"The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff - SAS CLASSIC

Summary

Steve Austin Show: "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff – SAS CLASSIC

Release Date: May 1, 2025
Host: Steve Austin
Guest: Ivan Koloff
Location: Steve in Los Angeles, Ivan in North Carolina

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Episode Overview

In this episode of The Steve Austin Show, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin sits down for a wide-ranging and nostalgic interview with legendary professional wrestler Ivan Koloff, famous as “The Russian Bear.” The conversation covers Koloff’s 50-year career in and out of the ring, notable wrestling feuds and partnerships, physical tolls of wrestling, the notorious match in which he defeated Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF World Title, struggles with addiction, his faith journey, transition to life as an ordained minister, and reflections on the evolution of wrestling. The interplay offers a masterclass in wrestling history and candid life lessons.

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Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. Physical Toll of Wrestling & Attitude Toward Injuries

Timestamp: 13:04–17:25

• Ivan details the physical demands of his five-decade career, including shoulder injuries, lumbar stenosis, multiple broken left ankles, and arthritic/degenerated joints.
  • "You appreciate you got to get hurt... Back in our time, we weren't able to take a lot of time off and heal up." (Ivan Koloff, 13:14)
• Unlike modern wrestlers with guaranteed contracts, taking a break usually meant risking your spot and income.
• Only had one major surgery (shoulder), but many untreated or chronic injuries sustained over the years.

2. Early Days, Wrestling Characters, and Tag Teams

Timestamp: 17:25–22:50

• Started in Canada and eventually took on the “Russian” persona—idea credited partly to the Rougeau family.
• Extensive tag team experience: Partnered with Superstar Billy Graham, Ray Stevens, Nikita Koloff, and Don Kernodle.
• On tag partner Superstar Billy Graham:
  • "We got along real good. I respect and love Billy... even today, Ivan was a workhorse, but that's what makes a good team." (19:09)
• Discussed the changing landscape of steroids in wrestling, with Superstar Graham introducing him to their potential after injury but Ivan generally avoided their use.
• Reflected on lifting routines, the evolving athleticism of wrestlers; adapted by running to keep weight down in the 1980s.

3. The Bruno Sammartino Match & Title Reign

Timestamp: 23:34–32:08

• Koloff’s career-defining moment: Defeating Bruno Sammartino in Madison Square Garden to win the WWWF World Title.
• The angle was proposed to him via Vince McMahon Sr.
  • "I was surprised, really surprised... what a lucky guy to get picked to switch the belt from Bruno, because Bruno was my hero." (25:14)
• Ivan discusses the atmosphere: The crowd was stunned and eerily quiet—no classic “heat,” just shock.
• Match was only filmed by a fan, not officially by the office.
• Koloff never got the title presentation in the ring, at the instruction of officials for safety because of fan shock and possible unrest.

4. Wrestling Territories, Blackballing, and Business Changes

Timestamp: 32:08–38:42

• Compared working for Vince Sr. (WWWF) versus Jim Crockett Promotions (NWA), especially in how business was handled and accessibility to management.
• Touched on being “blackballed” after joining IWA in competition with NWA, and how moving between promotions could be risky.
• Emphasized the security of direct lines with Vince Sr., missing in the NWA structure.
• Expressed some regret for not reaching out to Vince Jr. after leaving Crockett Promotions.

5. Wrestling and Family Life

Timestamp: 37:29–38:42

• Ivan reflects on his 33-year marriage and impact of wrestling’s travel demands:
  • "It really made it hard as far as any type of family life... you might as well say, went years without being able to come home." (38:08)
• Steve and Ivan agree that long wrestling marriages are rare.

6. Addiction: The Dark Side of Life on the Road

Timestamp: 38:58–48:05

• Ivan provides a raw account of his descent into addiction:
  • Early exposure to alcohol, painkillers, sleeping pills, and eventually serious narcotics and cocaine.
  • “I ended up with a $1,600 a week cocaine habit.” (44:43)
• Shared stories of cattle rustling as a teen, and brief imprisonment:
  • "Jail is not for me. I really was scared, to say the very, very least…” (42:35)
• Described wrestling and excessive drug use as “the new normal.”
• Steve notes he never noticed Ivan “out of his mind” because Koloff remained professional and consistent in his ring work.

7. Wild Times: On the Road with Legends

Timestamp: 48:05–56:41

• Vivid anecdotes:
  • A wild brawl with The Iron Sheik on an airplane, resulting in police boarding with machine guns.
    • “I ended up drinking my vodka, the plane going crazy and fight with the Iron Sheik on the plane. And he bit me on the neck!” (51:16)
  • The unpredictable Mad Dog Buzz Sawyer, bar fights, run-ins with law enforcement, and street fights after matches.
• Andre the Giant stories: Ivan recounts Andre’s immense strength, mutual respect, and never getting seriously hurt by him.

8. Getting Color (Blading) and Wrestling Reality

Timestamp: 56:55–62:19

• Ivan details his approach to blading—sometimes vertical, sometimes horizontal cuts.
  • "Every night, every night, seven days a week... after I got staph infection in my head for one time there, I was a little leery, but for a long time, that's what I was doing, just opening up the same cut." (57:09)
• Old-school training: learning ring secrets like blading from veterans, not in wrestling school.
• Steve and Ivan lament the loss of traditional tag team wrestling and “the heat” that made those matches work:
  • "Back in those days, wrestling was educated more to the tag team... interviews kept up the build each week." (61:05)
  • “Can you imagine going around, playing around and getting dislocated shoulders, you know, busted neck?” (62:10)

9. Relationship with Nikita Koloff & Personal Redemption

Timestamp: 62:21–70:46

• Story of how Jim Crockett paired Ivan with Nikita (Road Warrior Animal suggested Nikita for the “nephew” role).
• Training and mentoring Nikita, who had no wrestling background.
• Nikita’s eventual role in Ivan’s Christian rebirth; Nikita invites Ivan to church, catalyzing a spiritual and personal turnaround:
  • “He said, 'I know what you need in your life: Jesus.' I ended up going to that church looking for help... and man, I realized it's got to be God, because no way I went down in front of those people unless it was the Lord.” (67:25)
• Successfully kicked addictions via faith and gradual process, without drug rehab.

10. Ivan’s Life After Wrestling & Legacy

Timestamp: 70:46–78:28

• Ivan is now an ordained minister, especially active with the Children’s Miracle Network.
• Emphasizes the importance of encouraging kids, paying forward the inspiration instilled by his mother.
• Discusses his website, book (“Is That Wrestling Fake? The Bare Facts”), gospel-singing daughter, and an upcoming documentary.
• Still hopes for a WWE Hall of Fame induction and pitches ideas for newer Russian-character wrestlers.
• On modern “sports entertainment,” Ivan sees both positive innovation and the need to honor the tough work and athleticism of current stars:
  • “Listen to me, whenever you got athletes like they've got out there doing the stuff they're doing today, man, got to be getting hurt.” (77:00)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Suffering for the Business:
  “Back in our time, we weren't able to take a lot of time off and heal up...if I took time off, I’d have to put someone in my place.” (Ivan Koloff, 13:14)
• On Beating Bruno Sammartino:
  “What a lucky guy to get picked for this...Bruno was my hero.” (25:14)
• On Substance Abuse:
  “I ended up with a $1,600 a week cocaine habit.” (44:43)
• On Life’s Turnaround through Faith:
  “He said, devil knows who Jesus is too, but that doesn't make him a Christian... That little Catholic boy found himself on his butt when the service was over, because the Lord touched me in such a way.” (67:25)
• On Family Encouragement:
  “My mom said to me...‘You can do it. Every time she seen me, she says: there’s my little champ, he’s going to be a wrestling champ one day.’” (73:13)
• Final Aspirations:
  “My big thing now is I want to see Vince use me in the Hall of Fame there. I want to get up there and say hello to all my friends before I hang it up here.” (76:21)

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Segment Highlights with Timestamps

• Life and Physical Toll of the Ringer (13:04–17:25)
• Tag Teams, Superstar Graham, and Steroid Era (17:25–22:50)
• Bruno Sammartino Match and Championship Run (23:34–32:08)
• Changing Territories and Blackballing (32:08–38:42)
• Balancing Marriage and the Business (37:29–38:42)
• Addiction and Reckoning (38:58–48:05)
• Wild Road Stories: Iron Sheik, Andre, Buzz Sawyer, Bar Fights (48:05–56:41)
• Blading, Tag Team Wrestling, and Industry Changes (56:55–62:19)
• Nikita Koloff & Ivan’s Faith Journey/Recovery (62:21–70:46)
• Ministry Work and Onward: Book, Website, Aspirations (70:46–78:28)

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Episode Tone

Candid, reflective, sprinkled with Austin’s signature good-natured, gruff humor, and Koloff’s warmth and humility. The episode moves between light-hearted wrestling tales and sobering life lessons, always maintaining respect for the business and those involved in it.

