- [Speaker] We're gonna fight with everything we got to save our brother.

To save our brother.

(dramatic music) - He's the best 65-year-old wrestler in the world.

No doubt about it.

(lively rock music) - The fact that he's a better wrestler than most of them is a lot, it's, it's very telling.

(lively rock music continues) - And he's very entertaining for somebody, everybody say what?

65 years old?

60, 62?

- When he put the bird and hammer on Hydra, I nearly (beep) my pants.

(both laughing) (lively rock music continues) (lively rock music continues) - I don't mind old guy.

Geezer I hate.

It depends on how it's done.

Just how, whether it's really obviously malicious kind of, you know, hurting or whether it's just part of the recognition of the act and being part of it.

(gentle music) ♪ All my life, I have been a traveling man ♪ ♪ All my life I have been a traveling man ♪ ♪ Staying alone and doing the best I can ♪ (gentle music continues) ♪ I ship my trunk down to Tennessee ♪ ♪ I ship my trunk down to Tennessee ♪ ♪ Hard to tell about a man like me ♪ (gentle music continues) ♪ I met a gal I couldn't get off my mind ♪ ♪ I met a girl I couldn't get off my mind ♪ ♪ She passed me up there, she didn't like my kind ♪ (people talking indistinctly) - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- We kid them all the time, you know, father time.

But at 65 years old, I mean, he fools a lot of people.

He moves around in there, and I was so impressed with his skills.

I mean, he went from a one to a nine.

I mean, that's a big jump.

- [Speaker] Splendor in the grass.

- Yeah.

At that level I don't mind my age, I don't mind being older, I don't mind being recognized as being older.

I don't like to be thought of as somebody, and once in a great while this has happened, as somebody's trying to hold onto something that's no longer there.

'cause if it's no longer there, I'd rather not be there.

And I don't think that that's happened yet.

I'm not the best judge, but as long as people still want me to come and work for them, I have to assume that, that the, that the good side of that is still there.

- Whoa!

(cage rattling) To the whirlwind and Robbie.

- I was born in 1943 in Portland.

I was, I was considered a kind of nerdy guy.

My dad was one of Maine's really best amateur athletes.

An incredible influence, my father, because he was wise beyond his years and experience and time.

And his understanding was, I wish I could begin to be as understanding as he was of, of me and my sister.

- I was allowed to pave my own way.

The pressure on my brother, on the other hand, was enormous, because until he found wrestling, sports were not his thing.

He'd go out to the golf course to do my dad a favor.

In the later years when dad had turned to golf, he'd shoot an 84 and 85 once a year, say, "You know, this is a ridiculously stupid dull game."

And leave.

He was so, he was good at it.

It wasn't that, he just didn't get any pleasure out of it.

Rob would go to the theater in the museums with mom.

So once that happened, it was okay.

Rob had enough confidence in himself not to have to be little Jurie.

Rob was comfortable being Rob.

- I think Robert was in high school and he was producing plays, musical plays at Deering High School.

That's, so maybe that's where I sort of first recognized that he was, you know, a talented creatively.

- As far as his being an outsider, yeah, I think to a degree he was.

You know, he was not a jock.

He was, he was a, in drama.

I mean, that's, that's, you know, in 1960s, that was, that was an outsider.

He didn't care.

- The two factors from early youth were not, and probably deliberately choosing not at the time, but being an intellectual and non-athlete in a family of great athletes, and being Jewish in a city that was not, that was very much separate at the time.

Not so officially, but very strongly in ways that it isn't anymore, thank goodness.

That need for acceptance were, where the one or two Jewish kids who played football got invited to the big dance at the country club, or could go to it, and I couldn't.

That did hurt.

That was specific and that really did hurt.

We joked about it, "Ha, ha, we just don't go."

But it hurt.

- We were Jews in a gentile community and there were always issues of some, some minor antisemitism.

I don't, you know, I don't think it it scarred any of us.

It was not that kind of situation.

- We just sort of accepted it as it had to be and that's the way it is, but there's certainly still inside that sense, not accepted.

And yet Paul is, Paul played football with those guys.

And maybe I should have been an athlete.

Wish there was some way to explain something about Annette, because it's very difficult to pin down with words her incredible uniqueness.

- I met him when I was 16 years old.

I remember exactly the day we met.

It was at Deering high school, and I was about to have my driving test.

And I somehow, I don't don't even remember why, I remember this so well, but I met him in Holly and I said, "I was having my driving test."

He said, "Well, I, I had mine a few days ago, and I flunked it."

And my first reaction was, "What a jerk."

- We actually went steady.

She wore it, the ring around his neck, which we did in those days.

- I went to BU, Rob was at Amherst.

We saw each other freshman year, and then we didnt see each other for a couple of years.

And then, then we fell in love, we really did.

And we were married senior year of Amherst.

