Action Photos 17

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The "Lovely Ladies" as Hank Renner used to call them, came out to Roy's territory for several weeks to make the rounds doing a Mixed Ladies Match. One Big & Little Girl vs. One Big & Little Girl. I think the midget woman is named Diamond Lil, and she is standing with Toni Rose.

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Mr. Paul DeMarco and Promoter Louie Miller are deep in thought and conversation about something while we're waiting for the show to start that night in Richmond. Louie looks like he is getting mad. I remember taking this picture, but I don't remember what they were talking about. I liked both Paul and Louie very much.

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The first three negative on this page were damaged by water during a storm leak. But I think they are still good enough to show you what life was like behind the scenes. This is Rocky Johnson and me together in Richmond. Rocky's son, Dwayne, the WWE's The Rock, would be born about seven months after this photo was taken. (The Rock was born 5/2/72.) He was a fun guy and pulled some pretty funny pranks on people.

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I shot this photo at Ringside in the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium. Hank's barber, Al Tirapelli, sat with Hank Renner the night of the Big Hair vs. Title Belt match between The Mighty Brutus against the current NWA U.S. Heavyweight Champion Ray "The Blonde Bomber" Stevens. To the right of is Dr. Richard Russell, who was one of the California State Athletic Commission doctors who was there to examine the wrestlers before their matches, and to patch up the wrestlers who needed a doctor's attention after the matches. Those are the hair clippers Hank and Al are holding for my camera. Hank looks like he was having a great time that night. He always had a Tiparillo cigar burning. The only house show that did not get horribly smoky was the Cow Palace. It was so big and the ceilings so high, the smoke was never as thick there. But every night when I got home, you would have sworn I had been smoking for two week in those clothes.

On the evening of the Stevens vs. Brutus match, I was still just selling my programs in Sacramento and Stockton. They were usually eight pages, or four pages with a 17" x 22" Super Poster of Ray Stevens, Peter Maivia and Rocky Johnson, and other fan favorites. They were huge posters and only and cost fifty-cents. (John Swenski was still making the Cow Palace programs, but only for another month.)

This night was a complete sell-out, and it was this night that got Roy thinking that he would make a lot more money with me selling programs at the Cow Palace than John Swenski selling his programs there. We were both paying Roy ten-percent of our gross sales, and I was paying Roy more from my Sacramento sales that what Swenski was paying for his Cow Palace sales. Needless to say, the Cow Place crowds were three or four times larger than Sacramento's crowds. The Sacramento programs would really be collector's items now days because I only printed 400 to 500 programs per night. After I started selling programs at the Cow Palace and other cities, I was selling over 4,000 copies per issue.

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In that Belt vs. Hair match, Ray Stevens throws The Mighty Brutus (Mike Davis) over his head. I don't think there was a single person in the building that night rooting for Brutus. Everyone wanted to see Brutus get his head shaved. The excitement and anticipation levels of the crowd were very high.

Most of the fans in the days of Kayfabe. thought wrestling was "real," especially in our territory where Roy was very careful to plan every finish months in advance. Everything he did was thought out and studied to make sure nothing was left to chance.

Here's an example: When Ray Stevens defended his NWA U.S. Heavyweight Championship against Stan The Crusher Stasiak in Sacramento, before their first match Hank Renner gave me a list of each rematch and it's finish. Each show for the next couple of months were already planned out, and they wrestled four or five Sacramento house shows in a row! The first match would end in a disqualification -- Stan would win, but the title can't change on the disqualification of the champion.

The next evening, at the Thursday night TV taping of Big Time Wrestling, both Stan and Ray would talk to Hank Renner about how they were going to get a clean pin and cripple the other -- next time. (The same type of program between Ray and Stan would also be going on in Las Vegas, Fresno and other cities at the same time. They made customized interviews for each city.) Some of those photos are on Action Photos 2.

The next match would be a No Disqualification match. And the house would be packed! They would go at it hard that week, knowing they could not be disqualified, and say, Stan Stasiak would get his head cut open while they were fighting outside of the rain. Maybe Stevens would throw Stan's head into the ring post. In Roy Shire's territory, almost every single time a guy got slammed into the ring post, his head would get cut open. (On the floor, next to the ring apron was also a good place to cut yourself without getting caught, too.) That match would be stopped by the referee because the cut would be deemed by the referee or the doctor as too serious for Stasiak to continue.

