Q&A with Koloff - #33

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Questions and answers. Q&A with Koloff, the devil's nightmare. Brian Batt. I hope I said... Brian, did I say that right?

Brian Batt? Yes, you did. Well, good. I always struggle over people's names and stuff, but great to have you on Q&A with Koloff today. Thanks for making yourself available. No problem. Anytime.

Anytime. And now you are, Brian, just so our listeners know, you're up in Illinois, is that right? Yeah, about a half hour north of Chicago. About a half hour north of Chicago. So what town are you in? Northbrook. Northbrook, Illinois. So is that kind of like on the way to the Wisconsin line up towards Green Bay or Milwaukee or what? Yeah, it's like halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee.

Okay, okay, very cool. Lived there your whole life? Actually, I grew up in the town just south of it in Glenview.

Okay. And Illinois my whole life. Illinois, born and raised, born and bred.

Yep, yeah. And then I met my wife, she was born and raised in Northbrook, and that's where we reside now. Oh, now you meet in school, meet in college, meet at work. Where did you guys meet? We actually had a mutual friend right after high school, and then went our separate ways, and met up again 10 years later, and then been together ever since.

And how long has that been? We've been married actually, we just had our 23rd anniversary. Wow, congratulations. What's your bride's name? Kelly. Kelly, all right.

What a great story. And children? Yeah, I have a daughter from a previous marriage. Okay. She's 32 now.

Okay. Made me a grandpa for the first time 11 months ago. Congratulations on that, I know what that's about. Yeah, you do. I currently got nine, yeah, so. I thought you had 10. Nope, nine grandchildren. Well, hey, maybe there's a 10th one on the way, I don't know about it yet, Brian. There you go.

But, well, that's one. So a daughter from the previous marriage, any other children then or no? No, just her.

Okay, awesome. And one daughter, one grandchild? Yeah, one daughter, one granddaughter. So the estrogen pool's getting a little fuller. Well, I know all about that.

I swam in the estrogen ocean for years, raising four girls of my own, and then our first grandchild was a girl as well, and then finally some boys came along in the picture. And Brian, what keeps you busy there in Illinois? I'm a food, right now, a food retail manager running a grocery store. Okay, fantastic. I've been doing that since, I've been in that business since I was about 18. Wow, okay, so you got some experience with that.

Yes, quite a bit. And my wife and I own our own business, we own a dog grooming shop. Oh, very nice, entrepreneurs as well. Good for you, that's awesome.

Yeah, wife's a dog groomer. That's awesome. And what town is that in? That's in Glenview, downtown Glenview, where I grew up. Downtown? Right across the street from the school I went to.

Okay, and what's the name of the shop again? Fur Babies. Fur Babies?

Fur Babies dog grooming. Okay, I love it, that's awesome. Brian, how long have you been a wrestling fan? Oh wow, since the early 70s. My dad used to watch it because back then it used to only be on at night, like 1030 after the news.

And he used to just kind of, that was kind of like his thing to just do on the side to occupy a little time. And then me and my brothers kind of started watching it with them. First match I went to was at Comiskey Park to kind of show an age here, it was Vern Gagne against Nick Bockwinkle. Wow, two legendary names, I'm guessing that was for the AWA World Heavyweight title. Yeah, and then once, after we went to that we started going to the amphitheater regularly to see the monthly matches. And then I think the first time I saw you was Comiskey Park when you were Rata-Tat-Tatin with Dick the Bruiser.

You listen to the story, oh my gosh. That's why I think my one match at that at that stadium and my one match against Dick the Bruiser, yeah I would say for those who don't know, was Dick the Bruiser, Baron Von Raschke, and the legendary Crusher from Milwaukee. And again, Simon and I and Crusher Khrushchev, Barry D'Arso, good friend of mine. And oh my gosh, yeah that was a memorable match for me, yes.

Well that was I think too the first time any of the big NWA names came to Chicago. Yeah. Because back then the only way we could see you guys was on TV. Yeah, or magazines, right?

Right. Yeah, like the Pro Wrestling Illustrated. You were the Road Warriors, what's that? Yeah, I was saying like the Pro Wrestling Illustrated and yeah. What were you saying about the Road Warriors? Like, you know, I was used to seeing them on TV and then down the road, Vern had a card where all the matches were tag matches. So he invited some teams from other territories and that was the first time the Warriors were in Chicago. Gotcha.

