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Ken Patera


Dylan Waco

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01/20/80 - Ivan Putski vs. Ken Patera

01/21/80 - Bob Backlund vs. Ken Patera

04/12/80 - Rene Goulet vs. Ken Patera

04/21/80 - Pat Patterson vs. Ken Patera

05/10/80 - Ivan Putski vs. Ken Patera

 

05/19/80 - Bob Backlund vs. Ken Patera

07/26/80 - Bob Backlund vs. Ken Patera (Gorilla Monsoon guest ref)

08/09/80 - Tony Atlas vs. Ken Patera

08/23/80 - Gorilla Monsoon vs. Ken Patera

09/22/80 - Rene Goulet vs. Ken Patera

10/11/80 - Andre the Giant vs. Ken Patera

10/20/80 - Pedro Morales vs. Ken Patera

 

11/08/80 - Bruno Sammartino vs. Ken Patera

12/13/80 - Bruno Sammartino vs. Ken Patera

12/29/80 - Pat Patterson vs. Ken Patera

08/10/84 - Tony Garea vs. Ken Patera

08/25/84 - Pat Patterson vs. Ken Patera

09/22/84 - Rick McGraw vs. Ken Patera

09/23/84 - Rick McGraw vs. Ken Patera

10/13/84 - Tony Garea vs. Ken Patera

10/22/84 - Rocky Johnson vs. Ken Patera

11/13/84 - Andre the Giant & SD Jones vs. Ken Patera & Big John Studd

11/20/84 - David Sammartino vs. Ken Patera

 

12/01/84 - Jose Louis Rivera vs. Ken Patera

12/10/84 - Jim Powers vs. Ken Patera

01/21/85 - Andre the Giant vs. Ken Patera

03/17/85 - Andre the Giant, Jimmy Snuka & JYD vs. Big John Studd, Ken Patera & Jesse Ventura

05/07/85 - Hulk Hogan vs. Ken Patera

05/18/85 - Tony Garea vs. Ken Patera

05/20/85 - Tony Atlas vs. Ken Patera

05/25/85 - Hulk Hogan vs. Ken Patera

05/26/85 - Paul Orndorff vs. Ken Patera

 

Pretty interesting.

 

John

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Would have been nice to have some representation from the AWA run on there.

I'll put together a patera-AWA comp at some point, although the majority of what I have is already on Disc 7 of my Blackwell set since it's basically a Patera-Blackwell comp of their tag title run. I think most of the rest of his AWA work is on the AWA 1982 Year in review set.

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1982

1/2/82 Sheboygan, WI

Buck Zumhofe & Baron Von Raschke beat Bobby Duncum & Bobby Heenan

Hulk Hogan beat Tom Stone (sub Rene Goulet) & Sheik Adnan 9:42 after Adnan abandoned Stone

Ken Patera beat Jim Brunzell

Brad Rheingans beat Rene Goulet

 

First shot of the year.

 

1/3/82 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

Greg Gagne beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Hulk Hogan & Tito Santana

Baron Von Raschke no contest Sheik Adnan

Jim Brunzell beat Rene Goulet (sub Jerry Blackwell)

Buck Zumhofe beat Tony Leone (sub Bobby Heenan)

Brad Rheingans beat Tom Stone sub match for Laurent Soucie vs Rene Goulet

Att: 5,228

 

Solid crowd in Milwaukee, though with that double main event you almost expect them to hit a sellout. Hogan/Tito should have been in the DVDVR best short lived tag team tourney :)

 

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

 

Patera in a middle of the road match, though Rheingans was a golden child. Up top this show is pretty stacked and that is a good number in Winnipeg.

 

1/16/82 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Hulk Hogan & Tito Santana

Sheik Adnan beat Baron Von Raschke

Bobby Heenan beat Buck Zumhofe dq

Greg Gagne beat Rene Goulet

Tully Blanchard drew Jim Brunzell

 

1/17/82 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran's Memorial Arena

Hulk Hogan & Tito Santana no contest Rene Goulet (sub Bobby Duncum) & Ken Patera

Bobby Heenan beat Buck Zumhofe dq

Sheik Adnan no contest Baron Von Raschke

Rene Goulet vs Brad Rheingans was canceled

Tom Stone vs Jake Milliman

 

I love the fact that they are running this around the horn as a main event program. Granted the shows they are working are basically B-Shows on paper here, but that is still a pretty crazy tag team main event to work around the circuit.

 

1/17/82 Minneapolis, MN

Non Title

Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell

Ken Patera beat Baron Von Raschke

Hulk Hogan no contest Bobby Duncum

Bobby Heenan beat Buck Zumhofe

Tito Santana beat Sgt Jacques Goulet

Brad Rheingans beat Tom Stone

 

I guess the GB show was a matinee?

 

1/19/82 Omaha, NE @ Civic Auditorium

Hulk Hogan & Tito Santana & Buck Zumhofe beat Nick Bockwinkel & Bobby Duncum & Bobby Heenan

Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan

Brad Rheingans beat Sheik Adnan dq

Tito Santana drew Ken Patera

No shows were Sgt. Jacques Goulet & Evan Johnson

 

1/23/82 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

Hulk Hogan & Tito Santana & Buck Zumhofe beat Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum & Bobby Heenan when Zumhofe pinned Heenan at 23:40

Jerry Blackwell beat Baron Von Raschke dq

Sheik Adnan beat Jim Brunzell

Brad Rheingans beat Tom Stone

Evan Johnson beat Rene Goulet

Att: 2,841

 

Bad number for Milwaukee. There is no World title match and the pairings aren't that intriguing,but this almost feels like something that could have been tanked by weather. Just oddly low.

 

1/30/82 Chicago, IL @ International Amphitheatre

Andre The Giant beat Jerry Blackwell

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Hulk Hogan & Tito Santana

Sheik Adnan beat Baron Von Raschke

Greg Gagne beat Sgt. Goulet

Brad Rheingans beat Tom Stone

Bobby Heenan beat Buck Zumhofe dq

Andre won a battle royal

 

Big show that I imagine did a huge number because it was Andre and a Battle Royal.

 

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

 

Down from the last Winnipeg show, but still a good number and while the double main here is strong, it's not as deep a show as the triple main from Jan. Still Blackwell/Adnan have surpassed Bobby and Ken as the top heel tag team in the territory at this point.

 

2/7/82 Minneapolis, MN

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan COR

Ken Patera beat Hulk Hogan dq

Tito Santana beat Bobby Duncum

Baron Von Raschke beat Sgt. Goulet

Brad Rheingans beat Bobby Heenan COR

Buck Zumhofe beat Ricky Hunter

 

2/9/82 Omaha, NE @ City Auditorium

Ken Patera beat Hulk Hogan dq

Tito Santana & Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Duncum & Bobby Heenan

Greg Gagne beat Rene Goulet

Brad Rheingans drew Jerry Blackwell

 

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

 

2/16/82 Oakland, CA @ Coliseum

Baron Von Raschke (sub Nick Bockwinkel) beat Pat Patterson dq

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Hulk Hogan & Tito Santana

Weasel Suit match

Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan

Sheik Adnan beat Greg Gagne

Brad Rheingans drew Jerry Blackwell

George Wells beat Guy Lambert

Jerry Monti beat Don Stevenson

 

Patera/Duncum v. Hogan/Tito stays alive and has now hit virtually every city on the AWA loop at least once in either a main or semi-main slot. That's another near sellout in Milwaukee off the return of two matches up top. Would be interesting to see what they were doing in Oakland at this point.

 

2/17/82 Fargo, ND

Buck Zumhofe & Brad Rheingans vs Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum

Baron Von Raschke vs Sheik Adnan

Tito Santana vs Jerry Blackwell

Evan Johnson vs Sgt Jacques Goulet

 

Spot show main event.

 

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 v. future tag partner and then co-upper tier heel in the AWA. This may have been a number one contender match for the Missouri Title.

 

2/27/82 Chicago, IL @ International Amphitheatre

Hulk Hogan beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq

Bobby Heenan & Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Tito Santana & Baron Von Raschke & Buck Zumhofe

Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat Jim Brunzell & Brad Rheingans

Wilbur Snyder beat Tom Stone

Billy Robinson beat Jacques Goulet

Spike Huber beat Tony Leone

 

2/28/82 Minneapolis, MN @ Auditorium

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel no contest Tito Santana

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum & Bobby Heenan beat Buck Zumhofe & Hulk Hogan & Baron Von Raschke

Sheik Adnan beat Greg Gagne COR

Jim Brunzell beat Sgt. Goulet

Jerry Blackwell drew Brad Rheingans

Evan Johnson beat Tom Stone

 

Tag partners Hogan and Tito get shots against Bock in the biggest towns in the territory on back to back nights, with the odd man out alternating in a six-man that would have been hot at the time mainly because of the Heenan/Buck angle that they worked on tv.

 

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

 

Winnipeg still in the "good" territory, but not a great number. At this point it kind of seems like they are trying to set something fresh up for Patera but don't know what.

 

3/7/82 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

Non Title Match

Sheik Adnan Al Kaissie & Jerry Blackwell beat AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell

Hulk Hogan beat Bobby Duncum

Ken Patera beat Baron Von Raschke

Buck Zumhofe beat Jacques Goulet

Brad Rheingans drew Tito Santana

Laurent Soucie (sub Evan Johnson) beat Tom Stone

 

Wish we had a number here to compare to the previous Milwaukee numbers.

 

3/12/82 St Louis

Missouri State champion Dick the Bruiser beat Ken Patera

Harley Race beat Kerry Von Erich

Dewey Robertson & Rufus R Jones & Terry Funk beat Roger Kirby & Jerry Valiant & Jerry Brown

Gene Lewis drew Bulldog Bob Brown

Superfly beat Eddie Gilbert

Ricky and Mark Romero beat Ray Hernandez and Billy Howard

 

Patera in another main event in St. Louis on an odd show that actually seems pretty weak for a Kiel show from the era.

 

3/14/82 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Tito Santana

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan dq

Bobby Duncum beat Baron Von Raschke

Ken Patera drew Brad Rheingans

Buck Zumhofe beat Sgt. Goulet

 

3/14/82 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena

Non Title

Greg Gagne beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel

Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat Tito Santana & Baron Von Raschke

Bobby Duncum beat Jim Brunzell

Buck Zumhofe beat Ken Patara dq

Brad Rheingans beat Bobby Heenan

 

Patera still being used as a utility player though Rheingans and Buck were not irrelevant figures in the AWA at the time.

 

3/18/82 Oakland, CA

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Pat Patterson

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum & Bobby Heenan beat Hulk Hogan & Tito Santana & Buck Zumhofe

Non Title

Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell

Brad Rheingans beat Sgt. Goulet

 

3/25/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan COR

Ken Patera beat Hulk Hogan dq

Baron Von Raschke beat Bobby Heenan

Tito Santana beat Bobby Duncum

Sgt Jacques Goulet drew Buck Zumhofe

Brad Rheingans beat Dave Kochen

 

Still being treated like an upper tier guy, but again he really comes across as a guy in a holding pattern during this period.

 

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

 

The pre-Sheik, Sheiks get a semi-main event against a Canadian duo that seems really amusing in hindsight. Also lol at Bruiser being a "contender" to the NWA title in 82.

 

3/30/82 Omaha, NE @ Civic Auditorium

Jim Brunzell beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Hulk Hogan & Tito Santana

Sheik Adnan beat Baron Von Raschke dq

Buck Zumhofe drew Rene Goulet

 

4/4/82 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena

Cage match

Hulk Hogan & Tito Santana beat Nick Bockwinkel & Bobby Duncum when Hulk pinned Bockwinkel

Buck Zumhofe declared the winner beat Bobby Heenan in a ten minute special challenge after Buck lasted the 10:00

Ken Patera dcor Jim Brunzell

Baron Von Raschke beat Sgt. Jacques Goulet via pin in 16:41

Brad Rheingans beat Sheik Adnan dq in 13:07

 

Patera worked Brunzell on a few random shows here, perhaps gearing up for another run v. The High Flyers?

 

4/11/82 Oakland, CA @ Coliseum

Handicap Match, Special Referee: Lord James Blears

Hulk Hogan & Andre The Giant beat Bobby Heenan & Ken Patera & Nick Bockwinkel & Bobby Duncum

Jerry Blackwell beat Jim Brunzell

Tito Santana beat Sheik Adnan dq

Brad Rheingans drew Greg Gagne

Baron Von Raschke beat Sgt. Goulet

Jerry Monti beat Guy Lambert

 

4/12/82 Sacramento, CA

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel no contest Tito Santana

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Hulk Hogan & Baron Von Raschke

Jerry Blackwell beat Greg Gagne

Jim Brunzell beat Bobby Heenan COR

Sheik Adnan beat Brad Rheingans

Sgt. Goulet beat Jerry Monti

 

Patera's default status as opponent of Hogan is a pretty interesting facet of his run here. He has now worked substantial and lengthy programs v. Superstar, Bill Watts, Bruno, Dusty, Wahoo, Atlas, Backlund, Pedro, Rich and Hogan. That's pretty much a who's who from the period he was active. Not all of them were "anchoring" programs to be fair, but all of them were slotted in main events, in big buildings.

 

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

 

Still running pretty solid in Winnipeg. Hogan is using the Heenan family as a springboard, but they are milking it.

 

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

 

Patera is still a relevant star in St. Louis.

 

4/18/82 St. Paul, MN

Hulk Hogan beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq

Cage match

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan

Ken Patera beat Baron Von Raschke COR

Bobby Heenan beat Tito Santana dq

Bobby Duncum drew Brad Rheingans

Buck Zumhofe beat Sonny Rogers

Sgt. Goulet beat Tony Leone

 

Patera still milling around.

 

4/23/82 Rockford, IL @ Boylan High School

Steel Cage Match

Hulk Hogan & Tito Santana beat Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum

Steel Cage Match

Bobby Heenan beat Buck Zumhofe

Sheik Adnan dcor Greg Gagne

Jerry Blackwell beat Spike Huber

Jim Brunzell beat Sgt Goulet dq

 

I love that this is a double Cage main event at a high school gym. I also love the fact that the more heated match was probably with Heenan and Buck.

 

4/24/82 Chicago, IL @ International Amphitheatre

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Hulk Hogan dq

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell drew Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan

Bobby Duncum beat Baron Von Raschke

Ken Patera beat Spike Huber

Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan

Brad Rheingans beat Dr X

Tito Santana drew Rene Goulet

 

And milling around yet again on another big show.

 

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)

 

Flair defending against the old timers circuit seems to be the theme in St. Louis. Meanwhile Dusty and Rufus seems like a really funny tag team on paper.

 

5/5/82 Salt Lake City, UT @ Cow Palace

Non Title

Hulk Hogan beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Tito Santana & Baron Von Raschke

Sheik Adnan beat Greg Gagne COR

Jim Brunzell drew Brad Rheingans

Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan

Att: 10,000

 

Huge number as Hogan v. Bock was obviously big money in the AWA. The Baron takes Hogan's old spot in the semi-main.

 

5/7/82 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan dq at 14:30

Hulk Hogan beat Ken Patera 14:56

Bobby Duncum beat Tito Santana 17:39

Bobby Heenan beat Baron Von Raschke dq

Buck Zumhofe drew Rene Goulet

 

Patera is the gatekeeper for Bock?

 

5/8/82 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan dq

Handicap Match

Hulk Hogan & Buck Zumhofe beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ken Patera & Bobby Heenan

Baron Von Raschke beat Bobby Duncum

Jacques Goulet drew Brad Rheingans

 

Okay this had to be a really charming match as the interplay between Buck and Hogan must have been amazing.

 

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

 

Bad number for Winnipeg.

 

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

 

I love that the Missing LInk was a consistent semi-main guy in Toronto and St. Louis of all places. Von Erichs were pretty over in Kiel so that was a decent use of Patera.

 

5/21/82 Chicago, IL @ International Amphitheatre

Dick The Bruiser drew Ken Patera

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan

Bobby Heenan drew Buck Zumhofe

Bobby Duncum beat Tito Santana

Tiny Tom & Chief Lone Eagle beat Little Tokyo & Billy The Kid

Rene Goulet drew Brad Rheingans

 

Really bizarre card as this was one of their two major buildings. Heenan v. Buck was still hot as was Flyers v. Sheiks version 1.0 but Bruiser v. Patera feels like more of a paper main event than the actual draw. Still a nice LOOKING result for Patera.

 

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

 

When Bock isn't around Patera is pretty clearly used as a surrogate top of the card guy for the Heenan Family.

 

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

 

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

 

Really disappointing number for that lineup in Milwaukee, though it is the dreaded Summer time in the AWA.

 

6/10/82 Mankato, MN

Ray Stevens & Buck Zumhofe beat Ken Patera & Sgt. Goulet

Jerry Blackwell beat Baron Von Raschke

Rick Martel beat Sheik Adnan

Brad Rheingans beat Bobby Heenan dq

 

I love how random that main event is.

 

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

 

You know Patera is pretty far down the card here, but I'll be damned if that isn't a match I really want to see. And it seems like it would have been a pretty big deal no matter where it was on the card.

 

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 in the Summer is pretty middling with Patera back in the middle of the pack with Bock back in.

 

6/19/82 San Francisco, CA @ Cow Palace

Handicap Match

Hulk Hogan beat Nick Bockwinkel & Bobby Heenan

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan

Ken Patera beat Ray Stevens dq

Pat Patterson beat Alexis Smirnoff

Princess Victoria & Sabrina beat Joyce Grable & Wendi Richter

Jacques Goulet beat Buck Zumhofe

 

I wonder how this show was promoted. Hogan was red hot and so was the Flyers/Sheiks version 1.0 feud. But this is the Bay Area and Stevens v. Patera seems like a match that might have moved some tickets.

 

6/20/82 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

Hulk Hogan beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq

Tito Santana & Rick Martel beat Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum dq

Jerry Blackwell beat Ray Stevens

Buck Zumhofe beat Jacques Goulet

Brad Rheingans beat Sheik Adnan dq

Pat Patterson beat Tom Stone

 

Pre-Strike Force, Strike Force in a dream team tag v. Patera and Duncum.

 

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

 

Gagne/Flyers always seemed to do very well on top in SLC. This is not a strong card at all, but that is an excellent number for SLC. Among the best I've ever seen actually.

 

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

 

Only 40 percent full. It's the Summer, but that is a bad figure. One of the worst Blackwell/Adnan v. Flyers figures I can recall. Martel was climbing the ladder here, yet another guy that Patera was probably playing gatekeeper for.

 

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

 

This is a unique card, during what looks like a transition period as they try and figure out where they are going with various different players on the roster.

 

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

 

Blackwell and Patera have split in St. Louis and work each other underneath a match that even then was more of a "legends" match, than a match between two top level guys.

 

7/18/82 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

Hulk Hogan & Otto Wanz & Baron Von Raschke beat Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum & Jesse Ventura

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Tito Santana & Rick Martel COR

Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat Spike Huber & Ray Stevens

Buck Zumhofe & Brad Rheingans beat Bobby Heenan & Rene Goulet

 

Bock was on a tour of Stampede during this period, so you have a rare Civic Center card with no World title defense, headlined by one of the stranger six-man tags I can recall seeing. AWA would occasionally do these all tag match gimmick shows, most of which at least look interesting on paper.

 

7/22/82 Oakland, CA @ Coliseum

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Hulk Hogan dq

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Baron Von Raschke & Otto Wanz

Greg Gagne beat Jerry Blackwell

Tommy Rich beat Bobby Heenan

Ray Stevens beat Moondog Moretti

 

7/24/82 Chicago, IL @ International Amphitheatre

Dick The Bruiser no contest AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell no contest Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum

Hulk Hogan beat Jerry Blackwell

Otto Wanz beat Sheik Adnan

Rick Martel drew Ray Stevens

Buck Zumhofe beat Sgt. Goulet

 

Interesting to see the result of Bruiser wrestling for the NWA and AWA World titles in a small window of time in 1984 in two of the biggest wrestling towns of the country. Seems crazy. I remain amazed that Wanz/Baron was a team that actually worked together around the loop. I wonder if they worked an explicitly pro-German gimmick or if it was just treated as happenstance that they were teaming? Khawk?

 

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

 

Way up in Milwaukee for the Cage Match with Flyers v. Sheiks 1.0 and Hogan working Patera-The-Gatekeeper

 

8/6/82 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell no contest Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum

Handicap Match

Hulk Hogan beat Nick Bockwinkel & Bobby Heenan

Otto Wanz beat Sheik Adnan

Rick Martel drew Ray Stevens

 

That main event had done very well the previous time in SLC, so it's not surprising to see them run it on top again, even over Hogan v. Bock/Heenan.

 

8/8/82 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

Verne Gagne & Mad Dog Vachon beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan

Otto Wanz beat Bobby Duncum

Arm wrestling

Hulk Hogan beat Ken Patera

Jesse Ventura beat Baron Von Raschke

Rick Martel beat Jim Brunzell

Brad Rheingans beat Sgt. Goulet

 

Titleless AWA show in St. Paul, but that main event could have easily drawn a sellout, even with an undercard that doesn't inspire.

 

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

 

One of those tag team gimmick shows are mentioned early and it turns Winnipeg around as they do a very strong number there.

 

8/15/82 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan on a reverse decision dq. Adnan pinned Brunzell but it was ruled that Jim was not the legal man in the ring, and the decision was reversed.

Arm Wrestling

Ken Patera no contest Otto Wanz (sub Hulk Hogan)

Ken Patera (sub Bobby Heenan) & Bobby Duncum beat Otto Wanz & Baron Von Raschke

Rick Martel beat Sgt Jacques Goulet

Buck Zumhofe beat Tom Stone

 

Patera does double duty on a show being the opponent of the sub and the sub himself.

 

8/21/82 Chicago, IL @ International Amphitheatre

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Pat Patterson & Ray Stevens

Dick The Bruiser & Larry Hennig beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan dq

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Otto Wanz & Baron Von Raschke

Tito Santana & Rick Martel beat Steve Regal & Spike Huber

Bobby Heenan & Sgt. Goulet beat Buck Zumhofe & Brad Rheingans

 

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

 

The tag team gimmick makes it's way around the major towns. The Milwaukee number is okay, but not a good figure for a gimmick that was probably tossed out there to help attendance.

 

8/26/82 San Francisco, CA @ Cow Palace

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Tito Santana & Rick Martel

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum & Jesse Ventura beat Baron Von Raschke & Otto Wanz & Buck Zumhofe

Pat Patterson & Ray Stevens beat Bobby Heenan & Sheik Adnan

Adrian Adonis & Jacques Goulet beat Brad Rheingans & Jerry Monti

 

8/27/82 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Tito Santana & Rick Martel

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Pat Patterson & Ray Stevens

Nick Bockwinkel & Jesse Ventura beat Otto Wanz & Baron Von Raschke

Brad Rheingans & Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan & Jacques Goulet

 

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

 

Tag team turmoil continues around the circuit. SLC remains a very hot town for the company.

 

8/29/82 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

Otto Wanz beat Nick Bockwinkel to win AWA title

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum & Jesse Ventura no contest Baron Von Raschke & Curt Hennig & Brad Rheingans

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Rick Martel & Tito Santana

Steve Olsonoski beat Jacques Goulet

Bobby Heenan beat Ray Stevens dq

Buck Zumhofe beat Kenny Jay

 

The six-man with Patera here is basically the definition of a thrown together match and shows to me that the AWA saw Patera as a Jericho type who could be plugged in against anyone at the top of the cards but was by no means a top of the top guy.

 

9/11/82 Chicago, IL @ International Amphitheatre

Greg Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel

Ray Stevens & Otto Wanz & Dick The Bruiser beat Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum & Bobby Heenan

Jim Brunzell beat Bobby Heenan

Rick Martel beat Sgt. Goulet

Spike Huber beat Brad Rheingans

Steve Regal drew Buck Zumhofe

 

Weird looking Chicago show. Heenan Family opponents are one of the more WARish teams you could imagine from the period.

 

9/12/82 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena

Jim Brunzell & Greg Gagne & Larry Hennig beat Nick Bockwinkel & Bobby Duncum & Bobby Heenan (sub Jesse Ventura) when Brunzell beat Heenan

Ken Patera beat AWA Champion Otto Wanz dq

Ray Stevens beat Bobby Heenan COR

Rick Martel drew Brad Rheingans

 

Patera gets a rare AWA title shot underneath a six-man.

 

9/16/82 Oakland, CA

Pat Patterson & Ray Stevens drew AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell

AWA Champion Otto Wanz beat Nick Bockwinkel

Rick Martel beat Ken Patera dq

Jesse Ventura beat Baron Von Raschke

Adrian Adonis beat Buck Zumhofe

 

You would hope that the San Fran dream team could pop an attendance figure here. Patera really seems like he is being used explicitly to get others over during this period.

 

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

 

Half full.

 

9/19/82 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

AWA Champion Otto Wanz beat Nick Bockwinkel

Jerry Blackwell no contest Mad Dog Vachon

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum no contest AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell

Rick Martel drew Sheik Adnan

Adrian Adonis beat Larry Hennig

Brad Rheingans beat Sgt. Goulet

 

Might be worth noting as a title match in the big building.

 

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

 

Good number for Winnipeg. The heel v. heel tag match being low in the card is interesting. I wonder how that was set up.

 

9/28/82 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Hulk Hogan & Baron Von Raschke

AWA Champion Otto Wanz beat Jerry Blackwell dq

Greg Gagne beat Sheik Adnan

Bobby Heenan beat Ray Stevens dq

Buck Zumhofe beat Sgt. Goulet

 

SLC had been a consistent and hot town for them in 82. You wonder what this did as on paper this is not an inspiring card at all.

 

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

 

Really a crazy show on paper as you've got Race, Hogan, Flair, Andre and Dusty all on the show. Another WARish 6-man for Patera.

 

10/9/82 Chicago, IL @ International Amphitheatre

Nick Bockwinkel beat Otto Wanz to regain AWA title

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Rick Martel & Brad Rheingans

Ken Patera beat Hulk Hogan dq

Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat Buck Zumhofe & Spike Huber

Ray Stevens beat Bobby Heenan

Adrian Adonis beat Baron Von Raschke

 

Patera v. Hogan is booked third from the top here, but looking at the line up you could argue it was the most likely draw on the show.

 

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

 

Middling number again in Milwaukee,with no World title match.

 

10/17/82 St Paul, MN @ Civic Center

Hulk Hogan won a battle royal

Andre the Giant & Buck Zumhofe beat Ken Patera & Bobby Heenan

Hulk Hogan beat Adrian Adonis

Non Title

Rick Martel beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel

Otto Wanz no contest Jerry Blackwell

Jim Brunzell beat Sgt. Goulet

 

Battle Royal season. Patera draws the "Andre challenger" card first which is a good indication that the company still saw value in him, though comparing his AWA tenure to his WWWF tenure it is clear where he was the bigger player.

 

10/19/82 Omaha, NE @ City Auditorium

Andre the Giant won an 18 man $50,000 battle royal

Otto Wanz beat Sheik Adnan dq

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Larry Hennig & Rick Martel

Baron Von Raschke beat Adrian Adonis

Brad Rheingans beat Tom Lintz

Evan Johnson drew Rene Goulet

Also in Battle Royal: Jerry Blackwell, Buck Zumhofe & Bobby Heenan

 

10/21/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Andre The Giant won battle royal

Andre The Giant & Ray Stevens beat Ken Patera & Bobby Heenan

Hulk Hogan beat Adrian Adonis

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Jim Brunzell dq

Otto Wanz no contest Jerry Blackwell

Brad Rheingans beat Sgt Jacques Goulet

Att: 12,512

 

That's a huge number for Winnipeg, maybe the biggest I've seen off the top of my head. Show is pretty stacked, but Andre and the Battle Royal probably deserve the bulk of the credit.

 

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

 

Hey there, look what main events the Kiel! Sheik v. Sheik pre-Sheiks! There is no NWA title match on this show and the undercard is weak, but it's still a decent feather in both guys cap to be the go to in St. Louis.

 

10/23/82 San Francisco, CA

Hulk Hogan beat Adrian Adonis

Andre The Giant beat Jerry Blackwell

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Ray Stevens & Greg Gagne

Jim Brunzell drew Larry Hennig

Rick Martel beat Sheik Adnan

Jerry Monti beat The Alaskan

Baron Von Raschke won a 15 man battle royal

 

10/31/82 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

Hulk Hogan won an 18 man Battle Royal

Ken Patera beat Hulk Hogan dq

Jerry Blackwell beat Jim Brunzell

Baron Von Raschke beat Sgt Jacques Goulet

Brad Rheingans drew Tom Lintz

Evan Johnson beat Tom Stone

att: 5,239

 

Battle Royal's keep on chugging. Kind of shocked that they couldn't sell out Milwaukee with the Battle Royal. Interesting that Patera has been slotted against Andre and Hogan second from the top on many of these battle royal shows.

