THE EXCITEMENT CONTINUES... By Rock Rims

     “If I could make it there I can make it anywhere” might’ve been song lyrics written about New York, but in the 1960’s world of professional wrestling, the same thing could probably have been said about any territory with a strong television presence.  Los Angeles certainly had that and Lonnie Mayne had certainly made a good impression there.  But as would be his habit, he would soon get the itch to move on.

   In October of 1966 Lonnie had a match against the original Paul Diamond at the Lane County Fairgrounds in Eugene, Oregon, and apparently he hadn’t gotten enough of either Diamond or Oregon because he returned on November 4, to defeat Diamond, this time in Portland.  For the rest of the month Lonnie occupied himself with wrestling Diamond, participating in an 8 man battle royal, tagging up with a visiting Pat Patterson, and giving Diamond the occasional breather by taking on a different opponent.

   And it was in December that business would really begin to pick up.  “Tough” Tony Borne had recently beaten Shag Thomas for the Pacific Northwest Heavyweight title and as if didn’t already have enough on his plate defending that belt, he would have his hands full with a new responsibility.

   “Lonnie came to the area and Ken Mayne, his father, phoned me and said ‘Kind of look after him’.  Little did I know what a job this would be”, Borne recalled years later.  “I did know that Lonnie possessed much talent.  Also he had strength that was second to none.  Everything he did was different and this included his lifestyle.  To Lonnie every day was like Christmas and mornings when he awoke his eyes would sparkle like a little boy arising on Christmas morning.  He was a guy with a big heart and couldn’t say no to anybody.  At times I would get so angry with him I wouldn’t speak to him for days, but he would always win a person back with his unselfish ways.”

   “Tony Borne was really the strength behind Lonnie’s start in his whole career,” reflects Lonnie’s younger brother, Shawn Mayne.  “Tony just really brought him along.  Lonnie had been around the business all his life, so he had that natural feel for it.” 

   Pacific Northwest promoter Don Owen wasn’t terribly impressed with Lonnie his first few weeks in the territory but Tony Borne went to bat for Lonnie, suggesting that the two become a tag team and in no time at all the pair began the first of what would be 11 Pacific Northwest tag team title reigns for them as partners, unseating Pepper Martin and Shag Thomas on December 14, 1966.  It would also be the beginning of a very heated feud between Mayne and Pepper Martin, the professional wrestler and sometimes ringside commentator.

   “When he came to the Northwest, the wrestling fans in the Northwest had never seen anything like Lonnie Mayne.  He would do crazy stuff, and he just got over,” Martin would later say.  “He just got over like a million dollars.  I mad a lot of money with him in the Northwest.” 

   The feud, consisting of both tag team matches as well as singles matches, was intense, with many of the matches ending in disqualification, enough times that sometimes they’d have matches with a “no disqualification” stipulation.  On June 26, 1967, Lonnie Mayne would defeat Pepper Martin in a Texas Death match in Portland, and their feud was pretty much at an end…for now.

   Other feuds would commence, including those with Paul Jones, Johnny Kostas, and Stan Stasiak, Luther Lindsay, Dean Ho, and after a falling out between the pair, Tony Borne as well.  Tony Borne proved to be right when he had told Don Owen early on that Lonnie “has got more color than any man you’ve ever had here.”  Lonnie had established himself as both a top heel and a big draw, enough so that he was tabbed to square off against Gene Kiniski on November 28, 1967 in Portland, for Kiniski’s NWA World Heavyweight tile.  Kiniski would win the first fall and in the second, Lonnie Mayne would prove that he was more than just a brawler, as he pinned Kiniski after a leap off the top rope.

   Don Muraco witnessed Lonnie’s high flying on numerous occasions, including his first night working in Portland: “”Lonnie Mayne was standing on the top turnbuckle and somebody drop kicked him from the back and he went right from the top turnbuckle right onto the cement.  This is 1970.  You talk about “Cactus Jack” Mick Foley…Lonnie was taking insane bumps!”  Muraco would also add: “I could have seen him taking a bump off a cage, given the opportunity and the venue.  He was like that.” 

