WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.459 OK, I want you to close your eyes for a second. 00:00:01.540 --> 00:00:03.419 We're going to do a little time travel with you. 00:00:04.059 --> 00:00:07.019 We are going back to, let's say, Saturday morning 00:00:07.019 --> 00:00:09.820 in the mid 1980s. You're sitting on the carpet. 00:00:10.039 --> 00:00:12.839 You've got your bowl of cereal. The TV is glowing 00:00:12.839 --> 00:00:15.279 and you are watching professional wrestling. 00:00:15.480 --> 00:00:17.780 It's a sacred ritual for millions of kids back 00:00:17.780 --> 00:00:20.480 then. Absolutely. It really was. Now, I want 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:22.620 you to picture the bad guy. And I don't mean 00:00:22.620 --> 00:00:26.059 the cool leather jacket wearing antihero we see 00:00:26.059 --> 00:00:29.780 today. I'm talking about a true monster. a walking 00:00:29.780 --> 00:00:32.219 nightmare someone who legitimately scared you 00:00:32.219 --> 00:00:35.060 like change the channel scared exactly picture 00:00:35.060 --> 00:00:37.560 a man who is six foot seven he weighs nearly 00:00:37.560 --> 00:00:40.640 400 pounds he's barefoot he's got these white 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:43.140 stars painted on his massive chest a crescent 00:00:43.140 --> 00:00:45.340 moon on his stomach and he's marching to the 00:00:45.340 --> 00:00:48.020 ring with a spear and a shield and he's not shouting 00:00:48.020 --> 00:00:51.119 catchphrases he's just slapping his belly and 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:54.200 growling there's this primal energy to him this 00:00:54.200 --> 00:00:56.240 is the character of kamala the ugandan giant 00:00:56.960 --> 00:00:59.539 The lore, the story they told us, was that he 00:00:59.539 --> 00:01:02.039 was a savage headhunter plucked from the jungles 00:01:02.039 --> 00:01:04.540 of Africa. He was a cannibal. He was a beast. 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:06.280 I mean, do you remember the story about the live 00:01:06.280 --> 00:01:07.879 chickens? Oh, how could you forget? It's one 00:01:07.879 --> 00:01:11.859 of the most infamous segments in television history. 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:15.659 The implication that this man was so wild, so 00:01:15.659 --> 00:01:18.519 primal, that he would just bite the head off 00:01:18.519 --> 00:01:20.939 a live chicken on national TV. It's an image 00:01:20.939 --> 00:01:23.719 that is burned into the brains of an entire generation. 00:01:24.019 --> 00:01:26.420 But here is why we are here today. We aren't 00:01:26.420 --> 00:01:27.980 just here to talk about a wrestling character. 00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:30.319 We are here because that monster was a complete 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:34.099 fabrication. Inside that paint, inside that terrifying 00:01:34.099 --> 00:01:36.540 performance, was a man named James Arthur Harris. 00:01:36.980 --> 00:01:39.680 And he wasn't a headhunter. Not even close. He 00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:42.060 was a gentle, soft -spoken sharecropper from 00:01:42.060 --> 00:01:45.040 Mississippi. That disconnect between the savage 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:47.120 on the screen and the man who drove a truck for 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:50.120 a living is what we are digging into today. We've 00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:52.640 got a stack of sources here, including his autobiography 00:01:52.640 --> 00:01:54.780 and some really heavy reporting on his health 00:01:54.780 --> 00:01:57.359 battles. We're going to look at how James Harris 00:01:57.359 --> 00:02:01.060 built this character, the brutal economics of 00:02:01.060 --> 00:02:03.120 being a monster in the wrestling business and 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:05.120 the tragedy that followed him even after the 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:07.560 cameras turned off. It is a heavy story, but 00:02:07.560 --> 00:02:10.919 it's also a timely one, because as of April 2025, 00:02:11.560 --> 00:02:14.960 the wrestling world finally sort of tried to 00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:17.439 make things right. James Harris was inducted 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:19.699 into the WWE Hall of Fame. Which is a huge deal. 00:02:19.780 --> 00:02:22.500 But also, well, it raises some pretty big questions 00:02:22.500 --> 00:02:24.699 about timing, considering he passed away five 00:02:24.699 --> 00:02:26.979 years ago. But before we get to the end, we have 00:02:26.979 --> 00:02:28.479 to start the beginning. And the beginning of 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:30.580 the story isn't in a wrestling ring. It's in 00:02:30.580 --> 00:02:33.659 Coldwater, Mississippi. And to understand James 00:02:33.659 --> 00:02:36.060 Harris, you have to understand the world he was 00:02:36.060 --> 00:02:38.719 born into. This is 1950, the Jim Crow South. 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:41.840 And his life was, you know, really defined by 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:43.340 a single event that happened when he was just 00:02:43.340 --> 00:02:45.469 four years old. I was reading the notes on his 00:02:45.469 --> 00:02:47.409 childhood and it reads like something out of 00:02:47.409 --> 00:02:50.169 a Steinbeck novel. It's just bleak. What happened 00:02:50.169 --> 00:02:52.229 when he was four? His father was shot dead. Wow. 00:02:52.789 --> 00:02:56.370 Yeah. It was during a dice game. Just a gambling 00:02:56.370 --> 00:02:58.229 dispute that turned violent. Just like that. 00:02:58.310 --> 00:03:00.949 A four -year -old kid loses his dad over a dice 00:03:00.949 --> 00:03:03.919 game. Just like that. And you have to contextualize 00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:07.000 what that meant for a black family in rural Mississippi 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:10.240 in the 1950s. The father was usually the sole 00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:12.300 economic engine of the family. There was no life 00:03:12.300 --> 