Category: WCW

Vol. 48: In Memoriam 2023

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It’s always with a heavy heart that we do this show every year. Today, we pay tribute to the wrestlers and personalities we lost in 2023. Several of whom we have on our list to do tribute shows to anyway.

2:30 – Lanny Poffo

One of the worst-kept secrets in wrestling was that he was Randy Savage’s younger brother. He is probably best remembered for his time in WWE where he wrestled as Leaping Lanny Poffo and later managed other wrestlers as The Genius. But he did have a solid in-ring career in his father Angelo Poffo’s Kentucky-based ICW promotion and later in Jerry Jarrett’s CWA.

7:20 – Joyce Grable

Joyce was best known for tagging with WWE Hall Of Famer Wendi Richter. Like many women trained by Fabulous Moolah, she knew the crucial things to do when playing babyface or heel.

8:30 – Jerry Jarrett

We can’t say much about Jerry that isn’t already known. He was a wrestler turned promoter and was the father of Jeff Jarrett. His Memphis-based promotion ran for decades after a famous split in the 1970s. He was also Vince McMahon’s hand-picked replacement had he gone to prison for the big steroid trial of the 1990s.

8:35 – Mike Halac

He didn’t have a very long career but was the infamously bad “Mantaur” gimmick in the early 90s.

17:45 – Droz

Darren Drozdov was best known as a temporary third member of The Legion of Doom during The Attitude Era. Unfortunately, a horrible in-ring accident crippled him and ended his career.

20:00 – Charlie Norris

Despite the name, Charlie has no relation to or play off of Chuck Norris. It was his real name and part of his Native American heritage.

22:30 – Brett Wayne Sawyer

The younger brother of the late great Buzz Sawyer, Brett wrestled mainly in the southern territories and rand a wrestling school. He was a former USWA Tag Team Champion with a young up-and-coming wrestler named Flex Kavana…

24:30 – Adrian Street

Adrian Street was born and raised in England. His gimmick that played off homosexual stereotypes probably wouldn’t fly today but he had a long and successful in-ring career.

31:00 – Adnan al-Kaissie

He was most seen as General Adnan during Sergeant Slaughter’s “Iraqi sympathizer” gimmick in 1991, but he had a long career as a wrestler and manager in the territory days.

35:15 – Butch Miller

A tag team wrestler with Luke Williams for most of his career, first as The Kiwis, then as the bloodthirsty villains The Sheepherders. But ironically their biggest money run was late in their careers as the comedy babyface duo called The Bushwackers.

40:40 – Killer Khan

Billed as a brutal heel from Mongolia, Khan had high-profile runs against the likes of Andre The Giant and Hulk Hogan. He is the inspiration for the character Kin Corn Karn in the classic NES game Pro Wrestling.

43:00 – Peggy Lee Leather

Peggy had runs in both the Rock ‘n Wrestling Era of WWE as well as the original incarnation of GLOW.

46:45 – Jay Briscoe

One of the top tag team wrestlers in the modern era, Jay spent most of his career tagging with his brother as The Briscoe Brothers in Ring of Honor. He passed away after a car accident.

52:40 – Bray Wyatt

Another one is gone in his prime and way too soon. Bray was Windham Rotundam, the real-life brother of Taylor Rotunda, aka Bo Dallas.

60:00 – The Iron Sheik

Again, there is not much we can say that wasn’t already known outside of his early days he wrestled as a babyface with a full head of hair. But after relations between the USA and The Middle East became a hot-button issue, he shaved his head, grew a mustache, and wore pointy boots.

64:00 – Superstar Billy Graham

Most territories had babyface challengers chasing heel champions. WWE did the opposite and depicted their champion as a babyface dragon slayer. Yet somehow Superstar managed to have a record-setting reign as a heel champion. Roman Reigns has since broken that record, but it still shows how special Superstar was in wrestling history.

74:20 – Terry Funk

Terry debuted in the mid-1960s and spent a lot of time in Texas, Florida, The Carolinas, AND Japan. He and his brother Dory Funk, Jr. are the only brothers to win the NWA World Championship. He also had an acting career outside of wrestling in feature films such as Road House and Paradise Alley.

