The Fascinating, Tragic Tale of The Missing Link
In the pantheon of wild—and brief WWF characters, perhaps nothing can top The Missing Link. With a bizarre, patchy haircut, blue and green face paint, and (seemingly) unable to communicate verbally, The Missing Link was a savage beast of a man who squashed opponents in minutes with a moveset consisting primarily of punches, kicks, and his infamous headbutt, which he was also not afraid to unleash on a variety of inanimate objects. But then, just as quickly as he appeared, he vanished from WWF airwaves. Who was The Missing Link? Where did he come from, and where did he go?
The man behind The Missing Link gimmick was born in 1939 by Byron Robertson in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. An intelligent kid but a poor student, "Dewey," as he came to be nicknamed (for reasons even he couldn't remember) took to sports and physical activity at an early age. Teased and sometimes ridiculed for his slim, lanky physique, it wasn't until his teens that Dewey became interested in physical fitness and bodybuilding, frequenting a local gym owned by former wrestler Al Spittles. It wasn't long before Spittles encouraged Dewey to step inside the squared circle to learn some moves, and the bug officially bit Dewey.
After a few years of jobbing and getting experience wherever he could around Toronto and beyond, Dewey quit his day job and became a full-time wrestler. He partnered with Whipper Billy Watson to run a small territory in southern Ontario, and between running the smaller territory and wrestling in Toronto, Robertson was living quite comfortably. The wrestling gods continued smiling down upon him—for a time.
Dewey Robertson from March 20, 1978 [Toronto Star Photograph Archive]
From his debut in 1961 until 1978, Dewey Robertson "kept his nose clean". He drank very little and didn't use drugs, he kept a rigorous workout routine (including owning his gym for a while, which supplemented his income when the territories weren't bringing in as much), and was well respected by his peers. By 1978, however, Toronto and surrounding territories were experiencing lean times. So lean that Frank Tunney, head of Maple Leaf Wrestling (NWA Canada), sold off part of the territory to Jim Crockett, head of NWA Mid-Atlantic, based in Charlotte, North Carolina. This led to a talent exchange that saw many wrestlers travelling back and forth from Toronto to Charlotte and vice versa. Dewey made a few trips to Charlotte and liked what he saw there—so much so that he uprooted his family and brought them down to live with him, leaving other people in charge of the gym. If one wanted to pinpoint what led to the ultimate decline of Dewey Robertson/The Missing Link, it would be moving to Charlotte. However, it was not immediately apparent what a poor decision it was.
Professionally, it made sense. Charlotte was experiencing a boom, while Toronto was barely staying afloat with the help of some of the talents from Charlotte. Some of the wrestlers who called Charlotte home during this time included: Blackjack Mulligan; Rocky Johnson; Greg Valentine; The Youngbloods; Dusty Rhodes; John Studd; Ray Stevens; Ricky Steamboat; Dory Funk Jr.; Baron Von Raschke and Ivan Koloff, Jimmy Superfly Snuka, and Rowdy Roddy Piper. In that regard, moving to North Carolina made sense.
On a personal level, however, Dewey was making a catastrophic mistake. Despite being a grizzled veteran with almost 20 years of in-ring experience, Robertson felt intimidated by the pool of younger talent. Anxious to fit in and be well-liked in his new territory, Dewey took up three new habits that would ultimately lead to his downfall: alcohol, marijuana, and anabolic steroids. Add to this the fact that Dewey was also dealing with (undiagnosed) bipolar disorder, and you had a recipe for disaster.
However, despite it all, Dewey found success. He made good money in Charlotte, and back in Toronto, he won a championship tournament to crown the newly revived Canadian Heavyweight Championship belt. After wrestling in the Toronto territory for so long, Robertson had become quite the "All-Canandian" hero, and he held onto the Canadian title for over a year. After dropping the Canadian title, Robertson felt he was in a rut in the Carolinas. Making good money but feeling he would never be seen as more than a mid-carder, Dewey made the decision to leave the Carolinas and NWA Mid-Atlantic behind for Kansas City. He thought he could finally achieve his dream of becoming the NWA World Heavyweight Champion by defeating Harley Race, the reigning champion at the time and worked primarily in the Central States territory (Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois).
Eventually, Robertson did win gold in Kansas City, although it was the Central States Heavyweight Championship and not the NWA World title he was so hungry for. After watching the NWA World title go back and forth between Race and Ric Flair, Dewey finally faced the harsh truth, that winning the NWA World title was simply not in the cards for him. That realization, coupled with the fact that the pay in the KC territory was abysmal, made the decision to look for work elsewhere an easy one. With no money, no guarantee of work, and barely enough gas in the tank to get there, Dewey left Kansas City for what seemed like his only option: Dallas, Fritz Von Erich, and WCCW.
Dewey had a friend who had left KC for Dallas ahead of him, wrestling as The Mongol. Despite being told there was no room for any new wrestlers, Dewey hoped to impress Fritz Von Erich and form a tag team with his friend. Here we have the birth of The Missing Link.
