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.
Antonio Inoki, arguably the most influential wrestler of all time, passed away this past year at the age of 79. Outside of the ring, he is also arguably the second greatest promoter of all time behind Vince McMahon. His whole story is way too long to tell in a single episode but we will do the best we can.
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.
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
The New Breed whose gimmick was that they were time travelers
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!
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.
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 NWAMid-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!
Pat Patterson, widely considered to be one of the most influential men in wrestling for the 20th Century, passed away on December 2nd, 2020. He was also looked at as Vince McMahon’s best friend and the right-hand man from the WWF Expansion through the Attitude Era and into the 21st Century. His contributions over many decades are too numerous to name. No matter what style or era, Patterson had some level of impact on the wrestling world.
Modern fans will likely remember him most as being one of Vince’s “stooges” along with Gerald Brisco. The previous generation would remember him as the first-ever WWF Intercontinental Champion. The generation before that would remember his legendary tag-team with Ray Stevens as The Blond Bombers in Roy Shire’s Big Time Wrestling. And the generation before THAT might remember his run in Portland for Don Owen’s Pacific Northwest.
Pierre Clemont was born in Montreal Quebec in 1941 and started his wrestling training as a teenager. He was inspired by Buddy Rogers and Killer Kowalski, so he took the bleach blond hair and the moveset of Rogers, but also wore Kowalski-like purple tights. Clemont used the name Pat Patterson because he figured it would be easy to remember. He quickly developed a reputation of making others look great in the ring, which impressed a young Mad Dog Vachon.
Patterson moved to The States where he first worked for Big Time Wrestling in Boston, not to be confused with Roy Shire’s San Francisco promotion of the same name. There he met Louie Dondero, who became his real-life partner. He also had a rendezvous with Johnnie Mae Young.
Pacific Northwest
After spending a year in Boston, Pat got a call from Vachon, who told him to go to Oregon and work for Don Owen. Pat was not asked about this beforehand and no-showed the tryout. This angered Vachon, who called him again and threatened to beat the hell out of him if he did it again. All you have to do is look at a picture of Maurice Vachon and you can see why that would be scary. Pat was not a shooter.
Would you want this man angry at you?
Pat and Louie moved to Oregon where Pat started working for Owen. Over the next few years, Pat would work in other territories as part of a talent exchange, which was common in those days. In these other states (Washington, Texas, Oklahoma, etc.) Pat started using effeminate stereotypes to enhance his gimmick. Things like lipstick, cigarette holders, and flashy attire. Louie worked as a valet.
By the time they returned to Oregon full-time, Pat was a bonafide main-eventer. He stopped using the effeminate gimmicks and became more serious. He won several titles over the next few years before starting the next chapter in his career.
Fellow wrestlers in Portland recommended he move to San Francisco and work for Roy Shire’s Big Time Wrestling. Patterson did the common practice of losing matches before he left the territory. One such loss was to a young Antonio Inoki. Another was a Loser Leaves Town Match to his rival Pepper Martin. After that loss, Pat and Louie packed their things and moved to San Francisco
San Francisco
Shire told him that if he was going to be a top guy, he had to look the part and get his body into shape. Pat hated working out, but the philosophy of looking like a main-eventer stuck with him for the rest of his life. It was also something he passed on to the next generations of wrestlers.
One of his first matches in San Francisco was at the legendary Cow Palace. At the time, circa 1965, The Cow Palace was one of the premier venues in the country. It was like the Madison Square Garden of the West Coast. Patterson wrestled, and impressed, Red Bastien that night. So much so that Bastien sang Pat’s praises backstage over how good Pat made him look. That vote of confidence massively helped Patterson’s reputation backstage.
Big Time Wrestling held an annual battle royal every January as one of its major events. Shire would call in talent from several territories to be part of the all-star match. One year, Shire wound up on the wrong end of a fight and was out of commission. Pat stepped in and booked the match, which he had the clout to do as one of the top stars for the company. Pat would then help Roy book the battle royal every year after. These January battle royals would be the main inspiration for the Royal Rumble event WWE holds to this day.
The Blond Bombers
Eventually, Patterson did start teaming with Ray Stevens. The duo adopted the name The Blonde Bombers, which was previously used by the team of Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson. This began what was probably the biggest run in Patterson’s career. The Blond Bombers won the tag titles and held them for the better part of two years until Pat left to go on a tour of Japan.
By the time Patterson returned to San Francisco, Ray Stevens had turned babyface. The team split and the two men feuded over the territory’s United States title. Pat started to wear a mask. His cover story was that he was too good-looking for the audience to see his face. In reality, the mask was loaded, which allowed Patterson to knock out opponents with a devastating headbutt. Stevens ultimately won the title in a Texas Death Match.
Pat turned babyface after Ray Stevens left the territory to work for Verne Gagne’s AWA. He did away with the mask and feuded with top heels like Lars Anderson and Ernie Ladd. He also teamed with fellow babyface Rocky Johnson to win the tag titles. Stevens flew in on occasion to team with Pat as a babyface team for big matches. Patterson returned the favor by teaming with Stevens as heels in the AWA.
During all this time, Patterson was helping Shire book the territory in addition to being pushed as a top star. Pat asked Roy for partial ownership of the promotion. Shire refused, and Pat left the territory. He spent the following year in Florida working for Eddie Graham.
The Blond Bombers reunited in the AWA as a heel tag team, this time with Bobby Heenan as their manager. They were awarded the AWA Tag Titles after The High Flyers vacated them and held them for approximately eight months.
World Wrestling Federation/WWE
Pat Patterson was the inaugural Intercontinental Champion
Pat Patterson began working for Vincent J. McMahon’s World Wrestling Federation in 1979 where he ultimately would remain for the rest of his life. It’s worth noting that he was still working for The AWA at the time. He defeated Ted DiBiase for the WWF North American Title and took that belt on a tour with New Japan Pro Wrestling.