 

11/7/82 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

Handicap match

Andre The Giant & Hulk Hogan beat Bobby Heenan & Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum & Nick Bockwinkel

Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat Steve Olsonoski & Mad Dog Vachon

Greg Gagne dcor Adrian Adonis

Baron Von Raschke beat Jacques Goulet

Jim Brunzell drew Brad Rheingans

 

Was Steve O a sub? This is a pretty insane main event as they loaded it up for the two giants.

 

11/10/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Andre The Giant beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum

Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat Larry Hennig & Steve O

Brad Rheingans beat Bobby Heenan

Baron Von Raschke beat Jacques Goulet

Tom Lintz beat Buddy Lane

Att: 4,832

 

Look at that drop off in Winnipeg. Holy fuck that is crazy. Andre was still there too. No Hogan on the show though.

 

11/19/82 St Louis

NWA champion Ric Flair beat Ken Patera

Bruce Reed beat Ivan Koloff dq

Dick the Bruiser and Bulldog Bob Brown beat Dewey Robertson and Ray Hernandez dq

King Kong Brody beat Mark Romero

Peggy Lee beat Sabrina

Crusher Ayala beat Omar Atlas

Spike Huber and Manny Fernandez beat Roger Kirby and Gary Royal

 

Patera with his second straight Kiel main event, challenging for the NWA title yet again. You could easily argue that he was a bigger star there than he was in the AWA, though I don't want to downplay the value he had as the gatekeeper in the Heenan Family.

 

11/20/82 Chicago, IL @ International Amphitheatre

Bobby Duncum no contest Dick The Bruiser

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel drew Tito Santana

Ken Patera beat Rick Martel

Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat Steve O & Jim Brunzell

Baron Von Raschke beat Bobby Heenan COR

Tom Lentz beat Tony Leone

Midget bout

 

Utterly bizarre main event here. Top three matches all feel like really thrown together bouts actually.

 

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.

 

Very close to a sellout in Milwaukee. Patera's match seems pretty unimportant on paper.

 

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

 

Patera slides down the card, but we can add Ivan to the list of name stars he worked on major shows.

 

12/12/82 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena

Mad Dog Vachon & Jim Brunzell no contest Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel no contest Rick Martel

Ken Patera beat Baron Von Raschke via pin in 13:10

Lone Eagle & Tiny Tom beat Little Tokyo & Hillbilly Pete (sub Billy The Kid) in 17:32 when Lone Eagle pinned Tokyo

Tom Lintz beat Tom Stone (sub Brad Rheingans) in 4:10

 

Still working middle of the pack.

 

12/18/82 Chicago, IL @ International Amphitheatre

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Tito Santana

Hulk Hogan & Dick The Bruiser beat Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum

Jesse Ventura beat Baron Von Raschke

Bobby Heenan & Jerry Blackwell beat Rick Martel & Spike Huber

Jerry Lawler beat Steve Regal

Tom Lintz beat Sonny Rogers

 

Bruiser was consistently portrayed as a big deal in Chicago in 82, so this would have actually been a pretty big match for Patera and Duncum.

 

12/25/82 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan dq

Hulk Hogan ddq Jesse Ventura

Rick Martel beat Bobby Heenan

Ken Patera beat Steve Olsonoski

Baron Von Raschke beat Sgt. Goulet

Buck Zumhofe beat Tom Lentz

 

12/26/82 Milwaukee, WI

Mad Dog Vachon & Jim Brunzell no contest Sheik Adnan & Jerry Blackwell

Hulk Hogan dcor Jesse Ventura

Rick Martel beat Bobby Heenan

Curt Hennig vs Bobby Duncum was canceled

Ken Patera beat Baron Von Raschke (sub Rick Martel)

Buck Zumhofe beat Tom Lintz

 

Patera really sinking like a stone here. It wasn't uncommon for AWA stars to get shipped down to the lower mid-card when they were hitting the reset button, but Patera has been in a weird limbo state for much of the year.

 

12/28/82 Oakland, CA

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Hulk Hogan & Jim Brunzell

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Tito Santana COR

Billy Robinson beat Sheik Adnan

Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan

Baron Von Raschke beat Jerry Blackwell dq

Greg Gagne beat Rene Goulet

 

12/29/82 Fort Atkinson

Hulk Hogan beat Ken Patera

Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan COR

Baron Von Raschke beat Tom Stone

Jerry Blackwell beat Curt Hennig

 

 

Last two dates of the year are main events, albeit one on a spot show that probably doesn't tell us much.

 

In 1982 Patera officially transitioned from being one of the upper tier stars in the U.S. to being a sort of gatekeeper for the big dogs. Yes Duncum/Patera was one of the top teams in the AWA for a big chunk of the year. He had multiple main events and was consistently near the top of the card. But he was the second star in the Heenan Family and combing through the results he comes across as a guy that was just being plugged into various scenarios to get other talent over. Verne clearly saw him as a name with value, but not a name that the promotion could be booked around. In St. Louis he was still a star of some magnitude and got a couple of main events, including another NWA title shot. Patera was by no means a mid-carder, but he was not at the top of the heap either.

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I love reading old results like these and noticing all the unusual teams and match ups. I had no idea Hogan and Santana were ever a short-term, main event combo. And Hogan and Dick the Bruiser are almost a dream team of different eras, like if Thesz and Flair had teamed up at some point. I also never realized just how much of a tag team territory the AWA was until reading these results.

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AWA was FAR more of a tag team territory than people realize. Khawk is the expert here, but another thing I've noticed is that Bock was "out" defending the title elsewhere far more often than people realize as he would pop up in Stampede, Houston, Japan, Memphis and other places (I saw something on Classics about a defense for Culkin in Misissippi the other day for example). This I think is part of the reason the AWA would push the tag titles so hard at time as it gave them a huge help when Bock was defending the belt in other areas. I've said this before, but The High Flyers are probably one of the two or three top drawing tag teams of 70's/80's but no one would believe you unless they looked at the results.

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Bockwinkel did indeed travel more than Verne ever did, and your assertion that the tag matches were pushed to help offset Bock's travel is probably true to a point. However, the AWA was pretty much always a tag team-first sort of area from the very beginning.

I would offer that the design of the tag titles getting pushed hard might have allowed Bockwinkel to travel more with the title, but it may have been Bock's idea to make more money. Verne wouldn't likely have felt the need to travel with the title as much since he was making money from owning the company, never mind being the champ of it so often.

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I think Bock travelling displays Verne's desire at this time for the AWA to eventually be, if all went well, almost a national promotion with a world title on the same level as the NWA. When did the AWA champion start working for Baba? With All-Japan, the Otto Wanz/European connection, and of course the Winnipeg/Canadian tradition, the AWA seems to have had a rather impressive international presence at their peak.

 

Also, what is the real story about the rumoured CBS TV special that was supposedly planned for around 1983? I've seen it dismissed as something that has been exaggerated by Verne and Greg over the years, but it would have been interesting if Vince had been beaten to the punch on network TV by another promotion.

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I think Bock travelling displays Verne's desire at this time for the AWA to eventually be, if all went well, almost a national promotion with a world title on the same level as the NWA.

I dunno. It may have given hima sense that he could compete with Vince once Vince started doing his thing, but Nick was defending the title on the road almost right away when he won the title in 1975. The travelling Bockwinkel show did not start in the 80's, so it wasn't a new thing.

 

When did the AWA champion start working for Baba? With All-Japan, the Otto Wanz/European connection, and of course the Winnipeg/Canadian tradition, the AWA seems to have had a rather impressive international presence at their peak.

Verne and Nick had been defending the AWA title in Japan since the very early 70's, beginning with IWE but moving on to Baba later...but still in the 70's.

 

Winnipeg was always a regular stop on the AWA circuit given it's closeness to Minnesota. I'd look at the AWA champ wrestling in Montreal as more of a sign of spreading their wings in Canada, since Montreal and Quebec were a lot further away. That relationship was partially born out of Mad Dog and Buthcer Vachon owning Grand Prix back in 1972. Verne defended the AWA title in Montreal for them at least once (there is the briefest snippet of Verne-Mad Dog from the Fourm available on Wrestling with the PAst, a comedy/doc on Mad Dog that came out a decade ago). The AWA-Montreal connection was much more pronounced in the early 80's, with the areas regularly doing joint cards. Verne's interest in Martel was probably a big catalyst there.

 

Honestly, I don't think Verne ever cared if he was as big as the NWA. his war with Vince was a defensive posture on his part at the start, and trying to expand was reactionary to Vince more than it was innovation on his part. Verne was making money doing things "the old way". He never would have changed that formula if he wasn't forced to.

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Also, what is the real story about the rumoured CBS TV special that was supposedly planned for around 1983? I've seen it dismissed as something that has been exaggerated by Verne and Greg over the years, but it would have been interesting if Vince had been beaten to the punch on network TV by another promotion.

I don't know a lot about this, to be honest.

 

One cool thing I do know about that happened was in 1988-89-ish. Verne signed off on his guys being contracted to wrestle at a big cereal company convention in Chicago. The AWA guys on the roster came to a ring, set up in the middle of a convention, and wrestled with monikers named after various cereals. Someone would have been "Captain Crunch", for example, fighting the evil "Cheerio Man" (not sure if those ones were real or not but you get the idea). A very different kind of "sold show", if you will.

 

tape of this still exists, apparently. I've been working on getting it for years, but no dice so far.

 

...Can you imagine Verne et al being reduced to taking a booking like that? When I heard about this it was as graphic an illustration as to how bad off the AWA was by then. Must've been a helluva pill for Verne to swallow when you look back at the areas and territories that the AWA was recognized in only a few years before that we discussed above.

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When did the AWA champion start working for Baba?

02/05/70 AWA Title: Verne Gagne vs Strong Kobayashi

02/06/70 AWA Title: Verne Gagne vs Strong Kobayashi

02/09/70 AWA Title: Verne Gagne vs Great Kusatsu

09/24/73 AWA Title: Verne Gagne vs Strong Kobayashi

09/27/73 AWA Title: Verne Gagne vs Strong Kobayashi

11/20/74 AWA Title: Verne Gagne vs Billy Robinson

11/21/74 AWA & IWA Titles: Verne Gagne vs Mighty Inoue

 

Those were all with IWE. I think I've seen some stuff about AWA sending talent to IWE less after that point. They still did have a relationship.

 

02/14/79 AWA Title: Nick Bockwinkel vs Jumbo Tsuruta (Hawaii)

 

Bock was in the 1978 RWTL teaming with Blackjack Lanza. His first singles match with Jumbo that's in circulation was on 12/13/78, non-title of course.

 

It would be hard to say at this point that the AWA was committed to AJPW. Of course AJPW was an NWA territory, but the AWA wasn't done with IWE:

 

10/05/79 AWA & IWA Titles: Nick Bockwinkel vs Rusher Kimura

11/13/79 IWA Title: Rusher Kimura vs Verne Gagne

11/16/79 IWA Title: Verne Gagne vs Rusher Kimura

03/31/80 AWA Title: Nick Bockwinkel vs Kintaro Oki

 

The two title defenses where in IWE. Verne also went over there to get a cup of coffee with the IWA title.

 

 

06/22/80 AWA Title: Nick Bockwinkel vs Jumbo Tsuruta (Minneapolis)

 

Baba also worked on the card. IWE was just about out of business at this point.

 

01/18/81 AWA & PWF Titles: Verne Gagne vs Giant Baba

 

Bockwinkel & Brunzell teamed in the 1980 RWTL. We've probably have to look to see if some AWA talent was in the rotation of getting booked earlier in 1980, but that kind of is the deviding line.

 

02/04/82 AWA Title: Nick Bockwinkel vs Jumbo Tsuruta

 

That's the begining of a more focused chase for Jumbo towards the AWA Title.

 

John

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1983

 

1/1/83 San Francisco, CA

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Pat Patterson

Hulk Hogan beat Ken Patera

 

Patteson v. Bock in San Fran is a match I would love to have in complete. You just assume it would have been a great match even in 83. Hogan is being geared up for his run with Bock and thus has drawn the Heenan Family gatekeeper for an early run in 1983. Not a bad slot of Patera at all really.

 

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

 

Very solid number for Winnipeg, for what amounts to a double main event. Absent a World Title or Tag Title match this has to have been seen as a very good figure.

 

1/9/83 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan dq

Ken Patera beat Hulk Hogan dq

Wahoo McDaniel beat Sgt Jacques Goulet

Rick Martel (sub Curt Hennig) beat Tom Lintz

 

Bock is still on tour with the belt, so Patera is filling in as the lead singles heel.

 

1/13/83 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Hulk Hogan beat Ken Patera dq

Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat Rick Martel & Steve O

Jesse Ventura beat Baron Von Raschke

Wahoo McDaniel beat Sgt. Goulet

Bobby Heenan drew Buck Zumhofe

 

SLC was the guaranteed, big money town in 82 or at least the numbers we have seem to suggest that. Would be interested to see what this show did as this really has the look of a one match card, though the Sheiks v.1.0 were hot.

 

1/14/83 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena

Cage match

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan

Hulk Hogan beat Jesse Ventura dq

Rick Martel beat Ken Patera

Wahoo McDaniel beat Sgt. Goulet

Bobby Heenan drew Buck Zumhofe

 

This is Patera's first non-Hogan match of 83, and again he's putting over a young talent that Verne has future big plans for.

 

1/15/83 Chicago, IL @ International Amphitheatre

Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat Mad Dog Vachon & Jim Brunzell

Hulk Hogan beat Jesse Ventura dq

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Rick Martel & Steve O

Wahoo McDaniel beat Sgt. Goulet

Jerry Lawler beat Tom Stone

Buck Zumhofe beat Tom Lintz

 

This is the first non-tv taping match Patera/Duncum had in 83.

 

1/16/83 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

Ken Patera & Jesse Ventura beat Hulk Hogan & Mad Dog Vachon

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Rick Martel dq

Wahoo McDaniel beat Bobby Duncum

Sgt. Goulet beat Baron Von Raschke

Jerry Blackwell beat Steve O

Buck Zumhofe drew Bobby Heenan

 

This is an interesting card. Martel had been built slowly and this was really an "early" challenge for him as I doubt anyone saw him as a real threat to Bock. Hogan and Patera had been the feud going around the horn, but they had not worked the Twin Cities yet. Including Jesse and Mad Dog dolls it up some and makes sense as a main event on a show with a title match that virtually no one would have seen as a potential title change.

 

1/22/83 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell dq

Arm Wrestling

Hulk Hogan beat Jesse Ventura

Wahoo McDaniel beat Bobby Duncum

Ken Patera (sub Tom Lintz) beat Baron Von Raschke

Buck Zumhofe drew Bobby Heenan

Att: 3,462

 

Patera was headlining v. Hogan in the spot show/small towns as well during this whole period. Interesting that Patera was a sub here. Was he originally off the show altogether or was a match dropped?

 

1/27/83 Oakland, CA @ Coliseum

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & Sgt. Goulet dq

Jesse Ventura no contest Mad Dog Vachon

Ken Patera beat Rick Martel

Wahoo McDaniel beat Bobby Duncum

Baron Von Raschke beat Bobby Heenan

 

Coming off his AWA title shot, Martel is still being groomed opposite the gatekeeper.

 

1/29/83 Rockford, IL @ Boylan High School

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Baron Von Raschke

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum

Buck Zumhofe beat Sgt Goulet

 

First title shot of the year for Patera - with Duncum in a tag team that seemed to be being phased out at the time.

 

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

 

Very strong number for Winnipeg, on the back of a very strong double main event. Patera was milling around here.

 

2/5/83 Sheboygan, WI

Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke beat Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum

Wahoo McDaniel beat Jerry Blackwell dq

Sgt. Goulet beat Steve O

Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan

 

This is a waning days of Patera/Duncum main event. I assume the Sheboygan shows were at a high school as that was a C-Show for the territory.

 

2/11/83 St Louis

NWA champion Ric Flair beat King Kong Brody

PWF champion Shohel "Giant" Baba beat Harley Race

Missouri State champion Kerry Von Erich beat Greg Valentine

Bob Orton Jr and Dick Murdoch beat Dick the Bruiser and Bulldog Bob Brown

Bruce Reed beat Bobby Duncum

Ken Patera beat Ox Baker

Rick Martel & Bill Cody & Buzz Tyler beat Kim Duk & Crusher Ayala & Dewey Robertson

Roger Kirby beat Manny Fernandez

 

Ox Baker was still something of a special attraction at this point, but Patera has slipped far down the car and damn near off the radar in St. Louis. This would be his last appearance until the Sheiks start getting farmed out to other territories.

 

2/12/83 Chicago, IL @ International Amphitheatre

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell no contest Jerry Blackwell & Sgt. Goulet (sub Sheik Adnan)

Hulk Hogan beat Jesse Ventura dq

Jerry Lawler beat Ken Patera

Wahoo McDaniel beat Bobby Duncum

Rick Martel beat Sgt. Goulet dq

Bobby Heenan beat Buck Zumhofe

Steve O drew Tom Lintz

Note: Last AWA card ever held at the International Amphitheatre.

 

This is a cool result as in just a few months time Patera would go to Memphis to feud with Lawler on and off for several months. It was basically just a special attraction match on this show, but still a cool one.

 

2/20/83 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena

Cage Match

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan when Brunzell pinned Blackwell

Arm Wrestling

Hulk Hogan beat Jesse Ventura

Wahoo McDaniel ddq Ken Patera 13:33

Brad Rheingans drew Rick Martel 20:00

Buck Zumhofe beat John Tolos 12:09

 

Wahoo was getting set up for a run with Bock. So who does he get some shots with? Why Patera of course.

 

2/24/83 Sioux City, IA

Hulk Hogan beat Ken Patera dq

Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat Mad Dog Vachon & Jim Brunzell

Rick Martel beat John Tolos

Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan

 

He's still headlining opposite Hogan on some of these spot shows.

 

2/26/83 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

Jesse Ventura & Ken Patera beat Hulk Hogan & Mad Dog Vachon dq

Greg Gagne beat Sheik Adnan 13:15

Jerry Blackwell beat Brad Rheingans 1:35

Rick Martel beat Bobby Heenan 11:52

Jerry Lawler beat Sgt. Jacques Goulet 13:49

Wahoo McDaniel beat John Tolos 8:59

 

Patera/Ventura would begin a short lived tag team run here. That is a match that could have done really good business if the teams had been fleshed out a bit more.

 

2/27/83 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena

Mad Dog Vachon & Greg Gagne beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan

Arm wrestling

Hulk Hogan beat Jesse Ventura dq

Wahoo McDaniel no contest Ken Patera

Rick Martel beat Bobby Heenan

Jerry Lawler beat Jacques Goulet

 

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

 

3/5/83 San Francisco, CA @ Cow Palace

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Mad Dog Vachon beat Sgt. Goulet & Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan

Hulk Hogan beat Jesse Ventura dq

Wahoo McDaniel ddq Ken Patera

Jerry Lawler beat John Tolos

Buck Zumhofe beat Guy Lambert

 

Patera worked Hogan and Wahoo on several spot shows between this and the next date I have listed. Both guys are of course gearing up for big matches with Bock in the coming months. That is a very strong figure for Winnipeg. The Wahoo series is something I'm not familiar with as I'm not sure how it played out on tv, but it seems like it would have been a fairly "important" match even though it was down the card.

 

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

 

Jam packed six-man there as the Flyers and Hogan were big draws and Heenan and Family were always good foils. Don't have a number, but that match was almost certainly right up there with the title match in terms of bringing building to the building.

 

3/20/83 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Rick Martel

Hulk Hogan no contest Jesse Ventura

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan

Jerry Lawler beat Ken Patera

Brad Rheingans beat John Tolos

 

Another Lawler match, this time in Denver of all places.

 

3/24/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Hulk Hogan beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq

AWA Tag Team Champions Jim Brunzell & Greg Gagne beat Jesse Ventura & Ken Patera

Billy Robinson drew Rick Martel

Sheik Adnan beat Buck Zumhofe

Jerry Lawler beat John Tolos

Brad Rheingans beat Buddy Lane

 

Rare Winnipeg show with no attendance figure. You would have to imagine this did a big number with Hogan finally getting a shot up top and Flyers v. Patera/Ventura as a good supporting semi-main.

 

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

 

This is a hair less than a sellout.

 

3/27/83 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena

Ken Patera & Jesse Ventura beat Hulk Hogan & Baron Von Raschke when Jesse pinned Baron

Wahoo McDaniel beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq

Rick Martel beat Jim Brunzell in 26:45

Jerry Lawler beat John Tolos in 12:35

Brad Rheingans beat Tom Stone (sub Jerry Blackwell) in 11:57

 

4/7/83 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Baron Von Raschke & Hulk Hogan beat Jesse Ventura & Ken Patera

Mad Dog Vachon beat Jerry Blackwell dq

Sheik Adnan beat Greg Gagne dq

Rick Martel beat Brad Rheingans

Buck Zumhofe beat John Tolos

 

Hogan and old fart partner v. Patera/Ventura was a match they clearly had faith in at that point, though Mad Dog/Blackwell would have helped a lot on that SLC show.

 

4/8/83 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Wahoo McDaniel

Hulk Hogan & Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke beat Ken Patera & Jesse Ventura & Bobby Heenan

Jerry Blackwell beat Brad Rheingans

Rick Martel beat Sheik Adnan

 

Another packed six-man, this time supporting the Wahoo match that Patera had been the springboard for.

 

4/10/83 San Francisco, CA

Ken Patera & Jesse Ventura beat Hulk Hogan & Baron Von Raschke

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Rick Martel dq

Mad Dog Vachon ddq Jerry Blackwell

Greg Gagne beat Sheik Adnan

Buck Zumhofe beat John Tolos

Brad Rheingans beat Jay York

 

Cow Palace main event slot over Martel v. Bock which they were usually under. Not sure if that matters much or not though.

 

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

 

Perfectly respectable number in Winnipeg for a big double tag main event with virtually all of the major stars from the company packed into the top two matches.

 

4/16/83 Chicago, IL @ UIC Pavilion

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Jerry Lawler

Hulk Hogan & Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Ken Patera & Jesse Ventura & Bobby Heenan

Mad Dog Vachon beat Jerry Blackwell dq

Wahoo McDaniel beat Sheik Adnan

Joyce Grable & Wendi Richter beat Judy Martin & Velvet McIntyre

Rick Martel beat John Tolos

Brad Rheingans beat Rocky Stone

 

Lawler had been groomed for this through Patera some as was the norm. The six-man tag and Mad Dog/Blackwell matches would have been co-main events based on my reading of the AWA at the time. Wahoo v. Adnan would have been a fairly hot match as well.

 

4/22/83 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

Hulk Hogan & Mad Dog Vachon beat Jesse Ventura & Ken Patera

Baron Von Raschke & Brad Rheingans beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan

Jerry Lawler beat Bobby Heenan

Joyce Grable & Wendi Richter beat Judy Martin & Velvet McIntyre

Wahoo McDaniel beat Ed Boulder

Buck Zumhofe beat John Tolos

 

Lawler v. Heenan sounds glorious on paper. Another main event for Patera/Jesse.

 

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

 

Super Sunday. Huge show that may have done as many as 25k paid between the Civic Center and the adjoining facility doing closed circuit broadcast. Patera's third from the top match was not irrelevant, but make no mistake - the two top matches were the draws.

 

4/29/83 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena

Hulk Hogan & Baron Von Raschke & Mad Dog Vachon beat Blackjack Lanza (sub Jesse Ventura) & Ken Patera & Bobby Heenan when Vachon pinned Heenan

Wahoo McDaniel beat Sgt Goulet (sub Sheik Adnan)

Joyce Grable & Wendi Richter beat Velvet McIntyre & Judy Martin when Grable pinned McIntyre

Buck Zumhofe (sub Brad Rheingans) drew John Tolos

 

Bock was gone on a Stampede tour for a stretch in here which explains the Heenan Family trio main events on a lot of the house shows.

 

5/3/83 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Rick Martel beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq

Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke beat Jerry Blackwell & Sgt. Goulet

Ken Patera no contest Wahoo McDaniel

Jesse Ventura beat Jim Brunzell

Brad Rheingans beat Bobby Heenan

 

This is a pretty hefty show for SLC which often times seemed to have one or two hot matches with iffy undercards. Patera v. Wahoo was not a huge match really, but would have been a hot mid-card match for the time.

 

5/4/83 Las Vegas, NV

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Ken Patera & Jesse Ventura

Mad Dog Vachon beat Jerry Blackwell dq

Rick Martel beat Sgt. Goulet

Wahoo McDaniel beat John Tolos

Brad Rheingans beat Bobby Heenan

 

This is a rare Patera date in Vegas. Could be that we are just missing Vegas results in general. Who knows.

 

5/14/83 San Francisco, CA

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel drew Mad Dog Vachon

Ken Patera no contest Jerry Blackwell

Greg Gagne beat Blackjack Lanza

Jim Brunzell beat Sgt. Goulet

Jesse Ventura beat Buck Zumhofe

 

Notable that the Sheiks collide here, because within the month Heenan makes the sale and they become an official tag team and property of Adnan. This is the only singles match they would have in the AWA leading up to their alliance.

 

May 16, 1983 in Memphis, TN

Mid-South Coliseum drawing 4,803

 

The Ace of Spades pinned Bobby Fulton.

King Cobra beat The Angel.

Stagger Lee, Mad Dog, Terry Taylor, Carl Fergie, & Steve O beat Dream Machine, Porkchop Cash, The Lone Ranger, & The Galaxians.

The Rock-n-Roll Express NC The Galaxians.

Bobby Eaton & Duke Myers beat The Fabulous Ones to win the Southern Tag Title.

Bill Dundee beat Dutch Mantel in a "scaffold" match to win the Southern Title.

Ken Patera beat Jerry Lawler to win the CWA International Title.

 

Patera debuts in Memphis. I THINK he was brought in as part of the Kaufman angle but could be off on that. He wins the belt the first night in in the main event which means he was definitely put over as a threat on tv coming in. This was a lowish figure for MSC at that point in the year.

 

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

 

Not a good figure in Winnipeg for The Sheiks first major match. I believe they may have worked one tv match prior though possibly not as the "sale" angle was part of a studio segment and not in the ring. Either way they are off and running, but with a slow star.

 

5/20/83 Rockford, IL @ Boylan High School

Mad Dog Vachon beat Jerry Blackwell dq

Wahoo McDaniel & Baron Von Raschke beat Ken Patera & Jesse Ventura

Rick Martel beat Blackjack Lanza

Mike Graham beat Buck Zumhofe

Brad Rheingans beat Rene Goulet (sub Steve Regal)

 

Despite the Sheiks debuting as a team the night before, Patera/Jesse team up here. This was the last time they ever worked together as a team. While they had value during their run, it was brief and clearly the least of Patera's three AWA tag teams.

 

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

 

Bock v. Lawler is back in a return match, but The Sheiks match already would have meant a lot. I've heard many times that AWA fans did not see Lawler as a real threat to Bock during this stretch though that could just be bullshit. Regardless Patera/Blackwell were being pushed as something of a "super team" on tv and the Blackwell/Adnan team had been launched into their huge money match v. an angle with the Mad Dog/Baron team. So this "semi-main" clearly had "big match" stamped on it.

 

5/22/83 Bloomington, MN

Mad Dog Vachon beat Jerry Blackwell

Wahoo McDaniel & Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel & Blackjack Lanza

Ken Patera beat Jim Brunzell dq

Baron Von Raschke no contest Jesse Ventura

Buck Zumhofe beat Mike Graham dq

Brad Rheingans beat John Tolos

Kenny Jay beat Sgt. Goulet

Mr. Saito beat Tom Stone

 

The very early steps of a Sheiks v. Flyers feud, with Patera working Brunzell in singles now. It was pretty common for one member of a team to work another on an undercard in the AWA. Also I am curious where they ran in Bloomington which is basically a Twin Cities suburb.

 

May 23, 1983 in Memphis, TN

Mid-South Coliseum drawing 5,816

 

Sonny King beat King Cobra.

The Lone Ranger beat Mad Dog.

The Galaxians beat Carl Fergie & Bobby Fulton.

Porkchop Cash & Dream Machine beat Terry Taylor & Steve O.

Mid-America Champ Stagger Lee beat The Ace of Spades in a "mask vs. mask" match.

The Grapplers beat The Rock-n-Roll Express in a "no DQ" match.

The Fabulous Ones beat Southern Tag Champs Duke Myers & Bobby Eaton via DQ.

Dutch Mantel beat Bill Dundee in a "bull whip" match to win the Southern Title.

