Nobody generated that kind of a situation. They wanted that because they so hated him because of the way he was on camera and on the mic. They wanted him to challenge me or challenge Pedro Morales or someone else. None of those other guys could create that kind of a situation that people were even interested in seeing them wrestle somebody. Now since Lou passed I've heard some people say that Bobby Heenan might have been the best manager, or Gary Hart, or Fred Blassie, or Ernie Roth (The Grand Wizard). Believe me, there were many times when he had to fight his way from the ring back to the dressing room, but that never put any fear into him. He would say and do things where he would literally put himself at risk. From now on I'm changing my name from Lou Albano to Lou Alban." Can you imagine how much that angered some people? But that was Lou. I'm embarrassed to be an Italian if he's Italian. ![]() One time on an interview, he said, "This Sammartino is such a disgrace. A lot of times he would go a little over the edge, and if any attacked him, he'd fight. Most people wouldn't believe it, but the way he was in the ring was mostly the way he was outside the ring. That's why he was so good at what he did, because he brought himself in front of that mic every day. Away from the ring, was he anything like the guy the fans saw? He had that ability to really create that kind of situation with the fans.ĭuring that era when the business was much more protected than it is today, people really believed that Lou was this crazy, loose cannon. He was so hated by the audiences that he would sell out arenas – I wrestled him at The Boston Garden and the Civic Center there in Baltimore – because people wanted to see him get the heck beat out of him. In that respect, he helped a lot of guys get to the top. ![]() Lou was his mouthpiece, and he could be so obnoxious that he not only could get you mad at him, but whoever he was managing. If you put a microphone in front of him, forget about it, he just couldn't talk. Vince thought about it and said, "What have we got to lose? Let's give him a try." With that, they put him with a guy named Crusher Verdu, a Spaniard who didn't speak very good English. " By that, I mean that they may have been very talented in the ring, but they were duds on the microphone – and the microphone plays a big role in getting you over. As a manager, this guy is such a terrific mouthpiece that he can really help make some wrestlers who couldn't make it on their own really rise. He's just going to be a preliminary guy barely making a living. As a wrestler he ain't going nowhere, especially now that The Sicilians are over with. At one of those meetings I said, "Vince, you have to take Albano and try to make him a manager. He would take me sometimes in a private room and ask me what I though about certain talents who wanted to come in. The Sicilians eventually had to break up because somebody didn't think it them being The Sicilians was too funny, and they got a threatening little message, and it was decided they better quit that.Įvery Thursday we had live TV out of Washington, D.C., and Vince McMahon Sr. But I took notice of Lou every time he had a chance to do an interview – he was more the spokesperson rather than Tony Altimore. They were just at a certain plateau and that was it. They got some main events, not in a major arena like Madison Square Garden, Boston Garden or Baltimore Civic Center, but in what we called the secondary clubs. I'm not going to tell you they became the hottest tag team in the world, because they did not, but they made a bit of an impact with the Mafia-style outfits that they wore. Later, he and Tony Altimore became The Sicilians. He was just a regular preliminary guy on the card. Lou was not the best by any means and he wasn't making much of an impact. I was the one responsible for him becoming a manager. And I say that sincerely he was absolutely the best. As a manager, I don't know anybody who could argue the fact that he was the best.
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