Listen Again: World Champion Wrestling

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This is the Truth Network. Once a world champion wrestler, now a champion for Christ. Once the Russian nightmare, now the devil's worst nightmare. And your tag team partner, Nikita Kolov. It's time to man up. Well, I want to welcome you back to It's Time to Man Up, Nikita Kolov. My pleasure to have with me today Brad Kane. You're like, how do I know that name Brad Kane?

Well, you may know him better, perhaps, as Lody, part of the Ravens flock back in the WCW World Championship Wrestling Days, back in the heyday of Monday Night Wars. Lody, welcome to the Man Up show. Yes, sir. Nikita, thank you so much for having me, man. This is awesome. Thank you. Well, it's great just to have you on the show today and man, so much to talk about, but let's just jump in for just a quick moment and give a little back story on outside of the Lody Monster, on Brad Kane and kind of where Brad comes from.

Oh man, so how far do you want to go back there, Nikita? Like when I was a little Lody or a medium sized Lody, you know, when I was a gleam, yeah. Well, yeah, let's just start with pre-wrestling days and kind of, you know, you grew up where? Where'd you grow up?

I grew up in Ashburg, North Carolina and I say Ashburg because that was the closest place that was on the map. We were kind of out in the country, but I grew up, you know, just a country kid in a rural area and wanted to play football and loved wrestling and graduated high school, went off to East Carolina University to get my degree in political science because I wanted to go to law school and I ran into a personal trainer after my sophomore year in college that 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 really invested in that and became a competitive bodybuilder and basically followed his lead as he trained me and kind of pushed me in that direction and so I went ahead and finished my degree in East Carolina in political science, but the day I graduated college in 1993, I opened the personal training business and that's what I did when I got out of school.

So, a college graduate and which is impressive in its own way, but just back up just for a second. So, you played sports in high school and I know you said you love wrestling. Was that amateur wrestling, professional wrestling, both? Oh no, Nikita, Nikita, Nikita.

I can talk about this all day long. I grew up a pro-wrestling fan. A pro-wrestling fan, okay, okay. The only kind of wrestling there is, Nick.

You know, I have been blessed in so many ways. So, you know, as a kid growing up in the Carolinas. In mid-Atlantic. Yeah. Championship wrestling. Yeah, so I truly believe, looking back on my life at this point, if I have to go back through and look at a period of wrestling that I'm just enamored with this day, it always goes back to that time frame.

Yeah. And it was you guys, you know, and we have talked about this before and I've been blessed to share a stage with you and share some of these stories, but growing up watching you and Dusty Rhodes and Magnum T.A. and Arn Anderson and the Rock and Roll Express and Ric Flair and, you know, the names go on and everybody knows them. They're household names from that time period in that area, but to watch those guys, you, 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 I ended up doing my life later on. I had no idea.

I didn't dream of, you know, and at the most it was a dream that I'd ever be a professional wrestler. Right. Much less sharing a stage with you and Magnum like we did last week and, and the friendship and the, you know, over the years that you and I have been able to cultivate and have just, it's a really cool thing. And so I jokingly always tell stories that my dad didn't pay for my college, but he paid for my wrestling career by making sure I was watching, you know, I was at the Greensboro Coliseum once a month when I was a kid. And so I got a lot of from there.

Yeah. And, and you, you told the story, you know, yeah, we did, we did, uh, just for the listeners, we did, uh, uh, what we call a church brought us into community in Kentucky for road stories with, with Lody Magnum and Nikita Koloff. But you told a story, uh, maybe you can just briefly share the story, how you used to kind of sit eye level and you're like, dad, can, can we not get closer or something? And he goes, all right.

He goes next month. What happened at that, that, that next month? You know, it never failed. He jokes about to this day, but my dad would get his tickets and we always sit mid-level at the Greensboro Coliseum. So my dad's take on that was we didn't sit down low. So he had to look up to see the wrestlers. We didn't sit up high. They had to look down.

