Southeastern/Continental Championship Wrestling

[goc]

Smack2k and I are working together to try and find more footage and Tim Noel may know someone with some unconverted VHS so I'm confident that if any more footage exists that we're eventually going to find it. I'm less confident that it exists.

 

In the meantime, is there any interest in starting a separate thread in the same style with recaps for SMW TV? It's got a lot of the same Continental guys like Tom Pritchard, Dirty White Boy, Robert Fuller & Jimmy Golden, Rip Rogers, Danny Davis, Bob Armstrong, Scott Armstrong, Tim Horner, plus Tracy Smothers, Steve Armstrong, Brad Armstrong and probably guys I'm forgetting show up later.

[shoe]

Smack2k and I are working together to try and find more footage and Tim Noel may know someone with some unconverted VHS so I'm confident that if any more footage exists that we're eventually going to find it. I'm less confident that it exists.

 

In the meantime, is there any interest in starting a separate thread in the same style with recaps for SMW TV? It's got a lot of the same Continental guys like Tom Pritchard, Dirty White Boy, Robert Fuller & Jimmy Golden, Rip Rogers, Danny Davis, Bob Armstrong, Scott Armstrong, Tim Horner, plus Tracy Smothers, Steve Armstrong, Brad Armstrong and probably guys I'm forgetting show up later.

 

SMW is such a fun t.v promotion.

[dawho5]

Interest is all on you, sir. Whoever is going to read it will, and the people who don't aren't something you ought to worry about.

[goc]

The date on this show is 1/10/87. Don't worry, we aren't missing anything, it just seems like there was no TV due to the holidays. Gordon starts the show letting us know there have been some changes by the "board of directors" (boy that trope has only gotten better with age hasn't it?) and says that anyone who attacks a referee will be fined $5000 and stealing a title belt will now be cause for a 30 day suspension. Gordon lets us know that Kris Von Colt has been fined $14,000 and now the Alabama Title has been returned to Wendell Cooley. Poor Kris Colt, losing half his year's pay just to have that shitty Alabama belt for a couple weeks.

Our first match is Rip Rogers defending the Southeastern Title vs Rip Rogers. I believe Linda & Miss Brenda have been the victims of cost cutting because they haven't been seen for about 2 months and they really aren't even mentioning Rogers' attack on Linda any more. Adrian Street starts the match by kicking Rip Rogers' ass. Big time. Street does the most ridiculous, hilarious move that I will not even attempt to describe and instead just let the gif do the talking. Rogers turns things around when Adrian Street has him on the outside and is about to ram his head into the steel post in the bulldog position but Rogers shoves him off into the post. Street ends up catching Rogers in a sleeper and then Rogers shoves the ref out of the ring which Gordon tries to cover by claiming the ref was "caught up in the action." My earlier statements about Miss Brenda are proven false as she runs out to the ring and sprays something in the eyes of Adrian Street. Then she takes off one of her heels and nails him in the back of the head with it. And now Miss Linda is back too! She comes in and sprays Miss Brenda in the eyes with the whatever it is and then BLASTS Rogers in the back of the head with the shoe. Linda puts Adrian Street on top for the pin and then revives the ref. Rogers is out and Adrian Street is the new Southeastern Champion.

After commercial Gordon is at the podium with Adrian and Miss Linda and Adrian lets us know he feels just like Cinderella. Rip Rogers is fantastic with is in ring rebuttal "Somebody hit me! Where's my belt!?"

Our next match features the formidable Dr. X from Parts Unknown facing a newcomer to the area Larry Hamilton. Trying to decide if this is the same Hamilton that frequently appears as a one name only jobber in 1983 Georgia. Perhaps so as Gordon informs us Hamilton has bulked up a lot since the last time he saw him. Hamilton looks pretty good but it's almost like he's too excited to finally be on the opposite side of the squash match because he does a few too many moves in the build to the finish. He wins with a belly to belly suplex.

Now we go to a promo from Kevin Sullivan in Hawaii. He's with Mark Lewin and I feel like this is the second time he's had a video promo with Lewin who I'm pretty sure never comes in. Sullivan says he is about to win the war, his army is coming from all corners of the earth to destroy the Fuller & Armstrong families. He ends with his usual line to Ron Fuller of "To be a king you have to kill a king."

We come back from commercial to Gordon at the podium with Larry Hamilton on one side and Tom Pritchard on the other. Hamilton says that he wants to challenge for the U.S. Junior Title and it slowly dawns on me that Pritchard is still here and thus THE KING OF FUCKING RASSLIN Roy Lee Welch lost the loser leaves town match. This segment is dead to me.

Scott Armstrong announces that the next match is for the Tag Team Titles and then the music of the Dirty White Boy hits and he and Stubbs come out sans the Tag Team Titles. The Nightmares come out to The Cars - Hello Again (which I quite like as entrance music) with the Continental Tag Team Titles. So I guess we know who won the big match at the Lavender Coliseum. The Nightmares get attacked before they can get in the ring and it's on! This eventually settles down into a normal tag and The Nightmares are such a great lost team. No one ever talks about them and they look good enough to me that you could make an argument for them being in discussion of best tag teams of the 80s if you had the footage. Pretty good match that ends with a pretty neat finish. The Nightmares have Jerry Stubbs set up for the Tombstone/Top Rope Leg Drop combo. Stubbs gets hit with the Tombstone but as the other Nightmare comes off the top rope, Tony Anthony catches him and slams him down. DWB covers one of the Nightmares while the other Nightmare covers Jerry Stubbs and the ref counts 3. But on who!? The ref counted Jerry Stubbs down and The Nightmares win! DWB attacks them after the match and then takes off to display his graciousness in defeat.

