Classic Professional Wrestling

Good stuff. I still watch the old wrestling on YouTube. Bruiser & Crusher etc. much better than the wwe

 

I haven't followed it in a very long time, but I was named after Cowboy Bob Ellis and used to live next to the Iron Sheik. I spent a lot of time around the age of 6 backstage meeting a lot of those classic characters.

They were VERY unique people to put it mildly.

 

As a kid growing up in Milwaukee I used to watch Dick the Bruiser and the Crusher battle it out on some UHF channel on our black & white TV if we could get the rabbit ears adjusted right. The matches were sponsored by Earl Scheib who would paint any car for $19.95. They would come on right before roller derby. It was the golden era of Television.

 

Bobo Brazil. Freddie Blassie. Gorilla Monsoon. Dick The Bruiser. Mr. Moto. Sgt. Slaughter. Iron Sheikh. Rowdy Roddy Piper. Steve Austin.

 

If you want to read about the man who likely had the most profound influence on pretty much all aspects of modern professional wrestling....look up Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri. He was not only a pro wrestler, he was a world class Olympic wrestler and US Olympic coach. Check out the documentary, The Sheik.

 

Growing up in Texas the wrestler of note was Fritz Von Erich. Every wrestler had their own technique/hold etc. and Fritz’s was the “Iron Claw!” It seems ridiculous now but as a kid watching Fritz pin an opponent then apply the iron claw to their belly while they writhed in pain was popcorn-worthy entertainment. This hour long snack fest was broadcast from Fort Worth’s Northside Coliseum every Saturday at 11 pm. Even the referee’s name ( who’s sole purpose seemed to be announcing the time left in the match-“5 minutes...5 minutes”) is burned into my brain. I wonder if Danny Fletcher is still alive? I’ll bet he’s got some good stories.

 

My mother used to talk about Moose Cholak and others I can't remember at the moment, and how she and her brothers used to watch wrestling on TV as kids.

 

When I was very young my dad took my brother and I to a match. The headline was Dick the brusier vs Mr. Clean. I have never been able to find any information on Mr. Clean.

 

I saw Hogan live 4 times back in the day. That man could "Whip a crowd into a frenzy!"
It was so much fun. We would gather up all the kids and go. Tickets were always affordable, and the entertainment was fantastic. The midgets...
Hacksaw Dugan. What a guy! He showed up on Duck Dynasty a while ago.
Yea, I have a lot of fond memories of the WWF.

 

Don't normally like this guy's movies but Jack Black as a comic Mexican wrestler in Nacho Libre is hilarious film if you watch it carefully. It's a great laugh.

 

I think I saw the Sheik vs Haystacks Calhoun

 

I watched wrestling with my grandpa as a kid, so it reminds me of him. I love it. When I was a kid, I liked the actual wrestling. As an adult, I like the ridiculously scripted interviews and "behind the scenes" bits.

 

It was all downhill after the era of Chief White Owl and Bobo Brazil.

 

Da Crusher the man who made Milwaukee famous.

 

When I met my wife (who was a prim and proper elementary school teacher) I took her to a wrestling match on our third date. I got second row seats to the match featuring Ivan Putski (the polish hammer) vs George the Animal Steele.
In spite of that, she still married me 42 years ago. Guess I married a girl with a sense of humor!

 

George the Animal Steele

 

In the late '50s and early '60s "professional" wrestling came to our small Iowa town and TV studios. Live pro wrestling took place both in the TV studios and our local Coliseum. As a kid, the wrestlers were my heroes and I was absolutely convinced pro wrestling was the real deal. This took place mostly in the very early '60s. I do know that pro wrestling goes back to the earliest days of television and before. It started gaining popularity in the late '30s and early '40s. Television provided a great boost to pro wrestling. I would have been about 10 to 12 y/o in the early '60s.

Names like Thor Hagan, Tarzan Tyler, Bulldog Bob Brown, Bulldog Bob Henning (from Iowa), Baron von Raski, Sonny Myers, Bob Geigel (from Iowa), Happy Humphrey (weighed 782 lbs), Haystacks Calhoun, Argentina Rocco, Dick The Bruiser, and Vern Gonye (sp ?) passed through our local venues. I tried to give Sonny Myers a pocket knife but he wouldn't accept it. I really liked him and he was my favorite because he used the sleeper hold. I had a serious case of hero worship. That is, until my best friend's brother helped with the assembly of the wrestling ring at The Coliseum. He noticed that the wrestlers were all good friends with each other. It really burst my bubble to learn pro wrestling was just a well choreographed show. So much for hero worship.

 

George Steele was a school teacher when he wasn't wrestling and biting turnbuckles. Maybe your wife picked up on that?