Manhattan, Kansas Part Two

When I left you, I was relating to a huge card in Manhattan in the North Central part of Kansas. The building had to have extra chairs brought in for the event, and it ended up being a complete sellout and standing room only with a lot of people being turned away at the box office.

The card was star studded with some of the top performers in the Midwest coming in for the event. We even had a World Midget Championship match on the card, and I am not talking about Omar Atlas. We had his eminence Lord Littlebrook, the Champion, facing a top contender in Little Bobo Johnson. Littlebrook was able to use the Giant Swing and a body press to get the duke over Johnson but only after they had been wrestling over 20 minutes.

Littlebrook showed the capacity crowd why he was the champ in more than one way since he had ringsiders wanting to come into the ring to help Johnson out a couple of times. He would just glare at them and casually open the ropes and tell them it's their life if they want to get into the ring with him.

Unknown to many in the crowd, he helped train Ed Wiskowski (Colonel DeBeers) and Mike George to enter the pro ranks and never showed them any mercy while training them. Ed told me many times that, during those training sessions at Littlebrook's Gym in St. Joe, that he was stretched by Littlebrook more than once.

I had put Angus through a vigorous training workout leading up to bell time, and he was a pool of sweat when we were called to the ring by the bell. The doors opened wide as we began our march to the ring to face the NWA Champ, Dory Funk Jr.

I was resplendent in a yellow and black checked coat with a pink silk shirt and a bright Kelly green tie. My slacks were fire engine red with a white stripe down the side, and I had my red, white and blue Dingo boots on with the steel toes in them. I was topped off with my green and black tam which, for those of you that didn't know, are the Campbell clan colors.

As we got to ringside, one of the guys in the front row took a poke at me, but I raised my briefcase just in time and watched him run off to the side swinging his hand like he had run into a wall or something. That Samsonite case saved me on many different times when I needed it. Security let the guy return to ringside and didn't even offer to throw him out of the building. Dory Funk just stood there with a smug look on his face and quietly smiled at Angus during the encounter.

Angus was successful in getting the first fall in the two out of three fall match in a little over 30 minutes of fighting. Both men were very sweaty and tired when Angus caught Funk in a series of one handed suplexes that nearly broke the champ in half. Of course, I had to give Angus some support, and so I did by telling him "ONE MORE" every time he lifted Funk in the air.

Fans were not happy with me at all as I had the biggest smile in the building on my face. I was confident \ that, in just a few short moments, I would be the World's Champ.

I screamed at Timekeeper Bill Kersten to ring the bell. I encouraged referee Frankie Diamond to get Funk to his feet and take the beating that Angus had given him as just a beginning to what was going to happen. I pleaded with Funk to just give us the belt and we would call it even.

The bell finally rang, and I screamed for Angus to start again on Funk's back. Dory gave a big lunge forward, and Angus was knocked out of the ring onto the hard wood floor. The referee began a count that got up to 16, and Angus finally made it back into the ring. Back then, we had a 20 count on the floor and 10 on the apron.

I told Angus to come outside on my side, and I reached into my pocket like I had something there and was attacked by three ringside fans. I caught one with the side of my case and nearly broke his arm, and Angus knocked the other two out before police could get to them to save them. By then, Dory was in the middle of everything and threw Angus back into the ring where he began to beat and pummel him until he opened a gash above his nose.

The crowd was in a real frenzy, and he ended the second fall at the 55-minute mark with a Spinning Toe Hold. This was the same hold that he won the title with from Gene Kiniski in 1969 in Tampa. Angus held on as long as he could before crying out UNCLE.

With only five minutes left in the match, when the bell rang, I pulled Angus from the ring and forced the referee to begin a count to 20. I know that if Angus had just a minute more of rest that he could return to the ring and beat Funk without any reservations. I had Angus take three counts to 19 before I told him to go ahead and take the champ out.

Angus began to use those giant European Uppercuts to Funk's chest and jaw. He had him teetering and wobbly from all the pounding, and it was then that I told him to grab a Bear Hug and force the champ to submit. With only 35 seconds left, I was sure that Funk would just give up, and I would be the champ.

Dory amazed the audience by holding on and taking a deep breath and lasting the time limit. I wanted to have more time as I was sure that Bill Kersten had cut the match short in favor of his guy Dory Jr.

Dory was given the belt and carried back to the dressing room, and we had to fight our way back to ours. We asked for a rematch through promoter Gust Karras but was not given one. Dory Funk Jr. had enough of Black Angus for one career.

Percival A. Friend, Retired
The Epitome of Wrestling Managers