Bob Backlund; A true champion in and out of the professional wrestling ring Media Man Int

Bob Backlund; A true champion in and out of the professional wrestling ring

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by Greg Tingle

It's easy to respect a great wrestler - amateur, professional or both, and Mr. Backlund fits the bill. More than that, by all accounts he is a champion of a man and a real life role model.

Bob Backlund is an American retired professional wrestler with a formidable in-ring career spanning over 30 years.

The all round champion is best known for his campaigns in the World Wide Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Federation (WWWF/WWF, later known as World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE), where he is a two-time WWWF/WWF Heavyweight Champion/WWF World Heavyweight Champion (Backlund's first reign is the second-longest reign in the title history, behind Bruno Sammartino's first), as well as being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013.

We're been a wrestling fan since 5 years of age, and Backlund fan since we first watched that infamous match against The Iron Sheik at Madison Square Garden. The match that took place on December 26, 1983 and was broadcast on Channel Nine's 'Wide World Of Sports' about one year later.

Backlund's style made me believe. It made me believe that pro wrestlers were tough, and that amateur wrestlers could take on and beat any other form of combat fighter. Since about age 10 I knew that professional wrestling was as much about show business as sport, but Backlund and a few contemporaries such as Harley Race, Terry Funk, Dory Funk Jr and Antonio Inoki brought a new and substantial credibility to the mat game. Of course later on the "monsters: such as Hulk Hogan dominated the landscape, and brought the business of pro wrestling - especially the WWE, to new financial levels and the marketing and media machine went into full on overdrive.

Why does Mr. Backlund get significant coverage via the Media Man Group websites? A number of reasons. We enjoy covering people and events of substance. Our history lays in journalism and media sales, long before we fully grasped for the media agency - sports agency world was all about. Mr Backlund is a real living legend of processional wrestling, in a rime when we have already lost quite a few. I also had the enjoyment and experience of watching some of Backlund's matches with my late father, 'Tricky' Ricky Tingle, who is the person who got me interested in the mat game in the beginning. Dad used to drive trucks on the Sydney Waterfront with the likes of George Barnes aka 'The Balmain' Tiger, who also wrestled a few times a month. George was a very good wrestler / worker, with a bit of a mean streak, and he took a lot of big bumps some of which remind me of the way Shawn Michaels used to bounce all over the ring. Back to Barnes, we even saw Barnes get dropped on his head at Manly-Warringah Leagues Club (Northern Beaches of Sydney) No doubt Barnes is still paying the price to this day.

To me, Backlund represents hard work, dedication, healthy living, love of one's country and respect.

He later crossed over (pun intended) to a more "sports entertainment" style, by being a good guy, made him a bad guy aka villain, in the eyes of many fans. Part of him straight laced good guy (but heel to fans) was due to him preaching about morals and making fans recite the names of the American presidents. I guess that will work with most pro wrestling fans in America.

There's so much that could be written about this great man, but right at the moment, I don't have the time to write the thousands of words he's due. The good news is that Backlund does have a book which you can find out more about on his website.

We don't interview that many pro wrestlers these days, as we have a lot on just running our company and focussing on our core business (advertising - media sales), project management and media campaigns, but this is one interesting and newsworthy individual, and I think it's worth an approach. He would be in good company with his contemporaries such as Harley Race and Killer Kowalski. Mr Backlund is already in some of the same articles, mainly about greatness and respect in wrestling and combat sports, so anything else would be a bonus. I also love Backlund's never say die attitude and message about hard work and respect, also echoed by my late father, and these principals have served me well in my career and overall life.

When real life role models are becoming increasingly more difficult to find, we've been delighted to shine a light on this great man today. Public thank you Mr. Bob Backlund for all of which you have given to the great sport of professional wrestling over the years. Anything you ever got out of it was earned. As wrestling fans sometimes chant, you deserve it.

Backlund vs The Iron Sheik. Madison Square Garden, New York

Backlund (then WWF Champion), Vince McMahon Sr. and Harley Race (NWA Champion)

Mr. Bob Backlund. WWF. Circa 1994

Backlund's autobiography, The All-American Boy: Lessons and Stories on Life from Wrestling Legend Bob Backlund, was released on September 18, 2015. The 352-page book, contributed to by Robert H. Miller, includes interviews with Roddy Piper, Ric Flair, The Iron Sheik and Vince McMahon.

News

Bob Backlund autobiography description - September 2013

Multimedia

Bob Backlund VS The Iron Sheik - 26th December 1983

Bob Backlund vs. Jesse Ventura-MSG-3/12/82

Bob Backlund vs. Ken Patera (Texas Death Match)

Bob Backlund gets an impromptu Pokémon Go tutorial: Raw, July 25, 2016

Bob Baclund vs Harley Race (Madison Square Garden): WWWF vs NWA