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AWA Light Heavyweight Champion : "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin

AWA All-Star Wrestling , July 15th, 1983 Match 1 : The Latin Lovers (Vinnie Valentino & Javier Cruz) vs. The Minnesota Heartbreakers (Jeff Sword & Rocky Brewer) A partial rematch from last week, with Brewer making his televised debut as part of the Heartbreakers and Tom Stanton nowhere to be seen. The Heartbreakers were much more aggressive this time out, brawling with the Lovers and working in a lot of eye rakes and cheap shots. The Latin Lovers never lost their cool and ultimately got the better of the Heartbreakers, hitting their new finisher the Love Missile (Cruz elevating Sword in a bearhug and Valentino hitting a top rope dropkick) for the victory. “Valentino’s Vixens” at ringside cheered their men and jumped up and down at the win, which the men in the audience clearly appreciated. Match 2 : Da Crusher vs. Maj. Cal Manson Da Crusher was in distinctly good spirits when he hit the ring, a distinct contrast to the sour-faced military newcomer. Crusher tried to have a good natured match with Manson, but Manson was having none of that, going to the gutter early in the match with an eye gouge. Big mistake. Crusher showed him how it is done with a nasty eye gouge of his own and went on to brutalize Manson. He cinched in a severe hammerlock on Manson and shouted at him to give up, but Manson gritted his teeth and refused to give him the satisfaction of surrendering, so Crusher went with Plan B, knocking him out with a Bolo punch and cinching in the Crusher Clutch on his unconscious opponent to get the win. Match 3 : Prof. Toru Tanaka vs. “Rock & Roll” Buck Zumhofe Tanaka looked to be sending a message to Da Crusher, with whom he had had some intense brawls on AWA house shows, and just dissected Zumhofe with chops, kicks and nerve strikes. He locked Zumhofe in the Oriental Sleeper until Buck was foaming at the mouth and wouldn’t let it go long after the final bell, having to be pried off him by the ref. Cut to Mean Gene at ringside with Da Crusher. Mean Gene : Crusher, you have a big falls-count-anywhere match with Professor Toru Tanaka. We just saw him destroy Buck Zumhofe. What do you make of Tanaka’s actions in the ring? Crusher : Gene, dere was no call for dat! Buck is a good … well, he’s a guy, and nobody deserves to be treated like dat, not even him! If dat crazy Oriental thinks I am gonna let him do dat to me, he’s got another think coming! The interview was cut off by Tanaka leaving the ring and screaming at Crusher in Japanese. Crusher bellowed back at Tanaka, and the shouting match kept going until Tanaka caught Crusher full in the face with a fistful of salt. Crusher was staggered and Tanaka capitalized by pummeling him with chops, but Crusher soon fought his way back and they continued brawling until security finally got them separated. Match 4 : The Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal) vs. Col. Buck Robley & Jeff Van Camp The Road Warriors continued their dominant ways, storming the ring and sending Van Camp out of the ring with a double clothesline before double teaming Robley with awesome power moves. Van Camp tried to get back in the ring but was caught in between the ropes with a brutal knee strike by Animal that smashed into his face and sent him back out of the ring. They continued to savage Robley, with Animal dropping the knee onto his arm before Hawk put him in an excruciating arm breaker submission that forced Robley to quit. The Roadies charged out of the ring as quickly as they got there, leaving Robley screaming for vengeance in the middle of the ring and Van Camp clutching his face on the outside. After the commercial, Mean Gene was at ringside with the Road Warriors . Mean Gene : Hawk, Animal, these fans clearly love you, but what you just did to Buck Robley and Jeff Van Camp seemed more than a little extreme. Why the harsh treatment? Hawk : Well! The Road Warriors are making a statement! The so-called Colonel Buck Robley was old and in the way and didn’t have the guts to last with us. All of the old men in the AWA need to stand up and take notice, because their day is done and we are the new guard. We are going to take the AWA World Tag Titles, and there is nothing they can do to stop us! Animal : That’s right, Hawk! Wild Bills, Heartbreakers , Latin Lovers … step aside! We are going to go through you like a hot knife through butter and put those belts around our waists. In Milwaukee, the fans won’t know what hit them and neither will the AWA! Match 5 : The Wild Bills (“Wild” Bill Irwin & Billy Jack) vs. “Big” Bill Rathke & Mike Vachon The Wild Bills clearly didn’t like being dismissed so lightly by the Road Warriors and took it out on Rathke and Vachon, knocking the two men around the ring before pinning Vachon with a combination Irwin side-slam and Billy Jack kneedrop. The Road Warriors are clearly determined to take the Tag Titles in Milwaukee, but the Wild Bills have some ideas of their own to win the belts. Match 6 : Mr. Olympia vs. Sheikh Adnan Kaissie No matter how much Kaissie cheated in his match with the popular masked man, Olympia had him outclassed at every turn, finding a counter for every dirty tactic and catching him in the Sleeper to send him to Dream Street. Inevitably, Boris Zukhov and Ken Patera charged to the ring after the match to attack Olympia, but World Champion Hulk Hogan followed them and evened the sides, showing his good friend that he had Olympia’s back as much as Olympia had his. The two men stood tall in the ring and stared down Patera and Zukhov, who decided that there they would take things up with the crowd favorites some other time. Match 7 : “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin & “The Polish Prince” Ed Wiskowski vs. Iceman “King” Parsons & “The Flying Samoan” Samu The newly crowned Light Heavyweight champion was clearly full of himself as he and Wiskowski came to the ring with their usual array of bikini models. Parsons and Samu , however, were clearly all business and caught the villainous pair off guard with their rapid fire moves and teamwork. Nothing Garvin and Wiskowski did on their own seemed to work against Parsons and Samu, so they took the low road and tossed Samu from the ring, proceeding to double team Parsons. Any time Samu tried to get back in the ring, a boot from Wiskowski would send him back out and they continued to work over Parsons. They looked to finish him off with a double clotheslin, but Parsons ducked under the move and Samu caught Wiskowski’s leg and pulled him out of the ring. Parsons came charging back across the ring with a running Rumper Stumper to get the pin over a shocked Garvin.

