Legendary pro wrestling promoter and trainer Eddie Sharkey was a guest on VOC Nation Wrestling with History. Sharkey talked about his start as a trainer, the breakdown of the territory system, his legendary coaching tree, and much more. Here are a few highlights:
On how he started training superstars:
I was going to be a bartender but I had to work as a bouncer for a month or two before there was an opening. That’s where they all were: Rick Rude was there, Animal, Hawk, Barry Darsow, it was the toughest place in Minneapolis, and Minneapolis is a real tough town. They asked me if I’d like to get back into the business training, and I said ‘no, I’m out of it.’ Hawk came up and handed me five $100 bills, and that was it, I was in it for 20 years after that.
On training the Road Warriors:
I realized there was something special, but I never dreamt they’d be the best in the world. We never dreamt of that, I basically taught them how to fall, how to protect themselves, how to not get hurt, and how to not hurt their opponent. The rest they kinda picked up on their own.
On if he was bothered by Vince breaking the territory rules:
No I couldn’t care less. I didn’t care. Vince offered Vern millions of dollars for the territory. He offered him everything, he offered him the world. Vern just got real nasty with him so McMahon came in and took it all.
On the most important quality of being a successful pro wrestler:
The most important thing about a professional wrestler is your friends, having friends in the business. It’s amazing that it hasn’t changed that much. Just be a good guy, and a good worker. Especially a good guy. You don’t realize how important that is. You’re in a car, you’re driving to Winnipeg or driving to Chicago, if you don’t have that, you don’t have nothing and you’re going to have bad matches.
You can listen to the entire episode below.
Wrestling with History featuring former WWE/AWA broadcaster Ken Resnick and former Philadelphia Radio personality Bruce Wirt airs every Wednesday at 930pm ET on VOC Nation.
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