Job Man ─ My 25 Years in Professional Wrestling

PRO WRESTLER’S BOOK RECALLS 25 YEARS OF MAYHEM IN THE RING ?I’m going on 57 years old, and if I sit too long in one position, a few aches and pains remind me of the days when I put the Crusher, Mad Dog Vachon and Hulk Hogan over in front of the fans. People say pro wrestling is faked, but that's not quite true. Yes, its entertainment, and we’re telling stories in the ring, but ?fake” isn't the right way to put it. Every wrestler has the capability to seriously injure his opponent. The art of the sport is learning to take dangerous falls in such a way as to render them harmless. One wrong move and you're in a wheelchair for life.” Chris Curtis was a ?job man,’ a specially trained worker hired to put a main event wrestler like Jake ?The Snake” Roberts or Jerry ?The King” Lawler ?over.” Curtis’s ring persona was that of a ?heel,” (the bad guy) who bent the rules, cheated and did everything he could to defeat his ?baby face” (the good guy) opponent. Before he turned pro, Curtis wrestled Victor, a 600-lb black bear, in front of 6,000 people at the Milwaukee Sentinel Sports Show in 1978. He learned how to be a job man at the old Federation Hall on Milwaukee’s south side. He began taping matches for the ?All-Star Wrestling” television show less than a year later. Chris Curtis’s new book, ?Job Man: My 25 Years in Pro Wrestling,” offers a rare, inside look into the popular sport by someone who was there. Curtis began wrestling for Minneapolis-based promoter Verne Gagne in 1979. He also worked for ?Cowboy” Bill Watts in the Mississippi and Louisiana territories, and for Vince McMahon Jr.’s World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) out of New York City. In a career that spanned 25 years and more than 700 matches, Curtis wrestled Jesse ?The Body” Ventura, Andre the Giant, Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell, Chief Wahoo McDaniel and many other stars of the ring. He’s suffered broken hands, cracked ribs, bruised kidneys, dislocated knees and several concussions in his chosen profession, all without regret. ?I’d do it all over again if I had the chance,” Curtis says. ?Not many people can look back and honestly say they loved what they did for a living.” ?Job Man: My 25 Years in Pro Wrestling” is filled with stories and anecdotes collected over a long and fascinating career. The book features 38 pages of photographs and a Foreword by Baron von Raschke. Published by Alamo Press, $19.95.

Chris Curtis was a ?job man,’ a specially trained worker hired to put a main event wrestler like Jake ?The Snake” Roberts or Jerry ?The King” Lawler ?over.” Curtis’s ring persona was that of a ?heel,” (the bad guy) who bent the rules, cheated and did everything he could to defeat his ?baby face” (the good guy) opponent. Before he turned pro, Curtis wrestled Victor, a 600-lb black bear, in front of 6,000 people at the Milwaukee Sentinel Sports Show in 1978. He learned how to be a job man at the old Federation Hall on Milwaukee’s south side. He began taping matches for the ?All-Star Wrestling” television show less than a year later. Chris Curtis’s new book, ?Job Man: My 25 Years in Pro Wrestling,” offers a rare, inside look into the popular sport by someone who was there. Curtis began wrestling for Minneapolis-based promoter Verne Gagne in 1979. He also worked for ?Cowboy” Bill Watts in the Mississippi and Louisiana territories, and for Vince McMahon Jr.’s World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) out of New York City. In a career that spanned 25 years and more than 700 matches, Curtis wrestled Jesse ?The Body” Ventura, Andre the Giant, Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell, Chief Wahoo McDaniel and many other stars of the ring. He’s suffered broken hands, cracked ribs, bruised kidneys, dislocated knees and several concussions in his chosen profession, all without regret. ?I’d do it all over again if I had the chance,” Curtis says. ?Not many people can look back and honestly say they loved what they did for a living.” After a successful amateur wrestling career and a stint in the United States Army, James Raschke started in professional wrestling in 1966 in the American Wrestling Association as a referee. He was soon wrestling under the name of Jim Raschke, playing off of his amateur wrestling notoriety in the area. He eventually changed his ring name to Baron von Raschke and claimed to be from Germany. He would do a goose-step and then put his finisher known as the "brainclaw", on his opponent. His most memorable quote came at the end of an interview during which - running out of time before the next match and not fully hearing the question - he simply blurted out, "Dat is all da people need to know!". Earlier in his career, the Baron had a finishing maneuver known as the 'Prussian Sleeper', a rather complex variation of a traditional sleeper hold. His trademark mantra at the time was; "I am ORDERED to win! I MUST win! and I WILL win!" Milwaukee native Larry Widen has worked in advertising, marketing, and public relations. He is the former owner of several area theaters and is currently the managing director of the historic Modjeska Theater on Milwaukee’s south side. Widen also teaches photography in the continuing education department of the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. As a journalist, particularly as an interviewer, Widen has written about Gregg Allman, B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Alice Cooper, and Johnny Winter, to name but a few. One of his best conversations took place with rock and roll legend Little Richard, who raucously put Widen through his paces at a dining room table in Arizona. Widen’s love of music coupled with a vast portfolio of rock and roll-related photographs made him the perfect choice to create this book on Milwaukee’s Rock and Roll history. Widen has 40 years experience as a photographer and travels nowhere without a camera. His photos have been exhibited in numerous galleries and published, both as an individual and in collections with other photographers. He hopes this book will preserve Milwaukee’s musical legacy, while being an entertainment experience in its own right. His previous Arcadia titles include Milwaukee Movie Theaters and Entertainment in Early Milwaukee. Widen has also seen the Rolling Stones in concert 19 times between 1975 and 2013, with shows in Milwaukee, Chicago, East Troy (WI), Detroit, San Francisco, Nice (France), and Turin (Italy).