It wasn’t any one thing that led to the decline of Joe Malcewicz as a
wrestling promoter in Northern California, nor
was it any one thing that led to the rise of Roy Shire as the new kingpin of
that same area.
Malcewicz had seen lots of things change in the wrestling business
during his 30 years as a promoter but not much seemed to change about him. While he had once carried the nickname “The
Utica Cat”, Malcewicz was now often referred to as “Waffle Ears” which was an
accurate description of his heavily cauliflowered ears but may have also been
symbolic of the fact that Joe was as old school as it got. While business wasn’t exactly in the toilet,
it wasn’t what it once was and in Roy Shire’s mind, not what it could
potentially be.
While Malcewicz had run a show at the Cow Palace
on March 22, 1955 that drew a crowd of 12,253 with Lou Thesz defending his NWA
World title against Leo Nomellini, that was the exception. His shows were regularly run at smaller
venues on a weekly basis in San Francisco
with crowds now running anywhere from 1500 to 3,000 each show. While he sometimes brought in outside talent,
he typically ran with the same old group of guys, few of which were notable,
and the product had become somewhat stale.
It seemed that only the diehard fans were sticking around.
In spite of this, Roy Shire was still in need of a crew to run in
opposition to Malcewicz. Not long before
he rode into town Roy Shire took part in what is now considered a classic group
photo. It was a team photo of sorts
which included Roy and several of his fellow wrestlers
with whom he had worked in Indianapolis. Taken in 1960, this photo would include
several of the workers that Roy would recruit to
work in his new San Francisco
promotion. They would comprise the first
ingredient for what would become Roy’s
recipe for success. It was the
ingredient of fresh faces that Malcewicz was sorely lacking in his promotion.
Among those pictured in that classic photo and who would later work for
Shire’s promotion were Kinji Shibuya, Pepper Gomez, Wilbur Snyder, Guy
Brunetti, Mitsu Arakawa, Joe Brunetti, Cowboy Bob Ellis, and Ray Stevens.
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| A Young Ray Stevens |
Also, this initial use of outside talent would foreshadow the exchange
of talent he would eventually engage in with promoters from other regions. This is something that would contribute to
fresh faces for fans in his territory, keeping the product fresh and increasing
ticket sales. And if the wrestler was
someone of note whom some of the fans may have read about in the wrestling
magazines, Roy
would often use the incoming talent to get over his regular talent in one
fashion or another.
While he may have not been overly ambitious or forward thinking in the
running of his territory, Malcewicz still wasn’t going to go down without some
kind of fight. I suppose it was kind of
like the guy who’s been with the same woman for a while and doesn’t give his
relationship the same type of attention and energy he once did. However when competition surfaces and a new
guy shows interest in his lady, he’s prepared to put up some kind of
fight. For while his interest may no
longer be what it once was, it’s still HIS woman.
For assistance in dealing with this new invader, Joe turned to bringing
in visiting wrestlers to boost attendance, some of whom had worked for him
before. And one of the individuals he
turned to had wrestled some shows for him at the Dreamland Auditorium in 1937. And while he was no longer wrestling, this
person could offer more potential help to Joe now than when he was sporting the
wrestling tights.
While Jules Strongbow enjoyed a successful career in the ring, he made
an even larger impact when he retired and turned to promoting. He had been booking matches at the Hollywood
Legion Stadium in Southern California and was one of the faces of “Wrestling
from Hollywood Legion Stadium”, the television show that would broadcast some
of the matches from that venue. In 1958 he
joined forces with the husband and wife team of Cal and Eileen Eaton who were
promoting boxing and wrestling at the Olympic Auditorium. Strongbow would begin booking the wrestling
shows at the Olympic in addition to the shows he was running out of Hollywood
Legion Stadium.
Jules was considered to be a genius promoter, and some of his roster
made up some of the visiting talents on Malcewicz’s wrestling cards in
1961. Some of the names appearing on
those cards included Lord James Blears, Art Neilson, Vic Christy, Shag Thomas,
Dick Hutton, and household names like Lou Thesz, Mr. Moto, and Freddie Blassie. What would the results be for Joe? Would his attendance increase? Would Shire’s promotion bomb miserably and
quickly fade away?
The show that Joe ran on January 10, 1961 with the in-ring talent that
Strongbow lent had an attendance of 4, 108.
While it was higher than average it was hardly spectacular and
thereafter he would only top that mark on one occasion, with the other shows
running an attendance between 1, 300 and 3, 200. It would only be 10 days after this show that
Shire would fire his first volley and would add the second ingredient to what
would be his recipe for success.
The Idiot Box
On November 11, 1947, in what Entertainment Weekly magazine would later
name as one of the top 100 “Greatest Moments in Television”, many of the then
1,000,000 households that had television tuned in to watch Gorgeous George on
the first televised wrestling broadcast.
