Tape Reviews
Rock and Roll Express Shoot Interview
By Brandon Truitt
Feb 16, 2004, 19:00

I'm doing a cut-and-paste intro tonight because I'm still worn down from my cold this weekend (NyQuil... Capital 'N', small 'y', BIG FUCKING Q"). The topic is funny quotes from obscure or semi-obscure movies.


"Newswoman: The federal government announced today that in an effort to eradicate the national debt, it will be selling the state of Rhode Island to a group of private investors, for a reported $18 billion. The investors plan to enclose the entire state with an all-weather roof, and turn it into the world's largest shopping mall. When asked for comment, a White House spokesperson would only say, "Well, at least we didn't sell it to the fucking Japanese." " - Steven Soderbergh's "Schizopolis" (1995)

"Mitch: The last time I got blown, candy bars cost a nickel. " - The Long Kiss Goodnight

"Samantha Caine: What, are you a Mormon?
Mitch Henessey: Yes, I'm a Mormon. That's why I just smoked a pack of Newport and drank three vodka tonics. " - The Long Kiss Goodnight

"Harry Lime: In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock." - The Third Man (1949)

"Charles De Mar: This is pure snow! Do you have any idea what the street value of this mountain is? " - Better Off Dead (1986)

"Tree Trimmer: Now that's a real shame when folks be throwin' away a perfectly good white boy like that. " - Better Off Dead (1986)

"Prison Counsellor: Why do you say you feel "trapped" in a man's body.
"Trapped" Convict: Well, sometimes I get them menstrual cramps REAL hard." - Raising Arizona (1987)

"Alan Stanwyck: If you reject the proposition, you keep the thousand - and your mouth shut.
Fletch: Does this proposition entail my dressing up as Little Bo Peep?" - Fletch (1984)

"Fletch: Aren't you gonna read me my rights?
Cop: You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to have your face kicked in by me. You have the right to have your balls stomped on by him.
Fletch: I think I'll waive my rights. "

"Cocaine Addict: Marijuana is not a drug. I used to suck dick for coke. Now that's an addiction. You ever suck some dick for marijuana? " - Half Baked (1998)


Want to know what makes that last quote even funner? Halfassed "comic" Bob Saget (the lame-o from Full House and American's Funniest Home Videos) is the one saying it. The rest of those jokes just make themselves.


As always, you can feel free to Drop me an e-mail, read the archives, buy me stuff, or buy yourself stuff at Highspots.com.



Rock and Roll Express Shoot Interview (4-24-2001)


We start off with some footage of the Rock and Rolls vs. the Russians in Jim Crockett Promotions, with this particular set of Russians being Ivan Koloff and Krusher Kruschev (Barry Darsow, Demolition Smash). Morton hits a victory roll from behind on Ivan to pick up the win and the NWA Tag Titles.


The interview actually starts with the standard question of how they broke into the business. Robert Gibson starts off by talking about how his brother, Ricky Gibson, had been a wrestler and that he�d dreamed of becoming a wrestler and that it came true. Ricky Morton says he grew up in the business because his father was both a referee and a Marine drill instructor. He was always around wrestling and wasn�t even interested in becoming a wrestler but his day job as a book binder fell apart because they went on strike and someone no-showed on a card one night when he rode to the building with his dad. He got drafted into wrestling years earlier as a 14-year old to wrestle Ricky Fields, the son of Mobile, Alabama, promoter Lee Fields.

Robert Gibson teaming with his brother- He learned the hard way back then and they teamed for about four years, at which point he and Ricky Morton started teaming together. (He doesn�t say it here, but Jim Cornette has called Ricky Gibson a far better worker than Robert and says that if injuries hadn�t derailed his career, he would have been a bigger star.)

The Rock and Roll Express�s feud with the Blond Bombers (Wayne Ferris (Honky Tonk Man), Larry Latham (Moondog Spot), and Corporal Danny Davis, the owner of Ohio Valley Wrestling)- That was the transition point between the Gibson Brothers and the Rock And Roll Express, as Ricky Morton joined into a feud that started as the Gibsons vs. the Bombers so they could do six-man matches. Ricky goes into oldtimeritis here, talking about how they had to work the same place every week and that he�d like to see some of the wrestlers today work the same arena every week and sell it out.

Jerry Lawler back in the day- They give Lawler, Jimmy Hart, and Dutch Mantel credit for putting together the Rock and Roll Express gimmick, mainly Lawler because he�s the boss. They like Lawler and say that a lot of people don�t like Lawler because they don�t spend time to get to know him and, when it comes to the end of the day, Lawler�s all about business. Ricky Morton talks about how over Lawler was in Memphis and says that Lawler would get pulled over going 100 miles an hour in downtown Memphis and not get a ticket.

Jerry Jarrett- �One of the boys.� He owned the territory and, if he felt things were going wrong, he changed them.

Robert teaming with Stan Lane- That was very early in his career and it was a good time.

