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Professional
wrestling lost one of its true legends when the King
of Men, Classie Freddie Blassie passed away.
One of the controversy was the erroneous report that
Blassie was a ring name. Georgiann Makropoulos
of 1wrestling.com
offers proof that Blassie was the family name in this
letter that Fred sent to her . Click the thumbnail on
the left to see the letter. It will expand even
further in most browsers.
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Buddy
Rogers
was one of the first wrestlers to regularly use
“flying moves” such as
body slams, pile drivers, drop kicks and ricochets
off the ropes into his opponents.
The action moves are commonplace today.
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According
to Lou
Thesz,
the motto Buddy
Rogers lived by was, “use your friends
and be nice to your enemies, so your enemies will
become your friends, and you can use the too!”.
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Buddy
Rogers, a former New Jersey cop whose real
name was Herman
Rhode, broke into the wrestling business around
1941.
According to accounts of the time he had little
more than a good body and natural charisma.
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Buddy
Rogers’
ties to the McMahon
family and the WWF
go all the way back to that organization’s beginnings.
Rogers
reign as their first champion lasted a mere 47seconds
until he lost the title to Bruno
Sammartino (C-2).
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Buddy
Rogers (B-46)
had to check himself out of the cardiac unit of
a hospital to defend his title against Bruno
Sammartino (B-8).
For that reason the match lasted only 47
seconds, giving fans an impression that Bruno was,
by far, the better man. That
stunt effectively ended Rogers’ career.
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Two
of the biggest box office draws of the 1950’s, Buddy
Rogers
and Argentina
Rocca couldn’t
really wrestle a lick, but both had charisma.
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According
to Lou
Thesz in his book Hooker,
Buddy
Rogers
“had a natural feel for his audience".
While he didn’t fully trust him, Thesz goes
as far as to call Rogers “the best performer our business
ever had.”
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Most
fans remember Buddy
Rogers as a great wrestler.
Few fans of that era however, realized just
how powerful he was behind the scenes as a booker.
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Ivan
Koloff
does his best Dracula imitation for the camera.
Several of his matches are available in our
,
IWA
and
South
Atlantic Pro Wrestling
Collections. |
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Ivan
Koloff
batters one his best friends, Paul
Jones in a Mid-Atlantic
confrontation. |
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Ivan
Koloff
makes his way to the ring during a Mid-Atlantic
TV Taping in Spartanburg SC on Sept. 2, 1987. |
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Many
fans today have forgotten that Ivan
Koloff
once held the WWWF
World Heavyweight Championship. |
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Before
he became a mainstay for the IWA,
Ivan
Koloff was a star in Jim Crockett’s Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling. |
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Someone
once Ivan
Koloff how to
sound like a Russian.
“Simple,” he said, “just talk like you’ve got
a mouth full of marbles!” |
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You
can use our Video Search Engine to see all the matches we have featuring this
week’s features wrestler, Ivan
Koloff. |
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In
this shot, one of the biggest stars of Mid-Atlantic
Wrestling, Paul
Jones, faces one of the biggest stars of Georgia
Championship Wrestling, Dick
Slater.
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Paul
Jones has wrestled every world champion from Jack
Brisco to Ric
Flair.
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Paul
Jones' career wasn't limited to just the United
States. Early on he was a frequent visitor to Japan,
facing all the top stars including the Giant Baba.
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Of
all the men with whom he worked, Paul
Jones' favorite opponent was Johnny
Valentine.
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As
#99 for the old San Diego Chargers, the Big Cat
Ernie
Ladd was one of football's first "bonus babies."
In Before
They Were Stars1, he abuses a youngster named Terry
Meeca. A few years later this same young boy broke
on to the national scene as Freebird Terry "Bam-Bam"
Gordy. |
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Before
he assumed the Magnum
TA persona, Terry
Allen wrestled in Texas.
In Before
They Were Stars1, he takes on AWA Champion
Nick
Bockwinkle.
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The
Heartbreak Kid, Shawn
Michaels thrilled fans with high high-flying tactics
in & out of the ring. Early in his career however,
it was a different story. In Before
They Were Stars1, he's just starting to show his
potential as he wrestles before the hometown crowd.
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Jake
Roberts is one of the "stars" of the newly released
docu-drama Beyond the Mat. In Before
They Were Stars1, you can see him refining his
persona as a part of Cowboy
Bill Watts' Mid-South
Wrestling.
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As
a fan favorite in Detroit
one of Johnny
Valentine's early foes as Stan
Stasiak.
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Ric
Flair's bloody head is "ground zero" for one of
Wahoo
McDaniel's big chops during a title match.
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Terry
won the NWA title
from Jack
Brisco in Miami. That match and many
more are a part of the all-new the Legend
of Terry Funk available now.
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