Crusher Blackwell

[Dylan Waco]

Should I bring the results stuff into this thread? I kind of want to but it's not essential as I have thread over on Classics. Anyhow I'm sure people who are watching the AWA Set have thoughts on his career. I have watched pretty much all of the other Blackwell I can find on youtube and other places and I think at this point we can say he was a really tremendous wrestler. Of big guys only Vader is ahead of him and even there I'm not totally convinced of it. We tend to see his peak as 80-85 and I don't disagree with that, but we have pieces from before then that really show flashes of greatness. Some of his WWF matches v. total zeros and undercard guys are impressive displays for what they are. The Mulligan match from MACW tv in 78 is very good and I don't think there is any question that Blackwell is the guy carrying the work load. There is a very fun Blackwell v. Murdoch match on youtube that is built entirely around a bodyslam with both guys looking sharp for an arena match that clearly wasn't intended to be much of anything.

 

There are flashes after that where even broken down he is able to carry scrubs like Kevin Kelly or Boris Zhukov, have a fun ladder match with Debeers, or tear the house down with Hansen in Oakland. I really wish we had some of his work from Georgia but alas we don't. Still any time he would pop back up in the AWA he looked good despite his limitations.

 

In some ways Blackwell is a sad case because he didn't often get to work the best of the best. There is no Blackwell v. Verne that exists in full. Or v. Bock. Or v. Martel. Or v. Hennig. Instead we get Blackwell in some excellent tag team matches, Blackwell as the Cage Match king, Blackwell carrying a zero like Brody to several good maches, Blackwell having a very fun match with a very old Crusher, Blackwell and Bravo having a really solid match built around psychology, Blackwell having a legitimately great match with Mad Dog Vachon years after his peak, Blackwell in a fun matches v. Superstar, Adnan, Kamala and others, et. We do have him v. Hansen when he was past his prime (still a great match), v. Lawler, v. Butch Reed in a great match in St. Louis, v. Harley in St. Louis (good match that I think Blackwell did the bulk of the interesting work in), but it is a shame that he didn't get to work people closer to being his equal more often. On the other hand the fact that he had so many quality performance in spite of this is a major plus.

 

Blackwell was both a great heel and a great face in the ring. In fact in 1984 he was the best heel and the best face in the AWA. Obviously he was agile for a guy his size, but it wasn't just that he could and did take big bumps or that he had some impressive spots. He also had some fun and varied offense that he would tailor from opponent to opponent. Not uncommon to watch him do bizarre but awesome looking versions of standard spots like a falling headbutt or elbow drop. Not uncommon to see him break out a powerslam when you think something else is coming, or a Samoan drop that he really measures to make it look especially nasty. He is an all time great brawler, but also was magnificent at working hopespots and cutoffs both as a face and a heel. His facial expressions and body language were big reasons he was able to overcome albatrosses like Brody and Crusher.

 

One thing I have enjoyed that isn't talked about is Blackwell in Japan. It's nothing that will blow you away, but watching him mach up opposite someone like One Man Gang in that setting is a hell of a lot of fun and he knows exactly how to play it.

 

Tonight Matt D found this match I had never seen and sent it to me. It's Funk, Jumbo and Tenryu v. The Destroyer, Ron Bass and Blackwell. It's a good look at Terry as a good FIP as well, though they fuck that up with an odd spot where he just rolls over to tag out (that's actually a common criticism I have of some 80's AJPW tags). Still this is a really fun match and I think Blackwell really shines in it. To be fair everyone looks pretty good, but we get to see Blackwell strutting about, working brickwall until he eats a surprise Jumbo knee, cutting Funk off in a really awesome fashion by leaping at him through the ropes, busting out some fun offense including weird elbow drop variations I've never seen, a great Samoan drop, a really sweet gut punch, a great avalanche and a very good looking suplex. We get a huge Blackwell bump off of the top as well. I think he was my favorite guy in the match which says a lot considering who was in the match. Here is the link for those who want to watch it and I would encourage people to post their AWA Set and other Blackwell thoughts in here even if I do drag my results stuff over here.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab8pEp4mQJ4

[goodhelmet]

Should I bring the results stuff into this thread?

Yes

[Dylan Waco]

The Gordy List

 

I've spent the last several weeks doing research on the AWA in general and the last several months watching all the 80's AWA I can find. In the process of this Blackwell started to look like a pretty viable HoF contender to me. At very least someone who people should think about and someone who Dave should strongly consider putting on the ballot. I decided to condense everything I found into a "Gordy List" because it is an easier to consume format than the original data dump/with comments that I did at another board.

 

1. Was he ever regarded as the best draw in the world? Was he ever regarded as the best draw in his country or his promotion?

 

Regarded is the tricky word here. He was certainly never the best draw in the World or the country. I do not think it is a big stretch to say he was one of the best draws in the country in 83 and 84. You could argue that he was the best draw in his promotion every year from 80-85, though I tend to think that is excessive. 80, 81 and 82 we just lack enough evidence to say one way or the other though at minimum he was one of the top two or three heels and one of the two freshest stars to emerge from the AWA during the period (the other being Hogan). The evidence does strongly suggest that he was the biggest heel draw in the promotion in 83 and the biggest draw in the promotion as both a face and a heel in 84. He was also clearly the most consistent and strongest drawing singles wrestler in the AWA in 85.

 

 

2. Was he an international draw, national draw and/or regional draw?

 

Not an international draw at all, unless one wants to argue for Winnipeg where Blackwell did great business over the years fits under this category (technically it does, but it seems wrong to consider a regular "loop" town in this equation). National is arguable though I would lean toward "no." Yes he did big numbers in the outlying towns of the AWA (Vegas, Salt Lake City and even popping the dead San Francisco town more than anyone else from that era), while being a main event level player in St. Louis at the same time. He also got at least some national exposure through the magazines, PWUSA, and eventually ESPN. Still there isn't much to indicate that he was a draw of any magnitude in his WWWF or Mid-Atlantic stints and you can't be a national draw if half the country is off the table. He was a strong regional star though and the company he was based out of covered a ******** of geographic territory, with Blackwell doing well across the board (in addition to the Western towns mentioned this would include Chicago, Green Bay, Milwaukee, St. Paul, Denver, et.).

 

3. How many years did he have as a top draw?

 

We don't have enough figures to be sure but it is arguable that he was the biggest draw in the AWA from at least some of 1980 as his run v. Crusher was booked over title matches for a while and the Andre matches at the end of the year combined with the battle royals were probably the biggest (figuratively and literally) matches of the year that weren't for the AWA title.

 

In 81 he was consistently in mains or semi-mains again including an excellent number v. Verne in Chicago (we don't have a number for the rematch sadly), more stuff v. Crusher and Baron, and a run as Hogan's first real "around the loop" main event opponent.

 

82 is dominated by High Flyers v. Blackwell/Adnan which was really the go to match for the bulk of the year. At times it wasn't a home run, but it held steady all year, did very good numbers in some cases and the stuff Blackwell did around the feud did well also. We also lack numbers from the big buildings in 82 which is too bad but if you use Winnipeg and SLC as a litmus test the territory was fairly hot. We don't really have the numbers, but Blackwell was a semi-main event/main event guy in St. Louis for the entire year as well working with and against Patera, Andre, Dick The Bruiser and others.

 

In 83 Blackwell starts the year paired with Adnan v. both the High Flyers and Mad Dog/Baron in matches that do great business. This builds to the Verne/Mad Dog match v. Adnan/Blackwell that was the actual main event at Super Sunday which may have been the most financially successful show in AWA history (the popular mythology now is that this was "all" Bock v. Hogan - if you watch the tv leading into this, it's clear that's not true). Patera is brought in as his partner and the rest of the year the Sheiks are red hot working against a wide variety of top level opponents, setting up a feud with the High Flyers, and drawing huge numbers around the loop. Hogan was no doubt a factor and probably the biggest draw in the company, but at this point if you look at the figures it feels like the Sheiks are a strong number two on the depth chart of a company that is making serious cash. In fact, it's not absurd to consider them 1a to Hogan's 1 much like Slaughter arguably was with Hogan the next year in the WWF. Meanwhile in St. Louis he gets a huge push with a string of four straight main events, including a Missouri title win, an NWA title match against Flair and then dropping the Missouri title to Race. The next show he comes back and wins a Battle Royal along with working in a huge six-man semi-main keeping him strong. He then goes into a lengthy program with Hogan before finishing the year in semi-mains defending the AWA tag belts with Patera.

 

Despite Hogan leaving the AWA stays hot in 84 on the strength of Sheiks, selling out in places like Chicago, Milwaukee and Green Bay that were FAR from guaranteed sellouts, drawing huge crowds in Salt Lake City and Winnipeg, culminating in another huge St. Paul show headlined by High Flyers v. Sheiks blowoff that is another one of the biggest shows in AWA history and the biggest drawing show of the year for the AWA. This was all done right after Hogan left and while Jumbo was champ - it's pretty clear who the draws were. Blackwell stays hot working in main events everywhere until his face turn at the sellout Battle Royal show. He takes a couple months off to sell the injury and business dies immediately around the loop. I mean a massive die off. When he returns he is the top face and business immediately spikes and is back up to excellent numbers by the end of the year with Blackwell in feature roles, if not main events, on every show. In St. Louis he is primarily utilized in tag teams though he does get some semi-main events and main events including a farmed out Brody match that does poorly on top. Still they appear to have faith in him down there for the most part and he was farmed out to Central States for a string of main events that year as well.

 

The first five months of 85 are a mixed bag. Blackwell misses some time and it is clear the shows are worse off when he's not there. When he is there the numbers are down in the bigger arenas but they are still "good" and there are more good numbers than bad overall, including some huge numbers by AWA standards in San Fran and a run v. Adnan in double cage main events that did quality business. Starrcage does 12k, a good but disappointing number. Verne's split crews and westward expansion, were combining with the loss of talent and Vince's hardcore expansion to hurt. When Blackwell and the Roadies take a huge chunk of time off after May business tanks and it never really recovers despite the SuperClash show doing reasonably well. Blackwell works on, or near the top of several St. Louis shows as well, feuding with Race, winning a second Missouri title and co-main eventing what I think was the last 10k plus match in St. Louis Wrestling Club history.

 

80-82 we have really incomplete figures but we have tv footage that tells us the territory was hot and that Blackwell was a heavily pushed star in the very upper tier. We have some strong numbers. In 83-84 we have plenty of figures. Lots of sellouts. Lots of "standing room only" mentions. Lots of 10k plus shows in a territory that didn't run very many 10k plus venues, including some record setting numbers. 85 is quite the mixed bag, but he was a part of some huge shows and like with 84 when he was gone the company really croaked at the gate.

 

Saying he was a top draw from mid-80 to mid-85 seems accurate.

 

 

4. Was he ever regarded as the best worker in the world? Was he ever regarded as the best worker in his country or in his promotion?

 

He was definitely never regarded as any of the above. Looking back now you could certainly make the case that he was the best in ring performer in the AWA in 83, 84 and perhaps even 85. Having said that even among those who would be willing to go back and watch the footage I don't think Blackwell would be regarded as the superior of Bockwinkel, Martel or Hennig. He would probably be viewed as a top five AWA guy from 80-85 cumulatively and perhaps every year individually as well.

 

5. Was he ever the best worker in his class (sex or weight)? Was he ever one of the top workers in his class?

 

I think anyone who paid attention to the AWA would have regarded him as the best in his weight class perhaps from the moment he debuted all the way through til 86. For his body type he was an athlete of a different order than anything that was seen at the time. Guys like Bundy and even Andre had some agility but Blackwell was on a different level. His big offense looked impressive, brutal and flashy all at once. He was an extremely good athlete, sort of a precursor to Bam Bam and Vader but with a body type that was more awkward then theirs which in a way makes his work even more impressive. He was also an excellent bumper that built well to his big bumps throughout the course of a match (or even a feud) and sold brilliantly as both a face and a heel. Pre-AWA is tough to say because of the lack of footage, but from 80-86 he was almost certainly the best worker in his weight class cumulatively. In terms of individual years some may put Andre ahead of him for the early years but by 83 I doubt many people would make that argument and no one else is in the discussion.

 

6. How many years did he have as a top worker?

 

Based on the footage we have 80-85 are the years that we can be certain of. One could maybe quibble with the inclusion of 85 on account of Blackwell missing a fair amount of time and I'm not sure how much of his return later in the year is available. On the other hand some of the best matches and performances of his career were in the first part of 85. 80-84 strike me as pretty obvious and inarguable with a multitude of quality matches against a wide variety of opponents.

 

7. Was he a good worker before his prime? Was he a good worker after his prime?

 

It is hard to peg when his prime really begins because of footage issues. The 78 match with Blackjack Mulligan is quite good and gives us a hint that Blackwell was already a very strong worker before he got to the AWA. I've had multiple people in the last week tell me they saw Blackwell in Mid-Atlantic in the mid-70's and he was a good worker there as well. Post-85 Blackwell still had some really good matches against a variety of opponents. He relied more on schtick and less on athleticism but was still good by any measure even against mediocre opponents.

 

8. Did he have a large body of excellent matches? Did he have a excellent matches against a variety of opponents?

 

This depends a lot on what one means by "excellent." If the standard is "MOTYC's" the answer is no. If the standard is matches that could be called great and part of the canon for the 80's and/or the promotion he worked for then I would say Blackwell has a solid body of "excellence," though not a "large body." He is hurt a bit by the fact that many AWA matches from early in his run were JIP and most of his pre-AWA work is unavailable/unseen on tape. He's not Bockwinkel and never was going to be but his best performances were excellent and he was almost always the best guy in the match he was in. The 83 Civic Center match teaming with Adnan v. Baron/Mad Dog is a serious contender for the best taped match in the history of the AWA. His performance in the Cage v. The High Flyers in 84 was incredible. He was also great in the Starrcage main event in 85 and had a hell of a singles match with Masked Superstar in 85 as well. That's scratching the surface really as Blackwell had a variety of quality matches with opponents running the gamut from Col. Debeers to Lawler (in Memphis) to Reed (in St. Louis) to Hansen to Brody to Verne and all points in between. It was more a case of consistent quality than dozens of blow-a-way great matches, but his best stuff is among the best stuff in the history of the promotion.

 

9. Did he ever anchor his promotion(s)?

 

Though some might try and argue against it, I think Blackwell is one of a very small number of wrestlers from the 80's who anchored a promotion without holding the promotions top singles title (or secondary title for that matter) at any point. Looking back at the early 80's you could make the case there wasn't any one true anchor but a grouping of guys that were expected to do well in the top slots around the loop, with Blackwell among them. Still I would say that Bock and then Hogan were the closest things to true anchors until Hogan's departure in late 83. At that point Blackwell effectively became the anchor of the company and it could be argued he remained the anchor until business tanked when he was gone for the Summer of 85. At any rate he dominated the AWA in 84. Drew huge money as one half of the tag team champions with Patera in the front end of the year as a heel. Turned face in a sellout show at the Civic Center and took time off to sell an injury at which point business tanked. He comes back as the top face in the company and business immediately goes up and shoots through the roof with him on top of huge shows all over by years end. I would call being part of the top drawing heel act and the top drawing face act in the same year "anchoring a promotion" without hesitation.

 

10. Was he effective when pushed at the top of cards?

 

Without question. In fact Blackwell was fairly unique in the sense that he was effective pushed at the top against a huge variety of opponents including his singles programs v. Mad Dog, Crusher, Verne, Andre, Hogan, Brody, Adnan, Race, Patera and Superstar as well as his tag programs v. The High Flyers, Mad Dog and friends, Dino and Martel and others. He consistently got over, drew money and got huge reactions regardless of opponent.

 

11. Was he valuable to his promotion before his prime? Was he still valuable to his promotion after his prime?

 

Before his prime he had varying degrees of success as a mid-carder in Mid-Atlantic, Southeastern and the WWWF. He did headline some in the WWWF during both of his stints there though those were primarily on the smaller spot shows (he had one Spectrum main event v. Backlund and some smaller headline matches v. Andre around the loop). He was a somewhat consistent semi-main event guy there and had programs with Ivan Putski, Monsoon, Strongbrow, Bobo Brazil among others. In Mid-Atlantic he had a moderate push teaming with Brute Bernard at one point and he did hold the SECW tag belts twice for the Fullers though neither reign meant much. He appears to have been a solid mid-card/upper mid-card act in Mid-Atlantic for parts of 77-78 as well.

 

Post-prime his health made him incapable of working anything resembling a full load. He did some stints in Central States working all over the card and did have some success in the AWA in 86 where he was still one of the most over acts on the roster, headlining two of the four biggest drawing shows of the year (and the other two were Wrestlerock which was a loaded show and a Salt Lake City show with three title matches including a Ric Flair NWA title match effectively making it a "supercard" of sorts) and being Hansen's best drawing challenger. He was a utility player from that point forward but still got good reactions on the shows.

 

12. Did he have an impact on a number of strong promotional runs?

 

Absolutely. In fact Blackwell had a strong impact on the entire run from 80-84, a very strong over all period for the company. It is arguable - if not likely - that he was the most important heel in the promotion for that entire stretch surpassing even Bockwinkel who was champion for much of that period. He also had great value after his face turn and was a main even level player in St. Louis during a solid run for that town.

 

13. Was he involved in a number of memorable rivalries, feuds or storylines?

 

Yes. Many of the details have already been run down above, but it is worth repeating the fact that Blackwell was involved in several feuds with a variety of wrestlers that did well at the box office. Perhaps more importantly this was almost immediate upon his arrival in the AWA as even his series with Dino Bravo was well placed on the cards and after that he was a consistent top level guy. His on again/off again feuds with Mad Dog and Crusher were solid "go to's" around the loop for almost his entire run. He was clearly the right opponent for both Andre and Hogan when they came in and was consistently paired with them at key points to the point where the term "rivalry" doesn't seem out of place. The High Flyers feud was a huge money maker that the company went to twice with Blackwell teaming with both Adnan and Patera producing memorable matches. His face turn and run against Adnan/Brody was very memorable and something the crowd was clearly ready (and excited) for. The biggest notch in his belt would be the value he had in getting over the need for Mad Dog and Verne to unite for the Super Sunday main event against Blackwell and Adnan - a show that may have been the most financially successful in the history of the promotion. I'm not privy to the details of his run in St. Louis, but he appears to have had lengthy programs v. Hogan, Patera and Race there that would indicate some success with the live crowds in the area.

 

14. Was he effective working on the mic, working storylines or working angles?

 

No question about it. Blackwell was very good on the mic, perhaps one of the more underrated guys from his era. He was excellent at getting across key points of his character or storyline and putting over his opponent at the same time which is something that other talented mic workers weren't always so great at. His promos/skits putting over his girth/power are some of the most entertaining in the history of the AWA. He was also quite good at getting over a storyline during the course of a match and was involved in some key angles. A couple of high points would be the Civic Center tag with Adnan v. Baron/Mad Dog that led to a riot when Blackwell and Adnan attacked Verne post-match (kick starting an angle that would lead to the aforementioned arguable peak show in AWA history) and the great face turn angle in the 84 Battle Royal also in St. Paul. Both angles would rate among the most intense and dramatic in company history and while the wait on the Blackwell return while he sold the injury sustained in the Battle Royal was brutal for business, both were ultimately financially successful.

 

15. Did he play his role(s) effectively during his career?

 

Definitely. In particular he was excellent at getting over his girth as a weapon but without coming across as a blubbering clown. His showmanship in the ring was really impressive as he was very good at milking the big bumps and big spots. He was very good at staying dangerous and vulnerable which is a fine line for big men. He was also excellent during the period he was paired with Adnan as the traitor to his country who sold out for money. His babyface turn was extremely effective and got over massive largely as a result of Blackwell's personality and his ability to sell a beating. Blackwell played multiple roles and played all of them quite well.

 

16. What titles and tournaments did he win? What was the importance of the reigns?

 

Blackwell held very few titles over the course of his career. By far the most important was his AWA tag title run with Ken Patera which was extremely important to the promotion, carrying it at the box office in the wake of the company losing their biggest singles star. He was a two time co-holder of the Southeastern Championship Wrestling tag belts though it seems as though the reigns meant little. He was also a two time winner of the Missouri Title in St. Louis. Neither of his reigns appear to have meant all that much, but it is worth noting that that title was reserved almost exclusively for top level stars (http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/mo/mo-h.html).

 

17. Did he win many honors and awards?

 

No, though it could easily be argued that this was as a result of when and where he worked.

 

18. Did he get mainstream exposure due to his wrestling fame? Did he get a heavily featured by the wrestling media?

 

Like most of the AWA guys from the period he got some local mainstream exposure, though probably not to the degree of a guy like Verne or Hogan. On a national level he did not. I don't know how well covered he was by PWI or their affiliated mags, but from what I know of PWI, the AWA wasn't really their bread and butter.

 

19. Was he a top tag team wrestler?

 

Absolutely. Blackwell is one of the more unheralded tag workers of all time. His tag team with Adnan (who was by no measure a good worker) was quite good at building heat, working an angle, and taking big paybacks from the babyfaces. The Patera version of the Sheiks was just as good at this with more polished heat sections. Blackwell carried the load with both of those teams, usually with his impressive offensive spots and his dynamic bumping and selling which he seemed to really excel at in a tag environment. Even his makeshift units with guys like John Studd and King Kong Bundy produced quality matches regardless of opponent largely on the strength of Blackwell's efforts. Blackwell has multiple memorable and great tag matches to his credit, including some of the top matches in the history of the AWA. It also should be reiterated that Blackwell's teams were massive draws at the box office - something that cannot be said of many other quality teams from that era.

 

20. Was he innovative?

 

He was certainly one of the first really athletic big men and to my recollection is the only non-luchador big man who carried so much weight in such a small frame while still being able to hit visually impressive spots/bumps. Not sure "innovative" is the right word for that though, even if he was sort of a "first" in that regard.

 

21. Was he influential?

 

I would say "no." It may be notable that he was such a big bumping and athletic big man. Andre could do that sort of stuff before him but he packaged it differently. When you see someone like Vader, Bam Bam or even Yoko hitting big athletic spots or taking big bumps it certainly looks more Jerry Blackwell than it does Andre. Having said that I'm not sure any of them would cite Jerry as their influence.

