B-Side Detour: Wrestler-Author Chad R. Martin on Elvis, Storytelling, and the FAFO Podcast

Host Jesse Jackson welcomes Chad Martin, a Texas-born pro wrestler, author, and podcaster, for a B-side episode that steps outside the Springsteen universe into music, memories, and creativity. Chad shares how Elvis Presley shaped his childhood, how he discovered broader music through a mixtape, and how he found pro wrestling’s “magic” after training on carpet over concrete in a sweltering Arkansas building. He explains performing as the heel character Big Daddy Storm, the physical risks and trust required in wrestling, and how storytelling drives both promos and his writing. Chad recounts leaving the corporate world after a health scare in 2012, learning self-publishing, starting a publishing venture with his doctor, and finally finishing his novel Hale County after outlining it. He also discusses writing multiple books at once, launching the FAFO Podcast for open conversations grounded in facts, and answers the Thunder Road “Mary question.”

00:00 B-Side Detour Intro

00:37 Meet Chad and Tangents

01:40 Life Reset in 2012

03:24 Texas Roots and Elvis

06:36 Southern Identity Talk

08:02 Dad's Mixtape Discovery

09:44 Falling for Wrestling

11:15 Brutal Training Days

14:28 First Match Breakthrough

17:40 Big Daddy Storm Persona

20:23 Wrestling as Storytelling