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Scott McGhee Interview |
The early 1980s saw CWF rings graced with the talents of many up-and-coming wrestlers who would go on to make names for themselves within the squared circle. Barry Windham, Terry “Magnum TA” Allen, and Brad Armstrong, all got their first breaks in Florida rings. But another name was also there, holding several titles multiple times, and even defeating the NWA Champion at the time. That man was Scott McGhee. In this interview conducted on October 31, 2003, Scott candidly speaks of what it was like growing up the son of professional wrestler Geoff Portz, his recollections of his matches in CWF, and the stroke at age twenty-eight that prematurely ended his pro wrestling career, and very nearly ended his life.
You started out your career in wrestling as a referee didn’t
you?
I began refereeing in 1978 in the Carolinas for Crockett. If they were short
a guy, a guy missed his shot or was sick or whatever, I’d put on a
pair of boots and go on in and wrestle. My dad and I were both there together
at first, but then he moved on and went down to Florida. I stayed in Charlotte
for about two years total, but I did go to Florida to visit my dad several
times.
Were you working as Scott McGhee?
Yeah. McGhee is my mother’s maiden name. You know, you’re always
compared to your father, especially if you use his last name, and my dad had
made a name for himself in wrestling. I wanted to stand on my own and be somebody
else and not have those comparisons, so I chose McGhee.
Who trained you? Was your dad your primary trainer?
No, no…Hell, no. You know when somebody was breaking into the business
they always hung around the wrestlers and the dressing rooms. That’s what
I did. I was trained by Ric Flair, Rick
Steamboat, and, in fact, Buddy Rogers.
Buddy spent a lot of time with me. He was in the office at this time and he
had two huge identical twins, like six-six, that he was trying to teach. So,
I’d jump in the ring with them and let them practice their moves on me.
I don’t know whatever happened to those guys Buddy was working with, but
when I say huge, I mean huge. You know, Ric and I used to be brothers-in-law.
We married a pair of sisters. In fact, I’m still uncle to his kids, and
he’s uncle to my kids. Karl Gotch
was also a big influence on my life, and later, so was The Dynamite Kid. Karl
was more like a father to me. The Kid was the brother that I never had.
Scott McGhee
That reminds me. I have a question for you from Sir Oliver Humperdink. Do
you remember your bachelor party?
(laughs) Well, the night I got married, Humperdink took me out to a bar in
Tampa, I can’t remember which one, and he got me severely drunk (laughs).
It was me, a referee named Scrappy McGowen, Humperdink, and Julie Valentine,
who was married to Greg Valentine at the time. So we all went out together
and I got into a fight outside the bar. Then we went back to my apartment and
kept on drinking. I got to be honest with you, I don’t remember too much
about that night (laughs). How’s Humperdink doing?
He’s doing well, living in Minnesota and a regular at the CAC
every year in Vegas.
Please give him my regards. I have some good memories of our days together
in Florida.
I’ll definitely pass that on to him. So, when you came to CWF
in 1980, you started off working prelims against guys like Gordon
Nelson and also your father, Geoff Portz.
Gordon Nelson...he’s a tough guy, Gordon Nelson. I’ve known him
since 1974 or 1975, when I first came over to America, when I was a little kid.
God, his kid’s a hell of a wrestler. Gordon and my dad had tagged some
in the Carolinas and Florida, so I knew him pretty well. Wrestling my dad was
very awkward because he used to beat the shit out of me (laughs). But when I
went over in those matches he was proud, very proud of me.
You also wrestled two of the best junior heavyweights of all time in
Hiro Matsuda and Les Thornton.
Those were some good matches. I only wrestled Hiro a couple of times, but Les
and I had matches from 1980 to right up until 1986 in New York. I’ve known
Les since I was a young kid, too. He was a tremendous wrestler. I remember I
had some Judo Jacket matches against Hiro. They were different. I’d done
some judo when I was about eight or nine, but I was much more of a wrestler
than a martial arts expert. I think Hiro really was an expert at judo, though.
Grapevine, Volume III, number 44 on October 29th, 1980
A few months down the road you and Barry
Windham won the Florida tag titles.
We didn’t know until the very end that we were getting the belts. I think
the last match we had in that tournament in St. Petersburg was against The Assassins.