00:03:14.840 insurance. There was no Social Security safety 00:03:14.840 --> 00:03:17.759 net waiting for them. When his father died. The 00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:20.379 family, his mother and four sisters, didn't just 00:03:20.379 --> 00:03:23.159 suffer an emotional loss. They fell off an economic 00:03:23.159 --> 00:03:25.819 cliff. And this is where the term sharecropper 00:03:25.819 --> 00:03:27.860 comes into his biography. And I feel like we 00:03:27.860 --> 00:03:29.659 hear that word in history class and we just think 00:03:29.659 --> 00:03:32.319 farmer, but it's not really farming, is it? It's 00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:34.860 something else entirely. No, it's much closer 00:03:34.860 --> 00:03:38.979 to feudalism or indentured servitude. The entire 00:03:38.979 --> 00:03:41.599 system was designed to keep families in a perpetual 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:45.750 cycle of debt. You work land you don't own. You 00:03:45.750 --> 00:03:48.009 buy your seeds and your tools from the landowner's 00:03:48.009 --> 00:03:50.550 store, usually at ridiculously inflated prices. 00:03:50.789 --> 00:03:52.969 Right. Then at the end of the harvest, you split 00:03:52.969 --> 00:03:56.689 the profits. But somehow, the math always, always 00:03:56.689 --> 00:03:59.210 works out that you still owe the landowner money. 00:03:59.650 --> 00:04:01.949 So you start the next year even further in the 00:04:01.949 --> 00:04:03.389 hole. You can never get out. You can never get 00:04:03.389 --> 00:04:06.569 out, exactly. And James, as the only male in 00:04:06.569 --> 00:04:08.759 the house, had to step up. He wasn't playing 00:04:08.759 --> 00:04:10.560 with toys. He was out there working the fields. 00:04:10.659 --> 00:04:13.520 The burden of survival was on his shoulders before 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:15.659 he could even properly read. Which would explain 00:04:15.659 --> 00:04:18.220 why he dropped out of school so early. Ninth 00:04:18.220 --> 00:04:21.480 grade. He had to. The immediate need for food 00:04:21.480 --> 00:04:23.800 on the table outweighed any long -term potential 00:04:23.800 --> 00:04:26.480 of an education. It's a real tragedy of circumstance. 00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:28.939 He was actually a very creative kid. We'll talk 00:04:28.939 --> 00:04:31.160 about his songwriting later. But that part of 00:04:31.160 --> 00:04:33.139 his brain just had to be shut off to focus on 00:04:33.139 --> 00:04:35.790 manual labor. So you have a kid with no father, 00:04:35.930 --> 00:04:39.449 no education, working a dead -end job in a system 00:04:39.449 --> 00:04:41.750 that's completely rigged against him. I assume 00:04:41.750 --> 00:04:43.589 this is where the trouble starts. It's a classic 00:04:43.589 --> 00:04:46.189 trajectory, isn't it? Without structure and with 00:04:46.189 --> 00:04:48.290 a whole lot of desperation, he started drifting. 00:04:48.670 --> 00:04:52.029 The sources say he became a habitual burglar, 00:04:52.149 --> 00:04:54.790 just breaking into places, stealing small things. 00:04:55.050 --> 00:04:57.709 He was on a path that usually ends in one of 00:04:57.709 --> 00:05:01.110 two places, prison or an early grave. But instead 00:05:01.110 --> 00:05:04.149 of prison, he got an ultimatum. This part of 00:05:04.149 --> 00:05:06.170 the story sounds like a movie script. It's wild. 00:05:06.509 --> 00:05:08.790 It does, but it was the stark reality of 1967 00:05:08.790 --> 00:05:11.250 Mississippi law enforcement. He was 17 years 00:05:11.250 --> 00:05:13.949 old. The local police picked him up for burglary, 00:05:13.949 --> 00:05:16.850 but they didn't book him. They gave him a choice. 00:05:17.129 --> 00:05:19.750 Which was? Leave town or be found dead somewhere. 00:05:19.930 --> 00:05:21.649 Found dead somewhere. That is incredibly dark. 00:05:21.750 --> 00:05:23.629 That's not, we will arrest you. That is a direct 00:05:23.629 --> 00:05:25.610 death threat from the people with the badges. 00:05:25.930 --> 00:05:28.889 And Harris knew they weren't bluffing. He said 00:05:28.889 --> 00:05:31.300 in interviews later, Back then, if you didn't 00:05:31.300 --> 00:05:33.420 leave, like they said, you would be found dead. 00:05:34.040 --> 00:05:36.819 He knew the score, so this wasn't a career move 00:05:36.819 --> 00:05:39.579 for him. This was a migration for pure survival. 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:42.139 He fled to Florida. Just imagine that. You're 00:05:42.139 --> 00:05:44.459 17 years old, you have no money, no education, 00:05:44.680 --> 00:05:47.500 and you can literally never go home again. How 00:05:47.500 --> 00:05:51.000 did he even survive? His body. His size. He was 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:53.240 already a massive kid. He worked as a fruit picker. 00:05:53.259 --> 00:05:55.779 He drove trucks. He eventually moved north to 00:05:55.779 --> 00:05:58.199 Michigan to a place called Benton Harbor. And 00:05:58.199 --> 00:06:00.100 he was just trying to exist. He wasn't thinking 00:06:00.100 --> 00:06:01.819 about fame or anything like that. He was thinking 00:06:01.819 --> 00:06:04.300 about where his next meal was coming from. But 00:06:04.300 --> 00:06:07.019 his size. I mean, you can't hide a guy who is 00:06:07.019 --> 00:06:09.920 six foot seven and nearing 400 pounds. Eventually 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:11.759 someone is going to notice that. And the person 00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:13.920 who noticed him was basically wrestling royalty. 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:17.670 Bobo Brazil. OK, pause. For some of our listeners 00:06:17.670 --> 00:06:21.129 who might only know Hulk Hogan or The Rock, who 00:06:21.129 --> 00:06:24.470 is Bobo Brazil. Bobo Brazil was a true pioneer. 00:06:24.790 --> 00:06:27.389 He was one of the very first African -American 00:06:27.389 --> 00:06:30.750 wrestlers to break the color barrier in a really 00:06:30.750 --> 00:06:33.610 meaningful way. He wasn't some stereotype. He 00:06:33.610 --> 00:06:36.089 was a legitimate athlete, a hero to millions. 00:06:36.209 --> 00:06:39.310 He was huge in the Michigan area, a real legend. 