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For More

• Ivan Koloff’s official website: ivankoloff.com
• Koloff’s autobiography, “Is That Wrestling Fake? The Bare Facts” (crowbarpress.com)
• Upcoming documentary by Michael Elliott (details on Ivan’s website and Elbow Press)
• Ivan on Twitter: @ikoloff

Highly recommended for old-school wrestling fans, anyone interested in the realities behind the ring, and those inspired by stories of personal redemption.

Transcript

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[Steve Austin Show Announcer]

The following program is a podcast1.com production from Hollywood, California. By way of the Broken Skull Ranch. This is the Steve Austin Show.

[Steve Austin]

Give me a Hell yeah. Hell yeah.

[Steve Austin Show Announcer]

Now here's Steve Austin.

[Steve Austin]

All right, everybody. Welcome to Steve Austin Show. I'm coming to you from the mean streets of Los Angeles, California right now on my way to the grocery store to pick up some groceries with Hershey the Wonder Dog riding in the backseat. We had to leave the Broken Skull Ranch in South Texas to come back to Los Angeles to take care of some personal business. And we're going to be here for the next few days, maybe another week. I don't know when we're going to get back down to South Texas. And I tell you what, you got to do what you got to do. And one of the things is, man, the deer were just starting to run down at the ranch. Bucks are chasing does finally starting to see some of our better deer. Hadn't had a real good cold front come in and knock some of the green off the leaves. It's still hard to See a lot of things, not too many bucks coming to the corn, but nonetheless, man, I mean, we were starting to get hot and heavy over there. Me and Ted Fowler, 361 starting to see some pretty good deer. But nonetheless, here I am sitting here in an intersection with my microphone driving my vehicle, and people look at me like I'm crazy because I'm podcasting as I speak. Now, I got pulled over a couple of weeks ago here in Los Angeles for not having a hands free device. I was talking on my speakerphone. So I think if I got pulled over right now, I would probably get a ticket because I got this damn microphone in my hand. So if I happen to see one of LA's finest, I'm gonna put this damn microphone down and act like I ain't doing nothing but going to the store. I got my seatbelt on. I'm buckled up for safety. You know, they make these vehicles these days. You can't drive nowhere down the road without these damn things beeping like hell to get you to put your seatbelt on. And to all you people out there traveling on your Christmas holidays, if you have an older vehicle that don't beep like crazy to take your seatbelt on, here I am in your ear telling you, buckle up for safety. There's all kinds of crazy people out on the road about this time, holiday season. And people are crazy enough, can't drive worth a damn, texting while they're on the damn road and all kinds of stuff. Nobody's paying attention anymore. You look at any car going down the road, somebody's talking on the phone. Hell, I'm talking on a microphone, what am I talking about? But I'm sitting there trying to give you a heads up. I'm trying to warn you of things to keep you safe on the holidays. What are you guys doing for the holidays, man? Y' all going somewhere? You traveling? I turned on the television the other day and they had a clip of some footage from lax, the Los Angeles airport, and it was an absolute madhouse over there. Everybody's leaving LA to go visit their loved ones on the Christmas holidays. We had to leave the Broken Skull Ranch to come back to this cluster muck of a city. Don't get me wrong, there's some really, really nice people that live out here in Los Angeles. And in and of itself, Los Angeles is a great town. But when you gotta leave heaven, the middle of nowhere, the Broken Skull Ranch, the pride and jewel of South Texas, to come back to this thing when you ain't ready to kind of a little bit of a culture shock. Hell, I was in the middle. I slugged your ass down. You somehow damn people. I'm in an underground parking thing here to get some groceries with Hershey and people drive like a bat out of hell. But anyway, when you leave the peace and solitude of that damn ranch and you come back to this damn hustle and bustle, I tell you what, man, I was just starting to kind of decompress down at the ranch too. It took me over three weeks to relax and realize that, you know, I'm on a different schedule. It's a different mindset when you're down there on the ranch. Finally got into a groove and now busted that groove. And now, man, I'm almost don't know whether to crap or wind my watch. Since it's the family friendly show. Nonetheless, improvise, overcome, adapt. Things happen. Got to take care of business. And that's what we're doing down here. Hey, man, Redneck island is in full swing out there on CMT. Thirsty Thursdays catch Redneck island on CMT channel 327. If you got DirecTV and the toughest show on television, the Broken Skull challenge is coming back. Season two premieres January 4th on CMT. And we got some badass women, badass men coming down to the ranch to give it everything they got. And if you thought last year was a badass season, you're going to dig this season. And I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys think about this thing. I got some other projects in the work too. Also on a T shirt front, man, if you go down to broken skull ranch.com, click on the merch button, that'll take you over to prowrestlingtees.com all the shirts that I wore on last season's Broken Skull challenge are on there. I guess what I'm going to do this year is I wore so many damn different shirts on this season of Broken Skull challenge. Maybe I'll have a damn T shirt of the week as I roll these things out. But we had some good designs turned in by some good artists. So I think you guys are going to dig some of the new shirts and they're available at brooklynskullranch.com or pro wrestling tees. Just look for the Steve Austin stuff. It ain't hard to find. I tell you what, see if I got any stores I was gonna talk about here while I'm underneath this parking structure. Lady just pulled up beside me. Make sure she don't open her door and hit my door. I hate when people do that. The other day I parked somewhere. I was down in Hollywood. Well, I say the other day, it was about a month and a half ago, I parked somewhere down in Hollywood and the car parked so close to my driver's side door, I actually had to enter from my passenger door. The son of a gun was six inches away from my door. Now, I don't know what this dumb idiot was thinking when he parked that damn close to my vehicle. I needed a shoe horn, a Jaws of Life, some KY jelly, anything to get me in my vehicle if I was going to try to use that side of the of my vehicle to enter, from which I always like to get in my vehicle from the driver's side door. It really sucks ass when you got to get in the passenger side, jump over a center console, and then slide beneath the steering wheel. It's a real pain in the ass. So when you park in this holiday season, help a brother or sister out, park your ass between the lines you're supposed to park at and don't jam nobody up. I wish I would have had the time to sit there and wait to see who and why they parked beside me as close as they did. I would love to have just a conversation. I'm not talking about a come to Jesus meeting. I'm not talking about a beat down. I'm not talking about a fist fight. I just like to just look at them and point at the distance between the two cars and say, why? Why in God's name did you have to park so GD close to my vehicle? Is my vehicle a magnet for your vehicle? Can you not get away from it? The magnetic force drew you towards my car. Are you just that stupid and inconsiderate of a driver, man?

[Interviewer]

Let me get back on my iPhone.

[Steve Austin]

And dig my notes and see what else I was going to talk about on this open. Here's my shopping list. We came back to LA and we weren't expecting to come back to la. So I got to get some. Some meat, which for me, that's gonna be hamburger meat, lean, gonna be some chicken, organic spring mix to make salads with, some red onions, parmesan cheese, eggs, spaghetti, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Y' all know the damn store when you. You gotta make a damn list when you go to a store. I've been hitting hell with so many damn steel chairs.

[Interviewer]

I don't know, you know, if I.

[Steve Austin]

Ain'T got a list, you know, I'm just kind of cruising around Picking stuff off the damn aisles. And I'll tell you one thing, you know, guys, I'd like to give you guys a little piece of advice. Don't ever go to the grocery store when you're starving. You'll buy all kinds of stuff, eat you a big ass meal and then go to the store. Because if you go hungry, you'll buy anything and everything and you'll get the munchies and stuff will look good and you'll be buying all kinds of stuff that all of a sudden you get back to the house, you're like, man, why did I buy this? This is the last thing I need to be eating, man. I ain't got nothing in my damn iPhone notes. This iPhone 6 is starting to piss me off, man. I gotta get me a better case for this damn thing. Because I've been reading the stories about people sitting on these things because it's so thin and they've been bending them. So I always keep my iPhone in my back pocket when I'm walking down the road. But when I sit down and I pull it out of my back pocket because my big ass to squash anything, the last thing I need is the iPhone that's bent up like a pretzel and I can't use it. I really didn't even want to trade in my iPhone4, but some bitch started to crap out on me. So, you know, you can't get caught out in the middle of nowhere without your damn phone in your hand because your phone's got you. Damn. Every single thing you own is on your damn phone. From your numbers to your. It's everything. Your life's inside your phone. So I upgraded this iPhone 6, man. It's alright. The camera is a little bit better, you know, but it's not like I sit here and just take a bunch of selfies and, well, as I call them, a picture of myself by myself. But yeah, it's okay. I kind of feel like I'm carrying a purse when I carry this damn thing around. I think it's too big. I should have got an iPhone 5, but now I'm stuck with the damn 6. So you know, what you gonna do about it? Let me see what I got here, man. Family friendly rundown, man. I done told you guys about the broken skull challenge coming up on January 4th. I done told you about Redneck Island. It's on every Thursday on cmt. And what else I got to tell you about, man? That's all I got to tell you about. So let's go ahead and take care of a little bit of biznatch. And I got some other projects coming up. I'll announce here pretty quick.

