Kevin Sullivan had already been a twelve-year veteran in professional wrestling when he took advantage of the religious right's obsession with "Satanic Panic" to create the gimmick that he inhabited for the rest of his career—the Prince of Darkness, as first seen in Championship Wrestling from Florida in the early 1980s. Sullivan spoke of praying to a god named Abudadein while eating cosmic cookies and chewing the betel nut, in which he was then tied to the Tree of Woe to gain insight on how to destroy his foes without mercy. He assembled his Army of Darkness, an incredible visual spectacle of rogue wrestlers gone horribly wrong and scantily-clad slave girls who would drape Sullivan's body with boa constrictors. One can imagine how the Florida territory crowds responded to such provocative antics at that time!
Although I was unable to see Kevin Sullivan at his peak in Florida, reading about him in The Pictorial History of Wrestling was quite compelling stuff. He was embroiled in a blood feud with Dusty Rhodes, which at one point escalated to a different level when Sullivan attacked the American Dream's own sister and threw a bottle of ink in her face to blind her temporarily! Sullivan actually triumphed in his rivalry with Rhodes, declaring the American Dream dead by running him out of Florida. Black Jack Mulligan met a similar fate at the hands of Sullivan and his Army of Darkness, who repeatedly left the popular cowboy grappler a bloody mess on television and at arena events.
Satanic Panic was mostly a thing of the past by the time Kevin Sullivan came aboard with Jim Crockett Promotions (soon to be rechristened WCW) in the late '80s. He toned down his gimmick considerably, losing much of his faux-Satanic trappings to become the Taskmaster. Sullivan as the Taskmaster remained in WCW throughout the 1990s, with brief stops in Smoky Mountain Wrestling and ECW along the way before transitioning into a backstage role until WCW folded in 2001.
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.
Apparently this 1932 event was the beginning of Jim Crockett's career as a promoter. Note the casual racism expressed in the battle royal regarding the presence of "five Negroes." Apparently a local newspaper article promoting the event quoted another promoter describing main eventer Johnny Dill as "a plenty tough wop." Gotta love the state of Tennessee...?
Terry Funk with the NWA world heavyweight championship in the mid ‘70s. I have always been amazed at the Funker’s ability to reinvent himself for a new generation of wrestling fans; going from the clean-cut all-American babyface look to the grizzled gunslinger that he is today. Most wrestlers find their niche and stick with it for their entire career, but Terry Funk always managed to change with the times. How many modern fans even realize that he was the NWA world champion for two years back when it was the top title in all of professional wrestling? Happy 77th birthday, Terry!
I
was paging through a random wrestling magazine at the store one day when I came
across
Ian & Axl Rotten's bloody rivalry was my introduction
to ECW.
some photos depicting an unbelievably violent spectacle. These pictures
defied everything I had previously seen in professional wrestling. Two bigger
guys with a vaguely punk look appeared to be in a literal fight to the death!
They were beating each other to the bloodiest of bloody pulps, going far beyond
simply using folding chairs to inflict punishment. I saw broken glass and all
sorts of foreign objects cluttering up the ring as these lunatics bashed
themselves senseless with baseball bats wrapped in barbed wire and fell through
ringside tables! Who in the blue hell were these guys? Why were they doing
this? How could a wrestling company allow this to happen? What was becoming of
the True Sport of Kings? Furthermore, how could I see more?
Their
names were Axl & Ian Rotten. This was just another match in the feud taking
place in
an East Coast indie promotion aptly named Extreme Championship
Wrestling.
"These are human pit bulls!"
ECW
began seeing more exposure in the magazines throughout 1995 and ’96 with the
strangest roster I had ever seen. Axl & Ian appeared to be the resident
ersatz punks while
New Jack represented wrestling's gangsta
rap sect effectively.
