The Garden Will Not Die Book & E Book

One good thing about doing books on demand with Lulu is with their computerized printing you can make updates or corrections right off the bat and subsequent versions of the books are ready to be marketed both in e book and traditional book forms. The bad part is you do all the editing, proofreading and marketing yourself. It is a great way to get books out though and even try to fear for foreign or domestic reprint sales. If nothing else, books are available via Lulu almost instantly. The writer does not have to shop a manuscript around or kiss some editor's ass to get it out there.

That is what I love about Lulu. If I wanted to do a book on the old Phoenix Madison Square Garden I could. In fact I did.and have it out right now with no delays. It may be ordered at http://www.lulu.com/content/4928869 in e book and traditional book versions.

So many wrestlers came through the Phoenix area from 1929 when the Garden opened, up to 1979 when it was closed down to wrestling. there's no way a bio of everyone could be offered. There are, however, many available within, ranging from main eventers to obscure regional personalities.

The Comancheros, Jim Londos, Don Kent, Cowboy Bob Ellis, Jody Arnold, Tito Montez, Luis Martinez, Chuck Karbo, Eddie Sullivan, John Ringer, The Lumberjacks, Pancho Pico, Lou Thesz, Buddy Rogers, Argentina Rocca, Ripper Collins, Ray Gordon, Duke Keomuka, Jim Wright, Flama Roja, Phil Melby, Jerry Graham, Maniac Mike Gordon, Johnny Kostas, Bobby Mayne (Jaggers), Dory Funk Sr., Eddie Graham, Don Curtis, Mildred Burke, Marie Vagnone, Johnny Mann, Gorgeous George, the Torres brothers, Kurt Von Steiger, Masked Frankenstein, Mr. Wrestling, Monty Ladue, Tokyo Joe, Jumbo, Bearcat Wright, Din Arnold, Mike Mazurki, John Tolos, Sweet Daddy Watts...

You will find them in this book.

 And then some....

Randy Savage

Much has already been said about Randy "Macho Man" Savage and his recent death down in Florida, due to having a heart attack behind the wheel of his car while driving, which subsequently crashed. So many biographies abound, there is no point in me rehashing the material and doing another one.

Savage was a  regular in Arizona when the WWF and WCW had him under contract. With Arizona being the point of these blogs, it might be best to say something about him in this state alone. 

I was there when Savage made his WWF/Arizona debut at the Phoenix Fairground Colosseum. I forget the exact date, but as par for the course, the WWF had to do a reshuffling from the announced lineup and Macho Man was left without an opponent, A local guy, Billy Anderson, filled in for whoever was supposed to be on the card and Savage beat him down in rapid order. His celebrated elbow off the top rope was used to end things in this encounter, as it would be time and time again in years to come.

This initial presentation as a ring villain would mark the start of a long Savage run in the Phoenix/Tucson area, both as a fan favorite and as a vile rulebreaker, depending on the situation at hand.

Much more could be said about the life and career of Randy Savage. In fact, it has already been done over and over again on the net, in newspapers and in the newsletters. There will certainly be more to follow.

A few weeks ago, I rejoiced in the killing of Bin Ladin.  I am not ashamed top say that at all. A world without Bin Ladin in it is a better world. That is how I feel and the bulk of humanity believes, I think, the same way.

In the other hand, a world without Randy Savage in it would not seem to be a better world. It seems like a strange one, to be certain, with him no longer in it. The news of his death was not something expected or welcomed.

An era has ended and the wrestling world is less better off because of it.

The man is dead, but the legend of Randy Savage will live on.

Victoria Vulcan

Victoria Vulcan was not her real name, but derived form Star Trek She could have done well as a pro had she chosen to do so, but only did a handful of matches for smaller Indy groups in the west. She, however, took a different road.

:I can make $20 working for some pro wrestling promotion or make $200 doing some customized match or apartment house match," she once explained.

Thus, cat fighting won out over pro wrestling.

In fact, if one looks through old Am-Fem directories from the 1980s, one will find her old ads for custom tapes, from her post office box in Peoria, west of Phoenix. Some of these most surely are still circulating or in private libraries in the USA, while tapes of her pro matches in a rig seem hard to find, if not impossible. 

Vulcan remains an enigmatic figure within the pro ranks and is probably remembered only by a handful of people though in the cat fight/mixed match/apartment wrestling cycles she would be more prominent.

Vulcan died in 2009 from some form of cancer, though she would have only been in her 40s.

The wrestling world, sheet writers and magazines made absolutely no mention of her passing.

Sergio Seravia

Sergio Seravia was also seen on the undercard and on television in Amarillo in the early 1970s, using the name of Tony Romano, though he was no relation to the Tony Romano of some time earlier who died from a heart attack after a wrestling match.

As Sergio, he came into Arizona in the era where Kurt Von Steiger was promoting and expected a better    push than he received in Texas. Ge did not really get it, as again he was designated to television and the lower card at house shows.

"I am not impressed by him," remarked Bobby Mayne (Jaggers) as he did guest commentary and watched  Sergio make his debut, "First of all, I can't even pronounce his name!"

Seravia ended up facing Mayne in a number of bouts and lost all of them for as far as I ever remember. He also met Mayne's partner, Jay Dillon and didn't do much better.

Occasionally, he defeated some fellow mid-card wrestler such as Spike Jones, The Hornets, Ali Bey  or Paul Harvey. When faced with the upper riser, however, he didn't do so well. Ge was also pinned by Chris Colt, Ron Dupree and Jimmy Valentine.  

Sergio eventually headed out of Arizona and emerged back in Texas for a short time. After that, like with so many others, I have no idea what became of him.