CWA International Champ Ken Patera beat Jerry Lawler.

 

Memphis is up a thousand for a re-match with Patera and Lawler, though you can't ignore the Memphis undercard which includes some heavy hitters.

 

5/27/83 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena

Wahoo McDaniel beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq

Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke

Tully Blanchard beat Scott Casey

Brad Rheingans beat Jesse Ventura

Blackjack Lanza beat Buck Zumhofe

 

Matches with Mad Dog and Baron continue as the Flyers feud is being set up.

 

May 30, 1983 in Memphis, TN

Mid-South Coliseum drawing 4,526

 

King Cobra beat Angel.

Porkchop Cash & Dream Machine beat Dutch Mantel & Carl Fergie.

Tommy Gilbert & Steve O beat The Galaxians.

Stagger Lee beat Sonny King via forfeit.

Joyce Grable beat Penny Mitchell.

The Rock-n-Roll Express beat The Grapplers.

The Fabulous Ones beat Bobby Eaton & Duke Myers in a "hair vs. title" match to win the Southern Tag Title.

CWA International Champ Ken Patera beat Terry Taylor.

Bill Dundee beat Jerry Lawler to win the Southern Title.

 

And the number in MSC drops back down with Patera in a defense against the American Jumbo Tsuruta (er...maybe not) and Dundee v. Lawler in the top slot. Hair v. Hair underneath seems like it would have been hotter too, but when you run weekly it is always tough.

 

6/10/83 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena

Wahoo McDaniel & Baron Von Raschke beat Blackjack Lanza & Nick Bockwinkel

Ken Patera beat Mad Dog Vachon dq

Jim Brunzell beat Steve Regal

AWA Light Heavyweight Champion Mike Graham beat Buck Zumhofe

Brad Rheingans beat Tom Stone

 

I'm not sure if Patera was working the Memphis loop at all during this stretch but he may have been as there are some gaps at times. Anyhow, this is an odd little show in Green Bay. I wonder if Blackwell just missed the shot?

 

6/11/83 San Francisco, CA @ Cow Palace

Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Wahoo McDaniel

Mike Graham beat Buck Zumhofe

Rick Martel beat Blackjack Lanza dq

Greg Gagne beat John Tolos

Mr. Saito beat Guy Lambert

 

Cow Palace main event over Bock and Wahoo. I note this to illustrate how the AWA often had two - and sometimes three - matches at the top of the card that could be said to have equal billing as main events. I've been criticized for suggesting this was the case before, but if you look at the history of the promotion I think it is pretty obvious. This is just one example that could be pointed to.

 

6/12/83 Las Vegas, NV @ Showboat Sports Pavilion

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Wahoo McDaniel

Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke

AWA Light Heavyweight Champion Mike Graham beat Buck Zumhofe

Greg Gagne beat Blackjack Lanza dq

Rick Martel beat John Tolos

 

The lack of Showboat figures during this stretch irritates me some. I wonder what sort of numbers they were drawing at the time out there?

 

6/13/83 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Rick Martel beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq

Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Baron Von Raschke & Mad Dog Vachon

Wahoo McDaniel beat Blackjack Lanza

AWA Light Heavyweight Champion Mike Graham beat Buck Zumhofe

Greg Gagne beat John Tolos

 

Another major town with the Mad Dog/Baron v. Sheiks match in a key position on the card. Another show where an attendance figure would have been nice.

 

6/15/83 Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada

Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke beat Nick Bockwinkel & Blackjack Lanza

Ken Patera beat Wahoo McDaniel

Rick Martel beat Jerry Blackwell dq

Bobby Heenan beat Buck Zumhofe

 

Random Manitoba spot show town. Dauphin is a good bit away from Winnipeg and almost seems out of the way for an AWA show.

 

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

 

Even for the Summer this is a really poor weak figure for Winnipeg, especially with a double main event that on paper should have done better. You almost wonder if the six-man had been replaced by a straight tag title match if this might have done better.

 

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

 

Really crazy line up for a Rosemont show. Anyone who wants to argue that Blackwell was riding other's coattails as a draw should look at this show :) Patera v. Brunzell was a way to stoke the flames of the pending Flyers v. Sheiks explosion, while Blackwell worked up top with a long time rival.

 

June 20, 1983 in Memphis, TN

Mid-South Coliseum drawing 6,525

 

Don Anderson & Kin Timbs beat The A-Team.

Tom Pritchard beat The Giant Rebel (Stan Frazier).

Stagger Lee & Dutch Mantel beat Porkchop Cash & Dream Machine.

Mad Dog pinned Bobby Eaton in a "mad dog" match.

The Rock-n-Roll Express beat The Grapplers in a "Texas death" match.

The Fabulous Ones NC The Moondogs (Rex & Spot) in a "lumberjack" match.

Jerry Lawler beat Man Mountain Link to win the Southern Title.

Jerry Lawler beat CWA International Champ Ken Patera via DQ.

 

Good figure for MSC in 83 behind two Lawler title matches - one of which was against Patera.

 

6/25/83 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

Mad Dog Vavhon & Baron Von Raschke beat Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Wahoo McDaniel 16:02

Jim Brunzell beat Blackjack Lanza 11:58

Bobby Heenan beat Buck Zumhofe 15:11

Rick Martel beat Chris Markoff 12:23

Mr. Saito beat Tom Stone 9:06

Brad Rheingans beat Jake Milliman (sub Greg Gagne) 10:31

 

Sheiks finish up with Mad Dog/Baron on the eve of their biggest match up to that point. They do it in the main event.

 

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

 

Sheiks have finished up the bulk of the Mad Dog/Baron feud and win the AWA title. The Flyers were real anchors of the AWA tag division so the fact that they put the belts on them at all is a big deal. 14k is very strong attendance for an AWA show, though not a sellout in MN. Things would go up for the Sheiks v. Flyers in that building.

 

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

 

Very good number, though not as blowaway as the top shows did in SLC. Patera and Mad Dog in a singles match was fresh as that was usually Blackwell's opponent when they went the singles route.

 

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

 

Bad number on a show with no Bock or Flyers tag match. Still, Verne steps in the for the Baron and they don't pop a house which tells you that Winnipeg in the Summer was pretty fucking awful.

 

7/16/83 San Francisco, CA

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Wahoo McDaniel dq

Mad Dog Vachon beat Jerry Blackwell dq

Jim Brunzell & Greg Gagne & Rick Martel beat Ken Patera & Bobby Heenan & Jerry Blackwell

 

Sort of odd that Heenan was thrown in as a tag partner for the Sheiks here. May have been a light crew on the West Coast swing.

 

7/23/83 Chicago, IL @ UIC Pavilion

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Wahoo McDaniel

Mad Dog Vachon & Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera & Sheik Adnan when Vachon pinned Blackwell

Mad Dog Vachon vs Sheik Adnan cancelled

Dick the Bruiser beat Blackjack Lanza 10:35

Mr. Saito beat Buck Zumhofe 11:30

David Shults beat Baron Von Raschke (sub Rick Martel)

Bill White drew Brad Rheingans 15:00

 

Interesting that they run the UIC here and not the Rosemont. This was a weird period for them where they appeared to be bouncing around in Chicago. Sheiks v. Flyers/Mad Dog would have been a really strong Semi-main.

 

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

 

Interesting that the Bruiser was brought in for Mad Dog in the Civic Center. Also wonder if this date is right as a double shot for Patera here, then turning around and having to work Memphis the next day would have been insane.

 

July 25, 1983 in Memphis, TN

Mid-South Coliseum drawing ???

 

Tommy Gilbert & The Jaguar beat The Giant Rebel & Sweet Daddy O.

Buddy Landel beat Mad Dog.

Dream Machine & Porkchop Cash drew Spike Huber & Tom Pritchard.

Mid-America Champ Dutch Mantel beat Frankie Laine.

Stagger Lee beat Man Mountain Link in a "loser leaves town" match.

The Rock-n-Roll Express & Bobby Eaton beat The Moondogs (Rex & Spot) & Jimmy Hart.

Jerry Lawler beat Ken Patera to win the CWA International Title.

Jerry Lawler & Austin Idol beat CWA Tag Champs The Assassins via DQ.

The Fabulous Ones beat The Grapplers to win the Southern Tag Title.

 

Lawler wins back the title in a match that is third from the top.

 

August 1, 1983 in Memphis, TN

Mid-South Coliseum drawing 7,000

 

The Giant Rebel beat Sweet Daddy O via forfeit.

The Rock-n-Roll Express, Eddie & Tommy Gilbert beat Ken Timbs, Duke Myers, Porkchop Cash, & Dream Machine.

Buddy Landel beat Steve O.

Mid-America Champ Dutch Mantel beat Tom Pritchard.

The Moondogs (Rex & Spot) beat Stagger Lee & Bobby Eaton.

CWA Tag Champs The Assassins beat Jerry Lawler & Austin Idol in a "no DQ" match.

The Grapplers beat The Fabulous Ones.

CWA International Champ Jerry Lawler beat Ken Patera. Lou Thesz was the special referee.

 

Another Lawler/Patera return. This is a good number for MSC in 83. Doubt Thesz as ref made that much of a difference, but it may tell you that the storyline was "hot."

 

8/10/83 Las Vegas, NV

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Wahoo McDaniel

Non Title

Baron Von Raschke & Mad Dog Vachon beat AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell

Rick Martel beat Mr Saito

Jim Brunzell beat John Tolos

David Shults beat Buck Zumhofe

 

Interesting to see the number of Non-Title matches the champs are dropping to Mad Dog and friends.

 

8/12/83 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena

AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Brad Rheingans

Jim Brunzell beat Sheik Adnan

Rick Martel beat Mr. Saito dq

David Shults beat Buck Zumhofe

 

Weak challenger for Bock in Denver, so the tag champs are called on to headline with the rivals they feuded with pre-title win.

 

8/13/83 Colorado Springs, CO

Rick Martel & Mad Dog Vachon & Brad Rheingans beat Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan

 

Random as fuck Colorado Springs show. This is the only match listed. Strange.

 

August 15, 1983 in Memphis, TN

Mid-South Coliseum drawing 6,900

 

Dream Machine, Porkchop Cash, Galaxian #1, & The Prince of Darkness drew Tom Pritchard, The Jaguar, Tommy & Eddie Gilbert.

Adrian Street beat Don Anderson.

U.S. Junior Heavyweight Champ Tommy Rogers beat Frankie Laine.

Buddy Landel beat Dutch Mantel to win the Mid-America Title.

Bobby Eaton, Stagger Lee, & Terry Taylor beat The Moondogs (Rex & Spot) & Jimmy Hart.

Steve Keirn beat Jerry Blackwell.

The Rock-n-Roll Express beat Southern Tag Champs The Grapplers via DQ.

Ken Patera beat Jerry Lawler to win the CWA International Title.

The Assassins beat Jerry Lawler & Austin Idol to win the CWA Tag Title.

 

Hey, look who wins back the title! Funny to me that Lawler drops a belt and then wins a tag belt in the very next match. Yet another good number for MSC. Hard to say how much Patera has to do with that, but I'll touch on that a bit more as the year rolls along.

 

8/17/83 Brandon, Manitoba, Canada @ Keystone Centre

Hulk Hogan vs Ken Patera

Wahoo McDaniel & Baron Von Raschke vs Nick Bockwinkel & Blackjack Lanza

Jim Brunzell vs Sheik Adnan

Buck Zumhofe vs Bobby Heenan

 

Hogan pops back up. I assume he had been in Japan. Interesting that he re-emerges and goes straight to Patera on a random Brandon house show.

 

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

 

This is a solid number for Winnipeg, but you would hope for better with the returning Hogan. Wonder who the hell the Baron's partner was.

 

8/19/83 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena

AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke when Patera pinned Von Raschke

Hulk Hogan beat Mr Saito dq

David Shults beat Steve O (sub Rick Martel) in 15:28

Blackjack Lanza beat Tom Stone in 12:33

Note: Another listing has Hogan and Saito battling to a double disqualification

 

8/20/83 San Francisco, CA @ Cow Palace

AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke

Hulk Hogan beat Mr. Saito

Jim Brunzell beat Sheik Adnan

David Shults beat Buck Zumhofe

Steve O drew Bill White 20:00

 

Sheiks still working Mad Dog and Baron around the horn - in main events.

 

August 22, 1983 in Memphis, TN

Mid-South Coliseum drawing ???

 

Bruise Brother #1 beat Tommy Gilbert.

Bruise Brother #2 drew The Jaguar.

Susan Starr beat Judy Martin.

U.S. Junior Heavyweight Champ Tommy Rogers beat Adrian Street.

The Moondogs (Rex & Spot) beat Terry Taylor & Bobby Eaton.

Mid-America Champ Buddy Landel beat Stagger Lee.

Ken Patera & The Assassins beat Jimmy Valiant, Austin Idol, & Jerry Lawler.

 

Shame that we don't have an attendance figure here. This would be an interesting to test to see what drove numbers in Memphis, because the undercard is MUCH weaker here than it was on some of the other shows Patera was on, but the main event is really loaded.

 

8/27/83 Chicago, IL @ UIC Pavilion

Hulk Hogan beat Mr Saito dq

AWA Tag Team Champions Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera beat Mad Dog Vachon & Steve Olsonoski (sub Baron Von Raschke)

Wahoo McDaniel beat Blackjack Lanza

Non title

Bobby Heenan beat AWA Light Heavyweight champion Buck Zumhofe

Jim Brunzell no contest David Shults

Greg Gagne beat Bill White

Baron Von Raschke beat Chris Markoff (sub Bobby Colt)

 

I like how Bobby Colt no showing fucked up the semi-main event. Hilarious.

 

8/28/83 St Paul, MN @ Civic Center

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Wahoo McDaniel

Hulk Hogan beat Mr. Saito dq

AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Dino Bravo & Steve O

Jim Brunzell beat Bill White

David Shults beat Buck Zumhofe

Baron Von Raschke beat Chris Markoff

 

Hogan/Saito is now another A program or the territory. Bravo and Steve O are oddball tag title opponents for such a big show.

 

August 29, 1983 in Memphis, TN

Mid-South Coliseum drawing 7,743

 

The Jaguar beat Bruise Brother #1.

Spike Huber drew Bruiser Brother #2.

Dennis Condrey beat Don Anderson.

Tom Pritchard beat The Prince of Darkness via DQ.

Koko Ware beat Buddy Landel to win the Mid-America Title.

The Moondogs (Rex & Spot) beat Terry Taylor & Bobby Eaton in a "bone on a pole" match.

Jerry Lawler, Austin Idol, & Jimmy Valiant beat The Assassin & Ken Patera in a "no DQ" match.

 

Rematch from the previous show in the main event. Undercard is arguably not quite as weak, but it's not that strong - and it's the biggest available number we have from the Patera Memphis run. He's clearly not THE draw, but he looks to have been a strong foil for Lawler at the box office.

 

September 5, 1983 in Memphis, TN

Mid-South Coliseum drawing 6,696

 

Bruiser Brother #2 beat Jeff Young.

Bobby Fulton beat Frankie Laine.

The Jaguar, The Stray Cat, Bobby Fulton, & Spike Huber beat Dream Machine, Porkchop Cash, The Prince of Darkness, & Lucifer.

U.S. Junior Heavyweight Champ Tommy Rogers beat Carl Fergie.

The Rock-n-Roll Express beat Southern Tag Champs The Grapplers via DQ.

Buddy Landel beat Koko Ware to win the Mid-America Title. Eddie Marlin and Jimmy Hart were the special referees.

Bobby Eaton, Terry Taylor, & Tom Pritchard beat The Moondogs (Rex & Spot) & The Giant Rebel.

CWA Tag Champs The Assassins DCO The Fabulous Ones. As a result, the title was held-up.

Austin Idol beat Ken Patera to win the CWA International Title.

Bill Dundee beat Dutch Mantel.

Jerry Lawler beat Bill Dundee to win the vacant Southern Title.

 

Interesting. Dundee and Dutch are back and attendance is actually down some. Still a good number for MSC for the year. Pretty much a quadruple main event.

 

9/16/83 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena

Death match

Mad Dog Vachon beat Ken Patera

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Brad Rheingans dq

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Bill White & Blackjack Lanza 23:59

Mr. Saito beat Baron Von Raschke 16:49

David Shults beat Rick Martel 12:33

 

Cool twist here. Bock has a weak challenger in Rheingans so they go Death Match in the main event. Sheiks v. Mad Dog and friends had been a strong feud, so that definitely fit in a headlining slot.

 

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

 

This is a triple main event if I've ever seen one and yet Sheiks v. Flyers still went on last. This was basically the opening salvo in a feud that would get really hot for the company and would lead to the Sheiks being farmed out to multiple territories.

 

9/19/83 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Handicap Match

Hulk Hogan beat Mr. Saito & David Shults

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat AWA Tag team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell dq

Sheik Adnan drew Buck Zumhofe

Brad Rheingans beat Bill White

 

No AWA title match. SLC often had cards two strong main events and weak undercards that did big numbers.

 

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

 

Very good number for Winnipeg on the strength of a triple main event. You could easily argue that Sheiks v. Canadians was as big a factor as the AWA title match or Hogan. But the whole package up top probably made the show a hot ticket.

 

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+

 

Very strong number in the Civic Center, probably very close to a sellout. The title match was probably the weakest of the three big matches up top, but that is a pretty strong package deal.

 

10/15/83 Monroe, WI

AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Rick Martel & Steve Olsonoski

Hulk Hogan beat Mr Saito

David Shults no contest Jim Brunzell

Brad Rheingans beat Bill White

 

Random little house show main event.

 

10/16/83 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena

Hulk Hogan & Jim Brunzell beat Mr Saito & David Shults when Hogan pinned Saito

AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Rick Martel & Steve Olsonoski when Patera pinned Olsonoski

Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan COR in 6:23 when Heenan fled the ring

Tom Stone vs. Jim Brunzell was canceled

Brad Rheingans beat Bill White in 18:23

One Fan Gang notes originally Hulk was scheduled to face Saito & Shults in a handicap match but the promoters forced Hogan to take a partner and Hogan revealed Brunzell on TV the week prior to the card.

 

Interesting that Brunzell gets to work as Hogan's little buddy by demand of "promoters."

 

10/19/83 Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada

Non Title

Andre the Giant & Rick Martel beat AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell

Buck Zumhofe beat Sheik Adnan

Mad Dog Vachon beat Ray Stevens

Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan COR

 

Really cool main event to launch the return of Andre to the territory setting up for the always hot Battle Royal shows.

 

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

 

Huge figure for Winnipeg on a pretty stacked show.

 

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

 

Battle Royal and Andre are 2 for 2.

 

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

 

This is a great number for the Cow Palace. "Holy Shit" great for AWA at the Cow Palace during this era. I find it notable that Andre gets programmed opposite the Sheiks on a lot of these shows as well.

 

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

 

No Andre that I'm aware of, but this is a massive number for St. Paul. Martel and Mad Dog are a fun and unique opposition to mix things up.

 

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

 

Another huge number from the Battle Royal series. Martel and Mad Dog get their second shot.

 

10/29/83 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

Rick Martel won a 21 man Battle Royal

Order of elimination: 1-Bill White 2-Baron Von Raschke 3-Blackjack Lanza 4-Ray Stevens 5-Billy Robinson 6-Buck Zumhofe 7-Otto Wanz 8-Steve Olsonoski 9-Mad Dog Vachon 10-Jim Brunzell 11-Sheik Adnan Al Kaissie 12-Andre the Giant 13-Superstar Billy Graham 14-Jerry Blackwell 15-Hulk Hogan 16-Bobby Heenan 17-Greg Gagne 18-Ken Patera 19-Mr. Saito 20-Brad Rheingans.

Hulk Hogan beat David Shults dq

Non Title

Rick Martel & Mad Dog Vachon beat AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell

Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan via walkaway countout 14:12

Billy Robinson beat Ray Stevens in 13:20

Jim Brunzell beat Bill White in 13:10

 

10/30/83 Stevens Point, WI @ Quandt Fieldhouse

Andre the Giant won a 16 man battle Royal for $25,000

Non Title

Mad Dog Vachon & Rick Martel beat AWA Tag team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell

David Shults beat Steve Olsonoski (sub Baron Von Raschke)

Jim Brunzell beat Bill White

Mr. Saito drew Brad Rheingans

Billy Robinson beat Sheik Adnan

Other battle royal participants were Jerry Blackwell, Rick Martel, Billy Robinson, Otto Wanz, Jim Brunzell, Brad Rheingans, Bill White, Mad Dog Vachon, David Shults, Baron Von Raschke (replaced by Steve O), Superstar Billy Graham, Mr. Saito, Bobby Heenan (replaced by Buck Zumhofe), Ken Patera and Sheik Adnan

 

Martel/Mad Dog have become default semi-main for the Battle Royal series. No clue where Stevens Point is, but this seems like a big show for a non-A town.

 

10/30/83 Monroe, WI

Andre the Giant won the 15 Man Battle Royal.

Andre The Giant beat Jerry Blackwell dq

Rick Martel beat Ken Patera

Sheik Adnan beat Baron Von Raschke

Brad Rheingans beat Sgt Goulet

Steve Olsonoski drew Tom Lintz

 

Another meaty card for a smaller spot show.

 

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

 

Another massive figure in a big building. Hogan/Flyers v. Sheiks is a really huge main event battle royal or not.

 

11/5/83 Rockford, IL @ Boylan High School

Andre the Giant won a 20 Man Battle Royal

Order of elimination: 1-Zumhofe 2-Sheik Adnan 3-Markoff 4-Rheingans 5-Stevens 6-White 7-Robinson 8-Wanz 9-Vachon 10-Gagne 11-Heenan 12-Blackwell 13-Brunzell 14-Superstar Billy Graham 15-Hogan 16-Shults 17-Martel 18-Saito 19-Patera

Non Title

Rick Martel & Mad Dog Vachon beat AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell

Hulk Hogan beat David Shults

Mr Saito beat Buck Zumhofe

Jim Brunzell beat Superstar Billy Graham dq

Billy Robinson beat Bill White

 

Martel and Mad Dog back as challengers directly underneath the battle royal.

 

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 really good number for Winnipeg with an absolutely massive main event as you have all the top stars other than Bock loaded up in that match.

 

11/11/83 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena

Andre the Giant beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq when Bobby Heenan interfered

Handicap Match

Hulk Hogan beat David Shults & Mr Saito when Hogan pinned Saito in 11:54

Ken Patera beat Rick Martel (sub Greg Gagne) via pin in 13:11

Superstar Billy Graham dcor Billy Robinson in 9:21

Blackjack Lanza beat Bill White via pin in 8:52

 

This was supposed to be Sheik v. Flyer single, but was largely incidental anyhow.

 

11/12/83 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena

Andre the Giant won a 15 man battle royal

(Order of elimination) Rick Martel, Hulk Hogan, Billy Robinson, Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie, Tom Stone, Otto Wanz, Superstar Billy Graham, Buck Zumhofe, Baron Von Raschke, Steve Olsonoski, Jim Brunzell, Jerry Blackwell, David Shults, Ken Patera.

Jim Brunzell (sub Mad Dog Vachon) & Baron Von Raschke & Rick Martel beat Ken Patera & Sheik Adnan & Jerry Blackwell when Martel pinned Patera

Hulk Hogan no contest David Shults

Billy Graham beat Steve Olsonoski (sub Jim Brunzell) via pin

Buck Zumhofe beat Tom Stone (sub Ray Stevens) via pin

 

Green Bay gets an oddball face team v. Sheiks underneath the battle royal.

 

11/20/83 Chicago, IL

Jim Brunzell beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq

Non Title

Greg Gagne & Rick Martel beat AWA Tag Team Champions Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera

Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan

Mr. Saito & David Shults beat Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke

Superstar Billy Graham beat Steve Olsonoski

Billy Robinson beat Chris Markoff

 

Brunzell getting a title shot here makes sense. He was hot with the Flyers. Martel was a good sub and had worked v. Sheiks around the horn with Mad Dog. Not a super strong show in the absence of Hogan, but one that could have done a solid number.

 

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

 

Top two matches here are very strong. This is another big show at St. Paul all though it's not an off the charts great number. Still Flyers v. Sheiks is heating up.

 

11/25/83 St Louis, MO

NWA Champion Ric Flair beat David Von Erich

AWA tag team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Dick the Bruiser & 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 & Velvet McIntyre beat Scott Farris & Peggy Lee

 

Sheiks first farm out mission as they return to a territory they both have had huge success in (well, Blackwell never left but still) to defend their belts v. two old men with part ownership in the territory.

 

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

 

This sounds like a bad number for San Fran, but might have actually been decent considering how poorly that town was for the AWA for a big chunk of the time.

 

November 28, 1983 in Memphis, TN

Mid-South Coliseum drawing ???

 

The Grappler beat Tom Pritchard.

The Jaguar beat The Angel.

The Moondogs (Rex & Spot), The A-Team, & Dennis Condrey beat Robert Gibson, Bobby Eaton, Art Crews, Stagger Lee, & Giant Frazier.

Terry Taylor beat Buddy Landel to win the Mid-America Title.

The Fabulous Ones beat Porkchop Cash & Dream Machine to win the Southern Tag Title.

Ricky Morton beat U.S. Junior Heavyweight Champ Bill Dundee via DQ.

Dutch Mantel beat Norvell Austin via DQ.

Southern Champ Jerry Lawler beat Ken Patera.

 

Patera comes back to Memphis for a Southern title match v. Lawler. We don't have a figure but it is important to note that after Patera left the territory numbers dropped dramatically and they were doing several shows in the 3-4k range. Again not saying he was a massive draw, but this seems like a case where he was brought back because he had had more success v. Lawler than what they were running at the time.

 

12/4/83 Las Vegas, NV @ Showboat Sports Pavilion

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel vs Rick Martel

AWA Tag Team Champions Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera vs Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell

Baron Von Raschke vs Mr Saito

David Shults vs Brad Rheingans

Superstar Billy Graham vs Steve Olsonoski

 

Pretty strong double main event for the Showboat.

 

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

 

Okish number in Winnipeg. Disappointing for a Canadian getting a title match.

 

12/9/83 St Louis, MO

David Von Erich vs Harley Race

Dick the Bruiser & Rick Martel beat AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell dq

Bob Orton Jr vs Rufus R Jones

Austin Idol vs Buddy Landell

Ron Ritchie vs Paul Orndorff

Buzz Tyler & Mark Stuart vs MEB & 666

Paul Kelly vs Bobby Fulton

 

This time the St. Louis challenge for the Sheiks is Bruiser and a young gun colleague of theirs from the AWA. Worth mentioning that David Von Erich was on top of both of these cards.

 

12/10/83 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Rick Martel

AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell vs Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke

Greg Gagne vs Mr Saito

Jim Brunzell vs David Shults

Billy Graham beat Steve Olsonoski by submission in 18:14

Billy Robinson vs Bill White

 

12/11/83 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell dq

Bunkhouse Match

Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan via pin

Superstar Billy Graham drew Billy Robinson

David Shults beat Baron Von Raschke via pin in 11:39

Mr Saito beat Rick Martel via pin in 11:34

 

Interesting that Baron and Mad Dog reemerge for a shot in Milwaukee. Flyers v. Sheiks headlining in Green Bay is a sign of things to come as they would do a huge number in that town soon.

 

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

 

In the UIC this is pretty close to a sellout I think. Certainly a strong number if nothing else. Wonder where Brunzell was. Talent is really spread around on those top three matches.

 

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

 

Big time number for the Christmas show in St. Paul. That Sheiks multi-man tag is pretty fucking epic and would have been right up there with the headlliner.

 

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

 

Even with Stevens in the main, San Fran is not going to do huge business.

 

12/28/83 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena

Baron Von Raschke & Rick Martel & Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Sheik Adnan & Mr Saito & Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera when Gagne pinned Sheik Adnan in 15:56

Bunkhouse Match

Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan via pin in 9:09

Billy Robinson beat Superstar Billy Graham via pin in 12:03

Brad Rheingans beat Steve Olsonoski via pin

Jesse Ventura beat Buck Zumhofe via pin in 15:25

 

Traveling 8-man hits the road again.

 

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

 

Last show of the year for Patera is a decent drawing show in Milwaukee v. old rivals.

 

 

If 82 was a year where Patera was a gatekeeper it carried over to 83, albeit in a more clear way. The AWA had more direction for Patera and it shows up in the results. Patera v. Hogan, Wahoo and Lawler all led directly into challenger roles for those guys v. Bock and were presented on the top of cards themselves. The short lived Ventura team seemed fairly hot and got some big matches during their run. By the time the Sheiks started, Patera actually seemed like the hot commodity he was presented as. Sheiks best run would be to come in 84, but they were already anchoring and co-anchoring shows v. a variety of teams, in super heated environments. On top of this Patera had a run in Memphis that appears to have had a positive effect on business there and is another notch in his belt. By years end The Sheiks were showing up in St. Louis in key spots and were geared to take it to the next level in 84.

