April 18th in the Tunnel:
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
Tank Morgan 4-18-1933
Happy Birthday:
Debbie Combs (65)
Steve Lombardi (64)
Todd Pettengill (61)
RIP Memorial: We stop & remember those who gave themselves to the business for us, the fans. We salute you and thank you.
Gory Guerrero 4-18-1990 at the age of 69
Wahoo McDaniel 4-18-2002 at the age of 63
Paul Jones 4-18-2018 at the age of 75
Bruno Sammartino 4-18-18 at the age of 82
Jack Lotz 4-18-2020 at the age of 86
Dick Steinborn 4-18-2020 at the age of 86
2025 WWE Hall of Fame TONIGHT after WWE Smackdown as part of Wrestlemania weekend!
Also inducted tonight will be Lex Luger, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Michelle McCool and The Natural Disasters (Typhoon and Earthquake)
Paid subscribers receive my 2025 WWE Legacy Hall of Fame Inductee Special Issue.
Time Tunnel Pro Wrestling Match Flashbacks:
Historical Championship Change Flashback: 4-18-1939 Ed Don George beat Steve Casey to win the Boston version of the AWA World Heavyweight Title for the 3rd time in Albany, New York
*Tony Note: Coming soon from Scot Teal's Crowbar Press will be a book about the life and career of the great Ed Don George. This version of the AWA World Title was promoted and controlled by Boston promoter, Paul Bowser. After Gus Sonneberg defeated Ed "Strangler" Lewis for the original World Championship in 1929, Bowser decided to created his own version of the world championship when the National Boxing Association stripped Sonnenberg of his title. Bowser continued to recognize Sonnenberg as champion using the American Wrestling Association governing body, which in reality, did not eist. Rival promoters countered by launching the National Wrestling Association and creating it's own world title as well. Ed Don George had previously won the title by beating Sonnenberg on December 10th, 1930 and Henri DeGlane on February 10th, 1933.
50-Year Championship Change Flashback: Louis Tillet & Dennis Stamp defeated The Hollywood Blondes (Brown/Roberts) (CH) to win the NWA Americas Tag Team Championship at Grand Olympic in Los Angeles, CA
*Tony Note: Louis Tillet was the booker during this period in Los Angeles' NWA Hollywood Office and he saw a lot of potential in Stamp. Dennis Stamp had much more of a career in pro wrestling than just his appearance in the movie "Beyond The Mat". Booked out by the Amarillo, Texas office, right before this tag team run with Tillet, Stamp had a series of matches with the NWA Americas Champion Greg Valentine that did good business in Southern California. Stamp, who was a Minnesota native, won the 1965 Minnesota State High School Wrestling Championship in the 175 pound weight class. He broke into the pro ranks in 1971 and was named Verne Gagne’s AWA Rookie of the Year for 1971. When he came into the Los Angeles territory, he held the NWA LA Television Championship on two occasions, defeating Man Mountain Mike and Greg Valentine, setting up their later program for the Americas Title. Last week, I was visiting with long time veteran Larry Lane about his memories of the Amarillo Territory for my Dory Funk book research and he fondly remembered that he and Stamp did a program of "amateur matches" around the Amarillo loop. "I really liked working with other amateurs" said Lane, "And Dennis was one of the best. Dennis and I just had fun doing chain wrestling various take downs. He was really a pleasure to be in the ring with when we did those matches."
50-Year Flashback: 4-19-1975: Ric Flair (CH) defeated Ken Patera by DQ to retain the NWA Mid-Atlantic TV Title at the Armory in Lynchburg, Virginia
*Tony Note: Ric had spent the last part of 1974 and first part of 1975 as one-half of the Mid-Atlantic tag Team Champs with Rip Hawk, before defeating Tiger Conway Jr for the Mid-Atlantic Television Title. In late February, when Harley Race departed Georgia as the booker and Tom Renesto replaced him, Ole and Gene Anderson left Georgia for the Carolinas and Booker George Scott paired them up as family "cousins from Minnesota." Flair defended his TV Title five times during April 1975. Two of those were back to back weeks in Charleston, South Carolina on April 4th and 11th against Paul Jones. On the previous week's television "Mid-Atlantic Wrtestling" program (April 16th), Patera got a shot at the title in the WRAL-TV studios, which set up this house show match in Lynchburg on the 18th. Abe Jacobs had also been given an unsuccessful TV Title shot in the TV Studio on April 9th. Flair was just starting to show the heel championship title defense skills here in the mid-70s he would later be so noted for in the 1980s. I should also note for you that Flair had four times the amount of tag team matches in April than title defenses, having around 20 tag matches with his new tag team partner, a newcomer to the Mid-Atlantic Territory in April of 1975, Blackjack Mulligan.