Head shaved all over, but Dewey met with the patriarch of the Von Erich family for a small patch in front and one in the back. And while Von Erich reiterated that they had no room for anyone at the time due to being in the right place at the right time, Robertson lucked his way into a match that night in New Orleans for Mid-South Wrestling. He did well and hit it off with Ernie Ladd, the booker for Mid-South, and Louisiana became his family's new home base.
One good thing had come out of his time in Kansas City, and that was that Dewey finally experimented with turning heel. So, as he developed the persona that would become The Missing Link, Ernie Ladd put Dewey in a stable with other heels called Devastation, Inc., consisting of Dewey, Kamala The Ugandan Giant, and King Kong Bundy, and led by General Skandor Akbar. It was during this time that The Missing Link started to come into his own, developing mannerisms and a moveset that would enhance the character. As is sometimes the case, he ended up essentially living the gimmick—making minimal eye contact, and refusing to speak to anyone, in or out of the ring. And while this lent credibility to the character, it only exacerbated Robertson's problems with drugs and alcohol, as he had no reason to keep his act together or "play it straight" for anyone. He could remain quiet when intoxicated and chalk it up to character work. All that being said, personal problems aside, The Missing Link was about to hit the big time.
First came a photo shoot for Sports Illustrated. They were doing a cover story (the cover featuring Hulk Hogan) about the rising popularity of professional wrestling. They sent a photographer to Tampa, Florida, to get shots of some of the wrestlers, and it was a no-brainer to get a shot of the larger-than-life Missing Link. The Link's photo ended up being the centerfold in the magazine, bringing attention from all over, including the New York territory and one Vince McMahon, Jr.
Before The Missing Link, Dewey had wrestled many times for Vince Sr. and had a good working relationship with him. He also had a good relationship with Vince Jr. once he got the offer to join the WWF, but ego and emotional instability would make Dewey's time there short-lived.
Bobby Heenan with his client The Missing Link
Upon being paired with legendary manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, Robertson immediately felt they were a bad fit together. Feeling that Heenan didn't really understand The Missing Link's gimmick, The Link was eventually traded from Heenan to "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart, who had just come up to New York from Memphis. By that point, it was, unfortunately, already too late. Robertson would later cite his own inflated ego and hubris (due to his alcohol and steroid abuse) as the reason he walked out of WWF, saying he was difficult to get along with and thought he deserved more of a push than he was getting. He also said leaving WWF in such haste was one of the worst decisions of his life. With New York in the rearview mirror, Robertson made his way back to Texas and WCCW, where The Missing Link officially became a face for the first time, and soon after would be lured away by Cowboy Bill Watts and the formation of the brilliant but short-lived UWF. More brief stints followed with doomed promotions as the WWF increased its stronghold on the industry, and before long Dewey Robertson found himself nearly 50, broke, and in poor health. It was time to go home.
Dewey and his family returned to Hamilton, Ontario, where Dewey began the difficult journey of recovery. He entered a month-long rehabilitation program for his substance abuse issues. Upon leaving, he got his first-day job in decades and started therapy to work on his until then undiagnosed bipolar disorder. The day job led to what could be considered a second calling outside the ring. Dewey got a job as a police escort, accompanying prisoners to various facilities during the course of the judicial process and their stay in the correctional system. As it happened, oftentimes the prisoners he found himself accompanying were teens. Talking with the teens in custody, Dewey began to feel that many of these kids were not so different from Dewey himself—they just needed some guidance to keep them on the straight and narrow. He began to speak at 12-step and addiction recovery meetings before doing what he thought he was best suited for: speaking to incarcerated youth about the dangers of alcohol, drugs, and steroids.
The speaking engagements went well and Dewey enjoyed doing them, but plenty of dark times were still ahead. In May of 1994, Dewey got a cancer diagnosis, and in June of '94, he attempted suicide by overdose of anti-depressants. The suicidal thoughts continued as Dewey battled depression, and his addictions reared their ugly head again as Dewey began using marijuana chronically again. In early 1995, after seeking therapy and treatment as a family member of an addict, Dewey's wife realized their marriage had been unhealthy for decades and made the decision to leave. She had been put in a very tough spot by Dewey, and she responded by going to extremes to try and accommodate him. When his drinking got so out of hand that he couldn't be trusted to drive himself to and from shows, she began driving him herself, allowing him to drink himself into oblivion after the matches.
While leaving the marriage was undoubtedly the best thing for Dewey's wife, it had a devastating impact on Dewey himself, as he continued to battle suicidal thoughts and addiction, falling off the wagon and getting back on many times over. The cancerous tumor on his kidney was removed, and he even continued to wrestle on occasion. However, in 2007 Dewey's cancer returned, and he lost his battle. He was survived by his two sons, Mark and Jason.
Dewey and his son Jason backstage a WWF show in Hamilton with his old friend Percy Pringle (Paul Bearer)
Most of the information for this article comes from Dewey Robertson's autobiography Bang Your Head (ECW Press—no, not that ECW). It is a fascinating, tragic tale of a remorseful man looking back on a wild career. Even if you may not remember The Missing Link, or were born after his career ended, it is worth a read.
