Dylan Waco

Windham v. Luger is better than any WWF Ted match I've seen. Easily. I like Ron Garvin a lot so you won't see me shit on that, but Windham was a great wrestler in my view and I like a lot of the matches you haven't. At that point what are you gonna do?

Thank you internet for the randomness that is stuff like this

There isn't any reason to doubt it really other than the fact that if Punk loses he has even less credibility against Taker. Punk without the belt v. Taker is a completely worthless match on every level

They had an undeniable year in the universe of Dave and his readers which share a certain sort of aesthetic taste in wrestling. I didn't hate NJPW last year and even considered voting for Okada in the top three in Most Outstanding, but Dave and many F4W's talk about NJPW with a more glowing tone than I did 2010 IWRG. I didn't hate the Dome Show, but calling it the best wrestling show in history is either a case of extreme overrating or a case of a massive aesthetic disconnect that will probably never be bridgeable. In truth the answer is very probably both. NJPW appears to have had a good business year, though I went through all the data I could find when working on my Observer ballot (yes I'm that much of a geek) and I think the degree to which they had a good business year has been massively overhyped. It's also insane to say they "firmly wrote the narrative of the year." They didn't. The only company in the world that writes "the narrative" in any given year is the WWE. For the record I generally agree with you on WWE last year.

The last one lacks the "lol" quality of the first three.

Too bad the story was very much likely bullshit and Corino recanted it completely. Do people assume any wrestling stories are true?

Rotundo is the most boring wrestler I've ever seen. No one I'd rather watch less. Bring on Mike George and Mike Rapada. Anyone but him

I didn't but I've watched the set from beginning to end. Don't recall thinking it was at the level of Hansen v. Colon. Seriously people watch those matches

Maybe there are twenty. I can't think of twenty offhand, but I wouldn't say it's impossible. Also the parenthesis here is bullshit. Funk was doing great shit in his fifties over ten years ago. Same with Tenryu. I don't recall people thinking they were "jokes" at the time. No one is saying "well let's hold it against guys that they weren't great into their fifties." What I"m saying is lets NOT hold it against guys that they WERE great into their fifties. I'm arguing that that sort of thing shouldn't be excluded from GOAT discussion, not that it should be a prerequisite for serious GOAT consideration. There is a massive, massive difference between those two things. I don't even know what to say about the rest of that paragraph. By that standard we shouldn't ever listen to what anyone has to say about anything because hell they might be "super" fans of someone and their take may be "really favourable."

I have never heard anyone talk about Hansen v. Colon matches. Not saying no one ever has, but PR wrestling is rarely talked about in general and to the extent it is it is usually Abby, Colon, Brody, Brody dies. If he has other series as good as the Colon one in States I want to know what the fuck it is and where I can find it

Hennig/Hall is worse Relative to that point in time possibly, but Hall had an obvious upside because of his look. Rotundo had no upside. Ever.

I am interested to hear what people think Flair's best year is. The default answer has always been 89 and I'm partial to it for obvious reasons. But I'm not sure it's the right answer

Like the year by year idea and I'll probably do my 77-84 thread eventually. I guess I would just disagree with you because I don't think Flair is a solid pick in 83. Perhaps it's just what I've seen or bias. But I think he's clearly a peg below some of those guys I mentioned unless I'm forgetting some key matches of his (which is possible).

I always look forward to the Rumble. It sounds insane but I really think there is a chance Taker wins the Rumble and it's him v. Punk, title streak v. the streak at Mania

I have a hell of a lot I could say about Hansen. I still want to watch more 70's footage from the guy and may do it here. I think he's a top ten all timer, and serious number one contender. I think he's underrated working holds and bumping even though it's obvious his bread and butter is brawling. But that is not why I started this thread. I started this thread because I want everyone to watch the Carlos Colon v. Stan Hansen matches I've been reviewing in the Puerto Rico thread. Because watching this stuff I really feel like this is the most underrated feud of the 80's and that the matches are outstanding. I watched the matches out of order and I'm not even positive what order they go in. In any event for those ignoring my Puerto Rico thread (and you shouldn't because PR wrestling is fun as fuck), here you go in what I THINK is the right order, though keep in mind my reviews were written out of order: Stan Hansen v. Carlos Colon - 11/86 This has the same ambush opening of the last match, but is worked far more even. In a sense it helps the last match which came after this and was probably something of a Colon payback affair. Colon does get first blood here on Stan, but Hansen get some series licks in himself. I really liked Hansen's early legwork in this even if it was short lived and I also liked him bashing Colon on various fixtures all over the ball park as a bit of payback. Hansen ends up missing a lariat against the post and Colon attacks his arm some before honing in on Hansen's cut which is really nasty. Just when you think this is starting to get too one sided again Hansen loads up his elbow pad and lariat's the fuck out of Colon. A pro-Colon official shows up and stops the ref from making the count and Hansen fucking snaps and destroys Colon with a piledriver, before running out to the floor and crushing the official with a loaded lariat too. Really awesome sprint. That last match I watched really does make more sense in this context and Hansen running out of the stadium antagonizing fans and covered in blood is an awesome visual. Stan Hansen v. Carlos Colon - 1986 Holy shit this time Hansen storms the ring from behind Colon and gets at him first, knocking him out on his ass. The ref tries to break this up and Stan beats the fuck out of him! Hansen ties the rope around Carlos neck and then whips him from post to post. Then he beats his ass with the WWC belt. Meanwhile fans are throwing shit at the ring, so Stan runs at them kicking, while the paramilitary style cops run around trying to keep order. Hansen grabs the table the bell was on and literally destroys it smashing it into Colon. Colon is a bloody mess and a second ref shows up at this point but Hansen can only get a near fall on Colon. Colon sort of makes a comeback by evasion, so Stan says fuck this and throws Colon back out to the floor where he chokes him out over the guardrail while trolling the fans. You've got to be either really brave or really stupid to do that in Puerto Rico. Back in the ring and Carlos starts to flurry, so Stan headbutts him but of course it hurts him more. Gotta love that racist standard existing even in PR. Hansen cuts him back down anyhow and fucking stiffs him with an elbow for another near fall. Carlos puts together another big flurry of punches, but Colon gets kicked in his face for his trouble and shortly thereafter eats a modified lariat in the corner. Stan has him down for the fall, but pulls up his shoulder. Hansen goes for the lariat off the ropes, but Carlos blocks it and hits a dropkick. And now the tide has turned. Carlos beats Stan's ass all around ringside, busts him open, does his round off and then starts biting at the cut as only he can. He holds Hansen up in the corner and mule kicks him right in the fucking balls which naturally can only be followed up with a jumping toe touch (what else?). A second ref gets knocked over and Hansen is just getting peppered with shots. Fucking Al Perez (I think?) of all people shows up and passes something to Hansen who loads up his elbow pad for the lariat, the finish and the title. Man this was pretty fucking awesome too. Stan Hansen v. Carlos Colon - 1987 I am sticking with this feud because it has only done me right so far. This one starts off like the last one, a total war with both guys going right at each other and Colon taking over by beating Stan with his own rope and smashing his face onto the wooden platform holding up the ring while he's still walking around in his straps. They brawl out into the crowd/field and Hansen is knocking shit over while Colon throws him into anything he can. Hansen tries to fight back, but Colon has this look on his face that is just great as he is registering the blows but also feeding off the crowd and comes right back at him. Colon goes for his roundoff/Hulk up bit but Hansen hits him with a deep slam which only buys him a few seconds before he's back on the defensive. A few seconds later he is finally able to gain some real momentum with a double leg and low blow, which allows him to take over and get his chaps off. A seriously great opening to this. Hansen takes over and it's like he knows it's not his night as he immediately starts going for big shots on Colon to keep him down. You could argue that Colon's first hope spot is too soon, but it's a minor complaint and Stan puts him right back on his ass. Colon keeps trying to counter by going to the leg which is awesome because the figure-four is his big move. Stan cuts him down to size and knees the fuck out of him but goes to the well once to often which opens up more leg work. Colon takes a lot of this and I could see that being a complaint from some, but he comes across as the best possible Bruno here, an ethnic hero, up against a tough challenger that knows he's on foreign turf. For his part Hansen keeps coming forward and making runs, but keeps making mistakes that get his leg in trouble. He is great selling the shit out of this and Colon is great making him pay. I really loved the spot with Hansen going to the floor thinking it would give him an advantage and Carlos still going to work on his leg even out there. This leads to an awesome moment as Hansen fights through and just heaves a chair at Carlos head in desperation. The final bit of this is somewhat disappointing. I had hoped they were leading up to Hansen stealing a win. Instead they do a bit where Hansen is in the figure-four forever and tries everything to escape before grabbing a hold of a crutch and cracking Colon with it for the DQ. The struggle in the figure-four is actually really good with Hansen trying all sort of things to break free, but the finish is still unsatisfying. Still this was a very good match, that brushed up closely to greatness at times and might have gotten there with a more compelling finish. Stan Hansen v. Carlos Colon - Bullrope Match 2/87 I thought the Cage Match was really great and the Bullrope/Chain/Strap gimmick is not something I am a huge fan of. Having said that on first watch this felt like one of the best matches of the 80's. Not one of the best as in "good enough to make an 80's Set." I mean one of the best as in "if someone had this in there top twenty for the decade I would be hard pressed to disagree with that." WWC matches always benefit some from the atmosphere, but the atmosphere here is really incredible as it has a sort of Wrestlemania feel in this big outdoor arena (Roberto Clemente Stadium?) but with full seating coming up alongside the ring unlike a lot of their shows. Hansen shows up and just whips the Bullrope at Colon almost as a challenge and the match is just a complete war from the start. Hansen charges forward with a boot, but Colon catches him and just goes straight to town. Hansen gets busted open almost immediately and is really great bumping round like a lunatic for the boss. The face shine is really strong and gets the crowd primed for this one big time. One of the things I really like about this is that both guys take advantage of the bell at key moments to deliver huge shots. I also like how every time Colon got into a disadvantaged position he would do something to out think Hansen, whether it be an early eyepoke from over his shoulder, a great spot where he cut off the momentum of Hansen when he was going to touch the corners by sliding out to the floor, or just evading a big corner charge for a huge bump. They really make the most out of this gimmick as there are several great struggle spots where Hansen in particular looks like he has is gonna make it to the fourth corner to win the match and Carlos is just able to pull him away. I give Hansen tons of credit for milking this moments in really effective ways and making the whole thing seem like a constant struggle. No inches were given in this match. The big pay off here is the finish as Hansen looks to be almost there after cutting down Colon's hulk up spot with a sick bell shot. He realizes he can't quite make it, turns around for the death shot, but Colon back body drops and then stumbles through to touch the fourth corner and win the match. Just excellent stuff. The best match of it's kind I've ever seen including Piper/Valentine and Vader/Sting. Stan Hansen v. Carlos Colon - Cage Match March 1987 I thought this was an outstandingly great match. This is the sort of match that really bolsters the case for Hansen as a GOATC. I have no clue how regularly he was working WWC at this point, but he is crazy over here and of course Colon is like god on the island. Colon ambushes him as he is nervous about even getting into the cage and they proceed to have a sub-fifteen minute brawl that has all the staples you want. Hansen was really great here selling the blood loss and Colon legwork by just stumbling around clutching onto to shit to survive. I thought the transitions in this were really great for a brawl of this sort. There is a fun visual spot with both guys brawling while on the top rope which led to a great re-set and at one point Colon hits this reckless headbutt where he sort of flings himself at Hansen's head that looked absolutely brutal. Hansen eventually takes off the boot in desperation and starts whacking Colon with it, but it ends up coming back to bite him as he is trapped bare footed in the figure-four. Meanwhile a huge brawl breaks out on the floor and Colon walks out the front door to join it while the crowd goes batshit insane. Awesome stuff.

Regal deserved better many times. He was always over and there were points where he was one of the more over guys on the roster in both WCW and the WWE. If he had even one solid main event push he would be considered an elite level wrestler by far more people.

I think it's pretty clear if you watch enough of Flair in the WTBS studio that he was going for validation and playing himself as the coolest guy in the room for cheers. I don't fault him for that because it fits. I also so Flair live dozens of times. Even as a heel there were times he was clearly playing to the crowd for approval.

I really hope posting all of this in here does not discourage talk of Blackwell as a worker.

General statement I made regarding brevity of Blackwell's prime regarding HoF: Michaels was voted in shortly after his comeback. I am a big fan of The Rockers and think their matches opposite Somers/Rose are some of the best tag matches of the 80's. But Michaels basically got in based on 92-97. This vote seems less controversial in hindsight since Michaels came back and worked on top for another seven or eight years. But if you ask yourself who the bigger draw was and who was more important to their promotion, Blackwell from 80-85 or Michaels from 92-97 I'm not sure it's a favorable comp for Michaels. And this is coming from someone who still likes the work of Shawn from that period a good bit.

Khawk's thoughts on Blackwell that triggered much of this: Blackwell was the AWA's MVP from 1980 through 1984 (Bobby Heenan notwithstanding). Monster heel when he came in as a single, and the fans HATED him. People were ready to lynch him for the beatings he used to give to young up-and-comers like Ron Ritchie and Steve O. His challenge to the AWA singles title was limited to a match or two against Verne in that time frame, but he was such a monster that he could be programmed with any face on the roster and it was compelling. His team with Kaissie was even more hated than Blackwell as a single. Their feud with Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell was extremely hot, and begun very cleverly when the Flyers agreed to take a non-title match against the Sheiks as a favour to promoter Wally Karbo as the top chellengers could not be on the upcoming card. one non-title win later, their feud was born, and it carried on throughout 1982 and into the early part of 1983. Blackwell was the driving force in that feud, and they also managed to bring Mad Dog Vachon back for revenge against Blackwell for injuring him the year previous. Blackwell was able to hold up his end of it in two major programs almost at the same time, and was able to generate enough heat to bring the fans in for both. Keep in mind that Blackwell had been in the AWA for 3 years+ straight at this point, and was still able to maintain his aura of invincibility to a degree...no small feat. Out of the Vachon feud Blackwell moved right into his team with Ken Patera and a reign as the World Tag team Champions, a title that they held for a full year. From there, Blackwell was turned face in the infamous June 1984 battleroyal in St. Paul where Kaissie, Abdullah and Brody attacked im after he won it. Blackwell became the most popular wrestler in the AWA almost overnight, and had a lengthy albeit strangely booked feud with Brody running through the middle of 1985. Blackwell had health problems which affected his ability to wrestle regularly after the middle of 1985, but whenever he came back he was always greeted with a huge reaction. Even as late as 1989/90, Blackwell was brought into the Rochester TV tapings to team with the New Fantastics against the Destruction Crew and Johnny V, and he was still extremely over. As a heel, he had major feuds and programs with Mad Dog Vachon, Baron Von Raschke, Dino Bravo, The High Flyers, Hulk Hogan, Brad Rheingans and the Crusher. Hell, Verne got Andre to take a DQ loss to Blackwell in 1980, which I imagine wasn't a common (or inexpensive) thing back then. As a face, he had feuds with Kaissie and various forms of his army, Brody, The Freebirds, Boris Zurkov, Kamala, The Road Warriors, and I'm sure a few more I am forgetting. Blackwell drew, and was able to do so in a singular territory for the better part of ten years. that is no small feat.His transition to a face IMO extended his time as a top draw, simply because he had exhausted almost every avenue possible as a heel that could draw, with the possible exception of never doing a program with Rick Martel. He really found his niche in the AWA, and you have to give Verne Gagne a lot of credit for giving Jerry a chance to carry the ball as a monster heel, considering he was a mid-range heel at best in the WWWF previously and even less of a player in any other areas he may have been in previous to that (MACW is one he had a match or two in but no push from what I have seen. Mulligan squashed him in one match IIRC). I consider him a worthy candidate for the HOF and those that were also witness to his AWA run, especially 80 - 84 as a heel, would likely agree. Dave from the get-go has always been sour on the AWA and I suspect he has not seen much if any of Blackwell's 80 - 84 work as a heel. This hurts the idea that Dave would give him a push of any sort to improve his candidacy. But it's hard to argue the idea that he deserve serious consideration when you look at his body of work and sustained drawing/star power in what was one of the "Big Three" at the time of his ascent to key player.

Response to comments from tomk at Classics and criticism from Farmer and others: The problem here is that we are missing A LOT of numbers for 80-82 including the majority of Chicago and St. Paul shows which were their biggest venues. Those are actually some of the deader years in terms of having the attendance figures as the 60's/70's tend to have more consistent figures even. Using Clawmasters results Blackwell was in the main or semi-main of 31% of known 10k AWA shows and 71% of known 10k AWA shows from the period when he was in the company. Note that these figures are FAR from complete and there are obvious things that would need to be adjusted for to get a more concrete perspective. I'm not a huge fan of that metric because it lacks context, but if you follow the AWA it is clear that a "semi-main" position was often a position where the bigger feud or at least an equally "hot" match was presented. For example I don't think Jumbo was the draw on top as champ in 84 and doubt anyone who followed the AWA at the time would disagree with that. Another good example of this would be the Super Sunday show. Hogan v. Bock would have done great business on it's own - the fact is it wasn't the "main event" in the traditional sense of the term. Sheiks v. Verne/Mad Dog would have done great business on it's own. The fact is it was the main event in the traditional sense of the term, though I don't think it is right to consider either match the clear centerpiece above the other. It was a package deal and a package that was a huge hit at the box office. If you count St. Louis, Blackwell was in the main or semi-main of 30 known 10k plus shows. I suspect that number would be at least a quarter higher if we had more numbers from the first half of Blackwell's AWA run. I also don't have the figure from the one time he headlined the Spectrum. The claim that Blackwell only drew when Hogan around is literally the opposite of what these figures show. The figures clearly show that when Hogan left numbers stayed strong. The hottest feud in the company was the Sheiks v. The High Flyers. Their blowoff in St. Paul did 19k, months after Hogan was gone. When Blackwell took time off to sell the injury that set up his face turn business plummeted. When he came back business went up. It's absolutely clear that Blackwell was the top draw in the AWA in 84 as both a heel and a face.

