Stories, Pictures,videos of my life in Pro Wrestling from the Past 25 plus years. Plus whats going on now in my career. I have traveled this country from Ocean to Ocean, The Gulf of Mexico to Canadian Border wrestling in the Biggest cities and the smallest towns. I have lived my wildest dream. Reached my goals. Had my heart broken and put back together to be broke again and again. All in the name of Pro Wrestling. Also check out my books and DVDs. Free shipping in the USA.
Southern States Wrestling 33rd Annual Fall Spectacular
Make sure you scroll down as there has been several updates the last few days.
This week on the Power Half Hour Nate Diamond vs. Liam Cross, Tributes to Gypsy Joe and John Manson, highlights of Beau James and Scott Sterling, news on July 9th and more
Southern States Wrestling Classics episode 5 Rock N Roll Express. Matches include Rock n Roll Express and Tim Horner vs. KC Thunder, Ricky Rockett and Buddy Landel, Ricky Morton vs. Stan Lee, and Rock n Roll Express vs. Scott Sterling and Frank Parker
"Why were you trying to kill that older man?" - Misty James the first time she saw Gypsy Joe and I fight all over the building in Tullahoma, TN. My answer "You can't hurt him"
I woke to some bad news this morning, the news that we have lost another wrestling great. My friend Gilberto "Pepe" Melendez better know as Gypsy Joe passed about 1am this morning in a Middle Tennessee Hospital.
My first memories of Joe are of seeing him on Georgia Championship Wrestling and Memphis Wrestling. It did not take long watching Joe that you knew he was a rare breed of man. He would hit his opponents with his famed over hand chops and headbutts and you never doubted if they connected or hurt. Even when I started wrestling Joe years later he was still all man and a yard wide.
Joe to some came off as a grumpy older wrestler who hated everything. He wanted you to think that too. As Ricky Morton says "Joe so grumpy he don't even like ice cream". Truth was far from the truth if you took the time to know Joe and let him know you. Joe was rough and told you like it was but he was always there to help you understand our profession. He was there to give advice about your matches. Ask any wrestler who has broke in to wrestling in the Middle Tennessee area the last three decades and they will all have a story about how Joe helped them.
He was a wealth of knowledge and had the pedigree to back it up. Several years ago Joe was staying with me and we researched his career. He was amazed on what I could find of him online. Joe was funny about what he wanted people to know. He guarded his age like gold in Fort Knox (more on that to come). He had several personalities during his career some he liked and some he wanted to forget.
As I googled his names he would tell me stories about each one. As each one was a phase of his life. He was Aztec Joe in the Detroit territory, Chief Tuna in Alaska, one half of the World Tag Championship Team The Blue Infernos with Frankie Martinez in the Tennessee and Alabama Territoris in 1966/67. If you go to Southern West Virginia and start talking about the old WOAY TV Saturday Night Wrestling days the first two names that come up is Jan and Gene Madrid. Joe was Gene Madrid. They are to West Virginia what The Wrights and Whitey are to East Tennessee.
Below is a couple pages of my new book covering a little bit of Joe's stay in the Kingsport Territory in 1966 and 68.
I remember one night in the dressing room about 10 years ago Bill Dundee asked Joe how long he had been wrestling. Joe said "Almost 40 years" everyone laughed as Dundee said " 40 years!?! I have been in America almost 40 years and you had already had runs on top as The Blue Inferno and other names a decade before" In Joe fashion he replied "you don't know everything".
As I said Joe was very private about things. He guarded his age, birth name, and where he was born. When Jerry Lawler wrote in his book that as a young teenager Joe was his hero in Memphis wrestling Joe was very proud until he saw The King had listed his birth name.
Around 2008 I started working with Joe on a book about his life. After a few days he decided he did not want to do it because he would have to open up about something he did not want to. I still have the few notes.
Joe told me he came from Puerto Rico in his early twenties and worked his way as a farm hand from Florida to New York. He wanted to be a New York Yankee. He found work at a produce market unloading trucks. He would get a try out with the Yankees. When I asked him about it he said "all but one thing went great". He said "I could catch the ball, I could Throw the ball, but I could not hit the ball." I asked was you nervous? he Said "no it was to fast!"
He turned his attention to learning to boxing. He started training at a local gym in New York. he said 'his trainer was always yelling at him to not let the other guy hit him. Joe was as tough as they came. One day a few well dressed men walked into the gym and everyone's attention went to them. Joe asked who they were and someone told him they are wrestlers. Joe had never seen wrestling but he liked how well dressed and the attention the wrestlers were getting.
