Soul Train Jones (Living In America)

[@Filmation77]

Who cane here after the passing of Mike Jones?

[@coryhummel8170]

RIP Thank you for everything

[@kintarricrawford4976]

FAREWELL SOUL TRAIN JONES!🙏🏿

[@Jiltedin2007]

Before he was Virgil in the WWF, Soul Train Jones was doing his best Apollo Creed.

[@The1baddman]

Rest In Peace Michael “Soul Train”Jones🕊️💔🙏😢

[@AldenRDavis]

Rest in heaven, Soul Train Jones (Virgil).

[@peterp21]

BTW, there's only one Soul Train Jones match on KZbin but from this video alone I'm a fucking Soul Train Jones mark. They really shold've brought this gimmick into WWF.

[@rexsexson5349]

peterp21 hell yeah!

[@tECHtUBE1000]

Way better than the Johnny b badd gimmick

[@FingerBreakerWu]

@@tECHtUBE1000 Marc Mero was a fake tanned Jewish guy that would have been canceled today.

[@redroversk]

Jeez, this guy had a lot of charisma before the WWF

[@MrBoswel1]

this would been gold in the wwf. But instead he was a servant smh

[@indiglo1971]

Just saw him on AEW!

[@jonathanlewin7394]

Holy shit. Wtf is this??!?! Who else came here because of AEW?? WWE destroyed him damn. Made him Virgil. Which was a big story, but this is awesome. Let’s see what happens in AEW

[@waygookinway1805]

Jericho is trying to get him on his podcast. It will be an interesting interview.

[@nuclearguitar779]

It's Memphis wrestling, the territory that Jerry Lawler reigned as world champion long before he went to the WWE. They used any gimmick that was popular on TV, they even had some wrestlers dress up Freddy Krueger and Leather face at one point. They also had Glenn Jacobs before he was Kane and called him The Christmas Creature [look on youtube and google for The Christmas Creature].

[@nuclearguitar779]

Almost forgot, Jerry Lawler sometimes would ride in on a white horse with his crown on to one of the Rocky Themes at the Mid south coliseum when wrestling the main event.

[@C0wboyzfan4life]

I heard soul train Jones few times but after his passing i got to learn who soul train jones was before he joined wwf then lastly nwo

[@martinbeaudoin2540]

OH MY GOD!!! Thank you AEW for this!!!!! Love the old school references!

[@chelseatannock8996]

2009

[@CSAlmanac]

The music is from Rocky IV, but the gimmick of Apollo Creed was not some jobber boxer. He was the epitome of charisma, style, and talent all rolled into one for his sport. That's the aura that Jones puts off here. They used the music because that was the song most closely related to Apollo, but the image of Apollo that everyone knows is from the original movie.

[@johnnymason2460]

Thanks for reminding me. I had forgotten about Soul Train Jones becoming Virgil in WWE and Vincent in WCW.

[@jonathanturbide2232]

WOW!!! I had no idea Virgil was given that gimmick, I thought he was just a punching bag during his time in Memphis. Pretty impressive, he was super over! 👍✌

[@phenomenalone7134]

in his short time in Memphis he got really over. You could argue he was the 2nd most over act at the time, behind Lawler

[@manuginobilisbaldspot424]

I've heard he was WAY over in Memphis with that gimmick. Grantland even wrote about it. Is that true? Was Virgil really the 2nd banana to Lawler before he went to the WWF?!!? How did I not know that?

[@mikeholmanlovesyou]

I grew up in southern kentucky and on USWA wrestling. Soul Train Jones was OVER. Everyone fucking loved this guy. I remember standing outside the dressing room at like 7 years old to meet him and he came out and was so nice to everyone. My grandpa thought he was the greatest thing on the planet. WWE ruined him.

[@joeygleitz7469]

I grew up in Corydon, IN. Also in USWA territory. And that sounds about right to me.

[@MoniqueFromPlymouth]

@@mikeholmanlovesyou | You can't blame Michael Jones (Soul Train Jones/Virgil/Vincent) for signing with the WWF/E. Almost everyone from that time went for the money and national attention.

[@mikeholmanlovesyou]

@@MoniqueFromPlymouth didnt say i blamed him. i just stated he was ruined there. i blame vince and his stooges. Soul Train was HUGE.

[@johnpenguinthe3rd13]

PRE-WWF Virgil / Vincent / Soul Train Jones (when he was in Memphis) was his peak in terms of being used well by a wrestling company and being extremely popular with the fans. His peak moment in popularity was when in 1987 in the CWA (the big Memphis territory) he won the AWA International championship (which was a title held by Memphis greats like Jerry the King Lawler and the championship later merged with the NWA Mid-America title to become the CWA Heavyweight championship). The fact that they let him win that international championship, which was very important for the CWA Memphis territory, shows how extremely popular Virgil / Vincent / Soul Train Jones was at the time. Later... When he went to WWF (now WWE), he gained massive worldwide exposure, but the WWF very much ruined all the magic he had when they turned him into Virgil. He never recovered and even in WCW the Vincent character was just Virgil part 2. Shame he never had a chance to go back to the Soul Train Jones gimmick when he was still wrestling.

