TRANSCRIPT OF JIM BRUNZELL ON MOONSHINE MATINEE SHOW
- 11/06/2007 (3:06:11 pm)
- Jeff Sheridan
……
Transcript of Jim Brunzell on the Hillbilly Jim's Moonshine Matinee on 11/2
By Jeff Sheridan
Hillbilly introduces "Jumpin'" Jim Brunzell via phone:
http://tinyurl.com/3xucgc & Jim says thanks for having him on the show.
Hillbilly says he & Jim has had lots of fun together & says if they started
telling stories, it'd take 16 to 17 hours. He says they wouldn't even begin
because they've had so much fun, says he knows that Jim's career's been
amazing & remembers when 1st meeting Jim when Jim 1st came into WWF. He says
both of them came there together around at the same
time, then says he wants to tell everyone that Jim's a lifelong Minneasotian
& Jim says yes. Hillbilly says Jim still lives in the Twin Cities & Jim says
yes.
Hillbilly says he's thought about Jim's career & has looked on some of the
things & asks to talk about the beginning of Jim's career. He says he knows
that Jim came out of college & played football at the University of
Minneasota & was a kicker & a high jumper. Jim says he was a high jumper on
track, then kicked & also played split end. Hillbilly asks Jim as to when
did he knew that he was gonna go into wrestling & also wants to talk about
Jim's early days as well as who trained him. Jim says to be as "consise" as
possible he had an opportunity to go in '71 to a free agent tryout at the
Washington Redskins. He says he didn't make it, came home & was gonna return
to school.
Jim says after that Greg Gagne called & asked him to try out in wrestling
camp. He says Ken Patera was coming back from the olympics, says Greg also
mentioned Ric Flair & Khosrow Vaziri who's now known as "The Iron Shnuck"
[The Iron Shiek]. He says he thought wrestling was somewhat athletic & if
someone told him when he was 12 that he'd spend 27 years wrestling, he'd
tell that person that he was crazy. He says he went to the camp & started in
late '71 in October, says it was Billy Robinson who actually was his mentor
& Verne Gagne was the 1 that signed him. He says Billy & the rest of them
worked out 6 days a week & about 4 to 5 hours daily, it was really grouling.
Jim says they threw him in a match & his 1st match was 12/27/72 with someone
named Dennis Stamp. He says as soon as they introduced his name, he was
completely out of breath. Hillbilly says Jim "blew up" before the bell rang,
Jim says he was in good shape but was so nervous that he was sucking air
after about 40 seconds. Hillbilly says that's amazing, then asks him if it
seems like a long time ago or was it like it was almost yesterday. Jim says
sometimes it seems like yesterday & sometimes when getting up in the morning
& sore, it's like it was a long time ago. Hillbilly says the 1 thing Jim's
been known for thruout his career as "Jumpin'" Jim Brunzell, was his amazing
dropkick.
Hillbilly says he knows Jim came from the football putting world & was a
high jumper, says he knew it had to play a big part in discovering that
move. Jim tells Hillbilly that he's been blessed always with the ability to
jump, says in high school his vertical was 33 to 34 & when he went to
college, it went up to 36. He says he can always jump & it was a natural
move for him. He remembers Verne Gagne showing him 1 time on how he
dropkicked, then told him that he can do that too. So Verne put his hand up
above his head & it was about 6 & a 1/2 feet high, then Jim jumped up &
kicked it with both feet & Verne told him that he'll do well with the
dropkick.
Hillbilly says Jim has done well & it's 1 of the greatest moves & it's real
sensational. He says that being
a guy that did something like that early in his career & didn't have to do
it the rest of his career, because he's a hillbilly & didn't do them fancy
things. He says he knows how crazy that feels the 1st
time doing the dropkick & landing on the mat. Jim says the 1st time he did
that & landed on his head
& thought there's gotta be a better way to do this. He says what he tried
doing was when dropkicking, he tried turning his shoulders so he landed on
his forearm. He says it worked good but after 10,000 dropkicks his left
forearm kept jamming his shoulder & it completely worn out the cartiledge.
Jim says he's got a "bone on bone" in his left shoulder & figured the high
jumping ability was proof to
be a "frawn" in his overall design. Hillbilly says it was sensational but
like everything in the ring, we all pay a price for it. He says he was
turned on to Bruce Springsteen by Jim, says Jim's the guy that's really a
Bruce guy in his early WWF days. He asks Jim to talk about on how that came
about as well as about Terry McGovern. Jim says it started after getting out
of Verne Gagne's plane where they used to have a "small navaho chief & 7
seater". He says it was about 1AM, turned on the radio while driving home &
heard a song that was very operatic.
