Harley Race

 

This is the face of a man who was as dedicated to the art of violence as one could be in his day; you would be foolish to doubt his physical toughness. Harley Race had a legendary in-ring career spanning over thirty years, in which he held the NWA world heavyweight championship NINE times! That was rather impressive back when I first read about Harley in The Pictorial History of Wrestling as a little kid in the mid '80s. Although only seven of his nine reigns were reported on back then—the other two took place on overseas tours of Japan and Australia—nobody else in the True Sport of Kings had tasted world championship gold on as many occasions as Handsome Harley Race.

George Napolitano's above photo gave me my first impression of Harley Race—he looked like the meanest, nastiest man alive. I wouldn't have wanted to meet him alone in broad daylight, let alone a dark alley! Harley came off like a low-level hit man for the local mob; not the kind of guy you wanted looking for you to settle up your gambling debts. I wasn't sure how a guy like Ric Flair could have survived a cage match with Harley to become the NWA world champion and the promotion's standard-bearer. I had to see that for myself one day. 

Harley came aboard the WWF in 1986 about a month after WrestleMania II. This was one of my first lessons in how an individual wrestler's accomplishments didn't seem to matter prior to their World Wrestling Federation debut. Harley Race was a multi-time titleholder and a clear threat to Hulk Hogan's WWF championship reign, but you wouldn't know that to hear the commentators passively refer to him as one of the great ring veterans. Only an educated wrestling fan would know why Race was one of the greats; viewers unfamiliar with wrestling outside of the WWF had no idea. Harley also came off as a senior citizen compared to much of the WWF's younger roster. I came to the conclusion that he was in the twilight of his career and picking up a good paycheck headbutting inexperienced jobbers on the WWF's Saturday morning TV. There was no fault in that. Everyone deserves a chance to make some money in their field.

Race defeated another former world champion in Pedro Morales in the finals of the July 1986 King of the Ring tournament, earning the crown as the WWF's way of acknowledging his past accomplishments. He would force his opponents to bow and kiss his boot after dispatching them on TV, demanding that they respect the King's wrestling royalty. This went on until Harley ran afoul of the Junkyard Dog, a man of the people who refused to kowtow to the King. Race and the Dog embarked on a rivalry that culminated in a match at WrestleMania III, in which the loser was to bow to the winner. Although the JYD came out on the losing end, he remained true to his word and still refused to bow down by beating up the King and stealing his royal crown and robe. This wasn't one of Harley's better moments, but I imagine that it proved to the WWF braintrust that he could play their games if needed.

One match seemed to briefly restore Harley Race to his former glory, although it ultimately ended his in-ring career—the infamous bout against Hulk Hogan on an early 1988 broadcast of Saturday Night's Main Event. Harley hung in there against the WWF champion, holding up his end of the match nicely and taking it to the Hulkster. Race was starting to look like the world champion of old when he had Hogan draped across a ringside table, readying him for one of Harley's falling headbutts from the ring apron. However, Hogan was able to move out of the way in time and Race crashed directly into the table. You could hear the table splinter as the metal edge forced its way into Harley's abdomen, causing a hernia that kept him out of action for much of the year. He would return to the ring at the 1988 Survivor Series, but would leave the WWF in 1989 after losing to King Haku at the Royal Rumble.

Harley Race hung up his boots in the spring of 1991 after working in Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council (WWC), Stampede Wrestling in Calgary, All Japan Pro Wrestling, the AWA, and WCW. He sustained a shoulder injury during a WCW house show in December of 1990, compelling him into retirement from in-ring action. Harley returned as a manager at the 1991 Great American Bash, leading Lex Luger to the WCW world heavyweight championship. He would also manage Big Van Vader to world title status in 1992, adding an extra edge of credibility to the Mastodon's presence.

I would learn a lot more about Harley Race's pre-WWF wrestling career and legitimate tough guy reputation as I got online and began reading stories taken from various books and shoot interviews. All of the tales I heard about Harley confirmed what I had imagined about him when I first saw that photo of him in The Pictorial History of Wrestling as an eight-year-old. Maybe he wasn't a bona fide Mafia hit man, but he certainly was something of one for the wrestling industry in his days as the NWA world heavyweight champion. Harley Race remains one of my prototypes for what wrestlers used to look like and represent before the WWF's national expansion made professional wrestling more image-conscious and family-friendly.

