WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.760 I want you to picture the main event of WrestleMania 00:00:01.760 --> 00:00:05.379 for a second. The pyrotechnics are going off, 00:00:05.480 --> 00:00:07.740 70 ,000 people are screaming, the lights are 00:00:07.740 --> 00:00:10.279 blinding. Right, the absolute peak. Exactly. 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:13.400 You see the rock standing on the turnbuckle, 00:00:13.480 --> 00:00:15.919 soaking it all in. You see the charisma, the 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:18.059 eyebrow raise, all those millions of dollars 00:00:18.059 --> 00:00:20.280 in ticket sales. You're seeing the finished product 00:00:20.280 --> 00:00:23.320 there, the icon. You are. But what you don't 00:00:23.320 --> 00:00:28.379 see is the... Empty, freezing cold warehouse 00:00:28.379 --> 00:00:31.640 in Stanford, Connecticut, like 10 years earlier. 00:00:31.839 --> 00:00:34.600 Yeah. You don't see the guy who taught The Rock 00:00:34.600 --> 00:00:37.399 how to lock up or the guy who taught him how 00:00:37.399 --> 00:00:40.820 to hit. the ropes without breaking a rib or how 00:00:40.820 --> 00:00:42.939 to listen to a crowd so he knows exactly when 00:00:42.939 --> 00:00:45.119 to pause. And that is really the hidden history 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:47.340 of the business. People just assume superstars 00:00:47.340 --> 00:00:50.000 like The Rock or Kurt Angle, Randy Orton, Edge, 00:00:50.140 --> 00:00:52.079 that they just walked out of a factory ready 00:00:52.079 --> 00:00:54.060 to go. Right, like they were born doing it. Exactly. 00:00:54.299 --> 00:00:56.600 But if you actually dig into the DNA of the last 00:00:56.600 --> 00:00:59.560 25 years of wrestling, you realize that a huge 00:00:59.560 --> 00:01:01.979 chunk of those biggest stars all have the exact 00:01:01.979 --> 00:01:04.379 same fingerprint on them. Because it wasn't a 00:01:04.379 --> 00:01:07.359 committee. And it wasn't some corporate orientation 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:10.760 video. For a massive part of that history, it 00:01:10.760 --> 00:01:13.900 was mostly just one guy. Just one guy, Tom Pritchard, 00:01:13.900 --> 00:01:16.560 or as he's known in the locker room, Dr. Tom. 00:01:16.620 --> 00:01:19.319 Dr. Tom Pritchard. And that is our mission for 00:01:19.319 --> 00:01:22.159 today's Deep Dive. We're looking at a detailed 00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:25.079 biographical profile of his career, and it covers 00:01:25.079 --> 00:01:27.579 everything from the territorial days in the late 00:01:27.579 --> 00:01:30.700 70s all the way up to his recent accolades in 00:01:30.700 --> 00:01:33.659 2025. It's a massive span of time. It really 00:01:33.659 --> 00:01:36.819 is. We are going to unpack the career of a true 00:01:36.819 --> 00:01:39.719 wrestler's wrestler. Someone who survived the 00:01:39.719 --> 00:01:42.400 death of the territories, thrived as a tag team 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:45.400 specialist, endured some truly ridiculous gimmicks 00:01:45.400 --> 00:01:47.819 in the 90s, and then ultimately shaped the next 00:01:47.819 --> 00:01:50.180 generation of superstars. It's just this wild 00:01:50.180 --> 00:01:52.739 roller coaster ride through every single era 00:01:52.739 --> 00:01:54.700 of wrestling history. So let's just get right 00:01:54.700 --> 00:01:56.260 into it. Where does a guy like this even come 00:01:56.260 --> 00:01:58.819 from? Well, to understand Pritchard, you really 00:01:58.819 --> 00:02:01.519 have to understand toughness. Okay. Like real 00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:04.099 old school toughness. He started back in 1979 00:02:04.099 --> 00:02:06.840 in Los Angeles. Oh wow, that early. Yeah, 79, 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:09.819 working for the LaBelle family's Olympic auditorium. 