After commercial we come back to Stubbs & The Dirty White Boy at the podium (with Kris Von Colt so unfortunately we have to listen to him) and Scott Armstrong is in the ring with The Nightmares and Wendell Cooley (see above note on Colt) Also, Stubbs has one of the belts. Cooley says that Kolt's dad threw rocks at the stork for a month after he was born. The crowd likes that line. Cooley wants a Texas Death Match because they keep getting disqualified. Ken Wayne talks Stubbs stealing one of their belts but they still aren't champions. Kris Von Colt "I have a girlfriend that I know could whip you Cooley, and I know because I Whip her every day" Scott Armstrong is moonlighting as The Flash because he manages to get from the ring to the back to get a letter for Stubbs & White Boy "from the promotion" and then goes to the podium and gives the letter to Gordon Solie. He reminds them of the rule about stealing belts and he says that Jerry Stubbs is suspended for 30 days! Guess it's time for Jerry to do a Japan tour

Ohhh boy the next match is a Cage Match and I hear The Headhunters music so this is getting me excited. The New Guinea Headhunters vs. The Stud & Robert Fuller in the confines of a steel cage! Wrestling never found a song it loved so much as Springsteen's "Born In The USA" and that's what The Stud & Fuller come out to. This cage has a lot of give to it. Like "boy I sure hope that side doesn't fall down" give to it. Kevin Sullivan is practically giddy doing guest commentary on the match going over and over with Gordon how no one can get in or out of the cage. He calls the cage a spider's web, a beautiful trap designed to lure in Robert Fuller & The Stud. After about 5 minutes The Headhunters get control of the match and then pull a Nexus and start pulling up the mats and the boards on the ring. And there is another Headhunter under there! We now have 3 Headhunters and The Stud gets hit with one of the boards they pulled up from the ring. Then he gets piledriven on it. Sullivan was up for days planning this. It's neat to see the ring with a huge hole in it from the missing boards. And then The Stud falls down into it. After a long beatdown one of The Headhunters pin Robert Fuller. The Stud has his mask pulled off but disappears down into the hole in the ring so you can't see who he is. It's not Ron Fuller I tell ya! They get the camera work right this time and you never see Fuller's head at all. Sullivan wants to know if this is the greatest plan Solie has ever seen but Solie won't give him the satisfaction. I hate on Gordon but I do like how he plays off the heels.

We end the show with Sullivan gloating at the podium with the THREE New Guinea Headhunters. Gordon says he has some per-recorded comments from The Stud and then we go to an unmasked Ron Fuller with his brother Robert. Ron says he is "speaking on behalf" of the Tennessee Stud. I don't like that. If you're going to do the goofy masked guy who everyone knows gimmick, keep the mask on. Bob Armstrong does a video of him in his house wearing The Bullet mask wih his kids and comes out in those goofy ass sheets to do his "civilian" interviews. I actually like Robert Fuller cutting patriotic promos because it's not different than any rah rah USA redneck stuff you've heard in real life. Gordon signs off letting us know that next week we'll see the Texas Death Match between Wendell Cooley and Kris Von Colt.

This was a good show and I have the next one that I'll do before putting this on hold. And then HOPEFULLY I will have some more footage. Smack2k and I have some leads on more footage that I am cautiously optimistic about.

 

 

[goc]

I have had a review like 95% done for the past 2 weeks but I haven't made the gifs yet. I'll try and get to it soon.

 

The real reason for posting tonight is just to give an update that this thread will continue thanks to the help of Busterira, Kris Z and Smack2k. I have a brand new stack of 87 discs of good ol' Alabama wrestling sitting on my desk. Now I just need to figure out what is what...

[rzombie1988]

Continental had a very odd deal with never hiding the identity of guys under masks and purposely telling you who they were. I never got it, but they consistently did it with The Stud, Mr. Olympia, The Bullet and others.

 

Japan, especially the female wrestlers, also adopt this practice with people wearing masks pushed more as cosplay than hiding identities.

[soup23]

Good to hear the thread is continuing Goc. A lof of this stuff is foreign to me besides the absolute iconic stuff ("Need to talk to Tom", The Bullet). Reading this gives me a clear sense of what to look forward to whenever I get there in Alabama wrestling viewing.

[goc]

Continental had a very odd deal with never hiding the identity of guys under masks and purposely telling you who they were. I never got it, but they consistently did it with The Stud, Mr. Olympia, The Bullet and others.

 

Japan, especially the female wrestlers, also adopt this practice with people wearing masks pushed more as cosplay than hiding identities.

I've figured out that this promotion used masks to hide age and not identity. Pretty sure that Ron Fuller decided to start wearing The Stud mask when he started going bald and Bob Armstrong became The Bullet to hide his age and I also read that he felt insecure about the way his face looked after having facial reconstruction in 1983(?) due to a weight lifting accident. Jerry Stubbs more than likely started with the Mr. Olympia mask due to being bald, but at the time of the naming, having a great body.

[goc]

So with my new influx of footage my plan is to watch the 1987 stuff that I have with Buddy Landel and once his run is over to go back to the earliest footage I have and work from there. That should include the Headhunters vs. Fuller/Golden match that is highly regarded for anyone waiting for that. That does mean I won't get to the Eddie Gilbert years until much later but I get the feeling looking at some of the talent from that time period that it's kind of over rated.

 

The date on this show is 1/17/87. The show starts immediately with a replay of the Cage match, starting right about the time that The Headhunters tear up the ring to reveal the 3rd Headhunter. After the replay we go to the podium where Kevin Sullivan is with Gordon Solie and the THREE New Guinea Headhunters. He brags about getting the better of the "southern boys" but Gordon says that The Stud and Robert Fuller were beaten and not broken. He says they had something to say immediately after that match. They show a promo from The Stud & a bloody Robert Fuller. The Stud challenges all 3 of The Headhunters to a Cage match in THEIR town, Knoxville TN.

The next match is The Dirty White Boy who has his entrance noticeably clipped and is now magically in the ring standing next to MY MAN Mike Fever who again has asked to be announced as from "anywhere but Birmingham." They are teaming up to challenge The Nightmares for the Continental Tag Team Titles. I don't think this is really an upgrade for DWB, even as Mike Fever's #1 fan. Gordon reminds me that this is because Jerry Stubbs was suspended 30 days for stealing one of the tag team titles last week. Ken Wayne hits an AWESOME dive on White Boy during this match that means we'll definitely have a good gif this week. White Boy gets pissed that Fever moved out of the way to let him get hit and I am enjoying this pairing. White Boy gets hit with another awesome dive that loses it's impact as for some reason they thought it'd be a good idea to put Kris Von Colt on commentary during this match, forgetting all the other times they have given him access to a microphone. DWB is really impressing me in this one. Gordon does some of his shoutouts which he hadn't done in a while. Nightmares do the obvious and finish Fever off with the Tombstone/Diving Headbutt combo. After the match DWB & Mike Fever get into a shoving match. DWB wants to make amends and offers a handshake but then attacks him, hits a piledriver on him and leaves him laying in the ring. I want to be a Dirty White Boy when I grow up.