Jim says it sounded like strings, guitars & sax but they didn't name the
artist. He says the next day he heard it again & found out it was Bruce
Springsteen jungle land off "Born To Run". He says he bought everything on
Bruce & says he bothered his friends. He says his wife Mary, both were just
married at the time, says he got hooked right away & in '84, Bruce opened up
his "Born In The USA" tour in St. Paul. He says 1 of Bruce's handlers was a
wrestling fan who reckonized Jim standing
backstage. He says it was about 2AM after the show, says the handler came to
him & introduced himself & Jim said "Jesus, is there a chance that I can see
Bruce".
Jim says Bruce came out, says Hillbilly may remember this but Jim wrote a
song using Bruce's
"Badlands" melody & named the song "Madlands" which was about wrestling. He
says he gave Bruce a tape & says that Bruce looked at him as if he was from
Mars. He says right next to him & his wife Mary, was Courtney Cox who danced
in the "Dancing In The Dark" video with Bruce. He says Courtney was like an
18, skinny little girl & little did Jim knew that she'd wound up to be a big
superstar. He says that was that & in '84, Jim saw Bruce at least 60 times.
Hillbilly says Bruce's amazing & knows that Terry McGovern's a good buddy of
Jim's. He says he & Jim will be on the whole hour & tells Jim to hold on
till after the break.
Hillbilly says Jim started in AWA, then went to NWA & then returned to AWA
for a while. Jim says yes & thinks it was in '81, says he was there till '85
& says he's sure that fans remember Hulk Hogan was there. He says Hulk left
to go to New York & surely thereafter, the golden goose was set loose & it
was Hulk. He says everyone flocked to WWF because that's where the money
was. Hillbilly agrees & says it was a magical time in this industry. He says
both of them were lucky enough to be part of it, says he remembers both of
them 1st meet going in & flew over on a "prop plane" 1 day from LaGuardia to
Poughkeepsie, New York. Jim says yes & says he didn't like that little
plane.
Hillbilly said he didn't like it either but both of them were together & had
to go thru it together. He asks Jim to talk about the early days in WWF when
he got hooked up with Brian Blair. Jim says when he 1st came to WWF they
were gonna use him as a single. Then Brian came from Florida & WWF decided
to put them together & call them The Killer Bees. He says they were a unique
tag team for the fact that they used the masks, says he & Brian were built
fairly close together, says they wore black & yellow & decided to come up
with the masks. He says both would put the masks on during their time of
trouble during the match.
Jim said no 1 knew who was the legal man, says it worked great for them for
a period of time & when Vince McMahon pulled their stingers out, it was the
end of the Bees in '88. Hillbilly asked if they were "destunged" & Jim said
yes. Hillbilly asked Jim to talk about Wrestlemania 3 with The Killer Bees
being in a great match that day. Jim says it was the ultimate & when he
looks back on his career, knowing that there was over 93,000 fans at the
Silverdome & there was people from CNN, NK Tokyo, Austraila, it was a big,
huge event for them. He says everyone was nervous & says he & Brian were
wrestling Nikolai Volkoff & The Iron Shiek.
Jim says WWF put them on before Hulk vs Andre, says he thinks that the fan
were a little impatient for Hulk & Andre to come on, but he & Brian made it
thru the match. He says he recalls "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan made his WWF debut
running in there with the big 2X4, which costs The Killer Bees the
match but it introduced Duggan to the WWF. Hillbilly says he remembers it
like it was yesterday, says
he thinks about his career & says it was a big part of the highlights. He
says if you think of the big
highspots in your career, it was Wrestlemania 3. He asks Jim to talk to the
fans about the crowd & how long it took them to have to wait till after
everyone left before they could leave.
Hillbilly says they had to get there hours & hours early, Jim thinks that
they were there 4 to 6 hours earlier & says Vince always did things 1st
Class. He says everything was very cool, says there was a good meal for them
& all of a sudden, people started coming in & coming in. He asks if Aretha
Franklin sing the National Anthem, Hillbilly says yes & Jim said the matches
then started. He says after
that everyone was really happy with the results, says it was a record PPV &
was a record attendance. He says all the matches were good, says Hulk beat
Andre & then remembers sitting there for about 2 hours to leave the place.
He says Vince had the huge party afterwords at the hotel they were staying
at.
Jim says it was quite an event & won't ever forget it, Hillbilly asks Jim if
he remembers the energy in the dressing room that day & it was the most
amazing thing. Jim says yes because everybody realized that all of a sudden,
pro wrestling under Vince & WWF was on a world spectacular event. He says it
was the 1st time it created such a force in terms of viewers spectatorship.
He says they
had the record crowd which was the largest crowd an indoor event up until
that time. He says it was a big thing for everyone, says he thinks everyone
was on their "A" game & feels it was a huge success. Hillbilly says they
knew it was a landmark event & at that time, they knew it was something that
was absolutely special.
