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Round-Up: February 1981

April 2, 2021 Will Burns Leave a comment

The new year got off with a bang last month with numerous title changes and feuds exploded across territories. More of the same in February 1981. Let’s start by seeing how the champ got on….

The NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Harley Race flew over to the Land of the Rising Sun this past month to defend the belt against former two-time title holder Giant Baba. In addition, he was dealt some tough defences stateside by the NWA matchmakers. Let’s see how he fared in February 1981.

DATE	EVENT	RESULT
6/2/81	St. Louis Wrestling Club – Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, MO	Ted DiBiase defeated Harley Race (68^th defense) by two falls to one in a Best of Three Falls bout. The third fall was via disqualification; therefore, Race retained the NWA World Heavyweight Title.
7/2/81	Georgia Championship Wrestling – Memorial Auditorium, Chattanooga, TN	Mr. Wrestling II defeated Harley Race (69^th defense) via DQ. Race retains the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
8/2/81	Georgia Championship Wrestling – The Omni, Atlanta, GA	Harley Race (70^th defense) and Tony Atlas battled to a double count-out.
11/2/81	All-Japan Pro Wrestling – Citizen Gymnasium, Nagareyama, Chiba, Japan	Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta beat Harley Race and Karl Kox by two falls to one.
12/2/81	All-Japan Pro Wrestling – City Gymnasium, Tsu, Mie, Japan	Harley Race and Dick Murdoch wrestled to a double count out in a non-title match.
13/2/81	All-Japan Pro Wrestling – Wakayama Prefectural Gymnasium, Wakayama, Japan	Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta defeated Harley Race and Mario Milano by two falls to one.
14/2/81	All-Japan Pro Wrestling – Municipal Sports Park Gymnasium, Omihachiman, Shiga, Japan	Giant Baba, Jumbo Tsuruta and Tiger Toguchi defeated Harley Race, Karl Kox and Mario Milano by two falls to one.
15/2/81	All-Japan Pro Wrestling – Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan	Giant Baba defeated Harley Race (71^st defense) by two falls to one in a Best of Three Falls bout. The third fall was via disqualification; therefore, Race retained the NWA World Heavyweight Title.
22/2/81	Big Time Wrestling Texas – Reunion Arena, Dallas, TX	Harley Race (72^nd defense) and Kerry Von Erich went to a double count out. Race retained the NWA World Championship.
26/2/81	Central States Wrestling – Memorial Hall, Kansas City, KS	Harley Race (73^rd defense) defeated Dick The Bruiser via count out. Race retained the NWA World Heavyweight Title.
27/2/81	Houston Wrestling – Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, TX	Harley Race (74^th defense) and Wahoo McDaniel battled to a double count out while the score was 1-1 in a Three Falls match. Race retains the NWA World Heavyweight Title.

ALL-JAPAN PRO WRESTLING

Giant Baba fell short of becoming a three-time NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion in his 15^th February title shot against Harley Race on the Excite Series tour. In the Best Two out of Three Falls contest, Baba pinned Race after delivering a big boot and then flying clothesline after nine minutes and 39 seconds. The Korakuen Hall crowd erupt after the three count but they were hushed after Race tied the bout just over three minutes later.

The pair brawled outside with Race gaining the advantage with a suplex on the mats, then as Baba climbed back into the ring, Race suplexed the Giant back in and covered him for the pin. Towards the end of the bout, with both men bleeding from the forehead after numerous altercations on the outside of the ring, Race lifted Baba for another suplex for a near fall.

Race then missed his patented headbutt and the action returned to ringside with Baba slamming Race’s head into the ring-post before throwing back inside the ropes. Baba dished out another clothesline but failed to capitalize and could gain the win. Race suffered further punishment via an abdominal stretch and his frustrations threw the referee across the ring. The official was ready to disqualify the champion but Baba stopped the ref from ringing the bell and threw him down to the ground.

With the crowd hyped up, Baba caught Race into a sleeperhold and as Race was slipping into a deep sleep, he desperately low-blowed Baba causing the referee to penalize the champion and award the match to Baba. However, the championship cannot change hands on a disqualification so race walked out of the arena with the belt.

In other matches on the tour, Baba and Race clashed many times in tag team and six-man tag team matches. Three nights prior to Race’s title defense, he battled Dick Murdoch in a non-title bout at the City Gymnasium in Tsu, Mie. It was a wild brawl with lots of outside action and chair shots which eventually the referee lost control of and it ended up as a double count-out after 13 minutes of action.

The Excite Series concludes on the 3^rd March and at the end of the month, the 9^th annual Champion Carnival begins with Baba and Tsuruta joined by 12 others in the tournament including Bruiser Brody, Abdullah the Butcher, Jack Brisco, Prince Tonga, “Killer” Tim Brooks and youngster from Tennessee, Wayne Ferris. In the coming weeks, we will have full coverage of the excursion in our Big Tours feature.

BIG TIME WRESTLING (TEXAS)

The hottest feud in Texas is between King Kong (Bruiser) Brody and Gary Hart’s newest client The Great Kabuki. The Japanese native made his debut last month in the territory defeating Don Diamond in quick fashion using a range of martial arts skills. Kabuki, who stands at 5ft 11 inches and 240 pounds, will need to use the guidance of Hart and those martial arts skills if he is to win the war against the vicious, wild and massive Brody.

Fritz Von Erich promoted a huge ‘Star Wars 1981’ card at the Reunion Arena in Dallas which also saw him step inside the ropes for the show. Fritz defeated Kabuki in a Texas Death Match, in a bout which came about after Fritz vowed revenge against the Japanese martial artist for attacking his son, David Von Erich. David ended up losing teeth that attack so he got involved in this bout helping out his father as soon as Gary Hart began to become involved. David delivered a dropkick to Kabuki’s face then a huge back body drop to allow his father to cover and get the three count.

In other matches, Kerry Von Erich received an NWA World Heavyweight Championship match with Harley Race. This was a back-and-forth match-up with the young Kerry looking to dethrone Race in front of his hometown crowd and he pushed the World champion to the limit but controversially did not win the belt. At the end of the match, the action spilled to the outside and a brawl broke out at the timekeeper’s table. Harley slammed Kerry onto the table and measured him for a diving headbutt, but Kerry rolled out of the way while the referee’s count continued. Kerry tried to climb back into the ring but the champ held onto his leg and the bout was ruled a double count-out.

Also, David and Kevin Von Erich won a match for the World Tag Team titles which was presented to the winner as a giant trophy, instead of the standard gold belts. The Von Erich boys defeated Hercules Ayala and Ali Mustafa after Kevin hit Mustafa with a sunset flip from the top rope for the win. A huge celebration broke out with many fans and all the Von Erich family storming the ring to enjoy the win. In the main event, King Kong Brody took home $5,000 with a battle royal win.

