Spotlight:Jim Osborne

I would like to do an extra part of my site by shedding some light on lesser known wrestlers and I figured I would start with Jim Osborne. Honestly, I just randomly picked a guy I did not know much about from some shows I was watching. I was watching a January 1977 MSG show with Pat Patterson and did some research on his WWWF/WWF history and noticed his first match was with Jim Osborne. So, I figured I would start with him. I did the best research I could on him and if anyone has anything to add please feel free to email me at stevesgraps@yahoo.com.

Jim wrestled under Jim Osborne, Red Osborne, Dr. X, and Double X. He worked San Francisco, Arizona, and Los Angeles, as well as GCW and the AWA. In the LA territory, Osborne tagged with Angelo Palazzoi against Pedro Morales and Mil Mascaras. Before leaving LA, he even defeated Mil Mascaras on July 17, 1968 and went to Northern California by 1969. Osborne wrestled as Jim Osborne for the AWA in 1970 and teamed with Dr. X Dick Beyer on occasion as Double X. Later on in the 70's, when he left Minnesota and Beyer left for Japan, Osborne wrestled for Leroy McGuirk and Tri-State as Dr. X.

Dr. X/Osborne fought Danny Hodge in Tulsa in the summer of 1972. At that time, X was unmasked by Hodge but Osborne put the mask back on in the future as if nothing had happened. X beat Hodge for the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title in 1972 but lost it quickly back to Hodge. Hodge and X would go on to team for a match later that year in the territory. In January 1973, he was brought to Japan to team with Billy Red Lyons to play off Lyons' former team with Dick Beyer. After this, he left the Oklahoma area for a bit but returned in 1977-early 1978 for the territory wrestling guys like Dick Murdoch and Bill Watts. His finishing hold was the loaded boot to the face just like the original Dr. X Dick Beyer.

Osborne wrestled one match for Vince Sr. against Pat Patterson in San Francisco on August 12, 1967. This was Patterson's first match for the WWWF/WWF.

I was not able to find out if he is still alive and if anyone has any info on him, please contact me. I would like to continue to do more lesser-known bios of wrestlers who wrestled for the WWWF/WWF in the future.