The Tennessee Stud, Charlie Platt and Bob Armstrong. Not pictured: Ron Fuller.

We are beyond thrilled to welcome The (original) Tennessee Stud Ron Fuller (@RonFullerWelch) to the podcast for the first time (hopefully not the last) to discuss a wide variety of topics.

First, we discuss Ron’s new novel Brutus, about a cunning and deadly man-eating lion that gets loose in the Smoky Mountain National Park. We talk about how long ago Ron wrote the book, how it got published, some (but not all) of the plot, the characters involved, how writing can be like being a wrestling booker, comparing Brutus to the Mongolian Stomper and more.

From there, we pay tribute to the late Bullet Bob Armstrong, who passed away a few ago as of recording. Ron talks about his long friendship and business relationship with Bob outside the ring and some of the famous angles with and against him in the ring. We talk about how Bob excelled at being a heel for the first time and discuss the psychology of heels growing mustaches.

This segues into a chat about Ron’s promotions in Knoxville and Pensacola and some of the folks he worked with in those places, including some Ron Wright stories.

Lastly, we talk about how Ron ended up in hockey, owning teams in Nashville and Cincinnati, bringing wrestling showmanship to the ice and the resistance that entailed and how he helped pave the way for the successes the NHL has found with the Nashville Predators.

There’s also talk about doing the Studcast, the Super Studcast, the largest wrestling family in American history, playing against Artis Gilmore in college, watching his dad stretch Elvis in the family barn, and so much more. You can buy Brutus from Amazon or you can get it from Ron directly at tnstud.com, where you can get an autographed copy.

This might be one of my favorite episodes, getting to talk Southern Rasslin’ with someone so important to its history. We didn’t get to talk about so many topics that we can’t wait to have Ron on again.