Former Wrestling Villain Hasn’t Lost His Voice

The body is battered, but The Voice is still strong: raw and outrageous, the same voice that he used when he was the reigning thug of big-time wrestling.

“The worst villain since Hitler,” Times sports columnist Jim Murray called him in 1961.

Now, Classy Freddie Blassie (a.k.a. Brutal Freddie Blassie and Blond Freddie Blassie) is 73 years old and an ambassador-at-large for the World Wrestling Federation, which brings its jockstrap carnival to the San Diego Sports Arena on Thursday night.

Blassie remembers when wrestling in San Diego was at a steamy and decrepit auditorium on 31st Street.

He remembers teaching Charger great Ernie Ladd to wrestle and then engaging in an impromptu tug of war with several Chargers on television:

“San Diego was a good wrestling town.”

And so it is again: not only is the WWF at the Sports Arena, but a lesser competitor, the Atlanta-based World Championship Wrestling, brings its show tonight to Golden Hall downtown.

Jacques Barzun or Tom Werner or somebody said that to know the heart and mind of America, you must know baseball. Maybe once, but not now.

To know the heart and mind of America these days, you must know big-time wrestling.

Vince McMahon Jr., the genius behind the Connecticut-based WWF empire (which grosses $400 million a year from television, live gate and merchandising), has seized upon a seminal truth:

What American sports fans want is action and drama; verisimilitude is unimportant.

“It’s action-action-action, boom-boom-boom,” said Blassie, who was crowned world champion five times.

“In my day, I could put a hammerlock on somebody and you’d have time to eat a six-course dinner. Today it’s aerial tactics, off the top rope, all speeded up.”

The feature match Thursday is a grudge between Jake (The Snake) Roberts and Earthquake. Jake’s in a stink because Earthquake sat on his python, Damian.

Blassie feels it may be Earthquake’s night.

On the other hand, Jake’s new snake, Lucifer, should be an inspiration, and Andre the Giant will be giving Jake encouragement.

Burn Preventer That Sounds Cool?

Signs of the times.

* Sunnyside up.

Xytronyx (“Zi-tron-icks”) Inc., a San Diego bio-tech firm, has patented a Band-Aid-like strip that can tell sunbathers when they’ve had enough ultraviolet light for the day, by turning color.

The firm is now looking for a manufacturer-distributor. Also, a new name for its creation.

During the research-and-development phase, it was called The Xytron. But that’s considered too science fiction sounding for mass appeal.

* Rush hour may be a shock for the scientists moving here for the fusion project at UC San Diego.

The civic puffery handed out while the decision was pending promises: “Travel by car is easy, convenient and affordable.”

Funny, there was no mention of the I-8 crawl and the I-5-805 bottleneck.

* Names We Could Do Without: Happy Daze Liquor store in North Park (“Paychecks Cashed”).

Search for Messenger of Hate

Seriously.

* Informers needed.

Vexed by graffiti with “racial and ethnic slurs” in the men’s restrooms at the Union-Tribune building in Mission Valley, U-T General Manager John W. Curley has sent a memo to all employees asking for help in finding the culprits:

“Our efforts to discover who is responsible for these acts have not been successful. I will appreciate any assistance . . . “

* The ashes of Roger Revelle were scattered at sea from the research ship New Horizon en route to Point Conception north of Santa Barbara.

Tennyson’s “Crossing the Bar” (“Sunset and evening star/And one clear call for me!”) was read aloud.

* The newest research ship at Scripps Institution of Oceanography will be named the Roger Revelle.

* The folks at Prevent Los Angelization Now! feel they’re “close” to having enough signatures already to qualify their proposal for the June, 1992, ballot.