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In honor of Ray "The Surfer" Odyssey's recent participation on this board and his generosity in taking the time to answer questions, I thought it would be appropriate to get a thread going where he can ask him questions regarding his career, especially his time in ICW/IWCCW. It's always a pleasure to have a former worker posting on KM, as evidenced by the Tim Gerrard and Ask the Voice threads. Now let's get started!
Ray, I want to thank you first to answering my questions in the funniest rib thread. I hope I didn't create any tension with mentioning the mob allegations. I certainly don't believe everything I read, but it's something that former KM members mentioned in a couple of older threads. Rumors are rumors, and I respect your right to not address them. Anyway, on to the questions
You mentioned having been trained at Larry Sharpe's Monster Factory. What were his methods like in training aspiring wrestlers?
Besides the Fieldhouse in Hamburg, PA and Kutcher's in upstate NY, what were some of the other TV taping locales you remember ICW/IWCCW doing tapings at in the late 80s/early 90s? Any special memories from working these tapings?
What did you think of the whole deal with ICW "merging" with World Class Championship Wrestling to become IWCCW and Kevin Von Erich working some shows?
Thanks in advance!
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Found this match between Ray and The Tazmaniac. You guys really tore up the floor with your matches in IWCCW!
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Quoted from: 80sWrestlingBuff, January 22nd, 2015 04:16 GMTIn honor of Ray "The Surfer" Odyssey's recent participation on this board and his generosity in taking the time to answer questions, I thought it would be appropriate to get a thread going where he can ask him questions regarding his career, especially his time in ICW/IWCCW. It's always a pleasure to have a former worker posting on KM, as evidenced by the Tim Gerrard and Ask the Voice threads. Now let's get started!
Ray, I want to thank you first to answering my questions in the funniest rib thread. I hope I didn't create any tension with mentioning the mob allegations. I certainly don't believe everything I read, but it's something that former KM members mentioned in a couple of older threads. Rumors are rumors, and I respect your right to not address them. Anyway, on to the questions
You mentioned having been trained at Larry Sharpe's Monster Factory. What were his methods like in training aspiring wrestlers?
Besides the Fieldhouse in Hamburg, PA and Kutcher's in upstate NY, what were some of the other TV taping locales you remember ICW/IWCCW doing tapings at in the late 80s/early 90s? Any special memories from working these tapings?
What did you think of the whole deal with ICW "merging" with World Class Championship Wrestling to become IWCCW and Kevin Von Erich working some shows?
Thanks in advance!
First off, I always feel I have to say thanks for remembering me and even caring what my opinion is on anything. As big as my ego is, I am smart and know exactly what my part in wrestling history is. It could fit in a thimble. But, I have a ton of stories and opinions for anyone interested and are respectful to me. And believe me. I have a very thick skin. If you think I sucked as a wrestler, that's your opinion and you're entitled to it. If you never heard of me, get in line. I'm not a household name. But don't go on a wrestling board and say who cares what you think because I never heard of you. If you are on this site, I think if you are interested in wrestlers from the old days, you could do the research. And in these days, its as easy as Googling the name or going on Youtube to see a match if you say you've never seen or heard of me. Most people I've chatted with are very respectful and I will talk to anyone about anything. Some aren't. But you won't get me in a war with you if you are just trolling and looking for a fight. I will just laugh and move on. That being said, and if you remember me, ask away. HAHAHAHAHA
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You mentioned having been trained at Larry Sharpe's Monster Factory. What were his methods like in training aspiring wrestlers?
