WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.560 Picture the scene. It's 1989. You're just sitting 00:00:03.560 --> 00:00:06.459 in a typical Florida hoagie shop. Oh. And you've 00:00:06.459 --> 00:00:09.519 got this 68 -year -old man sitting quietly in 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:12.359 a booth just eating a turkey sandwich. Sounds 00:00:12.359 --> 00:00:15.500 pretty normal. Right. But suddenly, a guy in 00:00:15.500 --> 00:00:19.690 his late 20s who happens to be about 6 '2". and 00:00:19.690 --> 00:00:22.449 tipping the scales around 230 pounds, he just 00:00:22.449 --> 00:00:25.309 starts completely melting down. Oh, wow. Yeah, 00:00:25.329 --> 00:00:28.789 he is viciously screaming, verbally abusing two 00:00:28.789 --> 00:00:30.829 of the female employees working behind the counter. 00:00:31.809 --> 00:00:34.810 So the older man calmly speaks up and tells this 00:00:34.810 --> 00:00:37.310 giant to knock it off. Which is a bold move. 00:00:37.649 --> 00:00:39.869 Exactly. And the bully turns his attention to 00:00:39.869 --> 00:00:42.750 the booth, calls the guy old, and actually challenges 00:00:42.750 --> 00:00:45.189 him to a physical fight right there in the deli. 00:00:45.390 --> 00:00:47.130 I mean, most people in that situation will just 00:00:47.130 --> 00:00:48.829 keep their heads down, you know, maybe try to 00:00:48.829 --> 00:00:51.109 subtly flag down a manager or wait for the police. 00:00:51.369 --> 00:00:54.710 But the 68 -year -old man stands up, walks over, 00:00:54.850 --> 00:00:58.429 and shoves the 230 -pound guy straight into a 00:00:58.429 --> 00:01:01.329 wall. The bully is stunned, grabs a heavy chair, 00:01:01.469 --> 00:01:04.489 and throws it directly at the older man. But 00:01:04.489 --> 00:01:07.489 instead of backing down, the older man just unleashes. 00:01:07.629 --> 00:01:11.129 He physically launches this giant five feet across 00:01:11.129 --> 00:01:13.709 the room, slamming him into a commercial refrigerator. 00:01:14.739 --> 00:01:17.319 What? Yeah, and he follows it up by punching 00:01:17.319 --> 00:01:20.060 the guy square in the stomach, knocking him completely 00:01:20.060 --> 00:01:22.859 backward into the kitchen area. By the end of 00:01:22.859 --> 00:01:25.140 this, the much younger, much larger bully is 00:01:25.140 --> 00:01:27.760 grabbing onto the older man's hair, begging him 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:30.219 to stop, before turning tail and running out 00:01:30.219 --> 00:01:32.060 the front door. That sounds like an action movie 00:01:32.060 --> 00:01:34.659 sequence, but I have to imagine there was a real 00:01:34.659 --> 00:01:37.260 physical toll for the older man. There was. He 00:01:37.260 --> 00:01:39.140 had to go to the hospital and get 14 sketches. 00:01:39.820 --> 00:01:42.500 But when local reporters inevitably caught wind 00:01:42.500 --> 00:01:44.719 of the brawl and asked him about his injuries, 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:47.920 he brushed the stitches off entirely. He told 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:50.400 him the absolute worst part of the entire incident 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:53.140 was the initial insult. The part where he called 00:01:53.140 --> 00:01:55.459 him old? Exactly. His quote to the press was, 00:01:55.579 --> 00:01:58.459 hell, I'm only 68. That's not so old. That kind 00:01:58.459 --> 00:02:02.200 of reflexive aggression and just... That refusal 00:02:02.200 --> 00:02:04.659 to back down tells you everything you need to 00:02:04.659 --> 00:02:07.299 know about his mindset. He was insulted by the 00:02:07.299 --> 00:02:09.439 lack of respect far more than he was bothered 00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:13.180 by a chair being thrown at him. And here's the 00:02:13.180 --> 00:02:15.979 big reveal for you listening. That 68 -year -old 00:02:15.979 --> 00:02:19.560 man was not just some fiery senior citizen. That 00:02:19.560 --> 00:02:22.879 was Herman Gustav Rode Jr., known to millions 00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:25.280 around the globe as the original nature boy, 00:02:25.500 --> 00:02:28.840 Buddy Rogers. The absolute legend. Welcome to 00:02:28.840 --> 00:02:31.020 this custom -tailored deep dive assembled just 00:02:31.020 --> 00:02:33.099 for you. I'm your host. And I'm your resident 00:02:33.099 --> 00:02:35.360 expert, thrilled to be here. Today we have a 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:37.780 massive stack of historical Wikipedia records 00:02:37.780 --> 00:02:40.259 covering the life, the career, and the sheer 00:02:40.259 --> 00:02:43.560 chaos of Buddy Rogers. Our mission today is to 00:02:43.560 --> 00:02:45.939 explore how this single, wildly athletic individual 00:02:45.939 --> 00:02:48.740 basically invented the blueprint for the modern 00:02:48.740 --> 00:02:51.099 television villain. He broke unprecedented box 00:02:51.099 --> 00:02:53.479 office records, too. And inadvertently caused 00:02:53.479 --> 00:02:55.180 the creation of the biggest wrestling empire 00:02:55.180 --> 00:02:58.479 in the world, the WWE. all while balancing a 00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:01.039 cutthroat backstage reality that was constantly 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:03.240 threatening to boil over into legitimate violence. 