Pro Wrestlers You May Not Remember

[MichaelWinicki]

Just thought I'd start a thread of pro wrestlers you may not know or may have completely forgotten about.

I'll start it off with wrestler by the name of Billy Robinson, who was a legitimate wrestler. Many refer to him as being a "shooter" meaning that he could actually wrestle at a high level and hurt someone if things got out of hand.

There were two things that held him back. The first being that he spent a lot of time wrestling for promotions like the AWA which didn't have the expanse of the NWA nor did it have the population centers like the WWWF. So while he was well known in the AWA, Canada and Japan, many others didn't get to see him wrestle.

The other thing that held him back was his lack of charisma. He just didn't go over with the fans like the top guys.

If you were ranking guys by just their wrestling ability Billy Robinson would be one of the best ever.

Here's a match vs. Jumbo Tsuruta in Japan in 1977, where Robinson wins a 2 out 3 fall match and takes the title from Jumbo (who was a pretty good wrestler in his own right). Anyway it doesn't take much watching of the match to see that Robinson knew what he was doing in the ring.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I think Jumbo Tsuruta was the greatest in-ring wrestler I've ever seen. He wrestled great over 3 decades and changed his style over those times (70's high flier, 80's more technical, late 80's to early 90's a stiff striker).

The one big match of Jumbo's I loved was the 6.8.90 match versus Misawa.






YR

 

[Tabascocat]

Superfly

Junkyard Dog

 

[JohnnyTheFox]

Superfly

Junkyard Dog

I used to watch JYD wrestle all the time in the Mid South where Bill Watts helped him get his foot in the door so to speak.

 

[JohnnyTheFox]

Other names I remember.....
Tiger Conway Jr.
Skip Young.
The Assassin.
Paul Orndorf{before he got huge}
Iceman King Parsons.
Jose Lathario
Dr X
The Masked Medics.
Col. Buck Robley
Dick Murdoch

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I think Jumbo Tsuruta was the greatest in-ring wrestler I've ever seen. He wrestled great over 3 decades and changed his style over those times (70's high flier, 80's more technical, late 80's to early 90's a stiff striker).

The one big match of Jumbo's I loved was the 6.8.90 match versus Misawa.






YR

Yep, Jumbo is another guy that doesn't get the props that he should.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Yep, Jumbo is another guy that doesn't get the props that he should.

He primarily wrestled in Japan even when he won the NWA World Title, so I wouldn't expect much from US fans in terms of knowing him.

I find a lot of the World of Sport British wrestlers to not get much credit. For me, a lot of their in-ring work was about as good as it gets.



YR

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Superfly

Junkyard Dog

Snuka could wrestle and of course he had the aerial maneuvers. And he left his mark in the WWWF, the NWA and Japan.

JYD is an interesting case. He was as stiff as a board. He made Hogan look nimble.

BUT in with the right opponent like Nick Bockwinkle, you had a pretty good match.

What JYD did have was charisma. He's sort of the opposite of Billy Robinson.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

He primarily wrestled in Japan even when he won the NWA World Title, so I wouldn't expect much from US fans in terms of knowing him.

I find a lot of the World of Sport British wrestlers to not get much credit. For me, a lot of their in-ring work was about as good as it gets.



YR

You bet the quality of wrestling in Japan and the UK was terrific. Probably higher than many spots in the US.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

You bet the quality of wrestling in Japan and the UK was terrific. Probably higher than many spots in the US.

They treated pro wrestling as sport. In the UK they would rounds like a boxing contest. That's where the Dynamite Kid came out of, but they also had really great wrestlers like Jim Breaks and Marc Rocco. That's also where Tiger Mask I trained before he became Tiger Mask. Of course, that's where Billy Robinson was from.

Supposedly, the British wrestlers used to wrestle almost every day...in bars and carnivals and developed a great sense of improvisation and could wrestle against another wrestler for the 1st time without even talking together before the match about what to do.



