Endearing Wrestler Stories

[Mozenrath]

Let's face it: A lot of the time, when we learn more about wrestlers, it's often not flattering. Still, it's nice to hear charming stories about them, too.

One for me is with Sting and Mick Foley. They had a very good match in WCW that for years, Foley considered his best match. Every time he'd see Sting, Sting would ask if it was still Foley's favorite, and for a long time, he answered in the affirmative, and this continued until eventually, he had to tell Sting that the Mind Games match with HBK surpassed it, where Foley couldn't help but feel Sting was disappointed to hear that.

Sting had a career of a lot of big time matches, and some classics, so it's kinda sweet that he'd have been enthusiastic about that still, especially since he could have just as easily been jaded or not cared what Foley thought.

[Natural Born Farmer]

A lot of the stories about Kane being a ridiculously nice and intelligent guy behind the scenes bring a smile to my face.

[James Fabiano]

Look up Bobby Eaton or Owen Hart to renew your faith in humanity.

[2coldMack is even more baffled]

Mar 24, 2018 21:37:10 GMT -5 James Fabiano said:

Look up Bobby Eaton or Owen Hart to renew your faith in humanity.

I've met Bobby, and he absolutely lives up to his rep as one of the nicest guys you could ever wanna meet.

["Playboy" Don Douglas]

Tony Atlas told a story about Wahoo McDaniel at Fanfest one year that I always remembered.

Tony was just starting in the Carolinas and was catching a ride with Wahoo and some others. They picked him up, and Tony had his second hand gear in a paper bag. Wahoo asked him what he had, Tony answered, and Wahoo said, "Let me see it."

The trunks had holes, the boots were flapping at the soles. He hadn't made enough money yet to buy new gear. Wahoo put them back in the bag and tossed them. I can't remember for sure, he may have even told Tony that he wouldn't let him bring stuff in that kind of shape. Either way, Atlas is freaking out because that's all he has.

Wahoo hands him a new pair of boots and a new pair of trunks. Before Tony can respond, Wahoo says, "You'll need something better than a paper bag to carry it in," and hands him a Miami Dolphins duffel bag.

"His bag, from when he was playing with the Dolphins. The man didn't know me, I was just a kid getting into the business. But he gave me a new set of gear and his own bag from his NFL career. He didn't have to do that."

All those years later, Atlas was still getting emotional while talking about it.

[funakifan88]

When Tetsuya Naito was in the Midwest for a triple shot weekend with AAW, Revolver & Glory Pro he was driven around by local referee and swell chap Lockport Joe. Apparently, at the end of their trip, when Joe dropped Naito off at the hotel it was snowing and Naito, having just wrestled, was only in a t shirt and pants. No jacket. Naito gets out of the car and stands on the sidewalk until Joe had fully driven away. Staring at the car the entire time as if to make sure that Joe was ok getting out of the parking lot. In the snow with no coat. Writing it out it doesn't sound like much but it feels like a super cute moment.

[BRAINFADE]

Any Owen Hart ribs. Where a lot of ribs you here stories about are mean-spirited or just downright cruel, Owen's stuff just sounds like a bit of harmless fun. He probably got under the skin of some people with his pranks, but they never sounded mean-spirited, and that's why everybody seemed to love him.

[Natural Born Farmer]

Mar 25, 2018 2:09:15 GMT -5 BRAINFADE said:

Any Owen Hart ribs. Where a lot of ribs you here stories about are mean-spirited or just downright cruel, Owen's stuff just sounds like a bit of harmless fun. He probably got under the skin of some people with his pranks, but they never sounded mean-spirited, and that's why everybody seemed to love him.

not for nothing but I think there’s a lot of revisionist history going on there. Being on the road for most of the year is tough enough. A co-worker deciding to introduce his wacky shenanigans into your workspace doesn’t become ok just because he subsequently died. It’s just a job. Keep it professional.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Brickhouse Brown thanking Koko B Ware for raising his daughter because Brickhouse admitted he was a mess as a father.

Teddy Long getting kicked out of Crockett's plane and Robert Gibson standing up for him and also leaving the plane so he could travel with Teddy.

Kevin Sullivan reaching out to Nancy's parents and expressing condolences:

[Honeybear Lyder]

Not sure if I remember the story right, but in the beginning of his career Bret Hart was sent down to Georgia and was being treated like crap there. One day a wrestler who he was supposed to ride to the arena with ditched Hart, and no other wrestlers would offer him a ride until Ernie Ladd and Harley Race told him to get into their car. Once Hart was seen sharing a ride with Race himself, everyone couldn't been nicer to him for the remainder of his stay in Atlanta.

[ThankGodForSidJustice]

Mar 25, 2018 2:18:57 GMT -5 Natural Born Farmer said:

Mar 25, 2018 2:09:15 GMT -5 BRAINFADE said:

Any Owen Hart ribs. Where a lot of ribs you here stories about are mean-spirited or just downright cruel, Owen's stuff just sounds like a bit of harmless fun. He probably got under the skin of some people with his pranks, but they never sounded mean-spirited, and that's why everybody seemed to love him.

not for nothing but I think there’s a lot of revisionist history going on there. Being on the road for most of the year is tough enough. A co-worker deciding to introduce his wacky shenanigans into your workspace doesn’t become ok just because he subsequently died. It’s just a job. Keep it professional.

