An interview with 'Nature Boy' Buddy Rogers from an 1981 episode of Jim Barniak's 'Sports Scrapbook', which aired on the PRISM sports network out of Philadelphia.
In 1979 when Buddy wrestled Ric Flair he still looked like he was in great shape. He was long passed his prime and he could still go with stars of that time. He was before my time but it’s good to have UA-cam to see his matches.
My grandparents used to go to Maple Leaf Gardens in the 40's and 50's to watch Gorgeous George and Buddy Rogers. They told me great stories. She would come visit us in West Palm in the late 70's and early 80's and would watch CWF with Gordon Solie with me on TV and take me to the Auditorium on Monday nights to catch Dusty, Barry and Kevin Sullivan. She loved Blackjack.
I enjoy this interview so much. I wish there was more of them! He was interesting, and he tells a good story! Woulda been cool to have met him! That era is pretty much gone.
Buddy was a real nice guy.My uncle John Gibson who was a large contractor in Erlton gave Buddy his first job.When I started working for The Spectrum Buddy started managing Jimmy Snuka and we got to know each other very well he was just a great guy. Rest in Peace Buddy.
I don’t come away from this interview characterizing him as a “nice man.” Particularly the part of the interview where he kayfabe says Bruno couldn’t beat him if he didn’t have a heart attack. For most of the interview he’s in his arrogant “Nature Boy”character.
Buddy comes really close to “exposing the business” particularly where he says modern wrestling (at least what was modern for 1981) does things that “insult people’s intelligence.” I guess old-time wrestlers have been saying that forever. Wrestlers who were hot in that era say that about today’s wrestling.
Watched budy Rogers many times as a kid with my stepdad. He hated this man but to me he was the best and I always waited for Buddy to apply the figure 4 to destroy his oppenents . My step dad hated Buddys strut .. Stepda was a very reserved guy but Buddy brought out things I never knew he had . RIP Buddy
My dad wrestled Lou Thesz when they were in college. My dad made no excuse for losing to him, he just said he lost to the "greatest that ever was".. We used to watch Buddy Rogers whenever he wrestled near us. He was a guy you loved to hate, but you loved him nonetheless. Rogers and Thesz were amazing. Rogers truly transformed pro wrestling.
One of the greatest of all time but the time was 1940-1964. I loved watching NB never saw a really bad match. He did it all and gave credit to the greatest real wrestler Lou Thesz!
He, like many other old-timers, disliked what wrestling had turned into. Freddie Blassie, Verne Gagne, Sammartino, Lou Thesz, Buddy, Killer Kowalski, et al. have all expressed their dislike about the present state of wrestling. I think Thesz was the most outspoken. He described Hulk Hogan as a "non-wrestler" and went on to say that Hogan's leg-drop was not a wrestling move. Thesz even claimed that his grandmother would've delivered a better leg-drop.
It's inevitable though. You can only push a new idea so far before it becomes stale. Retrospect shows us that every innovator of every new generation "ruined" wrestling. Time was when it was a legit shoot. Then it became a work. Then came Gorgeous George and the birth of the gimmick. Who birthed Natures Boy Rogers and Flair, Superstar Billy Graham, even the legit fighter Mohammad Ali. Gimmicks. And then Graham birthed Dusty, and Hogan, and Savage, and second stage Scott Steiner, and The Body Jesse V and on and on. Fast FWD to undead-old-west-zombie-wizard-undertaker versus man-in-the-iron-mask-in-a-shirt-and-tie and the work is now more dangerous than the shoot ever was and it makes millions. And here we are now in 2023 and I can't make heads or tails of most of the product out there, domestic or international, major fed or indie. It seems all so so so so bad now. And here I am an old timer making the same complaints about the state of modern pro wrestling in 2023 as they were in 1923. "Back in my day wrestling was real. Nowadays they make it seem so fake." 🤷♂️
The older guys came from a time when most everyone in wrestling was a real athlete and understood what the real thing would look like. The main event guys would put on 60 minute main events. They were all in really great shape. The more modern wrestlers often have never done any sports at all. Often they were bodybuilders who worked a "look" that resulted in them being in terrible physical shape. We got to the era of the ten minute match where the matches themselves were kind of an afterthought and the interviews were the product. But the thing to understand is that anyone today who MIGHT be good enough to be an old-time wrestler usually ends up in MMA and the UFC now. They have a real alternative to pro wrestling.
