WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.100 I want you to picture a scene. It's 1995. You 00:00:03.100 --> 00:00:05.120 are sitting on your couch, flipping through the 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:07.679 channels, and you land on primetime professional 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:10.519 wrestling. Day night. The classic spot. Exactly. 00:00:10.519 --> 00:00:12.900 And you're expecting to see, you know, two athletes 00:00:12.900 --> 00:00:15.460 in a ring, maybe a referee, maybe a title belt. 00:00:15.660 --> 00:00:18.620 Standard fare. The usual stuff. Right. But instead, 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:20.739 sitting in the middle of the arena with absolutely 00:00:20.739 --> 00:00:24.179 no explanation given is a gigantic block of ice. 00:00:24.379 --> 00:00:27.600 And we are not talking about like a swan sculpture 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:32.020 you see at a wedding. We're talking about a cartoonishly 00:00:32.020 --> 00:00:36.520 large, massive monolith of ice. And there's smoke 00:00:36.520 --> 00:00:38.600 billowing around it. Lights are flashing. The 00:00:38.600 --> 00:00:40.780 commentators are speaking in these hushed, terrified 00:00:40.780 --> 00:00:43.299 tones. They're telling us that inside this ice 00:00:43.299 --> 00:00:45.700 is a monster, a creature from the frozen north, 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:49.280 they call it, the Yeti. Now, if I tell you a 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:51.299 Yeti is about to break out of a block of ice, 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:53.320 what is the image that pops into your head? Well. 00:00:53.770 --> 00:00:56.390 I mean, culturally speaking, a Yeti is the abominable 00:00:56.390 --> 00:00:59.350 snowman. So I'm expecting white fur. I'm expecting 00:00:59.350 --> 00:01:02.729 fangs, maybe a primate -like face. You know, 00:01:02.729 --> 00:01:04.189 definitely something that looks like it belongs 00:01:04.189 --> 00:01:06.950 in the Himalayas. Exactly. That is the only logical 00:01:06.950 --> 00:01:10.810 assumption. But then the ice explodes, pyrotechnics 00:01:10.810 --> 00:01:14.629 go off, and out steps a man, wrapped from head 00:01:14.629 --> 00:01:17.769 to toe in dirty, tattered gauze bandages. Oh, 00:01:17.769 --> 00:01:20.569 my God. He looks exactly like Boris Karloff from 00:01:20.569 --> 00:01:23.989 the 1932 movie The Mummy. It is a moment of just 00:01:23.989 --> 00:01:26.689 total visual incoherence. You have a creature 00:01:26.689 --> 00:01:29.530 named after a snow beast who was encased in ice, 00:01:29.650 --> 00:01:32.659 who emerges dressed as a... desert mummy ready 00:01:32.659 --> 00:01:36.280 to engage in the hand -to -hand combat. It is 00:01:36.280 --> 00:01:38.760 widely considered one of the most baffling, contradictory, 00:01:39.019 --> 00:01:40.980 and let's be honest, unintentionally hilarious 00:01:40.980 --> 00:01:43.180 moments in the history of television. But today 00:01:43.180 --> 00:01:45.859 on The Deep Dive, we are not just here to point 00:01:45.859 --> 00:01:47.599 and laugh at the mummy. As tempting as that is. 00:01:47.659 --> 00:01:49.140 As tempting as it is, we're here to do something 00:01:49.140 --> 00:01:51.439 a little different. We want to find the man inside 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:53.900 those bandages. And that is where the story shifts 00:01:53.900 --> 00:01:56.840 from, you know, a blooper reel to a... Genuinely 00:01:56.840 --> 00:01:59.219 fascinating human drama. We are talking about 00:01:59.219 --> 00:02:00.920 a man named Ron Race. We've combed through the 00:02:00.920 --> 00:02:03.579 archives, the match logs, the biographies, and 00:02:03.579 --> 00:02:05.799 the old wrestling newsletters to bring you this 00:02:05.799 --> 00:02:08.319 story. And our mission today is to look at the 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:11.780 concept of identity. It really is a perfect case 00:02:11.780 --> 00:02:14.759 study in identity. We are looking at a legitimate 00:02:14.759 --> 00:02:18.800 division -I athlete, a man born into what you 00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:21.020 could pretty much call sports royalty, who ends 00:02:21.020 --> 00:02:23.340 up freezing in a block of ice for a paycheck. 00:02:23.780 --> 00:02:26.460 How does that happen? It's a story about physical 00:02:26.460 --> 00:02:29.580 reinvention. It's about the specific strange 00:02:29.580 --> 00:02:32.620 marketplace of the 1990s, where if you were seven 00:02:32.620 --> 00:02:35.340 feet tall, the world didn't really want you to 00:02:35.340 --> 00:02:37.360 be a person. They wanted you to be a monster. 00:02:37.560 --> 00:02:40.120 Right. And as we'll see with Ron Reyes, they 00:02:40.120 --> 00:02:42.000 didn't really care which monster you were, as 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:44.000 long as you were big and scary. So let's peel 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:46.340 back the bandages. Let's look at the man, the 00:02:46.340 --> 00:02:49.439 myth, and, spoiler alert, the ninja. Oh, we will 00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:50.860 definitely get to the name. Let's start at the 00:02:50.860 --> 00:02:53.659 very beginning. To understand Ron Reyes, we have 00:02:53.659 --> 00:02:55.819 to deal with the elephant in the room. Or rather, 00:02:55.900 --> 00:02:57.620 the giant in the room. This isn't just a tall 00:02:57.620 --> 00:02:59.419 guy we're talking about. No, no. We need to be 00:02:59.419 --> 00:03:01.680 very specific about the biometrics here because 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:06.039 they define his entire life. Ron Reyes stood 00:03:06.039 --> 00:03:09.939 7 feet, 2 inches tall. 7 '2". And he was billed 00:03:09.939 --> 00:03:13.939 at a weight of 365 pounds. Seven foot two. That 00:03:13.939 --> 00:03:17.580 places him in just a microscopic percentile of 00:03:17.580 --> 00:03:20.340 the human population. It does. And usually when 00:03:20.340 --> 00:03:22.819 we see men of that size, specifically in the 00:03:22.819 --> 00:03:24.840 wrestling world, we kind of associate them with 00:03:24.840 --> 00:03:27.199 a certain clumsiness. You know, the gentle giant 00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:29.840 trope or the lumbering oaf who can barely put 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:31.539 one foot in front of the other. Sure, the Andre 00:03:31.539 --> 00:03:33.800 the Giant model later in his career. Exactly. 