Dave Turner

Western states are seeing an interesting heel in the form of Dave Turner, out of Everett, Washington. A muscular grappler with a shaven head  and arrogant demeanor, this wrestler has provoked the attention of fans and writers alike as he demonstrates his ability for a number of Indy groups.

Owning a wide variety of submission holds and destructive finishing moves, he has piled up quite a number of wins in several states. Most recently, in Washington, he utterly demolished his opponent Christian Cross, a newcomer who never had a match before and was smashed in his encounter with the more experienced Turner, who showed no mercy.

Turner is expected to see bookings upcoming in several different states and is, as we like to note with interesting wrestlers here, someone to keep an eye on.

The Psycho Circus

Meet the Psycho Circus, a new team of psychotic clowns, made up of Sideshow and Funny Milo, who have been making the rounds in several western states for the Indy circuits.

While the two dress as clowns, there is nothing funny about either man, as they maul their way through tag team after tag team.

Evil clowns are again, nothing new in wrestling, but these two remain two of the best of them.

"There has always been something scary about clowns," commented indy wrestler Danny Donavan. "They are funny when performing in a circus ring, but take them out of that environment and they become downright frightening. McMahon knew this when he  made Doink, before turning him baby. The cartoonist who made Kristy in The Simpsons knew this. Some years back there was a porno horror film called Clown Porn and they got the idea too. Clowns can be really frightening. Look how many horror films have offered killer clowns. Look at Insane Clown Posse. With all this in mind, the new tag team here capitalizes on everyone's fears. It's funny to watch the reaction of the crowd. Milo and Sideshow scare the shit out of little kids. I think it's funny."

Thus, The Psycho Circus marches onward, leaving destruction in their path.

George Steele in Arizona

George Steele had the usual run in Arizona while touring with the WWF.

One of the early episodes did raise eyebrows as it was in the era before the WWF started to outright deny kayfabe and turned to sports entertainment. In a tag team match, Steele was supposed to gnaw on a turnbuckle as was his tradition, but could not get the fixed one to chew up and the routine was aborted.

A livid Vince McMahons sent the four men back into the ring with the identical match and identical finish, reshooting with Steele gnawing the turnbuckle, in front of the entire crowd. if the audience wa not "smart" before, they sure were after that.  

Steele had other matches in Phoenix. Arguably one of his best was a pairing with  Savage as part of their feud that ran all over the USA.

After retirement, Steele would make varied returns to Arizona as a road agent, but would not be seen by the general public, as he operated behind the scenes.

Steele presently makes his home in Florida, where he has recently encountered a number of health problems. One wishes him well.

WWE History Link

http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/index2.html

Interesting Historic Wrestling Blog

https://classicwrestlingarticles.wordpress.com/

New Version Of Az. Wrestling History Book

An expanded version of the Dale Pierce book covering the history of Arizona wrestling, with results and biographies form over 120 years of action has been expanded in a  new version, with over 25 new pages worth of results off past cards.

Orders at http://www.lulu.com/shop/http://www.lulu.com/shop/dale-pierce/the-history-of-arizona-wrestling/paperback/product-22755582.html

In The History Of Arizona Wrestling you can find pretty much whoever you look for. Gorgeous George, Sheik, Undertaker, Fred Blassie, Time Traveler, Badd Blood, The Comancheros, Eddie Sullivan, Bobo Brazil, Tito Montez, Don Arnold, Jerry Graham, Bret Hart, Jim Londos, Dick Trout, Dick Daviscourt, Navajo Warrior, Billy Anderson, Buddy Rogers, Don Fargo...

The list goes on and on.

Jim Wright

Jim Wright was a mainstay in Arizona for many years, where he was hated as a heel with a brawling style similar to say, Dick Murdoch on the more modern scene. From the 1950s into the early 1960s, he was seen regularly in Phoenix, Tucson, Yuma and other stops along the circuit, though he was by no means limited to the southwest, As a journeyman of the most respected category, he wrestled all over the USA.

Wright became bets known for the wy he died rather than how he lived. In August of 1963, he took part in a tag team match in Phoenix at their Madison square Garden. After tagging out, he leaned against the ropes in mid-match, grabbed his chest and fell, hitting his head on the hard arena floor as well.

He evidently suffered a massive heart attack which killed him on the spot.

The head blow would have most likely proven fatal also.

Former wrestler, Monte Ladue, who was the referee for the match, would still be trying to tell reporters more than a decade later that Wright died from an elbow smash to the throat, to try to give the wrestling world more credibility and point tot he fact a man was killed right here in Phoenix in the midst of a contest.

Don Arnold, who had been involved in the fatal tag team bout, later would say Wright had not looked right in the locker room and was pale, almost gray in the face. He noted people should have been wotted something was up, but the ill-fated wrestler kept insisting he was fine when he clearly was not.

'

Another Fine Wrestling Data Link

http://www.cagematch.net/

Interesting Link

http://prowrestlinghistory.com/

Arizona In Portland.

The Phoenix office and the Portland office long had an exchange program. past decades saw Killer Brooks, Haystacks Calhoun, the Tolos Brothers, Chris Colt, Kurt Von Steiger and others migrating back and forth between the two territories with ease.

The trend continues with BCW, a modern NWA member, running weekly in Portland now.

One of the mainstays is Badd Blood, who may be remembered by Arizona fans for his action with Rage In The Cage down in Tucson in the 1990s. He has since shifted his interests from the California/Arizona area into the Northwest, where he has been going strong for some time

Curiously, infamous Arizona ,amager The Time Traveler was in the audience at the last Portland card.