- When I was dating Annette, she was in Boston.

I was at Amherst about two hours away.

And one time I came in to the city to date, for a date with Annette.

And I saw a sign over the Boston arena, which no longer exists, but it was in the neighborhood of BU where Annette was.

It said, "Learn to be a professional wrestler."

And I don't know what took over at that point.

I said, "You know, as a kid, I always wanted to do that.

And maybe this is just the moment."

So, I remember telling Annette that this was something I'd love to do.

And she, her response was, "Well, if you ever do it, you know that our relationship will be over."

So in fact, eventually I started taking lessons on the sly on Sunday mornings at this particular gym inside the Boston Arena.

And didn't tell her until we, until after we were married.

And at a party, a very dull party.

I said, "You know what, Annette, we need to talk."

And I could see that she got very nervous.

- My heart was in my throat.

I, I couldn't imagine what, I thought maybe he had someone else.

Do we get a divorce?

Who knew what.

- We left the party pretty quickly thereafter.

And when I told her that I'd started taking lessons without her knowledge to be a professional wrestler, she said, "Phew."

- And I was so relieved at that point that that's what it was.

I said, "That's great.

Terrific, wonderful, fabulous."

- After about a year of taking lessons sporadically, I had my first match.

The audience and the other wrestlers were all Puerto Rican.

It was a Puerto Rican neighborhood.

It was in Puerto Rican area of the world.

And my opponent was Peppy Perez, who spoke no English.

And I spoke no, no Spanish.

I was doing everything.

Flying drop kicks.

And I would, 30 seconds later, I couldn't move.

So every time he would body slam me and go for a pen, I was hoping I'll just lie there.

But he would pick me up, you know, and not let it be over.

So finally, after about five times, and this is no exaggeration, I turned to the ref and I said, "I cannot go on.

I will die.

Tell Peppy to finish this, please."

So we did.

And that was my first experience.

- I really thought that, that he was being killed.

There was a woman there, I remember this, in like in a white band line, a tight sweater with like long black hair screaming to the guy, to his opponent, "Don't you hurt him!

Don't you hurt him!"

That woman was screaming, I remember it exactly, and I just couldn't stand it, I just can't stand it 'cause he looks like he really is getting hurt.

- At any rate, after, after, for our first anniversary, I gave her a photograph of me in, in those white wrestling trunks.

And if I can remember, I think I can, I wrote a poem on it, which said, oh, the first one said, "When I am old and can hardly kiss, remember once I looked like this."

You know, what can I tell you?

The next one is 40.

And, and it's, I've written, "So now I'm 40 and from where I'm at, I promise at 60 still to look like that."

And then finally at 60 it says, "So now I'm 60 when most men should fixed be, but I promise you, matey, I'll still be great at 80."

We went to New York for a year right after college, never came back here.

Always knowing that probably would come back for me to go into business, my father's business.

And after a short time in New York, when we were not thrilled with being there for many reasons.

- Less, less than a year, we just, we knew.

- Less than a year.

- It just wasn't.

- We moved back and then went into the business.

And while my dad and I continued to have a, a very wonderful relationship, I think I've told you this, it, the business and I didn't.

- It just wasn't for him.

- Boy, boy didn't the business and I not.

- Well, he, he didn't, he didn't enjoy working in the family business.

I mean, he's a, he was a creative person.

And as I said, it began with this music interest.

And his idea of manufacturing and selling tires was not what he wanted to do for his life.

That is not, on the other hand, manufacturing and selling tires provided him with a decent living.

- My husband, Joel, worked in the business also.

Joel was there by choice because he didn't want his father's business.

So for Joel getting an opportunity to work at Maine Rubber was a dream come true.

His family owned a small chain of supermarkets.

He hated that business.

So he would get up in the morning full of fire, raring to go to work.

The antithesis of that was Rob.

And Joel would talk about seeing Rob arrive at the office, putting his hand on the doorknob and just standing there 'cause he didn't wanna open the door.

He didn't wanna go in, he didn't wanna start the workday.

- We'd become involved in, in a place called the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.

A really exciting place that nobody, including myself, had, had ever heard of growing up.

It was just here and sort of secretly going about its way, producing some of America's, educating some of America's best artists.

At the time I was involved with a, with the Temple Bethel Art Show, which was about it for art culture in the city at the time.

And a show they were doing was a Skowhegan painting, School Of Painting sculpture show.

And Annette and I worked on that show.

And that was really the beginning of our interest as a couple in art.

- He needed to go out, he needed to not leave something, he needed to go toward something.

So until he had that in place, he didn't even approach anyone.

He just continued to turn the handle and open the door and go to work, as bad as it was.

- I just never found a place there.

I went to my father and his two brothers who owned the company, and I said, "Look, you can get rid of me if one, you buy this building for $45,000 for me downtown.

