August 31, 1972

Thursday nights were a tradition in the neighboring cities of Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri. It was not uncommon to run cards in the blistering heat of summer and the freezing chills of winter as well. Tonight's main event would feature a six-man tag match and also a nine-man Battle Royal with a prize of a $1000 bill to the winner.

So great was the card that Terry Funk was brought in from the Double Cross Ranch in Umbarger, Texas to be involved in the six-man tag. Promoter Gust Karras was even adept at hiring former champion wrestler from St. Joe, Missouri, Sonny Meyers, to be the special guest referee.

They had to once again bring me and Angus in by police car as our VIP parking area was filled up with cars. Angus was not happy, as the seats in those cars were very hard, and they wouldn't let his window down to yell back at the fans who were shouting insults at us.

Dropping us at the rear of the building, we proceeded to our private dressing room and found out that we would be sharing it with Harley Race. The rooms were full of wrestlers, as we had 16 people on the card. The Viking and Billy Howard had to dress in the hallway. I had not seen the dressing rooms so full since the huge card at the Kansas City, Missouri downtown Municipal Auditorium featured a card headlined by the Original Sheik the month before. He had brought along an entourage of servants with him to meet his every need.

The first match had Chati Yokouchi and Yasu Fuji, the North American Tag Team Champions, facing Omar Atlas, from Venezuela, and Les Thornton, from England. The two teams battled to a 10-minute draw with neither team gaining a victory. Thornton had Chati in a full Boston Crab and was ready to bust him in half when the bell rang. He shouted for five more minutes, as he was so close in getting a rare defeat against the Japanese team. Referee Frank Diamond sent everyone back to the dressing room and cleared the ring for the next match.

Billy Howard was the first to come out, and even though he was used to getting a huge ovation, the fans were yelling insults and booing him. Bobby Whitlock came from the other side of the arena and was well received by all the fans that waited for him to enter. Coming to the center of the ring, it was Howard who threw the first blow when he hit Whitlock right between the headlights with a closed fist.

These two battled almost seven minutes before Whitlock was pinned by a series of body slams and a shoulder press for the three-count. Steve Bolus was the first to emerge from the far side of the building. He was originally from Athens, Greece and was a pretty stiff competitor in the ring. From the near side of the building came Juan Sebastian, originally from Spain, where he was a Gaucho in the vast wine vineyards of coastal Spain. He was ready for a hard fought battle as he came to the ring with a full sweat going.

These two fought for a little over eight minutes before Bolus submitted to a full legged crucifix and pin by the veteran Sebastian. It was then that the fans were given a 10-minute intermission between matches. Normally, we did not give breaks between matches, and the fans had to get to the concession area and back between bouts to ensure not missing any of the action.

The bell rang, and, one by one, the participants were led back out to the ring for a nine-man Battle Royal. All except one had been involved in matches during the first three bouts and were very expelled from competing in preliminary matches. I might add that any of those matches could have been a main event at any of the arenas that we fought at.

Chati Yokouchi, Yasu Fuji, Omar Atlas, Les Thornton, Billy Howard, Bobby Whitlock, Steve Bolus and Juan Sebastian came to the ring and waited intensely for the final man in this Battle Royal. That man would have the best odds at winning the match, as he would be the freshest combatant.

The doors to our dressing room area opened, and a huge blast came from the horn that the Viking carried to the ring with him as good luck. It was from a large bull mountain ram that he had killed with his bare hands and had the horn made from the carcass. He also had his right thumb very heavily taped from a fishing injury as a young man, he claimed.

As he entered the ringside area, he went to Promoter Gust Karras and offered him his hand in thanks for allowing him the privilege of not wrestling in the opening matches. Gust refused to accept his gesture as he was still very angered about the riot caused by Viking in a match the week before against the Big "O," Bob Orton, in St. Joe. Hundreds of dollars in damage was done to the seating area in the battle, and Viking had not offered to pay for it. He claimed he was the one that was fighting for his life and that all the damage was caused by him defending himself.

To be continued....

Percival A. Friend, Retired
The Epitome of Wrestling Managers

2003 BWC Hall of Fame Inductee
2004 CAC Hall of Fame Inductee
2006 LWA Hall of Fame Inductee
2007 TCCW Hall of Fame Honoree