right.
RYDER: Where do they plan to go with it, and how soon do you think they'll
expand your role?
JAMIE: Well, Farouk doesn't wrestle Ahmed until Wrestlemania.
WOLFIE: No, it's Royal Rumble.
JAMIE: Are you sure it's not Wrestlemania.
WOLFIE: No, it's Royal Rumble.
JAMIE: I thought it was Wrestlemania.
WOLFIE: No, it's Royal Rumble dammit.
JAMIE: Ok, it's Royal Rumble.
RYDER: You're doing the NOD gimmick here now. Are you going to bring Farouk down
here to work some shows with you?
WOLFIE: Hopefully. We're trying to work it so we can bring him in to work with
us in a six man against Ahmed and two other guys.
RYDER: As far as you know, they are planning to include you in some in-ring
stuff in the WWF?
JAMIE: Well, they talked about us wrestling the Mexican boys when they brought
them in...but they don't want anybody to beat the Mexicans yet, and we'd just
beat them.
WOLFIE: We hope we eventually get in the ring up there.
RYDER: How's it been going down here in the USWA with the
NOD gimmick.
WOLFIE: We're pretty much staying on top of things.
JAMIE: We've pretty much made our own Nation here. It's pretty much the same
thing, we just have to wrestle here.
RYDER: How do the fans down here react? They are fans of both groups, obviously.
JAMIE: Yeah, but they are more of red-neck crowd. They really don't like what
we're doing because of the racial thing. That's the way it is in the south.
RYDER: Is that giving you some trouble down here?
WOLFIE: Oh yeah. We've already had people jump the rails to get at us in a couple of towns.
JAMIE: We've got a lot of heat. People call us all kinds of names and throw
stuff at us.
RYDER: So, it's not that you're working for the WWF that upsets them...it's the
racial thing?
JAMIE: Half of these people don't even have cable. They can't afford it. So most
of them don't even know we are in the WWF. We show it on our TV, but down here
it's the black thing. The sellout thing.
RYDER: In the last year you've been against each other and then back together
again a couple of times. How's that been going. Are you happy with the way
things are turning out?
JAMIE: Here, we do whatever they say to get paid. But now that we have the WWF
thing we can say No, we aren't doing that.
RYDER: Obviously they're paying you and you'll do what they want you to do up
there...but would you prefer working their as PG13 or continue as the NOD?
WOLFIE: I like the Nation. You don't have to take bumps and they pay you just
for walking to the ring.
JAMIE: That ring is hard as hell. If we don't have to get in it and they still
pay us, that's fine with me.
WOLFIE: The longer they wait to put us in the ring, the better.
RYDER: What is the attitude up there of the guys you've talked to about the WWF
vs WCW situation?
JAMIE: I really don't know about that. We're only there a few days a month. When
we're there it's so hectic that there's not a lot of talking that goes on. We just work all day long, go to the hotel, and go home.
RYDER: Down here, you work Nashville Saturday Nights, Louisville Tuesday Night,
Memphis whatever night they run that week, and you have some sold shows in the
Casinos. Are the shows drawing better?
JAMIE: Louisville and Nashville are drawing real well. They are real good towns.
WOLFIE: Memphis is actually starting to come up some.
JAMIE: Memphis is hard. Memphis is dead. Dead Dead Dead.
RYDER: Do you think it's because you still run every week there?
JAMIE: No, because we run every week everywhere. It's just dead. In Memphis they
used to do stuff they wouldn't do anywhere else. But now, we do it in Nashville
and Louisville too. It's not as special as it was.
RYDER: What about the Mississippi shows? Is that a different type of show
because it's a casino show?
WOLFIE: Yeah, it's a sold show and some of them aren't even wrestling fans. They
are just there because of the casino.
JAMIE: They don't know any of us except Jerry Lawler.
RYDER: So you are just the entertainment for the night?
JAMIE: Exactly. We are the entertainment. Just like when a band comes. The
casino just says here is the money for these guys for the night. Entertain us.