00:06:39.529 --> 00:06:42.629 So Bobo sees this giant kid picking fruit or 00:06:42.629 --> 00:06:44.850 driving a truck or something. And he sees dollar 00:06:44.850 --> 00:06:48.129 signs. Or at least he sees potential. In the 00:06:48.129 --> 00:06:51.230 wrestling business, you can't teach size. You 00:06:51.230 --> 00:06:53.029 can teach a guy how to fall down, but you can't 00:06:53.029 --> 00:06:55.449 teach him to be a giant. Bobo tells him, you 00:06:55.449 --> 00:06:57.569 need to be in the ring. So James Harris, the 00:06:57.569 --> 00:07:00.230 sharecropper on the run, enters the circus. He 00:07:00.230 --> 00:07:02.810 starts training under a guy named Tiny Tim Hampton. 00:07:03.129 --> 00:07:04.910 And here's a detail from the research I just 00:07:04.910 --> 00:07:07.389 love. Harris eventually moved to Arkansas to 00:07:07.389 --> 00:07:09.389 continue his training, not because the wrestling 00:07:09.389 --> 00:07:11.209 school was better, but because he absolutely 00:07:11.209 --> 00:07:13.740 hated the snow in Michigan. That is the most 00:07:13.740 --> 00:07:16.139 relatable thing I've heard so far. I may be a 00:07:16.139 --> 00:07:19.279 giant, but I'm cold. Right. So he makes his debut 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:22.680 in 1978, but he isn't Kamala yet. He's really 00:07:22.680 --> 00:07:25.139 struggling to find an identity. The notes list 00:07:25.139 --> 00:07:28.459 some of his early names. Sugar Bear Harris. Sugar 00:07:28.459 --> 00:07:31.279 Bear Harris, that sounds like a breakfast cereal 00:07:31.279 --> 00:07:34.660 mascot, not a terrifying wrestler. Exactly. It's 00:07:34.660 --> 00:07:37.060 not threatening at all. He also tried Ugly Bear 00:07:37.060 --> 00:07:39.699 Harris and Bad News Harris. He was just bouncing 00:07:39.699 --> 00:07:42.180 around the territories, working in the UK, Germany, 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:44.439 the Deep South. He was winning some regional 00:07:44.439 --> 00:07:47.199 belts, getting experience. But he wasn't a star. 00:07:47.420 --> 00:07:50.600 He was just another big man. And in wrestling, 00:07:50.779 --> 00:07:53.319 being big isn't enough. You need a hook. You 00:07:53.319 --> 00:07:55.199 need a gimmick, a character. You need something 00:07:55.199 --> 00:07:56.920 that makes people stop changing the channel. 00:07:57.339 --> 00:08:00.079 And James Harris didn't find that special something 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:03.899 until 1982. This is the Memphis chapter of the 00:08:03.899 --> 00:08:06.199 story. This is the birth of the monster. He goes 00:08:06.199 --> 00:08:08.420 to the Continental Wrestling Association in Memphis. 00:08:08.620 --> 00:08:11.519 Now, this territory was run by Jerry the King, 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:14.240 Lawler, and Jerry Jarrett. And you have to understand, 00:08:14.360 --> 00:08:17.040 Memphis wrestling in the 80s was just... It was 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:19.160 wild. It was like a comic book written by crazy 00:08:19.160 --> 00:08:22.100 people. It was violent. It was theatrical. And 00:08:22.100 --> 00:08:24.160 it was the perfect laboratory for a new kind 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:26.439 of character. So Lawler and Jarrett look at this 00:08:26.439 --> 00:08:29.699 giant James Harris and they see. They see a blank 00:08:29.699 --> 00:08:31.439 canvas. They wanted something that was truly 00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:34.340 shocking. And they actually found their inspiration 00:08:34.340 --> 00:08:37.740 in an art museum. Okay, maybe not a museum, but 00:08:37.740 --> 00:08:40.100 in the art world. It was a Frank Frazetta painting. 00:08:40.379 --> 00:08:42.559 Frazetta, the guy who did all the iconic Conan 00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:45.580 the Barbarian covers? The very same. They saw 00:08:45.580 --> 00:08:48.340 a painting of this savage, dark -skinned warrior 00:08:48.340 --> 00:08:50.840 with a spear and a shield, and they said, that's 00:08:50.840 --> 00:08:53.399 it, that's James Harris. So they basically looked 00:08:53.399 --> 00:08:55.980 at a fantasy painting and decided to turn a human 00:08:55.980 --> 00:08:59.559 being into that image. Precisely. They came up 00:08:59.559 --> 00:09:02.559 with the name Kimala, originally with an I, and 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:04.379 then they drafted this whole backstory. And this 00:09:04.379 --> 00:09:08.080 backstory is, well, It's a lot. They decided 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:11.059 he was a former bodyguard for Idi Amin. Idi Amin, 00:09:11.159 --> 00:09:14.440 the brutal dictator of Uganda. Yes. Amin was 00:09:14.440 --> 00:09:16.960 in the news constantly for his atrocities. So 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:19.539 by tying Harris to Amin, they instantly gave 00:09:19.539 --> 00:09:22.919 him this aura of real -world danger. The story 00:09:22.919 --> 00:09:25.440 went that a manager, J .J. Dillon, had gone on 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:28.120 a scouting trip to Africa and discovered this... 00:09:28.990 --> 00:09:31.029 beast in the jungle. Okay, so they have the backstory. 00:09:31.210 --> 00:09:33.190 Now they need the look to match. And that's where 00:09:33.190 --> 00:09:36.549 the iconic visuals come in. The face paint, the 00:09:36.549 --> 00:09:38.730 white stars on the chest, the yellow crescent 00:09:38.730 --> 00:09:41.250 moon on the belly. He wrestled barefoot. He wore 00:09:41.250 --> 00:09:43.710 a loincloth. It wasn't just a costume he put 00:09:43.710 --> 00:09:45.450 on for the matches, was it? I was reading about 00:09:45.450 --> 00:09:47.590 kayfabe and the lengths they went to were just 00:09:47.590 --> 00:09:50.889 insane. Kayfabe is the old code of the business. 