I'm pretty sure International ran Ottawa area shows at the Bob Guertin Arena across the river in Hull.

Whoops, sorry, mistakenly posted my results in the announcements thread. Here are the line ups for some upcoming cards. AWA All-Star Wrestling TV Broadcast The Latin Lovers (Vinnie Valentino & Javier Cruz) vs. The Minnesota Heartbreakers (Jeff Sword & Rocky Brewer) Da Crusher vs. Maj. Cal Manson Prof. Toru Tanaka vs. "Rock & Roll" Buck Zumhofe The Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal) vs. Col. Buck Robley & Jeff Van Camp Mr. Olympia vs. Sheikh Adnan Kaissie The Wild Bills ("Wild" Bill Irwin & Billy Jack) vs. Bill Rathke & Mike Vachon "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin & "The Polish Prince" Ed Wiskowski vs. Iceman "King" Parsons & "The Flying Samoan" Samu Plus interviews with Da Crusher and The Road Warriors AWA at the Salt Palace, Salt Lake City, July 15th, 1983 One Man Gang vs. Bill Rathke The Latin Lovers (Vinnie Valentino & Javier Cruz) & "The Flying Samoan" Samu vs. The Minnesota Heartbreakers (Jeff Sword, Rocky Brewer & Tom Stanton) Mr. Olympia vs. Ken Patera The Road Warriors ( Hawk & Animal) vs. The Wild Bills ("Wild" Bill Irwin & Billy Jack) AWA Light Heavyweight Title Match : "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin © vs. Iceman "King" Parsons "The Incredible" Hulk Hogan & Da Crusher vs. "The Russian Menace" Boris Zukhov & Prof. Toru Tanaka AWA at the Mecca, Milwaukee, July 22nd , 1983 A big tournament for the vacant AWA World Tag Team Titles featuring : The Wild Bills The Latin Lovers Jimmy Garvin & Ed Wiskowski Iceman Parsons & Samu The Road Warriors The Minnesota Heartbreakers Boris Zukhov & Sheikh Adnan Kaissie The Zambuie Express (courtesy of Central States Wrestling) Plus : Mr. Olympia vs. "Leaping" Lanny Poffo (courtesy of ICW) AWA World Heavyweight Title Match : "The Incredible" Hulk Hogan © vs. "The World's Strongest Man" Ken Patera And a special Lights Out Falls-Count-Anywhere match : "The Man Who Made Milwaukee Famous" Da Crusher vs. Prof. Toru Tanaka