00:03:03.759 --> 00:03:05.599 Just setting the stage for why this matters to 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:07.520 you listening, even if you don't follow professional 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:10.919 wrestling, this deep dive is a masterclass in 00:03:10.919 --> 00:03:13.460 mass manipulation and persona building. Yeah. 00:03:13.539 --> 00:03:16.639 It's an exploration of how to construct a charismatic, 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:19.960 entirely unignorable character that captures 00:03:19.960 --> 00:03:22.520 the attention of millions right at the dawn of 00:03:22.520 --> 00:03:26.340 the television era. Buddy Rogers understood human 00:03:26.340 --> 00:03:30.280 emotion, provocation and presentation in a way 00:03:30.280 --> 00:03:32.520 that laid the essential groundwork for modern 00:03:32.520 --> 00:03:39.240 sports. Okay, let's unpack this. Because to really 00:03:39.240 --> 00:03:41.680 grasp the character of the nature boy, we have 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:43.659 to look at the raw physical materials he was 00:03:43.659 --> 00:03:46.680 working with. Rogers was the son of German immigrants 00:03:46.680 --> 00:03:49.219 growing up in Camden, New Jersey. And from day 00:03:49.219 --> 00:03:52.199 one, he was an absolute athletic anomaly. It 00:03:52.199 --> 00:03:54.000 really was. By the time he was nine years old, 00:03:54.060 --> 00:03:56.639 he was already wrestling at the local YMCA and 00:03:56.639 --> 00:03:58.580 winning their heavyweight championship. Which 00:03:58.580 --> 00:04:01.620 is wild. And he was building a foundational elite 00:04:01.620 --> 00:04:04.180 stamina that would define his entire career. 00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:07.500 The historical sources note he excelled across 00:04:07.500 --> 00:04:11.680 the board, football, track, and boxing. In 1937, 00:04:11.900 --> 00:04:15.879 he even won the YMCA's three -mile swimming championship. 00:04:16.060 --> 00:04:19.160 Three miles. Right. That specific type of cardiovascular 00:04:19.160 --> 00:04:22.180 conditioning is what eventually allowed him to 00:04:22.180 --> 00:04:24.740 maintain such a high -octane pace in the ring 00:04:24.740 --> 00:04:27.279 for hour -long matches later in his life. And 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:30.800 he had this eclectic, almost Renaissance man 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:33.360 resume before he ever stepped foot in a professional 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:36.100 ring. During World War II, he served in the United 00:04:36.100 --> 00:04:38.480 States Navy and worked in a shipyard. He served 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:42.000 as a police officer for a time. At 17, he actually 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:44.040 joined the Dale Brothers Circus as a wrestler, 00:04:44.199 --> 00:04:46.439 taking on all comers. You can see all the pieces 00:04:46.439 --> 00:04:48.620 of the persona coming together there. A circus 00:04:48.620 --> 00:04:50.480 environment teaches you how to project to the 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:52.620 cheap seats, how to work a live crowd, and how 00:04:52.620 --> 00:04:54.720 to turn physical exertion into pure spectacle. 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:57.480 And the shipyard and the police force gave him 00:04:57.480 --> 00:04:59.860 a profound understanding of working class grit. 00:05:00.040 --> 00:05:02.240 He understood different types of people, which 00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:04.220 meant he knew exactly what would agitate them. 00:05:04.649 --> 00:05:06.910 So how do we get from Dutch Road, which was the 00:05:06.910 --> 00:05:09.170 name he went by around his hometown of Camden, 00:05:09.269 --> 00:05:12.550 to the Nature Boy? The evolution starts in 1939. 00:05:13.149 --> 00:05:15.970 He visits promoters Ray and Frank Hanley, gets 00:05:15.970 --> 00:05:19.089 his first official match, and wins. He travels 00:05:19.089 --> 00:05:21.170 down to the Houston Territory, formally assumes 00:05:21.170 --> 00:05:24.110 the name Buddy Rogers, and makes a huge splash. 