PART TWO

 

 

 

 

 


PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

PART FOUR


 RETURN TO THE GATEWAY LOBBY

 

RETURN TO THE INTERVIEW INDEX


Chappell: We have already briefly mentioned Johnny ‘The Champ’ Valentine. You had quite a number of memorable matches teaming with Johnny in 1974. Tell us some of your memories about ‘The Champ.’

 

Koloff: Many memories of wrestling with Johnny Valentine, and being around him. You know, he was a unique guy, in the sense that he had a real tough way of wrestling. He stood out.

 

Johnny showed me a lot…particularly with the idea of convincing the people---type of thing. Because if you can convince the boys, you can convince the people! (laughs)

 

Chappell: I don’t know how anyone could have watched one of Valentine’s matches, and come out of there saying it wasn’t for real! He was brutal, and he really looked like he got so much enjoyment out of hammering people!

 

Koloff: (laughs) He was just a rock solid worker…a solid wrestler. He really helped me so much…I realized that if I couldn’t be convincing without hurting the guys, that I’d have to hurt them…I had to make it solid, you know?

 

Chappell: You all did that back then, without a shadow of a doubt!

 

Koloff: Just to be around Johnny was a privilege. He was a prankster too, you know? Lot of jokes!

 

Chappell: Johnny seems to be at the top of all the practical jokes lists!

 

Koloff: I would tell you a story or two on Johnny, but Greg might try to get revenge on me! (laughs) 

 

[Editor’s Note: Greg Valentine, Johnny’s son, was appearing with Ivan in Lenoir, NC for Tony Hunter ’s Carolina Championship Wrestling show, where this interview took place.]

 

Chappell: Oh, go ahead Ivan….we’ll ask Tony Hunter to put you and Greg in separate dressing rooms tonight! (laughing)

 

Koloff: (laughing) Okay, then!

 

I’ll tell a quick little story about Johnny…in his memory of course. I always got along well with Johnny.

 

Chappell: Were you on the receiving end of many of Johnny’s pranks?

 

Koloff: Johnny just liked to play little ribs, but he never usually played them on me. But he did once in a while.

 

One time, he put one of those itchy things…(pauses)

 

Chappell: You mean like that itching/scratching powder type stuff?

 

Koloff: Yes! Johnny was in the back, and he put some of that type of thing in my underwear when I was out wrestling in the ring. And when I got back to the dressing room and changed clothes, I found out pretty quick something had happened!  (everybody laughs)

 

When I put my underwear on…that stuff REALLY made you itch! I knew right away it was Johnny…but I didn’t say anything. But I knew it was him! (everybody laughs)

 

Chappell: (still laughing) That must have been hard to stop from going after him!

 

Koloff: Oh, I did…when we got back to where we would meet up in Charlotte after the matches! Different guys would meet…Johnny didn’t ride with me that night, but he was riding with somebody else. So his car was sitting there.

 

I had heard that if you got a potato and put it in a guy’s muffler, when the car was started it would blow a hole in the muffler if the muffler wasn’t real good. So, I stopped at a store down the road….

 

Chappell: (laughing) And I bet Ivan Koloff was the only guy in Charlotte that night buying potatoes at one in the morning!

 

Koloff: (laughing) The next day, I heard Johnny make a comment to someone about his muffler blowing out on him the night before! (everybody laughs)

 

I tried to keep quiet, but I got my revenge on that one…I had to do something back to him! (everybody laughs)

 

Chappell: Turnabout’s fair play!

 

Koloff: I look back at that as being just, you know, harmless type of stuff. It was just a way to keep life interesting!

 

Chappell: I would think that life on the road would have driven you crazy after a while, without some of those high jinks!

 

Koloff: We were on the road seven days a week, and two of those days, for a long time, we had to wrestle twice a day.

 

Chappell: Quite a grind!

 

Koloff: Oh yeah. For instance, Sunday afternoon we’d be in Asheville, and then that night we would be somewhere else wrestling---sometimes they’d fly you into the other town. And then on Wednesday, you’d have TV and usually you’d have to wrestle twice that night too.

 

And, indeed, they got their moneys worth out of you! (laughs)

 

Chappell: The program of yours that I remember most from your 1974 stint in the Mid-Atlantic area, was against Paul Jones. You two had a number of brutal battles over the Mid-Atlantic Television Title back then.

 

Koloff: It was a privilege working against Paul Jones. The way that started out with Paul, was with an arm wrestling thing. He claimed he was a Golden Gloves boxer type of thing, and I guess he really was a good boxer…we did an arm wrestling thing at a table inside the ring right on TV.  

 

Chappell: Those arm wrestling contests didn’t typically turn out well for the babyfaces! (laughs)

 

Koloff: (laughs) And this one didn’t either, for Paul! I remember, I picked up the table we were sitting at…and it was a HEAVY table. I mean, this table probably weighed over a hundred pounds…big ol’ heavy wooden table. And I picked it up, and hit him over the head with it!

