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1 on 1 with Memphis Wrestling owner Dustin Starr
82 Plays6 days ago
It's a far-ranging interview with Memphis's own Dustin "Five" Starr. We cover the trials and tribulations of reviving the Memphis Wrestling legacy, backstage drama, his "beef" with the King, his own in-ring career, working with WWEID, and much much more!
Check out Memphis Wrestling at memphiswrestling.tv
Use code CHICKFOLEY to save 10% at www.ringsidecollectibles.com
Find all things CHICK at www.CHICKFOLEY.com
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Transcript
Introduction and Overview of Memphis Wrestling
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome the Chick-fil-A show.
00:00:22
Speaker
What is up, Foley fam? Just Seth here today. want to give you guys a quick intro before we dive into a very special interview. We have on air today Dustin Starr. So this guy, he was an independent wrestler himself for about 20 years. And then he became the owner, promoter, booker, Mr. Everything for Memphis Wrestling. If you have been following our account, if you remember the Facebook group, you guys know we are huge on Memphis Wrestling. A really, really great local indie we have right up the road in Memphis. It's outstanding. Encourage you guys to check it out.
Promotional Highlights and Community Engagement
00:00:54
Speaker
Dustin's going to mention it a couple times in the pod, but if you guys go to MemphisWrestling.tv, you can find all things Memphis Wrestling there. So check it out. Sheena, I was actually feeling a little bit under the weather the night we did the interview. So Sheena carries most of the weight, but I still pipe up with some cover commentary. here and there, but it was just super duper enlightening to get to talk to a guy who's kind of been on both sides of the fence. He was an independent wrestler again, like I mentioned for 20 years and then turned around and and has been super duper successful, uh, reinvigorating the the heritage and everything that goes along with Memphis wrestling. Um, so I think you guys are really going to enjoy it.
00:01:26
Speaker
We ended up talking for over an hour and a half with Dustin, but it straight up flew by because was just so interesting. He had some amazing stories, and he actually got a lot more spicy with the gossip than we were expecting. So I think you all are in for a treat. So listen up for that. ah Real quick before we dive into it, just want to remind you guys, use code Chick Foley to save 10% at ringside collectibles. They still got the...
00:01:44
Speaker
Black Friday 2.0 slash Cyber Monday 3.0, everything. Ton of sales going on at Ringside right now. And they also just got those exclusive demolition figures in, which are super duper cool. And the new Defining Moment, CM Punk and Jey Uso. So it' so a lot of cool stuff at Ringside Collectibles.
00:01:59
Speaker
Use code Chick Foley to save 10% when you make your purchase. And then as always, visit www.chickfoley.com to find all things Chick. You can get access to that Patreon exclusive Facebook group, two bucks a month, best wrestling community on the internet. It's a ton of fun. So listen up. You're going to hear a ring bell and then we're going dive right into our interview with Dustin five star.
Dustin Starr's Wrestling Journey and Impact
00:02:23
Speaker
Foley fam, we are so lucky to have one of the the hardest working guys in the 901 here with us on the Chick-Foley show tonight. ah Dustin, five star. Oh, yeah. Here with us tonight. How you doing, Dustin? I'm doing good, man. i am I'm actually excited to talk to you guys because...
00:02:42
Speaker
you know you You guys actually come to the show. You've experienced the show. You know the the characters and the people. A lot of the the people that I talk to on podcasts and all that stuff, they haven't really been. They've watched.
00:02:55
Speaker
So it's it's a totally different experience being there. So i'm I'm fired up to talk to you guys about it. It's nice to talk to you like this too, man, because you're always super duper gracious, but we always see you at the absolute busiest moment of your week. end the show. Yeah, 15 to 20 minutes before the show starts and then right after the show ends, man. So this is like a thousand percent more relaxed than we typically talk to Dustin. Well, once the show is over, not only do you have the wrestlers, but then I've got like my mom is there. Maria and Reese the Beast might be there. then there's just all the folks. There's been so many people that come every single show for the last five years. And so, you know, they all want say hello. And I want to say hello to everybody. You to make the rounds. Yeah, but it's like, lot on show day.
00:03:44
Speaker
Absolutely. And we love, oh my gosh, we love Memphis wrestling. We love the vibe. We love what you guys are doing there. um It's just been, it's been so fun to get involved with what you guys are doing. And yeah, we're going, we're
Wrestler Spotlights and Promotion Efforts
00:03:56
Speaker
going keep showing up. So just expect to see us, ah you know, every time. he guy baby Baby face entrance. Baby face entrance side. Yeah. Seats in the house right there.
00:04:04
Speaker
Yeah, Brett the Destroyer, you know sometimes during the the third the third recording, he'll go over to the heel side. He's found some friends over there. Nathan and Hunter. Yeah, i'm like, dude, you're going to betray us over here on the babyface side and head over to the heels? And so, yeah. One of the things recently, Colton Cage came out.
00:04:22
Speaker
And he looked to one side and then he looked to the other and they were going crazy on one side and going crazy on the other. And it was almost like he had to pick where he was going to go first. And so he was like, hold on one second. So he went to the one side and then he went over to the other side. I think that's the coolest thing ever.
00:04:37
Speaker
You know, Brett is holding a key. We're really hoping Colton Cage hits it big and is a, you know, WWE Hall of Famer. Brett's holding a sweet piece of merch. He has Colton Cage's headband. Nice. From the match when he became the first ever light heavyweight Memphis Wrestling Heritage Champ. Very cool.
00:04:57
Speaker
That's very cool. Yeah, I mean, yeah Colton's a guy that drives from around the Nashville area. and He's been coming so long and... he He had a string of bad luck because like his partners wouldn't be there when we needed him the most. It was like, oh, no. And so one week we said, Colton, just go out there and talk.
00:05:14
Speaker
He said, you really want me to tell him? I'm like, yeah, yeah, give it to And so he cut that promo. And from then on, he's been on fire. nice So, yeah, he's been really good. I love Colton Cage. Love it. Well, first off, we'll let you get all your stuff out of the way. we like to do the plugs at the start. Yeah, we and we'll hit it again at the end just to give everybody a reminder. But just in case anybody has to to hop out, a you know, mid-interview or anything like that, we want to let everybody know where they can find Dustin Five Star, where they can find Memphis Wrestling, and, you know, let us know where you're at.
00:05:40
Speaker
Man, it's all on MemphisWrestling.tv. If you're on Facebook or YouTube, those seem to be two of our strongest social media platforms. You can see all the videos. Even if you don't sit down and watch the entire episode, you can get caught up pretty quick with all the highlights and and posts that are up there. But December 14th is going to be our final event of the year. It's the Grind City Rumble. The Good Brothers are going to be there. I'm super excited about that. We got our tickets locked in. Yes, sir. The hometown man's going to be there because it's his hometown, man. So that's the 14th. And then we've already got two events for January on sale as well. But you can get all that information at MemphisWrestling.tv. And I'm telling you, do not think about it. Don't be thinking, thinking, and thinking because those tickets sell out. You guys know. Oh, yeah. It's not a big place. And a lot of these these stars that come, they should not really be there. You know?
00:06:32
Speaker
we they need to be in a bigger spot. But fortunately, they do come. And so those who sell out, get those tickets, man. Memphis is a hotbed, dude. They're right where they belong. You know what i mean? I feel like, ah you know, you what you guys are doing, you guys are just scratching the surface with ah with how far I think you guys are going to take this thing. And so, yeah, they're going to look back and be like, yeah, we're glad we went there. You know, so think don't sell yourself short. Well, I think we're in the phase like we've had to earn a lot of it but just because of the rich history and all that kind of stuff. And so many companies have come and gone. And so I think right now we're in the spot where it's it's like, okay,
Adapting to Challenges and Personal Reflections
00:07:07
Speaker
I can't believe these these guys came. But a lot of it is based off of, you know, just relationships that I've had because I wrestled for 20 years, you know. Right.
00:07:15
Speaker
Yeah. And you guys had a lot of adversity. You guys were like picking up steam, right? As the, you know, the pandemic and everything like that's when you guys were kicking off. And like, I think that, you know, so for you guys to like overcome that hurdle and still be where you are, like, dude. Yeah. Shouts out to you We did get pretty lucky. We were trying to do, what we were set to do a standalone event at AutoZone Park for big birthday bash. It was going to be our first one, ah first live event because it was just a syndicated television show for a hundred episodes.
00:07:43
Speaker
And, um, that was going to be the first big live event. And we were going to announce that we had a television show coming, you know, that we were going to go a hundred percent local. That was the plan all along.
00:07:54
Speaker
And then the pandemic hit and it could have been a lot worse, meaning that there could have been a lot more travel and a lot more stuff purchased before it happened. But man, it really put a halt on things. And then you're in a spot where it's like, okay,
00:08:07
Speaker
Yeah. How long do we wait? How long do we wait? then once everything opened back up, like what were the regulations? that Yeah. you guys You guys had a lot of hurdles to get over during that that period of time, for sure. At the very beginning, we had people doing the COVID testing before they could come into the building. That's how strict yeah wanted us to be.
00:08:25
Speaker
Crazy times, dude. Yeah. Wild times. Imagine, you know, this, you guys have a pretty raucous crowd, right? So imagine trying to tell those guys that they have to social distance, right? Yeah. Right. Those guys away at the door. Yeah. Imagine. Yeah. Telling them they can't come in. Yeah. That, that would. Aaron Roberts in the the freaking slaughterhouse out there at the door ready to turn people away. Yeah. Those guys are probably the reason for it. Especially Slaughterhouse. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Man. Yeah, patient zero. um So ah let's just start at the beginning. So let's just rewind it all the way back. You know, a young Dustin Starr, born and raised in Memphis. ah How did you get into the wrestling scene? How did you fall in love with wrestling?
00:09:08
Speaker
My parents took me to Mid-South Coliseum. I was there when Jerry Lawler beat Kurt Henning for the first world championship. I remember my Uncle Vince and my mom taking me in. I remember as soon as Fargo counted, he counted four. One, two, three, four. and i was yeah and We were going to beat the crowd, so we kind of left during the celebration. but It was super cool.
00:09:32
Speaker
I didn't really to get to go to the studio wrestling until I got a little older and started setting up rings and stuff, but I did experience a little bit of that. but my My parents went to Mid-South Coliseum. We were not wealthy by any means, but if WCW was at the Coliseum or wwe WWE was in town or we wanted to go to Mid-South Coliseum, we always had had money for wrestling, it seemed like.
00:09:54
Speaker
I love that. was super cool. So both your parents were ah big wrestling marks? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. My dad has white hair, like, wow, fire Tommy Rich. They called him Ric Flair. Yeah. Wow.
00:10:05
Speaker
Yeah, that is that's so cool. yeah we you know I grew up in a little small town. we didn't have Wrestlers didn't come to Morgantown, Kentucky very often or any of the surrounding areas. I mean i think the closest would be like what like Nashville, right? oh yeah yeah They come to Bowling Green every once in a while. Yeah, Bowling Green every once in a while. They would come to the college up there. You might get a house show or something. But yeah, it was not very often that wrestling was coming to our town. So how lucky you are to grow up in Memphis. Yeah, but we so it was it was Lance and Dave. It was Memphis wrestling. like We would go on vacation.
00:10:34
Speaker
to fort myers florida with my grandparents every summer and we would come back and my dad had to record memphis wrestling and we would watch i don't know if it would we were gone a month we'd watch four episodes and we'd binge watch it on vhs to get all caught up and and we did like wcw i really liked sting and flare that was my jam muda was great um just the You didn't see a lot of Muda, so when you saw Great Muda, it was like, wow, all right, I hope he wrestles Sting. because you It was so mysterious. Yes, yes. And me as a kid, I was like, oh, man. But then on the other side, WWF had Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan. That was cool, but it was always, if I'm play wrestling or cutting promos in the mirror, it was Lance and Dave because that's what grew up on, man.
00:11:19
Speaker
Dude, so we got a little bit of a common bond, man, strangely enough. So my dad was in the Navy, and he was stationed
Memorable Wrestling Events and Influence
00:11:24
Speaker
at the base in Millington from 90 to 93. So Mid-South Coliseum is where my first live wrestling happened at, dude. I saw plenty of Monday nights, man, watching USWA. We'd go to the big show on Monday nights there. And then my first ever WWF show was in 1990 at the Mid-South Coliseum, man. We saw the main event was the Hart Foundation against Rhythm and Blues, man. That's where I became, you know, Bret Hart fanatic for life, dude. That was the main event of my first show. um We were at the show at the pyramid where know you remember when Jeff Jarrett, you know, was in the front row and jumped the railing and challenged Bret Hart stuff to a match. We were in the house for that, man. So and my dad was actually in a softball league with Jerry Lawler when we lived here. That's awesome. I got some ah there's really kind of where like the roots for my wrestling love started to to really set, ah you know, set in also. Man, we went and we saw the snowman against Lawler and there was riots in the parking lot. that kind of That kind of turned my dad off a little bit like, hey, I don't know if it's if it's cool to go you know or whatever. But um I remember being in the audience and I saw Derrick King wrestle. It was Blast Off in the Dome where Kane was part of Memphis Wrestling.