00:05:24.490 --> 00:05:27.189 He won the National Wrestling Alliance, or NWA 00:05:27.189 --> 00:05:29.990 Texas Heavyweight Championship, four times. But 00:05:29.990 --> 00:05:32.029 the visual transformation happens when he leaves 00:05:32.029 --> 00:05:34.899 Texas for Columbus, Ohio. He bleaches his hair 00:05:34.899 --> 00:05:37.699 platinum blonde, and a promoter named Jack Feefer 00:05:37.699 --> 00:05:41.000 gives him the moniker Natural Guy. Which is objectively 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:43.800 a terrible name. Natural Guy sounds like a brand 00:05:43.800 --> 00:05:46.139 of organic cereal, not a main event box office 00:05:46.139 --> 00:05:48.740 draw. Natural Guy Buddy Rogers definitely lacks 00:05:48.740 --> 00:05:51.300 a certain menacing ring to it. Thankfully, the 00:05:51.300 --> 00:05:53.300 moniker naturally evolved into the Nature Boy, 00:05:53.459 --> 00:05:55.180 and the timing of this transformation is what 00:05:55.180 --> 00:05:57.040 really catapulted him into the stratosphere. 00:05:57.449 --> 00:06:00.449 Because we are moving into the 1950s, which brings 00:06:00.449 --> 00:06:03.029 the widespread advent of television into the 00:06:03.029 --> 00:06:06.310 American living room. Before this era, wrestling 00:06:06.310 --> 00:06:09.689 was largely confined to dark, smoky arenas. It 00:06:09.689 --> 00:06:12.029 was two guys grappling on a mat for an hour, 00:06:12.149 --> 00:06:15.170 utilizing intricate holds and slow maneuvering. 00:06:15.209 --> 00:06:17.509 Which worked for a live crowd sitting ringside. 00:06:17.610 --> 00:06:20.370 Right. But on a small, low -resolution black 00:06:20.370 --> 00:06:22.930 -and -white screen, mat wrestling just looks 00:06:22.930 --> 00:06:26.129 like two blurry figures lying still. Television 00:06:26.129 --> 00:06:29.149 demanded visual pop. It needed bombastic personalities 00:06:29.149 --> 00:06:32.670 and constant motion. Rogers provided an instantly 00:06:32.670 --> 00:06:35.470 hateable, flashy character. He figured out early 00:06:35.470 --> 00:06:38.089 on that drawing heat, making the audience legitimately 00:06:38.089 --> 00:06:40.350 angry, was just as profitable as making them 00:06:40.350 --> 00:06:42.610 cheer. Oh, absolutely. But he didn't always incite 00:06:42.610 --> 00:06:45.449 that anger alone in those early TV days. In the 00:06:45.449 --> 00:06:47.730 early 1950s, he employed a valet named Lillian 00:06:47.730 --> 00:06:50.129 Ellison, who the world would later know as the 00:06:50.129 --> 00:06:53.129 controversial figure Slave Girl Moolah. or the 00:06:53.129 --> 00:06:55.649 fabulous moolah. Looking at the historical records 00:06:55.649 --> 00:06:58.149 objectively, the backstage reality between them 00:06:58.149 --> 00:07:00.670 was highly contentious. Ellison stated that their 00:07:00.670 --> 00:07:02.410 early professional partnership ended because 00:07:02.410 --> 00:07:04.689 she refused his pushes for a sexual relationship. 00:07:04.970 --> 00:07:08.329 And we are simply looking at the claims as they 00:07:08.329 --> 00:07:10.649 exist in the source material here. We aren't 00:07:10.649 --> 00:07:14.120 taking signs. But it highlights the deeply complex 00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:16.819 and controversial figure he was behind the scenes. 00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:19.399 It's a stark reminder that the polished television 00:07:19.399 --> 00:07:22.759 presentation often masked a very messy reality. 00:07:23.139 --> 00:07:25.620 But looking strictly at his inner ring innovations, 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:28.680 Rogers was changing the physical mechanics of 00:07:28.680 --> 00:07:31.040 the industry. He was forcing a paradigm shift. 00:07:31.220 --> 00:07:33.620 One of his greatest rivals, the legendary Lou 00:07:33.620 --> 00:07:36.720 Thez, detailed Rogers' impact extensively in 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:40.060 his memoir. Thez was the quintessential old school 00:07:40.060 --> 00:07:43.240 Matt Grappler. But he noted that Rodgers was 00:07:43.240 --> 00:07:45.800 the very first talent to heavily rely on what 00:07:45.800 --> 00:07:48.220 they called flying moves to control the pace 00:07:48.220 --> 00:07:50.740 of a bout. We're talking body slams, dropkicks, 00:07:50.779 --> 00:07:53.079 pile drivers, and constantly ricocheting off 00:07:53.079 --> 00:07:55.139 the ropes to launch himself at his opponents. 00:07:55.420 --> 00:07:57.459 By staying off the mat entirely, he wasn't just 00:07:57.459 --> 00:07:59.139 changing his own moveset, he was fundamentally 00:07:59.139 --> 00:08:01.339 altering the pacing and the psychology of the 00:08:01.339 --> 00:08:04.220 matches. He turned a quiet athletic contest into 00:08:04.220 --> 00:08:06.439 a high -action spectacle. Which fans had never 00:08:06.439 --> 00:08:09.310 really seen at that volume. Exactly. Those flying 00:08:09.310 --> 00:08:11.990 moves existed before him, but they were used 00:08:11.990 --> 00:08:14.910 sparingly, like punctuation marks. Rodgers used 00:08:14.910 --> 00:08:18.050 them in high volume. The style became so popular 00:08:18.050 --> 00:08:20.269 with the television audience that other wrestlers, 