 

Chappell: Ouch!

 

Koloff: (laughing) I’m sure he remembers that to this day! There was no way he could hold [the table] back.

 

Chappell: And when Wahoo came in during the summer of 1974, it didn’t take long for your path to cross with the Chief’s!

 

Koloff: I can recall having a long running issue with Wahoo McDaniel. He ended up being given some feathers, I think from his Indian tribe or some fans, and I remember those feathers laying next to the ring….

 

Chappell: This is not sounding good Ivan! (laughs)

 

Koloff: (laughing) Yeah…I took them and torn those feathers all to pieces!

 

Chappell: Wahoo was REALLY upset with you then!

 

Koloff: Wahoo was very, very upset about that, because of the significance of the feathers to him. I remember seeing one of his interviews right after that, and tears were coming to his eyes. Looking at that, I’m thinking to myself, ‘I’ve got this Indian really hot now!’ (laughs)

 

And, indeed, you had to respect Wahoo. God bless his soul. He was a great athlete, both in football and in the ring.

 

Chappell: Wahoo never held back in the ring, did he?

 

Koloff: Wahoo would let you know he was there! If you didn’t go down for the chops…he’d put you down! (everybody laughs)

 

He’d get you in the nose or the throat or somewhere, and he’d put you down!

 

Chappell: I suspect you still carry some scars from your battles with Wahoo?

 

Koloff: Oh yeah! To this day I have lumps all over my chest, all over my body, from those chops. He could lay ‘em in, boy.

 

 Chappell: Your first stint in the Mid-Atlantic area ended very suddenly in January of 1975. And a couple of weeks later, many Mid-Atlantic fans were surprised to see you wrestling in Eddie Einhorn’s rival IWA promotion. Tell us what happened there.

 

Koloff: Yeah, David , that was a bad move in a sense. But, at the time, you don’t know that…

 

Chappell: Well, you certainly weren’t the only Crockett star to jump to the IWA…you also had Rip Hawk and Nelson Royal go over with Einhorn.

 

Koloff: [The IWA] had a lot of talent. Guys like (Mighty) Igor, Bulldog Brower…Lou Thesz was even there for a while. They had an awful lot of talent.

 

Chappell: Is that what influenced you to jump to the IWA…the level of talent that Einhorn had assembled over there?

 

Koloff: Well, the IWA offered me more money than I was making with Crockett at the time…and it sounded like a thing that was really going to go places. So, I ended up going for it, and indeed, stayed with them for about six months.

 

Chappell: What happened at the end of that six month period?

 

Koloff: At that six month point, it was clear that the organization wasn’t holding together very well. There were internal disputes and negotiations weren’t going well with them…so I said ‘bye bye’ to them!

 

Chappell: What was the reaction to you in the ‘establishment’ wrestling circles, after you jumped to this ‘outlaw’ federation and then only stayed with them a few months?

 

 Koloff: Well, going with a new group like that…I certainly jeopardized the stability I had built up with my career. Longevity-wise for my career, it turned out to be a bad decision. At least for the short term.

 

Chappell: How was that?

 

Koloff: Making that move…established groups like the NWA, and even Vince (McMahon), looked at it as being a defiant thing to go against the establishment. So, I guess you might say, it was like a blackballing of you…where they ended up not using you for a while.

 

Chappell: So, what did you end up doing right after you left the IWA?

 

Koloff: The first thing right after the IWA, I believe, was where I went to California and did a thing with Superstar Billy Graham. We tried to get a license to promote wrestling out there…but that sort of fell apart. I also went to Tennessee, and little places like that.

 

Chappell: What happened with the deal out in California?

 

Koloff: That even got me in more hot water with anger from the establishment…

 

Chappell: You were really rubbing people the wrong way in the mid 70s, Ivan! (laughs)

 

Koloff: (laughs) Yeah, and I wasn’t even trying to!

 

You know, David , years ago (promoter) Rod Fenton told me in Vancouver, British Columbia after I was in the business a year or two, ‘ Don ’t burn no bridges, kid.’ And I never really tried to burn any bridges! But then, it seemed that no matter what I was doing, I was getting in more hot water! (everybody laughs)

 

Chappell: After the IWA folded later in 1975, we didn’t see you in the Carolinas again until the Fall of 1980. But you certainly landed on your feet, and eventually hit a lot of territories during that five year period.                                                                     

 

Koloff: Yes…in 1977, (Dick The) Bruiser used me around the Indianapolis area. And from there, I talked to Florida and they got me in there…Florida used me. Georgia also used me, and so did New York. And then, of course, Charlotte also ended up using me again.

 

Chappell: I’ve heard you had some wild matches in Florida during the late 70s!

