I have been looking at the picture of Percy Pringle ( below right) and reflecting on the ghosts of wrestling past
Seems like just yesterday that I sat at my table in the Santa Rosa County Auditorium enjoying the last of the Old School Wrestling events held there. Those great shows, organized by Chief Ironclaw, featured some of my favorite wrestlers, including Chris Cody, Pat Patara, Mercury McLoud, and Adrian Whisper and many of the "boys from Mobile" whose wrestling has been so consistently excellent over the years.
It was Adrian Whisper who wrecked my gimmick table some time later in Loxley, Al at an SCCW event. And it was with Whisper with whom I fell into a terrible shoot brawl, that resulted in bruises and a light concussion for me, 60-odd forehead stitches for him and some additional mishap when he threw a chair into the audience striking a small girl, resulting in refunds being called for and the loss of the Loxley Arena for SCCW.
Whisper was the second wrestling professional who deliberately plowed into my table that night. The first was Percy Pringle - yeah, that Percy Pringle, the one whose WWE character, Paul Bearer was buried in cement and sent home from the "bigs" to work there no more.
Percy's beef with me has always been the message boards I maintain in behalf of Gulf Coast Wrestling Organizations. There's little he could then or can do now about that. So his next best bet was to smash or destroy everything I had on my table that night in hopes of discouraging me from accepting the hospitality of friends of mine who promote wrestling events.
Like the coward he is, he waited until I was on the other side of the room and then hit the table, overturning it and barely missing Linda Turner, who was in a wheelchair behind the table, destroying $150 worth if ceramic and wooden items I had set out for sale.
What he did was cowardly and dispicable. He laughs about it as if it were some joke like putting itching powder in someone's jock strap, or gluing a locker door closed. He admitted the deed on Internet radio, his "mia culpa" a revelation that the act was preplanned.
Pringle would have everyone believe that he was simply ridding "his beloved business" of a "smark," namely me, but in reality, his goals were slightly more nefarious than that. His real intent was to satisfy a jealous urge on his part to "kill" the Loxley arena for Promoter Richard Bailey, Mountain Man, who was drawing real and serious crowds whereas he, (Pringle) had done poorly in that venue.
But he did not get the reaction he sought by hitting the table himself. His plan almost failed, because I was not there to defend my property when he made his move. Fact is, no one was at the table when he attacked except Ms Turner, frail, in a wheelchair and by no means expecting to have a table overturned atop her by a "celebrity" guest star of Paul Bearer's alleged repute.
So Whisper decided to finish the deed Percy had botched. It was pretty obvious I wasn't going to leave the table again. I was mad about Pringle, but obligated to hold back to keep from disrupting the show. When Whisper started moving Clarice (his opponent) through the crowd toward the table, I knew what was coming. I positioned my wheelchair between the combatants and my area and put out my hand as Whisper worked Clarice into me. When Clarice felt my hand, he moved away from my position. Like all professional wrestlers do, Big Clarice wished no contact with the audience and took steps to ensure that. Not so Whisper.
Whisper fained being slung past me and crashed into the table, overturning it for the second time. He grabbed the tablecloth on a second table and pulled it to the floor, ensuring that anything left that was breakable would crash down. Then he rolled under that table.
My retribution was as swift as my rage was blind, and the fight was on. He stood up and came to me swinging. His three body blows had virtually no effect on me because, let's face it, at 500 pounds of jiggling obesity, I was a big target with a very thick subdural layer.
When he punched me in the face, that jarred me a little, and when he smashed a 3'x3' wooden knife case over my head, I saw stars for a second or two, but still just stood there. I did not return his blows, not did I attempt to fight back. The reason for that is simple. I spend most of the time outside my house in my wheelchair. Standing is not a thing I do well these days or back then either. I would not have been able to pursue a conventional fist fight due to a lack of strength and balance had I tried. The real reason though was a combination of two things - smashing the knife box meant that there were loose open knives scattered about, and i was holding onto my pants to keep them from falling down. The latter is a fat guy in a wheelchair thing.
At that point, Whisper was restrained by other wrestlers, I was admonished by John Saxon to "NEVER touch the wrestlers," a ludicrous statement considering that it was I who had been attacked, but I assume he meant well, so I have no problem with it. And except for the slight shock of a little girl being hit by the chair Whisper threw, there was no collateral damage.
