Dave Schultz

And when they do have a massive accomplishment like yourself, it's often followed up with a downgrade of it of like, well, I still didn't, you know, complete my career.

And I'm like, Gosh, guys, can't you all be happy with winning state, being second at the NCAA finals, being an All-American? I heard a story about Dave Schultz not even being able to talk about the fact that he won the Olympics because the Russian wasn't there.

You know what I mean? And then he later lost to the Russian at another international tournament.

it just it's one of those things where it's like wrestlers have a have a happiness deficit when it comes to their accomplishments

Uh, maybe not.

And I wasn't initially.

And so with Dave Schultz and the, he trained every day to beat that Russian.

So

I was just happy to be there.

I was like, "I can't believe I, I made the finals." Son of a bitch, right? And Dave Schultz was there because, you know, there's two mats so y- you walk in this way and knock in this way and you, you cross path with the freestyle guys.

They're gonna go shake hands, and Dave's like, "Perler, what are you doing over there?" And I wasn't friends with Dave or nothing, just talked to him a couple times.

I might act like I was.

Receiver Charlie Doiner, 79.

Tough guy Dave Schultz, 77.

She blinded me with science.

Thomas Dolby, 68.

Yeah, I like that one.

He came back in 89 with a real badass fucking kind of Dave Schultz kind of tweener type thing called the Widowmaker.

And he stayed around for like two months.

And then he was, for whatever reason, was fucking

He, he, um, he, he just, he loved the idea of being a leader of men, and he wasn't naturally.

But, uh, the, the character that Mark Ruffalo plays, Dave Schultz, was a leader of men.

He was one of the, the greatest wrestlers of all time.

And, um, and du Pont zeroed in on people like that and wanted, wanted to be...

I mean, uh, well, certainly s- I started with the preparing, and I think hon- the hair and makeup helped.

You know, I'll be honest.

I worked with a makeup artist named Bill Corso, who is truly fantastic, um, and has, was as, had as much to do with developing the character, I think, as, as anyone.

Um, he...

And I, I really learned how to wrestle much.

Uh, like, you know, we would joke, guys like Dave Schultz and I, so it's like you don't really learn how to wrestle back then until you were out of college.

You know?

Mm-hmm.

And he's been doing this, this crazy media tour.

I mean, whe- whether it was Rogan or I, I, I just caught him with Schultz and, and the gang out of New York and everything in between.

And somewhere in this, and I must admit, I, I might get c- confused with the platform because he's done so much.

I've, I've watched all of it.

Y- you'll have a new assignment when you come back," that might be helpful.

John Stossel's did this piece, it's very famous in wrestling, but he was hit backstage at a WWF event.

He was hit by a wrestler named Dave Schultz, and John Stossel's sued.

The famous guy, the-- of twenty twenty, John Stossel's.

There's a wonderful interview that he does.

Again, I must have referenced it on it before, but it's I think it's in AWA where he's interviewing Dave Schultz.

and he's talking about how Hulk Hogan belongs it's a very quite realistic it's quite homophobic promo against Hulk Hogan effectively calling him gay but there's a bit in it when you can see Gene he like asks him a question and Dave Schultz just gets going and you can see a little bit where Gene's as he as Dave Schultz starts going Gene just like has a little look at the camera and he's like hello where the fuck's this guy going and then he just breaks in the interview It's so funny.

So, yeah, go on.

Go on, Gene, you fucking hero.

So I spent far more time watching and analyzing Dagestani grapplers and in mma than i did the type of people who were winning sport jiu-jitsu competitions and and i think over that point i realized you know whenever there is innovation in a martial art they're usually looking way beyond the borders of their sport taking things and then bringing them back in and that is a pattern that i think has just repeated itself over and over again in modern jujitsu.

Like if you look at the Anaconda choke, for example, the origin of the Anaconda choke was with Dave Schultz in wrestling, trying to find a brutal way to turn people over and put their shoulders back on the mat.

And then a bunch of guys in the early 2000s added on the figure four lock and created the Anaconda choke.

And then if you look at John Danaher and what I'd argue is the biggest positional innovation with all the leg locks like, you know, like Saddle, Outside Ashy, all these positions that came with John Danaher and the Danaher Death Squad.