This is the Truth Network. Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is set for one floor. Introduce the first Lithuania, he weighs 100 and What do you think? The Russian Nightmare. Nakita!
Welcome to another episode, QA with Cole Off, The Devil's Nightmare. Welcome back to another episode, QA with Koloff Questions and Answers. And this is where you get the opportunity to have a personal phone call from the Russian nightmare and be able to ask whatever questions you've been wanting to know. Extra, extra. Extra special show today because I have what has now been been reunited with my longest standing friend.
We go all the way back to elementary school. Mike Houck, welcome to QA with Koloff. Thank you. Glad to be here.
Well, I'm excited to have you here, Mike. We had just recently, just a while back, had the opportunity, thanks to Crusher Khrushchev, a.k.a. Demolition Smash, aka Barry Darso, reconnect us together after I didn't realize, Mike, after forty seven years. Yeah. And made a phone call.
Of course, we got to talk. And a few weeks later, I was up in Minnesota. And you came over to a men's breakfast that I was speaking at. And, of course, later that day, I got to meet your beautiful bride, Bonnie, there at our college football reunion. And that was a pretty fun.
Did you enjoy that? The football reunion? That was kind of fun, right? Oh, it was, it surpassed my expectations. You know, again, guys that I hadn't seen for a long time.
And quite frankly, I spent one football season with them, and we've all changed in 47 years.
So I did really recognize people. I recognized the names. And then as we talked with shared experience, it was great. Richard Hodge was just the biggest blessing for me because Richard and I were, we became friends back then. Him and Brian Ernst was the other one.
And Brian passed a few years ago, but Brian and I had a lifelong friendship. But seeing Richard, I hadn't seen Richard for a long time. I just, I love that guy. Yeah, I was thrilled to see him come. And he actually, you know, before we left, he said, hey, you know, somebody pulled me over, said, Richard wants to talk to you.
I think Jeff Carlson pulled me over there and he's like, Richard wants to talk to you. And I came over, he goes, man, would you pray for me? I've got some, I think he had like maybe some surgery or something coming up. And he's like, I'm a little nervous about it. You know, would you just pray for me for that?
And what a privilege. And the irony there, Mike, is, you know, back in those days, you know, we. I want our listeners to know, we did a part one and part two on the man-up show with reminiscing over my story with Mike all the way back actually to our elementary school days. And so you're going to want to go over to the man-up show and catch those full interviews.
So we're just going to scratch the surface here on QA with Koloff. But so we actually, 55 years, we've actually go back now, but for 47 years, you know, we were on separate journeys and then reunited just recently up there in Minnesota. And man, we got the opportunity after that men's breakfast, you and I sit down and talk for an hour and a half, close to two hours, and just try to catch up on things. And of course, I had no idea that you had left college and went on to have an incredible amateur wrestling career in Greco-Roman wrestling. And then even some mutual friends like Brad Reynolds, the Olympian Brad Ringens, and who was also a champion, a world champion in professional wrestling in the AWA up there in Minneapolis with Vern Gagne.
But yeah, so just an incredible, incredible journey. And your faith journey started way sooner than mine.
Now, you reminded me of reading your Bible on the way to some of those football games and those long road trips and stuff, where that's not where my headspace was back then. And or if Richard had asked me to pray for back in those college days, Mike, I'm not sure I would have known what to say. You know. But isn't it a wonder, though, like how God meets us where we're at when we're ready? And then brings us along and uses so many different things and ways to bring us to him.
But ultimately, we get to him. We find our way to him and we understand his grace and his mercy and his love in our life, and then he starts transforming us when we follow him. it it it's it's amazing. And then, you know, again, like to reconnect, you know, even though our journeys were different time lines and and such and we hadn't seen each other, you know, to come back now and to have a commonality of faith in Jesus Christ is just so cool. Yeah, and it's just like, you know, the Bible talks about, you know, spirit bears witness with spirit, right?
So, you know, the Holy Spirit just, you know, immediately, it's almost like, you know, picking up where we left off in a way, even though we have lots to talk about, you know, in that 47-year absence that we were apart. There's so many things that we have in common and had in common. And of course, that being the one common denominator and, you know, and that can easily reunite some folks that hadn't been together in a while. Of course, you're up there in Minnesota. You're retired.
And for our listeners, in addition to having a stellar amateur wrestling record where you went on to become a gold medalist in the World Games in 1985, right? Correct. And so you won the gold medal there. You qualified. You were an alternative for the 84 games and the 88 games.
And the irony there is, you go on to beat a real Russian in the 85 games for the gold medal. And at that time, I'm pretending to be a Russian and trying to win a, not a gold medal, but I was trying to win a world championship from the nature boy Ric Flair. And so it's just kind of, I just kind of still kind of boggles my mind to think about what you accomplished and thinking back to those elementary days and, you know, as kids, you know, not even fathoming, you know, what we would maybe one day do. And now we, now we are honored down in Dan Gable's museum and his Hall of Fame down there in Waterloo, Iowa. Not necessarily side by side, but we're both a part of the museum and the Hall of Fame down.
From our wrestling careers, and you had a 25-year post-wrestling, you had a 25-year teaching career as well, right? I did, 25 years. I was a technology education. Teacher, which that was a God-directed, ordained thing. I had an elementary education degree from outstate.
And I wanted to teach after I was done with my wrestling career and done with my coaching. And I just prayed, and God opened this door. They couldn't find technology education teachers, and they hired me on a variance. I ended up going back to school and doing all the certifications and stuff. But middle school, I never thought about middle school.
And I go into middle school and I start teaching. I'm like, I belong here. And it was incredible.
So I was in the same district. I was at the same school for the first 22 years. Then we had some cutbacks. I got transferred to another middle school in the district and finished out my career there. And I did retire a year ago, and you know, the day I retired, I just, it was a hard day.
I just, because I loved, I loved the job. I loved the kids. I was, I loved being in the moment with the kids. I loved the good kids, the naughty kids, the sad kids, the happy kids. They all needed something, you know.
And God just, I think, you know, like when you're doing something and it looks easy and it's just natural, you're gifted for that, you know. And I just care about kids. And my goal was always, you know, every day I would leave for work, I'd go, I'd be, Lord, make me a blessing today. Help me to shine the light of Christ. And, you know, I was in a public school.
And so, you know, it's a different environment. And I've never believed we should leave those environments. Again, but it's an individual choice. I understand why people do other educations, you know, and I have no problem. I think that's good.
But there is a group of kids that need an alternate perspective on what this world has to give them. And they need to, you know, they need to see Christ in somebody. And so, yeah, long answer there. But yeah, it was a great career. Oh, Bo, I know what I was going to say.
I retired a year ago, but Nikita, I failed retirement. I am always failing that stuff because I've been substitute teaching every opportunity I get. And I can't wait to get back into school for like a fraction of the money. What's wrong with that?
Well, because you're doing what you love. And you had told me a story on that note. You had told me a story in regards to being a light in that environment. And it's taken a real hit, right? I mean, people have a real, real negative view of public education currently on every level, right?
From some claim, you know, that will say the indoctrination of children at the elementary level and all the way up to. college right that said though you told me something when we reunited mike um that uh i want you just to touch on is is the like the last five years of your teaching career in that environment you'd give like a uh on the orientation day or introduction day of yourself to all your your students one thing you would say is uh i don't can't remember exactly how you said but is oh and oh and kind of like and oh by the way i love jesus and now that was all you said But that prompted those kids, from what I recall, you told me, throughout the school year, to come to you with questions and put scriptures on the board and all that, right? Yep, so I really believe God challenged me to kind of up my game, you know, in my environment. And so part of that was, you know, it came about partly because I just really, I just love my job. I enjoy interacting with kids.
I have fun. And I would get a lot of love for kids. You know, my most joyous moments, kids would come in and just want to start chatting me up. And I'm just like, God, thank you. What a blessing this is, you know.
And I'd listen and I was always in the moment with every kid when they were there. And when another kid was there, I was in the moment with them. And I think that's really a model from some of our role models that, you know, if I mention the names, we'll end up talking about them. But you know who they are, those special teachers that we had that just. You know, and you connected with them and such, but I started feeling guilty.
I'm like, you know. I want these kids to know why Mr. Hauk is the way he is.
So, and I would generally semester courses, so I'd get new kids every semester. And so, at the beginning of every class I would teach, I would do an introduction for myself, just some basic stuff. It was a slideshow, you know, like how many years I've taught, this is my family, this is my wife, this is what they did this past year, whatever. And then the second page was, now if you want to know a little bit more about Mr. Hauk and go a little bit deeper, I want you to know two things.
And the first thing is this, I love Jesus, and I love him more today than when I first came to faith and when I was 18. And then the other thing is I'm a turtle. I am a slow learner, but I'm a steady learner, and I believe in learning, and that we all have a starting place, and we all need to continually move forward. As a result of that, Nikita, it just, because then the kids would do like the same kind of format and spit back stuff to me. And I had so many kids, you know.
