Wrestling Talk's Leonard Caplan and Ed Whittier's interview with Nailz The Prisioner

Wrestling Talk' Story by Leonard Aaron Caplan

Wrestling Talk has been around since 1987, when there were no other talk shows, TV or radio about professional wrestling. Vince McMahon had TNT, which was a "worked" Tonight Show-like knockoff which was entertaining, but I wanted to see a real talk show that revealed the people behind the pro wrestling characters they portrayed.

So I created the show with my late friend and co-host Paul Fay. Paul was a wrestling photographer and had access to a lot of pro wrestlers from the AWA and ICW which at that time had temporarily merged.

Our very 1st guest was Walter "Killer" Kowalski, a legend in the annals of pro wrestling. We had enough material for the 1st four shows and we got some local guests to fill the remaining slots.

One show turned into five, five to ten and soon Wrestling Talk became a habit! It was weekly at that time, and we would scramble to get guests. Usually, the show would feature a heel wrestler who would inevitably turn on Paul and Paul would take a bump. Don't forget, pro wrestling was more of a 'secret' at that time, with promoters great and small along with "the boys" all conspiring to keep it that way.

It wasn't until the 90s that pro wrestling "came out of the closet". This happened most notably when Vince McMahon, in seeking to free pro wrestling from the rules and regulations of state athletic commissions, admitted that pro wrestling was not a "contest" but only meant to simulate one.

After this event, Wrestling Talk soon stopped doing "bumps" and "angles" and became what it is today, more of a review show, a critique of the promotions and promoters and the shows they put on. Ed Whittier, Jim Quinlan III and myself really see ourselves more as intelligent (we hope) observers of an art form that we love. Even when wrestling sinks to new lows, horrible gimmicks and "screwjob" matches, we seek out that rare gem, a match that makes even us forget that professional wrestling is not a contest.

The most recent PPV event, The Royal Rumble really impressed both Ed and myself. Go to www.blip.tv to see our match by match review. We do Wrestling Talk for ourselves and whoever appreciates it. In addition to blip.tv, you can catch the show on BNN in Boston, MA CCTV in Cambridge, MMTV in Melrose, MA where we tape the showand SCAT in Somerville, MA.

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[xjimmyxx1975]

@filthiestfish me too

[AlbanianMan]

Strange hearing Kevin Wacholz in his Nailz persona talking without that voice scrambler he used in the WWF.

[TheLlco0lml]

this guy is classic

[B0NEL0C0]

that was a harmonizer on his voice in wwf..wow wtf

[AceDagger1]

@filthiestfish I'm gonna assume the mid 90s, like '96 after the AWF closed down (which he was apart of). It's no time recent since it says on Wiki (not always reliable but I think in this case it is) that he retired in 2000. This was the perfect gimmick for him though, he looked and acted the part to perfection

[filthiestfish]

Nailz minus the special effects. Nailz looks older here. I wonder what year this is from.