 

22. Did he make the people and workers around him better?

 

Definitely yes. For much of his AWA run he was paired off against older and/or limited wrestlers and he made it work every time. Blackwell had the unique ability to make questionable looking offense look brutal or effective with his bumping and selling (while maintaining his credibility as a bruiser) which was of huge value when paired off against wrestlers like Crusher or Baron Von Raschke. It is easy to underestimate how hated Adnan was, but it is also clear the immense value Blackwell brought as a tag team partner and member of his stable. It is also worth noting that Ken Patera had his last run of significance teaming with Blackwell in an extremely effective, money drawing and solid in ring team. Even late in his career he was unusually good carrying weak wrestlers to watchable/quality matches given his increasingly obvious physical limitations and health problems.

 

23. Did he do what was best for the promotion? Did he show a commitment to wrestling?

 

I know of nothing to indicate that Blackwell was unprofessional. He did seem to miss a fair number of shows over the years, but that was likely health related and it is notable that his push was never effected in any way. Despite never getting a singles title during his AWA run he was consistently pushed at the top of the cards and seemed to understand that he had more value in that respect than he would as a major title holder. Perhaps he could be criticized for allowing his health to slip so quickly and at such a relatively young age, but his gimmick was predicated on being a big man.

 

24. Is there any reason to believe that he was better or worse than he appeared?

 

I think it is almost indisputable that Blackwell is underrated in almost every respect and I think the evidence reflects that. I also think the evidence suggests that he was better than he may have appeared. Because of his health and weight he had a relatively short career by the standards of the time. Because of the fact that he never held a singles title, and was not an old guard AWA figure his contributions are easier to dismiss or even forget for those who were not fans of the AWA. Finally the AWA of Blackwell's era is a promotion/territory that is not as heavily explored as others.

[Dylan Waco]

http://sportsandwrestling.mywowbb.com/forum2/10387-3.html

 

 

Blackwell debuts with the AWA on Christmas night 79 in an opener and two nights later Verne's got him winning a battle royal.

 

Attendance dates are much sparser here and Blackwell really stays down the cards for a while. The first attendance listed in 80 is:

 

2/1/80 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena

The Crusher & Lord Alfred Hayes & Mad Dog Vachon beat Nick Bockwinkel & Bobby Heenan & Super Destroyer Mark II

Adrian Adonis beat Dino Bravo

Greg Gagne beat Jesse Ventura

Jerry Blackwell beat Steve Olsonoski

Att: 6,857

 

Obviously Blackwell is a non-factor here.

 

First interesting result here is:

 

3/2/80 Minneapolis, MN @ Auditorium

Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura beat AWA Tag Team Champions Verne Gagne & Mad Dog Vachon dq

Bodyslam challenge

Jerry Blackwell beat Dino Bravo

Bobby Heenan beat Lord Alfred Hayes

Super Destroyer Mark III beat Super Destroyer Mark II

Greg Gagne beat Buddy Wolff

Steve Olsonoski beat Buck Zumhofe

 

We don't have a figure, but it's clear that Blackwell is being thought about as a guy that could make Verne some coin. Blackwell semi-mains with Bravo around the horn but with no figures.

 

His first main is a spot show v. Crusher and he is a key part of a spot show sellout v. Crusher in the semi-main the next day. The smatterings we get from attendance aren't particularly impressive, but they aren't abysmal either. Call it "holding steady" type numbers.

 

He technically was in the second match from the top of the Commiskey show v. Dick The Bruiser but he was a last minute sub. Still he is starting to get more main events v. Crusher now and is being put over on tv something fierce. Really wish we had hard numbers here but the consistency with which they were running Crusher v. Blackwell on top, even over title matches, tells me that this had to have done at least solid business for the AWA in the summer. This included a run as the top act in the major buildings. Really very few figures and the numbers that pop up are in the 3,500 to 4,500 range usually for Green Bay and Milwaukee shows which seems like the rough average for these venues based on the other results I've seen.

 

Andre comes in and we have some numbers to go with it. Blackwell was his opponent and was probably the right opponent. They do 8,000 in Winnipeg which is a huge number for that venue with Andre v. Blackwell and a Battle Royal on top. Milwaukee does almost 6 grand a few nights later - about 2 grand above the average number from what I've seen - and you have to figure Andre v. Blackwell was the big "change" there as well. The follow up show in Winnipeg does a good number as well with Blackwell further down the card v. Tito but that was a loaded line up.

 

Blackwell essentially ends the year as a top of the card guy to, drawing typical numbers in AWA towns.

 

We don't have enough hard numbers on 80 to determine how much anyone was drawing, but based on the number of main event and semi-main bookings Blackwell got and the Andre numbers being so strong, you could certainly make a case he was one of - if not THE - top draw in the company in 1980.

 

 

81 stars off interesting as they do 5,000 in the Ampitheatre in Chicago for Blackwell/Studd v. Bruiser/Crusher. That SEEMS like a good number for that venue at the time but I could be off and confusing things.

 

From there Blackwell is shopped around against a variety of guys including Crusher, Tito, Andre in Oakland (no number, damn), teaming with Studd, et. They do this:

 

1/17/81 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

Nick Bockwinkel & Pat Patterson beat Mad Dog Vachon & Buck Zumhofe

Brass knuckles match

The Crusher beat Jerry Blackwell

Dino Bravo drew Steve Regal

John Studd beat Tito Santana

Brad Rheingans beat Adrian Adonis

att: 4,469

 

Which is a fairly standard number for the time, but feels impressive since I can't imagine the match on top was what "drew" and the rest of the card looks weak.

 

Blackwell continues to get main events, including a title shot v. Verne in Omaha.

 

Good number for Milwaukee in Feb. as they do 5,500 with Blackwell third from the top v. Robinson, and the tag titles on top.

 

This is an interesting show, though we have no previous number to see how this show looks relative to others.

 

2/22/81 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena

AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel

The Crusher & Wahoo McDaniel no contest Jerry Blackwell & John Studd

Tito Santana beat Tully BlanchardBrad Rheingans beat Bill Howard

att: 6,677

 

 

This seems like a real good number for the time, seeing as how Verne v. Bock only did 2k more at an outdoor arena the year before.

 

3/14/81 Chicago, IL @ International Amphitheatre

AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Jerry Blackwell dq

AWA Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura beat Dick the Bruiser & The Crusher COR

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Spike Huber beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens & Bobby Heenan

att: 10,000

 

Very good number for Milwaukee here

3/28/81 Milwaukee, WI @ Arena

AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel

Jerry Blackwell & John Studd beat the Crusher & Baron Von Raschke dq in 12:48

Jim Brunzell beat Adrian Adonis 14:15

Jesse Ventura beat Buck Zumhofe 17:38

Tito Santana beat Steve Regal 16:18

Brad Rheingans beat Bill Howard 15:57

att: 6,381

 

Blackwell has been used somewhat oddly up to this point in 81 as he has had multiple programs, but the key is that he is almost always in the main event or semi-main event. Blackwell/Studd v. Crusher/Baron becomes a go to match for the company and it does respectable, but not lights out business based on the limited figures we have. Also worth noting that Jerry got a return match v. Verne at the Ampitheatre, though we don't have a figure for it.

 

Really bizarre result here:

5/10/81 St Paul, MN @ Civic Center

Verne's first Retirement Match

AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Buck Zumhofe beat Ray Stevens & Pat Patterson & Bobby Heenan

Posedown

The Crusher beat Jesse Ventura

Baron Von Raschke beat John Studd

Tito Santana no contest Sheik Adnan

Larry Hennig beat Adrian Adonis

Brad Rheingans drew Jerry Blackwell

Att: 15,780

 

Blackwell opens the show v. Rheingans on the biggest show of the year. This despite the fact that he had been getting multiple shots against Verne for the title and had been a virtually constant main eventer at this point for over a year. No clue how to read that. Especially since he was in the main event on the next show they ran, and he did an 8,000 dollar show as the semi-main at the next big Chicago show. Random.

6/6/81 Milwaukee, WI @ Arena

The Crusher & Wahoo McDaniel beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens

Steel Cage match

Baron Von Raschke beat Jerry Blackwell

Non Title Steel Cage match

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat AWA Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura

Laurent Soucie beat Billy Howard

Brad Rheingans beat Bobby Heenan

Sheik Adnan beat Ben DeLeon

Mike Graham vs Buck Zumhofe

att: 7,544

 

Loaded show, with a triple main event, but worth noting as a notch for Blackwell.

 

Blackwell essentially vanishes in June and attendance seems to dip a bit, though this could be the old Summer curse khawk referenced as much as anything.

 

7/16/81 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel drew Jim Brunzell 60:00

Jerry Blackwell & Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura beat the Crusher & Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke

Sheik Adnan beat Tito Santana COR

Greg Gagne beat Puppy Dog Peloquin

Brad Rheingans beat Laurent Soucie

Att: 5,292

 

I think this is an interesting figure. Blackwell had been shunted down the card essentially as prelim guy for a month. The few numbers we have appear to be down. This is a good number for Winnipeg based on the averages I've seen and it's Blackwell back in the main even mix. Just saying.

 

Blackwell is wedded to Rheingans now, who I actually think was underrated, but it's not something that is going to put butts in the seats. As a semi-main it looks flat and feels it. It's August and Hogan is now on the scene.

 

9/12/81 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

Sheik Adnan beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq in 18:21

Hulk Hogan beat Jerry Blackwell COR

Tito Santana & Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan & Ray Stevens

Ed Boulder beat Chris Curtis

Evan Johnson beat Tony Leone

att: 4,121

 

Kind of funny that did such middling business, but Adnan was not a serious contender. You wonder if Hogan had been champ v. Blackwell...?

 

However:

9/24/81 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Sheik Adnan beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq

Hulk Hogan beat Jerry Blackwell

Non Title

Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura beat AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell

Billy Robinson drew Tito Santana

Baron Von Raschke beat Ed Boulder

Johnny Valiant beat Buck Zumhofe

Att: 6,296

 

That's a good number for Winnipeg and Hogan and Blackwell + the tag title matches are the real main events. We don't have a number for a Blackwell v. Hogan Twin City main event which is annoying, nor do we have a main for the Hogan anchored v. Blackwell anchored six-mans.

 

10/21/81 Chicago, IL @ International Amphitheatre

Cage Match

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura

Hulk Hogan beat Jerry Blackwell

Bobo Brazil ddq Blackjack Mulligan

Billy Robinson beat Bobby Heenan

Wilbur Snyder beat Jacques Goulet

El Bracero beat George Gadaski

 

Really wish we had a number for this show.

 

Andre/Battle Royal does nearly 10k in Winnipeg which is a huge number for that town with Blackwell buried in the under card. They run an Andre v. Blackwell match to play off the previous years success, plus Hogan v. Blackwell around the horn so you have to figure this is doing well. The 5300 in Milwaukee is a good number. The handicapped match with Hogan/Andre teaming v Blackwell/Adnois/Ventura in Winnipeg does 5500 but they had to have been hoping for more. He closes the year still working on top often v. Hogan

 

Interesting year for Blackwell. We really need to have more figures to prove how big of a draw he was, but again aside from the worst drawing month long period of the year based on the composite we have, he was in main events basically all year, with some standouts. The Verne match is a big notch. Shame we don't have attendance for all of their matches and the Hogan matches but the fact that he became Hogan's first real go to opponent is a strong indicator that he was a guy who was considered "money."

 

 

Blackwell in 82:

 

1/7/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Cage match

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura

Sheik Adnan beat Mad Dog Vachon

Hulk Hogan beat Jerry Blackwell

Brad Rheingans beat Ken Patera dq

Baron Von Raschke beat Rene Goulet

Bobby Duncum beat Rick Hunter

Att: 7,728

 

Very good number for Winnipeg, with a triple main event. A little over a week later they kick start the High Flyers feud in St. Paul in a non-title match that main events, but we don't have a figure for it.

 

2/4/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan no contest Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Hulk Hogan & Tito Santana

Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan

Greg Gagne drew Brad Rheingans

Jim Brunzell beat Rene Goulet

Ricky Hunter beat Dave Kochen

Att: 6,480

 

A little down for Winnipeg but this is still a good crowd for that town. Really wish we had a number for the Feb. Minnieapolis show.

 

2/10/82 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

Greg Gagne beat AWA World Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Tito Santana & Hulk Hogan 15:33

Weasel Suit Match

Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan

Jerry Blackwell beat Jim Brunzell via pin in 15:00

Brad Rheingans drew Sheik Adnan

Baron Von Raschke beat Sgt. Jacques Goulet via pin in 13:12

Att: 5,677

 

Good crowd for Milwaukee with an interesting lineup. Can't really credit Blackwell for this, but was worth a mention. Blackwell is barely working and mostly undercards until he re-emerges here:

 

3/4/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Tito Santana

Non Title

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

Ken Patera beat Baron Von Raschke

Hulk Hogan beat Bobby Duncum

Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan

Brad Rheingans beat Sgt. Goulet

Att: 5,924

 

This is tough. The trend in Winnipeg is down, but this is still a pretty good number for that building. You can view this as a negative or a positive depending on how tight you want to look at things. I tend to think the fact that think the product was still hot, but they weren't lighting the World on fire.

 

We are missing a lot of figures as is the case with a lot of this stuff, but the key thing at this point is that Blackwell/Adnan v. The High Flyers is the most consistent and hot feud in the territory and is headlining or co-headlining consistency. For Example:

4/15/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel no contest Tito Santana

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

Handicap Match

Hulk Hogan beat Ken Patera & Bobby Heenan

Bobby Duncum drew Brad Rheingans

Baron Von Raschke beat Fred Puppy Dog Peloquin

Att: 6,048

 

Another *good* Winnipeg number.

 

This feud went around the horn and everywhere for a good while so I dont' think the absence of figures indicates anything other than the fact that we don't have figures. By all accounts it must have been working and the footage sure as hell gives you the appearance that it is working as the crowds are red hot for it.

 

5/13/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Tito Santana

Greg Gagne beat Jerry Blackwell

Sheik Adnan beat Baron Von Raschke

Ken Patera beat Brad Rheingans

Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Duncum

Att: 3,564

 

Winnipeg starts to sink...

5/23/82 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

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

Ken Patera beat Tito Santana

Bobby Duncum beat Pat O'Connor

Buck Zumhofe beat Sgt. Goulet

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

Brad Rheingans beat Tom Rocky Stone

 

Really wish we had a number for this show. This has the looks of a disaster. If this did even a respectable number it was entirely do to the main event. The fact that they had the faith to run the Civic Center with no real co-main event, no AWA title match and a weak undercard on the strength of High Flyers v. Blackwell/Adnan is actually amazing to me and further indicates it had to have been doing good business.

 

5/31/82 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Bodyslam match

Hulk Hogan beat Jerry Blackwell

Ken Patera beat Tito Santana

Baron Von Raschke beat Bobby Heenan COR

Brad Rheingans beat Bobby Duncum

Rene Goulet no contest Buck Zumhofe

 

Another show I would kill to have a number for.

 

6/6/82 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

Hulk Hogan beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq

Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat Ray Stevens & Baron Von Raschke

Ken Patera beat Brad Rheingans

Buck Zumhofe drew Sgt. Goulet

Rick Martel beat Tom Stone

att: 4,210

 

Decent number for Milwaukee, but you get the feeling the fans still wanted to see the Flyers opposite Blackwell and friends.

 

6/17/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Non Title

Rick Martel beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel

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

Ken Patera beat Baron Von Raschke

Buck Zumhofe drew Rick Gault

Brad Rheingans beat Tito Santana

Att: 4,500

 

Winnipeg up some - in the summer.

 

6/26/82 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

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

Sheik Adnan beat Baron Von Raschke

Jerry Blackwell beat Brad Rheingans

Buck Zumhofe beat Jacques Goulet

Att: 9600

 

This is the kind of number that pisses you off. That's a great number for SLC on a show with no Hogan or Verne. Clearly a strong notch for the Flyers. I love Jerry but I don't see how he can get much credit for this. What it makes you wish though is that we had more numbers to see if the town was red hot coming in. I'm guessing it was.

 

6/27/82 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

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

Rick Martel beat Ken Patera dq

Bobby Duncum beat Tito Santana via pin

Buck Zumhofe beat Jacques Goulet via pin

Att: 2,468

 

It's Summer time and no Hogan, but has Milwaukee tired of this feud?

 

 

7/15/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Handicap Match

Hulk Hogan beat Bobby Heenan & Nick Bockwinkel

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

Jerry Blackwell beat Ray Stevens

Rick Martel beat Sheik Adnan

Jim Brunzell drew Brad Rheingans

Buck Zumhofe beat Sgt Jacques Goulet

Att: 5,196

 

Very solid number for a Winnipeg show in the Summer. Blackwell v. Stevens probably was a help as a "special attraction" on some level.

 

They seem to tease that they are shifting the Shieks v. 1.0 away from the Flyers but then comes the Cage

 

7/31/82 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

Cage Match

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

Handicap Match

Hulk Hogan beat Ken Patera & Bobby Heenan

Bobby Duncum beat Otto Wanz dq

Rick Martel beat Jacques Goulet via pin

Brad Rheingans drew Steve O

Att: 5,486

 

That's a very good number for Milwaukee in the Summer.

 

8/12/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Rick Martel & Dino Bravo COR

Jesse Ventura & Bobby Duncum & Ken Patera beat Baron Von Raschke & Otto Wanz & Larry Hennig

Ray Stevens & Pat Patterson beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan dq

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

att: 8,848

 

Excellent number and I think Blackwell/Adnan v. Stevens/Patterson coming off the Stevens novelty match had to fuel at least some of it. Two Canadians in the main event v. the super over Flyers didn't hurt either.

 

8/22/82 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum & Jesse Ventura beat Larry Hennig & Otto Wanz & Baron Von Raschke

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

Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat Pat Patterson & Ray Stevens

Buck Zumhofe & Brad Rheingans beat Jacques Goulet & Bobby Heenan

att: 4,231

 

Average.

 

8/28/82 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Nick Bockwinkel & Jesse Ventura

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

Rick Martel & Tito Santana beat Pat Patterson & Ray Stevens

Bobby Heenan & Sgt Goulet beat Buck Zumhofe & Brad Rheingans

Att 9090

 

Flyers are still hot in SLC which appears to be doing very well across the board at this point.

 

Blackwell is off the radar for a bit.

 

9/18/82 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

AWA Champion Otto Wanz beat Nick Bockwinkel

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

Adrian Adonis beat Larry Hennig

Rick Martel beat Jerry Blackwell dq

Brad Rheingans beat Tom Stone

att: 3,309

 

Really odd show on paper. Don't know how this could have done well.

 

9/23/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Non Title

Dino Bravo & Rick Martel beat AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell

AWA Champion Otto Wanz beat Nick Bockwinkel

Adrian Adonis beat Baron Von Raschke

Bobby Heenan beat Ray Stevens dq

Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum no contest Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan

Sgt Jacques Goulet beat Buddy Lane

Att: 6,588

 

Interesting to see Patera on the opposite side of Blackwell. Bravo/Martel return match still does good business though not as hot as the first time.

 

10/10/82 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

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

Hulk Hogan beat Adrian Adonis via pin

Otto Wanz beat Jerry Blackwell dq

Rick Martel beat Jacques Goulet

Brad Rheingans drew Sheik Adnan

Att: 3,629

 

I would have liked to see Wanz v. Jerry. You get the feeling they are sort of stumbling at this point figuring out what the heck to do with the various parts they have and it's hurting the gates some. Battle Royal season hits, Andre comes in and the limited figures we have show an expected spike.

 

11/28/82 Milwaukee, WI @ Arena

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Tito Santana

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

Ken Patera beat Larry Hennig

Rick Martel beat Bobby Duncum dq

Tiny Tom & Lone Eagle beat Little Tokyo & Hillbilly Pete

Tom Lintz drew Tom Stone (sub Brad Rheingans)

Att: 5,878.

 

12/2/82 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Larry Hennig & Tito Santana & Jim Brunzell beat Nick Bockwinkel & Bobby Duncum & Bobby Heenan

Jerry Blackwell beat Mad Dog Vachon dq

Jesse Ventura beat Baron Von Raschke

Rick Martel drew Sheik Adnan

Tiny Tom & Lone Eagle beat Little Tokyo & Hillbilly Pete

Att: 5,212

 

Solid numbers, with the Milwaukee number being about 250 away from a sellout. You get the feeling things are going to stay hot. Blackwell closes the year main eventing with Adnan again in Green Bay and even at the Civic Center, with Hogan v. Ventura underneath but we don't have figures.

 

82 is tough because of the lack of numbers especially in the big towns. There isn't a Chicago figure all year. SLC appears red hot. Winnipeg started off fairly hot and it seems Blackwell was a part of that. The footage and the fact that he headlined so much with Adnan opposite the Flyers - including at least two main events in St. Paul - is a good sign that he was doing solid business on top at minimum. On the other hand the whole promotion seemed to lose a little focus during the summer and leading up to battle royal season. Not a home run year like 84, but a plus for Blackwell over all.

[Dylan Waco]

Blackwell in 83:

 

1/6/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

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

Hulk Hogan beat Ken Patera dq

Wahoo McDaniel beat Rene Goulet

Rick Martel beat Bobby Duncum

Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan

Baron Von Raschke beat Tom Lintz

Att: 6,848

 

Exhibit One - Winnipeg is still hot. Mad Dog had legs up there it would seem and Blackwell/Adnan has been a hot hand for some time now. Denver, Green Bay and Chicago all headline with the same match though we don't have paid figures for any of the shows. Milwaukee does a slightly below average 3,500 for that match on top, but the semi-main is an arm wrestling match with Ventura and Hogan which is pretty weak support.

 

2/3/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Cage match

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

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Rick Martel

Ken Patera beat Steve O

Wahoo McDaniel beat Bobby Duncum

Jesse Ventura beat Buck Zumhofe

Baron Von Raschke beat Rene Goulet

Att: 8,896

 

Return Cage Match in Winnipeg does 2,000 more than the previous show and really an excellent number for Winnipeg in general. SLC, Chicago, and Green Bay all headline with a variation of this match in some cases Adnan subbed out. Blacwell works second from the top at a St. Paul show with Mad Dog in here as well. Sadly we have no numbers again.

 

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

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Hulk Hogan dq

Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke

Wahoo McDaniel no contest Ken Patera

Jesse Ventura beat Brad Rheingans

Rick Martel beat Bobby Heenan COR

John Tolos beat Buck Zumhofe

Att: 8,320

 

Still hot in Winni and Blackwell is still right in the mix. They follow this up with Blackwell/Adnan headlining v. Flyers in LV, SLC and the Cow Palace but no figures. Still this feud is headlining more often than not at this point.