Just a quick one because : A) it's just a routine house show and it is way late (sorry again) The AWA at the Denver Auditorium, Denver, July 8th, 1983 Match 1 : The One Man Gang vs. The Great Malumba A one (Man Gang) sided ass kicking. Gang annihilated Malumba with devastating slams and then polished him off with the Gourd Buster. Match 2 : The Latin Lovers (Vinnie Valentino & Javier Cruz) vs. The Minnesota Heartbreakers (Jeff Sword & Rocky Brewer) Brewer is now clearly a part of the Heartbreakers, filling in for Tom Stanton who was still recovering from his treatment at the hands of the Road Warriors. It didn’t do the Heartbreakers much good against the Latin Lovers, who got the win with a Flying Cross Body by Valentino on Brewer. Match 3 : Da Crusher vs. Prof. Toru Tanaka Another crazy fight between the two veterans. Crusher ended up pinning Tanaka after a wild, swinging Bolo Punch, but the two kept slugging it out after the final bell. Match 4 : “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin & “The Polish Prince” Ed Wiskowski vs. Iceman “King” Parsons & “The Flying Samoan” Samu Both Parsons and Samu were looking for revenge against the newly crowned Light Heavyweight champion, but Garvin would have no part of it, running from action every chance he got and was more than happy to let his much bigger partner take on the brunt of the action. Samu thought he had finally gotten the advantage over Garvin but Garvin ducked a clothesline and Samu ran straight into a huge lariat from Wiskowski who got the pin. Match 5: The Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal) vs. The Wild Bills (“Wild” Bill Irwin & Billy Jack) These two teams threw everything they could at each other and it was all the referee could do to try to keep two men in the ring at a time. An ultimately fruitless effort as the two teams ultimately got fed up with his attempts and mulched the ref with a double clothesline. Officials threw the match out and the two teams continued on their merry, brawling way long after the final decision. Match 6 : “The Incredible” Hulk Hogan, Mr. Olympia & “Rock & Roll” Buck Zumhofe vs. “The Russian Menace” Boris Zukhov, “The World’s Strongest Man” Ken Patera & Sheikh Adnan Kiassie This match raged back and forth with both sides having the advantage at different points in the match. The villains finally turned the tide in their favor by cutting the ring in half and cornering Zumhofe, pounding him mercilessly. At one point , it seemed like Zumhofe would get reprieve when he managed to tag in Hulk Hogan, but the ref didn’t see the tag and made Hulk leave the ring. While the ref’s back was turned, Zukhov clobbered the former Light Heavyweight champ with his chain and got the dirty victory.

Not quite the same thing, but I remember in, I think, 1991 in the CNWA (small Indy that tried to take the place of Stampede after it folded) , they had a lot of the old Stampede crew working and the team of Gama Singh (from Pakistan) and Gerry Morrow (from Martinique) and they decided to take the oh so topical name of The Iraqi Hit Squad.