50-Year Flashback 4-19-1975: Ann Casey (CH) vs Dottie Downs for the NWA United States Women's Title at the Houston County Farm Center in Dothan, Alabama
*Tony Note: A forgotten championship from the 1970s, much like the NWA United States Junior Heavyweight Title for the men, the NWA United States Women's Title was used from 1957 to 1988 in a sporadic fashion. Barbara Baker, the one time wife of Ripper Collins, was the first NWA United States Women's Champion recognized in the Midwestern U.S. We do not have any record of the title from 1961 through 1966 when the great Cora Combs started claiming the title after defeating Penny Banner for the championship. Combs kept the title off and on having four different reigns with the belt through 1977. Ann Casey won the title in 1974 and claimed to still have the title when she retired in 1992. Casey was brought into the business by the Great Moolah who met her while Casey was working the ticket counter at a wrestling event in 1962. Ann Casey suffered a heart attack in 2005 and died in 2021 at the age of 82. Dottie Downs was a native of New Orleans and was an active wrestler in the 1970s during the years of 1972 through 1976 and she primarily worked with Ann Casey in various promotions around the United States. This match took place in the Gulf Coast Territory owned and operated by Lee Fields.
Little Known Match of the 1980s:
40-Year Flashback: 4-18-1985: Karl Steiner defeated Bobby Jaggers in Salem, Oregon
*Tony Note: Before Rick Steiner in the 1980s Watts UWF, before joining with his brother Scott to form the Steiner Brothers Tag Team in 1990s, there was another Steiner in the Portland Oregon Territory, this one named Karl. According to Mike Rodgers' Encyclopedia of Portland Wrestling, Karl Steiner was one of the rare wrestlers to win the NWA Northwest Heavyweight Title in his debut in the area of February 23rd, 1985 defeating Jaggers. They were still having their follow-up program here on this card in Salem. Steiner had used other names besides Steiner in his career, he was Bob Dellaserra as well as a kayfabe brother of Roy Hefferman in the Royal Kangaroos Tag Team with Don Kent, Steiner used the name Bob Hefferman. He stayed here in the Northwest until April of the next year of 1986.
40-Year Flashback: 4-18-1985: Austin Idol vs Lord Humongous at the Civic Center in Montgomery, Alabama
*Tony Note: *Tony Note: Dennis McCord had certainly come a long way from breaking into the business in Florida around the same time as Mike Graham and Steve Kiern. McCord benefitted from the booking mind of Bill Watts who ran angles and programs for McCord as the masked Super Texan in Florida and Super A in Georgia. Once McCord learned to increase his skills on the microphone, changed his name to Austin idol and had national exposure on Superstation Channel 17, WTBS in angles with The Freebirds and Kevin Sullivan, his career was off and running. He had good runs in the 1980s just alternating between Georgia, Tennessee and Florida. This match in Ron Fuller's Southeastern Championship Wrestling also featured Jeff Van Camp wearing the Jason Voorhees gimmick from Friday the 13th.
One Thing I Learned Today About Pro Wrestling History:
The wrestling word ‘Heel,’ the slang term originated in 1914, referring to criminals or bad guys being the lowest forms of humanity…that being the heel of someone’s foot.
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!
Remember, paid subscribers get access to exclusive and special content such as to commemorate his induction to the WWE Hall of Fame, I'll be publishing some special issues including a multi-part career retrospective on Dory Funk, Sr, a multi-part flashback on the Tennessee Territory in April 1975 including all the recorded cards for the month, some special audio and video interviews and more.