Q&A With Koloff- #108

This is Darren Kuhn with the Masculine Journey Podcast, where we search the ancient paths to find ways that God brings light into a dark world and helps set men free from the struggles that we all face on a day-to-day basis. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it.

Share it. But most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. I'm excited to announce that I will be hosting my first-ever Holy Land Tour. That's right, a trip to the Holy Land with the Russian Nightmare. And I'm extending a personal invitation to you. Join me December 27, 2023 to January 5, 2024 for a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

Go to natinakolof.com and get registered today for the Holy Land Tour. Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is set for one flaw. Introducing first, from Lithuania, he weighs 123 kilos, the Russian Nightmare, Nikita Kolov. Welcome to another episode Q&A with Kolov, the Devil's Nightmare. Just a special show today I've got with me. Just gosh, I met these guys at the, it's called the NRB, the National Religious Broadcasting Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. And they were doing a special concert for Truth Radio Network. And of course, I'm referring to this group called Sunday Drive. Jeff, Misty, and Dusty Treese, welcome to the Q&A show with Kolov.

Oh, thank you so much. We're happy to be here. Well, great to have you guys here with me today.

And of course, let's take a couple minutes and just talk about that. Maybe Misty, I'll maybe start with you and just tell our listening audience who Sunday Drive is. Sunday Drive is a family band from Knoxville, Tennessee.

It consists of my husband, Jeff, and his brother, Dusty, and myself, Misty Treese. And Sunday Drive has been around for how long have you guys been traveling and singing together? Well, we've all been in music pretty much our whole lives. However, Sunday Drive formed and started in 2009.

Okay. And so you said your whole lives, let me go ahead and bounce to Jeff first. So Jeff, you come, I do know a little bit of the story, you come from a music family. Your family toured before Sunday Drive came about and was formed. You toured as a family, right?

Yes. Cedar Ridge, my family group started in 1967 as Cedar Ridge. And then I came on board when I was 13 years old and started playing the piano for my family group. It started out as my mom and dad, my aunt and my uncle. And they traveled around locally, but in the 80s, it kind of took off from them and they got some national songs and things. And so we toured a little bit more extensively. And it ended up being my older brother, Dwayne, and myself, and my mom and dad, and my little brother, Dusty, and you know, usually a few more.

Okay. Cedar Ridge. And how many years then did the, as a family, did you guys travel as Cedar Ridge? Well, my mom passed away in 97.

She was the lead singer. And so it started in 67. So Cedar Ridge had about 30 years span. We went for about a year after that without mom. And then my older brother decided to start having kids and raising children.

So he went into the car business, selling cars, and opened the car lot. And then, so Dusty and myself, Dusty was just a little boy at the time. And so, and the guitar player for Cedar Ridge, we kept traveling as Jeff Treece Band.

And it was usually three of us, sometimes four guys. We were a boy band. And then in 2009, I married Misty, January 17th. And so we went that year as Jeff Treece Band. And at the end of the year, we changed the name to Sunday Drive because Misty was a whole lot better singer than I was. And so we thought, it don't need to be Jeff Treece Band, you know, once we got a good singer here.

Well, that's amazing. And so Dusty, so you come into the place, so Jeff was 13. How old are you when you became a part of the family band? I was around 12 years old when I started playing drums for the family. And it just kept progressing from there. And then we went on the road to Jeff Treece Band. And I started out as a percussionist for Jeff Treece Band, then I switched over to drums.

And for Sunday Drive, I played drums and sing tenor. Awesome. And so Misty comes into the picture, gives it a new face, a new look, right?

And a new name. Misty, I know there's a new era of gospel music. And Misty, I know there's a story there on how you guys, how the name Sunday Drive came about. Can you take a minute and share that with our listening audience?

Sure, I'd be glad to. Sunday Drive is a special thing for me because as a child, me, my mom and dad would go to church on Sunday, we'd go out to eat, and then we'd take a Sunday drive. And we didn't necessarily have a destination, but it was just the time together as family, that one on one time and just enjoying the beauty of God's creation as we go. And so from that, that became the inspiration for becoming the group name, Sunday Drive.

Yeah, yeah. And Sunday drives were always so relaxing and enjoyable. They were just a time to sit back and relax and enjoy the journey.

Well, you're out there. And I've actually taken a few Sunday drives of my own. I've got a convertible Corvette. I put the top down on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I just take some back roads.