3/13/83 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Rick Martel

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

Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke

Brad Rheingans beat John Tolos

Curt Hennig beat Jacques Goulet

Steve Regal drew Buck Zumhofe

 

No number here - this could have been a huge show as Hogan and the Flyers were super hot faces, Heenan was regarded as the devil, Blackwell/Adnan were still hot and that title match seemed to have appeal in St. Paul in 84 (though that may have been the dynamic khawk noted earlier).

 

3/25/83 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Rick Martel dq

No dq Match

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

Greg Gagne beat Jerry Blackwell

Jerry Lawler beat John Tolos

Wahoo McDaniel ddq Sheik Adnan

Brad Rheingans beat Tom Stone

A-5,710

 

Very good number for Milwaukee, near sell out really. Loaded show. Shortly after this they start to run Blackwell in matches Mad Dog that are middle of the card, but would have been extremely strong additions to those shows given both guys stature at that point.

 

4/13/83 Brandon, Manitoba, Canada @ Keystone Centre

Hulk Hogan beat Jerry Blackwell

Jesse Ventura beat Mad Dog Vachon

Rick Martel beat Greg Gagne

Brad Rheingans beat Buddy Lane

Wendi Richter beat Velvet McIntyre

Joyce Grable beat Judy Martin

Att: 5,500

 

4/14/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Hulk Hogan & Mad Dog Vachon no contest Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Wahoo McDaniel beat Nick Bockwinkel & Jesse Ventura & Ken Patera

Rick Martel drew Brad Rheingans

Wahoo McDaniel beat John Tolos

Wendi Richter & Joyce Grable beat Velvet McIntyre & Judy Martin

Att: 6,444

 

I think this has to be read as an extremely successful double whammy. This is 12,000 people in Manitoba in 2 days. The towns are only 120 miles apart. I THINK this is the first time Brandon shows up in results. It is a town of 46,000 - now. No clue what it was then. 5,500 there leads one to believe that the AWA recognized they were red hot in Manitoba and could expand some with bigger shows. They were right and Blackwell main events both. Even opposite Hogan that's a clear notch in his belt.

 

4/24/83 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center Super Sunday

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

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Hulk Hogan dq

Ken Patera & Jesse Ventura & Blackjack Lanza beat Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Rick Martel

Jerry Lawler beat John Tolos

Wahoo McDaniel beat Ed Boulder

Brad Rheingans beat Tom Stone

Joyce Grable & Wendi Richter beat Judy Martin & Velvet McIntrye

 

No number, but this was a massive show and a grand slam sell out with close caption venues in neighboring buildings IIRC. Bock v. Hogan traditionally gets most of the credit, but Verne and Mad Dog teaming up was a HUGE deal and Blackwell and Adnan were so friggin hated it was a match made in heaven. Verne on top wasn't entirely glory whoring on his part - it was a legit main event with Hogan v. Bock.

 

Blackwell continues opposite Mad Dog until they put him together with Patera

 

5/19/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel no contest Wahoo McDaniel

Non Title

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

Mike Graham beat Buck Zumhofe

Baron Von Raschke beat Jesse Ventura dq

Att: 3,972

 

Ok number at best, but this is a kick start to the Blackwell/Patera v. High Flyers feud.

 

5/21/83 Chicago, IL

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel no contest Jerry Lawler

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

Jim Brunzell beat Blackjack Lanza

Mike Graham beat Spike Huber

Jesse Ventura beat Rick Martel

Wilbur Snyder beat Rene Goulet

Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal

 

Would kill for a number here. This looks like a potential disaster to be honest. To the extent there was a crowd you get the feeling it would have been a crowd there to see Blackwell v. Mad Dog with their respective partners just being there for all intents and purposes. They continue to run that match all around the loop though, with an occasional Mad Dog v. Jerry singles.

 

6/16/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

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

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Wahoo McDaniel

Rick Martel beat Blackjack Lanza dq

Brad Rheingans beat Mike Graham

Billy Robinson beat Baron Von Raschke

Bob Burke beat Buck Zumhofe COR

Att: 3,288

 

Again it's Summer, but this is still a weak showing. Nick v. Wahoo isn't cutting it and the fans are not super interested in Flyers v. Sheiks - yet.

 

6/18/83 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon

Mad Dog Vachon beat Jerry Blackwell

Wahoo McDaniel & Jerry Lawler & Dick The Bruiser beat Nick Bockwinkel & Jesse Ventura & Blackjack Lanza

Greg Gagne beat Bobby Heenan

Ken Patera beat Jim Brunzell

Rick Martel beat Bobby Colt

Mike Graham beat Nacho Berrara

Brad Rheingans beat Chris Markoff

 

Another figure I wish we had. If this did more than 8,000 I would almost consider it an epic victory for Blackwell as nothing else on this card is going to sell a ticket. Feels like Blackwell v. Mad Dog had to have been a fairly hot feud.

 

6/26/83 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Wahoo McDaniel

Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell to win AWA Tag Title

Baron Von Raschke no contest Blackjack Lanza

Bobby Heenan beat Kenny Jay

Buck Zumhofe beat Mr. Saito dq

Brad Rheingans drew Rick Martel

att: 14,000

 

Bock v. Wahoo has bombed hard in Winnipeg twice. The rest of the card is weak. The Sheiks title win was almost assuredly the top draw on the show.

 

7/11/83 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Rick Martel & Wahoo McDaniel beat Bobby Heenan & Blackjack Lanza

Ken Patera beat Mad Dog Vachon

Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell

Greg Gagne beat Mr. Saito dq

David Shults beat Buck Zumhofe

Att 7900

 

Good number for the City. Hard to tell where the credit should go.

 

7/14/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Non Title

Mad Dog Vachon & Verne Gagne beat AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell

Wahoo McDaniel & Baron Von Raschke beat Blackjack Lanza & Bobby Heenan

Greg Gagne beat Sheik Adnan

Rick Martel drew Bill White

Mr. Saito beat Buck Zumhofe

David Shults beat Brad Rheingans

Att: 3,136

 

This is a huge disappointment. Verne should have spiked something especially against the Sheiks who appear to have legs already at this point.

 

7/24/83 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel no contest Wahoo McDaniel

AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Mad Dog Vachon & Dick The Bruiser COR

Mr. Saito beat Rick Martel

Buck Zumhofe beat Mike Graham

Jim Brunzell beat David Shults

Baron Von Raschke beat Blackjack Lanza

Brad Rheingans drew Bill White

 

7/24/83 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran's Memorial Arena

Non Title

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

Wahoo McDaniel beat AWA World Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq in 17:55

Jim Brunzell beat Blackjack Lanza in 9:35

Mr Saito beat Buck Zumhofe

Bill White drew Brad Rheingans

 

Same day shows or typo? Either way I'd be interested to see numbers. Wahoo v. Nick may have heated up some the more it ran.

 

8/18/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Mad Dog Vachon dq

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

Hulk Hogan beat Mr. Saito dq

Jim Brunzell no contest David Shults

Greg Gagne beat Blackjack Lanza

Rick Martel beat Bill White

Att: 5,916

 

Winnipeg spikes. Wonder who the heck Baron's partner was. Blackwell ends up with a run of main events after this in Green Bay, San Fran and Milwaukee and working in the semi-main at the UIC under Hogan v. Saito.

 

9/17/83 Chicago, IL @ UIC Pavilion

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

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Mad Dog Vachon

Handicap Match

Hulk Hogan beat Mr. Saito & David Shults dq

AWA Light Heavyweight champion Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan

Brad Rheingans beat Bill White

Steve Olsonoski drew Blackjack Lanza

 

Return of High Flyers v. Blackwell and Friends? It headlines right out the gate at a major show, which tells you Verne had confidence in this and high hopes - he was right to have those as 84 shows.

 

9/22/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Handicap Match

Hulk Hogan beat David Shults & Mr. Saito dq

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Brad Rheingans COR

AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Dino Bravo & Rick Martel

Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan COR

Jim Brunzell beat Sheik Adnan

Buck Zumhofe drew Bill White

Att: 7,860

 

Almost feels like Canadians v. Sheiks is the real draw here and it's a good number.

 

9/25/83 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

Brad Rheingans drew AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel

Handicap Match

Hulk Hogan beat Mr. Saito & David Shults dq

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Rick Martel beat Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan

Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan COR

Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal

Steve O drew Bill White

Att: 15,000+

 

Really good number. The numbers we have from St. Paul have been good all year. No way Rheingans v. Bock was the draw here. Hogan always helps a great deal, but that six-man would have been a huge factor.

 

10/20/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Rick Martel won a 20 man Battle royal

Rick Martel & Mad Dog Vachon & Andre the Giant beat Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan

Hulk Hogan no contest David Shults

Mr. Saito beat Baron Von Raschke

Greg Gagne beat Bill White

Jim Brunzell beat Billy Graham dq

Att: 10,036

 

10/21/83 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena

Andre The Giant won a 20 man battle royal

Mad Dog Vachon & Andre the Giant & Rick Martel beat Superstar Billy Graham & Mr. Saito & David Shults when Martel pinned Graham in 13:21

Jim Brunzell beat Ken Patera via pin in 10:53

Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan COR in 7:45

Greg Gagne beat Bill White via pin in 14:08

Billy Robinson drew Ray Stevens 20:00

Also in the battle royal were Steve Olsonoski, Otto Wanz, Brad Rheingans, Baron Von Raschke, Chris Markoff and Sheik Adnan

att: sell out

 

10/22/83 San Francisco, CA @ Cow Palace

Mad Dog Vachon won battle royal

Andre The Giant & Mad Dog Vachon & Rick Martel beat Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera & Sheik Adnan

Hulk Hogan beat David Shults

Mr Saito beat Baron Von Raschke

Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan

Ray Stevens beat Bill White

Steve Olsonoski beat Chris Markoff

Att: 10,300

 

Battle Royal season, Andre is in, and Blackwell is a key support player, who would have been positioned as the bad fat guy to Andre's good fat guy in all of these six-mans.

 

10/23/83 St Paul, MN @ Civic Center

Mad Dog Vachon won a 20 man battle royal

Hulk Hogan no contest Mr Saito

Non Title

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

Otto Wanz beat Bill White

Blackjack Lanza & Ray Stevens beat Bobby Heenan & Mr Saito

Billy Robinson beat Chris Markoff

att: 19,120

 

10/28/83 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Rick Martel won battle royal

Non Title, Special Referee: Leo Nomellini

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

Hulk Hogan drew David Shults

att: 10,640

 

Even without Andre the battle royals are hot and Blackwell is still right there in the top heel act in the promotion.

 

11/4/83 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon

Jim Brunzell won a 20 man Battle Royal

Hulk Hogan & Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan

Baron Von Raschke beat David Shults dq

Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan

Billy Robinson beat Bill White

Superstar Billy Graham beat Rick Martel

Brad Rheingans beat Chris Markoff

Att: 18,500

 

See above

 

11/9/83 Brandon, Manitoba, Canada @ Keystone Centre

Andre the Giant won a 12 man Battle royal

Greg Gagne beat Superstar Billy Graham

Att: 6,000

 

11/10/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Hulk Hogan & Andre the Giant & Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat David Shults & Mr Saito & Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera

Rick Martel beat Ray Stevens

Billy Robinson drew Brad Rheingans

Bobby Heenan beat Buck Zumhofe

Otto Wanz beat Bill White

Billy Graham beat Blackjack Lanza

Att: 7,804

 

Another great run in Manitoba, doing almost 14,000 between the two days this time with Andre as an added attraction to be sure.

 

11/24/83 St Paul, MN @ Civic Center

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Mad Dog Vachon dq

Special Referee: Ray Stevens

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

Rick Martel drew David Shults

Brad Rheingans dcor Mr Saito

Superstar Billy Graham beat Buck Zumhofe

Billy Robinson beat Bill White

Lord Littlebrook & Little Koko beat Little Tokyo & Johnny Reb

att: 13,163

 

St. Paul is still really hot and that is a quality double main event.

11/26/83 San Francisco, CA

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Mad Dog Vachon

Special Referee: Ray Stevens

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

att: 3,500

 

Believe it or not, this is a good figure for San Fran for the AWA at this point.

 

12/8/83 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Rick Martel

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

Bunkhouse Match

Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan

Mad Dog Vachon no contest David Shults

Mr Saito beat Baron Von Raschke

Superstar Billy Graham beat Steve Olsonoski

Bulldog Bob Brown beat Bill White

Att: 5,084

 

A hair disappointing, but still a good number.

 

12/18/83 Chicago, IL @ UIC Pavilion

AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Blackjack Lanza COR

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

Mad Dog Vachon & the Crusher (sub for Hogan) beat Mr. Saito & Jesse Ventura

Billy Robinson beat Superstar Billy Graham

Buck Zumhofe beat Ray Stevens

Brad Rheingans beat Bill White

att: 9,000

 

This is fairly close to a sellout. Hogan was advertised but was off to the WWF.

 

12/25/83 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

Mad Dog Vachon beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq

Greg Gagne & Baron Von Raschke & Ray Stevens & Jim Brunzell beat Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell & Mr. Saito & Sheik Adnan

Jesse Ventura beat Steve Olsonoski

Rick Martel beat Superstar Billy Graham dq

Billy Robinson drew Brad Rheingans 20:00

Buck Zumhofe beat Bill White

att: 18,000

 

Christmas night is huge again in St. Paul. I think Hogan was advertised here too, but given what we know about 84 I think we have to be careful about overemphasizing his value. Yes he was a draw and a huge one and the top face. But his departure did not kill the territory. Vince utilizing him well and Verne being Verne did. The point is this isn't purely a "came to see Hogan" number. In fact I think this would have done a similar number Hogan or not.

 

12/26/83 San Francisco, CA

Ray Stevens & Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Mad Dog Vachon beat Mr. Saito & Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera & Sheik Adnan

Rick Martel beat Billy Graham

Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan

att: 3,000

 

Again it sounds crazy, but this is a decent number for San Fran at this point ESPECIALLY the night after Christmas.

 

12/30/83 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell no contest Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke

Rick Martel beat Jesse Ventura (sub David Shults) dq in 7:25

Bunkhouse Match

Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan via pin in 4:12

Ray Stevens (sub Hulk Hogan) beat Mr Saito dq

Greg Gagne beat Superstar Billy Graham via pin in 10:51

Brad Rheingans drew Billy Robinson 20:00

Att: 4,292

 

Respectable number.

 

Again you wish we had more numbers, but the Sheiks were the hottest heels in the territory, in particular Blackwell. Jerry was a big part of some huge shows all over the territory and was consistently in the main or semi-main event all over the loop. The Flyers feud was already looking like the huge draw it would prove to be. I'd say Blackwell's 83 has plenty in the way of evidence to show that he was a draw and a major factor in the AWA's financial success that year.

[Dylan Waco]

Blackwell in 84

 

 

1/4/84 Las Vegas, NV @ Showboat Sports Pavilion

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Baron Von Raschke & Mad Dog Vachon beat Jerry Blackwell & Ken Patera & Sheik Adnan & Mr Saito

Billy Robinson beat Jesse Ventura (sub Hulk Hogan) dq

Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan COR

Jesse Ventura beat Buck Zumhofe

att: 6,000

 

This is the biggest number I've seen for Vegas from the AWA.

 

2/26/84 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center afternoon

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

Anything Goes Match

Jerry Blackwell beat The Crusher

Harley Race beat Blackjack Lanza

Brad Rheingans beat Ken Patera dq

Blackjack Mulligan beat Chris Markoff

Steve Regal beat Kenny Jay

att: 14,000

 

This is up 3,000 from the previous St. Paul show that didn't have Blackwell, though to be fair this show had a marginally better line up.

 

3/3/84 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

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

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

Genichiro Tenryu & Jumbo Tsuruta beat Billy Robinson & Ronnie Garvin

Blackjack Lanza & Blackjack Mulligan beat Stan Hansen & Nick Bockwinkel

Steve Regal & Kevin Kelly beat Brad Rheingans & Tom Stone

Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts beat Buck Zumhofe & Steve O

att: 6,112 sellout

 

Milwaukee was FAR from a guaranteed sellout.

 

3/4/84 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon

AWA Champion Jumbo Tsuruta beat Blackjack Lanza

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

Stan Hansen & Nick Bockwinkel ddq Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher

Mr. Saito & Jesse Ventura beat The Crusher (sub Mad Dog Vachon) & Baron Von Raschke dq

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell no contest Rick Martel & Dino Bravo

Giant Baba & Genichiro Tenryu beat Buddy Roberts & Ronnie Garvin

Billy Robinson & Brad Rheingans beat Steve Regal & Kevin Kelly

Terry Gordy & Michael Hayes beat Steve Olsonoski & Buck Zumhofe

Att: SRO 18,000+

 

Loaded show, but still.

 

3/11/84 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena

AWA Champion Jumbo Tsuruta beat Billy Robinson

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

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

Blackjack Mulligan & Blackjack Lanza beat Harley Race & Nick Bockwinkel

Giant Baba & Tenryu beat Steve Regal & Roger Kirby

Buck Zumhofe & Steve O beat Tom Stone & Chris Markoff

att: SRO 7,000

 

Tremendous figure for Green Bay. This is a pretty hot show, but if you follow the feuds from the area it feels like the tag title match is the clear main event.

 

3/15/84 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Greg Gagne & The Crusher

AWA Champion Jumbo Tsuruta beat Jim Brunzell

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

Giant Baba & Genichiro Tenryu beat Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts

Blackjack Mulligan & Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan & Nick Bockwinkel

att: 9,950

 

Really an excellent number for Salt Lake City.

 

3/22/84 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

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

Blackjack Mulligan beat Bobby Heenan

Billy Robinson beat Blackjack Lanza

Greg Gagne beat Ken Patera

Kevin Kelly beat Stan Lane

Steve O beat Chris Markoff

Brad Rheingans beat Steve Regal

Att: 7,424

 

And an excellent number for Winnipeg too.

 

3/25/84 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

Cage Match

Greg Gagne & The Crusher beat Sheik Adnan & Jerry Blackwell

Nick Bockwinkel beat Blackjack Mulligan dq

Mr. Saito beat Baron Von Raschke

Steve O drew Larry Zbyszko

Stan Lane & Steve Keirn beat Jake Milliman & Jesse Ventura

Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe to win AWA light heavyweight title

Kevin Kelly beat Kenny Jay

Att 19,000+

 

Incredible number and there is no question what the primary draw on this show was.

 

3/31/84 Milwaukee, WI @ Arena

Cage match, Referee Buck Zumhofe

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

Nick Bockwinkel beat Blackjack Mulligan

Fabulous Ones beat Steve Regal & Roger Kirby

Greg Gagne beat Ken Patera

Blackjack Lanza beat Chris Markoff

Larry Zbyszko drew Brad Rheingans

Kevin Kelly beat Tom Stone

Att: 9,889

 

That number can't be right can it?

 

4/1/84 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon

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

Nick Bockwinkel beat Billy Robinson dq

Dick The Bruiser & Blackjack Mulligan & Blackjack Lanza beat Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan

Fabulous Ones beat Larry Zbyszko & Roger Kirby

Road Warriors beat Steve O & Buck Zumhofe

Greg Gagne beat Steve Regal

Brad Rheingans beat Kevin Kelly

Att 18,000

 

Another supershow at the Rosemont does excellent business.

 

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

The Crusher & Mad Dog Vachon & Verne Gagne (sub Greg Gagne) beat Sheik Adnan & Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell

Blackjack Lanza beat Nick Bockwinkel dq

Fabulous Ones beat Steve Regal & Larry Zbyszko

Jesse Ventura beat Baron Von Raschke

Curt Hennig beat Steve Olsonoski

Att: 9,433

 

SLC clearly loves to hate the Sheiks.

 

4/8/84 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena

Cage match

The Crusher & Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke beat Jesse Ventura & Mr Saito & Jerry Blackwell when Crusher pinned Blackwell in 15:10

Nick Bockwinkel beat Blackjack Mulligan dq when Mulligan tossed Bockwinkel beat the top rope in 11:39

Fabulous Ones beat Ken Patera & Sheik Adnan in 13:38

Jim Brunzell beat Steve Regal via pin in 12:37

Billy Robinson beat Buck Zumhofe via pin in 15:16

Curt Hennig beat Kevin Kelly via pin in 11:12

Att: sellout 6,214

 

Another great number in a town that rarely sold out.

 

Things cool off some in April though there is this

 

4/29/84 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon

Cage match

The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke & Dick The Bruiser beat Jesse Ventura & Mr. Saito & Jerry Blackwell

Nick Bockwinkel beat AWA Champion Jumbo Tsuruta dq

Road Warriors beat Curt Hennig & Ronnie Garvin

Harley Race no contest Jim Brunzell

Blackjack Mulligan beat Ken Patera

Billy Robinson beat Larry Zbyszko

Fabulous Ones beat Steve Regal & Kevin Kelly

att: 17,000

 

5/10/84 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Greg Gagne beat AWA Champion Jumbo Tsuruta dq

The Crusher beat Jerry Blackwell

Princess Victoria & Velvet McIntyre beat Despina Montagus & Leilani Kai

Fabulous Ones beat Jake Milliman & Jesse Ventura

Curt Hennig drew Larry Zbyszko

Att: 8,600

 

SLC stays hot. This also has the look of a card where Blackwell v. Crusher was almost assuredly the top draw by a large margin.

 

5/11/84 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

AWA Champion Jumbo Tsuruta beat Blackjack Mulligan COR

The Crusher beat Sheik Adnan

Fabulous Ones beat Steve Regal & Jesse Ventura

Velvet McIntyre & Princess Victoria beat Leilani Kai & Despina Montagus

Curt Hennig beat Larry Zbyszko

Billy Robinson beat Tom Stone

att: 2,616

 

Adnan works Blackwell's spot opposite Crusher and gives Jumbo no real support. The rest of the show is weak. Business had been trending down in some of these areas but this is a less than half full arena. Absence of Bock, Blackwell and The High Flyers looks to have hurt a whole lot.

 

5/26/84 Chicago, IL @ UIC Pavilion

Road Warriors beat AWA Tag Team Champions The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke dq

Dick The Bruiser beat Jerry Blackwell dq

Fabulous Ones beat Steve Regal & Steve O

Nick Bockwinkel no contest Blackjack Lanza

Princess Victoria & Velvet McIntyre beat Leilani Kai & Despina Montagus

Billy Robinson drew Curt Hennig

Greg Gagne beat Tom Lentz

Att: 10,000

 

I'm guessing this was near sellout at the UIC.