Vol. 45: Halloween Havoc ’90

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October is here and so is our annual episode devoted to WCW’s Halloween Havoc. This year we look at Halloween Havoc 1990 which saw Sting defend the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Sid Vicious in a match that had one of the craziest finishes in the history of pro wrestling. And that is saying something…

4:30 – Pro Wrestling in 1990

Both WCW and WWF had new faces as top guys in 1990 in the forms of Sting and The Ultimate Warrior respectively. Coincidentally, Sting and Warrior broke into wrestling as a tag team called The Blade Runners. Other top stars in WCW at the time were Lex Luger, Stan Hansen, The Freebirds, and The Steiner Brothers.

10:00 – Storylines and Angles

It’s worth mentioning that the version on Peacock and WWE Network is the same as the home video release from 1990. This version omits several undercard matches, likely due to videotape time limitations.

Express vs. Express

The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane) attacked Robert Gibson of The Rock & Roll Express and injured his knee. Gibson injured his knee in real life so this storyline was made to explain his absence. Former NWA World Champion Tommy Rich stepped in to aid Ricky Morton against The Midnights.

The Freebirds vs. The Renegade Warriors

Neither team were champions, but usually, the winner of a match on a major PPV would be seen as the next contender for tag team titles.

The US Tag Team Titles

The Steiner Brothers were well on their way to being a top tag team. The two won the NWA US Tag Championship from The Midnight Express.

World Tag Team Titles

The World Tag Champions, Doom (Ron Simmons and Butch Reed) defended the titles against Ric Flair and Arn Anderson. This makes for a heel vs. heel match. However, the crowd treated Flair and Arn like babyfaces

US Title

Lex Luger as a heel defeated a babyface Michael Hayes for the United States Championship in the summer of 1989 and held the title until this event. At 523 days, it is to this day still the longest US Title reign. Luger also turned babyface during this reign while Hayes turned heel to reform The Freebirds with Jimmy Garvin.

Stan Hansen was working for WCW between stints in All Japan Pro Wrestling.

Main Event Storyline

Sting became the top babyface in 1990 by defeating Ric Flair for the NWA Title at The Great American Bash. He had actually joined The Horsemen in late 1989 when Arn Anderson returned to WCW after a year-long stint in The WWF. However, Arn’s longtime tag partner, Tully Blanchard, failed a drug test while in WWE so WCW refused to hire him. The Horsemen reshuffled their lineup with Ole Anderson taking Blanchard’s place. This was the first time The Horsemen were presented as a babyface faction as they had been the top heels for Jim Crockett Promotions for the past few years.

The babyface Horsemen run was short-lived. The Horsemen turned on Sting a few months later because Sting challenged Flair to a match for the NWA Title. Unfortunately, Sting suffered a legitimate knee injury at Clash of the Champions when he ran out during a six-man cage match and tried to climb into the cage. The injury put Sting on the shelf for several months and delayed the match. Barry Windham returned to WCW around this time and rejoined The Horsemen. Ole retired from in-ring competition in the Spring of 1990 so then up-and-coming monster Sid Vicious joined the group.

The Main Event Match

The Sting/Vicious main event at Halloween Havoc 1990 went down in history as having one of the craziest finishes of all time. The match spilled to the floor where Sid inexplicably seemed to run away. Sting chased after him and disappeared backstage. A few moments later, the two seemingly ran back into the ring where Sting tried to slam Sid. However, he collapsed under the weight of the 6’9″ Sid and got pinned. Sid was even announced as the new champion until the real Sting ran to the ring with his arm tied up with a rope. It turns out The Horsemen had tied Sting up backstage and Barry Windham went to the ring dressed in an identical outfit. The referee promptly restarted the match and Sting rallied to retain the title.

1:01:30 – The Fallout

There was no rematch or follow-up between Sting and Vicious after Halloween Havoc 1990. WCW’s next PPV was Starrcade in December 1990. Two teams that won matches at Halloween Havoc (Morton/Rich and The Freebirds) would go on to face each other. Doom would again face The Horsemen, only this time it was a Street Fight against Arn Anderson and Barry Windham due to Flair being allegedly injured before the PPV. Starrcade ’90 saw Sting finally defend the title against The Black Scorpion.

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Vol. 44: WWE Hall Of Fame Class of 2022

Posted on by Seth Zillmann

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What’s this? WWE Hall Of Fame 2022? A Classic Wrestling Memories volume devoted to a present-day event?

The reason we are talking about this year’s WWE Hall Of Fame inductees is that most of the inductees had long careers prior to our cutoff point of WCW and ECW going out of business.