00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:12.500 And he didn't go to a modern wrestling school 00:02:12.500 --> 00:02:14.840 with, you know, crash pads and air conditioning. 00:02:15.319 --> 00:02:17.639 Do you know who his trainer was? I saw the name 00:02:17.639 --> 00:02:19.900 in the source material and I honestly did a double 00:02:19.900 --> 00:02:22.259 take. Was it really the Iron Sheik? The Iron 00:02:22.259 --> 00:02:24.759 Sheik, yes. That is insane. And we need to be 00:02:24.759 --> 00:02:27.599 really clear here because you might be picturing 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:29.740 the TV characters screaming on the microphone, 00:02:29.939 --> 00:02:33.610 but this was Kosra Vaziri. A legitimate amateur 00:02:33.610 --> 00:02:36.830 wrestler. The guy was literally a bodyguard for 00:02:36.830 --> 00:02:41.250 the Shah of Iran before he came to America. So 00:02:41.250 --> 00:02:45.449 not exactly a let's hold hands and learn to tumble 00:02:45.449 --> 00:02:48.030 kind of introductory class. Far from it. The 00:02:48.030 --> 00:02:50.449 sheik's training was notorious. The source mentions 00:02:50.449 --> 00:02:53.169 thousands of Hindu squats. Which are just... 00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:55.699 Brutal on the knee. Brutal and legitimate stretching 00:02:55.699 --> 00:02:58.180 that honestly bordered on torture. The philosophy 00:02:58.180 --> 00:03:00.259 back then was very simple. If I can't break you, 00:03:00.340 --> 00:03:02.060 then maybe you're tough enough to be a wrestler. 00:03:02.219 --> 00:03:03.979 Talk about a sink or swim introduction to the 00:03:03.979 --> 00:03:07.900 industry. Right. But Pritchard swam. He survived 00:03:07.900 --> 00:03:11.030 the chic. And that gave him a foundation of legitimacy 00:03:11.030 --> 00:03:13.370 that a lot of guys his age just didn't have. 00:03:13.550 --> 00:03:16.289 He knew how to grapple for real. And I should 00:03:16.289 --> 00:03:19.110 mention here, just for context, Tom is the older 00:03:19.110 --> 00:03:21.090 brother of Bruce Prichard. Right, brother love. 00:03:21.370 --> 00:03:23.250 Exactly, who a lot of listeners probably know 00:03:23.250 --> 00:03:26.349 as a high -level executive in WWE. But while 00:03:26.349 --> 00:03:28.949 Bruce went the management and TV production route 00:03:28.949 --> 00:03:32.050 early on, Tom was the one really in the trenches 00:03:32.050 --> 00:03:34.189 just grinding it out. Trenches is definitely 00:03:34.189 --> 00:03:36.889 the right word because after L .A., he hit the 00:03:36.889 --> 00:03:39.629 road. He became a real journeyman in the N .W 00:03:39.629 --> 00:03:41.810 .A. territories like Georgia, the southeast. 00:03:41.949 --> 00:03:44.530 Yeah. But if we really want to see the Dr. Tom 00:03:44.530 --> 00:03:46.770 persona start to form, we have to look at the 00:03:46.770 --> 00:03:50.129 late 80s, specifically Alabama. Continental Championship 00:03:50.129 --> 00:03:52.349 Wrestling. Exactly. OK, set the scene for us. 00:03:52.370 --> 00:03:55.520 Yeah. Alabama in the 80s. This isn't the polished 00:03:55.520 --> 00:03:58.099 HD television production we see today. No, not 00:03:58.099 --> 00:04:01.300 at all. This was gritty, southern, blood and 00:04:01.300 --> 00:04:04.240 guts wrestling. And Pritchard finds himself in 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:06.560 this massive rivalry with a guy named the Dirty 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:08.900 White Boy, Tony Anthony. Which is just a fantastic 00:04:08.900 --> 00:04:11.259 wrestling name, by the way. It's the classic 00:04:11.259 --> 00:04:14.360 wrestling villain. So it's April 23rd, 1988, 00:04:14.780 --> 00:04:18.319 and they run a controversial storyline segment 