Wow, Definitely a lost gem that I don’t think many people have had the opportunity to view that enjoy wrestling, especially ‘ATTITUDE-ERA” wrestling! Constantly emulated, never duplicated!!! Great classic.
Philadelphia's own PRISM network! A few things to say: (a) This was right before Buddy joined the WWF for a short stint to manage Jimmy Snuka as he turned from hated heel to loved babyface. (b) Buddy was the prototype for all heels that came after him with his arrogance and cockiness. (c) In a shoot, Bruno stated that Buddy's heart attack story was fake. (d) I first started watching wrestling in 1980-81 and if Buddy were alive today, I can only imagine what he would say about today's product!
I've seen everyone from Oconnor, bockwinkle,verne, The funks, Brisco, kiniski, Backlund , over 50 years. Race, styles ect Wrestling today is so Predictable, so repetitive. Wrestlers have 2 or 3 moves. The exception are styles and few others. Its all about gimmicks, storyline, T shirt sales, entrance music. I loved the greats I grew up with. 60 min draws, believability, 2 out of 3 falls. Sad its gone. No one sells anymore
BRUNO told the truth. ROGERS would not have been allowed to wrestle if he didn't pass all the states medical examinations. he didn't have a heart attack.
@@MrMferg240You are absolutely lying. And claiming that state athletic commissions were legit is hilarious. Explain then, why were most of his matches before only around 30 seconds as well. And explain why they were tag matches consisting solely on Rogers standing on the ring apron? After that, explain why Rogers hardly ever wrestled again, outside of a few matches in Detroit years later, and were also less than a minute?
according to Bruno, in1963, the state athletic commission would never permit a critically ill heart patient to wrestle in a sanctioned event, it took Buddy years to come up with this story, and it is truly laughable.
He was still sticking to that bullshit heart attack story. Bruno beat him and that's all there is to it. This guy was so vain. The world's 1st Rick Flair.
@@Rjensen2 Buddy Roger's thought he was the greatest thing in the world. And then he found out he wasn't so great after all. I guess Rick Flair is still the greatest thing too. What a crock of shit.
Roger's was built n a good wrestler a private n hurt deliberately good people. When he lost a match on tv he picked up announcer Jimmy Lake n threw the 70ish announcer over the top rope down onto the concrete floor breaking his. Leg which pneumonia set in and he died. He should have been charged with manslughter.
watched him when i was a very young boy and always enjoyed . it was so much better then to watch as compared to the junk you see today. in my opinion lou thesz,buddy rodgers and bob backland are the three best of all time. there were many more in this era that were at the top of my list as well. RIP NATURE BOY
Wait a minute Buddy, are you trying to say that wrestling was real in your day. To my knowledge it started going fake in and around the 20's. Please someone more knowledgeable correct me?
Buddy Rogers was the champ when I was 10 yrs. old in '62 ( it's 2021 now). But I digress. A dvd titled "The (un) Real History Of Professional Wrestling", narrated by Steve Allen, is the best history to watch. It covers the sport from its' beginning up to Hulkamania.
@@MBCR101 it didn't take itself too seriously. Wrestling matches were considered as legitimate as MMA fights are today and all wrestlers were legit tough guy who knew how to wrestle (or how to hook to use their slang) and worked together to draw as much money as possible. Keeping the illusion was mandatory for everybody involved to keep making a good living out of it. Imagine if suddenly Dana White came out admitting UFC has been completely scripted from day 1, every MMA training center, fighter and small time promoter in the world would instantly go bankrupt.
Give him a break. Of course it was fake then too but it was a heck of a lot more real in a lot of ways. Kayfabe was still a thing in the business at this time and the prior generations had been a lot more protective of it. Buddy is a legend.
In 1979 when Buddy wrestled Ric Flair he still looked like he was in great shape. He was long passed his prime and he could still go with stars of that time. He was before my time but it’s good to have UA-cam to see his matches.
