This is the Truth Network. Satan's nightmare, Nakia Koloff. This is a war. This is one war that needs to be settled. What a brawl!
What a fight! And it's out of control here. That's a bad man. No, that's a bad man. You know it.
That's a bad man. Anytime, any place, night, day—I don't care. I'm only a phone call away, my friend. Welcome to another episode of Q and A with Koloff, the Devil's Nightmare. To have you on the show today, and man, so much to talk about.
But let's just let's just jump in for just a quick moment and give a little backstory on. I was going to go to law school, and I ran into a personal trainer after my sophomore year, and. College that uh really set me up for the rest of my life in a lot of ways because he instilled in me a desire to work out. I got really invested in that and became a ah so blessed a pro wrestling fan.
Okay, pro wrestling fan. The only kind of yeah, the only kind of wrestling there is, Nick. You know, I have um been blessed in so many ways.
So you know, as a kid growing up in the You know, once a month in the Greensboro Coliseum, and every once in a while we'd make it to Raleigh or down to Charlotte to see you there at the Coliseum. It really ended up shaping what ended up doing my life later on. I had no idea; I didn't dream of. You know, at the most, just briefly share the story how used to kind of sit eye level, and you're like, "Dad, can can we not get closer or something?" And goes, "All right." He goes, "Next month we'll get closer." What happened at that that that next month? You know it, and I'll never forget.
I was probably fifteen, sixteen years old, and we had tickets on the front row. and And the kid, you came out, and we joke about the weight difference or the size or whatever. You were probably two ninety, two ninety five, right? And and you've heard the comparisons too. But when you put you and your body, your at your height beside Bill Goldberg.
Yeah, and his body, and his look, and his demeanor, his height. Yeah, you know, you guys very similar body types. Yeah, a lot of ways. Actually said, well, you know, the ten, eleven, twelve year old in me. You, you scared, you scared the bejebers out of me.
You know, but uh huh. Might have said, I put the fear of God in some people. Maybe I'm thinking, you know, pre pre God in my own life. But that is crazy. That's a crazy.
Jim, one day, and a guy that was running a local independent. Walked in and asked me if I'd like to sponsor ads for a small wrestling show, and I said sure I'd love to. And he asked me if, if they ever thought about. He said you're kind of a big guy. I was a competitive Carolina, which is right outside of Raleigh, which is about an hour and a half from Greenville.
So twice a week. You know, make an hour and a half trek up there to wrestle for a couple hours, an hour and a half back. We went on Tuesday and Thursday nights, and the one thing that stands out about that, which is a little different today, but the first four times I went, came home pretty beaten and battered and bruised after practice. And the fifth time I show up, he questions me when I walked in the door. He said, "Kid, you are going to keep coming, aren't you?" And I was like, "Well, yeah, I am here to learn how to wrestle.
I told him I help you in the gym, and you are going to teach me how to wrestle." And he said, "Well, I guess tonight we'll start learning how to wrestle." I said, "What?" I was confused. I'm like, "Learn how to wrestle? I've already been here four times. Thought that's what I've been doing, right?" Yeah, he he got a snickers a little bit. He goes, "Bro, what we've been doing is not wrestling.
I've just been beating you up to see if you'd quit because I didn't think you'd stick around." What do you mean? I've just been punching and kicking you for two weeks, and so yeah, I guess you're a glutton for punishment, Lodi. Yeah, I didn't. Too dumb to know any better. Maybe that's it.
But start to realize this ain't this ain't it. Oh my gosh!
Okay.
So yeah, you know we we started. Then we started learning how to wrestle, and to a degree, I'm being gracious there because we were still really green. But you know, I did an independent show two months later, and started doing some independent shows here and there. And at that time, in the mid to late nineties. Ninety-five, ninety-six.
A lot of the guys on the independent shows in the Carolinas just didn't have great bodies. Right, they were a lot of older guys. You know, there was a lot of a lot of forty-pound. You know, two hundred forty pound specimens in you know one hundred forty pound bags of of spandex, and it just didn't look good. Right, right.
With a little bit of athleticism, you know, the promoters kind of started pushing me up the card because I was young and in good shape compared to these guys. Yeah, you look good. Yeah, yeah. You know, it's I. There was some perks that came along with that, and we got up to this point where we were working, you know, in the main event against some of the names from TV that were doing some independent shows or whatever, and Had a guy one night ask us after the show.
