I would never make the connection

I watched wrestling as a kid in the mid-to late 70s until the ealry 80s when I was in jr. high because most of the older men in my family did (dad, grandfather, uncles, older cousins) and even got to meet Bob Bachland when he was champ because he jogged with my aunt's (then now ex-) husband occasionally (they were from the same neighborhood as kids or some such and had kept in touch). But I never really connected it with super-hero comics (aside form MilMaskerus who I saw as an exception not a rule for wrestling and super-heroish chracters). About 1981-1982 I discovered wrestling was scripted and lost all interest. I saw it as a competitive sport like boxing and that;s what interested me as a kid, once that was shattered I lost all interest in professional wrestling, so for me, comics was not a gateway to wrestling and finding it was more like comics than a real sport is what led me to losing all interest in it.

-M

I don't remember thinking of wrestling as similar to comics when I was a kid and a fan of both, but I can see the similarities now. There was a period in the 1960s when my disposable income went almost entirely to comic books, Mad magazine and Wrestling Revue magazine. In the New York area we got the WWWF on TV, first on one of the local independent stations, and later on one of the Spanish stations. My brother and I got used to looking in the TV Guide for "Lucha Libre".

Some of the stars I remember watching:

Bruno Sammartino, the greatest champion ever. In every interview he said a little something in Italian.

Gorilla Monsoon, his arch-rival. Billed as "the wild man from Manchuria", he was actually an Italian guy named Bob from Rochester NY.

Bobo Brazil, the "US champion", the only prominent black wrestler.

Victor Rivera, the Puerto Rican champion.

Spiros Arion, a Greek wrestler who did the first "heel turn" that I ever saw.

Haystacks Calhoun, who claimed to be over 600 pounds.

Eduard Carpentier, the acrobatic Frenchman.

Ivan Putski, who always said something in Polish in his interviews.

Jay Strongbow, a Native American wrestler.

Luke Graham, whose schtick was to get the crowd to taunt him with chants of "Crazy Luke, Crazy Luke" while he protested histrionically.

George "Crybaby" Cannon, who would cry when things didn't go his way.

"Baron" Mikel Scicluna, a villainous Italian aristocrat.

... and others too numerous to mention.

After I lost interest in wrestling, I was a Roller Derby fan for a while.

Gorilla Monsoon was Robert Marella, who had been a top amateur from Ithaca College (finished second in the NCAA championships), who wrestled as Gino Marella and Gorilla Monsoon. He was also one of the partners and announcer for the WWWF, with Vince McMahon Sr, and stayed on with Vince Jr (owner of the WWE), until his death.

Central Illinois was kind of a desert for live wrestling. Chicago was the real town for it, once boasting one of the biggest promotions in wrestling, up through the 60s, with matches featured on the Dumont Network. Comiskey Park hosted the famous Nature Boy Buddy Rogers vs Pat O'Connor match, for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (won by Rogers), which drew a legit 38, 000+ fans. Promoter Fred Kohler eventually sold out to a combine of Verne Gagne and Dick the Bruiser and Wilbur Snyder (the AWA and WWA promoters). The WWA put on shows in the area, from time to time; but, not on a long term basis. We got there tv show a couple of times, once in the mid 70s and once in the beginning of the 80s. My grandfather would watch their show via the Peoria affiliate broadcast of it.

The WWA focused on Dick The Bruiser (ex-NFL player turned wrestler) at the top, with Wilbur Snyder (another NFL legend) often in tag-teams or in the stepping stone slot. Bobby Heenan was a local guy who started working at the arena, as a teen and graduated to managing and wrestling, often against Bruiser and guys like Cowboy Bob Ellis. He managed teams like the BlackJacks (Blackjack Mulligan and Lanza) and the Valiant Brothers (Luscious Johnny and Handsome Jimmy). By the time I first saw the tv, he was gone to Minneapolis and the AWA. I do recall seeing Kim Duk (aka Tiger Chung Lee, a Korean wrestler), Joe Le Duc (a Canadian with a lumberjack gimmick), Bruiser, Snyder, Gentleman Gerry Valiant (Canadian Guy Mitchell), Dr Jerry Graham Jr (no relation to the real Dr Jerry Graham, kayfabe brother of Superstar Billy Graham and Florida promoter Eddie Graham). They didn't seem to stick around long.

