Interview Recap - Harley Race

Posted in Interview Recaps by Jack at 22:20, Oct 21 2005

By Ryan James

Harley Race was the guest on In Your Head Wrestling Radio this Wednesday. Which can be heard every Wednesday LIVE at 6 PM Eastern on www.inyourheadonline.com with your hosts Jack, Barbie Richards and the O.I.B.

The hosts welcome "The King" Harley Race on the show, announcing him as a 7 time World Champion, Harley quickly corrects them, stating he's an 8 time world champ. He talks about his 8th title reign happening in New Zealand. Harley talks about having students from Manchester and London come all the way to his wrestling school.

The hosts plug the big "Tribute to Starrcade" event, which Harley is going to be a part of, for more information visit http://www.carolinachampionshipwrestling.com He talks about the event, stating that the Main Event will be Tully Blanchard vs Dusty Rhodes. They talk about Harley Race wrestling Dusty Rhodes. Harley talks about wrestling him at "Tango In Tampa", he said 40,000 people were in attendance. Dusty told everyone at the arena that if he couldn't beat Harley, he would never ask to wrestle him again. They went for an hour.

They talk about Tully Blanchard not being a heel in Texas, which is where Tully was from. Harley talks about working with Tully several times, he compares him to the Funks. He puts over the Funk family.

Harley talks about wanting to have a match with Trevor Murdoch, if he were in his prime. They talk about Trevor Murdoch being a "throw back" guy. They talk about Dick Murdoch. They talk about Fred Sanford, Red Foxx from Sanford and Son, and how Dick had to have a "cartoon" moment in his match. They talk about not wanting a comedy character to be world champion then.

They talk about Harley Race's match against Flair in 1983 at Starrcade. Harley puts over Ric Flair, saying he was a good choice for a champion. He talks about Flair's moves and stamina, and how he could go an hour against pretty much anyone. They talk about the NWA World Champion having to be a traveling champion. They talk about the traveling Harley did while he was champion. Harley talks about wrestling in Tokyo, Japan, wrestling for an hour, the next morning, he flew to St. Louis, Missouri to wrestle Jack Brisco for an hour, he flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico the Sunday following and wrestled Carlos Colon for an hour. They talk about Carlito Caribbean Cool and Harley being at the WWE Homecoming. He puts over the Orton family. They talk about Randy Orton spitting on him.

Harley puts over the CCW show in Spartanburg, again, Tribute to Starrcade. They talk about Harley's favorite places to wrestle, Florida, Atlanta, Missouri. He talks about being champion for so long. He talks about the hardest match he had was against George Gulas, and him going an hour against him, he talks about George rolling out of the ring and "bitch" slapping a heckler, the cops got involved, and Harley hit him as well. Harley talks about people shooting on him, guys who are trying to make a name themselves.
They plug his website, http://www.harleyrace.com, he talks about having his book, action figures, and other things on his website. He talks about his website getting 400,000 hits a day. They talk about Harley's training camp, he says its a lot of fun training new guys, he uses Trevor Murdoch as an example. He talks about how he thought Trevor was going to go all the way. They talk about how hard it is to break into the business.

They talk about Harley's toughest opponent, he says his toughest as far as wrestling ability would be the Funks, Jack Brisco, as far as brawling, Dick the Bruiser, Bruiser Brody, or Stan Hansen, he said there is really not just one guy.

Harley says future wrestlers need to get someone who's been in the business for a long time and is willing to take the time to train them. They get a call-in question from Wacko Bob, he asks Harley about working in Florida against the Road Warriors, Harley says "anytime you're in the ring with Stan Hansen and he's on your side, its a good thing". He said the Road Warriors were used to running people over, and it wasn't easy for them to do so against Hansen and Race. They talk about Eddie Graham passing away, and how he was one of the most recognized, and respected person in Florida. Harley says that was one of the biggest things that sticks out in his mind. Harley said the Road Warriors originally weren't hard to deal with, but once they got bigger, they were.

They talk about Harley Race and Larry Hennig holding the AWA Tag Titles. Harley talks about them clicking "like bread and butter" and talks about them having an excellent run. He talks about going on and becoming the 8 time world champ, and they talk about Curt Hennig.

They talk about the best diving head butt, Harley talks about Chris Benoit and Dynamite Kid, and he thinks he was the best. They talk about the high spots in wrestling, the dives, Harley says it shortens careers and its pointless. He talks about them taking a huge dive and then being right back up two seconds later. Harley talks about inventing the vertical suplex as his, and he talks about wrestlers using it pretty much every match. Harley talks about HHH using his running high knee. They talk about his knee drop execution. They talk about Harley patterning his work after Buddy Austin, and Ray Stevens.

They talk about Vader and Harley's run-in. Harley talks about his favorite rib story, involving the Alaskan and Johnny Powers and a 12 gauge shotgun... To find out more visit http://www.inyourheadonline.com

They talk about HHH stealing Harley's beard design, he talks about it being a throwback to him. Harley talks about copying being a form of flattery. They talk about Ox Baker being a commentator.

The hosts ask which young wrestler Harley would like to wrestle, he says he'd like to wrestle either CM Punk or Trevor Murdoch. Harley compares CM Punk to Shawn Michaels. Harley puts over the Kurt Angle vs Shawn Michaels match at WWE Homecoming. They talk about Kurt Angle. He talks about his future appearances. The hosts thank Harley, and Harley thanks them as well.

Please visit www.inyourheadonline.com to hear this interview in FREE audio. And listen to our full archive section of other TNA Stars, and Legends of Wrestling. And join us next week for Tully Blanchard.

-----This recap brought to you by "The Outlaw" Ryan James of Wrestling Revolution Radio (http://www.wrestlingrevolutionradio.com)------