Skandor Akbar

One of the wrestlers who passed through Texas before becoming famous was Skandor Akbar. He made his debut in the Dallas territory in November of 1966 and stayed until February of 1967.

Akbar had matches against Ken Hollis, Ronnie Etchison, Benny Matta, and Chief Little Eagle during his stay. Being a preliminary wrestler, he never had an interview on television. The only main event match he had was when he teamed with Waldo Von Erich against Al Costello and Karl Von Brauner. The first fall of the match was shown on Dallas TV. Akbar was pinned by Von Brauner after being hit in the head by Gary Hart with Costello's boomerang.

I saw Akbar in a three way match on 12-26-66 in Fort Worth during the Cowtown Tournament. His opponents were Benny Matta and Ronnie Etchison. Akbar held Etchison in a full nelson and Benny Matta dropkicked Etchison who was pinned by Akbar. Afterwards, Akbar got up and celebrated. He was promptly dropkicked and pinned by Matta.

Akbar went to several territories and came back to Dallas as the manager of Devastation Inc. He was one of the best managers in wrestling history. Akbar did great interviews for someone who did none on his first tour in Dallas. It was obvious they he worked very hard at it.

I meet Akbar, his wife, Killer Karl Kox, and Tim Brooks at a wrestling convention at Arlington in 2003. They were all very nice and a pleasure to talk to.