Wait, the Teen Hearthrob

When your eyesight is at stake, it pays to travel to one of the world's leading eye surgeons. Dr. Johnny Gayton is an author, speaker, Christian leader, and a renowned surgical eye expert, whether it's cataracts, PRK, Lasix, or implanted lenses.

When only the best is needed, see Dr. Johnny Gayton at eyesightassociates.com. Remember the Bobby Rydell of the 1960s, the teen idol, the singer, the actor? Well, tune in today to find out what the other Bobby Rydell has to say. This is the United States champion. Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is set for one flaw. Introducing first, from Lithuania, he weighs 123 kilos, the Russian nightmare, Nikita Kolob.

Now, the devil's nightmare. Welcome back to another episode of It's Time to Man Up. Today, I have none other than Bobby Rydell. Bobby, welcome to The Man Up Show with Nikita Kolob. It is such an honor to be with you guys today. I'm excited for this program and looking forward to it.

Thank you. Well, great to have you on the show, Bobby. And, you know, The Man Up Show, you know, we said man up, it's time to man up. Now, a lot of times, you know, I know we have a lot of women that listen to this show. The show has been listened to now at latest count, 88 different countries, as well as going across the Truth Radio Network itself. And, of course, we have a lot of women that listen.

I have women on the show. But today, a special treat to have you with me. And for our listeners, for those who maybe don't know who Bobby Rydell is, how far back, do you know, Bobby, how far back our friendship goes? I would say probably right around 20 years.

20 years. And I know there's a lot of history here because I know we've been out to Phoenix and conferences just recently. You had me up at your church.

We'll talk about that up in Long Island in New York. And so we've had that. I had the privilege of being up there.

But tell our listeners, just give a little quick backdrop on Bobby Rydell. Well, I can go so many different ways with that. But from a spiritual standpoint, I have been saved since kindergarten.

Like, I actually remember sitting there Indian style. It was my kindergarten teacher who led me to Christ. And it just, you know, it becomes real and real as you mature and mature, right?

So it just grounded me. And I'm so grateful for that foundation. My parents, of course, also kept me on the straight and narrow.

They were all in ministry. So it's kind of like a natural progression. Little did I ever know that I would be a pro wrestling fan as I got older, no less eventually work in it. So that was kind of hysterical to me because those who know me real well, I'm not really into sports.

I don't watch football, baseball or any of those things. But pro wrestling got me back in 91, 92. I was able to hook up with some people that broke me in a little bit to the inside world of pro wrestling.

And then it just kind of took off from there much further than I would ever have expected it to have gone. And now here I am 30, 31 years in, representing talent for different events. So that's cool. I also later became a pastor, as you just mentioned, of a church in Long Island called Sound of Heaven. I do something called the Long Island Awakening, which is a unity event.

I get all the denominations together. I have about 163 churches involved right now for these special nights. We've done it in public schools. We've done it at the beach. And we've used all sorts of things, including pro wrestling as bait.

And we always say, God will use the foolish things that confound the wise, and there's nothing more foolish than pro wrestling. So that's what we've used in the past, as well as music and worship events. But there is just a lot I can get into.

But I'm going to stop right there. What do you call those nights? Long Island Awakening.

Long Island Awakening. Okay. Yeah. It's been its ninth year. They've been incredibly successful for those of you that don't realize New York is not the Bible belt. For real?

Yeah. And a lot of ministries up there, including, you know, the churches, even if you're in the same denomination, don't really connect in a lot of ways, which is kind of sad, to be honest with you. I did a lot of competition. So I just wanted to do something that would bring the people together, and that was actually birthed out of a Reinhard Bonnke crusade that I was working on, like part of the administrative team for the National College team, and it got canceled.

So we said we can't waste all this time trying to produce something that never went off, and that's how Long Island Awakening got started. And you said, did I hear you right? Did you say 163 churches working together?

Did I hear that right? Yeah, 163 churches. Now we have thousands, but 153 is a good start. On the very first event, I was hoping for 50 pastors to come together from different denominations. And I mean not just like, you know, the charismatic and the Baptist and the Lutheran and some of the god. I'm not even talking about like the biker church, you know, the deaf church.

They're the ones that are a little bit on the outside of everything. And I was really like, gosh, Lord, please bless this event, because, you know, there was some investment into it, too, financially, and, you know, it was a little scary to do that. And it was in a public school, no less, which that never happens up here.