 

6/9/84 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

Baron Von Raschke (sub Mad Dog Vachon) representing Crusher sat chained to Abdullah the Butcher, representing Blackwell.

The Crusher beat Jerry Blackwell on a 3rd fall dq in 14:42

Steve Keirn (sub Greg Gagne) beat Nick Bockwinkel dq 7:04

Baron Von Raschke beat Abdullah the Butcher dq 3:56

Fabulous Ones Stan Lane & Steve Keirn beat Larry Zbyszko (sub Jesse Ventura) & Steve Regal 18:44 when Steve Keirn pinned Regal

King Kong Brody beat Steve Olsonoski 5:03

Tom Stone beat Jake Milliman 12:49

att: 2,820

 

Really bad number for Crusher v. Blackwell even in the Summer. Rest of he card is lackluster but still.

 

6/10/84 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

Jerry Blackwell eliminated King Kong Brody to win battle royal

Abdullah The Butcher & Jerry Blackwell beat Baron Von Raschke (sub Blackjack Mulligan) & Blackjack Lanza

King Kong Brody beat Steve O

The Crusher no contest Nick Bockwinkel

Fabulous Ones beat Roger Kirby & Chris Markoff

Dusty Rhodes beat Larry Zbyszko

Curt Hennig beat Steve Regal

att: (1?)8,000

 

Heavily disputed number. Watching the footage it is clear that 8k is not right. Two other AWA experts I know contend that match was a sellout. My guess is this is a case of a missing 1. Also the night Blackwell turned face in a great angle. Blackwell takes time off to sell the angle. Next big show is the can't miss Rosemont.

 

6/17/84 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon

King Kong Brody & Abdullah The Butcher & Sheik Adnan beat Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke

Nick Bockwinkel beat Blackjack Lanza

Fabulous Ones beat Larry Zbyszko & Chris Markoff

Curt Hennig beat Roger Kirby

Fabulous Moolah & Judy Martin beat Desiree Peterson & Susan Starr

att: 2,000

 

Awful number, Summer or not. Did WWF run town around this period?

 

6/24/84 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena

Dick The Bruiser chained to Crusher's corner, Abdullah The Butcher chained to Adnan's corner

The Crusher beat Sheik Adnan via pin in 14:20

Nick Bockwinkel beat Blackjack Lanza via pin in 15:56

Curt Hennig beat Abdullah the Butcher (sub Steve Regal) dq

Larry Zbyszko drew Steve Olsonoski

Chris Markoff beat Tom Stone (sub Kevin Kelly) via pin in 10:02

att: 1,829

 

Yikes. GB is not a guaranteed sell out, but this is REALLY low for that venue.

 

7/15/84 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel

Jim Brunzell beat King Kong Brody dq

The Crusher beat Abdullah The Butcher dq

Fabulous Ones beat Mr. Saito & Larry Zbyszko

Road Warriors beat Steve O & Curt Hennig

Tony Atlas beat Steve Regal

Billy Robinson beat Chris Markoff

att: 8,500

 

As someone who thinks the 18k figure for the previous show is the real number, this would be a massive drop.

 

7/21/84 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel COR

Fabulous Ones drew Road Warriors

Jim Brunzell beat King Kong Brody dq

The Crusher beat Abdullah The Butcher dq

Curt Hennig drew Mr. Saito

Tony Atlas beat Larry Zbyszko

Billy Robinson beat Steve O

att: 14,000

 

Huge jump and it's hard to say why. Was Bock v. Martel that hot? Roadies v. Fabs help that much?

 

7/22/84 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel via pin in 19:36

The Crusher beat Abdullah the Butcher dq

Fabulous Ones beat Mr. Saito & Bobby Heenan

Handicap Match

King Kong Brody beat Curt Hennig & Steve Olsonoski when Brody pinned Olsonoski

Billy Robinson beat Larry Zbyszko via pin

att: 2,416

 

GB is still bordering Death.

 

8/12/84 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

AWA Tag Team Champions The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke no contest Road Warriors

Handicap match

Jim Brunzell & Tony Atlas beat King Kong Brody dq

Mr. Saito & Nick Bockwinkel beat Blackjack Lanza & Stan Lane

Curt Hennig drew Billy Robinson

Brad Rheingans beat Larry Zbyszko

Steve Regal beat Tom Zenk

att: 5,600

 

Uh oh. St. Paul is sliding.

 

8/16/84 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel

Road Warriors beat Brad Rheingans & Steve O

Baron Von Raschke dcor Billy Robinson

Tony Atlas beat Steve Regal

Larry Zbyszko & Bobby Heenan beat Stan Lane & Blackjack Lanza

Curt Hennig beat Jim Mitchell

Steve O beat Rick Renslow

Tom Zenk beat Bruce Dean

Att: 5,964

 

Martel does pretty well in Canada

 

8/18/84 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon

AWA Tag Team Champions The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke beat Road Warriors dq

Nick Bockwinkel & Bobby Heenan beat Blackjack Lanza & Stan Lane

Jim Brunzell beat Sheik Adnan

Tony Atlas beat Steve Regal

Billy Robinson beat Curt Hennig

Brad Rheingans beat Rick Renslow

Steve O beat Tom Zenk

att: 6,000

 

8/19/84 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher no contest Road Warriors

Nick Bockwinkel beat Tony Atlas

Jim Brunzell beat Sheik Adnan

Bobby Heenan beat Stan Lane

Billy Robinson beat Steve Regal

Curt Hennig beat Larry Zbyszko

att: 4,369

 

8/24/84 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Road Warriors beat AWA Tag Team Champions The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke dq

Mr. Saito beat Stan Lane

Jim Brunzell beat Sheik Adnan

Tony Atlas beat Steve Regal

Curt Hennig drew Larry Zbyszko

att: 7,210

 

Rosemont figure is weak, especially with the Roadies on top. Milwaukee number is respectable but noticeably not on the level of the Sheiks hot period. SLC with Roadies on top still does a very good number, but also down some.

 

9/9/84 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

AWA Champion Rick Martel drew Brad Rheingans

Martel refused to accept victory after Brad was injured

AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Steve O & Jim Brunzell

Weasel Suit Match

Fabulous Ones & Blackjack Lanza beat Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito & Bobby Heenan

Curt Hennig beat Harley Race dq

Larry Zbyzsko beat Tom Zenk

Billy Robinson beat Steve Regal

att: 3,000

 

Awful. Bring back Jerry.

 

9/30/84 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

AWA Tag Team Champions Champion Road Warriors beat Crusher & Baron Von Raschke

Jerry Blackwell no contest King Kong Brody

Fabulous Ones beat Mr. Saito & Nick Bockwinkel

Billy Robinson beat Tony Atlas dq

Brad Rheingans beat Steve Regal

Curt Hennig beat Chris Markoff

att: "just under 8,000", gate: $71,000.00

 

Jerry comes back - attendance more than doubles.

 

10/7/84 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon

Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke beat Road Warriors & Paul Ellering

King Kong Brody drew Jerry Blackwell

Nick Bockwinkel beat Tony Atlas dq

Fabulous Ones beat Mr. Saito & Billy Robinson

Jim Brunzell beat Larry Zbyszko

Brad Rheingans beat Chris Markoff

Curt Hennig beat Steve Regal

att: 8,300

 

Jerry is back. Attendance up more than 2000.

 

10/14/84 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena

AWA World Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig when one of the Warriors pinned Curt

Jerry Blackwell beat Sheik Adnan (sub King Kong Brody) via pin in 7:49

Fabulous Ones beat Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito when one of the Fabs pinned Saito in 17:57

Jim Brunzell beat Billy Robinson dq

Brad Rheingans (sub Tony Atlas) beat Steve Regal via pin in 12:52

Att: 3,735

 

Jerry is back. Attendance is up 1/3.

 

10/18/84 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Jerry Blackwell & Boom Boom Bundy won a tag team battle royal

Handicap Match

Jerry Blackwell beat Larry Zbyszko & Sheik Adnan

Stan Lane & Steve Keirn beat Mr. Saito & Nick Bockwinkel

Att: 8,920

 

Battle Royal time. Attendance doubles. And Jerry is back and heavily pushed on the show.

 

10/20/84 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

Tag Team battle royal

Order of elimination Brad Rheingans & Steve Olsonoski, Tony Atlas & Jim Brunzell, Larry Zbyszko & Billy Robinson, Crusher & Baron Von Raschke, Road Warriors, Fabulous Ones, Jimmy Garvin & Steve Regal, Curt Hennig & Larry Hennig, Mr. Saito & Nick Bockwinkel

Winners Boom Boom Bundy/Jerry Blackwell

AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Tony Atlas & Jim Brunzell

Jerry Blackwell beat Sheik Adnan dq

Nick Bockwinkel drew Curt Hennig 20:00

Boom Boom Bundy beat Larry Zbyszko (sub Mr Saito)

Jimmy Garvin beat Steve Olsonoski

att: sellout 6,112

 

Battle Royal! Jerry is also back. Sell out crowd, up 1800.

 

10/21/84 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

Jerry Blackwell & Boom Boom Bundy won tag battle royal

Lights Out match

Jerry Blackwell beat King Kong Brody when Blackwell pinned manager Sheik Adnan

Fabulous Ones no contest AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors

Baron Von Raschke beat Paul Ellering

Jimmy Garvin beat Tom Zenk

Curt Hennig drew Nick Bockwinkel 20:00

Tony Atlas beat Mr. Saito dq

att: 17,000, gate: $150,000.00

 

I know, I know. Don't underestimate the Battle Royal. Attendance has been trending upward since he came back and he has a heavily promoted co-main event here. They do a massive gate. Don't underestimate Jerry

 

10/26/84 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Fabulous Ones won tag team battle royal

Handicap match

Jerry Blackwell beat Sheik Adnan & Larry Zbyszko (sub King Kong Brody)

Jim Brunzell beat Steve Regal

Curt Hennig drew Nick Bockwinkel 20:00

Boom Boom Bundy beat Chris Markoff

Jimmy Garvin beat Tom Zenk

att: 9,203

 

SLC held strong all year. Funny though. When Jerry is on the cards though do noticeably bigger numbers than when he's not.

 

11/3/84 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon

Boom Boom Bundy & Jerry Blackwell won tag battle royal

Lights Out Match

Jerry Blackwell beat King Kong Brody (Blackwell pinned mgr Sheik Adnan for the win.)

Non Title

Fabulous Ones beat AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors

Curt Hennig drew Nick Bockwinkel 20:00

Mr. Saito beat Baron Von Raschke

Jimmy Garvin beat Steve O

Brad Rheingans beat Steve Regal

Att: 18,301 sellout

 

Verne's prayer checklist: 1. Thank You God for the Battle Royal series 1a. Thank You God for Jerry Blackwell's return. 2. Greg is ok I guess.

 

11/8/84 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Fabulous Ones Stan Lane & Steve Keirn beat Road Warriors dq

Jerry Blackwell no contest King Kong Brody

Nick Bockwinkel & Mr Saito beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig

Jimmy Garvin beat Baron Von Raschke

Jim Brunzell vs Steve Regal

Tony Atlas vs Billy Robinson

Att: 4,376

 

Average show in Winnipeg

 

11/11/84 San Francisco, CA @ Cow Palace

Jerry Blackwell & Boom Boom Bundy won tag team battle royal

King Kong Brody ddq Jerry Blackwell

Blackjack Lanza beat Paul Ellering dq

Nick Bockwinkel beat Steve Keirn dq

Mr. Saito beat Steve O

Jimmy Garvin beat Jerry Monti

att: 6,800

 

This is a huge number for the Cow Palace which had been utter trash drawing 2,000 or less all year. Praise be to Jerry and the Battle Royals

 

11/19/84 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Fabulous Ones

Jimmy Garvin beat Jim Brunzell

Curt Hennig & Larry Hennig beat Nick Bockwinkel & Mr Saito dq

Jim Brunzell drew Billy Robinson

Blackjack Lanza beat Steve Regal

att: 3,002

 

SLC finally craps the bed. They were angry. The companies lead babyface wasn't on the card. His name? Jerry Blackwell!

 

11/22/84 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center evening

AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Boom Boom Bundy & Jerry Blackwell

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Billy Robinson

Cage match

Greg Gagne beat Sheik Adnan dq

Mr. Saito drew Curt Hennig

Fabulous Ones beat Luke Graham & Steve Regal

Jimmy Garvin beat Steve O

Cowboy Lang & Little Koko beat Lord Littlebrook & Little Tokyo

att: 16,000

 

Must have been the battle royal! Er.. Must have been the Roadies! Hmm. They didn't seem to draw as well on the loop without Jerry. Must have been the Cage Match! Probably didn't hurt. You know what it was though? Jerry Blackwell!!!

 

12/6/84 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Garvin by reversed decision

Fabulous Ones & The Crusher beat Road Warriors & Paul Ellering

Jerry Blackwell beat Billy Robinson

AWA Light Heavyweight Champion Steve Regal beat Buddy Lane

Mr. Saito & Masked Superstar beat Curt Hennig & Steve Olsonoski

Att: 3,504

 

Winnipeg is slipping a bit. Seems like this show should have done better, though Blackwell is noticeably down the card and the main is really weak (though I liked their matches in the ring to be fair).

 

12/9/84 Salt Lake City, UT @ Cow Palace

Fabulous Ones no contest AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jimmy Garvin dq

Curt Hennig beat Mr. Saito

Baron Von Raschke beat Steve Regal

Billy Robinson beat Tom Zenk

att: 4,235

 

Christ, why even book a show there without Jerry? Bloom is off the rose in SLC at this point.

 

12/16/84 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon

Fabulous Ones & the Crusher beat Road Warriors & Paul Ellering

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jimmy Garvin on a reverse decision dq

Jim Brunzell & Jerry Blackwell no contest King Kong Brody & Sheik Adnan

Curt Hennig no contest Mr Saito

Curt Hennig beat Crazy Luke Graham

Cowboy Lang & Little Coco beat Little Tokyo & Lord Littlebrook

Steve Regal beat Tom Zenk

att: 8,500

 

Good, but not great number at the Rosemont. Pretty much holding steady at this point, by this point Vince has to be hurting a lot as well.

 

12/25/84 St Paul, MN @ Civic Center

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Garvin dq after Wally Karbo reversed the decision

Fabulous Ones no contest AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors

King Kong Brody & Masked Superstar beat Jerry Blackwell & Greg Gagne

Curt Hennig beat Nick Bockwinkel

Jim Brunzell drew Mr Saito 20:00

Baron Von Raschke beat Steve Regal

Billy Robinson beat Steve Olsonoski

att: 13,000

 

Strong number for St. Paul, especially with a title match that was not that appealing on paper.

 

That's the last number for 84. Pretty clear that the Sheiks were the biggest heel draws of the year for the AWA and their track record was impressive by any standard. Also clear that the company was FAR better off when Blackwell was around and that his face run helped business recover dramatically. In fact it's arguable he was the best drawing FACE in the company as well for the year. Notable that Vince was going national, raiding their talent, taking them on in their towns and they were still pulling some very strong shows and had a very good year over all - with Blackwell almost definitely as their most consistent draw.

 

 

Decided to do 85 for Blackwell because why the heck not? It's fun and it gives us an interesting look in general since the promotion was on the decline, but had some ups and downs of note:

 

1/8/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Jim Garvin beat AWA Champion Rick Martel dq

Curt Hennig & Larry Hennig beat King Kong Brody & Sheik Adnan

Fabulous Ones & Baron Von Raschke beat Road Warriors & Paul Ellering

Nick Bockwinkel beat Curt Hennig

Brad Rheingans beat Sheik Adnan COR

Att 8987

 

1/10/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

TV Taping

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Jerry Blackwell beat Road Warriors & Paul Ellering

Sgt. Slaughter beat Mr. Saito dq

Jimmy Garvin beat John Nord dq

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Brian Jewel & Rob Rechsteiner

Att: 5,628

 

That's a very good figure for a Blackwelless SLC, but look at the show - it's super loaded. Hard to imagine a more loaded show for 85 AWA than that as you have Bock, Brody, Hennigs (with Curt doing double duty), a World Title match and Roadies v. Fabs. hard to say if the fact that it was a TV Taping helped Winnipeg or not, but that feels like a hot main event and the fact is it's up over 2,000 from the previous Winnipeg show where Blackwell was third from the top against aged Billy Robinson.

 

1/12/85 Milwaukee, WI

Fabulous Ones & The Crusher beat Road Warriors & Paul Ellering

Lights Out Match

King Kong Brody beat Jerry Blackwell

Jimmy Garvin beat Jim Brunzell via pin

Nick Bockwinkel drew Curt Hennig

Masked Superstar beat Tom Stone via pin

Brad Rheingans beat Jake Milliman (sub Mr. Saito)

Att: 5,741

Note: Milwaukee Sentinel says Blackwell beat Brody

 

That's less than 500 away from a sellout in Milwaukee, with what looks like a very hot double main event and not much else of note on the show (Bock v. Curt didn't "heat up" til later and I'm not sure it ever did impressive business).

 

1/13/85 St Paul, MN @ Civic Center evening

Jim Garvin beat AWA Champion Rick Martel dq

No dq match, Sheik Adnan handcuffed to Sgt. Slaughter

Jerry Blackwell beat King Kong Brody COR

The Crusher & Fabulous Ones beat the Road Warriors & Paul Ellering

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Masked Superstar & Sheik Adnan

Nick Bockwinkel & Mr Saito beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig dq

Baron Von Raschke drew Billy Robinson

John Nord beat Jimmy Doo

Brad Rheingans beat Steve Regal

att: 11,000

 

This is a strong number, though the show is really loaded. You could argue it could have done better, but it seems wrong to pan a 10k plus show in the AWA. Hard to pinpoint what was moving business, but it is worth noting that Brody v. Blackwell is the hottest feud in the territory by a safe margin if you are going by the tv.

 

1/17/85 Las Vegas, NV @ Showboat Sports Pavilion

Lights Out match

Jerry Blackwell beat Masked Superstar (sub King Kong Brody)

Jimmy Garvin beat AWA Champion Rick Martel dq

Non title

Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig (subs for Fabulous Ones) beat AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors

Nick Bockwinkel beat Brad Rheingans

Jim Brunzell beat Steve Regal

att: 3,000

 

This is a very good number for Showboat I would imagine.

 

1/30/85 San Francisco, CA @ Cow Palace

No dq match

Jerry Blackwell beat Masked Superstar (sub King Kong Brody)

Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig (Subs for Fabulous Ones) & Baron Von Raschke beat Road Warriors & Paul Ellering

Jim Garvin beat AWA Champion Rick Martel dq

Sgt. Slaughter beat Nick Bockwinkel

Pat Barrett drew Guy Lambert

Att 4900

 

Very good number for the Palace, bordering on great when you see how awful that town had been drawing in prior years. Also interesting that Superstar v. Blackwell went on last and the title match was in the mid-card. I would venture to guess this had to do with what matches were garnering the most heat as Blackwell v. Brody was the hot feud. Also worth noting that Superstar was plugged in fairly effectively as a replacement for Brody from a storyline perspective which I think speaks well of Eadie, Adnan (who was hated) and Blackwell.

 

2/3/85 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon

Jerry Blackwell no contest Masked Superstar

AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Sgt. Slaughter & Nick Bockwinkel dq

Jim Garvin beat Baron Von Raschke

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat King Tonga & Sheik Adnan

Larry Hennig beat John Nord

Curt Hennig beat Drew Tossell

Tom Zenk drew Steve Regal

 

Would love a number for this. I doubt the crowd knew this would be Superstar and figured it would be Brody and yet Verne STILL put this on last. Again that speaks well of Blackwell as the top face at this point.

 

 

2/7/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Blackjack Lanza (sub Jerry Blackwell) & Sgt. Slaughter beat Masked Superstar & King Tonga (sub King Kong Brody) dq

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors dq

Jim Garvin beat Baron Von Raschke

Tom Zenk drew Steve Regal

Nick Bockwinkel beat Curt Hennig

Buddy Lane beat Rick Renslow

John Nord beat Drew Tossell

att: 4,108

 

Blackwell misses the show, presumably as a no-show of some kind, i.e. last second switch out. This is an ok number for Winnipeg, but I'm curious if they offer refunds as two subs in the main event could have caused some people to say "screw this."

 

 

2/20/85 San Francisco, CA @ Cow Palace

King Tonga & Masked Superstar beat Sgt. Slaughter & Jerry Blackwell

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Garvin

Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig drew Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito

Steve Regal beat Tom Zenk

John Nord beat Sheik Adnan COR

Samoan Samula beat Guy Lambert dq

att: 1,981

 

2/21/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Lights Out Match

Jerry Blackwell beat Masked Superstar

Jim Garvin beat AWA Champion Rick Martel dq

Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig

King Tonga beat Tom Zenk

John Nord beat Steve Regal

Att: 7754.

 

2/22/85 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

Sgt. Slaughter & Jerry Blackwell beat AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors dq

AWA Champion Rick Martel dcor Bob Backlund

Greg Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel

Jim Garvin beat Baron Von Raschke

Mr. Saito & Masked Superstar & King Tonga beat Steve O & Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig

Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal

John Nord drew Tom Zenk

Att 10,000+

 

What's funny is that 2k is actually not awful for the Cow Palace, though it's less than half of the last show. Looking at the card that's no surprise. SLC is still holding really strong. St. Paul turns in another good number. Blackwell is notably placed in the last match of all of these cards. Pretty clear Verne sees him as his money making babyface and there is no reason to think he was wrong.

 

3/4/85 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada @ PNE Coliseum

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Brunzell

AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Mr. Saito & Moose Morowski

Lights Out match

Jerry Blackwell beat Masked Superstar

Jim Brunzell beat Sheik Adnan

Buck Zumhofe beat Moondog Moretti

Steve Austin beat John Baker

Att: 1,500

 

At this point you see Verne starting to move into a couple of oddball spots out West. I have no clue why they were trying to run Vancouver now, unless Verne was just pissed at Tomko for some reason. No clue if this is a good figure for the town or not. Not surprising that they would run title matches on top in a "new" town.

