Skip to main content

What You Gonna Do Brutha-Second of a series

Cliff Note:This is part of a series I originally posted in January-February, 2007. This post first ran without links. This time I am adding links to what Wikipedia had about them. Evidently some of the contributors to Wikipedia are wrasslin' fans.

An interesting thing about pro wrestling is that many watch but fewer admit to it. My guess is that it's always been that way.

As a teenager, I used to listen to Pete Franklin on the radio at night, as most young men in the Cleveland area did. For those who are unfamiliar with "Sweet Pete", he had a sports talk show on WWWE/1100. One of the quickest ways to get "cut off" from his program was to ask a question about pro wrestling or roller derby, as they weren't accepted sports. Wrestling and roller derby are what is considered "sports entertainment".

Cliff Note:There are two types of people I find disturbing. The first is one who thinks that all of wrestling is real. The second is the type who thinks he's done something the equivalent of finding the cure for cancer, by proclaiming to the world that wrestling is fake.

For the record, wrestling is not fake. The outcome of matches is predetermined, but the moves, for the most part, are real. the referees are out there to control the action, and nowadays they are wired to hear directions from the back.

Anyway, when we last left you, we were discussing pro wrestling in the seventies. I graduated high school in 1974, and sort of pursued other interests, such as broadcasting school, working, dating, and other things I will not admit to since my children read this blog.

Fast forward to about the mid eighties. Vincent Kennedy McMahon has taken over his father's wrestling promotion, the World Wide Wrestling Federation or WWWF, later to be shortened to the World Wrestling Federation or WWF(not to be confused to the World Wildlife Fund).

I started watching again when Hulk Hogan was world champion of the WWF, Ric Flair was champion of the National Wrestling Alliance, or NWA. I was more a WWF viewer than NWA. Anyway it was basically good versus evil. The "faces" were the good guys, the "heels" bad guys.
Funny story: Ric Flair was recently interviewed. He was asked what he enjoyed more, being a heel or being a face. He replied by saying that those were insider terms and that the reporter had no right to use them.

I started watching in about 1987 on Saturday mornings. The show was called "Superstars of Wrestling" with Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura as announcers. Wrestlemania that year featured Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant as the main event. Andre had turned on the Hulkster during an episode of "Piper's Pit" an interview segment hosted by "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, "Hot Rod" had just turned face a short time earlier himself.(At the time, Andre was nearing the end of his career and was definitely on the downside.)
Hulk had attempted to body slam the giant during the early part of the match and the unplanned happened. Andre fell on the Hulkster and the referee, Joey Marella(BTW the son of Gorilla Monsoon) had to give it a long count for Hogan to get up out of it.

The Hulkster won that match, only to lose the strap to Andre the following winter in a "controversal" match, where Ted Dibiase-The Million Dollar Man evidently paid the referee, Dave Hebner, off. Dave Hebner's twin brother Earl was involved in this angle. (Irony about this was Earl Hebner would also be involved years later in the Montreal Screw Job.) Andre immediately surrendered the title to DiBiase, only to have it stripped by WWF president Jack Tunney. That set up a tournament at Wrestlemania, won by "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Back in those days, the title was usually lost during a major event, most usually a pay per view.

Other superstars back then were people such as Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake-His gimmick was to cut his opponent's hair after he won his match, always by sleeper hold. "Ravishing" Rick Rude-his finishing move was called the "rude awakening", also his move on a lady in the audience. The Honky Tonk Man was an Elvis rip off, managed by "the mouth of the south" Jimmy Hart. His finishing move was called the "shake, rattle, and roll".

More to come...

Comments

Busy Bee Suz said…
as a child of the 70's I used to watch a lot of these shows. My girls think they are funny too.
I remember some of the guys, but not all. I loved the crazy outfits and antics.
Pat Jenkins said…
have you watched hogan's celebrity wrestling camp yet? hillarious!!!
david mcmahon said…
Here is the truth - Vince McMahon and I are not related!
Anonymous said…
Thanks for bringing back some great memories. I met Rick Rude once and had my picture taken with him, a few months before he died.
coltfan said…
great post cliff

Popular posts from this blog

Post 800: Time to chat

Hi Guys, It's hard to believe that this is post number 800 for this blog. I started this blog out of my desire to communicate. Since radio and television is becoming more and more automated and less and less personal, I'm glad I made the decision to go in this direction as it has given me many blessings. When I first decided to write my musings, a friend from the radio and television boards who goes by the name of newsnomore, told me not to be discouraged if I didn't get any readers. The fact that I did in the early going made me surprised and grateful that anyone was enjoying what I wrote. I've had people tell me that maybe it wasn't meant for me to ever be in radio, that maybe my calling was blogging. Nowadays I think blogging makes for better two way conversation than terrestrial radio, especially the way I do it, non confrontational. The closest I come from any confrontation is the innocent digs that Pat and I shoot at each other. On an average day I get betwee

Lawson's Chip Dip

On a couple of occasions I have written posts dedicated to Lawson's, a convenience store chain that was located in Ohio for close to 50 years. In the late 1980's the chain was bought out by Dairy Mart, of Engfield Ct. Dairy Mart was then purchased by Alimentation Couche-Tard, and most stored were rebranded Circle K. Something that has survived the years since Lawson's has left the landscape is Lawson's Chip Dip. I get many hits on this blog from people out of Ohio, I'm thinking former Buckeyes, looking for availability of this chip dip. I had gotten an email from a former resident of Cleveland looking for it. I emailed Circle K about this sometime ago asking if it was possible to send the dip out to those out of state, they said because of quality issues that it was not possible. My only suggestion would be to get in touch with Circle K in your home area and ask them to start stocking this very popular item that seems to make every get-together complete. Now we wil

Sometimes Sports are Just Sports

 This may or may not make the final cut of my book. I was writing about some events this weekend and what had started as a joyous Friday night at my home school district became a weekend of heartbreak in the area after what happened at another school. Sometimes We Need to Realize That Sports are Just Games   Friday nights in late summer and early fall are sometimes a big deal for high school students and their families. As the long-time band announcer for my local high school, it is a time of year I always look forward to. This past Friday night was originally supposed to be the homecoming game for the local high school. The schedule had to be changed a bit because of the uncertainty of the opponents being able to field a team. There was talk around the league that they may have had to forfeit this game, so homecoming for the local school was rescheduled. The opponents, which are rivals of my local school district, were able to field a team and the game was played. The game was