Professional Wrestling

[wesley_w]

When I was younger my goal was to be a WWF wrestler. I wanted to be the next Ultimate Warrior, boy how times change and I have no desire to watch that stuff now.

I saw the Ultimate Warrior in person at Vets, I guess it was probably 1990 or 1991. Anyway we had four couples drive down from Ames and it was cold that night. So two of the guys and all the women went on in, but one guy and I went around to the back door to watch the wrestlers come in. They parked their rental cars back there. One car came to a stop right by the door and the trunk popped open and Ted DiBiase got out of the passenger side and Virgil his bodyguard got out of the drivers side. Then Virgil handed Ted his bag and parked the car. They carried their bodyguard act all the way out in the parking lot...it was hilarious.
Okay, here's the point to my story. There was a guy at the back door holding it open each time a wrestler would approach. Then all of a sudden he left, so I decided to hold the door for whoever came till I had to go inside. Who was that tag team , The Barbarian and some other guy, they wore these big furry suits. They FILLED the doorway when they went through. I think one of them is the father of the Ohio State linebacker???
Also I held the door for the Bushwackers and the Honky Tonk man. But the funniest thing that happened was when Dino Bravo, the stongest man in Canada came through. I said "good luck in your match tonight" and he said "Thank you very much!". I guess it doesn't seem so funny when I type it but I laughed my *** off as soon as he was out of earshot!!

I am sure this is the longest post I have ever written on any message board, and THIS has to be the topic?!?!?! :biglaugh:

 

[Scott34]

His dad was on the Road Warriors. They wore the shoulder pads with the spikes on them.

 

[theshadow]

I think these were the 7 guys announced:

Les Anderson, John Kinley (mgr), Keith Abens, Bill Fjetland, Al Nacin, Pete Galea, John Showalter

 

[coachdags]

I acutually met Chris in Denver, when I had a part time gig as a escort to the ring for the AWA Wrestling. I was lucky enough to get to meet some of the greats Vern Gagne, Nick Bockwinkle, Andre the Giant, The Vachon brothers (Maddog, Butcher), The Crusher, Baron Von Rasche, Jesse the Body Ventura, I could go on and on.....But

The funniest thing was they had seperate locker rooms for good guys (I escorted these guys) and the bad guys......the only thing seperating the two locker rooms was a shower area.....that they both shared and used after their matches....lol

Pure entertainment...:wink:

 

[wesley_w]

I acutually met Chris in Denver, when I had a part time gig as a escort to the ring for the AWA Wrestling. I was lucky enough to get to meet some of the greats ...... Nick Bockwinkle

A few years ago, it had to be at least ten, we were scheduled to have some kind of insurance guy come to speak to us at work about something. He was coming from Minnesota where our parent company at the time was located. And guess who that person was?? Nick Bockwinkle !!!!!
I called up there to see if it was THE Nick Bockwinkle and found out that indeed it was!! Then, on that day there was a big blizzard and they had to reschedule and on the new day they sent someone else because he was unavailable. :sad:

 

[jahfg]

His dad was on the Road Warriors. They wore the shoulder pads with the spikes on them.

Their actual name was the Legion of Doom. Hawk and Animal. I believe Road Warriors was just a nickname.

Just sayin. (4:55 and I have a paper due in a little less than 5 hours. I have one page done. I haven't been to sleep yet, but I feel strong as of now.)

 

[Clone83]

My high school wrestling coach was a high school teammate of Baron "the Clawmaster" von Raschke at Omaha North.

There is a lot of history at Baron's homepage, including how he Mad Dog Vachon came up with his nickname (and the crowd reaction):
THE OFFICIAL WEB SITE OF BARON VON RASCHKE

Here is Mad Dog and The Clawmaster in a promotional photo:

"A terryfying twosome!"

Pretty hilarious. As a kid I thought the Clawmaster was actually from Germany. I found out later he used to teach, like my former coach, Ernie "the Greek" Abariotis (who also used to coach at Dana College in Blair, Nebraska, his alma mater).

Raschke also played football and wrestled for Nebraska and made the 1964 Olympic team. He was injured just before the Olympics though and did not wrestle. He won bronze at the 1963 Greco world championships (then just the 2nd American ever to medal in Greco). He was also a state champion in high school, played on a state championship football team for the Omaha North Vikings, and was the Big 8 heavyweight champion his senior year.

 

[Clone83]

Here is a good article about Chris Taylor's Olympic and professional career:
Chris Taylor: The giant Olympian

Three excerpts:

He seemed destined to win gold at the Olympic Games in Munich.

Two of his bouts at the Games stand out and help explain how the behemoth ended up on with a bronze medal in freestyle.

In only the first round of freestyle, Taylor took on two-time gold medalist Aleksandr Medved of Minsk, Ukraine. Medved had beated [bested] Taylor at three other meets, but on this occasion, they fought to a draw. The 231-pound Medved was awarded a controversial decision by referee Umit Demirag of Turkey, who had penalized Taylor for passivity. It was the last time Demirag refereed an Olympic bout, as the ruling body dismissed him from his position, yet allowed the Medved-Taylor decision to stand. Both men won the rest of their bouts, with the Ukrainian taking gold. . . .


The giant never really made it to main event status, and had trouble getting over, in part because he would admit that the pro game was fake. He peaked in the AWA as a semi-main eventer, taking on the likes of Buddy Wolff, Larry Heiniemi, Superstar Graham, Baron von Raschke, and Horst Hoffman.

Taylor's move to pro wrestling did attract mainstream media attention, which was rare at the time. One of his bouts against Mad Dog Vachon was aired on ABC's Wide World of Sports. . . .

Taylor's body gave out at his home in Iowa on June 30, 1979 and he died at age 29.

"I called his parents and said, 'I imagine that you are pretty shocked at Chris's early demise here at 29 years old,'" remembered Gagne. "I talked to his mother, and she said, 'Well, we're just grateful we had Chris around that long. He had a lot of problems."

 

[Clone83]

One of the links at that article, the box below under "the Other Olympians," mentions another Cyclone, Kevin Jackson:

Here is the blurb:

Jackson won freestyle gold as a middleweight (82 kg / 181 lbs.) in the 1992 Barcelona Games, beating Elmadi Zhabrailov of Russia in 6:54 on a count of 1-0, the bout having gone to a sudden-death overtime. Jackson went on to compete successfully in the UFC, including winning the Middleweight Tournament in UFC XIV. The Phoenix, Arizona native is now involved in coaching.

UFC apparently stands for Ultimate Fighting Championship (not pro wrestling).