BruiserBrody

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-november-1983/#.V2RCZ_krLIU November of 1983 sees JCP's biggest show ever, the first Starrcade! The Von Eriches dominate Ric Flair, a legendary tag team makes their Mid-South debut, Andy Kaufman ends his Memphis saga, an infamous heel retires after a long career, the Road Warriors go to war with a pair of brothers, Hulk Hogan leaves the AWA, and more news and notes. Then I take a look at the full WWF Philly show from this month with Backlund vs. Iron Sheik, Pat Patterson facing Ivan Koloff and other action!

Pervy pitchman and a bevy of women running afoul of one another. Eh, could be fun?

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/snuka-muraco-bloodbath-philly/#.V1sd3PkrLIU The second half of October sees the "Last Battle in Atlanta" take place as Buzz Sawyer and Tommy Rich wage war in a covered cage. JCP continues the road to Starrcade, Snuka and Muraco engage in a bloodbath, Magnum TA and JYD are in the middle of a Mid-South title controversy, Jimmy Garvin fends off a surprise opponent in WCCW, Memphis has a huge tag team mega match and much more!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/snuka-leap-wwf-msg/#.V1GAbPkrLIU The half of October of 1983 sees Harley Race facing off with talent from across the country as he prepares for his "Starrcade" match with Ric Flair. Stan Hansen and Jesse Ventura invade Memphis, the WWF declares war on Ole Anderson, Don Muraco takes part in one of the most famous squash matches ever, The Freebirds almost come to the WWF, JYD faces set backs in his feud with Butch Reed, among lots of other news and tidbits....then I do a full review of the MSG show for the month which features Snuka's epic steel cage match with Muraco, Bob Backlund vs. The Masked Superstar, Andre and much more!

His vintage WON reviews are worth while, if nothing else.

I am having fun putting things together. I plan on doing it up to 1990 as of now. The WON notes start becoming available in Dec 83, so that'll add to the series as well.

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-september-1983/#.V0hue5ErLIU September of 1983 sees Ric Flair retiring due to injury, Dusty Rhodes finally ends his war with Kevin Sullivan, Masked Superstar tries to cripple Bob Backlund's friend, Vince's expansion plans start to become very evident, Duggan and Dibiase reach a climax in Mid-South, Andre faces monsters across the wrestling landscape, The Heenan Family implodes, plus an EPIC Dusty promo and lots of other news and notes!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-august-1983/#.Vz_xxJErLIU August of 1983 sees Ric Flair having his neck injured in a heinous attack, Barry Windham's bid for the NWA World title headlines a big Florida card, Hulk Hogan adds David Schultz to his hit list, Rick Martel is brutalized on AWA TV, Japan sees two legends retire in their prime, Lou Thesz appeared in Memphis, The Road Warriors receive their first NWA World tag title shots at the Briscos, Bob Backlund faces a wide range of opponents before a new challenger arises and many other news bits and results!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-phillyspectrum1983/#.Vz9UOpErLIU July of 1983 sees Harley Race and Ric Flair headline a pair of stadium shows, Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair compete in the same tournament with the Missouri title hanging in the balance, Verne Gagne came out of retirement...again..., Nick Bockwinkel and Ted Dibiase align to go after Dusty Rhodes, Hacksaw Duggan and JYD headline a loaded Superdome card, Stan Hansen and Ole Anderson take aim at the Road Warriors, Andy Kaufman TEAMS with Jerry Lawler, plus a full blow by blow review of the WWF's event from the Philly Spectrum and much more news and notes!!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-starwars/#.VzYUWZErLIU A special look around June 1983 sees Harley Race and Ric Flair having a historic St Louis encounter, The Von Erichs fall into legal troubles over drugs, The Road Warriors debut, Two Memphis legends battle in a "Loser Leaves Town" match, Buddy Rose turns face in Portland, Jimmy Snuka and Don Muraco kick off their famous feud, plus I review the WCCW Star Wars Event from June with the Von Erichs, Kamala, Brody, Chris Adams and others battling in front of over 20,000 rabid fans!!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-wwf-capcenter83/ May 83 A busy news month sees Jimmy Snuka arrested, a serious car accident for another smark favorite, a new Russian enters the horizon, JCP blows off one of their biggest feuds ever, Hulk Hogan leaves the AWA...the first time...., Mid-South lands two major new babyfaces, Bobby Heenan has a great angle with Ken Patera, Adrian Adonis wins a World title in Texas...., Andy Kaufman is back in Memphis, plus I look at a WWF house show in full from the Cap Center!!!!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-awa-super-sunday/#.VyNU-DArLIU Our visit through history stops in April of 1983 where we look into the AWA's love affair with HULKAMANIA and the blood feud of Mad Dog Vachon and Jerry "Fatwell". Things come to a head at "Super Sunday". The Mid-Atlantic continues to push Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood's issue with Kernodle and Slaughter, the Mid-South sees JYD headline another Superdome show, Tony Atlas chases World Champ Ric Flair in the Omni, World Class sees a famous "spanking" angle, St. Louis has a World title match as well as imports from around the rest of the nation, MSG has a former WWF champ return to challenge Bob Backlund, Jerry Lawler tries to beat AWA champ Bockwinkel and deal with Andy Kaufman, among a lot of other happenings!

