Tag: wrestling history

Daily Pro Wrestling History (02/20): Flair vs. Steamboat at WCW Chi-Town Rumble

Posted on by Brian Hoops

1962

Minneapolis, Minnesota:
– Pat O’Connor wrestled AWA Champion Mr. M to a 1 hour time limit draw
– AWA Tag Team Champions Bob Geigel & Stan Kowalski beat Joe Scarpello & Tiny Mills
– Nikita Kalmikoff beat Roy Collins
– Duke Hoffman beat Jack Daniels

1964

Kansas City, Kansas:
– Bill Miller & Bob Geigel defeated Pat O’Connor & Sonny Myers in three falls
– The Stomper defeated Fritz Von Erich via DQ

1965

Minneapolis, Minnesota:
– AWA Champion Mad Dog Vachon beat The Crusher
– Mighty Igor Vodik beat Larry Hennig by DQ
– Billy Red Cloud beat Bill Green
– Ivan Kalmikoff beat Jack Allen
– Bob Boyer drew Sid Freeman

1967

Chicago, Illinois:
– AWA Champion Mad Dog Vachon beat Verne Gagne by DQ
– Dick the Bruiser & the Crusher no contest Devils Duo, Angelo Poffo & Chris Markoff
– Wilbur Snyder beat El Mongol
– Jack Lanza drew Moose Cholak
– Mitsu Arakawa beat Reggie Parks

1973

Tampa, Florida:
– Florida Title: Buddy Colt defeated Jack Brisco to win the title
– Lights Out Match: Mark Lewin defeated Hans Schmidt
– Florida Tag Titles: Mike Graham & Kevin Sullivan defeated Bobby Shane & Gorgeous George, Jr. to win the titles
– Johnny Walker defeated Black Jack Slade
– Great Malenko defeated John Wolfman Smith

1974

Miami Beach Florida:
– Canadian Death Match: Dusty Rhodes defeated Jos LeDuc
– Paul Jones defeated The Texan by DQ
– Florida Title: Buddy Colt no contest Ron Fuller
– Cowboy Bill Watts defeated The Jackal
– Kevin Sullivan & Haystacks Calhoun defeated Skull Von Stroheim & Tony Romano
– The Psycho defeated Tom Jones

1975

Kansas City, Kansas:
– Oki Shikina & Chuck O’Connor defeated Tony Russo & Omar Atlas
– Mike George defeated Bobby Jaggers
– Central States Women’s Champion Jean Antone defeated Betty Niccoli via DQ in two straight falls
– The Interns (w/ Dr. Ken Ramey) fought Lord Alfred Hayes & Bob Brown to a double DQ
– Jerry Oates & Ted Oates defeated Terry Martin & Tommy Martin in three falls

1977

St. Paul, Minnesota:
– Andre the Giant ddq AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel
– Ray Stevens beat Bobby Duncum
– Chris Taylor beat Super Destroyer by DQ
– Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Roger Kirby & Blackjack Lanza (sub Bobby Heenan)
– Pedro Morales beat Blackjack Lanza
– Angelo Mosca beat Bill Francis

Memphis, Tennessee:
– David Schultz & Dutch Mantel beat Tommy Gilbert & Randy Fargo
– Phil Hickerson & Dennis Condrey beat Ricky & Robert Gibson
– Tommy Rich & Bill Dundee beat Southern Tag Champs Porkchop Cash & Gorgeous George, Jr. via DQ
– Southern Champ Rocky Johnson beat The Mad Russian
– Jerry Lawler beat Bob Armstrong via DQ in a steel cage match

1978

Madison Square Garden: New York City:
– SD Jones defeated Baron Mikel Scicluna via disqualification
– Spiros Arion defeated Chief Jay Strongbow via referee’s decision
– Dusty Rhodes pinned WWWF Tag Team Champion Prof. Toru Tanaka
– Ken Patera defeated Peter Maivia via count-out
– Mil Mascaras pinned WWWF Tag Team Champion Mr. Fuji
– WWF Jr. Heavyweight Champion Tatsumi Fujinami pinned Ted Adams
– Bob Backlund defeated Superstar Billy Graham to win the WWWF World Heavyweight Title
– Wee Willie Wilson & Hillbilly Pete defeated Little John & Billy the Kid in a Best 2 out of 3 falls
– Tony Garea & Larry Zbyszko defeated Butcher Vachon & Stan Stasiak in a Best 2 out of 3 falls bout

