You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. This is the United States Champion. He became my first home. Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is set for one fall. Introducing first from Lithuania, he weighs 123 kilos, the Russian nightmare, Nikita.
Cool.
Now the devil's nightmare. Welcome back to another episode of It's Time to Man Up. Let me ask you a question: How many different hats? Do you wear? I mean, do you wear just one?
Like, you know, maybe you're a mom or you're a dad or maybe you're a husband, a father, right? Out in the marketplace working, maybe you're in ministry. I mean, there's multiple, multiple hats that potentially some people wear.
Well, the special guest I have today, he's just that. He wears multiple hats. He's a husband, a father, he's a pro wrestler, as we like to say down here in the South. He's a health coach. He's an elite fitness trainer.
And most important to me, man, he's a Christ follower. And with me today, Matt Sigmund, welcome to the Man Up Show. Hey, hey, Nikki, it's so good to see you. Good to hear you. And I appreciate you having me on today.
Well, man, I appreciate you and carving out some time. And I didn't realize you, man. Of course, I follow you on social media, your wrestling career. And I know you're one half of the heat seekers. And we'll dive into some of that more here.
But I didn't realize all these multiple hats that you wear actually until I did a little research on you, Matt. Yeah, you know, I like to stay busy. I like to be on my toes. And between this crazy wrestling business and health coach side of things and family, I definitely get my steps in each day.
Well, and that's good, right? I'm reminded of the old, old expression: idle hands is the devil's workshop, right?
So good, good for you. And well, let's do this. Since you mentioned family, Let's just start with that. L give our listeners a a quick quick look at where where you live in and just tell us about your family real quick. Yeah, you know, right now I'm up in Knoxville, Tennessee.
I've been here the majority of my life. I grew up about an hour north of here in southeast Kentucky, but kind of plugged in to this general area for most of the years, you know, and then dipped the toe in Orlando for a few years, but came back home when my wife and I had our daughter, just so we could be plugged into more family, have that village of people, you know, it takes sometimes to keep things a good balance.
So just staying here in the Tennessee area, East Tennessee, beautiful. You know, we've got. All seasons accounted for and never a dull moment. And this location, too. It makes it so easy wrestling-wise to travel.
You know, within three or four hours, you can be Charlotte, Lexington, Nashville, Atlanta.
So it's a good central spot for the business. You're centrally located in. And your bride's name is. Yeah, Pam. Yeah, she's been putting up with me for, oh, goodness, many, many years.
I think this year will be 13 of marriage, but many years past that, just together. Wow.
Well, congratulations, Pam.
Sounds like she's got a few jewels in her crown waiting for her. Oh, brother. If we only knew, huh? Is that what you're going with? Yeah, you know, it's a full-time job putting up with me.
Well, you know, kudos to all the ladies out there, all the wives and moms and grandmas and women in general, you know, to put. Up with us, us men.
Now, you mentioned a daughter, one child. How many children do you guys have? Yeah, one daughter. She just turned seven recently, and I tell you, seven going on 35 or something. Yeah, yeah.
And full of energy. I remember when I was a kid, you know, my parents and grandparents, they'd always say, I wish I could bottle up your energy. And now I'm sitting here like, I totally get it. 100%. The amount of energy she's able to output each day versus what I'm able to output each day now.
Yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Oh, no, I totally get it.
So you raised, so just imagine, Matt, you're raising one daughter.
Okay. I raised four girls.
So, so multiply that energy times four. I can't imagine. To wrap your head around it, right? And now, and now, just recently, grandchild number 13 and 14 have come along.
So, I've got 14 grandkids to keep up with in addition to four girls. That makes Christmas time a busy season for you. I imagine. That makes every day of the year busy for me, Matt. Like, I try my best to have notes on my phone or even an old school hard calendar with all the birth dates and stuff.
And also, I'll look every now and then, I go. Oh no, man. I m I I miss my grandson's birthday like by two days or something. I'm like, oh man, you know, as best I as best I try, but um no, that's that's amazing. What's your what's your daughter's name?
Her name is Ellie. Yeah, Ellie, I liked that. Such a sweetheart and takes a lot after me, but thankfully a lot more after mom.
Well, that's great.
Well, and again, because I follow you on social media, you know, I see that you have even dedicated some time to what I used to call daddy-daughter dates. And so that seems to be important to you, huh? It is, man. I think it's important that we invest time in our kids, especially, you know, I always thought when I was growing up that it'd be cool to have a son, you know, especially like thinking wrestling-wise, second-generation kind of thing. I don't know.
That was the mentality amongst the boys. And. But when I had a daughter, dude, it changed my life. Special, aren't they? Yeah, I'm a girl dad.
Yeah. Yeah, they really are. Super special. One of my daughters, Kendra, they just had their third, and they had a little boy Fletcher, but prior to, and they always do, they have always gone, they've always gone the surprise route. Like, they don't know until that child comes out, you know, whether it's right, yeah.
Yeah, whether it's a boy or a girl. And they're like, my son-in-law Brandon was, he's like, man, I'm happy just being a girl, dad. And so when little Fletcher came out, they're like, oh boy, we got to learn something new all over again here now, you know, with the little guy. But they're great parents. And so it's important.
So you feel that's important. That quality time with your children is important. Absolutely, especially with her. And thinking into the future, Nikita, just thinking about like what she's to expect out of people in her life and just setting standards, right? I think it's very important.
And I know I've seen throughout our business In general, just a lot of especially when I was breaking into the business, there's a lot of guys who were not around for various reasons in their kids' lives growing up, and the impact was noticeable just on the children.
So, trying to do better than what I witnessed, right? And it's no fault to some of them. different time, right? But um Just trying to to make sure that that foundation's there. Yeah, and the and the in the path that they chose, right?
Of course, back in in my wrestling days, um, gosh, I mean, in and you may or may not even know this map, but in nineteen nineteen eighty six, I had four hundred and fifty four matches in that one year. Isn't that crazy? It is crazy.
So, I want people, the listeners out there, just do some quick math. You go, wait a minute, that's more. That's there's not that many days in a year. You are correct. There's not right, yeah.
It's crazy because I was thinking when I first broke into the wrestling, I know we'll talk more on this later, but I was doing Tuesday through Sunday every week with independent shows. And it's a lot different now. There's a lot more focus on body preservation and whatnot. But yeah, it's hard being on the road. And there's a lot of balance that can sometimes get thrown off.
It's a rough life, and children, our children do or can suffer to your point, and sometimes in a very tragic way. But hopefully, and I think you're wise to do that in spending that quality time. And I'm going to guess your heart's desire would be that your daughter. In watching what you model, even how you treat Pam, even how you treat your wife, and that she would grow up one day going, you know, I want a husband that's going to treat me the same way my daddy treats my mommy, right? Or that sort of thing, right?
So the whole modeling thing's critical too, correct? Very true. Very true. I think, you know, just like I was saying, setting that foundation up to where she goes later in life and sees how things can be, right? And have a better idea on how she wants to be treated and what kind of relationships and connections she wants to make.
No, that's great.
Well, kudos to you. And well, let's talk about, you know, you've mentioned, we've kind of alluded to, I alluded to, you've mentioned the wrestling, the wrestling persona. And I know even on your social media, it talks about being a traveler. Because I love to travel the world. I've been to 36 different countries so far.
And of course, pro wrestling definitely gives you the opportunity to travel, whether it's regional or international.
So at what point, Matt? Curious, did you Kind of figure out or have a desire that, hey, I know when I grow up, I want to be a pro wrestler. You know, it was early on when I was a kid. I loved superheroes and you know, Batman, Spider-Man, all that. And that was just so fantastic to me.
You know, my parents. Went through a pretty rough divorce, so I plugged into things that got me the escape a little bit, right? An outlet, right? Yeah, an outlet. And um You know, then I found wrestling.
I thought, whoa, this is like This is athletic. This is superheroes come to life. There's good versus evil. All that.
So I was instantly hooked. Um especially on tag team stuff. I I grew up, you know, watching Rock and Roll Express and Midnight and Road Warriors and and whatnot. Um But I was instantly hooked and I wanted to do it. I thought it would be a fun career to get involved in.
And so when I was 17, my passion for it had really not fizzled out.
Some of my friends quit watching, that kind of thing, but I just kept getting more. And more invested. And I went up to Boston, Massachusetts for a week. Killikowalski had a school up there, Chaotic Wrestling. I think they're still going.