Expanding on my Blackwell research by looking at his St. Louis run. We don't have attendance figures for all but a couple shows, but I still think it adds to the total picture. http://www.infinitecore.ca/superstar/index...mp;page=2#pager 11/20/81 St Louis NWA champion Ric Flair beat David Von Erich Dusty Rhodes beat Sgt Slaughter Missouri State champion Ken Patera beat Bulldog Bob Brown Pat O'Connor and Rufus R Jones (sub Rocky Johnson) beat Crusher Blackwell and Bob Sweetan Dewey Robertson beat Ron McFarlane Billy Robinson drew Gene Lewis Chan Chung and Jerry Brown beat Tommy Martin and Buzz Tyler 12/4/81 St Louis Ric Flair won a 14 man battle royal NWA champion Ric Flair beat Jack Brisco Missouri State champion Ken Patera beat Jack Brisco (sub Kerry Von Erich) David Von Erich beat Sgt Slaughter dq Crusher Blackwell & Gene Lewis & Bob Sweetan beat Pat O'Connor & Tommy Martin & Bulldog Bob Brown Dewey Robertson beat Chan Chung Rufus R Jones beat Ron McFarlane Bruce Reed drew Jerry Brown 1/1/82 St Louis NWA champion Ric Flair beat Dusty Rhodes Dick the Bruiser beat Ken Patera to win the Missouri State title David Von Erich and Rufus R Jones no contest Harley Race and Greg Valentine Dewey Robertson beat Baron Von Raschke Crusher Blackwell beat Ox Baker and Bruce Reed Pat O'Connor beat Bob Sweetan (Pat's St Louis retirement match) Wendi Richter and Joyce Grable beat Sandy Partlow and Early Dawn Bulldog Bob Brown no contest Jerry Brown All of the above shows were booked by Mushnick. O'Conner takes over either on the Jan. 1st show or after. Blackwell is being built but not used high up the cards. 2/19/82 St Louis Dick the Bruiser won an 18 man battle royal Crusher Blackwell and Harley Race no contest Andre the Giant and Dusty Rhodes Missouri State champion Dick the Bruiser beat Greg Valentine Ken Patera beat Crusher Blackwell Gene Kiniski beat Baron Von Raschke Dewey Robertson beat Dick Murdoch dq Kerry Von Erich beat Gene Lewis Roger Kirby drew Spike Huber Jerry Brown and Jerry Valiant beat Ricky Romero and Bulldog Bob Brown Blackwell no showed the previous card where he was scheduled in the semi-main v. Dewey Robertson. But here he is again in a big semi-main and doing double duty against his future opponent. 3/26/82 St Louis NWA champion Ric Flair beat Dick the Bruiser Gene Kiniski and Dewey Robertson beat Crusher Blackwell and Ken Patera dq Terry Funk beat Mark Romero (sub Jack Brisco) Rufus R Jones beat Jerry Brown Roger Kirby beat Kerry Von Erich COR Superfly beat Ricky Romero Bulldog Bob Brown and Steve Regal beat Jerry Valiant and Gene Lewis 4/16/82 St Louis Missouri State champion Dick the Bruiser beat Crusher Blackwell Ken Patera beat Dewey Robertson Gene Kiniski and Rufus R Jones beat Superfly and Sgt Slaughter Kerry Von Erich beat Jerry Brown Steve Regal drew Roger Kirby Mark Romero beat Ray Hernandez Art Crews and Bulldog Bob Brown beat Gene Lewis and Ron McFarlane 4/30/82 St Louis NWA champion Ric Flair beat Gene Kiniski Missouri State champion Dick the Bruiser beat Harley Race COR Ken Patera and Crusher Blackwell beat Dusty Rhodes and Rufus R Jones Kelly Kiniski beat Jerry Brown Sabrina and Princess Victoria beat Wendi Richter and Joyce Grable Michael Hayes beat Ron McFarlane Roger Kirby drew Steve Regal (sub Bulldog Bob Brown) Interesting stuff here as Blackwell works underneath in a huge tag that was beneath only the World Title match, then gets a big main event and then gets a match that is third from the top under two title matches. Pretty clear he's being presented as a big part of the show at this point. 5/14/82 St Louis Andre the Giant and Dick the Bruiser beat Dick Murdoch and Crusher Blackwell Dewey Robertson beat Jack Brisco David and Kerry Von Erich beat Ken Patera and Roger Kirby Bulldog Bob Brown beat Superfly dq Ray Hernandez beat Art Crews (sub Steve Regal) Rufus R Jones beat Ron McFarlane Mark Romero beat Jerry Brown 6/12/82 St Louis NWA champion Ric Flair beat Dick the Bruiser Harley Race and Dick Murdoch no contest Dusty Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Dory Funk Jr beat Dewey Robertson King Kong Brody beat Bob Sweetan David and Kerry Von Erich beat Ken Patera and Crusher Blackwell Rufus R Jones beat Superfly Mark Romero (sub Ted Oates) beat Kabuki dq Roger Kirby drew Mike George 7/16/82 St Louis Dory Funk Jr beat Gene Kiniski Crusher Blackwell beat Ken Patera Missouri State champion Dick the Bruiser beat Sgt Slaughter Dewey Robertson & Rufus R Jones & Spike Huber (sub Kerry Von Erich) beat Baron Von Raschke & Roger Kirby and Ray Hernandez Mike George drew Manny Fernandez (sub Bob Russell) Mark Romero and Art Crews beat Buzz Tyler and Abdullah the Great Would kill to see that Von Erichs v. future Sheiks tag and it is an interesting use of Blackwell who is still essentially a main eventer in St. Louis. Interesting that Blackwell teamed with Patera and worked against him in the semi-main on the next show. I wonder what the angle was. Next three shows Blackwell semi-mains in a tag, misses the second August show and then semi-main events against Dewey again. 10/8/82 St Louis Harley Race beat NWA champion Ric Flair (one fall only, no title change) Crusher Blackwell no contest Andre the Giant Kim Duk & Ken Patera & Ray Hernandez beat Dusty Rhodes & Bruce Reed & Dewey Robertson dq Hulk Hogan beat Greg Valentine and Tio in a handicap match Mark Romero beat Roger Kirby Manny Fernandez beat Baron Von Raschke Bulldog Bob Brown and Buzz Tyler drew Rufus R Jones and Mike George 10/22/82 St Louis Ken Patera beat Crusher Blackwell Hulk Hogan and Dick the Bruiser beat Greg Valentine and Dewey Robertson Bruce Reed beat Kim Duk Buzz Tyler no contest Ray Hernandez Ivan Koloff beat Mike George Manny Fernandez beat Terry Gordy Mark Romero and Terry Orndorff beat Crusher Ayala and Roger Kirby God damn that first show is stacked. I wonder what the figure was for that? The second show is really weak though Blackwell v. Patera is the headliner so that feud was still doing something in the eyes of the office. Jerry works third from the top in a kind of nothing match next and then is gone for the next show. He comes back for: 12/3/82 St Louis Dick the Bruiser and Bruce Reed beat Ric Flair and Crusher Blackwell Kerry Von Erich beat Ray Fernandez Ken Patera drew Ivan Koloff Bulldog Bob Brown beat Dewey Robertson Bob Orton Jr beat Art Crews Roger Kirby and Crusher Ayala beat Mike George and Manny Fernandez Buzz Tyler beat Jerry Brown dq Main event. Show looks weak aside from that match. Was this at the height of the post-Sam St. Louis war? Show does 5,200 which for that card seems decent. 1/21/83 St Louis King Kong Brody beat Bobby Duncum Kerry Von Erich beat Missouri State champion Harley Race dq Dick the Bruiser and Bulldog Bob Brown beat Crusher Blackwell and Crusher Ayala Greg Valentine beat Bobo Brazil Rick Martel beat Ox Baker dq Bob Orton Jr beat Brad Armstrong (sub Tommy Rich) Spike Huber and Brad Armstrong beat Kim Duk and the Beast Gone for a bit and comes back with this. Then he misses a couple of shows and... 3/11/83 St Louis King Kong Brody no contest Crusher Blackwell Harley Race beat Rick Martel Missouri State champion Kerry Von Erich beat Super Destroyer Dick the Bruiser and Bulldog Bob Brown beat Dewey Robertson and Greg Valentine Ray Hernandez beat Spike Huber Kim Duk and Yasu Fuji beat Mark Romero and Manny Fernandez Roger Kirby beat Buzz Tyler 4/15/83 St Louis Crusher Blackwell beat Kerry Von Erich to win the Missouri State title Greg Valentine beat Dick the Bruiser Rick Martel beat Bob Orton Jr George Wells beat Bobby Duncum Yasu Fuji and Kim Duk beat Spike Huber and Bulldog Bob Brown Roddy Piper beat Omar Atlas Dewey Robertson and Eddie Mansfield drew Manny Fernandez and Buzz Tyler No clue what these are drawing but at this point it's clear Blackwell is seen as a main guy. They didn't give the Missouri Title to just anyone. Interesting that the Brody match happened here before it happened in the AWA. 4/29/83 St Louis NWA champion Ric Flair beat Crusher Blackwell COR Harley Race beat David Von Erich Rick Martel and Bulldog Bob Brown beat Kim Duk and Grizzly Adams (sub Yasu Fuji) Greg Valentine beat Buzz Tyler George Wells drew Roddy Piper Bob Orton Jr beat Dewey Robertson Manny Fernandez & Mark Romero & Liz Chase beat Ray Hernandez & Bill Cody (sub Eddie Mansfield) & Leilani Kai 5/13/83 St Louis Harley Race beat Crusher Blackwell to win the Missouri State title Kerry Von Erich and George Wells beat Kim Duk and Roger Kirby (sub Yasu Fuji) Greg Valentine no contest Bruce Reed Bobby Duncum beat Bulldog Bob Brown Bob Orton Jr beat Manny Fernandez Dewey Robertson drew Rick Martel Mark Romero and Jerry Ho beat Ray Hernandez and Jerry Brown 6/10/83 St Louis Harley Race beat Ric Flair to win the NWA World heavyweight title Crusher Blackwell won an 18 man battle royal Andre the Giant & Bruce Reed & Dick the Bruiser beat Crusher Blackwell & John Studd & Bobby Duncum Bob Orton Jr drew David Von Erich Gene Kiniski no contest Dick Murdoch Rick Martel beat Greg Valentine Roddy Piper drew Bulldog Bob Brown George Wells and Mark Romero beat Dewey Robertson and Ray Hernandez Jerry gets a Flair main even in St. Louis as the Missouri champ which would seem to be a pretty big deal. Dropping the title to Harley after a month isn't surprising. Probably was the plan all along as Harley owned a piece of Central States which was wedded to St. Louis in a lot of ways by this point. Race v. Flair was probably what they were building to though I find it notable that Blackwell was STILL put over huge working in the big six-man and winning the Battle Royal. 7/15/83 St Louis Tournament for the Missouri State Title Round 1 Bob Orton Jr beat Manny Fernandez Jesse Ventura beat Emile Vachon Blackjack Lanza beat Jerry Ho Bruce Reed beat Baron Von Raschke Crusher Blackwell beat Buzz Tyler Dick the Bruiser beat Bobby Duncum Ric Flair beat Bulldog Bob Brown Dewey Robertson beat George Wells Hulk Hogan beat Kortsia Korchenko Round 2 David Von Erich beat Bob Orton Jr Bruce Reed beat Jesse Ventura Blackjack Lanza beat Dick the Bruiser dq Ric Flair beat George Wells? Hulk Hogan nc Crusher Blackwell Round 3 David Von Erich beat Blackjack Lanza Ric Flair beat Bruce Reed Ric Flair beat David Von Erich to win the Missouri State title Another interesting result as Flair goes from NWA Champ to Missouri Champ replacing Harley who replaced him as World Champ. Notable that Blackwell didn't job and went to a no-contest with Hogan. He's still being protected like a top guy would be. 8/5/83 St Louis NWA champion Harley Race beat Ric Flair Hulk Hogan & Dick the Bruiser & Ron Ritchie (sub David Von Erich) beat Crusher Blackwell & Blackjack Mulligan & Baron Von Raschke Bob Orton Jr beat Rick Martel Super Destroyer beat George Wells Barry Windham beat Tonga John Bulldog Bob Brown and Princess Victoria beat Roger Kirby and Leilani Kai Ron Ritchie beat Steve Hall 8/26/83 St Louis Hulk Hogan beat Crusher Blackwell COR Dick the Bruiser no contest Super Destroyer David Von Erich and Jerry Lawler beat Blackjack Mulligan and Blackjack Lanza Barry Windham beat Baron Von Raschke Roger Kirby beat Jerry Ho (sub Dusty Rhodes) Bob Orton Jr beat George Wells Ron Ritchie and Mark Romero beat Sheik Abdullah and Buck Robley Blackwell v. Hogan is now a big feud coming out of the Missouri tournament. 9/16/83 St Louis David Von Erich beat Ric Flair to win the Missouri State title Hulk Hogan beat Crusher Blackwell Barry Windham and Austin Idol (Sub Dick the Bruiser) beat Super Destroyer and Bob Orton Jr Iceman Parsons beat Roger Kirby Blackjack Mulligan beat Jerry Ho Buck Robley beat Ron Ritchie George Wells and Bulldog Bob Brown beat Jerry Brown and Sheik Abdullah 10/8/83 St Louis NWA champion Harley Race beat Hulk Hogan dq Barry Windham and David Von Erich beat Crusher Blackwell and Super Destroyer Blackjack Mulligan beat Buzz Tyler Iceman Parsons beat Tonga John Buck Robley beat Jerry Ho Ron Ritchie & Bulldog Bob Brown & Angelo Mosca Jr beat Roger Kirby & Jerry Brown & Sheik Abdullah 10/21/83 St Louis Hulk Hogan beat Crusher Blackwell Cage Match Missouri State champion David Von Erich beat Super Destroyer Dick the Bruiser and Jimmy Snuka beat Blackjack Mulligan and Killer Karl Krupp Jimmy Snuka (sub Barry Windham) beat Roger Kirby Iceman Parsons beat Doug Sommers Buck Robley beat Booker T Bulldog Bob Brown and Angelo Mosca Jr beat Jerry Brown and Tonga John Blackwell v. Hogan gets strung out for several shows which tells me it probably did fairly well. Cage Match blowoff suggests a hot feud, though I know the first show here did under 5,000 which was bad for St. Louis. I wonder if Blackwell interfered in the Race match costing Hogan the title? I would almost bet on it. 11/25/83 St Louis NWA champ Ric Flair beat David Von Erich AWA tag team champions Crusher Blackwell and Ken Patera beat Dick the Bruiser and Bulldog Bob Brown Austin Idol beat Denny Brown Iceman Parsons beat Blackjack Lanza Paul Orndorff beat Steve Olsonoski (sub Rick Martel) Tiger Mask (sub Buck Robley) beat Angelo Mosca Jr 666 beat Ron Ritchie Paul Kelly and Velvet McIntyre beat Scott Farris and Peggy Lee 12/9/83 St Louis David Von Erich vs Harley Race Dick the Bruiser and Rick Martel beat AWA tag team champions Crusher Blackwell and Ken Patera dq Bob Orton Jr vs Rufus R Jones Austin Idol vs Buddy Landell Ron Ritchie vs Paul Orndorff Buzz Tyler and Mark Stuart vs MEB and 666 Paul Kelly vs Bobby Fulton The Sheiks in now and working semi-mains billed as the AWA tag champs. Wonder how this looked to the fans who had seen them feud a year or so before. I would guess there success in the AWA at the gate led to Verne - who still had a piece of the St. Louis office as I recall - sending them down South to help pop business. The first fo these shows did almost 9,000 which was a very strong number for St. Louis at that point. 1/6/84 St Louis NWA champion Ric Flair beat King Kong Brody dq Harley Race beat David Von Erich to win the Missouri State Title AWA tag team champions Crusher Blackwell and Ken Patera beat Dick the Bruiser and Gene Kiniski (sub Ted DiBiase) Dory Funk Jr drew Bob Orton Jr Ron Ritchie beat 666 (sub Buddy Landell) Tully Blanchard (sub Buck Robley) beat Buzz Tyler King Cobra and Tiger Mask beat Roger Kirby and Scott Farris 2/17/84 St Louis NWA champ Ric Flair beat Barry Windham Missouri State champion Harley Race vs Wahoo McDaniel Dusty Rhodes vs Luke Graham AWA tag team champions Crusher Blackwell and Ken Patera vs Buck Robley and Ron Ritchie Dick Slater vs Cobra Blackjack Mulligan vs Bulldog Bob Brown Mark and Jay Youngblood vs the Grapplers Sheiks still around but slipping down the card on that Feb. show and man did they have some oddball challengers for those belts in St. Louis. First listing here is actually pretty cool as they appear to have been part of a triple title match billing up top on a show that was deliberately stacked. 3/30/84 St Louis Missouri State champion Harley Race beat Wahoo McDaniel Bruce Reed and the Blackjacks beat Crusher Blackwell & Ken Patera & Luke Graham Jimmy Garvin beat Chris Adams Dick the Bruiser beat Scott Farris One Man Gang beat Hacksaw Duggan dq Dick Slater beat Buzz Tyler The Fabulous Ones beat TG Stone and Pat Kelly Ted Oates and Les Thornton vs The Grapplers Six-man semi-main on a very strange show. This would be the last appearance of the Sheiks in St. Louis. Blackwell misses the May show but was scheduled in the semi-main. 6/1/84 St Louis NWA champion Ric Flair drew Kerry Von Erich Blackjack Lanza and Blackjack Mulligan beat Crusher Blackwell and Sheik Adnan El Kaissey Wahoo McDaniel beat Kimala dq Jim Duggan beat Luke Graham The Grapplers beat Ted Oates and Tom Ivory (sub Jerry Oates) Tommy Rogers beat TG Stone Marty Jannetty beat Roger Kirby 6/22/84 St Louis NWA champion Ric Flair beat Wahoo McDaniel Crusher Blackwell & Buddy Roberts & Michael Hayes beat Blackjack Lanza & Billy robinson & Iceman Parsons Missouri State champion Harley Race beat Curt Hennig Nick Bockwinkel beat Steve Olsonoski Ted Oates (sub Jim Duggan) beat Luke Graham Marty Jannetty and Tommy Rogers beat The Grapplers TG Stone beat Art Crews Ted Oates beat Akio Sato Blackwell likely with his last appearance as a Sheik like heel in the first match with Adnan in St. Louis. Show does almost 7,700 a good gate for St. Louis though you would think most of that would be attributed to the main event. Interesting to see him teaming with the Birds against a hilarious opposition on the second show. Still in semi-mains. 7/13/84 St Louis Kerry Von Erich and Barry Windham beat Ric Flair and Crusher Blackwell Missouri State champion Harley Race no contest Wahoo McDaniel Missing Link beat Rufus R Jones Fabulous Moolah and Peggy Lee beat Wenona Little Heart and Desiree Peterson Marty Jannetty drew Grappler #1 Grappler #2 beat Tommy Rogers Ted Oates beat TG Stone 8/3/84 St Louis NWA champion Ric Flair vs Kerry Von Erich Iceman Parsons beat Missouri State champion Harley Race dq Blackjack Lanza vs Sheik Adnan El Kaissey Tommy Rogers vs Grappler #1 Beard vs Mask Crusher Blackwell and Luke Graham vs Jim Brunzell and Buzz Tyler Dick the Bruiser vs Chris Markoff Marty Jannetty vs Ted Oates Art Crews vs Gypsy Joe Blackwell in what looks like it would have been an incredibly great tag team main event on the first show, though it did weak business of barely 4k. Second show he is in the mid-card which was almost unheard of for him in St. Louis, but this was right around the time he would be setting up for his face turn IIRC. 9/14/84 St Louis NWA champion Ric Flair beat Harley Race AWA tag team champions The Road Warriors beat Dick the Bruiser and Blackjack Lanza Chris Adams beat Jimmy Garvin Stella Mae French beat Precious Crusher Blackwell beat Jim Brunzell COR Tony Atlas & Ted DiBiase & Buzz Tyler beat Ox Baker & Hacksaw Higgins & Mr Saito Gypsy Joe beat Tommy Rogers Marty Jannetty beat TG Stone His last heel appearance in St. Louis? 10/5/84 St Louis King Kong Brody no contest Crusher Blackwell AWA tag team champions The Road Warriors beat Ted DiBiase and Buzz Tyler Tony Atlas beat Paul Ellering Hacksaw Higgins beat Buzz Tyler (sub Dick the Bruiser) Jim Brunzell and Bulldog Bob Brown beat the Grapplers Mr Pogo beat Tony Russo (sub Steve Olsonoski) Gypsy Joe and The Animal beat Marty Jannetty and Tommy Rogers Weak show, but notable that Brody v. Blackwell was a good enough spike in the AWA where they took it to headline St. Louis. Still you have to wonder what the logic was in booking this card the way it was booked. Talent is insanely thin. 12/7/84 St Louis Crusher Blackwell won a 20 man battle royal Kerry Von Erich beat Crusher Blackwell Wahoo McDaniel beat Hacksaw Higgins (sub King Kong Brody) Dick the Bruiser and Bulldog Bob Brown beat Gypsy Joe and Mr Pogo Rufus R Jones beat Sheik Abdullah Roger Kirby and Ken Timbs beat Mark and Jay Youngblood TG Stone beat Dusty Wolfe (sub Blackjack Lanza) Steve Olsonoski and Marty Jannetty beat Buzz Tyler and Mike Bond Blackwell in a double duty main event. Card did a little less than 5,500 which was a solid number but nothing great. Misses the first show in 85, which did 8k with Flair v. Brody on top. 1/25/85 St Louis NWA champion Ric Flair beat Kerry Von Erich King Kong Brody beat Kimala dq Harley Race beat Crusher Blackwell Terry Funk beat Wahoo McDaniel Texas Death Match Dick the Bruiser and Bulldog Bob Brown beat Ken Timbs and Mr Pogo Candi Divine beat Diane Von Hoffman Rufus R Jones beat the Outlaw Marty Jannetty and Art Crews beat Sheik Abdullah and Gary Royal 2/15/85 St Louis NWA champion Ric Flair drew King Kong Brody Missouri State champion Crusher Blackwell no contest Harley Race Wahoo McDaniel beat Gene Kiniski Sgt Slaughter beat Missing Link Dick the Bruiser and Bulldog Bob Brown beat Sheik Abdullah and Mr Pogo Rufus R Jones beat Roger Kirby (sub Baron Von Raschke) Marty Jannetty beat Ken Timbs dq Art Crews and Dusty Wolfe (sub Dave Peterson) beat Gary Royal and TG Stone 3/8/85 St Louis AWA champion Rick Martel vs Nick Bockwinkel Missouri State champion Crusher Blackwell vs Bulldog Bob Brown Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell vs Masked Superstar and Mr Saito Sgt Slaughter vs Wahoo McDaniel Jimmy Garvin vs Mike Von Erich American Starship beat Marty Jannetty and Steve Olsonoski Dick the Bruiser beat Mr Pogo dq Rufus R Jones vs Ken Timbs Blackwell v. Race is rolled out a couple of times once on a stacked show that does nearly 11,000 which was probably the last huge number in St. Louis territory history. The company is really all over the place at this point. Blackwell gets his second Missouri Title run. They put him against the unimpressive Central States forever Bob Brown. Blackwell misses all but one of the next five shows where he is in a mid-card tag match. 8/2/85 St Louis NWA champion Ric Flair vs Harley Race Harley Race beat Crusher Blackwell to become the Missouri State champion Dick the Bruiser vs Mr Pogo Texas Death Match Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy vs Curt Hennig and Steve Olsonoski Rufus R Jones vs Starship Coyote Bulldog Bob Brown vs Sheik Abdullah Marty Jannetty & Dave Peterson & Art Crews vs Super Destroyer & Gary Royal & Boo Thomas Harley does double duty. By this point Blackwell's health was on the decline and promotion was clearly winding down though Flair and Race are still around as often as they can be to try and keep things alive. 9/20/85 St Louis NWA champion Ric Flair vs Harley Race King Kong Brody vs One Man Gang AWA champion Rick Martel vs Jimmy Garvin Crusher Blackwell vs Kamala NWA Jr champion Denny Brown vs Gary Royal Larry and Curt Hennig vs Mr Pogo and Boo Thomas Bulldog Bob Brown vs Dave Peterson Art Crews vs Sheik Abdullah plus a midget tag bout The last result with Blackwell in it. On a stacked show he's in a prominent match albeit one in the mid-card. Really hard to get a feel for if Blackwell was a draw of any magnitude or not in St. Louis. What is indisputable is that he was a star and a star from the jump right through until the end. He was consistently in semi-mains or main events, was given the Missouri title twice and was booked against everyone from Harley to Flair to Andre to Hogan. The "he was only a star in the AWA" talking point that I sort of conceded on the podcast appears to be wrong. And my final wrap up stuff: Tying up a few loose ends on Blackwell. A couple of different places claim he worked Amarillo and Houston by I can't find any evidence of it. In 75-76 he was in Mid-Atlantic, including a mid-card tag team with Brute Bernard that seemed to get at least a bit of a push. In early 76 he was also in the WWF where he worked underneath a lot early, but actually moved onto some main events and semi-mains on spot shows. He worked a sort of mini-program v. Putski and actually headlined in some of the mid-level markets. He went on last twice at MSG though both times he was the buffer match after the Bruno main event. He also had a tag title program, a mini-program with Bobo and a mini-program with Kevin Sullivan all of which were placed in second from the top slots even in the big buildings. He even had a match against Monsoon in Pittsburgh in April. Blackwell dropped back into the card some but finished up working with Monsoon/Brazil/Putski around the loop which is a solid mid-card slot. Overall he comes across as a reliable mid-carder that was shuffled up and down the card based on necessity. I am guessing he was in Mid-Atlantic for part of 77 and 78, though I haven't been able to find any results. I know he was in Southeastern for a while in 78/79 as a mid-carder though he did hold the tag titles there twice and worked in some main events. From Sept. of 78 til the end of the year he was in the WWWF (technically his tv debut was in early August, but he didn't work the loop until Sept.) which was an interesting run that I would like to see the tv from. He got an early t.v. main event teaming with Ernie Ladd v. Backlund and Mavia. He mostly worked underneath against your standard scrubs and worked a lot of spot shows. In the last two months of the year he actually main evented several spot shows against guys like S.D. Jones, Larry Zbyszko and Jay Strongbow. His biggest match had to be against Backlund at the Spectrum but we don't have a figure for it. He also main evented against Andre on a few shows in singles and in a tag match in Augusta, Maine of all places. You get the feeling that he might have been being groomed for a bigger run and either got a better offer somewhere else or the company decided to go in a different direction. Hard to tell. The awesome Lawler match from May of 81 in Memphis was only a one shot deal and did a hair over 5,000 which was below average for the year though not the worst drawing show of the year. He was brought into Central States several times starting in 84. He had four main events that year and was clearly booked as a special attraction worth seeing as his bouts were against Flair and Cage Matches v. Harley. In 85/86 he was brought in some and booked all over the card against a wide variety of (mostly middling) talent.

