Andrew Lutzke
Presented by Hannibal TV
Schultz grew up on a small farm. His family would butcher rabbits, and chickens for food. He also caught fish often. Life was hard, but it made Schultz tough.
His father taught him that you have to protect yourself and stand up and fight if someone wrongs you.
The town had hobos who were great guys. Schultz would ride the rails to find adventure as well as out of necessity.
David did some boxing, but he was beat up pretty often due to a lack of quickness, so his endevor in the sport didn’t last long.
Schultz ended up in the military. He was stationed in Germany, and is thankful he avoided Vietnam as he heard horror stories of U.S. soldiers being skinned alive by the Vietcong.
Wrestling promoter Herb Welch taught Schultz how to “shoot”. Welch would bend Schultz in ways that gave him the worst pain he ever experienced.
Herb Welch met Schultz while David was working as a delivery driver. He charged Schultz 300 dollars to “train”. Despite being in his late 60’s, Welch tied Schultz up in knots to test his mettle and see if he really wanted to be part of the business. Schultz was in so much pain that he had to have his wife help him back in the house for several weeks of training.
Schultz came back for more, and eventually other wrestlers were brought in to train with him. Schultz beat them up because he wasn’t yet told that the business was a work. After 3 months Herb finally clued him in.
Welch set Schultz up with some small shows to gain experience.
When he was still active, Welch would take feces and wipe it in his armpits if he was wrestling someone he didn’t like.
Jerry Jarrett and Nick Gulas split up their promotional partnership while Schultz was under their employ. Jarrett pushed Jerry Lawler very early in his career at the expense of other talent, such as Schultz himself.
Bill Dundee feuded with Schultz in Memphis. David liked to rib Dundee in the back. Schultz would change the numbers on his own pay slip and make sure to leave it out where the guys could find it. Dundee would go nuts and run to Lawler and Jarrett to complain about how much more Schultz was being paid than him.
Hulk Hogan was big and raw when he first met Dr. D. Schultz would inject Hogan with roids. Hulk used them excessively and Schultz warned him he was going to kill himself if he kept over dosing.
Hogan had Schultz kicked out of the WWF in 1985 because of rumors that Schultz was going to shoot on Hogan and expose him. The men had been friends for years before this sudden split.
After his days with Jarrett, Schultz headed for Emil Dupree’s Canadian league and worked with Leo Burke. The towns were small but the fans were rabid for wrestling. He then headed to Stampede to work for Stu Hart. Bret Hart needed grooming at this point yet, but the signs were there of his potential. Stu wanted to take Schultz down to the Dungeon for some stretching sessions, but Schultz was wise enough to avoid that.
Schultz ended up staying in Stampede for 3 years as they were doing strong business. Dr. D was a star for the territory. Bruce Hart was booking. Hart liked smaller workers because he was small as well. Bruce had a small man complex, which created problems with Schultz. David told Bruce to stop working so stiff, and when Bruce kept up his behavior, Schultz smashed him in the face and broke his nose.
Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid were also in Stampede. This leads Schultz off on a tangent about steroids. How can Smith and others be dead, meanwhile guys like “Superstar” Billy Graham and Hulk Hogan are enjoying long lives?
Owen Hart was a high school wrestler while Schultz was wrestling for his father. Owen would come in the locker room and challenge Schultz to grappling contests. They’d roll around on the floor trying to lock one another in holds.
“Wrestlemania” was Schultz’ idea as a name for Vince McMahon’s supershow as a play off of “Hulkamania”. The WWF’s official stance is that Schultz was fired for trying to attack Mr. T in an unplanned “angle” at a Los Angeles show. Schultz denies this version and says there are pictures of he and Mr. T hanging out in the locker room just before the incident supposedly went down.
Tony Atlas didn’t like Schultz using race baiting promos. Rocky Johnson didn’t mind at all. Atlas didn’t sell much, meanwhile Johnson would give heels all the heat they could desire before mounting his comeback.
Bruiser Brody liked to work stiff, so he and Schultz got along well when they clashed. Schultz stopped going to Puerto Rico after Brody was killed there in 1988. Schultz dealt with Brody’s murderer several years earlier when they both wrestled in the WWF. Gonzalez complained about Schultz’ stiff work so David told him off.