I remember hearing that he would put something in other wrestlers drinks to make them fall asleep so he could shave their high brows off which doesn't exactly fall into the harmless fun category. I think he was still probably a nice guy and he wasn't as cruel as the likes of Mr. Perfect, British Bulldogs, and Mr. Fuji with the pranks they were doing but I don't think he a total saint either. Other then Bobby Eaton and Kane there's a negative story for every wrestler. There human just like us and they all have their flaws and they're going to have their bad days just like everyone does.

[Deleted]

Bob Backlund mentions how he was a new guy in the business from Tri-state and Terry Funk was around and asked him to come wrestle in Amarillo.
Terry (the champion there) wrestled him to a 10-minute draw and put him over as a star on the rise. He'd ride with the Funks and Dick Murdoch, and they'd teach him the tricks of the trade.
Later on, he was asked to hang out with the guys at a local country western bar and he only had dingy
gym shoes to wear; couldn't even afford second-hand cowboy boots. ("This was the kind of place where you'd get your ass kicked if you didn't have boots.")
Dick Murdoch gave him a pair of brand new boots the next time they got together.
That's why you hear a lot about Japan tours and those two always hang out together.

["Playboy" Don Douglas]

East Tennessee legend Whitey Caldwell, the area's top babyface from the early '60s until he was killed by a drunk driver in '72, refused to sell pictures at shows because he knew many of the fans were already making sacrifices just to buy a ticket every week.

When he finally did sell them, it was to raise money to help a local family pay for their young daughter's surgery.

[RowdyRobbyPiper]

Mar 25, 2018 4:14:27 GMT -5 Honeybear Lyder said:

Not sure if I remember the story right, but in the beginning of his career Bret Hart was sent down to Georgia and was being treated like crap there. One day a wrestler who he was supposed to ride to the arena with ditched Hart, and no other wrestlers would offer him a ride until Ernie Ladd and Harley Race told him to get into their car. Once Hart was seen sharing a ride with Race himself, everyone couldn't been nicer to him for the remainder of his stay in Atlanta.

If I remember correctly, Bobby Heenan was also in the car with Race and Ladd.

[cjh]

Heard this from Jim Cornette:

Jerry Jarrett and Bill Dundee go to a Wendy's after a show.  It was in Memphis, so pretty much everyone in there recognizes them.  Some guy asks Jarrett "All that blood is fake, right?"  Jarrett says it isn't, then actually explains how wrestlers cut themselves with small pieces of razor blade when they need to bleed.  The guy then responds, "Hey, I was just asking.  You don't have to be smart about it."

[Deleted]

From a 2004 Observer so this was a little while before Cena really even became the guy.

Speaking of John Cena, on 7/24, he was in Cleveland for the National Sports Collectors Convention, along with heavy hitters like Jim Brown, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, John Elway, Joe Namath, Lawrence Taylor, Reggie Jackson, Whitey Ford, and Dan Marino. Cena had completed his signing session and was browsing the memorabilia dealers and came upon some game used NFL helmets. He went nuts. He started grabbing helmet after helmet, and started asking fans which helmets he should get. After about ten minutes, he settled on 32 helmets for a price of $7,200. On his way out, he saw a fan that was a quadriplegic in a wheelchair and on a ventilator. Cena and the boy talked for a few minutes and the boy must have said something about how cool it would be to get a Ken Griffey, Jr. signed bat. Cena, with a big smile on his face, peeled off three $100 bills (price was $295), gave them to the boy to buy the bat and told him to keep the change. When the boy said to him, "You're the man," Cena came back and said, "No, you're the real man." This wasn't a publicity stunt and there were no cameras there and you won't be seeing it on TV and you wouldn't be hearing about it except a couple of my friends were right there when it happened, so that's a testament to just what kind of person Cena is.

[I'm Team Bayley and Indi]

Molly Holly paid a lot of Beth Phoenix's tuition fee for OVW

and while on the subject of Molly - New Jack likes her - NEW JACK! - that probably says a lot about her character.

[CMPunkyBrewster]

Mar 25, 2018 13:23:08 GMT -5 I'm Team Bayley and Indi said:

Molly Holly paid a lot of Beth Phoenix's tuition fee for OVW

and while on the subject of Molly - New Jack likes her - NEW JACK! - that probably says a lot about her character.

On that same note, has ANYONE ever had a bad word to say about Molly Holly? Every story I have ever heard about her makes her sound borderline angelic.

[Mozenrath]

Mar 25, 2018 13:30:31 GMT -5 CMPunkyBrewster said:

Mar 25, 2018 13:23:08 GMT -5 I'm Team Bayley and Indi said:

Molly Holly paid a lot of Beth Phoenix's tuition fee for OVW

and while on the subject of Molly - New Jack likes her - NEW JACK! - that probably says a lot about her character.

On that same note, has ANYONE ever had a bad word to say about Molly Holly? Every story I have ever heard about her makes her sound borderline angelic.

There was some weirdo fan obsessed with her, trying to spread BS rumors, at one point, but they seem to have largely dropped off the face of the Earth.

In the business, though? None that I've heard of.

I think it's also kinda cute that she did an interview at one point admitting she thought Cena was cute on meeting him. Sorta reminds me of Ivory saying she passed up a date with a rookie because she had a boyfriend at the time, and said rookie was Rocky Maivia, with her bemoaning missing out.

[jason1980s]

Nikolai Volkoff got Freddie Blassie back in touch with his estranged daughter.
The girl had come to Nikolai at one of the shows and asked if Blassie would be with him. By that point Blassie had finished working with managing Nikolai but Nikolai was able to get them reconnected on the phone and meet in person.