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:21.439 that honestly you would never ever see on television 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:23.540 today. It was just too visceral. Walk us through 00:04:23.540 --> 00:04:25.939 it, because reading the profile, it sounded genuinely 00:04:25.939 --> 00:04:29.709 terrifying. So the setup is pretty classic. Tony 00:04:29.709 --> 00:04:32.430 Anthony's valet comes out to the ring. She's 00:04:32.430 --> 00:04:34.850 got a black eye. She's crying. She's begging 00:04:34.850 --> 00:04:37.329 Pritchard for help, saying Anthony beat her up. 00:04:37.589 --> 00:04:40.069 Now, Pritchard is the baby face here, the good 00:04:40.069 --> 00:04:42.970 guy. So naturally, he steps in to save her. It's 00:04:42.970 --> 00:04:45.709 a trap. It's a total trap. Anthony jumps him 00:04:45.709 --> 00:04:48.649 from behind. But they didn't just do a standard 00:04:48.649 --> 00:04:51.589 beat down. Anthony pulls out a pair of handcuffs. 00:04:51.689 --> 00:04:54.209 Oh, man. He cuffs Pritchard's hands behind his 00:04:54.209 --> 00:04:56.439 back. throws a rope over the top beam of the 00:04:56.439 --> 00:04:58.480 ring, and he hangs him. He actually hanged him 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:01.139 in the ring, like hoisted him up. Hoisted him 00:05:01.139 --> 00:05:03.079 up by the handcuffs until he was choking. The 00:05:03.079 --> 00:05:06.620 visual was incredibly disturbing. And you have 00:05:06.620 --> 00:05:09.160 to remember the context. The audience in Alabama 00:05:09.160 --> 00:05:12.220 in 1988 largely believed this was real. They 00:05:12.220 --> 00:05:13.639 didn't have the internet to tell them it was 00:05:13.639 --> 00:05:16.519 a scripted show. Exactly. There were reports 00:05:16.519 --> 00:05:19.339 of people legitimately panicking, grandmothers 00:05:19.339 --> 00:05:21.959 trying to jump the guardrail to save him. That 00:05:21.959 --> 00:05:24.579 is some serious emotional manipulation. But in 00:05:24.579 --> 00:05:26.560 the wrestling business, that's what we call heat. 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:29.620 Pritchard learned firsthand how to make a crowd 00:05:29.620 --> 00:05:33.620 feel genuine fear and genuine sympathy. And it 00:05:33.620 --> 00:05:36.000 worked perfectly. When he finally came back and 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:37.839 won the title later that year, the place just 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:40.180 exploded. So he's got the technical skills from 00:05:40.180 --> 00:05:42.040 the Iron Sheik, and now he's got the psychological 00:05:42.040 --> 00:05:44.980 mastery from the Southern Territories. Yes. But 00:05:44.980 --> 00:05:47.000 the wrestling world is changing fast, right? 00:05:47.139 --> 00:05:49.540 We move into the 90s, the territories are starting 00:05:49.540 --> 00:05:52.480 to die off, and Pritchard heads to Texas. to 00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:55.339 the USWA. Which is a really cool snapshot in 00:05:55.339 --> 00:05:58.459 time. It's 1990. Pritchard joins a heel stable, 00:05:58.759 --> 00:06:02.079 a team of bad guys, and they're managed by Tojo 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:04.839 Yamamoto. But the fascinating part is who he's 00:06:04.839 --> 00:06:07.420 actually teaming with. Right. I love this detail. 