March 23, 1972 Part Two

This past week, January 3 was the 77th birthday of Lord Littlebrook. Please remember this great midget mat star in your prayers as he continues with life's little battles of being 39 +. Please keep Maria Bernardi, one of the original surviving members of the CAC, in your prayers. She is in a nursing home in California and is pretty much bedridden. She is a great friend that has done so much for the CAC and has never asked for anything in return.--Percival

I had gone to Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas to avenge what had happened to Angus the week before at the hands of old rabbit ears Moody. His one-sided calling of the match between Angus and Rufus R. Jones was more than anybody could have accepted.

Rufus had grabbed my briefcase, which I carried all my important papers in, from my grip at ringside. He then took it back into the ring and tried to physically tattoo his initials on the forehead of poor Angus. He left a welt the size of my fist on the skin just above the right eye of Angus.

Moody, who was acting on orders from Gust Karras, turned his head and looked the other way. How wonderful for Rufus. I had gone to the Kansas State Wrestling Commission agent, Clint Clouse, after the match and voiced my disgust with Moody’s actions. He told me that he would review this problem with matchmakers at Heart of America and promoter Gust Karras.

The fans were very happy that Angus lost because their "HERO" Rufus carved another notch in his quest to gaining a match with the Central States Champ, Danny Littlebear. They did almost $1,000 damage to my new Cadillac as Angus and I were leaving the auditorium, and we had to park three blocks away and be brought to the matches in a police cruiser.

The matches began with Steve Bolus and Terry Martin taking on Frank Diamond and Black Jack Black. It was a wild affair that lasted the entire 30 minutes and had the fans begging for more. Omar Atlas had a rare loss when he faced Benny Ramirez, formerly "The Mummy." Benny was putting a claw type hold on the side of Omar's head when he screamed out to referee Ronnie Etchison that he had enough.

The Viking was proceeding to the ring when he took a turn and charged the opposite side of the building with his following of fans and met Bob Orton Sr. as he was coming out of his dressing room. The two began to fight in the aisle coming to the ring. They had been involved in many personal disputes the past few months, and neither had gained a clear-cut victory.

Orton had finally gotten into the ring after slamming Viking into the wooden 2 x 4 steps and splintering them into toothpicks. He shed himself of his beautiful ring jacket that had been presented to him by his fan club. It had the picture of a white tornado on black silk and the words "Kansas Tornado" in big letters on the back and "The Big O" on the front.

Viking was a bloody mess by the time he made it to the canvas. Orton was quick to call out "RING THE BELL, ETCHISON," and he grabbed the Viking and gave him a piledriver, which had been recently been banned in 15 Western states as too brutal. Orton covered the helpless Viking and pinned him 1-2-3, and the match was over in less than 30 seconds. They carried Viking to the dressing room, where the doctor stitched him up and put a neck brace on him.

Chati Yokouchi & Yasu Fuji were up next on the card to defend their North American titles against Danny Littlebear and Pat O'Connor. This was scheduled for two out of three falls but only ended up going one fall as the 45 minute time limit expired with neither team getting in a fall. Pat O'Connor was a grizzly bear in the ring that night. He brought out the very best in Yasu Fuji and almost took off Yokouchi's head with a closed fist that had hit him in the chest and careened upward.

Littlebear had almost beaten Yokouchi as well with the Indian Death Lock. Fuji came to the rescue and chopped Littlebear in the throat to break the hold. In all, the fans thought that had seen everything there was to see in a wrestling match.

I was almost finished putting my old Green Hornet outfit on when the door of our private dressing room popped open, and there stood promoter Gust Karras. He had that smirk on his face that told me that he was going to enjoy tonight as much as the fans would. He had assigned a special guest referee to the match. He said this man would bring law, order and justice to the ring and assured me that everything would be called right down the middle.

Jokingly I said, "Who are you going to get for that job, Wyatt Earp?" He replied that I would find out when I got to the ring. I turned to Angus to see that his jaw had dropped so far that I could have put both my wrestling boots in his mouth. He said that Karras had pulled some very mean things on him in the past, and, now, “he is insulting your integrity.”

I tucked my mask inside my tights, as I would be wearing it during the match, as I didn't want ANY bruises on my pretty face that night from Rufus. I grabbed Angus and started to the ring. Rufus was there waiting for us, and there was NO referee in sight. Suddenly, the announcer, Bill Kersten, rang the bell and shouted out with glee that the special referee for this match would be none other than his favorite wrestler … Texas Bob Geigel.

The top of Memorial Hall nearly came off as fans jumped with joy. I started to retreat back to our dressing room and was met by four of the biggest goons that Karras had on his payroll. Angus was going to fight all four of them at once, but I stopped him, and we started back to the ring.

I wondered what our chances would be with Geigel in charge. I grabbed Angus and whispered in his ear to grab the timekeeper’s hammer and use it on Rufus. I would distract Geigel, which would be an easy task for me. I was ready to have a battle of wits with him, but I hated fighting an unarmed man in the process.

To be continued…

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