Sputnik, Masked Men, & Midgets: The Early Days of Memphis Wrestling

Sputnik, Masked Men, & Midgets: The Early Days of Memphis Wrestling

Booksigning in Nashville, Tennessee, with Author Ron Hall & Wrestling Legend Len Rossi

Ron Hall, author of Sputnik, Masked Men, & Midgets: The Early Days of

Memphis Wrestling, will sign copies of his amazing pictorial history of

Memphis and Mid-South Wrestling along with former professional wrestler Len

Rossi at Rossi's Health Food & Care Center 1605 Franklin Rd. in Brentwood, Tennessee, Saturday November 14th from 1-3 p.m.

Memphis music historian Ron Hall created a whole audience for the

over-the-top Memphis garage rock scene of the 60s & early 70s with his two books: Playing for a Piece of the Door: A History of Garage & Frat Bands, 1960-1975 and The Memphis Garage Rock Yearbook as well as two compendium CD's. Not only did the books break all garage rock book sales records, they also revitalized the historic Memphis garage rock scene and helped many of the bands re-form 35 or 40 years later!

Now Hall has turned his attention to the also amazing Memphis wrassling

world--pre-cable, bleached hair, and steroids--with Sputnik, Masked Men, & Midgets: The Early Days of Memphis Wrestling released this falll by

Shangri-La Projects. Memphis wrestling WAS the roots and forerunner of the

WWF and the WWE. Many of the giants of the corporate cable wrestling world

began in Memphis and wrestled throughout Nashville, Louisville, Birmingham,

and other southern hotspot wrestling cities including Jerry Lawler, Jimmy

Hart, Giant Frazier, Lance "Banana Nose" Russell, and many others. But

before Lawler, in Memphis, there was Sputnik Monroe, Jackie Fargo, Len

Rossi, Don and Al Greene, Tojo Yamamoto, and Plowboy Frazier.

Hall¹s book captures the insanity of the ring and the outrageous costumes

and get-ups of the wildest and most original wrestling era. The book

contains approximately 400 images of wrestlers, programs, advertisements,

and other Memphis wrestling ephemera. Many of the photos featured in the

book have never been published before, including the phenomenal photos taken by Robert Dye, Sr. in the early 1950s. From the haunting visage of the

Angel and the bizarre sidekicks pets of Farmer John to the women wrestlers,

heels, managers, masked men, alligators and bears, and overall downright

craziness of it all, Hall¹s book captures the golden era of Memphis

wrestling, before it was sanitized, steroidified, & pay-per-viewed by cable

tv. This book is a must have for any professional wrestling fan!

Sputnik, Masked Men, & Midgets: The Early Days of Memphis Wrestling comes with a free bonus cd with songs performed by wrestlers Sputnik Monroe,

Jackie Fargo, Len Rossi, and Handsome Jimmy Valiant!

Len Rossi is a huge fan favorite of wrestling fans in the Nashville,

Birmingham, and Memphis territories. Known for being a drop-kick specialist

and tagging with Tex Riley, Bearcat Brown (helping to integrate the

wrestling world), as well as son Joey, Rossi has run his own Rossi Health

Food & Care Center for 30 years. Rossi held just about every wrestling

title in the NWA region during his long wrestling career.

ISBN: 978-0-9668575-3-5

Price: $25.00

Wholesale Inquiries or Media Interview Requests: (901)359-3102

sherman@shangrilaprojects.com

Note: You know after looking at this book and all of the pictures included, I have found this a must have collectors item for any wrestling fan of the past and present.