This is also around the time Pat infamously “won” the newly christened Intercontinental Championship in a fictitious Rio De Jeanero tournament. It is a common misconception that the North American Title quietly became the Intercontinental Championship. What actually happened is Patterson lost the North American Title to Seiji Sakaguchi. For whatever reason, New Japan simply stopped using the belt.
Another little-known fact about the Intercontinental Championship is that it was created to give Patterson heat for his feud with WWF Champion Bob Backlund. He did not win the World Title, of course, but the matches drew big for Madison Square Garden.
Patterson also had a legendary feud with Sgt. Slaughter that culminated in the famous Boot Camp Match. Even by today’s standards, that match is very violent and bloody.
Backstage Influence
The 1980s saw Pat Patterson transition from in-ring competitor to backstage office worker. He became heavily involved with booking major events, helped talent develop their characters, and also created inventive gimmick matches. He is perhaps most known for creating the Royal Rumble concept based on his experience booking battle royals in San Francisco. In addition to helping book matches and work with talent, Pat also headed up talent relations. This was the job JJ Dillon, Jim Ross, and John Laurenitis did in later years.
Perhaps the biggest story involving Patterson in the mainstream news was a scandal in the late 1980s involving young male ring crew complaining of sexual harassment. While Pat was never formally implicated, nor was he tried for any crimes, he was let go from his job because of the scandal. Vince McMahon hired him back sometime later after the controversy had died down.
Just about any wrestler or personality that worked in WWE over the last 40 years likely has some personal story or memory of Pat Patterson. His fingerprints were all over the creative direction, especially when it came to finishes for big matches. His influence on the wrestling world is unparalleled and will continue to be felt for generations to come.
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.
A look at the original WrestleMania and the Rock & Wrestling Connection that built up to it.
7:08 – The WWF Goes National
Vince McMahon began his national expansion for The World Wrestling Federation in 1984. He spent the year assembling an all-star roster from several of the competing territories. The biggest acquisition, of course, was Hulk Hogan. Hogan had already established himself as an international star by working in Verne Gagne’s AWA and New Japan Pro Wrestling, and by having a memorable role as Thunderlips in Rocky III.
13:53 – The Rock n’ Wrestling Connection
It’s common knowledge that Vince used the “Rock n’ Wrestling Connection” branding during the expansion. Live specials aired on MTV that utilized Cyndi Lauper. Hogan made media appearances all over the country. Vince created Tuesday Night Titans for USA Network. He even bought the coveted 6:05 PM Saturday Night timeslot that had become a staple on TBS. Legendary manager Lou Albano appeared in Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” music video. This lead to an onscreen confrontation between the two. Albano was a heel at this time, and he played the part of a male chauvinist. The two agreed to a match with each one hand-picking their wrestlers. Albano chose WWF Women’s Champion The Fabulous Moolah, while Lauper backed Wendi Richter.
24:42 – Enter Roddy Piper
Roddy Piper debuted in the WWF in early 1984. However, he did not wrestle regularly for several months. This was due to an ear injury suffered at Starrcade in a match with Greg Valentine. Since he couldn’t wrestle, he acted as “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff’s manager. He also hosted Piper’s Pit, his talk show which often led to matches and angles on TV. By the end of 1984, Piper had become the top heel in the promotion. The Rock n’ Wrestling Connection was in full swing, so Piper naturally claimed that he hated rock music and insisted on playing bagpipe music. In December of 1984, the first shot was fired which would lead to WrestleMania. Dick Clark, another legit A-Lister in the entertainment world, presented Albano with a gold record award at Madison Square Garden. Piper, Orndorff, and Bob Orton Jr. crashed the party and smashed Albano with his own award. During the melee, Piper also managed to kick Lauper in the head. Hogan ran out to make the save.
39:43 – The War To Settle The Score
The biggest angle leading into Wrestlemania happened on February 15th, 1985 on MTV called The War To Settle The Score. This saw Piper and Hogan collide with the WWF Championship on the line. Hogan brought his friend Mr. T to sit at ringside. The match erupted into strikes right off the bat. No lockups. No staredowns. Orndorff and Orton again interfered, resulting in a disqualification. Mr. T ran in to make the save.
45:37 – The Road To WrestleMania
By this time, The WWF had gathered considerable national attention. There was this nexus or dichotomy, whatever you want to call it, with the top babyface in Hogan, and a legit top Hollywood star in Mr. T, against the two top heels. It made pages of Sports Illustrated. Hogan and T hosted Saturday Night Live.
On the heel side, what was real and what was worked may be clouded but there were countless stories of Roddy Piper not liking the outsider in Mr. T coming into the wrestling world. T went on record saying that he didn’t hate Roddy, but there was animosity between the two.
55:00 – Filling Out The Undercard
The main event of Hogan & Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff was set. As was the semi-main of Wendi Richter challenging Leilani Kai for the Women’s Championship. As for the undercard, Bobby Heenan had recently made his WWF alongside Big John Studd to feud with Andre The Giant. The US Express of Barry Windham & Mike Rotunda (years before he was I.R.S.) defending the tag titles against Nikolai Volkoff & The Iron Sheik (w/ Freddie Blassie). Junkyard Dog challenged Greg Valentine for the IC Title, despite Valentine’s feud being with Tito Santana. Brutus Beefcake faced David Sammartino, who was accompanied by his legendary father Bruno. Ricky Steamboat faced a pre-Doink Matt Borne. King Kong Budy (fresh of his run in Mid-South) facing SD Jones in the longest nine seconds in the history of time.
