The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast with Barry O
Hosts: John and Chad
Interview available at Tmptow.podomatic.com
Does he agree with Randy’s “dive” comments: “Yeah and the problem is these f—ing babyfaces today (excuse my language) want to get over so bad that they don’t want to take any time to tell a story. One of the guys who taught me about that was after I had a match with Ricky Steamboat in the Carolinas. It was for TV and the people were going crazy and it was an unbelievable match. After I thanked him and said that he put me over like a million bucks and he said: “It is my philosophy that if you are working with someone that knows how to work, you let them work. If you go out there and eat somebody up and beat them, you didn’t beat anybody.” If you can go out and you are challenged throughout the match by someone who may be able to pull off the upset than the people will get more involved. That was always one of the most valuable lessons that I ever learned.“
Do fans dictate the way the wrestlers perform at such a high level: “They were that way back then. The fans back in the ’80s would bring horns and shout BORING. The more they did that, the less I did and the baby face would be going batshit. I’d work it real slow and by the time we started opening up and he would come full steam than they were coming over the balcony. They have no respect for you if you let them call your match. These are just things that I learned and things that worked for me. But I do think they are better philosophies than what is out there today and there is so much talent out there now that it blows my mind every time I see it.”
Randy’s role today in WWE: “Even with Randy and even though he is my nephew, you’ve got to admit that he is a machine. About eight or nine years ago I heard from a source very close to the inner workings (of WWE) that looks straight at me and said that he’s the best guy that they’ve got. Period. The end. That is something that normally someone in that position would not share with me. I think they were stunned and they didn’t think I understood that and I think that is why they came out and said it.”
Did he enjoy his role in the WWF and did he feel under-used with his brother “Cowboy” Bob Orton having such a big spot: “I was just doing my job and I felt alright. When I started getting bigger and better there was a little window that opened up for me but it was slammed shut because of a very stupid thing that I did. I don’t blame anybody but me for that. Just like for Randy, I wanted the best success I could possibly achieve and that is exactly what I wanted for Randy and I love him so dearly. But (with Bob) there was never any jealousy.”
Did he ever have an instance where an opponent tried to take advantage of him during a match to make themselves look better: “I remember some problems with some baby faces. They want to eat you up and just beat you. They want to shine and bury you. I won’t allow that to happen and I never did. Unless they came to me and demanded it and it was something for TV than I could understand it. But I think just about everybody that I worked with including a couple of good tag team partners that I really can’t think about anybody that I didn’t enjoy working with.”
Any opponents that stick out: “Kerry Von Erich. I didn’t not like working with him but I was always a little nervous working with him. He had that foot problem and if you would catch him off balance a little bit, it was like he was a half second behind everything. It worried me that his ankle was going to go and he was going to end up hurting both of us. But other than that I thought we had great matches.”
Hulk Hogan as the top guy during that mid 80s era: “He was always nice to everybody with his “hey brother”. But there was something that caused me to have a little bit of bad blood with him. But that is between me and him and it really doesn’t need to be discussed. If you want to learn more about it, you will have to buy the book and my book is in production right now. It is pretty much my whole life. It is my personal life, my life with my father and growing up with the difficulty between my brother and I. He was eight years older than I was and he was my idol and I always wanted to be like him. When he was twenty and I was twelve, it is not like we could go and hang out together and it was a lot of: ‘Shut up punk’ (laughing).”
Tell us more, Barry O, about the ins and outs of getting over in wrestling. Yes. Quite.