 

3/7/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Garvin

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito

King Tonga beat Sgt. Slaughter dq

Jerry Blackwell beat Masked Superstar

Jerry Blackwell drew Sheik Adnan

Billy Robinson beat Buddy Lane

Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal

att: 5,208

 

Winnipeg still holding pretty solid. Interesting card and if it is the show I'm thinking you clearly have to credit Blackwell for a lot of this. The result doesn't say it, but this was a match where If Blackwell beat Eadie he got five minutes with Adnan. Crowd was molten for it, it's a great match(es?), and it definitely felt like the biggest thing on the show.

 

 

3/8/85 St Louis, MO

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel

Missouri State Champion Jerry Blackwell beat Bulldog Bob Brown

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Masked Superstar & Mr Saito

Sgt Slaughter dcor Wahoo McDaniel

Mike Von Erich beat Jimmy Garvin

American Starship beat Marty Jannetty & Steve Olsonoski

Dick the Bruiser beat Mr Pogo dq

Rufus R Jones beat Ken Timbs

att: 2,610

 

Wow. No clue what to think of this. This is probably a Central States promoted show...or is it? Hard to tell. Feels like a garbage figure, but why the heck was Verne running that town assuming this wasn't Geigel and friends?

 

3/9/85 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Garvin

Special Referee: Verne Gagne

Sgt. Slaughter & Jerry Blackwell beat King Tonga & Masked Superstar & Sheik Adnan dq

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito

Curt Hennig beat Billy Robinson

Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal

Candi Devine beat Diane Von Hoffman

John Nord drew Tom Zenk

 

Would like a figure here. Also worth noting that the High Flyers have re-emerged on the last several shows.

 

 

3/10/85 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena

Strap Match

Jerry Blackwell beat Masked Superstar

King Tonga beat Sgt. Slaughter dq

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito when Brunzell pinned Bockwinkel

Candi Devine beat Diane Von Hoffman via pin

Non Title

Buck Zumhofe beat AWA Light Heavyweight Champion Steve Regal via pin

 

Wonder how this did. GB was an interesting town to monitor as it only seemed to draw huge for molten programs. This is followed up by a bizarre run of shows in modest sized upstate NJ towns. No clue what the point of that was. No figures on them, but Jerry isn't on the shows anyhow.

 

3/16/85 Oakland, CA

If Blackwell wins, Jerry gets 5 minutes with Sheik Adnan

Jerry Blackwell beat King Tonga dq when Adnan & Masked Superstar interfered

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel (sub Jim Garvin)

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Nick Bockwinkel & Masked Superstar

Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal

Jerry Monti beat Don Stevenson

att: 3,400

 

In a fit of insanity Verne is running split crews, with Slaughter headlining in NJ and Blackwell headlining here. Notable non-Cow Palace show in the Bay Area. Probably a wise move as this does a good figure for that general area by AWA standards of the time and it was probably cheaper to run this venue.

 

3/19/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Jerry Blackwell & Sgt. Slaughter beat Masked Superstar & King Tonga dq

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Brunzell

Nick Bockwinkel beat Greg Gagne dq

Misty Blue beat Linda Dallas

Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal

Att 4502

 

Verne the lunatic runs a split show again, this time with Baron/Backlund headlining against Nagasaki/Saito in NY. As a result both shows are weak and SLC craps the bed for the first time since Blackwell was MIA in 84. Not really an awful number for the town, but clearly a bad sign.

 

3/23/85 New Haven, CT @ Veteran's Memorial Coliseum

Tonga Kid won a $50,000.00 battle royal

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Garvin

Sgt. Slaughter beat Kamala dq

Tonga Kid beat Larry Zbyszko dq

Bob Backlund beat Kendo Nagasaki

Mark Youngblood & Jay Youngblood drew The Samoans

Att: 7000

 

3/23/85 Middleton, WI

The Crusher & Larry Hennig & Jerry Blackwell beat Masked Superstar & Mr. Saito & King Tonga dq

Greg Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel

Mr. Saito beat Curt Hennig

Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal

Tom Zenk beat Rick Stoansky

 

The split shows continue. That's a good number for New Haven, but again you have to wonder why on Earth they are trying to run that area. No number on the Middleton show which looks to be a small town spot show. With that lineup I'd be shocked if it wasn't a sell out.

 

3/24/85 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena afternoon

Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig beat AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors dq

Jerry Blackwell & Sgt. Slaughter drew Mr. Saito & King Tonga & Masked Superstar

Baron Von Raschke beat Jim Garvin

Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal

Att 4719.

 

3/24/85 St Paul, MN @ Civic Center

Handicap Match

Jerry Blackwell & Sgt Slaughter no contest King Tonga & Masked Superstar & Mr Saito

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Garvin

Nick Bockwinkel beat Greg Gagne

Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig & The Crusher beat Paul Ellering & the Road Warriors

Jim Brunzell drew Billy Robinson

Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe

Tom Zenk beat Rick Stoansky

att: 5,500

 

We don't have a previous number of note in Denver so I have no clue if that is a good figure or not. This is a trash number for the Civic Center on a show that should have done well.

 

3/28/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors dq

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel

Jim Garvin beat Baron Von Raschke dq

Larry Hennig (sub The Crusher) beat King Tonga

Mr. Saito beat Curt Hennig

Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe

Tom Zenk beat Brian Jewell

Att: 5,628

 

Winnipeg is still alive and kicking, Jerry or not.

 

3/31/85 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel

AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig

Jim Garvin beat Baron Von Raschke

The Crusher no contest King Tonga

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Kendo Nagasaki & Mr. Saito

Bob Backlund beat Larry Zbyszko dq

AWA Light Heavyweight Champion Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe

Billy Robinson beat Tom Zenk

Att: 9,600

 

4/5/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Garvin

AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig

Jerry Blackwell beat Mr. Saito

Butch Reed beat Tom Zenk

Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe

Att 2054

 

Finally a Rosemont number and it's a pretty good one for a hot double main event. No Blackwell on the show. Blackwell in the mid-card in SLC which continues to sink. They seem to be trying to ween off of Blackwell v. Adnan and friends on top.

 

4/10/85 Las Vegas, NV @ Showboat Sports Pavilion

Handicap match

Sgt. Slaughter & Jerry Blackwell beat Sheik Adnan & King Tonga & Masked Superstar

Jim Garvin beat Baron Von Raschke dq

Nick Bockwinkel beat Greg Gagne dq

Mr. Saito beat Jim Brunzell

Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe

 

4/11/85 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada @ PNE Coliseum

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito

Jerry Blackwell beat King Tonga dq

Jim Garvin beat Baron Von Raschke dq

Masked Superstar beat Moose Morowski

Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal

Butch Reed beat Ricky Lee Jones

Att 1,000

 

I think this sort of illustrates the idiocy of Verne. This is a thousand mile turnaround, plus dealing with customs, for a new town, with a limited payoff. At this point nonsense like this is hurting the promotion as much as anything.

 

4/15/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Garvin

AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig

Jerry Blackwell beat Mr. Saito

Butch Reed beat Tom Zenk

Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe

att: 2,054

 

SLC is effectively dead at this point. I'd be interested to see the figures for the GB Cage Match and Milwaukee match with Slaughter/Blackwell v. Roadies from Milwaukee that proceeded this match.

 

4/18/85 Washington DC

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Bob Backlund COR

AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Ivan Koloff & Nikita Koloff dq

Tonga Kid beat Larry Zbyszko dq

The Samoans beat Superstar & King Tonga

Handicap match

Kamala beat Tom Zenk & Steve O

Larry Sharpe beat Sean O'Reilly

 

4/19/85 East Rutherford, NJ @ Meadowlands

AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat King Tonga

Jim Garvin beat Baron Von Raschke

Bob Backlund beat Larry Zbyszko

Ugandan Death Match

Kamala beat Sgt. Slaughter

Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts drew Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Tonga Kid

Jim Duggan beat Kendo Nagasaki

The Samoans beat Tom Zenk & Steve O

Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal

Bobby Duncum beat Larry Sharpe

Att 10,000

 

East Coast swing. 10k is a good number for a Meadowlands show with essentially foreign talent. Blackwell stayed away from the East Coast swings as a rule.

 

4/21/85 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

Cage match

Sgt. Slaughter & Jerry Blackwell beat Sheik Adnan & King Tonga & Masked Superstar

AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig dq

Verne Gagne & Greg Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito

Bob Backlund & Brad Rheingans beat Larry Zbyszko & Butch Reed

Baron Von Raschke & Buck Zumhofe beat Jim Garvin & Steve Regal

Jim Brunzell & Tonga Kid beat Billy Robinson & Bobby Duncum

Steve Olsonoski & Tom Zenk beat The Alaskans

att: 12,000

 

This is a really good St. Paul number at this point. Verne helped. Roadies helped. The fans were probably ready for the ultimate Blackwell blowoff against Adnan and this was it. Also a really great match.

 

4/23/85 Mound, MN

Jerry Blackwell & Greg Gagne beat Sheik Adnan & Nick Bockwinkel

Butch Reed beat Steve O

Jim Brunzell beat Alaskan II

Rick Stotsky drew Alaskan I

Att 1800

 

Rare spot show number. Almost definitely a sellout or close to it. It's clear this is a one match show.

 

4/24/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Cage match

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Jerry Blackwell beat Road Warriors & Paul Ellering

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Mr. Saito

Jimmy Garvin beat Baron Von Raschke

Sgt. Slaughter beat Sheik Adnan dq

Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig

Butch Reed beat Brian Jewel

Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts beat Tom Zenk & Rick Stonsky

att: 6,636

 

Really good number for Winnipeg which remains a solid town, probably the most reliable in the territory. That main event would prove to be effective elsewhere.

 

 

4/25/85 Gayville, NY

Larry Zbyszko beat Bob Backlund COR

Samula & Tonga Kid beat Billy Robinson & Bobby Duncum

Tonga Kid beat Kendo Nagasaki

Larry Sharpe beat Jim ?

Att: 800

 

4/25/85 Brandon, Manitoba, Canada @ Keystone Centre

Baron Von Raschke & Jerry Blackwell beat Sheik Adnan & Mr. Saito

Nick Bockwinkel beat Larry Hennig

Ray Stevens beat Ron Ritchie

Tom Zenk & Curt Hennig beat The Alaskans

Butch Reed beat Rick Stoansky

 

Another idiotic split show day, this time in two smaller towns. I wonder how that main event did in Brandon.

 

4/27/85 Madison, WI

Jerry Blackwell & Larry Hennig no contest AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat King Tonga

The Crusher & Brad Rheingans beat Masked Superstar & Sheik Adnan

Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito beat Jim Brunzell & Curt Hennig

Baron Von Raschke & Buck Zumhofe beat Jim Garvin & Steve Regal

 

4/28/85 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon

Cage match

Sgt. Slaughter & Jerry Blackwell & Verne Gagne beat Masked Superstar & King Tonga & Sheik Adnan

Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig drew AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors

Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts beat Jim Brunzell & Greg Gagne & Tonga Kid

Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher beat Butch Reed & Larry Zbyszko

Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito beat Brad Rheingans & Tom Zenk

Baron Von Raschke & Buck Zumhofe beat Jim Garvin & Steve Regal

 

5/3/85 Denver, CO

Cage Match

Jerry Blackwell & The Crusher & Sgt. Slaughter beat Masked Superstar & King Tonga & Sheik Adnan

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Garvin

Greg Gagne drew Nick Bockwinkel

Fabulous Freebirds beat Jim Brunzell & Steve O

Butch Reed beat Tom Zenk

 

How often did they run Madison? Interesting that they are running a variation of the successful St. Paul Cage Match around the horn (including a spot show at a high school I didn't list). I'm guessing that Rosemont show did a really good number.

 

5/5/85 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors drew Jerry Blackwell & Sgt. Slaughter

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel via pin

Butch Reed beat Jim Brunzell via pin

King Tonga drew Brad Rheingans

Baron Von Raschke & Buck Zumhofe beat Jim Garvin & Steve Regal

Att: 3,203

 

5/8/85 San Francisco, CA @ Cow Palace

Cage Match

Sgt. Slaughter & Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig beat Road Warriors & Paul Ellering

Cage Match

Jerry Blackwell beat Sheik Adnan

Baron Von Raschke beat Jim Garvin

Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe

Brad Rheingans beat Butch Reed dq

Samula beat Drew Tossell

att: 5,000

 

Weak number for Milwaukee, though not total trash. Really good number for the Cow Palace for a double cage main event.

 

5/10/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Sgt. Slaughter & Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig beat Road Warriors & Paul Ellering

Cage match

Jerry Blackwell beat Sheik Adnan

Baron Von Raschke beat Jim Garvin

Butch Reed beat Buck Zumhofe

Brad Rheingans beat Steve Regal

att: 10,455

 

This double cage main event continues to do good business. This is a MASSIVE number for a town that been dead to the World.

 

5/23/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Larry Zbyszko

Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig

Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts beat Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell

Butch Reed beat Baron Von Raschke COR

The Crusher beat Rick Renslow

Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe

Larry Zbyszko beat Ron Ritchie

att: 1,900

 

Winnipeg finally croaks. Show doesn't look awful, but isn't the strongest. Notable that Roadies, Blackwell and Sarge are all absent.

 

5/25/85 Chicago

Jerry Blackwell & Sgt. Slaughter beat Road Warrior Animal & Paul Ellering (sub RW Hawk)

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Buddy Roberts (sub King Tonga)

Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts dq

Butch Reed no contest The Crusher

Nick Bockwinkel beat Brad Rheingans

Larry Zbyszko (sub Jim Garvin) beat Baron Von Raschke

Ray Stevens beat Buck Zumhofe

Steve Regal drew Steve O

att: 5,000

Note: Terry Gordy also no showed.

 

Weak number. Probably did not help that they were coming off a massive show from before, but this is still bad.

 

Blackwell and Roadies goes into hibernation.

 

6/7/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Billy Robinson

Sgt. Slaughter beat Larry Zbyszko dq

Greg Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel

No dq match

Butch Reed beat Baron Von Raschke

Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts beat Brad Rheingans & Steve O

Ray Stevens beat Buck Zumhofe

Att: 4043

 

6/8/85 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts & Butch Reed beat Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke when Reed pinned Von Raschke

Nick Bockwinkel beat AWA Champion Rick Martel dq when Martel tossed Bockwinkel over the top rope

Sgt. Slaughter beat Larry Zbyszko dq when Zbyszko hit the referee

Brad Rheingans drew Steve Regal

Ray Stevens beat Steve O via pin

Att: 2,848

 

Yikes

 

6/9/85 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

Michael Hayes beat AWA Champion Rick Martel

No title change. Decision later reversed.

Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Greg Gagne & Steve Olsonoski (sub Jim Brunzell)

Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig

Sgt. Slaughter beat Larry Zbyszko dq

Baron Von Raschke & Brad Rheingans & Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Duncum & Billy Robinson & Steve Regal

Butch Reed beat Dave Wagner

att: 1,500

 

6/13/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts beat The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke

Greg Gagne & Curt Hennig drew Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens

Brad Rheingans beat Steve Regal

Handicap match

Butch Reed beat Rick Renslow & Brian Jewel

Larry Zbyszko beat Steve O

Buck Zumhofe beat Dave Wagner

att: 1,864

 

This is super bad, Summer or not. Absence of Roadies, Blackwell is hurting every stinkin town. Meanwhile Verne is still doing dumb **** like running Asbury Park.

 

6/21/85 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon

Michael Hayes beat AWA Champion Rick Martel

Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts & Butch Reed beat Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke

Sgt. Slaughter beat Larry Zbyszko to win Americas title

Greg Gagne drew Nick Bockwinkel

Ray Stevens beat Steve O

Brad Rheingans drew Billy Robinson

att: 4,000

 

6/22/85 East Rutherford, NJ @ Meadowlands

Boot Camp Cage match

Sgt. Slaughter beat Kamala

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel

Wahoo McDaniel beat Larry Zbyszko dq

Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts beat Curt Hennig & Greg Gagne & Jim Duggan

Butch Reed beat Baron Von Raschke

Bobby Duncum beat Steve O

Ray Stevens beat Buck Zumhofe

Little Coco & Little Mr. T beat Johnny Rebel & Lord Littlebrook

 

No number on the Meadlowlands but you can't blame them for running that show given the relative success of the previous show. Rosemont number is trash, down another thousand from the last figure we have there.

 

6/30/85 Milwaukee, WI @ Auditorium

Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy dq

Butch Reed beat Baron Von Raschke

Bob Backlund drew Larry Zbyszko

Ray Stevens beat Buck Zumhofe

Billy Robinson beat Steve O

Brad Rheingans beat Rick Gantner

Att: 2200

 

Milwaukee is quarter full and nearing death. Birds v. Old Men isn't moving anywhere, and Sarge is missing some of these shows too which makes the three hottest acts in the AWA MIA

 

7/10/85 Las Vegas, NV @ Showboat Sports Pavilion

Sgt. Slaughter won battle royal

Sgt. Slaughter beat Larry Zbyszko dq

Fabulous Freebirds beat Curt Hennig & Greg Gagne

Nick Bockwinkel beat Baron Von Raschke

Billy Robinson beat Bob Backlund

Brad Rheingans drew Ray Stevens

att: 1500

 

7/11/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Sgt. Slaughter & Greg Gagne drew Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens

Fabulous Freebirds Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig

Bob Backlund beat Larry Zbyszko

Brad Rheingans beat Buddy Roberts

Boris Zhukov beat Baron Von Raschke

Att: 1400

 

Vegas number is probably not bad, but half capacity at best in the Showboat. SLC is practically in the grave and will need something major to come out of it's funk.

 

7/14/85 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

Sgt. Slaughter & Greg Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens dq

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Michael Hayes dq

AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin

Bob Backlund beat Larry Zbyszko

Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts beat Steve O & Buck Zumhofe

Boris Zhukov beat Baron Von Raschke

Cowboy Lang & Little Coco beat Little Tokyo & Lord Littlebrook

Att 2500

 

Roadies come black, Blackwell doesn't, number is still utter garbage. Things may not be salvageable at this point. Expanding into other markets and having your three biggest acts off key shows even during your "down" period historically is awful business on Verne's part.

 

7/18/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Larry Zbyszko

Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts beat The Crusher & Larry Hennig & Baron Von Raschke

Sleeper vs Sleeper Match

Greg Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel reverse decision

Boris Zhukov beat Buck Zumhofe

Ray Stevens beat Brian Jewell (sub Curt Hennig)

Cowboy Lang & Little Coco beat Lord Littlebrook & Little Tokyo

att: 3,224

 

7/19/85 East Rutherford, NJ @ Meadowlands

AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel

Sgt. Slaughter beat Larry Zbyszko

Joyce Grable won a women’s battle royal

Baron Von Raschke drew Billy Robinson

Ray Stevens beat Greg Gagne dq

Buck Zumhofe drew Buddy Roberts

Bob Backlund beat Larry Sharpe

Boris Zhukov beat Sean O'Reilly

Att: 4500

 

7/20/85 Chicago, IL

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Michael Hayes

Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Sgt. Slaughter & Greg Gagne dq

Fabulous Freebirds Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts beat The Crusher & Buck Zumhofe

Billy Robinson beat Baron Von Raschke

Boris Zhukov beat Steve O

Cowboy Lang & Little Coco beat Lord Littlebrook & Little Tokyo

Bill Irwin beat Drew Tossell

Att: 3000

 

Winnipeg is up some but still weak. Meadowlands is not worth it at that point and it's notable that Roadies v. Birds did very little business. Chicago slides another thousand. Paging Dr. Blackwell?

 

8/8/85 Las Vegas, NV @ Riviera Hotel

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Michael Hayes dq

Sgt. Slaughter & Greg Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens

Boris Zhukov beat Steve O

Terry Gordy beat Baron Von Raschke

Larry Zbyszko beat Buck Zumhofe

Steve O drew Billy Robinson

Att 3000

 

8/9/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Boot Camp Match

Sgt. Slaughter & Greg Gagne beat Larry Zbyszko & Nick Bockwinkel

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Michael Hayes

Terry Gordy beat Baron Von Raschke

Boris Zhukov beat Steve O

Buck Zumhofe beat Ray Stevens dq

Steve O drew Billy Robinson

att: 7753

 

Ah, the Riveria Hotel! That's a good number for Vegas and SLC is up! Semi-shocking given how dead it had been.

 

8/11/85 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors no contest Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin

Curt Hennig & Rick Martel beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy

Nick Bockwinkel beat Greg Gagne

Sgt Slaughter beat Larry Zbyszko

Kabuki beat Chris Adams dq

Brad Rheingans beat Boris Zhukov dq

Buck Zumhofe beat Iron Duke

Jim Garvin beat Kevin Kelly

Tom Zenk beat Rick Renslow

 

8/16/85 East Rutherford, NJ @ Meadowlands

Sgt. Slaughter beat NWA Champion Ric Flair dq

Paul Ellering & Road Warriors beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts dq

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Larry Zbyszko

Greg Gagne & Curt Hennig beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens

Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe

Brad Rheingans beat Boris Zhukov dq

Baron Von Raschke beat Davey G

Att: 7,000

 

No number for St. Paul which is too bad. Meadowlands number is respectable enough and up, but you still have to wonder why they are running there and this should have done better with two title matches, Roadies v. Birds and Flair on the show.

 

8/18/85 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon

Boot Camp match

Sgt. Slaughter & Greg Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens

NWA Champion Ric Flair beat Billy Robinson

Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts beat Rick Martel & Jerry Blackwell & Larry Hennig dq

Brad Rheingans beat Boris Zhukov dq

Bill Irwin beat Baron Von Raschke

Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe

Curt Hennig drew Larry Zbyszko

Scott Irwin beat Rob Rechsteiner

Att: 6000

 

This boot camp match has popped a few towns to Sarge's credit. This isn't a good number for Chicago really, but considering where it was this is progress. This is also the return of Blackwell and Flair is on the show.

 

8/19/85 Fairbanks, AK

Sgt. Slaughter beat Nick Bockwinkel

Jerry Blackwell & Greg Gagne beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts

Larry Zbyzsko beat Baron Von Raschke

Curt Hennig beat Billy Robinson

Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe

Att: 375

 

8/20/85 Anchorage, AK

Sgt. Slaughter beat Larry Zbyszko dq

Greg Gagne & Curt Hennig beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts

Jerry Blackwell beat Terry Gordy

Nick Bockwinkel beat Baron Von Raschke

Buck Zumhofe beat Steve Regal dq

Att: 2250.

