Atlas’ Rise And Fall (Part 5)
By Mike Mooneyham Oct. 30, 2005 Fifth in a series Tony Atlas has many wonderful memories of the wrestling business. He enjoyed matches with some of the greatest performers in the profession and traveled the world many times over. Mention the name Bruiser Brody, though, and Atlas’ normally jovial demeanor turns somber. “I try not [...]
Atlas’ Rise And Fall (Part 4)
By Mike Mooneyham Oct. 23, 2005 Fourth in a series The wrestling business was a close-knit fraternity when Tony Atlas began mastering the craft in the mid-’70s. The “boys,” as they were known in the wrestling trade, knew which highways and back roads to take, which restaurants to stop in and the names of ring [...]
Atlas’ Rise And Fall (Part 3)
By Mike Mooneyham Oct. 16, 2005 Third in a series Stuck in Maine with change in his pocket and nowhere to go, Tony Atlas spent six months sleeping in parks and on street corners, sometimes in temperatures that hovered below zero. It was 1989, and only a few years earlier he was pulling in main-event [...]
Atlas’ Rise And Fall (Part 2)
By Mike Mooneyham Oct. 6, 2005 Second in a series Tony Atlas was once a big-money player in the wrestling business. He had the build and the look of a champion. Vince McMahon called him “a promoter’s dream.” During the late ’70s and the first half of the ’80s, Atlas headlined in the major arenas [...]
Atlas’ Rise And Fall (Part 1)
By Mike Mooneyham Oct. 2, 2005 First in a series Tony White has lived the life of a pauper and a prince, and he’s done it more than once. The wrestler known as “Mr. USA” Tony Atlas grew up literally dirt-poor in a two-room house with dirt for a floor. He’s also been a top-ranked [...]