DAN MIRADE ON THE 17TH ANNIVERSARY OF TONY RUMBLE'S CWA
Saturday, October 23rd, 2010 * 2:02PM
I went to see Paranormal Activity 2 last night at the movies and it scared the hell out of me - don't like ghosts. Went to bed expecting to have some kind of horror filled dream, and I did, only it was pro wrestling related. . .
We had another event at Memorial Hall. . .like many dreams, a lot of the details are "fluff". . .the commissioner was shooting, hard, on a talent he didn't know was in the locker room. . .the curtain kept falling down. . .a lot of stress (can't I even sleep in peace??). Then, during the autograph / photo session, at a tiny table on the stage at the Hall, the late "Boston Bad Boy" Tony Rumble was sitting there, signing away. It was strange, it was like I was greeting him after not seeing him for several years. . .I was thanking him over and over again for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this insane sport and world I dreamed of when I was younger. I've always been a big believer in some kind of sign or hidden message in your dreams. . .I've had a few at night that have translated to life on a personal level over the years. And today, October 23rd, 2010, marks the 17th anniversary of Tony's first Century Wrestling Alliance event kick-off, and my entry into the world of professional wrestling. . . to me, it's a day to celebrate and remember Tony and his body of work. . .
I first met Tony in the summer of 1993 when I was in the 8th grade. He came down to the studio where Pat Doyle and The Jackal (the other two guys along with Tony responsible for breaking me into the business, which eventually evolved into the Millennium Wrestling Federation) taped their Wrestling Insiders program to promote his Wakefield, MA event 10/23/93. Who was with him but Bull Montana, who got a STIFF helmet shot to the back of the head during the interview. Tony loved the studio and the professional equipment so much that he wanted us to come to Wakefield and tape the event. . .
Saturday, October 23rd, 1993. . . that morning, I was producing my own Celtics Week In Review program (some may not know, but I was a mega Celtics until the Big 3 / Reggie Lewis ended). Around noon time, before the days of quality portable equipment we now use, we had to break down the entire studio, load it into the van, drive it to Wakefield, set it up all over again. . .then after the event, break it down, bring it back to the studio and set it up again. Luckily Pat had a crew of probably 15 or so people to help (what we'd give for that in the MWF!). I remember being nervous and excited that day. . .there I was, a month into my freshmen year of high school, 13 years old. . .upon arriving at the building, it was like Dorothy getting out of the house that fell from the sky and saying "we're not in Kansas anymore."
The locker room. This wasn't your 2010 type locker room where just about anyone who wants to comes and goes. This was a professional locker room filled with professional wrestlers. Men, athletes that broke in the hard way and paid their dues. It was a different world compared to today, you'd have had to live it to understand it. Even though I "knew," I still had no idea what to expect when I walked into the locker room for the first time and see the guys interact with each other. There was Tony Atlas, a star I saw at many WWF shows at the Boston Garden. The Tazmaniac was there, who went on to become 90's bad ass and present day best color guy in the business Tazz. Tommy Dreamer wasn't hardcore yet, he was a Chippendale. Damien DeMento was fresh off of his WWF run, coming in to do commentary with The Jackal and Rich Palladino. And to top it off, who was the headliner, but the Iron Sheik. . .the guy that was on the first WWF event I ever attended in Boston in August 1986, teaming with Nikolai Volkoff against the Hart Foundation in a rare battle of two heel tag teams. For my birthday that year, I got my first WWF figures produced by LJN. . .the ring, George Steele, JYD, Hillbilly Jim and the Sheik. It was surreal being the same room as him, never mind being a PART of what they were doing at the ripe old age of 13. The guy eleven years later I'd tape a shoot interview DVD with that wound up on Howard Stern and has been seen by over a million people online Really, how lucky was I??
Funny story about the Sheik even from that night. . .I had no idea what a character he was in and out of the ring. . .knew nothing of the medicine and everything else that goes along with Sheiky Baby. He's standing in one of the hallways in the locker room, nude, other than his curly boots. Somehow, a younger kid came up to him asking for an autograph. The Sheik, forever being the groveler that he is said "for you, money no subject, but, please, get the Sheik a Snickers bar." So this seven year old kid went and bought the Sheik a candy bar. Once he returned, the Sheik went into the athletic directors office (we were at a high school), ripped a page of the calendar off the wall, and wrote "Sheik" in one of the 31 days of October 1993. Did he expect the kid to have every wrestler on the card sign a day?? His antics after the event at the hotel REALLY took a bright eyed high school freshmen and brought him into the world of adulthood. . .I don't know if that's good or bad. I know I definitely wouldn't want it for the little Mirade's. . .
The event itself was packed, about 1,300 fans. When internet darling Ring of Honor ran there ten years later, they were lucky if they did half that number. The view of the ring itself was hilarious. As story went, the night before, well known midget star Little Louie (who Tony rented the ring from) went on a drunken tirade and started to paint the canvas blue. No straight lines or anything, it was like a three year old drawing on paper with crayons. A funny visual if you ever see the tape. The school had an actual broadcast booth that you had to climb to get into. . .the broadcast team was Rich Palladino, DeMento and The Jackal. Watching the Jackal climb this wooden booth was HILARIOUS and spent a lot of time figuring out how he was going to climb out. . .
Come bell time, there was nothing overwhelmingly good about the event, but just the in-ring presence of these athletes gave the event tremendous credibility. Even the undercard guys I had never heard of looked like tough adult men, something that's missing today. In the main event, Vic Steamboat, brother of Ricky, defeated Iron Sheik to win the CWA Heavyweight Championship (no idea how he ever won it), done in a way to give Vic and the company the rub off of beating a former WWF World Champion.
