By Mr. Mal Occhio

Never let it be said that Mr. Mal doesn’t respond to all of the fine comments left on this board by my beloved Pals of Mal. In discussing some of the great tag teams of the past, you have brought up so many more great teams recently – Sheik and Volkoff; Studd/Bundy; The Dudley Boys; The Steiners; The Bushwackers; The Bolsheviks; Valentine/Beefcake; The Hollywood Blondes; even Head Cheese! - but leave it to faithful reader PizzaSteve, however, to up the ante just that little bit more – by talking about how sweet it would be to bring back midget tag teams. Like the headline says, ask – and ye shall receive. Let’s get this outta the way right up front . . .

In case you did not realize this by now, Mr. Mal ain’t exactly a newcomer to this here thang we call professional wrestling. I remember well when midgets were a semi-regular staple of a wrestling card, in particular, the smaller independent cards that were still a big attraction to many cities that did not regularly get the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the American Wrestling Association (AWA) or the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It remained this way all the way up to the early 90s or so when they were essentially driven out of business by exclusive contracts signed by talent in the remaining two big leagues at that time.

In the truest sense of “Big Time Wrestling� these images are from a card I attended back on Dec. 28, 1986 at the Windsor Arena in Windsor, ON, Canada, promoted by George “Crybaby� Cannon (RIP). Yep – you guessed it – we’ve walked right into another installment of Time Travelin’ with Mr. Mal! This card is infamous in my wrestling lore for being the first time Mr. Mal was introduced to the true meaning of the phrase, “Promoter reserves the right to make suitable substitutions� when scheduled and advertised talent Kevin Sullivan, Mark Lewin and Sweet Daddy Siki failed to appear. Nonetheless, it remains a great and memorable card – my first one ever attended.

The midget performers depicted in the earlier photograph were Little Mr. T, here teamed with Farmer Pete, as they took on the dastardly duo of “Dirtyâ€? Frenchy Lamont and Ivan the Terrible. Of note, Little Mr. T appeared on one of the industyr’s most-historic cards — April 20, 1986 — at AWA’s WrestleRock. There, he was pitted with Cowboy Lang against Lord Littlebrook and Little Tokyo, with T’s side getting the duke. Wrestling fans the world over owe all of these pint-sized performers a huge debt for all the entertainment they provided throughout the years, Mr. Mal included.

NOTE: Thanks to Little Mr. T’s daughter Isabel for correcting some misinformation about her father Israel, in particular, those on the internet who have confused him with the Haiti Kid. WrestlersRambling.com proudly corrects this error and appreciates the input.

Come back later for far more than midgets! Plenty more to discuss, including coming up close and personal with the uncle of Sabu – the man, the myth, the legend – the Original Sheik, Ed Farhat! And feel free to share stories from cards you may have attended, in particular smaller, independent shows. Never boring, they always contained a few gems, at least in the mind of Mr. Mal – and hopefully yours too. And share this site with your friends! Let’s get a gang growing here!

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