----RRO Memphis Wrestling Hall of Fame member Dutch Mantell joined us this week for Conversation.
I wrote a book called The World According to Dutch, 272 pages, 32 chapters and its not an autobiography. Rather, it is a collection of short stories that happened to me or when I was present and all in the context of professional wrestling. Its a very good read and if anyone is a fan of the old school style....this is the book for you. You can order the book from Amazon or if you want a personally autographed copy, you can order directly from us at this email address. dirtydutchmantell@gmail.com Check it out...nobody has been disappointed in reading the book and the strongest criticism is that the book ended. I also have a blog where I write stories about life on the road. You can find that at www.dutchmantell.com
-Advice you might give a young wrestler reading this site??
If you really want to advance in the world of pro wrestling, be prepared to become a serious student of the game. Be trained by someone reputable...and someone who has been there before. If you're trained by someone who hasn't been either to WWE or WCW or at least worked 10 or 15 years in the ring, then you're wasting your money. Don't fool yourself..to be a success in pro wrestling is more than just doing a couple of good moves.
-You have been doing some local shows, such as USWO for Tony Falk and some Legends shows, how does it feel to be back on the road again? Are the fans different this time out or do most of them remember Dutch Mantell??
On the legends shows, yes all of them know the Dirty Dutchman. I've done Legend shows in several states and am doing one in New Jersey in October thanks to the YouTube videos. It feels good to be out again...and didn't know I missed it until I got back out there.
-You have a wrestling school now, so give us the details on that. Also, Jocephus is the guy most people are referring to "Dutch Mantell's student," what are your thoughts on him and his future??
The school is called the University of Dutch right outside Nashville about 20 minutes. This school is probably the best equipped training facility in the South and if anybody is serious about training to be a pro wrestler, this is the place for you. There's a helluva lot more to the pro wrestling business than just wrestling and what I teach at my school is the whole package. Jocephus has come a long way in a short amount of time and I expect him to advance at a quick pace.
-Saturday night you will be in Newbern, TN to wrestle Sarge O'Reilly. O'Reilly was well known as a Memphis TV jobber "in the day", but has made a pretty good career working the promotions in this area. For the new people around the business, how important was the role that O'Reilly played in getting over say Dutch Mantell?
The role that Sarge played was very important and it couldn't be done without talent like him. But when Memphis Wrestling was in its heyday, it was more or less left to the individual to get his own character over Memphis, at the height of its popularity, was the BEST WRESTLING SHOW on TV. Bar none. Better than WWF, better than WCW and better than all the rest of them. When you worked in Memphis, your role was to sell tickets and get people to watch. There were no classes given, no interviews written out in advance for you and no agents to walk you through things. We did it on our own talent. We did Memphis TV in 2 and a half hours...and 90 minutes of that was the LIVE SHOW. Its takes 14 hours to do a RAW. What people don't truly understand is that we wrestled in Memphis 52 weeks a year. And for most of that time I was in Memphis, we averaged 6 to 10 thousand fans per week. Imagine if WWE came to Memphis every week for a year...they would sell out 12.000 seats the first time, 6 thousand the second time, 3 thousand maybe the 3rd time and then....down to 800 people and then they'd be gone. Guys..when we used to do it...it was an art and not just anybody could do it.
Hope to see everybody in Newbern this Saturday night. I'll be there signing autographs and the book during the show.