RYDER: Are you working anywhere else right now besides WWF and USWA?
JAMIE: No, we're making enough money that we don't have to.
RYDER: Do you have plans to do any more singles work, or do you plan to keep the
team together?
JAMIE: We're a great tag team and we want to stay together. We are both good
singles wrestlers, but we're great as a tag team. It's like Ricky Morton and
Robert Gibson.
RYDER: How long have you been together?
WOLFIE: Since 91 or 92.
RYDER: Where did you start out?
JAMIE: All over.
WOLFIE: Shelbyville, TN, outlaw shows.
RYDER: Memphis TV still does well, doesn't it?
WOLFIE: Oh yeah. For one city, it's the highest rated wrestling show in the
country.
RYDER: Why, then, do you think the house shows are doing so bad?
WOLFIE: There's just so much wrestling on TV. You can watch it all day on
Saturday, both shows on Monday night, everywhere you look you can see it free on
TV.
JAMIE: If you can watch all that TV, why would you pay a ticket to come see us?
WOLFIE: They consider us the minor leagues.
JAMIE: They really do. A guy in Louisville told Wolfie...Man you know you guys
are good, I hope one day you get to go to the big leagues.
WOLFIE: Yeah, he said he thought we should turn Pro.
JAMIE: Pro? I told him We are Pro's you idiot! They think we aren't Pro because
we aren't with WCW or the WWF.
RYDER: Not one of the big 2.
JAMIE: Yeah, not one of the big 2.
RYDER: Are there plans to bring more WWF talent in here to help boost the
attendance?
JAMIE: I know there is. Jerry Lawler's in charge now. We just had Razor and
Diesel, Goldust, Sid. They'll be coming in. The problem is, on their days off
they don't want to be coming here. They make plenty enough money as it is.
WOLFIE: Just a few of the guys will do it.
JAMIE: But, if they tell them 'you're going', then they have no choice.
RYDER: Do you guys have computers? Have you ever been online to talk to fans?
WOLFIE: Only that last time when you were here.
JAMIE: Only when you're here. Somebody sent me a picture in the mail of us with
you on the internet. That's the closest I've been to the internet. Are those
things expensive? I'll buy me one.
RYDER: It depends on what you get. It ranges from a little over a thousand
dollars on up.
WOLFIE: We'll just wait til you come back.
RYDER: What do you guys think of other promotions like ECW?
JAMIE: I hate ECW. That's not wrestling.
WOLFIE: I watch it to see what we compete against.
JAMIE: Honestly, I watch it to pick up a few moves or something, but I don't
really watch it for the show. If there's a guy I like I'll watch my buddy...but
I usually just flip through the channels. I like to watch me and Wolfie...to see
what went right and what went wrong. As far as ECW, that's just not wrestling.
Any one of these fans can jump up and go through a table. Anybody in a world can
jump through a table. I did that when I was a kid.
WOLFIE: The fans that watch it have gotten so numb to it that they always have
to push a little further. A table isn't good enough anymore. It has to be
several tables. It has to be barbed wire matches. Some of those guys are really
good. They don't need to be doing that.
JAMIE: A lot of them are good. They should be somewhere else. Some of the guys
don't have anywhere else to go, I guess. If I didn't have anywhere to go, I'd go
up there. But, the fans would chant boring because I'm not going through them
tables. I ain't doing that stuff. We went up north and wrestled for Dennis
Coralluzzo, and the fans were yelling Public Enemy Wannabe, and chanting ECW and
stuff. It was pretty good for us, actually...it got us heat.
RYDER: So you got a warm welcome from the fans up north?
JAMIE: Yeah, it was great. They were yelling 'cyberpunks', and chanting ECW. I
grabbed the microphone and told them all to go home because we weren't going
through tables.
RYDER: It's a different type of crowd up there.
