Muscles were flexed and bodies were slammed last week at Hara Arena as local wrestling organizations gathered to honor "Big Daddy" Rog Cox, a former wrestler.
The “Big Daddy” Rog Cox Memorial Unified Wrestling event took place on Jul. 19 in Dayton. All of the proceeds went to the family of Cox, who died from kidney failure June 6.
The event was inspired by Cox’s dream of uniting local wrestling organizations together to perform, according to event officials. Local and distant wrestling organizations were present, such as: Dynamic Championship Wrestling, Legends of the Squared Circle and Unified Championship, just to name a few.
The doors of Hara Arena opened at 6 p.m. with the show starting at 7:30. Attendees young and old gathered to participate in the festivities.
“Rog Cox was a man who had a dream, where everyone worked together and put their egos aside,” Said James Hines, known as ”Bobby Fulton” in the wrestling world.
A variety of wrestling matches took place. A six man tag team round, an eight man brawl, a women’s round and a legend vs. upcoming were some of the different types of matches performed.
The personas performing that evening ranged from strictly serious to brash and flamboyant. For example, the wrestler by the name of “Super Oprah” wrestled in a dress and wig.
The backstage was filled with wrestlers of young and old.
Wright State University Alum Jack Reno wrestled under the name “Atomic Rhino”. Reno, who came out of retirement for the memorial event, worked with Cox and felt that this was a good way to honor his memory.
Chris Knuckles( ”TKO”) had met Cox at a wrestling school.
“He was one of the greatest guys I ever met.” said Knuckles.
