#AVClassicWrestling

[astralbondpro]

April 30, 1983 -

Andy Kaufman taunts Jerry Lawler on CWA Championship Wrestling, before a handicap match at the Mid-South Coliseum.

[astralbondpro]

December 20, 1980 -

Captain Lou Albano accidentally lights his shirt on fire with his cigar, on this edition of WWWF All-Star Wrestling.

[astralbondpro]

August 26, 1955 -

Penny Banner and June Beyer battle it out as Fred Kohler presents Wrestling From Chicago. The footage comes from the amazing Chicago Film Archive.

[astralbondpro]

This picture of Randy Savage feels so out of context. His hair isn't poofy, his eyes aren't bulging out of his head, and he's smiling. Just him standing backstage with his father "The Miser" Angelo Poffo.

[astralbondpro]

February 13, 1976 -

The Shiek attempts to throw a fireball in the fake of Mark Lewin, but gets his manager Eddy Creatchman instead, at a Big Time Wrestling event in Canton, Ohio.

[astralbondpro]

1915/1916 -

The Masked Marvel (Mort Henderson) poses for a photograph at the Manhattan Opera House. He is known to be the first masked wrestler in the United States, and possibly the second in the world behind a wrestler in France. Promoter Samuel Rachmann ran what he called a tournament, which was likened at the time to burlesque. A card featuring different type of wrestling bouts, including what was described at comedy. The Masked Marvel was his creation when the houses started to fall, and he needed an attendance boost.

[astralbondpro]

Sometime in the 1970s -

The Great Boris Malenko does a commercial for Badcock Mattresses, narrated by Gordon Solie.

[astralbondpro]

Early 1960s -

Bobby Davis while not the first manager in wrestling, he is considered by many to be an archetype of the heel manager as they came to be known in years to follow. In fact, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan was named after him. Unfortunately, I can't pin down where this video was from, or when it happened. It was certainly the early 60s, and he was managing Buddy Rogers. That would place this in Fred Kohler's Chicago in '61-'62, or the WWWF in 1963. My guess would be Chicago, but Bobby did indeed work for the WWWF.

[astralbondpro]

July 25, 1975 -

Before he was Sgt. Slaughter, he was "Beautiful" Bobby Remus as seen here in All Japan Pro Wrestling.

[astralbondpro]

November 1, 1975 -

Pampero Firpo bends a steel bar with Baron von Raschke's name written on it with his teeth, on this edition of AWA television. It is clear to see how much inspiration Randy Savage took from Firpo, not only the catch phrase.

[astralbondpro]

One thing I am envious of modern children for, is YouTube – not that it could of existed on 14 and 28k internet. I just think of scouring all the video stores, trying to find all the wrestling I could find that I hadn't seen. I could of been on YouTube watching all this stuff that exists on there now. You know, as opposed to just watching the same NWA/WCW and WWF tapes I had.

[astralbondpro]

This came in the mail last night, and I am already almost done with it. It is about the early days of professional wrestling from the 1890s, into the 1940s. It is absolutely enthralling, and I cannot recommend it enough.

[astralbondpro]

May 2, 1982 -

The Dream Machine (Troy Graham) cuts a promo on CWA Championship Wrestling.

[astralbondpro]

There is this narrative that huge gates for wrestling are a thing of the modern era. I think perhaps it is in part due to WWE's narrative they have painted through the years, even believed by people are are very anti-WWE. Yet, if you look through history it couldn't be further from the truth. With inflation, Frank Gotch vs. George Hackenschmidt drew a roughly three million dollar gate in Chicago, in 1911.