![]() ![]() He was in some ways the same streetwise bully he portrayed in his earlier wrestling days, challenging his rivals' manhood and hurling decidedly un-PC epithets at the gathered crowds. He became Sammartino's principle foil, despite the fact that he hardly set foot in the ring Albano sent fearsome heels at Sammartino like an ornery god lobbing thunderbolts at antiquity's heroes.Įven as a heel - some would say especially as a heel - Albano was a ragtag supernova of charisma: long, frazzled mane Hawaiian shirts unbuttoned to the navel rubber bands tying off his unkempt goatee and dangling from his ears. ![]() It was a convenient storyline for pro wrestling's territorial era: Sammartino was a In his new role, Albano bridged the gap. He dubbed himself "Captain Lou" - a direct (albeit imprecise) reference to Albano's pre-wrestling military career. On the advice of the iconic Bruno Sammartino, Albano made the first significant shift of his career, ending his days as a grappler and refashioning himself into a diabolical manager, determined to dethrone Sammartino and end his years-long championship reign. Never the most talented ring technician to begin with, Albano was nonetheless indisputably good at provoking the fans. The Sicilians had a good run - they even briefly held the United States tag titles in Vince McMahon Sr.'s World Wide Wrestling Federation (the progenitor of the WWE) - but by 1969 they had dissolved their union. This basic equation would repeat itself throughout Albano's career. And it's instructive that Albano so straightforwardly and eagerly became someone else for mainstream exposure. I won't claim to have seen the show, but it's interesting nonetheless that Gleason, in bringing the wrestling world in all its oddity to mainstream culture, chose a young Lou Albano as his shepherd. ![]() In retrospect, it's paradoxical that a performer footed in the Golden Age of wrestling would incite its unraveling.Īlbano and Altomare also appeared on a 1963 episode of Jackie Gleason and His American Scene Magazine (aka The Jackie Gleason Show), as professional wrestler Sandpaper Sam Staccato and referee Harry Hornet respectively. And in that way, he kicked open the doors for wrestling's erratic modern era, his dissociative personality spreading to his sport at large. But if Albano can't be defined without some acquiescence to all of these disparate parts - if he's as much none of them as he is all of them - the confusion was largely of his own creation. The popular image of Captain Lou Albano is probably a crude amalgamation of the first three the lattermost is certainly the most accurate if longevity - or the opinion of wrestling diehards - is the measure of a reputation. One could forgive a child of 1991 if he were to look at a photo of Captain Lou Albano and say, "That's Super Mario," or a teenager from 1986 if he were to say, "That's Cyndi Lauper's dad." Similarly, one could forgive a late '80s wrestling fan if he saw Albano only as a buffoonish torchbearer for the good guy wrestlers, or an older wrestling fan if he knew him only as a loudmouth heel hypeman. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |