02.07.2007, 09:54
Detroit News
Detroit, Michigan
3 June 1971
dick the bruiser coming back
dick the bruiser is perched menacingly on the top strand of the ring ropes, then crashes down across a helpless foe's adams apple with his knee. bruiser mauls his opponent, adding a few supplemental heel stomps after being declared the winner.
then the victorious strut out of the ring, down the aisle toward the dressing room, the bruiser bellowing epithets at a hostile crowd of enraged kids throwing paper cups and little old ladies poking with umbrellas.
well get ready, the bruiser is on his way back to detroit to wrestle again, as mean and tough as ever.
"yeah, i'm looking forward to detroit," the bruiser, nee rihard afflis, growled over the phone yesterday afternoon from his home in indianapolis, his guttural rasp still intact. "i'll be there in a couple months to sign some contracts with olympia stadium for this fall. i'm a main event all over the world, and i'm booked up unitl then."
the bruiser hasn't been seen in these parts since a match with detroit lion alex karras at olympia in april 1963. the reason he hasn't appeared is that the night before the bout a better fight broke out between bruiser and karras at the lindell ac, a downtown bar then called the lindell bar before it moved to its present location.
in the scuffle two detroit policemen andrew meholic and james carolan were injured. meholic broke his right wrist and carolan suffered a shcok to his nervous system.
they filed damage suits in federal court totalling a reported $70,000. the last settlement was made last saturday. since the bruiser would have his purses attached had he wrestled here, prior to the settlement, he continued to make his $200,000 yearly outside of detroit in such places as japan, england, denver, and indianapolis.
bruiser remembers the figth at the lindell well.
"thye (the police) tried to put manacles on me after the fight broke out," he recalled. "i was trying to get at karras, and some people were knocking on my head with pool cues. there were eight or nine police, i think.
"anyway, i finally settled both lawsuits, and i can come back."
little has changed for the bruiser since then, except he's eight years older at 30.
"i'm better now than i was," ne growled. "i weigh about 255." someone reported once that bruiser trained on a case of beer a day.
"i used to," bruiser snorted, then continued with a low, hearty laugh. "now i drink a bottle of rum a day. it makes your belly smaller, heh, heh."
bruiser, who played pro football for green bay, started wrestling in 1954 in san francisco, and since the start has been one of the top attractions in wrestling --always as the bad guy.
he doesn't deny for the moment that showmanship is the biggest part of his success. but he won't say it is all a fake, either.
"heel, if i just went out and grabbed one hold on a guy and pinned him in a minute, well, that wouldn't be much of a show," he says. "when it comes to the bruiser, i can tell you i haven't lost more than five matches in my life.
"all i can verify is what i've done in wrestling. sure, there's a lot of showmanship. if you can win and appeal to the crowd, you're going to make a lot of money.
"television is the backbone of wrestling."
bruiser has always gone where the money is, and he makes around $200,000 a year. when he used to wrestle at olympia before the lawsuits, he regularly packed the stadium. with at least a 10 percent guarantee of the net, it kept him in tailor-made suits and long cigars.
"i'm flying every day now," he said. " i wrestle thre or four times a week. i do my own bookings. hell, i'm a college graduate so i ought to be able to take care of my own money."
although the bruiser hasn't changed his style any, he says that the age of the anti-hero has made him popular and less hated than he used to be.
"this is the era where the bad guy is a hero," he chuckled. "everywhere i go, people love me. the tougher i am, the nicer they think i am. it doesn't make any differnce to me.
"i've never made anybody mad at me. i've always followed my own nose, and that's the way it worked out."
there are two inaccuracies in this story:
1- the brawl at the lindell took place four days (on tuesday) before his match with karras, not the night before.
2- the bruiser wrestled again for barnett and doyle on 5-18-63, losing to nwa champion lou thesz, on 6-29-63 teaming with lord athol layton to defeat fritz von erich and the masked terror (jay york), on 7-3-63 (at the flar rock speedway) defeated the sheik, on 7-20-63 in a draw against the masked terror and his manager, tony angelo, on 8-31 teaming with doug gilbert to defeat fritz von erich and the masked terror by disqualification, on 9-28-63 defeating lord athol layton when layton suffereded a hand injury and could not continue.
he then returned in 1965 with his wwa promotion. on 2-6-65 defeated pat o'connor, on 4-24-65 defeated yukon moose cholak, on 5-8-65 teamed with gene kinski in a loss to wilbur snyder and pat o'connor, on 5-22-65 teamed with angelo poffo to defeated wilbur snyder and pat o'connor
Detroit, Michigan
3 June 1971
dick the bruiser coming back
dick the bruiser is perched menacingly on the top strand of the ring ropes, then crashes down across a helpless foe's adams apple with his knee. bruiser mauls his opponent, adding a few supplemental heel stomps after being declared the winner.
then the victorious strut out of the ring, down the aisle toward the dressing room, the bruiser bellowing epithets at a hostile crowd of enraged kids throwing paper cups and little old ladies poking with umbrellas.
well get ready, the bruiser is on his way back to detroit to wrestle again, as mean and tough as ever.