Bobby Eaton before the Midnight Express- Bobby had started off working for Nick Gulas in the eastern half of Tennessee and was the territory�s top babyface, carrying around legendary dead-weight George Gulas in main-event feuds. George Gulas got his huge push because he was Nick�s only son. �Bobby�s back hurts all the time now because he carried George around for all those damn years.�

Were they ever discouraged early in their careers because of their small stature? For the most part, they were fine. There were some people who didn�t understand how they were over despite being so small, Ole Anderson for one. They didn�t get over with Ole until Ricky was doing a corner spot punching him a bunch of times and Ole kept saying �Hit me again!� Ricky finally walked to the center of the ring and fell down and, when Ole asked him why he did it, Ricky said �Well, you wouldn�t fall down so I figured I would.� Ole liked them from then on, partially for that and partially because every show featuring the Andersons vs. the Rock and Roll Express sold out.

Ricky Morton teaming with Ken Lucas- He learned a lot from Ken when they worked together in Texas. He�d watch how Ken interacted with the people and seeing what he did in the ring.

Ricky and Ken against Tully Blanchard and Gino Hernandez- It was the first big territory he went into as a top star, and it was also one of the better territories at the time. They did decently at the box office and made a good amount of money.

Ricky and Eddie Gilbert as a team- Eddie was a great worker because of his mind but he was too young to get over outside of Memphis at the time (it was 1981 and they were in Oklahoma). He met General Skandor Akbar for the first time there. If Eddie was still alive today, he�d be a booker somewhere.

Teaming with Onita- That was in the early 80s in Memphis, when they did their own version of the Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl that Lawler, Bill Dundee, and the Blond Bombers had made famous years before.

The Rock and Roll Express gimmick coming together- Lawler was planning on doing a hostile takeover of the Memphis territory from Jerry Jarrett and needed his own teenybopper team because The Fabulous Ones (Steve Kiern (Skinner) and Stan Lane) were loyal to Jarrett. They brought Morton back from Texas and Gibson back from Florida to team them up in the Rock and Roll Express gimmick to fill this need. However, by the time the both of them had gotten to Memphis, the split was off. (Bobby Eaton accidentally gave Jarrett�s side notice about the split when he mentioned something in front of his wife, who happened to be Jarrett loyalist Bill Dundee�s daughter. Jarrett then talked with Lawler and negotiated a settlement to head off a split) After that, they played #2 to the Fabulous Ones for the rest of their time in Memphis. No one had any idea what they were supposed to do for their gimmick so, after they got dressed the first night, they took one look at their tights then decided to walk to the nearby flea market and buy a bunch of bandannas to tie to the tights. It got over immediately but, when they got back after the match, the fans said that it worked but it took a second to figure out if they were �Indians or gypsies.�

Were they prepared for their success? Yes, because they�d been working regularly for years and paid their dues to get to that point. Ricky brings up Gypsy Joe in particular as a guy who would beat the crap out of you if you screwed up in a match as a way of telling you that you were screwing up. As far as guys like that are concerned, they�re giving you a match and if you screw it up, that�s all you�ll get that night and let�s see if you�re better the next time.

Was there a rivalry between them and the Fabulous Ones? Not on their part, as they were more concerned they were getting over. Morton does note that they rarely worked the same shows, as the Fabs would get the A-towns and the Rock and Rolls would get the B-towns such as in Arkansas. (That was because both teams were very similar and the Fabs were considered the top team, so they�d always get the top towns and the Rock and Rolls would be sent to the B-towns to draw the same kinds of fans at those shows.)

The piledriver angle with the Poffo brothers, Leaping Lanny Poffo and Randy Savage- It was the first time that they know of in which someone was put through a table. Savage suggested putting Morton through the table and, when it gave way, thought he�d broken Morton�s neck and started checking on him. Morton was fine but didn�t get up because he wanted to sell the table spot instead of doing the comeback that was planned beforehand. That particular angle caught fire after that.

Working with Dutch Mantel- Dutch is �a funny sonofabitch.� One time, when they were staying at the Admiral Benbow, where all the sailors stay and there are always prostitutes running around, they came up late at night after a show. They happened to see a pimp, complete with the suit, wiping some coke from his nose. He took one look at Dutch Mantel and said �Dutch Mantel� bad motherfucker baby!� Morton also mentions that Mantel helped carry Memphis for a long time, especially the year Lawler was on the shelf with a broken leg.

The Nightmares (Danny Davis and someone else)- Robert Gibson and Ricky Gibson worked against them. Ricky Morton and Robert worked against a similar team, The Galaxians, who were Davis and Ken Wayne.

