Legendary wrestler Ric Flair hospitalized, expected to make 'full recovery' from surgery

CBS SPORTS ^ | 16 MAY 2016 | ADAM SILVERSTEIN

[atc23]

John Tolos vs Fred Blassie every other week on Championship Wrestling from The Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles changed my life. Those two were the greatest after Nature Boy and Mil Mascaras

[bagster]

Killer Kowalski, Victor Rivera, Ernie Ladd "The Big Cat", Kinji Shibuya and Massa Saito, John Tolos, Freddy Blassie....

Judo Gene Labell and Jimmy Lennon.

Wrestling from the Olympic Auditorium was the GREATEST THING EVER.

The

[NativeSon]

I worked with a fellow, enormous stature, he was VP and an expert in the clean room/sterile garment business. Found out that he had been a pro-wrestler.

He would also crack on my 20 y.o. girlfriend- still had the moves.

[MikelTackNailer]

"Space Mountain may be the oldest ride in the park but it still has the longest line. Whoooo!"

Judging greatness in the crazy acting-athlete profession eludes definition - you just know it when you see it. Hogan sold tickets but was never great. Tolos didn't venture enough out of his market. Bruno Samartino held a belt for eight years, truly athletically superhuman. Rick Steamboat matched Flair's ability but not his charisma.

Rick Rude, Harley Race, Haku/Meng, Chris Benoit, Paul Orndorf, William Regal and many more were legitimate badasses who had to modulate to avoid injuring their opponents. Drugs or other bad habits rife in the industry weeded out thousands of potentially great wrestlers. Demands of the road, training and shows with little time for healing and family weeds out more.

So remember this when some yahoo mouths off "wrestling's all fake". The pro athletes, who have seasons, look up to them with deserved admiration.

[real saxophonist]

Gordon Solie was the best sports host of all time.

[atc23]

Apache Bull Ramos, Los Medicos, Black Gordman - even George Reeves as Superman are the ghosts who still roam the Olympic Auditorium - waiting for their turn on Dick Lane’s Locker Room Interviews.

[bagster]

Haha, yea. I forgot about Black Gordman and Goliath and I couldn't for the life of me remember Dick Lane's name. What ab9ut Gorilla Monsoon and his color commentary.

The interviews were the best. No PC in those days.

One of my faves was the Golden Greek, John Tolos, talking about an upcoming match with Victor Rivera.. He's all like...

And I took a bite of a burrito...and I *PTOOEY*...SPIT IT OUT!!!

Kinji Shibuya and Massa Saito gave some funny ass interviews too. They didn't much like Metskins either. Massa Saito's sleeper hold, "Srreep, sreep".

And watch out for Ernie Ladd's big taped thumb.

Best semi-modern interviews were from Rowdy Roddy Piper.

[atc23]

Yeah, I do remember The Big Cat jamming that thumb in a fellows eyes - what a move . . . Shibuya and Saito were great personalities. I think one of them would throw poison in your eyes if you pissed him off. :). Bull Ramos was still wrestling high school gyms into his 70’s - what a life he had. They should make a movie about him.

in the early 80’s I moved up to Portland, OR. and Portland Wrestling from Don Owen was HUGE up there. All the big stars went through Portland. We would frequently go to the Portland Sports Arena and Flea Market on Saturday which attracted quite a class of people LOL. Roddy Piper started out in Portland. the Big East German, Karl Steiner grappled out of there and would actually fight people in the flea market parking lot after the shows once or twice. Ric Flair went up for a year or two and had some great matches with the locals like Billy Jack Haynes, Tim Flowers (who it was rumored was homosexual) the Mega Maharishi and the incomparable Playboy Buddy Rose.

[atc23]

Gene LeBell will definitely have a movie made about him when he’s passed on. The Toughest Man Alive. He is the Forest Gump of combat sports