New Jack was an angry-looking black dude believably
representing the gangsta rap sect. Balls Mahoney looked just like the
psychopath you never wanted to encounter at a metal show. I was particularly
amused upon seeing photos of a supposed ‘wrestler’ who made his arrival while
puffing on cigarettes and chugging down Budweisers—an out-of-shape Philadelphia
redneck named the Sandman. Gorilla Monsoon probably would have suggested that
none of these misfits knew a wrist lock from a wrist watch, but a deeper look
into ECW showed a different side. Shane Douglas had gone nowhere as a
goody-two-shoes babyface in the WWF and WCW, but reinvented himself in ECW. Now
Douglas was the Franchise, a delusional foul-mouth spewing tirades against
respected legends like Ric Flair while emulating him in the ring. Steve Austin
stopped by for a coffee break and found the makings of the iconic “Stone Cold”
persona that brought him fame & fortune in the WWF. Virtually all of WCW’s
cruiserweight roster—Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko, Eddy Guerrero, Chris Jericho,
etc.—had wowed ECW audiences before ascending to the big time! This strange
little promotion was right up my alley; it had the vibe of a regional
underground music scene with amazing live bands that had yet to release their
first records. You had to be there to see it and you were envious of the people
who could talk about it firsthand.
ECW wasn't all blood & guts, as evident by this classic encounter
between Eddy Guerrero & Dean Malenko.
Business
picked up when ECW wrestlers interrupted the opening match on the WWF’s Mind
Games PPV in 1996, prompting announcer Jerry Lawler to call them out on Monday
Night Raw. Lawler name checked former WCW manager Paul E. Dangerously as the
promotion’s owner. That was interesting, but my jaw dropped when the King
revealed the promoter’s real name—Paul Heyman. I hadn’t heard that name since
the ‘80s when Heyman was the editor of Wrestling Power, a magazine I read as a
kid! Wrestling Power ran the bloodiest photos of any publication around, so it
made perfect sense that Heyman now ran the promotion primarily known for its
blood & guts approach. Paul E. Dangerously was also one of my favorite
wrestling managers when he was with WCW. I missed his presence and was happy to
see him back in the fold.
Paul Heyman & Jerry Lawler in a verbal joust regarding ECW's
place in the wrestling industry on Monday Night Raw.
Paul
E answered Lawler’s call and before long, ECW wrestlers were actually appearing
on Monday Night Raw. Not only that, but they were wrestling in the WWF ring
too! These occasions were building to a momentous occasion—these crazy SOBs had
actually managed to get clearance for their first PPV event! This was huge news
to those of us who lived outside of the northeast and didn’t get to watch ECW. Barely Legal took place in April of 1997 just
a couple weeks after my 19th birthday. Seeing ECW for the first time
was exciting after reading about it in the magazines for the past two years. Most
of the matches weren’t nearly as violent as the
articles would have had you
believe, but they cut a much more blistering pace than your average WCW main
event. Wrestlers who hadn’t made their mark on the Big Two promotions were
shining bright on this island of misfit toys. I recognized some faces and
others just looked vaguely familiar. Terry Funk was even on hand to challenge
Raven for the ECW world championship—did the 52-year-old legend and former NWA
champion have one more world title win in him?
ECW
also drew a raucous crowd who faithfully attended each show, usually sitting in
the same seats every time. They were sarcastic assholes like us, demanding more
from their wrestling—more violence, more bloodshed, and more death-defying
moves performed at a faster pace. Lots of them subscribed to insider
newsletters like the Wrestling Observer and traded videos, so they knew their
stuff—they’d seen all the grapplers and high-fliers imported from Japan and
Mexico long before they made their mark on American soil. ECW fans voiced their
opinions loudly. They even laughingly jeered wrestlers for occasionally
screwing up in the ring, chanting “YOU FUCKED UP!” at the top of their lungs. Imagine
being the wrestler
Fans like "Faith No More Guy" and "Hat Guy" were longtime
Philadelphia wrestling attendees that were often caught on
camera at both WWF & WCW live events.
on the receiving end of that cascade! Although they came off
as insensitive, bloodthirsty maniacs, many ECW showgoers were actually longtime
Philadelphia wrestling attendees that WWF and WCW cameras often picked up at
live events. Both of the Big Two promotions had engaged in a territorial war
over Philadelphia since the ‘80s and they took those fans’ opinions
seriously—whether they admitted it or not. These die-hard fans slowly
influenced crowds all over the country to be more boisterous and interactive,
compelling both the WWF and WCW to alter their approach to professional
wrestling’s presentation.
TV ad for Barely Legal's video release.
