BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?

Subject: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Mar 07 - 07:35 PM

Professional wrestling has got to be one of the oddest sports around these days...a combination of bizarre spectacle, soap opera, weird costumes and gimmicks (such as the Sheik's classic and infamous "Camel Clutch", for instance), phony feuds (and probably some real ones too), some apparently very gullible audiences, a lot of fixed fights, and nevertheless some genuine athletic prowess and real risk of serious injury on the part of the wrestlers.

It strikes me as an odd thing to take up in life, but I guess it helps if you're blessed with an unusually powerful physique and no fear of being seen in an outlandish role.

So I'm wondering if anyone here has personally known any wrestling pros and might have some interesting anecdotes to tell.

Of if not, just name your favorite wrestlers of all time (heros or villains) and why you picked them....

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Mar 07 - 08:08 PM

Milo.

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 12 Mar 07 - 08:54 PM

Edouard Carpentier. Never saw him live - but there was something so cool about that guy - it was like not having any gimmick was his gimmick; plain ordinary wrestling trunks and boots were his costume. And he was above getting involved in feuds and grudge matches. He would whip off these gratuitous acrobatic moves - all kinds of flips - around the periphery of the ring, but he did them as if they were necessary, not as if he were showing off.

Great role model for us kids!

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Mar 07 - 08:57 PM

Liberace.

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Sorcha
Date: 12 Mar 07 - 09:05 PM

I'm sorry, I just can't abide that Spectacle Soap Opera Crap. All rigged, and pretty dirty/crooked too, IMO. Give me real wrestling anytime.

We did have one of the Soap Opera characters as a Mudcat Member for a while...can't remember his handle. He got chopped from the 'sport' tho. Not enough pizzazz I guess. Or total obnoxiousness.

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 12 Mar 07 - 09:25 PM

"All rigged, and pretty dirty/crooked too" - Gee, d'yuh really think so?

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Sorcha
Date: 12 Mar 07 - 09:36 PM

Doh.....

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 12 Mar 07 - 09:38 PM

... a deer, a female deer ...

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Bill D
Date: 12 Mar 07 - 09:40 PM

"All rigged, and pretty dirty/crooked too"
well, yes......but THINK of the timeless prose in the scripts as they posture and insult each other!

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: number 6
Date: 12 Mar 07 - 09:45 PM

Yup ... 2 guys I know up in the Moncton area are professional wrestlers.. They are involved in the Maritime Greyhound Adoption association, which I also belong to. They don't wrestle here in North America, but in over in France. Both earn a significant amount of money wrestling over there... enough, so that economically it allows them to spend time at home with their families. Both are are pretty good level headed guys. Don't look or act freaky, but they are big guys. It's just a well paying job, beats working in a bank or selling cars I guess.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 12 Mar 07 - 09:58 PM

I SWEAR we already had a thread about this, and that we HAD one as a member here.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 12 Mar 07 - 11:36 PM

You got it, Susan, we had a pro wrestler as a member, and he posted a welcome thread introducing himself. Can't remember his handle.

I loved pro wrestling when growing up with it in the mid to late 60's. My #1 favorite was Pepper Gomez, and #2, Bearcat Wright. The top villains then (on the west coast, U.S.) were Kinji Shibuya, and Ray Stevens. Gomez and Stevens had a long-running feud. I was around 12 when I first saw it on TV. I thought it was real, and could hardly believe the authorities would let Shibuya and Gomez have a "death match," which one oftheir bouts was promoted as. Even when I was a little older and questioned whether it was real, it was still fun to watch. It's definitely in the PT Barnum-type tradition. It was great entertainment, and back then there were clearly defined heroes and villains, long before those lines became somewhat blurred. My father took me to San francisco's "Cow Palace," where the big matches were held. A few times I went to the local TV studio where Gomez, etc. were wrestling on live TV. The regular friday night matches in the TV studio in Oakland were essentially promoting the Cow Palace matches. Tickets to the televised ones were free. The studio had its regulars. You could always count on several elderly women in the front row, who were the most vocal of all, yelling "Break his arm!" etc. they were there every week.

The one real negative in the presentation of the 60's matches was the racial stereotyping of Japanese wrestlers. They were always the villains. Same with German wrestlers, as a tag team called "The Von Stroheim Brothers" (sometimes going by another German name) would goose-step around the ring after winning. The promoters were obviously going for WWII generation fans, playing on any anti-Japanese and anti-German sentiment some might have.Someone I knew rom Texas said that there, the Mexican wrestlers in the 60's were cat as villains.

