Two Rings And No Wahoo

This week, I am turning the pen over to a good friend to let my readers hear a different side of professional wrestling and the story behind it.

I am very grateful to Chief Paul Farber for his input and memories of wrestling "The Way It Was." I really appreciate his input and support, and, in front of the world, I want to say thank you, Chief, for being there for wrestling.--Percival

It was in 1987 that I packed my family and left Humbolt, Iowa, the hometown of Frank Gotch, NWA Heavyweight Champion. We headed to Estherville, Iowa, just eight miles from the Minnesota line in the north central corner of Iowa, where I became Chief of Police. I stayed in Estherville for 12 years as Chief with all the kids going through the school system.

In late 1988, my police reserve unit came to me and said they would like to have a fundraiser and asked what I thought of the idea. Well, you know what happened … my wrestling cloud kicked in, and I said, lets promote a wrestling card. They agreed but wondered what experiences I have had doing this type of thing. Over the years, I had attended and did security for many matches that were provided through the wrestling office in St. Joseph and Kansas City, Missouri.

I had done security at Ft. Dodge and Humbolt, along with Algona, Iowa. That town had produced one of the toughest amateur wrestlers to ever become a professional, Bob Geigel. Bob had been gone from Algona for many years while on the road and while wrestling and promoting in Missouri. He still has family there and still calls Algona home. Bob promoted small towns all over Iowa, along with the large towns like Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Davenport, and Council Bluffs, to name a few.

I picked up the phone after the short meeting with the reserve unit and called the wrestling office in Kansas City. Someone at the other end said in a gruff voice, "Wrestling Office." I said, this is Paul Farber, and I would like to see about having wrestling come to our town to do a fundraiser. The voice on the other end was none other than that of Bob Geigel himself. He said, "Sure, Paul, we can fix you up. We will send you the contracts to be signed, and the rest is downhill." We received the contracts in a few days, had them signed, and returned them to Kansas City.

A few days later, we got the tickets and posters to advertise the matches. We had set a date of December 1, 1988 and began to "pump" the grand event. I hit radio, newspapers, and the local TV access channel. We set up local ticket outlets at some of the businesses I knew would be able to help us. As the day drew closer, Bob called and asked how things were going and I replied that we had taken in over $1000. I was anticipating a much bigger draw at the gate the night of the event. December 1 came, and I was very excited about the matches coming here to my hometown ... What a super feeling!

My son and I and some of the officers had arrived at 3:30 p.m. in the school gym and began to set the tarp down on the floor. One of the guys said, "Hey Chief, the guy is here with the ring." I told the guys to line him up at the rear door and give him a hand unloading, but don't do anything more than he tells you to do. A small, dark-haired man walked in with the ring crew, and I asked him, "Where is Bob Geigel?" He gave me a puzzled look, and then he said that he must have been flying in. I should have known better, but I looked at him and said, "OK."

The ring started to take shape when one of the officers came to me and said, "Hey Chief, there is some guys here from St. Joseph with another ring." Through the door stepped Sonny Myers, Richard Sapp and a couple of other men. They didn't speak at first but just stared at the ring that was in the middle of the floor. Sonny then asked what was going on. I turned to the small man and asked, "Who are you, and why are you here with a ring?"

In a shaky voice, he replied that Verne Gagne had sent him down from Minneapolis and that he was from the AWA grouping headquartered in Minnesota. I replied to him that our business was with the Central States Wrestling Office out of Kansas City. The man started stammering and stated that they had a bunch of guys coming to wrestle here tonight … even Wahoo McDaniel. I began to shake in anticipation of the talent they were sending but wondered what happened to the guys that were supposed to be coming from Kansas City.

My small son David asked me, was it true that Wahoo McDaniel would, in fact, be there tonight? All I could say was, NO, NO, NO. Young kids and fans that were in the building waiting for the matches to begin and watch the ring being set up began to whisper, "WAHOO IS COMING!" They were very happy, and, as I looked at the ring crews looking at each other, I felt like I was in a sinking ship. What had happened?

Just then, Bob Geigel came through the door with Akio Sato. I shook his hand and said, "Am I glad to see you! Mr. Geigel, we have TWO RINGS and two different offices sending wrestlers … what do we do now?" Bob showed no expression but looked back at me after seeing the two ring crews and said, "I will take care of it." He went over and talked to the small man from Minneapolis, and then they went to a hallway pay phone. In a few minutes, they came back, and both had big smiles on their faces.

The small man looked at me and said there had been a mix up … he was scheduled to be in Minnesota tomorrow, not Iowa today. He began tearing the ring apart and helped to get it loaded in his truck. One of the fans watching the fiasco yelled out, "You are going to have matches, aren't you, Chief?" I replied back, "YES WE ARE!" Somebody then asked, when Wahoo was getting here?

We set up the second ring that Sonny Myers had brought, and Bob Geigel came back out and asked if I would care for a cup of coffee. We went to the concession stand and sat down at one of the big lunch tables set out for customers, and Bob began to speak about things that had been happening. He spoke about Bruiser Brody's murder that summer in Puerto Rico and about Ronnie Etchison's health. He then caught me up on things happening in the old area of Missouri and so forth. What a grand gentleman he was.

The crowd began filtering in, and I went to the ring area to begin getting ready for prepare for the evening's action. I was to be the ring announcer that evening. I was all ready for my job when through the doors came Christopher Love, also known as Bert Prentice. He was a native of Estherville but was involved in the AWA promotions as a ring announcer. He had told someone that he was sent here to be a ring announcer, but when he found out that the AWA fellows would not be here that night, he left the building.

The crowd was abuzz at the start of the matches, and what a great showing they gave the fans. The two main events were a Bunkhouse Battle Royal, in which Curtis Hughes, better known as Mr. Hughes of WCW and WWF fame, won the event. Also on the card was Mike Enos, who wrestled in the WWF as one of the Beverly Brothers. Bob was kind enough to use a couple of the guys from the AWA, as they had come a long ways for a match. Mike George beat Akio Sato in the other Main Event.

Bob Geigel was a true gentleman and gave us a part of the gate, even though he probably lost money on the promotion. He treated us fair and right, and I will always respect him for that. It wasn't much longer after that date that both he and Verne Gagne would be out of business, caused by the Big Two promotions taking all the stars to their folds.

The territories are both dead as far as small towns are concerned, but it was an end to a wonderful era. By the way, there was NO WAHOO ... but we had two rings and two announcers; who could ask for more excitement?

And that's "The Way It Was," Percival.

Percival A. Friend, Retired
The Epitome of Wrestling Managers
2004 CAC Honoree