wrestling / Columns

The Professional 3 11.17.13 My Dad’s Favorite Wrestling Talking Points

November 17, 2013 | Posted by Jon Harder

Hey guys, welcome to the Professional 3 this week. I’m Jon Harder and this week’s P3 is going to be a little different. Unlike other weeks, where I would start with a complete and utter spectacle, ranting about how great wrestling was this week, I’m feeling a little melancholy this week. I’m going to take my feelings and wrap them into a column and hopefully, you get to see a little more of the real person I am, besides the persona I attempt to portray in this piece every week.

My father passed away last Sunday, mere hours after the posting of last week’s piece at the age of 58. Big Daddy Harder, as 411’s own Larry Csonka dubbed him on a plugging of the Hardway on his podcasting site, was sick for a long period of time due to effects of colorectal cancer. My father fought for 2 and a half years before ultimately succumbing to the disease. He went through multiple surgeries and showed his true will to live by repeatedly overcoming small and, in certain instances, major obstacles. He truly was an inspiration to a whole ton of people.

I was so blessed 6 months ago on Father’s Day 2013 that I was able to gain an interview with him for my Hardway Podcast. I remember when I went to him and asked if he wanted to do one, he stated, “What took you so long?” Here is the replay of the interview on this week’s episode.

My father was blessed to pass down one of his greatest passions to me: pro wrestling. Being a fan since his days in high school, my father related so many different stories to me regarding the territory days of the business. When he started watching, the World WIDE Wrestling Federation was the only English spoken show on the local Spanish network in Queens, NY. He always discussed with me how television was produced back in the 1970s and how special each show would turn out. With Bruno Sammartino as champion, my father watched history in the making unfolding. When he was old enough, my father would venture out to Madison Square Garden several times a year to watch wrestling. Not only that, but for rare super shows, he would make the trek to Shea Stadium, the home of the Mets, which coincidentally turned out to be another of my father’s passions.

It was the smaller shows, however, which my Dad enjoyed a lot more. With the intimate feel of an up-close venue for wrestling, Dad got to enjoy so many more wrestling moments. The two venues my Dad used to frequent during the 1970s and 1980s were the Sunnyside Gardens and the Ridgewood Grove in Ridgewood, Queens, NY.

My father always loved to tell me a story around these two venues quite frequently. My dad’s first ever time going to Sunnyside Gardens was in 1975 had an eventful story within itself. On St. Patrick’s Day on the corner of Queens Blvd and 45th St, two Irish gentlemen opened up the show, as “Irish” Davey O’Hannon faced off with Kevin Sullivan. Yes, the Taskmaster himself was a young upstart during this time period within the WWWF ranks. Anyway, a few minutes into the match, a drunk fellow, who was half the size of both men (and with Sullivan being 5’8″, he HAD to be tiny), actually entered the ring and cracked O’Hannon in the head. O’Hannon, who truly made his way through the local New York shows during this period, punched the drunkard square in the nose and shattered it. A bloody mess, my father remembers security taking this gentleman and throwing him out onto the street. It’s a story that stuck with me for a number of years, solely due to the legit tough guy background the majority of wrestlers in this timeframe had.

The Ridgewood Grove meant a lot personally to both my father and my mother’s younger brothers and sisters. Being extremely close to the Wittreich home, my father would take them to several shows in that venue. Dad always remarked about a time where Andre the Giant made a rare appearance in Ridgewood, and at one point either during or after the event, Andre shook my Uncle Jimmy’s hand. It left a lasting imprint on both of their lives. In 2002, due to a great opportunity, my brother Greg, when behind the scenes during WWE Survivor Series in Madison Square Garden, shook the hand of the Big Show. My father instantly quipped that it brought him full circle with the Andre story not too far behind. Also, my Dad was able to watch the first WrestleMania in closed-circuit television inside the Grove. In fact, a few years ago, I had found the program of the WrestleMania show in a pile of my father’s old wrestling programs from Madison Square Garden.

My old man stayed in tune with pro wrestling throughout the better part of 42 years. He might not have been a fan of a lot of storylines that took place, but he absolutely loved the art of the business. He respected the craft that each and every wrestler portrayed every night inside of the squared circle. Up until the final few months of his life, my Dad frequently listened and read up on the Wrestling Observer website. Also, during the mid 1990s, he had purchased multiple subscriptions to the Wrestling Chatterbox newsletter, which was written by the late Georgiann Makropoulos. I felt honored that during my speech for Dixie Carter joining the WSU Hall of Fame in 2012, I was able to give a quick mention to Georgiann’s husband George that my father appreciated her craft with the Chatterbox and that I owned a plethora of newsletters to this day.

Most of all, I know my father appreciated my very small, yet well earned, accomplishments in wrestling. I do know that he had read several of my Professional 3’s on this website, as well as listened to a few of my Hardways as well. After the interview with JJ Dillon that I conducted 7 months ago, my father was the first to listen to the episode. Granted, he constructively criticized that I said, “With that said…” a little too much and got me mad, but he was always looking out for me. He also actively sold an ACE DVD to a co-worker at his job because Daniel Bryan wrestled on the show, but not before getting in that I called the match. Dad always said to everyone who knew him that he was very proud of his 3 boys.