Mid-South and Bill Watts- Mid-South was on a serious downswing and, when Lawler and Jarrett went down to examine the territory, they told Watts they needed young, good-looking babyfaces. (Specifically, they asked him �Where are the blowjobs?�, which Watts thought meant REAL blowjobs and not young, good-looking wrestlers who bring in the teeny-bopper girls and, indirectly, the young guys.) Watts watched a few cards while he was in Memphis and had looked at the Fabulous Ones before seeing the Rock and Rolls take on Porkchop Cash and Troy Graham for 30 minutes. After the match was done, he decided that the Rock and Rolls were going to be his new babyface tag team because of Morton�s incredible selling. �He totally flipped the fuck out!� Watts told Jarrett that the Rock and Rolls were much better than the Fabs due to Morton�s selling and the way Gibson worked the crowd before the hot tag and that it Jarrett wasn�t going to push them, he�d take them. Jarrett then decided to lend them to Watts for six months. At the end of six months, Watts didn�t want to let them go and they didn�t want to go back, so they went back to Memphis and gave notice that they weren�t staying long because they wanted to be in Mid-South. Jarrett wasn�t happy because the Fabulous Ones had left Memphis by that time.

Initial impressions of Bill Watts- Bill Watts may have been a tyrant, but Watts owned the territory and if Morton was in his shoes, he would have done things the same way. Watts did things the way he wanted to and he was successful at it. They always got along great because they understood each other.

How much did they learn from Bill Watts and how demanding was he? Watts insisted that everyone always arrive to the towns dressed nice, which they were allowed to skirt by wearing clean blue jeans with their dress shirts because of their gimmick. You�re also supposed to be there an hour before the shows and if you were late, Watts would let you know and fine you. One time, King Carl Fergie (a cousin of both Jerry Lawler and the Honky Tonk Man) came in late because a truck turned over and Watts told him �You should have prepared for that.�

Memphis vs. Mid-South locker rooms- Locker rooms are always tied to how well business is doing. If they�re drawing, everyone�s happy.

Initial impressions of Jim Cornette- They remember him as a cameraman at the Louisvillle Gardens arena for years. He used to hang around the locker room and Jarrett said one day �If you can get as much heat with the fans as you get with the boys, I can make a lot of money with you.� Thus, Cornette became a manager in Memphis. Morton notes, though, that Cornette learned how to fight while he was in Mid-South with the Midnight Express because it was either fight or get beaten up every night because the Midnight Express match always caused a riot.

The initial series with the Midnight Express- The greatest matches ever in the business. They had great matches with both the original Bobby Eaton and Dennis Condrey version of the Midnight Express as well as the Eaton and Stan Lane version. They put over Stan Lane heavily for being able to step into the space Dennis Condrey left and not miss a step.

Will the business go back to the old style? It�ll have to eventually because the business is cyclical. The business will die out for a while but it will come back.

Did they realize that the matches with the Midnight Express would be so memorable? Yes, because they worked with the Midnights so much, both in their early days in Memphis and as tag teams in Mid-South and Jim Crockett Promotions, and because they depended on each other to draw money. You could feel the magic start once the Midnight Express�s music hit and the things EXPLODED when their music hit.

Their Mid-South scaffold matches- Ricky hates heights and whenever Robert would start shaking the scaffold, Ricky would start screaming at him to stop it. Bobby Eaton kept laughing his ass off at that. They also had some problems with rubber on the scaffold and the powder the Midnight Express used in the match making things slippery. Eventually, Ricky went to an auto store and picked up some of the substance used to treat fan belts for cars, which made everyone�s feet stick to the scaffold.

Hercules Hernandez and �Dr. Death� Steve Williams- They were a trip. One time while driving down the two-lane highways of Louisiana, Hercules got pissed off at a truck that they couldn�t pass so they started driving alongside it while Herc tried to rip the door off of it. All they ended up doing was taking the door off of Bobby Eaton�s Buick instead.

Was it hard to get the big guys to sell for them? When they went to Mid-South, they were like midgets compared to the rest of the locker room. However, Watts took things in hand and told every heel that if the Rock and Roll Express hit them, they were supposed to treat it as if Watts himself hit them and fly. They never had any problems because of it, and all of those guys were falling over each other to work with them because they knew they�d make big money doing it.

Their first Superdome show- The biggest building Gibson�s ever been in and Morton thinks that Vince McMahon got the idea of running Pay Per Views from seeing 40,000+ fans packed into the building for a wrestling show.

Kerry Von Erich- All of the Von Erichs were a few beers short of a six-pack. Morton also relays two classic Kerry stories, one in which Kerry accidentally laced his headphones into his boots and another in which Kerry was supposed to face Ric Flair but didn�t come to the ring because he was passed out in his car and high.

Drugs in the business- While they know they have a bad rep for it, they didn�t do any more than anyone else but they get a lot of heat for it. Morton specifically mentions a conversation between Kevin Nash and Johnny Ace (WWE road agent John Laurinitis) in which Nash claimed that the reason a lot of the older wrestlers have no money is because they put it all up their noses. He says that he only did drugs when he was with other people in the business and doesn�t wake up every morning and smoke a crackpipe like some people seem to think.

