PART FOUR



PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

PART FOUR

PART FIVE

PART SIX

PART SEVEN

PART EIGHT

PART NINE

PART TEN


 RETURN TO THE GATEWAY LOBBY

 

RETURN TO THE INTERVIEW INDEX

 



Chappell: I know you recently saw a couple of World Wide shows on video from the late 70s, when you were the announcer. What passed through your mind when you saw those?

 

Landrum: Oh wow, it was like a trip down memory lane!

 

Chappell: I’d imagine!

 

Landrum: Oh, it really was! My wife and I watched them first, and she was looking at it and wasn’t saying much. Which was good, because if she didn’t say anything then it was all right!

 

Chappell: It must have been like watching an old home movie, or something like that.

 

Landrum: It really was. But unlike the one I’ve seen of her, where she kept walking into the tree; I didn’t do that! (laughs)

 

We were talking about how the guys looked back then compared to now…even myself. Of course she’d be prejudiced and said I looked as good now as I did back then! I said, ‘Uh, I don’t know about that!’ The curly hair is gone…

 

Chappell: Some of that was 70s as well I imagine…

 

Landrum: Some of it was. Actually, my hair really was curly, but I got sick in ’84 and had three surgeries in eight months. Between all the anesthesia and all the medication, my hair went to straw.

 

Chappell: Good grief.

 

Landrum: And it never came back the way it was. It’s wavy, but it’s not curly anymore. Back then, I just get a perm to match it all up.

 

But it was fun watching it, David, because I definitely remembered that year end highlight show in 1978. The Flair thing with the girls…one who ended up being Ricky Steamboat’s wife in later years---Bonnie, the blonde. Now his ex-wife, I understand.

 

Chappell: Yes, she is.

 

Landrum: But it was a real trip down memory lane. You remember on the show where Flair says something to the effect, ‘Everybody’s watching your show because I’ve made your show number one!’ Here’s the thing, he was telling the truth…well in fact, my ratings were higher than the Mid-Atlantic show in most markets!

 

Chappell: Really?

 

Landrum: Yeah! In most markets, my ratings were passing theirs! And they couldn’t figure out why. And I have my own thoughts about that, but we won’t go there!

 

(laughs) Then Flair said, ‘That’s because you hang around with greatness.’ I looked at him and said, ‘I didn’t have anything to do with it?’

 

Chappell: That was a great exchange between you two. That brings up a good point…you seemed to really engage the wrestlers more than say, a Bob Caudle. Bob was great, but he tended to just let the wrestlers talk. You would engage them more, and it led to some great back and forth!

 

Landrum: Well, to me, that’s what I felt like needed to be done.

 

My job, yeah, was to put them over and make them look good. But some guys, if you didn’t lead them down the path, you were in trouble.

 

Chappell: Who, for instance?

 

Landrum: John Studd…Tim Woods, they come immediately to mind.

 

If you didn’t get ‘em started, they’d stutter right on through the whole interview. But if you got ‘em started and knew where to take ‘em, then we had a good interview.

 

(laughs) And then I did some things that didn’t work real well sometimes!

 

Chappell: But you were trying!

 

Landrum: It was a thing where I felt like there was more to it than just sticking the mic in their face and saying, ‘Go!’ You know, let’s try and have some interaction.

 

And, of course, being around [the wrestlers] all the time helped me. See, at that point, Bob Caudle didn’t travel with them…he just did that one show. He didn’t go anywhere with them. Where I did the other live shows in Richmond and shows around the area…Charlottesville, and that sort of thing.

 

So, I was actually around the guys a whole lot more than Bob was. And we all got to know each other, and became friends.

 

Chappell: And you continued your ring announcing in Richmond while also hosting World Wide Wrestling.

 

Landrum: Sure…sure did. It was a lot of fun hanging out and traveling with them. We had a lot of good times together.

 

I think all that really helped, as far as them feeling comfortable with me…and vice versa.

 

Chappell: You had some good back and forth in your interviews! Like the ‘Richard’ thing with Ricky Steamboat.

 

Landrum: Right, and no matter where we were, TV or not, he always called me ‘Richard.’ Because he was ‘Ricky,’ you know?

