1970s Apter Mag Match of the Year winners

[Ricky Jackson]

I know, obscure ass topic, but this has been bugging me lately. Anyway, I've been reading the great Andre the Giant bio by Hèrbert and Laprade and stumbled upon a bit of info that answered something I've wondered about for years: exactly which Andre the Giant vs Killer Khan match won PWI match of the year in 1981? Official online PWI records of past winners frustratingly only list the participants involved in match of the year winners, with no info on the date or place. Wikipedia for years gave the date May 2 and the location Rochester, NY for the Andre vs Khan match. However, and I've known this for years, that was a fictitious match, I believe originally invented on WWF TV as the match where Khan broke Andre's ankle, starting a legendary feud. In reality, May 2 was the morning Andre woke up and broke his ankle getting out of bed, perhaps the result of an injury suffered the night before during a battle royal in Florida. Andre and Khan had wrestled each other in Rochester, but it was on April 13 not May 2, so I think over the years the date of the match was confused with the date Andre actually broke his ankle. Nevertheless, according to Hèbert and Laprade, the Andre vs Khan encounter that was voted match of the year in 1981 was actually from August 24, a Texas Death match from MSG, NOT a match from Rochester. This makes much more sense, because big MSG matches often won match of the year in those days when footage wasn't available and the most publicized, not the most seen, matches would get the most votes. I think a lot of Wikipedia editors, when having to rely only on the participants involved and not having access to a true source, just use their best guess as to which exact match won in a given year. I was so excited about having this mystery solved that I actually made the correction on Wikipedia myself!

But this has just led me down a rabbit hole of doubting the dates given to other match of the year winners on Wikipedia, specifically those from the 1970s. PWI wasn't published until the summer of 1979. Wikipedia lists award winners back to 1972. What gives? Well, for those who dont know, and Wikipedia doesn't explain this, another Apter mag (or more accurately, another Stanley Weston publication),The Wrestler, gave out awards prior to 1980. Like with Andre vs Khan, specific winners throw up a red flag. What I want to know, and hope somebody out there may be able to shed a light on, is which matches actually won match of the year. There are three in particular I question the accuracy of Wikipedia regarding date and place:

-1974: Funk Jr vs Brisco (1/27, Osaka, Japan) Would a match from Japan that presumably nobody in North America would've seen at the time (this match is out there today, thanks to All Japan Classics) really have been voted match of the year? I actually dont know the pre-1980s voting process, so not sure if there was anything other than a fiat decision by one of the editors, but still, this seems suspicious and perhaps a retcon based on this match actually being available for viewing in North America in the present day

-1975: Samnartino vs Arion (3/17, NYC) I question this simply because there were three Sammartino vs Arion matches from MSG in 1975, this one being the second one, a Texas Death match with an inconclusive finish. The next month they ran the blow off, the first ever Greek Death match (submission match). That match Bruno won decisively, and seems to me to be a more likely winner because it was the climax of a bitter feud. Did the person who provided the info on Wikipedia have a source for the date, or were they just guessing? 

1976: Sammatino vs Hansen (4/26, NYC) Similar to the previous winner, I question the accuracy here. While this match is legendary as the night Hansen broke Bruno's neck, they had a match at Shea Stadium a few months later before 32,000 with Bruno out for revenge that may actually be the correct winner. This one could go either way, since both matches were huge in 1976, but I have a hunch the Shea match may actually be correct.

The other 70s winners seem to be accurate, at least as far as what would've been highly publicized in the mags at the time. I guess I need someone with access to the actual issues of the The Wrestler to help settle this? @KrisZ are you still around? 

[War is Raw]

Great topic. I noticed that Andre error, so glad you fixed it. Did some research but have no solids.

My 1998 PWI Almanac doesn't mention The Wrestler as having those awards. It lists the following for the older awards, so we'd need copies of these to verify:

Quote

 

Sports Review Wrestling March 1981 (for 1980)

Sports Review Wrestling 1978, 1979, 1980 (for 1977-1979)

Victory Sports Series Wrestling Annual and Yearbook #4, 7, 11, 14, 18 (for 1972-1976)

PWI awards starts in March 1982 (for 1981)

 

I checked Wrestling at the Chase episodes to see if the Japanese Funk vs Brisco match was a replay, but they only had (or showed clips of) Baba vs Brisco on St. Louis TV.  In Larry Matysik's book on St. Louis matches, he lists how Sam Muchnick booked Brisco and Funk's feud from 1971-1978. He lists three EPIC and publicized matches for Funk vs Brisco in 1974 at the Kiel:  4-19, 6-14, and 11-15. He rates them as high as he can. No mention of the Japanese match as being part of the storyline or as a footnote (granted the circumstance of that match were different). Larry obviously knew about it and did PR for the NWA, but makes me think it was not publicized or seen in the U.S. It was not mentioned in Terry Justice's 1974 The Book of the Year newsletter. Thus, I cannot come to a conclusion if it a Wiki retcon based on the AJPW video coming up on search engines, unless Funk or Brisco told Larry, Sam, or Stanley Weston writers that they had the best match of all time in Japan when they got back home. Otherwise it may have been a Kiel match suggested by Larry to the magazine.