00:08:20.290 --> 00:08:23.129 even traditionalists like Lou Thez, were forced 00:08:23.129 --> 00:08:25.490 to adapt and speed up their own matches just 00:08:25.490 --> 00:08:28.069 to keep up with what the fans now demanded. And 00:08:28.069 --> 00:08:30.810 the fans devoured it. If you want to understand 00:08:30.810 --> 00:08:33.850 the sheer drawing power of Buddy Rodgers, the 00:08:33.850 --> 00:08:36.360 numbers tell the entire story. Let's look at 00:08:36.360 --> 00:08:40.500 June 30, 1961, Comiskey Park in Chicago. Rodgers 00:08:40.500 --> 00:08:42.940 is challenging Pat O 'Connor for the NWA World 00:08:42.940 --> 00:08:45.320 Heavyweight Championship in a two out of three 00:08:45.320 --> 00:08:47.759 falls match, heavily billed as the match of the 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:49.559 century. The promotional build for that event 00:08:49.559 --> 00:08:51.720 was brilliant, and it resulted in staggering 00:08:51.720 --> 00:08:54.279 financial success. Rodgers ultimately takes the 00:08:54.279 --> 00:08:56.620 title after O 'Connor misses a flying dropkick 00:08:56.620 --> 00:08:58.720 and hits his head, allowing Rodgers to secure 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:01.120 the final pin. But the real story is what happened 00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:05.500 at the box office. 38 ,622 fans packed into Coniskey 00:09:05.500 --> 00:09:07.679 Park. Wow. That set a North American attendance 00:09:07.679 --> 00:09:09.600 record that stood completely untouched until 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:12.460 1984. An attendance record that survived the 00:09:12.460 --> 00:09:15.759 entirety of the 1970s boom periods. And the gate 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:20.019 receipts were equally massive. $148 ,000 in ticket 00:09:20.019 --> 00:09:23.419 sales. In 1961 currency. Right. That was a gate 00:09:23.419 --> 00:09:26.559 record that held for nearly two decades. The 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:28.639 detail from the sources that blew my mind about 00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:31.720 this specific era is his work ethic outside the 00:09:31.720 --> 00:09:33.940 ring. While he was wrestling in front of nearly 00:09:33.940 --> 00:09:37.440 40 ,000 people, setting two decade -long records 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:40.360 and anchoring the territory, Rogers was actually 00:09:40.360 --> 00:09:43.059 working two regular daytime jobs in Chicago. 00:09:43.460 --> 00:09:46.539 You're kidding? No. According to his autobiography, 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:49.279 after winning the NWA title at Comiskey Park, 00:09:49.480 --> 00:09:53.039 he never walked into work again. Drawing $148 00:09:53.039 --> 00:09:55.840 ,000 and becoming the undisputed world champion 00:09:55.840 --> 00:09:58.879 is the ultimate resignation letter. Here's where 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:01.360 it gets really interesting, though. Being the 00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:03.340 biggest box office attraction in the industry 00:10:03.340 --> 00:10:05.620 does not insulate you from locker room politics. 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:09.179 In fact, for Rogers, it painted a massive target 00:10:09.179 --> 00:10:12.019 on his back. Because he favored certain Northeastern 00:10:12.019 --> 00:10:13.879 promoters over others and carried himself with 00:10:13.879 --> 00:10:17.059 immense arrogance, he had massive backstage heat. 00:10:17.500 --> 00:10:20.340 And the locker room was full of legitimate shooters, 00:10:20.500 --> 00:10:23.059 making that a highly dangerous position. Yeah. 00:10:23.139 --> 00:10:25.440 You have a man who is generating unprecedented 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:29.179 wealth for the promoters, but infuriating his 00:10:29.179 --> 00:10:31.840 peers, many of whom were highly trained catch 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:34.100 wrestlers who could incapacitate someone for 00:10:34.100 --> 00:10:37.230 real. Take the incident in Columbus, Ohio. The 00:10:37.230 --> 00:10:39.789 sources detail a situation where promoters and 00:10:39.789 --> 00:10:42.870 noted shooters Bill Miller and Carl Gotch confronted 00:10:42.870 --> 00:10:45.490 Buddy Rogers in the locker room and literally 00:10:45.490 --> 00:10:47.889 broke his hand. Brutal. It was about respect. 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:51.179 territory politics, and sending a very clear, 00:10:51.279 --> 00:10:53.919 very violent message. The governing body of the 00:10:53.919 --> 00:10:56.019 industry, the NWA Board of Directors, started 00:10:56.019 --> 00:10:58.240 getting incredibly paranoid about their champion. 