khawk20

He did disputed jobs to Tony Atlas in the WWF (really, REALLY fast 3 counts). After that, probably none until The Main Event. I think if Hogan were to ever have considered leaving the business it would have been before his WWF run, and probably something, if honestly considered, that would have been a reaction to a 20 dollar pay for a semi-main or a main event shot in a small southern territory or after an event in a poorly attended high-school gym setting. I don't doubt he had the "leaving the business" chat with someone, but I suspect he had it once, the person he told it to told another worker, and they told two more, and so on, and some/all of the secondary recipients of the story have adopted it as "Hogan told that to me and I convinced him not to leave the business", making themselves the primary character with Hogan. Who "Patient Zero" is, however, would be very difficult to figure out at this point, I would guess.

I'd suggest the Greg Gagne vs. Bobby Heenan Weasel Suit match from Summer 1980 in the AWA, including the angles leading up to it. I offer this one because someone that begins exploring the AWA will have several questions about the promotion answered in ways that they have probably heard would be answered otherwise. As those questions usually revolve around whether or not Greg Gagne could ever have been over (and how shitty he always was), or if Heenan was any good before he went to the WWF, or how AWA TV never ran any good angles, this match goes a long way towards dispelling those pre-conceptions: a) It's Heenan at his best, and illustrates how hated he was in a non-comical vein in the area. It is also a very good representation of Heenan's abilities as an actual wrestler. b ) It shows Greg Gagne was, at one point of his career, exceptionally over with the fans and fit in fine in the pre-muscleman era of wrestling. It helps dispel the myth that Greg Gagne was at the level of other sons in wrestling like Mike Von Erich or George Gulas, as opposed to being a solid worker in his own right that could also work on the mic pretty well. c) The build and match are a microcosm of how the AWA, in it's heyday, could build matches and then execute them to perfection. My thought is that once you get your feet wet with this angle and match, you will move forward in an examination of other AWA matches and angles in the 80's with more than a passing curiosity. Plus, as it's one of the earliest things available from the 1980's out there on tape, anyone wanting to watch AWA matches and angles progressively has probably the best starting point currently available.

Is it possible that the reverse is true...that Thesz found out about Harley getting reign 7 and decided to back the Southwest tournament out of spite (or something similar)? Race getting reign 7 seemed like a no-brainer to me back then, and I was a teenager. I doubt Lou would have had much trouble finding out what the plan swere moving forward from someone that knew them.

JuI smell a "If Not Brett Wayne, then Who?" topic coming in the near future...

I've heard it suggested many times that Bock was considered for the title. I am skeptical that he was ever outright offered it and turned it down. It's more likely that a promoter of note/player in the NWA mentioned to him that he might be someone of interest and he let them know the feeling wasn't mutual. AWA money was good and travel was lighter. Plus Bock was able to book himself out to other offices (Calgary, Memphis, Houston, et.) whereas in the NWA he would have been at the whim of the NWA promoters, with the NWA president taking a percentage of the cut as his pimp. Bock has said in shoots and interviews that it was suggested to him that he could have been in the running to get the title, but I always got the impression that it was more of a late 70's thing, as opposed to 1982. Bock thought about it and was interested in the idea but, as you noted, he figured out how much the NWA Champ made and how much he worked, and compared it to how much he was getting from Gagne and how much he had to work in the AWA, and quickly decided that it was not worth it from a financial standpoint, or a quality of life standpoint. Plus, as also noted above, he could fill holes with individual shots in other areas when he wanted to do so, on his own schedule. I've always heard that it would have happened before 1982, though.

Youngblood would have had zero credibility as a singles heel, no matter how they built it.

Well, what if Brody goes into WCCW or Portland or the other smaller NWA areas and does Double-DQ types of matches with either the best face or biggest heel available, and gets his "cleaner" wins over Crockett-only guys, in Crockett territory? I know it's a wild stab at this (I can't think of anyone outside of Race to carry the spot, off the top of my head, that makes as much or more sense than Harley did), but Brody might also be the only guy that had a "national" enough face to be a reasonable draw outside of Crockett. I can only imagine how much he would have held up Crockett for to show up and lose to Flair at Starrcade cleanly, however...especially with the territory wars brewing, knowing even if he was blackballed to any degree, someone would probably have picked him up pretty fast once Vince got his ball really rolling (I'm looking at you, Verne Gagne, lol).

Yeah. He carried his weight well and looked about the same as Backlund to me, size-wise.

Brody, as long as you are willing to pay him a hundred jazillion dollars to take the fall at Starrcade (and another hundred gazillion to even show up to lose). It's a horrible idea knowing what Brody might have done with that spot, but Brody getting 6 months with the belt to steamroll several "legit" challengers, building towards the Flair rematch, would have been a pretty big event. Plus you could have Kiniski play the fool-ass ref like he did at Race-Flair (I'm not saying I think he did it to get Race an out in KC, because I don't believe that), and Brody gets his "out". I'm gonna go hide while people rip me a new one now...

The previously-mentioned Jim Brunzell would be my pick based on this.

As long as you keep trying.

Can you interview Buck Zumhofe next?

This is another instance where I thought of Norman Smiley again.

I think Norman Smiley counts.

Not a surprise. from what I understand, he had some legal troubles with underage girls in the past.

Safe to say that his AWA run was the genesis of what he became from 84-onward.

Legitimately, it might be a hassle for the actual area hospital to deal with people who think the wrestler is actually there. That happened to the ambulance that took Bret Hart to the hospital when he got hit by the car on RAW ...because the ambulance company's phone number was on the ambulances back doors. They had to post a message on their website asking people to stop calling. To this end, I was watching Clash 17 last night and Jim Ross phoned Eric Bischoff for an update on Sting's knee injury and he specifically mentioned that Eric was at "a medical facility". So, it's been done like that in various places for some time, so it seems, and the above would be the most sensible reason for it.

Did that match make TV, or was it on an arena show?

Um.... http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-l...-215145793.html

Mad Dogs, Midgets and Screw Jobs. Not formatted perfectly in that sometimes text overlaps pictures. Otherwise I found it a fantastically worthwhile read. If you can buy a hard copy, you can probably get a free e-book to go with it. They had that deal on when the book came out and it might still be available.