2. Old School WWF & NWA Prelim Wrestler Passes Away
Old School WWF & NWA prelim wrestler Charlie Fulton has passed away. Below is what Sal Corrente, founder of WrestleReunion, posted on Facebook:
As I was heading out this morning I got word that my friend Charlie Fulton, Wrestler had passed away. Many times if I post about a wrestler passing whether someone I worked with or not people respond with condolences. In many of the cases these aren’t people I was close to or even worked with, this is not one of those cases. I had watched Charlie Fulton week in and week out on Georgia Championship Wrestling I am not sure if he ever even won a match. I believe in those days I found out that he was the roomate of Randy Savage when they were both working underneath for around a $275.00 a week guarnatee.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7i3z63HDzM
I think Randy was making a little more but not much more. When I first started hanging around WWF and Charlie showed up we became friends right away. I remember the day Paul Orndorff came to WWF and I picked him up at the airport along with Afa the Wild Samoan when we got to the bar later that night Paul looked down the end of the bar and said “is that Charlie Fulton down there”? I recall Charlie never looking for attention just quietly said “Hi Paul”. I don’t know if anyone is aware but when “Quickdraw” Rick McGraw died it was Charlie that found him they were very close also as we all were. I can’t say enough about Charlie as a wrestler he was a technician and always well liked. I can recall discussing him with George Scott, George told me that people would ask him when he was going to let Charlie go and he said NEVER. He had a lot of respect for Charlie as a worker. One of my favorite quotes about Charlie came from Ricky Steamboat as told to me by David E. Isley “Charlie Fulton a guy who would blow you up and then let you beat him”. When I told that to Charlie he was really embarrased and said ” did he really say that” I said “yeah” poor Charlie the look on his face was classic and he said “Sal I hadnt done that to anyone in years. LOL We were in the ring overseas in Dubai one time he was wrestling Rocky Johnson and Rocky wanted to do his posing routne but for some reason Charlie didn’t want to pose. I kept hearing tell him to pose and I kept telling Charlie and finally Charlie screamed “I dont want to pose”.
In those types of crowds basically silent until something happens everyone heard it. I asked Charlie why he did something so out of character he just shrugged never a guy to overuse words. I can remember a match that Charlie was going to be in and the finish was going to be that somone pulled the guys legs out while hitting the ropes and they would get pinned. I happened to mention you mean like Lou Albano used to do? Well Charlie went on to educate me that a lot of guys did that and it just turned in to a back and forth thing. Well at that point Jules Strongbow Francis Huntington came along and we told him the finish and he said “You mean like Lou used to do” at that point Charlie said “I give up and just walked away”.
It proved a lot of guys could do something but only the really great ones can make you remember it. I hate the idea of Charlie Fulton not being on Earth anymore. He was a great guy and to referee a match with him was so easy it was ridiculous. I used to say when I was blown up if my next match was with Charlie i would be well rested when it was over. I used Charlie on shows any chance that I got while booking for Rob Russen or Afa the Wild Samoan he was the greatest. To his wife Irene Simmons Fulton who I have known for well over 25 years thank you for making my buddy happy. i hope that you can focus on the good times and my most sincere condolences are with you. I am so glad that I got a chance to talk to Charlie a couple of times over the years. If there are any wrestling matches up there Charlie I hope for a change somebody puts you over.