Hillbilly says as the years rolled by for both of them, it becomes even more
special. He says what a day Wrestlemania 3 was, says he won't forget & knows
that Jim won't. He says after the break, both will talk about things that's
happening now in wrestling & give you some updates on some insightful things
that he's having on his mind.
Hillbilly says he & Jim has driven lots of miles in the USA & Canada
together, says that both has had lots of good fun & feels that out of all
the guys that he keeps up with which's not very many, says he wants Jim to
talk about that a bit & says Jim's the 1 guy that he talks to the most &
visit. He
says both are not the type of guys that keep up with each other very well.
Jim says that everyone went their separate ways, says he & Hillbilly still
communicate on a regular basis. He says he talks to Bobby Heenan once in a
while as well as Nick Bockwinkel & Brian Blair who's the county commissioner
in Tampa: www.brianblair.com .
Jim says when Brian has a chance they do talk once in a while & says it's
hard because everyone's got their own thing now. He says he does enjoy
looking back at all the fond memories they had as well as the close calls &
the after scenes. He says it was a great part of his life & he'll cherish
all those
moments. Hillbilly says after Jim's WWF run he did some indy work for a
while & asks as to how did it work for him. He also says for himself it was
different to try doing some indy stuff after working for WWF, which was
kinda like leaving a cadillac & riding a Volks Wagon. Jim says it was
turning full
circle, says you're back in a car & you have indy promoters who called you &
book you.
Jim says you'd fly there, says they tried doing like an interview & stuff
like that. He says you'd go along with it because you wanted them to
succeed. He says for him it was good because it enabled him to make a little
side-living & at the same time, he still maintained a bit of ability in the
ring. He says it was good & did it for a number of years. He thinks the last
[indy] match he had was on his 50th birthday, says he was wrestling Jim "The
Anvil" Neidhart in a small town in Minnesota. He says he remembers Neidhart
having a headlock on him & swears that Neidhart's heartbeat was about 220
beats per minute & Hillbilly says he believes it.
Jim says he looked up at the lights & said to himself, this is it & never
was in the ring again after that. Hillbilly says the headlock that Neidhart
gave him was more of a resthold while trying to grab a breath. Jim says
Neidhart was grabbing a breath & at the same time, he was califlowering his
right ear. Hillbilly says it's stiff as usual & Jim says yes. Hillbilly says
he's been hearing about this as of late & finds this kind of comical & wants
to get Jim's spin on it. He asks about the whole Iron Shiek thing &
wants to know everything about "Khos", who's really bumping his gums. Jim
says he saw Iron Shiek's
rant & raving on YouTube 1 day: http://tinyurl.com/3cy24j .
Jim says he can't get over it because he didn't realize that Shiek had such
anomosity to Blair. He says
he talked to Blair about it & says Blair didn't understand it. He says
Khosrow's gone off the far end &
says that's saying it mildly. He knows Shiek's been beat up real bad & had a
bad ankle & can barely walk. He says he's seen a couple of Shiek's rants &
raves on YouTube. He says he's personally concerned about him because
Shiek's off his rocker. Hillbilly asks Jim if he thinks either Shiek's off
his
rocker or thinks he's working an angle. Jim feels it's 70/30 that Shiek's
off his rocker & feels that he's
working an angle for money.
Hillbilly says that Shiek's always has been 1 of the most colorful
characters, says when he sees him he
likes him & he's always loveable to him. He says he has lots of fun with
"Khos" & they go back in the old days. He says Shiek's quite a conversation
piece even now, says that Shiek's said some bad
things about everyone not only about The Killer Bees, but also about The
Ultimate Warrior. He says it was a funny thing that happened with him &
Warrior, says that Shiek's doing a show with Howard Stern:
www.sirius.com/howard100 setting up Shiek on Sirius & asks Jim if he's heard
about it. JIm says he has & shutters every time he hears what Shiek says &
says Shiek's lucky that he can get away with it.
Jim says he's sure that there's a viewing audience that would love to hear
it, Hillbilly says Shiek's absolutely 1 of the characters of our lives &
feels that Shiek's probably has been, the most imitated guy. He then does
his Shiek impersonation by saying "I can't believe it, I'm the Iron Shiek
from
Tehran, Iran, Phooey". He says we'd all imitate him, says that Shiek was
like a walking cartoon. Jim asks if he can tell a quick anadote about "Khos"
& Hillbilly says yes. Jim says we [he & Brian] were talking 1 time & was
playing a joke on Shiek, then Shiek came up to him & asks as to what they
were whispering about. Jim says he can't tell him & when Shiek pleads him to
tell him, he tells Shiek that if he tells him, he can't say anything to
anyone.
