Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Gateway Interview

TOMMY YOUNG PART 4


PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

PART 5

DC: A legend that was in with Crockett briefly was Buddy Rogers. Buddy and Ric had a brief battle of the figure four’s in 1979. Any memories of those two?

 

Tommy: The difference in those two is that Ric would put the figure four on work-wise, and Buddy would put it on shoot-wise. The bigger your legs are the less give there is.

 

George: Do you talk to Steamboat often? How’s he doing?

 

Tommy: I saw him 3-4 months ago. He’ll always be my friend, because I have so much respect for him. His boy Ricky will probably challenge Jeff Gordon in NASCAR eventually…I understand he’s very good.

 

George: You know Tommy, I wanted to tell you this…I really liked when the WWE brought you in during the 90’s for that NWA thing…I really liked that. (Editor’s note: The WWE had a very brief angle then where the current roster at the time faced an invasion of sorts from “old school” wrestlers. Tommy was brought in as the “old school” ref)

 

Tommy: It didn’t amount to anything George. (laughs)

 

George: I know. (sighs)

 

Tommy: I can’t believe they let me in the ring with my neck the way it was. (Editor’s note: Tommy was seriously injured in the ring in 1989. This will be detailed later in the interview)

 

DB: They never gave that angle a chance. It was over before it started.

 

Tommy: That’s right, when Corny (Jim Cornette) quit. Corny really has a mind for this business.

 

DC: Before I forget, let me ask you this…being narrow and provincial…what do you remember about the Richmond , Virginia venues?

 

Tommy: When I was in the IWA, I think we did some tapings at the Fairgrounds. When I went to Mid-Atlantic, they ran in the Richmond Arena a lot. That old hot brick building…God, the heat in there was incredible. Of course, for the big shows, we’d go down to the Coliseum.

 

DB: I also wanted to get a question in before I forgot. While he wasn’t in Mid-Atlantic a lot, I enjoyed Ernie Ladd’s work. I know you had dealings with him here and in the IWA. Tell us about # 99.

 

Tommy: Ernie was a lot of fun. Then he became born again, and then he wasn’t much fun anymore. (laughs)

 

I made a lot of trips with Ernie, and I really liked Ernie. He was a good guy.

 

DC: Okay…back to refereeing! Your style as a referee was much different than those that preceded you. Explain that to us?

 

Tommy: I did have a very unique style, in that I was all over the ring. Diving…having fun…getting into it with the crowd. As I said before, in the dressing room I was quiet, but when I hit that ring I was completely different. I was an entertainer.

 

DC: You also had a lot of interaction with the wrestlers, which you hardly ever saw with refs before you.

 

Tommy: Oh yes…I did. I would tell new guys that I worked very close and would get a little pushy, but I was just getting into things and that I would do everything I could to help them.

 

After the matches, I would ask guys if I shoved them too much or did I do anything they didn’t like…let me know. Because you liked to get to know guy’s styles. Everybody has a different style.

 

George: Any good road stories you can share with us? I remember a good one you told me before about Andre The Giant and Blackjack Mulligan.

 

Tommy: Talk about huge and ultra huge…because Mulligan was huge too. Jack told me one night they were in the motel room drinking after the matches and he got in one of his silly moods he got into every so often…and said, ‘I wonder what kind of reputation I could get if I knocked this SOB out.’ (everybody laughs)

 

He hauled off and bopped Andre, and Andre didn’t sell it. (Tommy using his best Andre the Giant impression) Andre said, ‘Get outta here before I kill you.’(everybody laughs)

 

It really surprised me, because a good punch by Jack I think would have knocked Andre right out. Jack’s hands were like meat cleavers.

 

I heard sometime later that Jack and Dick Murdock jumped Andre at the beach in Virginia Beach …same kind of thing. Those two guys were big and they could overpower even Andre, and they did take him down. But it wasn’t a fight or anything like that.

 

DB: I guess you probably hear this question a lot, but here it comes again. Who were the easiest and toughest wrestlers you ever worked with in the ring?

 

Tommy: The easiest guy I think I ever worked with in terms of respect and just being a nice person was a guy named Cowboy Bob Ellis.

 

Bob’s heyday was in the 1960’s. He was kind of getting up there in years when I worked with him in the IWA.

