Tri-State Wrestling: Week of 9/4-9/10 1961

Our coverage of 1961 continues with a look at the week ending September 10th: two newcomers this week: 1) one of the most prolific talkers in wrestling history, 2) perhaps the least prolific talker in wrestling history, Hodge defends against a Fargo & more!

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 - Tulsa, OK

Tuesday - Little Rock, AR & Monroe, LA

Wednesday - Fort Smith, AR & Springfield, MO

Thursday - Wichita Falls, TX

Friday - Ada, OK & Oklahoma City, OK

Notes/Analysis: Most of the Louisiana towns were not run this week. In Shreveport, it was announced as being due to the Labor Day holiday. In the previous Friday's New Orleans newspaper a card was announced for Tuesday the 5th, but that card did not happen.

The promotion continued to run a number of battle royals this week. Battle royals were advertised in Tulsa, Little Rock, Fort Smith, Springfield and Ada. As in the past, the royals featured either Great Antonio or Happy Humphrey, but the two big men were never in the same battle royal.

Oklahoma City was headlined by Danny Hodge successfully defending the NWA World's Junior Heavyweight title against Donnie Fargo. Hodge also appeared in the main event in Monroe, teaming with Oni Wiki Wiki against Corsica Joe & Joe McCarthy. In Wichita Falls, the main event was Mike Clancy & Torbellino Blanco taking on Great Bolo & Mighty Bolo.

Newcomers this week were Sputnik Monroe and Silento Rodriguez. This was Sputnik's first stint in the territory. In some towns he was billed as Rocky "Sputnik" Monroe, in others just Sputnik Monroe. He had been wrestling in Gulf Coast prior to coming here. Silento had been wrestling in East Texas; like Sputnik, this was his first run here. Silento, who was legitimately both deaf and mute, came to the U.S. in 1959 after spending a few years wrestling in Mexico.

Leaving the territory were Jack Curtis Jr. and Nelson Royal. Curtis' name only shows up sporadically over the next few years around Louisiana and Mississippi, but it's possible he was working behind the scenes in those states. Royal went to Portland, where he wrestled as Baby Face Nelson; he would return here in 1964.

Frequent matches:
Danny Hodge vs Donnie Fargo

Frequent tag team combinations:
Great Bolo & Mighty Bolo
Donnie Fargo & Ronnie Fargo
Chuck Conley & Rip Collins
Great Antonio & Mike Clancy