00:12:28
Speaker
He was WWF, but yeah they're helping them draw a house at the Coliseum. I thought that was cool. Um, I got to wrestle at Mid-South Coliseum, which was really neat looking out into the audience and seeing my, my family and friends out there and, and, uh, Brett the Destroyer, right? You said you're big Brett Hart, Mark.
00:12:48
Speaker
Yeah. So I'm seeing, I'm seeing why he's named Brett. Yeah. With one T. Yeah. we're one t And I've got an Owen. I've got an Owen Brady. Love it. Yeah. Maybe hey maybe one day that you know they'll they'll be tag teams. My oldest. My oldest is 16. And he I love it when he comes and works at the Wrestle Center. Even if he's sweeping floors, I just love it. But um he does not love it. But his name is Owen and because Owen Hart. Love it. And then my baby girl is Rowan.
00:13:17
Speaker
But that's only because she's a girl or else it would have been Roman, right? Yeah. There you go. Maria hates that so much. She hates it, but it's true. It's true.
00:13:29
Speaker
I mean, if you're gonna name, if you're to name them after somebody, I mean, why that's a cool name you go why not be the best? You know what mean? I feel like, I feel like you would get away with Roman for boys or girls, you know, right ultimately. And then ah like the historic stuff. Um,
00:13:41
Speaker
Man, we went so much. I had programs. And I remember one time I had a T-shirt on. I was just I was so little, probably five or six, I guess. And I had a um ah Jerry Lawler T-shirt on that went down like to my knees and Bill Dundee. I saw him in the concourse. I'm like, oh, man, they're a superstar. And he comes up and he goes, hey, where the hell did you get that shirt, kid?
00:14:02
Speaker
and' like oh no, I'm wearing a Jerry Lawler shirt in front of the Build-On T. Oh man. Oh man. In hindsight, you know, thinking, just thinking about merch, like think about all that merch, you know, that we had as, as kids and stuff. And now, I mean, it's just like, if you go like wrestling for sale, our friend Ted, uh, you know, runs wrestling for sale where he sells a lot of like vintage merch. And I mean, it is just like the prices are astronomical for some of that stuff. I mean, some of those rare things that you find, you know, at the, Indie shows and the house shows and things like that. So one of one of my core memories from the Coliseum and merch would be Bill Dundee. It was either i think it was Dundee. He sold us a wrestling mask.
00:14:41
Speaker
And it was this wild, crazy wrestling mask. And it was just the coolest thing. And I think that's why I'd love to have so many wrestling masks at the WrestleCenter. If you notice, there's always tunnel.
00:14:51
Speaker
Oh, yeah. They're so cool when you go to fairs or go to different schools. You know, sometimes the kids at the WrestleCenter, it's the same kids over and over again. So you'll see them sitting there for a minute. But when we take them on the road and stuff, man, they are amazing.
00:15:04
Speaker
They sell really well, and they're only like $10. Oh, yeah. I remember getting masks at USWA. We had a set the orange ones with the white stars on them. That's right. Yes. Yeah. Those are like the staples, man. See, I was like five and six, man. It was like when we had first moved here and we were really going to USWA a lot of the Monday nights.
00:15:24
Speaker
How old are you? I don't have – I'm 40, man. I'm 40. I just turned 41, man. I'm 43, so we're close. This is like 90, 91. Mm-hmm. when we were going. So I kind of have vague. I remember going, man. I remember going. I remember it being a big deal. Jerry Law come out. The the biggest memory I have,
Establishing Memphis Wrestling and Building the WrestleCenter
00:15:38
Speaker
man, is we were remember if we were like going through the concourse. Maybe was in the parking a lot, but we had a close encounter with the Moondogs and I remember being absolutely just terrified, bro. Like I'm sure they were probably friendly as hell talking to my dad, but remember five-year-old, six-year-old me seeing the Moondogs in the wild and just being like, these guys are about to like rip my arms off and beat me. I love the Moondogs. I mean, when they used to say that their opponents left when they found out they were wrestling the Moondogs, yeah I want to steal that. I want that to be Squatterhouse. You know what i mean? Seriously. yeah right It is so such good stuff. And then when they wrestled Lawler and Jarrett, there's like these two guys that...
00:16:16
Speaker
ah shouldn't be underdogs, but they are because the moon dogs were such a bad asses. Yeah. ah Larry Latham, moon dog spot. He was a really good friend of ours. if If you ever met him outside of the character, I mean, just the most calm, nicest guys there ever was, man. Always drinking a cup of coffee too.
00:16:35
Speaker
The first show, the first Memphis Huskies show that we went to was the Halloween Spooktacular in 2023. It was a show. Gangrel was there. and Brett went. And the first thing I see when we pull up in the Russell Center was two guys out in the parking lot dressed as the Moondogs. And so i was like, okay, we're in the right place. That was – we found our home. Great costume. Those costumes were so good in the Halloween show. So, all right. So I kind of feel like – I kind of feel like WCW in the sense to where, you know, this show is supposed to be our biggest one of the year, but really it's the Halloween one.
00:17:06
Speaker
Yeah. You know, I was yeah always surprised when Eric Bischoff would say that Halloween Havoc is actually the biggest the year. And I always thought it was Starcade. And I always thought Super Bout was our biggest. But really, well, I mean, Grand City Rumble is pretty big too, but I feel like the Halloween one is just the most fun.
00:17:24
Speaker
was going to say, it's super fun. Everybody gets into it. You guys have the costume contest. Yeah, it's so interactive. I think Halloween is just a holiday that a lot of us, you know, i mean, like if you liked Halloween, I loved Halloween Havoc because it always looked so amazing, right? Like the set design was always amazing. It always felt special. um And i I personally love Halloween. So yeah, anything Halloween themed, i' I'm all in for it.
00:17:49
Speaker
Same. Birthday month. Yeah. October 22nd's my birthday. Love Halloween. and Orange is my favorite color. I am in. So you you established that you were wrestler, but ah let's let's talk about that a little bit. like How did you make it from just this little fan who was like riding on his parents' shoulders outside of the Coliseum to getting inside the squared circle? And is it true that your journey started in a barn? It did. Like a dilapidated barn. Oh, and we loved it. We loved it. The kids nowadays would just... honor they They wouldn't be able to do it. It was just...
00:18:24
Speaker
Y'all were just built different. We wanted to do it so bad that like we would have done it anywhere. We really would have. um I saw the phone number on Power Pro Wrestling and I called it.
00:18:36
Speaker
And, you know, the TV station, i think what happened was, is I think I missed the phone number. So I called the TV tv station. The TV station gave me another phone number.
00:18:46
Speaker
And so then I called that phone number and then I talked to somebody about training and how old would you have to be and all that kind of stuff. And then before we got off, I said, Hey, by the way, who is this? And he said, it's Randy Hills. And I said, Randy Hills, I watch you every week on TV. I started marking out. And then he said, well hopefully I'll meet you soon. And then that was it. And so then I called that phone number. It was the outlaw of Don Bass.
00:19:07
Speaker
My dad thought I was insane. he really did. he didn't even did not go and meet Don. My mom took me We went just across the bridge at a truck stop and we ate breakfast and it was up to me. I had to work to pay my, pay my training. And so I worked, um I flipped burgers at Steak and Shake in South Haven.
00:19:26
Speaker
And dude, I was good too, man. They put me in the front. You know, you could see them flipping the burgers. and Oh yeah. I would flip those junts and I would catch them behind my back with the spatula. There go.
00:19:36
Speaker
And the people would flare Yeah, the people would pop and then my manager would get on to me. But it was like a it was just the thing. I knew that I was going to quit my job and be a professional wrestler. And so I did.
00:19:48
Speaker
And then two weeks later, I came back said, hey, guys, can I work here again? wasn't making any money. You came back to the territory. Yeah, yeah. ah But I did. I trained in a barn.
00:20:00
Speaker
I think actually Psycho Simon trained with me. Me and Psycho Simon go back that far. There was a guy named Jet Logan and Alex k Crisis. We all trained together. And really the only one still doing it is me and Psycho Simon. And Simon is one of my best buddies. We used to live together.
00:20:17
Speaker
trained together we were tag team partners right we love we love so you know i'm the king of kayfabe man i i my my head my brain's shattering right now man i last time i saw you you guys in the same place yeah he was threatening violence on you yeah yeah well he hates it he hates it he does not want me i like i can't give him the credit that he truly deserves because he's like dude shut up like i do care he does not I talked to him one time. yeah and he was just like he was like you know he's like, I love what I do. He said, but I'm not on like social media. I don't do any of that kind of stuff. You know what I mean? so He doesn't want any of that stuff. he just He loves to write wrestling. He loves to create the stories. He just loves wrestling, man. He loves every part of wrestling.
00:20:58
Speaker
And it's stuck with us all these years. He helped you build the WrestleCenter, right? Like the interior of the WrestleCenter, like all of the, you know. One of my favorite, not favorite stories is he wrote down this whole list of materials. And this is just a warehouse. The WrestleCenter is a warehouse at this point. It's getting sprayed with blue paint. as we're kind of looking and figuring out what we're going to do with the stage. And he has this list and it's like $1,200 worth of stuff, like $1,200, $1,400 worth of stuff. And that's a lot of money, especially for us like building this thing. And I'm like,
00:21:28
Speaker
we put this material already put rent down. yes Yes. You put the material in the center and you're like, you're going to, what are you going to build with that? Like, you're going to do what? He's like, going to build a desk. going to build a platform. You just wait, man. I'm like, okay. You know, like, all right. And I knew he had some skills, but I didn't know he had these skills.
00:21:47
Speaker
Simon and Chris, the posse built the desk that we've been using. They built the platform, wow the walls, the, ah the box seat and they buy the box seating. Oh gosh, they've built all that stuff. So between me, them, King Cobra, of course, Maria's helped. And there's way, way too many people to list everybody. And I'm sorry if I missed somebody, but for sure, everybody's really come together to, to,
00:22:12
Speaker
Build the WrestleCenter. And slowly but surely, it's I feel like it's gotten better and better and better. And then the red carpet and the throne, I think, just sent it over for me. I was like, oh, my gosh, we got to keep this carpet. Yeah, cool. That was a nice touch. I don't know if we'll bring him up again, man. I got to give him shout out, dude. I love Psycho Simon's custom ah Memphis Wrestling Heritage Championship, man. I love that belt. If you guys ever decide to include that in one of the raffles at the live show, let me know. I'll put a little extra chatter on it, Maybe you can gimmick my ticket a little bit, dude. too you know It sure gets drawn out because I love that freaking belt. When we started the business, I did not realize that we would have access to belts and custom stuff and
00:22:55
Speaker
Also, I didn't know that we would have the funds to be able to do that because one of the yeah toughest parts for especially an independent small company, you know, wrestling company like us is to, you know, the belts are a lot of money. yeah Yeah. But if you're in a position to where, you know, gun show had custom plates, Mike, when he was the champion, he wanted a white strap. He didn't want I asked and and he had no idea. And so then when he won the title, we had a white strap for him. And then Psycho Simons, I think, just took it on a whole nother level because he, you know, all of his title matches, no rules. And the belt says no rules and it's got the skull and all that kind of stuff. So I hope we can
WWE Experiences and Opportunities in Wrestling
00:23:32
Speaker
keep doing that. I just think it gives it a nice little, a little touch different than what the other independent wrestling companies are doing. and And I didn't know that we were going to be doing customs for like, you know, sports teams and.
00:23:44
Speaker
Yeah. The Grizzlies. and Yeah. Very cool. very cool So with your wrestling, you were at um ah FCW for a while. And legend legend has it that your epic hairdo had had a little something to do with the the opportunity that ah that you got there. Something about John Laurinaitis liking your your hair. That is you know funny.
00:24:08
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, man. I don't even. Some of these stories are so silly. I don't even know how they're. Yeah. um So there when you get to WWE's tryout, like when you're at the ring or you get there, you get there super early, you know, the show doesn't come on until seven or eight and you're there at 10 or 11 AM. And then they do a you know workout session and all sorts of different things. But,
00:24:33
Speaker
I was always eventually at trying to position myself to where I would be seen by the decision makers because if there was an extra spot, I'm right there and and they're familiar with me a little bit. And so um I kind of just cornered John Laurinaitis after, you know, shadowing him without bugging him all day.
