ROD PRICE TALKS WRESTLING DEATHS, AUSTIN, TATUM, MUCH MORE
- 02/16/2016 (3:55:41 pm)
- Bob Mulrenin
…
Show: Interactive Wrestling
Radio courtesy of http://www.WrestlingEpicenter.com
Guest(s): "Rugged" Rod Price, Doyle King, & Scott Vodrey
Your Hosts: Patrick Kelley & James Walsh
We recently lost a good friend of the site's and an even better man when the wrestling world lost Texas Wrestling legend "Hard Luck" Manny Villalobos. We also lost ECW great Axl Rotten. Joining us to pay homage to those men are 3 individuals who worked with them at one point or another in their careers.
The first time guest on this show, doing the entire career retrospective as well as paying homage to the lost legends, is "Rugged' Rod Price. The "California Stud" himself discusses the infamous hair yank that saw his stitched on wig yanked partially off by a vindictive "Gentleman" Chris Adams, the USWA debacle, and so much more. It is a fun interview with a great man. Enjoy!
To listen, visit http://www.WrestlingEpicenter.com. Once there, you will find an MP3 and a YouTube video as options to listen.
'RUGGED' ROD PRICE:
On the deaths in wrestling over the past 12 months:
"It's always hard. I got hit again this morning. My brother-in-law's brother was found dead this morning. Nobody said life was easy. Sometimes it keeps slapping you in the face until you go into a corner."
On Manny Villalobos:
"Of all people... He was one of the sweetest men... I say sweetest in a manly way. He would give the shirt off his back for you... Always laughing, always with a story. If you were in a bad mood, you'd go and spend 3 minutes with Manny and it was done! The poor guy was good not only outside the ring but in the ring... What a worker!"
On the passing of Axl Rotten:
"Ups and downs with Axl. I knew him when he came to Dallas for Global. I guess they weren't really ready for Texas wrestling. I take my hat off to them, though. They left and did their own thing with the hardcore crazy stuff that I would never do." He continues, "I saw Axl again in ECW and he was known to have problems. Paul wasn't really using him probably because of those problems. But, he was around and respectful."
On a happier note, we ask about his current health:
Rod says that he's banged up. He's had 2 back surgeries, June will be the anniversary of his second one. He had a rough time after Christmas and into January where he was stuck in bed laid up with back pain but says he seems to be on the mend and is looking forward to opening up his training school and maybe even getting back in the ring. He'll have more news on the training school as they've got a ring but are waiting for confirmation on a facility. If you're in the Louisiana area, contact Rodney Rugged (his Facebook handle) on Facebook to find out more about his school!
On teaming with Steve Austin in his early days:
"It didn't last long but it was good," he says. "We were so similiar it kind of bit me in the butt later on", said explaining that their styles and approach were a lot alike.
On staying in Dallas when he could have gone elsewhere:
Rod says Fritz Von Erich had turned the territory over to Jerry Jarrett and Jerry Lawler around this time. "I appreciated the experience. But, it wasn't my cup of tea at the time. I had an opportunity to go to Japan and I jumped at it. I look back and think I probably should not have done that because I had an offer to go to WCW and I passed that up. I probably shouldn't have done that."
On teaming with "Hollywood" John Tatum:
" John... In the ring, not a lot of people could touch him. I look at him like a Michael Hayes... He was a wrestler, but his talent was on the mic and as a showman. I love John to death, man. What a character!" He jokes that John was always coming up with great ideas for the matches and also was funny. James mentions he'd sometimes work off script in promos and they'd become almost funny when they were supposed to be angry. Rod laughs and says, "The one that sticks out in my mind is when we were cutting a promo on Ebony Express. He started talking about Jack Victory stealing his idea for the 30 minute pizza delivery!"
On the hair incident with Chris Adams:
"I'd have to say it was intentional... Everybody knew (that Rod was wearing a stitched on piece). Sometimes he could be not very nice," Rod said. Rod says that people sometimes laugh about that incident but he ended up getting over 200 stitches in his head as a result of it. So, it wasn't a laughing matter really. On working with Chris Adams after the incident, he says "Once his ribs healed up, there was an understanding." (laughs) He mentions that the first time they worked afte the incident, he broke 3 of Adams' ribs as a receipt.
