Cowboy Bob Ellis

One of the most popular babyfaces that came through Dallas-Fort Worth in the '60s was Cowboy Bob Ellis. He was a real cowboy from San Angelo who owned a ranch and horses. Bob's finishing move was the bulldog headlock. He would grab a headlock on his opponent in the corner. Bob would then run and drop his foe flat on his face.

Bob did a very good babyface interview. He had the fans convinced the he would get revenge on his evil opponent. A fiery comeback after taking a lot of punishment was also a trademark of his. Bob would bleed a lot to get sympathy from the fans. His willingness to bleed made him an ideal opponent from Fritz Von Erich. The bleeding helped establish Von Erich's Iron Claw as a devastating hold. Look at the September 20, 2009 entry of Gary Gibson's Memories for details of the Von Erich-Ellis feud.

Bob did feud with several other heels. Killer Karl Kox, Tony Borne, Mark Lewin, The Destroyer, The Dalton Brothers, Chris Tolos, and the Wrecker. Bull Curry and Ernie Ladd were Ellis' most frequent tag team partners.

Some of Bob's matches can be seen on YouTube. The last I heard of Bob wrestling was in 1978 against Dale Valentine who was later known as Buddy Roberts. He was very entertaining and was one of the best babyfaces of the time.