- Jun 12, 2014
- 5,014
- 8,443
Founding Member
I get it. I was a kid when Championship Wrestling from Florida was on each week. Gordon Solie. Eddie Graham. The Great Malenko (the hated Russian) Dusty later on. Joe Scarpa with the deadly sleeper hold that put people unconscious (like Spock grabbing the side of your neck). I loved it. Looked real ,good vs bad was obvious. Then my buddy's brother came home from Viet Nam. Took us to the Miami Beach Convention Hall. Steel Cage match. Jerry Brisco. Malenko. Maybe Dusty R.
1967. Ringside seats. My heroic visions were dashed. They never hit each other. They spit fake teeth. Then I found out the ones that hated each other the most practiced together and even had family gatherings together..............but it was great till I was 12. Flair had a flair for all of that..............fwiw,..........I believe Durty's story. Alex is a poop head..........
That was a mythical place in my mind. I always heard about the matches down in Tampa. My brother in law had Solie's daughter for a secretary.............does that rank anywhere in our personal wrestling lore? :)
This flier is AWESOME!
Almost all of the big names of the time are on there. I was trying to remember some more and all I have so far: Pak Son (The Korean Giant) , Dale Lewis, and Hiro Matsuta. I know there are more. What great memories, nothing like Gordon Solie when you were 10 or 11 years old.
To this day I am reminded of his close 'So long form the sunshine state" every Saturday