Blackwell in 84 1/4/84 Las Vegas, NV @ Showboat Sports Pavilion Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Baron Von Raschke & Mad Dog Vachon beat Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera & Sheik Adnan & Mr Saito Billy Robinson beat Jesse Ventura (sub Hulk Hogan) dq Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan COR Jesse Ventura beat Buck Zumhofe att: 6,000 This is the biggest number I've seen for Vegas from the AWA. 2/26/84 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center afternoon Baron Von Raschke & Jim Brunzell beat Mr. Saito & Jesse Ventura dq Anything Goes Match Jerry Blackwell beat The Crusher Harley Race beat Blackjack Lanza Brad Rheingans beat Ken Patera dq Blackjack Mulligan beat Chris Markoff Steve Regal beat Kenny Jay att: 14,000 This is up 3,000 from the previous St. Paul show that didn't have Blackwell, though to be fair this show had a marginally better line up. 3/3/84 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium Mr. Saito & Jesse Ventura beat The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell dq Genichiro Tenryu & Jumbo Tsuruta beat Billy Robinson & Ronnie Garvin Blackjack Lanza & Blackjack Mulligan beat Stan Hansen & Nick Bockwinkel Steve Regal & Kevin Kelly beat Brad Rheingans & Tom Stone Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts beat Buck Zumhofe & Steve O att: 6,112 sellout Milwaukee was FAR from a guaranteed sellout. 3/4/84 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon AWA Champion Jumbo Tsuruta beat Blackjack Lanza AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Blackjack Mulligan & Jerry Lawler Stan Hansen & Nick Bockwinkel ddq Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher Mr. Saito & Jesse Ventura beat The Crusher (sub Mad Dog Vachon) & Baron Von Raschke dq Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell no contest Rick Martel & Dino Bravo Giant Baba & Genichiro Tenryu beat Buddy Roberts & Ronnie Garvin Billy Robinson & Brad Rheingans beat Steve Regal & Kevin Kelly Terry Gordy & Michael Hayes beat Steve Olsonoski & Buck Zumhofe Att: SRO 18,000+ Loaded show, but still. 3/11/84 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena AWA Champion Jumbo Tsuruta beat Billy Robinson Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell dq Jesse Ventura & Mr. Saito beat The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke Blackjack Mulligan & Blackjack Lanza beat Harley Race & Nick Bockwinkel Giant Baba & Tenryu beat Steve Regal & Roger Kirby Buck Zumhofe & Steve O beat Tom Stone & Chris Markoff att: SRO 7,000 Tremendous figure for Green Bay. This is a pretty hot show, but if you follow the feuds from the area it feels like the tag title match is the clear main event. 3/15/84 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Greg Gagne & The Crusher AWA Champion Jumbo Tsuruta beat Jim Brunzell Baron Von Raschke & Mad Dog Vachon beat Mr. Saito & Jesse Ventura dq Giant Baba & Genichiro Tenryu beat Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts Blackjack Mulligan & Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan & Nick Bockwinkel att: 9,950 Really an excellent number for Salt Lake City. 3/22/84 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Jesse Ventura & Jerry Blackwell & Mr. Saito beat The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke & Mad Dog Vachon Blackjack Mulligan beat Bobby Heenan Billy Robinson beat Blackjack Lanza Greg Gagne beat Ken Patera Kevin Kelly beat Stan Lane Steve O beat Chris Markoff Brad Rheingans beat Steve Regal Att: 7,424 And an excellent number for Winnipeg too. 3/25/84 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center Cage Match Greg Gagne & The Crusher beat Sheik Adnan & Jerry Blackwell Nick Bockwinkel beat Blackjack Mulligan dq Mr. Saito beat Baron Von Raschke Steve O drew Larry Zbyszko Stan Lane & Steve Keirn beat Jake Milliman & Jesse Ventura Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe to win AWA light heavyweight title Kevin Kelly beat Kenny Jay Att 19,000+ Incredible number and there is no question what the primary draw on this show was. 3/31/84 Milwaukee, WI @ Arena Cage match, Referee Buck Zumhofe The Crusher & Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke beat Mr. Saito & Jesse Ventura & Jerry Blackwell Nick Bockwinkel beat Blackjack Mulligan Fabulous Ones beat Steve Regal & Roger Kirby Greg Gagne beat Ken Patera Blackjack Lanza beat Chris Markoff Larry Zbyszko drew Brad Rheingans Kevin Kelly beat Tom Stone Att: 9,889 That number can't be right can it? 4/1/84 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon Mr. Saito & Jesse Ventura beat The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke dq Nick Bockwinkel beat Billy Robinson dq Dick The Bruiser & Blackjack Mulligan & Blackjack Lanza beat Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Fabulous Ones beat Larry Zbyszko & Roger Kirby Road Warriors beat Steve O & Buck Zumhofe Greg Gagne beat Steve Regal Brad Rheingans beat Kevin Kelly Att 18,000 Another supershow at the Rosemont does excellent business. 4/4/84 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace The Crusher & Mad Dog Vachon & Verne Gagne (sub Greg Gagne) beat Sheik Adnan & Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell Blackjack Lanza beat Nick Bockwinkel dq Fabulous Ones beat Steve Regal & Larry Zbyszko Jesse Ventura beat Baron Von Raschke Curt Hennig beat Steve Olsonoski Att: 9,433 SLC clearly loves to hate the Sheiks. 4/8/84 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena Cage match The Crusher & Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke beat Jesse Ventura & Mr Saito & Jerry Blackwell when Crusher pinned Blackwell in 15:10 Nick Bockwinkel beat Blackjack Mulligan dq when Mulligan tossed Bockwinkel beat the top rope in 11:39 Fabulous Ones beat Ken Patera & Sheik Adnan in 13:38 Jim Brunzell beat Steve Regal via pin in 12:37 Billy Robinson beat Buck Zumhofe via pin in 15:16 Curt Hennig beat Kevin Kelly via pin in 11:12 Att: sellout 6,214 Another great number in a town that rarely sold out. Things cool off some in April though there is this 4/29/84 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon Cage match The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke & Dick The Bruiser beat Jesse Ventura & Mr. Saito & Jerry Blackwell Nick Bockwinkel beat AWA Champion Jumbo Tsuruta dq Road Warriors beat Curt Hennig & Ronnie Garvin Harley Race no contest Jim Brunzell Blackjack Mulligan beat Ken Patera Billy Robinson beat Larry Zbyszko Fabulous Ones beat Steve Regal & Kevin Kelly att: 17,000 5/10/84 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace Greg Gagne beat AWA Champion Jumbo Tsuruta dq The Crusher beat Jerry Blackwell Princess Victoria & Velvet McIntyre beat Despina Montagus & Leilani Kai Fabulous Ones beat Jake Milliman & Jesse Ventura Curt Hennig drew Larry Zbyszko Att: 8,600 SLC stays hot. This also has the look of a card where Blackwell v. Crusher was almost assuredly the top draw by a large margin. 5/11/84 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium AWA Champion Jumbo Tsuruta beat Blackjack Mulligan COR The Crusher beat Sheik Adnan Fabulous Ones beat Steve Regal & Jesse Ventura Velvet McIntyre & Princess Victoria beat Leilani Kai & Despina Montagus Curt Hennig beat Larry Zbyszko Billy Robinson beat Tom Stone att: 2,616 Adnan works Blackwell's spot opposite Crusher and gives Jumbo no real support. The rest of the show is weak. Business had been trending down in some of these areas but this is a less than half full arena. Absence of Bock, Blackwell and The High Flyers looks to have hurt a whole lot. 5/26/84 Chicago, IL @ UIC Pavilion Road Warriors beat AWA Tag Team Champions The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke dq Dick The Bruiser beat Jerry Blackwell dq Fabulous Ones beat Steve Regal & Steve O Nick Bockwinkel no contest Blackjack Lanza Princess Victoria & Velvet McIntyre beat Leilani Kai & Despina Montagus Billy Robinson drew Curt Hennig Greg Gagne beat Tom Lentz Att: 10,000 I'm guessing this was near sellout at the UIC. 6/9/84 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium Baron Von Raschke (sub Mad Dog Vachon) representing Crusher sat chained to Abdullah the Butcher, representing Blackwell. The Crusher beat Jerry Blackwell on a 3rd fall dq in 14:42 Steve Keirn (sub Greg Gagne) beat Nick Bockwinkel dq 7:04 Baron Von Raschke beat Abdullah the Butcher dq 3:56 Fabulous Ones Stan Lane & Steve Keirn beat Larry Zbyszko (sub Jesse Ventura) & Steve Regal 18:44 when Steve Keirn pinned Regal King Kong Brody beat Steve Olsonoski 5:03 Tom Stone beat Jake Milliman 12:49 att: 2,820 Really bad number for Crusher v. Blackwell even in the Summer. Rest of he card is lackluster but still. 6/10/84 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center Jerry Blackwell eliminated King Kong Brody to win battle royal Abdullah The Butcher & Jerry Blackwell beat Baron Von Raschke (sub Blackjack Mulligan) & Blackjack Lanza King Kong Brody beat Steve O The Crusher no contest Nick Bockwinkel Fabulous Ones beat Roger Kirby & Chris Markoff Dusty Rhodes beat Larry Zbyszko Curt Hennig beat Steve Regal att: (1?)8,000 Heavily disputed number. Watching the footage it is clear that 8k is not right. Two other AWA experts I know contend that match was a sellout. My guess is this is a case of a missing 1. Also the night Blackwell turned face in a great angle. Blackwell takes time off to sell the angle. Next big show is the can't miss Rosemont. 6/17/84 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon King Kong Brody & Abdullah The Butcher & Sheik Adnan beat Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke Nick Bockwinkel beat Blackjack Lanza Fabulous Ones beat Larry Zbyszko & Chris Markoff Curt Hennig beat Roger Kirby Fabulous Moolah & Judy Martin beat Desiree Peterson & Susan Starr att: 2,000 Awful number, Summer or not. Did WWF run town around this period? 6/24/84 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena Dick The Bruiser chained to Crusher's corner, Abdullah The Butcher chained to Adnan's corner The Crusher beat Sheik Adnan via pin in 14:20 Nick Bockwinkel beat Blackjack Lanza via pin in 15:56 Curt Hennig beat Abdullah the Butcher (sub Steve Regal) dq Larry Zbyszko drew Steve Olsonoski Chris Markoff beat Tom Stone (sub Kevin Kelly) via pin in 10:02 att: 1,829 Yikes. GB is not a guaranteed sell out, but this is REALLY low for that venue. 7/15/84 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel Jim Brunzell beat King Kong Brody dq The Crusher beat Abdullah The Butcher dq Fabulous Ones beat Mr. Saito & Larry Zbyszko Road Warriors beat Steve O & Curt Hennig Tony Atlas beat Steve Regal Billy Robinson beat Chris Markoff att: 8,500 As someone who thinks the 18k figure for the previous show is the real number, this would be a massive drop. 7/21/84 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel COR Fabulous Ones drew Road Warriors Jim Brunzell beat King Kong Brody dq The Crusher beat Abdullah The Butcher dq Curt Hennig drew Mr. Saito Tony Atlas beat Larry Zbyszko Billy Robinson beat Steve O att: 14,000 Huge jump and it's hard to say why. Was Bock v. Martel that hot? Roadies v. Fabs help that much? 7/22/84 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel via pin in 19:36 The Crusher beat Abdullah the Butcher dq Fabulous Ones beat Mr. Saito & Bobby Heenan Handicap Match King Kong Brody beat Curt Hennig & Steve Olsonoski when Brody pinned Olsonoski Billy Robinson beat Larry Zbyszko via pin att: 2,416 GB is still bordering Death. 8/12/84 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center AWA Tag Team Champions The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke no contest Road Warriors Handicap match Jim Brunzell & Tony Atlas beat King Kong Brody dq Mr. Saito & Nick Bockwinkel beat Blackjack Lanza & Stan Lane Curt Hennig drew Billy Robinson Brad Rheingans beat Larry Zbyszko Steve Regal beat Tom Zenk att: 5,600 Uh oh. St. Paul is sliding. 8/16/84 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel Road Warriors beat Brad Rheingans & Steve O Baron Von Raschke dcor Billy Robinson Tony Atlas beat Steve Regal Larry Zbyszko & Bobby Heenan beat Stan Lane & Blackjack Lanza Curt Hennig beat Jim Mitchell Steve O beat Rick Renslow Tom Zenk beat Bruce Dean Att: 5,964 Martel does pretty well in Canada 8/18/84 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon AWA Tag Team Champions The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke beat Road Warriors dq Nick Bockwinkel & Bobby Heenan beat Blackjack Lanza & Stan Lane Jim Brunzell beat Sheik Adnan Tony Atlas beat Steve Regal Billy Robinson beat Curt Hennig Brad Rheingans beat Rick Renslow Steve O beat Tom Zenk att: 6,000 8/19/84 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher no contest Road Warriors Nick Bockwinkel beat Tony Atlas Jim Brunzell beat Sheik Adnan Bobby Heenan beat Stan Lane Billy Robinson beat Steve Regal Curt Hennig beat Larry Zbyszko att: 4,369 8/24/84 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace Road Warriors beat AWA Tag Team Champions The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke dq Mr. Saito beat Stan Lane Jim Brunzell beat Sheik Adnan Tony Atlas beat Steve Regal Curt Hennig drew Larry Zbyszko att: 7,210 Rosemont figure is weak, especially with the Roadies on top. Milwaukee number is respectable but noticeably not on the level of the Sheiks hot period. SLC with Roadies on top still does a very good number, but also down some. 9/9/84 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center AWA Champion Rick Martel drew Brad Rheingans Martel refused to accept victory after Brad was injured AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Steve O & Jim Brunzell Weasel Suit Match Fabulous Ones & Blackjack Lanza beat Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito & Bobby Heenan Curt Hennig beat Harley Race dq Larry Zbyzsko beat Tom Zenk Billy Robinson beat Steve Regal att: 3,000 Awful. Bring back Jerry. 9/30/84 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center AWA Tag Team Champions Champion Road Warriors beat Crusher & Baron Von Raschke Jerry Blackwell no contest King Kong Brody Fabulous Ones beat Mr. Saito & Nick Bockwinkel Billy Robinson beat Tony Atlas dq Brad Rheingans beat Steve Regal Curt Hennig beat Chris Markoff att: "just under 8,000", gate: $71,000.00 Jerry comes back - attendance more than doubles. 10/7/84 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke beat Road Warriors & Paul Ellering King Kong Brody drew Jerry Blackwell Nick Bockwinkel beat Tony Atlas dq Fabulous Ones beat Mr. Saito & Billy Robinson Jim Brunzell beat Larry Zbyszko Brad Rheingans beat Chris Markoff Curt Hennig beat Steve Regal att: 8,300 Jerry is back. Attendance up more than 2000. 10/14/84 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena AWA World Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig when one of the Warriors pinned Curt Jerry Blackwell beat Sheik Adnan (sub King Kong Brody) via pin in 7:49 Fabulous Ones beat Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito when one of the Fabs pinned Saito in 17:57 Jim Brunzell beat Billy Robinson dq Brad Rheingans (sub Tony Atlas) beat Steve Regal via pin in 12:52 Att: 3,735 Jerry is back. Attendance is up 1/3. 10/18/84 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Jerry Blackwell & Boom Boom Bundy won a tag team battle royal Handicap Match Jerry Blackwell beat Larry Zbyszko & Sheik Adnan Stan Lane & Steve Keirn beat Mr. Saito & Nick Bockwinkel Att: 8,920 Battle Royal time. Attendance doubles. And Jerry is back and heavily pushed on the show. 10/20/84 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium Tag Team battle royal Order of elimination Brad Rheingans & Steve Olsonoski, Tony Atlas & Jim Brunzell, Larry Zbyszko & Billy Robinson, Crusher & Baron Von Raschke, Road Warriors, Fabulous Ones, Jimmy Garvin & Steve Regal, Curt Hennig & Larry Hennig, Mr. Saito & Nick Bockwinkel Winners Boom Boom Bundy/Jerry Blackwell AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Tony Atlas & Jim Brunzell Jerry Blackwell beat Sheik Adnan dq Nick Bockwinkel drew Curt Hennig 20:00 Boom Boom Bundy beat Larry Zbyszko (sub Mr Saito) Jimmy Garvin beat Steve Olsonoski att: sellout 6,112 Battle Royal! Jerry is also back. Sell out crowd, up 1800. 10/21/84 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center Jerry Blackwell & Boom Boom Bundy won tag battle royal Lights Out match Jerry Blackwell beat King Kong Brody when Blackwell pinned manager Sheik Adnan Fabulous Ones no contest AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors Baron Von Raschke beat Paul Ellering Jimmy Garvin beat Tom Zenk Curt Hennig drew Nick Bockwinkel 20:00 Tony Atlas beat Mr. Saito dq att: 17,000, gate: $150,000.00 I know, I know. Don't underestimate the Battle Royal. Attendance has been trending upward since he came back and he has a heavily promoted co-main event here. They do a massive gate. Don't underestimate Jerry 10/26/84 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace Fabulous Ones won tag team battle royal Handicap match Jerry Blackwell beat Sheik Adnan & Larry Zbyszko (sub King Kong Brody) Jim Brunzell beat Steve Regal Curt Hennig drew Nick Bockwinkel 20:00 Boom Boom Bundy beat Chris Markoff Jimmy Garvin beat Tom Zenk att: 9,203 SLC held strong all year. Funny though. When Jerry is on the cards though do noticeably bigger numbers than when he's not. 11/3/84 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon Boom Boom Bundy & Jerry Blackwell won tag battle royal Lights Out Match Jerry Blackwell beat King Kong Brody (Blackwell pinned mgr Sheik Adnan for the win.) Non Title Fabulous Ones beat AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors Curt Hennig drew Nick Bockwinkel 20:00 Mr. Saito beat Baron Von Raschke Jimmy Garvin beat Steve O Brad Rheingans beat Steve Regal Att: 18,301 sellout Verne's prayer checklist: 1. Thank You God for the Battle Royal series 1a. Thank You God for Jerry Blackwell's return. 