AWA All-Star Wrestling , July 8th, 1983 The show opens with footage of Hogan in the ring at the July 4th show holding the AWA belt and the American flag. Cut to Mean Gene Okerlund in the ring. Mean Gene : Folks, this past July 4th celebrated the birth of our great nation, and the AWA celebrated with a big night of wrestling action. A lot of exciting events went down, and at the end of it all , a new AWA World Heavyweight champion was crowned. Footage is shown of highlights of the July 4th card : the Road Warriors and the Wild Bills brawling ; Boris Zukhov clobbering Hulk Hogan with the chain ; Ed Wiskowski ambushing Jay Youngblood to get the win for Jimmy Garvin ; Mr. Olympia swinging the chair wildly to clear Zukhov, Sheikh Adnan Kaissie and Ken Patera away from Hogan ; Prof. Toru Tanaka blasting Da Crusher in the face with a fistful of salt ; and finally Hogan hitting the Big Leg Drop on Jimmy Garvin to win the match and the AWA title. Mean Gene : Ladies and gentlemen, the new AWA Heavyweight Champion of the World … “The Incredible” Hulk Hogaaaaaan!!!! The crowd explodes as “Eye of the Tiger” plays and Hulk Hogan comes to the ring with the AWA Title belt wrapped around his waist. Mean Gene : Hulkster , congratulations on your big title win! A rough night for you, but you came of it with the gold. Hogan : Well, y’know , Mean Gene … I went into it with a goal in mind, and I wasn’t going to let that little rat Jimmy Garvin or Sheikh Kaissie and his band of weasels stand in my way. They thought they could get the better of me, bringing in the Prince and that big chain to cheat their way to victory. But the Hulkster has friends to watch his back. Good friends like Mr. Olympia and Jay Youngblood. And I am going to do my best to be worthy of their friendship, worthy of the cheers of these great fans, and worthy of the AWA World Heavyweight title. Mean Gene : Speaking of Sheikh Kaissie, what was the deal with that match with Ken Patera? It’s like he wasn’t even trying to win that match, he just wanted to hurt you. Hogan : I don’t know what is going through Patera’s mind, but if he thinks he is going to intimidate me , he is out of his mind. He can try all he wants and cheat all he wants, truth and justice will always prevail. And I will continue to walk tall and proud as the champion! The Hulkster takes a moment to soak up the cheers of the fans, and then walks back to the locker room. Match 1 : The Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal) vs. The Minnesota Heartbreakers (Jeff Sword & Tom Stanton) This was the first chance the AWA fans had to see a full TV match of the big Road Warriors since they got to the AWA, and they let out a cheer when “Iron Man” played over the arena PA. They didn’t get much of a chance this time as they stormed the ring and destroyed the Heartbreakers in shockingly quick fashion, rocking them with a series of devastating power moved and hitting a brutal piledriver on Stanton to get the win. Match 2 for the AWA Light Heavyweight Title : “Rock & Roll” Buck Zumhofe vs. “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin Zumhofe , the reigning champion, came out with his title belt, his boom box, and the support of the fans. Garvin, however, came out with three attractive women in bikinis who would fan him and brush his hair … and “The Polish Prince” Ed Wiskowski looming behind him and scowling. He seemed utterly disinterested in Zumhofe and the booing fans as he stood in the ring, preening and enjoying the attention of the ladies. The moment the bell rang, however, he snapped right into focus, charging across the ring and pounding on Zumhofe . Zumhofe never had a chance to get out of the blocks, every time he tried to rally was cut off by Garvin. There was a brief glimmer of hope for him when he caught Garvin with a lucky punch and then ran into the ropes for a big move, only for “The Prince” to snag his leg and causing him to stagger out. Garvin seized the opportunity and hit a nasty DDT on Zumhofe and, just like that, the “Gorgeous” one became the new Light Heavyweight Champion. Match 3: The One Man Gang vs. “Buffalo” Bill Cody The big 747 was also making his first appearance on AWA TV and was clearly looking to make a big impression. He made it on Bill Cody, crushing the veteran with a series of harsh slams before polishing him off with a big Gourdbuster. He bellowed at the crowd and placed his foot on the unconscious Cody’s chest as he defiantly raised his fist overhead. Cut to Mean Gene in the ring again. Mean Gene : Folks, my next guests have a lot to answer for after the Independence Day Celebration. “The Russian Menace” Boris Zukhov, Sheikh Adnan Kaissie and Ken Patera. Kaissie’s crew stalk to the ring to the loud boos of the fans. Mean Gene : Ken Patera, what in the world were you thinking? You had a chance to move on in the tournament and possibly win the AWA World Title and you threw it away just to get in a cheap shot on Hulk Hogan. Patera : (grabbing the mike away from Mean Gene) You shut your face, Okerlund! This is where I talk and you listen. The power structure in the AWA was laid out pretty clearly : what the Sheikh says, goes! And along comes some Venice Beach muscle boy who thinks he is God’s gift, and people start thinking that things have changed. Well nothing has changed! You may have the belt, but this is where the power lies. We taught you a lesson, boy, and you are so dumb that you are going to have to keep learning it. The Sheikh will keep on outsmarting you. The Russian Menace will be more than happy to strip that belt off your ruined body for the honor of his country. I don’t need a title belt to know that I am better than you, but if you put it in front of me, I will take it from you because I can. I will break you because I can. AND THERE IS ONE MORE, HOGAN! ONE MORE! I know you are an idiot, Hogan, but at least try to do the smart thing and go back to Venice Beach while you still have the legs to carry you. Because if you don’t, we will send you back there in a wheelchair! Match 4 : “The World’s Strongest Man” Ken Patera vs. “The Flying Samoan” Samu Patera was clearly fired up by his earlier declaration of war on Hulk Hogan, and he focused that fury on Samu. Samu, for his part, was not intimidated by Patera and gamely fought back but ultimately was just worn down but the pure muscle of the Olympian, who sank in the Swinging Full Nelson and forced Samu to submit. Match 5 : Iceman “King”Parsons vs. Rocky Brewer Brewer was admiring himself in a hand held mirror on his way to the ring and wearing a Minnesota Heartbreakers jacket. Not an auspicious omen and it certainly didn’t do him any good against the popular newcomer. Parsons bounced Brewer around the ring with ease and nailed the Rumper Stumper for the easy victory. Match 6 : “The Incredible” Hulk Hogan & Mr. Olympia vs. “The Russian Menace” Boris Zukhov & Sheikh Adnan Kaissie No prizes for guessing who the fans were behind, as Hogan high fived the fans and Olympia handed out Mr. Olympia masks to the kids at ringside. Kaissie and Zukhov clearly didn’t care as they immediately charged the popular duo. Hogan and Olympia were ready for them, though, fighting back just as intensely. The key to the match ended up being cutting the ring in half, as they were ultimately able to isolate Kaissie and wear him down. Olympia finished it off by locking in the Sleeper and sending Kaissie to Dream Street. The moment the bell rang, Ken Patera swiftly charged to the ring and attacked Hogan, and the two sides brawled until AWA officials filled the ring and finally got them separated. The Denver show will be posted either late tonight or tomorrow morning.

I am Wally Karbo and I officially endorse this event or product.

Not wanting to make things more complicated, but what would be the provision for re-opening a territory? If , say, 6 months or so down the line, somebody new wants to join in the fun, what could we do to allow them to join in? Or should we just burn that bridge when we come to it?

I will officially take my name out of the running. For all I am running a bit behind (shows should be posted tomorrow), I am happy with my current arrangement with Cross Face Chicken Wing and the AWA.

