Q&A With Koloff- #151

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When only the best is needed, see Dr. Johnny Gayton at eyesightassociates.com. This is the Truth Network. 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 of Q&A with Kolov, the Devil's Nightmare. Today I've got a dear friend on the line with me, all the way from the volunteer state of Tennessee, Greg Goodman. Welcome to Q&A with Kolov.

Thank you Nikita, it's great to be here. The volunteer state. Now Greg, we've known each other for, gosh, how far back do we go? Let me test your memory, because I don't remember. Let me test yours. 14, 15 years now.

14, 15 years. Where do we remind me where we met? What happened, the way the story went, me and a buddy of mine was at a football game, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs, and he said, hey, we were sitting in the stands and he said, hey, I heard on the radio that Nikita Kolov was going to preach at a church in Dalton, Georgia tomorrow. I'm going to be honest with you, the Holy Spirit fell on me and said, you've got to go to this service. I don't know what about that service, but I had to go. So the next morning I got up, it's about a 30, 45 minute ride to Dalton, Georgia. I went to the service and your legs were there.

Great service. Afterwards I came up and I started talking to you, and then after that we kept in touch and went to Fellowship of the Sword quest. Then a few years later we did the man camp, and the rest is history. Man, it made a huge difference in my life, and I know God sent you there for a specific reason because I've never had that feeling. Other guys have come to town, other wrestlers and things like that, that I never had that feeling to go see. But for some reason, that service, I had to be there.

Really? I've never had that feeling before. You were prompted by the Holy Spirit to go to the service. Greg, who knew, I decided I didn't mean to cut you off, but who knew all these years later that we'd have this friendship that we have. I guess somebody wants to, I'm going to interrupt our interview and conversation because I guess somebody wants to say hello to you real quick.

Okay. This is your original battle buddy at the man camp. Surprise! I couldn't help but know this is Robbie. Great to hear.

Hi, Robbie. Another great friend of mine through the ministry I've met. Yeah, we got to see each other in Charlotte just a couple, well, whatever that was, three months ago, four months ago, but you're looking good, and so glad how God has been blessing you, man. I appreciate it, and you and I have been able to have a good friendship through this ministry and through man camp, and hey, that's what it's about. You know, me and Iron sharpens iron, you know, and I've really appreciated the help and the friendship that you've given me as well, Robbie. It's been a great ride so far, man.

It's not over yet, so we've got a little bit more to go. There you go. So yeah, when he heard it, he's like, oh my gosh, my battle buddy. And for those who don't know, you know, one of the things we hope to establish at man camp is, you know, guys connect with each other.

In addition to many other things we do there, we won't give it all away. You just need to come and experience it for yourself, right, Greg? Oh, yeah. But one of the things we do is try to connect guys together and create what we call these battle buddies. That term comes from a dear friend of mine, retired Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin. I kind of borrowed that from him. But all that said, and who knows, you know, these guys battle together all week long at man camp, and then hopefully, you know, that relationship as it's established becomes a lifetime friendship.

In some cases, it does. And so pretty cool to connect to Greg. And of course, Robbie Dilmore produces these shows and has many of his own shows on Truth Radio Network as well.

But all right, so let me ask you this, Greg. So were you a wrestling fan growing up there? I mean, you know, obviously you knew the name. Your buddy says, I heard, you know, Nikita Kolov's going to be in Dalton, Georgia, and then, you know, Lex Luger's with me. Were you a wrestling fan growing up? Mostly in college. Me and my buddies got into it.

Jim Crocker Promotions took over the Chattanooga market in the mid-'80s. Yeah. And so we were in college, and this was kind of fun. You know, we kind of watched it on TV, and then we got into the, you know, to go into the matches because it was there at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Arena. And so, you know, got there at school.

Wow. So we got to go, and then the Turner years, and, you know, we kind of got into it, and it kind of faltered after a while. So I really wasn't a huge, huge wrestling fan at that point, but I remember who you were.

And like I said, it was kind of cool that you were coming to Dalton, but something else was pulling me there. Yeah. Okay. Now, I will admit this. Tully Blanchard was another great wrestler, and he's a great Christian minister. Yep. He was here just a few weeks before that.

I thought, oh, that's cool. He's going to be in Rossville, Georgia, you know, 15 minutes from where I live. But I didn't have that feel, that pull, and normally I'm the type of guy that if it's not my church, I don't really do a lot of this, especially if I don't know anybody there. Sure.

You know, much less get in the car and drive 45 minutes someplace I've never been. You know, the church I've never been. Yep.

Outside in my little area. So I thought about it years ago, God said, hey, it was me. I told you to go. Yeah. It was a God thing. It had to be that. Yep.

It was a God thing. And again, obviously, fast forward all these years later, you know, here we are still friends. And of course, as you mentioned, you know, how your life's been impacted at the camps and all of that. And so, well, so tell us real quick, too, just a quick snippet of your family. Just give us a quick overview of your family. Man, I got three sons. Me and Gretchen's got three boys.