The Steiner Brothers

Rick and Scott Steiner sat atop the tag team rankings for a decade before Scott Steiner started developing his Big Poppa Pump persona. Before that, Rick Steiner had seen success as a singles wrestler and as part of The Varsity Club stable. It wasn’t until the brothers split in 1998 that Scott Steiner started developing his Big Popp Pump person, which lead to many memorable promos.

Sharmell

Sharmell Sullivan-Huffman may not have had the greatest in-ring career, but she was a regular for both WCW and WWE. She is perhaps best remembered for her time as Queen Sharmell alongside her real-life husband Booker T. Outside of the ring she was the 1991 Miss Black America pageant winner. She also has owned and operated several businesses over the years.

Shad Gaspard – Warrior Award

Gaspard was a fixture on WWE programming during the mid-2000s. He and partner JTG formed the tag team Cryme Tyme. Tragically, he lost his life while swimming with his son when the two were swept up in a current. He pleaded to rescuers that she should save his young son before saving him..

Big Van Vader

We talked about Vader’s career more in-depth in Vol. 21. Leon White played for The NFL before getting hired by Verne Gagne for The AWA.He would go on to win world titles in just about every promotion he was in.

The Undertaker

We’ve stated before that The Undertaker is a perfect example of the right gimmick going to the right guy at the right time. There is literally nobody else who could have been The Undertaker other than Mark Callaway. We discuss his different gimmicks in various territories before going to WWE in 1990. Here is a promo from Memphis with him and The Soultaker, a pre-Godfather Charles Wright.

Vol. 43: “The Bad Guy” Scott Hall

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Scott Hall during his run as Razor Ramon in early 90s WWF

“Hey yo!” Scott Hall made that common greeting a trademark catchphrase. With his signature toothpick and slicked-back hair, Scott Hall was arguably one of the greatest and most influential wrestlers of all time who never held a world championship. He was trained by the legendary Hiro Matsuda, who had also trained the likes of Hulk Hogan, Lex Luger, and The Great Muta.

BREAKING IN

Hall started wrestling for Eddie Graham’s Championship Wrestling from Florida in 1984. He and Dan Spivey formed a tag team called American Starship, with Hall known as Coyote and Spivey as Eagle. Both men had impressive looks but were way too green to connect with the crowd. The team disbanded with Hall going to work for Verne Gagne in The AWA.

Gagne repackaged Hall as “Big” Scott Hall and gave him a look similar to Magnum TA. The TV show Magnum PI was a huge hit that made Tom Selleck (and his impressive mustache) a household name. Plus, Magnum TA was already a fan favorite in the Crockett territory. Scott was put in another tag team, this time with Curt Hennig, with the plan being to eventually make him a major singles star. While the duo did win the AWA tag team championship, it was actually Hennig that became the singles star. Hall left the AWA in the late 80s to join Jerry Jarrett’s CWA in Memphis.

Hall finally saw success as a singles star in Memphis. However, since he was an outsider, he would only get pushed so far because Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee were the hometown heroes. Around this time, he started doing tours with New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Scott Hall cuts a babyface promo in Memphis with a very different vibe than what he would have a few years later as Razor Ramon

Hall finally saw work on a national stage when he signed with WCW. He became a heel called The Diamond Studd and Diamond Dallas Page became his manager. This is also where he met Kevin Nash, who at the time had been using gimmick names like The Great Oz and Vinnie Vegas. While the two were a physically impressive duo, they didn’t see much success in the ring, and both signed with The World Wrestling Federation in the early 90s.

RAZOR RAMON

One of Razor Ramon’s promo videos prior to his WWF debut

Hall made his WWE debut in 1992 as Razor Ramon, a character inspired by Tony Montana from the movie Scarface. He was an instant hit with the fans and quickly became one of the company’s top stars. This is the look and persona that would stay with him for the rest of his career. It also brought him his first high-profile money feud in the form of “Macho Man” Randy Savage since Ramon claimed to be “Oozing Machismo”.

By the Fall of 1992, Razor was headlining shows against Savage. He also challenged then WWE Champion Bret “The Hitman” Hart for the title at the 1993 Royal Rumble. Razor turned babyface in the summer of 1993. He would go on to hold the WWF Intercontinental Title for a then-record four times. This is also where he gained a reputation backstage along with friends Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash, Sean “1-2-3 Kid” Waltman, and HHH as a “clique”.