CENTRAL STATES WRESTLING

The Memorial Hall placed host to another big night of action in Kansas City on February 12^th, which saw new Central States Tag Team Champions crowned. Former Stampede Tag Team champions The Kelly Twins (Mike Kelly & Pat Kelly) defeated Bruce Reed and Jerry Roberts to win the Central States tag belts for the first time.

Two weeks later (26/2), Harley Race was in town for a title defense against fellow veteran Dick the Bruiser defeating the Indiana-native via count out to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Title.

Against all odds, Sweet Brown Sugar overcame three men to win the Southern Heavyweight belt.

CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING FROM FLORIDA

In the sunshine state, Eddie Graham’s territory played host to no less than 16 big shows this past month and started with a bang with a Southern Heavyweight Title change on February 3rd at the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory. Dick Slater beat Mike Graham to regain the title he lost to Graham on January 27^th. However, the next night in Fort Myers, Slater refused to defend the belt, was subsequently stripped of the title, and Sweet Brown Sugar became the new champion defeating The Assassin in one-off encounter for the vacated championship, even though he pinned the wrong Assassin.

The Assassin and Assassin #3’s manager Oliver Humperdink caused a distraction when Brown Sugar was on top of the fight. The Assassin #3 ran in the ring attacked Sugar and removed his tag partner from the ring. However, the strategy backfired as Brown rolled up the second masked man anyways to claim the gold.

New Florida Tag Team Champions – Dusty Rhodes and Andre the Giant

The biggest show of the month was the “Battle Stars 1981” event from the O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Florida which also saw a title switch. The team of super team of Dusty Rhodes and Andre the Giant won the Florida Tag straps from the Cowboy Connection (Bobby Jaggers and RT Tyler).

The Dusty Rhodes-Assassin feud has raged on and began the month waging war in a ‘Lights Out’ unsanctioned bout in Miami on February 2^nd. The bout strangely was declared a double count-out and two nights later in Orlando, the pair met again on either side of a ‘Lights Out Tag Team’ match with Dusty team with Sweet Brown Sugar and The Assassin with the Masked Superfly.

They continued to clash multiples times with Assassin #3 and Dory Funk Jr joining forces with the Assassin and Andre getting involved in tag matches with the good guys coming out on top the majority of the time. Dusty ended up moving on into a feud with fellow former World Champion Dory Funk Jr, which concluded in a Bunkhouse match at the Eddie Graham Sports Arena on 20^th February, with Dusty claiming the victory. This bout sent Funk packing but he will return to the area in March to try and gather revenge on Rhodes.

Next month, many names have signed on the dotted line to challenge the NWA World Champion Harley Race, who will be touring with the promotion for the majority of March. Amongst the names, challenging the champion is Mr. Wrestling II, Barry Windham, Mike Graham, Ted DiBiase, Manny Fernandez, Bugsy McGraw and former champion Jack Brisco.

The Fabulous Freebirds are still causing chaos in Georgia.

GEORGIA CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING

The Fabulous Freebirds regained the Georgia Tag Team titles on February 2^nd at the Bell Auditorium in Augusta defeating Ted DiBiase and Stan Frazier in a one-off bout for the vacated belts. The championships were held up after the referee threw out a title match between the ‘Birds, DiBiase and Frazier on 31/1 television show.

The NWA National Television Championship changed hands again this month, actually twice in consecutive weeks. Bobby Eaton won the title last month, but dropped the belt to Steve O at the Omni on February 8^th then Kevin Sullivan claimed the championship (21/2) on television. Steve Keirn, who ran Eaton and Sullivan close this past month for the title, will get another shot at the gold against Sullivan on the March 1st Omni show.

On the big 8/2 event at Atlanta’s Omni, Georgia Heavyweight champion Tony Atlas received a World Heavyweight title show against Harley Race, but unfortunately for “Mr. USA” the bout ended in a double count out so Race walked out of Georgia with the belt intact. Atlas gets a rematch inside a Steel Cage next month at the Omni (1/3).

The Junkyard Dog, who debuted last month in the territory, has joined the war against the Freebirds and he was involved in a special tag team match at the Omni. He was in the corner of Robert Fuller and DiBiase against Buddy Roberts and Terry Gordy in a $15,000 vs. Fuller’s 1979 Lincoln Continental match where JYD was handcuffed to Hayes to stop the third man from interfering. The ‘Birds gained ownership of Fuller’s car in January but they put the keys back on the line at the Omni show. Hayes, Roberts and Gordy were in disarray as the team of DiBiase and Fuller grabbed the victory and took all the spoils. The finish of the match came when Fuller pinned Roberts after Buddy ran into a JYD punch. The frustrated Freebirds attacked their opponents after the bout.

Also, at the Omni, The Mongolian Stomper managed to escape with his NWA National Heavyweight belt by the skin of his teeth as he took a disqualification loss against Andre the Giant. Andre looked to be clinching the title until Stomper’s manager Don Carson interfered and attacked the Frenchman with his cane. Kevin Sullivan defeated Steve Keirn in a wild Boston Streetfight bout and Mr. Wrestling II and Ole Anderson’s feud continues on as Number Two won via DQ.

The promotion has hyped up the biggest Omni show for a long time on March 1^st which is headlined by an Atlas vs. Race Cage bout for the World title. In addition, The Stomper defends his National Heavyweight belt against Dusty Rhodes and the Freebirds defend the National Tag Team titles in a first-time ever bout – the Fantasia Gamble match. This special stipulation bout is Best of Two out of Three Falls affair with all three ‘Birds going against DiBiase, Fuller and JYD with the belts on the line.

HOUSTON WRESTLING

The one-night four-man single elimination World Title contender tournament took place at the Sam Houston Coliseum on 6^th February. The final four saw Ivan Putski fall to ‘Gorgeous’ Gino Hernandez and Wahoo McDaniel defeat Terry Funk. In the Funk-Wahoo bout, the Texan jumped McDaniel before the bell and attacked him with a chair when the action spilled to the outside. However, against all odds after a few minutes of action, Wahoo rolled up Funk for the quick pinfall.

Ever the chancer, Hernandez rushed the ring and attacked Wahoo with Funk initially helping until the referee took control. The finals of the tournament between Gino and Wahoo took place there and then, with Hernandez having the obvious advantage.

