Action Photos 4

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KTXL Channel 40 Studios

I took this shot just to show you what the Channel 40 studio looked like with the cameras and lights. Hank Renner's table is right in front of the camera on the right. Pat Patterson and Kenji Shibuya were wrestling Larry Williams and Kenny Ackles. "Moondog" Ed Moretti wins the prize for identifying Kenny Ackles. He is batting .1000 in helping me identify wrestlers. Shortly after I took this picture, the TV camera on the right was lifted onto a four-foot platform so it gave a more aerial view of the action, and it did not move around. Just the floor camera did after that. They always used just two cameras on the show. I stood in between the cameras to take my pictures and moved around to other views when I needed to.

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Lonnie Mayne is hungry -- and he is a fish eater. Ed Moretti just sent me a "script" of what Lonnie was saying in these pictures. I will add them in when I get back home. (I am doing this in a hotel room.) He is saying something like "See this little fish? This is Peter Maivia, and I am going to eat him!"

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Say good bye to Peter Maivia -- you will never see him again!

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Lonnie Mayne ate the whole thing! He actually ate several goldfish, each named after a babyface.

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Red Bastien is getting a submission fromKenny Ackles. The referee is Jack Holloway.

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Red Bastein and Hank Renner on Big Time Wrestling. This was Red's first interview after returning to the territory in early 1973. I've been told he did the booking for awhile after Pat left and also promoted in Modesto and some other towns in the lat 1970s. Red Bastein is the present President of the Cauliflower Alley Club. If you are a wrestling fan and remember these guys, you really should join CAC -- you will be glad you did.

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Roy Shire came out and started attacking Dutch Savage during a match. That is Pat Patterson next to Roy. You always knew when Roy was going to be on TV because it was the only time he dressed up nice. Usually he wore his ranch clothes.

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I don't know what set Roy off, but he looks pretty upset. I wish I could remember what the angle was on this show.

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Roy Shire got knocked on his @ss, but Pat Patterson rescued him and gave Dutch Savage a pounding. Roy was very proud of those cowboy boots -- even back then, they cost $600. He mentions them in the Sacramento Bee story when he exposes the business in 1984. (It's on page 2.)

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Dutch Savage brags to Hank Renner after he knocked Roy Shire down in the photos above. That'll teach him.

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Time for another picture of Miki Garcia -- not as exciting as her Playboy pictures, but they are as good as mine get. I was only 15 or 16 years old then and she used to catch me staring all the time and she'd embarrass me unmercifully. I loved it! She was really a great woman, very outgoing and a lot of fun. All of the Miss Wrestlings that followed her were quiet and did not mix with everyone as well.

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This is The Great Mephisto with World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Archie Moore. Moore had come to act as Special Guest Referee in a few matches in the territory. Roy had worked a big program with Moore in the early 1950s when he was still wrestling.

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Rocky Johnson watches as Peter Maivia puts the pressure on Billy Graham on Big Time Wrestling. The referee is Larry Williams. That is Pat Patterson's hand at the top right corner of the photo. (People ask if I don't mention those things!)

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Pat Patterson was Kenji Shibuya's tag team partner in this match. Kenny Ackles threw Pat into Kenji as his partner, Larry Williams, takes a breather. Larry stopped wrestling soon after this and refereed for Roy after that. The woman in the front row, all the way to the right is Ringside Rosie (Really! Her name was Rosie!) She was at the TV station every week and she was louder than everyone else. If you look carefully, you will see her in a lot of my TV station photos.

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"Paybacks are hell" is Kenji Shibuya's message to Larry Williams with an illegal chop to his throat. Kenny Ackles is taking a breather. Any guesses who he is? Frank Nocetti of Stockton is the referee.

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Now Kenny Ackles has Pat tied up in the ropes while he tortures Pat Patterson. Notice the "secret" bell signal on the announcer's table. That was the signal that time was quickly running out. Pat and Kenji Shibuya won this match. That is not a metal detector hanging over the referee's head. That was a boom microphone recording the crowd so they could play them back during the interviews done after the audience was sent home.

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Copyright 2003 Viktor Berry •

Illustrated History of Professional Wrestling in Northern California Promoter Roy Shire NWA Ray Stevens, Peter Maivia, Pat Patterson, Hank Renner, Big Time Wrestling, Miki Garcia