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1984

 

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 figure I've ever seen for an AWA show in Vegas and may in fact be off as I'm not sure the Showboat can even hold that many. Still this would be a good start to the year for Patera.

 

1/5/84 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell dq

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Dino Bravo

Mr. Saito & Jesse Ventura beat Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke

Billy Robinson beat Buck Zumhofe

Blackjack Lanza beat Superstar Billy Graham

Brad Rheingans beat Iron Duke

Att: 4,012

 

Weak number for Winnipeg behind two matches that you would think would get people to the building.

 

1/6/84 St Louis, MO

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 Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Dick the Bruiser & 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 & Tiger Mask beat Roger Kirby & Scott Farris

 

Sheiks farmed out to St. Louis here and wrestle two vets on a pretty stacked show. Also a show with a lot of no shows for a St. Louis show.

 

1/8/84 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena

Greg Gagne & The Crusher & Jim Brunzell & Baron Von Raschke beat Mr. Saito & Sheik Adnan & Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell when Brunzell pinned Adnan

Jesse Ventura beat Buck Zumhofe

Brad Rheingans drew Billy Robinson 20:00

Blackjack Lanza beat Superstar Graham in 12:57

 

Another stacked eight man tag in a main event on a key loop town.

 

1/16/84 Memphis, TN @ Mid South Coliseum

No time Limit, No dq Match, Losers Leave Town

Southern Tag Team Champions Fabulous Ones vs The Moondogs

AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Crusher Blackwell vs Rock and Roll Express

Southern Champion Jerry Lawler vs Killer Karl Krupp

International Champion Austin Idol vs Sabu

No Time Limit, No dq Match

Mid American Champion Randy Savage beat Dutch Mantel

King Konga vs Stagger Lee

Zambuie Express vs Art Crews & Jerry Gray

Bruise Brothers vs A Team

Terry Gibbs vs Mr Ebony

 

Sheiks farmed out to Memphis on an absolutely stacked show. Wish we had an attendance number here, but more than that I want to see the fucking Sheiks v. RnR's yesterday.

 

1/20/84 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Blackjack Lanza

AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell no contest Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell

Jesse Ventura beat Ray Stevens

Mr. Saito drew Billy Robinson

Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan

 

Flyers v. Sheiks still going strong around the loop.

 

1/21/84 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera & Mr Saito beat The Crusher & Blackjack Lanza & Jim Brunzell dq

Billy Robinson beat Bobby Heenan

att: 2,782

 

Shit number in Milwaukee but who knows how thin this show was based on this limited result.

 

1/24/84 Memphis, TN @ Mid South Coliseum

Jerry Lawler & Austin Idol beat AWA Tag Team Champions Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera dq

In Dutch loses, he will leave town.

Dutch Mantell beat Randy Savage to win Mid American Title

Southern Tag Team Champions Zambuie Express beat Fabulous Ones

Jos Leduc beat Tommy Gilbert

King Konga beat Art Crews

Rick Rude beat Jerry Grey

Rock and Roll Express & Mr. Ebony & Koko Ware beat Sabu & Karl Krupp & Porkchop Cash & Dream Machine

Terry Gibbs beat A Team I

att: 3,737

 

Not a good number for MSC, but a number that was pretty common during this period. Main event looks great on paper. The same day as this the AWA ran a show that did very well in SLC which is the most unheralded AWA town despite being a consistently hot town.

 

1/27/84 Rockford, IL @ Boylan High School

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Brad Rheingans

Mr Saito & Jesse Ventura beat Jim Brunzell & Greg Gagne dq

The Crusher beat Ken Patera

Jerry Blackwell beat Steve Olsonoski

Steve Regal drew Billy Robinson

 

Neat aside here as Patera works a legend on the most common spot show town.

 

1/29/84 Chicago, IL @ UIC Pavilion

Non Title Bunkhouse Match

Blackjack Lanza beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel

The Crusher & Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Mad Dog Vachon beat Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera & Mr Saito & Jesse Ventura

Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe

Billy Robinson no contest Ray Stevens

Steve Olsonoski beat Nacho Berrera

Sam Darrow beat Blackie Guzman

 

Lanza v. Bock was booked around Heenan's past with Lanza as I recall and seemed like a hot feud. The loaded up eight man strikes again.

 

1/31/84 San Francisco, CA @ Cow Palace

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Brad Rheingans

The Crusher & Mad Dog Vachon beat Mr. Saito & Jesse Ventura

Greg Gagne vs Sheik Adnan was cancelled when both men no showed.

Ken Patera drew Billy Robinson 15:00

Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe

att: 1,000

 

San Fran remains dead.

 

2/2/84 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Mad Dog Vachon no contest Mr. Saito

The Crusher no contest Jerry Blackwell

Dino Bravo & Blackjack Lanza beat Nick Bockwinkel & Billy Robinson

Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe

Ken Patera drew Brad Rheingans

Jim Brunzell beat Jesse Ventura

Att: 3,684

 

Another weak number, but this is a show almost designed to fail as you have a bunch of stars but all spread out in odd match ups. The "Hogan is gone" hangover may be hurting things here too.

 

2/17/84 St Louis, MO

NWA Champion Ric Flair beat Barry Windham

Wahoo McDaniel beat Harley Race dq

Dusty Rhodes beat Luke Graham

AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Buck Robley & Ron Ritchie

Dick Slater beat King Cobra

Blackjack Mulligan beat Bulldog Bob Brown

Grapplers beat Mark Youngblood & Jay Youngblood

 

Sheiks get another title defense in St. Louis albeit against a bizarre makeshift team in the mid-card.

 

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

 

2/26/84 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena evening

Mr. Saito & Jesse Ventura beat The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke

Blackjack Mulligan beat Jerry Blackwell

Harley Race beat Blackjack Lanza

Ken Patera beat Steve O

Jim Brunzell beat Steve Regal

Brad Rheingans beat Chris Markoff

 

Interesting here as we have a double duty day. Blackwell is clearly positioned as a draw, whereas Patera is used as a mid-card talent. Why they weren't used as a team on either show I don't know.

 

2/27/84 Phoenix, AZ @ Veteran's Memorial Coliseum

Mr. Saito & Jesse Ventura beat The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke

Blackjack Mulligan & Blackjack Lanza beat AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell dq

Harley Race beat Steve O

Brad Rheingans beat Chris Markoff

Steve Regal beat Eddie Sullivan

 

Phoenix was not a regular stop for the AWA at all. Interesting that they ran a Blackjacks reunion match for the belts out there.

 

3/1/84 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Dino Bravo beat Billy Robinson dq

Blackjack Mulligan & Blackjack Lanza beat Harley Race & Ken Patera

Mr. Saito & Jesse Ventura beat Jim Brunzell & Baron Von Raschke

No Time limit

Jerry Blackwell beat The Crusher

Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal

Steve O beat Chris Markoff

Att: 4,568

 

Mild uptick for Winnipeg and it's not an awful number, but you expect more. The Sheiks are still being kept apart and bringing in Harley here as Patera's one off partner seems odd.

 

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

 

This is the tag team gimmick show they would often run and it sells out a town that had been struggling.

 

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+

 

Similar type show in Chicago as they go back to the Rosemont and do a massive number. Sheiks as champs are a big part of these shows of course.

 

3/10/84 Rockford, IL @ Boylan High School

AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat The Crusher & Mad Dog Vachon

Baron Von Raschke beat Mr. Saito

Jim Brunzell no contest Jesse Ventura

Billy Robinson beat Steve Regal

Steve O beat Chris Markoff

 

This "v. the legends" type match amazes me on a smaller show though it probably shouldn't.

 

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

 

Gimmick comes to Green Bay and does a massive number, probably the biggest I've ever seen from an AWA show in Green Bay. Sheiks v. Flyers is the top dog match on this show.

 

3/12/84 Montreal, Quebec, Canada @ Forum

Rick Martel no contest Dino Bravo

Nick Bockwinkel beat Billy Robinson

AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Leo Burke & The Destroyer

Jim Brunzell beat Blackjack Mulligan

Greg Gagne beat Bob Boucher

Richard Charland beat Baron Von Raschke

Gino Brito Jr beat Tito Senza

 

Sheiks go to Montreal and are positioned in a fairly strong slot on the card.

 

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

Note: The original line-up had Bockwinkel defending the title against Brunzell, Tsuruta taking on Brad Rheingans and the Blackjacks against Heenan and Steve Regal.

 

Not as loaded up, but still a tag gimmick show. SLC was a great town for the AWA, but this is a great number even for that town and Gagne/Crusher v. Sheiks was clearly the top match on this show.

 

3/18/84 Sun Prarie, WI @ Sun Prarie High School

The Crusher beat Ken Patera

 

Another random legend v. Patera match.

 

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

 

Attendance shoots way up in Winnipeg. Patera is working against Gagne as a representation of the broader Sheiks/Flyers/Crusher matches. Blackwell is up top

 

3/23/84 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena

Mr. Saito & Jesse Ventura & Jerry Blackwell beat The Crusher & Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke

Blackjack Mulligan beat Bobby Heenan

Greg Gagne beat Ken Patera

Steve Regal beat Brad Rhenigans

Steve O beat Kevin Kelly

 

See above.

 

3/24/84 San Francisco, CA @ Cow Palace

Jesse Ventura & Steve Regal (sub Bobby Heenan) & Mr. Saito beat The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke & Buck Zumhofe

Blackjack Mulligan & Blackjack Lanza beat AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell dq

Wendy Richter & Donna Christanello beat Princess Victoria & Despina Montagus

Greg Gagne & Kevin Kelly beat Steve Regal & Steve O

Kevin Kelly beat Guy Lambert

att: 900

 

Man was San Fran dead. No fucking clue why Verne kept that dream alive.

 

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+

 

Insanely great number for St. Paul - but Patera is on the outside of the cage. Hard to say what was going on at this point with The Sheiks as they appear to be pulling back even though they were one of the AWA's top acts.

 

3/26/84 Montreal, Quebec, Canada @ Paul Sauve Centre

AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Rick Martel & Leo Burke

Louis Laurence beat Tito Senza dq

Bob Boucher beat Antonio Ricco

 

On the other hand they main event v. Canadian heros in Montreal.

 

3/30/84 St Louis, MO

Missouri State Champion Harley Race beat Wahoo McDaniel

Butch Reed & 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 & Pat Kelly

The Grapplers beat Ted Oates & Les Thornton

 

...and work a strong second from the top in st. Louis.

 

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

 

Fucking massive number for Milwaukee with a gimmick crazy main event - Patera is not in it. They are clearly already distancing Patera from Blackwell. Patera v. Gagne would have been a meaningful match, but it's kind of amazing to see how quickly Patera was pulled back from his own partner here who he had been having a lot of success with. And this was before the incident with Saito still.

 

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 excellent figure in Chicago and this time the Sheiks are in full effect and prominently placed on the card.

 

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

 

And of course SLC stays red hot for the ultimate Legends v. evil Sheiks match. No matter how you look at it this is a hot run for the AWA, though Patera is clearly a distant second behind Blackwell in terms of who means more in the eyes of Verne.

 

4/5/84 Watertown, WI @ Watertown High School Gym

The Crusher beat Mr Saito (sub Jesse Ventura)

Blackjack Mulligan beat Ken Patera dq

Fabulous Ones beat Steve Regal & Larry Zbyszko

Brad Rheingans beat Tom Stone (sub Mr Saito)

Kevin Kelly beat Buck Zumhofe

 

Patera goes solo v. Mulligan this time on another random spot show.

 

4/7/84 Rockford, IL @ Boylan High School

Cage Match

The Crusher & Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke beat Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan

Blackjack Mulligan beat Nick Bockwinkel dq

Curt Hennig (sub Greg Gagne) drew Billy Robinson

Bobby Heenan beat Buck Zumhofe

Brad Rheingans beat Leroy Redbone

 

This is a really big match for one of the non-A towns, though Rockford was a consistent stop for them.

 

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 figure for GB as this is technically over capacity. Patera/Adnan rarely teamed and this match with the Fabs would have been an extremely unique match.

 

4/10/84 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Nick Bockwinkel vs Blackjack Mulligan

The Crusher & Mad Dog Vachon & Greg Gagne beat Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera & Sheik Adnan

 

It's SLC so you figure this did good business.

 

4/13/84 St Louis, MO

NWA Champion Ric Flair beat Harley Race

Chris Adams beat Jimmy Garvin

Blackjack Lanza no contest Ken Patera

The Grapplers beat Jim Brunzell & Steve Olsonoski

Dick the Bruiser beat Luke Graham

Ron Ritchie beat Roger Kirby

Jerry & Ted Oates beat Scott Farris & TG Stone

 

No Sheiks in St. Louis this time as Patera works a solo match v. an AWA rival. Not a meaningless match, but not an A match either.

 

4/15/84 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center (evening)

Winner to get title shot against AWA Champion Jumbo Tsuruta

Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel

Baron Von Raschke handcuffed to Sheik Adnan

The Crusher beat Ken Patera

Jesse Ventura & Mr. Saito beat Fabulous Ones dq

Blackjack Mulligan beat Jerry Blackwell

Billy Robinson beat Larry Zbyszko

Brad Rheingans beat Steve Regal

Curt Hennig beat Chris Markoff

Steve O beat Kevin Kelly

att: 6,000

 

The first really poor St. Paul show. This was during the beginning of the WWF invasion as I recall. Patera v. Crusher is in a major venue but doesnt have much behind it. Pretty strong show from top to bottom.

 

4/19/84 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Stan Lane & Steve Keirn beat Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie & Ken Patera

Cage match

Mad Dog Vachon & The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke beat Jesse Ventura & Jerry Blackwell & Mr. Saito

Nick Bockwinkel beat Blackjack Mulligan dq

Curt Hennig drew Steve Regal

Billy Robinson beat Brad Rheingans dq

Larry Zbyszko beat Buddy Lane

Att: 3,808

 

Not a good figure for Winnipeg, behind a rare Patera/Adnan match.

 

4/21/84 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke

Fabulous Ones beat Jake Milliman & Jesse Ventura

Blackjack Mulligan beat Nick Bockwinkel

Mad Dog Vachon no contest Mr. Saito

Curt Hennig drew Larry Zbyszko

att: 3,168

 

Half full/half empty in Milwaukee. The AWA is in between feuds/programs and it shows.

 

4/23/84 Montreal, Quebec, Canada @ Forum

Abdullah the Butcher & Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Tony Parisi & Dino Bravo & Rick Martel

Mad Dog Vachon & Raymond Rougeau beat Bob Boucher & Gilles The Fish Poisson

Handicap Match

Gino Brito Sr. beat Frenchy Martin & Mad Dog Lefebvre

Nick Bockwinkel beat Domenic DeNucci

Richard Charland beat Leo Burke dq

Bob & Rocky De La Serra beat The Masked Marvel & Armand Rougeau

Rick Valentine beat Louis Laurence

Mike Shaw beat Antonio Ricco

 

Look at that heel team. One of the last major matches the Sheiks would have.

 

4/26/84 Las Vegas, NV @ Showboat Sports Pavilion

Mad Dog Vachon & The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke beat Bobby Heenan & Mr. Saito & Jesse Ventura

Blackjack Mulligan beat Jerry Blackwell

Fabulous Ones beat Sheik Adnan & Ken Patera

Curt Hennig drew Larry Zbyszko

 

Another Fabs v. Adnan/Patera match as Blackwell continues to branch out.

 

4/28/84 San Francsico, CA @ Cow Palace

AWA Champion Jumbo Tsuruta no contest Nick Bockwinkel

Cage match

The Crusher & Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke beat Jesse Ventura & Mr. Saito & Bobby Heenan

Fabulous Ones beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan

Blackjack Mulligan beat Ken Patera

Curt Hennig drew Larry Zbyszko

Jerry Monti beat Bob Adonis

att: 2,000

 

Amazingly this is actually up for the Bay Area.

 

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

 

Another very good show in Chicago, but Patera is down the card. The Blackjack match is about as good a fifth from the top match as you'll find, but it's still the mid-card and at this point is clear that boulder or not Patera is a leg behind the AWA big dogs.

 

5/5/84 Rockford, IL @ Boylan High School

Billy Robinson beat AWA Champion Jumbo Tsuruta dq

AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke

Princess Victoria & Velvet McIntyre beat Leilani Kai (sub Wendi Richter) & Despina Montagas

Brad Rheingans beat Larry Zbyszko

Curt Hennig drew Steve Regal 15:00

 

They work the legends again in Rockford.

 

5/6/84 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena

The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke beat Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell to win AWA tag title when Crusher pinned Patera in 14:08

Nick Bockwinkel beat AWA Champion Jumbo Tsuruta dq in 15:12

Princess Victoria & Velvet McIntyre (sub Despina Montagus) beat Wendi Richter & Donna Christentello when McIntyre pinned Christentello in 18:14

Brad Rheingans beat Steve Regal via pin in 14:38

Billy Robinson beat Larry Zbyszko via pin in 6:52

Curt Hennig beat Jake Milliman (sub Tom Stone) via pin

A-3,452

 

Probably the last match of the Sheiks run, with the old timers taking Patera down for the fall. IIRC the boulder incident with Saito had just occurred.

 

 

5/18/84 Las Vegas, NV @ Showboat Sports Pavilion

AWA Tag Team Champions The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke vs Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera

 

Listed as the last figure with the two teams, but my guess is it was just advertised and never occurred. Patera was on a run with NJPW at the tim.

 

 

312 14.06.1984 Masa Saito, Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu defeat Adrian Adonis, Dick Murdoch & Ken Patera (10:45)

NJPW @ Kuramae Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan

TV-Show

313 12.06.1984 Seiji Sakaguchi & Tatsumi Fujinami defeat John Quinn & Ken Patera

NJPW @ Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan

Event

314 11.06.1984 Ken Patera defeats Animal Hamaguchi

NJPW @ Nagoya, Aichi, Japan

TV-Show

315 07.06.1984 Ken Patera & Otto Wanz defeat Animal Hamaguchi & Kuniaki Kobayashi (7:59)

NJPW @ Miyagi Prefectural Sports Center in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

Event

316 02.06.1984 Ken Patera defeats Yoshiaki Yatsu by Count Out

NJPW @ Uwajima, Ehime, Japan

Event

317 01.06.1984 Dick Murdoch, John Quinn & Ken Patera defeat Kantaro Hoshino, Osamu Kido & Yoshiaki Fujiwara

NJPW @ Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan

TV-Show

318 31.05.1984 John Quinn, Ken Patera & The Masked Superstar defeat Kuniaki Kobayashi, Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu

NJPW @ Kochi, Japan

Event

319 29.05.1984 IWGP League 1984: Antonio Inoki defeats Ken Patera

NJPW @ Chiba, Japan

Event

320 27.05.1984 IWGP League 1984: Tatsumi Fujinami defeats Ken Patera

NJPW @ Tokyo, Japan

Event

321 24.05.1984 Ken Patera & The Masked Superstar defeat Animal Hamaguchi & Yoshiaki Yatsu

NJPW @ Osaka, Japan

TV-Show

322 23.05.1984 Animal Hamaguchi, Masa Saito & Riki Choshu defeat John Quinn, Ken Patera & Masked Superstar

NJPW @ Maebashi, Gunma, Japan

Event

323 21.05.1984 Adrian Adonis, Andre The Giant & Ken Patera defeat Animal Hamaguchi, Masa Saito & Riki Choshu

NJPW @ Niigata, Japan

Event

324 18.05.1984 Ken Patera defeats Osamu Kido

NJPW @ Hiroshima, Japan

TV-Show

325 17.05.1984 IWGP League 1984: Dick Murdoch defeats Ken Patera

NJPW @ Nagasaki, Japan

Event

326 16.05.1984 Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Hulk Hogan & Ken Patera - Double Count Out

NJPW @ Saga, Japan

Event

327 15.05.1984 Dick Murdoch, Ken Patera & The Masked Superstar defeat Animal Hamaguchi, Kuniaki Kobayashi & Yoshiaki Yatsu (11:01)

NJPW @ Kumamoto Stadium in Kumamoto, Japan

Event

328 13.05.1984 Ken Patera & Otto Wanz defeat Animal Hamaguchi & Kuniaki Kobayashi

NJPW @ Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan

Event

329 11.05.1984 IWGP League 1984: Andre The Giant defeats Ken Patera (2:17)

NJPW @ Fukuoka International Convention Center in Fukuoka, Japan

 

I don't have the full cards for these so decided to list these outright in succession. What we really learn from this is that Patera was treated as at least SOMETHING of a big deal in NJPW, though probably not upper tier gajin. Still you could argue this was the last time Patera was a player of significance in a promotion that mattered. Some of these matches look pretty cool on paper too.

 

WWF @ Binghamton, NY - Broome County Arena - July 1984

George Steele defeated Jose Luis Rivera

Bob Orton Jr. defeated SD Jones

Ken Patera defeated Gama Singh

B. Brian Blair defeated Tiger Chung Lee

WWF IC Champion Tito Santana defeated the Iron Sheik

The Wild Samoans defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch via disqualification

Roddy Piper defeated Jimmy Snuka via count-out

 

WWF @ Utica, NY - War Memorial Auditorium - July 1984

George Steele defeated Jose Luis Rivera

Jesse Ventura defeated Gama Singh

Bob Orton Jr. defeated SD Jones

Ken Patera defeated B. Brian Blair via count-out

WWF IC Champion Tito Santana defeated the Iron Sheik

The Wild Samoans defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch via disqualification

Roddy Piper defeated Jimmy Snuka via count-out

 

These are the first two shows I have for Patera in the WWF during this run. Absent a date it's hard to say what the deal with these shows is.

 

WWF @ Poughkeepsie, NY - Mid-Hudson Civic Center - July 31, 1984

Championship Wrestling taping:

Debut taping in Poughkeepsie

Georgia Championship Wrestling - 8/4/84: The Wild Samoans defeated Robbie Parliament & Rene Goulet at 5:50 when Afa pinned Parliament following a double diving headbutt

Georgia Championship Wrestling - 8/4/84: Nikolai Volkoff (w/ Freddie Blassie) pinned SD Jones at 5:07 by hoising him up in a gorilla press and then dropping him across his knee

8/11/84 - included B. Brian Blair as a guest of Piper's Pit:

The Iron Sheik defeated Jose Luis Rivera via submission with the Camel Clutch at 4:50

Rocky Johnson pinned Charlie Fulton with a sunset flip at 5:52

WWF Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch defeated SD Jones & Jeff Lang at 5:14 when Adonis pinned Lang after a belly to back clothesline off the top double team

Ivan Putski pinned Ron Shaw at 2:54 with the Polish Hammer; during the bout, Brutus Beefcake appeared ringside (Beefcake's debut)

8/18/84 - included Sgt. Slaughter as a guest of Piper's Pit; featured Gene Okerlund presenting Wendi Richter with a new WWF Women's Title belt, with the Fabulous Moolah eventually coming out and attacking Richter:

Ken Patera pinned Billy Travis with an elbow drop at 4:46

Kamala (w/ Freddie Blassie & Friday) pinned Steve Lombardi at the 45-second mark with a splash; prior to the bout, Hulk Hogan appeared at ringside and gave encouragement to Lombardi

Greg Valentine defeated Mario Mancini via submission with the figure-4 at 2:12

WWF IC Champion Tito Santana pinned Dave Barbie at 5:57 with the flying forearm; during the bout, Brutus Beefcake appeared at ringside

8/25/84 - included Kamala, Freddie Blassie, & Friday as guests of Piper's Pit:

Brutus Beefcake pinned Jose Luis Rivera at 2:52 with a sit-down splash (Beefcake's in-ring debut)

The Spoiler defeated Jeff Lang via submission with a claw hold at 3:24; during the bout, David Wolff joined the commentary team of Vince McMahon & Tony Garea and announced that the Fabulous Freebirds were on their way to the WWF

9/1/84 - featured Nikolai Volkoff & Freddie Blassie as guests of Piper's Pit:

B. Brian Blair pinned Charlie Fulton at 6:30 with an abdominal stretch into a roll up

Jesse Ventura defeated Billy Travis via submission with the backbreaker at 4:53; David Wolff did guest commentary for the bout

Big John Studd pinned Jeff Lang at 1:58 with an elbow drop

 

Patera debuts on tv in the WWF strong.

 

WWF @ Utica, NY - August 1, 1984 (1,800)

Jesse Ventura defeated Gamma Singh

Ken Patera defeated B. Brian Blair

WWF IC Champion Tito Santana defeated the Iron Sheik

Bob Orton Jr. defeated SD Jones

WWF Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch defeated the Wild Samoans

George Steele defeated Jose Luis Rivera

Roddy Piper defeated Jimmy Snuka via count-out

 

This was pretty common for Patera at this point.

 

WWF @ Philadelphia, PA - Spectrum - August 4, 1984 (12,908)

Televised on the PRISM Network - featured Gorilla Monsoon & Dick Graham on commentary:

Bob Backlund pinned Salvatore Bellomo at 10:56 after hooking his legs between Bellomo's and forming a bridge; after the bout, the two men embraced out of respect (Backlund's last WWF match for 8 years)

Prime Time Wrestling - 6/25/85: Gamma Singh pinned Dave Barbie with a missile dropkick at 5:46

Mr. Fuji pinned Tiger Chung Lee at 14:33 after hitting two Vader Bombs

Andre the Giant defeated Big John Studd via count-out at 9:47 when Studd walked out of the match after grabbing the ring ropes to prevent Andre from bodyslamming him and then climbing out of hte ring

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned Greg Valentine with a clothesline and the legdrop at 11:18; after the bout, Valentine shoved referee Dick Kroll out of the ring (Hulkamania, Best of Hulkamania)

Championship Wrestling - 9/8/84: Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, & Buddy Roberts (w / David Wolff & Cyndi Lauper) defeated Ron Shaw, Rene Goulet, & Charlie Fulton at 5:12 when Gordy pinned Fulton with a powerbomb; the Fabulous Freebirds used Lynard Skynard's "Freebird" as their entrance music for the bout (the Freebirds' debut) (Legends of Wrestling)

The Haiti Kid pinned Dana Carpenter at 3:51 after Carpenter ran into the corner and Haiti moved out of the way

Jesse Ventura defeated Rocky Johnson via count-out at 4:46 when Johnson rolled to the floor, holding his right shoulder in pain, after sustaining a piledriver

Kamala (w/ Freddie Blassie & Friday) pinned Fred Marzino (sub. for Terry Daniels) at 3:10 with a splash to the back; after the bout, Blassie & Friday had to restrain Kamala fro climbing the top rope

Championship Wrestling - 9/8/84: Ken Patera pinned Steve Lombardi with a legdrop at 5:43

WWF IC Champion Tito Santana pinned the Iron Sheik at 7:51 with a small package; Freddie Blassie was the special referee for the bout but referee Joey Marella made the pinfall when Blassie was busy kicking trash out of the ring and ignoring Santana's cover

 

First big show for Patera in the WWF arena wise. He's put over big in a tv match but it's among the least relevant matches on the card.

 

WWF @ New Haven, CT - Coliseum - August 5, 1984

Princess Victoria & Velvet McIntyre defeated Peggy Lee & Desiree Peterson

Mr. Fuji defeated Tiger Chung Lee

Ken Patera defeated Tony Garea

Don Muraco defeated SD Jones

WWF IC Champion Tito Santana fought Bob Orton Jr. to a draw

Jesse Ventura defeated Ivan Putski

The Wild Samoans defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch via disqualification

 

WWF @ Grand Rapids, MI - August 5, 1984

Judy Martin defeated Desiree Peterson

David Schultz defeated Steve Lombardi

Brutus Beefcake defeated Salvatore Bellomo

Ken Patera defeated Samula

Tony Garea & SD Jones defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis via disqualification

Andre the Giant defeated Kamala via count-out

 

Can this date be right? I've heard of double shots but on paper this seems crazy.

 

WWF @ Steubenville, OH - St. John's Arena - August 7, 1984

SD Jones fought Moondog Spot to a draw

The Iron Sheik defeated Jimmy Jackson

Salvatore Bellomo defeated Moondog Rex via disqualification

George Steele defeated Tony Garea

Ken Patera defeated Jerry Valiant

The Wild Samoans defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis via disqualification

WWF IC Champion Tito Santana defeated Greg Valentine

 

WWF @ Altoona, PA - August 8, 1984

Moondog Rex defeated Joe Abbey

SD Jones defeated Moondog Spot

George Steele defeated Tony Garea

Ken Patera defeated Jerry Valiant

The Iron Sheik defeated Salvatore Bellomo

WWF Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch defeated the Wild Samoans

WWF IC Champion Tito Santana defeated Greg Valentine

 

Patera/Valiant is one of many irrelevant mid-card matches Patera seemed to get during this first wave.

