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WWE HOFer Tony Atlas sees parallels between superheroes, wrestlers

Posted: Aug 10th 2020 By: Jon Gerardi - SunGazette.com

As Tony Atlas sat inside of Isle of Comics in South Williamsport, he had comic books surround him from behind. His own personal drawings and photographs were laid out in front of him. Atlas then began to talk about the various superheroes depicted everywhere: Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Superman.

Atlas noted how everyone wishes they could be like them. That’s when he slowly held up a photograph of himself dressed in a Superman-like outfit carrying the American flag during the early days of his professional wrestling career.

“Comic books give us all the idea that one day, we can be a Superman, a Batman,” Atlas said with a smile as he held the photograph. “What they do, we also could do.”

Atlas, a 2006 inductee to the WWE Hall of Fame, considers wrestling and comic books very similar. Fans have a charachter to believe in. Atlas, whose real name is Anthony White, was happy to be able to share his thoughts Sunday in South Williamsport.

“It feels absolutely wonderful to be here and so far, the fans here are wonderful and great people. I love the town itself. It’s got that home feeling to it. You come here, you don’t feel like you don’t belong. You feel like you’re at home,” Atlas said.

Right before the doors opened at 10 a.m., roughly 50 people were already waiting outside to meet Atlas and talk to him about his four-decade wrestling career. Atlas never gets tired of talking about his time in the ring.

“I hear so many times ‘when I was a kid I used to watch you.’ So I had an impact on that person’s life,” Atlas said. “By having this event, it shows the impact Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and superheroes have had. They had such an impact on these people and that’s the connection with wrestling and comics. It’s had a good impact on people’s lives at a very early age of their life.”

Atlas began his wrestling career with then-World Wrestling Federation in 1979, eventually tagging with Rocky Johnson, the father of The Rock. He wrestled with WWF from 1979-84 and again from 1984-87 after taking a few months to wrestle with the American Wrestling Association.

During the 1980s, Atlas wrestled with and against a number of legendary wrestlers, such as “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan — who Atlas boasts about press slamming in Madison Square Garden in 1981.

Atlas recalled working with 7-foot, 4-inch Andre the Giant and how he simply wanted to be treated normally.

“People used to come up and Andre would say ‘get away, get away.’ I said ‘Andre why are you telling them to get away? You want your privacy?’ He said ‘I know I’m big, they don’t need to keeping telling me I’m big,'” Atlas said. “‘I don’t want to be told everyday I’m big, I know I’m big.’ So he started liking me.”

Atlas joked that they became friends when Atlas flexed and asked Andre if he wished his arms were that large.

“Andre got feeling when people looked at him, they were looking at an animal in a zoo. Because of his size, we try to compliment him but I didn’t realize Andre always wanted to be normal,” Atlas said. “He wanted to be accepted.”