Champions of the Galaxy - Filsinger Games

TOM'S WRESTLER TRIBUTE PAGE

I was introduced to wrestling as a child by my grandparents in the 1960's. My grandparents were Greek immigrants who loved to watch wrestling because it was a violent morality play of good vs. evil. It was easy to tell the difference between the good guys and bad guys in those days. The good guys were sometimes immigrants themselves who spoke portions of their interviews in their ethnic language. They were heroes to their fans who saw in them a symbol of their own struggles in America against cheaters, crooks and scoundrels! My grandparents loved it and I have fond memories of them screaming at the television at the referee ("Hurry...turn around, he's got a foreign object!") or the bad guy ("Why you filthy piece of #&*@!").

From these humble roots grew an enjoyment of professional wrestling that has lasted a lifetime. I've had many favorite wrestlers over the years, but the ones listed on this page are from the early "classic" era of the 1960's and 1970's. Wrestling changed dramatically in the 1980's when Vince McMahon transformed it from a back alley sideshow on the fringes of American society into the commercial and mainstream phenomenon it is today. I'll have to thank him for that because the success of Champions of the Galaxy is due in part to the continued popularity of professional wrestling.

So here's a tribute to my three favorite wrestlers of the 1960's and 1970's! Even though there was a wrestling federation in Cleveland (where I lived) called the NWF, these three wrestlers are best known for wrestling in Detroit. Saturday evenings were great. There was the NWF show on TV at 6:00 and the Detriot show on at 7:00. The matches were lousy, but we didn't know better. In those days they would have a star fight a bum just to showcase the star and set up the big match at the arena later in the week. It's not like today where you get great matches free on Monday nights. By the way, all three wrestlers listed below have been recently rated among the top 100 wrestlers of the century by Inside Wrestling magazine.

JOHNNY VALENTINE

Johnny Valentine was my favorite wrestler in the 1970's. He was class personified. He was a tough guy who came to the ring in a long robe and seemed above the rigid distinctions of good guys and bad guys. That's what I liked the most about him. He staked his own territory.

When he entered the NWF he took the federation by storm. He won the NWF World Title from Abdullah the Butcher and then proceeded to win the North American Title from Johnny Powers. It was the only time that I could remember that one man held both main belts at one time. He even went on to manage Abdullah the Butcher and the two men created mayhem! Johnny Valentine had classic feuds against the likes of Ernie Ladd and Johnny Powers in the NWF and fought some great matches against Bobo Brazil in Detroit. Little did I know at the time that one member of the Fargo Brothers tag-team was actually Johnny Valentine's son, Greg. Greg "the hammer" Valentine would become a wrestling star in his own right, using many tricks taught to him by his father.

Johnny Valentine would be better known and appreciated today if he hadn't suffered a severe injury in a plane crash at the end of the 1970's. It ended his wrestling career. Otherwise he might have been introduced to a new generation of fans when wrestling became more popular in the 1980's. He was a class act and I was very happy to speak with him at length about his career a few years ago before his death. He gave me permission to produce a Johnny Valentine playing card for Champions of the Galaxy and it will be released in 2002 as a Legends of Wrestling playing card.

Johnny Valentine died in 2001. His influence on professional wrestling is underrated, but very significant. Mark Nulty once interviewed Ric Flair. This is what he wrote:

I did a magazine article on Ric Flair in the 80s. It was the first time I had ever met him and during the interview I naively asked him about the influence Nature Boy Buddy Rogers had on his style.

Flair bristled. "Did I ever say that I modeled myself after Buddy Rogers?," Flair demanded. "I never mentioned Buddy Rogers. If I modeled myself after anyone, it's that man right in there," Flair said pointing to the locker room where Johnny Valentine was visiting.

The man that is considered by many to be the greatest wrestler of his era idolized Johnny Valentine.

I think that about says it all.

THE SHIEK

A close second for me in terms of popularity was the wildman from Syria, the Shiek! He was scary in a time when people could still be scared by wrestlers. It was a time when the grey area of whether wrestling was real or not had not yet been explored by the public and the Sheik played on that confusion to the limit. He was a pioneer of the hardcore "attitude," using fireballs, pencils and forks to maim opponents.

From the beginning it was clear there was no one like the Sheik. Every time he appeared in a studio or arena he would look up and be "startled" by the overhead lights, bringing his arms to his head to protect himself as if he was under attack by enemy bombers! He never talked or did interviews. He just muttered some unintelligible words as he ate paper or prayed to Allah.

Today this performance might have comedic value, but in it's time it was frightening. This was made all the worse by the Sheik's very believable levels of total sadism. He took his showmanship to the limit and it made him a legend.

Perhaps the most implausible thing about a total wildman like the Sheik was the fact that he held the Detriot version of the United States Title a total of 12 times. This was due, no doubt, to the fact that he was in real-life the promotor of the federation, but it raised the character of the Sheik above the level of a bizarre sideshow and gave him credibility as a main event headliner. His nephew, Sabu, still carries on the tradition of mayhem on the independent wrestling circuit. Click here to go to a great Sheik web site.

BOBO BRAZIL

Bobo was a guy you just had to love. Even at a time when racial problems were reaching a peak, Bobo Brazil was a popular wrestler with black and white fans alike. Brazil has been called the "Jackie Robinson of wrestling." My grandparents loved him.

Part of Bobo's appeal is that he was a gentle giant. He stood 6'4" and 280 pounds, a very big man especially by the standards of a few decades ago in wrestling when people were smaller and looked out of shape. In a classic confrontation of two fan favorites at Cobo Hall in Detroit, he even fought to a draw against Andre the Giant. Such was the stature of Bobo Brazil.

Aside from being the earliest successful black wrestler, Bobo Brazil will probably be remembered for a violent feud with the Sheik that actually lasted four decades! Bobo's finisher was a deadly series of head butts (in Bobo's case, it was called a coco butt) that kids in my neighborhood said was due to an operation where a metal plate was put in Bobo's head! Ah...the stuff of legends. Such a finisher would be considered lame today since the sport has evolved away from simple, basic moves towards risky, high-impact moves.