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I really do enjoy watching Pro Wrestling on the tube , and I like to talk about it all the time. I go back to the days of such men as "Dick The Bruiser", Wilbur Snyder, Fritx Von Eric, and many more, too many to put down and have room to talk about them. Of course my favorite will always be Bruiser. Here was a man who would take on the biggest of them all, and would take them to the limit. I live in kokomo Ind., and went to the matches as much as I could, whether it was in town or down in Indy. When Bruiser was wrestling, you knew that you were going to see one hell of a fight. One night here in Kokomo, Bruiser and Angelo Poffo [ Randy's dad] were wrestling two other men and were taking care of business pretty easily, when our cousin Bill got too wrapped up in it and decided to take matters in his own hands. Bill was about as crazy about wrestling as I was, and he jumped up and grabbed Poffo's legs in the corner and held on while Poffo got hit with blow after blow. Bruiser jumped down off the ring apron and ran over to help Poffo, and when he saw Bill holding the legs, he went wild. He grabbed Bill and pulled him away, knocking Bill's glasses to the floor. He then stomped them into pieces, and then started to wack Bill, but the police were there to stop that, and they took Bill outside. Bill hollered back to us to come with him, and his wife Carolyn said that she paid to watch the match, and that was what she was going to do. Bill was very lucky that night, because if Bruiser had ever hit him, he would still be hurting now. We laugh about that night, but now we wonder if the same things keep happening in the WCW,& the WWF as they have since the NWO, DX, and the Nation,started their antics, will we see someone come out of the crowd, that is really mad and take matters in their own hands? I enjoyed readind what all those writers say,but I wonder if they really know what they are talking about. I write about what actually happened, when I went to the matches, or watching them on television. My writings is from my memories, and you can bank on them to be true. I know that somewhere out there in that vast internet population. there has to be someone who remembers the wrestlers of yesterday, and we never know when this old man will get called home, so wouldn't it be great if there was someone out there to take over. Of course I will be around for quite a while, but if I get that call, I will rejoice in my trip to the promised land. Ok, lets get off that subject , and get to talking about the old men of wrestling. I enjoyed watching the little ones wrestle, and when they came to town, we were first in line to get ringside seats. I don't remember too many names, but some were "Little Beaver", "Lord Littlebrook", "Little John" etc. These were crowd pleasers because they gave everything they had when they wrestled. These little guys would move so fast, you had trouble keeping up with them. They were very athletic, as well as fast. A wrestling show featuring the little ones always went over great here in Kokomo, Ind. The other day, a friend asked me if I remember the names of some cowboy wrestlers, and I did. I remember guys like "Cowboy Bob Ellis", "Blackjack Lanza" and " Blackjack Mulligan" . These men were all good wrestlers, and at times were crowd pleasers. Bob Ellis was always the good guy. Lanza and Mulligan were good guys and bad guys. They were a great tag team together, and they whipped some butt. I think that my first star of the wrestling circuit, would have to Gorgous George. He was the first great showman of the sport, and probaly the man who started the long hair and long robe attire. later in this column, I will try to impress you as to who he was and what he did for the profession. My man today ,would have to be my all-time favorite, and that is "Dick The Bruiser".He was born and raised about 30 miles from here, and attended Purdue , and played for the Greenbay Packers in the Pros. But he was such a tough and mean player that he didn,t last long there. His thought was that the man was down, finish the job. A little extra hit in the pileup would be seen. Bruiser wrestled in the AWA, and he and his cousin "The Crusher", held the tag team titles at least five times. 
