THE SPOILER / SUPER DESTROYER (DON JARDINE) VERSUS JACK BRISCO

 

THE GREAT BOLO: A WANTED MAN

 

I specifically remember THE GREAT BOLO and BOLO wearing this garb when they returned to the Charlotte Coliseum in the late 1960s to face JACK BRISCO and TIM (MR. WRESTLING) WOODS.

THE GREAT BOLO and BOLO work over one of THE KENTUCKIANS in one of the biggest money-making feuds in pro wrestling history.

THE GREAT BOLO (Renesto) reaches for his 'foreign object' while working on BIG BOY BROWN of THE KENTUCKIANS. (Note the tape under the mask to cover Renesto's mustache.)

Big TEX McKENZIE works over the masked man.

Even bigger HAYSTACK CALHOUN tries to physically rip THE GREAT BOLO's hood off, along with the head the mask covers.

A 1961 posed photo of BOLO and THE GREAT BOLO when the two were working for JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS.

From the time I first started pro wrestling on TV, I was fascinated by a mysterious man who wore a mask and went by the name THE GREAT BOLO. This rulebreaker was the top heel in JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS and drew money like nobody's business.

Every week, all across the Carolinas and Virginia, droves of people tuned in and turned out to see the likes of GEORGE BECKER, 'Irish' MIKE CLANCY, CHIEF BIG HEART and GEORGE and SANDY SCOTT rip off the hood of this hoodlum so we could all find out who he was (not taking into account that just because we might see his face, we would automatically know his name), but that was a mute point.

The mask of THE GREAT BOLO was his championship belt. To lose the mask was to destroy his wrestling career. Many years after the fact, we now know that THE GREAT BOLO was a superb grappler named TOM RENESTO. But according to an interview the late Mr. Renesto gave a few years before his passing, at the time, the other wrestlers did not actually know who was under the mask of THE GREAT BOLO. Promoter Jim Crockett demanded that Renesto travel alone and don the hood before entering the wrestling venue.

Very similar scenario as the old-time movie serials in which the villains were named The Scorpion, The Wrecker, The Crimson Ghost , The Lightning, etc. Only in the last chapter would the identity of the evil doer be exposed to the audience.

But, ironically, the identity of THE GREAT BOLO would be revealed by only one person in the wrestling business. That person was...THE GREAT BOLO.

A number of years after leaving JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS, THE GREAT BOLO (Renesto) and his partner BOLO were wrestling in Georgia as THE ASSASSINS when Renesto decided it was time to leave the business as an in-ring combatant.

He removed his own mask, and THE GREAT BOLO was no more.

OLE AND GENE ANDERSON

 

HIGH FLIERS MEET MASKED TERRORS

                                                                    August 1, 1964

LEXINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA

'IRISH' MIKE CLANCY

THE BOLOS

GEORGE and SANDY SCOTT

BOB BOYER

The mysterious terror duo of professional wrestling, THE GREAT BOLO and BOLO, will try to ground the airborne tactics of THE FLYING SCOTTS, brothers GEORGE and SANDY, in tonight's main event collision at the LEXINGTON YMCA.

Tonight's best-of-three-falls battle is a rematch of a thriller of two weeks ago won by the SCOTT BROTHERS on a reversed decision. The referee had raised the hands of THE BOLOS in victory but then found a 'foreign object' in the mask of the hooded competitor who scored the third fall.

GEORGE and SANDY asked for another shot with the masked men.

'IRISH' MIKE CLANCY will face TOMMY O'TOOLE in the evening's semifinal.

Dashing young DOUG GILBERT makes his LEXINGTON debut against JOHN HEATH.

BOB BOYER and TINKER TODD square off in the 8:15 opener.

BEARCAT WRIGHT

 

TEXAS ROYAL IN STATESVILLE TOWN

                                                                        May 20 1965

STATESVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

61 Years Ago...

and I was there

MAGNUM TA, DUSTY RHODES, ROBERT GIBSON, RICKY MORTON

 

A TEXAN NAMED MULLIGAN

 

BJ has the upper hand over Wahoo in an Indian Strap match as referee Sonny Fargo looks on.

Look out Thunderbolt Patterson...Mulligan is coming in for a landing...

Former World Heavyweight Champion TERRY FUNK gets an idea of what size boots BJ wears...

The American Dream feels like anything but in this battle with BJ...

T-Bolt is about to become another BJ 'claw' victim...

---

Wherever he wrestled, as a heel or babyface, he was 'over' big-time.

BLACKJACK MULLIGAN drew fans to the TV screen or the arenas like a flame attracts a moth.

His MID-ATLANTIC feuds with Paul Jones, Wahoo McDaniel, John Studd, Bobby Duncam, Ric Flair and The Masked Superstar sold as many tickets as JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS could print.

His interviews are as legendary as Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed. Who will ever forget the stories of Odessa, Sweetwater, 'Spider Grip' and 'Reba Joe'?

There has been a large number of 'cowboy' wrestlers throughout the years, but none were ever as colorful and entertaining as BLACKJACK MULLIGAN (Bob Windham).

Thank you, Sir, for all the entertainment you gave JCP fans.

WAHOO McDANIEL

 

SUPER STARS IN SUPER ACTION

 

KIM DUK battles WAHOO MCDANIEL

PAUL JONES has the better of BARON VON RASCHKE.

JACK BRISCO ties up GREG VALENTINE with a rear chin lock.

The end is near for his opponent as DINO BRAVO begins his airplane spin.

THE ASSASSIN manhandles an opponent.

DUSTY RHODES deals with both OLE and GENE ANDERSON.

BLACKJACK MULLIGAN arm bars PAUL JONES.