Before he was Virgil in the WWF, Soul Train Jones was doing his best Apollo Creed.
@The1baddman6 ай бұрын
Rest In Peace Michael “Soul Train”Jones🕊️💔🙏😢
@AldenRDavis6 ай бұрын
Rest in heaven, Soul Train Jones (Virgil).
@peterp2112 жыл бұрын
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.
@rexsexson53496 жыл бұрын
peterp21 hell yeah!
@tECHtUBE1000 Жыл бұрын
Way better than the Johnny b badd gimmick
@FingerBreakerWu Жыл бұрын
@@tECHtUBE1000 Marc Mero was a fake tanned Jewish guy that would have been canceled today.
@redroversk6 жыл бұрын
Jeez, this guy had a lot of charisma before the WWF
@MrBoswel16 жыл бұрын
this would been gold in the wwf. But instead he was a servant smh
@indiglo19714 жыл бұрын
Just saw him on AEW!
@jonathanlewin73944 жыл бұрын
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
@waygookinway18054 жыл бұрын
Jericho is trying to get him on his podcast. It will be an interesting interview.
@nuclearguitar7792 жыл бұрын
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].
@nuclearguitar7792 жыл бұрын
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.
@C0wboyzfan4life6 ай бұрын
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
@martinbeaudoin25404 жыл бұрын
OH MY GOD!!! Thank you AEW for this!!!!! Love the old school references!
@chelseatannock89964 жыл бұрын
2009
@CSAlmanac11 жыл бұрын
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.
@johnnymason24602 ай бұрын
Thanks for reminding me. I had forgotten about Soul Train Jones becoming Virgil in WWE and Vincent in WCW.
@jonathanturbide22324 жыл бұрын
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 Жыл бұрын
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
@manuginobilisbaldspot4247 жыл бұрын
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?
@mikeholmanlovesyou5 жыл бұрын
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.
@joeygleitz74694 жыл бұрын
I grew up in Corydon, IN. Also in USWA territory. And that sounds about right to me.
@MoniqueFromPlymouth4 жыл бұрын
@@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.
@mikeholmanlovesyou4 жыл бұрын
@@MoniqueFromPlymouth didnt say i blamed him. i just stated he was ruined there. i blame vince and his stooges. Soul Train was HUGE.
@johnpenguinthe3rd135 ай бұрын
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.
@brixtonmystery4 жыл бұрын
My man got GREAT footwork
@IANupe1049 жыл бұрын
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.
@slashersportscinema7 жыл бұрын
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.
@mikeholmanlovesyou5 жыл бұрын
@@slashersportscinema right? he was OVER in the midsouth USWA
@AldenRDavis8 жыл бұрын
Only in America, baby.
@CSAlmanac12 жыл бұрын
And in two minutes, Soul Train Jones was over in Memphis. Vince has never been a genius. Jerry Jarrett always was.
@lordevyl83174 жыл бұрын
Lawler was kind of a genius too though, he actually came up with the Rock 'n Roll Express' gimmick
@williambarnard17636 жыл бұрын
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.
@hezamachine5 жыл бұрын
In Memphis they did the black tag team with Soul Train Jones being tag team champions with Rocky Johnson.
I didn't know Virgil went by this name besides that interview he did in AEW.
@ultragoldenantchannel56486 ай бұрын
RIP
@rlm1984lyf11 жыл бұрын
I swear this WOULD HAVE GOTTEN OVER LIKE A MILLION DOLLARS in the WWE---not without controversy though...
@MrBoswel16 жыл бұрын
rlm1984lyf ikr
@ericdemby46444 жыл бұрын
Ha that's some irony. You said over like a million dollars but instead they made him the million man's lackey.
@krlm22806 жыл бұрын
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
@MrBoswel16 жыл бұрын
vince you dropped the ball man
@MrBoswel16 ай бұрын
Rip Virgil
@FingerBreakerWu Жыл бұрын
It’s Brother Vir-Jile!
@hezamachine5 жыл бұрын
Vince could have had a new Mr. USA with this gimmick, but made him a bodyguard for Ted DiBiase.
@parlowderick13 жыл бұрын
@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 Жыл бұрын
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?
@bauble2412 жыл бұрын
@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.
@notchinham3164 жыл бұрын
Apollo Creed owes him royalties
@RagingRambo14 жыл бұрын
Why couldn't he debut in WWF with that gimmick?
@waygookinway18054 жыл бұрын
@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.
@jamesvanderbeek194 жыл бұрын
@@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.
@MightyJabroni4 жыл бұрын
"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.
@nicholaswentz87503 жыл бұрын
Why in the hell didn't Vince McMahon have him be this in WWF instead of being Virgil?!
@mike1982112 жыл бұрын
Virgil is gonna charge 20 bucks for this post.
@princesstamika15 жыл бұрын
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.
@peterp2112 жыл бұрын
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.
@CSAlmanac12 жыл бұрын
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.
@MrBoswel16 жыл бұрын
CSAlmanac yeo
@JeremyPeeples Жыл бұрын
Whatever money Virgil made in Memphis went to his gear and...his other gear.
@TheFreakJessie6 ай бұрын
Im very sad that Virgil pass away 😢
@philliesization8 ай бұрын
Is it safe to say he was a Carl Weathers fan?
@jasonr.31736 ай бұрын
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 Жыл бұрын
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
@RagingRambo14 жыл бұрын
Imagine if he debut in WWF with that gimmick.
@japotus10 жыл бұрын
Did Vince see his dancing and decided to punish him for it by not letting him speak for 4 years?
@MrBoswel16 жыл бұрын
japotus yep
@go-goakins14896 жыл бұрын
Virgil was once soul train jones. Crazy shiznit. Met Virgil at wrestling once at wrestling autograph show in Newark ca
@MrBoswel16 жыл бұрын
Chris Bowen wtf?
@go-goakins14896 жыл бұрын
Hahahahahaha. He is a piece of 💩!
@hezamachine5 жыл бұрын
His dick helped him get a job in WWF. Reportedly, he laid his hose on the desk for Pat Patterson.
@takauthar12 жыл бұрын
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?
@alwaysamysteryyes20213 жыл бұрын
So why was he so terrible when he broke from Teddy?
@takauthar15 жыл бұрын
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.
@takauthar15 жыл бұрын
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.
@MrBoswel16 жыл бұрын
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
@CSAlmanac12 жыл бұрын
Uhhh he wore the suit of armor in the WWF...
@ozzymorrison86284 жыл бұрын
They could have started him with this gimmick...then he would sell out to the million dollar man...damn that would of worked
@CSAlmanac11 жыл бұрын
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.
@1spizzle8 жыл бұрын
he was the man too he left to early I didn't like him as virgil
@sbeavers3072115 жыл бұрын
it's virgil
@princesstamika15 жыл бұрын
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.
@aaronboswell7983 жыл бұрын
This woulda gotten do over but you made him a slave smh
@phenomenalone7134 Жыл бұрын
copyright infringement
@takauthar15 жыл бұрын
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!!
@ericjay60218 ай бұрын
Wwf ruin his career
@rlm1984lyf11 жыл бұрын
Wow, this was Virgil BEFORE the WWE??? I just haver one question---WHAT THE FUCK???
@reanimate2115 жыл бұрын
horrible.
@charlesclark96276 жыл бұрын
Token black! He stole this from another black wrestler!
@noeloreilly94402 жыл бұрын
Which Wrestler?
@c.bretmiller6148 Жыл бұрын
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'?!?"