Getting "Nasty" at the Allentown Fair today

FROM KEITH GROLLER

The weather is pretty shaky on this Labor Day Monday, but if you're going to the Allentown Fair for one last fling, look out for the "Nasty Boys."

The professional wrestling duo -- Sags and Knobbs -- will be in a small tent near the front of the Ritz Barbecue Restaurant. They've been there several times this week and are having an absolute blast.

I caught up with them yesterday for an interview (see the blurry photo at right) and they are really thrilled to be back in the Valley. These are 1981 Whitehall High grads, now living in Florida.

In fact I was at Sags' house in Treasure Island, Fla., near St. Pete, during the 2008 World Series.

They are really pumped up for the Oct. 8 show at the Fairgrounds Agri-Plex (formerly Ag Hall).

The show is called "Hulk and Friends" and it will feature professional wrestling legends such as Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, Koko B. Ware, Eric Bischoff, and of course, Hogan and the Valley's very own "Nasty Boys."

This won't be wrestling. They will be storytelling. And what stories they can tell.

The show has been well received in a couple of locations and Brian Knobbs, half of the Nasty Boys, was glad that his friend Hogan was able to bring the show to Allentown and to Ag Hall which was a legendary venue for pro wrestling when the Nasty Boys were just getting started more than two decades ago.

"I told him we had to come here," Knobbs said.

"What the Hulkster realizes and what we all realize is how awesome Ag Hall was for professional wrestling," Jerry Saganowich (Sags) said. "It really meant a lot to professional wrestling and played a big role in the whole picture. It has such great tradition. A lot of the guys would go over to Ringer's Roost [across the street from the Fairgrounds]; guys like George the Animal Steel, Andre the Giant, Chief Jay Strongbow, Vince McMahon, Sr., and Vince McMahon, Jr. This is what drew us into it when we were young. We saw so much right here in Allentown."

For now, though, the guys are having fun seeing so many old friends in their former stomping grounds.

"It's a great feeling to be back at the Allentown and at the Fair," Knobbs said. "We haven't been back here in years and the first thing I noticed is the great food. I missed the pierogies and the cheesesteaks and everything that Allentown is about. It just puts a smile on our face to be back and meeting and greeting the fans. People here didn't forget us and it's a fantastic feeling.

"We always had a great time here, even when we were little kids coming here. And then we wrestled here in front of a soldout grandstand. That was a fantastic feeling."

Tickets for the Oct. 8 show are available through Ticketmaster.

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