8 Important Wrestling Events That Happened When Great Balls Of Fire Was Released
6. The Madison Square Garden Riot
On 19 November, Dr. Jerry Graham and Dick the Bruiser faced Edouard Carpentier and
Antonio Rocca in a two-out-of-three falls main event of a Madison Square Garden
show. After taking the first fall, Rocca locked Bruiser in a backbreaker which
Graham illegally broke up, causing a disqualification.
That’s
when chaos arose.
Graham
busted open Rocca allegedly without the latter’s consent, so the high flyer
returned the favor by bashing Graham’s head into the ring post. The bloodshed
riled fans into a dangerous frenzy – they charged the ring, throwing oak chairs
and bottles and setting small fires on the arena floor. The casualties were two
injured policemen, three arrests, 200 broken chairs and the theft of Graham’s
$300 sequined purple robe, according to The
Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams.
As
a result, the state athletic commission fined all four participants, cancelled
the next MSG event, limited tag team matches to one per card and temporarily
banned children under 14 from attending the matches.