The history of the Mr. Olympia character
The history of the Mr. Olympia character
By: Karl Stern
Classic Mr. Olympia
Jerry Stubbs circa 2002- photo by Karl Stern
Jerry Stubbs probably should have been a wrestling hall of famer. Stubbs was an almost physical and ring work twin of
Arn Anderson but because Jerry Stubbs never had major stints outside of Continental and Mid-South wrestling he is a virtual unknown to most wrestling fans outside those two areas.
One of the most interesting things about Jerry Stubbs was his duel identities. As Jerry Stubbs he was most often a heel. Again, Stubbs was very similar in appearance and wrestling style to Arn Anderson and the two even formed a tag team in Southeastern Wrestling which dominated and held the tag team titles until Anderson left the area for his famous run in the Carolina's. However, as a babyface Jerry Stubbs most often worked under a mask as Mr. Olympia. There were a couple of exceptions, most notably the time he spent as part of
Ted DiBiase's Rat Pack in Mid-South and one run in Continental as a heel with the mask.
Jerry Stubbs had been a borderline junior heavyweight for a few years. He even had a short run as NWA World Junior champion in 1981 which went unrecognized outside of Southeastern wrestling after Stubbs defeated
Les Thornton in Mobile, AL but lost the belt back to him a week later. The top junior heavyweight title in Southeastern wrestling was the NWA U.S. Junior heavyweight title and in 1981
Stan Lane held the championship as a cocky young heel who believed he had beaten everyone in the area, including Jerry Stubbs, and thus was considering retiring or throwing away the title.
The weekly television show was taped in Dothan, Alabama and
Les Thatcher and
Charlie Platt were the commentators at the time. Platt told Lane that he had a new challenger on today's show, a "member of the 1976 Olympic team" Mr. Olympia. Lane told Platt that it was about time he had a real legitimate challenger but when Mr. Olympia came out and got in the ring Lane immediately recognized him as Jerry Stubbs and the commentators also speculated that Mr. Olympia was probably Jerry Stubbs (unlike what Don West would probably do today- "oh my GAWD! Who is this guy?").
Of course, Mr. Olympia defeated Stan Lane in a non-title match. Pretty soon Stan Lane left the area anyway and Mr. Olympia moved up to heavyweight and was one of the area's top stars for the next few years feuding mainly with
Jimmy Golden and
Ron Fuller and whoever was in his stable. Mr. Olympia usually played back up for
Bob Armstrong and
Austin Idol who were the top babyfaces in the area.
The only time Stubbs ever left the area was for a big run in Mid-South. There Mr. Olympia was a heel though it was never acknowledged in Southeastern wrestling. Much like Bob Armstrong's later Bullet character, it was pretty much an open secret that Mr. Olympia was Jerry Stubbs. Occasionally when Mr. Olympia was in an especially brutal type of match, like a steel cage match, instead of wrestling as Mr. Olympia he would announce on television that he was going to call in his old friend "Jerry Stubbs" to wrestle the match since Stubbs was "far more brutal" than "Mr. Olympia".
For most of the Continental era Jerry Stubbs wrestled as himself as a heel. He formed an excellent team with
Tony "Dirty White Boy" Anthony and was usually a member of
Ron or Robert Fuller's Stud's Stable group. He had a very memorable feud with
Brad Armstrong over the NWA Alabama title.
Mr. Olympia did make a comeback when
Eddie Gilbert and
Paul Heyman were booking the area. He and Austin Idol were the top babyfaces against Gilbert. This was at a time where Bob Armstrong was wrestling elsewhere. Mr. Olympia did a famous angle where Eddie Gilbert and Paul E. Dangerously (Heyman) broke his arm.
After Eddie Gilbert and Paul Heyman abruptly quit the promotion after a dispute with owner
David Woods, Mr. Olympia continued to be a top face along with Austin Idol, a returning Bullet (Bob Armstrong), and
"Nightmare" Danny Davis. At almost any given time during his stay in Southeastern through the end of the CWF, Jerry Stubbs was usually the work horse wrestler of the group having the best matches. He was actually the first person in the United States to start using what became known as the Scorpion (
Sting's finishing move) and used the name and the gimmick of
Mr. Perfect over a year before
Curt Hennig jumped from the AWA to the WWF. His team with Arn Anderson and Tony Anthony could have been a major tag team had they toured more places.
Why did Jerry Stubbs very often not stray from the deep south? A lot of it had to do with his career as a law enforcement officer. Stubbs was a policeman in Florida for a while and still today is a Detective around Atlanta, GA. The last time I spoke with Jerry Stubbs was about five years ago and he was hoping to retire.
I hope you are enjoying these nostalgia articles. I plan on continuing to write them if enough people are interested. I should do a new audio show here tomorrow on Memphis wrestling in the 1980's. Please visit my website at
karlstern.com.
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