THOSE DANG INFERNOS

 I make no apologies for throwing the spotlight once again on these guys for a number of reasons:

They could really work in the ring.

They really drew heat.

And I just plain liked them!

THE INFERNOS made several passes through JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS in the mid-late 1960s, and each time, went straight to the top of the card, feuding with not just the top 'babyface' teams, but also a number of the other 'heel' duos as well.

THE INFERNOS set every wrestling territory they worked in on fire!

Often, J.C. DYKES was forced to join his men in the ring as pictured here in a match against a team headed by EDDIE GRAHAM.

The helpless referee tries to no avail to prevent THE INFERNOS from double-teaming a hapless opponent.

THE INFERNOS
(These are the originals - Manager J.C. DYKES (left), ROCKY SMITH (center), FRANKIE CAIN (right).

Looks like things didn't go well for J.C. on this night.

JOHNNY WEAVER is at the mercy of one of the masked maulers.

One INFERNO memory I have occurred in the late 1960s one summer night at the old semi-pro baseball park in Statesville, North Carolina.

DYKES and his men were making their approach to the ring for their main event match. J.C. was wearing a brown paisley tuxedo jacket. Some idiot, out of nowhere like Ruby on Oswald, threw a large cup of Coca-Cola right in the manager's face and all over the jacket, then like the fool he was, took off running towards the center field fence (where there was no escape - the fence was at least ten feet high). Duh!

Both INFERNOS took off after the goof. Whichever wrestler was wearing the 'loaded boot' actually got to him first, tackled him in the outfield and started slugging him. His masked partner was right behind and began beating the **** out of the poor guy with the metal canteen DYKES always carried to the ring.

Eventually, the local police (60-inch girths and all) made it to the outfield and relieved the wrestlers of what was left of their attacker and escorted him out of the ball park and took him to the local police department, where I'm sure he spent the night at the expense of the citizens of Statesville.