There's also a strange inconsistency (possibly down to the editing process) where he freely admits wrestling is predetermined yet also sometimes writes about matches almost as if they were real.īut, as someone with such a long, well-travelled career - from starting out in the early 1960s in Pittsburgh to being a big star (and NWA Canadian heavyweight champion) in late 1970s Toronto to working in big, major territories like Sam Muchnick's St Louis and its grim stepchild Kanasas City, Australia under Jim Barnett and Mid-Atlantic - Robertson has a lot of stories to tell. After a little research of looking at results from the 1970s and noting where he was on most cards, it's hard to take seriously the idea he was ever even a outsider's pick to be NWA World Heavyweight champion. True, he seems to have fallen into the trap many wrestlers do, of over-inflating their importance but he's hardly alone in that. Clearly he was getting on a bit then (he was past 40 when he adopted the Missing Link gimmick) so reading about his earlier career was enlightening. And if his admissions of wife-beating and of being so poor at the end of his career that he was reduced to eating out of dumpsters, are any guide, fairly honest in facing up to his shortcomings and problems.įor me, it was particularly interesting since, most of what I knew about his career is from watching a bit of early/mid-1980s World Class and Mid-South. Dewey is one of the few pros who will admit publicly that he used steroids, and graphically documents the damage they did to his health.ĭewey 'the Missing Link' Robertson's autobiography is far more poignant, thoughtful and reflective than I thought it would be.

The tremendous response to his appearances showed that interest in the Link was as strong as ever.Bang Your Head also gives fans an unprecedented look at the reality of a wrestler’s life outside the the weeks on the road away from family and friends, the constant risk of injury, loneliness, financial instability, strains on family life from constantly moving around to follow the work, and the easy access to women, alcohol, and drugs. No, he wasn’t a Stone Age throwback or even a refugee from a circus freak show ― he was veteran ring hero Dewey Robertson, known to wrestling fans for his all-Canadian looks, physique, and mastery of a thousand wrestling moves.Written in a plain-talk, straight-from-the heart style, Bang Your Head tells Dewey’s story from the very beginning ― growing up in the wrestling mecca of Hamilton, Ontario becoming one of the stalwarts of Toronto’s Maple Leaf Wrestling promotion moving to the southern United States to morph into one of wrestling’s most popular “goons” losing his career and abusing alcohol and drugs beicomng destitute and homeless for nearly a year returning to Canada to begin a long road to recovery and finally emerging victorious only to find that his fans were still waiting. Now, the man behind that blue-and-green mask is finally stepping out to tell people the real story.

But then, he disappeared from wrestling as mysteriously as he appeared, and for more than a decade fans wondered what became of him.

“And in this corner, at 260 pounds, from Parts Unknown, it’s The Missing Link!”Wrestling fans around the world thrilled to those words in the mid-80s as the bizarre and volatile Missing Link would enter the ring.

Wwf the missing link