Show: Wrestling Epicenter
Guest: Action Jackson
Date: 11/22/2025
Your Host: James Walsh

"The Blackbird" Action Jackson, "Popular" Perry jackson is a wrestling legend from the Dallas area. From being trained by "Cowboy" Bill Watts, Dusty Rhodes, and others to wrestling in Memphis, Puerto Rico, and in the GWF, we talk about everything from the death of Bruiser Brody, his friendship with The Undertaker, Vince McMahon saying something so nice about him that brought tears to his eyes, the GWF run, Iceman King Parsons, Rod Price and more!

If you want to book Action Jackson for an event or just are a fan and want to say "hey", check him out on Facebook! 

Don't forget to check out www.WrestlingEpcienter.com for more interviews like this. If you're a Global fan, we've interviewed several top stars such as The Patriot, Rod Price, John Tatum, Skandor Akbar, Chaz Taylor, Terry Garvin Simms, Doyle King, Craig Johnson, Scott Hudson, Brute Force, Stevie Ray, Booker T, James Beard, JBL, Black Bart, and a myriad of others!  Some of those names are no longer with us. But, we've got your Global fix! And, check out our store! We would love to keep this going so buy somethin', will ya?

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/JWuey25OJfk

ACTION JACKSON:

On how he's doing these days:
"I'm good! I'm still working sometimes. Keeping myself in shape. Reading my Bible! Keeping the kids happy and stuff, you know?"

On who trained him:
"I was trained by good people, man. Bill Watts, Dusty Rhodes, Grizzley Smith, Butch Reed. Butch Reed trained me some too!"

On Bill Watts' reputation for being tough:
"He's good people, man. Yeah, he was tough. But, if you don't do what is expected, he's going to get on you, man. But, that's how it should be. I understand that. I respect that."

On his time in Memphis Wrestling:
"I enjoyed it. I got to work with guys like Jerry "The King" Lawler. But, Memphis Wrestling was never as good as wrestling in the Sportatorium."

On why Memphis and Dallas' joint venture of USWA in the Sportatorium failed:
"I think they (Memphis) were just too soft. Here in Texas, we like to get violent, you know? The style was just too soft. I really didn't like that. The people didn't like it either.."

On his bloody feud with Savio Vega in Puerto Rico:
"Man, I really loved working with him. The people really loved him. So, when I would go out, I would have to have someone escort me. I don't speak Spanish, you know? "

On if Puerto Rico was a tough place to adapt to:
"Yeah. Bruiser Brody was killed the day before I first flew over there. So, I was scared half to death just going over there. Then, I was wrestling with Invader #1, the guy who killed Brody. I heard the people screaming and chanting. I asked somebody who spoke English, "What are they saying?" They said, "They are saying they want you to kill him!" They hated him. I heard he had to have police officers in the classroom with his kids so nobody tried to kill his kids."

On his relationship with Bruiser Brody:
"Bruiser Brody and I were good friends. He told a friend of mine, "I'm fixing to take Action to Japan. I want to get that toughness out of him!" I was already tough. But, he knew he could get more toughness out of me. I had wrestled him before. He always had respect for me. And, I always had respect for him."

On his relationship with long-time tag partner and rival Iceman King Parsons:
"I loved it! Down in the Sportatorium with World Class and Global, when we would team up, the people loved us. They did, you know? And, when we would face each other, they packed the place. They turned people away, you know? Whenever me and Iceman would have matches, man, it would be a packed place."

On if he liked teaming or feuding with Iceman more:
"Man, Iceman taught me so much. He really did. I love him. But, we had a lot of heat on us, man. When we would go at it, we would pack the place. And, there was a lot of heat on us for that, man. They would try and put us on first. When our match would end, the people would get up and leave. They already saw what they wanted to see! Me and Iceman going at it!" 

On Stevie Ray saying Dallas had racist fans that would scream racial remarks at he and Booker T:
"YOu know, no. We never really had a problem like that. When me and Iceman went out there, yeah, they would boo us. But, they would also cheer us too. We never had a problem like that with "redneck" fans. They didn't do that to us."

On getting Baboose as a manager:
"He was real good, man. I was very comfortable with him joining us. He is a good guy, man."

On fellow GWF mainstay Rod Price:
"I love Rod Price, man. He and I are good friends to this day, man. If I see him put stuff up on Facebook, I always comment. If I post something, he comments. To this day, we're friends. Whenever I wrestled him, we tore the house down, man!"