I love to read the Bible every day. I love Jesus. I'm a Christian. And then the conversations that would happen as a result of that. And, you know, I shared a pretty spectacular story, I think, with you about it.
That I don't know that we have time for it, but just the conversations that happened as a result of that outside of me doing that, and it just opened up doors. And it was, and you know, and I left, you know, and that's pretty bold, right? Yes. But, but, but, God just. You know, like when we're walking with the Lord and do what He wants us to do, even like in the belly of the beast, and that might be an exaggeration.
I had peace with God and man. I didn't agree with so many of the things as the schools got more woke and more woke. And I wrote letters advocating properly to the school board about certain things. And I had certain things that I couldn't do, and I let my administration know, but I was never disrespectful. My job wasn't to go there and to fight from the inside to change the system.
That's not what God called me to do. Other people are called to do those things. My job was to go in and to teach kids and to care about kids and to be a shining light. And it was God just gave me a right. balanced perspective on that without Compromising the truth.
And so it was about living my faith and proclaiming the simple things and then. God just opened doors. It was, it was, yeah, it was beautiful, actually. I wish I would have figured that out 25 years ago.
Well, all of God's timing, I guess, too, though, right? As he brought you along this journey. And the one thing that's resonating right now, even as you're saying that, is he just really showed you some real grace, right? Because, you know, obviously certain school administrations could come down pretty hard on that. Of course, we hear stories where that has happened, but obviously God showed you some tremendous grace in all of that.
That's amazing. And well, what we'll do when we bring you back on the Man Up Show and talk more in depth about your faith journey and your new book that's going to be coming out here in the future, let's talk about some of those stories. We'll save that for there. And what we're also going to save for there is how you met your bride, your wife, of 21 years? You guys have been married 21 years.
years now? 21 years. Yep. 21 years. I love my wife more today than the day we first got married.
Come on. Because, Nikita, and I share it. Yeah. I will share this because love is a choice. in God's love.
is powerful. Yeah. And and you guys met at school, right? You were teachers teaching together. We did.
Yep. And that's where you met. And so that's my teaser for our audience. You're going to have to just hold your breath and wait for part three because we're going to dive deeper into all that. And Mike's got a book coming out Beyond the Breaking Point and sharing his life's journey.
And I can't wait to get a copy of it and read that. 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. Anyway, Facebook, go look up my new fan page, Nikita Koloff Fans, and like it. and follow today. There's a way to keep If you are a business owner and would like to advertise your company or product on the Man Up Show and or Q ⁇ A with Koloff, contact me directly, Nakita Koloff at Koloff.net. The Man Up Show is honored to have Dr.
Johnny Gayton as one of our longest-running supportive sponsors. Dr. Gayton 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 70,000 eye surgeries.
In addition, he's a world-renowned speaker, writer, and author. Go to iAssociates.com for more information. All right.
Well, it is QA with Koloff, Mike, and I do want to give you the opportunity. I've asked a lot of questions, but I want to give you the opportunity to ask me a couple of questions. And so I don't know what you got for me, but let's go ahead and fire away with the first one. All right, so I've got there's a heart of a question that's a big topic that I want to talk about with you. But I want to preface it with this, okay?
So, pro wrestling has been interesting to me over the years because they have protected and guarded. And like when we were young in the Vern Gagne era, like they wouldn't, like the question always is: is it real or is it fake? Right. And that's a tough question because, you know. You guys break stuff, you get concussions, you get hurt badly, right?
And you bleed. That's not fake. That's real, right? But is it real as like it is a real competition?
So I don't know if you ever watched the Jim Klobucher show back in the 70s and 80s. Uh-oh. Jim Klobuchar was a renowned sportscaster in Minnesota. Amy Klobuchar is the senator of Minnesota. That's his daughter.
So Jim Klobuchar, and he was a sports guy.
So he had this weekly talk show, sports talk show, right? And him and Vern had some history together. They knew each other, and I think they were friends.
So he had Vern Gagne on his show one day. And I'm watching the show live, right? Because everything was live back then. And Klobuchar is going on and on, ribbing him about this. Come on, Vern.
Is it real? You know, come on, tell us. Seriously?
So you're going to tell me that this is real, you know, and blah, blah, blah. And Vern's like. Vern had had enough, right?
So Vern goes, Well, I'll show you. Stand up, Jim.
So Jim stands up, and Jim's wearing a splits coat. And I don't know if you can picture this or not.