2. Greg is ok I guess. 11/8/84 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Fabulous Ones Stan Lane & Steve Keirn beat Road Warriors dq Jerry Blackwell no contest King Kong Brody Nick Bockwinkel & Mr Saito beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig Jimmy Garvin beat Baron Von Raschke Jim Brunzell vs Steve Regal Tony Atlas vs Billy Robinson Att: 4,376 Average show in Winnipeg 11/11/84 San Francisco, CA @ Cow Palace Jerry Blackwell & Boom Boom Bundy won tag team battle royal King Kong Brody ddq Jerry Blackwell Blackjack Lanza beat Paul Ellering dq Nick Bockwinkel beat Steve Keirn dq Mr. Saito beat Steve O Jimmy Garvin beat Jerry Monti att: 6,800 This is a huge number for the Cow Palace which had been utter trash drawing 2,000 or less all year. Praise be to Jerry and the Battle Royals 11/19/84 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Fabulous Ones Jimmy Garvin beat Jim Brunzell Curt Hennig & Larry Hennig beat Nick Bockwinkel & Mr Saito dq Jim Brunzell drew Billy Robinson Blackjack Lanza beat Steve Regal att: 3,002 SLC finally craps the bed. They were angry. The companies lead babyface wasn't on the card. His name? Jerry Blackwell! 11/22/84 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center evening AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Boom Boom Bundy & Jerry Blackwell AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Billy Robinson Cage match Greg Gagne beat Sheik Adnan dq Mr. Saito drew Curt Hennig Fabulous Ones beat Luke Graham & Steve Regal Jimmy Garvin beat Steve O Cowboy Lang & Little Koko beat Lord Littlebrook & Little Tokyo att: 16,000 Must have been the battle royal! Er.. Must have been the Roadies! Hmm. They didn't seem to draw as well on the loop without Jerry. Must have been the Cage Match! Probably didn't hurt. You know what it was though? Jerry Blackwell!!! 12/6/84 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Garvin by reversed decision Fabulous Ones & The Crusher beat Road Warriors & Paul Ellering Jerry Blackwell beat Billy Robinson AWA Light Heavyweight Champion Steve Regal beat Buddy Lane Mr. Saito & Masked Superstar beat Curt Hennig & Steve Olsonoski Att: 3,504 Winnipeg is slipping a bit. Seems like this show should have done better, though Blackwell is noticeably down the card and the main is really weak (though I liked their matches in the ring to be fair). 12/9/84 Salt Lake City, UT @ Cow Palace Fabulous Ones no contest AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jimmy Garvin dq Curt Hennig beat Mr. Saito Baron Von Raschke beat Steve Regal Billy Robinson beat Tom Zenk att: 4,235 Christ, why even book a show there without Jerry? Bloom is off the rose in SLC at this point. 12/16/84 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon Fabulous Ones & the Crusher beat Road Warriors & Paul Ellering AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jimmy Garvin on a reverse decision dq Jim Brunzell & Jerry Blackwell no contest King Kong Brody & Sheik Adnan Curt Hennig no contest Mr Saito Curt Hennig beat Crazy Luke Graham Cowboy Lang & Little Coco beat Little Tokyo & Lord Littlebrook Steve Regal beat Tom Zenk att: 8,500 Good, but not great number at the Rosemont. Pretty much holding steady at this point, by this point Vince has to be hurting a lot as well. 12/25/84 St Paul, MN @ Civic Center AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Garvin dq after Wally Karbo reversed the decision Fabulous Ones no contest AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors King Kong Brody & Masked Superstar beat Jerry Blackwell & Greg Gagne Curt Hennig beat Nick Bockwinkel Jim Brunzell drew Mr Saito 20:00 Baron Von Raschke beat Steve Regal Billy Robinson beat Steve Olsonoski att: 13,000 Strong number for St. Paul, especially with a title match that was not that appealing on paper. That's the last number for 84. Pretty clear that the Sheiks were the biggest heel draws of the year for the AWA and their track record was impressive by any standard. Also clear that the company was FAR better off when Blackwell was around and that his face run helped business recover dramatically. In fact it's arguable he was the best drawing FACE in the company as well for the year. Notable that Vince was going national, raiding their talent, taking them on in their towns and they were still pulling some very strong shows and had a very good year over all - with Blackwell almost definitely as their most consistent draw. Decided to do 85 for Blackwell because why the heck not? It's fun and it gives us an interesting look in general since the promotion was on the decline, but had some ups and downs of note: 1/8/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace Jim Garvin beat AWA Champion Rick Martel dq Curt Hennig & Larry Hennig beat King Kong Brody & Sheik Adnan Fabulous Ones & Baron Von Raschke beat Road Warriors & Paul Ellering Nick Bockwinkel beat Curt Hennig Brad Rheingans beat Sheik Adnan COR Att 8987 1/10/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena TV Taping Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Jerry Blackwell beat Road Warriors & Paul Ellering Sgt. Slaughter beat Mr. Saito dq Jimmy Garvin beat John Nord dq Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Brian Jewel & Rob Rechsteiner Att: 5,628 That's a very good figure for a Blackwelless SLC, but look at the show - it's super loaded. Hard to imagine a more loaded show for 85 AWA than that as you have Bock, Brody, Hennigs (with Curt doing double duty), a World Title match and Roadies v. Fabs. hard to say if the fact that it was a TV Taping helped Winnipeg or not, but that feels like a hot main event and the fact is it's up over 2,000 from the previous Winnipeg show where Blackwell was third from the top against aged Billy Robinson. 1/12/85 Milwaukee, WI Fabulous Ones & The Crusher beat Road Warriors & Paul Ellering Lights Out Match King Kong Brody beat Jerry Blackwell Jimmy Garvin beat Jim Brunzell via pin Nick Bockwinkel drew Curt Hennig Masked Superstar beat Tom Stone via pin Brad Rheingans beat Jake Milliman (sub Mr. Saito) Att: 5,741 Note: Milwaukee Sentinel says Blackwell beat Brody That's less than 500 away from a sellout in Milwaukee, with what looks like a very hot double main event and not much else of note on the show (Bock v. Curt didn't "heat up" til later and I'm not sure it ever did impressive business). 1/13/85 St Paul, MN @ Civic Center evening Jim Garvin beat AWA Champion Rick Martel dq No dq match, Sheik Adnan handcuffed to Sgt. Slaughter Jerry Blackwell beat King Kong Brody COR The Crusher & Fabulous Ones beat the Road Warriors & Paul Ellering Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Masked Superstar & Sheik Adnan Nick Bockwinkel & Mr Saito beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig dq Baron Von Raschke drew Billy Robinson John Nord beat Jimmy Doo Brad Rheingans beat Steve Regal att: 11,000 This is a strong number, though the show is really loaded. You could argue it could have done better, but it seems wrong to pan a 10k plus show in the AWA. Hard to pinpoint what was moving business, but it is worth noting that Brody v. Blackwell is the hottest feud in the territory by a safe margin if you are going by the tv. 1/17/85 Las Vegas, NV @ Showboat Sports Pavilion Lights Out match Jerry Blackwell beat Masked Superstar (sub King Kong Brody) Jimmy Garvin beat AWA Champion Rick Martel dq Non title Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig (subs for Fabulous Ones) beat AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors Nick Bockwinkel beat Brad Rheingans Jim Brunzell beat Steve Regal att: 3,000 This is a very good number for Showboat I would imagine. 1/30/85 San Francisco, CA @ Cow Palace No dq match Jerry Blackwell beat Masked Superstar (sub King Kong Brody) Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig (Subs for Fabulous Ones) & Baron Von Raschke beat Road Warriors & Paul Ellering Jim Garvin beat AWA Champion Rick Martel dq Sgt. Slaughter beat Nick Bockwinkel Pat Barrett drew Guy Lambert Att 4900 Very good number for the Palace, bordering on great when you see how awful that town had been drawing in prior years. Also interesting that Superstar v. Blackwell went on last and the title match was in the mid-card. I would venture to guess this had to do with what matches were garnering the most heat as Blackwell v. Brody was the hot feud. Also worth noting that Superstar was plugged in fairly effectively as a replacement for Brody from a storyline perspective which I think speaks well of Eadie, Adnan (who was hated) and Blackwell. 2/3/85 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon Jerry Blackwell no contest Masked Superstar AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Sgt. Slaughter & Nick Bockwinkel dq Jim Garvin beat Baron Von Raschke Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat King Tonga & Sheik Adnan Larry Hennig beat John Nord Curt Hennig beat Drew Tossell Tom Zenk drew Steve Regal Would love a number for this. I doubt the crowd knew this would be Superstar and figured it would be Brody and yet Verne STILL put this on last. Again that speaks well of Blackwell as the top face at this point. 2/7/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Blackjack Lanza (sub Jerry Blackwell) & Sgt. Slaughter beat Masked Superstar & King Tonga (sub King Kong Brody) dq Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors dq Jim Garvin beat Baron Von Raschke Tom Zenk drew Steve Regal Nick Bockwinkel beat Curt Hennig Buddy Lane beat Rick Renslow John Nord beat Drew Tossell att: 4,108 Blackwell misses the show, presumably as a no-show of some kind, i.e. last second switch out. This is an ok number for Winnipeg, but I'm curious if they offer refunds as two subs in the main event could have caused some people to say "screw this." 2/20/85 San Francisco, CA @ Cow Palace King Tonga & Masked Superstar beat Sgt. Slaughter & Jerry Blackwell AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Garvin Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig drew Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito Steve Regal beat Tom Zenk John Nord beat Sheik Adnan COR Samoan Samula beat Guy Lambert dq att: 1,981 2/21/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace Lights Out Match Jerry Blackwell beat Masked Superstar Jim Garvin beat AWA Champion Rick Martel dq Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig King Tonga beat Tom Zenk John Nord beat Steve Regal Att: 7754. 2/22/85 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center Sgt. Slaughter & Jerry Blackwell beat AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors dq AWA Champion Rick Martel dcor Bob Backlund Greg Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel Jim Garvin beat Baron Von Raschke Mr. Saito & Masked Superstar & King Tonga beat Steve O & Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal John Nord drew Tom Zenk Att 10,000+ What's funny is that 2k is actually not awful for the Cow Palace, though it's less than half of the last show. Looking at the card that's no surprise. SLC is still holding really strong. St. Paul turns in another good number. Blackwell is notably placed in the last match of all of these cards. Pretty clear Verne sees him as his money making babyface and there is no reason to think he was wrong. 3/4/85 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada @ PNE Coliseum AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Brunzell AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Mr. Saito & Moose Morowski Lights Out match Jerry Blackwell beat Masked Superstar Jim Brunzell beat Sheik Adnan Buck Zumhofe beat Moondog Moretti Steve Austin beat John Baker Att: 1,500 At this point you see Verne starting to move into a couple of oddball spots out West. I have no clue why they were trying to run Vancouver now, unless Verne was just pissed at Tomko for some reason. No clue if this is a good figure for the town or not. Not surprising that they would run title matches on top in a "new" town. 3/7/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Garvin Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito King Tonga beat Sgt. Slaughter dq Jerry Blackwell beat Masked Superstar Jerry Blackwell drew Sheik Adnan Billy Robinson beat Buddy Lane Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal att: 5,208 Winnipeg still holding pretty solid. Interesting card and if it is the show I'm thinking you clearly have to credit Blackwell for a lot of this. The result doesn't say it, but this was a match where If Blackwell beat Eadie he got five minutes with Adnan. Crowd was molten for it, it's a great match(es?), and it definitely felt like the biggest thing on the show. 3/8/85 St Louis, MO AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel Missouri State Champion Jerry Blackwell beat Bulldog Bob Brown Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Masked Superstar & Mr Saito Sgt Slaughter dcor Wahoo McDaniel Mike Von Erich beat Jimmy Garvin American Starship beat Marty Jannetty & Steve Olsonoski Dick the Bruiser beat Mr Pogo dq Rufus R Jones beat Ken Timbs att: 2,610 Wow. No clue what to think of this. This is probably a Central States promoted show...or is it? Hard to tell. Feels like a garbage figure, but why the heck was Verne running that town assuming this wasn't Geigel and friends? 3/9/85 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Garvin Special Referee: Verne Gagne Sgt. Slaughter & Jerry Blackwell beat King Tonga & Masked Superstar & Sheik Adnan dq Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito Curt Hennig beat Billy Robinson Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal Candi Devine beat Diane Von Hoffman John Nord drew Tom Zenk Would like a figure here. Also worth noting that the High Flyers have re-emerged on the last several shows. 3/10/85 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena Strap Match Jerry Blackwell beat Masked Superstar King Tonga beat Sgt. Slaughter dq Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito when Brunzell pinned Bockwinkel Candi Devine beat Diane Von Hoffman via pin Non Title Buck Zumhofe beat AWA Light Heavyweight Champion Steve Regal via pin Wonder how this did. GB was an interesting town to monitor as it only seemed to draw huge for molten programs. This is followed up by a bizarre run of shows in modest sized upstate NJ towns. No clue what the point of that was. No figures on them, but Jerry isn't on the shows anyhow. 3/16/85 Oakland, CA If Blackwell wins, Jerry gets 5 minutes with Sheik Adnan Jerry Blackwell beat King Tonga dq when Adnan & Masked Superstar interfered AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel (sub Jim Garvin) Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Nick Bockwinkel & Masked Superstar Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal Jerry Monti beat Don Stevenson att: 3,400 In a fit of insanity Verne is running split crews, with Slaughter headlining in NJ and Blackwell headlining here. Notable non-Cow Palace show in the Bay Area. Probably a wise move as this does a good figure for that general area by AWA standards of the time and it was probably cheaper to run this venue. 3/19/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace Jerry Blackwell & Sgt. Slaughter beat Masked Superstar & King Tonga dq AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Brunzell Nick Bockwinkel beat Greg Gagne dq Misty Blue beat Linda Dallas Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal Att 4502 Verne the lunatic runs a split show again, this time with Baron/Backlund headlining against Nagasaki/Saito in NY. As a result both shows are weak and SLC craps the bed for the first time since Blackwell was MIA in 84. Not really an awful number for the town, but clearly a bad sign. 3/23/85 New Haven, CT @ Veteran's Memorial Coliseum Tonga Kid won a $50,000.00 battle royal AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Garvin Sgt. Slaughter beat Kamala dq Tonga Kid beat Larry Zbyszko dq Bob Backlund beat Kendo Nagasaki Mark Youngblood & Jay Youngblood drew The Samoans Att: 7000 3/23/85 Middleton, WI The Crusher & Larry Hennig & Jerry Blackwell beat Masked Superstar & Mr. Saito & King Tonga dq Greg Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel Mr. Saito beat Curt Hennig Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal Tom Zenk beat Rick Stoansky The split shows continue. That's a good number for New Haven, but again you have to wonder why on Earth they are trying to run that area. No number on the Middleton show which looks to be a small town spot show. With that lineup I'd be shocked if it wasn't a sell out. 3/24/85 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena afternoon Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig beat AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors dq Jerry Blackwell & Sgt. Slaughter drew Mr. Saito & King Tonga & Masked Superstar Baron Von Raschke beat Jim Garvin Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal Att 4719. 