And they lit it up that first night. Very cool, very cool. Well that's awesome, man.

What a great story. And hey, I remember too, you mentioned, let me just, I forgot about this too. You have a sister that lives near Robinsdale, Minnesota? She lives in North Branch. She told me it's about a half hour from Robinsdale. Okay, well now that's pretty cool.

Yeah, they moved up there quite some time ago. Gotcha, okay. I just kind of forgot that you had mentioned that and I thought I'd want to pull that into account. Well, I appreciate you, man, I just appreciate you being such a, really a loyal wrestling fan all these years.

That's pretty amazing. And I know you've got, I know you've got some questions for me. Yeah. Yeah, that you like to throw out there. Why don't you throw a couple of questions out and let's just talk about that. Okay, I do remember the first one I wanted to ask you about was not a wrestling question. It was more about Man Camp.

Okay. Because I've checked it out. The video's kind of vague. It's like real quick and snippets, but I was more curious just like day-to-day stuff that goes on there. Well, and here's what I say about the camp and for all the listeners to understand. I mean, and yeah, the videos are fairly short.

There's not a whole lot of information on there and that's intentional. And I say that for a couple of reasons. In fact, I know from some of your story, you had mentioned, I guess you say raised Catholic, went to a Catholic school for 12 years, went to a Promise Keepers event, right? In like 97, 97, 98, something like that? Yeah. And it was that, let me ask you a quick question. In Milwaukee, was that impact, was the Promise Keepers impacting for you? The first one was, the one in Milwaukee. That was a two-day event. And then I went, I think it was the next year we did the one in Chicago.

That one not as much, but the first year in Milwaukee was very impactful. Real eye-opening. Yeah.

Yeah. And what stands out? What was eye-opening for you?

Just curious. There was two speakers that, and I wish I had looked up their names for this call. I can text them to you, but it was just the way they talked and their message. It just hit home. It was really positive, uplifting.

The second year, I wound up seeing a little too preachy, but that first year in Milwaukee, the two-day, it's just real positive, uplifting. The guy's message is- You felt good when you left. Yeah. The guy's message has really touched your heart, it sounds like. Yes.

Wow, that's amazing. Well, back to the man camp. So the intention there, here's the reason why we don't put a ton of information on the website. Typically, the guys who come are feeling really prompted. The Lord's really nudging them in their heart, hey, go do this, go do this. And I say that to say this, every individual that comes, it's going to be a different experience for every guy. And I base this off of doing these camps now since 2006, probably facilitating somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 plus or minus camps, and then hearing many of the guy's stories post-camp. Hey, this is how it impacted me. It impacted me this way. Hey, it impacted my marriage. Hey, it impacted my relationship with my children.

Hey, it impacted my own personal journey with Jesus. So it's different for every single guy. And so to hand out an itinerary, we felt like, and by the way, for those who don't know, Lex Luger co-facilitates these camps with me. We do one in the spring, one in the fall.

And by the way, if you want more information, want to learn more about the website he's referring to, just go to colof.net, and you can link right to the camp, or learn more about the camp. But it's a different experience. So what we don't want to do is ruin that experience for somebody and say, oh, you're going to do this, this, this, this, and this. And then you walk away going, oh, well, all the expectations I set, you know, none of them were met.

And it's a total letdown, right? Almost like you saying the second promise keepers, you know, wasn't as good as the first one or whatever. Because you probably went with a certain expectation to that second one, I'm guessing. And then because of your experience with the first one, then it was different and you're like, oh, yeah, well, it wasn't as good, right? So I say that to say we keep the information, you know, somewhat vague, not, not, not in any sense that, that we, you know, or I should say in the sense, we want you to come with just an open heart and go like, when I went to my first camp, March of 2006, and I go, God, I know absolutely, I don't know what to expect on that.

I really don't even know any of these guys, but, but my decision is I'm going to go run after you and run after your heart. And man, God met me in a, in a powerful way. And that's typically the testimony of most of the guys that come to Man Camp. Now, obviously, I mean, we're, we're going to eat, there's going to be food, there's going to be some fellowship, you know, there's going to be some fun outdoor activities, there's going to be some teaching, some ministry times, all of that's a part of it. We, you know, we're just very strategic on how the Lord, you know, guides us in that. And then Lex and I share many of our years' experience on, whether it's physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, on things that, that we have learned over the years.