00:09:51.559 --> 00:09:53.759 It means protecting the illusion that wrestling 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:57.700 is 100 % real. And in 1982, you didn't just play 00:09:57.700 --> 00:09:59.820 the character in the ring. You had to live it. 00:09:59.960 --> 00:10:02.399 To make the fans believe he was a savage who 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:04.559 couldn't speak English, Harris was forbidden 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:07.419 from speaking in public. Forbidden? Like by his 00:10:07.419 --> 00:10:09.519 bosses? Absolutely forbidden. He had to wear 00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:11.399 robes in airports so people wouldn't see his 00:10:11.399 --> 00:10:14.440 regular clothes. If a fan came up to him for 00:10:14.440 --> 00:10:16.899 an autograph, he was instructed to just growl 00:10:16.899 --> 00:10:20.120 or stare blankly. Imagine the psychological toll 00:10:20.120 --> 00:10:23.059 of that. You were in your home country, surrounded 00:10:23.059 --> 00:10:24.820 by people speaking your native language, and 00:10:24.820 --> 00:10:26.700 you have to pretend you don't understand a single 00:10:26.700 --> 00:10:29.820 word of it. That sounds incredibly isolating. 00:10:30.200 --> 00:10:32.539 And honestly, we have to talk about the optics 00:10:32.539 --> 00:10:35.080 of this. A black man from Mississippi being told 00:10:35.080 --> 00:10:37.700 to act like a primitive savage for the entertainment 00:10:37.700 --> 00:10:39.519 of a largely white audience. I mean, that is 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:42.379 heavy. It's more than heavy. It's deeply problematic 00:10:42.379 --> 00:10:45.500 by any modern standard. Critics like Ryan Byers 00:10:45.500 --> 00:10:47.759 have written extensively about this. The character 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:50.279 relied on every single colonial trope in the 00:10:50.279 --> 00:10:53.220 book. The idea that Africans were uncivilized, 00:10:53.320 --> 00:10:56.100 dangerous, and needed to be controlled by a white 00:10:56.100 --> 00:10:58.759 handler. The fans at the time, they ate it up. 00:10:58.820 --> 00:11:01.019 They absolutely loved it. And this is the great 00:11:01.019 --> 00:11:03.820 paradox of Kamala. The character was, yes, a 00:11:03.820 --> 00:11:06.539 racist caricature. But James Harris was so good 00:11:06.539 --> 00:11:08.879 at it, his eyes, his body language, the way he 00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:11.019 moved, that he made it genuinely terrifying. 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:13.240 He took a stereotype and turned it into a horror 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:15.200 movie monster. He didn't wink at the camera. 00:11:15.299 --> 00:11:18.500 He committed 110%. Speaking of commitment, I 00:11:18.500 --> 00:11:20.740 have to ask about the promo video. The notes 00:11:20.740 --> 00:11:23.279 mention a jungle vignette. Oh, this is legendary 00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:25.809 stuff. To introduce the character. They wanted 00:11:25.809 --> 00:11:28.509 to film him emerging from the steamy jungles 00:11:28.509 --> 00:11:32.129 of Uganda. But the budget for Memphis Wrestling 00:11:32.129 --> 00:11:35.990 was, let's just say, modest. They couldn't exactly 00:11:35.990 --> 00:11:38.289 fly a film crew to Africa. So where did they 00:11:38.289 --> 00:11:41.799 go? The local zoo? Even better. They went to 00:11:41.799 --> 00:11:43.740 Jerry Jarrett's farm in Hendersonville, Tennessee. 00:11:44.019 --> 00:11:45.519 You're kidding me. A farm in Tennessee? You just 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:47.779 can't make this stuff up. It gets better. How 00:11:47.779 --> 00:11:51.019 do you simulate the steamy, misty jungle heat 00:11:51.019 --> 00:11:52.840 in the middle of Tennessee? I'm afraid to ask. 00:11:53.100 --> 00:11:56.720 Dry ice. No! Yes. They pumped a ton of dry ice 00:11:56.720 --> 00:11:59.460 around a creek on the farm. Harris emerged from 00:11:59.460 --> 00:12:02.679 the fog with a spear. And you know what? On those 00:12:02.679 --> 00:12:05.139 greedy 1982 television screens, it looked real 00:12:05.139 --> 00:12:07.159 enough, it sold the ticket. That is the magic 00:12:07.159 --> 00:12:09.480 of low -budget creativity. So the character takes 00:12:09.480 --> 00:12:12.080 off, he's a huge draw in Memphis, and eventually 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:15.179 the big dogs come calling the World Wrestling 00:12:15.179 --> 00:12:18.960 Federation. The WWF. 1984, this is the absolute 00:12:18.960 --> 00:12:21.240 peak of the industry. Vince McMahon is taking 00:12:21.240 --> 00:12:24.220 wrestling national. And he needs monsters for 00:12:24.220 --> 00:12:27.139 his hero, Hulk Hogan, to slay. And who was it 00:12:27.139 --> 00:12:29.120 that brought Harris into the company? Andre the 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:32.029 Giant. Really? Andre himself. Yeah, Andre had 00:12:32.029 --> 00:12:33.889 worked with Harris in other territories and vouched 00:12:33.889 --> 00:12:35.889 for him. And in the wrestling world of that era, 00:12:36.029 --> 00:12:38.929 Andre's word was basically law. If the giant 00:12:38.929 --> 00:12:40.830 liked you and thought you could draw money, you 00:12:40.830 --> 00:12:45.049 were in. So Harris arrives in the WWF. And they 00:12:45.049 --> 00:12:47.190 take the monster thing and just dial it up to 00:12:47.190 --> 00:12:50.529 11. They polish the act. They gave him handlers, 00:12:50.549 --> 00:12:53.129 first a masked guy named Friday and then the 00:12:53.129 --> 00:12:56.169 more famous one, Kim Chi. The visual was that 00:12:56.169 --> 00:12:59.409 Kamala was so wild, so uncontrollable, he needed 00:12:59.409 --> 00:13:02.110 a keeper with a pith helmet and a stick just 00:13:02.110 --> 00:13:04.250 to direct him to the ring. It just reinforces 00:13:04.250 --> 00:13:07.169 that whole wild beast narrative. Which I guess 00:13:07.169 --> 00:13:09.230 brings us back to the chicken. I knew we'd get 00:13:09.230 --> 00:13:11.090 back to the chicken. We have to. It's the thing 00:13:11.090 --> 00:13:13.330 everyone remembers. Break down exactly what happened 00:13:13.330 --> 00:13:16.289 on that show. Okay, so Harris is a guest on Tuesday 00:13:16.289 --> 00:13:18.970 Night Titans, which was the WWF's bizarre talk 00:13:18.970 --> 00:13:21.330 show. It was a surreal format. He's sitting there 00:13:21.330 --> 00:13:24.210 with his handler. And the host, Vince McMahon, 00:13:24.450 --> 00:13:26.509 brings out a live chicken. And the implication 00:13:26.509 --> 00:13:30.330 is