In this week’s Professional 3, there were always a few things that my Dad had strong feelings about when it came to this sport. I felt that if there was any time to remember my Dad with his quirks involving pro wrestling, it would be in this week’s piece. These three topics that will be discussed will revolve around his favorite wrestler, a match that never happened which should have, and an issue revolving around a certain future head of a wrestling company and his favorite weapon. My Dad loved talking about this topics and I think you guys will love hearing about them.

Without further hesitation…

THE PROFESSIONAL 3: My Dad’s Favorite Wrestling Talking Points

1) THE GREATNESS OF MAGNIFICENT MURACO

If there was any wrestler that my father enjoyed seeing wrestle in the 1980s, it was Don Muraco. The Magnificent One thoroughly trounced a multitude of athletes during his early 1980s run in New York. As a two-time Intercontinental champion, Muraco had a different aura about him, which caught my father’s eye. “Built like a moose,” my father always stated, was what Muraco’s body-type was. Never in the greatest of shape during his early run, Magnificent Muraco progressively got bigger in the Rock ‘N’ Wrestling Era of the mid 1980s and looked “out of his mind” according to Dad. Managed by the Grand Wizard during his first Intercontinental title run and by Captain Lou Albano on his second, Don Muraco absolutely personified a tough guy. He was a man of few words, but he could back it up in the center of the ring.

My Dad truly felt that if Muraco didn’t enjoy his summer excursions back home to Hawaii during his biggest run and kept moving through the entire span in New York, he very well might have been the man to be WWF champion during the mid 1980s. It bothered my Dad that the Magnificent one never got a bigger run in any other company. Granted, my father really enjoyed the Tuesday Night Titans segment with Muraco and Mr. Fuji always trying to crack each other up, but he honest in his gut felt “the Rock” deserved better. My Dad thought the world of Magnificent Muraco, and truly appreciated what he brought to wrestling.

Rick Rude and Vader get into a Fight by Wrestlegameshow

2) THE RICK RUDE VS VADER MATCH THAT NEVER HAPPENED

My father’s biggest disappointment with wrestling came in 1994. During the pre-Hogan stages of WCW, with Ric Flair as booker, he LOVED the product. Around this time period, I started getting my hands on anything I could view wrestling with. And with World Championship Wrestling, my Dad was able to fill me in on the history of the company. Most of all, his two favorites during this run with Rick Rude and Big Van Vader. A storyline had built to where Rick Rude would finally have become a good guy and face Vader at Slamboree 1994 for the WCW International World Championship. This was a dream match to my Dad, as two legitimate tough guys would face off in the main event of the evening. He was STOKED.

Then, rumors started to circulate that Rude got hurt in Japan. Utilizing a free wrestling hotline in the tri-state area (which my father does not remember what hotline it was); we had heard rumors that the match might not happen due to a back issue with Rude. Stubborn and defiant, my Dad knew it was a pay-per-view he would have to buy. With the anticipation at a fever pitch, the Slamboree pay-per-view started and immediately, WCW Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel was out, announcing that the scheduled match would not happen, and that Sting and Vader would fight for the vacant WCW International World championship later on in the evening. All I truly remember was my Dad screaming “OH COME ON! GOD DAMNIT!” in utter frustration that the match would not take place.

Was Slamboree 1994 a success? Hell yes it was. I watched that tape years later and marveled at what could have been if Hulk Hogan did not come to WCW. So much young talent participated on that event. To my Dad, it was a complete letdown. Rick Rude and Vader was a dream match to him, and due to Rude’s career-ending injury, it never happened. I look back now and realize that I wished that it did.

3) TRIPLE H AND THE DAMN SLEDGEHAMMER

Before we go any further, my Dad thought Triple H was a fantastic wrestler. He appreciated his 2000 run of great matches, and believed that the HHH/Rock ladder match at SummerSlam 1998 was spectacular. Dad also appreciated Evolution and the great rapport that those four men had with one another. But the one thing that drove him nuts was Triple H’s use of the sledgehammer. It absolutely enraged him. More often than not, once the hammer came to play, my Dad’s clicking of the remote went another way.

Here is my father’s exact assumption regarding the infamous sledgehammer: “The man is 270 pounds of muscle. Why the Hell would he need an weapon that could kill someone in real life and use it in wrestling for limited effect? Stupid.” Blunt and to the point? Yeah, it was. For my father’s last WrestleMania this year, which he had finally convinced my mother to allow him to order on pay-per-view, my little brother Benny laughed his butt off telling me this story a few days after he passed. To the end, my father despised the sledgehammer. If Big Norm didn’t like it, he was very vocal about it.

I’m very happy I have this column to get my feelings across about the man who introduced me to my fiercest passion. My father was a one-of-a-kind individual. He appreciated hard work and dedication to a product. He appreciated team work and everyone being able to get ideas and opportunities across. Most of all, he loved to provide for his family. My brothers and my mother truly appreciated what he brought to this world. He was a great man.

Thank you Dad, for bringing me into this world. Thank you for taking me to my first wrestling show on September 25, 1993 at Madison Square Garden. Thank you for indulging me in my, obsessive at times, wrestling habit. Most of all, thanks for being there for me, even when you were suffering. You’ll never how much of an impact you truly had on me.

I love you Dad.

#Professional3

Jon Harder – [email protected]