He's like, "If you guys are happy at this level, you know, you can probably do this for the rest of your lives. You, you guys can main event arm races or high schools and small shows, or you can go down to Atlanta to WCW to their school and try out and make some real money." And power plant. That was a year. Yeah, the power plant down in Atlanta ran by Jody Hamilton and Buddy Lee Parker, Sarge, Mike Winter, and Pistol Pete Swatley. And okay, we.
My my tag team partner and I did a week or two of sprinting and running and trying to get in better because we knew we need to pick up our cardio a little bit before we went down to this three day tryout. We went down to Atlanta and we had 27 guys show up for a three day tryout, and at the end of the three days, there were three guys left, and I was one of them. And they invited me back, and I went home, packed my bags, and. Moved to Atlanta. Care of my gym for me, and I moved to Atlanta.
In fact, in fact, your partner was one of the ones who quit, right? Yes, sir. My partner on the second day came to me and he said, "Man, I I can't do this. I'm quitting. It's just too hard." And and we learned later on.
I mean, it was a really tough tryout and. They WCW didn't need more talent, really. They were they were they were full already, but they had a training school, and you know you had thirty forty guys show up a month to pay some money for a tryout. Yeah, it was quite a money generator. Yeah, it was a cash cow, really, is what it was.
Absolutely, with a bunch of hopefuls. But well, hey, let let me ask you this, because which and so because I really want to get to this too, and. Fast forward a little bit, so you're in the power plant.
Some doors of opportunity are beginning to open for you. But tell, just give, give us short the short story on on how the name. I was fascinated by how the name Lodi came about. Give our listeners the the short story on that, if you would. Yes, sir.
I'll make that quick. We. I had not started working on TV yet with World Championship Wrestling. I was at the Power Plant, but I was still doing independent shows on the weekends. And they had brought me in to do a couple of enhancement jobs down in Florida for one of the syndicated shows that aired on Saturday morning.
I had become Raven, the wrestler's personal trainer, after I met him through a friend one night. And then within a week or two, he had hired me as his personal assistant.
So, he was actually paying me weekly to take care of some of his stuff while he was on the road, paying his bills, picking up his dry cleaning, that kind of stuff. Right. When he was home, I would go over in the morning, wake him up, cook his breakfast for him, and you know he he paid me three hundred bucks a week, and I was resting on the weekends, and he was home some during the week. Yeah, okay, it's great. We're sitting out one night, and yeah, I was like, okay, it's getting bad, but I also had to put up with Ravens.
So there's that part. Right, it's another story for another day. That's another show. Yeah, yeah, that's a whole nother. That's a couple of shows, and we probably need a Ravens psychologist to come.
Yeah, to help us with that. But you know, we were sitting, and he made a phone call one night. Raven had a group of bad guys on TV, and one of them had hurt his neck. Stevie Richards was going to be leaving, and he said, "Man, I really need you on the road with me." And in my mind, I'm like, "Yeah, I want to be on the road. I want to work for WCW, of course." And he made a phone call to the booker at the time, and it was a phone call at eleven thirty, twelve o'clock on a Thursday night.
And he asked Terry Taylor, who's you know a wonderful, wonderful guy, right?
So we put Brad Kane in the flock on Monday in Nitro. And I'm here, Ravenside, of the conversation. He's like, "Well, oh yeah, I forgot. I'll tell him, let him know." Click, and he said, "Hey, we've got a pay per view on Sunday." And so we got to fly out Saturday morning to be at the, you know, to be at the show on Sunday.
So book your ticket. And he goes, "Ah, we need to come up with a gimmick for you. You don't look like a star." And I'm sitting there, you know, with dark hair, and out of the blue, he just says, "You're going to be Billy Idol." And he says, "I want you to go tomorrow. Go down a little Five Points there in Atlanta, and get you some black leather pants and some Harley boots, and get you a glove and chains and a sneer. And oh, you got to dye your hair blonde, and you know, get that whole gimmick together.
And and here's my flight. Book yourself on this flight. We're leaving Saturday morning at nine o'clock.
So I've got thirty some hours here, maybe at the best, right? To go from a dark haired guy to a Billy Idol character." Yeah, yeah, Billy. I don't look alike. Girl that I, yeah, I caught a friend of mine, and she got me in with her hair person, and she fried my scalp because you really can't go from dark, dark hair to blonde hair in one shot. And so between picking up all the stuff, a little five points of black leather pants, the gloves, the chains, all nine yards, and we we get to the show, and I didn't have a name actually for about the first six or seven weeks I was on TV.