3/24/85 St Paul, MN @ Civic Center Handicap Match Jerry Blackwell & Sgt Slaughter no contest King Tonga & Masked Superstar & Mr Saito AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Garvin Nick Bockwinkel beat Greg Gagne Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig & The Crusher beat Paul Ellering & the Road Warriors Jim Brunzell drew Billy Robinson Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe Tom Zenk beat Rick Stoansky att: 5,500 We don't have a previous number of note in Denver so I have no clue if that is a good figure or not. This is a trash number for the Civic Center on a show that should have done well. 3/28/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors dq AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel Jim Garvin beat Baron Von Raschke dq Larry Hennig (sub The Crusher) beat King Tonga Mr. Saito beat Curt Hennig Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe Tom Zenk beat Brian Jewell Att: 5,628 Winnipeg is still alive and kicking, Jerry or not. 3/31/85 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig Jim Garvin beat Baron Von Raschke The Crusher no contest King Tonga Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Kendo Nagasaki & Mr. Saito Bob Backlund beat Larry Zbyszko dq AWA Light Heavyweight Champion Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe Billy Robinson beat Tom Zenk Att: 9,600 4/5/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Garvin AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig Jerry Blackwell beat Mr. Saito Butch Reed beat Tom Zenk Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe Att 2054 Finally a Rosemont number and it's a pretty good one for a hot double main event. No Blackwell on the show. Blackwell in the mid-card in SLC which continues to sink. They seem to be trying to ween off of Blackwell v. Adnan and friends on top. 4/10/85 Las Vegas, NV @ Showboat Sports Pavilion Handicap match Sgt. Slaughter & Jerry Blackwell beat Sheik Adnan & King Tonga & Masked Superstar Jim Garvin beat Baron Von Raschke dq Nick Bockwinkel beat Greg Gagne dq Mr. Saito beat Jim Brunzell Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe 4/11/85 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada @ PNE Coliseum Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito Jerry Blackwell beat King Tonga dq Jim Garvin beat Baron Von Raschke dq Masked Superstar beat Moose Morowski Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal Butch Reed beat Ricky Lee Jones Att 1,000 I think this sort of illustrates the idiocy of Verne. This is a thousand mile turnaround, plus dealing with customs, for a new town, with a limited payoff. At this point nonsense like this is hurting the promotion as much as anything. 4/15/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Garvin AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig Jerry Blackwell beat Mr. Saito Butch Reed beat Tom Zenk Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe att: 2,054 SLC is effectively dead at this point. I'd be interested to see the figures for the GB Cage Match and Milwaukee match with Slaughter/Blackwell v. Roadies from Milwaukee that proceeded this match. 4/18/85 Washington DC AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Bob Backlund COR AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Ivan Koloff & Nikita Koloff dq Tonga Kid beat Larry Zbyszko dq The Samoans beat Superstar & King Tonga Handicap match Kamala beat Tom Zenk & Steve O Larry Sharpe beat Sean O'Reilly 4/19/85 East Rutherford, NJ @ Meadowlands AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig AWA Champion Rick Martel beat King Tonga Jim Garvin beat Baron Von Raschke Bob Backlund beat Larry Zbyszko Ugandan Death Match Kamala beat Sgt. Slaughter Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts drew Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Tonga Kid Jim Duggan beat Kendo Nagasaki The Samoans beat Tom Zenk & Steve O Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal Bobby Duncum beat Larry Sharpe Att 10,000 East Coast swing. 10k is a good number for a Meadowlands show with essentially foreign talent. Blackwell stayed away from the East Coast swings as a rule. 4/21/85 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center Cage match Sgt. Slaughter & Jerry Blackwell beat Sheik Adnan & King Tonga & Masked Superstar AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig dq Verne Gagne & Greg Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito Bob Backlund & Brad Rheingans beat Larry Zbyszko & Butch Reed Baron Von Raschke & Buck Zumhofe beat Jim Garvin & Steve Regal Jim Brunzell & Tonga Kid beat Billy Robinson & Bobby Duncum Steve Olsonoski & Tom Zenk beat The Alaskans att: 12,000 This is a really good St. Paul number at this point. Verne helped. Roadies helped. The fans were probably ready for the ultimate Blackwell blowoff against Adnan and this was it. Also a really great match. 4/23/85 Mound, MN Jerry Blackwell & Greg Gagne beat Sheik Adnan & Nick Bockwinkel Butch Reed beat Steve O Jim Brunzell beat Alaskan II Rick Stotsky drew Alaskan I Att 1800 Rare spot show number. Almost definitely a sellout or close to it. It's clear this is a one match show. 4/24/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Cage match Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Jerry Blackwell beat Road Warriors & Paul Ellering AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Mr. Saito Jimmy Garvin beat Baron Von Raschke Sgt. Slaughter beat Sheik Adnan dq Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig Butch Reed beat Brian Jewel Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts beat Tom Zenk & Rick Stonsky att: 6,636 Really good number for Winnipeg which remains a solid town, probably the most reliable in the territory. That main event would prove to be effective elsewhere. 4/25/85 Gayville, NY Larry Zbyszko beat Bob Backlund COR Samula & Tonga Kid beat Billy Robinson & Bobby Duncum Tonga Kid beat Kendo Nagasaki Larry Sharpe beat Jim ? Att: 800 4/25/85 Brandon, Manitoba, Canada @ Keystone Centre Baron Von Raschke & Jerry Blackwell beat Sheik Adnan & Mr. Saito Nick Bockwinkel beat Larry Hennig Ray Stevens beat Ron Ritchie Tom Zenk & Curt Hennig beat The Alaskans Butch Reed beat Rick Stoansky Another idiotic split show day, this time in two smaller towns. I wonder how that main event did in Brandon. 4/27/85 Madison, WI Jerry Blackwell & Larry Hennig no contest AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors AWA Champion Rick Martel beat King Tonga The Crusher & Brad Rheingans beat Masked Superstar & Sheik Adnan Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito beat Jim Brunzell & Curt Hennig Baron Von Raschke & Buck Zumhofe beat Jim Garvin & Steve Regal 4/28/85 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon Cage match Sgt. Slaughter & Jerry Blackwell & Verne Gagne beat Masked Superstar & King Tonga & Sheik Adnan Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig drew AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts beat Jim Brunzell & Greg Gagne & Tonga Kid Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher beat Butch Reed & Larry Zbyszko Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito beat Brad Rheingans & Tom Zenk Baron Von Raschke & Buck Zumhofe beat Jim Garvin & Steve Regal 5/3/85 Denver, CO Cage Match Jerry Blackwell & The Crusher & Sgt. Slaughter beat Masked Superstar & King Tonga & Sheik Adnan AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Garvin Greg Gagne drew Nick Bockwinkel Fabulous Freebirds beat Jim Brunzell & Steve O Butch Reed beat Tom Zenk How often did they run Madison? Interesting that they are running a variation of the successful St. Paul Cage Match around the horn (including a spot show at a high school I didn't list). I'm guessing that Rosemont show did a really good number. 5/5/85 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors drew Jerry Blackwell & Sgt. Slaughter AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel via pin Butch Reed beat Jim Brunzell via pin King Tonga drew Brad Rheingans Baron Von Raschke & Buck Zumhofe beat Jim Garvin & Steve Regal Att: 3,203 5/8/85 San Francisco, CA @ Cow Palace Cage Match Sgt. Slaughter & Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig beat Road Warriors & Paul Ellering Cage Match Jerry Blackwell beat Sheik Adnan Baron Von Raschke beat Jim Garvin Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe Brad Rheingans beat Butch Reed dq Samula beat Drew Tossell att: 5,000 Weak number for Milwaukee, though not total trash. Really good number for the Cow Palace for a double cage main event. 5/10/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace Sgt. Slaughter & Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig beat Road Warriors & Paul Ellering Cage match Jerry Blackwell beat Sheik Adnan Baron Von Raschke beat Jim Garvin Butch Reed beat Buck Zumhofe Brad Rheingans beat Steve Regal att: 10,455 This double cage main event continues to do good business. This is a MASSIVE number for a town that been dead to the World. 5/23/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Larry Zbyszko Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts beat Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell Butch Reed beat Baron Von Raschke COR The Crusher beat Rick Renslow Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe Larry Zbyszko beat Ron Ritchie att: 1,900 Winnipeg finally croaks. Show doesn't look awful, but isn't the strongest. Notable that Roadies, Blackwell and Sarge are all absent. 5/25/85 Chicago Jerry Blackwell & Sgt. Slaughter beat Road Warrior Animal & Paul Ellering (sub RW Hawk) AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Buddy Roberts (sub King Tonga) Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts dq Butch Reed no contest The Crusher Nick Bockwinkel beat Brad Rheingans Larry Zbyszko (sub Jim Garvin) beat Baron Von Raschke Ray Stevens beat Buck Zumhofe Steve Regal drew Steve O att: 5,000 Note: Terry Gordy also no showed. Weak number. Probably did not help that they were coming off a massive show from before, but this is still bad. Blackwell and Roadies goes into hibernation. 6/7/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Billy Robinson Sgt. Slaughter beat Larry Zbyszko dq Greg Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel No dq match Butch Reed beat Baron Von Raschke Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts beat Brad Rheingans & Steve O Ray Stevens beat Buck Zumhofe Att: 4043 6/8/85 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts & Butch Reed beat Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke when Reed pinned Von Raschke Nick Bockwinkel beat AWA Champion Rick Martel dq when Martel tossed Bockwinkel over the top rope Sgt. Slaughter beat Larry Zbyszko dq when Zbyszko hit the referee Brad Rheingans drew Steve Regal Ray Stevens beat Steve O via pin Att: 2,848 Yikes 6/9/85 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center Michael Hayes beat AWA Champion Rick Martel No title change. Decision later reversed. Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Greg Gagne & Steve Olsonoski (sub Jim Brunzell) Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig Sgt. Slaughter beat Larry Zbyszko dq Baron Von Raschke & Brad Rheingans & Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Duncum & Billy Robinson & Steve Regal Butch Reed beat Dave Wagner att: 1,500 6/13/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts beat The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke Greg Gagne & Curt Hennig drew Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens Brad Rheingans beat Steve Regal Handicap match Butch Reed beat Rick Renslow & Brian Jewel Larry Zbyszko beat Steve O Buck Zumhofe beat Dave Wagner att: 1,864 This is super bad, Summer or not. Absence of Roadies, Blackwell is hurting every stinkin town. Meanwhile Verne is still doing dumb **** like running Asbury Park. 6/21/85 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon Michael Hayes beat AWA Champion Rick Martel Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts & Butch Reed beat Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke Sgt. Slaughter beat Larry Zbyszko to win Americas title Greg Gagne drew Nick Bockwinkel Ray Stevens beat Steve O Brad Rheingans drew Billy Robinson att: 4,000 6/22/85 East Rutherford, NJ @ Meadowlands Boot Camp Cage match Sgt. Slaughter beat Kamala AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel Wahoo McDaniel beat Larry Zbyszko dq Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts beat Curt Hennig & Greg Gagne & Jim Duggan Butch Reed beat Baron Von Raschke Bobby Duncum beat Steve O Ray Stevens beat Buck Zumhofe Little Coco & Little Mr. T beat Johnny Rebel & Lord Littlebrook No number on the Meadlowlands but you can't blame them for running that show given the relative success of the previous show. Rosemont number is trash, down another thousand from the last figure we have there. 6/30/85 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy dq Butch Reed beat Baron Von Raschke Bob Backlund drew Larry Zbyszko Ray Stevens beat Buck Zumhofe Billy Robinson beat Steve O Brad Rheingans beat Rick Gantner Att: 2200 Milwaukee is quarter full and nearing death. Birds v. Old Men isn't moving anywhere, and Sarge is missing some of these shows too which makes the three hottest acts in the AWA MIA 7/10/85 Las Vegas, NV @ Showboat Sports Pavilion Sgt. Slaughter won battle royal Sgt. Slaughter beat Larry Zbyszko dq Fabulous Freebirds beat Curt Hennig & Greg Gagne Nick Bockwinkel beat Baron Von Raschke Billy Robinson beat Bob Backlund Brad Rheingans drew Ray Stevens att: 1500 7/11/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace Sgt. Slaughter & Greg Gagne drew Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens Fabulous Freebirds Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig Bob Backlund beat Larry Zbyszko Brad Rheingans beat Buddy Roberts Boris Zhukov beat Baron Von Raschke Att: 1400 Vegas number is probably not bad, but half capacity at best in the Showboat. SLC is practically in the grave and will need something major to come out of it's funk. 7/14/85 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center Sgt. Slaughter & Greg Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens dq AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Michael Hayes dq AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin Bob Backlund beat Larry Zbyszko Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts beat Steve O & Buck Zumhofe Boris Zhukov beat Baron Von Raschke Cowboy Lang & Little Coco beat Little Tokyo & Lord Littlebrook Att 2500 Roadies come black, Blackwell doesn't, number is still utter garbage. Things may not be salvageable at this point. Expanding into other markets and having your three biggest acts off key shows even during your "down" period historically is awful business on Verne's part. 7/18/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Larry Zbyszko Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts beat The Crusher & Larry Hennig & Baron Von Raschke Sleeper vs Sleeper Match Greg Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel reverse decision Boris Zhukov beat Buck Zumhofe Ray Stevens beat Brian Jewell (sub Curt Hennig) Cowboy Lang & Little Coco beat Lord Littlebrook & Little Tokyo att: 3,224 7/19/85 East Rutherford, NJ @ Meadowlands AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel Sgt. Slaughter beat Larry Zbyszko Joyce Grable won a women’s battle royal Baron Von Raschke drew Billy Robinson Ray Stevens beat Greg Gagne dq Buck Zumhofe drew Buddy Roberts Bob Backlund beat Larry Sharpe Boris Zhukov beat Sean O'Reilly Att: 4500 7/20/85 Chicago, IL AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Michael Hayes Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Sgt. Slaughter & Greg Gagne dq Fabulous Freebirds Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts beat The Crusher & Buck Zumhofe Billy Robinson beat Baron Von Raschke Boris Zhukov beat Steve O Cowboy Lang & Little Coco beat Lord Littlebrook & Little Tokyo Bill Irwin beat Drew Tossell Att: 3000 Winnipeg is up some but still weak. Meadowlands is not worth it at that point and it's notable that Roadies v. Birds did very little business. Chicago slides another thousand. Paging Dr. Blackwell? 