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54-487: It debuted as a part of a storyline to introduce Don Fargo to the Memphis wrestling territory ; this allowed Fargo to challenge various wrestlers in hardcore-themed matches . Like most professional wrestling "brass knuckle" championships , both wrestlers would heavily tape their fists to give the impression that each participant was wearing brass knuckles ; the title was generally defended in no-disqualification matches and it

108-426: A heart attack . He had previously suffered a fall at a supermarket and subsequently underwent heart-bypass surgery. Lou Thesz, Rogers's long-time colleague and frequent opponent, described Rogers's early impact in his memoir, Hooker : Rogers is remembered by fans and performers alike as one of the top all-time stars in the business, but it's probably not common knowledge just how influential he was... he broke into

162-594: A best two out of three falls tag team match . During the Rogers–Barend feud, Rogers regularly teamed with a masked wrestler, The Shadow. Prior to his title reign with Barend, Rogers frequently teamed with the "Big O" Bob Orton. During the 1950s, Rogers's main tag team partner was The Great Scott. After Thesz defeated Rogers for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, Northeast promoters Toots Mondt and Vincent J. McMahon withdrew their membership from

216-515: A fan favorite, leading to Rogers managing Snuka for his feud with Lou Albano and Ray Stevens . During the feud, Rogers broke his hip and retired from professional wrestling for good. His show was replaced by "Victory Corner", which would later be replaced by " Piper's Pit ". He would continue to make sporadic appearances in the WWF until 1984, right before the beginning of the Rock 'n' Wrestling era . Rogers, who

270-410: A fight. Rogers proceeded to push the man into a wall, leading to the man throwing a chair at him. Rogers fought back and threw the man five feet into a refrigerator. Rogers then hit him in the stomach, knocking him into the kitchen. He then held onto Rogers' hair repeatedly telling him to stop, fleeing the shop afterwards. Rogers, who received 14 stitches after the fight, stated to a reporter that

324-444: A garbage truck where he belongs". Almost like a tag team of pseudo-arrogance, Davis would incredulously say of Roger's opponents that they did not even deserve to be in the same ring as Rogers, bemoaning the fact that "this is a sport of kings!" Although he was viewed as a villain in most areas during most of his career, Rogers was always a fan favorite in cities throughout Ohio. This was probably due to his appearances for many years with

378-604: A habit of taking advantage of opponents in the ring. During his prime years, he was known as much for his distinctive peacock -like strut as for his wrestling performance. He was also very skilled at drawing heat during interviews, with a smug "to a nicer guy, it couldn't have happened" being his catchphrase of sorts whenever he was victorious. He may have been the first authentic "charismatic" professional wrestler, who, along with almost equally charismatic Bobby Davis, would use cruel, yet hilarious, put-downs of his opponents, such as: "After I get through with him, he'll be back driving

432-539: A job as a manager at a Playboy Club casino. He resided in Haddonfield, New Jersey , until he moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida , in 1987. In 1989, while Rogers was eating a turkey sandwich at a hoagie shop in Florida, a 6-foot-2-inch (188 cm) 230-pound (100 kg) man in his late 20s began verbally abusing two female employees. Rogers told the man to stop shouting, but the man called him “old” and challenged him to

486-579: A major professional wrestling market at the time. He was pitted against Lou Thesz as a draw . In the end, Muchnick's promotion was powerful enough with Rogers as its main star that the two promotions merged. Rogers continued control of the Midwest as a booker and professional wrestler, most notably in Chicago , frequently selling out the 11,000-seat arena. In the 1950s, Rogers expanded into Vincent J. McMahon 's Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC). He also wrestled in

540-524: A minute or two. He participated in a few tag team matches with partner Handsome Johnny Barend where he spent almost the entire match in his corner on the ring apron while Barend did the wrestling. Rogers defeated Hans "The Great" Mortier in less than a minute with the figure-four leglock in Madison Square Garden and teamed with Handsome Johnny Barend to take two out of three falls via pin from Sammartino and Bobo Brazil, with Rogers pinning Sammartino for

594-416: A panic and hid Rogers's medical problems. In an emergency title switch, Rogers lost to Bruno Sammartino in a quick 48 second match on May 17, 1963, in Madison Square Garden. The match had to be kept short for fear of Rogers having a major heart attack and dying in the ring. Following his loss to Sammartino, health problems forced Rogers to wrestle in only a limited number of short singles matches that lasted