We got the tv again around 1979/80, for a while. Some of that crowd was there, plus Zoltan the Great (wrestler Ken Jugan, also known as Lord Zoltan, doing a KISS gimmick), the young tag-team of Spike Huber (son-in-law of Dick the Bruiser) and Steve "Mr Electricity" Regal (son-in-law of Wilbur Snyder, not to be confused with later British wrestler Lord Steven Regal aka William Regal), Golden Boy Paul Christy (with valet Miss Bunny Love), Ali Hasan the Iranian (Jack Krueger, a local from Danville), the Great Wojo (Greg Wojciechowski, top amateur from Univ of Toledo and US Olympic team member in 1980, when the US boycotted the games), and Roger Kirby (long Midwest mainstay). The shows were hosted and announce by Slammin' Sammy Menacker, an ex-wrestler and stuntman/actor, who appeared in Mighty Joe Young, as well as plays the mobster in the Verne Gagne-produced movie The Wrestler (with Ed Asner, not the Mickey Rourke film). Menacker wasn't the best; but, he was good on the play-by-play and was great with Bobby Heenan (which I saw later, on Youtube). There were few storylines, mostly matches, with only Huber and Regal, as well as Snyder, providing much in the way of faster paced, technical wrestling (Great Wojo did a lot of amateur-style stuff, with a pro flair). It kept me interested enought to watch; but, not really become a fan.

The Poffos started promoting their ICW wrestling in Decatur and Springfield and their tv had more angles. Randy Savage was the best heel in the country that few knew about (other than those who saw him in Tennessee, for Nick Gulas). His brother, leaping Lanny Poffo (later The Genius, in the WWF) was a great high flyer and was one of the first American wrestlers to use the moonsault. Ronnie Garvin was a tough-as-nails brawler and technical wrestler, who was a huge draw in Florida and Tennessee and later became NWA World Champion, to give Ric Flair a break. Pistol pez Whatley was a trash talking African-American amateur standout from the Univ. of Chattanooga, who had also wrestled for Nick Gulas. He later worked for WCW as Shaska Whatley and was a trainer for the WCW Power Plant gym. They had a tag-team, the Convertible Blonds, which was a take-off of the Fabulous Freebirds, which included Hustler Rip Rogers (who later helped train guys like John cena, at the Ohio Valley Wrestling developmental territory, for the WWE), who was a childhood friend of John Mellancamp and appears in his Human Wheels video (the bodybuilder doing muscle poses). The Masked Miser was Angelo Poffo, patriarch of the family and the promoter. He was a Midwest mainstay and former US champion under Fred Kohler, in the Dumont days. We also saw people like Ox Baker, Thunderbolt Patterson, and the original Sheik (promoter of Detroit), before they shut down.

In 1982, we got cable and I finally got to see Georgia Championship Wrestling, which had recently changed names to World Championship Wrestling. There I saw Paul Orndorff (part of the main event of the first Wrestlemania), Masked Superstar, Tommy "Wildfire" Rich, Buzz Sawyer, Ivan Koloff (the man who defeated Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF title), Ole Anderson, Stan Hanson, and a younger Tito Santana. Since it was on WTBS, a lot of other stars came through for matches, which introduced me to Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, and Jack Brisco (all World Champions). The show was hosted by legendary announcer Gordon Solie, the "Walter Cronkite of Wrestling," with Rowdy Roddy Piper on color commentary. I loved the NWA style of technical matches with guys who could work and heels who could draw heat. Guys like Orndorff looked and moved like living Captain Americas. They also showed clips from other NWA promotions, such as the Carolinas (Crockett.Mid-Atlantic), Florida (Eddie Graham), Oklahoma/Louisiana (Mid-South/UWF), Texas (World Class) and worked a bit with the Memphis promotion (home to Jerry "The King" Lawler, Jimmy Hart, Superstar Bill Dundee and the future manager Jim Cornette).

Not much later the WWF started appearing on USA on Sundays, transitioning from champion Bob Backlund to the Iron Sheik to Hulk Hogan and launching the 80s wrestling boom.

