Glacier (aka Ray Lloyd) recently spoke with Wrestlezone’s Bill Pritchard ahead of his headlining appearance at “Tall Tales” on Thursday, July 25 at the Jailhouse Brewing Company in Hampton, Georgia. The stand-up stage show will benefit Operation Lunchbox, an organization that raises awareness and helps feed hungry students.
Glacier talked about how he got involved with the event, and said former WWE/WCW Johnny Swinger got him involved, but he’s also interested in taking on speaking engagements after his in-ring career is over. Lloyd cited some influences of his, and noted that he’s a performer and he sees this as a new chapter in his professional life.
“I’ve got to give my buddy Johnny Swinger credit for that. He contacted me probably a couple months ago and told me kind of what we’re doing [with Tall Tales]. He mentioned that Buff Bagwell has done this and I think Raven has done one. Ironically, when Swinger called me, I actually kind of caught him up to speed on the fact that public speaking is something that I’m really looking to dive into more as a full-time venture because I love wrestling, but my time in the ring is pretty much coming to an end. I wish I could go on forever but father time doesn’t allow for that to happen.
I was a school teacher for 14 years, so speaking in front of crowds, big or small and performing in front of crowds has always been something that I’ve embraced which scares most people to death. And along the way, I’ve had a lot of success like most anybody who’s pursued anything they’re passionate about—you have ups and downs and success stories but also [faced some] adversity. I’m putting together a presentation that I think will kind of I cover a lot of that stuff. And hopefully I can start getting out there more full-time, sometime here probably around the first of the year to start diving into it full time and just getting out there. I see there’s other wrestlers that are doing it. Of course, Marc Mero has a great career right now as a public speaker, there’s [DDP] and other wrestlers in the industry that have some one-man shows, so that’s some stuff that I’m interested in doing well. I’m a performer; it’s what I do and it’s what I love, so I’ve got to find a way to keep doing that and these seem to be a lot less painful.”
Lloyd says he’s definitely expecting people to want to hear wrestling road stories, but he feels that he can use this as a learning opportunity and hand down some of the advice he got from other wrestling legends along the way.
“I think most people are coming to hear wrestling stories so obviously I’m going to gear more towards that—it’s funny, I’m really glad you asked that question that way because when I end up talking to—I do podcast interviews or radio interviews, and when I talk to fans—I just seem to naturally go towards the people that have influenced my career. And that’s probably a lot of the way I’ll format a lot of my stories is the mentors that I had in wrestling like for example Lou Thesz and Dusty Rhodes and people like that and maybe some outside of wrestling.
I do a lot of seminars, and I have my wrestling school in Atlanta called 1 Fall Power Factory that I’m business partners with [AEW Associate Producer] Mike Cuellari. I tell them all the time—I’m not the smartest guy in the world, but I’m smart enough to listen to the people who knew what the heck they were talking about, who were great at what they did. So a lot of what my philosophy has become as far as my career philosophy in wrestling and in life comes from some people who I really, really looked up to and I listened to the fact that I knew that they knew what they were talking about and so a lot of my stories come from lessons I learned from those people.”
Related: Glacier On AEW Bridging The Gap Between Wrestlers And Fans (Video)
“They really seem to have their thumb of the pulse of what the audience wants to see, and they’re really listening to that. Not by any means letting it control that, but they’re listening to the fans, and I just think that’s something that has been missing—for whatever reason, the powers-that-be have kind of forgotten to do that. I think Cody, because of his age and at a level where he’s a really hands-on person, and he likes to get feedback from people at all levels—he’s just a naturally talented performer and businessman. I think that’s what they’re doing; they are listening to what the wrestling world is saying what they want to see and they are respectful of that, but they are also presenting the brand that they want to build. I think they hit the ground running with Las Vegas. I was very proud and thankful to be a part of that. Not many guys my age get a chance to perform in one of the most legendary arenas in the world in front of a sold out crowd, so it was a very special moment to me, and I was really proud that AEW asked me to be a part of that.
Coming from the frustrations that I remember from WCW with what the fans were saying to us, the biggest thing was ‘nobody’s listening to what the fans want!’ I think these guys really seem to be doing that.”
Glacier headlines “Tall Tales” presented by the Sellers Law Firm, LLC in Hampton, Georgia tonight; the event is to raise awareness of Operation Lunchbox’s mission to feed hungry students in the local community.
General admission tickets are $10.00, and if you bring any new, nonperishable food item, you will receive a free meet and greet pass. You can also sponsor a child for $250.00 and insure that for an entire year he/she will not go hungry. Johnny Swinger, and comedians Joe Gallois (Bravo), AJ Gil (Laughing Skull Fest), Justin Harris (Adult Swim), Steven Morrali (Atlanta) and host Timothy Gonzalez (Bravo, NBCsn) will also appear. For more information on the show, visit the Jailhouse Brewing Company event page.
