Forney, TX – On this Saturday night, April 5th, the National Wrestling Alliance hosted the 40th anniversary of The Crockett Cup. Already there were many surprises that abounded during this annual tournament, which will be covered in future interviews and recaps to follow.
Among the matches this evening fans saw Trevor Murdoch, a world champion many times over in the Lightning One era of the NWA, square off against rising star Pretty Boy Smooth in a losing effort. What followed next was the 47-year-old Murdoch announcing he was retiring from active wrestling. This shocked not only Texas fans but many of his peers in the NWA, who had no idea this was happening.
Slamwrestling.net spoke to Murdoch right after the match in an exclusive interview and the very emotional Missouri man explained his decision. “When I was a young guy, I used to see a lot of older guys that would hang on; they would come collect pay days,” he said. “I swore that if I ever felt like I wasn’t giving the fans what they deserve, that I was going to save myself some embarrassment and call it a day.”
This was a decision he didn’t come to lightly, as he mentioned he has pondered this for the last three or four months. “It was right around the time I wrestled Alex Hammerstone,” Murdoch said. “I used to be able to take on those bigger guys, and actually I would get extremely excited. ‘The bigger they are, the harder they fall,’ kind of scenario. And I realized, going into that match, that I was really, really not looking forward to it at all, to be honest with you.”
“It’s that feeling of maybe I shouldn’t be where I’m at,” he elaborated. “And once you start getting that feeling…I’ve been told by a lot of other older guys in the business that you should probably get out, because either you’re going to get hurt or someone else is going to get hurt.”
Plus, Murdoch has done more in his time with the NWA than at any point in his career, and all that started with one show. It was against Ricky Starks [now Ricky Saints in NXT]. “But then when I had that match, I was excited about the future. Billy Corgan was telling me that, ‘Hey, there’s a spot here for you. There’s a place here for you,’” he remembered all those years ago. “And since then, I’ve become two-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion. I became [NWA] National Heavyweight champion. I became NWA World Tag Team Champion. I’ve virtually done it all.”
The fact that Murdoch kept this from everyone in the NWA roster shocked those who’ve been in the business. There was only one he shared what decision he was going to take. “The only person who knows where I was leaning towards this is my wife,” he said. “There’s two reasons why I didn’t say anything to anybody. Number one, I would have spent the whole day [to] everybody coming up and going [saying], ‘I miss you.’ You know, it would have all been sad, and that’s not how I want to enjoy my last show.
“And secondly,” Murdoch added, “they would have tried to talk me out of it. Everybody from Billy [Corgan] to Pat [Kenney] to Homicide to Ari (the guy who does our videos) …like they all would’ve tried to talk me out of it. And most likely I would have probably fallen back into it [and] said ‘Okay!’ and then I would have been extremely unhappy with myself the next time I stepped out in front of the people, because the fans deserve 100% and even though I feel like I’m giving it to them, I don’t see it in the matches.”
Foremost as to why it was time to step out of the squared circle was a reason simpler that anyone could relate to. “I didn’t want to embarrass myself. I didn’t want to embarrass my family. I didn’t want to embarrass Harley out there,” Murdoch stated plainly, “and I just felt like it was time.”
In past interviews, Murdoch has spoken highly of the former NWA World Champion and his mentor, Harley Race. While many a story has been written of the gruffness and the no-nonsense demeanour of the greatest wrestler to walk God’s Green Earth, Murdoch remembers a different man during his time training under him and why he wants to make sure he serves as a steward to his memory.
“That’s another reason too, like why I’ve decided to step down from wrestling in the ring is because, I feel very responsible when it comes to representation of him,” he said, with the emotion coming through his voice. “I miss that guy so much. But it’s important to me that people still think good of him, and so when they see me, they think of him.”
He recalled those moments of training that were tough on him, but also the other side that people never saw. “He was the guy that when I couldn’t go home for Thanksgiving, invited me and a bunch of the guys over to make sure that we got to be with family or somebody for Thanksgiving,” Murdoch recalled with fondness.
“Every wrestling fan seen this tough, aggressive badass when and he was that 100%,” He noted, “but he was also a very kind and a gentle soul [who] loved gospel music. Can you imagine Harley Race sitting in a room just swaying back and forward to some gospel music?” Murdoch asked, chuckling at the memory.
He even spoke of moments when he turned to Race for comfort when he and his wife had experienced miscarriages early on. “He was the guy that that that gave me a hug and said, you know, it’ll be okay,” Murdoch remembered, his voice breaking at points. “He squeezed me tight, man, because I was… I was wrecked. I’ll tell you straight up. Man, I didn’t know where to go. I didn’t know how to comfort my wife. I didn’t know how to comfort myself. I didn’t know what to do, and him and his wife, BJ, stepped right up, and hugged me and squeezed me as tight as I could. And you know, he told me it was going to be all right, and I truly believed it.”
All those things lead what his focus will be on moving forward in the future, like tending to World League Wrestling, one of the NWA territories and Harley Race’s school. Keeping that legacy alive is especially important for Murdoch as well passing down those teachings to the next generation of wrestlers.
“Oh, 100%. If you ever watched Harley Race wrestle, you can clearly see that his stamp is right across my back,” he said with pride. “That’s another reason why I’ve decided to step down from wrestling in the ring.”
But the biggest focus will be on his three children, especially his 20-year-old son who has aspirations of his own. “He wants to get into the wrestling business,” Murdoch explained, “and it’s going to be hard for me to do that the way I want him to do it while I’m still a performer.”
That’s a big reason Murdoch decided it was time to step away from and make sure his son gets in the business the right way, after getting his college degree. “When it’s time for him to step into the spotlight, I want him to be the only Murdoch they really remember.”
That brings us to the question: what does the future for Trevor Murdoch look like outside of a wrestling ring?
“I’ll be honest with you, there’s a there’s a huge part of me that’s extremely sad, but in the same sense, like I’m also really looking forward to being able to use my mind for other guys, and use my mind to help elevate other wrestlers,” Murdoch said, “to help go to the next level and to tell those stories.
“That’s what pro wrestling is. It’s storytelling; it’s creating an emotional connection with the people and then trying to bring them along with that story,” he continued, “and a lot of times, a lot of young guys aren’t being taught that. And I’m hoping after my conversation with Billy, I will be that guy [standing] next to Homicide and Pat [Kenney] and to hopefully help teach these guys to tell those stories.
Because that’s people the fans want, they want it. They want to hear the stories,” Murdoch concluded, his voice beaming with excitement as the possibilities ahead. “They want to see it. They want to be they want to come along a ride and telling a story in the ring is like a lost art nowadays. So hopefully I can take the next crop of NWA guys and teach them how to do that so they can, they can go on to the next level and maybe I’ll still have a job as an old man as an agent.”
