Nasty Boys’ Brian Knobs Brings Comedy Tour to Nova Scotia
HALIFAX–Pro wrestling is a wild business, especially during the golden era of the 80s and 90s. The characters back then were wild and larger than life, whether it was the ever-intense Macho Man Randy Savage, the 2×4-wielding American patriot Hacksaw Jim Duggan, or the rich playboy Ric Flair.
But the stories of what went on behind the scenes may be even more wild. Later this month, Nova Scotians can hear some of the wilder stories from Brian Knobs — one half of the popular tag team the Nasty Boys.
Knobs is appearing in Truro, Kentville and Dartmouth between July 26-28. Then he is doing a special show for the armed forces in Shearwater on June 29. The comedy tour is organized by Halifax event company 3Count Creative, which brought Afroman to the Maritimes last summer.
Knobs, the long-time pro wrestler, trainer, and reality show star, is pumped to come back to Canada. During his long career, he crossed paths with and befriended Canadian icons like Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart, Roddy Piper, and Earthquake (John Tenta).
“Bret Hart is one of my best friends in the world and the greatest guy, and I love Canada. I love the fans up there. I love wrestling up there. So, I’m so excited to come back,” he said.
Knobs is the latest wrestler to use their wealth of wrestling stories to create a comedy tour.
“I see a lot of the other wrestlers do it and a lot of them are my friends, like Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Mick Foley, and they’re very special at it and they’re telling their stories out to the people,” said Knobs. “And who better to go out and tell real stories of what happened with the Nasty Boys back in the day?”
“We were with everybody from Hulk Hogan to Ric Flair, to Hot Rod Roddy Piper, to Adrian Adonis, to Cowboy Bob Orton. I mean, we have plenty of stories.”
Knobbs and his partner Jerry Sags were one of the most over-the-top tag teams of the 80s and 90s. They became tag team champions in both the WWE (back then known as the WWF) and WCW. The fans loved them because they stayed true to their gimmick. They looked and sounded nasty. Their spray-painted shirts and sunglasses made them look like anti-social punks.
Over the course of their career, The Nasty Boys would work as both heel and face. Not surprisingly, given the team’s gimmick, Knobs preferred being heel, just for the fan interactions alone.
“We like being heel because when you’re baby face, you got fans that don’t like you, but you still gotta be nice to everybody. But when you’re a bad guy, you can just walk around the ring and say, ‘I don’t want you cheering for us, you loser.’”
Much of the international wrestling audience came to know the Nasty Boys in 1990. In that same year, the duo wrestled for the two biggest North American Wrestling promotions: WCW and WWF.
Even though pro wrestling is scripted (never call it fake in front of a wrestler), it doesn’t mean there isn’t a risk to being in the ring. Knobs recalled how, when they arrived in WCW, they were paired against another tag team no one else wanted to deal with.
“Nobody wanted to wrestle the Steiners,” claims Knobs. “Scotty and Ricky were [supposedly] hurting people out in the ring. They had collegiate wrestling and football accolades. They were champions there in Michigan. We said ‘sure, put us against them because me and Sags are barroom fighters from Pennsylvania, so it didn’t matter.”
“So when we got out there, they would flip us every which way but loose; suplexes from the top rope; and we’re both 300 pounds, we’re big guys taking those bumps. But we’d get right back up.”
The Nasty Boys would have plenty of nasty matches, often of the hardcore variety, where they would use steel chairs and other weapons.
Then of course, at the end of a match, Knobs and Sags would take their opponent on a trip to “Pity City.” This involved one of the tag partners shoving the face of the opponent into the other’s sweaty armpit.
Knobs credits Adrian Adonis (who tragically died in an automobile accident while travelling through Newfoundland in 1988) as one of the people who came up with the pity city idea.
“Adrian Adonis is one of the guys that told us ‘you guys are the Nasty Boys, but what’s so nasty about yah? Why don’t you just gouge somebody’s eye out. Or take somebody’s face and put it in your armpit.”
At the end of his interview with Huddle, Knobs went right into character, cutting a wrestling-style promo about the tour.
“Get ready, because Nastyville is coming to town! There’s a nasty storm a-brewin’ and his name is Brian Knobs! And we’re gonna have fun; it’s gonna be a lot of fun and laughter. With everything that’s happened the past couple of years with the pandemic and stuff like that, people need to laugh.”
“There’s nothing better than laughter. Laughter makes the world go round. So, I’m going to have fun with the great fans of Canada, and also to show a little bit of nasty.” Then, a comedy slide whistle sounded over the phone to end the call.
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].