1981

St. Paul, Minnesota:
– AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel
– Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & John Studd
– AWA Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura beat Tito Santana & Ray Stevens
– Brad Rheingans beat Steve Regal
– Buck Zumhofe beat Bill Howard
– Curt Hennig beat Kenny Jay

St. Louis, Missouri:
– Missouri Champion Ted DiBiase defeated Ken Patera in 2 out of 3 falls
– Dick the Bruiser and Ric Flair were both counted out of the ring
– King Kong Brody and Bruce Reed defeated John Valiant and Von Raschke
– Rufus R. Jones defeated Buzz Tyler via DQ
– Spike Huber and Terry Taylor draw Pat and Mike Kelly
– J.J. Dillon defeated Jerry Roberts
– Art Crews defeated Tiny Anderson

1983

Memphis, Tennessee:
– Sabu drew Carl Fergie
– Kenya Condori pinned Phillip Rougeau
– Jerry Roberts beat Dutch Mantel via DQ
– Adrian Street & Jesse Barr beat The Fabulous Ones to win the Southern Tag Team Titles
– Sweet Brown Sugar pinned Bobby Eaton to win the Mid-America Title
– Southern Champ Terry Taylor pinned Austin Idol
– The Sheepherders (Boyd & Williams) beat Bill Dundee & Steve O
– Jerry Lawler beat AWA World Champ Nick Bockwinkel via forfeit
– Austin Idol pinned Jerry Lawler in a no DQ match

1986

AWA/NWA Star Wars | Baltimore, Maryland:
– Cage match: Road Warriors beat Ivan Koloff & Nikita Koloff
– NWA Champion Ric Flair beat Dusty Rhodes by DQ
– Sgt. Slaughter beat AWA Champion Stan Hansen by DQ
– Midnight Express beat Rock & Roll Express
– Magnum TA beat Baron Von Raschke
– Nick Bockwinkel no contest Larry Zbyszko
– Tully Blanchard beat Jimmy Valiant
– Scott Hall beat Boris Zhukov

1989

WCW Chi-Town Rumble: Chicago, Illinois:
– Michael Hayes pinned Russian Assassin #1 (Jack Victory) (w/ Paul Jones)
– Sting pinned Butch Reed (w/ Hiro Matsuda)
– Bobby Eaton, Stan Lane & Jim Cornette defeated Randy Rose, Jack Victory (sub. for Dennis Condrey) & Paul E. Dangerously in a loser leaves town match
– Mike Rotundo defeated Rick Steiner to win the NWA Television Title
– Lex Luger defeated Barry Windham to win the United States Title
– NWA World Tag Team Champions The Road Warriors defeated Steve Williams & Kevin Sullivan
– Ricky Steamboat defeated Ric Flair to win the NWA World Heavyweight Title

1992

Niagara Falls, New York:
– WWF Intercontinental Champion Rowdy Roddy Piper defeated WWF World Champion Ric Flair in a non-title, steel cage match

Dallas, Texas:
– Ricky Morton pinned Mike Graham
– Van Hammer defeated Abdullah the Butcher via disqualification
– Rick & Scott Steiner defeated Steve Armstrong & Tracy Smothers
– Tom Zenk pinned Terrence Taylor with a roll up
– Sting & Ricky Steamboat defeated WCW US Champion Rick Rude & WCW TV Champion Steve Austin
– Ron Simmons, Dustin Rhodes, & Barry Windham defeated Larry Zbyszko & WCW Tag Team Champion Arn Anderson in a steel cage match

1993

Bland, Virginia:
– Brian Lee defeated Killer Kyle
– Bobby Eaton defeated Greg Maddox
– Tim Horner defeated The Nightstalker
– Tracy Smothers defeated SMW Heavyweight Champion the Dirty White Boy
– Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson defeated SMW Tag Team Champions Stan Lane & Tom Prichard

2005

WWE No Way Out | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:
– Eddie Guerrero & Rey Mysterio Jr. defeated WWE Smackdown Tag Team Champions Doug & Danny Basham to win the titles
– Booker T defeated John Heidenreich via disqualification
– Chavo Guerrero Jr. defeated WWE Cruiserweight Champion Sho Funaki, Spike Dudley, Paul London, Shannon Moore, and Akio in a gauntlet match to win the title
– The Undertaker pinned Luther Reigns
– #1 Contender Tournament Finals: WWE US Champion John Cena pinned Kurt Angle
– WWE World Champion John Bradshaw Layfield defeated the Big Show in a barbed wire steel cage match

