khawk20

I had my first date around the time Hulk Hogan first challenged Nick Bockwinkel for the AWA title...April of 1982, more or less.

The story for me is more about him coming home to establish a chapter here. This is a pretty weird town so it'll be interesting to see if it's accepted, rejected, or if City Council decides to commission a million-dollar study to determine whether or not it's warranted here.

In case anyone was wondering what Vampiro is up to these days: http://www.tbnewswatch.com/News/365024/Angels_en_route-

I've been watching 1990-91 ICW/IWCCW discs and cataloging them. Lots of fun stuff, but from what I've seen, the alignment with Kevin Von Erich in 1991 really took the promotion down a ton. Keep in mind that this happened after a lengthy hiatus where they aired two months worth of a "Fifth Anniversary Special" (literally they ran their anniversary special for two months, showcasing matches from the past and a few current promos and matches here and there), and then the reboot in January of 1991 was done again with older matches from the year previous, so the promotion seems to have been mostly dead by then anyway, but it comes across as the ultimate treading-water situation. I suppose it is more noticable watching the weeks roll by outside of real time, but anyone that was watching that promotion week-to-week at the time would probably have gotten pretty frustrated with it by early 1991 and jettisoned it from their TV itinerary. Side note: This show seemed to run back to back with the AWA TV show, which was pretty much the same thing in terms of being on hiatus, but at least the AWA would stretch out a TV taping over a month or two and keep it at least looking "current". It might be the ultimate death-knell block of wrestling TV ever when you think about it.

The High Flyers vs. Sheik Kaissie's Army from early 1982 through the fall of 1984 is a favourite. What began with Kaissie and Blackwell getting an unearned match against the Flyers as a favour to Wally Karbo (when a booked team for them "from Japan" cancelled, prompting Karbo to ask if the Flyers could do him a favour and take a non-title bout vs. Kaissie and Blackwell instead) turned into two years of life-and-death tag matches and eventually saw Blackwell and Ken Patera capture the tag titles. From there, it segued into Kaissie bringing in Bruiser Brody to cripple the Gagne and Brunzell on TV and, in my mind, ended with Blackwell and Gagne putting aside their differences when Greg saved Blackwell during the Blackwell-Brody lights out match in October of 1984, in what was Greg Gagne's return from a 6 month hiatus due to that attack. From there it was more Blackwell vs. Sheik's Army and Brunzell was gone shortly afterwards...but man, what a run of matches and angles.

Is there an AWA match on there? Rose/Somers-Rockers bloodbath? Hennig-Bockwinkel draw?

For an older old-school pick, Chris Taylor is one to consider. Big name-brand Olympic Wrestler that went to Verne Gagne's training camp and was seen by Verne as someone who could be really big, and was promoted as such with TV appearances on talk shows like The Mike Douglas Show, for example. He went through Verne's camp the same year as Sgt. Slaughter, and was a focal point of the special piece that has aired on some AWA specials on "The Barn", where Verne trained his wrestlers. I don't know what the purpose of that piece was when it was done, but I suspect it probably aired as an add-on piece on some local news affiliates. Just a guess, but it isn't the kind of fare that would have made a regular ASW broadcast. He also got Pro Wrestling onto Network TV back in the mid-70's when ABC's Wide World of Sports broadcast tape of a match between him and Mad Dog Vachon. That sort of thing was a pretty big deal and shows the potential that Verne and Billy Robinson thought this guy had as a breakout star (along with the other promotional pieces I noted above). He never had the kind of career projected for him before his untimely death. I'm not sure what the root cause of that is, but his overall lack of impact on the game makes him a real disappointment for the ages in the "What should have been" category.

Something I've seen done on KM was the creation of an RIP forum, which I thought was a good idea. Might be something to consider here.

On that youtube page where the match is, there are some Kaissie interviews on the sidebar. I checked one of them out and it had a few highlights of that match and someome IDed Campbell as his opponent. Kaissie has some great stories about being brought in to wrestle in Iraq in his book, and his descriptions of the size of the crowds and the emotion generated in the book bears out as true based on that match and the atmosphere it had. The Saddam stuff is in the book too. I have no reason to doubt it.

Bob Geigel has apparently passed away.

I've never found any more than that myself. I'd think that, given the time frame, a full match out of Memphis would have surfaced by now, unfortunately.

