Post by CW .org .info .net on Mar 29, 2023 13:38:20 GMT -6
1991
Trevor Blanchard
Introduced as a "bad guy" by Windy City Wrestling general manager Mike Gretchner, Blanchard sits down for
this 1991 interview with some wariness. He is a bulky man of average height who appears to be in his early 20s.
Blanchard went on to hold the Windy City Wrestling Lightweight title for a short time in 1993, wrestled for
World Championship Wrestling in 1998, and continues to wrestle today for independent promotions.
I'm originally from San Antonio, but I moved here to Chicago when I was younger. I got involved through a
cousin, a third or fourth cousin by the name of Tully Blanchard. He used to wrestle in the NWA. The last time
I talked to him was just before I started, about a year ago. I told him that I was starting with Sam [DeCero].
That's pretty much it. I've been in it a little over a year, working to get the big bucks and the titles. It's been
something I've wanted to do. I went, when I was younger, to the Amphitheater .
About the age of 12 was when I finally decided I wanted to do it.
Tully, besides being a relation, has helped me a lot. Not just with physical things, but with mental things.
Because it is a strain traveling from town to town, four- and five-hour trips, whether it's by yourself or if
you bring a lady friend or whoever. As far as other idols, I'd say Ric Flair is another, Arn Anderson,
Curt Hennig, Bobby Eaton.
How am I "bad"? I don't like signing autographs. I just go to the arena. I go in the locker room, I put my boots,
my kneepads, my trunks, my tape on. Then I go in there to win. I don't go there to sign autographs, I don't go
to take pictures. Most of the time I don't talk to [the fans]. If they say, "You had a good match," I'll nod my
head. I won't talk to them. I might give them some eye contact, but as far as putting up with them, I don't
really care to. They tend to pull on you, to tug on you for autographs. If you give one, you're gonna have to
give them all. The one soft spot is, I have signed a couple to kids in wheelchairs. That's my soft spot. Because
a couple of friends of mine, their kids aren't as fortunate as others. So that's where I draw the line. If they
can walk and tug on me, that's where I draw the line. But if there's somebody that's hurting, a kid that's hurting,
then I'll stop. But there's only a couple of times where that's happened.
If we're here in Illinois, in Chicago I remember an instance. I don't like the Bulls. Now they won the
championship, fine. I'm mostly a Boston fan, so when the Bulls won, it was right before we had a match in
Hillside [Illinois], the Saturday after they won it. And I told [the crowd], "I'm gonna beat this guy like the
Lakers should have beat the Bulls." If we go back to some places ... where they know of me, then they'll start
on me first.
There's not enough independent [wrestling] for the smaller towns. I've noticed, especially with the
NWA/World Championship Wrestling, even their pay-per-views, they don't get a lot of big crowds
like they did in the mid-80s, like 85, 86, 87. In 87 it started going down for them. Because they
don't go to the small towns enough. It's amazing when you go to a smaller town, 9 times out of 10 it's
sold out because wrestling doesn't get there. They see it on cable, and even though they may not know
any of us from TV"Hey, wrestling's going to be here Saturday!" There have been a couple of
instances where we haven't had a real good crowd, but usually something else has been going on
besides that. But as far as going to the smaller towns, that's a big thing. Because if you can do well on
them, then if you go back there, then they'll go and see you. Or they'll go see the organization.
I've noticed lately that World Championship Wrestling has been going to somewhat smaller towns,
but the WWF isn't. The WWF just sticks to New York, or the Rosemont Horizon here in Chicago,
you know, some of the bigger arenas that can hold more than 5,000 people.
In five years I hope to be a little bigger as far as size and weight. I want to get up to about 220,
240without steroidsand hopefully be doing it full-time. Any issue the media gets hold of, they
blow it out of proportion. My personal thoughts on steroids is I'm against them. I've seen what it's
done to Lyle Alzado. Sixteen or seventeen years of taking them and he's got brain cancer and he's
probably not going to be around much more than two years. I know you can usually tell who takes
them in the wrestling business, but as far as me taking them, I would probably never. About the
only thing bad that I may do is eat fried food once in a while.
I want to travel city to city, be in a different city every night. Right now I'm just getting started,
and you can't go full-time without having some experience underneath your belt. Five years from
now, like I said, I hope to be doing it full-time. It's something I've wanted to do since I was 12.
You know, I've just gone by steps. I came in here, talked to Mike and Sam, andnot to be rude toward
them or the people that come in here, but most of the time when someone comes in and says,
"I want to become a wrestler," they have to take it with a grain of salt. Until they come in here and
put down a deposit, you can't take them seriously. Sometimes three or four guys will come in here,
and not one of them will come back.
It's just something that I've wanted to do. Some kids grew up wanting to be a police officer, and
they go through the test and everything. Me, it's just about something that I wanted to do. My parents
aren't real happy about it. They're starting to cope with it now. The initial reaction was that they
weren't real happy. The first match they saw me in, I wound up getting hit with a chair, and they
were sitting in the front row. I heard it from my brother. My mother was in tears. They're coping.
My dad doesn't show it as much, but my mother does. [It's like,] if you were doing something that your
mother didn't like, and she went with it because she knew you wanted to do it. They're coping with it
a lot more now. They've seen the improvement. They don't go to all of [my matches], but they go to most
of them, and they have seen an improvement within the last year. Actually, within the last four or five
months.
I'm sure you've heard stories about groupies, or "arena rats." If something [like that] should come
along the way, and if she wants to, shall we say, go on a ride with me and go from city to city, then
fine. But that's something that's gonna have to be dealt with by her. It's something that she'll have
to adapt to. I'm not going to change anything for her. I date, but not too much. If I'm not at the gym
or here, then I'm usually working. That takes a lot out of my time. If I'm not working or working out,
then I'm usually at home, relaxing.