00:06:07.639 --> 00:06:10.639 He's tagged up with Eric Embry and of all people, 00:06:10.740 --> 00:06:13.259 a young kid with long blonde hair named Steve 00:06:13.259 --> 00:06:15.800 Austin. Stunning Steve Austin. Years before he 00:06:15.800 --> 00:06:17.879 shaved his head and became Stone Cold. It's wild 00:06:17.879 --> 00:06:20.000 to think about, isn't it? Tom Pritchard and Steve 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:22.600 Austin riding in a car together, eating at Waffle 00:06:22.600 --> 00:06:25.019 House at 2 in the morning, just trying to make 00:06:25.019 --> 00:06:27.240 the next town. And feuding against baby faces 00:06:27.240 --> 00:06:29.319 like Jeff Jarrett. Right. And that's where you 00:06:29.319 --> 00:06:33.019 see the teacher role quietly begin. Because Pritchard 00:06:33.019 --> 00:06:35.839 was the veteran in that group. He was the one 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:39.220 guiding Austin in the ring. Every night... You 00:06:39.220 --> 00:06:41.160 have Pritchard, Austin, and Jarrett in the ring 00:06:41.160 --> 00:06:44.459 together. That is a staggering amount of future 00:06:44.459 --> 00:06:47.379 legend status in one ring in some high school 00:06:47.379 --> 00:06:50.199 gym in Texas. It really establishes his pedigree 00:06:50.199 --> 00:06:52.699 early on. He wasn't just watching from the sidelines. 00:06:52.800 --> 00:06:55.699 He was actively in the mix with the guys who 00:06:55.699 --> 00:06:57.819 would completely define the next decade of the 00:06:57.819 --> 00:06:59.920 industry. Absolutely. But we should be clear. 00:07:00.060 --> 00:07:02.279 Pritchard wasn't done being a major star himself 00:07:02.279 --> 00:07:04.720 yet. We have to talk about Smoky Mountain Wrestling. 00:07:04.939 --> 00:07:08.199 Oh, SMW. Arguably where he did his absolute best 00:07:08.199 --> 00:07:10.800 in -ring work. The Heavenly Bodies. One of the 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:13.459 greatest tag teams of the era. He formed the 00:07:13.459 --> 00:07:16.319 team in 1992 with Stan Lane. They were actually 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:18.560 the first ever Smoky Mountain Tag Team Champions. 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:21.600 And again, this was not family -friendly entertainment. 00:07:21.720 --> 00:07:25.379 The feuds they had were incredibly violent. Very 00:07:25.379 --> 00:07:28.189 violent. They feuded with the Fantastics and, 00:07:28.269 --> 00:07:30.389 of course, the Rock and Roll Express. Yeah, I 00:07:30.389 --> 00:07:33.069 saw a list of the match types they were doing 00:07:33.069 --> 00:07:35.629 in the source. There was a barbed wire cage match. 00:07:35.889 --> 00:07:38.589 Classic. And my personal favorite, the hospital 00:07:38.589 --> 00:07:41.149 elimination match. Which implies the only way 00:07:41.149 --> 00:07:43.550 to win is to literally put your opponent in an 00:07:43.550 --> 00:07:46.230 ambulance. Exactly. And eventually, Stan Lee 00:07:46.230 --> 00:07:48.709 retires and Jimmy Del Rey steps in to team with 00:07:48.709 --> 00:07:51.949 Pritchard. But here is where Pritchard's career 00:07:51.949 --> 00:07:55.899 gets truly unique. The crossover. Yes. Smokey 00:07:55.899 --> 00:07:58.279 Mountain Wrestling was run by Jim Cornette, and 00:07:58.279 --> 00:08:00.519 Cornette struck a deal with the giant of the 00:08:00.519 --> 00:08:03.699 industry, the World Wrestling Federation, the 00:08:03.699 --> 00:08:06.439 WWF. Which was basically unheard of at the time. 00:08:06.579 --> 00:08:09.040 Completely unheard of. So suddenly you have this 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:11.399 crossover where Pritchard and the Heavenly Bodies 00:08:11.399 --> 00:08:14.240 are wrestling on massive WWF pay -per -views 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:16.579 while still working the tiny territory shows. 00:08:16.899 --> 00:08:19.740 It feels huge. Like, imagine a minor league baseball 00:08:19.740 --> 00:08:21.740 team suddenly playing a game in the World Series. 00:08:22.329 --> 00:08:24.689 That's a great way to put it. They wrestled the 00:08:24.689 --> 00:08:28.089 Steiner Brothers at SummerSlam 1993. And then 00:08:28.089 --> 00:08:31.709 at Survivor Series 1993, they actually defeated 00:08:31.709 --> 00:08:35.330 the Rock and Roll Express. On a WWF show. Yes. 00:08:35.610 --> 00:08:39.450 Vince McMahon actually put a non -WWF team over 00:08:39.450 --> 00:08:42.789 on his own flagship show. That just shows you 00:08:42.789 --> 00:08:44.830 the level of trust they had in Tom Pritchard. 