Chappell: When you were
doing the Privates angle with
Nelson, that was the first time
as fans we’d heard Don Kernodle
on the mic, doing promos and
interviews!
Kernodle: That’s how you
learn. And Nelson and I were a
great tag team.
Chappell: Mid-Atlantic
Tag Team Champions!
Kernodle: (laughs)
I’ll tell ya’ll something funny
about a title match me and
Nelson had for the Mid-Atlantic
Tag Team Titles. Nelson
and I wrestled at that black
college just on the other side
of the Virginia
border…Lawrenceville?
Chappell: Oh yeah?! I
work in Lawrenceville! Talk
about a small world!
Kernodle: You work there?
Chappell: Yep…in
Lawrenceville! You’re talking
about St. Paul’s
College…wrestling at the
Taylor-Whitehead Gym!
Kernodle: That’s it!
That’s where me and Nelson won
the Mid-Atlantic Championship
for the first time! We won it
there…we beat Jay Youngblood and
Porkchop Cash.
Chappell: Dick, looks
like Don has filled in a missing
title change for us!
Bourne: That was one of
the holes in our title history!
Chappell:
Little ol’
Lawrenceville…home of a
Mid-Atlantic Championship
Wrestling title change!
Unbelievable!!
Kernodle: But guys, get
this, we didn’t even know we
were going to win!
Chappell: Say what?
Kernodle: Yeah! Ole was
booking…and he didn’t tell us!
Chappell/Bourne:
(laughing)
Kernodle: We had a finish
that we thought we were doing…to
lose! We hadn’t been champions
yet…we were just wrestling
together.
All of a sudden, we were going
into our deal and we thought we
were gonna lose…and I covered
Youngblood. The referee counted
ONE, TWO and I thought Jay was
gonna kick out…and then THREE!!
I said, ‘HOLY CRAP, we’re in ALL
kinds of trouble! Why the hell
didn’t he kick out?'
Chappell/Bourne:
(laughing)
Kernodle: But they pulled
a joke on us! They didn’t even
tell us we were gonna win the
belts that night! And I came in
the dressing room and I said,
‘Son of a bitch…we’re in trouble
now. He didn’t kick out! We beat
these guys and we weren’t
supposed to!! What the hell!!’
Chappell/Bourne:
(laughing)
Kernodle: Come to find
out…Ole was laughing his ass
off!!
Chappell: So, the title
change in Lawrenceville held up?
Kernodle: Oh yeah, we
were supposed to win the belts.
They just didn’t tell us ahead
of time. They did it as a joke!
We won the damn belts, when we
thought we were losing!
Chappell/Bourne:
(laughing)
Kernodle: The first time
Nelson and I won the
Mid-Atlantic Championship, we
won it there in Lawrenceville,
and we didn’t even know we were
gonna win!
Chappell: What a great
story!
Kernodle: That was a spot
show. That wasn’t a regular show
like in Richmond or Lynchburg.
It was just a little ol’ spot
show!
But I swear that happened!
Chappell: Oh, I have NO
doubt, Don! I can’t imagine
you’d ever remember
Lawrenceville, Virginia unless
something REALLY unusual
happened there!!
Kernodle/Bourne:
(laughing)
Kernodle: Ole pulled a
damn rib on us! He was one of
the worst at doing that! He
could pull some crap on you!
Chappell: Wasn’t this
about the time Crockett was
doing some big shows in Canada?
Kernodle: Yeah, that’s
about when Crockett opened up
Buffalo and up in Toronto. And
some of the big boys down here
really didn’t want to go up
there, because it wasn’t a bread
and butter situation. They were
making huge money down here, so
they didn’t want to go up there.
Chappell: But you and
Nelson did, didn’t you? I seem
to remember you all being in a
lot of promo ads from Toronto.
Kernodle: We went up
there! Weaver was the boss. He
and Boogie Woogie [Jimmy
Valiant] were partners. And me
and Nelson were a top tag team
up there.
Like I said, we were
Mid-Atlantic Champions. And we
went up there, and we were a
great team. We really got over
good up there. We were like the
hottest tag team up there. And
when we got that thing going,
then everybody else wanted to go
up there then!
Chappell: Figuring there
was money to be made!
Kernodle: Yeah, all the
big boys wanted to come up there
and make a lot of money! But
we’d pioneered it…I guess that’s
what you’d call it.
Weaver was the boss, and Weaver
really liked us.
Chappell: Were the angles
and such different up there in
Canada?
Kernodle: I used do some
crazy interviews up there!
Bourne: I would have
loved to have seen all that!
Kernodle: I told Weaver
one time that I wanted to do an
interview with a dozen roses…and
say that the Queen of England
sent them to me!
