Flashback:1987

Hello to the faithful readers of this diatribe! I decided to come to work today to avoid what was sure to be another boring day at home- no kids (school) no girlfriend (work) & no signifigant projects to do ( laziness)

Today, as I continue to write about the history of pro wrestling in Hagerstown,Md, I'm going to detour from the format of publishing results & sharing my opinions about bouts that took place during the 1960s to focus on the events of a particular card I attended, one of many, as a teenager in the Hub City. I hope you enjoy the story- a few of you reading may have been at this card, and a few of you reading may have been there WITH me at this card!

The date: September 7,1987. The place: the always venerable Hagerstown Fairgrounds, with its huge grandstand that stood 40 feet high at least. The card was promoted by a group referring to themselves as "USWA Championship Wrestling", with no known affiliation to the Memphis group operated by Jerry Jarrett & Jerry Lawler, whom at that point, were not using that name. The USWA that stampeded thru Hagerstown that night was operated by Bob Raskin of New Jersey, who promoted several "outlaw" or "independent" wrestling events up & down the east coast using a variety of different names.

I recall spotting the poster for the event at the Sheetz Conv. Store on the Dual Highway ( still at same location to this day, however a different building has been in place the late 90s) I'm sure that I purchased the tickets there, as they were listed as an outlet ( something that would never happen today).

Several very familiar names were slated to appear: veteran WWWF/WWF star Domenic Denucci, former WWF Tag Team Champions The Moondogs, notably. But the two names that jumped off the cardboard showbill at me, guaranteeing my attendence that night ( I wasn't likely to miss it anyway, but..) BRUISER BRODY VS ABDULLAH THE BUTCHER!!!!

Brody & Abdullah epitomized the flavor of the "outlaw" promotions of the day: blood, guts, & violence, 125 proof. These two warriors had a feud for the ages, hitting 18,000 seat arenas in Tokyo,Japan to baseball stadiums in Puerto Rico, to  horse barns in rural Kansas, and all points in between! Now, Hagerstown Fairgrounds was gonna get a taste of the bloodshed!

The balance of the card was augmented by, as I would learn later, students of DeNucci's wrestling school in Pittsburgh, most notably a young man called Cactus Jack Foley, whom would later become one the biggest stars in wrestling history under his real name, Mick Foley, and his aliases, Mankind,Cactus Jack & Dude Love. Also filling out the underneath were a few known performers from Philadelphia, King Kahlua & Larry Winters, both of whom made several appearances on ESPN's AWA Championship Wrestling, when they were taping their show at the Tropicana in Atlantic City.

The weather conditions were unseasonably cold & rainy that September evening, keeping the attendence down well below capacity ( looking back, 23 plus years later, I'm gonna say there were less than 250 in attendence- a miserable figure for this area; the previous year, an appearance by Sgt Slaughter,Wendi Richter, & Superstar Billy Graham* drew approximately 2000, by my estimation,which is less than scientific)
*Graham no showed, on his way back to the WWF for the final run of his career

The Fairgrounds set up was unique, in that, in addition to the huge, both in height and capacity, grandstand, it  also had an approximately 30-40 yard separation from the grandstand to a huge concrete stage in the middle of the property-which had a roof-and due to a 6 ft high metal fence the whole way around the property, it required the wrestlers to walk thru the crowd & across the infield to get to the ring.

About 500 folding chairs were place in between the stage & the grandstand, which were virtually empty & very wet- most of those whom chose to attend took refuge in the grandstand- however, my next door neighbor Greg Church, friend for life "Iron" Joe Miller, a friend of Joe's whos name escapes me, and myself chose to sit on the "infield" seats- at least initially. Conspicious by his absence was my brother Shawn, whom was probably at home attending to my nephew Ryan, who wasn't even 2 months old.

Denucci kicked things off this miserable September night against The Polish Prince, whom fittingly, hailed from Poland. For those unfamiliar, Denucci was a big man, standing about 6'4, 265 lbs, while the PP was probably closer to 6 ft, while weighing in at approximately 285lbs. Denucci was a big star in his time, having toured the world, making several stops in multiple locales ( even holding a version of the world title in Australia, during the biggest boom period in that countries wrestling history) However, at this point, Dom in his early 50s, and his movements, while never particularly crisp, were quite sluggish. With that  in mind, after a hard fought victory over the Prince, on his way thru the throng that cluttered the exitway ( all 10 of us) Greg Church looks squarely at Dom and bellows "hey, you really suck!" The look on Dom's face was one I remember to this very day: he had a "what can I say?"expression that told me he knew the bout was less than stellar. Brutal.

