I heard from Mick Karch early Wednesday morning informing me that Playboy Buddy Rose had passed away. I have known Mick about fifteen years he was our ring announcer on our Australia tour in the nineties. He has been involved in the wrestling business for a many years. He lives in Minneapolis and knew Buddy Rose a long time. I immediately started to recall memories of Buddy from his first WWF run. I would say that Buddy was somewhat eccentric but also a great talent. He had a lot of heat with the fans a classic heel. He was fun to interact with when I first started coming around the business.
It was in later years that I had the chance to work with him in the ring. The AWA Tag Team Champions were “Playboy” Buddy Rose and “Pretty Boy” Doug Somers. They were a great team that in many ways reminded me of the Valiant Bros. On many occasions they found themselves staring across the ring at The Midnight Rockers. The Rockers were a young exciting team that consisted of Shawn Michaels and Marty Janetty. As talented as Shawn was back in the day, no one had the idea that he would turn into the legend he has become today. The matches were masterpieces these four guys just clicked. The same way that Flair and Steamboat clicked is the way that I would describe it.
The thing that rounded out this foursome was the presence of Sherri Martel as their manager. I owe my time in the AWA to Sherri. It was Sherri who got the AWA to use me as a referee on their shows. She was perfect for Buddy and Doug. The five of them tore down every house that they ever worked in together. It took five to make it work but make no mistake Buddy was the ring general.
When I was putting WrestleReunion together I wanted to use Buddy and his long time friend Col. DeBeers. In the early days of Buddy’s career he had a major program with Roddy Piper in Portland, Or. working for legendary promoter Don Owens. It was that program that helped turn both men into major stars. I flew out to Portland where Buddy and Ed “Col.DeBeers” Wiskowski still lived to talk both of them back into the ring. I consider myself lucky to have Buddy back in the ring one more time. It was the first WrestleReunion match in Tampa. It was a six man tag match that had “Cowboy” Bob Orton Jr, “Playboy” Buddy Rose and Col. Debeers vs “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Handsome” Jimmy Valiant. As far as I know this was the last match that Buddy Rose competed in. He gave it all that he had in the match even at a slim trim “217lbs” which was really about four hundred pounds. He still gave one hundred percent. I am not sure that I ever saw Buddy do anything less.
We weren’t close at all. We were really just acquantainces. But I respected his abilities. I dealt with the drama that could many times be Buddy Rose for one reason. He was an exceptional talent in this business and of tremendous value on any card. The one thing I will really hold with me was being in a restaurant in Vancover, WA. with Buddy and Col. DeBeers. I watched the people walk in and when they noticed Buddy, and they all noticed him, they ALL said man that’s Buddy Rose from Portland Wrestling. I am not sure how many years it had been since Buddy was a force in Portland Wrestling or even made appearences on it but he must have made quite the impact to still be known like that.
In the early eighties I met someone in NY that was from Portland. I brought up wrestling to him to which he replied "you don’t even talk about Wrestling in Portland without mentioning the name Buddy Rose". In two thousand and four, in a restaurant in Vancouver, WA., that statement was confirmed for me. It’s too bad he wasn’t inducted into the Hall of Fame before he passed away. He probably was one of the most underrated performers in the business but he won’t be forgotten. I could go on writing about Buddy Rose for a long time but I will close with this. If you have a chance catch a Buddy Rose match on video or tv somewhere you won’t regret it.
While speaking about underrated wrestlers, another name that comes to my mind Is Frank Hill/Chief Jules Strongbow. I hadn’t seen or talked to Jules since nineteen ninety two I believe that it was. I was able to track down his daughter through Facebook who gave me his number. It is a shame that Jules didn’t get as much national exposure as he should have. I had the chance to speak with Jules this week and catch up. I will be writing more about him and our conversation next week.
This photo was taken at the Hamburg Field House in Hamburg, PA when I first met Buddy Rose. That door behind him is the famous door that Roddy Piper ran through and slammed in Jimmy Snuka's face after the coconut incident in that very same building.
This has been a piece of my mind
