Gordon Solie
Gordon
Solie is one of the true greats of the professional
wrestling business.
Not
a wrestler himself, but a brilliant commentator who
added some well needed credibility to the business.
Media
Man Australia is delighted to be able to endorse Gordon's
book, Something Left Behind. The book brings back
memories for me, and will be appreciated by both old
school and new school fans of professional wrestling.
Gordon
Solie, real name Francis Jonard Labiak (January 26,
1929 July 27, 2000), was a professional wrestling
play-by-play announcer working for World Championship
Wrestling. Gordon Solie was also the regular announcer
for Georgia Championship Wrestling, Florida Championship
Wrestling, and Continental Championship Wrestling
among others.
Gordon
Solie is possibly the most recognized voice from the
days of "classic wrestling" (used here synonymous
with the territorial system) and was nicknamed the
"Dean" of wrestling announcers, the "Walter
Cronkite of wrestling" and the "Howard Cosell
of wrestling." He is best known for his laconic,
intelligent commentary, and he tried to impart a seriousness
to ring action that many of his coworkers eschewed
for the loud, bombastic style more common today. One
of his trademarks was his pronunciation of "suplex"
as "su-play", a term later used by the AWA's
Rod Trongard and wrestler/announcer Terry Taylor.
In
1995, "Macho Man" Randy Savage pushed for
World Championship Wrestling to place his father,
Angelo Poffo, in its Hall of Fame. Solie opposed this
decision, because he felt wrestlers (or in this case,
family of wrestlers) should not be asking for spots
in the Hall in this case, especially, since
Poffo did not have much of a career in WCW. Gordon
Solie was involved in the selection of the '93 and
'94 inductees but was not consulted in regard to the
'95 group. Although Solie was also inducted in the
1995 WCW Hall of Fame, he had already given his notice
of termination. Poffo's induction went on and Solie
left the company shortly after.
Solie
has been also inducted into the National Wrestling
Alliance Hall of Fame.
Solie's
last announcing job was to be the Heroes of Wrestling
PPV in 1999, but he could not attend due to failing
health.
In
2005, Florida Media, Inc. published Solie's memoirs
in a book entitled "Gordon Solie...Something
Left Behind." (Credit:
Wikipedia)
Profiles
Wrestling
Websites
Solie's
Vintage Wrestling
Australian
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