Seasons greetings to all of my readers.
2018 has been an inordinately tough year for the wrestling business, with the loss of many stars who have entertained and enthralled our fans – several of whom, I’m proud and fortunate to relate, I crossed paths with. This week I’d like to conduct a requiem for some true heavyweights, in no particular order.
Dynamite Kid – In my humble opinion, the Kid was the best worker I’ve ever seen. He combine exceptional athletic ability with an innate sense of timing, as well as a knack for making damn near everyone he worked with look better than they ever thought they could look.
He was an innovative, dynamic, game changing superstar who influenced a whole generation of young wrestlers, including my brothers Bret and Owen, his cousin Davey Boy Smith and other young wrestlers such as Chris Benoit, Brian Pillman, Chris Jericho, Harry Smith, as well as a host of superlative Japanese stars including Jushin Liger, Tatsumi Fujinami and Tiger Mask, which is saying a great deal because those guys are among the greatest wrestlers of our generation. His like we’re unlikely to see again anytime soon.
Larry Hennig – I had Larry on my Hart Beat Radio podcast back in November and enjoyed a fascinating trip down memory lane with him. Early on in his career, he spent several months up in Calgary with my dad, including some arduous sessions down in the Dungeon.
He would go on to a sterling career tag teaming initially with his friend Harley Race and then, as a singles star in several of the big territories, including Minneapolis, Texas and New York.
He was also the patriarch of the Hennig dynasty, which included his son Curt (Mr. Perfect) and his grandson Joe (Curtis Axel) –both of whom have been held in equally high regard as consummate professionals and men of character outside the ring. Larry was a consummate professional and one of wrestling’s solid citizens.
Jim “the Anvil” Neidhart – The Anvil, launched his career in my dad’s legendary Stampede Wrestling promotion, after having played in the NFL for both the Dallas Cowboys and the Oakland Raiders.
I was booking the territory for my dad back then and Jim was one of many up and coming stars who honed their craft in Stampede before heading to stardom in the WWF. Jim would have a successful run as one half of the legendary Hart Foundation (with my brother Bret), having great matches with the British Bulldogs, Valentine and Beefcake and Michaels and Janetty, among other.
Later, after Bret went single, he formed a great tag team with my brother Owen. Beyond his in ring career, Jim was “one of the boys” – a high energy, life of the party type guy, who was held in high regard by his fellow wrestlers. Jim also helped groom his daughter Natalya for superstardom in the ring.
Don Leo Jonathan – Many of today’s fans might not be familiar with the Mormon Giant, because his heyday was during the 50’s and 60’s.
He was, however a star of the highest order, headlining shows in places like New York, California, western Canada, Minneapolis and Japan. My dad, who was one of the most respected judges of talent in the business, told me that Don Leo was one of the best workers he ever saw and was also one of the toughest shooters in the business as well.
Don Leo was also a man of principal and high moral fibre – a true credit to our business.
Bruno Sammartino – The term ‘legend’ is often overused in our business, but Bruno was a legend in every sense of the word. From the early 60’s through the 70’s, he was the WWWF (the forerunner of the WWF and WWE) champion for most of that period and the face of the franchise.
During that stretch, even though Vince McMahon Sr’s WWWF promotion was just a regional promotion in the North East, Bruno was held in such high regard that the WWWF would grow because of him. Later, with the onset of Hulkamania, Bruno was exiled from the promotion for several years. He and Vince would ultimately reconcile a few years back, however, which led to his long overdue induction into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Bruno’s contribution to the WWE and wrestling in general was monumental and many of today’s superstars owe him a debt of gratitude for having paved the way for them.
Nikolai Volkoff (Joe Perusovic) – Joe, like many others, began his career up in Calgary, in my dad’s infamous Dungeon, where he would dutifully pay his dues for before heading to New York with a grizzled veteran named Newton Tattrie, where they formed the pseudo Mongolian tandem of Beepo and Geeto Mongol.
After that, Joe would change his name to Nikolai Volkoff, and was transformed into a nefarious Russian heel, teaming up with another Stampede Wrestling alumni, Kosrow Vaziri (better known as the ‘Iron Sheik’, where they became an integral component in the launch of Hulkamania.
Outside of the ring, Joe was one of the boys, in the best sense of the word.
Brickhouse Brown (Fred Seewright) – I was honored to have Brickhouse on my Hart Beat Radio show earlier this year. Even though he was battling cancer, he was remarkably upbeat and had an indomitably positive spirit and will to live.
During his heyday, in the 80’s, he was one of the most popular faces in several top territories and a class act, in and out of the ring.
Masa Saito – Masa was one of the most respected Japanese workers in the 70’s and 80’s, not only in his native Japan, but also in the United States, in Verne Gagne’s AWA promotion – where he held the tag team titles.
