Corunna, Michigan 4/22

As I eased my Grand Marquis onto the expressway that circled Toledo, Ohio and headed north towards Michigan, I looked back and bid the world farewell for a bit. I was headed for another great time in Corunna, Michigan as a guest of Legend's Wrestling.

An hour and a half later, I pulled off U.S. 23 north at Bristol Road in Flint and started west towards Bishop Airport. I made my customary stop at Bristol Cemetery to pay my respects to my dad and grandparents, who rest in the green lawns dotted with huge marble and granite headstones that date back to the 1700's.

As I passed the main terminal of the airport, I couldn't imagine how much it had grown in the past 35 years since I lived in Flint. The overflow parking areas on my right were once fertile farms that produced many good crops. It wasn't far from the homestead that Roy and Laura Friend, my grandparents, had settled on in the 1930's when they moved from Indiana.

I still remember going to his auction barn on the old Torrey Road and sitting on his lap while he called off sales of items that were being auctioned. I would try and imitate him, but as a five- and six-year old, it was hard for me to do. The customers thought it was funny, and many gave me pennies and nickels for my bank.

Soon, I was turning onto a connecting road and heading west on Corunna Road. Some 20 miles later, after making a stop at a western tack and clothing store, I turned off at State Road and headed into the downtown section of Corunna. As I glanced at my watch, it was nearing 2 p.m., and I looked forward to a wonderful afternoon and a great evening.

Stopping at the rear of the community building, I couldn't help seeing Steve Rau and his dad running around and getting things ready for yet another super wrestling card. We exchanged hellos, and I set my bags inside the building and went with Steve for a small tour of Owosso.

As we passed the downtown area, I began to remember things from nearly 40 years ago, when I used to go to Owosso and wrestle and referee for Lee Campione at the Armory. Returning to the community center, we met with Steve's brother and went for a great meal.

I had brought my laptop along, and, after the meal, began to show them a collection of over 1500 pictures I had on CD. Sometime during the showing, the younger stars of the card for the evening began to show up to get loosened up for the night. Some were not even booked there but came in awe of the talent slated for the card that night.

As I watched a young man by the name of WHIPLASH, I suddenly caught myself trying to call out moves that he would use to defend himself in a match against an equal opponent. We went from front facelocks to top wristlocks to figure four wristlocks to huge double-armed suplexes that left his opponent very much out of breath.

Suddenly, I felt a strong hand on my shoulder and turned to see Rob Bauer, a wrestling historian and good friend from Detroit. He gave me a big hug and started to tell me of the things that he had bought from an estate recently. Then, he gave me a picture taken of Angus when he came to Detroit in the middle 70's after we had went our separate ways in Kansas City.

He also had some articles from Cobo Hall in the package. You just can't put a price tag on friends like this. As I write this, I am getting together a package to send to him of articles I have clung to dearly for over 35 years.

Mark Bujan came to the table I was at, and I surprised him with a CD with about 300 different pictures of trains on it. He had told me recently about his fascination with old trains and also that he was in a club dedicated to that hobby. I have a friend that also is into trains and knew of the project that he had made for his computer of a slide show with all kinds of pictures on it and asked him for a copy for Mark. I don't think I could have handed him a $1000 and made him feel any better.

As I looked back at the rear of the building, I saw the crowd starting to come into the matches. It turned out that they had the makings of yet another sellout by the way the crowd was being ushered in. The arena floor had about 100 more seats placed on the main floor and more in the balcony above the rear ticket booth.

I went to the dressing room area and began to say hello to all the young athletes assembled. Many remembered me from the last card and gave me pictures of themselves for my collection.

Suddenly, I had two of the softest hands on my eyes, and I turned to come face to face with Malia Hosaka. I had not seen her in nearly a year since Las Vegas. She gave me a huge hug and began to tell me of all her travels over the globe on USO tours. She then introduced me to Jason Bates, WLW Champion for the group Harley Race runs in Missouri.

He had heard from a lot of people of the intense competition that was coming to mid-Michigan and just wanted to see for himself. He had been on a card in Indiana the night before and wanted to check out the wrestlers. I am very impressed with this young man, who is heading to Japan for a tour next week.

Just then, Steve tapped me on the shoulder and said the matches were ready to begin. As I entered the arena floor again, it was wall-to-wall and standing room only as fans packed the building.

The opening match was a rematch from last month’s card. Kamacyde was to battle Unr8ted. As the combatants entered the arena, many mixed feelings were shown to the two young athletes. Kamacyde brought his Kendo stick with him, and Unr8ted brought the support of the fans. Unr8ted grabbed the Kendo stick as the bell rang and threw it to the first row of ringside.

He and Kamacyde fought one of the best battles I have ever seen between two cruiserweights. They exchanged hold for hold. Chop for chop. Move against move until a desperate move by Unr8ted left Kamacyde in a small package and pinned for a three-count. The crowd was really eating this action up as these two smaller men provided non-stop action for nearly 15 minutes.

They stared at each other and then exchanged handshakes. Unr8ted retrieved the Kendo stick and returned it to Kamacyde in the ring and then, in a move very daring and much like I would have done, turned his back on him and began to step out of the ring when Kamacyde charged him with the stick.

I thought that the war was going to break out with these two again, but Kamacyde just sidestepped him and held the ropes open for the victor of their match in a measure of respect.

The second match began as a tag team event with two young athletes from Fremont, Ohio that called themselves The Clash. They met the Perfect Connection and were doing a good bit of fist exchanges when, from out of the stage area, came Jason Bates. He charged the ring and began to beat up on ALL FOUR MEN in the tag match.

Not only did he clean house with his tactics, but then he took the mike and explained to the capacity crowd that he was Harley Race's top athlete and that he was going to return to Corunna soon and that he wanted some bigger competition. The fans did not really understand his jumping in the ring but gave him a standing ovation when he left the ring followed by the four men that he beat up on.

To be continued…

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