Two, you pay me for another five years."

Oh, the third thing was, "I can't come back.

I can't fail and come back."

It was, I had to be done.

- His mother and my mother were very nervous 'cause he was, you know, my mother told me to be a secretary and marry a rich Jewish boy.

And here it was and the opportunity was there.

And now we were blowing it.

And his mother as well, they were horrified, begged our lawyers, please don't let them do it.

- My mom and dad were incredibly supportive, especially my dad, my mom was worried.

She called Lenny Nelson, our lawyers.

She said, "Lenny, you're his friend.

You're his lawyer.

Do something.

Tell him to stay in the business."

Well, anyway, everybody was supportive and.

- And in fact, some of them might not have admitted it, but I would guess there were several sighs of relief when Rob decided, "I'm not gonna do this anymore.

I need to get out.

I need to go."

- We opened up the gallery downtown and there was no reason at all why it should have been successful, but it really was almost from the start.

- Well, we were so happy.

It was just fabulous.

We were meeting incredible people, doing what we love, learning on the job, daring to do these things that we, that I thought, you know, I, I never thought I was capable of doing those things, but my husband is a dreamer and he makes it all interesting.

(gentle music) - While they may not have been the pioneers, they were the settlers, they were very important in helping to give the old port its arts identity and also its credibility.

- And we certainly feel a bit of a part of the, of that renaissance that was coming back.

And we were in that building.

- We were in that building there, and that building was Two City Center wasn't there, and we, it was a lot.

- We bought that building, I'd love to say, for $45,000.

And, and all the inventory, which then included antiques was another $20,000.

And that was it, and we left a very lucrative family business to find our own way.

- Originally, Robert's Gallery was a retail gallery.

Today it's much more of an auction house, but originally it was a retail gallery and he brought a lot of cutting edge shows to town because he was always willing to be on the cutting edge of things - When things were being bad in the early nineties, we moved up the street to Free Street, just as things were getting, remember, when there was a bit of a recession then, and nobody ever came into that store.

- We sold our, we sold this building sold, - We sold this building and we moved everything out of there, but it was all on the phone.

And one day I said to him, "Why do we need this overhead?

Let's just move home."

- Yeah.

- Online, the Winslow Homer Print, which is not signed, well, it is signed and in a hand that I think looks a bit like Homer's.

- The main thing I remember is the dinner table, because sometimes we get these calls randomly in the middle of dinner, and it would be like a guy in jail and he'd be like, "Robbie Ellis there?"

He's like, "I'm in jail, but I love your dad."

You know, not, not your dad, but I love Robbie Ellis and I gotta talk to him, and so like, "Dad, it's this guy.

He is in jail, he loves you, blah, blah, blah."

And my dad would answer the phone and it's like, as soon as he answered the phone, different guy.

- Early on, I would say as I got out the door, it happened and I was not the same guy.

I would say that that doesn't happen now anymore.

I, because those two guys don't exist separately as much as I thought they did it one time.

- But I do know that he sometimes slips into the, the wrong character at the wrong time accidentally.

So like, or he'll, he'll be in his Rob Elowitch mode, but have like a slip into Robbie Ellis mode.

And he has like a literally a different accent when he talks, like he talks in a different vernacular and he slides in and out.

Like he gets a Maine accent when he is Robbie Ellis.

- And one of the things I love most about Robbie is that he's never let society or you know, any of these cultural norms tell him how he's supposed to act or who he's supposed to be at 65.

He does what he loves to do, and he is gonna do what makes him happy.

And to me, that's all you have at the end.

If you don't, if you're not happy, you know, what do you have in your life at the end, right?

(Robbie grunting) - It's interesting because we are good friends, but, but you know, he was, he knows what it's all about out there.

- This is legendary!

- Oh!

- I felt like I was getting my ass kicked and I knew I was getting my ass kicked.

And, and if he wanted to kill me, I really felt like he could have.

He's a really good wrestler and so he knew the limit, that there's a limit, and he stopped at that limit.

- I mostly have felt when I've gone there very worried about him, I'm worried he is gonna get hurt.

And so that definitely tempers my enjoyment.

I just feel like, "Oh my God, stay away from my dad.

Like, stop hitting him over the head with a chair."

Or whatever it is.

- And I would occasionally bring a, a flabbergasted unbelieving friend or would try to settle a bet by bringing a friend along.

And they say, "There's no way your dad's a pro."

Nobody talking about this is crazy.

- Does the outside world think that I've been terribly selfish, you know, that I've gone my own way?

But I think both kids would say that that's not the case.

- Growing up in this house, we always knew, and this came, you know, dad led the way in this, but certainly the grandparents and the aunts and uncles would not let it known that, that two, that in this family, children are the most precious thing, are the most beloved thing and they will always, they will always be first.