McDaniel was a bloody mess and Hernandez continued to dish out the punishment, delivering blows to the forehead and laying in the boots when Wahoo crumped down for safety. Hernandez dominated until he climbed the top rope allowing Wahoo to catch the ‘Gorgeous One’ coming off the top turnbuckle. Wahoo then locked in a small package for a quick win and to earn an NWA Worlds Title shot against Harley Race later in the month.

On the 27^th, Paul Boesch’s promotion held a huge show of the Coliseum with four title matches with three championships changing hands. Firstly, Evelyn Stevens became the new Texas Womens’ Champion by defeating Susan Green then Tiger Conway Jr. pinned Tank Patton to win the Southwest Brass Knuckles belt. Gino Hernandez got his hands on some gold, winning the NWA International Junior Heavyweight title from Chavo Guerrero by two falls to one.

In the big one, Wahoo McDaniel failed to uncrown Harley Race but he took the World Champion close. In another three falls contest, Wahoo took the lead before Race leveled the bout up but the third and deciding fall saw both men disqualified so Harley remained the champion. A rematch has been signed for next month (27/3) at the Coliseum and former champion Pat O’Connor has been nominated the guest referee in a special Indian Strap match. It is reported that Harley Race is far from pleased.

MAPLE LEAF WRESTLING

After their battle last month, Angelo Mosca and Ivan Koloff resumed their feud in a No Disqualification match on 1^st February at the Maple Leaf Gardens but Mosca retained his Canadian Heavyweight title. By the end of the month, Mosca is still in possession of the belt even though he faced The Great Hossein Arab on two occasions at the Gardens (22/2) and in Kingston (26/2). Jimmy Snuka got involved in the first encounter and Mosca has vowed to get his hands on the man from the Fiji Islands in the future.

Dewey Robertson and George Wells have lost the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team straps.

MID-ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING

New Mid-Atlantic Tag Team champions were crowned early in February at the Greensboro Coliseum on the 7^th. The Japanese duo of Mr. Fuji and Tenryu defeated George Wells and Dewey Robertson to claim the belts in front of capacity crowd in the Coliseum.

The NWA United States Heavyweight champion Roddy Piper vacated the TV title last month and details are yet to be released in how a new titleholder will be declared. Piper defeated Ric Flair in controversial fashion in January and the pair have been exchanging blows virtually every night in February, either in a singles bout for the U.S. title, or in tag team or six-man bouts.

Gene Anderson has added Ivan Koloff to his Army and split up the team of Jimmy Snuka and Ray Stevens with now Stevens and Koloff tagging up and hey have integrated the old finishing move of the Minnesota Wrecking Crew into their arsenal, the Hammerlock submission. Meanwhile, Snuka now has tunnel vision on Ricky Steamboat’s Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship. The pair has met many times over the Carolinas so far, but Steamboat still possesses the gold.

Bruno Sammartino Jr. is making waves in the territory since debuting in December and is undefeated in singles competition since his sole defeat against Kim Duk on 24^th January. Over the past month, the youngster has disposed of Tenryu and Ricky Harris, and possibly more impressively overcoming veterans like Swede Hanson, Charlie Fulton and Jacques Goulet. Sammartino has also been teaming with Don Kernodle on the circuit with the pair receiving shots at Fuji and Tenryu’s Mid-Atlantic tag belts, but have come up short so far.

Ole and Gene Anderson reunited and made a rare appearance in the territory on February 13^th to challenge Paul Jones and the Masked Superstar for their NWA World Tag Team titles. The champions managed to retain against the Minnesota Wrecking Crew sending the crowd at the Richmond Coliseum home happy.

NEW-JAPAN PRO WRESTLING

The New Year Golden Series tour finished up for Antonio Inoki’s promotion with a big Inoki vs. Bobby Duncum bout at Korakuen Hall (12/2) with of course, Inoki grabbing the victory and send the crowd home happy. The event saw a North American Tag Team title defense as The Samoans challenged the champions Riki Choshu and Seiji Sakaguchi with the Japanese duo winning a convincing two falls without reply in under 15 minutes.

Next month sees the beginning of a special NJPW Big Fight Series tour with the World Wrestling Federation being represented by Hulk Hogan, Don Muraco and Killer Khan and Mexican Lucha starts Fishman, Perro Aguayo and Gran Hamada from the Universal Wrestling Association. The promotion announced that the Lucha Libre wrestlers with compete with members of the Junior Heavyweight division in a WWF Light-Heavyweight Title tournament, which will be in a round-robin league format.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST WRESTLING

Don Owens’ promotion in Portland has been on fire and it accumulated in a pair of huge Buddy Rose vs. Andre the Giant matches at South Salem High School (26/2) and the Portland Sports Arena (28/2). Of course, Andre was victorious on both occasions and he has won a series of battle royals while visiting the territory.

Rose has been vying to regain the PNW Heavyweight Title from Jay Youngblood but had to deal with the dynamic young team of Buzz Sawyer and Matt Borne on Portland Television on the 7^th. Rose teamed with fellow Army member The Destroyer but could not defeat Sawyer and Borne and the four wrestled to a draw. Later that night, ‘The Playboy’ put $2,500 into a $5k pot for the winner of a Youngblood vs. Rip Oliver bout in the main event, with the champion putting up the other half of the purse.

The match ended in wild fashion with Buddy Rose getting involved by throwing Oliver a leather belt which he used by wrapping up his fist and laying punches into Youngblood’s head forcing a cut on his forehead. Oliver continued to punish the Native American by choking the belt around his neck, but Youngblood finally got the advantage and whipped Oliver’s back which caused him to flee the ring. The referee Sandy Barr held up the winners purse until a rematch could be held on next week’s TV show – an ‘Indian Strap Match’.

The match did not go without the usual drama in Portland as Rose offered to take Oliver’s place in the match, an offer which pleased Rip as he wanted no part of the Strap Match. At bell time, special referee Dutch Savage opened the ropes for Rose to enter the ring but Buddy refused. Oliver was made to take the match and he was fuming with his ‘The Playboy’. Youngblood emerged the winner after smashing Oliver’s head into the ring post twice causing Rip to bleed profusely then Youngblood dragged Oliver around the four corner turnbuckles for the win. Later that night, Rose was forced to compete in a bout against face Buzz Sawyer that finished a one fall all draw before the time-limit expired.

Youngster Terry Allen made his in-ring debut last month and he nabbed his first win of his career at the Grand Theatre in Salem on February 12^th against namesake Mike Allen.

Father and son duo, Brad and Bob Armstrong.

