Captain Lou AlbanoSome say the man's not wrapped too tight.
But when he's on the scene everything's alright.
With the man of thousand faces I know we'll be going places. HEY!
I'm gonna stick with the Guiding Light.
Captain Lou, Captain Lou Albano!
"Captain Lou Albano. Maker of champions, baby. Twelve Tag Team Champions. I take them. I mold them. I think it's charisma. It's pandemonium. It's psychedelic pandemonium. I... am the Guiding Light. I'm where it's at!" -Captain Lou from NRBQ's Tapdancing Bats album.
I started watching Lou Albano wrestle at the age of 9 on Channel 11 (then WIIC)'s Studio Wrestling show hosted by a young Bill Cardille, before he became "Chilly Billy." He was a "bad guy" and always lost to Bruno Sammartino, but occasionally would beat "Jumpin'" Johnny DeFazio from Pittsburgh's South Side. Along with George "The Animal" Steele and "Gorilla" Monsoon he was the baddest of the bad.
Lou practically revitalized pro wrestling's popularity in the '80s alongside Hulk Hogan and Rowdy Roddy Piper. He became a wrestling manager and did indeed captain more than a dozen WWF tag team champions, most notably the Wild Samoans.
His status rose to that of Pop Culture Icon when he appeared in Cyndi Lauper videos as her father. And he even managed her career, as he did with NRBQ, for a period of time.
He played in and/or hosted the Super Mario Brothers Super Show. I never really watched it but I recall when he was announced as playing Mario I thought it was a perfect fit for him.
And now another piece of my childhood has passed into the next world. Got to find a black rubber band to glue to my face in rememberance of Lou Albano tomorrow. Rest in peace, Lou. I think the video of where you scraped the "foreign object" you got from out of your shorts across Domenic Denucci's eyes has been destroyed.
6 comments:
He was a true SHOWMAN. That's what's wrong with pro wrestling today...these guys now are all tanned, shaved, tattooed, and roided out but they don't have a clue how to work a crowd or cut a promo. Lou was a true original. May he R.I.P. Check out this old clip on YouTube. Great stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fk3XfZq0Ok
those promos were the bomb. his were so much better than anyone elses. i think i got to see pro wrestling at the right time. i wasnt a fan but for a few years, maybe 5, but it included some great moments. one of the earliest i remember is larry zabysko taking a chair to bruno sammartino's head and making him bleed like crazy all over the ring. when we watched the replay later that morning on WOR (i think) they had a big red X over the screen. i remember Still A Dad taking me to the high school to see Iron Sheik and Ivan Putski (my favorite). Ted DiBiasi was there as well as a nobody in black trunks...years before he was the million dollar man and wrestling got too "kiddy" for me. i still went to a friends house to see Wrestlemania, the original where Hogan slammed Andre. Funny too that you mention Domenic DeNucci. He was grand marshall at a parade we marched in for NHH Co. after the parade (an italian festival) one of the young trumpet players went up to him on a dare and asked him if wrestling was fake. he was playful and asked if he wanted to find out. i'm guessing the parade was about 1984 or 1985. remember the ugandan giant? lol. he was hilarious and always stayed in character.
I was also a short-time fan during those Golden Years. I remember Capt. Lou with the Moondogs and the Samoans. I also remember that he manged Jimmy "Superfly" Snukka when he first came to the WWF, before he became a good guy. Some friends and I were going to a match in Salisbury, MD and on the highway on the way there we looked over into the next car and Snukka was driving.
Wow, you guys are really jogging my memory. I must've watched more wrestling than I thought.
Do you remember Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart? Or the Bushwhackers? Them crazy Bushwhackers used to lick the tops of each other's heads! Ricky Steamboat?
I go way back to the Studio Wrestling days with Chief White Owl, the Masked Destroyer, and the Kentuckians. The Kentuckians were a tag team consisting of two brothers 7' tall who were the forerunners to Hillbilly Jim (bib overalls, no shoes etc.). And Professor Tanaka was a wrestler on WIIC before he ever starred in any of the Chuck Norris movies.
Lou Albano was the ultimate showman though. He could have you laughing and mad all at the same time. He will be missed.
I used to really like the guys who were just guys...not silly characters. I loved Putski but also liked Don Morocco as a moderate bad guy. Greg Valentine....guys like that. When young vince went to a cave to interview the missing link who just happened to be walking around the cave in wrestling gear....I became disinterested. Other people I remember enjoying? JYD, tony atlas, brutus beefcake, terry funk, chief jay strongbow, haystack calhoun, english bulldogs.
You probably liked "Macho Man" Randy Savage then and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff.
Paul Orndorff played professional football with the Saints for a couple seasons.
Big Daddy Lipscomb and Ernie Ladd also dabbled in pro wrestling in the off season. Mike Golic's father, who played in the CFL, was another football player who was also a part-time pro wrestler.
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