Necro Butcher on his In-Ring Return on Friday Night, The Wrestler, Mickey Rourke/Nicholas Cage, Becoming MAGA Butcher with Jasmin St. Claire, more

Show: Wrestling Epicenter
Guest: "MAGA" Necro Butcher
Date: 09/02/2024
Your Host: James Walsh

The Necro Butcher is a wrestling veteran perhaps best known for his hardcore style. A man who cut his teeth in the legendary Sportatorium in Dallas, Texas and fought wars all over the world, he now finds himself over 30 years into his wrestling journey with a question that remains to be answered - Can he still do it?

In April of 2024, Necro Butcher broke his hip in 4 places. Though he still teaches a wrestling class at his school, he's not had a full match since. On September 6th, he returns to the ring against Pierce Price. Will it be the start of a major comeback from a beloved hardcore legend or the end of the road for a man who encouraged us to Choose Death? Time will tell!

Butcher joined us to chat for over 40 minutes and we cover everything from his roots to politics and the surprising origin of his MAGA Butcher persona which involves adult film star Jasmin St. Claire's influence. Check it out!

Catch live pro wrestling from Bomb City Bar Fights on September 6th featuring the return of the Necro Butcher on their Facebook page! A free livestream should be up by bell time!

Don't forget to link back to www.WrestlingEpicenter.com. There, you can find 865 prior interviews with names as large as Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Steve Austin, batista, and beyond. You can also find the YouTube video for this interview to embed on your site.

NECRO BUTCHER:

On his concerns about returning to the ring after injury:
"Well, I run the wrestling school down here. I've been in there taking bumps, getting slammed around by the students. I am getting in there with them! So, it hasn't been a completely contact free lifestyle of late. And, so far, I've had no major problems from it. So, September 6th against Pierce Price will be interesting... It will either be where the comeback begins or where the comeback ends. Either way, it will be historic! )laughs)"

On if he's worried about being able to be the Butcher we have come to know:
"Of course. I think deep down, you always have those worries on if you can perform up to expectations. But, I've been sitting around for a while. I moved down to Amarillo, Texas in a wheelchair. I moved up to a walker. Then, I moved to a cane. I've not used that cane in about 3 or 4 weeks now. So, we'll have to wait and find out. You know, I'm not getting any younger. We're going to find out if there is still some miles left in the tank - If there are still chapters in the book ready to be written. I've sat around long enough. It is time to find out."

On what happened that resulted in his injury:
"Well, I've always had problems with my right knee. I've always had trouble doing things I should be able to do with it. So, I think the problems with the right knee resulted in the hip."

On technology helping:
"Well, we were in Kushiro which reminded me a lot of West Virginia or parts of Pennsylvania. Very hilly. Sparsely populated. I was in the hospital there and no one could speak English. Thankfully, with wi-fi, I was able to use my phone - We call it our phones but it really is a super computer we carry in our pockets. I was able to translate what I said into Japanese with a push of the button. There's still something lost in translation. But, I would have hated to have done this in the late 1980's or early 1990's without this technology. I was over there 4 weeks in the hospital!"

On cutting his teeth in the Dallas Sportatorium:
"Yeah. Back then, there were no real wrestling seminars the way there are now. But, Friday night would be the matches at the Sportatorium and then Saturday morning, there would be training camps. A lot of times, you would have out of town wrestlers that would stick around and beat up on the kids the next morning. (laughs) That is what I was. I was one of the kids. You had some under-card wrestlers who maybe wanted to make a good impression on the boss. Or, they would want to try out a new move maybe they saw on a tape from Japan so they would try it on one of the kids. Tackling dummies can be hard to find sometimes. So, go to the camp and find a tackling dummy!"

On who the trainer was at the Sportatorium at this time:
"At that time, Black Bart was both putting the matches together and doing the camp. I think Skandor Akbar had just left. I know Bart had just taken over about a month before I went. That was crazy because the first matches I ever attended, Black Bart was in the main event. It was for the Mid Atlantic territory and Black Bart was against Terry Taylor. That was the main event of the first live wrestling event I ever attended. Black Bart was the National Heavyweight Champion. We saw him on TV get the belt from Ronnie Garvin! Then, there he was up against Terry Taylor."

On working out his differences with Black Bart as mentioned in our recent chat with Bart:
"We had a good conversation a few days ago. He really put the Bat Signal out there and I was contacted by about 25 different people about him wanting to get in touch with me. We had a good conversation. A lot of the same lessons he taught me when I was getting started are the same lessons I teach my kids today. We get together 3 nights a week out here. We train in the ring on Tuesdays and Thursdays and on Wednesdays we get together and watch old wrestling. I even have some female trainees and we get together and we watch Leilani Kai matches. She's like the female version of Harley Race! (laughs) She went everywhere, she was always on top! Solid in the ring! I'm like, anything you see her do, do that!"

On Leilani Kai not being in the WWE Hall of Fame:
"I was under the impression she was. Didn't they just put Bull Nakano in the Hall of Fake? Not to take anything away from Bull Nakano but Lelani Kai did more in that company than Bull did. Bull had limited exposure here. And, Leilani worked over in the same company in Japan... I would have thought Leilani and Judy Martin would be a packaged deal for the Hall of Fame kind of like the Road Warriors or the Steiner Brothers."

