Posted on 01/25/2016 7:00:02 PM PST by EveningStar
Beyond a shadow of the doubt, Archie "The Stomper" Gouldie was the biggest homegrown star ever in Stampede Wrestling and one of the greatest talents to survive the training in the Hart Family Dungeon. But his tale, which ended Saturday with his death at age 78 79, is much more than just that. It's the story of a small-town boy from tiny Carbon, Alberta (pop. 600) who made it big at home and abroad as the vicious Mongolian Stomper.
(Excerpt) Read more at slam.canoe.com ...
ping
RIP.
The regional wrestling back in the 60s and 70s was the best. We had Dick the Bruiser, Baron von Raschke, The Crusher and Yukon Moose Cholak on Friday nights down at the Tindall Armory. Most of those guys are gone to the great ring in the sky. Sorry to see another go.
By the way, did you hear that jobber Iron Mike Sharpe died last week also?
Not sure where Tindall Armory was, I used to see Dick the Bruiser doing TV commercials for "One Stop" where he got all his ribs "and stuff" and Bob Luce would do the "Ben's Auto Sales" ads, which were always a riot!!
Dang! You really follow this.
Not as much as I used to. I miss the old days. :(
Wow alot of old time wrestlers are passing away.
Tindall Armory was in Indy; on Friday nights the guys from the Chrysler Foundry and the GM stamping plant would be there. The guys in our circuit would normally appear in Indy, South Bend, Chicago and Louisville.
Dick the Bruiser (born Richard Afflis) was the local hero. He lived on the west side for a number of years. His son wasn’t half the wrestler he was and got busted dealing steroids out of a local gym. My grandpa, a Macedonian immigrant who loved Championship Wrestling on Channel 4, tended bar with a young Mitsu Arakawa as he was just starting in the game. Grandpa never liked him for his “sneaky Jap sh**” in the ring, but said he was a good kid tending bar.
I always preferred the local regional promotions over the big corporate wrestling enterprises that we have today. Those guys were really dedicated to their craft, and gave 110% in the ring, unlike all of the soap opera stuff that passes for wrestling today.
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