The TV shows would always end with the announcer, Walt harris, saying "Let's go to Miss Wrestling to see next week's lineup." A sexy woman in a swimsuit would then point to a signboard as Harris announced the matches. Who was looking at the signoard?

Compared to today's pro wrestling, it all seemed kind of funky and homegrown, and in a strange way, kind of innocent (except for the racist component).

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 12:08 AM

Yeah, that's the way I remember it from the late 50's, early 60's, kind of innocent, just like you say, Chanteyranger...aside from the racist crap you alluded to.

I had a friend when I was about 10 years old, and we had a wrestling hero that fought the bad guys....but sadly, I cannot remember his name! He was a clean cut looking type with short dark hair (like Superman) and he always fought fair. The "villains" he fought were numerous, usually had long wild hair or a mustache or were bald with a mustache...and they always fought dirty. One was Chico Garcia, a Mexican guy with a huge stomach. Another wrestler I recall from that time was Man Mountain Montana, who was the biggest wrestler on the circuit at the time. He was simply enormous, and he walked that strange line between good guy and bad guy, sometimes one, sometimes the other. He would win bouts simply by landing on his opponents! Given his incredible body mass, that was all that seemed to be necessary....either that or the guy just was too big and unwieldy to have any other good moves. ;-)

It's amusing in retrospect. We took it all quite seriously at age 10.

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: GUEST,M.Ted
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 12:30 AM

I knew a guy who wrestled professionally years ago--he'd been a college wrestler, times were hard, and it was the only job offer that came his way.   The first thing that they did was to create a personality for him--he was a good wrestler, but never went over very well with the audiences because he wasn't a very convincing bad guy.



Here's a story he liked to tell that will give you some perspective on how "fake" it is--in order to bleed, the wrestlers would hide a piece of razor in the waist of their trunks, palm it, and, at the right moment, draw the blade across a part of the forehead where a small cuts generate a lot of blood--"And so the fans thought I was bleeding because he hit me.."

The money was good enough that he put himself through law school, and later became a respected judge--

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: eddie1
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 03:09 AM

To put in a brief UK memory. In Edinburgh there was a dance hall where they had wrestling on, I think, Tuesday evenings. My Dad took me a couple of times. Back then Scottish pubs closed at 10,00pm. I always thought it a miracle that the final bout always finished by 9,40, allowing the adults to squeeze in a couple of pints!
Isn't life wonderful?

Eddie

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 11:17 AM

A pub local to us, the Man and Scythe at Kearsley, now demolished, was owned by 'Wild Angus'. I think his real name was Hoy and his son, Stephen, went to school with my brother. Anyhow, it was a pro wrestlers pub. All the local UK talent used to go in. 'Rollerball' Mark Rocco, Giant Haystacks and a few others. I never realy knew them but saw them quite often as they had a pub darts team that played in the same league as my local. They were quite a sight to behold! Most of them well over six feet and big to boot! Very intimidating to say the least. They did not win all their matches though:-)

Dave

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 01:04 PM

well, Little Hawk...when *I* was young, we knew of "Man Mountain DEAN", but he was before your time...sounds like someone borrowed the name. I watched "Gorgeous George" and "Lou Thesz" a few times. see this site.They were still really wrestling back then....but for TV, it was soon evident that lying on the canvas, struggling for holds was not nearly 'entertaining' enough....wearing spiked costumes and hitting each other with chairs is FAR more interesting..*grin*.

I'd LOVE to see one of those guys go up against the Olympics champion in, say, Greco-Roman...

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 01:21 PM

Down here in Texas there is the ill-fated Von Erich family. Several deaths, I think by suicide. I don't usually look to Wikipedia as a reliable source, but for something as culturally squishy as Pro Wrassling, I think they're an adequate source.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 01:41 PM

Hey, Bill, there have been a whole series of "Man-Mountain-whatever" wrestlers. It's a popular theme. Man Mountain Montana wore farmer-type blue jean overalls with suspenders and a checked shirt and adopted a sort of hillbilly-hayseed persona. You could practically see the stray bits of straw clinging to his shirt and jeans. Kind of like "Haystack Calhoun", another of the same general type. Montana (which means "mountain") was a huge man. He would advance ponderously into the ring, looming up on his opponents like a drifting battleship. Because of his huge body, his head and arms always looked a little undersized in comparison to the rest of him. His standard tactics were to ram the opponent against a turnbuckle, knock them down to the canvas, and then fall on them. Devastating! He was hard to attack, because hitting the guy was like attacking a car-sized medicine ball with your fists. Useless.