Hall and Nash signed with WCW in the spring of 1996. Their final WWE appearance was with the rest of their fellow clique members. This was the infamous “Curtain Call” incident in Madison Square Garden where they all broke character and embraced in the ring.

THE NWO

The iconic moment when Scott Hall started The NWO invasion

In May 1996, Scott Hall shocked the world by appearing on WCW Nitro to start the NWO invasion angle. He interrupted a match between Mike Enos and Steve Dunne and cut a promo that made several references that made some fans think there actually was a WCW vs. WWE program happening. We go into a lot more detail regarding The NWO in Volume 8. The first year or two of The NWO struck gold and put WCW over the top of WWE in The Monday Night War. Unfortunately, it also led to a multitude of financial problems with the company, as well as the personal issues that plagued Hall throughout his career.

LATTER YEARS

WCW became a revolving door for Hall in the late 90s due to his personal issues and substance abuse. He finally left the company for good in 2000. After sporadic appearances in ECW and a short-lived WWE return in 2002, he stopped wrestling full-time. He made occasional appearances in different promotions over the next decade. He was inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame as Razor in 2014.

We at Classic Wrestling Memories extend our deepest condolences, thoughts, and prayers to Scott Hall’s family.

REFERENCES MADE

Vol. 42: Unpopular Opinions Part II

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It is the return to the Unpopular Opinions format we started in Volume 30, which ironically is one of our most popular episodes.

Unpopular Opinion #4: The AWA did NOT go out of business because they didn’t make Hulk Hogan their champion

It is common knowledge that Hulkamania was born in Verne Gagne’s AWA. It is also a common belief that Verne refused to put the world title on Hogan, which directly led to Hogan’s jump to the WWF and eventually the folding of the AWA. While losing Hogan definitely was a blow to AWA’s popularity, it is a bit farfetched to say the loss of Hogan is what killed the company, While we may never truly know, it is very likely that even if Hogan did have a run with the AWA title, it would have only delayed the inevitable.

Hulk Hogan’s first title shot against AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel in 1982

Unpopular Opinion #5: Wrestling does NOT need an on-air Authority Figure

Everybody who watched WWE during the Attitude Era remembers Vince McMahon’s on-screen persona of “Mr. McMahon” and how he was a fixture on TV as the evil authority figure. Naturally, such a successful angle will inspire many knockoffs. After all, anybody can relate to working for a boss you hate.

The concept of the heel authority figure predates McMahon. Eric Bischoff was revealed to be part of the NWO heel stable the previous year. Even before that, authority figures were regularly used to advance storylines.

However, there have been countless promotions and territories that didn’t use an authority figure. Or even if they did, they did so very rarely.

Jack Tunney was billed as the WWF President for years, even though it was purely a fictional title and he simply portrayed an on-air character. He would appear periodically on WWE programming to make rulings on controversial angles or matches. Stanley Blackburn played a similar role for the AWA, as did Jerry Jarrett for Memphis. Though at least with Jarrett, he was the territory’s booker in real life.

Jack Tunney, the on-air president of The WWF, announces his ruling on the infamous match where Hulk Hogan lost the WWF Championship to Andre The Giant

Other examples include Jim Crockett Promotions, which fell under the National Wrestling Alliance banner. Portland, Florida, World Class in Texas… None of these promotions used an on-air authority figure to advance storylines. And that’s just in the States.

Unpopular Opinion #6: The Monday Night War was NOT the greatest period in wrestling history

Of course, “greatest” is a subjective term, but many fans who started watching wrestling during the Monday Night War (MNW) herald the late-90s as the best period for wrestling. However, when you look at monetary gains, WWE is making more money now than they ever have before, including the MNW. In the terms of TV ratings, the most-watched wrestling match in US history was when Andre The Giant pinned Hulk Hogan. That match was seen by 30 million people in 1988.

It’s human nature to look at the era you grow up in as the best era. There are very logical arguments for the Hulkamania/Rock & Wrestling era as the greatest. There are times when territories were selling out arenas simply based on local television. Jim Crockett Promotions was outselling WWF in ticket sales when they weren’t even looked at as a national promotion.

As discussed during this segment, Pat O’Connor vs. Buddy Rogers set attendance and live-gate records in 1961.