2011

WWE Elimination Chamber | Oakland, California:
– WWE US Champion Daniel Bryan defeated Ted Dibiase Jr.
– Alberto Del Rio defeated WWE IC Champion Kofi Kingston in a non-title match
– World Heavyweight Champion Edge defeated Kane, Drew McIntyre, Wade Barrett, Rey Mysterio Jr., and the Big Show (sub. for Dolph Ziggler) in an Elimination Chamber match
– Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel defeated WWE Tag Team champions Vladimir Kozlov & Santino Marella to win the titles
– WWE Champion the Miz retained the title over Jerry Lawler
– John Cena won the Raw Elimination Chamber over CM Punk, Randy Orton, R-Truth, John Morrison and Sheamus

DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: November 1982 in pro wrestling

Posted on by Karl Stern

On this episode of the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I cover everything that happened during the month of November 1982 in pro wrestling.

This includes, of course, Thanksgiving night back when it was the biggest night of the pro wrestling year. Our discussion includes Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Bob Backlund, Nick Bockwinkel, Stagger Lee (aka Junkyard Dog), Ted DiBiase, Roddy Piper, and more.

Here’s my ultimate history timeline for the entire year of 1982 as a companion.

Click here to listen.

DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: History of pro wrestling at MSG in 1875

Posted on by Karl Stern

On this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, it’s the debut of a new series looking at the history of pro wrestling at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Perhaps the most famous arena in the world, MSG has changed quite a bit over the years and we will talk about the venue’s different owners and locations as well. 

We begin by going back to the original Gilmour’s Gardens (soon to be MSG) and the first wrestling star there: Andre Christol and the great tournament of 1875.

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Left My Wallet free show: Wrestling historian Tom Burke

Posted on by Antonio Garza

Editor’s Note: This is a free show. Just click the red button below to listen.

“Left My Wallet” is back with wrestling historian and my friend Tom Burke on some of the most notable athletes to have transitioned into pro wrestling, recorded in his office/memorabilia museum in Springfield, MA.

For years, Tom has been one of the people responsible for the Cauliflower Alley Club, an important contributor to the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Hall of Fame, a magazine writer and photographer, and one of the closest friends of both Lou Thesz and Walter “Killer” Kowalski.

Tom talks about the inception of college and pro football players in professional wrestling, the careers of Wayne Munn, Gus Sonnenberg, Bronko Nagurski (seen above), and more gridiron greats. He also explains the close relationship and impact that many boxing greats such as Joe Louis had with wrestling.

We then talk about the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame, his all-time underrated crossover athlete, his friendships with Thesz and Kowalski, and a fantastic story from his high school reunion. 

This is a very different and unique departure from the standard sports talk on my podcast. Tom is a wealth of knowledge who should be known by more people in the wrestling industry and I hope you enjoy it.

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Wrestling historian J Michael Kenyon passes away at 73

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

J Michael Kenyon, who some say is the father of all pro wrestling historians, passed away over the past few days, although word of his passing didn’t come out until late Saturday night when it broke in the Seattle media as he was a well-known local figure.

Kenyon (born Michael Glover) was 73, and was the actual living embodiment of the fictitious Matt Brock character from the Bill Apter mags in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. He described his life during his youth as spending 12 hours a day as a reporter and spending 12 hours a day at the bar.

He was also a unique sportswriting and broadcasting legend in Seattle who I first became acquainted with in the early 70s when we were both doing wrestling newsletters.

His death was not unexpected as he had been suffering from congestive heart failure for at least ten years. After the death of Wilt Chamberlain, his favorite figure in sports, his goal in life when suffering from heart problems and cancer more than a decade ago when was simply to outlive Wilt, who passed away at 63.

The J Michael Kenyon name came from his second wife, a dancer he met while on the road with the Seattle SuperSonics, who told him Glover sounded like a boring name. One day he was driving along the road and saw the Kenyon Printing Company and took that as his last name, and came
up with the J, but never with a period as would be the case in that era.

At one point around 1974, he asked me if we could do a newsletter together because his regular sports work made covering wrestling as detailed as he would like difficult. At the time his goal was to be able to do the impossible task of compiling results of every single pro wrestling event in the world and was very much into who guys that had switched names, their real names, and compiling record books of every leading star.

As it turned out, he lost interest in furthering that within a few months, and would disappear and return to covering wrestling over the years. His interest in modern wrestling ended decades ago but as he grew older, he got more and more interested in researching wrestling and published numerous articles.