Rhino

 

I like going back and watching 2000-era ECW shows in no small part due to Rhino’s rise to the top that year. He began his ECW run as Steve Corino’s unpolished rookie monster, but it was not long before he came into his own as an unstable, psychotic heel capable of committing acts of incredible violence. Rhino’s feud with the Sandman was particularly brutal. He seemed to find new ways to destroy the Sandman with each encounter, driving the ECW veteran through tables with one of the best spear tackles in the business that Rhino dubbed the Gore. Rhino even tormented the Sandman by abusing his wife Lori Fullington, repeatedly Goring her through tables and even piledriving her through one at ringside during the Hardcore Heaven 2000 PPV!

Rhino’s future looked bright at ECW’s Guilty as Charged 2001 PPV. He interrupted a tag team match between Balls Mahoney & Chilly Willy vs. Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger, destroying everyone involved with Gores. Porn star Jasmin St. Claire even felt the Man-Beast’s wrath! Rhino piledrove her through a ringside table, claiming that doing so was a bigger turn-on than a sexual encounter with the onetime gangbang queen! Rhino continued to make his presence felt after the main event, in which the Sandman won the ECW world heavyweight championship in a hard-fought three-way TLC match against Steve Corino and Justin Credible. Sandman had been through quite a battle to regain the belt; Rhino took advantage of the brand-new champion’s beaten and bloodied state to issue an impromptu challenge and win the ECW world title. Rhino was also the ECW world television champion at the time, making the Big F’n Deal the first wrestler to hold both of ECW’s singles titles simultaneously. ECW had lost their TV deal with TNN several months before Guilty as Charged, prompting Rhino to relinquish the television title belt. “We’re not even on fuckin’ TV,” the Man-Beast growled as he tossed the championship belt to the ring canvas.

Rhino never lost the ECW world heavyweight championship—Guilty as Charged was the promotion’s last PPV and ECW’s final live event took place later that week. Rhyno would then show up in the WWF, aligning himself with Edge & Christian and assisting them in defeating the Dudleys and the Hardys for the tag team titles in a memorable TLC match at WrestleMania XVII. Most of us probably had no idea that Rhyno was part of the THUG Life stable with Edge & Christian on the Canadian indie circuit years before signing with ECW. Rhyno would become a three-time WWF hardcore champion in 2001 and showed some promise in a feud with Chris Jericho, in which the Man-Beast Gored Y2J through the stage set on an August episode of SmackDown. Unfortunately, Rhyno had to undergo cervical fusion surgery for two herniated discs in his neck in November of 2001. He would be out of action for sixteen months. Rhyno returned to WWE in February of 2003, but was never taken seriously as a main event threat again.

Personally, I never really felt like Rhyno fit in very well in the WWF/WWE. His place was most definitely in ECW where he was free to rampage through the roster in a psychotic fury. Rhyno looked smaller and less formidable in the WWE rings where he was routinely dwarfed by men standing over six feet tall. I was disappointed to see Rhyno slide down the card into irrelevance when he had been positioned as a top heel in ECW just a few years prior. WWE released Rhyno from his contract after WrestleMania XXI, freeing him up to regain some of his edge in TNA. Rhino would briefly hold the NWA world heavyweight championship while in TNA, trading it with Jeff Jarrett.

When WWE opted to bring ECW back under their umbrella, Rhino went on TNA television to make an open challenge to anyone involved with ECW’s current incarnation for the world heavyweight title that he never lost. He produced the old ECW world championship hidden in a burlap sack, stating that WWE threatened him with legal action if he showed the actual belt on TV. Rhino then proceeded to toss the sack into an oil drum, setting it on fire in disgust with the direction of the new ECW. Perhaps Rhino was saying what many of us were thinking at the time.

Rock 'n' Wrestling: Beast from the East

I first read about Bam Bam in the March
1987 issue of Wrestling Power.

