Torch Talk - Bulldog from `93

The Good 
It is a funny to think how much things have changed since this interview from nearly two decades ago. Obviously, the face of pro-wrestling has changed and Davey Boy Smith has sadly passed away, but what struck me was how the nature of communication about pro-wrestling and the popularity of "dirt sheets" has changed. Wade Kellar is still around, but now these phone interview recorded on his answering machine that were transcribed for the Torch are now easy downloads and listens through new technology. In spite of all that, this was a stellar interview in a time before audio shoot interviews. Kellar knows his stuff and is pretty good about sneaking in some heavy questions as I've seen time and again.

The Bad
A loud beep every 15 seconds is a bit annoying and perhaps too maddening a distraction for some. Wade Kellar is much more smooth a talker than Dave Meltzer, but his wealth of knowledge is not as great. I suspect Dave would have done a vastly different interview, but perhaps not hammered some of the points such a steroids, drug abuse and all that quite as hard, if at all. Personally, I think Dave's obituary from the WON of Davey Boy Smith was better than this, yet this had the charm of Davey himself talking. At forty-five minutes the depth of this is respectable, but not as great as, say, an RF Video shoot generally-speaking. What I really missed and I imagine many others would have as well was the discussion of 1980s British wrestling, Stampede and Japan. Kellar hit on each of them, but perhaps in an effort to cater to his fans, kept those questions brief. One could probably complain because talk of his time in Wigan was so brief. Not to knit-pick because this predates the shoot interview era and was not originally intended for radio consumption, but it certainly had its flaws.

The Rating: ****