On the "Battle of the Bad Guys" match in the GWF:
(Laughs) "They call that the lawn-chair match. I remember I went back after the match and was worried and Iceman (King Parsons) kept telling me, "Dont' worry, Rod. It got over!" Rod continues, "I always thought a lot of what we did in Global was before its time. It wasn't until I got to ECW that I realized how many of the guys watched what we did." He says he feels ECW borrowed a lot from and advanced on what they first did in the GWF.
On the failed "Bodyguards and Bandits" PPV:
"Once I got in the ring, I knew it was doomed!" Rod says they were promised big pay offs and nobody got paid. He explains that they had the wrestlers in there with a guy who had no idea how to work, maybe a week of training. And, the finish saw Rod basically pick up a rag doll and drop the guy on himself to lose. "After that, I wasn't really looking forward to another one!"
On working for ECW:
"Traveling with the misfits was my happiest time in wrestling," says Rod. He explains that Paul treated him great and even treated his wife like royalty. He says it was a completely different experience than the miserable experience with the USWA.
On the USWA problems:
"If people want to sell their souls, that's fine. But, count me out! I'm not going to do that. I'm just not going to do that!" He explains that the territory was losing money to buy the it back from an investor at cost and make money off the deal only to repeat the process with another investor. He says the set up was supposed to be solid to work as a WWE developmental territory but the managmeent of it left a bad taste in his mouth. "Hopefully James (Beard) will get his book out and tell the whole story," Rod says.
On the joys of training:
"I enjoy sharing my knowledge." He goes on to say that he likes to teach the guys the right way to do things and has had great experiences training talents such as Rodney Mack and Jazz as well as others, including Angel Orsini. Rod also trained his own son. He looks forward to teaching more guys, and girls, the ropes.
On his salvation:
"I wouldn't say that I needed to be saved or be reborn. The lord slowly has taken the things that I used to like to do away from me. I'm glad, I'm in a happy place. I have compassion for others. I don't want to see anyone die without knowing the Lord. If you were to ask you what my top priority in life is, I'd have to tell you it would be sharing the Lord with the world." Rod goes on to say his father was a preacher and while Rod always thought he (Rod himself) was a Christian, he was living like the Devil.
Guest(s): "Rugged" Rod Price, Doyle King, & Scott Vodrey
Your Hosts: Patrick Kelley & James Walsh
We recently lost a good friend of the site's and an even better man when the wrestling world lost Texas Wrestling legend "Hard Luck" Manny Villalobos. We also lost ECW great Axl Rotten. Joining us to pay homage to those men are 3 individuals who worked with them at one point or another in their careers.
The first time guest on this show, doing the entire career retrospective as well as paying homage to the lost legends, is "Rugged' Rod Price. The "California Stud" himself discusses the infamous hair yank that saw his stitched on wig yanked partially off by a vindictive "Gentleman" Chris Adams, the USWA debacle, and so much more. It is a fun interview with a great man. Enjoy!
To listen, visit http://www.WrestlingEpicenter.com. Once there, you will find an MP3 and a YouTube video as options to listen.
'RUGGED' ROD PRICE:
On the deaths in wrestling over the past 12 months:
"It's always hard. I got hit again this morning. My brother-in-law's brother was found dead this morning. Nobody said life was easy. Sometimes it keeps slapping you in the face until you go into a corner."
On Manny Villalobos:
"Of all people... He was one of the sweetest men... I say sweetest in a manly way. He would give the shirt off his back for you... Always laughing, always with a story. If you were in a bad mood, you'd go and spend 3 minutes with Manny and it was done! The poor guy was good not only outside the ring but in the ring... What a worker!"
On the passing of Axl Rotten:
"Ups and downs with Axl. I knew him when he came to Dallas for Global. I guess they weren't really ready for Texas wrestling. I take my hat off to them, though. They left and did their own thing with the hardcore crazy stuff that I would never do." He continues, "I saw Axl again in ECW and he was known to have problems. Paul wasn't really using him probably because of those problems. But, he was around and respectful."
