Former NWA World Champion, “Wildfire” Tommy Rich recently appeared on The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling and discussed moments and matches from his long storied career. In the following excerpt, Rich discusses how the famed “Last Battle of Atlanta” became the inspiration for what would later become the WWE’s Hell In A Cell. The full episode can be downloaded at this link.
Full Episode Link:
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/tmptow/episodes/2018-12-24T21_00_00-08_00
Tommy Rich On His Short Reign As NWA Champion
Tommy Rich On Buzz Sawyer and The Last Battle of Atlanta
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Last Battle of Atlanta being aired on the WWE Network:
“It shocked and amazed me for a film to be gone that long and never seen and I had no clue about it. To see it brought back a bunch of memories.”
The match with Buzz Sawyer being the inspiration for Hell in a Cell:
“Well Buzz was challenging. I wrestled him all over the country for two years in what is the longest feud in wrestling history I’m sure. If a feud would last 8-10 weeks than you had a good run, Buzz and me traveled around the country from Michigan to Ohio and everywhere like Georgia and all over the South and sold out everywhere we went. Columbus, Ohio had them hanging from the rafters, cage matches all around the country and we ended up in that “Last Battle of Atlanta” in that Hell in a Cell and it is funny to look back because I never really related that to Hell in a Cell that they have now because the cage situation but I look back at that cage and it was definitely a raw cage match.”
“It was kind of scary. It’s not built like the ones they have today and it was kind of shaky and Paul Ellering was on top in that little cage he was in and you thought that he was on top of that cage and was going to fall in and you didn’t really know. I guess we wrestled for over twenty minutes in that thing too.”
Intensity of Buzz Sawyer:
“I think the fans knew how intense he was. You had to be on your toes with Buzz and even though you have to be on your toes with everyone with Buzz it was different every night. You didn’t know where he was coming from or what he was doing and he was like half-crazy and he was like a rabies dog sometimes. I’ve seen him foam at the mouth and it scared me to death.”
His four day title reign as NWA Champion:
“Biggest thing in my wrestling career. More-so the reason being it was Harley Race that said they ought to do it. So a lot of respect for Mr. Harley Race who to me is the greatest champion there ever was. He could be good, bad, he could be in between, he could wrestle all night, and he could get it right whatever need be. Brisco, Funks, Flair they were all great but just to be able to mention your name in that category there again blessed and thanks to the fans, thanks to promoters, thanks to Harley.”
Why was the title reign so short:
“You’d have to ask the bosses that. My take on it would be that staying in Georgia because the trips were close and I was home every night and could run the streets. I didn’t care nothing about traveling around because I had everything that I wanted in Georgia and it was a great honor to get that belt. I was young. Needless to say everyone knew that I drank and partied and I wasn’t ready for the responsibility because it takes a lot of responsibility. I’ve seen Harley be in Augusta and drive to Atlanta to catch a flight to Texas and from there to Florida and they probably knew that I’d miss a couple of flights here and there and as World Champ you couldn’t miss flights and you can’t miss shows. To be honest with you though, I couldn’t tell you. It is an honor to be in that class but would I like to have held it longer? Yeah I would but I did hold it so as far as that goes I did it.”
What it meant to be a top baby-face:
I was true. I didn’t have to put on no act. When I first had come to Atlanta (which I had started in Tennessee) I was signing autographs and stuff and I just enjoyed doing that. I was eighteen years old felt as good as a box of chocolates and somebody wants my autograph? When I got to Georgia, Mr. Barnett said “Tommy my boy, part of your job is hugging babies, kissing Mamas and signing autographs” and I had no problem with that.”
“When I went I was yes sir-no sir. I had the utmost respect for everybody I wrestled and listened and learned. Wahoo MacDaniels was one of the best baby-faces in the world and I just wrestled against the best too. King Kong Mosca, Blackjack Lanza, Bobby Heenan, Baron Von Raschke, Bruiser Brody I wrestled with him and I could go on all day. I wrestled Bob Backlund in Augusta, Georgia, beat Harley Race in Augusta, Georiga and I got to wrestle the cream of the crop and the best of the best and I listened to every one of them. I am so thankful that I did because I never had a problem with any of them. Anything I was asked to do I always did and I very respectful of that and that is the reason I love old school so much too I guess because I grew up in it.”
For this and every other episode of The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling and The Triple Threat Podcast featuring “The Franchise” Shane Douglas please subscribe to us on iTunes, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Podomatic, and Player FM. Also follow us on Twitter @TwoManPowerTrip & @rasslinpal.Click Here: newcastle knights jersey
Le mois de juillet est un tourbillon d’émotion pour Jean-Jacques Bourdin. Déjà très attristé par son départ de la matinale de RMC, l’animateur et interviewer vedette de 71 ans vit un moment déchirant : le mort de sa mère.
Le magazine Ici Paris a révélé dans son numéro paru ce mercredi 22 juillet 2020 que Nicole Bourdin était décédée il y a quelques jours. “La semaine dernière, Nicole Bourdin s’est éteinte à l’âge de 91 ans dans l’ehpad où elle résidait. Jean-Jacques Bourdin et ses frères et soeurs ont accompagné leur mère jusqu’à sa dernière demeure, au cimetière d’Alès“, peut-on lire dans les pages du journal. Alès, une ville du Gard chère au coeur de Jean-Jacques Bourdin qui y a grandi.
