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The World According to Dutch: Short Story of the Day: Loser Leaves Town Match Winner Revealed Before the Match Begins!!!

Posted: Dec 29th 2009 By: mikeiles

Here's a story that is 100% true. There was once a wrestler by the name of Sputnik Monroe who was as good a heel as there has ever been. He was wild, he talked in a deep husky voice and people absolutely hated him. He wore a skunk like streak of blonde in his hair and he was one of the greatest villains ever in the southern United States from Florida to Texas to Atlanta and to Memphis during the 60s and 70's. Sellouts were the norm with the Cadillac Man, Sputnik Monroe.

The story I'm going to tell is short but sweet. Sputnik had been wrestling for a year or so in Florida Championship Wrestling in the early 70's. After a year, Sputnik knew it was time to leave lest he burn himself out. He gave his notice to the promotion that he would be leaving in order to go to another promotion which I believe to have been, the Atlanta office. Sputnik had worked before in Atlanta and had achieved a level of notoriety that very few wrestlers had in those days so he knew he would do well there.

The booker of the Florida office at the time, was Eddie Graham who not only booked the territory but was also an owner. Eddie possessed one of the sharpest wrestling minds that the business had ever produced up to that point and he knew that Sputnik's departure could make for good business especially on Sputnik's way out.

Eddie booked Sputnik in a series of Loser Leaves Town matches all across the state. He booked him in Miami, Tampa and Tallahassee, Florida. This was decades before the InterNet covered results in individual towns and it was even before the dirt sheets came into popular use.

Sputnik's Loser Leaves Town matches drew a sellout in Miami and Tampa and a sellout was expected in Tallahassee as well. The reason Tallahassee was picked as the last match city was due to it being traditionally a Friday night town and also it was due to the fact that it was the most northern most city in Florida. Eddie figured Sputnik could make the town and be halfway to his next stop, Atlanta.
Usually, when an arena sold out in Miami or Tampa, that also meant that it would sell out the other arenas as well and a sellout was expected in Tallahassee. The match didn't disappoint because the arena was jammed packed on the night of the match.

But Sputnik forgot one thing. Just because he knew he was losing, didn't mean that any of the fans knew he was leaving. Sputnik always travelled in a Cadillac because that was what he called himself, the Cadillac man. But on this night, when Sputnik pulled up to the building, he was driving his trademark Cadillac but there was something different about the Cadillac that tipped off the fans on who was going to win the match that night.

Attached to the Cadillac, was a 20 foot U-Haul trailer attached to the rear bumper!!! Sputnik was leaving all right but as he stepped out of the Cadillac, the fans asked him was he losing and Sputnik replied, "well if I do, I'm ready to go." I guess the fans didn't have to wonder much who was going to win the match that night.

I first heard this story years ago told by some of the veterans who swore that it was a true story. I never met Sputnik but one time but the stories about him are legendary. A true wrestling icon and bigger than life.

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Tags: Dutch Mantell, Sputnik Monroe

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