Rick Del Santo's Classic Wrestling Talk Podcast w/Vladimir Koloff

On this episode of Rick Del Santo’s Classic Pro Wrestling Talk, Rick welcomes Vladimir Koloff for a deep, detailed conversation about his life, amateur wrestling background, and journey through the professional wrestling business. Vladimir talks about growing up in central Indiana, becoming a standout amateur wrestler, competing at a national level, and spending time around the United States Olympic developmental system before eventually making the move into professional wrestling. He shares how a chance connection with Andre the Giant and later Ivan Koloff opened the door, leading to his training, the creation of the Vladimir Koloff name, and his place in the Koloff wrestling legacy. The conversation covers his early days breaking in, training under Ivan Koloff and Bobby Fulton, working with the Rock ’n’ Roll Express almost immediately after starting, and becoming part of the Southeastern wrestling scene through promotions like NAWA/South Atlantic Pro Wrestling, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, ECW, Herb Abrams’ UWF, WCW, and various independent territories. This is one of those classic territory-style conversations where the stories go everywhere from amateur wrestling mats to Japan, Smoky Mountain, ECW, WCW, WWF tryouts, cattle farms, locker rooms, road stories, and the realities of being a working wrestler during a changing era. If you enjoy old-school wrestling history, the Koloff legacy, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, ECW, South Atlantic wrestling, or hearing from someone who crossed paths with a massive list of legends, this episode is well worth checking out. FOR TONS OF EXCLUSIVE RETRO WRESTLING CONTENT: Check out our Patreon at www.patreon.com/retrowrestlingarchive Check out www.retrowrestlingarchive.club for all of our social media, merch stores, and everything related to our content and podcasts