Classic Wrestling in San Francisco

As a note of explanation before we begin our nostalgic look back at the classic wrestling territories of the 1950's through the '80's, many of the areas discussed had some sort of organized and frequent promotions prior to the ones we will examine. The ones chosen were due to their longevity, success and popularity with the fans. We begin with a look at the Northern California promotion of Roy Shire that ran for roughly twenty years during the '60's and '70's. Shire was a former wrestler who had worked as a tag team with a man billed as his brother Ray Shire, but they were not related. That partner would later become the most recognizable star and biggest box-office draw during Shire's promotional era while working under his real name, Ray Stevens.

The San Francisco area promotion, known as Big Time Wrestling, had a roster of grapplers that remained centered there longer than in most other promotions. Cards from the early to mid '60's featured wrestlers such as Stevens, Pat Patterson, Pepper Gomez, Pampero Firpo, Dr. Bill Miller, Mr. Fuji and Ricky Hunter. It was not unusual even ten years later to see shows with many of those same names on it. Perhaps this was due to the favorable climate or reasonable travel distances between cities, but it was unlikely that it was due to loyalty for Shire, since he had some well-known blow-ups with his talent, and has been accused of embezzling gate receipts by former associates. The fans apparently never tired of the matchmaking though, as they drew large attendances in all of their circuit cities. For the first eight years Shire ran essentially an independent promotion, though he had a loose affiliation with promoters in the Midwest that called themselves the American Wrestling Alliance – not related to the AWA ran by Verne Gagne that later controlled much of the former territory. He changed course in 1968 by affiliating with the NWA. The championships for Big Time Wrestling were the US heavyweight singles belt and World Tag team belts (one of several “World” titles floating around wrestling in the territory days).

San Francisco, not surprisingly, was their hub, with matches held on Saturday nights at the Cow Palace, a huge barn-like structure originally built to hold livestock expositions. Typical crowds there would range from 4000 – 6000. Other cities in the loop included San Jose, Fresno, Richmond, Stockton, Modesto and Sacramento where the weekly television show was taped, announced by Hank Renner. The heyday for the promotion was during the 60’s, when Shire had several hot feuds to draw upon to pump up attendance. The two that stamped the territory both involved the under-sized but kinetic and charismatic Stevens. His pairing with Pepper Gomez and later with his on-again, off-again partner Pat Patterson drew the most money. It was the Stevens-Patterson soap opera that really got inside the collective psyche of Bay Area fans. Together, they were known as the "Blond Bombers", but when feuding with each other, like a love turned to hate after a breakup, their hair became crimson from the blood that flowed during their hyper-violent encounters.

Stevens held the US championship more times (9) than any other. Patterson and Rocky Johnson were tag champions three times. Other significant feuds over the years included Patterson vs. Peter Maivia, Patterson vs.Johnson (Maivia’s son-in-law and father of the WWE star The Rock), Maivia vs. Paul DeMarco, and Kevin Sullivan vs. Bob Roop.

This last feud was one I was fortunate enough to see the build-up for, as well as the blow-off (wrestling term for the final match of a feud that ends with a decisive victor). The latter happened at the Cow Palace during the Fall of 1977. While the Sullivan victory in the match was anti-climactic as he was the babyface in that pairing, the build-up was exceptionally well done. Roop had “attacked’ Sullivan’s father who had come into the ring to congratulate his son on a victory over Roop a few months earlier. Shire created a video showing the elder Sullivan in a hospital bed looking like he was one foot into the grave when in reality he was of course quite well. The end of the promotional segment showed Kevin working out like a madman to the background music of the Rocky theme and finishing the piece promising to avenge his father or die trying. Really great stuff that unfortunately came too late to save what was once one of the most thriving regions of the NWA.

The last few years of the promotion, Shire's running of the business became sloppy. He lost his weekly television program which was vital to capturing the fans interest. Verne Gagne began running opposition shows in Oakland across the Bay. He relied upon the Southern California booking office and the Portland promotion to supply the wrestlers for the shows that had dwindled down to just a few monthly. Without the identifiable stars such as Stevens to fan the flames, the attendance fell off dramatically and the Big Time Wrestling Bay Area promotion just quietly folded up the tent. A bitter Shire attempted a few years later to lash back against the industry by "exposing" in a newspaper interview that pro wrestling matches were pre-arranged, but this had little impact since the vast majority of fans had already by that time been smartened to the chicanery of this form of entertainment.

Roy Shire lived to see the end of all territorial wrestling by the takeover of the giant WCW and WWE traveling companies before his death in 1992. His story epitomized the underground, sometimes underhanded world of professional wrestling that was such an addictive pleasure for so many during those classic years of kayfabe.

Next: SoCal: Where Wrestling was an “Olympic” sport

Prev: Classic Wrestling Territories

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