Topeka, Kansas Part Two

I had gone to Topeka for another sellout crowd card. Fans had been lined up for over a city block getting tickets. I had to be brought in with Angus in a police car, as there were no parking spaces in the arena lot. Excitement was brewing for the huge standoff between Angus and O'Connor.

A tag match started off the evening and ended with a draw between Black Jack Black & Benji Rameriz and Billy Howard & Terry Martin from New Brunswick, Canada. Omar Atlas faced Chati Yokouchi and was beaten by a devastating Karate chop to the rib cage and pinned. Gust Karras did not like the use of Oriental tactics to win matches and fined Chati and sent him to the dressing room much poorer.

Yasu Fuji was forced to submit to a full Nelson by the Stomper, Archie Gouldie. Chati Yokouchi stormed the ring and began an onslaught of chops that left Stomper in the second row of fans gasping for breath and hanging on to his life. Fuji and Chati had to fight their way back to the dressing room and were escorted by several officers on duty.

Harley Race met Danny Littlebear in the semi-main event, and it seemed like the feisty Littlebear had learned a few new ways to beat Harley since their last encounter. Harley had just returned from a very big tour of Japan and was chomping at the bit to get his hands on Littlebear.

At about the 20-minute mark of the match, Harley threw Littlebear to the outside of the ring and jumped out as well and began to fight against him into the crowd. I was always against fighting into a situation like that, as you put yourself into a bad area where you can get stabbed or otherwise hurt by rioting fans.

Harley had more guts than common sense as he battled Littlebear into the steel chairs that fans had just sat down on. Blood was flying everywhere from both men as they fought. Somehow, Harley had grabbed a crutch from a fan that had a broken leg. He began to beat the living bejesus out of Danny with it and had welts coming up on his back from the impacts.

The referee in the match had no choice but to count to 20 as the men fought to show why they were the best in the Midwest. Finally, the dressing room broke out, and all the guys on the card ended up trying to break the two apart. Promoter Gust Karras even had four of his own guys involved in the ruckus. He decided that the only way for the two to fight again would be to put them inside a ring surrounded with lumberjacks.

Things quieted down, and, after a short intermission, the bell started to ring, calling the main event to the ring. I was decked out in my finest Kelly green jacket with yellow slacks, an orange shirt and flowered tie, topped off with a new green and black tam just sent to me by a relative of Angus in Scotland. Angus had his usual black singlet on with a Campbell clan kilt and a very determined look on his face.

We had been in a secret workout area most of the day, and I was showing Angus what only a few men beside myself were aware of in the ways of self-defense tactics. It was hard trying to show Angus, as he had blood in his eyes about the way this match was ordered by Karras. He had sensitivity about the way they were treating me.

As we entered the ring, the fans were screaming out profanity and chanting “Pat, Pat, Pat” to try and keep us fired up. O'Connor had been in the ring prior to us coming out and had removed his green ring jacket with the white lettering on the front and back. His body was covered with sweat, and he was very intent on getting his hands on both of us.

The bell rang, and the house lights went off, leaving only the bright ring lights shining over the blood-spattered canvas. As Angus began the match, he remembered the commands that I gave him earlier. He grabbed arm locks and wristlocks and countered every hold that O'Connor threw his way. He even grabbed a new combination that I designed just for Angus to use that night.

Almost as if someone above was giving O'Connor more and more strength to break away from Angus, he began another beating on the huge Scotsman that left him very hurt on the outside of the ring. Angus had grabbed at his arm and whispered to me that he thought O’Connor had broken it. As I looked at his arm, the count by the referee continued, and I jumped to the ring apron to break his count.

O'Connor continued to try and grab me by the jacket and was stopped many times by the ref. He was determined to give the fans a winner that night. I reached out and grabbed Angus by the right wrist and gave a huge tug and heard his arm pop back into place.

He jumped back through the ropes and grabbed Pat by the shoulders and suplexed him over his body. He lifted his body from the mat and gave him two more giant suplexes. It was then that he applied a version of the Gilligan Twist that had gained much success for Wild Red Berry a couple of decades before. The more that Pat pulled away, the harder the hold became.

O'Connor had no choice in the matter after nearly five minutes in the hold. He had to submit and give up and face the fact that a better man had beaten him.

I proved to the world that night that Angus was a better man than O'Connor but came to the conclusion that Pat was one of the toughest men that Angus ever faced and was very worthy of the fact that he was the best that the business had to offer as a past champion.

Percival A. Friend, Retired
The Epitome of Wrestling Managers
2004 CAC Honoree