 

WWF @ St. Louis, MO - Kiel Auditorium - August 10, 1984

Television taping - featured Vince McMahon on commentary:

Prime Time Wrestling - 8/20/85: Don Muraco (w/ Mr. Fuji) pinned Brian Madden with the tombstone at 5:15; after the bout, Muraco further attacked his opponent and threw him to the floor

Big John Studd, WWF Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch defeated Afa, Sika, & Samula at 14:47 when Studd pinned Samu following an elbow drop by Adonis behind the referee's back as Samu had Studd covered; during the bout, the top rope broke after Murdoch sent Samu into the ropes

Prime Time Wrestling - 8/20/85: The Junkyard Dog pinned Max Blue at 4:17 with the powerslam (JYD's debut)

Nikolai Volkoff pinned Johnny Phillips at 3:51 by hoisting him up in a gorilla press and dropping him across his knee

George Steele (w/ Mr. Fuji) defeated WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan via count-out at 9:17 when Fuji threw salt into the champion's eyes, with Hogan then falling out of the ring and being unable to return

TNT - 9/18/84: Ken Patera defeated Tony Garea via submission with the full nelson at 6:22

The Spoiler defeated Billy Travis via submission with the claw hold at 7:07; the Spoiler was billed as the National Heavyweight Chapion

TNT - 9/18/84: Bob Orton Jr. pinned Pat Patterson with a roll up and grabbing the tights for leverage at 6:12

Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, & Buddy Roberts (w/ David Wolfe) defeated Jerry Valiant, Alexis Smirnoff, & Max Blue at 3:49 when Gordy pinned Valiant following a double clothesline by Hayes & Roberts as Gordy held Valiant in the air

Kamala (w/ Friday) pinned Salvatore Bellomo at 3:18 with a splash to the back

Rocky Johnson pinned David Schultz at 1:48 with a small package

Ivan Putski defeated Jesse Ventura via count-out at 12:40 when Ventura left ringside after sustaining the Polish Hammer

 

Back in the Kiel for the first time v. Sheiks. Patera is put over strong again for tv - but again it's not a match that commands much interest.

 

WWF @ Chicago, IL - UIC Pavilion - August 11, 1984

Don Muraco defeated Billy Travis

Kamala defeated Brian Madden

Max Blue defeated George Steele via disqualification

Paul Orndorff fought Rocky Johnson to a draw

Mad Dog Vachon defeated Ken Patera via count-out

Jesse Ventura defeated B. Brian Blair

Ivan Putski defeated David Schultz

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned Big John Studd at 5:33

 

Typical Vince move as he drags out Patera v. Mad Dog in a town where it might have meant something.

 

WWF @ New York City, NY - Madison Square Garden - August 25, 1984

Televised on the MSG Network - featured Gorilla Monsoon & Lord Alfred Hayes on commentary:

Championship Wrestling - 9/8/84: Kamala (w/ Freddie Blassie & Friday) pinned Chief Jay Strongbow at 2:50 with a splash to the back

Championship Wrestling - 9/8/84: B. Brian Blair fought Iron Mike Sharpe to a double count-out at 13:02

Prime Time Wrestling - 8/13/85: Rick McGraw (sub. for Don Muraco) fought Salvatore Bellomo to a time-limit draw at 18:07

TNT - 10/16/84: WWF Tag Team Champions Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis defeated the Wild Samoans via disqualification at the 12-minute mark when the challengers began shoving guest referee Capt. Lou Albano after Albano stopped Afa's cover on Murdoch and went to tell Sika he had to hold onto the tag rope; after the bout, Albano cheap shoted Afa, who was held by the champions, until Sika cleared the ring

Ken Patera defeated Pat Patterson via submission with the full nelson at 9:04 (Patera's MSG return after a near 4-year absence)

Jesse Ventura defeated Ivan Putski via count-out at 11:40 after hitting Putski with a foreign object as both men fought on the apron

Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, & Buddy Roberts (w/ David Wolff) defeated Butcher Vachon, Ron Shaw, & Pete Doherty at 8:58 in a Best 2 out of 3 falls match, 2-0; fall #1: Gordy pinned Vachon at 5:39 with a crossbody; fall #2: Roberts pinned Doherty with an elbow drop

Roddy Piper defeated Jimmy Snuka via count-out at 7:05 when Snuka was dropped across the top rope while attempting a crossbody off the top, then falling to the floor and hitting his back against the apron; after the bout, Piper hit Snuka three times in the back of the neck with a folded steel chair; moments later, Snuka was placed on a stretcher and taken backstage (Best of the WWF Vol. 1)

Terry Daniels pinned Fred Marzino (sub. for Rene Goulet) at 3:55 with a reverse roll up; only a small portion of the bout was shown, with the focus being Jimmy Snuka being attended to backstage

WWF IC Champion Tito Santana pinned Greg Valentine with a crossbody; immediately after the match, Valentine put the champion in the figure-4 (History of the Intercontinental Title)

 

Patera v. Pat would have been a pretty cool match for the Garden at this point and is probably one of the stronger and most important matches Ken had during this run with Vince.

 

WWF @ Minneapolis, MN - Met Center - August 26, 1984

Rocky Johnson fought Bob Orton Jr. to a draw

Ken Patera (sub. for Rene Goulet) defeated Terry Daniels

Paul Orndorff defeated B. Brian Blair

WWF Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch defeated the Wild Samoans

Jesse Ventura defeated Ivan Putski via count-out

WWF Women's Champion Wendi Richter defeated the Fabulous Moolah

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan & Gene Okerlund defeated George Steele & Mr. Fuji (w/ Jesse Ventura) at around the 6:30 mark when Okerlund pinned Fuji after Hogan slammed his parnter onto Fuji and then pushed down on top of him during the cover; Jesse Ventura sat ringside for the match; after the bout, Ventura argued with the referee over the call and briefly faced off against Hogan until Hogan & Okerlund cleared the ring of Steele & Fuji (Best of the WWF Vol. 1, Hulk Still Rules)

 

Yikes - Patera buried in the undercard in the Twin Cities.

 

WWF @ Erie, PA - Civic Center - September 1984

Billy Travis defeated Jimmy Jackson

The Junkyard Dog defeated Rene Goulet

Kamala pinned Rick McGraw with a splash; late in the contest, the top rope broke in an apparently planned spot and Kamala used it on his opponent

Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, & Buddy Roberts defeated the Moondogs & Joe Abbey

Ken Patera defeated Ivan Putski via count-out

Andre the Giant defeated Roddy Piper

WWF IC Champion Tito Santana defeated Bob Orton Jr.

 

Strong man v. strong man, blast from the past match here.

 

WWF @ Boston, MA - Boston Garden - September 8, 1984

Ken Patera vs. Chief Jay Strongbow

Paul Orndorff vs. B. Brian Blair

The Fabulous Freebirds defeated the Moondogs

Greg Valentine vs. Rick McGraw

Sgt. Slaughter & the Wild Samoans vs. Capt. Lou Albano, WWF Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch

Andre the Giant vs. Roddy Piper

 

Well at least that's an opener that seems semi-interesting...not really.

 

WWF @ Pittsburgh, PA - Civic Arena - September 14, 1984

Nikolai Volkoff defeated B. Brian Blair

Pat Patterson defeated Jerry Valiant

The Wild Samoans defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch via disqualification

Andre the Giant defeated Roddy Piper via count-out

Ken Patera defeated Jose Luis Rivera

The Junkyard Dog defeated Moondog Rex

Moondog Spot defeated Billy Travis

The Iron Sheik defeated Sgt. Slaughter via disqualification

 

Rivera is another guy Patera would be wedded to in the mid-card.

 

WWF @ East Rutherford, NJ - Meadowlands - September 15, 1984

Moondog Rex defeated Steve Lombardi

Nikolai Volkoff defeated Jose Luis Rivera

WWF IC Champion Tito Santana fought Ken Patera to a no contest

The Wild Samoands defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch via disqualification

Sgt. Slaughter defeated Iron Mike Sharpe

The Junkyard Dog defeated Bob Orton Jr.

Andre the Giant defeated Roddy Piper

 

WWF @ New Haven, CT - September 16, 1984

Nikolai Volkoff defeated Rick McGraw

Bob Orton Jr. defeated Jose Luis Rivera

WWF IC Champion Tito Santana fought Ken Patera to a no contest

Kamala defeated Chief Jay Strongbow

The Fabulous Freebirds defeated the Moondogs

Harley Davidson (Hillbilly Jim) defeated Dr. X

The Junkyard Dog defeated Iron Mike Sharpe

Andre the Giant & Sgt. Slaughter defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch via disqualification

 

These Tito matches at least had some purpose.

 

WWF @ New York City, NY - Madison Square Garden - September 22, 1984 (19,000)

Televised on the MSG and USA networks - included Gorilla Monsoon & Gene Okerlund on commentary:

Prime Time Wrestling - 4/17/85: Brutus Beefcake pinned Salvatore Bellomo at 9:56 with a powerslam after catching Bellomo in a crossbody off the top; prior to the bout, Howard Finkel announced Jesse Ventura was hospitalized in San Diego and wouldn't be able to face WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan later in the show but Hogan had agreed to face Big John Studd in Ventura's absence (Beefcake's MSG debut)

Prime Time Wrestling - 4/17/85: Nikolai Volkoff pinned Chief Jay Strongbow at 6:48 with an elbow drop after ramming Strongbow into the corner as he had the sleeper applied

David Schultz pinned SD Jones with a dropkick at 6:35

Prime Time Wrestling - 4/17/85: Greg Valentine defeated Jose Luis Rivera via submission with the figure-4 at 7:19; after the bout, Valentine reapplied the hold

Prime Time Wrestling - 4/17/85: Big John Studd (sub. for Jesse Ventura) (w/ Bobby Heenan) defeated WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan via count-out at 11:09 when Heenan helped shove the challenger back inside the ring after Studd and Hogan began brawling on the floor; after the bout, Studd & Heenan left ringside with the world title belt (Heenan's surprise debut) (Hulk Hogan: The Ultimate Anthology)

Prime Time Wrestling - 4/17/85: Ken Patera defeated Rick McGraw via submission with the full nelson at 7:40

Sgt. Slaughter & the Wild Samoans defeated Capt. Lou Albano, WWF Tag Team Champions Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis at 20:16 when Slaughter pinned Murdoch after slamming him off the top rope when Albano walked out of the match; after the bout, Murdoch had an altercation with Gorilla Monsoon outside the ring

Prime Time Wrestling - 4/17/85: B. Brian Blair defeated Iron Mike Sharpe via disqualification at 19:46 after Sharpe hit the referee; after the match, Sharpe continued to attack Blair until Blair cleared him from the ring

Prime Time Wrestling - 9/22/86: Kamala (w/ Friday) pinned Pat Patterson with a splash at 5:21

 

WWF @ Toronto, Ontario - Maple Leaf Gardens - September 23, 1984

Featured Jack Reynolds & Billy Red Lyons on commentary (Reynolds' debut):

Bret Hart pinned Paul Vachon at 9:14 with a sunset flip

Superstars of Wrestling - 10/6/84: Brutus Beefcake pinned Nick DeCarlo at 11:16 following an airplane spin

Superstars of Wrestling - 10/6/84: Davey Boy Smith pinned Goldie Rogers at 13:38 with the running powerslam

Superstars of Wrestling - 10/6/84: Ivan Putski pinned Greg Valentine at 14:32 with the Polish Hammer

Superstars of Wrestling - 10/6/84: Nikolai Volkoff pinned Richard Cummings at 1:29 with a clothesline

Kamala defeated Andre the Giant via count-out at 7:45 after Andre threw Kamala back in the ring just before the 10-count after both men began brawling on the floor; after the bout, Andre cleared Kamala from the ring and then argued with the referee over the decision before pushing him down in the corner; pre-match stipulations stated Kamala's handler Friday was banned from ringside during the match

Superstars of Wrestling - 10/6/84: Ken Patera defeated Rick McGraw at 10:40 via submission with the full nelson

The Dynamite Kid pinned Jerry Valiant at 5:41 with a diving headbutt

Iron Mike Sharpe pinned B. Brian Blair at 11:12 after the momentum of a flying bodypress from Blair put Sharpe on top for the pin; after the bout, Blair cleared Sharpe from the ring

Sgt. Slaughter defeated the Iron Sheik via disqualification at 9:02 when Nikolai Volkoff interfered as Slaughter had the Camel Clutch applied; Slaughter was then double teamed until Bret Hart, Rick McGraw, & the Dynamite Kid made the save

 

Two more big venue Patera matches that don't mean a whole hell of a lot.

 

WWF @ Elizabeth, NJ - Dunn Recreation Center - October 3, 1984

The Junkyard Dog defeated Frank Savage

Ken Patera defeated SD Jones

WWF Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch defeated the Wild Samoans

Mr. Fuji defeated Jose Luis Rivera

David Sammartino defeated David Schultz via count-out

Andre the Giant fought Kamala to a no contest

 

WWF @ Cleveland, OH - October 4, 1984

Pat Patterson defeated Mr. X

David Schultz defeated Tony Garea via count-out

Ken Patera defeated Samula

Judy Martin defeated Desiree Peterson

Brutus Beefcake defeated Salvatore Bellomo

The Junkyard Dog defeated WWF Tag Team Champion Adrian Adonis

WWF Tag Team Champion Dick Murdoch defeated SD Jones

Andre the Giant fought Kamala to a no contest

 

WWF @ Toronto, Ontario - Maple Leaf Gardens - October 7, 1984

Rene Goulet defeated Steve Lombardi at 10:57

Pat Patterson defeated Nick DeCarlo at 15:49

Bob Marcus defeated Paul Vachon at 11:06

Ken Patera defeated Tony Garea at 14:31

Kamala defeated SD Jones at 16:47

Judy Martin defeated Desiree Peterson at 14:41

Sgt. Slaughter & Angelo Mosca defeated Nikolai Volkoff & the Iron Sheik via disqualification at 9:52

Ivan Putski defeated Roddy Piper at 8:07; Billy Red Lyons was the special referee for the bout

 

WWF @ Philadelphia, PA - Spectrum - October 13, 1984

Televised on the PRISM Network - featured Gorilla Monsoon & Dick Graham on commentary:

Prime Time Wrestling - 5/28/85: Rene Goulet pinned Bob Bradley at 11:17 with a claw hold

Prime Time Wrestling - 5/28/85: Ron Shaw pinned Steve Lombardi at 9:38 with a sunset flip

Prime Time Wrestling - 5/28/85: Moondog Rex pinned Dave Barbie with an elbow drop at 3:30

Prime Time Wrestling - 5/28/85: David Sammartino pinned Moondog Spot at 11:34 with a small package

Sgt. Slaughter & the Junkyard Dog fought Nikolai Volkoff & the Iron Sheik to a double disqualification at 16:12 when the referee was shoved down by both Slaughter and Volkoff

Prime Time Wrestling - 5/28/85: Brutus Beefcake (w/ Johnny V) pinned Salvatore Bellomo at 10:40 with a running kneelift

Prime Time Wrestling - 5/28/85: Ken Patera pinned Tony Garea at 6:33 with a roll up after Garea hit the ringpost shoulder-first

Prime Time Wrestling - 5/28/85: WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine pinned SD Jones in a non-title match with a back suplex at 4:44

Prime Time Wrestling - 5/28/85: WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned Big John Studd (w/ Bobby Heenan) (sub. for Jesse Ventura) with a clothesline even though Studd clearly kicked out before the 3-count; after the bout, Hogan attempted to slam Studd but Studd escaped to the floor

 

More of Patera in the under card. It's hard to say if he was being groomed as a possible challenger for Hogan or if he was just a guy Vince saw as valuable because he could keep him away from the other companies.

 

WWF @ Los Angeles, CA - Forum - October 15, 1984

The Spoiler defeated Rick McGraw

Moondog Spot defeated Tim Shepard

Ken Patera defeated SD Jones

WWF Tag Team Champion Dick Murdoch fought Sika to a no contest

Ivan Putski defeated Alexis Smirnoff via count-out

Andre the Giant defeated Roddy Piper via count-out

Afa defeated WWF Tag Team Champion Adrian Adonis via disqualification

Mil Mascaras defeated Capt. Lou Albano via count-out

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine defeated Rocky Johnson

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Big John Studd in a No DQ match; there were two referees for the bout

 

WWF @ Sacramento, CA - October 17, 1984

Ken Patera defeated Steve Pardee

Ivan Putski defeated Moondog Spot

The Wild Samoans defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch via disqualification

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine defeated SD Jones

Rocky Johnson fought Alexis Smirnoff to a draw

The Spoiler defeated Rick McGraw

Andre the Giant defeated Roddy Piper

 

Patera finally goes on a West Coast tour and it's essentially as an opening match guy.

 

WWF @ Chicago, IL - UIC Pavilion - October 21, 1984

WWF Tag Team Champion Dick Murdoch defeated Salvatore Bellomo

Brutus Beefcake defeated Tony Garea

The Tonga Kid defeated Moondog Spot

Paul Orndorff fought Barry Windham to a double disqualification

Ivan Putski fought Ken Patera to a double disqualification

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated George Steele

 

They still are using him in Chicago as a relevant name to bolster the shows if nothing else.

 

WWF @ Atlanta, GA - Omni - October 26, 1984

Mr. Wrestling II defeated Jerry Valiant

David Sammartino defeated Mr. Fuji

The Spoiler defeated Salvatore Bellomo

Brutus Beefcake defeated Rick McGraw

Ken Patera defeated Tony Garea

The Junkyard Dog defeated David Schultz

Nikolai Volkoff defeated Sgt. Slaughter via disqualification

Andre the Giant defeated Kamala

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine defeated Tito Santana

 

Back in the Omni for the first time since 81 when he left Georgia - it's notable for how little it matters.

 

WWF @ Minneapolis, MN - Met Center - October 28, 1984

Rick McGraw fought Rene Goulet to a draw

Ken Patera defeated Rene Goulet

Ivan Putski fought David Schultz to a no contest

Mad Dog Vachon defeated Jerry Valiant

The Junkyard Dog fought George Steele to a no contest

Andre the Giant defeated Kamala

The Spoiler defeated Salvatore Bellomo

The Iron Sheik defeated Rocky Johnson

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan fought Big John Studd to a no contest

 

Another Yikes in Minnesota.

 

WWF @ Pittsburgh, PA - Civic Arena - November 9, 1984

David Sammartino defeated Jerry Valiant

Mike Rotundo defeated Steve Lombardi

David Schultz defeated Salvatore Bellomo

Ivan Putski defeated Mr. Fuji

Blackjack Mulligan defeated Moondog Rex

Barry Windham defeated Moondog Spot

Ken Patera defeated Afa

Sgt. Slaughter & the Junkyard Dog defeated the Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff in a Texas Tornado Match

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Big John Studd

 

This is the beginning of Patera slowly creeping up the cards some at the close of the year.

 

WWF @ Salt Lake City, UT - University of Utah - November 10, 1984

Afa defeated Bob Orton Jr.

Sika defeated Mr. Fuji via disqualification

David Schultz defeated SD Jones

Rocky Johnson defeated Steve Lombardi

Ken Patera defeated Chief Jay Strongbow

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine defeated Tito Santana via disqualification

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Roddy Piper via count-out

 

WWF @ Poughkeepsie, NY - Mid-Hudson Civic Center - November 13, 1984

Championship Wrestling taping:

Georgia Championship Wrestling - 12/84: The Haiti Kid pinned Butch Cassidy at 4:55 after avoiding a charge in the corner

11/24/84 - included Aldo Marino as a guest of Piper's Pit, with him eventually being attacked by Roddy Piper and Bob Orton Jr.:

The Junkyard Dog defeated Mr. X at 2:42

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine defeated Aldo Marino at 2:31

Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated RT Reynolds & Terry Gibbs (Rotundo's debut)

Paul Orndorff defeated Joe Mirto at 2:19

Blackjack Mulligan defeated Dave Barbie at 2:49 (Mulligan's return match)

Jack & Jerry Brisco defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch in a non-title match at 5:04 when the challengers applied the figure-4 on both men

12/1/84:

David Sammartino defeated Gino Carabello

Paul Orndorff defeated Mario Mancini

Blackjack Mulligan defeated Rusty Brooks

Brutus Beefcake (w/ Johnny V) defeated Jose Luis Rivera

Tito Santana defeated Dave Barbie

Andre the Giant & SD Jones defeated Ken Patera & Big John Studd (w/ Bobby Heenan) via disqualification when Studd & Patera refused to stop double teaming Andre; after the bout, the two men cut the incapacitated Andre's hair (Andre the Giant, Andre the Giant, Villians of the Squared Circle)

12/8/84:

Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated Charlie Fulton & Johnny Rodz

Tony Atlas defeated Gino Carabello

The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff defeated Jose Luis Rivera & Jim Powers

Big John Studd (w/ Bobby Heenan) defeated Demetrious Niarchos

Tito Santana defeated Terry Manton

Jimmy Snuka & the Tonga Kid defeated Terry Gibbs & RT Reynolds

Dark match after the taping: Andre the Giant & a mystery partner vs. Big John Studd & Kamala

 

Big tv match here as they shoot the angle with Andre getting his hair cut. Patera is clearly the number two in this team, but it's a purpose and it puts him in a position to help effect things at the box office.

 

WWF @ Dayton, OH - Hara Arena - November 16, 1984

Ken Patera defeated Bobby Boyer

Mr. Wrestling II defeated Billy Travis

SD Jones fought Terry Gibbs to a draw

Mike Rotundo defeated Steve Lombardi

Ivan Putski defeated Jerry Valiant

Paul Orndorff defeated Rocky Johnson

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine defeated Tito Santana

Blackjack Mulligan won a 16-man battle royal

 

One of the last of Patera's bottom rung matches for the time being.

 

WWF @ Baltimore, MD - Civic Center - November 17, 1984

Moondog Spot defeated Salvatore Bellomo

Paul Orndorff defeated Bob Bradley

The Spoiler fought Bret Hart to a draw

Big John Studd defeated Chief Jay Strongbow

Barry Windham defeated Rene Goulet

Tony Atlas defeated Moondog Rex

David Sammartino defeated Ken Patera

Tito Santana defeated WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine via count-out

The Junkyard Dog defeated Roddy Piper via disqualification

 

Patera would work David several times during this period.

 

WWF @ Buffalo, NY - War Memorial Auditorium - November 21, 1984

The Spoiler defeated Nick DeCarlo

Tony Atlas defeated Terry Gibbs

Angelo Mosca defeated Bobby Bass

Blackjack Mulligan defeated Mr. Fuji

The Tonga Kid defeated Ken Patera via disqualification

Mike Rotundo fought Bob Orton Jr. to a draw

The Junkyard Dog won a 16-man battle royal

 

That at least looks like an interesting match on paper.

 

WWF @ Hartford, CT - Civic Center - November 23, 1984

Steel Cage Turmoil:

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine defeated SD Jones

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine defeated Angelo Mosca

Tony Atlas defeated WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine

Tony Atlas defeated Bob Orton

David Schultz defeated Tony Atlas

Tito Santana defeated David Schultz

Tito Santana defeated Moondog Rex

Tito Santana defeated Bobby Heenan

Tito Santana defeated Moondog Spot

Ken Patera defeated Tito Santana

Ken Patera defeated David Sammartino

Ken Patera defeated Swede Hanson

Ken Patera defeated Mario Mancini

Ken Patera defeated Mr. Fuji

Ken Patera defeated Jose Luis Rivera

Chief Jay Strongbow defeated Ken Patera

Big John Studd defeated Chief Jay Strongbow

Big John Studd defeated Salvatore Bellomo

Finals: Big John Studd defeated Rocky Johnson

Non Cage Matches:

David Sammartino defeated Mr. Fuji

The Tonga Kid defeated Roddy Piper via disqualification

Tito Santana defeated Moondog Rex

Tony Atlas & Rocky Johnson defeated WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine & David Schultz via disqualification

 

I assume this was some sort of massive Gauntlet/battle royal/cage match? If so that's a pretty nice showing for Ken.

 

WWF @ Providence, RI - Civic Center - November 24, 1984

Moondog Spot defeated Salvatore Bellomo

SD Jones defeated Moondog Rex

David Schultz defeated Swede Hansen

Big John Studd defeated Rocky Johnson

Angelo Mosca defeated Mr. Fuji via disqualification

David Sammartino defeated Ken Patera via disqualification

Tito Santana & Tony Atlas defeated WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine & Bob Orton Jr.

The Tonga Kid defeated Roddy Piper via disqualification

 

WWF @ Palm Springs, CA - Angel Stadium - November 24, 1984

WWF Women's Champion Wendi Richter defeated Judy Martin

Ken Patera defeated Jose Luis Rivera

Mr. Fuji defeated Salvatore Bellomo

Buddy Rose defeated Rick McGraw

The Junkyard Dog defeated Goldie Rogers

Jack & Jerry Brisco defeated Brutus Beefcake & Alexis Smirnoff

Mike Rotundo pinned Bret Hart

Blackjack Mulligan pinned Nikolai Volkoff

Mil Mascaras pinned the Spoiler

Sgt. Slaughter defeated the Iron Sheik

 

More irrelevancy out West.

 

WWF @ Minneapolis, MN - Met Center - November 25, 1984 (3,000)

Thanksgiving Day

Tony Atlas defeated Mr. X

Mad Dog Vachon defeated George Steele via disqualification

Jimmy Snuka won a $50,000 "Turkey Tournament" steel cage battle royal by escaping the cage first; Bobby Heenan and Big John Studd were co-"turkeys" for being the last two in the ring

Big John Studd defeated Curt Kumula

Ken Patera defeated Ivan Putski via count-out

David Schultz defeated SD Jones

Bob Orton Jr. defeated Salvatore Bellomo

Tito Santana defeated Moondog Rex

Jimmy Snuka defeated Moondog Spot

 

No Hogan on the show and they don't do dick in the Twin Cities. Really weak card.

 

WWF @ New York City, NY - Madison Square Garden - November 26, 1984 (22,090)

Televised on the MSG Network - included Gorilla Monsoon & Lord Alfred Hayes on commentary:

SD Jones pinned Charlie Fulton (sub. for Samula) at 10:40 with a headbutt

Moondog Spot pinned Jose Luis Rivera (sub. for Billy Jack) at 9:16 with a clothesline from the middle turnbuckle

Prime Time Wrestling - 1/8/85: Bobby Heenan pinned Salvatore Bellomo at 8:56 by blocking a sunset flip into the ring and punching Bellomo in the face (Best of the WWF Vol. 14, Bobby 'The Brain' Heenan)

Prime Time Wrestling - 1/8/85: Angelo Mosca defeated Mr. Fuji via disqualification at 8:01 when Fuji threw salt into Mosca's eyes as Fuji was caught in the sleeper (Mosca's MSG return after more than 3 years; his final MSG appearance)

Prime Time Wrestling - 1/8/85: Bob Orton Jr. pinned Swede Hanson at 8:51 with a reverse splash off the top

Prime Time Wrestling - 1/8/85: Roddy Piper (w/ Bob Orton Jr.) fought the Tonga Kid (w/ Jimmy Snuka) to a double disqualification at 7:03 when both Snuka and Orton interfered; after the bout, Snuka and Tonga cleared the ring

TNT - 12/18/84: Barry Windham pinned Moondog Rex at 12:11 with the bulldog (Windham's MSG debut)

Tony Atlas pinned the Executioner at 1:48 with a gorilla press slam and splash

David Schultz pinned Rocky Johnson at 9:25 after reversing a powerslam attempt into a cradle

Prime Time Wrestling - 1/8/85: David Sammartino (w/ Bruno Sammartino) defeated Ken Patera (w/ Capt. Lou Albano) via disqualification at 12:24 when Albano tripped David from the outside; after the bout, Bruno chased Albano in and out of the ring (Bruno's MSG return after a 4-year absence)

Tito Santana fought WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine to a curfew draw at 22:23; after the bout, Santana had to be held back from further attacking the champion (History of the Intercontinental Title)

 

Fairly big Garden match for Ken. Probably would have bee the third big match on the show behind the main and the Piper match, but it still shows that he is being elevated a bit.