So Percy got his fight, though the chicken#### left the building before the incident; his "cousin" Marcel Pringle was lying in the ring with a broken leg and Percy was heading for the hills.
The so-called and often self-professed "legend" Percy Pringle got his wishes. SCCW has not been back to Loxley. Percy killed that, just as he intended. I am very wary of shows in the Mobile area, and wrestlers from the Mobile area, though they are among my favorites still. Pringle's "bookings" in our area have decreased dramatically, with only just a trickle of its previous flow. He will say that is because he is concentrating on his funeral business, but I believe it's because nobody wants a backstabbing dirty rotten coward on their show, one who shows no loyalty to the promoter who books him at least.
Adrian Whisper, also known as The Wrestling Professional, and Gangsta Of Destruction, runs a show in Pascagoula that seems to be gaining "legs" and is concentrating on making a life for himself that includes wrestling.
Richard Bailey's SCCW now has a show scheduled for April 25th which is in Chickasaw, AL just outside Mobile. Click HERE for the poster for that show. You may notice that Percy Pringle is not booked to appear, but two of my Mobile favorites, RikKi Rocket, winner of the Gulf Coast Wrestling Reunion Horizon Award, will be there, along with a now healed Marcel Pringle.
As for me, I am waiting for Pringle to do the honorable thing and send me a check for the damage he did to my property. I imagine that Hell will freeze over before that happens, which is probably a good idea because Percy will need the lower temperature when he arrives there.
My time in both wrestling and in life is almost over anyway, so I'm not holding my breath waiting for him to do the right thing. He understands little of right and wrong as far as I can tell, anyhow so what the heck?
I am living the quiet life now, My book, The Absolute Beginner's Guide To Gulf Coast Wrestling, sold all but 9 of its production run. I set up a table where there is no hassle and I am welcome. I have Lynda, Erick and Pork Chop (the dog) to fill up my days with family.
I am blessed, truly, and I should just let Loxley go, not sweat the money he owes, and not give the incident power over me. Really. I should.
But I can't.
My bad.
Seems like just yesterday that I sat at my table in the Santa Rosa County Auditorium enjoying the last of the Old School Wrestling events held there. Those great shows, organized by Chief Ironclaw, featured some of my favorite wrestlers, including Chris Cody, Pat Patara, Mercury McLoud, and Adrian Whisper and many of the "boys from Mobile" whose wrestling has been so consistently excellent over the years.
It was Adrian Whisper who wrecked my gimmick table some time later in Loxley, Al at an SCCW event. And it was with Whisper with whom I fell into a terrible shoot brawl, that resulted in bruises and a light concussion for me, 60-odd forehead stitches for him and some additional mishap when he threw a chair into the audience striking a small girl, resulting in refunds being called for and the loss of the Loxley Arena for SCCW.
Whisper was the second wrestling professional who deliberately plowed into my table that night. The first was Percy Pringle - yeah, that Percy Pringle, the one whose WWE character, Paul Bearer was buried in cement and sent home from the "bigs" to work there no more.
Percy's beef with me has always been the message boards I maintain in behalf of Gulf Coast Wrestling Organizations. There's little he could then or can do now about that. So his next best bet was to smash or destroy everything I had on my table that night in hopes of discouraging me from accepting the hospitality of friends of mine who promote wrestling events.
Like the coward he is, he waited until I was on the other side of the room and then hit the table, overturning it and barely missing Linda Turner, who was in a wheelchair behind the table, destroying $150 worth if ceramic and wooden items I had set out for sale.
What he did was cowardly and dispicable. He laughs about it as if it were some joke like putting itching powder in someone's jock strap, or gluing a locker door closed. He admitted the deed on Internet radio, his "mia culpa" a revelation that the act was preplanned.
Pringle would have everyone believe that he was simply ridding "his beloved business" of a "smark," namely me, but in reality, his goals were slightly more nefarious than that. His real intent was to satisfy a jealous urge on his part to "kill" the Loxley arena for Promoter Richard Bailey, Mountain Man, who was drawing real and serious crowds whereas he, (Pringle) had done poorly in that venue.
