Dan Hodge

[zojo]

Another clip from the GG.

Announcer has some positive comments about him being a wrestler (only five months of boxing experience in this clip).

However, they call him "Don" instead of "Dan".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UXeNmhj2EI

[zojo]

I remember him as Danny Hodge the pro wrestler... He was a loser as a wrestler to the top "heroes" of the day... Hodge didn't play a villain or hero or anything. He was just Danny Hodge. He reminded me a lot of Kenny Yates, who as also both a boxer and a wrestler. Yates told me that he would sign a contract to win or lose his wrestling matches, most all the time to lose, and if he won he wouldn't get paid.

Verne Gagne was a big hero wrestler of his day. Gagne actually tried to convince people that wrestling was real and that both wrestlers tried to win their matches. My wife told him "Who the Hell are you trying to kid. Everyone knows rasslin is fake except for a couple of naive old ladies with blue hair."

Hodge was one of the great legendary wrestlers, back in the era of multiple weight divisions in the "sport". He was the Light Heavyweight (or was it Cruiserweight?) champion for the NWA for the longest time, and of course he'd "lose" to the big men like Gene Kinski who was 6'5" 250+ pounds because as far as the "sport" was concerned it was all about appearances---- never mind the fact that in a real life fight Hodge would have obliterated such men like they were nothing.

It reminds me of a story often told in wrestling of when Tony Atlas broke into the business. Atlas was this enormous black guy with muscles on top of muscles, and looked like a million dollars: the strongest man in all of wrestling (or so it was implied). And the way they promoted him (before he ever even had his wrestling match) was to have him bench press 500 pounds in front of a crowd, and it "sold" the illusion that he was this superhero-type guy who could not be defeated: and it convinced everyone to buy tickets to the next event where he'd have his first match as a pro.

Now, Atlas wanted to have the "best match on the card" and decided to show off all his skills that he learned in wrestling school, and wanted to really entertain the fans---- so he went twelve full minutes with this guy who was half his size, and they tore the house down. Atlas was more than happy with himself, and when he walked into the locker room he expected the promoter to be happy. Well, he wasnt, he was more than pissed at Atlas going twelve minutes with this guy who (by all appearances) should have been squashed by Atlas inside of a minute. He told Atlas, "Know your damn role! Big guys crush little guys!", and he sent Atlas packing. Fired him on the spot. Why? Because as far as the promoter was concerned, Atlas completely destroyed the "realism" of the business by allowing a small guy to go the limit with him.

As for Gagne.... one of the true legends of the business, for sure.... but I can't help but think he wouldn't have been as legendary as he's remembered today if he didn't have his own promotion constantly making himself the world champion of the AWA and constantly being matched with all the big league name stars of the era. Not to say Gange wasn't a world class performer or grappler, cus in real life Gagne was indeed a collegiate wrestling champion in his youth and he legitimately could have beaten alot of guys in real life situations: but at the end of the day, that's not what the "sport" is about.

But you gotta understand, in his era the business was very protected for many different reasons.... most of the time the veterans would "stretch" (beat up) potentially talented guys whoi wanted in the business to prevent them from being "just another guy" who'd take money, food, and "spots" away from them.... these days anyone can be a wrestler, and as a consequence the business has suffered tremendously because there are very few "workers" (real performers) in the "sport" to work with. So, back then, they really put people through hell to really see if they wanted it, because a guy who was mentally fit (as well as physically) was a guy you could rely on to make more money. I think it was Bob Watts who once said, "The only thing that matters in this business is whether there's an ass every eighteen inches in that arena," and everything else was bullshit. There are no winners, no losers: not when everyone is making money, and quite frankly you're only as good as the weakest card on the show: so in Gagne's day even the least famous, least appreciated, least liked, least cared about wrestler still had to be a damn good worker because if at any time the matches were below par (to their liking) you were fired and every promoter in the country knew you sucked and wouldn't hire you.

Danny in 1972 in a rasslin match against Jerry Briscoe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN_msxV ... f9TN0Englw

[Sidney Carton]

Rare, rare, RARE... picture... of Hodge in his last pro fight (fifth round) against Nino Valdes.

Hodge would lose in the 9th due to cuts. At the time he only had 8 fights as a pro.

Looks like, for all intents and appearances, a brutal bloody contest on both sides.

That means he had no manager and was thrown in too soon with more experienced fighters.