As Charro

During the 1970s, As Charro was a popular drawing card in his native Mexico. Wearing masks with aces on them (the name translates loosely as Cowboy Ace) to emphasize his point, he was eagerly received by the public and considered a colorful grappler.

As Charro, like many of his countrymen, was used so often and kept so much in the limelight at home he did not consider making long trips to the USA.

When they attempted to bring lucha libre wrestling to Arizona during their short-lived 1979 run, the Coruna family booked him for some shows. The problem was most of the Phoenix audience had no idea who hew as or cared as they would have had he been booked in say Nogales, Tijuana or Guadalajara.  Through he gave great matches, the expenses to fly him in from Mexico City did not match what he pulled at the gate in Arizona.

Super Argo was intents on bringing As Charro back to Phoenix in the early 1980s when he attemtped to do lucha shows as well, but for whatever reason no financial agreement was reached.

As Charro never returned to Arizona after the 1970s.

Super Serial Killer

Ron Sutherland out of Tucson introduced some bizarre contributions to wrestling in the 1990s, such as his Rage In The Cage shows that consisted of nothing but hardcore brawls within a cage (the cage door was never  locked, continually allowing wrestlers to spill out into the aisle and brawl). He also trained a host of wrestlers for his cards.

One of them was his own monster heel, The Super Serial Killer.

As an obvious spoof of the horror movies of the past few decades such as Jason, Freddy and Michael Meyers, this wrestler acted like a total loco in the ring and of course embodied that hardcore brawling style Sutherland developed a taste for.

The Super Serial Killer had some big victories over the undercard people, then went into a feud with his mentor. In a hardcore match with loads of weapons in the ring, Sutherland prevailed, sending this psycho back down in the ranks to destroy the undercard crew again.

He even gained some magazine coverage and several sheet write ups. 

According to gossip, he retired due to injuries sustained during his short career. Too many wild brawls and too much "extreme" wrestling in too fast a time period.

Don Kent

Don Kent was a villain of international reputation, having wrestled throughout the USA, Australia, Japan and other places. He was mouthy and obnoxious in his interviews. He was vile and underhanded in the ring. He was everything a bad guy could be and then some.

Midwestern states served for his greatest run, where throughout the 1970s he was a major draw. He and Al Costello held the World Tag team title as The Fabulous Kangaroos, while on his won he had bloody feuds with Jay Strongbow, Domenic Denucci and Captain Ed George. 

Glimpses of him may be seen in the documentary, I Like To Hurt People.

Arizona also served as one of Kent's literal stomping grounds in the 1960s, where he usually came to escape the rough Michigan winters.

As was usually the case, Kent feuded with Tito Montez. Everyone feuded with Tito when they came in. Tito was the man to beat. The Montez vs. Kent feud, however, was especially brutal.

"For nine weeks in a row we feuded throughout Arizona and filled the arenas," Montez would later remark. "He always was able to slip by me and  until I finally beat him in a cage match. Up to that, the houses were full every week, but when I beat him the people finally got to go home happy and the next week the house was way down."

Kent also feuded with Luis Martinez, Pancho Pico, Frankie Cain, Cowboy Bob Ellis and Phil Melby.

Though predominately in singles matches, Kent likewise teamed with varied wrestlers. Among the best in the area were Pat Patterson, Jim Osborne, Blas Corona and Gypsy Biviano.

Kent's longstanding feud with Frankie Canon (The Great Maphisto in other places later on) was likewise a major draw. As with Montez, they met in cage matches, stretcher matches and chain matches before packed buildings.

Long after Kent left Arizona for the final time, his name was still talked about. A newcomer using the name of Jimmy Kent and claiming to be a "brother" to Don Kent though apparently no relation, used this last name to launch a feud with Montez himself in the 1970s.

"I beat your brother in a cage match here," Tito shouted into the television cameras as the Jimmy Kent feud was wrapping up.

He continued onward in full fury.

"I ran Don Kent out of Arizona. When I get you n the cage this Friday I plan to do the same to you."

Which he did.

Jimmy Kent headed for Memphis and wrestled for several years, before becoming a manager.

Whether the two "brothers" ever met up is anyone's guess.

Other people Don Kent faced during his varied trips into Arizona included Wally Steele, Eddie Lopez, Dick Cheney (NOT the former Vice President), Juan Garcia, Tony Marino, Ken Lucas and Kiko Torres.

Don Kent died from leukemia in 1991 and was laid to rest in Battlecreek, Michigan under his real name of Leo Smith. An obituary and cemetery info may be found in The Last Bell Call  book and e book dealt with in a past blog.

There is also a Face Book group devoted to him. 

Vern Gagne

Vern Gagne first appeared in Arizona in 1971 when he was brought in to defend his World Jr.Heavyweight title against a variety of opponents including Monte Ladue, who was being pushed heavily in the Phoenix/Tucson area.

Ladue and the other challengers did not win.

