CAC Benevolent Fund

Saturday Night Slam

June 26, 2004

My day started out by saying bye to our daughter and son-in-law and our Granddaughter Keelie. They had been visiting with us for a week and gave us such pleasure and joy. After a great breakfast and opening my birthday cards, I hit the road towards my old stomping grounds, Flint, Michigan.

After my usual stops to visit the graves of my father and my grandparents and visits with a couple of friends, I was northbound to Frankenmuth again to enjoy a fabulous chicken dinner with all the fixings. A short visit to the bakery for some Stollen Bread, and I was off towards another evening at the Birch Run Expo Center and Saturday Nite Slam.

As I entered the special section for parking, I noticed a red Cadillac Deville with Georgia plates on it … "ABBY ONE." I knew exactly whom this belonged to … Abdullah the Butcher. I had not seen him for nearly 35 years, as the last time was in Akron, Ohio, when I went to be a special referee for Walter Moore, the promoter who was trying to contain the Love Brothers' feud with Cowboy Frankie Lane and Chief White Owl.

I went to the front entrance, where I was met by Steve Rau, the XO of Legends Entertainment. He escorted me into the building and gave me a press pass for use in entry anywhere in the building. Inside, I was met by Mark Bujan and his wife, Nita. They gave me a package and wished me Happy Birthday. It sure is nice to be loved by so many people.

As I looked upon the upright seating section for general admission, there sat Virgil and Malia Hosaka speaking. We exchanged hellos and hugs and began to talk about what had happened since our last visit. Every so often, we were interrupted by staff members of Legends group to set up formats for the evening's matches.

As I looked towards the ring, I saw Kevin Sullivan talking with a couple of the younger wrestlers. I wandered over to him and he reached out a huge hand and gave me the biggest hug of the night thus far. We had not seen each other in over 20 years, and what a reunion. Kevin is still very active in the ring and in his spare time is the owner of a new gym in the Florida Keys.

The doors opened at 6:30, and the fans began to filter in and fill up the auditorium for the night's matches. I had the opportunity to meet with "Roddy Hogan," a young man that is the spitting image of his namesake "Hulk Hogan." Many of you may have seen him at many of the WWF events during the past two decades sitting at ringside with the familiar yellow and red shirt and the star-studded dew rag and blond hair. I also took the time to chat with a few fans that remembered me from the press conference this past May.

I returned to the dressing room, and there, in the far corner, all by himself, was Abdullah the Butcher. I casually walked to where he was sitting, and he jumped up when he saw me and grabbed me in a vise-like bear hug and began to say how wonderful it was to see me again after all these years. We spoke for nearly a half hour before the Legends people came and took him away for video highlights.

I returned to the arena floor, where I was met by historian Rob Bauer and Dave Burzynski. Rob gave me some neat articles for the upcoming charity golf outing to benefit Alicia's House. I will be addressing more of those things in the near future as the event draws closer.

The evening began with the singing of the National Anthem and a 10-bell salute to the late Malcolm Monroe, who recently passed away in the Detroit area.

The first event really got the fans pumped up as Nigel McGinnis fought Danny Daniels. I was really impressed with the English youngster and his abilities in the squared circle. Nigel won the match after nearly 15 minutes of non-stop action that couldn't be contained inside the ring at times.

We were then treated to some of the IWF superstars as they did their thing in front of the excited crowd. Included in those stars were Weapons of Mass Destruction, Messiah and Adam Flash, Jason Yang and Ian Knoxx, along with the match involving Virgil against Truth Martini. We were even treated to a reunion of sorts when the NWO STING came out to be with Virgil, who was wrestling under that NWO flag once again.

Mayhem, managed by Jimmy Hart, fought against the Lynch Mob in a battle that had fans nearly in the ring. Mayhem managed to contain the oncoming assault and retained their tag title belts, much to the happiness of the crowd.

Malia Hosaka was victorious in her match against Helena Heavenly that nearly cost her a leg in the process. Helena is a ferocious young lady that wants to be the number one lady in the Independent scene and is taking her frustrations out on any opponent that she meets in the ring.

Next, as if it wasn't enough wrestling on the card, they had a three-way match between Two Tuff Tony, DBA and Adam Flash. These guys fought until DBA came out the winner. Zach Gowen, recently of WWE fame, showed that having a handicap is no reason to quit doing anything. He won a very exciting match against the 325-pound mass of humanity The Warlord. It was the upset of the century, as called by Jimmy Hart when he heard about the match in the dressing room.

Kevin Sullivan and Abdullah The Butcher could not be contained in the ring, and the Texas Death Match spilled out onto the arena floor before the entire dressing room came out to separate these two monsters of the mat.

It is really amazing how much excitement can be mustered at one of these events promoted by Legend's Entertainment. I am happy that they have let me come and be a part of their family. I am honored that they thought so much as to speak of me on their hotline, 1-248-262-6879. I will be at many more of these great events in the near future.

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