Q&A With Koloff- #181

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Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and choosing the Truth Podcast Network. 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. Welcome back to another episode Q&A with Kolov, questions and answers. And hey, when's the last time you had a personal phone call from a professional wrestler? Would you like one?

Well, go to kolov.net and you potentially can get a call from yours truly, the Russian nightmare. And you can ask me a few questions. That's what this show is all about. You getting the opportunity to ask me some questions.

And today I'm excited all the way from Ohio, William McCracken. Welcome to Q&A with Kolov. Oh, thank you for having me, Nikita. And this is a real treat for me. Normally I'm the listener. I never imagined that I would actually be a guest. So I'm really excited to be here.

Well, I'm excited to have you. And you know, of course, I mentioned Ohio. How about take a minute and just tell our listeners, you know, where in Ohio you live and what are you doing William up in Ohio?

So I'm in Northeast Ohio, halfway between Cleveland and Akron. This is where I grew up. And I grew up in I was lucky I grew up in a two two parent household. I have two sisters. I just turned 50 this year.

So if you do the math, that means I grew up in the 80s, which to me is the greatest decade to grow up in because culture and pop culture, music, toys. And of course, wrestling. Come on. Come on. Yes. All right. Keep going. Sorry.

Didn't mean to interrupt you. I got excited. That's when I fell in love with wrestling and from 1985 to 1988, anything that the WWF was putting out or anything, Jim Crockett promotions was putting out. I had my eye on six or five Saturday six or five Saturday nights. That was the original must see TV.

And I still watch it on Peacock every Saturday night, which I hope you're getting residuals for. Yeah. Oh, I'm holding my breath on that one, William. I'm holding my breath. Okay.

Not a nickel, unfortunately. But hey, it's all good. Yep. Yep. Keep going. Keep going.

We need to move on from that one. So big wrestling fan growing up and as you said, all the pop culture. And by the way, a lot of people do that.

So many a voice that the 80s was the golden era of wrestling. Some might argue that, but the majority of people that I hear from have that point of view. So what do you do? So what's keeping you busy up there in Ohio then? Well, at this point in my life, I'm looking toward God and he's going to guide me to my next purpose or occupation. For the last couple of years, I've been working in athletics.

That's my background. I worked in the USFL, which was a spring football league. And I know you played football, and you know this already, but for some of your listeners who do not, every play in a game or practice is recorded so the coaches can watch it back with the players and use it as a teaching tool. And I was in charge of that for the last two years with the Pittsburgh Mallers, New Jersey Generals, and Philadelphia Stars. Now, when the league merged with the Rock's XFL and became the UFL, which is currently going on, I was not asked back. So I'm currently in between opportunities right now. What I'd like to do is move on from that and still work in athletics, but work with athletes on their academic side and be an academic advisor and maybe the college level or the high school level. So that's where my focus is now. Well that's pretty cool.

We'll have to we'll have to pray that that door of opportunity and God's perfect timing opens up for you. And I didn't know that about, I did not know that you were a part of that. Of course, there's a back story there, you know, just real quick where, you know, when I was training, I graduated college and was training for a football tryout. The old USFL, you know, the Tampa Bay Bandits. Coach Steve Spurrier and I was looking at going down there and trying out and little did I know, you'll appreciate this William, little did I know who was on that team, I learned this later, I didn't know then, was two guys by the name of Ron Simmons, that name might ring a bell with wrestling fans, and a guy by the name of Larry Fall, aka Lex Luger. Those two guys were on that Tampa Bay team. Of course, I didn't make it to camp because I was diverted to Charlotte, North Carolina, Jim Crockett Promotions, only later on to meet Ron Simmons and Lex Luger in the squared circle.

So a little side note for wrestling historians there that they may not know that information. So that's pretty cool though, that you were a part of that. And of course, recently, just a while ago, we had the opportunity to spend a few days together down in a little town called Royston, Georgia, because you came to Man Camp.

I did, I did. And my decision to go really developed over a period of a few years. I would, I would listen to your podcast and you talk about Man Camp being an experience. And I would listen to fellow campers on your podcast and they would use the word experience again.