I couldn’t get enough information about professional wrestling as a young fan, so I would pester any adult I knew to buy me the various magazines that littered newsstand shelves. WWF Magazine was cool, but I also needed to know what else was going on in the NWA, AWA, UWF, World Class, and other regional promotions around the country and in Puerto Rico. Plenty of magazines served their purpose, but Wrestling Power (edited by an upstart photographer named Paul Heyman) was particularly enjoyable because it featured the bloodiest photos in the business. My parents didn’t approve of the blood, but Wrestling Power was also the only magazine I read that actively profiled new grapplers making waves on the northeastern independent circuit. This was where I first read about a 25-year-old rookie with seemingly limitless potential called Bam Bam Bigelow.

Bam Bam looked like the real-life prototype for a

Bam Bam Bigelow makes the WWF
magazine cover in November of 1987.

cartoon schoolyard bully—a big kid with a mean baby face and a bald head with flames tattooed in place of hair! He was a New Jersey tough guy with no job skills and a bad reputation around town, so he found work as a bounty hunter. Wrestling Power wrote of one bounty that took him to Mexico and immediately went awry. Apparently, the woman he was pursuing had made connections with the local federales, which led to a shootout that claimed her life. Bigelow nearly died from a bullet wound in the back, which was enough to make him reconsider career choices. He became a product of the Monster Factory, an appropriately-named wrestling school in New Jersey run by onetime journeyman wrestler “Pretty Boy” Larry Sharpe. Bam Bam weighed nearly 400 pounds, but was capable of athletic feats in the ring seldom seen from men his size. When the tide was on his side, he would spring into a cartwheel to taunt his opponents just because he could. Wrestling Power wrote of “the Nuclear Splash,” his top rope dive that was said to get as much air as the legendary Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka. I had never seen a 400-pound man as much as THINK about climbing to the top rope, so I could not wait to see Bam Bam Bigelow deliver the Nuclear Splash on one of my local affiliate stations.

Bam Bam Bigelow delivers the Nuclear Splash!

I didn’t have to wait long. Bigelow came aboard the WWF about a year later after a strange run in World Class. Nobody was sure why Bigelow had suddenly become the evil Russian Crusher Yurkoff after Sports Illustrated had written about him in the September 1986 issue, but that was just one of a number of increasingly questionable WCCW promotional decisions. Bam Bam’s WWF arrival was a big deal. Everyone from Bobby “The Brain” Heenan to Slick wanted to manage his contract, each knowing that he could mold Bigelow into a potential threat to Hulk Hogan’s championship reign. However, the Beast from the East brought out Sir Oliver Humperdink, previously known for managing a number of misfit brawlers in the Florida and Mid-Atlantic territories. I was happy to see him and looked forward to his ascent to the top, but he disappeared less than a year later after stalling out in the mid-card.

 Andre the Giant teaches Bam Bam Bigelow a lesson in humility

before the Madison Square Garden faithful, June 1988.

Teaming with Hulk Hogan made a young Bam Bam Bigelow
a lot of money...and got him in hot water with Andre the Giant!

What I didn’t know was that Bam Bam almost immediately began teaming with Hulk Hogan on untelevised events, making more money on one paycheck than he probably ever had in his life. Some of the WWF locker room veterans took exception to the new kid’s attitude, deciding that he needed to learn a lesson or two in humility. Andre the Giant particularly disliked him, so he never reacted to Bigelow’s offense in the ring and apparently nearly killed him for real during a match one night at Madison Square Garden. That effectively ended Bigelow’s chances of a WWF main event push, so he resurfaced briefly in the NWA before finding more success in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Bam Bam Bigelow was a welcome addition when he returned to WWF television in the early ‘90s, but I never felt that he was used to his highest potential. I always wanted to see Bam Bam as the WWF’s unstoppable monster heel; the more athletic version of his former New Japan tag team partner Big Van Vader who was destroying everyone WCW threw his way during that time. Although Bigelow’s work in his WrestleMania XI match against former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor is highly regarded within the wrestling industry, I felt like his defeat made it hard for WWF-centric fans to take him seriously again.