Jim says that Shiek's response was "OK", then he tells Shiek that there's a
gay guy in our wrestling group & the Shiek's response was "NO". He says when
Shiek asks as to who it was, Jim asks Shiek to
not tell anyone & Shiek's response was that he won't tell anyone. So Jim
says he went to whisper in
Shiek's ear, then kissed him on the cheek & then Shiek looked at him & asked
"Jim, who's the gay guy?". Hillbilly says they've done lots of things like
that & he's having a great time with Jim who's from White Bear Lake,
Minneasota. He says he ain't done with Jim & has more things to talk about,
says he'll let Jim hold on so he can play some tunes now. He says for those
in Outlaw Country that likes a true legend & a hall of famer, he'll give you
some Webb Pierce.
Hillbilly says to all the "hill-billions" out there wherever you may be,
says he loves you with him on the 4th hour. He says it don't matter if
you're in Charlestown, Rhode Island or Pal, Wyoming or Paris, France. He
says wherever you are, it's been a great hour because he's got Jim there
with him & says Jim's made a great show for him. Jim says it's always fun
talking to him & Hillbilly's done a great job on his show & feels it
couldn't have happened to a better guy. Hillbilly says Jim's his buddy &
appreciates it, then says he & Jim's been talking in confidence a lot about
this & asks Jim to tell fans about his spin about how wrestling's going as
compared to something the way he may like to see it.
Hillbilly asks Jim if he feels if wrestling's different now or better, Jim
says from his early days he always thought pro wrestling as an art form. He
says guys went in there & worked so well together, says it was so tight that
people looked at it & always had an idea & thought "well I know this is not
real & it's contribed, but Jez, that looked real". He says nowadays what's
happened is that everything's so "choreographed", says most of the wrestlers
are prototypically extremely muscular or they're completely the opposite. He
says what Vince's done & has been successful doing it by actually
conditioned a new wrestling fan to what he wants to show.
Jim says it's been a success, says another things that disappoints him is
the tragic loss of all the young guys to drugs & whatever it may be. He says
it's a product of the profession because what happens, is that Vince's
always liked muscular guys. So guys would use steroids, steroids lead to
hyping your body up & then you need something to slow you down, so then you
take chemicals of prescription drugs to slow you down. He says then you get
hurt because you do too much under the influence of steroids. He says you
think you can do anything, says the next thing you know you get hurt, then
you take painkillers & mixing steroids, sedatives, throw in a couple of
sleeping pills, a couple of street drugs & alcohol.
Jim says pretty soon you're an accident waiting to happen, Hillbilly agrees
& says that too often we hear the horror stories about horrible things that
happens to the guys that died prematuraly. He mentions the [Chris] Benoit
thing was a big news source this whole last year & it's been a bit
amazing. He says he wishes that they can look into that, says he knows it
won't make good news & talk about some of the guys that don't go down that
road. He says he never went down that road, neither did Jim & says there's a
few of them that're survivors. He thinks that to put a positive spin on
this, it would be good to do more stories on guys such as "whatever happened
to Jim Brunzell" or
"whatever happened to Brian Blair".
Hillbilly says that Jim mentioned that Brian's a city counselman in Florida,
says some of them don't go that way but the ones that really get the real
ink & press are the guys that comes towards the end & guesses that bad news
makes a better story. Jim agrees about the sensationalism, says it's
probably a time of what we see in the media with all the bad things coming
out & the good things get on 2nd & 3rd page. Hillbilly says that's the way
the world is, says he's had a great hour with Jim, says Jim's been fine &
appreciates him being there. He says it's been so much fun, says they talk
all the time & have been friends. He says he knows Jim's family & comes to
see them every once in a while when he can.
Hillbilly says he's hoping to see them again in the Fall or maybe early in
winter. He says he'll be doing 1 of the Wrestlemania Fan Axxess tours that
he just found out & says the tour will be in Minneapolis & Jim's got to come
& hang with him. Jim says he will & can't wait, Hillbilly says he remembers
the
last time he was in town he was sick as a dog & if it wasn't for Jim, he
wouldn't have gotten well. He says Jim gave him some herbal stuff that
helped him a lot & appreciate it. Jim says he's tried many
remedies all these years, says some things worked & sticks with them & he's
glad that it helped Hillbilly.
Hillbilly asks Jim to give any ex-pro athletes that retired from the
business in regards to telling them what to do physically or mentally to
keep themselves together. Jim says they 1st have to continue to work out,
then says he prays a lot because he needs all the help he can get. Hillbilly
says that's
fantastic, says Jim looks great & always had a great atitude. He knows that
Jim's got some arrows, slings & injuries from the business but by & all, the
old car keeps rolling on & hopes it'll keep on rolling
for hundreds of more years from him to Jim. Jim says thanks, says God bless
him & thanks him for having him on his show.
