Classic Wrestling in Los Angeles
Pro Wrestling Before Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan and Wrestlemania
The Southern California promotion of Cal and Eileen Eaton, which had existed in some form since the 1920’s, and was subsequently run by Eileen’s sons Mike and Gene Lebell, until operations ceased in the early 1980’s, probably was the best known of the old school territories except for the WWWF. The SoCal promotions put the entertainment of rasslin’ on the map in the 1950’s via the emerging medium of television. The antics of Gorgeous George, Baron Michel Leone, Mr. Moto and Fred Blassie became common to people all over the region and later the nation when the territory's TV show was syndicated. And the unifying element in the enterprise was the venue that hosted the televised and live wrestling events in the city of Los Angeles – the Olympic Auditorium.
The Olympic, built in 1932 for the Los Angeles Summer Games and at one time the largest indoor arena in the U.S, is familiar both to SoCal wrestling fans and TV/movie viewers over the past half century. This is due to the fact that the arena was so photo-friendly, it was used as the backdrop for episodes of television shows and movies that depicted wrestling or boxing as part of the script. It would be impossible to cite every use of the Olympic for these productions, but among the more famous uses of the venue were for Rocky, Escape from New York, and most recently Million Dollar Baby. After the regular wrestling and boxing promotions went out of business, it was used for sporadic shows and as of a few years ago was sold to a church group.
The territory had operated under the moniker of World Wrestling Association before the elder Eaton’s turned control over to the Lebell brothers, who then affiliated with the NWA. As the WWA, they recognized a World Heavyweight champion and tag champions, as NWA they recognized all of its champions, and in order to have a local title to utilize, created the Americas single and tag team titles. Chavo Guerrero and John Tolos held the singles titles the most, 10 and 9 times respectively, while the best tag team few ever knew of outside of SoCal, Black Gordman and Goliath dominated the tag teams over the years.
Towns in this territory included LA, San Diego, Bakersfield, San Bernardino, El Monte, Ventura, and spot shows at many other locales in the area. The television show was from the Olympic of course; from its start until the 60’s, it was shown on Wednesday nights live, but of course only the preliminary matches were shown so that live attendance wasn’t affected. After switching to a studio format, live wrestling switched to Friday nights at the Olympic.
The name most synonymous with SoCal wrestling has to be Fred Blassie. The heel grappler who had wrestled since the 1930’s found a niche in Los Angeles with his bleached blond hair, dark tan and motor mouth that got wrestling fans riled up, ready to see him destroyed by his babyface opponents. Those of you whose memories of him only go back to the 1980’s WWF where, by that time crippled by the toll of wrestling for 40 years, he played the role of a cartoonish heel manager. If so, the Blassie of Los Angeles area classic wrestling would shock. He was hardcore before the term was coined, with most of his matches ending as bloodbaths, and he garnered the nickname “the Vampire” for his constant biting of his opponents.
Other famous wrestlers who had significant runs in LA are fairly much a “Who’s-Who” of the best of the sport. Faces such as Mil Mascaras, Edouard Carpentier, the Guerrero family, Victor Rivera, Pedro Morales, Bobo Brazil and Pepper Gomez were matched against heels such as Don Carson, Buddy Austin, Ripper Collins, The Sheik, Terry Funk, Roddy Piper and Tolos. The defining feuds of the era were Blassie vs. The Destroyer (Dick Beyer), Blassie vs. Tolos, Blassie vs. The Sheik, Tolos vs. Rivera, Piper vs. Chavo Guerrero, and Brazil vs. the Sheik (of whom you’ll hear much more about in the look at Detroit wrestling).
My lone experience with SoCal wrestling was viewing a Texas Red (Red Bastien as a masked heel) vs. Chavo Guerrero, the older brother of the late great Eddie, main event. I most remember not the action, which was not in any way extraordinary, but the ambience of the Olympic. As scary as the surrounding area was to an eighteen year old transplanted from a small town, once inside the auditorium I didn’t want to leave. There was a certain aura that was magnetic, and the in-ring competition paled in comparison to the entire production. I wish there were still thriving promotions around like the SoCal territory, and mostly I wish that there were more Olympic Auditoriums to go watch those matches at.
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