April 25 in the Tunnel:
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
Roy "Cowboy Tex" Graham 1910
Joe Garibaldi 1911
Walter Palmer 1912
Fred Volrich\Man Mountain Dean, Jr 1925
George "Scrap Iron" Gadaski 1930
Claude Ouimet\Gustav the Giant 1961
Gonzalo Gomez\El Sagardo 1975
Happy Birthday:
Donald Takeshi (75)
Carl Fergie (72)
J.T. Smith (58)
Bay Ragni\Chubby Dudley (55)
Darnell Kittrell\BLK Jeez (50)
RIP Memorial: We stop & remember those who have passed on this day and gave themselves to the business for us, the fans. We salute you and thank you.
Henry Weber 4-25-1936 at the age of 50
Herman Hickman 4-25-1958 at the age of 47
Jimmy Demetral 4-25-1978 at the age of 86
Frank Robinson\Farmer Brown\Hillbilly Stumpy 4-25-1983 at the age of 66
(no photo available)
Al Getz 4-25-1992 at the age of 83
Tom Renesto\The Assassin 4-25-2000 at the age of 72
Connor "The Crusher" Michalek 4-25-2014 at the age of 8
Toro Bill, Jr 4-25-2022 at the age of 35
Select Time Tunnel Pro Wrestling Match Flashbacks On This Day:
Championship Change Flashback: 4-25-1947 Lou Thesz defeated Whipper Billy Watson to win the National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship for the 2nd time in St Louis, Missouri
*Tony Note: Whipper Billy Watson had been Thesz' choice to drop the title to so he could take a break from his schedule. The Association World title would only exist another year or so as Tom Packs controlled, along with Thesz, this title, but Packs sold out to Sam Muchnick and some other National Wrestling Alliance promoters who were minority partners with Muchnick in St Louis, and the groups merged. This created the opportunity to unify the Association title with the Alliance title, with the Alliance title being the active championship going forward.
Whipper Billy was a Canadian, and two Canadian promoters, Frank Tunney and Eddie Quinn were part of the group that was part of the merge and buy-out, so this trio of promoters (Muchnick, Tunney and Quinn) kept their ownership of the NWA World Title through Thesz, who also had a piece of the St Louis business as well. They did what they wanted with the World Championship and mainly kept it within their circle. Therefore, most of the World Title switches took place in St Louis or Toronto, with the exception of the Comiskey Park switch with Buddy Rogers. After that, the title started changing hands in other cities based on where the power base was shifting, Florida, Kansas City, Houston all got switches late in the 1960s and 1970s.
52-Year Flashback 4-25-1973: Ken Patera & Don Muraco beat Dusty Rhodes & Dick Murdoch in Fargo, North Dakota with the winner getting a shot at the AWA World Tag Team Champs Bockwinkel & Stevens
*Tony Note: Although they teamed up for special matches in the 1970s against various teams, this would be nearing the end of the last ride for the Texas Outlaws, Dusty Rhodes and Dick Murdoch. Even though they lost this match, they were actually in a house show program across the AWA with Stevens and Bockwinkel for the AWA titles, so this match was a gimmick angle specifically to draw fans in Fargo. Because of Dusty's huge success as a babyface attraction in the rest of the 1970s and 1980s, and to some degree, the success of Murdoch, the Outlaws are a mythical part are both men's storyline past. They were an amazing tag team that had great instincts with each other in the ring. They were a machine. If you watch some of the video that is available of their matches, you will be amazed at how well-oiled they really were. Each man benefitted from splitting up, but if they had stayed together another 5 years and had success in either the Carolinas or Georgia, they would be considered one of the greatest of all time.
50-Year Flashback 4-25-1975: Andre the Giant defeated Abdullah the Butcher at the Omni in Atlanta, Georgia
*Tony Note: Abdullah was coming off an NWA US Title run in the Detroit Territory for Ed Farhat, The Sheik and also some appearances as the champion in Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Abdullah was now in the number 1 heel spot in the Atlanta Office and the Georgia Territory. He would have a program with Andre, Bobo Brazil and The Sheik with they came into the territory, as well as Georgia Territory full-timers, Don Muraco, Rocky Johnson, Olympian Chris Taylor. Abdullah was very mobile for his size, could move around the ring really well and was very over this early in his career. He would slowly become the special attraction heel who brawled and bled, but he had longer, more quality wrestling matches at this stage of his career.
50-Year Flashback 4-25-1975: Gran Markus defeated Al Madril (CH) by DQ by 2 falls to 1 for the NWA Texas Heavyweight Title at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston, Texas
*Tony Note: Markus became a star of note in the 70s attaining in Mexico important victories like winning the hair of both Enrique Vera and Raul Reyes (both at Arena México), and the mask of Texas Ranger (Jose Lothario) in the Plaza de Toros Monumental de Monterrey.
It was in Mexico when he started his legendary feud with Jose Lothario, even beating him in a match for the Northern Heavyweight Title in Monterrey. During this run in Texas, being booked out of the Dallas office by Red Bastien, he was managed in storyline by The Baron (Tony Rocco). He often wrestled in a tag team with The Baron and held the Texas Heavyweight Title off and on in late 1974 and during this period in 1975, always being in the title picture for the number 2 singles title for the territory. The American Championship was held very solidly by territory owner Fritz Von Erich, so with the exception of the occasional program or angle Von Erich was involved in to boost ticket sales, the Texas Title and the Texas Brass Knuckles Title were the two singles titles most of the angles and title programs revolved around. Markus and Lothario drew big money for the southern, more Hispanic markets of San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Houston.
