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Post by Jaws the Shark on Feb 27, 2024 5:02:35 GMT -5
Ole was a great all around performer and backstage mind. He was making 250k a year in the late 70s booking Georgia and being a main event star. That translates to over a million dollars a year today, in Georgia for crying out loud. People wonder why Ole stayed in Georgia for so much of his career. Let me think about that for a moment. Say what you will about Ole, but he was consistent. It didn't matter if you were a job guy, main event, a manager, or somewhere in between, he didn't like you. That’s what always got me with Meltzer’s argument that the Andersons didn’t belong in the hall of fame because “They didn’t travel.” As Ole said, “We didn’t have to.” I understand that a lot of people have only heard others tell them that he was a bitter old prick and a failed booker. And I know that everyone didn’t get to have one on one conversations with him and eat dinner with him, so I saw a different side of the man. You don’t have to have the same personal feelings about him that I ended up with, but just watch the video. See the professional wrestler that he was and the fact that he is one of the greatest heels of all time. The other thing is that of course, Ole did travel. He's synonymous with Georgia for obvious reasons, but he had a decent length run in Florida in the early/mid-seventies, and a couple of good runs with Crockett before showing up in Georgia. Anyway, it would be fair to call his legacy slightly complicated for all sorts of reasons, but obviously Georgia was far more than just another territory and that he was such a major player as both a wrestler and a booker in the first nationally-broadcast wrestling show of the "modern" era is absolutely massive.
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Post by The Dark Order Inferno on Feb 27, 2024 5:29:56 GMT -5
Say what you will about Ole, he stood by his principles, even when he could have made a quick buck and been praised as a legend by people who undoubtedly hate his guts. He's not one of those who sold out their vision of the sport and went on to spend two decades moaning about it in shoots or on a podcast, he walked away and lived a normal life being true to himself. Wrestling is a sport that destroys people, often people in wrestling destroy others for fun, so to it's hard not to see Ole as as admirable for not allowing that to happen to him.
Rest in peace, you grumpy legend.
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Post by "Playboy" Don Douglas on Feb 27, 2024 7:18:22 GMT -5
Say what you will about Ole, he stood by his principles, even when he could have made a quick buck and been praised as a legend by people who undoubtedly hate his guts. He's not one of those who sold out their vision of the sport and went on to spend two decades moaning about it in shoots or on a podcast, he walked away and lived a normal life being true to himself. Wrestling is a sport that destroys people, often people in wrestling destroy others for fun, so to it's hard not to see Ole as as admirable for not allowing that to happen to him. Rest in peace, you grumpy legend. My favorite example of this begins with the Briscos selling Georgia out from under him. Ole has been suspicious before it actually happened and asked his lawyer about it, who assured him they couldn’t. When it happened, the lawyer assured him they’d win in court. As it was, the judge looked at the paperwork and immediately ruled that only a 2/3 majority was needed and the sale was legal. (Ole had only nice things to say about the attorney as I’m sure you can imagine 😁) Anyway, after court, Vince approached him and said, “Ole, it just business. We have a lot of respect for you, we’d like you to come work with us.” Ole said, “f*** you,” and walked away. Some time later, Vince approached him again, repeating, “Ole, it was just business. You have a lot to offer, we’d love to have you working with us.” Ole again repeated, “f*** you.” Some time after that, Vince tried a third time, this time with his wife. “Ole, I’d like you to meet my wife, Linda.” Ole’s response? “f*** you and f*** her too.” That was finally enough for Vince, who told Ole, “You will never work for me,” which proved true. Fast forward 20 years or so, and WWE is working on the Four Horsemen DVD. Someone calls Ole and pitched him on participating. Ole said, “Let me ask you, would Vince McMahon be signing my check?” The person confirmed that he would. Ole replied, “Well, then I have to tell you no. You see, a long time ago, Vince told me that I would never work for him. I can’t make a liar out of Vince McMahon, I have to protect his integrity.” And hung up. He’ll never be in the WWE or Observer Hall of Fame, and while Ole didn’t give a shit, his career earned him a spot in any wrestling hall of fame you could come up with.
