On this episode of Rick Del Santo’s Classic Wrestling Talk Podcast, Rick sits down with five-time WWWF/WWF Tag Team Champion Tony Garea for a relaxed, old-school conversation covering Tony’s journey from New Zealand rugby player to one of the most trusted and respected hands in the World Wide Wrestling Federation. This one is full of territory talk, tag team history, road stories, and first-hand memories from a man who worked with some of the biggest names of the 1970s and 1980s.
Tony talks about coming to the United States with very little money, landing in Florida, working for Eddie Graham, and eventually finding his way into Vince McMahon Sr.’s WWWF. From there, the conversation follows his tag team title runs with Haystacks Calhoun, Dean Ho, Larry Zbyszko, and Rick Martel, along with stories about working San Francisco, Georgia, Mid-Atlantic, and the national expansion era of the WWF.
Tony talks about coming to the United States with very little money, landing in Florida, working for Eddie Graham, and eventually finding his way into Vince McMahon Sr.’s WWWF. From there, the conversation follows his tag team title runs with Haystacks Calhoun, Dean Ho, Larry Zbyszko, and Rick Martel, along with stories about working San Francisco, Georgia, Mid-Atlantic, and the national expansion era of the WWF.
The heart of this episode is Tony’s matter-of-fact way of telling stories. He does not exaggerate every moment into some grand legend. He talks like a man who lived it, worked hard, listened to the right people, and understood that wrestling was a job but a job he respected.
His tag team career is the backbone of the conversation. Tony held WWWF/WWF Tag Team gold with several different partners, and each one brought something different. With Haystacks Calhoun, the whole match was built around Tony taking the heat until the crowd exploded for the big tag. With Dean Ho, the martial arts background gave the team something fresh against Fuji and Tanaka. With Larry Zbyszko, Tony got a partner who had a strong amateur base and learned directly from Bruno Sammartino. And with Rick Martel, he found a partner whose style fit his own so well that, by the end, they barely had to talk in the ring.
The road stories are just as good. Tony talks about driving endless miles, canceled towns, splitting gas money, and later, as an agent, doing whatever it took to save shows from weather and travel disasters. The St. Louis story with Hogan’s plane being unable to land is a great example of how the office had to think on its feet and still give the fans something worth seeing.
There are also some great lessons here about listening. Tony brings that up more than once. He learned from Fuji, Tanaka, Stan Stasiak, Strongbow, Pedro Morales, Gorilla Monsoon, Ray Stevens, and plenty more. And when he became the veteran, he expected younger wrestlers to listen too, especially if they were green, huge, and dangerous.
For fans of Tony Garea, classic WWWF, old-school tag team wrestling, Vince McMahon Sr.’s territory, Rick Martel, Haystacks Calhoun, Dean Ho, Larry Zbyszko, Pat Patterson, Mr. Fuji, Professor Tanaka, and wrestling road stories from a man who was actually there, this episode is a strong listen.
Tony Garea may not be the biggest name from that era, but this conversation shows exactly why so many people respected him.
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