00:10:58.440 --> 00:11:00.840 They realized they had their most prized possession, 00:11:01.179 --> 00:11:03.460 the world heavyweight title belt, on a man who 00:11:03.460 --> 00:11:05.559 was alienating half the country and getting targeted 00:11:05.559 --> 00:11:09.019 by his own locker room. And by early 1963, Rogers 00:11:09.019 --> 00:11:11.240 had sustained another significant injury in a 00:11:11.240 --> 00:11:12.980 match against Killer Kowalski up in Montreal. 00:11:13.720 --> 00:11:15.960 The NWA board decided the liability was just 00:11:15.960 --> 00:11:18.399 too high. They voted to take the title off Rodgers 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:20.759 and put it back around the waist of Lou Thez, 00:11:20.860 --> 00:11:23.899 who openly and publicly disliked Rodgers. Which 00:11:23.899 --> 00:11:26.240 creates a massive logistical nightmare for the 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:29.710 NWA. How do you force a guy to drop the championship 00:11:29.710 --> 00:11:31.990 when he knows he's the biggest draw in the world 00:11:31.990 --> 00:11:34.710 and might just refuse to cooperate once he steps 00:11:34.710 --> 00:11:36.590 through the ropes? Right. If you're dealing with 00:11:36.590 --> 00:11:39.129 a talent who might literally just refuse to lose 00:11:39.129 --> 00:11:42.110 on live television, how do you even enforce a 00:11:42.110 --> 00:11:45.850 title change? What kind of leverage did the promoter, 00:11:45.870 --> 00:11:48.029 Sam Mushnick, actually have heading into that 00:11:48.029 --> 00:11:51.190 match in Toronto? Muchnick essentially engineered 00:11:51.190 --> 00:11:53.610 a three -tiered hostage negotiation to ensure 00:11:53.610 --> 00:11:56.710 Rodgers dropped the belt on January 24, 1963. 00:11:57.669 --> 00:12:00.649 The safeguards were intense. First, Muchnick 00:12:00.649 --> 00:12:02.750 changed the foundational format of the match. 00:12:03.090 --> 00:12:05.129 World title bouts were traditionally two out 00:12:05.129 --> 00:12:07.570 of three falls, which gave wrestlers time to 00:12:07.570 --> 00:12:09.769 feel each other out. Muchnick changed it to a 00:12:09.769 --> 00:12:12.149 one -fall finish. A single fall is much easier 00:12:12.149 --> 00:12:14.330 and quickly before Rodgers could try anything 00:12:14.330 --> 00:12:16.809 unpredictable. Exactly. That's the logistical 00:12:16.809 --> 00:12:18.919 safeguard. What about the financial one? Every 00:12:18.919 --> 00:12:22.440 NWA champion had to put down a $25 ,000 deposit 00:12:22.440 --> 00:12:25.200 to the board just to hold the belt. It was an 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:28.159 insurance policy for good behavior. Muchnick 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:30.580 explicitly threatened to take Rodgers' entire 00:12:30.580 --> 00:12:34.419 $25 ,000 deposit and donate it to charity if 00:12:34.419 --> 00:12:38.500 he went off script. $25 ,000 in 1963 is life 00:12:38.500 --> 00:12:41.159 -altering leverage. It is. And the third safeguard 00:12:41.159 --> 00:12:44.500 was the opponent himself. The NWA purposefully 00:12:44.500 --> 00:12:47.500 chose Lou Thez because Thez was a feared hooker 00:12:47.500 --> 00:12:50.360 and shooter. If Rogers decided to ignore the 00:12:50.360 --> 00:12:52.779 script, ignore the money, and refuse to lose, 00:12:53.019 --> 00:12:55.860 Thez was completely capable of physically breaking 00:12:55.860 --> 00:12:58.360 him and taking the title by force right there 00:12:58.360 --> 00:13:00.399 on the canvas. The line's completely blurred 00:13:00.399 --> 00:13:02.539 there. You have a television product built on 00:13:02.539 --> 00:13:04.799 showmanship, but behind the curtain it's governed 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:07.500 by literal physical violence and financial extortion. 00:13:07.960 --> 00:13:10.000 Rogers dropping the title in Toronto wasn't a 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:12.139 creative storyline, it was a surrender. And that 00:13:12.139 --> 00:13:14.759 one single match, that decision by the NWA board 00:13:14.759 --> 00:13:17.740 to force the belt onto Lufez, catalyzed the biggest 00:13:17.740 --> 00:13:20.029 corporate shift in pop culture history. Because 00:13:20.029 --> 00:13:22.710 the Northeastern promoters, specifically Vince 00:13:22.710 --> 00:13:25.730 McMahon Sr. and Toots Montt, were furious with 00:13:25.730 --> 00:13:28.529 the NWA's decision. They had built their regional 00:13:28.529 --> 00:13:31.710 box office entirely around Rodgers and his flashy 00:13:31.710 --> 00:13:34.629 heel persona. Putting the belt on a traditional 00:13:34.629 --> 00:13:37.730 no -nonsense Matt Grappler -like Fez might appeal 00:13:37.730 --> 00:13:41.549 to the NWA board, but McMahon Sr. knew it wouldn't 00:13:41.549 --> 00:13:44.029 sell out Madison Square Garden. The ideological 00:13:44.029 --> 00:13:46.710 clash over what actually draws money was the 00:13:46.710 --> 00:13:49.480 breaking point. McMahon Sr. and Mont refused 00:13:49.480 --> 00:13:53.200 to recognize Luthez as the champion. They formally 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:55.580 withdrew their membership from the NWA and formed 00:13:55.580 --> 00:13:57.759 their own distinct company. They called it the 00:13:57.759 --> 00:14:00.940 Worldwide Wrestling Federation, or the WWWF. 00:14:01.059 --> 00:14:03.799 Which evolved directly into the WWE we know today. 