Action Photos 18

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Terrible Ted the Wrestling Bear gets a treat from trainer Nick Adams while he talks to Hank Renner on Big Time Wrestling as Terrible Ted prepares to tour the territory. Ted was absolutely amazing and I really liked Ted a lot. He had been trained to wrestle and he really did! He knew lots of holds and throws and put on a very good show. I have added several new photos of him on the Terrible Ted page which is listed under Roy's Biggest Stars.

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Someone you always saw at Channel 40 and the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium was Leroy Drake. He set up the ring at Channel 40 every Thursday (in the early 1970s) and controlled access to the studio. If you had a ticket to get in, you gave it to Leroy. He also guarded the back door at the Memorial Auditorium to let the wrestlers come in. In this photo, Leroy is tying the mat down to the ring. You can see Hank Renner's table in the background next to Miss Wrestling's photo stand.

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This photo shows Leroy setting the ropes up. The windows behind him go to the Control Room where Roy Shire watched the show on monitors to help direct the camera people. The door where the wrestlers came out from the dressing rooms is just to the left of those windows.

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Here is another Photo I found of Pat Patterson slipping a "foreign object" under his mask so he could head-butt his opponent until he was unconscious. He always managed to get it out of his mask and back into his tights before the referee could find it. I found one after the show in Stockton and it was a hotel-sized bar of soap wrapped in medical adhesive tape.

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This was taken (in Richmond I think) of Sandy Parker flipping midget wrestler Diamond Lil over the top rope in a mixed Big Woman / Little Woman tag team match.

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Irish Pat Barrett threw Pat Patterson through the ropes and into the ring post in this 1971 match on Big Time Wrestling. Gerry Monti ran over from his corner to help the two Pats. Referee Bob Beedle is trying to restore order.

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This was a Special Ray Stevens Issue of Big Time Wrestling -- my third program for the Cow Palace shows. This was for the show in late June, 1971. My mom handwrote the title of this program. The stars were the kind you rub off a plastic sheet of transfer letters. Here was the card: Ray Stevens vs. U.S. Champion Mr. Paul DeMarco for U.S. Championship; Billy Graham & Pat Patterson (Champions) vs. Rocky Johnson and Peter Maivia for the NWA World Tag Team Championship; Bull Ramos vs. Pepper Martin; Gerry Monte vs. Mighty Brutus; Pat Barrett vs. Len Shelley

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This is another one of my very early programs that were probably only sold at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium. It may have also been sold in Stockton, too. I had Lucky Numbers on the cover and during Intermission, Hank Renner would announce six or seven numbers. Winners could come down to Ringside and choose a free 8x10 photo from a stack I brought with me. Usually people picked a photo of whoever would be coming out after Intermission so they could get it autographed. In most of the cities like Sacramento and smaller, the babyface wrestler would come out first and sign autographs for a few minutes from the ring before the heels came out. These were printed on one sheet of paper folded into fours. The 8.5"x11" sheet opened up to 11"x17" which opened again to 17"x22" which is a huge sheet of paper. One side of the sheet was divided up just like four program pages. The other side was a huge poster -- sometimes one gigantic photo of Ray Stevens, Peter Maivia or other babyface wrestlers. Other times it was a poster of a dozen or more photos. They were very a very high-quality product (by my grandfather's printing company) on acid-free paper and look brand new even today. They have not yellowed at all!

This program was for Sacramento on April 28, 1971 The Mighty Brutus vs. TBA; Billy Graham vs. Gerry Monte; La Pantera Negra vs. TBA; Antonio Parisi, Rocky Johnson and Pepper Martin vs. Mr. Paul DeMarco, Pat Patterson and Dr. Ken Ramey. You've seen pictures of that match on this web site somewhere. It was very rare that the whole card was not known by the time I printed these. TBAs were unusual.

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These Big Time Wrestling programs were about 9"x12" and were too big for my scanner -- that's why you can't see all of the stars along the edge. When I changed the name to Action Wrestling, I shrunk it down to 8.5"x11". I learned by this program that heels on the cover was not good. Wrestling fans don't buy programs when heels are on the cover. Don't ask me why. Sales were always better with a babyface staring at them. Whenever you see a heel on the cover, you know I REALLY liked them a lot.

The Cow Palace Edition of this program was sold on July 31, 1971. Pat Barrett vs. TBA; Man Mountain Mike vs. The Mighty Brutus; Handicap Match-- Pepper Martin vs. Dr. Ken Ramey -- Martin must defeat Ramey within 15 minutes or forfeit $1,000 (Not!) and the bout!; Billy Graham and Pat Patterson vs. Pepper Gomez and Rocky Johnson; Mr. Paul DeMarco, Champion, (with Manager. Dr. Ken Ramey) vs. Peter Maivia. There was two editions of these large programs, one for the Cow Palace with the card printed inside and one for all of the other cities which had a different page of pictures instead of the line-up. I inserted a separate sheet with the night's card in the programs for the other cities. I continued to do that with Action Wrestling programs, too. That's why, if you looked at several programs, you might notice that one difference in the same looking program.

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I don't know what was going on here. Peter Maivia and Rocky Johnson were giving Hank Renner hugs! I do not remember what the story was after so many years.

Copyright 2003 Viktor Berry • or

ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

ROY SHIRE, HANK RENNER, MIKI GARCIA, PRO WRESTLING HISTORY PICTURES PHOTOS

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