Col. DeBeers [Figure-Four Daily Interview]

The Good
I typically subscribe to Figure-Four/Wrestling Observer Online now for several month stretches every year. Typically, I follow the shows faithfully, listen to back shows religiously and put any newsletters I want to read on my Kindle for consumption when I can find the time. When I have tedious work to do, I listen to hours upon hours of a single show. Last summer, I poured over hours of Figure-Four Dailies and found a handful of them to be so exceptional that I'll be going back and reviewing them for this blog. One that was a standout was Bryan's interview with Ed Wiskowski (aka Col. DeBeers), although this predated my listening to his RF Shoot, it convinced me that this guy was a shoot master. Wiskowski's vast experiences, great storytelling and sharp insight make him one of those individuals that I'll go out of my way to listen to talk wrestling. Bryan does the standard - how'd you get in?, tell us about your athletic background (football) and all that, but is able to pull in the follow-ups that Rob never can. Although it was brief, Wiskowski talking about his experiences in South Africa were captivating and that area is so rarely covered.

The Bad
Only an hour barely scratches the surface of such a full career. Wiskowski touches briefly on his numerous European tours, which is often left out in shoot interviews with pro-wrestlers. Since he and Bryan are familiar with one another personally and have lived in the Pacific Northwest, they had a great chemistry. The Colonel, who loathes Dave Meltzer, only briefly mentioned him in talking about how Dave did not not thinking his character drew money. Bryan had him back on after Buddy Rose died, but he could probably have him on as much as Paul Lazenby, Dr. Lucha and it'd never grow old or dull.

The Rating: ***1/2

Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame - The Canadians

Author, Ghost Writer, Editor: Greg Oliver
Publisher: ECW Press
Released: 10/02

The Good
Greg Oliver is an excellent pro-wrestling journalist and this, the first in the "Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame" series is a nice sampling of the work he has been doing for years on his Slam! Wrestling website. This book is more of an encyclopedia of Canadian and adopted Canadian wrestlers than what future installments would be. Oliver top twenty listing could raise eyebrows, but nothing is grossly omitted, overlooked or downplayed. If you've never browsed his site, this is great original content with interview tidbits, anecdotes and well-researched history. A sound first attempt.

The Bad
"Hall of Fame" books are always full of subjectivity that irks everyone. While I have read some of the flaws of this book, it is generally good. I think its limitations are in its depth. However, Oliver had to choose between a wide variety of people to profile or great depth in those profiles and he chose the former. His top twenty had the depth I enjoyed, but was not on par with the mini-biographies in Dave Meltzer's Tributes books. Although this is okay, his future books make this look amateurish.
The Rating: ***3/4

    

Slick [RF Video Shoot Interview]

The Good
Some people are just fun-loving types and when they do a shoot interview, they can relax and entertain you with stories from the road. While I'll never consider those the best interviews, they are enjoyable. This was one of those. Slick, who fancies himself as the kind of guy who could be friends with everybody, comes across that way. This is a man who is straightforward about his issues with others and does not come across bitter. It seems like the way he conducts himself here is very telling of why he found both success and adversity in the pro-wrestling business. He entertains. He voices his opinions. He probably both amused and irritated Vince McMahon, which is why he got a chance, but never got pushed as strongly as he might've been.

The Bad
This interview had so much potential, specifically because of the Slickster's strong personality, but it was hampered greatly by RF Video stupidity. Sometimes these shoot interviews are done late at night and usually it does not adversely affect the interviewee or at least not in a painfully obvious way. This was the opposite. Slick was dozing off toward the end and having a hard time staying focused. Secondly, the main issue that RF wanted to tackle was racism in the business. That was pretty obvious. Now I'm not saying that it was wrong to have that goal because here was a black man who worked in a few territories that have been or one would suspect are racist hotbeds. Slick is outspoken on the matter and he really got into here. The drawback was the poor questioning. When the idea of pimps "symbolizing the culture" was thrown out there (mistake or not), it revealed how poorly planned these interviews are. Aside from that this was a relatively short (not the standard two hours), focused on a relatively short career (a little over a decade) and did not include much psychology. Slick was entertaining and honest, but he did not get himself over a great talent in my view.

