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Interview Recap - George South

Posted in Interview Recaps by Jack at 08:13, Mar 25 2010

By: Bob Colling from http://chroniclesoftna.bravejournal.com/
(TNA recaps starting from 6/19/2002 - 2/19/2003 so far!)

George South Interview Recap
By: Bob Colling from http://chroniclesoftna.bravejournal.com/
(TNA recaps starting from 6/19/2002 - 2/19/2003 so far!)

Jack and OIB are joined by the 2006 Interview of the Year, George South! This has been four years in the making!

George says that he has people still come up to him and mention the interview he did with IYH back in 2006. George uses the interview from 2006 to help people get to know just who George South is. South says it has been a great help for him.

A caller named Adam asks who South had to job to but knew he was better than the wrestler. South says ?I have bought two house putting guys over?. It has never bothered him putting them over. South says their was two or three people he had to actually hold on top of him to do the job! South mentions that he has seen people leave a territory for refusing to lost to someone.

South would put someone over and then the next day they would be gone the next day, which was annoying sometimes. But, it never really bothered him having to job to people.

South talks about his run in WCW and how he would be working matches with people getting tryouts. South really liked Del Wilkes, better known as the Patriot. At that time, Wilkes was doing the Trooper gimmick. However, South would never see Wilkes again. Adrian Adonis also came down for a tryout match. Adonis left the arena once he was told about the tryout match. ?It was just a crazy period, really.?

South mentions the Awesome Kongs who came into WCW around this same time. South says that was a pretty rough tryout match as the Kongs were just to big to do anything. They were gone the next day.

A caller named Jason calls in. South?s favorite item next to the Paul Jones watch is the Wahoo?s headdress. South had actually just asked for a knee pad or something, but instead he got a headdress! South says that he as afraid to even touch it. South locked it in the trunk of his car and made sure no one came near it.

Jack asks what it was like to wrestle Wahoo. ?It was a great time. I had never been hit that hard!?. South mentions that he still has trouble breathing and believes it is because of Wahoo. South puts over Wahoo?s chops and how brutal they were. He can?t imagine the chops Flair and Wahoo exchanged back in their primes. South talks about all the lawsuits that Wahoo had gotten over the years. South believes that Wahoo would have loved going to fan fests.

Jason has a second question and asks about Ricky Steamboat Jr. South really puts over Ricky Steamboat Jr. as being a great kid. South had Ricky Steamboat Jr. on the road for two years before anyone else. South has also been training Reid Flair. South wishes that people would leave the Flair family alone and allow them to learn the business. South talks about his middle son wanting to have one match, but stopped that by telling him he will teach him at his school. His son has been mad at him for three days now. South discusses Reid Flair?s debut match against the Nasty Boys in the Carolina area and how no one is talking about, but rather they are trying to forget about it! South doesn?t believe that Reid was given a fair chance. South tells a story about a promoter wanting to book Ricky Steamboat Jr. vs. Reid Flair but he quickly stopped that from happening. South would like to see something like that happen at a Wrestle Mania sometime in the future.

South talks about Ricky Steamboat Jr. going to Japan two times, going to Puerto Rico, living with South for two weeks and going to Harley Race?s for sometime as well. South strongly believes that Ricky Jr. should be in the WWE right now!

A caller named Vickie calls in and South says she is one of his favorite ladies. Vickie asks if Shawn Michaels will break the streak of the Undertaker. South doesn?t believe that streak will ever been broken. South says that Undertaker deserves to keep the streak going, even if it is for the next twenty years. South believe that if Michaels were to win it would be just ?another match? at the following Wrestle Mania?s.

Jack brings up Mid Atlantic wrestling and how it is able to hold up nowadays as good wrestling. South says that it was like family and that the territory was so good, no one wanted to leave. Their were waiting lists for people to come into the territory. South still runs into people who tell him stories from past happenings fro Mid Atlantic Wrestling. South jokes about people remembering about Mid Atlantic wrestling and not their children?s name!

South believes that there is a generation that aren?t going to the matches anymore. ?It?s either little kids or teenagers.?

