100% to your first statement. It’s his job!! it draws emotion, clicks and discussion on TV, social media etc… His paycheck is from the SEC and reflects that. Funny thing is, he lives in CLT and I see and have spoken to him in HT a couple of times, he is a really good guy. He is really rooting for the CLT football program as is the bottom 10 journalist guy on ESPN.com, who lives here as well. For those who have lived most of their lives in charlotte. It is like we would see the WWE Wrestlers around town as normal folks, eating out, at the neighborhood swimming pool etc…, but they were villains at work. Or at the bar in Slick Ricks case.
At one point in the 90’s Steamboat ran / owned the Golds gym at the 28 exit in Cornelius. He would come in the afternoon usually wearing a workers shirt with his name on it which was confusing. I think he sold it within a year or two.
My paternal grandfather loved rasslin’ - especially the NWA! He knew it was choreographed but that didn’t matter. Enjoyed the spectacle. Watched many a show with him.
Definitely remember the heyday of Ricky Steamboat - nee Richard Henry Blood from West Point, NY.
Rick Flair’s wrestling career was helped by a plane crash. A small jet carrying several wrestlers went down in the mid-late '70s. No one was seriously hurt, but FAA rules required the names and ages of all on board be released. Flair, who was 28ish, was the only wrestler who was in his athletic prime.
Johnny Weaver was a longtime Crockett wrestler who retired and became a Sheriff’s Deputy. He was also a champion Senior Olympic swimmer well into his 50s.
I loved watching “skinny neck” Johnny Weaver and George Becker. Their matches with Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson were epic. Made a kid want to punch the tv when they went at it.