Although
ECW was certainly a different product, Barely Legal took me aback by how
familiar it all seemed. I soon remembered watching wrestling as a little kid
when the shows usually took place in a TV studio or smaller arenas, noting that
this actually wasn’t much different from that old school approach. ECW was
simply ‘70s and ‘80s studio wrestling filtered through a ‘90s grunge and
gangsta rap perspective. Hit songs from the likes of WHITE ZOMBIE, METALLICA,
the OFFSPRING, ALICE IN CHAINS, and DR. DRE all supplied ECW’s soundtrack and
it worked like a charm—similar to when the WWF began raiding the pop charts
during their (ahem) Rock ‘n’ Wrestling era. I wasn’t a fan of most of the bands
they used, but I did appreciate that ECW at least attempted to reach fans like
me. Much better than WCW’s horrible stock music covers of NIRVANA and PEARL JAM introducing the likes of Diamond Dallas Page and Chris Jericho!
ECW's use of contemporary music was never better than when
the Sandman made his entrance to (what else) "Enter Sandman."
Sometimes
I watch an old ECW show and think about those days; it boggles my mind that
this ragtag Philadelphia indie promotion took on a wrestling industry backed by
billionaires and changed it for good with a motley crew of workers and 1500
angry fans. I didn’t care when WCW folded in 2001, but ECW going under left me
with a feeling similar to that of when my favorite bands broke up or local music
venues suddenly shut down. Many promotions since then have emulated ECW to
varying extents, but none of them will ever come close to filling that void. That
was a time and a place that I do not think today’s environment can (or should) duplicate.
Short
version: Professional wrestling was a legitimate contest from its 19th
century origins until roughly a hundred years ago. Nobody is sure when exactly
it happened. Wrestlers and promoters alike agreed that more of an athletic
exhibition with predetermined outcomes was a better idea than a ‘shoot’ that
could last up to four ponderous hours. Everyone would benefit from the change.
Wrestlers agreed to cooperate in the ring in the interest of making
Toots Mondt.
more money.
Promoters raked in the bucks at the box office and on the sly from local
gamblers who were none the wiser. Audiences enjoyed the more action-oriented
approach pioneered by then-wrestler and future promoter Toots Mondt, who
created a style incorporating traditional Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling
with various brawling techniques. Mondt’s “slam-bang Western-style wrestling”
innovations would change everything, as it is what every wrestler we have loved
and/or hated ever since has practiced in the ring.
Things
were great until 1934 when one Jack Pfefer found himself on the wrong side of a
business dispute between himself and his fellow wrestling promoters—a group
that included Toots Mondt. Pfefer would get even by spilling the beans in an
interview with the New York Daily Mirror. Fans had wondered about pro wrestling
for a long time and now one of the top
Jack Pfefer: the ruiner.
matchmakers had confirmed that it was
not a legitimate sporting contest at all! Wrestling’s popularity would then
decline throughout the Great Depression, but the True Sport of Kings came back
in the post-World War II era with the advent of television. Gorgeous George,
Verne Gagne, and Buddy Rogers became some of the first TV celebrities in the
1950s as the industry itself gained a new lease on life. Televised wrestling
would then settle comfortably into the realm of trashy American pulp
entertainment that you all should know and love.
Sometimes
some loudmouth know-it-all would bring up the fact that wrestling wasn’t
“real,” but there was nothing phony about consistent television ratings and
live attendance throughout much of the country. Plenty of fans simply enjoyed
the entertainment and were unconcerned with how the illusion maintained itself.
However, MANY fans still believed that the rivalries were the real deal; just
ask the numerous
wrestlers attacked by rabid fans in arenas and parking lots
throughout the years! Wrestlers were also encouraged by promoters to sustain
believability in public, which could be problematic when confronted by
outsiders questioning the integrity of their profession. I’ve read some
cringe-worthy tales of life-altering injuries inflicted to keep kayfabe alive. Teeth
were lost, bones were broken, and eyes were gouged out in many a bar or
nightclub when drunken idiots picked REAL fights with FAKE ‘rasslers’! This was
accepted behavior in the business for a long time—in many cases, losing the
fight would also cost a wrestler his job. Similar things also happened to
would-be grapplers and local tough guys looking to be on TV by getting in the
ring. They usually quit after one training session with a seasoned pro who knew
how to inflict serious damage and leave them with soiled trunks and a variety
of injuries.