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 01:47 PM

You got it, Susan, we had a pro wrestler as a member, and he posted a welcome thread introducing himself. Can't remember his handle.

I guess if he doesn't post in this thread, we can assume he's not still around. Unless he's now A Nonnyguest!

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Wolfgang
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 01:55 PM

Folkmusic and wrestling is the old thread started by BIG BAD JOHN.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 02:12 PM

Thanks!

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Don Firth
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 02:14 PM

Can't say that I know any professional wrestlers all that well.

On one occasion in the late 1940s I had been swimming at the downtown Seattle YMCA and was getting dressed in the locker room, and this huge guy came over and undressed and hung his close in a locker a few down from mine. I was a bit amazed at the size of the guy (about 6'7", 275 lbs or so, and built like Arnold Schwarzenegger's Big Brother). When he finished undressing and headed toward the swimming pool, I called to him.

"Excuse me," sez I, "but I just noticed that you're still wearing your wrist watch."

He glanced at his wrist, saw the watch, and said, "Oh! Thank you. Thank you very much." He had a noticeable accent. Italian.

Then he went to the attendant in the caged booth where one checked one's pocket fodder and valuables (wallet, watch, car keys, etc.) and had him put the watch in the bag with his other stuff. Then he thanked me again as he headed for the pool.

When finished dressing and picked up the stuff I had checked, I commented to the attendant, "My God, that guy is huge!"

"Yeah," said the attendant. "That's Primo Carnera. He's wrestling at the Civic Arena tonight."

Primo Carnera was better known as a boxer, but in 1946 he gave up boxing and became a wrestler. He also tried his hand in Hollywood and appeared in small parts in a number of movies. In 1954, I saw him again in the movie "Prince Valiant" with Robert Wagner, Janet Leigh, and James Mason. Carnera played the Viking tyrant Sligon who had stolen the "singing sword" from Prince Valiant. As I recall, he didn't have many lines, he just loomed a lot.

Apparently Primo Carnera's parents didn't have a whole lot of imagination. He was the first-born son. His brothers were named Secundo, Terzo, Quarto, Quinto. .  .  .

Primo Carnera clowning it up with Bob Hope on the set of "Casanova's Big Night."

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 02:29 PM

I still say Liberace.

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Ebbie
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 02:41 PM

When I was 20-22, the crowd I ran with at the time was into pro wrestling as a spectator sport. There was even a tag team of 'little people'. These 'wrestlers' worked the circuit and over time you saw the same guys time after time.

One guy, named 'Lonnie' somebody, asked my brother and me if we could guess his weight. We both guessed him to be maybe 2050. He said his actual weight was 326 pounds.

One night after the bouts my brother saw all the wrestlers pile into a coupld of cars together. This after all the ranting about enemies and feuds...

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: MMario
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 03:00 PM

Big Bad John

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: catspaw49
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 05:45 PM

When I was a kid pro wrasslin' was pretty big around Columbus as Al Haft, the local promoter lived in Reynoldsburg where I grew up. As it happened, so did several of his wrestlers. Frankie Tolliver was a real local hero, built like a fireplug with a developing beer gut. Haft had a ring set-up in a field behind his restaurant and hotel which adjoined the houses where we lived. Tolliver lived 2 doors away from a friend of mine and he would take a couple of us on those "great" occasions (to a 5th grader) back to the arena and show us how to flip each other and do some other "moves." We kinda' worshipped this guy of course. Then there was Chief Don Eagle who lived a few blocks away and had a daughter in school with me. His name was Don White and he looked no more Native American than most guys but he had a pretty good tan and a massive 6 foot 4 frame packed with lots of muscle and other flesh so to us he looked pretty good.

Years later I got to watching the WWF as it grew in the early eighties and frankly I would have loved a job with them as a script writer! After several years of watching I also had an idea to write some kind of thesis on the side-by-side journey into the American psyche of Big Time TV Wrestling and Big Time TV Religion. As both have suffered ills and declined in more recent years I remain convinced that they share the same fan base and audience.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 05:55 PM

That's an interesting observation, Spaw. I suspect you may be onto something. Not on something...onto something. ;-) Now that makes me wonder if there are any born-again wrasslers out there doing body slams and suplexes for Jesus? It would be a hell of a fine way to put the fear of God in some of them danged unrepentant sinners and terr'ist types!

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: bobad
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 06:03 PM

Hey Spaw, I had always heard that Don Eagle hailed from a Mohawk reservation which was located across the St.Lawrence river from Montreal and upon which I had a a perfect view from my bedroom window. Is this the guy you're referring to?

