Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Gateway Interview

TOMMY YOUNG PART 3


PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

PART 5

DC: You mention Sonny Fargo. When you started with Crockett late in 1975, most of the refs were retired wrestlers, or wrestlers on the verge of retiring…Angelo Martinelli, Johnny Heidman, El Gaucho and Greg Peterson. Did any of these guys really help or influence you when you were starting out?

 

Tommy: No, none of them did.

 

You have to remember; I was 28 at the time and was basically brought in and made the top referee in Mid-Atlantic right away by George Scott. So, naturally, I was hated by Martinelli and some of the other referees. I was young and had a different style.

 

Fargo did the “roughhouse” thing back and forth from Tennessee , going up there and working with his brother. Greg Peterson was doing both…wrestling and refereeing. Gaucho was doing a little of both…but he was a great guy. Martinelli hated me…just hated me.

 

DB: What was the deal with Martinelli in particular?

 

Tommy: Everybody hated Martinelli, and Martinelli hated everybody else. This was just a hateful man, that’s all there was to it. It was a shame. Angelo Mosca told me one time that Martinelli was complaining to him about nobody liking him…well, Martinelli never did anything to make people like him.

 

But Martinelli was a favorite of old man Crockett, Sr. Martinelli died not that long after I started with Crockett.

 

George: I’m thinking of another referee that came along a few years later… Stu Schwartz. What did you think of Stu.

 

Tommy: He did things I’d never have the balls to do. He’d tell one guy one finish, and his opponent another. Real funny, huh?

 

George: Gosh!

 

DB: As a rib?

 

Tommy: Yeah ribbing, but a dirty rib.

 

DC: One of the all-time ‘ribbers’ was Johnny Valentine. Do you have any good stories on Johnny?

 

Tommy: Yeah, Johnny Valentine was kind of vicious with some of his ribs.

 

I wasn’t at this one, but some stories just get around. Valentine was wrestling Luis Martinez at the old Atlanta Auditorium. There they actually dressed on the stage with the curtain down, kind of like in Columbia , SC.

 

Well, Luis was totally naked except for his boots on and bending over to get something. At the same time, Valentine pulls the curtain up. Luis had his fanny to the audience…and the audience was dying, they were laughing so hard. (everybody is laughing)

 

After that, you can’t really show your face in that building again…people are always going to remember that. (everybody is still laughing)

 

DB: More Valentine stories!

 

Tommy: Valentine did something else real dirty. You remember the Alaskan, Jay York? I actually wrestled York in my very brief career as a wrestler.

 

Anyway, Jay had a problem with asthma. After the matches, he would come back and get his primatene mist, or whatever it’s called…an inhaler of some sort. Good ol’ Johnny decides to put lighter fluid in the inhaler…

 

George: My gosh!

 

Tommy: …Jay was coming back wheezing, and they said he was in agony.

 

When Jay realized Valentine did it, he went out to his car and came back in with a gun.

 

Valentine was getting ready to leave, York stopped him and told John to put his bag down. When he did, Jay blew a hole in his bag. Jay told John, ‘next time where do you think I’ll be aiming.’

 

Needless to say, Valentine didn’t try any more ribs on Jay. 

 

DC: Were you the victim of any good ribs?

 

Tommy: I was prone to ribs, because as a referee you’re in the ring all night. Back when I was doing it, it was the whole show so anybody could mess with my stuff.

 

Geoff Portz got me good one time. (laughs) (Editor’s note: Portz performed in JCP in the late 1970’s as Mr. X #2)

 

We were in Savannah , GA , and he glued my shoes to the floor! (everybody laughs)

 

I noticed my shoes didn’t want to move, so I stood up and said ‘what the hell.’ I’m pulling (laughs) and the tile came up and I was walking around like I had clogs on. (everybody laughs)

 

That was a good rib and funny as hell…I’ve laughed at that one many times since.

 

Charles: Curt Hennig tried to get me one time…put a turtle in my bag. He wanted the turtle to get on the plane and then explode in my bag, but I found it first.

 

DB: That’s sick!

 

DC: I had heard that Curt was kind of like the modern-day Johnny Valentine as far as pranks.

 

Tommy: Curt was?

 

Charles: Oh yes.

 

Tommy: It was really a shame that Curt passed away recently.

 

DB: Another wrestler who has also made the news recently, not in a good way, is Lex Luger. Tommy, what are your thoughts on Lex?

 

Tommy: I know Lex has some issues going on now outside of wrestling.

 

I always thought he was flaky, but I liked Lex. And he depended very heavily on the   referee…very heavily. Lex always wanted me to do his matches. He really tried, but he just didn’t fit in this profession.

 

Flair was tailor-made for this profession…Lex wasn’t. But I feel sorry for Lex now…I hope it all works out for him.

 

DB: From the outside looking in, it didn’t seem like Lex had a passion for the business.

 

Tommy: No, he didn’t…I’m sure he wasn’t the only one to be that way but having that passion helps. But, did he have a body.

 

DC: And he got pushed so hard so fast. The very first time he stepped into a wrestling arena Wahoo put him over for a title…the Southern Heavyweight Title I believe.

 

Tommy: Wow…that’s something. I’m surprised Wahoo would have done that.

 

DB: Speaking of Wahoo McDaniel, what are your memories of the Chief?

 

Tommy: He was a hard worker, but he did something really dirty to me that I couldn’t forget.

 

Wahoo alienated a lot of people…he had hardly any friends when he died.

 

DB: That’s too bad.

 

Tommy: He did it to himself. If he liked you he’d do anything for you, but at the end after he retired he got scared I guess. I don’t know why…he was getting a football pension for the rest of his life.

 

He’s one of those people that never realized that it was over. You’re not a superstar anymore…it’s over. Just move on to something else.

 

DC: You hear that George? It’s over. (laughs)

 

Tommy: Come on David…he ain’t done. (laughs) George still gets in there.

 

Charles: He’s a great talent.

 

George: I want to see Tommy make a comeback!

 

Hey, Dick and David showed me the tape of a match of Flair and me on TBS this morning. That was something! Flair didn’t want to work that morning…he hated wrestling in the mornings…but Dusty ( Rhodes ) made him. To get back at Dusty, Flair sold that whole match. I was never so blowed up in my life!

 

DB: That was really a great match, George. I thought you had the ‘Nature Boy!’

 

DC: We all know about that ‘Nature Boy,’ Ric Flair. But Tommy, tell us a little bit about ‘Nature Boy’ Buddy Landell.

 

Tommy: He was one talented guy, but his personal life got him. I used to chew him out…‘dammit Buddy.’ He said, (Tommy using his best Buddy Landell impersonation) ‘You’re right, Tommy, you’re right.’

 

DC: Another guy that was big in the mid 1980’s was Jimmy Valiant. What did you think of the ‘ Boogie Man.

 

Tommy: You know, Valiant and I were a lot alike in one respect. We were both quiet in the locker room, but we both had a completely different personality when we got into the ring.

 

DB: (Talking to Charles Robinson ) Before I forget, I almost emailed you last Monday after you got speared by Goldberg. That looked vicious!(Editor’s note: Charles Robinson took a spear from Bill Goldberg on a WWE show about a week before this interview was conducted)

 

Tommy: I called Charles after it happened. It scared me. Bill really got him, really. You know if I called you, I thought you were hurt.

 

Charles: I had all kinds of guys call me. I didn’t even feel it. Goldberg took care of me.

 

Tommy: He felt it…Charles is just being a pro!

 

Charles: I called Goldberg at home the next day and thanked him.

 

Continued in PART FOUR