The AWA Independence Day Special at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, July 4, 1983 Match 1 : Iceman Parsons vs. “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin (AWA World Title Tournament Round 1) Iceman was on a roll after his victory over Ed Wiskowski at the Winnipeg show and had the crowd on his side. Garvin, for his part, tried the same stalling and avoidance tactics he used in his match with Samu but Parsons was having none of it. The match went back and forth, with Garvin frequently heading out of the ring to cut short Parsons momentum and the Iceman chasing him outside. Parsons seemed to have the match in hand when he had Garvin set up for the Rumper Stumper and came off the top rope, only for Garvin to dive to the ground to get out of the way. Garvin pointed to his own head and laughed, not realizing that Parsons had landed on his feet and was behind him. Parsons caught Garvin with a schoolboy roll up, only for Garvin to counter with a fistful of trunks to reverse the rollup and pick up the cheap win to advance. Match 2 : Jay Youngblood vs. “The Polish Prince” Ed Wiskowski (AWA World Title Tournament Round 1) Youngblood, a visiting star from the WWC, was greeted warmly by the AWA crowd. Wiskowski once again tried to be the bully in this encounter and overpower Youngblood, but Youngblood had a lot of power on his own side and would not be intimidated by “The Prince”. In the end, Wiskowski tried to level Youngblood with a mammoth clothesline, only for Youngblood to duck it and come back with a big boot to the face. Youngblood then came off the top rope with a flying Tomahawk chop to get the win and move on to the second round. Match 3 : Mr. Olympia vs. “The World’s Strongest Man” Ken Patera (AWA World Title Tournament Round 1) Patera came to the ring accompanied by Sheikh Adnan Kaissie and took great offence at Olympia, claiming he was the most powerful man in the AWA. He challenged Olympia to a posedown, and when Olympia was clearly getting more cheers than he was , he ambushed Olympia from behind. Olympia was only temporarily down, but he had his work cut out for him as he not only had to deal with Patera but the constant attempts at interference by the Sheikh. The end came when Patera reversed a whip to the corner, sending Olympia into the turnbuckle … where the pad had just been pulled off by Kaissie, forcing Olympia to take the exposed steel to his back. Olympia staggered out of the corner, only to be flattened by a big clothesline by Patera. Patera followed that with a crushing kneedrop from the second rope to get the one-two-three. Match 4 : “The Incredible” Hulk Hogan vs. “The Russian Menace” Boris Zukhov (AWA World Title Tournament Round 1) Once again, Zukhov made his way to the ring carrying the Soviet flag, this time with the addition of a thick chain wrapped around his neck. Hogan made his entrance carrying the stars and stripes held high to the delight of the crowds. Zukhov kept trying to bludgeon down the big Hulkster, but Hulk kept firing back with his own array of power moves. Zukhov ultimately sought to finish off the Hulkster with the Hammer & Sickle, whipping him into the corner and charging in with a lariat, but in a moment similar to the July 1st show, Hogan ducked the lariat and came back with his own Axe Bomber. He followed up with the Big Legdrop for the win to move on in the tournament. Kaissie jumped on the ring apron and started jawing with Hogan after the match. Hogan grabbed Kaissie and looked to punch him, to the delight of the crowd. However, the recovered Zukhov blasted him from behind with the chain, knocking him to the mat. He then gave Hogan a big chain-wrapped fistdrop to the face, busting him open, before the referees forced him and Kaissie to return to the back, leaving Hogan’s status uncertain for the next round. Match 5 : The Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal) vs. The Wild Bills (Wild Bill Irwin & Billy Jack) This match carried over the chaos of the last match, with the contest rapidly breaking down to an out and out fight. These two teams went at it fist and fire, and although Hawk managed to get the win for his team with a flying clothesline on Irwin, the Bills continued brawling with the Road Warriors long after the bell had rung. We certainly haven’t seen the last of this matchup. Match 6 : Javier Cruz vs. Col. Buck Robley This was Cruz’ first solo match in the AWA and he showed he was a capable contender even without his colorful Latin Lovers partner Vinnie Valentino, defeating the wily veteran in an exciting match with a flying cross body press. Match 7 : Jay Youngblood vs. “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin (AWA World Title Tournament Semi-Finals) Youngblood out wrestled and out muscled Garvin at every turn, looking like a shoo in to move on to the finals. However, he failed to notice that Ed Wiskowski had snuck to ringside, looking for revenge for his earlier loss , and when Youngblood ascended the top turnbuckle for his Flying Tomahawk finisher, “The Prince” shoved him hard off the top. Youngblood went crashing hard to the mat , and Garvin swiftly rolled him up for the victory Match 8 : “The Incredible” Hulk Hogan vs. “The World’s Strongest Man” Ken Patera Hogan came to the ring with his face bandaged, clearly hurt but ready to go. Patera came to the ring with both Zukhov and Kaissie. When the bell rang, Kaissie’s crew had clearly lost all interest in winning the title this night, as they all immediately charged Hogan the moment the bell rang, beating him down and tossing the ref from the ring. They looked to do some serious damage Hogan with Zukhov’s chain, but Hogan’s good friend Mr. Olympia stormed the ring, swinging a chair and clearing out the nest of villains. Hogan would move on to the finals, but at what cost? Match 9 : “The Big 747” One Man Gang vs. “The Flying Samoan” Samu Samu threw everything he could at the huge One Man Gang, but try as he might, he just could not get him off his feet. Resorting to desperation tactics, Samu came off the top rope with a flying cross body press, only for One Man Gang to catch him in the air and give a crushing power slam to end the match. Match 10 : Da Crusher vs. Prof. Toru Tanaka Once again, these two went for an all out fight from the outset, slugging it out with punches, kicks and chops. Da Crusher thought he would be able to take out Tanaka with a big clothesline, only for Tanaka to duck and Crusher hit referee Marty Miller instead. When Crusher tried to revive the ref, Tanaka took the opportunity to hit Crusher with a face full of salt and, when Crusher staggered in the middle of the ring, hit a vicious karate thrust to the throat. The ref recovered enough to make the three count for Tanaka, to the immense displeasure of the fans. Match 11 : “The Incredible” Hulk Hogan vs. “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin Garvin made his way to the ring accompanied by Ed Wiskowski. Hogan walked slowly to the ring, clearly hurt from the earlier beating he had taken but with a determined look in his eye. Hogan put up a valiant effort but his earlier injuries and the constant interference by Wiskowski made it hard for him to get his offence out of first gear. The crow let out a cheer, though, when Jay Youngblood, clearly having had enough of the Polish Prince, came to ringside and dragged Wiskowski away by his hair. With the playing field now leveled, Hogan dug deep down inside and rallied against the sneaky Garvin. Garvin tried every dirty trick he could think of against Hogan , but no dice. He finally pulled a set of brass knuckles out of his trunks and looked to knock Hogan out with them, only for Hogan to catch his fist, snatch the knucks from him, throw them out of the ring and hit a crushing vertical suplex on him. He followed that with the big leg drop and the three count, winning the match and becoming the new AWA World Heavyweight Champion. The crowd exploded and Youngblood, Olympia, Parsons and Samu all rushed to the ring to congratulate the new champ, as Hogan held both the stars & stripes and the title belt over his head to celebrate his victory and Independence Day.