00:24:51
Speaker
And he said, well, what does Dustin Starr have that John Cena and Randy Orton doesn't have? And I'm like, oh no, he asked me this question. So I'm like, I've got heart, I've got desire. And he's like, ah, no, come on. I'm thinking I now looking back, like, why did I give him that answer? But he goes, he goes, no, no, no. They've got that. What do you have?
00:25:11
Speaker
They don't have. And I said, well, and I kind of smirked and I said, I've got a pretty cool hairdo and they don't. And I just kind of turned my head and it was like a faux hawk or whatever. It's kind of similar to what it is now, but a little more outlandish. And he laughed. And when he laughed, that was kind of it. He was like, all right, well, I'll see you at the ring tomorrow. Be ready. I'm like, dang, that's all it took. All right. And so, you know, when I tell that story, everybody kind of laughs. They giggle a little bit and that's what happened with him. So the next day I had ah a tryout. I think I had three matches in a row.
00:25:42
Speaker
And um it was all in front of the producers and all that kind of stuff. You talk about high pressure. Oh, my gosh. I can't even imagine. Oh, my goodness. And the more on the hair story, the only reason I think i I even said that is because earlier in the day, Tommy Dreamer had said, hey, man, nice hair.
00:26:01
Speaker
And I kind of laughed like I thought he was ribbing me, you know, because me and Tommy knew each other. We know each other. That's kind of why Tommy's come so much to Memphis Wrestling, because we're you know good buds and he's just such a great talent and and awesome. But um I laughed. I thought he was ribbing me, you know, just joking with me like he didn't like it. And he said, no, man, I'm i'm serious. And at this point, he was in talent relations so or close to it. He was like, yeah, I'm serious. It's cool. Nobody has a hairdo. I bet people are going to copy it.
00:26:27
Speaker
I said, oh, man, thanks, Tommy. i appreciate that. And so I just thought that was so weird and it stuck with me. So when John Laurinaitis asked me, I was like, well, I'm just going to go back to it. so It's true, though. I mean, you know, for those of you who are listening who have never seen Dustin Starr, he does have some pretty incredible hair. I mean, you need to be doing like, you know, hair for men commercials because, ah you know, you got some nice, thick, luscious locks. It is actually ridiculous. Yeah.
00:26:52
Speaker
People will recognize me and just yell like, go Grizz or it's the dude with the hair. Or if you're talking your friends and you're in Memphis or close to Memphis and and you're trying to tell them who I am, all you have do is say the dude with the hair, the Grizz dude with the hair.
00:27:07
Speaker
know They will know because it that's – all my friends tell me that. Yeah. They didn't know you until I said they got the hair. trademark. Yeah, it's a trademark. Yeah, you have you have a really bright aura and you have some really cool hair. So, I mean, you're you're not – you're hard to miss, you know? So – so I was listening to something you had you had talked about on another interview, and you were kind of talking about like the the mind games of getting opportunities, like how you never really truly felt comfortable. like when Somebody was like, oh, yeah, we're going to get you there. We're going to have this match or something like that. And it was just always like you you never –
00:27:42
Speaker
uh, took an opportunity as real until it like happened, oh yeah you know? Um, and kind of like, that's like the rules of the business, you know, it's like card subject to change always, you know, these, these trainees, these kids are learning it too. If, if you do get a big opportunity, do not post it all over your social page. You can, it could easily be taken from you.
00:28:02
Speaker
I mean, super easily. I've had some taken away from me. Um, you, but I also do not, I don't believe it till it's going to happen. You, if you're sending me somewhere to do something, if I have the plane ticket in my hand, then I can kind of believe it, you know, like, right. So much has been said. And for me as a promoter, I tried to follow through on everything just because of so many things that I've heard through the years that may or may not have happened, you know?
00:28:30
Speaker
And wrestling, you know, obviously I'm speaking just from a, you know, educated fans perspective, but it seems like it's really more than like most areas in life. It's really just all about those kind of like sliding doors opportunities that maybe somebody just, you know, they know somebody and just get a foot in the door to get something. Because, I mean, let's be honest, like the difference between, you know, the best guys in Memphis wrestling and the people you see on TV on, you know, NXT, AEW every week, like, it's really just opportunity you know what i mean like you know what how how much difference is there between you know marco harris and javon evans you know but just javon evans somehow made the connections got in front of the right people and now he's on this huge platform you know so i feel like it i just feel like the margin for you know between like you know the super duper success and you know just getting by is just razor thin is in wrestling more than more than most industries I think you're right, man. I really do. I mean, Marco Harris is a great example. I know that the w WWE ID have seen him. They like him. i know that there's an opportunity there. We just have to we just have to hook it. And then also, I think Tim Bosby is very close as well.
00:29:33
Speaker
And these guys are really, good. Bosby's on our shit list right now, dude. Yeah. We were looking for Bosby after the show. Just wait. Last time. Yeah, we don't give any spoilers. We're not going to give any spoilers, yeah. We were looking for Bosby. Yeah, we were looking for the boss after the show. We couldn't find him, man. We told Ray Ray, we talked to him after the show. We said, well, we're looking for boss. We're going to get you back. There's another one. There's another one. Ray Sanders, man. I mean, if Ray Sanders could put on another 15, 20 pounds of muscle and keep his athletic ability and his agility, why couldn't he be working on a bigger platform? I just really believe in them so much. And I think that it's my job.
Training Programs and Talent Development
00:30:10
Speaker
to provide the opportunity somehow, whether it's an extra spot, whether it's young rock, whether it's a music video, because so many, so many things happen behind the scenes at the Memphis wrestling that nobody even stuff happens that we can't even talk about until after it's done.
00:30:24
Speaker
Yeah. You know, we did a ah private performance for channel five. We did a ah private event for MLGW and those weren't like publicized events, but I think it's my, my job to put,
00:30:38
Speaker
them on a platform in front of somebody that can possibly help them get something bigger. Well, on that note, what's your what's your been your experience with the WWE ID program? I mean, do you think that they're still putting energy into that? I know you know Memphis Wrestling has had a couple of ah of guys who were were ID that have come through there. so It's slowed down a little bit since WrestleMania is where it's slowed down for us.
00:31:00
Speaker
So I think what happened is they were crowning their champions. they needed They needed the independent wrestling support to help them get it off the ground and make it a bigger deal. And then now I think they're just being more selective to where they're signing talent from the actual official schools. Now, Memphis wrestling is not an official school.
00:31:19
Speaker
Right. And I think there could be an opportunity to be, but I think what we would have to do is upgrade, upgrade the facility or, or move facilities because WWE wwe now, and you look at the facilities that their ID programs have, dude, they've got like college locker rooms, Well, i know the the programs are run by like Seth Rollins and like Punk and people like that, right? Like it's like, yeah, yeah. It's like, yeah you know, people who have already got bit of- Nightmare Factory, Black and Brave, I think is Seth Rollins.
00:31:51
Speaker
There's another one that's just a performance that- I think Roman has one too. I'm pretty sure Roman- I think Rikishi has one. Maybe it's Rikishi. Yeah, maybe that's it. Rikishi lost his recently because that Rajah Draksi thing. That Rikishi thing, yeah. Was that Knox Wrestling? Is that what it was called? Yeah, Knox Pro.
00:32:06
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So they've got they've got several, and I think there's room for growth. But then also I think that um if you compare it to college football – the WrestleCenter, we'd have to upgrade our facilities.
00:32:19
Speaker
I think, I'll just put it this way. I feel like if we had a facility that had better locker rooms and, and the WrestleCenter does what we need, but in order to yeah step up, I think that the facility has to step up is what I truly think.
00:32:33
Speaker
For sure. Yeah. As far as training and stuff goes, tell us a little bit about training at the WrestleCenter. Like what, um you know, what do you guys do there as far as like, you know, the people who are currently training there? We're trying to get them ready to be on our TV show. Yeah.
00:32:46
Speaker
that's yeah That's the deal. and then And then after the television show, once they get there, you know is that a spot? Is that a moment? is it Is it a storyline? do you become a you know an every week character on the television show? um And then also once that's established, is there another level?
00:33:04
Speaker
you know Can we show you to somebody and maybe you get paid to do this someday? you know, you know, to where you can pay your bills. A lot of people are getting, getting paid, but not enough to pay bills. You know what i mean? Right. That's a difference. they're They're getting paid just to be there, like just enough to cover the cost of doing it yeah It's a side gig until it's not a side gig, you know? um But yeah. Are any of the current Memphis wrestling regulars, WrestleCenter alumni?
00:33:34
Speaker
What do you mean? Like, are are any of the current people we're seeing on TV, you know, week after week, I'm in for wrestling? Oh, man. How many of those are were trained at the WrestleSort? Oh, gosh. Ray Sanders. Okay. Vashon Harvey.
00:33:48
Speaker
Oso. CJ Blaine, the High Flying Maine. Oh, gosh. The list goes on and on. So so a solid amount. Yeah. I wouldn't sure it was a handful, it was a bunch. Okay. Got it Nice. I probably have to click on the roster page because I'm going to underpin somebody. But man, yeah, I think that we've done a – So you're training people, but then it's also serving as a solid feeder system for the weekly TV as well. Absolutely. And those around us. So you've got the Vibe Check, Seven Cruise, Bosby trained with us. We love Seven. Yeah. Yeah.
00:34:22
Speaker
ah little homie of course tim grinds so i mean the list goes on and on ash taylor slaughterhouse big john dalton gosh a lot of them have come and so that's what we wanted to do is the only way okay so memphis wrestling was gone for so long that there was not like a torch or or a group of guys that could come other than yeah you know myself and derrick king and tim grind was a part of that back then um You know, though just a handful of guys. And so we had to train up, right? You had to get it out the mud, man. and You kind of had to make it happen. Make a developmental system for the area around here. And so now you'll see them at EPW. You see them in Osceola. You see them in Middleton. They're wrestling all over the place now. And most of those locker rooms have trainees from the WrestleCenter.
00:35:14
Speaker
Has it been challenging to kind of teach like modern day wrestlers the quote unquote like Memphis style of wrestling? Um, Memphis style of wrestling is pretty easy as long as you can punch and kick.
00:35:26
Speaker
Yeah. the The training side of it is some of the veterans. Um, there's a disconnect with the way that some of the veterans were taught and how they, how they teach. I don't think it's a good thing. Yeah. It makes it a little bit more HR friendly nowadays. Well, and also you can't run people into the ground and talk to people certain ways. Like, well, we can't. Absolutely. I mean, I was yelled at, I was called everything in the book, in the locker rooms, you know, but then also I look at it and go, okay, well that message could have been delivered differently. And I've worked at a lot of, lot of places that would not talk to you like that. So yeah, absolutely. You know? Yeah. Yeah.
00:36:04
Speaker
so um So let's just go back really quickly. talk Let's talk about Maria. Okay. ah Maria, she's a key part of Memphis Wrestling. Dusty's lovely wife. Yeah. No idea. news A.K.A. My Maria. um She was your your manager during your in-ring days. And I want to know, like how did you guys meet? And if she was into wrestling before this, or was it something that kind of just organically developed after meeting you? Yeah. found out later that her parents would watch Monday Night Raw and Memphis Wrestling and stuff. And she was not into it. She was a pageant girl.
00:36:35
Speaker
And so I worked for the hockey team, the Mississippi River Kings. And so when I left the River Kings, it was literally to go and work for WWE. wwe And I also worked at the Commercial Appeal.
00:36:47
Speaker
And so that's where I got a lot of my media and marketing and gosh, just a lot of business skills I learned at the Commercial Appeal. And so... um I was leaving the developmental in Tampa and I came back to work for the river Kings and I was going to work there full time as the corporate partnership manager. And then also the, in, uh, in arena host.
00:37:10
Speaker
And so on the first night, ah my friend, Jennifer was kind of my assistant that kept all the props and gimmicks and all that kind of stuff. She had a friend that was there and I said, well, Hey, who's your friend? And she's like, that's Maria. I says, she have a boyfriend. She said, no. And I said, right back.
00:37:24
Speaker
I'll be right back. and just shot Johnny Bravo, I pulled out my comb and I was like, I'll be right back, baby. So I swooped in there and like she wanted nothing to do with me kind of because um i had ah I had a kid and wrestler and every red flag that you can think of I had And so she agreed to go to Chick-fil-A with me for lunch. So I got a Chick-fil-A date. Keep it super informal. Yeah. and She could escape if she needed to or whatever. Exactly. And um she had no idea about – wrestling and all that kind of stuff. She just didn't pay attention to it. And I think the first show she went to was with me.
