Andrew Lutzke
We last left off here.
Memphis
Randy Savage, once again a heel after his recent turn on Jerry Lawler, took on challenges to his Southern title from not only the King, but Nick Bockwinkel. Bockwinkel was reported to have heard cheers from the fans who had spent years jeering his efforts to thwart Lawler from becoming AWA World champ.
David Schultz returned to his southern territory roots here. He challenged Hulk Hogan, and threatened to slap Lance Russell like he had struck John Stossel. He also challenged the Macho Man and Lawler to matches as he wanted to be the area champion.
The Fabulous Ones tangled with Savage and Lanny Poffo over the Southern tag straps, before ultimately dropping them to the PYTs.
Florida
The Freebirds headed to the AWA after Michael Hayes was fired by Mike Graham as the territory’s booker. A rumor went around that Graham was in talks with Dusty Rhodes to come back in as the booker. Rhodes’ friend Blackjack Mulligan was already back in the fold and Barry Windham was expected to jump back soon as well.
The Freebirds had attacked Graham a few weeks earlier during his return promo following his father’s suicide. This led to Wahoo McDaniel, Bugsy McGraw and Graham fighting the Birds in headline matches.
NWA champ Ric Flair was confronted by Graham during a promo, which helped set up Graham challenging Flair. Jesse Barr ran in during the match and cost Graham his moment of glory. McDaniel saved him.
Jack Hart (Barry Horowitz) kept on losing…wait for it… wait for it….
On April 17th, Miami fans were treated to McDaniel battling Abby the Butcher, along with Blackjack Mulligan fighting Terry Gordy in a “bunkhouse” match. A week later Miami fans witnessed McDaniel wrestling Dory Funk Jr, as well as Mulligan knocking heads with Jesse Barr. The WWF was in town that same night, drawing 1800 fans to see Intercontinental champ Greg Valentine grapple with Tito Santana, as well as Jimmy Snuka and Ricky Steamboat tangling with WWF tag champs Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik.
WCCW
The Von Erich’s feud with Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez remained the area’s top program. Adams’ heel turn in September of 1984 continued to inspire fans to come see Mike, Kerry and Kevin take on their former friend. Both sides also branched out and worked with other top talent, as the Von Erichs worked some headliners against Kamala and the Midnight Express. Meanwhile Adams and Hernandez fought with the Freebirds, Hercules and the returning Kabuki.
Sunshine was managing both Kabuki and Hercules. In his book, Gary Hart revealed how much he hated seeing his creation, Kabuki, totally watered down as a threat as a heat drawing heel. Hart was actively managing here yet and would have gladly used Kabuki differently, but Ken Mantell had the booking power.
Hercules was being strongly built up as a babyface. He fought not only Adams and Hernandez, but the One Man Gang, Kamala and the Midnight Express as well. It’s kind amazing Hercules would quit before even making it to May’s Texas Stadium supercard given how strongly he is being put over. I’ll have more on that story in the May ’85 edition of this series.
The Midnight Express’ primary targets were the Fantastics, who debuted the 7 foot-plus “Little John” as their friend and corner man to counter Jimmy Cornette’s cheating ways. Cornette has gone off many times on how useless Little John was while ranting on his podcast.
Scott Casey, fresh off of fleeing the dying Southeast wrestling promotion, snagged the TV title by beating Dennis Condrey in a tournament finale.
For the record, the Freebirds appeared on WCCW, AWA and Florida TV this month. An impressive testament to the buzz they had created for themselves in 1983.
Rumors were going around that Bruce Springsteen, perhaps the hottest touring act of the era, was going to do a rock and wrestling show with WCCW in Dallas. He did in fact play the Cotton Bowl in September and drew 126,000 fans TWICE for a double sell out. Kerry Von Erich was not involved….
Mid-South
Wrestlemania’s success clearly annoyed Bill Watts as he took to the airways on his TV to denounce the WWF’s use of “an actor” in the ring. He went on to imply the WWF was phony but other pro wrestling was indeed very real. He went off on 20/20’s expose of the business during another segment. Watts also showed clips of King Kong Bundy losing to Dr. Death to help bury the WWF’s new monster.
NWA World champ Ric Flair toured the area. He defended his gold against Kerry Von Erich, Jake Roberts and Terry Taylor.
The Mid-South tag champions, the Rock and Roll Express, fought Nord the Barbarian and Jake the Snake, as well as the Dirty White Boys over the belts.
Eddie Gilbert added “The Nightmare” to his army. This was Moondog Rex under a mask. Having watched this era’s TV, I personally feel it worked as a gimmick since Rex was a big, barrel chested man, which fit in with the other natural hosses that Watts’ pushed. Eddie Gilbert serving as his mouthpiece certainly did not hurt the situation.