The next couple of shows will be a bit late as I will be away this weekend. Sorry, folks.

My writing won't be quite as detailed in the future. I am still figuring things out as I go on. I did want to get more detailed in the first few shows because I am trying to establish some characters and story lines.

The AWA has announced the line up for their next 2 house shows : July 8th, Denver Auditorium, Denver One Man Gang vs. The Great Malumba Latin Lovers vs. The Minnesota Heartbreakers Da Crusher vs. Prof. Toru Tanaka Jimmy Garvin/Ed Wiskoski vs. Iceman Parsons/Samu The Road Warriors vs. The Wild Bills Hulk Hogan/Mr. Olympia/Buck Zumhofe vs. Ken Patera/Boris Zukhov/Sheikh Adnan Kaissie July 15th, Salt Palace, Salt Lake City One Man Gang vs. Bill Rathke Latin Lovers/Samu vs. The Minnesota Heartbreakers Mr.Olympia vs. Ken Patera The Road Warriors vs. The Wild Bills Jimmy Garvin vs. Iceman Parsons Hulk Hogan/Da Crusher vs. Boris Zukhov/Prof. Toru Tanaka Also coming up, the first broadcast of AWA All Star Wrestling of the new season on July 8th : The Road Warriors vs. The Minnesota Heartbreakers Buck Zumhofe © vs. Jimmy Garvin (AWA Light Heavyweight Title match) One Man Gang vs. Bill Cody Ken Patera vs. Samu Iceman Parsons vs. Rocky Brewer Hulk Hogan/Mr. Olympia vs. Boris Zukhov/Sheikh Adnan Kaissie Plus, an interview with the new AWA World Champion!