Kevin Nash�s comments about why Morton is broke- Morton says that the interview Nash used to justify his comments was actually about Morton�s divorce in which his ex-wife took everything. Nash is a smartass but doesn�t know anything and �couldn�t draw flies in a shit-factory.� Morton�s best year in the business was $120,000 while Nash makes $40,000 every two weeks and hasn�t done a goddamn thing. He has �one good fucking match, and that was against Shawn Michaels when he called it.� He says that he could have saved his money if he was making the kind of money Nash does but they �got paid for the number of asses we put in seats, not whose asses we kiss.� �Fuck Kevin Nash, he�s a piece of shit.� He says he never said anything bad about Nash before but, now that he feels slandered, he�ll speak his mind and invites Nash to hit him so he can get some of that free money Nash got from the business. Also, Morton says that the reason WCW is going out of business is because Nash beat Goldberg, although he says it was on TV instead of Pay Per View.

The series with Hector Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero Sr.- They got a chance to do a lot of Mexican highspots because of working with them. They put both of them over heavily.

Working with the Road Warriors at the Superdome- The Road Warriors were always great to them. The first time they met them, they were in a four tag-team match in the Superdome and had heard about them beating up all kinds of teams. The match started off with Terry Gordy and Hawk beating the crap out of each other and no-selling. Gordy tagged Morton and Morton was nervous for a second until he locked up with Animal and Animal called a spot in which Morton would dropkick him out of the ring then do the same to Hawk.

Memories of Ric Flair coming through the territory- Morton feels that Flair is the true world champion and that everyone in WCW should get down on their knees and kiss his ass because he made the company. When he first worked with Flair in Oklahoma, Flair came back to the ring after the match and gave him a $100 bill, which was more than Morton made in a week at the time. On top of that, Flair saw them at a Superdome show then told Jim Crockett about them, which led to them going to work for Jim Crockett Promotions.

Meeting Jim Crockett- That was the night Muhammed Ali worked Watts� Superdome show. The night that Ali worked the show, he came into the locker room and saw Ricky�s son playing with his trucks on the ground. Ali went over to him and started playing trucks with him. A little while after Ali came in, someone else walked in, stood in the corner, and everyone else slowly filed out of the locker room. The man came up to him, told him that he�d come from Charlotte to see the show and that he and Robert were the two people he�d come to see. They didn�t know who he was at first but everything clicked when he said he was Jim Crockett. That night, Ricky and Robert faced Ted Dibiase and �Dr. Death� Steve Williams. Ricky told Dibiase about Crockett showing up and Dibiase told him �Don�t worry, we�ll give him his money worth� and gave them an incredible match to help impress Crockett. Immediately after that match, Crockett asked them what they were making, offered them at least double that and said they�d get the biggest push ever. They started two weeks after that.

Did they know they were getting the tag titles the first week in? Yes, they were brought into the office the first day they were in the territory and booker Dusty Rhodes compared them to running backs in football and said that as long as they were carrying the ball, they�d continue to be in that position. They proceeded to break all of the records in the territory.

Dusty Rhodes- Dusty gets shit on for a lot of stuff but they feel at least some of that was unfair. They feel that Dusty pushed himself so much because he wanted to draw money and he couldn�t express his ideas well enough for anyone else to be able to use them as a singles wrestler. They didn�t have that problem because they were what Dusty wanted in a tag team and he just explained what he wanted them to do. Dusty was good to them and made bigger stars out of them. Dusty got them so over that fans would actually be camped out around Morton�s house in Indian Trails, outside of Charlotte.

The locker room in JCP- The guys didn�t know what to make with them for the most part. Magnum TA knew them from Mid-South, so he was fine with them, but they were unknown to everyone else. Ivan Koloff and Krusher Krushchev took them to 55 minutes on TV in their first match in the territory, in which they won the NWA tag titles. They put the Russians over heavily for having never wrestled them before yet still being able to put on a 55 minute match that got them immediately mega-over in the territory. They would work on the B-shows after that and people would complain to the office about not being on the B-shows because they knew the Rock and Rolls always drew big houses. Rocky King made a lot of money in those days just for driving them everywhere and, because he was always with them, he got put on a lot of cards if someone no-showed.

The Starrcade 85 match with the Russians- That was a tough match, but Greensboro (where the show was) was always one of their favorite towns.

The Midnight Express in JCP- The office set it up so that they got over beating the Russians while the Midnight Express were slowly being built up to become the next challengers. The Midnights beat every face team out there, including Dusty and Magnum TA, in order to build them up for their big feud. No one really does that anymore as he feels that WCW had a lot of the talent there but just weren�t doing things properly. One of the things he feels WCW missed the boat on was that they could have had Goldberg beat Kevin Nash easily at Starrcade 98 and build up Scott Steiner as an unstoppable heel so that they could have a money match when they finally wrestled. They also needed to cut out a lot of the non-finishes, as Goldberg could have been put over much better by beating Sting or someone else cleanly rather than by a BS countout.


Rock and Roll Express vs. Randy Savage and Leaping Lanny Poffo with Angelo Poffo- This is the famous piledriver match, as Savage put Morton through a ringside table with a piledriver, in what is believed to be one of the earliest table spots in history. Morton sells it like he�s dead and the Poffos attempt to piledrive him again before Robert Gibson breaks it up.


