WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.819 So, I want you to just picture your typical Tuesday 00:00:03.819 --> 00:00:07.179 evening. Okay. You know, you finish work, you 00:00:07.179 --> 00:00:09.660 punch out, you grab your keys, and you walk out 00:00:09.660 --> 00:00:11.539 to the parking lot. It's just a normal day. Right, 00:00:11.580 --> 00:00:13.439 totally normal. Maybe you're thinking about what 00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:15.919 to make for dinner or catching up on the news. 00:00:16.140 --> 00:00:18.519 Normal stuff. Sounds like a pretty lovely, peaceful 00:00:18.519 --> 00:00:22.699 Tuesday to me. Yeah, it does. But now, imagine 00:00:22.699 --> 00:00:25.579 that instead of walking to your car, you actually 00:00:25.579 --> 00:00:28.699 have to wait inside the building. You have to 00:00:28.699 --> 00:00:31.579 wait because there's this angry mob outside of 00:00:31.579 --> 00:00:35.100 literally hundreds of people. Wow. And they are 00:00:35.100 --> 00:00:37.880 screaming your name, just waiting to tear you 00:00:37.880 --> 00:00:40.340 limb from limb. And the only way the only way 00:00:40.340 --> 00:00:42.320 you're getting home is in the back of a squad 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:44.799 car with a police escort. See, for most people, 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:46.560 I mean, that's a life threatening emergency. 00:00:46.619 --> 00:00:48.579 Yeah. But for the man we're talking about today, 00:00:48.679 --> 00:00:52.100 that was just that was just work. Exactly. Today, 00:00:52.219 --> 00:00:54.539 we're doing a deep dive into the life of Solomon 00:00:54.539 --> 00:00:58.119 Weingroff or Saul Weingroff. a man who was born 00:00:58.119 --> 00:01:01.259 in brooklyn in nineteen sixteen who somehow for 00:01:01.259 --> 00:01:03.990 some reason Decided that his life's calling was 00:01:03.990 --> 00:01:06.189 to become the absolute most hated man in the 00:01:06.189 --> 00:01:08.250 American South. Yeah, the history books actually 00:01:08.250 --> 00:01:11.310 know him better as Gentleman Saul Weimeroff. 00:01:11.489 --> 00:01:13.629 And honestly, the word gentleman is doing a lot 00:01:13.629 --> 00:01:15.409 of heavy lifting there. Serious heavy lifting. 00:01:15.430 --> 00:01:18.370 We've got a really massive stack of sources today. 00:01:18.530 --> 00:01:20.670 We do. We're pulling from biographical records. 00:01:20.969 --> 00:01:23.290 Yeah. We have the National Wrestling Alliance 00:01:23.290 --> 00:01:26.790 or NWA archives and quite a few wrestling history 00:01:26.790 --> 00:01:30.340 columns. Right. And our mission here. isn't just 00:01:30.340 --> 00:01:34.060 to look at a guy who managed wrestlers. We're 00:01:34.060 --> 00:01:36.280 really trying to unpack the actual mechanics 00:01:36.280 --> 00:01:39.099 of what they call heat. The psychology of it. 00:01:39.099 --> 00:01:41.519 Exactly. Yeah. How does a guy with a cane and 00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:43.840 a fireball, and yes, we mean a literal fireball, 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:47.120 how does he manipulate human emotions so effectively? 00:01:48.299 --> 00:01:51.040 That he literally causes riots. It really is 00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:53.099 a masterclass in psychology because we're going 00:01:53.099 --> 00:01:55.060 to look at how he blurred those lines between 00:01:55.060 --> 00:01:57.799 performance and reality and why, you know, sometimes 00:01:57.799 --> 00:02:00.519 that line just disappeared completely. So let's 00:02:00.519 --> 00:02:03.159 start with the visual. Gentleman Saul. Because 00:02:03.159 --> 00:02:05.760 when I hear that, I picture a tuxedo, maybe a 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:08.599 top hat, somewhat very refined. Right. And that's 00:02:08.599 --> 00:02:10.360 really the first layer of the trick. He did have 00:02:10.360 --> 00:02:12.840 a very specific look. He was always seen with 00:02:12.840 --> 00:02:15.379 this signature cane. He presented himself with 00:02:15.379 --> 00:02:18.219 this sort of air of authority. But the nickname 00:02:18.219 --> 00:02:21.659 Gentleman is what we would call an ironic moniker. 