The Rating: ***1/2

Brutus Beefcake [RF Video Shoot Interview]

The Good
The Honky Tonk Man has convinced me to think a little differently about Brutus Beefcake. The man who's often dismissed because of his limitations in the ring and lifelong friendship with Hulk Hogan is no different than a number of other pro-wrestling personalities. No one craps on Arn Anderson as being Ric Flair's "Beefcake" (as HTM put it) because he was a great worker, but the idea is the same. This shoot interview made it quite apparent that although Ed Leslie got his biggest breaks due to his friendship with Hulk Hogan, he worked hard himself for many years on the territories often without Hogan around or with Hogan being a midcarder as well. He was not particularly negative about people and had some unique perspectives to share. I would have liked to here him talk more about Hogan, but in trying to avoid the stigma of being Hogan's lackey, he seems to only say just enough. Many of his thoughts on the success of the WWF, the changes within the business and the declining WCW (which he accurately predicted would be dead in 2 years time) are astonishing for someone who is derided as a hanger-on with no real talent. I really enjoyed this.

The Bad
When you are the best friend of one of pro-wrestling's biggest stars and that person is not a major focal point of the interview, something is wrong. Yes, Brutus Beefcake was his own man. Yes, Brutus Beefcake had a career worth detailing. Yes, Hulk Hogan has done interviews, autobiographies and the like over the years. However, Brutus Beefcake has this first-hand perspective that is totally different than many other people. Hogan is one of the most notorious fabricators when talking about himself, so we need people who were with him to share the true details. Brutus does not do that. He gives a few things, but he does not really give that perspective that I hoped he might. Regardless, I nominate Brutus Beefcake for a Timeline of the WWF by Kayfabe Commentaries, perhaps 1988 or 1989?

The Rating: ***3/4

Wrestling Universe - Virgil

The Good
If you've ever seen the picture of Virgil waiting at an autography session with "WWF Superstar Virgil" above his head and not a soul in sight…this shoot is the audio equivalent of that. If you like shoot interview that are serious, informative and straightforward, you might want to avoid this. Now I do not want to totally mock the accomplishments and career of Mike Jones, but I have to scratch my head at a great number of things he says here. Perhaps I should be writing about these things as negatives, but they made this interview hilarious. Comments like "why are you massaging his feet like a prick?," "I hate the hell out of snakes" and "you ain't jackshit unless you sellout that Garden" are just a few morsels of this buffet of ridiculousness. Jones, who alludes to a past as a collegiate standout at the University of Virginia as well as a past as a Golden Gloves boxer, which probably explains why he did not back down from Dan Severn when the two alleged went at it and it goes on from there. He was, at best, a peripheral talent, who got hooked up with Ted Dibiase, the nWo and such and was able to reach a level of success that he never could have achieved on his pure talents alone. It is interesting (and that is an understatement) to hear him talk about his career, but take everything with a grain of salt.

The Bad
I could easily pull out a few statements that Mike Jones made and quickly refute them. I could easily point out some erroneous facts and figures. I could easily paint Mike Jones as a self-important asshole. But none of those things need to be done by me. The interview does it all simply in listening to it. He makes so many lofty claims that anyone with a little knowledge about his tenure in the WWF could see the BS. There are a number of things he mentions that jump out as false. He dresses the interviewer down on camera for lacking ability and confidence and although he's no Sean Oliver, the Wrestling Universe do a good job by my estimation.

The Rating: ***

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: ****

Straight Shootin with Jushin "Thunder" Liger

The Good
There have not been a large number of shoot interviews done with Japanese and Mexican stars because, by in large, their English is limited, they don't break kayfabe and it just would not work out logistically. Shocker (who is actually from the US), Keiji Muto and a couple others have done interviews for English-speaking media in some capacity, but the results have been mixed. Here, Gabe Sapolsky sits down with Jushin Liger and translator Simon Inoki to look at the career of one of New Japan's most recognizable stars, a junior heavyweight icon and simply one of the greatest workers ever. It is interesting to hear about his brief training in Mexico as well as his extensive training in the New Japan Dojo. He gets into a lot of interesting details about the numerous legends of New Japan and puroresu. Who knew El Samurai was a chain smoker? Or that Keiji Muto was as bizarre as his Great Muta character? Or that tough guy Yoshiaki Fujiwara was real laid-back when he was not beating the hell out of young boys? Jushin Liger gets into some neat details that you'd never hear otherwise, so this interview is worth checking out if you are a puroresu fan.

The Bad
Shoot interviews full of kayfabe can be intolerably bad and Liger gives many responses swimming in it. If this was not such a unique interview, I would certainly say that kills the quality of this. A major downside of this is the time spent translating back-and-fourth. I think, although it would have made this shorter (more like one hour as opposed to two), that dubbing this with subtitles would have been better all around. The documentary, Blood-Stained Memories, did this with Keiji Muto and it preserved a lot of the personality in his responses. It seems like not much ground was actually covered and the questions are pretty generic and dull.

The Rating: ***1/2