We call it looking at God's creation, right? And no hurry, and hopefully nobody gets behind me so I can just go as slow as I want to go and just take it all in. I can actually relate to what you're saying and how cool that that became an inspiration for your group name. That's awesome. Yeah, I'm very thankful, very thankful. And I love the name. Whenever I talk about it, it just, it relaxes me because I know the joy that I had when we took them as a child, and we still take them today.

That's awesome. Well, Jeff, so what genre, like if people want to find Sunday drive, find your music, Jeff, what genre, what do they look for? Where do they go and what do they look for? Well, they can, they can check out our music at our, you know, as far as purchasing a CD or something at our website at sundaydrivemusic.com or on any platform, whether it be Spotify or Pandora, any streaming platform, we're available and anywhere music sold, you can find our music. I guess you would consider us, uh, uh, the, the, we've got dub nominated, multi-dub nominated this year, and, uh, it was under the bluegrass country roots. We're not bluegrass. We don't have banjo. So I guess we'd be considered country roots and, uh, which is probably under, falls underneath the southern gospel field, but we just call it gospel music.

We share Jesus and gospel, you know, to anyone waiting to listen. Well, that's awesome. And congratulations, by the way, it's quite an honor to be up for a dub nomination. So congratulations on that as well.

Yep, absolutely. Dusty, last question before we transitioned here to your questions for me, I know you guys go out on tour as well. So about, about how many shows a year do you guys tour?

We do around a hundred shows a year. We used to, uh, do a few more, but recently I've got two, I've got a four year old and a seven year old at my house. So it's very wild at my house. It's been a little more time at home. Yeah, you got your hands full.

Yeah, you got your hands full with a four year old and a seven year old. Oh yeah. It is wide open 24 seven. That's awesome. So, so a hundred, a hundred concerts a year, live concerts a year, and, and, and I'm guessing website as well to find out where you're touring.

Is that right? Yeah, just under the tour tab on sundaydrivemusic.com and we'll have everything you need on there. And we also are on bands in town too. You can, if you're on bands in town, the app, you can subscribe and to tell us, uh, tell you when we're in your area automatically. Uh, that's, that's awesome. Sunday drive. I know go out, uh, just want to encourage you to support their music and, and, uh, you know, pick up some copies of their music and download and go, go watch them live in concert.

I was blessed to watch them live in concert in Nashville and, and they will bless you. And so, uh, wonderful. Well, dusty, since I got you on the phone now, let me go first. Let me let you ask the first question. Okay.

Since you and I are talking, uh, the, the, what do you have in mind for me today? Well, I had read that in addition to wrestling, you had also been a football player and what I'd read said that you were a defensive lineman and a receiver. Was that correct? Correct. Yes, sir. That's not something you hear very often.

The defensive lineman playing. So, all right. So let me give you a little back to it. That's it.

That's it. I don't think I've ever been asked that question before. So it's really cool question. I'm excited to answer it because, you know, I, of course, most people, many people know my wrestling history and story and not, not everybody, but a lot of people. And, and, uh, but, but I didn't grow up dreaming of being a wrestler. I mean, I was passionate about football, right? I mean, give me a helmet and shoulder pads.

Let me knock somebody's head off. Right. So, so I was passionate about it and weightlifting. And so actually to give you a little more of the backstory. So earlier on in, in my football career, uh, I played wide receiver and, and then, and I was a punter for our varsity team as, as a, as a sophomore and kicked the kickoff and all of that as a sophomore. One of only three guys actually in my sophomore class that, that not only dressed for varsity, but actually got to play in varsity games as a sophomore. Uh, and, and so as time went on, uh, and, and I got bigger, which by the way, uh, I don't know how big a wrestling fans you guys are, but, but those who are listening out there right now, who also played wide receiver on that same football team was a guy named Ravishing Rick Rude. Uh, he was on that same high school football team. In addition to that, uh, one, one of our other defensive players was a guy named Kurt Henning, Mr. Perfect, Kurt Henning. Another lineman was a guy by the name of Barry Darsel, who would go on to be Crusher Khrushchev and Demolition Smash. All the same team and one more, and one other offensive lineman, defensive lineman was a guy by the name of John Nord, who wrestled as Nord the Berserker, Nord the, uh, barbarian or something, I think. But anyway, yeah, all five of us on the same high school football team.