On a happier note, we ask about his current health:
Rod says that he's banged up. He's had 2 back surgeries, June will be the anniversary of his second one. He had a rough time after Christmas and into January where he was stuck in bed laid up with back pain but says he seems to be on the mend and is looking forward to opening up his training school and maybe even getting back in the ring. He'll have more news on the training school as they've got a ring but are waiting for confirmation on a facility. If you're in the Louisiana area, contact Rodney Rugged (his Facebook handle) on Facebook to find out more about his school!
On teaming with Steve Austin in his early days:
"It didn't last long but it was good," he says. "We were so similiar it kind of bit me in the butt later on", said explaining that their styles and approach were a lot alike.
On staying in Dallas when he could have gone elsewhere:
Rod says Fritz Von Erich had turned the territory over to Jerry Jarrett and Jerry Lawler around this time. "I appreciated the experience. But, it wasn't my cup of tea at the time. I had an opportunity to go to Japan and I jumped at it. I look back and think I probably should not have done that because I had an offer to go to WCW and I passed that up. I probably shouldn't have done that."
On teaming with "Hollywood" John Tatum:
" John... In the ring, not a lot of people could touch him. I look at him like a Michael Hayes... He was a wrestler, but his talent was on the mic and as a showman. I love John to death, man. What a character!" He jokes that John was always coming up with great ideas for the matches and also was funny. James mentions he'd sometimes work off script in promos and they'd become almost funny when they were supposed to be angry. Rod laughs and says, "The one that sticks out in my mind is when we were cutting a promo on Ebony Express. He started talking about Jack Victory stealing his idea for the 30 minute pizza delivery!"
On the hair incident with Chris Adams:
"I'd have to say it was intentional... Everybody knew (that Rod was wearing a stitched on piece). Sometimes he could be not very nice," Rod said. Rod says that people sometimes laugh about that incident but he ended up getting over 200 stitches in his head as a result of it. So, it wasn't a laughing matter really. On working with Chris Adams after the incident, he says "Once his ribs healed up, there was an understanding." (laughs) He mentions that the first time they worked afte the incident, he broke 3 of Adams' ribs as a receipt.
On the "Battle of the Bad Guys" match in the GWF:
(Laughs) "They call that the lawn-chair match. I remember I went back after the match and was worried and Iceman (King Parsons) kept telling me, "Dont' worry, Rod. It got over!" Rod continues, "I always thought a lot of what we did in Global was before its time. It wasn't until I got to ECW that I realized how many of the guys watched what we did." He says he feels ECW borrowed a lot from and advanced on what they first did in the GWF.
On the failed "Bodyguards and Bandits" PPV:
"Once I got in the ring, I knew it was doomed!" Rod says they were promised big pay offs and nobody got paid. He explains that they had the wrestlers in there with a guy who had no idea how to work, maybe a week of training. And, the finish saw Rod basically pick up a rag doll and drop the guy on himself to lose. "After that, I wasn't really looking forward to another one!"
On working for ECW:
"Traveling with the misfits was my happiest time in wrestling," says Rod. He explains that Paul treated him great and even treated his wife like royalty. He says it was a completely different experience than the miserable experience with the USWA.
On the USWA problems:
"If people want to sell their souls, that's fine. But, count me out! I'm not going to do that. I'm just not going to do that!" He explains that the territory was losing money to buy the it back from an investor at cost and make money off the deal only to repeat the process with another investor. He says the set up was supposed to be solid to work as a WWE developmental territory but the managmeent of it left a bad taste in his mouth. "Hopefully James (Beard) will get his book out and tell the whole story," Rod says.
On the joys of training:
"I enjoy sharing my knowledge." He goes on to say that he likes to teach the guys the right way to do things and has had great experiences training talents such as Rodney Mack and Jazz as well as others, including Angel Orsini. Rod also trained his own son. He looks forward to teaching more guys, and girls, the ropes.
On his salvation:
"I wouldn't say that I needed to be saved or be reborn. The lord slowly has taken the things that I used to like to do away from me. I'm glad, I'm in a happy place. I have compassion for others. I don't want to see anyone die without knowing the Lord. If you were to ask you what my top priority in life is, I'd have to tell you it would be sharing the Lord with the world." Rod goes on to say his father was a preacher and while Rod always thought he (Rod himself) was a Christian, he was living like the Devil.
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