00:08:44.830 --> 00:08:47.169 They knew he was crisp, they knew he was professional, 00:08:47.330 --> 00:08:49.299 and they knew he wouldn't mess it up. Speaking 00:08:49.299 --> 00:08:51.860 of being a pro, there's a great detail from the 00:08:51.860 --> 00:08:53.980 Smoky Mountain days about the loaded boot. Oh, 00:08:54.019 --> 00:08:57.120 that is classic heel work. So in 1995, Richard 00:08:57.120 --> 00:08:59.879 legitimately injured his leg. But in wrestling, 00:09:00.100 --> 00:09:02.639 you don't really take sick days. You definitely 00:09:02.639 --> 00:09:04.960 do not. You turn it into a storyline. So he started 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:07.320 wearing this special orthopedic boot to the rim 00:09:07.320 --> 00:09:09.399 to protect the injury. But of course, it was 00:09:09.399 --> 00:09:11.759 bloated. Naturally. He'd kick guys in the head 00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:13.279 with this heavy boot and knock them out to win 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:15.580 matches. He used that to get his eighth title 00:09:15.580 --> 00:09:18.399 reign in SMW. It's such a simple, effective trope. 00:09:18.399 --> 00:09:20.759 He was really the king of that hill. But then, 00:09:20.820 --> 00:09:24.919 the hill disappeared. Smoky Mountain folded in 00:09:24.919 --> 00:09:27.679 late 95. And this brings us to the part of the 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:29.899 story that I think is the most fascinating, because 00:09:29.899 --> 00:09:32.580 it's really where pride meets reality. The identity 00:09:32.580 --> 00:09:35.500 crisis era. Yeah. Pritchard gets hired by the 00:09:35.500 --> 00:09:40.120 WWF full time in 1995. Finally, the big leagues 00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:42.840 for good. But they don't bring him in as the 00:09:42.840 --> 00:09:45.799 doctor of desire or this rugged territory champion. 00:09:46.059 --> 00:09:48.500 No, they basically strip away everything that 00:09:48.500 --> 00:09:51.139 made him cool. They looked at him and said, we're 00:09:51.139 --> 00:09:53.120 going to put you on a team called the Body Donnas 00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:55.210 with a guy named Skip. You're going to be fitness 00:09:55.210 --> 00:09:59.230 gurus. And your name is Zip. Zip. I mean, imagine 00:09:59.230 --> 00:10:01.690 being a respected veteran. You've bled and barbed 00:10:01.690 --> 00:10:04.169 wire. You've hung from handcuffs. And now your 00:10:04.169 --> 00:10:06.149 name is Zip. And it gets worse than the name. 00:10:06.370 --> 00:10:08.909 Pritchard had this signature look, this long 00:10:08.909 --> 00:10:11.330 curly brown hair. It was a huge part of his identity. 00:10:11.570 --> 00:10:13.710 They made him chop it all off and dye his hair 00:10:13.710 --> 00:10:15.970 into a blonde crew cut just to match his tag 00:10:15.970 --> 00:10:18.029 team partner. It has to completely bruise the 00:10:18.029 --> 00:10:20.769 ego. It has to. But this is the crucial point 00:10:20.769 --> 00:10:23.149 about Tom Pritchard. He did it. He didn't complain. 00:10:23.330 --> 00:10:25.250 He didn't quit and go home. He went out there 00:10:25.250 --> 00:10:27.070 and he committed to the gimmick. And because 00:10:27.070 --> 00:10:29.370 he was such a good worker, they actually put 00:10:29.370 --> 00:10:32.409 the WWF Tag Team Championship on them. Right. 