Graphic Endings is a Minutes to Bell Time project. This is Chapter 4 of Graphic Endings – One Week After. New chapters come out each Tuesday. Follow the Minutes to Bell Time Instagram to get an announcement each Tuesday.  

Other Chapters: 

• 1 – Eight Weeks to Bell Time
• 2 – Four Weeks to Bell Time
• 3 – Two Weeks to Bell Time
• 5 – One Week After Part 2
• 6 – Minute’s Peril
• 7 – The Comeback
• 8 – The Referee’s Vantage Point
• 9 – And New
• 10 – What Now

Graphic Endings Chapter 4: One Week After

The below excerpt comes from the November 17, 1983 issue of the Dropkick Journal.

The Interview – Part 1

A week after their battle at Graphic Endings, Beautiful Bobby Ballard sat down to talk with Bell Time and Minute about their historic match.

Beautiful Bobby:

Before we get started, I want to remind you both that Bell Time remains suspended for the Mayhem in Mississippi incident. Any physicality between the two of you will be handled in court as Bell Time is not a sanctioned competitor.

Minute:

I understand.

Bell Time:

K.

Beautiful Bobby:

Bell Time, at the opening bell, you rushed Minute and hit a very stiff lariat. A lot of people thought the match was going to be over before it ever really got started. Can you tell us about your choice of strategy and what you were thinking when you realized how quickly you gained the advantage?

Bell Time:

Well Bobby, I’ve done a lot of bad things to good people in this sport. Do you think I didn’t know I was evil? I knew it, and  the commission knew it too. They won’t tell you this, but they loved my evil shit for years. Most of the promoters in this country got rich trying to sell the crowd on new heroes to take me down. They were rolling in ticket money that they made by leading lamb after lamb to slaughter. Nobody complained. But all of a sudden, they ran out of lambs. Now, I’m the bad guy. I was just doing my job.

Beautiful Bobby:

I was asking about the lariat. The match at Graphic Endings.

Bell Time:

And I’m getting to it. Just shut up and let me talk. So I’m doing my job, and yes intimidating everyone along the way. The commission of national promoters turned on me. They blamed the downfall of our sport on my winning record and my methods. That’s why I took it upon myself to find a new challenger. I just didn’t expect it to be some piece of garbage from my past.

Minute:

Garbage . . . really?

Bell Time:

You shut up because I’m not afraid to go to jail! So anyway, the Dropkick Journal comes up with this joke of a wrestler. He starts telling stories and it’s like a snowball gaining size as it rolls down a hill. An avalanche of stories as more and more people pile on. I went from the top of the mountain to the lowest of roadside ditches before we even had a match. The Dropkick Journal and Minute ruined my entire body of work in this sport. People believed that I could only beat my opponents by threatening their families. I won’t deny taking advantage of my opponents’ weaknesses. The threats were real, but I only used threats after a victory. I didn’t want to waste my time, so my threats just prevented them from opponents requesting rematches. But that old promoter remembered Minute’s lucky win when I was just breaking into the business. Then Minute told the story of me getting in his face after the match. It is a true story. I haven’t denied it. But, it remains the only time I ever threatened someone before making an example of them in the ring.

So you asked me about the lariat and what I was thinking. My thoughts were focused on revenge for the damage caused to my career. In our last match, ten years ago, Minute got the initial advantage on me with a surprise dropkick. It knocked me out of the ring, and I never recovered. He got lucky, and I didn’t want to leave him an opening to get lucky again. I decided to take him down early and decisively before he could hit the ropes and surprise me with something. I succeeded.

Beautiful Bobby:

Minute, you just heard Bell Time share his motive and strategy. Anything you want to share about that moment?

Minute:

No, what came next was much worse.

To Be Continued Next Week . . .

Hear more of the exclusive interview in next Week’s Issue of Graphic Endings: A Pro Wrestling Story.