Q&A with Koloff - #39

Hey, this is Jim Graham from the Masculine Journey Podcast, where we explore relationship instead of religion every week. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds.

Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network. Nakita Kolov here. Questions and answers. Q&A with Kolov. The Devil's Nightmare. Welcome back to Q&A with Kolov. Questions and answers with The Devil's Nightmare.

Only it's flipped around. Normally, I am the one asking all the questions, typically, but here on the Q&A segment, we give you the opportunity to ask me some questions, and sometimes I know what they are and sometimes I don't, so this can be a real improv, spontaneous response right here. With me today on the show, if you listen to the Man Up show, then you heard this mighty woman speak, Tracy Tremendous-Jones. Tracy, welcome to the Q&A with Kolov show. Thank you.

Thank you, Nakita. Excited to be here. Well, it's great to have you, and I hope all of our listeners have listened to that segment, that show that we had, an amazing interview with you, and if not, they'll go back and listen to that show. But a little background on you as we, just to bring our listeners up to speed, Tracy Tremendous-Jones, the daughter of legendary Charlie Tremendous-Jones, who for more than 50 years traveled the world, not only as a motivational and inspirational speaker, but a book author, and you had, as we learned from the other show, you had a tremendous upbringing. It was truly tremendous. And so for those who don't know Tracy-Jones, tell our listeners just a quick synopsis of who Tracy-Jones is.

Absolutely. Well, I'm a student of life, a lover of leadership. I tell people I've worked all over the world in every industry, and I met God when I was a little girl and had a tremendous father that taught me the joy of work and not to be afraid of failure. And I've been to war twice. I'm an engineer by trade, and now I'm in a beautiful little niche publishing company that helps people uncover the greatest version themselves. So what a life, what a journey, and I'm just getting started. Wow. And you're just getting started.

I love that. And I know too, what would you say, I know you're a book author, you've got a podcast. What's one of your more recent books, or what's a book you would recommend the listeners to maybe check out?

Well, I definitely check out Spark. Spark is my latest book that came out last September, The Five Essentials to Ignite the Greatness Within. And it's based on my doctoral research about the theory and the reality of intrinsic self-motivation. The only form of motivation that lasts is self-motivation.

And Nikita, it talks about what you need to bring to the table internally, your focus and your hard work. And then the flip side is there's other things we need from the outside world. You know, motivation is not strictly an inside job.

I can't just attract it to me. There's the flip side of it, your advocates, your resources and your knowledge. So it's based on my PhD research in the theory of motivation.

And it's a great little roadmap that you can dial in, you know, probably three or four of those areas you're doing great in, but if you're missing one on them, something will seem slightly off. And so this gives you a blueprint for the blue skies so you can be all that God intended you to be. I love that spark. Ignite a spark within you. I like that. And then your podcast. Tell us a little bit about your podcast.

Sure. Well, my father gave a speech years ago called The Price of Leadership, and it's really about the tougher side of leadership. And anybody, any of our listeners out there that have been in leadership know, man, it's not just treating people right.

It's not just, you know, things don't always work out. So he really talked about the price you pay is loneliness, weariness, abandonment, and vision. And you have to pay that to really be paying the price of leadership. So it's a leaders on leadership podcast. And I interview leaders from all walks and ages and stages of life about what it takes to truly pay the price of leadership.

And for the seasoned leaders out there or the leaders in training that want to know what's to come, it's just beautiful, real heartfelt, truly transparent about the tenacity, grit, and the joy, the highs and lows of being a true leader. Well, and I know, yeah, The Price of Leadership, and I know so many other books, Life is Tremendous, Being Tremendous, The Key to Excellence, so many amazing books that your dad, Charlie Tremendous Jones wrote. And how can people find your podcasts?

How can they find your books? Two websites, TremendousLeadership.com is the website that has all the books, podcasts they can publish with us, all that good stuff. All our social media is on there, two weeks of free books, free webinars, coaching, all that good stuff. And then the Tracy C. Jones is my speaking website. If they're interested in a keynote, being one of our Tremendous Edge authors, we're rolling out a new series to key up those little mini books that are 50 pages or less. So if you're out there listening and you want to write a book, but you're like, I don't have a knife to write a full book, 78% of the people never get past page 50.