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Mozenrath
FANatic
Foppery and Whim
Speedy Speed Boy
Posts: 121,069
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Post by Mozenrath on Feb 27, 2024 7:48:24 GMT -5
Ole was a great all around performer and backstage mind. He was making 250k a year in the late 70s booking Georgia and being a main event star. That translates to over a million dollars a year today, in Georgia for crying out loud. People wonder why Ole stayed in Georgia for so much of his career. Let me think about that for a moment. Say what you will about Ole, but he was consistent. It didn't matter if you were a job guy, main event, a manager, or somewhere in between, he didn't like you. That’s what always got me with Meltzer’s argument that the Andersons didn’t belong in the hall of fame because “They didn’t travel.” As Ole said, “We didn’t have to.” I understand that a lot of people have only heard others tell them that he was a bitter old prick and a failed booker. And I know that everyone didn’t get to have one on one conversations with him and eat dinner with him, so I saw a different side of the man. You don’t have to have the same personal feelings about him that I ended up with, but just watch the video. See the professional wrestler that he was and the fact that he is one of the greatest heels of all time. I honestly don't hold his booking failings in WCW against him because, well, it's not like he was doing any worse than most of the people who tried to get the company on the track towards solvency. He wasn't the only one who ended up undervaluing Cactus Jack, or running Flair vs Sting ad nauseum, or any of the other mistakes getting made. It was just not really an environment built to let anyone lead them out of the swamp, and he was obviously pretty worn out from decades of going full-tilt. In addition to what you mentioned earlier re: him and Cornette, he did also appreciate Jim booking his son, basically being the only one who at least gave him a chance since too many people had grudges against Ole and took it out on his kid. He still didn't decide to stick with wrestling, but he got a couple of years of Smoky Mountain Wrestling at least letting him take a crack at it.
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salz4life
Grimlock
Prichard is a guy who gets that his job is to service his boss.
Posts: 13,966
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Post by salz4life on Feb 27, 2024 9:27:12 GMT -5
Ole was one of the guys that, as a kid, made me think the business was absolutely, 100% real. RIP!
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Post by hyperstorm on Feb 27, 2024 10:28:18 GMT -5
Say what you will about Ole, he stood by his principles, even when he could have made a quick buck and been praised as a legend by people who undoubtedly hate his guts. He's not one of those who sold out their vision of the sport and went on to spend two decades moaning about it in shoots or on a podcast, he walked away and lived a normal life being true to himself. Wrestling is a sport that destroys people, often people in wrestling destroy others for fun, so to it's hard not to see Ole as as admirable for not allowing that to happen to him. Rest in peace, you grumpy legend. One of his principles was being a racist ass.
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tafkaga
Samurai Cop
the Dogfather
Posts: 2,115
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Post by tafkaga on Feb 27, 2024 11:41:08 GMT -5
Ole's Black Scorpion rambling tangent promos were ironically hilarious.
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Post by Aceorton on Feb 27, 2024 11:56:20 GMT -5
I am picturing Ole entering the afterlife, and a gravelly, electronically distorted voice coming from somewhere says, "OLE ... ARE YOU LISTENING ... OH, YES, YOU KNOW ME WELL ..."
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Feb 27, 2024 13:26:18 GMT -5
I still can’t believe that him and Arn weren’t actually related. They look so much alike.
RIP.
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Post by nickcave on Feb 27, 2024 13:26:46 GMT -5
81 for a wrestler is rare, I know he was a grumpy old man but you at least always felt like you knew where he stood.
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XIII
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Posts: 18,446
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Post by XIII on Feb 27, 2024 13:26:59 GMT -5
Ole's Black Scorpion rambling tangent promos were ironically hilarious. I rewatched the Black Scorpion angle again recently and if you take thr BS magic acts out of it it’s really pretty entertaining. As for Ole, for better or worse there will never be another like him. RIP Ole
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FHgrad99
Vegeta
Never mind that s***, here comes Mongo!
Posts: 9,019
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Post by FHgrad99 on Feb 27, 2024 13:38:14 GMT -5
Ole was one of a kind. Much of his career happened either before or right after I was born, so I haven't seen much of his in-ring work. He was a very believable as a character and as a worker, from what I did see. He was very much set in his opinions and it rubbed quite a number of people the wrong way but he didn't let what other people thought of his opinions bother him. There will never be another person in wrestling quite like Ole Anderson, that's for sure.
