khawk20

By conincidence, I've been watching a lot of the WWE Classics on Demand Prime Time Wrestling shows this week, all to do with the pre-build to Summerslam, and yeah, they built it very well.

Good chance that Dave was looking for their Super Clash match from 9/28 in Chicago. That was the only Roadies-Birds match that aired on regular TV as far as I know.

I believe the entire PWI/Weston photo archives were bought by the WWE. At the very least, they have some sort of working agreement with whoever owns those photos as they use them at times in their documentaries and HOF bios, with full credit attached to the photo. (that actually makes me think it is some sort of working agreement as opposed to owning the photos outright, as they wouldn't need to put the credit on them so prominently otherwise) If the WWE doesn't own it all already, I think they will at some point...which probably gives a better chance for a PWI/Weston/Apter Mag photo coffee table book of some sort to be released eventually, albeit with a WWE logo attached to it.

That one looks to be from the end of 1987/beginning of 1988. No "ask Mr. Brain" in those, unfortunately.

There might be scans around but I don't know where they would be. I'd suggest getting one of the big three mags apiece: The Wrestler, Inside Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling Illustrated. For the first two, I'd recommend something from between 1980 and 82. For PWI, get one from mid-1983. 1983 had the best wrestler posters of all time, IMO. After you finish with those, try to get some from after 1984, to see the differences that the WWF freezing them out made to their presentation and their in-mag pictures.

I wish.

The WWF seemed to be with the program before 1984 dawned. At that point, they started "Victory" magazine and suddenly outside photographers and writers were no longer welcomed at their events. It's why you see WWF guys in non-posed pictures after 1984 in those mags (all action shots), and in those cases you did see posed pics they were from the Archives and would have been taken in another area. Where you noticed it most, though, was when they did full-colour centerfolds in PWI. After 1984, any WWF guys they used photos for were either pics taken from the crowd or really bad cut and pastes onto a colored background. This is also why the Apter mags became very high on the NWA to the point of tangible bias after 1984. They thought that if the WWF did win the promotional war and put everyone else right out of business, they would suffer badly themselves and perhaps also be put out of business. It was in their best interest to proclaim Flair and Martel were better and more relevant champions than Hulk Hogan, that the WWF title was only a regional belt, that Hulk Hogan would be beaten soundly by both guys, etc. It didn't stop them from featuring Hogan on the cover of seemingly every second magazine from 84 onward, however. They weren't anti-WWF to the point that they would sacrifice sales by keeping him off the cover.

There was a standard sentence that used to be invoked in nearly every generic article that the Apter mags ever used: "It was a *blank* display of wrestling *blank*. They filled in words in the blanks depending on the wrestler they were describing. Examples: Abdullah the Butcher match: "It was a violent display of wrestling savagery." Rick Martel match: "It was a wonderous display of wrestling virtuosity." Nick Bockwinkel and Bobby Heenan match: "It was an underhanded display of wrestling chicanery." I always had a vision of that line being on a job interview for a writing position on the staff, with candidates being asked to fill in words for a set number of wrestlers listed. It seemed like a good place for writers to go and cut their teeth. The stories with no byline must have been really fun to write for those trained in writing and most jobs writing for real sports being minimal in how much you could embellish a story or idea.

Oh, that wasn't water....