I've really been lucky with most of the important people who I've run into during my career. Larry Sharpe was a good start. First off, I believe the Monster Factory is the greatest place to train in the United States if you want to be a successful pro wrestler. All you have to do is check the record. The success the former students have had at this facility are second to none. I am proud to say I am an alumni. The list is too long to even start mentioning names. Just look up the Monster Factory on the web and see just how many guys have made it big time. And even those who didn't make it to the top like myself, still had a modest but successful career. I wrestled for almost 20 years and for a guy that's 5'9" and didn't know the first thing about wrestling whether pro or amateur, I say that's pretty good. But anyway, back to Larry Sharpe. Yes, he knows how to wrestle both amateur and pro style. Yes, he knows how to shoot a good promo. And yes, he knows how to get his knowledge into his students heads. That is very important. How many Hall of Fame baseball players want to be managers but they can't get jobs? It's because they don't know how to get their message on how to be great to someone else. Larry Sharpe has that talent. And even though I'm saying all these good qualities about him, the greatest quality Larry Sharpe had as a trainer is his honesty. You see these fly by night wrestling schools pop up all over the country that are only there to tell every 160 pound dreamer that yes, you can be WWE champ. Just give me your $4000 and I'll make you that guy. Then they go out of business overnight and the dreamer is left without any real training or knowledge of the business, or a clue that he didn't belong. The only thing he got was lighter in his wallet. Larry Sharpe doesn't do that. Yes, he's a business man that needs students and tuition to pay his bills, but he's honest enough to tell you the truth. When I got my tryout at the Monster Factory, I went through all the drills and bumps and then Larry met with me in his office. He told me that it looked like I had some potential because I could do the moves and bumps and I was athletic. But he also told me that if I really wanted to be a wrestler, I already had one strike against me. I was short and there was no coaching or training that out of me. He said I would have to work 10 times harder than anyone else just to get a look from a promoter because small is not what they want. He told me he would train me, but I should know that it would be hard for someone my size to have any real success without bringing something out of me that would make them see past my size and see something else that was special. So that fueled me. I knew I needed a special gimmick because I was never going to be the kick ass wrestler that I dreamed of. In fact, my hero growing up was Roddy Piper and I wanted to be just like him. Larry told me to forget about being a heel. No one would ever believe that. So even though I was pissed and wanted to be a great bad guy, I was smart enough to know that this guy knew what he was talking about, so I listened. And then I created the burned out surfer gimmick. At the time, Fast Times at Ridgemont High was a huge movie in the 80's and I thought comedy was my way into the business if I could get this character over. You have to be original in this business and there was never a burned out surfer that was in wrestling so I figured I'd give this a try. Although it never got me to be NWA or WWF champ, it got my foot in the door and kept me going for the next 20 years. It's funny because I didn't think this gimmick all the way through. Wearing a wet suit meant for the cold ocean in the ring and then exerting yourself for up to 20 minutes in an often hot arena is really not the smartest idea. In fact, After about a year or 2 in the business, an indy promoter called me about booking the Surfer on a show. I told him thanks, I'll take the booking, but wearing that wetsuit was a bad idea and I'm going to change my gear and really a lot of my gimmick. He told me that if I wasn't the surfer, I didn't need to come to his show. That really opened my eyes to the business. Like Larry honestly told me back when I started, no one would care much for a short guy that didn't have something else special about him. That special thing was my surfer gimmick. I suddenly got it then and threw away all thoughts of being the next Roddy Piper loud mouthed heel and concentrated on being the first burned out comedy surfer character. Larry could have taken my money and told me what I wanted to hear but thankfully he didn't. If he did, I'm sure you wouldn't be asking my opinion on anything because I would have had a couple of matches, probably of the squash variety, and disappeared.
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This message was edited by Ray Odyssey on January 22nd, 2015 06:27 GMT
Besides the Fieldhouse in Hamburg, PA and Kutcher's in upstate NY, what were some of the other TV taping locales you remember ICW/IWCCW doing tapings at in the late 80s/early 90s? Any special memories from working these tapings?
