PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

PART 5

PART 6


 

 

Part 6

Chappell: How did your announcing work in wrestling come to a conclusion?

Caudle: The year or two after Turner took it over from Crockett, there was so much traveling involved. If you wanted to do anything, you had to fly out of Atlanta. Everything worked out of Atlanta then—there was nothing out of Charlotte anymore.

 

By that time you had Ross and Schiavone there working full-time…Turner hired them both in to work full-time. There were several others in there as well. At that stage, I guess I was the old odd-man out and sort of didn’t fit in with that crowd. So we just kind of drifted apart.

 

I think then they really wanted to go with the younger guys, like Ross and Schiavone. They were there full-time and they were in on everything. They were at all the meetings and knew what the angles were going to be. You see, I just went in for the matches and had no idea what was going on at that stage. We were just going in opposite directions.

 

Chappell: What was your last job announcing wrestling?

 

Caudle: Smoky Mountain Wrestling in the early 1990s was the last show I did. Jim Cornette called me and asked me if I’d do that. He did his shows in the little arenas and gyms, and eventually the remote facilities were so expensive that they were just busting him. It was costing them a ton of money to get their shows taped. So, unfortunately, they didn’t last all that long.

 

Chappell: We’ve gotten you to the end of your wrestling and legislative careers now Bob, but I understand you’re coming out of retirement, in a manner of speaking, on the weekend of January 31st for the upcoming Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Legends Convention and Fanfest in Charlotte?

 

Caudle: I’m really looking forward to coming to that event. It’s going to be a great chance to reacquaint myself with a lot of the guys that I was really close to and really liked. I always enjoyed being around the guys, and I can’t think of ever having a cross word with any of them. If I had, I’d have been running at the time! (laughs) But seriously David , I always felt that if anything bad ever happened to me, that any one or all of them would be right there in front of me protecting me from anything and everything.

 

Chappell: I hope as part of Fanfest, you will give us your standard show opening and show closing! How did your show opening and closing come about?

 

Caudle: You mean, ‘That’s it for this week. Until next week fans, so long for now.’

 

Chappell: Man, does that sound good to hear you say that! (laughs)

 

Caudle: (laughing) That just sort of came naturally…and I always used that ending. But I didn’t say, ‘Hey, this is a good ending,’ or anything like that, you know, when I started doing it. It felt comfortable for me to end the shows that way, so I just continued to do it over the years.

 

Bob Caudle show closing, October 1976.

 

Chappell: Okay…you have to do the show opening for me now! (laughs)

 

Caudle: (laughing) ‘Hi wrestling fans, welcome to another action packed hour of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. We’ve got action for you tonight. I’m Bob Caudle and here’s David Crockett. And David , so and so and so and so.’

 

Chappell: Bob, you’ve got me believing this is 1975…not 2004! (laughs)

 

Caudle: (laughing) That’s about the way they went back then! That’s just about the way it was. I never knew people even remembered that…I can’t imagine that, really.

 

Chappell: Believe me, people remember it…and remember it fondly. And real soon, you’re going to experience a lot of that from your fans at Fanfest!

 

Caudle: I think it’s going to be a great weekend in Charlotte.

 

Chappell: To conclude Bob, what are the most lasting memories you have of your long association with Jim Crockett Promotions?

 

Caudle: The memories I have are of the good times with the guys. Several times I remember riding with Arn and Flair, and they’d stop and get a six-pack, and we’d just have a beer together and spend some time together.

 

The Christmas parties we had in Raleigh every year when we were taping out of the studio there were special too. It was a time when everybody could get together. It was at a really nice motel there, and all of the heels would be in a dining room on one side, and all of the babyfaces were on the other side…we didn’t mix them. I remember one year the booze was flowing pretty good, and [Baron Von] Raschke actually bet somebody there that he could run right through the wall of that restaurant…and he was getting ready to do it! (laughs)

 

Chappell: No way!

 

Caudle: You have to remember, a little booze was involved!  (laughs)

 

Chappell: What happened?

 

Caudle: Raschke kept yelling, ‘I bet you I can, I bet you I can!’ The promoters had to REALLY quickly calm that thing down in a hurry! (laughs)

 

There were some great personalities and characters back in those days…and that always made things interesting and fun.

 

In Charlotte, when we would tape down there, a bunch of us would get together and go to a bar at night and get a drink and a little something to eat. Just socialize a little bit…those are the times I remember best about the guys, not really the times in the ring.

 

Chappell: It sounds like a lot of great times over a lot of years!

 

Caudle: I wish it was still like it was back then, because it was a lot of fun. Wrestling is so different now.

 

Chappell: Well Bob, you certainly made watching professional wrestling in the Mid-Atlantic days a real pleasure for all of us. And it’s been a real pleasure to get your memories and insight about those great times in Jim Crockett Promotions. Thanks so much for your time this evening.

 

Caudle: Enjoyed it David , really enjoyed it. Really look forward to seeing you in Charlotte [at Fanfest].

 

Chappell: Same here. And as I guess you would say, ‘Until then, so long for now!’

 

Caudle: (laughing) That didn’t sound half-bad! See you in Charlotte.


INTERVIEW INDEX | BOB CAUDLE PAGE ONE | GATEWAY LOBBY