August 23rd in the Time Tunnel:
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
(none)
Happy Birthday:
(none)
RIP Memorial: We stop & remember those who have passed on this day and gave themselves to the business for us, the fans. We salute you and thank you.
Mars Bennett 8-23-1957 at the age of 35
Terry Funk 8-23-2023 at the age of 78
40 Year Flashback
Pro Wrestling Debut
Bam Bam Bigelow 8-23-1985 at 24 years old
Bigelow's first professional match took place at a card held at Studio 54 in New York City. The event, titled Wrestle Party 1985, was promoted by a then-19-year-old Paul Heyman, who had leveraged his role as a photographer and publicist at the venue to organize pro wrestling shows there amid the nightclub's temporary closure and reopening challenges.
Bigelow, whose real name was Scott Bigelow, had begun training just three months earlier in May 1985 at Larry Sharpe's Monster Factory wrestling school in Clementon, New Jersey, where he was considered Sharpe's top student. He started out wrestling under the name Crusher Yurkov.
He reportedly chose wrestling as a profession because he felt there were few other opportunities suited to his background and physical stature. His venture into wrestling came shortly after Bigelow's release from a six-month prison stint in Mexico, where he had been working as a bounty hunter and was imprisoned following an incident in which he was shot in the back by a fugitive.
One Thing I Learned Today About Pro Wrestling History
Mars Bennett was a circus performer before she entered pro wrestling. Usually a heel, she was known as "The Girl with the Iron Jaw." She was a leading performer of the 1940s and 1950s.
Thank You for Reading
I'm Tony Richards, Pro Wrestling Historian, Author and Storyteller. I share pro wrestling historical items in each issue of the Time Tunnel Pro Wrestling History Newsletter. Thanks for reading! If you enjoy my information on select events, matches and insights, please share it with folks you think might like to be a subscriber!
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