So Vern crosses his arms, he grabs one lapel. And then the other lapel with arms crossed, and then he pulls his arms, right?
So, can you picture this? He's pulling this tight, like making a noose. and list Klobuchar up. Makes this news because I think they were talking about the sleeper hold or something. Yep, that was Vern's finish.
What we call the finish. Yep. And so so so clovicher starts to like You could see he's in stress because, like, his carotid arteries are being choked off. Gasping for breath. He goes out.
He goes out and Vern, Vern quickly puts him down on the ground and he's straddling him and he's over him. And you know, when you go, I don't think you've ever been put out before, but I've been put out before and I've seen guys put out. You kind of get that little convulsing stuff going on. Klobuchar starts convulsing and whacks him. You can hear the whack and he goes, Jim, Jim.
And they cut. They cut to commercial. When they come back. When they come back, it was the most incredible thing I've ever seen to me. They come back and Klobuchar has got this sheepish look on his face.
He's flushed. His hair is messed up. And you know what? I don't know what ever happened to that.
Okay, so that's the question, right?
So when I read your book, what I think was so cool is you really come clean about the business. And somewhere towards the end, the back of it, when I don't know what chapter it was. when you're being asked to come back in to the business and they're offering you the world title, right? And the person who was the world champion, he offers you the world title. And you're talking about this, you talk about the business and then what I thought was cool, because I learned a lot about more about pro wrestling, you talk about how important that is And you're talking about it as a business, an industry, right?
How important that is for that person, because you're kind of like the lead actor now in the show, right? You're carrying it, and you have to, you know, because it's all about fans and about leadership, which is another cool thing to hear you express. But as you're talking about all that stuff, there's really no question that you're really saying this isn't a real competition. You know, right? This is a business.
And so, but you come totally clean on that. Here's my questions for you.
Okay. Do other pro wrestlers in their books say those same things? Is there still the same, you know, what is the messaging of the industry now versus back then? You know, because I don't think you ever want to give away so much where you're, there's always a mystique about it, right?
So, what are the rules, I guess, for a professional wrestler? in terms of What do you say about that aspect of the business? It's a really great question. What a great story, too. I had never heard that story before.
Of course, you know, we hear the Dr. David Schultz, you know, slapping John Stossel upside the ear, you know, and breaking his eardrum, right? The reporter's eardrum when he was saying it's all fake. I'll show you how fake it is. Boom.
I mean, he literally busts his eardrum and essentially gets sued and blackballed, right? And Hogan, Hulk Hogan, same type of thing. In defense, Of the business, right? The old school, Mike, in the old school days, the old school mentality, even being trained by Ivan Koloff and Don Kernodle. You know, why did I carry my character out 24-7 and essentially lived it, right?
But just shifted my mindset to become that person was because I was told you got to protect the business at all costs. That's just what we do, you know, inside the business. And so I embraced that wholeheartedly. Even to the point where I still spoke in character with the accent for three years after retiring. Right?
Anywhere in public to protect the business. And so that's just what we did back in those days.
Now, and of course, there's always some who go rogue and slip up and don't protect it, but for For the most part, that's what we did. And what happened was in, I guess, the 90s, Vince McMahon Jr. kind of got irritated and tired of paying commissioners up in Philadelphia and Baltimore and mainly in the Northeast, but even in a few towns here down south, and having to pay them a percentage of the gate and doctors coming in to take your pulse and your blood pressure, right? He's like, to where he finally came clean with it and said, we are sports entertainment. That's what we are, right?
And upon doing that, Upon him saying that, that really took, you used the word mystique, that really took the mystique out of the business at that point. Because then, you know, then it's kind of like a lot of people are like, aha, I knew it. I knew I was right, you know, kind of thing. And to where now there's not really. Because that mystique's not there.
There's no, it's openly talked about wherever you go. You know, there's now shows, you know, behind-the-scenes shows produced on here's how they learned to fall. Here's how, so there's really none of that is left, honestly. And for an old-timer like me, an old school guy like me, I'm like, I mean, when he first came out and did that, like, I was, I was not happy. I'm like, man, I worked so hard to protect it.
And this dude just kind of lets it go, boom, gone. Right. And so to have these kind of conversations, you know, about even talking about how we did it in the ring.
Well, how'd you guys tell the story without being together and you know, in the same dressing room? And, you know, well, that was verbal and nonverbal cues and getting to know a guy and work with a guy and just, you know, and so all of that is kind of gone by the wayside. But that said, you know, now the average fan knows that. And even though they do know. That, you know, they're still intrigued by what's going to be the outcome of a particular match.
