Pro Wrestling History Thread

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I'd really like to know how much was paid for that original WWWF title they recently found.
 
I'd really like to know how much was paid for that original WWWF title they recently found.

I wouldn't even begin to know who to ask about that. If Buddy Rogers was still alive, maybe he would know. Whatever was paid for it, it wasn't paid for by WWWF.

Edit: I was thinking you meant how much was paid for it originally when i posted that above, but thinking about it more, you may have meant how much Dave Millican just paid to "Handsome" Johnny Barend's wife for it after she had found it in their attic following his passing, which im sure is much more easily answered.
 
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I wouldn't even begin to know who to ask about that. If Buddy Rogers was still alive, maybe he would know. Whatever was paid for it, it wasn't paid for by WWWF.

Edit: I was thinking you meant how much was paid for it originally when i posted that above, but thinking about it more, you may have meant how much Dave Millican just paid to "Handsome" Johnny Barend's wife for it after she had found it in their attic following his passing, which im sure is much more easily answered.

Yeah that's what I was getting at, you'd think they would have put that info in the original news stories on the find, but I didn't see it anywhere.
 
Yeah that's what I was getting at, you'd think they would have put that info in the original news stories on the find, but I didn't see it anywhere.

Dave just may have not disclosed how much he paid for it. I don't know.
 
I deal with Dave regularly. He would not tell anyone that figure. He is offered classic and ring used belts pretty often, but there are numerous high end collectors who pay 2x-3x what Dave or other collectors would pay.

No idea what the number is, but I would lean towards a deal for Dave, and enough to make Mrs. Barend very happy.
 
Has anyone ever found out what had happened to the WWWF belt that was stolen from Bruno's car while he was champion?
 
Has anyone ever found out what had happened to the WWWF belt that was stolen from Bruno's car while he was champion?

The Repo man finally gave it back to McMahon in the 90s:icon_chee

On a side note, just a few months ago, they discovered the old WWWF belt that Bruno originally won from Rogers but Bruno never really wore that belt as a new one was made. It was found in the attic of another former wrestler...

barend_belt.jpg


http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2012/08/11/20093046.html
 
That's strange that it's a world title yet the main plate is an outline of the US.
 
The Repo man finally gave it back to McMahon in the 90s:icon_chee

On a side note, just a few months ago, they discovered the old WWWF belt that Bruno originally won from Rogers but Bruno never really wore that belt as a new one was made. It was found in the attic of another former wrestler...

barend_belt.jpg


http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2012/08/11/20093046.html

Yeah, that's what we were just talking about and wondering how much Dave Millican paid to "Handsome" Johnny Barend's wife for it. Alas, Dave's apparently not telling. Oh well.

Bruno wearing the belt back in the day.
sammartinobrunowithWWWFbelt2.jpg


Bruno_Sammartino_Rogers_Belt.jpg
 
That's strange that it's a world title yet the main plate is an outline of the US.

That's because it wasn't created to be a World title or at that, the WWWF title, that belt was actually Buddy Rogers's old US title that they just put a "World's Champion" plate on at the bottom and used as the very first WWWF title.
 
That's because it wasn't created to be a World title or at that, the WWWF title, that belt was actually Buddy Rogers's old US title that they just put a "World's Champion" plate on at the bottom and used as the very first WWWF title.

Yeah, from what I gather it was always meant to be temporary which is probably why no one really cared where it ended up.

Anyway, I love Antiques Roadshow so this is like a really cool story/find but with no payoff on how valuable the thing is. Like if someone finds a Rembrandt in their garage or whatever it's cool to hear the story and the history, but at the end of the day you're waiting for that number. But I can understand both parties not wanting to divulge that info.

And yes, I'm really old/lame.
 
Yeah, from what I gather it was always meant to be temporary which is probably why no one really cared where it ended up.

Anyway, I love Antiques Roadshow so this is like a really cool story/find but with no payoff on how valuable the thing is. Like if someone finds a Rembrandt in their garage or whatever it's cool to hear the story and the history, but at the end of the day you're waiting for that number. But I can understand both parties not wanting to divulge that info.

And yes, I'm really old/lame.

I'm 26 and i dig watching Antiques Roadshow from time to time. :wink:

Anyways, i wouldn't say no one cared where that title belt ended up, as wrestling historians and such had speculated whatever happened to it before this news came to light. I guess the real mystery is how exactly it ended up where it did, not why it went missing from WWWF, since obviously it wasn't their property to begin with and im sure the title belt was just given back to the "Nature Boy" at some point. That's easy enough to figure.

Why it had "Handsome" Johnny Barend's picture in the insert is another question though. Did Barend actually appear anywhere with it as a World Champion? He was part of a short lived outlaw promotion in the late 60's known as Wrestling Show Classics, so did he use it there after he was apparently announced as the first Classics World Champion? Or perhaps Buddy Rogers just put the pic in it as a rib or something and Johnny never actually used the belt himself.

Also, how exactly did it end up in Barend's possession? I guess being that Johnny was one of Buddy's boys or if you will, part of Buddy's clique, the logical explanation would be that Buddy just gave the title belt to him. But who knows. I guess we'll never know for sure since Johnny Barend isn't around to tell the story any longer.
 
Danny, I had no idea you were only 26. With your knowledge of wrestling, I figured you for way older than me (31). You must really read up on wrestling. I thought I had a pretty vast knowledge, albeit from 80s on though...
 
Danny, I had no idea you were only 26. With your knowledge of wrestling, I figured you for way older than me (31). You must really read up on wrestling. I thought I had a pretty vast knowledge, albeit from 80s on though...

LOL, thanks. Yeah, im always reading up, researching and learning new stuff about pro wrestling. The internet may have hurt pro wrestling in some respects, but when it comes to learning about it's history and getting to watch old matches, promos, interviews and what not, the internet is a wonderful thing as a pro wrestling fan. I guess id consider my knowledge of pro wrestling to be pretty good, but for whatever i really do know, there's undoubtedly a whole heck of a lot more that i don't know.
 
I've been reading the book "Shooters: The Toughest Men in Professional Wrestling" by Jonathan Snowden.

I have read several books on the old-timers/old days of PW, as well as many web sites.

This book is excellent. It basically follows catch-as-catch-can from pre-Muldoon to today. The author believes, as I do, that as soon as wrestling went professional, it was pre-determined as much as possible. There are some who think the first worked match was Stecher/Caddock in 1917, and some that point to the 1920s as when worked matches took over. He takes a realistic look at the game and goes into depth at many of the famous shoots.

I just finished the chapter on Masahiko Kimura, which had his exploits against Helio Gracie, Rikidozan shooting on him in a match that was supposed to be a draw, and his matches with Valdemar Santana.

I have learned some stuff, and had some nice enlightenment dropped on me as well.

I got it on my Kindle app for my iPhone. Highly recommended!
 
I've been reading the book "Shooters: The Toughest Men in Professional Wrestling" by Jonathan Snowden.

I have read several books on the old-timers/old days of PW, as well as many web sites.

This book is excellent. It basically follows catch-as-catch-can from pre-Muldoon to today. The author believes, as I do, that as soon as wrestling went professional, it was pre-determined as much as possible. There are some who think the first worked match was Stecher/Caddock in 1917, and some that point to the 1920s as when worked matches took over. He takes a realistic look at the game and goes into depth at many of the famous shoots.

I just finished the chapter on Masahiko Kimura, which had his exploits against Helio Gracie, Rikidozan shooting on him in a match that was supposed to be a draw, and his matches with Valdemar Santana.

I have learned some stuff, and had some nice enlightenment dropped on me as well.

I got it on my Kindle app for my iPhone. Highly recommended!

Wow, crazy, i was just came across that book earlier today while i was searching about google for Armas Laitinen. I think i may make a trip to Barnes & Noble sometime this week and see if i can get a copy.
 
Danny, it has chapters on Ed Lewis, Danny Hodge, the Wigan guys, Verne Gagne, among others.

It helped me realize just how popular Verne was in the 50s, because of Kohler's DuMont Chicago wrestling show. Verne was the lead babyface for Kohler, and because of DuMont's wrestling saturation across the nation, Verne was booked nation-wide through Kohler's office. Gagne was the US champion, and he actually toured with the title and defended it in different territories, just like Thesz was doing with the NWA World title.

Verne only charged 10% of the gate for his fees, so he undercut the NWA champion who charged 10% for himself, 3% for Ed Lewis, and another percentage for Sam Muchnick (the NWA president).

Verne was a bargain in comparison! He was in line to be the next NWA heavyweight champ, but because he was controlled by Kohler, the NWA didn't want Verne to essentially have Kohler control the title. Gagne became very frustrated by this and created the AWA in 1960, with him as champion.
 
I have also read a book called "Catch Wrestling: A Wild and Wooly Look at the Early Days of Professional Wrestling" by Mark Hewitt.

It is a great read as well. Lots of info on John Pesek.

It is a fairly short book, while the "Shooters" book is quite long.

They don't cover all the same stuff, so both are worth getting.
 
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