After the match The Nightmares head to the podium and Gordon shows a video of The Sheepherders who he says are coming in to face The Nightmares. This is the Luke Williams/Butch Miller combo, not the Boyd/Morgan pairing that was active in Memphis around this same time period. The Nightmares aren't afraid of their violent reputation, they haven't backed down from a challenge from anyone in the country or the world. Dirty White Boy is back in the ring after commercial and he says that Len Denton is coming in to be his partner and he promises that before Jerry Stubbs comes back, he and Denton will have taken the titles from The Nightmares.

Our next match is Larry Hamilton against Tom Pritchard in a match that is NOT for the U.S. Junior Title. I miss Roy Lee Welch They start off with a handshake which immediately lowers my expectation for this match. Gordon tells us how Larry Hamilton has bulked up to around 235-240. What exactly is the weight limit for the U.S. Junior Title? This goes to a time limit in less than 10 minutes so who knows what the time limit was for this match

After that we get a promo from The Stud & Robert Fuller hyping their match teaming with Jimmy Golden to take out The Headhunters at the Lavender Coliseum on January 30th. Then The Bullet comes out with the Continental Title and lets everyone know he has a Loser Leaves Town match with Kevin Sullivan in the same night! Well I guess Buddy Landel is coming real soon.

Our next match is Snake Brown vs. The Bullet and I'm happy that we get the full Bad To The Bone entrance by The Bullet after the way they've been cutting intros on this show. Snake Brown attacks as soon as Bullet gets in the ring but Bullet quickly comes back with some great punches, takes Snake Brown down and then puts him in the Figure Four for a very quick win.

After a commercial there are promos from Rip Rogers & Brenda Britton, Adrian Street & Miss Linda and then Larry Hamilton & Tom Pritchard but the sound cuts out so I don't know what any of them said.

The main event is Wendell Cooley defending the Alabama Title against Kris Von Colt in a Texas Death Match. They do a neat spot where Colt gets whipped into the corner and starts into a Flair Flip but Cooley stops him and hits a belly to back suplex off the top rope for a quick first fall. Cooley stupidly goes to the apron and gets his belt like he's just won the match allowing Von Colt to attack him from behind. Cooley gets NAILED with a chair outside the ring. That looked nasty. They do another neat spot where Cooley gets whipped into the corner and tries come out of the corner into Colt with a crossbody but Colt moves out of the way and Cooley takes out the ref. Von Colt gets some kind of loaded glove and hits Cooley with it to win his first fall of the match. I believe this suffered from a bad conversion process as it gets all choppy and then Cooley is counted down and Von Colt is announced the winner. I think there was a lot of loaded glove stuff that got chopped up there. Von Colt continues beating on him with the loaded glove until The Nightmares take a long time to run out and save him.

Oh my god The Bullet tops himself again. This time he is wearing his red hood WITH READING GLASSES. He tells Sullivan that he hopes he's an acrobat and then they cut his promo up so I suppose that was going in vulgar direction. Solie holds up the loaded glove and says that the glove is considered a "lethal weapon" and Von Colt will be fined and suspended. Wendell Cooley asks Solie not to suspend Von Colt and he doesn't want Von Colt to leave until he gets his revenge with Von Colt's own loaded glove.

The show ends with a Rip Rogers vs. Adrian Street match that only has less than 2 minutes of TV time and the show goes off with the match in progress.

 

 

[goc]

So apparently I was wrong about Jerry Stubbs wearing a mask. Listened to a shoot interview from him and he says when he started out doing jobs on Atlanta TV he was still doing his day job as a policeman and he was tired of having people give him crap about getting beat on TV so he started wearing the mask.

[goc]

So having looked through all my new discs & everything I had previously there looks to be some really incredible stuff missing in 1987 with The Nightmares.

 

I flipped through the Pro Wrestling This Week from 1987 (Joe Pedicino highlight show) that I have and there looks to be a very long feud between babyface Nightmares and heel Robert Fuller & Jimmy Golden including Fuller/Golden attack Ken Wayne's brother & father. The Nightmares end up splitting and have an AMAZING 30 second video of Ken Wayne saying goodbye to Danny Davis that I need to put on youtube. Then some interesting looking stuff with Wendell Cooley turning on Danny Davis when Davis looks for a new partner.

 

I also found that footage of Doug Furnas ripping off the door of the cage that someone was asking about here a long time ago, although I don't think it was in this thread. Will try and put that on youtube as well once I get that stuff edited out.

 

Anyone that knows where I can find some more 1987 full episodes please let me know!

[goc]

Furnas vid:

 

 

The Nightmares say goodbye

 

[Memphis Mark]

Just some random comments.

 

1. I wionder why Mr. Olympia never when to JCP ? Working a Mr. Oiympia , Stubbs would have been a big draw . The guy seemed to take it to a whole new level when the put on the hood.

 

2. I did not know that the Mongolian Stomper worked under a mask in the early 80's. He was the Masked Stallion . Hiding Archie's age ?

 

3. I did not know that the Midnight Stallion and Man Mountain Harris a.k.a. Black Bart were both in the Midnight Express , INC. They join Dennis Condrey , Randy Rose , Norvell Austin , Ron Starr and Wayne Farris. Quite a group.

 

4. Arn Anderson worked under a mask in SECW . He was Super Olympia . Watched a great tv match between Super Olympia and the late Ted Allen . Allen was Double A 's trainer. Lot of chain wrestling , just great.

 

I really enjoy the SECW studio program . I feel like the promotion lost something when they moved to Boutwell. The crowd energy was just not the same.

[goc]

Glad you've already been able to dig into that stuff. Wish I could say the same. I don't know why Stomper would have been wearing a mask but having seen the guy still look great well into the mid-80s and even not that old in SMW, I don't think he was wearing the mask to hide his age.

 

As for why Jerry Stubbs didn't go to JCP, I know that he had the opportunity. I listened to an interview of his where he said he had the chance to go at the same time that Arn went but he decided to stay in Southeastern. He said he just really liked working that territory and didn't want to leave.

[goc]

I have spent a stupid amount of time lately trying to put my Southeastern/Continental collection in chronological order and teaching myself how to create/edit DVDs in the process. To avoid getting completely burnt out on this project I decided to take a little break to enjoy the fruits of my labor and watch the first DVD.

 

The date I have for this is 3/22/80. Les Thatcher welcomes us to Southeastern Championship Wrestling and I'm excited to be here today with you too Les.

