Tri-State Wrestling: Week of 8/7-8/13 1961

Our coverage of 1961 continues with a look at the week ending August 13, 1961.

For new readers, this post and this post will help you understand the SPOT rating and what it means.

Here's a look at the talent roster along with their SPOT ratings for the week.

The first number to the right of each wrestler's name is their SPOT rating for this week and the second number is their rating for the previous week. Babyfaces are in blue on the left-hand side, heels in orange on the right. They are listed in descending order; wrestlers at the top were mostly in main events while wrestlers at the bottom were mostly in preliminary matches.

I have data for the following house shows this week:

Monday - Shreveport, LA & Tulsa, OK

Tuesday - Little Rock, AR & Monroe, LA

Wednesday - Baton Rouge, LA & Fort Smith, AR

Thursday - New Orleans, LA

Friday - Oklahoma City, OK

Saturday - Ada, OK

Analysis/Notes: The babyface side was bolstered with two new faces this week. Joe Costello came in for his second stint in the territory, the first having been in 1959. The most recent whereabouts I have for him before coming here were in Arizona in the first few months of the year.

The second newcomer was The Great Antonio. Antonio, real name Antonio Barichievich, was born in Yugoslavia and arrived by refugee ship in Nova Scotia in 1945. Shortly thereafter he embarked on a career as a strongman. The earliest reference I have found regarding him in a wrestling ring was in July 1958 in Ontario, where he was billed as 6'8" and 407 pounds and defeated four other men in a handicap match. He is perhaps most well-known in wrestling for a famous (well, infamous) match against Antonio Inoki in December 1977. An article, which includes an embedded video of the match, can be found at https://grantland.com/the-triangle/wrestlings-greatest-shoots-volume-3-antonio-inoki-vs-the-great-antonio/

Joe McCarthy was not booked on any of the cards I have this week, so I removed him from the SPOT ratings. He will return next week. The only significant movement in the ratings this week was the continued climb of Donnie & Ronnie Fargo up the cards. I only have two bookings for them here this week, main events in Tulsa against Danny Hodge & Mike Clancy, and the next night in Little Rock against Clancy & Al Galento. Donnie's name shows up in Tallahassee, FL for Gulf Coast later in the week teaming with "brother" Jackie, but I do not know if it was just a one-shot and if Ronnie was there as well (possibly under another name).

Other notable main events during the week were Hodge defending the World's Junior Heavyweight title in New Orleans against Great Bolo, and Hodge teaming with Great Antonio to face Great Bolo & Mighty Bolo in Oklahoma City.

Frequent matches:
Danny Hodge vs Great Bolo
Danny Hodge & Mike Clancy vs Donnie Fargo & Ronnie Fargo

Frequent tag team combinations:
Donnie Fargo & Ronnie Fargo
Great Bolo & Mighty Bolo
Danny Hodge & Mike Clancy