They're all grown. We've got three granddaughters. Yay. Congrats. From eight years old down to one. And so you know that Christmas is crazy and the bank account's empty. I hear you. The three granddaughters. Yeah.

They'll capture their heart. But the Lord's blessed us. The Lord's blessed our homeland.

Yeah. And, you know, we're really blessed. And you and Gretchen have been married how long?

We have been married for 13 years. 13 years. That's awesome. Congratulations on that. Today's world, that's a milestone. So congratulations on that.

Well, you know, we both had some problems earlier in our lives, but we were able to find each other and, you know, and get over that, you know. Get over those hurdles. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and that's all a part of the journey, right? We all have hurdles that we have the opportunity to overcome, right? That's what the Bible calls us.

That's why the Bible says we can be more than conquerors and we can be overcomers. So, well, let's do this. Let's segue. I want to be respectful of your time and I know you may have a question or two or three for me. So let's segue if you want to fire away your first question and let's have some fun here.

Okay. I did not know this about you until just a couple of years ago, but I did want to ask you, I think I've ever asked you before until recently, can you tell us about the time that you auditioned with Sylvester Stallone for one of the Rocky movies? I think it was Rocky IV, I believe, right? Rocky IV for Ivan Drago.

Yeah. And so, you know, he actually, you know, he reached out to Terry Funk and Terry, you know, a very legendary pro wrestler and actually recently just passed away. But Terry had been in some of his movies and Stallone was a big wrestling fan. In fact, some people don't know Stallone's mom promoted wrestling out in Las Vegas. She had Glow, Glow, gorgeous ladies of wrestling, Glow.

And she promoted those shows out in Las Vegas. And so Sly had already been a kind of a wrestling fan, if you will, vicariously through his mom, so to speak. And so Terry Funk had been in some of his other movies and he reached out to Terry, he goes, hey, I'm going to be doing another Rocky movie and I got a Russian character in it, Russian boxer.

And you got any guys in wrestling that might, you know, fit the bill. And of course, Terry was aware of the Russian nightmare, Nikita Korolev, right? And him and Don Crenodle were good friends. And so he reached out to Don Crenodle and, you know, just kind of shared the story, right? Hey, Sylvester Stallone's looking for a Russian.

You got one out there in the Carolinas, right? And Crenodle's like, oh my gosh, Nikita would be perfect, you know, for the role. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. If you would like to support Kolah 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.kolah.net and donate today. Nikita Kolah 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 Kolah Fans, and like it and follow today.

You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. And so he shared it with me. Jim Crockett, you mentioned Jim Crockett Promotions running in Chattanooga there, which by the way, I remember that building very, very well.

A lot of matches there. And anyway, Crockett wasn't going to let me do it because like he was afraid I'd get it, I'd get the role, and then he'd lose me, right? All the investment of time and money into building my character. And it was Dusty Rose, the American dream, baby, the tower of power, too sweet to be power, if you will, that talked Jim Crockett into letting, he's like, Jim, Jim, think this through. Like if he lands that role, like he'll come back, he'll come back at our business, we'll boom. And so thank you, Dusty, because of him, I at least got a shot at it. And so yeah, I was out there on the set with Sylvester and Dolph Lundgren.

And it really kind of boiled down to, there was one more out there screen testing, but really boiled down between the two of us. And obviously, Dolph got the role. The only bone I have to pick with Sylvester is I found this out, wrestling fans are the greatest, man.

They fill you in on all the inside baseball. You know, I didn't know this, but they enlightened me to the fact that the manager's name in the movie for Ivan Drago was Nikolai Kolov, like K-O-L-O-F-F. And I'm thinking, come on, really, really Stallone, like really, like Kolov. And then of course the boxers is Ivan, right?

So you got Ivan Kolov, Nikita Kolov, like Ivan Drago and Nikolai Kolov, not a nickel Stallone. Thank you very much. Not any royalties whatsoever. Really appreciate that sly.

Thank you. So anyway, because the fans were like, hey, I hope you got some royalties off him using your name. And I'm like, ah, not a nickel, not a nickel. So anyway, that's the story. And I was just honestly grateful, really grateful at the time to even have a shot at it. I mean, who gets a shot to be in a major motion picture like that with the legendary Sylvester Stallone? So grateful that I got the shot, even though I didn't get the role.

Well, you know, you're still a young man. I mean, I can see it, you know, Stallone, Robert Redford, Kolov. Expendables, come on. I should be one of the Expendables in some of his more recent movies, right?

The Expendables. So anyway, so, yep, that's the story. And I'll tell you this real quick, too, a friend of mine sent me a clip. He was doing an interview somewhere.

