I have had many memorable moments along the way in my career. Of course my first match is something I will never forget. It wasn’t memorable in the greatest of ways but it was the starting point for everything else that has happened in the squared circle. The match had two guys in it that couldn’t speak English, they blew up quickly, only getting in eight minutes of the anticipated twenty minutes. There was the time at WWF TV in Hamburg, PA that The Masked Superstar let me see him without his mask. In those days the masked wrestlers that were on top went out of their way to protect their gimmick. It was a monumental moment for me at the time. I thought wow I am one of the boys now. There was my first really big house show in the New Haven Memorial Coliseum. It sure makes you feel old when buildings that you worked in have been demolished never to be seen again. That was a big night for me before that my largest crowd was two hundred people. This was the night I realized that people didn’t count it was dollars and the dollars were about $50,000.
I ended up in the ring strictly by accident I was there only to hangout with Afa and Sika "The Wild Samoans". It was Afa who had spoken with promoter Gary Juster who promised I could referee on the show the following month. Well, as the night progressed I realized that long time referee Dick Kroll was the referee at the arena. This was a big card and nine matches is a lot for anyone especially if there are ref bumps that need to take place. The Tonga Kid (Sam Fatu) nephew of Afa and Sika and former tag team partner of Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka was on the card that night. Also hanging out that night was Solafa Fatu Jr he is the brother of The Tonga Kid and was still just in training. I heard Gary Juster saying that they were short two guys for the Battle Royal. I went to Afa since I was sure that Junior was ready. It was decided that they would give it a try and at the time The Tonga Kid #2 was born. I got the chance to referee my first match with top guys it’s was The Wild Samoans vs. Mark and Jay Youngblood. I was supposed to call for a double DQ and I was so green that when Sika hit me I didn’t go down until I realized that the punch was actually supposed to hurt. In the end it all worked out ok.
There was the two nights that I got to actually wrestle in my hometown of Yonkers, NY. I had refereed there some other times but on these nights I actually got to wrestle. The first time I got to team up with Samu, Rosey and L.A.Smooth these guys are the sons of Afa and Sika, Samu and L.A.Smooth are the sons of Afa and Rosey is the son of Sika. It was a good night for me; they left me in the ring for a long time. I’m sure they were pulling a half a rib on me but at the same time I think I was doing ok or they would have tagged me out. The other time was against “Gorgeous” Gary Royal managed by Jimmy “The Geek” in my corner I had WWE Diva Terri Runnels.
Another time before I had started working in the business I got to promote a B town for WWE. I had a main event of Rocky Johnson, Tony Atlas and S.D. Jones vs. Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorff, and Dr. D David Schultz. It was one of those nights that Steve Lombardi got to fill in for someone who didn’t show up. In this case it was Israel Matia who got a flat tire. In those days Lombardi showed up everywhere just hoping a spot would open up. We sold out and turned a lot of people away it was a mad house.
I have been very lucky in the business for many many years. It’s hard to believe but this entire story really covers only about four days of being in the business. There are so many more to tell and sooner or later I will.
The picture for this article is of former referee Danny Davis before he joined the Hart Foundation. It was taken one night at the Westchester County Center.He was actually a very good wrestler and on this night when I took this picture I didn’t even know who he was.
This has been a piece of my mind
