• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

Still Strummin' Along

Posted: Nov 24th 2006 By: CMBurnham

They booed him when he called himself the greatest Intercontinental champion of all time. They booed him when he smashed his guitar over the head of "Macho Man" Randy Savage.

That was more than 15 years ago, though - these days, the Honky Tonk Man hears only cheers from wrestling fans.

"I'm the good guy now, and for some reason, the fans like it that way," he said. "It's one of those things where, 'we hated you for so long and we're just glad to see you.'"

Now in his early 50s, the Honky Tonk Man is keeping as busy as ever, wrestling some 60-70 events per year in North America and Europe.

"If I make it through May of next year it will be 30 years [wrestling] and I'm blessed to be able to do this, to do something I have fun doing," he said.

He's left an impression on pro wrestling in those 30 years. He defeated Jake "the Snake" Roberts in front of 90,000 fans at WrestleMania III in Detroit in 1987. He won the World Wrestling Federation's Intercontinental championship from Ricky Steamboat later that year and held onto the title for 15 months.

Despite the accomplishments, the Honky Tonk Man hasn't yet been enshrined in the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame while other wrestlers of dubious merit have made the cut.

"I've had some ownership issues with [the WWE] as far as the ownership of [my] name and things of that nature," he said. "I haven't played ball with them, and if you don't play ball with them, then you don't play ball in their park."

Instead, he's coming to Beban Park. This Saturday (Nov. 25), the Honky Tonk Man will wrestle at the Centennial Building, taking on Dru Onyx for the National Wrestling Alliance North American championship.

The crowd won't be anything like it was at WrestleMania, but small shows do have advantages.

"It's being able to be close to fans and interact," said the Honky Tonk Man. "I can get there an hour early and sign autographs, take photos with the fans and do those things that I enjoy doing."

While he likes to participate, the Honky Tonk Man isn't inclined to watch pro wrestling on TV Monday nights.

"I'm usually watching the football," he said. "After 30 years, I don't particularly care about watching it anymore. I'm not going to learn any new tricks, I can tell you that."

Some of today's pro wrestlers learned some tricks from the Honky Tonk Man, though. Six-time NWA champ Jeff Jarrett has won many matches with the guitar shot, one of the Honky Tonk Man's finishing manoeuvres.

"Some people say it's flattering that someone would do that and take something that you created -

I call it a lack of professionalism, probably, on his part," said the Honky Tonk Man.


He also feels Jarrett has over-used the move.

"When I do it, or when I did it, it always had some meaning and it wasn't something that was done every night of the week," he said.

That being said, fans will be hoping to see him use the move in his match Saturday against Onyx, and the Honky Tonk Man may be willing to oblige.

"Maybe the guitar does look good as a necktie around somebody-" he said. "[Onyx] should get ready for my guitar playing a brutal tune."

Island talent on card


Besides the Honky Tonk Man, there will be plenty of other wrestlers to cheer for Saturday night.

Ice, who is from Nanaimo, will be trying to win the NWA Canadian Junior Heavyweight Championship in a triple-threat ladder match against the champ, MR2, and Memphis Raines.

Cremator, from Port Alberni, and his partner Abbadon will look to defend their tag-team belts against "Mr. Beefy Goodness" Vance Nevada and Seth Knight.

Ladysmith's Marty Sugar will also be in action, taking on Junior.

NWA Supergirls champ Nikki Matthews will defend her belt against Aurora and Pyro in another triple-threat match.

Other matches on the card include an extreme-rules tag match and a singles match featuring Scotty Mac.

Tickets for the event range from $12-20 and are available at Music Maxx, Cyber City and the Beban Park box office. Tickets will also be available at the door.

Bell time is 8 p.m.