In the years to come, Gagne would break with the NWA and start his own AWA promotion centered in Minnesota, but entertaining fans in a number of states.

In the 1970s, Gagne tried to bring the AWA to Tucson using himself, Crusher, Larry Hennig, Lord Alfred Hayes, Herb Gallant, Reggie Parks and others, but did not last ling. The overhead was too great for him

Not being one to learn his lesson, he was back in Arizona in the early 1980s and again bent on crushing the Independents with his big it time show. While he had far bigger names on his cards and a televised program , he again overshot his budget and lasted only a few months.

Gagne himself would be crushed later on by the WWF who invaded his territory and took most of his talent, including Hulk Hogan.

During his final AWA run in Arizona, Vern did not wrestle himself but operated only as a promoter. David Shultz, Steve O.The Blackjacks, Bobby Heenan, Jerry Blackwell, Ken Patera, Baron Von Raschke, Steve Regal, Bobby Heenan, Chris Markoff , Crusher and others were on the cards.

Gagne met a sad end. He is still alive as of now, but his latter years proved tragic.

Apparently out of his head with Alzheimer, he made the news one final time a while ago when he got involved in an altercation with another patient at the rest home where he was confined. Not even realizing what he was doing he killed this patience with a wrestling hold.

Lord Alfred Hayes

Lord Alfred Hayes was a major star in his native England before migrating to the USA.

It was in Texas that he received one of his biggest pushes in the early 1970s, feuding with Apache Gringo. The situation that kicked off their many grudge matches was bizarre. During a televised interview, Gringo,  who wore these bull horns on his head like an Indian medicine man, rushed the Englishman and more or less "gored him" in the abdomen.

Hayes returned to the cameras a few minutes later and proclaimed he had suffered only a flesh wound, but the feud was on.

Surprisingly, Lord Alfred had very few Arizona wrestling matches at the height of his career when he was at his peak. On occasion he was brought to Tucson or other locations by Rod Fenton and a handful of promoters to follow, but was never a regular,. Even more odd was the fact no one capitalized on his established feud with Apache Gringo, thorough tapes of the "goring" were shown on Pheonix and Tucson television,.

Kort Von Steiger brought Apache Gringo in when he was running an Arizona circuit, but did not take Hayes as part of the deal, booking Gringo to feud with Tito Montez instead.

After his retirement, Hayes did make varied Tucson and Phoenix trips with the WWF, but was always behind the scenes. Occasionally, he would do promotional appearances or autograph signings in the area, but again these events were rarities.

Lord Alfred passed away a few years back following a number of ailments. He is nonetheless remembered via WWE (WWF) DVDs in which with past shows, one hears him doing commentary or interviews. He has also been mentioned posthumously in varied wrestling books and there is a fan page on Face Book devoted to his memory.

The Lumberjacks

One of my favorite tag teams as I managed them from when I started in Arizona in 1979 until they retried int he 1990s.

Real life brothers Russ and David Walters started tow years before me in 1977 at the Phoenix Madison Square  Garden, after being trained by retried wrestler Boston Paul Vallen.

The Lumberjacks held the Western States Tag Team Title a number of times as they feuded with varied tag teams including Tito Montez & Cowboy Bob Yuma, David Rose & Pedro El Grande, Jody Arnold & Eddie Sullivan, Los Mexicanos, Mike Gordon & John Ringer, Special Forces, Mamba Inc., Danny Snyder and Indio  Youngblood  and several more.

The two wrestlers also appeared as singles with Lumberjack 1, the shorter and heavier of the two (Russ) having the best results. he held the singles version of the Western States title. He had a number of bloody matches with numerous opponents including David Rose, Jody Arnold, Masked Frankenstein, Bull Zambrano, Terry Zeller, Lance Farraro, The Black Mamba, Bonecrusher, .Ron Newstrome, Golden Henderson,. Tito Montez, JT Law, The Beast, Mike Contreras, Mr Murder, Ed Blair, Chuck Hondo  and Nick Salinas.

Both of the Lumberjacks are retired, but make it tot he annual old timer reunions every year in Phoenix.

Ike Williams

Ike Williams was a big African American wrestler who drifted into Arizona in the 1970s. In the tradition of Bobo Brazil, Armon Hussein and Ricky Thompson, he proved to be a charismatic and colorful performer.who always gad the crowd behind him.

Like many of his predecessors, he sued a headbutt to knock his opponents silly, though he also possessed a wicked bearhug.

The Warlock and The Ripper were two men he feuded with on a regular basis. Usually, he would beat one or the other outright or win on a disqualification when either of them interfered on the other's behalf.

Williams also had some pretty wild encounters with David & Buddy Rose, as well as Paul Harvey.

He only faced Jody Arnold on a handful of occasions, with the advantage shifting between these two powerhouses in their match ups.

Though he was never a long term face on the Arizona scene, he left his mark before leaving.