He also helped mentor many of the young Japanese wrestlers who would go on to become major stars.
Johnny Valiant – Johnny originally began his career back in the late 60’s in the North East as the baby face John L. Sullivan and had modest success. He then changed his name to Johnny Valiant and formed a hot tag team with his supposed brother Jimmy (John Vallen).
As the Valiant brothers, they would hold the tag champions in the AWA and would also go on to stardom in the WWF. Johnny was held in high regard by his fellow wrestlers for being a great team player and for his outrageous sense of humor, which eased tension in many a dressing room.
Dick Slater – I never knew Dick personally, but from what friends of mine, like Terry Funk and Harley Race told me, he was a great worker and an even better person outside of the ring.
Dick had many a five star match in places like Florida, Georgia, Texas and Carolina, when those were among the best territories in the world. His legacy, as one of the best workers of his era, remains intact.
Jose Lothario – I had a chance to meet Jose on a couple of occasions and always found him to be a nice guy and a great source of advice about what wrestling should be.
He’s best remembered today for having trained the great Shawn Michaels, but he was a great baby face himself back in the day.
Paul Jones – Paul was a major star in the 70’s and early 80’s, headlining cards in the South, often against NWA world champions such as Harley Race and Jack Brisco.
I had a chance to meet him a few years back at one of the Cauliflower Alley reunions and was impressed with his passion and respect for old school wrestling.
Raul Mata – I never crossed paths with Raul myself, but heard nothing but good things about him from fellow wrestlers, in particular his fellow Latino cohorts, including Manuel Quintana, Eddie Guerrero and Conan – all of whom extolled his virtues, as a great worker and as a dedicated team player.
Reggie Love – Reggie and his wrestling “brother” Hartford, were one of hottest heel tag teams in the business back in the 70’s, while working in and around Ontario. I ran into Reggie a few years back at the Cauliflower Alley reunion and was greatly impressed with his perspectives on the business and his ongoing passion.
Phil Watson – It’s not easy to follow in the footsteps of a legend and Phil, had an insurmountable task having to follow in the footsteps of his famous father – Whipper Billy Watson, who was one of the most iconic wrestlers in Canadian history. Nonetheless, even though he never duplicated his father’s exploits, came to be regarded as a terrific worker, in his own right and was also respected by his peers.
Brian Christopher – One of the saddest stories of the year was the apparent suicide of Jerry Lawler’s son, Brian Christopher, who was found dead in his jail cell. I had a chance to meet and hang out with Brian a few times when he was working with the WWE back in the day and always found him to be a nice guy and also a decent worker.
I have a great deal of respect for his father Jerry, who was a good worker in his own right and was also extremely supportive when my brother Owen tragically died back in 1999. I’d like to extend my condolences to him on his monumental loss and salute Brian for his contributions to our sport.
Kenny Garrett – I had Kenny as a guest on my Hart Beat Radio podcast last year and was greatly impressed with his passion for the business, as well as his integrity.
In addition to having been a successful wrestler and promoter, he also trained his daughter, Santana, who has been one of the most highly rated female wrestlers on the indy scene. My condolences to her on her loss and props to Kenny for his contributions.
Larry Matysik – Larry was one of legendary St. Louis promoter Sam Muchnick’s most trusted associates. I had the pleasure of having Larry on my radio show and was most impressed with his knowledge and his passion for the business.
I’ve said it before and will restate it now, that guys like Larry Matysik, Herb Simmons, Tom Burk, Mike Mooneyham and my colleague Bob Johnson – who routinely perform so many behind the scene tasks, are truly the backbone of our industry, and deserve much more credit than they receive. Thanks to Larry for all of his contributions.
Dale Pearce – Dale was one of the foremost authorities on wrestling’s long and glorious history in Ohio and wrote a superb book on it a few years ago. I had a number of great conversations with Dale and was most impressed with his knowledge and passion for wrestling.
Van Vader (Leon White) – For a period, during the early 90’s, when Ted Turner’s WCW promotion was giving the WWF a serious run for its money, Leon was that promotion’s top heel.
During this period, one of Leon’s main rivals was my brother-in-law, Davey Boy Smith. Davey told me that while they did some business, Leon was one most difficult guys that he ever had to work with.
For years, he had a reputation within the business as a legitimate tough guy but that was debunked after a dressing room brawl in which he assaulted Paul Orndorff and was subsequently beaten to a bloody pulp afterward by Paul.
Leon deserves credit for having been a top heel, but, unfortunately, he’s remembered more today for having been a bully and cheap shot artist.
I’ll wind up this retrospective now. I’m sure there are other most worthy candidates that also deserve to be mentioned, but I’m just paying respects to the guys that I knew or crossed paths with. Thanks for the memories.
On that note, I’ll call this a wrap but would like to wish you all have a Happy New Year!
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