This is pretty recent. And my buddy sent it to me because he didn't name me by name, but he said in walks into the studio, this guy that looked like a cyborg, he goes, this guy looked like he could, you know, crush you, you know, squeeze your head between his two fingers, you know. And my buddy goes, dude, he was totally talking about you because they were talking about the screen testing for Rocky IV.

He's like, he was totally talking about you. And anyway, a little side note there. So great question.

Great question. What else you got for me today, Greg? Well, just, you know, any, I know we've got Man Camp coming up in the spring. Anything else on the horizon for Kolov Ministries or for Man Camp or? Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, well, there's always lots going on. Of course, you know, the radio show, the podcast, Truth Radio Network, and by the way, you know, you're listening out there. If you don't have the Truth Radio app, I want to encourage you, go to your app store, download it. You're not only going to get Q&A with Kolov, you're going to, gosh, there's 15, 20 incredible podcasts on there. You can tap right into live truth broadcasting through the radio stations and all of that.

And so go and do that and just help spread the word on these shows. And so I got that going, just finished Nikita, A Tale of the Ring of Redemption, thanks to your battle buddy, Robbie Dilmore, just finished the audio version of my latest book, Ring of Redemption. And so it is now available, hard copy, of course you can get that one autographed, Kindle, and go to all the major platforms, you know, Amazon, ACX, and iTunes, and people can now download, that's a big announcement, download the audio book.

So we finished after about 25 hours in the studio of knocking that out. I do have a goal of Wrestling with Success, so that book, converting it to audio form in 2024. And of course, as you mentioned, Man Camp in April 21st to the 26th in a little town called Royston, Georgia, go to mancamp.info to learn more about that, how you too can have a life-changing experience at Man Camp. It's just, gosh, just a host of things, you know, conferences and autographed signings and different things on the horizon, already on the calendar, Greg, for 2024. So I've got a lot of doors, open doors that God has blessed me with, and looking forward to meeting more wrestling fans at these Comic-Cons, and in fact, in fact, I'm doing a Comic-Con in Knoxville, Tennessee, not far from you, Greg. And Kevin Sorbel, actor Kevin Sorbel, is the host, and we're gonna play a round of golf the day before, and then go into the building and sign autographs for lots of other, that's gonna be an incredible, you'll hear, there'll be more said about that here in the near future.

So that's gonna be a super fun event. You may or may not know, but Kevin Sorbel and I went to the same college together, graduated the same year, didn't have a clue, you know, that we went to school together, knew he played Hercules for seven seasons or something, and you know, producing all these Christian films now, and so that most likely will be the first time in 40 years that he and I, or over 40 years, that he and I actually meet face-to-face. Wow. That's awesome. Yeah. Incredible. So any more questions today?

Got one more, or is it? Just one other comment I'd like to make, you know, for guys out there who are thinking about Man Camp. Yeah.

My background has been in marketing for years, and in college I did a lot of marketing research, that was my degree. What struck me about Man Camp is that, guys, it's not just wrestling fans, it's not just the people who sit in front of the TV or whatever, however you think about them, we have some of those guys there, but we got business people, we got people from all walks of life, young guys in college to people who are retired. We've got every demographic that really struck me when I got there is, you know, you've got everybody there, and we're all together under one reason, and everybody's getting along, and everybody's hugging each other, and everybody's having a great time, everybody's learning, because everybody, color, creed, whatever, we're there for one reason. Yeah. And it is amazing. Yep.

Yep. In fact, and I appreciate you sharing that, because, so for the listeners out there, because, yeah, a lot of times, you know, people think, well, you know, that's just for people in ministry or, you know, for this person, that person, but it is a very diverse audience that come, people that come. In fact, I'll give you one quick story from our most recent camp. Seventy-one-year-old man, to your point, Greg, 71-year-old man came down from Ohio, retired Colonel Green Beret, okay? So one of the elites, in fact, special forces, right? One of the elites, 71-years-old, and he came in saying, you know what?

I want to learn how to be the patriarch of my family, and I hope that I can go home with some tools that will model Christ to my children and my grandchildren. And so that was kind of his, kind of an opening statement. Here's the last thing he said to me when we wrapped the camp up that Friday before he got in his vehicle to head back to Ohio. He said four words, well, he said many, but these are the four key words. He said, this was life-changing. Seventy-one-year-old man, Greg, former Green Beret Special Forces, retired Colonel, and he said, this was life-changing.

One of numerous testimonies. So well, listen, I want to let you cut you loose. I know you got a lot of other things going on and certainly a blessing to have you on the show today. Thanks so much.

Thank you. I look forward to whether I pass through Chattanooga and or you come my way. I look forward to seeing you again soon.

We will soon. Thank you, sir. All right, Greg. Thank you. Well, and thank all of you for tuning into another episode Q&A with Koloff, and until next time, go out and live a God-filled, God-blessed 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. Nikita Koloff here.

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