You posted pictures of Man Camp on your Instagram page. And I asked you about one of the pictures and you told me, I can't explain it, it has to be experienced. So the word experience just kept, that's what I kept hearing.

And I just, my antennas went up, you know, I got to find out what this is all about. And a couple of years later, I just reached a point in my life, Nikita, where I was, I was in a negative haze in my head. I, I just felt as though I didn't know what my purpose was. I wasn't participating in my relationships. I would get into conversations with people and, and I would want to get out of them as fast as possible. I just felt uncomfortable. I was angry and frustrated at where I was in my life, which I had done everything I could not to get to that point. And it still happened. And I just could not figure out what was happening to, but I'm fortunate that I had a pastor tell me a few years ago that the storms of life are coming.

It's not an if it's, it's when, and when they do just, just go toward God, go toward God. And that's when I decided that I was going to go to man camp. I knew who could help me. I had time because I had lost my job.

You're in transition, right? So, yeah, yeah. I had, I had the time. And the tricky part was, how am I going to tell this to my loved ones? Um, because when you're telling your loved ones, you have a problem and two X, two X, two X wrestlers, you and Lex could possibly help me with this problem, but I got to go to Georgia and I got to go off the grid.

Never really know how that's going to go over. So that's where, you know, that's where my concern was. Mm-hmm. But, but you came and you made the drive.

What was that? I forget what you did. Was that like nine, 10 hour, 11 hour drive? What was the drive?

Uh, I drive a little bit slower. So it was between 11 and 12 hours. So you made a 11, 12 hour drive to Georgia, came to camp and, and, and by the way, just a side note here. Um, we were corresponding through social media, right? So you were learning, you kind of follow me there on social media and that's where we were initially kind of communicating about your interest in coming to camp, correct?

Yep, absolutely. Your Instagram, you would always answer me on Instagram. I would ask you questions and you always gave me the best answer that you could. And, and that actually was one of the things that, that I told my loved ones was that I presented them with, um, things from the internet and visual aids, such as your book and Lex's book. And I told them, I told them, you know, I don't feel well and I think these two people can help me. And they were very accepting, but as we got closer to camp and I told them, Hey, I'm doing this in about a week. That's when the question started.

Who are these people again? Where are you going? What are you going to eat?

Where are you sleeping? And I said, I don't know. And that's exactly what I said, Nikita. I said, this is going to be an incomplete answer, but I don't know, but I can tell you what I can tell you is number one, this is one of the safest things I've ever done.

And number two, I know in my heart, I know what I'm doing is right. And once I said that it kind of ease their fears a little bit. Yeah. And I was excited. I'm just, I was really excited to go. Well, and so you came and let's, cause I want to get to your questions too. So you came and you know, you utilized, let me just ask this. You've brought up the word experience a number of times.

So let me first ask you a very simple question. So was it indeed an experience for you? It was an amazing experience Nikita. And I want to share the story with your listeners right now. When you and I first met and you asked me why I came to man camp, I said, I feel lost. I feel as though I'm looking for my lighthouse.

I know it's out there somewhere, but I don't know which direction to go to get to it. You said, you said you're out in the middle of the ocean looking for the lighthouse. Yep. And this was on Sunday and we worked Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, Friday, we were doing our housekeeping duties and cleaning up for the next campers that were coming in and I'm mopping the floor cleaning up. And one of my fellow campers comes in and he says, Hey, William, look over there.

So I look up and on the mantle where, uh, in the, in the, uh, building where we had all our meals all week, there was a ceramic lighthouse on the mantle. And that was in my head. That was God talking to me, God talking to me saying, seek and you will find knock and the door will be opened.

I mean, you thought that that feeling was so intoxicating. And then about an hour or two later, we met again and we got reading material. So you gave us a book to read. And I, one of my fellow man campers tells me, Hey, check out the cover of the book.