 

Bob’s gimmick was Bob…he was as nice a person in-person as he was on TV. If the fans were getting on me a little bit, he’d put his arm around me.

 

DC: Any other guys come to mind like Bob Ellis?

 

Tommy: Another guy that was super-great about trying to take care of me was a guy named Tex McKenzie. I also worked with him in the IWA. One of the nicest people you would ever want to meet.

 

There were a lot of others. Most of the guys were good and appreciated me, and I appreciated them.

 

DB: With all the matches you had with Flair and Steamboat, I’m assuming they were like that as well?

 

Tommy: Yes, but yet, occasionally they would get temperamental with me every once in awhile…but that was rare. Maybe having a bad day or something.

 

DC: Tell us a little more about Steamboat.

 

Tommy: ‘Steams’ was as nice a person as you’d ever want to meet. But he was doing a lot of bodybuilding back then and he’d go on the low-carb diet which would make him weak because carbs are where you get your energy.

 

‘Steams’ was always a moody guy. Sweetheart of a guy…but a moody guy and a tough guy.

 

I mean Steamboat was known in St. Petersburg , Florida to be one of the really tough guys in town. Buzz Sawyer told me that, and Buzz Sawyer was a tough guy in his own right. He said Steamboat was legendary down there.

 

DB: That’s interesting, as I don’t think many people perceived Steamboat as being a legitimate tough guy out of the ring. Do you have any examples of that?

 

Tommy: I remember one time, Mulligan and Steamboat had an argument about something, and ‘Steams’ was ready to fight Mulligan. I wouldn’t say Jack would have taken him because I don’t know.

 

Something else I remember. Here we go with Richmond again…one time I remember we were leaving the building in Richmond . There were about four really tough looking guys sitting next to us at a red light, and one of them flipped Steamboat the bird. Steamboat came out of that car and went after them…and they took off as fast as you can believe. Steamboat was the only one that got out of our car, believe me. (everybody laughs)

 

I tell you brother, Steamboat was a man…he was a real man.

 

DB: Now, who were the toughest to work with?

 

Tommy: The worst was probably Stan Hansen. Stan was one of these guys that wore the thick glasses, and when he took them off he couldn’t see very well. And brother, this guy was big and strong…just raw, brute power. He broke Bruno’s neck in New York with that lariat.

 

Stan hurt a lot of guys. He was hard for me to work with…we just never got along. Late in my career though, we kind of patched things up to a degree. But he was very difficult.

 

Another guy I just hated to work with was Abdullah the Butcher. This guy didn’t work with you at all. He just did what he wanted to do…

 

George: That’s right.

 

Tommy: …I mean, he’d walk into the ring with a gimmick the size of a telephone pole, and you have to act like you don’t see it. That (foreign object) thing was so big, if I had a blindfold on I could see it.

 

People kept saying, ‘he’s got that thing, he’s got that thing.’ It got to the point that I would say, ‘yeah, I know he has it but I can’t do anything about it.’ (everybody laughs)

 

DC: In some ways, it must have been like that closed fist finisher of Ronnie Garvin…which was obviously illegal. But I guess you were just asked to ignore it.

 

Tommy: Or like the Rock and Roll Express’ finishing move was a double drop kick.

 

What you do in those situations, is that you just try to get them out of it. The count needs to be a last resort. First you belt them, ‘hey, knock off the punching.’ Third time you grab them by the shoulder, ‘hey man, stop messing with him.’ Finally, as a last resort you count. That way he got his heat up with the punching…you’ve shown the fans that you’re trying to stop it. As a last resort, then you count.

 

DC: As a referee, part of your job was to make the fans unhappy, at least some of the time. I’m sure you had a few incidents with fans over the years?

 

Tommy: Oh God. I’ve had people spit in my face and slap me. I was never hit from the front, they always waited until you passed…they’re chicken sh#@.

 

DC: And in those days, there sure wasn’t much security.

 

Tommy: The promoters, and the Murnick’s ran Richmond , would tell the cops to take care of the wrestlers. The cops wouldn’t think about me as a ref. They would surround the wrestlers, the big tough guys, but what about me…I’m the little guy! (everybody laughs)

 

So the problem with the police was because of the promoters, but I don’t think the promoters really meant it…they just weren’t thinking about the refs.

 

Continued in PART FIVE