One day I was scrolling youtube shorts and found a clip of Roger Clark, the actor who played Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2, mentioning his love for professional wrestling. He spoke about his time at FSCW in North Carolina and how much fun it was.
I decided right then that he would be one of my dream interviews. Months later I got the opportunity to help run a professional wrestling show with Pandemonium Pro Wrestling. Our promoter was talking about how to promote our show to another audience, and asked for advice. I brought up Roger Clark and our promoter was immediately interested.
I sent Roger a message on IG, and then his email. I finally got a response and he gave me the proper email to contact him with and I pitched my idea. Roger loved the idea and so we officially got him to join our The House Always Wins show in Las Vegas and brainstormed some further ideas.
Roger was willing to do anything with us, and was so much fun to work with us. We were able to work together to craft a memorable moment, with Roger Clark saving Jordan Castle from being attacked (once again) by the dastardly Alan Angels. Roger stepped in the ring, got slapped by Alan Angels and returned the favor with a stunner.
The moment went viral on IG garnering over a million views between two different posts.
Roger was kind enough to take the time to chat with me a month after our show:
A lot of people were surprised to find out you loved professional wrestling as much as you do. When did you get into wrestling, and who are your favorites growing up? Who are your favorites now?
We didn’t have cable TV growing up so my first exposure to Wrestling was on Channel 11 WPIX in New Jersey on Saturday mornings. I don’t remember whether it was called Championship wrestling or Superstars of Wrestling.
We would watch the superstars beat up jobbers and then huddle around the one or two kids that were lucky enough to get their parents buy the pay-per-views for the main events. Back then there was only 2 or 3 a year.
My favorite was Brutus the Barber Beefcake – he would shave off his opponent’s hair after putting them in a sleeper hold. Watching him give some poor guy a buzz cut with some clippers in the middle of the ring was the best thing I ever seen. My favorite Beefcake run was with the Honky Tonk man. He never did get near Honky Tonk Man’s locks but he did make his manager “Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart go around with a beret for a few weeks.
It’s been about a month since WrestleMania week. Looking back on it, can you share your feelings on your involvement with Pandemonium?
It was brilliant. I’m starting to really learn about the talent of the independent promotions.
Who were some of the wrestlers on the card that stood out to you? People you had never heard of that really impressed you, etc.
I thought Cappuccino Jones broke his neck 3 times during his match. That guy was absolutely amazing but they all were in fairness.
When we were promoting you for our show, Mick Mellamphy followed us and interacted with a lot of our posts. Has anyone else from the cast of Red Dead Redemption 2, or other fellow actors reached out to you about your appearance? If so, anything you can share?
Benjamin Byron Davis (Dutch Van der Linde) kept warning me not to hurt myself. I think he thinks I’m nuts. He’s right.
We had a big reaction on social media to the stunner you gave Alan Angels. Were you happy with the love shown from both your own fanbase, and the wrestling fanbase in general?
Yes, very much so. If you put wrestling fans and video game fans into a Venn diagram its almost a circle. They were absolutely great. It was a great weekend to be a wrestling fan in Las Vegas.
How was it working with Jordan Castle?
Jordan was great. A real gentlemen and helped put me at ease for what was only my second time guest commentating a match.
Is the stunner your favorite finishing move in wrestling?
There are some amazing finishing moves but stuff like the Stunner (and RKO) are so brilliantly simple. The best finishing moves are a tie between the ones that just come out of nowhere versus the ones that you see coming a mile off and you can’t stand the tension to see if they break out of it or not.
Are you interested in continuing to get involved with the independent wrestling scene? Maybe somewhere closer to home?
I love the spectacle and performance aspect of it all. Its something I can’t help but want to be around. I have so much love and respect for it. From all aspects.
What else did you do during Wrestlemania week, and how was it? Was this your first time in Vegas?
I went to Wrestlemania Sunday. It was a childhood dream come true.
Your genuine feelings on seeing Cena’s last Mania match and thoughts one actual quality of the match?
Cena is a top performer and its really nice to see his heel turn, seeing him in a completely different light. There were better matches that evening but those two were the biggest of the big at that event and it was special to witness.
Do you plan on going to more wrestling shows as a fan, in the future?
Definitely
What do you think Arthur Morgan, and any of the other characters in Red Dead Redemption 2 would think about professional wrestling?
I would be very surprised if they didn’t come across some early version of it in their travels. A travelling circus back then would very often have some bruisers that would accept open matches from any challenger. You had to be pretty tough to be up for that I reckon. There’s always someone bigger! Some 6’6 farmer pulling tree stumps out of the ground climbing up into the ring! Can you imagine! They paved the way for what we have today.
I have no doubt some of the Van der Linde gang would have drunkenly enjoyed a few of those. I bet Bill Williamson would’ve climbed up for it too. He seems the type.
Any closing thoughts about the world of professional wrestling?
It is an amazing industry and discipline. Wrestlers are 1. Athletes 2. Stunt performers 3. Actors 4. Choreographers 5. Improv artists and 6. Writers all at once. Some of them do if off the seat of their pants too! I’ve lost count how many times I have heard wrestlers talk about their rookie days and when they have a big match with a veteran tell them – “We’ll figure it out when we’re out there kid”
The fact that so many of them do this multiple times a week, the traveling. I used to tour theatre a lot. I know what its like to live on the road and the bittersweet contrast of entertaining an audience versus the lonely quiet of a hotel room at 1am by yourself. But I have no idea what its like to take repeated bumps all the time, the fact that some of these guys have the lengthy careers that they do blows my mind.
Every single person I know in the wrestling business is there because they love it. That’s the common denominator. They love it and live it. So many give their life to it. Its admirable.
Thanks so much to Roger for taking the time to chat with me! You can follow him on Twitter here, and IG here.
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