Q&A With Koloff- #136

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When only the best is needed, see Dr. Johnny Gayton at eyesightassociates.com. This is the Truth Network. 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. With me today, I have the privilege of having a good friend in the studio with me today, Bill Coleman. Welcome to Q&A with Kolov. Yes, sir. Sounds good.

Great to have you here. And, you know, of course, we've known each other for, how long have we known each other? Any idea? Three, four, five, six years? Yeah, I would think about five years.

About five years, somewhere in that timeframe. And, of course, you know, you recently attended our man camp. Our listeners have heard a lot about man camp. And you recently attended that, and it was impactful for you. Very impactful. A number of ways, right?

Give maybe just one quick example how man camp impacted you personally. Well, in all honesty, like, I wasn't even sure how I could disconnect. Unplug, right?

Unplug. From society. Yeah, yeah. So, but intimate solitude and scripture was phenomenal for me. You know, I'm in the Word all the time.

I teach, I preach. But I had gotten to a point where, and you're still in the Word, you're still getting it, but I had gotten to the point where most of my time in scripture was in preparing it for others, other people. Yeah. And I'm still getting some, but as far as setting apart time to just be for me with no agenda. Right. It's been, it had been a long time. And the very first morning, we had an hour and a half quiet time.

Of course, no phones, anything like that. And it was phenomenal. I mean, I already, if that is all, if we had left at lunch, it still made an impact.

Yeah. And so it was, it was, it was incredible. And, and the kid, I've, I've stayed with it. God impressed upon my heart that I had to tithe my time. I tithe my money, you know, and I give my ministry, but I needed to tithe my time to Him.

And so every morning since then, except for one, the one night I was in the ER with my father-in-law all night long, but every day since then, I have set my clock to get up and spend that time just with no agenda except the Word and the Lord. And it has been, it's been transforming. Wow.

It's been great. So Man Camp helped, helped you establish that. It was the catalyst for that.

The catalyst for it. You know, it's interesting you mentioned that and I, I don't, you just made me think of something a number, years ago at the Lord on that note, on that note that the Lord said to me, he goes, so you can spend an hour in the gym taking care of your physical body, you know, or, or way back when, two, two plus hours in a gym, right? Now that's BC, right? Before Christ, I mean, two or three hours in the gym, right? Taking care of this body, you know, I've got to get this body, you know, looking good, right? And he goes, can you not, can you not set aside an hour to spend time with me? And man, he convicted me of the, you called it tithing of your time.

That's right. And man, if you've never considered that you're listening out there, you just think about what Bill just said, because we can get so caught up and busy in our world, right? I mean, we live in a busy world, right? And, you know, and this, of course, you're in ministry, but this can be just in life itself.

You can be a stay-at-home mom, you can be a guy out there in the marketplace, you know, selling this, that or the other, right? And get so consumed by it that you lose track of time, correct? And people tend to talk about how much they've got on the plate, and they give God the leftovers, okay? Right. But we got to tithe our time, and then he will direct all the rest.

Be intentional with it, right? First the kingdom of God, right? Right. And then what? All these other things will be added unto you. All these other things will be added unto you.

It'll all take care of itself. Your whole, and that's what I had learned with so many things on the plate that, and it's funny because I came back from man camp, was talking to my wife about it, how great it was. And she's like, great, what are you going to release? What are you going to give up? And I'm like, she's wise, and she's been on me for a while, as most people who love me.

But I said, you know what? He hasn't told me what to give up. What he's told me is, tithe your time, and he'll take care of the rest. He'll either tell me what to give up, or he'll make it all fit. That's good. But it starts with him, and so I have to start the day.

I'm not a morning person, but I have to do it to let everything else flow from that. The discipline of that, right? That's right. So that's amazing.

So 29 years of celebration, you get ready to celebrate 29 years of marriage, you get two beautiful kids who love the Lord, which is phenomenal in today's world. Right. In their 20s, right? That's right. They're in their 20s now. And, of course, I know you have shared in the past, you met your sweetheart in college.