March 17, 1975 for Bruno vs Arion actually sounds correct. The NY Daily News and The NY Post had serious articles saying history was made with 26,000 fans (MSG + Felt Forum) with that match, i.e. the other matches didn't have that attendance record. The other matches didn't make the 1975 The Book of the Year. 

Keep in mind, blow-offs were not necessarily the best matches in the WWWF. Many times the real drama occurred in the first match (or if there was was a trilogy, the rematch would be the best one). And if a challenger did not draw the house, he got squashed in one match. This phenomena was also present in Backlund's run and even Hogan's to an extent. However the WWWF blowoffs are the ones that usually made it to tape, and because we have those we think they were perceived as MOTY. But the final bouts were all one-sided with the babyface champ going over. So I could see fans liking the previous bouts better.

[Most of Bruno's famous matches that made it to tape are blowoffs or one match squashes, so he just punches and kicks. This creates the perception he wasn't a good technical wrestler.]

Believe it or not, the Shea match isn't even mentioned in the 1976 The Book of the Year. It reprints a news article from the 4/26 MSG match in which Hansen won due to "cut over the left eye", which Justice says was really the broken neck. Once again, the theory I just came up with may apply here as well.

[Ricky Jackson]

Thanks dude! Yeah, I was doubting my claim about The Wrestler being the mag with awards results in the 70s and was just about to check if I had it right. Awesome you have the exact mags the awards were in!

1974 is definitely sounding more and more like a retcon. You make a solid case for 1975 being correct. That match is super heated and had incredible crowd atmosphere, with fans waving both Italian and Greek flags. If it was the most publicized of the three then it is likely the one that won match of the year. And like I said, 1976 could go either way, but they may have it correct based on Bruno breaking his neck being such an epic story. Based on a google search, I did find ONE site that listed the Shea match as the winner...a Turkish wiki page on Bruno Sammartino lol

[War is Raw]

1 hour ago, Ricky Jackson said:

Thanks dude! Yeah, I was doubting my claim about The Wrestler being the mag with awards results in the 70s and was just about to check if I had it right. Awesome you have the exact mags the awards were in!

1974 is definitely sounding more and more like a retcon. You make a solid case for 1975 being correct. That match is super heated and had incredible crowd atmosphere, with fans waving both Italian and Greek flags. If it was the most publicized of the three then it is likely the one that won match of the year. And like I said, 1976 could go either way, but they may have it correct based on Bruno breaking his neck being such an epic story. Based on a google search, I did find ONE site that listed the Shea match as the winner...a Turkish wiki page on Bruno Sammartino lol

No problem. Glad you brought this topic up.

I have attached two covers, including the award issue. Possible smoking gun: if they are photos from the actual match (as opposed to stock photos from the St. Louis, Florida, GA, etc.), it is NOT the AJPW match which one MOTY (compare the color of the tights, ring ropes, and darkened crowd to the AJPW TV video). 

There are no other AJPW matches which won MOTY back then in Apter mags, which may be another clue that the award was for one of the three Kiel matches- certainly endorsed by the NWA. We probably weren't supposed to know Dory fought Jack in Japan in the States anyway.

If anyone has these mags the answer lies within...

[Ricky Jackson]

Holy shit. I literally have ONE old wrestling mag (I had a large collection when I was a kid but got rid of it many years ago) and it is that issue of The Wrestler!!! I picked it up for like $5 from a flea market a few years back. I'm going to check and report back! 

[Ricky Jackson]

Ok, so the story is about the 4/19/74 Kiel match between Funk Jr and Brisco. That's good enough for me to say that this is the one that won match of the year. Although, they also went 60 in June at the Kiel, so there is a chance, like the rivalry they are often compared to - Flair vs Steamboat in 89 - there were multiple match of the year contenders between the two and the last big match was the one that won the award (going to assume the November Kiel match would've been too late in the year to be considered)

[ohtani's jacket]

More importantly, why does Chief Strongbow's wife want him to quit wrestling?

[Ricky Jackson]

Haha...you know, just the usual complaints - he's on the road all the time, he'll be killed in the ring, etc 

[Ricky Jackson]

Made the executive decision to go with 4/19/74 Jack vs Dory as 1974 match of the year on Wikipedia until better info surfaces 

[War is Raw]

Wow, what synchronicity that you have that mag!

It looks like it was our destiny to talk about this. hahah

 

 

[Al]

One I've been curious about before, one of the 1977 runners up. Andre the Giant vs. Ric Flair. When was that match, and why was that hyped up?

[Ricky Jackson]

21 minutes ago, Al said:

One I've been curious about before, one of the 1977 runners up. Andre the Giant vs. Ric Flair. When was that match, and why was that hyped up?

Wrestlingdata only lists two singles matches between Flair and Andre, one in Richmond, VA on 10/14/77 and the other in Florida in 1983. Results aren't 100% complete of course. No idea why that match got so much hype 

[Matt D]

53 minutes ago, Al said:

One I've been curious about before, one of the 1977 runners up. Andre the Giant vs. Ric Flair. When was that match, and why was that hyped up?

http://www.midatlanticgateway.com/2017/09/ric-flair-again-overcomes-giant.html

This talks about some of the build at least.

[flyonthewall2983]