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: skipy
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 06:10 PM

A couple of lads who work for me went to Amsterdam last week, at least on of them wrestled with a couple of pros, does that count?
Skipy

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: bobad
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 06:11 PM

Little Beaver, now that's a different story.

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: catspaw49
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 06:23 PM

Hey bobad!.....LMAO....Ya' know, that's the second time in this thread where we have had a wrestler using the name of another (I'm sure my guy ripped the name from your guy). This was a popular gambit for lesser knowns. There were also a lot of various Sheiks and Wild "things" of a number of types. Nicknames were "nicked" in equal quantities as I can recall several "Nature Boy" dudes or some minor variation on it (Buddy Rogers, Ric Flair).

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: bobad
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 06:27 PM

Then again Spaw the article says "Eagle's base was Columbus, Ohio and he travelled from territory to territory in a big, long Cadillac that had a 20-foot canoe on top." so maybe it'e the same guy - did you live in Columbus?

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: catspaw49
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 06:58 PM

Yep....I did! And the picture kinda' looks like him but a lot younger than I recall. The age is about right but I swear, my guy went by Don White and his daughter was in school with me. know they moved away in my freshman year (63-64) and I never heard about a suicide. But by then I could have cared less about wrestling and when people moved you lost track of them so I supppose he could be......or not.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 08:20 PM

Okay, here it is...

THE definitive statement on wrestling....

Watch it through, then watch it AGAIN. Un-be-flippin'-LEEV-able. The modern wrestling drama at its ultimate, its tackiest, its most bizarre...

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Ebbie
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 09:43 PM

Lookig up above I see that I surmised that Lonnie weighted more than a ton. That may be somewhat overstated.

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 01:14 AM

Hey, I remember Haystack Calhoun. 400+ pounds, wearing overalls, and his big move, like the guy Little Hawk mentioned, was to sit on his opponent. yeah, there must have been several of that type, or maybe one guy with different names, depending on what region or country he wrestled in?

Thanks for the link, Wolfgang. That was definitely the man I, and I'm sure Susan, were trying to remember.

Anybody remember Pat Patterson? He was, for awhile, teamed with Ray Steverns as the quintesenial "villain" tag team. Bleach blonde, scowling, sequined robe and all. When in the car with my dad, going across the SF/Oakland Bay bridge, Patterson was in the car in the next lane during slow traffic. I rolled down my window, and, although I was pretty sure it was him, I asked him anyway, "Are you Pat Patterson?" He scowled at me and nodded yes. To his credit, he didn't break character...or he was genuinely pissed off at the slow traffic. He has the distinction of sharing his name with a Mudcatter (but I won't give away his moniker).

Other wrestlling regulars on the west coast (and maybe elsewhere?): Midget "Little Beaver," Designated loser Larry Williams, who was always thrown in with the villains, to get everyone riled up and eager to buy tickets to the Cow Palace, to see the villain get creamed. "Sure, he can beat Williams, but wait til he gets in with...."
The Destroyer, a masked villain who was always introduced as "From parts unknown, it's The Destroyer." The most hilarious tag team were two masked pot-bellied guys, who were announced as "two San Francisco businessmen" who could not reveal their real indentities.

Funny how the referees were always useless, and what did the "ring doctor" do but sit at a table with a stethoscope, and every week the table would break in two as someone got his head smashed into it.

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: fat B****rd
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 03:34 AM

Lord ! This takes me back to the 50s when I became a Boxing fan and bought large back issues of The Ring and Boxing & Wrestling. I can even remember the smell of the Newsagents. I was fascinated by such as Yukon Eric, Killer Kowalski and SKi Hi Lee etc. We had TV wrestling on Granada here in the UK but the only name I can remember being Judo Al Hayes, who I believe was a commentator on the WWF programmes. I noddod once to The Buffalo Kid whowas from Cleethorpes but I never knew what became of him.
Later when Rikki Starr and Billy Two Rivers were popular the Saturday afternoon "Grappling" was a must for me for years. Remember Kent Walton ?.

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: GUEST,Darowyn
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 04:12 AM

My Sister used to live opposite the house in Leeds owned by Relwisko (I can't remember how to spell it) and Green who were the promoters of Saturday afternoon Wrestling on UK TV in the sixties- with Kent Walton!
As such, it was a regular occurrence to see Giant Haystacks, Big Daddy, and all of that generation of UK wrestlers in the local Chip shop round the corner.
They were perfect gentlemen without exception- when you are that big you can afford to be!
Cheers
Dave

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: wilbyhillbilly
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 04:18 AM

Ah sweet memories, Kent Walton, Saturday afternoon on the telly on Cup Final day.

