Roy promoted a lot of memorable matches -- great wrestling and some gimmicks, too.

Here are several I enjoyed.

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For Battle Royal photos, go to the Battle Royal page.

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Hanging Mr. Paul DeMarco's Managers

Dr. Ken Ramey demanded to be at ringside during all of Mr. Paul DeMarco's matches. The problem was, he constantly interfered in the matches and attacked Ray Stevens during a series of rematches at the Cow Palace (and Sacramento.). The solution? Roy put Dr. Ramey in a cage and suspend him above the ring! These photos were taken at the Cow Palace during the Ray Stevens / Paul DeMarco Texas Death Match for the NWA U.S. Heavyweight Championship.

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The Stevens / DeMarco matches attracted huge crowds in both cities. This photo also shows how high the ring at the Cow Palace was from the floor. The Cow Palace ring and the first few rows of ringside seats sat on a series of raised platforms and the ring there was much higher than the rings in other cities. The ring at the TV station was the smallest, and was about two and-a-half feet off the floor.

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Steel Cage Matches

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I took this picture at a Steel Cage Match in the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium in 1971, I think. I ran upstairs to the balcony to take this picture during the rest period between two falls. Rocky Johnson, Ray Stevens and Peter Maivia are watching Paul DeMarco, Pat Patterson and someone else laying down in the corner. The referee is Frank Nocetti of Stockton. Frank was a very friendly guy --the other referee who I remember as being friendly was Larry Williams, who also wrestled for Roy once in awhile doing jobs.

Hank Renner had built up this cage so much on TV, and referred to it as the "Steel Cage." I had seen pictures of other cages in the magazines, so I was pretty excited to see "our" cage for the first time. I was pretty disappointed when it turned out to be four rolls of rusty cyclone fencing material. (It looked like it had been laying around Roy's ranch for some time.)

Roy didn't use a gimmick without a logical reason. He decided to erect the cage for that card to keep the heels in the ring. In the previous match, they had kept going outside of the ropes, or were fighting outside of the ring, something where it "made sense" to have a cage. This cage was pretty flimsy though, and a wrestler could squeeze out through the bottom if they were bounced against the "steel" cage. I remember a couple of the boys working hard not to fall out. But they were very exciting matches and the fans loved them. You have to give Roy credit for one thing -- he hired some great wrestlers to work for him and got the best out of them.

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I took this during the same cage match -- I think that is Paul DeMarco going over the top rope and into the steel cage. You can barely see Peter Maivia on the right edge of the photo.

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I took this photo after the main event ended at the Cow Palace one evening. The announcer is Ken Emery, the referee is Dean Denton and Mr. Paul DeMarco and Dr. Ken Ramey are heading for the corner where their police escort is waiting. The Cow Palace is huge!

Another gimmick that Roy used regularly was his "mat spy" sitting in somewhere in the ringside seats.

In the early 1970s, he was the anonymous representative of National Wrestling Alliance president Sam Muchnick. This faceless tattle-tale attended the matches and reported everything that happened the morning after to el presidente. If the referee that night did not notice Pat Patterson using his "foreign object" or The Great Mephisto loading lead into the tip of his boot, you could be sure the secret NWA representative took complete notes, and the referee's decision could be reversed and the title (if it changed hands) returned to the aggrieved Champion before Hank Renner went on the air the next Saturday evening on the Big Time Wrestling television show. He always seemed to catch the very things that the referee missed.

Thank God he was hiding there for all of us. If we could go back and count every controversial wrestling match this man reported to President Muchnick, I suspect we would find he was involved with at least eighty percent of the championship matches.

I knew his true identity. It was funny was that I met a couple fans during those years who made me swear not to tell anyone that they were the man from the NWA! I met a few others who were not really concerned with hiding their identity -- they told anyone who would listen to them that they were the "mat spy." Of course, the real man only existed in Roy's imagination, but I don't remember ever hearing anyone speculate that he didn't really exist!

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In early 1972, Haru Sasaki found himself in trouble and he was suspended in the cage, too. He took Dr. Ken Ramey's place as Mr. Paul DeMarco's manager. This photo was taken in Sacramento in February, 1972. That is Peter Maivia standing under the cage. The policeman at the right is Chuck Coyle, who is in another photo on my site giving Pat Patterson an award.

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Mr. Paul DeMarco jumps off the top rope to knock-out Rocky Johnson, while manager Haru Sasaki watches from his Luxury Box in the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium. (Tilt your monitor to the left and the photo will look better.)

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Roy Shire, Manager

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Manager Roy Shire didn't miss a thing.

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Manager Pat Patterson? No, Pat was participating in a Lumberjack Match in Sacramento.

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Every year or two, especially around the holidays, Roy booked the "Mighty Midgets" as Hank Renner called them, to go through the territory. On the left is Lord Littlebrook. The wrestler on the right is Cowboy Lang. Lord Littlebrook was been on the Jerry Springer Show a couple of times in 2002, but not in a wrestling role.

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Lord Littlebrook watches as Cowboy Lang throws someone over his shoulder.

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Jim Fitzpatrick sent me this photo he took of Lonnie Mayne. It looks like he's having a great time during this mixed-match with the midgets at a Cow Palace show. Can someone identify the little people for me?

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Jim Fitzpatrick sent me this photo, too. He took this one at the Cow Palace during the big Mohammed Ali vs. Antonio Inoki closed-circuit television event at the Cow Palace. After watching the big event on closed circuit TV, Roy Shire put on a live show at the Cow Palace which was then broadcast live to the other cities in California and Nevada where he was also promoting the show. That is Pat Patterson flying over the top rope, and out of the ring during his match with Mr. Fuji. The ringside seats had been removed from that one side of the ring for the cameras broadcasting the show to Roy's other cities. The closed-circuit Ali vs. Inoki broadcast was a financial disaster for promoters.

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I took this photo of Billy Graham in the dressing room right before he lost his thumb to Terrible Ted.

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Terrible Ted, the wrestling bear, was a familiar, but hairy, face to California fans. Take a look at his page for more photos (including one of Ted and me together.)

© Copyright Viktor Berry •

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