[Steve Austin Show Announcer]

This is the Steve Austin Show.

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[Steve Austin]

All right, everybody, here we go. I'm sitting here talking to one of.

[Interviewer]

My favorite pro wrestlers of all time, Ivan Koloff. He's down there in North Carolina. I'm over here in Los Angeles, California. Had to come back and take care of some business. Ivan, you're one of my all time favorites. I used to love you guys raising hell and doing your thing and beating everybody up, especially back in the NWA days. It's good to talk to you. How are you doing these days?

[Ivan Koloff]

Great. Yeah, just a few maybe results of 50 years of being in the ring and part of the wrestling business. But I feel fortunate to be even here, you know, with all the crazy stuff ended up doing during my career. And I guess for that reason alone, matter of fact, considering the years of wrestling and the crazy bumps off the top rope and everything landing on tables and chairs, well, like a lot of crazy stuff they're doing today, you know, Steve, you appreciate you got to get hurt, you know, at times and I know ankles, knees, back, shoulders over the years. But back in our time, we weren't able to take a lot of time off and heal up. You know, I was told one time that if I took time off, I have to figure out replacing, put something in that place.

[Interviewer]

That was the thing about the business though, Ivan. I mean, you could never take yourself off the road or take yourself out of a storyline because if you just told a promoter, hey man, I'm kind of tired or I'm a little bit broke down, you're not going to make any money. And these days, on a guaranteed contract, guys, they'll still get paid. But back in my day when I was off for about a year with my neck fusion. I didn't get any pay during that entire year. So you know the system because you're around from way back in the day. With that being said, when you first started dropping that knee off the top rope, did you think, I guess. Well, none of us ever think, hey, this is going to catch up with me down the road, because I would imagine you're at about, what, 72 now?

[Ivan Koloff]

72, yep.

[Interviewer]

Dropping that knee all those years has toit's going to take a toll on your body. How many surgeries have you had? What is your. Where are you at right now on a physical level?

[Ivan Koloff]

Well, as far as surgeries, I haven't had many. Just like we were talking about. Idea of being replaced if you had to take time off like that. So I just didn't take the time off. I had one shoulder, the right shoulders surgery on it because I ended up hitting the post down in Florida about a year before that, wrestling dusty across the roads and hit it pretty hard and it turned, you know, black and blue type thing and let it go. Healed up something. I thought, all right, but found out about a year later the spurs had developed in there and they had to go in because I couldn't lift it. Couldn't lift it over my head anymore. My arm, there was really a lot of pain, so they went in and cut it open and I guess they cleaned the spurs out. And I know my shoulders about a half inch or inch shorter now than the other one, but it took care of the business as far as the injury for, you know, maybe 50 years or so. And then it started acting up again and I'm back to where I started from. Now I can. I exercise it a lot, you know, try to keep it going. But as far as lifting on my hands, I restricted it behind my back on that right arm, the left arm, My shoulder's been torn the rotary cup and never got a chance. Bicep broke, tricep broke, so that's most shoulders needed work now or you get.

[Interviewer]

Some herniated disc in your back as well.

[Ivan Koloff]

Yeah, my back has been diagnosed with severe lumbar stenosis, which doctor says you need plates and screws and all that stuff and. But I know some people went in and got that subject staff and all that. So I had other people tell me, wait as long as you can. Matter of fact, even Bruno told me that you'll know when it's time to go in. He says, whenever you go for a walk and your legs give out and you Fall down. I guess that happened to him, and he had to go in and get the surgeries in his back. So so far, I'm not falling down, so I'll just keep going. I don't know how old you got to be to be old, but figured that wait as long as I can. But my left ankle's been broached four times. I got big spurs on that from coming off the top rope. And I think that's what it is. You break little bones landing wrong. I even came off the top and landed on the floor outside. And I see these guys today doing that. And I said, oh, man, don't do that.

[Interviewer]

You know, but you are doing it way back. Hey, Ivan, you know, you started off your career, you know, you're from Canada, and then you ultimately achieved the Russian gimmick, the Ivan Koloff gimmick. And it was gonna leave. It was one of the Rougeaus that came up with that idea. But my point is, you've wrestled as a single. You've wrestled as a tag team for so long, and you had a tremendous run. Well, I thought in wwwf, you know, when you beat Bruno Sammartino for the world heavyweight title, I want to cover that in a minute. And then lost that title to Pedro Morales. But then, you know, later on down the road, you found yourself down there in the Crockett territories, and that's where I remember, you know, your career so vividly. And, of course, then you teaming up with Nikita Koloff. And you are a very, very good tag team wrestler, but you were equally as good as a singles. What did you prefer?

[Ivan Koloff]

You know, really, it didn't seem like it mattered to me. I like both. I ended up in tag, having a lot of partners from the time of Minnesota. Yep. Teaming up with the superstar Billy Graham. I was tag team with him and New York superstar Billy Graham. And I had the belts down here in the NWA with Ray Stevens and Crusher and Nikita. Different occasions and Don Knoodle.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah. But how was tagging up.

[Interviewer]

How was tagging up with superstar Billy Graham? Because you guys were two completely different workers. Billy was more of a showman, and you were more of a wrestler, you know, serious wrestler. And Superstar is one of my favorites of all time. So I don't mean that as a disrespect to him, but how did you guys gel as a tag team?

[Ivan Koloff]

We got along real good. I guess I just really respect it and love the Billy for, you know, we ended up working out together in the weights, and he showed me A lot of stuff because he was bodybuilder. And of course I was just trying to get big and the idea of cutting up and all that, I never got involved in that or stairways, thank God. But, you know, he showed me a lot of stuff that really helped me as far as working out and in the ring, even if it's to this day, Ivan was a workhorse. I ended up doing my stuff, but I would go in and bump all over the place. But hey, that's what makes a team. Like a lot of times it takes either both guys do it or Billy was ideal because he had that body and he could pose and then play the chicken thing and run and.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, but you were never. But you were never a chicken type heel. I mean, so, hey, you brought up, you brought up the steroids. Now how early on, back in the day that the steroids really become prevalent?

[Ivan Koloff]

You know, I was trying to figure that out one day and I know it was far back because I got my back hurt the first time in 73 when I was in Minnesota that landed on a board that was out of place in a match to Super. Signed myself against Wahoo and Billy Robinson and ended up rehearsing that. And they ended up. I took about two months off and it came back, but I was ambulatory, traction, chiropractor and all that stuff. And it came back, but I ended up really hurting at that time and slowed me down quite a bit as far as being able to perform. And I realized it. And then after that I came into the Charlotte area and I was fortunate enough to heal up enough, I guess to. And Superstar had introduced me, even said pilot for that back. If you take some of the steroids, what it's meant to do is help heal, you know, because the guys come back for the war and all that, they're anemic and all that. They. They give them certain wounds to I guess get the body going again, right. And I said, well, I don't know, maybe I could try a little bit. But I just found my. I'd already been on prednisone for about 10 years because of a diagnosis situation that I had in my body of. They misdiagnosed me with TB way back in 73. Wow. And it turned out it was psychedosis, which they don't even church to this day what it was. But the prednisone, taking that 5 milligram a day for 10 years, it went away. And consequently I ended up telling by Graham that. And I said, man, what I need to do is maybe try it. I tried it and it was no good because this was before I even was on the prednisone. And I found that all of a sudden I was hung more hungry and I was retaining fluid and all that. So I can't say that. Yeah. And he even offered the shots, you know, But I. I did go that route, thank God. I did probably have other issues there now, but I think that was my first induction as far as other guys used. I know as far back as the 70s. I was in California for a while with Billy and Dave Draper and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Bet them. And, you know, I can obviously do that. They're taking some stuff that I didn't know what, because you don't look like that unless you end up taking something, I guess. But I ended up staying away from it, and I'm glad I did.

[Steve Austin]

But did you spend a lot of.

[Interviewer]

Time in the gym, Ivan?