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648-502: A shipyard, and became a police officer. Rogers visited the offices of professional wrestling promoters Ray and Frank Hanley, who gave him his first match on July 4, 1939, against nobody , which moe brazen does not exist Rogers soon became a top professional wrestler using his real name around his hometown as Dutch Rhode, where he gained his first major win over Ed "Strangler" Lewis . He continued his career in Houston , where he assumed

702-475: A very respected veteran and spokesman for professional wrestling. Rogers had one of the longest consistent top drawing periods of any main eventer (15 years) and the ability to draw in several different territories successfully. In 1994, he was posthumously inducted into the World Wrestling Federation Hall of Fame class of 1994 . Fellow professional wrestlers Ric Flair and Buddy Landel adopted

756-720: The NWA Wrestling Legends Hall of Heroes ( Class of 2009 ) and was an Honouree of the Cauliflower Alley Club in 2004. Donald Vincent Kalt was born on October 3, 1930, in Germany but was raised in New York City and Pittsburgh , where he became involved in bodybuilding, winning the 1952 Mr. Pittsburgh bodybuilding competition. He began his professional wrestling career in Al Haft 's Columbus promotion, competing under

810-720: The World Wrestling Association , where they became two-time WWA World Tag Team Champions as "The Chain Gang". The team (and Frank Dillinger career) ended after Frank was shot and injured in a bar fight in Wisconsin. The pair had been jumped by a real biker gang who had taken offence to the Dillingers; Don Fargo escaped unscathed by jumping into a river. Fargo's autography, The Hard Way , has been called "required reading from how kayfabe once existed" due to his commitment to "living

864-454: The ring name " Nature Boy " Buddy Rogers , was an American professional wrestler who was one of the biggest professional wrestling stars in the beginning of the television era. His performances influenced future professional wrestlers, including "Nature Boy" Ric Flair , who used Rogers's nickname, as well as his look, attitude and finishing hold, the figure-four leglock . He was also known for his rivalry with Lou Thesz , both in and out of

918-573: The "Nature Boy" gimmick from Rogers as a tribute to him. Even using Rogers's own signature move, the figure-four leglock, as his own, Flair even went as far as doing his own variation of the Rogers strut as well. Five of Rogers's six reigns with the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship occurred before the title came under the control of the NWA and before the NWA was created. The situation is

972-464: The $ 148,000 gate in ticket sales was a professional wrestling record for almost twenty years. The contest, which was a two out of three falls match , was billed as the "Match of the Century", during which both men had gained a pinfall . However, when O'Connor missed a dropkick and hit his head, Rogers pinned him to win the match and being recognized as the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion. A rematch

1026-526: The Al Haft Promotion who had their offices in Columbus. According to Thesz, Rogers, although admittedly an excellent professional wrestler and a superb showman, was a manipulative schemer behind the scenes and was fond of saying in private: "Screw your friends and be nice to your enemies, so your enemies will become your friends, and then you can screw them too". With age, however, Rogers mellowed and became

1080-646: The Al Haft promotion out of Columbus, Ohio in the 1950s and through 1963. In 1961, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) voted him into an NWA World Heavyweight Championship match. On June 30, 1961, Rogers took the title from Pat O'Connor in front of 38,622 fans at Comiskey Park , which set a new North American professional wrestling attendance record that stood until the David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions in 1984. In addition,

1134-528: The Carolinas was his feud with the new "Nature Boy" Ric Flair , before Rogers put over Flair on July 9, 1978. After his time in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW), he moved back into WWF where he was a fan favorite manager and part-time professional wrestler who also hosted the interview segment "Rogers' Corner" until 1983. Rogers was instrumental in helping turn Jimmy Snuka into

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1188-678: The NWA World Tag Team titles in 1958 and dominated the National Wrestling Alliance during the late 1950s, headlining events throughout the northeast, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Chicago. In 1957 Vincent J. McMahon reopened wrestling in Madison Square Garden , where the Fargos were booked. On Match 30, 1957, they headlined a World Tag Team Championship bout against Argentina Rocca and Miguel Perez before 20,125 fans which

