Author Topic: Possibly The Most Bizzare Abdullah The Butcher Story Yet

tamalie from MN

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posted 12:53 PM I have been fascinated by the outbreak of airplane hijackings that gripped the world in the 1960s and 1970s. While reading through some old articles about hijackings, imagine my astonishment to discover that Abdullah The Butcher was aboard a hijacked Eastern Airlines DC-8, starting and aborting an attempt to take out the perpetrator.



The plane was en route from San Juan, PR to Miami on February 10, 1969 with 110 passengers and 8 crew aboard. A Cuban emigre named Peter Alvarez, who wanted to visit his ailing father, hijacked the plane and had the captain fly to Havana. The man had a gun (no bag searches or metal detectors back then) and standard operating procedure by airlines at that time was to comply with such demands in the name of passenger and crew safety.



Angered by the situation and determined to take action, Abby rose from his seat and started moving towards the hijacker. A fight attendant named Vincent Doccolo calmed Abby and persuaded him to return to his seat since the hijacker had a gun. After the plane landed in Havana, the hijacker was arrested by local authorities and the plane allowed to return to the States with its passengers and crew.



If there was any doubt about whether it was the real deal, a passage from an article noted the wrestler was "a 230 pound Negro with broad shoulders and scars on his bald head who called himself Abdullah The Butcher." Another wrestler was traveling with him, Matt Gimore/Duncan McTavish. Both wrestlers were getting very agitated about taking action before Abby finally rose from his seat.



Abdullah The Butcher on Plane Hijacked to Cuba



A Different News Account of the Hijacking



[ 01-30-2014, 12:54 PM: Message edited by: tamalie from MN ] IP: Logged

pedro morales fan

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posted 12:58 PM Makes you wonder. If Abby had actually taken the guy down, would he have become a media hero? Would his career (and the wrestling landscape) have been different? IP: Logged

Armageddon_T_Thunderbird

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posted 01:03 PM It depends on if Abby had his forks in his carry on or if they were in his checked luggage. If he was able to get a fork or two, the gunman wouldn't have stood a chance.



Then the hijacker's ailing dad would have had to hijack a plane from Cuba to here to see his son with all the forks sticking out of his head.



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tamalie from MN

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posted 03:04 PM quote: Originally posted by pedro morales fan:

Makes you wonder. If Abby had actually taken the guy down, would he have become a media hero? Would his career (and the wrestling landscape) have been different? Abby merely considering taking the guy out warranted a mention in an article that was somewhat buried since skyjackings were happening sometimes several times per week in that era, around a dozen from the U.S. alone up to that point in 1969. To demonstrate how out of control things had gotten, one American jet hijacked to Cuba landed to find, to the amazement of all aboard, a Peruvian jet already sitting on the tarmac surrounded by troops after having been also hijacked earlier that day.



Had Abby actually gone through with it and disarmed the guy, it would have been front page news and certainly garnered him some mainstream publicity. It'd have been hard to keep him as a heel in the aftermath due to the opportunities for newspaper, magazine, and TV coverage. Certainly it would have meant that his ability to speak English and being from Canada would have become known. A later heel turn may have been inevitable, but the Abdullah The Butcher gimmick as we know it likely wouldn't have lasted.



[ 01-30-2014, 03:07 PM: Message edited by: tamalie from MN ] IP: Logged

pedro morales fan

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posted 03:33 PM quote: Originally posted by The Fake J.D. McKay:

Reading that second story was a hoot. "Miss O'Connor, a 23 year old blond." Times have changed. Editor-in-chief Don Draper. IP: Logged

FuzzFace

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posted 04:29 PM How Did I Not Know This Moment. IP: Logged

uncle buck

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posted 04:46 PM I had a newspaper clipping from the late 1960's that told of a plane hijacked to Cuba...on board was Prof Toru Tanaka...



in the third column of the newspaper (linked above) they said that the hijacker was: "...a fat Latin man"...

No political correctness there... IP: Logged

Mr. Parts Unknown

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posted 05:22 PM What struck me, aside from the several politically incorrect terms already mentioned, was that Abby was described as being anywhere from 230 to 250 pounds.



I realize this was back in 1968, but was he really that svelte back then? IP: Logged

Prefrontal-Lowblow

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posted 05:23 PM In my opinion he was. He could really move back in the day. IP: Logged

BVRF05: Eddie Gilbert Fan

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posted 06:27 PM quote: Originally posted by Mr. Parts Unknown:

What struck me, aside from the several politically incorrect terms already mentioned, was that Abby was described as being anywhere from 230 to 250 pounds.



I realize this was back in 1968, but was he really that svelte back then? Here's a pic of Abdullah from the 60's



I was surprised myself when I first saw how much thinner he was.







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The Average Malenko

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posted 07:58 PM quote: Originally posted by BVRF05: Eddie Gilbert Fan:

quote: Originally posted by Mr. Parts Unknown:

What struck me, aside from the several politically incorrect terms already mentioned, was that Abby was described as being anywhere from 230 to 250 pounds.



I realize this was back in 1968, but was he really that svelte back then? Here's a pic of Abdullah from the 60's



I was surprised myself when I first saw how much thinner he was.



Is that picture from Japan? IP: Logged

carpetbeggar

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posted 08:00 PM quote: Originally posted by tamalie from MN:

quote: Originally posted by pedro morales fan:

Makes you wonder. If Abby had actually taken the guy down, would he have become a media hero? Would his career (and the wrestling landscape) have been different? Abby merely considering taking the guy out warranted a mention in an article that was somewhat buried since skyjackings were happening sometimes several times per week in that era, around a dozen from the U.S. alone up to that point in 1969. To demonstrate how out of control things had gotten, one American jet hijacked to Cuba landed to find, to the amazement of all aboard, a Peruvian jet already sitting on the tarmac surrounded by troops after having been also hijacked earlier that day.



