Today in Wrestling History - March 19th

March 19th 1988

Pat Tanaka and Paul Diamond (Badd Company)

defeated The Midnight Rockers (Marty Jannety and Shawn Michaels) in Las Vegas, NV to win the AWA World Tag Team Titles.  They held the belts until March 26th 1989. 

The Blackjacks

The Blackjacks were a legendary tag team consisting of BlackJack Lanza and BlackJack Mulligan both big and very tough men.
They made their name in the AWA and WWF, along with a very good run in the WWA (Dick the Bruiser run promotion out of Indianapolis).

They never held the AWA World Tag Team titles but did hold the WWF and WWA Tag Team titles.


They won the WWA Tag Team titles (below) on November 26th 1971 in Indianapolis by defeating the team of Wilbur Snyder and Paul Christy.  They held the belts until December 9th 1972 when they lost the titles to Dick The Bruiser and The Crusher in Detroit Michigan.

Moving on to the WWF in 1974 the Blackjacks won the WWF Tag Team Titles on August 26th 1975 in Philadelphia by defeating the reigning champions Dominic DeNucci and Pat Barrett (who replaced Victor Rivera in July of 1975).   They held the belts for 74 days before losing to the team of Louis Cerdan and Tony Parisi in Philadelphia on November 8th 1975.

Here they meet the reigning champions DeNucci and Rivera in a non title match in 1974.

Tag Team Match of the Night (Moondogs vs Fabulous Ones)

Anything Goes Tag Team Match

The Moondogs w/Jimmy Hart

vs

The Fabulous Ones

January 9th 1984

Mid South Coliseum

Memphis TN

AWA World Tag Team Champions

The Vachon Brothers, Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon and Paul "The Butcher" Vachon held the AWA World Tag Team belts for a record 623 consecutive days.
They won the belts on August 30th 1969 in Chicago when they managed to defeat the reigning champions Dick the Bruiser and The Crusher.   This ended the Bruiser and Crushers 4th stint as AWA Champions.

The Vachon Brothers held the belts until May 15th 1971 when they lost them to the team of Red Bastien and Hercules Cortez  (below) in Milwaukee, WI.

Today in Wrestling History - October 22nd

1979 - Tito Santana and Ivan Putski defeat Johnny and Jerry Valiant for the WWF Tag Team Titles in Madison Square Garden, New York City.


1984 - The Fabulous Ones (Steve Keirn & Stan Lane) defeat Rick Rude and King Kong Bundy to win the AWA Southern Tag Team Title in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning Keirn and Lane's eighth of 14 reigns as champions




1994 - Toshiaki Kawada defeats "Dr. Death" Steve Williams for the AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight in Tokyo, Japan. 





 1995 - WWF held their fourth In Your House Pay-per-view in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada at the Winnipeg Arena. 

Here are the results: -

Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeated Fatu.

WWF World Tag Team Champions The Smoking Gunns defeated The 1-2-3 Kid & Razor Ramon when Billy pinned The Kid. - 

Goldust, in his WWF debut, defeated Marty Janetty.

Yokozuna vs. Mabel ended in a double disqualification. 

Shawn Michaels, who had been beaten up outside of a bar (legitimately) and was unable to wrestle, forfeited the WWF Intercontinental Title to Dean (Shane) Douglas. 
Razor Ramon defeated Dean Douglas to win the WWF Intercontinental Title. 

Davey Boy Smith defeated WWF World Heavyweight Champion Diesel via disqualification.

AWA World Tag Team Title

1983 -  its the AWA Tag Team Champions, The Sheiks (Jerry Blackwell and Ken Patera) managed by Sheik Adnan Al Kassie  defending against the team of Mad Dog Vachon and Dick the Bruiser.

Minneapolis Minnesota
(this is near the end but its still fun to watch to crazies like Bruiser and Vachon tag together.  What are the odds a match involving those 2 would end in a double DQ with them just beating the daylights out of Blackwell and Patera, such good stuff.

Your Tag Team Match of The Night

AWA World Tag Team Title match

Road Warriors vs. Harley Race & Stan Hansen 

09.02.1985

Sundome, Tampa FL

Good old fashioned brawl that went all over the place
 (Gordon  Solie on the mic to make it a true classic)

"WWE Presents" - Michael "P.S." Hayes sings "Freebird Road"

really good tribute to a forgotten legend

NWA-AWA Star Wars

In February 1985 the NWA and AWA decided to join forces to put together a Super Card for the New Jersey Meadowlands.  This was, sadly, a desperate attempt to stem the tide of the WWF and Vince McMahon who was raiding the talent and the regions of the AWA and NWA.   They went to the heart of the WWF, New York City/NJ area, to try and promote themselves as a better alternative to the "cartoonish"  style the WWF had adopted in its spread across the US.

here is that first card from 1985 with the biggest names of the NWA and AWA.  Sadly this was ignored by the US wrestling press and television.  However, Japanese fans got to see the card and all the talent on display and that is why we have the japanese commentary.

Star Wars was held 3 more times with the only card to draw more than 10,000 fans was on December 29th 1985, well below the 18,500 fans for the first show.   All in all it was a money loser for both promotions and the small crowds finally convinced them to steer clear of the New York area for good.

If you notice Sgt Slaughter winning the Battle Royal in a nod to his recent departure from the WWF, they knew he still had a huge following in the NY/NJ area.

The scheduled matches

1. Ivan & Nikita Koloff beat Steve Keirn & Jimmy Valiant when Ivan pinned Valiant.
   
2. Jimmy Garvin beat AWA World Champion Rick Martel via DQ.
   
3. AWA World Tag Champs The Road Warriors beat Jerry Lawler & Baron Von Raschke when Raschke was pinned.
   
4. NWA World Champ Ric Flair pinned Harley Race (25:00).
   
5. Sgt. Slaughter won a "tag team battle royal." Slaughter's partner, Jerry Blackwell, was injured and could not compete, forcing Slaughter to wrestle alone. Also in the match were: The Road Warriors, Ivan & Nikita Koloff, Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell, Kamala & Billy Robinson, Mark & Chris Youngblood, Jerry Lawler & Baron Von Raschke, Bob Backlund & Jimmy Valiant, Mr. Saito & Masked Superstar, Nick Bockwinkel & Dory Funk Jr., Jimmy Garvin & Larry Zbyszko, and Steve Keirn & Jerry Oski.

Match of the Day

From August 1985, the AWA World Tag Team Champions take on the #1 contenders, The Irwin Brothers (Bill and Scott Irwin).
The Irwin Brothers were in my opinion one of the best teams to hit the AWA in many years after the Road Warriors but they just became fodder for the Warriors.  Having them beat the Warriors and trade the belts would have made for a possibly legendary feud but sadly Verne wanted to keep the Warriors happy and didnt let the Long Riders get another shot at the belts.


Sadly Scott "Hogg" Irwin died from a brain tumor in September of 1987.

Your Match of the Night

From the first AWA Superclash, held at Comiskey Park on September 28th 1985


The AWA World Tag Team Champions, The Road Warriors face The Fabulous Freebirds


ENJOY!

Today in History

1957 - Ivan and Karol Kalmikoff defeat Fritz Von Erich and Karl Von Schober in a tournament final to become the first Minneapolis NWA World Tag Team Champions in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The title would go on to become the AWA World Tag Team Title in 1960, when Verne Gagne left the NWA and founded the promotion.