June 15th in the Tunnel:
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
Earl McCready 1905
Brad Armstrong 1962
Happy Birthday:
Scott Norton (64)
Chuck Palumbo (54)
Pamela Martinez\Bayley (36)
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.
Mike Clancy 6-15-1988 at the age of 64
Dick Murdoch 6-15-1996 at the age of 49
Sherry Russell\Sensational Sherri Martel 6-15-2007 at the age of 49
Mercedes Waukago\Princess Tona Tomah 6-15-2007 at the age of 72
Gilberto Melendez\Gypsy Joe 6-15-2016 at the age of 82
Select Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel Match Flashbacks
50-Year Flashback: 1975
6-14-1975: Hiro Matsuda defeated Ken Mantell (CH) to win the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida
Eddie Graham with the help of the Atlanta, Georgia office, the Nashville & Knoxville, Tennessee and the Charlotte, North Carolina offices booked a supershow for his monthly card across the bay in St Petersburg in June 1975.
Here's the full card results:
Dutch Mantell & John Foley defeated Pat Barrett & Joey Rossi
Roger Kirby & Mr. Eito defeated Danny Little Bear & Rick Martel
Jim Dillon (CH) vs Mike Graham ended as a 20-minute time limit draw for the NWA Florida Television Championship
Killer Karl Krupp defeated Pepper Gomez (CH) to win the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship
Bob Roop (CH) defeated Bob Backlund to retain the NWA Florida Heavyweight Title
Rocky Johnson & Tiger Conway, Jr defeated Ole & Gene Anderson (CH) by DQ for the NWA World Tag Team Titles
Dory Funk Jr defeated Harley Race by count out in a No DQ match
HIro Matsuda defeated Ken Mantell (CH) to win the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship
Jack Brisco (CH) defeated Tim Woods to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Title
Goodness gracious, what a card for what at the time was just a monthly house show in the Florida Territory. While I would love to discuss Killer Karl Krupp's victory over Gomez for the Southern Title, we will save that for another issue. This may be at the pinnacle of the NWA's great cooperation between offices as a seismic shift in the alliance is coming in 45 days. When you look at this card and what they were able to present as a unified front, is there any way that any outside competitor could have any chance of coming against them?
This is why, at the end of 1972, when Ann Gunkel formed her own company in the All South Wrestling Alliance and poached away the NWA Atlanta office booker in Tom Renesto and every wrestler except two, plus 75% of the local promoters and buildings in Georgia, along with a contract on the current television station giving her and All South every possible advantage and head start against the National Wrestling Alliance, in just a couple months, with their backs against the wall, the Alliance made a comeback and won the conflict by the end of 1974.
Simply, the cooperation between the NWA offices and the talent available was too great a force to be reckoned with, no matter the head start or power of the opponent. This is clearly demonstrated in this card. The sheer power available to the Alliance offices if they work together. The cornerstone holding this conglomerate together was its President, Sam Muchnick. We will see the foundations of that very power structure be shaken in the weeks ahead.
The NWA was formed basically at the beginning in 1948 to provide safety to its booking members by cooperation around talent as we just demonstrated and explained and also, for the second reason, to consolidate all the various World Championships in existence at the time. When they decided to create one unified World Heavyweight Championship, as another talent enhancement tool, they also decided to create a World Junior Heavyweight Championship for wrestlers under 220 pounds. Typically, from 205 to 220 was the weight range for the Junior weight class.
Pictured: Ken Mantell, NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion, 1973-1975
I will be publishing a deep and complete article on "The History of the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title" available to paid subscribers to the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel which will go into detail about this prestigious and important championship from its creation to where we are in time today in our flashbacks to 1975.
On this day in wrestling history, the title got a new owner and also a familiar one.
Hiro Matsuda had been the first Japanese wrestler to hold a major wrestling championship in the NWA when he won the title the first time on July 11th, 1964 in Tampa, Florida defeating the tremendous champion, Danny Hodge. Matsuda's reputation for being a championship caliber performer would grow even more later that year by going to a 60-minute time limit draw with NWA World Champion, Lou Thesz on December 10th in Jacksonville, Florida.
Dory Funk, Sr had been the 3rd member in a 3-way feud at the top for the World Junior title from 1957 through 1961, swapping the title between Danny Hodge, Angelo Savoldi and Funk. When Funk started perusing the NWA World Heavyweight Title in 1960, NWA bookers needed a third person to work into the triangle, so enter Matsuda.
Pictured: Hiro Matsuda in 1962
From 1961 through the late 1960s, Matsuda, Hodge and Savoldi had classic battles in arenas all across the National Wrestling Alliance. Matsuda was known for his stiff and snug work in matches and had the perfect dance partners in Hodge and Savoldi, who lived to make the matches realistic and authentic, so stiff work was what they encouraged of each other.
Ken Mantell had been a very good world junior titleholder since defeating Hodge in December 1973. Being open for bookings in all the NWA offices, he had programs and matches with all the top contenders in every NWA territory and worked on tours with the belt with Giant Baba in Japan.
Pictured: Jack Brisco, NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Ken Mantell, NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion and Pat O’Connor, former NWA World Heavyweight Champion working for Baba in the NWA in Japan
On the upcoming Personalities, Territories, Towns & Buildings podcast episode where historian and author Fumi Saito and I discuss 1975 in All Japan, Saito made the point that Mantell worked the tours where the champion wasn't required to be pinned like the Champions Carnival where clean finishes in the tournament were required. Mantell did work some tag team matches in Japan as well as in the States also.
Pictured: Hiro Matsuda, two-time NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion in 1975
Matsuda defeating Mantell on this night in Florida would be the end of Mantell's run with the belt, however there was an old nemesis waiting in the wings to emerge into a while new feud with his old opponent. As Matsuda emerges as the new champion, it won't be long before we see him paired up with the perennial Junior Champ, Danny Hodge.
One Thing I Learned Today About Pro Wrestling History:
Hiro Matsuda's first title was the NWA Southern Heavyweight Title (Florida version) which he won in February 1963. He held it until August of that year. He and Duke Keomuka won the NWA World Tag Team Titles as a team several times in Florida from 1964 and 1965 and with Dickie Steinborn in November 1965. Another little known fact was he and Anotnio Inoki held the World Tag Team Titles in the Tennessee Territory in January 1966.
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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