By Shawn Hogendorf

Correspondent

 When people think of “old-school” wrestling, they may think of Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant and Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka.

That’s old school, but not old enough.

Remember the AWA?Remember the Gagnes, The Crusher, the Von Erichs and Baron von Raschke?

Now that’s old school.

Remember the original flying dropkick?

How about “The Claw”?

Jim “The Baron” von Raschke is back, starring as himself in a comic look into a slice of Minnesota history: AWA wrestling.

“I lived long enough, and all the young guys like George Clooney and Brad Pitt were busy, so I play the old me and Fred Wagner plays the young me,” Raschke said.

Cory McLeod wrote “The Baron” in collaboration with Raschke and his son, Karl Raschke, who both lived in Prior Lake for 12 years.Jim “The Baron” von Raschke
threatens to use “The Claw” at a
meet and greet following the opening
night performance of “The Baron” at
the History Theatre in St. Paul on
April 14. “The Baron” runs through
May 20. (Photos by Shawn
Hogendorf) 

“This whole play started years ago in a land far, far away, called Prior Lake,” Raschke said.

Raschke’s son Karl went to Prior Lake Junior High and Prior Lake High School with a girl named Mara Pelecif. The two of them remained friends throughout junior and senior high school as well as college.

Pelecif was of Latvian descent, Raschke said. To learn more about her culture, she attended summer camps in the upper Midwest and Canada.One year, while she was away at camp in Toronto, Pelecif met McLeod. The two went to the camp for the next 14 years together and eventually married.

After McLeod finished his undergraduate degree in Europe and his post-graduate degree in South Africa and taught in Dresden, Germany, he moved with Pelecif to Prior Lake, where she introduced McLeod to her childhood friend, Karl.As Karl and McLeod were talking, McLeod asked Karl what his father did for a living.

“Karl told me his dad was a wrestler, and I was fascinated,” McLeod said. “I thought it would be a great idea for a play.”Karl told his father that one of his friends was interested in his life as a wrestler and hoped that he would be interested in doing an interview for the play.

“I thought Cory was writing a play for a grade in school,” Raschke said. “I had done interviews before for my children’s friends, many of whom study fine arts.”

Raschke told his son he would be happy to interview for the play but had no idea the play was going to be presented to the History Theatre.

The rebirth of “the claw” was underway.

McLeod had written comedic documentaries before and was working on developing a genre of documentary-style plays.

“I was working in a genre where I was creating a story through interviews, gathering information and getting to know the characters,” McLeod said. “Then I would put the information in an epic form.”

McLeod was not a wrestling fan as a child. He had never heard of the AWA or Baron von Raschke before he met Karl.

“I learned to appreciate wrestling as an adult while interviewing wrestlers for this play,” McLeod said. “I got to know Minnesota through wrestling.”

McLeod looked at wrestling in terms of storytelling. “I looked at how wrestling events unfold and how it could be turned into theater,” he said.“The Baron” is broken up by scenes called “Mad Dog Tangents” based on interesting stories McLeod gathered during interviews with Mad Dog Vachon.

“Wrestling interviews are very abrupt, very strong, and then they are done and back to the real storyline,” McLeod said. “All the wrestlers do that. That’s what I tried to capture during those scenes. I wrote the play as a journalist would write a story, but I had two years to interview, gather information and write.

“I felt like I had a responsibility to this story,” McLeod said. “It’s a borrowed interest. It’s someone else’s story, so I was careful about how I approached things. I put extra effort into checking facts and minute details.”

Raschke looked at the script and decided what was too personal or inappropriate. McLeod and Raschke also discussed the small details of wrestling life and language.

“While working on ‘The Baron’ and talking to Jim and a host of other wrestlers, I started hearing the same story from different wrestlers,” McLeod said. “It’s as if there is an unwritten collection of old-school wrestling folk tales that all the wrestlers freely draw from.”

After interviewing for two years, some of the minor details got blown out of proportion, and some of the major details became minor, he said.

The play is narrated more like a book than a play, McLeod said. The play makes the audience work to imagine the different settings.

“The stage is juxtaposition between front-of-the-stage settings like the ring and backstage settings of dirty locker rooms,” McLeod said.

Being there

As the audience walks into the History Theatre, they’re walking into an old-school wrestling match, with one difference: the ring is three-sided.

Velvet ropes and yellow turnbuckles surround the blue ring.

The announcer’s microphone falls from the ceiling as the announcer rouses the interactive wrestling crowd into a rare theatrical frenzy.

Above the ring is a big-screen television showing old wrestling footage during different parts of the play.

“It’s not a real ring because it only has three sides,” Raschke said. “I was surprised they could make a three-sided ring.”

The ring feels like a real one, though, Raschke said. “And I think the other actors are finding new aches and pains the morning after their short stints in it. 

“It has been a while since I’ve stepped into the ring,” Raschke said. “I’ve been doing a lot of physical activity, and my body is holding up. I have gotten used to it again.”

The most terrifying thing about the play was opening weekend, Raschke said. “Now I’m excited to have some fun. I haven’t had to do this much memorizing since catechism. It’s a real challenge, but it all works out,” he said.

The first time “The Baron” applied his signature move, “the claw,” was against baby-faced wrestler Pat O’Connor.

“I had never seen the move done in the ring, but I knew Fritz von Erich had used it before,” Raschke said.Raschke began his own career known as “the baby face Jimmy Raschke from Nebrasky.”

“I was misunderstood at the beginning of my career,” he said. “Being a heel was a natural role for me because of my looks and voice. Once I stopped being a baby face, I raged. I could talk and no one could understand me.”

By the end of his career, Raschke became a baby face again.

Raschke said he doesn’t have a favorite moment in the ring.“I liked all of the wrestlers, and I survived,” he said. “If I have to pick one moment, it was probably wrestling Verne Gagne at Comiskey Park in Chicago.”

Raschke sees big differenced between today’s wrestling and the AWA.

“We actually wrestled, and they do nothing now,” Raschke said. “There are no real characters in today’s wrestling. There is bad character development. Vince McMahon gives jobs to guys who come straight out of the gym all pumped up on steroids.”

Everyone could watch pro wrestling back in the day, Raschke said. A grandchild could sit in front of the television with grandparents and mothers and it was good entertainment, he said.

“Today’s wrestling [borders] on pornography,” he said. “I wouldn’t let my kids watch it and they are in their 30s.”

‘The claw’ explained

“The brain claw is a scientific hold,” Raschke said. “I put pressure on the nerves that goes down to the cranium and seeps into the medulla, rendering opponents helpless.”

Is wrestling real or fake?

“People have to come to the show to find out,” Raschke said. “It’s neither. It’s wrestling, and that’s all you need to know.”

All of the actors in “The Baron” are from Minnesota.“Being able to get to know the wrestlers and learn from them, I feel like a richer person,” McLeod said. “They are all so eccentric. They have a take on life that most people don’t have.”

Audience interaction is very important in the play, McLeod said.

“Watching the audience react to this stuff is great,” he said. “The Baron is used to it, but as a playwright I’m used to moderate clapping and laughter. When you do something that really touches people’s past, it’s an amazing feeling.” 

“The Baron” opened April 14 and runs until May 20 at the History Theatre, 30 E. 10th St. in St. Paul.

Ticket prices range from $25 to $32.For tickets, contact the History Theatre box office at (651) 292-2343, buy tickets the door or buy tickets online by clicking on the ShoWare icon at www.historytheatre.com/the_baron.asp [2].

And beware of “the claw.” 

Shawn Hogendorf can be reached at (952) 345-6374 or shogendorf@swpub.com.