I Listen So You Don't Have To: Art Of Wrestling Ep. 292

Missy Hyatt is Cabana's guest this week Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein

If you’re new, here’s the rundown. We listen to a handful of wrestling podcasts each week. Too many, probably, though certainly not all of them. In the interest of saving you time — in case you have the restraint to skip certain episodes — the plan is to give the bare bones of a given show and let you decide if it’s worth investing the time to hear the whole thing. There are many wrestling podcasts out there, of course, but this feature largely hews to the regular rotation we feel best fit the category of hit or miss. If we can save other folks some time, we’re happy to do so.

Show: Art Of Wrestling
Episode: 292 (March 10, 2016)
Run Time: 1:06:57
Guest: Missy Hyatt (11:57)

Summary: Colt Cabana gets a chance to chat up Missy Hyatt, who explains how the Fabulous Freebirds made her a wrestling fan at age 17, and also her fascination with history and Civil War re-enactments. They bond over sewing, then the conversation turns into an ambling look through Hyatt's young life, including the influence of Eddie Gilbert and John Tatum, Florida Championship Wrestling and other stops throughout the south, how she ultimately got her first wrestling job and her stunted WWF run centered around “Missy’s Manor.” Cabana then yielded to Hyatt to ask her own questions, which covered topic such as tattoos, hardcore matches and wrestling internationally. Before wrapping up, Hyatt explained plans to leave wrestling behind as a personality.

Quote of the week:“One of the first things I said when Jim Crockett came in to buy UWF, and, you know, buy it from Bill Watts, the first thing I said is ‘I want out of my contract! I’m going to the WWF and I’m gonna get me a doll! I’m gonna be a superstar!’ And he’s like, ‘OK, you can get out of your contract.’ … Three months later I have to come back and go ‘Hi! Hi! I really wanna work for you guys!’ ”

Why you should listen: Cabana in his open stresses, as usual, that he’s not an interviewer. That seems welcome news to Hyatt, who isn’t terribly interested in a point-by-point retelling of her life story, so the result is a friendly conversation that underscores Hyatt’s reputation as a legitimate fan of all sorts of prop wrestling as well as a genuinely interesting person. It’s a light, easy discussion that left me wishing Hyatt would be a guest on other shows, although I fully understand her reticence.

Why you should skip it: It’s not a tawdry, kiss-and-tell glance back at a known sex symbol who had many intimate relationships within the business, so I supposed if you want those kinds of details you’re better off reading Hyatt’s book. Some people might be wishing Cabana or Hyatt provided deeper context for some of the anecdotes and memories, but that’s both a bit of a nitpick and clearly not the stated goal of the exercise.

Final thoughts: Without being able to fully quantify, I really like this one. There was a different vibe than when Cabana has interviewed other 1980s legends like Jim Duggan or Gary Michael Cappetta. This seemed purposefully incomplete, and yet it worked. Hyatt is a terrific personality, and the wrestling world will be worse off when she does doing pubic appearances after April.