More Unpopular Opinions are on the way and we are certainly open to suggestions. Do you agree with any of these Unpopular Opinions? Even if you disagree, we’d love to hear what you think. Sound of below or on our Facebook Page!

Vol. 41: In Memorium 2021

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We do an In Memorium tribute at the of every year. Father Time is the ultimate booker and Death is undefeated. Every year we lose so many talents to that great battle royal in the sky.

Angelo Mosca – Held titles in multipole territories and is a Canadian Football Hall of Famer
Barry Orton – Brother of Bob Orton Jr. and uncle to Randy Orton. We discuss the controversy involving him and Pat Patterson in Volume 36.
Bobby Eaton – Legendary territory wrestler and multi-time tag champion.
Buddy Colt – Held over a dozen titles in multiple NWA territories.
Butch Reed – Held over a dozen titles including NWA tag titles with Ron Simmons.
Chris Youngblood – Brother of Mark and Jay Youngblood.
Corporal Kirchner – Competed at WrestleMania 2 and in FMW as Leatherface.
Daffney Unger – Started in WCW and was a TNA regular.
Del Wilkes – aka “The Patriot” and “The Trooper”. We discussed his life in Volume 39.
Dominic DeNucci – Italian wrestler who held over a dozen titles worldwide.
Don Kernodle – Perhaps best remembered as part of Sgt. Slaughter’s Cobra Corps. We also talked about him in Volume 39.
Jack Lanza – WWE Hall of Famer and part of the legendary Blackjacks tag team.
Jim Crockett Jr. – Arguably the #2 promotor of all time and the main force behind the popularity of Jim Crockett Promotions in the 1980s. We detailed his career in Volume 37.
Jimmy Rave – Independent wrestler who also worked for TNA.
Jody Hamilton – Part of the legendary Assassins tag team. Also an accomplished trainer.
New Jack – ECW mainstay and hardcore style veteran.
Paul Orndorff – Hall of Famer and headliner of the original WrestleMania.

If you think we missed anybody or would like to give your thoughts on any of these talents, sound off below. Or you can post on our Facebook page, or contact us via email.

Vol. 40: WCW Halloween Havoc 1989

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It’s time to do the annual episode devoted to WCW Halloween Havoc. This time we go all the way back to where it began in 1989.

0:30 – Pro Wrestling in 1989

The entire wrestling business was in a bit of a transitional phase. Ted Turner had bought out Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988 so this was the first full-fledged year under his ownership. It was also the year Ric Flair was pushed as the top babyface with no Horsemen backing him up due to Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard signing with WWE. Not only that, PPV was still a relatively new concept and wasn’t nearly as established as it became in the 1990s. Thus, the inaugural Halloween Havoc helped set the stage for Sting’s rise to main event status in 1990.

9:00 – Storylines and Angles

The Main Event

Flair was in his seventh reign as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion. He had successfully regained the title from Ricky Steamboat at WrestleWar. Terry Funk, fresh off a stint as an actor, made his return to wrestling that night and challenged Flair for the title. Flair declined, believing Funk had been away from wrestling too long to be considered a top challenger. This enraged Funk, who immediately attacked Flair and piledrove him through a table. This put Flair on the shelf for several weeks, but the two faced off at The Great American Bash with Flair beating Funk to retain the title.

Meanwhile, Keiji Mutoh, aka The Great Muta, was on an excursion to the United States. Muta was at this point undefeated and had beaten Sting for the NWA World Television Championship. The villainous Gary Hart became the manager for both Funk and Muta.

After Flair retained the title at the Great American Bash, Funk and Muta ambushed Flair. Sting ran out for the save and a wild brawl ensued. This solidified Flair and Sting as the top babyfaces and aligned them against Funk, Muta, and Hart.

Tag Teams

Jim Cornette and The Midnight Express of Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane were turned babyface after being attacked by the original Midnight Express of Randy Rose and Dennis Condrey managed by Paul E. Dangerously. However, all three heels were either let go or fired soon afterwards and The Samoan SWAT Team (later The Headshrinkers in WWE) were brought in to take their place in the feud. Oliver Humperdink also joined WCW as The SST’s manager.

The Varsity Club of Mike Rotunda, Steve Williams, and Rick Steiner had disbanded with Williams and Steiner going babyface. Steiner had become infatuated with a “nerdy girl” in the audience. That turned out to be a ruse because the girl in question became Woman. She brought in a masked tag team called “Woman’s tag team of Doom”. Rick’s younger brother Scott joined the company to help him in the feud.