I would love to start from the beginning and watch all the way through to the monday night wars
He was 58 when he wrestled Flair
"that little four letter word: guts." GIVE ME BACK THIS KIND OF ATTITUDE IN WRESTLING!!!!!!
This interview is the perfect blend of shoot and kayfabe.
My grandparents used to go to Maple Leaf Gardens in the 40's and 50's to watch Gorgeous George and Buddy Rogers. They told me great stories. She would come visit us in West Palm in the late 70's and early 80's and would watch CWF with Gordon Solie with me on TV and take me to the Auditorium on Monday nights to catch Dusty, Barry and Kevin Sullivan. She loved Blackjack.
Buddy rogers a true legend!
I enjoy this interview so much. I wish there was more of them! He was interesting, and he tells a good story! Woulda been cool to have met him! That era is pretty much gone.
Buddy was a real nice guy.My uncle John Gibson who was a large contractor in Erlton gave Buddy his first job.When I started working for The Spectrum Buddy started managing Jimmy Snuka and we got to know each other very well he was just a great guy.
Rest in Peace Buddy.
Yeah the Spectrum was great
Alot of the wrestlers say he wasn't a nice Man
I don’t come away from this interview characterizing him as a “nice man.” Particularly the part of the interview where he kayfabe says Bruno couldn’t beat him if he didn’t have a heart attack. For most of the interview he’s in his arrogant “Nature Boy”character.
Buddy comes really close to “exposing the business” particularly where he says modern wrestling (at least what was modern for 1981) does things that “insult people’s intelligence.”
I guess old-time wrestlers have been saying that forever. Wrestlers who were hot in that era say that about today’s wrestling.
Man and he was saying this in ‘81 imagine him watching the next 40 years lmfao
Bruno and buddy two living legends!
Bruno hated Buddy. Both are icons.
Watched budy Rogers many times as a kid with my stepdad. He hated this man but to me he was the best and I always waited for Buddy to apply the figure 4 to destroy his oppenents . My step dad hated Buddys strut .. Stepda was a very reserved guy but Buddy brought out things I never knew he had . RIP Buddy
Buddy was my favorite growing up. Lou Thez as someone else posted here was an amazing wrestler!
My dad wrestled Lou Thesz when they were in college. My dad made no excuse for losing to him, he just said he lost to the "greatest that ever was"..
We used to watch Buddy Rogers whenever he wrestled near us. He was a guy you loved to hate, but you loved him nonetheless. Rogers and Thesz were amazing. Rogers truly transformed pro wrestling.
My great grandfather 🥰
Damn
Damn wanna go out
Thats really cool!
@@dolosavage6295
She's taken, but thanks for the compliment...
Yeah sure...
This guy was working the whole interview I love it 😂
One of the greatest of all time but the time was 1940-1964. I loved watching NB never saw a really bad match. He did it all and gave credit to the greatest real wrestler Lou Thesz!
Daniel Olarnick I am only old enough to remember him manage but the old clips I watch he was a hell of a performer.
He, like many other old-timers, disliked what wrestling had turned into. Freddie Blassie, Verne Gagne, Sammartino, Lou Thesz, Buddy, Killer Kowalski, et al. have all expressed their dislike about the present state of wrestling. I think Thesz was the most outspoken. He described Hulk Hogan as a "non-wrestler" and went on to say that Hogan's leg-drop was not a wrestling move. Thesz even claimed that his grandmother would've delivered a better leg-drop.
The wrestling that they liked was only during the greek gladiators time
Whenever I think of old timey wrestling, I always think of that super hairy guy from Ren & Stimpy Lost Episodes.
@@AbdurRahim-ep5qv Your ignorance is astounding.
It's inevitable though. You can only push a new idea so far before it becomes stale. Retrospect shows us that every innovator of every new generation "ruined" wrestling. Time was when it was a legit shoot. Then it became a work. Then came Gorgeous George and the birth of the gimmick. Who birthed Natures Boy Rogers and Flair, Superstar Billy Graham, even the legit fighter Mohammad Ali. Gimmicks. And then Graham birthed Dusty, and Hogan, and Savage, and second stage Scott Steiner, and The Body Jesse V and on and on.