 

Chappell: Other than Bob Caudle who worked with Channel 5 in Raleigh, most of the Crockett announcers that were there when you started didn’t have professional broadcasting backgrounds like you did. Many of them were former wrestlers, or family. Did they help you when you were getting started on the TV side?

 

Landrum: No, they just tossed me to the wolves.

 

Chappell: Do you think any of the existing announcers viewed you as a threat?

 

Landrum: (pauses) Ah, I don’t know…this may be out of school, but I think maybe David Crockett saw me as a threat. But I don’t know why…he was in the family!

 

Chappell: Yeah, if anybody was safe, it was him!

 

Landrum: They weren’t going to do anything with him. As far as the others go, when I started I was just doing the commercial interviews, so when we were finished…boom, I was gone. And then I’d be doing the live shows some place else.

 

I certainly don’t think most of the other announcers viewed me as a threat…I hope not.

 

Chappell: Compare yourself style-wise to the other announcers. Later on, I’ll ask you who you thought was the best!

 

Landrum: Your ego says, ‘Yeah, boy, I can do it better than him!’

 

But you gotta remember, like Caudle and I…we were two different types of announcers. I was obviously different than David Crockett.

 

Chappell: I think it’s fair to say you had a different style than the guys you’ve mentioned. So in some respects, it’s like comparing apples and oranges.

 

Landrum: Well, I didn’t want to be a carbon copy of any of them. Because, then [World Wide Wrestling] wouldn’t have been a different show.

 

I didn’t want to be Gordon Solie…that wouldn’t have worked. He’s a legend down in Georgia and Florida. Funny thing, one time [Crockett] came to me and asked me if I’d go to Georgia and do a show.

 

Chappell: Georgia?

 

Landrum: I’m going, ‘Why Georgia?’ I said, ‘What are we talking about here?’ They said, ‘We’re thinking about making some changes.’ I’m thinking, ‘There ain’t but one announcer in Georgia, and it’s Gordon Solie!’

 

Chappell: (laughs) Little hard to move in on his territory!

 

Landrum: Yeah! I said, ‘Well, let me think about it.’ I wasn’t too anxious to go to Georgia. I wanted to stay where I was…I enjoyed working out of the Carolinas.

 

Chappell: What time frame would this have been, Rich?

 

Landrum: Oh, I had only been doing the World Wide show for about six or eight months. That Georgia thing came up one day when we were in Raleigh, back in the office.

 

Chappell: Wasn’t that about the same time that Crockett started going up to Canada…Toronto?

 

Landrum: Yeah, I did some stuff up there with them a couple of times. And it was fun.

 

Chappell: Different?

 

Landrum: Different entirely up there than it was down in the South.

 

Chappell: But from everything I’ve heard over the years, it played pretty well up there.

 

Landrum: It did…it did. And the World Wide show did very well up there.

 

Chappell: And up there in Toronto, if I’m not mistaken, they mixed talent with other promotions?

 

Landrum: They would…they would. And then they brought a Canadian announcer down…I’d be doing my show, and he’s sitting on the other side of the ring. You couldn’t see him, and he’d be doing a voice over on all of it…but I’m hearing parts of it. And I’m going, ‘What in the world is he talking about!’

 

Chappell: (laughing) Ya’ll looking at the same match?

 

Landrum: Yeah…it doesn’t sound like what I’m doing, you know?

 

(laughing) Are we watching the same thing?

 

But yeah, Crockett was starting to spread out a bit then, in the late 70s. We were down in Augusta, Georgia a couple of times. Savannah, certainly. I think the move to expand was there at that point…I just don’t think they were sure how they were going to pull it all together and expand it out.

 

Chappell: I remember one time in 1979, the TV shows were actually taped from an arena, I believe for the first time. I think it was from Dorton Arena in Raleigh. If I’m not mistaken, Andre the Giant was on the show.

 

That was quite something at the time, and in retrospect, I suspect a sign that things were changing and expanding.

 

Landrum: And then towards the end when I was with them, they started taping some house shows in Charlotte. After we moved the tapings to Charlotte, to a little Podunk station…WPCQ.

