THE GREAT BOLO GOES TO COURT

                                                                    January 27, 1959

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

TOM RENESTO as THE GREAT BOLO

A west coast professional wrestler calling himself 'THE GREAT BOLO' wants the courts to unmask Charlotte's version of the hooded villain.

AL LOVELOCK, who claims he was licensed to wrestle under the ring name of 'THE GREAT BOLO' in 1953, filed a suit against THOMAS F. RENESTO in Superior Court Monday, asking $20,000 in actual and $100,000 in punitive damages.

LOVELOCK, from Houston, Texas, also seeks a court order preventing RENESTO from using the name and mask of 'THE GREAT BOLO'.

JIM CROCKETT

The bulky wrestler claims that RENESTO served as his 'second' while he was winning matches in Arizona, California, Texas and other states.

RENESTO made his first 'BOLO' appearance in Charlotte in February, 1958. Since then, he has developed into a major attraction for promoter JIM CROCKETT's wrestling shows all over both Carolinas and Virginia, while managing to avoid being unmasked.

He won a Charlotte match just Monday night, defeating LARRY 'CRUSHER' HAMILTON, but his share of the purse was attached as a result of the court action.

TOM RENESTO

LOVELOCK's lawsuit also requests that JIM CROCKETT be prevented from presenting RENESTO as 'THE GREAT BOLO'.

Neither CROCKETT nor RENESTO could be reached for immediate comment.

Taken from an ASSOCIATED PRESS story which appeared in the January 27, 1959 issue of THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER.

Obviously, LOVELOCK was not successful in his lawsuit in blocking 'THE GREAT BOLO' in JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS, as TOM RENESTO continued as the masked character in JCP until 1964, along the way adding JODY HAMILTON as his lookalike partner for tag team purposes. The two then left for other wrestling territories and changed their ring name to THE ASSASSINS.

The irony of this story is that although 'THE GREAT BOLO' was never unmasked or his identity exposed in the wrestling ring, his real name was revealed in the court papers when the suit was filed and the story was reported in the press.

I wonder how many wrestling fans were paying attention.

HAWK AND HUNTER MEET THE BOLOS

                                                   CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

60 Years Ago

A pair of tag team matches will headline tonight's big PARK CENTER professional wrestling program starting at 8:15.

The main event is a long-awaited skirmish of THE GREAT BOLO and BOLO meeting RIP HAWK and ROCK HUNTER. The two masked men have yet to taste defeat in Charlotte as a team, and HAWK and HUNTER claim they're the two men who are tough and rugged enough to put down the hooded duo. They'll have one hour and two-of-three falls to do the job.

The other team contest sends THE KENTUCKIANS, TINY ANDERSON and BIG BOY BROWN, against JOHN SMITH and IVAN KAMEROFF. This one is also for two-out-of-three falls with a one-hour time limit.

THE FLYING SCOTTS, GEORGE and SANDY, are also scheduled, but in individual competition.

SANDY faces big IKE EAKINS, and GEORGE will take on GEORGE "TWO TON" HARRIS.

I WAS NEVER AN OPTIMIST

  ...however, I was indebted to the optimists, the SALISBURY, N.C. OPTIMIST CLUB, that is, because in the Spring and Summer of 1976, the club, to raise money for their projects, sponsored JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS / MID-ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING in the city of Salisbury, N.C. (where I live).

Not once...not twice...but THREE times within a six month period.

ANGELO MOSCA

March 18, 1976 - SALISBURY POST

WAHOO MCDANIEL

A crowd nearing twelve hundred witnessed 'Chief' WAHOO McDANIEL pin big ANGELO MOSCA in the main event last night at CATAWBA COLLEGE's GOODMAN GYMNASIUM. The professional wrestling show was sponsored by the SALISBURY OPTIMIST CLUB. Long-time favorite JOHNNY WEAVER and his partner TIGER CONWAY JR. topped JACK EVANS and BILL WHITE in the evening's tag team contest. GEORGE HARRIS, known as 'Two Ton', belly-splashed a much-smaller GREG PETERSON to win his match, and veteran SWEDE HANSON used a neck breaker to subdue BILL HOWARD. OPTIMIST CLUB officials announced they were very pleased with attendance and would be negotiating to bring wrestling back to SALISBURY very soon.

May 8, 1976 - SALISBURY POST

BLACKJACK MULLIGAN

May 9, 1976 - SALISBURY POST

AUGUST 3, 1976 - SALISBURY POST

August 4, 1976 - SALISBURY POST

May 6, 1976 - SALISBURY POST

The wrestler referred to as Red Bastian, was in fact, Red Bastien.

Three great evenings of JCP in my home town, and I had to drive only ten miles round trip for each show. Considering the many, many miles I drove throughout the years to see MID-ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING, this was a welcome change.

And for the record, I was never an OPTIMIST. I was a CIVITAN. We sold fruitcake.

 

 

TEXANS CLASH FOR U.S. TITLE

 PAUL JONES battles TERRY FUNK for the UNITED STATES HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP