Introduction: Bobby Simmons

[Rich Tate]

Bobby Simmons started out doing odd jobs for the National Wrestling Alliance’s Atlanta office while still in high school. He was among those who migrated en masse in November 1972 to Ann Gunkel’s All-South Wrestling Alliance, where he worked for its entire two-year run. All-South was where he earned his stripes, literally, as he began refereeing matches on a regular basis.

His work for Gunkel’s company earned him the respect of many, which led to him being the only person from her company who immediately had a job the following week for the competition in which Gunkel had fought. When Jim Barnett bought All-South, ultimately ending the promotional war, Bobby was offered a spot in the NWA Atlanta office, while also working as a referee for them.

He stayed with the company until early 1983, and had been a key figure behind the scenes, working as a right-hand to both Barnett and Ole Anderson, among others. Bobby often also appeared on television doing interview segments, and even returned to work for Gunkel in her second coming of All-South in the mid 1980s.

After leaving the business, Bobby became a pastor, but has still made time occasionally to assist local promotions when offered the opportunity.

Please join me in welcoming him to the board.

[nickgulasmark]

i want to ask a question , i heard a story on your show bout the original sheik.....is it true that he had razor blades taped to his fingers just in case fans attacked? is this true and lastly could u extend the show by 30 minutes , i enjoy the show weekly

[Bobby Simmons]

Jul 15, 2010 20:05:08 GMT -5 nickgulasmark said:

i want to ask a question , i heard a story on your show bout the original sheik.....is it true that he had razor blades taped to his fingers just in case fans attacked? is this true and lastly could u extend the show by 30 minutes , i enjoy the show weekly

I never noticed it if he did. Sounds like a rumor or it could have happened and I don't know about it. I know he always carried his blade in his trunks and not on his finger. I know because he cut me with it at the Omni in Atlanta which caused a difference of opinion between him and me. As far as the show is concerned that is out of my control, I personally would not mind a two hour show. Thanks for listening....Bobby

[nickgulasmark]

thanks for the answer and i enjoy listening to the show, i learn stuff

[nickgulasmark]

bobby i wanna ask a couple of question plus a comment...tom renesto was an assassin, what caused his retirement? was it age or wanting run the front office....i can remember tom having street fights with randy savage in poffo's earlier years, i think tom helped to get randy over best he could....and i remember tom and the sheik wrestling hayes/gordy once but i dont remember the angle, farhat was a mystery partner if i remember correctly....i remember tom jr being in it but that was like 1977 or so...and lastly what was the heat between gordon solie and angelo? i know he didnt want him in a hall of fame

[nickgulasmark]

btw have you found your host yet?

[Bobby Simmons]

Sept 17, 2010 22:46:17 GMT -5 nickgulasmark said:

btw have you found your host yet?

Yes , we found him....
He had major computer problems and actually went down shortly after the show started. He e-mailed me Fri. Am and said
he did not come back on line until an hour after the show ended. I hope we kept it somewhat on track.

Thanks for listening, it is a pleasure for me to be allowed
to participate.

Bobby

[Bobby Simmons]

Tom Renesto unmasked on Atlanta TV in 1972. It was strictly for business reasons. None of us knew at the time but Ann Gunkel we about to pull out and start All South Wrestling.
If you ever see the tape if it still exists or if you saw it live the expression Ed Caparal's face was priceless. No one but Tom and Jody who was in Japan knew it was going to happen.
Tom did wrestle some after that but it was for specific angles.
He did have some great matches.
The Tom Jr. incident was hen we were working with Ann's promotion and involved Luke Graham and Rock Hunter. Jr. dropped Luke's ring jacket and Rock slapped him down.
This was the angle Tom booked to set up the only card we ever ran at The Omni while working for Ann. As far as heat between Angelo and Gordon, I do not know of any, but that does not mean there wasn't some. I worked with Angelo and his boys many times, but Angelo could be a strange bird at times.

Hope this answered some of your questions. Thanks for remembering some of the greatest times of my life..

Bobby

[nickgulasmark]

can you bring on some of the guys from the all - south era to talk about that like joe hamilton etc?

[Bobby Simmons]

Our new host, Michael Norris starts this week. Jerry and me hope we have a long run with Michael as he is very knowledgeable and will be a great asset to the show.
We will pass your request on to Mike and hopefully in the near future we can someone on the show like Jody Hamilton or Dick Steinborn.

Thanks for listening
Bobby

[nickgulasmark]

bobby when we lived in atlanta i remember homer o dell managing the medics or some masked team what show would that have been?

[Bobby Simmons]

Homer was here when it was "Live Atlanta Wrestling" which
would have been pre 1973....
Homer managed several guys here, Paul DeMarco being one of them. This would have been when Ray Gunkel was alive and it was called ABC Booking.


Bobby

[nickgulasmark]

I JUST WANTED TO MAKE A COMMENT BOBBY AND LET YOU COMMENT AFTER....the promotor in the north wants to not have his company be a 'wrestling' company..well he has wrestling rings, wrestling belts and wrestling holds so what do you actually call it? i mean if he doesnt want to be known as wrestling , what exactly is his world chamion the champion of? and he hates the word fan and now its a universe...this guy at times does things for the good , but for everyone thing good he does he does one thing badly and thats where he loses my viewership..i mean poor chavo had to lose to a leuprachaun like 9 weeks in a row...a handicap match every week..im like you bobby i miss the days when it was simple and you looked forward to every tv show and its angles...if it wasnt for the nwa this guy wouldve had no stars...how many has he created? the boogeyman ?and the nxt show is no better what does a wheel barrow race have to do with learning holds? what does joke telling have to do with selling seats in an arena?...i barely watch wrestling anymore ill glance at tna 5 minutes and that's it...

[Mike Norris]

I'm not Bobby, but our feelings on this subject are much the same.

McMahon associates "professional wrestling" with a stigma of low-class, mainly Southern inbreds. Pretty funny considering he grew up in a trailer park in North Carolina. I'm no psychiatrist, but I think his hatred of wrestling and all that it stands for comes from the fact that his father abandoned he and his mother. I think he's got deep-seated "daddy" issues, and has re-invented the promotion his father ran (and the business as a whole) due to that. That why he created "sports entertainment", has superstars as opposed to wrestlers and a universe as opposed to wrestling fans. But give the devil his due, he has been successful and has set the standard for what our business has become and everybody else feels they have to follow his lead. Plus he does have millions of people who tune into his programming and do enjoy it. There are many, many of us that don't but we are far out-numbered so I don't think he misses us.

When they started this whole "guest host" thing, I assumed it was just the next step for him to evolve his programming further into the entertainment realm. What he will probably wind up with is a variety program that just happens to center around an athletetic exhibition that takes place on an elevated platform surrounded by ropes. It's not wrestling and he doesn't want it to be. Evidently neither does his universe.

[nickgulasmark]

hello mike, i listen to your show on thursdays and i like the fact you're the moderator because i feel you bring alot to that show..you remember angles i barely remember....i dont hardly watch wrestling anymore , too corporate...i dont understand no major company is touring the south...tna has lost me on the fact they wont get out of florida, they have all heel stables with no face..the writing is horrible..i think they should make abyss throw that plank with nails in it and use it for firewood, that angle got old in a hurry...let the hardcore stuff go ecw is dea and gone...i say hire heyman let him hire and fire because tag team wrestling is dea and the rest isnt far behindtna has the better roster but they wont do tv out of disney and while the reaction is ok 4 hours on thursday is too long for anybody...but i like the thursday nite show, my only gripe is it is too short timewise and i enjoy hearing the old stories and like i said mike , you make that show go and your knowledge of the business really helps