Okay. I talked them into letting me come up for a week at 17 years old. And for some reason, they did. Yeah, wow. And they beat me up, busted me up, sent me back home, and I was addicted.
I loved it. I loved it. I loved getting beat up. Yeah, yeah. Came back down to Tennessee, Dr.
Tom. Richard had been released at the moment from WWE, and he opened up a school here, so hooked up with him for. Six, seven months in a hot box of a building, and then started traveling with Rock and Roll Express and Tracy Smothers, Bobby Eaton. And the rest is history. It's been 20 years now this year, and been very blessed, honestly, Nikita.
Twenty years, wow, bro. Yeah, yeah. I've done pretty much every state in the United States outside of Hawaii. Been able to travel all across Canada and and China and Japan and Man, just sitting back here and seeing some of the guys that I've been able to work with that I grew up watching. It's a wonderful life.
I have no complaints.
Well, you're throwing some names out there that, of course, we start talking about Rock and Roll Express and Bobby Eaton and Midnight Express and some of that. That was right in my heyday, right? Hey, brother, and I was thinking about this this morning, too. You know, I think I met you in 2010.
Okay. So about 15 years ago now.
Okay. And just thinking how long that's been, you know, 15 years since I met and started doing some events with you and stuff. Time just goes by in the blink of an eye. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. If you would like to support Koloff for Christ Ministries, for a gift of $25, Nikita will send you his two CDs: Adoration and Declaration.
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You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. It does. I was just preaching about this recently at a Sunday sermon, you know, challenging people how they're going to be remembered and that life is, you know, the Bible uses a couple expressions. One, it's a vapor, right? I mean, if you think about the vapor, if you're out in the northern cold of Minnesota in the wintertime, you see your breath, it's coming, you know, the vapor, but it's gone in an instant, right?
Or a morning fog. You know, you wake up and there's that morning fog, and all of a sudden, next thing you know, you turn around and look and it's gone, right? And in a sense, that's kind of life in and of itself. And yeah, I can't believe.
So you were about five years into your career when we first met, and here you are 20 years later.
Well, let me give you the opportunity.
So go ahead and go ahead and do a little couple name drops here. How about one or two, just real quick, of a couple of your favorite match all-time favorites? I get to ask that all the time. What was your all-time favorite? I'm like, man, I don't know, but one or two favorites with.
With maybe, you know, just whoever. It doesn't even have to be a big name, but what would you say? You know.
Some of the matches we've had with Rock and Roll have been just awesome. Because growing up, I was watching them, and we've been able to recreate just some moments with Cornette in our corner against Rock and Roll and getting guys like Dennis and Bobby involved, too. And that was just those are big highlights because I think we've wrestled Rock and Roll more than any other team in the last 20 years.
So we've got. I've been able to do this night and day with them, which is a blessing in itself. And then, you know, outside of that, pretty much any match I go into, I try to make something that's going to be memorable, going to be fun. I don't like to walk away from a match that I don't have something good about it that I can go back and talk about later. But, yeah, you know, I've created a lot of fun moments over the years with my buddy Chase Owens.
He's in New Japan now, but we've been able to wrestle literally around the world together. And just tagging. I do the tag team now with Elliott for the last 12 years. He's the Heat Seekers. We've been able to create some fun moments and memories.
Multiple belts, right? You guys have won multiple. How many titles over the years with him? Five, six, seven? How many?
Roughly. NWA World titles we held four times and then various other promotions. Goodness. And I keep them, Nikita. I keep all my belts when we have them in the trunk of my car.
Yeah. Wow.
So at one point, my car was starting to avoid. It was sagging. You needed some air shocks. I needed a tire replacement pretty quick on the back end. That is crazy.
Hey, I want, I've told you this on social media, but I'm going to say for the record for all of my listeners out there, I want your tag team partner's job because every time I see you traveling down the road, the seat is all the way back. He's sleeping. You're driving. Of course, you make a valid point. You actually want to get there safely, which is why you're behind the wheel.
Yeah. Arrive and get home. That's. Doing just about as good as the can. And that's the safest route for the most part.
No, that is too funny. I love it. I just get a kick. I have to chuckle every time I see you post that. You're like, man, like he is in the prone position.
Or as double A R Anderson would say, he is supine to the ceiling. I want that job. Hey, let me ask you something else.