There were also several famous tag teams either starting out or entering their primes at this event.

The Fabulous Freebirds went through a change as Terry Gordy quit the team to go to Japan. Buddy Jack retired, leaving Michael Hayes without a partner. Longtime friend Jimmy Garvin then joined Hayes as a new incarnation of The Freebirds. 

The Rest of the Card

Johnny Ace and Shane Douglas formed the tag The Dynamic Dudes and given Jim Cornette as their manager.

The Skyscrapers formed because Sid Vicious and Dan Spivey were the last two men in a battle royal. Teddy Long (years before becoming the general manager of Smackdown) convinced them to team rather than face off.

Of course, the legendary Road Warriors were at their peak during this time.

Rounding out the talent on the card were Tommy Rich, who likely was brought in due to his history in Georgia, a young Brian Pillman, and Z-Man Tom Zenk who worked well as white meat babyface.

Under the Turner banner, WCW had the use of names and media licensed to TBS and TNT. Commercials aired on Turner programming with people like Elvira for the PPV.

30:35 – The Event

Opening Matches

Z-Man p. “Captain” Mike Rotunda after rolling through a bodypress – This was a few years before Rotunda re-joined WWE and got the IRS gimmick name.

The Samoan Swat Team & The Samoan Savage (w/Oliver Humperdink) b. “Dr. Death” Steve Williams and The Midnight Express (“Beautiful” Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane w/Jim Cornette) when Samu pinned Lane – Williams was the only one that had the toughness of the SST. Bobby had to rely on his mat technique and Stan had to use his educated feet. The finish saw Stan kick Samu and get a visual pin. Cornette hit Humperdink but then Samu hit Stan with a flying forearm from behind and Stan collided with Cornette. These days it would have just been a distraction and a roll-up.

“Wildfire” Tommy Rich p. Cuban Assassin with a Thesz Press 

Undercard

The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hays & Jimmy Garvin) b. The Dynamic Dudes (Johnny Ace & Shane Douglas w/Jim Cornette) when Garvin pinned Douglas – The Dudes tried their finishing move The Wipeout but Hayes pulled Shane’s leg out from under him causing him to collapse and Garvin to reverse onto Ace.

Doom (w/Woman) b. The Steiner Bros. when Butch Reed pinned Rick with a headbutt -. Steiners had hit their suplex when Woman loaded Butch Reed’s mask and he headbutted Scott

US Champion “The Total Package” Lex Luger p. Brian Pillman with a Stun Gun – Pillman went for a top turnbuckle dropkick. Luger seemed to sell it even though Pillman missed by a mile. The announcers covered by saying Luger was ducking to avoid the dropkick. Luger then dropped Pillman’s neck on the top rope to get the pin.

The Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal w/Paul Ellering) b. The Skyscrapers (Sid Vicious & Dan Spivey w/Teddy Long) by DQ when Spivey hit Hawk with a heavy metal key – The Warriors looked to have the upper hand when the metal object was brought into play. The match fell apart afterward because a brawl broke out. 

The Main Event

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair & Sting b. Terry Funk & The Great Muta w/Gary Hart when Gary Hart dropped the towel – Bruno Sammartino served as the special guest referee. The only way to win the match was to have one team’s manager throw in the towel. Muta awesomely put out an unexpected fire by spitting his mist onto the flames. Even though the cage was said to be electrified, all the men still climbed around on it. Flair and Sting even swung around like Tarzan. Flair had Funk in the Figure Four while Sting delivered splashes on him. Gary Hart tried to get in the ring but was punched by Ole Anderson. This caused Hart to drop his towel. Bruno saw the towel on the mat and awarded the match to the babyfaces.

Halloween Havoc would continue to be an annual PPV attraction until WCW closed in 2001.

Vol. 39: Don Kernodle & “The Patriot” Del Wilkes

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It’s a double-shot of tributes on this volume of CWM. Today, we talk about two men who had similarities but also had very different careers, Don Kernodle and Del Wilkes. While they never met each other in the ring, Don Kernodle and Del Wilkes had characters that would have easily made them longtime rivals. Kernodle spent most of his career as a heel while Wilkes was primarily a patriotic babyface.

1:45 – Dark Side of the Ring Thoughts

Train gives his thoughts on the new season of Dark Side of the Ring, which recently aired its famous “Plane Ride From Hell” episode. He also looks forward to the episodes on Chris Kanyon and Luna Vachon because he knew both of those people.