It was a great experience. I was only twenty years old, you know, and getting
that first championship was quite exciting. I went from England, where I was
punching and punching out for work, and came over here where it was like I was
fulfilling all of my dreams. I was wrestling, twenty years old, good paycheck,
traveling up and down the country, going to the beach during the daytime…it
was fantastic.
I know Jody Hamilton was Assassin #1, but who was #2 during this match?
It was a guy from Tennessee...one of The Moondogs. I can’t remember his
name.
Randy Culley?
Yes, that’s it! I’m pretty sure it was him.
How did you get along with Gordon Solie?
He was great! He could’ve had an interview with a mannequin and it still
would’ve been a great interview. He was so descriptive when calling a
match and had names for everything that went on. He was the best there ever
was, really.
I know Eddie Graham had retired by the time you came to CWF, but did you have
many dealings with him?
I didn’t know Eddie as well as I knew Gordon. Eddie used to show up at
the office, but he didn’t say too much. He was very quiet for the most
part.
You stuck around CWF until the spring of 1981. Where did you go next?
I went back to the Carolinas, and was going nowhere fast. I went to Oklahoma
for George Scott next, and then I left there when Ric got me booked in Pensacola.
You won the United States Junior title from Tony
Charles in that territory.
I had some great matches with Tony, and also Johnny Rich and Brad
Armstrong that I remember, and also Ted Oates. What was Ted Oates’
brother’s name?
Jerry Oates.
That’s it! He was quite good. He was a copycat of Harley Race with that
methodical style. They were very similar. I thought Jerry was a great wrestler.
What was it like wrestling Tony Charles, a guy who I thought was one
of the best I ever saw?
They were probably the best matches of my life. Tony liked me. He was
another one that I’d known since I was a little kid. The first time I
met him I was eleven in Germany when my dad was wrestling over there. He was
tremendous.
Miami Beach on March 2nd, 1983
You came back to CWF in November of 1982 and got a push right away,
wrestling guys like Terry Allen, who would
quickly become your partner.
Dusty wanted to make us a tag team, so he
had us wrestle each other first all around the state. I think we had mostly
draws, I’m not sure, then he made us a team and it worked out real good
until they decided that Terry was going places and split us up and sent Terry
to Louisiana. It wasn’t too long after that that I became Florida heavyweight
champion for the first time when I beat one of The Kangaroos in a tournament.
I think the guy’s name was Heffernan.
Grapevine Volume VI, number 14, on April 6th, 1983
What’s interesting is that when you won the Florida title they
quickly matched you up against some big guys like Ox
Baker and Bobby Duncum,
I always preferred to wrestle against the bigger guys because I liked taking
them down, which I could do quite easily. Like Ox. Of course, it took Ox ten
minutes to get back on his feet (laughs).
Miami Beach on May 11th, 1983
After Terry, you and Mike Graham formed a team and held the Global straps.
What was it like working with him?
He was okay. The thing is, we never became friends. It was strictly business.
I never traveled with him in the car, and he was like ten years older than
me. Plus, he was the booker’s son. He owned the territory. So, with everyone
else, I traveled with them, slept in hotels with them, we shared rooms together,
I went to their house to eat and they came to my house to eat. It was a different
relationship with Mike. It was all business.
You had some tremendous matches during this time with both Ric
Flair and Harley Race for the NWA Championship.
Working with Ric was the opportunity of a lifetime. I pinned him once on television
and people still ask me about that match today. No one knew that we were family
all that time we were wrestling each other. Harley Race was a tremendous wrestler
and I really enjoyed our matches together. We wrestled one match…I think
it was in Orlando. It was like human chess, move for move. Just tremendous!
Jos LeDuc came back into the area and won the Florida title in a match with
you. How was Jos to work with?
You know, most people said they didn’t have good matches with Jos, but
we had some fantastic matches. I always had my best matches against big guys.
I left Florida not soon after this and went back to Mid-Atlantic. I was in
the first Starcade in 1983. It was me and Johnny Weaver
against Sullivan and
Lewin (Purple Haze). Kevin cut me to pieces that night. Jeez...I sent a message
to him and said “good thing we’re friends” (laughs).
After you left the Carolinas, was this when you showed up in Oregon as Pat
McGhee?
