We kick off year number two of The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling by getting back to basics and sharing the stories that need to be heard. John and Chad are joined by “The Outlaw” Joel Deaton as they breakdown his career as being quite possibly the most unsung “Gaijin” to ever compete in All Japan Pro Wrestling as well as his career in the states as a member of many memorable tag teams and competing for Jim Crockett Promotions.
Full Episode Download Link: http://tmptow.podomatic.com/entry/2016-01-12T21_00_00-08_00
The Outlaw Joel Deaton Talks Facing Andre The Giant, Giant Baba & Antonio Inoki: https://youtu.be/067ILBZ4QVc
Internet speculation that he was a member of the infamous and quite mocked Ding Dongs Tag Team:
Is that the clown thing? Seems like I vaguely remember that but it seems like it was something like Doink The Clown. But NO whoever wrote that down that is wrong and false. I was never a Ding Dong (laughs).
Working for WCW during the Jim Herd era:
I came back to WCW in the end of 1991 and I came in as the “Outlaw Deaton”. I did an angle with Tommy Rich, did some tagging with Samu and Cornette had hired thugs to beat up and wrestle the Midnight Express. But with Jim Herd, I might have met him once or twice and actually spoke to him. It was Jim Ross that hired me. I would go to him. I never really got to know the man (Herd) because I did all my dealing through Jim (Ross). Jim had done commentary back for Lars (Anderson) in 77 and he remembered me from when I first broke in. Plus he had heard about my success in Japan and people can say what they want to but if you keep a job over there and you get props and it’s not easy but it’s a great accomplishment and I am glad that I went there and would rather be there than anywhere but it’s pretty rough sometimes.
Wrestling a young Sting in the JCP and having to work with unproven talents:
I wrestled Sting’s first ever match he had in WCW at the Omni in Atlanta. They built him up on TV and had been playing some videos and when they brought Sting in I wrestled him in maybe the third or fourth match in the Omni and went about thirteen-fourteen minuets. He was still a little green when he got there but everybody in Crockett from the underneath guys to the main guys could work. You had to get better because everyone you worked with could work. They did the same thing by putting Nikita (Koloff) with me. I had to go on a loop with him and they brought him in greener than green can be. Then “Starship” Scott Hall and Danny Spivey, two big muscle-heads and I love them to death but they would say “put them with Deaton and he will teach them”.
Working with the Giants in Japan (Baba and Andre):
When I would wrestle a match against Baba and even when I wrestled a match against Baba and Andre when you go out to the ring and you get into the ring with Baba or Baba and Andre it’s unlike being out there with anybody else that I’ve ever been out there with and we are talking Hogan, Flair, Harley. It’s almost spiritual. One of them is the largest man on the planet and the other is a 7ft Japanese man. I always tried to have good matches with them and I worked with Baba a whole lot, I don’t even know how many times and would say probably well over two hundred and Andre probably thirty or forty. Not only just to be out there but to be out there and wrestle them and just being in their presence and around them you just sit and watch them interact. It was just special and there is something special about it. I won’t say I “marked” out but I was in awe of them.
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Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