 

Chappell: (laughs) It looked like they needed a giant shoe horn to get the ring in that little studio! They couldn’t even get the ring in there straight…it had to be crooked to fit in that little space.

 

Landrum: Oh man, I mean to tell you, it was tough in there! You could have just as easily had it in your living room!

 

I mean, it probably held 50 people at best. And the production, the guys in the camera crew, worked real hard to make it look like there were more than 50 people in there.

 

Chappell: Was it hot in there? It sure looked like the lights were right on top of you in there.

 

Landrum: They were, they were right on top of us. It was nothing like WRAL.

 

WRAL was as close to a network operation as I had ever seen at that point in my life. They had fantastic production facilities, fantastic studio. Everything about it, they had. Of course, Jesse Helms owned it.

 

Chappell: That didn’t hurt!

 

Landrum: WRAL was just fantastic in every way. Then we moved to Charlotte…

 

Chappell: During the summer of 1981.

 

Landrum: (laughs) I remember rolling up to this little UHF station, and I looked and said, ‘Holy Mackerel…what are we into now?’

 

Chappell: I remember watching that first show from WPCQ, and I was thinking the same thing!

 

They did the shows from WRAL for so long. Were you privy to the reasons for the move to this little ‘coat closet’ of a studio in Charlotte?

 

Landrum: Well, the story I heard was [WRAL] wanted to do some other things, where they could make more money in a shorter span of time. I don’t know David…in the world of professional wrestling, you hear so many stories, and you try to sort through what’s the truth and figure it out. 

 

So, I don’t really know why!

 

Chappell: All you knew for sure is that you ended up in Charlotte!

 

Landrum: Yeah, and I said, ‘You guys gonna fly me into Charlotte, right?’ And they said, ‘Well, we’ll think about it.’ I said, ‘You better!’

 

I mean, it was a three hour drive from Charlotte to Raleigh. Now, when we first started doing it from Charlotte….we taped the commercial interviews there, then got in the car and drove to Raleigh to do the show that same night!

 

Chappell: Oh man!

 

Landrum: For a while, we were taping the wrestling shows in two different locations! I’d fly into Charlotte and do the promos that morning, and then get in the car that afternoon about 2:00-3:00, generally Gene Anderson and I, and we’d drive to Raleigh for the shows.

 

I’d drive half the way and Gene would sleep, he’d drive the other half and I’d sleep. Gene had this Cadillac with a diesel engine. It might have gotten great gas mileage, but it had NO power!

 

Then I’d fly out of Raleigh back to Richmond. Or ride back to Richmond with somebody else.

 

Chappell: (laughs) No get up and go in Gene’s Cadillac?

 

Landrum: It didn’t boogie! Once you got up rolling you were all right, but if you wanted to pass somebody you weren’t gonna do it.

 

But yeah, for a while in 1981 we were doing the TV from two different places. We did that for probably two or three months. It seemed like forever!

 

Chappell: Was the switch from Raleigh to Charlotte a surprise?

 

Landrum: We knew it was coming, because Crockett kept saying, ‘We’re looking for another location.’ I always thought they would probably do it at WBT in Charlotte…that would have been a station that was comparable to WRAL. But I think probably WBT wanted too much money to do it, and Crockett just didn’t want to put the money out for it.

 

Chappell: Rich, let me ask you specifically about the World Wide Wrestling show as compared to the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling show. What was the major benefit to having the second show?

 

Landrum: We were promoting the same live shows, and the major advantage to it was that we were getting double exposure. That’s what it really amounted to.

 

Back then, TV was a liability…

 

Chappell: How so?

 

Landrum: Because you had all of the expense of taping it. Back then the stations played it in lieu of commercial consideration…

 

Chappell: Right, you heard that line at the end of every show!

 

Landrum: The stations could sell spots in the show, as long as we maintained two spots.

 

But it was a liability…it cost a lot of money to do that. Even back then.

 

Chappell: But the weekly TV show drove the product back then, didn’t it?

 

Rich Landrum on the set of World Wide Wrestling (Rich Landrum Collection)

 

Landrum: But see, that’s what drove it into the house shows. Without TV, you could have had the World’s Champion come in and nobody would have known what was going on. So, you had to have TV…that’s what drove the live show.

