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Wrestle Mania
I see that Hulk Hogan now has his own "reality TV show." The guy is still as big and bulked-up as ever and still has that gravelly voice, but he's gotten old. I'm beginning to think I could take him. I used to be a fan of wrestling. Well, I'm talking way back when I was a kid. I remember it was a real treat that once a week we would get wrestling on our little black-and-white TV. That's back when the wrestlers got into the ring and wrestled, threw each other around a bit, did their dropkicks and got the opponents in a five-minute headlock.
That's where I first saw guys like Vern Gagne, who was one of my favorites because his last name was sort of like mine, Killer Kowalski, the Vachon Brothers, Fritz von Erich, Bobo Brazil (remember the Coco-Butt?), Dick the Bruiser, and the flamboyant and perhaps the first "showman" of wrestling, Gorgeous George. Then there were the jumbo wrestlers, who weighed about a thousand pounds. My favorite was Haystacks Calhoun. Sometimes we would really luck out and they'd have the midget wrestlers. There weren't very many in the early days, so often it was the matchup of the "bad guy, " Fuzzy Cupid, versus the "good guy," Little Beaver.
After watching wrestling, my brother and I liked to go to our bedroom and wrestle on the bed, pretending to be some of the guys we had just seen. We'd tear the room apart, throw each other around harmlessly, pretending to give dropkicks and coco-butts. I loved being Fritz von Erich and trying to administer "the Claw" to Goose's stomach. We'd wrestle till one of us would take a hard fall on the floor, and Mom would coming yelling, "Okay, boys, that's enough!"
Wrestle-Mania was at its peak when my son Erik was growing up. I remember getting those special event pay-per-view WrestleMania shows, and it would be a big family event to gather around the TV for that. That was the 1980s and the days of the Hulk, Andre the Giant, George "The Animal" Steele, The Iron Shiek, The Honky-Tonk man (my personal favorite), The Bushwackers (Goose and I were accused of being their cousins!), Jake the Snake Roberts, the Junkyard Dog, Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake and, of course, "Macho Man" Randy Savage.
And remember Macho Man's girlfriend, Miss Elizabeth? Boy, she got our attention! She brought beauty and charm to the wrestling scene amidst the mass of muscles and mayhem. Somewhere in my collection I have great pictures of her when the WWF show came to Lake Placid. We had ringside seats and if you had a camera, would you take pictures of The Iron Shiek or Miss Elizabeth? When she came on the scene, the woman's role in wrestling was quite minimal. She became more famous than "The Fabulous Moolah" of the 1950s. My plan was to steal Miss Elizabeth from Macho Man, but that plan never got off the ground. Sadly, Miss Elizabeth died in 2003 at the age of 42 of an accidental drug overdose, a combination of alcohol with some medication she had taken.
Once Vince McMahon got his stranglehold on wrestling it seems like it became more show and less wrestling. I don't watch wrestling anymore. Just for a few minutes as I flick through the channels. Seems like they are always in the ring, but never wrestling. Seems like they give speeches instead of dropkicks. Also seems like wrestling is a lot sexier than it used to be. Even Miss Elizabeth wore those long gowns. Oh, maybe they were slit up the sides to show her legs. I say, "maybe," because I'm not really sure about that. I wasn't looking that closely. But now it seems there are a lot more women in wrestling and a lot more skin showing. It just seems like the wrestlers pass the microphone around the ring, yell threats at each other and never really get down to wrestling. Does anyone watch wrestling anymore?
Comments
Foxy,
I am a little younger than you, but I remember growing up in Texas and seeing "Wahoo McDaniel" and Killer Kawalski, in person as a little 7 year old........fast forward to the 80's, and remember Lake Placid.......me and my buddies would sit out and wait the night before tickets went on sale and get ring side seats.....and we ALWAYS cheered for the Underdog.......Hercules against the Junk Yard Dog....people were actually mad at us for rooting for Hercules, he loved it, gave us a big ole wink! And then the highlight of wrestling came to AuSable Forks. One night wrestling was in Placid, we did not go....we were in our favorite local establishment, 20 Main. It was late and there were just a few of us......in walks Ricky "The Steamboat" Dragon. He buys two six packs of beer and walks out....outside, in two cars, him with a girl in one, and in the other, the Wrestler he just fought, his arch nemisis at the time, "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Driving the "Macho Man", yup, Miss Elizabeth......so, if anyone ever says pro wrestlers were in the Forks, it is true!
Posted by: Ed McCallister | March 24, 2006 1:21 PM
Hey Fox,
Unfortunately Wrestling has fallen to the commercial $$$ giant. My biggest fear is that NASCAR is heading that direction, "already on its way". Whatever happened to the days when wrestling was wrestling and racing was racing?
Posted by: Jason | March 22, 2006 2:11 PM
I also liked Edward Carpentier, my favorite, and Yukon Eric, I think he fought bare feet. My dad still watches wrestling, so I get to see glimpses of it. Sweet Daddy Seeky, no idea how it was spelled, was also great (with his mirror), as well as Mad Dog Vachon; and Mean Gene, I believe, was a great announcer!
Posted by: gcastine | March 22, 2006 12:15 PM
Professional wrestling...my favorite all time NCCN program from the old Service Mdse. Goose was at his best, especially when interviewing Missy Hyatt. I still think he could have kicked Brutus the Barber's rear end if you had let him leave the broadcast booth.
Posted by: Rick | March 22, 2006 9:07 AM