They couldn't decide what to call me, and they realized my look looked too much like Billy Idol, right? And they were kind of caught on that. And the lawyers looked at it and said, "Hey, you copyright. You know, he's got a copyright on that name and that look. You can't copy more than sixty percent of it, and you're basically a hundred percent Billy Idol.
We can't do this." And you know, Terry Taylor and I and Raven were sitting there. I'm like, "Why can't we just you know call me Lodi, which is Idol spelled backwards?" And so that's where Lodi came from. There you go. It's just Idol fell backwards.
So yeah, that's that's the story.
Some people know it, and some people. It's funny after all these years. You know, we're looking at what twenty one, twenty two years ago.
Some people look at me and they're like. That's why you're named Lodi, right? Like all of a sudden, click, click. Oh, connect the dots.
So, yeah, I had always wondered, but when I heard that story, I'm like, that's that's a fascinating story.
So, so all right, so let's let's um, let's uh, because I don't want to run out of time here.
So let's so so you have this pretty pretty. Really, a great run in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) with Ravens Flock, and I know you wrestled some of the top. Just a couple, couple, couple names, couple, couple big names. You got the opportunity to step in the ring with just who are some of the names you got to wrestle? Just mention the names: Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Diamond Dallas Page.
I mean, all the guys that I idolized and looked up to at that point in wrestling, because of Raven's stature and all the all the angles we ran with Raven, we got to get in with pretty much everybody, you know. And then to work with the guys in the flock, it was it was a really cool experience to be able to do that, you know. And so the fact that and the guys were all wonderful, you know, Harlem Heat, Stevie Ray, and Booker T, and those guys we worked with. I mean, you know, I go back and look at some of the stuff on the network, and it just Cause it all runs together when you're working, you know, twenty days a month for years, and all of a sudden you go back and you see some of his matches, and you're like, "Oh, I forgot how many times I worked with Ray Mysterio. I forgot how many times I worked with Billy Kidman.
I forgot how many times I worked with Saturn." And you just go through it, and you're like, "Wow!" No, I know exactly of a blur, right? I know exactly what you mean because, like, people post stuff on social media, and I'm like, "Oh, oh yeah, I did, I did wrestle Diamond Dallas Page, didn't I? You know, Cactus Jack." Oh yeah.
So I know exactly what you're talking.
Now. For our listeners out there, load the Lodi monster.
So, so you still look phenomenal. You really do. You got a you got a personal training center there in Charlotte, North Carolina. You are still in the ring, I know. And sometimes you know, ten times a month, and and you can still carry your load because I witnessed that out in Texas not too long ago.
Wrestling, you know, some of Koloff dynasty, and so you can you can still go. You can still carry your own load and. And and pretty amazing, huh? I said thank you for saying that. That means a lot.
Thank you. No, for real. You really, you really can. And so I know you got this personal training studio.
So you do you, which is kind of interesting too, right? It's almost full circle because I I heard you say you graduate college, you open a personal training studio, start training personal, you know, guys like C C W Anderson, you know, Raven, and others. And so you're still doing personal training, and and and I know you're phenomenal at that as well. But you also got Wrestling school. In fact, I know recently, Arn Anderson's kid has gone through your school, right?
Yes, sir, he did. He just signed with AEW, right? Recently, he signed with AEW. Yeah, and and I was so proud of Brock Anderson, and he came in, you know, for fourteen, fifteen months, and rarely missed a practice. I'm talking two and three times a week, even during COVID.
He and I kept working. And so his work ethic was absolutely, I mean, off the charts. I'm so proud of that kid, and I I can't wait for him to make a debut. And again. I've had a hand in training some other guys who made it that far, and for me, at this point in my life, to see some of those guys end up on TV and getting contracts is a really cool thing.
Well, I know Arne. I know I know Double A has got to be proud and thrilled too for the opportunity. And and you mentioned some other. If I correct me if I'm wrong, Charlotte Flair. You trained her.
Yes, I was her first trainer before she ever went down to Florida for WWE. Yes, sir. So you've had you've had the opportunity to you know train a lot of individuals who, whether on the independent circuit or or even out there with some of the more major organizations, have had success, which is just a testament to one. Your work ethic and and and your ability to not only learn what you learn and perfecting your craft the the craft of wrestling, but then be able to pass that that on to others is is just a really a testament to you. I mean, it's like it's like kudos to you one for having the desire to do that and two the ability to do that and and then have the success that you've had.
