Ask and ye shall receive - pics of taggin’ midgets - for regular contributor, PizzaSteve
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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April 24th, 2006 at 9:30 pm
You are the best!! Has anybody told you that recently. The midgets rule. I remember that match with Hillbilly Jim and King Kong Bundy. Didnt Bundy splash one of the midgets?? I think we should write in and get a couple of midgets to dress like Vince and Shane and come out at the beginning of RAW. Remember when all those scary clown midgets came out with Doink? FYI, I think you already know, Pizzasteve is deathly afraid of midgets in real life. Some people are afraid of spiders, some sharks, but for the pizzaman, its midgets. I still like to watch them on TV though. Thanks for the article and those scary pictures. I’m gonna have nightmares tonight. Okay,bye!!
April 26th, 2006 at 5:42 pm
What about the Bret Hart midget?
April 27th, 2006 at 7:05 pm
The Bret Hart midget was sweet. It was another example of Vince McMahon’s bitterness and hatred of one of the best wrestlers to ever step foot in the ring. I am a huge Bret Hart fan but it was still funny!!
April 27th, 2006 at 7:17 pm
Mr. Mal thought the same thing. They even played Bret Hart’s music and everything. That was another DX bit. I read that even Bret Hart kind of chuckled at that, as much as Bret Hart chuckles. Then I think he went down in his basement and watched that freaky lifesized guy-in-the-electic-chair thing he has down there, cranked it up to high, and imagined it was Shawn Michaels . . .
April 28th, 2006 at 10:47 pm
LOL…that electric chair thing is weird. That part of Wrestling With Shadows was just creepy…
April 29th, 2006 at 10:14 am
No kidding - and that look Hart had on his face when they filmed him sitting next it to it just SCREAMED of a man who ya just know has a lot of skeletons in his closet (just hopefully not under his house as well, like John Wayne Gacy).
January 15th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
Hey I was looking for information on “Little Mr T” and ended up on your website. Im looking for clarifaction as to his real Identity, some say he was also the Haiti Kid, Ray Kessler, others say he was Israel Torres also the co-founder of the Canadian half Pints Basket ball team
can you shed some light on this subject please.
thank you
January 15th, 2007 at 9:15 pm
hey im isabel little Ts daughter i thought i should let you know that my father was never known as the Hetti kid thats a whole different person little Ts first name is Israel can you please change it . If you need any info on my father all be more then glad to share with you.
isabel