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Post by Cry Me a Wiggle on Feb 28, 2024 23:07:16 GMT -5
The first wrestling moment I ever watched was channel surfing with a friend one Saturday evening and seeing an nWo member being accompanied to the ring by Vincent. This would have either been late 1997 or early 1998 WCW Saturday Night and I have no recollection of the match or actual wrestlers. I also had no idea who Virgil was or any of his prior history, and I only knew of WCW and the nWo because WCW World Tour had just been released for the N64.
Stripped of context, we thought a guy in a T-shirt and jeans simply named Vincent managing a wrestler was the funniest thing and we unironically wanted him to get involved in the match. Yes, Vincent was the first wrestler I ever marked for simply due to the right place and right time. But I’ve maintained that soft spot for him even after all of those years.
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Post by Jindrak Mark on Feb 28, 2024 23:13:38 GMT -5
I hope over time he's remembered less for the Lonely Virgil stuff and more for his career because when he turned on DiBiase it's legit one of the biggest face turn pops ever.
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Squirrel Master
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RIP Virgil
Feb 28, 2024 23:15:48 GMT -5
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Post by Squirrel Master on Feb 28, 2024 23:15:48 GMT -5
Lest we forget that Virgil shared the ring with all of the greats of his time, and he often turned the tide of many an important match with his bodyguard skills. He took some major bumps so Ted DiBiase didn't have to. His arms were huge! As mentioned earlier, Virgil was the right man in the right place at the right time. Indeed, watching Virgil often getting thrown to the wolves is a great memory of my youth. R.I.P. Virgil Wrestling Superstar.
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Post by jason1980s on Feb 28, 2024 23:40:25 GMT -5
He traveled all over the PA, VA and MD area (at least) to so many shows. I hope he made good money.
Just three funny stories I have, and you can't help but love that about him:
2001-he and Iron Sheik did a show in VA. The promoter sold tickets online for each guy. During the show both guys (Virgil by himself and Sheik with an agent not Eric Simms) went into business for themselves selling their items and the promoter had to issue refunds from the pre paid tickets
2008-Marley Station Mall in Maryland which was one of the best at one point. A card shop owner had various wrestlers. One day he had Sheik, Nikolai and Sunny. Virgil was RIGHT outside the store with his big Ted Dibiase sign. And yet no one from the store ever went out and knew that he was there. Some lady wanted to buy tickets for Ted as it was her daughter's favorite wrestler, she told the clerk. I'm guessing she thought it was Ted Jr. but didn't know what he looked like. It was like two minutes of back and forth with the guy telling the lady, "Ted Dibiase is not here today. Only Sheik, Nikolai and Sunny." That was during Virgil's phase where he got a big sign from another show and people would think Ted was appearing. I wouldn't call it "false advertising."
2006-Arundel Mills Mall in Maryland, my father was a dealer for Stackhouse sports card shows, which Virgil seemed to do all of them. My father had Virgil call me and of course I marked out hard. Of course I HAD to go see him the next day and spent probably $100 but the best thing was, I told my friend Todd (Todd Fulkerson of Todd the Bod fame) that Virgil call me, so Todd wanted him to record a voice message for his, Todd's answering machine. Virgil did so for free. The message went "This is Todd's phone. Leave a message or I'll kick you in the nuts!" I remember Todd saying it got wiped off his machine years later.
If there was a show in the early 2000s, Virgil would pretty much be there. There was one show were Gorgeous George, the valet, was appearing in PA at a sports card shop. And Virgil set up shop outside. It must have been pretty cold outside because Virgil had a full yellow sweatsuit on.
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hassanchop
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Post by hassanchop on Feb 29, 2024 0:35:24 GMT -5
I still have his action figure. RIP. Heaven has gained a Wrestling Superstar. And Curt Hennig and Bobby Duncum Jr. has reunited with Curly Bill.
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Sephiroth
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Post by Sephiroth on Feb 29, 2024 7:04:48 GMT -5
Wow. Rip. Apparently he was 72 and not 61? Everywhere lists him as 61. You mean he wasn’t 19 when he sighed with the WWF? And I know it’s not cool to mock the dead, but given how much he leaned into it, I think it’s the best tribute we can pay to him. His family should charge 35 bucks to attend his funeral-and no one shows up.
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Post by CeilingFan on Feb 29, 2024 7:13:59 GMT -5
Sad fact about Virgil's victory at SummerSlam 91 : The Ring Announcer and all 3 commentators have passed away.
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cjh
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Post by cjh on Feb 29, 2024 10:02:21 GMT -5
Everywhere lists him as 61. You mean he wasn’t 19 when he sighed with the WWF? And I know it’s not cool to mock the dead, but given how much he leaned into it, I think it’s the best tribute we can pay to him. His family should charge 35 bucks to attend his funeral-and no one shows up. 61 means he was 24-25 when he got the role of DiBiase's bodyguard. 72 puts him at 35-36 at that time.
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Post by Ben Wyatt on Feb 29, 2024 10:40:56 GMT -5
Sad fact about Virgil's victory at SummerSlam 91 : The Ring Announcer and all 3 commentators have passed away. And Sherri
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Sephiroth
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RIP Virgil
Feb 29, 2024 12:22:09 GMT -5
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Post by Sephiroth on Feb 29, 2024 12:22:09 GMT -5
You mean he wasn’t 19 when he sighed with the WWF? And I know it’s not cool to mock the dead, but given how much he leaned into it, I think it’s the best tribute we can pay to him. His family should charge 35 bucks to attend his funeral-and no one shows up. 61 means he was 24-25 when he got the role of DiBiase's bodyguard. 72 puts him at 35-36 at that time. Virgil was known to have a rocky relationship with the truth. The age at which he claimed he signed with the company tended to shift.