00:03:34.460 --> 00:03:37.090 But Reese was different. And that difference 00:03:37.090 --> 00:03:39.189 comes from his pedigree. You mentioned sports 00:03:39.189 --> 00:03:42.490 royalty earlier. Who was Ron Ray Sr.? So Ron 00:03:42.490 --> 00:03:45.009 Ray Sr. was not just a tall father. He was a 00:03:45.009 --> 00:03:47.569 cornerstone of the University of Cincinnati Bearcats 00:03:47.569 --> 00:03:51.229 during their absolute golden era. We are talking 00:03:51.229 --> 00:03:53.669 about the team that won back -to -back NCAA titles 00:03:53.669 --> 00:03:57.389 in 1961 and 1962. Okay, hold on. For our listeners 00:03:57.389 --> 00:03:59.270 who might not be college basketball historians, 00:03:59.629 --> 00:04:02.349 winning back -to -back NCAA titles is incredibly 00:04:02.349 --> 00:04:05.370 rare. That's a dynasty. It is. It's the absolute 00:04:05.370 --> 00:04:07.870 pinnacle of the sport. So just imagine growing 00:04:07.870 --> 00:04:10.550 up in that house. Your father isn't just big. 00:04:10.650 --> 00:04:12.949 He's a champion. He has the rings. He has the 00:04:12.949 --> 00:04:15.270 legacy. From the moment Ron Race Jr. started 00:04:15.270 --> 00:04:18.860 growing, and he kept growing and growing... There 00:04:18.860 --> 00:04:21.560 was an assumption. An expectation. A huge expectation. 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:24.019 You aren't just going to be big. You are going 00:04:24.019 --> 00:04:26.240 to be an athlete. It's almost a predetermined 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:28.540 destiny, isn't it? You don't fit in a normal 00:04:28.540 --> 00:04:30.899 car. You don't fit in normal clothes. You fit 00:04:30.899 --> 00:04:33.699 on a basketball court. Precisely. And the sources 00:04:33.699 --> 00:04:36.139 show he didn't just coast on his height. A lot 00:04:36.139 --> 00:04:38.240 of giants just stand there and... You know, let 00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:40.699 the ball hit him. We pulled the stats from his 00:04:40.699 --> 00:04:43.439 time at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, 00:04:43.560 --> 00:04:46.160 California. Cupertino, which is funny because 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:48.759 before it was the headquarters of Apple, it was 00:04:48.759 --> 00:04:51.439 the training ground for the Yeti. A very different 00:04:51.439 --> 00:04:53.379 kind of giant emerged from there, that's for 00:04:53.379 --> 00:04:55.779 sure. But look at these numbers. In his high 00:04:55.779 --> 00:04:59.879 school career, Reese scored 2 ,082 points. 2 00:04:59.879 --> 00:05:01.759 ,000 points. OK, I need some context for that. 00:05:01.819 --> 00:05:04.899 Is that good for a big guy or is that just flat 00:05:04.899 --> 00:05:07.220 out good? That is elite. Consider that a high 00:05:07.220 --> 00:05:10.920 school season is maybe 20 to 30 games long. To 00:05:10.920 --> 00:05:13.899 hit 2 ,000 career points implies you are averaging, 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:17.100 what, 25 points a game for years. Wow. And for 00:05:17.100 --> 00:05:19.459 a 7 -footer in the 80s, that usually meant just 00:05:19.459 --> 00:05:21.139 standing under the basket and dropping the ball 00:05:21.139 --> 00:05:23.860 in. But reports from the Times suggest Reese 00:05:23.860 --> 00:05:26.480 actually had a touch. He had coordination. He 00:05:26.480 --> 00:05:29.100 wasn't just a post. He led his team to the Central 00:05:29.100 --> 00:05:32.240 Coast Section Championship in 1987. So he's a 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:34.639 blue -chip prospect. He's not a sideshow. Absolutely 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:37.430 not. That talent lands him at Santa Clara University, 00:05:37.769 --> 00:05:39.990 Division I, and he plays four full years there. 00:05:40.149 --> 00:05:42.509 And this is the crucial disconnect we need to 00:05:42.509 --> 00:05:45.269 establish early on. When we talk about the Yeti 00:05:45.269 --> 00:05:47.970 later, stumbling around like a zombie, we're 00:05:47.970 --> 00:05:50.290 talking about a guy who spent four years running 00:05:50.290 --> 00:05:53.069 suicide drills, memorizing complex defensive 00:05:53.069 --> 00:05:55.629 plays, and competing at the highest collegiate 00:05:55.629 --> 00:05:59.189 level. The engine inside the monster was a finely 00:05:59.189 --> 00:06:01.610 tuned athlete. So that raises the obvious question. 00:06:02.189 --> 00:06:04.790 You're 7 '2", you weigh over 300 pounds, you 00:06:04.790 --> 00:06:06.769 have soft hands, and you scored 2 ,000 points 00:06:06.769 --> 00:06:08.889 in high school. Why are we talking about a professional 00:06:08.889 --> 00:06:11.389 wrestler and not an NBA center? Why wasn't he 00:06:11.389 --> 00:06:13.730 banging in the post with Shaq and Hakeem Olajuwon? 00:06:13.949 --> 00:06:16.170 It's the cruel filter of professional sports. 00:06:16.709 --> 00:06:21.410 The NBA is the top, what, .001 % of athletes 00:06:21.410 --> 00:06:24.019 in the world. You can be amazing, you can be 00:06:24.019 --> 00:06:26.699 a college star, but if you lack that explosive 00:06:26.699 --> 00:06:28.939 lateral quickness. That side -to -side movement. 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:31.519 That ability to slide your feet, to defend a 00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:33.860 pick and roll against, you know, John Stockton. 00:06:34.040 --> 00:06:36.319 Or if your knees are just slightly suspect from 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:38.439 carrying that frame for so long, you don't make 00:06:38.439 --> 00:06:41.540 the cut. Reeves was a great college player, but 00:06:41.540 --> 00:06:44.180 the NBA is a different beast entirely. It demands 00:06:44.180 --> 00:06:46.660 a speed that is very, very rare for men over 00:06:46.660 --> 00:06:49.259 seven feet. So the NBA door closes. It's the 00:06:49.259 --> 00:06:51.540 early 90s. You have this massive body and this 00:06:51.540 --> 00:06:54.040 proven athletic background. What are your options? 