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In wrestling, enhancement talent exists to make stars look like stars. You don’t remember their names. You don’t buy their shirts. Their role is simple: get in, take the beating, make the hero shine, and get out. But in December 1990, one jobber’s career ended before it ever began—and his name wound up in court … Read More “Chuck Austin: The Jobber Who Broke the Business” »

When you’re born into the Armstrong family, you don’t exactly get to pick your career path. You wrestle. Period. Bob Armstrong raised his boys on headlocks, dropkicks, and Southern grit. Scott became a referee and road agent, Brad became the quiet workhorse beloved by his peers, Brian became the loud-mouthed Road Dogg of DX fame. … Read More “Steve Armstrong: The Forgotten Son of the Bullet” »

Some wrestlers are born into the business. Some stumble into it. And then there’s Bob Armstrong—the Georgia firefighter and Marine Corps veteran who walked into the ring in 1960 and never really walked out, even after six decades, a shattered face, four wrestling sons, and one last match at 79 years old. They called him … Read More “Bullet Bob Armstrong: The Fireman Who Never Put Out His Own Flame” »

Wrestling has always loved its strongmen. From Bruno Sammartino to Mark Henry, promoters salivate at the idea of a guy so strong he could snap a turnbuckle with his bare hands. In the mid-1980s, Vince McMahon thought he had struck gold with a man who could actually do it. His name was Ted Arcidi—the first … Read More “Ted Arcidi: Wrestling’s Heavyweight Paperweight” »

If you grew up watching wrestling in the 1950s and 1960s, you didn’t have to look far for a villain. Every generation gets the bad guys it deserves, and for postwar America, nothing got heat faster than a wrestler in a black robe, bowing to the crowd, sneering at Uncle Sam. That was Mitsu Arakawa. … Read More “Mitsu Arakawa: The Atomic Heel” »

Pro wrestling is full of strange gimmicks, but few enter the ring blowing “Taps” on a trumpet like David Sheldon. He was billed as The Angel of Death, and for a few wild years in the 1980s, he looked the part: 6’5”, terrifying, a bodyguard for the Freebirds, one-half of The Russian Assassins, the first … Read More “The Angel of Death: Wrestling’s Trumpet-Playing Phantom” »