I was today years old when I watched George Hackenschmidt wrestle for the first time. 

This is a compilation of some ICW and Memphis stuff (there were bootlegs out there, mixing the pair, based on 1984 ICW tv shows, when the Poffos started working with Memphis, with Memphis matches and ICW matches).



First match is Randy Savage vs Bill Martin. Martin was an underneath guy, who worked there early on. Ms Macho Man is Brenda Britten, Rip Rogers' then-wife and valet manager (in other areas). She was an ex-stripper (actualy, she may have still been stripping, as the strippers would be booked in clubs in various areas, and Rip has commented on that). Rip has said she caused a bit of a problem between he and Randy, as Randy was infatuated with her. Rip described him as a bit child-like with women, at that point. He also dated Debbie Combs, the lady wrestler (daughter of Cora Combs and NWA Women's champion, before Crockett created a new version, with Misty Blue as the champion. Debbie was then called the NWA US Champion), before dating and marrying Liz Huelette, aka Miss Elizabeth.

Second match is Pistol Pez Whatley vs Chief Jerry Eagle. Pez was an amateur standout, at the Univ of Tennessee-Chatanooga, before becoming a pro. Apart from being featured mid-card for Crockett and upper-card in Dave Woods Continental Wrestling Federation (as Willy B Hurt), Pez really didn't get his due in a lot of places, in terms of his mat work. He did great obnoxious heel promos, too. He finished up as a trainer for the WCW Power Plant, as could be seen on Louie Theroux's show, back in the late 90s. Jerry Eagle was from the Carolina-West Virginia are and was instrumental in bringing in George Grey, who became Crusher Broomfield, before being renamed The One Man Gang, in Texas and for Mid-South. He also brought in Ricky Starr, of the Convertible Blonds.

Third match is Ronnie Garvin (Southeastern Champion, a belt that was stolen from Ron Fuller's Southeastern Championship Wrestling, when the All-Star guys split off. Fuller tried to sue, but dropped it, rather than admit that Garvin didn't actually win the title in a match. Rick Link, aka Man Mountain Link, was another of the guys from the West Virginia end, I believe. ICW regularly hit Beckley, WV, where one of their fans was Stephen P New, the lawyer from Cornette's podcasts. They drew pretty good crowds there.

4th is The Convertible Blonds vs Chief Tapu & Rick Zarta. The Blonds had been in a feud with Leaping Lanny and George Weingeroff and Lanny supposedly broke Gary Royal's nose, with a punch, leading to him wearing the hockey mask. This match has Hustler Rip Rogers and Ricky Starr, for the Blonds. By this stage, Rip had done their first set of tapings, then went to Portland and worked with Playboy Buddy Rose, who gave him the nickname, after seeing a Hustler magazine, at the flea market that they had in the building, where they taped the tv matches. Ricky Starr, as I said, was rought in by Chief Jerry Eagle, along with Crusher Broomfield. Starr later turned babyface and feuded against the Blonds, after Pez Whatley was part of the group. He was run off (storywise) and left the promotion. Gary Royal soon left, to work for Crockett, leaping Pez and Rip as the Convertible Blonds, with Pez in a blond wig and then a bleach job. Chief Tapu was the son of The Great Tio and was named Tio Jr, with the Tapu name coming from his uncle, who had wrestled as Tapu, with The Great Tio, in their younger days. They were part of the Samoan wrestling community, though not tied to the Anoa'i Family of Afa & Sika. Rick Zarta was a Latino (billed from Madrid, Spain) who had a decent physique and worked undercard, but I haven't come across his name anywhere else. Tapu later teamed with his father, after a heel turn, where he threw a tournament match, for the US Tag Team titles, while teaming with Ronnie Garvin. Garvin revealed the family relationship, after the match, leading to the heel Tapu working with Tio.

Number 5 is from the combined ICW/All-Star tapings, after they joined forces. Ronnie Garvin and Big Boy Williams vs Prof Boris Malenko (father of Dean and Joe) and Tony Peters (half of the Southeastern Tag Team Champions, with Cowboy Bob Orton Jr, who is on commentary). Commentator is John Beck, who did the announcing at the early tapings. Later, they are using a studio in Lexington and Tim Tyler, the station's sports anchor, calls the matches, with Edgar Wallace (not the English pulp writer), on color commentary. Wallace had been a city councilman and local lawyer and I suspect he was involved due to political connections that aided the Poffos, in the area. I e-mailed that question to Rip Rogers and he wasn't sure, but thought my theory was pretty likely. Big Boy Williams worked early days IVW, as a babyface, and had worked some outlaws. This gives you a chance to see Prof Boris Malenko, who was a big deal in Texas, Florida and Southeastern, before the split. He tried to go opposition to Eddie Graham, in Florida, which got him more heat with other promoters than the All-Star thing did (which Bob Roop orchestrated). Malenko was effectively on the outs and there is a lot of belief that it was why Dean and Joe were rarely used in bigger promotions (apart from All-Japan), until the late 90s.

