I recently sat down with one half of Hollywood by Night, "the Fashion Assassin" Tony Thomas. As a member of the only tag team in the Texas-based EPW as well as competing for the Knoxville-based KCW, Tony's got quite a bit of traveling to do. With speculation running rampant that Hollywood by Night may be headed to Canada to wrestle for MLW, you can be he's going to rack up frequent flyer miles. I was able to catch him during a bit of his down time. We talked about wrestling, his history, how Hollywood by Night came to be, and his family in wrestling.
LZ: I'd like to thank you for sitting down and taking time to talk with me.
TT: Glad you guys actually thought I was worth interviewing. [Laughs.]
LZ: Let's start with your history. What made you decide to try wrestling?
TT: I didn't want to become a wrestler at first. I'm sure you hear that a lot.
LZ: Depends.
TT: Well, I actually wanted to be an announcer for hockey. I have the personality for it. A lot of people like to tell me I have a face for radio. [Laughs.] In all seriousness, I was about sixteen or seventeen at the time. I just remember Dan calling home and saying "Hey, you've got to watch An Evening tonight! It's going to be great!" I remember tuning in with Mom and Dad, and we watched Zokugun Sangai take on the Epitome of Cool. I can't help but say, that's what got me hooked.
LZ: It was watching your brother win the EMWC World Tag Team titles?
TT: Not really even that. The way the fans ate that stuff up. That's what made me want to actually think of wrestling as a career. Well... not being an actual wrestler, but sitting back and calling matches. I remember tuning in and watching my cousin [Paul Von Braun] call them for years. I figured it wouldn't be hard to do that. On top of that, watching wrestling when you don't know anyone in the business is a lot different than watching wrestling when a bunch of your family members are in the business and you get to seem them on a semi-regular basis.
LZ: How so?
TT: I'll put it to you like this. The night my brother's career took off in 1999, I felt chills go down my spine every time I watched him wrestle. To know this person all of your life and to watch them them become a star that people talk about. I really can't describe it. It makes you want to do the same thing. At least, it did for me.
LZ: So that's why you chose to be a wrestler.
TT: Not really. We were having one of our annual family reunions in November. It was 2002, I think. I remember talking to my Uncle Scott about it. I asked him if he knew of anyone who could use a color announcer for their shows. He looked at me for about two minutes and told me I'd be wasting my time as an announcer. Here I am, hopes dashed. I asked him to explain. He tells I've got the personality to entertain the crowd. It's hard to teach someone that skill. He could teach me how to wrestle and make a match look good. I guess he knew I could take hits from playing street hockey and hockey for my high school. I told him I'd think about it.
LZ: What happened exactly?
TT: I was working retail at the time for an electronics store. I was bummed out. I had about fifteen people yell at me for defective products. I'm barely making above minimum wage. I was burned out. I was just tired and wanted something more. I'm waiting on some customers to come in and happen to catch wrestling on one of the TVs. That pretty much sealed it. I called Uncle Scott the next day and told him I'd be in Huntsville to train within the week. I talked to my parents. They told me if it made me happy to do it, but Dad made it clear he didn't agree. He said I should go to college and then get a better job. I was still a bit bummed, so I called Dan. We talked for a few hours, which I'm sure Dad wasn't happy with that phone bill. Dan told me if I wanted to do it, I needed to be sure. He told me not to use wrestling as a reason to escape my current job 'cause I disliked it. He told me the business would be hard to break into, and also gave me some sound advice. He told me to always be honest with everyone. I went to Huntsville and talked to my uncle. Told him what Dan had told me, and he agreed. We made a deal. He said to give it a week. If I didn't like it, then leave. There isn't any harm in that.
LZ: Coming from a family entrenched in the wrestling industry, sounds like they all knew the business pretty well.
TT: Yeah. That's one of the major reasons I attribute to being able to stick it out. I had people looking out for me and telling me the pitfalls to avoid. This was in the summer of 03. I stuck it out for a week. I was in pain. I hurt in the morning. Even though the trainer was my uncle, I still had to pay for my training. This was different. After listening to my uncle talk and bring in a few others to talk. I knew this was what I wanted to do. I looke forward to waking up and coming into train. Granted, I still had a job to pay my bills until I had to compete. That's really how I got started. Quite long-winded I know.
LZ: I'd have to agree with that. This is your first interview too, so letting the fans become familiar with you is something we do. We won't hold your talking habits against you.
TT: [Laughs.] Thanks.
LZ: You've been trained as a wrestler. Now you've got to break into the business and get booked for matches. That's the part where a lot of people fail. It's hard, in an industry people want to join, to actually get the exposure necessary to become big. How'd you get your first match?