 

8/21/85 Kenai, AK

Jerry Blackwell & Buck Zumhofe beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts

Terry Gordy beat Baron Von Raschke

Greg Gagne beat Larry Zbyszko dq

Steve Regal beat Curt Hennig

Billy Robinson beat Drew Tossell

Att: 325

 

Insane Verne strikes again. A part of me thinks it is almost impressive that they did any numbers in Alaska at all, but why the heck were they even running there???

 

8/21/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Holy Cross School

TV Taping

Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin beat Rob Rechsteiner & Monty Black

Tom Zenk drew Nick Bockwinkel

Scott Hall beat Man Mountain Mike Moore

Boris Zhukov beat Chris Basset

Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin beat Brian Jewel & Randy Rose

Tom Zenk beat Rob Rechsteiner

Rick Martel beat Man Mountain Mike

Scott Hall beat Bob Adams

Boris Zhukov beat Monty Black

Nick Bockwinkel beat Tom Lucas

Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin beat T-Bone Brown & Chris Basset

Tom Zenk beat Brian Jewel

Scott Hall beat Rob Rechsteiner

Boris Zhukov beat Brian Jewel

 

8/22/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Boris Zhukov beat AWA Champion Rick Martel dq

Tom Zenk & Larry Hennig & Jerry Blackwell beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts

Baron Von Raschke beat Nick Bockwinkel COR

Tom Zenk beat Steve Regal

Bulldog Bob Brown beat Man Mountain Mike Moore

Scott Hall drew Larry Zbyszko

Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin beat Rob Rechsteiner & Buck Zumhofe

Bulldog Bob Brown beat Brian Jewel

Att: 4,208

 

More stupidity as Verne runs tv the day before in the same town. This is an averagish number for Winnipeg, but why the heck would he essentially double book the same town??

 

8/26/85 Boston, MA

AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin

AWA Champion Rick Martel drew Nick Bockwinkel

Sgt. Slaughter beat Boris Zhukov

Bob Backlund beat Larry Zbyszko dq

Greg Gagne beat Steve Regal

Brad Rheingans beat Billy Robinson

 

Verne decides to try out Boston. God knows why. Blackwell is working on top on most shows without figures during this period.

 

9/8/85 St. Paul, MN

ESPN TV Taping

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Kamala dq

Terry Gordy beat Jerry Blackwell dq

Greg Gagne & Curt Hennig & Scott Hall beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens & Larry Zbyszko

Buck Zumhofe beat Sgt. Slaughter dq

Baron Von Raschke beat Bill Irwin

Larry Hennig drew Scott Irwin

Larry Clark beat Stan Hansen dq

Jerry Oski & Brad Rheingans drew Wild Bill & Scott Hog Irwin

Curt Hennig & Greg Gagne beat Jim Garvin & Steve Regal dq

Buck Zumhofe drew Buddy Roberts

Stan Hansen beat Paul Garner

Billy Robinson beat Randy Barber

att: 4,000

 

Was this at the Civic Center? I'm guessing not.

 

9/14/85 Milwaukee, WI

Sgt. Slaughter & Greg Gagne beat Larry Zbyszko & Nick Bockwinkel dq

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Michael Hayes

Terry Gordy beat Jerry Blackwell dq

Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin beat Baron Von Raschke & Curt Hennig

att: 3,672

 

Milwaukee trending up a bit, though this is still only a bit over half full and less than what you need.

 

9/17/85 Anchorage, AK

Sgt. Slaughter beat Michael Hayes dq

Boris Zhukov beat Brad Rheingans

Sgt. Slaughter & Greg Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel & Larry Zbyszko

Curt Hennig drew Bill Irwin

Scott Irwin beat Drew Tossel

Att: 1,800

 

9/18/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Brad Rheingans & Baron Von Raschke beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy dq

Magnum TA beat Ivan Koloff

Baron Von Raschke beat Jim Garvin dq

Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe

Brad Rheingans beat Buddy Roberts COR

Jerry Oski beat Billy Robinson dq

 

More WTH? Split crewish stuff from Verne.

 

9/19/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Wally Karbo Tribute Card

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Boris Zhukov dq

Jerry Blackwell beat Michael Hayes

Tom Zenk & Curt Hennig beat Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin

Jim Garvin beat Buck Zumhofe

Baron Von Raschke beat Buddy Roberts

Buddy Lane beat Steve Regal

Att: 3,600

 

Below average, but this is above the abyssmal number from the Summer. Probably would have been better - but Verne did tv at the high school the night before. At least it wasn't a huge tv like the previous one, but still. Blackwell continues to main event in the majority of shows around the loop.

 

9/28/85 Chicago, IL @ Comiskey Park

NWA Champion Ric Flair beat Magnum TA

Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy beat AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors to win title

(Decision quickly reversed by video replay)

Stan Hansen no contest AWA Champion Rick Martel

Kerry Von Erich beat Jimmy Garvin

Ivan Koloff & Nikita Koloff & Khrusher Khrushchev beat Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke

Greg Gagne & Curt Hennig & Scott Hall beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens & Larry Zbyszko

Sgt Slaughter beat Boris Zhukov dq

Jumbo Tsuruta & Giant Baba & Genichiro Tenyru beat Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin & Harley Race

Bodyslam match

Jerry Blackwell beat Kamala

Mil Mascaras beat Buddy Roberts

Sherri Martel beat Candi Divine to win the AWA Women's title

Steve Regal beat Brad Rheingans

att: 20,347

 

AWA loads things up and goes balls out. Blackwell v. Kamala is deep is mid-card and feels like an after thought. This is a good number, but you almost feel like it could have been a lot better.

 

9/29/85 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

Jim Garvin & Steve Regal beat Road Warriors to win AWA tag title

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jumbo Tsuruta

Handicap Match

Sgt. Slaughter beat Boris Zhukov & Chris Markoff

Jerry Blackwell & Little Mr. T beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts

Shohei Giant Baba & Genichiro Tenyru no contest Stan Hansen & Larry Zbyszko

Scott Hall beat Drew Tossel

Buck Zumhofe beat Rick Renslow

att: 2,000

 

Terrible, but this is a stupid line up, almost designed to fail.

 

10/4/85 Los Angeles, CA

Stan Hansen won battle royal

Sgt. Slaughter drew Boris Zhukov

Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Baron Von Raschke & Jerry Blackwell

Greg Gagne beat Jim Garvin

Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts beat Curt Hennig & Scott Hall

Larry Zbyszko beat Buck Zumhofe

Att: 2300

 

10/5/85 Milwaukee, WI

Road Warriors beat Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin dq

Jerry Blackwell & Rick Martel & Little Mr. T beat Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts & Jim Garvin

Handicap match

Stan Hansen beat Buck Zumhofe & Kevin Kelly

Larry Zbyszko beat Baron Von Raschke

Jerry Oski beat Kamala dq

Scott Hall beat Kevin Kelly

Att: 2432

 

Why are they moving into LA?? Milwaukee drops significantly off of a pathetic line up.

 

10/15/85 Anchorage, AK

Michael Hayes beat AWA Champion Rick Martel dq

Curt Hennig & Scott Hall beat Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin

Candi Devine beat Sherri Martel

Scott Hall drew Larry Zbyszko

Baron Von Raschke beat Scott Irwin

Att: 1400

 

10/15/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Stan Hansen won battle royal

Greg Gagne drew Nick Bockwinkel 20:00

Brad Rheingans beat Boris Zhukov

Stan Hansen beat Kevin Kelly

Steve Regal beat Jerry Oski

Jim Garvin beat Buck Zumhofe

att: 3,520

 

Blackwell on neither show, but Verne stupidly splits crews for no clear reward. Was Anchorage ever going to make him real money? no. Stupid. They are running Battle Royals in the spot shows at this point

 

10/17/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Mad Dog Vachon & Nick Bockwinkel beat Boris Zhukov & Chris Markoff

Handicap match

Stan Hansen beat Brian Jewell & Ed Wilson

Larry Zbyszko beat Baron Von Raschke

Jim Garvin beat Stan Lane

Scott Hall beat Steve Regal

Sherri Martel beat Candi Devine to win AWA Women's Title

Kelly Kiniski beat Iron Duke

att: 3,528

 

Winnipeg still below what it should be with a weak line up and tv the day before in town.

 

10/27/85 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

AWA Champion Rick Martel no contest Stan Hansen

Wahoo McDaniel & Curt Hennig & Scott Hall beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens & Larry Zbyszko

Michael Hayes beat Jerry Blackwell

Greg Gagne beat Jim Garvin

Bill Irwin beat Kevin Kelly

Greg Boyd drew Boris Zhukov

Leon White beat Scott Irwin

att: 3,000

 

11/2/85 Milwaukee, WI

21 person battle royal opened card to determine order

Scott Hall beat Jim Garvin to win battle royal

Jerry Blackwell beat Michael Hayes dq

Stan Hansen beat Curt Hennig forfeit

Greg Gagne drew Larry Zbyszko

Larry Hennig beat Boris Zhukov

Nick Bockwinkel beat Bill Irwin

Leon White beat Scott Irwin dq

Greg Boyd beat Steve Regal

Jerry America drew Rob Rechsteiner

Kelly Kiniksi beat Jerry Oski

Att 4268

 

St. Paul is starting to feel like a "why bother? and the card looks weak. Milwaukee does a respectable number off of a battle royal.

 

11/3/85 Rosemont, IL @ Rosemont Horizon

Road Warrior Animal won battle royal

Road Warriors beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts

Sgt. Slaughter beat Bill Irwin

Curt Hennig & Greg Gagne & Scott Hall beat Jim Garvin & Steve Regal & Larry Zbyszko

Handicap match

Stan Hansen beat Jerry O & Rob Rechsteiner

Leon White beat Scott Irwin dq

att: 9,500

 

Battle Royal pulls a solid number in IL.

 

11/13/85 Brandon, Manitoba, Canada @ Keystone Centre

Jerry Blackwell won a 25 man battle royal

Jerry Blackwell beat Boris Zhukov dq

Scott Hall beat Larry Zbyszko dq

Kelly Kiniski beat Bob Adams

Curt Hennig beat Rick Renslow

Jim Garvin & Steve Regal beat Kevin Kelly & Buddy Lane

 

11/14/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

Cage Match

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Boris Zhukov

Curt Hennig & Scott Hall beat AWA Tag Team Champions Jim Garvin & Steve Regal

Nick Bockwinkel beat Larry Zbyszko dq

Jerry Blackwell & Kelly Kiniski beat Buddy Roberts & Ray Stevens dq

Stan Hansen beat Kevin Kelly

Ray Stevens beat Buddy Lane

Att 6,012

 

11/15/85 Denver, CO

Road Warriors drew Fabulous Freebirds

AWA Champion Rick Martel drew Stan Hansen

AWA Tag Team Champions Jim Garvin & Steve Regal beat Fabulous Ones

Att 7500

 

Hot run. That's the best figure I've ever seen from Denver. Martel v. Zhukov blow off does well. I would bet Brandon did a good number off the battle royal.

 

11/18/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Road Warriors no contest Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy

Buddy Roberts beat Paul Ellering

AWA Tag Team Champions Jim Garvin & Steve Regal beat Greg Gagne & Curt Hennig

Scott Hall beat Larry Zbyszko dq

Leon White drew Scott Irwin

Att: 9849.

 

Crazy SLC spikes again.

 

12/1/85 Chicago, IL

Road Warriors beat AWA Tag Team Champions Jim Garvin & Steve Regal dq

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Terry Gordy

Strap Match

Jerry Blackwell beat Michael Hayes

Paul Ellering drew Buddy Roberts

Handicap match

Sgt. Slaughter beat Boris Zhukov & Chris Markoff

Larry Zbyszko beat Kevin Kelly

Scott Hall beat Bill Irwin

Leon White beat Scott Irwin dq

att: 8,000

 

Staying respectable in Chicago. Return of Roadies and Blackwell has clearly helped from the death that was the Summer, but the split crews, needless expansion, double booking in towns, et did nothing but help Vince's putsch.

 

12/7/85 Milwaukee, WI

Strap match

Jerry Blackwell beat Michael Hayes

AWA Tag Team Champions Jim Garvin & Steve Regal beat Fabulous Freebirds Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts

Larry Hennig beat Boris Zhukov dq

Buck Zumhofe beat Mongolian Stomper dq

Scott Hall drew Scott Irwin

Kelly Kiniski beat Kevin Kelly

Att 2648

 

Bad number for an unappealing show. The Birds are clearly a package deal and people don't give a you know what about Hayes v. Blackwell.

 

12/12/85 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena

$100,000 Battle royal

Road Warriors beat Boris Zhukov & Chris Markoff

Scott Hall beat Jimmy Garvin

Stan Hansen beat Man Mountain Mike

Mongolian Stomper beat Kevin Kelly

Jerry Blackwell vs Kelly Kiniski

The Alaskans I & II vs Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin

Larry Zbyszko beat Buck Zumhofe

Att: 5,928

 

Battle Royal PLUS they didn't foolishly run tv the day before!

 

12/16/85 Salt Lake City, UT @ Salt Palace

Taped Fist Match

Road Warriors & Paul Ellering beat Buddy Roberts & Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin

AWA Tag Team Champions Jim Garvin & Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe & Scott Hall

Leon White beat Bill Irwin dq

Larry Zbyszko beat Kevin Kelly

Mongolian Stomper beat Kelly Kiniski

Att 1496

 

What a crazy town. This is a weak lineup though.

 

12/25/85 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center

AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Stan Hansen dq

Road Warriors no contest AWA Tag Team Champions Jim Garvin & Steve Regal

Nick Bockwinkel beat Larry Zbyszko

Mongolian Stomper & Nord The Barbarian & Boris Zhukov beat Scott Hall & Curt Hennig & Jerry Blackwell

Baron Von Raschke beat Scott Irwin dq

Marty Jannetty beat Kelly Kiniski

Cowboy Lang & Little Mr. T beat Little Tokyo & Lord Littlebrook

Bill Irwin beat Kevin Kelly

Sherri Martel beat Debbie Combs

Att: 7000+

 

Poor number for Christmas night in St. Paul on a very poor line up. I don't think it's a reach to say that if they had found someone of note to feud with Blackwell they could have done business during this period. He really feels like he's being misused. Same with the Roadies.

 

12/29/85 Milwaukee, WI

Cage match

Jerry Blackwell beat Michael Hayes

AWA Tag Team Champions Jimmy Garvin & Steve Regal beat Scott Hall & Curt Hennig dq

Nick Bockwinkel beat Larry Zbyszko

Kamala beat Baron Von Raschke

Little Mr. T beat Lord Littlebrook

Mongolian Stomper beat Eric Ferris

Leon White beat Marty Jannetty

att: 3,940

 

This is a borderline "average" match for Milwaukee but I almost feel like giving it a notch in the good column, since this lacked a World title match or the Roadies to bolster the card. Martel dropped to Hansen in NJ this day as well at a PWUSA show.

 

85 is an interesting year. No doubt Vince was hurting them, but Verne did a ton to hurt himself. Business was actually fairly strong up until the Roadies and Blackwell departed and the use of Sarge was scaled back. Summer or not that clearly had a hugely adverse effect on the companies drawing power. Blackwell and the Roadies were clearly misused for big chunks of the year and were probably the biggest draws in the company, with Sarge in third.

[Dylan Waco]

Expanding on my Blackwell research by looking at his St. Louis run. We don't have attendance figures for all but a couple shows, but I still think it adds to the total picture.

 

http://www.infinitecore.ca/superstar/index...mp;page=2#pager

 

 

11/20/81 St Louis

 

NWA champion Ric Flair beat David Von Erich

Dusty Rhodes beat Sgt Slaughter

Missouri State champion Ken Patera beat Bulldog Bob Brown

Pat O'Connor and Rufus R Jones (sub Rocky Johnson) beat Crusher Blackwell and Bob Sweetan

Dewey Robertson beat Ron McFarlane

Billy Robinson drew Gene Lewis

Chan Chung and Jerry Brown beat Tommy Martin and Buzz Tyler

 

12/4/81 St Louis

 

Ric Flair won a 14 man battle royal

NWA champion Ric Flair beat Jack Brisco

Missouri State champion Ken Patera beat Jack Brisco (sub Kerry Von Erich)

David Von Erich beat Sgt Slaughter dq

Crusher Blackwell & Gene Lewis & Bob Sweetan beat Pat O'Connor & Tommy Martin & Bulldog Bob Brown

Dewey Robertson beat Chan Chung

Rufus R Jones beat Ron McFarlane

Bruce Reed drew Jerry Brown

 

1/1/82 St Louis

 

NWA champion Ric Flair beat Dusty Rhodes

Dick the Bruiser beat Ken Patera to win the Missouri State title

David Von Erich and Rufus R Jones no contest Harley Race and Greg Valentine

Dewey Robertson beat Baron Von Raschke

Crusher Blackwell beat Ox Baker and Bruce Reed

Pat O'Connor beat Bob Sweetan (Pat's St Louis retirement match)

Wendi Richter and Joyce Grable beat Sandy Partlow and Early Dawn

Bulldog Bob Brown no contest Jerry Brown

 

All of the above shows were booked by Mushnick. O'Conner takes over either on the Jan. 1st show or after. Blackwell is being built but not used high up the cards.

 

 

2/19/82 St Louis

 

Dick the Bruiser won an 18 man battle royal

Crusher Blackwell and Harley Race no contest Andre the Giant and Dusty Rhodes

Missouri State champion Dick the Bruiser beat Greg Valentine

Ken Patera beat Crusher Blackwell

Gene Kiniski beat Baron Von Raschke

Dewey Robertson beat Dick Murdoch dq

Kerry Von Erich beat Gene Lewis

Roger Kirby drew Spike Huber

Jerry Brown and Jerry Valiant beat Ricky Romero and Bulldog Bob Brown

 

Blackwell no showed the previous card where he was scheduled in the semi-main v. Dewey Robertson. But here he is again in a big semi-main and doing double duty against his future opponent.

 

3/26/82 St Louis

 

NWA champion Ric Flair beat Dick the Bruiser

Gene Kiniski and Dewey Robertson beat Crusher Blackwell and Ken Patera dq

Terry Funk beat Mark Romero (sub Jack Brisco)

Rufus R Jones beat Jerry Brown

Roger Kirby beat Kerry Von Erich COR

Superfly beat Ricky Romero

Bulldog Bob Brown and Steve Regal beat Jerry Valiant and Gene Lewis

 

4/16/82 St Louis

 

Missouri State champion Dick the Bruiser beat Crusher Blackwell

Ken Patera beat Dewey Robertson

Gene Kiniski and Rufus R Jones beat Superfly and Sgt Slaughter

Kerry Von Erich beat Jerry Brown

Steve Regal drew Roger Kirby

Mark Romero beat Ray Hernandez

Art Crews and Bulldog Bob Brown beat Gene Lewis and Ron McFarlane

 

4/30/82 St Louis

 

NWA champion Ric Flair beat Gene Kiniski

Missouri State champion Dick the Bruiser beat Harley Race COR

Ken Patera and Crusher Blackwell beat Dusty Rhodes and Rufus R Jones

Kelly Kiniski beat Jerry Brown

Sabrina and Princess Victoria beat Wendi Richter and Joyce Grable

Michael Hayes beat Ron McFarlane

Roger Kirby drew Steve Regal (sub Bulldog Bob Brown)

 

Interesting stuff here as Blackwell works underneath in a huge tag that was beneath only the World Title match, then gets a big main event and then gets a match that is third from the top under two title matches. Pretty clear he's being presented as a big part of the show at this point.

 

5/14/82 St Louis

 

Andre the Giant and Dick the Bruiser beat Dick Murdoch and Crusher Blackwell

Dewey Robertson beat Jack Brisco

David and Kerry Von Erich beat Ken Patera and Roger Kirby

Bulldog Bob Brown beat Superfly dq

Ray Hernandez beat Art Crews (sub Steve Regal)

Rufus R Jones beat Ron McFarlane

Mark Romero beat Jerry Brown

 

6/12/82 St Louis

 

NWA champion Ric Flair beat Dick the Bruiser

Harley Race and Dick Murdoch no contest Dusty Rhodes and Ted DiBiase

Dory Funk Jr beat Dewey Robertson

King Kong Brody beat Bob Sweetan

David and Kerry Von Erich beat Ken Patera and Crusher Blackwell

Rufus R Jones beat Superfly

Mark Romero (sub Ted Oates) beat Kabuki dq

Roger Kirby drew Mike George

 

7/16/82 St Louis

 

Dory Funk Jr beat Gene Kiniski

Crusher Blackwell beat Ken Patera

Missouri State champion Dick the Bruiser beat Sgt Slaughter

Dewey Robertson & Rufus R Jones & Spike Huber (sub Kerry Von Erich) beat Baron Von Raschke & Roger Kirby and Ray Hernandez

Mike George drew Manny Fernandez (sub Bob Russell)

Mark Romero and Art Crews beat Buzz Tyler and Abdullah the Great

 

Would kill to see that Von Erichs v. future Sheiks tag and it is an interesting use of Blackwell who is still essentially a main eventer in St. Louis. Interesting that Blackwell teamed with Patera and worked against him in the semi-main on the next show. I wonder what the angle was.

 

Next three shows Blackwell semi-mains in a tag, misses the second August show and then semi-main events against Dewey again.

 

 

10/8/82 St Louis

 

Harley Race beat NWA champion Ric Flair (one fall only, no title change)

Crusher Blackwell no contest Andre the Giant

Kim Duk & Ken Patera & Ray Hernandez beat Dusty Rhodes & Bruce Reed & Dewey Robertson dq

Hulk Hogan beat Greg Valentine and Tio in a handicap match

Mark Romero beat Roger Kirby

Manny Fernandez beat Baron Von Raschke

Bulldog Bob Brown and Buzz Tyler drew Rufus R Jones and Mike George

 

10/22/82 St Louis

 

Ken Patera beat Crusher Blackwell

Hulk Hogan and Dick the Bruiser beat Greg Valentine and Dewey Robertson

Bruce Reed beat Kim Duk

Buzz Tyler no contest Ray Hernandez

Ivan Koloff beat Mike George

Manny Fernandez beat Terry Gordy

Mark Romero and Terry Orndorff beat Crusher Ayala and Roger Kirby

 

God damn that first show is stacked. I wonder what the figure was for that? The second show is really weak though Blackwell v. Patera is the headliner so that feud was still doing something in the eyes of the office.

