khawk20

One bit I found interesting was their little piece on Mike George. Harley Race was being as nice about it as possible but he couldn't hide his disappointment that George never became the star he thought he would and could become. I don't think there was any personal heat behind that bit, but I got the impression that stuff had happened with George that Harley saw as impeding his ability to rise higher than he did. I never looked at George as having any sort of Superstar potential personally. Roger Kirby was also put over to the point that I wish there was more footage available of his prime years (is there any?). What I've seen from Kirby is from his later years and he looks decent, but the commentary made me think he had a lot more when he was younger.

Absolutely.

Finally watched "K.C. : On the Mat", the Kansas City wrestling history doc that was produced in 2009 and aired at Memorial Hall in KC when it premiered. It was quite good and they spent a good deal of time discussing the development of the area and it's stars from Orville Brown through Bob Geigel through Harley Race and onward. A lot of guys that worked there only got cursory blurbs but they spent a decent bit of time on who they identified as the main players throughout the years, including Roger Kirby, Rufus Jones, Bob Brown, the aforementioned Geigel and the Browns, Percival Friend, Race and more. The extras had highlights and speeches from the premiere night and there were several extra stories on the bonus disc as well. Also a nice photo gallery. It's a nicely produced piece that is interesting whether you've not seen much of Central States wrestling or if you grew up with it. Match clips were sparse, there were a few here and there but not a ton. It doesn't hurt the doc but an older match or two on the bonus disc would have been nice. Aside from that, I recommend it for sure.

Bock vs. Chavo is coming based on the previews

At the time, that finish was more acceptable in that the WWF sold the idea that "The referee's decision was ABSOLUTELY FInal" and could not be reversed or changed. Once Valentine's hand was raised, there was no reversing it. Holding up the title was the only thing that could be done to right the wrong. Restarting the match was not an option. The ref's mistake was a huge deal at the time because of the finality of his call of that or any match.

I can't say it's truly "forgotten" because it's not by the guys that saw him in there, but the work Bobby Heenan did for Bruiser before he became an AWA Mainstay is often talked about by the Chicago gang as his best stuff.

I have the Superstar game that they used to advertise in the mags, the original series. I made a card or two of my own to add to the wrestler list back then. Fun game, but I couldn't find anyone else overly interested in playing with me back in the day. I know I still have it.

He did a few months in the AWA at the end of 1983 and the beginning of 1984 in his Kung Fu schtick as well.

For the record I made that Bock-Larry Comp several years ago so I have a hard copy if it somehow disappears from youtube, should anyone need it down the line. That Andre-Bock match was aired in the "Classic match from the past" segment on TSN Wrestling back in 1985 or so.

In the Top Five matches thread stickied at the top here, there are a couple of more Bruno bouts you can check out.

The Fabs were a very different entity for the AWA to bring on board as a team in 1984, and I thought they proved to be excellent challengers for the Road Warriors throughout their run. I wish they had still been around when the Freebirds came in.

Watched World Pro Wrestling's Comm release of WWC matches they did (Volume 3) on the weekend. Had a Rick Martel vs. Abdullah the Butcher match I had not previously seen that I liked. Nothing out of the ordinary, Abby gets DQed after shoving the ref IIRC. Design was to keep Abby over as a crazed monster (like they needed to reinforce that in 1987 or so, but whatever), while Martel did the crazy frenchman thing at the end after the DQ so it doesn't look overly one-sided at the end of the day. The Martel-Abby Montreal matches from late 83-early 84 are the opposite as you would expect with Martel looking very strong (figuratively and literally, slamming Abby in both matches!) and Abby having to rely on Jery Blackwell to make the save to avoid a pin defeat in the second encounter. I enjoy watching matches like that between two guys in different territories when one is strong in one territory and the other equally strong in another territory. The change in dynamic is fun to see if they can make it work, and in this case I think they did.

Is it Bob Markus or El Gran Markus? Bob was a Toronto job-type guy later on if I remember right, used vs. WWF guys on a lot of Maple Leaf Wrestling telecasts. I don't think they're the same guy.

I watched some old WWC last night from 88-89. Ron Garvin vs. Bob Orton Jr and Garvin and Colon for the Universal title in a good long match were both pretty fun. Also Jason the Terrible vs. TNT...Jason won both matches via pin basically with headbutts from his hard-plastic hockey mask. How the hell did they explain why wearing that was allowed?

This is and was one of the most memorable bumps I ever saw. I was stunned that Blackwell didn't break his neck hitting the mat like that.

I don't think they really have footage going back that far. They uploaded 2 "matches" from the early 70s but it was really just pictures in a slideshow narrated by Paul Boesch. That's a shame. Sometime I read that they had stock starting from the 60s so I took that literally. So there's this legend of a match where Kintaro Oki tried to shoot on Thesz to go back to Japan as NWA champion. Key word being "tried" as Thesz made a point of making it a long slow beat up. Oki and Thesz eventually became good friends (Thesz carried Oki's wheelchair at some events decades later). The legend says that this was taped and never shown on TV but it was part of the Boesch archive. Well it might be. They could have matches dating back that far on tape and maybe haven't converted them yet. The still pic stuff I've read about is disconcerting a little in that regard, but you never know.

My first show was a Lars Anderson owned promotion that came to town called World League Wrestling. That would have been either late 1979 or early 1980. Lars Anderson (Champion) vs. The Bounty Hunter was the main event. It was low rent but fun. WLW had TV based out of Duluth that we got for some time and they came back a few times after that show. I've looked for tape of the TV for decades but have never found any, which I guess isn't surprising since it would have been on right around when VCRs first became available to the public as a whole (at about a grand per).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JDWG-vNLAw Only one I could find on youtube. THere are plenty of Rhodes/Murdoch tag bouts from Chicago during his AWA stint, those might be around on youtube under Texas Outlaws.

I don't have a problem with it if it's honest sentiment expressed in a way that might not be PC now, but is still an honest question, which is how I took her comment when I read it. I hope I get the same consideration when I'm older...mostly because I'm closer to "old fart" status than most of you here, I think.