00:10:32.490 --> 00:10:36.269 At the WrestleMania 12 pre -show in 1996. So 00:10:36.269 --> 00:10:38.590 technically Zip is a WrestleMania champion. He 00:10:38.590 --> 00:10:41.269 is. He got the gold. But gimmicks like that, 00:10:41.309 --> 00:10:44.899 they burn out fast. By late 96, the team dissolves, 00:10:44.899 --> 00:10:47.539 and Pritchard starts sliding down the card. He 00:10:47.539 --> 00:10:49.899 transitions into a character called Dr. X. Which 00:10:49.899 --> 00:10:52.480 is just a masked jobber, right? Yeah, a masked 00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:54.799 guy who just goes out on house shows to lose 00:10:54.799 --> 00:10:56.919 to the stars. And then there was the blue blazer 00:10:56.919 --> 00:11:00.399 stint. Right. In 1998 and 1999, he put on the 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:02.720 blazer mask to team with Jeff Jarrett. There's 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:04.759 actually a really specific moment from Raw is 00:11:04.759 --> 00:11:08.139 War on September 27, 1999. Oh, the match with 00:11:08.139 --> 00:11:10.379 Chyna. Yeah, he teams with Jarrett against Chyna 00:11:10.379 --> 00:11:12.850 and Dibra, and it ends. with Pritchard smashing 00:11:12.850 --> 00:11:15.830 a guitar over China's head. Which is just peak 00:11:15.830 --> 00:11:19.389 Attitude Era chaos. Total circus. Jarrett gets 00:11:19.389 --> 00:11:22.269 knocked out. China gets the pin. But here's the 00:11:22.269 --> 00:11:25.190 thing. While he was running around in unitards 00:11:25.190 --> 00:11:28.409 and masks and bad haircuts on TV, something much 00:11:28.409 --> 00:11:30.389 more important was happening behind the curtain. 00:11:30.590 --> 00:11:34.169 The pivot. The pivot. Right around 1997, 1998, 00:11:34.730 --> 00:11:37.049 the company realized they had a massive problem. 00:11:37.389 --> 00:11:39.870 They were starting to win the TV war and they 00:11:39.870 --> 00:11:42.029 were signing all these incredible athletes, football 00:11:42.029 --> 00:11:44.610 players, power lifters, amateur wrestlers. But 00:11:44.610 --> 00:11:46.590 none of them actually knew how to wrestle. Exactly. 00:11:46.590 --> 00:11:49.309 They had the look, but not the skills. The company 00:11:49.309 --> 00:11:52.580 needed a coach. But they needed someone who understood 00:11:52.580 --> 00:11:55.360 the technical side of grappling, but also understood 00:11:55.360 --> 00:11:58.019 the TV side, the character side, and honestly, 00:11:58.159 --> 00:12:00.539 the humiliation of having a bad gimmick. And 00:12:00.539 --> 00:12:02.360 who fits that bill better than Tom Pritchard? 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:04.870 Nobody. He was the perfect candidate. He had 00:12:04.870 --> 00:12:06.830 the Iron Sheik's discipline, the Smoky Mountain 00:12:06.830 --> 00:12:09.409 tag team psychology, and the WWF entertainment 00:12:09.409 --> 00:12:11.990 experience. So they basically gave him the keys 00:12:11.990 --> 00:12:13.610 to the kingdom. They made him the head trainer. 00:12:14.070 --> 00:12:16.029 And I really want to pause here and just look 00:12:16.029 --> 00:12:18.190 at the list. Because when you read the names 00:12:18.190 --> 00:12:20.350 of the people Pritchard is credited with training 00:12:20.350 --> 00:12:24.889 in the source material, it is genuinely staggering. 00:12:25.309 --> 00:12:27.470 It's basically the Hall of Fame. Okay, let's 00:12:27.470 --> 00:12:30.049 start with the heavy hitters. The Rock. Just 00:12:30.049 --> 00:12:32.470 think about that. Dwayne Johnson had charisma, 00:12:32.769 --> 00:12:35.549 sure, but Pritchard taught him the footwork. 00:12:35.610 --> 00:12:37.389 He taught him how to take a bump so he could 00:12:37.389 --> 00:12:39.970 get up the next day. That signature style, the 00:12:39.970 --> 00:12:43.169 selling, the movement, that's Dr. Tom. Kurt Angle. 00:12:43.419 --> 00:12:45.399 Now, Engel was a totally different challenge. 