Loved the Hamburg Fieldhouse. And not because it was some great building to work in that had all the bells and whistles in the back. The exact opposite. It was a super small locker room that was cramped and stunk from what I remember. But, I'm still a mark. The WWF used to do tv tapings there. That was the building that Roddy Piper hit Jimmy Snuka with the coconut. And Joe McHugh was doing the ring announcing!!!!!!!! Besides the first time I stepped into the Mid South coliseum ring and looked around and felt the history, this was like wrestling in the Taj Mahal. The history. Every Saturday morning when I turned on channel 17 in Philadelphia to watch WWF wrestling I saw this building. And I made it to tv and I was in the same building. Now wrestling after Jimmy Deo just got out of the ring was not the same as following Bob Backlund or Ivan Putski, but it still was the Hamburg Fieldhouse and I loved every second of it.
The only other building that I remember that we shot a lot of tv in was the hockey arena in Presque Isle Maine. I have a whole other story about that building in a ICW wrestling territory post that if you are interested can go over there and read that. Mario Savoldi would just decide sometimes that he was going to set up the cameras at a house show and make it a tv taping. A lot of the time, we didn't even know it would be tv until we showed up or unless we were friendly with some of the local job guys that just happened to be booked on the show. One place I'm glad Mario just decided to put the tv cameras up was some small rec center in Brooklyn NY. It was a great place for tv. Full house. And from the hard cam, it was dark in the background except for an EXIT sign. It almost looked a little like Madison Square Garden with that sign up. And if you look above, Taz and I had a great match for the IWCCW belts that 80'sWrestlingBuff put up. That was the building I'm talking about. So I'm happy that Taz and my feud topped out at this building on tv.
It's funny you bring up tv at Kutcher's. That might be the total opposite of the Hamburg Fieldhouse. Kutcher's had great accommodations. The boys would get their own rooms which was a change from cramming 4 guys and 2 midgets in a double room at the Econo Lodge. We got free food. We wrestled in front of a famous stage that brought some great comedians there from back in the days. Besides the ringside seats, because the room was set up with a stage being the center of attention, the seating on the top level was all lounge tables. The area in the back was huge and it was nice enough. Not the Oregon Ducks locker room, but nice for a wrestling venue. But, there was rarely any heat in that building. And I'm not talking temperature. These were Jewish families that were there on their vacations. Not rabid wrestling fans. I guess they sold tickets to fans that weren't staying at the hotel, but Monticello NY was not a hotbed for wrestling. So we got a full house. But they weren't a wrestling crowd. They were respectful but quiet. No booing, but not much cheering either. It was really tough to get a reaction out of that group. Taz and I did an angle that I left the IWCCW for a few months and came back and Taz beat the living hell out of me with an ashcan as a welcome home. People didn't do much but chant that WE WANT A NURSE while I lay there not moving for at least 5 minutes with trash thrown all over me by Taz and left me for dead. It's on youtube if you are interested. It's a great beat down. Fans just didn't care that much. Look for Tazz ashcan attack on Ray Odyssey IWCCW. It was a lot better than the reaction we got.
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One more memory of the arena at the Kutchers hotel. I legit separated my shoulder in a match with TT Krunchski. I worked another 15 minutes and went on with an angle with the Undertakers beating the hell out of me. That was bad but I continued and it actually worked out great for a storyline because I really couldn't wrestle for a couple of months. That's why I was off if I remember now and then Tazz beat me with the ashcan when I came back. But besides that, the memory that sticks in my head the most about that building is the night that James Damian Stone AKA Little Guido AKA Nunzio from ECW and WWE got messed up by some jerkoff. Here's what happened. We all liked Damian. He was easy to work with in the ring and if you were getting put over on tv, he was easily the best of the enhancement guys that the ICW used then. He was a talent from day one. I loved working with him and if he showed up on the list to put me over on tv, I was really happy. Anyway, James/Guido/Nunzio was working a match and was to put over some goof that absolutely no one knew in the back. This guy first of all looked like a goof. Then he started telling everyone how he was a great worker and used the Scorpio 360 splash as a finish. So we were a bit interested in this guy we've never heard of. So I remember watching the match on the monitor to see what this guy had. I remember that I thought he was nothing special so I stopped watching and went along my business. Next thing I know is Guido coming through the curtain holding his mouth with blood pouring out of it. I was shocked. I said what happened. Poor