Q&A With Koloff- #51

This is Stu Epperson from the Truth Talk Podcast, connecting current events, pop culture, and theology, and we're so grateful for you that you've chosen the Truth Podcast Network. It's about to start in just a few seconds.

Enjoy it, and please share it around with all your friends. Thanks for listening, and thanks for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network. Not the key to Koloff here. Questions and answers, Q&A with Koloff, the devil's nightmare. Welcome back to another episode, Q&A with Koloff.

That's right, questions and answers, but it's not where I'm asking you the questions, although I still might. It's you asking me, and if you'd like to have a personal phone call from The Russian Nightmare, then submit your questions to koloff.net, and I'll reach out to you and get you on the show. But today, a special guest, Chris Chicago. That's right, that's his actual real name. Chris, welcome to the Q&A show.

It is so good to be here with The Russian Nightmare. Well, and it's great to have you here, and I know from our friendship and prior conversations that you were a wrestling fan growing up, and we're going to get to your questions in just a moment, but before we do, would you give our audience, give our listeners a quick backdrop on who Chris Chicago is? Sure, I'm a radio guy. I've been in Christian radio, mainstream radio as well as the top 40 in the country for 20-plus years, currently on the way FM, and getting ready to launch a new Christian hip-hop radio station, which is at-base called SoFlo Radio, and I work with a lot of artists in the music industry.

I currently manage a hip-hop artist named Ty Brazel, and yeah, Dodge just really used me to work in music for a long time, and I love doing it. Music and radio, man. Yeah, and so people can find, is it wayfm.com, or is that how people can find Chris Chicago? Yeah, you know, just dot Chris Chicago on all social medias. That's the best way to find me, dot Chris Chicago, and I would love to connect with you.

Wonderful, and be sure to tune in to Way FM and catch Chris. He's an amazing personality, amazing radio personality, and we go back quite a few years back to Nashville, Tennessee, when I met you and your beautiful family, right? Tell us about your beautiful family too. Yeah, I've been married 18 years. I got four amazing, beautiful kids, and yeah, we're in Houston, Texas. We're a homeschool family, so we get to spend a lot of time with each other. I work from home, and yeah, it's great.

That's pretty cool. So you get to work from home, so you broadcast from home, which is really, really cool, and you get the benefit and the blessing of being around all of your children. Dad is right there present and accounted for, right?

Yeah, which is huge. I think it's crazy because I've worked from home most of my career, and in the last five years, I was at a radio station in Houston, and so I was away from the home, and so my first two kids grew up with me around when they were little. My six-year-old did not. He did not have me around when he was little because I was at the radio station, and now my newest, my two-year-old has got around, and it's crazy. I was talking to my wife just the other day. I could definitely tell the difference in my relationship with the kids, you know, with the three kids that have had me around when they were little and then the one kid who did not have me around when I was little.

I can tell the subtle differences of not having Dad around, which is crazy. Wow, that is interesting, and it speaks volumes because, you know, I minister to a lot of men, Chris. I mean, I do a one-day conference called Man Up Conference. Lex Luger and I, as you know, I know you're familiar with the total package, Lex Luger. Total package. Yeah, he and I co-facilitate. All-American.

That's right. He and I co-facilitate. We co-facilitate a camp called Man Camp. God gave us that vision back in 2015, a five-day catalyst.

We bring men in, and our goal, our hope for all the ladies listening out there, our hope is to send men home better equipped to be godly men, godly husbands, and godly fathers. And so it's interesting that you can see the subtle differences, the subtle nuances of when you were home and weren't home in that six-year-old and emphasizing the importance of a dad in the home, right? Yeah, it's crazy. I think we see in society and culture the effects of not having a dad or a father in the home.

For real. And I think what you and Lex are doing is just phenomenal, and I pray for you guys, and I really hope that anyone listening right now will not underestimate the power. It's how God designed the family, and that's how God expects it to be. And so, man, I hope that we can find a solution to that problem of not having a father in the home.

