Pro Wrestling

LIKE it or not, professional wrestling, or what passes for it, is popular again. The "sport" is a key attraction worldwide on cable television, drawing an estimated 35 million viewers.What viewers see is wrestling-as-show-business, a sort of burlesque. These so-called wrestlers fake everything about the competition -- the holds, the pain, the wins, the losses.But we shouldn't be too quick to deride them or their game. Baltimore has a history of staging versions of this kitsch to packed houses.

JOHN TOLOS, 78 Professional Wrestler John Tolos, a professional wrestler whose dastardly antics in bouts with archrival Freddie Blassie attracted throngs to the Olympic Auditorium and one record-setting match at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1971, has died. He was 78. Nicknamed the Golden Greek, Tolos died of kidney failure Thursday at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Los Angeles' Woodland Hills neighborhood, his son Chris said. Tolos, who spent more than 30 years in the ring, gained fame as Los Angeles' top villain in the early 1970s, according to Dave Meltzer, a pro wrestling historian and editor of the Wrestling Observer newsletter.

YOU NEED NOT travel to the North Pole to find Santa Claus. There's a busy workshop filled with not one but many dozen Santas, and it's in Hampstead.Since July, the artful hands of Louise Suchanich have modeled ** papier-mache into old-fashioned Santa figurines. She's made pink pig Santas, cone-shaped and star-shaped Santas.Her diverse collection was exhibited this fall at the Carroll County Farm Museum. Her work can be seen at a craft show Saturday at the Dover Air Force Base, Del.In addition, her Santas are on display at Christmas in the Woods in Stevenson, Baltimore County, where she began showing her soft-sculpture dolls 15 years ago. In those days, she often created portraits up to 66 inches tall on commission.

I had intended to take a little break from writing about Chris Benoit, but after watching some cable "news" shows on television, I had to get this off my chest. I'm not going to say that WWE always handles every situation the way I think it should, but I couldn't agree more with the company when it issued a statement saying it was "concerned with the sensationalistic reporting and speculation being undertaken by some members of the media." I think the key phrase in that statement is "some members of the media."

It has been a tough year to be a pro wrestling fan. In addition to the usual snickering from friends and co-workers over the genre's farcical nature and low-brow humor, fans endured the media's sensationalistic coverage of the Chris Benoit double murder-suicide, as well as a steroid scandal. Tonight, however, World Wrestling Entertainment supporters can take pride in being pro wrestling fans. At 9 on USA Network, WWE will broadcast its fifth annual Tribute to the Troops. The show, which was taped earlier this month and is hosted by Armed Forces Entertainment, features WWE stars performing for military personnel in Iraq.

EVERY AUTUMN, North Carroll Business Club members momentarily tune out the hum of high technology for a more tangible, screamin' and sweatin' mega-audience sort of buzz. They sponsor the legends of pro wrestling for a one-night public blockbuster at the high school.The club's members are students from the high school led by business instructor Tom Davidson. In its seventh season of sponsoring the sport, the club has invited more than 16 pro wrestlers to North Carroll High School to create Pro Wresting Spectacular 7. Bell time is at 7: 30 p.m. Nov. 14."

Members of the North Carroll Business Club will abandon the concerns of business and technology Saturday to elbow their way into a different arena.They'll sponsor a professional wrestling match.The Third Annual Pro Wrestling Spectacular will take place at 7:30 p.m. at North Carroll High School."The [federation] brings in a full-size ring, we turn the lights down and turn the big spotlight on, and it's the big time," said Tom Davidson, an adviser to the group.When not teaching computer courses to students in grades nine through 12, Mr. Davidson is an adviser to the 27 students who belong to the North Carroll Business Club.

Back at the dawn of Baltimore television, when the Sunpapers owned the first station here, a 25-year-old Evening Sun reporter named Jim McManus agreed to work in front of the camera for $65 a week. It was 1947. The station, WMAR-TV, had to fill hours upon hours with original programming. So its crews did remote telecasts, running from the races at Pimlico to supermarket openings to professional wrestling matches at the old Baltimore Coliseum. McManus, a reporter and announcer, didn't care for the pro wrestling assignment.

There are certain basic truths about the human existence, and one is this: Unless you count cartoons, pro wrestling is the only place on Earth where you can smash a metal folding chair over a man's head, crush his windpipe with your elbow and drive a knee into his groin, only to watch him jump up as if he had just received a brisk massage.That is exactly what's taking place on this steamy night at the Baltimore Arena. A roaring, sell-out crowd of 12,000 is watching Hulk Hogan mop the ring with Vader in the feature match of World Championship Wrestling's Super Brawl V, with the whole ugly business being beamed across the nation on pay-per-view.

Is this a great time to be a football fan in Baltimore or what?First, we get the Cleveland Browns and transform them into the Ravens, and now this: The Baltimore Arena will be the site as former Chicago Bear Steve McMichael and Kevin Greene of the Carolina Panthers trade in their helmets and shoulder pads for two pairs of spandex tights.McMichael and Greene will make their professional wrestling debuts here on Sunday evening as part of World Championship Wrestling's Great American Bash pay-per-view event.