Guido couldn't say a word. He had no front teeth. The only teeth I saw were broken and blood pouring out. Immediately I was pissed. He was a great guy to work with and I wanted to know what happened. All of the sudden, this goof walks through the curtain and I said what the F happened!!!!!!!!!!! He said that Guido moved from the spot he put him in and his knees went into his mouth. Now ,I was really mad. He was blaming James from moving a little bit from the spot he put him in and then when he went to the top rope, he noticed that James was in the wrong spot. Now any good wrestler does not do a dangerous move like this if a guy is out of place, You improvise and do something else. But this goof decided to do the 360 splash anyway and his knees hit James in the mouth. Well, I was ready to ream this kid out. Just then Taz comes running from behind me. He must have stayed watching the monitor because he knew exactly what happened. He started cussing this kid out like crazy and actually pushed me aside so he could get closer to him. I remember Taz telling the kid to get the F out of here. He was scared and said ok, I just have to get my money and I'll leave. Taz said he better leave now or he would beat the shlt out of him. The kid grabbed his bag, ran out of the locker room and I never saw or heard of him again. Guido had to get his entire front teeth built back into his mouth. From what I remember, it took a long time and lots of pain to get some teeth back in his head. I always liked this guy. I'm glad that he worked with WWE towards the end of his career and made some good money with them because he deserved it. Not just because he was good. But for all that pain and suffering that he went through just to put some goof over on tv that didn't deserve to be in the same ring as James.
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January 22nd, 2015 18:03 GMT |
 
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Hi Ray- I remember watching a match with you vs. some Russian assassin, but he was masked.....any rememberance of this match? Also, who was this Russian Assassin (or Russian Menace? it was Russian something or other).
I always thought it looked uncomfortable wrestling in that scuba wear you would come out in.....
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Mr. Odyssey, I'm watching the match above and the announcer says you are 279 lbs. and the Light Heavyweight Champion. Lol. I listened 3 time to make sure.
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I hear weighing in at 239 pounds. Still funny cause I never weighed that much ever. And competing for the light heavyweight championship. I think the guy must have just made up the stats.
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This message was edited by WILDFIREMARK76 on January 22nd, 2015 20:31 GMT
Maybe I heard it wrong. I tried to make sure before posting. Anyway, enjoyed the match and the ash can attack and your comments on here. I used to read about you in the Apter publications but never got to see your work. Take care.
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What did you think of the whole deal with ICW "merging" with World Class Championship Wrestling to become IWCCW and Kevin Von Erich working some shows?
I know absolutely nothing about turning ICW into IWCCW from the merge with World Class, but I have some thoughts. When it happened, I actually thought it would be good for business. Talent exchange, more places to work, more tv, maybe trips to Texas. None of this happened. The only thing that happened was Kevin Von Erich coming to the Northeast to work a few shows for the new IWCCW. Whenever I talked to him though, let's say he wasn't very enthused about the merge. In fact, he wasn't very enthused about anything. He really seemed like he didn't even want to be here. What I think really happened was Mario bought the World Class tape collection. Mario was buying other promotions tapes so he had a bigger library to put on his tv. Which again, made tv very confusing. There would be a match with me and Taz, Tony Rumble talking about IWCCW business, an Atlas promo, and then a match from some promotion from Carolina. He just started dove tailing IWCCW and some other promotion with no explanation. I think it was called Southeast Pro Wrestling? I forget. But I think Mario just wanted to expand his library. But I don't ever remember watching IWCCW tv and seeing any great Von Erich matches from the Sportatorium. So maybe something fell through with the tapes but the name was already changed to IWCCW on tv. I guess changing back to ICW wouldn't make any sense. But watching the IWCCW tv sometimes didn't make any sense either so what's the difference.
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Here's a funny promo at Kutchers Hotel. It was the promo I did that caused the ashcan attack by Tazz.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3LhnSgkHgo
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Ray,
I just want to thank you for taking time out of your schedule to answer questions here. ICW was always a rather small promotion and very little of it's inner workings are well know. You being here and answering these questions fills in a lot of blanks. Again thank you. 