It seemed to be a marriage made in heaven as wrestling was cheap
programming for television stations and in turn, television was a great way to
promote wrestling events. In particular,
wrestling promotions in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago
used the medium to make household names out of pro wrestlers like Gorgeous
George, Lou Thesz, Argentina Rocca, Verne Gagne, Buddy Rogers, Freddie Blassie,
Mr. Moto, and others.
Jules Strongbow was certainly aware of this, as in the Los Angeles market, not only was he the host
of his own televised wrestling show, but the Olympic Auditorium was
broadcasting a weekly show too. Also at
one time other Southern California venues in Long Beach
and Ocean Park had their own televised broadcasts
as well. Roy Shire was also well aware
of the power of television.
When
Roy Shire was wrestling he was called “The Professor” and his character was
presented as an individual of superior intelligence. And in real life Shire was
both intelligent and astute enough to recognize the value of television in
promoting a wrestling product and live events.
While I once knew an older gentleman whose wife referred to their television
set as “that idiot box”, Shire knew different.
Shire acquired television time and on January 20th, 1961, his
“National All-Star Wrestling” television show debuted on the Bay area KTVU
Television channel 2 on a Friday night. Roy acquired tapes from the “Big Time Wrestling” promotion
in Indianapolis and over the next 6 weeks Roy would expose fans to
his wrestling product, familiarizing them with the wrestlers that he would be
bringing in to his promotion.
Finally, on March 4, 1961, the day of reckoning had arrived. Roy Shire’s
“Big Time Wrestling” promotion would be running its first show at the San Francisco Cow Palace.
Malcewicz, who had been promoting wrestling shows in the city without
opposition for the last 30 years had just run a show a few days earlier in the
city on February 28th, drawing a crowd of 2,892. How would Shire fare with his new
venture? Would it end up being a “one
shot” house show for his imported talent?
Roy was taking no chances and stacked his
first wrestling card at the
Cow
Palace, bringing in the
up and coming Bruno Sammartino, booking a match between Argentina Rocca and Don
Leo Jonathan, pitting Bill Melby against Mitsu Arakawa, and Verne Gagne vs.
Angelo Savoldi.
And the main event
featured Cowboy Bob Ellis against the man who would be his headlining heel for
years to come, his former tag partner Ray Stevens.
And the results? A wrestling event that has a special place in history
and is still spoken of with reverence to this day; and an attendance of 16,553,
with a standing room only count of 1,500 people. 3 days later Joe Malcewicz would run his next
card in the city, drawing a crowd of 2,841 to see Dick Hutton take on Lou
Thesz.
Okay, it could’ve been a fluke right?
Maybe some saw Roy’s
inaugural card as something of a novelty, especially since he brought in some
famous names for a “one shot”.
Perhaps that’s what Malcewicz was thinking too as Roy’s next show on March 30, 1961 “only”
brought in 7,921 spectators, less than half of his inaugural show. However Roy
was still drawing about as many people to the Cow Palace
show that he was running every three weeks as Joe was drawing to the 4 weekly
shows combined that he was running at alternating venues.
And while the attendance numbers for Roy’s shows would begin to climb again, the
same couldn’t be said for Joe’s.
The Genius
Once while watching a classic episode of “The Three Stooges”, I laughed
when after finding a “magic” lamp, “Larry” requested a wish from the “genius”
of the lamp. With the characters never
being known for their intelligence (I mean they’re “Stooges,” right?) I figured
that Larry in his ignorance thought he was correctly referring to the “genie”
as “genius”. But for some reason, I was
curious about what he said, wondering if what I initially perceived to be an
error of ignorance on his part wasn’t in fact an error at all. I knew that “genie” was probably an English
corruption of the word “jiin” which in Arabic meant “spirit”, a spirit who
granted wishes, created. And I soon
found that two of the definitions of “genius”, were “creator”, and “someone or
something that has influence over people”.
And when it came to creativity in a wrestling performance and exerting
influence over the emotional involvement of the fans, Ray “The Crippler”
Stevens epitomized the word “genius”.
Historically, I think it’s safe to say that almost every wresting
promotion has only been as good as its top heel. Roy understood this well as he had previously
formed a successful tag team partnership in the Midwest with his “brother” Ray
Shire, who was in actuality Ray Stevens, who had begun wrestling professionally
at the young age of 15. And it would be
Stevens who was to become the headlining heel of Roy’s “Big Time Wrestling” promotion and was
introduced to Northern Californian wrestling fans as the “United States
Heavyweight Wrestling Champion.”
Beginning with that first Cow Palace Show that he main evented defending his title against Cowboy Bob Ellis,
Stevens would continue to be “Gold” for Roy Shire, having 11 titles reigns as
the U.S. Champion. In addition he would also be a multiple time holder of the San
Francisco version of the World tag team titles.
