On Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 3:49 AM EST
Around the Town #12
Imagine What I Could Do To You
December 4, 2008
By: Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
I'm really not a guy who gets too into tribute pieces largely due to the fact that for starters, they're played out. More importantly, I think we like to throw terms around like 'all time great' around with little descresion to the point where it sort of cheapens the term. Wrestlers that are truly treasures, truly great, get lost in the shuffle.
As it's usually par for the course, a discussion in our forums recently came about over Goldust (Dustin Runnels) and how important his contributions to the sport was. A unique act to say the least, the character of Goldust thrived off of our sense of discomfort with the odd and different. And while Goldust certainly has left an indelible mark on today's generation of wrestling fans, there was a guy who was doing exactly what he was (and more) years earlier.
Adrian Street is one of the few genuine, living treasures of the wrestling industry. He may not come up in too many 'best of' lists, and while he may not still make wrestling enthusiasts drool with delight over his stunning ring performances, his mark on the industry is second to none and is a true pioneer in the business.
Street started wrestling in the 1950's and whose last match was this century. He spans two centuries, six decades and has wrestled everyone from Harley Race to Shawn Michaels. His proverbial odyssey began in England and went world-wide as Street wrestled in Africa, Mexico, Memphis, Mid-South, and the Mid Atlantic territories here in the United States.
Street's major claim to fame of course was his flamboyant actions in the ring. Like Runnels, Street thrived off of the discomfort of fans, being completely unafraid to try just about anything that would get a reaction. He wore make up before that was, uh, acceptable. He wore pig tails. He wore truly ridiculous outfits and can probably be credited as the first wrestler to ever wear tights to the ring. He smooched opponents and if we're talking about who the best prancer in wrestling history was, the discussion should both begin and end with Street. Considering the social attitudes of the time in the places he wrestled, Street's work was truly groundbreaking.
His contributions to women's wrestling should also be noted. In 1973, his wife Linda, 'got it into her head' that she wanted to wrestle. Street, an admirer of native Americans, helped inspire her to dawn her “Blackfoot Siux” gimmick, which she would dawn for five years or so. As Adrian pumped more androgyny into his character, Linda decided to get in on the act, becoming “Miss Linda”, perhaps the most influential female gimmick in the history of women's wrestling.
Linda adorned highly provocative outfits, certainly pushing what was acceptable for females to wear. She became Adrian's valet, and when they finally hit the shores of the United States in the 1970s, Linda's accompanying her husband to the ring was a first for a female. The roots of the Sensational Sherri's, Miss Elizabeth's, Sunny's and Baby Doll's can all be traced to the infamous “Miss Linda”.
Linda however, was no ordinary bi-stander, frequently involving herself in matches, and on occasion, participating in them. He allowing herself to be pile driven by Randy Savage sparked their feud in the early 80s in Memphis, a feud that to this day is still spoken of in high acclaim. Her participation in a handicapped 'Lumberjack strap' match was pretty courageous, as she bore the brunt of a spectacular beating from Bill Dundee. Not many people can get you to cheer the site of a man whipping a woman with a belt in front of a packed house. Linda was THAT good at making you hate her. Despite being a footstool (literally) for her husband.
Street's trail of opponents is a 'whose who' of wrestling. He clashed with Dusty Rhodes in the late 70s and early 80s over the Florida Heavyweight Championship. He won the Junior title in Southwest Championship wrestling in addition to taking part in a protracted feud with Mil Mascaras in Mexico. In Mid South he wrestled “Gentleman” Chris Adams and feuded with Terry Taylor. He won the European Middleweight title in Zimbabwe in addition to battling Magnum TA, Barry Windham and Manny Fernandez. Stopping off in Texas, he even found time to rough up a young and up and coming guy known as Shawn Michaels.
Street was one of the first wrestlers to also branch out into the film industry, appearing in “The Canterbury Tales”, “A Drink Out of the Bottle”, and “The Grunt”, which was the first known movie exclusively about Professional Wrestling. He was a staple of European and Japanese variety shows which in and of itself wasn't very surprising considering Street's colorful personality and penchant for the odd. Freddie Star, Rolf Harris, Lulu, Dana, Russell Hartey, Carol Baker, Eamon Andrews, Frankie Lane and more had Street as a frequent guest on their programming. And for sure, no one can forget his inroads into the music industry, being one of the very first wrestlers to sing his own entrance music “What I Would Do to You”.
As a man who wrestled in every weight class, in every decade since the 50s, and held major titles in nearly every single major territory he passed through, someone like Street has a lot to contribute to the next generation of wrestling stars. After wrestling, Street opened his “Skull Crushers” Academy in Gulf Breeze, Florida where he's trained many wrestlers and even delved into (shocker) designing wrestling gear. Mick Foley stopped by in 1998 to work out the kinks for his “Dude Love” run with Steve Austin. Street even designed the awesomely awful attire. Rico flatly copied the gimmick and he and Miss Jackie took a trip down in 2002 to try and perfect the gimmick as well. Their outfits were also designed by Street. Goldust himself, adopted a modified version of Street's paint design to boot for his character as well.
Not bad for the son of a coal miner who spent his childhood dodging Nazi bombs, dropped out of high school who had body building aspirations only to set off into the world with some make up after accidentally knocking out his first opponent in his first match (a main event). Despite the busy schedule, he still found the time to beat lung cancer.
There are many 'great' wrestlers we've enjoyed out there for various reasons. We like Ricky Streamboat because of his impeccable matches. We admire Harley Race because of his toughness in the ring and generosity outside of it. We loved to say our prayers and eat our vitamins with Hulk Hogan. The smelled what the Rock was cooking out and believed 3:16 was more than a bible passage. However, with the lack of emphasis placed on wrestling history (by both the promoters and the fans), those superstars from yesteryear who had the talent, creativity and foresight to lay the groundwork for today's 'innovative' wrestling characters are often, unfortunately, overlooked and under credited.
Adrian Street's story is as intriguing to the serious wrestling fan as his name is oblivious to the average one. Street himself said "Before I came to the States, no one was wearing face paint, no one was wearing spandex, and no one at that time was entering the ring with a lady valet. Nowadays, all of these things are commonplace in pro wrestling."
In today's wrestling world, we're too often consumed with the next angle, the next star and rarely take the chance to enjoy what we have in front of us never mind what came before. To anyone who enjoys wrestling, you owe it to yourself to check out the old tapes and read up on its history. Wrestling is as much a microcosm of society as it is anything else. It captures the times, giving us snapshots of who we are and were in society. We see wrestlers not as they are, but we seem them as how we are. Through learning more about wrestling, we learn about ourselves. There is not greater gift in the world than perspective. With wrestling, look within for it's value, but you must look beyond for perspective. In wrestling, there may be no truer example of that than Adrian Street.
Feel free to email comments to: huntergolden@wrestleview.com