[@brixtonmystery]

My man got GREAT footwork

[@IANupe104]

My 40 year old butt is just now seeing this clip for the first time ever. Soul Train Jones!!!?! I am in "Von Erich territory" I thought I had seen everything! I guess not.

[@slashersportscinema]

My brother, I'm in Nashville and this was in my back yard. I'm here to tell you that Soul Train Jones was a PROBLEM in Memphis. We loved him here.

[@mikeholmanlovesyou]

@@slashersportscinema right? he was OVER in the midsouth USWA

[@AldenRDavis]

Only in America, baby.

[@CSAlmanac]

And in two minutes, Soul Train Jones was over in Memphis. Vince has never been a genius. Jerry Jarrett always was.

[@lordevyl8317]

Lawler was kind of a genius too though, he actually came up with the Rock 'n Roll Express' gimmick

[@williambarnard1763]

I agree with others on here Vince should have brought him into the WWF as Soul Train Jones instead of Virgil. He could have either pushed him as a singles competitor or maybe teamed him with S.D. Jones as "brothers" I think he could have done wonders for S.D. in a tag team.

[@hezamachine]

In Memphis they did the black tag team with Soul Train Jones being tag team champions with Rocky Johnson.

[@energyasylum997]

@00:57 📯🎺" .......🎵🎶🎵..........!!!" perfect timing!!! lol

[@TheJames-Edward]

I didn't know Virgil went by this name besides that interview he did in AEW.

[@ultragoldenantchannel5648]

RIP

[@rlm1984lyf]

I swear this WOULD HAVE GOTTEN OVER LIKE A MILLION DOLLARS in the WWE---not without controversy though...

[@MrBoswel1]

rlm1984lyf ikr

[@ericdemby4644]

Ha that's some irony. You said over like a million dollars but instead they made him the million man's lackey.

[@krlm2280]

Wow I never knew he was a wrestler before becoming a bodyguard when I was a kid he was Virgil as million dollar man's bodyguard but damn he got the Apollo Creed gimmick he was over and he was physical specimen vkm as usual drop the ball

[@MrBoswel1]

vince you dropped the ball man

[@MrBoswel1]

Rip Virgil

[@FingerBreakerWu]

It’s Brother Vir-Jile!

[@hezamachine]

Vince could have had a new Mr. USA with this gimmick, but made him a bodyguard for Ted DiBiase.

[@parlowderick]

@takauthar Amen to that. The first wrestling show I ever saw was at my jr high school gym and featured Soul Train Jones in the main event. I remember seeing him later in the WWF and being surprised that they changed his character into a boring manservant .He could work pretty well in the ring and gave a decent enough interview. Soul Train Jones was a pretty good babyface but he was nothing but a joke in the WWF and later WCW (who also didn't know what to do with him).

[@DIGGER1969]

Now this is the 'VIRGIL' that I remember and admire very much. They should have brought him to the W.W.E. as 'Soul Train' Jones, instead of being the 'non-talkative' stooge for Ted 'The Million-Dollar-Man' Dibiasi. And, when are they going to put Virgil in the W.W.E. Hall-Of-Fame?

[@bauble24]

@takauthar I think it has more to do with the opportunity of making much more money with a national promotion regardless on how he was presented.

[@notchinham316]

Apollo Creed owes him royalties

[@RagingRambo]

Why couldn't he debut in WWF with that gimmick?

[@waygookinway1805]

@The_One&Only He was hired as a rib. The Million Dollar Man gimmick was what Vince would have been had his father allowed him to be a wrestler. So he had Ted DiBiase do it. He wanted a lackey that was clearly under him. So they hired Mike Jones and named him Virgil as a way to say Dusty Rhodes would always be subservient to Vince. Later, when the nWo needed a fall guy to take the bumps at the end of the night, WCW was going to hire Charles Wright to do it and had an agreement in principle. But when Dusty Rhodes found out Mike Jones was available and willing to do the role, they hired him instead and named him Vincent as a receipt to Vince for the Virgil character. Charles would go back to WWE and become Kama Mustafa until he became The Godfather.

[@jamesvanderbeek19]

@@waygookinway1805 whoa!cool information.sad for jones.im glad aew uses him!he had it all.he was jakked more than anyone in current wwe.id rather see him as champion than iron shiek in that era.

[@MightyJabroni]

"Why couldn't he debut in WWF with that gimmick?" I think it was just too much of an on the nose carbon copy of the Apollo Creed character for the WWF to bother with it.

[@nicholaswentz8750]

Why in the hell didn't Vince McMahon have him be this in WWF instead of being Virgil?!

[@mike198211]

Virgil is gonna charge 20 bucks for this post.

[@princesstamika]

And then, even between the Harts- Owen was made to be the Blue Blazer and stuff like that when he really could of been a world title holder contemporary to Bret. I'd love to know what it is with the wasting of certain talents like Soul Train Jones, Lanny and to a lesser extent Owen and Ricky Steamboat.