Yeah, and hopefully Lex and I are making an impact and doing our part, at least helping men be those servant leaders that you're referencing. Okay, real quick, before we get to your questions, who does more of the homeschooling, you or your bride? Oh, I'm the principal, so I accept them when there needs to be some discipline. I love that. Other than that, my wife is the total teacher.

However, we do have some help, though, from her parents who are in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They'll do Zoom classes with my kids, with my kids, and my mom will do Zoom classes and do some flashcards with the kids as well, and so we have help from family. That is really cool. Hey, I think you just gave maybe some of the listeners out there another idea on if they're not implementing that into their own homeschooling, that they can now consider doing something like that. So, okay, well, let's transition here and, you know, if you've got a couple, three questions for me, I have no clue what you're going to ask, but go ahead and fire away, Chris. Well, I was pretty intrigued by something I read on Twitter the other day. I was, you know, just searching around on Twitter. I think I was looking for some show prep for my radio show, and I saw that Nikita Koloff was trending on my Twitter. I said, this is my friend.

This is my buddy. What's going on? What are people talking about Nikita Koloff for? And I clicked on the story, and I don't know if you knew, but a lot of people were talking about a story that had popped up online recently of you and the Nature Boy, of you and Rick Flair, and it's a story that's been circulating about how you had left wrestling when your wives had cancer. Correct me if I'm on here.

Correct. And the story that I read is that Rick Flair was trying to get me to come back into the business, and he actually offered to drop the title to you to come back into the business. Is that a true story? It is truth, and, you know, I'm sitting here in the radio station of Truth Network, so I have to tell the truth.

But it is 100% true, but not only once, but twice, Chris. So I'm probably one of the few. There may be others out there.

I don't know. But there's too many guys who, in fact, I heard the words out of their own mouth. You don't even have to pay me. Just give me a belt.

Give me a title. I'm like, ah, you're in the business for the wrong reason. But that said, I'm probably one of the few that were offered the prestigious NWA World Heavyweight title and turned it down not once, but twice. Wow. Do you ever have regrets? No.

No. Really, honestly, none. I mean, I had every other title, basically, that the NWA, more or less, all the major titles that they offered. Fans will say, oh, you should have won, or they should have put it on you at the American Bash or at Starrcade. Looking back, honestly, Chris, one, I wouldn't have been ready for it at the Great American Bash or Starrcade. I really wouldn't have because I was only 13 months and maybe 26 months into my career.

So I was still learning. But even later on, looking back, because what people don't understand is back in those days, that belt, to have that title, a lot of pressure came with that, believe it or not. Because it wasn't like how they do it modern day, how they flip a belt in a matter of three hours. I mean, Bruno Sammartino held the world heavyweight title for the WWWF like seven or eight years before Uncle Ivan dethroned him, right?

In Madison Square Garden, it almost created a riot, like legit riot, when the Russian bear beat Bruno Sammartino, the legendary Bruno. And so there was a lot of pressure that came with that. And some may or may not understand or know, too, you had to put up a $25,000 bond if you were going to carry that title around because they wanted to make sure you didn't run off with it. And so you had to be willing to come back and drop it to somebody else. And so all that to say, I didn't feel I needed that in terms of establishing my career because it was already established.

And so I know it's kind of a long answer to do I regret not having it, but I really don't because I at this point can say I'm one of the few guys who was offered to and turn it down, right? So yeah, that's amazing. Yeah. So you talked about how, you know, title changes or certain things happening in the wrestling world that could cause riots and get fans up in arms. I've heard stories that now for a long time, you know, you were a hated wrestler. Your character was hated. You were the Russian nightmare, right? Yeah.

They loved to hate me. Yes. So I heard that it could be, if you wrestled in places like Puerto Rico, for instance, it could actually get dangerous for the wrestlers. One, did you ever wrestle in Puerto Rico? And two, was it ever dangerous for you?

Yes and yes. And I'll give you a little backstory for those who are listening who maybe don't know. I love Puerto Rico now. I wasn't a fan of it then, however. For the record, because yeah, in fact, I vividly remember.

