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| Pro wrestler Bull Miller (left) with his manager Wimpy Watson. |
At age 45, Tom "Bull" Miller can still walk through a curtain, door or into a crowd of wrestling fans and his character is immediately known – he’s a bad guy. Always has been. Always will be.
From his walk, to his stance, to his actions in a professional wrestling ring, Miller makes a living as the person wrestling fans love to hate.
"I was a bad guy my hole career. I enjoyed what I did," Miller said. "I could do things in the ring the way I wanted to do them. It was a lot more fun to punch and kick than to use a hammer lock."
Fans of professional wrestling might find it hard to believe Miller actually got his start on the wrestling team at Groveport Madison High School under coach Ron Miller in the late 1970s.
"I always enjoyed wrestling. I liked the roughness and the toughness of it all. Coach Miller instilled that in us," Miller said.
"Bull’s presence – you know he’s a wrestler," said tag team partner, Bad Boy Malloy. "He’s not going to go 100 mph, fly off the ropes and do somersaults. You know when you see Bull coming to the ring that he’s a real wrestler. Your looking at a mean wrestler who’s going to get in there and brawl. You don’t see a lot of that anymore."
Miller has wrestled all over the country and has stepped into the ring with such stars as Wildfire Tommy Rich, Honky Tonk Man and Road Warrior Animal. But he says the match that really got his name out there was a 1994 contest against wrestling legend Bobo Brazil. The Springfield, Ohio contest was to be Brazil’s last match, ending a 40 year run, and he requested Miller as his opponent.
Before the start of the match Brazil was receiving a lifetime achievement award from ringside when Miller jumped him from behind. The referee called for the bell to start the match as the two wrestlers brawled all over the building. In an effort to get at Miller, Brazil pushed the referee and was disqualified.
Today Miller wrestles mostly for the International Wrestling Alliance (IWA). Time Warner subscribers can watch the antics of Miller and other IWA performers on the WUAB on Thursdays at 6.30 p.m. The IWA also promotes monthly events in Columbus. For information visit IWAwrestling.com
Miller will next see action in Columbus at Screamin’ Willie’s on Dec. 8 at 3 p.m. when he and his partner Bad Boy Malloy, will wrestle The Black Superman – Onyx and Joe Joe Little for the IWA Tag Team Title. Tickets are $10 at the door or $8 advance with advance tickets available at all Massey’s Pizza locations. Kids 10 and under are free.
The title contest will be fought in what is known as a "Barbed Wire Death Match" where the ring is surrounded by barbed wire and everything will be legal.
"We are going to murder those bums!" said Miller.