And typically, Brian, guys go back home and, and it is life-changing, not necessarily for 100 percent of the guys, but for, for a larger percent. Does that make sense? Yeah, it does. It's almost like you just kind of customize it to what, who the people are in the group. Yeah, well, that and, and the Lord customizes it. That's a great word.

The Lord customizes it, because He knows exactly, like if you made a decision to come, the Lord knows exactly what it is you need and, or what He wants to minister to you, and that's what He does. Right? So, consider that. You and everyone else listening out there, man. I hope you'll consider that. Like I said, we, our next one's in, we do one in the spring, one in the fall. I won't give out any dates.

You know, not, don't know when this will air for sure, but, but maybe something that either you, Brian, or some other listener out there is prompted to come to Georgia and attend man camp. So, great question. Thank you for asking that question. What, so what, what else, what else you got? I know you got a few others.

One more non-wrestling question. Okay. I know when you did your altar call, you know, a lot of times when you or your guests that have done the altar calls, you guys, you know, always memorize that date that it happened, but when you did yours, did you know going there that you were going to do one, or did something come over you while you were at that ceremony? You, when, which, specifically... You know what I mean, or?

Huh? Like when you went to, the day that you did your altar call, did you know that day, or did some kind of come over you while you were there? I got you, I got you. You decided right there, I'm going up. You're talking, okay, you're talking about 17 October 1993 when I went to the altar and surrendered my life to Jesus.

Yeah. Yeah, no, I wasn't, that wasn't planned, and by that, what I mean by that is, I had been on a search, on a quest, if you will, from the time, you know, I left wrestling about 11 months prior, and I like to tell people I was successful, but I was unfulfilled. I knew something was still missing in my life, I just didn't know what it was. I mean, here I was a world champion, I traveled, you know, all over the world, met all kinds of people from all lifestyles and backgrounds, and experienced all kinds of cultures, and climbed the ladder of success, the pinnacle of success in wrestling, having been a, you know, a world champion a number of different times, and with tag titles, and etc., and yet I'm like, this it?

Something's missing. So, so walking into the church that day, Brian, I sensed, looking back, I sensed something different. I didn't know, I still didn't know what it was, until the altar call was given. I didn't even know what that was, to be honest with you, but an invitation was given to surrender your life to Jesus, and it was like, in that moment, it was like an aha moment for me, and I'm like, that's what's missing is, is I don't have a personal relationship with Jesus. I knew the story, but the story never made the 18-inch trip from my head down to my heart, and I was the first one to the altar, on my knees, just surrendering my life, right, repenting, asking for forgiveness, and in that moment, Brian, I can tell you, that sense of unfulfillment was gone.

All of a sudden, there was an immediate sense of fulfillment, and an immediate sense of, there's more purpose to my life than I knew up to that point. So, yep, great question. Yeah. Okay, now, Reflin, I think somewhere I had messaged you about, the first time I saw you in North Carolina was, you guys, it was Starrcade. Okay.

You guys had lost to the Rock and Roll Express the night before. So, I was in the airport the next day, and talking with the Rock and Roll and Terry Taylor, and you and Khrushchev were on the other side of the aisle. Okay. And I think you caught me looking, because I wanted to go over and maybe get a picture or something, and my buddy keeps going, no, don't, leave it alone, leave it alone. And every time I'd look over there, that stare was getting more and more intense. My stare was?

Your stare, yeah. Okay, okay. I think you kept thinking, this guy's going to come over here. And Ricky Morton even said, no, no, no, no, no, don't, you know, just stay over here. Yeah, don't do that, don't do that, it won't be a good thing.