Le mari d’Anne Nivat ne s’est pour l’heure pas exprimé sur cette triste disparition. Il avait toutefois pu rendre une ultime visite à sa mère à la fin du mois de mai dernier. L’information avait été révélée après qu’il avait été arrêté par les gendarmes de Saint-Flour pour excès de vitesse, au volant de son Audi A6 limousine. Jean-Jacques Bourdin avait été flashé à 186 km/h au lieu des 130 km/h autorisés sur l’A75. Son véhicule avait été immobilisé et il avait écopé d’une amende. Le site La Montagne affirmait dans la foulée qu’il n’avait pas d’autorisation pour dépasser les 100 km depuis son domicile, mesure maintenue en vigueur jusqu’au 2 juin dernier. Anne Nivat avait par la suite réfuté cette dernière donnée, précisant au passage le motif familial qui l’avait poussé à quitter Paris. “Nous contestons la violation des 100 km puisque mon mari avait deux raisons valables : la première, rendre visite à sa mère mourante en ehpad dans une ville du Sud de la France, qu’il n’avait pas vue depuis deux mois“, écrivait-elle dans un communiqué officiel.
Peu de temps après, le 10 juillet, Jean-Jacques Bourdin rendait l’antenne de Bourdin Direct pour la dernière fois sur RMC. Il sera remplacé à la rentrée par Apolline de Malherbe, mais continuera cependant d’animer son emblématique interview politique dès 8h30 sur la station de radio.
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TikTok s’est clairement imposé comme LE réseau social à la mode. Pendant le confinement, nombreuses sont les personnalités à avoir téléchargé l’application pour divertir leurs fans et s’occuper un peu. Tom Pernaut a un compte et se plaît à partager son quotidien avec ses abonnés. Et on peut dire que le fils de Jean-Pierre Pernaut et Nathalie Marquay ne cache RIEN à ses fans.
Comme l’ont repéré nos confrères de France dimanche, Tom Pernaut a eu un souci très intime. Dans la nuit du 12 au 13 juillet, le jeune homme de 16 ans a été pris de violentes douleurs au niveau… du sexe. Et il en a parlé sans complexe sur le réseau social : “J’ai une torsion testiculaire. En gros, ma boule est en feu et ça fait super super mal. Du coup, je vais aller à l’hôpital. (…) Je vais réveiller la madre, elle va m’emmener et je vais sûrement me faire opérer des couilles.“
Inquiet de ces douleurs, Tom a fait des recherches sur internet. Et il a fait part de ses découvertes peu rassurantes : “Ils disent qu’au bout de six heures, si tu n’as rien fait, ta boule meurt. Et là, ça fait déjà trois heures.” Plus de peur que de mal heureusement. Il a vite indiqué sur TikTok : “Tout va bien je n’ai pas eu besoin de me faire opérer, elle s’est remise en place toute seule.” Un soulagement pour lui ainsi que pour ses parents.
On peut dire que Tom Pernaut est très à l’aise devant un objectif, tout comme son papa Jean-Pierre Pernaut, star du JT de TF1 de 13h. Récemment interviewé par Gentside avec sa soeur Lou, qui est fraîchement diplômée, il a imité son père à la perfection. Il est également un champion d’automobile. De quoi rendre fiers Nathalie Marquay et son mari.
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DENIS BUCKLEY OUGHT to give Connacht’s fitness staff an immense amount of pride.
Not only is the prop a homegrown talent making strides on a national level, he’s doing so with an engine that can push him through 80 gruelling minutes of front row action – and beyond when he needs to.
The Roscommon man (who farmed himself out to Blackrock College in his school years) proved that engine capacity in May when he played 100 hard minutes away to Gloucester at the end of a long hard season. He then topped off the campaign with three appearances in a week for Emerging Ireland.
After a deserved break, last month he got back to the grindstone to lay the foundations for what he hopes will be an even better season for himself and his province.
“You come back in and there’s a lot of fitness and weights,” he told The42 with a voice that suggested he was relived to be over the worst of it.
“It’s obviously quite different to in-season. And maybe a bit more strenuous in that you’re doing three big fitness sessions a week and then you’re doing heavy weight sessions most days as well.
Buckley, listed as 109 kilos last season, will stop short of divulging the big headline numbers adorning the wall of the weight room. Understandably enough, as the season (and Paul Bunce’s end-of-pre-season testing) still has a week to run.
“The structure can be quite individualised depending on different people. I might not have as much of the running and fitness as the other players, but I’ve had a bit more of the weights. That programme is tailored to your individual needs as well. For me, I’ve had a lot of lifting this summer, just trying to chase a few kilos and trying to build a bit of strength and power for the season ahead.”
The fitness sessions he has done, are not likely to be easily forgotten. Props are built for battles over inches, not kilometres.
“It can vary,” he says of the make-up of the three-session early weeks, “a yo-yo test which is a horrible 1.2 kilometre test where you do lengths of the pitch. That’s time-trialled so you’re fighting for as good a score as you can.”
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And that’s the nice option…
“I’m not sure if you’ve heard of a Watt Bike,” asks Buckley. Players tend to speak in hushed tones of their gym’s new hi-the cycling unit as if they fear it may be listening in, waiting on an excuse to punish them further.
“It’s a pretty horrible piece of equipment. We’d do a 10k time trial and a 5k time trial, a 3k and then a 2k with just a minute rest in between.
“So it’s pretty horrible going.”
Ah, but it will all be worth it when Connacht are sitting in a top six place come the end of the season.
Connacht more ruthless, ‘harder on each other’ in pursuit of fine margins‘As long as the hunger is there, I’ll keep playing on’ — John Muldoon