The first match of the show is Ron Slinker facing a VERY young looking Terry Taylor. Slinker is an interesting guy to me, I have no idea if he was able to make his real life fighting skills in Judo and Karate into a viable wrestling style. Never been too impressed with him on limited viewing. Slinker & Taylor shake hands before the match so I assume this is going to be a very "scientific" match. This is a wrestling match the whole way through with no strikes thrown and I thought was actually very good for such a short match. Ron Slinker wins with a small package but Terry Taylor looked very much like an equal here.

They play some funky music that you would not expect coming into and out of the breaks, including the intro to Hot Stuff as the one that I recognized.

After a break we come back to Les Thatcher, promoter Bob Polk and Killer Karl Kox. And a lot of video problems. Les starts off by saying that the referee from Kox's last match with Ole Anderson wants to have Ole suspended. I think the referee's name is Ron Catrone. They show a video of the bloody referee talking to Les. The referee says that Ole did this to him and he will fight Ole any time, but when he's wearing the referee shirt he's supposed to be the authority in the ring. He wants Ole suspended. Karl Kox walks into the interview and puts his arm around the ref. He says that they both served together in the marines and they have always had each other's back and still do. After the video Karl Kox makes his case to promoter Bob Polk for why Ole should be suspended. Bob Polk says that Ole might be suspended but that Karl Kox is signed to face Ole Anderson in upcoming matches. Kox doesn't want to wrestle him but Polk doesn't particularly care. I am not sure quite where this is going but it seems like Ole is still the face here even after beating up on the ref so I assume this referee is Killer Karl Kox stooge, as also backed up by them talking about serving together in the marines.

Then we have some local promos. Kox talks about losing a match a few weeks ago in Johnson City, Tennessee in 2 minutes and 20 seconds to Troy T. Tyler. He had no idea who he was and he caught him by surprise. But he isn't going to do it again in Hazard Ky. Then Les talks to Tyler but I have a lot of audio/video problems and miss most of what he says.

After some commercials for where to go for summer fun in Hazard, Kentucky we have Les Thatcher sitting down at the desk talking to Ron Slinker who he invites to do commentary with him on the next match between The Matador (Jerry Stubbs' masked gimmick pre-Olympia) and Jerry Roberts from Canada (Jacques Rougeaa, I can only assume they thought Jacques Rougeau sounded too French for a babyface in Knoxville) against The Manchurians managed by The Great Mephisto. Everything I read about Tapu & Tio the Manchurians would state that these guys are the latter day New Guinea Headhunters but the hair and age/weight difference makes it really hard to tell. The faces put up a fight but The Manchuarians win after making Jerry Roberts pass out in a nervehold. After the match The Matador tosses both Manchurians out of the ring and attacks Great Mephisto again but The Manchurians come back in the ring and start beating him down. The Matador gets tied up in the ropes and Mephisto starts whipping him with his belt. Ron Slinker runs in from the announce table to help out as The Manchurians tie The Matador up in the ropes. The referee ,and to my surprise, members of the front row studio audience help free The Matador from the ropes but while that is happening The Great Mephisto throws fire into the face of Ron Slinker! Boy this promotion loved it's fireballs!

After commercial we come back to The Matador showing off the welts on his back from Mephisto beating on him with a belt. He cuts a promo hyping a match with Memphisto in Hazard and Mephisto has a taped promo as well. Mephisto calls The Matador "Jerry Stubbs" so I guess this guy NEVER had a masked identity where people didn't know who he was. Another commercial leads us to Les Thatcher & Bob Polk at the desk. Bob asks if anyone in the audience got any kind of pictures of Mephisto's attack in the parking lot last week please send them to him. Les starts to talk about the Killer Karl Kox/referee Ron Catrone situation again and this brings out Stan Hansen. He wants Les to show the tape of what started all of this and so we see the arena footage of ole Anderson getting in the referee's face during a match with Killer Karl Kox. While Ole is distracted with the ref, Kox goes in his tights, pulls something out and nails Ole with it when he turns around and covers him for the pin. Stan rants about how the referee should have and could have seen it but he didn't call it. Hansen says he's a biased referee and talks about how the ref and Kox drink and hang out together. They go back to the arena footage of after the match and Ole attacks the referee. Kox comes back in and helps the referee, ending with Kox holding Ole's arms while referee Ron Catrone starts wailing away on him. This looks to really get the crowd riled up but it's a heavy zoom in so I can't see very many of them. Stan goes through all of Kox's title wins over the past few years and says all of them were ref'd by Ron Catrone, including Kox's Southeastern Title win over Ole Anderson. This is a pretty unique deal.

Stan Hansen goes into the ring to face The Seraph so Killer Karl Kox comes out to do commentary on his match. Kox starts mocking Hansen's cowboy hat and puts it on his head. Then he decides to start cutting it up. Hansen sees what is happening from inside the ring and dispatches The Seraph like a piece of garbage so he can go outside and brawl with Kox. Kox takes off and leaves the angry Stan Hansen to let us know he's going to kick Karl Kox's ass.

During the commercial we get the lineup for Monday Night's card in Hazard and it's a little different to see them promoting a Monday card anywhere other than Birmingham, Alabama after watching so much 1986 Continental.

We come back to Les Thatcher at the desk with Troy T. Tyler the future Dream Machine. He talks about being a protege of Dusty Rhodes, and when you think of one match for Dusty Rhodes it's the Texas Bullrope match. He pulls out the bullrope with the bell on it and he and Les talk about how a Bullrope match works. While this happens Dutch Mantell comes out for his match with Troy T. Tyler and Tyler lets us know he's getting ready to kick Dutch's booty. This is just your standard back and forth TV match but then Tyler ends up outside the ring and Dutch vaults over the top rope to go after him and things heat up from there. Tyler has Dutch down for the count but ref Scrappy McGowan had just been bumped so another ref slides in and hits a pretty fast 3 to match Troy T. Tyler the Southeastern Television Champion. Dutch is a sore loser so he decides to post Tyler after the match and put the boots to him. Troy T. Tyler is busted open and Dutch pounds on the cut before he takes off when Tyler gets his hands on the Bull rope.

After the commercial Stan Hansen cuts a promo for is upcoming World Title match with Harley Race in Hazard, Kentucky. Would like to be able to see THAT match. Then we have Les Thatcher and ring announcer Alan Williams wrap up the show and talk about the day's events but The Matador comes out to let us know that Ron Slinker has gone to the hospital and he once again shows off the welts on his back from Mephisto whipping him with a belt. Then Hansen comes out and lets us know what he's going to do to Karl Kox even if he doesn't care about that old hat.