In college, I finally got to see the AWA, when they were picked up by ESPN, packaged with a revived Roller Derby (which I saw a bit of, in the late 70s). I continued watching until the early 2000s, catching matches from the WWF, WCW (from it's time as the Georgia promotion, through the WWF takeover, the Crockett buyout, the Turner Broadcasting buyout, to the end), the AWA (while on ESPN), World Class (the Von Erichs, when it turned up on ESPN), Memphis, Alabama, Puerto Rico (both thanks to a station in Atlanta that broadcast a 6 hour block of wrestling, on Saturdays), USA-Knoxville, a bit of GLOW, and the latter days of ECW (on TNN/Spike). I bought tapes from Japan and Mexico, caught a bit of TNA; but, was drifting away by 2001. WCW's demise ended my real "fan" days and the WWE, without real competition, got complacent and cookie-cutter. The parade of deaths turned me off and the Chris Benoit murder suicide was the final straw. I haven't watched modern stuff since.

I've been binge watching the Netflix GLOW series, which kind of refueled my interest, apart from watching old matches on Youtube. I still don't care for the modern style spotfests; but, the tv show really captures the storytelling aspect that made traditional wrestling great, plus the flamboyant; but, more believable gimmicks. Considering it was inspired by a cartoon version of wrestling that made the WWF look like the Olympics, it's actually very respectful to the traditions and storytelling elements of pro wrestling and never winks at the audience. It's also really well written and performed, with multi-layered characters that surpass the average, on tv.

ps, re: Big Daddy, you better be tough with a name like Shirley (Shirley Crabtree). ;)Of course, it's easy to have a long winning streak when you are the co-promoter, with your brother.

For me, it took seeing a promotion that used storylines to build matches, rather than just seemingly random matches.  The Poffos did this a bit; but not as long term (they didn't have the cash to keep the really good guys around).  When i saw the Georgia and the bigger promotions, then you saw the soap opera story.  Heel and villain have some personal issue, whether it is partner turning on partner, battle for the championship, an insult, an up and comer who showed up a veteran or whatever.  They would face off verbally and physically, with no clear cut resolution.  One might get the upper hand, only for the tide to change later, building to the "big match" where everything was decided.

Within the match itself, you have the hero battling the villain.  In the best leagues, the announcers weave the storyline into the action, giving emphasis to the furor of the match.  The best performers were able to improvise, based on the crowd reaction.  The hero comes out strong, fighting for virtue and has the villain reeling.  The crowd cheers him on to righteous victory, when the villain pulls a cheapshot and turns the tables.  The crowd is stunned and boo.  The villain continues to use dirty tactics to keep the hero down.  The crowd cheers for him to fight back.  He gets an opening (the villain misses a shot, the ref catches something, he gets a lucky shot in) and starts fighting back.  The crowd starts to cheer.  the villain cuts him off with another cheap shot.  The cycle continues.  The hero gets another opening and fights and fights hard.  he starts to gain the upper hand.  The heel is reeling, his tricks aren't working.  The crowd is in a frenzy as the hero hits the finishing move (a signature move or takes advantage of a situation with a surprise cradling move) and gets the villain down for the three count. The hero emerges victorious.  The crowd goes wild and the hero soaks in the adulation.  The crowd goes home buzzing about the epic struggle they witnessed.


The Rocky movies borrowed the storytelling for the in-ring fights.  In the original, Rocky is the young upstart, who gets the fight as a joke; but, takes advantage of it.  He hits the champion hard, showing that he is hungry for a win and a dangerous opponent who the champion under-estimated.  Rocky sends the champ reeling.  In later rounds, Apollo Creed digs down and uses his greater experience to counter-attack, bringing Rocky close to losing, his eyes practically closed by the swollen bruises around them.  he yells for Mick to cut them, to reduce the swelling.  They have to stop the bleeding quickly or the fight will be called and they succeed.  Rocky and Apollo are back at it.  Rocky is fighting with everything he has, like never before.  Apollo is fighting to survive and hold on to the end.  The bell rings.  Rocky has gone the distance and proven he can stand toe-to-toe with the elite, that he isn't a bum, fighting for pennies in club fights.  The champion has barely survived what should have been little more than a sparring match.  He is vulnerable.


The second film has the rematch that everyone wants.  Rocky has a family now, his perspective is changed.  Adrian suffers a hemorrhage and is near death.  She comes out of a coma and tells Rocky to win.  he trains like he means it, now.  he takes the fight to a scared Apollo, though Apollo fights like the champ he is.  It goes back and forth until both men fall.  They try to crawl to their feet and only Rocky makes it, wining the title.


