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WRESTLING COLUMNS

THE NOSTALGIA POP #8
A Picture is Worth at Least a few Words
November 10, 2004 - by Brad Dykens

Andre The Giant compares hands with two other men; the hand on the left belongs to Mike Cleary who was both a Rugby Union & Rugby League International & the other one belongs to Teddy Whitten who was an Australian Rules legend so both weren't exactly small guys..

Check out this photograph of an early Hulk Hogan match facing off against the mammoth Gorilla Monsoon. It looks as though Gorilla has the (future) Hulkster in a very compromising position! Is this where the phrase "the irresistable force meets the immovable object" was born? Perhaps..


If you thought WWE Rookie Gene Snitsky has a goofy gimmick now, you should have seen him on the indy circuit dressed up as a football player teaming with Robb Harper in a team known as The Twin Tacklers.


These days, Gene Snitsky is sacrificing his integrity to make it big in the WWE. One can't blame him, but one also has to feel bad for him when he goes home and has to look himself in the mirror after working wrestling matches using a "Baby Killer" gimmick.

After Ric Flair became an established star in the Mid-Atlantic territory working for Jim Crockett, he became just as famous for making stars out of just about everybody he worked with. One of Ric Flair's early rivalries was against a young upstart performer named Rick Steamboat. They did a few angles on Television, and sold out arenas all over the world for the better part of a decade. It all culminated in 1989, when Ricky Steamboat managed to pin Ric Flair to capture the NWA World Heavyweight title. Flair rebounded, however, and recaptured the title three months later.

Most fans will forever remember "Captain" Lou Albano as the chubby, rubberband-wearing, goofball manager in the 80s who did a storyline with pop star Cindy Lauper, which helped catapult the WWF onto the National scene. Hopefully, I can change your opinion of the man who was actually a very accomplished wrestler in his day. Lou Albano formed a vicious heel tag team with Tony Altimore called The Scicilians, and dominated tag team divisions whereever they worked. The Scicilians caused a lot of controversy with their stereotypical Italian gangster gimmick. They were once approached in Chicago by some legitimate 'wise guys' and were told to "tone down their act". The Scicilians captured the Midwest Tag Team title in Chicago, and later defeated Spiros Arion & Arnold Skaaland to win the WWWF United States Tag Team championships. Lou Albano eventually set out on his own and had a brutal feud with WWWF Champion Bruno Sammartino, including a classic Steel Cage match in the Boston Gardens.

Pictured here is wrestling manager JC Dykes. Nevermind the caption, some journalist was trying to be funny. In the old days, wrestlers and managers took pride in the art of wrestling. A wrestler really knew they were effecting the audience when they incited a riot. It is a rare occurance in the wrestling world, but it sure makes for memorable moments. Promoters would publically scold any wrestler who created such a stir, but eventually pay the fine and pat them on the back for creating publicity for the show.

Penny Banner told a story in her book about a time when she inadvertantly incited a riot in Amarillo, Texas while teaming with Lorraine Johnson against Kay Noble & Laura Martinez. There is a photo attached of the non-so-happy pair as they were put behind bars for the night.

Sometimes it doesn't end up so innocent. Ole Anderson wrote in his book about starting a mini-riot at a small arena one time and ended up getting his chest slashed open from end to end by a knife weilding manaic fan!

OWW Staffer Greg Kelly wrote:
I came across the magazine today with this photo inside & it was actually in a Wrestling Revue column by fellow manager "Gentleman" Saul Weingeroff having a dig at his managerial "rival" or maybe it was a column by a journalist pretending to be Saul having a dig at Ramey..

It takes a special person to referee a wrestling match. It takes an EXTRA special person to referee a MIDGET wrestling match! Especially with some of the wise guy midget wrestlers from the old days. There was Lord Littlebrook (pictured), Little Beaver, Tiger Jackson, Little Brutus, Little Bruiser, Little Tokyo, Cowboy Lang and many others; but nobody compared to the legendary Sky Low Low, who took chucks out of referees behinds for years from one end of the country to the other! He would have the audience in stitches before the final bell rang in his matches. Midget matches weren't classics, they were downright ridiculous. However, that's what they were meant to be, a short break from the drama of regular wrestling matches. A bit of comedy relief. In this photograph, the unknown referee has clearly caught Littlebrook red-handed in a hairpulling incident. In an attempt to talk his way out of it, Littlebrook has climbed to the second rope to plead his case. Hoping to intimidate the referee with his newly aquired height advantage. Somehow I dought it worked! On a related note, Lord Littlebrook has recently fallen ill with a bout of pneumonia. We wish him the best of luck in his recovery..

Take a look at the Internet's Most Downloaded Woman. What the hell? You can particially blame this inflation on drugs but seriously WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?! She sure has come a long way from getting on the cover of RAW Magazine in 199-whatever it was.

Here's a pair of rare Hercules Hernandez (RIP) photos when he was wrestling as Assassin #2 in the Mid-Atlantic territory, managed by Paul Jones, and another photo of when he was unmasked after a match with Jimmy Valiant in Toronto on April 15, 1984 about a year or so before jumping to the WWF.


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