 

 

[Memphis Mark]

Glad you've already been able to dig into that stuff. Wish I could say the same. I don't know why Stomper would have been wearing a mask but having seen the guy still look great well into the mid-80s and even not that old in SMW, I don't think he was wearing the mask to hide his age.

 

As for why Jerry Stubbs didn't go to JCP, I know that he had the opportunity. I listened to an interview of his where he said he had the chance to go at the same time that Arn went but he decided to stay in Southeastern. He said he just really liked working that territory and didn't want to leave.

 

Thanks.Really enjoying SECW . I really like Charlie Platt and the late Rick Stewart. Platt was a local Dothan talk show host. Charlie was very much a down home Alabama country boy. But Charlie knew the business and did a good job selling the angles. I researched Rick Stewart and found out he past away from cancer in 88. That is a shame, Rick Stewart was like a super fan. He knew all the and the history behind the talent. He would have been a big star .

 

Charlie and Rick worked very hard to get the product over. The same can not be said for Gordon Solie . Solie just showed up and called the matches. On his first show he did not know the names of the talent or who the chanpions were . The wrestlers would have to correct Gordon on the air.

[goc]

The show starts off with Les Thatcher in the studio welcoming us to another edition of Southeastern Championship wrestling and the date I have for this is 3/29/80.

We get a promo from Killer Karl Kox in an NWA trucker hat talking about how as the Southeastern Champion he has everyone coming for him. Les talks about all the new talent in the area and Kox says he likes to face the young guys because he always teaches them something and they walk away wondering what they just ran into.

Our first match is Troy T. Tyler defending the Southeastern TV Title against The Seraph managed by The Great Mephisto. Troy T. Tyler would later be The Dream Machine, Troy Graham. He is in full on Dusty Rhodes mode here with the bleached blonde hair. Dutch Mantel does commentary on this match and claims that Tyler is Dusty Rhodes' brother but that Dusty is ashamed of him because Troy T. just got out of jail. Tyler ends up in trouble as does a great job selling as a babyface. He makes a comeback that gets derailed when he gets distracted by trying to unmask The Seraph. Mephisto gives The Seraph a foreign object to load in his mask and Seraph headbutts Tyler sending him out of the ring. Tyler makes it back in before the countout and then slams Seraph into the turnbuckle with the object still loaded. Troy T. Tyler manages to unmask The Seraph and it turns out that it was The Angel, Frank Morell. We are told that The Angel is suspended and now because he was under that mask he will NOT be back.

Next Les is joined at the desk by The Matador (Jerry Stubbs) Steve Travis & Ron Slinker. Ron Slinker was burned by a fireball by The Mephisto and will have to wear a mask to cover the injury when he comes back next week. He has a makeup job under his eye. The Matador says that Mephisto should be suspended but promoter Bob Polk says that Memphisto as an attorney fighting the suspension but Polk will have an answer next week. Les mentions that The Matador wears his mask after being burned but Matador says that is only the reason he STARTED wearing it but now he IS The Matador and he will not lose that mask. Ron Slinker can't afford an attorny he is going to handle it in the street.

The Great Mephisto makes a reply about what he has suffered since "arriving in the United States" with an incredibly vague accent that doesn't exactly fit the Arabic motif he is wearing but it was a simpler time. They have an awesome green screen graphic for The Great Mephisto of flames behind him that I will share with you. Mephisto says that if he only knew that the answer to his problems would be to copy the Americans and hire lawyers for everything he would have done it a long time ago. No expenses will be spared. He knows you don't like him being here but there is nothing you can do about it.

We come back from commercial with Les talking to Steve Travis, Ron Slinker & The Matador some more. They talk about how the Americans won't be competing in the Moscow Olympics & Ron Slinker talks about being on the U.S. Olympic Judo Team. Slinker cuts a fired up promo vowing revenge on The Great Mephisto for the scars on his face.

Back from another break and it's a tape from Georgia Championship Wrestling of Austin Idol vs. Tommy Rich with Harley Race watching from the outside. After a ref bump, Tommy Rich is on top of Austin Idol for a pin and Harley tries to come off the top onto Rich with a diving headbutt but Rich moves & Harley hits Austin Idol. Tommy Rich pins Austin Idol as the ref recovers but then Idol & Harley beatdown Rich after the match. Austin Idol straps Rich's legs together with a belt and then puts him in a figure four as Gordon tells that Idol must be trying to collect the bounty on Tommy Rich. After the video Les Thatcher tells us that Tommy Rich had the ligaments in his knee torn and he was out of action for 5 weeks. Les says that Austin Idol received $5,000 in bounty money from Harley Race. After that we get another video this time Freddie Miller interviewing Tommy Rich about his return from the injury. He can't think of a better place to get his revenge on Harley Race than in Tennessee.

Next up is Troy T. Tyler as the desk with Les Thatcher. He cuts a great promo talking about being the protege of Dusty Rhodes. He's doing Dusty just about as good or better than Dusty himself. Les asks him about Dutch Mantel & Tyler calls him a heathen. Tyler says he could do better against Dutch but Dutch keeps blowing his whiskey breath in his face and rubbing his nicotine fingers in his eyes and he can't hardly see him. Great stuff from the future Dream Machine.

The next match is Ole Anderson against jobber John Irving. The video cuts out during this match and it appears to be a station issue as we spend a long time looking at a still graphic for WKYH-TV in Hazard KY. The match comes back in time for us to see Ole finishing off John Irving with an elbow drop.

After the match Ole sits down with Les to talk over clips of a match with Killer Karl Kox from Knoxville. We see the finish of someone running in the ring to attack Ole Anderson and we find out that this is a referee that Ole has had problems with in the past and apparently is now allying with Killer Karl Kox to get revenge on Ole. Les talks about how the ref wasn't even assigned to the building that night and Ole says that Kox and the referee are former marines together. Ole says that Lars is coming in to help him now and The Minnesota Wrecking Crew is going to do just what their name says.

Les Thatcher throws us to a video of Don Diamond facing Rick Oliver from Florida. Don Diamond wins with a Russian Legsweep and has a nice white boy fro. Les reigns in Don's promo to talk about his amateur accomplishments and how he turned down offers in football to become a pro wrestler and be trained by Vernge Gagne. Diamond says he's heard about Southeastern everywhere he has been in wrestling and that's why he's here. He lists the top heels and says everyone can be beat and he's here to beat them.

