A retired pro-wrestling star has taken his act to an unusual arena—the subway. Underground, fame is as fleeting as an A train. NY1's Jose Martinez filed this report.
Mike Jones, in his heyday, wrestled before tens of thousands of fans in arenas and millions more watching at home.
Today, Mike Jones is just another guy hustling in the subway, almost everyone passing him by.
Jones wrestled under the name "Virgil." In the late 80s and early 90s, he gained fame as a sidekick to ring villain "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase.
On Wednesday, he would have gladly settled for a few bucks from commuters going to and from the 42nd Street Shuttle.
He tried to look on the bright side.
"They still recognize you, man. They still recognize you after 20 years, because you keep yourself in shape, so you still look good," he says.
The retiree pocketed a few bucks posing for pictures, but this was a tough crowd. Although he still looks like the hulking, chiseled wrestler he once was, most people ignored him.
"Cheaper people ride the subway," he says.
Jones is not the first marquee name of some sort to barely move the needle with jaded straphangers.
When pop star Brandy broke into song on the train recently, she was ignored.
Jones says he's from Pennsylvania, and occasionally comes into the city to pose for pictures, sign autographs and hawk merchandise in the subway and elsewhere. He says he makes his real money on the convention circuit.
"When you're at these big car shows and these Comic-Cons, they come and they know you, know what I mean? Don't have to wave nothing around because they know you and they see you," Jones says.
Just like his old partner, "the Million Dollar Man" used to say: "Everybody's got a price," but it doesn't mean they have to pay it for Virgil.