Interview Recap - "Father" James Mitchell

Posted in Interview Recaps by Jack at 21:33, Apr 04 2008

By Neal Jones

?Father? James Mitchell was the guest on In Your Head Wrestling Online Radio hosted by Jack, OneInchBiceps and Barbie Richards. Listen live every Wednesday 8:00-10:00 PM EST at http://www.inyourheadonline.com and check out our full FREE archive section with over 3 years of archived interviews.

James is welcomed to the show.

Saturday April 5th James will be appearing at Signamania in Levittown, PA. for the NWA Legends booth 11 am - 4 pm EST. For more information please call 1-215-943-2475 or visit:
http://www.signamania.com
http://www.nwalegends.com

James talks about working for Greg Price (NWA Legends) on the Indy scene before he got his big break. James mentions he will be signing 8x10?s, taking pictures and they will have a limited number of the very rare TNA James Mitchell action figure.

James talks about getting to meet up with some of the wrestlers he hasn?t seen for a while like Bill Alfonso, Nikita, Tammy Sytch and Sabu. James talks about seeing Tammy recently and she is looking very good again and has her life turned around.

James talks about Sabu being a legend in his own time. He says he learned from his uncle The Sheik to keep a mystery about him.

Jack asks what the strangest thing anyone has asked James to sign. James says a ?marital aid?, a motorized device that ones usually find at a bedside drawer. James says it was a huge one as well.

James talks about guys that got him into wrestling. James says Abdullah the Butcher and The Sheik were the over the top heels he loved. He also was into Johnny Valentine, Ric Flair, Blackjack Mulligan in Mid Atlantic. He also admired Dick Slater from Georgia. James says his all time favorite manager was The Grand Wizard, he also admired Gary Hart and Freddie Blassie.

James says the 1970?s was a very colorful time for the wrestling business. He talks about the Apter mags in the 70?s. Once he got into the business he was insulted by them, then years later he revisited them and found a certain charm to the, James talks about the sleazy ads in the old 70?s magazines like chest hair toupees. James likes the over the top crazy stories that the Apter magazines would make up, and the bloody colorful pictures you?d see. Before the internet and dirt sheets this was where you got your information.

Jack asks if James collects wrestling memorabilia. James says here and there, he collects all his articles from magazines or newspapers. He will collect something if it has sentimental value to him. James talks about losing some eBay auctions for The Sheik turbans.

James talks about Jim Cornette?s house and his collection in the museum wing. James says Cornette is one of the great minds in the wrestling business, and historian. He would put Cornette neck and neck with Bobby Heenan as best managers of all time.

James talks about his first big break on TV was for Greg Price in 1990 or 1991. Then he moved onto SMW with Jim Cornette. He says that?s where he started getting a buzz about him.

Jack asks if James always wanted to be a manger or if he ever thought of being a wrestler. James says as a kid he wanted to be a wrestler but learned early that he didn?t have the size and his strength was verbal not physical.

James talks about his collection of human oddities and how that is a shoot collection that became part of his wrestling character. He has things such as mummified hands, Fiji mermaids, pickled punks, misshaped fetuses and many other things such as Freak show banners.

Jack mentions a recent interview Paul Bearer where he considered James Mitchell an old school manager. James says he felt rather touched by that. James says Percy is a wealth of knowledge. James talks about guys riding with someone like Percy and learning so much about the business. Old school is a compliment to James he says. Many people are only worried about putting themselves over not their talent.

Jack asks what guys James managed that he had the best chemistry with. James says he had a great time with Abyss. James says Judas will be back, and expects big things from him. James says Mortis was very underrated and had a great mask that the lucha wrestlers were jealous of. James says Abdullah the Butcher was one of the first guy he got to manage, and he was dumbfounded by the experience. James jokes he just stood there like a mark next to Abby.

James says him and Abyss was catching lightning in the bottle. Abyss was a top notch wrestler needing icing and he was icing needing of the cake. James says Abyss is a wonderful performer who has ?it?. James mentions they want to kill each other on and off screen. James puts over Abyss working with AJ Styles.

Jack says people say a good little guy can carry a big man, but does it take a good big man to make a match with a small guy look good. James says he doesn?t have time to go into the intricacies of working. James says there is an art form to it, and he does agree. James also says the very best can change their style to suit someone else. He brings up the famous saying of how Ric Flair can work with a broom.

James mentions having good times with The New Church and Jack remembers the ?Catacombs Are Filled With Souls? song fondly.
James thanks the IYH crew, lets everyone know to check out TNA Wrestling Thursdays on Spike TV and to visit their Youtube page which is one of the top rated and subscribed. For more information on TNA please visit:
http://www.tnawrestling.com

For information on seeing James Mitchell in person at Signamania April 5th in Levittown, Pa. please visit:
http://www.signamania.com



To listen to the entire interview plus the Brutus ?The Barber? Beefcake interview please visit http://www.inyourheadonline.com and join us live every Wednesday at 8:00 PM EST for the live show including this week with former WWE wrestler Dean Visk and upcoming guests like Outback Jack and Ivan Koloff. Join the IYH message board to leave questions for the upcoming guests http://inyourheadboard.proboards27.com/index.cgi and don?t forget to subscribe to the podcast at http://iyh.blogspot.com/