Q&A With Koloff- #218

You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Welcome to another episode. Q and A with Kolov, The Devil's Nightmare. Welcome back.

Another episode. Q and A with Kolov. I hope you enjoy these as much.

I hope you enjoy listening to these as much as I enjoy doing these interviews. With me today, I've got the man of the hour, the tower power too sweet to be sour. No, I'm not talking about Dusty Roll, the the superpower.

Will Matthews. Will, welcome to Q and A with Kolov. Thank you. I do have a Dusty impression. I don't think it's quite as good as yours but I appreciate that introduction. Hey, you could feel free to to share the impression whenever you're ready, you know. So, I might break into it at some point.

Who knows? Okay. Alright. Well, well, we were we were just together just just a while back, not that long ago. I was over there in Clinton, North Carolina. Had the the privilege and the opportunity of of ministering there at at at the church at Emmanuel Baptist and and of course, you pastor the church there and but take a moment, Will.

Tell us about your family. Tell us about Clinton, North Carolina and the church. Yeah, thank you and we we love having you there. It was quite a blessing for us to be able to share in a time with you and to to hear your story that bless so many people but yeah, down east North Carolina, Clinton, North Carolina just kind of in between Raleigh and Wilmington there. Been the I've been at the church for about 10 years or so but I have been the senior pastor now for 2 years but me and my wife Brittany served here. We've got three beautiful children, wonderful kids, a son, 12 years old named Graham Everly who is ten and then Lorela who we call Lala. She is four and so we're just you know, hoping to to serve the community of Clinton and the the church.

That's kind of whatever our calling is is to serve the local church and so we've been blessed to be able to do that for for a while now. Well, so so let me let me jump in and and just a curiosity question. So, the Lala, right? Cuz I know. Yeah. Parents come up with like all kinda like like some of my grandkids like, right? Like like Monroe is one of my grand grandchildren but but my daughter and her husband call her Ro Ro, right? Ro Ro.

Yeah. So, it's Monroe but they call her Ro Ro or or so so I know, you know, they come up with different different nicknames. So, out of curiosity, I'm just curious, how how'd you guys come up with Lala? Yeah, well, that, you know, in daycare, some of the kids had a tough time pronouncing her name, Lorela. So, they just called her Lala and you know, II never had a nickname growing up or anything like that and I always felt the kids that had nicknames were cool and I I tried to nickname my son, the the nature boy and my wife would not go for that.

So, but Lala seemed to stick. So, we got one in the family with a nickname and so it it it all stems from other kids her age not being able to pronounce her name. Well, what you could've said to Brittany was, Brittany, I'm not trying to put the nature boy on on his birth certificate. I I just, I just wanna, wait, so, I wanna tell you a quick, funny story, okay?

Before we get to any of your questions, I was doing a a book signing at a dealership down in Aiken, South Carolina and and the owner walks in, he goes, I got a great story for you. I'm like, okay and then walks like three generations like this, you know, older woman, kind of a younger woman or mid thirties and then, you know, maybe a ten-year-old or whatever and he goes, hey, I wanna I wanna introduce you to Nikita and it was the the thirty something year old woman, right? Nikita.

Like, for real? And the mom goes, oh yeah. And I'm like, like, like named after me, Nikita. She goes, oh yeah. I go, well.

Oh, man. I go, how how that happened? She goes, well, I was pregnant with her at the time.

We're living in Florida and we couldn't decide what we wanted to name her and it came to the point where the hospital said, look, we gotta fill this out. You know, this needs to be done and they walked in and it had Nikita on there and I had, they wanted me to sign off on him. She goes, I looked at one. Oh, oh no. Uh uh.

No, her name is not. She goes, well, that's what your husband told us to put. That's what he, that's what he said. And so, she, she went along with it. I'm like, oh my gosh. They got to meet, you know, hi, Nikita.

Nice to meet you. So, yeah. Yeah.

