September 28th in the Time Tunnel:
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
Ali Baba 1901
Guy Brunetti 1929
Dick Steinborn 1933
Emily Dole\Mt. Fuji 1957
Happy Birthday:
Atlantis (63)
Steve Blackman (62)
La Diabolica (60)
Shoji Akiyoshi\Jado (57)
Jinny Hahn (36)
Nathan Everhart\Jason Jordan (37)
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.
Elvira Snodgrass 9=28-1956 at the age of 44
40 Year Flashback
9-28-1985 Super Clash: The Night of Champions at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois
Super Clash ‘85, also known as Super Clash: The Night of Champions, was the inaugural event in the Super Clash series promoted by the American Wrestling Association (AWA). It took place on September 28, 1985, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois. This was an outdoor stadium event with a reported paid attendance of around 20,347 to 21,000 fans, though announced as 25,000, generating gate receipts estimated between $200,000 and $288,000.
The event was part of Pro Wrestling USA, a short-lived alliance between the AWA (led by Verne Gagne) and the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA, including Jim Crockett Promotions) aimed at countering the rising dominance of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) following WrestleMania earlier that year. This collaboration allowed for inter-promotional matches featuring talent from AWA, NWA, World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), and even Japanese wrestlers, creating a supercard with multiple world title bouts to draw national attention.
However, backstage tensions marred the event. Disputes over the live gate receipts—Gagne claimed $200,000 while Crockett claimed $288,000—led to NWA stars pulling out of future AWA events and the cancellation of some cards. This was further adding to the backstage narrative that Jim Crockett, Jr was getting hard to get along with after another backstage incident took place at the Hot Summer Night in Honolulu event earlier in the year, and tensions were tight within the NWA about Crockett basically making the transition to totally controlling Ric Flair and the NWA World Championship as JCP’s own “company champion” rather than the Alliance member offices’ champion.
The show was positioned as AWA’s flagship spectacle, but reviews often criticize it for being overly long for the era (13 matches spanning about three hours), with many punch-and-kick heavy bouts lacking depth, though the main events provided more pure wrestling. Today’s premium shows are standard with at least three hours at minimum, but in this era in the evolution of pro wrestling’s business paradigm, anything over two hours for a show was stretching the fan’s attention span and endurance. Having a quality show from top to bottom, even with the best talent was a challenge with several booking leaders having a portion of the show to produce with storylines and finishes.
Chicago was not a traditional Crockett territory at the time, but the crowd was enthusiastic, especially for stars like Magnum TA due to syndication exposure and the reach and power of WTBS, which Crockett had been on for six months at this point. Overall, it represented a pivotal moment in the territorial era’s resistance to WWF’s expansion, but internal distrust among promoters contributed to Pro Wrestling USA’s eventual collapse. The card featured a mix of championship defenses, tag team clashes, and specialty matches, emphasizing patriotic themes (e.g., American heroes vs. foreign heels like Russians), generational battles (young vs. old wrestlers), and inter-promotional rivalries. Many angles involved heel interference, post-match attacks, and controversial finishes to build heat.
Super Clash: The Night of Champions Card and Results, Comiskey Park, Chicago, Illinois
Steve Regal (ch) defeated Brad Rheingans to retain the AWA World Light Heavyweight Title
*Sherri Martel defeated Candi Divine (ch) to win the AWA World Women’s Championship
*Mil Mascaras defeated Buddy Roberts (ch) to win the IWA World Heavyweight Championship
Greg Gagne, Scott Hall & Curt Hennig defeated Ray Stevens, Nick Bockwinkel & Larry Zbyszko
Little Tokyo (ch) defeated Little Mr. T to retain the NWA World Midget’s Title
Jumbo Tsuruta, Giant Baba & Genichiro Tenryu (ch) defeated Harley Race, Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin to retain the Asian Six-Man Championship
Kerry Von Erich defeated Jimmy Garvin w/Precious
The Russians (I & N Koloff & Khruschev) (ch) defeated The Crusher, Dick the Bruiser & Baron Von Raschke to retain the NWA World Six-Man Title
Jerry Blackwell defeated Kamala w/Shiek Adnan Al-Kaisse
The Road Warriors (ch) defeated The Fabulous Freebirds (Hayes\Gordy) to retain the AWA World Tag Team Titles
Sgt Slaughter (ch) defeated Boris Zukhov by DQ to retain the AWA America’s Title
Ric Flair (ch) defeated Magnum TA to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Title
Rick Martel (ch) vs Stan Hansen ended in a DDQ for the AWA World Heavyweight Title
*Title Changes
Pro Wrestling USA and its failure highlighted the challenges of cooperation in the territorial era, accelerating the decline of some promotions, its brief existence underscored the shifting landscape of wrestling as the territory era of wrestling was already in the process of dying due to the changing technology of making wrestling available to consumers, and those consumers’ tastes for wrestling also morphing and shifting.
One Thing I Learned Today About Pro Wrestling History
Pro Wrestling USA operated primarily from 1984 to 1985, dissolving after about a year when Jim Crockett withdrew due to the ongoing disputes. By early 1986, remaining shows were rebranded as AWA programming.
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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