A Crazy Journey

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Introducing first, from Lithuania, he weighs 123 kilos, the Russian nightmare, Nikita Kolod. Now, the devil's nightmare. Welcome back to another episode of It's Time to Man Up.

Welcome back to another episode, the Man Up show. I have a question. You know, I think I'm just going to open up every show with a question for now on.

Well, maybe not. What is your crazy journey like? Are you on a crazy journey? Have you been on a crazy? What's your true identity?

And does your crazy journey lead you to your true identity? Well, with me today in studio, a dear friend of mine, Doke Turner, welcome to the Man Up show. Hello, Nikita, it's great to see you. Oh, should I say welcome back? Can I say welcome back?

Yeah, it was a year ago, a year ago in January. Yeah, you know, I'm going to timestamp this, but this might air three years from now, Doke. Timeless conversation. I like that. Very good, Doke.

Very good. Well, hey, on a serious note, great to have you in the studio here and you're a recent new author. We're going to get to that, but we're going to talk about your crazy journey. And I'm guessing for our listeners out there, there may be someone who might relate perhaps to something you say about your journey that leads them to their own true identity.

But before we get there, let's back up a little bit. So our friendship really goes back to the 1980s, like way back, like mid 80s, 1985, 86. I was ring announcer in Charleston, West Virginia with Crockett. Charleston, West Virginia, Charleston Civic Center, as I recall. Remember it very well. Back in those days, the two main places, we hit some other West Virginia towns, but the two main, Charleston and Huntington were the two main.

Of course, Wheeling, West Virginia wrestled there a few times and, and a few other towns. But so, so you were the ring announcer there in Charleston. And how'd you get into that?

How'd you get into doing ring announcing? On this crazy journey, you never know what's going to happen. In 1982, I'd read some books, got motivated, Zig Ziglar, people like that.

A song actually changed my life. You're an avid book reader. Yes. You are an avid book reader. Okay.

All right. Keep going. I got motivated.

I didn't know what I wanted to do really for my life. And I heard this song. I was flipping between radio stations on a dial.

I would turn, we had these things way back in the 1900s where you could turn a radio dial. And in your home or in your car. Yes. Yes. No remote controls.

No, no, no cell phones. No. Okay.

We're going back between young people. Google that. Just go Google that. Okay.

Yes. And all of a sudden I get between my two favorite stations and there's a new station and Donna summer finger on the trigger. I'm like, Hey, there's a new disco station here.

This is cool. At the end of that song, I hear this announcement. We're a new radio station and looking for salespeople. So I write the number down, go to my stepdad's office, who was an architect. He said, Hey, there's a radio station looking for salespeople. Had you been in sales?

Manufacturers rep building materials. Okay. Not really. She has some familiarity with sales. Okay.

But I've been reading these books on how to, you know, magic of thinking, big thinking, grow rich Tom Hopkins sales books. Yeah. And so I call, I get an interview, I go the next day and this is making a short story long, but anyway, sometimes God's talking to you like, Hey, you're trying to figure it out.

I'm giving you here. Trying to figure it all out on your own. Yes. Trying to drop clues into your life.

Pay attention son. And so I went for the interview the next day and at the end of the conversation, I look at him and say, so do I start next Tuesday or Wednesday? That's what you said to the interviewer? Yes. Yes. The sales manager.

Let him know I can see him. So I was starting to extend it. He smiled and said, well, you need to meet the general manager tomorrow.

So is that tomorrow morning or afternoon? Nice. And from there the next Monday or whatever, I started in radio sales. The first clients I wanted to work with were who was coming to town to civic center. I went out and met the people at the civic center a little later, a couple of years later, the Crockett's start coming to Charleston and Huntington. Crockett wrestling promotion for those who don't know.

Yes. I'm sorry. And who got to be my friend, Sandy Scott, your buddy was a promoter. And so I said, I was talking to him on the phone, got an order. I said, Sandy, when do you fly to town? I come in Friday, flight 315 from Charlotte arrives at 3 14. I said, I'll be there. I'll give you a ride down to the civic center, your hotel, whatever. We'll have dinner. So I started building this relationship with Sandy.

And I saw some of you guys there. But by promote, by selling, selling airtime. Yes.

I'm sorry. Yeah. Selling radio advertising. Okay.

To, to, for, for the championship wrestling. Yes. To that from our radio station.

It was super 102. Okay. And so the second time we come to town, I picked Sandy up and I think Magnum and Dusty Magnum TA, Dusty Rhodes are with them. I give them and Sandy a ride down to the hotel.