I remember one night here in Kokomo, Indiana, Bruiser was teamed up with Angelo Poffo {Macho Man,s father}, against two other guys, whose names I can,t remember. Angelo was in the ring, and getting pounded, when our cousin jumped up and got ahold of Angelo,s legs, and held them. Bruiser jumped down on the floor, ran around the ring, and jumped our cousin "Bill", pulling him away. Bill,s glasses fell on the floor, and Bruiser stomped them to pieces. Bill was hauled out to the outside, and we stayed to watch the match. Needless to say , no one else tried to interfere. Here was one mean guy.Then one night in Chicago, a wrestler named Pepper Gomez was being interviewed, and was bragging about how tough his upper body was , and Bruiser came up and dared Pepper to let him see if Bruiser could jump on his chest, and Pepper took the bait. Bruiser climbed up on a ladder, while Pepper laid on the floor. Bruiser was supposed to land on the chest, but instead, shifted a little, and landed on Pepper,s neck, thus injuring Pepper real bad. You didn,t ever test this man because it would backfire on you. Bruiser would be my choice to be pitted up against Hulk Hogan, because then no one would have worry about Hogan anymore. I am just going to start out with a few names , just to get warmed up. Gorgous George, the answer in the old days to the modern Ric Flair. Superstar Billy Graham, who was built like Hogan, only with quite a few more muscle. Bobo Brazil, and Big Cat Ernie Ladd, who would make a good match for the Harlem heat, and probaly beat them with ease. Fritz Von Eric, who had a claw hold that not too many could ever escape from. Wilbur Snyder, who had the Adomable Stretch, along with having a mass amount of holds that sent many to defeat. Yukon Eric, who was just a good old guy that would fight you into the ground. Cowboy Bob Ellis, and Joe Blanchard {Tully,s dad] . These are just a few names that I can throw your way. |
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These are wrestlers who did their talking in the ring. When you heard their names , you knew you were in for a good match. We would always try to find out when the next card was coming to Kokomo, and we would try to get as close to the ring as possible. If the matches would be in Indy, then we would try to go down to see them. And we always tried to find them on the television. Chicago was a good market for the greatest wrestling, along with Madison Square Garden. I remember one night in Indy, Dick The Bruiser, was wrestling Bob Ellis, and Gene Kininski came into the ring, and jumped Bob, and then ran down to the dressing room. Bruiser left the ring after him, and everyone was wondering what was going on. Of course Cowboy Bob Ellis was declared the winner due a disqualifacation. It wasn,t long before here came Bruiser back with Kininski on his shoulders. He throwed him in the ring, and proceded to smack him silly. Bruiser made it real clear to everyone that he could fight his own battles, and he didn,t need any help. This started a bitter rivalry between Kininski and Bruiser, that was never ended. It also was the start of a odd friendship between two old enemies, Bruiser and Bob Ellis. This is what I liked about the old men of wrestling. You went home feeling good, having a great time, and still being able to stake out your favorites. Bobo Brazil and Wilbur Snyder were two other wrestlers that had fought against the Bruiser many times, and ended up as being tag team partners with the mean one, who was , as everyone would say, as straight a man as they came, If you wanted a man as your tag team partner, who wouldn,t stab you in the back, you asked the man knowned as "Dick The Bruiser".Bruiser passed away in Nov. of 94, and his good friend , Wilbur Snyder passed on one month later. I would like to see the day when anyone can look up the "Bruiser" on the internet, and read about this great human being, who in spite of his great wrestling history, was also one to look up to. I will leave it at that. May history promote the old men of wrestling. I will always have my memories. I just want to say that its been fun so far bringing back memories, that was part of my growing up years. I have always been a wrestling fan, and so was my dad. I remember just watching him as he watched the matches, and you could see the fire build up when the bad guy would take control. He never really had any certain star. He liked them all. I remember one night, when he first saw Bobo Brazil, and he said that he looked like his friend Hugh. I had never seen this guy called Hugh, so the next time I went by where dad worked, I asked to talk to Hugh. Boy, this guy was big, and he really did look like Bobo. So my first thought was that he really was Bobo, and I was being tricked. But one night Bobo was in town, and Hugh was there too. Boy I thought, these two guys could beat all comers. Hugh said that he would stick to the steelmaking business, and let Bobo have the rough job. Big Cat Ernie Ladd was another big man, and just stepped over the top rope getting into the ring. If I remember right, he came out of pro football, playing for the KC chiefs, and made a instant leap into wrestling. The size of this man was something like the giant, only leaner. He was one tough man, and if I was going to pick a tag team, that would walk all over the Nasty Boys, and Harlem Heat, with not too much problem, it would be Bobo Brazil