August 28th in the Time Tunnel:
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
Jody Hamilton 1938
Cowboy Lang 1950
Happy Birthday:
Joel Goodhart (72)
"The Colorado Kid" Mike Rapada (61)
Linda Miles\Shaniqua (47)
Colby Corino (29)
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.
Tom Jones 8-28-1978 at the age of 47
Edward "Bearcat" Wright 8/28/1982 at the age of 50
Alexander Charles Newman\Al Lovelock 8-28-1984 at the age of 68
Masayoshi Fujiwara\Mr. Fuji 8/28/2016 at the age of 82
Bill Ash 8/28/2022 at the age of 76
40 Year Flashback
The Evolution of Pro Wrestling
8-27-1985: The debut episode of Pro Wrestling USA aired on the ESPN Cable Sports Network
The Pro Wrestling USA project was an attempt by NWA and AWA promotions to band together to be a loose alliance of promoters from across America to act like a national federation of promotions, which could boast among other things, a combination of both NWA and AWA World Heavyweight Championships on the same card
Pro Wrestling USA television matches were taped in New Jersey, in the heart of the homebase of the WWF. This was an attempt to undermine the WWF's progression of its national expansion and at a time of believed financial weakness of Titan Sports, the parent company of the WWF.
The matches for this first television episode were taped at the Tropicana Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Two of the matches included in the show were:
The Long Riders defeating Kevin Kelly & Larry Winters
Rick Martel, AWA World Champion defeated Freebird Terry Gordy
The episode also included interviews with Larry Zbyszko, Curt Hennig, Jimmy Garvin and Rick Martel, along with a "Mat Classic" showing Verne Gagne vs Nick Bockwinkel from 1981. Even though the show was supposedly featuring talent from the AWA, including the Jerry Jarrett promotion from Nashville and the NWA, the episodes were heavily AWA talent focused.
One Thing I Learned Today About Pro Wrestling History
Mr. Fuji (Harry Fujiwara) began wrestling in 1959. He teamed with King Curtis Iaukea to win the NWA Hawaiian Tag Team Titles in January of 1965.
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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