We set about ring level and I had to give it to him. It was a pretty good seat. And we were about the same area almost every time. And being a high school kid and working out and lifting weights and trying to get stronger and bringing my football buddies to the, to the events, it was the one thing to see you guys from a distance, but I want to see what you look like up close. I mean, you'd look big from a distance, but you know, sometimes you can't get a good perception of that. I told dad, I said, dad, it would be impossible for us to ever sit up close and he said, yeah, well, next month we'll get some front row tickets.

We'd get them. And I'll never forget. I was probably 15, 16 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 290, 295, and just in the best shape of your life. And I'm standing up on the rail and you come walking by me and I take like three steps back because you were the first man I've ever met in my life besides my dad, who really instilled fear in me. I was scared to death because I'd never seen someone that big in that much muscle. You were the muscle and everything and the demeanor and the character.

You played it perfectly and you scared a 15 year old boy and your job well. Well, I, I, I appreciate that. I, I was, I guess an imposing, intimidating figure, huh? Right. Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely. You know, we have joked about it with some of my wrestling kids at my school and other things that we had you in the eighties and, and you've heard the comparisons too, but when you put you and your body, your height beside Bill Goldberg and his body and his look and his demeanor, his height, you know, you guys were very similar body types in a lot of ways. And so, and the, the ongoing joke is among me and all my friends, when we tried to explain that story to people, sometimes they look at it kind of sideways. They're like, Makeda and Bill Goldberg, you seem to kind of start to put the, put it together in their head. And, you know, we've talked about before how wrestling has changed today and everyone understands, or for the most part that we're performing and this, that, and the other. But the one thing that I think got you over and got Goldberg over, we say this over and over again, is 99% of the people that are paying to watch that show, if they meet you or Bill Goldberg in a dark alley, they're getting their butt kicked. Again, you're, you're one, you're one of quite a number of people that, that essentially said, well, you know, the 10, 11, 12 year old in me, you, you scared the bejeebers out of me.

You don't put, you might even say, I put the fear of God in some people, maybe I'm thinking, you know, pre-God in my own life, but that is crazy. That's a crazy story. I know when you share that with me, I'm like, oh my gosh, to have that kind of a, a profound impact on, on others and is, is amazing. So you graduated from college in 1993, which ironically is, is technically the same year that I chose to step away from, you know, entering active wrestling and retire. And you made a decision then to go ahead and get involved at that point, not to pursue becoming an attorney or political science or anything else, but to become a professional wrestler.

So give us a short, a short cliff note version of that. How'd that happen? Yes, sir.

Yeah. I was at my gym one day and a guy that was running a local independent promotion 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 they ever thought about, he said, you're kind of a big guy.

I was a competitive bodybuilder for about seven years and not being very tall, you know, in the off season, I would get up around 260, 265, which was a lot of weight for my little frame to carry. He's like, man, you know, you're pretty big guy. Have you ever thought about wrestling?

And I'm like, oh, you know, I've loved it growing up. And I know some guys who've done some independent wrestling. And he said his wrestling trainer, the guy who told him need to get in better shape and maybe we can work out a deal.

Turned out to be CW Anderson, who long, who later went on to wrestle at ECW and have his own run. But I went up and met him and he started training me and he was kind of bringing in a barn in Smithfield, North 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, a little 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 questioned me when I walked in the door, he said, kid, you're going to keep coming, aren't you? And I was like, well, yeah, I'm here to learn how to wrestle. I hope I can help you in the gym and you're going to teach me how to wrestle. And he said, well, I guess tonight we'll start learning how to wrestle. And I said, what?

I was confused. I'm like, learning how to wrestle. I've already been here four times. I thought that's what I've been doing, right?

Yeah. He got a Snickers a little bit and he goes, bro, what we've been doing is not wrestling. I've just been beating you up to see if you'd quit. Cause 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, Lody. Yeah. I didn't, I don't even know any better. Maybe that's it.

I wasn't smart enough to realize this, 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 just started doing some independent shows here and there at that time in the mid to late nineties, 95, 96, a lot of the guys on the independent shows in the Carolinas just didn't have great bodies. Right. There were a lot of older guys, a lot of 240 pound specimens and 140 pound bags of spandex and just didn't look good. Right. Right. A little bit of athleticism, you know, the promoters kind of started pushing me up the card cause I was y'all getting in good shape compared to these guys. Yeah.

