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Interviews
Note: The interviews in this section are the property of the authors and are reprinted here with their permission. Any reproduction in any form whatsoever without their expressed permission is strictly prohibited.
Solie's Exclusives!
The Hartley Interviews
This is a series of interviews conducted by my friend Jeremy Hartley for his Internet Radio show "Up Close and Personal".
This an in-depth interviews with the Dean of Wrestling Announcers for whom this web site was named. In this interview he talks about his beginnings, what he is doing these days, and reveals, among other things, that his favorite wrestling web site (and the only one he visits regularly) is this one!
This is one of the best interviews of the lot. Steamboat talks about his early years, the guys he worked with, his family and friends and what his life is like these days.
Here is an interview conducted with the former wrestler and current business manager of Arn Anderson and Ted Dibiasi. Blackburn is also the publisher of Arn's memoir "Arn Anderson 4 Ever: Behind the Curtain" which will be coming out soon.
This is an amazing interview with the incomparable Six-Time Heavyweight Champion of the World. Thesz is arguably the greatest wrestler that ever lived and one of the very few living "Hookers" - and if you don't know what that means then you should read the interview to find out!
Here is a talk with one of the three wrestlers who adopted the "Nature Boy" moniker (with the permission of both Ric Flair and Buddy Rogers). Landel talks about his early days in the Mid-South territory among other fascinating topics. The interview was conducted by telephone on Feruary 10, 1998.
Jeremy interviewed the man who can arguably be called the "father of the Internet Wrestling Community". In it, Ryder talks about his early attraction to the sport and gives his views on where things are headed in the future.
Scott Teal is a wrestling historian who publishes a newsletter called "What Ever Happened Too..." which attempts to bring it's readers up-to-date on what is happening with their favorite athletes since they last saw them in the ring. Scott is a personal friend and his web site represents a wealth wrestling history (the URL can be found on my A-List links page).
Says Jeremy about this interview: "This will be part 1 of an interview that I conducted with wrestling Hall of Famer and Superstar extraordinaire, Les Thatcher. Thatcher has spent the better part of 38 years of his life involved in the sport of professional wrestling and he shares some of his memories with us. In Part 1, we bring you the Knoxville era, the Smoky Mountain era, all taking place in the beautiful Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. Les will recount his beginnings and some of the Superstars that he, along with Jim Ross and a few others helped induct into the Pro-Wrestling Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee on the "Night of the Legends" card, held at the Knoxville Coliseum and put on by Jim Cornette and Smoky Mountain Wrestling.
Here is a conversation with the proprietor of Scoops Wrestling News and Headlines.
Interviews from ESN
Here is a collection of interviews conducted by my friend Hitman who is a radio personality in Provo, Utah. They were originally broadcast on the Extreme Sports Network and then transcribed for Exclusive Reprint in Solie's Wrestling Newsletter.
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Interviews from various other sources.
Harley Race Interview
I don't homestly know where this came from originally, but I got it from the WAWLI Papers, which said it was from "...somewhere on the World Wide Web...".
One-On-One with the Stinger
Here's an interview with Steve Bordon AKA Sting from the Miami Herald in July of 1999
"Wild" Bill Rawlings Interviews Les Thatcher
Here's an interview with the wrestling promoter and the man in charge of the Wrestling Channel. A Solie's exclusive reprinted with permission from "Wild" Bill Rawlings and the Wrestling Authority (thanks Bill!)
Bobby Heenan
Bobby Heenan was the featured guest on a weekend half-hour SportsChannel Chicago TV show hosted by a sports talk radio guy named Mike North. It was a fascinating half-hour. Summarized here by Mike Siroky.
Most of these Prodigy chats are courtesy of the Ryder Report (thanks Bob!)
AOL Chats
Here are a collection of recent Interviews and Chat Transcripts from America On Line. Unlike the Chats conducted on Prodigy, which have been featured in my Newletter as hard news, the AOL Chats are conducted for the most part "in character" and therefore tend to be less enlightening.
They are frequently entertaining however and, occasionally, the wrestling stars "let their hair down" so to speak and reveal facets of their true personalities.
Note that some of these transcript are taken from PPV sessions. Each of these feature several personalities and tend to quite long. Enjoy.
Back to Solie's Vintage Wrestling
This page is a personal tribute and is in no way connected to any of the wrestling promotions mentioned on it. It is dedicated to the Dean of Wrestling announcers, Gordon Solie.
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Copyright 2005 Jump City Productions