 

WWF @ Philadelphia, PA - Spectrum - December 1, 1984 (13,567)

Televised on the PRISM Network - featured Gorilla Monsoon & Dick Graham on commentary:

Prime Time Wrestling - 2/26/85: Mr. Fuji pinned Salvatore Bellomo (sub. for Blackjack Mulligan) at 8:13 with a reverse diving headbutt

Prime Time Wrestling - 2/26/85: Gama Singh pinned Johnny Rodz at 11:17 with a missile dropkick

David Schultz defeated Swede Hansen

Prime Time Wrestling - 2/26/85: Bob Orton Jr. fought Mike Rotundo to a 20-minute time-limit draw at 19:12; Orton hit the superplex just before the bell rang

Prime Time Wrestling - 2/26/85: The Iron Sheik defeated Dave Barbie (sub. for an injured David Sammartino) via submission at 2:43 with the Camel Clutch; prior to the bout, Sammartino was introduced to the crowd and fought off an attack from behind by Sheik

Prime Time Wrestling - 2/26/85: Ken Patera defeated Jose Luis Rivera (sub. for Rocky Johnson) via submission with the full nelson at 6:20; after the bout, Patera applied the swinging full nelson

Roddy Piper defeated the Tonga Kid (w/ Jimmy Snuka) via disqualification at 6:15 when Snuka attacked Piper moments after Piper attacked Snuka from behind on the floor; after the bout, Bob Orton Jr. came out and all four men brawled until Snuka & Tonga cleared the ring of the opposition; ring announcer Mel Phillips said both teams had been disqualified after the match, even though it was a singles contest (Rowdy Roddy Piper's Greatest Hits)

Prime Time Wrestling - 2/26/85: WWF Women's Champion Wendi Richter pinned Judy Martin with a lariat at 7:29

Prime Time Wrestling - 2/26/85: The Junkyard Dog defeated Brutus Beefcake (w/ Johnny V) via disqualification at 6:28 when Johnny interfered

Sgt. Slaughter fought Nikolai Volkoff to a double count-out at 8:05 when both men began brawling on the floor

Barry Windham pinned Buddy Rose at 4:29 after reversing a powerslam into a small package

 

Put over strong in an irrelevant match on a show that did a good number despite not having a huge match on the card.

 

WWF @ Detroit, MI - Joe Louis Arena - December 2, 1984

Chief Jay Strongbow defeated Jerry Valiant

Mr. Fuji defeated Rick McGraw

Brutus Beefcake defeated Salvatore Bellomo

Ken Patera defeated SD Jones

Tony Atlas defeated David Schultz

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine defeated Tito Santana via disqualification

Sgt. Slaughter defeated Nikolai Volkoff

 

Not the most interesting debut in Detroit.

 

WWF @ Poughkeepsie, NY - Mid-Hudson Civic Center - December 4, 1984

Championship Wrestling taping:

12/15/84 - featured Hillbilly Jim as a guest of Piper's Pit, who was introduced from the crowd by Piper, Jim referred to himself as "Big Jim" when asked by Piper with Piper offering to be his manager and look after his career but Jim said he didn't know and would need to think about it; included Vince McMahon conducting a live interview with Roddy Piper & Capt. Lou Albano, where Vince announced that Cyndi Lauper would be receiving an award soon in Madison Square Garden for her contributions to the WWF, Piper said she didn't deserve the award but Albano thought she did; footage was shown of Lauper at a concert at the Houston, TX Summit, and also footage of her managing Wendi Richter in a recent match at the Los Angeles forum vs. the Fabulous Moolah on 9/19/84; included a vignette showing Don Muraco in Hawaii:

The Junkyard Dog pinned AJ Petruzzi with a running shoulderblock

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine (w/ Capt. Lou Albano) defeated Aldo Marino

Jack & Jerry Brisco defeated Johnny Rodz & Charlie Fulton when Jack pinned Fulton with a rolling cradle; during the bout, Brutus Beefcake walked around ringside

Tito Santana defeated RT Reynolds via submission with the figure-4 at 2:45

Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated the Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff (w/ Freddie Blassie) via disqualification at 4:17 when Volkoff took down the referee as Windham had Sheik pinned following the bulldog; after the bout, Windham & Rotundo cleared their opponents out of the ring

Georgia Championship Wrestling - 12/16/84: Jack & Jerry Brisco defeated Rene Goulet & Dave Barbie when Barbie submitted to Jack's figure-4 at 4:38

12/22/84 - included a video of Capt. Lou Albano reading a Christmas story to two children; included an 'Update' segment focusing on the Junkyard Dog; included an abbreviated version of Cyndi Lauper's new music video; included Buddy Rose & Bobby Heenan as guests of Piper's Pit, where they made fun of Big Jim's appearance last week, and then Rose did push ups with one arm to show how good shape he was in; included a vignette of Don Muraco & Mr. Fuji in Hawaii:

David Sammartino pinned Terry Manton with the powerslam; the match was aired joined in progress

David Schultz pinned Joe Mirto at 3:05 following two flying elbowsmashes from the middle turnbuckle

Jimmy Snuka & the Tonga Kid defeated Rusty Brooks & Terry Gibbs at 2:41 when Snuka pinned Brooks with a flying bodypress

Tony Atlas pinned Gino Carabello at 2:21 with a back suplex into a bridge; during the match, Brutus Beefcake walked around ringside

Ken Patera & Big John Studd (w/ Bobby Heenan) defeated Jim Powers & Jose Luis Rivera at 2:02 when Studd pinned Powers with an elbow drop; prior to the bout, WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan was introduced to the crowd; after the bout, Hulk Hogan made the save when Powers was double-teamed, but Patera was able to hook Hogan in the full nelson so Heenan could cut his hair until Big Jim came out of the crowd and made the save for Hogan; at the close of the show, Vince McMahon got the crowd to give a standing ovation to Jim

12/29/84 - included an 'Update' segment focusing on Brutus Beefcake; included an appearance by WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan where he found Big Jim in the crowd and got him to go backstage with him; featured Gamma Singh as a guest of Piper's Pit, which was interrupted by Big Jim, where he accused Piper of making fun of him, and said he had decided to go with the best, Piper presumed he meant him, but he said it was Hulk Hogan, Hogan then appeared on the set and took Jim away saying Jim was his man and Piper was out; included a vignette of Don Muraco & Mr. Fuji in Hawaii:

Buddy Rose (w/ Bobby Heenan) pinned Steve Lombardi at 3:43 with the DDT; prior to the bout, ring announcer Howard Finkel introduced Rose at 256 pounds but Rose quickly corrected him and said he was 235 pounds; during the commentary for the match, Vince McMahon talked about an incident in Madison Square Garden a couple of days ago that we may have heard about involving Cyndi Lauper's award presentation, and that footage would be shown the following week

Paul Orndorff (w/ Bobby Heenan) pinned Jim Young at 2:04 with a kneedrop off the top; after the bout, Orndorff hit the piledriver

Bret Hart pinned Terry Gibbs at 1:40 with a reverse roll up

The Moondogs defeated Aldo Marino & Mario Mancini when Spot pinned Mancini with an elbow drop from the middle turnbuckle as Mancini was laid across Rex's knee

Blackjack Mulligan pinned Joe Mirto at 2:10 with a flying back elbow; during the bout, Brutus Beefcake walked around ringside

Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated Rene Goulet & RT Reynolds at 4:25 when Rotundo pinned Reynolds following an airplane spin

Dark match after the taping: Tito Santana, Barry Windham, & Mike Rotundo vs. WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine, the Iron Sheik, & Nikolai Volkoff

 

Patera/Studd team put over huge again this time in an angle with Hogan.

 

WWF @ Pittsburgh, PA - Civic Center - December 7, 1984 (6,000)

Velvet McIntyre & Desiree Peterson defeated Peggy Mitchell & Peggy Peterson

Bobby Heenan defeated SD Jones

Buddy Rose defeated Steve Lombardi

Big John Studd defeated Salvatore Bellomo

Ken Patera defeated Jimmy Jackson

David Sammartino defeated Brutus Beefcake via disqualification

Jimmy Snuka & the Tonga Kid defeated Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff via disqualification

 

Talk about a strange card.

 

WWF @ Boston, MA - Boston Garden - December 8, 1984 (16,000; sell out)

Velvet McIntyre & Desiree Peterson defeated Penny Mitchell & Peggy Peterson

Bobby Heenan defeated Salvatore Bellomo

Buddy Rose defeated SD Jones

Brutus Beefcake defeated Jose Luis Rivera

Big John Studd pinned Swede Hansen

David Sammartino defeated Ken Patera via disqualification; during the bout, Sammartino and Patera tried to wrestle an Xacto knife from Capt. Lou Albano when Albano "lost it" and began cutting his forehead; in the melee, Sammartino's arm was heavily cut and he required 45 stitches

Jimmy Snuka & the Tonga Kid defeated Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff when Orndorff was pinned

 

Insane stuff from the Captain on a card that was headlined by Piper being Piper. Still a solid looking result on paper for Ken.

 

WWF @ Columbus, OH - December 15, 1984

Mr. Fuji defeated Billy Travis

Mr. Wrestling II defeated Jerry Valiant

Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated the Moondogs

The Junkyard Dog defeated Ken Patera via disqualification

Blackjack Mulligan defeated Big John Studd via disqualification

Tito Santana fought WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine to a draw

 

This is the first match I have with him v. JYD who was arguably the number three babyface in the promotion at this point (behind Hogan and Andre..Slaughter would be the other possibility).

 

WWF @ Erie, PA - Civic Center - December 1984

Velvet McIntyre & Desiree Peterson defeated Penny Mitchell & Peggy Peterson

Bob Orton Jr. defeated SD Jones

Ken Patera defeated Salvatore Bellomo

Blackjack Mulligan defeated Rene Goulet

Brutus Beefcake defeated Steve Lombardi

David Sammartino fought Buddy Rose to a double count-out

The Tonga Kid fought Roddy Piper to a double disqualification

 

Bellomo seemed to be the jobber that got to get his ass kicked by a Heenan protege a lot of nights.

 

WWF @ Poughkeepsie, NY - Mid-Hudson Civic Center - December 17, 1984

Championship Wrestling taping:

1/5/85 - included Big John Studd, Ken Patera, & Bobby Heenan as guests of Piper's Pit where they discussed Andre the Giant, with Studd giving Piper a lock of Andre's hair; featured an 'Update' segment showing Capt. Lou Albano & Cyndi Lauper at Studio 69 in New York City where both were presented awards for their contributions to fighting Multiple Sclerosis; included footage of WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan training Hillbilly Jim in the gym and in the ring; featured a promo of Don Muraco in Hawaii:

Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated Rusty Brooks & Charlie Fulton at 3:13 when Windham pinned Brooks with a bulldog

Nikolai Volkoff & the Iron Sheik (w/ Freddie Blassie) defeated Steve Lombardi & Mario Mancini at 1:36 when Volkoff pinned Mancini by hoisting him up in a gorilla press and dropping him across his knee

WWF Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch defeated Paul Roma & Salvatore Bellomo at 2:23 when Adonis pinned Bellomo following a kneedrop off the top by Murdoch as Adonis held Bellomo over his knee

David Schultz pinned Jim Young at 2:30 with an elbowsmash from the middle turnbuckle

Jack & Jerry Brisco defeated Gino Carabello & Dave Barbie at 4:29 when Carabello submitted to Jerry's figure-4

1/12/85 - included WWF Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch as guests of Piper's Pit where they said they were both sick when they lost a recent non-title match to Jack & Jerry Brisco and were both told before the match not to wrestle; featured footage of Capt. Lou Albano & Cyndi Lauper with WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan at Studio 69 in New York City; included footage of WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan training Hillbilly Jim in the gym and in the ring; featured a promo of Don Muraco & Mr. Fuji in Hawaii:

The Tonga Kid pinned Mike Powers at 3:54 with a diving headbutt off the top

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine defeated Joe Mirto via submission with the figure-4 at 2:20

Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated Mr. X & RT Reynolds at 2:49 when Rotundo pinned Mr. X with an airplane spin

Tito Santana defeated Paul Kelly via submission with the figure-4 at 2:59

Big John Studd & Ken Patera (w/ Bobby Heenan) defeated Aldo Marino & Jim Powers at 4:44 when Marino submitted to Patera's full nelson

1/19/85 - included Tito Santana as a guest of Piper's Pit in which Roddy Piper said Santana couldn't make him submit to the figure-4 and said Bob Orton Jr. would take his place in a match against Santana to prove it:

Blackjack Mulligan defeated RT Reynolds

Brutus Beefcake (w/ Johnny V) defeated Jim Powers

The Junkyard Dog defeated Rusty Brooks

The Spoiler (w/ Johnny V) defeated Salvatore Bellomo

Big John Studd & Ken Patera (w/ Bobby Heenan) defeated Jim Young & Paul Roma

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Johnny Rodz

1/26/85 - included an 'Update' segment showing footage from Roddy Piper attacking Capt. Lou Albano and Cyndi Lauper during a presentation by Dick Clark held at Madison Square Garden 1/21/85; featured Blackjack Mulligan as a guest of Piper's Pit:

Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated Gino Carabello & AJ Petruzzi

Jimmy Snuka & the Tonga Kid defeated Dave Barbie & Rusty Brooks

The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff (w/ Freddie Blassie) defeated Aldo Marino & SD Jones

George Wells defeated Paul Kelly

The Moondogs defeated Steve Lombardi & Jim Young

Hillbilly Jim (w/ WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan) defeated Terry Gibbs (Jim's in-ring debut)

Dark match after the taping: Jimmy Snuka & the Tonga Kid vs. Roddy Piper & Bob Orton Jr.

 

The Studd/Patera team is put over big yet again this time in a Piper's Pit segment.

 

WWF @ Miami, FL - Knight Civic Center - December 26, 1984 (3,776)

RT Reynolds defeated Joe Mirto

Rene Goulet defeated Aldo Marino

David Schultz defeated Jimmy Young

Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated the Moondogs

Andre the Giant & Tony Atlas fought Ken Patera & Big John Studd to a double disqualification

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Brutus Beefcake

 

No clue if that is a good number for Miami or not but it doesn't seem like it would be. This is the first time you could point to a Patera match during this run as something that might have had a serious impact on attendance.

 

WWF @ Dallas, TX - December 28, 1984 (2,500)

Debut in Dallas; WWF Women's Champion Wendi Richter, the Tonga Kid, and Don Muraco were all no shows

Tiger Conway defeated Buddy Rose

The Haiti Kid defeated Sky Low Low

Tito Santana defeated WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine via disqualification

Andre the Giant & Blackjack Mulligan defeated Ken Patera & Bobby Heenan (sub. for Big John Studd)

 

WWF Dallas debut behind Andre and former Heenan Family member v. Patera and Heenan. This is not the strongest card in the World, and this sort of result was not uncommon for first forays, but you would have hoped this would do better if you were Vince.

 

WWF @ Toronto, Ontario - Maple Leaf Gardens - December 30, 1984 (15,000)

Angelo Mosca Jr. pinned Goldie Rogers at 8:12 (Mosca's debut)

Bret Hart defeated Terry Gibbs at 10:41

Mike Rotundo defeated Swede Hanson at 12:16

Barry Windham defeated Rene Goulet at 9:46

Tony Atlas defeated the Spoiler at 11:02

Andre the Giant & Blackjack Mulligan fought Ken Patera & Big John Studd to a double disqualification at 16:14

Jimmy Snuka pinned Bob Orton Jr. at 17:02

 

Top two matches would have had pretty equal billing here I would imagine, with the tag match possibility being the "real" main event in the eyes of many as Orton was a surrogate for Piper. Very good number for Maple Leaf in a town that would stay red hot for the WWF.

 

84 was an extremely up and down year for Patera. The Sheiks were a fairly hot act early in the year and headlined some big shows, but on the biggest of big shows he was subbed out for Adnan. They were farmed out to other territories indicating that they were something of a commodity, but at least two months before they broke up it was obvious that Patera was taking a backseat and Blackwell was viewed as the more important player. His WWF departure was bridged by a stint in NJPW that is interesting on paper, but was probably not that big of a deal in the scheme of things. The majority of his WWF run was spent as a bit player, though by the end of the year he was heating up alongside Studd and Heenan as a main event act around the circuit. Still over all one could easily argue that 84 was effectively the end of the line Patera. The Saito incident probably had a lot to do with it, but after 11 years he seemed to have hit his high point as a star in the wrestling business.

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1985

 

WWF @ Hartford, CT - Civic Center - January 1, 1985

Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated the Moondogs

Blackjack Mulligan defeated David Schultz

Nikolai Volkoff fought Tony Atlas to a double count-out

Johnny Rodz defeated Jose Luis Rivera

Salvatore Bellomo defeated Charlie Fulton

Brutus Beefcake defeated SD Jones

Johnny Valiant defeated Terry Gibbs

Blackjack Mulligan won a battle royal

Andre the Giant fought Ken Patera to a draw

 

WWF @ Glens Falls, NY - Civic Center - January 2, 1985

Barry Windham vs. Moondog Spot

Mike Rotundo vs. Moondog Rex

SD Jones vs. David Schultz

Rick McGraw vs. Brutus Beefcake

Tony Atlas vs. Paul Orndorff

Andre The Giant & Blackjack Mulligan vs. Big John Studd & Ken Patera

 

This feud carries over nicely from the last year. Patera would be a consistent main eventer for the first part of 85, largely due to his association with Heenan and Studd.

 

WWF @ Long Island, NY - Nassau Coliseum - January 4, 1985 (7,000)

Bret Hart defeated Moondog Spot

SD Jones defeated Moondog Rex

Brutus Beefcake defeated Jose Luis Rivera

Blackjack Mulligan defeated AJ Petruzzi

Nikolai Volkoff defeated Mike Rotundo

Barry Windham fought Paul Orndorff to a double disqualification

Andre the Giant, Jimmy Snuka, & Tony Atlas defeated Big John Studd, Roddy Piper, & Ken Patera via disqualification

 

WWF @ Boston, MA - Boston Garden - January 5, 1985

Bret Hart defeated Pete Doherty (sub. for Mr. Fuji)

Brutus Beefcake defeated Swede Hanson

WWF Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch defeated Jack & Jerry Brisco

Tito Santana defeated WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine

Don Muraco defeated SD Jones

Blackjack Mulligan defeated David Schultz

Big John Studd & Ken Patera defeated Andre the Giant & the Junkyard Dog via disqualification

 

JYD would be a fairly consistent partner for Andre during this run. The feud was hot enough to headline two of the bigger buildings back to back days here.

 

WWF @ Columbus, OH - Ohio Center - January 6, 1985 (5,000)

Bret Hart pinned Buddy Rose

Mr. Wrestling II fought Les Thornton to a draw

David Sammartino defeated the Spoiler

Bob Orton Jr. pinned Ivan Putski

Tito Santana defeated WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine via count-out

WWF Women's Champion Wendi Richter defeated Judy Martin

Big John Studd & Ken Patera defeated Andre the Giant & Blackjack Mulligan via disqualification

 

Not sure if this is a good number for Ohio or not during this run.

 

WWF @ Altoona, PA - Jaffa Mosque - January 8, 1985

Salvatore Bellomo vs. Les Thornton

Ivan Putski vs. Terry Gibbs

Mr. Wrestling II vs. Brutus Beefcake

David Sammartino vs. Buddy Rose

Blackjack Mulligan vs. the Iron Sheik

Andre The Giant vs. Ken Patera

 

WWF @ Greensburg, PA - January 9, 1985

Brutus Beefcake defeated Joe Jackson

Mr. Wrestling II fought Les Thornton to a draw

David Sammartino defeated Terry Gibbs

Blackjack Mulligan defeated the Iron Sheik

Johnny Valiant defeated Salvatore Bellomo

Andre the Giant fought Ken Patera to a draw

 

Interesting that in the smaller markets though go with Patera v. Andre.

 

WWF @ Atlanta, GA - Omni - January 11, 1985 (1,500)

Mr. Wrestling II defeated Terry Gibbs

Barry Windham defeated Moondog Rex

Mike Rotundo defeated Rene Goulet

Nikolai Volkoff defeated SD Jones

Blackjack Mulligan defeated the Iron Sheik in a Texas Death match

Tito Santana defeated Greg Valentine via count-out

Big John Studd & Ken Patera defeated Andre the Giant & the Junkyard Dog via disqualification

 

Piss poor number at the Omni. This wasn't a deep show, but II was in the undercard and you would think with the top two matches this would have done a decent number.

 

WWF @ Detroit, MI - Cobo Arena - January 12, 1985 (sell out; the first sell out in the arena in more than a decade)

Bret Hart defeated Rene Goulet

Blackjack Mulligan defeated Mr. Fuji

Wendi Richter defeated Judy Martin

Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated Nikolai Volkoff & the Iron Sheik

Andre the Giant & the Junkyard Dog fought Ken Patera & Big John Studd to a draw

Tito Santana defeated WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine via count-out

 

On the other hand they sell out the Cobo which as Cawthon notes was a big deal.

 

WWF @ London, Ontario - London Gardens - January 13, 1985

The Spoiler defeated Brian Mackney

Tito Santana defeated Goldie Rogers

Mike Rotundo & Barry Windham defeated Terry Gibbs & Bobby Bass

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine defeated Ron Huntchinson

Blackjack Mulligan & the Junkyard Dog fought Ken Patera & Nikolai Volkoff to a double disqualification

 

Wasn't Nikolai a former big star in Canada? The use of Bobby Bass and Ron Hutchinson warms my heart.

 

WWF @ Toronto, Ontario - Maple Leaf Gardens - January 13, 1985

Rene Goulet defeated Nick DeCarlo

Nikolai Volkoff defeated Rick McGraw

The Junkyard Dog defeated Bobby Bass & Goldie Rogers in a handicap match

Bret Hart defeated the Spoiler

Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated Brutus Beefcake & Johnny V

Tony Atlas defeated Paul Orndorff via count-out

Andre the Giant & Blackjack Mulligan defeated Ken Patera & Big John Studd in a Texas Tornado match

 

This is the first Texas Tornado stip I see for this feud, but they would use it around the horn with some success. Another big time arena headlined by this feud as well.

 

WWF @ Troy, NY - RPI Fieldhouse - January 16, 1985

Bret Hart vs. Rene Goulet

Jose Luis Rivera vs. Don Muraco

Tony Atlas vs. the Spoiler

Ivan Putski vs. Mr. Fuji

Jimmy Snuka vs. Roddy Piper

Andre the Giant vs. Ken Patera

 

WWF @ Salisbury, MD - Wicomico Youth & Civic Center - January 17, 1985

Bret Hart defeated Rene Goulet

Nikolai Volkoff defeated Jose Luis Rivera

Andre the Giant defeated Ken Patera

Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated David Schultz & Don Muraco

Wendi Richter defeated Judy Martin

Roddy Piper defeated Jimmy Snuka via disqualification

 

Sticking with Andre/Patera singles in the smaller buildings.

 

WWF @ Landover, MD - Capital Centre - January 18, 1985

Nikolai Volkoff defeated SD Jones

Bob Bradley fought Charlie Fulton to a draw

George Wells defeated Johnny Rodz

Don Muraco defeated Bret Hart

Rene Goulet defeated Jose Luis Rivera

Jimmy Snuka defeated Bob Orton Jr.

Andre the Giant & the Junkyard Dog defeated Ken Patera & Big John Studd

Wendi Richter defeated Judy Martin

Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated Brutus Beefcake & Johnny V

 

They didn't go on last, but the Patera tag and Snuka/Orton were probably the two bit matches on this show.

 

WWF @ Chicago, IL - UIC Pavilion - January 19, 1985 (9,832)

SD Jones defeated Rene Goulet

Bret Hart defeated Alexis Smirnoff

The Spoiler defeated Rick McGraw

Jimmy Snuka pinned Bob Orton Jr.

Brutus Beefcake defeated Ivan Putski

Tito Santana defeated WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine via disqualification

Ken Patera & Big John Studd defeated Andre the Giant & the Junkyard Dog via disqualification

 

Another major market/Arena headlined by the Studd/Patera v. Andre and friends feud.

 

WWF @ New York City, NY - Madison Square Garden - January 21, 1985 (16,000)

Televised on the MSG Network - featured Gorilla Monsoon & Gene Okerlund on commentary:

Prime Time Wrestling - 9/22/86: Moondog Rex pinned Terry Gibbs with a reverse neckbreaker at 10:14; prior to the bout, Howard Finkel announced that the Junkyard Dog would be Jimmy Snuka's partner later in the show, substituting for the Tonga Kid

All American Wrestling - 2/24/85: Bret Hart defeated Rene Goulet via submission with a sleeper at 14:32 (Hart's MSG debut)

Prime Time Wrestling - 3/5/85: Jim Neidhart pinned Tony Garea with a powerslam at 12:05 (Neidhart's MSG debut)

Prime Time Wrestling - 3/5/85: Don Muraco (w/ Mr. Fuji) pinned Swede Hanson at 10:54 with the tombstone; prior to the bout, Pedro Morales was introduced to the crowd

Blackjack Mulligan pinned Moondog Spot at 6:40 with a small package; Rita Marie made her debut as referee for the bout and was billed as the first ever female referee

Prime Time Wrestling - 3/5/85: Andre the Giant defeated Ken Patera (w/ Bobby Heenan) via disqualification when Heenan came off the top onto Andre, hitting him with a pair of brass knuckles and causing the referee to be knocked down; moments later, Patera came off the top onto Andre, with Andre lifting his boot into Patera's face before sending both men out of the ring (Andre the Giant VHS, Andre the Giant DVD)

Prime Time Wrestling - 3/5/85: Big John Studd (w/ Bobby Heenan) pinned George Wells at 7:19 with a backbreaker; the referee made an obvious fast count to end the match

Roddy Piper & Bob Orton Jr. defeated Jimmy Snuka & the Junkyard Dog (sub. for the Tonga Kid) in a Texas Tornado Match at 8:45 when Orton pinned JYD after Piper tripped JYD from the apron (The WWF's Most Unusual Matches)

Prime Time Wrestling - 3/5/85: The Spoiler pinned Rick McGraw at 8:59 with a butterfly spulex

Tito Santana defeated WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine via count-out at 20:21 when a flying forearm from the challenger sent Valentine out of the ring

 

As far as I know this is a solid number for MSG at the time on a show that essentially has three main events and none with Hogan. The Patera/Andre match has shit tons of heat as I recall.

 

WWF @ Poughkeepsie, NY - Mid-Hudson Civic Center - January 22, 1985

Championship Wrestling taping:

All American Wrestling - 2/24/85 - included Jim Neidhart & Mr. Fuji as guests of Piper's Pit

2/2/85 - included Andre the Giant as a guest of the Piper's Pit:

The Junkyard Dog defeated Johnny Rodz

Paul Orndorff defeated Peter Pompell

Don Muraco defeated Aldo Marino

Jim Neidhart (w/ Mr. Fuji) defeated Jose Luis Rivera (Neidhart's TV debut)

Jimmy Snuka pinned Jeff Craney with a splash off the top at 3:24

2/9/85 - included Capt. Lou Albano, WWF Tag Team Champions Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo as guests of the Piper's Pit; included footage from the Roddy Piper, Cyndi Lauper, Capt. Lou Albano incident, taped 1/21/85 at MSG; featured footage of a Hulk Hogan / Hillbilly Jim training session in which Hogan gave Jim the pair of boots Hogan trained with for 6 months before winning the world title:

Tito Santana & Blackjack Mulligan defeated AJ Petruzzi & Terry Gibbs at 3:40 when Petruzzi submitted to Santana's figure-4

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine defeated Jim Powers via submission with the figure-4 at 2:35

Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch defeated Salvatore Bellomo & Rick McGraw at 3:16 when Murdoch pinned McGraw with a shoulderbreaker

Ken Patera & Big John Studd (w/ Bobby Heenan) defeated Jim Young & Joe Mirto at 3:45 when Young submitted to Patera's swining full nelson

2/16/85 - included a Piper's Pit from the set of the A-Team, with guest Mr. T; T and Piper almost had a physical altercation during the segment:

The Junkyard Dog & Tony Atlas defeated Terry Gibbs & Carl Fury at 3:11 when Atlas pinned Fury witha gorilla press slam and splash

Brutus Beefcake (w/ Johnny V) pinned Mario Mancini with a running kneelift at 2:23

Ivan Putski & Bret Hart defeated Charlie Fulton & Gino Carabello at 3:20 when Carabello submitted to Hart's sleeper

Jesse Ventura defeated Steve Lombardi via submission with the backbreaker at 2:42

Tito Santana defeated Jeff Craney via submission with the figure-4 at 3:20; prior to the bout, Hillbilly Jim was introduced to the crowd

The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff (w/ Freddie Blassie) defeated Tony Garea & Aldo Marino at 3:41 when Volkoff pinned Marino by hoisting him with a gorilla press slam and dropping him down across his knee

Dark match after the taping: Andre the Giant, the Junkyard Dog, & Tito Santana vs. Big John Studd, Ken Patera, & WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine

 

Patera/Studd still put over strong on tv and headline the show with a big six-man involving feuding I-C contenders as well.