Right. Um, so I, it is crazy. It's really crazy to think about it. Somebody needs to do a movie on that one day.

But anyway, uh, if you're listening out there, you're a movie director, producer, writer, uh, do a movie on, on this Robbinsdale high school story. Anyway, so fast forward, I'm getting older, I'm getting bigger. So then I actually went from wide receiver, came in closer and played tight end.

So that would make a little more sense, right? To playing tight end. Getting closer to defensive line. Closer to defensive line. So then I started playing tight end and defensive end, but not only in high school, I actually, uh, played some of both in college, which is even more unusual, right? To, uh, yeah, it wasn't necessarily a two way starter, uh, maybe for some of the games and I, I may have played more defense than offense or offense than defense. Um, and, and then, uh, in the latter part of my college career, I was scouted by the NFL and I was now being scouted as a tight end, but my, my coach also put me in on goal line defense just because of how aggressive I was.

And I guess you might say how insane I was. He's like, okay, we need this guy on the goal line for defense. So there you go. So there, there's, there's the, the, the, all, all, when I, when I saw, um, I said, it said wide receiver and defensive line, I was like, how on earth does that work? That is one big wide receiver that you're thinking, right? Hey, they couldn't tackle you though.

That's right. Well, but interestingly enough, you know, some, some of the, the athletes today, as we all know, are, I mean, including some of those wide receivers and guys now that are technically a tight end, but they split them out wide and some very gifted, uh, skilled players out there nowadays. So I guess that was just before my time. That's all I'm going to conclude by saying that I was before my time. So, all right, well, I'm going to, I'm going to bounce to Jeff and let the, let the, the lady of the group, uh, finish with the last question. So Jeff, what questions do you have for me today? Well, um, when I was younger and growing up, um, uh, we, uh, we didn't have cable and things.

We just had the three stations and I got it kind of a two part. We're from Knoxville, Tennessee and, and, uh, our mayor is Glenn Jacobs and, um, so do you know, have you, uh, ever wrestled with Glenn? Of course, the people will know him as Cain. Right.

And, um, so have I ever wrestled him? 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. If you would like to support Koloff for Christ ministries for a gift of $25, Nikita will send you his two CDs adoration and declaration for a gift of $50. Nikita will include his book wrestling with success and for a gift of $100 or more, Nikita will include a signed copy of his newly updated life story, a tale of the ring and redemption.

Go to www.koloff.net and donate today. You're listening to the truth network and truthnetwork.com. Yeah. Have you ever, ever been in the ring with Glenn?

I had not been, uh, we were somewhat, I guess what you might say in a different era in that I was, uh, uh, eighties and early nineties. And, and of course I made a decision to walk away, retire from wrestling at, at age 33, which is pretty unusual for that industry. And, uh, I think Glenn was just really ramping up his, his career and of course him and, and, uh, uh, I, I wrestled his, uh, I guess his brother, uh, uh, the undertaker, um, mean Mark Callas when he was mean Mark Callas in WCW. Yeah. And WCW had a few handful of matches against mean Mark. And, uh, then he won a course. Yeah. Yeah. And, and of course the undertaker and, and Kane, you know, did that, had a pretty storied career there.

WWF now WWE. Um, and it actually just saw, uh, Glenn relative. We were actually sharing the platform together, speaking at a, at a, at an event, uh, recently.

And so got to, got to say hi to Glenn. And, and so I don't know him all that well, but, uh, he certainly had a great career. And so, so tell me, how's he doing as a mayor from, from pro wrestler to mayor, how's he doing as a mayor? I love him as a mayor. And, uh, I'll vote for him every time. He's, he's sticking with the people. He, he stands up for us and he don't take, you know, he don't, he don't take no junk into the ring.

Well, he don't take it in political ring either. I mean, he stands up to them. So he's just transferred, uh, that from, from, from inside the squared circle to He's a tough guy. He's a tough guy and I like it.

Good. Imagine trying to stand across the debate stage. I know for those who don't know, he is a, he is a big man. Like, like we're talking about how big I was right.

Physically big for, you know, to play football, but yeah, he is a very large man. Right. So very imposing figure, very intimidating and posing figure. Right. Yeah.

He's very intimidating, but when you start talking to him, he's kind of like a gentle son. Yeah. Soft spoken.

