"pat tanaka" Discussed on Talk Is Jericho
"I don't know if he would have given it to you if you were here. I actually, one of the shows you guys did if I'm not mistaken when you did that, was in Detroit or in the area. And I remember tweeting something about it like fireballs flying in Detroit once again or something like that. Well, it's interesting because for me, I won't do that unless it's like a backstage segment just in case. I don't trust it live. But Sheik's throwing those things live, then you mentioned the one kid said that you missed the one fireball and she got so angry. Adam, he threw a fireball at the kid while he was driving. Yes, Tommy Dreamer told me that story that they brought the Sheik into the ECW arena one time. One time and it was chic and taz against Kevin Sullivan and it was someone of prominence that I can't remember pat Tanaka Patrick. The chic basically couldn't again, he couldn't get in the ring. So the whole match was outside the ring running around the arena, you know, stabbing Kevin Sullivan hitting him with the ring hammer and all this stuff. He threw a fireball, it missed by a country mile. And there was a fan that was driving them back to the hotel. So it's like Tommy Dreamer, Cebu, chic in the car. And this fan who's driving them. And the fans said something to the effect of like, boy, you know, I really loved seeing you tonight, even though you missed the fireball, but that's okay. That's okay. And Sabu is back there going like, don't say that. Listen, you do not say that. And he turned, and this is the guy who's driving them. Tommy said they were going over a bridge. And he threw a fireball right at the guy, and he said, Sheik said something like, did I miss that time? Something like that. So he took it very personally. His fireball acumen. Last question for you. Who would you consider to be the Sheik's biggest rivals, like you mentioned, we talked almost 50 year career and drawing some of the biggest Gates for his territories and Japan and LA and Dallas and all those places who were some of his biggest all time rivals. While there is no question at all at the number one and it's not even close is Bobo Brazil. Oh wow, you're talking about the chic and Bobo Brazil is probably up there as the longest wrestling feud of all time. I mean, maybe like Bill Dundee and Jerry Lawler, I don't know or something like that. But yeah, the Sheik and Bobo Brazil, I mean, they had their first match in the 50s. They had their last match in the 90s. And especially in the 60s and 70s, from about 1964 to about 1977 or 8, I don't think a month went by that they weren't wrestling each other somewhere. They had hundreds of matches. I tried my best to track them all down. I'm sure I still missed many, many of them. But so Bobo would be number one in Detroit and in big time, you had people like mighty Igor, who was a big rival of chic, bull curry would be the kind of perennial ally slash enemy depending what year it was of the Sheik Abdullah the butcher. Another big rival is chic out in California. It was blassie in Texas. It was the whole funk family. I mean, the father and both sons. And in New York, you had Bruno, really in New York. It was really mainly Bruno. I don't even think maybe haystacks Calhoun a couple of times, but those are the Tiger jeet Singh. I can't forget, especially in Canada, Tiger jeet Singh was a major opponent for the chic. And of course, when he went out to Japan, I mean, it was Baba. I mean, there was Baba and also the funks too, right? Yeah, the funks because oh my God, people always ask me like, what's the best match of chics that I can watch? Because, you know, look, so many of them you can't watch. There's no footage a lot for a lot of it. The best one is in Japan 1977. It's the World Tag league tournament, all Japan. And it's Terry and Dory funk junior against the Sheik and Abdullah the butcher. And it's beautifully preserved. I mean, the quality that you can really watch it and you can get an idea of the absolute insanity and chaos and mayhem that these guys generated. I mean, it's like you could just feel the dread in the crowd of just like they're witnessing something that could go completely off the rails at any moment. It's amazing to watch. Watch it right now as soon as we're finished, Brian. Yeah, you should. Once again, congratulations on your book and winning the book of the year and overall are you satisfied and happy that you wrote it and happy with the outcome? I am. I couldn't be more happy. I mean, winning that award is like, I don't know. I mean, as far as wrestling books go, I can't think of a better honor that there is. I mean, I didn't even think I thought for sure it was going to be Brian gortz. His book last year, and he's the way more famous Brian of the two of us, so I kind of thought that it would be him, but I'm glad that people enjoyed it that much. It's a subscribers to vote for it. I'm thrilled and now I'm starting. I'm actually starting my next one up my next wrestling book for ECW press. He tells us to be about, is it a secret? Well, Chris, I'm glad you asked. No, I actually, I wish I had saved it. I could have officially announced it here. I mentioned it a few days ago, but it's going to be a biography of gorilla monsoon. And so also, it's going to be called irresistible force, the life and times of gorilla monsoon. Contract signed and I'm just starting the process of, you know, reaching out to people and starting research. I know, I mean, I'm imagining by the timeline I'm thinking you probably just missed him because by the time you got there, he was kind of really bad health or almost at the end of his life, but I'm trying to really find the right people to talk to. He was to be perfectly Frank a much more kind of liked person than the chic, so there's a lot more people that are willing to talk about him and so I'm excited about it. He's just this universally beloved figure that old school fans love and even younger fans know and love. So I'm excited to take it on the project. Gorilla taught me, you got to hook the leg. You can't win if you don't hit the leg. And now everybody does it. Thanks to him. That's true, yeah. Great talking to you, man, and when you get your gorilla book done, we'll have you back to discuss that. All right, I would love to do it. Thanks, Chris. Cheers, man. And I can beat Ricky steamboat. All right, I know. Listen, water under the bridge, right? Water under the bridge. Thanks, dude. All right, bye.
