Show: Interactive Wrestling Radio
Guest: B. Brian Blair
Date: 03/29/19
Your Host: James Walsh

“Killer Bee” B Brian Blair is the President and CEO of the Cauliflower Alley Club. We were fortunate enough to have the last CAC President on our show in Nick Bockwinkel. So, clearly, Mr. Blair is in good company as the head of the most caring organization ever for the well being of former pro wrestlers.

But, before he was in this role, B. Brian Blair traveled the entire globe as a top wrestling star including being the Florida World Champion, living with the Von Erichs, and more. Plus, who else can say they were with Andre the Giant and Dusty Rhodes on the road and peed on the American Dream twice? All that, plus, on the 32nd anniversary of WrestleMania III, we remember the event and his feelings as the wrestling world changed forever.

The Cauliflower  Alley Club will be holding their annual reunion in Las Vegas, NV from April 29 – May 1. Few tickets remain so if you want to be there for the honoring of the legends including when former NWA Champion Dory Funk Jr meets present NWA Champion “Magnus” Nick Aldis, go to the new look official CAC website at www.caulifloweralleyclub.org

Please visit www.WrestlingEpicenter.com to hear the full audio. Much of the interview is highlighted below in our text transcript/overview. But, the full interview is available to hear in MP3 format and in a YouTube video at our site. THere’s a lot to hear not typed out below! 

B BRIAN BLAIR:

On becoming the President and CEO of the CAC:
“The board was starting to do a search because Nick Bockwinkel, his dementia was starting to get bad. This was right after the 49th reunion. Karl Lauer, who was the CEO then, and a couple of the board members approached me and asked me if I would be interested in the position. They explained the position. When I heard how much the pay was, I couldn’t resist. (laughs)”

On why he took the job knowing it did not offer any pay:
“I have such a passion for my colleagues and those that I worked with… And even those that I didn’t even work with. Those guys that were in the business that really paived the way for me and those guys that are entertaining me now. You know, I still wrestle. It is amazing. They love the legends and you get a lot of respect from the young guys. It is just a good feeling when you do something from your bretherine when they’re down on their luck financially. We’ve given away hundreds of thousands of dollars since I’ve been President and CEO. It is very rewarding. All board members, not just myself, work tirelessly for the grattitude we get. There is no money that we get paid. One of the unique things about the CAC that compelled me to put so much of my time and effort into the organization is that every dime, with the exception of hard costs, goes to help the colleagues that have fallen on difficult financial times. We don’t really mention names unless the people want us to because they enjoyed the help that they received from the CAC. People like “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff, Kamala who we are helping quite often as he’s got diabetes and has lost both legs from the knees down – Oh gosh, poor guy. So many others, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, Jerry Gray… So many others that I can’t mention.”

On wishing more people knew his career aside from the “Killer Bees” in the WWF:
“Absolutely. I feel strongly about my singles career. I was with the WWF/WWE before they went mainstream with WrestleMania 1. I worked for VInce (McMahon) Sr. on 2 different tours. He was the first person to send me to Japan. I spent 2 and a half years of my career in New Japan Pro Wrestling thanks to VInce McMahon Sr! Before they did do WrestleMania 1, Tito Santana and I were helping to build somoene to be the number one heel. That was “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff. He was being built to be the number one heel along with Roddy Piper, to create WrestleMania 1… After that, I went back to Florida to become the Florida Heavyweight Champion for the second time. It was great being Florida Champion because you got to wrestlee the World Champion so on two occasions, I had runs with Ric Flair, Dory Funk Jr, Terry Funk. They were all World Champions. I wish everybody could have seen the territory days. They were tremendous.”

Memories of George “The Animal” Steele Frightening his Girlfriend:
“I’ll never forget coming from Madison Square Garden one night. George needed a ride. My wife, who at the time was my girlfriend, was with us. George got in the back seat and started acting like his gimmick and biting the head rest. She started freaking out. It was the funniest thing I had ever seen!”

On being surprised that the nostalgia for the 80’s wrestling scene is still strong:
“Yes, I am, James. Nobody has ever asked me that question in my life. If you look baseball and you look at football, the legends are certainly appreciated. But, Vince (McMahon) is a master marketer. Everything is about TV and if you’re off TV for a while, people forget you. Fortunately, he created such a deep impression going into over 180 countries that people still love to see the legends. Thank God!”

On his memories of WrestleMania 3 on its 32 Year Anniversary:
“I’ll tell you a story. Well, first, it is the highlight of my career. I was way up in the press area before the matches… We were all there getting comfortable – Vince wanted everyone comfortable with their surroundings. I was thinking, “Who would want to sit up here? I can barely see the ring guys setting up the ring!” But, James, when Jimmy and I came out on that modified golf cart in our modified underwear in front of nearly 100,000 people, over 90,000 people, I tell you, it was electricity in the air. I could see why somebody would want to even be outside the building to listen to the roar. It was absolutely phenomenal! It was something that I can’t even explain. The electricity was so strong. It was the biggest rush of my life!”

