The Story of Saddam's Champion.

For those of you who have ever looked at my profile, in my interests section you may have noticed that it states that I was once involved in professional wrestling. I was involved with the minor leagues of professional wrestling here in Minnesota for about 3 years,and I loved it so much I can't put it into words. The biggest organization I ever worked for was called The World All Star Wrestling Alliance which was owned by Ken Patera. A former Olympic power lifter,and WWF intercontinental champion. When I first went to work for Ken he was in partnership with a man named Adnan Al-Kaissyand one of the very first in ring interviews I ever did was with Adnan,and the wrestler he was managing Wild Bill Irwin. I was very nervous,and Irwin was making me even more nervous by interrupting me,and poking me in the chest. He wasn't doing it to be a jackass, he was just doing it to get the crowd going,and to have a little fun with me. Adnan I'm sure could tell I was nervous,and when the interview was over he leaned into me,and said it's o.k, and gave me a little pat on the lower back. I had several conversations with Adnan that evening about the old days of wrestling,and he seemed like a very genuinely nice guy. That was the last chance I got to talk to him because he, and Patera split ways from a business stand point after that night, but I will always remember how nice he was to the new guy. This is Adnan's story one of triumph,and freedom. Adnan went to junior high with a young man named Saddam Hussien, they were not close friends, but did know one another, when High School rolled around they went to different High schools, but would run into each other from time to time. Adnan was very involved with sports, soccer, and amature wrestling while Saddam was already involved with the Baath party. After High School Adnan came to the united states and went to college,and continued his amature wrestling, when college finished he became a professional wrestler. The promoters felt that Adnan looked like a Native American, so they called him Billy White Wolf,and later paired him with Chief Jay Strongbow (who was actually an Italian named Joe Scarpa) They were extremely popular,and became the WWE (then called WWWF) tag team champions,and held those titles for about 10 months a fairly long title reign for a tag team. Adnan was injured (by future business partner Ken Patera),and they had to forfit the titles. After recovery Adnan as Billy White Wolf wrestled in Hawaii for a brief time,and then decided to go back to Iraq to visit his family. His former School mate Saddam Huessein was now the President of that country, and after appearing on television talking about wrestling, and America he was approached by government officials, and told the President would like to speak with him. Saddam greeted Adnan with a hug, and kiss. Then they talked about America, and wrestling for a while. Saddam then informed Adnan that he could not go back to America, and that he would wrestle there in Baghdad,and Adnan was also made the head of the sports authority for youth. Adnan basically set up a professional wrestling organization in Iraq, with Adnan as the heavyweight champion. They brought in top stars from all over the world, I have seen old wrestling footage of Adnan wrestling in Baghdad, and they had crowds there that were truly unbelievable there was literally 10's of thousands of people at these events. One of the most talked about stories of all time is when Adnan was scheduled to wrestle Andre the Giant in Baghdad. It was always a unspoken rule that Andre was not asked to lose, For one it just wouldn't be believable to have a guy 6 feet tall,and 280 pounds pin a guy who was 7 feet tall,and 400 pounds. And not only that,but Andre was incredibly powerful,and he didn't have to let anyone do what he didn't want them to do. So Andre was just not asked to lose by the promoters. I've heard several different versions of this story,but according to Adnan in a recent interview I just saw, they story went something like this. Andre was already in the ring, and when Adnan came down to the ring he shook hands with Saddam, and Saddam pulled him to the side,and said this man is a wimp, and Adnan agrees with him,because he knew enough to always agree with Saddam. Then Saddam pulled back his coat a bit to expose his solid gold pistol to Adnan, and tells him that I will empty every bullet into his head if he hurts you,and I will send him back to France in a wooden box. After getting into the ring Andre asked Adnan what did the president say to you, and Adnan said he says you are a wimp, and then as they wrestled Adnan informed Andre that Andre could not win the match or Saddam would kill him. It was a best 2 out of 3 falls match,and Andre lost 2 straight falls. Adnan was given a palace to live in, millions of dollars, cars you name it he was given it by Saddam. As it's been talked about many times Saddam was very paranoid about anyone who was looked at with fondness from the Iraqi public. He considered them a threat, and most ended up dead. So Adnan started to hear rumors that he was a marked man, because he had become to popular among the Iraqi people. Adnan's brother was a Judge in Saddam's court system,and he too had heard these rumors. His brother told him your family loves you, and you do what you want, but we think you should go. So in the middle of the night Saddam had his chauffeur drive him to Kuwait with one suitcase full of cloths, and he fled to America. He ended up in Minnesota working for Vern Gagne's American Wrestling Association as a manager Sheik Adan Al-Kaissie was one of the most hated people in the history of the A.W.A. He remained in the A.W.A for most of the rest of his career until 1991 when Sgt. Slaughter went to the WWE (Then the WWF) The American hero Slaughter had now turned his back on America, because he felt that they had grown to soft. Slaughter was got getting over with the fans the way the WWF had hoped so Adnan, an Iraqi was brought in as his manager during the height of the Gulf war. He was know known as General Adnan, and even resembled Saddam a bit with his military uniform. Adnan,and Slaughter were so hated by the fans that they received constant death threats against them. Slaughter won the WWF Heavyweight title, and then lost the title to Hulk Hogan at the following Wrestlemania, after his lose Adnan turned on Slaughter as a way for Slaughter to save face with the fans before he retired. Adnan never said a bad word about Saddam or wrote a book about his life while Saddam was in power, because he knew that Saddam would kill his family members still in Iraq if he did. It wasn't until Saddam's capture that Adnan started work on his recent book. I have not read the book yet, but I have read some excerpts, and seen a few interviews with Adnan since his book came out. His book is called "The Sheik of Baghdad" and it is truly a inspiration to us here in America about how someone who overcame a dictatorship to become a success on his own terms. In a recent interview Adnan said his dream is to travel back to Iraq to have his American family meet his Iraqi family. Until next time. The Angry American

