In a career spanning almost 30 years, Larry “Moondog Spot” Booker’s most memorable performance was during a 1979 concession-stand brawl in Tupelo, Miss.
A reprisal of that legendary match last Saturday night would mark the final time Booker stepped into the ring.
The 51-year-old Booker died of a heart attack while working on a Memphis Championship Wrestling show. According to an eyewitness report, Booker slumped in the corner during an eight-man “concession stand battle royal” at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tenn.
After realizing something was amiss with Booker, other wrestlers quickly ended the match and paramedics who were on duty rushed into the ring. Booker was breathing while in the ring but later died at an area hospital.
“From what I understand from one of the wrestlers, he went to hit Larry and grabbed him,” MCW promoter Cory Macklin said. “When he grabbed [Booker] by the beard, he laid back and collapsed.”
Booker is the most established U.S. performer to become an in-ring fatality since Owen Hart fell from the rafters at a Kansas City arena during a botched ring entrance on a 1999 World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view show. Gary Albright, a well-known performer in Japan and a former standout amateur wrestler at the University of Nebraska, also died of a heart attack in January 2000 during an independent show in Pennsylvania. Albright was 37.
Booker is best known for being one of the charter members of The Moondogs, a tag-team known for adopting a wrestling gimmick best described as half man/half mongrel. Besides their shaggy hair and beards, The Moondogs brought giant bones to the ring that would double as foreign objects.
Booker was one half of The Moondogs tandem that captured the WWE tag-team titles for a 2-month reign in 1981 before dropping the straps to Tony Garea and Rick Martel. Booker continued using The Moondog gimmick for the rest of his grappling career, working predominantly for independent promotions in the South, including an appearance last March on a National Wrestling Alliance/Total Nonstop Action pay-per-view show. He also had opened a wrestling school in Osceola, Ark.
But Booker helped shape wrestling history while working under the name Larry Latham and teaming with Wayne “Honky Tonk Man” Ferris as The Blond Bombers. The duo teamed against Jerry “The King” Lawler and Bill Dundee for a 1979 match in Tupelo that spilled out of the ring and into the concession stand area.
In an era before out-of-the-ring brawling became so commonplace, the site of all four participants smashing each other with food, condiments and everything else that wasn’t nailed down became renowned throughout the industry. The match also served as a precursor to the “hardcore” style that was popularized by Extreme Championship Wrestling in the mid-1990s.
With last Saturday’s show loaded with offbeat matches to celebrate Lawler’s 53rd birthday, the MCW matchmaking crew designed a newer version of the Concession Stand Brawl involving Booker.
“His match was just a regular match with no gimmicks except for some food, nachos and cheese, hot dog buns, popcorn and little stuff like that in the ring,” Macklin said. “We tried to re-create the match he made famous.”
It’s fair to question whether Booker’s death could have been prevented if Tennessee required wrestlers to undergo physical examinations before performing. While he did sign a waiver absolving MCW of liability in case of an accidental death, Macklin admits he was unaware the overweight Booker was suffering from other medical ailments, including diabetes.
Hopefully, Booker’s death will serve as a warning to other promoters about the potential dangers of using older talent in wrestling roles like WWE did earlier this year when Randy Orton “attacked” octogenarians Mae Young and The Fabulous Moolah.
“Of course, it’s going to have an effect on what we do in the future,” said Macklin, who planned to dedicate this Saturday’s MCW telecast to Booker.
Upcoming shows
Booker T vs. Kane and Rob Van Dam vs. Orton headlines a non-televised WWE show featuring the Raw talent roster at 5 p.m. Dec. 13 at the South Florida Expo Center at the South Florida Fairgrounds, 9067 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach. Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster outlets and will not be on sale at the box office until the day of the show. Visit or …
Dustin Denes vs. Adrian Serrano and Mike Brown vs. Leigh Remedios headlines the next Absolute Fighting Championships show at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Fort Lauderdale War Memorial Auditorium, 800 NE Eighth St. Call the arena box office at 954-828-5380. …
Hack Myers vs. “Blackhart” Dave Johnson vs. Casey Thompson headlines a seven-match Maximum Pro Wrestling Show at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 19 at Florida Atlantic University’s Live Oak Pavillion, 777 Glades Road in Boca Raton. Call 954-229-7002 or visit …
Norman Smiley vs. Chris Candido (accompanied by wife/valet Tammy “Sonny” Sitch) will headline a seven-match Four Star Championship Wrestling show at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 20 at the Potter Park Gymnasium, 4300 SW 57th Terrace, Davie. Call 954-579- 8696. …
Women’s Extreme Wrestling, an upstart promotion trying to establish itself as the self-proclaimed “innovators of dysfunctional family entertainment,” will debut this week at 3 a.m. Saturday nights on Sunshine Network. WEW also will hold a pay-per-view taping at 10 p.m. Thursday at Beach Bums Nightclub, 219 Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd. Advertised as appearing are “Queen of Extreme” Francine and Stephanie Bellars, who performed as Randy Savage’s valet Gorgeous George in WCW. Admission, which is limited to ages 21 and older, is free for the first 500 fans through
Q & A
Q. Where is Goldust? — John Allen, Waco, Texas
A. WWE recently issued a statement on its Web site announcing Virgil “Goldust” Runnel Jr.’s contract won’t be renewed when it expires in mid-January. Goldust, who is recovering from back surgery, will likely land in NWA/TNA upon his WWE departure.
More wrestling news can be found at observer.com. Questions can be sent to Alex Marvez c/o the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 200 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301, or e-mailed to . Please include your full name and city of residence. Because of volume, no phone calls will be accepted and letters will not receive a written reply.
