Golden Age Rasslin'

[Mikey Osmond]

Anybody here watched rasslin' in the '50s and '60s and remembers Antonino Rocca, Buddy Rogers, Johnny Valentine and the announcer Ray Morgan?

[Marshall Bennett]

Remember Valentine and Treacherous Phillips. I was really young. Dad took me to the downtown convention center in Shreveport and saw them live too.

[jimmyb]

Haystacks Calhoun, Bruno Sammartino. The midgets, Little Beaver and Sky Low Low.


Midget Wrestler Sky Low Low 1.jpg
Sky Low Low

[JimG]

I was a 70's guy. CWF Wrestling


Jack and Jerry Brisco
Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk
Dusty Rhodes
Eddie and Mike Graham
Buddy Colt
Barry Windham
Blackjack Mulligan
and the great Gordon Solie ("So Long from the Sunshine State") to name just a few.



Great Memories.


Jim

[jay68802]

Anyone think that Rick Flair looks like Bob Baffert?

[Greyfox]

Lou Thesz, Gene Kiniski, Yukon Eric, Karl Von Braun, Sweet Daddy Siki, Gorgeous George

[JustRalph]

I saw Haystack Calhoun in 1973? He appeared at The Harts Creek WV high school gym. He was in the feature match with some guy who actually outweighed him. Half way thru the match somebody launched a Strohs beer bottle into the ring and cracked ole Haystack right between the eyes. He started bleeding like the proverbial stuck pig. The place went crazy and they shut the event down.

I was a teen. It was awesome.......

[Mikey Osmond]

Originally Posted by Greyfox

Lou Thesz, Gene Kiniski, Yukon Eric, Karl Von Braun, Sweet Daddy Siki, Gorgeous George

Was this wrestling from Buffalo?

[FakeNameChanged]

I saw Gorilla Monsoon and Professor Toru Tanaka from ringside in the convention center at Atlantic City in the mid-60's. Tanaka was truly a scary individual up close. The crowd was booing him as he was climbing into the ring, and I remember he stomped his foot onto the wooden steps and it sounded like a cannon shot(maybe rigged with a mic for sound?).

Gorilla was a huge human being, and also played the bad guy. Some kid was taunting him with one of those big red horns next to the ring. Afer several warnings, Gorilla leaped over the ropes, and raced the kid up the aisle out of the arena. He could move very fast.

Later on, Gorilla played golf at my bro-in-laws CC at North Hills in Phily. He said he was a very nice guy, and told him some horror stories about all the injuries he'd suffered rasslin. My BIL was the club pro there for 40 years, and said Gorilla was a pretty good golfer.
I don't know about the Golden Age, the crowd that night wouldn't have filled a small HS gym.

[olddaddy]

Verne Gagne, Dick The Bruiser, The Crusher, Mad Dog Vachon, BlackJack Lanza, Baron Von Raschke, and Pretty Boy Bobby Heenan. This was part of the Midwest Rasslin promoted by Bob Luce that I grew up with.

[summersquall]

Saturday afternoons in the late 60's the black and white TV had the rabbit ears tuned to channel 50 to view the likes of Bobo Brazil, Killer Kowalski, Johnny Valentine and of course The Sheik. Regional wrestling, basic and unadulterated.

[Greyfox]

Originally Posted by Mikey Osmond

Was this wrestling from Buffalo?

Not sure about Buffalo.
New York City, Toronto, Montreal, Western Canada

[Mikey Osmond]

Originally Posted by jimmyb

Haystacks Calhoun, Bruno Sammartino. The midgets, Little Beaver and Sky Low Low.


Attachment 28799
Sky Low Low

I see the midget wrestlers mentioned often on other forums when rasslin' is discussed (especially Sky Low Low).

Originally Posted by olddaddy

Verne Gagne, Dick The Bruiser, The Crusher, Mad Dog Vachon, BlackJack Lanza, Baron Von Raschke, and Pretty Boy Bobby Heenan. This was part of the Midwest Rasslin promoted by Bob Luce that I grew up with.

Indiana, right?

Originally Posted by FakeNameChanged

I saw Gorilla Monsoon and Professor Toru Tanaka from ringside in the convention center at Atlantic City in the mid-60's. Tanaka was truly a scary individual up close. The crowd was booing him as he was climbing into the ring, and I remember he stomped his foot onto the wooden steps and it sounded like a cannon shot(maybe rigged with a mic for sound?).

Gorilla was a huge human being, and also played the bad guy. Some kid was taunting him with one of those big red horns next to the ring. Afer several warnings, Gorilla leaped over the ropes, and raced the kid up the aisle out of the arena. He could move very fast.

Later on, Gorilla played golf at my bro-in-laws CC at North Hills in Phily. He said he was a very nice guy, and told him some horror stories about all the injuries he'd suffered rasslin. My BIL was the club pro there for 40 years, and said Gorilla was a pretty good golfer.
I don't know about the Golden Age, the crowd that night wouldn't have filled a small HS gym.

IIANM the Golden Age was cut off at the early '60s but I read recently that Vince McMahon Sr. stopped filming at one arena b/c the crowds were small in the late '60s.

Originally Posted by Greyfox

Not sure about Buffalo.
New York City, Toronto, Montreal, Western Canada

Ahh I see. The wrestlers you named passed through the Buffalo circuit during the time. I was curious if you watched the NYC circuit. Vince McMahon Sr. promoted his territory out of DC, NYC/Long Island, Newark (and some other cities in NJ). His main TV program aired on Thursday nights. Siki was a regular there.

[TJDave]

Growing up in Oklahoma in the ‘50’s & 60’s there was really only one guy:

Danny Hodge.

All us kids idolized him. Still do.

[myohmyjustify]

Originally Posted by FakeNameChanged

I saw Gorilla Monsoon and Professor Toru Tanaka from ringside in the convention center at Atlantic City in the mid-60's. Tanaka was truly a scary individual up close. The crowd was booing him as he was climbing into the ring, and I remember he stomped his foot onto the wooden steps and it sounded like a cannon shot(maybe rigged with a mic for sound?).

Gorilla was a huge human being, and also played the bad guy. Some kid was taunting him with one of those big red horns next to the ring. Afer several warnings, Gorilla leaped over the ropes, and raced the kid up the aisle out of the arena. He could move very fast.

Later on, Gorilla played golf at my bro-in-laws CC at North Hills in Phily. He said he was a very nice guy, and told him some horror stories about all the injuries he'd suffered rasslin. My BIL was the club pro there for 40 years, and said Gorilla was a pretty good golfer.
I don't know about the Golden Age, the crowd that night wouldn't have filled a small HS gym.

My BIL was a big fan and told us Gorilla Monsoon holds (or now held since this was many Thanksgiving dinners ago) numerous track and field records at Ithaca College in NY state. Explains how fast he ran.

Monsoon also lived in the same area in NJ where I live but don't know exactly the township.

I never liked it.