YR

 

[MichaelWinicki]

They treated pro wrestling as sport. In the UK they would rounds like a boxing contest. That's where the Dynamite Kid came out of, but they also had really great wrestlers like Jim Breaks and Marc Rocco. That's also where Tiger Mask I trained before he became Tiger Mask. Of course, that's where Billy Robinson was from.

Supposedly, the British wrestlers used to wrestle almost every day...in bars and carnivals and developed a great sense of improvisation and could wrestle against another wrestler for the 1st time without even talking together before the match about what to do.



YR

Yep.

They had a high level (and some may snicker about this...) "Professionalism".

If a current fan hasn't watched a match from Japan during the 70's, 80's and 90's they should.

I miss the 2 out 3 fall matches that were prevalent in Japan, many parts of the NWA and elsewhere, because you be sure to have a clean pin-fall in there somewhere. In the Robinson/Tsuruta match above all 3 falls were "clean".

Somewhere along the line wrestlers came to the conclusion that clean pin-falls weren't good business.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Other names I remember.....
Tiger Conway Jr.
Skip Young.
The Assassin.
Paul Orndorf{before he got huge}
Iceman King Parsons.
Jose Lathario
Dr X
The Masked Medics.
Col. Buck Robley
Dick Murdoch

Some interesting names on there.

Robley probably had a better career behind the scenes as a booker than he did as a wrestler.

Orndorf was good, very good, but his career was short... at least the most active part. After he left the WWF, he just kind of floated around except for a couple years in WCW.

The top name on the list is Murdoch. The guy could play any role a promoter would want or need. If you needed a heel he could be your guy. If you needed a face he could be your guy. If you needed a brawling match he could do that. If you wanted a scientific match he could do that. He had a long career where he was a mid-carder or higher.

 

[maxdallasfan]

My favorite of all time was The Missing Link.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

My favorite of all time was The Missing Link.

In the late 1960's is when I started watching wrestling... I was just a little kid and the only show I could watch was the Saturday afternoon show on the Canadian channel CHCH, which was called "Maple Leaf Wrestling" and originated out of Hamilton, Ontario. They promoted shows all over Ontario, Canada and in western New York State.

Anywho one of the young guys wrestling at that time was Dewey Robertson. He later became one of the masked "Crusader's" with tag team partner Billy Red Lyons.

It was only later on that he became the "Missing Link".

 

[JohnnyTheFox]

I forgot one.....
Anyone remember Pork Chops Cash?

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

I think Jumbo Tsuruta was the greatest in-ring wrestler I've ever seen. He wrestled great over 3 decades and changed his style over those times (70's high flier, 80's more technical, late 80's to early 90's a stiff striker).

The one big match of Jumbo's I loved was the 6.8.90 match versus Misawa.






YR

Stone Cold has a pod cast show now...you can get the app for free for your android or iphone.

He talks a lot with other wrestlers.

There was an interview with Flair that all old wrestling fans should listen to.

There was a story where Flair was going to Japan and word is one of the promoters over there was bad about not treating the american wrestlers right or not paying or something. Flair says they sent someone over with him to be his body guard..I want to say it was actually Harley Race at the time...yes Harley was a wrestler at that time as well but they sent him with Rick as his body guard of sorts. Apparently Jumbo was very close to the promoter there and was his body guard of sorts.

They went into a meeting and both the promoter and jumbo was sitting down. From all indications not only was Jumbo a big deal over there he was also a pretty tough guy as well.

Flair said that Harley went over and slapped the crap out of jumbo's face and told him how things were going to be concerning Flair's match....not sure if it was about money or how they were going to treat Flair. Flair went on to say that Jumbo did not make a move to get up or say anything...he said that was how tough and intimidating Race was.

However it is funny listening to most of the interviews he has done and it had been said by him and many of the older wrestlers that he interviewed that the guy who played Haku was the toughest guy. That was said by many of the guys. Said he was the one that was a true tough guy and nobody would mess with him.

His pod cast really is worth listening too if you like the older wrestlers.

It appears that Jim Ross has a podcast as well but I have not listened to his at all.