Fast FWD to undead-old-west-zombie-wizard-undertaker versus man-in-the-iron-mask-in-a-shirt-and-tie and the work is now more dangerous than the shoot ever was and it makes millions.
And here we are now in 2023 and I can't make heads or tails of most of the product out there, domestic or international, major fed or indie. It seems all so so so so bad now. And here I am an old timer making the same complaints about the state of modern pro wrestling in 2023 as they were in 1923.
"Back in my day wrestling was real. Nowadays they make it seem so fake."
🤷♂️
The older guys came from a time when most everyone in wrestling was a real athlete and understood what the real thing would look like. The main event guys would put on 60 minute main events. They were all in really great shape.
The more modern wrestlers often have never done any sports at all. Often they were bodybuilders who worked a "look" that resulted in them being in terrible physical shape.
We got to the era of the ten minute match where the matches themselves were kind of an afterthought and the interviews were the product.
But the thing to understand is that anyone today who MIGHT be good enough to be an old-time wrestler usually ends up in MMA and the UFC now. They have a real alternative to pro wrestling.
Buddy rogers was the true nature boy the original and the best! Ric flair is great but buddy was the best nature boy and the original !
I love both buddy and bruno and its a real shame they didnt like eachother.
Wow, Definitely a lost gem that I don’t think many people have had the opportunity to view that enjoy wrestling, especially ‘ATTITUDE-ERA” wrestling! Constantly emulated, never duplicated!!! Great classic.
If wrestlers still wrestle like his era how many of you people would enjoy it
Everyone
No one it was just dry humping back then
@@JOn87_STRONGlol liar
Excellent wrestler, shabby human being.
Absolutely the Greatest of the Great!!!!
Rip the immortal buddy rogers
Wrestling in 1981 was a million times better than the lunacy that became of wrestling under Vince McMahon from 1985 until now.
Then again, here in this 1981 interview, they are saying how much better wrestling was back in the day years BEFORE 1981
82-2024
It's funny how he's kayfabing and the interviewer knows it basically making this whole interview a work😂
Funny how?
@@Rjensen2 Ya know,the way he tells the story. He's a funny guy.
🤠
The best ever
Brunno said he hated Roger's...wrestling was so different back then....I still watch old school wrestling....great matches back then.....
Rogers not Roger's
Philadelphia's own PRISM network! A few things to say:
(a) This was right before Buddy joined the WWF for a short stint to manage Jimmy Snuka as he turned from hated heel to loved babyface.
(b) Buddy was the prototype for all heels that came after him with his arrogance and cockiness.
(c) In a shoot, Bruno stated that Buddy's heart attack story was fake.
(d) I first started watching wrestling in 1980-81 and if Buddy were alive today, I can only imagine what he would say about today's product!
Buddy did have a heart attack
@@michaelrubin9547 he had three strokes not a heart attack
I've seen everyone from
Oconnor, bockwinkle,verne,
The funks, Brisco, kiniski,
Backlund , over 50 years.
Race, styles ect
Wrestling today is so
Predictable, so repetitive.
Wrestlers have 2 or 3 moves.
The exception are styles and few others.
Its all about gimmicks, storyline,
T shirt sales, entrance music.
I loved the greats I grew up with.
60 min draws, believability, 2 out of 3 falls. Sad its gone.
No one sells anymore
Rip buddy and bruno
Great interview
I can't imagine Barbra Streisand hanging around Bob Bachlund..... lmao
Well, she didn't hang around Buddy Rogers either, so what's your point?
A year before his time in wwf with snuka vs albano and ray stevens.
I wonder what he would say today after Vince McMahon told the world it is all fake. Lol
Ric Flair copied everything from him the strut , name Nature boy, even the figure four leg lock.
So did Buddy Landel. The forgotten Nature Boy from the 80s
Interesting, Bruno told a completely different story in why and how he beat Buddy
BRUNO told the truth. ROGERS would not have been allowed to wrestle if he didn't pass all the states medical examinations. he didn't have a heart attack.
Bruno was straight out lying about that match.
@@MrMferg240You are absolutely lying.