 

Jerry works third from the top in a kind of nothing match next and then is gone for the next show. He comes back for:

 

12/3/82 St Louis

 

Dick the Bruiser and Bruce Reed beat Ric Flair and Crusher Blackwell

Kerry Von Erich beat Ray Fernandez

Ken Patera drew Ivan Koloff

Bulldog Bob Brown beat Dewey Robertson

Bob Orton Jr beat Art Crews

Roger Kirby and Crusher Ayala beat Mike George and Manny Fernandez

Buzz Tyler beat Jerry Brown dq

 

Main event. Show looks weak aside from that match. Was this at the height of the post-Sam St. Louis war? Show does 5,200 which for that card seems decent.

 

1/21/83 St Louis

 

King Kong Brody beat Bobby Duncum

Kerry Von Erich beat Missouri State champion Harley Race dq

Dick the Bruiser and Bulldog Bob Brown beat Crusher Blackwell and Crusher Ayala

Greg Valentine beat Bobo Brazil

Rick Martel beat Ox Baker dq

Bob Orton Jr beat Brad Armstrong (sub Tommy Rich)

Spike Huber and Brad Armstrong beat Kim Duk and the Beast

 

Gone for a bit and comes back with this. Then he misses a couple of shows and...

 

3/11/83 St Louis

 

King Kong Brody no contest Crusher Blackwell

Harley Race beat Rick Martel

Missouri State champion Kerry Von Erich beat Super Destroyer

Dick the Bruiser and Bulldog Bob Brown beat Dewey Robertson and Greg Valentine

Ray Hernandez beat Spike Huber

Kim Duk and Yasu Fuji beat Mark Romero and Manny Fernandez

Roger Kirby beat Buzz Tyler

 

 

4/15/83 St Louis

 

Crusher Blackwell beat Kerry Von Erich to win the Missouri State title

Greg Valentine beat Dick the Bruiser

Rick Martel beat Bob Orton Jr

George Wells beat Bobby Duncum

Yasu Fuji and Kim Duk beat Spike Huber and Bulldog Bob Brown

Roddy Piper beat Omar Atlas

Dewey Robertson and Eddie Mansfield drew Manny Fernandez and Buzz Tyler

 

No clue what these are drawing but at this point it's clear Blackwell is seen as a main guy. They didn't give the Missouri Title to just anyone. Interesting that the Brody match happened here before it happened in the AWA.

 

 

4/29/83 St Louis

 

NWA champion Ric Flair beat Crusher Blackwell COR

Harley Race beat David Von Erich

Rick Martel and Bulldog Bob Brown beat Kim Duk and Grizzly Adams (sub Yasu Fuji)

Greg Valentine beat Buzz Tyler

George Wells drew Roddy Piper

Bob Orton Jr beat Dewey Robertson

Manny Fernandez & Mark Romero & Liz Chase beat Ray Hernandez & Bill Cody (sub Eddie Mansfield) & Leilani Kai

 

5/13/83 St Louis

 

Harley Race beat Crusher Blackwell to win the Missouri State title

Kerry Von Erich and George Wells beat Kim Duk and Roger Kirby (sub Yasu Fuji)

Greg Valentine no contest Bruce Reed

Bobby Duncum beat Bulldog Bob Brown

Bob Orton Jr beat Manny Fernandez

Dewey Robertson drew Rick Martel

Mark Romero and Jerry Ho beat Ray Hernandez and Jerry Brown

 

6/10/83 St Louis

 

Harley Race beat Ric Flair to win the NWA World heavyweight title

Crusher Blackwell won an 18 man battle royal

Andre the Giant & Bruce Reed & Dick the Bruiser beat Crusher Blackwell & John Studd & Bobby Duncum

Bob Orton Jr drew David Von Erich

Gene Kiniski no contest Dick Murdoch

Rick Martel beat Greg Valentine

Roddy Piper drew Bulldog Bob Brown

George Wells and Mark Romero beat Dewey Robertson and Ray Hernandez

 

Jerry gets a Flair main even in St. Louis as the Missouri champ which would seem to be a pretty big deal. Dropping the title to Harley after a month isn't surprising. Probably was the plan all along as Harley owned a piece of Central States which was wedded to St. Louis in a lot of ways by this point. Race v. Flair was probably what they were building to though I find it notable that Blackwell was STILL put over huge working in the big six-man and winning the Battle Royal.

 

 

7/15/83 St Louis

 

Tournament for the Missouri State Title

 

Round 1

Bob Orton Jr beat Manny Fernandez

Jesse Ventura beat Emile Vachon

Blackjack Lanza beat Jerry Ho

Bruce Reed beat Baron Von Raschke

Crusher Blackwell beat Buzz Tyler

Dick the Bruiser beat Bobby Duncum

Ric Flair beat Bulldog Bob Brown

Dewey Robertson beat George Wells

Hulk Hogan beat Kortsia Korchenko

 

Round 2

David Von Erich beat Bob Orton Jr

Bruce Reed beat Jesse Ventura

Blackjack Lanza beat Dick the Bruiser dq

Ric Flair beat George Wells?

Hulk Hogan nc Crusher Blackwell

 

Round 3

David Von Erich beat Blackjack Lanza

Ric Flair beat Bruce Reed

Ric Flair beat David Von Erich to win the Missouri State title

 

Another interesting result as Flair goes from NWA Champ to Missouri Champ replacing Harley who replaced him as World Champ. Notable that Blackwell didn't job and went to a no-contest with Hogan. He's still being protected like a top guy would be.

 

 

8/5/83 St Louis

 

NWA champion Harley Race beat Ric Flair

Hulk Hogan & Dick the Bruiser & Ron Ritchie (sub David Von Erich) beat Crusher Blackwell & Blackjack Mulligan & Baron Von Raschke

Bob Orton Jr beat Rick Martel

Super Destroyer beat George Wells

Barry Windham beat Tonga John

Bulldog Bob Brown and Princess Victoria beat Roger Kirby and Leilani Kai

Ron Ritchie beat Steve Hall

 

8/26/83 St Louis

 

Hulk Hogan beat Crusher Blackwell COR

Dick the Bruiser no contest Super Destroyer

David Von Erich and Jerry Lawler beat Blackjack Mulligan and Blackjack Lanza

Barry Windham beat Baron Von Raschke

Roger Kirby beat Jerry Ho (sub Dusty Rhodes)

Bob Orton Jr beat George Wells

Ron Ritchie and Mark Romero beat Sheik Abdullah and Buck Robley

 

Blackwell v. Hogan is now a big feud coming out of the Missouri tournament.

 

 

9/16/83 St Louis

 

David Von Erich beat Ric Flair to win the Missouri State title

Hulk Hogan beat Crusher Blackwell

Barry Windham and Austin Idol (Sub Dick the Bruiser) beat Super Destroyer and Bob Orton Jr

Iceman Parsons beat Roger Kirby

Blackjack Mulligan beat Jerry Ho

Buck Robley beat Ron Ritchie

George Wells and Bulldog Bob Brown beat Jerry Brown and Sheik Abdullah

 

10/8/83 St Louis

 

NWA champion Harley Race beat Hulk Hogan dq

Barry Windham and David Von Erich beat Crusher Blackwell and Super Destroyer

Blackjack Mulligan beat Buzz Tyler

Iceman Parsons beat Tonga John

Buck Robley beat Jerry Ho

Ron Ritchie & Bulldog Bob Brown & Angelo Mosca Jr beat Roger Kirby & Jerry Brown & Sheik Abdullah

 

10/21/83 St Louis

 

Hulk Hogan beat Crusher Blackwell Cage Match

Missouri State champion David Von Erich beat Super Destroyer

Dick the Bruiser and Jimmy Snuka beat Blackjack Mulligan and Killer Karl Krupp

Jimmy Snuka (sub Barry Windham) beat Roger Kirby

Iceman Parsons beat Doug Sommers

Buck Robley beat Booker T

Bulldog Bob Brown and Angelo Mosca Jr beat Jerry Brown and Tonga John

 

Blackwell v. Hogan gets strung out for several shows which tells me it probably did fairly well. Cage Match blowoff suggests a hot feud, though I know the first show here did under 5,000 which was bad for St. Louis. I wonder if Blackwell interfered in the Race match costing Hogan the title? I would almost bet on it.

 

11/25/83 St Louis

 

NWA champ Ric Flair beat David Von Erich

AWA tag team champions Crusher Blackwell and Ken Patera beat Dick the Bruiser and Bulldog Bob Brown

Austin Idol beat Denny Brown

Iceman Parsons beat Blackjack Lanza

Paul Orndorff beat Steve Olsonoski (sub Rick Martel)

Tiger Mask (sub Buck Robley) beat Angelo Mosca Jr

666 beat Ron Ritchie

Paul Kelly and Velvet McIntyre beat Scott Farris and Peggy Lee

 

12/9/83 St Louis

 

David Von Erich vs Harley Race

Dick the Bruiser and Rick Martel beat AWA tag team champions Crusher Blackwell and Ken Patera dq

Bob Orton Jr vs Rufus R Jones

Austin Idol vs Buddy Landell

Ron Ritchie vs Paul Orndorff

Buzz Tyler and Mark Stuart vs MEB and 666

Paul Kelly vs Bobby Fulton

 

The Sheiks in now and working semi-mains billed as the AWA tag champs. Wonder how this looked to the fans who had seen them feud a year or so before. I would guess there success in the AWA at the gate led to Verne - who still had a piece of the St. Louis office as I recall - sending them down South to help pop business. The first fo these shows did almost 9,000 which was a very strong number for St. Louis at that point.

 

 

1/6/84 St Louis

 

NWA champion Ric Flair beat King Kong Brody dq

Harley Race beat David Von Erich to win the Missouri State Title

AWA tag team champions Crusher Blackwell and Ken Patera beat Dick the Bruiser and Gene Kiniski (sub Ted DiBiase)

Dory Funk Jr drew Bob Orton Jr

Ron Ritchie beat 666 (sub Buddy Landell)

Tully Blanchard (sub Buck Robley) beat Buzz Tyler

King Cobra and Tiger Mask beat Roger Kirby and Scott Farris

 

2/17/84 St Louis

 

NWA champ Ric Flair beat Barry Windham

Missouri State champion Harley Race vs Wahoo McDaniel

Dusty Rhodes vs Luke Graham

AWA tag team champions Crusher Blackwell and Ken Patera vs Buck Robley and Ron Ritchie

Dick Slater vs Cobra

Blackjack Mulligan vs Bulldog Bob Brown

Mark and Jay Youngblood vs the Grapplers

 

Sheiks still around but slipping down the card on that Feb. show and man did they have some oddball challengers for those belts in St. Louis. First listing here is actually pretty cool as they appear to have been part of a triple title match billing up top on a show that was deliberately stacked.

 

 

3/30/84 St Louis

 

Missouri State champion Harley Race beat Wahoo McDaniel

Bruce Reed and the Blackjacks beat Crusher Blackwell & Ken Patera & Luke Graham

Jimmy Garvin beat Chris Adams

Dick the Bruiser beat Scott Farris

One Man Gang beat Hacksaw Duggan dq

Dick Slater beat Buzz Tyler

The Fabulous Ones beat TG Stone and Pat Kelly

Ted Oates and Les Thornton vs The Grapplers

 

Six-man semi-main on a very strange show. This would be the last appearance of the Sheiks in St. Louis.

 

Blackwell misses the May show but was scheduled in the semi-main.

 

6/1/84 St Louis

 

NWA champion Ric Flair drew Kerry Von Erich

Blackjack Lanza and Blackjack Mulligan beat Crusher Blackwell and Sheik Adnan El Kaissey

Wahoo McDaniel beat Kimala dq

Jim Duggan beat Luke Graham

The Grapplers beat Ted Oates and Tom Ivory (sub Jerry Oates)

Tommy Rogers beat TG Stone

Marty Jannetty beat Roger Kirby

 

6/22/84 St Louis

 

NWA champion Ric Flair beat Wahoo McDaniel

Crusher Blackwell & Buddy Roberts & Michael Hayes beat Blackjack Lanza & Billy robinson & Iceman Parsons

Missouri State champion Harley Race beat Curt Hennig

Nick Bockwinkel beat Steve Olsonoski

Ted Oates (sub Jim Duggan) beat Luke Graham

Marty Jannetty and Tommy Rogers beat The Grapplers

TG Stone beat Art Crews

Ted Oates beat Akio Sato

 

Blackwell likely with his last appearance as a Sheik like heel in the first match with Adnan in St. Louis. Show does almost 7,700 a good gate for St. Louis though you would think most of that would be attributed to the main event. Interesting to see him teaming with the Birds against a hilarious opposition on the second show. Still in semi-mains.

 

7/13/84 St Louis

 

Kerry Von Erich and Barry Windham beat Ric Flair and Crusher Blackwell

Missouri State champion Harley Race no contest Wahoo McDaniel

Missing Link beat Rufus R Jones

Fabulous Moolah and Peggy Lee beat Wenona Little Heart and Desiree Peterson

Marty Jannetty drew Grappler #1

Grappler #2 beat Tommy Rogers

Ted Oates beat TG Stone

 

8/3/84 St Louis

 

NWA champion Ric Flair vs Kerry Von Erich

Iceman Parsons beat Missouri State champion Harley Race dq

Blackjack Lanza vs Sheik Adnan El Kaissey

Tommy Rogers vs Grappler #1 Beard vs Mask

Crusher Blackwell and Luke Graham vs Jim Brunzell and Buzz Tyler

Dick the Bruiser vs Chris Markoff

Marty Jannetty vs Ted Oates

Art Crews vs Gypsy Joe

 

Blackwell in what looks like it would have been an incredibly great tag team main event on the first show, though it did weak business of barely 4k. Second show he is in the mid-card which was almost unheard of for him in St. Louis, but this was right around the time he would be setting up for his face turn IIRC.

 

9/14/84 St Louis

 

NWA champion Ric Flair beat Harley Race

AWA tag team champions The Road Warriors beat Dick the Bruiser and Blackjack Lanza

Chris Adams beat Jimmy Garvin

Stella Mae French beat Precious

Crusher Blackwell beat Jim Brunzell COR

Tony Atlas & Ted DiBiase & Buzz Tyler beat Ox Baker & Hacksaw Higgins & Mr Saito

Gypsy Joe beat Tommy Rogers

Marty Jannetty beat TG Stone

 

His last heel appearance in St. Louis?

 

 

10/5/84 St Louis

 

King Kong Brody no contest Crusher Blackwell

AWA tag team champions The Road Warriors beat Ted DiBiase and Buzz Tyler

Tony Atlas beat Paul Ellering

Hacksaw Higgins beat Buzz Tyler (sub Dick the Bruiser)

Jim Brunzell and Bulldog Bob Brown beat the Grapplers

Mr Pogo beat Tony Russo (sub Steve Olsonoski)

Gypsy Joe and The Animal beat Marty Jannetty and Tommy Rogers

 

Weak show, but notable that Brody v. Blackwell was a good enough spike in the AWA where they took it to headline St. Louis. Still you have to wonder what the logic was in booking this card the way it was booked. Talent is insanely thin.

 

12/7/84 St Louis

 

Crusher Blackwell won a 20 man battle royal

Kerry Von Erich beat Crusher Blackwell

Wahoo McDaniel beat Hacksaw Higgins (sub King Kong Brody)

Dick the Bruiser and Bulldog Bob Brown beat Gypsy Joe and Mr Pogo

Rufus R Jones beat Sheik Abdullah

Roger Kirby and Ken Timbs beat Mark and Jay Youngblood

TG Stone beat Dusty Wolfe (sub Blackjack Lanza)

Steve Olsonoski and Marty Jannetty beat Buzz Tyler and Mike Bond

 

Blackwell in a double duty main event. Card did a little less than 5,500 which was a solid number but nothing great.

 

Misses the first show in 85, which did 8k with Flair v. Brody on top.

 

1/25/85 St Louis

 

NWA champion Ric Flair beat Kerry Von Erich

King Kong Brody beat Kimala dq

Harley Race beat Crusher Blackwell

Terry Funk beat Wahoo McDaniel Texas Death Match

Dick the Bruiser and Bulldog Bob Brown beat Ken Timbs and Mr Pogo

Candi Divine beat Diane Von Hoffman

Rufus R Jones beat the Outlaw

Marty Jannetty and Art Crews beat Sheik Abdullah and Gary Royal

 

2/15/85 St Louis

 

NWA champion Ric Flair drew King Kong Brody

Missouri State champion Crusher Blackwell no contest Harley Race

Wahoo McDaniel beat Gene Kiniski

Sgt Slaughter beat Missing Link

Dick the Bruiser and Bulldog Bob Brown beat Sheik Abdullah and Mr Pogo

Rufus R Jones beat Roger Kirby (sub Baron Von Raschke)

Marty Jannetty beat Ken Timbs dq

Art Crews and Dusty Wolfe (sub Dave Peterson) beat Gary Royal and TG Stone

 

3/8/85 St Louis

 

AWA champion Rick Martel vs Nick Bockwinkel

Missouri State champion Crusher Blackwell vs Bulldog Bob Brown

Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell vs Masked Superstar and Mr Saito

Sgt Slaughter vs Wahoo McDaniel

Jimmy Garvin vs Mike Von Erich

American Starship beat Marty Jannetty and Steve Olsonoski

Dick the Bruiser beat Mr Pogo dq

Rufus R Jones vs Ken Timbs

 

Blackwell v. Race is rolled out a couple of times once on a stacked show that does nearly 11,000 which was probably the last huge number in St. Louis territory history. The company is really all over the place at this point. Blackwell gets his second Missouri Title run. They put him against the unimpressive Central States forever Bob Brown.

 

Blackwell misses all but one of the next five shows where he is in a mid-card tag match.

 

8/2/85 St Louis

 

NWA champion Ric Flair vs Harley Race

Harley Race beat Crusher Blackwell to become the Missouri State champion

Dick the Bruiser vs Mr Pogo Texas Death Match

Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy vs Curt Hennig and Steve Olsonoski

Rufus R Jones vs Starship Coyote

Bulldog Bob Brown vs Sheik Abdullah

Marty Jannetty & Dave Peterson & Art Crews vs Super Destroyer & Gary Royal & Boo Thomas

 

Harley does double duty. By this point Blackwell's health was on the decline and promotion was clearly winding down though Flair and Race are still around as often as they can be to try and keep things alive.

 

9/20/85 St Louis

 

NWA champion Ric Flair vs Harley Race

King Kong Brody vs One Man Gang

AWA champion Rick Martel vs Jimmy Garvin

Crusher Blackwell vs Kamala

NWA Jr champion Denny Brown vs Gary Royal

Larry and Curt Hennig vs Mr Pogo and Boo Thomas

Bulldog Bob Brown vs Dave Peterson

Art Crews vs Sheik Abdullah

plus a midget tag bout

 

The last result with Blackwell in it. On a stacked show he's in a prominent match albeit one in the mid-card.

 

Really hard to get a feel for if Blackwell was a draw of any magnitude or not in St. Louis. What is indisputable is that he was a star and a star from the jump right through until the end. He was consistently in semi-mains or main events, was given the Missouri title twice and was booked against everyone from Harley to Flair to Andre to Hogan. The "he was only a star in the AWA" talking point that I sort of conceded on the podcast appears to be wrong.

 

 

And my final wrap up stuff:

 

Tying up a few loose ends on Blackwell.

 

A couple of different places claim he worked Amarillo and Houston by I can't find any evidence of it.

 

In 75-76 he was in Mid-Atlantic, including a mid-card tag team with Brute Bernard that seemed to get at least a bit of a push. In early 76 he was also in the WWF where he worked underneath a lot early, but actually moved onto some main events and semi-mains on spot shows. He worked a sort of mini-program v. Putski and actually headlined in some of the mid-level markets. He went on last twice at MSG though both times he was the buffer match after the Bruno main event. He also had a tag title program, a mini-program with Bobo and a mini-program with Kevin Sullivan all of which were placed in second from the top slots even in the big buildings. He even had a match against Monsoon in Pittsburgh in April. Blackwell dropped back into the card some but finished up working with Monsoon/Brazil/Putski around the loop which is a solid mid-card slot. Overall he comes across as a reliable mid-carder that was shuffled up and down the card based on necessity.

 

I am guessing he was in Mid-Atlantic for part of 77 and 78, though I haven't been able to find any results. I know he was in Southeastern for a while in 78/79 as a mid-carder though he did hold the tag titles there twice and worked in some main events.

 

From Sept. of 78 til the end of the year he was in the WWWF (technically his tv debut was in early August, but he didn't work the loop until Sept.) which was an interesting run that I would like to see the tv from. He got an early t.v. main event teaming with Ernie Ladd v. Backlund and Mavia. He mostly worked underneath against your standard scrubs and worked a lot of spot shows. In the last two months of the year he actually main evented several spot shows against guys like S.D. Jones, Larry Zbyszko and Jay Strongbow. His biggest match had to be against Backlund at the Spectrum but we don't have a figure for it. He also main evented against Andre on a few shows in singles and in a tag match in Augusta, Maine of all places. You get the feeling that he might have been being groomed for a bigger run and either got a better offer somewhere else or the company decided to go in a different direction. Hard to tell.

 

The awesome Lawler match from May of 81 in Memphis was only a one shot deal and did a hair over 5,000 which was below average for the year though not the worst drawing show of the year.

 

He was brought into Central States several times starting in 84. He had four main events that year and was clearly booked as a special attraction worth seeing as his bouts were against Flair and Cage Matches v. Harley. In 85/86 he was brought in some and booked all over the card against a wide variety of (mostly middling) talent.

[Dylan Waco]

Response to comments from tomk at Classics and criticism from Farmer and others:

 

The problem here is that we are missing A LOT of numbers for 80-82 including the majority of Chicago and St. Paul shows which were their biggest venues. Those are actually some of the deader years in terms of having the attendance figures as the 60's/70's tend to have more consistent figures even.

 

Using Clawmasters results Blackwell was in the main or semi-main of 31% of known 10k AWA shows and 71% of known 10k AWA shows from the period when he was in the company. Note that these figures are FAR from complete and there are obvious things that would need to be adjusted for to get a more concrete perspective. I'm not a huge fan of that metric because it lacks context, but if you follow the AWA it is clear that a "semi-main" position was often a position where the bigger feud or at least an equally "hot" match was presented. For example I don't think Jumbo was the draw on top as champ in 84 and doubt anyone who followed the AWA at the time would disagree with that.