00:38:01
Speaker
And then an opportunity came up where, uh, Kevin Lawler, actually Jerry's son, he was running a show and he said, Hey, does Maria want to be on TV? And, um, I'm, well, he would, he would ask me if she would be on at the ring with me and no, she's not, she doesn't want to do that. Blah, blah, blah. And does she want to be on TV? And then she was like, well, yeah, of course i want to be on TV. And so that that's, that's the pad. That was the pageant girl speaking. that how That's how it started. Boom. Yeah.
00:38:26
Speaker
After the first time she came to the ring with me, she came back and said, oh, my God, those people were talking so bad to me. And I'm like, yeah, you did you did so good. And she's like, yeah, that means that means you did good. Yeah. Then, of course, she just leaned
Personal Journeys and Career Transitions
00:38:40
Speaker
into it. It was the favorite, my favorite part of my wrestling career the whole time. My favorite part was when Maria's out there with me.
00:38:46
Speaker
I mean, what's better than walking to the ring with an absolute freaking 10 out of 10 freaking stunner? You know what mean? This is going sound so bad, y'all. But as you can't offend us yeah as a kid, like looking in the mirror, cutting promos to Lance Russell and Dave Brown, the I would say when Maria joined, probably two years in, when we were going to the ring together and stuff,
00:39:12
Speaker
I felt like at that point I'd been a two-time Mr. Tennessee, so I thought my physique was exactly what I wanted in wrestling. And then Maria is just so beautiful in a very classy type of way to where she was perfect standing there next to me, I thought. And so, we man, we had a pretty good run. We would wrestle you know Matt Hardy and Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Lawler, anybody that came into the – to the Memphis area, it was like, they had to work with us, uh, Dana white looking for a fight. They came in and we got to work with Matt, Sarah and Dean Thomas and Dana white, uh, Maria jumped on Dana white's back and was choking him out. It was just absolutely unreal. And a lot of times I think, man, maybe if I became a promoter earlier than maybe we'd be further along or whatever, you know, I would,
00:40:02
Speaker
be more knowledgeable now in the situation that we're in But then also I feel like there's no way I'd be able to do what I was doing now had we not had that run together. Oh yeah. Absolutely. And I know there was not like a TV, there wasn't like a you know, it wasn't a major Memphis wrestling TV show, but there was a lot of really cool spots and really cool matches that we were able to have.
00:40:23
Speaker
up and Absolutely. Yeah. And the level of like communication and teamwork and just like working through stuff to like, like, listen, we may be having an argument, but but we got to go out here and perform for these people. You know what I mean? Like we got to get over it. So one of the spots was holding the guy up and he ducks and she slaps me because we were the bad guys. And yeah she could not wait.
00:40:44
Speaker
slap me She was warming up the entire match. Yes. She could not wait to slap me. So, but yeah, it was, it was a lot of fun. So I don't miss taking bumps at all. I don't miss taking bumps. Not one single time. Do I ever go, dang, I wish I could do that. The only thing that I miss is, is being at the ring with her and strutting out there and, you know, me and her just doing it together.
00:41:06
Speaker
Like it was yeah priceless. Well, now you get to sit beside each other at the commentary table, you know? So it's, ah you know, I'm really proud of of her you know sticking to it and and doing it and having fun with it because absolutely you know I don't tell her what to say or what not to say. she just I learned that early on.
00:41:25
Speaker
It's a lot of pressure to be a wrestling commentator. I feel like, you know especially doing like, you know, play by play and just like, just speaking what you say live to tape. I just, I don't know that I could do that. So anybody who's in that position. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. When you're listening to yourself back, you're just like, Oh my gosh, you know, but other people aren't hearing you like that, you know, so to have the the balls to get out and do that is, you know, I'm impressed by all those people. They have to be annoyed by my voice on certain things, right? They just have to be. I don't think so. I think you do I think you do a great job. I love i love the energy and I love color commentators who are just like, you know, bring it bring in all of the fun. Right. Because you don't the last thing you want is just somebody who's just drab. and oh I've got to be hype. I've got be higher than everybody in the in the building.
00:42:12
Speaker
I have to. If not, it comes off very flat. So how how was the transition from in-ring talent, taking bumps, you know doing all of that, to becoming a ah you know promoter and and commentator? It was actually super easy because it was during the pandemic.
00:42:29
Speaker
Oh, yeah. So I think the last – I did wrestle one time at the WrestleCenter for a Saturday night event. But that was – mean, I was just kind of testing –
00:42:41
Speaker
If the people cared enough to buy up all the seats to see me wrestle, then I would have wrestled more. But yeah I felt like that I didn't have that impact as a wrestler. Some people disagree, but I don't, I don't, I don't disagree at all. We've wrestled our last, um, other than the wrestle center was, um, in Middleton, Tennessee for Grady Watson, who I really love Grady and a lot of our talent go out there and and wrestle there.
00:43:03
Speaker
Um,
00:43:06
Speaker
I can't remember yet. I feel like Dustin getting in the ring for one more match, that could be a big Super Bout storyline. Maybe not this year, but I feel like that's a WrestleMania-style match. Next time I see Psycho Simon come out, I'm going start chanting, one more match. He wants wants it so bad. He wants that match so bad. Everybody pitches ideas to fight me or Maria. They always do. Dude, I feel like you and Psycho Simon and the Lights Out, that's a co-main for Super Bout, dude. You have whatever match going on for the championship and then straight blood feud. He's like, man, you could punch and kick. You could punch and kick. And I'm like, no, I can't do it. It was easy to get out because of the pandemic because we weren't allowed to wrestle. Yeah, was nice forced break. So since I wasn't allowed to wrestle, I still worked for the Grizzlies. I actually went in to get COVID tested and then went straight home. I was the PA backup just in case. So I did still get paid for the pandemic from the Grizzlies, which was awesome. But so then we did more TV and then I did more non-wrestling stuff because wrestling wasn't happening. And then I thought, wow, this is going to be pretty easy. And I think I flew under the radar. And also it proves my point that people did not care that much about me being a wrestler.
00:44:22
Speaker
it was cool and I did some fun stuff, but I just flew under the radar and nobody really I guess call me out on it. People had a lot of stuff going on at that point in time. So I don't think it was necessarily that they didn't want you, but yeah, yeah exactly. like you You snuck out under the cover of darkness. you know I don't talk about it a lot, but I do have some numbness in two of my fingers and it's from ah debris that I have in my C3 and C4 vertebrae. and so oh man The doctor did not say that I had to stop wrestling, but he said that I probably should not wrestle. And so Maria, you know,
00:45:00
Speaker
Hearing this was like, okay, so what are you going to do? And so we've kind of lightened the schedule a little bit, but we did more meaningful stuff, I guess was what I could say. And then we, you know, pandemic hit it was like, okay, this is perfect for me to get doing something else.
00:45:15
Speaker
Exactly. Honestly, that's the honest truth right there. Well, then, I mean, then you got Memphis wrestling off the ground.
Reviving and Branding Memphis Wrestling
00:45:22
Speaker
So, like, tell us, like, what was that process like? Like, hey, you know what? We're just going to just start this thing. We're going to reinvigorate this thing that has just kind of fizzled out in this area. and We're going bring it back to life, you know? It kind of slowly, it didn't really start exactly like that. So, when we were the CW30 stars, we were under contract to, we were on twice an hour, every hour on c w thirty And so it's, it's kind of a fun story where me and Maria drove all over the city. Cause I, at first what we knew, i already had the part, but they were looking for me to have a partner.
00:45:55
Speaker
And so we went all over the city and shot these videos and stuff. And then, um, Presented it to them. And that was it. They picked Maria. So it was like, thank goodness they picked my wife. So me and her did that. And then when we were in the meeting after that, he said, Hey, let me ask you a question. The general manager of the station said, why is there not wrestling on in Memphis? And I said, well, you're the TV guy. You tell me. And he said, well, you're the wrestling guy. You tell me.
00:46:19
Speaker
And he kicked back. And I was like, Oh, so you're like, now the ball's in my court. I'm the wrestling guy. Okay. Yeah. When did that happen? And so um Dave Marquez from Hollywood, he had already reached out to me a couple of times because we were on CW30 and he knew that we were wrestlers. And he's like, why don't you have a show on there?
00:46:39
Speaker
I'm not a wrestling promoter, blah, blah, blah. So... um I pitched a couple of ideas. The station, you know, the guy didn't necessarily like those ideas. And then I i pitched to, you know, to do the syndicated show from Hollywood. I think the problem was, is the station did not want to be responsible for producing wrestling.
00:46:56
Speaker
Right. It needed to be produced somewhere else. They did not want to cook it. They just wanted to serve it. Right. You know, and so that's how we ended up doing the syndicated show. And I figured that we would sell marketing and advertising locally. And if people watch it, then we can flip it to be local.
00:47:13
Speaker
Um, and then also if we had success with it, then the station would be more able to help us and be a partner with us instead of us just being a ah customer that's paying for the TV time. Right. You're just the middleman, like giving them, you know, yeah what they, what they need. Yeah. Right. So we, we, uh, had to buy the TV time,
00:47:31
Speaker
made the decision. i don't even, man, that story's so crazy. But I just asked Maria how long I had, you know, how long do I have to do this? And she's like, you got to work. I'm like, okay, I get it. But like, how long do I got to really do this? And she said three months. So and at what point are they going to take our house away? Yeah. So the, so the next day um I called the the Grizzlies, the Redbirds, the Hustle, every team that I worked for and told them my schedule opened up.
00:47:57
Speaker
And so I started doing that full time, whether it was you know, hosting a morning pep rally at a hospital for the Grizzlies or doing a school pep rally for the community department at the Grizzlies or whatever the case may be. So I just started doing that and selling wrestling.
00:48:13
Speaker
And I did, i sold it. And then we had the show on and it was great. We didn't have very much overhead at all, honestly, you know, cause it was a syndicated program. Everything was already shot. We just had to do the ins and outs and commercials and stuff like that.
00:48:26
Speaker
And um made it through the pandemic. It was some tough times through those pandemics, man. We had to set up at the house. We had a green screen at the house. Oh my gosh. do stuff because we weren't allowed studio. a new baby at that point too. Yes, yes. We had a baby. Oh my God. You have a new baby, ah a postpartum wife, and you're like hustling every opportunity you have and like working from home trying to promote this this wrestling thing. And at that point, we've never worked from home. We didn't.
00:48:55
Speaker
I mean, yeah we might've worked from home a little bit, but like not like now. Now we work from home now. You know, it's a whole different world now than it was, was then, but that that's, it's a, it's a wild story, man. We, I went out and made it a job and sold it, created the LLC, started buying up websites. Things got pretty serious when we flipped it to Memphis wrestling.
00:49:17
Speaker
Um, You know, and now, yeah yeah, that's a whole thing in itself, too. I was going to say, yeah, you know, um maybe shed a little light on that. I know there was a little bit of controversy and a little bit of beef when you guys decided to, like, just take the generalized term Memphis wrestling and make it a business and a brand, which, I mean, you had every right to do. Like Memphis wrestling just rolls off the tongue. I don't know. What would you call it? What the... I mean, what, yeah, what would you call it? You could call it any number of just like generic things, but I mean, Memphis wrestling, that's it. It's it. You know what i mean? Like everybody who talks about wrestling from Memphis, no matter at what point in time, and you know, under what brand it was, it's always been Memphis wrestling, you know? So why not just call yeah why not just call it Memphis wrestling? Yeah. So we're sitting here. So the, our name of our company, our LLC is Memphis championship wrestling LLC.
00:50:08
Speaker
yeah yeah But we go as Memphis Wrestling. There was no trademarks, no copyrights. if you were Which is wild to me, by the way. my Are kidding me? That there was no trademarks of Memphis Wrestling. Well, here's why, though. It was CWA. It was USWA. It was Power Pro Wrestling. Corey Macklin was the only one to call it Memphis Wrestling. And that has been well over 20 years ago. And so when you're researching all this stuff, what you can and can't do, there was no restrictions at all.
00:50:36
Speaker
So we began to work to model everything, our website, our keywords, our I mean, if you go on our Memphis wrestling is all over the place and because what we wanted to do is trademark it. And so we did get the trademark. We were, we actually got it on Maria's birthday this year. It was actually official, officially official, but it took years to do. And you've got to prove. So people that feel like you could just go buy something from somebody, you can't do that. Right. You have to,
00:51:04
Speaker
Be known as that. And you have to have proof that you are known as that. And so that's how we were able to get it. So when we called it Memphis Wrestling, everybody was supposed to be excited that we had local TV that was coming back.