00:02:21.780 --> 00:02:24.400 Like calling a big guy tiny. Exactly. It's a 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:26.439 classic trope. You call the biggest brute tiny 00:02:26.439 --> 00:02:29.319 and you call the absolute dirtiest player in 00:02:29.319 --> 00:02:32.719 the game Gentleman. But the cane wasn't just 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:36.060 a fashion statement, was it? Oh, no, not at all. 00:02:36.180 --> 00:02:38.560 In the theater of professional wrestling, every 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:41.120 single object has a purpose. Right. The cane 00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:44.000 is a prop. Sure, it gives him something to gesture 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:47.659 with, but it's also a weapon. And more importantly, 00:02:47.780 --> 00:02:50.180 it's a symbol of power. It extends his reach. 00:02:50.439 --> 00:02:52.879 Exactly. He can poke, he can prod, he can trip 00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:55.000 someone right from the safety of the floor. It 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:57.120 makes him physically intrusive without him having 00:02:57.120 --> 00:02:59.520 to be an actual athlete. Okay, so poking people 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:02.500 with a cane is annoying. I get why that makes 00:03:02.500 --> 00:03:05.520 an audience mad, but... The sources mention something 00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:08.080 else that escalates things from just annoying 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:10.819 to literally terrifying. Yes. We have to unpack 00:03:10.819 --> 00:03:12.780 the fireballs. This is truly one of the most 00:03:12.780 --> 00:03:15.500 fascinating aspects of his entire career. Because 00:03:15.500 --> 00:03:17.900 when I first read fireballs in our source material, 00:03:18.120 --> 00:03:21.039 I just assumed it was a metaphor. Like he's cutting 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:23.599 a great promo. Right. Like, oh, he spit hot fire 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:27.340 on the mic. But no, the NWA archives say he was 00:03:27.340 --> 00:03:30.120 one of the earliest managers to use actual pyrotechnics 00:03:30.120 --> 00:03:33.840 as a weapon. Yes. actual fire and we really need 00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:35.719 to pause on the mechanics of this because it's 00:03:35.719 --> 00:03:38.520 so easy to gloss over today yeah today if you 00:03:38.520 --> 00:03:41.500 go to a major wrestling show the pyro is rigorous 00:03:42.189 --> 00:03:44.349 It's set up by engineers. The fire marshal signs 00:03:44.349 --> 00:03:46.509 off on it. Everyone stands 30 feet back. Right. 00:03:46.590 --> 00:03:48.669 It's totally controlled. But Saul was doing this 00:03:48.669 --> 00:03:51.449 in the 1960s. So how does that even work? Is 00:03:51.449 --> 00:03:54.009 he just carrying fire around in his pocket? Essentially, 00:03:54.069 --> 00:03:56.530 yes. I mean, usually this involves flash paper 00:03:56.530 --> 00:03:59.689 or some similar highly combustible material that 00:03:59.689 --> 00:04:02.349 you can conceal in your hand. You light it often 00:04:02.349 --> 00:04:04.250 with a hidden lighter or a match that you strike 00:04:04.250 --> 00:04:06.569 unnoticed and you throw it. And it creates this 00:04:06.569 --> 00:04:09.610 massive blinding flash of flame. It looks completely 00:04:09.610 --> 00:04:12.189 devastating. But just think. Think about the 00:04:12.189 --> 00:04:15.110 risk there. You're in a crowded, unventilated 00:04:15.110 --> 00:04:18.350 arena. There's no safety glass. And you're standing, 00:04:18.370 --> 00:04:21.009 what, three feet from a guy covered in hairspray 00:04:21.009 --> 00:04:23.269 and polyester. And that's exactly why it worked. 