khawk20

I also have the fight network here. Same deal, the wrestling content used to be out of this world. Classic Memphis even...they ran the vault show episodes way back for a while (St Louis too if I remember right?) Fun stuff on Sunday mornings. Now? As described above. They just got an HD channel on Bell (not sure if they ahd been HD on other services previously) and that is nice, but the wrestling itself...again same described previously and that doesn't compel me to tune in regularly. I'm keeping it just because but that's just me.

Could have been a PWI Press Conference on Pro Wrestling Plus (Whalen) or Pro Wrestling This Week (Pedicino) that you saw Apter on, yeah.

He was so raw when he debuted in the AWA I honestly didn't know what he would do long-term as a wrestler. The 1989-90 AWA put a lot of people in a spotlight situation that they were not ready for. Norton was sooooo strong, they played up his arm wrestling background right out of the gate and it was pretty effective in making you notice him. And he handled his place on the card pretty well. I did not expect him to continue to get better and get to the place in wrestling he ended up getting to. He was sort of like Leon White that way, someone that had "something" going when they started in the business, but seemed more fad-ish than something that they could grow and develop and make a career out of.

Possibly a 2/3 fall match and they showed the fall X and Andre won. Verne speaking of the result on the tape I wouldn't read too much into. Also a belated F-U to JVK for his AWA sucked comment during one of his match reviews.

More Gems! Sweet. Can't wait to see what they've uncovered this time.

First memory of wrestling regardless of what it was.

I first remember The Sheik terrorizing squash opponents on Superstars of Wrestling in the 70's...one of Cannon's outfits. They had an hour on Saturday afternoons most weeks. Only George Cannon could get Sheik to break the camel clutch when it was locked on by getting up from the announce desk and moving towards the ring. That promotion also featured El Santos I and II as the main heel tag team, with faces like Gino Brito, Domenic DeNucci, Arriba Luis Martinez and even Spiros Arion as a face. Never showed arena clips that I could recall. My most vivid memory and the one that hooked me was Greg Gagne beating Nick Bockwinkel in June of 1979 in a non-title match on AWA TV. Bobby Duncum tried to make the save for Bock when he was trapped in the sleeper and Wally Karbo stopped him as he tried to climb in. Was amazing to see the World Champion beat at the time, non-title or not. Gagne had a title match in July in Minneapolis off of that win which ended in a DQ. It was as I recall a one-off, so it was likely designed to fill the summer void that the AWA had at times. So I was always interested in wrestling, but first memory and being hooked for life were two separate events for me.

Ultimate Warrior Voodoo angle with Papa Shango. Was done for quite few years after that. And the backdrop thing...interesting as when someone does a backdrop that's gonna work he goes down in sync with the rebound and it looks good. When the kick to the face spot is about to happen the guy getting kicked almost always sets up before the other guy is rebounding off the ropes or close to him. If they did the kick spot the same as the actual backdrop spot it wouldn't be such a piss off to so many I suspect. However, doing it in proper sync would almost always mean there was an excellent chance the backdrop attempter was gonna take a real kick to the teeth...so I get why they set themselves early. It just looks the shits.

Regarding the Mirror article, I've learned not to trust any paper that uses phrases like "confided in pals" in their articles. Whatever really happened, I suppose we will know at some point. Damn shame at the end of the day whatever that turns out to be.

You know the mindset of Perez there mystifies me for that specific time frame. But if he had done that, we would all know a helluva lot more about and talk a lot more about Al Perez today than we ever will otherwise.

n/m, found them.

Dates?

Oh wow, that's awful news. RIP. One of those guys that the more you see of him, the more you appreciate his work.

You're possibly thinking of their title win over Regal & Garvin that was, for years, thought to be a phantom change. It was listed as being something like 57 minutes long or something. But a few years ago proof of the card and change were turned up (don't ask me what the proof was - KHawk would remember). There's a thread about it on the old KM board. I don't remember all the details but evidence was presented that it was an actual match in Alberquerque, NM. ​

Otto Wanz winning the AWA title from Nick Bockwinkel. That one won't be topped in my head ever.

Would Beefcake have been in the finals instead against Dibiase? I've heard this story from various shoots about Dibiase supposed to win but back in 1988 would Vince really have let a Bad Guy win the Mania Main Event? Back then Vince wanted to send the fans home happy. Always wondered that myself. Would have been a real departure for the WM finale, even though it was only the fourth one.

I think they would want the inherent goofyness that a Duggan brought to the table. Hogan had that as his reign went on and the programming became more and more kid/marketing driven. The "HOOOOO!" itself was an easy marketing bit. Things like that would have been a big deal I imagine.

Thanks, I get my years mixed up sometimes in the time frame. But something like an SNME change would work too.

I would have Andre rule supreme for a few months and then pull a Honky-Warrior type of thing at Summerslam. Whomever the challenger was supposed to be gets injured by Andre et al and can't wrestle the match on the PPV, so Andre and Heenan put out a no DQ open challenge. Duggan comes down, 2 x 4's him, and scores the pin and becomes champ in two minutes. The pop I think would be similar to Hogan's win over Sheik, and Duggan could continue as champ for the year and fall into place for The Main Event and title tourney. You plug Savage or DiBiase in after the Tournament. From there it gets a little muddy and the timeline changes drastically, but that's how you survive a Hogan fluke WM loss. Duggan was cartoony enough and his gimmick was very over in everything I have seen. He'd have worked, and because he wasn't the invincible Hulk Hogan challengers like Race and Orton would be actually viable matches people would view outside of the spectacle of Hulk Hogan (nobody went to see Race-Hogan thinking Race would win the title. Duggan-Race, not so far fetched in comparison).

Doug was a very under-rated bump taker and to my eye was very smooth on offense as well. Nobody took a Rocker-plex better than him, and he was the perfect compliment to Buddy Rose as a tag team partner...Buddy could do all the talking, all Doug had to do was hang with him in the ring, and he was quite successful in that regard. I don't think just anyone could have hung with Buddy and the Rockers as well as he did. RIP. *** I made Doug a comp of his matches through someone that knew him years ago. Sent me a nice thank-you and an autographed picture, and seemed genuinely happy to have some video record of his career. Times like that I remember that for most of these guys it's a job and looking back comes later for them.

A Bockwinkel vs. Martel match should also be in there. One of the two Winnipeg bouts from later in 1984 would be my first choice.

There are tons of wrestlers that, after their career has ended, find ways to make contact with video guys to get some stuff from their career as they have nothing. It's a job to them, and most, whether they enjoy it or not, don't dwell too long on it while it is happening. It's not everybody but it's like that for an awful lot of old time pros.

Tommy Young's job in the Flair-Steamboat match at Chi-Town Rumble was excellent.