The Many Kangaroos

The original Kangaroos consisted of Ray Hefferman and Al Costello, but ended when the former died. They were, however, one of the top tag team of their time, while managed by former Arizona mainstay, Wild Red Berry.

Then in the early 1970s, Al Costello revamped the routine, selecting another Arizona mainstay, Bulldog Don Kent as his partner and making him an instant Australian. This was an interesting thing in itself, as Costello was actually an Italian-American named Costa.

The pair had many wild feuds, mainly centered in the Midwest, where they faced Ben Justice & The Stomper on a continual basis.

The Kangaroos played their routine to the hilt, even tossing out paper boomerangs with the pictures of themselves and manager, George Cannon, on the front. Sometimes, fans kept them and sometimes fans tore them up in front of the hated trio.

Both Kent and Costello passed away in the early 1990s and the routine seemed doomed, but for a time, Al Costello & Denny Cass became The New Kangaroos, even using the same paper boomerang souvenirs to be tossed to fans.

The team lasted for a time, until Cass and Snow went their separate ways as singles wrestlers. Both are still active, but only on a limited basis.

In the 1970s and 1980s there was another Kangaroos tag team calling themselves The Royal Kangaroos, who were active in the west. The team consisted of bigger men with long hair and beards, like something fresh from the outback. They were Norman Charles and Jonathan Boyd.

Though they called themselves Sheepherders and later Bushwhackers, another tag team out of nearby New Zealand also went on to international fame, with an extended western stay early on. It would have been silly to call themselves the New Zealand Kangaroos as their country doe snot have them.

Arizona was also the location for appearances by one Kangaroo Bob Karson in the 1950s and 1960s, who worked for years as a popular fan favorite before turning into a rule breaker. He had a ;lengthy feud with Don Arnold in the Arizona/New Mexico area.