Where Wrestling's Regional History Lives!
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Where Wrestling's Regional History Lives! |
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- Paul Herzog When Vince Fahey first contacted me about writing a review of the Jack Brisco shoot interview tape from WrestlingClassics.com, the intent was for mine to be one of the first voices you heard on the topic. Thanks to mail delays, a 2-year-old dominating viewing habits of the house, mine and my wife’s careers, and my overall sloth, I’m one of the last. Many of you have already seen it, which makes my job as a reviewer moot. For that, I apologize to Vince, to the participants at Kayfabe Memories, and well, to Jack Brisco and the WC folks as well.That said…here we go. There are two major
problems, in general, with shoot tapes on the
market today…and admittedly, these are my
problems.
What I dislike about the genre, others
may love.
First is that the interviewer often
seems somewhat ignorant in all aspects of the
subject’s career, and very uncomfortable
with asking questions (especially follow-up
questions, the ones that often lead to real
insight).
For Mark Nulty, the host of the Jack
Brisco shoot, this isn’t a concern.
As a former print and radio journalist,
he knows where he wants the subject to go.
My bigger beef with shoot tapes, at
least the ones I’ve seen, is that they
aren’t often times with the most interesting
candidates.
Too often, the wrestler is a big star
who seems more concerned with working the
interviewer and getting himself over.
Or, in other cases, the wrestler is
someone who doesn’t seem deserving of 2
hours of your time.
I mean, New Jack and Chris Candido
having their own tapes is like a “Behind the
Music” on Little Tony Franklin and the
Franklin Family. The subject of this tape,
as Nulty’s classic introduction style
reminds us, held most regional singles titles
over his 20+ year career, including one of the
longest runs as NWA World Heavyweight
champion: Jack Brisco.
This tape moves into a class of its own
almost immediately by Mark probing about
Brisco’s recruitment to play football for
Bud Wilkinson at Oklahoma, and ending up
wrestling at Oklahoma State instead.
What a refreshing change of pace from
the shoot-interview norm!
Brisco talks about his high school and
collegiate career, including NCAA championship
runs and having to defend his love of pro
wrestling against the amateur traditionalists.
Shortly after his debut as a pro, we
get into the foundation of one of
wrestling’s all-time greatest feuds: Jack
Brisco v. Dory Funk Jr.
Brisco went to work in Amarillo, where
the NCAA champ was promptly fed in a series of
virtual squashes to the promoter’s son.
Or, make that sons.
“Terry had just started, so the next
couple of weeks we went around with more of
the same.
I’d never lost in my life, and now
I’m losing every night to two guys who
didn’t know what they were doing.”
Dory Sr. rewarded Brisco for helping
his family out by putting him in the ring as a
referee: “Kid, it’ll be good for you, and
there’s a lot of guys in the territory who
need matches.
I’m trying to do you a favor.”
Jack soon went back home to Oklahoma.
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