MadMan Pondo made his pro wrestling debut in 1989 and twenty years later he is still being talked about as one of the most hardcore, crazy and yet most approachable wrestlers in the business. Pondo has shed more blood and lost enough skin to manufacture a midget tag team. Tough as old beef jerky, crazy as a lunatic asylum but gracious enough to sit down with me and talk about his career and what is in store next for MadMan Pondo. I will warn you, parts of this interview can be a little rough. In speaking with Terry Funk before I spoke to Pondo, Funk called Pondo an Enigma in this business and said he has the greatest respect for what he is able to do night after night to entertain the fans.
Q. You are love in Japan, why do you think there are big Pondo marks there?
A. Probably because I base my character of the death match style on two of their death match guys. Masunaga and Mr. Pogo. When I was a tape trader back in the day I would trade for the Japanese hard core stuff because no one gave a crap about the WWE stuff. I got a lot of Japanese stuff and would watch W.I.N.G. among others and would watch the barb-wire matches and the flaming ropes and I thought to myself, this is what I can do. I based my style off those two, Masunaga and Mr. Pogo and that's why the Japanese fans like my style.
Q. I saw you go through a 25" color console TV, have a bowling ball dropped on your groin and then get power-bombed on the concrete, all in the same match, how do you manage to get up after that?
A. Let me tell you something about the TV, when they put me through it there was still some electricity going through it and I was being shocked. I curled up in a ball because of the shocks I was getting and I held my hand up waiting on the ball to be dropped but since I kind of caught it, they took it and dropped it again because it didn't make any noise. When it came back down it hit me in the head, bounced off the side of the TV and hit me again and it knocked me out. Anything after that I don't remember, you could haven power-bombed me through the concrete and I wouldn't have known.
Q. Necro Butcher v. MadMan Pondo, is he a favorite to work with because your styles are so similar or is there someone else you always like to see across the ring from you?
A. Probably Necro, he and I know each others limitations and we know how hard we can hit each other so we don't mind knocking the crap out of each other. We have pretty good chemistry in the ring.
Q. What is the origin of the stop sign?
A. Back in the day I was using a trash can lid and it was getting over because no one was using that stuff. I had little kids coming up to me after the shows saying they hit each other with trash can lids and it didn't hurt so how was I hurting people with them. Some parents asked me to stop using the can lid because their kids would beat the hell out of one another when they had to take the trash out so I had to find something else so I started using the stop sign.
Q. Did you really work over a promoter who stiffed you on pay with crazy bread from Little Cesar's?
A. It wasn't he stiffed me on pay, he lied to me. I showed up at his show, Ron Owens called me and said he could really use my help and he didn't have much money to pay but he could give me $75 and I would go on first with a trainee and I could go home when the match was done. I get to the town and fliers were everywhere saying the main event was Ron Owens v. MadMan Pondo for the title. So I talked to some of the boys in the back and they said the show had been booked for at least three months with he and I in the main event. He drew 500 people or more and I can't say it was because of me or not but now I'm in the main event and there are 500 people there. Now, I'm not a vengeful guy but my wife at the time (Lady Vendetta) had done an autograph session at Little Cesar's and somehow a bread stick got into my bag so I told Vendetta to wrap it in tape and be ready to give it to me later. He as the good guy and he was getting his heat on me pretty good but soon it was my time shine so I knocked him in the corner, had Vendetta give me the gimmick and I went to work on him. He was selling and juiced and was putting it over good and I tossed the bread stick into the crowd and it shattered into a million pieces and people were like "what the hell, he just sold and got bloody because of some bread." Like I said, I'm not a vengeful guy but I feel like I got a little bit of something back since he lied to me.
Q. What has kept Pondo from getting the call from the WWE or TNA and would you go if they did?
A. Well, I would go, everyone needs exposure in the business and if you don't get it you might as well get out of the business. But I don't think anyone is interested in a scarred up guy who is a great bleeder. You can't do the stuff I do on TV so my specialness in the ring doesn't work on TV so no one has really looked at me.
Q. You're hardcore, you're extreme, how much longer can you go?
A. You know, you're not the first one to ask me that. I'm at 20 years in the business and it's getting harder and harder to keep up and now every new kid can land in tubes and tacks for $20. The more extreme and hardcore you go is not worth keeping up with the kids. Getting a pencil in your ass isn't worth the money anymore. I can't say how long I'm going to keep doing it but I'll keep doing as long as I can.
Q. What's your best road story? (Warning, this is somewhat graphic so be forewarned.)
A. I'm on the road with ICP (Insane Clown Posse) and I'm their main wrestler at the time and this guy comes up to me at the bar and says "I'm your biggest fan" and he keeps wanting to hug me and stuff. So, I'm all about the fans so I finally decide to hug this guy and he says "you've been on the road a long time, how about I loan you my girlfriend." So I'm wondering what he means and thinking he is dating some 300# hag or something and he brings over this beautiful woman and tells her to do whatever Pondo wants. So we sit at the bar for awhile and we have more and more friends join us. A bunch of the boys head to the bus with some weed and roll a joint that is Cheech and Chong dog turd big and smoke it all and as passed out by the time I get to the bus with the girl. My tag partner Mitch Page is sleeping in a bottom bunk with the curtain drawn and I tell her to reach into the curtain and start to give the guy a "happy ending" while he is asleep. So she starts doing her thing and Mitch is going on like this is the best thing that has even happened to him and suddenly I stick my head into the front of the curtain and smile big at him. Page freaks out and grabs her wrist and stuff thinking I was the one doing what she was doing. It was probably the best rib I ever pulled.
Q. You have wrestled all over, where is the place that is most for to Pondo?
A. Korrigan Hall in Tokyo, for the longest time you never knew if the fans liked you because they are so polite and quiet but because of KorakuenHall is now like the ECW area of old, it's one of my favorite places to go.
Q. What do you want your legacy to be in the annals of wrestling?
A. Well, you know, I keep on striving to get more stuff done but I've done a lot of stuff. I've been in three wrestling video games, I've had my own beer in Japan, had sex with a midget porn star, I've done stuff and have women I don't deserve just because of wrestling. I want to live on through DVDs and movies and games, there are a lot of things I'm proud of that no other wrestlers have never done and never will will do. The only thing is I would like to have my own action figure.
Comments
The Line: "Pondo has shed more blood and lost enough skin to manufacture a midget tag team."
Possibly the GREATEST line written in a wrestling piece EVER!
Good article. One small mistake-it's Korakuen Hall, not Korrigan. It's one of the most used arenas in japan, and possibly the only one in the world on the 3rd floor of a shooing mall/office complex!
Thanks for the correct spelling of the hall in Japan, I looked for two days...made the correction in the article. I appreciate the help and I'm glad you enjoyed the interview. Pondo is the best!
Love the Little Cesars story! Basher got what he deserved!
would love to see pondo work but cannot afford a trip to tokyo where in the us does he bleed???
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