The singles series with Ricky and Ric Flair- Robert got hurt and had to get surgery, so they started a program between him and Flair at Flair�s request. They were finishing up their big feud with the Midnight Express at the time and the Midnights knew about the upcoming feud with Flair, so Dennis Condrey told Morton to kick out of their finisher, the Rocket Launcher, on one in order to look really strong. Two weeks later, he had a singles match with Dick Murdock and Murdock told him to kick out of his finisher, the Brain Buster, because he knew that a Morton-Flair feud meant more money for everyone. He ended up going nine hour broadways with Flair in a week, every weeknight and twice a day on weekends.

Were they going to put the NWA title on him? They might have been considering it but they didn�t and it�s just as well because Robert was about to come back from his injury at that time. They did Dusty Finishes on the second round of matches in that feud, so that�s why he thinks they may have been considering a title run for him.

The angle in which the Horsemen broke his nose- �That got over like a sonofabitch, didn�t it?� Ric Flair put him over in the center of the ring then the heels ambushed him in the locker room and rubbed his face on the ground, which looked a lot worse than it really was. It got over great.

The second feud with the Midnight Express- Big Bubba Rogers (Big Bossman) was introduced around this time, which lead to a bunch of Dusty Rhodes and the Rock and Rolls vs. the Midnight Express and Bubba matches. That was also after Stan Lane replaced Dennis Condrey in the Midnight Express. Bubba was a good worker and Dusty saw potential in him.

The Andersons- Their best match was probably one in which Arn Anderson was drunk but nobody noticed it because the match came across so good. During one particular stretch of matches, there was one in which a beautiful girl was sitting at ringside in a white dress and Ole threw Morton out of the ring. Ole told him that he wouldn�t let him back into the ring until he pulled up the girl�s dress so, after a few failed attempts to get back into the ring, Morton was thrown into her and �accidentally� lifted up her dress.

Great American Bash 1986- That was around the time when Crockett started flying them everywhere, which they loved because they actually got to go home each night.

Starrcade 1986- They had a great match with the Andersons. He feels that they should sit down a lot of the younger wrestlers and show them how Ole and Arn worked on his arm throughout that match.

WCW vs. the WWF- He feels that that it was a huge mistake for WCW to try and take on the WWF because the WWF is centered in New York City while WCW is centered in the South, which means that the products are catering to dissimilar audiences. On top of that, WCW was picking up WWF castoffs one by one and paying them huge money instead of making their own talent. �Why the Hell did you think Vince got rid of them for?� Ricky also remembers looking at Eric Bischoff once and thinking �Who�s dick did you suck to get this job?!?� because Bischoff made a number of questionable decisions. He brings up Scott Hall and Kevin Nash in particular and says that when things got tough, everything was blamed on Scott Hall, which he feels is unfair because Hall�s a good worker and has paid his dues, while he feels that Nash is a worthless piece of shit. Hall �didn�t have to be the Wizard of fuckin� Oz or Vinnie goddamn Vegas� like Nash.

The locker room after Magnum TA�s accident- Everyone was down after that. Everyone was out partying that night until they got called at 4 AM with news that Magnum had been in a wreck and was probably paralyzed. He also feels that Magnum had a great future ahead of him and that he could have done big things in the business if he hadn�t gotten hurt.

Manny Fernandez and Rick Rude- Hard, tough matches. Manny loved hard, rough matches. They mention that they�d known Rick Rude since he had gotten into the business and recalls ribbing him a lot in those days, such as calling weird spots for him to do in the middle of a battle royal. They also remember having a big cage match in which they beat Manny and Rude in which they made a big deal about how they couldn�t get out of the cage� and after the match, Manny climbed over the cage because he couldn�t wait for them to open the cage door. Manny got into a lot of trouble over that.

Were they ever contacted by the WWF? Yes, but they were happy where they were at.

Why did Rick Rude leave? He doesn�t know what Rude and Manny got pissed off about but both left while they were tag champions and Crockett had to get new tag titles made.

The two versions of the Midnight Express- They were both good, as Bobby Eaton is one of the ten best wrestlers of the world and had learned from Condrey. Stan Lane being able to step into Condrey�s shoes and not missing a beat means he was really good as well.

Were they surprised that Ronnie Garvin won the NWA title? No, they felt that he deserved it. They took him out drinking after he won the title.

Did they see a change in Dusty�s booking style in 1987? A little, as Dusty was trying to keep up with everyone at that point. He thinks that was around the time that Dusty had fired them, Dr. Death, Michael Hayes, and many others.

Feuding with Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson- In the 80s, they drew money against every tag team they faced and Tully and Arn were no exception. Tully and Arn didn�t always get along though. (Not a big surprise� Tully�s reputation as an asshole is well known.) He and Robert didn�t have a lot of problems because they could see the warning signs when they were getting on each other�s nerves and took a few weeks break from each other. By the time they started riding together again, everything was fine. He also remembers Tom Zenk and Brian Pillman getting into a fistfight in the first two weeks they teamed.