Bigelow vs. Sabu on ECW Hardcore TV, November 1997

Bam Bam stalks Taz in their FTW death match,
ECW Heat Wave 1998.

Bam Bam’s 1997-98 run with Extreme Championship Wrestling was the best utilization of his talents; it made many of us forget about WrestleMania XI. He was able to be the biggest dog in the yard and his opponents looked like absolute beasts in the ring against him. Every later era ECW fan knows of his fantastic television championship clashes with Taz and Rob Van Dam respectively. Those moments are iconic in no small part thanks to Bigelow’s contributions. Somebody needed to crash through the ring with Taz and catch RVD on those insane 15-foot dives into the crowd and the Beast from the East was the perfect opponent on those occasions. I think it is safe to say that we would look at their careers differently without those matches. I also found it quite appropriate that Bigelow had gone from a feature in Paul Heyman’s magazine as a rookie to wrestling in his visionary promotion ten years later. He had even debuted in Heyman’s very first event as a promoter, defeating three men in a handicap match in front of an exclusive crowd at none other than Studio 54.

Bam Bam Bigelow was decades ahead of his time. I’m not sure that the True Sport of Kings

Bam Bam should have been inducted
into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019.

was ready for a high-flying 400-pounder in the ‘80s. I think of the matches he could have had with the current WWE roster or in AEW and there is no doubt in my mind that the Beast from the East would have been amazing in today’s environment. He would be as unique now as he was then. Fans would likely buy him as legit as they do with the likes of Brock Lesnar, Samoa Joe, or Braun Strowman. Many of us would have loved to see Bigelow posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019 when WrestleMania 35 took place in his home state of New Jersey. How appropriate would it have been—Scott “Bam Bam” Bigelow’s efforts recognized in the area where he first became the Beast from the East! Unfortunately, that did not happen. I hope that WWE will right that wrong someday.

Rock 'n' Wrestling: Bret vs. Stone Cold

Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk in the I Quit match at the NWA Clash of the Champions IX in November of 1989 is my all-time favorite wrestling match viewed in real time; I wrote one of my first columns about it in PORK #16. Every self-respecting fan should see the I Quit match, but I also highly recommend it to any non-fan who is curious about why many of us are devoted to the True Sport of Kings. Flair and Funk were masters of their craft who told a simple but effective story in the ring with believable performances. I knew it would be a long time before another bout rivaled the I Quit match’s brutality. Nearly ten years passed before that happened, so let us set our time machine to the WWF in early 1997 so we can examine that epic encounter!

Bret "Hit Man" Hart: The best there is...the best there was...
...and the best there ever will be.

Bret “Hit Man” Hart was a WWF mainstay, first making a name for himself in the late ‘80s as one-half of the Hart Foundation. They were two-time tag team titleholders before Bret struck out on his own, eventually holding the WWF Intercontinental and world championships. Hart firmly established himself as “the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be,” which was hard to argue when he tore down the house with opponents like Davey Boy Smith or Shawn Michaels. Michaels had unseated the Hit Man for the world title at WrestleMania XII in an hour-long marathon, causing Bret to question his place in a changing wrestling business. He would take time off for much of 1996 and it was during that time that a new foe loomed in the horizon, waiting for his return.

Astute wrestling fans pegged Steve Austin as a future world champion even in his debut year with WCW in 1990. I do not mind telling you that I was one of those fans. You would have to be foolish not to notice his ability and the massive amount of potential he had at the time.

Unfortunately, WCW never used Stunning Steve to his potential by utilizing him above a mid-card capacity. He vanished around the time WCW began devolving into the Hulk Hogan & Friends Variety Hour, but soon came aboard the WWF under the “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase’s tutelage as the Ringmaster. Although I was not a huge fan of the Ringmaster persona, I knew that Austin was in the right promotion now and that it would be only a matter of time before he tasted championship gold. Things started falling into place when he ditched DiBiase, became “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and won the King of the Ring tournament in 1996. I grinned from ear to ear when I caught the recap and saw Austin’s fiery post-match interview where he ran down Jake “The Snake” Roberts, his opponent in the final who was undergoing something of a religious awakening. Roberts had quoted John 3:16 before the bout, inspiring Stone Cold’s infamous response, “AUSTIN 3:16 SAYS I JUST WHIPPED YOUR ASS!”

