Old-School Sundays: Dr. D David Shultz-Andre the Giant!
With great pleasure, Mr. Mal is pleased to turn over this week’s edition of Old School Sundays to an old standby here on our site — you know him, you love him . . . well, let’s be honest, you’ve probably forgotten about him — The Troublemaker. Fresh off his three-continent tour including the climes of Africa and the Far East, still retaining a residence in Parts Unknown, ladies and gentleman . . . The Troublemaker! Let’s sit back a spell while our hooded host offers up a sampling of the career of one of the more infamous pro wrestlers of the 1980s, Dr. D David Shultz, a man so nasty, so mean, so vile, that Mr. Mal heard he done killed a dozen men — one of ‘em just fer snoring too loud!! Actually, that was Jesse James (the outlaw, not the former DX member). And that story was actually from an old Time-Life books commerical. But this Shultz is one bad hombre in his own right. Trust me. Don’t believe Mr. Mal? Listen to The Troublemaker tell ya all about’im!
The Troublemaker
Wrestlers Ramblings.com wrestling news
When Dr. D David Schultz cuffed John Stossel around on ABC’s 20/20 it was deemed by many viewers as part of the show. After all Stossel had just exposed the business as a fraud or in his own words as being “fake.â€? Along with Geraldo Rivera’s unearthing of of Al Capone’s hidden vaults, it established the 80’s as perhaps the lamest decade since the invention of the TV. According to Stossel, he set out to prove pro rasslin’ wasn’t on the up and up after an ABC viewer poll revealed that one third of their audience thought that pro wrestling was real. Having grappled himself back in high school, this irked Stossel enough to enter Madison Square Garden with his camera crew and a notebook filled with questions designed to belittle Vince McMahon or whoever else dared defend the business.
Unfortunately for Stossel, he was unknowingly walking into a hornet’s nest. Having primed perhaps his toughest employee – and certifiable nut – Dr. D, with Stossel’s itinerary, the backstage interview Stossel sought was about to become more than physical than he had bargained for. Having previously recorded a segment with disgruntled former wrestler Eddie Mansfield in which he executed a few take downs and body slams – not to mention the method wrestlers employ to draw blood – Stossel was armed with hard evidence that wrestling was in fact a staged endeavor with a pre-determined outcome. Duh.
The interview that followed was a forerunner to any that Stone Cold Steve Austin would do more than a decade later. Looking back, Dr. D was a little Paul Orndorff, Stan Hansen and Austin all rolled into one. After watching several You Tube clips of the good Doctor, I can’t help but think that like Superstar Billy Graham, he was just a little ahead of his time. Always known as a legitimate tough guy, Schultz is now regarded as the top bounty hunter in the U.S, having brought over 1700 fugitives to justice. To me though Schultz will forever be the guy I emulated in grade school by jumping off the gym stage onto the high jump mats with his signature off the second rope diving elbow drop.
NOTE: Hey all. Mr. Mal back again. Just a quick heads-up that, in addition to the now notorious confrontation between Shultz and Stossel, we also have a great treat here again on Old School Sundays, the late, great Andre the Giant with his old, flowing locks going toe-to-toe with the good Doctor! While the slaps may have effectively ended Shultz’s pro wrestling career, thanks to YouTube, us fans can still enjoy his work today, in the here and now. He surely would have been a major player in the 80s WWF. Oh, what might have been . . .
 
CLICK HERE to see Old School Sundays (pro wrestling flashback): Freebirds-Von Erichs!
CLICK HERE for our EXCLUSIVE interview with JIMMY “MOUTH OF THE SOUTH� HART!!
August 26th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Well here’s the deal about that story… John Stossel wasn’t doing some hard nosed uncovering of Wrestlings murky behind the scene’s. He actually started to do a fairly easy fluff piece on Wrestling and people who thought it was real. Stossel wasn’t trying to expose anything that most any sane person didn’t already know hence his ‘Pretty standard question’ remark and light tone in the story up to this point. Schultz even KNEW he was going to be asked that because Stossel had informed Vince McMahon earlier of his intentions.
Vince told Schultz to scare him when he asks that question. Obviously Schultz wasn’t bright enough to know the difference between ’scare’ him and physically assault him. I would urge anyone to watch the whole story to see how Stossels story tone changes at the moment of the slap. Schultz was quickly (and deservedly) fired. Stossel also suffered permanent and major hearing damage due to Shultz. Shultz wasn’t cool, he was an idiot.
August 27th, 2007 at 3:37 am
I did my own research on this and this is what I found. If anyone has any more details please let me know.
Although he has consistently maintained that World Wrestling Federation officials told him to hit Stossel, Schultz was fired. Many industry insiders believe, it was not because of his actions against Stossel, rather, Schults was fired for challenging Mr. T to a fight backstage at a WWF show at Madison Square Garden. He wrestled for a time after this, but this was short lived and he retired from professional wrestling soon after. He also has made a career as a professional bounty hunter.
Schults briefly reappeared in the spotlight in the early 1990s when Vince McMahon was accused of illegally distributing anabolic steroids. Schults was called as a witness to testify against McMahon at the trial. Vince McMahon was found not guilty of most charges
August 27th, 2007 at 11:34 am
No one ever said Schultz wasn’t a nut, Hawkboy! Of course he was!! Talk about unnecessary force. Then again, Hulk Hogan also got in trouble around the same with comedian Richard Belzer. He put Belzer in a sleeper hold and then dropped him. Keep in mind, this was still in the era of kayfabe, my friend. These guys took people challenging whether their profession to be “real” or not as a direct threat to their business. Little did they know that, less than 20 years later, it really wouldn’t matter anymore, and that Vince McMahon himself would kill kayfabe forever more . . .