Kevin Kelly, the future Nailz, worked both WCCW and Mid-South as a lower card heel under the name “Thor”. Truly a gimmick 30 years ahead of it’s time.
Paul Boesch ran a packed show in Houston on April 7th, selling out the Sam Houston Coliseum. Kerry Von Erich challenged Ric Flair in the main event, taking the champ to a 60-minute draw. Terry Taylor conquered Kamala, Kevin Von Erich earned a DQ win over Chris Adams, Nord the Barbarian pounded Butch Reed in a “ghetto street fight”, Jim Duggan downed the One Man Gang, The Fantastics fell to Jake the Snake and Gino Hernandez, Brickhouse Brown bested Dr. Death via DQ and Brad Armstrong out wrestled Kevin Kelly.
Boesch presented a somewhat underwhelming follow up card in Houston, with Jake the Snake facing Terry Taylor, Dr. Death butting heads with Brickhouse Brown and the Rock and Roll Express tangling with the Dirty White Boys as the top bouts. The lower card was full of young guys who were not yet ready for a move up the cards such as “Boo” Thomas, Tom Prichard, Kevin Kelly, and Jack Victory. Young vets Tim Horner, Brad Armstrong and Steve Casey were also in action. The WWF came into Houston a week later and BOMBED. They drew 900 fans, with only 500 who actually paid to attend. Their card featured Jimmy Snuka clashing with Piper, as well as Andre the Giant smashing heads with Big John Studd. Both feuds were high profile, but past their peaks of interest and importance. Putting them on a show in an area that hadn’t experienced them locally doesn’t seem too egregious. Don Muraco, Ken Patera, Bob Orton Jr and Wendi Richter were all part of the card, as well as local favorite Ivan Putski.
JCP
The promotion’s debut on WTBS was by far the most important happening of the month. The platform gave Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, Magnum TA and others the platform to get over their angles on a national basis and expand past their Mid-Atlantic home base without having to rely on heavy syndication fees. A rumor was floated about that Ted Turner was going to become actively involved in the promotion due to his recent business issues with Vince McMahon.
Flair used the new avenue to call out Rhodes, T.A., Manny Fernandez, Buzz Sawyer, the Boogie Woogie Man, Harley Race, Wahoo McDaniel, Bob Armstrong, the Von Erichs and Terry Taylor as his top opponents across the nation.
Tully Blanchard beat Dusty Rhodes for the NWA World TV gold as their feud raged across the territory.
Ole Anderson turned heel, aligning himself with Arn Anderson over his current friend and partner Thunderbolt Patterson. The Andersons quickly captured the National tag team titles.
Arn had his hands full with the “Raging Bull” Manny Fernandez on the singles front.
NWA US Champion Magnum T.A. was attacked by Buddy Landell and whipped his own title belt. The Koloffs and Tully Blanchard were also in T.A.’s crosshairs.
“Superstar” Billy Graham and (Konga) The Barbarian injured Jimmy Valiant’s throat at the behest of their manager Paul Jones. Valiant sold the injury by being unable to talk and instead communicating during promos by using a chalkboard. Dusty Rhodes, Buzz Tyler, T.A. and Fernandez all offered aid to Valiant.
Don Kernodle continued his wars with the Koloffs over their past incidents of violence against him and his family.
Pittsburgh remained a tough place for JCP to draw in, as another poor house greeted them for a Magnum T.A. headline match against Tully Blanchard. The Koloffs defended the NWA World tag titles against Manny Fernandez and Don Kernodle, plus Jimmy Valiant battled the Barbarian in the top matches. The WWF drew 9,000 fans in Pittsburgh for a clash between World champion Hulk Hogan and Don Muraco. Tito Santana fell to Intercontinental champ Greg Valentine in a “No-DQ” match after the champ used brass knux. The U.S. Express split off against the Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff to round out the other key matches of the evening.
Philly fans were treated to JCP and WWF shows within 3 days of one another. The WWF drew over 11,000 fans to see a tag team battle royal won by Jimmy Snuka and Ricky Steamboat. World Champion Hulk Hogan bested Paul Orndorff, the U.S. Express downed WWF tag champs the Iron Sheik and Nikoali Volkoff in a non-title match, plus Tito Santana and David Sammartino bested Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake. In an added bonus, fans witnessed the British Bulldogs first ever match with the Hart Foundation. JCP countered with Dusty Rhodes fighting Blanchard inside of a steel cage, plus Thunderbolt Patterson partnered with Manny Fernandez to go to war with the Andersons for the National tag team titles in a match built right off of JCP’s TBS debut show.
Richmond, Virgina fans were offered up a double dose of stipulation matches as Dusty brawled with Blanchard in a barbed wire match, and NWA champ Ric Flair survived a strap match against Wahoo McDaniel.
I’ll be back soon with the May edition of this series, full of news, notes and results!
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