Sandy and I have dinner at Joey's right beside the civic center and we're strolling backstage. And Sandy says, look, the next time I'm here, I need a ring announcer. Now he's probably thinking one of the DJs.

I'm thinking, I'm thinking to myself, line him up with a DJ from the radio station. Well, it didn't work that way. Cause I said, Sandy, I can do that. I'll take, what did I just say? Well, I thought back in my head, I used to be a baseball announcer at a field close to my house. You know, now bang the second baseman. Yeah.

If I can do that sitting in a booth, I can be a ring announcer in front of 8,000 people. Easy peasy. Yeah. So the next time you all came to town. And he said, okay. He said, okay. Okay. All right, good.

I'm thinking, why not? Yeah. So I go and I have.

He didn't know any different. No. Yeah.

He's the one that sells tuxedos and so I traded out barter for advertising. Come on. I'm the man in the tux that Sandy goes to town. Man. I get up in that ring. What an impression.

Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready for the NWA? And you fake it till you make it. And then, and then that's what I did. That's how you started.

That's how I started. Now pause right there. Hold on. You re you know the name Les Brown? Yes.

That's my man, Les Brown. Okay. Yeah.

I fake it till you make it. You know his story? Yeah. And, and how he got into radio, you know, I'm sure you know that whole story. I read his book. I saw him speak.

I love Les Brown. Oh my gosh. Dope. Your story kind of reminds me of his story where, where, where the, the DJ was like, uh, under the influence and, and, and couldn't, couldn't, the owner calls that day. He goes, Hey, get, get a substitute DJ in there. And he's like, yes, sir.

I got it all covered for you. And he steps in and does it and just knocks it out of the park. Right.

I love it. He's talking about that. DJ is like, drink, rock, drink, drink, rock, drink, a door of opportunity. And that's your story. And he says, I need a ring announcer.

And in your mind, you're like, Hey, I know I already know who I want to get. Yeah. Moi. Right. And so that's how it all started. It did. So you're hanging around backstage before the shows, respect for you guys.

Start talking to you. Yeah. And one night you and JJ Dylan is when it was after you got the, uh, private plane. Crockett bought the private plane.

Yup. And after the matches, instead of going to the hotels, you would catch that private plane. So I said, Sandy, I can take a couple of people to the airport.

They don't all have to take a taxi. You and JJ Dylan rode with me up to the airport, gave you a ride up about 1130 top of the mountain or whatever. Charleston, West, Charleston, West Virginia. Harry landed on that thing. A short runway. Yes. Very short.

They cut the, they cut the top of two mountains off to build a runway. Yeah. Seriously. Yeah. And so you flew out. Yeah. The next month you come in and I'm thinking, you know, Hey Nikita, nice to see you again.

You're like, dope. Thank you for that ride to the airport last time. Like he remembered that he's only seen, he's only talked to a thousand people. Between then and now. Yeah. And you remember that. And that just kind of started us off. That sparked a friendship there.

It did. But you know, in the book I talk about the other story. It's like build relationships, help people. Sandy might need a ride from the airport. You might need a ride after a match to the airport.

You never know. Just be nice. Help others. You know, as Zig Ziglar said, in order to get what you want out of life, help others get what they want.

Help enough other people get what they want and eventually you can get, get what you want. And well, that, that's pretty amazing. So, so, so that launched, so gosh, so mid eighties. So we need, we've known each other for a long time.

Yeah. And if between then and now, of course, you know, you lived in Nashville for a number of years and, and of course you were gracious enough to open up your home. Not, not only me, the total package Lex Luger, I think stayed at your home one time as well, right?

He did. We had met in 2010, a week after the flood hit Nashville, you brought Lex up, we had lunch. And then when your daughter got married, you brought lunch, you called, you would stay at the house.

Can I bring Lex to stay at the house? Cause my daughter's getting married. Yeah. Yeah.

He was coming to the wedding. So you're over there a couple of days and. Very cool. It's okay. So, so I don't want to get too far ahead of myself here with, with your crazy journey, your story of, of finding your true identity. So, so give me, give me, give our listeners a favorite Charleston Civic Center memory. Pick, pick one out. It might be hard to narrow it down, but pick one out. Could it be a wrestling one?

Well, I would, I would assume it was going to be a wrestling one, but yeah, yes. Let it be a wrestling one. Favorite wrestling memory at the Charleston Civic Center in West Virginia.

You never know what you're going to get into. The Great American Bash, July 1986. Okay. I'm the ring announcer. All the Crockets are there. Tony Schiavone's there. David, I'm like, man, no pressure here being a ring announcer. I have a picture of Tony sitting on my site, Tony sitting with me at the table for a little while for the early mat. No pressure.

