By Lou Thesz
Six-time World heavyweight champion

Note: Lou Thesz has a Message Board on his Web site, the Lou Thesz Message Board Forum. You can ask Thesz questions directly. You can see photos and listen to an interview with Thesz on the official Lou Thesz Web site. You can also get information about Thesz' biography Hooker, one of the definitive histories of professional wrestling. He also has a Collector's Edition Photo Biography available. 

I am so bad at this I forget when I should update you guys. My life seems to get busier and busier, and I am not sure I have filled you in on the exciting things.

Mexico was great but the follow up - booking the Mexican wrestlers - is not working so well. The big promotions are not interested because they have stolen the Mexican style and do not want to be "shown up", since the Mexicans are much better at it. The small promoters cannot really afford the trans and the weekly fee. It is really a shame because the Mexican wrestlers have more flying in their repertoire than any other country, including this one. Korea is a hope, but then the trans is even more for them. This business isn't getting any easier!!

As always, Mexico was an adventure...it also gave me an opportunity to check out a possible place to live. We have vowed to move there if Al Gore is elected. Age hasn't made me more tolerant of fools, or carnival promoters. I listen to TV and wonder if the talking heads are right...that single mothers (women who have already made one poor choice in a man) are going to decide our country's leader. (Hey! If movie stars are qualified to tell you how to vote, I sure as hell am) I may be old, but I can't see selling my country and its future for free (?) prescription drugs.

OK, back on track here. The Mexican wrestlers are more daring than ever and some of the matches I saw were enough to make me stand and cheer. It made me realize how much the U.S. boys have tried to emulate Mexican style wrestling. The country plods along industrially, but the people are happy and hard working. The family units always touch me and the devotion to home and hearth, even in the wrestling game.

I have given up my home and hearth one night a week to coach in a nearby town. It is pretty experimental, but we are working on a seminar set up for one or two days in a weekend. Keep checking out the website of kokogym.com. Thank God all I have to do is the coaching. Adam Pollock will do the rest. I am enjoying the two-hour session once a week and will do more when we have more students come in. All this came about on the forum here at WrestlingClassics. It does feel good to know there is still some interest in wrestling as well as hooking.

Another exciting event coming up is in St. Louis. I haven't followed the movie and TV industry since I lived in California, and even then it was just the people I knew - Mike Mazurki, Suni War Cloud, Vince Barbi, Royal Dano,

Gene LeBell and other CAC members. TV was never a big part of my life when I

was on the road. Now the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences have  asked me to be a presenter in St .Louis for the regional news awards. Hey, it's an opportunity to wear my tux and see old friends in St. Louis. All this happens on October 14th. I guess I can learn new tricks.

Mark Schultz sent me the schedule for the Olympics and I missed the first night on TV, if they even showed it? I did hear good reports on the young Greco wrestler for the U.S. Now Greco Roman takes me back about 75 years. I knew Dan Gable was there for the freestyle guys, but don't know the Greco coach. We had some terrific friends, Mary (we are distant cousins, also) and Frank Frost here with us to see the historical match between Alexander Karelin and Rulon Gardner. I know Gardner performed an amazing feat for the U.S., but think about what he has done for wrestling! I have been excited to see some wrestlers in commercials, too.

The wheels are finally in motion to get my autobiography on the market. I wanted a Christmas release on Amazon.com and I am hearing Valentine's Day for sure. I have put this off for years because I really enjoyed signing each copy as it was sent out. However, I won't mind just singing checks as they come in. Keep your fingers crossed. I hoped to see a hardback version with lots of color photos and additions and rewrites before I die, but settled for a trade paperback with some black and whites and my top 25 wrestlers of all time list.

For those of you who don't know about Johnny Valentine, he fell on the 11th of August and broke his back again. He finally had surgery in the 15th of September to alleviate the pain. It has been a rough road for John for so damn many years. I am as guilty as anyone for not keeping in touch. My wife Charlie says once a person grows up thinking a "long distance phone call" is for emergency only, we just don't take the opportunity to "reach out and touch."

I have made a trip to the Museum for an emergency board meeting. Dan Gable had to be there electronically, since he was almost en route to Sydney at that time. The Museum is hoping to raise some funds for marketing. It is such a shame so few people know about it. Wrestling is the most misunderstood sport because the factions are split into amateur and pro. Most people who love football, basketball and other sport love the amateur and professional. I know I am prejudice, but I feel like the world is missing the point where wresting is concerned. The Museum will dispel the preconceived ideas of both camps.

Aside from my everyday kitchen boy duties of cooking and washing dishes, I spend my time signing books and working on the computer (when my computer typist is available), and working out in the local gym. The coaching is a bonus for me and I hope to do more of it. I have hopes of a trip to California, but don't know if I can do it before the holidays. I will try to get some more update to you before the holidays though.

I know I have not been very diligent about the forum, but I will try to get there once a week when Charlie and I are both available (that is the problem). I do want you to know I enjoy the questions and a chance to give my perspective on wrestling history. I think a few guys still leave the gloves on but some are pretty bold and brutal. So, come join us. Take your shot at the old man! And someone on the board remind me when we have to have another column ready. As you earn on the forum, memory is not my strong suit.

Thanks for your interest, 

Lou

Lou Thesz is arguably the greatest professional wrestler of all time. He held the World heavyweight championship six times in four different decades. He is the only wrestler to ever compete in seven different decades. His book, Hooker details the history of professional wrestling through his perspective as the top wrestler in the business. He has just released a Collector's Edition Photo Biography. You can also visit the Lou Thesz Web site.

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