Hello, my name is Bill Kociaba.

I don’t know when my obsession with wrestling began. I think it has always been a part of my life. Like most young boys I was hooked on super hero comic books. Being bigger and stronger than everyone else was my dream. In the mid-sixties I watched the Superman and Batman programs like every other kid. Unlike the rest I couldn’t care less about football or baseball or the heroes of those sports. For me nothing else mattered but those superhero-like monsters in the ring.

I probably first discovered Championship Wrestling from Florida in the late 1960s. The first storylines I remember were about Jack Brisco beating Tarzan Tyler for the TV title (mid 1970) and Bobby Shane & Tim Woods battling over the Southern title (1971-72) from then on I was hooked. No matter what else was going on I had to be sitting in front of the TV at 12:00 on Saturday afternoon watching Channel 6 out of Miami… and an hour and a half later watching the same show on Channel 12 out of West Palm Beach. The shows were the same but I got to see who was wrestling in Miami on Wednesday night on the first show and in West Palm on Monday night from the second show. About the same time I found Lucha Libre on the Spanish channel. It was the LeBell brother’s promotion from the Olympic Auditorium. That’s where I first saw one of my all- time favorites: SUPERSTAR BILLY GRAHAM. He was the ultimate to me: big, strong, confident and cool. Then I saw one of my heroes, Jack Brisco, on that show and the treated him like a preliminary guy. He was the biggest name in Florida and almost a nobody in Los Angeles. I didn’t understand that at all.

Whenever I went on vacation with my parents, the first thing I did was grab the TV Guide and look for the local wrestling show. When we visited my aunt in Connecticut or my cousins in New Jersey, I would watch the WWWF. (It was on at midnight, and being 10 or 11 years old, I had to beg my parents to let me stay up to watch it.) When we visited my brother in Kansas I saw the Central States show. Though I loved what I saw, nothing compared to my favorites home in Florida and none of the announcers came close to Gordon Solie. In the mid-70s I joined a local gym (I was fat and out of shape and wanted to change that). That’s when I first met a real wrestler. I can’t recall their names but there were a pair of twin brothers who trained there. They were the biggest guys I had ever seen. I found out later that they did a Nazi gimmick and worked in Memphis. In 1978 or 79 a young kid with big arms started working at the gym. His name was Jimmy Hellwig. He was tall and skinny except for those arms. Last thing I ever expected was to turn the TV on to Texas wrestling 7 years later and recognize him as the Dingo Warrior, later the Ultimate Warrior of the WWF.

In 1981 I ended up buying that same gym (with the help of my parents and uncle). Several local wrestlers trained there over the years. Aldo Ortiz/Aldo Lane/Aldo Marino (WWF jobber from 1984-85), who became Ricky Santana, was a regular for a long time. He brought in the Malenko brothers, Dean and Joe, as well as several other indie workers. Many big names wandered through my doors between 1981 and 1997, when I finally closed the gym. Lanny Poffo, Dino Bravo, Kevin Sullivan and Bill Kazmier all trained at BODYMAGIC. I attended my first live show in 1984. It was the WWF’s first show in Florida and I was sitting first row ringside. The thing I remember most about that show was the Iron Sheik throwing Sgt Slaughter right on top of me. What a way to get my first taste of the business.

I was a regular at both the NWA and WWF shows every month and When Ricky Santana started working for the NWA I started getting into the back, where I met the Road Warriors, Barry Windham, Steve Williams, and some of the others. I wore my hair long and blonde, and I had a dark beard. I was pretty big by then and many times kids would think I was one of the wrestlers. I would be watching the matches through the curtain and kids would ask me for autographs. One night I was sitting in the front row with a guy who worked for me and his two young sons. This drunk came up and kept insisting I was Stan Lane. He even called his friend over and insisted I was Lane. A little later Bobby Eaton was in a single match and was being double-teamed (by whom I can’t recall) and the drunk comes back and starts yelling to me to help my partner out. He just wouldn’t give it up. The kids with me thought it was real cool. 1987 was a real breakthrough year for me. I got a call one day from the local promoter of the Florida leg of the Von Erichs Over America Tour. They were looking for sponsors, as the show was a charity event, and also need some local muscle for security. During the couple of days the boys were in town, Kerry and Kevin Von Erich trained at BODYMAGIC, and the night of the show I had the run of the place. I spent the whole night backstage (and totally forgot about my date sitting ringside. I met Percy Pringle, Mil Mascaras, Ted Arcedi and the Iron Sheik. I was in heaven. (Several pics of that evening can bee seen in the photo gallery.)

About a year later I placed a call to John Parrillo to order some new gym equipment and started chatting with a guy with a very familiar voice and name: Les Thatcher. I knew the name, as he was the guy that replaced Gordon Solie now and then on Florida and Georgia wrestling, but knew nothing more about him. Since Parrillo had a watts line, I would call Les on a regular basis and pick his brain about my favorite subject. He was cordial and friendly and looking back extraordinarily patient with all my questions. Sometimes I got answers and sometimes I didn’t. It just depended on how far I tried to push. Les was always nice but as I recall always protected the business. Over a long period of time, Les and I developed a long distance friendship that lasted a couple of years before we ever met face to face. We finally met at Vince McMahon’s first WBF show in Atlantic City. Les was there representing Parrillo. After a couple of years on the phone it was finally great to meet him. The thing I remember most about our first meeting was his overly gentle handshake. Something I didn’t’ understand at the time which I have learned over the years has significant meaning. A light handshake means they are not confrontational, but also it’s a sign of respect from those inside the business.

As the 1990s neared their end the internet grew and I discovered eBay and began tape collecting in earnest. And my friendship with Les continued. Somewhere in there we started talking about more than just wrestling and really became close friends.

In 1998 Les promoted the Brian Pillman Memorial show. He sent me a T shirt from it and I vowed I would be there the following year. AND I WAS! Les was amazing -- he gave me the total VIP treatment. I rode to the arena in a limo with Konnan, Ray Mysterio Jr., Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair! I stood in a corner of the dressing room and just watched and listened to everything around me. I was just hoping no one would tell me to leave. I was totally in awe. To see RIC FLAIR and MICK FOLEY sitting on a table drinking a beer and talking about BARRY WINDHAM while WOMAN was sitting on the floor playing with my dog and TERRY TAYLOR, CHRIS BENOIT and MISSY HYATT were all just hanging out talking amongst themselves was mind blowing.

After that the Pillman became an annual trip for me. Around the same time I discovered the Cauliflower Alley Club. A group of retired wrestlers who meet every year for a convention in Las Vegas. I joined and attended my first CAC in 2001. The first people I met were Dean and Ruth Silverstone from Seattle and AWA champ Nick Bockwinkel. I was amazed at how friendly everyone was and, with liberal use of Les’ name, I found myself a part of the group in now time.