Bruno Sammartino was a Canadian citizen and was a fixture on the Hamilton Telecenter Wrestling show. Always played one of the good guys. Sweet Daddy Siki was another good guy, a black man with cornstarch hair. He maintained his personna all the time and would playfully flirt with the girls who worked at my parents' ice cream store. Joe Kayorie, who wrestled as Joe Killer Christie and several masked personna was always one of the "bad guys". He lived on our block, and we often saw him in the local park with a grandchild balanced on each knee. Some villain!
Bruno Sammartino was the king of wrestling when I was a kid. Sorry to hear he passed but all of a sudden names started popping into my mind: Professor Toro Tanaka; Gorilla Monsoon; Haystack Calhoun; The Vicious Moolah; The Flying Frenchman Edouard Carpentier; Victor Rivera. no google used, just fond memories of the 60's.
I saw Bruno wrestle “killer” Kowalski. There was a small “sports arena” in my small hometown with wrestling every Saturday night. It was an old wooden barn that probably seated 7 or 800. I remember Haystack Calhoun being there as well. A very different time.
7 comments
He’s no longer wrestling’s living legend.
;-)
Bruno Sammartino was a Canadian citizen and was a fixture on the Hamilton Telecenter Wrestling show. Always played one of the good guys. Sweet Daddy Siki was another good guy, a black man with cornstarch hair. He maintained his personna all the time and would playfully flirt with the girls who worked at my parents' ice cream store. Joe Kayorie, who wrestled as Joe Killer Christie and several masked personna was always one of the "bad guys". He lived on our block, and we often saw him in the local park with a grandchild balanced on each knee. Some villain!