World Class Championship Wrestling Tribute

WCCW TRIBUTE - CLASSIC MATCH ** ICEMAN & KEVIN vs. ONE MAN GANG & KILLER BROOKS **
This week I was searching for A match to post realizing most of the guys in all the matches I was seeing are not with us anymore. So I became determined to find one in which EVERYONE is still alive. And to make the challenge that much more of a behemoth, I wanted it to be a tag team match! Well, I did it... with one exception: manager Gary Hart passed last month. But managers did not count in my challenge. The wrestlers are all still with us, so...

In this corner, presenting the dirtiest dirty white boy, KILLER TIM BROOKS, and his partner, the bad man from Halstead Street in Chicago, THE ONE MAN GANG!

And their opponents in the other corner, presenting ICEMAN KING PARSONS, and his partner, from Denton County, Texas, fan favorite KEVIN VON ERICH!

This was a great match in which you can distinctly hear Gary Hart's instruction to his team from ringside... very cool stuff! Iceman and Kevin were in top form this night, as Kevin was determined to topple "Moon" with an "Iron Claw"!

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This story appeared 05/25/08 at timesunion.com:

Here's to Old-Time Wrestling

By BRIAN ETTKIN

AMSTERDAM- If you could turn back the clock, you'd want to see Babe Ruth, not Jose Canseco. You'd watch Phil Donahue instead of Jerry Springer. You'd elect Al Gore instead of George W. Bush.

And you'd watch old-time pro wrestling instead of today's "sports entertainment."

I used to like pro wrestling.

I also used to be 13 years old. But I didn't like pro wrestling just because I was young and my idea of high comedy was to watch an allegedly German wrestler named The Baron Von Raschke methodically goose step before administering his finishing hold, the claw -- or finish a promo by blurting in his faux accent, "And dat is all da people need to know."

I liked wrestling then for several reasons: 1) It had soap operatic story lines and characters that "As the World Turns" screenwriters would kill for but weren't as racy as a "Desperate Housewives" episode; 2) Many leagues and regional outfits existed, which created competition. You knew of stars such as the Von Erich brothers in Dallas-based World Class Championship Wrestling. But unless you lived in the South you knew of them only through word-of-mouth, which created mystique; 3) Most old-time wrestlers could wrestle and expertly work a match. They weren't inexperienced muscle-laden hulks, as so many of today's stars are, which makes for dull matches.

"Wrestling was just that: wrestling," said Bud Carson, a memorabilia dealer at Saturday's pro wrestling collectors convention. "Sports entertainment has no limits to what it will do in terms of vulgarity. Old-time wrestling was like a soap opera, and it didn't exploit women and (rely heavily) on violence."

Those days are gone.

The best thing about the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame weekend: It helps us to remember.

When you see Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, "Superstar" Billy Graham, George "The Animal" Steele and Nick Bockwinkel, it reminds you what pro wrestling once was, before Vince McMahon cheapened the enterprise by heavily packaging shock with sex.

Now there are gravy-bowl matches, in which scantily clad female square off in a pool of mud, and evening gown matches, in which the object is for one woman to strip another.

Now I hear a woman at the convention lament how "sexual" the sport has become.

Now I wouldn't want my children watching something I grew up on.

"I don't like what it's turned into," said Mark Eckard, who sells replica championship belts.

This is not a sentiment unique to pro wrestling, of course.

If you grew up on Elvis, you might not see the art in Eminem. This might explain why a fan who stopped watching wrestling nearly 45 years ago would drive here from Rochester, as 63-year-old Ken Habicht did.

"I don't feel sheepish," Habicht said, gesturing toward the room in which the stars of yesteryear signed autographs for fans, "not with these guys here."

It might explain why a fan would buy a 3-DVD set with more than 36 hours of long-defunct Georgia Championship Wrestling, from 1982-83.

One of this year's Hall inductees, 79-year-old Gene Kiniski, said, "My era of wrestling was to ballet what this era of wrestling was to rock 'n' roll."

Perhaps so.

Today's "sports entertainment" is sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll.

But no beauty.
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This story appeared 4/10/08 at PhillyBlurbs.com:

Whatever Happened to "Wild" Bill Irwin?

By ERIC GARGIULO

Pro wrestling was a lot different up until about twenty-years ago. Pro wrestling was separated into territories rather than one or two national organizations. Even the WWE, then the WWWF was based as a northeast territory rather than a national organization. A journeyman wrestler could make a great living going from territory to territory throughout their career. One of the most successful journeyman wrestlers who likely came through your town was “Wild” Bill Irwin.

