Golf is good; wrestling's better

By JIM VARSALLONE

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 6, 2001

Brian Adams has been working on his golf game these days near his new Tampa home. He has been waiting for his WCW contract to expire; it did on July 18.

"I'm hopeful to be going to the WWF or WCW," said Adams, one-half of thetag team Kronik. "Physically, I'm holding up pretty good, and I'm in prettygood shape. I had my appendix removed, and it set meback a little, but now I'm fine."

Through his friend the Undertaker, Adams participated in the Sgt.Slaughter Celebrity Golf Invitational for charity in June at the Doral GolfResort & Spa in Miami. Adams had some fun golfing and hanging with theUndertaker and Bradshaw during the three-day event.

"It was for a good cause," he said, "and we had a great time."

On the Blue Monster, the group with Adams, actor Tony Lo Bianco, New YorkJets player Greg Lotysz, Joel Karlik and Chuck Conner placed first.Adams did a good job putting."You would think my team would need me for driving the golf ball. On mystandards, I couldn't drive worth a darn, but I was putting unbelievable," he said. 'I made a 30-foot Eagle putt for my team. I made a couple 20-footputts. I live in Tampa now, and there are a lot of places to play golfthere."

But Adams would rather be wrestling -- teaming with his Kronik partnerBryan Clark. "I really would like to stay together with him,"' Adams said."Unfortunately, I don't have control over that, but I'm certainly pushingfor that. Not only is he an excellent partner and friend, but I think wematch up nicely -- physically and wrestling wise. The fans seemed to take tous right away, and we enjoy it."

Hawaiian-born, Adams broke into the business the hard way, training andcompeting in Japan. Chris Benoit also wrestled in Japan at the same time.

After wrestling in Japan and Portland, Adams inked a deal with the WWF in1990, and Crush was born. He later signed with WCW. Through his career, he worked with several wrestlers, notably Bret "Hit Man" Hart and "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Growing up in Kona, Hawaii, Adams surfed and boxed. He tried cliff divingand played basketball and beach volleyball. While serving in the U.S. Air Force, Adams was questioned about becoming a prowrestler.

"I wasn't an avid wrestling fan," Adams said. "I watched it moderately. I had a few favorites -- mostly the bigger, more powerful wrestlers."

At this point during the interview, the Undertaker began to listen.

Realizing this, Adams said: "When I was a kid growing up, I enjoyed watching the Undertaker."

Then Adams laughed, and the Undertaker turned away with a grin.

NWA-Florida presents Armory Armageddon at the Fort Homer Hesterly Armoryin Tampa on Tuesday, Aug. 21, with all three NWA World Titles on the line.NWA World Heavyweight Champ Steve Corino faces NWA Florida Heavyweight Champ"Iceman" Buck Q; NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champ Mike Thunder meetsSuper Junior Open winner and NWA Florida Junior Heavyweight Champ LexLovett; and the Heavenly Bodies will defend the NWA World Tag Team Titlesagainst a team to be announced. Check out www.nwa-florida.comand and www.nwa-wrestling.com.

Pro wrestling columnist Jim Varsallone can be reached at wrestling@tampabay.com. His Web site is at www.ringfury.com.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.