Chappell/Bourne:
(laughing)
Kernodle: At that time, I
was the Canadian Television
Champion and one half of the
World Tag Team Champions.
You know, I didn’t get out there
and act tough or growl…try to be
mean. I was a smart-ass! I’d
smile, show my dimples and say
crazy stuff. People knew it was
BS, but that’s how I got my
heat…
Chappell: It was very
effective!
Kernodle: Sarge used to
tell me, “Kernodle, you can get
more heat than anybody I’ve ever
seen!”
Chappell: And that was a
big difference, Don, because
before you became Private
Kernodle, you had been the
consummate good guy…the
Mid-Atlantic good guy!
Kernodle:
See, David, I was from here.
I am a Mid-Atlantic wrestler…
Chappell: Right…right.
Kernodle: I wrestled high
school here, I wrestled college
here, and I wrestled most of my
[professional] career here. I am
a Mid-Atlantic wrestler…from the
start to the finish.
Chappell: I think you’re
the only wrestler in the
Mid-Atlantic era that can say
that, Don!
Kernodle: You’re right.
So, yeah, I told Weaver that I
got an idea tonight. I want to
buy a dozen roses, and come out
and act like the Queen of
England sent them to me. Weaver
said, “I’ll get ‘em; I’ll get ‘em!”
So Weaver brings me a dozen
roses!
Chappell: Sounds like
Johnny got into it!
Kernodle: Yeah! And I
made me a little card…like the
Queen had sent it to me. I
pulled it out, and I said,
‘Oh…from the Queen??’
Chappell/Bourne:
(laughing)
Chappell: And I’m sure
you had to read its contents to
the TV audience?
Kernodle: It said, ‘To
Don Kernodle…the GREATEST
Canadian TV Champion and World
Tag Team Champion EVER! I really
appreciate you coming from the
United States up here. You’re
the greatest champion of all
time…may you reign forever!
Signed…Queen Elizabeth.’
Chappell/Bourne:
(laughing)
Kernodle: Man, that got
some heat!
Chappell: I bet!
Kernodle: Me and Nelson
had so much heat up there, man,
and there wasn’t enough security
up there. I’m telling you, man,
I used to leave Weaver bleeding
in the ring…and you’d have to
fight your way back to the
dressing room. They were mostly
converted hockey rinks up there.
It was unbelievable!
Chappell: You and Jim
Nelson really worked well
together.
Kernodle: I love Jim
Nelson! He’s a good friend.
Nelson was a good partner. And
he was a great
worker...excellent worker. He
was young, and he was a fast
learner.
Chappell: But it was
Private Kernodle, rather than
Private Nelson, that would soon
after become NWA World Tag Team
Champions with Sergeant
Slaughter. How did that go down?
Kernodle: How it happened
about me and Sarge becoming
World Tag Team Champions…Jim
Crockett just asked me one day
whether I’d be interested in
doing it. What are you going to
say, ‘No, I’m not interested in
doing it!’
Chappell: (laughs) Yeah,
tell Crockett I’ll get back to
you later on that!
Kernodle: They were gonna
get rid of Nelson, the whole
'Privates' angle had run its
course. But we convinced them to
let him stay. And we did stuff
with him. You remember the deal
where he showed Steamboat and
Youngblood how to get out of the
cobra clutch?
Chappell:
Definitely…
Kernodle: That was all
our idea…Sarge and me. We didn’t
want Nelson to leave. We told
Crockett, ‘Naw, naw…we can use
him. He can help us make a lot
of money.’
Bourne: Jim [Nelson] told
us that the whole thing where he
was the “spy” for Steamboat and
Youngblood…you and Sarge came up
with all of that.
Kernodle: Yeah, we did
all that. Sarge and I were
wrestling in Myrtle Beach one
night and we said, “We’ve got to
do something to make some
money.” We were wrestling in
Savannah the next day, so we
stopped at a mini mart and got a
composition book. I was driving
and Sarge was writing, and
between Myrtle Beach and
Savannah we wrote that whole
program---from start to finish!
Bourne: You mean the
program with you and Sarge
against Steamboat and
Youngblood?
Kernodle: Yeah, Steamboat
and Youngblood…and that thing
with Tommy Peterson!
Chappell: (laughs) The
Tommy Peterson thing was so
great!
Kernodle: Tommy Peterson
was the sick boy, and we tore up
the picture! Do you know how
that picture came about?
Chappell: No!
Kernodle: Sarge’s wife
did the picture and
everything…she did the drawing!
Chappell: The Tommy
Peterson segment is one of my
favorites of all time. The
drawing was of Steamboat and
Youngblood as the uncrowned
World Tag Team Champions. Sarge
put his cigar out on the
drawing, and then tore the
picture up!