8/8/85 Las Vegas, NV @ Riviera Hotel AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Michael Hayes dq Sgt. Slaughter & Greg Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens Boris Zhukov beat Steve O Terry Gordy beat Baron Von Raschke Larry Zbyszko beat Buck Zumhofe Steve O drew Billy Robinson Att 3000 8/9/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace Boot Camp Match Sgt. Slaughter & Greg Gagne beat Larry Zbyszko & Nick Bockwinkel AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Michael Hayes Terry Gordy beat Baron Von Raschke Boris Zhukov beat Steve O Buck Zumhofe beat Ray Stevens dq Steve O drew Billy Robinson att: 7753 Ah, the Riveria Hotel! That's a good number for Vegas and SLC is up! Semi-shocking given how dead it had been. 8/11/85 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors no contest Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin Curt Hennig & Rick Martel beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy Nick Bockwinkel beat Greg Gagne Sgt Slaughter beat Larry Zbyszko Kabuki beat Chris Adams dq Brad Rheingans beat Boris Zhukov dq Buck Zumhofe beat Iron Duke Jim Garvin beat Kevin Kelly Tom Zenk beat Rick Renslow 8/16/85 East Rutherford, NJ @ Meadowlands Sgt. Slaughter beat NWA Champion Ric Flair dq Paul Ellering & Road Warriors beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts dq AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Larry Zbyszko Greg Gagne & Curt Hennig beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe Brad Rheingans beat Boris Zhukov dq Baron Von Raschke beat Davey G Att: 7,000 No number for St. Paul which is too bad. Meadowlands number is respectable enough and up, but you still have to wonder why they are running there and this should have done better with two title matches, Roadies v. Birds and Flair on the show. 8/18/85 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon Boot Camp match Sgt. Slaughter & Greg Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens NWA Champion Ric Flair beat Billy Robinson Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts beat Rick Martel & Jerry Blackwell & Larry Hennig dq Brad Rheingans beat Boris Zhukov dq Bill Irwin beat Baron Von Raschke Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe Curt Hennig drew Larry Zbyszko Scott Irwin beat Rob Rechsteiner Att: 6000 This boot camp match has popped a few towns to Sarge's credit. This isn't a good number for Chicago really, but considering where it was this is progress. This is also the return of Blackwell and Flair is on the show. 8/19/85 Fairbanks, AK Sgt. Slaughter beat Nick Bockwinkel Jerry Blackwell & Greg Gagne beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts Larry Zbyzsko beat Baron Von Raschke Curt Hennig beat Billy Robinson Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe Att: 375 8/20/85 Anchorage, AK Sgt. Slaughter beat Larry Zbyszko dq Greg Gagne & Curt Hennig beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts Jerry Blackwell beat Terry Gordy Nick Bockwinkel beat Baron Von Raschke Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal dq Att: 2250. 8/21/85 Kenai, AK Jerry Blackwell & Buck Zumhofe beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts Terry Gordy beat Baron Von Raschke Greg Gagne beat Larry Zbyszko dq Steve Regal beat Curt Hennig Billy Robinson beat Drew Tossell Att: 325 Insane Verne strikes again. A part of me thinks it is almost impressive that they did any numbers in Alaska at all, but why the heck were they even running there??? 8/21/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Holy Cross School TV Taping Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin beat Rob Rechsteiner & Monty Black Tom Zenk drew Nick Bockwinkel Scott Hall beat Man Mountain Mike Moore Boris Zhukov beat Chris Basset Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin beat Brian Jewel & Randy Rose Tom Zenk beat Rob Rechsteiner Rick Martel beat Man Mountain Mike Scott Hall beat Bob Adams Boris Zhukov beat Monty Black Nick Bockwinkel beat Tom Lucas Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin beat T-Bone Brown & Chris Basset Tom Zenk beat Brian Jewel Scott Hall beat Rob Rechsteiner Boris Zhukov beat Brian Jewel 8/22/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Boris Zhukov beat AWA Champion Rick Martel dq Tom Zenk & Larry Hennig & Jerry Blackwell beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts Baron Von Raschke beat Nick Bockwinkel COR Tom Zenk beat Steve Regal Bulldog Bob Brown beat Man Mountain Mike Moore Scott Hall drew Larry Zbyszko Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin beat Rob Rechsteiner & Buck Zumhofe Bulldog Bob Brown beat Brian Jewel Att: 4,208 More stupidity as Verne runs tv the day before in the same town. This is an averagish number for Winnipeg, but why the heck would he essentially double book the same town?? 8/26/85 Boston, MA AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin AWA Champion Rick Martel drew Nick Bockwinkel Sgt. Slaughter beat Boris Zhukov Bob Backlund beat Larry Zbyszko dq Greg Gagne beat Steve Regal Brad Rheingans beat Billy Robinson Verne decides to try out Boston. God knows why. Blackwell is working on top on most shows without figures during this period. 9/8/85 St. Paul, MN ESPN TV Taping AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Kamala dq Terry Gordy beat Jerry Blackwell dq Greg Gagne & Curt Hennig & Scott Hall beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens & Larry Zbyszko Buck Zumhofe beat Sgt. Slaughter dq Baron Von Raschke beat Bill Irwin Larry Hennig drew Scott Irwin Larry Clark beat Stan Hansen dq Jerry Oski & Brad Rheingans drew Wild Bill & Scott Hog Irwin Curt Hennig & Greg Gagne beat Jim Garvin & Steve Regal dq Buck Zumhofe drew Buddy Roberts Stan Hansen beat Paul Garner Billy Robinson beat Randy Barber att: 4,000 Was this at the Civic Center? I'm guessing not. 9/14/85 Milwaukee, WI Sgt. Slaughter & Greg Gagne beat Larry Zbyszko & Nick Bockwinkel dq AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Michael Hayes Terry Gordy beat Jerry Blackwell dq Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin beat Baron Von Raschke & Curt Hennig att: 3,672 Milwaukee trending up a bit, though this is still only a bit over half full and less than what you need. 9/17/85 Anchorage, AK Sgt. Slaughter beat Michael Hayes dq Boris Zhukov beat Brad Rheingans Sgt. Slaughter & Greg Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel & Larry Zbyszko Curt Hennig drew Bill Irwin Scott Irwin beat Drew Tossel Att: 1,800 9/18/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace Brad Rheingans & Baron Von Raschke beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy dq Magnum TA beat Ivan Koloff Baron Von Raschke beat Jim Garvin dq Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe Brad Rheingans beat Buddy Roberts COR Jerry Oski beat Billy Robinson dq More WTH? Split crewish stuff from Verne. 9/19/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Wally Karbo Tribute Card AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Boris Zhukov dq Jerry Blackwell beat Michael Hayes Tom Zenk & Curt Hennig beat Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin Jim Garvin beat Buck Zumhofe Baron Von Raschke beat Buddy Roberts Buddy Lane beat Steve Regal Att: 3,600 Below average, but this is above the abyssmal number from the Summer. Probably would have been better - but Verne did tv at the high school the night before. At least it wasn't a huge tv like the previous one, but still. Blackwell continues to main event in the majority of shows around the loop. 9/28/85 Chicago, IL @ Comiskey Park NWA Champion Ric Flair beat Magnum TA Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy beat AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors to win title (Decision quickly reversed by video replay) Stan Hansen no contest AWA Champion Rick Martel Kerry Von Erich beat Jimmy Garvin Ivan Koloff & Nikita Koloff & Khrusher Khrushchev beat Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke Greg Gagne & Curt Hennig & Scott Hall beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens & Larry Zbyszko Sgt Slaughter beat Boris Zhukov dq Jumbo Tsuruta & Giant Baba & Genichiro Tenyru beat Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin & Harley Race Bodyslam match Jerry Blackwell beat Kamala Mil Mascaras beat Buddy Roberts Sherri Martel beat Candi Divine to win the AWA Women's title Steve Regal beat Brad Rheingans att: 20,347 AWA loads things up and goes balls out. Blackwell v. Kamala is deep is mid-card and feels like an after thought. This is a good number, but you almost feel like it could have been a lot better. 9/29/85 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center Jim Garvin & Steve Regal beat Road Warriors to win AWA tag title AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jumbo Tsuruta Handicap Match Sgt. Slaughter beat Boris Zhukov & Chris Markoff Jerry Blackwell & Little Mr. T beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts Shohei Giant Baba & Genichiro Tenyru no contest Stan Hansen & Larry Zbyszko Scott Hall beat Drew Tossel Buck Zumhofe beat Rick Renslow att: 2,000 Terrible, but this is a stupid line up, almost designed to fail. 10/4/85 Los Angeles, CA Stan Hansen won battle royal Sgt. Slaughter drew Boris Zhukov Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Baron Von Raschke & Jerry Blackwell Greg Gagne beat Jim Garvin Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts beat Curt Hennig & Scott Hall Larry Zbyszko beat Buck Zumhofe Att: 2300 10/5/85 Milwaukee, WI Road Warriors beat Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin dq Jerry Blackwell & Rick Martel & Little Mr. T beat Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts & Jim Garvin Handicap match Stan Hansen beat Buck Zumhofe & Kevin Kelly Larry Zbyszko beat Baron Von Raschke Jerry Oski beat Kamala dq Scott Hall beat Kevin Kelly Att: 2432 Why are they moving into LA?? Milwaukee drops significantly off of a pathetic line up. 10/15/85 Anchorage, AK Michael Hayes beat AWA Champion Rick Martel dq Curt Hennig & Scott Hall beat Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin Candi Devine beat Sherri Martel Scott Hall drew Larry Zbyszko Baron Von Raschke beat Scott Irwin Att: 1400 10/15/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace Stan Hansen won battle royal Greg Gagne drew Nick Bockwinkel 20:00 Brad Rheingans beat Boris Zhukov Stan Hansen beat Kevin Kelly Steve Regal beat Jerry Oski Jim Garvin beat Buck Zumhofe att: 3,520 Blackwell on neither show, but Verne stupidly splits crews for no clear reward. Was Anchorage ever going to make him real money? no. Stupid. They are running Battle Royals in the spot shows at this point 10/17/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Mad Dog Vachon & Nick Bockwinkel beat Boris Zhukov & Chris Markoff Handicap match Stan Hansen beat Brian Jewell & Ed Wilson Larry Zbyszko beat Baron Von Raschke Jim Garvin beat Stan Lane Scott Hall beat Steve Regal Sherri Martel beat Candi Devine to win AWA Women's Title Kelly Kiniski beat Iron Duke att: 3,528 Winnipeg still below what it should be with a weak line up and tv the day before in town. 10/27/85 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center AWA Champion Rick Martel no contest Stan Hansen Wahoo McDaniel & Curt Hennig & Scott Hall beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens & Larry Zbyszko Michael Hayes beat Jerry Blackwell Greg Gagne beat Jim Garvin Bill Irwin beat Kevin Kelly Greg Boyd drew Boris Zhukov Leon White beat Scott Irwin att: 3,000 11/2/85 Milwaukee, WI 21 person battle royal opened card to determine order Scott Hall beat Jim Garvin to win battle royal Jerry Blackwell beat Michael Hayes dq Stan Hansen beat Curt Hennig forfeit Greg Gagne drew Larry Zbyszko Larry Hennig beat Boris Zhukov Nick Bockwinkel beat Bill Irwin Leon White beat Scott Irwin dq Greg Boyd beat Steve Regal Jerry America drew Rob Rechsteiner Kelly Kiniksi beat Jerry Oski Att 4268 St. Paul is starting to feel like a "why bother? and the card looks weak. Milwaukee does a respectable number off of a battle royal. 11/3/85 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon Road Warrior Animal won battle royal Road Warriors beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts Sgt. Slaughter beat Bill Irwin Curt Hennig & Greg Gagne & Scott Hall beat Jim Garvin & Steve Regal & Larry Zbyszko Handicap match Stan Hansen beat Jerry O & Rob Rechsteiner Leon White beat Scott Irwin dq att: 9,500 Battle Royal pulls a solid number in IL. 11/13/85 Brandon, Manitoba, Canada @ Keystone Centre Jerry Blackwell won a 25 man battle royal Jerry Blackwell beat Boris Zhukov dq Scott Hall beat Larry Zbyszko dq Kelly Kiniski beat Bob Adams Curt Hennig beat Rick Renslow Jim Garvin & Steve Regal beat Kevin Kelly & Buddy Lane 11/14/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Cage Match AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Boris Zhukov Curt Hennig & Scott Hall beat AWA Tag Team Champions Jim Garvin & Steve Regal Nick Bockwinkel beat Larry Zbyszko dq Jerry Blackwell & Kelly Kiniski beat Buddy Roberts & Ray Stevens dq Stan Hansen beat Kevin Kelly Ray Stevens beat Buddy Lane Att 6,012 11/15/85 Denver, CO Road Warriors drew Fabulous Freebirds AWA Champion Rick Martel drew Stan Hansen AWA Tag Team Champions Jim Garvin & Steve Regal beat Fabulous Ones Att 7500 Hot run. That's the best figure I've ever seen from Denver. Martel v. Zhukov blow off does well. I would bet Brandon did a good number off the battle royal. 11/18/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace Road Warriors no contest Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy Buddy Roberts beat Paul Ellering AWA Tag Team Champions Jim Garvin & Steve Regal beat Greg Gagne & Curt Hennig Scott Hall beat Larry Zbyszko dq Leon White drew Scott Irwin Att: 9849. Crazy SLC spikes again. 12/1/85 Chicago, IL Road Warriors beat AWA Tag Team Champions Jim Garvin & Steve Regal dq AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Terry Gordy Strap Match Jerry Blackwell beat Michael Hayes Paul Ellering drew Buddy Roberts Handicap match Sgt. Slaughter beat Boris Zhukov & Chris Markoff Larry Zbyszko beat Kevin Kelly Scott Hall beat Bill Irwin Leon White beat Scott Irwin dq att: 8,000 Staying respectable in Chicago. Return of Roadies and Blackwell has clearly helped from the death that was the Summer, but the split crews, needless expansion, double booking in towns, et did nothing but help Vince's putsch. 12/7/85 Milwaukee, WI Strap match Jerry Blackwell beat Michael Hayes AWA Tag Team Champions Jim Garvin & Steve Regal beat Fabulous Freebirds Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts Larry Hennig beat Boris Zhukov dq Buck Zumhofe beat Mongolian Stomper dq Scott Hall drew Scott Irwin Kelly Kiniski beat Kevin Kelly Att 2648 Bad number for an unappealing show. The Birds are clearly a package deal and people don't give a you know what about Hayes v. Blackwell. 12/12/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena $100,000 Battle royal Road Warriors beat Boris Zhukov & Chris Markoff Scott Hall beat Jimmy Garvin Stan Hansen beat Man Mountain Mike Mongolian Stomper beat Kevin Kelly Jerry Blackwell vs Kelly Kiniski The Alaskans I & II vs Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin Larry Zbyszko beat Buck Zumhofe Att: 5,928 Battle Royal PLUS they didn't foolishly run tv the day before! 12/16/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace Taped Fist Match Road Warriors & Paul Ellering beat Buddy Roberts & Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin AWA Tag Team Champions Jim Garvin & Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe & Scott Hall Leon White beat Bill Irwin dq Larry Zbyszko beat Kevin Kelly Mongolian Stomper beat Kelly Kiniski Att 1496 What a crazy town. This is a weak lineup though. 12/25/85 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Stan Hansen dq Road Warriors no contest AWA Tag Team Champions Jim Garvin & Steve Regal Nick Bockwinkel beat Larry Zbyszko Mongolian Stomper & Nord The Barbarian & Boris Zhukov beat Scott Hall & Curt Hennig & Jerry Blackwell Baron Von Raschke beat Scott Irwin dq Marty Jannetty beat Kelly Kiniski Cowboy Lang & Little Mr. T beat Little Tokyo & Lord Littlebrook Bill Irwin beat Kevin Kelly Sherri Martel beat Debbie Combs Att: 7000+ Poor number for Christmas night in St. Paul on a very poor line up. I don't think it's a reach to say that if they had found someone of note to feud with Blackwell they could have done business during this period. He really feels like he's being misused. Same with the Roadies. 12/29/85 Milwaukee, WI Cage match Jerry Blackwell beat Michael Hayes AWA Tag Team Champions Jimmy Garvin & Steve Regal beat Scott Hall & Curt Hennig dq Nick Bockwinkel beat Larry Zbyszko Kamala beat Baron Von Raschke Little Mr. T beat Lord Littlebrook Mongolian Stomper beat Eric Ferris Leon White beat Marty Jannetty att: 3,940 This is a borderline "average" match for Milwaukee but I almost feel like giving it a notch in the good column, since this lacked a World title match or the Roadies to bolster the card. Martel dropped to Hansen in NJ this day as well at a PWUSA show. 85 is an interesting year. No doubt Vince was hurting them, but Verne did a ton to hurt himself. Business was actually fairly strong up until the Roadies and Blackwell departed and the use of Sarge was scaled back. Summer or not that clearly had a hugely adverse effect on the companies drawing power. Blackwell and the Roadies were clearly misused for big chunks of the year and were probably the biggest draws in the company, with Sarge in third.