Bob Roop dishes out a wrestling lesson to Florida Man.
Let’s
flash forward to 1985 when American popular culture was embracing professional
wrestling more than it had in a very long time. Cable television allowed
regional promotions from Georgia and San Antonio to be viewed across our great
nation while the WWF brought wrestling back to network TV after decades in
syndication. Mainstream media outlets began paying more attention with a series
of reports on pro wrestling’s increased popularity and its effects. Every
single one of them made a point of mentioning that wrestling was not “real,”
but “fake.” Not one ever bothered noting that this was no different from
Saturday Night Live, The Cosby Show, or Miami Vice—after all, that would be
building wrestling up rather than tearing it down like they wanted. However,
one report tops the rest and I’m sure a lot of you know where this is going already.
My name is John Stossel and I HATE FUN.
20/20
investigative journalist John Stossel decided to take on the wrestling industry
with a segment where he would expose the Real Truth to everyone—that
professional wrestling was not a legitimate sport. Never mind that this had
been public knowledge for fifty years. Stossel could have exposed the truth on
20/20 about promoters’ various business tactics that violated labor and
antitrust laws, but that wasn’t as much fun as his crusade to simply make
people feel stupid for watching wrestling. Wrestling was something that brought
friends and families together—it was fun to watch and Stossel was going
overboard. He was as condescending as can be in his report, speaking of his
limited college wrestling credentials and referring to “rassling” in a white-trash
accent. Stossel hammered home the word “fake,” making his point until it was
taken and smashed into smithereens. He even had his own Jack Pfefer in Eddie
Mansfield, a disgruntled grappler who hadn’t made it big in the
Eddie Mansfield blading for the camera.
regional
territories. Not only was Mansfield willing to lead Stossel through the basic
motions of a wrestling match on camera, but he also demonstrated the blading
technique used to draw blood for effect!
Stossel
took things to the next level by questioning individual wrestlers on camera
about the legitimacy of their occupation, as if they would simply answer to his
satisfaction. He even asked the Iron Sheik, who angrily challenged him to enter
the ring and find out for himself. Stossel probably only saw him as a
cartoonish fraud, but would not have lasted long against the Shah of Iran’s
former bodyguard and onetime Olympian. He would then attempt a verbal joust
against “Dr. D” David Schultz, a
Dr. D was Stone Cold before Steve Austin opened
his first can of Whoop-Ass.
nasty redneck heel from Tennessee who was
essentially “Stone Cold” over a decade before Steve Austin opened his first can
of Whoop-Ass™. Schultz was a product of the wrestling industry before its
mainstream resurgence. His ornery onscreen persona was an amplified extension
of his personality and publicly maintained at all times. Dr. D was simply doing
his part by giving this scrawny reporter a hard time in describing professional
wrestling as a business where only the toughest of the tough survive when
Stossel decided to ask what he called “the standard question.” Actually,
Stossel didn’t ask it at all. He made the standard statement: “I think this is
FAKE!”
POW!
Schultz slapped the ever-loving SHIT out of Stossel without any hesitation,
knocking him to the floor! “That’s an open-hand slap!” said the good Doctor
with an expert diagnosis.
“Did that feel ‘fake’?” Stossel slowly rose back to
his feet in disbelief, only to be slapped right back down a second time before
Dr. D ran him off under a hail of further verbal abuse. 20/20 anchor Barbara
Walters was horrified at what Schultz had done to Stossel, who complained of
lingering pain and buzzing in his ears weeks after it happened. Stossel would
later sue the WWF for damages, settling out of court for $425,000. Schultz
found himself in hot water with the New York State Athletic Commission, who
suspended his license until he expressed his regret in an apology letter.
However, Dr. D would soon be out of a job after a backstage altercation
involving Mr. T. He would retire from wrestling after brief stints in
Dr. D: Bounty Hunter.
Memphis,
Calgary, and Japan to become a bail bondsman and a professional bounty hunter
working with the FBI, the DEA, and various police departments around the world.
John Stossel would eventually express his own regret over the lawsuit, citing
it as a frivolous example of America’s litigious society.