So all our books are 50 pages or less. So we're so excited. Reach out to me on Tracy C. Jones. Love to talk to you about that. That's amazing. Well, that's awesome. Thank you all. Well, let's take a few minutes. Let's flip it around and give you the opportunity to ask me a couple of questions. So if you're ready, fire away with your first question. Okay. So maybe our listeners know this, but Nikita Kolov, interesting name.

Okay. Where is your name from? What is your heritage? And how did you get your moniker, the Russian nightmare?

Oh, good questions. Well, let's start with the heritage and the fact that I am not Russian. And you're like, wait a minute. You're the Russian nightmare. How can the Russian nightmare not be Russian? And my heritage actually, I did a couple of recent interviews over in Ireland and the UK and England. And I'm like, hey, I have roots to England.

My mom was born up near Carlisle by the Scottish border in a little village called Hayden. And so I've got a lot of European mix in me, but Russian, not one of them. So on that note, Nikita Kolov was born in the hallways of North Carolina in 1984. And you're like, wait a minute, let me do the math on that. You're older than that.

Well, right. That was a part of a persona, a part of a character that I portrayed. Now, my name legally is Nikita Kolov. So when people say, is that really your name?

I can honestly say, yes, it is. And they're like, well, that's not your birth name though, right? They go, what's that? I go, well, you got to buy the book for that one.

I can't give you that for free. And then last but not least, the Russian nightmare actually kind of was a spin-off when I was originally wrestling a guy named the American dream, death of the road, the tower of power, too sweet to be power if you will. So I'm like, you're the American dream, huh? Well, I'm going to be your worst nightmare.

And that's where the Russian nightmare idea originally came from. I love it. Okay. So how tall were your parents? You know, I'm the biggest baby in the family.

So in other words, I'm the baby of the family. I'm the youngest of four children, but I was by far the biggest having, because when I broke into wrestling, I was 285 pounds, 8% body fat, 34 inch waist. And I was probably, probably twice the size of my brothers. And so my mom was just a five foot nothing. And my dad was about 6'2". Okay.

Not, not real, not real, you know, big in stature, but, but he was about 6'2". Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Excellent. Well, that's kind of like Laura.

Laura was this little petite woman and I think Charles is about 6'2". But so you, so when did you develop this love? Was it working out? Was it wrestling? Were you always into sports? Did you play football? What led you to get to 285 pounds and 8% body fat? Cause that's pretty impressive.

Another great question. And so at age 12, I picked up this, I say, stumbled across this magazine called iron man and it was a bodybuilding magazine. And I was enamored with the guys. And I remember Tracy at age 12 saying not only to myself, but making a bold statement and saying, one day I will look like one of those guys.

Right. Bought 110 pound plastic weight set from good old Sears and Robuck. Those who are old enough on the show to, to, to listeners that know that, that name of that store. Anyway, and began to work out exercise. One of my first mentors was Jerry McFarland, who was, he was a health teacher in junior high school, but also a professional bodybuilder who took me under his wing and simultaneously really kind of fell in love with football. Wrestling was not on my radar, but I fell in love with football and I began to, to play the game and, and work out consistently and still do 50 years later, all these years later, still working out, exercising. And last but not least, when I got the phone call to for the opportunity, uh, for wrestling, keep in mind. So age 12, one day I will look like one of those guys. The day I walked into Jim Crockett, junior's office into the NWA office in 1984, uh, I was 285 pounds, 12%, 8% body fat, 34 inch waist. So I became exactly what I declared, you might say, or verbalized at age 12.

Yes. And then how did you make the transition into the world of wrestling? So yeah, with, with no wrestling background, right? Like no amateur background, no professional training. Like I had never been to a training school or to a camp and made sure they understood that before I drove to a city that I'd never been to before with everything I owned to my name, which was not much, um, in my early twenties.