Years later in an interview, wrestling’s “Living Legend” Bruno
Sammartino said, “Ray Stevens was a great, great talent…I truly thought that
Ray Stevens was just super, super great.
He was tremendous in the ring. I
will tell you this…everybody has their opinions about who is great and what
have you. I don’t see anybody around
that I have seen that was better than Ray Stevens.” (1) Great praise indeed,
especially when you consider that Sammartino isn’t known to throw praise in
just anybody’s direction.
And the praise and respect that Stevens earned from those in the
industry and fans alike was well justified.
Employing great psychology in and out of the ring and drawing tremendous
“heat” on the mic, Stevens drove the fans to clamor for live event tickets in
hopes that a wrestling fan favorite would finally defeat him. And with the way that Steven took bumps in
the ring and really put over his opponent (while still managing to hold onto his
title) the fans felt that at any given live event his opponent could wrest the
title from him.
And they all wanted to be there to see that. And Stevens and Shire would continue to
dangle that carrot as well as give the fans a great night of entertainment
resulting in Stevens selling out the Cow Palace 10 times that he headlined and
drawing 10,000 plus on more than 50 other occasions. And that was in addition to selling out shows
at the other towns in Shire’s territory which included such places as Oakland, Richmond, San Jose, Fresno, Watsonville, Sacramento, Stockton, Pleasanton, Santa Rosa, and Modesto.
Knowing that when it came to wrestling angles, that delayed
gratification for the fans equaled greater ticket sales, Roy Shire took his
time in letting the storylines develop and play out. “The problem is figuring out what can I do
that the fans will buy…that will get another rematch. Say your heel is the champion, wrestling a
babyface. Last fall. Your champion goes into his finishing hold
and slams the baby face into the ring post.
He blades himself, gets some heat.
Take the 20-count then comes back to beat the heel, your champion. Thing is, in my territory, the ref is allowed
to stop a fight on cuts. He had stopped
the fight. Everybody thinks the baby
face has won, but here comes the ref to announce he stopped the bout because
the baby face was cut too badly to continue.
Almost have a riot. The thing to
do in this case is to bring them back for a rematch, bill it: ‘No stopping for
blood.’” (2)
Roy was
meticulous in his plans and in the details, having a reputation for being controlling,
hard to work for and often very abrasive.
However Shire also had a well deserved reputation for being a master at
ring psychology and knowing how to book compelling angles.
Roy Returns The Favor
And it was those talents along with Ray Stevens, the perfect ring
performer to help execute his plans that played a big part in Roy continuing to outdraw Joe Malcewicz. And this occurred even with Southern Californian
promoter Jules Strongbow helping out Joe.
Roy may
have had this in mind when Johnny Doyle came knocking.
Johnny Doyle was once the NWA representative in Southern
California, and until 1954, he was also the premier booking agent
in the area and represented many of the top wrestlers in the territory. He was also part of a pro wrestling syndicate
which included among others, Cal and Eileen Eaton, who promoted boxing and pro
wrestling out of the Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium.
After a falling out with the Eatons in 1954, he left the area with the
intentions of heading east, only to return in 1955 in a failed attempt to
compete against the Eatons with his own Southern Californian wrestling
promotion. In 1957 he renewed his war with
the Eatons, launching allegations that led to the Eatons being investigated for
being part of a monopoly of the Southern California Wrestling scene.
Years later the bad blood would remain and in late 1961, along with a
couple of partners, he would launch another competing promotion in Southern California.
One of those partners was Bill Welsh, who had formerly been the commentator
for Jules Strongbow’s television program broadcasting from Hollywood Legion
Stadium. Welsh also happened to be the
original commentator for Roy Shire’s “National All-Star Wrestling” television program
in the Bay area.
What does all this have to do with Roy Shire? Just as Shire did when first launching his “Big
Time Wrestling” promotion, Doyle needed a crew to work his shows. Perhaps he wanted to return the favor for Strongbow
aiding Malcewicz with booking, or maybe he was looking to expand his interests
into Southern California; whatever his reasons, Roy certainly lent Doyle a helping hand.
Doyle was able to acquire television time on KTLA in order to promote his
upcoming Oct. 7th show at the new Los Angeles Sports Arena, which
had a larger audience capacity than the Olympic Auditorium where the Eaton/Strongbow
combo ran their shows. He ran 4 weekly
television shows featuring Shire’s talent, and on the big day, his Sports Arena
card was headlined by Ray Stevens vs. Ray Stern and Dick the Bruiser vs. Cowboy
Bob Ellis. Doyle and Shire weren’t taking
any chances however and determined to blow the competition out of the water,
they stacked the card deep. As if those
headliners weren’t enough, how about Killer Kowalski, Red Bastien, Wilbur
Snyder, and Don Leo Jonathan? How about
Roy Shire himself donning the tights once again to take on Pepper Gomez? However, Strongbow booked the Olympic
Auditorium the night before with Freddie Blassie vs. Ricki Starr being on
top. What were the results of this head
to head competition?