That night Joe went to see the matches and he was hooked. The next week when the wrestlers came into the gym Joe started asking about breaking in. He would laugh when telling me how hard they made him train thinking he would quit. He said he trained for almost a year before breaking in as Pepe Figueroa in New York area.
he had no idea that wrestling would take him around the world many times over wrestling across the North American Territories, Cuba, Korea, Japan, The Caribbean, and few other International Spots.
In the late 1960s Joe settled in West Virginia and became Gene Madrid. The brother of Jan Madrid the areas number one fan favorite. Joe also bought part of the promotion. He would spend the next few years beat West Virginia, Tennessee, and Kansas City area.
Joe also did well for him self in Japan where he was a main stay from the 1970s to 1993. He started with the old IWE promotion where he was known for bloody matches. Joe is credited as being the first person to jump off the top rope in a cage. After IWE closed, he was as a regular for All Japan. At the end of his days in Japan he was wrestling for the W*ING promotion. He was known for hardcore brawling and bloody style matches. Joe had his last match in Japan in the early 2000s.
Joe told me when he came to Tennessee for Nick Gulas he was to be here for only six weeks. I asked when was that he said laughing "thirty years ago". In the 1980s Joe would wrestle for Nick Gulas, then George Gulas's UWA, and The Jarretts. His last run for Jarrett coming in 1986. He also had went back to Kansas City in 1985. He last appearance on Memphis TV would come in the summer of 1997 as the guest of Jerry Lawler talking Memphis History.
After his years in the Territories Joe would become a pioneer of the Tennessee Independents based out of Nashville he wrestled for numerous promotions in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama. Even though he was older he did have a name from years of TV and was still as tough as anyone in wrestling. He would compete several nights a week until I think 2011.
Joe for three years in a row told me he was 77. Last year he told some people he was 84. I saw his age listed today as 82. Both Jackie and Don Fargo told me Joe was older than them. Paul Morton for years said he and Joe were the same age. Paul was just shy of his 90th birthday when he passed in December of 2010. I think only Joe and The Good Lord know his true age.
Joe would stay with me and Misty at times for a couple weeks at a time. He loved watching ball games, drinking coffee, and telling his stories. He shared his faith with us many times. I'm going to miss him as everyone who knew him will. Joe was one of a kind.
Joe fought many battles his last years. He lost part of one of his legs. The years of traveling and wrestling seemed to catch up with him. The last time I saw Joe was last year at the Gulf Coast Wrestlers Reunion. Even in a wheel chair and frail he was still Joe. He was so happy to see the boys and everyone was happy to see him. A big thanks to Shane Morton for getting him there and taking care of him.
To my amigo I say thank you for your friendship, your advice, and the memories. Thank you for all that you gave to the sport we loved. You truly gave your heart, blood, body and life to wrestling.
until we meet again
Beau James
Sinner Saved by Grace
Pro Wrestler
kingofkingsport@gmail.com
June 13 2016 - Make sure you scroll down as I have updated today with SSW Classics Episode 1-4, a recent radio interview, The SSW Power Half Hour is back, and news on Southern States Wrestling's 25th Anniversary. Misty James is in process of updating our upcoming events and some news she has on her site at www.countrystrongmistyjames.blogspot.com
I will be recording the next episode of Exile on Badstreet with Kris Zellner Tuesday night as we are in the process of giving an oral history of Continental Wrestling. I have gotten so many nice messages about the previous episodes. Kris and I both are glad everyone is enjoying what we are doing. If you have not listened to the three episodes here they are. Note they are LONG! so it might take you a while to hear all of it but well worth the time. Continental Wrestling Part 1
I'm working on moving my podcast to a better host. The blogtalkradio just gives me so many head aches. More on this to come.
OK History buffs, readers, wrestling fans, and local historians. We are caught up on orders and have books in stock. My first two books are on Amazon and Amazon Kindle as well. My third book will be published to Amazon later in the Summer. Family illness, deaths, and some other personal and private issues have kept us from promoting the book and getting it out there earlier this year. After 20 years of research, interviews, trips to places where the events took place. "Don't Miss This - The history of Pro Wrestling in Kingsport, TN 1960-1969" THE LOOK OF THE PAGES IN THIS BOOK I can not tell you how many hours I have spent in local libraries, the number of questions I have asked wrestlers who were here in the 60s, or the hours I spent working on this book in my home office. The closest answer I can give you is countless. I have to spend time cleaning up every newspaper ad you see. Coming off of microfilm and digital copies of the film left them with black dots all over them. I tried to clean them up the best that I could so you can see facial features and read the ads. I left the ads as close as possible to the size that were when they ran in the paper. I’m the first to admit that I’m not the best. If I had hired a professional to do the clean up work, no one would be able to afford the book! Before her passing in the early 2000s, Jodie Bass, the widow of famed manager Sam Bass, would come to me at Southern States Wrestling events in Kingsport from time to time. Every time she came, she would always bring one of her scrapbooks for me to look at. These were big thick books full of pictures and clippings. As you turned the pages, you would see her notes sometimes handwritten and sometimes typed notes. She made notes of when the wrestlers had passed, if they had played pro football, other names they may have used, and other things of historical significance. I found myself sitting in the back of the Kingsport Armory one night spending over an hour and a half looking at one book. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen. I have tried to re-create the look of her scrap book with this book. Jodie’s sister ended up living next to my mother. I asked her many times about the books and where they had ended up. She could not tell me or find out. If anyone knows, please contact me. I hate to think that they are gone forever.
