Think the Rock 'N' Wrestling Connection started with Cindi Lauper & Hulk Hogan? Nope. It started 2 decades earlier. Here's the story of that Short & Winding Road.
In February 1964 the Beatles had appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, kicking off a frenzy of Beatlemania across North America. Starting August 19, the band would tour the U.S. and Canada for 25 shows. One wrestler was prepared.
Bob Sabre supplemented his mat income reporting for “scandal sheets” like the National Insider. When the Fab Four played Chicago, he not only covered their appearance–he convinced them to pose with him as George Ringo for a series of photos.
When the article and photos appeared in the “newspaper,” the short career of the Wrestling Beatle was launched. Chicago promoter Bob Luce told UPI his new attraction would barnstorm the country on a schedule tied to the Beatles’ tour.
He also claimed Ringo’s manager would be famous actress Jayne Mansfield—but the UPI couched that with a “maybe,” and said Luce had only secured her appearance in a one-car parade in Los Angeles later that month.
Such was the power the band had over the public imagination that even this most ersatz Fab found himself caught up in the mania when he appeared on a wrestling bill a few days after the Beatles’ LA appearance:
- “I came in with this silly little outfit on, and the arena in Los Angeles had been drawing maybe a thousand people before that night,” Sabre remembered 13 years later. “I got up, and there were 15,000 people. I never saw so many little kids in all my life. They were screaming and ripping my jacket off, licking my arm … you wouldn’t believe it. I never knew I could become an overnight sensation.”
Now nobody remembers George Ringo. Played by a perennial jobber, he was not a good wrestler, one can only guess his finishing move - the "I Wanna Crush Your Hand-Lock"? - though to his credit he was a bit of a trailblazer in the 'smashing a guitar over someone's head' department.