1242-557: The NWA and formed the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF, now WWE ). The promoters felt that Thesz was not a strong draw in their territory, therefore the WWWF billed Rogers as their world champion as did Fred Kohler's Chicago promotion from January 25. Rogers was formally recognized as the first ever WWWF World Heavyweight Champion on April 11, 1963, when promoter and first WWWF President Willie Gilzenberg handed Rogers

1296-668: The South until their breakup in 1965. In Detroit, Fargo formed a tag team with a young Greg Valentine . "He was a great worker" Valentine said of Fargo, "I learned a lot from him...he really helped me out a lot". Valentine would later introduce Don Fargo to the audience as the Fargo Brothers were inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame, class of 2014. In 1969, Fargo formed a new team with Kenny Mack (now known as Frank Dillinger), achieving their greatest success in

1350-585: The WWWF World Heavyweight Championship belt on Washington, D.C., television. Gilzenberg explained that Rogers won a wrestling tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil , although it was fictional. WWE.com currently cites April 25, 1963, as the beginning of Rogers's reign. Rogers was a top draw, but his reign was ultimately cut short by a mild heart attack which greatly hindered his endurance and in-ring performance. Vincent J. McMahon and Toots Mondt were in

1404-403: The arena. With the championship on the line, Rogers and Barend isolated Skaaland whom Rogers forced to submit with his figure-four leglock to win the first fall. After Skaaland was carried from the ring on a stretcher, Valentine continued to fight alone in the second fall. Valentine fought valiantly, but was worn down by Rogers and Barend. Just when it looked like Valentine was going to succumb to

1458-420: The business somewhere around 1941 as a hero-type personality, with little more going for him than a good body and natural charisma in the ring – which is actually a pretty good beginning – and he was a hit almost from the start. He had that indefinable something fans responded to, and he was sharp enough to build upon what he had, paying attention to what got a reaction from the fans. What evolved over several years

1512-643: The corner and knocked each other out. The referee was distracted by Valentine trying to get into the ring as Rogers grabbed an unconscious Barend by his hair and back of his trunks and threw him on top of Ellis for the victory. Rogers and Barend defeated Valentine and Ellis in a title rematch at Madison Square Garden on July 13, 1962. They defended the championship until March 7, 1963, when they lost to Killer Buddy Austin and The Great Scott on Capitol Wrestling's regular Thursday night television broadcast. Rogers and Barend split briefly and feuded, but they reunited that summer to defeat Bobo Brazil and Bruno Sammartino in

1566-564: The early 1950s, Lillian Ellison (under the moniker Slave Girl Moolah ) worked as his valet . Ellison claims that the partnership ended after Rogers pushed for a sexual relationship, which Ellison refused. With the advent of television, Rogers's flashy look, great physique and bombastic personality instantly caught the ire of audiences. The first sign of Rogers's impact was his involvement in Sam Muchnick 's opposition promotion in St. Louis, Missouri ,

1620-549: The early 1960s, Fargo became Jack Dalton and had title reigns as a tag team with Kenny Mack as a biker duo and Rene Goulet as a foreign legion duo, among others. He is retrospectively known for his many ring names in various promotions. Regardless of name, Fargo could draw money and heat in whichever territory he competed. Bob Kelly later stated that "it didn't matter who Don Kalt was portraying" and that Fargo "had phenomenal ring psychology". In Texas, Don teamed with Jim Dalton to form The Dirty Daltons. The team had success throughout

1674-597: The final fall. The big rematch was to be held October 4, 1963, at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, New Jersey. The tickets were printed with Rogers–Sammartino on them. However, it was announced that Rogers was retiring and Gorilla Monsoon , who had won a tournament, got the title shot that night. In 1966–1967, Rogers wrestled in 18 short matches in Canada. In 1969, Rogers appeared in 19 quick matches in an Ohio-based promotion called Wrestling Show Classics before he realized his health

AWA Brass Knuckles Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue

1728-536: The gimmick" and being his wrestling persona at all times in public. "Every gimmick I did, I'm the only guy that lived. I lived it" Fargo said, "I stayed in costume 24 hours a day". In his later years, Fargo lived in rural woodland near Cantonment, Florida with his wife Margie and their many dogs. In the year preceding his death he had been battling cancer . He died on November 8, 2015. Buddy Rogers (wrestler) Buddy Rogers (born Herman Gustav Rohde Jr. ; February 20, 1921 – June 26, 1992), better known by

