PWP Nation’s Bruce Hart shines a light on those who we’ve lost in recent memory featuring Iron Mike Sharpe, Bob Leonard and Archie Gouldie.
Greetings.
I’ve just returned from having delivered a eulogy at the funeral of an old and dear friend of the Hart family – legendary photographer and wrestling journalist par excellence, Bob Leonard. I’m pleased to relate that the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame is planning to posthumously honor Bob this May at their annual induction ceremony and that they’re planning to erect a display of his incredible photograph collection – which spanned over fifty glorious years.
Considering that Bob dedicated his life to celebrating the lives and accomplishments of several generations of wrestling’s legendary performers, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate his life and accomplishments than to honor him in this manner. I’m told that the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame – which recently was re-located from Amsterdam, New York to Wichita Falls, Texas, will be having their annual Hall of Fame inductions this May. That should be an event that wrestling fans from all over should be looking forward to attending. I know that my brothers and I, among others, have marked that date on our calendars.
This week, unfortunately, marked the passing of two more of my wrestling colleagues, the legendary Archie “The Stomper” Gouldie and the irrepressible, Iron Mike Sharpe. I had the pleasure and privilege of knowing and working with both of them and hold them both in very high regard.
When I was just a kid, the Stomper was the top heel in my dad’s Stampede Wrestling promotion and, as anyone who had a chance to watch him can attest, he was one of the most intimidating and convincing heels ever to set foot in the squared circle. He used to feud quite often, back in the late 60’s and early 70’s, with my dad and I can still recall, wincingly, how he would cut these chilling promos – kind of like the big, bad wolf, about how he was going to destroy my dad – whom he used to refer to as an old rooster, after which he was going to come to our house and lay waste to the rest of the chicken coop. My brothers and I – who were still half marks at the time, were terrified that he might follow through on his threats and spent many a sleepless night, contemplating his sinister threats.
Later on, when I became a wrestler myself, my brothers Bret, Keith and I wrestled against the Stomper on many an occasion and found him to be a consummate professional and had great matches with him. In fact, my brother Bret – who, as you know, had the chance to wrestle with most of the top stars of this generation, rated Archie as one of the greatest heels he ever worked with. Outside the ring, Archie was one of the nicest, most compassionate and sincere people in the business – a true gentleman, in every sense of the word.
Archie’s matches in Stampede Wrestling, against the likes of Dan Kroffat, Billy Robinson, Dave Ruhl, Pat O’Connor, Edouard Carpentier, Stan Stasiak, Ox Baker, Bad News Allen, my brothers Keith and Bret and my brother-in-law Davey Boy Smith, still rank among the greatest matches in the history of our promotion.
As for my old friend and foe, Mike Sharpe, I have nothing but fond memories and high regard. When I first became the booker in Stampede Wrestling back in the early 80’s, Mike was one of my top heels. His rambunctious brawls with guys like Jim Neidhart, Bret, Keith, Mr. Hito, Leo Burk, Gene and Kelly Kiniski and Jerry Morrow epitomized classic old school wrestling – which was only fitting, given that Mike’s dad, Mike Sharpe Sr., was one of the great old school heels, back in the 1950’s. Not to digress, but my brother Bret, rated Mike as one of his favorite opponents, ever. Mike was also a great tag team performer as well, teaming up with Duke Myers and Kerry Brown and holding the tag team championship in Stampede Wrestling, as well.
After he left Stampede, Mike would go on to the WWF, where he attained some measure of success, as a mid-card heel, during the early days of Hulkamania. To be honest, I never thought the WWF used him that well and kind of wasted his talent – much the same as the way they’ve used, or mis-used, should I say, guys like Curt Hennig, John Morrison and Ted DiBiase Jr.
Outside the ring, although he was somewhat eccentric, Mike was one of the boys, in the best sense of the word.
I would like to extend my condolences to Archie and Mike’s families and thank them for the enormous contributions they made, not only to our promotion, but to our sport, in general. It was guys like Archie, Mike and the aforementioned Bob Leonard that made our business go great. To each of them – thanks for the memories and rest in peace.
Thanks for reading, and see you next time.
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