Two Sheds Interview: The Stro

THE TWO SHEDS INTERVIEW by Julian Radbourne

E-mail: twosheds316@aol.com

Website: www.twoshedsreview.com

The name of The Stro may not be familiar to you, but when I mention the name of The Maestro, you’ll probably remember the piano playing wrestler from the latter days of World Championship Wrestling.

The Stro currently plies his trade on the American independent scene. I had the opportunity to catch up with him to talk about his career, his background, and his new training school.

Julian Radbourne (JR): Stro, thanks for taking the time out for this interview.

Stro: My pleasure

JR: Let’s start with a little background information, where you’re from, that sort of thing.

Stro: Stro formerly Maestro of WCW. Been wrestling professionally for 16 years. Former names have been Gorgeous George III and Robbie Eagle. Have wrestled all over the world for many promotions.

JR: Normally I start by asking how a someone became interested in professional wrestling, but given that one of your relatives is the original Gorgeous George, would I be right in assuming that your interest in wrestling began with him?

Stro: Growing up I was involved in so many things, but pro wrestling was always my main passion. It wasn’tuntil later on after I started in my career that wrestling greats like Dusty Rhodes and William Regal were comparing my wrestling demeaner and style

to Gorgeous George. Then ironically my grandfather clued me in that the original was in fact my grand uncle and that they used to be good friends when they were amateur boxing years ago.

JR: When did you decide that you wanted to become a professional wrestler?

Stro: From a very young age, being a professional wrestler has always been my goal.

JR: How did you go about finding a training school?

Stro: While I was competing with the collegiante USA Freestyle/ Greco Roman national circuit, I found Gene Anderson, Nelson Royal, and Ivan Koloff in the Charlotte, North Carolina area who gave me my start in the business.

JR: How hard, or easy, was the training?

Stro: Very grueling. Hours of ring work, conditioning,studying videos, holds, counterholds,geting stretched and banged up.. Very brutal. But to this day I am very grateful for the knowledge they showed me as it more than prepared me for what was ahead.

JR: Did it help having a college wrestling background, as well as theatrical training, as far as cutting promos were concerned?

Stro: Definitely. My collegiante training helped me as far as conditioning and balance in the ring. Whereas my theatrical exprerience provided me with the confidence and know how to conduct promos and portray my character in front of an audience.

JR: How long did you train before your first professional match?

Stro: It was almost a years worth of training before I had my very first match.

JR: What were your thoughts going into that match?

Stro: Very nervous. Even with all the training, I still felt very new and felt I was still too green to even perform as well as I felt I needed to. My opponent was a seasoned veteran in L.A. Stevens who was the ACW champion at the time.

JR: How would you rate your performance in that bout?

Stro: Considering my first match ever, very well. I was able to hold my own and earn the respect of the champion at the time.

JR: A great number of fans probably saw you for the first time when you worked for World Championship Wrestling. How did you come to be associated with WCW?

Stro: Was wrestling off and on with them for many years. Later when I was in Puerto Rico, I was contacted by Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage to come to one of the Nitro TV tapings in Virginia to have a dark match. The match was with Cobra and it went pretty good. I didn’t hear back from anyone in WCW until a few years later after I came back from my tour of AAA in Mexico with Jake Roberts. WCW gave me the call again to come have another dark match. This time is was with Chavo Guerrerro Jr.. The match was fantastic. Afterwards, Diamond Dallas Page told me that I had improved light years from the last time he saw me.

Eric Bischoff gave me the thumbs up and hired me and then the next thing I knew, Arn Anderson and the rest of the boys came over to shake my hand and welcome me into the company. It was a great feeling.

JR: Is it true that the original plan was for your to adopt the Gorgeous George name, but that you couldn’t use the name because it was already being used by Randy Savage’s girlfriend?

Stro: Well acutally I entered WCW when I was Gorgeous George III and was so for almost a year before that transpired. I had a meeting with Eric to try to work things out with the company. Thus the Maestro was born.

JR: You worked an angle with Ernest “The Cat” Miller, in a way pitting your musical styling against his. What was it like working with Miller, and with soul legend James Brown, who was brought in for an appearance during the angle?

Stro: Tremendous. Our feud didn’t have technical wrestling classics. But the entertainment value of it was tremendous and had so much more potential. Having James Brown involved in our feud was a huge honor. The Superbrawl pay per view that we were involved in was

the most talked about segment for a while.

JR: Of course, you worked for WCW at a time when business wasn’t too good for them. What was the atmosphere in the company like at the time? Was it a difficult place to work at?