Thank you for saying that again, and that's. I feel like I was so blessed with some of the guys that I've been that I was taught by, and some of the guys who passed on their knowledge to me. You know, I worked for Dusty Rhodes for a year and a half after WCW down in Atlanta, and you know, you came down and saw us at Turnbuckle that time, and and to spend time with him for a year and a half, and and take that knowledge and not ever share it with somebody, I think would be one of the biggest disasters of my life to not pass that on because he was just a wealth of knowledge when it came to wrestling. It was it was cool to talk about that with Magnum. Past weekend we were all in Kentucky, so yeah, yeah.
Because you said you got to, I mean, basically sit in his office, you know, five days a week, more or less, and just learn and glean, you know, from right for. And he was let's let's make no mistake, he was a genius. I feel when it came to the the knowledge of wrestling and create create one of the most creative guys I've ever known was the American Dream. Absolutely, his creativity was just off the charts, and the way he would just come up with things and see things. Yeah, it rivals.
I think Raven is really good at that. I really do. But but. Dream was maybe even a step above what Raven could do. It was just maybe it was more time or whatever.
But those two guys are two of the most creative guys I've ever been able to spend time with. But to learn from those two guys and have them pass that on to me and spend time with Page and some of the guys who've been instrumental helping others, right? Feed some of this knowledge into me and not pass that on. Like I said, would would probably be terrible.
Well, and and you know, again, I mean, just marvel at that. We we just got really just. Believe it or not, just a couple minutes left, Lode. But but before before we go, you know, I saw a video that your church did one time on on on your your transition, your transformation. You know, as a believer in Jesus, what would you say?
Take take you know take a minute and a half, two minutes to our listeners out there as as Lodi as a Christ follower. I know you're part of some great organizations like out there in Texas and Christian wrestling organization. There in Texas, what would you say? Take two minutes. What would you say to to someone out there listening that doesn't know have a relationship with Jesus?
What would you say to them? I I grew up in the church. I knew of Jesus and had great parents that instilled that at an early age. But when I started wrestling and started making money, and in my mind became a big star. I got as far away from that as as I could have, and it was the biggest some of the biggest mistakes I made in my whole life.
And no matter how much money I made, or how much fame or wealth I was surrounded by, I always had this big hole in my heart. I never felt fulfilled's not a good word. It's just there was always something missing in the back of my mind. I don't know if it was a nagging thing or whatever, but you know, when I slowly started moving back towards the church, moving back towards Jesus. This life we have here is so short in the big scheme of things, and the things we do here and the choices we make here are going to determine where we spend eternity.
And we're all going to stand in front of our Maker one day. And and the biggest decision we're ever going to make, I think, on this planet is whether we're going to follow and serve Jesus or not. And I think. For me, I know that it's the best decision I've ever made. And since I made that decision, the ability to help others and still be alive to help others and help spread the gospel through wrestling—something I love—and my personal training—we have Bible verses on the wall at the gym.
I am able with what I do. To talk about Jesus pretty much all day long, if I want to, and sometimes you know I probably do. It's it's been one of the greatest things ever. And if I look back on my life, I was having a conversation with a lady yesterday, yeah, and I said I've had two occupations, two two jobs as an adult. I've been a personal trainer, a professional wrestler, and I've never felt like I've worked a day.
And I've been blessed with that life, Nikita. And that was what God gave me. Yeah. And so I'm I'm thankful for that, and I need to I want to spend the rest of my life serving him.
Well, and and you know I know you got kind of a label called Team Fearless, and and of course the Bible says don't be ashamed of of the gospel, and so you know and I appreciate you sharing a little bit of that that story as well. We're gonna have you back on another segment on another show, and and let's talk a little bit more about that. And so for those out there listening. Today, I mean, heard some some of Lodi's amazing story as a professional wrestler and how he got into that. And but most important, I think, if you paid attention at the end there, what's most important in his life now is that personal relationship with Jesus Christ and his ability to now use wrestling as a platform to to share that with the world and not be ashamed of the gospel.
And so, if you've never made that decision, make that decision today. Just say you can say two simple words: I surrender.
So, Lodi, just real quick, you have a website. I do. You can catch up on all of our gym stuff and our wrestling school at. YourFlexAppeal dot com. It's yourFlexAppeal dot com, and all of my social media.
I'm pretty easy to find. It's Lodi One Brad on everything. Facebook, Brad Lodi Kane.
So if you want to see where I may be speaking next, or wrestling next, or just catch up with me, or shoot me a, you know, I have a question for me. By all means, reach out and I'll respond to that. Awesome. Check out his wrestling school. Check out his social media.
Lodi, thanks for joining us today on the Man Up Show. 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 dot net.