"yeah, i'm looking forward to detroit," the bruiser, nee rihard afflis, growled over the phone yesterday afternoon from his home in indianapolis, his guttural rasp still intact. "i'll be there in a couple months to sign some contracts with olympia stadium for this fall. i'm a main event all over the world, and i'm booked up unitl then."
the bruiser hasn't been seen in these parts since a match with detroit lion alex karras at olympia in april 1963. the reason he hasn't appeared is that the night before the bout a better fight broke out between bruiser and karras at the lindell ac, a downtown bar then called the lindell bar before it moved to its present location.
in the scuffle two detroit policemen andrew meholic and james carolan were injured. meholic broke his right wrist and carolan suffered a shcok to his nervous system.
they filed damage suits in federal court totalling a reported $70,000. the last settlement was made last saturday. since the bruiser would have his purses attached had he wrestled here, prior to the settlement, he continued to make his $200,000 yearly outside of detroit in such places as japan, england, denver, and indianapolis.
bruiser remembers the figth at the lindell well.
"thye (the police) tried to put manacles on me after the fight broke out," he recalled. "i was trying to get at karras, and some people were knocking on my head with pool cues. there were eight or nine police, i think.
"anyway, i finally settled both lawsuits, and i can come back."
little has changed for the bruiser since then, except he's eight years older at 30.
"i'm better now than i was," ne growled. "i weigh about 255." someone reported once that bruiser trained on a case of beer a day.
"i used to," bruiser snorted, then continued with a low, hearty laugh. "now i drink a bottle of rum a day. it makes your belly smaller, heh, heh."
bruiser, who played pro football for green bay, started wrestling in 1954 in san francisco, and since the start has been one of the top attractions in wrestling --always as the bad guy.
he doesn't deny for the moment that showmanship is the biggest part of his success. but he won't say it is all a fake, either.
"heel, if i just went out and grabbed one hold on a guy and pinned him in a minute, well, that wouldn't be much of a show," he says. "when it comes to the bruiser, i can tell you i haven't lost more than five matches in my life.
"all i can verify is what i've done in wrestling. sure, there's a lot of showmanship. if you can win and appeal to the crowd, you're going to make a lot of money.
"television is the backbone of wrestling."
bruiser has always gone where the money is, and he makes around $200,000 a year. when he used to wrestle at olympia before the lawsuits, he regularly packed the stadium. with at least a 10 percent guarantee of the net, it kept him in tailor-made suits and long cigars.
"i'm flying every day now," he said. " i wrestle thre or four times a week. i do my own bookings. hell, i'm a college graduate so i ought to be able to take care of my own money."
although the bruiser hasn't changed his style any, he says that the age of the anti-hero has made him popular and less hated than he used to be.
"this is the era where the bad guy is a hero," he chuckled. "everywhere i go, people love me. the tougher i am, the nicer they think i am. it doesn't make any differnce to me.
"i've never made anybody mad at me. i've always followed my own nose, and that's the way it worked out."
there are two inaccuracies in this story:
1- the brawl at the lindell took place four days (on tuesday) before his match with karras, not the night before.
2- the bruiser wrestled again for barnett and doyle on 5-18-63, losing to nwa champion lou thesz, on 6-29-63 teaming with lord athol layton to defeat fritz von erich and the masked terror (jay york), on 7-3-63 (at the flar rock speedway) defeated the sheik, on 7-20-63 in a draw against the masked terror and his manager, tony angelo, on 8-31 teaming with doug gilbert to defeat fritz von erich and the masked terror by disqualification, on 9-28-63 defeating lord athol layton when layton suffereded a hand injury and could not continue.
he then returned in 1965 with his wwa promotion. on 2-6-65 defeated pat o'connor, on 4-24-65 defeated yukon moose cholak, on 5-8-65 teamed with gene kinski in a loss to wilbur snyder and pat o'connor, on 5-22-65 teamed with angelo poffo to defeated wilbur snyder and pat o'connor