Tag team action was up next, as Foley & Man Mountain Miller took on the Moondogs. Right away, it was obvious to knowledgeable wrestling fan that these WEREN'T The Moondogs we knew from years of being on television: these were two knockoffs, in the form of two blonde fat guys wearing torn jeans,rope belts, & carrying huge bones. Miller was a big man, probably 6'6 & 300 lbs. The 'Dogs pulled off a hard fought victory, via use of their heavy bones to Foleys head while the referee was distracted. Foley exhibited none of the trademark moves or bumps that would make him famous later, but worked a hard and solid match.

As The Moondogs were leaving the ring, the rain picked up noticably, and the four of us sitting together ( Greg,Joe,Myself, & mystery guy) decided to take our chairs and move up on the stage.... this attempt to stay dry lasted about 5 minutes, as Promoter Raskin banished us back out in the rain.

Without fail, every pro wrestling event had to feature some type of patriotic symbolism during this time period, and on this night it reared his head in the form of the United States Ladies Champion, Misti Blue Simms facing none other than Comrade Orga, coming to us from Moscow,Russia. The crowd in attendence showed strong support for its freedom fighter and, although it seemed for awhile that the US Ladies belt may end up on the mantle of the menacing Soviet, Misti retained the title to preserve American ideals!

A brief intermission was then called, as everyone headed towards Misti to obtain an autographed photo, and others as well. It was during this period that one of The Moondogs approached us and ask us if we REALLY wanted to sit on the stage! We were all somewhat flummoxed; we were not sure if this menacing blonde unkempt looking man intended to put us in our place, via Raskins instructions! As it turned out, it was his ring, and he offered us stage seats for the rest of the evening,under one condition: we helped tear down the ring afterward! To say that we jumped at the chance would be saying that the Earth is just another planet...we were thrilled at the opportunity to perform manual labor; it guaranteed us a chance to be in the ring & get photos!

Intermission ended, and as the action recommenced ( with 4 teenagers creating a new row of ringside seats) Kahlua came to the ring & insulted Hagerstown (I don't recall what he said, but I'm sure most of it was true) which brought out Larry Winters to defend out the  towns honor ( even though he was from Philadelphia) and excellent bout took place between the two, with back and forth, high flying action taking place for the next 10-12 minutes.

Winters took absolute control of the bout at this point, with Kahlua begging for mercy & forgiveness, as the crowd roared; the roar would turn to shrieking however, as, out of the darkness that was the Fairgrounds infield that night, Abdullah hit the ring, unannounced, and attacked Winters from behind! Abdullah pulled out his trusty fork & opened Winters' head, and he hit the mat, rithing in pain. Kahlua regained his senses and he & The Madman from Sudan viciously double teamed poor Larry, as the crowd screamed, horrified at the sight.

Help was on its way, however, as Bruiser Brody stormed thru the crowd, swinging his chain, making a beeline towards his hated rival, looking to play the dual role of avenger & revenger; Brody hit the ring & was quickly double up upon by the Butcher/Kaluha tandem; this advantage would be brief, as an attempted double clothesline to Bruiser backfired, and Kahlua was thrown from the ring, where Winters, having regained a form of composure, fought with his rival well in the darkness & beyond the crowds view.

It was center stage time for Brody & Abby, and the two warriors rose to the occasion: to say these men fought like their lives were on the line would be an understatement of great magnitude. It started in the ring, spilled out, went back into the ring, & spilt out again! The blood almost literally shot out of Brody's head as though it was shot from a hypodermic needle; Abdullah bled heavily as well. The action almost ended up on our very laps, as they two titans fought outside once again. Scared as I was ( and I was, I have no shame in admitting) I did manage to snap a photograph of these legendary stars as they battled no more than 2 feet away from me! The fight went down the steps, out thru the infield, up the grandstand, & finally back to the dressing room. At that point, promoter Raskin, who doubled as ring announcer, called this match a No Contest.

With our hearts still pumping, we began to help tear down the ring, but not before getting a variety of snapshots on the tiny little camera my mother allowed me to borrow that night. While the action shots, dark as they were, turned out to what could be charitably referred to as poor quality, the posed pictures in the ring did not. Not that it matters- the memory of this night is burned in my brain, 23+ years later.

Please forgive any typos or grammatical errors- I have proofread this about 6 times, and I can't any longer- I actually have to go work!
 SSS