Okay. So now it's time for the cage match. This is like match number nine of the night. They bring the cage down around the ring. There's a gate on the other side. I put the mic through the gate. Walk around. If you could imagine the ring, square ring.

It's the square circle. Walk in, grab the mic, and here comes Nikita, Ivan, and Crusher. So you all come into the ring and I'm announcing, you all are cool, you know, and weighing in at 422 kilos. Combined kilos.

Combined kilos. And I announce you, you guys are standing there and everybody's booing. No, they were booing. And I look coming out of the baby faces.

Okay. And here comes Dusty Rhodes, the American Dream, and the Road Warriors. And they are not walking to the ring. And I'm still waiting to announce everybody, right? Just standing in the middle. You're inside the cage.

Yes, I am. I just want to get that visual for our listeners. You're inside the cage. And here comes that door swings open and Dusty and Animal and Hulk come running in the ring. And I'm in the middle and they grab you and Crusher and Ivan and you're going back and forth. And I'm trying to get to the door and it's like leapfrog.

Remember the game leapfrog? You step forward, one step's back. I'm like, slow down, Dusty. And you all are laughing and going back. If we're trying not to laugh, I know. We were laughing. Yeah.

They were laughing. Yeah. I'm trying to get to the door. Yeah.

And here's these however many kilos and pounds guys, 300 pound guys going back and forth. And I'm trying to get to the door. You escape unscathed? I'm trying. Yes, I did.

I get to the door. And again, it's just like it's two minutes ago. And Klondike Bill. You remember this like it's yesterday. Like right now, man. I'm right here. You're there. You're mentally assented.

You're there right now. Klondike Bill had set up the ring. He used to be a wrestler. He's got this big lock he's ready to put on the door. And I'm like, no, wait, Bill. No, I'm at the door.

You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Nikita Koloff here and I am excited. Did you hear the huge announcement, the big announcement? Well, maybe it's a minor announcement.

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Well, I have news for you. Now you can get the whole story on my audio book, Nikita, a tale of the Ring of Redemption, narrated in my own voice, gaining all perspective and insight into my whole life, including my redemption. Would your company, business, or you personally like to partner with me in supporting Koloff for Christ Ministries, the Man Up Show, and Man Up Minutes? Go to koloff.net and click the donate button.

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You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Oh my gosh. No way. Come on. He's going to lock me out. No. And he laughed and let me out. Yeah.

He's seen you guys. You finished the match. Yep.

And, you know, we kind of laughed. Well, afterwards, well, the next match was Ricky Morton or Ric Flair in the cage. Rick's got the nose guard.

Ricky does, because Rick had busted his nose. Right. And just a little temptation, but I avoided.

As Flair took off that nose guard, threw it out of the ring, landed right in front of you. Of me. Okay. I'm thinking, boy, no, I'm not.

Nice souvenir. Yeah. Yeah. No, no. I wanted to throw it back in really slow. But I'm like, no, no, no.

Don't do that. But after the match, I was talking with Bill Aptor of Wrestling Illustrated, Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Yeah.

Bill Aptor. Yep. And he laughed at me. He said, man, I wish I would have had a camera on your face when you thought you were locked in with those guys. That was, what an incredible, I don't know if you ever, I don't think you've ever shared that story with me. And that's, what an incredible story, especially for, for those wrestling fans out there in listening land. Yeah.

So you never know what you're going to get into on your journey. Yeah. Wow. Well, and speaking of your, your journey, so, so how many years did you do the announcing then?

It was two years, 85 and 86. Okay. Okay. Uh, then you moved to Charlotte, right? Yeah. Yeah.

February 1st of 1987, I moved to Charlotte, same, uh, radio company, Beasley broadcast North Carolina. Yep. So we moved on here. We sort of stayed in touch for a couple of years and all of that stuff that we lost touch.

Yeah. I was done in Charlotte to sell radio. How long did you spend in Charlotte then? Well, I was in Charlotte a total of 15 years, but I sold radio at 87 to 91. Okay.

One year I took off at 89 to 90 in the summers to the next fall. Okay. I was just burned out on radio and needed a break, but I was in Charlotte at 2002.

Okay. In the summer, that summer of 89, I started strumming a guitar, a cheap guitar, and I got my brother, it was my brother's, uh, guitar from West Virginia, started strumming guitar. Never did really learn how to play that well, but these lyrics started coming, which started a songwriting journey, the crazy journey of songwriting. And so back then that led to me moving to Nashville in 2002.

As part of your journey. Yeah. So the songwriting led you to Music City. Yes. Is that the nickname of Nashville?