The AWA Canada Day Celebration at the Winnipeg Arena, July 1, 1983 Match 1 : The Minnesota Heartbreakers (Jeff Sword & Tom Stanton) vs. The Latin Lovers (Vinnie Valentino & Javier Cruz) Sword and Stanton were the first to the ring and insisted that they be announced as “The Handsomest Men in the AWA.” Ummm, yeah. The Latin Lovers, on the other hand, had a more spectacular entrance, accompanied by 3 models wearing bikini tops and Vinnie Valentino Booty Shorts TM and with Valentino himself slapping hands with the fans, mostly the women. Cruz, for his part, seemed nonplussed by this but grinning in spite of himself. The Heartbreakers didn’t care for any of this but the fans enjoyed it. The Heartbreakers’ disapproval didn’t do them any good in the ring as the Latin Lovers stymied them with their combination of Valentino’s leaping offense and Cruz’s matwork. The end came when Cruz got Stanton in El Volantin (a spinning over-the-shoulder neckbreaker submission) and Stanton had no choice but to give up. After the match, Valentino got on the mic and announced that the Latin Lovers would be available after the show for private autograph signings for the ladies in the audience, emphasizing they would gladly sign anything that was offered to them, while Cruz stood behind him, shaking his head and laughing. Match 2 : “The Polish Prince” Ed Wiskowski vs. Iceman Parsons “The Polish Prince” towered over his opponent, but the popular Iceman wasn’t intimidated and flustered Wiskowski with his fast paced offence and ducking and dodging. Every time it seemed like Wiskowski would bully his way into dominance, Parsons would escape and come back with a flurry of rapid fire punches. Parsons whipped Wiskowski into the corner and came in with a leaping headbutt, but Wiskowski moved out of the way and Parsons went face first into the turnbuckle, turning the tide. Wiskowski then proceeded to bludgeon down Parsons, punching and kicking him relentlessly and not giving him a chance to get back up. He then threw Parsons over the top rope and turned to raise his arms, laughing. But while his back was turned, Parsons caught the top rope and skinned-the-cat back into the ring, climbing the top turnbuckle and, when Wiskowski turned back to him, caught him with the top rope Rumper Stumper (flying butt bump) and getting the three count over the shocked Prince. Wiskowski was livid but the victorious Parsons left the ring to the cheers of the fans. Match 3 : The Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal) vs. Jeff Van Camp & Col. Buck Robley It was the first appearance in the AWA for the Road Warriors but the crowd exploded when “Iron Man” played over the PA and the two muscle men charged to the ring. Van Camp and Robley were overwhelmed by the Road Warriors, with Van Camp being tossed from the ring and Robley being beaten down by the two warriors. After a crushing display of power moves, Animal got the pin with a brutal power slam on Robley. Robley was left seething in the ring but the crowd was agog at the show of force by the Road Warriors. Match 4 : “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin vs. “The Flying Samoan” Samu Garvin was reluctant to lock up with the explosive Samoan, doing everything he could to avoid it. Every time it seemed that Samu could gain a decisive advantage over Garvin, the “Gorgeous” one would bail out of the ring , frustrating Samu to no end. In the end, after a lot of back and forth and much stalling by Garvin, it seemed that Samu would ultimately get the victory with a flying cross body off the top rope, but in doing so the referee was hit, knocking him for a loop. Samu went for the pin but there was nobody there to make the count. When he tried to revive the ref, Garvin pulled out a set of brass knuckles from his trunks and popped Samu with them. He then lifted up the unconscious Samu and hit him with a piledriver. The ref recovered enough to make the count, giving the ill deserved victory to Garvin. Garvin left the ring laughing as the crowd cried for his blood. During the intermission, Gene Okerlund came to the ring and announced to the crowd that, starting with the next show in Winnipeg on July 29th, the AWA and Winnipeg arena would feature regular appearances by the NWA Canadian Champion. The Canadian Champion would be crowned this day at a special tournament in Toronto. Okerlund then proceeded to name the participants in that tournament. The audience cheered or booed the names as they were announced, but the biggest applause came at the end for the last name , Rick Martel. Gene Okerlund then thanked Maple Leaf Wrestling for allowing the appearance of the Canadian champ, whoever he might turn out to be. Match 5 : The Wild Bills (Wild Bill Irwin & Billy Jack) vs. The Fabulous Ones (Stan Lane & Steve Keirn, courtesy of Southwest Championship Wrestling) Wild Bill and Billy Jack came out bellowing at the crowd and swinging their bullropes. The visiting Fabs, on the other hand, came out to cheers from the men and squeals from the women. The Wild Bills looked to intimidate the Fabs with their size and brutality. But the Fabs were not easily cowed, fighting back with their own superior speed and teamwork. The match went back and forth, with neither side gaining a long term advantage. The Wild Bills finally resorted to desperation tactics as they brought their bullropes into the ring and started throttling Keirn with them, busting open his forehead with the cowbell and grinding his face in the mat. Referee Marty Miller’s attempts to take the bullropes away from them were greeted with a punch to the face, but Lane’s use of a folded chair was more effective. The match broke down into a bullropes vs. chairs battle, turning the white Winnipeg Arena mat a dark red and leaving referee Marty Miller with no choice but to throw the match out. Match 6 : Da Crusher & “The Hands Of Stone” Ronnie Garvin (courtesy of International Championship Wrestling) vs. Prof. Toru Tanaka & The One Man Gang The crowd cheered wildly for Canada’s own Ronnie Garvin, but the big 747 took umbrage at his being announced as not just “The Hands Of Stone” but “The One Man Gang”. Upset at someone trying to steal his name (for all that Garvin had it first), any time the two were in the ring together, the fists would fly. Not to be outdone, Crusher and Tanaka held nothing back in blasting each other with punches and chops. The match disintegrated into a pure fight, with Garvin and Gang brawling around the arena and Crusher and Tanaka slugging it out in the ring. The two wore each other down until one final, last gasp blast from Crusher’s fist to Tanaka’s face got the three count. These two are clearly not done with each other by a long shot. Match 7 : “The Russian Menace” Boris Zukhov & “The World’s Strongest Man” Ken Patera vs. “The Incredible” Hulk Hogan & Mr. Olympia Zukhov and Patera came to the ring accompanied by Sheikh Adnan Kaissie, with Zukhov waving the Soviet flag and the crowd howling their derision. Hogan and Olympia, on the other hand, made their entrance to the sounds of “Eye Of The Tiger”, with Hogan waving a Canadian flag and Olympia wearing a special mask with a red maple leaf pattern on the front. They clearly had the fans in the palm of their hands and fought heroically against Zukhov and Patera, who wasted no time in breaking out the dirty tactics with Kaissie interfering liberally. The villains kept coming with every underhanded move they could think of , but the popular duo would not give in, no matter what. Ultimately, Zukhov set Olympia up for the Hammer & Sickle, whipping the masked man hard into the corner and lining him up for a lariat when he came out. Hogan, however, caught Olympia in the corner and pulled him out of the way, sending the big Russian crashing into the turnbuckle. The two then flattened Zukhov with a massive double Axe Bomber and Olympia got the one-two-three. “Eye Of The Tiger” played over the PA, marking their victory, but Hogan signaled to cut the music and asked for the microphone. He said to the audience that there would be a tournament in 3 days for the vacant AWA World Title and that both he and Olympia were determined to win the belt. He then said that, no matter which of them came out the victor, that they would do their best as champion to represent all of their Canadian and American fans as well as their fans around the world. He and Olympia shook hands and slapped each other on the back. Hogan then called for the music, and the PA played, not “Eye Of The Tiger” but “O Canada”. He and Olympia stood together in the middle of the ring as it played, holding the Canadian flag high as the fans cheered.

