Over the last couple of years people have sent me pictures on social media of matches I have zero memory of. I spent a day a few weeks ago going through two boxes of pictures covering my career. I saw people I had no clue who they were and faces I could not remember the names that went with them. With twenty five plus years on the road it all runs together at times.
There are some moments that are burnt in my mind for ever. Some good and some bad. Some matches, arenas, people, and events do stand out. This story is about a weekend that I will never forget.
Here is a match of me vs. Brian Logan from March 1st 1997 at The Ashland , KY Armory. I was in so much pain wrestling with a partially dislocated hip and cracked tail bone. I had gotten the injuries the week before in North Carolina but when I broke in I was told you don't miss bookings period. Over my quarter century of being in the ring I can count on one hand the bookings I have missed. I was not going to miss these no matter what. So I self medicated and battled through. Not advice I would give anyone now.
This was a crazy weekend as on the way up to Ashland it started raining. As the event was going on we were inside a big armory and had no clue how bad it was out side. It became known as the Flood of '97.
I was traveling with my friend "The Duke" Al Getz we had did an event in my home town of Fall Branch the night before and were booked in Cleveland Ohio the afternoon after this match. By the time we got near the Ohio River the roads were closed due to the rushing waters. The two things that stand out about the short trip from Ashland to Flatwoods was seeing a bath tub floating down the road. The other came from a talk radio show we were listening to. I can not remember who the host was or much about the show other than it was about UFOs. They were taking calls and a caller called in and asked the host "Are you still afraid of elevators you douche bag?". That got some laughs that were needed.
It ended up that we had to turn around and make our way back to Ashland then go through Huntington and Charleston West Virginia to get to Cleveland. We ended up sleeping in my car at a rest area for a few hours and getting to Cleveland about an hour before bell time.
As the night and day went on my pain grew. The event started around 2:00 PM and I went to the ring at almost 8:00 PM. Yes a six hour card. To this day I still do not understand that one. I was in a cage match with a partner I can not remember vs. the promoter G Moe and his partner Phyico Mike. I climbed up on the top rope fighting with one of them and they knocked me off to the ring canvas. When I hit I had pains go through me like never before.
The Duke and I made it out alive and made our way to our hotel room. I could not get to sleep because of the pain I spent most of the night trying to comfortable. No luck when the Duke got up I told him we have got to get home. I knew I need to go to a doctor and I was not about to do it in the city known as "The Mistake by The Lake".
The trip was awful. Still high waters. Lots of traffic on the interstate because most secondary roads around the Ohio River were closed. On the way back near the West Virginia line we saw a car try to cross the water and get swept away. I spent most of the trip in the passenger seat leaned all the way back and laying on my stomach or side. The longer it went not only did I hurt more but I was getting sicker.
Thank God the Duke was with me. He got me back to my family. My mother took me to the E.R. and it was not long before I was headed to what they called a minor surgery.
It turned out that I was born with a Pilonidal Cyst. I had no clue it was there. It had never acted up. It had never hurt. It was just there. Both my Mom and one of my sisters had them and theirs flared up in child birth. It seems when I cracked my tail bone it flared. In Cleveland when I took the fall off the cage it broke my tail bone and the cyst. The infections was in me.
So they had a doctor come in and pop my hip which I think death would have been easier. Then I was prepped and off to get cut on. They cut it opened. Cleaned it out and packed gauze pads around my tail bone so it would grow back together correctly. I was told "this will bother you for the rest of your life".
I had the surgery around 8:30 PM on Monday. I was sent home around Midnight I was told to go home, rest, take these meds, clean the lance 4 times a day, come back in a week and stay out of the ring at least six weeks.
I was back in the ring Thurs, Friday, and Saturday that week. You don't miss bookings remember. This might have been one of the reason I had to have major back surgery in 2014.
Thanks for reading. Below is the match from Ashland
Beau James
sinner saved by grace and pro wrestler
kingofkingsport@gmail.com
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