Music City. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, so your songwriting led you to Music City, right? And you got very involved and very engaged in, and, uh, heavily engaged in the music industry there. Right? Yeah.

Yeah, I did. Had a lot of fun. I'd gone after the next big dream in life and goals. I was going to be that next hit songwriter, number one hit, right?

Looking for the number one hit song. That was my goal. That was my dream. And that was my identity to myself. My identity to myself had been through the years, my job, I'm the radio sales guy.

I'm the ring announcer. That's my identity. Which, let me just interrupt you right there for a minute for, and for all those listening out there, men and women alike, especially for men, that's, that's, that's pretty common for guys.

Yes. Their, their, their J O B really becomes their identity and they get all wrapped up in that, you know, and, and, and still to this day, you know, you meet a guy and he has a lot of pride in what he does and, and, and that's kind of who he is and, and, and all of that. But I'm going to in this pause right here, make a note and say, cause for the longest time, you know, wrestling people identify me, you know, the pro wrestler, Oh, you're the pro wrestler. You're the famous wrestling guy, whatever. And that was my identity. And until I come to realize in 17, October, 1993, when I gave my life to Christ that that's wrestling was just what I did. It's not who I am.

It is what I did. My identity is in Christ. That's who my identity is, is, is wrapped up in now and anything else I do, whether it's the man up radio show, podcast, you know, TV show, man camp, whatever else it is. Those are just things I do and they're, they fill the resume, but it's not who I am. Right.

So, okay. So back to your, you're in Nashville, your songwriting, you're looking for the number one hit. Um, yeah, I, I imagine being involved, you cross paths with, I'll let you name drop here for a minute. Uh, for, for our listeners out there, who are some of the, who are some of the, the musicians that you got to kind of rub elbows with and, and, and maybe even help advance their careers? Well, in Nashville, there's a music community consists of songwriters, musicians, artists, producers, people like that of all kinds. It takes all of those people to make the industry and the Nashville music industry. It was like, at the time it was like a big family. After you're there a while, you get involved, you go to events, uh, what's, uh, what's your brothers and sisters, uh, and your family, like a family, uh, go out and play their songs, uh, go out to events, number one, parties, celebrating the artist and the songwriters, number one songs.

You get to know everyone if you're a pretty cool guy and you take interest in people. And I was blessed, you know, to, to meet, you know, and I talk about it in the book, you know, on, on the journey through to get there, you know, the Shania Twain's, uh, Toby Keith, you know, a lot of the artists, Jason Aldean's, Toby Keith passed away recently. Yes. Yes, he did. It 62. Yes. That's young. Yes. That's young.

That's what's going. So yeah. So, so you meet some of the people, but my favorite people were my friends that were the songwriters.

Okay. And I got to know a lot and become really good friends. I had a mentor named Byron Hill, who's from up around the Winston Salem area.

Uh, he was, became a friend, mentor, uh, helped keep me going at times, you know, with the encouragement and so forth. So you had Byron, a lot of the people that wrote the big Garth Brooks songs, I got to know, some people probably don't realize is really where it, and correct me if I'm wrong, kind of really where the money is in that industry is, is in the songwriting, right? Like if you get a number one song, I mean, I can pay dividends for eons of time.

Right? Absolutely. The artist who's singing the song is kind of like the famous guy, but it really the one who wrote the song who gets in many cases, very little credit or he's never even heard of right in many cases. Um, so, and, and, um, uh, you know, you've, you've referenced your book cause I want to get to this, what inspired you to, to, to write, write this, your, your book, starting in a small town, uh, you, you, you share stories of your 40 plus year journey, uh, with a hundred plus stories from being a salesperson to a networker, to event professional songwriter. Um, and so let's, let's talk about that.

Let's talk about through all the people you've met in the industry there, but what inspired you to write a crazy journey, finding my true identity. I've been saying for years, you know, I just thought to write all these stories, get them out of my head, get them out, uh, maybe leave something for the family to know, you know, the nieces, nephews, whatever. Well, I actually have a legacy, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Just let them know what uncle dope did or whoever. And in 2020, as we know what kind of year that was, uh, I just started writing these stories and I wrote all year, 105,000 words unedited. Just all these stories would come to me. And I of course kept all my memorabilia in the books.

I have a lot of great stuff. Yeah. All those, those laminates. Yeah. The, the, the, the, the, the passes to get into all the events and all that, right. So backstage, lemmas, all the tickets, every concert I've been to since the seventies. So I had, and each one of them have a memory in my head.

So I would just start writing them down, typing unedited. And it's, Oh yeah, that's right. I met this person and here's how I met the moody blues. Here's how I met Ted Nugent. Here's the story about Prince and hanging out with his people and getting them to advertise with me.