Most times it was wrestling on first with the big "grudge" match between Jackie Pallo and Mick McManus as the star attraction.

Remember it well (I think), it was a long time ago.


whb

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 04:56 AM

Thanks for the link Little Hawk - that was brilliant! Sad that Kaufman got cancer not long after - they could have kept that going for years!

If you believe they put at man on the moon,
man on the moon...

Dave

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: catspaw49
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 06:24 AM

Yeah, Kaufman had a thing going but it wore thin quickly. Frankly, I hated the guy.......thought he was creative, daring, occasionally brilliant, and an asshole of the first order....and the second order....and the third....in other words a leader in the World Asshole Society, the proud recipient of the Dumbfuck Medal with Dipshit clusters. Most of those who sing his praises haven't got enough brains to chase a chicken down a staircase with a broom.

And yeah CR, I know Pat Patterson.....see him everyday in the mirror!(:<))

Last nite I bummed around the net looking for more on Don Eagle and also Frankie Tolliver and found some films available through ESPN and someone else but also the list of names from several eras really brought back all the "humor" and crappola about "rasslin'." Check out some of these names.....you'll love it!

C1 Ric Flair vs Harley Race CAGE MATCH
C2 Bruno Sammartino vs Otto Von Heller   
C3 Sheik vs Tiger Jeet Singh MUD MATCH
C4 Randy Savage vs Jerry Lawler CAGE MATCH
C5 Randy Savage vs Terry Taylor   
C6 Rick McGraw vs Tony Sousa   
C7 Sheik vs Chief Tapu   
C8 Crusher Blackwell vs Jerry Lawler   
C9 Eddie Gilbert vs Lanny Poffo   
C10 Bob Geigel vs Cowboy Bob Ellis   
C11 Terry Funk vs Sonny Rogers   
C12 Cowboy Bob Ellis vs Ken Russell   
C14 Randy Savage, Lanny Poffo vs Interns TAG-TEAM MATCH


B & W Single Matches

B1 Fritz Von Erich vs Whipper Billy Watson (special referee: Rocky Marciano)
B2 Gorgeous George vs Frankie Tolliver (special referee: Jack Dempsey)
B3 Wrestling Workouts (23 minutes) (Counts as one match) rookie Nick Bockwinkle, Lord Athol Layton, Lord James Blears, Wilbur Snyder, Joe Blanchard, Great Bolo, Kubla Khan
B4 Lou Thesz vs Argentina Rocca
B5 Pat O'Connor vs Jack Wilson
B6 Verne Gagne vs Hans Schmidt
B7 Jim Londos vs Bronko Nagurski
B8 Bruno Sammartino vs Hans Schmidt
B9 Happy Humphrey vs Jack McArthur
B10 Gorgeous George vs Jesse James
B11 Woody Strode vs Eric Pomeroy
B12 Sheik vs Bobo Brazil
B13 Fred Blassie vs Wild Red Berry
B14 Fritz Von Erich vs Beast
B15 Dick the Bruiser vs Beast
B16 Ali Pasha vs Pat Mehein
B17 Ruffy Silverstein vs Mr. Moto
B18 Dan Miller vs Pat Flannigan
B19 Fritz Von Erich vs Bobo Brazil
B20 Bobo Brazil vs Duke Keomuka
B21 Fritz Von Erich vs Yukon Eric
B22 Ricki Starr vs Frank Fozo
B23 Whipper Billy Watson vs Chief Chewaki
B24 Lord Athol Layton vs Baron Gattoni
B25 Edouard Carpentier vs Mike Gallagher
B26 Bobo Brazil vs Sky Hi Lee
B27 Fritz Von Erich vs Magnificent Maurice
B28 Killer Joe Christy vs Don Evans
B29 Edouard Carpentier vs Al Schiller
B30 Don Eagle vs Dan Miller
B31 Angelo Poffo vs Pepper Martin
B32 Great Scott vs Mac Daniels
B33 Joe Blanchard vs Pierre LaSalle
B34 Leo Garibaldi vs Don Lewin
B35 lio DiPaolo vs Hans Schmidt
B36 Bearcat Wright vs Bulldog Brower
B37 Sailor Art Thomas vs Mighty Atlas
B38 Mildred Burke vs Mae Weston
B39 Argentina Rocca vs General Homer O'Dell
B40 Lord James Blears vs Enrique Romero
B41 Fred Atkins vs Roy McClarity
B42 Ilio DiPaolo vs Dr. Bill Miller
B43 Fritz Von Erich vs Bobby Brown
B44 Frank Brown vs Golden Terror
B45 Killer Kowalski vs Hans Schmidt
B46 Buddy Rogers vs Chief Big Heart
B47 Gene Kiniski vs Jess Ortega
B48 Argentina Rocca vs Hans Schmidt
B49 Gene Kiniski vs Joe Blanchard
B50 Sandor Szabo vs John Sullivan