SOUTHEASTERN CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING

Southeastern TV promoted the ‘Championship Month’ which broadcasted a title match on each week of television through the month of February 1981. As part of the campaign, Mr. Saito and Bob Armstrong resumed their feud as the Japanese grappler defended his Alabama State Championship against ‘Bullet’ Bob on the February 7^th TV Show. The referee was knocked down after Armstrong lifted Saito for a slam and the action ended up outside the ring. Dennis Condrey emerged from the locker room and attacked Armstrong with wooden board. Saito placed Armstrong into a Japanese Sleeperhold but a second referee emerged to stop the bout and held the belt up so this title is now vacated.

Saito, Condrey and Randy Rose are now identifying themselves as ‘The Terrific Trio’ and Brad and Bob Armstrong are faced them in a big six-man tag team bout in Birmingham (16/2) with the Armstrong’s teaming up with Andre the Giant with the Frenchman and the father and combo getting the duke.

Also, part of the ‘Championship Month’, Brad Armstrong put his United States Junior Heavyweight belt on the line against Jerry Stubbs on 14^th February episode of their TV show. However, once again Condrey got involved in the televised title match and this time tag team partner Rose joined him by attacking Stubbs with a pair of wooden boards. Brad aimed to stop them attacking his opponent but the bad guys had advantage as Saito came out and helped dish out the punishment. Paul Orndorff and Norvell Austin emerged to chase the heels away.

In the final ‘Championship Month’ bout, Rose and Condrey defended their Southeastern Tag Team belts on 21/2 television show against Paul Orndorff and Norvell Austin. It was a back-and-forth match-up, until the bad guys gained an advantage and punished Austin however, Orndorff eventually clinched the hot tag. Shortly after, Rose and Condrey collided when they tried to double team Orndorff.

Orndorff rapidly jumped onto top of Rose to get the quick three count, and the new Tag Team champions were awarded their new belts. After the bout, the new champions were attacked by Rose and Condrey and they consequently nailed Austin with a stump piledriver onto a wooden chair. Austin was announced as out of commission after the attack and he and Orndorff decided to vacate the belts with immediate effect.

A tournament to decide new tag team champions will take place on March 1^st at the Municipal Auditorium in Pensacola, Florida. In addition, another tournament is to be held on March 2^nd at the Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham. Sixteen men will meet in a single elimination tournament to win a World Heavyweight Title shot against Harley Race on 9^th March in the same building.

Ken Lucas and ‘The Outlaw’ Ron Bass are currently contesting for the Southeastern Heavyweight Title. Ron Fuller vacated the title and it unsure how Bass was awarded the championship but by the February 14^th T.V. show, Lucas declared that he had recently pinned Bass to become the champion.

ST. LOUIS WRESTLING CLUB

The NWA Missouri Champion Ted DiBiase had a busy month in St. Louis. Firstly, he challenged NWA Worlds Champion Harley Race and defeated Race by two falls to one, but Harley retained the gold as the deciding fall was via disqualification.

DiBiase then defended the Missouri title twice in the month as he retained the belt against former titleholder Ken Patera at the Kiel Auditorium on February 20^th winning 2-1 in a three falls encounter and two days later, he resumed his rivalry Big John Studd. DiBiase and Studd brawled around the Chase Hotel and the bout ended in a double count-out.

‘Nature Boy’ Ric Flair returned to the territory and went to a double count-out against veteran Dick the Bruiser at the Kiel (20/2).

STAMPEDE WRESTLING

The Dynamite Kid and Bret Hart have been tearing up arenas in Calgary and its surrounding areas, with most of the results ending up in a disqualification win for the Englishman. This is becoming quite the fierce feud in Stu Hart’s territory with David Schultz also becoming a thorn in the side for Bret Hart.

The team of Mike Sharpe and Duke Myers are the new Stampede International Tag Team Champions defeating the Burke Brothers, Bobby and Leo on 14^th February in Calgary. Sharpe and Myers have defended the belts across the territory give the Burkes’ some rematches and the pairing of Jim Neidhart and Kerry Brown.

The month of February was full of ups and downs for Leo Burke, after losing the tag straps, he claimed the Stampede North American Heavyweight title from Schultz on February 21^st but sadly he lost it back to his nemesis a week later. Meanwhile, Bruce Hart is still in possession of the British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight belt despite the numerous attempts by The Cuban Assassin to dethrone the 31-year-old Hart brother.

VANCOUVER ALL STAR WRESTLING

The bitter feud between Buddy Rose and Jay Youngblood travelled up north to Vancouver this month and ‘The Playboy’ suffered a huge defeat on 9^th February. The British Columbia fanbase witnessed Youngblood winning Pacific Coast Heavyweight championship by pinning Rose at the PNE Gardens.

WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION

Sgt. Slaughter has been displaying his Cobra Clutch finisher on many occasions on the Federation’s television programs challenging members of the locker room to a ‘$5,000 Cobra Clutch Challenge’. Competitors like Johnny Rodz, Jack Carson and Rick McGraw have all attempted to break the hold and claim the cash – but have failed.

Pat Patterson has been vocal on commentary that he was studying the move and when the time was right, he would attempt to get out of the Sergeant’s hold. As a result of Patterson comments, he had an altercation with Sgt. Slaughter on the 21st February edition of Championship Wrestling where Slaughter upped the challenge to $10,000 to the Canadian, but Patterson refused stating “he was not ready yet”. Slaughter has started to antagonise Patterson calling him a “chicken” for not taking up the challenge. This one is surely going to blow up sooner, rather than later.

Slaughter has become one of the most hated wrestlers in the minds of promotions fans. Chants of “Gomer, Gomer”, a reference to a TV character who is an incompetent gentleman that enlist for the Marine Corps, annoys Slaughter and his manager the Grand Wizard. So much so on the 14/2 edition of All-Star Wrestling, Slaughter walked out of a match with McGraw. Slaughter began to wear cotton wool in his ears on future matches so that he could not hear the derogatory chants.

Stan Hansen is the latest challenger to Bob Backlund’s WWF Championship.

The company’s first show of the year at Madison Square Garden took place on 16^th February with Stan Hansen facing Bob Backlund for the WWF title. The “Badman” Hansen had driven the Intercontinental titleholder Pedro Morales close just two nights prior at the Philadelphia Spectrum when the match ended in a double disqualification, but the World champion Bob Backlund delivered a different test to the Texan.

It was wild match for the Garden faithful to observe with constant brawling and both men ended up bleeding from the forehead. The referee lost control and rang for the bell to throw the match out but it took three referees to split them apart and rematch has been signed for March 16^th on the return to MSG.

Also, at the Garden (16/2), Morales was booked to defend his Intercontinental title against the hottest bad guy in the Federation, Sgt. Slaughter. It was close affair but the match ended when Slaughter nailed Morales with brass knuckles and attempted to use them again before the referee caught him and called for a DQ.

