Mike Graham interview

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from wrestlingobserver.com

 

 

Mike Graham interview about wrestling's past

 

 

 

by Alan Wojcik

 

Please credit Alan J. Wojcik of http://alanwojcik.com, thank you.

 

Mike Graham is a legend of Florida wrestling. Even if you don’t know who he is or if you grew up watching him during his stay with Championship Wrestling from Florida, you are in for a wrestling history lesson. Mr. Graham honored me with this interview conducted at Full Impact Pro’s 11/29/03 event, Return of the Dream.

 

 

 

Alan Wojcik: For those that might not know, what is your background in wrestling?

 

 

 

Mike Graham: My dad was Eddie Graham and he began wrestling in 1959 in prisons and carnivals. For a while we settled in Amarillo Texas. Then he worked in New York with his brother Jerry, they were the world tag team champions in the early 60’s. He moved to Florida after that and got involved in promoting the sport. He turned the sport into the huge success it is today.

 

 

 

AW: Is it true during your high school wrestling career you squared off with a young man named Richard Blood, who would become Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat?

 

 

 

MG: It was a tough match and I beat him by one point. I was a senior and Richard was a sophomore. He went on to win the state title the next two years. Several years later I went to the (CWF) office to pick up my booking sheet and it said my tag partner would be Richard Blood. I thought god is that the same guy? Two days later we wrestled in Dade City and Miami Beach. My dad met him that night in Miami and said! , “Richard Blood you are too good looking to have that name in wrestling.” A couple hours later dad said to him, “Do you remember a guy named Sam Steamboat?” Ricky said yes. Dad said, “Good you’re Sam Steamboat’s nephew Ricky Steamboat.”

 

 

 

AW: Was it always in your mind that once you got out of high school you were going to get into the family business?

 

 

 

MG: Well my dad started me in wrestling when I was nine years old. I was five time AAU state champion. In 1971 I was the first person in Florida and AAU competition to bench press 400 pounds at a 198 pound body weight. I later benched 450. My dad always knew I was going into the ring but I didn’t. I was going to University of Tampa and the time came to get married and have kids. I did what I was most knowledgeable about and that was wrestling.

 

 

 

AW: How was your training different than the stars of today?

 

 

 

MG: I don’t think any of today’s guys have respect for the industry they are getting into. I got my ass whipped every time I went to the office. From Jack Brisco to Saito to Lou Thesz, they stretched me. Then they taught me technique in wrestling to go with my amateur background. I didn’t learn how to do a back flip or some other crazy moves. That stuff is killing the business.

 

 

 

AW: You had another partner during your beginning years named Steve Keirn. You held the US Tag titles with him I believe after winning them from the Valiant Brothers.

 

 

 

MG: That was 1976. Steve and I went to high school together. I knew Jesse and Jimmy Valiant. Jimmy was a friend of Bruno Sammartino and he had been scuffed up by dad years before I was in the sport. When I went to the ring that night I thought should I be on guard? But it was great. That match was in the Orange Bowl in Miami and we were two young good athletes who ended their good run with the titles.

 

 

 

AW: Many people growing up with CWF know the TV voice and face was Gordon Solie. What was Gordon like to be around?

 

 

 

MG: We did TV tapings in the Sportatoruim, which dad owned. We used to run in the Tampa Armory on Tuesday night. Gordon got hired by dad in the mid 60’s when he used to announce stock car races. Dad and I went to Phillips Field on Saturdays and he heard the voice on the PA. After dad went up and met Gordon he took Gordon to the office and put him some wrestling holds. Once we got to TV, dad told Gordon what he wanted in an announcer. His theory was if someone who was blind was listening to the TV, they could visualize the action being described by the announcer. Gordon’s job was to talk about the wrestling and not what the announcers of today speak about. I can’t figure for the life of me what they are talking about half the time.

 

 

 

AW: Many of these men I am going to ask you about either worked for CWF or you wrestled them in another territory. Please point out for the reader’s the ones that were in CWF. First is former AWA World champion Nick Bockwinkle who you worked in Texas.

 

 

 

MG: He was a tremendous athlete, very smooth. He was like Jack Brisco. I drew lots of money with him. He was a good person. He would come to the back and tell you what you needed to work on to succeed in your next match.

 

 

 

AW: Jack and Gerry Brisco. My generation knows Gerry as a WWE road agent or “McMahon stooge” but you knew them in the ring.

 

 

 

MG: Jack was an undefeated amateur wrestler from high school to college. My dad brought Jack to Florida after he worked for Bill Watts’ territory. He went on to win the NWA World title. Gerry began his career here in Florida. They were both great amateurs and had a great professional career. Jack retired and enjoys life with their body shop.

