seen from Puerto Rico
seen from Singapore
seen from Australia
seen from Australia
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Indonesia
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from Aruba
seen from Argentina
seen from China
seen from China
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Brunei
seen from Canada
seen from China
seen from France
This is the front cover of a book about wrestling that I remember very well from my youth. The Pictorial History of Pro Wrestling is a 192 page masterpiece published in 1984. It contained mostly black-and-white photos (plus a few pages of color photos), along with written histories and descriptions of dozens of wrestlers active at the time.
In the mid 1980s, my local public library acquired a copy of this amazing book! Which I could check out (for free!) whenever I needed a wrestling fix (which I did at least 3 or 4 times, especially when my parents were going out of town for the weekend.) Or I could visit the library at any time, find my boner-generator (I knew precisely where they shelved it), and flip through the pages for a quick pick-me-up.
May the Lord bless and keep whatever anonymous librarian acquired this book and made it available to me! You see, in those days, we didn't have unlimited wrestle-porn at our fingertips, so to discover this gem, this free access to hundreds of spectacular wrestling images, made my teenage heart go pitter-patter!
Plus, this was a library book, so it's a scholarly publication -- not some smutty porno mag sitting on the same rack as Playboy. Therefore I could carry this book in my bookbag without seeming like too much of a pervert, because it's for learning. I could read it under the context of a researcher expanding my knowledge of sports history. (I just preferred to do my research in the privacy of my bedroom.)
Below is the back cover of the book depicting a violent scene -- a bloody-faced Dusty Rhodes blatantly strangling Billy Graham with a rope. It is a full color image, like 8.5" X 11" -- and it is glorious! Those huge arms on Graham, wowza! (But of course, it's the history between these covers that most interested me.)
Thanks to the magic of the internet, which enables our long-lost artifacts from childhood to be easily found, I recently bought a used copy of the Pictorial History of Wrestling on eBay. I see it's also available on Amazon for like $8 if you want your own copy.
Over the next few weeks, I will be reviewing and posting some of my favorite images from the book so you can perhaps understand why it got me so worked up.
WCW Monday Nitro (2000/01/10)
RIP Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka
Damn.
In December 2016, wrestling legend Jimmy ‘Super Fly’ Snuka was put into hospice and given 6 months to live. This weekend, he succumbed to his fate..
Just weeks ago, he was ruled unfit to stand trial in the death of his girlfriend from the 1980s.
Snuka was charged with third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter over the death of his girlfriend Nancy Argentino in 1983.
He was declared mentally incompetent at a hearing in June 2016 and was due to attend a hearing to re-evaluate his condition.
Nancy, 23, was taken to hospital gasping for air and oozing yellow liquid from her mouth on May 10, 1983, having spent the night in a hotel room with Snuka.
That is the sad legacy of the wrestling giant-- he was famous in his prime.. He couldn’t stand trial to do his time.
And he is gone rot a greater judge and jury beyond the earthly realm today.
ALLENTOWN — After Nancy Argentino died in 1983, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka went on with his life, basking in the fading spotlight of his professional wrestling career.
Wow...
Wrestling legend Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka is being charged with third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter for the death of his girlfriend more than 32 years ago in an assault at an Allentown area motel, Lehigh County authorities said.
This was a long time coming.