00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:57.620 Well, you can go to Europe, maybe grind it out 00:06:57.620 --> 00:06:59.779 in the pro leagues in Greece or Spain for decent 00:06:59.779 --> 00:07:02.300 money. Or you look at the other industry that 00:07:02.300 --> 00:07:05.319 pays a premium for height and has a history of 00:07:05.319 --> 00:07:07.439 recruiting basketball players. Right. And this 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:09.519 is a really well -trodden path. The Undertaker 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:12.100 played college basketball. Kevin Nash played 00:07:12.100 --> 00:07:15.399 for Tennessee. The skill set transfers surprisingly 00:07:15.399 --> 00:07:18.259 well. You've got the footwork, the endurance, 00:07:18.500 --> 00:07:21.060 and maybe most importantly, the ability to be 00:07:21.060 --> 00:07:24.000 coached. You understand spacing. You understand 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:26.639 physicality. But Reese didn't just walk into 00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:28.699 a local gym and start rolling around on the mats. 00:07:28.839 --> 00:07:31.860 He sought out a very specific mentor. He went 00:07:31.860 --> 00:07:34.480 to Big John Studd. No, that is a name that commands 00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:37.220 respect in the wrestling world. For people who 00:07:37.220 --> 00:07:40.339 might not know, who was Big John Studd? He was 00:07:40.339 --> 00:07:42.879 a literal and figurative giant of the industry. 00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:46.199 Big John Studd was a massive star in the WWE, 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:49.639 what we now call WWE in the 70s and 80s. He was 00:07:49.639 --> 00:07:52.399 positioned as the arch rival to Andre the Giant. 00:07:52.560 --> 00:07:54.660 The other giant. The other giant. He was famous 00:07:54.660 --> 00:07:56.600 for the Body Slam Challenge, where he'd offer 00:07:56.600 --> 00:07:58.120 thousands of dollars to anyone who could slam 00:07:58.120 --> 00:08:00.920 him. He was a main event talent. So why does 00:08:00.920 --> 00:08:03.319 it matter that Reese trained with Studd specifically? 00:08:03.540 --> 00:08:05.939 Why not just a regular wrestling school? Because 00:08:05.939 --> 00:08:09.060 wrestling as a giant is a completely different 00:08:09.060 --> 00:08:11.720 art form than wrestling as a normal -sized person. 00:08:11.860 --> 00:08:14.779 It's a different language. If you are 5 '10", 00:08:14.779 --> 00:08:18.699 you need to learn to be fast, technical, maybe 00:08:18.699 --> 00:08:22.100 high -flying. If you're 7 '2", your job is to 00:08:22.100 --> 00:08:24.480 be immovable. Right, you're a landmark. You're 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:26.660 a landmark. You have to learn how not to take 00:08:26.660 --> 00:08:28.759 a bump. You have to learn how to walk so that 00:08:28.759 --> 00:08:30.639 the ground looks like it's shaking. You have 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:32.840 to learn how to work with opponents who are half 00:08:32.840 --> 00:08:36.240 your size and make it look believable. Stud could 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:38.639 teach him the psychology of size. Giants of wrestling. 00:08:38.740 --> 00:08:40.000 That's what they called themselves on the indie 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:42.059 circuit, right? Yes. A very on -the -nose name, 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:44.480 but it worked. Reese makes his debut on March 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:47.820 12, 1994, in the New England area. He starts 00:08:47.820 --> 00:08:50.000 learning the ropes, tagging with his mentor. 00:08:50.360 --> 00:08:52.539 He then moves out to Las Vegas for a promotion 00:08:52.539 --> 00:08:54.700 called the National Wrestling Conference and 00:08:54.700 --> 00:08:57.840 adopts the persona SWAT. SWAT, like a tactical 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:00.779 police officer. It was the 90s. Every gimmick 00:09:00.779 --> 00:09:03.299 was either a job or a noun. He had a garbage 00:09:03.299 --> 00:09:06.440 man, a plumber. a hockey player, so he was a 00:09:06.440 --> 00:09:09.379 SWAT team member. It's pretty basic. It was rudimentary. 00:09:09.379 --> 00:09:12.039 Yeah. But it was just the waiting room. Because 00:09:12.039 --> 00:09:15.919 in 1995, World Championship Wrestling WCW came 00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:18.559 calling. And they didn't want a SWAT team member. 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:21.039 They wanted an insurance policy. Okay, we absolutely 00:09:21.039 --> 00:09:24.539 have to set the stage here. 1995 WCW. This isn't 00:09:24.539 --> 00:09:26.759 the slick, polished product we see today with 00:09:26.759 --> 00:09:29.980 WWE. This was the Wild West. It was chaotic. 00:09:30.279 --> 00:09:33.080 It was vibrant. It was incredibly messy. You 00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:35.080 had Hulk Hogan. the biggest star in the world 00:09:35.080 --> 00:09:37.700 who had just come over from the WWF, and his 00:09:37.700 --> 00:09:40.940 main antagonists were a faction called the Dungeon 00:09:40.940 --> 00:09:43.899 of Doom. The Dungeon of Doom? Even the name sounds 00:09:43.899 --> 00:09:45.840 like something a teenager scribbled on a napkin 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:48.200 during study hall. It was cartoonish villainy 00:09:48.200 --> 00:09:50.620 at its finest. Their leader was a guy called 00:09:50.620 --> 00:09:53.779 the Taskmaster, a short, screening maniac whose 00:09:53.779 --> 00:09:56.490 only goal in life was to end Hulkamania. And 00:09:56.490 --> 00:09:58.370 his army was just a collection of monsters, right? 00:09:58.610 --> 00:10:01.009 Monsters, sharks, literally a guy named the shark. 00:10:01.149 --> 00:10:03.850 They had Kamala, the Ugandan giant, Meng, a whole 00:10:03.850 --> 00:10:06.190 menagerie. And they already had the giant who 00:10:06.190 --> 00:10:08.190 we know today is the big show or Paul White. 00:10:08.289 --> 00:10:10.370 Right. Paul White is a legitimate seven footer 00:10:10.370 --> 00:10:13.250 as well. A massive human being in his own right. 00:10:13.389 --> 00:10:15.610 But the booking philosophy, the script writing 00:10:15.610 --> 00:10:17.669 at the time dictated that the odds always had 00:10:17.669 --> 00:10:20.509 to be stacked against Hogan. So one giant wasn't 00:10:20.509 --> 00:10:22.950 enough. For the upcoming Halloween Havoc pay 00:10:22.950 --> 00:10:24.590 -per -view where Hogan was facing the giant, 00:10:24.769 --> 00:10:28.529 they needed something bigger. Something. Colder. 00:10:28.529 --> 00:10:30.769 Something colder. Enter the ice block. October 00:10:30.769 --> 00:10:36.110 23, 1995. Monday Nitro. The visual is just seared 00:10:36.110 --> 00:10:38.389 into the brains of wrestling fans. The arena 00:10:38.389 --> 00:10:41.470 is dark, there's smoke everywhere, and this block 00:10:41.470 --> 00:10:44.149 of ice is revealed. Now, logically, the creative 00:10:44.149 --> 00:10:47.149 team clearly intended for a Yeti. The name implies 00:10:47.149 --> 00:10:49.750 it, the ice implies it, everything points to... 00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:52.580 Abominable snowman. You'd think so. So where 00:10:52.580 --> 00:10:55.279 does the mummy come from? I mean, really, is 00:10:55.279 --> 00:10:57.559 there any record of that meeting? Was it a mistake? 