Yeah. I went to Oregon because they wanted me to get some more experience working
on top and Jimmy Crockett said to me “you’ll come back here and
you’ll be straight on top.” So I went to Oregon. I’d be there
before, when I was a kid with my dad. So when I got there, they’d already
changed my name to “Irish” Pat McGhee. Well, I’m not Irish
and I didn’t like it. Actually, I’m more Italian than Irish. My
mother’s grandfather was killed Armistice Day and he was Italian, but
my mother’s father was born in Scotland. That’s where McGhee comes
from. I think if they would’ve found out that my great grandfather was
Italian, they would’ve changed my gimmick (laughs). I look Italian plus
I love spending so much time on the beach. I held the tag belts with Curt Hennig,
but didn’t stay in Oregon too long.
Was Memphis next?
Yes. Me and Austin Idol were good friends and he told me to come down to Tennessee.
So I get there and they’ve changed my name again, this time to Scott Shannon.
Well, me and Austin had words with somebody, I forget who, and then Irish Pat
Barrett calls me up and asks if I want to wrestle on a tour of Dubai and Saudi
Arabia. I said sure, so I gave my notice to Jarrett and then Pat calls me up
and tells me the tour’s been cancelled. So, I’m sitting in Tennessee
with nowhere to work and I called Terry Allen.
Terry tells me to come down to Louisiana where Bill Dundee was booking. I thought
about it, but those guys were driving two thousand miles on a slow week. Then
the phone rang and it was Dusty. I said
“Dusty who?” and he said, “It’s Dusty Rhodes, The American
Dream.” I wasn’t even thinking at this point. He says “how
long will it take you to pack?” I told him about three hours, and then
he said “good thing, because you start in Florida tomorrow.”
You came back right on top and immediately won the Florida title from Superstar
Billy Graham.
I’ve known Billy since I was fifteen. I was in awe of him. I thought
the sun shone out of his ass, you know. Billy and I were friends and he was
happy to put me over. We used to work out together in Texas, because my dad
was wrestling there. In 1974, we stayed in Minneapolis for a year with Verne
and Billy was there, then we drove all the way from Minneapolis to Texas. It
was great. His partner then was Steve Strong. Red Bastein was the booker and
that’s where I met Mad Dog Vachon, John Tolos, and Jose Lothario. I was
traveling with all the guys. It was the best time of my life. I was working
out with them, and after I’d finish working out with them my dad would
make an example of me and chop me down, really chop me and give me elbows.
I think the other wrestlers used to feel sorry for me a little bit.
You wrestled some more really big guys like The One Man Gang who did several
jobs for you.
He wasn’t too happy about it, but that’s what Dusty wanted, so,
of course he did it.
You also wrestled one of my favorites, Dick Slater.
He was great. It was like wrestling somebody made out of concrete. He was hard.
When you wrestle Dick, you know you’ve wrestled somebody.
It was also around this time when you had the program with Dory Funk, Jr. and
Jesse Barr.
Yeah, that’s when they tarred and feathered me on TV. They didn’t
put enough into that and it wasn’t the right time because Dory was on
cloud nine. We had some terrific singles matches. I remember Jesse and I went
an hour in St. Petersburg and that building sold more popcorn and beer that
night. Jesse and I were good friends, but we lost touch years back. When you
leave a territory, or stop wrestling, it’s like getting divorced, because
the guys that are still in the business are too busy working.
Something that I’d totally forgotten about until I researched
your career was that you had a series of matches against Bob Backlund after
he dropped
the WWF title.
Oh yeah, we had good matches. I could go in there and a good match with him,
where a lot of guys couldn’t. Bob was a wrestler and could wrestle and
we went all around Florida.
Was it a big adjustment being born and raised in England and then working some
of the smaller towns in Florida?
Well, you see, the first time I came over I was fourteen, living in Minneapolis
for six weeks. Then when I was fifteen I came back and lived there with my
dad for a year, went to school there, and wrestled in Junior High at one hundred
and thirty-two pounds. When I went back to England, it’s be cold, and
dark, and windy...and I’d close my eyes and wish I’d be back in
America. I came over at the right age and always felt that I was American.
Where did you go when you left CWF in 1985?
I’d made my mind up to give my notice and went down to the office. Karl
Gotch called me and told me that Eddie Graham had blown his brains out. I think
it was Superbowl Sunday. So, I called Brian Blair and told him what Karl had
said and he was in shock. The Freebird was booking then, Michael Hayes, and
things just weren’t working out for me. Terry Gibbs was at my house and
he called George Scott and George asked me if I wanted to go to New York, but
I told him no because I wanted to go to England and wrestle. So, I went back
home to England to wrestle for six months as Scott McGhee, the East Coast champion.