Hulk Hogan got Schultz his gig in the AWA. David puts Verne Gagne over hard as a great promoter. Hogan and Schultz were feuding in the AWA when Vince McMahon brought them in and used them against Verne in his own home area.
Vince promised Schultz five hundred thousand dollars a year as a headliner for the WWF. Within a year or so, McMahon fired him for breaching a contract that didn’t really exist legally.
Dr. D surprises me by talking about how he was never a drinker. He’d get a hotel away from the rest of the boys and just do his own thing. Drugs and drinking never appealed to Schultz.
Roddy Piper was incredibly nice backstage. Schultz didn’t like his loose ring work as Dr. D wouldn’t sell for moves or blows that looked fake.
Bret Hart was brought into the WWF while Schultz was there. Hart was being bullied by a wrestler who is left unnamed. Schultz warned the guy that Hart could hurt him as he had experience in the Hart Dungeon. If Hart wouldn’t make a move on the guy, Schultz promised to kick his ass for him.
The night 20/20’s John Stossel came to the WWF backstage at Madison Square Garden, Vince went to Dr. D and told him to light Stossel up. Schultz confronted Stossel and ultimately ended up slapping him to the ground. Stossel tried to get up and got slapped again. Vince then sent Schultz back to his hotel as the cops were expected to be called. Schultz ended up briefly suspended by the New York Athletic Commission and fined $3,000, which Vince paid for him.
Vince sent Schultz to Japan to take some heat off him. Antonio Inoki then played off the 20/20 incident and had Schultz slap a reporter.
The McMahon’s had promised to help Schultz once Stossel sued him, but they turned on him and called him uncontrollable.
Hogan was a friend until he went to Vince and whined about how Schultz was going to shoot on him and take his title, which cost Dr. D his spot on top.
Schultz gives an exaggerated account of the night he tried to confront Mr. T in an unplanned moment in L.A. He claims that (in front of the fans) he was tackled by a gang of cops, then hogtied and dragged off with two guns being pointed at his head. Schultz claims he was just walking down in the crowd to visit with Toru Tanaka, an old wrestler who frequented WWF events as a fan.
Dr. D makes up a story about Vince telling him to hurt wrestlers who fell out of favor with the office and/or were exposing the business. Schultz goes into details about how he’d headbutt the guys to blind them, then dislocate their shoulders and take out their knees.
More fibs as Schultz rambles on about how the Iron Sheik lived the gimmick in Georgia by living in a tent with camels and a harem of women. I assume this was a vignette that Schultz is conflating into something more.
We move on to talking about Schultz’ days as a bounty hunter. Schultz claims he caught everyone he went after, although sometimes others captured them first. We get some stories of catching child molesters and drug fiends.
After a long side bar on bounty hunting, gangs, self defense and other things, they began talking about Schultz’ appearances on “Morton Downey Jr.” Schutz says some racially insensitive things about Thunderbolt Patterson as he covers how he confronted Patterson and Jim Wilson on the show.
If an MMA fighter and a pro wrestler got into a brawl, the MMA trained guy would whoop the wrestler simply due to the lack of training a wrestler has in grappling and submissions.
Modern wrestling is garbage. The storylines are comedy instead of blood and guts. The in ring blows look fake as no one can throw a decent working shot anymore.
Steve Austin could cut a good promo and was great in the ring.
Indy geeks are embarrassing since many don’t even bother buying proper attire.
Dick Clark productions had Schultz under contract for several years as they wanted to create a bounty hunting show about Schultz but the sides could never come to terms over money.
Dr. D claims the police came to arrest him after the WWF aired the “At Home with Dr. D” segment on Tuesday Night Titans due to the implied spousal abuse.
WWE supposedly has been banned from using Dr. D’s likeness on any of their materials, which is why he isn’t used in any of their history books.
Schultz doesn’t do many fan conventions because he asks for too much money.
Final thoughts: Schultz is a bit all over the place at times as he rambles through his stories, but his lack of tact is refreshing and makes for a fun interview.