00:10:57.679 --> 00:10:59.679 Did someone lose the fur costume? Did they just 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:04.639 not know what a yeti was? The sources are murky 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:06.960 on this, which honestly adds to the legend. The 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:09.179 prevailing theory is simply a breakdown in communication 00:11:09.179 --> 00:11:10.759 between the costume department and the booking 00:11:10.759 --> 00:11:13.399 committee. Pretty big breakdown. Or perhaps they 00:11:13.399 --> 00:11:15.220 had the mummy costume lying around from an old 00:11:15.220 --> 00:11:18.120 movie set or a Halloween store and someone thought, 00:11:18.200 --> 00:11:20.759 well, he's big. Just wrap him up. He's a monster. 00:11:20.980 --> 00:11:23.100 No one will notice the difference between snow 00:11:23.100 --> 00:11:25.259 and bandages. They did notice. It's the first 00:11:25.259 --> 00:11:27.139 thing everyone noticed. It's a mummy named the 00:11:27.139 --> 00:11:29.799 Yeti. It's a walking contradiction. It gets even 00:11:29.799 --> 00:11:34.559 better. Halloween Havoc 1995. The main event 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:37.059 is Hogan versus the Giant for the World Championship. 00:11:37.720 --> 00:11:39.960 The Yeti breaks out of the ice to interfere. 00:11:40.429 --> 00:11:42.570 And this is where we see the illusion of size 00:11:42.570 --> 00:11:46.350 at work. Okay, explain this. Reese is 7 '2", 00:11:46.350 --> 00:11:51.049 Paul White is roughly 7' even, maybe 7 '1". Why 00:11:51.049 --> 00:11:53.169 did they need to fake anything? They are both 00:11:53.169 --> 00:11:56.529 already enormous. Because in wrestling, the new 00:11:56.529 --> 00:11:58.590 threat must always be larger than the old threat. 00:11:58.750 --> 00:12:01.230 The giant, Paul White, was the current monster. 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:03.980 To make the Yeti seem like an even bigger threat, 00:12:04.100 --> 00:12:06.059 he had to physically tower over the existing 00:12:06.059 --> 00:12:08.679 giant. So how did they do it? The sources note 00:12:08.679 --> 00:12:11.120 that Reese wore massive lifts in his boots. Lifts? 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:13.580 On a seven -foot -two man, you're adding height 00:12:13.580 --> 00:12:17.240 to a skyscraper. Massive platform lifts. And 00:12:17.240 --> 00:12:19.539 because he was wrapped in bandages, they could 00:12:19.539 --> 00:12:21.919 cheat it. They wrapped the gauze high over the 00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:24.059 top of his head, adding another three or four 00:12:24.059 --> 00:12:26.179 inches of perceived height. So he's basically 00:12:26.179 --> 00:12:29.019 walking on stilts blindfolded in a mummy suit. 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:31.720 Essentially. And that's why he walks so stiffly. 00:12:32.059 --> 00:12:34.799 When he marched to the ring stiff -legged, because 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:36.419 you can't really bend your knees and lift like 00:12:36.419 --> 00:12:39.620 that, he looked monstrously tall. And that's 00:12:39.620 --> 00:12:42.019 when Tony Chivone, the lead announcer, screams 00:12:42.019 --> 00:12:44.879 that famous line. The Yeti is taller than the 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:47.259 giant. That was the money line. That was the 00:12:47.259 --> 00:12:49.500 whole point of the entire charade, to get that 00:12:49.500 --> 00:12:52.980 one sentence on television. And then the hug. 00:12:53.159 --> 00:12:55.019 We have to talk about the hug. The double bear 00:12:55.019 --> 00:12:58.240 hug. It's a moment in time. The giant grabs Hulk 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:00.820 Hogan from behind in a bear hug. The Yeti then 00:13:00.820 --> 00:13:02.899 shuffles up and grabs Hogan from the front in 00:13:02.899 --> 00:13:05.440 another bear hug. It looked intimate. It looked 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:08.220 less like a vicious attack and more like a very 00:13:08.220 --> 00:13:11.240 awkward, very large group hug. It was visually 00:13:11.240 --> 00:13:13.879 clumsy, to put it my way. You have three massive 00:13:13.879 --> 00:13:16.159 men just squeezing each other. Reese is kind 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:18.299 of shaking, trying to sell the power of the squeeze. 00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:21.320 But it just looks like he's humping him. It's 00:13:21.320 --> 00:13:23.820 so easy to laugh at it now. But I want to pause 00:13:23.820 --> 00:13:26.299 and think about Ron Reiss for a second. Inside 00:13:26.299 --> 00:13:28.980 that suit, what is possibly going through his 00:13:28.980 --> 00:13:32.080 mind? He's an athlete. He scored 2000 points 00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:34.720 in high school. He trained with Big John Studd. 00:13:34.840 --> 00:13:37.580 And now he's dry humping Hulk Hogan in toilet 00:13:37.580 --> 00:13:40.100 paper on national television. It has to be a 00:13:40.100 --> 00:13:42.240 surreal mix of emotions. On one hand, you're 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:44.600 thinking, I can't believe I'm on TV with Hulk 00:13:44.600 --> 00:13:46.960 Hogan. That is the peak of the industry at that 00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:49.539 time. Sure. On the other hand. I really hope 00:13:49.539 --> 00:13:51.299 none of my college teammates are watching this 00:13:51.299 --> 00:13:53.899 right now. Yeah. But you do what the boss says. 00:13:53.960 --> 00:13:56.480 It's the business. You go out there, you wear 00:13:56.480 --> 00:13:59.360 the bandages, you do the awkward hug, and you 00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:02.240 cash the check. So Halloween Havoc ends. The 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:05.019 Yeti has arrived. He has crushed Hogan. Surely 00:14:05.019 --> 00:14:06.899 you keep this monster going, right? You milk 00:14:06.899 --> 00:14:10.080 this for a year. He's the new big bad. In a logical 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:12.679 world, yes. In a world where stories make any 00:14:12.679 --> 00:14:16.320 kind of sense, yes. In WCW in 1995, absolutely 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:19.299 not. The bandages disappear immediately. Just 00:14:19.299 --> 00:14:22.919 gone. No melting scene. No unraveling segment 00:14:22.919 --> 00:14:25.799 on TV where they reveal his face. Nope. The very 00:14:25.799 --> 00:14:27.759 next time we see him, which is at the World War 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:30.580 III pay -per -view, a month later, the bandages 00:14:30.580 --> 00:14:33.600 are off. And he is wearing a black hood and a 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:36.340 black bodysuit. Please tell me he wasn't. He 00:14:36.340 --> 00:14:39.429 was a ninja. A 7 '2 ninja. That is a complete 00:14:39.429 --> 00:14:42.389 oxymoron. The entire point of a ninja is stealth. 