15:00 – Don Kernodle (1950-2021)

Don Kernodle, a North Carolina native, was probably best known for teaming with Sgt. Slaughter in the early 1980s. The story goes that he began wrestling professionally after he accepted a challenge by Bob Roop for a legitimate match. Roop always dominated these challenges and would beat his opponents in seconds. While Roop still won the match, it took him eight minutes to do so. Kernodle was still offered training by Gene and Ole Anderson.

He spent some time as the traveling partner of Ric Flair, who was still a rising star at the time.

Kernodle first made his name as part of Sgt. Slaughter’s Cobra Corps stable alongside Jim Nelson (a pre-WWF Boris Zhukoff). The duo won the NWA Mid-Atlantic tag team championship and feuded with the likes of Porkchop Cash, King Parsons, and Jay Youngblood. After Slaughter and Kernodle turned on Nelson, they went on to win the NWA World tag titles in a fictional tournament. They claimed to have beaten Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki in the finals, which of course is a ludicrous claim. and feuded with Rick Steamboat and Jay Youngblood over them. That feud ended with a famous steel cage match in 1983.

He did compete for The World Wrestling Federation in 1983 as well. He mainly won enhancement matches on regular TV but didn’t see much success against opponents that were higher on the card.

Kernodle returned to Jim Crockett Promotions and formed a team with Bob Orton Jr. under the management of Gary Hart. Shortly after, he began teaming with Ivan Koloff in an anti-American stable. They would soon be joined by Nikita Koloff. This means he is at least partly responsible for Nikita Koloff’s rise to prominence. After losing the NWA Tag titles, the evil Russians turned on Kernodle. This began Kernodle’s only major babyface run. He was in The Rock and Roll Express’s corner when they won the NWA Tag Titles from the Russians at Starrcade 85.

There was a time when Kernodle hoped to reunite with Slaughter to face the Russians, as Slaughter was at the height of his GI Joe babyface run. But by the time Slaughter had left WWF, Dusty Rhodes had taken over as booker for the Crocketts.

He went into semi-retirement and made sporadic wrestling appearances for independent promotions. Over the last three decades, Kernodle had a career in law enforcement.

58:00 – Del Wilkes (1961-2021)

Del Wiles was an All-American football player in college at the University of South Carolina. He appeared on the Bob Hope Christmas special with the rest of his All-American teammates.

Trained by Moolah in the 1980s, Wilkes won his first major title in 1990 as The Trooper when he and DJ Peterson defeated the Destruction Crew (Mike Enos & Wayne Bloome) for the AWA tag titles. They would hold the belts until the promotion folded in early 1991.

From there, Wilkes began what would become his most famous gimmick when he joined Global Championship Wrestling in Texas and donned a mask as The Patriot. The gimmick was taken from comics drawn by Jerry Lawler in the 70s. He won a tournament to become the inaugural GWF Television Champion. Towards the end of 1991, another masked man (Doug Gilbert) appeared claiming to be The Dark Patriot. The two feuded over the title, which saw Wilkes lose the title and leave the promotion.

Wilkes made a few appearances for the then World Wrestling Federation before going to Giant Baba’s All Japan Pro Wrestling. He formed a tag team with The Eagle (Jackie Fulton) and won the tag titles and feuded with Doug Furnas and Dan Kroffat.

The Patriot saw his first national exposure when he signed with World Championship Wrestling in 1994. His WCW run consisted mainly of teaming with Buff Bagwell (then Marcus Alexander Bagwell) as Stars and Stripes. The duo briefly held the tag titles twice before quietly splitting in 1995. Wilkes quit WCW and returned to All Japan shortly thereafter.

His return to All Japan again saw him form a pair of tag teams. One with Johnny Ace and one with Kenta Kobashi. The first half of 1997 had all of them in a three-man team.

In the latter half of 1997, Wilkes returned to The WWF as The Patriot and began his highest-profile run in a feud against Bret Hart. The red, white, and blue Patriot was a natural babyface against the anti-American Hart, who had formed a new heel version of The Hart Foundation. The run was short-lived, as he suffered a torn tricep that sidelined him and he was released from WWE in early 1998. Wilkes quietly retired that year.

