Good morning!
Are you ready for a trip back in the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel today? I have set the controls for 1965 today and our destination is the Georgia Territory on a Saturday Night to watch some live studio wrestling in Atlanta!
But first, let’s give honor and respect to the people who made the business in our daily salutes:
July 11th in the Time Tunnel:
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
Mike Sharpe, Sr 1922
Reggie Lisowski\The Crusher 1926
Dick Beyer\The Destroyer\Dr. X 1930
Jim White 1942
Ernie Holmes 1948
Leon Spinks 1953
Butch Reed 1954
Happy Birthday:
The Original El Vikingo (81)
TJ Wilson\Tyson Kidd (45)
Jeff Cobb (43)
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.
Lou Daro 7-11-1958 at the age of 74
Orville Lee Carlson\Cowboy Carlson 7-11-1996 at the age of 73
Glen Detton 7-11-1997 at the age of 76
Shinya Hashimoto 7-11-2005 at the age of 40
Buddy Wolfe 7-11-2017 at the age of 76
Important Pro Wrestling Debuts:
7-11-1962 JJ Dillon made his professional wrestling debut versus Juan "Hawk" Rodriguez at the Vineland Speedway in Vineland, New Jersey.
According to JJ in his book "Wrestlers Are Like Seagulls", he was paid $50 for this first professional match. He noted that he and Juan were regular workout partners and that Juna was connected to local promoter Bill Nocco. JJ said that he probably wasn't ready for his first match but when Nocco asked if he wanted to wrestled Rodriguez on the upcoming show, "yes" flew out of his mouth.
JJ also said he still has an old 8mm film of that first match and the fact that it was his first match really showed in his performance. The main event on that card was Miguel Perez against Hans Schmidt. While $50 was a lot of money at the time to him, he did have thoughts that he thought wrestlers got paid a lot more.
He got a return match with Rodriguez at the Speedway, then nothing else opened up after that.
He remembered how exciting it was that he got to meet Buddy Rogers, Antonino Rocca, Bronco Lubich, Angelo Poffo and the Gallagher Brothers.
On a personal note, I had a chance to speak to JJ by phone earlier this year to talk about his years in Amarillo and working in West Texas for the Funks. I was thrilled to hear about his NWA Western States Tile Run in 1974 and then his second run there in the later 1970s. JJ Dillon is such a nice fellow and I appreciate his daughter Pamela for setting it all up.
Select Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel Match and Event Flashbacks
60-Year Flashback: A Live Studio Television Program in One Hot Territory
7-10-1965: Live Atlanta Wrestling 6:30pm EST on WAII-TV Channel 11
Mario Galento defeated Red Roberts
Mario Galento was a favorite worker used by Buddy Fuller in every territory he owned and promoted. Memphis, Tennessee, Mobile, Alabama, Phoenix, Arizona and now here in Atlanta in partnership with Ray Gunkel, Fuller brought Galento in to push momentum in the already hot territory.
Pictured: Mario Galento
Galento arrived with a splash at the end of 1964, winning the Georgia Heavyweight Championship beating another former Tennessee regular, Sputnik Monroe in November. Galento held that title until May 28th of 1965 where he lost that title to Buddy Fuller before an immense crowd at the Ponce de Leon Ballpark in Atlanta.
He also defeated Greg Peterson in Macon, Georgia for the newly created NWA United States Junior Heavyweight Title on April 27th, 1965. The Championship which lasted a little over a decade in Georgia was initiated to be a regional junior heavyweight class championship just under the NWA's World Junior Title. While many regional territories put their own geography on their version of the title such as Southwest Junior Title or Southern Junior Title, the Georgia office made it a national geographic area title I am sure to enhance it and make it seem even more important.
Adding to his collection of Georgia Titles, Mario and Al "spider" Galento won the Southern Tag Team Championship in Macon on June 11th, then while defending them one week later in Atlanta against Buddy Fuller and Chief Little Eagle, Al Galento injured his foot during the match making it impossible for the Galentos to defend the belts, so they had to give them up and a tournament was held which was won by the Corsicans.
After Galento had drawn such a huge crowd at the Ponce de Leon ballpark stadium in Atlanta against Buddy Fuller, and his brother Al was injured, he was then involved in a singles program with Chief Little Eagle. So, between Little Eagle, continuing his program with all the top babyfaces, Fuller, Gunkel, Peterson, Joe Scarpa and also having some matches where he challenged Bob Orton, Sr for the Southern Heavyweight Title, Galento was a busy man and working as the top heel in Georgia. Toward the end of July in 1965, he would also add a great feud with Nick Kozak which would last through the rest of the Georgia Summer.
Pictured: Red Roberts
"Rowdy" Red Roberts had been a top hand through the South for the entirety of his career and at this time, he is getting close to retiring, I'm sure though, with his level of work in the ring and his reputation, this was a very competitive match that kept Galento elevated during this great run with Roberts putting him over on television and with there only being two matches on the live show, this match must have gone between 15 and 20 minutes.
The Corsicans vs Joe Scarpa & Greg Peterson ended as a time limit draw
As covered in a previous Issue of The Daily Chronicle, The Corsicans had just recently won the one-night tournament in Atlanta to win the NWA Southern Tag Team Titles, and they are matched up with a mid-card babyface in Peterson and a top draw babyface in Scarpa. Two singles wrestlers put together to face the tag champs. To also reinforce a previous point, here are the champions of the tag team part of the territory being mixed into matches with top singles stars which keeps the tag team division interesting and exciting. The mid-card Corsicans are getting the top of the card star "rub" from the babyface stars.
I'm sure the match did what it was supposed to do, it was more than likely a 30-minute time limit, so the match went broadway to show The Corsicans are to be taken seriously as Southern Tag Champs since two former top of the card champions couldn't beat them in the time allotted.
Pro Wrestling in general and television wrestling specifically used to make so much more sense.
One Thing I Learned Today About Pro Wrestling History
Lou Daro was a leading strongman on the carnival and fair circuit in the 1910s. He began wrestling in the 1920s and found his most notable success as a wrestling promoter in Los Angeles and the West Coast. He became known as "Carnation" Lou Daro.
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!
Remember, paid subscribers get access to exclusive and special content such as some special issues including a multi-part deep dives on wrestling territories, wrestler bios and championship title histories, special audio and video interviews on territory pro wrestling and more available in The Vault of the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel for Paid Subscribers.
JJ Dillion would be a great guest for your podcast. As a fan, I mostly knew of him as the manager of The Four Horsemen. I didn't realize the extent of his rich wrestling background until I read his book that you referenced when it came out 20 or so years ago. He was at a convention at the time, and I asked him if had a copy of his new book with him that I could buy from him. He did and he wrote a nice note inside and signed it. He seemed to really enjoy chatting with other fans there and answering questions about his time with The Four Horsemen.
Another great issue of Pro Wrestling Tine Tunnel - Daily Chronicle today (Issue 87).
Learnt that JJ got a $50 for his debut, very interesting! Thanks for all your hard work Tony!