   Ron Bass, who worked with Lonnie in Texas, Portland, and Los Angeles echoed those sentiments.  “He was one of the first ones of the high flyers.  Period. He’d be soused to the gills, but you’d never know it in the ring.  He was a top flyer, man.”

   However in the match with Kiniski, Lonnie’s aggressive manner got the better of him and he continued to beat on the defending champion who was still prone on the mat after having been pinned.  Lonnie was disqualified and would lose the match before the third fall even got started, but there would be more opportunities, both for title shots and mayhem.

 

Time For A Change

 

   Along with reigns as the Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Champion and another tour of Japan near the end of 1968, Lonnie and Tony Borne would patch things up and reunite as a tag team to battle with Kurt and Karl Von Steiger over the tag titles.  That reunion would eventually break up again and Lonnie would change his ways, becoming a “good guy” and forming an alliance with Dutch Savage against the new villainous duo of the Skull and Bull Ramos. 

   The late great Dutch Savage said on his website regarding Lonnie Mayne: “Lonnie was one of the better workers to ever come out of the Northwest.  He was my partner for a couple of years after I turned face.  We made an awful lot of money working against one another before he left for Hawaii.”

   “Lonnie Mayne made Bull Ramos in Portland, Oregon” Ramos would later say.  Contrary to what people believe, Bull Ramos didn’t actually break Lonnie’s arm in a match but rather it was a way of explaining Lonnie’s absence while shuttling back and forth between the Northwest and Hawaii.  In addition, it was a great way to “put over” Bull Ramos as a heel, as Lonnie never hesitated to do what was good for the business and to help those he worked with. 

   Working in Hawaii, Lonnie continued to distinguish himself as an impact player in pro wrestling, wrestling to time limit draws with the likes of Sam Steamboat, Mil Mascaras, promoter Ed Francis, and winning the NWA Hawaiian Heavyweight title from Bearcat Wright.  Unfortunately for Superstar Billy Graham, who was also working in Honolulu at the time, Lonnie didn’t take it easy on inanimate objects either.  Always curious as well as mischievous, Lonnie wondered what it’d be like to body slam a friend off of the first floor balcony of the hotel they were staying at.  Not wanting to injure his friend on the concrete, he figured the roof of Graham’s car would make a much better landing spot.  He was right, as his friend walked away without injury, but the roof of Graham’s car was caved in.  There was never a dull moment in the life of Lonnie Mayne. 

 

Enter The “Moondog”

 

   1973 rolled in, and so did Lonnie Mayne, or rather “Moondog” Mayne, into New York and Vince McMahon Sr.’s World Wide Wrestling Federation.  While Lonnie had nice exposure in Los Angeles and Portland, and had wrestled in the historic Olympic Auditorium, New York’s Madison Square Garden was still considered to be the “Mecca” of pro wrestling venues.  The Lonnie Mayne who hit the East Coast wrestling rings was indeed a Wildman and every night he lived up to the reputation he quickly established for himself there.  After defeating a succession of preliminary wrestlers he beat ring veteran Chief Jay Strongbow on January 13^th in the Boston Garden, a site where the wrestling fans were almost as rabid in the stands as he was in the ring.  And then 2 days later, after being in the area only two weeks, he was in the main event in Madison Square Garden.  As always, his path to the main event was the same as his path in life: In the fast lane.

   On January 15^th “Moondog” Mayne attempted to take the WWWF World Heavyweight title from Pedro Morales, and while he was unsuccessful in the attempt, it wouldn’t be his last opportunity.  Mayne would take enlist “Captain” Lou Albano as his manager and continue to challenge the champion up and down the East coast, including a title shot he earned after winning a battle royal in the Boston Garden in front of 15,600 screaming fans.  