00:14:42.610 --> 00:14:45.509 They hide in shadows. They climb walls unnoticed. 00:14:45.730 --> 00:14:48.210 How do you hide a man the size of a minivan? 00:14:48.389 --> 00:14:50.250 You don't. You put him in the middle of a 60 00:14:50.250 --> 00:14:52.809 -man battle royal and call him the super giant 00:14:52.809 --> 00:14:55.110 ninja. That sounds like something a five -year 00:14:55.110 --> 00:14:57.169 -old would name their action figure. I want the 00:14:57.169 --> 00:14:59.710 super giant ninja for my birthday. It does, and 00:14:59.710 --> 00:15:01.970 that's essentially how WCW creative treated him. 00:15:02.049 --> 00:15:03.870 He was an action figure they got bored with. 00:15:04.309 --> 00:15:06.429 The mummy is boring. Okay, make him a ninja. 00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:09.000 Oh, we're bored with the ninja now. It lasted 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:11.559 for a grand total of three appearances. Three. 00:15:11.879 --> 00:15:14.759 The Battle Royal. A squash match against a guy 00:15:14.759 --> 00:15:16.580 named Barry Houston, and another one against 00:15:16.580 --> 00:15:20.600 one man gang. Then, poof. The ninja was gone. 00:15:20.919 --> 00:15:23.779 This feels frantic. It feels like they saw his 00:15:23.779 --> 00:15:26.360 size as a massive asset, but had zero respect 00:15:26.360 --> 00:15:29.320 for the performer. They had no long -term plan. 00:15:29.620 --> 00:15:31.639 That is the perfect way to put it. They viewed 00:15:31.639 --> 00:15:33.620 him as a special effect, not a wrestler. He was 00:15:33.620 --> 00:15:36.480 a... Prop. We need a ninja for this segment. 00:15:36.539 --> 00:15:39.899 Use the big guy. But then in 1996, they try to 00:15:39.899 --> 00:15:43.120 pivot to reality. He becomes Big Ron Studd. Okay, 00:15:43.179 --> 00:15:45.320 so they finally acknowledge the training. They 00:15:45.320 --> 00:15:47.340 acknowledge the lineage with Big John Studd. 00:15:47.460 --> 00:15:49.559 This has to be a step up, right? It should have 00:15:49.559 --> 00:15:51.580 been. They put him in simple tranks. No masks. 00:15:51.720 --> 00:15:53.879 No gimmicks. They acknowledge on commentary that 00:15:53.879 --> 00:15:55.879 Big John Studd was his mentor. It should have 00:15:55.879 --> 00:15:57.759 been a respectful homage. A way to say, look, 00:15:57.860 --> 00:16:00.019 this kid is the real deal. He has a pedigree. 00:16:00.139 --> 00:16:02.440 But wrestling politics are never that simple, 00:16:02.519 --> 00:16:05.179 are they? Never. Bobby the Brain, Heenan, who 00:16:05.179 --> 00:16:07.299 was a legendary manager and color commentator 00:16:07.299 --> 00:16:10.980 and, crucially, managed the original Big John 00:16:10.980 --> 00:16:14.080 set back in the day, was working for WCW at the 00:16:14.080 --> 00:16:17.100 time. And he wasn't a fan. Reports say he hated 00:16:17.100 --> 00:16:19.740 the gimmick. He felt it was a cheap knockoff. 00:16:20.120 --> 00:16:22.960 He felt it disrespected the memory of the original 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:26.000 stud, who had passed away by then. He even wrote 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:28.419 in the WCW magazine, the company's own publication, 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:31.179 that he didn't respect the angle. Imagine that. 00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:33.340 You are trying to pay tribute to your mentor. 00:16:33.399 --> 00:16:35.480 You're trying to finally be taken seriously as 00:16:35.480 --> 00:16:38.320 a wrestler. And your mentor's most famous manager 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:41.940 is burying you in the company newsletter. It 00:16:41.940 --> 00:16:44.659 undermines him completely from day one. So instead 00:16:44.659 --> 00:16:47.539 of becoming a star attraction, Big Ron Studd 00:16:47.539 --> 00:16:50.820 became what we call a jobber to the stars. Okay, 00:16:50.860 --> 00:16:52.519 explain that term for the listener who might 00:16:52.519 --> 00:16:55.539 not know the lingo. Because jobber sounds derogatory, 00:16:55.679 --> 00:16:57.759 but it's actually a crucial part of the ecosystem, 00:16:57.980 --> 00:17:00.230 isn't it? It is absolutely vital. Professional 00:17:00.230 --> 00:17:02.169 wrestling is storytelling. If you want to make 00:17:02.169 --> 00:17:04.069 a guy like Chris Benoit or Jeff Jarrett or Lex 00:17:04.069 --> 00:17:07.170 Luger look like a dragon slayer, you need a dragon. 00:17:07.309 --> 00:17:09.049 You can't just have them beat up regular guys. 00:17:09.490 --> 00:17:11.430 Exactly. Yeah. They need to beat a giant to look 00:17:11.430 --> 00:17:15.269 strong. So Reese became the dragon. His role 00:17:15.269 --> 00:17:17.690 was to go out there, look terrifying for five 00:17:17.690 --> 00:17:20.839 minutes, throw the smaller guy around. and then 00:17:20.839 --> 00:17:23.720 the star would outsmart him or overpower him 00:17:23.720 --> 00:17:26.359 and get the big dramatic win. So his job was 00:17:26.359 --> 00:17:29.619 to lose. His job was to make the other guy look 00:17:29.619 --> 00:17:32.460 like a million bucks. And that takes a ton of 00:17:32.460 --> 00:17:34.680 skill. You have to know exactly when to fall, 00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:36.900 how to sell the impact, so the crowd believes 00:17:36.900 --> 00:17:40.059 that a 220 -pound man just knocked down a 365 00:17:40.059 --> 00:17:43.059 -pound man. But for a competitor like Race, a 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:45.569 guy who won championships in high school, losing 00:17:45.569 --> 00:17:48.130 every single night for a year. That has to take 00:17:48.130 --> 00:17:49.990 a psychological toll. It's a grind. You're a 00:17:49.990 --> 00:17:51.809 Division I athlete. You're conditioned to win. 00:17:51.970 --> 00:17:54.410 And now your paycheck depends entirely on you 00:17:54.410 --> 00:17:56.250 laying down for the other guy. It requires a 00:17:56.250 --> 00:17:58.410 massive check of the ego. It's a role, an acting 00:17:58.410 --> 00:18:00.890 role, really. But it must be incredibly difficult. 