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 - Mike DuPree

One of the true unsung legends of pro wrestling from the "modern" era has to be Wilbur Snyder. In the 50’s thru to the mid 60’s,Wilbur was one of professional wrestling’s biggest draw cards, and helped pioneer the wrestling style of ringwork by doing elaborate high spots (for the time), ropework, and unorthodox bumps over the top rope and bumps taken on the floor. While he wasn’t by any means the first to do any of these moves, he did raise the use of them to a fine art. If you delighted to any of the Randy Savage/Ricky Steamboat matches from the late 80’s,then you basically saw a sped up version of Snyder’s ring work (usually with Savage’s dad, Angelo Poffo). Snyder was one of the few guys EVER to go over cleanly against Verne Gagne, taking the US TV title from him in the 50’s,and was highly respected by his peers in the grappling game. If Lou Thesz was the link from the old carnival shooter/hooker to the modern day "worker", and Gagne the representative of the grappling art from the olympic mats to the pros, then Snyder was the prototype babyface wrestling performer; a tall,muscular, highflying matinee idol, who clicked at the turnstiles with fans all over the world, looking the part and convincing his audience he was the real mccoy, even though his legit wrestling background was very limited. Snyder was dubbed the California Comet early in his career, and later, "The World’s Most Scientific Wrestler".

Wilbur E. Snyder was born September 15,1929 in Santa Monica, California. He graduated from Van Nuys High School, where he won four letters in football, as well as being a gymnast. From there he headed to the University of Utah in 1948-49 to play football, pausing only long enough to get married. Right out of high school, Wilbur married his high school sweetheart Shirlee because he had a rival for his affections, Bob Waterfield, who went on to be the quarterback that lead the Los Angeles Rams to the national championship in 1952,a team that, incidently, Snyder had played on.  Waterfield was instrumental in getting Wilbur his tryout with the Rams, incidently.  

In college Snyder joined the wrestling team to keep in shape for football. Teammates included future wrestling stars Joe Tangero and Guy Brunetti. Snyder didn’t wrestle professionally until he left college, and was drawn into the mat game by Jerry Christy, nephew of Ted and Vic Christy. Snyder was trained for the pro ranks by Warren Bockwinkle and Sandor Szazbo, and made his debut at Hollywood’s Legion Stadium, and later worked the Valley Gardens in North Hollywood.  More...

 

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