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.
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’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.
Rocky Johnson may be known by modern fans as the father of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, but he had a Hall Of Fame worthy career in his own right. His in-ring charisma and ability to connect with the crowd made him a top draw everywhere he wrestled. Rocky’s six-foot-two inch 260-pound bodybuilder frame had amazing athleticism. In fact, many consider his dropkick to be among the greatest of all time.
NWA Territories (1965-1980)
Johnson made his debut in Ontario, Canada for Frank Tunney. Before long, he was a major attraction in San Francisco for Roy Shire, and in NWA Hollywood for Mike Lebell. He feuded with the likes of “Classy” Freddie Blassie and Pat Patterson. Rocky Johnson gained additional fame in the Florida territory for Eddie Graham. Then, over in Georgia Championship Wrestling, he became the first African-American Georgia Heavyweight Champion. Not only that, he held the Georgia Tag Titles simultaneously with Gerald Brisco. During these years, Johnson had NWA Heavyweight Title matches with Jack Brisco, Terry Funk, Harley Race, and Ric Flair. He even toured New Japan where he had matches with Antonio Inoki and Riki Choshu.
NATIONAL FAME
Rocky was part of The World Wrestling Federation’s national expansion in the mid-1980s. Johnson teamed with Tony Atlas to form the popular tag team The Soul Patrol. They were a hit with the fans. So much so that they won the WWF Tag Team Championship in late 1983 from The Wild Samoans. While the team was popular, the two had notorious differences. As a result, they lost the tag titles and disbanded shortly afterward. Rocky would go on to feud with the likes of “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and The Magnificent Muraco.
WWF Tag Team Champions The Soul Patrol. Image: WWE
Retirement and Post-Wrestling Life
Rocky Johnson retired from full-time competition after leaving The WWF in 1985. He made sporadic appearances for the next few years. His final in-ring WWE appearance was at WrestleMania 13. When The Iron Sheik and The Sultan attacked a young Rock, Johnson ran into the ring to protect his son. Rocky Johnson won over 25 titles in his career. In 2008, Rocky was inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame along with his stepfather Peter Maivia. The Rock himself made the induction speech.
This volume of CWM is a bit of a departure from the norm. Instead of talking about a specific territory, person, or event, we will talk about three common beliefs from wrestling fans throughout the years. Beliefs that can be disputed, despite them being so common. They may not be popular to disagree with, so that’s why this episode is called Unpopular Opinions.
Unpopular Opinion #1: Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat at WrestleMania III is not the greatest WrestleMania match of all time
Many fans over the years have stated that the greatest WrestleMania match of all time is Savage vs. Steamboat from WrestleMania III. However, when the story of such a bitter rivalry is factored in, the tone of the match becomes illogical. Let us be clear. THIS IS A GREAT MATCH! Anybody that knows Seth knows that Randy Savage is his favorite wrestler. Steamboat is arguably the greatest white meat babyface of all time. So this is no disrespect to either man, but both Steamboat and Savage have let it be known that even they didn’t believe it was their best match. Plus, it’s no secret that Steamboat and Savage had radically different approaches with how they wrestle.
Unpopular Opinion #2: Vince McMahon did not kill the territories
New-School fans and even many old-school fans blame WWE Chairman Vince Mcmahon for the death of the territory system. But when you look at the actual history of the territories in the 1980s, it becomes apparent that the territories were as much a danger to themselves as Vince was. From trying to sign away talent to overreaching their realistic bounds. As Seth states, even if Vince DID do it all himself, somebody else would have if he didn’t. The territories had their chance with Pro Wrestling USA, which held the inaugural Superclash event at Comiskey Park in 1985. But in the end, it folded before it even got off the ground.
Unpopular Opinion #3: Ronnie Garvin’s NWA World Title Win in 1987 was a good idea
Ronnie Garvin’s 1987 NWA Title reign is often mocked by fans and historians, many of whom did not experience the territory firsthand. Fans who saw him on Crockett Television know just how over Ronnie was at the time. And we don’t mean watching the TV that’s available on the WWE Network, we mean living in the territory at the time. One of the reasons Starrcade ’87 was moved to Chicago was to ensure that Garvin would NOT be favored by a heel-friendly crowd when Flair won the title back. As always, let us know what you think. Do you have any Unpopular Opinions about wrestling? Sound off in the comments below or on our Twitter and Facebook pages. Since we’re talking about a lot of wrestling that came from the 1980s, what better accompanying playlist than Crazy Train’s 80s One Hit Wonders!
There are a lot of cliched names for all-time greats, and many of them apply to Harley Race. A Man’s Man. A Champion’s Champion. A Hall Of Famer’s Hall Of Famer. And so on. There’s a reason why on The Wrestling Brethren shows the term “WWHD” (What Would Harley Do?) comes up from time to time. Harley Race was one of the biggest stars in pro wrestling during the 1970s. He won the NWA World Championship A total of four times during that decade, and with the exception of a few short-term losses he held it for over four years.
The Beginning
Unlike a lot of other wrestlers, Harley Race was not a stage name. It was his genuine birth name. Many fans may not know that Harley had a bout with Polio as a child. Fortunately, he was able to make a recovery. The stories of how tough he was date back to his childhood. He may not have ever truly finished a high school education. In fact, Harley was expelled from High School for getting into a fight. When the principal tried to break up the fight, Harley attacked him too.