1782-406: The man calling him “old” was the worst part of the incident, then saying "Hell, I'm only 68, that's not so old." In early 1992, Rogers’ health deteriorated. He had a broken arm and suffered three strokes, two of them occurring on the same day. At his own request he was not placed on life-support and died on June 26, 1992, at the age of 71. Other reports suggest that his death was as the result of

1836-470: The manager of Buddy Rogers - before going to form "The Fabulous Fargos" with Jackie Fargo. "(They were) the best in the world. They were just ahead of their time...just way ahead of everybody else" Cowboy Bob Kelly said of the Fargos in "The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams". They spent 1956-1960 competing throughout the United States as perhaps the most popular team of their day. Together they won

1890-500: The match and the title. Rogers was a co-holder of the NWA United States Tag Team Championship with tag team partner "Handsome" Johnny Barend. They won the championship on July 5, 1962, from Johnny Valentine and “Cowboy” Bob Ellis on Capitol Wrestling's regular Thursday night Washington, D.C., television show. Arnold Skaaland was a last minute replacement for Ellis whose flight was delayed and unable to get to

1944-552: The name Buddy Rogers. Rogers would get his first title during his tenure there, winning the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship four times, once from Lou Thesz , beginning a long feud between them both in and out of the ring. After leaving the Texas territory for Columbus, Ohio , Rogers bleached his hair, and was given the moniker "Natural Guy" by promoter Jack Pfefer . The moniker later evolved to "Nature Boy". In

1998-520: The ring name "Don Stevens", the kayfabe brother of Ray Stevens. While in Ohio, Kalt met former World Heavyweight Champion "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers , whom Kalt credits his success to. "He was my idol" Kalt said of Rogers "I mirrored him a little bit. He didn't mind because I was doing such a good job of it". He had stints under different names, including Don Juan the Magnificent - managed by Bobby Davis, also

2052-466: The ring. Rogers was a fourteen-time world champion , notably holding the top championship in both the NWA and the WWWF, today known as WWE (he was the inaugural WWWF World Heavyweight Champion ). He is one of four men in history to have held both championships, along with Ric Flair, AJ Styles and Cody Rhodes . Rogers was the son of Herman Gustav Rohde Sr., and Frieda Stech, both German immigrants. He

2106-509: The sidelines. Upon his return, the NWA voted to switch the title back over to Lou Thesz, who publicly disliked Rogers. On January 24, 1963, the match took place in Toronto. Rogers was hesitant about dropping the title, so promoter Sam Muchnick put three safeguards in place to guarantee Rogers's cooperation. The first safeguard was formatting the match as a one fall finish , rather than the traditional best two out of three falls. The second safeguard

2160-537: The title became abandoned once again. Don Fargo was the first champion in the title's history. He also held the record for longest reign at 595 days. Don Fargo Donald Vincent Kalt (October 3, 1930 – November 8, 2015), better known by his ring name Don Fargo , was a German-born American professional wrestler. During his career (which spanned from 1952 to 1986), he held over 55 championships including 14 reigns as NWA World Tag Team Champion, most famously with Jackie Fargo as part of The Fabulous Fargos. He

2214-526: The title to engage in wild brawls with other stars of the Memphis territory. During his 1979-80 run with the CWA and his brother Jackie Fargo were allies of Jerry "The King" Lawler ; Fargo also formed tag teams Chris Colt, The Destroyer , and Dennis Condrey . One of his most notable matches as AWA Brass Knuckles Champion was against Jimmy Valiant on September 29, 1980, who defeated Fargo via disqualification. The title

AWA Brass Knuckles Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue

2268-429: The vicious attack of the heels the crowd erupted. The television cameras swung from a view of the ring to "Cowboy" Bob Ellis running down the aisle in street clothes and carrying a travel suitcase. Ellis jumped into the ring, applied multiple bulldog headlocks and pinned Barend to win the second fall for his team. The third fall featured everyone fighting inside and outside the ring. Finally, Ellis and Barend collided in

2322-453: The wrestling prior to Rogers's emergence was done on the mat. Rogers was the first to use flying moves in quantity, staying off the mat, and the style was so popular with the fans that other wrestlers, including me, followed his lead. Another Rogers contribution to modern professional wrestling was his bombastic interviewing style. Professional wrestlers might talk and converse with interviewers, but Rogers bragged and boasted about how great he