 

Another good example of this would be the Super Sunday show. Hogan v. Bock would have done great business on it's own - the fact is it wasn't the "main event" in the traditional sense of the term. Sheiks v. Verne/Mad Dog would have done great business on it's own. The fact is it was the main event in the traditional sense of the term, though I don't think it is right to consider either match the clear centerpiece above the other. It was a package deal and a package that was a huge hit at the box office.

 

If you count St. Louis, Blackwell was in the main or semi-main of 30 known 10k plus shows. I suspect that number would be at least a quarter higher if we had more numbers from the first half of Blackwell's AWA run. I also don't have the figure from the one time he headlined the Spectrum.

 

The claim that Blackwell only drew when Hogan around is literally the opposite of what these figures show. The figures clearly show that when Hogan left numbers stayed strong. The hottest feud in the company was the Sheiks v. The High Flyers. Their blowoff in St. Paul did 19k, months after Hogan was gone. When Blackwell took time off to sell the injury that set up his face turn business plummeted. When he came back business went up.

 

It's absolutely clear that Blackwell was the top draw in the AWA in 84 as both a heel and a face.

[Dylan Waco]

Khawk's thoughts on Blackwell that triggered much of this:

 

Blackwell was the AWA's MVP from 1980 through 1984 (Bobby Heenan notwithstanding). Monster heel when he came in as a single, and the fans HATED him. People were ready to lynch him for the beatings he used to give to young up-and-comers like Ron Ritchie and Steve O. His challenge to the AWA singles title was limited to a match or two against Verne in that time frame, but he was such a monster that he could be programmed with any face on the roster and it was compelling.

 

His team with Kaissie was even more hated than Blackwell as a single. Their feud with Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell was extremely hot, and begun very cleverly when the Flyers agreed to take a non-title match against the Sheiks as a favour to promoter Wally Karbo as the top chellengers could not be on the upcoming card. one non-title win later, their feud was born, and it carried on throughout 1982 and into the early part of 1983.

 

Blackwell was the driving force in that feud, and they also managed to bring Mad Dog Vachon back for revenge against Blackwell for injuring him the year previous. Blackwell was able to hold up his end of it in two major programs almost at the same time, and was able to generate enough heat to bring the fans in for both. Keep in mind that Blackwell had been in the AWA for 3 years+ straight at this point, and was still able to maintain his aura of invincibility to a degree...no small feat.

 

Out of the Vachon feud Blackwell moved right into his team with Ken Patera and a reign as the World Tag team Champions, a title that they held for a full year.

 

From there, Blackwell was turned face in the infamous June 1984 battleroyal in St. Paul where Kaissie, Abdullah and Brody attacked im after he won it. Blackwell became the most popular wrestler in the AWA almost overnight, and had a lengthy albeit strangely booked feud with Brody running through the middle of 1985.

 

Blackwell had health problems which affected his ability to wrestle regularly after the middle of 1985, but whenever he came back he was always greeted with a huge reaction. Even as late as 1989/90, Blackwell was brought into the Rochester TV tapings to team with the New Fantastics against the Destruction Crew and Johnny V, and he was still extremely over.

 

As a heel, he had major feuds and programs with Mad Dog Vachon, Baron Von Raschke, Dino Bravo, The High Flyers, Hulk Hogan, Brad Rheingans and the Crusher. Hell, Verne got Andre to take a DQ loss to Blackwell in 1980, which I imagine wasn't a common (or inexpensive) thing back then. As a face, he had feuds with Kaissie and various forms of his army, Brody, The Freebirds, Boris Zurkov, Kamala, The Road Warriors, and I'm sure a few more I am forgetting.

 

Blackwell drew, and was able to do so in a singular territory for the better part of ten years. that is no small feat.His transition to a face IMO extended his time as a top draw, simply because he had exhausted almost every avenue possible as a heel that could draw, with the possible exception of never doing a program with Rick Martel.

He really found his niche in the AWA, and you have to give Verne Gagne a lot of credit for giving Jerry a chance to carry the ball as a monster heel, considering he was a mid-range heel at best in the WWWF previously and even less of a player in any other areas he may have been in previous to that (MACW is one he had a match or two in but no push from what I have seen. Mulligan squashed him in one match IIRC).

 

I consider him a worthy candidate for the HOF and those that were also witness to his AWA run, especially 80 - 84 as a heel, would likely agree. Dave from the get-go has always been sour on the AWA and I suspect he has not seen much if any of Blackwell's 80 - 84 work as a heel. This hurts the idea that Dave would give him a push of any sort to improve his candidacy. But it's hard to argue the idea that he deserve serious consideration when you look at his body of work and sustained drawing/star power in what was one of the "Big Three" at the time of his ascent to key player.

[Dylan Waco]

General statement I made regarding brevity of Blackwell's prime regarding HoF:

 

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

[Dylan Waco]

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

[Exposer]

Here's my reviews of Blackwell matches from the AWA set that I've seen so far:

 

Jerry Blackwell & Big John Studd vs. High Flyers (2/20/81)

Very good tag match. I liked the back work here on Greg. He did a nice job working underneath. Blackwell was extremely entertaining in this weeble wobbling from dropkicks and getting high as fuck at a dropkick attempt of his own. This is like the third match I've watched in two days where a bear hug has worked in a match. I liked that Greg was fighting through it the whole time. Studd seemed motivated in this match. He moved around fairly well. I loved Brunzell's offensive flurry and his brutal fucking dropkick at the finish. The miscommunication finish wasn't all that great but this ended up being a very good tag with fine structure.

 

Jerry Blackwell vs. Billy Robinson (12/3/81)

I liked this match more than most although I didn't see it any better than merely good. The mat work was really good in the opening minutes. Blackwell seemed comfortable there which shows his versatility. Blackwell's heeling was great here albeit the work wasn't particularly compelling. I liked the near falls off of Robinson's elbow and neck breaker. The finish sucked I thought but I still enjoyed parts of this. So yeah, not by any means a great match but a good example of Blackwell doing mat work and showcasing his dynamic skills.

 

Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie vs. High Flyers (Cage Match 4/18/82)

Tremendous match that was hurt by somewhat poor editing. The structure of this match was fine. That leg work on Adnan late in the match felt more like Brunzell setting up for the figure four to put him away. It's not like they worked on his leg half-assed. The Flyers viciously worked on his leg including a sickening top rope knee from Greg. I'm confident that's pretty heated and filled with hate. I don't think I would find getting my leg whipped around and violently worked on happy go lucky and laughable. Anyways, Blackwell was the star for me in this match. His bumping was incredible. I mean he's terribly obese. No fat man should logically be taking bumps like he did. Also, him spewing blood all over the camera was gruesome as hell. The missed splash from the top rope followed by a couple of absurd cage bumps from Blackwell were the highlighted spots for me in the match. I did love the camera shot of a pissed off Brunzell on the apron with one side of his face covered in blood. Greg was excellent in this match as well. His FIP segment was terrific. All of his bumps into the cage were violent and extremely impactful. I loved his hot tag to Brunzell as well that was started by an awesome roll to his corner. I forgot to mention how I really enjoyed Brunzell's offense at the start of the match. It was fucking sweet and those uppercuts were snug as fuck. The finish to this was tremendous with the double dropkick seemingly killing Adnan. And shit if the post-match didn't kick ass too. Brunzell climbing over and down the cage back into the ring meanwhile fighting Blackwell and Adnan mid-climb was fucking great. The pop for Verne was something else and I loved him cleaning house. The fans all swarming the cage including a few attempting to join the fray by starting to scale the cage ruled. My only beef with this was the few editing spots which bothered me a little bit. I didn't like that first cut particularly well because I felt like I may have missed something big or important in the match. With that said, this was a tremendous match with awesome heat, blood, hate, good structure, and several great performances.

 

Crusher Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Kaissey vs. Baron Von Raschke & Mad Dog Vachon (Taped Fist Match) (3/13/83)

Awesome match. The pre-match heat is great with Wally Karbo making a deal with Mad Dog and Baron that they can have their fists taped but not their entire arms like the cast on Adnan and Blackwell. I loved the faces immediately working on the cast arm of Adnan. They were at a disadvantage and wanted to take that away as quickly as possible. Then Blackwell came in not long after that. He was outstanding in this match. The corner bumps he took were really great and I loved the struggle Mad Dog and Baron had at taking him down. It was really awesome when they finally got him off his feet. Eventually, the faces taped fists come into play and Blackwell is bleeding crimson. Mad Dog is excellent at working cuts because he just bites, claws, and scratches the wound.....like a mad dog. The spot where Blackwell crushes Adnan in the corner is tremendous. And I loved when both heels were tossed onto the ringside table. We get an annoying clipping that misses the start of Baron's FIP segment and what caused him to bleed but what we got was great. Blackwell's fat man elbow and power slam were frightening and looked like they may have killed Baron. Mad Dog off the hot tag was done very well too. He came in and threw some stiff strikes. Baron got back in and clawed Blackwell's bloody head which ruled but Adnan hit him with his cast arm. Blackwell then gave Baron a splash that look incredibly devastating for the win. The post-match was a true fucking spectacle. The heels demolished the faces until Verne makes the save. There is extreme tension at this point and then Blackwell and Adnan go back into the ring and pummel Verne. All of the sudden debris is flying into the ring and the crowd is edging closer to the ring. Curt Hennig clears them from the ring and they go to the back. On their way to the back fucking fans start decking them and one breaks free and starts brawling with Blackwell and Adnan. It was totally surreal shit. Those fuckers finally got to the back and we pan to the ring again with Okerlund screaming, "For God's sake! Someone bring out the paramedics!!!!!" That fucking ruled and was probably the best then Gene has ever said or done. We end this insanity with Verne, Mad Dog, and Baron being helped to the back. This was a really intense and heated brawl followed by a unique spectacle post-match. This was really some unbelievable shit.

 

Crusher Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Kaissey vs. Verne Gagne & Mad Dog Vachon (4/24/83)

This was a really fun, violent, and spirited brawl. Blackwell was awesome early here selling his ass off to Verne's offense. I thought Mad Dog's FIP segment was excellent. I love that Adnan beat him savagely with his cast arm, the ring bell, a mic stand, and a steel chair. Mad Dog bleeds pretty well and gets into some back and forth striking with both Adnan and Blackwell. Blackwell's power slams ruled in this. I also loved his bumping and have become a big fan of his bump into the turnbuckle when he misses the running splash. The chaotic ending was fucking great. All four guys are just fighting each other at this point. Mad Dog destroys Blackwell with a chair shot and Blackwell's blade job is gruesome as hell. I really liked Verne removing Adnan's cast, hitting him with it, then working on his arm that was followed up with a brutal knee from the top rope on it to get the win. This was really an awesome brawl with very strong performances from Mad Dog and Blackwell. Verne and Adnan played their roles to near perfection as well. This has been a great feud.

 

Crusher Blackwell vs. Mad Dog Vachon (Algerian Death Match) (5/22/83)

This is Blackwell's best performance so far on this set. I don't think I like this match quite as much as Dylan does but I did enjoy a good bit and thought it was a great match. The match is brilliantly put to together with Mad Dog almost immediately finding himself in trouble. I love that he gets himself pre-occupied with Adnan and Patera instead of the obese challenger on the other side of the ring. Blackwell's offense of gluttony was tremendous too. I loved how Mad Dog sold all of the offense. Blackwell standing in a corner cracking jokes with Adnan and Patera was awesome as the ref would count on the beaten Mad Dog. The reaction on Blackwell's face when Mad Dog gets up after the second fall was hilarious. This is the turning point of the match as far as Blackwell putting out a phenomenal performance goes. His weeble wobbly selling is outstanding. He's the best at that selling I've ever seen. Mad Dog posting him on the outside was great and Blackwell's entire right side of his face was crimson before the end of the match. The fish hook, eye gouge, and graphic biting all ruled. I agree with Dylan that the finish was awesome too. Blackwell finally escapes Mad Dog's angry onslaught but arrogantly goes to the top rope only to miss a big splash and take a really unique but believable bump off of it. Mad Dog's top rope knee crusher to Blackwell's breathing tubes was a really violent and believable finish. I thought Blackwell nearly making it before he was officially counted out improved the finish because it protected him and didn't make his offensive attack look too weak from earlier in the match when Mad Dog beat the count in a close call. This is definitely going to finish high on my ballot and on this disc. As I said before, I maybe didn't like it as much as Dylan but I still thought it was a really great brawl and a career performance from Blackwell.

 

Crusher Blackwell & Ken Patera vs. Dino Bravo & Steve O (8/28/83)

Very Good tag match. Blackwell was excellent in this. It's just amazing how impressive he is at weeble-wobble selling. It's easily the most believable I've ever seen. His bumping is great too. It wasn't showcased as much in this match but minor big bumps liked the missed turnbuckle splash and the missed splash on the mat were both equally terrific bumps. I love the opening of the match. Bravo just throws bombs on Blackwell and Patera. The crowd really loves it too. Patera had his arm worked over and did a great job of being the stooge of the team. Steve O was just there but he was sympathetic enough when he was FIP. The clip that missed the transition into the heat segment was troublesome but not as bad as some can be. I really enjoyed the creative way they had Steve O get the hot tag to Bravo. It made the match unique. Bravo was tremendous off the hot tag. He threw some more wild bombs with the biggest being a massive body slam on Blackwell that Blackwell bumped and sold magnificently. The finish to this was fantastic with Blackwell fucking leg sweeping Steve O who was in mid-airplane spin with Patera. Blackwell followed it up with a bone crushing big splash and laid Patera over the prone body of Steve O for the win. This had another brilliant performance from Blackwell and an inspired one by Bravo. Patera was a great stooge and Steve O was just there for the ride. Overall, it was a very good to great tag match but was hurt by the clipping and a somewhat underwhelming heat segment with Steve O as FIP.

 

Crusher Blackwell & Ken Patera vs. High Flyers (11/24/83)

Awesome tag match. What was so great about this match I thought was how balanced it was. The face shine segment was extended but it transitioned into an extremely effective heat segment that built really well to the finish. Therefore, the structure was outstanding. Blackwell was really terrific in this as he has been excellent in every match he's been a part of on this disc and really anywhere on this set. I loved his "fuck you" slam to Greg at the start and the tremendous facial expression he had when Ray Stevens prevented a punch while he was in an arm hold. The arm and leg work on Patera was really good. Greg and Brunzell were really ferocious as they targeted Patera's leg especially. Greg's leg lock and Brunzell's figure four are awesome combinations to work on an opponent's leg. They've done it several times in their matches and that's usually my favorite part of their shine segments. The FIP and heat segment was very well put together and well timed. Blackwell's devastating turnbuckle charges to Brunzell's spine were sickening. All of Brunzell's comebacks and hope spots were tremendous teases and really made one believe that he would finally tag Greg. My favorite tease was when Blackwell missed the big splash off the top rope but it only led to a near fall and cut off spot. The hot tag was great here but could have definitely been better if it were Greg working underneath and Brunzell coming in off the tag. I think those two work better that way. Greg still did a good job as he threw some dropkicks and punches towards both Blackwell and Patera. Greg gets the sleeper on Blackwell and Brunzell dropkicks Patera out of the ring. Blackwell slowly starts fading in the hold but Adnan nails Ray Stevens with his cast arm. Greg gets rid of Adnan and goes for the cover on the passed out Blackwell but the referee Stevens is still hurt from Adnan's previous blow. Adnan comes back in and hits Greg with his cast arm and Stevens disqualifies The Sheik's for outside interference. The post-match is great though as Greg and Brunzell beat the shit out of Adnan, Blackwell, and Patera with Adnan's cast. This was a brilliantly structured and put together tag with excellent work to boot. The only issue I really have is the aggravating finish but this will definitely finish high on my ballot.

[Exposer]

And some more:

 

Crusher Blackwell vs. Da Crusher (No DQ) (2/26/84)

I didn't find this to be great by any means but it was definitely fun. The brawling was really good at times and weak at others. Crusher had some good punches to start but I hand Blackwell enormous credit for selling them like they were cannon balls hitting his face. The table spot was my favorite use of a prop in this. I loved Crusher choking Blackwell with a ridiculously over-sized piece of equipment. Blackwell's chair shots on Crusher were pretty nasty including one that I could here through the crowd noise and video clutter. I didn't really like the exchanges once they got back into the ring. That's where I thought Crusher's weaknesses were pretty well exposed. It got better again when they returned to brawling on the floor. Blackwell was really posting Crusher. I knew something big was going to happen when he set up for that Avalanche. Man oh man, did that fat son of bitch rock the ring. He just fucking bolted full speed into it and missed with no protection. That has to be one of the best big man spots I've ever seen. I enjoyed the suspense of both guys brawling in the darkness as they carried their fight into the aisle. When we return, Adnan has gotten involved and giving the Crusher some sort of beating. Blackwell quickly comes in and pins Crusher. The finish was bizarre more than bad but it did leave some good suspense into how Crusher got so beaten considering the action that had preceded the finish was taking place in darkness. The post-match brawl and chaos was great and wanted me to see another match between these two even though I wasn't blown away by this. I did like this for some of the wild brawling, Blackwell's performance and massive bump, and the post-match. There was a few minutes that fell flat for me but this isn't necessarily going to be a bottom ten or even bottom fifteen on my ballot.

 

Crusher Blackwell & Ken Patera vs. Blackjack Mulligan & Jerry Lawler (3/4/84)

Blackwell was outstanding in this match. It is just incredible how good he was and yet he is really just now being discovered by a large audience. Lawler did the work for his team and was typically great. I loved Blackwell talking shit before the match only to get his face beat in by Mulligan and later Lawler. He took a tremendous bump into the corner and sold Mulligan and Lawler's punches like he was getting hit in the face with a hammer (With Lawler he kind of was). Lawler misses a leg drop from the top rope and takes an awesome bump on it. Blackwell takes advantage and gives him a devastating Samoan Drop. That ruled. Lawler is of course great at FIP so this portion of the match was excellent. I loved the hope spot where Lawler and Patera both connected with punches at the same time. That was a really unique and cool way to do a hope spot. Lawler got his back worked on for the most part and he sold both of the heels bear hugs really well. Blackwell hit these really impactful delayed headbutts that Lawler sold awesomely. Lawler got squashed with a Blackwell splash but Mulligan made another save for Lawler as he had been doing the whole match. Blackwell misses a delayed headbutt and Mulligan gets the hot tag and throws a few punches before he tags Lawler back in who bludgeons Blackwell with absolutely vicious punches that knock the big man down. Then Lawler does some rapid fire fist drops that look nasty as hell. Mulligan gets back into the match and gives Blackwell the Lariat which Blackwell sells tremendously. However, Adnan nails Mulligan in the head with his cast arm and Blackwell covers Mulligan to retain the tag titles and win the match. Lawler and Mulligan beat on the heels post-match, Mulligan slams Blackwell, and they count their own three to appease the upset crowd. This was really a Blackwell showcase as he brought everything to the table including some terrific offense. Lawler was excellent as FIP as he almost always is and Patera played his role perfectly well. Mulligan was detrimental somewhat to the this and the finish was iffy but overall this was a great southern tag style match.

[Dylan Waco]

Thanks or Matt to pointing this out to me as I try and keep my eye out for new Blackwell

 

Crusher Blackwell v. Tony Russo - WWWF

 

 

Undercard WWWF match with Vince on commentary that I really enjoyed in a sort of 1997 WCW Worldwidish way. Very short, but we get to see a lot of fun stuff out of Blackwell including some great weeble wobblish selling of the initial Russo flurry, a good bump on a missed avalanche and some pretty sweet offense. You could argue the bearhug was a bit ridiculous in a match like this but he used it as a ring positioning weapon and to set up Russo's hope spot. Loved the wild leg drop to the back and that falling headbutt of his is one of my all time favorite moves. Just looks completely devastating, like an old growth redwood tumbling onto a logger. Finish with Blackwell trampolining on the bottom rope and then killing Russo with a splash was good stuff too. Fun match

[Matt D]

Slaughter/Blackwell vs Road Warriors

 

I've never seen this before. Adnan is with Ellering on the outside. First portion of the match is fun. Blackwell fighting out of the Roadies corner, Warriors taking over after Blackwell misses a knee drop. Hawk works the chinlocks decently but the camera angle doesn't let us see Blackwell's facial expressions. Crowd goes nuts when he fights out though. Blackwell hits a HUGE back suplex but positions Hawk right into his corner. Animal does a huge slam on him followed by a splash. Then Hawk tries the same but Blackwell gets the knee up. Well done stuff. Then he gets the well timed hot tag as Hawk goes to the top rope.

 

Big Sarge gut buster that the crowd goes nuts for. We get an extended Test of Strength spot between Sarge and animal and the crowd is into it but it drags. Trongard is pretty terrible here. Sarge does a good job finally fighting out but Hawk makes a blind tag. Hawk pummels Sarge in the corner but he fights back for a hopespot only to eat his signature bump in the corner. Southern tag tactics as Hawk and Animal taunt Blackwell to get him to come in. Bit of mangling in the ropes before Hawk suplexes him in big. Sarge punches back as animal tags in but he gets a bit too much to make it a really dramatic hot tag.

 

Blackwell in. Huge punch. Huge splash. Huge power slam. Avalanche. Killer Slaughter clothesline. Then the clutch. It looks like the faces are going to win it as Blackwell cuts off Hawk and nails Paul but the ref is distracted by all this and Adnan slips in and gets Sarge with the cast. Blackwell almost gets his hands on him but Hawk breaks it up and that's our DQ.

 

I'm guessing this set up Supercage. Could have used a better hot tag at the end but this was definitely better than at least one of the Road Warriors matches on the 80s set.

[Matt D]

Crusher Blackwell vs Blackjack Mulligan Bounty Match 1978 Mid-Atlantic Wrestling

 

Best Mulligan match I've ever seen. Apparently the Baron had attacked Mulligan before the match and he's bandaged up. Blackwell is dressed like an 80s He-Man villain, a member of the Horde or something? A Halloween pumpkin themed supervillain? A giant oompa loompa? I have no idea. The story of this is real simple. Blackwell MAULS Mulligan with all sorts of crazy fat man offense including the heatseeker sideways diving headbutt. Mulligan fights back with heated punches with about 70% of the intensity he should have but he's selling so it's sort of okay. There's a ton of Blackwell honing in on the cut but it's hard to make out the color.

 

Finish is Mulligan getting on the claw and the end fight over it, with Blackwell fighting back with body blows is just epic. Worth seeing.