Early Career
Harley found training with the Zbyzsko brothers, Stanislaus and Wladek. If that last name sounds familiar, these were the men Larry Zbyzsko took the last name of as a tribute. Harley also worked as a chauffeur for Happy Humphrey, a well-known wrestler at the time who weighed approximately 600 pounds. His first matches were in Missouri under the name Jack Long for promoter Gust Karras where he worked tag matches with an onscreen brother John Long. Harley was involved in a serious and tragic auto accident that killed his newlywed wife and unborn child in 1960. Doctors believed Harley’s injuries were so severe they required amputation of his leg. Karras visited the hospital and convinced the doctors not to amputate the leg. Harley was told he would not walk again, let alone wrestle. After many long months of training and physical therapy, Harley returned to the ring under the name The Great Mortimer in 1963. Shortly after this, Harley went to Texas to work for Dory Funk, Sr. There he permanently started using his real name because “Harley Race” was a much better name than “Jack Long”. This was also where he met Larry Hennig and formed a friendship.
AWA
Race and Hennig started working for Verne Gagne’s American Wrestling Association (AWA) where they were known as Handsome Harley Race and Pretty Boy Larry Hennig. Of course, neither man was thought of as particularly good looking so it was a perfect gimmick for a heel tag team. They won the AWA Tag Team Titles on three occasions and had a memorable feud with fan favorites Bruiser and Crusher. In fact, they frequently wrestled Verne Gagne himself, who would team with various partners.
The NWA Territories
Harley Race is regarded as one of the greatest NWA Champions of all time. What is ironic us his first run with the title was not planned in advance. It came about due to friction between then Champion Dory Funk Jr. and top contender Jack Brisco. In the early 1970s, Dory Funk Jr. was the NWA World Champion and had been for many years. Jack Brisco, who was then an up-and-coming babyface challenger, faced Junior for the title in multiple territories. Paul Bosch in Houston, Eddie Graham in Florida, and Sam Muchnick in Missouri all drew major crowds with a Dory Jr. vs. Jack Brisco main event. And they all knew that sooner or later there had to be the payoff of Jack finally winning the title. The plan was for Dory to lose the title to Jack Brisco on March 2nd, 1973 in Houston. However, one week prior to the event, Funk contacted the office and claimed to have been in a farming accident and would be unable to wrestle for six weeks. This upset a lot of people, including the promoters and Jack himself, because it came across as Dory simply didn’t want to lose the title.
Rise To The Championship
Since the highly-anticipated Junior vs. Brisco match wasn’t going to happen, The NWA board picked Harley as the man to win the title since Race had the reputation as a legitimate tough guy. The match happened on May 24, 1973 and Harley defeated Funk to win his first NWA Title. He would hold the title for approximately two months before dropping it to Jack Brisco on July 20th.
Race would not see another NWA World Championship reign until four years later. He spent those years traveling from territory to territory and winning several regional titles. Among those titles was the inaugural NWA Mid-Atlantic United States Championship, now known as the WWE US Championship.
Finally, on February 6th, 1977, Harley would finally regain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Terry Funk in Toronto Canada. This began the reign that he is probably best remembered for because outside of a handful of title losses that lasted less than a week each, Harley effectively had the title until the early 1980s. All but one of those losses were business. The one exception was the loss to Tommy Rich in Augusta Georgia on April 27th, 1981. Depending on who you listen to, it was either an accident or a power play by promotors.
Starrcade and return to AWA
Perhaps the most famous match of Harley’s career happened on November 26th, 1983 when Ric Flair defeated him in the main event of the original Starrcade. Harley cut the iconic “Take the damn money!” promo during the buildup to that match.
Vince McMahon, who had recently purchased The World Wrestling Federation from his father, actually approached Harley with an offer to no-show the event and jump to WWF. Race refused the offer because he gave his word that he would pass the torch to Flair at Starrcade.
Race actually regained the title briefly in New Zealand and lost it back to Flair a few days later. That short reign went unrecognized for several years due to the change happening without the approval of the NWA.
Harley returned to the AWA after his final NWA Title run. There he faced the likes of Curt Hennig but never achieved the success he had in the 1970s. Within a few years, he would begin his final run as a full-time in-ring competitor.
The WWF
Vince McMahon was finally able to sign Harley to work for him in 1986. For the first several months Race worked as Handsome Harley. He won the second-ever King Of The Ring tournament and began wearing a crown and scepter to the ring. Some fans found it very odd that a wrestler who took himself so seriously would start using an over-the-top gimmick like a “King”. This run was also notable for the familiar entrance music (“The Great Gates Of Kyiv”) that Jerry “The King” Lawler would use years later.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se3measKxGQ
Race had his first of two WrestleMania matches at WrestleMania III where he defeated The Junkyard Dog. After that, he began a feud with Hulk Hogan over The WWF Championship. He suffered an injury during Saturday Night’s Main Event when he tried to hit Hogan with a diving headbutt on a table. Hogan moved and Harley crashed into the table. This was long before ECW made table bumps a common occurrence.
Retirement and WCW Manager run
Harley showed up in WCW around 1990 and began a new run as a manager. His first major program as a manager was working with Lex Luger during Luger’s first reign as WCW World Champion. He also had a successful run managing Big Van Vader to several WCW title reigns. He was inducted into the WCW Hall Of Fame in w994 and the WWE Hall Of Fame in 2004.
