goc

Yea I had totally forgotten reading about years ago that until pantherwagner brought it up. I mean it's tough to imagine even 200 people ordering that PPV.

Here is what I got looking at the territory map. With 19 territories, something is going to be the odd one out so I left Southwest out as I have stuff planned out to get me to at least July 1984. Portland - Vancouver Stampede - AWA Toronto - Montreal JCP - WWF Florida - Puerto Rico Georgia - Southeastern Memphis - ICW Mid-South - WCCW Central States - WWA

I did not know that. I look forward to reading about him kicking people in the face in Puerto Rico. What are your thoughts on where Rickin Sanchez is in the "wrestling show host" skills department? I have seen a lot of wrestling and a lot of different people in that role and he seems like he's in the upper echelon but I have only seen maybe 5-6 episodes of the TV.

El Boricua you have inspired me to watch some of that giant 100 disc WWC set. I was just looking at the listings for the first few discs and man, they were giving Apollo a lot of TV time in 1983. I also noticed PERRO AGUAYO on my listings so I hope you will argue that he should be available to you.

I was getting ready to needle you about watching this match when I said it sucked but I apparently forgot to write that when I was going on about Butch Reed needing new tights.I also realized upon going back a few pages that I missed your review of that 6 man elimination tag match that I wish I hadn't spent 25 minutes on. I really should watch some of the Gino Hernandez matches but I don't want to like him more than I already do because it will just make me more bitter about how I couldn't get him in the fantasy draft to give an actual ending to the Gino/Tully Southwest feud.

Rickin Sanchez impressed the hell out of me when I watched some Puerto Rico that I think was from around 1983. He seemed like he was doing a really good job covering for some of the English speaking guys like Gino Della Serra who were just stumbling all over the place in their promos. I'm not sure where he ranks in the "show hosts" echelon with guys like Mean Gene but he seems very good. Nice to see El Gran Apollo get an NWA World Title match and a successful North American Tag Title defense. I really like the style you are going for here with a "taking over real life Puerto Rico in July" approach and continuing some of the stories that were going on at the time like that write up about the Ric Flair/Carlos Colon feud and Colon having to face Harley Race in his big title rematch instead.

So what's the story on Houston? Can I run shows there?

Geographically the best expansion for JCP would be to go north of Richmond, VA & the best expansion for WWF would be to go south of Washington DC so I think maybe they should be paired up. JCP - Florida doesn't really work because you have to cross over Georgia.

Sonny King vs. Masao Ito isn't a great match but I would say it's worth the 10 minutes of time to watch it. There's some fun schtick in the beginning although it goes a little too far into the "referee is made to be the heel" territory when referee Ron West keeps making Sonny King break holds due to Ito complaining about non-existent hair pulling. I hope some more Masao Ito matches pop up, I liked him in both his matches that are up right now.

I really enjoyed this match a lot when I watched it. I didn't think it was a great match (although it was pretty darn good) but it was a great performance by both guys especially Dutch.

And he's in the same boring tag matches seemingly every week with Kane teaming against Ambrose & Reigns.

Oh yesterday I learned from DVDVR's Wrestler of the Day that Sonny Two Rivers is actually Japanese wrestler Junji Hirata (Super Strong Machine) and my mind is still kind of blown that Stampede had a Japanese wrestler playing an "Apache Indian out of Oklahoma."

I can't really recall any, but I'm sure he's had at least a few. But him not defending the title on TV regularly hasn't made the belt feel more special because he's still totally over exposed and on the show WAY too much.

Yea that's pretty much what KrisZ said. Wahoos Leg can have first pick over who he wants to keep from Portland but he also has to provide at least enough people from the Portland roster and his own to give everyone 1 extra roster member. Which really just means that Wahoos Leg needs to pick 18 people out of his roster and the Portland roster to put into the dispersal draft and he gets to keep the rest. So essentially he can take the top 4 Portland guys he wants right off the top and anyone else he wants from Portland he has to displace someone off his own roster to get.

I ain't running split crews so I hope Jesse plans to stay in this for a long time.

I always loved Jimmy Yang. If you don't quit on WWECW eventually you'll get to a fun series of matches with Shannon Moore & Jimmy Yang against Miz & Morrison. Which outside of some of the best ECW title matches, are my favorite matches from WWECW.

