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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.

Given that the last person left in the draft has officially stated that they have taken everyone they want and nobody else seems to object, I will grab unsigned free agents Bill Cody and Gino Dellaserra.

Can I grab Bill Cody and Gino Dellaserra?

I am planning a big house show in Milwaukee for July 22nd including a tournament for the vacant AWA world tag team titles. I am looking for a visiting team willing to go to a shmoz Double DQ elimination in the first round. I am also looking for someone with a bit of name value but obviously not one of the top people in their territory who will have a clean loss in a technical match with one of my top babyfaces. Sorry for being so vague, I just don't want to give away my finishes in a public forum. I know I am asking a lot, but I will do what I can to pay it back. Please PM me if you can help out with either of these situations.

I will be posting the results the day after they "happen" and the TV shows on weekends.

Wasn't Leroy Redbone the voice of the snowman in Elf?

The AWA is proud to announce the full line up for the big Canada Day Celebration on Friday, July 1, at the Winnipeg Arena in Winnipeg, Manitoba! The show opens with tag team action as the exciting up and comer Vinnie Valentino teams with the Mexican sensation Javier Cruz to take on the Minnesota Heartbreakers, Jeff Sword and Tom Stanton "The Polish Prince" Ed Wiskowski squares off with Iceman Parsons The hottest new tag team in wrestling, The Road Warriors, Hawk & Animal, make their AWA debut against Col. Buck Robley and Jeff Van Camp The Gorgeous One, Jimmy Garvin, will wrestle "The Flying Samoan" Samu and the big triple main event ... The Wild Bills (Wild Bill Irwin and Billy Jack) will take on Southwestern Wrestling favorites, The Fabulous Ones (Stan Lane and Steve Keirn) Da Crusher will team up with visiting ICW superstar, Canada's own Ronnie Garvin, to face Prof. Toru Tanaka and the One Man Gang And "The Incredible" Hulk Hogan and Mr. Olympia will square off with Ken Patera and Boris Zukhov May thanks to the promoters of of ICW and Southwestern Wrestling for their help in making this show possible

I'm glad that my part in the draft is done and I can finally get on with the business of fully planning out my cards and angles.

For those reasons, I am slightly surprised that Abe Jacobs hasn't been drafted. Maybe because he retires for good in 2 months.

That is a thought. Maybe I will have him reanimate the bones of Moose Cholak.