Hillbilly says before Jim goes he knows that he's a big Bruce fan & says
this weekend "The Boss" will be in Cleveland. He says the show's rolling
thru there, says the "Magic" album's big everywhere & will now play for Jim
& all the fans with a great Bruce song & it's 1 that Jim loves so much.
http://tinyurl.com/3xucgc & Jim says thanks for having him on the show.
Hillbilly says he & Jim has had lots of fun together & says if they started
telling stories, it'd take 16 to 17 hours. He says they wouldn't even begin
because they've had so much fun, says he knows that Jim's career's been
amazing & remembers when 1st meeting Jim when Jim 1st came into WWF. He says
both of them came there together around at the same
time, then says he wants to tell everyone that Jim's a lifelong Minneasotian
& Jim says yes. Hillbilly says Jim still lives in the Twin Cities & Jim says
yes.
Hillbilly says he's thought about Jim's career & has looked on some of the
things & asks to talk about the beginning of Jim's career. He says he knows
that Jim came out of college & played football at the University of
Minneasota & was a kicker & a high jumper. Jim says he was a high jumper on
track, then kicked & also played split end. Hillbilly asks Jim as to when
did he knew that he was gonna go into wrestling & also wants to talk about
Jim's early days as well as who trained him. Jim says to be as "consise" as
possible he had an opportunity to go in '71 to a free agent tryout at the
Washington Redskins. He says he didn't make it, came home & was gonna return
to school.
Jim says after that Greg Gagne called & asked him to try out in wrestling
camp. He says Ken Patera was coming back from the olympics, says Greg also
mentioned Ric Flair & Khosrow Vaziri who's now known as "The Iron Shnuck"
[The Iron Shiek]. He says he thought wrestling was somewhat athletic & if
someone told him when he was 12 that he'd spend 27 years wrestling, he'd
tell that person that he was crazy. He says he went to the camp & started in
late '71 in October, says it was Billy Robinson who actually was his mentor
& Verne Gagne was the 1 that signed him. He says Billy & the rest of them
worked out 6 days a week & about 4 to 5 hours daily, it was really grouling.
Jim says they threw him in a match & his 1st match was 12/27/72 with someone
named Dennis Stamp. He says as soon as they introduced his name, he was
completely out of breath. Hillbilly says Jim "blew up" before the bell rang,
Jim says he was in good shape but was so nervous that he was sucking air
after about 40 seconds. Hillbilly says that's amazing, then asks him if it
seems like a long time ago or was it like it was almost yesterday. Jim says
sometimes it seems like yesterday & sometimes when getting up in the morning
& sore, it's like it was a long time ago. Hillbilly says the 1 thing Jim's
been known for thruout his career as "Jumpin'" Jim Brunzell, was his amazing
dropkick.
Hillbilly says he knows Jim came from the football putting world & was a
high jumper, says he knew it had to play a big part in discovering that
move. Jim tells Hillbilly that he's been blessed always with the ability to
jump, says in high school his vertical was 33 to 34 & when he went to
college, it went up to 36. He says he can always jump & it was a natural
move for him. He remembers Verne Gagne showing him 1 time on how he
dropkicked, then told him that he can do that too. So Verne put his hand up
above his head & it was about 6 & a 1/2 feet high, then Jim jumped up &
kicked it with both feet & Verne told him that he'll do well with the
dropkick.
Hillbilly says Jim has done well & it's 1 of the greatest moves & it's real
sensational. He says that being
a guy that did something like that early in his career & didn't have to do
it the rest of his career, because he's a hillbilly & didn't do them fancy
things. He says he knows how crazy that feels the 1st
time doing the dropkick & landing on the mat. Jim says the 1st time he did
that & landed on his head
& thought there's gotta be a better way to do this. He says what he tried
doing was when dropkicking, he tried turning his shoulders so he landed on
his forearm. He says it worked good but after 10,000 dropkicks his left
forearm kept jamming his shoulder & it completely worn out the cartiledge.
Jim says he's got a "bone on bone" in his left shoulder & figured the high
jumping ability was proof to
be a "frawn" in his overall design. Hillbilly says it was sensational but
like everything in the ring, we all pay a price for it. He says he was
turned on to Bruce Springsteen by Jim, says Jim's the guy that's really a
Bruce guy in his early WWF days. He asks Jim to talk about on how that came
about as well as about Terry McGovern. Jim says it started after getting out
of Verne Gagne's plane where they used to have a "small navaho chief & 7
seater". He says it was about 1AM, turned on the radio while driving home &
heard a song that was very operatic.
Jim says it sounded like strings, guitars & sax but they didn't name the
artist. He says the next day he heard it again & found out it was Bruce
Springsteen jungle land off "Born To Run". He says he bought everything on
Bruce & says he bothered his friends. He says his wife Mary, both were just
married at the time, says he got hooked right away & in '84, Bruce opened up
his "Born In The USA" tour in St. Paul. He says 1 of Bruce's handlers was a
wrestling fan who reckonized Jim standing
backstage. He says it was about 2AM after the show, says the handler came to
him & introduced himself & Jim said "Jesus, is there a chance that I can see
Bruce".