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cjh
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Post by cjh on Feb 29, 2024 12:34:31 GMT -5
61 means he was 24-25 when he got the role of DiBiase's bodyguard. 72 puts him at 35-36 at that time. Virgil was known to have a rocky relationship with the truth. The age at which he claimed he signed with the company tended to shift. If he claimed he signed with the WWF at 19, I missed that one. I was just pointing out that him being 61 at the time of his death seems more likely than 72. If he was 72, then he wasn't even in the wrestling business until he was approaching 35.
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Sephiroth
Wade Wilson
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RIP Virgil
Feb 29, 2024 12:39:14 GMT -5
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Post by Sephiroth on Feb 29, 2024 12:39:14 GMT -5
Virgil was known to have a rocky relationship with the truth. The age at which he claimed he signed with the company tended to shift. If he claimed he signed with the WWF at 19, I missed that one. I was just pointing out that him being 61 at the time of his death seems more likely than 72. If he was 72, then he wasn't even in the wrestling business until he was approaching 35. He also claimed that he was the youngest signing in history and he was supposed to Mae a big WWF return at Wrestlemania to face Steve Austin, as the ringmaster. Can’t say how serious he was, his tall tales got crazier as he leaned into the lonely Virgil shtick.
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Post by Jaws the Shark on Mar 2, 2024 6:23:33 GMT -5
Virgil was known to have a rocky relationship with the truth. The age at which he claimed he signed with the company tended to shift. If he claimed he signed with the WWF at 19, I missed that one. I was just pointing out that him being 61 at the time of his death seems more likely than 72. If he was 72, then he wasn't even in the wrestling business until he was approaching 35. One of his friends also claimed in a story yesterday that he'd fudged his age and was really 72, gave his birth date as April 7th 1951. I don't know whether or not he really was 72 or 61 or whatever, but...you know, it's wrestling, stranger things have happened. He wouldn't be the first wrestler to lie about his age (I suspect it's actually far more widespread than we realise) nor the first to enter the business in his thirties.
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Post by THE FVNKER on Mar 2, 2024 15:26:35 GMT -5
The first wrestling moment I ever watched was channel surfing with a friend one Saturday evening and seeing an nWo member being accompanied to the ring by Vincent. This would have either been late 1997 or early 1998 WCW Saturday Night and I have no recollection of the match or actual wrestlers. I also had no idea who Virgil was or any of his prior history, and I only knew of WCW and the nWo because WCW World Tour had just been released for the N64. Stripped of context, we thought a guy in a T-shirt and jeans simply named Vincent managing a wrestler was the funniest thing and we unironically wanted him to get involved in the match. Yes, Vincent was the first wrestler I ever marked for simply due to the right place and right time. But I’ve maintained that soft spot for him even after all of those years. Vincent was the first wrestler I saw get into the ring with a shirt and jeans on. Something about him being like.. a “goon” resonated with me. It was like he was a character in one of those old SNES side scrolling fighting game or something. I would pretend to be him when I would do moves on my wrestling buddies. What a weird memory lol.
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Post by Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast on Mar 3, 2024 11:24:43 GMT -5
Wow. Rip. Apparently he was 72 and not 61? Okay, it's been confirmed now and yeah, I apologize.
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Post by Cyno on Mar 3, 2024 12:09:19 GMT -5
He really worked everyone til the end. I respect that.
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The Thread Barbi
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Post by The Thread Barbi on Mar 3, 2024 15:02:20 GMT -5
For someone from the Golden Era to make it past 70 is a very good innings.
I kind of feel less sad and more grateful that he got nearly 3/4s of a century with us.
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Post by jason1980s on Mar 3, 2024 15:32:17 GMT -5
He looked younger than 40 in 1991 so I was surprised when it was first mentioned he was older. This came out a few years back when he first got sick, by whoever was helping him.
Bobby Heenan used to say he was "George Foreman on Nutrisystem" which I always took to be because of him doing the boxing moves. But he would have been much closer to George's age in the early 90s.
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Mar 3, 2024 15:37:05 GMT -5
If he claimed he signed with the WWF at 19, I missed that one. I was just pointing out that him being 61 at the time of his death seems more likely than 72. If he was 72, then he wasn't even in the wrestling business until he was approaching 35. One of his friends also claimed in a story yesterday that he'd fudged his age and was really 72, gave his birth date as April 7th 1951. I don't know whether or not he really was 72 or 61 or whatever, but...you know, it's wrestling, stranger things have happened. He wouldn't be the first wrestler to lie about his age (I suspect it's actually far more widespread than we realise) nor the first to enter the business in his thirties. Yep, Ahmed Johnson did this, too, and I think Bautista potentially did similar.
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Post by 06vwgti on Mar 3, 2024 16:39:47 GMT -5
Wow. Rip. Apparently he was 72 and not 61? Okay, it's been confirmed now and yeah, I apologize. Not a problem, Seeing it on Sportskeedia made me wonder the validity on it due to their past history
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