and Ernie Ladd. A triangle match would fill any stadium around. We really didn,t see too many groups of wrestlers, in the idea of them working together as a team . Usually there would only be two men sticking together as buddies, because too many would mean that you would have to be on your toes, because one mistake and they would be on you right now. In those days , you didn,t want to have worry about too many others. Just take care of yourself. I,m always wondering when someone these days is going to backdoor his buddie. In those days you had the bonafide good guy, and you had the bad guy .And then someone would see a different light and turn the other way. My dad would always say that you can trust your friends until they stopped being your friend. Usually you were the last one to know that he wasn,t a friend anymore. Well I,m going to leave you with that thought today, and I will get back to reliving some old memories next week. If there is anyone out there that has an opinion about my articles, let me know. I would like to here from you. I do have some thoughts about the modern wrestling, which I keep up with as much as I can, but this column is about the old men of wrestling. . Now the man that was to be a show stopper, was Pretty Boy Buddy Rodgers, the original "Nature Boy". Here was a man with blond hair, and good looks, that got the women started at watching the wrestling matches. After him there was a start toward putting more pretty stuff into the billings, and the matches. You might say that maybe between Gorgeous George, and Buddy Rodgers, the modern ring attire was invented. I also remember that the most fierce of all tag team wrestlers had to be from Japan. There were three men that took turns at tagging up together. and their names were Mitsu Arakara, Mr. Moto, and Kenshu Shabui. There was one night in Kokomo, that all three were there, and they really tore up the place. Between chops, foot kicks, and head butting, there was blood everywhere. You went home that night with feelings of fear, and lots of dislike for those men.
There was another tag team that was mean as all get out, and that was the Shire Brothers. Blond hair, and southern accents were these two mens' credentials. Ray Stevens was one of the Shire Bros., and he stayed in the sport for a long time.
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Now next I would like to see Ric Flair go against Lou Theze. Here you would get two different types of wresting talent. The antics of Flair against the knowledge of one of the best champions of all time. And there wouldn't be any help from the outside for Flair, because Ed "Stranglar" Lewis would be there to stop anyone else from entering that ring. I think that Lou could counter the figure -four hold, and I think that Lou could beat Flair in the ring. But I would look for something happening that would cause for the ref. to be looking the other way, and Flair would bring some object out and win the match. Flair is too smart to lose, even without help. Now we come to trying to figure out who to pit against Hulk Hogan. You wouldn't want just anyone. You would want to pick a man who wouldn't be scared and upset by the loud mouth of the Hulkster. {you probaly think that I never liked Hulk, but you would be wrong. I always looked forward to seeing the Hulkster, both in wrestling and seeing him on his TV show. But I have changed my mind about this man and I want to see him beat real bad.} So I would like to see Mr. Hogan go up against a man like Killer Kowaskie or another man called Fritz Von Eric. Either one of the men would take Hogan to the cleaners. When you stop to think about it, Hogan hasn't really got any holds. He just comes off the ropes and puts that leg drop on you. How has he stayed in wrestling as long as he has? We talk about the best, and I personally think that in today's line-up, the best going had to be the enforcer, Arn Anderson. They don't come any smarter and meaner than Arn. So I would like to pit a man called Bruno Samartino up agaist him. Bruno was a tough and mean man. He was built like Arn and even walked like him. If I didn't know better, I would think they were family. This match would go either way. I would say that Arn would be the winner just on the fact alone that he has more holds and speed to match. Now we need to pit someone agaist the giant of the Nwo. I would put the real "Giant" who was " Andre THe Giant", the only true giant in pro wrestling. Andre was bigger, and stronger, and even though the fake giant is more mobile, he wouldn't have the fans on his side like Andre would. Andre would eat this man up, and spit him out. They didn't call Andre the eighth wonder in the would for nothing. He deserved that title and he was a very good human being. The only bad thing in Andre"s wrestling career was when he let Heenan lead him and that didn't last long. Well I hope that these memories have got you to thinking about the old men of wrestling and to those out there who were part of the wrestling world, this is for you, from Uncle Ray. May the old men and women of pro wrestling who have left us to be with the great matchmaker in the heavens, always be remembered as the ones who really did make pro wrestling, the sport of kings. See you later guys when the great one decides to bless this old man with an entry in his kingdom. "UNCLE RAY. |
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