Jim Crockett buying the UWF- When asked if Dusty dropped the ball on a JCP vs. UWF feud, Ricky says �That�s why he (Crockett) filed Chapter 11.�

Why didn�t they feud with the Road Warriors? They don�t know but they feel that it certainly couldn�t have hurt things.

Why did they leave the company in 1988? They had some problems with the front office and Ricky takes the blame for getting fired as he said he �tried to show his ass� when dealing with them. They did bring them back �after the territory fucking died� though.

What did they do after they got fired? They went home to Memphis for the most part. They worked some for the AWA and were offered a good contract by Verne Gagne but turned it down because Minneapolis was too damn cold. �The snow was so deep that you had to climb a tree to take a shit.�

Matches with the Midnight Rockers (Marty Jannetty and Shawn Michaels)- They were great, partially because they�d known Michaels ever since he broke into the business in Mid-South while they were there.

The British Bulldogs- They worked an All Japan show with them in Kansas City and it was the only time they ever wrestled.

Memphis- It changed while they were gone because Lawler had lost interest in it for a while.

NWA Wildside- Chris Champion was a very stiff worker. Champion and his partner were a good tag team but �were greener than owl shit� at the time.

The Fantastics- Tommy Rogers and Bobby Fulton were good wrestlers but they didn�t draw well because they almost always came into a territory right after the Rock and Roll Express had left. They did have a good run in Texas though.

Ricky turning heel against Lawler- Dutch Mantel came up with the idea. That was when they brought in Mark Calloway (Undertaker) and Ricky saw money in him immediately.

Ricky wrestling Robert- They�d wrestled each other before the Rock and Roll Express and they do it on occasion when their planned opponents are complete dumbshits. They�ll throw the dumbshits out of the ring, one will turn on the other, then they�ll have a good match against each other.

AWA Superclash 3- �What a horrible fucking show.� They also say that Verne Gagne still owes them money from that show. (Ricky: You know what I really remember about that show? Interviewer: Kerry Von Erich? Ricky: Goddamn right.) He then tells the infamous story in which Kerry had blades taped to his fingers in the locker room and, without thinking, scratched his arms and cut himself wide open. Ricky credits Jerry Lawler for saving the day that night by carrying Kerry to a decent match in the main event.

What led to them going to WCW? WCW called them up to come in, although it didn�t last long. They talk about the TV tapings at the studios where WCW had signs telling the crowd to cheer or boo. Terry Taylor told them that there were people in the back making up signs to tell the crowd to chant �Rock and Roll� at them but they said �If we can�t make them chant �Rock and Roll�, we don�t need to be out there. Don�t make any damn signs.�

Were they ever going to feud with the Fantastics? They don�t think so, although they didn�t have anyone else to work with at the time.

The Freebirds- Jimmy Garvin and Michael Hayes were hilarious. They used to put ribs on Garvin such as pulling down the back of his tights when doing a sunset flip. One time when Morton did that, Garvin tried to land his exposed ass on Morton�s face. Gibson also tells stories about how he and Michael Hayes broke into the business together as they were on the ring crew and, once they set the ring up, they were allowed to practice in the ring until fans started filing into the arena.

Doom (Butch Reed and Ron Simmons)- Butch Reed is a great guy. Ron Simmons learned a lot from them and became a great worker. Their feud started getting too over so someone in the office killed it. The same thing happened when Bill Watts was running the company, as he wanted to push them and the crowds reacted for them immediately, but the office killed their push again.

Ricky Morton�s heel turn and joining the York Foundation- That was when Robert hurt his knee and went out for nine months. He had a lot of fun doing it because it was different, although he still had trouble getting over as a heel.

Teaming with Kevin Nash back then- He tried to help Nash back then but Nash thought he knew everything.

Was it hard to work in WCW with the constant turnover in management? �GOD yes. Who was that first guy, the one who came up with the Ding Dongs? Jim Herd? What the FUCK was he thinking?!?� Herd also got on him for doing the Frankensteiner, one of Scott Steiner�s big moves at the time, and Morton told him to go screw himself because the Frankensteiner was a front headscissors, which he�d been doing for years and was one of the first people to do it.

The WCW Light Heavyweight division- He wasn�t really happy being there but was glad he was still employed.

Why did Robert leave the company around that time? The company released him for reasons he doesn�t know.

Smokey Mountain Wrestling- It was like going back to the old territory days, which he enjoyed.

Did Jim Cornette always intend to bring in Morton? Cornette knew it was a matter of time before WCW released him.

Feuding with the Heavenly Bodies (Stan Lane and Dr. Tom Pritchard)- It was very similar to the Midnight Express feuds of the past. Stan Lane left after a while and was replaced by Gigilo Jimmy Del Ray, which made them nervous at first because Del Ray �had one tooth in his head, had red hair, and looked like Opie Taylor� but was a great worker when they finally locked up in the ring.

