Recap of Jimmy Shoulders (Kloudi) on In Your Head Wrestling Radio, 04/17/2018
by Vic Schiavone

Hosts Jack E. Jones and One Inch Biceps welcomed former WWF wrestler Jimmy Shoulders to IYH Wrestling Radio. Jimmy was best known for his time in the WWF as Kloudi, who became the manager of the Bodydonnas after Sunny (Tammy Lynn Sytch) left the group.

Highlights included the following:

How did you end up in the wrestling business?

"Chris (Candido) roped me into the business. I never had any dream or anything like that of going into the business and I'd only seen a couple of shows before I ever got into wrestling…Chris was my best friend, and he used to hang around the gym and tell us all the time he was going to be a famous wrestler one day…It ended up I had to give him a ride one day over to a wrestling show, and it happened to be in Baltimore. It was a WCW show…I'm sitting up in the stands, and…I see him; he's helping Klondike Bill and Gordo set up the ring…I'm reading a couple of newspapers and I see a little scuffle, I see some guy slinging around a tennis racket pointing up to the stands, and a couple of other fellows with some really seriously bleached-blond hair and mullets and stuff. Chris comes running up to me, and he says 'Hey man, you got to come down here. They're going to kick me out. They asked me is he a worker, and I said yeah, he's a worker, because if you're not a worker you got to get out of here. And if I've got to leave, then I don't have a ride and I can't train and this is what I want to do man, you gotta get in the ring.' So after him pestering me for a little while, I got down in the ring. And my first day in the ring was that day in Baltimore. I was doing competitive power lifting at the time, and fighting a little bit, but I'm in the ring, and I've got Beautiful Bobby Eaton teaching me how to take a hip toss. And this other fellow climbs in and he's poking me with a tennis racket, it was (Jim) Cornette. And this other big tall fella came in with some spikey blond hair, comes over and introduces himself; it was Sting. All these guys were slacking around, giving me words of advice, and it was all cool. I kinda had a little fun with it, and Chris needed a ride down to The Monster Factory, and we started training there a bit. We were still following WCW around, and we came to the time when Larry Sharpe wanted me and Chris to do a match…Larry says, 'We got to come up with a name for him; a real name for him. He's good looking, he's got some blond hair, he's got those big shoulders, you're a cowboy; Handsome Jimmy Shoulders, yeah that's your name.' So that's what it was and he made me a babyface, so I had to learn what a babyface was. That's really all it was, just go out and be a babyface and do the deal. One day I'm up; one day I'm down. Wrestled Chris a whole lot early on. Then they just turned me heel, which I was just better at. I was a more natural heel; just a little more attitude, and grew the hair longer, got meaner. Terry Funk schooled me a lot; I owe a lot to Terry…That was a good time; I enjoyed it. I mean, Jimmy Shoulders is just a little bit cocky, thinking he's all pretty, he's just your average moron; livin' the dream and doing the deal."
 
How the Kloudi gimmick came about:

"Chris and I used to kid around. We never wanted to work for the WWF. We always wanted to work for WCW, because that just seemed like the better wrestling deal. WWF was just too campy…We used to kid around and say, "I'll paint my ass blue and dance around like a gorilla in the ring if that's what gets me a job…I had come back from (Puerto Rico)…Chris is already up there doing the deal, the Bodydonnas with Tom (Prichard)…and Chris calls me up, he says…'Hey, brother. You remember when you said you would paint your ass blue and jump around the ring like a gorilla?' I said yeah, and he said 'Well, it ain't that bad…Vince wants you in the office on Thursday morning, is going to sign you, you're going to be managing me and Tom because Tammy left and she went over to Phineas Godwin and Henry…You're going to manage us. Then you're going to break out, and when Tammy goes to where she's ending up, and I can't tell you where she's ending up right now but you'll find out come the pay-per-view, she's going to have a whole stable of wrestlers and you're going to be over there heeling with her.' And I'm like, all right…good deal. Now you notice I made no mention in this conversation about Kloudi. So I get up there, I go and pick Chris up, we head up to Stanford, the office…We go into the conference room adjacent to Vince's office, and we got Jim Ross, J.J. Dillon, Bruce Pritchard, Jim Cornette, me, and Chris. We're talking, going back and forth, and out of nowhere, like he got beamed in, here comes Vince. 'Jim, welcome to Titan Sports...So, did Chris inform you and give you some of the details about your character?' So I said I was coming in to manage and then I would be in Sunny's stable with some of the other wrestlers. 'Yeah, but did he explain the character to you?' I said well no, not exactly. Everybody in the room busted out laughing and Jim Cornette laughing the loudest because he knows me…Now, I've already signed the contract, and there's no name to be determined later. 'Well, we're going to call you Kloudi, we're going to dress you up to mock Sunny. You're going to be a little bit darker, bigger, and that.' I go, what? 'We're going to put a wig on you, a skirt, one of those sports bra things, the whole gimmick just like Sunny.' I'm like, are you kidding me? 'Yeah, but then you come out in her stable of wrestlers.' At that point I only had one kid and I wanted to take care of her…and I signed for a decent amount of money, so fine, I'll do it. Chris is like, please, please, please, and Tom, I already spoke with him and he's like I'm quitting if you don't do this; I'm leaving. If you don't do this with us I'm leaving. I loved these two; Chris, I loved him like a little brother, so I'll do it. So, the rib was on me, and there I am, top transgender athlete of the year."

Other topics discussed included: Why did the original plans of him ending up as part of Sunny's stable in the WWF not turn out? His not so fond memories of Tammy Lynn Sytch. Was the Kliq an issue while he was in the WWF? What was the last rib Chris Candido played on him?

Jimmy will be appearing at New England Fan Fest 6 on Saturday, June 2, 2018, in East Providence, Rhode Island. For additional information, go to AllAxxessEntertainment.com .

This interview is available for listening at inyourheadonline.com/viewnews.php?autoid=36009 or https://youtu.be/K9pXrFZc97o .