Blackwell in 83: 1/6/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat Mad Dog Vachon & Jim Brunzell Hulk Hogan beat Ken Patera dq Wahoo McDaniel beat Rene Goulet Rick Martel beat Bobby Duncum Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan Baron Von Raschke beat Tom Lintz Att: 6,848 Exhibit One - Winnipeg is still hot. Mad Dog had legs up there it would seem and Blackwell/Adnan has been a hot hand for some time now. Denver, Green Bay and Chicago all headline with the same match though we don't have paid figures for any of the shows. Milwaukee does a slightly below average 3,500 for that match on top, but the semi-main is an arm wrestling match with Ventura and Hogan which is pretty weak support. 2/3/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Cage match AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Rick Martel Ken Patera beat Steve O Wahoo McDaniel beat Bobby Duncum Jesse Ventura beat Buck Zumhofe Baron Von Raschke beat Rene Goulet Att: 8,896 Return Cage Match in Winnipeg does 2,000 more than the previous show and really an excellent number for Winnipeg in general. SLC, Chicago, and Green Bay all headline with a variation of this match in some cases Adnan subbed out. Blacwell works second from the top at a St. Paul show with Mad Dog in here as well. Sadly we have no numbers again. 3/3/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Hulk Hogan dq Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke Wahoo McDaniel no contest Ken Patera Jesse Ventura beat Brad Rheingans Rick Martel beat Bobby Heenan COR John Tolos beat Buck Zumhofe Att: 8,320 Still hot in Winni and Blackwell is still right in the mix. They follow this up with Blackwell/Adnan headlining v. Flyers in LV, SLC and the Cow Palace but no figures. Still this feud is headlining more often than not at this point. 3/13/83 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Rick Martel Hulk Hogan & Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Bobby Heenan & Ken Patera & Jesse Ventura Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke Brad Rheingans beat John Tolos Curt Hennig beat Jacques Goulet Steve Regal drew Buck Zumhofe No number here - this could have been a huge show as Hogan and the Flyers were super hot faces, Heenan was regarded as the devil, Blackwell/Adnan were still hot and that title match seemed to have appeal in St. Paul in 84 (though that may have been the dynamic khawk noted earlier). 3/25/83 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Rick Martel dq No dq Match Ken Patera & Jesse Ventura beat Hulk Hogan & Mad Dog Vachon Greg Gagne beat Jerry Blackwell Jerry Lawler beat John Tolos Wahoo McDaniel ddq Sheik Adnan Brad Rheingans beat Tom Stone A-5,710 Very good number for Milwaukee, near sell out really. Loaded show. Shortly after this they start to run Blackwell in matches Mad Dog that are middle of the card, but would have been extremely strong additions to those shows given both guys stature at that point. 4/13/83 Brandon, Manitoba, Canada @ Keystone Centre Hulk Hogan beat Jerry Blackwell Jesse Ventura beat Mad Dog Vachon Rick Martel beat Greg Gagne Brad Rheingans beat Buddy Lane Wendi Richter beat Velvet McIntyre Joyce Grable beat Judy Martin Att: 5,500 4/14/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Hulk Hogan & Mad Dog Vachon no contest Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Wahoo McDaniel beat Nick Bockwinkel & Jesse Ventura & Ken Patera Rick Martel drew Brad Rheingans Wahoo McDaniel beat John Tolos Wendi Richter & Joyce Grable beat Velvet McIntyre & Judy Martin Att: 6,444 I think this has to be read as an extremely successful double whammy. This is 12,000 people in Manitoba in 2 days. The towns are only 120 miles apart. I THINK this is the first time Brandon shows up in results. It is a town of 46,000 - now. No clue what it was then. 5,500 there leads one to believe that the AWA recognized they were red hot in Manitoba and could expand some with bigger shows. They were right and Blackwell main events both. Even opposite Hogan that's a clear notch in his belt. 4/24/83 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center Super Sunday Verne Gagne & Mad Dog Vachon beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Hulk Hogan dq Ken Patera & Jesse Ventura & Blackjack Lanza beat Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Rick Martel Jerry Lawler beat John Tolos Wahoo McDaniel beat Ed Boulder Brad Rheingans beat Tom Stone Joyce Grable & Wendi Richter beat Judy Martin & Velvet McIntrye No number, but this was a massive show and a grand slam sell out with close caption venues in neighboring buildings IIRC. Bock v. Hogan traditionally gets most of the credit, but Verne and Mad Dog teaming up was a HUGE deal and Blackwell and Adnan were so friggin hated it was a match made in heaven. Verne on top wasn't entirely glory whoring on his part - it was a legit main event with Hogan v. Bock. Blackwell continues opposite Mad Dog until they put him together with Patera 5/19/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel no contest Wahoo McDaniel Non Title Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell Mike Graham beat Buck Zumhofe Baron Von Raschke beat Jesse Ventura dq Att: 3,972 Ok number at best, but this is a kick start to the Blackwell/Patera v. High Flyers feud. 5/21/83 Chicago, IL AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel no contest Jerry Lawler Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke Jim Brunzell beat Blackjack Lanza Mike Graham beat Spike Huber Jesse Ventura beat Rick Martel Wilbur Snyder beat Rene Goulet Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal Would kill for a number here. This looks like a potential disaster to be honest. To the extent there was a crowd you get the feeling it would have been a crowd there to see Blackwell v. Mad Dog with their respective partners just being there for all intents and purposes. They continue to run that match all around the loop though, with an occasional Mad Dog v. Jerry singles. 6/16/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Mad Dog Vachon beat Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera & Sheik Adnan AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Wahoo McDaniel Rick Martel beat Blackjack Lanza dq Brad Rheingans beat Mike Graham Billy Robinson beat Baron Von Raschke Bob Burke beat Buck Zumhofe COR Att: 3,288 Again it's Summer, but this is still a weak showing. Nick v. Wahoo isn't cutting it and the fans are not super interested in Flyers v. Sheiks - yet. 6/18/83 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon Mad Dog Vachon beat Jerry Blackwell Wahoo McDaniel & Jerry Lawler & Dick The Bruiser beat Nick Bockwinkel & Jesse Ventura & Blackjack Lanza Greg Gagne beat Bobby Heenan Ken Patera beat Jim Brunzell Rick Martel beat Bobby Colt Mike Graham beat Nacho Berrara Brad Rheingans beat Chris Markoff Another figure I wish we had. If this did more than 8,000 I would almost consider it an epic victory for Blackwell as nothing else on this card is going to sell a ticket. Feels like Blackwell v. Mad Dog had to have been a fairly hot feud. 6/26/83 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Wahoo McDaniel Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell to win AWA Tag Title Baron Von Raschke no contest Blackjack Lanza Bobby Heenan beat Kenny Jay Buck Zumhofe beat Mr. Saito dq Brad Rheingans drew Rick Martel att: 14,000 Bock v. Wahoo has bombed hard in Winnipeg twice. The rest of the card is weak. The Sheiks title win was almost assuredly the top draw on the show. 7/11/83 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace Rick Martel & Wahoo McDaniel beat Bobby Heenan & Blackjack Lanza Ken Patera beat Mad Dog Vachon Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell Greg Gagne beat Mr. Saito dq David Shults beat Buck Zumhofe Att 7900 Good number for the City. Hard to tell where the credit should go. 7/14/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Non Title Mad Dog Vachon & Verne Gagne beat AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell Wahoo McDaniel & Baron Von Raschke beat Blackjack Lanza & Bobby Heenan Greg Gagne beat Sheik Adnan Rick Martel drew Bill White Mr. Saito beat Buck Zumhofe David Shults beat Brad Rheingans Att: 3,136 This is a huge disappointment. Verne should have spiked something especially against the Sheiks who appear to have legs already at this point. 7/24/83 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel no contest Wahoo McDaniel AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Mad Dog Vachon & Dick The Bruiser COR Mr. Saito beat Rick Martel Buck Zumhofe beat Mike Graham Jim Brunzell beat David Shults Baron Von Raschke beat Blackjack Lanza Brad Rheingans drew Bill White 7/24/83 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran's Memorial Arena Non Title Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke beat AWA Tag team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell Wahoo McDaniel beat AWA World Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq in 17:55 Jim Brunzell beat Blackjack Lanza in 9:35 Mr Saito beat Buck Zumhofe Bill White drew Brad Rheingans Same day shows or typo? Either way I'd be interested to see numbers. Wahoo v. Nick may have heated up some the more it ran. 8/18/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Mad Dog Vachon dq AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Baron Von Raschke & ?? Hulk Hogan beat Mr. Saito dq Jim Brunzell no contest David Shults Greg Gagne beat Blackjack Lanza Rick Martel beat Bill White Att: 5,916 Winnipeg spikes. Wonder who the heck Baron's partner was. Blackwell ends up with a run of main events after this in Green Bay, San Fran and Milwaukee and working in the semi-main at the UIC under Hogan v. Saito. 9/17/83 Chicago, IL @ UIC Pavilion Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat AWA Tag team champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell dq AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Mad Dog Vachon Handicap Match Hulk Hogan beat Mr. Saito & David Shults dq AWA Light Heavyweight champion Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan Brad Rheingans beat Bill White Steve Olsonoski drew Blackjack Lanza Return of High Flyers v. Blackwell and Friends? It headlines right out the gate at a major show, which tells you Verne had confidence in this and high hopes - he was right to have those as 84 shows. 9/22/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Handicap Match Hulk Hogan beat David Shults & Mr. Saito dq AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Brad Rheingans COR AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Dino Bravo & Rick Martel Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan COR Jim Brunzell beat Sheik Adnan Buck Zumhofe drew Bill White Att: 7,860 Almost feels like Canadians v. Sheiks is the real draw here and it's a good number. 9/25/83 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center Brad Rheingans drew AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel Handicap Match Hulk Hogan beat Mr. Saito & David Shults dq Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Rick Martel beat Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan COR Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal Steve O drew Bill White Att: 15,000+ Really good number. The numbers we have from St. Paul have been good all year. No way Rheingans v. Bock was the draw here. Hogan always helps a great deal, but that six-man would have been a huge factor. 10/20/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Rick Martel won a 20 man Battle royal Rick Martel & Mad Dog Vachon & Andre the Giant beat Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Hulk Hogan no contest David Shults Mr. Saito beat Baron Von Raschke Greg Gagne beat Bill White Jim Brunzell beat Billy Graham dq Att: 10,036 10/21/83 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena Andre The Giant won a 20 man battle royal Mad Dog Vachon & Andre the Giant & Rick Martel beat Superstar Billy Graham & Mr. Saito & David Shults when Martel pinned Graham in 13:21 Jim Brunzell beat Ken Patera via pin in 10:53 Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan COR in 7:45 Greg Gagne beat Bill White via pin in 14:08 Billy Robinson drew Ray Stevens 20:00 Also in the battle royal were Steve Olsonoski, Otto Wanz, Brad Rheingans, Baron Von Raschke, Chris Markoff and Sheik Adnan att: sell out 10/22/83 San Francisco, CA @ Cow Palace Mad Dog Vachon won battle royal Andre The Giant & Mad Dog Vachon & Rick Martel beat Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera & Sheik Adnan Hulk Hogan beat David Shults Mr Saito beat Baron Von Raschke Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan Ray Stevens beat Bill White Steve Olsonoski beat Chris Markoff Att: 10,300 Battle Royal season, Andre is in, and Blackwell is a key support player, who would have been positioned as the bad fat guy to Andre's good fat guy in all of these six-mans. 10/23/83 St Paul, MN @ Civic Center Mad Dog Vachon won a 20 man battle royal Hulk Hogan no contest Mr Saito Non Title Mad Dog Vachon & Rick Martel beat AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell Otto Wanz beat Bill White Blackjack Lanza & Ray Stevens beat Bobby Heenan & Mr Saito Billy Robinson beat Chris Markoff att: 19,120 10/28/83 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace Rick Martel won battle royal Non Title, Special Referee: Leo Nomellini Rick Martel & Mad Dog Vachon beat AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell Hulk Hogan drew David Shults att: 10,640 Even without Andre the battle royals are hot and Blackwell is still right there in the top heel act in the promotion. 11/4/83 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon Jim Brunzell won a 20 man Battle Royal Hulk Hogan & Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Baron Von Raschke beat David Shults dq Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan Billy Robinson beat Bill White Superstar Billy Graham beat Rick Martel Brad Rheingans beat Chris Markoff Att: 18,500 See above 11/9/83 Brandon, Manitoba, Canada @ Keystone Centre Andre the Giant won a 12 man Battle royal Greg Gagne beat Superstar Billy Graham Att: 6,000 11/10/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Hulk Hogan & Andre the Giant & Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat David Shults & Mr Saito & Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera Rick Martel beat Ray Stevens Billy Robinson drew Brad Rheingans Bobby Heenan beat Buck Zumhofe Otto Wanz beat Bill White Billy Graham beat Blackjack Lanza Att: 7,804 Another great run in Manitoba, doing almost 14,000 between the two days this time with Andre as an added attraction to be sure. 11/24/83 St Paul, MN @ Civic Center AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Mad Dog Vachon dq Special Referee: Ray Stevens Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell dq Rick Martel drew David Shults Brad Rheingans dcor Mr Saito Superstar Billy Graham beat Buck Zumhofe Billy Robinson beat Bill White Lord Littlebrook & Little Koko beat Little Tokyo & Johnny Reb att: 13,163 St. Paul is still really hot and that is a quality double main event. 11/26/83 San Francisco, CA AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Mad Dog Vachon Special Referee: Ray Stevens Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell dq att: 3,500 Believe it or not, this is a good figure for San Fran for the AWA at this point. 12/8/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Rick Martel Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell no contest AWA Tag Team Champions Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera Bunkhouse Match Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan Mad Dog Vachon no contest David Shults Mr Saito beat Baron Von Raschke Superstar Billy Graham beat Steve Olsonoski Bulldog Bob Brown beat Bill White Att: 5,084 A hair disappointing, but still a good number. 12/18/83 Chicago, IL @ UIC Pavilion AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Blackjack Lanza COR AWA Tag Team Champions Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera beat Greg Gagne & Rick Martel Mad Dog Vachon & the Crusher (sub for Hogan) beat Mr. Saito & Jesse Ventura Billy Robinson beat Superstar Billy Graham Buck Zumhofe beat Ray Stevens Brad Rheingans beat Bill White att: 9,000 This is fairly close to a sellout. Hogan was advertised but was off to the WWF. 12/25/83 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center Mad Dog Vachon beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq Greg Gagne & Baron Von Raschke & Ray Stevens & Jim Brunzell beat Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell & Mr. Saito & Sheik Adnan Jesse Ventura beat Steve Olsonoski Rick Martel beat Superstar Billy Graham dq Billy Robinson drew Brad Rheingans 20:00 Buck Zumhofe beat Bill White att: 18,000 Christmas night is huge again in St. Paul. I think Hogan was advertised here too, but given what we know about 84 I think we have to be careful about overemphasizing his value. Yes he was a draw and a huge one and the top face. But his departure did not kill the territory. Vince utilizing him well and Verne being Verne did. The point is this isn't purely a "came to see Hogan" number. In fact I think this would have done a similar number Hogan or not. 12/26/83 San Francisco, CA Ray Stevens & Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Mad Dog Vachon beat Mr. Saito & Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera & Sheik Adnan Rick Martel beat Billy Graham Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan att: 3,000 Again it sounds crazy, but this is a decent number for San Fran at this point ESPECIALLY the night after Christmas. 12/30/83 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell no contest Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke Rick Martel beat Jesse Ventura (sub David Shults) dq in 7:25 Bunkhouse Match Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan via pin in 4:12 Ray Stevens (sub Hulk Hogan) beat Mr Saito dq Greg Gagne beat Superstar Billy Graham via pin in 10:51 Brad Rheingans drew Billy Robinson 20:00 Att: 4,292 Respectable number. Again you wish we had more numbers, but the Sheiks were the hottest heels in the territory, in particular Blackwell. Jerry was a big part of some huge shows all over the territory and was consistently in the main or semi-main event all over the loop. The Flyers feud was already looking like the huge draw it would prove to be. I'd say Blackwell's 83 has plenty in the way of evidence to show that he was a draw and a major factor in the AWA's financial success that year.