Named after but her, her husband was a huge Nikita Koloff fan and she ends up getting named Nikita but anyway, so, so, well, you mentioned the nature boy. Obviously, uh you grew, you grew up watching a little bit of wrestling I'm guessing then. Yeah, a little bit might be an understatement. Uh some of my earliest memories are sitting in the floor and watching um uh wrestling, you know, uh my my grandparents uh had a satellite TV back in the 80s and uh we're able to get the uh back in the WWF. So, some of my earliest memories are watching, you know, highlights of Hulk Hogan body slamming Andre the Giant.

Wow. But at heart, um you know, uh NWA, later WCW, that was, to me, that was the real deal. Um you know, uh you, of course, uh just made everything look so believable. You know, you looked at WWF and said, man, that's a story. Those are characters but then, you know, Saturday morning, you know, Saturday night, the real stuff came on and so that that kind of hooked me as a as a young child. As as a youngster and and and you know, in in in no way and I know you're not meaning it in that way but if I've heard a similar story to that um well, I've heard that once.

I've heard hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times you're like, yeah, that's like the Cartoon Network Network over there. You guys are like the real thing, you know, kind of thing and uh yeah and of course, you know, and and both were successful, you know, with with what they were doing uh but but some people just like the more realistic, you know, kind of kind of of of wrestling or whatever and uh and and so so you is is there is there uh uh a great memory like like uh one that just kind of pops in your head from from those younger days, you know, watching it over at at your grandpa's, right? Yeah. Yeah. Um you know, my my grandfather was a fan. Uh I had an uncle that lived uh in Norfolk, worked at the military base there and so kind of our tradition was he would, you know, get me sometime around my birthday or so and he would take me to wrestling at the Norfolk Scope and uh Starrcade 1991 was the first live event I ever went to and uh we got to sit uh like second row on the floor and got to, you know, stick my hand over the rail and have, you know, some guys like, you know, give me high fives and stuff like that and so. Wow. That probably added a lot to to my fandom over the years. Sure.

Sure. Start Starrcade 91 Norfolk Scope and I remember that building well, man. The Norfolk Scope and in fact, um you know, that was kind of Magnum TA's backyard. He was from Chesapeake, Virginia and uh it would be in that building II had a fan that that that jumped in the ring came after me and I had to uh I had to actually put the put the boots to him and and that didn't stop him. He got kept coming up, kept coming back and and they eventually arrested the guy and and uh and and all that but uh yeah, that was one of one of us. In fact, it was uh uncle Ivan and Baron. You remember Baron Von Rashke? Do you remember that? Yeah. The claw, the claw, you know, it's just all the people need to know, right? But uh the three of us were were like triple teaming Magnum and this this guy and he was actually in the military.

He was in the navy and uh he he just couldn't take it anymore. He's uh I gotta go rescue Magnum from from these villains, you know? So, anyway, well, let me ask you too uh before we get to your questions. So, you're there at Emmanuel Baptist Church and uh you know, as we mentioned, it was, you know, honored to to come and and and to be with you and to be able to reach for you. Um you know, not not too long ago on a on a on a Sunday morning and and your your folks are so gracious and and and so, you know, warm and receiving and and and accepting of me. Uh you've been there and you may have said but you you've been two questions. You've been there.

How long and and or I'm always curious at what age did you feel the lord tugging on your heart to to go with you? Yeah, uh well, I've been at Emmanuel for 10 years. Uh eight as the youth pastor. That's right. Okay. Uh yeah, to the senior pastor. So, yep. Uh just uh uh uh a great transition into that spot but um for me but you know, I really felt the call to ministry when I was probably sixteen, 17 years old.

I would get. Okay. Um you know, I I was saved uh when I was growing up um and uh you know, my my father was uh uh an alcoholic uh when I was growing up and uh he was radically uh saved uh radically transformed uh put away the alcohol, became a Sunday school teacher, uh became a servant, you know, became a better father, a better husband and uh so at a young age, I I saw that and I said, man, that that is real like the the power of god to save uh is and and to change the world is really you know, the real deal and so I wanted that for me.