South talks about wrestling promoters wanting to book him to yell at the crowd. South tells a story about ripping into a crowd that were saying that wrestling was fake and all that stuff. South says that he lost his temper and got right in the face of the fans. South believes that fans like them ruin it for the kids. South was pissed off when he saw a fan on a laptop typing up the results to go onto the internet!

South jokes that if fans chant boring he would fall asleep in the ring! He learned that from Dick Murdoch. South believes that the fans are used to ?exploding rings and all that stuff?.

South says that wrestling isn?t fake and gets upset when fans say that it is fake. South brings up his fan fest where their were plenty of wrestlers having a hard time walking around. ?if I take a bump you better not be saying boring?.

A caller named Mike asks George South about the Monday Night Wars 2010. South ?hates it? and believes that TNA should just leave WWE alone. South says that McMahon will shut down everything if TNA pisses him off. McMahon shut down all the territories because everyone sold out to him. South says that TNA will make McMahon angry and eventually he will buy them out and fire everyone! South does realize that he could be wrong. South mentions that he loves Scott Hall and other guys in TNA. But, South does like that TNA went back to a normal ring. South cracks a joke about some guy perhaps having a eight sided ring! ?What would you do with them? You can?t sell them!? South gives credit to anyone who could work in that ring and says he didn?t know how to work the ring. Jack brings up Billy Gunn who said it was difficult for the bigger guys to work the six sided ring. South does hope that TNA stays in business, though. ?There is enough to go around.? in reference that TNA doesn?t need to compete with WWE.

South brings up Bret Hart and says that he is happy to see Bret Hart back in the WWE. South doesn?t believe that Bret Hart is a ?sellout?. South asks why shouldn?t Bret be back in the WWE?

South say that the would bring all his friends and whatnot just like Hulk Hogan has done in TNA.

Dr. Myers asks about teenagers breaking into George South?s car back in 1999. South talks about the incident and how it happened at a place that he went to all the time, Hardees. South says that he lived in a area where you never felt like you had to lock your doors. South says the teenagers stole a lot of stuff that couldn?t be replaced. They even stole the only bible he had throughout his career. He managed to get the bible back, but not the ring gear that was stolen. South mentions that the police office drove up the street and went into a Pizza Hut to get something to eat! South says that now he doesn?t even go into the locker rooms anymore.

South brings his students to his matches even if he doesn?t allow them to work so that they can learn from him. South talks about someone calling one of his students a idiot for not shaking hands with wrestlers in the locker room. South would have gone nuts if his student would have told him about it. South tells a story about Ric Flair telling someone to never shake his hand with some stupid handshake ever again. South says that shaking everyone?s hand means nothing and isn?t important to do. South does say that years ago it meant something, but their isn?t any sort of hidden secret behind them.

?There are no marks left, cause all of them are in the ring!?

A caller named Joel asks if a wrestler has ever surprised him in terms of success. South mentions Henry Godwin as being someone he liked. South talks about Godwin and Erik Watts going on the road for a week, and getting signed afterwards. South talks about Godwin signing his contract, without even looking at it! South mentions that Godwin?s son has just recently signed a contract with WWE and will be going to Florida.

George says that he loves Jim Crockett Sr. and as a kid he went to the companies matches. South talks about his first trip to WWE. South talks about seeing all the trucks and not the flatbed trucks with a ring in it. South talks about having to get a $100 hotel room and being worried about giving the bill to the company as he didn?t want to be fired. However, they didn?t think twice about it and gave him his money back following some sort of mix up. South will always believe that Jim Crockett had the better talent. South talks about the ice cream bars that WWE had back then and how they tasted well. South thought that was a great marketing idea. ?Their ain?t been a TV I haven?t gotten my butt kicked?.

Jack brings up Brutus Beefcake and how South would grow his hair out so that he would have his hair cut several times. South mentions that Beefcake would always ask where South would want his hair cut, but he didn?t care. South talks about getting his hair cut four weeks in a row!