00:12:45.740 --> 00:12:48.559 He was an Olympic gold medalist. He could legitimately 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:51.659 tie anyone in the building into a knot. Pritchard 00:12:51.659 --> 00:12:53.980 had to teach him how not to hurt people. Right. 00:12:54.059 --> 00:12:56.100 He had to teach him the working side of the business, 00:12:56.299 --> 00:12:59.000 how to tell a story without actually breaking 00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:02.120 someone's arm. Then you've got Edge, Randy Orton. 00:13:02.600 --> 00:13:05.179 Mark Henry. Orton is such a great example. People 00:13:05.179 --> 00:13:08.139 always call Randy Orton a natural, but that smoothness 00:13:08.139 --> 00:13:10.360 he has, those fundamentals, that was drilled 00:13:10.360 --> 00:13:12.860 into him and developmental by Pritchard. And 00:13:12.860 --> 00:13:15.899 it's not just the stars from 20 years ago. The 00:13:15.899 --> 00:13:18.639 list keeps going into the modern era. Bray Wyatt, 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:22.419 the Usos, Roman Reigns peers like Sheamus, The 00:13:22.419 --> 00:13:25.039 Miz, Kofi Kingston. It's the entire main event 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:28.090 scene of the last 15 years. The Usos learn the 00:13:28.090 --> 00:13:30.789 business from Pritchard. When you watch a massive 00:13:30.789 --> 00:13:33.450 storyline today, you are essentially watching 00:13:33.450 --> 00:13:36.629 the fruits of Tom Pritchard's labor. Why do you 00:13:36.629 --> 00:13:39.129 think he was so successful as a coach? Because 00:13:39.129 --> 00:13:41.610 we know a lot of great players make terrible 00:13:41.610 --> 00:13:43.850 coaches. Like Wayne Gretzky wasn't a great NHL 00:13:43.850 --> 00:13:45.909 coach. Why was Pritchard different? I really 00:13:45.909 --> 00:13:48.399 think it goes back to the zip era. Interesting. 00:13:48.519 --> 00:13:50.779 How so? Well, if you're a guy like Hulk Hogan 00:13:50.779 --> 00:13:53.460 or Ric Flair, you have this God -given charisma 00:13:53.460 --> 00:13:55.639 that you can't really teach. You just are the 00:13:55.639 --> 00:13:58.100 guy. But Pritchard had to fight for everything. 00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:00.259 He had to adapt. He had to learn how to be a 00:14:00.259 --> 00:14:03.519 technician, a brawler, a comedy act, and a masked 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:06.200 jobber. He had empathy for literally every position 00:14:06.200 --> 00:14:09.320 on the card. Precisely. If a young guy came into 00:14:09.320 --> 00:14:11.340 developmental and said, I hate this gimmick, 00:14:11.340 --> 00:14:13.379 I look stupid, Pritchard could look him in the 00:14:13.379 --> 00:14:24.820 eye and say, kid. And he continued doing this 00:14:24.820 --> 00:14:27.679 for a really long time. He ran Deep South Wrestling. 00:14:27.820 --> 00:14:29.899 He ran Florida Championship Wrestling. He was 00:14:29.899 --> 00:14:32.940 the gatekeeper to the WWE for a huge chunk of 00:14:32.940 --> 00:14:35.340 time. And even after he had some releases and 00:14:35.340 --> 00:14:37.750 returns with WWE, he didn't stop. He went back 00:14:37.750 --> 00:14:40.269 to the independents. He was doing seminars, teaching 00:14:40.269 --> 00:14:42.769 the next crop of talent. Up until he finally 00:14:42.769 --> 00:14:45.929 retired in 2017. Yeah, his final match was in 00:14:45.929 --> 00:14:48.110 England, right? At the Runcorn Wrestling Academy, 00:14:48.370 --> 00:14:51.570 which is almost poetic. He teamed up with one 00:14:51.570 --> 00:14:53.649 of his former students. He went out exactly the 00:14:53.649 --> 00:14:55.929 way he came in in the ring, teaching the next 00:14:55.929 --> 00:14:58.570 generation, passing the torch. It makes me really 00:14:58.570 --> 00:15:01.029 happy to see that in the last couple of years, 00:15:01.090 --> 00:15:03.330 the industry is finally stepping back and giving 00:15:03.330 --> 00:15:05.250 him his