Friday, March 18, 2011

Don Fargo in Arizona

Though he spent a good deal of time in Texas and California, Don Fargo only made a handful of appearances in Arizona over the years, which is somewhat surprising.

He was in Arizona for the first time as part of The Dalton Gang, doing an evil gunfighter routine in the 1960s.

The second set of bookings I can find from him seems to date back to 1970, when he came in for a brief stint as part of the "New Chain Gang" in the Phoenix/Tucson area. This would have been after the shooting of his former partner back east, Frank Dillinger. The angle saw him teaming with Paul Dupree/Chris Colt while Colt's established partner, Ron Dupree sat out as a single. (Ronnie was, however, not afraid fo being a third man at ringside and naturally interfering in the matches).

The Fargo/Colt connection saw them feuding with Armon Hussein and Tito Montez until the point where the two fan favorites sent Fargo packing. 

In 1976 or so, Larry Hennig made a brief attempt at running wrestling in Arizona, where he had moved to attempt a real estate business. Neither his wrestling venture nor his real estate sales went well and he was back in Minnesota in no time.

In his return match, some fans still remembered him from way abck when at the Phoenix Madison Square  Garden and booed vociferously. Fargo faced Ricky Romero in what ended up a wild brawl that spilled outside the ring. The two were counted out, with  Fargo having his head rammed into the timekeeper's table and being bloodied.

A few months later, Fargo faced Cornelio "Tony" Hernandez in an opening bout in Tempe and beat him fairly easily.

One of the high point came in the middle of the match, when Fargo became angered by an old woman at ringside.

"Right in your lap," he shouted back. "Right in your lap."

He then hurled Hernandez through the ropes 

This was Fargo's final match in Arizona as far as I can recall, though he continued to wrestle for several years and even promote briefly in Tennessee.

He is still alive at around 80 years old, as of this writing. .

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