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I Got Drunk With Harley Race

Posted: Aug 7th 2019 By: Carmine Despirito

I was contemplating booking Harley for some time. I remember asking Abby about him back in 95. Abby said he probably wouldn't do it. You see, Harley up to this point, he NEVER did an Indie wrestling show. Maybe some local appearances with his own promotion, but really nothing else.

At the time, Colt Cabana and CM Punk were having the greatest, most innovative, ingenious matches. They worked a few times, in fact their MAW debut match was like their third match in the business. (I'm sure there's records of this. LMK if I'm wrong) Definitely, especially in retrospect, I'd say as a promoter, this was my "Flair-Steamboat". Which by the way are available on smartmarkvideo.com 😉

Prior to 2001, I brought in many legends...The Baron, Da Crusher, Mad Dog, Tricky Nicky, The Sodbuster, Billy Robinson, Abdullah, Iron Sheik, Bam Bam, Capt Lou, Moolah and many others. But I never had the "Best On God's Green Earth".

I forgot how I got his number. I nervously called. We had a great talk. We laughed. I dropped some names. He agreed to come in for a reasonable price. (Sorry, I'm old school. I still believe that paydays should always be kept confidential) I talked him into guest refereeing the finals of a one night tournament for the MAW World Title. The finals were Punk vs Cabana.

My old pal, Rocco Male aka Rev Axl Future and I were wondering and pontificating about Harley's choice of liquor. I remember walking up to bar with him, and asking him, what he drank and that my friend and I, narrowed our guess down to Scotch or Bourbon. He ordered Vodka! (A favorite of Capt Lou, too!) I asked him, what kind of vodka, he said " Rail is fine". I said to the bartender, "You will only serve Mr. Race, Absolut Vodka." I felt it disrespectful to serve him some nasty well liquor. This was Harley "friggin" Race! We drank for hours at the bar. He was a great bar companion. He told me, "The only reason why I came in for you, is because Crusher put you over...He said, you would treat me well. Thank you. You did". We got along great.

I wanted to drink toe to toe with him. And I did!
There was a story in WWE Mag, that Punk told of him and Ace driving Harley home, and The King puked on the roof of their car. That was THAT night!

He was a great man in the business. One of the last true tough guys. Idolized by the Dynamite Kid. Revered for decades as a true legend.

Rest easy, Champ.