Former two-time WWF Champion Bruno Sammartino wrestled a pair of bouts against Stan Hansen at the Boston Garden (7/2) and the Pittsburgh Civic Arena (20/2). The first bout ended in double count out after the action spilled to the outside and both men failed to make it back in the ring. The second saw a count out victory for Bruno under controversial circumstances. Hansen tried to bring a chair into the ring but Bruno halted the man from Borger, Texas and thumped him over the head with it. Hansen spilled to the outside and was counted out although Bruno should have possibly been disqualification for using a foreign object.

NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION	NWA WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS
HARLEY RACE	PAUL JONES & THE MASKED SUPERSTAR
1. Roddy Piper	1. Giant Baba/Jumbo Tsuruta
2. Antonio Inoki	2. The Fabulous Freebirds
3. Ric Flair	3. Dory & Terry Funk
4. Giant Baba	4. Ivan Koloff/Ray Stevens
5. Ted DiBiase	5. Rick Martel/Tony Garea
6. Tony Atlas	6. David & Kevin Von Erich
7. Bob Backlund	7. Riki Choshu/Seiji Sakaguchi
8. Mr. Wrestling II	8. The Moondogs
9. Andre the Giant	9. Robert Fuller/Ted DiBiase
10. Wahoo McDaniel	10. Antonio Inoki/Tatsumi Fujinami

This month’s match comes from the Chase Hotel, St. Louis, MO on February 22^nd as Ted DiBiase and John Studd clash in the latest match in their rivalry on an episode of Wrestling From The Chase.

All Japan: The 9^th Annual 12-Man Champions Carnival tournament begins.

Florida: NWA World Champion Harley Race will be touring with the company with multiple title defenses.

Georgia: March 1^st – Atlas vs. Race for the NWA World title inside the confines of a Steel Cage. Should be a good one.

Houston: The Coliseum plays host to Race vs Wahoo in an ‘Indian Strap Match’ on March 27.

New Japan: A WWF and UWA contingent travel to Japan for the NJPW’s Big Fight Series tour.

Southeastern: Two big tournaments take place where new Tag Team champions will be crowned and a number one contender for the World Title.

WWF: The big Backlund vs Hansen WWF title rematch takes place at MSG on March 16^th.

As always, thanks for reading…

Will Burns

Sources: Cagematch.net, Mid-Atlantic Gateway, MapleLeafWrestling.com, WrestlingData, Joseph Shedlock Newsletters, Clawmaster Archives.

1948-1979, Profiles

Profile – Gene Kiniski

January 21, 2021 Will Burns Leave a comment

Holding the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for 1,131 days, former Canadian football star Gene Kiniski was one of the most successful champions in the record books. In a time when champions were known as squeaky clean good guy wrestlers, with his aggressive nature and natural charisma, “Big Thunder” broke that precedent.

Kiniski was born on 23^rd November 1928 in Lamont, Alberta, Canada before moving onto the nearby town of Chipman at an early age. Times were hard financially for his family after the Stock Market Crash in 1929 and they moved to Edmonton by the time that Gene was 11. By the time he was a teenager, At six feet tall with a robust build, Kiniski was a promising athlete practising amateur wrestling and football at St. Joseph’s High School.

By the time he was 20, Gene was recruited by the Edmonton Eskimos, sporting the number 50 and played defensive lineman in the Western Interprovincial Football Union, which was the predecessor of the Canadian Football League. Quoted as making a paltry $200 a year with the Eskimos, Kiniski moved onto college at the University of Arizona and played lineman for the Wildcats and became a strong NFL prospect. His aggression was highlighted after being chucked out of three games for unnecessary roughness.

While staying in Tucson, Gene and close friend Steve Paproski needed jobs and became working for wrestling promoter and Edmonton native Rod Fenton as ushers and selling programs at his events. Kiniski became an asset at the events due to his size protecting the wrestlers from over-excited fans and began to start to work out at the local gyms with fellow wrestlers and Fenton and got involved in the basics of wrestling training.

It is rumoured that Kiniski and Paproski started wrestling in different towns under pseudo names so that the University would not find out, but eventually, their cover was blown and the Wildcat coach Robert Winslow demanded they immediately stop. Later that year, although it was against the wishes of his family back in Edmonton, Kiniski decided to trade in the football pads for wrestling boots and was set to make his debut on Fenton show.

So, on February 13^th 1952, donning the cover of the programs he used to sell, Kiniski made his in-ring debut at the Sports Center in Tucson defeating Curly Hughes in around 12 minutes. Gene went on to gain in-ring experience in Tucson, El Paso and Albuquerque working a few times per week. Kiniski began working out with Dory Funk Sr. and Dory Jr. in a friendship that would work out well for both parties in the future.

By 1954, Kiniski was plying his trade in Los Angeles working NWA Hollywood TV shows frequently against a young Bobo Brazil before moving onto Hawaii to form a tag team with Lord Blears to face Japanese duo Kokichi Endo and Rikidozan. Moving onto Dallas, Kiniski and his aggressive nature became a great draw, he was ruthless with sharp wit and possessed a mean streak. With the vicious back-breaker as his signature move, fans were buying tickets to see Gene get beat up but much to the crowd’s dismay, Kiniski usually came out on top.

At the age of 29, Gene returned to Canada and received his first NWA Worlds Heavyweight Title shot against Lou Thesz and managed to hold the champ to a draw in front of thousands packed inside the Maple Leaf Gardens. Kiniski started to get massively over proclaiming himself as “Canada’s Greatest Athlete” and grappling with former world champions Bill Longson, Pat O’ Connor and “Whipper” Billy Watson. His trash-talking rogue persona started to turn promoter’s heads and he was booked across the States and Canada. Come 1960, Minneapolis promoters Wally Karbo and Verne Gagne broke away from the NWA and created the American Wrestling Association and they contacted Kiniski to headline their events.

Gene alternated between AWA and NWA promoted events and on 11^th July 1961, Kiniski dethroned Gagne to win his first world championship, the AWA World Title. Although the reign did not last long and less than a month later, inside the confines of a Steel Cage, Gagne regained the title. Gene’s career went from strength to strength winning singles titles in various territories and received a WWWF title shot against top draw Bruno Sammartino at Madison Square Garden in November 1964 with over 18,000 in attendance. Kiniski believed he had pinned Bruno and left ringside with the title belt, but he was counted out. Gene kept the belt until a rematch a month later in which Bruno regained possession of his championship.

St. Louis promoter Sam Muchnick booked Kiniski to wrestle Fritz von Erich, Johnny Valentine and Dick the Bruiser. After clinching a win over former champ Pat O’Connor, Gene was awarded another shot at Lou Thesz’s NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship. The bout, booked by Muchnick was set to take place at the Kiel Auditorium on 7^th January 1966 in front of a packed house and the NWA board voted to give “Big Thunder” a run with the strap.

