George Steele vs Rick Bolton WWF All Star Wrestling 06-13-1981
If you asked me on October 16th 2017 who I thought was going to win the NBA title, I would have said The Boston Celtics.
I'm a Celtics fan and a homer on par with the late Tommy Heinsohn, but I don't throw stuff out there all willy nilly. Some willy nilly ...yeah perhaps...., but I'm always hesitant to crown a team too early. In the fall of 2017 though, I thought we finally had the team that was going to take them back to the promised land. The Celtics had a rookie Jayson Tatum and a sophomore Jaylen Brown as drafted pieces that would take us into the future. We had finally signed Gordon Hayward, a decision which seemed inevitable from the moment Brad Stevens between coach. To top it all of, we traded for Kyrie Irving in what seemed to be an absolute highway robbery at the time. That's not even accounting for Al Horford, Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier and the rest of our crew. We had a deep bench and two superstars. This was it. This was a title team. Let the good time's roll baby.
The good times lasted six minutes
Like a nervous teenaged boy losing his virginity for the first time, it was over before it ever really got started. In the first quarter of the first game of their first season, Gordon Hayward went for a dunk and it all ended. He hit the ground and as made a thud. As a viewer at home, I thought he had just hit the deck hard. I wish that was the case, because Gordon Hayward had broken his leg. That sound wasn't his back, it was his leg. The season felt over in six minutes. Sometimes when my anxiety and depression are at it's worst, I have flashes back to that. That sound of his leg breaking doesn't keep me up at night, but it will occasionally flash in my brain and jolt me awake. That's the thing about traumatic injuries like that, viewing them stays with you. I wish I could say that's the only traumatic injury I've watched live, but come on we've all seen far too many. Whether it be Sid Vicious or Mickie Knuckles or Kevin Ware, we've all seen too many.. Yet despite all that, it's one of the few things we haven't become numb too. I guess maybe its a last glimmer of hope in humanity in 2022, that we still shudder to think of a broken leg. If we've all seen so many awful injuries and still react with horror, it begs the question
How did people react 40 years ago?
Let's travel back to 1981 as George" The Animal" Steele takes on Rick Bolton on an episode of WWF All Star Wrestling. I rarely do this, but this may not be the best squash match by people who are a bit squeamish around bone related horror. In one corner we have George Steele, a legendary figure in professional wrestling. This is interesting, as this was before the lovable George Steele. This was when George was like rock and roll, a savage animal. His greatest notoriety is as that beloved babyface, but before all of that George was as vicious as he comes. I actually haven't seen a lot of heel George Steele before so this will be fun.. His opponent is Rick Bolton, a wimpy who looks like a time traveling Ace Steel. It's unsettling how much he looks like Ace. Bolton is a Canadian gentleman with one special trick he will deploy on this match. Let's see if you can spot it.
Bolton is already in the ring when Steele arrives. Steele is accompanied by the great "Classy" Freddie Blassie. God what a sweet wrestling name. Right from the bell, the exceptionally hairy George Steele goes after Bolton. He punches away at Bolton and starts biting his face, before grabbing the arm. He brings Bolton down and starts starts stomping away at one of Bolton's arms. Bolton grabs his injured arm and Steele decides to switch his attack the other one, bringing Bolton down before stomping away at it in full view of the camera. Someone call Savion Glover because George Steele is auditioning for stomp here. The assault continues with more stomps before finally big double stomps to the arm. Steele grabs a hold of the arm again and stretches it with his knee. Look I know wrestling isn't real, but god is this good at making it look painful. Steele lifts Bolton into a huge hammerlock above his head for the win and tosses Bolton aside. Steele gets the win ,but...hey...wait a minute...I don't think Bolton's arm is supposed to bend that way
HOLY SHIT HE RIPPED HIS SHOULDER OUT
The trick that I mention Bolton had? He could dislocate his shoulder. So now he's in the middle of the ring with a "dislocated shoulder" and a crowd slowly realizing the horrifying thing they've seen. Seems like a perfect time for George Steele to ramp up the attack. Steele starts stomping away at the dislocated arm. Honestly, this is hard to do play by play because it's fucking gross. Bolton tries to escape on the outside, BUT STEELE KEEPS COMING. Punches and kicks to the arm before he puts him in another armlock. It looks like a goddamn horror movie. Finally referees come and break it up
NOPE, GEORGE STEELE RUSHES HIM AGAIN AND KICKS THE INJURED ARM.
Easily a first ballot Hall of Fame squash. There wasn't an excessive amount of innovative action, but the sheer brutality earns it a spot. I can only imagine how horrifying this must have been to see live at the time. People didn't know Rick Bolton had a trick shoulder, they just assumed this shirtless chest haired psycho ripped a guys arm off. At least the Celtics had hope for six minutes
Rick Bolton had hope for maybe six seconds
TLDR Review
The Animal is a Beast. Rick Bolton is a magician. Five fingers form together to make, FIST.
If you're interested in more condensed version of my thoughts, You can check out my Twitter where I talk about wrestling or stress out during Boston Celtics games. Hell, I'll even take suggestions for matches you want to see reviewed. You can also check out my Youtube where I make weird videos where I put on wigs in front of a camera to mask my true identity.