You look good. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's like, I, 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, you guys are happy at this level. You know, you could probably do this for the rest of your lives.

You, you guys can main event armories 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 that was the year. Yeah. The power plant down Atlanta ran by Jody Hamilton and buddy Lee Parker, Sarge, Mike winner and pistol pass Wally. And we, uh, my tag team partner and I did a week or two of sprinting and running and trying to get in bed. Cause we knew we need to pick up our cardio a little bit before we went down to this three day tryout and 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, my gym for me. And I moved to Atlanta. And 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 can't do this. I'm quitting.

It's just too hard. And we learned later on. I mean, it was a really tough trial and 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 have 30, 40 guys show up a month to pay some money for a trial. It was quite a money generator. Yeah.

It was a cash cow really is what it was with a bunch of hopefuls, but well, hey, fast forward a little bit. So you're in the power plant, some doors of opportunity are beginning to open for you, but give us the short story on, on how the name, I was fascinated by how the name Lody came about. Give our listeners the short story on that, if you would. Yes, sir.

I'll make that quick. I had not started working on TV yet with world championship wrestling. I was to 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 wrestlers 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, writing his bills, picking up his dry cleaning and that kind of stuff. When he was home, I would go over in the morning and wake him up, cook his breakfast for him. And you know, he paid me 300 bucks a week and I was wrestling on the weekends and he was home some during the week.

We were sitting out one night and yeah, I was like, okay, it's getting bad, but I also had to put up with Raven. So there's that part. Right.

It's another story for another day. That's another show. Yeah. Yeah. That's a whole nother show.

That's a couple of shows that we probably need to just 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 heard 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 1130, 12 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 and nitro. And I'm here, Raven's side 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've 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 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 and 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 get that whole gimmick together. And here's my flight. Book yourself from this flight.

We're leaving Saturday morning at nine o'clock. So I've got 30 some hours here, maybe at the best to go from a dark hair guy to a character. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I caught a friend of mine and she got me in with her hair person and she fried my scalp. Cause 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 and yards. And 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, look too much like Billy Idol.

Right. And they were kind of caught on that. And the, 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 60% of it. And you're basically a hundred percent Billy Idol.

We can't do this. And we, you know, Terry Taylor and I and Ray were sitting there and like, why can't we just call me Lody, which I will spell backwards. And so that's where Lody came from. It's just, I will spell 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, 21, 22 years ago, some people look at me and they're like, that's why your name Lody. Right. Like they all said, click, click, Oh, connect the dots.

So yeah, I always wondered, but when I heard that story, I'm like, that's, that's a fascinating story. Nikita Koloff here. If you're needing to buy a car and have marginal credit and considering using buy here, pay here, that's worse than taking the Russian sickle. Winston Salem motor cars will put you behind the wheel of a car you can rely on while helping rebuild repair or establish your credit score conveniently located on Silas Creek Parkway in Winston Salem. Be sure to check them out today at wsmc1.com because you are number one. We so appreciate our listeners. If you will support this program with a financial gift of any amount, I will send you a personalized copy of my latest book, Nikita, a tale of the ring and redemption. Go to koloff.net.

That's koloff.net, koloff.net, and make your contribution today. So, so you have this, uh, really a great run in, in world championship wrestling WCW with a Ravens flock. And who are some of the names you got to wrestle? Just mentioned the names.

Chris Benoit and Guerrero diamond Dallas page. I mean, all the guys that I idolized and looked up to at that point in wrestling because of Raven 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 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, 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, 20 days a month for years, and all of a sudden you go back and you see some of these matches and you're like, Oh, I forgot how many times I worked with Rey 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. You're like, wow. It's kind of a blur. Right. I know exactly what you mean.

Cause 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, and Cactus Jack. So I know exactly what you're talking about now. So you still look phenomenal. You really do.

