Chappell: Well, now,
after you had the run with Ric,
you left the Mid-Atlantic area
soon after dropping the U.S.
Title to Ricky Steamboat in the
spring of 1984.
When you came back to the area
later in 1984, you returned as a
babyface against Tully Blanchard
and JJ Dillon’s Longriders, and
you had some Bunkhouse matches
with them. Why the switch to a
babyface? In the Mid-Atlantic
area, we had not seen that side
of you before!
Slater: The babyface
thing…was a little bit of a
strange time. I never changed my
style at all…
Chappell: You sure
didn’t! Of course, you had
wrestled as a babyface in other
areas before that. Did you enjoy
the heel persona better?
Slater: Well…I mean, it’s
all according to who you
wrestle. If I wrestled someone
like Abdullah The Butcher, or
Stan Hansen, or Bruiser Brody…
Chappell: I understand
what you’re saying Dick…it was a
little hard to have a scientific
match with those guys!
Slater: I wrestled Piper
when he was a babyface and I was
a heel, and when he was a heel
and I was a babyface. I could
adapt to that.
Chappell: Like you were
saying earlier, that was a real
strength for you. You could
pretty much adapt to whatever.
Slater: Yeah…it depended
on what the circumstance was. If
it was the right card and drew
and a lot of money, and it
caused a lot of attention and
people would watch it…that was
fine. But if it didn’t…it didn’t
feel right.
And it depended on being with
great workers…and there were a
lot of them with Crockett. All
those guys…like working with
Flair, working with Wahoo or
with Greg Valentine. Or working
with Ricky Steamboat…but Ricky
Steamboat couldn’t switch to be
a heel, you understand?
Chappell: I’m glad you
mentioned Ricky Steamboat. As
great as he was as a consummate
babyface, do you think his
legacy is somewhat diminished in
that he never worked as a heel?
Slater: He just didn’t
have that perspective…that
persona himself. Those traits of
a heel…he didn’t have them
himself.
Chappell: By not having
the ability to switch between a
babyface and a heel…do you think
that holds Steamboat down maybe
a notch below the very, very
tops in the business?
Slater: Yeah…exactly. You
know, you gotta be able to
adapt, and do whatever it takes
to draw money.
Chappell: Dick, you could
definitely adapt well, as you
say, but I always thought you
were a great heel!
Slater: Yeah, I mean, I
would change when it was time.
When things got stale, you
know…I changed.
Chappell: You bring up a
good point. Somebody like
Steamboat…it was pretty amazing
that he could wrestle
exclusively as a babyface, and
never really get stale. Though,
times have changed, and I doubt
whether he could have survived
as the ‘goody two shoes’ he came
across as…in today’s
environment!
But it was a real gift to be
able to switch back and forth so
effortlessly in the 70s and
80s…like you were able to do
Slater: It’s like being
able to walk straight into a
wrestling crowd, and being able
to switch the people, you
understand?
Chappell: You mean like
coming out for a match as a
babyface, and leaving as a
heel…or vice versa?
Slater: I could switch
you from liking me to hating
me…or I could switch you from
hating me to liking me.
Chappell: That’s a real
skill…that many couldn’t pull
off. But you could.
Slater: Right. Gettin’
booed on the way out to the
ring, and get [cheered] on the
way back to the dressing room.
And the other way too.
That was really something! They
never knew what you were gonna
do next!
Chappell: Talk about
having the audience in the palm
of your hand! You must have had
that feeling a couple of times?
Slater: That always made
me feel good, because I’d love
doing that. I enjoyed
myself…whatever it [took],
that’s what I’d do.
Chappell: After you had
your babyface run in the
Mid-Atlantic area into 1985, you
left and I guess you headed into
Watts’ territory then. Why did
you leave Crockett?
Slater: I got tired…
Chappell: Just been there
long enough?
Slater: I got tired,
because I took the job over of
booking down there…
Chappell: Right…that’s
when you were doing several
different things.
Slater: I did that, and I
was having a good run in Japan…I
mean, I was just burned out. I
was just really tired.
I got this brainstorm, I don’t
know what I was thinking about,
but Bill Watts had called me and
wanted me to go down there and
book his territory. And I said,
‘Well, I don’t know if I want to
do that.’ Then I was with Paul
Boesch in Houston…of course I
had been down there before. And
I knew Tully Blanchard and Joe
Blanchard in San Antonio…I had
worked in and out of there too,
you know?
Chappell: No doubt that
was a busy time for you…a time
many fans remember you in the
Mid-South area. Tell us about
your valet there, Dark Journey.
Slater: I was at some
nightclub down in Atlanta, and I
watched her dancing one night.
One thing led to another, and I
asked her if she wanted to be my
valet. So, I took her down [to
Mid-South] with me. Boy, did we
cause a lot of chaos!
Chappell: Lots of heat!
Slater: And about nine
lawsuits!
Chappell: (laughing)
Slater: I had more people
really mad at me down there,
than I ever did in my life.
Chappell: Because of Dark
Journey being with you?
Slater: It didn’t go over
well in some places. It got so
bad, that I couldn’t go to a few
places, you know? I had to stay
home.
It got that hot, where I had to
say, ‘I better not go in there
tonight.’ It got so hot, they
were following me in the car out
of the buildings. They were
stalking me in a few places.
Chappell: Did Watts have
any trouble with you being with
Dark Journey…a young black
woman? Watts always struck me as
being a pretty conservative guy.
Slater: Bill Watts was
kinda scared to death of the
whole thing itself…
Chappell: (laughs) That’s
sorta what I figured!
Slater: But we really
drew a lot of money, because I
created a different kind of
heat. You know what I mean?
Chappell: Very much so.
