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Scheduled Publication Date: March 22, 2007 |
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The
2007 WWE Hall of Fame Inductees had been announced: Dusty Rhodes,
Mr. Fuji, The Sheik, Jerry Lawler, Nick Bockwinkle, and Curt “Mr.
Perfect” Hennig. Although I had advance knowledge as to who was
being considered and what decisions had been made, I still
applauded, sitting in my living room, as they were officially
announced on WWE’s televised wrestling shows. I had wrestled Dusty
Rhodes at least fifty times. He was a legend, even then, and I had
some very good matches with him. I got to know him over the years
and considered him to be a friend. I knew that two things were
likely to happen when I wrestled Dusty. First, we would have a
really good match with great crowd response. Second, I knew to be
aware of one particular move of his. I knew that when Dusty shot me
into the ropes, one of the possible follow-up maneuvers would be his
“patented” punch to the stomach. I still don’t know exactly how he
did it. All I remember is that there was no way to prepare for it
that didn’t hurt. If Dusty and I were to wrestle again, I would
still be wary of that maneuver. I know Dusty would smile to learn
that, twenty-plus years later, I still equate him with that stinging
stomach punch.
Mr. Fuji and I traveled and worked a lot together. He was (and is)
a very funny and entertaining guy. Of all my memories of Mr. Fuji,
I cannot remember a
time outside of the ring when he was not smiling. He became a
trusted friend. He was a brilliant wrestler who became even better
known as a manager. I’m delighted that he is one of the 2007 WWE
Hall of Fame inductees.
I met Jerry Lawler very early in my career. I was twenty or
twenty-one years old, and I was wrestling in Memphis, Tennessee.
Because I was the “new kid in town,” most of the wrestlers,
including Jerry Lawler, stood outside of the dressing rooms with the
promoters and watched my match. Quite a few of the guys
complimented me afterward. Although Jerry was never easily impressed and said
nothing, I watched him from the ring as he was watching me. His
expression told me that I did well. I spent a lot of time
traveling, in the dressing rooms, and in the ring with Jerry “The
King” Lawler. I wrote of several of our experiences
in
column number eleven.
(In
case you missed it, it is reproduced, along with all fifty-six of my
columns, on my website:
www.HollywoodSuccess.com. Just click on the “Wrestling
Revue”
link in the upper left corner of the home page.)
I didn’t know The Sheik very well. I had met him in the dressing
room and talked with him a few times. I had spoken with him a
couple of times when he was in
Australia handling the booking of wrestling talent there. Leo
Garibaldi had been the matchmaker for Australia and wanted to bring
me in. Suddenly, as oftentimes happens in business, Leo was no
longer the booker; The Sheik was. I did not know The Sheik very
well personally, but I was certainly familiar with his ring
abilities, and I was a fan. Although he is no longer with us, I’m
very happy to see that he is being honored for his contributions to
our sport.
Curt
Hennig is the son of Larry “The Ax” Hennig. I wrestled Larry a few
times in the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based AWA (American Wrestling
Association). I also wrestled Curt during the early stages of his
career. I watched him grow as a wrestling talent, and I was happy
to see him reach the top in our industry. At a CAC Reunion and
Awards Dinner several years ago, I ran into Curt again. At least
two people took pictures of us together. “This is amazing,” one of
them said. “Mr. Wonderful and Mr. Perfect together!” If either of
those two fans are reading this, please contact me. I’d love to
have a copy of those photos. The wrestling business lost one of
best of the best when Curt Hennig left us on February 10, 2003.
I’ve known Nick Bockwinkle for many years, and I consider him to be
a friend. I first met him in the AWA. I kept running into him in
dressing rooms around the country. We worked a lot together in the
Los Angeles-based NWA (National Wrestling Alliance). Now, basically
I see Nick once or twice a year at wrestling conventions. At the
CAC Wrestling Reunion and Awards Dinner Banquet in Las Vegas,
Nevada, I had the opportunity to introduce him and speak with him on
camera. The camera light was on, our director of photography said,
“Rolling,” and I looked directly into the camera. “Nick Bockwinkle
is one of the greatest professional wrestlers living today,” I
began. “He is a living legend in the business. I’ve known this
outstanding individual for many years and am proud to call him a
friend.” Nick smiled. “My father would love hearing those things,”
he said. “Share with us,” I continued, “for those who have no idea
what the wrestling business was when you were at your peak, what was
it like?”
Nick
had a pensive look on his face. “I would say it was a positive
compared to all the bad things we’re hearing about what’s going on
today,” he began. “It was a positive experience. We traveled a
lot. It was an extremely hard profession. And, whenever somebody
would say, ‘Well, isn’t it all fake?’ I’d say, ‘Please step right
up. I have a fake bodyslam for you. In fact, I’ll give you a fifty
percent discount on the slam. I’ll only drop you from three feet
instead of six feet.’ That’s all anybody needs to do, to have a
three-
foot
bodyslam. And, even if you fall on a, quote,
‘padded’ floor, it will knock the wind out of you. The physical
brutality of what takes place in the ring … it was unbelievably
brutal. Those of us who survived it; we all hobble, we all wobble,
we all limp. But, still, the entire essence of what the business
was at the time was wonderful. If somebody said, ‘Nick, if you
couldn’t change anything, but you could press a button and do it all
over the same way, would you do it?’ I’d say, ‘Right now!’” I
totally understood and reiterated, “Yes, in a heartbeat! I don’t
know if people get that, but I hope they understand.”
“It was exciting, it was colorful,” Nick continued. “The
personalities – you understand, it’s tough to be an introvert and be
a professional wrestler, and wrestling had an extroverted type of
essence about it. This, in turn meant there were a lot of glowing
personalities; very diverse, very unique, very different -- anything
from the absurd to the comical to the mundane to just simply the
joyous. We all lived on the edge. And, when you’ve got a group of
people who live on the edge, ironically, you do a lot of edgy
things. But, like I say, I thought it was just terrific.” We’ll
continue talking with Nick Bockwinkle next week. Until then, keep
those e-mails coming.
