Mr. Wrestling 3's Origin

The Origin of Mr. Wrestling 3

I was going through old photos today, looking for something I could do a FBF with and the smile on my face widened when I found this one of me and Mr. Wrestling II from 2007.

I've told the story before of how Mr. Wrestling 3 came about on my old website, but now would be a good time to re-tell the tale and let people know where the "Favorite Son of Parts Unknown" is up to.

Over the past 15 or so years, there have been people that have tried to pass themselves off as "Mr. Wrestling 3" or "Mr. Wrestling III". There was even some guy in California wrestling as Mr. Wrestling IV. Even then, I could never understand how these people would disrespect Mr. Wrestling II, the character, and Johnny Walker, the man, and use the character without his acknowledgement or approval.

Johnny Walker is a good man. A tough man. I had originally met him in 2004 or 2005, working for Jody Peterman in Georgia. He had a strong handshake and was a no-nonesense guy.

I never saw myself as Mr. Wrestling 3. At all. In fact, when it was offered to me, I turned it down. It was mid 2007 and I was planning on making 2007 my last year in professional wrestling. I was 34, spinning my wheels on the Independents, knew I didn't have a future in the WWE as a talent, and ZERO1 in Japan just wasn't as fun anymore. I had gotten into gym management and thought it was time to leave (Spoiler Alert: You can never really retire from pro-wrestling!)

In 2007, I was defending the AWA championship in Hawaii, when the promoter brought in Mr. Wrestling II. After II's wife passed, he stayed on the Island. The promoter respected II, but also wanted him to name a Mr. Wrestling 3. 

It was not me.

She wanted it on one of the Island guys, but II wasn't really into it. If he was going to endorse a Mr. Wrestling 3, he wanted to choose it. 

After an event in Waikiki, I was lucky to have dinner with II at a diner. Like the old school wrestling fan I am, I had plenty of questions for him. At first, I thought I was getting on his nerves because I would get a lot of one-word answers. But as the questions got more complicated, he opened up and told me some wonderful stories. I love asking about the local weekly towns and spot show towns. I asked him about the angle with Magnum TA and why it ended pretty quick after the turn. I asked him about the "letter" he penned to Bill Apter asking for the fans forgiveness.

As we were eating dessert, he said to me "Linda wants me to endorse (name) to carry the mask. You should do it." 

I was floored. I had never thought of it before. It was such an honor, but I had to say no. I was leaving pro-wrestling (see above, you can never leave.) at the end of 2007 and it would be a waste of an endorsement. I also had already built my name in professional wrestling for the last 13 years. It wasn't like I was going to the WWE and they were giving me a new character. Booking Steve Corino at X amount of dollars and booking Mr. Wrestling 3 at Y amount of dollars was not going to equal out. II had no idea that I had built my name. He thought I was a pretty good hand that looked like I needed a change.

Like he was years ago when Rubberman Johnny Walker became Mr. Wrestling II (He was the Grappler for a while in Florida before II).

I had a hard time sleeping that night at the hotel. I had already told people I was leaving. I wanted to leave in 2001 and pulled back when I got offered a full time spot with ZERO-ONE. I didn't want to be the boy that cried wolf. I got up, and using hotel stationary, started to design how Mr. Wrestling 3 would look. Mr. Wrestling II didn't look like Mr. Wrestling. Johnny Walker didn't wrestle like Tim Woods. I knew I had to be Steve Corino...as Mr. Wrestling 3. But how.

Mr. Wrestling had an all white mask. II had the black in the front. I wanted something that had black and white all over it. Why? Easy. Being a LOST fan, there was always talk of black and white being compared to good and evil. I wanted it to be a number instead of a roman numeral. 

The next morning, I met Johnny for breakfast and I show him what I drew and tell him that I would have jumped at the chance if I didn't already tell people I was leaving wrestling. He then said something that made sense to me. He said "What if Steve Corino is retired, but Mr. Wrestling 3 wrestles."

It made so much sense to me. Maybe I could leave the business as me, but wrestle when I wanted to as Mr. Wrestling 3. Maybe "3" becomes my Great Muta. We all know that Keiji Mutoh is the Great Muta. We all know Clark Kent is Superman. I didn't mind if fans knew that Steve Corino was Mr. Wrestling 3.

But, we needed something big to show the endorsement. I suggested that he give me the new mask in the middle of the ring. The promoter loved this. Johnny said "Why don't we do a tag team match."...The promoter loved this more. And then she said "What if we do the tag team match BUT put the Hawaii Championship Wrestling tag team titles on you guys?".

WOW. So, you are telling me I am going to be endorsed by Mr. Wrestling II, team with him, and then win the tag team titles in Hawaii? SIGN. ME. UP.