lunch. The implication is that Kamala is hungry 00:13:30.330 --> 00:13:32.710 and doesn't understand that we don't eat live 00:13:32.710 --> 00:13:35.830 animals in a TV studio. The handler holds the 00:13:35.830 --> 00:13:38.529 chicken up. The camera zooms in on Kamala's face. 00:13:38.610 --> 00:13:41.370 His eyes are wide. He's licking his lips. Then 00:13:41.370 --> 00:13:43.590 they do a quick cutaway, maybe to the audience 00:13:43.590 --> 00:13:45.490 or a reaction shot. And when they cut back to 00:13:45.490 --> 00:13:47.889 Kamala, there are feathers flying out of his 00:13:47.889 --> 00:13:50.409 mouth. So he didn't actually eat it. It was a 00:13:50.409 --> 00:13:52.870 trick. No, of course not. It was a magic trick, 00:13:52.950 --> 00:13:55.720 a sleight of hand. But it was so visceral. It 00:13:55.720 --> 00:13:57.899 was grotesque. People watching at home were genuinely 00:13:57.899 --> 00:14:01.159 gagging. It established him instantly as a monster 00:14:01.159 --> 00:14:03.779 heel, a villain you were truly, deeply afraid 00:14:03.779 --> 00:14:06.200 of. And that fear is what made him money. He 00:14:06.200 --> 00:14:08.500 wasn't wrestling in the opening match. He was 00:14:08.500 --> 00:14:10.259 at the top of the card. He was main eventing. 00:14:10.600 --> 00:14:13.200 He challenged Hulk Hogan for the World Heavyweight 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:16.919 Championship in August 1984. They fought to a 00:14:16.919 --> 00:14:18.720 double countout, which is actually a really big 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:20.679 deal. Why is a double countout a big deal for 00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:23.169 those who don't know? It means the promoter didn't 00:14:23.169 --> 00:14:25.850 want Kamala to lose yet. They wanted to protect 00:14:25.850 --> 00:14:29.370 his aura, his mystique. If Hogan beats you clean, 00:14:29.529 --> 00:14:32.009 one, two, three, the movie is over. A double 00:14:32.009 --> 00:14:34.289 count out means tune in next time to see who 00:14:34.289 --> 00:14:36.669 really wins. It kept the money train rolling. 00:14:36.870 --> 00:14:39.590 And he wrestled Andre too, right? The two giants. 00:14:39.710 --> 00:14:42.769 Many times, including a steel cage match. And 00:14:42.769 --> 00:14:45.870 listen, wrestling might be scripted, but gravity 00:14:45.870 --> 00:14:49.129 is very real. Andre was deteriorating physically 00:14:49.129 --> 00:14:51.870 by this point, and he was just massive. There's 00:14:51.870 --> 00:14:53.730 a famous story about Andre literally just sitting 00:14:53.730 --> 00:14:55.629 on Kamala's chest to pin him and win a match. 00:14:55.730 --> 00:14:58.809 Imagine 500 pounds of giant just sitting on your 00:14:58.809 --> 00:15:01.350 ribcage. Harris said it was like having a Volkswagen 00:15:01.350 --> 00:15:04.970 parked on you. You have to be incredibly tough 00:15:04.970 --> 00:15:07.370 just to survive the fake fighting, you know? 00:15:07.429 --> 00:15:09.850 So he's wrestling Hogan. He's wrestling Andre. 00:15:09.990 --> 00:15:12.350 He's selling out Madison Square Garden. By all 00:15:12.350 --> 00:15:14.590 logic, James Harris should be a millionaire by 00:15:14.590 --> 00:15:16.590 this point. He should be set for life. You would 00:15:16.590 --> 00:15:19.690 think so. But this brings us to the most infuriating 00:15:19.690 --> 00:15:21.370 and frankly heartbreaking part of the story. 00:15:21.830 --> 00:15:24.870 Section four in our outline, the economics of 00:15:24.870 --> 00:15:26.909 being a monster. This is the part of the research 00:15:26.909 --> 00:15:28.570 that made me stop reading and just stare at the 00:15:28.570 --> 00:15:31.419 wall for a minute. The pay disparity. It is the 00:15:31.419 --> 00:15:34.139 dark underbelly of the golden era. Let's look 00:15:34.139 --> 00:15:38.100 at SummerSlam 1992. This is years later. Harris 00:15:38.100 --> 00:15:41.080 has come back to the WWF for another run. It's 00:15:41.080 --> 00:15:43.480 a massive show at Wembley Stadium in London. 00:15:43.639 --> 00:15:46.879 80 ,000 people in attendance. A huge gate. Huge 00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:49.679 pay -per -view revenue. A massive event. And 00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:51.960 Kamala is wrestling The Undertaker. It's one 00:15:51.960 --> 00:15:54.080 of the featured attractions on the show. Now, 00:15:54.120 --> 00:15:55.940 Harris claimed later in his life that for this 00:15:55.940 --> 00:15:59.259 match, The Undertaker received a payout of $500 00:15:59.259 --> 00:16:01.759 ,000. Okay, which makes sense. He's a top star. 00:16:01.799 --> 00:16:04.460 It's a huge show. And Harris claimed that he 00:16:04.460 --> 00:16:08.860 received $13 ,000. Wait. Stop. Say that again. 00:16:09.080 --> 00:16:13.200 $13 ,000. $13 ,000. That is, I don't even know 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:14.860 what the math on that is. That's a fraction of 00:16:14.860 --> 00:16:16.600 a percent. How is that even possible? Weren't 00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:18.360 they paid based on the house, on the attendance? 00:16:18.779 --> 00:16:21.320 Wrestling pay is a complete black box. There 00:16:21.320 --> 00:16:24.200 are no unions. There is no transparency. You 00:16:24.200 --> 00:16:26.659 get what the promoter decides you get. The top 00:16:26.659 --> 00:16:28.980 stars, the Hogans, the Undertakers, the Warriors, 00:16:29.220 --> 00:16:32.580 they had favored nations clauses or percentage 00:16:32.580 --> 00:16:34.539 deals on the gate and the merchandise and the 00:16:34.539 --> 00:16:38.259 PPB buys. The opponents. even if they were the 00:16:38.259 --> 00:16:40.980 main villain driving the story, were often treated 00:16:40.980 --> 00:16:44.519 as interchangeable, disposable labor. But 13 00:16:44.519 --> 00:16:47.259 ,000 versus half a million, that feels criminal. 00:16:47.399 --> 00:16:49.940 It really does. Now, to be a responsible researcher 00:16:49.940 --> 00:16:52.639 here, I have to mention that Dave Meltzer, the 00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:54.639 most respected wrestling journalist out there, 00:16:54.759 --> 00:16:57.940 he did dispute those specific numbers. He said 00:16:57.940 --> 00:17:00.399 that while the disparity was very real, a gap 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:02.980 that wide was hard to believe. based on the typical 00:17:02.980 --> 00:17:05.960 pay structures of 1992. So maybe Undertaker got 00:17:05.960 --> 00:17:08.240 a bit less, maybe Harris got a bit more. But 00:17:08.240 --> 00:17:10.099 the exact numbers don't matter as much as the 00:17:10.099 --> 00:17:12.460 feeling. James Harris knew he was being exploited. 00:17:12.700 --> 00:17:14.519 He knew he was the foil. He was there to make 00:17:14.519 --> 00:17:16.680 the other guy look good, and his paycheck reflected 00:17:16.680 --> 00:17:19.660 that role. Exactly. And James Harris was a quiet 00:17:19.660 --> 00:17:23.559 man. But he had a line. He had his dignity. And 00:17:23.559 --> 00:17:26.200 he walked away from the WWF multiple times because 00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:30.079 of money. She left in 1984. He left in 1987, 00:17:30.420 --> 00:17:32.960 right in the middle of a major feud with Hulk 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:34.980 Hogan. He walked out on a Hogan feud. That's 00:17:34.980 --> 00:17:36.720 like walking away from a winning lottery ticket 00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:39.500 in that era. It takes immense guts to do that. 00:17:39.740 --> 00:17:41.980 But he felt he wasn't being paid what he was 00:17:41.980 --> 00:17:44.680 promised. He packed his bags, went home, and 00:17:44.680 --> 00:17:46.980 went back to driving trucks. He essentially said, 00:17:47.079 --> 00:17:50.000 I'd rather drive a semi for a fair wage than 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:51.720 wrestle in Madison Square Garden to get ripped 00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:54.299 off. That is such a powerful statement on self 00:17:54.299 --> 00:17:57.259 -worth and dignity. It is. But the wrestling 00:17:57.259 --> 00:17:59.740 bug and, you know, the need for money, it always 00:17:59.740 --> 00:18:02.839 brought it back. He returned in 1992, which led 00:18:02.839 --> 00:18:05.140 to that Undertaker match. And then things got, 00:18:05.240 --> 00:18:07.960 well, they got weird. Weird. The face turned. 00:18:08.200 --> 00:18:11.559 In 1993, the WWF decided to make Kamala a good 00:18:11.559 --> 00:18:13.779 guy. He was paired with the manager, Reverend 00:18:13.779 --> 00:18:16.869 Slick. And they did these comedy vignettes where 00:18:16.869 --> 00:18:18.970 Slick was trying to teach the savage how to be 00:18:18.970 --> 00:18:20.690 civilized. Well, I think I've seen clips of this 00:18:20.690 --> 00:18:23.970 on YouTube. They went bowling. Laughs, yes. They 00:18:23.970 --> 00:18:27.109 went bowling. The Ugandan giant in full face 00:18:27.109 --> 00:18:29.930 paint and a loincloth learning how to bowl. It 00:18:29.930 --> 00:18:31.990 was charming in a way because Harris actually 00:18:31.990 --> 00:18:35.410 had fantastic comedic timing. But it completely 00:18:35.410 --> 00:18:37.490 killed the character. You can't be a terrifying 00:18:37.490 --> 00:18:39.849 monster if you're out there wearing bowling shoes 00:18:39.849 --> 00:18:42.029 and high -fiving kids. It turned him into a joke. 00:18:42.089 --> 00:18:45.059 The monster was gone. It did. And shortly after 00:18:45.059 --> 00:18:48.420 that, he left the major spotlight for good. And 00:18:48.420 --> 00:18:51.059 this is where the story shifts. Because when 00:18:51.059 --> 00:18:52.839 the face paint finally comes off for the last 00:18:52.839 --> 00:18:56.259 time, we get to meet the real James Harris. And 00:18:56.259 --> 00:18:59.000 he was made man of surprising, incredible depth. 00:18:59.180 --> 00:19:00.619 I was absolutely blown away to learn that he 00:19:00.619 --> 00:19:03.160 was a musician. And not just a dabbler who played 00:19:03.160 --> 00:19:05.019 a bit of guitar. No, he was serious about it. 00:19:05.059 --> 00:19:07.420 He wrote over 100 songs. He sang. He played guitar. 00:19:07.579 --> 00:19:09.440 He even released an album called The Best of 00:19:09.440 --> 00:19:11.619 Kummel of All One. What kind of music was it? 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:14.740 Was it like wrestling rock anthems? Not at all. 00:19:14.799 --> 00:19:17.339 It was soulful. It was country. It was blues. 00:19:17.460 --> 00:19:20.519 It was ballads. And the lyrics. The lyrics tell 00:19:20.519 --> 00:19:22.240 the story we're talking about today. He wrote 00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:24.039 songs about his frustration with the wrestling 00:19:24.039 --> 00:19:26.220 business. He wrote about the poor working conditions. 00:19:26.299 --> 00:19:29.119 He used his music to say all the things that 00:19:29.119 --> 00:19:31.769 Kamala was never allowed to say. It's such a 00:19:31.769 --> 00:19:34.890 stark, incredible contrast, the voiceless savage 00:19:34.890 --> 00:19:38.710 on television and the soulful, articulate songwriter 00:19:38.710 --> 00:19:41.109 in real life. But there was a lot of pain in 00:19:41.109 --> 00:19:43.009 those songs, too, wasn't there? Tragedy followed 00:19:43.009 --> 00:19:46.789 this man his entire life. In 1993, right around 00:19:46.789 --> 00:19:49.410 the time he was leaving the WWF, he was on tour 00:19:49.410 --> 00:19:51.410 in Oakland, California. He got a phone call. 00:19:51.509 --> 00:19:53.589 His youngest sister and her stepdaughter had 00:19:53.589 --> 00:19:57.059 been shot and killed. My God. History just repeating 00:19:57.059 --> 00:19:59.339 itself. First his father, now his sister. It 00:19:59.339 --> 00:20:01.740 devastated him. But again, you look at the man's 00:20:01.740 --> 00:20:04.119 character. He didn't crumble. He fought. He pushed 00:20:04.119 --> 00:20:06.240 the police to find the killer. He attended the 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:09.039 trial. He helped raise his surviving niece. The 00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:11.359 guy who played a monster on TV was actually the 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:13.400 glue holding his family together through these 00:20:13.400 --> 00:20:16.480 unspeakable acts of violence. So the wrestling 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:19.519 career effectively ends. The crowds disappear. 00:20:20.220 --> 00:20:22.839 What does daily life look like for the retired 00:20:22.839 --> 00:20:26.500 Ugandan giant? It looks like work. He took his 00:20:26.500 --> 00:20:28.359 savings, what he had managed to squirrel away, 00:20:28.500 --> 00:20:30.980 and he bought two semi -trucks. He went back 00:20:30.980 --> 00:20:35.079 to the road, driving, hauling freight. Just a 00:20:35.079 --> 00:20:37.299 working class guy in Mississippi, living a quiet 00:20:37.299 --> 00:20:39.759 life with his wife, Emergene. But you can't wrestle 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:42.519 for 20 years at that size without a physical 00:20:42.519 --> 00:20:44.819 bill coming due. And the bill for James Harris 00:20:44.819 --> 00:20:47.480 was astronomical. We have to talk about his health. 00:20:47.619 --> 00:20:49.720 He had been diagnosed with diabetes way back 00:20:49.720 --> 00:20:52.500 in 1992 during his wrestling career. Which is 00:20:52.500 --> 00:20:54.779 manageable for many people, but... But not if 00:20:54.779 --> 00:20:57.519 you're a professional wrestler in the 90s. Think 00:20:57.519 --> 00:20:59.799 about that lifestyle. You're driving 300 miles 00:20:59.799 --> 00:21:02.180 a night. You're eating gas station hot dogs and 00:21:02.180 --> 00:21:05.099 diner food at 3 a .m. You're taking massive painful 00:21:05.099 --> 00:21:06.940 bumps in the ring. You aren't seeing a doctor 00:21:06.940 --> 00:21:10.119 regularly. His diabetes went largely uncontrolled 00:21:10.119 --> 00:21:12.099 for years and years. And the consequences were 00:21:12.099 --> 00:21:15.319 just... They were devastating. In November 2011, 00:21:15.660 --> 00:21:17.759 complications from the diabetes led to his left 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:20.240 leg being amputated below the knee. The man who 00:21:20.240 --> 00:21:23.359 made his entire living on his size and his physical 00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:27.220 presence losing a leg. That's just awful. And 00:21:27.220 --> 00:21:30.500 it didn't stop there. April 2012. Not even five 00:21:30.500 --> 00:21:33.059 months later, his right leg was amputated as 00:21:33.059 --> 00:21:36.470 well. So now he is a double amputee. He can't 00:21:36.470 --> 00:21:38.109 drive the truck anymore. He can't wrestle on 00:21:38.109 --> 00:21:40.470 the indie shows. How does he survive financially? 00:21:40.890 --> 00:21:43.130 He barely did. He was living on a disability 00:21:43.130 --> 00:21:45.829 check. He told Bleacher Report in an interview 00:21:45.829 --> 00:21:49.309 in 2014 that he was just scraping by. But, and 00:21:49.309 --> 00:21:51.650 here's that incredible resilience again, he didn't 00:21:51.650 --> 00:21:53.609 just sit there and give up. He started building 00:21:53.609 --> 00:21:57.180 chairs. Chairs. Wooden chairs. He had a workshop. 00:21:57.279 --> 00:21:59.740 He would build these beautiful, sturdy wooden 00:21:59.740 --> 00:22:02.680 chairs by hand, painting them and selling them 00:22:02.680 --> 00:22:05.339 to fans online who wanted to help him out. He 00:22:05.339 --> 00:22:07.440 also wrote his autobiography, Kamala Speaks. 00:22:07.579 --> 00:22:09.539 He funded it through a Kickstarter campaign. 00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:11.920 He was hustling right to the very end just to 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:13.539 keep the lights on and pay his medical bills. 00:22:13.640 --> 00:22:15.400 It's so inspiring on one hand, but it's also 00:22:15.400 --> 00:22:17.460 infuriating. Why did he have to hustle like that? 00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:20.079 Why wasn't there a pension? Why wasn't the WWE 00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:23.000 this billion dollar company he helped build helping 00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:25.160 him? That is the million dollar question, isn't 00:22:25.160 --> 00:22:28.750 it? And it's a legal one. In 2016. Harris was 00:22:28.750 --> 00:22:31.190 part of a massive class action lawsuit against 00:22:31.190 --> 00:22:34.829 the WWE. It involved dozens of former wrestlers. 00:22:34.970 --> 00:22:36.990 They alleged that the company knew about the 00:22:36.990 --> 00:22:39.269 long -term risks of traumatic brain injuries, 00:22:39.529 --> 00:22:43.150 CTE, and concealed it from the talent. They were 00:22:43.150 --> 00:22:45.509 suing for long -term medical care. That is a 00:22:45.509 --> 00:22:48.809 bold move to take on the empire like that. It 00:22:48.809 --> 00:22:52.150 was, but it also meant he was persona non grata 00:22:52.150 --> 00:22:54.269 with the company. You don't get invited to the 00:22:54.269 --> 00:22:56.210 Hall of Fame while you are actively suing the 00:22:56.210 --> 00:22:58.759 organization. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed 00:22:58.759 --> 00:23:01.680 in 2018. The courts ruled that the statute of 00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:03.519 limitations had passed on most of the claims, 00:23:03.640 --> 00:23:05.680 but the damage to his relationship with the company 00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:08.200 was done. He was on the outside looking in. So 00:23:08.200 --> 00:23:10.180 the corporation turned its back on him. But what 00:23:10.180 --> 00:23:12.359 about the people, the so -called brotherhood 00:23:12.359 --> 00:23:14.559 of wrestling? This is the redeeming part of the 00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:17.289 story. The boys came through for him. In 2019, 00:23:17.650 --> 00:23:19.970 Harris was on the verge of losing his home. He 00:23:19.970 --> 00:23:22.349 had unpaid property taxes. He was going to be 00:23:22.349 --> 00:23:24.529 evicted. That is just a nightmare scenario. A 00:23:24.529 --> 00:23:26.609 double amputee, a legend of the business, about 00:23:26.609 --> 00:23:30.150 to be homeless. But the word got out. Fans started 00:23:30.150 --> 00:23:32.430 to go fund me. And then the wrestlers stepped 00:23:32.430 --> 00:23:35.589 in. Chris Jericho, specifically. Jericho's name 00:23:35.589 --> 00:23:37.509 seems to show up a lot in these stories of guys 00:23:37.509 --> 00:23:39.789 from the past needing help. He really does seem 00:23:39.789 --> 00:23:42.660 to have a big heart. Jericho quietly donated 00:23:42.660 --> 00:23:45.680 $5 ,000 to pay off the tax bill and save Harris' 00:23:45.819 --> 00:23:48.640 house. And then later, when Harris passed away, 00:23:48.839 --> 00:23:51.779 Jericho donated another $5 ,000 for the funeral 00:23:51.779 --> 00:23:55.119 expenses. Scott D 'Amour, an executive at Impact 00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:58.079 Wrestling, he threw in $2 ,500. It's assured 00:23:58.079 --> 00:24:00.079 that even if the business of wrestling is cold 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:02.359 and unforgiving, the people inside it really 00:24:02.359 --> 00:24:05.059 loved and respected James Harris. And sadly, 00:24:05.059 --> 00:24:07.759 we lose him in 2020, which was just a... terrible 00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:10.000 year for everyone. A brutal year. And for someone 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:11.720 with his health conditions, diabetes, kidney 00:24:11.720 --> 00:24:14.500 issues requiring dialysis, it was a death sentence. 00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:18.079 In August of 2020, he contracted COVID -19. His 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:20.079 wife believes he probably caught it at the dialysis 00:24:20.079 --> 00:24:21.980 center. Which he had to go to. He had no choice 00:24:21.980 --> 00:24:23.980 in the matter. Exactly. He went into cardiac 00:24:23.980 --> 00:24:27.480 arrest on August 9, 2020. And he died at the 00:24:27.480 --> 00:24:30.599 age of 70. It's such a tragic end to a very difficult 00:24:30.599 --> 00:24:34.880 life. But the story has this one final epilogue. 00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:36.759 The reason we're talking about him right now. 00:24:37.150 --> 00:24:41.490 April 2025. The Hall of Fame. Five years after 00:24:41.490 --> 00:24:45.349 his death, the WWE finally calls his name. They 00:24:45.349 --> 00:24:48.089 inducted him into the Legacy Wing. It's a special 00:24:48.089 --> 00:24:50.569 category they have for historical figures. He 00:24:50.569 --> 00:24:53.130 went in alongside guys like Dory Funk Sr. and 00:24:53.130 --> 00:24:55.690 Ivan Koloff. It's for people who, for whatever 00:24:55.690 --> 00:24:57.890 reason, didn't get their due during their lifetime. 00:24:58.130 --> 00:25:00.549 Does that fix it, though? Does a ring and a ceremony 00:25:00.549 --> 00:25:03.210 and a video package, does that fix the fact that 00:25:03.210 --> 00:25:05.680 he struggled to buy groceries? No. Of course 00:25:05.680 --> 00:25:07.240 not. It doesn't put any money in the pockets 00:25:07.240 --> 00:25:09.200 of his widow. It doesn't give him his legs back. 00:25:09.579 --> 00:25:12.619 But symbolism matters. It's an acknowledgement. 00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:15.259 It says that he wasn't just a jobber or a cartoon 00:25:15.259 --> 00:25:17.420 character. It acknowledges that he was a legend 00:25:17.420 --> 00:25:19.740 who drew money and made an impact. It puts his 00:25:19.740 --> 00:25:22.289 name in the history books forever. I guess that's 00:25:22.289 --> 00:25:24.210 the complexity of professional wrestling. It 00:25:24.210 --> 00:25:25.710 breaks your heart over and over, and then it 00:25:25.710 --> 00:25:27.369 gives you a nice montage at the end. That's a 00:25:27.369 --> 00:25:29.809 perfect description of the business. So when 00:25:29.809 --> 00:25:32.509 we step back and look at the entire life of James 00:25:32.509 --> 00:25:36.109 Harris, from that sharecropper shack in Coldwater 00:25:36.109 --> 00:25:38.690 to the main event of Madison Square Garden to 00:25:38.690 --> 00:25:41.670 that workshop where he built those chairs, what 00:25:41.670 --> 00:25:44.509 is the headline? What's the takeaway? For me, 00:25:44.529 --> 00:25:48.019 the headline is just one word, survival. Think 00:25:48.019 --> 00:25:50.759 about the odds. The statistical probability of 00:25:50.759 --> 00:25:53.799 a black kid from 1950s Mississippi whose father 00:25:53.799 --> 00:25:55.960 was murdered who dropped out in the ninth grade. 00:25:56.589 --> 00:25:58.549 the probability of that kid becoming a global 00:25:58.549 --> 00:26:01.269 superstar is basically zero. It shouldn't have 00:26:01.269 --> 00:26:03.230 happened. No, he made it happen. He willed it 00:26:03.230 --> 00:26:05.849 into existence. He took this problematic, you 00:26:05.849 --> 00:26:08.470 know, possibly racist character, and he performed 00:26:08.470 --> 00:26:10.930 it with such dignity and such power that he became 00:26:10.930 --> 00:26:13.289 an icon. He survived the streets. He survived 00:26:13.289 --> 00:26:15.369 the brutal politics of the ring. He survived 00:26:15.369 --> 00:26:17.250 the medical system that failed him. And he did 00:26:17.250 --> 00:26:19.029 it all while staying kind. That's the part that 00:26:19.029 --> 00:26:21.190 sticks with me. The songwriter, the family man, 00:26:21.289 --> 00:26:23.470 the guy building chairs. Absolutely. We spent 00:26:23.470 --> 00:26:25.799 years asking, who is Kamala? The answer turns 00:26:25.799 --> 00:26:28.940 out to be Kamala was a mask. The real giant was 00:26:28.940 --> 00:26:31.380 always James Harris. It really makes you rethink 00:26:31.380 --> 00:26:34.160 what you're watching. We're conditioned to cheer 00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:36.839 for the hero and boo the monster. But maybe, 00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:40.279 just maybe, the monster is the most human guy 00:26:40.279 --> 00:26:42.599 in the locker room. I think in this case, he 00:26:42.599 --> 00:26:45.660 definitely was. That is a lot to process. But 00:26:45.660 --> 00:26:47.640 I'm really glad we took the time to unpack his 00:26:47.640 --> 00:26:52.420 life. James. Kamala Harris. Hall of Famer. Songwriter. 00:26:54.320 --> 00:26:57.119 A legacy absolutely worth remembering. Thank 00:26:57.119 --> 00:26:59.019 you all for listening to this deep dive. If you 00:26:59.019 --> 00:27:00.759 want to see pictures of those chairs he built, 00:27:00.819 --> 00:27:02.599 they really are beautiful pieces of craftsmanship. 00:27:02.819 --> 00:27:04.259 Check out the show notes. We'll catch you on 00:27:04.259 --> 00:27:05.220 the next one. Goodbye, everyone.