Dave
Schultz may have gone too far, but people forget (or don’t know) that there are
plenty of similar stories that make his reaction to Stossel look merciful in
comparison!
Vince
McMahon’s 1989 testimony before the New Jersey senate confirmed wrestling’s
open secret, leading to increased exposure throughout the ‘90s. Insider
newsletters like the Wrestling Observer went from being strictly underground
publications to the leaders of wrestling journalism as more fans gained
internet access. Wrestling evolved once again as people became completely aware
that they were watching athletic entertainment designed to evoke desired
responses. Fans extend more respect to the sacrifices involved in the physical
theater. Interviews and podcasts discussing on-the-road stories and locker room
politics are the norm now. Everybody knows what’s going on and no one seems to
mind except for the occasional “ultimate fighting” fan blissfully unaware of
modern MMA’s roots and inspiration. Although pro wrestling kayfabe is dead and
buried, that might actually be a good thing because let’s be real—who in any
occupation appreciates being called a phony…and who wants to lose an eye?
Happy 50th birthday to Rob Van Dam! RVD can hold the ECW world television championship in a mocking fashion all he wants because he is Mister Pay-Per-View and the whole fucking show!
I vaguely remember this from the early ‘90s! Can you imagine getting a literal Rude Awakening from Ravishing Rick Rude? I think I might have enjoyed having him call my worst enemy or least favorite schoolteacher early in the morning to call them out for being fat, out of shape [insert city here] sweathogs! Actually, it might have been funny to just have Rude bellow “UPPER BODY BUSINESS!” into the phone repeatedly before hanging up!
Dynamite Kid debuts on television taking on the veteran Alan Dennison for World of Sport in 1976! Nicknamed the Strongman, old school British wrestling fans seem to have fond memories of Dennison’s tag teams with Cyanide Sid Cooper and Ted “Hooker” Heath back in the 1960s and ‘70s. Dennison was once quoted as saying that the best way to keep young was to work with young people. This match certainly puts that theory to the test, as Dynamite Kid is only seventeen years old here! Dynamite keeps Dennison surprised by being able to maneuver out of holds and takedown attempts, flipping and landing on his feet to the delight of the crowd. Clearly impressed with the Kid’s superior athleticism, Dennison gets on the house mic after the match and puts him over big time. I wonder if anyone in the building that afternoon had any visions of the Dynamite Kid’s future as an innovator in Canada, Japan, and the United States.
Jerry "The King" Lawler turns 71 today! How many of you knew that the King is also a talented artist? Here is the proof! I think Lawler could have easily made a living drawing comic books or working for MAD magazine had his wrestling career not been so successful!
Funny portrait of Freebird Michael Hayes! I love the expressions of his fellow Freebirds and Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin in the background, laughing at Michael's free-spirited silliness.
Gotta love this self-portrait of Jerry Lawler as the Eighth Wonder of the World; it's even referencing the 1977 King Kong remake instead of the original. Jerry's artistic talents are what first got him in to the world of wrestling; he would send in drawings of Memphis wrestlers like Jackie Fargo to Aubrey Griffith, the local promoter. He eventually worked out a deal with Griffith—free publicity on Lawler's radio show (he was a disc jockey at the time) in exchange for wrestling lessons. Not a bad deal if you ask me!
Playboy Buddy Rose loves to eat at Burgerville and I probably would too if I lived in the Pacific Northwest! I would eat at Burgerville just on sheer principle because that is undoubtedly the best name for a burger place I have ever heard! If it was good enough for the Playboy, it’s gotta be good enough for me…right?
Ric Flair addresses the crowd at the Greensboro Coliseum after winning the NWA world heavyweight championship from Harley Race at the inaugural Starrcade in 1983! This was, of course, the beginning of the run that firmly established the Nature Boy as one of wrestling’s all-time greats!
Happy 56th birthday to Jushin Liger! I was thinking about how Japanese wrestling filtered its way into my fandom—first via photos of Antonio Inoki and Jumbo Tsuruta, then by seeing Jushin Liger and the Great Muta tear up the ring in WCW. They helped me form an impression of how New Japan and All Japan Pro Wrestling represented the True Sport of Kings long before I was able to see it for myself. Liger also changed the business for good in 1994 when he set up New Japan's Super J Cup tournament featuring many of the world's best junior heavyweight wrestlers at the time. Eddy Guerrero (as Black Tiger), Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit (as Wild Pegasus), Hayabusa, the Great Sasuke, and Taka Michinoku were just some of the talents introduced to the greater wrestling world on the Super J Cup's grand stage. Jushin Liger deserves a Hall of Fame induction for that alone.
