Art Crews #1 Page 2

I remember thinking how my head ached and how queasy my stomach was from the Sake and how I hoped and prayed that I would make it through the interview without barfing.  I remember vowing NEVER to touch the nasty stuff again.  Ever!!

The Road Warriors and some other people were already on the bus when Gordy boarded the bus ahead of me.  When I got onto the bus, it seemed to me that everyone was looking at me and laughing their heads off.  I took it good-naturedly assuming that they really got "one" on the naive Kansas boy with the Sake and laughed right along with them.

Finally, Ric and Mrs. Flair boarded.  Ric took one look at me and literally doubled over in laughter.  Mrs. Flair, being the lady that she was, told me good morning but only smiled almost disapprovingly.

You have to realize here and now that I was wrestling as "The Blonde Bomber", one of the bad boys from the United States.  I had bleached my hair so blonde that it was almost white and had it spiked which really accented my normal black eyebrows and blue eyes.

Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity of whispered comments behind my back and laughter that stopped when I asked what was up, one of the Japanese busboys brought me a mirror and told me to look at myself.  While I slept in Sake-Dreamland, they shaved my left eyebrow completely off!!  I had a television interview only minutes away and was worried beyond belief and comprehension.

Someone gave the busboy, perhaps it was Mrs. Flair, (and if so, I owe her an immense debt of gratitude to this date), a black eyebrow pencil.  The busboy told me in broken English, "No worry.  I fix everytin' for you."  He proceeded to draw an eyebrow on me that I thought really wouldn't look too badly for the television interview so now I could laugh right along with them.

One more thing, though....television interviews entail bright, and I mean really bright and hot lights.  I sweated like a pig and, you guessed it, my eyebrow began to run.

I got through it the best that I could all the while trying to be the bad "Blonde Bomber" in front of the camera and trying NOT to hear Gordy, Flair, Animal and Hawk on the sidelines out of camera range still laughing their fool heads off.

I'll bet you think that this is the end of the story, right?  W-R-O-N-G!!!  As soon as the interview was over and I went to my dressing room, my little impromptu Japanese make-up artist had to make additional eyebrow repairs to my now melting and runny eyebrow.  Then it was off to my match.

Well, I won the match but that poor Japanese wrestler left the ring with my eyebrow prints on his chest, on his back, on his arms and on his neck.  I wonder what his wife thought?

That's only one of the many on-the-road wrestling memories that I have and will share with you.  Much like the old Willie Nelson song, "On The Road Again", we not only sang it....we actually lived it.  And...we loved it.  And, for those of us not actively engaged in the sport today, we dearly miss it.

So, until next time, friends, May God Bless You and Keep You Safe.

Art Crews
a/k/a/ The Kansas Cowboy
a/k/a  The Blonde Bomber

Back to Art Crews Main