ALL
IN THE FAMILY
or
zero
degrees of separation
Why
did Tom Zenk leave AWA? The AWA champion was Larry Zbyszko.
And Larry was married to the boss's daughter.
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From
last week - "Pro-wrestling
is as difficult to break into as a high school clique. It is one of America's
last "father and son" industries; an industry where it is definitely who
you know, not what you know, that's important. Consider how many stars
in the sport are second generation wrestlers: Curt Hennig, Greg Valentine,
Greg Gagne, Tully Blanchard, Barry Windham, Kendall Windham, Randy Savage,
Lanny Poffo, Ted DiBiase, Kerry Von Erich, Terry and Dory Funk, Eddie Gilbert,
Jeff Jarrett, Owen Hart, Bret Hart, David Sammartino, and so on and on."
In wrestling, fathers
look after their sons, cousins look after other cousins, uncles take care
of nephews, brothers-in-law form clans or 'packs' to look after their interests,
even next-door-neighbors, former employees and old friends get promoted
- generally above the real talent.<
"Hulk Hogan's boyhood
pals and former training partners are Ed Leslie (Brutus Beefcake) and Ray
Fernandez (Hercules Hernandez)." And don't forget Hulk's brother Mike Boulder
and his nephew Horace Boulder, and .....
Larry Zbyszko was
Bruno Sammartino's next door neighbor. Then he married the boss's (Verne
Gagne's) daughter. No wonder Tom Zenk left AWA. All the best spots, including
the AWA World Championship, were already reserved for either Verne's son
(Greg Gagne) or son-in-law (Larry Zbyszko).
The following list
is useful background reading if you want to know, for example -
-
why it pays to be brother-in-law
to Bret Hart or one of Jerry Lawler's sons or cousins;
-
what unites Mike Rotundo,
Blackjack Mulligan, and Barry and Kendall Wyndham
-
why The Wrecking Crew
resemble The Road Warriors
-
what Steve Austin and
Chris Adams have in common
-
who Tugboat, Jerry Saggs
and Dustin Rhodes have
to thank.
Ties of blood are one
thing. Overlay this with ties of friendship (Flair and Anderson, Dallas
Page and Eric Bischoff, Hennig and Rude, Fuller and Jarrett, etc., etc.,
), plus personal and professional jealousies, and you begin to scratch
the surface of a profession where sheer wrestling ability is often very
low among the criteria for wrestler promotion.
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