[@peterp21]

My understanding, from reading first and second hand accounts on the attitudes of the wrestlers at the time, is that it was solely about the money for these guys. So no gimmick was too insulting or denigrating. Especially when you consider how the territories were collapsing at the time, you had the same amount of wrestlers fighting for 1/10 the roster spots from just a few years earlier. So I don't blame a guy like Mike Jones going to WWF to play a manservant.

[@CSAlmanac]

I'm not sure if he intentionally did it, but Vince did have a vendetta against Memphis for several years until he finally gave up and decided it was better to work with them than try to destroy them. He absolutely hated the fact that he could not stop Jerry Jarrett and that they not only survived by thrived for several years after the territory system failed and McMahon went national.

[@MrBoswel1]

CSAlmanac yeo

[@JeremyPeeples]

Whatever money Virgil made in Memphis went to his gear and...his other gear.

[@TheFreakJessie]

Im very sad that Virgil pass away 😢

[@philliesization]

Is it safe to say he was a Carl Weathers fan?

[@jasonr.3173]

On his podcast Ted DiBiase said the one thing that keep Virgil from going farther in wrestling was his lack of charisma,obviously Ted never seen him in Memphis,as Soultrain Jones he very charismatic and over big with the fans.

[@MoBizzie]

I RECKON HE WOULD HAVE DONE BETTER IN MID-SOUTH AS A REPLACEMENT FOR THE JUNKYARD DOG, INSTEAD OF HOW HIS CAREER PANNED OUT IN THE WWF

[@RagingRambo]

Imagine if he debut in WWF with that gimmick.

[@japotus]

Did Vince see his dancing and decided to punish him for it by not letting him speak for 4 years?

[@MrBoswel1]

japotus yep

[@go-goakins1489]

Virgil was once soul train jones. Crazy shiznit. Met Virgil at wrestling once at wrestling autograph show in Newark ca

[@MrBoswel1]

Chris Bowen wtf?

[@go-goakins1489]

Hahahahahaha. He is a piece of 💩!

[@hezamachine]

His dick helped him get a job in WWF. Reportedly, he laid his hose on the desk for Pat Patterson.

[@takauthar]

and that i cant argue with. as a fan i h8 it,but as a man,putting myself in some o these guys' shoes...then i hear about how some o these promoters were...i cant blame a dude 4 going where the money is. how many of us would switch jobs 2 go where the work is less and the money is more?

[@alwaysamysteryyes2021]

So why was he so terrible when he broke from Teddy?

[@takauthar]

ECOOL u don't know how angry i was when i saw those posts of lanny poffo and randy savage(then again,maybe u do)in memphis. the only way i could keep up with mid-southern was through the mags in the 80's. so i didn't really know how great poffo was down there. 2 read it and 2 c it are 2 different things. 2 c poffo in wwf and c him the way he REALLY was in memphis...makes u want 2 hurt somebody. ciminal shame.

[@takauthar]

so many cats had actual careers b4 wwf. vince killed a lot of dudes' gimmicks. GOOD gimmicks. and gave them stupid shit. virgil though? r u serious? vince would fuck up a wet dream.

[@MrBoswel1]

damn Vince really fucked alotta careers but he made alot but he should kept this gimmick this woulda made money but we all.know hogan was the man at the time

[@CSAlmanac]

Uhhh he wore the suit of armor in the WWF...

[@ozzymorrison8628]

They could have started him with this gimmick...then he would sell out to the million dollar man...damn that would of worked

[@CSAlmanac]

That's what I don't get. This was a gimmick tailor made for Vince McMahon in the 80s. Yet, because of his pride, he wouldn't take it and had to get something from his own mind.

[@1spizzle]

he was the man too he left to early I didn't like him as virgil

[@sbeavers30721]

it's virgil

[@princesstamika]

Ricky Blood is the best Dragon name ever. Never thought about it like that, lol. There were just so many things wrong with making Ricky Steamboat dress up like a Dragon and spit fire. He could have been the original Tatanka- wearing a gigantic headress and....spitting fire.

[@aaronboswell798]

This woulda gotten do over but you made him a slave smh

[@phenomenalone7134]

copyright infringement

[@takauthar]

what the hell was it something personal with vince and memphis? was it vince's personal mission to turn good memphis stars into complete shit? st jones,lanny poffo,harley davidson,i mean damn!!

[@ericjay6021]

Wwf ruin his career

[@rlm1984lyf]

Wow, this was Virgil BEFORE the WWE??? I just haver one question---WHAT THE FUCK???

[@reanimate21]

horrible.

[@charlesclark9627]

Token black! He stole this from another black wrestler!

[@noeloreilly9440]

Which Wrestler?

[@c.bretmiller6148]

Hey... Even to this day, I still spell "man," V-I-R... G-I-L! Granted, it was definitely to my detriment, and my professor's consternation, while writing my Master's thesis, but I stand by my markdom. "What the heck does 'all of VIRGILkind mean'?!?"