[Ivan Koloff]

Yeah, I did. I ended up at first doing heavy weights and trying to bulk up. Once I bulked up, I stayed pretty well on that routine of heavy lifting. I noticed in the early 80s, I see a lot of guys seem like they're speeding up on TV and more action and all that, and I figured I lost the weight, so I started running in that. And I used to run about three miles a day. That kept my weight down. I got my weight down and I felt so good. I said, man, I gotta keep doing this. But then after the live injury started happening for a good 10 years, I felt great that I kept the weight down by running.

[Interviewer]

Ivan, you wrote your book. Is that Wrestling Fake, the Bare Facts. And, you know, you were basically in the business five, six years. It was your second stint with wwwf. All of a sudden you find out you're gonna beat Bruno Sammartino for the world heavyweight title in Madison Square Garden. Who told you, Ivan, this is what we're gonna do. And ran the angle by you?

[Ivan Koloff]

Vince did. I ended up, first of all, getting contacted. I was in Hawaii, coming back from Australia on a tour, and I had already wrestled Bruno and all that. And they. I got a call one day, I was at the gym there, and I got a call and it was Pedro. And I hadn't really known Pedro well or anything like that. I knew about him, but he said that, hey, I got to meet with you Mama Lei over here to Hawaii, and I want to get with you. He says, Vince is sending me. He wanted me to talk to you. And that was the first introduction. I didn't know what it was all about. He just wanted me to call Vince. He said it would be something that was good and.

[Interviewer]

And you're talking about Vince McMahon Senior.

[Ivan Koloff]

Yeah, yeah. Not on the phone with him. And I dreamed of me said, like, you come back. The idea was go back for at least a year, like, you know, type of thing.

[Interviewer]

Now they picked you to take the title off Bruno. Ivan, who else could they have chosen back then? Who other than yourself was hot or a viable heel that they could have possibly put that belt on? Other than you, man?

[Ivan Koloff]

For myself, I was pitching myself because I kind of figured, man, what a lucky guy to get picked for this, you know, to get the switch of the belt from Bruno, because Bruno was my a hero type thing. And to this day, it was still keeping Tucker. We respected him over the years. And I really thought. I was surprised, really surprised. And as far as who were the other hot heels, though, man, right now, I think. But I know there's a lot of guys out there that even later on, they ended up switching with Stan Stasiak, right? He was out there, for example. But all the other. Other guys, like, I mean, from Pedro right down to the Superstar for the Grant, the Ray Stevens and all those guys, I mean, the Black Jackson, I mean, you stop and think of them, if you look at all the talent that's out there, let alone that was in the WWF at one time or another, like in other territories, you know, was great talent. And I guess the idea of the Russians and the. It was with the news and all this stuff, that they figured there'd be a lot of interest in that. And I just struck them at the right time, I suppose.

[Interviewer]

But you guys had good chemistry in the ring, and it looked like you guys enjoyed working with each other and almost similar styles.

[Ivan Koloff]

Yeah, got along real good with Bruno. I didn't, because I respected him so much. And all the years when I was in there, Bruno, of course, was all business and ended up. I think maybe the size and everything had a lot to do with it, because I remember that night I went In, I was 305. Bruno was like 280 or something. I said, damn it, bigger than Bruno, you know, type of thing. But I was really excited about it. I didn't look at it that way, and it was just that I was really pleased, happy to.

[Interviewer]

I watched as much as that match as I could find on YouTube, and I was surprised at the amount of high spots that you guys were using, especially considering that the year that that match happened, and in the book, you talk about a double Cross happens from the New York wrestling office. After you won the title, what was the double cross?

[Ivan Koloff]

Well, as far as not actually a double cross, I think that that was the. When I went to the Charlotte area, the NWA and then the IWA came in there, which was a competition to the profit and I guess to everybody. Because at that time it looked like they were just coming into the Carolinas and they approached me a few months after I got in the Carolinas and they're treating me fine. It was just, they said, we'll give you double the money. And I figured wrestling was more like, you know, like a drugstore, two or three drugstores in the same block. Because I'm, you know, just, you know, you're just a freelance contractor. So I just.

[Steve Austin]

So it's more of a thing of.

[Interviewer]

Being blackballed just because you jump promotions?

[Ivan Koloff]

I think so, yeah, I hear it since, you know, that's what it was. But I just never blame Vince or any of them. They didn't. They just did what they thought. They really wanted me to come back to the, to them. And I was actually supposed to, I was supposed to double cross the IWA at that show in New Jersey and leave them and come over to Vince that night. And I just couldn't do it. I looked at the, in the dressing room and the boys were, you know, under contract there. And I figured I'm one of the guys that they're depending on here if I leave this thing fold and, you know, I'm to blame for guys being out of the job, you know, sick, right? So I did, I didn't go. If probably was a mistake that I should have probably like for Ben because he always treated me good after that, treated me good. Just the idea that I felt bad about the boys and I, I never went front, I went ahead with the show and consequently they ended up negotiating with me at that time. Because when I first went with the iwa, it was a six month contract with the idea of a year after that and their negotiation at that time with me. And I understood that they were going to go for a year and at least the same body is not more. And they ended up, I guess, fighting auto monitors. I don't know, it just ended up send me a telegram and went and that was it gonna let me go. So I found myself now without work with them and everybody else mad at me. So you can imagine, here you are trying to get booked. I even went into Tennessee for a week there right around that time. And then Ruger finally used Me. And then they started using me down in Florida, St. Louis and all that. But for a while there, it looked like I got everybody mad at me for a while. But it wasn't an intentional thing. I just. I guess.

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer]

Just out there trying to make a buck. Hey, let me ask you a question. Going back to the championship match in Madison Square Garden against Bruno. You win clean. You're finished. Knee drop off the top. He shot you into the turnbuckle. Charge. You stuck up a foot. And then get up top, drop the knee on him.

[Steve Austin]

1, 2, 3.

[Interviewer]

The referee raises your hand. It looks like he's telling you to get out of the ring. And there was some voiceover work that was put on top of the match, seemingly at a later date. They were talking about, oh, we got to get this guy out of here. There's too much heat. To me, it looked like there was shock. It was a very quiet arena. I didn't feel the heat because it wasn't a screw job finish. You beat the man fair and square right in the middle of the ring. Why did they present you with the belt inside the ring and give you your moment right then?

[Ivan Koloff]

I really think it was because they felt that there was. The people were too quiet. And I had felt the same thing before in Montreal when Ernie and the Cat Lad were in a tank against the Rougeaus. They filled the ring up with chairs and it went real quiet like that. And then they start throwing the chairs. So I picked up on it whenever the referee said, don't give. I'll give it to you back in the dress room. So I just did what they told me and left. And figures that that's what they're concerned about, that the people were not going to accept that they're going to get mad because Bruno lost. It was one of those things. I just figured that, you know, the quality of the tape that you see there now that people have seen on that batch was just somebody, I understand, in the audience that filmed it.

[Steve Austin]

Yes.

[Ivan Koloff]

It wasn't being filmed by the office or anything. So back then, they didn't film everything.

[Interviewer]

Hey, what was the difference between working with a guy like Vince McMahon Sr. And the guys that were running Crockett Promotions. What was the difference between those two promotions just as far as the way they operated?

[Ivan Koloff]

Well, what I found with Vince up there, he was the man that you went and talked to, Senior. And I appreciated that fact because you felt like you're going to get somewhere when you ended up talking to some. The office, you know, you had the situation, whatever it was, maybe suggested or did you send a beef or whatever, you just went right to been senior and you seen her every three weeks. Whenever we did the TV taping and out of town or ready or what happened or whatever it was at. And they ended up being able to pull Vince aside and talk to him, you know, just tell them and how you found or what wrong or whatever you want to suggest or whatever like that. To me, that made it a lot easier for me than a place like the NWA with the different territories. And you came in, you had the promoter, Jim Crockett, then you had a booker or Dusty or whoever it was. In situations like that, you went and talked to the booker rather than the promoter, and that was the guy that was in charge. It seemed like ultimately, I guess Crocker would override them if there was something he didn't like, if you knew about it. But they seemed like they had the rain when they were in there. And that means it a lot more feeling of seeing security I guess whenever you're talking directly to the boss type thing or the owner. But I always got along good with the ball as far as that goes, until I did something like that IWA thing there. Of course after that they're all right with it. They ended up having to come back, so.

[Interviewer]

But Ivan, what was your thoughts when, you know, Vince Jr. Bought the territory from his dad? And you notice, of course, Vince started off as Capitol Wrestling Corporation or whatever it was in D.C. and moved to Stanford, Connecticut and the New York office is what it was always referred to. You're working down at the Crockage iwa, awa. I mean, you're all over the place. You're down in Florida. What were you thinking when Vince McMahon took over and started putting all the different territories out of business? All of the different places were drying up as options for you to go as a wrestler. Did that concern you? Because at the end of the day, you know, 10, 15 years ago, it was the Monday Night wars, it was wcw, which was NWA versus wwe. And so those were the only two places to go. And now there's only really one place to go and that's wwe. But what were your thoughts when. When Vince started taking his guys into other territories? I know he rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Vince has told me himself that he received a lot of death threats. You as a wrestler, your options of places to go are drying up. What were your thoughts on that?

[Ivan Koloff]

Actually, I did end up leaving altogether and I didn't. I knew that Vince was going to. Or I heard that he was going to be buying out some of the territory, but I was still wrestling for the profits. This is in the fall of 89, and they had changed bookers, I remember, and they ended up. George Scott came back in and he ended up not having plans at the time. And when I heard that, because already they're telling me you have to drive to Atlanta to get your flight to go to Chicago or to Los Angeles. I guess they're trying to encourage the guys to move to Atlanta, everybody. And there was no way I was going to do it at my home here and all that. So I left. Actually, I didn't leave with a do, I just left. I probably should have called Vince at that time, you know, see if I could be any help up there. But I guess I was at the point that I was just disgusted with the whole thing because, you know, I just went through a run with Nikita, the whole thing. And even after that stayed, did a thing with the Russian Assassins and everything was fine. And all of a sudden George Scott comes in and move it to all of Atlanta. I. I just quit that day. I just quit. I just. I heard that he was coming in and that I just went home and stayed home. Like I said I should have called Vince and seen if I could be any use up there. But at that time, I guess I've been running around like you're saying, flying to different territories from Florida to, you know, because the profits were trying to do go all over, just like Vince is doing today. But it did work out for a while there. I guess he was competing with Vince. But see, after a while it was like, well, I guess whenever I wasn't figured in, I figured, no, it's time to go. So I just did. I didn't really.

[Steve Austin]

When you're not figured in.

[Ivan Koloff]

I was called back in 93 to go to Atlanta for, I don't know, legends thing with rasking myself. But that was the only thing that was ever called for and never bothered calling Vincent. I should probably have done that at that time.

[Interviewer]

But when you're not figuring in and you got to go elsewhere, man, you've been married for what, 30 or 40 years?

[Ivan Koloff]

Yeah, yeah, sure. Now 33 years.

[Steve Austin]

Okay, 33 years. Now.

[Interviewer]

What was your wife's take on the business? Because, you know, I mean, you're always gone, you're always on the road. It's a life of a pro wrestler. And especially back in those days was so much more driving than flying. And, you know, she was always There, I mean, but so she just accepted that, hey, this is the way things work, and if we got to go, we got to go. Or would you leave and just go places by yourself and then come home when you could?

[Ivan Koloff]

Yeah, that was about the way it was. Ended up just going, like for Florida. Go down there and just stay there until the next move where I was back to Georgia, New York, or a trip to Japan or something. It really made it hard as far as any type of family life or anything like that, because I can remember going years to. Might as well say without even being able to come home. And you go right through Christmases because they'd have shows and everything. Or you're on a trip to Japan or something. It had to be real hard situation at home.

[Interviewer]

But there's not too many guys, Ivan, in the business that have marriages that lasted 33 years. Congratulations on that.

[Steve Austin]

Hey, you had some.

[Interviewer]

You had some interesting days on the road. I want to get to your life, your things. Now that you're doing, now that you've accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior, you're an ordained minister. But I wanted to talk about some of the wilder times with your time in the ring and on the road with Mad Dog Buzz Sawyer. I was a big fan of the Mad Dog. I was a kid growing up, and that guy would come out there on TV and you'd think, oh, man, this guy really is crazy. He is the Mad Dog. But out of the ring and away from the ring, he was indeed a wild man. And you ended up kind of. I don't know where you started off with beer and graduated to other things. But I would imagine that when you were growing up on a farm in Canada, you'd never been exposed to a lot of alcohol and drugs. All of a sudden, you're in a wrestling business. You're right in the middle of it. You're a big star, you're in demand, and you're traveling, and you've got all the stress and all the downtime and the atmosphere. What was your foray into the drug scene? Because you got off into a pretty bad way.

[Ivan Koloff]

Sure did. Yeah. I ended up with the injuries, of course, being put on painkillers, stuff to relax, sleeping pills and all this stuff. And I think that was in the early 70s, whenever I got hurt real bad in the back. And by the time the late 70s come, I graduated, of course, at home when I was a kid, just to back up there it was, you know, you worked hard. It was on the farm and milk cows and by hand, you got the prop in and did the whole thing. And you know, once in a while they'd have a little party. And if you were even a teenager or even younger than that, you were expected to work like a man. So you'd have get together and you're allowed to have a couple beers or a few beers at home. And the party, they always had a fiddle player in or something, music going up. But that only happened like once a year or something, usually during the harvest time. After the harvest time, I knew that that wasn't something that should be doing all the time. But as a wrestler, I ended up, right from the very start, like even the wrestling school and all this stuff, I ended up getting involved in it. Matter of fact, as a teenager getting into trouble with the law and all of this because I tried to create my own business. I thought I was back in the old West, I guess I ended up doing some stuff illegal, that was cattle rustling, they called it. And instead of having a truck or doing it the old way with horseback and rope, we'd end up roping them all right, my younger brother and I, but we'd pull them to the car, twist their tail, get them in the carpet. We'd end up taking half a dozen of those cattle to the sale and selling them until we got caught about six months later. And as a kid, 17, just going on 18 years old, get caught with that, it was treated as a felony and ended up going to prison for a while for that.

[Interviewer]

How much prison time did you do?

[Ivan Koloff]

It was actually a six month sentence, but I did just about five months with good behavior and all that stuff.

[Interviewer]

Okay, now you're a kid growing up on a farm, all of a sudden you're in prison. Was that your.

[Steve Austin]

Was that a wake up call for you as far as a life of.

[Interviewer]

Crime and not considering the drugs you're about to get into, but as, as a. As a, hey man, this is not for me. Jail is not for me.

[Ivan Koloff]

No, that's right. Yeah, it definitely was. I really was scared, to say the very, very least is you got 2,000 inmates and they go in gangs and everything, and they going around stealing stuff, taking stuff off you by forge and all that. My young, My brother with me. And we had to stand up for each other. Sometimes I tell them of those stories in my book and that. But that it was definitely scary. So after that, every time I'd start drinking too much or get into any type of trouble, play was trouble. I. It pulled me off pretty quick because of the you know, what had happened before. But I ended up, you know, we're kind of wild kids like a lot of kids are whenever they're getting teenagers.

[Interviewer]

Yes.

[Ivan Koloff]

We'd go down to the have a few beers. My older brothers and I would get together and I can recall one time coming out of a bar and I was going to the wrestling school and my older brother Roger with me and he was good with his fists and he ended up this tall guy, about 7 foot tall, was giving us a hard time outside the club and I'd never seen anything like that in my life. My brother did a combination boxing move on him and hit that big guy with an uppercut and he went bent right back with the guy, knocked him out cold. And it was situations like that happened three or four times that got me edged into the wild places stuff, you know, taking bars and all that. But I never was a fighter like that. I ended up, you know, getting in situations like that. They're doing enough anyway that I shouldn't be doing that. But whenever I was wrestling later on and I graduated from drink and the beer to whiskey and I did the pain pillow and then getting to the marijuana and the other stuff like upwards down the cocaine and then band, it just got so bad that after a while I was even wrestling under situations like that. But I guess I was dedicated enough going to the gym that I'd sweated a lot of it out. So I was able to still.

[Interviewer]

But I heard you had like a sixteen hundred dollar a week cocaine habit.

[Steve Austin]

Man, that's a lot of money for.

[Interviewer]

Today, yesterday, $1,600 a week. Where were you finding this stuff? Well, I mean it's everywhere we go. I mean, because there's always that element around the business to me. Were you a light switch? Did you need something to take you to make you go to sleep and then something to get you up? Because it sounds like you were in a pretty bad place.

[Ivan Koloff]

Yeah, it was like that. But not realizing it at the time, it was, you know, felt better like that. So you just go back to doing that, you know, right. The uppers downers of that. I could function that. I remember getting up and smoking marijuana and put my running stuff on and go run three miles, you know, come back and grab the, the crow bob and I'm going to pool, do some pearls and some leg raising, like work out like a maniac, you know, stuff. If I didn't go to the gym, I'd work out like that. And after a while it just becomes routine.

[Steve Austin Show Announcer]

This is the Steve Austin Show.

[Suzanne Rico]

This is a story that begins with a dying wish.

[Ivan Koloff]

One thing I would like you to do.

[Suzanne Rico]

My mother's last request that my sister and I finish writing the memoir she'd started about her German childhood, when her father designed a secret super weapon for Adolf Hitler. My grandfather, Robert Lusser, headed the Nazi project to build the world's first cruise missile, which terrorized millions and left a legacy that dogged my mother like a curse.

[Ivan Koloff]

She had some secrets. Mom had some secrets.

[Suzanne Rico]

I'm Suzanne Rico. Join my sister and me as we search for the truth behind our grandfather's work and for the first time, face the ghosts of our past.

[Ivan Koloff]

Who is he?

[Suzanne Rico]

Listen to the man who calculated death. Available now wherever you get your podcasts.

[Interviewer]

I always tell people a lot. A lot of people, you know, back. I. I never really had any cocaine issues. I was more of a drinking guy and I didn't really mess with too many pain pills. Needed something to go to sleep, but I was kind of like a light switch. I needed something to make me go to sleep. I need something to get up in the morning, and that was usually a couple of Vicodin, some coffee and a couple of pots of coffee. And I always tell people, you get into zombie mode, and so what becomes normal for us is not normal to anybody else. And it's really not normal. It shouldn't be normal for us, but that's the way we operate.

[Steve Austin]

But, you know, when I go back.

[Interviewer]

And I look at so many of your old matches because I just followed your career for so long because I just loved your work inside the ring and loved the whole gimmick.

[Steve Austin]

There was no way that I would.

[Interviewer]

Ever look at Ivan Koloff on a television screen and say, oh, this dude's out of his mind on cocaine. Or he's pilled up. Because you always looked like you were in control and completely normal.

[Ivan Koloff]

Yeah, that's what seemed like. Yeah, I could see that people look at it that way because that's the character I ended up becoming, I guess, you know, and it became like a real thing rather than just honor gimmick type of thing. It was like talking about Buzz Sawyer. We came in, we'd go one weekend, one week in Ohio. So we fly to Ohio, rent a car, do the show there. Wherever it was Cincinnati got to Cleveland, do the show. I have to get back to Cincinnati or whatever to catch the flight back to Atlanta for Saturday morning TV. And you have to drive like 200 some miles back from Cleveland to sit there, whatever, whatever it was. And we got in real late, different situations. Matter of fact, one situation one time was the police with the helicopter came and pulled us over on the highway. A girl that brought that picked up in the. On the highway or down on the highway on the mattress and was. She was in the car with us. She had called her sister and her sister called the cops and said we won't let her out of the car. That wasn't the case at all. Let her out of the car. When they came down and landed on the highway and stopped us and they searched us all and all this stuff and of course they found stuff in her. They let us go because they realized that the girl, she fessed up and said no, no, my sister's crazy. She ended up calling it in. So they let us go in that. But that was the situations situation one time that happened another time we ended up showing up late for the TV and only wanting to finance. She was a booker there in line at the time for Kim Barnett and he was going to find us and every five buzz 500 for being late for TV he was going to find me and I was next. And I, I just had it. I just said no. I took my sweater off. I had a big hockey sweater. And I says now you're gonna have to fight me for it. Only I knew only he was a tough guy too size and I'm going to take my money with me. You're not going to take my money because you steal it right out of my pocket. My family needs it. That's what I told him. Yeah. D stared at me for about 30 seconds and he said, put your coat back on, Ivan. He said, sorry, I'll hook it up. I'll fix it up. He did. When I left his dinner drawer, I guess he had taken a couple hundred hours off me without me knowing it. But he put it back on my check when I left because he knew I worked real hard. But things got so bad, Steve, that I ended up going to the Middle east after wrestling back to him. And even when I was wrestling back when my knee was locking up in the rain. That's why when I came back from the Middle east, we went over there, a bunch of us, Iron Cheek and Larry Henny's son, Kurt Henny and a bunch of guys on the plane Fuji and I ended up drinking my vodka, the plane going crazy and fight with the Iron Cheek on the plate. And he bit me on the, on the neck. You know.

[Interviewer]

Now this is a shoot fight on a commercial air airliner.

[Ivan Koloff]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

So what are the flight attendants doing.

[Ivan Koloff]

Panicking when we landed in Jordan before Kuwait. The militia came on with machine guns on the plane and Fuji had me tied in the seat by this time. And every time I'd come to and want to go after the Sheik again, he pulled the seat up tighter and I had about a 30 inch waste there for one trip anyway for. But he was doing it for my own sake, keeping me now.

[Interviewer]

How salty was the Iron Sheik?

[Ivan Koloff]

I seen him at Buzzword one day in the motel room. Matter of fact, I refereed the man I always get caught doing, being the referee in street fights and all that. But he ended up. They wanted to see who was better and we were in a motel room and they ended up. We pushed the furniture back and they went for about 20 minutes you 30 minutes. Who did wrestling? Amateur, you know, two could pin who. And I was a referee who was.

[Interviewer]

Going back and forth.

[Ivan Koloff]

Yeah, both of them were going back and forth. Wanted to get one for a while. I go over to try to get him and dad was like they're having a real. They should have had tickets for that. I mean I should have had to pay a ticket for that because I mean they wrecked the place. TV was knocked over. That was just one of the situations that Buzz. Another situation with Buzz was we stopped at store after a match up in Ohio and we ended up going in for some beer, that I was ahead of him and some pretzels and whatever and ended up going out of the store carrying a bag and buggers behind me. This guy's up had been to the matches, it was up at the parking lot and they ended up saying to me as I came out the door, street fight. You guys don't have a street fight. I can show you how to street fight. I said, oh, is that right? I went to put the bag down, but I was watching the guy real close that he didn't kick me or something while I was putting the bag down. I was going to see how he could street fight. So I was crazy myself. So ended up as I put the bag down, when I turned to face the guy, Buzz came out like a bulldozer. Knocked the guy out to the parking lot and picked that guy out. No kid, he was like a rag doll, that guy Buzz was picking him up, slamming him, suplexing him. And the cop came at the gun on Buzz and Buzz had had him up in, I don't know, bear hugged or something. Squeezed, squeezed him. Anyway, the guy was screaming and the cop said, drop that band. And Buzz dropped Him and he said, get your heads up and all this stuff. And it was just like something you'd see on TV or something, you know, but it was for real. This guy was panicking to get out of there. Buzz was killing him. So Buzz could fight. He was the scrapper for sure.

[Steve Austin]

But all the boys are.

[Interviewer]

It was kind of like the wild, wild west back then, right?

[Ivan Koloff]

It was. Oh, yeah.

[Steve Austin]

I mean, you literally had to fight.

[Interviewer]

For your spot on the card.

[Ivan Koloff]

Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Talk about a street fight. I see Brian and Matt Bourne glad one day. That was the referee in that raising the bar. Went right outside. I kept refereeing it. They both of the eyes or something like. No, no eyes, no hair. They came out of that all bloody, tore up. Oh, man.

[Interviewer]

Hey, Ivan, for sure. How was being in the ring with Andre the Giant? How strong was that guy? How and how did you get along with him?

[Ivan Koloff]

I got along real good. He really liked me, I guess, because I went in there trying to do the right thing. I was intimidated, first of all, you know, the Giant and figure you would throw around. But the first time I got in there, I was after I won the belt, you know, up there in Montreal, and I figured 300 pounds and, you know, I'm doing 500 pounds. Right away you start feeling, you know, try to reason this out. Giant bat being in the corner. And I realized how big this guy was. I couldn't even see over his shoulder. Like, you know, he had me back to the corner and he was, you know, with his back towards me, and he was just doing that thing where he grabs the rope, and it felt like every time he crunched backwards, the rope would hit me in the side and the ribs in the back felt like something was going to break. So I was saying. But I was going, ah, rest. He was laughing. He was. Oh, yeah. Then after the match, and I said to him, I said, andre, did you drink beer? He says, yes. And I said, tonight I buy you the beer. Okay? He liked that. And I was willing to buy him some beer, you know, so he never hurt me in the ring. And I always like to go back in the ring and wrestle. I thought one time we had to come back from Florida to wrestle him in the Coliseum in Montreal. And we even did a thing where Aubrey suggested it, too, where he was at the table going to sign the contract. I picked up a chair and hit him over the head. And he went down. I was surprised he went down. Everything came up. Blood all over the place. I mean, that really made the Match right there. Like, you know, set it up. Barcelona for sure. But he was really nice, but you didn't want to mess with him in the rain because, you know, he could hurt you.

[Interviewer]

Could he literally do anything he wanted because he was so strong?

[Ivan Koloff]

Yeah, he could. So big, so strong. I mean, if anything would be. Anyway, I guess there is some guys out there that know a lot of wrestling, and the tough guys, you know, that probably could be something with them maybe, but I just sure didn't want to try.