00:14:04.039 --> 00:14:06.639 The entire existence of this multi -billion dollar 00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:08.840 global entertainment juggernaut started because 00:14:08.840 --> 00:14:11.000 promoters in the Northeast were furious that 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:13.440 Buddy Rogers was forced to lose. But creating 00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:15.320 a new company meant they needed a new champion. 00:14:15.789 --> 00:14:18.250 They need to explain how Rogers had a world title 00:14:18.250 --> 00:14:20.330 belt if everyone knew he just lost in Toronto. 00:14:20.590 --> 00:14:22.990 The solution they came up with is a true testament 00:14:22.990 --> 00:14:25.269 to the audacious, carny roots of the business. 00:14:25.590 --> 00:14:30.269 On April 11, 1963, the first WWWF president, 00:14:30.470 --> 00:14:33.389 Willie Gilzenberg, appears on television in Washington, 00:14:33.570 --> 00:14:38.039 D .C. He hands Buddy Rogers the brand new WWF 00:14:38.039 --> 00:14:40.779 World Heavyweight Championship belt, looks directly 00:14:40.779 --> 00:14:43.480 into the camera, and calmly explains that Rogers 00:14:43.480 --> 00:14:45.940 won the title by sweeping a massive international 00:14:45.940 --> 00:14:48.440 wrestling tournament down in Rio de Janeiro, 00:14:48.600 --> 00:14:51.120 Brazil. a tournament that according to the historical 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:53.659 records was completely fictional there was no 00:14:53.659 --> 00:14:55.700 ring there were no opponents there was no trip 00:14:55.700 --> 00:14:58.360 to brazil they simply fabricated an international 00:14:58.360 --> 00:15:01.340 triumph out of thin air to justify putting the 00:15:01.340 --> 00:15:04.419 belt on their top draw sadly his reign as the 00:15:04.419 --> 00:15:06.559 inaugural champion of what would become the wwe 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:09.419 was incredibly short -lived yeah it ended in 00:15:09.419 --> 00:15:11.720 what we can look back on as the 48 second tragedy 00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:14.220 rogers was the undisputed king of the box office 00:15:14.220 --> 00:15:16.019 but his physical endurance had been severely 00:15:16.019 --> 00:15:18.860 compromised behind the scenes he suffered a mild 00:15:18.860 --> 00:15:21.539 heart attack. Promoters Vincent J. McMahon and 00:15:21.539 --> 00:15:24.100 Toots Montt were in an absolute panic. They tried 00:15:24.100 --> 00:15:25.820 to conceal his medical issues from the public, 00:15:25.860 --> 00:15:27.559 but it was obvious he couldn't perform in the 00:15:27.559 --> 00:15:30.840 grueling 45 -minute main event matches the territory 00:15:30.840 --> 00:15:33.179 required. They had to get the belt off him immediately 00:15:33.179 --> 00:15:35.559 before a catastrophe happened on live television. 00:15:35.860 --> 00:15:38.320 They booked an emergency title switch at Madison 00:15:38.320 --> 00:15:43.679 Square Garden on May 17, 1963. Rogers faces a 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:47.379 rising powerhouse named Bruno Sammartino. San 00:15:47.379 --> 00:15:49.940 Martino demolishes Rodgers, winning the championship 00:15:49.940 --> 00:15:53.620 in a shocking 48 seconds. Unheard of. The sources 00:15:53.620 --> 00:15:55.700 make it clear the match had to be kept to under 00:15:55.700 --> 00:15:58.120 a minute because the promoters literally feared 00:15:58.120 --> 00:16:01.200 Buddy Rodgers would suffer a massive fatal cardiac 00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:03.730 event in the middle of the ring. Health problems 00:16:03.730 --> 00:16:06.269 forced him into a significantly reduced role 00:16:06.269 --> 00:16:09.090 after that loss. He would wrestle in short singles 00:16:09.090 --> 00:16:11.590 matches that lasted a minute or two, or he would 00:16:11.590 --> 00:16:13.509 participate in tag team matches where he could 00:16:13.509 --> 00:16:15.629 stand safely on the ring apron while his partner 00:16:15.629 --> 00:16:17.830 handled the physical labor. But even when his 00:16:17.830 --> 00:16:20.289 body was failing him, his mind for the psychology 00:16:20.289 --> 00:16:22.429 of the business was sharper than anyone else's. 00:16:22.470 --> 00:16:25.450 He was an absolute master of heel psychology. 00:16:26.110 --> 00:16:28.250 There's this brilliant tag team anecdote from 00:16:28.250 --> 00:16:31.409 July 1962 that perfectly sums up his genius for 00:16:31.409 --> 00:16:33.179 manipulating a crowd's attention. emotions. The 00:16:33.179 --> 00:16:35.700 match against Johnny Valentine and Arnold Scalland? 