Speaking Spanish When the Cormiers were promoting here in the late ‘60s, early ‘70s, they brought in the Junior Heavyweight champion for their promotion.  I can’t remember who it was, but that night, I arrived early to ref the matches.  Rudy Kay, Leo Burke, and others arrived, including the champion. He sat down next to me and I attempted to carry on a conversation with him.  He was dark-skinned and only spoke Spanish, so I used my hands to try to communicate with him.  I asked him how he came into the territory and, of course, he didn’t understand, so I stood up and made like and aeroplane.  His face lit up and he said, "Si," and other things like that.  I asked Rudy, "How is he going to understand me in the ring when I tell him what to do?"  Rudy says, "He understands that when you count to five, he must break a hold, and he understands the count of three for a pinfall."  Etc. etc. etc. Before going to the ring, Rudy had two of the boys go down on the floor and show the champ how the finish is to be done.  All he says is, "Si, si."  Everything goes smoothly and the match ends.  I strip off and head for the shower, when Rudy asks me a question, so I stop to talk to him.  At the same time, the champ heads for the shower and says in perfect English, "Well, another night’s work finished."  I turned around and said, "You speak English."  He said, "Yes, don’t you remember me?  I was here about ten years ago."  Then I recalled who he was.  Then Rudy says, "He flew into Moncton yesterday and during the car ride in, he asked if you, Ossie, were still around.  We told him you were refereeing."  They put this whole thing together to pull a rib on me.  He had changed a lot from when I had seen him the last time. Thanks for visiting 1wrestlinglegends.com. Come back often! Website design by Scott Teal Copyright © 2006 by Scott Teal.  All rights reserved. No part of this material may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means without prior written consent of the publisher.