A recent post from my friend, long-time indy referee Dave Routh (who the legendary Bulldog Brower nicknamed "Blind and Stupid") about Bill Eadie's physical presence in the ring and shooting ability during his years as The Masked Superstar, made me think of something that happened many years ago here in the Mid-Atlantic area.
I'll never forget the first time I saw Eadie up close. I was a young kid at a Mid-Atlantic house show in Oxford, NC. My grandfather (who I've written about here in Random Shots before) took me to the show. It was my first show with ringside seats ever! I sat there with my cousin, but my grandfather sat in the bleachers! When I asked him why, he said "Son, I'd love to get in there so much, I'm afraid that I might get in trouble!" Since he could have been Ivan Koloff's long-lost twin brother, I suspect he could have done pretty well had he decided to do so.
The main event that night was a World Tag Team Title match between the champs, Ric Flair and Greg Valentine, and the team of Chief Wahoo McDaniel and Rufus R. "Freight Train" Jones.
After the match, I got to meet Wahoo for the first time and get his and Rufus' autographs. This was during one of Wahoo's reigns as Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion. I asked him as he was leaving and why he didn't wear the belt that night. To my horror, Wahoo told me that the strap (which had been the Eastern States Heavyweight Title belt) had been stolen earlier. It was not long after this that the more recognizable version of the Mid-Atlantic title was used. Even though they were in a hurry to hit the road for the next town on the "loop" for that week, both Wahoo and Rufus stopped to sign programs for us kids that gathered at the rear door.
However, the mid-card match was one that sticks out in my mind after all these years. At the time, the hottest feud in the area was Bill Eadie, as the Masked Superstar, with Prof. Boris Malenko managing, against The Mighty Igor. Igor had already been a huge face in this area in the IWA and he continued to be a crowd favorite in the Crockett promotion. This match was after Superstar had supposedly burned Igor's eye with Boris' lit cigar.
During the match, I was marking out when the Superstar was laying on a major league outside-of-the-ring butt whooping on Igor. I stood up and yelled something that (at the time and considering my age) would have been considered "cool." I wish I could remember what it was, but I remember that it was pretty good. Nonetheless! Eadie stopped putting shoe leather to Igor, turned around, got right up on me and bellowed "SIT DOWN, TUBBY!" Oh, folks, that HURT! For a kid who got picked on all the time about his weight, that was a heel moment supreme.
It was right then that I tried to do something INCREDIBLY stupid. I tried to go after him! All 5-foot and about 200 pounds, an elementary school-age farmboy wanted to take on a masked guy that looked about 7-foot tall. (Hey, I told you the "Redneck TaZ" nickname fit.) Fortunately, Igor started his comeback right then and a very polite police officer invited me to sit back down and enjoy the show. But I still wanted to kick The Superstar's butt.
I've yet to be able to meet Bill Eadie and talk to him face to face, but I'd love to tell him that story. And if he asked me today if I still wanted a shot at him, I would most politely say, "No, sir. I think I'll pass." I can still see that big son-of-a-gun standing there with those eyes glaring from under that mask. And even after all that time, I'll rip apart anything in my way because it will STILL get under my skin, even after 15 years as a cop and hearing a LOT worse insults from people. Now THAT, my friends, is drawing heel heat. I rarely see that happen today.
The other thing I remembered from that match, and several others so long ago, was that masked wrestlers kept their hoods on coming and going to the matches. Eadie arrived at the gym that night with his hood on and left after the show with it on as well. In Eadie's case, it was probably a good idea as many long-time fans in that area may have recognized him coming into the arena as a former member of the Mongols tag team that had been both in the IWA area and the Mid-Atlantic region.
It's also funny that, although I pulled hard for the face in that match, Igor was rarely heard from anymore after leaving the Mid-Atlantic area, while Eadie had a very successful run as The Superstar in the Mid-Atlantic, Georgia and Florida areas. He then took off the mask and donned the white, red and silver facepaint as Demolition, the WWF's answer to the Road Warriors. But that night in a small North Carolina town, Eadie became the "perfect heel" for at least one young mark.
