Author: Dr. Mike Lano

In 2020, I knew. He was getting better at body surfing along the California coast. He laughed, saying he hoped to be this generation’s Nick Gabaldon. Santa Monica, CA native Gabaldon remains the most recognizable African-American surfer in history. He broke many barriers and helped train other Black wave riders, including Mikey February and others in the Black Surfers Collective, who formed Global Nick G Day in 2013. S had was aware of all that. Like him, he was also a student of wrestling history and its idols: Bobo Brazil, Bearcat Wright, Ernie Ladd, Jim Mitchell, Shag Thomas, Tiger Conway…

I can’t speak for everyone else ever, but watching some of Vice Network’s second season of Dark Side Of The Ring at times was pretty hard. Particularly with subjects I was close to—some real characters like Owen Hart and Herb Abrams. Owen Hart was really an example of Heaven on Earth. I spent a significant amount of time with Owen Hart. First in Japan in the early ’90s, when he shined over there with an incredible Juniors division. The one led by Jushin Lyger/Keichi Yamada and his famous workhorse dojo that was separate from NJPW’s overall one. Owen was always…

Long-time fan/wrestler/trainer/promoter “Pistol Pete” Marquez, of La Puente, California, who wrestled professionally for over 26 years, passed recently while In-Hospice at the age of 65 in May of 2021. After retiring, he was a booker, trainer, worker, and more for West Coast promotions and schools such as California Championship Wrestling, International Wrestling Federation, and United Wrestling Council. Marquez was also a TV and film stunt coordinator and a long-time financial secretary for the International Machinists Union Local 177. ________________________ He was an original CAC Board of Director when I came aboard in 1992, and he dedicated his time to serving…

Recent CAC (Cauliflower Alley Club) honorees Booker T Huffman and Mark Henry had already been lending their credible voices to Black Live Matter issues leading our industries to charge on various general mainstream news programs the past week-plus. Legendary SouthEast wrestling legend Sputnik Monroe has to be smiling down on our current guys for doing the right thing. Sputnik’s still recognized as helping integrate African-American fans so they could sit anywhere they wanted. This was primarily at wrestling matches in the South and courageously challenging then discriminatory Jim Crow Segregation Laws. His strong voice transcends the biz, making national news…

The late/great comic genius/actor/director Carl Reiner was an admitted pro-wrestling fan “since the fifties. Carl Reiner became a star on tv’s earliest hit show in America, called Your Show Of Shows. It launched the career as entertainment gods Carl, his best friend Mel Brooks, star Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Neil Simon, Nanette Fabray, and tons of others in 1950, narrowly beating nationally syndicated tv wrestling each week. A decade later, Carl had his friend Fred Blassie on the show Carl created(after his own life as a comedy tv writer), wrote, produced, and often directed in The Dyke Van Dyke show casting…

Wrestling’s loss of comic, TV host & co-host, game show host, and actor, Regis “Mr. TV” Philbin still lingers more than anyone. He is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as having logged more television hours than anyone on the planet. Regis Philbin claimed to others that he briefly did some mid-1950s wrestling TV announcing, like his game show host idol Dennis James. Regis did, indeed, have a long relationship with the wrestling industry. One that he utilized in the 1960s while co-hosting the Joey Bishop show. Regis also made guest appearances on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. As…

Gordon Solie called Wrestling’s Walter Cronkite because of his distinguished, educative, superb on-air presence. He could relate to regular, every-folk still remains my benchmark. Solie commentated in Florida, Georgia, USA Championship (out of Knoxville, TN), Continental, and even at the end, for “Ring Warriors”. He could be heard on TV outside North America and was paired with Bruno Sammartino for the very first time. He was doing voiceover work on New Japan’s great action at the time. Jim Ross is obviously right there as Gordon’s later peer with most everyone following. From Bob Caudle who just had, what his amazing…

One of wrestling’s most believable in-ring athletes and best promo stars for many decades, Bullet Bob Armstrong, passed away yesterday far too young, at only 80. Bob had fought prostate, rib, and shoulder cancer for some time and had chosen to stop receiving treatment. He began his in-ring career in 1960, wrestling mainly near the Southeast NWA territories that he loved. Bob received some of his greatest fame and praise for his years of work in Georgia and, much later, for inspiring everyone in Jim Cornette’s Smoky Mountain Wrestling promotion in the 1990s. And he attended our 1995 CAClub ancillary…

On August 27th, 2010, we lost Angelle “Luna” Vachon. So young at only 48. Her given name was Gertrude. But she was too lovely a person to be saddled with it. So I never called her that when she was driving some of us to shows on the road trips, or just hanging out. I remember the always smiling “Angel” backstage at Joel Goodhart’s TWA shows in Philadelphia and WWF asking me to show her my 70’s shots of her beautiful aunt Vivian Vachon, wrestling all over the territories as the anti-Moolah of sorts. As Luna wasn’t part of “Moo…

2020 was a rough year, and the wrestling community had already lost many beloved sisters and brothers, real family members from Hana Kimura to Johnny “Rubberman” Walker, aka Mr. Wrestling II. Another one pro wrestling lost was colorful heel Killer Tim Brooks (Timothy Paul Brooks) at the far too young age of 72. He was initially trained and broken into the business (later finessed by prior Red Bastien’s work ‘brother’ Lou “Bastien” Klein) via his legit cousin Dick Murdoch in 1969. So his ring intros stating he was from Waxahachie, Texas, were perhaps legit. Dick got him first started in…