I've covered the book is a lighthouse. I mean, it's, I mean, for me, Nikita, someone who has run in to dead ends and Roblox and detours for the past few years for me to travel to Georgia, accomplish exactly what I set out to accomplish and find. And I was looking for that feeling is just so amazing. And now it's up to me.

I know from man camp to be the lighthouse for other people to illuminate, to shine, to illuminate, to shine and lead them to their lighthouse. Just so exciting. I'm ready.

That's good. Well, Hey, we're going to segue here. Uh, but for those of you listening out there, go to man camp.info. If, if William's story and is what he's sharing in one encourages you, but also piques your interest, go to man camp.info and you'll get more information.

You can message me right through there. If you have any, if you have any questions. So, all right, speaking of questions, William, that's a powerful story.

Thank you for that testimony. So let's, uh, let's fire away with your first question. Let's segue here. All right. I got one family question for you and two wrestling ones. Okay.

Whatever you want to start with first. Sure. I'll start with the family and I want to know about your siblings.

How many do you have, where are they and what do they think about you choosing wrestling as a profession and what you're doing now? Yeah, that's pretty good. So, so of course I'll, I'll just start with my mom and dad who my mom lived to be 93. My dad lived to be 92.

They're walking streets of gold with Jesus. Um, my, my dad actually interesting grabbed the old rugged cross as he called it at age 46. So it wasn't until 46 that he came to Christ and, and then it was sold out.

I mean, he was sold out. I mean, he had his own radio show, Christian radio show at one point. So it's ironic that I'm in radio now. Uh, never thought I ever would be and thinking back to just hit me right now. I'm like, wait a minute. My dad had a, uh, a Christian radio show, all surrounding prayer, prayer. He was a part of the Billy Graham ministry up in Minneapolis.

I had the privilege of, of leading my mom at age 76 in, in a prayer of salvation, like leading her to the foot of the the foot of the cross. 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. You're listening to the truth network and truthnetwork.com. Would your company, business, or you personally like to partner with me in supporting Koloff for Christ ministries, the man up show and man up minutes go to koloff.net and click the donate button. You can give monthly, annually, or one time. God bless you for making a difference around the world. 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. Oldest brother, 12 years older than me living in Florida. I could do a whole show on that. Separated himself from the family and none of us honestly really know why.

I'm just going to leave our listeners hanging on that for a while. Another brother who just recently relocated from Dallas, Texas after 30 years back to Minneapolis where my sister lives and several of my nephews and a niece. I've got some cousins in Nebraska where my dad grew up and in Kansas and Oklahoma. And so I'm the baby of the family is what I am, but I'm the biggest by that being physically speaking.

My brothers are quite a bit smaller than me. My dad was not a big, big guy, but that's a little bit of backstory. And if people want, you know what, if people want really more of that story, like, wait a minute, you can't leave us hanging. Well, I can, cause I have the mic. So anyway, go, go get the book Nikita, a tale of the ring and redemption for the full story. You can get an autographed copy on my website or, or last year I went in the studio and I, in my own voice, did my life story.

You can find it on audible, all the different platforms, Nikita, a tale of the ring and redemption and download and hear me tell my story in my own voice. So there you go. Good question, William. Thank you. All right, cool. So we'll move on to the wrestling. Okay. I just wanted, I just wanted to know what memorabilia you still have, your boots or trunks or any belts or anything like that.

It's funny. I just had a guy, well, actually one of, one of your fellow campers, who shall remain nameless messaged me just yesterday. And he's like, he's been like, he's been hounding me like, Hey, do you have any knee pads? Do you have any elbow pads? Anything? If I have it, you know, boots or, you know, that I can buy from you.

And I've told him before, he goes, I know I've asked before. I thought I'd ask again, you know, and people ask me all the time, Hey, you know, what, what, what can we buy off you or whatever? And I'm, I'm tucked in my attic somewhere is, is a lot of that, you know, from the boots, the original chain that I haven't actually handed down to me. That chain that you'll see in most pictures around my neck. He had blessed me with that, gifted me with that, if you will. And the only, to my knowledge, the only thing I was willing to let go was a pair of my, one of my original red trunks with the little yellow hammer and sickle stitched on it.

