Bobby Pico

Roberto "Bobby" Pico is sometimes confused with Pancho Pico (Julio Arguello) as they both wrestled extensively on the Mexican border. One can find a bio and obituary notice for the former in my The Last Bell Call at http://www.lulu.com/content/8183756 in book and e book form. He is buried in Texas next to his wife who also wrestled for a time. As for Pancho Pico with whom he has been confused,  am fairly sure this man has also died, but just cannot get his death confirmed. 

The confusion grows greater because when Bobby Pico teamed with Cisco Grimaldo and traveled into the Deep South, they were nicknamed Pancho & Cisco.

Bobby Pico was a draw in Arizona in the late 1950s, where he was very popular with the Hispanic members of the audience in particular.  He feuded with Don Arnold, as did most Latino grapplers from the 1950s into he early 1970s,. with the wins being traded between them. Though Pico was recognized for sound technical wrestling, the formula usually had him trying to fight fairly, only to be overwhelmed by the taller and more powerful Arnold, Finally, like Popeye growing fed up with the crap and reaching for his Spinach, Pico would fire back punch for punch. At this point one of three things would happen. 1. Pico would pull off a surprise win 2. Arnold would appear to be losing, but would suddenly manage some sneaky move to win 3. Arnold would simply run from the ring and be counted out, which would set up a subsequent rematch.

In many of his matches, Pico used a mere airplane spin to confuse and pin his opponents. This was, oddly enough, one of the moves Don Arnold also liked to put into play, along with his backbreaker and smashing  bearhug. There were times when each man sued said airplane spin to win a fall apiece when they went at it in 2/3 fall matches, with the final fall ending in one of the 3 situations noted in the above  paragraph.

One night while wrestling a spot show in Globe, Arnold caused a riot by flattening Pico with a roll of coins he hid in his fist and had to literally fight his way back tot he dressing room. Pico had to address the angered mob and beg for them to let him handle this in his own way, which of course meant another encounter with Arnold that would pack the building.