Joe Blanchard accepts this arrangement but would also like it to be known that WCCW will only win the war over his cold, dead body. But you still can't take all the talent in one swoop. You can have the territory but talent has to be dispersed. I am ok with the KrisZ idea of letting the person who is doing the merger decide who to keep off the roster but if you bring one from the dead territory you should also have to displace someone from your own roster to go into a draft.

I guess I could live with that, as long as the merger isn't Wahoos Leg suddenly getting 22 new people on his roster.

I did finally watch this last night and really didn't care for it. It was an elimination style 6 man tag and all the eliminations were of the "we have to make sure we protect this guy!" variety and then the finish to the match was pretty overbooked and yea I didn't like this.

I would STRONGLY disagree with Jimmy Redman. 2007 is a good year starting around May. The Vince McMahon as ECW Champ stuff that takes place before that is a lot of fun if you don't get hung up on 'OMG LOOK WHAT VINCE IS DOING TO THE ECW BELT!" Steve Richards gets a weird mini-push, Big Daddy V shows up, Miz & Morrison start teaming and Colin Delaney starts near the end of 2007.

Southwest Championship Wrestling @ San Antonio, TX - The HemisFair Arena July 10th, 1983 The night starts with The Masked Wildfire from Hendersonville, TN as the first competitor out of the locker room followed by Lord Alfred Hayes. Lord Alfred gets on the house mic and says "People of Texas, rise to your feet and prepare to feast your eyes on one of the most well conditioned athletes you'll ever have the privilege of seeing perform in front of you. I want you to give your most courteous and heart felt welcome to 'Golden' Moose Cholak! Out comes a giant of a man wearing a real, full sized Moose head out to the ring! Moose Cholak vs. The Masked Wildfire - Moose Cholak dominates from the first lockup using his power to shove Masked Wildfire to the ground. Cholak controls the match with punches and clubbing forearms. Cholak barely ever moves out of the center of the ring and the match ends when Masked Wildfire charges into him with a Thesz press that doesn't budge the big Moose but sends Wildfire down on his back and then the big Moose does a quick splash which finishes the match. Winner: Moose Cholak in 4:32 via pinfall after a splash. Ali Bey & Ninja Warrior vs. Ken Lucas & Charlie Cook - Ken Lucas & Charlie Cook were in control for the opening portion of this match until Ali Bey and Ninja Warrior took control by using diversionary tactics on the referee which allowed Ninja Warrior to perform an illegal karate chop to the throat of Ken Lucas. Ali Bey & Ninja Warrior continued to work Lucas over in their corner with chokes and punches until Ken Lucas finally managed to make a tag to Charlie Cook who unloaded on both men with punches and tossed Ali Bey outside of the ring before running over Ninja Warrior with a huge football tackle and pinning him in 8:47. Winner: Ken Lucas & Charlie Cook in 9:47 after a football tackle on Ninja Warrior by Charlie Cook. Mike Masters vs. Rick McGraw - Rick McGraw starts the match as a house of fire after the way Masters cheated to get a victory over him on TV. Mike Masters keeps breaking McGraw's momentum by stepping between the ropes and into the corner and complaining to the referee about McGraw's closed fist. Masters continually works to get Rick McGraw into a full nelson but never quite manages to lock it in. McGraw gets a few near falls on Mike Masters but finally Mike Masters' perseverance pays off and he locks McGraw into the full nelson in the middle of the ring. McGraw manages to fight his way close to the corner and grabs on to the top turnbuckle pad for a moment as he tries to grab the ropes but Mike Masters yanks him back, pulling off the pad and exposing the metal buckle. The referee doesn't it and Masters causes him to look the other way and then kicks the pad out of the ring and rams McGraw's head into the exposed steel and pulls him back into the center of the ring. The referee turns to see Masters with the full nelson on McGraw who is seemingly unconscious, and after lifting McGraw's arm 3 times and having it fall, the referee declares Mike Masters the winner. Winner: Mike Masters via submission with the full nelson in 11:16 'Top Gun' Fidel Sierra vs. Bob Sweetan - Fidel Sierra wants a handshake to start the match. Bob Sweetan hesitates and the crowd warns him not to but he finally relents and Sierra immediately rewards Sweetan for the handshake by raking his eyes. Fidel Sierra is completely focused on Bob Sweetan's shoulder for the entire match and works on it with various