Interview with Sir Oliver Humperdink
By Sir Lawrence Alegdrop

This month’s column I managed to interrogate a most esteemed professional wrestling personality, one who not only reached the pinnacles of success in professional wrestling managerial duties, but who also, like me, is a rejected and underappreciated member of the royal family. I am speaking, of course,about manager extraordinaire Sir Oliver Humperdink. Although he originally hails from Minneapolis, MN, he received his most notable success with Championship Wrestling from Florida. However, he is probably best remembered for his brief time in the WWF managing Bam Bam Bigalow and for a short time, Paul “Mr. Wonderful” Orndorff in 1987, and for several short runs in World Championship Wrestling in the late 1980s and early 1990s. With all kidding aside, I just want to say that Sir Oliver was a true pleasure to talk to, and seemed to genuinely love his time in the business of professional wrestling and to talk with his fans. He is a true class act.

WC – I want to start out by saying that it is an honor to be able to talk to someone the caliber of Sir Oliver Humperdink, for Wormwood Chronicles.

SOH – Thank you, it’s a pleasure.

WC – I’ll start with the early part of your career. I understand you are originally from Minneapolis, MN. I’m assuming then that Verne Gagne trained you and broke you into the business?

SOH - No actually. I have no formal training in the ring. My first break was actually in Montreal.

WC – How did that all come about?

SOH – When I was in high school, I worked at the stadium in Minneapolis. I was positioned at the ring entrance door to tell the wrestlers when to come out.I got to meet many of the wrestlers that way and they actually broke me into the business.

WC – So how did you wind up in Montreal?

SOH – Mad Dog Vachon and his brother (Butcher Vachon)had a promotion up there and they actually took me up there. I met Buddy Roberts, you know, later of theFreebirds, through the various jobs I had at the stadium. He and Jerry Brown had a tag team known as the Hollywood Blondes, they were the original Hollywood Blondes, by the way. They were returning to the area and wanted something a little different, so they asked me to come along with them as a manager. So the first time I was a featured performer was in1973 managing the Hollywood Blondes, Buddy Roberts and Jerry Brown.

WC – How long had you been around the business?

SOH – I had been around the business since 1965. I used to take the jackets back to the lockers and stuff like that.

WC – So where do you live now?

SOH – Minnesota.

WC – What circumstances eventually brought you to Florida where you had your greatest success?

SOH - Well, Montreal only works the summer, spring,and fall. They shut down in the winter because of the cold weather. So in November of 1973 we went to Florida.

WC – Why Florida?

SOH - Florida was a top territory, and we liked the weather, beaches, you know stuff like that.

WC – Did you pretty much stay in Florida ever since?

SOH – No. We were there from late 1973 to early 1974.

WC – Where did you go from there?

SOH – Well, at the time I wasn’t really on my own. I was primarily the manager of Buddy and Jerry so I went wherever they went. In early 1974 we went to L.A.(NWA Los Angeles territory run by Gene LeBell), then Tri-States which was Oklahoma, Louisianna and Mississippi (later known as Mid-South), then back to Florida in 1976.

WC – Did you pretty much stay from then on?

SOH – That was when I stayed, yes.

WC – What happened with the Hollywood Blondes?

SOH – Buddy and Jerry got a call from Nick Gulas to come up to Nashville. I just decided to stay in Florida and manage Superstar Graham and Ox Baker. Ox was one of a kind.

WC – Do you have a story about him you’d like to share?

SOH – Sure. Ox always painted his toenails red. It’s sort of a sight to see that big Ox Baker with these red toenails. And this was in Florida where he would go around in flip-flops, and stuff like that, you know so everybody could see them. I guess he told his wife that since he had to be on the road a lot he still wanted to show her that he loved her. So he told his wife that as long as he had the red painted toenails she would know he loved her.

WC – That’s interesting. Let’s jump ahead to your time with the WWF. First off, what circumstances brought you there?

SOH – Well, Jim Crockett Promotions bought up Florida in 1987, and I had the opportunity to go and work for Vince and manage Bam Bam Bigalow.

WC – How do you look upon your time there?

SOH – I think I could have been better used if I was a heel. I would have been more effective that way. I had been a heel my entire career, which was almost 20 years by then. Well, except for one brief run as a babyface, so I think I would have been more effective if used as a heel.

WC – It’s always more fun being the heel, isn’t it?

SOH – Sure, you can do whatever you want. That sassy coat and stuff, that wasn’t me either. I don’t regret going up there. I enjoyed it immensely. But I just think I could have been used better.

WC – How did you see yourself in WCW?

SOH – Which time?

WC – Was there more than one?

SOH – Yes, I actually had three runs with WCW. The first time they brought me in with Bam Bam Bigalow again as a babyface. That was in 1988 when Bigalow wrestled Barry Windham at Starrcade. I was there almost a year. Then I came back in 1989 and managed the Samoans, and I was there in 1990 managing The Freebirds.

WC – What was it like in WCW during these times?

SOH – They didn’t know what they were doing. Jim Herd was running things. I’m sure you’ve heard the stories. He was a fucking moron.

WC – Can I quote you on that?

SOH – Sure, go ahead. I’m not afraid of him. He joined Ted Turner from Pizza Hut (as an executive). What the fuck did he know about pro wrestling?

WC – I guess his only wrestling experience was running a local station that carried Central States wrestling.

SOH – You could be right. I think he is from Missouri. It was chaos up there (in WCW). They had people running the business who didn’t know the business.

WC - Are you still involved in the wrestling business in any way?

SOH – Today I don’t do anything but fan fests and autograph signings. If this runs by the end of the month, I’d like to plug an appearance.

WC – Go right ahead.

SOH - January 28, 29, and 30 I’ll be in Tampa. Go to www.wrestlingreunion.com for more details. Also I’m still very much involved with the Cauliflower Alley Club. It carries all sorts of new and stories from old school wrestling. It’s only $25 a year to join and you get great newsletters. Go to www.cauliflowerwlleyclub.org

WC – Sounds great. I thank you for your time.

SOH – Thank you. It’s been a pleasure.