Welcome back to Rotten Ink. Once more we find ourselves at the Rotten Ink Arena for a very special “R.I.W Wrestling Legend” update event as our main event star is a true legend of the sport in Ohio and the Great Lake area and was the master of the Tomahawk Chop who war danced his way into the hearts of fans. I am of course talking about Chief White Owl! A part Native American wrestler who became a true icon in the eyes of fans and is long overdue to get his time to shine in the Rotten Ink Arena! So let’s grab some snacks and a drink and then find our seats as this is going to be a quick update that will showcase his talent and his wrestling story. As you can see, the house lights are dimming and that means it’s time for some wrestling action.

Chief White Owl started his pro wrestling career in 1956. While he worked smaller shows before this, around this time is when he started to make a name for himself in the sport. Working in the NWA Territories he mostly stuck around the Great Lakes area and really became a big draw in his home state of Ohio. Booked as a baby face, his war dance, Tomahawk Chop and brawling style made him a draw, as when fans seen his name on a card they attended. During the early days of his career he would wrestle such names as The Terror, The Iron Russians, The Volkoff Brothers and Sputnik Monroe. With in his early matches Chief White Owl found himself on the losing end, but quickly as his popularity with fans grew he found himself moving up the card. Throughout the 50’s he would work for Midwest Wrestling Association and this made him a true superstar in Ohio. But by the early 1960’s he would have a run for Pennsylvania based company Spectator Sports and would have some big matches against such names as The Destroyer, Gorilla Monsoon, Klondike Bill, Johnny Powers, Gypsy Joe and Baron Gattoni, to name a few. In 1965 Chief White Owl had a run in WWF (then WWWF) and would work for them until around late 1965 and would have matches against big names at the time like Waldo Von Erich, Arnold Skaaland, Johnny Rodz, Dr. Jerry Graham and The Golden Terror. After this The Chief would return working the NWA areas around Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania and by the late 60’s would even work matches in Canada. Throughout the early 1970’s Chief White Owl remained a big star on the indies and would also help put over the up and coming wrestlers, and by 1976 we would wind down his career before retiring in the early 80’s. During his wrestling run he would capture tag team gold alongside partner Luis Martinez around six times in the NWF promotion, would team with Wahoo McDaniel, get a win at Madison Square Garden and is another name that proved you could be a big star and a draw for companies and never needed a title belt to achieve his popularity. Sadly Chief White Owl would pass away from neglect from the nursing home he lived in in 2008 at the age of 72, gone and never forgotten as Chief White Owl was an icon of Pro Wrestling in Ohio. It’s also sad that he has not made it into the WWF Hall Of Fame yet, as I feel he should be.

Chief White Owl is a wrestler that I wish I would have gotten to see live, but sadly he was retired by the time I was old enough to go to events as it would have been awesome to watch him wrestle in the now-gone Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio. I first found out about Chief White Owl from my friend Theresa who knew someone in his family and who told me the sad tale of his passing, and after reading about his legacy in wrestling and just how amazing of a person he was said to be, I needed to find and see some of his matches…and sadly, not many are around to be viewed. Seeing the matches and footage I can of White Owl made me a bigger fan, as I like his brawling style, his war dance always got a great pop from the fans, his appearance was awesome as his headdress made him standout and his Tomahawk Chop signature move was well done and looked like a proper finisher for that era of wrestling. When reading about Chief White Owl I also found out that Bobby Fulton of the tag team The Fantastic and fellow Ohioan grew up watching his matches and was a fan himself. On a serious note, it’s very sad when you hear the details of how Chief White Owl passed and those at the nursing home should be ashamed of themselves and be held accountable for what they did, and my thoughts are with his family as they still battle for justice and a change in the way America allows their nursing homes to be run. But while his end was heartbreaking, his legacy in wrestling will live on forever and his name will never fade.

We are now at the point of this review where we will be taking a look at the DVD set and review some of the matches on the discs, like always between 4 to 8. Sadly I only have one match to cover for this “R.I.W Wrestling Legend” update. I want to thank HyperDevil for having this set in stock and also want to thank Chief White Owl for his hard work in the world of wrestling. I also want to remind you that I will only be breaking down randomly select matches from this set and will be breaking down the match and will be rating the matches on a 5 Star rating system. I also only choose from single matches, as I want to break down his matches that showcase his style. Here is what the stars mean ½ means a really terrible match, * means a bad match, ** means a below average match, **1/2 means a good average entertaining match, *** means a good match, **** means a great match, ***** means an epic match. So if you are ready, let’s step into the ring with Chief White Owl.

Best Of Chief White Owl

Match 1: Chief White Owl vs. Steve Stanlee

As the bell rings, Steve is able to land a punch at the top of White Owl’s head dazing him for a second as Steve keeps his attack going landing punches and kicks. After a few moments White Owl lands one big punch that knocks Steve to the mat and White Owl is fired up as he does his war dance and lands a few punches that causes Steve to get out of the ring to stop the attack. Once back in the ring Steve is pushed up against the corner and White Owl hits a big chop, but soon Steve is able to get White Owl in a sleeper hold that is broke when White Owl gets to the ropes but takes a elbow to the back of his neck when Steve lets go. Steve then hits a series of kicks to the stomach of White Owl and then goes for his eyes, but White Owl fights back with a punch to the gut and a standing headlock that backs Steve into the ropes and tangles his arms in them and delivers a chop and even lands another as Steve escapes the ropes. The two exchange hits and holds and battle until the time limit, but the referee decides to give the win to Chief White Owl. This is a classic old school wrestling match filled with brawling punches, basic wrestling moves and signature moments that would pop the fans and while it would be considered bland by todays standards of in ring work this is a very good match for its era. Steve Stanlee does a fantastic job of selling for The Chief and does so many little heel moves that makes the fans just hate him, meanwhile Chief White Owl does his war dance, his tomahawk chops and uses his fired up temper to have the fan eating out of his hands. White Owl’s series of drop kicks look really great and he as well is great seller as he makes Steve as well look good in the ring as its clear the two had good chemistry. The time limit decision win that goes to The Chief was a little confusing, but the live fans seemed to dig it so I guess it worked. The pacing was well done and Steve Stanlee even was able to get in some silly heel comedy moments as well as cheating to help the pace along. Over all this was an entertaining old school match and shows why Chief White Owl was a well loved wrestler.

Grade: ***

The legend of Chief White Owl is still going strong to this day as his family, friends and fans keep his memory alive. And for those wondering, Chief White Owl’s real name was George Dahmer and his mother was part Native American. He was a natural as his gimmick. I really do wish more matches of his would come to the light of day as I would love to see more of his work as I like his fighting spirit as well as his hard hitting brawling style. Well as you can see, the update event is over and the house lights are back up and the cleanup crew is out so that is our cue to head on out of the arena, but before we part I would like to alert you that our next update will have us stay in the world of wrestling as we are still celebrating WWE WrestleMania Month and we will be spending some time with the one and only Uncle Elmer, who was the powerhouse of the Hillbilly Family that took 80’s WWF by storm. So until the next update event, read a comic or three, watch a wrestling match or two and as always support your local wrestlers. See you back here at the Rotten Ink Arena for the next update, and I wonder if the snack bar will have Friend Pig Parts in stock?