A caller named Carroll thanks South for all he has done for the wrestling business. George mentions that he loves Jackie Crockett and still talks to him all the time. George thanks Carroll for the kind words.

A caller named Charlie Dreamer calls in and apparently worked George South and Bob Orton Sr. recently. Charlie thanks George for all the mentoring. South says that he will be selling this interview at his gimmick table! George brings up having a magazine where he has Kane on the cover and isn?t able to sell them to anyone. South talks about a time training Ricky Jr. and Ricky Sr. was sitting on the couch and decided to get in the ring. South says that Ricky took Charlie down with one of the best arm drags he had ever seen. Right after that, Steamboat just left the ring and sat back down!

George talks about some wrestlers messing up but telling George that he does a sleeper hold a different way and it wasn?t wrong. The wrestler almost broke South?s nose. South mentions that Charlie Dreamer has done some matches with ROH recently.

George says that tagging with Bob Orton Sr. was the greatest feeling in the world. George didn?t talk about the match with Bob and says he doesn?t want to get started over planning out a match. George says that he is still in the business because of the moments he had during the Bob Orton tag match against Charlie Dreamer and his partner. South talks about the match having ?classic old school heat?. South says that the old timers also hold onto that last good feeling and is why they stick around.

Jack brings up the WWE Hall of Fame. George loves the Hall of Fame and thinks it is neat that they are going to induct the original Gorgeous George. South mentions that people have been saying that McMahon has been making more money off the old stuff than the new stuff. George thinks the Hall of Fame is great.

South talks about getting two books from Highspots and he sat down to read them. South doesn?t name the books, but says that in one book by the second chapter they began to tell secrets of the business. George says that himself and Jimmy Valiant are the only ones to still believe in Santa! In the second book, by chapter three the book was talking about secrets of the business. South will always think that Billy Graham hated Bruno.

Jack brings up ROH holding a show in Charlotte. South brings up that ROH will be holding the show at the venue where he would go to the wrestling shows back when he was younger. South believes it is the greatest thing for pro wrestling to be back in Charlotte. He hopes that ROH comes back to the building.

South says that having been around the wrestlers and all that was a reason he got involved in the business. South says that the first wrestler he saw was Gene Anderson, who scared him. South answered an add in the paper and was beaten up for three days straight. George talks about Hulk Hogan having his leg broken his first training session. South brings up Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker from the Power Plant and the squats he would have wrestlers do. South mentions that he has had a few people throw up during training but has never made fun of them because has been their before.

A caller named Jai asks if wrestling is a ?dying breed?. South says that wrestling will always be around in some formation but the business is losing the ?foundation?. South is referring to the veterans of the business. ?Wrestling will last forever, but the guys who built it, will not.? South wants people to remember the old timers.

Jack brings up the NWA Fan Fest. South loves the Fan Fest and talks about being able to look through the magazines and being on his own. South brings up Al Perez and says he hasn?t seen him in quite sometime. South talks about having a match and being told by Gary Hart saying that he entertained him. Those were the last words Gary told him because Gary Hart would pass away.

Spec from the message board wants to know what George thought of Mike Jackson. South talks about Jackson getting him some bookings and paying him for those. South briefly talks about charging the Hardy Boys a booking fee. South owes a lot to Mike Jackson for getting him into a lot of places.

Jack brings up people complaining about wrestlers using the same moves. South doesn?t get why people would complain. South uses the example of Tony Dorsett running the same play and he is in the Hall of Fame!

South says that you have to be open to do anything, or you wouldn?t be booked back in the day. South talks about being a ?utility man? for Dusty Rhodes.

Fontanna from the chat room asks who George would want to wrestle against from the WWE. South would like to wrestle with the young generation and Shawn Michaels. South would also like to work a match with Al Snow and Shane Douglas. South likes Shane Douglas and liked his run as the Dynamic Dudes. South talks about Eddie Gilbert always having his gear on him, even when he was a booker, and would compete if some workers weren?t able to make the show for whatever reason.