00:04:23.370 --> 00:04:25.790 That's the heat we were talking about. It's visceral. 00:04:25.889 --> 00:04:28.750 It's primal. When a manager trips a guy, the 00:04:28.750 --> 00:04:31.290 audience thinks, oh, that's cheating. But when 00:04:31.290 --> 00:04:34.110 a manager throws literal fire into a wrestler's 00:04:34.110 --> 00:04:37.990 face. That triggers a deep survival instinct 00:04:37.990 --> 00:04:40.509 in the crowd. Yeah, it tells them this man is 00:04:40.509 --> 00:04:43.250 not playing a game. Right. It says he is trying 00:04:43.250 --> 00:04:45.810 to maim people. It totally changes the genre. 00:04:45.970 --> 00:04:47.889 We aren't watching a sport anymore. We're watching 00:04:47.889 --> 00:04:49.910 a horror movie. Well, precisely. And that's the 00:04:49.910 --> 00:04:52.209 absolute genius of Saul Weingroff. He understood 00:04:52.209 --> 00:04:55.389 that to be a truly effective villain, a heel 00:04:55.389 --> 00:04:57.709 as they call it, you can't just break the rules. 00:04:57.829 --> 00:05:00.170 You have to violate the social contract. You 00:05:00.170 --> 00:05:02.149 have to do things civilized people simply don't 00:05:02.149 --> 00:05:05.069 do. Exactly. Which I guess brings us to the elephant 00:05:05.069 --> 00:05:08.740 in the room. Or rather the... The Nazis in the 00:05:08.740 --> 00:05:11.360 room. Yes. Because if throwing fire violated 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:13.699 the social contract, his choice of clients in 00:05:13.699 --> 00:05:17.060 the early 1960s absolutely shattered it. We have 00:05:17.060 --> 00:05:19.480 to talk about the von Brauners. Right. Kurt and 00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:21.279 Karl von Brauner. Now, I really want to set the 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:23.040 scene for you here. We're talking about the early 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:26.519 1960s. World War II is not ancient history at 00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:28.519 this point. It's not at all. It ended less than 00:05:28.519 --> 00:05:31.800 20 years ago. Veterans are everywhere. The trauma 00:05:31.800 --> 00:05:35.720 is incredibly real. Saul Weingerhoff decides 00:05:35.720 --> 00:05:40.360 to manage a tag team with, and I'm quoting the 00:05:40.360 --> 00:05:43.680 sources here, a Nazi -like gimmick. It was incredibly 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:46.259 provocative. The von Brauners wore the helmets. 00:05:46.300 --> 00:05:48.259 They did the goose stepping. They played into 00:05:48.259 --> 00:05:50.720 every single fear and hatred the American public 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:52.759 had regarding the Third Reich. Now, we have to 00:05:52.759 --> 00:05:54.660 make it super clear. Here we are just reporting 00:05:54.660 --> 00:05:57.319 what is in the historical archives. We are absolutely 00:05:57.319 --> 00:05:59.899 not endorsing this kind of imagery at all. Oh, 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:01.560 of course not. It's strictly historical analysis. 00:06:01.800 --> 00:06:03.459 But here is the part from the biographical records 00:06:03.459 --> 00:06:05.240 that I just cannot wrap my head around. Yeah. 00:06:05.339 --> 00:06:09.199 Saul Weingaroff was Jewish. He was a Jewish man 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:12.399 from Brooklyn. How does a Jewish man justify 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:15.279 managing characters that represent the exact 00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:17.639 regime that tried to exterminate his people? 