Author: Robski McFadden

The main difference between wrestling and sport-entertainment is that one is a personality-driven business. It doesn’t always matter to a promoter how much skill or strength you have. They want showmen who can entertain. Ernest “The Cat” Miller prided himself on being someone who had the skills to back up his showmanship. Ernest was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1964. As hard as it may be to believe now, he was a painfully shy child. He often preferred to stay inside by himself rather than play with local kids. This shyness made the self-confessed “Momma’s Boy” an easy target for…

D-Von Dudley. All who disregarded D-Von’s commandment that “Thou shalt not f**k with the Dudleys” atoned for this sin in brutal ways. Their punishment rituals helped make them one of the most popular tag teams in wrestling. But D-Von brought more to the table than just the tables. Devon Hughes spent his early years in a rough district of Brooklyn, New York. He was moved to New Jersey by his grandmother as she feared he would become another statistic as crack cocaine use became rampant in his town. D-Von Dudley first watched professional wrestling when he was seven. He saw…

There is a false honor attached to being “on the right side of history.” It has an ambiguous meaning that changes from person to person. Even if you are someone who helped make history for the right reasons, it does not guarantee that you will be remembered kindly by future generations. Such is the fate of Koko B. Ware. Like many of his critics today, promoters didn’t see the appeal in James Ware when he first started out. He was short and had the physique of any regular man you would pass on the street. The more brutal comments compared…

The old idiom tells us that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks. Terry Funk did not like people telling him what he could or could not do or calling him an “Old Idiom.” At fifty-five years old, the Funker was inevitably slowing down. But he was not going to stop until God Himself stopped him. Funk did not have this attitude going into April 13, 1997. Extreme Championship Wrestling was expecting a new beginning from their first-ever pay-per-view, Barely Legal. Funk was expecting it to be the end for him. He was prepared to end his career that…

We all have our opinions on who the greatest wrestler is. For the legends who get mentioned the most, that person was Terry Funk. Whether it was with his wrestling skills, his verbal skills, a steel chair, or a branding iron… he left his mark on anyone who stepped in the ring with him. One of wrestling’s proudest Texans was born in Hammond, Indiana. His father, Dory Funk, served with the U.S. Navy during World War II. After he returned from active service, the Funk family relocated to a ranch in Amarillo, Texas. Terry Funk – Making a Brand, and…

It is within the sunlight the prettiest flowers shall grow. But only the toughest of plants thrive in the shadow. When your father is a marvel and your brother a Savage, it is a certainty that your life will not be average. This is the story about the younger of the Poffo brothers, the Genius Lanny Poffo. You may think you know it, but it is unlike all others. Now is the time for the record to be set on professional wrestling’s only Poet Laurette. Lanny was the second son of Angelo Poffo. Even though his family were from Illinois,…

There have been World Heavyweight Champions who were so good that they inspired future generations to get into the ring. There have been teams that have made the tag titles seem just as important as those Heavyweight titles. There have been wrestlers who discovered future legends. There have been wrestlers who kept companies alive behind the scenes. These brothers have done all of that. They proved that if you want to make wrestling better, then you’d better call Brisco. The Brisco Brothers Freddie and Floyd Brisco grew up in a large family in smalltown Blackwell, Oklahoma. Things were always hectic…

The main reason why wrestlers hate having their profession called “fake” is because the risks are real. One mistake can end a career. Such was the case for Droz. Yet he refused to have his life defined by one mistake. Darren Drozdov was born in Hamilton Township in Atlantic County, New Jersey, in 1969. His friends called him “Droz” from a young age. He had an early growth spurt that gave him an advantage in sports. He would set state records for the shot put and track and field. Darren Drozdov – Growing Up and Throwing Up In Droz’ World…

Hidden from the light of day are not where the darkest places lie. Among the memories and imagination, the mind houses both dreams and nightmares. The same soil that buries the coffin is the soil from which flowers and trees grow. For PCO to finally achieve glory, he turned himself into a monster. The pieces from which this Frankenstein was built were taken from the previous monsters Pierre Carl Oulette had made. Carl Ouellet was born in Sainte-Catherine, Quebec, on December 30, 1967. He had a normal childhood with one exception; he is blind in one eye. He lost the…

A part of every battle is psychological. If you can get into your opponent’s head, they become much easier to defeat. That is why fighters often try to cut an intimidating presence before the fight begins. La Parka was based on the one enemy that we all eventually succumb to. He struck fear into his opponents, but he captured the hearts of his fans. Contrary to pop culture myth, Halloween was created by the Catholic church in Europe. One of their core beliefs is that while death and evil may still exist within this life, they have both been ultimately…