As a fellow Canadian, I applaud you for that. Poutine and Timmies for the backstage catering!

Canada Cup sounds awesome.

At the risk of making things more complicated, I suggest 2 separate forums, the promotions thread in which each promotion will have a thread for news, announcements, etc. and an events forum in which each promotion will have one thread to put in their TV, house shows etc. That would keep the presentation as clean as possible. I confess I am somewhat anxious about my writing . I will be keeping the match descriptions relatively short because I am worried about being able to get the idea of the match across without getting so bogged down in description that it will delay the shows coming out. My main focus will be making sure my stories make sense and that the telling of the matches are true in essence to how I see them in my head and hopefully people will find it interesting to read.

Good advice. Thanks, JVK.

Some of this was going on in the Draft Discussion thread, but since the draft is over, I thought it would we worth starting one for the project itself. This is a thread for stray observations that don't require their own thread, bitching, trash talking other promoters, and just general conversation about the project. This project came along at an interesting point in my life. I had been in one of my periodic long breaks from watching wrestling, and it has gotten me back into watching again. The upside is that I have been watching the 80s AWA set along with the Listening Party Podcasts, which have been great for getting the creative uses going. The downside is I am way too easily distracted by tangents. "Hey, this thread makes me want to watch a big bunch of Jerry Lawler matches!" Good advice under any circumstances, but not immediately, directly helpful.

Not wanting to give the ending away, but that would be perfect for the match planned, thank you.

Just imagine that everything I say as Wally Karbo is said in the voice of Butters from South Park. That's what I do.

Correct with the AWA Winnipeg Shows. If there is any variation in that, you will be informed.

Hey there, folks, your old pal Wally Karbo here. The AWA is pleased as punch to welcome our good friends from New Japan Pro Wrestling, the Ishin Gundan Team, for some shows in the middle of November. They send their warmest greetings and say they are looking forward to coming to America to ... errr ... demonstrate the inherent superiority of Japanese wrestling styles? Hmmm, that's a little aggressive. Anywhoodle, our Japanese guests will be facing top AWA talent in what we are sure will be some exciting matches. This is Wally Karbo saying, this is Wally Karbo.

FB : Sorry, got tangled up in which thread I was posting in . I am looking to pick up : Bill Cody Bill Rathke Cal Manson Mike Vachon If that is alright with everyone.