00:51:18
Speaker
Instead, some of the older guys were against us. They just didn't feel like that we had the right to call it Memphis Wrestling, even though... Which is wild. I don't ah you know. I know that. It's so true to the classic USWA model, man. The studio like style wrestling. That's what they don't like. That's what they don't like.
00:51:35
Speaker
um I sat down with with King at his kitchen table when we put the press release out. all right, so check this out. we I planned it this way. The press release was going to drop. excuse me, that morning, tickets were going to go on sale that morning. And I had a meeting with Jerry Lawler at his kitchen table.
00:51:53
Speaker
Oh my gosh. All the same time. So I go in, my phone is buzzing in my pocket the whole time, but I don't look at it. And I'm talking to the King about what I'm going to, what I'm doing and it's happening right now. And I want him to come and do this with us. He told me that Memphis wrestling was dead.
00:52:10
Speaker
That was the words that came out of his mouth. And I said, well, King, up I hate that you feel that way. if i you know If anything changes, let me know. And so he walked me out and I sat down in my car.
00:52:21
Speaker
was like, well, damn. And I looked at my phone and all the tickets were sold. Nice. And I go, are you kidding me? I would have had to just turn around and – now, don't get me wrong. It would have been a big marketing thing or whatever, but I would have – all that money that we sold those tickets would have all went yeah straight to him. you know It would have killed us even though it helped us.
00:52:40
Speaker
Absolutely. In hindsight. But I was like, oh, my gosh. Okay. And so then we put the second round of tickets on sale and we were only allowed to sell 70 tickets. 75 tickets is all they would allow us to do for the pandemic.
00:52:52
Speaker
um And this was that top of the line banquet hall. And so the next round of tickets, those sold in like a day and a half. And so i was like, OK. And that's when I started just looking for the WrestleCenter. But I went to the King and...
00:53:04
Speaker
he He didn't want to be a part of it, and it's taken five years for him, I guess, for to us to earn his respect and for him to say, man, you've done a great job here. This place is amazing. He said, you have a better setup than Channel 5. I know. I think a lot of the old school guys were following the king because they're so loyal to him. Right. I do respect that 100% because a lot of those guys made a fortune working with Jerry Lawler. Mm-hmm. So that was that was the I guess that was the beef. and and And Kevin, I mentioned him earlier. Kevin used to run wrestling shows as well.
00:53:37
Speaker
And so I feel like there was some animosity from that side as far as Kevin. Same goes for Randy Hales. I think there might be a little animosity on his part because he used to own Power Pro Wrestling. yeah So instead of being supportive and you know helping or, hey, Dustin, when I was running television, I ran into this problem. Make sure that doesn't happen to you. or you know I don't really have that person to lean on. And and I'm still kind of green as a promoter.
00:54:00
Speaker
I've only been doing it five years. So I learn stuff every show. but you i feel like that's I feel like the people who are haters, I feel like that's the the minority of people. It is. You feel it because they're coming directly to you and you were the one that like crossed them. You know what I mean? I hate to even mention it on here you know because it does breathe life into it.
00:54:22
Speaker
I think um there was a a guy in Memphis. His name was Anthony Sane. Do you guys know him? He's a radio guy. yeah Kind of controversial, but he was like, man, i want to interview you. I got some questions to ask you. I'm like, okay. And he's in the wrestling, like some of the other wrestling companies here in Memphis. He's he's with them. So it's almost like his perception of me is that I'm a heel.
00:54:46
Speaker
right And I had to tell him, I don't know that that's the perception from everybody. Like Grizzlies fans have no idea that you guys hate me. if You know what I mean? Exactly. It's such a small audience. It doesn't matter. I don't even, that's why I don't even acknowledge any of it. But there was some animosity from the old school side for a bit.
00:55:04
Speaker
I mean, I can see that, you know, I mean, boomers are not going to change their way. You know what i mean? Like boomers are going to boom and that's just the way that they do. And they're going to, I personally, I'm a person who like, if if something is a certain way, I don't like change. You know what i mean? i'm like, no, I like things the way that they were, but I eventually come around. You know what i mean? I'm like, okay, you know what? Maybe they were onto something. This is better, you know? um So I totally understand that sentiment, But to just be outwardly hateful, I've never understood that. You know what i mean? Like, I always respect people who are hustling and trying to do something and trying to make something. And what you've created with Memphis Wrestling and the WrestleCenter, like, the opportunities that you've provided, like, the the local wrestlers and people, the surrounding wrestlers, like, it's...
00:55:47
Speaker
I mean, it wouldn't – I can't even imagine like if we didn't have that. You know what i mean? like We love coming and watching that. I mean, the WWE product has gotten so insane as far as just like cost yeah and expense and all of that kind of stuff, dude, that we're like so fortunate that we can still go and enjoy live wrestling with Memphis Wrestling. you know And I really appreciate that. they we We feel like we're a boutique – like a wrestling boutique. It looks like it's something bigger if you're watching on television because of some of the guys that are there or the crowd there or whatever, but really it's like a small spot.
00:56:19
Speaker
It's 6,000 square feet. And so for those couple of hours, man, we just want to have so much fun. I love walking in there and just looking and going, man, like all these championship belts. This is so cool. I don't know. I love it. It is so cool. love it. And also I feel like,
00:56:35
Speaker
This is to sound crazy, too, but independent wrestling, I don't remember there being as much commercials or, you know, local television shows like EPW does a television show and they do really good at it. Of course, Neil is our director at our show. But, you know, selling tickets online for an independent wrestling company was never even a thing.
00:56:56
Speaker
you know And so you're thinking, well, people buy tickets for w WWE events online. Why wouldn't they buy them for Memphis Wrestling Online? And then you start doing and then figure out how to reserve seats. And then you just kind of grow into this whole thing to where there's actually a demand. It's super fun watching it all unfold. But I feel like that the rest the other wrestling organizations in Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee have benefited from some of the cool stuff that's come through Memphis, too.
00:57:23
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. Undoubtedly, you know, and you guys have such a ah loyal core fan base. um You know, what do you think has been like the key into like developing and maintaining just that like hardcore crew that I mean, they're going to they're going to come rain shine cold does not matter. They're going to show up and they're going to be rowdy and ready to party. They are generational fans. ah buddy Buddy Jones, his dad is there with him and his dad took him to wrestling. And then Buddy's brother's there with him and then they bring all their friends. So the wild side over there. And then on the other side, you got.
00:57:57
Speaker
you know, Nate and Hunter. It's just, yeah I really honestly think that it's, I think it's fun. and I think I'd like to think that the customer service has something to do with it. Cause that's really, really important, especially a small wrestling show like that, because a seating can get crazy.
00:58:14
Speaker
um just a lot of stuff can go crazy. Yeah. And I mean, shout out, let's just shout out the Slammin' Snacks concessions. You got all all local. you I mean, you're a local boy. And the the fact that Memphis wrestling is in your hands, you know, I know nobody's going to care for it. and love it and nurture it as much as you are. so I mean, you can see it. There's Lenny Subs, dude. We got Ghost River. Yeah, one our beers, man. The brewer and company. we yeah beers Yeah, and the prices at the concession stand are just like – That is super important. The ticket prices, the concession prices. I want it to be like a high school basketball game prices when you walk in because you can't do – I can't possibly ask –
00:58:55
Speaker
you guys to bring your family one or two times a month and, and have $18 beers and, you know, stuff like that. It's just not. yeah You're not sipping a beer for four bucks. in No, yeah you're not going to see a beer. You're not going to see a beer. throw no anddk're not goingnna yeah You're not going to see a water bottle for four bucks. So I try to price that accordingly. I try to price it accordingly. ah Like, I think it was weird recently how they were TKO is Vince McMahon was pricing for families. Like, why would TKO ever say that? Like, why would you,
00:59:26
Speaker
It's like, guys, you're saying the quiet part out loud. How did this make the press? Who let this out that you guys actually said this? I cannot believe that you did this. Yeah, don't know. But wish there was even more capabilities that we could do with tickets family packs and stuff like that. But unfortunately, we're kind of limited to what... No, you guys do great. I mean, even the VIP experience, know what I mean? Like, it's like you're getting to meet some of these guys for such a bargain, you know, and you get such a personalized experience there. Like we've had nothing but great VIP experiences at Memphis Wrestling.
VIP Experiences and Event Challenges
01:00:00
Speaker
And, you know, some of these guys go on to other places. And I mean, it costs three times as much at a different venue, you know. So the fact that you get to get there, meet them, shake hands, get a good picture. Like it's it's the best, man. And they're all usually really, really cool.
01:00:14
Speaker
And if they're not, we try not to bring them back, but man, it's, I was going yeah, I wanted to say like, you know, doesn't necessarily have to be the person who was a nightmare, but have you guys had any like nightmare VIP experience? Like maybe the travel got messed up or maybe like they were just not what you expected or you know you don't have to say any names, but like, was there, has there anything that stuck out that you were like, Oh my gosh, this was nightmare. Yes. There's several. um we We do a members only on our YouTube page and people get the the scoops on those. But one of them that's that's really notorious that I think a lot of people know about. Actually, there's a couple.
01:00:50
Speaker
Justin Credible was recently on the show. Were you guys there for that one? we We missed that show. I heard he was not in, he wasn't in WrestleMania main event condition. Stevie Richards covered it in his podcast. Dutch Mantel covered on his podcast. And yeah, it was, um he, we, it turned, he wanted, he just asked for money. He was hard up asking for money and I got him some work.
01:01:15
Speaker
I took on the risk of flying him in. Day one was good. Day two, not as good. And day three was us. And it was crazy. It was what it was. But that was that was kind of a nightmare. Like, he was a nice guy. He was a sweetheart, but he just...
01:01:27
Speaker
Yeah. The other one I was going to say, man, the yeah if the Psycho Simon Dustin Starr at Super Bow doesn't work out, I think Matt Riddle Dustin Starr would be an awesome freaking backup player. He'd really want to freaking blur the lines, man, on what's it work, what's it shoot. Okay, so I want to still bring Matt Riddle. It's still on the table to bring him because I want you guys to boo this dude out of the building. we do yeah Oh my gosh. What a freaking jerk. So the quick riddle story was he was, he was good. This was Superbowl of this year and we're heading into Superbowl coming up. But um yeah, he, I got a call Ellsworth, James Ellsworth books shows and he helps me with certain talent. We actually help each other with talent that that we work with. And so he's like, Hey Dustin, I don't know if he's getting on that plane.
01:02:14
Speaker
Like, Oh no. And this is like 5 AM. So I'm, I'm already up early that morning, but man, I'm like, up, you know, like, and so now I'm, I'm peppering brittle with some messages. Like what are he's hanging out with Hulk Hogan and he's going to go play golf with Donald Trump or something. i'm like, Oh my gosh, you're killing me. And so he's, he's on all the graphics.
01:02:37
Speaker
He's on all the marketing that we spent money on I've got three or four scooters that I bought that we were going to raffle or whatever. I've got eight by tens. He's on all the event lanyards.
01:02:49
Speaker
Which is brutal because this is like commemorated in a lanyard that you're going to go home and go, that guy wasn't there. He's still hot. He's not too far post WWE at this point either. Right. So it was like fresh to get him and and it was and it just didn't work out. And then um here's a funny story. I don't know if I've just told anybody this, but I did send him an invoice.
01:03:09
Speaker
Oh, you did? Oh, yeah. I sent him an invoice. I'm assuming he didn't he didn't respond. He did not. I sent him invoice. Oh, gosh, this would be great to put on members only or something. But it's got the flight, the travel. It's got the ah the marketing, the lanyards, the 8x10s, the scooters. It's got it all on there. And I totaled it all up. And he I'm surprised he didn't just cuss me out or something, but he didn't respond instead. so Oh my gosh. So you, you guys print all those eight by tens and all of that kind of stuff yes for all the the VIP talent. Wow. Yes. I would say probably 99% of them.
01:03:45
Speaker
um And the place is so small. Merchandise is a big thing at the WrestleCenter just because of the limitation on the seats. Yeah. um Boogeyman. Boogeyman. There's a famous story about Boogeyman, I guess.
01:03:58
Speaker
um he He actually held me up for money. Boogeyman did. i would really I would book the boogeyman every single Halloween for the rest of my life. He was so great with the fans. I'm telling you, I never knew what the term truly meant. You know, when they say get the match in the ring.
01:04:17
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't really understand it until boogeyman. And what that means is once the camera's on, they got to perform. So you can get them that far.