And it sits up. I'm pretty flabbergasted really. And in fact, I'll be, I'll be in Iowa. There's a hall of fame there in Waterloo, Dan Gable, who is a historic gold medal winner in this, in the 72 Olympic games in Germany. And incredible college coach won numerous national champions.

He has a museum in Waterloo, Iowa, and they have an induction every year, a professional side to it. And so my red single is up there with some, I don't know, I deserve this, but it's right alongside some of the other Olympic winners, you know, amateur wrestlers. And so I do have a pair of tights up there and the rest of it is tucked away in the attic somewhere.

And I told, I told your, your, your, your, your colleague there from camp, I said, my, my daughter's at some, someday at some point, we'll have to filter through all that and decide, you know, I hope they understand the value of it, but they'll have to go through it all. So there you go. There you go. Oh, well, let me say this about belts. Oh, let me mention this about belts. So I have the original UWF world TV title belt where Terry Taylor and I unified that, right?

We unified that in Chicago at Starrcade 87. So I actually still have that original belt. Uh, and then some, some fans and friends have been gracious enough to, to purchase and gift me some, some duplicates of the US title that Magnum and I wrestled over, uh, that I eventually lost to Luger. Uh, and, and then the world TV title that I defeated Tully Blanchard for that TV title.

I have that. And then most recently, this is probably the coolest thing to date I've ever received a pastor friend of mine in Fayetteville, North Carolina. I was doing a man up conference down there recently. And, and at the end of the conference, he said, I ha I, we try to think of something unique for you. So I had a special belt made and I'm like, wait, what? And, and on the big plate on front, it says the Russian nightmare Nikita Kolov for the picture of me doing that most muscular pose with a chain around my neck.

Okay. And then the little side plates has a replica of the face plate of the world tag team belts that I haven't had. It's got a little face plate of the world six man. It has the world TV, the NWA world TV title, the UWF world TV title, and that US belt, all little side plates, custom made and incredible, incredible. So I'll probably be traveling with that belt now, let it, letting fans take, you know, take a picture with it if they want. So there you go.

That's, that's amazing. Just, just an aside for, just for a second, memorabilia is big nowadays. And the two things that everybody's looking for are Dusty's bunkhouse boots and the Crockett cup, that big, it looks like a Stanley cup.

People have been looking for that for, I mean, and that's, we're still trying to find it. Well, yeah, they've asked me like, where's the, and, and, and we had a big, we had a six foot, six man trophy too, right? So, you know, for the world six man, so we had, you know, in fact, you'll see Crusher Khrushchev, you know, carrying that or, and I think maybe I, you know, I did it in some photos or what, and people are like, where's that?

I'm like, I have no idea. Now, what I just recently learned, I was at Stings retirement match with AEW and I was with David Crockett and come to learn those original belts that Ivan and I, and many others before us, wore around the way. He has those.

David Crockett has those original tag team belts. Pretty cool. That's amazing. Yep. Pretty cool.

I just have one, one last question. Yep. I listened to Arn Anderson's podcast as well, and he talked about when he was wrestling, some of the athletes that he got to meet, some of the Atlanta Braves, and one time he met the actor, Gene Hackman. I mean, when you were wrestling in the eighties, was there, was there a musician or an athlete or an actor that you met?

And you just said to yourself that that's pretty cool that I got to meet that person. Does anybody come to mind? Yeah. Yep. Probably the, probably, well, okay. Two stories come to mind.

Two stories come to mind. One, and some, some like, so I grew up in Minnesota, but it, you know, not necessarily the Mecca of country and Western music. However, my mom, go back to my mom, my mom loved, I mean, she loved Johnny Cash, right? She loved Johnny Cash. She loved, you know, the old school stuff. She loved Hank Williams Jr. You know, Waylon Willie, you know, the Outlaws, all that stuff, right? She like, and of course the new stuff that came along, you know, when she got older and older, she goes, ah, that's, that's country rock. That's not even really country music, right?