After a commercial we come back to Les Thatcher talking to The Great Mephisto. Les says that he heard it was Mephisto who talked The Angel into putting on The Seraph mask and staying in the area after being suspended but Mephisto dodges that and says he agrees with the officials and that The Angel should be suspended. Mephisto says he had no idea that The Seraph was The Angel. He was deceived just like everyone else.

Next match is The Manchurians against Rick Stone & Mark Hill. Mark Hill has an INCREDIBLE white boy fro, dwarfing the previously praised hair of Don Diamond. The Manchurians quickly win this by making Mark Hill submit to a nerve hold. Ron Slinker & The Matador come out to check on the unconscious Mark Hill after the match and The Manchuarians attack! This is a wild brawl and Mephisto attacks Matador & Slinker with his boot so he and The Manchurians can escape.

The show ends with Les Thatcher talking to The Great Mephisto who he says has done something no other manager has done, which is make everyone come after him personally in only a few weeks. Les calls Mephisto out who denies throwing fire. Les says Mephisto threw fire on TV just last week. Mephisto changes the story to Ron Slinker using illegal karate objects that felt out of his tights & when Memphisto picked it up it blew up in Slinker's face. After that Les wraps up the day's events and signs off the show, welcoming us to join him next time. And we will.

 

 

 

[goc]

I know a little bit more about this time period now, this apparently was not a Fuller promotion. This was the time period where Jim Barnett was running the Knoxville territory and used some of the Georgia stars like Tommy Rich, Ole Anderson, Stan Hansen to supplement the core group. I'm trying to also get some footage that I didn't even know existed of the time period where Flair & Mulligan ran Knoxville after Barnett sold it.

 

4/5/80
Les opens the show by letting us know that The Great Mephisto was find $500 for throwing the fire at Ron Slinker. He says a lot of people, himself included, think that was too small of an amount. He also lets us know that Steve Travis has won the Mid-America Title.

Our first match of the show is Don Diamond's wrestling debut in the area vs. Rick Connors. Video quality is pretty rough here. Don Diamond looks kind of green here but he hits a really nice gutwrench suplex for the finish.

After that Les Thatcher tells us about the matches on May 5th in Hazard, Kentucky and Dutch Mantel cuts a promo on Troy T. Tyler and Brett Sawyer while smoking a cigar. Good stuff from the Dutchman.

Steve Travis pops in to tell us he can't stick around for the whole show because he has to head to Chattanooga right now to defend his title but he'll be back next week. Then The Matador & Bob Polk talk about the $500 fine to The Great Mephisto. Matador complains that if he'd have done it then Matador would be under the jail. They show the replay with Matador, Polk & Les talking over the footage. Polk says Mephisto's lawyers argued that it was something that Ron Slinker brought into the ring and since Jerry Roberts didn't show up to present the other side of the argument, they settled on the $500 fine. Troy T. Tyler comes out and Polk says that there is going to be a tag team title match between The Matador & Troy T. Tyler vs. The Manchurians and if The Manchurians lose then The Great Mephisto has to shave his head. If The Matador loses the fall then he must unmask & Troy T. Tyler has shave his head if he loses the fall.

After a commercial we're back at the desk with Les Thatcher, Don Diamond, Ron Slinker & video problems. They talk about the upcoming cards & the return to Hazard on May 5th. Ron Slinker says he is going to make Mephisto pay for the fireball. Last week looked like a makeup job but this week Slinker has a legit goose egg under his eye which is a strong commitment to the angle. Don Diamond cuts a somewhat awkward promo talking about wanting to face The Manchurians with his partner Steve Travis.

The next match is the big tag team title match with all the stipulations between The Matador & Troy T. Tyler vs. The Manchurians. This is a good match with Troy T. Tyler dominating at the begining before getting posted and busted open. He finally makes the tag to The Matador but eventually Matador also gets in trouble. After Mephisto hits Matador in the back with his cane, Troy Tyler leaves the corner to go after Mephisto. Matador gets to the corner but finds that Tyler isn't there. He sees him on the outside and starts yelling at him. Tyler gets back in the corner only for Matador to shove him and then bring him over the ropes into the ring! The Manchurians watch in their corner as The Matador hits a powerslam on Tyler and then one of the Manchurians run in and splash him for the win!

Immediately after Les talks about how unfair this is that now Tyler is going to have to shave his head. Les wants to try and explain this situation to The Matador that Tyler didn't abandon him. Troy T. Tyler comes to the desk and Les tells him he doesn't think Tyler should have to do this when Tyler grabs the clippers. The audience chants no. Tyler says he promised if he lost he would shave his head. He doesn't know what just happened. But his mamma taught him not to lie and so he'll do what he said he would. Les is outraged and it sounds like the audience is also as Tyler shaves his own head. We go to commercial with Tyler cutting his hair.

After commercial we come back to a completely bald Troy T. Tyler. He says this was like coming home and finding someone else in bed with your wife. He didn't leave The Matador, The Matador left him. We get a promo from a bloody and bald Troy T. Tyler about coming after The Matador and this is REALLY good stuff.

Next match is The Beast from South America facing the debuting Bobby Eaton! This wasn't a complete squash but definitely a showcase match for Bobby Eaton who is working as a babyface in short trunks which isn't something I've ever seen before. Eaton wins with an airplane spin into a Samoan Drop which is a pretty easy way to modify a Samoan Drop into something more so I'm surprised I've never seen more of that move.

After the match we Troy T. Tyler back out with a towel over his head along with Ron Slinker & promoter Bob Polk. He says Matador is the Judas of professional wrestling. He is going to black both of Matador's eye, bloody his nose, take off his mask and show everyone HIS bald head. Tyler says he could have took off and run from the studio today like The Matador did to avoid shaving his head, but he's a man of his word and he's coming after The Matador's booty.

