I was about twenty five years old when I was given a tryout by Nelson Royal for his new company Atlantic Coast Wrestling. The tryout had been arranged by “The Russian Nightmare” Nikita Koloff. If I got the job it would cause me to stop working for WCW on a part time basis. I would be heading to Charlotte NC permanently to work for this startup company. I didn’t know much about Nelson Royal at the time. What I found out was that this guy was a working machine. I am not sure what his age was but I can tell you this that he was one hell of a worker for any age. He had a training camp and most of the kids trained there by Nelson and Gene Anderson will tell you it was no walk in the park and they weren’t being paid five hundred a week to do calisthenics.
What I found the night I got to Mooresville High School was a full house of people for the first ACW filming. I was supposed to do one match for my tryout. At some point Nelson came up to me and said they had no other referee’s that I would have to do all the matches. This was a three hour TV taping; I had been in this position before so I was ready for the challenge. When I was done they told me that I had the job. It was a good night with stars like the Rock and Roll Express and Buddy Landel. It was a real shame that the company didn’t take off. The real problem with it was Nelson was such a nice guy he tried to push too many enhancement guys from the area at one time. They were lucky enough to be on the NBC affiliate in Charlotte WCNC TV.
The other problem was that instead on Nelson just running the company he was pushing himself as a star. That was a mistake it normally is when you try to book and perform. It was a shame that the company never made it but it was a gallant effort from a sincerely good guy. I spent twelve years of my life in Concord NC. I met some of my closest friend that night of the initial TV tapings. The experience changed my life and set it in a different direction.
I was riding down the road with Paul Jones who was a big star himself in the Carolina’s. I asked him if Nelson was as good as I had heard he was. He said I will tell you this you couldn’t out work him and you sure couldn’t blow him up. He did things that made sense in the ring to the common person and was so aggressive you couldn’t help but believe in him. He was one hell of a heel in a day where people believed in our business. It was a time when people wanted to believe and even today I think they want to believe but we keep telling them it’s phony day after day.
When I see guys like Shawn Michaels I think one way or another you are going to have an exciting match. Whenever I stepped into a ring with Nelson Royal I knew it was going to be a real war and the other guy would be fighting for their life. Heaven forbid if he was trying to teach you a lesson. It was nineteen eighty eight I can hardly believe it was twenty years ago. The next day I was heading to work for the NWA but the night before I had achieved my dream someone hired me to work for a territory. I knew the hard work was worth it.
I want to congratulate my buddy D’Lo Brown for being rehired by WWE. This is a great guy and one we used on WrestleReunion. I wish him all the best of luck
This photo was taken somewhere in Ct. It is a photo of Afa The Wild Samoan #1 with Lia Maivia his aunt. She is also the widow of Peter Maivia and the grandmother of The Rock. If you saw the Hall of Fame inductions this year you would have seen her as well.
This has been a piece of my mind