 

WWF @ Edmonton, Alberta - Northlands Coliseum - January 24, 1985

Jesse Ventura defeated Rick McGraw

Jim Neidhart defeated Chief Jay Strongbow

Bret Hart defeated Rene Goulet

Tony Atlas defeated the Spoiler via disqualification

George Wells defeated Alexi Smirnoff

Andre the Giant & Blackjack Mulligan fought Big John Studd & Ken Patera to a draw

 

WWF @ Vancouver, British Columbia - January 26, 1985

Jesse Ventura defeated Rick McGraw

George Wells defeated Alexi Smirnoff

Jim Neidhart defeated Moose Morowski

Bret Hart defeated Rene Goulet

Tony Atlas defeated the Spoiler via disqualification

Andre the Giant & Blackjack Mulligan fought Big John Studd & Ken Patera to a draw

 

Two more fairly big markets here. Interesting to note the Stampede undercard.

 

WWF @ Columbus, OH - Ohio Center - January 27, 1985

SD Jones fought Les Thornton to a draw

Jerry Valiant defeated Steve Lombardi

Brutus Beefcake defeated Mr. Wrestling II

The Junkyard Dog defeated Paul Orndorff via disqualification

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine defeated Tito Santana in a lumberjack match

Ivan Putski defeated David Schultz

Andre the Giant & Blackjack Mulligan defeated Big John Studd & Ken Patera in a Texas Tornado match

 

Return match with the Tornado stip though we don't have a follow up figure.

 

WWF @ Brantford, Ontario - Civic Centre - January 28, 1985

All Star Wrestling taping:

Les Etoiles de la Lutte - 2/9/85 - included Tony Atlas as a guest of Le Brunch a Mad Dog:

Edouard Carpentier pinned Gino Carabello at 2:35 following two somersault splashes; Mad Dog Vachon did guest commentary for the bout

Les Etoiles de la Lutte - 2/16/85 - included Andre the Giant as a guest of Le Brunch a Mad Dog:

Les Etoiles de la Lutte - 2/23/85 - included Luc Poirier as a guest of Le Brunch a Mad Dog, which was interrupted by Johnny V:

Maple Leaf Wrestling - 2/23/85 - featured Ken Patera, Big John Studd, & Bobby Heenan as guests of Blackjack's BBQ, where Heenan tried sitting on two saddles, finding the second one more comfortable, with Mulligan telling him that was a woman's saddle, Mulligan was then attacked by all three, using parts of the set to hit him with and busting him open, until Andre the Giant made the save:

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine defeated Bob Marcus; the match was also taped to air on the 2/23/85 All Star Wrestling episode but was replaced with clips from the match between WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper at Madison Square Garden

2/9/85 - included Nikolai Volkoff, the Iron Sheik, & Freddie Blassie as guests of Blackjack's BBQ:

The Junkyard Dog pinned Mr. X at the 3-minute mark with the powerslam

Paul Orndorff (w/ Bobby Heenan) & Bob Orton Jr. defeated Mohammed Saad & Nick DeCarlo at 2:11 when Orndorff pinned Saad with the piledriver; after the bout, Saad was taken backstage on a stretcher, which Heenan brought ringside before the contest

Jim Neidhart (w/ Mr. Fuji) pinned Mario Mancini with a piledriver at 2:28

Tito Santana pinned AJ Petruzzi at 2:57 with the flying forearm

WWF Tag Team Champions Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo (w/ Capt. Lou Albano) defeated Moondog Rex & Rene Goulet (sub. for Moondog Spot) when Windham pinned Rex with a sunset flip off the top at 3:21

2/16/85 - featured a Piper's Pit from the set of 'The A-Team,' with Mr. T as a guest; T and Piper almost had a fight during the segment; it was announced at the beginning of the show that WWF Tag Team Champions Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo would be guests on Blackjack's BBQ, but the segment only ended up airing on the Canadian Maple Leaf Wrestling version, and the Piper's Pit segment aired on the U.S All Star Wrestling version of the show:

Jimmy Snuka pinned Goldie Rogers at 3:30 with the top rope splash

Don Muraco (w/ Mr. Fuji) pinned Paul Roma at 2:08 with the tombstone and a reverse splash off the middle turnbuckle

Luc Poirer defeated Ted Grizzly via submission with a backbreaker at 2:42 (Poirier's debut)

The Spoiler (w/ Johnny V) pinned Pete Pompeii at 2:44 with a claw hold; during the bout, Johnny V took a number of photographs of the Spoiler from ringside

Bret Hart & George Wells defeated AJ Petruzzi & Mr. X at 2:49 when Wells pinned Petruzzi with a flying shoulderblock

Ken Patera & Big John Studd (w/ Bobby Heenan) defeated SD Jones & Rick McGraw when Studd pinned McGraw at 2:07 with a backbreaker; prior to the bout, Andre the Giant came ringside but was eventually sent backstage by the referee

2/23/85 - included Jim Neidhart & Mr. Fuji as guests of Blackjack's BBQ, during which Neidhart said he was the world record holder at the anvil toss (the final Blackjack's BBQ segment); featured footage from the WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan / Roddy Piper 'War to Settle the Score' match:

Tony Atlas pinned Mr. X with a gorilla press slam and splash at 1:23; after the bout, Jack Reynolds conducted a ringside interview with Atlas

David Sammartino pinned Gino Carabello at 2:50 with the powerslam

Nikolai Volkoff & the Iron Sheik defeated Joe Marcus & Rick McGraw at 2:08 when Volkoff pinned Marcus after hoisting him up in a gorilla press slam and dropping him across his knee

Hillbilly Jim (w/ Capt. Lou Albano) defeated Goldie Rogers at 2:55 via submission with the bearhug

The Junkyard Dog & Jimmy Snuka defeated AJ Petruzzi & Rene Goulet at 3:55 when Snuka pinned Petruzzi with the top rope splash

 

Notable that they set up a reason for Blackjack to be teaming with Andre here, after he'd already been making the rounds as Andre's partner around the loop.

 

WWF @ Minneapolis, MN - Met Center - January 29, 1985 (3,000)

David Sammartino pinned Rene Goulet

Bret Hart pinned the Spoiler

Don Muraco pinned George Wells

Ivan Putski defeated Brutus Beefcake via disqualification

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine defeated Tito Santana via disqualification

Paul Orndorff (sub for Buddy Rose) defeated Tony Atlas via count-out

Andre the Giant & Blackjack Mulligan defeated Big John Studd & Ken Patera in a Texas Tornado Match; Mad Dog Vachon was the guest referee for the bout

 

Not a good figure for the Twin Cities, in an AWA friendly main event with Mad Dog reffing.

 

WWF @ Cleveland, OH - Convention Center - January 30, 1985

Bret Hart defeated the Spoiler

David Sammartino defeated Rene Goulet

Paul Orndorff defeated Ivan Putski

Jim Neidhart defeated Mr. Wrestling II

Jack & Jerry Brisco defeated Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis via disqualification

Big John Studd & Ken Patera defeated Andre the Giant & the Junkyard Dog via count-out

 

WWF @ Boston, MA - Boston Garden - February 2, 1985

Moondog Spot defeated Jose Luis Rivera

Brutus Beefcake defeated Rick McGraw

WWF Tag Team Champion Mike Rotundo defeated the Iron Sheik

Nikolai Volkoff defeated WWF Tag Team Champion Barry Windham

Paul Orndorff defeated Ivan Putski

Don Muraco defeated George Wells

Bret Hart defeated Mr. X

WWF Women's Champion Wendi Richter defeated Judy Martin

Andre the Giant & the Junkyard Dog defeated Ken Patera & Big John Studd in a Texas Tornado match

 

Another Boston main event. It really is interesting to see how they rotated various talents to different big buildings during the boom period.

 

WWF @ New Haven, CT - Coliseum - February 4, 1985

Hillbilly Jim defeated Moondog Rex

Jim Powers defeated Charlie Fulton

Don Muraco defeated Ivan Putski

Blackjack Mulligan defeated AJ Petrucci

Moondog Spot defeated Mario Mancini

The Junkyard Dog, Andre the Giant, & Jimmy Snuka defeated Ken Patera, Big John Studd, & Roddy Piper

 

WWF @ Buffalo, NY - Memorial Auditorium - February 6, 1985

Salvatore Bellomo fought Billy Red Lyons to a draw

Jim Neidhart defeated Chief Jay Strongbow

Hillbilly Jim defeated Moondog Spot

Don Muraco defeated Rick McGraw

Blackjack Mulligan defeated Moondog Rex

Jimmy Snuka defeated Bob Orton Jr.

Andre the Giant & the Junkyard Dog fought Big John Studd & Ken Patera to a double disqualification

 

The feud keeps rolling.

 

WWF @ Struthers, OH - Fieldhouse - February 7, 1985 (4,500)

Bret Hart pinned Rene Goulet

SD Jones pinned Steve Lombardi

David Sammartino pinned the Spoiler

Tony Atlas pinned David Schultz

Andre the Giant pinned Ken Patera after 15 minutes

WWF Tag Team Champions Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch

 

This seems like a really good number for a spot show.

 

WWF @ San Diego, CA - February 10, 1985 (10,000)

Mr. Wrestling II fought Les Thornton to a draw

Jim Neidhart defeated Rick McGraw

The Junkyard Dog defeated David Schultz via disqualification (Schultz' last appearance)

Tony Atlas defeated Ken Patera

David Sammartino & Bret Hart defeated Alexis Smirnoff & the Spoiler

Andre the Giant defeated Big John Studd via disqualification

Jesse Ventura defeated Terry Gibbs

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine defeated Tito Santana via disqualification

 

First time Patera has been divorced from Andre all year. He's with his old rival Atlas here on a pretty whacky looking show.

 

WWF @ Los Angeles, CA - February 11, 1985 (15,217)

David Schultz was fired after attacking Mr. T in the locker room and the audience during the show

Mr. Wrestling II pinned Terry Gibbs

Jesse Ventura pinned Les Thornton

David Sammartino & Bret Hart defeated Jack Armstrong & Alexis Smirnoff

Tito Santana defeated WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine via count-out

Jim Neidhart pinned Rick McGraw

Tony Atlas pinned the Spoiler

Andre the Giant & the Junkyard Dog defeated Ken Patera & Big John Studd via disqualification

 

Back in the main event in LA. Any time you see 15k plus it's a big plus.

 

WWF @ Davenport, IA - Palmer Auditorium - February 13, 1985

Moondog Rex defeated Chief Jay Strongbow

Don Muraco defeated Rick McGraw

Ivan Putski defeated the Executioner (Moondog Rex under a mask) (sub. for Paul Orndorff)

Mad Dog Vachon defeated Moondog Spot

WWF Women's Champion Wendi Richter defeated Judy Martin

Andre the Giant & George Wells (sub. for Blackjack Mulligan) defeated Ken Patera & Big John Studd

 

For some reason I find it amusing that Davenport got George Wells as the sub.

 

WWF @ Peoria, IL - February 14, 1985 (just under 10,000)

Moondog Rex defeated Bobby Colt

George Wells defeated Moondog Spot

Don Muraco defeated Rick McGraw

The Junkyard Dog defeated WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine via disqualification

Wendi Richter defeated Judy Martin

Andre the Giant & Mad Dog Vachon defeated Big John Studd & Ken Patera via disqualification

 

Really good number in Peoria with the Mad Dog being Andre's little buddy.

 

WWF @ Indianapolis, IN - Hoosier Dome Expo Center - February 16, 1985 (7,000; sell out)

Roddy Piper defeated the Junkyard Dog at the 5-minute mark

Andre the Giant & Mad Dog Vachon (sub. for Blackjack Mulligan) fought Big John Studd & Ken Patera to a double disqualification

 

And another good crowd, for a very strong double main event.

 

WWF @ St. Louis, MO - February 17, 1985 (8,500)

Bret Hart pinned Terry Gibbs

The Spoiler defeated Rick McGraw

Bob Orton Jr. pinned Mad Dog Vachon

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine pinned Tito Santana in a lumberjack match after Brutus Beefcake interfered

Ivan Putski pinned Johnny V

The Iron Sheik pinned George Wells

Brutus Beefcake pinned Tony Garea

Andre the Giant & the Junkyard Dog fought Big John Studd & Ken Patera to a double disqualification

 

Patera is back in the Kiel here and this would probably have been one of the bigger numbers he ever saw working there.

 

WWF @ Oklahoma City, OK - Memorial Auditorium - February 19, 1985

Jim Neidhart defeated Tony Garea

George Wells defeated Johnny V

Bret Hart defeated Terry Gibbs

Ivan Putski defeated the Iron Sheik

Tito Santana defeated WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine via disqualification

Andre the Giant & the Junkyard Dog fought Big John Studd & Ken Patera to a double disqualification

 

WWF @ Detroit, MI - February 22, 1985 (11,000+; sell out)

Bret Hart defeated Jerry Valiant

Nikolai Volkoff defeated Swede Hanson

Ivan Putski defeated Terry Gibbs

Tony Atlas defeated Nikolai Volkoff via disqualification

Andre the Giant & the Junkyard Dog defeated Ken Patera & Big John Studd in a Texas Tornado match

 

Another big time show for this feud. I'm not a fan of the "main evented 10k" shows metric, but Patera does better there than you might think.

 

WWF @ Altoona, PA - Jaffa Mosque - February 23, 1985 (matinee)

The advertised matches of Brutus Beefcake vs. Salvatore Bellomo and George Wells vs. Nikolai Volkoff did not take place

Terry Gibbs defeated Jimmy Jackson

Nikolai Volkoff defeated Salvatore Bellomo (sub. for George Wells)

Swede Hanson defeated Jerry Valiant (sub. for David Schultz)

The Cobra defeated Rick McGraw

David Sammaritno, George Wells (sub. for Blackjack Mulligan), & the Junkyard Dog defeated Ken Patera, Bobby Heenan, & Johnny V (sub. for Paul Orndorff)

 

Pretty whacky main event here, with no Andre and Johnny V being an Orndorff sub.

 

WWF @ Pittsburgh, PA - Civic Arena - February 23, 1985 (18,000+; sell out)

The Cobra defeated Salvatore Bellomo

Dick Murdoch defeated Rick McGraw

Nikolai Volkoff defeated Swede Hanson

Bret Hart defeated Jerry Valiant

Johnny V defeated Tony Garea

Ivan Putski defeated Terry Gibbs

Don Muraco defeated George Wells

Andre the Giant defeated Ken Patera

The Junkyard Dog defeated Roddy Piper via disqualification

Bruno & David Sammartino defeated Paul Orndorff & Bobby Heenan via disqualification

 

That's a tremendous number for Pittsburgh. I'm guess the return of Bruno was the primary bump here, but those top three matches would have all been hot at the time.

 

WWF @ Minneapolis, MN - Met Center - February 24, 1985 (3,000)

George Wells defeated the Cobra (sub. for Dick Murdoch)

Bret Hart defeated Terry Gibbs (sub. for David Schultz)

Brutus Beefcake defeated Tony Garea at the 21-minute mark

Don Muraco defeated Swede Hanson

Jesse Ventura vs. Ivan Putski

Andre the Giant, Mad Dog Vachon & Rocky Johnson (sub. for Blackjack Mulligan) vs. Big John Studd, Ken Patera, & Paul Orndorff

 

Twin Cities holding at 3k. Perhaps that's capacity for that venue, but it still seems really low for the Twin Cities.

 

WWF @ Vancouver, British Columbia - February 25, 1985

Gama Singh defeated Moondog Spot

Buddy Rose defeated Pat Patterson

Bret Hart defeated the Spoiler

The Iron Sheik defeated the Cobra

Tito Santana defeated WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine via disqualification

Andre the Giant & Tony Atlas defeated Big John Studd & Ken Patera in a Texas Tornado match

 

WWF @ Edmonton, Alberta - Northlands Coliseum - February 26, 1985

Moondog Spot defeated Gama Singh

Tony Atlas defeated Buddy Rose

The Iron Sheik defeated the Cobra

Bret Hart defeated the Spoiler

Andre the Giant & Pat Patterson defeated Ken Patera & Big John Studd via disqualification

Tito Santana defeated WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine via disqualification

 

WWF @ Calgary, Alberta - Saddledome - February 27, 1985

Gama Singh defeated Moondog Spot

Tony Atlas defeated Buddy Rose

The Iron Sheik defeated the Cobra

Bret Hart defeated the Spoiler

Tito Santana defeated WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine via disqualification

Andre the Giant & Pat Patterson defeated Ken Patera & Big John Studd in a Texas Tornado match

 

This really is a feud that works at the box office. Greg and Tito were hot together too and would have been a big boost, but Andre can tag with almost anyone against Patera/Studd and draw...

 

WWF @ Baltimore, MD - Arena - March 2, 1985

Terry Gibbs defeated Steve Lombardi

Wendi Richter defeated WWF Women's Champion Lelani Kai via count-out

Brutus Beefcake defeated George Wells

Jim Neidhart defeated Swede Hanson

Tony Atlas defeated Les Thornton

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine defeated Tito Santana in a lumberjack match

Andre the Giant & David Sammartino defeated Big John Studd & Ken Patera via disqualification

 

...including David Sammartino!

 

WWF @ Long Island, NY - Nassau Coliseum - March 8, 1985

Brutus Beefcake defeated Rick McGraw

Mr. Wrestling II defeated Moondog Spot

Ricky Steamboat defeated Buddy Rose

Bob Orton Jr. defeated SD Jones

Velvet McIntyre defeated Peggy Patterson

Andre the Giant & the Junkyard Dog fought Big John Studd & Ken Patera to a draw

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Jesse Ventura

 

A rare show where this touring match was paired with a Hogan match. Buddy Rose v. Steamboat in the undercard almost stops my heart.

 

WWF @ New Haven, CT - Coliseum - March 9, 1985

Velvet McIntyre defeated Peggy Patterson

David Sammartino defeated Matt Borne

The Cobra defeated Johnny V

Ken Patera defeated Bret Hart

Brutus Beefcake defeated George Wells

Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff defeated Jimmy Snuka & the Junkyard Dog

Andre the Giant defeated Big John Studd via disqualification

 

Patera pulled away so that Studd/Andre can go singles. He works Bret of all people in the mid-card.

 

WWF @ Toronto, Ontario - Maple Leaf Gardens - March 10, 1985

Bret Hart defeated Goldie Rogers

Jesse Ventura defeated Jim Young

Davey Boy Smith & the Dynamite Kid defeated Terry Gibbs & Mr. X

Ricky Steamboat defeated Matt Borne

Ken Patera defeated Tony Atlas

WWF Women's Champion Leilani Kai defeated Wendi Richter

WWF Tag Team Champions Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated the Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff in a No DQ match

Andre the Giant defeated Big John Studd via disqualification

 

And again Andre v. Studd get their day in the sun and Patera gets shunted to the mid-card v. the old rival.

 

WWF @ Brantford, Ontario - Civic Centre - March 1985

All Star Wrestling taping:

Angelo Mosca Jr. defeated Ted Grizzly

3/23/85 - featured an edited version of the Piper's Pit segment taped 3/17/85 at Madison Square Garden involving all the participants in the WrestleMania main event:

Ricky Steamboat & Jimmy Snuka defeated Terry Gibbs & Goldie Rogers at 3:12 when Steamboat pinned Rogers after Snuka picked up his partner and dropped him on Rogers

Brutus Beefcake (w/ Johnny V) pinned Mario Mancini at 2:09 with the running kneelift

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated Jim Powers via submission with the figure-4 at 3:05

Davey Boy Smith & the Dynamite Kid defeated Barry O & Rene Goulet at 4:03 when Dynamite pinned Goulet with a diving headbutt from Barry O's back as Barry was caught in a fireman's carry by Smith

WWF Tag Team Champions Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo (w/ Wendi Richter) defeated Matt Borne & Frank Marconi at 4:10 when Rotundo pinned Marconi following the airplane spin

3/30/85 - featured an opening segment in which Jack Reynolds & Jesse Ventura conducted an interview with WWF Women's Champion Leilani Kai regarding her upcoming title defense against Wendi Richter at WrestleMania; included the Piper's Pit segment with Paul Orndorff from the same day's Championship Wrestling episode; featured a clip of Gene Okerlund conducting an interview with Liberace regarding his upcoming appearance at WrestleMania; included footage of WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan & Mr. T training in New York City for WrestleMania:

Tito Santana defeated Mr. X via submission with the figure-4 at 3:42

David Sammartino pinned Gino Carabello at 3:38 with a powerslam

WWF Tag Team Champions Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated Terry Gibbs & Rene Goulet at 2:27 when Windham pinned Gibbs with a bulldog

King Kong Bund y (w/ Jimmy Hart) pinned Joe Marcus at 2:03 with an elbow drop following the Avalanche

The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff (w/ Freddie Blassie) defeated SD Jones & Paul Roma at 2:56 when Roma submitted to Sheik's Camel Clutch

4/6/85 - included the Piper's Pit segment with Big John Studd, recorded backstage after WrestleMania, from the same day's episode of Championship Wrestling:

Don Muraco pinned Rick McGraw by reversing a butterfly suplex attempt into a backdrop at 3:49

Tony Atlas & George Wells defeated Frank Marconi & Gino Carabello at 4:02 when Atlas pinned Carabello following a gorilla press slam

King Kong Bundy (w/ Jimmy Hart) pinned Ron Hutchinson at 2:25 following the Avalanche

Ricky Steamboat pinned Terry Gibbs at 3:13 with the flying bodypress

Luc Poirier defeated Goldie Rogers via submission with a backbreaker at 2:36

Davey Boy Smith & the Dynamite Kid defeated Matt Borne & Mr. X at 4:29 when Dynamite pinned X with a clothesline off the top as Smith held X on his shoulders

All American Wrestling - 4/7/85 - featured the debut of Jesse Ventura's Body Shop, with WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine & Jimmy Hart as guests

Dark match after the taping: Andre the Giant & Jimmy Snuka fought Ken Patera & Bob Orton Jr. to a double disqualification

 

For some reason this dark match main event appeals to me a lot. Interesting mix of feuds.

 

WWF @ St. Louis, MO - Arena - March 14, 1985 (9,000)

Barry O fought Matt Borne to a draw

Don Muraco defeated Swede Hanson

Jim Neidhart defeated Rick McGraw

George Wells defeated Jerry Valiant

Bob Orton Jr. pinned Bret Hart

Tony Atlas pinned Buddy Rose

Andre the Giant & the Junkyard Dog defeated Ken Patera & Big John Studd in a Texas Tornado match

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Paul Orndorff via disqualification after Bobby Heenan tripped Hogan from the outside; the bout was broadcast over local radio station KMOX with Bob Costas & Dan Dierdoff on commentary

 

Another big figure in St. Louis, on a show with Hogan.

 

WWF @ Miami, FL - Knight Center - March 15, 1985 (2,954)

RT Reynolds defeated Jim Young

SD Jones defeated Rusty Brooks

Bret Hart defeated the Cobra

Swede Hanson defeated Joe Mirto

Brutus Beefcake defeated Aldo Marino

WWF Tag Team Champions Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated Nikolai Volkoff & the Iron Sheik

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Ken Patera

 

This is only half full in Miami. I guess Florida was a slow moving conversion, but for Patera's first shot v. Hogan this did not do well at all. then again look at that undercard.

 

WWF @ Kingston, PA - Bishop O'Reily High School - March 15, 1985

Brutus Beefcake defeated Jimmy Snuka via disqualification

Hillbilly Jim defeated Frankie Williams

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Ken Patera

Mike Rotundo defeated Nikolia Volkoff

Andre the Giant defeated Big John Studd

Barry Windham won a $15,000 battle royal

 

Bizarre as Patera works Hogan in the middle of a small spot show.

 

WWF @ Atlanta, GA - WTBS Studios - March 16, 1985 (am taping)

WWF Georgia Championship Wrestling taping:

3/16/85 - included Gorilla Monsoon on commentary; featured Freddie Miller conducting studio interviews with WWF Tag Team Champions Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo, Andre the Giant, WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan & Mr. T, and Nikolai Volkoff & the Iron Sheik:

Mr. Wrestling II defeated Tony Russo

Les Thornton defeated Aldo Marino

Jimmy Snuka pinned Snake Brown at 6:09 with the splash off the top

Ken Patera pinned Jim Young at 4:12 with a suplex

WWF Tag Team Champions Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated Tracy Store & RT Reynolds

Bret Hart pinned Chance Meyers at 4:13 with a fistdrop from the middle turnbuckle

Moondog Spot pinned Jeff Owens at 4:08 with a shoulderbreaker; during the bout, WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan joined Gorilla Monsoon for guest commentary while Mr. T talked with fans around ringside

King Kong Bundy defeated Joe Mirto

Ivan Putski pinned Butcher Vachon

Nikolai Volkoff & the Iron Sheik defeated SD Jones & Swede Hanson

 

Figured it was worth noting that he did work a taping at WTBS

 

WWF @ Birmingham, AL - Boutwell Auditorium - March 16, 1985

Snake Brown defeated Tony Russo

Mr. Wrestling II defeated Moondog Spot

Tony Atlas defeated Moondog Rex

Andre the Giant defeated Ken Patera

Bret Hart defeated Randy Barber

WWF Tag Team Champions Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated the Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff

 

Down South the US Express takes precedent over Andre/Ken :)

 

WWF @ Minneapolis, MN - Met Center - March 17, 1985 (5,500)

Bret Hart fought Buddy Rose to a draw

Jim Neidhart defeated SD Jones

Ken Patera defeated SD Jones

WWF Tag Team Champions Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated the Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff

Ivan Putski defeated Rene Goulet

Jesse Ventura defeated WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan via count-out

 

Up some in the Met as Hogan is in. SD pulls double duty and Patera is buried in the mid-card as one of his foes.

 

WWF @ New York City, NY - Madison Square Garden - March 17, 1985 (18,700)

Televised on the MSG Network - featured Gorilla Monsoon & Gene Okerlund on commentary; included Mr. T as a guest of Piper's Pit, with Bob Orton Jr., Paul Orndorff, WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan, and Jimmy Snuka all present for the segment:

Prime Time Wrestling - 4/9/85: Rocky Johnson pinned Charlie Fulton at 3:51 with a sunset flip

Prime Time Wrestling - 4/9/85: Barry O pinned Rene Goulet at 8:50 with a small package

All American Wrestling - 4/7/85: Jim Neidhart (w/ Jimmy Hart) pinned SD Jones at 6:52 with a powerslam

Prime Time Wrestling - 4/9/85: King Kong Bundy (w/ Jimmy Hart) pinned Jose Luis Rivera at 2:30 with the Avalanche and an elbow drop

Prime Time Wrestling - 4/9/85: The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff (w/ Freddie Blassie) defeated George Wells & Bret Hart at 8:45 when Sheik pinned Wells with an elbow drop after a kick to the face

Prime Time Wrestling - 4/9/85: David Sammartino pinned Matt Borne at 8:36 by reversing a powerslam into a cradle

Andre the Giant, Jimmy Snuka, & the Junkyard Dog (w/ Capt. Lou Albano) defeated Big John Studd, Jesse Ventura, & Ken Patera at 11:55 when Snuka pinned Patera with the top rope splash after a boot to the face from Andre (Best of the WWF Vol. 9)

Prime Time Wrestling - 4/9/85: Ricky Steamboat pinned Terry Gibbs at 4:36 with a crossbody off the top

Prime Time Wrestling - 4/9/85: WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine (w/ Jimmy Hart) pinned Tito Santana at 10:22 in a lumberjack match after both men collided and the champion fell on top for the win; lumberjacks included King Kong Bundy, Big John Studd, the Junkyard Dog, Barry O, Matt Borne, Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy Snuka, Rocky Johnson, Charlie Fulton, and Terry Gibbs (The WWF's Most Unusual Matches, The Greatest Wrestling Stars of the 80s, History of the Intercontinental Championship)

 

MSG up for a Hogan appearance, but Patera also is in a hot six-man and Valentine v. Tito was still a hot feud too.

 

WWF @ Oakland, CA - Coliseum Arena - March 18, 1985 (3,500)

Les Thornton pinned Jose Luis Rivera

Jim Neidhart pinned Barry O

George Wells pinned Buddy Rose

Mr. Wrestling II defeated Moondog Spot

Rocky Johnson pinned Alexis Smirnoff

The Spoiler pinned Terry Gibbs

Andre the Giant & the Junkyard Dog defeated Big John Studd & Ken Patera

 

Not a good number for the WWF in the Bay Area.