That was a very conservative
area…like I said, I was living
there at the time. And I
remember how you and her were
received in that part of the
country!
Slater: They weren’t
ready for that. Yeah…nobody was
ready for that. I surprised the
whole world with that shot!
(laughs) Where I did it [in
Mid-South]…I had a lot of balls
doin’ that! I was completely
stupid…but I’m still here!
Chappell: (laughing)
Slater: Then I walked
into the Dallas territory and,
buddy, there were a whole lot of
people not liking me!
Chappell: I believe it!
Slater: Then I’d go the
other way with it to, you know?
I’d go down to New Orleans, and
it would be the other way around
down there.
Chappell: Right…I can see
not having the same problems
there.
Slater: I would take her
dressed up one place, and she
would take me dressed up another
place.
Chappell: (laughs)
Depending on what side of the
territory you were on!
Slater: (laughs)
Depending on what side of the
street I was on!
Chappell: (laughing hard)
Gotcha!
Was the Mid-South/UWF territory
the toughest as far as travel
was concerned?
Slater: It was pretty
tough…but I had an airplane. I
had Bill Watts’ airplane.
Chappell: Okay. And you
said earlier travel in Crockett
was tough…
Slater: Travel-wise, that
was tough in Crockett. (In
Mid-South), Watts let me use his
airplane, but I still drove a
lot. His airplane was available,
and that helped.
You know what happened? Why I
left there?
Chappell: No…sure don’t.
Where did you go after that?
Slater: TBS…I went back
to book in Atlanta.
But the thing was, I had to book
three places. I had Dark
Journey, I had Bill Watts, all
the boys…and I had that great
big monkey on my back, you know
that. That took a lot of mental
stress on me.
Chappell: I can only
imagine.
Slater: Yeah, it was
pretty tough. I enjoyed it, but
it was tough. I did it for about
a year and four months. I
wrestled every night in all of
it, did all the TV’s…did them
all. Joe Blanchard had his own
TV, Watts had his own TV and
Paul Boesch had his own TV…three
TV shows!
Chappell: Good grief!
Slater: And every one of
them wanted something different.
Chappell: That was
understandable, but it had to be
tough on you.
Slater: I survived, and
actually I really had a good
time doing all of that. I never
had a bad time!
Chappell: (laughing)
Slater: But I did get
tired…so I went to Key West!
Chappell: And who could
blame you, with all that on your
plate!
Now, this was generally around
the time that Vince McMahon was
bringing everybody and their
brother up to the WWF. When did
you head up to New York?
Slater: That was about
the third time I left Florida,
and I went up there when Piper
was there.
Chappell: They brought
you up there with the southern
‘Rebel’ gimmick.
Slater: That was totally
not me at all.
Chappell: That was pretty
clear to see.
Slater: I didn’t stay
there that long with that
gimmick…I was out of there. I
just survived there. Actually, I
worked 98 straight nights in a
row there. Finally, I was in
Seattle, Washington…and I got on
an airplane and flew back to
Florida---and went down to the
Keys again.
Pat Patterson called me, he was
the booker, and he asked me what
I was doing. I told him I was
out of there, I quit, and I’m
goin’ fishing!
Chappell: That was a
different world up there, wasn’t
it?
Slater: You know David,
it wasn’t my style at all.
Chappell: Completely
different. It never seemed like
a good fit up there for you. You
didn’t seem like the Dick Slater
we all got to know and enjoy in
the Mid-Atlantic area.
Slater: No, I didn’t
think it would click there
either. I wasn’t really happy
with it.
Vince is kinda a funny guy to
know, and he wasn’t really
involved that much in it. I
mean, he was involved, but he
was involved behind doors, you
know?
Chappell: Did you have
any dealings with Vince that you
remember, or were they primarily
with Patterson and those guys?
Slater: Never had any
problems with any of them. I got
along with all of them. Never
had any problems with anybody in
the wrestling business. If
things didn’t go right, I just
got up and left!
Chappell: That’s the best
strategy sometimes!
Slater: I just moved. I
wasn’t in the right gimmick, so
I left [the WWF]. That wasn’t
me.
Chappell: Now, didn’t you
come back to Crockett, about the
time Crockett was selling out to
Turner?
Slater: Yeah, I did a
little bit then. I was running
around to so many places then,
trying to work.
Chappell: I remember in
1989, after Crockett had sold to
Turner, that you were involved
with the deal with Terry Funk
when the plastic bag was put
over Ric Flair’s head on TV…
Slater: (laughs) Yeah…I
got fired!
Chappell: I thought so.
Slater: Yeah, we put the
bag over Flair’s head on TV.
Chappell: And you know
Dick, today, that wouldn’t even
get a second glance.
Slater: We couldn’t put a
plastic bag over somebody’s head
on TV…
Chappell: Not 15 years
ago, apparently!
Slater: [Turner] fired us
both for that deal. They said
they got more letters come into
the TV station than they ever
had before.
Chappell: I have to say,
at the time, it was pretty over
the top!
Slater: (laughs) We
wanted to create some problems…
Chappell: You
accomplished that feat!
Slater: We just went
ahead and did it. Flair went
along with it…
Chappell: Flair would go
along with most anything!
Slater: Okay, so we put a
plastic bag over Flair, and he
pretended like he was dying, and
they took him out. So we left,
and did a promo…too bad for
Flair. Flair never said a word,
so they didn’t know what
happened to him.
Then the next day after it aired
on TV, that’s when the problems
came…
Chappell: Yeah…the public
spoke!
Slater: People were mad
on that one. But we were just
trying to have some fun. There
was a lot of other stuff, that
we didn’t have to worry about.
Chappell: At some level,
you could argue some of the
bloody matches on TV were no
worse than sticking a bag on
someone’s head!
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