Way Back WhensDay: Missy's Manor

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The 3 R's: Reading, 'Riting, & 'Rassling

Curled up with a good book

By Kevin Hunsperger 
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

I'm glad to see that the WWE has been doing a public service in trying to get more kids to read.  I know the Wrestlemania Reading Challenge has been going on for years, and I would imagine it's turned some kids on to books who may have never had much interest in reading in the past.

I'm one of those kids.  Despite having to read EVERYDAY for my job, I HATED reading with a passion growing up.  I rarely read for pleasure.  It was always a choir to read and then make a book report on the topic at hand.

Just some of the collection

Whenever there were Reading Days at school, (that was when they devoted a 30 minute chunk of time when EVERYONE in the school stops what they're doing and picks up a something to read), I always brought one of the many wrestling magazines from my collection.  Back then I got Pro Wrestling Illustrated, The Wrestler, Inside Wrestling, and WWF Magazine on a monthly basis.  Then I would add to my collection with special issues and quarterlies like Wrestling Superstars (I loved the dream match features they'd do).  So while my class mates were reading actual books or things like People or Time magazine, I'd be thumbing through PWI and catching up on an article I may have overlooked previously.

College was bad too.  Reading for class was a huge choir.  Reading books for pleasure never happened.  But I did continue to grow my collection of magazines. I had brought a milk crate full of them with me and had them on hand in the dorm for backup reading.  I became a lending library of sorts to the other wrestling fans on my floor who wanted to relive some part of the past.  These were the days before the Internet, so it was the best way to find out some forgotten nugget of information.

My "wrestling book" library

Into adulthood and the evolution of the Internet, I stopped buying the magazines.  But then wrestling books became popular.  In all seriousness, the first book I read cover to cover as an adult was Mick Foley's "Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks"  I followed up with "The Rock Says" and then became addicted to stories written by wrestlers.

They didn't have to be biographies either.  I bought a copy of Foley's "Christmas Chaos" for my young son after it was released.  A couple of years later I read his fiction story "Tietam Brown."

It seems that the success of Foley and the Rock's books opened the flood gates for more autobiographies to be published under the WWE banner.  I'm sure they weren't the first wrestlers to write their memoirs, but they were certainly the two who got my attention to reading.  It wasn't just WWE wrestlers churning out their live stories either.  I read "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase's first book as well as Bobby "The Brain" Heenan's "Chairshots", both published away from the WWE banner.  I even bought and read Missy Hyatt's "First Lady of Wrestling."  It's a great read, especially if you grew up watching Missy.  If I wasn't buying the books, I was heading to my local library to check them out, which for a small town, the Tippecanoe County Library had a surprising number of titles written by wrestlers.

All this reading did lead me to read other books as well.  I started reading bios by my favorite journalists and other entertainers.  Then I dove head first in the my first series, Harry Potter.  Those stories captivated me in a way I didn't think possible.  I started the series after JK Rowling had finished writing book seven, so I never had to wait for the next book to be released.  I would also finish a book before watching the movie.  It's just better that way.  Then I got a smart phone and my reading interest plunged because of my obsession with social media, Words with Friends, and now blogging.

Just a few of the covers

When it comes to the wrestling books I've read, I have to say Chris Jericho, Mick Foley, and Bret Hart are my favorite authors.  I think reading Bret's "Hitman" tainted me when I tried reading Shawn Michaels' book.  I just couldn't believe anything Shawn was saying, which isn't fair to the Heartbreak Kid, but what are you going to do?

I know this probably sounds weird, but thank you WWE for opening my eyes to reading, and for continuing to encourage children to read today.  Heck, if there was a chance to go to Wrestlemania on the line when I was a kid, who knows how many stories I would have been introduced to back then?

Freak of the Week: The Missing Link

From the Daily Skew

"Bang your head!"  Remember that song by Quiet Riot?  It was the theme song for this week's freak, the Missing Link.  Everytime I hear that song I think of the Link.  Or Dewey Robertson.

My first memories of the link date back to the old World Class Championship Wrestling days.  As you can see from the picture, he was quite unique looking.  Green and blue face paint.  Crazy hair cut.  He would jump up and down in the ring like a kid who had forgotten his ADD medicine.  And of course there was that headbutt.  I can remember him climbing the top rope, grabbing his bushy black hair, and diving on top of his opponent head first.

One match that sticks out to me in World Class was a battle with the Junkyard Dog.  He also used the headbutt and the two went toe to toe or head to head in that battle.  I think it ended in a double disqualification.  Another match I remember was one he had against Kerry Von Erich.  If I remember right, that was the Link's first opponent who wasn't a squash.  Again, I think that one ended in some sort of split decision.

Link played the role of the heel, which seemed natural. He was a brute who didn't talk, instead letting the  sinister Skandar Akbar do his bidding.  Link teamed up with Freak of the Week alum Kamala from time to time.  They were two pegs in the Devastation Inc.  A group of, well, freaks who ran wild over the fed's baby faces.

The Missing Link character for the most part stayed in Texas.  I know he ventured off to the WWF sometime in 1985 or 86.  Other than squash matches, the only match I really remember with the Link was on Prime Time Wrestling (or Tuesday Night Titans) against Paul Orndorff.  Link was managed by Jimmy Hart, but Bobby Heenan had offered him money to take out Mr. Wonderful.  Orndorff won the match.  

In the WWF, Link mostly beat up on the jobbers like SD Jones and Lanny Poffo.  But he jobbed to the likes of Orndorff and Tito Santana.  So he was a lower midcard guy I suppose.  He didn't stay in New York long and returned to Texas, but eventually headed to Bill Watts' old UWF.

That's where they turned him into a babyface.  He and Dark Journey feuded with Missy Hyatt and John Tatum.  I remember Tatum beating the Link on one episode after the Link became distracted as Hyatt and Journey were engaged in a cat fight.  Link would eventually retire and died in 2007.  

Seems like a lot of wrestling "freaks" start off as heels and eventually become faces.  Kamala did it.  George Steele did too.  Kane, Vader, Great Khali have all followed in those foot steps too.

In closing, Link was one of those interesting characters from my childhood who definitely made wrestling even more memorable.  Bang your head!