March 27, 1972 |
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Kansas City was a hotbed of wrestling talent and a place that most professionals wanted to visit and show their wares off in. The territory included all of Kansas, all of Iowa and most of Missouri. Huge towns come to mind, like St. Joseph, Missouri ... St. Louis, Missouri ... Des Moines, Iowa ... Cedar Rapids, Iowa ... Topeka, Kansas ... Wichita, Kansas and the list could go on for a while....were setting attendance records every time wrestling came to them. Matches that could have been main event status in bigger territories like New York or Los Angeles or Atlanta were so intense that they had problems being contained in rings that had the officials to condone such action. March 13, 1972 started out as just another evening for me and the guys I managed, including Black Angus. I was putting on one of my favorite outfits to go out to the ring. It had Canary Yellow slacks with an Emerald Green jacket with a Sky Blue silk shirt and an Orange tie. I topped the outfit off with one of my favorite tams that Angus had bought for me in the clan meet he had been to a few months before in his native Scotland. Ours was the third match on the card, facing Bob Geigel. He had come out the week before and stuck his two cents into the match we were having with former World's Champ Pat O'Connor. I had stood up to protest an unprofessional move that O'Connor had on Angus. It was a chokehold as far as I was concerned, and the official, named Frankie Diamond, just would not listen to reason. It was during my intervention of the match that Angus broke loose from Pat's grasp and picked up O'Connor in a one armed suplex and threw him over his extended leg in a version of a backbreaker. Pat fell near where I had been, and as I tried to get him back into the ring, being the gentleman that I was, here came Geigel to stick his nose into the battle. Angus stopped arguing with the referee and jumped out to the floor and came around the blind side of Geigel and knocked him to the hard oak flooring with a mighty swing of his huge right arm. The referee had begun a count on Angus as he left the ring, and, as he and Geigel and O'Connor now were battling on the outside, everybody got counted out. I was furious, as the winner's share of the contest money was at stake, and I sure didn't want to leave the building with the short end of the money. I protested the decision that the referee had given and demanded another match with O'Connor to right this wrong that had been done to us. After all, we were leading in the match we were having with Fat Pat and would have had him done in after a few more moves. I finally left the ring after promoter Gust Karras promised me a match in the future.Geigel would now have to pay for his injection into my affairs. The bell rang, and the two locked up like two giant buffalo going head to head with each other to show who was the dominant male. Angus suddenly, at my command, dropped to one knee and gave Geigel a fireman's carry right over his shoulder to the mat. I jumped up and started to applaud the move when I had a hand hit my shoulder. I turned to look and there stood O'Connor right behind me. He motioned for me to be seated, or he would seat me himself. Angus was going to jump out, but I stopped him and had him concentrate on what was going on in the ring. He needed the victory over Geigel to show him that it was not gentlemanly stylish to try and attack his manager and cost him the winner's share of the match money. I sat down, and, for the next 18 minutes, Angus and Geigel fought from hold to hold against each other. I tried once to stand up to show a small bit of protest again but was thrown down in my seat by Fat Pat. Angus and Geigel fought to a draw in one of the most spectacular matches I have seen in a long time. It would not be the last time that these two would fight, nor would it be the last time that O'Connor would be able to face us. The main event of the card had Harley Race against Rufus R. Jones. After just 20 minutes of action, the match was declared no contest by the promoter at ringside. Not quite fitting for two of the best that the wrestling business had to offer. Harley grabbed at Gust Karras and was struck by his metal cane he used to walk with. Rufus tried to help Gust out but was struck by Race and plummeted to the floor of the arena. Percival A. Friend, Retired
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