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| March 15, 1953
Reprinted from the Savannah Morning News Title: George Declared Winner As Foe Rams Ring Corner Author: Arthur Whitfield Savannah – Everything was going along just fine last night at the Municipal Auditorium until a "Dr. Edwards" stepped out of the audience and called off a match between pro wrestlers Gorgeous George and a young Greek lad named Mike Paidousis. It wasn't enough that Mike should absorb George's insults, P.O. (perfume odor) and the "dirty" tactics of his opponent. Oh, no, that wasn't enough. Poor Mike had to go ram himself, accidentally, into a corner post of the ring and injure his shoulder so bad, our friend "Dr. Edwards" said, as to cause discontinuance of the feature match and award a victory to the goldielocked pretty one. Highlighting a card stacked with three matches, George and Paidousis had grappled and groaned and bounced and moaned for a full half hour or more without a fall being credited to either when tragedy befell Mike, who was introduced as a former University of Tennessee football player. Mike had done well for himself and proved to be a real crowd pleaser. Only one person in the audience, a woman, sided with the Gorgeous boy. So things rolled along in the usual manner. Until . . . Gorgeous George, who really ain't gorgeous looking when you view him from the first seat in the second row in the right orchestra section, broke loose from one of Mike's All-America grips, bounced up and skipped about the ring, his golden tresses now a mass of damp and stringy hair. He had made Mike mad, real mad. So Mike, with full approval of the crowd, waded in (somewhat literally, you might say, in view of all the perfume sprayed about the area) and frowned at his opponent. With arms in a ready position, Mike faked a right, then a left, then another one of each. Then Gorgeous George faked heart trouble. Mike, our hero (mainly because he was wearing light trunks; it seems the villain always wears dark clothes), began a series of bounces off the ropes and into the confused and stunned George. But on the third bounce, George weaved out of the way, and Mike met the corner post with his shoulder. Sure that their hero would return and finish off the villainous George, after conceding a fall to check his shoulder injury, the crowd watched Goldielocks as his second (dressed resplendently in the kind of clothes you wear to morning nuptials) go through rest-period antics, which included: Smelling salts (or maybe a sniff of sashay) for George's sore nostrils, a cooling off of George's face with a baby blue towel, and assorted dainty measures to insure proper prophylaxis to the area. But, at that point, the master of ceremonies summoned a doctor from the audience. Any doctor, he said; Mike was hurt pretty bad, it seemed. After a decent interval of time, the emcee returned to announce the tragedy. "Dr. Edwards" said there would be no more for the night for poor Mike, who might bring on a permanent injury if he pursued victory any longer. But there was consolation for the fans. Their heroes in the earlier matches had fared well for themselves. Atlanta's Don McIntyre bested black-trunked Howard Cantonwine in the opener and handsome Tex Reilly came out of his match with a draw against Henry Harrell, also of the dark trunks. |