by Darla Taylor

My first live wrestling match at Kiel Auditorium, I was just three months old. Pat O’Connor was on that card. I don’t recall too much about that night, but I love to hear the story that my parents tell. At the time, my grandparents and parents had season tickets and went to the matches every other Friday night. This would have been towards the end of 1958. Their seats were at the stage area where the wrestlers walked down the aisle. My mother says that when Pat won his match, my dad took off for ringside with me in his arms. When my mom asked him later where he was going, he said he didn’t know, he was just so excited that Pat O’Connor had won.

We kept those same seats for years. I continued to go to the matches with my grandparents. Growing up, my favorite wrestlers were Cowboy Bob Ellis and John Paul Henning. I remember Cowboy Bob Ellis taking his opponent across the ring bulldogging and Henning’s favorite hold was the Bow and Arrow. Once when Ellis was walking up the aisle after he had wrestled, the heel was walking passed us and Cowboy Bob stepped inside our row of seats and he touched me on the forehead. I thought that was the greatest thing that ever happened. After Henning had retired from the ring, he became a minister. My grandparents took me one night to hear him preach. Well, we went to three different churches before we found him. I got to meet him after the service and he autographed my Bible.

As my grandparents got older, we stopped going to Kiel. I continued to watch wrestling on television every week, but did not attend any more matches until September 1974. I was a Junior in high school and had just started Cosmetology. I was looking at a wrestling mag one day and a girl walked up to me and asked if I liked wrestling. When I said yes she told me that she knew Jack Brisco. Yeah, right! I didn’t think there was any way possible that anyone could know these guys. To me, these men were like movie stars. So she took me with her the next time he came to town and I met him. I could not believe that I was actually going to meet one of the guys that I always saw on television, let alone it be Jack Brisco.

That was just the beginning. I started attending Kiel Auditorium and Wrestling At The Chase in September 1974 and I did not miss a match at either place until the end. I soon had season seats in the very front row. I met so many wonderful people while attending the matches. I met and became friends with Lillian Schnur, little red head Ruth, Diane Devine, the Fischer’s, Diane, Robyn, and Ray, Linda Huntoon, and Virginia Mason. One of my best friends that I met in 1974 at the Kiel is Cathy Jackson. Cathy and I have remained best of friends and still do a lot of traveling together. We do still attend live wrestling cards once in awhile and we do get to travel to different wrestling reunions together. It is fun getting to visit with some of the wrestlers and fans that we have met so long ago.

I had another best friend thru the years. Some of you may remember her as "Sapphire", Dusty Rhodes Valet in the WWF, but to me, she was Juanita. She was one of the first people I met when I started attending matches at the Kiel. Juanita never met a stranger and became friends with everyone she met, whether it be one of the wrestlers or one of the fans. Her dream was to be a wrestler one day. She started out wrestling in the late 70’s with a group of local wrestlers at the South Brodway Athletic Club in South St. Louis. She did that for several years and used the name Princess Dark Cloud. She didn’t care if she wrestled men or women, as long as she was in the squared circle. I can remember once when she even wrestled a bear. Juanita’s big break came in the late 80’s. I don’t quite remember the details, but I am sure Larry Matysik had something to do with it. She went to work for the WWF as Sapphire. Her dream had finally come true. She was going to be doing what she wanted to do her whole life. She shared so many road stories with me about her career with the WWF. She was my best friend until her death. She passed in September 1996.

I loved being at the Kiel on Friday night wrestling cards. We were all just like one big happy family. Not only did I become friends with many of the fans, but also the referees and St. Louis had many great ones. I can’t forget our ringside photographers, Roger Deem, Mike Gratchner and Bruce Viner. I became friends with Larry and Mr. Muchnik. Sam and Larry always treated us well. It didn’t matter how busy either of them were, they always found time to stop and chat with the fans for a few minutes. In my opinion, they were what made St. Louis wrestling so great.

I have traveled to many big cities for matches and have never seen anything quite like St. Louis. Sure I am partial, but I also know that Mr. Muchnik always brought in the top names from all the areas. He wanted to make sure that St. Louis was the best and he did just that.