The Kaufman Lawler Feud: Chapter 33 - Jimmy Hart on Andy's Health Lawler's piledriver caused Andy Kaufman's cancer

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-nwa-final-conflict/#.VxpTADArLIU March of 1983 sees the NWA hold the "Final Conflict" Steel Cage match between Sgt. Slaughter and Don Kernodle against Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood, the AWA has another chapter in the endless Mad Dog Vachon war with Sheik Adnan's army, A big controversy follows the National title in Georgia, The Freebirds and Von Erichs continue to go to war, The WWF has another huge multi-man match, plus news on Florida, Mid-South, St. Louis and Memphis as the biggest stars in wrestling crisscross the nation!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wwfinphilly2191983/#.VxEchjArLIU I'm kicking off a new project as I take a look around the wrestling world month by month as Vince McMahon steamrolls the territories. Each major territory has their main cards and angles looked into for the month as I make the journey through time. I'm kicking off with February of 1983. The WWF has a huge 10 man tag in Philly, JCP is setting up the Final Conflict, the AWA is running on Hulkamania, St Louis is dying, World Class is on fire thanks to the Freebirds vs the Von Erichs, JYD is waging war with the Rat Pack, Lawler is chasing the AWA title and much more! Additions and further info is more than welcome! PS - Vince vs The World thread is a great aide!!

What was the deal with "Dizzy" Ed Boulder? Dizzy?

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/kayfabe-lies-alibis-jerry-king-lawler-shoot-interview/#.VwjHZaQrLIW Jerry Lawler covers his childhood, transitioning a radio gig into a wrestling career, working for an outlaw fed, becoming the top dog in Memphis. the Gulas/Jarrett promotional split, thoughts on every major Memphis star, then a look into Memphis' surviving in the face of the 1984 wrestling war and into his WWF run. A compelling interview with The King!

I found it amusing to see "The Final Conflict" in Greensboro was followed by a pair of rematches with the teams in the same building in the following weeks. The final blowoff drew 6200 fans with Piper putting his JCP career on the line vs. Valentine as the co-feature

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/powersofpainshoot/#.Vv7pdqQrLIU The Powers of Pain shoot interview covers Barbarian's sumo background, drunken bar fights, how Baby Doll helped Warlord early in his career, working with the biggest names in wrestling in JCP and the WWF, the Ultimate Warrior sucking up to Andre, why a nearly naked Barbarian terrified the other guys, Haku bar fight stories, Mr Fuji ribs, drugs and much more!!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/tugboatshoot/#.VvZCTPkrLIU Tugboat covers his early days as an Olympic hopeful, being trained by one of the best cruiserweights in history, wacky Iron Sheik stories, backstage drama with the Road Warriors, Andre drinking tales, The Nasty Boys as ribbers and locker room enforcers, the Shockmaster mess, a big angle that was not to be and more!

Was this simply a rib on the Fabulous Moolah? Did this lady work under this name elsewhere?

I drank beer with Beefcake after an indy show. He answered a few of my questions but I think he'd rather have been chasing pussy than talking to some goof about Dizzy Hogan.

Another WOR teasing a big plan for New Day at Mania and not offering it up

Nikolai Volkoff once promised to have the Kremlin nuke the US while cutting a promo on Hogan

Here's my full mini-review of Bart's shoot I wrote up a few years ago: Black Bart's shoot is awesome for sheer BS level: He claims Dusty Rhodes came up with the Undertaker gimmick, and that Black Bart was supposed to play that character. He also claims he's the biggest locker room legend in today's WWE (for his antics back in the day) Piper had a warrant for his arrest, so Bart pulled a car up to the ring w/ Piper in the trunk, popped it, Piper wrestled, and then hopped back in the trunk and they took off. Oh God, Black Bart actually just claimed he was offered 180 grand to star in a Fox Network sitcom based on his, Dutch and Moondog Rex "Desperodos" gimmick. Flair told The TBS execs "We can't have these jabronis star in a show" So WCW released them and the Sitcom was canceled. Ronnie Garvin would get sexually excited when you worked "stiff" with him. He actually called himself vs Sam Houston a "Main event" match. Of course the place was sold out, and of course they had such a great match, the other 4 "Main Events" of the evening couldn't compare. Vince McMahon wanted to bring him in and work the upper midcard and offered him a "job for life", Bart declined, so when he went to WWF a year or 2 later, Vince made him a jobber out of spite. A week after Mike Von Erich got out of the hospital, Bart carried him in a match for 45 minutes, then asked the ref "Is this the boy who just got out of the hospital?" After the ref said yes, Bart said "Oh **** " and took Mike down and pinned him. When David Von Erich died he laid in his hotel room for 2 weeks with the A/C shut off and stayed there til Fritz came to Japan 2 weeks later and snagged the body. He claimed to have threatened Jose Gonzalez (Brody's killer) with a knife shortly after Brody's death. Bart said in 1991 the ring crew was all 18 or 19 year old ***** men, and Vince had a tour bus for them, and would spend an odd amount of time on the bus with the gays. He also says Lanny Poffo was gay, and came on to him. Vince found out Bart told Lanny off, and Bart was released shortly there after... --- Greg Gagne made up a number of fibs in his shoot too involving starting riots in Japan when he was a rookie, being barred from working for GCW for upstaging the regular talent, and various other later AWA fibs. -- Matt Bourne claimed Doink was going to headline WM 9 with Hogan but Hulk shot him down. --- And as far as wrestling announcers go, we had the Nikita Koloff lost out at gold medals in both wrestling and weightlifting when Russia boycotted the 84 Olympics.