TT: I lucked out. Uncle Scott was running a weekly show out of Madison for his NAW promotion. After I was done training, I was able to wrestle and showcase my talents there. My first match was against a guy called Jason the Sensation. We both trained together. He had the total package. He had the charisma. He had the superstar look. He knew what he was doing in the ring. He was suppose to be the blue chipper, All-American good guy. I'm the bad guy. My uncle tells us I'm going win. I'll get a cheap victory to build some heat for myself and to really put Jason over as the good guy. Uncle Scott thought a feud between the two of us would help both of us out.
LZ: Sounds right. What happened?
TT: Jason completely lost it. He seemed to walk with his head turned up, but I never paid too much attention to it. Uncle Scott pretty much said that's how it was going to be and then proceeded to lecture the two of us about wrestling. So we go out there and wrestle the match. I have to say, we were both knew, but Jason was out there and seemed to be undermining the entire match. The crowd lost interest and... well... that's really that.
LZ: What happened to this Jason the Sensation?
TT: Post match, he tells me he should've won and how much better he was. He just went on a rant. Uncle Scott comes over, tells him to get his stuff, and get out. Jason accuses him of favortism. After that, Jason left. I haven't heard a thing about him sense. So, next show. Uncle Scott comes to me and introduces me to J.R. Ryder. This was NAW's best guy at the time. His wrestling was crisp. Uncle Scott tells me I'm losing this one... and I'm losing bad. I lose the match getting maybe one move in, and that's that.
LZ: How'd that make you feel?
TT: It was pretty lousy. I had it explained to me, mutiple times, I had to pay my dues. I did what I was asked to do.
LZ: And from there?
TT: I wrestled a few more shows and then decided to expand a bit. I started traveling around. I quit my job and pretty much started living in hotel rooms trying to get as much exposure as possible. I remember in November of 2004, Uncle Scott called and asked that I work a show for him. We were having our family reunion in Huntsville. I figured what the heck. I needed to be there anyway and wasn't having much success in my travels. I went to Huntsville. Got there the day of the show. Was tired from driving. Slept until it was ready to start and headed to Bob Jones High School.
LZ: Back where you started?
TT: There's a point behind this story.
LZ: Are you about to tell us the beginnings of Hollywood by Night?
TT: Yep.
LZ: Great. That was my next question. Maybe I should just let you talk and you'll answer all of my questions.
TT: [Laughs.] Well, I get to the show, and Uncle Scott tells me I'm going against my cousin Jesse. We talk about the match and how to make it work. By this time, I had adopted the "Fashion Assassin" name and was starting up the gimmick you see today. Jesse gets introduced first and gets a good reaction. I get introduced next and come out. I start running my mouth. I get to the ringside area... and my entire family is there.
LZ: Every single member?
TT: No. That'd be too many people. My aunts and uncles, my parents, all of my cousins, my brother and his family. He even brought along Andrew, Burt, and Jessie. I'm dancing before I see them, and looking like a fool doing so. Of course, I see all of them, and I had to keep on dancing and look the other way to keep from stopping and ruining the whole thing.
LZ: You were pretty nervous?
TT: Yeah, needless to say. We wrestled the match. After that, I got to hang out with my family.
LZ: Right, but how exactly did Hollywood by Night form?
TT: Well, the next day we all met for our reunion. At the time, Kitty and Kip had been married for about a year and a half and had their child with them. Consider this. You're a guy who marries this chick, who's entire family seems to be in the same line of work as you. A few of them are pretty big names in the industry. How exactly do you carry yourself?
LZ: You probably walk on egg shells.
TT: That's what Kip was doing. I've known these people all my life. They're my family, so it's nothing to me to cut up with them. We all start grabbing food, and Kip barely fills his plate while the rest of us look like pigs and have food just stacked. Grandpap tells Kip he's a growing boy and knows he's not gonig to eat only that much food. He sends Kip back to get more food. Was kinda funny. Just had to be there I guess. Really, Kip and I started talking about wrestling. The entire family joined in on the conversation. Kip and I talked about how we were a bit miffed with our current direction. It was actually Kitty who suggested we team together.
LZ: So that's how the team was formed?
TT: Yeah. That's pretty much it. We figured with the need for tag teams, we'd have a better chance of breaking into the mainstream.
LZ: How exactly have you faired in breaking into the mainstream?
TT: It's slow going. Right now we're still moving our way up the proverbial ladder. We're competing in EPW. We're somewhat competing in KCW and soon to be competing in MLW.
LZ: Why so many promotions?
TT: KCW is more or less something we're doing for fun. The brass are aware of our situation, and frankly understand we don't want to heavily compete there due to my family having a bit of influence. Do we compete there? Yes, but expect to see less and less of us as the weeks go by. We're only paid by appearence.
LZ: What about EPW and MLW?