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:20.899 It's a profound psychological question. And honestly, 00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:22.779 looking at the history of the business, it's 00:06:22.779 --> 00:06:25.139 one of the bravest and most cynical moves in 00:06:25.139 --> 00:06:27.459 wrestling history. Brave and cynical is a very 00:06:27.459 --> 00:06:29.949 weird combination. It is, but think about it 00:06:29.949 --> 00:06:32.870 this way. Saul knew the business inside and out. 00:06:33.069 --> 00:06:35.509 He knew that the quiffest way to make money was 00:06:35.509 --> 00:06:38.449 to generate heat. Okay. And nothing generated 00:06:38.449 --> 00:06:43.709 more visceral heat in 1962 than a Nazi. By managing 00:06:43.709 --> 00:06:45.889 them, Saul was essentially taking control of 00:06:45.889 --> 00:06:48.350 that imagery. He was monetizing the monster. 00:06:48.689 --> 00:06:50.589 So instead of being a victim of that history, 00:06:50.689 --> 00:06:52.310 he's flipping it and turning it into a paycheck. 00:06:52.759 --> 00:06:54.899 In a way, yes, but the risk was astronomical. 00:06:55.259 --> 00:06:57.620 The sources explicitly mentioned that this didn't 00:06:57.620 --> 00:07:00.160 just get booze from the crowd. It caused actual 00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:03.259 riots. Real dangerous riots in major American 00:07:03.259 --> 00:07:06.120 cities. Yes. The history columns mentioned that 00:07:06.120 --> 00:07:08.759 police escorts were entirely mandatory for them, 00:07:08.860 --> 00:07:12.120 not just for show to look cool, but because they 00:07:12.120 --> 00:07:13.899 literally couldn't leave the building safely. 00:07:14.100 --> 00:07:16.680 We distinguish in wrestling between good heat 00:07:16.680 --> 00:07:18.959 and go away heat. OK, what's the difference? 00:07:19.180 --> 00:07:21.420 Good heat is when I pay my hard earned money 00:07:21.420 --> 00:07:24.000 to see you. get beat up go away heat is when 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:26.740 i just change the channel or leave right but 00:07:26.740 --> 00:07:30.519 this This is dangerous heat. The audience didn't 00:07:30.519 --> 00:07:33.240 see a performance anymore. They saw evil. And 00:07:33.240 --> 00:07:35.319 Saul stood right next to it, poking it with his 00:07:35.319 --> 00:07:37.759 cane and smiling. It's terrifying to think about 00:07:37.759 --> 00:07:40.180 the thin line there. Sure. Because if one of 00:07:40.180 --> 00:07:42.519 those police officers slips up or the squad car 00:07:42.519 --> 00:07:45.060 doesn't start Saul and the Von Brauners are in 00:07:45.060 --> 00:07:47.379 serious physical trouble. They absolutely were. 00:07:47.540 --> 00:07:50.500 And that creates a unique bond between the manager 00:07:50.500 --> 00:07:52.540 and the talent that you just don't see in other 00:07:52.540 --> 00:07:54.579 entertainment industries. Yeah. You are quite 00:07:54.579 --> 00:07:56.980 literally in the foxhole together against a. 00:07:57.040 --> 00:07:59.139 thousand angry people. And just when you think 00:07:59.139 --> 00:08:01.879 you have Saul figured out as this master of dark 00:08:01.879 --> 00:08:04.540 crowd psychology, the source material throws 00:08:04.540 --> 00:08:08.379 a massive curveball. Oh, yeah. In 1964, amidst 00:08:08.379 --> 00:08:10.959 all these riots and fireballs and police escorts, 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:13.439 Saul decides to run for president of the United 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:16.699 States. Yes. The Gentleman Saul ticket. Was he 00:08:16.699 --> 00:08:19.060 I mean, was he serious? Was there an actual platform 00:08:19.060 --> 00:08:22.279 like free canes for everyone? It was almost certainly 00:08:22.279 --> 00:08:24.759 performance art or what they call in the business 00:08:24.759 --> 00:08:27.430 a work. But you have to admit, it's brilliant. 00:08:27.949 --> 00:08:30.389 How so? Well, if you're already the most talked 00:08:30.389 --> 00:08:32.690 about man in the territory because of the riots, 00:08:32.809 --> 00:08:36.090 why not capitalize on that fame? It feeds into 00:08:36.090 --> 00:08:38.629 the eccentricity. It makes him larger than life. 00:08:38.929 --> 00:08:41.129 It also blurs that line again, right? If he's 00:08:41.129 --> 00:08:43.549 running for president, he's suddenly in the real 00:08:43.549 --> 00:08:47.649 world news. But he's a wrestling villain. It 00:08:47.649 --> 00:08:49.169 feels like he was constantly trying to break 00:08:49.169 --> 00:08:51.809 the fourth wall way before people even knew there 00:08:51.809 --> 00:08:53.889 was a fourth wall. That's the very definition 00:08:53.889 --> 00:08:57.289 of a great promoter. You never turn it off. Whether 00:08:57.289 --> 00:08:59.429 you're throwing fire in the ring or holding a 00:08:59.429 --> 00:09:01.309 press conference for a fake political campaign, 00:09:01.509 --> 00:09:03.830 you are always, always selling the character. 00:09:03.970 --> 00:09:05.690 So we've got the national ambition, we've got 00:09:05.690 --> 00:09:08.169 the riots, but we really need to talk about where 00:09:08.169 --> 00:09:11.269 Saul actually operated. The territories. Yeah, 00:09:11.289 --> 00:09:13.830 the outline from the NWE archives mentions the 00:09:13.830 --> 00:09:17.100 territory days. For you listening who didn't 00:09:17.100 --> 00:09:19.620 grow up in the 60s or 70s, can we briefly unpack 00:09:19.620 --> 00:09:22.279 what that means? Because wrestling wasn't always 00:09:22.279 --> 00:09:25.039 this massive global TV product like it is today. 00:09:25.240 --> 00:09:28.360 Right. Before the 1980s, wrestling was completely 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:30.659 fractured. Think of the National Wrestling Alliance, 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:33.220 the NWA, almost like a franchise system, kind 00:09:33.220 --> 00:09:35.039 of like McDonald's. OK, I like that analogy. 00:09:35.220 --> 00:09:37.259 So you have a governing board. Right. But then 00:09:37.259 --> 00:09:41.090 you have. individual territory owners, the promoters 00:09:41.090 --> 00:09:43.370 who run specific regions. They have the exclusive 00:09:43.370 --> 00:09:46.269 rights to run shows in Tennessee or Florida or 00:09:46.269 --> 00:09:49.149 Texas. And Saul made his name primarily in the 00:09:49.149 --> 00:09:51.210 Memphis and Tennessee territory. Exactly. And 00:09:51.210 --> 00:09:53.529 Memphis, that's a very special place in wrestling 00:09:53.529 --> 00:09:56.409 history. It is the absolute Wild West. Memphis 00:09:56.409 --> 00:09:59.529 wrestling was known for being louder, crazier, 00:09:59.549 --> 00:10:01.889 and way more violent than almost anywhere else 00:10:01.889 --> 00:10:04.210 in the country. It's a pressure cooker. And Saul 00:10:04.210 --> 00:10:06.850 was the guy stirring the pot. The sources highlight 00:10:06.850 --> 00:10:09.429 a specific rivalry here that really defines his 00:10:09.429 --> 00:10:12.090 time in Memphis. He managed a team called the 00:10:12.090 --> 00:10:15.350 Spoilers, Lorenzo Parente and Joey Correa. Yep. 00:10:15.409 --> 00:10:18.210 And they were feuding over the NWA Tennessee 00:10:18.210 --> 00:10:20.950 Tag Team Championship with a team called the 00:10:20.950 --> 00:10:23.889 Masked Infernos. And they were managed by J .C. 00:10:23.909 --> 00:10:26.590 Dykes. This is your classic manager versus manager 00:10:26.590 --> 00:10:29.129 dynamic. But it wasn't just them shouting at 00:10:29.129 --> 00:10:31.899 each other. from across the ring. The records 00:10:31.899 --> 00:10:34.799 say Saul actually got in the ring and physically 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:37.759 wrestled J .C. Dykes. Which is huge. You have 00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:40.039 to understand, usually the manager is the coward. 