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In this section, you will find 4 unsorted articles about the history of wrestling. |
| Sportfolio - Golden Terror, defeaded, but not unmasked | It happened in Fitchburg. Everyone said it couldn't, that it would have to be Boston. That is, the first time the ”Golden Terror” would be defeated. We thought so, too. We almost fell on our puss when Referee Les Ryan upset the dope by raising the hand and arm of The Angel as a demonstration of the ”Terror's” disqualification.
Then, we got another surprise. It was our belief as well as that of hundreds of wrestling supporters that, on his being defeated, the ”Terror” would have to remove his mask. We were dumbfounded again when he waddled to the dressing room, as the crowd hurled jibes of ”coward,” ”faker,” ”tak off your mask,” and the like. We couldn't understand it.
The thought came to us that perhaps we should find out the whys and whens of the whole setup, so, we decided to see Oscar Maki and ask for his explanation. But, elusive Oscar was not to be found. We combed the hall. We looked under the ring, behind the seats, and on the stage. Oscar was among the missing. Then we made the mistake of the night.
We fought our way through the crowd that was still standing outside the ”Terror's” dressing room, yelling and demanding that he unmask. We had no concern for his unmasking. What was foremost in our mind was the fact that the world's title may have been won in Fitchburg, an unprecedented experience. As a matter of fact, the only other time that a title changed hands outside of Boston was when Dick Shikat upset the then unbeaten, Danno O'Mahoney, in some western city. We figured that this was city sport history in the making.
Rather than fiddle around with the ”Terror,” we decided to go right to the presumed winner, the ”Angel.” That was THE error. When we entered his dressing room he was seated behind the door. We couldn't see him at first, and we shut the door and spotted the hunk of human flesh planked in our mist, we felt like retreating for home and bed. Close up, he isn't funny, he isn't pitiful, he's downright scary. He had a towel wrapped around his head, and was wearing his well-known beret. His bathrope was thrown loosely over his frame. His head and face is massive. Carl Pojello rushed over before we could walk more than a step. ”What do you want?” snapped the well-groomed ”Angel” pilot. Our mouth opened, but, nothing came out, and here's why.
The ”Angel” broke in, he muttered something like, ”How many newspaper men are there? There must be about 10 newspapers in this town.” He made a rising motion. He was plainly put out. Apparently, we were disturbing his siesta. Or else, all kinds of guys were racing in to him, claiming to be scribes. No matter what the occasion, when he made the rising motion, we made one in the direction of the door.
Pojello, the crafty character that he is, sensed the importance of avoiding a scene of any sort, and gave a hand swipe in his wrestler's direction. The ”Angel” shut up as quickly as he started the filibuster. We explained to Pojello that we wanted to know if he was going to claim the ”duration” title, and also, why he didn't insist on the ”Terror” unmasking. To be truthful, we got about two words of his answer, something about no licensed referee in the ring or something. Our eyes were jumping from Pojello to the ”Angel,” who was there sulking, and we didn't know whether to get out quick, or stay and antagonize him. We knew what we would like to do, but, didn't know which was right. Finally, we thanked Pojello, didn't look in the direction of Marcel (sic), but, beat it rapidly in the direction of the door. When we got as far as the outside knob, our heart went back to a near normal beat.
Figuring that our experience would be no worse, we went to the ”Terror's” dressing room. He told us that he would take off his mask any place if pinned, but, not when disqualified. He also mentioned that there wasn't a licensed official in the rung.
He claimed his title wasn't at stake because this official was not of the wrestling association. He said he talked with the boss man (not Paul Bowser), about appearing with incapable referees handling the matches, and was assured that he would be protected against ”home town” decisions and the like by not having to unmask if disqualified. He was really serious about it. He claimed to be a former upper New York state performer, not having appeared here ever in the old days. He said that he would take off his mask in the city hall ring any time and no one would recognize him.
That was that. We went out of our way to get a wrestling story for a change, and what happens? We meet up in a near jam with the ”Angel,” and get a lot of wrestling association hokum from a performer who should have been made to unmask here for the benefit of those who shelled out $1.65 and $1.10 to see him beaten for the first time. To wrestling – bunk. |
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