Magazine Cover of the Week

1986

The Rock N Roll Express take a trip down Badstreet U.S.A. 

WE LOVE PRO WRESTLING!

August 29th 1986 - Harley Race & Bobby Heenan after winning the WWF's Sam Muchnick tournament in St. Louis.

Match of the Day

NWA World Championship 

February 7th 1986

Superstars on the Superstation

Ric Flair (C) vs Ron Garvin 

WE LOVE PRO WRESTLING!

1986 Pro Wrestling Illustrated Tag Team of the Year

The Rock N' Roll Express

(Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson)

WE LOVE PRO WRESTLING!

Terry Gordy

1st UWF Heavyweight Champion 

1986

10 Fascinating WWE Facts About WrestleMania 2

PWI Rookie of the Year

Pro Wrestling Illustrated Rookie of the Year

1986

Lex Luger

(accepting the award from PWI's Bill Apter )

WWF Superstars: 1986 Year in Review (1-03-87)

Pro Wrestling Magazine Cover of the Week

Inside Wrestling

May 1986

The Fabulous Freebirds vs Lance, Kerry Von Erich & Steve Simpson

The WCCW World Six Man Tag Team Championship Match

May 6th 1986

International Match of the Night (Wajima)

December 9th 1986

City Gymnasium

Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan

Rick Martel and Tom Zenk

vs

Giant Baba and Hiroshi Wajima

International Match of the Day (Tiger Mask II vs Mil Mascaras)

International Match of the Day

January 2nd 1986

Korakuen Hall

Tokyo,  Japan

IWA Heavyweight Championship

Mil Mascaras

(Champion)

vs

Tiger Mask II

Today in Wrestling History (Title Changes) September 9th

Title Changes for September 12

1970 – Waldo Von Erich defeated Jack Curtis to win the NWA Tri-State Mississippi Heavyweight Championship

1980 – The Wild Samoans defeated Tony Garea & Rene Goulet in a tournament final to win the WWF World Tag Team Championship

1980 – The Grappler defeated Ted DiBiase to win the MSW North American Heavyweight Championship

1986 – "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes defeated "The Enforcer" Arn Anderson to win the NWA World Television Championship

1988 – Shinichi Nakano & Shunji Takano defeated Footloose (Samson Fuyuki & Toshiaki Kawada) to win the AJPW All-Asia Tag Team Championship

1993 – "The Franchise" Shane Douglas defeated Tito Santana via forfeit to win the NWA ECW Heavyweight Championship. This was a “phantom” title change, as the supposed show in Roanoke, Virginia where Douglas vs. Santana was to have taken place never actually occurred.

1993 – Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat defeated The Eagle & The Patriot to win the AJPW All-Asia Tag Team Championship

2000 – Rhino defeated Kid Kash to win the ECW World Television Championship. Rhino would be the final champion, before the company was bought out by the WWF in 2001)

2006 – Naomichi Marufuji defeated Jun Akiyama to win the Pro Wrestling Noah GHC Heavyweight Championship

Happy Birthday Magnum TA

June 11th was the 55th birthday of Terry (Magnum TA) Allen.  

The former star of the NWA (Jim Crockett promotions) was most famous for his "I Quit" match at Starrcade 85 with Tully Blanchard.  He then ventured into another legendary and lengthy feud with the "Russian Nightmare" Nikita Koloff for the United States Heavyweight Championship.

Sadly a terrible car accident ended his skyrocketing career in October of 1986.   He still remains a legend among fans everywhere and is often seen at reunion shows.

Today in Wrestling History (May 30th)

1986

Terry Gordy wins the first UWF Heavyweight Championship in Houston, TX

Gordy won the UWF tournament beating "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan in the final match.

Pro Wrestling Magazine Cover of the Day

Match of the Night (Koloff vs Magnum T.A.)

Tonight's match is from the greatest feud of the 1980s, maybe even of all time.   The series of matches between Nikita Koloff (The Russian Nightmare) and Magnum T.A.  for the NWA US Heavyweight Title.

The matches spanned 1985-86 until the tragic accident that left Magnum nearly paralyzed and unable to wrestle again.

Sadly this affected the careers of both men as Magnum and Nikita were on a trajectory to be NWA World Champion and then feud over the title and be the next generation of superstars for the NWA/WCW.  Nikita would veer his character away from the hated to beloved Russian as he sided with Dusty Rhodes in his on going feud with the Four Horseman.

From NWA World Wide Wrestling, September 1986...less than a month from Magnum's accident, he battles US Champion Nikita Koloff.

NWA Superstars on the Superstation 1986

This is the NWA (Crockett Promotions) first attempt at a nationally televised supercard that was taped Feb. 2nd 1986 and aired on WTBS Feb 7th 1986.