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:42.659 Right. They run away. Exactly. He hides behind 00:10:42.659 --> 00:10:45.440 his big, strong clients. But when the heat gets 00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:48.360 high enough, the audience demands a payoff. They 00:10:48.360 --> 00:10:50.259 want to see the loudmouth get punched in the 00:10:50.259 --> 00:10:52.279 face. And Saul was actually willing to take those 00:10:52.279 --> 00:10:54.750 bumps? He was. And that's what separated the 00:10:54.750 --> 00:10:57.429 strictly good managers from the absolute legends. 00:10:57.929 --> 00:11:00.830 Saul knew that eventually he had to pay the piper. 00:11:00.950 --> 00:11:02.549 He had to give them what they wanted. He had 00:11:02.549 --> 00:11:04.710 to get in there, look ridiculous, maybe get beat 00:11:04.710 --> 00:11:07.769 up a bit to send the crowd home happy. It validates 00:11:07.769 --> 00:11:10.129 the ticket price. If the villain always gets 00:11:10.129 --> 00:11:12.330 away, the audience eventually just gives up. 00:11:12.470 --> 00:11:15.049 Saul gave them that release. I want to look at 00:11:15.049 --> 00:11:17.149 his client list again because we mentioned the 00:11:17.149 --> 00:11:19.570 Von Brauners and the spoilers. But when you look 00:11:19.570 --> 00:11:22.220 at the full scope of his career. which spans 00:11:22.220 --> 00:11:28.379 nearly 30 years from 1955 to 1976, the variety 00:11:28.379 --> 00:11:31.159 is staggering. It really is. It's not just one 00:11:31.159 --> 00:11:33.440 type of guy. Take the Islanders, for example. 00:11:33.559 --> 00:11:36.580 Yeah. Afa and Sika. These are two legendary Samoan 00:11:36.580 --> 00:11:38.740 wrestlers. The beginning of the Inouye dynasty, 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:41.820 Roman reigns, the Raup, the Usos. They all trace 00:11:41.820 --> 00:11:45.419 their lineage back to Afa and Sika. And here's 00:11:45.419 --> 00:11:48.820 Saul, this Jewish guy from Brooklyn with a cane 00:11:48.820 --> 00:11:52.879 managing two wild Samoans. What's the dynamic 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:55.039 there? How does that even work on screen? It's 00:11:55.039 --> 00:11:57.480 the contrast. That's the secret sauce. You have 00:11:57.480 --> 00:12:00.139 Afa and Sika who were presented as these silent, 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:02.480 unstoppable forces of nature. They didn't speak 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:04.360 much English on the mic. They were just menacing. 00:12:04.519 --> 00:12:07.580 Right. Then you have Saul who never, ever stops 00:12:07.580 --> 00:12:09.779 talking. He's the mouthpiece. He creates the 00:12:09.779 --> 00:12:11.899 narrative that they are his savages, which, you 00:12:11.899 --> 00:12:13.919 know, is a problematic trope today, obviously. 00:12:14.039 --> 00:12:16.600 But in the context of the 70s, it was simple, 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:19.379 straightforward storytelling. Civilized control 00:12:19.379 --> 00:12:22.799 versus wild violence. And the NWA records say 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:25.559 he led them to the NWA. World Tag Team Championship. 00:12:26.419 --> 00:12:28.360 That's top of the mountain stuff right there. 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:31.299 It is. It proves he wasn't just a mid -card sideshow. 00:12:31.460 --> 00:12:33.759 He was entrusted with the top champions of the 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:36.480 promotion. And the list just goes on. He managed 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:39.799 Angelo and Lanny Poffo. The father and brother 00:12:39.799 --> 00:12:42.440 of Macho Man Randy Savage. Exactly. He managed 00:12:42.440 --> 00:12:45.200 Pistol Pez Watley. He managed the Legionnaire 00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:48.169 Jacques Duret Jacques Goulet. And Soldier LeBouf. 