different holds and targeting the shoulder with kneedrops and elbows. Bob Sweetan makes a few attempts to fight back but Bob's shoulder gives out as he attempts to bodyslam Sierra which allows Sierra to re-establish an arm-bar. Shortly after it's announced that there are only 2 minutes left in the 15 minute time limit, Bob Sweetan starts to stir again and he breaks out of the arm bar. Sweetan starts to unload on Sierra with right hands but then his shoulder gives out when he attempts his Piledriver on Fidel Sierra with 30 seconds left. Sierra scrambles out of the ring and only breaks the 10 count long enough to ensure the match goes to a 15 minute draw. Sweetan gets the crowd fired up for 5 more minutes but Fidel Sierra has had enough and he heads back to the locker room. Result: Time Limit Draw after 15 minutes Eddy Mansfield & Terry Adonis vs. The Fabulous Ones - The Fabulous Ones come out strong and totally dominate Eddy Mansfield & Terry Adonis. Stan & Steve fight clean to start but as soon as Eddy Mansfield throws a punch, Steve Keirn lights him up with right hands that send Eddy scurrying outside of the ring. Adonis & Mansfield eventually get Stan Lane in their corner and try to choke him with the tag rope but Steve Keirn runs right around the referee into their corner and starts wailing away on them. The referee finally gets in there and gets Keirn back into his corner and while the referee is distracted, Terry Adonis takes out a small chain. Adonis swings at Lane but Stan Lane ducks and grabs the chain and blasts Adonis, knocks Mansfield down off the apron with it and then covers Adonis as the referee turns around to count the 1, 2, 3. Winners: The Fabulous Ones - Stan Lane & Steve Keirn in 8:52 Southwest Heavyweight Title Match: Scott Casey vs. Tully Blanchard © - Tully Blanchard comes to the ring with Killer Khan so Bob Sweetan (with shoulder completely taped up) comes out to stand in the corner of Scott Casey. The match starts out at a slow pace with both men trying to wear down the other with holds with Scott Casey focusing on a headlock and Tully Blanchard going after Scott Casey's arm. At one point Scott Casey is tossed out of the ring and Killer Khan goes over to attack but Bob Sweetan is right there waiting for him and Khan decides to back off. During the closing moments of the match, Scott Casey has Tully reeling and gets ready to go for his patented Bulldog finisher but Khan jumps up on the apron and Scott Casey drops Tully and nails Khan with a right hand that drops Khan off the apron! Bob Sweetan grabs a chair and BLASTS Killer Khan with it! Sweetan yells at Casey to finish off Tully but then he gets attacked from behind by Fidel Sierra who rams Sweetan's shoulder into the ring post! Scott Casey & referee Jack Howe are both distracted by this & Tully takes advantage by hitting a low blow from behind on Casey and rolling him up! Jack Howe sees Fidel Sierra retreating towards the locker room and turns around to count the pin 1,2,3! Tully Blanchard retains the Southwest Heavyweight Title! Winner: Tully Blanchard with a low blow in 17:56 After the match when Tully gets handed the Southwest Heavyweight Title he brings it crashing down over the head of Scott Casey! Tully starts putting the boots to Scott Casey & Killer Khan jumps in the ring to join in! Bob Sweetan recovers on the outside and tries to come in and help but Killer Khan jabs his taped thumb into Bob Sweetan's taped up shoulder and Bob Sweetan goes down screaming in pain! Killer Khan starts stomping on the shoulder of Bob Sweetan while Tully continues to put the boots to Scott Casey! The locker room empties and Ken Lucas, Charlie Cook, Rick McGraw & The Fabulous Ones run out to the ring to help! Tully sees them coming and he and Killer Khan get out of the ring before the babyfaces come charging in! Tully hides behind Killer Khan and jaws with The Fabs who are in the ring before finally Tully & Khan go back to the dressing room. The show ends with the rest of the babyfaces helping Scott Casey & Bob Sweetan back to the locker room.

In a late add on to this trade, Tiny Anderson is now a full fledged member of Southwest Championship Wrestling with Joe Blanchard now holding the rights to his contract 100%.

Poor Tiny Anderson. I think that's a beating he likely won't be able to recover from. Pretty interested in the Poffo family feud. I even like awful & ancient Stan Stasiak going after David Sammartino. No Rataymus this episode makes me sad. You would need to pay me to watch Jimmy Valiant vs Tio though.

Flair's podcasts with Mean Gene & Sullivan both went by really fast but at the end felt like there was a ton left that wasn't discussed, so hopefully he has both of them back at some point.