I remember Steamboat and
Youngblood bringing Tommy
Peterson some gifts, and ya’ll
tore them up as well! Greg
Valentine also participated.
Ya’ll seemed to be having such a
good time tearing that stuff up!
Kernodle: We came up with
everything…all the way to the
cage match.
Bourne: Who was actually
the head booker for Crockett at
this time?
Kernodle: Dory Funk, Jr.
That’s another thing, Dick.
Crockett told Dory, “I want them
to run their program. Let them
do whatever they want to do.”
And that’s what happened. Sarge
and I ran that program. Usually
you have to do what they want
you to do. You might disagree,
but you have to do what the boss
wants. But [Crockett] let us do
that. If we wrestled in Mount
Airy [North Carolina], we
controlled it. If we wrestled in
Greensboro, Richmond…we had
control over it.
Chappell: Pretty unusual.
Kernodle: That’s why that
program went so long. Most
programs don’t go that long. It
lasted a long time, and we made
a LOT of money!
Chappell: That was a
program for the ages!
Particularly that March 12, 1983
cage match, where Steamboat and
Youngblood won the titles from
you and Sarge. If they had lost,
their tag team combination would
have been dissolved.
Kernodle: We sold out
that cage match. We sold out the
Greensboro Coliseum, and they
turned away 20,000
people!
Chappell: Wow…that many
people were turned away?
Kernodle: The police told
us that…the police told us that
20,000 people were turned away.
Chappell: And I remember
hearing the stories about how
far the traffic was backed up on
I-85 in Greensboro.
Kernodle: Even with the
ACC Tournament…nothin’ ever
happened like that.
Chappell:
Why do you think that
program with Steamboat and
Youngblood caught fire like
that?
Kernodle: The main reason
that it was hot…is because I was
a good guy; I was from here. I
had never let the people down. I
had always been an ass kisser,
you know, doin’ stuff for the
fans and hugging babies.
They couldn’t believe that Don
Kernodle did that. They couldn’t
believe it!
Chappell: You certainly
did surprise everybody when you
went over to the dark side!
Kernodle: I left my
partner in the ring like a piece
of crap, getting his ass
whipped. Left with Sarge on TV
that night in Charlotte. And it
pissed the people off.
They couldn’t believe I did that
to ‘em. I’d been that good boy
for so long, the All-American
boy.
Chappell: Shocking
conduct out of you, Don!
Kernodle: Then Sarge
talked with me, “Come on, you
come with me and I’ll make you a
champion.”
Like a Drill Sergeant does. He
takes an 18 year old boy, and
turns him into a man. It was all
real…it came off as real.
Chappell: It really did.
Kernodle: He said, “Okay
Kernodle, you’re a good
wrestler, but you just need some
guidance. I’ll turn you into a
real man; I’ll turn you into a
champion. Come on, go with me.”
Chappell: I remember in
the weeks leading up to your
heel turn on TV in mid February
of 1982, Sarge had been
“recruiting” you to be a
Private.
And
the week after your turn, Johnny
Weaver and Ray Stevens were
really putting you over on TV in
your first tag match teamed with
Jim Nelson!
But back to the cage match in
Greensboro on March 12th,
that was bloody!
Kernodle: That was the
bloodiest match I can remember,
and it was on me! I lost the
World’s Championship that night,
and lost a ton of blood!
Chappell: Did you ever!
Kernodle: And you know,
when we were in the ring, Sarge
and I thought about having Sarge
turn on me in the ring that
night!
Chappell: Whoa!
Kernodle: That would have
been the hottest thing…
Chappell: Oh yeah!
Kernodle: There I was
bleeding like hell. We were
talking about it in the ring!
Sarge was saying, “Can you
imagine how big it would be if I
turned on you right now?!” And I
was saying, ‘Yeah it would…it
would!’ I always wanted to be a
good guy in my hometown…in that
type of situation.
Chappell: That could have
been huge…
Kernodle: Here’s another
thing that older wrestlers used
to tell us…they said the people
don’t believe in younger
wrestlers or local wrestlers.
Local guys, like me…
Chappell: Sounds like
they were trying to keep you
down…
Kernodle: Yeah! You’re
not old enough, you’re local,
blah, blah, blah. That’s crazy!
If Duke and Carolina play in
basketball at Duke…Duke’s the
good guy. If they go 20 miles
over to Carolina and play the
next night…Carolina’s the good
guy. Now, who in their right
mind ain’t gonna pull for a home
town person?
Chappell: Absolutely.
Kernodle: You’re gonna
pull for somebody that you love
and they’re from your home town.