 

 

 

AW: What about the only brothers to hold the NWA World title, Dory Funk Jr. and the man who keeps on wrestling even today Terry Funk?

 

 

 

MG: Those two guys are night and day. I have known them since they were about seven years old when we lived in Amarillo. They came up from a great family. Dory Jr along with Jack Brisco was probably the smoothest wrestler I ever was in the ring with. They had the best finesse and the stamina.

 

 

 

AW: My generation knows Harley Race as a manger to Yoshi Kwan, Big Van Vader and Lex Luger or from his stay as “the King” in WWF. But you know him as the seven time NWA world champion.

 

 

 

MG: I was scared each time I wrestled him. He was a true tough guy. Those narrow eyes and overhanging eyebrows. He would stretch you and made you do things you never thought you could do. I thought more about my matches with him than anyone else. I get butterflies each time I go through the curtain but they doubled when Harley was my opponent.

 

 

 

AW: He wrestled in Florida and around the world, the “American Dream” Dusty Rhodes.

 

 

 

MG: I only wrestled with him one time, in 1974 against the Texas Outlaws (with “Dirty” Dick Murdoch.) I have been his partner several times and I am godfather to his daughter. The charisma and electricity that he brings to a building is something none of these kids will ever see.

 

 

 

AW: Many consider Ric Flair the greatest world champion. What was it like to wrestle this generation’s Nature Boy in an hour long time limit draw?

 

 

 

MG: I wouldn’t say he is the greatest champion, he was the longest reigning but I won’t give any personal views. I had more one hour matches with Dory Jr. than anyone else. We wrestled seven one hour draws in one week. We began in Orlando and then went to West Palm, Tampa, Miami, Lauderdale, and Sarasota and went back to Orlando for a 70 minute match. Let me say Flair is a machine and I was in great shape. He is a tremendous athlete and guy I have known since 1973. He was going through Verne Gagne’s wrestling school when I was part of a movie called “the Wrestler.” He looked like Dusty Rhodes with the short haircut and stocky build.

 

 

 

AW: He was in and out of Florida and was an original Four Horseman, Tully Blanchard.

 

 

 

MG: I knew Tully from his career which began in Florida. His dad Joe and my dad were good friends. He was a great football player and would fight you tooth and nail in the ring.

 

 

 

AW: This gentleman was a monster. What was it like to wrestle the late Bruiser Brody?

 

 

 

MG: Bruiser was a bully. I knew something was going to happen because of the way he treated people. You can be tough but then you can be a bully. He asked me to come to Florida all the time and then he would miss the first two dates. No one deserves what happened to him (for those that don’t know Brody was stabbed to death in Puerto Rico in 1988), but when you bully and scare people something is going to happen. He went through a camp in Amarillo run by Dory Sr. and began his career here in Tampa and Frank “the Hammer” Goodish.

 

 

 

AW: Another late legend who fans know from Georgia Championship Wrestling, “Mad Dog” Buzz Sawyer.

 

 

 

MG: Buzz started here in Tampa when Bob Backlund was here in 1975, he stretched him out and sent him home. Buzz was a great wrester who dabbled in things that people do. You can do that and live forever.

 

 

 

AW: During the 80’s, CWF got recognition through the shenanigans of Kevin Sullivan and his manager Abudadein.

 

 

 

MG: Well Abudadein is somewhere out the Pacific Rim last I heard. Kevin, the devil himself, is here tonight to wrestle. I was a Florida tag champion in 1972 with him. After my dad he was my first tag team partner. In and out of the ring he is a wild one.

 

 

 

AW: I believe you were working in the office when some of these gentlemen were beginning in the sport. What was it like to see the Great Muta perform as the White Ninja?

 

 

 

MG: He was here because Hiro Matsuda and Duke Keomuka were my dad’s business partners. Muta was a great young athlete extremely respectful. He had it from the first time he got into the ring.

 

 

 

AW: Were you surprised at his success in WCW in the early 90’s with his feud with Sting?

 

 

 

MG: Not at all. Sting had a great career. I don’t like to say negative things about anyone. But Muta is so far ahead of Sting that they shouldn’t have been in the same building.

 

 

 

AW: He was a former WWF tag team champion with Mike Rotundo and had a run as a Four Horseman, Barry Windham.

 

 

 

MG: Barry began in Tampa. I talked to him the yesterday via telephone. Blackjack Mulligan, his dad, and Kendall his brother, all wrestled here for CWF. Barry along with Dustin Rhodes both were gifted the first time they stepped in the ring.

 

 

 

AW: You had part in forming one of the most copied tag team in way of wrestling moves. I am talking about Chris Champion and Sean Royal, the New Breed.

