Jack E. Jones passed along this recap.
Recap of Ox Baker on In Your Head Wrestling Radio, 04/25/2012
by Vic Schiavone
Hosts Jack E. Jones and One Inch Biceps welcomed legendary villain Ox Baker to IYH Wrestling Radio for his first appearance on IYH in seven years. During his introduction, Jack E. pointed out that Ox was IYH’s Interview of the Year in 2005.
Ox started off by talking about how the show’s ratings had gone down without the Fantastic Ox Baker so if everyone would call in he would answer any question.
Jack talked about that the last time he talked to Ox at the NWA Fanfest Weekend seven years ago that Ox made fun of his fedora. They then talked about the NWA Legends Fanfest Weekend that will be happening this year from August 2-5 in Charlotte, North Carolina. They mentioned several of the people who would be appearing and Ox shared memories of each person:
· Angelo Mosca – Ox was doing a program in Calgary with the Mongolian Stomper when he met Angelo. He talked about doing a cooking show for him in Toronto.
· Johnny Powers – He is one of Ox’s all-time favorites. Ox told a story about being involved in a huge riot in Cleveland, Ohio (where Johnny was part of the promotion) and Johnny coming back to the dressing room after he had gotten 23 stitches and telling Ox he needed to be on TV the next day.
· Austin Idol – Ox said that he had been one of his friends for years.
· NWA Referee Tommy Young – Ox said he always gave 150%.
· Tully Blanchard – Ox started out working for his father Joe Blanchard; said that Tully had always been a gentleman.
· Jerry Brisco – Ox put over his brother Jack as one of the best wrestlers ever.
· Mr. Wrestling II – Ox said he was one of the five toughest men ever to put on a pair of tights. Ox said he ended up in more wrestling halls of fame than Mr. Wrestling I (Tim Woods).
· Thunderbolt Patterson – Ox said they were both from Waterloo, Iowa, and they started out at the same time forty years ago.
· Les Thatcher – Ox said he was one of the truly nice guys in the business and was willing to help anybody.
· Ron Simmons – Ox put over him and Butch Reed as a great tag team.
Ox then took questions on various topics:
· He was asked about a situation when he was in the Memphis Territory and Jerry Lawler wanted Ox to put him over. Ox told Jerry that he would wrestle him privately and if he couldn’t pin Lawler five times in ten minutes he would put him over on TVA. Lawler then told Ox that he couldn’t use him. Ox said that Lawler beat a lot of guys, but he never beat Ox Baker.
· He was asked about Ray Gunkle dying after he and Ox had a match in Savannah, Georgia. Ox said that Ray had beaten him up for 11 straight minutes and pinned him clean 1-2-3. When he went to the dressing room he was told that 200 people wanted to beat him up after the match because Gunkle had gone back to the dressing room and dropped over dead after the match.
· He was asked about how did he like managing the Russian Brute in AWA. He talked about how he finally got him to the WWF and he ended up losing his job after knocking out Tatanka during a match. Ox said the Brute was as good as any talent he had in the business.
· He was asked about managing wrestlers and what he looks for in a talent. Ox said that the number one thing he looks for is guys that know wrestling moves. He talked about how the business needs guys that actually use wrestling holds as finishers and managers that can get the talent over.
· He was asked how did he like working for Angelo Poffo’s International Championship Wrestling (ICW). Ox talked about that they weren’t drawing any money because they had seven guys in the office that weren’t losing. He started working matches where guys were getting DQ’ed and counted out and they started turning things around. However, he left when they wouldn’t give him more money and within six months the territory closed. Jack E. asked him about the famous angle while he was there where Ronnie Garvin broke his teeth and Ox gave some of the background on it.
· He was asked how his heart punch compares to Stan Stasiak’s. Ox pointed out that Stan invented the heart punch, but that his finisher was known as the hurt punch.
The interview closed with another mention of the NWA Legends Fanfest Weekend on August 2-5 in Charlotte, NC. Jack E. thanked Ox for being on the show and stated that he hopes it will not be another seven years before he is on IYH again.
For all of your NWA Fanfest information please visit www.NWALegends.com
This interview is available for listening at http://www.iyhwrestling.com/viewnews.php?autoid=4579