Sterling V from the chat room asks about Ronnie Garvin stories. South has many stories about Ronnie Garvin. South tells a story about Garvin and Flair chopping each other in the locker room! South says that neither man would back down from each other. South says that he saw Garvin recently and mentions that Garvin looks exactly the same. South also talks about the Garvin Stomp hurting because you never knew where Garvin would stomp you.

A caller named Swax asks for George?s opinion on Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair wrestling nowadays and for his opinions on Bret Hart being ?forced to wrestle at Wrestle Mania?. South understands to some point why Hogan and Flair are still wrestling. South says that Flair, when he wants to, can be the most entertaining wrestler in the business. South is happy for Bret Hart to come back. South knows that Bret Hart isn?t going to do anything he doesn?t want to do. South is sure that Hart has been back in the ring plenty of times.

South talks about the Undertaker getting burned at the Elimination Chamber pay per view and how tough the Undertaker is.

South talks about chair shots no longer being allowed. South says it is a natural reflex to block the chair shot with your hands. But, when someone does that they are considered a ?sissy?.

South believes that Bret will be great and loves the match.

Jack asks if South has any stories about Sid Vicious. South puts Sid over as a great guy. South really enjoyed his tag team with Dan Spivey. South always felt that Sid missed his calling in being a bad guy for guys like Chuck Norris. South talks about Sid hating when he would accidentally hurt someone. South also talks about Sid being a great softball player. ?If Sid was the WCW World Champion and a softball game would be coming up, he would rather play the softball game.? South believes that their should be a spot for Sid in the wrestling business. South says that he would create a job for Sid in the business.

Jack asks if George has any good rib stories. George says that pooping in someone?s bag and all that never really happened around him. George talks about people gluing quarters to the floor and wrestlers would try for a long time to pick up the quarters! South tells a story about Jake Roberts dropping Damien down on the floor and turning the lights off. Guys like Earthquake and Typhoon standing on chairs and whatnot was a funny sight.

Jack asks which cage George South preferred: The Big Blue Cage or the Mesh Cage. South always liked the Mesh Cage. South would always think of Hogan sending someone into the big blue cage and having the opponents head go through the cage!

Jack asks how Blackjack Mulligan has been doing. George says that he has been doing very good. South loves the whole family.

George does believe that bringing back managers would help the business. South says that managers try to steal the match. South brings up JJ Dillon and says that he would always stay in the corner during the Horsemen matches. South puts over Bobby Heenan as being one of the best bump takers.

George believes that Dick Murdoch delivered the best punch. South hates when wrestlers punches someone in the corner fifteen times.

George use to take so much pride with taking a bump that his opponents would be proud of. George bragged about Harley Race head butting him for six months!

South continues to talk about who throws the best punch and mentions that HHH throws a good punch.

A caller named Andrew wonders if there is a worker on the independents who would help the WWE. George talks about Ricky Steamboat being a asset to the company, though he knows he is already signed with the company. George also believes that ROH talent would be great for WWE. George mentions Jerry Lynn and Al Snow as also being quality workers for WWE. He puts over AJ Styles as ?unbelievable?.

George South love Buddy Landell and says that he has a lot of stories. South loved his era with Smokey Mountain Wrestling. South talks about Buddy taking care of his son while he worked for twenty minutes. That is something that George hasn?t forgotten about. George liked the short program Buddy had with Ric Flair.

George talks about Vince McMahon not being afraid to take a butt kicking in the ring. He says that Vince will always let the good guy get revenge on him. South believes that the baby faces should go over at Wrestle Mania. South believes the heels job is to lose. South mentions that he has seen people fight in the back about jobbing.

South agrees that people do swerves just to do it because people don?t expect it to happen. It may not make sense, but it is done because of the fans just don?t expect it. South talks about people actually believing that Owen Hart and Road Warrior Hawk are still alive and that they are apart of a work. South liked the whole Vader tour where he would beat down wrestlers leading into his match with Sting.

Jack thanks for George South coming onto the show and mentions that he is the longest interview in IYH history. George South says it is an honor to be guest on the show.

To check out the compete archive of IYH interviews dating back from 2005, go to www.inyourheadonline.com

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