Right. I was hoping for 200 people, and all they had to do, the pastors, was just take a topic, we would discuss it prior, and they would pray for two minutes on that topic. There was no worship, no band, no background music. It was just prayer. 650 people showed up to that. What a blessing.

That is a blessing. Well, you know, I'm going to say this, you know, you made a statement, you said New York is not the Bible Belt, and Bobby, I didn't know there was 163 churches in New York, actually, the state of New York. I'm kidding, of course, I'm kidding. New York, I love you. I love you, New York, I do. I'm not a fan of New York City, but anyway, anyway, it took us, recently, it took us two and a half hours to make a one-hour trip, Bobby. I'm like, really? Really?

But, you know, man, wow, you gave a lot there in a short period of time. Of course, you live on Long Island, correct? I do. Yes, where taxes are wonderful. Yeah, your mom was sharing some numbers with me, property taxes, et cetera, and I was like, wow. What blew my mind is she told me how much she bought. Like, she'd been in her house, I think, still like 43 years or something like that? Yeah, that home has been in the family for a very, very long time. Something like that, she said.

And would she tell me what they bought it for? Of course, obviously, many years ago, and what it's now worth, I was like, wow, that's a return on investment right there. So, anyway, let's back up just a little bit here. Sure.

Man, you gave a lot. So, you were a wrestling fan at what age? Fan-wise, I have been a fan, gosh, I would say probably around seven, eight. Seven or eight, and I'm guessing what in those days was WWF or was it the WWWF? Well, it was definitely WWF for me, and very oddly, I actually remember watching my first match on TV, and I don't know why that stayed with me, but it was the Briscoe Brothers. Oh, Jack and, yeah, Jack Briscoe. Jack and Jerry against Adonis and Murdock.

That was my first remembrance of watching TV, wrestling on television with WWF at that time. Adonis, Adrian Adonis? Adrian Adonis, yep.

Adrian Adonis. Dick Murdock. And the redneck, Dick Murdock, man, I had some classic matches against, you know, I don't know if people, the older crowd will understand this, and I don't know if you remember the cartoon with the rooster, was it Rooster Foghorn or Foghorn Leghorn?

Uh-huh. And for the older crowd out there, that's who Murdock reminded me of. He was one of the funniest guys I knew. I used to have to, for real, bite the turnbuckle sometimes because of the jokes he would crack in the ring during the match. Now, you, the fan, would never know that, but oh my gosh, I'm supposed to be this Russian villain, right?

And he's cracking these jokes or making these expressions on his face as he's grabbing a hold or even as he had you in a headlock or you had him in a headlock or something. Man, he was, but he just seemed reminded me, like his build and everything of Foghorn Leghorn from the old, old cartoon. But anyway, Dick Murdock and, hey, do you remember when Adrian teamed up with Jesse, the body mentor? They became the East-West connection? Absolutely.

I mean, legendary tag team. Everything was just so much better back then. So yeah, great, just great times. And I think that if it wasn't as good back then, I don't think I would still be a fan or at least not just involved today.

Well, it was definitely, you know, definitely a different product and a different business back then. And so I appreciate that you were a fan early on. And then you mentioned, too, you know, representing guys. I know you brought me recently, too, in addition to, I appreciate the sound of heaven.

You brought me to New Jersey for an autograph signing there. And so you do, you're still involved in the business in that way, right? Yes. Yes. Representing talent just really almost every single month.

I have people, whether they be overseas or all throughout the nation, I have something happening all the time. But now the big difference is I don't go out to all of them anymore. So I enjoy that. You can get it all scheduled and then your job is done, so to speak.

Yes. I have a company, a booking agency called Integrity Bookings. And I just love that word, integrity, because it could go both Christian and secular. But I mean what I say.

Character is such an important thing in life in general. So I'm just very honest with the promoters and vendors and the boys themselves. They have always from the very beginning, they have trusted me with their money and their personal information and booking their hotels and their flights.

And just, you know, if people do that. But then there's like friendships, just like you and I have. And I have, thank God, many, many friends in the pro wrestling industry that have slept at the house and we've broken bread together. And it's just been a great, great career.