On October 13, 2007, Mr. Wrestling II and Mr. Wrestling 3 won the HCW tag team titles in Waikiki, Hawaii. Before the match, II says to me "I'm not coming in. I'm staying on the apron. You do everything." I said "Can I finish the kid with the Kneelift?" He said "Get your own f*&^ing moves!".

That plan of him sitting on the apron lasted about all of two minutes. As I had the champions in an Armbar, II yells over "tag me in". And then goes wild. 73 year old Mr. Wrestling II does what he did best. Wrestle.

In future editions of my new Facebook Column (Will announce the name soon), I will talk about how I felt like I failed the Mr. Wrestling 3 character, ROH, and what it is doing today.

AWA Title

Throwback Thursday: The AWA Title

Going through some old pictures on my dying computer, I saw this picture taken minutes after winning the "AWA" World heavyweight championship in 2005.

I used quotes around the AWA because decade plus debate over the legitimacy of Dale Gagne's to the AWA.

A lot of people know about the lawsuit to stop Dale from using the AWA name, but this is not what this story is about. This story is about the people that did their best to bring back the AWA name and their belief in it.

In 2004, 01Max (formerly ZERO-ONE and now ZERO1...that is another story of its own.) had just lost their affiliate NWA membership, but wanted a sanctioning body. 

Since 2001, Antonio Inoki had been the promoter of record with the National Wrestling Alliance and had given Shinya Hashimoto permission to use it for his new ZERO-ONE company. In 2004, Hashimoto had left ZERO-ONE and the company became 01Max. 

My boss, Mr. Nakamura and I were thinking of ideas in the Tokyo office one day and I had remembered that Dale Gagne was running AWA shows in the States. I contacted Dale with the idea of doing something together with our office and his. Timing was perfect because he had mentioned about expanding his AWA and offering memberships like the NWA had done. We immediately joined up and plans were made to create a new AWA World heavyweight champion. I can't remember who Dale's champion was at the time or the title had already been vacant, but it was agreed that we (01Max) could host the title match. The only "demand" that the Japanese office had was that the title belt would be in the classic "inmate" style and not the one that he had made a few years before. 

In January of 2005, Takao Omori, a student of former AWA World champion Jumbo Tsuruta defeated me in the finals of the tournament in Tokyo to become the first of this generations AWA champions. The match and title got a lot of press in the Japanese magazines and it was the kick that 01Max needed at the time.

Although it was not my call, Dale agreed on the Japanese office determining the initial champion as long as I would have a run with the title. He wanted to have an American based champion for the US affiliates and I would eventually lose the title again in Japan.

Bay City, Michigan was the spot picked for the title switch from Omori to me. With Ricky Landell in my corner and "Jump" from Van Halen as my ring music (the company didn't have anyones music), I fought from underneath and won the title. 

I was proud. As a Winnipeg-born, American-raised wrestler, I loved reading about the AWA as a kid. In fact, and if you go back to my picture with Hulk Hogan, the first live show I ever saw was an AWA show in Winnipeg in 1983.

For six months, I traveled the world, like I did when I was the NWA World's champion, and did my very best to bring back legitimacy to the AWA World title. I defended the title not only in the United States, but Canada, United Kingdom, and Japan. The title meant a lot to me.

In January of 2006, with Nick Bockwinkel at ringside, I lost the title to Shinjiro Otani. Otani, a lifelong wrestling fan, was so excited after the match that he hugged me for five minutes. He believed in the title.

I got a quick second run as champion in 2007, more as a transitional placeholder, after I defeated Ric Converse and then lost the title to Takao Omori.

Eventually, like the NWA, the AWA system of affiliates failed. Too much in the way of "rasslin politics" by a handful of promoters that had no clue. Add that and the lawsuit, Dale quietly started promoting shows under the Wrestling Superstars Live banner.

A lot has been written about Dale Gagne over the years, but I will go on record that Dale was nothing but professional with me. He never screwed me on money or bookings. Never gave me false hope or empty promises. Always put me up in above average hotels and required his affiliates to follow suit. It was the treatment I hoped for when I was NWA World's champion.

Dale was also tough on me and Ricky Landell. He trusted us, but wanted us to be leaders on his shows. When Ricky and I made a bid to become AWA World tag team champions, he said no. He told us that we had to prove ourselves. He believed in his AWA. I respected that.

"Wrestling history books" will deny Omori, Otani, Converse, Landell, Tanaka, and myself the same recognition that Gagne, Vachon, Bockwinkel, and Fritz Von Erich got as AWA champion. But its okay.

We were all proud to hold the "inmate" title belt. Legit or not. For those few years, it was legit to us.

Until next time.