Stone Cold had arrived.

Austin had a lot of hunger and fury built up from the lack of opportunities in WCW. No one would ever stand in his way again. He was finished wasting his time with a past-his-prime Jake Roberts or the WWF’s mid-card fodder. Austin wanted the best competition possible, so his sights were set on the wrestler labeled the Best There is, the Best There Was, and the Best There Ever Will Be. Although Bret was on a sabbatical, that did not stop Stone Cold from trashing the Hart name whenever possible. Rumors were abound that Hart was considering a lucrative WCW contract, following other ex-WWF talent like Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall. He finally returned after what felt like an eternity, declaring his WWF loyalty and accepting Austin’s challenge. Hart referred to Austin as the WWF’s best new wrestler, but intended to make an example of him. Bret still questioned his place in the current wrestling landscape where fans cheered despicable foul-mouths like Austin when the Hit Man always stood for hard work and integrity. This had to change.

Bret and Stone Cold had some great matches in 1996, but their rivalry was only beginning. Things escalated when Austin cheated the Hit Man out of winning the 1997 Royal Rumble and then cost him a world title match against Sid Vicious, throwing an already hastily assembled WrestleMania XIII card into chaos. Bret was out for blood. He demanded revenge and would get the opportunity against Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania XIII. Although Bret had previously defeated Austin via pinfall, that would not count this time. Disqualifications and count-outs weren’t happening here either. This match would end when one combatant conceded defeat to the other by submission. Former Ultimate Fighting Championship star Ken Shamrock would serve as the guest referee. This match could be the one that saved WrestleMania, which was shaping up to be something of a disaster. Submission matches were often boring, but Bret and Austin were the best around. They were more than up for the task. Their hatred felt legitimate. Austin said he had never given up on anything in his life and was not about to start now. Bret promised he would or be crippled in the process. I thought the possibility for their submission bout to rival my old I Quit favorite was very real. Man, was I excited!

Bret and Austin didn’t wait for the timekeeper’s bell; they tore into each other upon sight, immediately taking their battle out of the ring. Their fight even spilled into the stands where fans got an up-close-and-personal look at the Hit Man and Stone Cold! Our combatants went back and forth, beating each other from pillar to post. However, the turning point came when Hart reversed an Irish whip on the floor and sent Austin crashing headfirst into the guardrail. Austin came up bleeding, compelling the Hit Man to zero in on the wound. Stone Cold would rebound, but was losing blood and energy fast. Hart locked Austin’s legs in the Sharpshooter, his finishing submission hold, and the end was near. Stone Cold put forth a

valiant effort to break free, screaming at the top of his lungs as the blood flowed from his forehead. He wouldn’t give up no matter what! We were screaming at the top of our lungs for Austin to break the hold so they could fight some more. However, we could see that Stone Cold was quickly fading. Referee Ken Shamrock ended the match when it became apparent that Austin had passed out, both from blood loss and the pain applied to his back and legs by Hart’s Sharpshooter. Bret was officially the winner, but Stone Cold gained the moral victory by refusing to submit. Hart knew it and attacked the unconscious Austin after the match, eliciting a cascade of boos from the audience. Shamrock intervened for a brief standoff, but Bret exited the ring and headed back towards the locker room in disgust. WWF cameras caught the Hit Man in the aisle yelling “FUCK YOU!” at an irate fan while flipping him off and it was a glorious ending to a magnificent match. What a story—Bret became everything he hated to destroy Austin, who kept his word and never gave up!

We shared the opinion that Austin’s time was now; that he would walk out of next year’s WrestleMania with the world championship. We could not wait to see what would happen between him and the Hit Man on Monday Night Raw in subsequent weeks. Bret vs. Austin had exceeded our expectations with violence and bloodshed the old-fashioned way, but my friend Joe had one question for me: Was it as good as the I Quit match?

“No…it was BETTER!”