She, she did not like the new country music, right? So anyway, I say all that to say part of our Great American Bash tours was a guy named David Allen Cole. And, and, and so got to meet, you know, obviously got to meet David, you know, playing concert at some of our Great American Bash. And so enjoyed meeting him as far as country music or a music artist. And then probably the biggest name that, that some know the story, but, so I was one of the finalists for, for Rocky IV, for the Ivan Drago character, right?

The Russian boxer in Rocky IV. And was fortunate to be flown out to California, out to Hollywood for a screen test. Well, Dolph Lundgren, myself, and a guy by the name of Sylvester Stallone, some might recognize that name, was, was there on set.

In fact, Bridget Nielsen, who he was dating at the time, they rolled up in a red Corvette as I was getting out of the limousine. And so, so got the opportunity to, you know, hang out with them for a couple hours. And I say a couple hours, I was there basically long enough to do my screen test. I actually had to get back out of town and get to a match that night. So I did the screen test that morning, jumped on a plane, flew back to the East coast and got in the ring and wrestled that night. But, but had a long enough conversation with Sylvester to, to walk away with an impression that he was just a very personable guy, a very down to earth kind of guy. We had, we had a great conversation about boxing and pulling punches. You know, he's like, do you know how to pull a punch? I think what he was thinking, William was, if I got the role, could I, could I throw a punch and not crush the side of his jaw, you know, his face. Right.

Cause you know, at the time I was 285, jacked up 285, you know, 8% body fat. And I think I later heard him in an interview, a buddy of mine sent it to me. He said, he didn't mention you by name, but I know that I know that I know he was talking about you. And apparently somebody asked him about, for some reason about that screen test. He goes, this cyborg looking dude walked in. I know he was talking about me. My buddy goes, dude, he's totally talking about you. Right. Cause my traps are up to my ears. Right.

He's like this guy, this guy could crush me in a nanosecond. So anyway, Sylvester Stallone, you know, probably the big, the biggest name I would say that, and I've met others along the way, but those two stories come to mind, William, those two stories come to mind. So yes or no, when you, when you talk to those people, did you stay in character? I did.

Absolutely. Anyone, William, anyone who knows the story, you know, I mean, can you think about that? I flew all the way to Hollywood, whether it was the limousine driver, whether it was the people at the hotel, whether it was the people on set. I mean, when I did the screen test, I did it as Nikita Kolov, the Russian nightmare. And then off camera, I never even talked to Stallone. I've never broke.

Hey, how you doing today? You know, I just, I'd never broke character, bro. Ever. Did he ask you, did he ask you, is that how you really, is that, is this, did he ask you anything about it? No, no, we just said, we, we just had a regular conversation. Like, you know, I, and I don't know if anybody's smartened him up or not. Maybe somebody did or didn't or whatever, but, but he, he never let on like he, no, we just, we just had a regular conversation with me in character.

So there you go. You know, you mentioned talking to, or listening to Arne show, right? I, I know I've heard Arne say before, like, we'd be, we'd be on the private plane or we'd be in the dress room and he's still talking to character.

I'm like, dude, we know you're from Minnesota, you know? Anyway, so, well, William McCracken, Ohio, man, uh, it was such a thrill to be able to spend time with you at man camp and, and what a great testimony, William, you have, and I know God's going to open some amazing store doors, uh, for you because of your story. And, uh, you, you just keep your eyes open and, and your ear to the ground and, and you wait and see what he does in your life. Okay. I will do that. And Nikita, it's been so amazing crossing paths with, uh, you and Lex. And, uh, I look forward to the day when we can meet up again.

Thanks for having me. And we will. And, uh, one more time for all you out there and listening land, you know, whether it's learning more about band camp, go to bandcamp.info, or if you want that life story, get more to the story. So I'm not leaving you hanging, go get Nikita a tale of the ring of redemption. You can get an autograph copy.

Like I autographed every copy, every book, every eight by 10, it goes through my website, um, and, or just download it. If you don't like to read, go download it and listen to it when you're driving around town. So, and as always, I challenge you today to 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 coloff.net and donate today. Nikita Koloff here.

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