Job Man

The following excerpt comes from Job Man: My Life in Professional Wrestling, available this fall from the Wisconsin Historical Society Press. In this book, retired wrestler Chris Multerer and coauthor Larry Widen show life outside the spotlight for a “job man,” the wrestler who made the superstars of the day shine. In this excerpt, Multerer talks about his early days in the sport training with Chris Hall and wrestling with legends like Mad Dog Vachon and the Crusher.

Anthony Hopkins has a great spot in the movie where he tells Zorro, played by Antonio Banderas, “When the pupil is ready, the master will appear.” That’s exactly what happened to me when I met Steve Hall at Jeff Jakubiak’s wrestling training facility at Federation Hall. Steve’s dad was Red Hall, a longtime Milwaukee disc jockey who did the ring announcements at the Milwaukee Arena wrestling shows. Through his father’s connections, Hall had gotten into the business as a job man working as Tom “Rocky” Stone. In addition, Hall was training and developing job men with the skills needed for taping in Minneapolis. Hall’s regular crew included Frank Hill, Vito Martino, Armando Rodriguez, Cesar Pabón, Peter Lee, and Bob Amel. Hall taught me how to be a better wrestler. He taught me how to go over the top rope and hit the concrete floor without getting hurt, along with new holds