While many of those who graced area TV sets weekly are lost to the rushing current of time, a few memorable workers and moments involving enhancement talent in the territory remain. This writer will visit a few of them in the following few paragraphs.

 Fargo, Greene and a Future Star  

In the fall of 1978, one of the territory's great stars returned and created havoc for a time. Don Fargo returned after an absence and began working for promoter Jerry Jarrett. Fargo , of course, was best known to most area fans as "brother" to the popular Jackie Fargo. Together, Jackie and Don had worked the area as a team since the late 1950s. They also were a team that had created mayhem in New York 's fabled Madison Square Garden . Back in Tennessee , the Fargos were area legends.  

Prior to 1978, Don's last stop in the area had been for a few weeks in 1975 when he teamed with Jackie and a third Fargo "brother", Roughhouse. The trio paired together and feuded against Chris Colt, Bill Colt and Bill Dundee. At this time the promotion hadn't split yet. When Don returned next the promotion had split into two separate ends. In 1978, Don had spent part of the year working for Nick Gulas' promotion where he worked as heel Don Garfield and teamed with Ron Garfield. Don was recognized as Jackie's brother who had renounced the Fargo name. The Garfields were managed by Las Vegas Louie.  

By the fall of 1978 Don had slipped into Jarrett's territory. Not long after his return, Don added a manager to his side. That manager also had deep roots in the area. His manager was Al Greene.  

Al Greene had been part of the infamous Greene brothers tag team with "brother" Don. The Greenes, known sometimes as the Heavenly Bodies, had held every major tag title in the area since the late 1950s. As heels, the Greenes seemingly had feuded against every major fan favorite tag team in the territory from the late 1950s into the early 1970s.  

The previous few years, Greene's career had changed. Don had turned fan favorite in 1973 and for the most part the Greene brothers tag team was over although they did team a few times after 1973. Al's days as a tag team champion though weren't over. In 1974, he formed a powerful tag team with Phil Hickerson. The team was managed by Sam Bass. When Bass and Jerry Lawler had a falling out, Bass's team of Greene & Hickerson often carried out Bass's dirty work against Lawler. Al Greene remained near the top of the cards into the mid-1970s.           

In 1976, Al's career changed again. The Mongolian Stomper had ripped through the area. For much of his stay the madman was managed by Bearcat Wright. Wright though left the promotion and the Stomper was left without a manager. Al Greene stepped in to fill that void. The Mongolian Stomper would eventually leave the area. Greene though wasn't finished as a manager. The Russian Stomper began a heel run in the area with Greene as his manager. Greene's charge would feud against Tommy Rich over the Mid-America title into 1977.  

Al's most well known moment as a headliner in the area though came as a result of a singles feud he had with Jackie Fargo in 1972. The feud popped when in a Memphis match Jackie lost to Greene and had to have his head shaved according to pre-match stipulations. Now to 1978 and a Fargo and a Greene had come together for some bedlam in the Jarrett territory. Ironically though this wasn't the first time a Fargo and Greene would pair together as in 1975, Jackie Fargo & Don Greene had formed a team in the area a few years before Al Greene & Don Fargo came together in 1978.  

One Saturday in Memphis , Don Fargo stood in the ring wearing the Southern title. Sitting in a chair at ringside in the WMC-TV studio was Fargo 's manager, Al Greene. Greene was regulated to remaining in a chair because the promotion was cracking down on outside interference at the time. If anyone, including a manager, interfered in a match they would be fined $1000. Across the ring from Fargo a young lanky blonde opponent stood ready to get his chance at an area legend.  

The match started and Fargo quickly found himself tossed around the ring and a victim of his opponent's forearm smashes. Reeling, Fargo began stooping to hair pulling and a few other illegal tactics to get things under his control. It then became apparent Fargo 's experience would be too much for his untested foe. Fargo then began an assault with kicks and punches. As Fargo moved in for the kill, his opponent briefly fought back and caught the veteran with a kneelift. Fargo fell to the mat and landed near the corner where Greene sat. Away from referee Paul Morton's sight, Greene handed an object to Fargo . Fargo got off the mat and clobbered his opponent with a punch from his loaded fist. Fargo then hid the object in his tights. He then began throwing clenched fists at his opponent's forehead.  The youngster was being battered. As his foe rested on the ropes, Fargo continued to hammer away with his roundhouse rights. Fargo would then kick and gouge at the youngster. Soon, it became apparent that the young blonde, who fell helpless to the mat, was busted open. The white blonde hair was turning a shade of red. It was also apparent that Fargo sensed his opponent was in trouble and became driven to continue to pound away until his opponent was hurt badly or until he was satisfied.  