And I think that I appreciate that even more poignantly and even more, more deeply now that I have children of my own.

- I, I feel like I've been a really good father.

Hope so.

- He has such a sweetness to him.

I mean, you wouldn't know it from seeing him in the ring because he's absolutely terrifying and, and menacing, and horrible and he doesn't really like it to be known.

But he's, you know, he's an incredibly kind, sweet, generous person in private.

- I think Sam in particular would say he loved every bit of it.

Jenny at one point I remember didn't want me to come to one of her parties because the kids wanted to talk about professional wrestling.

So I avoided it.

(laughs) I had wrestled maybe five times in my life because I, I was married and had a job and had responsibilities and would only get called to say, "Come do a job for us outside of Boston."

And they'd give me $10 or something.

- And all this time, no one really knew.

A few of our friends and I, I don't think our parents even knew.

- I think we were probably the first people who knew after Annette.

And when he first told us, we, I think we probably thought he was crazy.

- I did know about it quite early.

And as I said, I didn't see it as that unusual because it was, it helped keep him sane.

And my only concern about it ever was that, particularly as he got older, was what I viewed the physical risk.

- I've known since college.

Rob had taken me into his confidence and I knew, I didn't know every time he went out of town to wrestle, but I knew he was wrestling.

- There was no great, there was no great revelation.

There was no, Son, we've got to talk."

You know?

"You know, sometimes how daddy goes on business trips and well, you know, I just, I think it's time I let you know that I'm a professional wrestler."

- Yay!

- Come on Robbie, get there.

- It's the humor in that.

Here I am in my sixties into these 20-year-old women and men who, who thinks he's pretty sexy.

That's the bad guy image.

But it became so amusing and so positive for the audience that it's now I, I sort of am a bad good guy or a good bad guy.

- [Referee] 1, 2, 3!

(audience applauding and cheering) I got a call from the promoter saying, "We're doing a show in Portland, we need somebody to work, will you do that?"

And I said, "No, I, you know, I don't do that in my hometown.

My friends don't know, we don't talk about it.

It's not a good thing."

And he understood.

And we hung up and I, and Annette said, I told him, what did you say?

She said, "It's ridiculous.

Nobody's ever gonna know, number one.

And you enjoy it, go do it."

It's at the expo in Portland.

So, you know, I called back and said I would do it.

- We were convinced by them.

Big deal, you know, let, he'll wrestle, wrestle at the Portland Expo and it will be fine.

'cause we always thought that perhaps that it, if someone knew about the wrestling, it would be horrible for our business.

People would think it was horrible, crazy, whatever.

- The only real reason for keeping it secret was that one was sleazy and one was high brow.

And I, and I never, the twain shall meet.

(bell ringing) (audience cheering) - Little did we know that the next day it would be the front page of the Portland paper with him standing there.

Then we went to Italy right after that, and our secretary, we called occasionally and our secretary said, "Oh, there was a call from Sports Illustrated."

Called so-and-so there.

So Rob got off the phone and told me, but he said, I know it's a joke.

It's one of my friends in New York, you know, it's nothing but I'll, I'll call, and sure enough.

- And once Sports Illustrated legitimized it with the life on Canvas situation and talked about his being an urbane sophisticated art dealer, there was never an issue after that.

(dramatic music) - Finally tonight, another report in the endless variety of ways in which Americans find to occupy themselves.

June Mizell tells us about a fine art dealer in Portland, Maine, who has a double life.

- Our business just exploded after that, it was amazing.

- I had great fear that one would hurt the other and therefore we kept it a secret.

That turned out to be a false premise.

Happily changed everything.

I mean, one really in the long run, one caused the other to happen, and the other then caused the other to happen even more.

They became so symbiotic.

- What a great day for CHIKARA.

What a great day for professional wrestling because standing before you, tell my self brothers is three of the greatest athletes ever to hit the world of professional wrestling.

We're talking about.

- If I wanted to work out every night I could.

Obviously I neither want to, nor could I. It's not unfortunate.

I mean, I love it.

But my life is painting.

That's really what I do.

- We accept him in both of these things, these parallel lives because we recognize that he's, that he's good at them.

We also, those of us that know him, not even well, but those of us who know him, really enjoy the fact that he enjoys it.

- For anybody to be able to tell whether those are by Kathe Kollwitz online is ludicrous.

Boy, strange time every year really is.

I mean, how many people then their business depends on one night a year.

We work all year to it.

The last four or five, six months, the most.

But literally we work from a whole year for this one night.

It's pretty dangerous.

What if we had a hurricane, you know?

- The intensity is not to be believed.

I mean, we've all worked hard in our lives.

We've always all been committed to projects.

We've all had important jobs.

It's really 24/7 with Rob.

I mean, it's not unusual for him to be there at one, two in the morning.