Um but when I was, you know, a teenager, sixteen or so, um you know, probably at times hanging out at the with the wrong crowd, not doing the things I ought to do but sure just felt the lord, you know, pulling me towards uh vocational ministry and you know, at the time, didn't really know what that looked like or what that would turn out to be but I had, you know, folks around me who affirm that in the people at my church, my my my parents, I remember going to my dad and saying that and he and he said, I I have seen that for you in a long time. So. Wow.

Wow. That was important to me and um you know, with uh with the school, with the college, all of that and uh you know, my dad passed away in 2007 and uh my mom worked at night. So, I came home to kinda you know, help take care of him and and at that point, I wasn't sure if ministry was still something that I wanted to do um but sure enough when I came home, my my home church started having me serve in uh in the youth ministry teaching Sunday school uh Wednesday night and so it seemed like the lord just kept opening doors for me to to do what I had surrendered to do at sixteen uh which was to uh just to follow the lord in ministry and so uh uh in some way or another have been in ministry really um since graduating college and um so the lord has just kind of blocked us in that way. That's awesome and you you and Brittany been married how long? Sixteen years. Sixteen years. Well, congratulations on the sixteen years and today, today's world, that's uh a milestone. I mean, uh.

Right. So, congratulations on that and Emmanuel Baptist uh church there in Clinton like like is there a website like how how can people find out more about Emmanuel Baptist? Yeah, our website is IBC, Emmanuel Baptist Church, IBC Clinton.com. Uh then, we kind of say the joke around here that uh you know, people don't pronounce the T in Clinton. They say Clinton cuz you know, we're kinda southern North Carolina here.

We got a little bit of an accent around here. So, but uh IBC Clinton.com. Um of course, we, you know, that is really our handle for everything.

Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, IBC Clinton. Okay. And uh uh you guys doing any any live services over the weekend or anything or not yet? Uh yeah, um you know, this week, we, you know, of course, everything is we have is um you know, we stream um live and. Okay. Um you know, we have our Wednesday night Bible studies and you know, things like that.

We have outreach ministries that we do uh particularly with the Hispanic community in our in our area but um yeah, I mean, everything we we do and have uh opportunities or or all of those places. Awesome. Well, wonderful. Uh alright, well, let's segue uh to some questions that you might have for me and uh always curious to hear what they're going to be.

So, let's let's roll with your first question. You're listening to the Truth Network and Truth Network.com. If you are a business owner and would like to advertise your company or product on the Man Up show and or Q and A with Koloff, contact me directly. Nikita Koloff at Koloff.net. The Man Up show is honored to have Dr. Johnny Gaten as one of our longest running supportive sponsors. Dr. Gaten is regarded as one of the world's leading elite eye surgeons. He is motivated by his faith in doing all things heartily as unto the lord. His desire to do his best has contributed to success in his eye care practice performing over seventy thousand eye surgeries. In addition, he's a world-renowned speaker, writer, and author.

Go to iAssociates.com for more information. Nikita Koloff here and I am excited. Did you hear the huge announcement? The big announcement?

Well, maybe it's a minor announcement. Anyway, Facebook. Go look up my new fan page, Nikita Koloff fans and like it and follow today. Okay, well, I I do in all transparency have a few wrestling questions lined up. That's all good.

It's all good. Yeah. But you know, you guys uh used to do so many uh interviews and promos and I know those things kind of, you know, we're sent to different markets because you're selling tickets to arenas and things like that.

But uh I recently saw a clip where uh Dusty Rhodes uh and yourself were doing a promo and uh I think he was that he was addressing Ric Flair and he said, you know, baby, anybody can find a dog at 3 AM in the morning and uh you know, it's for a split moment there. You put your head down in the back and I thought just to the untrained eye, it looked like you were about to come out. Um were there any moments like that for you where you know, somebody kind of cracked you up but you had to stay in character because I I know how all in on that character you were.

Absolutely. I could uh probably about, I don't remember the obviously the exact interview but uh I'm guessing you are probably right. I probably turned my back to the camera because I didn't want to see people see me bite my lip uh you know, preventing me from just laughing. He he always had me in stitches, man. Some of the things he came up with and and what people don't realize, I well, what some know but not everybody does especially the you know, the more modern day fan is the the difference between today's product and what we did back then is like none of that was scripted like none like zero. No, nobody handed me a script and say, say this on your interview.