"Little Person" Focus: 50-Year Flashback 4-25-1975: Sonny Boy Hayes & Little Louie (CH) defeated Little Tokyo & Lord Littlebrook to defend the Midget's World Tag Team Titles at the Zembo Mosque in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
*Tony Note: I want to highlight and feature the "little persons" of Pro wrestling from time to time in this newsletter, because they were a very important part of pro wrestling, just as the women were in 1975. I hope you understand they were commonly referred to as "midget wrestlers" back then. It was not an offensive or derogatory term in that era, and even though societal culture has determined that the word is not appropriate in this day and time, we cannot report on or feature historical items accurately without referring to the terms used back then. Lord Littlebrook was one of the most influential and important midget wrestlers in pro wrestling history. He held the NWA World Midgets Championship for most of the 1970s decade and in this match flashback, he and his often tag team partner, Little Tokyo are challenging for the World Midget Tag Team Titles. Since Littlebrook booked and handled most of the midget wrestlers working in pro wrestling, I’m sure he used the World singles title and World tag titles as gimmicks where he decided it fit or could enhance the match in the territory.
If you ask the internet, it will tell you no such championship ever existed until the 1990s, however, here they are, in a match for it here on a WWWF card on this date in 1975. Littlebrook is actually noted for another interesting fact, he is credited with being the first to use "high-flying" tactics in the ring on his opponents, later to be popularized by such wrestlers as Jimmy Snuka, Koko Ware and Shawn Michaels to name a few. Littlebrook broke into the business in 1949 and retired in 1997, an almost amazing 50 year run in the business. Originally from England, he lived for a time in Canada, then Littlebrook moved to St Joseph, Missouri, where he started a wrestling school and trained a ton of guys, not just little guys, but bigger wrestlers also. He trained Ed Wiskowski, known later in his career as Colonel DeBeers, who was also from St Joseph and recently passed away. He also had a hand in training Betty Niccoli, Mike George and Butch Reed.
Women Focus: 40-Year Flashback: 4-25-1985: Wendi Richter (CH) defeated Leilani Kai to retain the WWF Women's Title Match in Houston, Texas
*Tony Note: Richter's career really wasn't very long but was very notable. She trained with The Fabulous Moolah's school in South Carolina and got her fame when the "Rock and Wrestling" phenomenon hit the WWF and MTV, as Richter was paired up with Cyndi Lauper and her manager Dave Wolff. While she was Moolah's school, she trained alongside her opponent in this match, Leilani Kai. After both were ready to hit the pro ranks and started being booked, Kai flourished and loved the trips to Japan during the 1980s while Richter despised them. "I'd rather be dead than live there back then. Dead! There was nothing there I liked" said Richter on a recent episode of the Brisco and Bradshaw Show. "I would get on this bus with all the other girls and we would drive and it would just be a rice field or something, the middle of nowhere and they made the All-Japan girls set up everything for the show, set up the ring, set up the chairs, put up the barricades, everything and I sat in that hot bubs all day with no air conditioning, it was horrible."1
Leilani had defeated Richter for the Title earlier in 1985 at the War to Settle the Score event, then Richter regained the Championship at the first WrestleMania. This was part of their re-match program with Richter back as the Champion. During this period, Richter referred to herself as "150 pounds of twisted steel and sex appeal", borrowing a line from both Michael Hayes and Austn Idol, whom Richter had probably worked with earlier in her career. At the height of her run, she was in Lauper's music video for the pop hit song, "She Bop". The other interesting thing about the match we are flashing back to today was when the WWF was in direct competition with Bill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling for the Houston market. They had a hard time cracking that nut until Watts sold to Crockett and Paul Boesch and Peter Birkholtz aligned themselves with Vince McMahon around 1987.
One Thing I Learned Today About Pro Wrestling History:
The 3rd Blackjack besides Mulligan and Lanza: Blackjack Daniels was the brother-in-law and tag team partner of Stan Kowalski. His real name was Jack Danielson who passed away in Forest Lake (where he had lived for the previous 30 years) on July 25th, 2012. He retired in 1972 and took a job at a nursery farm in Forest Lake. He was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
I found him by tracking the Amarillo/West Texas booking in 1962. He tagged with Kowalski. Daniels and Kowalski won the Southern Tag Championship in 1967. He had around 200 matches between 1950 and 1972. He was discovered working as a bouncer at a club called “The Flame” in Minneapolis. After tossing several pro wrestlers, they invited him into the insides of the business and trained him for pro wrestling. “The Big K” Stan Kowalski was married to Jack’s sister Cleo. He was a military veteran having served in the US Navy for 5 years. He was 6ft 1in and 280 pounds.
Thank You for Reading
I'm Tony Richards, Pro Wrestling Historian, Author and Storyteller. I share pro wrestling historical items in each issue of the Time Tunnel Pro Wrestling History Newsletter. Thanks for reading! If you enjoy my information on select events, matches and insights, please share it with folks you think might like to be a subscriber!
Remember, paid subscribers get access to exclusive and special content such as to commemorate his induction to the WWE Hall of Fame, I'll be publishing some special issues including a multi-part career retrospective on Dory Funk, Sr, a multi-part flashback on the Tennessee Territory in April 1975 including all the recorded cards for the month, some special audio and video interviews and more.
Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw, March 20th, 2025