Trevor Blanchard
Introduced as a "bad guy" by Windy City Wrestling general manager Mike Gretchner, Blanchard sits down for
this 1991 interview with some wariness. He is a bulky man of average height who appears to be in his early 20s.
Blanchard went on to hold the Windy City Wrestling Lightweight title for a short time in 1993, wrestled for
World Championship Wrestling in 1998, and continues to wrestle today for independent promotions.
I'm originally from San Antonio, but I moved here to Chicago when I was younger. I got involved through a
cousin, a third or fourth cousin by the name of Tully Blanchard. He used to wrestle in the NWA. The last time
I talked to him was just before I started, about a year ago. I told him that I was starting with Sam [DeCero].
That's pretty much it. I've been in it a little over a year, working to get the big bucks and the titles. It's been
something I've wanted to do. I went, when I was younger, to the Amphitheater .
About the age of 12 was when I finally decided I wanted to do it.
Tully, besides being a relation, has helped me a lot. Not just with physical things, but with mental things.
Because it is a strain traveling from town to town, four- and five-hour trips, whether it's by yourself or if
you bring a lady friend or whoever. As far as other idols, I'd say Ric Flair is another, Arn Anderson,
Curt Hennig, Bobby Eaton.
How am I "bad"? I don't like signing autographs. I just go to the arena. I go in the locker room, I put my boots,
my kneepads, my trunks, my tape on. Then I go in there to win. I don't go there to sign autographs, I don't go
to take pictures. Most of the time I don't talk to [the fans]. If they say, "You had a good match," I'll nod my
head. I won't talk to them. I might give them some eye contact, but as far as putting up with them, I don't
really care to. They tend to pull on you, to tug on you for autographs. If you give one, you're gonna have to
give them all. The one soft spot is, I have signed a couple to kids in wheelchairs. That's my soft spot. Because
a couple of friends of mine, their kids aren't as fortunate as others. So that's where I draw the line. If they
can walk and tug on me, that's where I draw the line. But if there's somebody that's hurting, a kid that's hurting,
then I'll stop. But there's only a couple of times where that's happened.
If we're here in Illinois, in Chicago I remember an instance. I don't like the Bulls. Now they won the
championship, fine. I'm mostly a Boston fan, so when the Bulls won, it was right before we had a match in
Hillside [Illinois], the Saturday after they won it. And I told [the crowd], "I'm gonna beat this guy like the
Lakers should have beat the Bulls." If we go back to some places ... where they know of me, then they'll start
on me first.
There's not enough independent [wrestling] for the smaller towns. I've noticed, especially with the
NWA/World Championship Wrestling, even their pay-per-views, they don't get a lot of big crowds
like they did in the mid-80s, like 85, 86, 87. In 87 it started going down for them. Because they
don't go to the small towns enough. It's amazing when you go to a smaller town, 9 times out of 10 it's
sold out because wrestling doesn't get there. They see it on cable, and even though they may not know
any of us from TV"Hey, wrestling's going to be here Saturday!" There have been a couple of
instances where we haven't had a real good crowd, but usually something else has been going on
besides that. But as far as going to the smaller towns, that's a big thing. Because if you can do well on
them, then if you go back there, then they'll go and see you. Or they'll go see the organization.
I've noticed lately that World Championship Wrestling has been going to somewhat smaller towns,
but the WWF isn't. The WWF just sticks to New York, or the Rosemont Horizon here in Chicago,
you know, some of the bigger arenas that can hold more than 5,000 people.
In five years I hope to be a little bigger as far as size and weight. I want to get up to about 220,
240without steroidsand hopefully be doing it full-time. Any issue the media gets hold of, they
blow it out of proportion. My personal thoughts on steroids is I'm against them. I've seen what it's
done to Lyle Alzado. Sixteen or seventeen years of taking them and he's got brain cancer and he's
probably not going to be around much more than two years. I know you can usually tell who takes
them in the wrestling business, but as far as me taking them, I would probably never. About the
only thing bad that I may do is eat fried food once in a while.
I want to travel city to city, be in a different city every night. Right now I'm just getting started,
and you can't go full-time without having some experience underneath your belt. Five years from
now, like I said, I hope to be doing it full-time. It's something I've wanted to do since I was 12.
You know, I've just gone by steps. I came in here, talked to Mike and Sam, andnot to be rude toward
them or the people that come in here, but most of the time when someone comes in and says,
"I want to become a wrestler," they have to take it with a grain of salt. Until they come in here and
put down a deposit, you can't take them seriously. Sometimes three or four guys will come in here,
and not one of them will come back.
It's just something that I've wanted to do. Some kids grew up wanting to be a police officer, and
they go through the test and everything. Me, it's just about something that I wanted to do. My parents
aren't real happy about it. They're starting to cope with it now. The initial reaction was that they
weren't real happy. The first match they saw me in, I wound up getting hit with a chair, and they
were sitting in the front row. I heard it from my brother. My mother was in tears. They're coping.
My dad doesn't show it as much, but my mother does. [It's like,] if you were doing something that your
mother didn't like, and she went with it because she knew you wanted to do it. They're coping with it
a lot more now. They've seen the improvement. They don't go to all of [my matches], but they go to most
of them, and they have seen an improvement within the last year. Actually, within the last four or five
months.
I'm sure you've heard stories about groupies, or "arena rats." If something [like that] should come
along the way, and if she wants to, shall we say, go on a ride with me and go from city to city, then
fine. But that's something that's gonna have to be dealt with by her. It's something that she'll have
to adapt to. I'm not going to change anything for her. I date, but not too much. If I'm not at the gym
or here, then I'm usually working. That takes a lot out of my time. If I'm not working or working out,
then I'm usually at home, relaxing.