00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:39.100 Exactly. Rodgers is teaming with handsome Johnny 00:16:39.100 --> 00:16:42.559 Barron, defending the NWA United States Tag Team 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:45.559 Championship. Scalland is a last minute substitute. 00:16:45.960 --> 00:16:48.919 In the very first fall of the match, Rodgers 00:16:48.919 --> 00:16:51.480 locks his signature figure four leg lock onto 00:16:51.480 --> 00:16:54.940 Scalland and forces him to submit. He injures 00:16:54.940 --> 00:16:56.980 Scalland so severely in the narrative of the 00:16:56.980 --> 00:16:59.360 match that Scalland has to be physically carried 00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:01.820 from the ring on a stretcher. leaving Johnny 00:17:01.820 --> 00:17:04.460 Valentine stranded to fight a two -on -one handicap 00:17:04.460 --> 00:17:07.220 match against two of the most hated villains 00:17:07.220 --> 00:17:09.599 in the territory. Valentine fights valiantly, 00:17:09.759 --> 00:17:11.940 taking a massive beating but refusing to stay 00:17:11.940 --> 00:17:14.559 down. The crowd is getting incredibly emotionally 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:17.339 invested, feeling profound sympathy for Valentine. 00:17:18.039 --> 00:17:20.000 Just when it looks like Rodgers and Barron are 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:21.740 going to permanently end Valentine's career, 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:24.660 the crowd erupts. Oh, I love this part. The television 00:17:24.660 --> 00:17:27.140 cameras swing around to the entrance aisle. Running 00:17:27.140 --> 00:17:29.640 down toward the ring is cowboy Bob Ellis, the 00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:31.640 wrestler, who was originally supposed to be in 00:17:31.640 --> 00:17:34.299 the match but had a delayed flight. Ellis is 00:17:34.299 --> 00:17:36.380 still in his street clothes, literally carrying 00:17:36.380 --> 00:17:39.240 his travel suitcase. Incredible visual. He slides 00:17:39.240 --> 00:17:42.079 into the ring, hits a flurry of bulldog headlocks, 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:45.680 and pins Barron to win the second fall. The building 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:47.759 is in absolute pandemonium at this point. The 00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:50.079 emotional rollercoaster is peaking. The third 00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:53.240 and final fall begins, and all four men are brawling 00:17:53.240 --> 00:17:55.980 in and out of the ring. The referee loses total 00:17:55.980 --> 00:17:58.980 control. Finally, Ellis and Barron accidentally 00:17:58.980 --> 00:18:01.779 collide head -on in the corner. Both men are 00:18:01.779 --> 00:18:04.440 knocked unconscious, lying flat on the mat. The 00:18:04.440 --> 00:18:06.539 referee is distracted on the outside by Valentine, 00:18:06.839 --> 00:18:09.480 so Buddy Rogers seizes the moment. He walks over 00:18:09.480 --> 00:18:12.099 to his own unconscious tag team partner, grabs 00:18:12.099 --> 00:18:13.839 Johnny Barron by the hair in the back of his 00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:16.279 trunks, and physically heaves his partner's limp 00:18:16.279 --> 00:18:19.420 body on top of Bob Ellis to score the winning 00:18:19.420 --> 00:18:23.079 pinfall. It is brilliant, infuriating villain 00:18:23.079 --> 00:18:25.559 work. He doesn't win by being the superior athlete. 00:18:26.039 --> 00:18:28.220 He wins by being the most opportunistic cheat 00:18:28.220 --> 00:18:30.440 in the building, utilizing his own unconscious 00:18:30.440 --> 00:18:32.940 partner as a heavy object to secure the victory 00:18:32.940 --> 00:18:36.170 is just peak arrogance. His swagger wasn't confined 00:18:36.170 --> 00:18:38.869 to the bell -to -bell action either. Rogers pioneered 00:18:38.869 --> 00:18:41.190 a bombastic interview style that set the template 00:18:41.190 --> 00:18:44.609 for decades. Before him, wrestlers might politely 00:18:44.609 --> 00:18:47.470 answer a commentator's questions. Rogers grabbed 00:18:47.470 --> 00:18:49.490 the microphone, strutted around the set like 00:18:49.490 --> 00:18:52.069 a peacock, bragged about his own greatness, and 00:18:52.069 --> 00:18:54.009 delivered devastating roasts to his opponents. 