Patera got the Olympic bump when he started, but as time went on it seemed to become a component of his "World's Strongest Wrestler" persona. One thing Patera did that helped him was photograph well. Almost every shot where you see him in the Apter mags looks great. He looked the part of super-strong monster heel in the mags before you actually saw him wrestle, and to top it off, the presentation of Patera as a Strongman was offset by the bonus that he could actually wrestle. The Apter mags got a lot of leeway from the promoters with their stories since it was all free publicity, and most guys went along with the sheer ridiculousness of a lot of it simply because it was presented to them as another thing they could point to when finding work in the various territories. The personas that the mags built up added to the mystique of the guys, and you wanted to see them. In a given magazine you would have a ratings page, Apter's column which was the news (running about 6-8 weeks behind actual events, given publishing schedules and such, but still, you didn't ever see most of those areas, so it was news to you), several editor columns which were probably 80% fiction, a rising star or where are they now feature which was at least partially true with respect to content, and then several articles (often uncredited) that were pure fiction, with bold headlines ("Nick Bockwinkel's Dire Warning to Jim Brunzell: 'The Gagnes are going to kill you, boy!'"). Add a readers letters column (probably partly made up, partly real letters), and the infamous Pen pals section that ran for years, plus the odd specialty column/article depending on which magazine it was, and you have the structure for most of the basic Apter/Weston series of magazines. EDIT: Almost forgot Arena Reports, where they would have actual results of shows in various territories, often incomplete, often wrong or vague ("Ken Patera smashed Dino Bravo" is one I remember from some Mid Atlantic results as a kid...even then I asked myself "so what the fuck is the actual result?). These gave you an idea of what matches were going on in the arenas, which you wouldn't know specifically if you didn't get the TV from that area and see the adverts for yourself. Fun reads, and unless you were legit slow you could enjoy them for what they were. The pictures were always great. I'd recommend grabbing an Apter mag off of e-bay sometime from the period of, say, 75-82, to give you a visual idea of the presentation. A seller there by the name of jackstump is worth checking out, I've dealt with him for years and he's very reliable and honest.

Most territory guys were somewhat credible when they came in, actually, since a lot of them had been through the area before. Don't underestimate the impact of the magazines back in the days before 1984, either. I got familiar with tons of guys that way before I ever saw them, and when they came into the AWA, I knew who they were if they hadn't been in previously. The mags often added a "must-see" element to the debut of a new guy to the area since their exploits were always protrayed as over-the-top in terms of skill, virtuosity, violence, or villainy.

The main goal of Gagne et al was to establish themselves in the New York area, and Backlund was who they thought was the most recognizable name to the fans in that area that they had, so they put him up front as much as they could. While being the champ for 6 years in the WWF would definitely make you recognizable pretty easily to wrestling fans of the area, people subjected to 6 years of your matches and promos would probably be just as inclined to want to watch someone new as opposed to the same-old that they had just come off of seeing for 6 years. Could go both ways with it, I suppose.

All three have been done, although Santana-Valentine might not be out there yet. I know a super Santana geek was putting it together several months ago.

It was abrupt enough that I wonder if it wasn't Harley's idea to leave.

Larry did a tv interview on AWA TV after Harley beat up Curt when Curt tried to save a jobber from Race. Larry explained it as Harley asking Larry to come to Japan with him and team (that re-teaming in Japan actually happened a few years previous IIRC), reforming their team. Larry said that Race walked out on a tag match with him there and as such declared war on the Hennig family. ...and there was no payoff as Harley didn't stick around long enough for any sort of protracted feud between he and the Hennigs. Curt and Harley had the one St. Paul match that made tape JIP but that's it. Harley left around the time Heenan went to the WWF. No idea if there was a real connection or if they just didn't know how to move forward without Heenan as part of Race's team (Harley-Heenan vs. Hennigs, maybe?) ....FWIW, most old-old time AWA fans that saw Larry and Harley in the AWA as a team agree that they have mostly been forgotten by history as a "great" tag team. They were before my time so I never saw them.

I always looked at him more like a Greg Gagne replacement since he teamed with Brunzell so much. Does that help?

Maple Leaf Wrestling certainly had it's fair share of weird matchups. From a May 1986 ep I watched last night, there was a Paul Orndorff & Scott McGhee vs. Don Muraco & Moondog Spot match, plus a tag team comprised of Ted Arcidi and King Tonga, and Adrian Adonis on colour commentary fawning all over Jake Roberts and his snake, try to get Jake to bring his snake over to the table so he could pet it. A show full of truly "WTF" moments.