Through the years, there were lots of wrestlers that I liked and disliked. I think my very favorite wrestler was Dory Funk, Jr. He had one heck of a forearm smash. The Spinning Toehold was my favorite. Dory rarely lost his cool in the ring and even when he did, he was still good. I used to love to watch Dory and Jack Brisco wrestle. They had some really great matches in St. Louis. My dream match was to see the Funk’s wrestle the Brisco’s. I never did see it, but know it would have been an exciting match.

My favorite heels in St. Louis were Dick Murdoch and Baron Von Rasche. These two wrestlers were classics in St. Louis. Dick could be mean and dirty in the ring, but outside the ring he was hilarious. He was sometimes funny in the ring. I remember one night after the matches a group of us took him to a bar-b-que restaurant that he loved in St. Louis. Before we left, Dick had bar-b-que sauce from head to toe. He loved to eat those ribs. He also enjoyed going to Joe Tangaro’s restaurant in South St. Louis. He visted Joe’s place, I think whenever he was in town.

In my opinion, the Baron was the best German heel wrestler I ever saw, but one of the nicest men that I have ever met. He just had the look of a mean German and with the Iron Claw he was superb. Some people say the Von Erich’s had the best claw, but my vote goes to Rasche. I had the chance to visit with him last summer at a reunion. It was great to talk with him again.

Ted Dibiase was another St. Louis favorite of mine. I always thought that he would make a great NWA World Champion. Ted never acheived that title, but he did win the Missouri State Title. He was a great Missouri Champ in and out of the ring. He was always a true gentleman. I have had the chance to chat with him several times in the last few years. He is still that same gentleman.

My favorite heel to hate was Bobby Heenan. I used to love getting into yelling matches with him. He was such a "weasal". Sitting in the front row was always easy to get into arguments with the heels. And since I had a big mouth it was even easier. I finally met Bobby a couple of years ago at the Cauliflower Alley Club Reunion in Las Vegas. I told him of how I used to argue with him in St. Louis at the Kiel and he thought that was pretty funny. Bobby is actually a very nice man with a funny sense of humor.

One of my funniest memories from the matches at the Kiel was a brawl between Blackjack Lanza and Terry Funk. They were really heavy into their match and duking it out when all of a sudden Terry had black spots all over his body. I finally figured out what is was when I saw black stuff running down Blackjack’s forehead. Apparently he had used black shoe polish or some type of black color on his bald spot before their match. As you can guess, after he started to sweat, whatever it was started running. It was too funny.

Another wrestler that worked in St. Louis during late 79 and early 80’s was Eddie Gilbert, way before he became Hot Stuff! Eddie had just started wrestling professionally when I met him. I met him in the summer of 79 in Memphis at a wrestling fans convention. When he left home in the fall of 79 for the Kansas City territory, it was the first time he had been away from home. We became close friends and I did a lot of traveling to KC to visit with him. Eddie was like the brother I never had. In fact, we used to tell people that we were brother and sister. Eddie was always a small guy, but he was quick and good in the ring. During his stay in KC he did a lot of training with Pat O’Connor and thought very highly of Pat. The last time I saw Eddie was in October, 1990, in Memphis. I do still keep in touch with his family and they are doing well.

It’s been a long time since the days of wrestling at Kiel Auditorium and Wrestling At The Chase. I would have to say that I have met so many wonderful friends, being fans and wrestlers. Those days are long gone, but I do have so many great memories. I do still keep in touch with many of my friends, but a lot of them have passed on. I enjoy going to some of the reunions and I love watching old videos.

I am so glad that I grew up in the St. Louis area and had the chance to be a part of the St. Louis Wrestling scene. It was a very big part of my life during the 70’s & 80’s and I wouldn’t trade those days for anything in the world. In fact, if I could go back in time, I definitely would. My thanks to Mr. Muchnik and Larry Matysik for making St. Louis Wrestling what it was.

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Thanks Darla!! If you have a memory you'd like to share, contact us and we'll try to put it up.