1980 Wrestling Observer Awards

1980 Wrestling Observer Tag Team of the Year

The Fabulous Freebirds

(Buddy Roberts, Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy)

Pro Wrestling Illustrated Cover of the Week

December 1980

PWI Cover of the Week

January 1980

Match of the Day

Roddy Piper/Rick Martel

NWA Northwest Tag Team Champions

 vs

 New Zealand Sheepherders 

(Portland May 3rd, 1980)

WE LOVE PRO WRESTLING!

Andre the Giant and Ric Flair 

Early 1980s in Japan

Georgia Tag Team Titles (1980)

The Fabulous Freebirds

(Terry Gordy and Michael Hayes) 

October 10th 1980 

Atlanta, GA

Won a 3 team tournament defeating Mr. Wrestling I/II and The Assassins.

November 14th 1980 

The titles were held up after a match against Austin Idol and Kevin Sullivan.   

November 27th 1980

Gordy and Hayes defeated Robert Fuller and Stan Frazier (Hillbilly Elmer) in a tournament final to win the new NWA National Tag Team titles which replaced the Georgia belts.

Match of the Day

1980

Dick the Bruiser vs. Nick Bockwinkel 

Indianapolis IN

(announcer: Sam Menacker)

WE LOVE PRO WRESTLING!

Sports Review Wrestling Magazine

October 1980

AWA World Tag Team Champions - The 1980s

The East-West Connection

(Jesse Ventura and Adrian Adonis)

AWA world tag team champions for 329 days 

(July 20th 1980 - June 14th 1981)

Won the belts by defeating Verne Gagne and Mad Dog Vachon in Winnipeg, Manitoba when Verne Gagne "no showed" the event and the belts were forfeited to Ventura and Adonis.

Lost the belts to The High Flyers (Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell) in Green Bay, WI.

WWF Tag Team Champions - 1980

August 9th 1980

Bob Backlund and Pedro Morales defeated the The Wild Samoans at Shea Stadium in New York City to win the WWF Tag Team titles.  They won a best 2 out of 3 falls match by winning the first 2 falls.  However, Bob Backlund was the reigning WWF Heavyweight champion and thus is was ruled he could not hold 2 titles at the same time.  He and Pedro vacated the belts the day.   One month later the Wild Samoans would regain the belts by winning a tournament to fill the vacated belts.

1980 Match of the Year

1980 Wrestling Observer Match of Year

May 19th 1980

Madison Square Garden

Texas Death Match (No Holds Barred)

WWF Champion

Bob Backlund

vs

WWF Intercontinental Champion

Ken Patera

WWE Hall Of Fame 2015 - Larry Zbyszko

The self proclaimed "Living Legend" Larry Zbysko will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Wrestlemania weekend 2015.

The former AWA World Heavyweight Champion, former WWF, NWA World Tag Team champion, NWA World Television champion will most likely be inducted by his longtime friend and mentor Bruno Sammartino.

Zbysko was born in 1951 as Lawrence Whistler, he rose fast up the ranks of the WWF and in 1980 was part of one of the most famous feuds in wrestling history as he "turned" on his mentor Bruno Sammartino.  This feud ended in a cage at the sold out Shea Stadium in New York City.

This was voted "Feud of the Year" 1980 by Pro Wrestling Illustrated and The Wrestling Observer newsletter
Zbysko was voted "Most Hated Wrestling of the Year" and "Best Heel" of 1980.

He was Pro Wrestling Illustrated's "Rookie of the Year" for 1974 and won PWI's Tag Team of the Year with Arn Anderson in 1991.

Blackjack Mulligan & Masked Superstar vs Ray Stevens & Jimmy Snuka

1980, clip of Blackjack Mulligan and The Mask Superstar against the NWA World Tag Team champions, Ray Steven and Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka.  The interview with Mulligan is about Bobby Duncam interfering in the match and costing the Superstar and Mulligan the titles.

Match of the Night (Backlund vs Patera)

WWF Heavyweight Title

May 19th 1980

Madison Square Garden

Texas Death Match

Ken Patera

WWF Intercontinental Champion

vs

Bob Backlund

WWF Heavyweight Champion

Battle of the Bruisers

From approx. 1980 is a match where Dick the Bruiser was seeking "revenge" for Brody and Jimmy Valiant breaking Spike Huber's leg in a match a few months earlier.  Huber was the #2 face in the territory behind Bruiser and was his son in law at the time.
There had been a series of matches between King Kong Brody and Dick the Bruiser a couple of years earlier with the gimmick that they were battling for the use of the name "Bruiser".   Brody was never able to use "Bruiser" in the Indianapolis promotion owned by Dick the Bruiser but everywhere else in the world he used that nickname.
Tells you the power of Dick the Bruiser and his money in getting Brody to agree to use only King Kong while working for him.
As a kid watching this I had never seen anyone like Brody and he was fascinating and thrilling to watch.

Today In Wrestling History April 12th

1958 - Verne Gagne defeats Dick the Bruiser in Chicago, Illinois to win the Chicago/Detroit NWA United States Heavyweight Title, beginning his second reign, which carried over into the AWA. Gagne held the title until August 1960 when he won the AWA World Title.


1968 - Mr. Wrestling defeats El Mongol in Atlanta, Georgia to win the NWA Georgia Heavyweight Title, ending Mongol's fourth reign and beginning Mr. Wrestling's second


1980 - The Wild Samoans (Afa and Sika) defeat Ivan Putski and Tito Santana for the WWF World Tag Team Title in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.




1983 - Ron Bass and Stan Hansen defeat Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta for the NWA International Tag Team Title in Matsuyama, Japan, ending Baba and Tsuruta's fourth reign.


1987 - The first of three untimely deaths by suicide in the Von Erich family occured when Mike Von Erich intentionally overdosed on Placidyl, a tranqulizer. The overdose occurred after Mike wrapped himself in a sleeping bag in the woods near his home. He was one-third of the World Class Six-Man Tag Team Champions at the time, along with Kevin and Lance Von Erich. Mike had replaced his brother Kerry in the team after he was injured in a motorcycle accident during the previous summer. Mike Von Erich was just 23 years old.


1987 - Rick Steiner and Sting defeat Chris Adams and Terry Taylor to win the UWF World Tag Team Title in Atlanta, Georgia.




2002 - The WWF Hardcore Title changes hands four times at a house show in Amarillo, Texas. William Regal, the original challenger for the title, became a brief double-champion (he also held the WWF European Title) when he won the title from Bubba Ray Dudley, ending Bubba Ray's third reign and beginning Regal's third. Spike Dudley began his second reign as Hardcore Champion by defeating Regal. Spike then lost the title to Goldust, his fourth title win. Bubba Ray Dudley left with the title though, beating Goldust, and beginning his fourth reign


2003 - All Japan Pro Wrestling held the 13th and final event of its annual Champion's Carnival tour at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan with 16,000 fans in attendance. The results were:
- Gran Hamada pinned Gran Naniwa.
- Gigantes and George Hines beat Hiroshi Hase and Masayuki Kono, when Gigantes pinned Kono.
- Ryuki Ueyama defeated Ryuji Hijikata by submission.
- Kaz Hayashi and Jimmy Yang beat Omega Griffon and NWA International Junior Heavyweight Champion Low Ki, when Hayashi pinned Griffon.
- AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Champion Kendo Kashin defeated Carl Contini by submission to retain the title.
- Shinjiro Otani and Masato Tanaka defeated Hideki Hosaka and Shigeo Okumura, when Otani pinned Hosaka.
- AJPW All Asia Tag Team Champion Nobutaka Araya, Nobukazu Hirai and Genichiro Tenryu defeated Tomohiko Hashimoto, Tomoaki Honma and Kazushi Miyamoto, when Araya pinned Hashimoto.
- Keiji Muto and AJPW Unified World Tag Team Champion Satoshi Kojima defeated Masa Fuchi and Toshiaki Kawada, when Kojima pinned Fuchi.
- AJPW Triple Crown Champion Shinya Hashimoto defeated AJPW All Asia Tag Team Champion Arashi by TKO to retain his title.

Match of the Day

From September 1980, Harley Race defends the NWA World Heavyweight Title agains Mexcian legend Mil Mascaras in Japan.