Jim says Bruce came out, says Hillbilly may remember this but Jim wrote a
song using Bruce's
"Badlands" melody & named the song "Madlands" which was about wrestling. He
says he gave Bruce a tape & says that Bruce looked at him as if he was from
Mars. He says right next to him & his wife Mary, was Courtney Cox who danced
in the "Dancing In The Dark" video with Bruce. He says Courtney was like an
18, skinny little girl & little did Jim knew that she'd wound up to be a big
superstar. He says that was that & in '84, Jim saw Bruce at least 60 times.
Hillbilly says Bruce's amazing & knows that Terry McGovern's a good buddy of
Jim's. He says he & Jim will be on the whole hour & tells Jim to hold on
till after the break.
Hillbilly says Jim started in AWA, then went to NWA & then returned to AWA
for a while. Jim says yes & thinks it was in '81, says he was there till '85
& says he's sure that fans remember Hulk Hogan was there. He says Hulk left
to go to New York & surely thereafter, the golden goose was set loose & it
was Hulk. He says everyone flocked to WWF because that's where the money
was. Hillbilly agrees & says it was a magical time in this industry. He says
both of them were lucky enough to be part of it, says he remembers both of
them 1st meet going in & flew over on a "prop plane" 1 day from LaGuardia to
Poughkeepsie, New York. Jim says yes & says he didn't like that little
plane.
Hillbilly said he didn't like it either but both of them were together & had
to go thru it together. He asks Jim to talk about the early days in WWF when
he got hooked up with Brian Blair. Jim says when he 1st came to WWF they
were gonna use him as a single. Then Brian came from Florida & WWF decided
to put them together & call them The Killer Bees. He says they were a unique
tag team for the fact that they used the masks, says he & Brian were built
fairly close together, says they wore black & yellow & decided to come up
with the masks. He says both would put the masks on during their time of
trouble during the match.
Jim said no 1 knew who was the legal man, says it worked great for them for
a period of time & when Vince McMahon pulled their stingers out, it was the
end of the Bees in '88. Hillbilly asked if they were "destunged" & Jim said
yes. Hillbilly asked Jim to talk about Wrestlemania 3 with The Killer Bees
being in a great match that day. Jim says it was the ultimate & when he
looks back on his career, knowing that there was over 93,000 fans at the
Silverdome & there was people from CNN, NK Tokyo, Austraila, it was a big,
huge event for them. He says everyone was nervous & says he & Brian were
wrestling Nikolai Volkoff & The Iron Shiek.
Jim says WWF put them on before Hulk vs Andre, says he thinks that the fan
were a little impatient for Hulk & Andre to come on, but he & Brian made it
thru the match. He says he recalls "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan made his WWF debut
running in there with the big 2X4, which costs The Killer Bees the
match but it introduced Duggan to the WWF. Hillbilly says he remembers it
like it was yesterday, says
he thinks about his career & says it was a big part of the highlights. He
says if you think of the big
highspots in your career, it was Wrestlemania 3. He asks Jim to talk to the
fans about the crowd & how long it took them to have to wait till after
everyone left before they could leave.
Hillbilly says they had to get there hours & hours early, Jim thinks that
they were there 4 to 6 hours earlier & says Vince always did things 1st
Class. He says everything was very cool, says there was a good meal for them
& all of a sudden, people started coming in & coming in. He asks if Aretha
Franklin sing the National Anthem, Hillbilly says yes & Jim said the matches
then started. He says after
that everyone was really happy with the results, says it was a record PPV &
was a record attendance. He says all the matches were good, says Hulk beat
Andre & then remembers sitting there for about 2 hours to leave the place.
He says Vince had the huge party afterwords at the hotel they were staying
at.
Jim says it was quite an event & won't ever forget it, Hillbilly asks Jim if
he remembers the energy in the dressing room that day & it was the most
amazing thing. Jim says yes because everybody realized that all of a sudden,
pro wrestling under Vince & WWF was on a world spectacular event. He says it
was the 1st time it created such a force in terms of viewers spectatorship.
He says they
had the record crowd which was the largest crowd an indoor event up until
that time. He says it was a big thing for everyone, says he thinks everyone
was on their "A" game & feels it was a huge success. Hillbilly says they
knew it was a landmark event & at that time, they knew it was something that
was absolutely special.
Hillbilly says as the years rolled by for both of them, it becomes even more
special. He says what a day Wrestlemania 3 was, says he won't forget & knows
that Jim won't. He says after the break, both will talk about things that's
happening now in wrestling & give you some updates on some insightful things
that he's having on his mind.
