Jerry Stubbs: When the mask was on, Jerry enjoyed lots of success. When the mask came off, oh my, if I could borrow a line from the late, great Gordon Solie, “Katie bar the door.” This is when the full personality was allowed to shine. Stubbs played the bad guy like few others. How could this man with a hood on be so popular, and yet when it came off be so hated? It’s called psychology and Stubbs knew how to work it.

What I was leading up to earlier about Stubbs return to the bad side took place in an angle with former partner Col. Buck Robley. These two friends had a match on Southeastern TV that was in a word: AWESOME. The way they did it was the way a heel turn should take place. They battled to an all out brawl. The following week, the met again, with the fans siding with Robley. Robley took advantage of the fans knowing that Stubbs was Olympia. He began saying how he was going to remove the mask and expose Stubbs’ “chrome dome.” Now about this time another masked Olympia entered the area; he was known as Super Olympia. Super Olympia would ultimately turn out to be, as most everyone knows, Arn Anderson. It was Super Olympia that was able to get the mask off of Stubbs, not Robley, who for one reason or another didn’t stick around for much longer to complete his feud with Stubbs.

Now comes one of the most disappointing times in my life when I think about it. I moved from the area and went to Buffalo. I missed the entire Jerry Stubbs/Arn Anderson teaming. To this day I’m still saddened by that, because I missed on of the most exciting times in all of wrestling, let alone Southeastern. Oh, I was able to get caught up on the whole situation when I returned some 14 months later, but it wasn’t the same, because my friends were able to watch the whole thing unfold week by week. Michael Calloway though, the former writer for the Southeastern/Continental region did see, and you can read about it here.

I was, however, able to see Jerry Stubbs in one of the most spectacular feuds of all time. If you didn’t see it, you missed out. Every once in a while, two wrestlers get together and are able to put on such a great show, that you could say, “they were meant to work with each other.” That would be the case with the Jerry Stubbs versus Brad Armstrong feud. They feuded over the Continental Heavyweight Championship, which they traded back and forth on a couple of occasions. This feud was so solid and believable that on one occasion at the Bayfront Auditorium in Pensacola, FL things got a little out of hand. Stubbs and Armstrong put on a 5* classic. At the end of the bout, Stubbs managed to wind up on the stage in the arena. I was right there, by the heels locker room entrance on the far right of the stage. Armstrong was still in the ring, and Stubbs was on the stage and they were talking smack back and forth. Stubbs refused to get back in the ring. He was holding the Continental championship. Then this fan, not a plant, grabbed Stubbs by the leg and started pulling. Stubbs took the title and slammed it across this guy’s forehead and busted him open. As the guy fell to the floor, I being a 15-year-old Stubbs mark, kicked this guy in the ribs. Stubbs heads to the locker room immediately. Brad, who I don’t think could really see what was happening from the ring, was shocked. I don’t think it was supposed to end that way. I would assume that Stubbs was supposed to go back into the ring, and finish the match. This was the end of the card, and I always went outside by the heels entrance to the Bayfront Auditorium to talk with the wrestlers after the matches. The police are outside with Jerry talking with him. I don’t know if they were getting his side of the story, or just making sure he got into his Jeep without incident, but nonetheless it was wild.

Another great story I have about Jerry is available here.  That’s all for this month fans. 

NEXT MONTH:

I shall return and look at two of my all-time favorites: Jimmy Golden & Robert Fuller.

All feedback can be addressed to Jeff Luce.