There are a lot of historical wrestling angles that in some form involve Gary Hart.
Hart was the heel manager who, along with giant Korean Pak Song, turned on Dusty Rhodes after they were partners in a tag team match in Florida in 1974. Rhodes became a babyface, “The American Dream,” and the rest of history.
Hart was the heel manager, with his longest running protege, Don “The Spoiler” Jardine, who came into Leroy McGuirk’s territory as the adversary of Cowboy Bill Watts in 1970 when that territory took off, giving a heavyweight flavor for what had been a junior heavyweight territory dominated by Danny Hodge.
Hart was also the mastermind behind the marketing of the Von Erich brothers, Kevin, David and Kerry, and in particular Kerry’s rise to stardom in 1982 and his chase of world champion Ric Flair, culminating in the famous Christmas night cage match. He also talked Michael Hayes into coming to Texas and set up the storyline that built the Freebirds vs. Von Erichs feud, one of the most notable feuds in wrestling history.
WWE inducted ten people into the Legacy wing of their Hall of Fame during tonight’s broadcast.
During the 2020 induction ceremony, WWE announced Ray Stevens, Brickhouse Brown, Dr. Death Steve Williams, Baron Michele Leone, and Gary Hart as being part of last year’s Hall of Fame class. Later, during the 2021 Hall of Fame ceremony, Dick The Bruiser, Pez Whatley, Buzz Sawyer, Ethel Johnson, and Paul Boesch were announced as being part of this year’s class.
Legacy inductees are usually announced during the ceremony, with a video package that briefly covers their careers. Previous names inducted under this manner include Frank Gotch, George Hackenschmit, Lou Thesz, Rikidozan, El Santo, Bruiser Brody, and Jim Barnett.
WWE aired both the 2020 and 2021 Hall of Fame ceremonies tonight on Peacock. Both shows were taped last week at the WWE ThunderDome with no audience. The 2020 Hall of Fame ceremony was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Inductees such as Jushin Thunder Liger, The Great Khali, William Shatner, and Ozzy Osbourne gave their speeches virtually.
MLW’s Anthology series hit the streets of New York this week as we saw the Lone Wolf of Brooklyn battling Homicide in his MLW debut from 2004 and then Shane Strickland in 2018 for the MLW world heavyweight title.
Show Review:
Homicide defeated Low Ki (15:24)
Orlando, Florida | January 2004
Low Ki showed his athleticism early on by nipping up before wrapping Homicide up in the ropes with an armbar. They both then had the same idea by going for an arm drag before dodging kicks and coming to a stalemate which got an ovation from the crowd.
Low Ki then hit a crossbody and took control. He hit a nice butterfly suplex and a handspring overhead kick to the back of the head. Homicide fought back after taking one stiff chop too many and flew out the ring with a tope, ending up over the barrier and into the crowd.
Homicide then took over with suplexes of his own and a surfboard submission. He then dropped him on the top of his head with a hurricanrana off the top rope, but Low Ki still kicked out at two. Homicide then missed a diving headbutt and this gave Low Ki the chance to fire up. He hit a barrage of chops, a clothesline, and kicks to the chest followed by soccer kicks to the head. He slipped out of the Cop Killer and hit a rolling kick to the back of Homicide’s head. He then deadlifted Homicide up and planted him on his head with a German suplex, but Homicide got his foot on the rope to break the count.
Homicide caught Low Ki springboarding off the ropes and hit a dragon screw followed by another one off the top rope. He locked on an STF but let go when he thought Low Ki tapped out. Low Ki then slipped out the back and locked in a dragon sleeper but Homicide again got to the ropes.
Low Ki’s leg gave out on a suplex attempt, but he was able to come back with a kick to the head. Homicide fought back with a big clothesline, but Low Ki again slipped out of the Cop Killer but struggled to lock in the dragon sleeper once again. Homicide fought and fought and in the scramble, he was able to roll Low Ki onto his shoulders just long enough for the ref to count to three and get the win.
Jerry Lynn jumped Homicide after the match, but Low Ki saved his teacher from a beatdown which brought out Gary Hart. He instructed both Homicide and Low Ki to make an example of Lynn. They pummelled him and put the boots to him before a fan started badmouthing Hart at ringside, so he instructed Low Ki to confront him. Hart had a mystery man with him and he was (maybe strategically) blocking the camera’s view of Low Ki and the fan, but we did see a drink get smashed and then Low Ki trying to drag the fan over the guardrail.