Yeah. And you guys fell in love. And share with our listeners, just real quick, some of, speaking of being busy, what are some of the things you're involved in? Well, I mean, I have two professions. I'm a pastor, and I'm a professor. Under the role of pastor, I regularly preach. We tag team the preaching. I'm over a good part of the counseling ministry. I'm over all our missions, so the local missions that we do.

And then our international mission trips as well. And then I'm over kind of administration as well. And, yeah, and then whatever else needs to be done.

And as a professor, I teach two to three classes a semester and probably have seven classes that are assigned to me that I'm over the content of. Well, so you do have a lot, as I said, as we all do. Sure.

Sure. And so amazing. And you're a book author.

I have in front of me here, The Eternity Lens, Living in the Real World with an Eternal Perspective. Now, I'll direct people over to the Man Up show and be able to listen to that interview as we talk more about this book and other things that you're more involved in what you're doing. How can people find, you have your own website, I know. Dr. Bill Coleman dot com.

Dr. Bill Coleman dot com. They can find, and I've read it, and it's a great insightful book on how to live in the real world and maintain an eternal perspective. And I'll just kind of tease the people with that.

And then how can they find out more? You're down at He's Alive Church in Kannapolis, North Carolina. Yeah. He's Alive Church dot org. And that's our website. And I'll also, since we're on it, I'll say Luther Rice dot edu is where I teach.

And they, it's great. I mean, we have chaplains, we have pastors, we have people just wanting to further their education. But it is a Christian college and seminary. In Atlanta, Georgia.

In Atlanta. Well, and I know it's been a blessing to be a, just to have a small role in a small part in what you're involved in and what you're doing. And I know, of course, you've had me over at He's Alive in the past. We've done the Man Up Conference, we've ministered.

We'll do another one of those later this year as well. And hopefully be able to impact more of your men and or some of your congregation as well. Yes, sir. And so what a privilege getting to know you, Bill, and the impact you're making on your sphere of influence and the world around you.

I'm blessed. So, well, let's segue, let's transition. It is Q&A with Koloff. And I have no clue, no idea what you might ask. So go ahead and fire away with your first question and let's do that. Yeah. All right. So, yeah, one question that's on my mind is out of all the wrestlers that you were in contact with and wrestle with and were backstage with and all that. Who had the most divergent between their in-ring personality and their personality behind the scenes? Well, really, the first thing that pops in my head is the American dream, death, the rose, the power of power. Right.

Too sweet to be thou. Now, we hadn't really talked about it, but you grew up a wrestling fan? Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Do you have a favorite, I'll get to the, do you have a favorite wrestling story of your own? Well, in watching it live in arena was when it was in Greensboro, I can't tell you the exact year, but when Dusty Rhodes beat Ric Flair and it was unexpected, at least, you know, by me and the reaction of the crowd. Right, right. It was unexpected, but because, I mean, Flair was the champ and, you know, this was just, you know, he went around and but boom, right there. I remember I was I was in the upper deck.

Yeah. And it was it was it was phenomenal. And and then when I was in when I was in high school, we moved when I was 16 down to Sarasota, Florida, from Winston-Salem. And, you know, was we were in it down there and hosted a big WrestleMania party at my house. And it was the mega powers explode and everybody's on Hogan. So I'm going Macho Man, you know, I mean, and so Macho Man's always been been my favorite, not because I endorse the way he treated women, but he was he just was always my favorite. So, you know, I remember him, his voice and all that and just enjoyed that. And my moniker, my my my nickname is the Macho Rev.

The Macho Rev? All right. Now you're going to you're going to have to give me his voice. Come on. Come on.

Oh, yeah. The cream rises to the top. Oh, baby, you've got it down. Just saying, Bill, you you you right up there with the power of power to three to be power.

American dream does the road. If you will turn of a plumber from Austin, Texas, baby. Yeah. That's good. That's good, man. Well, I've practiced a little bit, too. That's pretty good, too. You know, I did an autograph signing recently and actually there was a guy dressed up like Macho Man.

Yeah. And I want to tell you, he looked a little bigger than Macho than Randy. But but he looked and then there was another guy.

