Greg Oliver

Sunday in Gatineau mes amis! RICK MARTEL – FORFAIT RENCONTRE / AUTOGRAPHES – 150$ 📸 Selfie exclusif avec Strike Force 🕓 Entre 16h et 17h / Between 4–5 PM 🎟 lepointdevente.com/tickets/l12260… 🗓 30 mai 2026 📍 Centre Slush Puppie

1 week til the release of The Texas Rasslin' War(s) of the 1950s! Did you all ever wonder all the things you could book at the Sportatorium? Wonder no more, because Ed McLemore's 1950s stationary tells you. @gregmep @tonyrichards4 @SMUheavyweight @Sparks3rdCoast @lizzyflanagan

In my new Society for International Hockey Research book column, I put on a striped shirt to talk with @HockeyHallFame referee Bill McCreary and @simmerpuck about their book, "Stories from Ice Level: A Great NHL Referee Tells All" from Douglas & McIntyre: sihrhockey.org/2020/columns/a…

8 days til release of The Texas Rasslin' War(s) of the 1950s! Here is something that cracks me up. Dizzy Davis & his fake Mexican PhD. This is in the late 1950s, so he is working while he's working. I wish I knew the story @ the testing. @gregmep @tonyrichards4 @Sparks3rdCoast

Author's page is ready! Not far now. @gregmep

Gatineau nous sommes dans le dernier droit! Au plaisir de vous rencontrer! Merci GPW! 🗓 Samedi 30 mai 2026 – 18h30 📍 Centre Slush Puppie 🎟 Billets disponible: centreslushpuppie.com/les-evenements/ gpwlegendsmania.ca

@JYDbook We can add ... but my price might have to increase! Your adoring fans will make it worthwhile.

Murphy's Law came to TRW1950s as Notre Dame dropped files on me today, a day after @gregmep finished the print settings. So, consider this a whet your whistle thing, f/Aug. 14, 1953 San Antonio program. Ed McLemore is angry after Morris Sigel bought off the old SA oppo promoter.

On this lovely Victoria Day in Toronto, I've spent some time posting some goodies on @eBay for the first time in a while. There's no pro wrestling, but baseball, soccer, music, and magazines. (Please don't share my secret identity!) ebay.ca/usr/themaskedc…

@Phil_Lions A good example of "I wish I knew then what I know now" when I was interviewing Olivas.

In the photo above we see heel Tony Olivas choking the Greek babyface hero Andreas Lambrakis in Athens in 1963, right in the middle of a 25,000-seat football stadium. I bet the Greek crowd was riled up that night! The Tony Olivas quote above comes to us courtesy of @gregmep.

Quote by Tony Olivas, who wrestled in a lot of places worldwide: "Where I found the crowds were different were in places like Greece, Europe, stuff like that, Spain. They were violent. If you were a heel, you’d better look out. You took your life almost in your own hands." [1/3]

@kenoshachris @JYDbook @Fgbrisco @tonyrichards4 I don't have anything in my files to indicate that, but it's likely. Brad McFarlin writes about Hank and others in the area who kept day jobs in the just-released photo book, The Lens of Brad McFarlin: Volume 1 Detroit territory 1969-74. oliverbooks.ca/the-lens-of-br…

@gregmep @JYDbook @Fgbrisco @tonyrichards4 Greg, did Hank James keep a regular day job like Art Thomas?

Also not what I am hunting but OMG the artwork! El Paso, Tx, April 12, 1976. @Fgbrisco on the card! @tonyrichards4

I'm working on a book based on the papers of the sports and media personality J Michael Kenyon - reach out if interested or have JMK tales to relate. linktr.ee/steelbeltsteve

@card_guide These are available at oliverbooks.ca

Lots of fun wrestling collectibles available at Toronto Sport Expo. It seemed to me that this year there were as many TCG booths (Pokémon, Magic, etc.) as there were hockey vendors. It's a changing landscape for sure!

gpwlegendsmania.ca Je suis fier de revenir chez moi rencontrer les fans du Québec et du Canada. Notre point de rencontre sera le 30 mai à Gatineau! Legends Mania et l’événement Guerre Civile de la GPW.

@BrianRSolomon @BWLH_ And Joe Jares was a well known sports writer so drew a different crowd to the book than just wrestling fans. The fact that his dad had been a wrestler was the hook to start the whole thing.

@BWLH_ Also, the book isn't really a biography him. It's more a look back at that whole era when pro wrestling got really mainstream in America. By the '70s it was not as much a part of mainstream American life as it had been, so the book was kind of nostalgic for that.

While he was still alive a book was published on the life of Gorgeous George. He was already a has been who people kind of recalled. Hogan is a world-wide phenomenon. As much as wrestler lifers hate to admit, so is the Ultimate Warrior.

