Pro Wrestling 1970s

[RedAngie]

A random comment on a FB page I follow brought back some memories of pro wrestling in the early 1970s.

The comment mentioned this dude, whose name I hadn’t heard in about 50 years

Pampero Firpo, supposedly from Argentina



I mostly enjoyed watching the villains. Some wrestlers were “good guys” who turned “bad.” More rarely a former bad guy found god and turned into a hero.



“Beautiful” Bobby Eaton


Crazy Luke Graham


Baron Mikel Slacuna from The Isle of Malta


Sergeant Slaughter



Superstar Billy Graham


Professor Taru Tanaka and Mr. Fuji


My maternal grandfather was a huge wrestling fanatic. The story is that he was the first person in his neighborhood to buy a TV, like 1947, specifically to watch wrestling. Before other entertainment programs became established, wrestling and boxing were Kings of TV.

 

[tvguy]

I remember Billy Graham and Mr. Fuji.
Here in Sacramento the local TV wrestling show featured Rocky "Soul Man" Johnson. I think his kid Dwayne might be familiar to many folks today.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/16/us/rocky-johnson-wrestler-dwayne-johnson-dad-obit-trnd/index.html

 

[RedAngie]

Can’t forget the managers

Classy Freddie Blassie


Captain Lou Albano


The Grand Wizard


And long time women’s champ The Fabulous Moolah

 

[amcnj]

When I was young I don’t remember any of my friends being too into tv wrestling. We would occasionally watch it for a laugh. The names Sergeant Slaughter and Captain Lou Albano are familiar to me. Another tv show in a similar vein I recall was roller derby.

 

[mylilnikita]

My Dad was a huge fan. We would go to our local venue and see them live.

I loved Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood.

RIc Flair and Greg Valentine.

Rick and Roll Express.

 

[Alicefan]

I worked with Bobby Eaton several times. He was the nicest guy in the business. Had the pleasure of working with a bunch of my teen idols. I was a huuuge wrestling fan in the 80's. I'll stick some pics in...

 

[NYCgrrl]

Gorgeous George, the Kaiser, midget wrestling. My Papa watched them every Friday night before the boxing matches. We could stay in the living room for wrestling but were sent to the kitchen to hang out with Nana for boxing.

Loved him devotedly despite this character flaw.

 

[tazdev3225]

I was never into wrestling but my husband was. We were in Wildwood and met Sgt. Slaughter watching a baseball game. He was the nicest man in person, very polite and even got my son to stay still, that was a miracle. When we moved from our apartment to our new house my husband was in charge of moving the furniture, huge mistake. The TV was included and it was a Saturday. He was watching wrestling while his family was helping me with no where to sit.

wrestling was banned by me when my son decided to use wrestling moves on his baby sister. He would stand on the corners of her playpen, say let’s wrestle and jump down on her. My husband thought it was cute, me not so much.

 

[Disneylover99]

The Wolfman and Sweet Daddy Siki come to mind when I think about 70’s wrestlers.

 

[tony67]

Lets not forget Andy Kaufman...he was ahead of his time...

 

[BrianL]

I was never a huge fan, but a lot of the stars came through Memphis. This is Jerry "The King" Lawler's domain, and he's still a bit of a local hero. He even ran for mayor once, and had a decent platform too. Funny thing about Jerry is he'd usually be losing a match, but then he'd pull that singlet strap down and - look out! Amazing how he could always find that second wind....

 

[Kennywood]

I grew up with wrestlers like

George "The Animal" Steele


Batman


Andre the Giant


And the greatest.....Bruno Sammartino:


Oh, and this was back in the days when midget wrestling was a real thing.

 

[RedAngie]

Another tv show in a similar vein I recall was roller derby.

Roller Derby was another mainstay of very early TV. My father said that the front windows of appliance stores of the era often had TVs with B&W photos of wrestling, boxing, or roller derby scenes taped to the screens to entice people to buy a set.

We’d often watch roller derby when gathering at my grandparents house.



Judy Arnold leap frogging a hapless opponent.


The Polish Ace Judy Sowinski about to rearrange Judy Arnold’s face.


In real life the two Judys were close friends.

And if course we saw the 70s roller derby movie.

 

[Kennywood]

Roller Derby was another mainstay of very early TV. My father said that the front windows of appliance stores of the era often had TVs with B&W photos of wrestling, boxing, or roller derby scenes taped to the screens to entice people to buy a set.

We’d often watch roller derby when gathering at my grandparents house.

Danielle Colby of "American Pickers" fame once owned and was part of the "Big Mouth Mickies" female roller derby team. Injuries forced her to give it up.

 

[mylilnikita]

A couple of years ago, I got into watching a show called Darkside of the Ring. Really interesting stuff.

 

[Praying Colonel]

I loved pro wrestling when TBS was WTBS Channel 17 in Atlanta and we got the station via cable. Gordon Solie was the announcer and they had a lot of quality talent who eventually became WWF/WWE stars when WWF consolidated the regional circuits. I really liked Mr. Wrestling #2.

 

[Babs Johnson]

I remember most but not all of the wrestlers mentioned.

50 years ago there seemed to be close to a dozen different wrestling circuits. Some guys remained in one league the majority of their careers, others switched after five years or so. Then there were the designated “victims” of the villains who only lasted a year before they were shipped off to continue their roles in another circuit.

The villains changed with the times too, with some portraying whatever was considered negative in current US culture: Communists, sneaky evil Japanese, drug crazed hippies, Arab sheiks, etc.

 

[Babs Johnson]

In other news, former WWE head honcho is accused, again, of sexual abuse.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/wwe-founder-vince-mcmahon-accused-173559427.html

 

[mikehn]

I loved the battle royals with Haystacks Calhoun, Bobo Brazil, Bruno, Andre, lol

 

[Rogue1677x]

I was a kid in the 80s and my father loved wrestling, us kids, not so much. However, we came to appreciate it over time as it was spending time with our dad and especially when he would take us into Boston for some of the matches with Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, etc.