JAMIE: Smart-marks. They live and breath the stuff. Internet, kayfabe sheets,
hotlines. They really know more than we do sometimes. But the guys up there
don't really even make any money. If they'd give me $1000 to come up and work a
match and go through 4 tables, I would do that...but I'm not doing that for
$100. The doctor bill would be more than that if you break an ankle.
RYDER: The USWA has survived when all the other independents didn't. It survived
the WWF and the WCW. What is the reason? Why did you make it when everyone else
went away?
JAMIE: I think number one the fans grew up here and brought their children to
it, and their children bring their children. They grew up with this. It's a
family thing. It's family with the crowd, family with the wrestlers.
WOLFIE: It's almost like a local bar. Everybody knows everybody else by name.
JAMIE: And people have the same seats for 30 years...until they die. You will
never get that seat from that guy on the front row. When he dies, his family
will keep it. He's had it for 20 years and will be here in snow storms, no
matter what. Half of these people can't afford to take their family to a WWF or
WCW show. It's too expensive. It's $15 to $20 per ticket for them. Here you can
bring your whole family for $20. You can take the whole family and have a
helluva time here. In WWF a normal family just can't afford it.
RYDER: Do the guys down here make a good living?
JAMIE: Yeah, they are making a living and eating. They aren't getting rich, but
they make enough to live. You have to pay your dues in any sport.
WOLFIE: It's not that bad.
JAMIE: The money is getting better too. The crowds are picking up and the money
is getting better.
RYDER: What about the training center. You have a wrestling school down here?
JAMIE: Jamie has been helping run it.
WOLFIE: I don't know if we are going to keep doing it. It was Eddie Marlin's
school.
RYDER: So the buyout might effect it?
WOLFIE: Yeah.
RYDER: Did you have any guys that came out that look like good prospects?
WOLFIE: We had a few. One of them worked the first match tonight. He's green,
but he'll keep getting better. Some of the guys that come in are just wasting
their time, and we tell them that when they come to us. We didn't just take
their money. If we see they can't make it we send them away.
JAMIE: We may move the school to Memphis and I might help out if they do. One of
the problems is some people that have schools do it to make money. We do it to
teach new people the business.
RYDER: Jamie, you grew up in the business. What was it like? Did your father
train you?
JAMIE: My dad was training people when I was a kid, and I was the dummy. He used
me to teach guys how to bodyslam. So, everybody would pick me up and slam me all
day. Everybody would do everything to me. He didn't want to take any bumps, so I
did it. I eventually got started with Ron Fuller's group.
RYDER: How'd you get started, Wolfie?
WOLFIE: I knew a guy that worked with Gypsy Joe. He showed me how to take bumps
and stuff. I kind of taught myself, though, just watching. You learn a lot by
watching and doing.
JAMIE: No matter who trains you, that's the best way to learn. You have to watch
it and do it.
WOLFIE: You have to study it.
RYDER: What about learning psychology?
WOLFIE: You can't learn that without doing it. You have to learn it in front of
a crowd. See how they respond.
JAMIE: Yeah. That's the best way. It's not something you can really teach. You
have to experience it.
WOLFIE: You can try to tell someone, but you really have to feel the people to
get the hang of it.
JAMIE: That's the problem with ECW. Not a lick of psychology. Just get out their
and hit people with chairs and throw them through tables.
RYDER: Really, though, there isn't much pyschology in WCW or WWF these days
either. The matches have gotten so tight, and the interviews have been cut so
short, it just isn't like it used to be.
JAMIE: You're right. WWF, at least, is talking about trying to concentrate on
storylines and making it more like a soap opera again. If you go back to your
question about why USWA survived...it's because we're like a soap opera. People
try to call what they are going to see and they can't call it, so they say damn
I gotta watch that next week. It's like that Archie Bunker show...Meathead is
telling Archie "oh Archie, don't watch that...it's all fake. They know who's
going to win". Archie said "Yeah Meathead, they know...but I don't." And that's
exactly why people come. They know we know...but they don't know. So they still
come. It's the soap opera part that keeps people coming back for more.
Oh My God!
