The Spoiler

One of the biggest monster heels to come through the Dallas territory was the Spoiler. He made his debut in Fort Worth on 8-7-67. For the next twenty years, he influenced the success of the Dallas territory as much as any wrestler. His feud with Fritz Von Erich established Fritz as the top baby face for years to come.

Gary Hart, the Spoiler's manager, said the Spoiler had a big surprise for the people. This was hyped by Hart on Fort Worth TV for three weeks. During a match where Spoiler wrestled Paul DeMarco, the surprise was revealed. Hart pulled out a glove that Spoiler put on his right hand. The matched continued to give people time to wonder what the surprise would be. Spoiler then applied the head claw like Fritz Von Erich used to DeMarco, who juiced heavily. The Spoiler’s version of the claw was called the "Hart's Krusher." The camera even did a close up on DeMarco's head for extra emphasis. The psychology behind this angle was great. As I have said before, this is what today’s wrestling is missing.

There was later a "claw vs claw" challenge between Fritz and the Spoiler on Fort Worth TV. Billy Red Lyons was in Fritz's corner and Hart was in the Spoiler's corner. Spoiler applied his claw to Fritz first who fought his way out of it after a big struggle. Fritz then applied his claw and was getting the best of it when Hart interfered and broke it up. On an interview afterwards, Fritz said that the Spoiler had a strong grip but the glove was wet causing it to draw up and apply more pressure.

In my opinion, the feud between Fritz and Spoiler was the best one of that era. It continued for several years with the American title going back and forth between them. The American tag titles were also involved in this feud. The Spoiler was unmasked during this time to be revealed as Don Jardine. The mask did go back on later because Jardine did not have the impact that he did with the mask.

The Spoiler went on to be one of the biggest stars in wrestling history working in many different territories. His quickness and agility for a big man was really unique.