Meeting Ox Baker Part Two

When last I was with you, I spoke of a fantastic trip that I recently took to Illinois to be a part of another great wrestling card put on by Championship International Wrestling. I had traveled that day after going through a tremendous workout at the St. Luke's hospital cardio therapy unit.

I visited with Doris and Beverly Brazil at Bobo Brazil's home in Benton Harbor, Michigan before going on to Chicago and meeting with the board of directors of Championship International Wrestling at my favorite dining place in Peotone, Illinois … Die Peotone Bierstube, run by Karl Ditschler.

One by one, the directors began to come to the area that had been sectioned off for our huge dinner. Juan Hernandez "Mr. Karate," Paul Farber "The Chief," and Big Ox Baker, along with The Russian Brute, came to the table to join us. Ox took my extended hand and pulled me to his chest and berated me for a moment, and then, as soon as it started, he let go and grabbed me in a huge hug that nearly broke my ribs. The Russian Brute also grabbed my hand in a firm handshake and said, "Hello, Comrade."

Fans of wrestling and diners of the Bierstube began to pay their homage to the two huge men seated at our table. Ox had brought along some copies of his latest cookbook and pictures as well as t-shirts for the customers. For the next half hour, the two men signed hundreds of autographs and said hello to just about everybody in the building.

The authentic Bavarian band played German music in the background, and, every once in a while, Ox would bellow out with the lyrics in German. I didn't know that he had an extensive knowledge of any other languages other than English and a little bit of Japanese. The Russian Brute, however, is fluent in four languages and conversational in 12. A lot of people don't know that this young man has three master's degrees from three different colleges. He also was involved with training for the Olympics in the early part of his life following his graduation from Moscow University.

Following a wonderful meal of authentic German cuisine, we retired to bed for the night. The following morning, after a big breakfast at a local cafe named after the television show Mayberry, starring Andy Griffith, we proceeded to Monee, Illinois. The five-mile trip went very fast, and soon, we were at the fairgrounds parking area. I was asked to be a part of the parade that would go through town prior to the fair getting underway. Ox Baker, The Russian Brute and myself were placed on the back end of a float that resembled a pickup truck driven by Diesel Desperado.

Ox seemed satisfied that this was going to be a good day and climbed from his seat on the tool box on the truck bed to the roof of the truck cab. Every time that Ox moved, it seemed as if he was going to go through the roof of the truck. I watched as Diesel kept looking at his truck roof, thinking that it was going to come crashing down on him while he drove. The Russian Brute had climbed off our truck with the flag depicting the CCCP of his native Russia and jumped on a big truck driven by a local Boy Scout troop. Placing his flag next to Old Glory was not too well accepted by small town people, and they called out insults galore towards him.

We had some time left before the matches following the parade and walked among the many booths set up on the fairgrounds. Paul Christy and Bunny Love pulled up in the parking area as I was getting my baggage out for the card. More of the wrestlers began to come into the parking area to get ready for the day's excitement.

T. Bolt Baxton and his partner, Timber, who bill themselves as "Brothers with Attitude," pulled up in a specially built van that they use for road trips. It has an extended lounge section behind the front cab that contains two extra large beds that fold out to accommodate these two men that tower well above the 6 foot 8 inch range. It also contains a well-stocked music and video section that entertains these two while on the long trips. Their galley is filled with all the food that they need, along with refreshments.

The midgets arrived in separate cars with some of the other guys on the card that had come in from Missouri the night before. Beautiful Bobby and Little Kato proved later on in the semi-main event why they are in such demand worldwide. What fantastic athletes these two young men are.

As bell time came near, I gathered some of the stuff I would need for the card and proceeded into the arena set up under the big top. Fans had come from a lot of the neighboring cities to watch the gladiators do their thing inside the squared circle. As I was getting some of the official statements aside regarding state rules and regulations, my mind wandered back to a time when I was active and was on the other side of the microphone.

I introduced Nikki, Mr. Karate's favorite singer, to the crowd, and she began to sing out our National Anthem. All were standing as tears began to flow from a few of the veterans seated near me. I can understand their feelings about the anthem and what the flag means to them.

Greg Lake, a veteran from Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, was appointed as a special referee for the afternoon's event. The opening match saw action from Billy The Tiger of San Juan, Puerto Rico facing El Borincano, a masked man from Mexico. After nine minutes of hard fought wrestling, Billy won the match with a small package.