   His character, charisma, and ring psychology captured the imaginations of East Coast fans as well as the wrestling magazines, in which articles appeared describing their shocked responses to his baying like a wild dog in the middle of the ring, his brutal assaults on his opponents and his eating glass during interviews.  Even though his time in the WWWF would be brief, his impact on the East Coast scene was memorable.  Nearly 40 years later while being inducted into the 2012 WWE Hall of fame, “Iron” Mike Tyson cited Moondog Mayne as one of his favorite and most memorable wrestlers from his childhood.  In between title shots Mayne also battled Tony Garea, Gorilla Monsoon, and even the “Living Legend” Bruno Sammartino, and occasionally paired up with another ring legend, “Classy” Freddie Blassie.

   However on June 29, 1973, Lonnie’s time in the WWWF would come to an end in Madison Square Garden. Ever the professional, Lonnie did what was good for the business, putting over Haystacks Calhoun and getting pinned cleanly in the middle of the ring in a little over 6 minutes. 

   His time there was memorable not only for the fans but also memorable for him as well.     Shawn Mayne remembers: “He had come home for a visit and he told my Dad, ‘You know this guy, Vince Jr., he’s really something.  He’s going to go places.  He doesn’t think like the other promoters’ meaning that he really thought out of the box.”  It was one creative mind and innovative mind showing appreciation for another.

   However on June 29, 1973, Lonnie’s time in the WWWF would come to an end in Madison Square Garden. Ever the professional, Lonnie did what was good for the business, putting over Haystacks Calhoun and getting pinned cleanly in the middle of the ring in a little over 6 minutes.

 

 

 

Going Back To Cali

   In the fall, Lonnie would begin an extended run in San Francisco working for promoter Roy Shire, and this time, the Northern California fans would get the “Moondog Mayne” treatment.  Wrestling announcer and commentator Joe Sousa remembers first seeing Lonnie Mayne on Portland television in 1972 while he was living in Medford, Oregon.  “I was nine years old and he was wrestling as a ‘good guy’ when I first saw him and I thought ‘This guy is awesome!’”

   However Lonnie soon went to New York and then San Francisco, where Joe could resume following Lonnie’s exploits.  “Living in Medford, not only could I watch Portland wrestling on television, but on cable we could also see wrestling from San Francisco.  Referee turned Wrestler Ed Moretti would later give me heat for that because I had the best of both worlds” Joe recalls with a laugh.  “The ‘Moondog’ character was quite different from the Lonnie Mayne I saw in Oregon.”

   It would also be a reunion of sorts for Moondog Mayne and Pepper Martin, although not nearly as pleasant.  Martin had retired from the ring after an injury sustained in a match with Lonnie several years earlier in Oregon, and had turned to acting part time and doing ringside commentary during Roy Shire’s “Big Time Wrestling” television shows, with the occasional wrestling match thrown in for good measure.  His commentating style was one that sometimes led to verbal confrontations between him and some of the heel wrestlers.  On one occasion he made the critical mistake of calling Lonnie “crazy”.

   Long time San Francisco wrestling fan Fred Lazarus remembered that incident vividly: “Mayne busted open Pepper Martin and commentator Hank Renner went nuts, yelling over and over again, ‘My friend! My friend!  What have you done to him?!’  Then at the Cow Palace when Pepper got his chance at Moondog, you know the outcome…Moondog busted him open again big time and Pat came to the rescue and that started their feud!”

   The match that Fred Lazarus spoke of between Lonnie and Pepper took place at the Cow Palace was on October 13, 1973, and the “Pat” that he referred to was Pat Patterson, former “bad guy” but current “good guy,” as well as the current United States Heavyweight Champion.  He had just successfully defended his title against Dutch Savage that night and now he had his sights set on Lonnie Mayne.  And that suited the Moondog just fine.  – RR

 

 

I’d like to thank Shawn K. Mayne, Joe Sousa, and Fred Lazarus for sharing their fond memories of Lonnie Mayne. - RR

 

 

Sources:

Wrestlingdata.com

“Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Heels” By Greg Oliver and Steven Johnson

“Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Team” By Greg Oliver and Steven Johnson

Don Muraco Shoot interview – RF Video

“Regional Territories: Pacific Northwest” by Mike Rodgers – Kayfabememories.com

DutchSavage.com

“’Apache Bull Ramos Still Battling” By Greg Oliver- Slam! Wrestling, October 13, 2014

