Chappell: You continued
to wrestle as a good guy in
1985-86. And in fact you were
involved in Starrcade 1985,
seconding the Rock and Roll
Express, and at Starrrcade 1986,
when you and Rocky teamed. After
that you pretty much wound it
down…but what a career!
Kernodle: Sarge and I had
so many ideas. That thing with
Steamboat and Youngblood was
great and it was huge, but it
was building for the Russian
thing.
Chappell: Really?
Kernodle: See, Don
Kernodle went from a nice young
boy to a real bad-ass, and then
he was going to become another
nice older boy as a good guy,
fighting Russians for the
American flag. The Americans
against the Russians!
A Drill Sergeant and a man
calling himself the Pride Of The
USA fighting the Russians for
flags, all over the United
States, trying to honor their
country.
Chappell: Hard to imagine
that wouldn’t have gotten over
big-time.
Kernodle: So that early
stuff was just a stepping
stone…to go even bigger into
that.
We knew we were gonna come up
with the Russian deal. We were
just building for that. And it
would have been even bigger if
Sarge had come back, and we
could have done it the way we
wanted to.
We could have brought Steamboat
in with us. When Krusher
Krushchev came in running his
mouth, we could have said,
“Steamboat, come wrestle with us
against the Russians!”
Chappell: Can you imagine
Don Kernodle, Sergeant Slaughter
and Ricky Steamboat as a six man
tag team combination?!
Kernodle: Wrestling, if
it’s done right you can just go
on and on and on! There’s no end
to it.
So, Steamboat and Youngblood was
gonna springboard into the
Russians, and then after the
Russians it was gonna be
something else!
Chappell: Had you and
Sarge planned any angles coming
after the Russian thing ran its
course?
Kernodle: We always
wanted to team some guys up, put
masks on them, but not regular
wrestling masks. Make ‘em look
like terrorists.
Terrorists! No country! In other
words, you didn’t want them to
look like a wrestler. You wanted
them to look like a terrorist…an
assassin. You wanted them to
look like a killer, and not get
in the ring and do anything like
a wrestler!
Chappell: Scary!
Kernodle:
Exactly. They’d sneak
around. Their arms would be
covered…you couldn’t see
anything about them. Sarge and I
would wrestle these terrorists,
these assassins.
We had another idea. Who do we
hate probably worse than
anybody, and they’re only 75
miles from our border? Cubans!
We were gonna get something
going, wrestling some Cubans…
Chappell: Those kind of
patriotic angles usually strike
a chord with most fans.
Kernodle: You got a
Marine Sergeant fighting some
terrorists…it doesn’t really
matter where they’re from! It
doesn’t matter where they’re
from. They could be the whitest
guys in the world…you could put
gloves and long shirts and pants
on them!
Chappell/Bourne:
(laughing)
Kernodle: And they
wouldn’t act like regular
wrestlers. Like when I used to
wrestle Sarge after we got out
of the business…I wrestled him
like the Masked Russian or
something like that. I’d wear
sweat pants and stuff like that.
And I wouldn’t get in the ring
like a regular wrestler. I’d
step on the announcer’s leg, and
step up on his table, and get in
the ring like I was the meanest
sorriest thing in the world!
I wouldn’t get in the ring like
a regular wrestler…I wanted to
look like a Russian terrorist!
Like a Russian assassin! I’d do
anything to act like a real
a-hole!
Chappell/Bourne:
(laughing)
Kernodle: A terrorist
wouldn’t act like a regular
wrestler. He’d do all kinds of
crazy crap like he’s a damn
killer…like he’s paid to kill
somebody! He don’t mess around!
It’s infinite…you can just go on
and on and on in professional
wrestling!
Chappell: The only limit
is your imagination!
Kernodle: We knew when we
were wrestling Steamboat and
Youngblood, that someday we’d be
wrestling some Russians, and
then the terrorists. We went on
down the line.
Bourne: It’s too bad
things got changed, and we
didn’t get to see some of these
ideas come to pass…
Kernodle: I can’t
complain…it was a great ride!
I’ve had a great life!
Wrestling is a fun business…a
great business. But it’s changed
so much now.
Chappell: And you really
haven’t wrestled much at all in
recent years…
Kernodle: I'm not one to
be wrestling at this time in my
life. I like to wrestle, but I’m
59, and I have a good income
coming in.
Chappell: 59 and going
strong!
To wrap things up, Don, how
would you describe your
philosophy about profession
wrestling, and the relationship
between the wrestlers and the
fans?
Kernodle: Wrestling is
all psychology. Like I said, I’d
watched wrestling from when I
was seven years old. And I know
what the people want to see.