I went into the office of Max Crabtree, who was the promoter. He says to me “you
see kid, English people hate the Americans more than the Germans. Americans
came over here with all flash, took everyone’s girlfriends, and tried
to take over.” Now, this was close to twenty years ago and at that time,
Max was right. So, they billed me from America and I’d get in the microphone
and the fans would start booing the hell out of me, saying the couldn’t
understand me with my American accent (laughs) and here I was talking with
an English accent. So I’d say things
like “quiet down, quiet down. It’s nice to be here in England, but
it’s something you don’t appreciate because you’re all illiterate.” What
was funny was that half of them didn’t know what that meant. So I’d
say “You needed our help to win World War II,” and once I said that
people would try and get in the ring and hit me. They had never seen a run-in
before, so I’d run to the ring and hit the babyface and then the heel would
cover him. It was the first time I worked heel and I loved it. I loved it!
Where’d
you go after England?
I went back to Florida. Wahoo McDaniel was the booker then and I hurt my back.
Oh, I hurt it really bad and I had to take a couple of weeks off, maybe it
was a month. I went down to the office and asked them to give me some money.
So,
Hiro Matsuda wanted it back. Well, I didn’t know that. After busting
my ass for all those years for those guys I thought hell, they could take care
of
me some. I never wrestled in Florida after that. So, I called George Scott
and got myself booked in New York. I was there a year, maybe less, and I hurt
my
knee real bad and had to have it operated on. I was off with my knee for a
year, but at least that gave my back time to heal. When I could eventually
wrestle
again I went to Calgary. Me and Dynamite Kid have always been in touch, of
course he was in New York, and he said come on up to Calgary, stay at my place,
and
that’s what I did.
What was Dynamite like? Was he as much a wildman as
I’ve heard?
Yes, yes…and more so. At least he used to be. We used to be called “The
Night Patrol” and I’ll tell you, not many people could hang with
him, you know. Remember Mike...umm..Corporal Kirschner?
Sure do.
It was me, Cpl. Kirschner, Dynamite Kid, Davey Boy Smith, and Danny Spivey.
We all used to hang out together. I liked Calgary and I was working heel. I
loved
working heel. After England, my babyface days were finished and I really didn’t
want to work babyface again. I was having so much fun being a heel, and calling
the matches and keeping control. I was there just a few months until I had
the big one.
I know this is a pretty sensitive subject.
I was getting gas on my way to the gym to work out. It was Friday, January
31, 1988. Me and Gama Singh were supposed to wrestle Bruce Hart and Brian Pillman
and win the titles that night. I was twenty-eight years old and a traveling
clot
got lodged in my left carotid artery. I didn’t know what a stroke was.
I thought a stroke was a heart attack, You know. Johnny Smith was in the emergency
room with me holding my hand. I was paralyzed on my right side and I couldn’t
speak, and the doctors came in and said they were going to have to operate
on me and I thought to myself they were going to split my chest open. I thought
I’d never wrestle again and I remember pulling Johnny with my left hand
and beating on my chest. He was going “what, what” but I couldn’t
respond to him. I was trying to tell him not to let them cut me open. But,
thank God, they didn’t have to operate on me. I was in ICU for a couple
of weeks and then one day, I couldn’t speak, I made my mind up that I
was leaving the hospital because I figured they can’t do anything for
me, the damage has been done. I was going everyday for physical therapy and
speech therapy,
but I couldn’t tell anybody what I was thinking. So, I got in a wheelchair
and pushed it right out of the hospital. So, Dynamite Kid came for me with
his ex-wife, Michelle, and her brother. They loaded up my wheelchair in their
car,
and remember, I couldn’t walk, and we went straight from the hospital
to a strip bar. Can you believe it? Straight from a hospital to a strip bar.