http://sportsandwrestling.mywowbb.com/forum2/10387-3.html Blackwell debuts with the AWA on Christmas night 79 in an opener and two nights later Verne's got him winning a battle royal. Attendance dates are much sparser here and Blackwell really stays down the cards for a while. The first attendance listed in 80 is: 2/1/80 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena The Crusher & Lord Alfred Hayes & Mad Dog Vachon beat Nick Bockwinkel & Bobby Heenan & Super Destroyer Mark II Adrian Adonis beat Dino Bravo Greg Gagne beat Jesse Ventura Jerry Blackwell beat Steve Olsonoski Att: 6,857 Obviously Blackwell is a non-factor here. First interesting result here is: 3/2/80 Minneapolis, MN @ Auditorium Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura beat AWA Tag Team Champions Verne Gagne & Mad Dog Vachon dq Bodyslam challenge Jerry Blackwell beat Dino Bravo Bobby Heenan beat Lord Alfred Hayes Super Destroyer Mark III beat Super Destroyer Mark II Greg Gagne beat Buddy Wolff Steve Olsonoski beat Buck Zumhofe We don't have a figure, but it's clear that Blackwell is being thought about as a guy that could make Verne some coin. Blackwell semi-mains with Bravo around the horn but with no figures. His first main is a spot show v. Crusher and he is a key part of a spot show sellout v. Crusher in the semi-main the next day. The smatterings we get from attendance aren't particularly impressive, but they aren't abysmal either. Call it "holding steady" type numbers. He technically was in the second match from the top of the Commiskey show v. Dick The Bruiser but he was a last minute sub. Still he is starting to get more main events v. Crusher now and is being put over on tv something fierce. Really wish we had hard numbers here but the consistency with which they were running Crusher v. Blackwell on top, even over title matches, tells me that this had to have done at least solid business for the AWA in the summer. This included a run as the top act in the major buildings. Really very few figures and the numbers that pop up are in the 3,500 to 4,500 range usually for Green Bay and Milwaukee shows which seems like the rough average for these venues based on the other results I've seen. Andre comes in and we have some numbers to go with it. Blackwell was his opponent and was probably the right opponent. They do 8,000 in Winnipeg which is a huge number for that venue with Andre v. Blackwell and a Battle Royal on top. Milwaukee does almost 6 grand a few nights later - about 2 grand above the average number from what I've seen - and you have to figure Andre v. Blackwell was the big "change" there as well. The follow up show in Winnipeg does a good number as well with Blackwell further down the card v. Tito but that was a loaded line up. Blackwell essentially ends the year as a top of the card guy to, drawing typical numbers in AWA towns. We don't have enough hard numbers on 80 to determine how much anyone was drawing, but based on the number of main event and semi-main bookings Blackwell got and the Andre numbers being so strong, you could certainly make a case he was one of - if not THE - top draw in the company in 1980. 81 stars off interesting as they do 5,000 in the Ampitheatre in Chicago for Blackwell/Studd v. Bruiser/Crusher. That SEEMS like a good number for that venue at the time but I could be off and confusing things. From there Blackwell is shopped around against a variety of guys including Crusher, Tito, Andre in Oakland (no number, damn), teaming with Studd, et. They do this: 1/17/81 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium Nick Bockwinkel & Pat Patterson beat Mad Dog Vachon & Buck Zumhofe Brass knuckles match The Crusher beat Jerry Blackwell Dino Bravo drew Steve Regal John Studd beat Tito Santana Brad Rheingans beat Adrian Adonis att: 4,469 Which is a fairly standard number for the time, but feels impressive since I can't imagine the match on top was what "drew" and the rest of the card looks weak. Blackwell continues to get main events, including a title shot v. Verne in Omaha. Good number for Milwaukee in Feb. as they do 5,500 with Blackwell third from the top v. Robinson, and the tag titles on top. This is an interesting show, though we have no previous number to see how this show looks relative to others. 2/22/81 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel The Crusher & Wahoo McDaniel no contest Jerry Blackwell & John Studd Tito Santana beat Tully BlanchardBrad Rheingans beat Bill Howard att: 6,677 This seems like a real good number for the time, seeing as how Verne v. Bock only did 2k more at an outdoor arena the year before. 3/14/81 Chicago, IL @ International Amphitheatre AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Jerry Blackwell dq AWA Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura beat Dick the Bruiser & The Crusher COR Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Spike Huber beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens & Bobby Heenan att: 10,000 Very good number for Milwaukee here 3/28/81 Milwaukee, WI @ Arena AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel Jerry Blackwell & John Studd beat the Crusher & Baron Von Raschke dq in 12:48 Jim Brunzell beat Adrian Adonis 14:15 Jesse Ventura beat Buck Zumhofe 17:38 Tito Santana beat Steve Regal 16:18 Brad Rheingans beat Bill Howard 15:57 att: 6,381 Blackwell has been used somewhat oddly up to this point in 81 as he has had multiple programs, but the key is that he is almost always in the main event or semi-main event. Blackwell/Studd v. Crusher/Baron becomes a go to match for the company and it does respectable, but not lights out business based on the limited figures we have. Also worth noting that Jerry got a return match v. Verne at the Ampitheatre, though we don't have a figure for it. Really bizarre result here: 5/10/81 St Paul, MN @ Civic Center Verne's first Retirement Match AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Buck Zumhofe beat Ray Stevens & Pat Patterson & Bobby Heenan Posedown The Crusher beat Jesse Ventura Baron Von Raschke beat John Studd Tito Santana no contest Sheik Adnan Larry Hennig beat Adrian Adonis Brad Rheingans drew Jerry Blackwell Att: 15,780 Blackwell opens the show v. Rheingans on the biggest show of the year. This despite the fact that he had been getting multiple shots against Verne for the title and had been a virtually constant main eventer at this point for over a year. No clue how to read that. Especially since he was in the main event on the next show they ran, and he did an 8,000 dollar show as the semi-main at the next big Chicago show. Random. 6/6/81 Milwaukee, WI @ Arena The Crusher & Wahoo McDaniel beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens Steel Cage match Baron Von Raschke beat Jerry Blackwell Non Title Steel Cage match Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat AWA Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura Laurent Soucie beat Billy Howard Brad Rheingans beat Bobby Heenan Sheik Adnan beat Ben DeLeon Mike Graham vs Buck Zumhofe att: 7,544 Loaded show, with a triple main event, but worth noting as a notch for Blackwell. Blackwell essentially vanishes in June and attendance seems to dip a bit, though this could be the old Summer curse khawk referenced as much as anything. 7/16/81 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel drew Jim Brunzell 60:00 Jerry Blackwell & Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura beat the Crusher & Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke Sheik Adnan beat Tito Santana COR Greg Gagne beat Puppy Dog Peloquin Brad Rheingans beat Laurent Soucie Att: 5,292 I think this is an interesting figure. Blackwell had been shunted down the card essentially as prelim guy for a month. The few numbers we have appear to be down. This is a good number for Winnipeg based on the averages I've seen and it's Blackwell back in the main even mix. Just saying. Blackwell is wedded to Rheingans now, who I actually think was underrated, but it's not something that is going to put butts in the seats. As a semi-main it looks flat and feels it. It's August and Hogan is now on the scene. 9/12/81 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium Sheik Adnan beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq in 18:21 Hulk Hogan beat Jerry Blackwell COR Tito Santana & Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan & Ray Stevens Ed Boulder beat Chris Curtis Evan Johnson beat Tony Leone att: 4,121 Kind of funny that did such middling business, but Adnan was not a serious contender. You wonder if Hogan had been champ v. Blackwell...? However: 9/24/81 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Sheik Adnan beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq Hulk Hogan beat Jerry Blackwell Non Title Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura beat AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell Billy Robinson drew Tito Santana Baron Von Raschke beat Ed Boulder Johnny Valiant beat Buck Zumhofe Att: 6,296 That's a good number for Winnipeg and Hogan and Blackwell + the tag title matches are the real main events. We don't have a number for a Blackwell v. Hogan Twin City main event which is annoying, nor do we have a main for the Hogan anchored v. Blackwell anchored six-mans. 10/21/81 Chicago, IL @ International Amphitheatre Cage Match AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura Hulk Hogan beat Jerry Blackwell Bobo Brazil ddq Blackjack Mulligan Billy Robinson beat Bobby Heenan Wilbur Snyder beat Jacques Goulet El Bracero beat George Gadaski Really wish we had a number for this show. Andre/Battle Royal does nearly 10k in Winnipeg which is a huge number for that town with Blackwell buried in the under card. They run an Andre v. Blackwell match to play off the previous years success, plus Hogan v. Blackwell around the horn so you have to figure this is doing well. The 5300 in Milwaukee is a good number. The handicapped match with Hogan/Andre teaming v Blackwell/Adnois/Ventura in Winnipeg does 5500 but they had to have been hoping for more. He closes the year still working on top often v. Hogan Interesting year for Blackwell. We really need to have more figures to prove how big of a draw he was, but again aside from the worst drawing month long period of the year based on the composite we have, he was in main events basically all year, with some standouts. The Verne match is a big notch. Shame we don't have attendance for all of their matches and the Hogan matches but the fact that he became Hogan's first real go to opponent is a strong indicator that he was a guy who was considered "money." Blackwell in 82: 1/7/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Cage match AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura Sheik Adnan beat Mad Dog Vachon Hulk Hogan beat Jerry Blackwell Brad Rheingans beat Ken Patera dq Baron Von Raschke beat Rene Goulet Bobby Duncum beat Rick Hunter Att: 7,728 Very good number for Winnipeg, with a triple main event. A little over a week later they kick start the High Flyers feud in St. Paul in a non-title match that main events, but we don't have a figure for it. 2/4/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan no contest Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Hulk Hogan & Tito Santana Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan Greg Gagne drew Brad Rheingans Jim Brunzell beat Rene Goulet Ricky Hunter beat Dave Kochen Att: 6,480 A little down for Winnipeg but this is still a good crowd for that town. Really wish we had a number for the Feb. Minnieapolis show. 2/10/82 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium Greg Gagne beat AWA World Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Tito Santana & Hulk Hogan 15:33 Weasel Suit Match Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan Jerry Blackwell beat Jim Brunzell via pin in 15:00 Brad Rheingans drew Sheik Adnan Baron Von Raschke beat Sgt. Jacques Goulet via pin in 13:12 Att: 5,677 Good crowd for Milwaukee with an interesting lineup. Can't really credit Blackwell for this, but was worth a mention. Blackwell is barely working and mostly undercards until he re-emerges here: 3/4/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Tito Santana Non Title Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell Ken Patera beat Baron Von Raschke Hulk Hogan beat Bobby Duncum Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan Brad Rheingans beat Sgt. Goulet Att: 5,924 This is tough. The trend in Winnipeg is down, but this is still a pretty good number for that building. You can view this as a negative or a positive depending on how tight you want to look at things. I tend to think the fact that think the product was still hot, but they weren't lighting the World on fire. We are missing a lot of figures as is the case with a lot of this stuff, but the key thing at this point is that Blackwell/Adnan v. The High Flyers is the most consistent and hot feud in the territory and is headlining or co-headlining consistency. For Example: 4/15/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel no contest Tito Santana AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan COR Handicap Match Hulk Hogan beat Ken Patera & Bobby Heenan Bobby Duncum drew Brad Rheingans Baron Von Raschke beat Fred Puppy Dog Peloquin Att: 6,048 Another *good* Winnipeg number. This feud went around the horn and everywhere for a good while so I dont' think the absence of figures indicates anything other than the fact that we don't have figures. By all accounts it must have been working and the footage sure as hell gives you the appearance that it is working as the crowds are red hot for it. 5/13/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Tito Santana Greg Gagne beat Jerry Blackwell Sheik Adnan beat Baron Von Raschke Ken Patera beat Brad Rheingans Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Duncum Att: 3,564 Winnipeg starts to sink... 5/23/82 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan dq Ken Patera beat Tito Santana Bobby Duncum beat Pat O'Connor Buck Zumhofe beat Sgt. Goulet Tiny Tom & Lone Eagle beat Little Tokyo & Billy The Kid Brad Rheingans beat Tom Rocky Stone Really wish we had a number for this show. This has the looks of a disaster. If this did even a respectable number it was entirely do to the main event. The fact that they had the faith to run the Civic Center with no real co-main event, no AWA title match and a weak undercard on the strength of High Flyers v. Blackwell/Adnan is actually amazing to me and further indicates it had to have been doing good business. 5/31/82 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace Bodyslam match Hulk Hogan beat Jerry Blackwell Ken Patera beat Tito Santana Baron Von Raschke beat Bobby Heenan COR Brad Rheingans beat Bobby Duncum Rene Goulet no contest Buck Zumhofe Another show I would kill to have a number for. 6/6/82 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium Hulk Hogan beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat Ray Stevens & Baron Von Raschke Ken Patera beat Brad Rheingans Buck Zumhofe drew Sgt. Goulet Rick Martel beat Tom Stone att: 4,210 Decent number for Milwaukee, but you get the feeling the fans still wanted to see the Flyers opposite Blackwell and friends. 6/17/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Non Title Rick Martel beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Ken Patera beat Baron Von Raschke Buck Zumhofe drew Rick Gault Brad Rheingans beat Tito Santana Att: 4,500 Winnipeg up some - in the summer. 6/26/82 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum dq Sheik Adnan beat Baron Von Raschke Jerry Blackwell beat Brad Rheingans Buck Zumhofe beat Jacques Goulet Att: 9600 This is the kind of number that pisses you off. That's a great number for SLC on a show with no Hogan or Verne. Clearly a strong notch for the Flyers. I love Jerry but I don't see how he can get much credit for this. What it makes you wish though is that we had more numbers to see if the town was red hot coming in. I'm guessing it was. 6/27/82 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell drew Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Rick Martel beat Ken Patera dq Bobby Duncum beat Tito Santana via pin Buck Zumhofe beat Jacques Goulet via pin Att: 2,468 It's Summer time and no Hogan, but has Milwaukee tired of this feud? 7/15/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Handicap Match Hulk Hogan beat Bobby Heenan & Nick Bockwinkel Otto Wanz & Baron Von Raschke drew Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum Jerry Blackwell beat Ray Stevens Rick Martel beat Sheik Adnan Jim Brunzell drew Brad Rheingans Buck Zumhofe beat Sgt Jacques Goulet Att: 5,196 Very solid number for a Winnipeg show in the Summer. Blackwell v. Stevens probably was a help as a "special attraction" on some level. They seem to tease that they are shifting the Shieks v. 1.0 away from the Flyers but then comes the Cage 7/31/82 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium Cage Match AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Handicap Match Hulk Hogan beat Ken Patera & Bobby Heenan Bobby Duncum beat Otto Wanz dq Rick Martel beat Jacques Goulet via pin Brad Rheingans drew Steve O Att: 5,486 That's a very good number for Milwaukee in the Summer. 8/12/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Rick Martel & Dino Bravo COR Jesse Ventura & Bobby Duncum & Ken Patera beat Baron Von Raschke & Otto Wanz & Larry Hennig Ray Stevens & Pat Patterson beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan dq Brad Rheingans & Buck Zumhofe beat Sgt Jacques Goulet & Bobby Heenan att: 8,848 Excellent number and I think Blackwell/Adnan v. Stevens/Patterson coming off the Stevens novelty match had to fuel at least some of it. Two Canadians in the main event v. the super over Flyers didn't hurt either. 8/22/82 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum & Jesse Ventura beat Larry Hennig & Otto Wanz & Baron Von Raschke AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Tito Santana & Rick Martel COR Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat Pat Patterson & Ray Stevens Buck Zumhofe & Brad Rheingans beat Jacques Goulet & Bobby Heenan att: 4,231 Average. 8/28/82 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Nick Bockwinkel & Jesse Ventura Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Otto Wanz & Baron Von Raschke Rick Martel & Tito Santana beat Pat Patterson & Ray Stevens Bobby Heenan & Sgt Goulet beat Buck Zumhofe & Brad Rheingans Att 9090 Flyers are still hot in SLC which appears to be doing very well across the board at this point. Blackwell is off the radar for a bit. 9/18/82 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium AWA Champion Otto Wanz beat Nick Bockwinkel AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell no contest Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum Adrian Adonis beat Larry Hennig Rick Martel beat Jerry Blackwell dq Brad Rheingans beat Tom Stone att: 3,309 Really odd show on paper. Don't know how this could have done well. 9/23/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Non Title Dino Bravo & Rick Martel beat AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell AWA Champion Otto Wanz beat Nick Bockwinkel Adrian Adonis beat Baron Von Raschke Bobby Heenan beat Ray Stevens dq Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum no contest Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Sgt Jacques Goulet beat Buddy Lane Att: 6,588 Interesting to see Patera on the opposite side of Blackwell. Bravo/Martel return match still does good business though not as hot as the first time. 10/10/82 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum Hulk Hogan beat Adrian Adonis via pin Otto Wanz beat Jerry Blackwell dq Rick Martel beat Jacques Goulet Brad Rheingans drew Sheik Adnan Att: 3,629 I would have liked to see Wanz v. Jerry. You get the feeling they are sort of stumbling at this point figuring out what the heck to do with the various parts they have and it's hurting the gates some. Battle Royal season hits, Andre comes in and the limited figures we have show an expected spike. 11/28/82 Milwaukee, WI @ Arena AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Tito Santana Verne Gagne & Mad Dog Vachon beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Ken Patera beat Larry Hennig Rick Martel beat Bobby Duncum dq Tiny Tom & Lone Eagle beat Little Tokyo & Hillbilly Pete Tom Lintz drew Tom Stone (sub Brad Rheingans) Att: 5,878. 12/2/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Larry Hennig & Tito Santana & Jim Brunzell beat Nick Bockwinkel & Bobby Duncum & Bobby Heenan Jerry Blackwell beat Mad Dog Vachon dq Jesse Ventura beat Baron Von Raschke Rick Martel drew Sheik Adnan Tiny Tom & Lone Eagle beat Little Tokyo & Hillbilly Pete Att: 5,212 Solid numbers, with the Milwaukee number being about 250 away from a sellout. You get the feeling things are going to stay hot. Blackwell closes the year main eventing with Adnan again in Green Bay and even at the Civic Center, with Hogan v. Ventura underneath but we don't have figures. 82 is tough because of the lack of numbers especially in the big towns. There isn't a Chicago figure all year. SLC appears red hot. Winnipeg started off fairly hot and it seems Blackwell was a part of that. The footage and the fact that he headlined so much with Adnan opposite the Flyers - including at least two main events in St. Paul - is a good sign that he was doing solid business on top at minimum. On the other hand the whole promotion seemed to lose a little focus during the summer and leading up to battle royal season. Not a home run year like 84, but a plus for Blackwell over all.