When the Sheik appeared with manager Abdullah Farouk, any form of mayhem could ensue. Host Lord Athol Layton would interview the principles. The shows were “teased” each Saturday by a one–hour presentation from a television studio in Hamilton - aired at 1 p.m. When he clashed with the other big names of the era - Whipper Billy Watson, Bobo Brazil, Dick (Bulldog) Brower, Tex McKenzie, Haystack Calhoun - the Gardens would fill to near–capacity. And, always refereed by an incompetent named Tiger Tasker. His bout, the fourth of a 10 or 11–fight card, would be the main event. The Sheik came over from Detroit (or, Syria, as billed) in 1969 and kept winning matches, incomprehensibly, for nearly six years. These were the days when promoter Frank Tunney would routinely attract 12,000 rabid souls to the Gardens for Sunday–night wrestling: an “exhibition of strength & science” according to newspaper ads of the time (above). 12, 1970, Wild Bull (best–remembered for his bushy, unkempt uni–brow) pummeled the Sheik again only to somehow get himself disqualified. And, damn if I wasn’t going to be on hand to witness the carnage. This would be the equivalent of a tangle between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, as Wild Bull and the Sheik were contemporaries among wrestling heels. Not five minutes later came an announcement that the main event on the following week’s card would feature Wild Bull trying to exact revenge on the Sheik. As a result of parental interference, Flying Fred was disqualified and the Sheik maintained his incomparable string of victories on Carlton St. As Flying Fred took a beating, his father - Wild Bull Curry - scampered into the ring and chased the Sheik to the dressing room. 5, 1970 (a Sunday eve) that I sat ring–side at Maple Leaf Gardens as the diabolical Sheik jabbed Flying Fred Curry with a “blood”–stained writing utensil that I recovered after it flew from battle. It pored into their eyes and down their cheeks onto their shoulders and chests. That the “blood” was actually plastic–encased pellets of red-colored liquid the wrestlers broke on their own face is irrelevant. When guys bled from being stabbed in the forehead by a pencil. Not the Hollywood choreography of today’s WWE slams and mania, but hard–core stuff. The odyssey was immortalized in the 1995 docudrama directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks.įifty years ago this week was the most–memorable wrestling odyssey of my life. Against all odds, the bright minds at Mission Control in Houston invented ways to bring the three men back to their families. 10) - Next week, beginning Wednesday afternoon, will be the 50th anniversary of the ill–fated Apollo 13 lunar voyage, during which astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert suffered an explosion of their main oxygen tank while more than 200,000 miles from Earth.
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