I was truly in heaven. . .I was part of what millions of fans dreamed of being involved in. Early on, I would help with the video production work at the events, but as months went on, Tony saw that I had a true aptitude and interest in wrestling and morphed me over to that side. . .ringing the bell. . .doing the music / line-up sheets. . .playing the music. . .sending the ref time cues. . .it might not seem like much to you, but to a kid in the 9th grade, life did not get any better. Then when it got to the point where I was actually paid MONEY to do it?!? Good God!
The memories. . .the superstars I watched on TV as a younger kid I was now working with, even becoming friends with. Traveling, at first around MA, then New England, then the northeast. . .whether life was good, bad or somewhere in between, there was always a wild weekend coming up. Even though I did very well in high school for the most part, I lost complete interest the more I got involved in wrestling. Who wouldn't?? I was barely a teenager living my dream, and lived by simple advice given to me early on: act like you've been there. If I went in there acting like a foolish kid, asking for autographs, acting like a know it all, I would have never, ever been accepted back in the day where you had to EARN your way in and probably would have got smacked. The rides were always fun and everyone wanted me in their car because of my insane sense of humor making the trips go by that much quicker. But at the events it was different. . .I observed. . .I listened. I wanted to know what made pro wrestling work, and what made it work well. Tony was bringing in Kevin Sullivan while he was both wrestling and booking for WCW during their peak in the mid-90's. Tony brought in Jim Cornette when he was both managing and booking for WWF during the attitude era of the late 90's. While kids my own age were worried about finding a place in the woods to try their first beer after a high school football game, I was on the road just about every weekend, loving every minute of it. . .
Tony even got me interested/involved in the Cauliflower Alley Club. In the fall of 1995, the CAC held it's east coast reunion (there used to be two per year, one out this way to go along with their LA or Vegas reunions). I drove down to Cherry Hill, NJ with Tony, Pat and The Jackal in what is one of my favorite weekends in the business, ever. I was with the three people who I give credit to breaking me in and had nothing but laughs the whole way down. I remember we stopped at a deli Tony loved in CT, and all at the same time, he smoked an "adult cigarette," drove, had a cup of coffee and ate a sandwich. Tremendous road skills. I believe the reunion was at the Holiday Inn, and it was a who's who of pro wrestling. You had icons and legends there, like Lou Thesz, Pat Patterson, Gorilla Monsoon, Captain Lou Albano, Freddie Blassie. . .you had the superstars of tomorrow and the ECW crew there like Paul Heyman, Tommy Dreamer, Tazz, Public Enemy and so many others. There was a private cocktail hour before the dinner / awards ceremony, and Tony had me go up and tape him interviewing a variety of these guys. Stayed late into the night at the hotel bar after the dinner, a memory that will stay with me forever. . .
From 1993-1998, nothing could beat Tony's CWA. I feel 1998-1999 had it's bumps when he joined the NWA and started using guys like Barry Windham or others that general fans didn't know or care about. Just my own personal opinion. Nonetheless, when he ran Good Times, he worked out a deal where it didn't cost him a penny. He ran weekly TV on WNDS, and he did not pay ten cents for being on a television channel that reaches something like 2.5 million homes. In October 1995, we drew over 3,000 paying fans to the Dorothy Talbot Ice Arena in Gloucester, MA with Kevin Sullivan on top (just a few days after he shaved Hulk Hogan's moustache on some new show. . .what was it called. . .WCW Monday Nitro). We had Champs Arena in Salisbury, MA weekly. For years, it felt like we were on top of the world, both from hard work and "smoke and mirrors."
A selfish con-man of a radio host got involved and thought he was going to reinvent the wheel. . .a sleazebag that cost Tony a lot of relationships and friendships with people that were there from the start. His morning slot on Boston radio gave the company a little credibility with his involvement, but it was like he wanted the entire promotion to revolve around him. I got along with him early on, but as I was hearing the stories about some of the people he was trying to convince Tony to push out, it was sickening. It was a real shame. After Tony passed away in November 1999, he stuck around, wearing Tony's Falcon Field jacket, taking bumps in it and pissing on a product Tony gave his life to building. Even his wake was a disgrace, with his "friends" plotting to take over his promotion literally a few feet from his casket. Some were trying to get jobs with ECW when they saw Tommy Dreamer come in for his friends wake, it was revolting. Then another radio gig came up, and the big shot was gone, leaving Tony's widow in a bad spot not knowing what to do with the company, putting it in the wrong hands, and in the end, it was raped and used like a whore until it finally died in 2007. Tony's work deserved a much better fate by those that cared, and it could have been different if she didn't pick the wrong people at important times. Not trying to knock her, she's not a wrestling person. . .
For a few years, it felt like we had the wrestling world by the balls. In 2010, every indy promoter out there lusts after what was common place for Tony. He was a professional. . .he paid his dues. . .he broke in the hard way, that wasn't the easy way. He earned the respect and friendship of some of the highest ranking people in the sport, to some of the biggest clowns you'd ever see or meet, and he was happy to know them all.
I'd like to think I learned a lot just being around him and as time went on, becoming a close friend. From mid-1997 until our split in early 1999, we spoke on the phone everyday. The Jackal would joke I talked to Tony more than he did. I believe he made it to the big territory in the sky, and would like to think he looks down at what we do with a smile, laughing at some of our more frustrating moments and proud of our accomplishments. It's now been 17 years, and I think it's pretty cool that myself, Pat, the Jackal, Commissioner Von Johnson, Rich Palladino, Bull Montana and even the Iron Sheik who were all there on day one are all important parts of the Millennium Wrestling Federation. We don't have or use the CWA name, but I believe the spirit of what Tony Rumble created lives on in what we continue to do. . .and it will never - ever - be forgotten. . .
