?Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com

On Tuesday, August 2, 2005 at 2:15 AM EST

Doc Young sent in the following recap:

Wrestling Weekly's Doc Young and Les Thatcher interviewed independent wrestling powerhouse and recently signed TNA Superstar Samoa Joe and Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) promoter and wrestling legend Jerry Oates on Sunday, July 31.

Jerry Oates, the former wrestler and bodybuilder promoter, recently ventured into promoting wrestling shows last year with the formation of GCW. In a year, GCW has managed to produce family-friendly shows every Saturday night in Columbus, Georgia to stellar crowds. GCW is now gearing up for their 2nd Annual Fred Ward Memorial Show on August 6 featuring Ole Anderson, Bob Armstrong, Brad Armstrong, Bill Dromo, Thunderbolt Patterson, The Masked Superstar, and our own Les Thatcher as the Master of Ceremonies, among others.

Jerry prides himself in having the best talent at GCW, even bringing in TNA guys from time to time. He is constantly complimented on the atmosphere of the arena and that all the seats in the 700-seat arena have a great view. Jerry says he foraged into wrestling promotion because he has a passion for the business. He insists on doing it right and getting the best talent for GCW and said, "We've been blessed with talent." GCW makes a point to not emulate anybody. Jerry said the biggest compliment he's received recently is GCW is "wrestling the way it used to be."

Jerry is best known for his matches against The Interns with tag team partner, Mike George and later, as a partner to his brother, Ted Oates against the Martin Brothers. Jerry and Ted have had many disagreements outside the ring but recently teamed up again after many years apart. "We got all our differences ironed out," said Jerry, and the two men finally united as brothers after eight years and wrestled as a tag team for the first time in years. Although Jerry and Ted would notoriously fight behind the curtain in the past, they were always professionals in the ring. He said because they trained together, they always made a good team.

Les and Jerry reminisced about the early days of wrestling in the Columbus, Georgia area when Jerry's brother-in-law, Dickie Steinborn was showing him the ropes and the guys--including Les--played pranks on the still green Jerry while on the road. The wrestling shows used to be performed in an old mule barn then and Jerry relayed a story when he recently happened upon the old building being demolished. He approached the wrecker and asked if he could take some of the bricks for himself. Jerry lamented, "If those walls could talk..." During the "old" days, the promotion had TV time and put on shows every Saturday night and according to Jerry, "Columbus was the last live TV show." This is not too different than Jerry's GCW. It too has local TV and puts on shows every Saturday.

Jerry said after recently talking to Ole Anderson about participating in the upcoming Fred Ward memorial show that next to Bill Watts, Ole was one of his favorite people to work with in wrestling. Although both Ole and Bill were controversial figures, "You always knew where you stood." He cited his favorite talent from the old Georgia wrestling days as The Masked Assassins. He said Jody Hamilton and Tom Renesto both had an all-around package. "Tom sounded like a Philadelphia lawyer" when he spoke. He describes both men as "elite."

When talk turned to the current wrestling product, he echoed the words that many have during our "Legends" interviews, that there's no one to teach the young talent anymore. His brother-in-law, Dickie, would grill him on the way home from matches about what he had done wrong, not what he had done right. The attitude was you had to earn your money when you worked for a promotion. The veterans would help the younger guys and a true brotherhood existed then that doesn't exist as much today.

He also described all the great talent he sees that don't get enough work during the week. Pro wrestlers who have wrestled for eight years may have only wrestled 40 times in those years. In the old days, wrestling for eight years meant doing it almost every night. He says he doesn't watch the current product out there. "There's better talent sitting at home" in his opinion.

Tickets can be purchased for the Fred Ward Memorial show by calling (706) 289-8670 or by logging onto the website at www.gcwaction.com.

When special guest Samoa Joe started chatting with Doc and Les, the conversation turned to Joe's recent stint on Jesse James' "Monster Garage." Samoa Joe and CM Punk both participated on the episode where they converted a 1988 U-Haul truck into a hydraulic-powered Box Truck Wrestling Ring. However, the topic quickly changed to Joe's recent decision to sign with TNA instead of the somewhat expected WWE.

Les described Joe's dilemma as "privileged" because his career could have gone several different ways. In fact, his good friend and fellow Ring of Honor (RoH) wrestler, CM Punk, did sign with Vince McMahon. Joe said his reasons for not signing with WWE were primarily because going with TNA "was a better fit for me." He said financially it was better for him to stay with the indies. This frees him up to still do RoH shows and other independents and because his life is entrenched in Southern California, the traveling situation is better than it would be if he signed with WWE. Plus he added, "You never know who could be on the chopping block," referring to the recent layoffs.

When Joe decided to sign with TNA and his good friend, CM Punk, decided to go with WWE, he said "we talked about it everyday." Punk was already working dark matches, so it worked out well for him. Although Joe hesitated to criticize WWE, he thinks their biggest problem with them is they should let the guys wrestle on their own. "Take the bridle, the bit, the restraints off." He believes that the wrestlers can simply wrestle and tell a story, the story doesn't have to be told by the writers.

Samoa Joe seriously considered temporarily stepping away from wrestling due to burnout prior to signing with TNA. He appreciated making a living at wrestling and not having to get a day job, but after negotiations with New Japan went sour, he considered taking a break from it all. His reason for not continuing with the New Japan Pro Wrestling's Inoki Dojo was he did not want to do some of the things they were asking him to do. Joe did not specify what that was.

Joe talked about his athletic past from vigilantly training with Cincinnati Red in his early days as a wrestling trainee at UIWA's now defunct West Coast Dojo to football to becoming California State Junior Judo Champion. He said Judo was a big factor in his entering professional wrestling, offering more contact than the "traditional Karate." He was also a seasoned traveler from a very young age when he took part in his family's Polynesian dance troop, Tiare Productions. He said, "The show was basically our family." He is one of seven brothers and sisters and everyone danced. "There's no free ticket," he said. The dancing offered great training and experience which included an appearance in the 1984 Olympic opening ceremonies at age 5.

When he was asked about his debut at TNA to go on to defeat Sonjay Dutt, he describes his experience as "really great." At the time he was hired, he assured Dixie Carter and Terry Taylor when he came aboard that "I want you guys to feel good about giving me my paycheck." He also said dropping the RoH Heavyweight Title to Austin Aries was a "welcome relief" after lugging the 15 lb. belt around for a year.

Joe says that although there are a lot of places to work in wrestling, there are very few places where you can make any money. He understands that feds like TNA must rely in bringing in "names" to get people in the seats. He says it "makes sound financial sense" because if a WWE fan goes to a TNA show to see the headliner, maybe the fed can hook them in for the long term so they keep coming back.

Samoa Joe can be seen at TNA is currently participating in a series of RoH events throughout the month of August. You can find out more about Joe by checking his website at www.samoajoe.com.

Wrestling Weekly Radio featuring Doc and Les can be heard every Sunday from 6:00-8:00 pm EST at http://www.wrestlingweekly.com.