When I started in the business I was much smaller than I am today. I was probably about one hundred and seventy five pounds. I can remember Ernie Roth (The Grand Wizard) telling me that if he was still promoting towns he would use me as a referee for sure. He believed I was the right size. In the WWF they sometimes used referee’s that were bigger than the boys in height. That didn’t make sense to him and to many other people as well. The WWF was always a big man’s territory. That’s why guys like Buzz Sawyer and Tommy Rich, who were red sizzling hot at one time, never got a real chance in the WWF. I was happy to be a referee since I never thought I could be anything else in the business.
In the days that I became a referee, the referee’s were not made to look like fools as they are today. I see no consistency in the WWE today in regards to how the company runs. Sometimes the referee’s actually seem competent and other times they appear to be buffoons. In the long run making the referees fools helps no one. If you want to ever draw in this business you have to have some real heat. I can remember in the old days of the WWF when Bob Backlund was the champion he was not the best drawing champion. It was always a stacked and loaded card that was booked to help Backlund look like he was a great drawing champion. This was for the sole purpose of the McMahon ego not being bruised. It had become very clear that they chose to back the wrong guy. I can remember special bonus attractions many featuring Bruno Sammartino. I do remember a few featuring “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes. The trick here was that Backlund was the main event and the other matches were bonus attractions so when Vince Sr talked to all his buddies around the country and said yeah we sold out here and there when they asked who was on top he would say Backlund. He would never mention Rhodes, Sammartino or anyone else brought in to help. The point here is that there were guys in the territory with real heat. The main guy with all the heat was Capt. Lou Albano. The people wanted to see this guy get beaten to a pulp. I can remember every April when things would slow down Lou would put on the tights. If one of his tag teams was short a guy that night he would step in. In some cases there were six man tags. Other times he would be in singles match. I can remember one night Lou was in a single against Andre the Giant the place was packed. This type of thing never happens today. Why is that? There is no real heat in the territory and if there is it is on the referees. How about some consistency and treating these guys like actual officials.
It was the anniversary today of the night that “The Russian Bear” Ivan Koloff beat “The Living Legend” Bruno Sammartino in Madison Square Garden. It was the end of a title reign that more than likely will never be surpassed. It began with a victory of Nature Boy Buddy Rogers on May 16th 1963 and ended on Jan 18th 1971. In the days of the Sammartino title reign he would be booked in matches all over the country and all over the world. I believe that it was very short sighted of Vince Sr to be booking Bruno to wrestle in what would be considered B towns. Those were days that a guy in Bruno’s position should have been given off the go back to Pittsburgh and rest his body or spend some time with his wife and children. In those days Sammartino was one of the top paid athletes in the country and was a major attraction. As much money as Sammartino made the WWWF and the WWF I often wonder what would have happened if they properly took care of the goose that laid the golden egg.
I found out today the Ernie “Arrowhead” Holmes of the Pittsburgh Steelers died in an automobile accident. I believe many fans know that Ernie participated somewhat in professional wrestling. He was in the Battle Royal at Wrestlemania too. In talking with Bruno Sammartino today he reminded me that it was he who eliminated Ernie from the Battle Royal. How about that one Pittsburgh legend eliminating another one? It is a little ironic that he died on the anniversary
The picture for this article is from WrestleReunion 2 in Valley Forge I know that this picture hasn’t been seen anywhere. This is “The Original Masked Superstar” Bill Eadie and the former Bubba Ray Dudley. I was lucky enough to be the first one to use the Dudley’s when their WWE agreement expired. It caused some frustration and issues but it was on my WrestleReunion event where the name TEAM 3D was born
This has been a piece of my mind