So, you know, 90% of our interviews were just spontaneous. Just ad lib, just whatever we wanted to say at the moment in in you know, in in that time and so, you know, yeah, some of the stuff he come up with, man, just crack me up and so, yeah, it was challenging at times to stay in character. Uh I tell you one little side note to that is a guy by the name of Dick Murdock. Um I used to joke for I used to call him like remember that cartoon character uh the the rooster um um I'm trying to remember the cartoon but and and he always had like the little chick with him. He's like, boy, boy, come here, boy. Uh and I. Foghorn Leghorn.

Foghorn Leghorn. Well, that's who Dick Murdock reminded me of like in the ring. Like even how he'd walk around in the ring. He did my mind of like you know, he had a leg horn right there and that he was the biggest joker dude and and there would be times I'd be standing in the corner and he'd be in the ring with my partner and he look over at me and make these make these crazy faces or even be in the ring and say something, whisper something in your ear where I find myself like biting a turnbuckle so I could stay in character, you know, and not.

Oh yeah. Murdock is one of the funniest but yeah, Dusty's lines, yeah, crack, yeah, could crack you up in an instant. So, you are probably spot on with that, with that uh assessment.

Well, uh speaking of uh Dusty, you know, a lot of folks consider him, you know, one of the greatest uh talkers of all time. Um wrestlers but but I was wondering, does the key to Kolov have a Mount Rushmore wrestler? Oh, which by the way, pretty good imitation you did there too by the way. Yeah, thank you. Now, we'll we'll qualify that for when you say, you know, a Mount Rushmore who would. Yeah. Qualify that.

Yeah, who does Makita Kolov think are the greatest four wrestlers of all time? Oh, man. Wow, you put me on the spot there, Will and uh so, I'm gonna make somebody mad here somewhere along the way.

You know what? I've never like for real like I've I've, you know, I've been asked a variety of different questions. You know, who, you know, who is your favorite to wrestle in the ring or who, you know, who is the best or whatever? Um and and honestly, there's so many good guys over the years that that it's really hard to nail down. Now, you know, one of the, for me, one of the obvious ones, you know, of course, Ric Flair, the Nature Boy had a very storied career, right?

And and and was certainly ranks up there as one of the best. I I like to say he could, he can make a broomstick look good, you know, cuz he made me look good, right? And many other guys who who maybe lack some talent who he was required to go in the ring with and to the best of his ability, make them look good because the better they looked, the better it looked when he beat him, right? You know, so, so his, his task was never ending, you know, and and for the record, some of these other territories back in those days that he had to step in the ring with, what were really out, shall I just say, lacked some real talent, okay? Okay? He he would have more success with a broomstick but anyway, all that to say, I digress.

I digress. Um so, I'd say he, you know, he'd really come back up there for for sure, you know, and then you get, you know, not not to qualify things but I I agree with you, you know, Dusty was one of the best when it came to cutting promos and and and you know, he wasn't the epitome you might say of of an athlete in the ring but man, was he charismatic not only on a microphone but even in the ring, his ring persona, just ability to draw you the fan into the story, right? Draw you right into the center of the ring and and and right into that story.

Ricky the Dragon Steamboat pops in my mind, you know, here's another one that you know, he was known as a consummate baby face. Uh in in other words, you know, he was so smooth uh in the ring and such an incredible tactician. Uh I've heard many people say his match against Macho Man Randy Savage at one of the Wrestle manias and some people's view was the best wrestling match slash WWE ever produced, you know. Um yeah. But uh and again, I want people to appreciate this fact in our matches. So, I already mentioned the interviews in our matches.

Again, we're not handed any scripts like like we were given what was called the finish, right? A predetermined outcome but if I was wrestling Ric Flair for 60 minutes which I did many many many times, 5556 minutes in the ring, that would be genius. Just ad lib in the ring.

That on the fly. That would and we'd have to make that psychology work for it to lead into whatever outcome the promoter uh was was wanting, right? And there in line, there would in lie the skill of professional wrestling and that's to take nothing away from the guys in in today's market, in today's world. They're great athletes but you know, they they got writers, they read out in some of their interviews and so they kinda took that dynamic away from it.