Happy 50th birthday to Chris Jericho! Here he is during his WCW Monday Jericho run that culminated in a brief confrontation (but not a match) with Bill Goldberg. There used to be a fantastic playlist on YouTube that chronicled Jericho’s weekly antics during this time in his career and I loved watching it before it was lost to the digital sands of time. I had almost forgotten how entertaining those segments were. Chris Jericho was one of WCW’s bright spots during this time, in which Nitro and Thunder were all but taken over by the increasingly convoluted nWo Hollywood/nWo Wolfpac saga. Jericho had nothing to do with either group, opting to terrorize the cruiserweight division and taunting the likes of Dean Malenko and Goldberg. When he jumped ship to the WWF, it is safe to say that WCW would never…eeevvveeerrr…be the same…AGAIN!
Happy 79th birthday to Abdullah the Butcher! Here is the Madman from the Sudan defending the WWC North American heavyweight championship against Carlos Colon in Trinidad and Tobago in 1981! This match is a perfect example of a wrestling crowd being 100% invested in the action! Colon attacks Abdullah at the start, not giving him a chance to breathe! He repeatedly sinks his teeth into the Butcher’s head, attempting to draw blood! The crowd is on their feet when the battle spills outside of the ring! They begin to surge closer to the action when Abdullah retaliates and bashes Colon’s head into the ringpost! Things go from bad to worse when the referee stops the match, but is unable to stop Abdullah’s attack! The fans nearly riot in the aftermath! Wrestling in Trinidad is serious business!
Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s November 1985 cover story concerned a match that the British Bulldogs wrestled against each other! I was unable to get this issue years ago, but the cover story always intrigued me. I wanted to know more about my favorite tag team wrestling in opposition to one another! Considering that Stampede Wrestling never got much coverage in the magazines, I doubt that PWI was referring to any of those matches. My guess is that the article concerned Dynamite and Davey Boy’s bout in the WWF junior heavyweight title tournament for New Japan three months prior to this issue. Does anyone out there want to fill in the blanks for me?
I’m pretty sure I saw this on TV back in 1990 when it was first broadcast. This clip was just a teaser of the Mastodon’s entrance in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Not exactly being up to date on New Japan, I had no idea what to expect from Big Van Vader, but I knew his crazy-looking helmet was pretty awesome! As the weeks progressed and the promotional videos revealed more of what this guy was about, it became more apparent that an unstoppable monster was on his way! I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t wait to see Vader in action!
This guy got off lucky! Questioning the integrity of professional wrestling to one of its participants used to be a sure-fire way to get your ass handed to you big time! I have read plenty of stories over the years about various incidents taking place in bars and nightclubs—one of the more drastic measures taken to prove wrestling’s legitimacy consisted of actually tearing an eye from its socket! Some of the more ruthless practitioners would grind the eye into a pulp under their heels! I think I read a story about a wrestler actually EATING an eye during a bar fight once!
Looks like a rough day at the office for Superstar Billy Graham! He can't be feeling sweeter than German chocolate cake at the moment! Gordon Solie would have been proud to refer to Billy’s face as the crimson mask! I’m sure John was pleased as punch to have his autograph though.
Jimmy Carter puts a side headlock on Mr. Wrestling II in a famous photo that I believe was taken during Carter’s time as governor of Georgia! Both Jimmy and his mother Lillian were avid fans of both Mr. Wrestling II and Georgia Championship Wrestling! Carter even invited him to his presidential inauguration, but the Secret Service insisted that Mr. Wrestling II appear unmasked for security reasons! Nobody tells Mr. Wrestling II to unmask, so he had to decline the invitation! Fortunately, Jimmy and Miss Lillian understood completely and their friendship continued. I hope the Secret Service agent who made the demand to unmask was fired! What kind of anti-American commie fascist pig tells Mr. Wrestling II to take off his mask anyway?