Soft spoken. Right. Yeah.

Don't ring a bell. Right. Yeah. Which is kind of conflicts with what you, what you saw on television. Right.

But, uh, his persona and television versus his personality in real life. Right. So.

Yeah. Now when I was a kid, there was this character. Now I don't think he was national, but you might've run across him. His name was Ron Brock.

Okay. I remember a guy named Ron Brock. He wrestled around here with a big deal around here and, um, uh, and he was great.

You know, he would, you know, uh, he would still his whole face was bloody. Right. And, uh, but, uh, yeah, and that's what a lot of areas have their people.

It's not national. I don't ask my question, I guess, is, do you ever run across anybody like that? You know, that, uh, that's not your, you are regional and regional guys.

You ever have to, uh, wrestling those or visit or anything. Uh, so, so the terminology in today's world is indie, indie circuit independence. Right. Um, and back, back in the day, the, those more localized or regionalized guys, uh, would have, would have been, uh, uh, a very fancy term they have nowadays is called enhancement talent. Uh, and so, so, uh, we would've, I know, right.

It's kind of like sanitation worker versus garbage collector. Right. But anyway, I'm just saying, I'm just saying, okay. But all that to say, um, so there is always a possibility. Many of the, many of those underneath guys, uh, we we'd film in local markets, uh, would, would, might've been on the show and, and making us, you might say, quote, superstars look good for television. Right. And the TV was quite different back then. And, and, and, and wrestling was quite different back then. I'll say this just real quick.

Uh, then we'll get onto the Misty's question here. And that is in fact, vice TV, for those who are listening, not familiar, they just, they did a series a while back called, uh, tales of the territories. And of course, Knoxville in its day was a wrestling territory, uh, just like Jerry Lawler had Memphis wrestling and the Von Erichs had world-class in Texas and Jim Crocker promotions had mid Atlantic. And there was Florida championship, Georgia championship, St. Louis, the AWA up in Minneapolis and Vern, uh, Ganya. And of course, Vince McMahon senior up in, up in Northeast, et cetera, et cetera. And so we would come across a lot of those guys in our travels and they might be on the underneath cards. And so it's possible.

I may have met him and, or wrestled him. It doesn't come to immediate memory, but, uh, that's a, that's a great question. So, well, let's have a, uh, There was these two little older ladies used to, every time we would sing in Knoxville, they would be on the front row and they would just praise the Lord and raise their hand and everything. And, you know, it was like these two sweet little old ladies.

Okay. And they just come up, Oh, you're so precious. God bless you. And one night I'm watching the local, uh, wrestling on TV and on the front row of wrestling, they were up there going, kill him, kill him. So these two sweet little old ladies were on the front row of our gospel concert.

They were also on the front row of the wrestling match saying kill him. And so I'm like, you know, wrestling and gospel music really is, fits close. We do the same thing. Well, let me, let me, let me just say this real quick. Okay. So, so you have no idea how many times I have heard it said, you know, I've wrapped up a church, I've preached on a Sunday morning or something. Right.

And, and, uh, and people will come out or I'll be doing an autograph signing and people will come to my table and they'll say this. My grandma or my grandpa, right. It's like either or, and they go, they loved two things.

And they'll say they love church on Sunday morning and they love professional wrestling. And, uh, and so it doesn't, one doesn't seem really to kind of to go with the other. However, um, yeah, that's, you're not the first to tell me a story like that, but it is too funny. Right. So, well, let's roll over. Misty, you, you get the final word, the final question, uh, that we'll, we'll wrap up the show today.

What do you got for me? Okay. Well, I was the eighties wrestling girl. I remember you, Nikita. I remember Tommy Ritz. You know, I can go down the list, had the posters and all that kind of stuff. Come on! You should see Robbie's face right now, by the way.

Hey, let me just hold that thought just for a second. Robbie Dilmore, who else produced this show, was the main, the main man here. Uh, he, he knew nothing about wrestling when I first started.

Now his wife knew some things, but so his, his face right now, when you said I was the wrestling girl, I wish I could have taken a snapshot of that. Anyway. All right.

Go ahead. Tommy Ritz. Tommy Ritz, all that good stuff.