On the experience filming The Wrestler:
"I had done a couple of movies in Japan where my part was done in like one day. But, this was different. This was a big production. I used to watch and see how the guys and girls would come in and put stuff together, make you a whole new outfit in a very short amount of time. I was imprssed by that. One cool thing about the make-up was some of the lascerations and damage I had on me was put on with special effects. Then, I had to go back a few weeks later and do some extra filming and I had just had a match where Mark Briscoe and he hit me in the eye with his elbow and my face was purple. So, it was funny because the first time I went and filmed the match for the Wrestler, which took 3 days by the way, they had to make me up to look more injured than I was. Then, when I went back to re-shoot some stuff, they had to give me make-up to make me appear uninjured. (laughs)"

On Mickey Rourke's approach to playing Randy the Ram:
"He was real serious! He would go to other wrestling shows with me and he'd sit in the corner and lace his boots up, and then he'd unlace them. Then, he'd lace his boots up, and unlace them. He would do this 10 to 15 times. Then, he'd watch people and then he'd tape his wrist up, and take the tape off. Tape his wrist up, take the tape off. He didn't go there to joke around. He went to study what guys were doing in the locker room. That is what he would do. He would study and he would repeat over, and over, and over!"

On if he felt The Wrestler should have won best picture:
"Oh, I don't know. I was shocked it was as big as it was. Because, you have to remember, that was Mickey Rourke's big comeback role. He had been out a bit. But, his career took off again after that role. I had been involved in the process from the beginning back when it was Nicholas Cage..."

On if Nicholas Cage was supposed to be Randy the Ram:
"Well, no, not really. He owed the producer a favor. So, they were working everybody. They were taking Nicholas Cage around to this investor and that investor because they thought his name attached to it would help. That is what they told everybody - That there was a change (from Nicholas Cage to Mickey Rourke.) There wasn't any change. They thought they wouldn't get the investors with Mickey Rourke's name."

On signing with Ring of Honor after the movie came out:
"I had been working there for a couple of years before the movie came out. But, after the movie, they finally came to me - And I was one of the very few guys that was on a per night appearance still. But, after the movie, I think they were afraid I was going to go somewhere else. (laughs) Nah, I loved it there. I was a little younger then. I enjoyed testing myself. And, Ring of Honor then, they were traveling to most major cities in America. And, you were on top, it felt good to finally get a contract. Most of the guys gave me a hard time because I signed a 2 year contract and most everyone else was on a 1 year contract. I would have signed a 20 year contract if it were offered to me!"

On his thoughts on AEW and, to a lesser extent, WWE dabbling in hardcore wrestling over the past few years:
"I have to confess, except for a few minute clips someone asked me to watch, I haven't seen any of that stuff. When I get together with my students, we watch good wrestling. We watch World Class Championship Wrestling. Jim Crockett Promotions! AWA! I don't want my kids watching that stuff, the stuff they're doing on TV now. I don't want them learning that kind of stuff because that isn't the kind of stuff that we're doing."

On the difference working for smaller, untelevised promotions than what you see on TV:
"When you're working for smaller shows that aren't televised, you are working for the crowd instead of for a black box. You tell your story, apply your craft for the paying customers around you. Whereas, with the televised promotions, you're telling your story to a little box. "Which way is the hard camera?" Whereas, what I teach my kids, you have fans all around you. Most of the time, there is no camera."

On adopting the MAGA Butcher character in XPW:
"Well, most good characters are really an extension of yourself. I suppose I sometimes go a little over the top with it. But, I had a bout of hodgkin's lymphoma in 2020. I took a couple years off for that. Then, XPW came back. Rob Black decided he wanted to do wrestling again. Originally, I was supposed to do one match for him and help with a little credibility for the promotion by using a name people might know. And, for me, it was a change for me to get back in there just like September 6th is, to see what I might still have left in the tank. One match became another match, and so on. And, I was well received by the fans and by the talent there. And then, they did an angle where I had Jasmin St. Claire and Veronica Caine. And, they had an issue with another woman who was accompanying Schlak. The focus was on the women. Afterwards, I went to Rob Black and I was like, "Boy, that was easy working with those girls! What are you going to do with Jasmin now? What are you going to do with me now?" He didn't really know so I said, "Put us together!""

On Jasmin St. Claire's influence on the MAGA Butcher:
"Jasmin St. Claire, she's of the same mindset as I am on most social and political issues. They put a camera in front of us and all of a sudden, the next thing you knew all we were doing was ranting and raving and bitching about things! (laughs)"

On it being somewhat surprising that Jasmin is MAGA:
"(laughs) You should see it. They'd have us ready to film something and she'd go on her phone and read some headlines or watch some things and get herself all worked up for the promos. She'd get herself all worked up! (laughs) She's great, man."

On how involving very divisive politics has worked in front of a live crowd:
"Well, it elicits a response, that is for sure. Either they want to see you clobber a guy or see you get clobbered by him. That is what you're after, though. Make you make 'em care!"

On selling MAGA hats in Japan:
"I went on a tour of Japan and I brought a few Make America Great Again hats, or Trump 2024 hats, to Japan with me and I sold out of them in short order. The next trip over, I brought two cases over and I sold out of those within 2 shows. Then I bought three cases over and I sold out of those within 2 shows again also! So, iternationally, it seems to sell. Especially in Japan. They have national alerts when North Korea flies missiles over Japan. So far, they've all landed in the ocean. But, they sound the sirens because they don't knwo if it is going to hit or land in the ocean. And, that kind of stuff was not going on when you know who was in the White House."