PWP Nation’s Bruce Hart pays tribute to the fallen wrestling legends of 2015.
Greetings, I hope you all had a nice Christmas.
As we bid farewell to 2015, I’d like to also bid a fond farewell to some of the members of the wrestling community whom we lost this past year, by conducting a requiem, if you will, for some of the heavyweights in our business.
I’d like to start by paying my respects to a fellow Canadian, and a second cousin, the irrepressible “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. Roddy was an integral part of the very first WrestleMania and was a mainstay in the WWF during those crucial formative years, adding a new dimension to the WWF with his cutting edge promos, his outlandish Piper’s Pit segments and colorful personality.
Behind the scenes, Hot Rod was one of the genuine nice guys in the business, caring and sincere and always going out of his way to help the young guys. I’d like to pay to the Piper, a sincere debt of gratitude for his enormous contribution to our business.
Next, I’d like to pay tribute to my old Stampede Wrestling colleague, Duke Myers. While Duke had been a respected mid-card worker in a number of territories back in the 70’s, he really hit his stride in my dad’s Stampede Wrestling promotion upon his arrival in 1980, particularly as a tag team performer, where he took up and coming young stars, such as the Dynamite Kid, Mike Sharpe Jr., Bad News Allen and, in particular, Kerry Brown under his wing and helped them develop into great workers.
Myers and Brown were the top tag team in Stampede Wrestling for a prolonged stretch in the 80’s, headlining cards against teams like: my brother Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart, myself and Davey Boy Smith, Bill Irwin and Randy Tyler, my brother Owen Hart and Ben Bassarab, David Shults, Honky Tonk Wayne, Chris Benoit and Ron Richie.
If you were to ask any of those guys who was the glue who held it together back then, they’d probably tell you it was Duke, one of those unsung heroes that every great territory seemed to have back in the day.
Although some of today’s fans might not be all that familiar with the name Verne Gagne, most who were familiar with the wrestling scene back in the 60’s and 70’s will agree that he was one of the giants of our industry. Verne began his pro wrestling career in the early 1950’s, after having been national amateur champion at the University of Minnesota and quickly became one of the top faces in the business, headlining cards in the mid-west and gaining acclaim as the NWA world junior heavyweight champion.
After the death of Minneapolis promoter Tony Stecher, Verne and partner Wally Karbo took over the AWA promotion in the late 50’s and, under their tutelage, it would become one of the most successful and storied promotions in the business, with cities like Minneapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Denver and Winnipeg consistently doing incredible business.
During his long and glorious run as a promoter, Verne was instrumental in developing a remarkable number of iconic performers, including the likes of Harley Race, Larry Hennig, the Crusher, Red Bastien, Baron von Raschke, Billy Graham, Billy Robinson, Ric Flair, Playboy Buddy Rose, Jesse Ventura, Hulk Hogan and Curt Hennig.
Throughout it all, Verne raised the bar and was the impetus behind the AWA during its heyday in the 70’s when it was probably the most successful promotion in the business.
Another iconic figure from the glory days of the AWA whom we lost this past year was Nick Bockwinkel, the AWA world champion during late 70’s and early 80’s. While Nick is best remembered for his auspicious world title reign in the AWA, he had a long and distinguished career prior to that in many of the major NWA promotions. Early on, back in the late 50’s and early 60’s, Nick spent a considerable amount of time working for my dad’s promotion, initially with his father Warren, and he continued to work guest shots for us into the 1980’s. Nick was a consummate professional and one of the great ambassadors for our sport and will be missed.
Another iconic figure we lost this past year was Dusty Rhodes. Dusty initially broke in, like so many others, in Amarillo under the auspices of Dory Funk Sr., where he initially formed a successful heel tag team with Dick Murdoch. He would later ascend to stardom in major territories in the Southeast, such as Georgia and Florida, before arriving in the WWF in the late 80’s as the “American Dream” – where his cutting edge promos and colorful manifestations made a huge impression.
In addition to attaining stardom as a wrestler, Dusty also enjoyed success as one of the preeminent bookers in the business, particularly in territories such as Georgia and Florida. As well, he was one of the main trainers for FCW. Dusty’s sons Cody and Dustin (Goldust) have gone on to become stars in their own right and carry on the stellar tradition started by their iconic father.
Although many of today’s fans might not be familiar with the name Cora Combs, she was one of the biggest names during the so called “golden age of women’s wrestling”, back in the 50’s and 60’s, where she shared the spotlight with other women’s legends like June Byers, Penny Banner, Lorraine Johnson, Ann Casey and Rita Cortez. Cora was not only one of the top female grapplers of day, but also would become a successful trainer, developing several of the most acclaimed women wrestlers in the 70’s and early 80’s, including Donna Day and her daughter, Debbie.
Wrestling fans in North America are probably not familiar with the name Steve Rickard, but in his native New Zealand, he was every bit as auspicious as legendary wrestler/promoters such as Verne Gagne and Dusty Rhodes. Steve worked for my dad back in the early 60’s, along with other New Zealanders, including Pat O’Connor, Ken Kenneth, Ray Gordon and Maori legend, John da Silva.
My dad always held him in high regard, as a worker and as a man of integrity. He would return to New Zealand after that and soon launched his own promotion, where he turned out wrestlers such as Tony Garea, Luke Williams, Crazy Nick (Butch) Carter and his most famous protege, High Chief Peter Maivia, the grandfather of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
I had a chance to work for Steve on a number of occasions, first, In Hawaii, where he co-promoted with Peter and Leah Maivia and in New Zealand and Singapore and found him to be not only a very savvy promoter, but a true gentleman, who always strived to uphold the pride and integrity of our sport, something that, unfortunately, has all too often been compromised by so many of today’s promoters.
Another acclaimed star whom we lost this past year was Buddy Landel. I never had the pleasure of hooking up with Buddy, but knew friends of his, including Barry Orton, Terry Taylor, Matt Hardy and my brothers, Bret and Owen – all of whom spoke highly of him as a worker and as a person.
All of our dearly departed colleagues – Roddy, Duke, Verne, Nick, Cora, Steve and Buddy were a credit to our business and while we are much poorer for their loss, we’re also infinitely richer for their having graced our sport.
I’d like to thank all of our departed heroes for the enormous contributions they made to our business. They might be gone, but they will never be forgotten. I know that somewhere up yonder, they’re probably in a no time limit battle royal, with no one having to do a job. Rest in peace, friends, as Mark Callaway would say.
I’ll catch up with you all next week. In the meantime and in between time, have a great New Year!