Rocky defends against lesser opponents.  He is being is being protected by Mick.  he is forced into a fight with new, violent challenger. Clubber Lang.  In the fight, Mick suffers a heart attack and Rocky gets knocked out.  Clubber takes the title and Mick dies.  Apollo gets Rocky motivated to fight again, to train harder and recapture that fighting spirit he had as a challenger.  He finds the "eye of the tiger" and decimates Clubber Lang in the rematch.

It's a pro wrestling storyline.  Cocky heel belittles hero, who is a man of the people.  Hero gets his shot and takes it; but, doesn't get the win.  However, he wins respect.  rematch comes to settle things and the hero takes the fight to the champ and wins the title.  The new champion doesn't keep his skills up, facing lesser challengers and loses to someone like he was, only more dangerous.  He has to find that fire again and take back what he had earned.  That's a basic title chase.

The classic Bruno Sammartino vs Larry Zbysko feud is another, of teacher and student.  Bruno trains young Larry and helps him fulfill his dream of being a wrestler.  Zbysko gains acclaim, but Bruno gets more attention as his coach.  Zbysko's ego is wounded.  It builds and resentment builds.  Zbysko wants to stand in the limelight, but, he is denied.  Finally, the frustration builds and he attacks his mentor, bloodying him.  It leads to a match.  Science goes out the window as pride turns the fight ugly.  There is no clear cut winner.  They go from venue to venue, fighting without a victory.  finally, they meet at Shea Stadium, in a cage, to settle it once and for all, with the hero, Bruno, emerging as the victor.  However, the aging Bruno cuts back on wrestling and the villain Zbysko claims he took the fight out of him and dubs himself the legend-killer, going after other stars, using that reputation for years.

Bruce Wayne has retired and seems to be trying to kill himself in reckless car races.  Gotham's corruption has risen up in Batman's absence.  Jim Gordon is retired.  A new, violent gang is terrorizing the city.  The police are impotent.  It builds, with random acts of violence, until Bruce can take it no longer and Batman returns  He goes after the mutants, taking them out, one by one.  He is older, slower, and has to resort to greater violence and trickery.  He loses a fight to the leader of the mutants, barely surviving.  He sets up the rematch in a site of his choosing, a mud pit, that evens the physical odds.  His greater skill is able to defeat the mutant leader's brute strength.  meanwhile, his old opponent, the Joker, has come out of a fugue state.  He is revived by the return of his nemesis.  He bides his time and slaughters the audience of a talk show.  Batman comes for him. he launches an attack in an amusement park.  The have a showdown in a tunnel ride.  Joker is mortally wounded, but, sets up Batman for a fall, killing himself.  Batman is now totally on the outside of the law.  His old friend is sent to stop him.  He is outclassed; but, uses trickery to even the odds.  he goes down fighting and fakes his death.


It's that same ebb and flow.  hero and villain come in contact, clash; but, there is no resolution.  The build to the next battle until the final climax, where the hero emerges triumphant.  Sometimes it is a scheme to advance the villains agenda, sometimes it is a personal fight.


That's traditional wrestling storytelling.  These days, it is more of an acrobatic display, built around the shell of what wrestling was.  Moves don't have meaning because there is no psychology to them.  In Rocky, when Rocky punches Apollo, you see the pain in Apollo's eyes, in the way he twists away from the blow.  That's the selling that draws you into the emotions of the battle.  If people just trade punch after punch, with nothing really registering, it doesn't resonate with the audience.  It's like a random stunt show where people crash through tables and get knocked through doors, for no reason.  The Bond films got to be this way, as stunts served no story purpose but were just there to get laughs and oohs and ahs.  The fight in From Russia With Love, on the train, has meaning.  red Grant has been built as an unstoppable killer.  He has the drop on Bond.  Bond makes a desperate gamble and distracts Grant enough to launch an attack.  They are confined by the train compartment space and fight a vicious close-quarters battle.  Grant is about to use his garrotte wire, hidden in his watch, until Bond blocks him and twists it around Grant's neck and kills him.  Everything means something.  Bond is on top, then Grant, then Bond.  Your excitement builds until the payoff.  That is wrestling when done right.

It's not for everyone, much like an action film or a western isn't going to appeal to everyone.  It is a form of dramatic conflict, a morality tale, presented in a sport-based performance.