00:12:48.330 --> 00:12:51.309 He had Mephisto and Dante. Dojo Yamamoto and 00:12:51.309 --> 00:12:54.110 Sugisito, too. And Johnny Long later on. Plus 00:12:54.110 --> 00:12:57.450 Butnik and Rocket Monroe. Yeah. And the Mask 00:12:57.450 --> 00:13:00.490 Strangler and Sweet Daddy Watts. It seems like 00:13:00.490 --> 00:13:02.669 if you were a bad guy working in the South, eventually 00:13:02.669 --> 00:13:05.230 you ended up in Saul's stable. He was the kingmaker. 00:13:05.669 --> 00:13:08.210 If you were a new heel in the territory and the 00:13:08.210 --> 00:13:10.409 promoter put you with Saul Weingaroff, the audience 00:13:10.409 --> 00:13:12.610 immediately knew, OK, this guy matters. I should 00:13:12.610 --> 00:13:15.120 boo him. Saul transferred his own heat to his 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:17.559 clients. We also have to mention the family connection 00:13:17.559 --> 00:13:19.940 here. The biographical notes say his son, George 00:13:19.940 --> 00:13:21.960 Weingroff, actually became a pro wrestler, too. 00:13:22.179 --> 00:13:24.419 Yeah, George had a very solid career. It shows 00:13:24.419 --> 00:13:26.299 that wrestling wasn't just a day job for Saul. 00:13:26.440 --> 00:13:29.320 It was the family business. He brought his work 00:13:29.320 --> 00:13:31.960 home in a very literal way. So we finally get 00:13:31.960 --> 00:13:35.179 to 1976. Saul retires from the ring. He spent 00:13:35.179 --> 00:13:37.899 30 years causing riots, dodging chairs, throwing 00:13:37.899 --> 00:13:40.539 fire, and probably getting spit on by grandmothers. 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:43.460 At least a few grandmothers, yeah. What does 00:13:43.460 --> 00:13:45.820 a man like that do for a second act? This is 00:13:45.820 --> 00:13:47.559 honestly the part of the story I love the most 00:13:47.559 --> 00:13:51.200 because it's so completely unexpected. He settles 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:54.659 down in downtown Nashville and he opens a sign 00:13:54.659 --> 00:13:58.139 shop. A sign shop. Like grand opening banners 00:13:58.139 --> 00:14:02.159 and neon lights. Exactly. Wanger off signs. That 00:14:02.159 --> 00:14:06.940 feels almost poetic in a way. But also incredibly 00:14:06.940 --> 00:14:10.080 mundane compared to Fireballs. I think it's beautifully 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:12.879 thematic though. Think about what a wrestling 00:14:12.879 --> 00:14:15.120 manager actually does. He communicates. He uses 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:17.360 symbols. Ah, I see where you're going. The cane, 00:14:17.559 --> 00:14:20.000 the fireball, the swagger. Those are all signs. 00:14:20.299 --> 00:14:22.399 He's telling the audience exactly what to feel 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:24.320 without saying a single word. That's a really 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:26.500 great point. He literally went from dealing in 00:14:26.500 --> 00:14:28.980 the semiotics of violence to dealing in actual 00:14:28.980 --> 00:14:31.539 semiotics, vinyl lettering and street signs. 00:14:31.820 --> 00:14:33.419 And he didn't stop communicating about wrestling 00:14:33.419 --> 00:14:36.039 either. The history columns mention he transitioned 00:14:36.039 --> 00:14:38.740 into writing. He became a regular guest columnist 00:14:38.740 --> 00:14:41.000 for magazines like Official Wrestling, Wrestling 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:43.039 Month. monthly and wrestling review which is 00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:45.480 really interesting because usually the bad guys 00:14:45.480 --> 00:14:48.960 from that era protect the secrets