Happy belated holidays,and a look ahead to the New Year

I was without the Internet for a brief time so haven't been able to post. I was trying to save some money for our Christmas trip to Louisiana this year so I cut some corners here,and there. We drove to Louisiana again this time which I think I've made up my mind that I am never doing that again. 1300 miles each way,and lots of rain on the way home was enough to push me over the edge this time. It was nice to have the extra spending money while we were there since driving is about $600.00 cheaper then flying,but I don't think the extra money is worth it. I got some very cool pictures of the southern most part of the state while I was there. Lots of stuff still messed up from Katrina in that area which I'll share in one of my upcoming posts. Now about some current events going on. Of course my personal favorite the hanging of Saddam Hussein. We left Louisiana on Saturday morning,and I didn't even realize until late that night when we were in Missouri that he was hung that morning. Of course the conspiracy theory nuts have already started with the rants that his hanging was faked. What can you do with these people other then shake your head,and smile? The strange thing I can't figure out is that I've heard people who say we need to pull our troops out of Iraq because they are in a civil war are the same ones saying that the U.S. should have stopped the Saddam execution. Make up your mind,do you want us to interfere in their government or not? You can't have it both ways. It also seems like a sure thing that the minimum wage is going to be raised.Waitresses,and bartenders around the country are celebrating,but since the rest of the country makes more then minimum including McDonald's employees it doesn't seem to make much sense to me. But I'm sure that someone who started a small business,and hired high school kids at minimum wage won't mind raising his prices to pay his employees. As if it wasn't hard enough for small business to compete with corporate America we have to make it even harder. When I started working in 1986 minimum wage was $3.35 an hour,and in less then 20 years it will now be more then doubled. Which is far,far beyond an adjustment for inflation. This new raise is just much to big,and is really going to end up hurting a lot of small businesses. The minimum wage is not where someone who is say my age of 36 should be making. And if you are my age,and still make minimum wage maybe you need to look at your choices you've made in your life time. The minimum wage is for small businesses that hire high school kids,and for waitress and bartender jobs that offer tips. It is not a living wage,and I don't know one single person who works full time over the age of 25 who makes minimum wage. The whole minimum wage raise is just stupid, and is not going to do anything to help families or small business in this country. A new house speaker,and a house,and senate run by the democrats the next 2 years should be interesting. I'll leave that topic at that for now. The Angry American