At a glance: Colonel and the Playboy

Time for another update on "The making of a Wrestling GOD", and this time I think I will talk about who happens to be attempting to train me.

The technical information on Playboy Buddy Rose is that he was trained in the famous "Barn" of Verne Gagne and Billy Robinson, the same school that graduated such stars as Ric Flair, Sgt Slaughter, the Iron Shiek and The late great Chris Taylor, just to name a few. (Chris Taylor is a local legend in my hometown of Muskegon, MI as he wrestled collegiatly at Muskegon Community College in the early 70's before he went on to Iowa, the Olympics, then the pro's.) In his career that, so far, has spanned the last thirty years or so he has wrestled for the AWA, the WWE and in the Pacific Northwest (Portland). Some of his title reigns are:
*2 time NWA Canadian Tag Team Champion
*1 time NWA Pacific Coast (Vancouver) Heavyweight Champion
*8 time NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Champion
*12 time NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Champion
*2 time NWA US Heavyweight Champion (San Francisco)
*2 time NWA World Tag Team Champion (San Francisco)
Buddy was known for his skill on the mic, and his ability to take some of the best bumps in the business. According to the questions and answers section of his website, during his last run with the WWE, Jimmy Hart and himself came up with this idea for a gimmick that really took off. In the gimmick the ring announcer would announce Buddy's weight at 271 lbs, only to have the Playboy interrupt and announce his weight as a "slim trim 217". Yes, the era of the infamous blow away diet was born! I don't really know Buddy all that well, I see him one day a week and it's not like we chit chat about life in general, but if you read my post about Cameron Star and first impressions (I hope you all realize I was just trying to draw some heat, Camerons a pretty neat kid...For a Hawaiian) My first impression of Buddy was nothing but solid.
I find that professional wrestlers are, in fact, walking talking cartoon characters. That is it takes a character, a strong personality, to be successful in this business, and Buddy is definitely that. He is a very nice man, and I feel honored that he has taken me under the wing to train me. There, that aught to be good for a couple free weeks of class! Anyway, as I have written in past posts, another fact of great interest is that Buddy Wrestled in the very first match of the very first Wrestlemania against Tito Santana. That night he wrestled under a red mask as the Executioner. He was so respected by WWE that they didn't want the fans to see Buddy lose so they put a mask on him to try and keep what is now one of the worst kept secrets in the business, and that was that he was the Executioner. Another interesting fact is that he was managed by Sensational Sherri Martell, one of this years inductees to the WWE Hall of Fame.

The real world Ed Wiskoski, better known to the wrestling world as Colonel DeBeers, has a very colorful wrestling background as well. Early on he was known by several names, including Easy Ed Wiskoski, Mega Maharishi and the Polish Prince. In college Colonel was a very devastating defensive tackle who went on to play for the Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL until the wrestling bug came calling. Colonel Debeers was trained by the legendary Harley Race and the trainer of the midget wrestlers, Lord Littlebrook in the early 70's. A brief side note here: Umm, Mr Race, if I am so fortunate for you to be reading this, a previous post I wrote sounded critical of you, and I apologize, that was not my intention. I was intending on showing you that I plan on bucking the odds and making it in the wrestling world, (The self professed second best wrestler never to make the big time, the KING of the bingo halls) against your opinion that I won't because I don't meet the criteria of superstar great shape as you put it, and I am over the age of 21. So, if I am ever wrestling in MO, don't hurt me, I beg of you. Well, that is unless I wrestle for your promotion, then by all means, let the size of the pain match the size of my check. And unlike Mick Foley, I WILL let you bust my eyebrow open!
Ok, back to Colonel (Sorry Colonel, just trying to kiss a little butt there). In the early 80's Colonel wrestled for Leroy McGuirk out of Tulsa, OK. He was known as Easy Ed Wiskoski then, and he was managed by Skandor Akbar, and he feuded with Tommy and Eddie Gilbert. He reached the wrestling masses, however, when he wrestled in the mid 80's for the AWA as Colonel DeBeers, a character portrayed to be from South Africa, and very rich from gold and diamond mining. Some of the titles he earned were:
*NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Champion
*NWA Pacific Northwest Television Champion
*2 time NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Champion
*NWA Australian Tag Team Champion
*NWA Southern Heavyweight Champion
*NWA Central States Heavyweight Champion
*3 time NWA San Francisco Tag Team Champion
*NWA San Francisco United States Champion
*Championship Wrestling USA Television Champion

I remembering the first time I met Colonel. I walked into the school, and he was in the middle of coaching the students in the ring, but he kind of turned them over to wrestling matches, and came over to me. Now, what most likely happened was that I just happened along during the right time, or Colonel was genuinely wanting to meet his new student. He spent some time going over some of the basics with me right away, and he has been nothing but supportive ever since. The man is a very good teacher, he has a way of telling you that you screwed up in such a way that the sting don't hurt all that bad! He goes over the matches with us, tells me what I did good more then what I messed up on, and that is a great way to teach, at least for me. I remember when he was teaching me how to lock up, we must have locked up over twenty times in a row, and when he was satisfied that I got that down he acted like a proud poppa! I don't know how many wrestling matches I have coming in my career, but I do know that every time I wrestle I will remember that day he showed me how to do it right, and I still chuckle when I remember how he would grimace and say under his breath "come here you little sum a b*tch" as he locked onto my collar and elbow. He is one of the nicest men you'll ever meet, a complete difference from his Colonel DeBeers character,and I am honored that I am learning hands on from a true wrestling great. To sit back, before class, and hear the stories that man has to offer, they are all funny, but once again he is teaching as he goes. For anyone that wants to wrestle, you could do a lot worse then having Colonel DeBeers teach you the ropes. I know I will be a better wrestler because of him. (A couple more free classes?)
Well, that should do it. For those of you that are interested, go to http://www.playboybuddyrose.com There you can find out more information about the Playboy and Colonel, the wrestling school, and purchase great merchandise from autographed pictures to DVD's to God knows what else, but must haves for the true wrestling collector.

All pictures copyright and courtesy of playboybuddyrose.com