The ridiculously true story of how Austin Idol cashed a $5,000 check from a promoter that he wasn’t supposed to…and got away with it.
In the late 70s, Austin Idol flew into Columbus to take part in a Georgia Championship Wrestling battle royal at the request of booker Ole Anderson. Idol was living in Florida at the time.
GCW promoter Fred Ward was notorious for shorting talent on pay so Idol told Anderson he’d show up if he got a guaranteed pay for the night. All parties agreed. Anderson decided to book Idol to win the battle royal.
At the end of the match, Ward handed Idol a legit check for $5,000, in front of all the fans. Idol paid little attention to the slip of paper. He just stuffed it into his tights and headed back to the dressing room.
Later that night, he pulled out the check and took a closer look. The check was from a legit account and made out to “Austin Idol.”
Idol kept the check, flew back to Florida, and stuck the check in a drawer.
“I’d forgotten about the check,” Idol told the Two Man Power Trip podcast in 2017, “I planned to take a trip to the Carolinas, and I’m looking through some things, and I find the check.” Idol thought about all the guys Ward had stiffed over the years, including himself, so he decided to try and cash the check.
On the road trip, Idol stopped in Atlanta “where he does most of his banking,” and the place were people would recognize him as a famous wrestler.
The teller cashed the check without an issue. Idol never heard a thing about the check after.
“I knew it was wrong,” he admitted, “but I also knew it was right.”
How real legal issues and law enforcement became part of a wrestling angle
For decades, a homemade sign hung above Jerry Jarrett’s desk.
“Personal Issues Draw Money.”
The sign was shoddy and makeshift, but the idea behind the sentiment became a mantra for the former grappler turned wrestling promoter.
Jarrett was one of the most influential behind-the-scenes figures in professional wrestling, especially during the heyday of territory wrestling in the 1970s and ’80s. Best known for co-founding the Memphis-based Continental Wrestling Association (CWA), Jarrett helped shape a wrestling scene known for its gritty realism, emotional storytelling, and raucous crowds.
Jarrett believed the key to a successful wrestling angle was blurring the lines between fiction and reality and turning real-life issues into box office revenue. This booking and business philosophy rubbed off on the king of professional wrestling in Memphis, Jerry Lawler.
Jarett and Lawler booked some of the most memorable feuds of the era. They were instrumental in the infamous crossover with comedian Andy Kaufman — a moment that brought mainstream attention to pro wrestling. Jarrett wasn’t just a promoter; he was a creative force who understood how to blend drama and athleticism in a way that kept fans hooked.
During his stint as co-owner and creative head of the United States Wrestling Association (USWA), Lawler turned the minor legal issues of Billy Joe Travis into a TV angle that Memphis wrestling fans would never forget.
From “Southern Sensation” to “Hot Property”
Billy Joe Travis, born Gary Keith Mize, trained under Dale Mann and debuted in 1981 in Mann’s Mountain Wrestling Association, where he teamed with Mike Mann to form the babyface duo, the “Southern Sensations.” The pair captured the MWA tag titles, and Travis was a suddenly rising star.
By 1984, Mize transitioned to Continental, where he adopted the ring name Billy Joe Travis and quickly embraced his new role as a heel. He formed the tag team “Hot Property” with Ron Sexton, and his arrogant showboating antics irritated fans to no end. Travis briefly teamed with Norvell Austin in a heated feud against the insanely popular team of “The Fabulous Ones” – Steve Keirn and Stan Lane.
Former Continental and USWA star turned podcast host, Dutch Mantell, provided a little more insight into the early potential of Travis as an unlikeable heel on a 2022 episode of Storytime with Dutch Mantell.
“If he had been 30 pounds bigger and probably two inches taller, he would have been a huge star in WWE.
He was a heat getting son of a bitch. He could walk to the ring, and you’d feel like getting up and punching him out, cause he had the mannerisms to get you just mad enough to get you to stand up.
If he just had a little more size to him, Vince (McMahon) could have taken him, and he could have been a big star.”
Travis’s most memorable run came in the late 1980s when he teamed up with the son of the promoter, Jeff Jarrett. The team held the AWA Southern Tag Team titles on four different occasions.
Live From Memphis
The presentation of professional wrestling changed considerably in 1997. It was a pivotal year for the industry, marked by significant shifts in how stories were told and how characters developed.
Wrestling dirt sheets and backstage rumors became more accessible to the casual fan thanks to AOL and message boards, and wrestling promotions habitually turn real-life backstage drama into storylines on the other side of the curtain.
By the end of the year, wrestling fans would witness the Montreal Screwjob and its aftermath, the birth and rise of the villainous “Mr. McMahon” character (though many believe the birth of Mr. McMahon happened in Memphis in 1993), and the emergence of former USWA combatant “Stone Cold” Steve Austin as arguably the biggest name in the sport’s history.
Fans wanted real stories to lead to the staged bouts. To put it another way, personal issues draw money.
By 1997, Travis’s star was fading as fast as the Memphis wrestling scene, and the former “Southern Sensation” was back in the Jarrett universe with the USWA and his real-life personal issues quickly became part of the fictional storyline.
The story goes that Travis’ ex-wife tipped off Memphis police about his overdue child support payments. Knowing Travis would be at the WMC-TV studios for Saturday’s tapings, officers were waiting when he arrived, ready to make their move. But in a stroke of wrestling brilliance, the arrest was woven into the show’s kayfabe drama, turning an off-screen legal issue into on-screen gold.
As Travis was cuffed and led away, he screamed for his manager, Luther Biggs, who in turn went berserk at the announce desk, shouting, “Billy Joe Travis is being arrested!” at the cameras and into Memphis wrestling fans’ living rooms.
Travis’s legal trouble became one of the USWA’s most infamous angles.
The spectacle was so seamless and believable that many insiders think Jerry Lawler convinced police to let the cameras roll thanks to his legendary influence in town.
The following week, Travis was back on TV to discuss the incident and to further his feud with Lawler’s son, Brian Christopher.
Unfortunately for the already flailing wrestling promotion, the buzz around the incident didn’t last long, and the USWA continued to see dwindling live crowds and ticket sales. The elder Jarrett would soon sell his stake in the USWA, leaving the company to his partner, Lawler, and a second investor named Larry Burton.
The eventual dissolution of the USWA is as strange as any wrestling angle of the time. Burton and Lawler sold the promotion to Cleveland-based investor Mark Selker. Selker was under the impression that he was purchasing a prominent wrestling organization with lucrative TV syndication deals in place.
Selker opened the books to find a company in financial turmoil, and Burton and The King suddenly found themselves in a different kind of court. Selker filed suit against both, and the court found Burton liable for fraud. Selker was awarded over $7 million in damages.
The legal battle led to the closure of the USWA in November 1997, marking the end of one of the last remaining wrestling territories.
****
After the closure of the USWA, Travis bounced around the indies, but never found a roster spot in any of the prominent wrestling companies during the late-90s wrestling boom.
His final match was in July 2002, a losing effort against old friend and foe, Jerry Lawler.
Travis passed away four months later from a heart attack. He was 41.