I didn't know how to sing, it wasn't English and not a good fighter – no much less was related to Ringo Starr, who took his name, John Lennon, Paul McCartney or George Harrison – but his name was George Ringo And for a few months it was «The Wrestling Beatle«.
► George Ringo, «The Wrestling Beatle»
History starts in 1964, in full beatlemania. Los Beatles The United States had just conquered after their appearance in the Ed Sullivan show and were about to tour North America.
Bob Luce, a wrestling promoter with a reputation of eccentric, saw an opportunity and did not miss it. A few days before the start of the Liverpool group, he presented his new star: George Ringo, supposedly a band member who instead of playing the battery, distributed blows to the ring.
“The big difference between me and those other Beatles (other imitative fighters of the Beatles emerged as Bob Anthonywho took the same nickname of 'Beatle fighter' when published, The Cromwellian, became a favorite place of the band) is that I have a body, ”George Ringo told Los Angeles Times before his first fight.“ I never hit her big. And I decided to leave everything to play the guitar and sing. Then, suddenly, those melenudos appeared from England. They opened a completely new career. People started calling me George Ringo, Beatle fighter. “
George Ringo was actually Robert Duanea low profile fighter who used to present himself as Bob Sabre. He didn't even try to pretend the British accent but had the Mop-Top hair cut, a guitar and a combination of elements manufactured the phenomenon.
Such as the appearance of the famous actress Jayne Mansfield Together with The Beatles in the whiskey-a -go -go shortly after Bob looks like that she was going to be George Ringo's manager, in what seemed most a public relations maneuver than a coincidence.
George Ringo debuted on August 26, 1964 -To start following the Beatles for several cities: Indianapolis, Anderson, Toronto, Chicago, or Holland and touring the United States and Canada- only three days after the mythical Beatles show in the Hollywood Bowl.
That night, at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, he beat Art “Boom Boom” Michalik before almost nine thousand people, an unusually high number for that enclosure by then. They broadcast it on television. Duane recalled years later in Los Angeles Times:
“I entered with that ridiculous little piece, and the sand in Los Angeles had been putting like a thousand people before that night. I got on the ring, and there were fifteen thousand. Never in my life saw so many children together. They shouted, they torn me the jacket, they licked my arm… I couldn't believe it. I never imagined that I could become a feeling overnight.”
In the following weeks, months and years I would defeat fighters like Tiger Longoria, Firpo Zbyszko, Johnny King, Duke Noble, Jungle Tiger, Gary Hart … and it seems I could have gone for a world title of the time But it was simply not a good fighter. This said Bob looks at Chicago Tribune:
“It was an ingenious idea. But George could not achieve a convincing victory in the ring even if he entered armed with a shotgun.”
In the mid -60sBob Sabre had registered to the fighting by contract, although his Beatles alter ego won some victories in pairs with Dick the Bruiser. A 1970 number of The Wrestler He described Dick The Bruiser and George Ringo's team as a comic show, in which Dick The Bruiser was forced to choose a terrible partner to be able, basically, fight in disadvantaged fighting against Bobby Heenan and talents like Blackjack Lanza or Angelo Pooffo.
In 1977, Bob Luce told the character's story so chaotically that it seemed taken from a wrestling script:
«I'm going to bring George Ringo, Beatle Fighter! I want Jayne Mansfield to be your representative! Can you contact the guy who was his manager? That one who died with her! I already have someone to make George Ringo, the beatle fighter. His name is Bob Sabre! I want to learn guitar and take piano classes! I had been losing! I said: I'm going to get photos with George Ringo. The true one, Ringo Starr! I went to the amphitheater. The Beatles were in front of the cameras! And I had George Ringo, Beatle fighter! I approached the Beatles photographer. He had his London coat! He told me: I can't do it. But he took a picture of George Ringo, Beatle fighter, with Ringo Starr! George Ringo exhausted tickets in Los Angeles! They are all crazy there! Then he went to Buffalo. Hans Schmidt! A very bad guy! He beat George Ringo, Beatle Fighter! And he not only won him, he broke the guitar on his head! George Ringo called me! He told me that the guitar had been destroyed. And I asked him: What did you take a guitar to the ring!? He told me: I resign. He forgot that it was Bob Sabre! George Ringo was believed, Beatle fighter! These fighters! I will not say that they are characters … ».
And when beatlemania ended after the dissolution of the Beatles, Robert Duane continued in wrestling as Bob Sabre.
Fought in the promoters like Awa and Wwaalmost always occupying a secondary role. According to Cagematchhis last fight was a defeat against Ernie Ladd at a 1978 WWA event in Indianapolis. Eventually trained new talents In Chicago, in the old YMCA of Ravenswood. One of his students was Kevin Clark, better known as The Zebra Kidwho told Slam Wrestling:
“I owe everything to Bob. He trained me, it was my mentor, he was my friend. Later, when I entered the business, we worked together. When I got married, Bob was my wedding godfather. ”
Robert Duane He died on June 15, 1989 after a hard fight against cancer. His funeral was a parade of alumni and fighters who shared stories of the guy who one day, for a few months, managed to live an impossible fantasy: ser «The Wrestling Beatle».
