April 7, 1972

I certainly want to take the time to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving and hope that you are blessed with friends and family at your table--Percival

Normally, I never let anyone else steal the spotlight from myself and any of the great champions that I handled during my career. It was the underhanded thievery and agonistics of Danny Littlebear and Archie "The Stomper" Gouldie.

They had gone to promoter Gust Karras and claimed that they were going to upset the current tag team champions, Chati Yokouchi and Yasu Fuji, at the next card in St. Joseph the following Friday night. Of course, Danny Littlebear, the crybaby office boy that he was, had Gust in his back pocket, and now he was joined by the biggest egomaniac of the pair … The Stomper.

I had signed a contract the past Saturday at the evening television tapings to be in the Main Event in a handicap match with Angus against Omar Atlas. Between the skullduggery and cheating that Omar did to win the match the night before against Angus, the referee … MOODY … gave me every reason in the world to believe that Jesse James was alive and well in St. Joe.

I fully intended to show Omar that I had wrestling skills besides the ability to manage champions. I was going to give him a wrestling lesson that he deserved the following Friday at the city auditorium.

I had arrived about two hours before bell time and was escorted to my private dressing room in the rear of the auditorium. It was a spot that had been shared by many great people that had come to St. Joseph to appear before the people that lived there.

I began to do a series of warm-ups like I had done for seven years as a wrestler. Deep knee bends, sit-ups, pushups, jumping rope and other exercises that would loosen up my body and get me ready for the match that night. Angus had joined me in every move I made and was very ready for the man they called "Mr. Excitement."

I watched as the card began, and, much to my amazement, the opening match had Ronnie Etchison, The Old Pro from St. Joe, taking on Black Jack Black. I walked to the ring in full wrestling gear under a bright yellow full length robe that was lined to keep me warm. It had written, in huge letters on the back, "THE EPITOME." Fans showed me their disapproval by throwing cups of pop and beer, and some threw tomatoes, which hit one of the police that were escorting us to the ring.

Etchison was not happy to see me at ringside, as was Gust Karras, who was seated at ringside in his usual pompous position. I stood and watched as Blackie tore up Etchison's new ring coat given to him by his fan club just a few hours earlier. I had Etchison’s attention by screaming out that he was out of his league by even being there. The bell rang, and I exited the ring. It was then that Ronnie jumped out and began to chase me. As I jumped into the ring, the referee had just counted to 10 before Ronnie had a chance to make it back inside. He was not the fastest guy in St. Joe, I was!!!!!

He was very angered at me and challenged me to a match the following week. Of course, I denied him that pleasure as I told him that I had him outnumbered and outclassed. The referee raised Blackie's hand in victory, and I raised mine next to him. It took eight policemen to get us back to our dressing rooms.

Benny Ramirez faced the newcomer by the name of Billy Howard in the second match. The fans remembered Howard as the man that beat the living daylights out of Bob Orton Sr. a few weeks before. They wrestled to a 20-minute draw.

On the way back to the dressing room area, Howard was met by Orton as he went towards the ring for the next match. Orton began to berate the youngster and told him that he was a very LUCKY young man to be walking. He assured him that the beating HE got was the worst thing that anyone had ever done to him. He then began to poke his finger into Howard's chest and call him anything but Mr. He asked him if he would like to try that again on him.

The police that took me to the dressing room 25 minutes ago were again called to break up the argument that Orton had started with a few fans that were supporting Billy Howard. By this time, Steve Bolus from Canada had made his way to the ring and was signing autographs when Orton hit the ring.

A young fan had made the mistake of handing Orton his prized autograph book that had taken him a lot of visits to the ring to fill. Orton held his hand out, took the book and turned to the fans, began to smile and then began to rip it into shreds before the youngster.

Bolus took a big disliking to what he had done and began to punch and kick Orton before he even had a chance to get the beautiful black silk jacket off, that had an embroidered picture of a funnel cloud on it and the words "Kansas Tornado" below it. It didn't take long for the wily veteran Orton to scatter out of the ring and regroup himself.

Being the smart ring technician, Orton entered the ring and began to ask for forgiveness from the fans. They had converged to the retaining ropes that surrounded the ring and were crying out for his blood for what he had done to the autograph book, which lay in pieces on the hard wood floor.

Orton had 28 more minutes of time left in this 30-minute match, and he wanted it to go at his pace and beat this great athlete from Canada. He needed to get him into his way of thinking and then drop the heart punch on him and beat him in the middle of the ring. Bolus was not going for Orton's ring tactics and had every fan in the building against the North Kansas City brawler.

Special referee Frankie Diamond had been called to ringside to assist Moody in calling the action that was in and out of the ring for nearly 25 minutes. Orton did everything he could do to upset the string of victories that Bolus had in the St. Joe auditorium.

Orton had Bolus down many times for a two-count but could not execute the dreaded heart punch that had taken many of his opponents to the hospital. After missing a huge right-handed punch intended for Steve's chin, Bolus caught the bigger opponent in an Octopus hold and had Orton screaming out in pain.

Orton's old tag partner, The Viking, had come to the ring to lend his support to Bob when Steve suddenly dropped Orton to the mat in a crumpled mess and proceeded to get into The Viking's face about him being there. Gust Karras was quick to voice his anger to the referee and had Bob Orton disqualified for outside interference.

The Viking dropped Bolus to the floor with a well-aimed fist and then drug him into the ring, where Orton was just regaining his composure. Viking told Orton that he only came to the ring to give him the support that tag partners should and did not want to share in the glory of him beating Bolus in the middle of the ring.

Orton shook his hand and had him pick up Bolus from the mat and hold his arms behind him and then delivered a huge heart punch that dropped Steve to the mat. Then Orton, picked him up and slugged him until they had fans coming into the ring, and the riot police had to be called.

As he was getting ready to leave the ring, Orton turned to Bolus on the mat and called out on the house microphone, "Don't mess with Kansas City, you dumb Canadian!"

To be continued....

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