If you compare these to my last lot of pics, from the 60s, wrestling hadn't really changed that much. New names and faces, granted, but the general look is still pretty much the same. The steroids and WWF circus were still to come.
The cover story brings us this early shot of the Funk boys looking fresh-faced.
In 1973 "Jean Ferre" was making a name for himself. You probably know him best as Andre the Giant
Jean/Andre takes a snapshot with midget wrestlers Tom Thumb and Joe Russell.
Then gets stuck into an appropriately sized birthday cake.
There's a special look at Japan's women wrestlers, hence the next two snaps.
I can't blame Panama for looking alarmed.
There's no way I'd take on that woman without a baseball bat and the element of surprise.
Young Peggy Kuroda seems a bit nervous at getting her portrait done.
There doesn't seem to be any pics of her online so this may well be a first.
Tim Woods - sans "Mr Wrestling" gimmick - hurts his opponents face.
This next pic has a great story behind it
The attached story starts like this " Top ranking wrestler, Andy Robin was blasted some 20 feet when his boat exploded on a Scottish loch. Although thrown high in the air and subsequently sinking deep into the Loch, the superbly fit Commonwealth Middleweight champion rescued his young workmate, 23 year old George Maclean and swam with him to the shore. "
It then goes on to add that after getting ashore, Andy had to run over a mile to the nearest village to get help. Sadly George succumbed to his injuries 48 hours later.
While writing this I quickly Googled Andy Robin to see if there was any more info and as it turns out, his subsequent career was even more interesting. Later on Andy added a bear to his act.
Yes, an actual grizzly bear named Hercules. They went around the UK wrestling circuit together and Hercules even got to appear in a few movies
More about it here; http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/couple-who-lived-with-bear-for-25-years-tell-their-story.23671875
And to finish, a cartoon/ad from the back pages.
That's all folks.
By the 70s I was no longer watching wrestling. But I remember seeing Dory Funk Sr. once on television when I was in high school. If memory serves, he was up against Nature Boy Buddy Rogers and won.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in the 60's in Sydney and my Sat. didn't begin till I watched the wrestling on Channel 9 at midday. I'm still a wrestling fan. I remember when the resident hero (American wrestler Mark Lewin of the sleeper hold fame) used to go sown to my local beach and I used to sit close by. Occasionally you'd get visitors like Tex McKenzie and Bruno Sammartino to the show. Our local boy made good in the US was Roy Heffernan, who held the World Tag Team belts as part of the Kangaroo Kids.I've written on Vince McMahon's 'Life Cycles' already and this year I'll be doing an article on all the McMahon's (a 'Life Cycles' family if ever there was one)
ReplyDeleteI've heard of most of those. All way before my time because we didn't get US wrestling in Britain until about 1987. But I've seen them all in old magazines and books - Mark Lewin went on to be one of Kevin Sullivan's sidekicks, didn't he?
DeleteGlad I brought back a few memories for you.
anymore of the Taffy drawings available, if so where can I access them?
ReplyDeleteYou may be able to find some issues of Wrestling Revue online. I think Archive.Org has some.
ReplyDelete