flowers. It's been a bit of a validation 00:15:05.250 --> 00:15:09.210 tour for him lately. Yeah. In 2024, he went into 00:15:09.210 --> 00:15:11.769 the Memphis Wrestling Hall of Fame. And then 00:15:11.769 --> 00:15:14.590 the George Tragas Luthez Hall of Fame gave him 00:15:14.590 --> 00:15:17.389 the Vern Gahn Trainers Award. Which is a massive 00:15:17.389 --> 00:15:19.289 honor in that world. That's the industry explicitly 00:15:19.289 --> 00:15:22.889 saying, we recognize that you are the master 00:15:22.889 --> 00:15:26.460 teacher. And then just recently. In 2025, he 00:15:26.460 --> 00:15:29.080 got the Cauliflower Alley Club's Ron Hutchison 00:15:29.080 --> 00:15:31.299 Trainers Award. And these aren't just, you know, 00:15:31.379 --> 00:15:33.620 participation trophies. These are his peers, 00:15:33.860 --> 00:15:35.919 the people who actually know how the sausage 00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:38.580 is made. They're standing up and saying this 00:15:38.580 --> 00:15:40.940 business would not exist in its current form 00:15:40.940 --> 00:15:43.039 without Tom Pritchard. It really changes how 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:44.860 you watch the product, doesn't it? Yeah. You 00:15:44.860 --> 00:15:47.519 see the stars on the posters, but now you see 00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:49.840 the foundation underneath them. Foundation is 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:51.820 the perfect word for it. In a world completely 00:15:51.820 --> 00:15:55.080 built on spectacle and massive egos, Pritchard 00:15:55.080 --> 00:15:57.240 was the concrete. He was the guy who ensured 00:15:57.240 --> 00:15:59.360 the house didn't fall down. He was the guy who 00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:01.279 could have the great match, put the other guy 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:03.659 over, wear the silly mask if the boss asked, 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:05.860 and then turn around and teach a kid named Dwayne 00:16:05.860 --> 00:16:08.299 Johnson how to become the biggest star in Hollywood. 00:16:08.580 --> 00:16:11.419 It challenges our entire definition of success 00:16:11.419 --> 00:16:13.820 in entertainment. Pritchard was never the world 00:16:13.820 --> 00:16:16.740 champion. He wasn't on the cereal boxes. But 00:16:16.740 --> 00:16:21.490 his legacy? His legacy is arguably bigger than 00:16:21.490 --> 00:16:24.350 almost anyone who was. So here is a provocative 00:16:24.350 --> 00:16:26.389 thought for you to mull over as you go about 00:16:26.389 --> 00:16:28.929 your week. We all work in industries that have 00:16:28.929 --> 00:16:32.070 stars. You know, the sales guy who closes the 00:16:32.070 --> 00:16:35.110 million dollar deal, the CEO who gives the flashy 00:16:35.110 --> 00:16:37.529 keynote speech. Right. The people who get their 00:16:37.529 --> 00:16:40.070 names in the headlines. But ask yourself, who 00:16:40.070 --> 00:16:42.789 is the Tom Pritchard in your field? Who is the 00:16:42.789 --> 00:16:45.009 person who isn't looking for the credit, but 00:16:45.009 --> 00:16:47.929 is quietly teaching the new hires, fixing the 00:16:47.929 --> 00:16:50.549 mistakes and ensuring the whole operation actually 00:16:50.549 --> 00:16:52.809 runs day to day? And maybe the harder question 00:16:52.809 --> 00:16:55.610 is. Are you willing to be that person? Because 00:16:55.610 --> 00:16:57.730 ultimately, that's where the real lasting value 00:16:57.730 --> 00:17:00.970 is. The architect behind the stars, Dr. Tom Pritchard. 00:17:01.070 --> 00:17:03.190 What an incredible story. An absolute legend 00:17:03.190 --> 00:17:05.430 of the squared circle. That's it for this deep 00:17:05.430 --> 00:17:07.069 dive. Thanks for listening, and we'll catch you 00:17:07.069 --> 00:17:07.470 next time.