Hillbilly says he & Jim has driven lots of miles in the USA & Canada
together, says that both has had lots of good fun & feels that out of all
the guys that he keeps up with which's not very many, says he wants Jim to
talk about that a bit & says Jim's the 1 guy that he talks to the most &
visit. He
says both are not the type of guys that keep up with each other very well.
Jim says that everyone went their separate ways, says he & Hillbilly still
communicate on a regular basis. He says he talks to Bobby Heenan once in a
while as well as Nick Bockwinkel & Brian Blair who's the county commissioner
in Tampa: www.brianblair.com .
Jim says when Brian has a chance they do talk once in a while & says it's
hard because everyone's got their own thing now. He says he does enjoy
looking back at all the fond memories they had as well as the close calls &
the after scenes. He says it was a great part of his life & he'll cherish
all those
moments. Hillbilly says after Jim's WWF run he did some indy work for a
while & asks as to how did it work for him. He also says for himself it was
different to try doing some indy stuff after working for WWF, which was
kinda like leaving a cadillac & riding a Volks Wagon. Jim says it was
turning full
circle, says you're back in a car & you have indy promoters who called you &
book you.
Jim says you'd fly there, says they tried doing like an interview & stuff
like that. He says you'd go along with it because you wanted them to
succeed. He says for him it was good because it enabled him to make a little
side-living & at the same time, he still maintained a bit of ability in the
ring. He says it was good & did it for a number of years. He thinks the last
[indy] match he had was on his 50th birthday, says he was wrestling Jim "The
Anvil" Neidhart in a small town in Minnesota. He says he remembers Neidhart
having a headlock on him & swears that Neidhart's heartbeat was about 220
beats per minute & Hillbilly says he believes it.
Jim says he looked up at the lights & said to himself, this is it & never
was in the ring again after that. Hillbilly says the headlock that Neidhart
gave him was more of a resthold while trying to grab a breath. Jim says
Neidhart was grabbing a breath & at the same time, he was califlowering his
right ear. Hillbilly says it's stiff as usual & Jim says yes. Hillbilly says
he's been hearing about this as of late & finds this kind of comical & wants
to get Jim's spin on it. He asks about the whole Iron Shiek thing &
wants to know everything about "Khos", who's really bumping his gums. Jim
says he saw Iron Shiek's
rant & raving on YouTube 1 day: http://tinyurl.com/3cy24j .
Jim says he can't get over it because he didn't realize that Shiek had such
anomosity to Blair. He says
he talked to Blair about it & says Blair didn't understand it. He says
Khosrow's gone off the far end &
says that's saying it mildly. He knows Shiek's been beat up real bad & had a
bad ankle & can barely walk. He says he's seen a couple of Shiek's rants &
raves on YouTube. He says he's personally concerned about him because
Shiek's off his rocker. Hillbilly asks Jim if he thinks either Shiek's off
his
rocker or thinks he's working an angle. Jim feels it's 70/30 that Shiek's
off his rocker & feels that he's
working an angle for money.
Hillbilly says that Shiek's always has been 1 of the most colorful
characters, says when he sees him he
likes him & he's always loveable to him. He says he has lots of fun with
"Khos" & they go back in the old days. He says Shiek's quite a conversation
piece even now, says that Shiek's said some bad
things about everyone not only about The Killer Bees, but also about The
Ultimate Warrior. He says it was a funny thing that happened with him &
Warrior, says that Shiek's doing a show with Howard Stern:
www.sirius.com/howard100 setting up Shiek on Sirius & asks Jim if he's heard
about it. JIm says he has & shutters every time he hears what Shiek says &
says Shiek's lucky that he can get away with it.
Jim says he's sure that there's a viewing audience that would love to hear
it, Hillbilly says Shiek's absolutely 1 of the characters of our lives &
feels that Shiek's probably has been, the most imitated guy. He then does
his Shiek impersonation by saying "I can't believe it, I'm the Iron Shiek
from
Tehran, Iran, Phooey". He says we'd all imitate him, says that Shiek was
like a walking cartoon. Jim asks if he can tell a quick anadote about "Khos"
& Hillbilly says yes. Jim says we [he & Brian] were talking 1 time & was
playing a joke on Shiek, then Shiek came up to him & asks as to what they
were whispering about. Jim says he can't tell him & when Shiek pleads him to
tell him, he tells Shiek that if he tells him, he can't say anything to
anyone.
