Peotone, Illinois

Last week, we lost a great man in Eddie Futch. He was a trainer for many World Champion boxers in his 90 years of life. I had the pleasure of meeting him at the 2000 CAC in Las Vegas. We had never met before, but he treated me with the utmost of consideration and kindness while speaking with me. Services were held at Caesar's Palace, which shows how much respect the sports world had for him.

May you Rest in Peace , MY FRIEND.

This weekend, I will travel 250 miles from my home near Toledo, Ohio to just south of Chicago. The town of Peotone has been selected as a site for the newest airport to serve the Chicago area. It will become a major city in the next few years along with a couple of neighboring towns.

I will be involved with an autograph session along with Big Moose Cholak, Juan Hernandez, Buddy "Freebird" Roberts and Police Chief Paul Farber. Championship International Wrestling made this gathering of "Legends" possible. They have promised to bring even more to future cards.

If you are near Chicago, I invite you to come and see the star studded card that Championship International Wrestling has to offer. You won't be sorry that you did. I am told that Ivan Koloff, "The Russian Bear," will be in action. For the fans that watched NWA or Georgia Championship Wrestling from Atlanta during the 70's and 80's, they will remember Ivan as one of the toughest men in the ring. He also brought in his nephew, Nikita, and captured many tag team titles with him.

Ivan, by the way, was the one guy that bearhugged Angus and made him pass out before a sellout crowd. He won the $1000 purse that Angus put up saying that he could break Koloff's bearhug. Those two giants fought back and forth for a long time before Angus finally passed out from the bearhug. What strength this barrel chested monster from the frozen tundra has. Even today, as he is nearing the retirement stages in his life, he still wants to inflict pain on somebody. Just another reason that Angus needed someone to guide him.

I will be also involved with color commentary of the live performance on Saturday night. It should be quite an experience for me, as I have not done color for nearly 30 years. I will also have the pleasure, during the day, of doing two segments of "Meeting with the Legends." They will be shown on future cards along with "Matches from the Past," featuring wrestling greats like Bruiser Brody, Ox Baker, Jimmy "Boogie Woogie Man" Valiant, Cowboy Bob Orton Jr., Buddy "Freebird" Roberts and many, many more.

Juan Hernandez, who was the reigning champion of the CIW territory in the early 90's, will be appearing on the card facing Ivan Koloff. I certainly hope and pray that Koloff does not find out that Juan had his neck broken in 1993. That will be a target that he will go right after.

On the other hand, Juan also has in his resume the fact that he was five times American Karate Champion and fifth degree Black Belt. He will need to bring some of those quality moves to the ring to face Koloff.

I never was a follower of things like Karate, Judo, Kung Fu, or any other of the Oriental self-defense tactics. It is exciting to watch somebody use them, but I would never want any of them used on me. I am a Gentleman.

I hope to see all of my friends from the Chicago area, as well as Indiana, in Peotone. I will be taking plenty of pictures and will share them with you in the next few columns.

See you at ringside...

Percival A. Friend, Retired
The Epitome of Wrestling Managers