Pro Wrestling History Thread

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Just watched AWA from 1990 on ESPN Classic and it was terrible. No wonder they went out of business.
The announcers were horrible. They went away from the classic play by play guy and retired wrestler. They had 2 guys I never heard of and one guy thought he was Gordon Solie announcing by himself and he never shut up. That left the second guy chiming in with obvious lines like, "The Russian Brute is really a brute"
The only people I recognized was Col. Debeers, Ox Baker(managing) and Brad Rheigens, Eric Bishoff(interviewer), Zybisko and Koloff. I ended up fast forwarding a majority of the show. Larry and Nikita match was not bad, but the ref angle sucked.
 
You are right! By 1990 the AWA was so decimated by the WWF that there really were only really young and green newbies, local "talent" that wouldn't travel much, and really old and past-their-prime wrestlers.
 
They moved some of the Team Challenge matches to an empty arena for "security" purposes.
 
Was watching random matches on youtube and this one just happen to give me a pretty good laugh.

 
You are right! By 1990 the AWA was so decimated by the WWF that there really were only really young and green newbies, local "talent" that wouldn't travel much, and really old and past-their-prime wrestlers.

Hey! I worked for the AWA in 1992! What are you saying? :)
 
i talked to Ken Shamrock for about 50 minutes the other night. we talked about his wrestling quite a bit. He discusses his "incest" proposed angle as well as the Nasty Boys. Wrestling starts at about 24:30 mark

 
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i talked to Ken Shamrock for about 50 minutes the other night. we talked about his wrestling quite a bit. He discusses his "incest" proposed angle as well as the Nasty Boys. Wrestling starts at about 24:30 mark



Cool. Being a huge Ken Shamrock fan, im definitely gonna have to listen to the whole interview when i get the chance. Thanks for posting it.
 
Edouard Carpentier vs Jim Eskew. Just a short match, nothing special, but at around 4:10 Carpentier does his backflip off the top rope and his foot catches & breaks one of the lights above the ring, with some sparks shooting down. Pretty neat sight.

 
Awesome stuff Dan! :cool:

Since you're a belt collector/expert, i have a question for you if you don't mind, though i don't know if you'll be able to answer but i figure ill ask. Do you know whatever happened to the old (Los Angeles) WWA World Heavyweight Championship belt? Not the one worn by Edouard Carpentier through Bearcat Wright, but the later one worn here in these pictures:

dickthebruiserwithWWAbelt3.jpg


c39fa548.jpg


pic21.jpg


Obviously it was altered or restrapped (or however you'd describe it) at some point between '64 & '65....

In my browsing of the internet, ive come across more pics of WWA World Heavyweight Champions wearing this belt design, and so i thought id post them to add to the pics i already posted of Dick the Bruiser, The Destroyer & Luke Graham.

"Cowboy" Bob Ellis
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Toyonobori
Toyonobori.jpg

This pic of Toyonobori indicates that there was more than one WWA belt of this design, since he's wearing 2 of them (and obviously they have different straps as well). Where as i had figured before that the belt Bruiser & Destroyer were wearing had just been re-strapped by the time Graham had become the champion. Anyway, Toyonobori was recognized as the champion in Japan by JWA after he defeated The Destroyer for the title in December 1964, but he wasn't recognized as such here in the US by the WWA.
 
Pedro Morales
1354584.jpg



"Killer" Buddy Austin
austinbuddywithWWAbelt.jpg

Note that Austin's wearing the title belt upside down, lol.


Bobo Brazil
bobobrazil_1_full.png

Obviously a different color strap, and maybe another different belt of the same design altogether.


Lou Thesz
theszlouwithlennonWWAbelt.jpg

Bad quality, but the only pic ive found of Thesz with the belt during his 2 week reign with the WWA title.
 
Has anyone seen the "turkey on a pole" match that the AWA had in their dying days?
 
WO Hall of Fame



Dave,
as 2012 draws to a close and i struggle to watch tna wrestling, i can't help but wonder why sting is not in the wrestling observer hall of fame. He is headlining in 2012 just like he did 25 years ago. His competetive longevity as a main eventer for a major promotion is as good if not better than just about anyone in the hall.

Dave, i won't bore you with details about sting and his career. You and your readers know everything there is to know about him. I do want to add that if chris jericho, mick foley, rey misterio, chris benoit and eddy guerrero are in the hall then sting should have his own wing.

The best part about my writing this to you is that i am not even a fan of his. But let's be realistic. A guy who was main eventing in 1988 and and is still doing it is the epitome of what a hall of famer is.

While i am lecturing you (lol,) moolah not in your hall is an even more egregious omission. After mildred burke she should have been the first one to follow her. That includes every japanese women wrestler. Yes, i went there. She is more hall worthy than any other woman's pro wrestler save mildred burke.

Thanks for your time,

Not sure why most capital letters didn't copy correctly.
 
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BFD is the man, everyone here needs to get over to Belt Talk if you haven't done so yet.
 
Is that you who wrote & emailed that to Meltzer or is that from someone else? At any rate, i agree 100%. :)

Yeah, it was me. I was watching BFG and was amazed how over Sting was 25 years later. An amazing career that needs recognition, and not the TNA hall. He is in ours, though.
Moolah not in is a joke. She should have been first ballot.
 
1.
I think one of the BB's or Danny should start the second one.
Great thread, guys!!!! I learned a lot of stuff that an old timer like me should know.
Thanks!!!!

Can a mod sticky the next one, please?
 
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