That is followed by a Mid-South match, on a Memphis show, at the Mid-South Coliseum, with Junkyard Dog vs Butch Reed. At one point, they were working together, which led to the Rock N Roll Express and Midnight Express going to work for Watts and Barry Darsow and Jim Neidhart working for Memphis. Dog and Butch Reed had a big feud, before Dog went tot he WWF. Reed was turned babyface, to try to appeal to the African-American fanbase that adored Dog, but it didn't work. Watts tried it a couple of times, before giving up.

Number 7 is Leaping Lanny vs Crusher Broomfield. The story was that Crusher was a big country boy, who was under contract to Randy Savage and did his dirty work, aping a similar storyline in Knoxville, with Crusher Jerry Blackwell. Garvin started getting in his ear and Broomfield started rebelling against Savage. Garvin then reveals that Savage was stealing money that was supposed to help Broomfield's sick sister. Garvin wrestles Savage for Broomfield's contract and frees him. They did a bit where Broomfield wrestled, under a mask, as the Canadian Bumblebee and also angles where he was covered by a tarp, to hide who is helping Garvin, against Savage. Crusher then turned babyface and Savage sent Ernie The Cat Ladd to teach him a lesson, leading to their great feud and matches. Crusher, thanks to that, got booked into Mid-South and Dallas and became the One Man Gang, which was Garvin's moniker. Garvin wasn't happy, but had gotten over it by the time they met up again.

This is followed by a Memphis tv match, with The Dirty White Boys (Len Denton & Tony Anthony) vs Rufus R "Freight Train" Jones and Jerry Bryant. Rufus worked for the Crocketts quite a bit and Brynt was a local wrestler. Denton and Anthony had teamed in Southwest and Kansas City, as The Grapplers (and Len Denton worked solo, as The Grappler, in Florida and Portland). Denton was also a booker and a darned good one. They teamed as The Dirty White Boys in Memphis and Mid-South, before Denton went back to Portland and Anthony continued as The Dirty White Boy (singular, with his wife as a valet, Dirty White Girl). Savage had turned babyface and was teaming with Lawler, which was the norm, as Lawler feuded with guys, teamed with them, then they would turn back on him, leading to a second feud.

Last match is George Weingeroff vs Rip Rogers, managed by Izzy Slapowitz. Izzy was one of the All-Star guys and also wrestled for the Caulkins, in Mississippi, as well as underneath, in Georgia. This is earlier stuff, circa 1980-81, before Rip had the beard. Izzy had managed The Devil's Duo, Doug Vines & Jeff Sword, who were the US Tag Team champions, before dropping them to Leaping Lanny and George Weingeroff. George was thee son of Gentleman Saul Weingeroff, a heel manager and wrestler, who played an evil Jewish stereotype, which Izzy kind of swiped, though he added stuff about the Kabbalah. Needless to say, Southern audiences ate up negative Jewish stereotypes, just as they did racist Black stereotypes. George never did that but did do a Sheik rip-off in Dallas and All-Japan. George was another top amateur at UT-Chattanooga, though a few years before Pez. George is the veteran of the two wrestlers, as Rip was still pretty green, at this stage and had never been formally trained.

That gives you a pretty good feel for the Poffo ICW tv show. Not the best production values, but plenty of action and mayhem and some good angles.

Sorry to see Rags has deleted her account. I know I have done that in the past, too, sometimes one feels they have to. She always posted interesting stuff here - and in the comic-related threads, so if she does read this, I hope she may one day consider posting again.

ps James gets into more of an attack on Meltzer, with some valid criticisms and points, but some of it is more personal attacks. I get it. Corny doesn't broach that part, just stories about working with Dutch, at the start, and how Dutch was kind of the intermediary between Corny and Russo, in TNA.

Also, since we are heading into Veterans Day, I would like to point out that, unlike Sgt Slaughter, Dutch Mantell was a legit veteran of the US Army, during the Vietnam War and was awarded the Vietnam Service Medal, which unlike the National Defense Medal, during Operation desert Storm (which I hold) was only awarded to those who served in theater. In the Gulf War, the National defense Service Medal was awarded to all of the armed forces, for those serving during that period. I was stateside the entire time. Then again, they awarded a Silver Star, a medal for valor, to someone sitting on their ass, in the Pentagon, at the end of that. Medal Frenzy was a particularly distasteful aspect of the Gulf War. One of our ship captains put himself up for and was awarded a Silver Star for massacring surrendering Iraqi soldiers, with the ship's 5 inch gun, while attacking an oil platform. He also faced an investigation for potential war crimes, though they buried it with an official pronouncement that he exercised poor judgement, but committed no criminal acts. Translation: He did it, but he has his 20 years in and we can retire him quietly, because he will never be promoted and we can bury this thing and not taint our great victory.

Not that I am cynical about it or anything....

Love this: