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Pro Wrestling Vintage Wrestling

Have y’all been watching these WWE legends series episodes. They have been really good. Forgot how much I enjoyed wrestling as a kid
 
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gordonsolie said:
There was no more gruesome a situation for a wrestler in CWF than when his forehead was in the grip of Pak Song's "The Claw".

Most opponents had to concede the pain was too intense and the damage too severe to continue.

The referee also had trouble communicating with the young South Korean that his opponent had conceded. Even the bell ringing 50 times didn't get Song to release the hold. It sometimes took several other wrestlers to beat down Song to release "The Claw".

Often, Song would lose the match by disqualification for not releasing the claw. This allowed superstars like Briscoe, Muraco
and Rhodes to retain their title belts.

In most cases the opponents cranial area was a Crimson Mask.

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That card took place at what eventually became The Eddie Graham Sports Stadium. The place was a total dump , no AC but it still hosted many matches and the joint was always full of fans. It’s still hard to believe how much those wrestlers traveled for work each week. For years , Miami Beach, Tampa, Orlando & Jacksonville were regular stops throughout the week for those dudes. Promoter’s would also book additional shows at small town high school gyms and Armory’s throughout the state and they were also taping live shows twice a day on Saturday’s in Tampa and Georgia. Most of those wrestlers were working well over 300 days a year and they weren’t making much unless they were a headliner like Dusty, and the Nature Boy. Those were some hard working, tough SOB’s.
 
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SWFLHurricane said:
Dusty Rhodes was teammates with Mercury Morris in college....
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SWFLHurricane said:
Actually, it wasn't NWA at 1st .....Solie commentated on Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) from 1960 until 1987
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CWF was always under the NWA umbrella as far as I know.

Back in the day there were 3 big time promotions or territories as some would call them.

The AWA , the WWWF and my favorite, the NWA.

All 3 were very good promotions and would host top billing wrestlers from each other’s promotions.

I got to see Nick Bockwinkle, AWA champ & Bruno Samartino, WWWF champ wrestle in Miami Beach which I thought was really cool because I only knew of them from the wrestling magazines I would get every month.
 
When I was a kid growing up in Tampa, a long time ago, my mother was a bookkeeper for a small firm than handled most of the local wrestler’s money. She got me autographs of most of the big names, like Harley Race, Dusty Rhodes, Superstar Billy Graham, the Briscoe brothers…wish I still had that autograph book.

She told me Billy Graham was the nicest guy, and Rhodes was a jerk.

Tapings at Fort Hesterly Armory, large house shoes at the Bayfront Center in St. Pete.

Watched Dusty pin Lars Anderson for the NWA title (although I think as a work it was overturned), and a bench press contest between Billy Graham and Joe LeDuc. Rhodes was Le Duc‘s spotter, forget who was Graham’s. When it looked like Le Duc was going to win, Graham slammed Rhodes’ head into the weights. Later, of course, Rhodes came out of the locker room, face bandaged and bloody, to interfere in Graham’s match.

Good times.
 
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