As the mugging continued, Robert Gibson came to ringside. Aware of the $1000 fine for interfering, Gibson pleaded with Greene from the studio floor to have Fargo quit the massacre. Also aware that Fargo might be out of control, Gibson pleaded further with Greene to stop the battering. Promoter Jerry Jarrett then came to ringside and asked Greene to stop Fargo's relentless attack. Greene though stood by ringside claiming he was helpless to stop the maniacal Fargo .  

Lumberjack Jos LeDuc strolled from the dressing room. Fargo and LeDuc were teaming some on area cards. Announcers Lance Russell and Dave Brown and the crowd no doubt believed that the equally maniacal LeDuc would begin helping Fargo . LeDuc approached Greene. Strangely, LeDuc asked Greene to have Fargo stop the attack. Greene listened to LeDuc then looked to the ring and called for Fargo to stop his mauling attack. Fargo , moments earlier hammering his opponent like a man possessed, calmly stepped out of the ring and walked to the dressing room with Greene. As they passed by the announce desk, Greene turned to LeDuc and wondered why he had called Fargo out of the ring, a small sign of trouble that lay ahead between Fargo and LeDuc.  

Meantime, Gibson and referee Paul Morton helped the beaten wrestler from the ring and to the dressing room. That lanky young blonde who had put up a courageous effort for a few moments against the veteran Fargo was Wayne Farris. Farris had spent much of the past year getting his feet wet in the business. Farris would soon begin coming into his own as he turned heel and teamed with Jimmy Valiant to battle Jerry Lawler & Bill Dundee. In 1979, Farris would return to the area with Larry Latham to become one of the area's top teams. Over time, Farris would work the Southeastern ( Gulf Coast end) promotion as well as the Calgary promotion, among other promotions. In time, he would become the Honky Tonk Man, one of the WWF's top attractions of the 1980s. On one Saturday in the fall of 1978 though he spent a few minutes providing literal sweat and blood to pay dues in a business he would come to do well in over time. 

 Raper & Reed Win! Raper & Reed Win!  

The year was 1983. It was one of the hottest years in the history of the promotion at the box office. In the summer a masked tag team called the Assassins began leveling competition. When they entered the mat wars that year they brought with them the CWA World tag titles. The championship was represented by a large trophy.  

Quickly, the Assassins found themselves embroiled in a feud against the area's top team of fan favorites, The Fabulous Ones: Steve Keirn & Stan Lane . The feud centered on the CWA tag championship with the Fabs finally capturing the title.   

The Assassins, managed by Jimmy Hart, worked hard to get the titles back. When the titles were back in the possession of the masked team in black and gold, Jimmy Hart vowed that he would not let the Fabs have another shot at his team. The Fabs though offered up Steve Keirn's Corvette for a title shot. The Fabs came out on top. Once again, the Assassins were without a championship.  

The masked men were livid and so was their manager. Hart finagled a TV match where the Fabs would defend their championship against one of Hart's teams. While the Assassins were chomping at the bit to get their hands on the Fabs they would have to wait as Hart had arranged The Bruise Brothers: Porkchop Cash & Troy Graham to square off with the Fabs. As the match progressed, it broke down, suddenly from the crowd, two burly men jumped into the ring and attacked the Fabs. The two men then stopped, pulled out masks and masked themselves revealing the Assassins. The Assassins and the Bruise Brothers then pummeled the Fabs. Taking a page from the Fabs playbook, the Assassins offered the Fabs more incentive than simple revenge when they agreed to a match where their masks would be at stake against the CWA tag championship.  

Thanks in part to Jimmy Hart's interference, the Assassins recaptured the titles and held onto their masks. Hart and his masked men sneered at the thought that outside interference had cost the Fabs the tag titles. On TV the next week, October 29 to be specific, Jimmy Hart declared his team would grant the Fabs another title shot but only after the Fabs had worked their way from the bottom of the tag team ranks. Hart then announced his kind heart would grant the viewing audience a tag title match on TV that week. Hart proudly announced his team would square off against the up and coming team of Ken Raper & Robert Reed.  

 While the Assassins and the Fabulous Ones had feuded for weeks, Raper & Reed had spent the fall of 1983 mostly working for the promotion on Saturday mornings. Week after week, they were fodder for headliners working the territory. Having never won a match no doubt was bad enough but now scrawny mouthy Jimmy Hart was giving them a world tag title shot in front of a potential viewing audience of several hundred thousand and in so doing was intimating there was no way possible they could defeat the mighty Assassins. Announcer Lance Russell was convinced of the same thing. Russell and co-host Dave Brown had seen the Assassins for weeks plow through TV competition and had seen Raper & Reed get drilled week after week. Why would things be different this particular week? 
 
As the match started, it fell true to fears. The Assassins began wiping the mat with Hart's hand-picked contenders. During the match though, the Fabs were lurking in the shadows of the WMC-TV studio. One of the Assassins bodyslammed Raper then tagged the other Assassin in for action. The Assassin inside the ring then catapulted his partner into the ring over the top rope as he aimed to land on the prone Raper. The Fabs though played havoc with this idea as Lane distracted the Assassin who had tagged out and as the other Assassin flew over the top rope, Keirn yanked Raper away forcing the masked man to land belly-first on the mat. Keirn then pushed Raper onto the Assassin who was counted out by pinfall by referee Jerry Calhoun. Suddenly, the CWA had new tag champions in the form of Ken Raper & Robert Reed. The crowd went crazy realizing they had seen something strange and exciting. The ring filled with fellow fan favorites as Raper & Reed celebrated their moment in the sun. All Hart and the Assassins could do was complain to Russell & Brown how outside interference had cost them the tag titles. 

Snow Angels in Memphis 

Almost everywhere in Tennessee the natives are fond of telling outsiders that if you don't like the weather to hang around a few minutes because it is bound to change. Despite this the idea that real serious wintry weather finds it's way to this part of the southern United States is a bit misleading. Now and then it can be considered part of that equation of the everchanging nature of the weather in these parts but never for very long in the winter.   With this in mind snowy and icy weather did create trouble from time to time with a professional wrestling territory. One such time was in January 1985. It drastically affected the Saturday Memphis TV show.  

A major snowstorm had moved through the area. By Saturday, driving conditions were still not the best which meant some of the wrestlers who were scheduled to appear on TV were snowed in somewhere outside Memphis proper. Add to this the fact that the temperature was in the teens and it was a frigid day in nation's mid-south. Despite the snow and the cold, the TV show had to go on. 

 A number of wrestlers who could get to the Memphis studio arrived. Among those appearing on the show that day were The (unmasked) Nightmares: Ken Wayne & Danny Davis, The Terminators, Troy Graham, Playboy Frazier, Dirty White Boy Len Denton, among others including perennial area enhancement stars Pat Hutchinson, Ken Raper, and Jim Jamison. To add to the depletion this particular week, the area's top star, Jerry Lawler was in Japan on tour there teaming with Jimmy Valiant.  

On hand this week was the area's lead heel, Hot Stuff Eddie Gilbert, the Southern champion, and his manager Jimmy Hart. To begin the show, Gilbert was set to battle David Haskins. Since the number of wrestlers on hand was limited in number and the promotion had ninety minutes of air time to fill the Gilbert-Haskins match was announced as a best of three falls match.  

The first fall was fairly competitive but saw Gilbert come away with a win. Gilbert used a fist smash off the second rope, a move often used by his rival Jerry Lawler to stun then pin Haskins. After this, Gilbert and Hart then were interviewed by announcer Lance Russell about Gilbert's recent match against Lawler. Aware that Lawler was out of the country Gilbert became really cocky. This was not good news for Gilbert in the second fall as his overconfidence would get the best of him.           

As the second fall began, Gilbert quickly took charge. He also began playing to the camera. Gilbert's audaciousness backfired as Haskins quickly rolled Gilbert into a pin and got a three count for the win.  

Gilbert was furious and so was Hart. Hart ran to the announce desk and rang the bell starting the third fall before Haskins was even off the mat from the second fall. Gilbert then lowered the boom on Haskins and finished him off with his Hot Shot supplex. After the pin, Gilbert dragged Haskins to the announce desk and demanded an apology as he slapped the back of Haskins' head. Gilbert and Hart then dragged Haskins away from the desk and through the studio crowd to the back of the studio. Behind the curtain hiding the back wall went Gilbert, Hart and Haskins where Haskins was dragged out a back door and into the parking lot where he was dumped into the snow and cold.  

A bit later in the show, Hart brought Playboy Frazier to the ring to battle Jesse Owens. There wasn't much of a match as the super-sized Frazier slammed Owens and then dropped a leg onto him for the pin. Joining in the fun, Hart dragged Owens to the outside and threw him in the snow as well. Even some of the more established stars on hand that day got in the act when the Masked Daydreamers brawled with the Nightmares: Ken Wayne & Danny Davis out the back studio door and into the elements. That was okay though as these two teams were booked on the following Monday card in Memphis against each other. But for David Haskins and Jesse Owens the trip out the back studio door became a chilly way to make an impression on area fans during an arctic Saturday morning in Memphis .                        