If you wanna say, I'll say it this way. Uh the creative aspect to it, right? We were able to go in the ring, Will and just be as creative as we wanted to be without any, without any hindrances, without, right? Yeah.

Without any barriers. So, um um so there's several that I mean, you know, the Undertaker had a story. Sting, my buddy Sting. I mean, my gosh, Steve Borden had a almost 40-year iconic career, right? In wrestling.

And uh so, you know, the Mark Callas, I mean, Mark, right? The Undertaker. I mean, you know, Stone Cold Steve Austin. So, you can go down.

It's hard to be really hard to narrow it down to four to put up on that Mount Rushmore of wrestling. So, I'll just kinda leave it right there and let the other the the the the listeners kinda use their own imagination for the rest. So.

Yeah, it would be helpful if there was uh about eight more spots on Mount Rushmore. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. So. Yeah.

Well, we spoke about Sting for a minute there. I I had an opportunity to uh one time meet him and uh share uh exchange Bible verses with him, favorite Bible verses. Yeah. Um and so I I've kinda wanted to take this opportunity to do that with you. What is what is your favorite passage or story or verse in the Bible and and why is that significant to you? Colossians one ten. And uh it's it's uh my current life scripture and I I just say uh I phrase it that way. Life scripture. Now, I've you know, over the years, uh you know, there's I've had others over the years but but currently, this one uh as I've grown, I like to think I've grown in my faith and matured in my faith. Uh Colossians one ten has really become the one that I embrace the most.

Uh I it's on my on my posters or typically when I sign an autograph, you know, I'll put Colossians one ten as as part of my signature. Some people know what it is. Some people don't. Some people recognize it as a Bible verse and they'll say, so so what is it? I go, I could quote it to you but more important to me would be if you really wanna know what it is, you go look it up, you go research it. It's kinda a subtle way for me to hopefully get them to crack open their Bible, right?

Um yeah. But there's four components to that. The reason it it really near and dear to heart is it really challenges me and I don't necessarily, you know, declare it or pray it every single day but but I do more often than not and and what it says is this and I'll just kinda paraphrase paraphrase but you know, the first part of it is, you know, I'm gonna go out today and live a life that brings glory to god. Hopefully, it brings glory to him that honors him that I live a life that's worthy of him. If I'm gonna profess to be a Christ follower, then my hope is when I go out and mix it up with the crowd, you know, I I'm salt and light and they see the Jesus in me.

So, that's part of it. So, to live a life worthy of him or a life that honors him. The second part of that uh will is is to be pleasing and be pleasing in all ways and the three basic ways to be pleasing to him are through our words, through our actions, and then the toughest one for me through our thoughts, right?

Our thought life. Um you know, that can all of it can be challenging but expect cuz I can see your action. I can hear your words but of course, I'm not Jesus.

I don't know your thoughts like he does, right? Um so, that part challenges me and then the third part of it is to bear fruit for every good work. So, I'm I hope when I go out, I'm I'm bearing good fruit, right? Like I I'm exemplifying love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control, and then the last part of that that favorite scripture is growing in the knowledge of God. And so, the more time I spend in my Bible and hopefully on a daily basis and I get to understand God's character and and and what Jesus modeled, I then can embrace that and go, okay, this is this is how I need to act. This is how I need to think.

This is how I need to talk. And and and so the the more I grow in the knowledge of him, the greater I hope understanding I receive of who he is, his character, his nature, and then in turn, I can go out and and display that same character, that same nature. So, there you go. That's kind of a long-winded answer but that's it. Hey, hey, amen.

That'll preach right there. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So, well, we've got time for one more if you have one more or we can wrap it up there or your call. Uh well, uh last one for me here. Um you know, I I've heard you talk about uh Don Crenodle and I've uncle Ivan uh kinda guiding you through um performing in the ring uh as a wrestler uh kinda just breaking you into the business there but yep when you started um full-time evangelistic ministry who kinda mentored you through that kinda guided you through the process of of teaching and preaching and and and traveling and ministering and all of that.