You got a, you got a personal training center there in Charlotte, North Carolina. You're still in the ring. I know. And sometimes, you know, 10 times a month and you can still carry your load.

Cause I witnessed that out in Texas, not too long ago, um, you know, some of Kolov dynasty. And so you can, you can still go, you can still carry your own load and, uh, and pretty amazing. 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, which is kind of interesting too, right?

It's almost full circle. Cause I, I heard you say you graduate college, you open a personal training studio, start training personal, you know, guys like CW Anderson, you know, Raven and others. And so you're still doing personal training and I know you're phenomenal at that as well, but you also got a wrestling school. I know recently aren't Anderson's kid has gone through your school, right?

Yes, sir. He did. He just signed with AEW recently. He signed with AEW.

Yeah. And I was so proud of Brock Anderson and he came in, you know, for 14, 15 months and rarely miss a practice. I'm talking two or three times a week, even during COVID, he and I kept working. And so I, his work ethic was absolutely, I mean, off the charts. I'm so proud of that kid.

And I can't wait for him to make a debut. And again, I've had a hand in training some other guys who've 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 Aaron, I know, I know AA has got to be proud and thrilled too, for the opportunity. And, and you mentioned some other, 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.

For WWE. Yes, sir. So you've had, you've had the opportunity to 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 your ability to not only learn what you learn and perfecting your craft, but then be able to pass that onto others.

Thank you for saying that again. And that's, I feel like I was so blessed with some of the guys 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, you know, you came down with the term buckle that time and, and the spare 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. And I passed that on because it was just the wealth of knowledge when it came to wrestling. It was, it was cool to talk about that with Magnum this past weekend.

We were all in Kentucky. So yeah. Yeah.

Cause you said you got to, uh, 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. And he was, let's, let's make no mistake. He was a genius. I feel when it came to the, uh, the, the knowledge of wrestling and one of the most creative guys I've ever known was the American name. He 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 dream was maybe even a step above what Raven could do. 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 Paige and some of the guys who've been instrumental help and others feed some of this knowledge into me and not pass that on, like I said, would probably be terrible. Well, before we go, yeah, I saw a video that your church did one time on your transition, your transformation, you know, as a believer in Jesus. What would you say, Lody, as a Christ follower, I know you're part of some great organizations like Christian wrestling organization there in Texas.

What would you say to someone out there listening that doesn't know, have a relationship with Jesus? I grew up in the church. I knew of Jesus and I had great parents that instilled that I made 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 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, if I feel it'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 that 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 the biggest decision we're ever going to make, I think on this plan, 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 is something I love in 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 been one of the greatest things ever, and if I look back on my life, I was having a conversation with a lady yesterday, and I said, I've had two occupations, 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. And so I'm thankful for that, and I want to spend the rest of my life serving Him. Well, and you know, I know you got kind of a label called Team Fearless, and of course, the Bible says, don't be ashamed of the Gospel. And so, you know, I appreciate you sharing a little bit of that story as well. We're going to have you back on another segment, on another show, and let's talk a little bit more about that. And so for those out there listening today, I mean, you heard some of Lodi's amazing story as a professional wrestler and how he got into that. 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 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.com. It's yourflexappeal.com. And all of my social media, I'm pretty easy to find. It's Lodi1brad 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, 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. Men, I would like to challenge each of you to consider spending five days with Lex Luger and I at Man Camp, pursuing the heart of God. Ladies, if you're listening, we'll send your men home better equipped to be men of God, godly husbands and godly fathers. That appeals to you. Give them your blessing and encourage them to sign up today at mancamp.info. Pastors, if you would like to bring Kolof for Christ Ministries and Man Up Conference to your community, go to kolof.org and email me.

Remember this, it's time to man up. Now key to Kolof, the Russian nightmare here for Crescent Automotive. If buying a car is a nightmare for you, my friends Brian and Jamie Johnson at Crescent Automotive make it simple to find your pre-owned dream car with no hassle, affordable windshield pricing. No matter where you live, they will get your American dream car to you, baby. DriveCrescent.com is all you need to know. Their whole inventory is right there with the right price. Everybody drives a Crescent.

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