On why the Iron Sheik wanted to break his back and make him humble:
“Sheik got mad at me for stretching him one time in Hershey, Pennsylvania and Nikolai used to tease him about it. It really bothered him. Sheik was a shooter. He liked to shoot around a lot. Fortunately, I learned to shoot as well. I was an amateur wrestler. I wasn’t in Sheik’s league as far as wrestling in the Pan Am Games and things like he did. I was trained by Hiro Matsuda who was a legendary hooker as well as Karl Gotch, also a legendary hooker. Good shooters like Jack Brisco and Bob Backlund. For 3 and a half summers, I came back from playing football in Louisville, it gave me the opportunity to practice that craft of hooking. Sheik kind of thought I was a jabroni, like he said. (laughs) He kept playing with me. He had me in a front face lock and I came out with a double wrist lock and he started slamming his hand on the mat in Hershey, PA. Nikolai was laughing so hard, “Oh, what’s the matter, Sheiky Baby! The Killer Bee is stretching you.” (laughs) He (Nikolai) thought it was so funny!”

On Tony Atlas recently being mad at him over the Paul Orndorff Ear Story:
“He wanted to tell a version of a story that wasn’t true. All I did was tell a true version of the story when Orndorff bit his (Atlas’) ear off. You can get Tommy Rich to verify which version of the story was true. Tommy was the one behind me in the seat. I mean, he (Atlas) was crying like a baby. (laughs) It was crazy.” He continues, “I didn’t know he (Atlas) wants to beat me up. I’m going to have to call him and find out what his problem is.”

On if the boys thought Herb Abrams’ UWF had legs beyond what it was:
“Absolutely if Herb hadn’t been so involved with the drugs. I’m the one that hooked him up with the money guy which I feel bad about. (laughs) I just introduced them. I didn’t make any kind of a deal. Herb had a big chance. He had a ton of money – Millions and millions of dollars. He just blew it on stupid things – Hookers, cocaine… Bull crap! I don’t condone any of that stuff. I wish that I could have changed what happened especially with the talent that we had with Paul Orndorff, “Dr. Death” Steve Williams… Jimmy (Jumpin’ Jim Brunzell) and I were the tag team champions. There was a lot of talent there. Herb was a big fan and was a want to be promoter who thought he knew much more than he did.”

On the time he peed on Dusty Rhodes twice in a week:
“This was a week after he had a cooler full of pee dumped on him. He cut a promo on me that was not too becoming. (laughs) About a week later, we were in the French Quarter and we had a day off. Andre the Giant, Dusty, and I decided to go to Felix’s. Well, not me. I didn’t have a say. (laughs) We went to Felix’s Oyster place and we had a bunch of oysters, drank a lot of beer, and we were having a great time. I just loved listening to these guys talk back and forth. The Boss (Andre) stood up. He had saw, we all saw it, this manikin that swung in and out and in and out. It looked like a boobie bar. I’m not into boobie bars, especially then, not really any time, because I know they’re a waste of money. At that time, I was saving every dime. But, they wanted to go. Of course, when you were with Andre or Dusty, you didn’t pay for anything anyway. We start in there and I say, “Wait a minute guys. I’m going to jump into this bathroom…” they say “No, no, no, come on. Andre is going to be mad.” So, Andre starts going up the stairs to this boobie bar, Dusty is behind him, and I’m behind Dusty. I see that the stairs have this platform. Just as we step on the platform, the lights go out. You can’t see a thing! It is pitch black! Andre goes, “(laughs) Hold on to your poke (?)” Dusty starts going, “Come on, man! Turn the lights on, man!” (doing a Dusty impression) He’s cutting a promo talking a mile a minute. All I could think is, “Dang, I got to pee!” Well, I had seen there was a palm tree (before the lights went out) so I grabbed a leaf and thought it was a palm tree. The lights were off for 2 minutes. There was no place to go. You had to stay right there. So, I pee in the palm tree. The lights come back on about a minute later and I look and Virgil (Dusty Rhodes) and his leg is all wet and he tucked his jeans into his boot… Instead of peeing on the tree trunk, I was peeing on his leg trunk! My pee had filled up his cowboy boot! He starts on, “Damn!” (Dusty impression) and I see the Boss’ face (Andre) start to break and he starts going, “Ho, ho, ho ho!” (Andre impression) Dusty pulls his boot off and dumps out the pee and says, “G** Damn, that’s two times youpeed on the American Dream! You’re blackballed! You’ll never work again!” (laughing) He cut a promo on me like you would not believe! How many people do you know that can say they peed on the American Dream two times in a week?”  

On the state of wrestling right now with AEW’s birth and beyond:
“I think there’s a lot of potential right now. I like ROH! I watch a lot of ROH. I think AEW has a tremendous amount of potential. I’m like you – I think there needs to be more than one flavor of ice cream. There are these companies that, if run correctly, can not only survive but thrive. There is such a demand. Vince (McMahon), because of international markets and everything, could run 6 towns a night! It would be so difficult to coordinate. You can’t expose all that talent on television to cover 6 towns a night. So, that leaves an opening for other companies to get some of these great faces out there. There are so many great, talented workers out there today. It is amazing!”