The SMW-WCW talent exchange- They got over immediately after they walked out on WCW TV, but got beat their first night out against Ric Flair and Arn Anderson. They also had a match with the Heavenly Bodies at Survivor Series 1993 when Cornette started working with the WWF. That match lead to the Loser-Leaves-Town match in SMW which the Bodies lost, sending them to the WWF semi-permanently. (The Bodies made at least one SMW appearance afterwards when they faced Lance Storm and Chris Jericho in a match that had a lot of the red red kroovy on tap, dying Jericho�s hair, referee Brian Hildebrandt, and the ring mat a dark crimson.)

Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton in SMW- That was part of a good angle in which they brought Arn in as their surprise partner and drew some good houses because of it.

The Bruise Brothers (Ron Harris and Don Harris, Skull and 8-Ball of the Disciples of Apocalypse, Creative Control)- They looked like Brusier Brody at the time and they held their own considering they were having to follow the Bodies.

The Thrillseekers (Storm and Jericho)- They were too serious in their interviews at the time. They also clashed as tag team partners. They were just green at the time but they�ve become great.

Chris Candido and Brian Lee- Lee was very green at the time. Candido was good and the angle got better once Sunny came in as Candido�s manager.

Sunny- �At first she was a cunt� but she got better. They love her and Candido to death now.

The Gangstas- New Jack and Mustafa got over well on TV, including doing a Rodney King on Morton, but New Jack had to leave town midway through the angle because he slugged a fan who called him a nigger.
Ricky cursed a blue streak at him and explained that they were in the middle of Klan country and that New Jack was going on TV as a militant black man, which meant getting that kind of reaction was a sign that the angle was working. New Jack thanked Morton for explaining that when they ran into each other in ECW. They could have drawn a lot of money if New Jack hadn�t been quite as green, as he would have been able to accept abuse from the fans more easily.

Jim Cornette using a racist angle- It was a great idea at the time because the old days had seen Russian, Japanese, and Cuban wrestler gimmicks brought in because of anger towards those countries. Cornette was just using a time-old tradition and it happened to be that the newspapers were focused on the OJ Simpson trial at the time.

Eddie Gilbert in SMW- They were working an angle with Eddie and his father, Tommy Gilbert, right before Eddie left for Puerto Rico and died. They hadn�t seen any changes in him and didn�t see too much paranoia in him. Morton figures if Eddie was paranoid it was because Missy Hyatt and Madusa Micelli had cleaned him out when they divorced him.

Feuding with Al Snow and Unabom (Kane)- They taught Kane a lot because he was green at the time. Snow was a great worker and could cut great interviews. (My personal favorite Snow interview from that time would have to be the one where he was playing Morton and Kane was Gibson, as Snow made fun of Gibson�s deaf mother by claiming the letter she�d written for them was written in Braille.)

SMW vs. USWA- It got over as the SMW people would be heels in Memphis (USWA�s home base) and the USWA people would be heels in Knoxville (SMW�s home base).

The night Morton�s wife got in a fight with Tracy Smothers� girlfriend- His wife and Smothers� girlfriend got into a fight, his wife got Smothers� girlfriend arrested and pressed charges, and Cornette fired him because he couldn�t get his wife to drop the charges. It didn�t bother him because he was still working other indy dates. Cornette brought him back right before he shut SMW down.

The final SMW show- Ricky and Robert came up with the idea of the entire locker room kicking Cornette�s ass in the center of the ring because it was the last night of the company.


Video package- This is one of the old Memphis video packages of Rock and Roll Express matches put to music, with this one being to �Rock and Roll is King.�

Rock and Roll Express vs. the Nightmares with Jimmy Hart- This is from Memphis circa 1983 and is joined in progress as Randy Savage, Leaping Lanny, and Angelo Poffo storm the ring to attack the Rock and Roll Express.

Ricky Morton vs. some jobber- This is from the NWA circa 1986. Ric Flair comes out to ringside shortly after the match starts. After the match ends, Flair comes into the ring and starts talking trash but you can�t hear it over the crowd noise. Morton ends up beating his ass to a HUGE pop and counting his own three-count before it�s over

Ricky Morton vs. Ric Flair- This is the last fall of an elimination tag match. Morton wins with a small package. Afterwards, the Four Horsemen ambush the Rock and Roll Express in the locker room, putting the boots to Gibson and rubbing Morton�s face into the concrete floor.


Good workers on the indy circuit they�ve seen- Kid Kash, Chris Hamrick, and David Jericho.

Being in ECW- They just had some fun working there against Tommy Rich. It was near impossible to work there, though, because it was hard to get Paul E. on the phone.

Do today�s wrestlers have an appreciation for the business or just money? The ones with contracts care about money, the ones putting themselves through tables care about the business.

Vince McMahon buying WCW- The company was out of business anyway so he�s wondering exactly what Vince got out of the deal. (I�d say that the tape libraries and contracts for about 36 wrestlers were worth the few million he paid for WCW�s assets.)

What would they like to be remembered for? That they gave their all for the business. They take credit for being a part of why Ted Turner bought out Jim Crockett, as they helped get the company�s TBS timeslot so high in the ratings that it was worth the cost for Turner to buy the company.