But he did not get the reaction he sought by hitting the table himself. His plan almost failed, because I was not there to defend my property when he made his move. Fact is, no one was at the table when he attacked except Ms Turner, frail, in a wheelchair and by no means expecting to have a table overturned atop her by a "celebrity" guest star of Paul Bearer's alleged repute.
So Whisper decided to finish the deed Percy had botched. It was pretty obvious I wasn't going to leave the table again. I was mad about Pringle, but obligated to hold back to keep from disrupting the show. When Whisper started moving Clarice (his opponent) through the crowd toward the table, I knew what was coming. I positioned my wheelchair between the combatants and my area and put out my hand as Whisper worked Clarice into me. When Clarice felt my hand, he moved away from my position. Like all professional wrestlers do, Big Clarice wished no contact with the audience and took steps to ensure that. Not so Whisper.
Whisper fained being slung past me and crashed into the table, overturning it for the second time. He grabbed the tablecloth on a second table and pulled it to the floor, ensuring that anything left that was breakable would crash down. Then he rolled under that table.
My retribution was as swift as my rage was blind, and the fight was on. He stood up and came to me swinging. His three body blows had virtually no effect on me because, let's face it, at 500 pounds of jiggling obesity, I was a big target with a very thick subdural layer.
When he punched me in the face, that jarred me a little, and when he smashed a 3'x3' wooden knife case over my head, I saw stars for a second or two, but still just stood there. I did not return his blows, not did I attempt to fight back. The reason for that is simple. I spend most of the time outside my house in my wheelchair. Standing is not a thing I do well these days or back then either. I would not have been able to pursue a conventional fist fight due to a lack of strength and balance had I tried. The real reason though was a combination of two things - smashing the knife box meant that there were loose open knives scattered about, and i was holding onto my pants to keep them from falling down. The latter is a fat guy in a wheelchair thing.
At that point, Whisper was restrained by other wrestlers, I was admonished by John Saxon to "NEVER touch the wrestlers," a ludicrous statement considering that it was I who had been attacked, but I assume he meant well, so I have no problem with it. And except for the slight shock of a little girl being hit by the chair Whisper threw, there was no collateral damage.
So Percy got his fight, though the chicken#### left the building before the incident; his "cousin" Marcel Pringle was lying in the ring with a broken leg and Percy was heading for the hills.
The so-called and often self-professed "legend" Percy Pringle got his wishes. SCCW has not been back to Loxley. Percy killed that, just as he intended. I am very wary of shows in the Mobile area, and wrestlers from the Mobile area, though they are among my favorites still. Pringle's "bookings" in our area have decreased dramatically, with only just a trickle of its previous flow. He will say that is because he is concentrating on his funeral business, but I believe it's because nobody wants a backstabbing dirty rotten coward on their show, one who shows no loyalty to the promoter who books him at least.
Adrian Whisper, also known as The Wrestling Professional, and Gangsta Of Destruction, runs a show in Pascagoula that seems to be gaining "legs" and is concentrating on making a life for himself that includes wrestling.
Richard Bailey's SCCW now has a show scheduled for April 25th which is in Chickasaw, AL just outside Mobile. Click HERE for the poster for that show. You may notice that Percy Pringle is not booked to appear, but two of my Mobile favorites, RikKi Rocket, winner of the Gulf Coast Wrestling Reunion Horizon Award, will be there, along with a now healed Marcel Pringle.
As for me, I am waiting for Pringle to do the honorable thing and send me a check for the damage he did to my property. I imagine that Hell will freeze over before that happens, which is probably a good idea because Percy will need the lower temperature when he arrives there.
My time in both wrestling and in life is almost over anyway, so I'm not holding my breath waiting for him to do the right thing. He understands little of right and wrong as far as I can tell, anyhow so what the heck?
I am living the quiet life now, My book, The Absolute Beginner's Guide To Gulf Coast Wrestling, sold all but 9 of its production run. I set up a table where there is no hassle and I am welcome. I have Lynda, Erick and Pork Chop (the dog) to fill up my days with family.
I am blessed, truly, and I should just let Loxley go, not sweat the money he owes, and not give the incident power over me. Really. I should.
But I can't.
