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Honky Tonk Man Visits Portage

Posted: Mar 19th 2012 By: CMBurnham

The Honky Tonk Man brought a bit of old school flavour to the Portage la Prairie Mall on Saturday as he stopped in town to meet classic wrestling fans of the WWE.

Fans both young and old stop in front of the Honky Tonk's booth to discuss his past matches and theme music while others received signed photos or action figures from the Honky Tonk himself.

"I watch it, I love it and I have all the oldies," said Ricky Saltise, a classic WWE (then-WWF) fan from the 80s. "I grew up watching Hulk Hogan, The Macho Man Randy Savage and all the greats. I followed his reign. It's kind of crappy how he lost, but hey it's Vince's (McMahon) choice, you know. PG sucks. It's wrecking it but hey, I watch it still."

Fans and the Honky Tonk couldn't help but get a little nostalgic on this day as comparisons to the WWE today and back then were drawn in the sand.

"It was such a long hard grind we had doing 60 to 70 shows without a day off and then you got a day off and it was to wash clothes," he said.

"It went by so fast and I wish it hadn't so I could have enjoyed it a little more but we worked so hard that we didn't have time to enjoy anything. That was the downside. The upside was that I got to live the dream that I always wanted to live and that was to be in pro sports or entertainment."

The WWE continues to find success with their PG model, different from the old days where guys like the Honky Tonk, Hulk Hogan, 'The Macho Man' Randy Savage, and the Ultimate Warrior found fame.

The Honky Tonk admitted that he doesn't watch the big show that much anymore.

"It's a different product. It's a television product now and when we were there, it was more wrestling-event driven in terms of us going to the towns and make sure the arenas had a big crowd," he said.

"They're not so concerned about that now. They use the travelling shows as a tune up for big Monday nights and the pay-per-views so it's a television ratings type of show now more than anything."

Overall, the Honky Tonk Man seemed to enjoy the people and take pride in the appearances he made on the road.

"I love coming out and doing these kind of things. I don't get a chance to be up close and personal with the fans and everyone has been really great so far today and I'm glad to be here."