In a best of three falls match, history was made. Thesz went ahead with the first fall but was disqualified for throwing Gene over the top rope tying up the bout at 1-1. After less than two minutes inside the third fall, Kiniski pinned Thesz and referee Joe Scheonberger slammed his hand on the canvas three times and Gene had become the world champion. Kiniski was the first man in history to hold the AWA and NWA World titles.

In a true contrast to Lou Thesz, Kiniski was a natural bad guy and his heel behaviour made him a very successful touring champion. He drew big crowds in all the NWA territories including the JWA in Japan where he faced Antonio Inoki and Shohei (Giant) Baba, even challenging the latter for his NWA International Heavyweight belt. However, like many champions, the schedule became exhausting to Gene and at the NWA convention in November 1968, he told the Alliance members that he wished to drop the title. Being a close friend to the Funk family, Gene ended his three-year reign to Dory Funk Jr. via spinning toe-hold on 11^th February 1969 in Tampa, Florida.

After resting up, Gene travelled back to Japan to win the International Heavyweight championship from Baba in Osaka for a short 16-day reign before failing to the big man in Los Angeles in a rematch. Throughout the 1970s, Gene was still a profitable draw for the NWA promoters and received many title shots against Dory, Harley Race, Jack Brisco and Terry Funk but failed to clinch that second reign. He started to book his own shows with Vancouver All-Star Wrestling promoter Sandor Kovacs, buying out his trainer Rod Fenton’s share, and he brought many World title matches to the British Columbia area.

He vastly eased up his schedule by 1976 and climbed into the ring intermittently in the early 1980s until quietly heading into retirement come 1985. Always being the athlete for all his life, Kiniski stayed fit later in life training daily. However, in early 2010, congestive heart failure hospitalised Gene and his weight massively decreased. He had been secretly battling cancer for years and it had grown to his brain. He passed away with family at his bedside on April 14^th 2010. He was 81 years old.

Kiniski was a true champion, a true athlete and to fill his bank account, a true heel. Fans paid to see Gene get beat and he didn’t. For over three years he was World Heavyweight Champion and in his own words, Gene made sure that even if the fan went home sulking, they got their money’s worth.

As always, thanks for reading…

Will Burns

Source: Tim Hornbaker – National Wrestling Alliance, Steven Verrier – Gene Kiniski Canadian Wrestling Legend,

1948-1979, Profiles

Profile – Dory Funk Jr.

January 21, 2021 Will Burns Leave a comment

Second generation athlete Dory Funk Jr. holds the honour of the second-longest reign as NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion, retaining onto the championship for a total of 1,563 days. Only Lou Thesz wore the title longer and with over 7,000 wrestling matches under his belt, Dory is the personification of a wrestling legend.

Dory was born Dorrance Earnest Funk on 3^rd February 1941 in Amarillo, Texas. His father Dory Funk Sr. was a wrestler and promoter of the Western States Sports promotion and his own words, Dory Jr. proclaimed that: “My father was my teacher, he was my coach, he was my guidance counsellor, he was pretty much everything to me.”.

Training under his father, Dory Jr. began wrestling at age 22 after a successful college football career as a tackle at West Texas University. His father was very critical of Dory and his younger brother Terry Funk’s work, delivering very little praise to his sons. Terry stated, “if our father never said anything to us, we’d know we had a good match.”. Although this negative behaviour may have broken some, Dory and Terry felt they excelled from this treatment, although they had minimal training before stepping in between the ropes, his critique helped them improve.

His in-ring debut was a win over Don Fargo at the Amarillo Sports Arena and continued on to face Wild Bull Curry, Mike DiBiase and Harley Race in his early years. Only four years into the business Dory became promoting with his father, Dory Sr. in 1967. They both owned a 50% share of the Amarillo territory after promoter Doc Sarpolis passed away and his widow sold Doc’s asset onto Dory Jr.

In-ring, even in his rookie years, Dory showed a hard-hitting style that got people in the business talking and he would eventually move onto the Florida, Vancouver and Missouri territories and the National Wrestling Alliance board, which his father was an influential member of, chose to give one of the Funk brothers a run with the Worlds Heavyweight Championship. Dory Sr. returned home from the NWA meeting and he stated to his boys that “we can get one of you ready”, brother Terry unselfishly nominated his brother to get the title belt.

On 11^th February 1969, Dory Funk Jr. defeated champion Gene Kiniski with a spinning toehold at the Armory in Tampa, Florida to begin his four-year reign. That evening, his father uncharacteristically praised him and said: “you have accomplished a hell of a lot and I’m proud of you.”.

Dory was a consummate champion and went onto to gain a huge following in Japan with his no-nonsense legitimate-looking style. He made his debut in the Land of the Rising Sun later in ‘69, working for the Japan Pro-Wrestling Association tagging with Danny Hodge taking NWA International Tag Team Champions Antonio Inoki & Giant Baba to a one-hour draw. With his ability of strong-style forearm smashes, a variety of suplexes and leglocks, the Japanese fans lapped it up. This became the first of many, many of tours of Japan.

Over the four-year reign, Funk feuded with Jack Brisco in a series of one-hour draws all over the world. From the U.S. to Japan to Mexico to the Caribbean, crowds across many territories sold out for the match. The feud intensified and the brothers got involved as Jack’s brother Jerry Brisco would team up to take on Dory and Terry, again selling out many arenas across the NWA territories.

Dory was scheduled to face Jack in another NWA title defence but he suffered an unfortunate accident with a pickup truck on his father’s ranch. There was speculation through Brisco that Dory was scheduled to drop the title to Jack and the injury was fabricated. Jack states he came to this conclusion due to the history of manipulation tactics used on fellow NWA board members by Dory Sr. in the past.

Nevertheless, he was forced to drop the title in Kansas City on 24^th May 1973, not to Brisco but to 30-year-old hometown hero Harley Race. Race and the Funk family were rumoured to be close friends at this point and presumed by many speculators as a reason why the title was dropped to him rather than Brisco.

Tragedy struck the Funk family just nine days later on 3^rd June 1973. Terry and his father Dory Sr. were at his father ranch with fellow wrestler Les Thornton. Les and Dory Sr. started grappling in good spirits and Les claimed that Dory “couldn’t choke him out”. Les was made to eat his words moments later and tapped but Dory began to feel unwell shortly after. Unfortunately, he suffered a heart attack and passed away while travelling to the hospital.