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Post by "Playboy" Don Douglas on Feb 27, 2024 15:26:01 GMT -5
I read another anecdote today that I liked.
Paul Jones was on the phone with Jack Brisco and said, “Jack, let’s talk about some of the assholes we’ve known in the business.” Jack said, “Okay, you go first.” Paul said, “Ole Anderson.” Jack said, “We can stop right there, that’s the only name I had my list.”
Paul told Ole about this conversation. Ole laughed and said, “I like it. I like it.”
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Mozenrath
FANatic
Foppery and Whim
Speedy Speed Boy
Posts: 121,069
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Post by Mozenrath on Feb 27, 2024 16:19:20 GMT -5
I read another anecdote today that I liked. Paul Jones was on the phone with Jack Brisco and said, “Jack, let’s talk about some of the assholes we’ve known in the business.” Jack said, “Okay, you go first.” Paul said, “Ole Anderson.” Jack said, “We can stop right there, that’s the only name I had my list.” Paul told Ole about this conversation. Ole laughed and said, “I like it. I like it.” He sounds like he wanted people to be just as prickly with him, sorta like a wrestler who works stiff because he wants you to blast him right back.
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Post by Cyno on Feb 27, 2024 17:08:10 GMT -5
I'm pretty surprised that there was that much of an age difference between Ole and Arn, but then I never really watched anything from that era of wrestling. I always thought they were related, too, since they looked a LOT alike. But it was just coincidence.
RIP Ole.
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J. Hova
Don Corleone
Emotionally exhausted and morally bankrupt
Posts: 1,991
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Post by J. Hova on Feb 27, 2024 22:34:53 GMT -5
Ole was a great all around performer and backstage mind. He was making 250k a year in the late 70s booking Georgia and being a main event star. That translates to over a million dollars a year today, in Georgia for crying out loud. People wonder why Ole stayed in Georgia for so much of his career. Let me think about that for a moment. Say what you will about Ole, but he was consistent. It didn't matter if you were a job guy, main event, a manager, or somewhere in between, he didn't like you. That’s what always got me with Meltzer’s argument that the Andersons didn’t belong in the hall of fame because “They didn’t travel.” As Ole said, “We didn’t have to.” I understand that a lot of people have only heard others tell them that he was a bitter old prick and a failed booker. And I know that everyone didn’t get to have one on one conversations with him and eat dinner with him, so I saw a different side of the man. You don’t have to have the same personal feelings about him that I ended up with, but just watch the video. See the professional wrestler that he was and the fact that he is one of the greatest heels of all time. That's the knock on Lawler too. I know Lawler had some runs elsewhere, but nothing compared to Memphis. He and Ole basically lived the wrestling territory dream. They main evented, booked, got points on towns, and were home almost every night. They each drew huge money for their time. Why bother going somewhere else? I'll make a slight comparison to my life. I'm a network engineer. I make a very good salary and benefits for the company I've worked with for the past 16 years. I get to work from home and work with a great team. I could make more money elsewhere, but not enough to make me leave that and start all over with the unknown.
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Squirrel Master
Hank Scorpio
"Then the Squirrel Master came out of left field and told me I'm his bitch!"
Posts: 6,643
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Post by Squirrel Master on Feb 28, 2024 10:06:25 GMT -5
Ole Anderson gave so many great contributions to the wrestling industry, the least of which was pairing Hawk & Animal with Paul Ellering.
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Post by "Playboy" Don Douglas on Feb 28, 2024 10:57:30 GMT -5
Arn has posted his Ole tribute. Classy move, as expected.
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Post by Slingshot Suplay on Feb 28, 2024 19:40:50 GMT -5
As much as I liked the Windham horsemen, Ole made the horsemen scary.
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Post by "Playboy" Don Douglas on Feb 28, 2024 20:42:22 GMT -5
As much as I liked the Windham horsemen, Ole made the horsemen scary. Agreed. I love the Windham lineup, and from a workrate perspective, I get that he was the perfect choice for that spot. The guy was a machine at that point. But Ole was, as they used to say, "evil, mean, and nasty." It was like the rest of them wanted to be the champions and win by any means necessary, and Ole wanted that, but wanted to hurt people as badly as possible in the process.
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