This is online somewhere like Facebook. Somebody posted a guy that was like dressed up like Dusty Rhodes. Now, he was a smaller version of Dusty, you know, as far as like shorter and all that. But oh, my gosh, he did that.

He had the imitation down. The fans are absolutely amazing. They really are.

But Dusty was my favorite, you know, behind the scenes. That's me. You're listening to the Truth Network and Truth Network dot com. Nikita Kolof 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 Kolof fans and like it and follow today. If you would like to support Kolof for Christ Ministries for a gift of twenty five dollars, Nikita will send you his two CDs, Adoration and Declaration. For a gift of fifty dollars, Nikita will include his book Wrestling with Success. And for a gift of one hundred dollars or more, Nikita will include a signed copy of his newly updated life story, A Tale of the Ring and Redemption.

Go to www.kolof.net and donate today. You're listening to the Truth Network and Truth Network dot com. OK. You can't see it, but he's he's showing me a picture of him dressed up without the hair, you know, with the beard like the macho man. That's right. Well, in fact, you guys do some very, very creative stuff at He's Alive Church. I've gone to some of your Christmas productions and. Yeah, phenomenal.

Phenomenal. Like, absolutely. And to my knowledge, very not really any professionals, just all people. It's people God has led to the church, just members. Right. One of our one of our most churches would have similar principles that we have with scripture, prayer, shared experience and worship.

The main stuff. But one of our principles is you don't see everywhere is creative arts. Right. Right in the beginning of Genesis, God created. He's a creator God. Right. He built that within us, I believe, with our with our being in the image of God. And so the creative arts are to be used for His glory.

And because of that, I think God has brought us a lot of talented people. Well, if you're ever in Kannapolis, North Carolina, around Christmas time. First two weekends of December.

Yeah. Every year. Christmas in the city. So Christmas in the city. I would encourage you to buy a ticket and check it out.

You will not be disappointed. I've attended several of those. And so so so we got a little I got a little sidetracked there. But but but but Dusty, Dusty is is the one person. So how was he behind the scenes? Well, he was, you know, and depending on who you talk to, you know, he was as a as a you know, he had the role of a booker. Speaking of wearing many hats and bookers sometimes could be loved or could be hated, depending on on how well you clicked with their personality. Right.

Those are the ones that set the matches, set the matches, typically set what they call the finishes. No, normally in those days, in those days, back in the old school days. And so carried the pencil.

So you wanted to be on the, you know, on the favorable side of the booker. But even if he didn't have the book, you know, he and I traveled up and down the roads many, many times in his convertible red core. I was almost a Corvette. I had the Corvette. I had a gold convertible Corvette. He had a red convertible Mercedes. OK. And ironically or interestingly enough, he drove most of the time. I don't know if that's because he didn't trust me and just wanted to be in control of the wheel or he just enjoyed.

He really just enjoyed driving. And but we had so many amazing conversations up and down the highways and the byways and even through the airways. In fact, one of my if I ever if I were to pass away with one regret, it would be that he and I talked forever about buying, going in partnership and buying some property out west, like in Idaho or Montana. You know, we used to pick up Bill. We used to grab the USA Today back in the day when the in the wanted section and had all this land for sale. And we'd be flying on on the little 10 seater jet that that Crockett got us.

And man, he he and I go back for I'm going to do. But look at this property with the creeks running through it and all the antelope and all the wild animals. And we never pulled the trigger on that. And I'm like, man, why didn't we buy that land back then?

Right there where I would have it now. Right. So anyway. But so just depending on who you were to get back to the answer to your question, get dependent who you were. You know, you could love Dusty. You could not not like Dusty. But fortunately for me, you know, the charisma you saw in front of the camera, he was much of the time. He was like that behind behind the scenes.

But but always very business minded as well. You know, he wanted to put people in the in the in the arenas. And you talk about creative. Man, that dude was one of the most creative guys that that I had been around in relation to the world of wrestling. Right. So many of the characters when Vince McMahon put him in the polka dots. Yeah.

As I believe a form of of just letting them know who's in control, if you will. Right. There's only one guy that could have pulled that off.

