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#Post#: 20659--------------------------------------------------
The Five; Amatuers who turned pro
By: SheriffLonestar Date: November 12, 2013, 5:03 pm
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A new occasional series where I will put up five things for
discussion. This is a not a best of list, its just five related
things and is no way borrowed/stolen/plagiarized from The
Guardian's Joy of Six Blog which is awesome;
HTML http://www.theguardian.com/sport/series/joyofsix
For the benefits of this list I am going to ignore four names
because though they are great, you already know a lot about them
and The Five is about highlighting the obscure and the unsung.
So there will be no Kurt Angle, Charlie Haas, Brock Lesnar or
Shetlon Benjamin. This is about guys you didn't think would have
an amateur background, or whom you may not have heard of.
1. Danny Hodge
Changing from being an amateur to being a pro is hard,
everything is the opposite. You have to explain the story of the
match with your facial expressions, amateurs are taught to hide
them so as not to give things away to their opponents. One of
the first guys to really hit it big in the modern era coming
straight from the amateur ranks was Danny Hodge. Hodge was not
just a good amateur he was one of the best ever, coming out of
Oklahoma with an incredible record. It wasn't that he went
through his entire collegiate career undefeated 46-0 with 36
wins coming by pin fall, it is that he never left his feet. In
four years no one managed a take down on him. He was that good.
He won silver at the Olympics in the middleweight division in
1956 games.
Moving into the pros he became the main stay of the NWA Junior
Heavyweight title seen. Being a slightly smaller version of Lou
Thesz, charismatic, athletically gifted and double tough he was
a favorite of the NWA promoters. Oh yes, he was also a handy
boxer to, going undefeated as an amateur, 8-2 as a pro. He gave
that up to wrestle full time. He is arguably the most successful
amateur convert of his era. As a kicker, the award given by the
NCAA to the outstanding Collegiate Wrestler every year is called
the Danny Hodge Award.
Here he is doing his party trick of crushing apples with his
bare hands. At the age of 79.
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j850TSvnHjY
2. Dave Finlay
Finlay, currently a WWE producer began his career as the son of
Dave Finlay Senior. One of Belfast's premier wrestling promoters
and drawing cards. What Dave Senior did on his off days was
produce some of the finest amateur wrestlers in Ulster. Dave
began his amateur training by doing bridges basically before he
got out of nappies. As the kids in the neighborhood saw him
being trained they all wanted to join in to. Pretty soon Dave
Senior had a club. He went on to be a very successful national
coach. Two Dave's children have wrestled to championship level
for their high schools.
This clip is from The Fit Finlay's, which is a documentary made
about Dave and his families history in wrestling and wrestling
training, the North Ireland Freestyle championships.
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tadlUJsvEdQ
3. Mick Foley
Yes that Mick Foley, barb wire and blood and guts Mick. Mick
Foley began his first stint in wrestling as an amateur in his
high school Ward Melville on Long Island. Though his work did
not really translate to the pro ranks, there was this one time
he used something from high school;
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4v9Z1wAOKc
4. Jumbo Tsuruta
The late great Jumbo Tsuruta was All Japan's Olympian, having
competed in the 1972 Olympics in Greco Roman wrestling, though
he would have far more success as a pro. Scouted by Giant Baba,
he was sent to the Funk Brothers in Amarillo to become a pro.
Being a Greco Roman guy his suplex heavy style suited the Texan
crowds and his work ethic and technical ability made him the
first face Japanese wrestler. His work in All Japan was equally
great and he retired with three triple crowns to his name.
Here he is with The Nature Boy Ric Flair wrestling for the NWA
Worlds Heavyweight title, proving that they where both 60 minute
men.
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HhL6LQ21s4
5. Baron von Raschke
James Raschke was actually a very mild mannered army veteran
with a fine amateur career that culminated in him being scouted
by the AWA. Verne Gagne whose eye for talent was great back in
the 50's, not so much the 80's onwards but anyway, handed him
over to his key trainer Mad Dog Vachon. Actually Mad Dog was
another former Olympian, the two bonded well and formed tag
teams down the years. Rashke went on to form the character
Baron von Raschke with his brain claw finisher he was a hated
heel in the territories which brought him great success. As with
all good "bad guy" ideas though you eventually run into issues.
His last run as a manager "The Baron" in the WWF in the 80's
ended when management realised he was to popular, he was getting
more cheers than the face teams his charges where facing. Here
is a classic promo for you to see how cool his character really
was;
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azVGCAJtmTo
#Post#: 20669--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Five; Amatuers who turned pro
By: tnafanforum Date: November 13, 2013, 7:46 am
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That is a very good read , see I never new that about mick and I
bet a lot of fans did not no he has an amateur background . He
is mostly known for his cell match with taker and his blood and
guts . I love this one tbh very good inside look :)
#Post#: 20674--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Five; Amatuers who turned pro
By: SheriffLonestar Date: November 13, 2013, 4:04 pm
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Thank you I like this little feature a lot as it can be a bit
more random :).
#Post#: 20695--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Five; Amatuers who turned pro
By: 01332tnafan Date: November 14, 2013, 3:35 pm
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Love this one nice and random
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