Ernie Ladd

This was pre-Andre the Giant days, folks.

I guess the biggest we'd had was Ernie Ladd.

And Bobo, but Bobo was like about 6'4.5", maybe 6'5".

But Ernie Ladd was legit 6'9".

But Nikolai, who was about 6'4.5", but 3'45", it just looked like, holy shit, man, what a monster.

And the furs were legitimate.

Yes.

You know, Ron Simmons, Ernie Ladd, Brian Pillman, uh, our very own Baron Corbin, Junkyard Dog, Vader, Wahoo McDaniel.

These, these are all Hall of Fame professional wrestlers that started their career as a professional football player.

Right.

It wasn't really a run.

It was just getting TV matches, and they would let me go, uh, they would, but like that day, Buck Robley, uh, I had, I had f- three or four TV matches, and one was against Ernie, or one was either, uh, I think I teamed with Ernie Ladd in one of those maybe.

And I worked with Dog, too, Junkyard Dog, where he put me in the wheelbarrow and put, like, a transmission on top of me, and then wheeled me out to a hallway.

And I stayed there for, like, 10 minutes because I didn't know what to do.

They get up.

He somehow kicks Ernie Ladd in the belly and he sells it all fucking funny.

He gets hit in the fucking stomach and he acts like if he just got drop kicked in the face, man.

It was pretty fucking goofy.

And Vince and Bruno have new fancy outfits, and Monsoon has an outfit.

And on Challenge, you've got Johnny V and Ernie Ladd, which doesn't last too long.

But yeah, it is a lot more exciting.

It's a lot more fun.

Yeah, they're really good together.

I was watching these shows that you had sent me links to.

I was watching Wrestling Challenge, and initially, you know, Monsoon is announcing with Johnny V and Ernie Ladd, and And one of the old observers said that after just, you know, a couple of weeks of this or a couple of tapings.

There was one

There's a half an episode from

earlier in 81 with Leroy Brown and Ernie Ladd as the big heels.

There's a little clip of JYD being blinded by the Freebirds.

There's a little clip of JYD being blinded by Leroy Brown and the follow-up with the cigar.

... and, and I'm a dead body.

They're gonna leave me the fuck alone." That had to be l- like Ernie Ladd in Cleveland.

"The natives are restless, Hawks.

I'm, I'm gonna be down here." He had s- said he had one eye open, watched them fucking try to catch the chairs.

So played for the Saints for four years, went to the University of Tampa on a scholarship, full ride, without a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of, pretty much.

And, you know, just the story of one day, just like a lot of these guys, like Wahoo McDaniel and Ernie Ladd, they made more money wrestling than they did playing pro football back then.

No word of a lie.

and just he got sick of it one day four years into your nfl career you're like you know what i'm just gonna go wrestle and then just go home to tamper and train with eddie graham and those guys and the rest is history but legitimately the vader story they didn't really touch too much on that um you know that that's the famous story i don't know if brad knows that one that when paul london was working in wcw in the uh, early nineties, he was an on-air talent and he was a backstage, uh, what they call producer, the people that kind of like tell you that, you know, we're going to go over your match or, Hey, you got this to do today or whatever.

All right.

So if we're going to do that, how about one of the first to become a star and one of the only to be a star and a booker while playing pro football? Let's go with the big cat Ernie Ladd in place of Bray Wyatt.

That left

tackle.