- I remember when I used to have to know it all and didn't had to know it all because there was nobody else.

Now at least we have a little bit of help.

I mean, Annette and I, and Sandra, who, the three of us, we work together all year.

And then all of a sudden, auction week.

There are two more people.

And then auction.

Two days.

There are 25, 30 people and they've all become friends.

They do a great job and we have as much fun.

They don't make a lot of money, but we pay them well and feed them and have fun.

And it's, it's a rather amazing time.

Very scary.

Kind of on edge.

But I like that kind of edginess a lot.

So Bill?

- Pretty interesting.

- You guys just start after breakfast, obviously.

- Interestingly enough, Rob tends to relax the last day or so, and I think it's when all the paintings get moved over and everything's accounted for because that's not a given.

There's always like one or two we can't find.

- Paintings should be a lot easier.

Not a lot easier, but these- - Already gone, we have all the oversized in the van already.

- Fantastic.

- I will go to the Holiday Inn when I wake up fairly early, 8:30 or nine, and then I will wait until Bill, who's in charge of the guys who will get together to take the stuff out of the storage and into the van down the street to the Holiday Inn.

And they'll bring them all in and Bill will be in charge of putting them in general areas where they'll be displayed.

(upbeat music) ♪ Crazy rhythm, here's the doorway ♪ ♪ I'll go my way, you'll go your way ♪ ♪ Crazy rhythm, from now on we're through ♪ ♪ Here is where we have a showdown ♪ ♪ I'm too high hat, you're too lowdown ♪ ♪ Crazy rhythm, here's goodbye to you ♪ ♪ They say that when highbrow meets a lowbrow ♪ ♪ Walking along Broadway ♪ Soon the highbrow, he has no brow ♪ ♪ Ain't it a shame and you're to blame?

♪ ♪ What's the use of prohibition?

♪ ♪ You produce the same condition ♪ ♪ Crazy rhythm, I've gone crazy too ♪ - [Artist] I feel like the Emperor Nero when Rome was a very hot town.

Father Knickerbocker you will have forgive me, I play while your city burns down.

Through all its night life I fiddle away, It's not the right life, but think of the pay!

Some day I will bid it goodbye I'll put my fiddle away and I'll say.

♪ Crazy rhythm, here's the doorway ♪ ♪ I'll go my way, you'll go your way ♪ ♪ Crazy rhythm, from now on we're through ♪ - It gets to be like a fever pitch, you know?

You know, you can almost feel the, you know, as, because of, I mean, everything is reliant upon what happens tonight.

- Don't forget that I'm also a businessman and I'm representing people who own paintings, some of which mean a lot to them and they're selling them either because the estate taxes are too high or because they need the money.

And, and so that you, you're representing people in a very different way than just aesthetically.

- Line but we don't know on what.

- Yeah.

- It looks like a linen line.

Doesn't it look like linen?

- I think so, yeah.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

But I don't think there's, I don't think there's any wax.

I don't think this is wax.

- No, it's not wax.

- There's something about the heart and soul as opposed to just the money.

But there's all different kinds of happinesses in an auction business, which is really why we're glad we're in it.

And that, and would fall into that category that I think is beautiful is the Homer Dodge Martin, which is in good shape as well.

Of course there are those that I, when, when, when the really beautiful something or that has touched my heart in a special way.

Of course it feels wonderful when it seems to touch every other people as well.

He's a collector.

- Yes.

He spent a lot of time on the chase - Doesn't like it.

The auctioneer, Bill O'Reilly, who's been my friend for, since the beginning of our business, auction business.

- For the first auction you did, I did.

And this was when he was down in Monument Park.

I mean, I hadn't done it for, for 15 years.

And the first one was rough.

No, you know, he can wrestle at this age, but I couldn't do what I was doing at this age.

- I'm glad that it's begun because once it's begun, it's almost like the beginning of a, of a wrestling match.

I'm nervous as hell backstage, but the minute I'm out there, I'm not nervous.

(upbeat music) - Number 20 is the next lot, lot number 20.

Minasco will start the bidding with you at 5,000 again.

At 5,000 bid's away, 5,000 and half.

Same bidder at $5,000, 5500, 5500 6,000, 6500, 6500, 7,000.

Same competition.

7,000 and 7,000 7,500.

8,000.

$8,000 bid, lot's at 8,000.

At $8,000 bid, the lot's at 8,000.

To my right we're at 8,000.

8,000, 8,000 previous bidder.

Then at $8,000.

(gavel thumping) $8,000.

135.

(upbeat music continues) Your bid $4,800.

562.

And 67, first of two, lot number 67.

And we'll start bidding at 5,000, $5,000 bid for a lot of 5,000.

We'll take the bidding at 5100, all right.

At 51, $5200.

At $5,300, $5,400, 54, $5500.

Two bidders at 55, $5600, 57, $5800.