Did I hear right that updated subscriber numbers are due out today?

I'm guessing it's the one I noted that played during Black History Month.

Here's what I found on an older version of my list. There is probably more: WF @ MSG New York March 1, 1976 Bruno Sammartino vs. Ernie Ladd (WWWF title) MSG New York October 1978 Backlund vs. Ladd (WWF title) MSG New York 2/2/76 Ladd vs. DeNucci Andre the Giant HOF Andre vs. Ernie Ladd (MSG, circa 1976) MSG New York 11/17/75 Ladd vs. Calhoun MSG New York 1/12/76 Ladd vs. Monsoon 24/7 "Black History Month" Ladd vs. Dusty Rhodes (Florida film) WWWF TV Ernie Ladd vs. SD Jones (1978) 24/7 "Large and In Charge" Kamala vs. Ladd (11/7/83) WWWF TV 11/12/78 Ladd vs. Brown 70’s Wrestling vol.1 Ladd/Rhodes vs. Koloff/Wolff (Florida, Ladd turns on Dusty) Chicago Film Rhodes/Murdoch vs. Ladd/Thomas (Luce Film, 12/16/72) Ladd/Graham vs. Wahoo/Bruiser (Luce Film, 5/25/73) Ladd vs. Wahoo (Luce Film, 6/30/73) McDaniel/Watts vs. Ladd/Graham (Luce Film) Bruiser vs. Ladd (Luce Film, 1973--I think there are two separate matches available) Dick The Bruiser & Wahoo McDaniel vs. Ernie Ladd & Superstar Graham 2/3 falls WWA Indy "Cowboy" Bob Ellis vs "Big Cat" Ernie Ladd (WWA 1970's) Dick The Bruiser & Bruno Sammartino vs Ernie Ladd & Baron Von Raschke with Sam Menacker as the Ref (WWA 1970's) Dick The Bruiser & Ernie Ladd vs The Valiants (Might be Film) Ernie “The Big Cat” Ladd vs Rodeo Jones (WWA 70's TV) Nick Bockwinkel (AWA Champ) vs. Ernie Ladd (Chicago film) Ox Baker vs Ernie Ladd--film of “The Famous Cleveland Riot” FILM Ernie Ladd vs. Ox Baker--the rematch Watts 1980 film Leroy Brown/Ernie Ladd vs.Rhodes/Murdoch JYD/Karl Kox vs. Ladd/Brown Crusher Verdu vs.Ernie Ladd Mid Atlantic Film #17 Ladd/Studd vs Weaver/Gallant 70’s film Classics Ric Flair/Ernie Ladd vs. Dino Bravo/Rick Steamboat (silent film) Watts Quadraplex Reels Ladd/Bass vs. George/Tyler Ladd vs. “Mr. Wrestling II” Japan Baba vs. Ernie Ladd IWA TV (Einhorn I think) Ernie Ladd vs. Dick Sharotte Jim Wilson vs "King of Professional Wrestling" Ernie Ladd Ladd vs. Terry Meeka Ladd vs. Phil Loyal Cowboy" Bob Ellis & "Big Cat" Ernie Ladd vs IWA Tag Team Champions Mongols (Bolo & Geeto) Dick Sherlock vs "Big" Ernie Ladd Bull Zomar vs "Big Cat" Ernie Ladd Florida TV ERNIE LADD VS. TED MARSHALL STRONGBOW VS. LADD (BATTLE) LADD VS. MIKE MILLER ERNIE LADD VS. CHICK DONOVAN LADD VS. MERCADO Mid South House show #14 Kerry Von Erich vs. Ernie Ladd Mid South House Shows #12 R and R’s/Duggan vs. Midnight Express/Ladd Brickhouse Brown/Wells vs.Ladd/Reed Mid-South Giants, Heroes, Midgets and Villains vol. 2 Assassin/One Man Gang vs. Sharpe/Ladd

Do you mean surfaced on youtube or a torrent site?

Starr is also working on a book right now, FWIW. No idea where it's at in the process, hopefully near completion with Starr's recent health problems taking hold.

Brody vs. Martel? Holy shit, that would have been something to see. I wonder if Brody would have went over and then lost on a DQ or COR to Funk, or if Brody would have lost via DQ or COR to Martel so the Martel-Funk match would have went down as it did anyway? I also wonder if Brody was booked on paper only and never was going to show up, but that's just the cynic in me thinking.

Ok, this is everything I could find from a quick glance at my lists. Ther might be a few more hiding in it that I missed. Mostly we're working with film here although some of it is longer in nature than just clips. There are these from 70's TV that are complete or near-complete: Bockwinkel/Stevens vs. Bastien/Robinson (2/3, AWA TV, 12/20/72) Nick Bockwinkel/Ray Stevens vs. Greg Gagne/Jim Brunzell (Bobby Heenan Debuts as Bock/Stevens manager, 8/10/74 AWA TV) On the whole list below you will see more completed matches from later on in the mid-80's. Some of them might have made the DVDVR set, I can't remember. Crusher/Robinson vs. Bockwinkel/Stevens (Luce Film) Crusher/Wahoo vs. Stevens/Bockwinkel (highlights, Luce film) Wilbur Snyder & Pepper Gomez vs. Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens (Luce Film) Bruiser/Crusher vs. Bockwinkel/Stevens (From Luce’s Blood Arena release) Crusher/Bastien (AWA tag champs) vs. Stevens/Bockwinkel (11/20/71, Luce film) Stevens vs. Dr. X (TV clip), Stevens/Bockwinkel vs. Andre/X (Chicago film circa 1972) Crusher/Bastien vs. Bockwinkel/Stevens highlights (3/72, Luce Film) Crusher/Dusty Rhodes vs. Bockwinkel/Stevens highlights (Luce Film) Bockwinkel/Stevens vs. Bastien/Robinson (2/3, AWA TV, 12/20/72) Bockwinkel/Stevens vs. Bruiser/McDaniel (2/3 falls, 6/9/73, Luce film) Bockwinkel/Stevens vs. Bruiser/Crusher (more Chicago film. There are several matches Available from Chicago between the teams, not all the same. This one is from Luce’s Bloody Battleroyals Comm release) Bockwinkel/Stevens (AWA Tag Champs) vs. Bruiser/Crusher (6/30/73, Chicago film) Bruiser/Crusher vs. Bockwinkel/Stevens (“Human Cage match”, 7/14/73, Luce film) Nick Bockwinkel/Ray Stevens vs. Greg Gagne/Jim Brunzell (Bobby Heenan Debuts as Bock/Stevens manager, 8/10/74 AWA TV) Greg Gagne/Jim Brunzell vs. Bockwinkel/Stevens (Winnipeg, May 1981, #1 contenders match) 5/23/85 Bockwinkel/Stevens vs. The Hennigs 22:58 of 23:12 Winnipeg 4/24/85 Bockwinkel/Stevens vs. The Hennigs 16:30 Complete Winnipeg 6/13/85 Bockwinkel/Stevens vs. Curt Hennig/Greg Gagne 20:00 complete Winnipeg Nick Bockwinkel/Ray Stevens/Bobby Duncum vs.Curt Hennig/Steve O/Buck Zumhofe (1985, either St. Paul or PW USA) Bockwinkel/Stevens/Zbyszko vs. Gagne/Hennig/Hall (St. Paul, 1985)—might be the Super Clash match mislabeled Bockwinkel/Zbyszko/Stevens vs. Hall/Hennig/Gagne (Super Clash I, Chicago 1985) Stevens/Bockwinkel/Gagne vs. Saito/Ninja/Zbyszko (Minneapolis Aud, 1986) Zbyszko/Ninja vs. Stevens/Bockwinkel (Las Vegas TV 1987)

-Badd Company vs. the Rockers in Memphis (on the Rockers in Memphis comp) -Jarrett/Smothers/Travis vs. Badd Co./Carl Fergie (this is on the DVDVR set) -Badd Co. vs. The Bruise Brothers I have a listing for but not sure if it's Memphis or not I don't have the 1987 set but I'm sure there is more of them on it. I'm also not necessarily advocating that they make the list, I don't think the body of work is probably going to be there for that.

I watched the Zbyszko WWF 1980 timeline on Friday. It was ok, but I found Larry's claims that the McMahons were nearly bankrupt because Backlund wasn't drawing to be so ludicrous that it tarnished the rest of the show for me. Seriously, if Backlund was that bad for business he would have lost the championship and someone else would have got the call.