B & W Tag Matches
B51 Fabulous Kangaroos (Costello & Heffernan) vs Moose Cholaka and Mighty Atlas
B52 Gallagher Brothers(Mike & Doc) vs Stanlee Brothers (Gene & Steve)
B53 Lisowski Brothers (Reggie & Mike) vs Bobo Brazil and Yukon Eric
B54 Sheik and Crusher vs Rudy Kay and Sky Hi Lee
B55 Gallagher Brothers (Mike & Doc) vs Tony Marino and Pat Flannigan
B56 Fabulous Kangaroos (Costello & Heffernan) vs Miller Brothers (Dr. Bill & Ed)
B57 Pepper Gomez and Bobby Managoff vs Duke Keomuka and Danny McShane
B58 Gallagher Brothers (Mike & Doc) vs Bobo Brazil and Billy "Red" Lyons
B59 Gallagher Brothers vs Kalmikoff Brothers
B60 Gallagher Brothers (Mike & Doc) vs Dick Beyers (Destroyer) and Bobby Brown
B61 Fred Blassie and Warren Bockwinkle vs Mr. Moto and Joe Pasandak
B62 Fred Blassie and Wilbur Snyder vs Wild Red Berry and Jack McDonald

ESPN Classic Wrestling | 6/9/01 | EX (Master) | 50 Minutes | Taped From TV
(Best Of Three Falls match) Gorgeous George vs. Frankie Tolliver
ESPN Classic Wrestling | 6/23/01 | EX (Master) | 50 Minutes | Taped From TV
(Best Of Three Falls match) Bobo Brazil/Art Thomas/Dory Dixon vs. Johnny Barend/Magnificent Maurice/Buddy Rogers
(Best Of Three Falls match) Moose Cholak vs. Larry Chene
ESPN Classic Wrestling | 6/30/01 | EX (Master) | 50 Minutes | Taped From TV
(Best Of Three Falls match) Art Thomas/Dory Dixon vs. Johnny Barend/Magnificent Maurice
(Best Of Three Falls match) Buddy Rogers vs. Killer Kowalski
(Best Of Three Falls match) Moose Cholak vs. Black Bart
ESPN Classic Wrestling | 7/7/01 | EX (Master) | 50 Minutes | Taped From TV
(Best Of Three Falls match) Hans Hermann vs. Miguel Perez
(Handicap match) Johnny Valentine vs. Crusher Lisowski/Bad Boy Joe
Billy Goelz/Johnny Gilbert vs. Strangler O'Dell/Jack Owen
Luis Martinez vs. Nikolai Volkoff
ESPN Classic Wrestling | 7/14/01 | EX (Master) | 50 Minutes | Taped From TV
(Best Of Three Falls match) Jack Owen/Lou Albano vs. Sweet Daddy Siki/Art Thomas
Gorgeous George vs. Ilio Dipaolo
Sonny Boy Cassidy vs. Farmer Pete
Betty Hawkins vs. June Byers
Pepper Gomez vs. Dick The Bruiser
The Fabulous Kangaroos (Al Costello/Roy Heffernan)/Jerry Graham vs. Miguel Perez/Ricky Starr/Argentina Rocca
Argentina Rocca/Miguel Perez vs. Eddie Graham/Jerry Graham
ESPN Classic Wrestling | 7/21/01 | EX (Master) | 50 Minutes | Taped From TV
Bobo Brazil vs. Johnny Kace
The Mongol vs. Danny Ferraza
Paul Christy vs. Johnny Gates
Larry Chene vs. Gary Hart
Edouard Carpentier vs. Killer Kowalski
ESPN Classic Wrestling | 7/28/01 | EX (Master) | 50 Minutes | Taped From TV
(Best Of Three Falls match) The Bavarian Boys (Rudy Jacobs/Harry Wenzel) vs. Brute Bernard/Skull Murphy
(Best Of Three Falls match) Moose Cholak vs. Bobo Brazil
ESPN Classic Wrestling | 8/4/01 | EX (Master) | 50 Minutes | Taped From TV
Hans Hermann vs. John Paul Henning
Johnny Kace vs. Jim Hady
Moose Cholak vs. Karl Engstrom
Ricky Cortez vs. Hank Lane
ESPN Classic Wrestling | 8/11/01 | EX (Master) | 50 Minutes | Taped From TV
(Best Of Three Falls match) Mark Lewin/Don Curtis vs. Jose Bentancourt/Santiago Acosta
Sweet Daddy Siki vs. Fred Atkins
Art Thomas vs. Ray Fields
(Best Of Three Falls match) Johnny Gilbert vs. Nikolai Volkoff
ESPN Classic Wrestling | 8/18/01 | EX (Master) | 50 Minutes | Taped From TV
(Best Of Three Falls match) The Bavarian Boys (Rudy Jacobs/Harry Wenzel) vs. Gary Hart/Count Wallenski
Paul Christy vs. Kurt Von Stroheim
The Mongol vs. Hank Lane
Larry Chene vs. Red Kelly
ESPN Classic Wrestling | 8/25/01 | EX (Master) | 50 Minutes | Taped From TV
Moose Cholak vs. Fred Atkins
Angelo Poffo vs. Jose Bettencourt
Art Thomas vs. Mighty Atlas
Crusher Lisowski vs. Karl Engstrom
ESPN Classic Wrestling | 9/8/01 | EX (Master) | 50 Minutes | Taped From TV
Porky The Pig vs. Jack Slade
(Women's Boxing match) Lucille Dupree vs. Kay Casey
Jim Arnett vs. J.B. Psycho
Haystacks Calhoun vs. Tim Brooks
ESPN Classic Wrestling | 9/15/01 | EX (Master) | 50 Minutes | Taped From TV
El Brecero vs. Gary Fulton
Bobo Brazil vs. Michael Angelo
Brute Bernard vs. Hank James
The Sheik vs. Mark Lewin
Two Ring Battle Royal
ESPN Classic Wrestling | 9/22/01 | EX (Master) | 50 Minutes | Taped From TV
Bob Orton, Jr. vs. Jesse Barr
The Iron Sheik vs. Buddy Landell
The Samoans (Afa/Sika) vs. Bob Roop/Ted DiBiase
Mike George vs. Luke Graham
Vinnie Romeo vs. The Great Kabuki
Ted DiBiase vs. The Great Kabuki
Kerry Von Erich/Jimmy Garvin vs. Carl Fergie/Bob Orton, Jr.
Ken Mantell vs. Bill Irwin
ESPN Classic Wrestling | 9/29/01 | EX (Master) | 50 Minutes | Taped From TV
(Best Of Three Falls match) Rudy Kay/Sky Hi Lee vs. The Sheik/Crusher Lisowski
Ricky Starr vs. Frank Fozo

