The Phantom of the Ring
Phantom – The Luchador–ization of Pro Wrestling & April Phannies
Wrestling has certainly changed since I first began watching. And it has changed since my nephews started watching. Has it been for the better? No, it hasn’t, and that’s not just nostalgia for a bygone era. The entire essence of wrestling has changed in these short years, and what we see on the screen is radically different from what we saw maybe twenty years ago.
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The Phantom of the Ring
Phantom – Gene Kiniski: The Solid Man of the NWA
William Muldoon, the great wrestler of the 19th century was given the sobriquet, “The Solid Man,” a name well deserved. If anyone in the pantheon of NWA champions deserves that same sobriquet, it is Gene Kiniski. He wasn’t the flashiest wrestler to become NWA Champion, nor the most well versed in the art of wrestling itself. He was a big man, but possessed of rather a flat build, unlike the builds of Bruno Sammartino or Dick The Bruiser. What he did possess, however, was tremendous tenacity, a great work rate and an incredible heel charisma. Former tag partner Dick Hutton described Kiniski as the man the fans loved to hate: “They booed him in Toronto as soon as they saw him, and he just ate it up.”
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The Phantom of the Ring
Phantom – The Flying Scott, the Bad Baron and the March Phannies
There is a special category of wrestlers just under the “stars.” These are the guys who make the stars what they are, whether it’s providing a good match on television, working a mid-card match to get the opponent over with credibility for next month’s main event, or occasionally handling a main event or lesser title match in a smaller town. He may be allowed to hold one of the lesser titles, whether it’s the European Championship, Mid-Atlantic Championship, or some form of the tag-team championship.
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The Phantom of the Ring
Remembering The Professor
In this business I’ve met many a class act, from Lou Thesz to Dick Hutton to Bruno Sammartino. But there was one class act people told me about whom I never got the chance to meet. And that was Angelo Poffo. Besides being an exceptional grappler he was also an exceptional human being. From all accounts Poffo was one of the true gentlemen of the game, gracious and modest with the fans outside the ring, but also most protective of the rule of omerta. He was one of the few grapplers who took his family with him when he traveled, and thus it was no surprise that he stayed married to the same woman for 60 years. He got his two sons into the game and they also turned out to be stars who didn’t need their father to hand them numerous championship belts in order to be over with the fans. They were already over, and their careers were proof of that fact. His death on March 4th only deepened my regret at not meeting him, for he was an intelligent man, and I’ll bet he had a lot of stories to tell. Now I see him in Heaven’s Cauliflower Alley Club, sitting with Thesz, Blassie and Hutton, sharing the stories I never got to hear.
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The Phantom of the Ring
The Man Who Saw the Future, Part Four
With Martin Karadagian the entertainment wasn’t limited to the ring alone. The audience also was peppered with characters that sometimes rivaled the wrestlers in the bizarreness of their gimmicks.
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The Phantom of the Ring
Phantom – The February Phannies
Having thoroughly run ECW into the ground, Vince McMahon is looking for something new to put his mark on, much like a dog marks a tree. After assumed brainstorming, he comes up with a concept that, frankly, has us baffled: NXT. The premise is that eight young rookies from developmental will be mentored by eight WWE pros. Sounds good for a mini-series, but where does it go? As for the mentors themselves, we weren’t buying the Miz mentoring Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson), figuring it either to be an angle or quickly made into an angle to correct a mistake in the plans. After all, Danielson has probably forgotten more about wrestling than the Miz will ever learn.
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The Phantom of the Ring
The Man Who Saw the Future, Part Three
It was 1970 and things were going extremely well with Karadagian. His promotion was safely in the black and there was talk of expansion perhaps to other South American countries. Channel 9 not only awarded him a new contract, but also financed three films giving him a starring or costarring role. Included among them was a feature that influenced Karadagian greatly: El Hombre Invisible Ataca (The Invisible Man Attacks).
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The Phantom of the Ring
Phantom – Jack Brisco, R.I.P.
The sudden death of Jack Brisco on February 1 left the wrestling world saddened. For many, he was the first NWA champion they grew up watching, and he was one of the last “pedigreed” champions (those with solid collegiate wrestling backgrounds) to hold a world’s championship.
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The Phantom of the Ring
Ida Mae Martinez, RIP; The January Phannies
The world of wrestling, and in particular, women’s wrestling, lost one of its pioneers when Ida Mae Martinez passed away at the age of 78. Ida was more than a pioneer, though. She was a survivor in the truest sense of the word. Nietzsche once defined the superman as a person who has overcome his existence to move to a higher way of life. Based on that, Ida fit Nietzsche’s parameters to a tee, for no one I have ever met overcame more of life, of the cards dealt to her, without becoming resentful and embittered than Ida. She bubbled with life, keeping her sense of humor and, most important, her humanity, which is a tough thing to hang onto in the world of pro wrestling.
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The Phantom of the Ring
Phantom – Dr. Death, Azumi Hyuga and The Phannies
Of course, the big news this month is the death of “Dr. Death” Steve Williams following a battle with throat cancer. An All-American in both football and wrestling at the University of Oklahoma, Williams took part in the unlimited weight class at the NCAA Wrestling tournament beginning in his sophomore year in 1979, where he placed 6th. In 1980 he placed 5th, and a year later he scored his highest finish, which was 3rd in 1981. He also played football as an offensive guard. Undrafted by the NFL, he was selected in the 1983 USFL Territorial Draft by the New Jersey Generals.
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