Thehistoryofwwe.com

"EXCITEMENT IN THE AIR" (PT.1) By Rock Rims

 

 

  He was quite a large man.  And like many large men, he had a strong air of confidence.  In fact, he seemed to exude such a high level of confidence that he appeared to think he was invulnerable.  And it was all those traits that made the words he would speak seem all the more ominous.  “…Whenever I saw that, I’d sit in the dressing room watching the monitor and I’d say ‘what am I going to be facing?!  What am I going to have to go out in the ring against?!  What could I possibly do against a man like that?!”

     The Large Man who was speaking was Professional Wrestler Sam Oliver Bass, who would go on to be better known as “The Outlaw” Ron Bass.  And the man he was referring to, the man who seemed to disrupt his air of confidence and give him pause for thought, was the Professional Wrestler named Lonnie “Moondog” Mayne.  And the “thing” that he was witnessing, the thing that he would describe as “inhuman” , the thing that made he and others wonder what they were dealing with, was a bloody “Moondog” Mayne biting into a broken bottle and chewing the glass. 

     It was in December of 1977 when Bass recounted his early impressions of Lonnie Mayne and I’m sure much to his relief, Lonnie was now his partner rather than his opponent, and they were engaged in a very heated feud with Buddy Rose and Ed Wiskowski in Don Owen’s Pacific Northwest territory.  Soon, the feud would end and Lonnie would be headed back to California and I would catch my first glimpse of the Moondog.  And while this would be my first opportunity to witness what Lonnie Mayne had to offer in the world of professional wrestling I would later find that others had been captivated by him for years and that he was no stranger to California.

 

Where It All Started

 

     Ronald “Lonnie” Doyle Mayne was born on September 12, 1944 in the small town of Fairfax in Northern California.  Lonnie came from a wrestling family, as his uncle Ronald was active as a pro during the 30’s and 40’s, and his father Kenny was in 1934 an Intermountain AAU wrestling champion at 145 lbs.  Kenny would also venture into professional wrestling, first as an in-ring performer before also adding to his resume the  promoting of wrestling in Utah starting in the 1950’s. 

     Though he was born in California Lonnie was raised in Utah and was active as a youth, participating in many activities, including sports and motorcycle riding, and the latter would remain a favorite pastime for him throughout his life.  Like wrestling, motorcycle riding was a bit of a tradition in the Mayne family as Lonnie’s uncle Pete Cazier, who in addition to having been an amateur boxer and race car driver also raced bikes for the Harley Davidson Motorcycle team.  Lonnie’s younger brother Shawn told a story regarding a young Lonnie expressing extreme disappointment when Santa hadn’t delivered a much desired motorcycle.  “That dirty old son of a bitch didn’t bring me a motorcycle!’ Lonnie exclaimed before heading back to his room.  Always a fun loving character, “Dirty old son of a bitch” may also have been the same words uttered by angry patrons of a particular Holiday Inn as Lonnie rode his motorcycle down the hallways in the early morning hours many years later.

      It became evident early on that the sport of wrestling was also in his blood as Lonnie would tag along with his father to some of his matches.  The elder Mayne had wrestled in various territories including Utah (where he was once the State Middleweight Champion), Ohio, Texas, and Idaho, and had wrestled such notables as Antone Leone and Bill Curry, as well as the occasional not so-notable such as “Young Hitler”.  Another territory Kenny would work is the Pacific Northwest which was also a main stomping ground for Tony Borne who would become a legend in the Pacific Northwest territory and would become instrumental in Lonnie’s early success in pro wrestling.  Borne later fondly recalled his first impressions of a then-12 year old Lonnie Mayne.  While he referred to him as a “snot nosed kid”, he also said,  “…Even at this early age, I knew he had a little something extra going for him.” (Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Heels- Greg Oliver and Steven Johnson)

     Lonnie would also display an aptitude for football and was an All-American while playing at the College of Southern Utah.  After college Lonnie weighed his options between pursuing a possible career in professional football and pursuing one in professional wrestling.  Fortunately for many fans of the mat game, he chose the ring.

