WWE Network isn’t putting out just one Hidden Gem this week — there will be more matches and content over the next twelve days.
WWE has announced that they will be uploading a new Hidden Gem to the Vault section of the WWE Network every day through Christmas. The video featured on their site showed footage from various promotions including ECW, Smoky Mountain, NWA, AWA and WWE themselves.
Today’s upload is the Big Time Wrestling/WCCW Christmas Star Wars card from December 25, 1981. This isn’t the complete show, as three matches are missing. But the matches featured include:
Ernie Ladd vs. Jose Lothario for the World Brass Knuckles title
El Solitario vs. Tim Brooks
Fritz von Erich vs. The Great Kabuki in a Texas Death match
Kerry, Kevin & David von Erich vs. Frank Dusek, Bill Irwin and Ten Gu
A battle royal featuring two rings
According to WWE Network News, tomorrow’s upload will also be from Christmas 1981, this time featuring an AWA tag team match with Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell teaming up to take on Jerry Blackwell and Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie.
Larry Hennig, the father of Curt Hennig and one of the biggest stars in the history of the AWA, passed away earlier today at the age of 82.
Hennig attended Robbindale High School in Minneapolis, the alma mater of Verne Gagne. He was the state heavyweight wrestling champion in high school, and Gagne recruited him into pro wrestling when Hennig had turned down college football and wrestling offers because he already had his first child and had to work to earn money to support a wife and family.
He wrestled in the Midwest most of his career, and eventually was brought into the AWA in 1960 as Gagne’s protege. He briefly held the AWA tag team titles with Duke Hoffman, but in 1963, he became a heel, “Pretty Boy” Larry Hennig, forming a tag team with “Handsome” Harley Race, which helped carry the territory for several years, working against all the top area babyfaces. Hennig & Race, taunted as The Dolly Sisters, had one of the biggest feuds in AWA history with Dick the Bruiser & The Crusher, which was really the feud that made Bruiser & Crusher tag team legends.
Hennig & Race were the top heel team in the AWA from 1963 to 1968, and held the tag team titles three times. They were considered among the top tag teams in the world during that period.
Hennig & Race teamed in other parts of the world, including Australia, which was the hottest wrestling market in the world, as IWA tag team champions.
After missing several months due to a knee injury from a match with Johnny Powers, an injury that would plague him the rest of his life, Hennig returned. Eventually Race returned home to Kansas City, where he became that circuit’s biggest star. Hennig formed a tag team with “Luscious” Lars Anderson, a former college wrestling star whose real name was Larry Heineimi. They were the No. 2 heel team in the AWA, first behind Mad Dog & Butcher Vachon, and then behind Ray Stevens & Nick Bockwinkel. After Anderson left, Hennig formed a tag team with Dusty Rhodes, which broke up when Dick Murdoch came to the AWA and started teaming with Rhodes.
He had a singles run in WWWF, working against champions Pedro Morales and Bruno Sammartino, where he got the nickname Larry “The Axe” Hennig, dropping the “Pretty Boy” name. His winning move, a clothesline, was called the axe.
In 1974, he made a babyface turn, saving Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell from a beating from Stevens & Bockwinkel & Bobby Heenan. His explanation was that he had kids, and that he wouldn’t want to see people beating on his own kids.
He was babyface Larry “The Axe” Hennig for rest of his career, which ended in early 1986 due to neck and knee problems. His full-time wrestling days ended in 1978 and he concentrated on other businesses. He came back in 1982 to do some bouts in the AWA and work for a time as a tag team with his son in Oregon. He and his son worked as a regular tag team in the AWA in 1984 and 1985, often wrestling The Road Warriors.
At 6-foot-3 and close to 300 pounds and with his wrestling background, he was considered one of the tougher guys in the business.
During the mid-70s, he moved his family to Phoenix to try and start a pro wrestling company there. He also worked in real estate both during and after his wrestling career.
Hennig was a regular at the Cauliflower Alley Club and the Tragos/Thesz Hall of Fame ceremonies, where he had served as an M.C. He was a great storyteller, with his real life hatred of Verne Gagne often being the source of many of his stories. He took the death of his son Curt in 2003 very hard.
His grandson, Joe Hennig, works in WWE as Curtis Axel, with Axel being a tribute to his grandfather. Larry would regularly attend WWE shows in the Twin Cities.
He had another son, Jesse, who briefly wrestled, as well as a granddaughter, Joe’s sister Amy, who also wrestled.
What is being billed as a pilot for the AWA’s infamous Team Challenge Series will be the WWE Network’s Hidden Gem tomorrow.
WWE Network News reported that a unreleased 39 minute Team Challenge Series pilot with a date of 10/23/1989 will be uploaded to the network. The description reads: “Witness this unreleased home video pilot from the dying days of the AWA, as they unleash the infamous team challenge series.”
The Team Challenge Series was one of the last big angles the AWA ran, starting in the fall of 1989 through the summer of 1990. The roster was split into three factions: Larry Zybysko’s Legends, Baron von Rasche’s Blitzers and Sgt. Slaughter’s Snipers. Col. DeBeers took over Slaughter’s team when he left for the WWE the following year, renaming them the Diamondcutters.
Former jobber Jake Milliman ended up winning the series for Larry’s Legends, last eliminating Col Debeers in a battle royal for a (kayfabe) one million dollar check.
WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels had an incredible career — easily one of the top ten of all history in pro wrestling — but what about the other half of the Midnight Rockers?
Early on, many thought Marty Jannetty might be the standout of the duo and he certainly had the skill. He began his career as Marty Oates, a kayfabe member of the Oates wrestling family from Georgia. So what happened? Where did it go wrong? Did it go wrong? He has had a wild career with many peaks and valleys and today, host Karl Stern, takes a look at the other Rocker: Marty Jannetty.
Reminder: the last day to buy the Super Stern Stick Flashdrive is Sunday! If you have not yet ordered this 16gb pro wrestling history flash drive with over 500 podcasts and around 500 pro wrestling documents, newsletters, and clippings, do so before time runs out for just $20 with free shipping worldwide. To order, visit Karl Stern’s website.
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Audio Show: Biography Series: Gene Kiniski. Gene “Big Thunder” Kiniski was one of the most important champions in pro wrestling history. He bridged the gap between two distinct eras of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and he was the face of the 1960’s in pro wrestling.
An AWA, WWA, NWA, and Montreal World heavyweight champion, Gene Kiniski was an amazingly respected wrestling champion whose career spanned North America and is closely associated with the Funks, Whipper Watson, Yukon Eric, and others. I had never studied Gene Kiniski’s career much before doing the research for today’s show and it really struck me just how important a figure Gene Kiniski was to separating two distinct eras of pro wrestling. Everywhere Gene Kiniski went, he seemingly became a star and very quickly too. Starting in the Southwest to Madison Square Garden but especially in Canada, Gene Kiniski was a huge star. Gene Kiniski spent over three years as NWA World heavyweight champion and his mentoring of Dory Funk, Jr. set in motion the era that came after him. I really enjoyed learning about this incredible Hall of Famer and I hope you will too.
