August 10th in the Time Tunnel:
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
Wally Dusek 1909
Jim Crockett, Jr 1944
Bret Wayne Sawyer 1960
Nicole Bass 1964
Happy Birthday:
Fred Ottman\Typhoon (69)
Savio Verga (61)
Michael DiPoli\Roadkill (49)
Wade Barrett (45)
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.
Steve Muslin\Steve Travis 8-10-2018 at the age of 68
50 Year Flashback:
1975: Sam Muchnick Steps Down as President of the NWA
On this weekend 50 years ago in 1975, the St. Louis Post Dispatch was full of wrestling talk. The "opening season" card had been held Friday night at the Kiel Auditorium as a cap off to the week which in the previous days the NWA Convention had been held. It was the 27th anniversary of the National Wrestling Alliance.
In Friday night's card at the Kiel, Sam Muchnick had promoted a great card as usual. In August, he always presented his first Friday night card as an "opening season" night, referring back to the earlier years where because he didn't want sports fans to have to choose whether to go to Busch Stadium to see the Cardinals or come to the Kiel to see wrestling, Muchnick would close for the summer baseball season and then re-open in the dog days of August.
On top the previous Friday night, as I noted in Issue 115 (August 8th, 2025), Jack Brisco the NWA Champion had an excellent match against Giant Baba, who was the owner, promoter and member from Japan for the NWA. Brisco and Baba had done a title switch in 1974 on a Japanese tour for a week with Brisco regaining the title at the end of the series of matches.
So, this match in St. Louis held interest for American fans because even though they hadn't seen the match, knew that Baba had beaten Brisco for the title, so this rematch was exciting as fans came thinking it could happen again. Also, having the Japanese affiliation increased the worldwide relevance and appearance of the National Wrestling Alliance brand.
During the NWA Convention, the Championship Committee had met and voted to change the championship from Brisco to Terry Funk after Brisco had let Muchnick know he had enough of the worldwide schedule and wanted to rid himself of both the title and the schedule as soon as possible. Now it was on the Committee to determine when and how it would make the most sense to have the title switch match.
I will be releasing a special article in my Time Tunnel Evolution of Pro Wrestling Series for Paid Subscribers soon covering all the various issues covered at the 1975 NWA Convention.
Also happening at the 1975 convention was Sam Muchnick's resolute attitude that he was not going to continue any further as the NWA President. The membership had voted the Dallas, Texas Big Time Wrestling booking office member, Fritz Von Erich (Jack Adkisson) as the new President.
So, the St. Louis Post Dispatch ran a new page article about Muchnick's long-time impact on the City of St. Louis and his baseball background as a sportswriter.
Pictured: St. Louis Post Dispatch, Muchnick Article by Bob Broeg
Sunday Special Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel Week-In-Review 8/3-8/9/2025
This Past Week's Issues of The Daily Chronicle
Issue 110, Sunday August 3rd, 2025
Issue 110: 1985: A Hot Summer Night In Hawaii, Time Tunnel Week In Review
Issue 111, Monday August 4th, 2025:
Issue 111: 1955: Studio Wrestling Debuts In New York on DuMont
Issue 112, Tuesday, August 5th, 2025
Issue 112: 1933: Beall Murder, 1965: NEW WWWF Tag Champs, 1985; World Class Israeli Tour
Issue 113, Wednesday August 6th, 2025
Issue 113: 1965: NEW IWA World Champ in Australia, 1975: NEW Brass Knucks Champ in Lubbock
Issue 114, Thursday August 7th, 2025
Issue 115, Friday, August 8th, 2025
Issue 116, Saturday, August 9th, 2025
Issue 116: 1977: Hogan Debut 1980: Showdown at Shea In A Cage
Special Issues for Paid Subscribers
Thursday, August 7th: Leo "Daniel Boone" Savage, Depression-Era Texas World Champion
Leo "Daniel Boone" Savage, Depression-Era Texas World Champion
Time Tunnel Podcast This Week: Personalities, Territories, Towns and Buildings
Episode 17: The Life and Career of Plowboy Frazier and The Tennessee Territory June and July 1975
Episode 17: The Life & Career of Plowboy Frazier and Tennessee June & July 1975
What I'm Reading Now
Professional Wrestling in the Pacific Northwest: A History, 1883 to Present by Steve Verrier
A Decided Novelty: The Essential Guide to Black Pro Wrestling History, 1880 to 1950 by Ian Douglass
I Was a Teenage Professional Wrestler by Ted Lewin
Podcasts I'm Listening to Now
Portland Wrestling Obscurities: Forgotten, Brief and Barely Remembered with Frank Culbertson
My good friend and our Time Tunnel Portland Wrestling Analyst and Commentator, Frank Culbertson (@ExcitementAir on X) is doing a podcast about the wrestlers who passed through Portland Wrestling that you may never have heard of before, but Frank points out the impact each of these performers made while working in Portland. I love this kind of subject matter in wrestling history. The first episode was great, and Frank has been a contributor and helper to Mike Rodgers on all his published books on Portland Wrestling and this podcast is based on the book, "The Encyclopedia of Portland Wrestling." These episodes are quick and to the point and I get out my wrestling history notebook on Portland Wrestling, put my pen in my hand to take notes and hit the PLAY button for great content.
Portland Wrestling Obscurities: Forgotton, Brief and Barely Remembered
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 some special issues including a multi-part deep dives on wrestling territories, wrestler bios and championship title histories, special audio and video interviews on territory pro wrestling and more available in the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel for Paid Subscribers.