Ron Garvin (wrestler): I may have hated this guy the most

Ok, so Garvin was a flash in the pan ('87 - '90) as far as wrestling stardom is concerned and he was a relative non-issue as far as wrestling was concerned but I hated this man with an absolute passion back in the 80's despite the fact that he was a babyface (good guy.) Why? Because he was the opponent of my favorite wrestler of all time who just happens to be widely regarded as the G.O.A.T.

G.O.A.T. means "Greatest of all Time" by the way and the person i am referring to is Ric Flair. However, this article is not about Flair it is about Ron Garvin. My hatred of this man come from his presence in the NWA in the late 80's where he emerged on the scene and actually very quickly became a major player (he would later move to WWF and experience some fame there but I didn't have cable so I never saw any of that.)

I just disliked him because he was a constant thorn in the side of my then (and now) favorite wrestler, Nature Boy Ric Flair.

The main problem I had with Garvin is that he would win so frequently against Flair and i suppose i was too young at the time to realize that this is simply what they do to us in this sport. The Babyfaces play fair and the heels cheat to win. It has been going on for 50 years and still people have a hard time separating their emotions from it.

I was less than 10 years old at this point so I have an excuse of sorts. Garvin arrived on the scene and was almost immediately named the man "with the hands of stone" and would routinely knock other famous wrestlers out cold. Ric Flair was one of these guys that was on the receiving end of these knockout punches and it drove me crazy.

there he is, holding Flair's belt

I still harbor some disdain for this guy over the years but there is one thing that you absolutely must understand that is amazing about him. He emerged to stardom at a very fast rate. There are very few that have done it faster, and he also faded away just about as quick. It took me nearly 30 years to accept Garvin as a natural talent that rose through the ranks so quickly and the fact that he upset me so much (and countless other Flair fans) is a testament to his very real talent in the sport.

One of the major things about him was another aspect of his persona. He used a modified headlock called the "Weaver Lock" when he was wrestling which would put the forearm across the chin of an opponent rather than resting the victim's neck in the elbow area. The regular "rear naked choke" as it is known in MMA was dangerous enough, but this modified neck hold unfortunately resulted in lots of children like me becoming very interested in it.

At one point in my life I was at a friend's house and during a swimming pool wrestling fight (as was common in the 80's) I decided to put my pal's significantly older brother in a weaver lock in the middle of the pool.

Seeing as how i was maybe 9 years old at the time and he was getting close to 20 years of age, this turned out to be a very bad idea for me as he ripped me off his back and proceeded to hold me underwater until i passed out. Don't anyone freak out.... he was very concerned about the fact that i was non-responsive and that only lasted for about a minute or so. Believe it or not I didn't die.

Perhaps this is part of the reason why I hate Ron Garvin so much: Not only did he dethrone my hero Ric Flair but he also inspired me to try a move that nearly resulted in me being forcibly drowned by a far stronger opponent!

Ron would go on to wrestle in WWF for a few years after leaving NWA (which would eventually become WCW and then become nothing) and retired in style. He was actually an incredibly talented dude who just happened to capture the emotions of many 10-year old kids at the time.

At least he knocked out Hogan a couple of times. I never liked that guy despite the fact that he was the most popular wrestler in the history of wrestling.