Q&A with Koloff - #35

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Thank you. This is the Truth Network. Enough key to Kolov here. Questions and answers. Q&A with Kolov.

The Devil's Nightmare. Welcome back to another episode of Q&A with Kolov. Questions and answers. And if you've listened to any of these segments, you know that you, the audience, get the opportunity to ask me the questions. And that's how this, that's how we roll on Q&A with Kolov.

And with me today, I've got Eddie Staggs. Eddie, welcome to Q&A with Kolov. Thank you, Nikita. Thanks for having me.

Well, it's great to have you here and thanks for making yourself available. And I know we first connected, if I'm not mistaken, Eddie, through Twitter. Is that right? That is correct. Yes, sir.

So I have people that reach out to me through Twitter, through Instagram, through Facebook, all the social media. And so I'm glad we're able to connect and I'm glad that we can have this conversation. Tell me, I know you said you're up in the central time zone, so where do you reside? I am in Troy, Alabama. Troy, Alabama.

You know where that's at? Well, I'm trying, where you're near? Are you in southern part, northern part? About, probably about 45 minutes south of Montgomery. Okay.

Maybe an hour north of Dothan. Okay. Yeah. And I've heard of both. I think I've actually wrestled in Dothan, if I'm not mistaken.

Probably have now. That was a big, that was the Fuller territory back in the day. Right. Yeah. Robert Fuller, right? Yes. Robert and Ron, the Tennessee stud, the stud stable.

Okay. Armstrong too. Bullet Bob Armstrong. Bullet Bob, of course. Yeah. Come on. We're talking some wrestling history there. Some of the listeners out there might go, who, who, who, who do your wrestling homework? That's right.

Those guys are legendary. That's it. Of course.

Yes. In Alabama. All right, Eddie, so I got to ask you this question because I know the state of Alabama is divided. I am going to ask you one question, okay? Even though we're going to flip the table here in a moment.

I know where that's going, I think. Auburn or Alabama, Eddie? You know this, I am a bit of an anomaly in Alabama, which I don't go either, either way. Okay. Football fan, but I don't really have a preference.

I attended a small school in North Alabama, Jacksonville state. Okay. And I am a fan of them. Yeah.

And I'll, I'll go, like I said, I'm a huge football fan, but I don't really have a preference as far as Bama. Okay. Well, I know a lot of folks out there do. Oh yes.

I'm in, I'm in the minority. We did a, we did a, a few years back, our family was on a reality show called Preacher's Daughters. Yes.

And, and my youngest daughter, Colby, which, which people, I think you can still find it on Netflix or it's out there somewhere. Anyway. Yeah. And she was dating this guy, like legit, like, and so we, we did an episode where I took her and him out for dinner and, and I knew he was an Auburn tiger fan. Right.

And, and so we're, we're just kind of small talk, you know, and waiting for the waitress to come take her. And I go now, and I can't remember his name, but I go, I go, Hey, so Colby, Colby tells me you're a huge, I mean, huge football fan. So you, you love Alabama Crimson Tide? Oh my gosh, this guy's got, he's got biggest saucers.

He was ratified about that. I mean, he looked at her, like, like he was set up or something and he goes, my, my mom was like the homecoming queen for the Auburn, you know? And I mean, he got like super, I go, and I just started laughing. I go, dude, I go, I, I actually knew that. Don't blame Colby. She didn't know anything about that.

I was even going to do this, but man, if looks could have killed, you know, that old expression. Wow. And it was legit. It is now. It's a, and this, it is a passion in this state now.

Yeah, no, usually go either one way or the other, but that, well, that's why I asked, I try to stay out of it. Right. So, and I, now I have, I have though actually been to an Iron Bowl game, which is the big one.

Yeah. Auburn versus Alabama. A good friend of mine, I will say for the record, a good friend of mine is a, he's a graduate and a booster and has as a beautiful suite there at the, at the Roll Tide stadium. And so Lex Luger and I have actually been to several Bama games and, and one of them being the, the Iron Bowl there and in, in LA. He's a Luger, huh? Luger's a big Bama guy? He is, yeah. Really?

I did not know that. He's a Roll Tide fan. I won't hold that against him, but.

Yeah, don't hold that against, don't hold it against me, especially if you're out there listening and you're an Auburn fan, don't hold that against me or Luger. Come on. So, so you, so you're down there in Alabama and, and Eddie, what keeps you busy in Alabama? Uh, advantage of restaurant. Okay. Restaurant guy. Been in this business a good, good while. Promote your restaurant.

