http://www.1wrestlinglegends.com/crowbarpress/wht/wht34.htmMARIO GALENTO GETTING TAKEN DOWN BY GEORGE C. !!!!!!!!!Mario, or Butch Boyette,(Bonnie Lee Boyette was his legal name) is one of the people who trained me. I got a lot of matches by going places with him and he always said bring you bag because someone may not show up. He helped me a lot in the wrestling business. There never was but one like him. He was always in top condition. He had a lot of "Guts" and would blow a person up,(make them run out of wind), due to his great condition and then beat their brains out. He never choked Elvis out. Elvis came to the matches at the Ellis auditorium where the matches were held in Memphis at that time, and came to the dressing room. Mario said "I'm fixing to get me some national publicity". He went over to Elvis and said let me show you something (he was going to break Elvis's arm). Roy Welch, who was the promoter in Memphis saw what he was intending to do and said to Mario, "Get away from him you son of a ***** ". Roy was a tough wrestler and Mario knew it. Mario never got the chance to "show Elvis something" and would have probably broken Elvis's arm if Roy had not stopped him. I always liked to wrestle Mario and he and I were good friends along with the rest of his family. I see his wife, or widow, every year at the Gulf Coast Re-union and really think a lot of her.
Buddy WayneClick on this obit of Lee Fields, a perennial favorite at the Father-Son Banquets at the Dothan Elks Lodge http://1wrestlinglegends.com/finishes/fields/
SPUTNIK MONROE http://www.georgiawrestlinghistory.com/host/monroes/photographs.htmlFrom
http://www.georgiawrestlinghistory.com/main.html:
The 1960’s saw Gunkel and Fuller top most of the cards, but they were joined by
Chief Little Eagle, Bill Dromo,
Mario Galento, Louie Tillet, the Torres Brothers (Alberto, Enrique and Ramon), El Mongol, Joe Scarpa, the Assassins, Dick Steinborn, the Vachon Brothers (Mad Dog, Butcher and Stan),
Greg Peterson, the Professional, Tim Geohagen, Freddie Blassie, Tarzan Tyler, Lenny Montana, Paul DeMarco,
Sputnik Monroe,
Mr. Wrestling, Silento Rodriguez, Johnny Walker, Oki Shikina,
Bob Armstrong, Derrell Cochran, Dale Lewis, Eddie Graham,
the Mysterious Medics, the Infernos, the Von Brauners, and the team of Lars and Gene Anderson.
Chief Little Eagle booked during the earlier part of the decade with Gunkel, followed by Fuller and Gunkel in the middle. By the end of the decade, Leo Garibaldi took over the booking chores, and would be succeeded by Tom Renesto leading into the 1970’s.
During the 1960’s, a new singles title was born, and it would last about eighteen years. It would be known as the Georgia Heavyweight Title, and its first champion was
Sputnik Monroe. Others of note to wear the belt during the remainder of the decade were
Mario Galento, Buddy Fuller, El Mongol, Mr. Wrestling, Johnny Valentine, the Professional and Joe Scarpa.
The NWA World Heavyweight Title also made a return in 1963, after being absent since 1957. As mentioned earlier, Jones brought in various titles to fill the void in the late 1950’s, and continued to do so in the early 1960’s. He allowed Dick the Bruiser to bring in his title, as well as Freddie Blassie’s WWA title. In 1963, NWA Champion Lou Thesz came in for matches to unify the belt that Blassie had lost to Tarzan Tyler, and that was the end of not seeing the NWA champion come in with regularity.
The 1970’s brought huge changes in Georgia, with Jones still figuring into the mix, but taking more of a backseat role. His name was still the one thrown around in public as the top man, but he had pretty much given all the responsibility to others that owned shares of the Atlanta office.
The television program changed names in
August 1971 to Georgia Championship Wrestling. After having been on Channel 11 since 1955, Ray Gunkel made the decision to change stations in an overnight move in December.
Fans who had been accustomed to tuning into the old station found out on Christmas Day that it had moved to a fledgling independent station known as WTCG, which was owned by an equally fledgling young businessman by the name of Ted Turner.Jones had grown tired of his wrestling program being shifted around to different time slots with very little notice to advise local fans. Since the show was still aired live, fans never knew exactly when to show up to fill the studio, much less what time they could watch from home. Jones and Gunkel decided to shop around, and when Turner approached them, Gunkel made a deal. Turner promised Gunkel a permanent slot every Saturday evening at 6:00 on his station, which is where Atlanta fans would find wrestling for nearly thirty years from that point.
Turner made Georgia Championship Wrestling the anchor of his station, which ultimately became the most watched television program on cable. During the 1970’s Turner, of course, took his visionary attitude to a level that no one else thought logical, yet he became known as a media mogul, rather than someone who banked off his father’s advertising company.