I remember watching Bill Irwin as a kid in several territories. It wasn’t uncommon to turn on one or three shows and see Bill Irwin. Irwin made his bones as a team with his brother Scott throughout the 1970s and early 80s. The Long Riders were a part of several of the hottest territories in wrestling history. The Irwins dominated and headlined shows in Georgia Championship Wrestling, Memphis Championship Wrestling, World Class Championship Wrestling, Florida Championship Wrestling, Bob Geigel’s Kansas City territory, and the American Wrestling Association among others.

The Long Riders run of success came to an end just after the brothers achieved their biggest success. A little over a year after wrestling in one of the main-events on the AWA’s WrestleRock show, Scott Irwin died of a brain tumor. For the first time since his rookie years, Bill Irwin had to continue wrestling without his brother.

Wrestling without his brother was the least of Bill Irwin’s problems. After years of living the life of a rock star touring territories all over the world, the territories came to an end. Pro wrestling was now dominated by Ted Turner and Vince McMahon and the territories were barely hanging on. Some territories in Memphis, Florida, and Texas hung on, but the money was gone. Bill Irwin had to adapt and would ironically find his biggest success at the end of his career.

Bill Irwin went in and out of World Championship Wrestling. Irwin never got the push as a top-level guy that he was accustomed to. Bill was now the guy in the middle of the cards that would give the stars a good match, but would lose in the end. Bill was now the “fall guy” as they call it in pro wrestling. Bill tried to hang on to the leftover territories in Texas but nothing panned out. Bill finally tapped out and went into an early retirement in the mid-1990s. Bill had no idea that his most memorable run was only a phone call away.

Bill wound up in contact with the WWE in 1996. After all of these years the WWE were interested in bringing in Bill Irwin. The WWE weren’t bringing in “Wild” Bill or the “Super Destroyer.” The WWE wanted the veteran abilities of Bill Irwin without the recognition of the ex-Long Rider. The Goon was born!

This time period of the WWE was very character driven and at times downright corny. Bill thought long and hard about a gimmick and went back to his childhood. As a longtime hockey player and fan, Bill created the Goon. The Goon was a fun character based on a hockey player that was too violent for the NHL. Welcome the Goon to the WWE.

Irwin’s run as the Goon was a mixed bag. The Goon got over with the audience and had great matches. This was an interesting transition period for the WWE which went younger and athletic. The WWE weren’t quite sure how to promote the Goon and Irwin would ride off back into the sunset.

Surprisingly, the Goon has turned into one of those WWE cult characters. The Goon has made several appearances since going into retirement. The Goon has wrestled at WrestleMania and most recently, the RAW 15th Anniversary special. Talk about a true compliment for Bill Irwin. For someone like Bill Irwin to walk back onto television after being away for years to a huge applause from the fans is the greatest compliment in the world.

I sat with Bill Irwin for an interview for home video release a few weeks ago. The one thing that caught me by surprise was how cool Bill Irwin was. On television Irwin was a screamer, a yeller, and a brutal wrestler. Bill couldn’t have been anything further away from his character. Bill was charming, fun, funny, and loves talking about the business. Bill works in construction today and doesn’t follow the business too closely.

Bill still loves the opportunity to get in the ring and have fun as the Goon. Bill’s stories would make a great book. I would drop a name and Irwin would have a story. Whether it was a story about driving Ric Flair as a rookie, traveling with Bruiser Brody, or carrying a hung over David Von Erich, Bill is full of stories. Bill is toying with the idea of putting a book of road stories together. If the book is anything like the man, it will be one of the most fun and interesting wrestling books to ever hit the market.

Chances are you will see Bill Irwin again on WWE television. He isn’t looking to get back on the road, but he loves those one-night deals. Bill is fine being remembered as the Goon as long as people remember him at all. Bill Irwin is one of the last true road warriors of professional wrestling. People always talk about what wrestling is missing today. Wrestling is missing crazy characters like Bill Irwin who could talk, wrestle, and give you a match to remember.

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This story appeared 3/16/08 at SLAM! Wrestling! :

WCCW Legend Gary Hart Dies

By GREG OLIVER -Producer, SLAM! Wrestling

In front of the camera, Gary Hart, who died Sunday, was one of the most vile and hated managers of all time; behind the scenes, he had one of the greatest minds in professional wrestling.

"He was a slinky bad guy, ruthless," said World Class Championship Wrestling announcer Bill Mercer. "I think he was the best of all the managers. With all respect to the others, God, he could slink around and look like he was always involved in doing something dirty behind the scenes- which he did."