Chaos ensued as Homicide also got involved. The fan tried to run, but Low Ki chased him and clobbered him with a right hand. A security guard tried to shield the fan but it took road agents and staff (including Court Bauer) to separate them. Hart was still on the mic and got in Bauer’s face, but the MLW founder was blindsided by Homicide and shoved to the ground. Hart sarcastically thanked Bauer for bringing him to MLW and promised to end Terry Funk’s career the next night. The situation looked to be calmed, but as Bauer was getting to his knees, he was hit over the head with a broomstick by Homicide.
— We saw a video package that helped introduce the next match, showing Low Ki in his “professional” persona being hired by Salina de la Renta to take out Shane Strickland.
Low Ki defeated Shane “Swerve” Strickland to win the MLW World Championship (13:19)
Orlando, Florida | July 2018
Ki’s title win came after a stiff and exciting match against the current NXT standout now known as Isaiah “Swerve” Scott. Sitting at ringside, alongside our JJ Williams, was Salina de la Renta who had put a $60,000 bounty on the champion’s head and hired Low Ki to take the title from him.
Strickland tried an armbar very early, but Low Ki was able to get to the ropes. Ki began chopping Strickland and that continued throughout the title fight. Low Ki beat him down early on, looking for the knockout with stiff kicks to the chest and one springboard version that knocked Strickland down.
After Low Ki jawjacked with the crowd in the direction of Strickland’s girlfriend, who was in attendance, the champion fired back but Ki was able to roll through and hit a double foot stomp to stay in full control of the contest.
Strickland was able to dump Low Ki to the outside and then hit a superkick when he tried to re-enter the ring. Strickland then hit a handstand flip over the top rope into a hurricanrana at ringside. Back inside, he hit a big overhead release belly-to-back suplex but only got a two count. Low Ki then took a powerbomb and a catapult, but stopped himself on the middle rope. While Strickland was on his back from delivering the move, Low Ki launched off and hit another double foot stomp, this time from the middle rope.
Strickland had another flurry of kicks, but was favoring his right knee. He eventually hit his rolling cutter, but took his time climbing the ropes due to his injured knee. Low Ki moved and Strickland landed on his feet, but his knee buckled. He then blew a kiss to Strickland’s girlfriend as he lined up a switchblade kick to the back of the head to pick up the pin and the title win to the shock of the crowd.
A video package from back in the early years of MLW ran featuring the trifecta from the first match: Ki, Homicide and the late Gary Hart. Hart was hyping them both up by talking about Ki using his martial arts and Homicide using his street mentality to protect Hart’s legacy.
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To close the show, we had this week’s montage of updates featuring current MLW stars. The Blue Meanie was outside the 2300 Arena, Jordan Oliver was drinking in the park, Gino Medina was saying “no comment” to his status with Dynasty, LA Park challenged CONTRA to any match they want, Mance Warner had some words for CONTRA if they think they can tell him what to do, Richard Holliday wants to buy MLW and then sell it for a profit, Savio Vega is going to remove Holliday’s moustache with a sidekick, Tom Lawlor and Dominic Garrini were talking online dating profiles, Konnan called out Josef Samael for ruining the end of the MLW/AAA Super Series, Myron Reed explained what Injustice means to him, the Von Erichs talked about the true meaning of champions, and Alexander Hammerstone wants to win the heavyweight title.
LA Park finished the montage but at the end of his challenge to CONTRA, he was blindsided and attacked by someone just off camera. CONTRA then interrupted the feed and Samael gave a warning to MLW saying that the infidels are rising.
MLW will be posthumously honoring Gary Hart at their Dallas area television tapings next month.
It was announced today that Hart will be “posthumously recognized for his contributions to Dallas and professional wrestling” at MLW’s War Chamber TV tapings in North Richland Hills, Texas on Saturday, September 7. Hart’s sons Jason and Chad will be in attendance for the tribute.
“I personally owe a debt of gratitude to Gary,” MLW’s Court Bauer said. “Without Gary Hart’s presence in my life as a mentor, there is no Major League Wrestling today. It is long overdue that he be honored in the city he helped to put on the map in this great sport.”
The tapings are taking place at the NYTEX Sports Centre and will be headlined by a War Chamber match, with Tom Lawlor, Ross Von Erich, Marshall Von Erich, and a partner facing Contra Unit (Jacob Fatu, Josef Samael, Simon Gotch, and the group’s newest member that debuted on last week’s MLW Fusion episode).
The War Chamber match has War Games-style rules and can be won by pinfall, submission or surrender once everyone is in the ring.