Del was very open about his drug abuse history and claimed to take 100 pills a day while working for WWE. He also admitted to a long history of cocaine use dating back to his college days. Del Wilkes passed away on July 1st, 2021 from a heart attack.

Do you have any memories of Don Kernodle and Del wilkes? Sound off below!

Vol. 35: The Armstrong Family

Posted on by Seth Zillmann

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There are many famous families in the world of pro wrestling. The Harts may be the most well known, The Anoa’i family may be the largest. But the focus of this volume of Classic Wrestling Memories is dedicated to The Armstrong Family: Bob, Scott, Brad, Steve, and Brian.

Bob Armstrong was born Joseph Melton James in Georgia in 1939. He first saw wrestling as a child and trained to wrestle as a teen. After serving as a United States Marine in the early 60s, Bob became a firefighter. Bob Armstrong retired from full-time wrestling in 1988. He would still wrestle on independents for another 30 years and acted as commissioner for Jim Cornette’s Smoky Mountain Wrestling. He was inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame in 2010. He passed away from cancer in 2020.

Brad Armstrong was born Robert Bradley James on June 15th, 1962. He made his in-ring debut in 1980 and quickly found success teaming with his father Bob in Southeastern Championship Wrestling. In the following years, he also won tag team championships with Magnum TA and, of course, with Tim Horner as The Lightning Express.

Scott Armstrong, born Joseph Scott James in 1961, is the oldest of the Armstrong brothers. Like his father, he started wrestling in the Georgia territory. He wrestled in mainly preliminary matches and in lower card tag team matches with his brother Brad.

Like the rest of The Armstrong Family, Steve started out in Southwest Championship Wrestling. His first major program was teaming with Johnny Rich against Ron Fuller’s Stud Stable, which included a young Arn Anderson. Steve teamed with Tracy Smothers as The Southern Boys and won the tag team titles in Eddie Graham’s Florida Championship Wrestling. The two also won the tag titles in Fuller’s Continental Championship Wrestling.

Brian and Billy Gunn formed the very successful tag team that would become known as The New Age Outlaws. They spent the next four years at the top of the WWF card as part of Degeneration X where they held the WWF Tag Team Championship four times.

Vol. 34: Halloween Havoc 1991

Posted on by Seth Zillmann

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It’s the month of Halloween, so we decided to review an infamous WCW PPV from what may be the silliest era in the company’s history, Halloween Havoc 1991. This show is readily available on the WWE Network and is widely considered a display of the good and the bad of the company.

Team #1 beat Team #2 in a Chamber of Horrors Match – Yes, those were the team names. Team #1 consisted of Sting, The Steiner Brothers, and El Gigante faced Team #2 of Cactus Jack, Abdullah The Butcher, The Diamond Studd, and Big Van Vader when Cactus Jack accidentally shocked Abdullah The Butcher in the Chair Of Torture.

PN News and Big Josh b. The Mysterious Creatures when PN News pinned one of The Creatures with a top rope splash – Basically a glorified squash match. Big Josh would go on to become the original Doink The Clown. Bobby Eaton p. Terence Taylor with The Alabama Jam – Taylor was part of The York Foundation, headed by Alexandra York, the future Marlena/Terri Runnels.

Johnny B. Badd p. Jimmy Garvin with a Left Hook – Garvin was accompanied by an “injured” Michael P.S. Hayes.

World Television Champion “Stunning” Steve Austin (w/ Lady Blossom) d. Dustin Rhodes – A 15-minute time-limit draw.

Bill Kazmeier s. Oz with a Torture Rack – Oz would go on to be Diesel/Kevin Nash.

Van Hammer p. Doug Sommers – Another squash match

Brian Pillman p. Richard Morton to become the first-ever Light Heavyweight Champion – Morton was also part of the York Foundation and grossly miscast as a heel.

The Halloween Phantom p. Tom Zenk – Effectively another squash match to introduce Rick Rude.

World Tag Team Champions The Enforcers (Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko) b. US Tag Champions The Patriots (Todd Champion & Firebreaker Chip) when Anderson pinned Chip with a Spinebuster – The Patriots came across as an attempt by WCW to be WWE “Sports Entertainment”.

World Heavyweight Champion Lex Luger b. Ron Simmons in a Two-Out-Of-Three Falls Match – The first fall saw Simmons quickly pin Luger. The second fall ended in a DQ when Luger went over the top rope. The third fall had Luger pin Simmons with a Piledriver.