$5,900 at $5,900, the lot's at 5,900.

At 5900, $6,000 to my right at 6,000.

$6,000 bid, the lot is at 6,000.

At $6,000 bid for the item.

At 6,000, gentlemen standing at 6,000 to the phone at 6,000 against the floor.

It'll be done at 6,000, 6,000, $6,000, 6,000.

(lively music continues) We'll start the money's at $200,000 if you could.

At $200,000 on the way, at $200,000 I have bid to the rear, 200,000, 225,000.

250,000.

250,000.

275,000, 300,000 Three now and a quarter, 325,000.

At 350,000.

350,000 now 350,350 to 375,000.

At $375,000 at 375, 400,000 due bidder entirely and against you.

$400,000, 400,000 is front bet.

400,000.

400,000 on the phone, at 400,000.

Bidding at 400,000, it will rest to the phone then at this 400,000.

At 400,000, 400,000 moneys goes at 400,000, $400,000.

Very good purchase, 400,000.

(audience applauding) - The very first time I had the opportunity to meet Robbie Ellis was on a show up in Maine.

I went up to him and, and said to him, you know, I introduced myself and asked him how he was, and I said, "I think I know a little something about you.

Aren't you a famous painter?"

Which got a good laugh out of Robbie.

And he is actually, "I'm an art dealer."

But just the fact I think that I knew this little much about Robbie Ellis kind of got the conversation going.

- I think I would've quit quite a while ago if it hadn't been for Mike and the change and my acceptance on a level of professional wrestling that I just didn't have my whole life.

- Robbie brings a level of, of passion and intensity to what he does that you won't see in, in guys half his age.

And I think that's why he connects so easily with audiences, regardless of how you wanna look at their demographic, what their age is, or what their income level is, or what their race is, none of that is I important.

Your friend in mine, Mr.

Robbie Ellis.

(audience applauding) - Because first he saw me wrestle when he came up here to wrestle for the same group that I was wrestling for.

And I was not, I never thought I was particularly good in the ring.

He saw something more and he saw it in my age, a gimmick all by itself.

- I've had the great honor and privilege of tagging with Robbie Ellis on a couple occasions.

And every time that I've been in the ring with Robbie, we have a ball and we just love the chemistry that we've found together.

And our, and our styles are very similar in that we're kind of arrogant, over the top, and we like to tell the people how pretty we are.

And wouldn't you agree?

- Tell him, Robbie!

- I will tell him one thing.

Damn, I look good!

(all laughing) - He does look good.

You are the fine man!

♪ He's so nervous - Introducing first team.

Number one, here is Superstar Shayne Hawke, sweet and sour Larry Sweeney!

Simply marvelous Mitch Ryder, and America's sexiest sexagenarian superstar and Sports Illustrated legend, Robbie Ellis!

- Ha, ha, ha, I love it!

- Everybody knows.

- Everybody rise and hail the legend Robbie Ellis!

(audience applauding and cheering) - I am not so fond of the actual, you know what I do, when, when there's a woman in front of me and I, and I do these sort of stupid Chippendale dance, that kind of thing I, Annette would hate it.

She never wants to see that, though I've told her about it.

- The wrestling mat, I've always considered to be a canvas, if you will.

And, and, and I've always found myself to be an artist.

And I think in a conversation I've had with Robbie, he, he agrees with me.

And we share the same beliefs that, that mat is the canvas and we are the artists and, and we paint the picture for the fans every time we go out there.

And I mean, any idiot can flop around.

You know, they train gorillas and, and bears and any, any, you know, mental giant can flop around and take a bump, but to tell a story, to paint a picture, to conduct the crowd, to have them stand up, to have them sit in, have them cheer, to have them boo, to have them like, go get you a beer at the concession stand, now, hurry up back 'cause we're getting ready to do the finish.

You know, that takes a skill and that takes the ability to tell their story and to be the artist that Robbie Ellis is.

- [Announcer] Robbie Ellis just wipe everyone out.

(audience applauding and cheering) - [Audience] Robbie!

Robbie!

Robbie!

Robbie!

Robbie!

Robbie!

Robbie!

- And there are gaggles of guys from, that came in during the same generation of wrestlers that Robbie came in who are so embittered and they have grown to resent the business and resent the fans and resent their fellow wrestlers.

And you have the flip side of that in a guy like Robbie Ellis, who is so very willing to tell you the truth and who's so very willing to sit down with you and give you, you know, the straight poop on what it is that you're doing right and what you're doing wrong.

And I, I just think that's one of the things that makes Robbie timeless in the business.

You never feel like you, you're never gonna sit around a bunch of guys discussing Robbie Ellis and say, "When is that guy gonna get out?"

It sucks the reverse.

Everyone is just so thankful that we have a guy like Robbie Ellis and in his own way, he's, he's a real undiscovered treasure of the Independence.