Right? So, have you ever had people actually approach you back in those days? Well, yes, and it's funny, because I actually went back to your note, you're like, purely out of curiosity, what typically would have happened had I approached you at the airport? Well, let's just say I wouldn't have body slammed you or given you a Russian sickle, okay? I probably would not have done that, even though society wasn't as litigious back then as it is now. But, that to say, you, you, if I had communicated at all with you, it probably would have been, it would not have been verbal communication. The intensity of the stare probably would have intensified, let me just say it that way, because back in those days, you know, there were times people wanted to approach me like that, like they'd even go to Ivan and go, Ivan, go ask, I was like, I'm not asking that, or Crusher, like we'd be in the gym and they're like, Crusher, go over and ask the kid, and he goes, go over and ask him yourself, they're like, oh, we're scared to death of him, we don't want it, right? So, so if I had verbalized anything, depending on how much English I had learned at that point, right? Yeah. I've done well, haven't I, learning English, Brian? Perfectly. I know, good English tutoring, right? But all that to say, I probably wouldn't have said probably two words to you, I might have grunted or groaned at you and walked away, even if you had had a piece of paper and a pen out, which is why I think I became the number one most hated guy in wrestling at a certain point, because of my responses that way.

So, good advice from Ricky Morton and your friend, like for real. Great question. All right. God, I gotta think of the other one I was gonna ask you about. There was a match, I saw you in Peoria, I don't know who you were wrestling, the Peoria Civic Center. Cage match, you think, right?

What's it? Cage match? It was a cage match, and because my buddy and I were sitting front row, and you got thrown into the ropes, but something came out of your hand, and when you were on the ring, you're looking right at me, because I'm looking down at the ground, what's down there, you're looking, you know what I mean? It's like we both knew what was down there. Right.

But I just sat back with a smirk, like I ain't saying a word. But I think it was a blade. Good possibility. Yeah. But I don't know who you were wrestling, I don't know if you had turned yet, I don't know if you were in there with Magnum, or if you were... Right. It could have been the Road Warriors, could have been Magnum. Yeah. Depending on what story line, what angle I was in, it could have even been Ric Flair.

There's a number of guys potentially, especially if I was in a cage. Right. Yeah, and for those who... I mean, the world's pretty educated at this point on professional wrestling. Well, I say that to say many people are, not everybody, because someone's still asking, even about bleeding and stuff like, would you guys use chicken blood or something?

What'd you use? Oh, yeah, we stored capsules in our mouth. Yeah, right. Not realizing, understanding that. No, it was real blood, and then they tried to figure that out. And the way I would phrase it is, self-inflicted wounds would be how we would bleed. Self-inflicted wounds. And yeah, it was intentionally, it should have been very inconspicuous on when guys would blade themselves. And now, sometimes it wasn't always a blade, though. Sometimes there was what we would call hard way, because you're in a cage or you're in a chain match, Russian chain match, or run yourself into one of those metal poles or something. It was not uncommon for somebody to, for their forehead to hit something and get broke open, a metal chair or whatever else. And so it could be one or the other, right? It could be what we call a hard way or a self-inflicted wound.

But hopefully it was done very inconspicuous, where you as a fan couldn't figure it out, and all of a sudden you just go, oh my gosh, they're bleeding. When did that, how did that happen? You know, kind of thing, right? Yeah.

Does that make sense? Well, some of those guys, I mean, even once you know how they do it, they do it so quick and so like flare is just a master at it. Some of the guys were masters at it. Yeah, absolutely.

And some, as I said, some could do it where it was more inconspicuous than others, for sure. So great questions. Well, we're about out of time, Brian. And man, I've really enjoyed the questions today and can't thank you enough for, you know, making yourself available for this call and being on the Q&A show with Koloff and being such a long-time loyal fan.

I really want to thank you for that as well. Hey, real quick, what's that word you say at the end of your thing? The $64,000 question that everybody wants to know. You know, you can ask me what it means and I'm going to have to defer and say, ah, I'm just going to keep you in suspense, Brian. All right. I was going to type it to you, but I know how to spell it. Well, nobody ever does. One guy wanted me to sign it on an autographed 8x10. I'm like, ah, one, I can't do that.

I wouldn't even know how to spell it. And two, you know, I'm just going to let you be in suspense. So, but hey, thank you, Brian.

And for all you listening out there, submit your questions, koloffforchristatgmail.com, and perhaps you will get a personal phone call from the Russian nightmare, Nakita Koloff. Brian, thanks for being on with me today. You bet. Anytime, man. All right. God bless you. Thank you. Have a great day. This is the truth network.