What's, what's the name of it? Okay. Ruby, I'm at Ruby Tuesday in Troy. Ruby Tuesday's. Well, hey, I have been a patron of Ruby Tuesday's.

I have been a patron of Ruby Tuesday's. In fact. Really? Do you have one near you? We, yes, I'll have to, it is near me. It's been a, I'm trying to think if, I hadn't been by there in a while, so I'm, I'm assuming it's open. Um. There, there have been a few that have closed. We've gone through some. Yeah. And some of the closed stores have closed.

Yep, yep. So, so, but that said, I have, I have frequented it. You know, I've enjoyed their salad bar and, and, and. Oh yeah, the garden bar, man. The garden bar and some of the entrees. So, I, I have been a Ruby Tuesday fan.

So, just for the record. So, plug to Ruby Tuesday's. You tell your ownership. We got the, the. I will do that.

I do. I gave them a plug. A free plug. That's right. That's right. So, Eddie. So, so, you're down there running the restaurant and, and living in Alabama and how long you been a wrestling fan? I've been in the restaurant business close to about 25 years probably. Okay.

Oh, wow. Okay. So, 25 years in the restaurant business and then we connected because of wrestling, yeah? I think, yeah, we probably, I, I have to have a lot of wrestling follows that I go.

Okay. A lot of the old time guys I follow. Well, you threw, you threw some, some classic names out there. Any quick favorite memories of, of, of wrestling?

There's, oh, I don't know. I used to go to, I grew up in the Birmingham area and I used to go to Boutwell. Okay. And wrestle in Boutwell. That, well, I, I know I've wrestled in Birmingham. Yes. I, I just have been in so many buildings.

I can't remember all the names. You've done, you've been in a few, few arenas. I, I have.

1986, I wrestled 454 matches. Wow. Crazy, right? So, well, tell me, okay, so let's, let's flip the table then. Okay. So, so we're talking, it's your opportunity to ask the Russian nightmare some questions. Question number one, let's, let's roll.

Question number one for you. Okay. I know you introduced yourself as Nikita Kolov.

That's your, we're going to break kayfabe here. So that is your official name now. It is my legal name. Legal name. It is my legal name. It's kind of funny because people say, is that your real name? I'll go, uh, yeah. And for like, I knew, I mean, I knew that wasn't, you weren't born.

Right. I mean, you do a little research because, because some of them are like, oh, okay. But then others would go, they'll think that you can see their brain, their wheels turn and they go, but is that your birth name? And I'm like, well, that's a different question. And, uh, I joke them out and they're like, well, what's your birth name? I go, um, you know, I can't give you that for free.

You're gonna have to buy the book on that or go research it and you'll figure it out. So anyway, so I don't typically, I just, Story now, didn't a Russian lady, there was a convention or something was disappointed that you, yes. Yes. And actually it was Lugar and I, we're, we're, we're in Virginia, we're an autograph signing. And, um, I mean, I hear this fluent Russian and I'm like, oh, dear Lord, here we go again. And, uh, and, and I'm like, well, maybe, maybe, maybe like nor she'll go away. And she says something in fluent Russian.

I didn't ignore it. She says something else in fluent Russian. I go, I'm going to, I'm going to have to address this. And when I look up and make eye contact with her, she got a little, little kid with her and she's glowing. Like she gets to read the Russian nightmare, right?

She's good. And she says something else fluently in Russian. And I just looked at her and I go, I go, I go, ma'am, I go, I'm, I'm not really from Russia. And she went from a glow, like a halo around her to like a scowl.

I mean, like for real, like trans, transformed that quick, took a step back and she goes, you're not really from Russia. And my dear friend Lex is like, nope, nope, you sure isn't. I'm like, Hey, stop stirring it up. Right.

He's got the big stick stirring up. And I go, ma'am, I go was just a character I portrayed. You must've did a good job with the character.

Well, apparently I did. And here's the, the, the, the, the rest of that story of the Paul Harvey of that story. She goes, I drove three hours here to meet you. I go, I'm so sorry. She was so mad. She, I felt sorry for the kid. She never did get an autograph six hours in the car to meet her hero. And she didn't even get an autograph. So anyway, there you go.

There you go. So yes, that's, that's the, but she played the character so well. She thought you were, who I thought it really was.

She's and she's one of many. I can't tell you how many, since I've come and said, man, you, you had me hook, line and sinker. You had me. So I take that as a real compliment. Well, there you should. All right. Now we, you keep up. I know I've done a little research.

You keep up with modern day wrestling a little bit, a little bit, a little you say, yeah, a little bit. Yup. We know, we know it's not like it used to be. It's a different business now. It is.

And I, well, recently I was reading something or listening to something. MJF, MJF, you know MJF, right? I don't. He's AEW. He's a heel in AEW. Okay. And he's compared, they compared him.

He's a modern day flare. Okay. I don't know about that.

Who would you consider a modern day, Nikita Kolov, if anyone. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.

Hmm. A modern day. How, how modern? Like, like literally right in the ring right now. I mean, who's there like today? Who's on, if who would be on Raw or Dynamite or Smackdown? Who?

One of those guys. Do you compare anybody's work to yours? I, I don't.

As far as in ring or promos or. I honestly, I've seen a few different posts of the fans and I'm just trying to do some, some mental recall right now. Cause like for real, I, I, what little I know of the modern day stuff is what fans tell me or stuff they post online. And, uh, dude, let me, well, let me flip it around. Do, do you think there's someone out there that reminds you of the Russian nightmare? That there's a guy, uh, Lance Archer. Do you know who he is? I don't know.

You don't know. He, I don't know. He reminds me a bit.

He may be a little bigger than you. I think he's a, who's he with six or six, five guy. Who's he with? AEW. He is AEW. Yes, sir. Okay.

Okay. Um, I was going to say, you know, the, the, well, if I were to give, given it, you know, Bill Goldberg would have been, uh, cause you know, he's somewhat modern. Um, but, uh, his mannerisms, uh, Terry Taylor who trained him, my understanding is, you know, showed him old Nikita Kolov footage and kind of, kind of patterned, patterned, uh, his name, or I can see that now that you say that I do see it. Yeah. Kind of pattern his, uh, right.

Yeah. His style. Well, uh, I'm looking at a picture of Lancer. He's got a little more hair than I got though. Um, a little more, but, but you say his style though, huh? His style.

I just, I don't know. Just as far as promos and entering work, he's saying he reminds me a bit of you. Gotcha.

He's got, he's got the intense look. That's for sure. That's for sure. All right. Next question. Next question.

Okay. Uh, enhancement talent. Who is, who, who are some good jobbers out there who, uh, gives these guys some credit? You were, uh, uh, you use both terms because back in our day they were called jobbers and some was like, oh, no, no, no. They're, they're enhancement talent. I'm like, oh my gosh, is that like a sanitary collector who's no longer a garbage man?

I mean, is that the deal? I've heard them called local talent. Don't they call them local talent?

Well, jobbers is what we knew them as. Okay. Yeah. But man, there were some good ones that really, honestly, I mean, they enhanced my career by far.

So I get it. The enhancement talent, but, uh, number one, mr. Number one, George South, um, was one that came. His name always comes up. George South was a great worker. Gary Royal was another, another great, uh, great worker. He was actually, he was actually junior heavyweight champion for a while, but you know, he made a lot of us, uh, main eventers look, look really good. The Mulkey brothers made me look good.

Um, uh, the, the guy that wrestled as he wrestled as an Italian stallion. Um, and, uh, he, he was a good hand in the ring. So, I mean, yeah, there were, we had some pretty decent, uh, undercard guys that made us look really good on TV. Oh, you gotta have those guys, don't you?

Can't everybody be the main event or, you know, some people got it right. No, but I mean, back to the day, no, they were critical. They, they were, they were important.

And I try, I try my best really honestly to respect those guys and, and really thank those guys for, for, for making me look good. So that's good. We've got time for probably one more question. Eddie, what you, what you got more. I got a whole, I got a whole book full of questions.

Well, if I get a short answer, we might be able to squeeze two short answer. I got, okay. I got one. I want, I know you're, uh, you'd run a ministry now.

Yep. We didn't get into that, but real quick, what's your favorite Bible story? Not the crucifixion or the resurrection, but any other Bible story. What's your, what's your favorite out there? Favorite Bible story. Well, man, there's, there's a few that come to mind. I mean, I'm pretty, uh, you know, the, the Moses and the parting of the red seas still kind of, I call it living in the realm of the unreasonable.