- I feel really good about where I've been for the last, now seven or eight years.

I give Mike most of the credit for that.

'cause he saw something that nobody else really did and used it in just the most brilliant sort of ways.

- You know, he'll hang out in the locker room with all of us outcasts and dreamers, you know, just like he's one of the boys, you know, he doesn't walk in or he doesn't have the, the least bit of surliness to him or anything like that, any, you know, jaded necessarily what you, what you come to expect with the veterans.

You, you don't get that with him, yeah.

- It's not about, and there's no blood in there.

Thank goodness, I mean, so it's not something that's gonna, I don't think it's going to creep down and become a black eye.

Darn.

It's just a, it's just a mat burn.

And apparently I didn't, you see, once I'm up, when's a guy, I'm doing this to a guy and I'm up in the air.

It's really at this, that point, he's either gonna fall back or we're both gonna go straight down.

Apparently I went pretty much straight down and I didn't know that except, but I wondered why I hit it in a whole different way.

And it did scare me for a second.

I thought I really did it and I did hit it hard.

But apparently absolutely just superficially.

I mean, it did, obviously I didn't hurt my neck and, and that was the most important thing.

And it just was fine.

I got a totally superficial surface thing that looks fabulously horrible.

- And he, he said he went to the doctor and I guess he has a bone density of like a 24-year-old.

- What could go wrong at, at our age and is it worth it?

And he, you know, we've had these conversations and he said he, he knows that he knows there's, there's risk, but it's what he loves to do and what he wants to do and if it happens, it happens.

He's, he's made that decision.

It's not like he doesn't think anything bad could ever happen to, to him in the ring.

- [Referee] 1, 2, 3!

(audience applauding and cheering) - [Announcer] She got it.

Yeah, she got it.

- What good would this sport be if you didn't look like you get beat up once in a while?

(laughs) - You know, I don't know if I'll be doing it when I'm, you know, 60, but if I look half as good in my forties like Robbie does in his sixties, I should ask my wife that.

Who looks better right now, Robbie or me?

- I think one of the reasons why I've changed a lot, especially more often in the last 10 years, though not so much recently, is that, you know, at this point in my life, I get asked one time much too many, "How old are you?"

Not, you know, they, they, I know it's coming, you know?

"Gee, you look great for a guy your age."

You know, and I wanna respond, "(beep) I look great for a guy your age."

You know?

It's big deal, look good my age, anybody can do that.

- He looks great.

He's in fabulous shape.

He works out to keep himself in good shape.

He eats meticulously, takes vitamins and takes good care of himself.

I mean, I don't know what his plan in his head is right now.

I don't know if he's saying, you know, "When I'm, when I'm 70."

I mean, he said he can't, he, he jokes, I think he jokes.

He says, "I can't imagine wrestling when I'm 70.

Being a professional wrestler and being 70."

Well, we'll just have to see how it plays out.

- It's just a record.

This is probably my 200th book.

It just tells everything that I've worked out, at what weight, and how many sets.

Sometimes you think you haven't done anything and you go back and look a year ago and you've done quite a lot.

At this point in my life, it's slower and that's okay.

I mean, I, my aim isn't quite the same as what it once was.

I don't, I, I don't wanna lose anything, but I don't need to gain anything here.

You know, I'm there so I wanna stay in shape.

I have, and probably was born with atrial fibrillation, and I'm on a medication for that.

For years I was told that there, it's not a dangerous thing and relative to other things it's not.

But now they're saying that it's maybe a little more dangerous than they first thought.

- A couple years ago, there was a question since he has atrial fibrillation, that his cardiologist told him when he went for his annual physical, that perhaps he had to, would have to quit because he'd have to take the special medication.

And it was really scary because I knew that it would be really hard on Rob.

But it turned out that, that our regular physician read the same data and came to a different conclusion.

And he spoke with a cardiologist and they both agreed that there was no problem, there was no risk.

- My worst one was about four years ago, a rotator cuff.

That was a big deal 'cause that was six months when I couldn't wrestle.

Luckily after a short time I was doing, you know, therapy.

But that was a tough thing and I, I sort of made the decision that if I get anything more like that, that takes me out for several months, that would probably be it.

- Doctors have told me too that, you know, when they tell Rob he has to do this, this, says he does it incredibly, he does it to the Nth degree.

He takes really good care of himself 'cause he knows how important it is.

- And I don't have pain.

And I have to say that that's staying in shape to, in genetics and luck.

What else can it be?

It's not me.

It's just luck and good.

It's luck, but what happens when I stop personally.

Right now I have no immediate plans.

But, you know, it could happen tomorrow or it could happen next year, it could happen in five years.

I can't quite see myself in tights at 70 in front of 100 kids screaming.

I, and the parents.