01:04:30
Speaker
Then you're good. Yeah. Oh, man. um So Neil, I told you, Neil Taylor from EPW, he's the director. So after all this controversy of money and all this kind of stuff, we get to the show and Boogeyman's music's playing.
01:04:44
Speaker
And in my headset, Neil goes, Dustin, we've got a problem. And I'm like, oh, no. He said, Boogeyman's not coming to the ring. What? And that's what I looked at Maria. Nobody could hear Neil, but, but, but me and her. yeah And I looked in my mouth like, what the F? And I went to take my headset off and I do not know what I would have said or done.
01:05:07
Speaker
But after all of this and then paying him in the extra money and then him not going to the ring again, I was taking my headset off and going backstage. And just then of the corner of my eye, I saw him crawling out and Neil said, he's going, he said, it, he's going.
01:05:22
Speaker
Oh, he wasn't coming to the ring because that wasn't his music. We use the different music because it was copyrighted. We couldn't we can't monetize it if we use the other music. So it was like this whole thing. But yeah, unfortunately, boogeyman. And and and I have thought long and hard.
01:05:37
Speaker
I I need to call him. and just say, bro, what happened? Because I want you to come back. because I want you to come back. Yeah, if if there is a generic music that you know you can pick out personally that you will come out to. he, so I mean, you know feel free to no comment on this. Is he known for being a pain in the butt working with indie promotions? Because I honestly had never really heard much bad word about Boogie Man behind the scenes. Teddy Long is a friend of mine. He linked me up with ah with Boogie Man. um Booker T's great friends with Boogie Man. Maybe was just having a bad day. yeah I think what it was, I think it was the Lawler thing because back then it was hot and heavy. Oh, yeah. We ate dinner with Lawler the night before and he sent me a selfie photo of him and Lawler.
01:06:21
Speaker
Yeah. And I said, tell King I said hi. Oh, boy. So there you go. Yep, that'll do it. Yeah, there's a lot of good juicy stories. Yeah, absolutely. oh i know I can't even imagine the things that you've dealt with and the things that you've had to like cover for and just like, man. I'll give you one more if you want. Oh, yeah. No, but by all means. I'm here for it. So there was one guy. I looked at Gun Show and Mike Anthony, my two my two guys. I love those guys. I said, all right, just keep an eye out.
01:06:51
Speaker
And they're like, oh, shit, really? like, yep. It was Scotty 2 Hottie. Really? He was not cool. And I thought he was going to be cool because. He's too cool. Yeah, he's too cool. Yeah, Mr. Too Cool. i He helped me out at one of my WWE tryouts one time. He knew that I was buddies with Brian. So he you know told me to protect myself against Sylvester Turkay. He said he would knock you out. So like we have this history. And of course, Brian was a great friend of mine before he passed away. I was there when he passed away.
01:07:22
Speaker
At the hospital. i was one of the few people there, me and Maria. So I just thought, man, I've got this connection with Scotty because of Brian and all that stuff.
01:07:32
Speaker
I think Kevin, I think, i think somebody else called Kevin and King called him and. the same Same vibe. He had the. Yeah. He was ah there on behalf of the Lawlers. And really we only paid him to come and dance. That was the only thing you notice. He didn't have a match or anything. He was just going be a worm for us.
01:07:48
Speaker
And it got, it got pretty heated and he actually did a seminar after that. And he had some choice words. I was sweeping the floor as he was doing a seminar, just trying to stay busy or whatever. And I heard him talking just really bad about the show and I stopped and I almost stopped the seminar right there, but I didn't.
01:08:09
Speaker
um Yeah. told the aud The audacity, you know, like,
Future Visions and Collaborations
01:08:13
Speaker
gosh yeah. Anyway, he was not, he wasn't friendly at all. wow ah The tea is piping hot here on the Chick-fil-A show. i you know I knew there were some wrestling divas, and I knew there were some you yeah least some some wrestling quirks. I'm sure you guys hear all the drama over there on the wild side. do You guys not hear any of the the juice?
01:08:35
Speaker
I don't know. I mean, not really, dude. I mean, it's hard to pick out a lot of what's coming out of the rock. Yeah, it's true. It's simply just a wall of noise coming from that section. It is a wall of noise. Yeah, I try to read their posters if I'm like, maybe what are they saying over here with their signs? Those signs, man.
01:08:55
Speaker
Oh, the signs are insane, dude. Like, I love it. It's they're crazy. Those guys are crazy. um So getting to the product, you know, what you've created as a whole, does it does it align with what your your vision was for Memphis Wrestling? Or have you kind of modified as you go along, like to achieve like the overall vibe that you have now on the show? We've, yeah oh yeah, we've had to modify.
01:09:17
Speaker
i mean, and it's learning as you go. Like I say, the, you know, a lot of the talent are rookies in their first couple of years. I'm a rookie promoter in my first couple of years here. um But it's, it's basically the branding. I don't think that there's like not one certain person that's drawn a crowd or anything in the area. I think it's a team collaborative effort. It's like, you know, I think the logo has been around long enough to where it's like, oh, okay. Memphis wrestling. That's cool. Yeah. So i think I think the longer we go, the heavier that you know that weight carries, I guess, to where it's more recognizable.
01:09:50
Speaker
And the VIPs are kind of just a bonus. Yes, absolutely. um I mean, geez, when King was here, he had a ah line out the door for two hours, and there were folks I'd never seen before, older folks that didn't know. so Absolutely. And they stay for show, and they stay for for Jerry Lawler.
01:10:07
Speaker
They see all the fans reacting so big to Marco Harris and – Yeah. Bosby and Ray Sanders and Psycho Simon. So then they're like, well, I don't know. This is fun. But man, you guys really like these guys, you know? And so they stick around. And I think that's how we make new fans. It's just, a I think it's, it's a very fun way to juggle of the feature attractions and mixing them in with our, with our, um you know, local talent.
01:10:33
Speaker
Who's someone that's on your wishlist to get to Memphis wrestling ah in 2026? Jeff Jarrett. Okay. I would love to have Jeff Jarrett. That'd be fun. He's been very tough. I know that Jerry Jarrett came.
01:10:46
Speaker
Jeff has come to the WrestleCenter, but off camera. But I would love to have Jeff there. i would love to have Santino Marella. That would be fun. I think there's just gold with the Cobra and King Cobra. We got to do something with that. The cobraing Cobra King Cobra collab. mean, he would just be so fun, I think. I think the VIP, it would be great with him.
01:11:06
Speaker
Yeah. know. Who do you, get who do you guys like to see? i was going to say Jeff Jarrett, man. Jeff Jarrett would be cool. You know, he's, he's, if, if the King is number one, Jeff Jarrett's like number two, who I think, um, has Dutch been to the Russell center? I did a, a thing with Dutch. It was like a q and a on stage type of thing, but I don't think Dutch is traveling very much, but I have inquired about using Dutch's voice on some voiceovers.
01:11:31
Speaker
Yeah. You hear his voice very, if you hear his voice coming up soon, think, You heard it here first. Yeah. Dutch, Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Long. That's always been kind of my, my holy trinity of ah Memphis wrestling legends.
01:11:43
Speaker
um I'd love to book people that aren't supposed to be at the WrestleCenter. Oh, yeah. Like Ziggler. You guys have done some cool crossover. Matt Hardy. Yeah, Matt Hardy. Matt Hardy was huge. I think he had the biggest crowd of any show we've been to. Oh, that was nuts, bro. Yeah, it was like out the building. Yeah. um i would I wouldn't be surprised if the opportunity came up for us to do a really big show somewhere.
01:12:06
Speaker
you know, where we could sell a thousand tickets or something. And the Hardy boys, I would love to have the Hardy Jeff would be huge. oh Jeff is just, you know, all time. He's the, you know, he's the modern day Ricky Morton, bro. Just forever a baby face. Like no matter what happens, the fans will always give Jeff another chance. Like, yeah, it's as great as it was having Matt there, dude. Jeff is just a whole different, you know, level of freaking star power. The Grizzlies really were interested in booking Jeff and, or Matt and Rebby. And so that's how the whole thing started. And um when they were bringing Matt in, they asked, you know, do you have an event that you can use them on the next day? If so, let's figure out how we can work together. And so once the Grizzlies said that, I said, man, I'll make a show for Matt Hardy. Yeah, exactly. did And so when I, when I made the call to work out the deal with Matt for the Grizzlies, you know, I asked him, Hey, what about a couple hours the next day? And I have wrestled Matt Hardy and we go back long way. And it's one of those things where you're not like,
01:13:01
Speaker
buds But you definitely have a good work and relationship to where the trust was there to say, yeah, absolutely, bro. I would love to do that. And then he came out to our first ladder match. It was just cool. And that's just some of the relationships that you built through the years.
01:13:14
Speaker
The Joe Hendry, I thought, was the timing on that one was just incredible. Dude, I was in Texas. for work yeah and i was so that's probably my biggest memphis wrestling regret since we kind of since you guys kind of came on our radar man i had to go to texas for work that weekend because yeah i mean you could not get him in a better spot than when he was coming in i was nuts he did the grind city rumble and then a couple weeks later did the royal rumble it was awesome and that was me just hunting him down and being ah persistent because I reached out, no response. Then I found out that he was he was at Booker T's and i said, hey man, Booker's my guy, no response. And then I found out the day before our TV taping, he was going to be in Chicago.
01:13:54
Speaker
I said, hey, you're in Chicago on that Saturday. You need to hit pick up a bag of money on in Memphis on the way to wherever you're going. And that's when they responded. and They're like, perfect. We'll come from Chicago. So sometimes you just have to catch them You've got to know your stuff.
01:14:09
Speaker
And I felt like I stalked him down and and we got kind of lucky, but then also... We got him. That's awesome, man. Yeah. We were at the Matt Hardy show. I think was between that show and the the most recent taping for my two ah favorite Memphis wrestling episodes, man. The ladder match was so cool. Seeing a big JD and Kate humor. I think we were wondering what, what's going to be the next, what what are you guys going to break glass on? What's going to the next first time gimmick match we see at Memphis wrestling? Well, all right. So there's been a lot of talk about a cage. Yeah, that's what we want to ask. What's the logistics of getting a cage in there?
01:14:46
Speaker
Man, you know, the door... Okay, so the the set the set that we built interferes with being able to use the roll-up doors in the back to bring the cage in. And then we have the car or the ah the curtains up there that are for aesthetic purposes that you can't bring the cage over the top of the the set. The curtains, yeah. And then the front doors, of course, are just normal front doors. So what you have to do is basically...
01:15:11
Speaker
build the cage inside the WrestleCenter. And that's so tough because, you know, you guys record multiple shows in a, you know, in a setting. so Now I would imagine though, that if we did have a cage, you know, it's only a one hour television show.
01:15:27
Speaker
So my guess would be is fantasy booking here, like episode one and two would lead up to the cage. And then that second intermission, we would set the cage up. And then that third that third episode – Hold things in a cage. Yeah. Well, it would just have to be one match. I mean, how are you gonna have a cage match that's not going to be at least 25, 30 minutes long? If it's if it's yeah if it's forure big enough to be in a cage, it's big enough to be the majority of that television program.
01:15:54
Speaker
you know Or if you open the program showing us constructing the cage and then doing our – almost like you're building up to a UFC fight. Yeah. you know And then you lead into your first ever cage. But if we're going to do a first ever something else, it it might be a cage. It's just the getting it together. But I will say this. Big John Dalton is a welder. There go.
01:16:14
Speaker
Hey. King Cobra yeah is also a welder. So – So cage matches on the radar. Each match is on the radar. Who do we put in a cage against each other? Or do we have to build something new? Is there something already there that's juicy enough?
01:16:27
Speaker
Or do we have to build something new for a cage? Hmm.
01:16:33
Speaker
um but I'm going back to it, dude. The next Grind City Rumble, ah you know, that's where you guys have the first one. We had we have Psycho Simon and Dustin Starr in a blood feud. It ends up going all around the WrestleCenter. The violence, the chaos can't be contained.
01:16:48
Speaker
There's only one way to settle this once and for all in Super Bowl. We get the first ever cage match, man. Oh, man. Yeah, I think that's it. I think ah your your new writer just ah put a stamp on it I think that's ah that's the way to go. Jeez. Are there any plans for like any special like prime time, you know, pay-per-view PLE type ah shows? I know it's tricky because again, the way that you guys record, um, and like this episode the batch episodes and trying to like, you know, keep storylines congruent and stuff like that. Like, uh, you know, if you did like ah a random like night show or something, how, you know, logistics of that and that kind of thing. Yeah. I've wanted to do a pay-per-view.