Had Abby actually gone through with it and disarmed the guy, it would have been front page news and certainly garnered him some mainstream publicity. It'd have been hard to keep him as a heel in the aftermath due to the opportunities for newspaper, magazine, and TV coverage. Certainly it would have meant that his ability to speak English and being from Canada would have become known. A later heel turn may have been inevitable, but the Abdullah The Butcher gimmick as we know it likely wouldn't have lasted. The way Abby could have gotten away with taking out the hijacker and still keeping his gimmick and mystique intact was to get Duncan McTavish to do the talking. Duncan could have put over that he was 'The Butcher's' handler (think the Kamala/Friday association). McTavish could say that when he saw that things were starting to breakdown and that people's lives were seriously in danger, he decided to unleash Abdullah on the unsuspecting terrorist. This would obviously turn them babyface once news of Abdullah's 'heroics' became public. Unfortunately like others mentioned, that would be bad for business for The Butcher...So, what goes down is that McTavish goes all babyface and signs Abdullah up for all sorts of tag matches with the likes of Dale Roberts, Tony Baillargeon, Don Leo Jonathan, Haystacks Calhoun, Johnny and Jacques Rougeau. Heck even making Abby team with one of his most toughest and hated opponents at the time...Mighty Igor. Abdullah meanwhile starts acting confused and wants no part of teaming with these guys who months before were trying to put him out of wrestling after he signed his autograph in each's forehead with a butter knife. Eddie Creatchman could start doing interviews about how Duncan is ruining and turning 'The Madman From The Sudan' into a softie. Within a month, Abdullah turns on McTavish when he wants him to wrestle with Gino Brito against Creatchman and Fidel Castillo. Abdullah, Creatchman and Fidel absolutely brutalize Duncan and Brito in the middle of the ring at The Montreal Forum. It goes down as one of the most sadistic, brutal and bloody beatings to ever happen in Montreal. Utter sadism in its purest sense. Abdullah aligns himself with Creatchman and goes back to being the most hated heel like he was before the plane ride. Abdullah and McTavish can then go through all of his regular territories he worked, essentially doing the same angle, just with different chsracters.

Now an added twist, if the Montreal office wanted to get really silly with the whole deal would be to reveal that the hijacker was actually Fidel Castillo's cousin (could have been 'Champagne' Gerry Ethifier). That the whole deal was a ruse to embarrass and ruin Duncan McTavish's life and wrestling career.

Now...someone get on this and book this 'licence to print money' angle right now in The WCFL!!!



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Prefrontal-Lowblow

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posted 08:19 PM quote: Originally posted by The Average Malenko:

quote: Originally posted by BVRF05: Eddie Gilbert Fan:

quote: Originally posted by Mr. Parts Unknown:

What struck me, aside from the several politically incorrect terms already mentioned, was that Abby was described as being anywhere from 230 to 250 pounds.



I realize this was back in 1968, but was he really that svelte back then? Here's a pic of Abdullah from the 60's



I was surprised myself when I first saw how much thinner he was.



Is that picture from Japan? Maybe Calgary. That's Stu Hart he's with. IP: Logged

russian heel

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posted 09:18 PM In hindsight its probably good he was backed down, even Abdullah the Butcher (or the other passengers) was no match for a bullet.



Knowing Abby the Businessman, he was probably agitated because the skyjacking probably cost him a payoff that night in Miami.



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brawler2711

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posted 06:10 AM Anyone know his legit weight now a days? Must be around 450...



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the bear

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posted 06:56 AM quote: Originally posted by Armageddon_T_Thunderbird:

It depends on if Abby had his forks in his carry on or if they were in his checked luggage. If he was able to get a fork or two, Airplane food is far harder and more harmful than Abby's forks so he could've used that



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tamalie from MN

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posted 10:40 AM quote: Originally posted by uncle buck:

I had a newspaper clipping from the late 1960's that told of a plane hijacked to Cuba...on board was Prof Toru Tanaka... Professor Toru Tanaka was aboard an Allegheny Airlines 727 on September 19, 1970 that was hijacked en route from Pittsburgh to Boston with a stop in Philadelphia, where the WWWF had a show that evening. Passengers, including Tanaka, were traded for fuel afterwhich the plane headed to Havana with a crew and some FAA personnel who happened to be on board. The hijacker took the plane in sympathy to the Palestinian cause (he was a wannabe, not affiliated with any real group) and initially demanded the plane fly to Cairo. He settled on Cuba after being informed that this type of plane didn't have the range to make Egypt.



Earlier in the month, Palestinian terrorists had hijacked four planes and failed in an attempt at taking a fifth. Three of the four planes were flown to an airstrip in the Jordanian desert where, after a few days, the passengers were disembarked and the planes blown up on the ground before the assembled international media on September 11, 1970. The fourth plane, a 747, flew to Cairo due to the runway in Jordan being too small. Once on the ground in Egypt, the plane was evacuated and blown up as well.



Tanaka was asked by a flight attendant to attempt to disarm the hijacker who had a gun to another flight attendant. Tanaka removed his sportscoat and cufflinks, rolled up his sleeves, told the flight attendant who made the request to keep everyone seated and calm, and then started to approach the hijacker. The hijacker, still holding a gun on the other flight attendant, turned towards Tanaka, said he had a bomb, and told Tanaka to stop. Tanaka, thinking of the other passengers' safety, then decided to back off.



Professor Toru Tanaka on Hijacked Plane



Another News Account of The Event



[ 01-31-2014, 10:42 AM: Message edited by: tamalie from MN ] IP: Logged