That's Dusty Rhodes. And he did. He made it work. Wow. So anyway. All right.

All right. Who is the most like their character out there from behind the scenes? Well, I'd say Nature Boy has done a pretty good. Rick Flair has done a pretty good job of of living out his character in and outside of the ring. Right. And and that's one of the struggles, Bill, in the world of at least professional wrestling. And really, maybe I'll say professional athletes as a whole is being able to separate.

But especially in wrestling, we used to phrase it this way. Guys buying into their own advertising and not being able to separate the character from the real man. Right.

From the real person. Yeah. And getting consumed by that and maybe even taking it in some case, maybe even a step too far.

And that's always been kind of the critique of Rick by his peers is not knowing how to separate the jet flying, limousine riding, you know, Rick Flair from from the Richard Fleer, who grew up in Minnesota, a Minnesota guy, you know, adopted for those who don't know his story by a doctor in Minnesota and being able to separate that out. Yeah. So anyway, there you go. Who who say, you know, obviously there's there's there's a rhythm in the ring and there's cooperation. Right.

And so who? Well, hopefully is. But yeah. Well, it's supposed to be. It's supposed to be.

Hopefully so. But that kind of leads to my question. Who who would you who are you most I don't know if anxious is the right word. But I'm sure about regretting.

I'm sure about wrestling because your trust level was maybe not as high as with others. Sure. Yeah.

No, great question. No longer live with us. But he he probably tipped the scale legitimately. Right.

Around 450 pounds. And we've been a guy. Somebody already some out there might already know who I'm referring to. Big Van Vaden.

Oh, yeah. The Vader. Vader of time.

Vader time. He's a big boy. He was a big boy and and had built had a reputation of being a bit reckless. Yeah. And and so a number of guys who who who had gotten hurt in the ring with him.

There were there were several who had built that reputation. But he is the one that comes to mind because my in fact he injured me my last match. My very last official match actually right here in Winston-Salem where we're recording this show here at Truth Radio Network that he injured my neck that night that we were fighting out on the floor. He took I think about a 10-yard run and clothesline me to the back of the head.

I didn't know he was coming. I was like selling and all of a sudden wham and and my left arm it jolted my my my vertebrae my it pinched a nerve and my left arm went limp like like like no I couldn't move it. He's just dangling hanging there climbed in the ring with one my one arm and told the ref he's like you know the male ego kicks in and adrenaline and just continue the match on with one arm. Did he know he'd hurt you? No no he didn't know at that point and you know I'm just using one arm I did tell the ref I don't know he ref might have told him but anyway we finished the match and eventually the feeling came back I guess it jolted back into place I reported that to the agent that night saw seven different levels of doctors including a neurosurgeon and had an MRI on my neck and they said you're 33 and his conclusion was you're 33 with the neck of a 55-year-old man with bone spurring arthritis and a deteriorating disc at the age of 33 from all that quote fake wrestling right and football had a factor in there too but all that to say that I didn't know till the next day I had I had pain in my lower abdomen and so I got that checked while I was there.