Mods,
Perhaps you guys could make this thread a sticky? 
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Surfer, I watched an ECW match with you vs Chris Benoit. It was a very good match to be so short. If you don't mind talking about him, how was he to work with?
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Quoted from: Ray Odyssey, January 22nd, 2015 06:21 GMTBesides the Fieldhouse in Hamburg, PA and Kutcher's in upstate NY, what were some of the other TV taping locales you remember ICW/IWCCW doing tapings at in the late 80s/early 90s? Any special memories from working these tapings?
Loved the Hamburg Fieldhouse. And not because it was some great building to work in that had all the bells and whistles in the back. The exact opposite. It was a super small locker room that was cramped and stunk from what I remember. But, I'm still a mark. The WWF used to do tv tapings there. That was the building that Roddy Piper hit Jimmy Snuka with the coconut. And Joe McHugh was doing the ring announcing!!!!!!!! Besides the first time I stepped into the Mid South coliseum ring and looked around and felt the history, this was like wrestling in the Taj Mahal. The history. Every Saturday morning when I turned on channel 17 in Philadelphia to watch WWF wrestling I saw this building. And I made it to tv and I was in the same building. Now wrestling after Jimmy Deo just got out of the ring was not the same as following Bob Backlund or Ivan Putski, but it still was the Hamburg Fieldhouse and I loved every second of it.
The only other building that I remember that we shot a lot of tv in was the hockey arena in Presque Isle Maine. I have a whole other story about that building in a ICW wrestling territory post that if you are interested can go over there and read that. Mario Savoldi would just decide sometimes that he was going to set up the cameras at a house show and make it a tv taping. A lot of the time, we didn't even know it would be tv until we showed up or unless we were friendly with some of the local job guys that just happened to be booked on the show. One place I'm glad Mario just decided to put the tv cameras up was some small rec center in Brooklyn NY. It was a great place for tv. Full house. And from the hard cam, it was dark in the background except for an EXIT sign. It almost looked a little like Madison Square Garden with that sign up. And if you look above, Taz and I had a great match for the IWCCW belts that 80'sWrestlingBuff put up. That was the building I'm talking about. So I'm happy that Taz and my feud topped out at this building on tv.
It's funny you bring up tv at Kutcher's. That might be the total opposite of the Hamburg Fieldhouse. Kutcher's had great accommodations. The boys would get their own rooms which was a change from cramming 4 guys and 2 midgets in a double room at the Econo Lodge. We got free food. We wrestled in front of a famous stage that brought some great comedians there from back in the days. Besides the ringside seats, because the room was set up with a stage being the center of attention, the seating on the top level was all lounge tables. The area in the back was huge and it was nice enough. Not the Oregon Ducks locker room, but nice for a wrestling venue. But, there was rarely any heat in that building. And I'm not talking temperature. These were Jewish families that were there on their vacations. Not rabid wrestling fans. I guess they sold tickets to fans that weren't staying at the hotel, but Monticello NY was not a hotbed for wrestling. So we got a full house. But they weren't a wrestling crowd. They were respectful but quiet. No booing, but not much cheering either. It was really tough to get a reaction out of that group. Taz and I did an angle that I left the IWCCW for a few months and came back and Taz beat the living hell out of me with an ashcan as a welcome home. People didn't do much but chant that WE WANT A NURSE while I lay there not moving for at least 5 minutes with trash thrown all over me by Taz and left me for dead. It's on youtube if you are interested. It's a great beat down. Fans just didn't care that much. Look for Tazz ashcan attack on Ray Odyssey IWCCW. It was a lot better than the reaction we got.
Aside from the Hamburg FH, ICW TV was taped in Parsippany, Cook College, various other high schools in Northern NJ, Skylands Stadium - a minor league baseball stadium in Augusta, NJ. and other buildings that I probably will not remember...
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