Funny thing is I have not watched wrestling in a long time but I really enjoy listening to the older wrestling stories. Stone Cold's pod cast does talk about current wrestling as well but I usually skip those episodes as I really am not interested in the current crop since I don't watch it now.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Back to the original topic.

I remember as a young Lad liking when Mr Wrestling 2 would be out there. That goes back a few years lol.

Years later I was at a wrestling show they had on the army base. There was a match where one of the wrestlers did not make it or was hurt so they brought in a generic named guy to fight Sam Houston. The had a mask on him and called something like Doctor X or Mister X...the name had some X in it and he had a generic X mask on.

I swear I don't remember who it was now but at the time we knew it was a specific wrestler because he had the same shape, size and the give away was, the guy wore the same wrestling boots. And of course this guy was there to play the generic heel where Sam Houston was the baby face and all the crowd was cheering for Sam.

Me and my buddies started throwing up the X sign (waaaaayyy before Dez was even born lol) and yelling X X X X X over and over. It was funny because he looked at us as to say...you know I am the bad guy here right lol. We kept doing it and later he laughed at us and gave us a thumbs up after he lost the match.
I wish I remembered the wrestlers name but for the life of me I can not.

But at that time I always wondered if Mr Wrestling 2 would sometimes wrestle as someone else without the mask from time to time.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Stone Cold has a pod cast show now...you can get the app for free for your android or iphone.

He talks a lot with other wrestlers.

There was an interview with Flair that all old wrestling fans should listen to.

There was a story where Flair was going to Japan and word is one of the promoters over there was bad about not treating the american wrestlers right or not paying or something. Flair says they sent someone over with him to be his body guard..I want to say it was actually Harley Race at the time...yes Harley was a wrestler at that time as well but they sent him with Rick as his body guard of sorts. Apparently Jumbo was very close to the promoter there and was his body guard of sorts.

They went into a meeting and both the promoter and jumbo was sitting down. From all indications not only was Jumbo a big deal over there he was also a pretty tough guy as well.

Flair said that Harley went over and slapped the crap out of jumbo's face and told him how things were going to be concerning Flair's match....not sure if it was about money or how they were going to treat Flair. Flair went on to say that Jumbo did not make a move to get up or say anything...he said that was how tough and intimidating Race was.

LOL!

I heard the same story but through a different source.

The concern was that Jumbo wasn't going to put Flair over and instead was going to try pinning him, which of course ran against the script.

Harley put Jumbo in his place.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

LOL!

I heard the same story but through a different source.

The concern was that Jumbo wasn't going to put Flair over and instead was going to try pinning him, which of course ran against the script.

Harley put Jumbo in his place.

Yes..that's it...I was fuzzy on the details but knew that the crux of the story was that Harley slapped him pretty good and nobody did anything about it because Race was really a tough guy and not just in the ring.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Back to the original topic.

I remember as a young Lad liking when Mr Wrestling 2 would be out there. That goes back a few years lol.

Years later I was at a wrestling show they had on the army base. There was a match where one of the wrestlers did not make it or was hurt so they brought in a generic named guy to fight Sam Houston. The had a mask on him and called something like Doctor X or Mister X...the name had some X in it and he had a generic X mask on.

I swear I don't remember who it was now but at the time we knew it was a specific wrestler because he had the same shape, size and the give away was, the guy wore the same wrestling boots. And of course this guy was there to play the generic heel where Sam Houston was the baby face and all the crowd was cheering for Sam.

Me and my buddies started throwing up the X sign (waaaaayyy before Dez was even born lol) and yelling X X X X X over and over. It was funny because he looked at us as to say...you know I am the bad guy here right lol. We kept doing it and later he laughed at us and gave us a thumbs up after he lost the match.
I wish I remembered the wrestlers name but for the life of me I can not.

But at that time I always wondered if Mr Wrestling 2 would sometimes wrestle as someone else without the mask from time to time.

I have no idea if Mr.W2 wrestled without the mask or exchanged masks from time to time and became a heel.

Sam Houston... the son of Blackjack Mulligan and the brother of Barry Windham. I remember Sam being tall & thin as a rail.