Welcome to Mark Out With Your Smark Out! My name is Scott Brown. I used to be a writer for the official website of the National Wrestling Alliance, NWA Ringside, under the ownership of the honorable, Bruce Tharpe. I regularly covered the news coming from NWA promotions from Oregon, California, Texas, Ohio, New York, Tennessee, the Carolinas, Georgia and everything in between, as well as action from Japan, Australia, Mexico, and the UK. I interviewed NWA champions like the Bullet Club’s Chase Owens, former Worlds Heavyweight champion, Jax Dane, NXT superstar, Santana Garrett, and classic stars like Jeff Jarrett and Dan Severn. After the sale of the organization to the rockstar and wrestling aficionado, William Patrick Corgan, I found myself with a bit more free time on my hands and decided to develop this blog. You will get the best interviews and editorials about the world of pro wrestling that I can possibly provide you. This being the first article in the history of Mark Out With Your Smark Out, I wanted to start with something substantial, so I present to you part one of an interview I did back in the late summer of 2017 and never got the opportunity to publish featuring the “Taskmaster” Kevin Sullivan. Let’s get to it. Enjoy!
SCOTT BROWN: Can you tell me about your time in Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling when you were known as Johnny West?
KEVIN SULLIVAN: I was known as Johnny West because there was a wrestler there wrestling by the name of Eddie Sullivan. And, they didn’t want to confuse the issue with me, so, they changed my name.
SCOTT BROWN: After that you went to Florida and were tagging with Mike Graham. The Graham family was pretty big in Florida, can you tell us about them?
KEVIN SULLIVAN: Well they were huge, actually. They got Florida Championship Wrestling off the ground. Eddie had a business with Cowboy Latrell. Cowboy Latrell was a very well known wrestler. In the 40s he actually boxed Jack Dempsey and got knocked out. Mike was second generation, he had a great mind and he was probably the most prepared mind in the history of the business. Just ran a well organized company that most companies, like Bill Watts and other companies later on, tried to emulate.
SCOTT BROWN: I don’t ever recall a face Kevin Sullivan, but, you were one back in Georgia, San Francisco and WWWF. What was that like?
KEVIN SULLIVAN: Well, it was great. I was young and starting out. And, it was good because I was learning what a villain should do. So, no, it was good for me and I have a lot of fond memories, especially the San Fransisco area, but the way you said, the San Francisco area, the New York area and the Gulf Coast.
SCOTT BROWN: Another place you wrestled in the 80s was Memphis, when you teamed with Wayne Ferris, the Honkytonk Man, and Jimmy Hart to battle Jerry Lawler. What was 80s Memphis wrestling like?
KEVIN SULLIVAN: It was great. We came in and ran roughshod over Lawler and Dundee and the territory went crazy. So, it was the right time at the right place.
SCOTT BROWN: Can you tell me how your Army of Darkness angle in Championship Wrestling from Florida came about?
KEVIN SULLIVAN: It evolved from the time of MTV and horror movies, you know, that period of Michael Jackson. It kind of evolved from what was going on in the world as we knew it.
SCOTT BROWN: Some of the big names in Florida at that time were Windham and Rhodes. Can you tell us about them?
KEVIN SULLIVAN: Two of the greatest performers of all time, along with Blackjack Mulligan. They were just terrific. Great talkers. Great performers. Barry Windham was the premier babyface. We did nothing but draw money, along with Dusty. I had a great run, for three years I wrestled one of the three that we mentioned in a single or a tag team match or a six man tag. So, I had a wonderful time.
SCOTT BROWN: There was a lot of talent with you, when you got to WCW, in the Varsity Club. Can you tell me about that group?
KEVIN SULLIVAN: Yeah, the Varsity Club was a great group of guys. Mike Rotunda, Dr. Death and Rick Steiner. Legitimate tough guys. Legitimate athletes. National wrestling champions and I was proud to be part of that group.
SCOTT BROWN: One of the more interesting groups you were part of was Slaughterhouse. What was it like being on the road with Mick Foley and Buzz Sawyer?
KEVIN SULLIVAN: Oh, it was crazy. They were diametrically opposed outside of the ring, so, it was great. I went from the sublime to the ridiculous. It was great. I enjoyed that run, too.
SCOTT BROWN: Thats what I thought was great. Inside the ring you all had similar characters, but outside the ring Foley and Sawyer seemed to be opposites in every possible way.
KEVIN SULLIVAN: It worked out well for me.
That’s it for this edition of Mark Out With Your Smark Out. Later in the week we will have part two of our Kevin Sullivan interview featuring Japan, Jim Cornette, Paul Heyman, Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan! Before you go, please visit The Ashley Trautwein Memorial Fund and donate $5. 100% of your donation goes to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and their suicide prevention programs and research.