it took you mentioning him to bring him to mind.
Most of the wrestlers I knew you may know as well, but as you probably recall there were 'local' wrestling associations back in the 50s, 60s, 70s.... so here around Fresno when we'd see a "World Championship" we thought it was just that... but actually most of them weren't known nationally at all, only here, and the bay area. I'm not sure if you saw the same wrestlers as we did... except, of course, the few who were known nationally, like Mr. Moto. but those big names seldom came to Fresno.... at all that I can remember. It was only when Vince started, was it the WWF?, that we'd occasionally get big matches with the nationally known guys... Hulk Hogan, Superfly Snuka, Roddy Piper, etc.
As a kid I remember once stumbling across an article that said Bruno Samartino was world champ, and being very confused... he wasn't the 'world champ' I knew in Fresno.
I didn't even know who Bruno was.
i didn't even know Rick Flair... until he was old.
There was a world championship every Friday night around here.
Or nearly so. The two biggest around Fresno that fought for the championship the most were Pepper Gomez, (good guy), and Ray Stevens.... not sure they were known very well outside of our area although both did wrestle elsewhere.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2020 08:08PM by JamesJM.