Had the posters and all that kind of stuff. But my question is, what is your greatest memory from wrestling? Like one of, maybe one of your, your most, your, your, I know there's probably several, but what's your greatest memory from it? Gosh, you know, and I do get asked that question fairly often. And, and it's, it's, I mean, it's, it's, it's really is hard to, to, to, uh, to use a wrestling term, pin it down, pin, pin it down to ha ha ha.

To nail it or pin it to what, you know, down to one match. But, but, um, uh, like for real, cause I mean, there were so many legendary guys that I had the privilege of, of, of wrestling. I mean, guy from, uh, you know, guys like, like dusty roads, right? Like, like, uh, the road warriors, Ric Flair, I mean, Ricky Steamboat. I mean, go down the list.

Rick Rude. I mean, I wrestled Rick, you know, and so many guys, Lex Luger, Sting, I mean, on and on and on it goes. And, uh, but, you know, certainly sort of, I have to try to narrow it down, certainly the first ever match against the nature boy, Ric Flair at the great American bash in 1985. Um, was certainly memorable. I don't know how many, 25, 30, 35,000 people, you know, I'm only 13 months into my wrestling career.

So I'm still a novice. Right. And, and, and yet I'd become the world tag team champion, the world six man champion. And now I'm the, I am the may all eyes on me, right.

For the world heavyweight title, uh, against, uh, one of the biggest matches ever, the great American bash. And so that certainly, uh, is, is one of, uh, one of many, but, uh, that's one for sure. So that's awesome.

We're thankful for all that you've done through the years and we're thankful for you having us today. Can I, when I told my friends I was coming on this, uh, they like sent me a hundred questions and if I don't ask at least one friend, they're probably going to be really mad at me. Okay.

All right. Uh, uh, where you are, they want to know if you, if y'all were friends off of the, uh, out of friends. Usually I get, were you, were you an uncle live and related, you know, was he really your uncle?

That's normally why I got, I'm like, well, he was as much an uncle to me as, as any uncle I ever had. And, uh, all that, all that to say, uh, we, we became, we certainly were, were, were friends inside the wrestling circles and became even better friends, uh, outside of, of the wrestling world. Uh, and I, since you asked and I brought it up, you know, I, I invited him to a revival in 1995. Uh, he showed up, didn't know he was there until I saw him at the altar surrendering his life to Jesus in 1995 and became a Jesus lover the rest of his life, uh, up until his passing, going home to be with the Lord. And was, and was blessed to speak at a very small, intimate grave, uh, side service for him that his wife Renee had asked me to speak at. And so there you go.

I did ask if you'd went to the funeral to that. So that's, that's awesome. Yeah. Well, well, that's just, if you got a hundred questions, that just means we'll have to have, have you guys back on, uh, on Q and A another time. Yeah, take two.

That's right. Take two. All right. Just real quick before we, before we roll. Uh, one more time, your website, tell everyone your website where they can get Sunday music, Sunday drive music.

One more time. sundaydrivemusic.com. There you go.

And you can cross on all streaming platforms. Anywhere you can find music, we will be there. You just got to search Sunday drive. Cross on all social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram to start Sunday drive and we'll pop up. Awesome.

Sunday drive, Jeff, Misty and Dusty Treece. Thank you guys for being on Q and A with Koloff today. And thank you. Thank you.

Thank you guys. And thank you for tuning in to another episode. God bless you. Have an amazing day. This podcast is made possible by the grace of God and your faithful prayers, support and generous gifts. May God bless you for your continual contributions. Go to koloff.net and donate today.

Hi, 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. Hi, Nikita Koloff here, and I am excited to announce the second annual Man Up Men's Conference, a champions summit at Morningstar Ministries in Fort Mill, South Carolina, June 15th through the 17th. We have another amazing lineup of speakers, including football legend Perry Tuttle from the national champion Clemson Tigers, Stu Epperson, founder of Truth Radio, a champion for truth, pastors Chris Reed and Rick Joyner, champions for Jesus, Shawn and Krista Smith, champions for the family, radio show host Robbie Dilmore, and last but not least, comedian Lee McBride. I want to challenge every man to attend and every dad and granddad out there to bring your son or grandson of any age. We're going to do something special just for you.

It is Father's Day weekend. So get registered today. You don't want to miss a champion summit. Why?

Because it's time to man up. Go to NikitaKoloff.com for more information or to sign up today. 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 WSMC the number one dot com because you are number one. This is the Truth Network.