00:18:01.130 --> 00:18:03.849 He had a string of high -profile losses to Benoit, 00:18:03.990 --> 00:18:06.690 Randy Savage, Lex Luger, Jeff Jarrett, basically 00:18:06.690 --> 00:18:09.440 every major star on the midcard. So he's the 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:11.799 Yeti, the ninja, the stud. Does he ever find 00:18:11.799 --> 00:18:14.059 a character that actually has some meat to it? 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:16.740 Something that isn't just a costume or a tribute? 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:19.660 He does. And many would argue this was his best 00:18:19.660 --> 00:18:22.160 and most memorable run. We have to fast forward 00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:25.400 to 1998, the Flock era. The Flock. This was the 00:18:25.400 --> 00:18:28.220 grunge era in wrestling, led by Raven. Exactly. 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:31.819 Raven was this fascinating, brooding, nihilistic 00:18:31.819 --> 00:18:34.099 cult leader figure. He would sit in the corner 00:18:34.099 --> 00:18:36.119 of the arena with his followers. He gathered 00:18:36.119 --> 00:18:40.019 misfits and outcasts. And on March T, 1998, Ron 00:18:40.019 --> 00:18:43.400 Reiss returns to WCW Nitro. But he's not a mummy 00:18:43.400 --> 00:18:46.849 or a ninja. He's Reese. Just Reese. Spelled R 00:18:46.849 --> 00:18:49.250 -E -E -S -E. And the narrative hook here is actually 00:18:49.250 --> 00:18:51.809 compelling. Raven gives this promo where he claims 00:18:51.809 --> 00:18:54.190 that Reese's size made him an outcast from society. 00:18:54.589 --> 00:18:57.130 That because he was a freak of nature, normal 00:18:57.130 --> 00:18:58.910 people rejected him, stared at him, made him 00:18:58.910 --> 00:19:01.009 feel isolated. Which is probably true to some 00:19:01.009 --> 00:19:03.430 extent for a man that size. It is. It blurs the 00:19:03.430 --> 00:19:05.329 line between fiction and reality, doesn't it? 00:19:05.390 --> 00:19:07.730 It taps into the real isolation that someone 00:19:07.730 --> 00:19:09.970 of that size might feel. People staring at you 00:19:09.970 --> 00:19:11.960 in airports. not being able to fit in restaurant 00:19:11.960 --> 00:19:14.380 booths, being looked at as a specimen rather 00:19:14.380 --> 00:19:16.460 than a human. So Raven offers him acceptance. 00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:19.680 He offers him a home in the flock. And Reese 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:22.079 becomes the enforcer for the group, the muscle. 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:25.039 I remember this era. He wore the jean shorts, 00:19:25.220 --> 00:19:27.779 the torn flannel shirt. He looked like a bouncer 00:19:27.779 --> 00:19:30.180 for a Pearl Jam concert. It fit the aesthetic 00:19:30.180 --> 00:19:33.410 of the time perfectly. And he had some key moments 00:19:33.410 --> 00:19:35.549 within that storyline. He was involved in the 00:19:35.549 --> 00:19:38.230 historic match where Goldberg, who was on the 00:19:38.230 --> 00:19:39.950 greatest winning streak in wrestling history, 00:19:40.170 --> 00:19:42.670 defeated Raven for the United States Heavyweight 00:19:42.670 --> 00:19:44.930 Championship. Reese couldn't stop Goldberg, right? 00:19:45.009 --> 00:19:47.390 Nobody could stop Goldberg back then. But being 00:19:47.390 --> 00:19:49.529 in the frame for that moment, being part of that 00:19:49.529 --> 00:19:51.720 historic angle, that's a big deal. And there 00:19:51.720 --> 00:19:53.599 was a notable match against Juventud Guerrero, 00:19:53.660 --> 00:19:55.680 right? Cruiserweight. The Great American Bash, 00:19:55.859 --> 00:19:59.059 1998. This is the classic David versus Goliath 00:19:59.059 --> 00:20:02.160 match. The Don is a cruiserweight, a high flyer, 00:20:02.180 --> 00:20:05.119 maybe 5 '5", very small compared to Reese. And 00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:07.539 Reese losing that match highlights that dynamic 00:20:07.539 --> 00:20:10.259 again. The giant exists to make the little guy 00:20:10.259 --> 00:20:12.380 look miraculous. But the end of the flock came 00:20:12.380 --> 00:20:15.039 pretty violently for Reese. It did. On June 29, 00:20:15.420 --> 00:20:18.019 1998, another member of the flock, a wrestler 00:20:18.019 --> 00:20:21.369 named Perry Saturn, turns on the group. And to 00:20:21.369 --> 00:20:23.990 make a statement, he hits a move called the Death 00:20:23.990 --> 00:20:27.670 Valley Driver on Reese. Now, for those who don't 00:20:27.670 --> 00:20:29.490 know, walk us through the physics of a Death 00:20:29.490 --> 00:20:31.369 Valley Driver. What does that actually look like 00:20:31.369 --> 00:20:34.049 on a man that size? Okay, so imagine a fireman's 00:20:34.049 --> 00:20:36.920 carry. You lift your opponent up. but cross your 00:20:36.920 --> 00:20:39.059 shoulders so they're horizontal. But instead 00:20:39.059 --> 00:20:41.380 of just dropping them, you fall sideways with 00:20:41.380 --> 00:20:43.579 them, driving their head and neck into the mat 00:20:43.579 --> 00:20:45.240 with all of your body weight and all of theirs. 00:20:45.339 --> 00:20:48.400 That sounds incredibly dangerous. It is. Now, 00:20:48.440 --> 00:20:50.960 Perry Saturn is a very strong guy, a legitimate 00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:55.079 powerhouse. But lifting a 365 -pound dead weight 00:20:55.079 --> 00:20:57.819 up onto your shoulders and controlling that fall. 00:20:58.220 --> 00:21:00.559 The physics alone are mind -boggling. It sounds 00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:02.660 like a recipe for a broken neck for both guys. 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:05.240 It was a spectacular visual. The ring shook. 00:21:05.420 --> 00:21:07.819 It was arguably the most impressive seat of strength 00:21:07.819 --> 00:21:10.680 in WCW that entire year. But notice the pattern 00:21:10.680 --> 00:21:13.539 again. The highlight is Saturn lifting Reese. 