Like Kellie Pickler…who’s not
gonna like her if they live in
Albemarle, [North Carolina]? Or
like Dale Earnhardt…if they’re
from Charlotte?
I found out later, stuff like
that was the older wrestlers
trying to keep you down. It was
always, “just wait till you get
a little older; just wait a
little while longer.”
Chappell: Well, if
Slaughter had turned on you at
the end of the cage match on
March 12th, we
wouldn’t have gotten to see all
those great return matches for
the next two months with you and
Sarge against Steamboat and
Youngblood!
Being the local guy and living
in Burlington during this red
hot program…how was it being a
heel when emotions were running
so high?
Kernodle: (pauses) I did
have a home here, and another
home as well. It was hard…there
was a lot of heat.
See, Sarge and I had a lot of
heat, and we were a tough team.
But, also, the people respected
us.
Chappell: For sure.
Kernodle: They respected
us as wrestlers. You know, they
didn’t see us pull a lot of hair
and do all that stuff like a lot
of heels had done.
They just knew we were rough,
tough guys…we came to wrestle.
We’d do whatever it took to win.
But we weren’t doing cheap heat
stuff, you know…like pulling
tights.
We were tough enough to just
really wrestle…that’s the reason
we got over. That, and we also
did things that never had been
done before…
Chappell: That’s right,
you all did do some awesome new
moves like the atomic bomb…
Bourne: And the Slaughter
cannon…
Kernodle: We tried to use
a lot of new wrestling holds.
Our strategy, and we tried to
make it believable, was we’d
work on the neck. If somebody is
not working from [the neck]
up…they’re finished.
You know, their head and brain
controls everything…so if we
work from the neck up and injure
their neck---they’re done. That
was our philosophy.
Bourne: Along those
lines, I remember that match
from Greensboro that they showed
on TV, where you injured Jay
Youngblood with that clothesline
off the top rope. Holy cow, that
was unbelievable!
Kernodle: Oh yeah, we got
a lot of heat for that too!
And you know, guys, Steamboat
and Youngblood were such a great
team! If you couldn’t get over
wrestling them, then you never
could! And if you have Sergeant
Slaughter as your partner, and
you’re wrestling Steamboat and
Youngblood and if you can’t do
any good, then buddy you might
as well go on back home!
Chappell/Bourne:
(laughing)
Kernodle: But you know,
guys, everything just happened
to gel with that program. It was
at a time when the business was
down a little bit around here.
Everything just fell into place.
Our matches looked believable.
They were tight, solid…solid
matches. If we had to hurt each
other a little bit, we didn’t
care!
Bourne: Do you still have
that shirt you wore to the ring
for that cage match?
Kernodle: Oh, I still got
that! I wasn’t a bad-ass,
hollering, growling type heel. I
was a smart-ass. So that’s why I
put that shirt on that night.
The date…
Bourne: And it was the
date after the show, right?
Kernodle: It was the date
of the show, March 12, on the
front. And on the back it said
something like “March
13--Slaughter And Kernodle Still
World Tag Team Champions.”
Bourne: Okay…I gotcha!
Kernodle: See guys, we
did everything we could do in
that program. We had to lose
that night…or Steamboat and
Youngblood’s credibility was
gone.
But we still did that finish to
give us a little opening…
Chappell: How so?
Kernodle: See, we really
didn’t lose that night! You
noticed that?
Bourne: I was trying to
remember the finish…
Kernodle: Steamboat put
Jay on top of me…in other words,
I really didn’t get
beat---legally. That was my and
Sergeant’s finish. Because we
always wanted to leave it like
that just in case…
Chappell: You could
always use that as future angle…
Kernodle: We could have
come back with it, you know.
We could have said, “Kernodle
didn’t really get beat…if you
look right here, Steamboat put
Youngblood on Kernodle.
Youngblood was out, and he just
laid him across there. He didn’t
beat Kernodle!”
Chappell: A very logical
argument, there, Don!
Bourne: I used to love it
when you explained things
rationally like that. You’d get
David Crockett spittin’ mad! He
couldn’t give you an answer in
return…he just sputtered!
Chappell: And, Don, as
great as the March 12th
match was in Greensboro, I think
people sometimes forget how
amazing those return matches
were. You and Sarge chasing to
get the titles back, with the
losing team never able to
wrestle in that town again!
Kernodle: Oh yeah…and
that was all our idea, David.
You see, Steamboat and
Youngblood never had anything to
do with planning this program.
It was all me and Sarge. We just
went to them, and asked if
they’d be willing to wrestle us
with such and such idea…and then
we’d go to Crockett the next day
and talk to him about it.
Chappell: And they were
cage matches, and those were
done in a bunch of different
towns around the territory.
Kernodle: We did those
all over…everywhere.
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