I'm sort of an old school guy and I grew up religiously watching Houston Wrestling on Saturday nights on Channel 39. I know you guys who watched it also saw a young Mattress Mac establish his cash cow catch phrase and evolve into the furniture mogul he is today. We also knew we could call Mr. Norman if we needed a new roof. We also knew our Spanish speaking neighbors in Houston could "yam yam" Mr. Norman if they needed a new roof. Great times and classic memories! I can remember the great matches involving Steve “Dr. Death” Williams, Magnum T.A., Junkyard Dog, Hacksaw Butch Reed, Nikolai Volkoff, Hacksaw Duggan, Nick Bockwinkel, The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express, and The Midnight Express. We saw the development of the tennis racket as a wrestling match weapon. We marveled at how Kamala's trainer kept him at bay. We wondered what mysterious defensive technique the Missing Link would display next. Today's wrestling has nothing on old school wrestling (except the T&A ). I stumbled across a link that gives some of the history behind Houston Wrestling, Paul Boesch, and the rest. Pretty interesting read if you were into watching Channel 39 every Saturday night from 10AM to midnight. Houston Wrestling History
I remember it being on Sunday mornings. The opening theme was the rock n roll version of Dance of the Sugar Plum Ferries. Tony Atlas was The Man. My Dad used to tell me that we could go see it but during the commercial breaks, the wrestlers would come and beat up people in the crowd. I was scared to go see it in person. I think that was his way of saying he didn't want to take me.
I believe it was actually called 'Mid-South Wrestling' - not sure why everyone's been calling it Houston Wrestling. Brickhouse Brown Master G Buddy Landell Terry Taylor The Fantastics (met them at an appearance at a mall once) They need to put this stuff out on DVD. World Class Wrestling was okay too - the Von Erichs, 'Gentleman' Chris Adams, the Freebirds & Michael P.S. Hayes, etc. WWF was even good back then.
MWAH! I HAVE A GREAT HOUSTON WRESTLING STORY! When I was 7 (that was 1968 fellas), my Dad took me and a couple of friends to Houston Wrestling at the Sam Houston Coliseum for my birthday. I was a big Wahoo McDaniel, Tiger Johnson, and Ernie Ladd fan. In the middle of one of the matches, I told my Dad I had to go the the bathroom. He walked me over to the aisle, pointed me towards the restroom, and off I went. After I took care of business, I tried to get back to our seats, but I got lost. I got so lost, that I had to walk up to ringside and present myself to the arena announcer, so he could make one of those WILL THE FATHER OF (INSERT NAME HERE) PLEASE PICK UP YOUR CHILD AT RINGSIDE announcements. They made the announcement, and my Dad trudged up to ringside and picked me up. To this day, 36 freaking years later, my Dad insists that I got lost on purpose just so I could hear my name on television (which I did) when they replayed Houston Wrestling that Saturday night and Sunday morning. "My son, the attention-w****....no wonder he's a musician". True story.
It was called Houston Wrestling on TV here, it was apart of Mid-South Wrestling. But Paul Boesch knew calling it Mid-South Wrestling wasn't going to get people to go or watch on TV. I used to go to the old Coliseum every now and then to watch. Really fun time everytime. Me and my friends mock the Spanish version of those Mr. Norman commercials to this day.
Huge fan of the mid 80s wrestling. Freak is right. It was Mid-South wrestling, and it morphed into UWF shortly thereafter. Remember when the Television Title was actually a medal and Dick Murdoch threw it into the river?? Ted Dibiase and Dr. Death were the best tag team of all time IMO. Diabiase's loaded glove was the best finisher. The Fantastics and The Sheephearders (later known as the Bushwackers in the WWF) had some blood baths in the Sam Houston Coliseum. I remember when Hacksaw Jim Duggan was beaten by Terry Gordy for the first ever UWF Champsionship. there was a bad accident where Duggan's head hit the ring post and it opened up a large gash. I remember him laying there in the ring bleeding everywhere.
I also remember when that guy in the Jason mask, "Humongous" beat the crap out of Dick Murdock... he didn't seem to last very long.
In the late 70's, we had season tickets. We would go every Saturday Night, watch it on TV every Sunday morning. I had outgrown it by the time it was Mid-South. It was Houston Championship Wrestling before it was Mid-South.
Sunday mornings was the re-run. Saturday night was the first airing - around 10-11 pm right after all the country music shows like Porter Wagner. As for Tony Atlas, it's weird, but I still to this day remember the episode where he was introduced to Houston wrestling fans and how he was introduced. Kudos to anyone else that remembers.
Speaking of Dr. Death, I read this week that he's undergoing treatment for cancer. Lymph-nodes, I believe. That dude sure could maul people with a cast.
Dr. Death was one of my favs. I believe he actually played a season or two with the Houston Gamblers of the USFL before becoming a full time wrestler.
I hated Dr. Death, I was a Hacksaw Jim Duggan fan. What about Jake the Snake Roberts and the DDT. How many of you tried that move on your friends? I actually saw Jake the Snake wrestling on some pay per view special about four years ago called the Legends of Wrestling or something. I felt sorry for those guys because you could tell they were only out there for the money. Some of them looked really
hahaha! I love it!! Some favorite Houston Wrestling wrestlers... Jose Lothario Tiger Conway Jr. Hacksaw Jim Duggan Andre The Giant Kamala The Ugandan Giant anyone remeber Kabuki? The mystical samurai guy who would blow that dust into people's faces? Houston Wrestling was awesome...I remember growing up, always wanting to go to the Sam Houston Coliseum. Several years ago when they tore the Coliseum down a friend who did some preliminary work there said that the sign from the backdrop where Paul Bosch would commentate and do commercials from was still there!!!
"Legends of Wrestling" attained a special sort of infamy after it was featured on the website "Wrestlecrap.com." Mainly, it was put together terribly with guys who were all way past their primes with nothing to gain from the show but a paycheck. Jake stole the show by showing up AB-SO-LUTE-LY plastered out of his mind. We're talking falling-down drunk. He delivered a hilariously sad (or sadly hilarious) promo wherein he slurred his words and tried in vain to get the crowd to chant "DDT." After the abortion of his match, which was originally scheduled to be Jake vs. Jim Neidhart but was changed to tag match with Yokozuna and King Kong Bundy because Jake was so gone, Jake placed Damien between his legs and pantomimed masturbation as the show went off the air. Crack cocaine is not good for you, kids.
I remember watching a match where Tony Atlas beat some guy up so bad that he started barfing in the ring. To this day, I wonder if the barf was real or staged.
Hacksaw Duggan and Jake the Snake were my favorites. I remeber when WWF came around, I didn't like it, I called it "Hollywood" wrestling. Alot of memories off that show, Kamala and Skandar Ackbar (sp?), Freebirds, and my favorite part was the opening music for the show.