Airborne  

The aforementioned Jos LeDuc made a large splash in the area in 1978 in a long and memorable feud against the area's top star Jerry Lawler. LeDuc was a monster of a man for the area. Wearing logging boots and denim, a scar-filled forehead and a look only a mother could love and psychologist could only begin to understand, LeDuc warred for months against Lawler. Teaming with Sonny King and Jean Louie against Lawler, Bill Dundee and Jimmy Valiant allowed the feud to extend for months. In one of the feud's highlights, LeDuc hoisted Lawler above his head during a match in Memphis ' Mid-South Coliseum and tossed him over the top rope onto the arena floor. On the way down, one of Lawler's legs caught the edge of the announcer's table. With these actions and more, LeDuc's 1978 stay cemented forever his standing in the area with fans.  

After 1978, LeDuc popped back in the area a time or two. In 1984, he came back for an extended stay early in the year pairing with manager Jimmy Hart to re-ignite the feud against Lawler.  

In 1986, LeDuc returned and began taking on comers two at a time. 1986 was also the year the promotion was overrun by Superstar Bill Dundee & Buddy Landel. Dundee & Landel were feuding against Lawler & Dutch Mantel. Dundee & Landel's anger ran deep at anyone connected to the promotion including announcers Lance Russell and Dave Brown. One Saturday, Dundee & Landel roll out to the set where Russell refuses to interview them, a wise decision considering on a previous show, Dundee had slapped Russell. Dundee & Landel let the refusal roll off their backs and left the set temporarily. Moments later, Dundee & Landel returned carrying their own desk and then set it up on the riser housing the stand-up interview area. On the front of the desk was a sign that read "The Bill and Buddy Show". Commandeering the microphones from Russell & Brown and thus the show, Dundee & Landel began one of the decade's most memorable parts of any wrestling TV show of the time.  

Dundee & Landel of course were on hand to needle their arch rivals Lawler & Mantel. Dundee & Landel were on hand, and on-air, when Lawler & Mantel wrestled a TV match against Pat Rose & Bill Rose. Dundee & Landel's continual taunts got to Lawler & Mantel who left the ring and were counted out losing the match. Of course, Lawler & Mantel returned with chairs moments later to destroy the Bill & Buddy Show announce desk and send Dundee & Landel scurrying for safety.  

Before the Lawler & Mantel match against Pat Rose & Bill Rose, Dundee & Landel had to call another match. That match featured the Canadian wildman Jos LeDuc. LeDuc was ready to take on two opponents. Coming out to ringside, LeDuc stopped to shake hands with Dundee & Landel, who told LeDuc he must be the strongest man in wrestling. LeDuc then crawled into the ring and began pulverizing Benny Trailer & Jerry Garmen. After a few minutes of mayhem, LeDuc threw both men outside the ring. Trailer reentered the ring only to be caught and hoisted above LeDuc's head. LeDuc then ran toward the edge of the ring and like he had done to Jerry Lawler in 1978 threw his opponent over the top rope onto Garmen standing on the floor. Three and a half minutes of pandemonium ended in a dangerous move designed to get one of the area's legendary monster heels over with fans and no doubt, is remembered as one difficult way to pay some dues. 

Go to the Finish  

Of course there are many more memorable performers who worked as enhancement talent over the years. There are some that weren't all that memorable also. No matter their stature though they all in some way contributed to the business in the territory. Some donned masks as Mr. X or The Terror or the Marvel. Others still rattle around the memories of some of us who can't let the past slide away easily.  

So here's to Keith Eric, Thurman Dolan, Mark Roberts, Deuce Mason, Keith Robertson, Aaron Holt, Cecil Hedge, Pat Hutchinson, Tom Maley, David McGee, David Price, Tony Boyles, Jerry Ralph, Jesse Owens, Rooster Cogburn, Tony Perkins, Jim Jamison, Larry Hardin, The Pink Panther, Gene Spurlock, Craig Carson, Ed Flukert, Larry Cheatham, David Johnson, Bub Smith, Kenny Shane, Joe Stark, Ted Allen, Tom Maley, Tommy Montana, Benny Trailer, Jerry Garmen, Ric McCord, David Oswald, Chris Frazier, Alan Reynolds, Robert Long, Tommy King, Randy Foster, David Haskins, Rough & Ready and so many more including others known only as Mr. X, Dr. X and Masked Marvels, Destroyers, Infernos, Raiders, Demons and Terrors. 

Thanks for all you did to make the bad guys seem really bad and all you did to make the good guys our heroes. Thanks for the memories. What the business became could not have happened without you. Thanks for doing what you did well. Thanks for enhancing the talents of others and your own talents. Thanks for doing the job.  

NEXT MONTH:  

A working guide to area managers. 

Rest in Peace  

Freddie Blassie, a star in the territory in the 1950s. Generations of pencil-neck geeks thank you for your contributions to professional wrestling.