Doubleheader Tag Team Bouts Slated Tonight At Auditorium

Times Recorder – March 26, 1956

Tonight, for the first time in local wrestling history, a doubleheader tag-team mat show will be presented in municipal auditorium, featuring four women wrestlers in one match, four male grapplers in the other and the whole works slated to start at 8:30 o’clock.

Not only will it be the first time two tag events have been staged on one show here, but the first time two white women and two Negro mat stars have been pitted against each other.

Rocca, Appolo Mat Victors

Long Island Star-Journal – April 25, 1962

Antonino Rocca and Argentine Appollo combined for a tag team victory over Karl Von Hess and Pampero Firpo at Sunnyside Garden last night and will return to action at the club Saturday afternoon.

Buddy Rogers beat Bud Cody, Bobo Brazil topped Lou Albano, Nick Manousos pinned Angelo Savoldi, Mike Mazurki whipped Miguel Torres and the Fabulous Kangaroos won from Carlo Milano and Pete Sanchez.

Rocca Duo, Rogers On Sunnyside Mat

Long Island Star-Journal – April 23, 1962

Antonino Rocca and Argentina Apollo will meet Karl Von Hess and Pampero Firpo in the non-televised opener of tomorrow night’s pro mat show at Sunnyside Garden.

The special holiday week card also featured world champion Nature Boy Buddy Rogers against Bud Cody.  In other bouts it’s Bobo Brazil vs. Lou Albano, Carlo Milano and Pete Sanchez vs. the Kangaroos, Angelo Savoldi vs. Tony Manousas and Miguel Torres vs. Mike Mazurki.

Suzuki Wins Mat Match

Long Island Star-Journal – April 18, 1962

Yohio Suzuki defeated Billy Darnell in one fall in the featured wrestling match at Sunnyside Garden last night.

In other matches, Mark and Ted Lewin beat Tony Altamore and Lou Albano, two straight falls, in a tag team contest; Bobo Brazil won in two straight over Tom Bradley; Pampero Firpo scored in one fall over Luis Torres and Gregory Jarque beat Kostas Papalazaros, two out of three.

Negro Wrestlers

Ebony – May 1962

Clenching fists, 6’4”, 265-pound Bearcat Wright switches to boxing stance in Chicago match with 6’9”, 329-pound Japanese wrestler Shohei Baba.  Both were disqualified.

Pros Help Popularize Television-Boosted Sport

Combining brute strength with baseball agility, basketball quickness and the violence of football and boxing, pro wrestling is one of the most popular of the spectator sports.  One reason is television.  Another is a handful of Negro wrestlers which includes Edward (Bearcat) Wright, Reggie (Sweet Daddy) Siki, Bobo Brazil, Seaman Art Thomas, Dory Dixon and at least two women, Dinah Beamon and Sweet Georgia Brown.  Skill with such torture tactics as the step-over toe hold, the flying kick and the back-breaker has grossed them up to $60,000 a year.  Wrestling as often as six times a week in spectacles billed in some states as exhibitions rather than sporting events, the wrestlers must keep in peak physical condition the year-around.  Bearcat, for instance, refuses to eat anything fattening and is seriously thinking of becoming a vegetarian.  Neither he nor Sweet Daddy eat after two on day of a match.

Lee And Thomas Tangle With Brazil, Szabo

Los Angeles Times – April 24, 1957

Sky Hi Lee and Shag Thomas, the two-man riot squad, put their International TV tag-team title on the line tonight at the Olympic against the new combo of Bobo Brazil and Sandor Szabo. The match goes on at 7:30 p.m. and won’t be televised.

Sky Hi and Shag form a rugged duo. Lee towers 6 feet 9 inches and weighs 290 pounds. He’s an ex-pugilist. Shag, a former All-American from Ohio State, is constructed like a fire hydrant and weighs a mere 240.

Darnell, Tag Test Top Mat Card

Long Island Star-Journal – April 16, 1962

A non-TV clash between Billy Darnell and Yohio Suzuki, and a best-of-three falls tag match pitting Mark and Ted Lewin against Tony Altamore and Lou Albano head tomorrow’s pro wrestling card at Sunnyside Garden, Darnell and Suzuki go on at 8:40 P. M.

Tag Team Go Ends In Riot As Rope Snaps

Fresno Bee – December 7, 1957

What happened to the top strand of the ring rope in the Fresno Memorial Auditorium is almost as big a puzzler to DAV Club wrestling matchmaker as what happened to the usual steady crowd of mat fans last night. There were few to see the show.

When five big bruisers got into the ring last night in what was scheduled to be a singles “grudge” match between Mike Sharpe and Ilio DiPaolo, the “unbreakable” strand finally gave way under their combined weights.

Wrestling Show Monday Night

The Journal News – May 11, 1975

The main event on the Cincinnati Gardens All-Star card Monday features U.S. heavyweight champion Bobo Brazil against The Sheik.

Orton, Kangaroos In Mat Matinee

Long Island Star-Journal – June 8, 1962

Bob Orton and The Great Scott will clash with the Fabulous Kangaroos – Roy Heffernan and Al Costello – in the best-of-three falls tag team match which headlines a non-televised pro wrestling matinee card at Sunnyside Garden tomorrow.