And claiming that state athletic commissions were legit is hilarious.
Explain then, why were most of his matches before only around 30 seconds as well. And explain why they were tag matches consisting solely on Rogers standing on the ring apron? After that, explain why Rogers hardly ever wrestled again, outside of a few matches in Detroit years later, and were also less than a minute?
@@MrMferg240Not that I would expect someone who thinks Bruno beat him in a legit match to be able to explain that, of course. 😂
lol, BRUNO would have completely destroyed BUDDY in a shoot. not even close. sorry if that upsets you.@@Rjensen2
Bruno Sammartino hated this man
Wow! Buddy said he beat Bruno 11 straight times before losing the belt to Bruno right after his heart attack.
You do realize it’s scripted don’t you ? No one “ beats” anyone in pro wrestling .
It's not all scripted some are shoots
@@michaelrubin9547 😂
@@michaelrubin9547Maybe in the 1800s. 😂
@@Rjensen2 no even in the 1970s
Funny how guys who know the finishes are fake still hold on to excuses as to losing.
according to Bruno, in1963, the state athletic commission would never permit a critically ill heart patient to wrestle in a sanctioned event, it took Buddy years to come up with this story, and it is truly laughable.
He was still sticking to that bullshit heart attack story. Bruno beat him and that's all there is to it. This guy was so vain. The world's 1st Rick Flair.
Bruno was straight up lying about Buddy.
Bruno's bullshit has been refuted so many times, it's sad idiots still believe it.
@@Rjensen2 Buddy Roger's thought he was the greatest thing in the world. And then he found out he wasn't so great after all. I guess Rick Flair is still the greatest thing too. What a crock of shit.
@@Rjensen2 Brunos son doesnt even like Bruno! Like Heenan said Bruno was a bitter man.
Roger's was built n a good wrestler a private n hurt deliberately good people. When he lost a match on tv he picked up announcer Jimmy Lake n threw the 70ish announcer over the top rope down onto the concrete floor breaking his. Leg which pneumonia set in and he died. He should have been charged with manslughter.
I can't believe people actually believe that. 😂
audio sucks
👍👍👍👍🌭🍺.
Ric stole the show....
But all this doesn't mean shit, what God judges on is on what we do for others,and believe in Jesus
This Bubby before Ric flair
watched him when i was a very young boy and always enjoyed . it was so much better then to watch as compared to the junk you see today. in my opinion lou thesz,buddy rodgers and bob backland are the three best of all time. there were many more in this era that were at the top of my list as well. RIP NATURE BOY
Wait a minute Buddy, are you trying to say that wrestling was real in your day. To my knowledge it started going fake in and around the 20's. Please someone more knowledgeable correct me?
A worked business that took itself way too seriously but trying to imagine dealing with the men back then compared to today is impossible.
Buddy Rogers was the champ when I was 10 yrs. old in '62 ( it's 2021 now). But I digress. A dvd titled "The (un) Real History Of Professional Wrestling", narrated by Steve Allen, is the best history to watch. It covers the sport from its' beginning up to Hulkamania.
@@MBCR101 it didn't take itself too seriously. Wrestling matches were considered as legitimate as MMA fights are today and all wrestlers were legit tough guy who knew how to wrestle (or how to hook to use their slang) and worked together to draw as much money as possible. Keeping the illusion was mandatory for everybody involved to keep making a good living out of it. Imagine if suddenly Dana White came out admitting UFC has been completely scripted from day 1, every MMA training center, fighter and small time promoter in the world would instantly go bankrupt.
Give him a break. Of course it was fake then too but it was a heck of a lot more real in a lot of ways. Kayfabe was still a thing in the business at this time and the prior generations had been a lot more protective of it. Buddy is a legend.
It was never fake it was fixed
Bruno Sammartino hated Buddy and Bruno said the heart attack comments were false. 🎉
Rogers protects kayfabe the entire interview.
Earnings MILLIONS LMAO
3:20 CHIF CHEWAKEE WAS MY GRAND FATHER'S FIRST CUSION AND THE FIRST ROMANI PRO WRESLER AND I WAS THE SECOND, LOL NOT THAT ANYONE CARES.😊