Of
course, my wife was waiting for me at home and had been watching me like a
hawk. So, I had a cup of tea at this bar, and Dynamite would empty the tea
out and
fill it up with beer. I stayed at Dynamite’s house for about a month
until I could just about walk and when I felt I was strong enough to make the
trip
back to Florida, I came back. That’s when it set in what had happened
to me. When I was sick, I was too sick to worry about anything else. I started
getting
better and then I started worrying about everything. I had to go get a job
and what kind of job could I do? I remember one time I was working at Sam’s
and it was Christmas time. It was my first job after the stroke and this guy
knew me and knew that I used to wrestle. I think I was making three dollars
and eighty-five cents an hour and I used to spend more money in one night than
I
was making in a week. So, I went to nursing school for eighteen months, and
became a nurse, and that’s what I do now.
There was a rumor years back
that you had passed away and several people seem to remember that Gordon Solie
announced your passing on CWF TV. Did you ever
hear about this?
No, I never heard that. When I first came back from Calgary after the stroke,
I did an interview with Gordon. He came to my house with the camera crew and
interviewed me. You know the guy that writes that dirt sheet? I don’t
know what his name is. Well, I’d heard he’d written in his dirt
sheet that I’d had a couple of more strokes, which was wrong. I’ll
tell you, I did wrestle in Yugoslavia after the stroke. It was me, Rocky Johnson,
Nelson Royal, Tony Rocca, who used to wrestle with my dad. It was all has-beens,
never-was’s, and wannabes. Red Bastien was there and was the booker and
he was in charge of the boys, if you can imagine that I was thinking to myself,
who’s in charge of Red Bastien! It was like the inmates looking after
the prison! So, I called Red and asked if I could go to Yugoslavia and he said
he
had one spot left, but that he’d read in the dirt sheet that I’d
just had two more strokes. I said, listen Red, I’ve just finished doing
five hundred squats and if I’d had a stroke I wouldn’t have been
able to do that. But, when I tried to come back for Mike Graham in Florida,
and that’s all I could do-try and wrestle again, I was having anxiety
attacks and I didn’t know what was happening. One time I went to the
hospital in St. Petersburg and told them I thought I was having another stroke.
I went to
cardiologists, and all kinds of doctors. Bruce and Al Rosen, who own the Boddy
Shoppe Gym in Tampa, sent me to their brother who’s a doctor, Jeff. He’s
the one who told me about the panic attacks, and I’d spent thousands
of dollars going to cardiologists and neurologists because it never occurred
to
me that I might have another one. They’d tested me for hypoglycemia and
all kinds of shit, but once I found out it was panic attacks it never happened
again and I’ve been right as rain.
How’s your health now?
It’s good. I work out everyday. I’ve had back surgery, neck surgery,
they took a good piece of bone out of my hip and stuck it in my neck. I’ve
also had two or three knee surgeries, a blood clot in my brain…shit,
I been through a lot. Internally, I’m pretty good, but you never know
what’s
around the corner. Everyday I wake up I’m just happy that I’m here,
because you never, never know what’s going to happen. Look at what happened
to me in 1988. I think I have a different appreciation for every day. I’ve
got two children, two girls, who I love to death. You know, have you ever thought
that most of the guys who started when I started are dead? Jay Youngblood was
a good friend. Brian Pillman and Rick McGraw. Curt Hennig, we were tag team
partners out in Oregon. Magnum, Terry Allen, we’re both crippled and
both finished. Hawk’s dead, and Rick Rude’s dead. I was very close
to Brady Boone, our wives were best friends, and his kids and my kids would
play together because
we lived on the same block. I was shocked when I got the call that he’d
died. You know, when the people are the same age as you, it’s disturbing.
Of course, whenever I call my father, he tells me who’s died from his
generation. When I started wrestling, guys like Abe Jacobs, Reggie Parks, and
Bill Dromo
were still wrestling. You could wrestle for thirty years and move around from
territory to territory. But that all changed when Vince took over. I mean,
how many of the guys that start now will be wrestling until they’re fifty
like my dad?
Speaking of your dad, what’s he doing these days?
He’s in Australia. He’s been there about two years. He moved from
England. My sister lives in Australia too, you know. He retired in either 1981
or 1982. We both were wrestling in Florida and then he did a tour of Germany
wearing a mask. After that he hurt his knee real bad. Well, he had bad knees
anyway. He was wrestling for Otto Wanz, the big German promoter. When he came
home, he had it operated on for about the fifth time and he never wrestled
again and that was it. Yeah, he was about
fifty when
he went to Germany. He had a thirty-year career.
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© Copyright 2004-2006, Barry Rose,