Posted on 06/04/2016 8:25:12 AM PDT by LRoggy
It was a small item in last Tuesday's New York Daily News: " 'Gorgeous George' gone," the headline read.
Chances are, a lot of people responded by saying: "Who the heck was Gorgeous George? Never heard of him."
In his heyday during the '40s and '50s, "Gorgeous George" was one of the biggest names in the phony game of rough-and-tumble wrestling. In 1955, the name (sometimes used by other wrestlers) was significant, not so much for what the showman accomplished by bending opponents into the shape of pretzels, but
because of the unusual fashions worn in the masculine world of grunt-and- groan.
George attracted attention more for his three-inch spike heels and inch- thick makeup than for his skill as a mauler and muscle-man. He entered the ring dressed in robes of satin or ermine and flaunted shoulder-length golden locks, as he peered vainly into a beautiful collection of hand-held mirrors. Meanwhile, his valet sprayed his corner with rich perfumes.
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.philly.com ...
Gorgeous George
Wild Red Berry
Lou Thesz
... ah, the fakery.
And many of his fights were also fakes, just like in professional wrestling.
Norton beat the draft dodger in their first match up, an
d actually beat him in the third. The decision was a joke.
It’s like he’s floating, not unlike a butterfly.
Yeah; you guys are right.
That Ali guy was just a fraud. He was a terrible boxer and never won anything important.
Just a media creation.
/sarc
People like him trick people into believing islam is about peace.
“He was a terrible boxer and never won anything important.”
I never said he wasn’t a good athlete. Never.
He was an old athlete,who died,and the press is over the top.
.
>>Gorgeous George
>>Wild Red Berry
>>Lou Thesz
>>... ah, the fakery.
My favorite was Dangerous Danny McShain.
Yes and the talented Ali beat Frazier their next two fights, and knocked out George Foreman who had demolished Frazier.
Thank goodness for remote control.
Fake? Let’s see you get into the squared circle with Sammartino, Nature Boy or Hitman Hart. You’d be crying like a little baby
Of course it was fake. There was a pro wrestler in our area of Texas named Tommy Martindale who became a friend of the family. As he might have said, wrestling should have a label on it that says, “For entertainment purposes only.”
That makes it morally superior to boxing, though, in that actually pounding someone unconscious ranks somewhere below putting on a show for rubes.
"Before I became champ, I used to go in the ring and fight and when I went to the dressing room, people didn't pay much attention to me," Ali recalled years later. "One night, I was watching Gorgeous George on TV. He was jumping around making a lot of noise and threatening his opponents and I said to myself, 'this guy's on to something.' I think I'll put some of that in my act."
Boxing fans plunked down their hard-earned cash to see Ali get knocked out. But alas, he had become as fine a boxer as he was a showman, and routinely whipped his opponents - "as if I was their daddy," he enjoyed saying. He also told reporters he probably owed Gorgeous George a lot of money: "Wasn't for him, nobody would have heard of me," Ali insisted.
Great story... great post.
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