He frequently changed what he wanted to do. He quit the Seattle Post-Intelligencer four different times and quit many of his radio talk show gigs, including once in the middle of a show after not liking a comment by the station manager. He was married at least six times.

Because of his background in promoting events, he had a combination of insider knowledge, trivial and historical knowledge of pro wrestling, and an understanding of the business as it one was like nobody of his era.

Over the past 40+ years, I’d hear from him at times as he’d get the bug about pro wrestling, usually fascinated by its history, and then he would disappear again. But, he was a passionate voter for the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame.

In 2010, he was awarded the James C. Melby award for his work covering wrestling by the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Hall of Fame.

Kenyon’s writings were put together as the WAWLI papers, short for “Wrestling As We Liked It”.

After graduating college, his fascination with wrestling promotion led him to promote hydroplanes, auto racing, rodeo, football, basketball, and croquet.

He was childhood friends with Dean Silverstone, a wrestling publicist who, for a few years, ran a wrestling territory in Washington and is a key player today in the Cauliflower Alley Club. The two promoted their first show in Port Angeles, WA, in 1966. Kenyon was a key character in Silverstone’s tremendous book, “I Ain’t No Pig Farmer”, about his life as a wrestling fan and one of the best books ever about the life of promoting an full-time independent promotion.

In 1967, he started as the beat writer for the SuperSonics for the Post-Intelligencer. He became the market’s second sports talk host on KVI radio, and also worked at times for countless newspapers in the state of Washington, bouncing from place to place, as well as a stint with the Baltimore Sun.

Gypsy Joe passes away

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Gilberto Melendez, who for years was known as the oldest active pro wrestler, passed away Wednesday night.

Melendez wrestled regularly until about five years ago, and was one of the few people who wrestled in seven different decades. While there was a 1950s era Midwest junior heavyweight start Gypsy Joe who preceded him and who his records are sometimes confused with, he was a legitimate name from the 60s through the early 90s when he worked under a mask as El Grande Pistolero.

He wrestled under a number of other names, including Gene Madrid, not to be confused with Jan Madrid.

He was best known as a mid-card regular in the 70s and early 80s with All Japan Pro Wrestling with his gimmick being his toughness and his ability to absorb wickedly hard chair shots, often to the back but sometimes to the head.  He was also a training fanatic who maintained an impressive physique into his late 50s and, to a degree, into his early 70s.

He wrestled regularly in Japan from 1977 to 1993, starting in the IWE promotion where he had bloody matches with Rusher Kimura, including being the first person to come off the top rope in a cage match. After IWE went down, he began as a regular with All Japan, working mostly mid-card matches.  At the end, he was working for the W*ING promotion, although he wrestled as late as 2002 in Japan. He was known for hardcore brawling and bloody style matches.

He was best known as a journeyman wrestler in Tennessee with his best success coming from 1977 to 1980 working for Nick Gulas where he held a multitude of tag team championships with Frankie Martinez under a mask as The Blue Infernos.

He started wrestling in 1951 in Puerto Rico, and came to the U.S. in 1963, working for the WWWF.

Joe had serious health issues with gout in recent years which caused his right foot to be amputated in 2013.

DragonKingKarl Show: Paul Heyman hypocrisy, mailbag, wrestling history

Posted on by Karl Stern

Photo of Mike Jackson selling his “broken shoulder” by Karl Stern

This is the first of two mailbag heavy shows with a broad range of questions and topics. Email your questions for the next mailbag show now!

On this show, topics and questions include:

– Undisputed world heavyweight champions including champions from the past such as Ed “Strangler” Lewis and Frank Gotch and how the world title split into various championships

– Paul Heyman hypocrisy and a very good question on whether or not he is getting a free pass from journalists

– Promoting indy shows in the 1990s and who was a pleasure to work with

– The most insane publication, maybe in history, the National Police Gazette…and much more!  

This show literally has something from everyone from the Civil War era to today, hitting almost every era in between. When you can talk about wrestlers as diverse as Frank A. Gotch, Shane Douglas, Mike Jackson, Demolition, and Verne Gagne, that is a great show!

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Audio Show: Q & A

Posted on by F4W Staff

The first DragonKingKarl Show of 2016 is a question and answer show so the good DragonKingKarl can clear out some email questions to get the year started off right! 

