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PART OF THE NWA WRESTLING LEGENDS FANFEST IN CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA |
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This article was originally published as a VIP Exclusive for the PWTorch Newsletter #1163. It is republished here, for our permanent archive, with the editor and author's permission.
For more information on the Pro-Wrestling Torch newsletter, visit www.pwtorch.com
Photograph by Irvin Markovitz |
MITCHELL'S MEMO: A Poignant NWA Fanfest - Mr. Wrestling II, The Assassin, Ted DiBiase, The Hollywood Blondes, and others
By Bruce Mitchell, PWTorch senior columnist Aug 10, 2010 - 7:42:06 PM Reprinted here with permission of the author.
Any celebration of great athletes and performers of the past, is, by its nature, a reminder of the precious nature of life, and an opportunity to let people know that you appreciate the flavor they brought to your life, whether it was athlete to fan, or fan to athlete. Wrestlers of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, by the nature of the year-round schedules they worked and the cumulative damage they took slamming into each other, the mat, and the floor, are finding that time may move faster for them than most.
Seeing Ted DiBiase enjoying breakfast with his old Mid-South Rat Pack buddy Scandor Ackbar, or the original "Hollywood Blondes" Buddy Roberts & Jerry Brown reunite with their signature manager Sir Oliver Humperdink after all those decades, or "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan greet his old boss "Chief" Jay Strongbow, or Tully Blanchard check on Baby Doll during the Hall of Heroes Banquet dinner were just a few of those moments this past weekend at NWA Fanfest.
One of the more poignant moments I saw
came after "The Assassin" Jody Hamilton, who at 72 can still bring
menace and intensity to his performance, inducted the late "Mr.
Wrestling" Tim Woods and "Mr. Wrestling II
Mr. Wrestling II, as he always did in public, spent the time before the banquet, including a Question & Answer session the night before, wearing his iconic white mask trimmed in black. Mr. Wrestling II, a national star during his years on the nation’s first SuperStation, Channel 17 out of Atlanta, took the values of the white mask he wore symbolized (fidelity, honor, wining by the rules) very seriously (because if he didn’t, how could his fans?). No one saw Mr. Wrestling II without his mask. At the banquet Jim Cornette spoke of how, in the middle of his first real promotional push, he stuck his head out the car window like a panting dog when his Midnight Express partner Dennis Condrey pointed out that Mr. Wrestling II was one car over. Cornette was hot to see what II really looked like.
No such luck.
Back in those days, pro wrestling paid its way almost entirely by gate receipts. Big ratings were just something that came with the territory if the stars were there and the booking was effective. Stations sold the advertising and traded the television time to wrestling companies "for promotional consideration." Promoters didn’t care whether fans were males 18 to 39 or how old the fans were, since at any age money is green. Back then many of the most loyal pro wrestling fans were your older folks.
Like Plains, Georgia’s Miss Lillian Carter, the President’s mother, who watched Georgia Championship Wrestling religiously to see her favorite "Two," as she and millions of fans knew him. Her son Jimmy Carter had put a headlock on II during the campaign in the single most famous wrestling photo of the ’70s. Even a President has to stay straight with his mom, so Mr. Wrestling II was invited to the White House.
Excerpt the Secret Service very reasonably told II that to enter the White House he would have to remove his mask. Mr. Wrestling II reluctantly declined the invitation. Miss Lillian understood. The mask stood for something, and Mr. Wrestling II was nothing if not a man of principle.
So it meant something when, for the first time in public, an unmasked Johnny Walker walked up to the podium with the Woods’ family to accept his induction into the Hall of Heroes.
What stood out to me more, though, was after the induction, in a corner table Tim Woods’s daughter stayed behind after her family left to make sure her father’s old partner had company and was well taken care of.
Here’s hoping that Johnny Walker, Mr. Wrestling II, who suffered an episode with his heart Sunday night, is out of the hospital and feeling better soon.
Bruce Mitchell of Greensboro, N.C. has been a PWTorch Newsletter columnist since September 1990. He writes Mitchell’s Memo for PWTorch Newsletter most weeks, plus joins Wade Keller for the Bruce Mitchell Audio Show every weekend for about two hours of conversation (and arguing) about wrestling’s current events and history at www.pwtorch.com/members.
Photograph of Jody Hamilton and Johnny Walker by Irvin Markovitz Bruce Mitchell is a columnist for the Pro-Wrestling Torch newsletter. Copyright © 2010 PWTorch.com. This article was republished here with permission. |
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"Johnny
Walker in the Class of 2010 Hall of Heroes. Hamilton called his Mr.
Wrestling I and II "the ultimate competitors. Their hard, grueling
matches (with The Assassins) were the greatest compliment pro
wrestlers could pay each other." Woods’s family accepted for their
father, with Woods’s daughter in particular speaking passionately
about her family’s appreciation for what wrestling did for them.