April 20th in the Tunnel:
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
Sheik Ali 1827
Tony Marino\Battman 1931
Happy Birthday:
Johnny Stamboli (48)
Garrett Bischoff (41)
Brian Myers (40)
RIP Memorial: We stop & remember those on the day they passed on and who gave themselves to the business for us, the fans. We salute you and thank you.
Joe Malcewicz 4-20-1962 at the age of 65
Rick Rude 4-20-1999 at the of 40
Time Tunnel Pro Wrestling Match Flashbacks:
Historical Flashback: 4-20-1895 Martin "Farmer" Burns defeated Evan "Strangler" Lewis to win the American Heavyweight Championship in Chicago, Illinois
Pictured: Farmer Burns and Frank Gotch
*Tony Note: Farmer Burns is a legendary iconic figure within Professional Wrestling. He was not only a wrestler, but also a coach and teacher to several notable wrestlers including Frank Gotch. Burns started wrestling as a teenager and made money traveling around the country in carnivals and fairs. After today's match flashback, he held this American Title for two years. Most historians agree that matches during this time were "shoots", which were not cooperative between the contestants, nor did they have pre-determined finishes. His tremendous physical strength was developed from age 11, when he started working on a farm in Iowa to support his family after his father's death. Evan was the original "Strangler Lewis", that Ed "Strangler Lewis" would later derive his kayfabe identity. The original Strangler, Evan Lewis, was nicknamed "strangler" because of his invention and perfection of his "stranglehold", also referred to as a "neck yoke", commonly called a "sleeper hold" today.
60-Year Flashback 4-20-1965: Lou Thesz (CH) defeated Pat O'Connor by CO to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Title at the County Coliseum in El Paso, Texas
*Tony Note: Excellent world title match in this flashback by two of the best technical wrestlers of the day. Thesz was persuaded to come back by the NWA Promoters for one last World Championship run and he faced Pat O'Connor, a former NWA World Champion here. Interesting about this match is that while Pat O'Connor drew good money as champion in West Texas, he was not known as a hometown wrestler here. It was probably perceived by local fans in El Paso that this was a "Kiel Auditorium St Louis-type Match" lifted from that arena and inserted here in West Texas. O'Connor had a great, close relationship with Doc Sarpolis, the majority owner and booker for the territory, Thesz did not. Thesz probably still carried some resentment toward Sarpolis when he was President of the NWA, he did not formally recognize Thesz' World Championship, but rather a World Title created in West Texas which Gene Kiniski carried. It was politically worked out and agreed to, that Thesz would unify the two titles, then drop the NWA Title to Kiniski the next year.
60-Year Flashback 4-20-1965: Dory Funk, Don Curtis & The Lawman Don Slatton vs John Tolos, Pedro Godoy & Sputnik Monroe at the Ector County Coliseum in Odessa, Texas
*Tony Note: On the same night in the West Texas Territory, this card took place in Odessa. Tolos, primarily known for his Northern California runs, had a few great runs here in West Texas as a heel, dating back to the mid-1950s. He had several money drawing programs with Funk in the territory, as also did his tag team partner here, Sputnik Monroe. Later this year, Monroe would participate in a match that would be Terry Funk's debut match in Amarillo. Pedro Godoy was a big, burly wrestler who worked in most of the major promotions in the 1960s and 70s, having a very notable run in the Detroit promotion in the latter 60s. He also worked under a mask as one of the masked team, The Medics with Juan Sebastian in St. Louis and other territories.
50-Year Flashback 4-20-1975: Bob Sweetan vs Vic Muehler in a Texas Death Match at the East Park Recreation Center in Houma, Louisiana
Pictured: Vic Muehler, Frankie Cain, Dusty Rhodes and Don Duffy
*Tony Note: Sweetan had been the number one or two babyface during this time for LeRoy McGuirk and Muehler was his tag team partner, having a short run as the NWA US Tag Team Champions. Sweetan had a change of heart and had turned on Muehler in this same town, Houma two weeks earlier. Houma was the regular Sunday town for McGuirk in a time when most Southern and Midwest Promotions did not run on Sundays, which would continue until the late 1970s. Muehler was a great babyface in the territorial era that is all but forgotten in modern times. Muehler is a great example of why this newsletter exists, to keep the memory of some of these great wrestlers alive for this and future generations.
50-Year Flashback 4-20-1975: Ken Lucas & Dennis Hall vs The Mighty Yankees at the Municipal Auditorium in Pensacola, Florida
*Tony Note: Two great teams on both sides of the coin working here in Pensacola for Lee Fields' Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling. Lucas and Hall were journeymen babyfaces who worked throughout the Southern territories. Lucas would be the person who developed the tag team talents of Ricky Morton. They were matched up in Memphis in the early 1980 by booker Jerry Jarrett and they had a notable run for Joe Blanchard in San Antonio. Dennis Hall had unlimited matches both as a singles and tag team wrestler in all the Southern Territories. The Mighty Yankee gimmick was used by a single wrestler named Ray Villmer in 1959, then a masked Mighty Yankee tag team in Texas in the early 60s, then a very successful masked team for Gulas-Welch in the late 60s managed by Saul Weingeroff. That was Eddie Sullivan and Frank Morrell. This version of the Yankees was Curtis Smith and Mike McManus.
40-Year Flashback 4-20-1985: Greg Valentine (CH) defeated Tito Santana in a Lumberjack Match to retain the WWF Intercontinental Title at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota
*Tony Note: Valentine had beaten Santana for the title brutally focusing on Santana's injured knee in the match. This continued to be a focal point in their feud. In this segment of their program together, the gimmick of the Lumberjack camp match was utilized. It was usually promoted to settle disputes in lumberjack camps with two guys fighting within a circle and the rest of the lumberjacks encircled around, making sure neither man could give up or run away. Vince McMahon was in full force invasion mode here, as Bloomington was in the core of the AWA wrestling territory, with the home base of Gagne's operation being in Minneapolis/St. Paul.
40-Year Flashback 4-20-1985: Pez Whatley defeated Rip Rogers in a Loser Leaves Town Match at the Convention Center in Cleveland, Ohio
Pictured: “Hustler” Rip Rogers and “Pistol” Pez Whatley
*Tony Note: This is a match I saw countless times in Angelo Poffo's ICW with the "Loser Leaves Town" gimmick stipulation thrown in for good measure. These guys worked well together as singles when I saw them in 1980 and 1981 until Whatley turned heel and joined Rogers as the Convertible Blondes. Whatley is the babyface and Rogers is the heel in this match, as both are on the short-lived Georgia crew after Jim Crockett Promotions had purchased Georgia from Ole Anderson and his partners a month or two before. For a time, Crockett ran two crews, one for the Georgia-loop, which was booked loosely by Dick Slater, focusing on Ohio, Michigan and West Virginia as well as the old Georgia towns. The regular crew from Charlotte, booked by Dusty toured the Mid-Atlantic loop. Once they took over the Saturday night WTBS slot, guys from both crews appeared on the show and they used select guys from both in the Omni house shows. This lasted through the Summer of '85, until they consolidated the two crews and ran everything out of the Charlotte office, which then meant cutbacks on guys. Rogers left and Whatley stayed, having a good run as a mid-Card heel in the ongoing Paul Jones and Jimmy Valiant feud. I had a chance to meet up with Whatley at a house show I attended in 1986, and he remembered me from the old Armory shows he did in ICW in Paducah, KY where we interacted quite a bit. We lost Whatley in 2005. Thankfully, we still have Rip Rogers with us, who is a noted trainer of wrestlers and has a weekly podcast commenting on wrestling past and present.
One Thing I Learned Today About Pro Wrestling History:
In addition to wrestling in his High School and Collegiate career, Sylvester Ritter (Junkyard Dog) also lettered in football as well as track and field.1
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 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.
The King of New Orleans: How The Junkyaard Dog Became Professional Wrestling’s First Black Superhero by Greg Klein