Jim says that Shiek's response was "OK", then he tells Shiek that there's a
gay guy in our wrestling group & the Shiek's response was "NO". He says when
Shiek asks as to who it was, Jim asks Shiek to
not tell anyone & Shiek's response was that he won't tell anyone. So Jim
says he went to whisper in
Shiek's ear, then kissed him on the cheek & then Shiek looked at him & asked
"Jim, who's the gay guy?". Hillbilly says they've done lots of things like
that & he's having a great time with Jim who's from White Bear Lake,
Minneasota. He says he ain't done with Jim & has more things to talk about,
says he'll let Jim hold on so he can play some tunes now. He says for those
in Outlaw Country that likes a true legend & a hall of famer, he'll give you
some Webb Pierce.
Hillbilly says to all the "hill-billions" out there wherever you may be,
says he loves you with him on the 4th hour. He says it don't matter if
you're in Charlestown, Rhode Island or Pal, Wyoming or Paris, France. He
says wherever you are, it's been a great hour because he's got Jim there
with him & says Jim's made a great show for him. Jim says it's always fun
talking to him & Hillbilly's done a great job on his show & feels it
couldn't have happened to a better guy. Hillbilly says Jim's his buddy &
appreciates it, then says he & Jim's been talking in confidence a lot about
this & asks Jim to tell fans about his spin about how wrestling's going as
compared to something the way he may like to see it.
Hillbilly asks Jim if he feels if wrestling's different now or better, Jim
says from his early days he always thought pro wrestling as an art form. He
says guys went in there & worked so well together, says it was so tight that
people looked at it & always had an idea & thought "well I know this is not
real & it's contribed, but Jez, that looked real". He says nowadays what's
happened is that everything's so "choreographed", says most of the wrestlers
are prototypically extremely muscular or they're completely the opposite. He
says what Vince's done & has been successful doing it by actually
conditioned a new wrestling fan to what he wants to show.
Jim says it's been a success, says another things that disappoints him is
the tragic loss of all the young guys to drugs & whatever it may be. He says
it's a product of the profession because what happens, is that Vince's
always liked muscular guys. So guys would use steroids, steroids lead to
hyping your body up & then you need something to slow you down, so then you
take chemicals of prescription drugs to slow you down. He says then you get
hurt because you do too much under the influence of steroids. He says you
think you can do anything, says the next thing you know you get hurt, then
you take painkillers & mixing steroids, sedatives, throw in a couple of
sleeping pills, a couple of street drugs & alcohol.
Jim says pretty soon you're an accident waiting to happen, Hillbilly agrees
& says that too often we hear the horror stories about horrible things that
happens to the guys that died prematuraly. He mentions the [Chris] Benoit
thing was a big news source this whole last year & it's been a bit
amazing. He says he wishes that they can look into that, says he knows it
won't make good news & talk about some of the guys that don't go down that
road. He says he never went down that road, neither did Jim & says there's a
few of them that're survivors. He thinks that to put a positive spin on
this, it would be good to do more stories on guys such as "whatever happened
to Jim Brunzell" or
"whatever happened to Brian Blair".
Hillbilly says that Jim mentioned that Brian's a city counselman in Florida,
says some of them don't go that way but the ones that really get the real
ink & press are the guys that comes towards the end & guesses that bad news
makes a better story. Jim agrees about the sensationalism, says it's
probably a time of what we see in the media with all the bad things coming
out & the good things get on 2nd & 3rd page. Hillbilly says that's the way
the world is, says he's had a great hour with Jim, says Jim's been fine &
appreciates him being there. He says it's been so much fun, says they talk
all the time & have been friends. He says he knows Jim's family & comes to
see them every once in a while when he can.
Hillbilly says he's hoping to see them again in the Fall or maybe early in
winter. He says he'll be doing 1 of the Wrestlemania Fan Axxess tours that
he just found out & says the tour will be in Minneapolis & Jim's got to come
& hang with him. Jim says he will & can't wait, Hillbilly says he remembers
the
last time he was in town he was sick as a dog & if it wasn't for Jim, he
wouldn't have gotten well. He says Jim gave him some herbal stuff that
helped him a lot & appreciate it. Jim says he's tried many
remedies all these years, says some things worked & sticks with them & he's
glad that it helped Hillbilly.
Hillbilly asks Jim to give any ex-pro athletes that retired from the
business in regards to telling them what to do physically or mentally to
keep themselves together. Jim says they 1st have to continue to work out,
then says he prays a lot because he needs all the help he can get. Hillbilly
says that's
fantastic, says Jim looks great & always had a great atitude. He knows that
Jim's got some arrows, slings & injuries from the business but by & all, the
old car keeps rolling on & hopes it'll keep on rolling
for hundreds of more years from him to Jim. Jim says thanks, says God bless
him & thanks him for having him on his show.
Hillbilly says before Jim goes he knows that he's a big Bruce fan & says
this weekend "The Boss" will be in Cleveland. He says the show's rolling
thru there, says the "Magic" album's big everywhere & will now play for Jim
& all the fans with a great Bruce song & it's 1 that Jim loves so much.
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