On his MMA style fight with Rod Price:
"(laughs) I knew he was going to have you ask me about that! That wasn't good. We worked an MMA fght. But, you couldn't do a lot. The rules are different. The style is different. You can't do stuff like you do in wrestling. It wasn't good, man. (laughs)"

On his brother Al Jackson being brought in:
"That was a gimmick. We are not really related. I liked him. I wanted to help him out, man. I tried to keep his head on straight. But, he didn't want to listen. He told me he wanted to go his own way. So, I let him go his own way. Now, I've not spoken to him in years. I'm not sure if I should say this. But, he's in jail. Yeah, he's in ail, man. He wouldn't listen. I tried talking to him. But, he wouldn't listen. I didn't much like it too much, man."

On if he knew Global was going to close when it did:
"I didn't know, man. No one knew. But, there were too many chiefs and not enough Indians, man. Too many chiefs, not enough Indians. Like, I said we should have me and Iceman go up against the Freebirds. I think that would've been good. But, they didn't want that. Someone was hating on that, man. If they would have done that,  the "Black Birds" versus the "Freebirds", I think that would have drawn a big ol' house, man!"

On the legacy of the Sportatorium:
"Man, you missed something if you never were there. When I used to go to schools and talk to kids, all they could talk about was the Sportatorium, man. I think if things had been done right, the Sportatorium would still be running wrestling right now, man. It was a special place."

On the short-lived but popular SWE Fury promotion from 2020:
"I wish it had lasted longer. I just don't put up with my bull crap, man! If I'm well known in this part of the country, if I'm well known here in Dallas, treat me like I'm well known. Don't tell me you're bringing in this guy to be on top, man. People don't go for that, man. People don't believe that. They didn't believe in it. And, I got mad at it. They would be like, "We want you to do this." I didn't want to do that, brother. I wanted to be on top. That is what I wanted."

On some blaming Lacey Von Erich buying into the company for its demise:
"Man, I'm going to tell you right now, it wasn't Lacey's fault, man. Just like Global, there were too many Indians, man. There were guys with ideas, "Lets do this, this, this, this, and that." Lacey knew what she was doing, man. I've known her since she was a little kid. She knew what she was doing. It wasn't anything to do with her."

On Kerry Von Erich's death impacting the GWF badly:
"Yeah, man. Me and Kerry, we teamed up before. He was the nicest guy in the world, man. I just don't know why he did that. It broke my heart."

On if cocaine, as Dyle King says, had a hand in Kerry's suicide:
"Yeah. I did it too. I didn't do it that much. But, it was around. But, that played a part in it, man."

On his friendship with The Undertaker:
"The Undertaker, he was the best man at my wedding, bro. It doesn't matter what is going on, when we get together, we give each other a big hug and we talk. Let me tell you something, brother. That's the nicest man in the world! I would die for that man. I would die for him!"

On if he ever met with Vince McMahon:
"Oe time, brother, you won't believe this. Me and Undertaker were talking and Vince McMahon walked by. Undetaker said, "Vince, i want you to meet my friend Action Jackson. This is the man I trained with." And, Vince McMahon came over, put his arm around me, and said, "I sure do appreciate you getting this man into the business. I've made a lot of money with this man." Man, I about broke down in tears, man!"

On why Undertaker didn't get him into WWE:
"Man, he tried to get me in there but there were just too many people hating on me. Like I said earlier, I don't take no bull crap, man. I'm going to tell you a story. One night, me and this other guy, we were going to wrestle the Nasty Boys. They were like, "Go get my bag!" I said, "Get your own bag!" They said, "Who are you?" at me, and I said, "Who are you?" right back just like that. We almost got into it right there in the locker room. Those were Vince McMahons's top dogs right there, the Nasty Boys, man."

On what he hopes his legacy will be in wrestling:
"I hope they look at me and say, "Man, we should have brought this guy in. He could have made us a lot of money!""

On if he still wrestles:
"Yeah, I still wrestle. I just talked to Savio Vega and I said, "Man, when are you going to bring me back in?" He told me that wrestling in Puerto Rico it isn't like it used to be. It isn't hot like it used to be. Man, I loved it over there, man. Not any Americans could go over there and go into the projects but I did. They treated me like a King over there!"