[Interviewer]

Hey, Ivan, you mentioned getting color when you hit Andre with that ch. I noticed. You know, when I want. When I look at you, in regards to you getting color, you seem to make a vertical cut rather than a horizontal. Why was this?

[Ivan Koloff]

I found it, you know, for a long time there, I would end up. Because it seemed like they wanted, you know, the situation every night and, you know, whatever I'd hang with here with the Jimmy Valiant, the Boogeyman, rope warriors or whatever. You'd end up one night bleeding and the next night, you know, because you're wrestling every night. Every night, every night, seven days a week. And the guy just hit the same cut. Well, after I got staph infection in my head for one time there, I was a little leery of that. But for a long time, that's what I was doing, just opening up the same cut. But I think the reason, for a while there was I carried on my wrist. Then later on, I carried my mouth. So my mouth, it was easier to go, I guess, horizontal or whatever. For a long time, that's what I was trying to do. I was figuring that would make the matches look better. I remember one match with Bruno, the cage. I hit that cage 20 times. If I didn't hit it 40 times and never did get any juice, I hit it hard. I hit it as hard as I could. He throw me at the cage, and I just hit as hard as I could with my head. And next day I got up, I had scrapes all over, burns all over. And.

[Interviewer]

You were trying to hardware yourself?

[Ivan Koloff]

Yeah, that's right. That's how Crazy figured it looked good, you know, hardware.

[Interviewer]

Hey, Ivan, going back to your first blade job? You know, when I went to pro wrestling school, I was taught by a man named Gentleman Chris Abbott. They didn't teach me how to swing a steel chair. They didn't teach me how to make my own blade. It's some of those things that you learn from someone that passes it on to you with regard to making your own blade. Who was the guy? Because you don't just start making a blade because you don't know how to make one. Who taught you how to make a blade?

[Ivan Koloff]

That'd be the guys in the gym. Yeah, there was some guys that were already trained there in the gym. Guys like Johnny. Well, Johnny Powers wasn't there then. He had already been trained and left the gym. But there was some old timers there. Center Clark, let me see. I'm trying to think the Love Brothers going to the gym.

[Interviewer]

But you'd like to carry on your wrist?

[Ivan Koloff]

Yeah, they just had to be added to wrist when the time came because they had matches at that gym every Thursday night out side and then I go under the ring, right, to get it and do it. That was the first time that was scary. I mean, not know what you do, nervous and everything, but once you did it one time and then you were used to it. But it got, it got better as time went on. At first I carried on my wrist and that and then later on, wasn't long after I carry my boat, I figured it was a lot easier to get to. You know, a lot of guys sought through carrying your bugs. You want to swallow it, you know, but never did swallow it.

[Interviewer]

And you know, Brett the Hitman Hart carried one in his mouth as well. And you never had no issues with that?

[Ivan Koloff]

No, never did. I might have nicked myself a little bit time or two, but nothing I can recall, not just swallowing or anything like that.

[Interviewer]

You know, I just, I really enjoyed your tag, your tag team combination of you and Nikita and. And there were so many great tag teams back in the day with the Russians and also Barry Darcelle would team with you on many occasions as well. But you had the Rock and Roll Express, the Midnight Express, you had the Road warriors, you had Arn and Oli or Arn and Tully and many more. What happened to tag team wrestling? Because it's hard to beat a great tag team match when it's on the card because especially when you have two bonafide teams and four guys that can work their ass off and a great referee. And I was watching some of your old matches. Tommy Young was a referee in a lot of those matches. I really loved his work. But what has happened to tag team wrestling in your estimation? Why did it disappear?

[Ivan Koloff]

Yeah, I think a lot of it was people back in those days of wrestling was educated more to the tag team and it seemed like it was made more on the interviews and they kept up to it, the fan, what happened each week and it seemed like it was a Continual build up thing because we're talking about it every week. It seemed like every town you'd have a little bit different thing going on. So that some of the fans as they traveled, they weren't up to it. It was still related to the same guy, you know, the feud, but maybe a different type of match. And it seemed like, I don't know, could really gotten away from that or maybe more time was spent at it to get that real heat going. I guess, you know, nowadays it's hard to get that heat because of, you know, wrestling being out in the open more with the fan. And I guess the fans realize it. These guys are just sitting there playing around, you know.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Ivan Koloff]

But they're not really playing around. That's why I tried to tell them, can you imagine going around, playing around and getting dislocated shoulders, you know, busted neck?

[Steve Austin]

Yeah, I think it's more of a.

[Interviewer]

How it's presented these days versus what it was in the old days. I mean, you know, back in the old days, I mean, you know, wrestling was still quote unquote real. All of the exposes hadn't happened. And you know, I understand that today's everything changes, but it's all in how it's presented. I wanted to talk before we hit the go home on this talk about your association with Nikita Koloff. Because whose idea was it to put you two guys together because it would later on down the road many years be Nikita Koloff, make an introduction to you with someone who would basically turn your life around. So whose idea was it to put you and Nikita together as a tag team in the ring?

[Ivan Koloff]

The first time I heard anything about it was Jim Crockett came up to me and he said, I've excelled not only in singles before, but in tag team also. How about if you got a partner, maybe like a nephew or something like that, who would be close to you, that you create like team together? And I said, yeah, ball forward, had nobody in mind. So went picking our brain, you know, of course I didn't have no relative. I had a son, but he did take up wrestling. So I said, who could it be? And Animal got into it, the Road Warriors. And he came up with Nikita because he grew up with him in Minnesota and Nikita was a football player, collegiate and I think with Omaha, if I'm not mistaken. And so South Dakota anyways, pretty good football player, I guess, and worked out at the gym with animals Hop for a while there coming up. And I guess Crusher was even part of that group up there, too. Crusher Christian, very Darcel. And they ended up anyway picking Dikita. And when I seen him for the first time, they brought him down right away and got started with it. I said, man, this guy should be ideal. He's college graduates, he's on the ball. As far as education, he looks great, you know, close to 300 pounder. Obviously, work it out like a bodybuilder and put him on the right road. You should be able to develop something. And I pretty well thought of it the same way as what happened to me. Like, you know, let somebody else do the talk and stand there intimidating looking and just be very convincing in the ring. And that's what I was told starting off. And the kids did it perfect. And with him, of course, he never went to a wrestling school, so he. Even though he's an athlete, we had to teach him things each day from Don Cordoodle. Helping him myself, you know, I guess a lot of the guys put their information in trying to sit down with him each day and go over one thing at least in the dressing room. Standard breast lock backdrop, you know, slam or whatever it is. This way you do it all. He'd pick up real quick. I said, now, whenever you're in public, don't be talking to people. Go with the accent all the way and lay them in. Don't be afraid to lay it in when you're in the ring, right, Gotta make it look good ring, because you're going to only believe what they see you. And if. And if you're not experienced at it, you're going to probably be going to be able to see through unless you real solid. He was solid, all right. More people, more of the boys complain. Even myself, as he came, I tag him. He'd come into the ring and me to command, and that elbow of his would catch me. Oh. Oh, man. And then he shot my hand, like for a tag. And I hand, I do it, you know, not only for the people, but I was doing it. But the idea is each slap at heart. I even said to him in the dressing, I said, nikki, I'm your partner now, you're not supposed to kill me. You're supposed to kill the opponent. Now, of course, I was kidding with him, you know, but, yeah, it gets across to him that he was being solid and that's what we wanted. He knocked, he died sometime with that sickle clothesline. And the guy do a whole backflip, like a. I guess a one and a half.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ivan Koloff]

And when I see one of the monkeys do that. I said, oh, you must have heard it. But the Balkans, I guess, just went with it. I guess the force of it knocked him over. But yeah, Dickie was real good like that. Catching on to stuff and keeping the accent when he was out there. And it paid off because they really believed in, you could do it. Because we had that big memorial show at Memorial park there in Charlotte and over 30,000 people. Claire flew in on the helicopter that night. Man, I could town by the crowd. They wanted to see something. There was flare against the keys. And I think we're against Road warriors being the pressure. And that was good. Of course, four Horsemen around there too. Dusted all them. So he had a good card for sure. But they really could tell the people were right. Whenever somebody runs in the ring, tries to get Nikita before the match even starts, you know that they're pretty hot at it.

[Steve Austin]

You just named a lot of big.