Ricky getting fired from WCW- He called them and told them that he needed to get his plane ticket sent to Robert�s house and that the plane needed to leave from Mobile, Alabama. The ticket arrived at Robert�s house but it was for a different departure city, so it was useless to him and he missed the show. The office screwed up but blamed it on him, which ended up with Eric Bischoff firing him.

Most memorable match- The first match they had with Ivan Koloff and Krusher Kruschev, as well as any of their matches with the Midnight Express.

The most creative bookers they�ve worked for- Jerry Lawler, Dusty Rhodes, and Bill Dundee. Bill Watts had some good ideas but Dundee was booking for him most of the time while they were working for him.

Good rib stories- One time while Morton and Eddie Gilbert were in Oklahoma, Eddie had gone to see Texas Chainsaw Massacre and was scared to death because he lived out in the middle of nowhere. He�d gone to Morton�s house after the movie and, once Eddie left, Morton called up wrestler Tom Jones to borrow his chainsaw. He then drove near where Eddie was living and waited until Eddie�s lights went off� then went to the bedroom window and revved the chainsaw loudly. The next thing Morton heard was Eddie running out of the house, getting in his car, and driving off.

Morton also tells the same story from his first interview about sailing on Ric Flair�s yacht, where Flair ended up falling overboard in the middle of the night and got pulled out of the water looking like a drowned rat.

How close were they outside the ring? �Like family.�

Name association-

Ric Flair- Greatest world champion who ever lived.

Eric Bischoff- Prick. Never gave them a chance.

Vince McMahon- Millionaire.

Hulk Hogan- Good guy. Hogan�s always been great to them. They also used to help him out back when he was in Memphis.

Jerry Lawler- Great.

Jim Cornette- Great.

Dustin Rhodes- Great. They�d known him and The Rock since they were kids.

Tom Zenk and Brian Pillman- They were all right.

Jackie Fargo- Great. Pioneer of the wrestling business.

Terry Funk- Great.

Steiners- Bad to the bone.

Terri Runnels- She�s all right.


What lead to the downfall of SMW? Cornette getting too involved in the WWF. They feel that a territory like that could survive if it was run correctly. There would be a bunch of the older guys teaching the new wrestlers at first before the new generation of wrestlers really emerges. Morton also relates the old Archie Bunker story about wrestling from All In The Family, where Archie is asked if he knows wrestling is pre-determined and he says he knows but he watches it because the wrestlers know how it�s going to end but he doesn�t.

Are they shocked about the openness of the business? Yes, and they feel there are old-timers turning over in their graves. They also say that when old-timers would hear about a wrestling school opening up, they�d send a shooter over there to shut the school down. (Shooter meaning legitimate amateur wrestler, NOT a gunman� although there are some exceptions I�m sure.)

Does the fans getting smarter to the business help things or hurt things? It�s hard to tell because they all want to get involved now.

Have they considered working as trainers in a territory? No, because they figure that if a territory wants them, they�ll contact them. What they find funny is that Paul Orndorff used to show all the Power Plant trainees their matches instead of hiring them to teach them how to work personally.

Last thoughts- Morton: �If I say things to offend people, it�s only because you brought it on your fucking self.� They also thank the fans for all the support they�ve gotten over the years.



Matches-

Rock and Roll Express and Arn Anderson vs. Bobby Eaton and the Heavenly Bodies (Stan Lane and Dr. Tom Pritchard)- This match is also included on the Wrestling Gold- Blood, Brawls, and Grudges DVD. Morton gets the pin after Arn wrestles Cornette�s tennis racket from Stan Lane and waffles him with it.

Rock and Roll Express vs. Ole and Arn Anderson- This is the Starrcade 86 steel cage match for the tag titles. Morton gets the pin Ole picks up Morton for a bodyslam and Gibson dropkicks them over.

Rock and Roll Express vs. the Midnight Express with Jim Cornette and Big Bubba Rogers- This is a scaffold match from Starrcade 87. Morton throws Stan Lane to the mat from the rigging under the scaffold then both he and Gibson beat on Bobby Eaton with Cornette�s tennis racket until he falls from under the scaffold to the mat.

Rock and Roll Express vs. the British Bulldogs- This is the aforementioned match, which looks absolutely horrible here. It�s commentated in Japanese because the Bulldogs were working for All Japan at the time, even though this match took place in Kansas City. The match goes to a 30-minute time-limit draw.

Jerry Lawler and Robert Gibson vs. Ricky Morton and Master Of Pain (Undertaker)- Gibson turns on Lawler after Lawler attempts to hit Morton with a chain and then Morton dropkicks Lawler into Morton, making Morton�s heel turn seem justified.



Thoughts- This was a fun interview because both were great workers in their time, Morton shoots his mouth off about a lot of stuff, and the matches included are nice, rare historical oddities. I�d have preferred some of the classic Mid-South matches with the Midnight Express instead, but getting the Bulldogs match was worth it because it�s the only match ever between two of the best tag teams in history. Highly recommended.


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