Old school pro wrestler, usually a masked heel. Most famous as “The Spoiler”, also worked as the “Super Destroyer”. Main event talent, drew money everywhere he went. Good runs in Mid-Atlantic, Mid South, Georgia, Texas, Florida, Japan, and the AWA. Brief stint in the WWF after the buyout. Was also a poet in his later years. Died last night after a battle with leukemia.
It is traditional in the wrestling business to sound the ring bell 10 times in tribute to a fallen star…
BONG
Never saw him in person, but here’s a story:
When he was in the Mid-Atlantic area circa 1974, his claim was that he would voluntarily unmask if anyone could defeat him in the ring by a pin or submission. Anyway, I remember one day at school a classmate (8th grade), a classmate saying he had found out who Super D was—that his name was Don Jardine. Of course, none of us believed him, but he told us “No. Really it is.” He then went on to say that a friend of his father worked at a car dealership, and had just sold a car to someone named Don Jardine who wrestled as “The Super Destroyer.” So, salesman tells father, father tells son, son tells us at school. Yeah, right.
Then, several months later, Super D was *jumped in a parking lot and unmasked by some other wrestlers. Bob Caudle, host of the Raleigh version of Mid-Atlantic, announced it, and showed a photograph of the unmasked Super D (in fact, an old photo from his pre-mask days), saying that his hidden identity was “Don Jardine.” Holy Cow! Our classmate had been right.
One thing that I’ve always been curious about was that in one interview, Super D gave a clue to his identity, that he had been pictured (out of mask, and maybe not even as a wrestler) on the cover of a major sporting magazine in the previous ten years. And I seem to think it was an hunting/fishing type magazine, although I could be misremembering—but he certainly didn’t give it a name. I’ve always wondered if that had been true, or whether it was just kayfabe.
*Years later, according to Jardine, what had happened was that the bookers felt that they had milked his main event drawing power as much as they could, and were planning to relegate him to undercards. He said, “No dice,” and left the (JCP/Mid-Atlantic) promotion. In retaliation, JCP made up the cover story and blew the lid on his identity—not that it mattered.
One incredibly agile BAMF.