Stro: The talent all worked hard to try to make things work. But management was in such a disarray and things would change from day to day. A lot of times we wouldn’t know what we were doing until right before the start of the tv tapings.

JR: If you’d had the power, what would you have done to stop the downfall of WCW?

Stro: Used better judgement financial. Better production and bottom line would be unity. If WCW had more unity with everyone involved and was on the same page, It might very well still be around today.

JR: You’re now a regular on the American indy circuit, not just in America, but overseas as well. What companies do you compete for, and how often?

Stro: Many companies across the U.S. and overseas on occassion. Also run a wrestling school in Jacksonville, North Carolina and involved in some acting projects for some films.

JR: Who would you say has been your toughest opponent during your career, and why?

Stro: There have been several. Rob Van Dam, Barbarian, Vader,Sid Vicious, Sting,Paul Orndorff, Ron Garvin,Mick Foley,Jerry Lawler,Tony Atlas,Norman Smiley, Bobby Blaze, Bam Bam Bigelow,Buff Bagwell,Too Cold Scorpio, Patriot,Wahoo McDaniel,Scott Hall,Hakushi, just to name a few.

JR: Like many wrestlers, you’ve suffered from you fair share of injuries. What’s been the worst injury you’ve sustained?

Stro: Have had many minor ones over the years. probably the worst that sticks out in my mind was a few years ago in Cleveland, Ohio when I was defending the CAPW TV title against Balls Mahoney. I went to do a Michinoku dive off the top rop on to Mahoney when a

fan ran between us. I shifted my body in the air to aviod hitting the fan and came done and twisted my leg. Despite the injury, wrestled for 15 more minutes and retained my title. Took a while to heal and even competing in some matches a few months later while healing would hurt when there was any movement in the ring.

JR: What sort of training regime do you undertake, and how do you prepare yourself for your matches?

Stro: Like to warm up with some exercising and a few cups of coffee before my matches. Always say a little prayer before coming through the curtain.

JR: I heard a story about eighteen months ago that you nearly did a tour of Britain, but you were stopped from entering the country because of passport problems. Is this true?

Stro: At the time, the Heathrow Airport in London was was taking percautions due to word of a terrorist was boarding one of it’s aircrafts. So a lot of us was retained due to security measures along with passport problems that was suppoed to be taken care of by one of the promotions there. I do plan on returning to Britain again soon and wrestling for the many fans I have there.

JR: A great number of wrestlers have spoken out about the supposed negative effect the Internet has on the professional wrestling industry. What’s your opinion on the Internet wrestling community, and what sort of effect do you think it has on wrestling?

Stro: Internet has been very good to me as far as being in contact with the many fans around the world. I think if the internet would not so much pry on more personal issues and dwell more on the love for the business, then there wouldn’t be as much negativity.

JR: The ultimate goal of many professional wrestlers seems to be a WWE contract. Is this what you’re aiming for, or are you happy working for the independents at the moment?

Stro: I am very happy with the way things are going for me right now. But I always keep my options open. So never say never.

JR: I understand you’re going to start your own wrestling school soon. Do you view this as a natural progression as far as your career in wrestling is concerned?

Stro: The school has been in operation for a few years now and has been a very big positive for the students, myself, and the guys that come in to train. The few graduates I have are already doing very well in the independent scene. Very happy for their success.

JR: How would you describe yourself as a trainer?

Stro: Great. The ones who went through the school come back just to train with me more.

JR: If just one of your students makes it in the wrestling business, would you consider this a success?

Stro: Yes. Just them stepping in the ring and having a match makes me feel like I have accomplished something great. Wish them all the best

JR: Let’s move away from the wrestling business a little. How does The Stro like to spend his time away from the ring?

Stro: Relaxing with my horses and animals. Helping out with charities and talking to the kids in schools and childrens hospitals. Giving back to the community.

JR: Where do you see yourself in five-to-ten years time?

Stro: Even better than I am now. Just like wine getting better with time.

JR: Where can fans see you wrestle in the upcoming weeks and months?

Stro: March 5, 2004

CFE

1st Annual McLeod Children’s Hospital

Pro Wrestling Charity Event

BEACH BASH

Myrtle Beach, SC

Conway High School Gym,

located on Hwy 501 in Conway, SC (just 20 miles from Myrtle Beach, SC)

For tickets and more information on BEACH BASH, please visit their official website at

http://www.cfeforkids.com or call 843.215.4466

March 12, 2005

SCW/Ohio

Marion , Ohio

Union Hall

Belltime: 7:30

Featuring:

SCW champion Stro formerly WCW star Maestro

PWO

Precious Playboy

Bubba Rhodes and all the top stars of SCW/Ohio