Yeah. You share, you share, so we won't get into details, but you shared some interesting stories of, and if I had mentioned some of the names, anyone who's even a novice wrestling fan would know some of the names that have stayed at your house and some of the stories, some of the things that have transpired at your house, which we'll leave. I'll leave the audience kind of just guessing, wondering on that.

Well, no, no, don't do that. It's kind of like a good wrestling show in the old days. You know, it's a main event match at the end of the show and like, we've got to go.

We're out of time. And you're like, no, I want to know what happened to the match. Right. But that was, of course, for you watching, listening out there.

That was intentional to draw you to the show next week or, or for you to purchase a ticket and go down to the auditorium. Right. And so, so Bobby, I want to bring a point of clarity for our listeners because there may be some really, you know, we have listeners from all age groups that listen to the Man Up show.

And as I mentioned, men, women and even young people, just for a point of clarity. So people aren't confused because when they hear the name Bobby Riedel now, you know, they just might think of Bobby Riedel, the American icon, the actor, singer who performed rock and roll pop music back in the early 50s, a teen idol. You're not that Bobby Riedel.

Is that correct? I am not. I am not the Bobby Riedel. Although I always tell people, I say, you know, we do have something in common.

We both sing. Would you like to partner with me in supporting Koloff for Christ Ministries and the Man Up show? Go to koloff.net and click the donate button.

You can give monthly, annually or one time and make a difference around the world. God bless you. And I do remember Arnold Skoland, his wife called me once on the phone because they used to run the Westchester County Center, which is a little bit, you know, a little higher than Long Island. And she called me like, are you performing in White Plains tonight? No, for real. For real. For real. Yes.

When I get hit with that, I always say, oh, I can sing a wild one or Fabian's in the car. I'll get him out. Well, you know, so so here's a little interesting story. So, gosh, this is probably 15, 20 years ago. Of course, I played in a lot of celebrity golf tournaments.

Right. And I still do every now and then. I've limited I've narrowed it down. I used to play in at least a dozen celebrity golf tournaments a year. So, of course, obviously that opens up the door of opportunity for me to meet a lot of incredible people like, you know, Lawrence Taylor. I mean, you know, the the list can go on and on and on of guys that I played golf with. Brad Johnson, who was the quarterback for Tampa Bay when they won the Super Bowl with John Gruden, was the coach. And and and I mean, so I mean, it's it's a laundry list of names.

Well, I played in an old time rock and roll golf tournament in in North Carolina. And and all these guys were there. Frankie Valli. But, you know, Bobby Rydell.

I mean, so many amazing 1950s and 60s rock and rollers, you know, and I think of it at the time. I saw. Yeah. You know, that's cool. You know, but I'm like, why didn't I get a picture with some of these guys? I could have been, as we say in wrestling, I could I could have been a rock and roll mark, you know, but there you go.

Well, you know, I have my wrestling stuff, but I certainly have the stuff, you know, that you want to call a mark out for. Yeah, my goodness. I have been totally blessed to meet some of those people, one of which was Whitney Houston, a year before she died over in London. OK. And they had taken me. Actually, I was she had given me tickets.

Actually, it was really incredible. She gave me a front row ticket and they her management had pulled me out during her encore. And when I was backstage, I was able to pray for her and lay hands on her and quote scripture over her. And she would interrupt me and finish the scriptures that I was starting to quote.

It was an incredible moment in my life because I absolutely loved her and was so sad when she left. But there's been a lot of things. They even got this thing with Patti LaBelle once. So, yeah, there is a Bobby Rydell on YouTube singing with Patti LaBelle and that's me. And I'm telling you, you have you have had some incredible experiences in your life journey. You know, about 10 people's experiences because, you know, and we'll talk about how people could, you know, follow you on social media. We'll make sure and get Sound of Heaven, you know, your website for the church there in Long Island before we wrap up. But but so those are a couple of incredible stories. Any other any other quick memories, whether it's singers or wrestling or anything else that come to mind for you?

Oh, wow. There really has been a lot of people. I mean, I love gospel music. So actually, Stacey Winans is one of my favorites.

I'm actually seeing her again coming up in this couple of weeks. Michael W. Smith. I got to sing his choir. I was in the Billy Graham Choir for a few different events. It's been a lot of people.

I mean, both Christian and on the secular end. I'm not talking about the wrestling. Right. From like, you know, from Joan Rivers.