But, um, I just took a risk, uh, and, and, and walked into that office, introduced myself on the day I was told to be there. And that's where I say Nikita Kolov was born. I was introduced to Ivan Kolov, who was known as the Russian bear and Don Crenodle, the pride of the USA. Yeah.

Yeah. They were the world tag team champions and they, they literally put me right on the set. Of course, you know, being from, from, from Moscow, I didn't speak any English, you know, uh, I had to learn the language. I've done pretty well, but, but, uh, and then, and then crazy, as it might seem, I debuted on television the next night in Raleigh, North Carolina at the Dorton arena. Fortunately, it was only an 11 second match. I won, uh, and that launched a, a, uh, meteoric career.

Okay. Well, how did you, so you transitioned just your, your physical problems? Did they teach you a couple of moves?

You know, like my first wedding dance, I'm like, just give me three or four steps and I'm in there and it was a great dance and you should see the picture they got. But is that what they did? Did they just give you a couple of things to get out there and do? Cause I'm sure like anything, even horse it around, you can get hurt. Right.

Absolutely. So yeah, actually in the dressing room, two, a couple basic things to get me through an 11 second match. And then, then though for the next two or three months, Ivan and Don and I would get to the towns early, two, three hours early, they'd bump and thump all over the ring, teaching me the mechanics of wrestling. And then every night on the drive home, back home, we would talk about the psychology of wrestling. So I had what you might call a real crash course. Um, and fortunately I was a, I guess you'd say a pretty decent student. I was a quick learner and fast forward 13 months later and I'm wrestling this blonde haired guy that would go, whoa, uh, the nature boy, Ric Flair for the world heavyweight title, only 13 months into my career. It's crazy.

I can't believe it. Hey, and did you ever do any stunt work for anybody? Any movies or shows?

I should have come on and do that. Have you ever done any IMDB, any movie stuff? I've done, I've done, uh, I've done a handful of, of, you know, smaller budget, you know, Christian movie cameo appearances and some Christian movies. Uh, the, the biggest shot at the big time was when I screen tested, I was one of the finalists for Ivan Drago and the Rocky four for the Russian boxer, Ivan Drago, uh, Dolph Lundgren landed the role as many as everyone knows.

Uh, I was on the set with Dolph with Stallone, uh, screen testing for that final role. Uh, and, and it wasn't in God's plan for me to get it. And I'm, I'm, I look back and I'm really kind of thankful.

I didn't get it cause I'm convinced it would have taken me on a whole different trajectory. So there you go. Yeah. Yeah.

So that is amazing. Okay. So great questions.

You got one more or are we done? Oh, well, and when'd you meet the Lord? Where were you? Were you, uh, raised in a Christian family or how, how'd you, how'd you, um, how'd you meet Christ? Okay.

That's a, that's a, that's a great question to end on. So, so I did not grow up there just like I didn't grow up in Russia. I didn't, I didn't grow up in the church. You know, I remember going a handful of times.

I mean, I like to say at best we were CEOs, Christmas and Easter only. Oh my goodness. Little accurate.

We call them secret service, secret service and the Lord's army. That's right. But, but very rarely did I ever go. And, and it was, it was, it was after I left professional wrestling 11 months later, uh, I'd met a Christian couple in business and, and, uh, they befriended me and I would attend their church. The 17th of October, 1993 would be the day of my encountering Jesus.

Like for real. Uh, I knew the story prior to that, but it was just in my head on that day. It went from my head to my heart and life has never been the same since from that day in that decision. So, well, thank you brother. That's unbelievable. Wow. I learned a lot about you, Nikita. Well, great to have you on the Q and A with Koloff.

Great questions. And, uh, thank you for joining us today, Tracy. What a blessing. Thank you so much for the tremendous opportunity. Well, you check out her, her websites and get more information on Tracy, Tremendous Jones, Tracy C. Jones, and tune in again for another episode of Q and A with Koloff. Thank you for listening in today. God bless you.

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