NWA Powerrr Results 1/10/23
Skyway Studios
Nashville, Tennessee
You can follow me on Twitter @TheHootsPodcast
Commentary Team: (Joe Galli & Velvet Sky)
Transcription by Josh Lopez
Joe Galli: Hello and welcome to NWA presents an invigorating, entertaining and an all-encompassing conversation with The Universal Heartthrob Austin Idol and the president and owner of the National Wrestling Alliance, Billy Corgan. Austin Idol is going to go into incredible detail of what it was like to break into the business, what it was like to work in the territories and what it was like to have matches with the stars of the territories before they were legends.
And Billy Corgan’s bringing in all kinds of great memorabilia, we’re talking about programs and photographs, some of which haven’t seen the light of day for decades and it’s going to spark a very interesting conversation and stories that have never been recorded before. All from the mind of The Universal Heartthrob, Austin Idol.
Here’s a couple of highlights from this interview.
Austin Idol Reflects On Breaking Into The Wrestling Business
I was working a construction job in Tampa, Florida. I’m training at a gym downtown. I’m a powerlifter, so we’re doing all these crazy lifts and there’s not a lot of equipment in the gym. So, the gym owner, who was a very nice guy, said, listen, guys, when you guys come in and do bench pressing. I was bench pressing over 500 pounds, he said, you’re hogging up the equipment and I’m going to have to ask you to leave. So, in a nice way, he evicted us and didn’t have a place to work out. And there was a club on Davis Island in Tampa called, The Islands Club, so I went over there one night, and one thing led to another and I just kind of bumped into Mike Graham. And he had some friends with him, and I had friends and they kind of knew each other, but Mike and I did not and we just kind of had an instant chemistry and we hit it off. I could tell Mike was training, he looked good and he asked me he said, where are you working out? And I told him the story and he said, well, why don’t you come over and work out at my house. His dad converted a double car garage into a gym, just come work out over here. I said, well, great, that’s fantastic and that’s how it started. I trained over there probably, geez, I don’t know, four or five months, maybe. I met Eddie a few times.
Everybody knew who Eddie Graham was, I mean, he was an icon there. He was so charismatic, he had the look, I mean, he had it all together. He was quite the personality. So, I would see Eddie Graham coming and going, very friendly, like, hey, how are you guys doing today? It was really a good relationship. In Florida, I would say was different from most other territories in the country because of the way Eddie built it up. I would say compare it almost to the NFL back then, it was so respected. You didn’t hear people on the street say, hey, listen, I know you guys are all (fake wrestlers) or whatever the case. You really didn’t hear that. They had all these great amateur wrestlers. They were the real deal, I mean, Jack Brisco, his credentials were the real deal. We had Danny Hodge. We had the Funks, I mean, all these guys who were great athletes, legitimate athletes and they could wrestle. It gave credibility to professional wrestling.
Credibility, it was very respected. Mike and I were in his gym working out, I had never been in the house before and Mike said, let’s go and get some water, I said, great. So, we walked in the door, kitchen is over here, but Eddie was sitting right there, like, kind of in a lazy boy chair talking on the phone. And as we walked behind Eddie to go to the kitchen, I heard Eddie say, so you’ll pay him a thousand dollars a week and all the expenses. I’m working construction in the hot Tampa sun and I just heard it, so when Mike and I got our water we went back out into the gym, the garage, I said, Mike, who’s your dad talking to? He said, oh, he was talking to the promoter in Australia, Jim Barnett. I said, yeah, he said something about a thousand dollars a week. He says, yeah, Dad is going to send over a wrestler and he’ll pay him a thousand dollars a week. I’m thinking, hmm, a thousand dollars a week? Nobody makes a thousand dollars a week. And the guy’s gonna go to Australia and they’re going to pay his taxes. That’s when I knew.
Austin Idol On The Politics During The Territories
Austin Idol: It was down to, are you box office now. If you are, I mean, if somebody else has a better idea, maybe we can tweak this a little bit and it will be better or now if you weren’t someone who would be, let’s say, needed on that roster and you don’t like it, hey, I’m sure you’re going to do fine somewhere else. That’s it. Good luck to you, you know, best regards, best wishes. Obviously, if you’re one of the important people on that roster, where you’re popular, you’re selling tickets, then, yeah, you have a voice. You have a voice, but it depends on how you present that voice. If you present it like some egotistical maniac, that’s probably going to be a problem.
Billy Corgan: I had a recent example with an NWA talent and the talent wanted to be booked in a particular way. And I thought, I didn’t take offense to what was being pitched to me, but then I pointed at the empty auditorium and said, until you or anybody else in the back can sell out all these seats, your idea is no better or worse than mine or the next guy’s. At the end of the day, I’m the one who has to decide because I’m the one who has to figure this out.
Austin Idol: Well, yeah, it makes sense. That’s what it is. It’s always about money. You know, you can sugarcoat it all you want to, but it’s always about money. You can be this brilliant, Einstein, with all these great ideas, but somebody has to be able to deliver those goods. You have a great idea, okay, but if I can’t deliver the goods, what difference does it make?
Checkout Episode 342 of The Hoots Podcast