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CRAZY
LUKE GRAHAM
Isn’t
it funny how an event sticks in your mind. I can remember exactly where
I was when I heard JFK had been assassinated, as well as when Martin
Luther King, Jr. was shot. Tragic events burn into your mind, but so do
funny things that happen to us. Luke
Graham was one of the nicest guys I ever worked with. As a referee he
would work with you and never make you look stupid.
A lot of the boys never figured out the heat was supposed to be
on them, they were drawing the money, not the referees. Heat came from
being sneaky and outsmarting the baby face and the referee. The cheap
heat came from making the referee look inept. I really get hot when I
see a wrestler tell the referee to look at something and the guy turns
away while the wrestler punches or chokes his opponent. I don’t blame
the wrestler I blame the referees for letting themselves be used.
Enough preaching… We
were in Hawkinsville, Georgia in a National Guard Armory working for
Dick Steinborn. Luke was wrestling Ray Candy and I was refereeing.
Anybody who has been in the business for over two hours has worked in an
Armory. A flat floor with about ten or fifteen rows of metal chairs
around the ring. We had worked Luke’s
taped thumb gimmick for about three or four minutes at the beginning of
the match when he finally locked up with Ray and nailed him with the
thumb. As always with Luke the people went nuts and he went into his
“Crazy” persona. There was a guy sitting on the back row that became
irate. He was 6’5” and probably weighed around 450 pounds and Luke
started razzing him. We continued the match a few minutes and I noticed
the guy had moved up three or four rows. I told Luke he was closer and
Luke threw Ray out of the ring and went over to heckle the guy some
more. The old boy hollered back but never moved. Ten minutes further
into the match and this guy is on the front row. I buzzed Luke and he
proceeded to build his heat to the point where we were headed when he
stopped, walks over and
sits down on the middle rope and invites this huge fellow into the ring
while he does that crazy look of his. Ray and I saw what he did and we
just looked at each other. I
walked over to him and tapped him on the back. As he turned to look at
me I asked this question of him, what do we do if this guy comes into
the ring? Never
cracking a smile he looked at me and said, Make sure we don’t have a
double knockout going out the other side! As I turned to keep from
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