This day in wrestling history originally started remembering Andre the Giant and has grown to cover some of the biggest moments in professional wrestling history.
Because of that, we’ve covered and paid our respect to some of the greatest ever by remembering them and today we’re remembering one of the greatest managers of all time, Lou Albano, as he passed away on October 14, 2009.
For many of us, we remember Captain Lou Albano from the Rock ‘n Wrestling era of the 80s when he appeared in two Cyndi Lauper videos, but he was more than that.
His interviews were awesome to watch as he could just go and go, and his energy made him infectious to the point we didn’t care; we just wanted to keep watching and listening to him.
Sharing the memories
As is customary when someone passes, others share their memories as tribute and to let others know and understand the people we lost.
Paul Heyman took to his website, heymanhustle.com, to do just that and we wanted to share a couple below. If you want more, check out Heyman’s site. You won’t regret it.
“Lou could talk. Oh man, could he talk. There were no influences in the way he came across. The Captain had a style all of his own. ‘I just remember the point I wanna bring across,’ Lou once told me, ‘and then I just babble before, during, and after. Somehow, in the middle, I said the two or three sentences that sold tickets. Mostly, I just tried to make people want to see me get my ass kicked, and along the way, hopefully the guy I was managing would catch a beating too!’”
As with many others, there are a few drinking stories as well. Somehow, it doesn’t surprise us that he’d challenge Andre the Giant to a drinking contest and refuse to give up.
“There are so many ‘Albano’ stories to tell, from the time he ran in his shorts and flip flops up 8th Avenue in New York City when his car broke down during a snow storm, and had hundreds of people following him to what was then known as The Howard Johnson’s Hotel where everyone stayed; to the time he got into a drinking contest with Andre The Giant at the hotel bar, took a Ric Flair-esque face bump into the top of a stool, cracked his head, and was knocked out cold … only to wake up when Don Muraco and Greg Valentine helped peel Lou off the floor. Lou ran outside, threw up all over the sidewalk (with half the remnants of his dinner prominently remaining on his hairy chest), came back inside, ordered another 3 rounds, turned to Andre and said ‘I get a 3 drink handicap for that bump!’”
Captain Lou Albano was a childhood favorite of mine, and I never get tired of listening to him or hearing stories about him. What’s your favorite Captain Lou story? Let me know in the comments below.
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