When I was growing up in Yonkers, N.Y., wrestling was on WOR TV-Channel 9. You could also see it on the Spanish speaking station Channel 47. It was on that station that I got to see Florida Championship Wrestling. I didn’t know much about “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes but he was clearly "the man" in The Sunshine State. One week I saw a man called Mr. Florida and I really liked his style. I had no idea who he was but one day he told Gordon Solie the FCW commentator that if the people knew who he was they would be very disappointed. It didn’t help me at all to decipher his identity. There was one given week when he was wrestling The Super Destroyer (Scott Irwin) who was managed by Sir Oliver Humperdink. It was at some point during the match that Sir Oliver Humperdink handed a lit cigar to Super Destroyer who proceeded to shove it in the eye of Mr. Florida. I never figured out who Mr.Florida was and in those days there were no internet sheets or sources to stooge off the information.
At some point in the future I heard a voice doing interviews on Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling. I knew the voice ... it was Mr. Florida live and in color but only there was no mask. It was Paul Jones who was a heel for Jim Crockett Promotions. It was the same Paul Jones that was a huge heel previously in Florida. He had run a program with Jack Brisco that made the state take notice. One night he threw the Florida Heavyweight Championship belt into the ocean. I believe it was even covered by the local news. It’s no wonder that he said if the people knew who he was they would be disappointed.
I bring up the story of Mr. Florida because it leads into the indy show that I was at promoted by Highspots.com. I never saw the original Mr. Florida Paul Jones wrestle or even wear the Mr. Florida hood. I did get to work with Paul Jones on numerous occasions and consider him a friend. I always talked to him about his time as Mr. Florida and was glad for the chance to hear the stories.
What I did see at the show held at the old Charlotte Park Center was a huge Paul Jones fan George South wearing that original hood. If you don’t know George South he was the old tag team partner of my friend Gorgeous Gary Royal. They were “The Cruel Connection” famous WTBS enhancement guys, they were The Gladiators the team that got beat to allow the Mulkey’s in to the Crockett Cup tournament. He was also the wrestler that went two segments with Ric Flair when he was the World Champion on WTBS. On this night George was going to tag up with another legendary masked man The Masked Superstar. The Superstar was always one of my personal favorites. I was actually the first one to greet him when he arrived in Allentown for TV tapings when I first got in the business. He was also a sometimes partner of the man that stuck the cigar in Mr. Florida’s eye The Super Destroyer.
On Friday night April 10th they were going to face off against the team of Reid and David Flair managed by their father “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair. It had to be a great experience for the younger Flairs to be in with two such skilled veteran’s one who has headlined all over the world. The other, a longtime journeyman, as skilled any main event star that ever put on the tights. If I was them at this stage in their career I would have been nervous but anxious at the same time.
I had driven up that night with my old tag team partner Carolina’s Own David Isley. We knew that also on the card that night would be our buddy Ricky Steamboat Jr. I had gotten a call from Ricky Steamboat earlier in the day and so did David. We were going to meet up there at the show and watch Ricky work. It was kind of like old home night seeing guys like long time NWA referee Tommy Young. Another guy that was there was Al Mandel and his wife. Al is a guy that you would always see at shows. Stuff like that made a lot of memories start to stir. I do know Al is a very strong supporter of the Cauliflower Alley Club.
In the Steamboat match a freak injury happened where he was run into the post. There was a piece of metal sticking out of the post that went right into his arm. I believe that it took about fifteen stitches to close it up. We were back at the Charlotte Park Center a whole lot of my life flashed before my eyes that night. I am sure for guys like Roddy Piper, Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat and Tommy Young the same thing happened as well.
Btw dont forget to watch Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat in his first singles match in probably fifteen years against Chris Jericho. I believe that Steamboat will be bringing all that he has. It's to bad its not Flair vs Steamboat but thats ok Jericho is a good replacement.
This is a photo of Reid and David Flair taken before their match with the Nasty Boys on Dec 5th. This was the match refereed by Hulk Hogan with Ric Flair and The Nasty Boys in the respective corners.