00:21:14.339 --> 00:21:16.400 Reese's body was once again the prop that made 00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:19.000 the moment possible. He took the bump, he trusted 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:21.279 his opponent, so Saturn could look like a god. 00:21:21.660 --> 00:21:24.240 So the flock disbands, the 90s are winding down, 00:21:24.440 --> 00:21:27.460 WCW is on its last legs, and it eventually collapses 00:21:27.460 --> 00:21:30.779 and gets bought by WWE in 2001. Where does a 00:21:30.779 --> 00:21:33.299 giant go when the big show closes down? Well, 00:21:33.319 --> 00:21:36.019 like many American wrestlers, when the big promotions 00:21:36.019 --> 00:21:39.079 run out of ideas for them, you look east. You 00:21:39.079 --> 00:21:41.480 go to Japan. Japan has always loved the gaijin 00:21:41.480 --> 00:21:43.920 monsters, right? The foreign heavyweights. They 00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:46.819 absolutely love the spectacle of size. Think 00:21:46.819 --> 00:21:49.240 of Andre the Giant, Stan Hansen, Big Van Vader, 00:21:49.380 --> 00:21:53.210 the Japanese style. Strong style. Is very physical, 00:21:53.369 --> 00:21:57.589 very hard -hitting. So in 2002, Reese tours Japan. 00:21:58.309 --> 00:22:00.970 But he needs a new name. He can't be Reese the 00:22:00.970 --> 00:22:03.210 Grunge Kid. Of course he needs a new name. So 00:22:03.210 --> 00:22:06.269 what is it this time? Big Bomb Jones. Big Bomb 00:22:06.269 --> 00:22:09.009 Jones. It's fantastic, isn't it? The source suggests 00:22:09.009 --> 00:22:11.890 it's a riff on Big Van Vader. Maybe a combination 00:22:11.890 --> 00:22:15.099 of Vader and Adam Bomb. another wrestler, or 00:22:15.099 --> 00:22:17.740 just the word bomb because it sounds impactful. 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:20.440 It's wonderfully nonsensical. It's unclear, but 00:22:20.440 --> 00:22:22.839 Big Bomb Jones sounds like a final boss character 00:22:22.839 --> 00:22:26.079 from a 90s beat -em -up video game like Streets 00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:28.099 of Rage. It really does. It sounds like you have 00:22:28.099 --> 00:22:29.859 to defeat him to get to the next level. So he 00:22:29.859 --> 00:22:31.779 found success over there. He toured throughout 00:22:31.779 --> 00:22:35.390 2002. It shows his adaptability. He could work 00:22:35.390 --> 00:22:37.730 the American TV style, which is more about character 00:22:37.730 --> 00:22:40.430 and storylines. And he could work the grueling 00:22:40.430 --> 00:22:42.869 Japanese touring style, which is about hitting 00:22:42.869 --> 00:22:45.670 hard, endurance, and having long matches every 00:22:45.670 --> 00:22:47.710 night. And he eventually comes back to the States 00:22:47.710 --> 00:22:51.309 after that. He does. In 2003, he joins Turnbuckle 00:22:51.309 --> 00:22:54.710 Championship Wrestling, or TCW. This was a promotion 00:22:54.710 --> 00:22:57.910 run by the legendary Dusty Rhodes. And here... 00:22:58.109 --> 00:23:00.250 He goes back to the big Ron Studd gimmick. A 00:23:00.250 --> 00:23:02.450 return to his roots in a way. And he finds some 00:23:02.450 --> 00:23:05.690 actual championship success. He forms a tag team 00:23:05.690 --> 00:23:08.049 with a wrestler named Glacier. Glacier, the guy 00:23:08.049 --> 00:23:09.990 who looked like Sub -Zero from Mortal Kombat. 00:23:10.089 --> 00:23:12.650 The whole cryomancer gimmick. The very same. 00:23:12.829 --> 00:23:15.049 So you have the guy who was the Yeti from the 00:23:15.049 --> 00:23:17.390 Block of Ice and the guy who was a cryomancer. 00:23:17.670 --> 00:23:20.049 It makes a weird sort of poetic sense, doesn't 00:23:20.049 --> 00:23:22.069 it? It really, really does. They actually won 00:23:22.069 --> 00:23:25.329 the TCW Tag Team Championships on January 3, 00:23:25.450 --> 00:23:28.660 2004. So he got a hold gold. He got to be a champion. 00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:30.839 That's good to hear. After all the jobbing, after 00:23:30.839 --> 00:23:32.839 the mummy suit, after all the weird gimmicks, 00:23:32.920 --> 00:23:36.240 he got a title. He did. But the story has one 00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:40.700 final, very strange chapter. The final abstract 00:23:40.700 --> 00:23:43.460 persona. And honestly, this might be weirder 00:23:43.460 --> 00:23:46.220 than the Yeti. Oh, no. What could possibly top 00:23:46.220 --> 00:23:48.980 the Yeti? I don't think that's possible. In 2005, 00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:51.420 he works for a promotion called Ring of Glory 00:23:51.420 --> 00:23:54.200 Wrestling. This was run by Vince Russo, a very... 00:23:54.750 --> 00:23:56.589 A controversial writer in wrestling history. 00:23:56.750 --> 00:24:00.230 But this promotion was different. It was a Christian 00:24:00.230 --> 00:24:02.730 -oriented wrestling formation. Okay. So wrestling 00:24:02.730 --> 00:24:04.589 with a biblical message. Exactly. It was all 00:24:04.589 --> 00:24:06.730 allegorical. The storylines were meant to be 00:24:06.730 --> 00:24:09.430 morality plays. And Reese played a character 00:24:09.430 --> 00:24:13.589 named Evil. Just evil. Like Dr. Evil. Or you 00:24:13.589 --> 00:24:15.789 mean the literal concept of evil. Just evil. 00:24:15.970 --> 00:24:18.470 Not a name. The abstract concept of evil given 00:24:18.470 --> 00:24:21.289 flesh. He wore black. He didn't speak. He was 00:24:21.289 --> 00:24:23.630 the embodiment of sin. Wow. That is about as 00:24:23.630 --> 00:24:26.130 unsubtle as it gets. Extremely. And to make the 00:24:26.130 --> 00:24:29.349 allegory complete, on February 26, 2005, he wrestled 00:24:29.349 --> 00:24:31.670 a man named Joshua the Carpenter. Joshua the 00:24:31.670 --> 00:24:33.349 Carpenter. I feel like I know who that is supposed 00:24:33.349 --> 00:24:35.490 to represent. It's a passion play in a wrestling 00:24:35.490 --> 00:24:39.650 ring. It represents Jesus defeating Satan. And 00:24:39.650 --> 00:24:42.349 of course, the source notes that Reese, as evil, 00:24:42.509 --> 00:24:46.450 lost to Joshua, which theologically makes sense 00:24:46.450 --> 00:24:49.670 for the promotion. Good must defeat evil. So 00:24:49.670 --> 00:24:51.829 let's just trace this arc one more time. He went 00:24:51.829 --> 00:24:55.970 from being a mummy frozen in ice to a ninja to 00:24:55.970 --> 00:24:59.589 a grunge bouncer to being the literal embodiment 00:24:59.589 --> 00:25:02.630 of sin getting pinned by a carpenter. That is 00:25:02.630 --> 00:25:05.029 the career trajectory of Ron Reiss. It is an 00:25:05.029 --> 00:25:07.670 exhausting list of identities. It really is. 00:25:07.769 --> 00:25:09.410 You know, we've talked about his wrestling, but 00:25:09.410 --> 00:25:11.789 the man did dip his toe into Hollywood, didn't 00:25:11.789 --> 00:25:14.410 he? He did, very briefly. The source mentions 00:25:14.410 --> 00:25:17.069 a film from 1999 called Assault on Death Mountain. 