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Griffin Kaye
From the “Straw Hat Guy” in ECW to “Vlad The Superfan”, die-hard wrestling fans have helped improve the product that we love so much. Few however have been as universally beloved and celebrated as much as Georgiann Makropoulos, “The Godmother of Professional Wrestling” who ran several wrestling fan clubs in the pre-Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Era.
A Champion of Wrestling Fandom
Georgiann Mastis was first introduced to wrestling in her mid-teens, watching her first event in 1959 whilst sick with meningitis. As Wrestling Inc. noted: “her grandfather took her to a wrestling show at Sunnyside Gardens in Queens, New York in November of 1959 and she fell in love with the sport.” It would ignite a 50-year love of the industry.
From the early 1960s, she started writing for wrestling magazines although she made her name through her role in heading up fan clubs including world champions Buddy Rogers and, more famously, Bruno Sammartino. She too spearheaded fan clubs for popular performers such as Ken Patera, Bob Orton Sr., and Bill Watts.
Her status as Vice President of the Sammartino fan club helped her become one of “The Living Legend”’s closest accomplices and aided her to become a regular of the New York wrestling scene. For over 20 years, she had her own designated seats for WWF events when the promotion came to Madison Sqaure Garden. The Baltimore Sun called her “a fixture at [MSG] shows in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.”
“Superfans such as…Georgiann Makropoulos,” noted the wrestling historian Evan Ginzburg, “made the experience of watching the WWWF at Madison Square Garden all the more fun!”
From 1969, Georgiann Orsi – as she was then known – took over the “Fan-Land” column in the Wrestling World magazine. Her three- or four-page columns included details of wrestler birthdays, promotional events, and new merchandise releases. Often, Georgiann would pull back the curtain for fans in an age when the behind-the-scenes aspect was very often off-limits for viewers.
A supporter of independent wrestling, it is said she often lobbied WCW and the WWF to get independent talents major tryouts and negotiate between wrestlers and promotions, including when many of the major wrestling territories closed their doors.
She developed a close friendship with perhaps the most famous wrestling journalist out there, Dave Meltzer. She hosted her own segment on Meltzer’s Sunday hotline and has referred to his Wrestling Observer Newsletter as “the Wrestling Bible”, “the [number] one weekly wrestling newspaper in the business”, and added that she would be “lost without my weekly issue.”
A New Generation But Same Old Georgiann
Even as the business moved on, Makropoulos did not.
Her own The Wrestling Chatterbox newsletter ran for two decades until her death, printing 233 copies. This monthly postal mail publication was notable for its minimalist, sketched magazine covers.
Close friend Chris Kanyon (whom Makropoulos had referred to the Wild Samoans’ wrestling school) noted how she stayed a huge fan of the business even as it strayed increasingly from the days of Sammartino. Her favourite wrestler was The Night Stalker (Bryan Clark) and she would support the relatively-local Extreme Championship Wrestling outfit based in Pennsylvania.
Pro Wrestling Insider described her as “beaming” when she was honoured by the East Coast chaper of the Cauliflower Alley Club in 1998.
Makropolous too became a major figure in the internet wrestling age, writing for 1Wrestling.com for seven years. She would then transition to WrestlingFigs.com, where she is described as having “kept the most accurate list of wrestling autograph and memorabilia events.”
In 2007, she helped raise money for Konnan’s kidney transplant. Having lost 40 pounds and facing a cardiac arrest if not for medical intervention, Makropoulous was tasked with helping fundraise the necessary $35,000 needed for this operation.
Personal Life
Outside of the ring, Makropoulos was said to be a sweetheart.
As documented in Kanyon’s autobiography, she was said to have been a woman who could “talk tough and then go into the kitchen and bake you some cookies.” She was described as “an older woman with slightly greying hair and the build of a linebacker.”
Aside from wrestling, she was an avid soap opera watcher and fan of Elvis.
She was also notable for calling all her friends “baby.”
In 2004, she survived a battle with cancer.
At one point owning 10 cats, by her passing in 2010, she left behind her husband George and Siamese cat Rocky.
Death, Tributes, and Commemoration
In January 2010, Makropoulos died of a heart attack. She was believed to have been in her mid-late 60s.
Her death sparked wide-ranging tributes from across the wrestling community.
Bruno Sammartino reflected: “Georgiann had a heart of gold, she loved the wrestling game, and was always very kind to everyone…she will be missed by many but she will never be forgotten.”
Paul Heyman remembered her thus: “In many ways, Georgiann was professional wrestling’s best friend, and she always took tremendous pride in the fact that she loved the business and was ‘house mom’ to those involved,” Paul Heyman recalled for WrestlingFigs.com.”
Additionally, Mick Foley called her “a positive presence in so many ways for so many years.”
Joey Styles wrote a tribute to her published on WWE.com.
That month’s edition of The Wrestling Chatterbox led with a front-page tribute to the woman who had been so important to the publication. Performers from across the industry wrote emotionally about their love for Georgiann, including Marc Mero, Sunny, Afa, Crowbar, and The Blue Meanie.
Several high-profile wrestling journalists and close friends too paid tribute to her life’s work.
Dave Meltzer called her “one of my closest friends” and a woman “loaded with friends, from wrestlers to fans.” Elsewhere, Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s Bill Apter referred to her as “the First Lady of Wrestling, bar none.”
One of the lengthiest and most touching tributes was by Pro Wrestling Insider’s Mike Johnson. In the piece “Pro Wrestling’s Best Friend”, he writes: “She was a woman of many hats, but if there was ever one word to truly describe her, it was passionate…Georgiann loved the business and there will be a great void with her passing. She was a bridge through the different generations and evolutions of the sport, one that we will never, ever be able to replace.”
A Fitting Send-Off
After her death, Makropoulos was buried alongside her favourite photo, pitting her standing between “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers and “The Living Legend” Bruno Sammartino, two wrestlers whose fan clubs she ran.
The two famously clashed in May 1963 at Madison Square Garden. In just 48 seconds, Sammartino defeated the inaugural champion Rogers to win the WWWF World Heavyweight championship, starting an unprecedented eight-year reign.
Whilst they may have been two of the most defining acts of their generation, that is not to say they got along. As Sammartino later said in a shoot interview, the two were “enemies from day one. He didn’t like me and I didn’t like him.”
Although both men hated each other, Makropoulos was able to get both men together for the photograph. Sammartino remarked: “We took the photo but we never spoke a word to each other!”
Such was the power of the adored Georgiann that she could unite two men commonly divided by bitter hatred. The photo being buried with her means evidence of her spirit will forever live on for all of those who met her.