In a card that would’ve easily sold out the Cow Palace,
the Doyle/Shire booked card only attracted 4,000 fans. Earlier in the year when Freddie Blassie and
Ricki Starr had been involved in main events for Joe Malcewicz, those cards
only drew around 3,000 fans each. On
October 6, 1961 at the Olympic Auditorium, that main even helped to attract a
standing room only crowd of 12,138 when a sell out for the Olympic was
10,400. Later in the month Doyle and
Shire would try again, drawing 3,500 fans to the Sports Arena on October 28th,
with a main event of Ray Stevens vs. Bobo Brazil. The night before, Freddie Blassie beat
Antonino Rocca by disqualification in front of an Olympic Auditorium crowd of
10,660. The War was over and Roy headed back home,
where his War up North would soon come to an end.
So Long Joe
There’s something that I have to point out that’s very important. In between those 2 L.A. Sports Arena shows, Roy had managed to run a show at the Cow Palace
with his crew on October 21, 1961. That
show had an attendance of 12,000. When
the brief L.A. war was over, the first card that
Roy held at the Cow Palace
on November 11th also drew 12,000.
So why was Roy’s
crew only able to draw a total of 7,500 between two shows at the Los Angeles
Sports Arena? For the same reason that
Malcewicz was never able to draw more than those same numbers utilizing
Strongbow’s crew. Television.
Or to be more precise, the lack of television exposure. It wasn’t nearly so much about the talent on
the cards as it was about the familiarity with and exposure to them that was
necessary on the part of the fans.
Malcewicz didn’t utilize television while Roy did.
Even if Malcewicz had been the master booker that Shire was, it wouldn’t
have mattered because hardly anyone would’ve been aware of it. And while both Shire and Strongbow were
unbelievably talented at what they did, Jules had the hands down edge in Los Angeles due to
television. Los Angeles had at least 2 television
programs running at that time, while the 4 weeks of television that the
Doyle/Shire group had was hardly enough to gain an emotional investment from
the fans for their product. And while the Bay area fans might have been tired of Joe's product and welcoming to "the New Kid in town", The L.A. fans hadn't come close to tiring of what they'd been witnessing at the Olympic Auditorium.
Up North, 1961 drew to a close and “Big Time Wrestling” was continuing
to thrive. Ray Stevens was still drawing
both the rage and the interest of the fans (not to mention their money), Roy
Shire was increasing his dexterity as a puppeteer, manipulating all the right
strings, and World tag team champions Mitsu Arakawa and Kinji Shibuya were
wreaking havoc in the tag team division.
1962 opened with a bang for “Big Time Wrestling” as their 1st
Cow Palace Show on January 13th drew an incredible crowd of
17,061. Apparently the fire Marshalls had good seats
for the show.
17 days later, only 2,500 fans showed up to witness Ricki Starr defeat Mr. Moto, in what would be the last show that Joe
Malcewicz would every promote. On April
20, 1962, in his early 60’s, Joe Malcewicz would pass away.
Contrary to speculation, Roy Shire did not run Joe Malcewicz out of
business. Bucking the system, Shire had
ignored Malcewicz’ status as an NWA member and invaded Northern California with
the backing of the AWA (from the Midwest, but
not the one Verne Gagne ran), bucket loads of ideas and ambition, and a wrestling
crew that would include one of the greatest workers of all time.
You can’t stop progress, and perhaps realizing this, it may be the
reason why the other promoters of the NWA did not send help to Malcewicz to
fight off Renegade Roy. Perhaps they
knew that Joe’s old way of doing things had to move over and perhaps Joe may
have known this too. If he did, he may
have been simply too old to change. And
perhaps, he was too tired too.
No, Roy
didn’t run Joe out of business. Joe ran
out of ideas, out of ambition, and perhaps out of energy. And in the end, Joe simply ran out of time. – RR
Next time: Every great villain deserves
a great hero and things heat up as one is produced; and the “genius” gets a
partner!
(1) Bruno Sammartino interview with Bob Ryder – June 1997
(2) Confessions of a Pro Wrestling Booker by Richard Hoffer, Times
Staff Writer 1984
Doug McLeer provided some great pics of his Roy Shire memorabilia and I
extend my thanks and appreciation for that;
Thanks to Tim Hornbaker of Legacyofwrestling.com for his in-depth
research and match results which were of great help in piecing this puzzle
together; As well as the folks at WrestlingClassics.com and Kayfabe memories, including
“The Claw master” and Steve Yohe, for the hard work they put into coming up
with match results; and the folks at prowrestling-titles.com for their
comprehensive list of title changes.
