15 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: Tony Atlas
8. Claims He Turned Down The WWF Title For Shoes
This is another one of Tony's tales that might/might not be true, but it's worth exploring regardless.
Atlas told VICE that he got a call from a girl he’d been seeing. She said she had new shoes and wanted to walk all over him. Excited, Tony started getting ready to leave the building. He planned to come back for his match later. That's when ‘Chief’ Jay Strongbow warned him not to, because the upcoming match would be a test of whether or not the strongman had what it took to become World Champion.
That's according to Tony, anyway. Atlas palmed that off and left. Someone out there would be able to poke holes in this, probably, but it’s what Tony claims. He would’ve become the first ever black World Champ had he stuck around, but the WWF lost interest when he started missing shows more regularly.
Finally losing patience, Vince McMahon called Tony into his office said he had to make an example out of Atlas by letting him go. Tony was crushed by this news, but can see why Vince had to do it in hindsight. VICE's interviewers didn't seem sure whether or not to believe everything Atlas was saying, and the timeline is a little sketchy.
There's no word on when this happened, exactly, or who was the reigning WWF Champion at the time. Atlas wasn't properly released from the fed until 1987, which means Hulkamania was in full swing. Being brutally honest, there's no way Tony was dethroning Hulk Hogan at that stage in the game.