TT: EPW is a place we feel has that something special to really take off. I love being part of the show. Granted, it's a small venue and the television audience isn't national. It's just got that magic like it's going to be huge. While we've entertained offers from other places, I think we're going to stick EPW out and see exactly what happens.
LZ: Why stick wtih an indy promotion when you guys want to go national?
TT: There's a few reasons. I've already mentioned it has that something special feeling about it. Plus, I can't help but think the talent pool is probably the best I've ever seen for a beginning promotion, not that I'm an expert by any stretch of the imagination. You've got Billy Sweets. Not only did he have the crowd eating out of his palm, he had me and Kip eating out of his palm during his first promo. There's guys with some name value in Roland Dean and Travis LaGrange. I know these guys have been around and traveled more than most. It was just a blast talking to them the first time.
LZ: What you talk about?
TT: Our match. Me and Kip wanted to throw in a few spots, and they were cool. They listened to what we wanted to do and helped us plan it all out to make it believable. Not once did they even give the impression we were beneath them. I know Kip's had quite a few run ins with that problem.
LZ: Really?
TT: Yeah, but you'd have to ask him about it.
LZ: I might just do that. What about Heaven Lee Mayfair? We've seen the growing storyline that you've got a bit of a thing for his valet, Sinful. What's the story there?
TT: You'll have to watch to see how it plays out. Mayfair is going to be a hot commodity. I just know it. He's got the classic bad guy down pat without any need to make him unique. He's good at what he does. The first moment I saw him and watched his promo, I told Kip we had to somehow be involved with Mayfair. All three of us were a natural pairing. I came up with the whole thing of having a thing for his valet. I approached the two of them about it. They were game.
LZ: Isn't it true that your valet has an actual issue with the way women are portrayed in wrestling as just eye-candy and dumb?
TT: Yeah, but Sinful is the exception, I think. After the kiss Sweets laid on her, Sinful had the presence of mind to sell it by having a promo done where she was puking in the bathroom. That pretty much tells me, aside from the looks, she has the attitude and brains to know what she's doing.
LZ: Have you guys ever given thought to trying out for the UWF so that Kitty may don the tights, so to speak? They do have an oustanding women's division they take seriously.
TT: We have. We've actually talked to the UWF, and we know it'd be a great place to work. We sent in a tryout tape weeks ago. One of the head guys call us back and says they're interested. They want us to work a few tryout matches and some stuff on Metldown to really click as a team. They also liked what they saw in Kitty. They felt we were marketable. They've got a solid tag team division. They've got a solid women's division. By this time, we had made up our minds to stick out EPW. We tell the guy that we appreciate the offer, but we wanted to see what EPW had to offer and be there with the promotion as it developed.
LZ: Interesting.
TT: Know what the guy says? He tells us that's acceptable. He says we can send in another tape if EPW doesn't work out for whatever reason, and he has respect for people that want to stick it out and stay loyal to a new promotion. I kinda wondered by Brian said a lot of the UWF'ers were as loyal as they were. With a boss like that, I can understand.
LZ: And what about MLW?
TT: Their shows look good. Their talent looks good. They want to start a tag division, so why not? It's much easier to say things about a promotion when looking at it from the outside. Looking at it from the outside and the inside are two different perspectives.
LZ: You've talked about entertaining offers from other promotions. Would you care to tell the fans who?
TT: That's not really important at this point in time. We've sent out tryout tapes to a few. We got a few calls back. We're going to bide our time and see what happens with MLW and EPW. We don't want to overexpose ourselves. That'll just breed resentment from the fans.
LZ: Understood. Mind if we try a little word association?
TT: Sure.
LZ: EPW.
TT: Right now, it's the place to be for Kip and me. The talent is solid, top to bottom. The production isn't that great. They don't have sellout shows in big arenas. That feeling... I can't describe it. EPW has that. It's that something special that you feel about a place. Give it a few months to a year, EPW will become on of the next big things.
LZ: Tag team wrestling.
TT: Seems to be on the upswing again.
LZ: MLW.
TT: It looks good so far. I can't wait to debut.
LZ: I think that's really all I can come up with at this time. I guess my last question is what's in store for the future of Hollywood by Night?
TT: I really couldn't tell you, Lenny. Do I hope we "make" it? Yes. Right now, expect to see us focus on EPW and MLW and really just work on making ourselves work as a team. If the formula is right. If Kip and I have the right chemistry. I think we may be able to break through the glass ceiling.
LZ: Thanks for the interview, Tony. It's been a real pleasure.
TT: Same here, Lenny. Thanks for having me.
- Lenny Zefring is the lead announcer for Championship Fighting Federation and head interviewer for Just The Facts! 3001. If you wish to setup an interview with Mr. Zefring, please e-mail us at [email protected] with the details