In the weeks leading up to the World’s title matchup, Mr. D continued to reign havoc. He now had a tag team partner who dressed identically called "The Black Baron".

Dory Funk Jr. was in his second year as the NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion, having defeated Gene Kiniski for the title in Tampa, Florida in 1969. This was to be his only appearance in the Gulf Coast territory, but not one he would soon forget. Mr. D battered him mercilessly, finally getting himself disqualified and blowing his chance at becoming World’s champ. Funk also failed to unmask him and collect the $500.

Finally, Cowboy Bob Kelly had had enough. Lee Fields had returned and the matchmaking duties were turn back over to him. Bob Kelly was returning to the ring and he wanted Mr. D. If no one else could collect the bounty, he figured, he would do it himself. In Mobile, a sold out crowd witnessed the return of Bob Kelly and watched delightedly as he unmasked Mr. D as Donnie Fargo. A wild and bloody melee ensued until the Black Baron pulled Fargo from the ring. The following week, Kelly unmasked the Black Baron as well. It turned out to be another Fargo. Johnny Fargo (Greg Valentine).

During this time, the United States tag team titles were in a state of disarray. They had been worn by Mike "Hippie" Boyette and Prince Pullins after losing and regaining them from the Alaskans (Mike York & Frank Monte). Pullins soon turned on Boyette and ended the partnership. Lee Fields was ordered by the NWA to crown new champions. He decided the best way was to let Pullins and Boyette each chose a new partner and battle it out, with the winning team being crowned new champions. Pullins chose Bobby Shane, who was returning from a successful stay in Florida. Boyette chose Bob Kelly. After a wild match, Kelly and Boyette were named the new U.S. tag team champs. Their first challenge came from the Fabulous Fargos, Donnie and Johnny. Although the two teams had several wild and close matches, the Fargos could not win the titles. Johnny Fargo soon left the area. Donnie was alone again, but managed to beat the Wrestling Pro for the Gulf Coast Heavyweight title. Kelly and Boyette dropped the tag belts to Rip Tyler and Eddie Sullivan. Boyette then brought in a new partner, Mickey Doyle to form the California Hippies team to battle Tyler and Sullivan. This left Cowboy Bob Kelly free to pursue Donnie Fargo and the Gulf Coast crown.

The War

Kelly and Fargo battled week after week, swapping back and forth not only the Gulf Coast title, but also the Brass Knuckles title Fargo had introduced to the area. The Brass Knuckles matches saw each man with heavily taped fists beating each other senseless. Fargo’s appearance soon took on that of a street thug. Gone were the bodybuilder poses and fancy ring jackets, replaced with the blue jeans and motorcycle boots of his "Chain Gang" days. The Nature Boy was now the Wildman.

The war between the two had gotten so out of hand that in mid 1972 an NWA official, Bob Caldwell was in Mobile to observe their latest match. The match got so wild that Caldwell entered the ring unannounced to try and stop it. Kelly, not knowing who he was, promptly slugged him. With Caldwell out cold on the mat, the bloody battle continued. Finally, once order was restored, Caldwell suspended Cowboy Bob Kelly and awarded the Gulf Coast tile to Donnie Fargo. Kelly was ordered to appear along with promoter Lee Fields to an NWA governing board in Nashville. Along with them they took a petition signed by over 80,000 fans demanding that Kelly be reinstated, which he was.

The week after Kelly was reinstated, Lee Fields presented a Cowboy Bob Kelly appreciation night card in Mobile. The main event was to be a loser leave town cage match for the Gulf Coast Heavyweight Championship. Finally, after a years worth of battles the score between Kelly and Fargo would be settled once and for all.

The Finale

The roar of the crowd was deafening as Cowboy Bob Kelly entered the cage in the sold out Mobile Municipal Auditorium. In fact, earlier in the day, Kelly had even help build the cage. He was anxious to rid himself and the Gulf Coast fans of his hated rival. Kelly waited and paced. Finally, entering the ring wearing the Gulf Coast title belt came Fargo. But it was not Donnie Fargo, it was Jackie Fargo! Jackie Fargo had not been in the Gulf Coast in nearly 10 years. By this point Kelly didn’t care which Fargo he got his hands on and proceeded to give Jackie the beating of his life. Bob won the Gulf Coast title, and ran Jackie out of town. Donnie was suspended indefinitely for his failure to show. In actuality, Don’s leg was broken in the wild melee that followed the Caldwell incident. He later rejoined Johnny Fargo in Amarillo, Texas where they held the Western States tag team titles. They later went on to hold the NWF World tag team titles in Buffalo, NY before splitting and Johnny returning to his Greg Valentine name. Don later held the WWA tag team titles as "Private" Fargo with Sgt. Rene "Jacques" Goulet as the Legionnaires. But the end result was that Cowboy Bob Kelly was once again the Gulf Coast Champion and had gotten rid of all of the Fargos. Or had he?

The Aftermath

About a year after the cage match with Jackie Fargo, a man claiming to be a magazine writer appeared on the Saturday night TV program. He told announcer Don Griffith that he wanted to talk to Bob Kelly about his career in general and his battles with the Fargos in particular. When Kelly came out to ringside, he was attacked by the man. The "reporter" turned out to be Roughhouse Fargo (Sonny Faggart, Jackie’s real life brother). Kelly had a series of matches against Roughhouse in Pensacola and had soon run another Fargo out of the Gulf Coast.

NEXT MONTH: 

I will take a look at two tag teams that were considered the best in the Gulf Coast, Rip Tyler and Eddie Sullivan, and the California Hippies, Mike & Mickey.

Thanks go out to David Williamson and Cowboy Bob Kelly for their input and information provided.