Actor/stuntman/fighter Paul “The Mauler” Lazenby has a tremendous Facebook page – When We Were Bouncers. Each week he presents a crazy new story from former security personnel who went on to become actors, comedians, pro wrestlers, stuntmen, or MMA fighters.
This week Lazenby profiles a story about Don “The Predator” Frye, as told by Tom “Big Cat” Erikson. It involves a “Bedlam Series” – a meet between arch rivals University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University.
This ain’t a bouncing story, it happened at a wrestling meet but since I mentioned Don Frye before, I’ll tell it. You can check this out with him if you want, he’ll confirm it.
I was coaching Don in a Bedlam Match against University of Oklahoma. Oklahoma State vs. University of Oklahoma is a HUGE rivalry. We hated those guys… F ‘em, we hated ‘em.
Now, Don was an undersized heavyweight, only about 225. Still a bad little dude, though — not a world-beater wrestler, but a very good, above-average wrestler. He was up against this guy named Carl Presley, who was actually from Illinois.
Presley was just a young pup and he started gettin’ dirty with Don. They both started pushin’ and shovin’, kinda whackin’ each other and the referee kept giving ‘em warnings. Then they got in another flurry, and all of a sudden it went from being a wrestling match to a full-on street fight! They were teeing off on each other — just SWINGING. Don had a temper, man, and he was trying to take Presley’s head off!
I jumped off the bench, ran onto the mat, did a level change and grabbed Don with one arm around the waist. Then I snatched him up off the ground and pinned him to my hip like a mother carrying a baby! (laughs) Presley was still going crazy so I put my other hand in his chest and stiff-armed him away, screaming KNOCK IT OFF! KNOCK IT OFF!
And surprising enough, after things had settled down a bit, nobody got kicked off the mat! I think the people were so in shock at what happened that they didn’t know what to do. The match just continued and nobody even got dinged a point — no team points, no nothin’! (laughs)
I know the referee from that match to this day, and I still joke around with him about how I had to jump off the bench and save his life. Man, that was crazy!
Check out www.facebook.com/FamousBouncers for more bouncer stories from stars in a wide variety of pursuits. For UG Blog excerpts for MMA Fighters, check out:
When We Were Bouncers: Javi and Rose (Meanie Gracies)
When We Were Bouncers: Jason Day
When We Were Bouncers: Jerry Trimble
When We Were Bouncers: Gurdarshan Mangat
When We Were Bouncers: Enson Inoue
When We Were Bouncers: Dean of Mean
When We Were Bouncers: Ragin’ Kajan Johnson
When We Were Bouncers: Aaron Riley
When We Were Bouncers: Tom Erikson
When We Were Bouncers: Paul Cheng
When We Were Bouncers: Shayna Baszler (Not all bouncers are men)
When We Were Bouncers: Gary Myers
When We Were Bouncers: Jonathan Goulet
When We Were Bouncers: Gene LeBell
When We Were Bouncers: John Lober
When We Were Bouncers: Paul Varelans
When We Were Bouncers: Pat Miletich (someone gets attacked with a pitchfork)
When We Were Bouncers: Renzo Gracie (he bounced in a brothel at 14)