 

 

 

MG: Back in the mid 80’s my dad passed away and the business was changing. Chris and Sean were good athletes who were also hungry and aggressive in the ring. I thought we needed a different kind of team. I came up with the idea of the New Breed. They had a good run with CWF and in the NWA.

 

 

 

AW: Did former WCW World champion Ron Simmons begin here with CWF?

 

 

 

MG: He was trained by Hiro Matsuda. I have released footage of Ron being trained by Hiro; beating him with a 2 by 4 and doing squats. I get great joy seeing people that began training here and have gone on to have successful careers. It’s good to see Ron is still active in the sport today; he is great athlete and deserves nothing but the best.

 

 

 

AW: The other WCW World champion trained by Mr. Matsuda has been in the news recently, thoughts on “the Total Package” Lex Luger.

 

 

 

MG: Well Lex always was about Lex and into Lex. His personality never came though. The fans never loved him or hated him. You could draw money when he wrestled Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat and Dusty Rhodes. He was a great opponent but Lex wasn’t the guy that drew the money. I always got along well with him. He’s had some tough times and hopefully he can get things settled and enjoy the rest of his life with his kids.

 

 

 

AW: Fans might remember that CWF was bought out by NWA in the late 1980’s. What were your feelings on the loss of CWF?

 

 

 

MG: Well at the end it was a comedy of errors. When my dad passed on his many partners fought over who would take control of the company. Jim Crockett was in Charlotte with a national television deal so we went with him. Two weeks around him I knew he couldn’t run it. He had two expensive planes he flew the talent around on and his transportation costs were ridiculous. He took all the good talent like Luger and the New Breed and left us with nothing. I was getting ready to retire and the partners split up. It went away.

 

 

 

AW: Fans that watched WCW might remember you were in during the early 90’s. One match I wish to bring up was at Starrcade 1991, the Lethal Lottery. You were on a team with Diamond Dallas Page against Jushin “Thunder” Liger and Bill Kasmaire. How does Liger compare to your generation’s cruiserweight wrestlers and any thoughts on today’s cruiserweights?

 

 

 

MG: I would have to say he is a do or die wrestler. He was in great shape but not as strong as the American wrestlers. He did some great, fancy moves. Watch that tape. At one point in the match he hits the ropes and did a handspring into a flip, I took one step back and he landed flat on his face. I stood there laughing and thinking what is this idiot doing? That’s not my idea of wrestling, the acrobatic stuff. I will end by saying a good wrestler will beat the acrobat every day.

 

 

 

AW: At one point you were road agent for WCW right around when Eric Bischoff took over. Did you see anything going on that would lead to the breakout of WCW in the late 90’s?

 

 

 

MG: Well I was the one that got the wheels going to bring Hulk Hogan to WCW. Of all the names we discussed, Hulk Hogan can be added to the list. He began his career in our offices. He was trained by Hiro and I went to school with him. A monkey could have been running the group when Hulk came in. It didn’t matter who was president, Hulk made the difference.

 

 

 

AW: Were you surprised WCW was bought by WWE and what do you think of the current product presented by WWE?

 

 

 

MG: The current product is horrible. I was working for WCW when WWE took over. Eric Bischoff put WCW out of business with the guaranteed money being tossed around along with other financially devastating things. The company could not come over it along with AOL’s involvement. Computer people that didn’t know what made WCW successful were talking to the wrestling people about the product. It crumbled from within but Eric was the cause of its crumbling. It amazes me he has a job with WWE.

 

 

 

AW: Thanks to you people can see CWF on TV with a program hosted by you and “Macho Man” Randy Savage. What led to you opening the CWF vaults?

 

 

 

MG: Because today’s product is horrible. Kids cannot watch it. There needs to be an alternative. If there was one clothing store and one car maker, what would society be like? This is an extremely good alternative to the garbage that is on TV today.

 

 

 

AW: Have you seen the NWA: TNA PPV shows or companies like Ring of Honor or MLW?

 

 

 

MG: No I have not seen their product.

 

 

 

AW: Were do you hope the wrestling business goes in the next few years?

 

 

 

MG: I don’t think will ever be a group to rise and challenge WWE because there aren’t guys like Johnny Valentine or Ray Stevens or Nick Bockwinkle or Eddie Graham or Dusty Rhodes. No one has the charisma, can wrestle and tell the story. There are no promoters around that have any wrestling knowledge. Without those two things working together nothing is going to happen. The guys that are old enough to teach can’t get jobs because the young guys that don’t know wrestling don’t want them around. Wrestling will only be small indy shows. WWE will go out of business and it will be all over.