Gosh, I would have to go through my list, but I mean, actors a lot. Yeah. I mean, some of the things, you know, you post on social media, it was some of the pictures and some of the people you're with. I'm like, wow, I'm I'm jealous.

Hey, you got to tell tell CC that Nikita Kolov of the Russian nightmare says hello. Her her and her husband, my youngest daughter, Colby, were with I went to several services, the church. They were pastoring there in Nashville, Tennessee.

My youngest daughter, Colby, for a season. Yeah. Was there a part of a part of that church, part of that ministry and got the opportunity to meet CC myself.

And and I don't know. I don't know that she was overly impressed. I don't think she was a wrestling fan, but I think her husband I think her husband at least knew who I was. But anyway. Yeah. Well, you know, let's let's combine rock and roll as so to speak. You know, WWF did that years ago with Cyndi Lauper and and of course, Captain Lou Albano and and so many others that that became a part of the at one point they called the rock and wrestling experience. Right.

Connection, the rock and wrestling connection. OK. And I was a and I still am, but I love Cyndi Lauper. I am a musician and I always just loved her, not only her songs, but her artistry. And she really is just a creative artist. And I love that about her.

She's you know, again, you can I want to make this clear to you can love somebody for their talent and their skills and what they bring to the table. But you don't have to back everything that they support either. Correct.

No, for sure. Because some might be listening to go, wait a minute. That person is a Christian or not a Christian.

Right. But but hey, last time I checked, last time I checked, you know, Jesus hung out more. In fact, I was just reading, Bobby, get off on a side note.

Just let me go down a rabbit trail for a second. I was just reading how like like thirty four times in in one of the gospels, Jesus encountered individuals, whether it was opening blind eyes or healing a leper or an out of those thirty four times in one particular gospel. He was only in a church one time. And then I think it's the gospel of Mark where twenty six encounters.

Jesus had with individuals and personal encounters and only one time or maybe it was, I think, two times, two times out of twenty six were those encounters in a church, if you will. The point being, to your point, you know, we've got to be salt and light out there to the weather. It's rock and roll and musicians or actors or whoever. Bobby, we've got to be salt and light to the world. Right.

Oh, you listen, I'm right there with you. I had to preface that just because, you know, let's face it, there's some ultra religious people out there that will say you cannot intermingle all these things. And I'm spirit of religion is alive and well. Yes. Yes.

Yes. So I like to be on the outside. I rather be on the outside than inside the four walls of the church, because that's how you affect people. Otherwise, we're just preaching to each other. I mean, we're reaching to the choir, so to speak. Right.

So, yeah. And for our listeners to take note of what Bobby and I are talking about right now. If you're a Jesus follower out there, it's not always about what happens inside the four walls.

It's what Jesus did, what he modeled and what he did outside of the synagogue. And so take note of that. Hey, Bobby, I want to mention, too, before we run out of time. Speaking of rock and wrestling and we did something, one of my most favorite memories. And to date, it's the largest audience I've had the privilege of speaking in front of. And I think you probably know where I'm going with this.

I do. That was we were part of a ministry called Crew. I think Crews for a Cause or Crews with a Cause, something of that nature. But we all we all we took a we all boarded a cruise ship. It became the giant evangelistic team to Jamaica. And and you were there and we did it. We did a wrestling X exposition.

I go, is that the right word? A demo, maybe. I don't want to call it a demo. We did a wrestling illustrate. Here we go. We did a wrestling illustration for the crowd.

Yeah. We're we're we're you know, we had a one wrestling match. Good guy, bad guy.

Classic good guy, bad guy. You were a manager. And then Lex Luger and I, once the match was over, we turned that match into an illustration of life and how good and evil, you know, kind of combat one another. And and we shared our testimonies and our stories. And we were there for a 36 hour window. But in that audience that night and they stood all day through the rain. But wrestling, they said, was the most favorite thing of all these high level preachers and and well-known music artists. Right.

And Bobby, we in 36 hours, we saw over twenty five thousand people make a decision for Jesus. And you were a part of that. I know it definitely. If you want to call it my WrestleMania moment, that would be the WrestleMania moment. It was just an amazing experience. A lot of fun. It was great to do it.

My to my closest friends, of course, Johnny over and Luscious Joe, we call him Luscious Joe Sloan. And to have everyone else, even Erkin Canner and Ty Tribbett, who I've got my relationship with Ty was because of Cruise with the Cause. So it's these relationships that were formed are just so good from that's a brother and sister thing in Christ that you just find good people. You just cling to them.

