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Florida's Wrestling Legacy A Rich One

Posted: Mar 9th 2008 By: CMBurnham

There are places that always stick with you, memories that never fade. Dusty Rhodes made it big in professional wrestling, all the way to the WWE Hall of Fame. But those nights working the small arenas around the state of Florida stay with him.

There were shows in Orlando, Miami, Tampa, West Palm Beach, Jacksonville and all the way up to Tallahassee. Professional wrestling had its grip on Florida in the 1960s and 1970s as Championship Wrestling from Florida became big-time entertainment.

Rhodes was one of the main attractions, his "American Dream" persona winning more than two dozen National Wrestling Alliance Florida regional titles.

Florida truly was a hotbed for wrestling because the weather was great, the wrestling was better and the crowds were raucous. Back in these days, word wasn't out yet that the wrestling was staged, and most of the guys wrestling each other got along. The fans took what they saw seriously.

So seriously, in fact, that Rhodes will never forget what he saw one night after a match at the old Orlando Sports Stadium. At the time, he and Kevin Sullivan had a major feud going. Sullivan was a bad guy (heel), with a devil persona that riled fans.

"He had a cult following of about 10 people. All the blacks and whites, greens and yellows, were my following," said Rhodes, whose real name is Virgil Runnels. "This cult following Kevin had had a van painted with devilish looking stuff and the old cowboys decided to set it on fire.

"As I was leaving the building, I saw this van being burnt to the ground."

Yes, those were the days.

When you think about it, they really weren't that long ago. Before pro wrestling became a national entity, it thrived through regional promotions. Different territories featured different wrestlers. For example, Hulk Hogan got his start in Florida and Alabama under the names The Super Destroyer and Terry Boulder. Florida became a hotbed quickly. Milo Steinborn put shows on in Orlando every Monday night at the American Legion Arena in the 1950s.

As fan interest grew, Steinborn made the move to Orlando Sports Stadium when it opened in 1967 on Econlockhatchee Trail. Thousands of fans jammed the stadium -- built to host rodeos -- to watch Rhodes or the Brisco Brothers, Mike and Eddie Graham, Dick Slater, Bob Orton or Bob Roop. Eventually, wrestling moved to Sunday nights in Orlando.

"Business was always red hot in Florida. The feeling was electric," said John Sutton, better known as manager Sir Oliver Humperdink, who is now retired in Minnesota. "People were die-hard wrestling fans. They had the same seats every week, almost like hockey where you have to die to get a front-row seat. This was before the Bucs, so professional wrestling was the biggest thing in town."

For those who couldn't be there, Gordon Solie would call matches on the radio, and then eventually on television. For more than 25 years, he was the voice of Championship Wrestling from Florida, with his trademark, "So Long from the Sunshine State."

"Gordon was the best at what he did," said Runnels, who is a writer for WWE. "He would make you believe, make you see everything that was happening. You knew what a guy was wearing, his eyes were blue, he's bleeding. He had the unbelievable ability to make that happen."

Being a wrestler in those days wasn't easy. Generally, they had shows five-to-seven nights a week and had to drive from one city to the next. Sometimes they squeezed five guys into a car. Pay wasn't great, either, about $75 or $100 a night.

Most of the wrestlers lived in Tampa. Jack Brisco ended up staying in Tampa, where he owns an auto shop today.

"In the day, Florida was the place to come," Brisco said. "We always drew fantastic crowds all over the state."

The wrestling wasn't what you see today. Many matches lasted for an hour, and the average card usually had only five matches. The venues were smaller, so crowds were more intimate and fans were right next to the ring. The wrestlers would do the same match with the same ending in each city.

Promoters came up with angles or story lines, not a team of writers like WWE has today. Because wrestlers in other territories knew how great it was in the promotion, many wanted to join in.

"The list of names of top wrestlers that came through Florida was really the who's who, so the fans were rewarded by having some of the greatest talent in the business coming through there," said Jim Morrison, better known as J.J. Dillon. "Great wrestlers have great matches and they feed off each other. The fans came out and supported them. There was always a waiting list of wrestlers waiting to come down."

Runnels was involved in one of the greatest angles in CWF history. He started his career as a heel, but that soon changed. In 1974, he became a good guy (face) after turning on his tag team partner, Pak Song, and manager Gary Hart in a match against Eddie and Mike Graham in Tampa.

Dusty Rhodes became the most popular wrestler in Florida after that, and eventually around the country.

"He was so popular and people were so intrigued by him they had no choice but turning him into a babyface," said Barry Rose, who lives outside Philadelphia and runs a Web site dedicated to CWF. "He was the No. 1 attraction in the state and that lasted for 10 years. He was less a wrestler and more of an entertainer."

Eddie Graham also had a hand in helping Florida become the premier place to be, both as a promoter and a wrestler. He was involved in one of its greatest feuds. From 1962-71, he and The Great Malenko battled in the ring match after match.

That included one in which Eddie Graham punched Malenko's false teeth out of his mouth and stomped them on the mat. Eddie Graham sometimes wrestled with his son, Mike, and eventually became NWA president from 1976-78. The Orlando Sports Stadium was named after him.

But eventually, Championship Wrestling from Florida started to lose crowds. Pro sports came to town. People lost interest. Then Vince McMahon and the then-WWF started luring stars from regional territories, effectively killing smaller wrestling promotions.

Championship Wrestling from Florida essentially closed up shop in 1987. The Eddie Graham Sports Complex was demolished in 1995. Now, a housing development sits in its place.

But as Rhodes says, "There would be no 'American Dream' without the state of Florida."

Rose has dedicated himself to preserving the memories of Championship Wrestling from Florida. He grew up going to matches as a boy in Miami Beach. He remembers watching Rocky Johnson, the father of " The Rock."

He started the cwfarchives.com in 2002 to showcase old programs, newspaper clippings, and hundreds of photos, along with lists of cities that hosted wrestling in Florida and wrestlers who came through the state. He also asks others to send him their programs, photos or clippings. It is an impressive collection, to say the least.

"For me, it's great because I've heard from so many wrestling fans who grew up watching Championship Wrestling from Florida. Wrestling was accepted for what it was but there was no place for fans to relive the memories. I hear all the time people thanking me, you get an e-mail from a wrestler or wrestler's child who went through the site."

Now everyone can relieve those good old days.

Tags: Dusty Rhodes, Brisco Brothers, Dick Slater, Bob Roop, Oliver Humperdink, Jack Brisco, WWE, Gary Hart