of the business 00:14:48.960 --> 00:14:52.120 the most but here he is actively analyzing it 00:14:52.120 --> 00:14:54.379 in print well he was a true student of the game 00:14:54.379 --> 00:14:56.960 writing those columns allowed him to stay part 00:14:56.960 --> 00:14:58.940 of the wrestling world but from a safe distance 00:14:58.940 --> 00:15:01.460 he went from being the guy causing the chaos 00:15:01.460 --> 00:15:04.159 to the guy explaining it right it shows he wasn't 00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:07.070 just a performer he was a theorist He understood 00:15:07.070 --> 00:15:10.250 on a deep level why the riots happened. Soul 00:15:10.250 --> 00:15:13.750 passed away in Nashville on March 14, 1988. He 00:15:13.750 --> 00:15:17.269 was 72 years old. But the wrestling world definitely 00:15:17.269 --> 00:15:20.490 didn't forget him. No, not at all. In 2006, he 00:15:20.490 --> 00:15:22.789 was officially inducted into the NWA Hall of 00:15:22.789 --> 00:15:25.110 Fame. And looking at the class he was inducted 00:15:25.110 --> 00:15:26.649 with, the Rock and Roll Express Eddie Graham. 00:15:27.100 --> 00:15:29.340 These are absolute titans of the industry. It's 00:15:29.340 --> 00:15:31.679 total validation. It's the industry acknowledging 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:34.580 that the manager isn't just an accessory. Saul 00:15:34.580 --> 00:15:37.019 Weingroff was a main event player. He sold tickets. 00:15:37.080 --> 00:15:39.379 People paid their hard -earned money just for 00:15:39.379 --> 00:15:41.539 the chance to see him get his comeuppance. It 00:15:41.539 --> 00:15:44.139 really makes you think about the modern landscape 00:15:44.139 --> 00:15:47.000 of entertainment. We see these love to hate characters 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:50.940 everywhere now in reality TV, in sports, even 00:15:50.940 --> 00:15:54.120 in politics. Saul really was the prototype. He 00:15:54.120 --> 00:15:56.539 understood early on that negative engagement 00:15:56.539 --> 00:15:59.000 is still engagement. If they're screaming at 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:01.240 you, they're paying attention to you. And he 00:16:01.240 --> 00:16:03.379 clearly didn't care why they were screaming as 00:16:03.379 --> 00:16:04.740 long as the building was full. Well, exactly. 00:16:05.080 --> 00:16:08.000 Cash the check. Before we wrap up today, I want 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:10.580 to leave you with a thought. We talked about 00:16:10.580 --> 00:16:12.580 the fireballs. We talked about the riots in the 00:16:12.580 --> 00:16:14.519 streets. We talked about the police escorts. 00:16:14.659 --> 00:16:17.019 And we talked about his wild run for president. 00:16:17.159 --> 00:16:20.740 A truly wild ride. It makes you wonder, at what 00:16:20.740 --> 00:16:24.080 point does the performance actually stop? When 00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:26.720 you have a man who can incite a citywide riot 00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:30.080 just by walking into a room who effectively requires 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:32.539 a paramilitary operation just to go to work. 00:16:33.309 --> 00:16:35.429 Where do we draw the line between an entertainer 00:16:35.429 --> 00:16:37.830 and a provocateur? That is the blurry, blurry 00:16:37.830 --> 00:16:39.950 line where professional wrestling lives. And 00:16:39.950 --> 00:16:42.250 Saul Wengerhoff built a house right on top of 00:16:42.250 --> 00:16:44.330 that line. And then he probably set it on fire. 00:16:44.629 --> 00:16:47.309 Ah, exactly. Thanks for joining us for this deep 00:16:47.309 --> 00:16:50.029 dive into the chaotic, fiery life of Gentleman 00:16:50.029 --> 00:16:53.090 Saul. Stay curious, watch out for flying canes, 00:16:53.090 --> 00:16:53.970 and we'll catch you next time.