So if there's any mystique left at all at this point, it's just they're not. Certain or sure of who's going to win and lose, right? I'll conclude by saying this. There was an old show on you remember All in the Family with Archie Munker, right? Sure.
There was a scene, I never saw it, but somebody told me where the son-in-law, Meathead, walks in, right? And Archie's sitting watching pro wrestling. And Meathead makes a statement, something to the effect of, Archie, you know, why are you watching it? You know, that's all fake, right? You know, something like that, right?
To which Archie turns around and responds, you know, hey, Meathead, maybe they know who's going to win, but I don't, so shut up and let me watch it, right? Yeah. Perfect response, right? Perfect response.
So, but yeah, so in one sense, not a happy camper that there's no real, you know, underlying mystique to it, but grateful that the fans, you know, still come out to autograph signings and still go to the matches and buy tickets, you know.
So, yeah. Yeah, but that's it. We, we, we were schooled to protect it at all. And I'll tell you this real quick too, Mike.
So, you know, in the early days of wrestling back into its origination in the 18, pro wrestling in the 1800s, late 1800s, in carnivals, in carnivals. What those promoters in those carnivals figured out relatively quick is: we got to figure something out here. These guys aren't going to make it to the next town, they're going to kill each other, right?
So, so that's kind of the evolution of pro wrestling, you know, from the early roots, the early days in carnivals. And those promoters figuring out, hey, let's we may need to just kind of stage this thing so we can continue to make money and these guys are alive to wrestle in the next town.
So, yeah, so. Good question. Yep. Good answer. Yeah, appreciate it.
You got one more? We got time for one more. Have you got another one for me? And if not, that's okay. You know, do we have time?
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so I guess it was more of a comment than anything as you were talking. I think one of the things that Pro Wrestling has done really well, they have created characters, right?
So it's not just about the fight, right? It's about everything that builds up to the fight and why they're fighting, the purpose, and the reason, right? They've made a drama out of it. And I think back to the 1972 Olympic Games, it was the first games that I watched, watched it on a black and white TV. And the American freestyle wrestling team, that's when Gable won his gold.
My college Peterson, my college coach, Ben Peterson, he won a gold that year. And then Wayne Wells from Oklahoma, they had three golds, a couple silvers, a couple bronze, whatever. It was a spectacular year. All of those guys became national heroes because I think it was ABC had the rights at the time. They did character sketches on every single one of these guys and they played them throughout the wrestling.
And we got a story about them. And it's like, and it was a really well-done documentary story that they had taken time to do and put together and they played it. And it turned those guys into legends. In the amateur world. And all of those guys inspired a next generation, me being one of them, that took the sport to an even further place.
But somewhere along the line, amateur wrestling, I mean, it's boring from that standpoint in that you don't know who the people are, right? They change the rules all the time.
So even me, like I was away for, you know, 15 years and I went back to watch sports.
Somebody said, well, what's happening right now? I'm like, I don't know. The rules are, I don't know what's going on. I'm a world champion. I was national coach for five years.
I was an expert and I couldn't keep up with this sport. How does the fans keep up with it? Right. So I'm just saying, like, everything that they do to set the stage for the battle is really, really amazing. Right.
So I, you know, there could be more of that in amateur. Athletics.
Well, and that's what we did. I'll just kind of conclude by saying this. Like when I first my first run against the nature boy Ric Flair, we spent several months in building that story. Um and and leading up to that first ever Great American Bash at his first title defense against me when everyone thought I was just. Destroy, you know, and demolish the guy.
And, but yeah, that was a key to part of, you're right, about part of our success was to be able to tell us the backstory on who a person was, and then week by week kind of continue to tell that story. And then ultimately going into the ring, and that being the, you might say, the culmination of that story that night, right?
So.
Well, Mike, I can't thank you enough for carving out the time to spend with us today and being here on QA with Koloff. And Mike Houck, Olympic well Olympic alternate, but also a gold medalist in the in the world World Games in 1985. Looking forward to having you back when you get that book ready, Beyond the Breaking Point with Mike Houck. Look forward to having you back. Yep.
Look forward to it also. All right.
Well, so you have a wonderful rest of your day. And to all the listening audience out there, continue to help spread the word both on QA with Koloff. If you'd like to be on the show, go to koloff.net and just submit a request and you'll get a personal phone call from me and we'll get you on the show and help to spread the word on the man up show. It's time to man up. And until next time, go out today and just have a Godfield and just a God-blessed day.
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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.
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Yeah.