My bad.
you know you should just drop it, life is to short to dwell on these things but not only that you are promoting this act of violence on your message board. one you claim to be helping indy wrestling, and you did the right thing by advertising the dspw show even though you disagree with them, trust me, your not the only one, but however, wrestlers in real life are two different people. take chris benoit for example. he murdered his family before killing himself. however unlike the wwe i am not going to forget all he did accomplish as a professional wrestler and all the tapes ive studied. i never met him personally but he was an inspiration to me. i dont know what happened and why he did what he did. but then again i didnt know him personally. but i did know his work and i appreciated his work. bottom line. you may not like percy. thats okay. but on your wrestling board. if you think you are doing everyone a favor by posting flyers and providing links. you are. but by giving your personal feelings on paul bearer. that kills the legend of him. and dont forget. your not a fan of percy. not paul. you talk about suspending belief. well then bob. suspend it. and let that be that. its been a year. things happen in life that you dont like but thats life. you say you dont have much time left. well. dont spend it sweating over stupid crap like this. and do yourself and the fans in the area a favor and not make everyone have to read it. yes bob. it was very unprofessional. yes bob. it was over the line. yes bob. it shouldnt have been done. but its the past. lets live in the future shall we? your appreciated by a lot of people in this area. but when you do stuff like that. your value to them goes down each time.
ReplyDeletesigned,
just some friendly advice.
I agree with you on some of your points. Yes, I probably should drop it. And yes, life is too short.
ReplyDeleteNo, I am not promoting "an act of violence on the message board, as you suggest. Rather, I have written about it on my personal blog, where how I feel about a thing is as much a topic as what I think.
I do not "claim" to be helping professional wrestling. I simply do what I do for my friends in professional wrestling, both fans and wrestling personnel. I employ my skills to the best of my ability with no offering of perfection.
Your analogy of Benoit is well taken. I struggle to seperate his wrestling from his final act of desperation.
And you are right about Pringle/Bearer to a point. Had it been drunken Bill Moody, out of character who attacked me and destroyed my property, then set up a conflict between a wrestler whom I admired and me, I would exclusively be pissed at William Moody.
However, I was attacked by a character, Percy Pringle, dressed and made up as Paul Bearer, operated by Moody as an avatar during the context of a show and presented to the audience as a "work." He destroyed my property, frightened my Lady half to death and gloated about it afterward, after the second fight and after sinking SCCW in Loxley which was his intent and purpose.
How do I differentiate between the asshole that did that and the "legend" who sp[ent his whole playing an asshole on TV. Who knew he wasn't acting?
Why should I be concerned about the "legend" of either character, when the man behind the character has no concern for me?
That said, your advice is nonetheless well offered and taken as valuable. Maybe with the help of straight talkers like yourself, i will be or become a better asset to the community.
Chances are though, that on the subject of that arrogant prick Moody, I will continue to be a "horse's asset."
Meanwhile, I will put more effort into productivity.
The blog, though, is the notebook of the inside of my head. Here, people get acquainted with what I think and feel.
There are those, particularly Moody, who denegrate my every effort, spread lies and bear false witness against me. Here I may speak more freely than on the message boards.
Who knows, next time, the person who attacks me may use a knife or a gun. At least, in death, I won't have to deal with betrayal by friends.
I will try to be less bitter between now and then.
Bob
I'm just saying, that you are advertising the blog on your board therefore giving kids who you are a big fan of the right to see this these kids may be the same kids that look up to Paul Bearer or another character or even you How would you like to be seen in the light People know the incident no need to rehash on it and ruin kids dreams That's all Hopefully you'll see the light one day and you are very well liked in the area for what you do for professional wrestling sure some people may not like it but there are plenty of people who enjoy the advertising that you do however im sure a lot more people would enjoy it if you werent having battles over who has the bigger uh lets say voice in small matters that happened a year ago if you cant let it go this year you never will be the bigger man bob and just let it slide the good thing about stuff is it usually rolls down hill so look towards the future and let this thing hit the bottom learn from your mistakes forgive him not for what he did but for who he is and just know that its not you he may not like it just may be himself
ReplyDeleteI have to say that your comments are inspiring and worth taking to heart.
ReplyDeleteLet me see what happens when I adopt what you are saying. It can't hurt.