When I was between 12 and 14, I watched a lot of TV. On Saturday afternoon, after a morning of cartoons followed by Shock Theater, I watched wrestling. This was way before video games. Kids either watched TV or actually played outdoors!
Now the wrestling I watched was not your high school/college/olympic real wrestling....this was "wrasslin' ". The showy kind where the wrestlers throw chairs, yell and stomp around, and sometimes wear masks or flashy robes. Generally this was just entertainment, but these wrestlers had lots of fans. During this period some of the wrestlers in the Southern viewing area (Jim Crockett Promotions) were The Bolos, Rip Hawk, Swede Hanson, Tiny Anderson & Big Boy Brown (The Kentuckians), George Becker, Haystacks Calhoun, and Johnny Weaver to mention just a few.
Here are The Bolos on the left and on the right are Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson.
When my son was a kid, he watched "wrasslin" too, and I guess I watched with him. Some names from those days were Hulk Hogan, Andre The Giant, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Wahoo McDaniel, and "Nature Boy" Ric Flair.
Here are (L-R) Andre The Giant with Hulk Hogan and the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair.
A few months ago, I saw a TV ad for a NC State Lottery scratch off game, featuring Ric Flair wearing a flashy outfit and promoting the game which was called...."Woooooo!". I wanted to go across the state line from South Carolina where I live, just far enough into North Carolina to get a Ric Flair scratch off card. I just never made it.
A couple of weeks ago from another room, I heard Ric on TV yelling "Woooooo!" once again. I made it into the den in time to see that now South Carolina has the Ric Flair "Woooooo!" scratch off cards. I had to have one. One day when we were out, we stopped at a local neighborhood convenience store just to get a "Woooooo!" card, but they were sold out! UGH! I rarely buy scratch offs, but I just wanted the Ric Flair card. Today at the grocery store, we remembered to look at the lottery scratch off display at customer service. There we saw Ric Flair staring back at us and the service clerk was not busy with customers, so today I finally got a "Woooooo!" scratch off.
Was it worth it? Yes, just to be able to say out loud "I want a "Woooooo!" card please." I think that is what I wanted to do all along. Did I win big?? Well, no....but I did win back the $5.00 cost of the card itself, so nothing was lost. Will I get another one? No, but since I have to turn my "Wooooo!" card in to get the $5.00 winnings, I scanned it before and after scratching to preserve my "Woooooo!" experience.
Just for fun, here's a video of Ric explaining his trademark "Woooooo!"
