The transition to the steroid era — World champion superstar Billy Graham
“The Big Cat”, Ernie Ladd; Handsome Harley Race! My two favorite fighters of all time. I forgot how much I tried as a child to develop an Ernie Ladd attitude. He was passing by on my skateboard, announcing to everyone that I was the big cat! Thanks to YouTube, I realized how cool Harley Race was, although I didn’t like it as much as I did when I was a kid (I see it as what a man is supposed to be; a man’s man!). I see him as a really tough guy who wanted to get into wrestling just to show how tough he was (isn’t that what it’s supposed to be?). Today, I see most fighters wanting a six pack and afraid to say what’s really on their mind. It’s so corporate it’s pathetic! One example is Harley Race, an old-school wrestler from the territories, taking on the “new steroid style” wrestler that started going mainstream in the ’80s. The wrestler he faced in the video is superstar Billy Graham. In the interview, superstar Graham confronts Harley Race out of the blue, as Race gives an interview. Superstar proceeds to show off his massive steroid-induced arms. I love when Race tells him; “I don’t need that puffy bologna, I’m a real man,” and he said it quite calmly. Superstar waved his hand and walked away to argue without saying a word.
That’s it exactly What I’m talking about. The fighters of the late ’60s and ’70s were easily tougher men than what you see coming out of the curtains today; big fireworks and dazzling neon-colored clothing. Harley Race had an old school tattoo; no coloring, just black ink — it was tough! Today’s wrestlers are full of colorful tattoos and bloated, steroid-induced physiques. It’s enough to want to make me vomit! Ernie Ladd gave an interview in which he called Chief Jay Strongbow a drunk Indian, and called Manny Fernandez a “wet.” He said that he would beat up the “Greek” Bubba Douglas. Ernie turned out to be a great black athlete. He was a 5-time All-Pro with the Chargers and Chiefs. Hands down, he was my favorite wrestler growing up. He was a great proven athlete, and you can tell in his younger games that he moved like a great football player would. He ended up with bad knees when the ’80s rolled around.
Check out some full episodes of old school wrestling on YouTube
Like I said, it doesn’t seem like I’m alone in this thought. If you look specifically at YouTube comments, for shows like CWF (Championship Wrestling From Florida), hosted by Gordon Solie, you’ll see nothing but admirable comments from everyone, young and old alike. But if you look at wrestling, post-2005, you’ll see a lot of people saying wrestling today is pathetic. That was other point I wanted to make; announcers such as Gordon Solie used actual wrestling moves in their commentary: “high hip throw”; “belly to belly suplex”; “catch like catch can wrestler”; “lockdown – neck and elbow”. Those are just a few of the phrases that lend credence to the entire wrestling experience. I can vividly remember when he was a kid, attending the Tuesday night taping at the old Ft. Homer Hesterly Armory in Tampa. Those were times I will never forget.