Born Gary Williams, Hart broke into the business in Chicago, his hometown, in 1960.

"I'm a guy from Chicago, I did grow up in a rough area and I learned early if somebody's got a brick you get a board, if they got a board you get a knife, and if somebody gets you today, you get them tomorrow. That's always been my mentality," he told The Missing Link biographer Meredith Renwick. "I'm a kid from Chicago who worked very hard to make it in wrestling."

His uncle, Billy Gales, was the booking agent for promoter Fred Kohler in the Chicago area. One night, Angelo Poffo was looking for someone to be a second to him, as Bronko Lubich had gone to the Carolinas. "I started as his second. As time went by, he liked me, I became his tag team partner, then I became his manager."

Hart had made an appearance on Saturday in Allentown, Penn., for a signing, a story covered by our own Steven Johnson [World Class not a distant memory].

At the signing, Hart took credit for the legendary Von Erichs versus Freebirds feud from World Class. "Contrary to what Michael Hayes said, that was all 'Playboy' Gary Hart. I brought him in, I manipulated him, I positioned him," said Hart, who ran the office with referee Bronco Lubich, a 10 percent owner, since Fritz Von Erich spent most of his time tending to other interests. "They [The Freebirds] were great at what they did, but that was me. I would have never told you that 10 years ago," Hart said. "What popped Dallas and Texas itself was Kevin, David, and Kerry. They were the guys that packed arenas."

Other Hart creations? How about naming Virgil Runnels Dusty Rhodes, and later baptizing him The American Dream.

He had numerous stints as a booker, primarily in Texas, but also in Florida and Australia. It was a job he took seriously. "I was the booking agent and I was the producer of the TV and I had a responsibility to World Class, and I had a responsibility to the other wrestlers in the area to make this thing work," he recalled about returning to World Class around 1987.

Hart was a house-father the last few years, raising his son Chad, who had begun his own career in pro wrestling, in Euless, TX.

He died Sunday afternoon, March 16th, 2008 of an apparent heart attack.
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From the WSU MySpace Page :

Lacey Von Erich wins debut match w/Missy Hyatt defeating Angel Orsini!

"...The First Lady of Wrestling" also known as "The Walking Riot" Missy Hyatt came out for another edition of Missy's Manor. Missy introduced third generation star, Lacey Von Erich. After reminiscing about WCCW and talking about the Von Erich name, Lacey made it known that even though she was Missy's guest, it would be an honor for her to have the First Lady of Wrestling in her corner for her first match ever in WSU! Missy graciously accepted the offer, and an open challenge was made for the second show of the evening, pitting Lacey Von Erich w/Missy Hyatt against anyone daring to step up!

...Lacey, who wrestled the match barefoot in skimpy gear, might've bit off more than she could chew when the formidable Angel Orsini answered her challenge. Despite Angel carrying most of the match, Lacey, who had an assist from Missy Hyatt, was able to win the match after a Von Erich Iron Claw! This led to the victory for Lacey. This was a feel-good moment for the WSU crowd and for the Von Erich family. However, Angel made it known afterwards to WSU Wrestling.com that this was a fluke win, and vowed revenge on "any bitch stupid enough to get in my way."

Yeah. Right.

The World Class Championship Wrestling MySpace Tribute would like to congratulate Lacey on her first professional win (of many we are certain!). This is very exciting! The last time we were honored to see a Von Erich in action was a couple of years ago in Texas when Rowdy Roddy Piper did a "Piper's Pit" at a small promotion out there, and Kevin and Ross Von Erich were his guests. As was normally the case in the "Pit," Piper picked a fight by pushing Ross. In the end, Piper ended up with a Kevin Von Erich claw locked securing into his temples. WoW. Thanks, Lacey. This made it feel right again.

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From Press Release.com :

A Von Erich is Coming to the NWA…
The world knows them as the Von Erichs - and to many they are the first family of Professional Wrestling - or should have been.

San Francisco, CA, March 05, 2008 --(PR.com)-- With that being said, a Von Erich returns to the NWA for Pro Wrestling Revolution, Pro Wrestling Revolution is pleased and honored to announce that… Lacey Von Erich will be making her Pro Wrestling Revolution debut on Saturday June 7th, 2008 in San Francisco, California. Pro Wrestling Revolution is very excited that she is “Joining the Revolution” and to have a member of one of the if not the most, prestigious wrestling families in our sport... (more at PR.com)

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