So here's the deal. Like I remember going, they were taking us into the stadium, an outdoor stadium, and we were in a van, but it was like, I mean, it was like, I think the only glass was on the windshield of the van. I mean, and they had AK-47 guards escorting us, trying to get the crowd back enough to get the van through the crowd, to get us to the stadium, to get us into the locker room, the dressing room. And then, you know, there were cage matches, right, in wrestling? Cage matches. Well, they had a cage all the way from like the dugout all the way down the entire aisle and all the way around the cage, not to keep the wrestlers in the ring, to keep the fans out of the ring, okay? And so that's one memory. Another memory in an indoor arena, I'm walking to the ring and they have very few fans at ringside, very few.

They typically have them up in a balcony or away from us. And all of a sudden I'm like, ow, you know, and I'm like, I got hit on the back of my arm. I look down and it's a spark plug. Somebody had thrown a spark plug at me and it gaffed open my arm. So when I grabbed my arm, I had blood on my hand from being hit with the spark plug. And so those are two of several stories I could tell you about Puerto Rico. It was a rough place for the bad guy. It didn't help that I was wrestling Hercules Ayala, the Puerto Rican heavyweight champion, by the way.

That didn't help. Oh, wow. Yes. There you go. I remember, I remember when I was little, there's a match that you had on TBS.

I think if I remember correctly, you were, I think you were, you were getting a TV, a TV champion, TV title shot. Okay. Against totally, totally Blanchard.

Okay. I don't know if you remember that, but yeah, I was a huge four horseman fan. I always loved holy. And, um, I love that he's back in the spotlight of wrestling.

I love how they're utilizing him. Um, and AEW, I don't know if, if you have seen any of his work recently there, um, is there any future appearances from the Russian nightmare in your future of either AEW or the WWE coming back as maybe a coach or a manager or the leader of affection? Do you see, do you see that potentially happening? Interesting question, Chris.

Hmm. Um, well, let me just first say, um, for all those listening out there, if you hadn't listened to my interview with Tully Blanchard, um, go back to the archives and pull up the two-part interview. I had so many wonderful comments. Uh, in fact, I told Tully, dude, I got to have you on again that people are asking for you to come back. Um, cause we told some stories.

He told some stories, I think never, never before told stories, um, on the interview or, or stories he hadn't referenced in a long, long, long time. And so, uh, so be sure to go back and, and reference that or go back and listen to the, those interviews. Um, and then, but I also have to say too that, yeah, him and staying in RNA Anderson and, you know, some of the most professional, uh, you know, staying an icon in wrestling. So I'm thrilled about how AEW is, is using those. I agree with you.

I'm thrilled how they are using utilizing those guys. Um, all that to say, I mean, there certainly makes sense, right? There would be a natural angle, what we would call an angle in professional wrestling, or you might even say a natural storyline, obviously sting and I were on the opposite ends of the, you know, of the chain in a chain match at times. And then we were a part of, I was a part of sting squadron for the war game. So there's some obvious history there. Tully and I for the world, I actually defeated Tully for the world TV title belt. Um, and of course, Arne and I had matches against each other for that belt.

Arne also wore the world TV title belt. And so there's history there, right? All that to say, um, I have been, uh, if you want to say coaching, mentoring, uh, tutoring a team, a team called Koloff dynasty, um, Neil and Alexander Koloff, my adopted nephews. Now I say adopted nephews, uh, cause we're telling this story slightly different from when uncle Ivan brought in nephew Nikita right from Russia, right? Um, for those who don't know that story, go buy the book, koloff.net, go buy the book, Nikita, a tale of the ring of redemption.

You'll get the whole story. Um, but we're not trying to tell that story exactly the same way, you know, like they're, they're right off the boat from Russia. Like I was, these were two professionals who had already had a story career in professional wrestling, you know, 10, 15 year career who approached me and said, we'd love to carry on the Koloff name.

We'd love to carry it on. And I'm very familiar with these guys. And of course they perfected their craft. And so we did a whole, our own little video story vignettes of telling the story, how they, uh, really proved themselves to, to be christened with the Koloff name. And so Chris, you may or may not realize our listeners may or may not realize, but the Koloff name actually goes back to the 1930s, Dan Koloff from Bulgaria, who had a storied professional wrestling career, uh, and movie career. Like for real, like back in the 1930s, along comes no clue. Yeah.