So, in the same vein as wrestling, you recently, it seems like, started something that really piqued my attention. I just want to hear just a minute or two about what inspired you to do this. But you've been doing these Christian wrestling camps recently. What inspired that? Honestly, Nikita, over the last twenty years Before I got into wrestling, I I you know, I prayed, I was like, Lord, Tell me to get.
Into this, help me to make the most of it, and I'll use it to glorify you. And he took me around the world and he came through. I didn't. Right. I didn't follow through.
And then I I started We started losing people left, right, and sideways in Akita. The business, unfortunately, and we'll talk about some of the recent ones maybe here in a bit, but. You know, we see so many of our brothers and people connected, not even just wrestlers, sometimes it's fans we've got to know over the years and or promoters or sponsors, whatever it may be. We've seen so many people lose their life for various reasons here in the business. And it started really hitting me.
There was a kid in Canada that he would come to the events, hang out with the boys a little bit, and you know, we we would interact pretty heavy with him on these tours. And He passed away suddenly, very young age, and his name was Jordan Garber. And it hit me that I had all these conversations with him.
Now he's gone. Did I know if he was saved or not? Yeah. Yeah. And the answer was no.
And We have this opportunity here in this crazy business to connect with so many people from different walks of life that might not ever step foot in a church or they've been church hurt, pushed out, shunned to a degree. You know, sometimes we have we have homeless people, Mikita, that will spend every penny they've got to come watch a wrestling event. Right. While at that same event in the locker room or somewhere along the way, there's like a multimillionaire who's a sponsor.
So we have literally all walks of life come to the business, come to the shows. And so I wanted to create something to where we could get like-minded wrestlers to come to improve their craft in the ring as well as just become better outside of the ring in their walk of faith and have more. And a better capacity to have these conversations with people. And so I started doing these Wrestling for the Kingdom camps. You know, when I first broke in, there were seminars all over the place and camps.
Today you still get like three-hour, four-hour wrestling seminars here and there. But when I broke in, there was like two, three-day camps or more, right? And I think there's a camaraderie that can be established through those as well.
So I just trying to combine all the things that I find valuable into creating. And we've had such good success, Nikita. We've had guys from South Africa, British Columbia, all across the United States come. We've seen over the last two years just at the two camps we've run 55 saved. Um, come on, and the possibilities are limitless, right?
So, we're just trying to get creative with it and grow and see what we can do with it. No, that's amazing.
So, excuse me.
So these camps, really the target is guys who either want to be wrestlers, are wrestlers, and just really put them in an environment, give them an opportunity that if they don't know Christ as their Lord and Savior to at least make that decision. 55 salvations. That's amazing. And man, kudos to you for that.
Now, how long?
So, how what's it like One camp a year, two camps a year, maybe roughly, or just just seeing how that goes, how that flows. Did one last year.
Okay. Went well. Did another one this year.
So kind of gained the theme.
Now we're doing some events linked up with various promoters to where we're having some matches and testimony. And we've even got one linked up in West Virginia later in the year where it's Southern Gospel and wrestling.
So we're just trying to get creative, just to figure out ways to build people in to where we can share the reach people, man, and just honestly touch people that might not ever have that opportunity otherwise. It's like being a fisherman, right? I'm not a fisherman, but I understand you use different bait to get different kind of fish, right?
So that's pretty amazing. You know, of course, the most reason, or more recently, is a pro wrestler by the name of WrestleMania Sabu. But yeah, as you mentioned, there's been many, many, many who have passed on for, as you said, some for unfortunate reasons. And, you know, the one thing, Matt, that. I always kind of wonder myself, and again, I'm not sitting in the judge's seat by any stretch of the imagination, but I always see everybody put RIP, right?
Rest in peace. You know, the first thing in my heart of hearts that I hope, I'm like, man, I hope so. Like, I hope he knew Jesus. Yeah, as his Lord and Savior, and he really is resting in peace. You know, because if he, not Sabu specifically, I'm just telling people in general when they post that RIP, you know, it's kind of a standard little thing to do, right?
And I'm like, man, I hope so. I mean, I really do. I'm not God, you know, only God knows. But, man, I sure hope so. Let me ask you this.
We just got a few minutes left, but I really want to touch on this since we're in this vein.