 

Koloff: I remember when I was down there with the NWA in Florida, I was tagging with (Mr.) Saito a lot. One time, Saito was against Steve Keirn….Cobra hold versus the Sleeper hold, and I interfered for Saito when the referee was bumped out of the picture.

 

I went in the ring, and Steve had the Sleeper on Saito, and I was able to reverse the situation---and when the referee came to, of course, Saito won the match.

 

Chappell: I bet that upset a few folks!

 

Koloff: You better believe it! Just as I put Saito over on top of Steve, a big guy, red headed guy, jumped over the rail into the ring…

 

Chappell: You mean a fan out of the crowd?

 

Koloff: Yeah!

 

Chappell: Big mistake! (laughs)

 

Koloff: I tried to catch the guy as he was coming up on me, and knock him out, but I missed him. Then, I could feel his fist going by my nose! (laughs)

 

Then I said to myself, ‘I’ve got one more chance here!’ (everybody laughs)

 

Chappell: Let me take a wild guess Ivan…you didn’t miss the second time, right! (laughs)

 

Koloff: (laughing) I didn’t knock him out…but I knocked him down, and bloodied his face up pretty good.

 

And then the guy is yelling for the police to arrest me!

 

Chappell: What? That’s a good one…after he runs in the ring and tries to attack you!

 

Koloff: (laughing) Yeah…and, of course, the police haul the guy off because he jumped in the ring!

 

But, I mean, it was serious because when these fans jumped in the ring, you never knew if they had a knife or something and were really out to hurt you.

 

Chappell: What do you think was the deciding factor for the established territories, like Florida, taking you back after your situation with the IWA and the venture in California?

 

Koloff: They saw that I was a hard worker and a good wrestler…type of thing. It was a business thing at that point. So, they ended up forgiving. (laughs)

 

Chappell: How did you end up back in the Mid-Atlantic area in 1980?

 

Koloff: Just finally called them up, and George Scott said, ‘Well, I guess it’s been long enough that you’ve been out of here. I see Vince has used you, and you’ve been used in some of the other NWA areas…so I’ll give you another try here.’

 

Chappell: I remember you were introduced back into the Mid-Atlantic area by the Iron Sheik, who you would end up feuding with in a couple of month’s time! But your first program back was against Rocky Johnson, who was under the hood then as ‘Sweet Ebony Diamond.’

 

 

Koloff: Yeah…that’s right!

 

Chappell: I remember with Sweet Ebony Diamond, you said you were out to get revenge against him because he ran you out of town in a ‘Loser Leaves Town Match’ in California…

 

Koloff: He cheated me! (laughs)

 

Chappell: Naturally…of course! (laughs)

 

And you brought out a new gimmick in the program with Diamond, at least a gimmick I hadn’t seen before, where you had a shovel that you would put notches on.

 

Koloff: Yeah…that’s right. For a couple of years I used that shovel…I still have that shovel at home! (laughs)

 

Chappell: Do you?

 

Koloff: Yeah…I sure do. I used to put notches on it like the Old West!

 

Chappell: Yep!

 

Koloff: Every time I’d beat an opponent, I’d add a notch. Of course, the opponents that were more important or significant…the longer the line.

 

Chappell: So, it sounds like you already had some notches on that shovel before you came back to Crockett?

 

Koloff: Oh yeah!

 

Chappell: After the program with Diamond wound down, you and the Iron Sheik had an unusual ‘Battle Of The Bullies’ program at the end of 1980. The Iranian versus the Russian! Who got the most cheers in THAT program? (everybody laughs)

 

Koloff: It was about half and half…it seemed like. I had been around longer than he had in the area…in the sense that I had come in long before he had in ’74. They remembered me maybe a little more.

 

Chappell: The Iranian hostage thing was still on people’s minds a lot then.

 

Koloff: You know, down deep, I don’t think the people really cared! That was a hard type of thing to pull off, but we did some business with it.

 

After that, I had a trip to the Middle East with the Iron Sheik…and we got into it and that’s how I got this bite mark…on the plane.

 

[Editor’s Note: Ivan shows a visible scar from this incident with the Sheik]

 

Chappell: What happened?

 

Koloff: It wasn’t his fault, really. To be honest about it, that happened during my drinking days. I ended up being out of line and slapped him, and knocked him down.

 

When you do stuff like that…he’s a tough guy---silver medal winner. He’s going to come back at you. So…we fought on the plane. It was a wonder we both didn’t get thrown in jail!

 

Chappell: These days you certainly would have!

 

Koloff: I guess he left his tattoo on me! (laughs)

 

Chappell: He sure left his mark, so to speak…

 

Koloff: Yeah…like the hammer and sickle! I didn’t mind as long as the hammer wasn’t on there! (everybody laughs) 

 

But…we still continued to work with each other after that happened.

 

 

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