Happy Birthday, Paul Christy

Paul Christy (L) with a fan in 2004 From Larry Stoy: Paul Christy (Paul Christerson) was born in Chicago, Illinois,on this day i...

Paul Christy (L) with a fan in 2004

From Larry Stoy:

Paul Christy (Paul Christerson) was born in Chicago, Illinois,on this day in 1939. He was trained by Jack Thornton and made his pro debut in 1959 in his hometown at the famed Marigold Arena, working for Fred Kohler. He went on from there to wrestle for the promotions based in Amarillo and Phoenix, before heading south, where he began to achieve a moderate level of success.

During the 1960s, when the “Golden Boy” wrestled in the Gulf Coast promotion, he was teaming with Ken Lucas under the name “Chris Lucas”. The team was successful and had six reigns as tag champs in that promotion, taking the Gulf Coast Tag Team Title from the likes of the Hines Brothers, the Mysterious Medics, and Rocket and Flash Monroe.

Christy spent a significant amount of time during the 1970s wrestling for the AWA and the Indianapolis-based WWA promotion, where he also captured championship gold by winning the WWA World Tag Team Title with three different partners in Wilbur Snyder, Moose Cholak, and Roger Kirby. It was when he was working for Dick the Bruiser’s WWA that he introduced one of the first female managers, Bunny Love (Bunny Burmeister) in 1979. They became known as professional wrestling’s version of “Bonnie and Clyde”.

Christy went to wrestle for Angelo Poffo’s ICW promotion in the 1980s, and ended up becoming one of the top stars there. He enjoyed a reign as the ICW Champion with a big win over Randy Savage to win the belt. He also was the ICW US champion, having won the belt from Pez Whatley.

In the mid-1980s, as the WWF was at its mainstream peak of the national expansion era, Christy enjoyed an opportunity at widespread fame to a younger generation. His stay with the company was brief yet interesting, especially his appearance on Tuesday Night Titans where he displayed his talent as a prestidigitator. If you haven’t seen this clip, I highly recommend you do.

After retiring in 1990, Christy and Love moved to Three Rivers, Michigan. In 2005, Christy and Love were honored by the Cauliflower Alley Club for their contributions to wrestling. That same year, Christy published a book about his career, with a foreword from Bobby Heenan and Lanny Poffo. The couple wed in June of 2006.