01:17:27
Speaker
um it is, it is costly getting the truck and all that to do it live and everything. I do think it would work out though. But what I would rather do, I think, is is do what we're good at, is is film something that's there with a very limited crowd, okay package it together nice and neat, and then see if we could sell it like on fight. Like what would it cost? $5.99? $6.99? it the cost of yeah ticket? $9.99? I don't know. but i know we ah i know we had the conversation, man, that Lights Out match that you guys did with Nixie.
01:17:59
Speaker
And DDT, man, the way you guys changed up the lighting for that, dude, like that little, that little tweak in the presentation, man, just really elevated. Like that felt important. I thought that looked so cool. So I know we had like a little brief conversation where you may, you may change up the lighting. We've got that in our back pocket. Just to give it a different feel. Yeah, we've got that in pocket. That looked really, really nice, man. I'm imagining that it didn't take a ton of effort to get that effect.
01:18:19
Speaker
I think we would probably need a couple more of the overhead lights above the ring um just to keep the crispness of the cameras. It does dim the audience a little bit, which I don't like because you guys are such a big part of the show. True, but every a while. Just it a different feeling. Every once in a while, I like a good dark audience. Yeah. But we also – We and did install some curtains. We can easily put some curtains up to cover everything in the WrestleCenter just in case we do like a w WWE ID showcase, which I've pitched that a couple of times, like doing a standalone where they bring all the ID guys in and just do a big ID show at the WrestleCenter.
Logistical Challenges and Growth Plans
01:18:55
Speaker
Yeah, that would be cool. i've I've pitched to other wrestling companies that are even local.
01:19:01
Speaker
Is there a way that we could do something? Because I have a wrestling venue. Yeah. I could not collaborate. Worlds collide. Yeah. and um And most of them are not interested at all in even discussing it, which is crazy to me because we put this on TV, man, and and it would be it would be cool. um So anyway. 100%. Yeah, I know, you know, we kind of touched on, you know, getting a training facility and things like that for the WrestleCenter. Like, obviously, like, that's like big, big dreams down the road. Are but there are there any like, you know, future updates, changes like to the WrestleCenter that you guys have, like, you know, that are that are coming sooner rather than later? Anything to expand or, you know, enhance the WrestleCenter? Coming usually at the beginning of each year, the first taping, we like to have something new.
01:19:45
Speaker
So I would like to have something new in the toy area, whether it's a big welcome to the Wrestle Center or maybe we name that area.
01:19:56
Speaker
Main event merch or something like that. M-A-N-E, something just a big, big display sign. um I kind of would like to maybe paint the floors in front of the desk.
01:20:08
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Just to give that more of a stage feel, I guess. Yeah. Make it more special. I also like the red carpet a lot. I would really like to keep the red carpet. So that's on the table as The red carpet was cool. Yeah. We recently painted the bathrooms a little bit. So like even small stuff like that, like painting the bathroom walls or- Yeah. Hanging up a new sign or something. Mm-hmm. I know that when I go to the, you know, a place that I like over and over again, I like when they have new posters or something new. So yeah, there's a couple different things. We just updated the cameras to where they have wireless transmitters. So no more wires. That's nice. We did move the hard cam to the back of the room instead of the front. That's so we could see you guys better in the audience and shooting into the set. Kind of a little more like AEW as far as shooting into the direction of the set.
01:20:53
Speaker
um ah Is there any other things that we should do? You got any suggestions? We love, we love, we love the rest of the stuff. I like the tight intimate feel with like a cell phone company and have like a charging station for cell phones. That'd be cool. I'd love that. That would be cool. like that. That would be cool. But yeah, you got something special, dude. And I think the risk you always have with a, like an indie promotion, again, speaking just from a, you know, a smart fans perspective, man. So feel free to, you know, smack me down, dude. If I'm, if I'm talking at, you know, above my, my pay grade here, but like, I feel like with something like this, you almost want it to feel like it's a little bit, you know, intimate and it's like bursting at the seams with energy as opposed to, know, you see some of these indie shows where they have like just a cavernous like space. Yeah. And it could end up being, you know, maybe more people that are at the Russell Center on Saturdays, but it still feels like more low energy. just because they're not filling the space. I think you guys do.
01:21:47
Speaker
In my mind, it could be cool the Russell Center was a little bit bigger, but yeah I feel like what's there, if you guys absolutely do an outstanding job, just filling that space with with the energy and vibes and stuff. yeah I think you get you could potentially risk that if you expand it too big. Move the fans back further. that's what I think. Yeah, you're... If we put tickets on sale in the same day, they all sold every time.
01:22:07
Speaker
Like if we did that five, six, seven, eight times in a row and it was like, yeah it doesn't happen that way. we Even our sellout shows, we'll have tickets available sometimes the week of. Like right now, the 14th, it's pretty jam-packed but and it's going to sell out, but it it didn't sell out the first, second, third day. Right. Right. Like that's when you know, you got to get a bigger place. Not just when you have a, I mean, come on, absolutely you're going to fill the place up with the good brothers or Matt Hardy or Dolph Ziggler, know, and, and back to the pay-per-view thing. Reason we got to stick with what we're the best at, I feel like is because if we do a financial risk, it could really hurt a small business like, uh, the margins are just much more thin. Yeah. If we had a really good partner that, that came in and, um, like it was a good sponsorship partner that would help us with the costs and then also share whatever,
01:22:57
Speaker
ah you know, revenue that came back from that, yeah that would be tremendous. And I think that we could go in that direction for sure. It's just something that we haven't quite done yet because we're just doing weekly television at this point, you know? Yeah.
01:23:11
Speaker
Yeah. I think a lot of small businesses suffer from that. They start, they start to be successful and then they just take on an unnecessary expansion at not a good time. They scale too fast. They scale too fast. they get it Yeah.
01:23:22
Speaker
And then it, you know, they end up collapsing and they, they had a great thing going and they had, you know, good product, but it just, it just, you just yeah can make one misstep and, uh, it all comes crumbling down. Something that you thought was a a good step, right? Like it's nothing that's detrimental, but something that you think is, you know, for the benefit of the the business and, Yeah, so i don't I don't mind you being conservative with the with the changes. We love the vibe at Memphis Wrestling. Perfect, man. Yeah, we are here for it. um So real quick before we get into our like just quick bonus rundown questions, where do you see Memphis Wrestling in 2030? 2030?
01:23:57
Speaker
twenty thirty yeah So five years from now, what where do you see Memphis Wrestling? I know we just talked about not expanding and not doing all these things. We're hitting you with big one last. I think we'll we'll have a set time slot on Channel 5. Okay.
01:24:13
Speaker
Love it. so That would be, you know, we're on Plus and they just changed the name of it. But that's a very good partner of ours. And I think that in five years we're going to have we're going to be working some really cool stuff together.
01:24:24
Speaker
well and or And or I would love to be on the w WWE network of whatever that is. Previously, you know you had the network and then um they had independent wrestling on there and there was discussions. And I thought that if I could get our audio and the guests, we definitely would be interested in the guests. Who wouldn't be interested in the archive of guests that we've had? you know So if we could get all of our ducks in a row, maybe that could be something that would happen. So I think um maybe something...
01:24:54
Speaker
WWE-ish would be something cool in the next five years. Yeah. so And then also, I don't even look at things as like I'm a performer anymore. you know All this fun stuff that we've been able to do, most of the time I'm talking to them at the desk. you know So I don't even think about the performance side of it.
01:25:10
Speaker
But in five years, what other opportunities could come up? you know, for me as a promoter or as a, you know, what absolutely man. So five years is old.
01:25:22
Speaker
I always thought that our biggest year would be year five. Cause I've always heard small business year five. Cause you've planted all your seeds. You've done all the, you know, all the nurturing and all of the, uh, tending and bought all the stuff. Now it's like, here we go. And so I could totally, I could totally see that we'll have more events in 2026 than, than, than we have ever.
01:25:42
Speaker
Love that. All right. So we're going to a quick, you know, this is just kind of a quick, ah just first thing that comes to your mind. ah Were you a figure collector as a, as a kid? Did you collect wrestling figures? Yes. I didn't really call it collecting though. I got them on I wrote storylines in my notepad and I, yeah, same. Yeah. That's, that's, ah's I made championship belts with, uh,
01:26:05
Speaker
What is it? Electric tape. Yeah. Pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Yeah. Yeah. yeah ah Wrestling figure enthusiasts, we like to call. Yes. Yeah. We're not not collectors. One of my um favorite parts, I've got a whole box of action figures and I got two championship belts sitting here on my kitchen table right now. One of my favorite things is buying the action figures and putting them on the wall and changing out the posters and all the merch at the WrestleCenter. I love that. I love it.
01:26:32
Speaker
Yeah, that's fun. Getting to merchandise stuff. I mean, we we're sitting here. We have a little little wall of action figures. Yeah, we have like a little office that we have wrestling figures and wrestling posters and stuff. And, you know getting to periodically um change that out and re-merchandise it and put new art up and stuff like that is, yeah, it it is the best. um So if you could make a Memphis Wrestling Series 1 action figures, give ah give us four names that you would put in the light up in ah in a series, a yeah Memphis Wrestling action figure series. Who would be the most toyetic out of your crew, you think? I mean, Psycho Simon's got to be, right?
01:27:03
Speaker
Yeah, think he's one of the top. With a belt. I think he's your acre figure. Face paint, the whole nine yards. I mean, he's got to be the guy, right? Yeah. Oh, man. Who else is just overly animated?
01:27:14
Speaker
I think you got to do like Zaya Wolfe. Yeah. She'd be fine. If you get, if you're to female in there, she'd be a good man. So Zayn would be- I think Seven, dude. I think Seven would be a great figure. Seven is very toy addict. All the gear stuff he's got on. Seven would be great. Yeah. Seven is toy addict. I wouldn't mind a problem in Aaron Roberts' figure. Aaron Roberts would be good. Get you just like a, yeah, a big guy in the series.
01:27:35
Speaker
So if you had Aaron, so that's three. So if you were going to do four, so you have two heels and you have a baby face girl. big deal You got to have Big JD, dude. So there you go Big JD. I mean, you still haven't done Bosby. You got the Shocker.
01:27:48
Speaker
The Shockers though. Bosby would be a cool one. got to save some meat for Series 2. There you go. You can't show all the cards Series 1. Big Man K Toomer. K-Tamber would be a dope figure, dude. you why luckyio three looks dude The Colt. The Twins. Oh, the Twins. yeah what's that What's their... Twins of Salem. Twins of Salem. Are they still wrestling? I haven't seen them in a while, man. What's the latest on the Twins? They're doing Juggalo Championship Wrestling.
01:28:17
Speaker
Got it. Okay. so when that track That tracks. Yeah. well Makes sense. I see. Totally. When Violent J came in, one of the cool things about him is, ah you know, i told him I've got a lot of young talent that are chomping at the bit. And so after the, of course, we kind of knew what fit with Juggalo Championship Wrestling, right? And so ah Barnabas and, of course, the twins, you know, I think they even pulled him to the side and talked to him or whatever. But Violent J reached out to me personally, so I gave them their phone numbers. said, man, go get them.
01:28:44
Speaker
and so i agree man You'll probably see them back with us here and there, but for the most part, they're doing some traveling with Juggler Challenge Pressing. Now, we have thought about micro brawlers, perhaps. Yeah. That'd be cool. Dude, sign me up. I'm buying everyone y'all put out, man. We will start a a Memphis micro brawler selection. I'm buying two of everything. I'm getting one to get signed and one to one to open up and display loose, man. I'll get two of every one you buy. A micro brawler, who do you do?
01:29:08
Speaker
If you do one, who do you do? If you're doing one, I mean, so in the time I've been there, simon or I don't know. i think the gun show the gun show would be a good one. yeah yeah and To me, that he feels like the John Cena of Memphis wrestling. I do too. I feel like that too. Yeah. I feel like he's got to be the first one. just ist not Or, you know, not to blow smoke, dude.
01:29:27
Speaker
Dustin Starr, man. Yeah. Because then you get the variant. You could get the commentator or you could get in the wrestling gear. And you could get retro wrestling. Yeah. You got the Chase Dustin Starr. The Chase Dustin Starr. So Psycho Simon agrees with you. And I said, man, Simon, nobody's going to buy the announcer. And he's like, bullshit. You'll sell out. No. You'll sell dude. Yeah. Especially. And you put that little nibble out there. Hey, guys.
