I keep in touch with several workers from the Portland area, many of whom are dear friends. And through the CAC, Colonel DeBeers and I get to keep in regular contact with many people from the business. When I was at Wrestle Reunion in Tampa, Florida I got to see many wrestlers I had not talked to in a long time.

Ricky Hunter is living in Florida, and he retired from the business in the late 80s.

I remember hearing the phrase "kicked in the bread basket." Was that supposed to be the groin or the stomach? Do you know where that saying originated?

It’s being kicked in the stomach, of course. Dick Lane use to say it back in the 1960s, and I believe Marty O’Neil from the old AWA days used the same catchphrase back in the early 60s, too. But I think the saying goes back a lot longer than that.

Who turned Keith Franks into Adrian Adonis?

Terry Funk not only gave me my name, he gave Adrian Adonis his name. Terry just reminded me of it when we were together in Tampa a few weeks ago.

What are your thoughts on Verne Gagne and Billy Robinson as wrestlers, trainers, businessmen, and finally as people (i.e. personal treatment of you, honesty, integrity etc.)?
--Mark from Milwaukee (Crusher Country)

They were two of the greatest trainers anyone could ask for. If you made it through the “Camp from Hell” you were going to be able to make a huge impact in the wrestling industry. We respected the wrestlers before us, and we were respected as wrestlers that never quit no matter how tough it got. When Verne Gagne or Billy Robinson put you through 3 months of the toughest training imaginable, only the cream rises to the top, and you knew you were looking at a successful career through the next few decades if you could do it. No favoritism was shown here, not for the massive Chris Taylor or Verne's son, Greg.

After successfully completing the camp, I had my first match with Bob Remus who went on to become Sergeant Slaughter, in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, December 3rd, 1973.

I read that Art Barr had a second job working in a steel mill. I was wondering if any of the other guys held second jobs outside of the Portland Wrestling circuit, if so, what were they?

Art Barr didn't have a second job, but Jesse Barr did. Up until the early 90s or so, you could wrestle 7 days a week and make a regular income from wrestling only – you did not need to have a second job, unless you wanted to supplement your income. But the majority of us made our living as full-time professional wrestlers, and I always have.

Which wrestler did you feel the safest with in the ring and which wrestler was the hardest to work with in terms of safety?

The ones who came out of Verne's camp that he trained personally, of course, were all great to work with. On the whole, most of the wrestlers I worked with throughout the world were pretty safe because there used to be an International Language. You could step into a wrestling ring anywhere with a total stranger and have a great match, then go to the next town or country and do the same thing all over again the next night. The same does not hold true for the business nowadays.

As far a stiff workers go, nobody that I worked long programs with were stiff. Andre was a night off -- he never hurt you. A lot of people ask me about David Shultz, who gained quite a rep over the years. Shultz was not known as legit tough guy when he was with us in the Northwest. In fact, he was easy to work with, as we worked together in many matches including a few cage matches, where “Dr. D” was the baby face and I was the heel. But even when I had real heat with a guy, we knew where to draw the line. Business is business, after all.

Like in any work environment, the newer workers or "green workers" as we call them were the ones you had to be more careful with, because they were learning their skills and were prone to make mistakes that could end up hurting you if you weren’t paying attention.

One of the greatest plot twists (I hope I remember it correctly) was when Jesse Ventura came back from a broken arm and you were welcoming him back up in the Crow's Nest with Frank Bonema. Then Jesse let you have it and accused you of breaking his arm in a match. You really sold it and it really had us going at my fraternity house at OSU. Was there an interesting story behind the plot twist? I can't remember who became the good guy.
-- Mike

Jesse was just working that he had a broken arm, and we knew this program would play itself out beautifully because it’s such a great premise. Psychology-wise, expect the unexpected – that turn came out of nowhere, and the fans loved it. We had a great run as a heel team, and now I was the heel and Jesse was the babyface. It all ended with a loser leave town match (I won), he went back to Minnesota, and the rest is history.

A side note here… If you think about it, if I lost the match and went back to Minnesota, it’s quite possible Paul Perschmann would have become Governor instead of Jim Janos! (Sorry, Jesse, I couldn’t resist that one.)

I grew up in Vancouver, BC and we got the Portland TV tapings back in the day. One of my favorites was the Dynamite Kid. Was he as tough as I've heard?

I was with the Dynamite Kid, a.k.a. Tom Billington, in Japan on a few different tours back in the early 80s. I talked him into coming to the Pacific Northwest to wrestle with me. Plans changed a bit, I ended up turning face, and Tom played a pivotal role in that turn. Tom was very easy to work with and a tremendous athlete who gave 100% each and every night. We made a lot of money together. Yes, Tom was a legit tough guy, but when we worked he was a gentle as a kitten.

What's the worst you have seen a fan do to you, or another wrestler?
-- Adam

The worst thing a fan ever did to me was sue over verbal abuse or because they entered a ring and got the shit beat out of them. I never lost a case. But if you were a professional wrestler in my era, you were always at risk to get hurt or killed at any given event. You were at the mercy of the security, the city and country, and you needed to be prepared for anything at all times. I just consider myself lucky that I got through my career without any major incidents occurring.

Stay tuned for the Book, where I can go into more detail about this subject.

I can't seem to remember when the Blow Away Diet debuted. Do you know the date? Also, I thought I would share this. I interviewed Triple H recently and asked him how his book and fitness plan compare to your Blow Away Diet. Here is what he said: "Buddy Rose's Blow Away Diet was simply a fat loss program," Helmsley said after laughing.
-- Michael

Jimmy Hart and I came up with the idea back in 1990-91. Don’t remember the exact debut date, but it aired during those years.

Triple H was very respectful when we first met back in 2000 at a Raw taping in Seattle. He asked Pat Patterson to try and talk me into working a match that night so he could see the infamous bump I take backwards through the ropes on the back of my neck. He commented he used to watch me when he was a young lad and he admired my work ethic and skills as a professional wrestler. I declined to wrestle that night because I did not bring any wrestling gear and I had no intention to work.

As an aside, I did take that infamous bump just this year, January, 2005 in Tampa, FL at Wrestle Reunion in a match pitting myself, Colonel DeBeers and Bob Orton Jr. against Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka and Jimmy Valliant. I won the “bump of the night award” according to many web sites that did reports on the show.

Could you please talk about your early career in the AWA, and being the referee in the famous Bockwinkel-Gagne title change back in 1975?

Just like anyone else who had just started, I wrestled, refereed and worked ring crew in the cities I was booked. We had two rings in the AWA and many of the wrestlers had to do the same thing I did, including Greg Gagne. I remember a young Shane McMahon working ring crew and doing ref duties in many of my matches in the WWF. That’s how you learn your craft the right way.

The night I was the referee of the infamous AWA title change was just another day at the office. Verne approached me earlier that day at the television tapings and he told me how he wanted me to count his shoulders down for the count of 3, going into detail about looking up each time I counted to make sure his foot was on or under the ropes. He told me when I hit three, look towards the time keeper, tell him to ring the bell, and award Nick the AWA World Heavyweight title. It was history-making at that time, because Verne had been the longest reigning AWA Champion at that time.