August 9th in the Time Tunnel:
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
Nat Pendleton 1895
Dwayne Peal\Buddy Wayne 1934
Little Brutus\Tiny Tim Girard 1937
Happy Birthday:
Caleb DeWall\Silas Young (45)
Sam Polinsky\Sam Adonis (36)
Alexis Cabrera\Alexa Bliss (34)
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.
Chris Davros\Babe Zaharias 8-9-1957 at the age of 43
Sam Avey 8-9-1962 at the age of 67
Jackie Sato 8-9-1999 at the age of 41
Frederich Von Schacht 8-9-2001 at the age of 90
James Arthur Harris\Kamala 8-9-2020 at the age 70
Gene LeBell 8-9-2022 at the age of 89
Kevin Sullivan 8-9-2024 at the age of 74
Pro Wrestler Debuts
8-9-1955 Don Kent
He debuted at the Mar-Creek Inn in Battle Creek, Michigan going to a 20-minute draw with Arvid Silas.
8-9-1977 Terry Bollea\Hulk Hogan
He debuted under a mask as the Super Destroyer and lost his first match to Don Serrano at the John Carroll High School Gym in Fort Pierce, Florida
45 Year Flashback
Showdown at Shea Stadium
8-9-1980 Bruno Sammartino defeated Larry Zybyszko in a cage match at Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York.
This was the 3rd and final "Showdown at Shea". It drew 36,295 fans to see Bruno gets his final revenge against Zbyszko in a confined area where he couldn't run away but take his whipping again for betraying his mentor.
Clip: Zbyszko and Sammartino interviews and a clip of the cage match at Shea Stadium, August 9th, 1980
It was a massive card for WWWF standards at the time with 13 matches booked for the show. The semi-main event was Andre the Giant defeating Hulk Hogan.
Clip: Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan in the Showdown at Shea Stadium Match, August 9th, 1980, Flushing, New York
There was a title change on the show with Bob Backlund and Pedro Morales defeating The Wild Samoans (Afa\Sika) in the 5th match on the show, to win the WWF World Tag Team belts in a 13-minute match. Also, the WWF Intercontinental Title was defended by the champion Ken Patera who kept the title by count out against Tony Atlas in a battle of the strongmen.
The WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship was defended as the champion Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Chavo Guerrero in what was I can imagine a fantastic match knowing both young guys performance at the time. Interestingly enough, the NWF Heavyweight Title, held by Antonio Inoki was defended as he beat Larry Sharpe.
One Thing I Learned Today About Pro Wrestling History
There were three "Showdown at Shea" shows put on by the WWWF and WWF. The first one was September 30th, 1972, featuring Pedro Morales defending the WWF Heavyweight Title against Bruno Sammartino. The second was June 25th, 1976, with Bruno Sammartino defending his title against Stan Hansen with the wrestler vs boxer gimmick match of Muhammad Ali vs Antonio Inoki. The third was today's flashback of August 9th, 1980.
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!
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