Below is a few pages of the book
What is in the book ? - Forward by Jim Cornette - Complete history of Pro Wrestling in the Model City from Carnival At Shows to Smoky Mountain Wrestling - The fact that Kingsport was it's own booking office separate from Knoxville - How did Wrestling in Kingsport effect what would become Mid Atlantic Wrestling - Dozens of rare pictures - A Look at the arenas in The Kingsport Territory - A Look at the Kingsport Office and what is in them now - The weekly line ups that were printed in the papers - The results that were printed in the papers -Title Chnges - Bios on stars like Ron Wright, Whitey Caldwell, Sam Steamboat, Tiny York, Cora Combs, Lou Thesz,and other - Memories and quotes from men and women who wrestled here - What does a convicted murderer who died in a New Jersey prison have to do with Kingsport Wrestling? - Why was the biggest card of the year held in the summer? - How was Knoxville and Kingsport Wrestling different at different times of the year? - How the biggest drawing feud in the history of this region started by accident - The Legend of Ron Wright's Chisel - The change in ownership 4 times in a decade. - Could a match here in 1966 given birth to the idea of MMA? - What member of Japanese House of Councillors wrestled in Kingsport? - How did the most brutal match in East Tennessee history The Chain Match get to Tennessee? - A letter from a tag team to a famous promoter in the North trying to get booked out of Kingsport - all of this and much more
This book will entertain and educate you. I hope it gives you a new understanding and appreciation for Pro Wrestling of this era. Special Gift with the Book. Each book order comes with a DVD featuring rare footage of the Legends of Kingsport and a 2 CD set of rare 1970's Knoxville TV audio. Get it now right hand side of the page.
Many of you have asked for the return of Southern States Power Half Hour and it is back. Check back here every weekend for a new episode on kingofkingsport.com . Also it will be posted on the SSW Facebook page and twitter. Make sure you watch each week for info on The SSW 25th and how you can win a BIG Gift Package and Reserved Seats.
Here is my guest appearance on The Tony Basilio Show from Knoxville Radio talking East Tennessee Wrestling History. Thanks again Tony for having me on. You can listen to Tony Mon-Fri. 1180am Knoxville or online The Tony Basilio Show
Do you think you know East Tennessee Wrestling History? Take a listen. Also get my new book I promise you it will teach you many facts about area wrestling you had no clue about.
Two Big events in one day FREE for EVERYONE. Make your plans now to spend the day with us.
Almost 25 years to the day that we ran Kingsport for the first time we return with an afternoon card as part of Village Fest. Bring your lawn chair.
Then that evening we return to Gray, TN for a BIG card of action as a part of The Gray Block Party also FREE. Fireworks to follow the matches.
A seen from last years' event in Gray. Gates open at 5PM there will be 300 chairs set out as you can see the past two years they have went fast.
Two different contest going on to get you reserved seats at the Gray event for more info go to Southern States Wrestling's Facebook and watch the SSW Power Half Hour posted above.
In case you have not seen them. Here are the first four episodes of SSW Classics from The Vault. More episodes are being put together. Episode five will be up in a few days. It takes a look at The Rock-n-Roll Express in SSW
*72 Years Ago Today was D Day. Please remember the men who stormed the beaches that day to fight for our Freedom and Freedoms of others.
*Finally we were able to get caught up on all orders and they have been shipped. Please let us know when you get them. Sorry once again for the delays.
My third book
Don't Miss This!!! The History of Pro Wrestling in Kingsport 1960-69 - will be on Amazon and Amazon Kindle in the next couple weeks.
I will be doing a couple of appearances this Summer giving speeches on Kingsport Wrestling History and signing my new book. More info to come soon.
*I will be speaking to the youth at Bloomingdale Baptist Church in Kingsport Tuesday June 7 during their Vacation Bible School.
Also VBS starts today at our home church Calvary Baptist Church 1238 Pine Street in Kingsport. Never to late to sign your kids up at Calvary or Bloomingdale.
*I was on The Tony Basilio Show a couple weeks ago. Here is the link with us talking East Tennessee Wrestling History. Tony is on Mon-Fri in the Knoxville Market 1180am The VLZ 11am - 1pm.
