Remembering Georgiann Makropoulos

It boggles my mind that it was a year ago today that I received a call that Georgiann Makropoulos had passed away. I've gotten a lot of phone calls passing on deaths around professional wrestling, almost to the point that I'm dumb to getting the call, but when I heard that Georgie, someone who I spoke to almost daily and had known since I was 17 years old, was gone, my heart just sunk.

A year later, I am still amazed that she's gone. Even at her memorial mass this past Sunday, I kept thinking how strange it's been to have a year without this woman and how much of a void she left behind, not just within professional wrestling but among her huge, expanded circle of friends and family.

It is almost impossible to recount the many acts of kindness Georgie performed for professional wrestling and the unique performers and fans that populated its circles. Whether it was tracking down long-forgotten legends to put them in touch with old friends, helping toy companies make connections with older names to get action figures put into production, setting up indy promoters with talents fresh off national TV, being the go between for contracted talents to negotiate with other companies, promoting and getting the word out about special talents on the independent scene that deserved getting to the next level, running sales through her Newsletter to raise money for sick readers and countless other acts of kindness, Georgie was paying it forward before that was even a term in the pop jargon.

When she died, Paul Heyman wrote that wrestling lost it's best friend and I don't believe the man has ever made another statement so profound. That is who Georgie was. She didn't have children, but she was a matriarch to a number of generations of wrestling fans - from those who assembled in Madison Square Garden and The Sunnyside Gardens all the way to the fans of today who assemble around their computers and cell phones and log online.

If you became friends with Georgie, she treated you like gold. You were treated with, "How are you baby?" when she called or saw you and you were invited to a countless amount of shows. I have lost track of the minutes, hours and days spent traveling in the old "Georgie van" as she would call it, just talking about wrestling and laughing about some of the sillier characters that often crossed our collective paths. If Georgie loved you, she loved you for life and you'd have to do something extremely stupid to lose that love. She was just an amazing, giving person.

It wasn't just those she was friends with that saw that kindness. Georgie went out of her way to promote everything and everyone and asked for nothing in return from companies except tickets to give away to shows. In a business where people are often looking to make the most money, she was about the love of the game. She was the last throwback to the "Fan Club" and unlike some outlets that sometimes get caught up in being jaded on the nuances of the business, she loved wrestling. Literally loved wrestling, because of all it had brought to her life.

Georgie was the rare case where the wrestling world actually loved someone back as well. In a business where everyone talks trash on each other behind their back and there are far too many politics and dopey feuds online, no one had a bad thing to say about that woman. I don't think there's a person reading this that actually believes that when they are gone, there won't be at least one jerk who has something bad to say. No one had anything to say about Georgie. No one. In fact, outlets like WWE.com went out of their way to make note of her passing. If that doesn't speak volumes about her mark on our unique little corner of the world, I don't know what does.

As 2010 went on, there were moments where I wished she was still around because she would have enjoyed those moments so much. Shawn Michaels retiring from WWE. Sabu returning to main event his first PPV in years. She loved both of them so much on a personal and professional level.

I think the only performer she ever loved more was Bruno Sammartino, who was her dear friend for many, many, many decades. I don't ever believe that we'll see Sammartino inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, but if there was one person who could have talked him into it, it would have been Georgie. He respected her that much and if the day comes where hell freezes over and Bruno accepts an invitation, I'd be shocked if she isn't among the names that he thanks, because she was that important, not just to him, or me, or you, but everyone.

Georgie was pro wrestling's guardian angel and always will be. I just wish she had been guarding us from down here for a lot, lot longer. I miss her and there will never, ever be anyone like her. She was the best, PERIOD.

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