Good morning!
It was a great day in Waterloo yesterday. I have some details on the panels and seminars in today's issue coming up right after our daily tributes.
July 19th in the Time Tunnel:
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
Cyclone MacKey 1903
John Schweigart\Great Scott 1923
Leo Garibaldi 1929
Roy Boyd\Johnny Eagles 1934
Frenchy Martin 1947
Happy Birthday:
Randy Alls\Randy Rose (69)
Yoshiaki Yatsu (69)
Ruben Cain\Robert Gibson (67)
Jeremy Borash (51)
Kevin Kesar\Karrion Kross (40)
Yuvraj Dhesi\Jinder Mahal (39)
Valerie Loureda\Lola Vice (27)
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.
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7-18-25: George Tragos-Lou Thesz Hall of Fame and Dan Gable Museum Update
We kicked off this morning with an impromptu session that turned into a quick Q&A session with David Crockett. David got a great response, answered questions and helped start off the day really well.
Then there was the amazing presentation called "The History of East Tennessee Wrestling" with Historian Beau James and it was tremendous. There is nobody who knows more about the history of wrestling in that part of the state than Beau. Before I get into some of what he talked about, I have to mention what a joy it was to sit and visit for almost an hour with Jody Malenko (Simon).
We chatted about his dad, Larry, who many of you know as The Great Boris Malenko, who had a fantastic run in Florida with Eddie Graham from about 1966 through 1972. Jody told me some fascinating stories about his dad and about his own career, just a delightful guy, lots of fun.
Pictured: Beau James Wrestling Historian
Beau had a photo he recently discovered in a box in the old building where wrestling was first held in Kingsport in the 1920s, some photos of Ron Wright from being busted open hardway, photos of the airplane that Ron had used to fly into one of the towns and the townspeople had used explosives to demolish and burn his plane so he could not get out of town.
Yes, this stuff really happened in the old territory days.
Next up, a great session with Al Getz who is leaving the wrestling historian space soon. Al, who has given us some great data-driven information from the territorial system with his line of books, is going to be freeing himself up so he can pursue his passion of baseball. He plans to go to all of the Major League baseball parks in a huge tour he has wanted to do for some time, so he's giving up his wrestling historian duties to do that. Good session by Al.
Pictured: Al Getz, Wrestling Historian
Which, I should say, Al is a handful of established people in the wrestling historian space that, when I decided to enter the space myself, Al Getz was nice to me. He lent a helping hand, gave me direction, answered questions and welcomed me. That isn't always the case with everyone. Sometimes folks are not happy with the new kid on the block, but Al Getz treated me as a peer and for that I will always be grateful to him.
Before I get to the final session of the morning, I wanted to share this photo I quickly took during the autograph session time with Jerry Brisco holding a replica "red leather" version of the NWA World Heavyweight Title. This is a model of the NWA belt his brother Jack carried with him to the ring during the first part of his reign as champion. Each year, Jerry donates one of these to the Tragos-Thesz Hall of Fame "Heavyweight Champion" recipient. More on that in just a bit.
Pictured: Jerry Brisco and Wes holding the Tragos\Thesz Hall of Fame “Red Belt” Award
The main event of the morning was a session with Steve Johnson, John Bradshaw Layfield and Christine Londos about the life and career of her father, wrestling world champion Jim Londos.
Steve, also one of the people who welcomed me graciously into the ranks of historians, was great as always, outlining a lot of facts contained in his book on Londos.
If you missed Steve on my Time Tunnel podcast, check out here:
Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel Podcast Episode 1: Steve Johnson, Jim Londos
John Layfield has become one of my friends. We text a lot, communicate and discuss wrestling history and John's love for the past events of the sport always comes through in everything he's involved with that wrestling related.
Christine Londos shared several stories about her dad, but the overall most important principles he shared with her & his daughters were to eat right, take care of your body and your mind. He said that the Champ was a mental and physical fanatic about learning and eating right. Boy, did it ever show, what a great twisted steel body Londos had.
Here's a photo of the session with the three panelists and the great portrait of Londos they positioned up at the panel table.
Pictured: Christine Londos, Steve Jonhson and John Layfield
It’s a late night just getting home from the Hall of Fame Induction Banquet and Ceremony. I will have some details on that for you in tomorrow morning's issue of the Time Tunnel Daily Chronicle.
One Thing I Learned Today About Pro Wrestling History
Jim Londos came to the United States at the age of 15, making the voyage with a cousin in search of adventure and to escape what he called his father's "stern ways".
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.
Borash had some great moments in TNA that I still watch from time to time. He's such an important part of the early TNA days.
Thanks for sharing.