     He began wrestling at age 20, and after wrestling for a few months in Utah, where he held the North American tag team titles with Bobby Mayne, he then headed to Southern California. Promoter Jules Strongbow who along with the Cal and Eileen Eaton, were the promoters of the WWA in Southern California and despite not being affiliated with the NWA, ran an extremely strong promotion.  At the time Los Angeles was a hotbed for wrestling and the roster was stacked very deep. And with its strong television programming it also attracted visiting wrestling luminaries who were looking for increased exposure as well as a quick payday on the way to or on the way back from a tour in Japan.

 

   Even so, the promotion saw value in the strong young man and he saw success from the get-go, and within days of his arrival, he wrestled Pedro Morales to a draw during a TV taping in Los Angeles on October 5, 1965, less than 2 weeks before Morales would win the WWA Heavyweight title.  That great showing would earn him a rematch with Morales 3 weeks later, this time for his newly won title.  Each combatant would win a fall only for the match to end in a draw as neither was able to secure the decisive fall. 

     Lonnie would continue to make a showing for himself as a singles wrestler, also wrestling to draws with such Los Angeles wrestling stars as Nick Bockwinkel, Enrique Torres, and Mr. Moto.  In addition he would also form a solid tag team with “Crazy” Luke Graham, and the two unpredictable brawlers quickly became top contenders for the WWA World tag team titles during the first few months of 1966, even wrestling champions Thunderbolt Patterson and Alberto Torres to a draw.   His aggressive and relentless style of wrestling led to him being billed as “Mauler Mayne” on at least one promotional poster at the time and was a contributing factor to his being booked in Japan that same year.

     Feeling that his promoter father may have had something to do with that, no doubt Lonnie’s being booked in Japan so early in his career and at the tender age of 21 also could be attributed in part to the strong relationship that the Los Angeles WWA had with Japan’s JWA.  JWA star and promoter Rikidozan had learned long before that importing American wrestlers as opponents for the Japanese professional wrestlers added to the prestige of the events he promoted, and the fans were always eager to cheer for their hometown boy against the “foreign invaders.”  Shawn Mayne also feels that Lonnie’s strong amateur wrestling background played a part.

     “Truth be known Lonnie had a great scientific talent!  Our Father had a great Amateur career and in fact was going to the Olympic trials when he broke his leg in a motorcycle accident.  He became a true hooker in the pro ranks.  Lonnie took after our Father to an extent and learned a lot from him!  He was a State Champion in High School in Wrestling.  Lonnie was the youngest wrestler to go to Japan in the late 1960’s where as you know, scientific skills were and still a must, even being ‘green’”!

     Before that first overseas tour however, Lonnie would spend a month in Northern California wrestling for promoter Roy Shire, including a match with the then U.S. Heavyweight Champion Bill Watts.  While the stay would be brief Lonnie gave the local fans a taste of the performer that several years later they would alternately love and also love to hate.

     It must’ve been quite an experience for the young man from Utah to be on a professional wrestling tour in the exotic country of Japan at such an early age.  Even at that time a tour of Japan was considered quite a coup not only for the increased exposure and the great paydays, but because pro wrestling was held in such high regard by the local fans and they had come to expect nothing but the best.  The tour lasted a little under 2 months and Lonnie would find himself on opposite sides of the ring with some of Japan’s top stars including Shohei “Giant” Baba, Antonio Inoki, and Kintaro Oki.  Tours of Japan can also make strange bedfellows as Pedro Morales, his main singles opponent in Los Angeles, sometimes found himself as Lonnie’s partner during the tour.  Evidently Lonnie made a good impression during his stay in the “Land of the Rising Sun” as he would be invited on another tour two years later.

     But for now it was back to Los Angeles where he would wrestle for a few more months before heading to the area where he would make his biggest mark and perhaps even have his strongest legacy.

 

Next time:  What else would a dog eat?

 

Sources:

Legacyofwrestling.com

Wrestlingdata.com