|
|
|
Gladiator
#2 (George South) argues with David Crockett after being
upset by the Mulkeys on World Championship Wrestling, March
28, 1987, WTBS Studios, Atlanta.
George
South & Gary Royal reunite at at the Spartanburg
Auditorium, Sept 2, 2003. George and Gary were the legendary
Gladiators who lost to the Mulkies on TBS. They were also
the cruel Connection and the Mexican Twin Devils. |
This
is the famous Gladiator outfit. That's Gladiator #2, I want to get
that right. Gary Royal was Gladiator #1, much
shorter. (laughs). This is the actual outfit, the actual
hood or what’s left of it. It’s been pulled on, and I
had to tape it, but this is the actual outfit from the angle
with the Mulkey brothers on TBS.
So what everyone needs to
know, it was me and
Gary
(laughs). I have guys at independent shows tell me that they
were one of the Gladiators, and I laugh and tell them “Oh,
really, because I was the Gladiator with Gary Royal” and
then they change the subject real fast. There are lots of
people out there that will claim to be one of the
Gladiators.
It’s
kind of funny, we actually ordered these at the same time we
ordered the Cruel Connection outfits, which were the lime
green outfits, and also the Mexican Twin Devils, so we
actually ordered all three together and Gary and I wrestled
as all three masked tag teams.
There
was a reason for all that. Sometimes Dusty would have Gary
Royal and I work three times in one TV taping, as ourselves
and as the Gladiators and the Cruel Connection, three
different teams, but we’d only get paid once! (laughs) So
Crockett was saving money, and we actually loved it because
we were on TV three times. But one time, they had us in two
matches, one right after the other, as the Gladiators and the Cruel
Connection and I was rushing to change outfits and about
didn’t make it. I screwed up and had my lime green outfit
on with the blue Gladiator boots. J.J was so mad.
Once
in Roanoke, the ring announcer introduced me as “from parts unknown,
George South!” and I was in my Cruel Connection outfit!
What
a lot of people don’t know is that the Gladiators had
actually been around awhile long before we did the angle
with the Mulkies, we had been wearing those outfits in the
early matches on spot shows. Then they made up the story
that we were West Coast Champions to put the Mulkies over,
and to be an additional team for the Crockett Cup that year.
We wanted to make it better, we wanted belts, but they
wouldn’t give us belts, so we were billed as West Coast
Champions with no belts.
-George
South
The
above was transcribed from discussions Dick Bourne and David
Chappell had with George as he took us on a tour around his
wrestling room at his home in Concord, NC., August 20, 2003.
|