Hernia? I had a hernia 450 pounds picking that dude up right I won't say it was a press slam but I did pick up 450 even if he gives you a boost that's still yeah it's a lot of weight a lot of weight to leverage right so I had hernia surgery rehabbed my neck it was not career ending for the record but because of those injuries and the timing of it over the holidays I made a conscious decision to say I'm done and just walked away into my own terms. To his credit I have to add this to his credit years later I was doing an autograph signing at a WrestleMania in Miami and he sought me out and said to me I've never said this to you but I need to I just want to ask you to forgive me for injuring you that night I hope you'll forgive me and of course I didn't hold it against him I mean business is business and but all that to say there were certain moves with guys like him and others that just wasn't happening on the Russian nightmare right and like his power bomb just wasn't happening on the Russian nightmare. Do you clear that up ahead of time or are you just like you're not going to cooperate in the ring? Well no I typically would make that make them aware of that like hey that is just in a somewhat kind way that's just not happened tonight we do lots of other things we're just not doing that right you know Jake the snake when he had that rattlesnake yeah I was like Jake as long as you keep the snake in the bag we're good you pull it out you can win I don't care no yeah I'm just not a snake guy just not right so but anyway so I'm one of those bobs the the you know the bios they're doing right now on A&E yes something like that yeah they showed it was on it was on Savage of course I got to watch that and but when he his snake bit Savage and that was not a that was not planned not planned yeah not planned it was planned to bring the snake out it wasn't planned right for him it's a snake hello snake snake bite people crazy I know it is I know it is so it's crazy well we gotta tell you you got one more I mean one more come on man you crazy let's see so I'll try to narrow it down was hmm man that's that's tough boy that's tough you might do a little editing here but uh um I get there was one when you were when you were talking about talking about getting injured oh okay I'll make it this we know that a lot of wrestlers die young you know and for narratively speaking to a normal lifespan yep do you think would you attribute that more to hard living and the stuff that comes outside the ring or the damage to the body that's done inside the ring that's a great question I I would say it's a combination of things you know and and actually like you look at NFL ballplayers I mean I think you know I think they say like the average like in their 50s now some live longer than that but just the abuse to the body of life can be damaged right right right and so the abuse any physical sport I mean the body can only take so much abuse I don't care what it is whether it's drugs alcohol tobacco go right down the list of things that we can abuse our bodies with right on a football field you know in a in a hockey arena you know in a wrestling ring right and then if you add to that bill if you add to that antics outside of the ring let's say or off of the playing field some of the things I just mentioned you know then and certainly that can that can I believe accelerate and or compound the problem like so you know some of my wrestling buddies that that who who died of heart failure well you know in my view I would say that was probably a combination of things that led to their heart failure at a relatively young age you know a couple names that come to mind a road warrior hawk ravishing rick rude more recently road warrior animal who actually had heart had had heart surgery about eight years prior to his passing in his early fifties and so combinations of things that that lead to that now we know but pick a bible approach to it we know that there's no promises you know of tomorrow you know and and you know the psalmist wrote that hey 70 years 80 if you're of good strength some lived into the end of their 90s all that to say I am convinced and believe if we abuse the physical body that we can potentially accelerate that and cut short our life and not live the full life that god originally intended I sure you know I believe that so wasn't where when you were wrestling or the steroids pretty pretty big as well it wasn't in your face I mean but you know we were aware of of steroid use and again you combine that with with pain killers and alcohol and all the other things and that certainly became a fact I'm sure a factor for guys as well so well and as you go along as you as you get older your your healing tends to slow down as well and I know that like we've heard even yeah I've heard from in professional sports you know the stuff they they give them to try to speed up the healing because you got another game another match right there's something coming up going to the tent right exactly oh he's in the tent yeah we're examining it yeah right quote unquote I'm like what are they doing in that tent yeah right back in the days I played football and I'm sure when you play football bill there were no tents yeah no no no in fact Cushing concussion protocol was how many figures am I holding up that's right uh you got three oh good hey crack the smelling salt yeah get back in there boy so anyway well I say some great questions and man some great questions and and great to have you on Q&A with Kolov today I love it man thanks for having me I appreciate it and one more time before we go how do they find out about he's alive he's a lot of church dot org okay dr bill coleman dot com yes sir and uh on amazon as well the book go grab a copy his book the eternity lens living in a real world with an eternal perspective I highly recommend it and thank you for tuning in to another episode of Q&A with Kolov have a god-blessed god-filled oh yeah oh yeah baby yeah 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 Kolov dot net and donate today I Nikita Kolov be sure to check out the man up show now available on television broadcast and podcast go to morningstar tv.com or the truth radio network check out your local listings or better yet download the truth network app today if you are enjoying Q&A with Kolov would you help us spread the word tell your family tell your friends tell your neighbors to download subscribe and leave a comment are you looking for the perfect gift for your pastor well look no further bless him with a trip to the holy land with yours truly Nikita Kolov the russian nightmare i'll be hosting this once in a lifetime trip december 27 2023 to january 5 2024 your pastor will never be the same go to Kolov dot next to get registered today Nikita Kolov 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