I had really a lot of perks with that. Uh, you know, there's the Flavor Flav stores, a fun story with, um, Tone Loke and MC Hammer coming to our radio station in Charlotte, it was Kiss 102. I got a call from a promoter and I talked about it in the book. He says it's Friday afternoon, Doke, it was Easter Friday, Good Friday, Doke, the concert is canceled tonight.

All the equipment went to Charleston, South Carolina. We've rescheduled to Tuesday and I need to buy some more advertising. So I'm like, yay, that's more commission for me. Sure. Sure. And with that, what makes that story that I love is, so I said, well, why don't you bring them down to the station about eight o'clock? We'll put them on the air till midnight and let them pipe the show. So MC Hammer, Tone Loke show up at our station.

I'm there, get them in the studio. They're telling stories. They take over their ways.

Now me, I'm thinking the competition is wondering how in the heck did they pull it off? Right. Right. So that's my backlog, my relationship I'd built with that promoter in the past year.

Building relationships. Yes. Yeah. But the cool thing with that is we go down the stairs at midnight and there's a couple of girls there, hammer, hammer. You got to hear this girl sing. You got to hear this girl sing. Her name was Tynetta.

Here. He said, sing for me, girl. Tynetta starts singing.

He says, get her information. You're on my next tour, which would have been Hammer's big tour. Can't touch this. Being in the right place at the right time. Yes. And that girl, her life changed because my idea, let's bring them to the station.

You don't know how it affects you're going to have. But she was prepared. She could sing. That brings up an interesting point and we're almost out of time, Doke, but that brings up an interesting point. I want to tell people out there, it's better to be prepared for an opportunity and never have one than to not be prepared and a door of opportunity opens up and you're not prepared.

She was prepared. That's an amazing story. Travel along Doke Turner's adventure of working with and meeting some of the biggest names in entertainment, music, sports, pro wrestling, NASCAR, entrepreneurs and authors. You're going to want to get a copy of this book. On the back cover, there's a quote on here from some wrestling dude, Nikita Koloff or something. I'm just seeing there. I made it up. I made the back cover. Oh yeah, you did. Come on. And the inside.

I feel special. And the inside. I made the back cover and the inside. A crazy journey. They can get this Amazon? Yeah, you can get it at Amazon.com. You can go to my website, www.aCrazyJourneyBook.com. Again make sure you have the book. ACrazyJourneyBook.com. And it has information. It has over 100 photos. The book has 20 photos in there.

There's over 100 photos on the site and how to order the book. And it's yours. Right there. Come on. And you just heard, hey, hopefully that MC Hammer story inspired you to want to go get the book and read more of Doak's stories and a crazy journey finding.

So last note here. So your true identity? A true identity that I learned with a big change on my journey when I didn't know what to do. I moved back from Nashville. I didn't have a purpose. I didn't know what was going on. My identity was gone. Kathy, my awesome woman, got me this book by Bobby Schuler. It's called Your Beloved.

And in that book it has the identity statement. I am not what I do. I'm not what I have. I'm not what others say about me. I am a beloved child of God. I will not hurry.

I will not worry. And I read that over and over and that's when I realized all of that stuff is what I do. Our job is what we do. It's not who we are.

And I had it backwards for many years of my life. And hopefully someone, the listeners could say, you know what? I'm an architect. I'm a fireman. Whatever I am, that's what I do. But we put so much into being number one, as I did in Radio Cells and other journeys. But that's just what we do.

That's not who we are. I like that, Doak. I like that.

Maybe you've got it reversed. And so I'm going to end on this note today. Make sure your identity, I'm just going to say make sure your identity is in Christ first and foremost.

Matthew 633, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things will fall into place. So Doak Turner, thank you for being on the Man Up show today. A crazy journey, finding my true identity. Amazing.

It's going to be an amazing read for a lot of people I know. Thank you, Nikitin. I appreciate it.

I have my contacts in the book and on the site if you want to reach out and talk about identity. Awesome. So thank you for tuning in again. Go out today and live a God-filled, God-blessed day. This podcast is made possible by the grace of God and your faithful prayers, support, and generous gifts.

May God bless you for your continual contributions. Go to Koloff.net and donate today. If you are enjoying the Man Up show, would you help us spread the word? Tell your family, tell your friends, tell your neighbors to download, subscribe, and leave a comment. Hi, Nikita Koloff. Be sure to check out the Man Up show now available on television, broadcast, and podcast. Go to MorningStarTV.com or the Truth Radio Network. Check out your local listings or better yet, download the Truth Network app today. Nikita Koloff here.

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