Several of them deal with off-topic discussions from recent shows including the ever controversial Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Not only that but there is even a touch of After Dark related subjects. Then we shift gears into pro wrestling discussion and one of the best questions we have ever debated here: who has legitimately had the most number of matches in wrestling history plus a sub-question, who has had the most in-ring time in pro wrestling history? The question is far more complicated than it sounds, and has been debated on The Board~! and elsewhere. Together, we will try to pin down the answer.

The second part of the question is also very interesting as it really is a different question. While some of the top “most matches” candidates will have near 10,000 matches, there may be wrestlers with much fewer actual matches that have much more time spent inside the ring.  We will even look back at some of the legendary longest matches featuring people like Ed “Stranger” Lewis and Joe Stecher.  But the answer to who has had the most number of matches is probably someone in the modern era.  We will look at schedule differences between the United States, Japan, and Mexico which could greatly influence the answer. (It should lead to a nice research project for someone.)

Email Karl with your thoughts, and enjoy today’s show with a variety of topics!

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Biography Special: Abdullah the Butcher

Posted on by F4W Staff

This show is part two of a series of biographies on some of the wild and craziest wrestlers in history.  Very few were more wild and crazy than the Madman from the Sudan, Abdullah the Butcher.  The WWE Hall-of-Famer’s story is a complicated one.  From his days to team with and battling against The Sheik to his time as a territorial bounty hunter and, of course, his insane brawls with Bruiser Brody and Carlos Colon. We also look at how his career ended in controversy.

Enjoy today’s biography featuring Abdullah the Butcher.

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Josh Nason’s Punch-Out: TheHistoryofWWE.com founder & author Graham Cawthon

Posted on by Josh Nason

Episode 18 of Josh Nason’s Punch-Out has arrived for a non-MMA weekend which is why Josh brought in TheHistoryofWWE.com founder and six-time, six-time, six-time wrestling book author Graham Cawthon.

Josh and Graham went Broadway and hit on a variety of topics:

– What lit his wrestling fire

– Why he started a site dedicated to arena results

– What interesting wrestling figures he’s met along the way

– The influence of wrestling magazines

– The process of writing his first wrestling book and how it’s changed through his sixth

– How Battleground Baltimore came together

– What his next book might be about

– His take on the WWE Network

– Plus Josh’s Opening Round on why Bellator MMA needs to cut back on their schedule…and more!

*****

Observer subscribers can listen to the show by clicking below with early access via the show’s RSS feed. Not a subscriber? Try us out for a month.

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Daily pro wrestling history (10/30): a slew of tag team titles change hands

Posted on by Brian Hoops

1951

Minneapolis, Minnesota:
– NWA World Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz defeated Pat O’Connor 

1952

Kansas City, Kansas:
– Bobby Lane beat Red Berry to capture the Heart of America Heavyweight 

1958

Kansas City, Kansas:
– Bob Geigel and Bob Orton beat Cowboy Bob Ellis and Sonny Myers 2 falls to 1

1965

Omaha, Nebraska:
– Danny Hodge & Reggie Parks beat AWA Tag Team Champions Larry Hennig & Harley Race dq
– Stan Pulaski beat Haru Sasaki by countout
– Jack Pesek beat Mad Dog Vachon

1969

Gifu, Japan:
– Antonio Inoki & Michiaki defeated Buddy Austin & Mr. Atomic to win back the JWA All Asian Tag Team Championship 

1973 

Macon, Georgia:
– Tim Woods & Mr. Wrestling #2 defeated the Super Infernos for the Macon Tag Team Titles.

1976

Milwaukee, Wisconsin:
– Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat AWA Tag Team Champions Blackjack Lanza & Bobby Duncum dq
– The Crusher beat Mad Dog Vachon
– Peter Maivia beat Baron Von Raschke
– Pedro Morales beat Moose Morowski dq
– Pierre Poisson beat Iron Sheik

1978 

Greenville, South Carolina:
– Ric Flair & Big John Studd defeated Paul Jones & Ricky Steamboat to win the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Titles

1986 

Amorohi, Japan:
– Ashura Hara & Super Strong Machine (Junji Hirata) defeated Takashi Ishikawa & Mighty Inoue to win the All Japan All Asian Tag Team Titles

1987 

Whitewater, Wisconsin:
– The Original Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey & Randy Rose) w/ Paul E. Dangerously defeated Bill Dundee & Jerry Lawler to win the AWA World Tag Team Titles

2001 

Cincinnati, Ohio:
– Christian defeated Bradshaw (JBL) to win the WWF European Title 
– Booker T & Test defeated Chris Jericho & The Rock to win the WWF World Tag Team Titles