The card stacked up like this:

World Tag Team Title Match
The Rock N Roll Express (Champions)
vs
The Midnight Express w/Jim Cornette

The Road Warriors vs The Koloffs (Ivan and Nikita) w/Baron Von Raschke

NWA National Heavyweight Title Match
Tully Blanchard vs Dusty Rhodes (Champion)

NWA World Heavyweight Title Match
Ron Garvin  vs  Ric Flair (Champion)

Birth of The SuperPowers

I remember when this first aired on TBS WCW Saturday Night.  I was sitting in my living room with my uncle Phil and our friend Kevin and we knew there had been a cage match the previous week between Ole and JJ against Dusty and a mystery partner. We knew that Magnum TA was to be the partner but his accident had happened recently and he was done wrestling.
This was long before the internet and dirt sheets that gave things away ahead of time and when there was a mystery partner it was truly a mystery until the match.   There were several wrestling organizations so anyone could be the partner for Dusty but we literally gasped at the sight of Nikita Koloff with Dusty Rhodes.   Nikita was truly the most hated wrestler next to the 4 Horseman and even Ric Flair was cheered when he faced Nikita for the World title on several occasions in 1986 and 1987.
As you can see, the crowd was RABID and ready to explode and when Nikita starts attacking Ole it was like a cork popped and all that emotion was deafening.  You just dont see natural spontaneous cheering of that level anymore.  People were scared of Nikita and really wanted, to a certain extent, done a way with but they never expected this the reaction is proof.

This kind of story line is not possible today with truly one organization, unless somehow the can hide Kurt Angle or Sting or even Goldberg returning to the WWE ring...but I dont think that will ever happen.

Enjoy this, because it is one huge happy wrestling memory for me...at time when we all believed.

1st Annual Crockett Cup Tournament

Today in 1986 the NWA held the 1st annual Jim Crockett Sr Memorial Tag Team Tournament at the Superdome in New Orleans Louisiana.  The heavily favored Road Warriors made it to the finals where they met the team of Magnum TA and Ronnie Garvin.
The Warriors would "win" the "Million dollar prize"  and the Crockett Cup trophy.



  The tournament featured 24 teams. The results were:
First round:
- Wahoo McDaniel and Mark Youngblood defeated Bobby Jaggers and Mike Miller
 - Sam Houston and Nelson Royal defeated The Batten Twins (Bart and Brad).
- The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers) defeated The Fabulous Ones (Steve Keirn and Stan Lane).
- The Sheepherders (Butch Miller and Luke Williams) defeated Chavo and Hector Guerrero.
 - Manny Fernandez and Jimmy Valiant defeated The Barbarian and Baron Von Raschke.
- Terry Taylor and Steve Williams defeated Bill Dundee and Buddy Landel. - Buzz Sawyer and Rick Steiner defeated The Italian Stallion and Koko Ware.
- NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion Black Bart and Jimmy Garvin defeated D.J. Peterson and Brett Wayne.
Second round:
 - The Road Warriors (Animal and Hawk) defeated Wahoo McDaniel and Mark Youngblood.
 - NWA World Tag Team Champions The Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey and Bobby Eaton) defeated Sam Houston and Nelson Royal.
- The Fantastics defeated NWA World Television Champion Arn Anderson and NWA National Heavyweight Champion Tully Blanchard.
- The Sheepherders defeated The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton).
 - NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Champions Ivan and Nikita Koloff defeated Manny Fernandez and Jimmy Valiant.
- Terry Taylor and Steve Williams defeated Dino Bravo and Rick Martel.
- Ron Garvin and NWA United States Heavyweight Champion Magnum T.A. defeated Buzz Sawyer and Rick Steiner.
- Giant Baba and Tiger Mask (Mitsuharu Misawa) defeated NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion Black Bart and Jimmy Garvin.
Quarterfinals:
- The Road Warriors defeated NWA World Tag Team Champions The Midnight Express.
- The Fantastics and The Sheepherders were both disqualified, giving The Road Warriors a bye to the final match.
- NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Champions Ivan & Nikita Koloff and Terry Taylor & Steve Williams fought to a draw.
 - Ron Garvin and NWA United States Heavyweight Champion Magnum T.A. defeated Giant Baba and Tiger Mask to advance to the final match due to the previous draw.
 Finals: -
The Road Warriors defeated Ron Garvin and NWA United States Heavyweight Champion Magnum T.A.

Non-tournament matches
 - Mid-South North American Heavyweight Champion Jim Duggan defeated Dick Slater to retain the title.
 - NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair defeated Dusty Rhodes by DQ to retain the title.