You know Stan Stasiak would be at Channel 40 the next night with his head bandaged, screaming at the top of his lungs that he wanted a rematch with Stevens! His says he could have continued, the referee did not know what he was talking about, Ray must have paid him off, and he wants his shot for that belt -- this time with TWO stipulations -- No disqualifications, and no stopping on cuts or blood. See the bottom photo on Action Photos 5

So Ray Stevens and Stan Stasiak would show up in Sacramento the next Wednesday night for the house show at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium.. (House shows were every other Wednesday so they had two weeks of TV to tease the audience and get them to the Memorial Auditorium. And believe me, they came!) This was it -- there was no way one of them would not have a clean win tonight! All of the title matches were two-out-of-three falls with a one hour time limit. So in this example, this match would go the full hour. (To Broadway the match was to go to the time limit.) It would end in a draw because Ray and Stan each won one of the first two falls! Time probably ran out just as Stasiak was going to pin Stevens.

They would go back on TV -- Stasiak would be madder then the past several shows and very frustrated he has not been able to take the belt from Stevens after all these matches! Never fear though, because Roy has finally comes up with a way to be sure there will be a clear-cut winner at the next house show! He has received permission (Ha!) from the National Wrestling Alliance President Sam Mushnick to sign Stevens and Stasiak to a Texas Death Match for the NWA U.S. Heavyweight Championship!

This match was going to allow everything! Nothing could stop either Stevens or Stasiak from emerging as the winner of this match and the NWA U.S. Heavyweight Champion. No disqualification! No time limit! Even if we had to stay for several hours or overnight! (They never advertised that Roy's Rental Agreement with the City of Sacramento for the Memorial Auditorium required everyone to be out of the building and the doors locked by 11:00p.m) No stopping on cuts or blood! It doesn't matter how much of a bloodbath it becomes! Falls don't count! Even if there are 20! The only way the match will stop is when either Ray or Stan cannot continue! If the wrestler cannot get up and continue wrestling, he loses. If there is a pin or submission, after the one-minute rest period for that fall, if the wrestler can't come to the center of the ring and start wrestling in thirty seconds, it is all over!

That's the way Roy planned out the angles and programs -- many weeks in advance. It was an amazing process to watch. It always made sense and was always "wrestling logical."

I was kind of disappointed the first time Hank gave me that list. Watching the matches was never as exciting after that because I knew who was going to win, but I guess that helped me take better pictures. For a long time though, I wish I didn't know.

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Ray Stevens found himself in one of The Mighty Brutus' Bear Hugs during the match. But in the end, Ray Stevens won -- and Brutus had to lose his hair!

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As barber Al Tirapelli adjusts his clippers, Antonio Parisi, Ray Stevens, Peter Maivia and Pepper Martin hold The Mighty Brutus down on the mat. It looks like they are a little more than half-way done with shaving Brutus' head. He looked so sad there I really felt sorry for him. Hank told Mike Davis got a small bonus, like doing a blade job, and the Main Event, for agreeing to shave his head. He ended up liking the bald look, and kept throughout the rest of his time here. He came back later in the 1970s as Bugsy McGraw .

Taking the photos I have of the haircut was very difficult. Hundreds of wrestling fans were pushing and shoving and trying to make their way to the front of the ring to watch. I was standing on two chairs and trying hard not to fall as I shot the photos.

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NWA U.S. Heavyweight Champion Mr. Paul DeMarco -- Mr. DeMarco and Dr. Ken Ramey always insisted that he be called Mister because he deserved more respect from wrestling fans than anyone else did. You can imagine how the fans responded -- they called him every name but Mister! He generated incredible heat in California, and I thought DeMarco was a great worker.

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The evil Dr. Ken Ramey - Although he had a southern accent and spent many years in the South, Dr. Ramey graduated from high school near Vallejo, Calif. (Between Sacramento and San Francisco) In real life he was a very nice guy, too. I don't know if he would admit to that though. It was always exciting for me to meet these people who seemed genuinely evil and then a minute later see that they could be so nice and normal.

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Mr. Paul DeMarco showed the viewers of Big Time Wrestling that he could do one-handed push-ups and claimed to be stronger and a better athlete than the others.

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Dr. Ken Ramey preaches to the world (and Hank Renner) why Mr. Paul DeMarco will be the next NWA U.S. Heavyweight Champion -- while Mr. DeMarco shows everyone how he can box the Invisible Man. Paul was a good boxer, too. During a match in Stockton, CA a big, strong-looking guy jumped in the ring to attack DeMarco during a match. Paul swung around and with one punch this big guy went down hard. In a matter of seconds a gigantic bump grew out of his face. I never saw another person in Stockton try to attack Mr. Paul DeMarco.

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Copyright 2003 Viktor Berry • viktor@viktor or

All Rights Reserved

ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

Roy Shire, Pro Wrestling, Hank Renner, Miki Garcia Pro Wrestling History and Photos Pictures