As a further Arizona tie in, longtime Arizona resident and former WWF?WWE star, The Honkytonk  Man .will be heading to Portland for the group in July.

regional people and regulars with he group are quite capable grapplers, showing far greater skill than many on the contemporary independent scene. These people include Buddy Highway, Tyson lee, Lance Dean, The Moonshiners, Demarcus James, Havoc, Petrov and several more.

Crafty veteran, Kevin Sullivan, has also been seen with the group.

Bob Lueck

Bob Lueck played football for the Cleveland Browns and later for the Canadian leagues, before retiring from both wrestling which he did on the side in off season and the gridiron.

In the early 1970s, Lueck received a big push on the Phoenix circuit, especially known for his feud with The Comancheros. First, he and Tito Montez took on the notorious hippy pair in a number of matches. later, Lueck teamed with fellow football player, Ron Pritchard, to do the same.

Oddly, Lueck turned on Pritchard in the middle of a tag team bout with the two Comancheros, hit his partner with a pair of brass knuckles and walked out with the villains.

The new feud between Lueck and Pritchard was never expanded upon. Football season a starting and the intention as to have an extended war between Pritchard and Lueck the following year when they resumed wrestling but again, it did not transpire.

Lueck became a big time rancher in the Buckeye area after leaving pro sports. On occasion, he was still seen in attendance at wrestling matches, but not too often.

Arizona Wrestling Forum

http://alwf.proboards.com/

Lucha Libre In Glendale, Arizona

A lucha libre promotion is running every Sunday in Glendale.

Regulars on the cards include Lawrence Tyler, Drako Lord, Krazy Fly, Chucho, Ultimo Gran Guerrero, Mr. Galaxy, Lucha Star, Chano Cota, Shadow Fox, Mariachi Loco, Ryan Morales, Ave Dragon and Seita.

Panteon Morclova

Panteon came from Durango, Mexico or so he was billed. For a time in the 1940s he had a successful run in Arizona as a heel, usually using simple dirty moves to win his matches, such as a low blow when the ref was distracted or putting his foot on the ropes for leverage. One of his favorite tactics was to be hurled into the ropes where his opponent intended to catch him with a dropkick on the rebound. Instead, the hated villain would grab said ropes and yank himself out of the way so his rival would fly through the air, hit nothing and crash to the mat. From there, a pin was easy.

One of Panteon's main rivals was Kenny Mayne, the father of latter day wrestler, Lonnie Mayne.. Maybe ad Morclova met several times in Phoenix, Tucson and  Globe, where the two traded wins..

On occasion. this heel would also resort to the old roll of dimes in the fist routine, where he pulled said roll from his boot and flattened his opponent when the two of them fought on the arena floor. Dimes would fly everywhere, sending fans scrambling to pick the, up and pocket them. Sometimes. the ref caught him and he was disqualified. At other times, he would get by with this and score a win.

Panteon was also seen in Texas and California before retiring. He likewise did some wrestling in the Mexican interior.

Monge

Monge was a masked wrestler who appeared in Arizona in the early 1990s as some sort of mad friar, dressed in brown, with a brown mask. He was billed as coming from San Luis Rio Colorado, across the border from Yuma.

In his Arizona matches, this bizarre masked man feuded with Indio Seri, El Principal, Eddie Lopez, Fly Boy and Amadeus. The matches with Fly Boy were particularly bloody, with Monge busting the popular high flyer open time and time again.

Monhe used a crucifix hold to force his opponents into submission, when eh took the option to do something legal. usually, however, he was more practical. He cheated to win, by grabbing a handful of trunks or putting his feet on the rope.

Eventually, the masked wrestler left Arizona and headed for Mexico, where he was a regular in San Luis, Nogales, Hermosillo, Mexicali, San Felipe and other towns for several more years.

Giglz & Billy

Giglz The Clown, his spelling of the same, is a heel on Phoenix who has been active since around 2010 in this area. This is his spelling of the word.

Billy Boondox, his spelling of the word Boondocks, has been a long time partner for this heel clown. Doing a Thug Life type of routine, it would not seem like these two would be a marriage made in heaven, but they remain an interesting tag partnership, generating a lot of heat and working well together.

Clowns are nothing new. There was the most famous of them, Doink, in the WWF, but before him there was Pasquelin in Mexico. In the indies there have been a rash of others, some good, some bad and some outright ugly as far as work goes or went.  Dork, Clunk, Pennywize, Durty, Filthy, Korky. The list goes on and on. Also in the western states, one finds Sideshow now, who would perhaps be a logical choice for Giglz, but such a pairing ahs not happened. It may never transpire.  The point is, clown wrestlers are nothing new and while on the surface Giglz many be just another clown, no one can deny he always puts out an effort in his bouts.

Thus the clown and the brawler continue to make for an interesting team in the promotions that have come and gone in Arizona over the past few years.  In a throwback to major tag team heels who vibrated fantastic heat from the crowd such as The Comancheros and The Lumberjacks, these two may not seem like a logical combination on the surface, but they have become "heat magnets" who have made their routine work.

The way they spell their names may indicate they did not pay much attention to spelling courses in grade school. They might seem like a pairing that is anything but  a marriage made in heaven as their routines have nothing to do with each other. Again, however, they have made it work.

More power to them.