Yeah, great great question. Um so, the church I gave my life to Jesus in, the pastor at the time, Tom Whitten had planted that as a brand-new church and ended up pastoring there for almost forty-four years before he handed it off. Um so, obviously, I could learn from a guy like Tom Whitten and and and I didn't just launch immediately into evangelism and and co-op for Christ's ministry wasn't launched immediately either. I give my life to the Lord in 17 October 1993 and the first three trips I went on overseas were to build building projects, build churches, build Bible college, uh and just get my hands dirty and learn to serve and then the next three trips I went on overseas were chaperoning my daughter's youth group to to foreign nations. Again, just learning to serve.

Um and and that was over a period of five years from 93 to 98. In the midst of that, Jay Stewart, who is still my pastor today, 30 plus years later, who we meet, we meet, he and I on a monthly basis, uh iron sharpening iron, Proverbs 27, 17. He's my pastor but he's also my my mentor. He is my brother in Christ. He is a dear close friend of mine. Uh and so, you know, we have shared things back and forth over the years and been able, you know, to just be transparent and open and honest with our struggles and things we can pray for for each other.

Um so Jay Stewart was instrumental. Um in 1995, an evangelist from South Africa came into my life for uh and I ended up sitting under the that anointing and under that ministry from 95 to 2004 and heard thousands of sermons and and traveled overseas and certainly garnered and and learned from that man of God. Uh brother Rose was was his name and then um two others real quick. Ronnie Raven, uh he's in his mid 70s, lives in Missouri.

We met 25 years ago. Ronnie started preaching when he was 12. Uh he has documented, written, written and documented over 10,000 sermons that he has preached and uh and I certainly I I view him as kind of a uh you might say a mentor or or a spiritual father uh in in a sense because I can I've learned so much from him and then last but not least Lex Luger uh who does the man camp with me and and we've done lots of ministry over the years and and just been real what I would call battle buddies again Proverbs 27 17 uh and so I would say to all our listeners out there emphasize the importance of surrounding yourself if you really have a desire to want to grow and mature in Christ. Surround yourself with godly men who are more seasoned than you are and and that's how you're going to grow and mature and that's what led to Kolah for Christ Ministries being launched in 1998 and uh we'll fast forward all these years later I've now been to a total of 36 countries all 50 states stopped counting at 1300 churches that I preached in and obviously the radio show podcast books and everything else god allows me to do is is an absolutely amazing journey so yeah amen well I know you have certainly um preached a lot of places uh uh uh 1300 and one that I know of uh at a manual but uh but uh I just you know as uh as both a fan and just a brother in Christ just really appreciate you using your your platform um that is uh you know people people like me particularly uh you know grew up watching wrestling and we love nostalgia we love going back to that time period yeah and uh you just have a a wonderful ministry and a great platform that to share Christ with others to build men up of men of faith men of integrity um and so we just uh we just really appreciate you I appreciate it uh pastor Will Matthews, Emmanuel Baptist Church, IBC Clinton.com uh be sure to check them out and uh appreciate you being on the show great questions Will appreciate you being on the show today yes sir thank you all right and to all of you out there in listening land here's my challenge to you each and every week go out today and live a God filled and have a God blessed day until next time 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 I 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 If you are enjoying Q&A with Koloff would you help us spread the word tell your family tell your friends tell your neighbors to download subscribe and leave a comment are you looking for the perfect gift for your pastor well look no further bless him with a trip to the Holy Land with yours truly Nikita Koloff the Russian nightmare I'll be hosting this once in a lifetime trip December 27, 2023 to January 5, 2024 your pastor will never be the same go to koloff.net to get registered today Nikita Koloff here if you're needing to buy a car and have marginal credit and considering using buy here pay here that's worse than taking the Russian sickle Winston-Salem motorcars will put you behind the wheel of a car you can rely on while helping rebuild repair or establish your credit score conveniently located on Silas Creek Parkway in Winston-Salem be sure to check them out today at wsmcthenumberone.com because you are number one this is the Truth Network