June 22nd in the Tunnel:
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
Billy Riley 1896
Henri Deglane 1902
"Leaping" Larry Chene 1924
Chris Colt 1946
Jerry Reese\Big Red 1950
John Tenta\Earthquake 1963
Happy Birthday:
***Special Tony Note: As mentioned a couple of times, I have been traveling many miles this week and yesterday I made a mistake in the birthday salute. I did not make mention of Mark Romero (Mark Youngblood) was having a birthday and should have been included in our list. He turned 62 yesterday. I really try to pour over the various dates for all the wrestlers who have been in the business, but I will occasionally miss one or get one wrong. My apologies and Happy Belated Birthday to Mark.
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.
Nancy Benoit\Fallen Angel\Woman 6-22-2007 at the age of 43
Billy Red Lyons 6-22-2009 at the age of 77
Buddy Landel 6-22-2015 at the age of 53
Select Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel Match and Event Flashbacks
50-Year Flashback: 1975
6-20-1975: Andre The Giant, Black Gordman & Great Goliath defeated The Hollywood Blondes & Choi Sun at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California
Pictured: The Grand Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California
Gordman and Goliath coming back into the Los Angeles territory as babyfaces was a particularly good idea based on one thing. The Hollywood Blondes were such heat magnets and so over as heels. The Blondes, who have been together as a tag team for over five years at this point had done great business in Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida and now here in Southern California.
As hated as Gordman and Goliath had been, they were easily babyfaces matches up with Sir Oliver Humperdink's Blondes. A new member was added to Humperdink's stable in Choi Sun. Sun was sold as a Korean martial arts assassin-type heel, much in the mold of Pak Song, although not as successful, nor well known as Song. Sun was a good addition to a six-man tag match in the territory's top arena for a main event between the top two tag teams and the world's most over traveling attraction on the babyface side.
Pictured: Advertisement for Andre The Giant on television from The Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles
6-20-1975: Abdullah the Butcher vs Jerry Brisco with special referee Mike McCord ended without a winner at the City Auditorium in Atlanta, Georgia
Speaking of most over attractions, most likely the most over attraction on the heel side of the equation in the Mid-1970s was Abdullah the Butcher. Paired up with Rock Hunter as his manager, Abdullah was drawing fans and money in Georgia. It's a little hard to conceive that Abby had been in professional wrestling over 15 years at this point in his career, but he is doing so well in Atlanta that the Canadian will ultimately decide to make it his home.
By the same token, Jerry Brisco is in the middle of a fabulous career that started in the late 1960s and since 1970, he has endeared himself to the three large booking offices in the Southeastern United States. Regularly rotating between Jim Crockett Promotions in Charlotte, North Carolina, Championship Wrestling from Florida in Tampa and Georgia Championship Wrestling in Atlanta, Jerry is working anywhere from the third match to the top every night against some of the biggest names of the decade. Add on to that, his brother is the World Heavyweight champion for the NWA, which allows him to either work the week before Jack Brisco arrives, the semi-main match on the night of the Champion's appearance or occasionally in a tag team match with Jack on top of the card.
Mike McCord had a great 1974 working in two masked man angles. In Florida, booker Bill Watts had put McCord under a mask as the Super Texan, which lasted a good 6 months in a feud with Watts and Dusty Rhodes, then McCord came here to Georgia, where he worked with Ole and Gene Anderson under a mask as Super A, the occasional third man in six-man tags, until; he was ultimately unmasked. At this time in 1975, he's stuck somewhere in the middle to lower part of the card, doing this role as special referee for Abdullah and Brisco, having no idea where his career would ultimately take him.
One Thing I Learned Today About Pro Wrestling History:
Buddy Landel broke into the business in 1980 working around Knoxville, Tennessee about the time of the Knoxville split and he got some work with All-Star Wrestling, the group founded by Ron Garvin, Bob Roop, Ron Wright and Boris Malenko. Due to the relationship with the Poffos, he got most of his matches around this time with ICW in Lexington, Kentucky. He can be seen wrestling on early ICW TV shows with black hair.
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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