DAN MIRADE ON THE PASSING OF GEORIGANN MAKROPOULOS
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 * 1:12AM
You always hate to get "that call," but it came once again tonight as the wrestling world learned that Georgiann Makropoulos passed away earlier tonight. This certainly wasn't a typical "wrestling death," and she wasn't your typical wrestling person.
A long time fan, historian and writer, Georgie was in a league of her own. Her newsletter and on-line work wasn't about scoops and scandals, but a forum for fans to get closer to the superstars the admired and cheered on at the arenas and on television. She was one of the last links to the proverbial good old days, attending live events at Sunnyside Gardens in NY in the 1950's, going on to run fan clubs for many of the top stars of the era. She was a huge help to many stars getting bookings after their runs on national television came to an end. Fans might be surprised to know just how much of a kayfabed middle-woman she was when one promotion wanted to reach out to a superstar under contract to another company. She knew everyone, every source and was in the loop on everything.
Georgie was a huge help to the Millennium Wrestling Federation, especially in our early years. The funny thing is, despite hundreds of emails and numerous phone calls, we never met in person. In 2001, she helped round up raffle items and spread the word for our benefit for Bushwhacker Butch when he was recovering from a near death staph infection. The same could be said for our efforts to help "Superstar" Billy Graham weeks before he was expected to die, then lending a hand in hammering Road Dogg and the mark he had set up his bookings when he no-showed the event. I remember being on the phone with her late into the night the evening before our ROAD TO THE GOLD 2003 event when we learned King Kong Bundy got hurt slipping on the ice the day before the event trying to find a replacement. She helped us line up Mick Foley when he appeared for us in 2004. I could go on and on. When Jimmy Hart screwed us and the fans over, she passed along some useful info. Thanks to sleazebags like Billy Graham and Terri Runnels, we had a couple of disagreements over the past few months, but once she saw the paper trail I kept, she knew and it was back to normal. I'm happy our final interactions were positive ones. . .
Pro wrestling really did lose someone it needed more of tonight. . .