You just keep working and going forward. I love it. Yep. And so so let's let's talk about that just real quick. We're you know, we are almost out of time, but let's talk about sound of heaven. And so, of course, Johnny was in the match that night and now now he you and he are co-pastoring sound of heaven, right?

And in Long Island. Yes. Yes. I met him at 18 years old. A lot of things with prophecy and words of knowledge in his life.

When I when I met him, things I had no clue about, like nothing. And that's the spirit of the Lord. And that's what drew him in. And it was an amazing experience. I got to help mentor him and disciple him. And we did a lot together between the wrestling and speaking engagements in other places and just doing a lot of different things out of the box ministry. We love it. And then we opened up sound of heaven a long time after that.

But God just did it. You know, it was a very interesting world. And, you know, Long Island is tough. People kind of counted us out before we got started.

And we started with six people. It's been an interesting ride for buildings later. You know, it's it's it's rough sometimes, you know, rent over here is a lot of money. We paid seven thousand dollars a month for a small building. You told me it's crazy. It's not even a standalone building. It's just a part of a part of a building. How can people like if somebody's in New York and wants to visit sound of heaven and come to a Sunday service?

Of course, I had great the great honor of preaching there. I appreciate you guys. What's the Web site where people could find out more? The Web site is S.O.H.

Let's have an S.O.H. dot church. You can also download our app by just going to your app store and typing in sound of heaven. You can follow us on Instagram type in sound of heaven. We have a extremely large Internet audience. And we do discipleship there as well. Bible studies live on every single Wednesday night.

The services are live all the time. So we have a lot going on for people that can't make it to Long Island. That can be very much part of an online church if they can't get out.

That's that's amazing. And how can people find out more about the extraordinary Bobby Rydell? Well, you can if you're interested in like the whole unity aspect, you can find us at Long Island Awakening on Facebook. Otherwise, you can go to Instagram and type in being Bobby underscore Rydell.

And there is some fake accounts out there. So just make sure it's being Bobby underscore Rydell. Yeah. Well, OK. But you got it because, you know, the singer would be it's not R Y D E L L, is it? Correct.

It's R I E D like David E L. OK. One L at the end there. So, yeah. So Bobby Rydell, what a fascinating we're going to have to have. I'm going to have to have you back on the show sometime. Will you come back sometime? I would love to.

I know we have a lot of territory we can cover. Oh, my gosh. I mean, we just scratched the surface here today and just talking about your your life journey. And Bobby, just the last minute we've got here, I know you said you came to to your faith at a very, very young age.

And, you know, not everybody does or some some say that, but then they they go off on this tangent. They get off the narrow path and, you know, and but but you stayed on the straight and narrow and you've been faithful and walking with the Lord all these years. And what what real quick, what do you attribute coming to Lord at such a young age? Is there anything you attribute to that?

Well, first and foremost, I would say my parents, you know, my parents have been my they have been everything to me. But also, you know, the closeness and intimacy with the father. I mean, you've got to have that. I mean, if you don't, you can look the other way and get pulled and enticed to go off the path. It's not to say that I didn't get off the path a little bit and take some detours.

Always brought me back. I know it's real. So in a short amount, that's that's I can give you in a short answer. No, that's that's good. And so what I hear you saying is is what's resonating with me is pick up your cross daily. Right. If you want to stay in a straight and narrow path, pick up your cross daily.

And I know, of course, you'd recommend being the word every day. Right. Just develop.

No, of course. Develop that prayer life. Right. It's your gasoline.

You know, your car needs gas. And so do we as God's children. We need to be in the word. We need to worship.

We need to pray. Get around other believers. Connect with a good church. Get into Bible study. Just love on the Lord.

And you will not want to get off that straight and narrow path. Check out Sound of Heaven and check out Bobby on online and all that he's involved in. And thank you for being on the Man Up show today, Bobby. Thank you. This was a great honor to be here. Thank you for having me on.

And thank you once again for tuning in to It's Time to Man Up. This radio show is made possible by the grace of God, your faithful prayers, support and generous gifts. May God bless you for your continual contributions. Go to coloff.net and donate today. 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 Koloff, 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 coloff.net to get registered today. This is the Truth Network.