In their father’s absence, Terry joined Dory in booking the Amarillo territory to great success but their popularity in Japan brought greater triumph. They started regularly competing for Giant Baba’s All Japan Pro Wrestling which saw its inception a year earlier and Dory became a veteran of the promotion. He feuded with Baba, The Destroyer, Jumbo Tsuruta, Abdullah The Butcher, The Sheik and NWA champion Harley Race. Terry joined him soon after working tag matches against teams of the crazy tandem of Abdullah and Sheik and Japanese pairing of Baba and Tsuruta.

In December 1975, Jack Brisco was NWA World Champion and a match was set in Miami Beach, Florida to face Dory for the championship. Brisco had held two reigns with the title over two years and became exhausted with the schedule the champion was expected to honour. He was ready to drop the title, but the NWA board had chosen Terry Funk as his successor. That night, they ran an angle where it was Terry would face Brisco and defeat him to become the champion. The promoter and Brisco used the excuse that Jack had prepared for Dory, not Terry.

The Funk Brothers became big box office stars in AJPW and captured many World’s Strongest Tag Determination League trophies in 1977, 1979, and 1982. On 11th December 1980, the Funks won ‘Match of the Year’ Award from Tokyo Sports for their match against Baba and Tsuruta.

Yet in AJPW, Dory’s greatest accomplishment was winning the NWA International Heavyweight Championship a total of three times. He captured his first by victory in a tournament for the vacant title defeating his brother in April 1981. After dropping the title to Butch Reed that June he went on to recapture it from Reed later that summer. On 9^th October he was defeated by Bruiser Brody in Tokyo but regained it a month later, before eventually losing it back to Brody in April 1982.

Dory went onto to work for Vince McMahon’s WWF in 1986, Puerto Rico and Japan until the mid-90’s when he followed brother Terry to Philadelphia to work for Paul Heyman’s Extreme Championship Wrestling. They competed against the Public Enemy until the feud culminated in a brutal and bloody Barbed Wire Match in the summer of 1994.

Dory nurtures his own talent through his Funkin’ Conservatory in Ocala, Florida which he opened in 1981. Dory now 78 years old, is still active in the ring with his last match (at the time of writing) took place in November 2018 in Japan.

As always, thanks for reading…

Will Burns

Source: Tim Hornbaker – National Wrestling Alliance, Terry Funk – More Than Hardcore, ‘The Funks’ Documentary

1948-1979, Big Time Wrestling - Texas, Features, Houston Wrestling, National Wrestling Alliance, Profiles, Territories

PROFILE: Paul Boesch

May 10, 2020 Will Burns Leave a comment

Paul Boesch left a legacy in Houston and Texas in general, as the heart and soul of professional wrestling to the thousands of fans that had witnessed his product. Through his efforts, Boesch had turned Houston into one of the best promotions in the territories era.

Boesch was born in Brooklyn, New York until him and his family moved twenty miles to Long Beach. He went on to graduate from Long Beach High School in the summer of 1929 and Boesch was a natural athlete. To earn money, he got a job as a lifeguard on the Long Island beaches and during this time, he was lured by Jack Pfefer’s wrestling shows in New York.

Although he is build was athletic, he was never the biggest of guys but he started to train and he stepped into the ring himself on 25^th October 1932 in Staten Island for a Pfefer show. He continued to build a good living and wrestled throughout the northeast and travelled to St. Louis on occasion. Although never a headliner, Boesch was regularly booked and toured through Canada, California and the South Pacific. During this time, he became good friends of Calgary wrestler and promoter Stu Hart, and Boesch had the privilege of introducing Stu to his future wife Helen, while the Canadian was wrestling in the New York area.

Once World War II broke out in 1939, his career came to a halt as he enlisted to fight in Germany. Boesch was deployed over to Europe and serve for the States in the one of the fiercest conflicts of the war – “The Battle of Hürtgen Forest”. Although he received some injuries, he returned home a hero and was awarded many medals including the Purple Heart and the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Distinguished Unit Citation. Boesch wrote and released Road to Huertgen: Forest In Hell later in 1962, which was his memoirs of the battle.

Missouri wrestling promoter Tom Packs invited members from Boesch’s Regiment to the wrestling program labelled “The GI Night” on 5^th October 1945 at the Kiel Auditorium. It was a tremendous tribute and honour for Boesch, who climbed into the ropes to defeat Dick Lever using judo holds in front of over 8,000 in attendance. In the crowd were 118 members of the Gray Bonnet Regiment and 26 convalescents from the Jefferson Barracks who had served with Boesch throughout his military career.

Paul “Bombshell” Boesch settled in Houston wrestling full-time for the Gulf Athletic Club under the leadership of promoter called Morris Sigel. Just after the first World War, Morris’ brother Julius had started promoting wrestling shows at the City Auditorium, weekly on Friday nights to great success. By 1929, Julius left Texas to promote shows in New Orleans and Shreveport in Louisiana, leaving the promotion in the hands of his brother.

Although Morris was inexperienced in the wrestling business, he steered the promotion though good times with his robust business wisdom and the likes of Jim Londos, Orville Brown, Lou Thesz, Wild Bill Longson, Buddy Rogers and Womens’ Champion Mildred Burke on his cards. Sigel would surround himself with people capable of running wrestling shows and during this time, due to a horrific car accident, Boesch would ultimately become one of Morris’ employees.

On 22^nd October 1947, Paul was travelling to Corpus Christi for a show with two other wrestlers, Frank Vallois and Miguel Guzman. They did not make the show that night. A trailer truck had failed to break at a stop sign and crashed into Boesch’s vehicle on Highway 66 and Military Drive in San Antonio – all three were injured. Boesch suffered a break in his right leg and numerous cuts on his head and face. The injury to his leg was fatal to his wrestling career as doctors advised him never to compete in the ring again.

Paul reached out to Morris and Boesch took up administrative duties in the office and trained young wrestlers – he even taught Verne Gagne how to apply the sleeper hold. This would then escalate into commentating on Sigel’s wrestling bouts on radio station KLEE and in January 1949, Boesch would present the first-ever televised wrestling show in Houston simply named “Houston Wrestling with Paul Boesch” – a show that aired for nearly forty years!

Boesch would also occasionally step back in the ring throughout the early 1960s and this spiralled into eventually booking his own shows when Morris sadly passed away on Boxing Day in 1966. In early 1967, he purchased the promotion from Morris’ wife and held good relationships with both the National Wrestling Alliance and Verne Gagne’s American Wrestling Association, so he had a wealth of talent at his disposal. Bringing the very best wrestlers to the Sam Houston Coliseum would elevate the venue as the home of Houston Wrestling.

