The Gold Coast Casino in Las Vegas, NV was the site this past week (April 19-21) of a spectacular get together of legends of the sport. From 90 year old Ted Tourtas, who proved he can still handle a mike, to Amazing Kong, Cheerleader Melissa, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, "The Million Dollar Man," Ted Dibiase, and the best wrestling announcer of all time--JR, Jim Ross(in my humble opinion)
In the line to check into the hotel, I met a pro wrestler, long retired, who told me that he had "both hips replaced, lower spine fused, and several shoulder operations--but I would do it all again." That was a sentiment that was repeated by more than one grizzled mat veteran in the next three days.
I am not even going to try a linear report, instead, I am going to offer an impressionistic report. First day, Sally and I toured the exhibit hall met a father-son team of "lucha" style mask makers, the producer of a documentary on "The Sheik"(Edward Farhat), Howard Brody, the author of "Swimming With Piranhas: Surviving The Politics Of Professional Wrestling." I also got a photo of Sally with the Alaskan Tag Team Champions, and their title belts. We also met Al "Mr. Outrageous" Burke, wrestler, actor, and stuntman.
Others in the hall included Dave Maciejewski, (davem@communicor.com), with an enormous display of wrestling memorabilia. Dawn Marie, from ECW and WWE, now the head of the Wrestlers Rescue organization, Mad Dog Vachon, Tammy "Sunny" Sytch, Mil Mascaras, Dick "Destroyer" Beyer, Ted Dibiase, and many others.
We met up with Michigan woman wrstler, Sybil Starr, who kept things lively. The workshops offerred included one on the "Psychology of the Wrstling Fan" offered over two mornings by Dr. David M. Reiss of California. It was very informative and avoided being either too simplistic or too technical.
Ted Dibiase, and Harley Race presented a session called "Getting Heat," in one hour they covered more of the basic art of pro wrestling than you would expect to find in a much longer course. That is probably why they had an SRO audience of fans, indie promoters, and indie wrestlers.
Other workshops included one on planning for "Life After Wrestling." It covered such topics as staying on good terms with the IRS, and investing for the future. It included really down-to-earth, practical advice to help the new generation of grapplers from winding up like "Randy The Ram," (Mickey Rourke's character in the film, "The Wrestler").
Saturday, April 24, 2010
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