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: catspaw49
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 06:33 AM

ALSO......Looking through the names I got to remembering all the nicknames. Shall we play? I'll start off witha few and then you can add on.

Jesse "The Body" Ventura
"Wildfire" Tommy Rich
"Leapin' Lanny" Poffo
"Macho Man" Randy Savage
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper
Jerry "The King" Lawler

I'll stop there and let the rest of you go. Don't forget "The Snake" and the "Ravishing" one(:<))

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: 3refs
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 06:47 AM

Well, I guess I could say I hit the jackpot when it comes to having met the who's who. My Uncle was the manger of our local arena(N of Toronto)in the 50's, 60's and early 70's. It was one of the first arenas to have a large banquet hall as part of the facility so not only did we get the attractions that usually fill arenas, I got to meet a few international as well as Canadian celebrities.

As for the wrestlers, I'll begin with my all time favorite, "Whipper" Billy Watson. "British Commonwealth Champion". If the Mountie on the post card was ever a wrestler, he'd have been the Whipper. Hollywood good lookin, big barrel chest and just as nice as can be.

Andre "The Giant". I got to stand where others couldn't at the rink and I just can't tell you how awe struck I was when he approached me to supposedly shake my hand. Now my Dad and Uncles(mom's side), were all hockey and lacrosse players and were big guys. They looked like little children compared to him. I'd saddled up horses that were smaller than he was. Anyway, Andre put his hand on the top of my head and just picked me up, grabbed my ankle, flipped me over and attempted to shake money loose from my pocket. I was in heaven!

I've met, just to name of few more, "Sweet Daddy Shiki", "Haystack Calhoun", "Mad Dog Vachon"(and his brother), "The Golden Greek" Chris Tolis, "The Canadian Wildman" and his bear, "The Sheik", "Whipper Jr", Stu Hart, Gene Kinisky, Stan "The Man" Stasiak and "The Love Brothers". I could go on and on(but won't).

