Evel Knievel/McMahon Question

[redsox82]

I was reading about Evel Knieval's life when I came across this tidbit:

"The Snake River jump might not even have been the most bizarre of (Shelly) Saltman's promotions. Saltman was also the man behind the scenes at Muhammad Ali's 1976 bout with Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki. The two fought to a draw, with Ali punching and Inoki kicking." [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071204/ap_on_re_us/knievel_bat_attack]

I thought, according to the book "Sex, Lies and Headlocks", that Vince McMahon promoted those events. It wasn't him?

[default]

redsox82 said:

I was reading about Evel Knieval's life when I came across this tidbit:

"The Snake River jump might not even have been the most bizarre of (Shelly) Saltman's promotions. Saltman was also the man behind the scenes at Muhammad Ali's 1976 bout with Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki. The two fought to a draw, with Ali punching and Inoki kicking." [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071204/ap_on_re_us/knievel_bat_attack]

I thought, according to the book "Sex, Lies and Headlocks", that Vince McMahon promoted those events. It wasn't him?

Well according to about.com's article on it, I'd say Vince probably has a hand in co-promoting it...

The Presentation in America:
Due to the time zone differences, the bout was seen on June 25 at over 150 closed circuit TV locations in the U.S. It was the final match shown on wrestling cards throughout the country. The particular telecast anyone saw depended on where they lived and what their local wrestling territory was. In addition to the Inoki vs Ali match, most of the other closed circuit locations saw Andre the Giant vs Chuck Wepner from Shea Stadium.

It took place in '76 so that would be Vince Sr's era and Shea Stadium would be New York, so that would be his territory and Andre would be one of the talents he used, although Andre was hardly exclusive during that time period.

I doubt Vince Sr had much of a hand in the actual Ali/Inoki match since it took place in Japan. Also from all accounts I read, Inoki dropped to his back early to avoid any potential KO blows from Ali and then proceeded to kick at Ali's legs. They finally ruled it a no contest since they feared too much damage to Ali's legs could end his career (although at this point, he was hardly a spring chicken).

My dad's a pretty big boxing fan and I talked about this fight to him and he couldn't believe any pro-wrestler could beat Ali. I explained to him how the Japanese wrestlers train and then Inoki's strategy and he said he'd have to see the fight to really see, but he said it did sound like a good, albeit cheap strategy. And that he'd probably stop the match as well since boxing promoters probably figured even at that point they could get some extra cash from having Ali on a card.