Three days ago, Jane Mill reported the passing of her great aunt, Linda Klein—a death that had gone unnoticed since 2021. A few years back, I had discovered something very similar—the unnoticed death of wrestling legend Sandy Parker. Her former ring rival and friend, Susan Green, had asked for my help. She was worried—she had called Sandy’s number and it was off, and even her Christmas card had been returned. I reached out to author Jamie Greer, as he was the last known person in the wrestling business to have heard from her. Her last contact with a writer was in early 2022, with Greer, who authored Killers, Butchers, Cry-Babys & Canadian Destroyers: The History of Pro Wrestling in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Though born in Vancouver, BC on November 1, 1944, Sandy grew up in Windsor and trained with Lou Klein across the border in Detroit. “She had a caretaker at the house and initially wasn’t going to let me talk to Sandy,” recalled Greer. “But the caretaker said ‘Windsor’ out loud as she was baffled why someone from Windsor was calling. Sandy heard it and yelled, ‘I’m from Windsor!’ and insisted she talk to me. We talked for about 15 minutes and she said she had to go to the hospital for a week of ‘tests.’ She was SOOOOO excited to talk about her career—it was amazing. We made a date to talk in a week. A week went by and I called her, no answer. I tried every day for a week and no answer. After many unanswered calls, her last call was to a disconnected phone line.” From there, we discovered Sandy had passed away shortly after she had gone into Las Vegas’ University Medical Center around June 21. Two years after her death is when the information finally reached the wrestling community, and tributes and memorials flooded social media—from SlamWrestling.com to OutSports.com. It is especially eerie that now, four years later, yet another unnoticed death is being discovered. Three days ago, Jane Mill reported the passing of her great aunt, Linda Klein. Linda trained alongside Sandy Parker under the tutelage of her father, the legendary Lou Klein. An article written during her career described Linda as a “highly credited” young wrestler, trained by her father Lou Klein. She broke into the business in 1966, learning the fundamentals quickly and showing clear promise early on. Despite her father’s reputation, Linda had to find her own way. Early in her career, she struggled to stand out and found herself overlooked by promoters. That changed when she reinvented herself—turning to a more aggressive, villainous style that finally got her noticed. She would go on to wrestle extensively, traveling across Japan, Australia, Europe, and the Caribbean, competing against top names of the era. In the ring, she developed a reputation as a tough competitor, willing to adapt and evolve to succeed. Outside the ring, she later made another remarkable shift in her life, becoming a nurse in her 50s—something her family remembered as just as admirable as her wrestling career. Jane shared the sad update in the Facebook group “Wrestling History - Detroit / Toronto / Ohio,” created by the late Mark Bujan. Here is her post in its entirety: “Hello everyone It is with a heavy heart that my estranged Aunt Linda (Linda Klein) has been located. Just a few years too late. She passed away peacefully in a nursing home from heart disease in 2021. She was surrounded by loving friends. And unfortunately no family was able to locate her. I’m guessing she lost her phone and/or access to her social media to get in touch with any of the family. No ill intentions. She was a wonderful woman with a big heart and full of laughs and a big sense of humor. She knew how to read my heart and make me smile. Was there for me when I was sad. I’m sorry I couldn’t locate her sooner. I hope she never felt forgotten. She was a badass in her youth and accomplished another badass move by becoming a nurse in her 50s. She is a beautiful soul that will never be forgotten. A very loving and caring gentle soul.” You can read the previous full obituary for Sandy Parker by Greg Oliver with some of my research here slamwrestling.net/features/mat-m…

@davemeltzerWON And everybody in Canada knew who Whipper Billy Watson was in the 1950s & '60s. Dave, I am enjoying your attempts to educate. Hogan was a key figure in wrestling history, yes, but no one exists in a vacuum. As you have pointed out, changing technology on TV helped him reach fame.

My grandmother knew Gorgeous George, Jim Londos, Rocca, Gene Stanlee, Lou Thesz and Verne Gagne that I know of. Probably many more. One of my mom's biggest thrills ever was meeting Lou's wife Charlie Thesz.

@JeffMarek Wilf Paiement, who was Clark Gilles on bad teams.

For The Sheet today - who’s the one player you wish won a Stanley Cup in their career?

Price set for "PACHINKO MAN: The Life and Meaning of Pro Wrestling Legend Rikidozan." ECW Press catalogue copy: concussioninc.net/?p=16571

Besides my work on Women's Wrestling History, I'm a Genealogist, so it was great when @gregmep had me research for @Madusa_rocks book on her Biological Father Clyde David Bergman. All the promotion for Madusa being Italian, she was Swedish like me! Who knows maybe we're cousins!