LAS VEGAS — Clay Baker envisioned Hulk Hogan lifting the 520-pound Andre the Giant and slamming him to the Pontiac Silverdome canvas, and he still can’t quite grasp those dynamics.
“It happened faster than imagined because I didn’t expect Andre to be slammed,” Baker said. “It hadn’t been done before. King Kong Bundy and Big John Studd tried and failed.
“Since the whole crowd was standing, it felt like everybody imperceptibly swayed up and then down, just like the action in the ring.”
Baker, 52, has spent 30 years in the Las Vegas sports-talk radio industry. He hosts a morning Raiders show and co-hosts JT the Brick’s afternoon session.
In March 1987, Baker was 13 when he attended the third WrestleMania with his mother, Barbara Ann. Had sports betting been legal in Michigan, and had rasslin’ been on the menu, he would have given her a fiver to bet on Andre.
He would have lost that fin.
Eighty thousand people had packed the big barn; some estimates hovered around 93,000. Baker harkened back to that scene and called it a bookmaker’s dream.
“Half were on Andre, the other half on Hulk,” he said. “Everybody loved it so much, it would have been the greatest handle of all time. It was the most friendly, most enjoyable event.
“I was used to going to the Silverdome and seeing fights, all sorts of bad things. But my mom and I sat there and laughed, for nine hours. It was wonderful, people hugging each other and laughing the whole time.”
The card captivated young Clay.
“Honky Tonk Man slammed his guitar onto Jake Roberts’ head. I missed Mr. Fuji with his cane, but Kabuki threw his trademark green dust in faces.”
Baker laughed. Barbara Ann had been raised in rural West Virginia, and in the early 1950s, she’d glare through a window at the wrestling on the TV set inside a neighbor’s home.
“Wrestling was all that would be on during the day,” Clay said. “She and a cousin, Terry, loved French-Canadian wrestler Johnny Rougeau, and they joined his fan club.
“At WrestleMania III, Johnny’s son lost to Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake, amid controversy. And my stately mother stood on her chair and booed loudly!”
Quick Vegas return
So why isn’t it legal to bet on wrestling?
From an Elimination Chamber on Feb. 28 at the United Center, some victors advanced here to WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium, staged Saturday and Sunday.
SmackDown took place Friday at T-Mobile Arena.
One year ago, the two-day event at Allegiant drew 118,641. A share of TKO Group Holdings, Inc., parent company of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), has hovered around $200 since Christmas, an 18-month value doubling.
Its popularity is undeniable.
“This is one of the best wrestling events of all time,” Baker said, “with a whole week of events leading up to it. Older wrestlers like Ric Flair see this as not only about making money, but reconnecting with others.
“A lot of people in the wrestling community were so vocal about it, that’s why Vegas got it again, and it might be here a lot more frequently.”
It hits Italy in May, and Saudi Arabia plays host to WrestleMania 43 next year.
In his lifetime, Baker believes it will be legal to wager on wrestling.
However, he sees it requiring someone with the integrity and tact of Marc Ratner, the former executive director of the state’s athletic commission who was vital in getting UFC sanctioned in New York, and elsewhere, to trumpet it.
“Local elections, too,” Baker said. “We’ll see saturation and fatigue with normal pro sports, then they’ll try something like that. You’re damn right we should be able to bet on it!”
Proper props
So, it’s scripted.
Baker admitted, “When you’re pre-18, you take this [bleep] seriously. Post-18? It’s, Awww, I shoulda known!” He laughed. “But there would be [betting] limits.”
This is topical, with the NFL Draft starting Thursday. Some books wisely have slim draft menus, others are deep. At William Hill, defensive lineman is -150 to be the first position picked by the Bears, safety +330, 11-to-1 for linebacker.
To a degree, that’s scripted, too. Plus, -Super Bowl menus are ridiculous. Think someone didn’t know in advance that Sea-hawks coach Mike Macdonald would be victory-doused with lime-colored Gatorade?
That was +260, or risk $100 to win $260, at William Hill, behind blue (+200) and orange (+250).
Moreover, Bad Bunny’s halftime songs had prices.
“There were bets on the first song he’d sing at this past Super Bowl’s halftime,” Westgate SuperBook executive consultant Jay Kornegay said, “with thousands of people around the rehearsal?”
Kiosks and tellers would have done brisk Silverdome betting business in 1987, but those indulgent patrons wouldn’t have bothered Kornegay.
“I’m not worried about the fans,” Kornegay said. “I would be worried about the non-fans [sharp punters] seeking an edge.”
Offshore only?
Ultimately, what if rasslers practiced various endings, the actual clincher remaining unknown until the bout began? What if non-disclosure forms were signed?
“Still,” Kornegay said, “I would be concerned.”
Kornegay knows how the state’s Gaming Control Board, which gauges and green-lights potential sportsbook wagers, might react to a request to post WWE props.
“They would do their due diligence and find out what this is,” he said. “Some might think it’s just a wrestling match. Others would say, ‘These are pre-rehearsed, predetermined events.’
“And once they discovered that, they’d ban those type of wagers on something that’s predetermined.”
Veteran oddsman Nick Bogdanovich echoed that line to Bookies.com scribe Brent James.
“But I do know that the faraway places that don’t answer to regulators, they would get away with it, and they have,” Bogdanovich said. “They book WrestleMania and SummerSlam, all of those events.
“That’s one [Nevada] would not be able to pull off.”
One day, however, some state’s regulatory body might proceed differently.
Beers with the brain
In our youth on Saturdays, the older brother and I clowned on televised wrestling. We always thought Pompero Firpo, the jungle wildman, was called Pompero “Purple.”
On March 4, 1987, I ventured early to the San Diego Sports Arena, with San Diego State fraternity brothers, for a WWF event to maybe find some luminaries hanging poolside at the nearby motel.
We encountered Chicago native Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, the ace promoter and former rassler, at a metal table. We settled beside him and drained beers as he regaled us with fantastic tales.
In huge swim trunks, Andre the Giant either reclined on side-by-side lounge chairs or sat in the Jacuzzi. The British Bulldogs frolicked in the pool.
Upon returning to the Sig Ep house, 10 of us engaged in a chapter-room Battle Royale, last one remaining wins.
Three hog-tied my 6-5 frame and tossed me through an open window out onto the asphalt parking lot.
The cuts, bruises and blood sure seemed real.