When I was a kid growing up in the Rio Grande Valley, All Star Wrestling was on TV. It was out of the old Wrestlethon in San Antonio. One part of the intro showed a portion of a match between Joe Blanchard and Fritz Von Erich. I remember seeing the match. Blanchard brought in a wheelbarrow containing 1,000 silver dollars that he had bet Fritz. They got going and Fritz never even took his black t-shirt off. He applied a very devastating Iron Claw on Blanchard that ended up drawing a whole lot of blood. The part where a very bloody Blanchard was flailing away on the mat while Fritz watched with that patented grimace was what came out in the intro. Great stuff!
When I was a kid growing up in Ft. Worth Tx in the 1960s, nothing was better than staying up late on a weekend night watching these guys in black and white tv breaking each other up. We thought it was real, after it became color and big show biz razzmatazz, the grittiness was gone.
Would this be Saturday Night Wrestling at Will Rogers Colesium? I used to watch this with my dad in the 70s and 80s. I remember the Von Erichs. Kissinger Auto Supplies was one of the sponsors.
I remember watching this match on TV as a young boy who grew up in Fort Worth, TX. When Joe got out of that Iron Claw, I remember jumping so high I almost conked my head on the ceiling!!! Fritz Bob Erich was the BEST bad guy EVER!!! I never missed a wrestling show back then.
There's a match on You Tube where Bobo Brazil really pummeled Fritz badly...Brazil was disqualified and eventually cops wound up in the ring.....But Fritz actually took a worse beating in this one.
Forgot a few more from the 60s in TX; Vittorio Apollo, Buddy Austin, Danny Little Bear, Bobo Brazil, Jack Brisco, Bulldog Brower, Tiger Conway, "Wild Bull Curry, Jim & Jack Dalton, Paul DeMarco, The Destroyer, Cowboy Bob Ellis, Col. Stu Gibson, Rene Goulet, Kurt Hess, Ken Hollis, Gene Kiniski, Sundown Kid, Krusher Karlssen, Ivan & Igor Kalmikoff, Ciclon Negro, Sputnik Monroe, El Matador Matta, Chris Tolos, Stan Vachon, Big John Studd......Super Star Billy Graham, Black Jack Lanza; Later on came Ivan Putski, Mil Mascaras, Brusier Brody, Mark Lewin, Missouri Mauler, etc, etc. then Freebirds, The Von Erichs, etc etc..... Gino Hernandez, Al Perez and on and on................................Sorry, got carried away into the 70's & 80's
now we see where tully gets his natural ability to sell his opponents moves. joe looks like a taller version of his son tully. Today's wrestling needs more wrestling and less talking.
The Greatest Tragedy in Wrestling history was the Von Erich Family Great Wrestlers but only Kevin is still alive. Big Von Erich is dead as well. RIP to the other Von Erichs.
All excellent points, althought to be fair, Joe did originally try to push Tully as the top babyface of his Southwest promotion but eventually discovered thatTully was just much better as a heel.
I just find it fascinating how the people in the arena thought this was real. They were so invested in this. Nowadays it’s not even an open secret, WWE makes no effort to sell the feuds. I kinda wish this kind of wrestling was back
Of the wrestlers involved in this match, only Joe Blanchard is still alive. Duke Keomuka does a brief run-in near the end of the match - like Fritz and Joe, he also had a son who became a pro wrestler (Pat Tanaka). Fritz, Duke and Waldo Von Erich are all no longer with us. Maybe modern wrestling should take a page from these guys' books and slow down the pace of the matches a bit. Maybe the guys would have longer careers if they did.
Maybe Vince McMahon Jr wouldn't be a billionaire. That is the point, after all...to make money and Junior is clarly much better at it than Daddy was, though wrestling is less interesting today with all the glitz and trash talking that makes "pencil neck geek" sound like an ode. That's what the audience has been trained to want, though, and as long as they shell out the shekels, that's what they will get. Sad.
Fritz and Joe sold the personal grudge effect,the people were emotionally involved with these guys. The secret to WCCW"S greatness. Realism done in a tough,gritty manner.I miss the good ole days
@@Uuusssaaas Tully wasn't in World Class with Baby Doll. She was working as Gino Hernandez's bodyguard when he was being harassed by Sunshine's aunt Stella Mae French.