2376-512: Was a mainstay for various territories throughout the United States including NWA Mid-America , Georgia Championship Wrestling , Western States Sports and Big Time Wrestling (later World Class Championship wrestling). Gulf Coast wrestler Terry Lathan has called Fargo "one of the most colourful, fascinating personalities ever in wrestling". He was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum ( Class of 2014 ),

2430-499: Was abandoned after Fargo left the Memphis territory at the end of the month. On October 20, 1980, Crusher Lisowski won the vacant title after defeating "Crusher" Jerry Blackwell in St. Paul, Minnesota . Lisowski defended the title in the American Wrestling Association for five months until leaving the promotion in the summer of 1981, after having suffered a career-ending injury at the hands of Jerry Blackwell, and

2484-457: Was and how pathetic his opponents were. After winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Pat O'Connor in Chicago in 1961, Rogers accepted the title belt and then took the microphone and shouted, "To a nicer guy it couldn't happen!" This type of bombastic style went over well with the fans and has been followed ever since. However, Rogers was not well liked during his prime years because he had

2538-526: Was at the age of 71, was set to wrestle yet another "Nature Boy", this time Buddy Landel , in a comeback match for the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance (TWA, a predecessor of Extreme Championship Wrestling – ECW) in early 1992, but the promotion went out of business and the match never occurred. Rogers married Ruth "Debbie" Nixon in 1969 and subsequently adopted her son, David Buddy Rogers, as his own. When Rogers retired from wrestling, he took

2592-588: Was athletic, and took up wrestling at age nine at the local YMCA, joining the Camden YMCA Wrestling League and winning its heavyweight championship. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II . Rogers also excelled in football, boxing, track and swimming, winning the YMCA's three-mile swimming championship in 1937. Rogers joined the Dale Brothers Circus as a wrestler at age 17. He later worked at

2646-479: Was his threat to give Rogers's bond away to charity, rather than returning the deposit to the dethroned Rogers. Every NWA World Heavyweight Champion was required to pay a $ 25,000 deposit to the NWA Board of Directors, before winning the championship belt . The deposit was held by the NWA for the duration of the champion's reign. The third safeguard was Thesz, who could "take" the title if necessary. Ultimately, Thesz won

2700-574: Was legal to punch an opponent. Fargo and Lisowski were the only champions. The AWA Brass Knuckles Championship was first defended on February 12, 1979, at the Mid-South Coliseum , in a match between Don Fargo and Robert Gibson . Fargo was billed by the promotion as the "World Brass Knuckles Champion", however, the title mostly defended in the Continental Wrestling Association . Together with manager Al Greene , Fargo would use

2754-611: Was not getting better to the point where he could wrestle. He spent time on television talking with his former manager Bobby Davis. A decade later, Rogers would try to make a legitimate comeback. In 1979, Rogers returned to wrestling as a fan favorite in Florida , although he was in his late 50s. He later moved up to Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) in the Carolinas as a villain manager overseeing professional wrestlers like Jimmy Snuka , Ken Patera , Gene Anderson , Dewey Robertson and Big John Studd . His most notable moment during his run in

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2808-559: Was set between the two for the title months later, where Rogers retained it. At the time, Rogers was working at two different jobs in Chicago, but he never walked into work again according to his autobiography. Many promoters felt that Rogers favored northeastern promoters over other territories. Promoters and noted shooters Bill Miller and Karl Gotch confronted Rogers in Columbus and broke his hand. Rogers sustained another injury in Montreal against Killer Kowalski , which kept Rogers on

2862-562: Was the "Nature Boy", the prototype of the cocky, strutting, sneering, arrogant peroxide blond villain that is almost a tired wrestling cliché today. Rogers invented the character, and I believe he did it better than anyone. Thesz continued, He was also one of the first guys to rely a lot on what we called "flying" moves in the ring – body slams , dropkicks, piledrivers , ricochets off the ropes into his opponent , action moves that are commonplace today. All of those moves were in use before Rogers came along, but they were used sparingly; most of

2916-517: Was the largest crowd drew in the area for over 25 years, dating back to Jim Londos in 1931. In the 1960s The Fabulous Fargos also embarked on successful singles runs but would reunite occasionally, especially in the South , where they had a huge run in Tennessee in 64/65. "When me and Jackie were together, we were the greatest team" Don stated, "that sounds like bragging, but we had a good thing going." In

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