Large 8x10" format. Bolo would beat Dory Funk himself for the Amarillo version of the NWA North American Heavyweight Championship on February 7, 1957. Jody Hamilton, the original Assassin, was a member throughout the various incarnations of the team, teaming with Tom Renesto, Roger Smith, Randy Colley and Hercules Hernandez while donning the masks. Tom Renesto Deceased Also known as Assassin #1, Tony Martin, Great Bolo The Assassins ( Assassin #1 and Assassin #2) While working in Hawaii Lovelock had also begun working for the Los Angeles NWA territory as "The Great Bolo", a masked villain. Jim Ross stated that the Masked Assassins "were the greatest tag team that [he] ever saw. Al Lovelock was an American professional wrestler best known by the ring name The Great Bolo. But there are a few of us who were just youngsters at that time who remember many of the stars of sixty years ago. Al Lovelock began wrestling in the late 1940s under his real name.
[8], When Lovelock moved to another territory he gave Renesto permission to work as the Great Bolo in the area since he was booked to work in Texas. Three months later Lovelock vacated the title and left the promotion. This announcement from the WWE Network was a nice early Christmas present for Mid-Atlantic Wrestling fans that have been wiaiting sin... by Dick Bourne Mid-Atlantic Gateway When Bruce Mitchell of PWTorch.com recently tweeted that the WWE should consider bringing Tony Schiav... by Dick Bourne Mid-Atlantic Gateway On a recent episode of " The JJ Dillon Show " podcast (mlwradio.com), JJ and co-host Rich B... Mike Cline publishes the excellent Mid-Atlantic Grapplin' Greats blog that regularly looks back at wrestling for Jim Crockett Promotions in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Check out all of the wonderful nostalgia on, Graphic by Mike Cline / Mid-Atlantic Grapplin' Greats, The Domed Globe: The NWA Championship from 1973-1986. [4] His double title reign only last two weeks before Dory Funk won both titles back. Barry Orton replaced Hernandez as Assassin #3 for a few months. Assassin #1, Assassin #2, Bronco Renesto, Great Bolo, Juan Renesto, Masked Marvel, Mr. X, Pedro Renesto, Thomas Renesto, Tom Renesto, Tony Martin, Tony Martini: Tag Teams: Assassins with Assassin #1 (as Assassin #2) The Bolos with Larry Hamilton (as Tom Renesto) The Bolos [2] with Jody Hamilton (as Tom Renesto) Mask Wins: as Assassin #2 against Medic #2 Bolo and Rice would hold the International Tag Team title one more time in 1955. Shortly afterward, Tom Renesto arrived in the area and began teaming with Hamilton to form the original Assassins team. Other than working as the Bolos for a time from Jim Crockett… Start your free month! After Renesto retired from the ring, Hamilton continued The Assassins with new partners in later years, teaming up with Roger Smith and then Randy Colley, before forming the 1980s version of the masked team with Hercules Hernandez in Jim Crockett Promotions, under the management of Paul Jones, who used them as part of his feud with the popular Jimmy Valiant. Two of the Greatest Ever "On the Face of God's Gre... Local Boy Gets His Shot: Don Kernodle and Ric Flair team up in Burlington (1981), The Sad Final Chapter in the 1982 World Tag Team Tournament, The Very First U.S. Hamilton reopened Deep South Wrestling in 2005 to serve as a developmental territory for World Wrestling Entertainment, but WWE severed its developmental deal with DSW on April 18, 2007, and Hamilton continued running the promotion on his own as an independent until he folded DSW shortly after its October 11, 2007 event. From time to time we like to republish some of his posts here, with his permission of course, and we consider Mike a friend of the Gateway as well as a Gateway Contributor.