This is/was some of the more interesting stuff, but it isn't complete. I got this list after most/all of the Maple leaf Wrestling stuff had already been sold off. Film Reel 1961/ 1962 ( 12 minutes) Kalmikoff Brothers v Tony Marino and Johnny Angel Ivan kalmikoff v Bulldog Brower kalkikoff Brothers v Frank Townsend and Johnny Demchuck The Wrestling Bear Bulldog Brower v Tony Marino Whipper Watson 1980's Wildman event Bulldog kent v Duncan Mctavish Sabu and Snake Williams v Wildman/Joey wareagle Midgets- Little T Women Ricky Johnson v Jet starr *1 film reel from 1961 Maple Leaf Gardens- -12 minutes in total -featuring highlights of bouts between 1 and 2 min and 30 seconds per clip. -Never before seen footage. -Killer Kowalski v 'Bulldog" Brower -Also, two bouts with former NWA World Champion Gene Kiniski - Plus former NWA World Champion Whipper Billy Watson KILLER KOWALSKI COLLECTION REEL Killer Kowalski v Bulldog Brower Gene Kiniski v Bulldog Brower Lord Athol Layton v Dick "Bulldog" Brower Whipper Billy Watson v Bulldog Brower Lord Athol Layton v Sato Keomuko Gene Kiniski v Bulldog Brower Gallagher Brothers v Bearcat Wright (under 1 min) Superstars of Wrestling Episodes Episode 5 ( 1975):Killer Kowalski v Kimba Kahn, Osborne Brothers v Terry Yorkston and Zarnoff, Jim Lancaster v Dino Bravo, Eric the Red v Austin Episode 6 (Oct 21 1975): Mark Zarnoff v Bud Osborne, Luis Martinez v Jim Lancaster, Killer Kowalski v Jim Hutchison, Mongols v Kimba Kahn and Frank Marconi. Episode 7 (Oct 21, 1975 ):Osborne Brothers v Kimba Kahn and Jim Hutchison, Mongols v Dino Bravo and Luis Martinez, Mark Zarnoff v Eric the Red, Killer Kowalski v Dino Bravo, Dino Bravo v Terry Yorkston Episode 1 ( Sept? 1975): Steve Boulas and Pepe D.Pasquale v Osborne Brothers, Dino Bravo v Bull Johnson, Kurt Von Hess v Terry Yorkston, Luis Martinez v Hartford Love Episode 2 (Oct 2, 1975): Bud Osborne v Jim Hutchison, Mongols v Terry Yorkston & Bobby Marshall, Kimba Kahn v Eric the Red, Bruce Swayze v PepeD. Pasquale Episode 4 (Sept 10, 1975): Terry Yorkston v Ray Osborne, Sailor White v Dino Bravo, Ron Davies and Pepe D. Pasquale v Kurt Von Hess and Eric the Red, Bull Johnson v Bolo Mongol Plus most of the Pro Wrestling Superstars PPVs they did in the early 2000's.

Maybe he just bought it because he has the patience to wait for the WWE to buy it, and hopes to make some money in the long run. Judging by the article, Weiss did not want to wait for negotiations with the WWE to come to an agreeable price.

Another way to look at it is if Brad had shown any sort of drawing power in his first three years in the AWA, he probably would have been a serious consideration for the title reign that Martel got, especially since Verne already had to be careful about who he gave his belts to with Vince raiding him so regularly. Brad was probably as loyal as someone would be to Verne outside of Greg in 84. Brad never being seriously considered for that spot tells me a lot about his viability as a main eventer.

He had a decent little feud with Crusher Blackwell in 81 that I thought would push him to the next level, but he really didn't do much in the immediate afterburn of that feud. His tv match with Bockwinkel in 83 and subsequent title match in St. Paul were decent, but not the kind that would elevate him to the status of being a legit draw. The Blackwell feud, for example, ended with Hogan making the save in their blowoff after Brad beat Blackwell. This segued into Blackwell-Hogan matches. Fast forward to Rheingans-Zurkov around 85-86, and Rheingans gets saved from Zurkov by Sgt. Slaughter. Rheingans never really did the saving and sort of got left to fend for himself a lot. Funny enough, he would probably have had a decent series with Hennig in 87-88 but it was right around then that Vince picked him up to be a JTTS-type for several months. By that point it really was too late for Brad to get to the next level, and given the pay in the AWA was quite low at that point, the jump was all about money. Brad did come back when Vince was done with him. Verne was in no position to hold a grudge by then.

Aaron Weiss has sold his wrestling footage. If you don't know who Aaron is, the article explains. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2012/08/08/20078746.html I'd love to know what the Corino incident mentioned in it was all about.