So, how long have you been a Christ follower? Or like, just a 60-second snippet of when you realized, I know you said you didn't follow through on your promise to God, but you are now. But how long have you been a Christ follower? You know, I was fortunate and blessed to grow up in a Christian private school as a kid for pretty much my whole life. Families heavily plugged into the church.
And so, you know, I got saved in 1995. And that was a big moment for me, even at such a young age. I understood. I knew the deal. Have I been a perfect Christian?
No, none of us are, man. We're all broken, bro. We're all broken. We mess up every single day. Thankfully, we serve a loving God.
And I am good evidence of such. But uh yeah, so I I've been uh across all of since ninety five, so about thirty years and and just really trying to um pay back what he's given me over the last, you know, Yeah, that's amazing.
Well, and we are grateful, right, for Juan, for his unconditional love, for his grace, his mercy, his patience with us, right? Oh, brother. Yeah, if if others only knew, right? And so, well, what do you what do you take in our last minute or so here? What do you foresee?
We hadn't even dove into, I'm going to get you over on the QA with Koloff's show, and we're going to talk a little bit more about your being a health coach and fitness training and that sort of thing.
So we'll direct our listeners over to the QA with Koloff and get you on that. But in our last minute or so here, what do you kind of foresee for the future? For yourself, still plugging into the wrestling. I'm going to do that till the day I die. I'm like George South.
I'm here. I'm plugged in. I'm locked in for life. I love it. I love it.
Doing the tag thing right now. The heat seeker is still going strong. We're making several events each week. Plugging into the health coach side of things because I do love helping people just improve health and overall life and wellness and trying to make the most of it.
So, different avenues of doing into that. And then the ministry piece, I don't know what God's plan is with it. I have no idea. And I'm just riding that wave. As soon as it's put on my heart with something about it, I say, yes, sir, and I just do it.
So we'll see what happens.
So you're learning over time to walk in more obedience as the Lord guides and directs your steps, right? A light unto your path, a lamp unto your feet. Instant obedience. I've found that to be a good payoff. If it's brought on my heart pretty strongly, I act on it at that minute.
It could be midnight, and I'm texting somebody and be like, this just hit me. This needs to happen. And it's. Yeah, that's good.
Well, Matt, here's what I've learned: obedience, like blessing follows obedience. Pain follows disobedience. Yeah, yeah, sure. Walking is painful, man. It's painful.
Okay. I know you're on all kinds of social media. You mentioned, so is there a training, like a personal training website, or how can people connect with Matt Sigmund? How can they do that? You know, the best, the best, I'm Twitter, Instagram, Facebook.
It's all at Sigmund Wrestling, S-I-G-M-O-N Wrestling across the board.
So that's the easiest way. And I'm plugged into all those outlets pretty heavily.
So I'll communicate really quick. Yeah, and then just come out to events. Come talk to me. I'm out at tables, or if you see me outside of a show, come let's have a chat. I'll pray for you.
I don't care. Whatever we need to do to connect, I'm here for you. Man, that's amazing.
So, so mainly social media. And are you doing the personal training like there in the Knoxville area? Is that kind of where it's centered and focused? You know, right now it's been kind of remote online coaching, coaching roles. And so, working with various companies and just kind of seeing where I can make the most impact.
So, just playing through that. That's amazing because I know looking through my notes here, you're ISSA Elite Fitness Certified, which for you listening out there, that's a big deal. The fact that he's got that certification is a big deal.
So, that's pretty amazing. Matt Sigmund, man, what an amazing story. And last question: you're in Knoxville. Does that make you a volunteer fan? It's a requirement to live in the city.
You have to sign a paper, I think, in blood, saying that you'll support Devolves. They'll kick you out, otherwise. And you bleed orange. Yes, sir. The last time I got color, it was bright orange, right?
It was bright orange. That's amazing. Matt Sigmund, Knoxville, Tennessee, wrestling extraordinary, among many, many other things.
Well, you keep being a witness for Jesus out there, man. I'm proud of you, man. I'm honored and blessed to call you a friend. Thanks for being on the show today. Thank you, my brother.
All right. And for all you out there in listening, land, each and every week, you're so faithful to tune in. I hope you really enjoyed our story today with Matt Sigmund. And I want to challenge you. You go out today and, man, you have a God-blessed day, but live a God-filled day today.
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 kolof.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. I Nikita Goloff. 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.
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