Posted on 05/16/2019 7:03:45 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
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
Judo Gene Labell and Jimmy Lennon.
Wrestling from the Olympic Auditorium was the GREATEST THING EVER.
The
He would also crack on my 20 y.o. girlfriend- still had the moves.
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.
Gordon Solie was the best sports host of all time.
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 Lanes Locker Room Interviews.
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.
in the early 80s 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.
Gene LeBell will definitely have a movie made about him when hes passed on. The Toughest Man Alive. He is the Forest Gump of combat sports
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