[Ivan Koloff]

Names in my life, you know, and I think it was God ordained you. Well, let's put the keys in there. Knowing that I. I need to have some help, somebody with credibility with me to. To reach me. Because after I quit in 89, then the kids are new from 83 to 89, like, you know, six, five, six years being together that, you know, I had a little trouble with the drugs and the alcohol. Matter of fact, I quit with the idea of really settling down, trying to get off of this stuff and clean up my situation here and make the wrestle better, you know, heal up a bit. But I ended up throwing the stuff away, going back to. Throwing away, going back to. Even at a wrestling school for a while there, for four or five years after that. I get to the point that I just keep going back to it. So I, of course, couldn't afford cocaine anymore, so I was able to get out of that, but ended up Nikita called me one day and he said to me on the phone, you got my attention. He said he wanted to invite me to come to the church, that he had become a born again Christian. And he said, I know what you need. Your life. I'll put you in Jesus in your life. And I said, what are you talking about, Nikki? I was raised in the Catholic church. I went to church every week and I know who Jesus is. He said, it's not bad. He said, devil knows who Jesus is too, but that doesn't make him a Christian. So he got my attention. I said, so I ended up going to that church, but by looking for that help, you know, I needed to get off the drugs. I got it all right. Because this little Catholic boy found himself on his butt when the service was over. Because the Lord touched me in such a way, I ended up being overtaken by the Spirit is the way I understand it. And I mean, I went down the fastest of my life. I thought maybe it was somebody like Andre the J clotheslined me. But it was so gentle when I landed. I just hurt myself or nothing and I was like down and I felt real good. I went to jump up because resting were taught. I guess I have it. And the key to grabbed me and he says, relax, that's the Holy Spirit. And man, I realized that's begotten because no way I went down in front of all those people, you know, like that. Because I even said that to myself. Seeing people before go down, it must be that they're paid to do that or something. They're saying is by me receiving price. My old debt was paid. All that crazy stuff I did forgiven of it. And anything I do in the future, he. If I keep him as my taking part more. Let's just say that I'd be able to overcome anything and he'd never leave me or forsake me.

[Interviewer]

It wasn't an immediate cure for your addiction though. So how did you. How did you stay with the process to. I would imagine you're 100% clean right now, correct?

[Ivan Koloff]

Yes, sir. Yup.

[Steve Austin]

So how long did it take you?

[Interviewer]

Because the cocaine, you got rid of that. Then you started leaning on the marijuana, you started going to the chewing tobacco. That's not illegal, but you needed a crutch. So what was the weaning off process for you? Did you do it yourself? Did you go to a drug rehab place?

[Ivan Koloff]

No. Drug rehab, no. And that's what's really surprising. I know there's some people went right from receiving Christ to quit smoking and doing all the other stuff. With me, it was a process. I was told it was important to get into the Word. That by taking into the word of God, the Bible and reading it, I end up taking in the Word and it pushes out all the other junk. And what happens is over a period of time, your faith grows through the period that God blesses you enough to be able to quit this stuff, so gives you the strength to be able to quit it. So what happened with me was the tune to back what real quick. And I must say I was fighting a bit there for a while with the. The beer that it wasn't long, just a few months type thing and everything went away. Because I said to myself, And I believe the fact that what they told me. And I just went with that and kept asking God for help. And I just started throwing this stuff away. The marijuana that just went one day, just like, I don't want it no more. The cocaine I wasn't involved in with anymore. And that was different than what I was doing just a year before that or six months before that. I was totally waver. I'd be going back and taking it back. And now I wasn't doing that. So I figured that God was working in my life, let me have the strength to be able to overcome this. So it's pretty hard to deny him then whenever you start getting this kind of help, you know.

[Interviewer]

So now you're an ordained minister and you do a lot of work with the Children's Miracle Network?

[Ivan Koloff]

Yeah, just everyone said last night, if I run out of a place to go, I'll go in any place. And whether it's a food store or Walmart, Kmart, whatever, they've all allowed me in at one time or another. And the people really respond, good, because they just end up going to a good cause, and I'm doing it for a good reason. And they're really kind about it. The stores all do campaigns like that to raise money for these good causes, and I'm all for it. It keeps me occupied, busy, and feel like you're somewhat worthy of doing something because you went through this career of being noticed, and now all of a sudden you stuck at home. What are you gonna do? You approach later or get out there and, you know, do something useful. I feel like by getting out and, you know, talking to kids and encouraging kids, because you don't know how much that touches kids. Well, you probably do yourself, you know, Steve, because you, you know, been big star, too. And whatever you tell a kid, man, I believe someday you're going to be a famous guy, you know, You're a great athlete, aren't you? What you instill to that kid, he's going to take that home and he's going to end up, you know, thinking of that and reacting to that time and time again over his lifetime. Because that's what my mom said to me, too, when I came home and told her I want to be a wrestler at 18 years old, she says, you can do it. Every time she seen me, says, there's my little champ. He's going to be a wrestling champ one day. And that always stuck with me. So now I try to talk to other kids, you know, try to tell them, find out what they're interested in and tell them, you can do it. You can do it. I'll be looking for you. You know, I think really instill kids and helps them to dream, you know.

[Interviewer]

Ivan, you have your website ivankoloff.com and you're on Twitter ikoloff. You got anything coming up that you want to plug? Anything else that you want to talk about?

[Ivan Koloff]

Yeah, it ended up, you know, fans being so nice and different people pulling together for matter of fact coming out in January. I believe he said the documentary be ready that a lot of fans had a part in not only raising money to put the documentary together to friend Michael Elliott into the Charlotte area, but he's going to be coming out in January with that. I'll have it on my site and he'll have it on his site too. Elbow Elbow Press I think his name of his company type thing. And also they go to my author of my book that you mentioned earlier is that Wrestling fake the Bare Facts by the cola. Scott Thiel is the author. He's done several books on different guys at his is crowbarpress.com and I got Facebooks and all that stuff. But. And my daughter is a gospel singer and she is great. She's got her babies singing with her sometimes. Their group is called Highway Revival. Of course. My book is crowbar press.com and check out my size. You would folks. It's Ivan cold off.com and got my different stuff on there from pictures and all that. And it really helps. If you feel like you'd like to donate to my ministry, just go to ivacolo.com and the PayPal is hooked up to that. Or just send it to my address here and there. It would be a big help. I really appreciate you folks over the years, Ben, and look forward to hearing this playback.

[Interviewer]

Ivan, it was good talking to you. I'm a big fan of your work and glad to hear you're doing good. And we'll see one of these days about getting that hip fixed, kid.

[Ivan Koloff]

Yeah, my big thing now is I want to see Vince used me in the hall of fame there. I want to get up there and say hello to all my friends before I hang it up here. No, I'm still good for a few miles yet. But I guess I wouldn't be good in the ring unless I had an awful weak opponent. But I was trying to get a hold of the office up there, you know Steve, because I had a suggestion for the Russian guy. I really think they put a lot of stuff on him a Lot of heat on it. I can't get nobody to call me back.

[Interviewer]

There's been several Russians throughout the history of our illustrious business of professional wrestling which they now call sports entertainment. What are your thoughts on the sports entertainment?

[Ivan Koloff]

Yeah, I really like it. The idea that now they're able to do something. I really thought at first it was they were making a big mistake having, you know, more or less go show business with it like out there to the people. But I really think that Vince has got something there. It's just the idea of keeping the intersop. Everybody can be critical of stuff and find fault with it. Listen to me, whenever you got guys that athletes like these got out there doing the stuff they're doing today, man, he talked about guys that take great shape and work so hard, you know, got to be getting hurt.

[Interviewer]

What do you like about this Ruschev kid?

[Ivan Koloff]

Yeah, I think he's good and he's a good sized guy and I like the stuff he does, man. He's able to kick the diary in the face.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, he's good. I think the girl adds a lot to him. I think he's very aggressive, powerful. He's not trying to say too much on his promos. They're very simple. I like the kid a lot. He's still got a long ways to go. He's relatively green, but I think he's going to be a big star.

[Ivan Koloff]

Yeah, I'd like to suggest something for him up there that I think would work good as a finish day for him. Gotta talk to the right guys, you know, about introduced it.

[Interviewer]

Well, if anybody would know, it would be you who had tremendous success as a Russian coming from Canada. But I'll pass along the thought that you're trying to reach out to them and we'll see if we can hook you guys up.

[Ivan Koloff]

Yeah, I think I just want them to listen if they know good, fine. I don't want to just talk to anybody up there, you know, I wanted to talk to somebody that hurt the business.

[Interviewer]

Well, all right, Ivan, I appreciate your time. It was great talking to you.

[Ivan Koloff]

You too, Steve. God bless you. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

[Interviewer]

Merry Christmas to you.

[Ivan Koloff]

Hope to get to see you here in the future one of these days.

[Interviewer]

That'd be great to shake your hand. Thank you very much.

[Ivan Koloff]

Yes, sir. God bless you. Bye bye.

[Steve Austin Show Announcer]

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