00:18:54.309 --> 00:18:57.210 The sources note his insults were deeply degrading, 00:18:57.210 --> 00:18:59.609 but highly entertaining. He would look into the 00:18:59.609 --> 00:19:01.869 camera and say things like, after I get through 00:19:01.869 --> 00:19:04.009 with him, he'll be back driving a garbage truck 00:19:04.009 --> 00:19:06.700 where he belongs. In his legendary catchphrase, 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:08.859 right after he cheated to beat you, stole your 00:19:08.859 --> 00:19:10.960 title, and left you laying in the ring, he'd 00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:12.920 smirk directly at the television audience and 00:19:12.920 --> 00:19:15.980 shout, to a nicer guy, it couldn't happen. He 00:19:15.980 --> 00:19:18.799 wanted the viewer at home to be furious. If we 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:21.099 connect all of this to the broader cultural landscape, 00:19:21.539 --> 00:19:25.619 Buddy Rogers was the first authentic, multifaceted, 00:19:25.640 --> 00:19:28.339 charismatic television villain. When you watch 00:19:28.339 --> 00:19:30.740 television today, Whether you're looking at a 00:19:30.740 --> 00:19:33.900 charismatic, arrogant, peroxide blonde antagonist 00:19:33.900 --> 00:19:36.660 in a premium cable drama or a trash -talking 00:19:36.660 --> 00:19:39.640 combat sports star who knows exactly what buttons 00:19:39.640 --> 00:19:41.920 to push to make you angry enough to buy a pay 00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:43.700 -per -view just hoping to see them get knocked 00:19:43.700 --> 00:19:46.599 out, you are looking at the direct descendants 00:19:46.599 --> 00:19:50.160 of Buddy Rogers. Look no further than Ric Flair. 00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:53.279 Flair is a global pop culture icon, and he built 00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:55.660 his entire empire as a direct tribute to Rogers. 00:19:55.960 --> 00:19:58.579 He adopted the nature boy moniker. He adopted 00:19:58.579 --> 00:20:01.279 the arrogant strut. He utilized the figure four 00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:03.779 leg lock as his finishing maneuver. The entire 00:20:03.779 --> 00:20:06.220 conceptual framework of the modern flamboyant 00:20:06.220 --> 00:20:08.779 villain was laid down by Herman Gustav Rudd Jr. 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:11.680 in the 50s and 60s. It is a massive legacy, but 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:14.319 diving into the historical sources also unearths 00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:17.119 a slightly darker layer to that legacy. Right. 00:20:17.640 --> 00:20:20.000 Luthas noted in his writings that Rogers was 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:22.299 just as manipulative behind the scenes as he 00:20:22.299 --> 00:20:24.680 was in front of the cameras. In private circles, 00:20:24.880 --> 00:20:27.119 Rogers was fond of sharing his personal strategy 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:29.400 for navigating the vicious politics of the industry. 00:20:29.640 --> 00:20:32.500 He used to say, screw your friends and be nice 00:20:32.500 --> 00:20:34.500 to your enemies so your enemies will become your 00:20:34.500 --> 00:20:37.470 friends and then you can screw them too. That 00:20:37.470 --> 00:20:40.509 is an incredibly bleak way to view your peers. 00:20:40.769 --> 00:20:43.829 It's a deeply cynical philosophy, and it asks 00:20:43.829 --> 00:20:46.289 you to ponder something profound about the nature 00:20:46.289 --> 00:20:49.150 of performance. When an individual spends their 00:20:49.150 --> 00:20:52.369 entire adult life constructing an arrogant, manipulative, 00:20:52.430 --> 00:20:55.369 self -serving persona just to survive in a physically 00:20:55.369 --> 00:20:57.549 punishing and politically cutthroat industry, 00:20:57.769 --> 00:21:00.029 and they reach the absolute pinnacle of global 00:21:00.029 --> 00:21:02.829 success by utilizing that persona, at what point 00:21:02.829 --> 00:21:04.890 does the character end and the real person begin? 00:21:05.769 --> 00:21:07.849 Buddy Rogers lived a life where the boundaries 00:21:07.849 --> 00:21:10.130 between reality and fiction were purposefully 00:21:10.130 --> 00:21:13.029 obliterated on a daily basis. It is a chilling 00:21:13.029 --> 00:21:15.410 reminder of the toll that ultimate showmanship 00:21:15.410 --> 00:21:17.789 can take on the human soul. You have to wonder 00:21:17.789 --> 00:21:20.109 how much of Herman Gustave Rode Jr. was actually 00:21:20.109 --> 00:21:22.390 left by the time The Nature Boy fully took over. 00:21:22.589 --> 00:21:24.890 That is a heavy, lingering thought to walk away 00:21:24.890 --> 00:21:27.640 with. Thank you so much for joining us on this 00:21:27.640 --> 00:21:30.079 deep dive into the historical records of one 00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:32.960 of television's most compelling pioneers. It 00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:34.880 has been an incredible journey through the wild 00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:37.319 origins of sports entertainment, and we hope 00:21:37.319 --> 00:21:39.119 you walk away looking at the villains on your 00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:42.279 screen just a little bit differently. Until next 00:21:42.279 --> 00:21:44.839 time, keep asking questions and keep diving deep.