Take wrestling for what it is. It's not Roman Greco, Freestyle or Pankration, it's entertainment. I think it was in the 50's that the wrestling promoters finally had to admit that wrestling matches were predetermined. But, I was able to get close enough to know that ya, the good guys always won, but every once in a while someone would really kick the shit out of someone in the squared circle.

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Riginslinger
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 09:25 AM

I was hitch-hiking up Interstate 5 in Oregon one time, and Haystack Calhoun stopped and gave me a ride. Mostly he talked about motorcycles.

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 09:28 AM

My parents knew Whipper Billy Watson when I was really a little guy, but I was too young to remember much about it afterward. They said he was a real gentleman. I suspect that most wrestlers are pretty nice guys offstage, because, after all, they get to express and blow off all their rowdiness and hostility on the job! Most people don't have that luxury. ;-)

Andy Kaufman was weird. I think he would have been quite annoying to work with, to say the least, but occasionally downright hilarious. I'll say this, though, his Elvis imitation was absolutely brilliant...as good or better than seeing the real Elvis.

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 09:48 AM

By the way, has anyone noticed that Andy Kaufman himself pronounced his surname "cowf-man", while everyone else pronounced it "cough-man"?

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: GUEST,ib48
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 07:37 PM

no

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 08:11 PM

Well, listen a little closer then. He pronounces it "cowf-man", as it would be pronounced in Europe. It's a Germanic or central European name. "au" is pronounced like the word "ow" in those languages, not like the word "awe".

Subject: RE: BS: Pro wrestlers....anybody know one?
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 14 Mar 07 - 08:42 PM

Little Hawk - does it count that I (yes, me) appeared a "wrestling manager" ( a type of on-stage character) for several years in a Southwestern league? I got conned into it by a few actual wrestlers who I met via Johnny Legend (not John legend) who is/was himself a "wrestling personality." Johnny made it all so much fun that I just ran with it as a hobby for a few years.

I appeared in a many matches, sometimes getting roped into wrestling with the men. I did one very elaborate set piece with a tag team of male wrestlers that involved leaping on one of their backs, getting twirled over his head all while beating him with my high heeled shoe. I was a martial artist at the time and I wasn't in any real danger. I wouldn't do too much of that though because accidents do happen. I also appeared in several Wrestling magazines and on a number of local TV shows about Wrestling. At the time I was young, svelte and considered pretty. It was fun to play dress up and hear hundreds of people shouting your name. I gave it up after the adulation became unpleasant and the planning of my wedding took over my weekends and evenings.

Boys and men lined up waiting to get my autograph on the way out of the venue were originally polite and sweet. I had a big following amongst young Latina girls. (don't ask me why - I was very white and very irish even then). When the family atmosphere eroded and the boys and men became the predominate audience, it was not uncommon to have them reach and grab your long hair from behind the cage while you were performing. Then they began to toss condoms at me and the other women. I believe this coincided with an influx of Bondage themes and Dominatrix type characters. They egged the boys on towards this kind of crass behavior. It became tiresome to have to be escorted in and out of the venue by big beefy guys and to not be able to walk from the parking lot to the locker rooms without security. i don't think those boys tossing condoms were there for me - they were there simply to have a chance to act out on a vulgar impulse. The new girls encouraged it and reacted with displays of sexually provacative behavior. it was only a matter of time before the fun came to an end.

By 1996, I was out of wrestling completely. My style was very old Hollywood. I had been schooled in the wrestling arts by a woman who struck a very Rita Hayworth-eseque figure and she tried to style me after veronica lake. Evenutually, we were asked to tart it up a bit and I made an appearance at one show wearing thigh high boots and wrestlers body suit. I wore jacket with tails for that costume but I really hated the way the audience behaved. When I wore gowns with opera gloves, I was treated like a lady.

The funny thing is, that's the costume I began with but in 1993, the audience was just happy to see a woman in the ring - they didn't treat us like prostitutes. Oddly enough, the women who got into wrestling after me WERE former prostitutes. They'd work shows in the afternoon and then go work in an area dungeon or bondage show in the evening. The last time I saw two of those gals, they were working the lunch crowd at a local biker bar wearing Fredericks of hollywood type lingerie. I assume they were waitressing, but then, ya never know.

How's that for more info than you would have suspected you'd get?

I can upload some photos to a file-sharer at some point. I enjoyed the adventure and the costumes. Most of the male wrestlers were family men and I had fun with them. i only left when the scene got ugly and became an offshoot of the fetish lifestyle.

Raise your hand if you never thought I'd have done something like this?