We come back to commercial with a sitdown interview of Harley Race by Les Thatcher. Race denies having anything to do with Austin Idol injuring Tommy Rich. They replay the footage of Idol & Race injuring Rich. Race says that when injustice occurs it doesn't require that two men be allies to work together to try and stop it. Les asks Harley if Austin Idol is a traveling companion of Race, which Race dismisses as a ridiculous question. Then says that he barely can pay himself much less have Austin Idol on his payroll. They show some arena footage of Rich vs. Race that is really terrible quality but Race talks over and it brings up how Tommy Rich is using illegal closed fists and the referee isn't even so much as warning him. He says if there is any alliance it's between Tommy Rich and the referees. Then we see Harley get tied up in the ropes and as the ref goes on the apron to get Race out of the ropes, Rich runs in for a dropkick but Race gets out of the way so the referee takes the dropkick and flies off the apron. Race says if he'd have done that to the ref he'd have been disqualified "Thatcher don't live in a pretend world of all right and justice." Once the referee is out we see a masked man run in and do the figure four with a belt that we saw Idol do before. Race says he has no idea who this guy was. Then we see Troy T. Tyler run in and clean house and then we see Les & Harley at the desk again. Les says he thinks the masked man was Austin Idol and Harley says he likes to buy nice things, like the gold rings he is wearing he doesn't want to give his money away to someone else to do something that he can do himself.

Immediately afterwards we get a promo from Austin Idol talking about how he had an injunction against Bob Polk that they were NOT supposed to show the footage of Idol injuring Rich. Idol says he's fired his lawyers. He says that Polk and his greed to fill the Knoxville Coliseum will be the ones held responsible for what is going to happen to Tommy Rich.

There is so more funky music to bring us back from a break and Les Thatcher is sitting at the desk with The Matador. Les says he thinks that The Matador should have had to unmask today instead of Tyler shaving his head. Matador says Tyler is an idiot, he didn't have to shave his head & Les says that Tyler is a man of his word. "Well if he's a man of his word, come take this mask."

Now we go to a taped interview with Les Thatcher and Brett Sawyer. They talk about the 2 out of 3 falls match with Dutch Mantel where Dutch won the first two falls but Sawyer challenged Dutch to match where Sawyer would get $500 if he lasted the 3 minutes remaining in the time limit for the would be 3rd fall. Sawyer made the time limit but never got his money. Dutch comes out to tell Sawyer he isn't paying him anything and starts poking Sawyer in the chest so it quickly turns into a brawl. Dutch gets the better of it and its up putting the banned "Cobra hold" on Sawyer on the floor. Terry Taylor & Don Fulton (Eric Embry) come out and start helping Sawyer out when Dutch kicks Sawyer in the back and sends him down again. Fulton gets pissed and he and Dutch end up in the ring brawling until Killer Karl Kox runs out and attacks Fulton! Kox lays Fulton out with a brainbuster which sends Ole Anderson running out to clear the ring.

Immediately after Les says that despite all the confusion there is one match left on the show, Killer Karl Kox vs. Terry Taylor. They barely get introduced before Kox attacks Taylor. Kox ends up with Taylor in the brainbuster position but Ole runs in and pushes him over on top of Kox while the referee employs great tunnel vision to avoid it. The match continues with Kox throwing Taylor over the top rope to lose by DQ. Ole takes off his shoe and comes back in the ring to beat Kox over the head with it.

Les lets us know the upcoming cards coming to our area and then talks to The Greap Mephisto. He says that most people think the $500 fine was just a slap on the wrist. Mephisto sticks to his story of Slinker bringing the "mysterious capsule" into the ring with Mephisto picked up and it blew up in Slinker's face. He says the $500 was an injustice, his men don't have to cheat or use foreign objects. He shouldn't have been fined at all. Les asks Mephisto about Tyler shaving his head. Mephisto says he thinks it "almost showed the fighting spirit the Arabs have."

Then Les and ring announcer Alan Williams wrap up the show and welcome us back next week.

 

 

 

 

[WrestlingPower]

Didn't Stewart die of AIDS, not cancer?

[KrisZ]

You are correct sir

[Memphis Mark]

I read he died of cancer , I stand corrected . Whatever he died of it was a shame for someone to go that young . I had never heard of Stewart before now , guy was talented announcer.

[WrestlingPower]

Yeah Stewart started in Central States I think. I'd be curious to know more about him too.

[KrisZ]

Stewart actually started in Southeastern then went to Geigel before going to JCP in 1986 and then working for Pedicino after that.

 

There were quite a few people shocked when the word broke that he had AIDS.

[goc]

Trying to get back into watching this after essentially stopping all other wrestling watching to get a lucha ballot done and then just jumping around my collection at random for a few weeks.

 

I jumped forward a little bit out of the Knoxville Jim Barnett Southeastern to the first Ron Fuller Southeastern TV show from Alabama. This was a little boring at times as they spent a lot of time talking about the new names coming in and the tournaments and new promoter Don Curtis taking over.

 

But the show featured a pretty good little non title tag match between Charlie Cook and Ricky Gibson against The Big C's (and I don't even really know what the C is for) Charlie Cook is a former Pittsburgh Steeler who looks kind of old but is actually pretty darn good and athletic in the ring for a guy his size. Ricky Gibson is the older brother of Robert Gibson.

 

The other highlight of the show was Ron Fuller cutting a promo introducing himself to the people of Alabama that was easily the best promo I've ever heard from Ron Fuller. The setup to this segment is that Charlie Platt is going to show a video of Harley Race beating Terry Funk for the World Title after hearing some words from Ron Fuller. But every time Charlie tries to interrupt to go to the tape Ron cuts him off and keeps going on about himself until finally saying he's ready to let Charlie show the film at which point we are informed that there is no longer enough time to show the clip. I will probably end up cutting this promo out and putting it on youtube I liked it so much.

 

Here it is:

 

[goc]

This week's show starts with Charlie Platt along with Les Thatcher~! apparently in the old TV taping location because they are sitting in front of a Gulf Coast Wrestling sign. I am guessing this is from sometime in October 1980 based on when Robert Fuller & Jos LeDuc win the Southeastern Tag Titles (according to OWW at least)

The first match this week is Jr. Heavyweight Champion Jerry Stubbs against Ricky Gibson. Stubbs isn't in his bulkier Mr. Olympia days yet but he's still pretty big for a Jr. Heavyweight. This is your classic dominant heel vs a babyface who won't die match. Gibson is all cradles and sunset flips but the formula is a formula because it works. Stubbs misses an elbow off the 2nd rope and that allows Gibson to start a comeback. That's short lived though as Stubbs dodges a dropkick and then they do this cute spot with the referee and Ricky Gibson doing a dropdown but then the referee and Gibson running into each other which allows Stubbs to throw Gibson over the top rope without the referee seeing it. Gibson manages to make it back in before being counted out but then Stubbs gets a rolling scissors (according to Les) and holds the ropes to win the match. Fun little TV match.