01:29:52
Speaker
Depending on how good this one does, there will be more on the way. There will be more on the way. Yeah. no we're We're schooled up. We're we're pretty – you know, she didn't kind of slow play a little bit. we're We're pretty hardcore figure people, dude. So, yeah, yeah we we don't we know how to work these things. I think that could totally happen. I mean, i think there's a lot of opportunities for for businesses to get involved in that too because there's – mean.
01:30:11
Speaker
It's like a business card. It's a little toy. yeah mean Big JD decked out in a mini sub singlet. Gun show with a Ghost River Brewery t-shirt. yeah name like yeah It's right there. you like Small batch. like dude if If the Ghost River table had set up little micro brawlers of Gun Show decked out with Ghost River gear. great Dude, i'm I'm not even thinking twice, man. Like, yeah, give me a freaking, give me a Grindhouse cream ale and give me that micro brawler. Give me that micro brawler. You know, I just bought McDonald's today and it came with Grinch socks.
01:30:42
Speaker
Oh, yeah. We did, Yesterday, we were on the Grinch sock train. Shout out to McDonald's. Yeah, people love little stuff like that, man. Yeah, so... Yeah. Dude, I'm all in on the micro brawlers, man. live I want the first one off the line, dude. I want to be able to say i got the first one. Yeah, I got 001. All right.
01:30:59
Speaker
AEW WWE? WWE. Nice. WWF or WCW?
01:31:07
Speaker
oh Oh, WWF. It's close, though. It is close. Early, early 90s, I like WCW better. i definitely like the Attitude Era better over than WCW. I mean, Hogan Warrior and that, you know, perfect. and Yeah, you don't get better than that. lived through that, and that was great. I love the Attitude Era. 97's my favorite year in wrestling. Same. Sting, Flair, my jam for WCW. That kept me on the Monday Night Wars. I'd flip back and forth, back and forth. Me and my buddy would be on the phone talking, flipping back and forth. We loved it.
01:31:39
Speaker
So we got our last question. This is the last question we ask every single, it's kind of our trademark, every single person that comes on the show. hit yeah the machine What's your all-time favorite match? Toronto Sky Dome, 93,000 strong. Champion versus champion, title versus title. The ultimate challenge. Toronto Sky Dome, ultimate warrior intercontinental champion defending against Hulk Hogan. I'm I'm looking at a big print that we had. We have a friend who's an artist, and he created this giant custom print for me and Seth of that exact match. I'm seeing you picture right now, dude. favorite of all time, the Ultimate Warrior wore orange, my favorite color. Oh, yeah. I remember my dad, he was talking mess to me, saying that, you know that Hogan's going to Hulk up and beat the Warrior. And said, not today, not today. Not today, pal. And when he moved out of the way of the leg drop and hit that, I was, oh, my gosh, in your face. It was like...
01:32:35
Speaker
Oh, it was incredible. That's my favorite match. Yeah, I'm seeing a picture right now. It's got my all-time favorite wrestling photograph. Sheena for Christmas out six years ago. Yeah, she got it turned into a painting by our buddy, Extra Cooler Man. Hey, all those look pretty awesome, actually. We got some serious wrestling art. We got the mood lighting going here. We'll get it lit up. I'll see some pictures in the wrestling room. It was Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan. I think it was their best match. It was a baby face, baby face. It was match, man. It was epic. The place is going nuts. Oh, my gosh. And you go back to the Royal Rumble where it's... See, that's what I love. I love the Grand City Rumble for moments like Hogan and Warriors squaring off.
Memorable Matches and Long-term Impact
01:33:14
Speaker
Who could we get for a five to ten second spot that this place would be crazy for? you know that I mean, literally booking it just... guessing how you guys are going respond and wwe wwe knocked that one out of park because it was just crazy good i'm pulling for ray sanders yeah to what the rule yeah we want that we want revenge for ray ray you guys are you guys are following it oh the last show was nuts man again want give spores because you know most of the episodes have an air on youtube but it was some of our proudest stuff me and simon and some of the guys man it was some of our proudest stuff just because I feel like you guys have always kind of leaned towards being a little bit a baby face territory, but dude, you guys went all in on the heat that last show, man. I felt like there were, felt there were multiple times during the day where the crowd was really just ready to tear somebody to shreds. Yeah. And then it just built to a crescendo with that indie, man. I wasn't worried about Bosby, dude. I wasn't sure, but you know, he needed, he needed to have Aaron Roberts, couple of the big guys rolling with him backstage, man. Cause you know, I know ray Ray Sanders had a lot of family in there, dude. Like, He had a whole bleacher. yeah
01:34:18
Speaker
Yeah. yeah yeah i got I got to send you the video, dude. I took i got basically like the last 30 seconds of the man the Simon Ray match on video. I'll send it to you, dude. From my perspective, like the video is badass. It's still like because you know the iPhone just can't quite capture the audio from that moment. It was so loud. The energy was so nuts in there, dude.
01:34:38
Speaker
Man, that's probably my all-time favorite moment in the WrestleCenter. Those reels, man, those reels that are up close like that, they get millions of views for us. Yeah, dude, that was just electric, man. Yeah. Straight up, dude. Definitely the most intense moment that I've been in the WrestleCenter for, for sure. And Dustin had the balls to pull the freaking rug out from under us after that, dude. That was so good. You guys have no idea how long that's been planned. How many, we did not tell any of the characters about it until we got closer. was just something that we just were trying to protect and then just trying to fly the one guy under the radar and make everybody forget. She's been a slow play. We had literally said, man. I just forgot, yeah. Yeah, because Boz is always so cool. He always comes up and daps up Brett. They always have a little conversation. And that's the thing. We like him. I was like, man, I guess Boz's being here today. It was like, what? Why do I feel ugly toward you right now? Well, and so now we got to tell the story. He didn't do anything wrong.
01:35:35
Speaker
No, no, he was well, everything was it with it within his right. So, yeah, guess you know, they drove the chance man not like this, not like this. man but But another thing that was really proud about that is is Ray Sanders was trained at the WrestleCenter. know, Tim Bosby was trained at the WrestleCenter. Psycho Simon is just the only reason that Psycho Simon ever had that belt was just so somebody could get over on him.
01:36:00
Speaker
You just have to build a monster to to help make somebody else. and that's what that's what every single person on that show has to do is help somebody else get over. And those are all your hometown guys. And they all just seem like super solid dudes. you know like From the little bit that I know, I'm just from like them performing and like coming to us on the on the you know sidelines and stuff. like Just seem like solid people, dude. If they're not, then they don't stay with us very long.
01:36:24
Speaker
Hell yeah. You've seen some of them disappear. And there's a reason yeah for all of that. But you got to be cool, man. This is so small. Like you you can't afford to um you can't afford to not be cool.
01:36:37
Speaker
You can. Right. Absolutely. Absolutely. But before we get off here and I'll let you give your plugs one more time, I do want to shout out your guys' ah wrestling kids camp. Dude, like that was like that's like a dream come true for these kids. ah You know, for those of you who don't know, Memphis Wrestling hosts, they just started hosting over the last – year or so, um a kids wrestling camp. It's two day camp. um The kids get to go get in the ring. They get to cut a promo. They get to learn some moves. um They get to just do some fun activities, interact with all the Memphis wrestlers. Just an absolute dream for a little kid that's into a professional wrestling. Dude, I would have given anything to have something like that. Kids were bummed. We went to Kentucky for Thanksgiving. so we missed that that We missed the Thanksgiving camp. It was fun. The kids were bummed. We'll be back in the ah in the summer when you have it again. Guys, that's our age. bound we We wish there was something like that back.
01:37:29
Speaker
Oh, yeah. There was nothing, dude. There was nothing. everybody was You were putting mattresses in your backyard and like you know trampo and learning just from watching tapes. you know Yeah. yeah um it's It's a ton of fun. and and Of course, I love to see mike my son get out there and get into it. and you know my My first son, he's 16. No, actually, he's 17.
01:37:48
Speaker
um He grew up watching me wrestle, and he had wrestling gear, and he was involved he wanted to get in the ring. like He was really into it. He would help me put my knee pads, kick pads, and stuff on, and he had his own yeah Brady tights and stuff. and so He wanted to be a wrestler. He grew out of that. and Then now my son, Reese, he is five, and they say, you want to be a wrestler like your dad, right? He's like, no.
01:38:10
Speaker
Looks him like they're crazy. He's like, I want to talk on the microphone. Yeah. So it's like a whole different thing. He doesn't even, i don't even think he's seen us wrestle. He doesn't. Yeah, he doesn't. He didn't see his dad, the wrestler. Why didn't you, why don't you show him some of that stuff? I'm like, well, I'll show it to him one day, but don't want to get him all fired up and have me out there wrestling again. Exactly. Oh, yeah. He'll be like, Dad, what are you doing? Why are you talking on the mic? Get out there. So that's who we need to talk to if we want to make this. That's true. We need to plant a seed with a little man. Tell your dad this is what you want for Christmas. You know, Brady, the 17-year-old, he worked the kids' camp this time. So I love that. love when he's at the WrestleCenter. And then, of course, Reese, he participated in the kids' camp. And we kind of trickle him into working out.
01:38:53
Speaker
Yeah. There's a rule you, you can't, you can't get in the ring until you do your, you know, your calisthenics and your little workout and everything. So oh yeah very fun. Very cool. i love it. I wish it was going on when I was a kid.
01:39:05
Speaker
I know. I'm so appreciative of you guys doing that because, like I said, it's the only opportunity these kids are going to get to do something like that. You know what mean? And that's what plants those seeds and creates those core memories. Some of these kids that are at Memphis Kids Camp are going to grow up and go on to be wrestlers at some point, which I think is the coolest thing. was at Tim Bosby's eighth birthday, and they told me that day he going to train when he was 18.
01:39:30
Speaker
And so there's a picture of me and him on his eighth birthday and then a picture of me and him on his 18th birthday. And he's signing up at the WrestleCenter on his 18th. Now, I did not train anybody or have a facility or anything back when he was eight years old. So for all that to come full circle was just like, wow, that's...
01:39:47
Speaker
That's pretty incredible. Yeah. yeah What an impact. Well, Dustin, I just want to say thank you so much for your time. I know we got to talk and, know, we were trying to keep this at an hour, but, you know, we just kept yapping and yapping. Time flies when you're having fun. time flies when you're having fun. But I totally appreciate your time. Thank you for being here. And I want you to let all the Foley fam know where they can find Memphis Wrestling one more time and where they can find all the info about, you know, everything going on the 901. Easy, easy. I'm at Dustin Starr with two R's and then you could just type in Memphis Wrestling and we come up at the top on Google. Whether you want to watch us on YouTube, you can watch every single episode absolutely free on demand.
01:40:26
Speaker
You can watch on Fight TV. You can get all the stuff at MemphisWrestling.tv and we've got December 14th coming up. And then January 4th, TNA Wrestling World Champion Frankie Kazarian is kicking off the new year with Memphis Wrestling. Just wait till you see what we've got planned for that.
01:40:41
Speaker
And then on January 18th, Sue Young is coming back for Super Bout 5. We're going to celebrate five years. And those tickets are already on sale as well. Nice. And listen, if you're out there and you're not local to Memphis, you can still buy a ticket and just donate it to a person in need. Hit up Dustin and just let him know you bought a ticket. And they'll give it to somebody who maybe wants to come to the show, but it's been a rough year and donate that ticket to somebody in need. It sure does. Think of the holiday season. Yeah, that happens. The gift of wrestling. We do that on YouTube where people will donate and I take that, you know, however much it's not a whole lot of money. You know, if it's 50 bucks that they donate throughout the month and we'll buy some tickets for the kids or somebody that's not able to come. So, um, and then, and then also if there's somebody out there and you want to come to Memphis wrestling, you have not been yet. Send a message, man. Sometimes I'll even give you a ticket for first, first time on me.
01:41:30
Speaker
Cause I want you to be there just to see. So, I'm telling you. Come on. Come see it. It's the most entertaining thing you're going to see in Memphis, especially for the price. The price is right. The vibes are good. The snacks are cheap. And it's just good people all around. going have good time. Yeah, going to have a good time. Well, you guys, like I said, you have a different perspective because you've been there. That's why this was so fun for me is I'm thinking, what are they going ask? I wonder what the gossip do they hear in the front row? What is this going to Yeah.
01:42:02
Speaker
Yeah, it is. It is funny seeing who those ah who the front row crew, who they who they cheer and who they really boo and, you know, who they who they get on to. So, ah yeah, they they're very passionate about who they like and who they don't like. They really are. sure For sure. yeah Awesome. Well, Dustin, thank you so much. And I guess, you know, we'll see you on the fourteenth Oh, yeah, I'll be there. Thank you, guys.