This was the biggest arena in the area and for Boesch’s shows, the Coliseum would sell-out to nearly 10,000 fans. The venue held some big championship matches, but it was never acknowledged by nationwide wrestling fans as a legendary arena in comparison to the likes of Madison Square Garden, the Kiel Auditorium and the Greensboro Coliseum.

Boesch caught the attention of the NWA which declared Houston “The Wrestling City of the Seventies” at their annual convention and it became home to many World Heavyweight title bouts but only one title switch happened at the Coliseum – Jack Brisco defeating Harley Race on July 20^th 1973.

Throughout the years, Boesch formed relationships with many affiliates of the NWA with the likes of Joe Blanchard’s Southwest Wrestling but one of the most profitable connections was with Fritz von Erich’s Big Time Wrestling. The Texan Fritz and his sons were huge draws for Boesch and this continued until they severed ties in 1981 as Fritz looked to expand his promotion.

In 1981, NWA world champion Harley Race failed to attend an event despite being heavily promoted, Boesch was dismayed that he felt he had let the Houston fans down. He took action and immediately informed the NWA that he was withdrawing his membership.

Boesch forged a relationship with Bill Watts’ Mid-South Wrestling. Stars like Magnum T.A., Butch Reed, Steve Williams, Jim Duggan and tag teams like the Midnight Express and the Rock N’ Roll Express all ventured into the Coliseum and did tremendous business.

A young Tom Pritchard with Paul circa 1982As 1984 emerged, Boesch and Watts was forced into competition with Vincent K. McMahon’s World Wrestling Federation as the McMahon-owned Titan Sports invaded Texas and secured TV time on two independent stations KTXH (Houston) and KTXA (Dallas and Fort Worth). The fans, that had only ever known Boesch’s product, took to the WWF programming well and Boesch, Watts and Von Erich merged to compete with Titan’s shows.

In early 1987, Watts sold his promotion to Jim Crockett Promotions and Boesch was forced to arrange a deal with the Vince McMahon to hold WWF shows in Houston. This was a huge transformation from the city’s longstanding run with the NWA and Watts. Professional wrestling was experiencing a transitional period and WWF was implementing a different style of the sport – a huge contrast to Boesch and his predecessors’ product. The deal only lasted four months and Boesch eventually shut down his Friday night shows at the Coliseum. The end of Houston Wrestling.

Due to failing health, after 55 years of contributions to the sport as a wrestler, a referee, a radio commentator, a TV announcer and a promoter, Boesch decided to call it a day on 28^th August 1987. On that night, McMahons’ WWF hosted his retirement show at the Coliseum in his honour. He had drawn a sell-out crowd one last time.

Boesch did temporarily return and made a deal with Crockett in 1988, so JCP’s stars would wrestle at the Sam Houston Coliseum and they agreed that Boesch would also have an on-air role. However, like the WWF deal, this did not last long Crockett sold his promotion to Ted Turner in November of that year.

Aged 76 years, Paul sadly passed away on March 7^th 1989, after suffering a heart attack at his home in Sugarland, Texas.

Boesch was not only a war hero for his country. Due to his lifelong commitment to the industry, he was a hero in many eyes in professional wrestling.

As always, thanks for reading…

Will Burns

Source:

1980, All Japan Pro Wrestling, Big Time Wrestling - Texas, Central States Wrestling, Championship Wrestling from Florida, Georgia Championship Wrestling, Houston Wrestling, Maple Leaf Wrestling, Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, National Wrestling Alliance, New Japan Pro Wrestling, Pacific Northwest Wrestling, St. Louis Wrestling Club, Territories, Vancouver All Star Wrestling, World Wrestling Federation

Round-Up: May 1980

May 8, 2020 Will Burns Leave a comment

May 1980 was an action-packed month with new NWA World Tag Team Champions, NWA Central States Champion and NWA Missouri Champions all crowned amongst a whole host of others. Read on…Text

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race was jet setting across the world this month appearing in Japan as well as coast to coast around the United States. He still remains as our World Champion but had some close calls.

DATE	EVENT	RESULT
2/5/80	Houston Wrestling – Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, TX	Harley Race and Tony Atlas went to a time-limit 60:00 draw at 1-1 in a Best of Three Falls Match. Race retains the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
4/5/80	Georgia Championship Wrestling – The Omni, Atlanta, GA	Harley Race beat Austin Idol to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Title.
4/5/80	Georgia Championship Wrestling – The Omni, Atlanta, GA	Mr. Wrestling II beat Harley Race in an unsanctioned ‘lights out’ match. This was non-title.
5/5/80	NWA Tri-State Wrestling – Tulsa, OK	Harley Race beat Bruiser Brody to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Title.
6/5/80	World Wrestling Federation – Agricultural Hall, Allentown, PA	Harley Race beat Steve King in a non-title match.
6/5/80	World Wrestling Federation – Agricultural Hall, Allentown, PA	Harley Race beat Frank Williams in a non-title match.
6/5/80	World Wrestling Federation – Agricultural Hall, Allentown, PA	Harley Race beat Angelo Gomez in a non-title match.
13/5/80	Central State Wrestling – Helias High School Gym, Jefferson City, MS	Harley Race beat “Bulldog” Bob Brown to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Title.
14/5/80	Central State Wrestling – Veterans Auditorium, Des Moines, IA	Harley Race beat Bruiser Brody to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Title.
15/5/80	Central State Wrestling – Memorial Hall, Kansas City, KS	Harley Race and Dick Murdoch went to a draw. Race retains the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
17/5/80	Central State Wrestling – Fieldhouse, Chillicothe, MS	Dick Murdoch defeated Harley Race by DQ. Race retains the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
23/5/80	All Japan Pro Wrestling – Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan	Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta defeated Harley Race & Black Terror.
24/5/80	All Japan Pro Wrestling – Masatake Pavilion, Kyoto, Japan	Harley Race defeated Rocky Hata in a non-title match.
25/5/80	All Japan Pro Wrestling – Fruit and Vegetable Market, Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan	Jumbo Tsuruta & Tiger Toguchi defeated Buck Zumhofe & Harley Race.
27/5/80	All Japan Pro Wrestling – Prefectural Gymnasium, Akita, Japan	Harley Race defeated Tiger Toguchi by two falls to one to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Title.
28/5/80	All Japan Pro Wrestling – Nakajima Sports Center, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan	Harley Race and Jumbo Tsuruta went to a time-limit 60:00 draw at 1-1 in a Best of Three Falls Match.
31/5/80	Championship Wrestling from Florida – Bayfront Center, St. Petersburg, FL	Manny Fernandez defeated Harley Race by DQ. Race retained the NWA World Heavyweight Title.