We're back from commercial with Les Thatcher and Ron Fuller, now in front of a Southeastern backdrop. Les runs down the towns that Southeastern is going to be coming to like Hunstville and Florence. Ron asks Les Thatcher if Florence is a girl. Nevermind that, he's not going to those towns anyway. He's only going to one place:Birmingham, Thursday November 13th. Les Thatcher tries to talk about the other people in the tournament but Ron isn't interested in talking about anyone but himself. He's won every title in the South and now he is going to win the tournament for the Alabama title. He has the Florida title but he keeps it in his closet because it's rinky dink. Ron is 2 for 2 on great promos in his new promotion.

Next we go to Charlie Platt with Robert Fuller and his partner Jos LeDuc who are the new Southeastern Tag Team Champions. I suppose they beat The Big C's. Robert is a pretty bland babyface interview unless he's really fired up and Jos LeDuc barely says anything so this isn't much of a promo.

The next match is muscled up Mike Masters who I have never heard of wrestling some jobber Charles Oden. I didn't know Chris Masters was a 2nd generation wrestler. Masters doesn't really do anything for me either way and wins with that old school over the shoulder backbreaker submission move.

Time for the Personality Profile with Ron Fuller! Fuller says Alabama fans are used to seeing fat wrestlers, skinny wrestlers, guys with no experience, a bunch of garbage but now they are going to see the best wrestlers in the world. And they are all coming to Birmingham for the Alabama Title tournament. He lets us know how often he used to beat guys like Tojo Yamamoto and Jerry Lawler and he will be the man to beat Harley Race for the World Title. Les Thatcher wants to show a film of Ron winning the Florida title but Ron continues his gimmick of stopping that so he can keep talking. Les wants to ask about Ron's brother Robert but Ron isn't interested in talking about that either. This is his Personality Profile and he wants to talk about himself. Les has another chair and has a suprise. Ron thinks it's going to be This is Your Life with a bunch of people he's beaten which he says is a great idea. Instead it's his brother Robert, who Ron says was supposed to be in Oklahoma. Ron isn't happy about Les bringing Robert into his interview time. Ron says that if Robert is going to be in this area, he won't. He says Don Curtis can just tear his contract up because he's out of here. Les asks Robert to explain the problems that he and Ron have. Robert doesn't have time to explain it all but basically he grew up his whole life having to listen to Ron run his mouth with Ron being a bully of an older brother. Robert says Ron is just going to have to get used to wrestling in the same area as his brother because Robert isn't going anywhere. If Ron wants to leave then he doesn't care.

Next match is The Mongolian Stomper managed by The Big C (maybe there's only one now after the title change) wrestling former Pittsburgh Steeler Charlie Cook. Stomper tries to jump him early but Charlie Cook turns it around and hits a pair of shoulderblocks that send the Stopmer reeling to the outside. Stomper keeps covering his ears and Charlie Platt lets me know that the Stomper has problems with loud noises. There's a nice gimmick to get a crowd response Charlie Cook continues to impress me with his speed and agility and he gets plenty of offense to not make this a complete squash match. This actually ends in a double countout after Charlie Cook ends up going thru the ropes and Stomper follows him out to keep beating on him. Stomper and The Big C are beating on Charlie Cook outside the ring as the show goes to commercial.

We're back from commercial with no word about Charlie Cook or The Stomper. We're at the desk with Les Thatcher talking to the U.S. Jr. Heavyweight Champion Jerry Stubbs. Les talks us back to boxer Archie Moore wanting to win two World Titles in two different weight classes and compares that to Jerry Stubbs being the U.S. Jr Champ also going after the Alabama Heavyweight Title. Stubbs says he is right on the Jr. line at 225. He can go either way. Stubbs hasn't completely lost his hair yet and has a terrible (and hilarious) comb over. November the 13th in Birmingham Alabama, be there! Les Thatcher is one of the best at wrapping up an interview.

The main event is The Big C's (so I guess there are still two of them) in a tag match against Jos LeDuc and PLOWBOY FRAZIER. I didn't know the Plowboy ever really ventured out of Memphis. Not sure why one half of the Southeastern Tag Champs is teaming with someone who he isn't champions with but maybe Les or Charlie will let me know. Plowboy does this cool takedown where he drops down on his back and flips over The Big C that I absolutely did not expect. I'm gonna go Gordon Solie here and not bother differentiating between The Big C's. What a great profession wrestling used to be. A guy like Jos LeDuc could just wrestle wherever, going where the money and weather was nice that time of year. I've seen him wrestle in Montreal, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, Mid-Atlantic, Puerto Rico probably some other places up in Canada. Jos LeDuc starts going for the mask as I wax nostalgic for an era I didn't live through and that's usually your cue for shit to break down. The other Big C comes in and we've got all 4 guys in which allows the ref to miss LeDuc being thrown over the top rope. Frazier gets tied up in the ropes and gets beat on until LeDuc makes the save. He takes off one of the Big C's masks and it's Don Carson under the mask! The Big C's double team LeDuc with Plowboy tied up but Robert Fuller runs in and hits some nasty looking boots to clear the ring.

We're back from commercial with Les at the desk along with Jos LeDuc and Robert Fuller. He keeps hyping the Alabama State Title tournament and then gets Robert's thoughts on the tournament. Robert continues to not really do anything for me in his babyface promos. Les asks LeDuc about the possibility of facing Robert in the tournament. LeDuc never gives his opponent any quarter and if he faces Robert in the tournament "Robert, I'm sorry." Even as a babyface Jos LeDuc comes off as totally unhinged.

After that we go to the desk with Les & Charlie signing off and letting us coming up soon we are going to see 3 World's Champions: Harley Race, The Great Moolah & World Jr. Champ Les Thornton. Someone comes out from the back to tell Charlie Platt that he got a phonecall that Ron Bass is healing from the injuries he received from Jos LeDuc in Mobile and will be back soon. Charlie and Les give a recap of the matches that took place on the show and then welcome us to join them next week. Charlie Platt and Les Thatcher are one of the most underrated announce teams ever because I never hear anyone put them out there in the discussion of best announce teams and I personally would put them up against ANY team for calling a TV show and getting over all the wrestlers and the storylines and Les is right up there with Lance Russell at being able to keep an interview moving and focused.