I just try to put myself there. So I'm there. He's leading.

However many millions, however many, however, whatever the number was a lot of people. Right. And, and of course I envisioned word travels from the back of the pack to the front that, Hey, apparently Pharaoh's changed his mind because we see his enemy quickly approaching, or we see the enemy quickly approaching and, and there's mountains on either side and a sea in front of us. And of course, Moses prays and raises that staff and the red sea parts. I'm envisioning myself, Eddie, be in there and like, like, I don't know where I am in the crowd, but either way, I'm looking at a giant wall on my right and a giant wall on my left. And I'm like, can you like, kind of like shuffle your feet a little quicker?

Cause I'm not so sure how long those walls are going to stand up. And I kind of like to get to the other side, you know? Um, so that, that's, that's, that's probably a, a favorite of mine. And one other thing that pops in real, real quick, I think, and I want to say maybe Charlton Heston, I don't know, years and years ago. Yeah. When they made the, the 10 commandments, when they made the movie, uh, the old school movie 10 commandments, that was pretty cool.

And, and I wouldn't believe her watching it back then, but I was, I was fascinated by it, by the story. Huh? Well, cool. Yeah. One more. We got time for one more. One more.

We got time for one more. Yep. All right.

I was watching, uh, rewatch the match, uh, wrestle war, the war games match from think it was 92. Okay. When you're with staying squadron sting squadron. Yep. Against what? Dangerous Alliance, right?

Against dangerous match to watch. And I saw, uh, staying, you know, staying, he's still, he's still getting in the ring a little bit. He's still mixing it up.

Kudos to Steve. All right. When, when are you going to lay some back up Nikita? What am I going to lace them back up? Yeah. Here's one reason I will, I will never lace them back up. For one reason I had pull on boots.

So that's one reason I'll never lace them back up, but I know it's a figure of speech in the sense of what you're asking. Yeah. I have Eddie. I have people at that going, you got one more.

You keep yourself in shape. You got one more in you. I'm telling you, I, you know, I, I I'll say this. I feel confident. I could probably get back in the ring and, and have at least one more decent match.

I, I do feel a comp. However, I think you may know better than me, Eddie. I think I'm one of the, if not the only guy that when he said he was retiring, actually stayed retired. It didn't make 10 comebacks. You know, there ain't many now there's, there's most of them have dozens of retirement matches. Right.

And so I almost honestly just want to maintain that, that integrity of, of like, you know what? I said, I was retired. I retired.

I'm, I'm going to stay retired. And, and, and, and the way I walked out, you know, walked away under my own terms. I mean, it was only 33, only 33 years old.

Right. So I was young, uh, in terms of that industry. And, and so I've been coined, if you will, uh, you know, the, the Barry Sanders of pro wrestling, if that makes for the football fan out there. Um, and, and certainly in the prime of what, what would have been another easily 10, 15 year career, I chose to walk away. And, and with now, let me say this too, because you brought up the ministry. So I want to say this before we wrap up, um, with little knowing that 11 months after making that decision, I'd find myself at an altar, surrendering my life to Jesus. So I, you know, I didn't grow up in church. I didn't grow up in Russia.

I didn't grow up in church either. Um, but, um, surrendering my life to Jesus and, and encountering him. And then fast forward all these years later, Eddie, now I've been, you know, all 50 States, 30 different countries, Lex Luger and I co-facilitate a camp for a man called man camp in Georgia. I mean, I do conferences and preach and revivals and crusades and radio shows and podcasts. And, and, uh, so never in a million years would I have dreamed post wrestling that I'd be doing what I'm doing. And even though I walked away, literally, now I mentioned Bill Goldberg, my understanding when, when, when he stepped in, when I walked away, they gave the guy, the way I understand it, a guaranteed $3 million a year contract. And that's just for wrestling that had nothing to do with merchandising or anything else. So if I did the math on that, Eddie, I could, and Lex and I've talked about this. I could truthfully say I walked away from probably 30, 40, $50 million or more, but little did I know I'd be serving the Lord, traveling the world and impacting people's lives, whether it's through a show like this Q&A with Koloff, the Man Up show or whatever else that you can't put any value on. So I'm grateful.

Eddie Staggs, Troy, Alabama. Great to have you on the show today. Thanks for tuning in again with Q&A with Koloff. Thank you for dialing in. Talk to you again, see you again, listening in again soon. This is the Truth Network.