Yeah. Long comes Ivan Koloff in the 1960s, Nikita Koloff in the 1980s. And now Neil and Alexander have been christened the Koloff dynasty, a tag team for this, for this era for this decade. So all that to say, whether or not WWE, AEW, impact wrestling, or another organization might actually give them a shot at some belts or, or even, uh, a match we'll, we'll wait to see.

And, uh, you never know what can happen in wrestling. So I'll just kind of leave it, leave it like a good saga, leave it hanging right there. Okay.

I love it. So here's another question. Um, I know in the eighties he's staying in character.

Well, what do they call it? K K fade, right? Correct. I mean, when you went to restaurants or, uh, the store or anything where you had to be in public, did you have to stay? I mean, did you have to order your drinks and your food as the Russian nightmare or could you be Nikita? So, so you, the key to your question is, did I have to stay in character?

Okay. That's the, that's the key word in, in that whole question. The short answer would be no, I, I, it wasn't, it was not required of me to stay in character. However, uh, I'm a kind of like you, Chris, and I know from your backstory, you're an all in kind of guy, right? I mean, if you're, if you're going to be, you know, if you're going to be serving Jesus, you're all in right.

Um, and, and, and that's my persona as well. I mean, going back to the day, age 12 in weightlifting, bodybuilding, I'm all in, you know, if it's football, I'm all in. If it's professional wrestling, I'm all in.

If it's serving Jesus, I'm all in. There's, there's just no other way to it. And so I made the decision on my own, Jim Crockett Jr.

The promoter did not ask me nor have this conversation with me. I made the decision to legally change my name. I made the decision to learn how to sign my name in Russian. I made the decision to learn a few words. Uh, no, I do not speak fluent Russian, so don't even attempt it. Um, but I made that decision and I made the decision to stay in character 24-7, any, anywhere in public and sometimes even in private, like dressing rooms and everything else.

And lastly, for three years post career, when I chose under my own terms to walk away, Chris, I still maintained that persona anywhere in public or even in my gym for eight or 10 or 12 hours a day with that accent. Okay, so we're going to play a little game here, Nikita. You, it's, it's nine, it's the 1980s. You're in your car. You're going through the McDonald's drive-through and I'm about to take your order. Hi, welcome to McDonald's. What can I get you today?

You know, usually I make people pay for this Chris, but because it's you, because it's you. All right. Uh, give me, I think, uh, give me like a large fry, big, big size, that big size. Like how you call, how do you call a super, super, super size.

Uh, yeah. French fries, super size. And, and, and, and I take, uh, uh, the big Mac, I don't want a little Mac. I want, I want a big, big Mac. Give me big Mac. Uh, and yeah, that's what I want. And, and make it in hurry. I I'm hungry. He's going to do, you make it faster. You make it fast.

You hear I'm down. Yeah. Oh, that's fantastic.

Pronto you make Pronto call. Come, come, come, come. Ah, Chris has been awesome. Yeah.

Uh, that's it. I think that's a great way to cap the Q and A with Koloff today. That's a, that's a great, I, I can't thank you enough for, uh, setting some time aside and coming on. I love your family. I love your heart. You're doing amazing things in Christian music. Keep it up. And, uh, yeah, I look forward to hopefully our, our paths across and we can break some bread together here down the road.

Oh, we got to make it happen, man. I miss you. It's so good to hear your voice. And I love how God is continuing to use you, man. Thanks, Chris.

Well, God bless you, my friend. And we'll, we'll talk again sooner than later. Okay. Sounds good.

All right. Dial in again for another episode of Q and A with Koloff. Thanks for tuning in PSA public service announcement coming soon. It's coming. It's coming. Hey, if you have enjoyed the man up radio show and or the man of podcast tuned to morningstartv.com to catch the new man up show on TV. That's right. Morningstartv.com. Be sure to tune in. This is the truth network.