 

WWF @ Los Angeles, CA - Sports Arena - March 19, 1985 (2,700)

Les Thornton defeated Jose Luis Rivera

Jim Neidhart pinned Barry O

George Wells defeated Buddy Rose via disqualification

Mr. Wrestling II defeated Moondog Spot

Rocky Johnson pinned Alexis Smirnoff

The Spoiler pinned Terry Gibbs

Andre the Giant & the Junkyard Dog defeated Big John Studd & Ken Patera via count-out

 

Nor is this a good LA number. This feud looks like it may be running out of steam.

 

WWF @ San Diego, CA - Sports Arena - March 21, 1985

Barry O vs. Moondog Spot

Jim Neidhart vs. Terry Gibbs

Jose Luis Rivera vs. Alexis Smirnoff

Rocky Johnson vs. Buddy Rose

Mr. Wrestling II vs. Moondog Rex

Andre the Giant & The Junkyard Dog vs. Big John Studd & Ken Patera

 

WWF @ Cleveland, OH - March 22, 1985 (2,000)

Bret Hart fought Matt Borne to a draw

Bob Orton Jr. defeated the Cobra

Jim Neidhart defeated Rick McGraw

WWF Tag Team Champions Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated the Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff

Ivan Putski defeated Moondog Spot

Andre the Giant & Jimmy Snuka defeated Ken Patera & Big John Studd

 

Yikes in Cleveland. You could tell they had run this thing into the ground, though for three months it did good business.

 

WWF @ Buffalo, NY - March 23, 1985

The Cobra fought Buddy Rose to a draw

Mr. Wrestling II defeated Rene Goulet

Bret Hart defeated Moondog Spot

Ivan Putski fought Jesse Ventura to a draw

Bob Orton Jr. defeated SD Jones

The Junkyard Dog defeated Paul Orndorff via disqualification

Andre the Giant & Jimmy Snuka defeated Ken Patera & Roddy Piper

 

WWF @ Rochester, NY - March 23, 1985

Billy Red Lyons fought Buddy Rose to a draw

Jim Neidhart defeated Swede Hanson

Brutus Beefcake defeated Rick McGraw

Jesse Ventura defeated SD Jones

Jimmy Snuka defeated Bob Orton Jr.

Andre the Giant & David Sammartino defeated Big John Studd & Ken Patera via disqualification

 

Minor adjustments on the dynamics of this feud.

 

WWF @ Toronto, Ontario - Maple Leaf Gardens - March 24, 1985

The Cobra defeated Goldie Rogers

Luc Porier defeated Brian Mackney

Jesse Ventura defeated SD Jones

Davey Boy Smith & the Dynamite Kid defeated Rene Goulet & Buddy Rose

George Wells defeated Moondog Spot

Paul Orndorff pinned Bret Hart

Ricky Steamboat defeated WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine via disqualification

Andre the Giant & the Junkyard Dog defeated Ken Patera & Big John Studd in a steel cage match

 

And they add a Cage Match to spice things up in Toronto.

 

WWF @ Brantford, Ontario – Civic Centre - April 1985

All-Star Wrestling taping:

Maple Leaf Wrestling - 5/4/85: Luc Pourier defeated Steve Lombardi via submission with an overhead backbreaker

5/4/85 - included Freddie Blassie, WWF Tag Team Champions Nikolai Volkoff & the Iron Sheik as guests of the Body Shop:

The Junkyard Dog & Tito Santana defeated Gino Carabello & Matt Borne at 3:36 when JYD pinned Carabello with the powerslam

Don Muraco (w/ Mr. Fuji) pinned Mike Londos at 3:22 with the tombstone

Ricky Steamboat pinned Mr. X at 3:41 with the crossbody off the top

Bob Orton Jr. pinned Paul Roma with the superplex at 2:15

David Sammartino pinned Goldie Rogers at 3:28 with a powerslam

Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated Ted Grizzly & Barry O at 4:45 when Rotundo pinned Grizzly with a legdrop and elbow drop after botching an attempt at an airplane spin

5/11/85 - included Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo as guests of the Body Shop:

Davey Boy Smith & the Dynamite Kid defeated Rene Goulet & Mr. X when Dynamite pinned X at 4:10 with a clothesline off the top as Smith held X in the air

Brutus Beefcake (w/ Johnny V) pinned Ron Dee at 2:40 with a running kneelift

Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated George Wells & Serge Jodoin at 2:29 when Hart pinned Jodoin following the Hart Attack

Tony Atlas pinned Brian Mackney at 2:51 with a gorilla press slam and spalsh

Big John Studd defeated Mario Mancini via submission with the backbreaker at 2:17

Ricky Steamboat & Jimmy Snuka defeated Steve Lombardi & Barry O at 4:12 when Steamboat pinned Lombardi with the crossbody off the top

5/18/85 - included Bob Orton Jr. as a guest of the Body Shop:

WWF Tag Team Champions the Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff (w/ Freddie Blassie) defeated Swede Hanson & Bob Marcus when Sheik pinned Marcus at the 2-minute mark with a back suplex; prior to the bout, Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo snuk into the ring as Volkoff was singing the Russian National Anthem and chased the champions out of the ring; eventually they left under the referee's order, otherwise the champions would automatically be declared winners of the bout

Ivan Putski pinned Goldie Rogers with the Polish Hammer at 3:08

Ken Patera defeated Ronnie D via submission with the swinging full nelson at 2:05; after the bout, Patera again put his opponent in the hold and further attacked him until referees intervened (The Ken Patera Story)

Brutus Beefcake (w/ Johnny V) & WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated SD Jones & Paul Roma when Roma submitted to Valentine's figure-4 at 2:37

King Kong Bundy (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated Serge Jodoin & Brian Mackney in a handicap match at 2:29 by pinning Jodoin after hitting the Avalanche on both men, causing Mackney to fall out of the ring

Jimmy Snuka & Ricky Steamboat defeated Barry O & Gino Carabello at 4:59 when Snuka pinned Carabello with the splash off the top

 

They are trying to put Patera over as a fierce badass on his own here.

 

WWF @ Anaheim, CA - April 13, 1985

Jim Neidhart defeated Mr. Wrestling II

Jimmy Snuka defeated Bob Orton Jr.

Bret Hart defeated Billy Anderson

Andre the Giant defeated Ken Patera

Moondog Spot defeated Rick McGraw

Brutus Beefcake defeated SD Jones

Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated WWF Tag Team Champions the Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff

 

I still think it's strange looking at that match in the mid-card and Snuka/Orton out of the gate.

 

WWF @ San Diego, CA - April 14, 1985

Ivan Putski defeated Matt Borne

Davey Boy Smith & the Dynamite Kid defeated Rene Goulet & Moondog Spot

King Kong Bundy defeated Swede Hanson

Brutus Beefcake defeated Mr. Wrestling II

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine defeated Tito Santana

Andre the Giant & the Junkyard Dog defeated Big John Studd & Ken Patera in a lumberjack match

 

They add a new stip for the West Coast here.

 

WWF @ Madison, WI - Dane County Coliseum - April 18, 1985 (4,100)

Bret Hart defeated Barry O

Jim Neidhart defeated SD Jones

Jesse Ventura defeated Swede Hanson (sub. for the Cobra)

WWF Women's Champion Wendi Richter defeated Leilani Kai

Andre the Giant & the Junkyard Dog defeated Ken Patera & Big John Studd

 

Really weak card on paper here. They were probably lucky to do this well.

 

WWF @ Minneapolis, MN - Met Center - April 20, 1985 (3,000)

Don Muraco defeated SD Jones

Ken Patera defeated Ivan Putski via count-out

WWF Women's Champion Wendi Richter defeated Lelani Kai

The Junkyard Dog defeated Brutus Beefcake via disqualification

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine defeated Tito Santana in a lumberjack match after Brutus Beefcake interfered

Davey Boy Smith & the Dynamite Kid defeated Moondog Spot & Barry O

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Jesse Ventura via count-out after Gene Okerlund grabbed Ventura's leg to prevent him from getting back in the ring; pre-match stipulations stated the title could change hands on a count-out or disqualification

 

Patera buried underneath v. another old rival. Hogan v. Ventura doesn't run as well the second time around.

 

WWF @ Miami, FL - April 24, 1985 (1,800)

Bret Hart defeated SD Jones

Ken Patera defeated Ivan Putski

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine defeated Tito Santana

Jimmy Snuka & Ricky Steamboat defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Nikolai Volkoff & the Iron Sheik via count-out

 

Miami was not a good town for the WWF at this point.

 

WWF @ Houston, TX - April 25, 1985 (900; 500 paid)

Bob Orton Jr. defeated Tug Taylor

Ken Patera defeated Tony Garea

Ivan Putski defeated Moondog Spot

Don Muraco defeated George Wells

WWF Women's Champion Wendi Richter defeated Lelani Kai

Andre the Giant defeated Big John Studd

Jimmy Snuka defeated Roddy Piper via disqualication

 

This is holy shit bad for Houston, especially with two good main events. Patera is well back in the card now and quickly losing purpose on a lot of these shows.

 

WWF @ Chicago, IL - April 27, 1985 (2,709)

Swede Hanson defeated Matt Borne

Don Muraco defeated Salvatore Bellomo

King Kong Bundy defeated Tony Garea

Ivan Putski defeated Jesse Ventura via disqualification

WWF Women's Champion Wendi Richter defeated Lelani Kai

Andre the Giant defeated Big John Studd & Ken Patera in a handicap match

 

They continue to struggle in some of these major markets.

 

WWF @ Baltimore, MD - Arena - May 4, 1985

Tony Atlas defeated Bob Bradley

David Sammartino defeated Matt Borne

King Kong Bundy defeated Salvatore Bellomo

Ricky Steamboat defeated Steve Lombardi

WWF Women's Champion Wendi Richter defeated Lelani Kai

Ken Patera defeated Ivan Putski

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan & Jimmy Snuka defeated Roddy Piper & Bob Orton Jr.

 

Really weak undercard on this show with Patera being a semi-main eventer almost by default.

 

WWF @ Denver, CO - Auditorium - May 5, 1985 (5,000)

Davey Boy Smith defeated Rene Goulet

The Dynamite Kid defeated Moondog Spot

WWF Women's Champion Wendi Richter defeated Lelani Kai

Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Nikolai Volkoff & the Iron Sheik via count-out

Ken Patera defeated Steve Lombardi

Tito Santana defeated WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine via disqualification

 

Considering the line up, this is a good number.

 

WWF @ Poughkeepsie, NY - Mid-Hudson Civic Center - May 7, 1985

Championship Wrestling taping:

All American Wrestling - 5/26/85: Ricky Steamboat & Jimmy Snuka defeated Moondog Spot & Mr. X at 3:02 when Steamboat pinned X with a karate chop off the top

All American Wrestling - 6/2/85: WWF Women's Champion Wendi Richter & Wenonah Little Heart fought the Fabulous Moolah & Leilani Kai to a double disqualification at 2:59 when all four women began brawling in the ring

5/18/85 - included footage from Saturday Night's Main Event of Paul Orndorff as a guest of the Piper's Pit:

Ken Patera & Big John Studd (w/ Bobby Heenan) defeated Paul Roma & Jose Luis Rivera at 2:18 when Roma submitted to Patera's swinging full nelson; after the match, Vince McMahon interviewed Heenan, Patera, & Studd and Heenan announced he was putting a $25,000 bounty on Paul Orndorff's head, revealing a briefcase containing the money

Don Muraco (w/ Mr. Fuji) pinned Aldo Marino with the tombstone at 2:51

David Sammartino pinned Charlie Fulton at the 3-minute mark with a powerslam

Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated Rick McGraw & Jim Young at 3:59 when Bret pinned Young following the Hart Attack

WWF Tag Team Champions the Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff (w/ Freddie Blassie) defeated Sal Gee & Mario Mancini at 3:21 when Gee submitted to Sheik's Camel Clutch; after the bout, the champions threw their opponents to the floor

5/25/85 - included Freddie Blassie, WWF Tag Team Champions Nikolai Volkoff & the Iron Sheik as guests of the Piper's Pit; featured Jesse Ventura on commentary, subbing for Bruno Sammartino; included highlights of the Windham, Rotundo, & Steamboat vs. Steele, Sheik, & Volkoff match from Saturday Night's Main Event:

The Junkyard Dog & Tito Santana defeated Matt Borne & Steve Lombardi at 2:45 when Santana pinned Lombardi following the flying forearm

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated Jim Londos via submission with the figure-4

Pedro Morales defeated Mr. X via submission with the Boston Crab at 2:55

Ken Patera (w/ Bobby Heenan) defeated Gary Starr via submission with the swinging full nelson at 2:43

Jimmy Snuka pinned AJ Petruzzi at 3:30 with the splash off the top

6/1/85 - included Jesse Ventura as a guest of the Piper's Pit:

Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo (w/ Capt. Lou Albano) defeated Johnny Rodz & the Axe at 1:39 when Windham pinned the Axe with the bulldog; prior to the bout, Howard Finkel introduced Hillbilly Jim to the crowd, who then appeared on crutches

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated Mario Mancini via submission with the figure-4 at 2:52

Tony Atlas & George Wells defeated Terry Gibbs & Doc Butler at 3:15 when Atlas pinned Butler following a gorilla press slam and splash

Paul Orndorff pinned Barry O at 3:07 with the piledriver; during the bout, Bobby Heenan came out to watch Orndorff

Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated SD Jones & Joe Mirto at 2:54 when Bret pinned Mirto following the Hart Attack

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Ken Patera (w/ Bobby Heenan & Big John Studd) via disqualification at 3:05 when Studd interfered and both men double teamed the champion; after the contest, Paul Orndorff made the save for Hogan as Heenan prepared to cut the champion's hair

Dark match after the taping: The Junkyard Dog vs. WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine

 

Another Patera match v. Hogan though it was mainly to set up a match with Studd.

 

WWF @ Pittsburgh, PA - Civic Arena - May 10, 1985 (3,200)

Wenona Little Heart defeated Donna Christianello

Bret Hart defeated SD Jones

Jim Neidhart pinned Rene Goulet

Rocky Johnson pinned Matt Borne

Don Muraco defeated Mr. Wrestling II via count-out

Ken Patera pinned George Wells

Bruno & David Sammartino defeated Brutus Beefcake & Johnny V via count-out

Tito Santana pinned WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine in a non-title match

 

Uh-oh. George Wells.

 

WWF @ Madison, WI - Dane County Expo Center - May 11, 1985

Rick McGraw vs. Barry O

Mad Dog Vachon vs. Matt Borne

Tony Garea vs. Jesse Ventura

Ivan Putski vs. Ken Patera

WWF Tag Team Champions the Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff vs. Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo

 

This is pretty much a c-show.

 

WWF @ Boston, MA - Boston Garden - May 18, 1985 (13,000)

The 1st card televised on NESN - included Gorilla Monsoon & Gene Okerlund on commentary:

Prime Time Wrestling - 6/18/85: Moondog Spot pinned Salvatore Bellomo with a shoulderbreaker at 7:43

Prime Time Wrestling - 6/18/85: Swede Hanson pinned Steve Lombardi with a splash

Prime Time Wrestling - 6/18/85: Ivan Putski pinned Barry O at 3:53 with the Polish Hammer

Tony Atlas defeated Matt Borne

Prime Time Wrestling - 6/18/85: Ken Patera (w/ Bobby Heenan) pinned Tony Garea with an elbow drop after running Garea into the corner

Prime Time Wrestling - 6/18/85: WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine pinned the Junkyard Dog at 10:33 by reversing a powerslam attempt into a small package

Prime Time Wrestling - 6/18/85: Big John Studd (w/ Bobby Heenan) pinned Rocky Johnson at 4:09 when Studd grabbed onto the ring ropes to prevent a bodyslam, with him then falling on top of Johnson for the win

Prime Time Wrestling - 6/18/85: Tito Santana defeated Brutus Beefcake (w/ Johnny V) via count-out at 12:52 as both men were fighting on the floor

Pete Dogherty pinned Mario Mancini at 2:10 with a legdrop and elbow drop

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan & Jimmy Snuka defeated Don Muraco (w/ Mr. Fuji) (sub. for Roddy Piper) & Bob Orton Jr. via disqualification at 9:32 when Hogan was illegally double teamed; after the bout, Hogan & Snuka won a brawl in the ring and on the floor (Best of the WWF Vol. 4)

 

Not a feature match for Patera, but at least it's a tv win from Boston Garden. Still he's out of loop, with prison quickly appearing on the horizon.

 

WWF @ Atlanta, GA - Omni - May 19, 1985

SD Jones & George Wells vs. Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart

Ken Patera vs. Ivan Putski

David Sammartino vs. Brutus Beefcake

WWF Women's Champion Wendi Richter vs. Mad Maxine

Paul Orndorff vs. Barry O

Jimmy Snuka vs. Bob Orton Jr.

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan vs. Big John Studd

 

Hogan works Patera's partner in the Omni, with Patera working deep underneath.

 

WWF @ New York City, NY - Madison Square Garden - May 20, 1985 (15,000)

Televised on the MSG Network - included Gorilla Monsoon, Gene Okerlund, & Lord Alfred Hayes on commentary:

Prime Time Wrestling - 6/4/85: Rocky Johnson pinned Rene Goulet (Johnson's last MSG appearance)

Prime Time Wrestling - 6/4/85: Bret Hart pinned Rick McGraw

Prime Time Wrestling - 6/4/85: Pedro Morales defeated Terry Gibbs via submission with the Boston Crab

Prime Time Wrestling - 6/4/85: Jim Neidhart pinned Ivan Putski at 6:04 after reversing a powerslam attempt from the apron into a small package and grabbing the tights for leverage

Jesse Ventura pinned Tony Garea at 10:31 with an elbow drop after causing Garea to hit the corner face-first (Best of the WWF Vol. 19)

Bruno & David Sammartino defeated Brutus Beefcake & Johnny V when David pinned Johnny V with an inside cradle at 9:07 (Best of the WWF Vol. 3)

All American Wrestling - 6/2/85: The Missing Link (w/ Bobby Heenan) pinned SD Jones at 1:55 with a diving headbutt off the top; prior to the bout, Heenan cut an in-ring promo saying his man would be the one to beat Hulk Hogan (Link's debut)

Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Nikolai Volkoff & the Iron Sheik via count-out

Prime Time Wrestling - 6/4/85: Jesse Ventura pinned Tony Garea at 10:31 with an elbow drop after causing Garea to hit the corner face-first (Best of the WWF Vol. 19)

Prime Time Wrestling - 6/4/85: Ken Patera pinned Tony Atlas (Patera's last MSG appearance for 2 years)

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Don Muraco (w/ Mr. Fuji) via disqualification at 6:12 when the challenger threw salt into Hogan's eyes after it was handed to him by Fuji; the bell originally sounded at 5:42 when Hogan scored the 3-count after hitting the legdrop but the referee had the contest continue when he noticed Muraco's foot was on the bottom rope during the cover after Fuji put it there (Grudge Matches)

 

As said above this would be his last run in MSG for two years due to the prison term. Actually not a bad match to go out on, though it's hardly oozing with relevance.

 

WWF @ San Diego, CA - May 22, 1985

Ricky Steamboat defeated Barry O

Mr. Wrestling II defeated Moondog Spot

Salvatore Bellomo defeated Mr. X

Ivan Putski & Tito Santana defeated WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake

Matt Borne defeated George Wells

Jimmy Snuka defeated Don Muraco via disqualification

WWF Women's Champion Wendi Richter defeated the Fabulous Moolah

The Junkyard Dog defeated Ken Patera

 

A very rare main event for Patera at this point, especially for a major market town.

 

WWF @ Phoenix, AZ - Veterans Memorial Coliseum - May 23, 1985

Ken Patera defeated Mr. Wrestling II

Ivan Putski defeated Matt Borne

Ricky Steamboat defeated Barry O

Bob Orton Jr. defeated Jimmy Snuka via disqualification

WWF Women's Champion Wendi Richter defeated the Fabulous Moolah

The Junkyard Dog & Tito Santana defeated WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine & Don Muraco

 

Really strange as II, works Patera in the opener of a match out West? Odd.

 

WWF @ Chicago, IL - May 24, 1985 (almost 3,000)

The final three matches aired on 'AM Chicago' 5/27/85 with commentary from Oprah Winfrey & Jerry Valiant

Bret Hart defeated SD Jones

Ken Patera defeated George Wells

The Spoiler defeated Rick McGraw

Jesse Ventura defeated Ivan Putski via count-out after the two brawled on the floor; prior to the bout, Oprah interviewed both participants

Tito Santana & the Junkyard Dog defeated WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake when JYD pinned Valentine with a powerslam

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned Don Muraco with a roll up after Muraco accidentally collided with Mr. Fuji on the ring apron; prior to the bout, Oprah interviewed both participants; after the bout, Hogan chased off both Muraco & Fuji before celebrating with Oprah

 

I love the idea of Oprah on commentary for a Vince McMahon promoted show. Patera is just killing time till he hits the pokey at this point.

 

WWF @ Philadelphia, PA - Spectrum - May 25, 1985 (5,500)

Televised on the PRISM Network - included Gorilla Monsoon & Dick Graham on commentary; featured a Spectrum wrestling music video to the tune of "Wrestlin" by The Fad:

The Spoiler pinned Salvatore Bellomo at 9:58 with an elbow drop

Paul Roma (sub. for Bob Bradley) pinned Johnny Rodz at 14:50 with a sunset flip into the ring

Bob Orton Jr. defeated Paul Orndorff via disqualification at 11:41 after Orton knocked down referee Dick Whorley three times

Charlie Fulton pinned Jim Powers (sub. for Swede Hanson) at 8:24 with a kneedrop after Powers failed a monkey flip out of the corner

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned Ken Patera (w/ Bobby Heenan) at 11:41 with a roll up after Patera accidentally hit a running kneelift on Heenan after Hogan dragged Heenan on the apron; after the bout, Patera and Heenan attacked Hogan until the champion eventually cleared both from the ring

Big John Studd pinned Steve Lombardi (sub. for Rocky Johnson) at 6:33 with a powerslam and elbow drop

George Steele (w/ Capt. Lou Albano) pinned Barry O at 3:25 after Steele tore up the corner padding and rammed his opponent into the exposed turnbuckle

WWF Tag Team Champions the Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff (w/ Freddie Blassie) defeated Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo (w/ Capt. Lou Albano) via disqualification at 12:26 when George Steele interfered and attacked the champions; after announcing the decision, Mel Phillips was chased out of the ring by Steele

 

Really piss poor drawing show at the Spectrum considering Hogan was there. Patera gets a shot here but it really doesn't seem like it fits with the way he was being used at this point.

 

WWF @ Toronto, Ontario - Maple Leaf Gardens - May 26, 1985

Included Jack Reynolds & Billy Red Lyons on commentary

Prime Time Wrestling - 6/11/85: Joey War Eagle fought Johnny V to a double count-out at 12:31 when both men began brawling on the floor

Prime Time Wrestling - 6/11/85: George Steele defeated Matt Borne via submission with the flying hammerlock at 5:05

Prime Time Wrestling - 6/11/85: Barry O pinned Don Kolov at 8:45 with a forearm from the middle turnbuckle following a running powerslam

Prime Time Wrestling - 6/11/85: Bob Orton Jr. defeated Jimmy Snuka via count-out at 10:11 when Snuka knocked Orton back inside the ring just before the referee's 10-count; after the match, Snuka cleared Orton from the ring

Prime Time Wrestling - 6/11/85: Paul Orndorff defeated Ken Patera (w/ Bobby Heenan) via disqualification at 10:33 when Bob Orton Jr. interfered; after the bout, Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo made the save for Orndorff

Ricky Steamboat pinned Brutus Beefcake (w/ Johnny V) with a roll up from behind at 14:27 as Beefcake argued with the referee after he thought he had won the match but Steamboat's foot was on the ropes (Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat)

Prime Time Wrestling - 6/11/85: WWF Women's Champion Wendi Richter pinned the Fabulous Moolah at 12:41 after reversing a powerslam from the apron into an inside cradle

Prime Time Wrestling - 6/11/85: Mike Rotundo & Barry Windham defeated WWF Tag Team Champions the Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff via count-out at 12:42 when the champions left ringside; there were two referees for the match

 

Orndorff was a rare opponent for Patera during this run.

 

WWF @ Minneapolis, MN - Met Center - June 1, 1985 (2,700)

SD Jones fought Steve Lombardi to a draw

The Spoiler defeated Tony Garea

Bob Orton Jr. defeated Paul Orndorff via disqualification

Ken Patera defeated Swede Hanson

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Don Muraco via disqualification

Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart defeated Salvatore Bellomo & George Wells

Tito Santana defeated WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine in a non-title taped fist match

 

Oddball match with Swede Hanson who was about 5000 years old here. Really strange show top to bottom actually.

 

WWF @ Denver, CO - June 2, 1985 (9,000)

Jesse Ventura defeated Tony Garea

Barry Windham defeated WWF Tag Team Champion the Iron Sheik

WWF IC Champion Greg Valentine defeated Tito Santana

Mike Rotundo defeated WWF Tag Team Champion Nikolai Volkoff

Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart defeated Salvatore Bellomo & George Wells

Mad Dog Vachon fought the Spoiler to a draw

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Ken Patera

 

Big number in Denver for a show with several former AWA stars. Possibly Patera's last show before jail and he goes out very strong if that's the case.

 

WWF @ Montevale, NJ - Fieldhouse - June 19, 1985

Gama Singh defeated Johnny Rodz

Bret Hart defeated Jose Luis Rivera

Ken Patera defeated Paul Kelly

The Black Tiger defeated the Cobra via count-out

King Kong Bundy defeated SD Jones & Salvatore Bellomo in a handicap match

Brutus Beefcake defeated Tito Santana

WWF Tag Team Champions Nikolai Volkoff & the Iron Shiek defeated Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan & Paul Orndorff defeated Roddy Piper & Bob Orton Jr. via disqualification

 

I'm suspicious of this because there is nothing between the 5th and this date, but this is his last listing for 85.

 

 

1985 is actually a FAR better year for Patera than I had remembered. Not that it's a great year - it's not. He's a role player in the WWF and not a top star. Having said that he was put in a position to draw as part of a broader act with Studd v. Andre and friends and for the most part it worked. Yes they ran it into the ground, but over all it was a solid run, with some very big shows included. He got a few matches with Hogan on the back end of this though they bombed at the box office with the exception of the Denver show which was quite possibly his last show before going to prison. Being one of the top ten guys in the WWF in 1985 shouldn't be overstated, but it shouldn't be underplayed either.

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  • 8 months later...

Bumping this with the same question I asked over at WC. Believe it or not this is not intended to be rhetorical. I'm really curious if I'm missing anyone.

 

Tossing this out there as a thought experiment.

 

Patera worked programs or mini-programs (for lack of a better term) against Bill Watts, Jerry Lawler, Andre The Giant, Dusty Rhodes, Billy Graham, Tony Atlas, Dino Bravo, Wahoo McDaniel, Tommy Rich, Pedro Morales, Bob Backlund, Hulk Hogan, Bruno Sammartino and The High Flyers (among others).

 

He worked on top multiple times in MSG, Philly Spectrum, Pittsburgh, Boston Garden, Baltimore, Landover, Hawaii, Dallas, Oklahoma, St. Louis in the Kiel, St. Paul, Chicago, Montreal Forum, MSC in Memphis, Toronto Maple Leaf Gardens, The Omni in Atlanta and several other large cities and major venues I may be forgetting.

 

This run occurred over a twelve and a half year period and he was a multiple time challenger for both the WWF and NWA titles during this run, to go along with major secondary title runs in St. Louis, Mid-Atlantic, New York and the AWA.

 

My question is how many people who are NOT in the HoF have similar resumes? From what I can tell Hans Schmidt would fit. Dick Murdoch is arguable and has a much bigger international profile, but I don't know that he has a string of programs/feuds with names quite like that (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).

 

More to the point I would vote for both Schmidt and Murdoch and think at minimum most would consider them very strong candidates even if they would not vote for either. Patera was one and done on the ballot and he's got a resume that on cursory review looks like it would dump him in with HoFers and/or guys who are right on the cusp.

 

Having said that I am open to hearing the names of other guys I am forgetting that would fit the mold of a decade plus as a top of the card worker, in the biggest buildings and territories all over the country, against a who's who of stars.

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The only two I can think of are Sting and Lex Luger.

The difference is that Sting and Luger did not draw well in all those venues with regularity Patera did, plus they did it in a different era while working for one or two companies. Patera was an "in demand" wrestler in the territorial era, doing that for various promotions.

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