 

Nowadays, of course, it’s the total opposite. TV is the big thing.

 

Chappell: Without question.

 

Landrum: Coincidentally, they taped a [WWE] RAW a couple of weeks ago…I didn’t even know they were in Richmond. I had no clue. A friend told me about it, and I said, ‘When were they here, I haven’t seen a thing on it?’

 

He said that must be a pretty good indicator, and it was. Checking the numbers on the WWE shows, because I also own an advertising agency, they’re way down here. TV is way down for them. I think the circus wrestling has run its cycle. I hope!

 

Chappell: Now, Rich, when you first started announcing for the World Wide show, you were by yourself…you didn’t have a color commentator. How was it doing a show solo?

 

Landrum: (laughs) You know that 1978 highlights show video we’ve been talking about? I was by myself then. My wife’s watching the show with me, and she’s saying, ‘You have a cold, and you’re talking awful fast!’ I went, ‘Yeah, I remember that show…I did not want to be there that night.’

 

Chappell: You seemed fine…

 

Landrum: I was ill…I did not feel good. I was dragging by the time we got to that show.

 

Chappell: You could have used a color commentator that night!

 

Landrum: I could have used ANYTHING! So, one of the guys said, ‘Take this, it’ll make you feel better.’ About 20 minutes later, I was feeling great!

 

Chappell: This is the 1978 year in review show on video, right?

 

Landrum: Yeah, David, and if you listen to it…I’m talking REAL fast.

 

(laughing) Little did I know…the guy had given me speed!

 

Chappell: (laughing) You felt no pain!

 

Landrum: But I come out and finish, and I’m talking a mile a minute. Steamboat goes, ‘Listen to how fast you’re talking!’ And he starts laughing! And I go, ‘Damn, I am!’

 

Chappell: (laughing)

 

Landrum: Lord, I definitely remember that show!

 

Chappell: You did that show solo, and for quite awhile early on you announced the show by yourself. How was that?

 

Landrum: Oh, man, I was so happy I ended up with Johnny Weaver!

 

You can carry a show just so far by yourself. And then after a while, it really becomes a burden. You run out of things to say. You can only say so many things, so many times.

 

Chappell: Surely.

 

Johnny Weaver and Rich Landrum (Rich Landrum Collection)

 

Landrum: Having somebody like John, who I dubbed the Dean of Professional Wrestling, was really great.

 

Chappell: Why was that?

 

Landrum: Because of his knowledge and his history in the business. There was very little I could have thrown at him that he wouldn’t have known the answer to.

 

Chappell: You all had a great chemistry on the air. It appeared like you all really liked each other.

 

Landrum: Oh, we did. And it was fun, you know?

 

I talked to John last summer and then again right before Christmas, and we had not seen each other or talked in 20 years. And that was great!

 

Chappell: I bet that really was!

 

How did John become your regular color commentator? I remember a World Wide show in early 1979 where Weaver comes out to help you commentate a match between Paul Jones and Ricky Steamboat for Ricky’s U.S. Title. Paul pulls Ricky’s tights to apparently win the belt, but John shows (referee) Stu Schwartz the instant replay of the pin and Jimmy Crockett gives the belt back to Steamboat.

 

Weaver did really well with you on that match. It might not have been immediately after that, but Weaver was a regular with you pretty soon after that.

 

Landrum: No, it wasn’t immediate…but it was shortly thereafter.

 

It wasn’t my idea to have John do the color, but when it came up, I was surely in favor of it.

 

To tell you the truth, my first thought was that they were trying to get rid of me. Because I knew how it worked, from when they brought me in.

 

Chappell: How did you handle that?

 

Landrum: I went to John, and I said, ‘Okay, you’ll be the one that will tell me the truth…I hope.’ He said, ‘I’m just coming on to help you with it…I don’t want to do the show forever.’ That was good enough for me.

 

So, when he came on board it was great. We played off each other really well. We did so much stuff off camera, and during the off period when you couldn’t see us or hear us. We just had a lot of fun with it.


PART FIVE