@@Sargebri It has been 35 years since I watched it but I do remember Babydoll appearing with both men as well as them also having a tag team together. WCCW was the first place I saw Tully wrestle. It was syndicated in Maseachusetts where I lived at the time. I moved from there to Richmond, VA around the time that Tully and Babydoll arrived in Mid Atlantic. I was excited that Tully arrived since I was a fan of his. I don't know if he was appearing on WCCW syndicated TV while still wrestling for his father. I doubt it because I doubt that Fritz would showcase another promoter's wrestler on his globally syndicated show. Either way, Tully was regularly appearing on WCCW television long enough for me to become a fan. (I don't know what that says about me that I used to root for bad guys when I was 10 or 11, but that is a story for another time.)
A Real Hammering Slugging it,Brawl of a match with the real meaning of " All in Wresting " thats for sure,which leads me to ask,do you have the full match,would be great ot see it from start to finish.Thanks for posting.
Last I checked, Tully's in the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the Four Horseman. Too bad Ole wasn't inducted with them, but I guess that's what happens when you either get on Vince's bad side, or you alienate every other wrestler you've worked with in thirty-or-so-plus years.
Announcer Dan Coates: Referee Marvin Jones is doing a great job controlling the situation. HA ! Around 1966, a photo circulated of Fritz applying the Iron Claw to Joe Blanchard, blood streaming from Joe's forehead. It was nightmarish.... to anyone who did not understand their fantastic theatrics. Great wrestling times, those!
extremely rare to see fritz get pinned. later fritz was almost as bad as mil mascares when he come to accepting he would get beat. fantastic footage !!
in my WWE Raw vs Smackdown game for PS3 I created Both Fritz Von Erich and Joe Blanchard as well as Dory Funk Sr. Bob Orton Sr. Grizzly Smith Black Jack Mulligan Stu Hart Gory Guerrero Angelo Poffo Carlso Colon sr. Rocky Johnson Warren Bockwinkel Jerry Jarrett Eddie Graham Johnny Valentine thats all I created for now
4:57...Blanchard rubber legged from Frirz claw.... went bow legged and stuck his unguarded gut out for hard right hook, but gave Fritz close up of champion ass for the pin...well matched opponents: pure testosterone in the ring... both went on to sire fighting sons....
I like this but am confused when folks say "Oh this is the wrestling that I love..." This is a brawl. Punch, kick. I see no wrestling. Watch a Zach Sabre Jr match and you'll see wrestling. AEW has reduced the number of aerial only performers and have great, old school style workers like FTR and Cody Rhodes. They work on the mat. There are chain moves. Plus brawling. That, to me, is the old school stuff that I love. I've been watching since 1969, San Francisco near the end of the Ray Stevens era. I've see some great wrestling shows. This match isn't one of them.
This was at Nortside Coliseum - Fort Worth, Tx....Monday night Dan Coats was announcer in FW, Bill Mercer was Dallas Sportatorium announcer Tuesday night.....
Funny, just how similar Fritz & Joe's careers would later be. Both men ran Texas wrestling promotions, WCCW & Southwest respectively, and both were followed into wrestling by their sons. Both their sons had drug problems as well
@youdude1121 If you ever even pretended to think about possibly stepping in even an imaginary ring against someone like me, your ring presence would be deleted. Stay in your place, little boy.
Vince WISHES he could get a reaction like this from the fans. Vince REALLY needs to do something different, he's really beant on milking "sports entertainment" to the hilt. Titles use to mean something but, now its a joke.
Mon. night - North Side Coliseum Fort Worth; Tue. night - Dallas Sportatorium; Wed. night - San Antonio; Friday night - Houston Coliseum. Fritz and Waldo Von Erich, Joe Blanchard, The Brute, Spoilers 1 & 2, Billy Red Lyons, Killer Karl Kox, a young Dusty Rhodes, Cristo Markoff, Grizzy Smith, Big Ernie Ladd, Soul Man Stagg, Thunderbolt Patterson, Mike Paidousis, Gary Hart, Duke Keomuka, Baron Von Rasche, The Shiek, Bulldog Pledchas, Chief Wahoo McDaniel, Buddy Moreno, Pepe Gomez, Tom Jones, "Pancho" Lopez, Cowboy McKinzie, Black Jack Mulligan, Nick & Jerry Kozak, etc, etc etc.........
