April 17th in the Tunnel:
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper 4-17-1954
Happy Birthday Today:
Nailz\Kevin Kelly (67)
Dasha Gonzalez (37)
Bandido (30)
RIP Memorial: We stop & remember those who gave themselves to the business for us, the fans. We salute you and thank you.
Arturo Diaz Mendoza\Villano III 4-17-1989 at the age of 39
Mitsu Arakawa 4-17-1997 at the age of 69
Ella Waldek 4-17-2013 at the age of 83
*Tony Note: One of the wildest incidents in pro wrestling history happened when Janet Wolfe died while in a pro wrestling match with Ella Waldek. Wolfe had taken a body slam from Waldek in a tag team match, although the coroner ruled she was not killed because of that move. After taking the slam, Wolfe rolled out of the ring and collapsed at ringside. Waldek called for the timekeeper to come and help get Wolfe away from the ring. Though Wolfe's death was ruled to be an accident, police initially arrested Waldek and the others in the match with were Mae Young and Eva Lee. The police considered charging Waldek and the other two with manslaughter, all three women wrestlers were released. Of course, as a result of the incident, crowds started coming to see Waldek's matches. Ella Waldek had to endure crowds chanting "murderer" at her for the remainder of her career.
Joanie Marie Laurer\Chyna 4-17-2016 at the age of 46
Matthew Tapunu'u Anoa'i\Rosey 4-17-2017 at the age of 47
Time Tunnel Flashbacks:
53-Year Championship Change Flashback 4-17-1972: Jackie Fargo and Jerry Jarrett defeated The Interns in a hair vs. title match to win the Mid-America NWA Southern Tag Team titles at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee
*Tony Note: Hair matches have always been box office in Tennessee and none was hotter than this one, especially due to the program involving the babyface team of Jarrett & Fargo and the heel team of The Interns. Fargo & Jarrett had lost the Southern Tag Titles to The Interns the previous week in Memphis in a 2 out of 3 falls match that had drawn close to 5,500 in Memphis. Now, a week later, with the popular two faces' hair on the line against the hated team's masks, the crowd was even hotter.
50-Year Card Flashback 4-17-1975: At the Sports Arena in Amarillo, Texas
Today we are spotlighting a full card from Amarillo on a regular Thursday night in Amarillo.
Card Results:
Dory Funk Jr & Ricky Romero (CH) defeated The Red Devils (Gordman & Goliath) by CO for the NWA Western States Tag Team Titles
Scott Casey defeated Karl Von Steiger (CH) for the NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Championship
Ray Stevens & Bobby Jaggers vs Nick Kozak & Moose Morowski ended as a 20 min time limit draw
Don Fargo defeated Roddy Piper
Salvadore Dominguez defeated Frank Dalton
*Tony Note: You'll notice a very young Roddy Piper on the card here, on loan from the Dallas Booking Office, where Roddy was working the first and second match on the cards against Don Serrano, Kim Duk and others. On this night, he gets matched with the veteran Don Fargo, who I'm sure called the match. Ray Stevens lived in Amarillo at this time and was pulling double duty here as part of the office in Amarillo and also holding the AWA World Tag Team Titles with Nick Bockwinkel. Due to the schedule of the AWA, he was able to do both. Scott Casey was a babyface broken into the business here in Amarillo and Von Steiger was a long time friend of the Funk family. Von Steiger had been doing some work for the Tulsa office, and some shots for Tennessee, so he's on his way out, dropping the Texas Brass Knucks belt to Casey. Black Gordman and Great Goliath were the top heel tag team in the territory since the Fall of 1974, and this match was part of the top tag team program in the territory at the time. Funk Jr and Romero had a hot program with Gordman and Goliath and this being their 3rd match for the tag titles in Amarillo. “We haven’t lost to Funk and Romero yet” said Goliath. “The referees have stopped both matches, Ted DiBiase (who was refereeing the match) was knocked down in our first match and he disqualified us,” added Goliath. “Alex Perez said our other match got out of control and stopped the match. We didn’t lose but we couldn’t win the championship either. All we want is for the referee to let us wrestle on Thursday night.”1
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50-Year Flashback 4-17-1975: Jerry Oates (CH) defeated Lord Alfred Hayes to retain the NWA Central States Title at the Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Missouri
*Tony Note: From Mid-1974 through 1975, Jerry Oates was the top babyface in the Central States territory. Holding the NWA World Tag Team Titles with St. Joseph native, Mike George, also having a tag team run with his brother, Ted Oates and defeating local mainstay Bob Brown for the Central Title, Oates drew good money in this area. In this match with one of the best workers of the 60's and 70's, Lord Alfred Hayes, I'm sure this was a great match in the territories' home base arena.
50-Year Flashback 4-17-1975: Jerry Lawler & Don Kent vs Jerry Brisco & Rocky Johnson (CH) no DQ match for NWA Georgia Tag Team Titles at the Memorial Gymnasium in Rome, Georgia
*Tony Note: Jerry Lawler had been sent to Georgia at the end of January after refusing to be booked in the eastern end of the Tennessee Territory. Booker Jerry Jarrett also felt besides Lawler needing a lesson in being agreeable, also needed experience in other territories if he was going to gather votes from the Championship Committee for Lawler to NWA World Champion at some point. Jerry Brisco and Rocky Johnson are one of the great forgotten babyface teams of the 1970s.
40-Year Flashback 4-17-1985: The U.S. Express (Windham & Rotundo) defeated The Iron Shiek & Nikolai Volkoff (CH) by CO for the WWF World Tag Team Titles in Buffalo, New York
*Tony Note: A booker's match made in Heaven. Two wholesome, young, All-American babyfaces trying to avenge their loss and regain the World Tag Titles from foreign menace heels from The Soviet Union and Iran. What could be better to rile up a crowd, especially when Nikolai sings? With the exception of a recent women's match in WWE, we don't see many countout finishes in modern wrestling. Count outs and Double Count outs were much more frequent in this era.
40-Year Flashback 4-17-1985: Terry Taylor (CH) defeated Jake Roberts to retain the North American Heavyweight Title at the City Auditorium in Vicksburg, Mississippi
*Tony Note: Terry Taylor won the Mid-South North American Championship from Ted DiBiase on March 13th, 1985 and held on it for almost 90 days, before losing it to The Masked Nightmare (Randy Colley) the latter part of May. 1985 may be Taylor's most successful year in pro wrestling as he will be leaving soon for Jim Crockett Promotions, where he'll win the NWA National Heavyweight Title in a program with Black Bart and then be programmed with Buddy Landel.
One Thing I Learned Today About Pro Wrestling History:
An early gimmick for Pat Patterson was “Pretty" Pat Patterson.2
Thank You for Reading
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 and insights, please share it with folks you think might like to be a subscriber!
Amarillo Globe April 15th, 1975
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