Diesel Desperado faced The Chief, Paul Farber, from nearby Peotone, Illinois in a return grudge match. Manager Cody Steele joined Diesel at ringside. Cody sure has a distinct way of not being a nice kind of guy when he wants to be. As he passed me he again made remarks about my suit being out of fashion and that it must be nice to buy off the rack. I tried to ignore him, but it was almost impossible, as his mouth was spewing words at about a hundred miles an hour.

The match nearly went the 20 minutes of allotted time and ended in a controversial pin with Chief's foot over the bottom rope, and, at the three count, Cody threw his foot back into the ring, getting the duke over the Chief, who was not a happy camper over the incident. He grabbed the mike and protested to the referee, but the decision was final and gave the winner's share of the money to Diesel.

Next to enter the arena were Guy Lombardo and his partner, Sexy Shawn Cook. They had been on a few other cards recently promoted by CIW and left the crowd with mixed emotions about their manhood. What more can be said about a couple of athletes coming to the ring wearing pink feather boas and matching pink cowboy hats. They were to face the Lumberjacks originally, but a booking change forced them to be against Brothers with Attitude, T. Bolt and his partner, Thunder. The match was very hard fought and ended with T. Bolt getting a pin on Shawn Cook after 18 minutes of fury.

The Midgets were next on the card, and little Kato had the crowd stirred up in a matter of minutes with his antics in the ring. Beautiful Bobby, his opponent, is in the top ten midgets in the world and is in training for the vacated title of Midget Champion. These two men fought back and forth for almost 25 minutes, grabbing hold and counter hold. They had the referee nearly ready to throw the match out a few times with midget tactics involving the poor referee. They sure are a hard match to follow on the card for the other wrestlers. These little warriors sure work awfully hard for their money and deserve all the accolades that can be bestowed on them.

The Main Event was next and pitted "Mr. Karate Jr.," Cel Hernandez, the CIW United States Champion, against The Russian Brute, with Ox Baker as his manager and trainer. Action allowed no mistakes from either man as they fought to their limits. Ox Baker was constantly annoying the fans to the point that one older lady of Hispanic origin ran from the back of the tent and jumped on his back and began to beat on him and pulled at his sweatshirt almost ripping it from Ox's body. Security finally pulled the lady from Ox and told her to sit in her seat and not bother the wrestlers again. She continued to scream and holler insults at Ox from the back of the tent.

While security was dealing with her, another older man could not stand Ox at ringside and took matters in his own hands. He jumped from his chair in front of the security officers who had their back to the ring and went behind Ox and grabbed his sweat pants and dragged them down to his ankles. There stood Ox, in plaid boxer shorts and sweatshirt, swinging at anything that moved. He turned to me and saw that I was laughing at what just happened; after all, it didn't happen to me, and he yelled out in a very gruff voice, "It's not FUNNY! Get that smile off your face before I come over and take it off for you!!!"

I sobered up very fast, as I knew that Ox meant business, and I sure did not want this 315-pound monster mad at me. The action in the ring continued as the Brute put more and more force on an abdominal stretch made famous by the late Wilbur Snyder. Ox kept yelling at the timekeeper to ring the bell and give the belt to them, as they are the true champions. The timekeeper had more guts than I would have had and did not ring the bell until the referee instructed him to do so.

In a flurry of moves in the air and on the mat, Cel Hernandez pulled out a victory on the man that outweighed him by 100 pounds and stood nearly a head taller then him using a simple schoolboy roll up. That move was accompanied by a chorus of "U.S.A." being chanted by almost every fan in the building. I, for one, was happy to see Cel win but not happy about the events that happened afterwards. Paul Christy had jumped into the ring along with Bunny Love and began to tell Ox Baker what an ingrate he was at ringside. The Russian Brute grabbed Paul by the arms from behind and set him up for Ox to give him the world famous Heart Punch. This punch has killed two men in the ring and injured and caused the careers of many to be put on hold for long periods of time.

As Ox pulled back to deliver the devastating move Bunny Love, hit The Brute with her whip she carried. Brute was stunned by the whip and turned Paul loose. Ox swung wildly and missed Paul within inches and spun around in the ring. Paul seized the moment and put his sleeper hold on Big Ox. Ox fought back but was soon in la la land in the middle of the ring. Paul asked for a match against Ox or the Brute for a future card.

You just never know what can happen at a live event at a CIW wrestling card.

Until next time...