Pro Wrestling - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Pro Wrestling

Sixty years ago, a neighborhood friend and I talked our Dad’s into taking us to a pro wrestling match in Minster. Back in those days, as kids we were enthralled with the pro wrestlers who were on TV, and now those same stars were coming to our area so we just had to see them live. The nicknames of the wrestlers were very memorable, such as BoBo Brazil, Calipso Kid, Killer Kowalski, Russian Bear, Dick the Bruiser (who also played for the Green Bay Packers), Nature Boy Buddy Rogers, Gorgeous George, Bearcat Wright, Sheik, Crusher and Haystacks Calhoun to name a few. But our favorites were Handsome Johnny Barend and Magnificent Maurice, a tag team who headlined the evening by wrestling in the final championship bout. They were fighting BoBo Brazil and the Calipso Kid for the championship. I distinctly recall the gigantic championship belts the two wrestlers were wearing when they entered the ring.

Magnificent Maurice and Handsome Johnny Barend

The elevated boxing ring was set up in the middle of Minster’s football field just north of the high school at the time on Hanover Street. Chairs were arranged all around the ring for spectators. Our seats were in about the 3rd row, a factor that will come into play later. Some of the lessor known wrestlers fought in the earlier bouts, and some didn’t even have nicknames yet, nor were they very good or entertaining. Entertainment is the key, as the wrestling was totally fake, but we enjoyed every minute. The ring was literally spring loaded so that the wrestlers were not hurt when taken down on a throw or when jumping from the corner post onto their opponent like shown on this photo of Pedro Morales about to land on the Russian Bear.

In the feature bout, our heroes were getting creamed by BoBo Brazil and the Calipso Kid, with BoBo using his patented CoCo butt and pile driver moves. Maurice and Barend were both known for their antics and that night was no exception. One of the two grabbed the corner water bucket where the fighters spit between rounds and proceeded to throw the liquid on their opponents; however, they ducked and the contents went spraying all over the audience right where we were sitting, which fortunately turned out to be just confetti! Another antic came near the end of the bout when Maurice tagged Barend and then proceeded to literally craw under the ring emerging on the opposite end to blind side their two opponents who had ganged up on Barend, knocking them down and pinning both simultaneously to win the bout and claim the championship belt. Perfect ending to a fantastic night of big time wrestling. Even our Dad’s were entertained! Check out this YouTube video of a 3 man tag team match with the the same wrestlers.

Fast forward 28 years to 1987, when my son and I along with 93,000 other fans witnessed Hulk Hogan fight Andre the Giant during Wrestlemania III at the Pontiac Silverdome. Hulk body slammed the 525 pound Andre to win the exciting match. Here's the closing minutes of that memorable bout.

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