00:25:17.289 --> 00:25:19.190 That's a great title. Also known as Shadow Warriors 00:25:19.190 --> 00:25:21.829 II. Hunt for the Death Merchant. An even better 00:25:21.829 --> 00:25:24.250 title. It starred Hulk Hogan, actually. And Reese 00:25:24.250 --> 00:25:27.119 played a character named Vlassie. It's a small 00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:29.319 footnote in his career, but it shows that he 00:25:29.319 --> 00:25:31.240 was trying to leverage that size for acting, 00:25:31.400 --> 00:25:33.779 much like other wrestlers like The Rock or Batista 00:25:33.779 --> 00:25:36.119 have done, just on a much smaller scale. So, 00:25:36.119 --> 00:25:38.599 let's zoom out. We've gone through the whole 00:25:38.599 --> 00:25:42.740 timeline. Basketball player. SWAT. The Yeti. 00:25:43.339 --> 00:25:47.619 The Supergiant Ninja. Big Romstead. Reese the 00:25:47.619 --> 00:25:51.819 Outcast. Big Bomb Jones. And finally, evil. It 00:25:51.819 --> 00:25:55.150 is a truly dizzying resume. It is! And when you 00:25:55.150 --> 00:25:57.289 look at it all laid out like that, what is the 00:25:57.289 --> 00:25:59.690 big takeaway? What does Ron Race's career tell 00:25:59.690 --> 00:26:02.190 us about the industry he gave his body to for 00:26:02.190 --> 00:26:04.289 over a decade? I think it tells us about the 00:26:04.289 --> 00:26:07.130 commodification of the freak show aspect of wrestling. 00:26:07.289 --> 00:26:09.730 Yeah. And I use that term historically, not respectfully. 00:26:10.309 --> 00:26:13.269 The industry saw a man who was seven foot two. 00:26:13.819 --> 00:26:16.559 And they didn't see Ron Reyes, the NCAA legacy, 00:26:16.759 --> 00:26:19.559 the skilled basketball player who scored 2 ,000 00:26:19.559 --> 00:26:21.779 points. They saw canvas. They saw canvas. They 00:26:21.779 --> 00:26:23.680 saw a prop that could be wrapped in bandages 00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:26.180 or put in a ninja hood or used as a stepping 00:26:26.180 --> 00:26:28.579 stone to make other people look strong. It's 00:26:28.579 --> 00:26:30.380 a career that was defined by his service to the 00:26:30.380 --> 00:26:32.809 spectacle. He was the special effect. But there's 00:26:32.809 --> 00:26:34.569 a real resilience there, isn't there? I mean, 00:26:34.589 --> 00:26:36.569 he kept coming back. He didn't quit after the 00:26:36.569 --> 00:26:38.109 mummy disaster, which would have been totally 00:26:38.109 --> 00:26:40.329 understandable. He didn't quit after the ninja 00:26:40.329 --> 00:26:42.509 embarrassment. He just kept reinventing himself. 00:26:43.009 --> 00:26:45.809 Absolutely. There is a profound tenacity to that. 00:26:46.130 --> 00:26:48.869 To endure the humiliation of the Yeti costume, 00:26:49.069 --> 00:26:51.970 knowing that people are laughing at you, not 00:26:51.970 --> 00:26:54.190 with you, and still come back and try to make 00:26:54.190 --> 00:26:56.549 Reese work or try to make Big Ron Studd work. 00:26:57.279 --> 00:26:59.400 That takes a true professional. It's a very strange 00:26:59.400 --> 00:27:01.960 kind of professionalism, isn't it? I will wear 00:27:01.960 --> 00:27:03.799 the toilet paper if the check clears and the 00:27:03.799 --> 00:27:06.240 show goes on. And he'd get it for over a decade, 00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:09.380 which in wrestling years is a lifetime. So here's 00:27:09.380 --> 00:27:11.259 where it gets really interesting for me. And 00:27:11.259 --> 00:27:12.599 this is the thought I want to leave everyone 00:27:12.599 --> 00:27:15.119 with. We look back and we laugh at the Yeti. 00:27:15.180 --> 00:27:17.279 It's a meme. It's a gif you see on Twitter. It's 00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:20.640 a punchline. But inside that mummy suit was a 00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:23.900 guy who probably dreamed of being the next Shaq, 00:27:24.019 --> 00:27:27.099 or at the very least, a respected athlete. And 00:27:27.099 --> 00:27:29.140 that's the tragedy and the beauty of it. He was 00:27:29.140 --> 00:27:31.400 a real athlete. He was doing the work. The double 00:27:31.400 --> 00:27:34.579 bear hug looks silly. But standing 7 '2 and taking 00:27:34.579 --> 00:27:37.599 bumps for a living is incredibly hard on the 00:27:37.599 --> 00:27:40.420 body. Your knees, your back, your hips. They're 00:27:40.420 --> 00:27:42.359 not designed for that. It's physically punishing. 00:27:42.700 --> 00:27:44.759 work. So while we chuckle at the super giant 00:27:44.759 --> 00:27:48.640 ninja, we should also recognize the grind. We 00:27:48.640 --> 00:27:50.380 should recognize the sacrifice that went into 00:27:50.380 --> 00:27:54.140 being that punchline. We all wear masks at work, 00:27:54.160 --> 00:27:57.819 right? Maybe not literal ninja masks, but we 00:27:57.819 --> 00:28:00.799 all play a role. We adapt to what the boss wants. 00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:03.680 We code switch depending on the meeting. We do. 00:28:04.089 --> 00:28:06.450 We present the version of ourselves that is required 00:28:06.450 --> 00:28:08.910 for the job. Ron Reyes did that to the absolute 00:28:08.910 --> 00:28:12.029 extreme. He let himself be frozen in ice, wrapped 00:28:12.029 --> 00:28:15.529 in cloth, shunned by society as an outcast, and 00:28:15.529 --> 00:28:18.069 even personified as evil itself, all for the 00:28:18.069 --> 00:28:20.250 entertainment of the crowd. And in doing so, 00:28:20.289 --> 00:28:23.549 he became immortal in a very weird way. No one 00:28:23.549 --> 00:28:25.430 forgets the Yeti. That is true. He might not 00:28:25.430 --> 00:28:27.670 have ever won the world title, but he won a permanent 00:28:27.670 --> 00:28:30.380 spot in our collective memory. And maybe. In 00:28:30.380 --> 00:28:31.859 this strange world of professional wrestling, 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:34.180 that's enough. So next time you see a gif of 00:28:34.180 --> 00:28:36.480 a giant mummy shaking his way toward Hulk Hogan, 00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:39.240 don't just laugh. Remember Ron. Remember the 00:28:39.240 --> 00:28:41.259 basketball star. Remember the man inside the 00:28:41.259 --> 00:28:44.720 monster. It's a story of survival, really. Survival 00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:46.859 of the weirdest. Couldn't have said it better 00:28:46.859 --> 00:28:48.539 myself. Thanks for taking this deep dive with 00:28:48.539 --> 00:28:51.500 us. My pleasure. And to you listening, stay curious 00:28:51.500 --> 00:28:54.339 and maybe watch out for falling ice blocks. We'll 00:28:54.339 --> 00:28:55.160 see you next time.