And as Weaver would tell you,
once you got in the business,
you listened to the people. A
great worker, and I’m not saying
I was a great worker, but a
great worker like Weaver can
listen to the people…and he knew
what the people wanted to see.
Chappell: Weaver was
clearly a master of that.
Kernodle: If Weaver was
here, he could also tell you how
these hot shot angles are no
good. You can’t run a territory
like that. You might have a few
months of hot business…and then,
nothing.
Bourne: Especially if a
wheel falls off like in that
summer of ’86 when things were
clicking, and then Magnum gets
hurt, and you don’t have a plan,
you don’t have things that you
can build from.
And it was like a snowball going
down hill.
Kernodle: You see how
Vince [McMahon] does now? If
something happens like Batista
gets hurt again, Vince has
somebody to come right in there.
Just because Magnum was hurt,
you could have done something
different…
Chappell: Rather than
immediately turn Nikita babyface
out of desperation.
Kernodle: That’s one
thing about Vince McMahon, like
him or hate him. When we were
wrestling, it was wrestlers
doing the booking. And if you’re
a booker, who’s going to be the
top wrestler?
Chappell: Easy answer
there!
Kernodle: [The booker],
of course. Now, Vince is the
booker, he’s not a wrestler…
Chappell: Not for the
most part, anyway!
Kernodle: But you see
what I’m saying, David, Vince
has more of a reason to give the
wrestlers the chance to make
money that deserve it. See what
I’m saying?
Chappell: Right.
Kernodle: See, when I was
wrestling, if a booker didn’t
like you, he could starve you to
death. He might only book you
2-3 times a week, and there
wouldn’t be a damn thing you
could do about it. You could
either like it…or go.
They were the only two choices
you had.
Chappell: Like it, or
lump it!
Kernodle: Ya’ll probably
never been told this before…this
is one of my trade things that
I’ll tell you.
People don’t realize it, but
wrestlers are puppeteers. We’re
working their strings. We’re in
the ring wrestling, but we’re
working the people’s
strings…they’re puppets. We
could have a riot EVERY night,
if we wanted to take it that
far! Every night we could have
had a riot.
So, we’re working their strings,
and they don’t even know it! You
know what I’m saying? You’ve
never heard that before, have
you?
Chappell: That’s a great
analogy.
Bourne: Which is what’s
so sad about wrestling today.
They work it out ahead of time,
practice it, and have every move
laid out in their head before
the match. And then it doesn’t
matter what the fans react to,
they still gotta do their match.
Kernodle: Yeah, we never
did that. We called the match in
the ring, listened to the
people, and we knew what they
wanted to see.
Bourne: That’s gone
today.
Kernodle: And also your
interviews…
Bourne: (laughs) You
never had to have a writer, did
you Don?
Kernodle: We didn’t
rehearse NOTHING! We just went
out there and said what we
wanted to say.
You know what you wanted to say…
Chappell: And sort of
what the people expected you to
say.
Kernodle: I knew I had to
be a smart-ass, and say
something crazy!
Chappell: Give us a
couple of those smart-ass promos
that you really remember!
Kernodle: One time I did
one for Charlotte, I said, ‘You
know, just maybe, just maybe,
when we get done beating
Steamboat and Youngblood
tonight, they’ll change the name
of Independence Boulevard to the
Pride Of The USA Boulevard!’
Chappell/Bourne:
(laughing)
Kernodle: Then I did one
for the Greensboro Coliseum one
time, I said, ‘You know, Sarge,
one time the Kernodles owned
this land up here where the
Coliseum is at. They didn’t want
it, it’s just a piece of trash
like a dump, so we just gave it
to the city of Greensboro!’
Chappell/Bourne:
(laughing)
Kernodle: It was like the
thing with the Queen sending me
flowers…like the Queen of
England is really interested in
a wrestling match! Crazy stuff
that people take notice of!
Like I said, it was a fun
business. But it’s changed so
much now, that it probably
wouldn’t be as fun.
Chappell: Since we’re
talking about having fun…Don,
it’s been a blast talking to you
today. I know I speak for Dick,
in thanking you for spending so
much time talking with the
Mid-Atlantic Gateway boys today!
Kernodle: Oh, it’s been
great guys! I’ve got lots
more…let’s sit down again soon,
and we can talk with my brother,
too.
Chappell: It’s a date!
Stayed tuned for more with Don
and Wally Kernodle!
Kernodle: Thanks guys…see
ya’ll soon!
Recognition Presented by CWF
Mid-Atlantic Wrestling June 2009
in Burlington NC.
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