So I, it's, it's, it's tough for me to know.

The idea of having to come to an end is upsetting.

I get tired later and in a way it's tired now, but it's a different kind of tired.

It's, it's just, I feel very loose and I feel a little pumped, which is an unusual combination.

You'd think that you'd be tight if you were pumped, but I'm not, I feel very loose.

And I just feel I could be (beep) on somebody, you know?

And I'm not kidding.

That's not an exaggeration.

That's exactly how I feel.

What's wonderful about wrestling is that you can do that without killing them, you know?

- There'll be a reason because he won't be able to do it forever, and we'll just have to see.

I would never insist unless, unless he had a health, a health issue.

And I know he wouldn't either, because he, he cares too much about all of us.

He would never risk, you know, take an unnecessary risk.

- Other than the fact that people talk about my age and I talk about my age, it's just talk.

I don't feel, I've said this so many times, I don't feel the least bit different than I did 20, 30 years ago, or more.

I, I imagine that moment will come.

I mean, I look in the mirror and I don't see age.

I see age when I look at pictures of myself and I see age when I watch myself on television.

I don't know how accurate either, any of those are.

How does one judge oneself?

It's just so difficult.

But I just never stopped because I love doing it.

- I know that it makes him incredibly happy.

And I know as long as, and for me, as long as he's safe, it's fine.

He can do it forever.

- She would've much more concerns about my mental health if she were not to allow me to do this.

So, and I'm aware that when she worries about my getting hurt, that she's very aware of the other.

And I think if she had to vote yes or no and her vote would count, she would vote to have me stay as long as I want to.

I have no doubt about that.

- He's passionate.

That may be the single most important adjective to describe him, he's passionate - At this age, you know, you better know what you, what, what is right for you.

(gentle music) 'Cause it'll be sad if not.

- I find, I find that dad's really courageous.

I think that he really stands up for what he believes in.

I think that he's not afraid to point out when things are just aren't right.

And he's willing to be outspoken, which I think is great because too many times in my own life, I've sort of said I've, I've I've said, felt the same kind of outrage, but I've kind of let it stay inside because I was either too afraid to tend or too neurotic with something, to say anything about it.

Well, not so with dad.

- This was his way of not being like the Jewish, nerdy, geeky Portland guy.

Like it was his way of being a superhero, or like of being a, in his perception being like a jock, or like a stud, or a macho guy.

- We have the most interesting life of anybody I know.

It's never boring for one minute.

And you never know in our business especially, you never know what the next phone call will be, like that.

- I feel that I'm, I've become pretty whole, W-H-O-L-E.

And maybe I felt in, divided and in many parts.

And I, and it's good.

And I, I have to give Annette a lot of the credit for that because she was so incredibly supportive even in the roughest times.

She understands me better than anyone.

- We've been friends forever, since we were 15.

I don't know, it's just great.

We still get excited when we walk in the front door.

When I sit here in the kitchen, I see the light on in the garage and I know he's coming in.

It's never dull.

God never.

- But this subculture that I'm part of is more fun.

Certainly not as much pressure because you're not dealing with big money and big contracts, just dealing with people you love and you trust your life with.

- I dread the day that he has to stop.

What will happen?

I think about that.

I don't know.

I don't know.

I'll have to do something else, but I can't even imagine 'cause it's been so long.

He'll just have to deal.

He will.

(gentle music) - This is Elis's moment, he needs to put him away.

Bobby's gonna turn chase on your head.

(cage rattling) - Oh!

Right in the center.

That's gotta do it!

That's it.

(people clapping and cheering) - I feel like I'm 65 and I finally made it.

(laughs) - [Audience] Robbie!

Robbie!

Robbie!

Robbie!

Robbie!

Robbie!

Robbie!

Robbie!

Robbie!

Robbie!

Robbie!

Robbie!

Robbie!

(gentle music continues) - Sure, it is pretty, but I can't finish it.

Do you remember the melody at that point, Annette?

Come on in here and, can she be in here now?

- Sure.

- Come on.

Help me.

I don't think I'd remember the even the, it's been so long.

(gentle piano music) It sounds good though, after all these years, doesn't it?

- It does.

- I mean, it does look old fashioned, but, but it's pretty.

(gentle piano music continues) I don't think that was right.

- That's right.

Yeah.

(gentle piano music continues) - That's not the part that's right?

- It is.

- Yeah, but this, this is where, I don't know.

♪ In my ♪ Da-da-da (Robbie singing in scales) - That's it.

That's it.

- I don't remember the chords though.

(gentle piano music continues) Something's wrong there too.

(gentle piano music continues) I don't know how to end it.

(gentle piano music continues) - That's it.

(Annette singing in scales) - That's it.

- Like that, yeah.

- Something like that.

- Aye.

(Annette laughing) (gentle piano music fading)