WE LOVE PRO WRESTLING (Harley Race Edition)

October 26th 1984

NWA Missouri Heavyweight Champion Harley Race challenging Rick Martel for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship at Kiel Auditorium in St.Louis, Missouri.

The match ended in a 60-minute draw and only Martel's AWA World Title was on the line.

10 Fascinating WWE Facts About WrestleMania 5

Match of the Day

Roddy Piper/Rick Martel

NWA Northwest Tag Team Champions

 vs

 New Zealand Sheepherders 

(Portland May 3rd, 1980)

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

AWA World Champion - Rick Martel

AWA World Heavyweight Champion graces the cover of Pro Wrestling Illustrated (dated Feb 1985)

April 24th 1985 

Mr. Saito

vs

Rick Martel

AWA Champion

Champion vs Champion 1985

NWA vs AWA

The first ever World Title Unification Match between the NWA and AWA World Heavyweight Singles Champions

October 21st 1985

Japan

Ric Flair

NWA World Champion

vs

Rick Martel

AWA World Champion

its so nice to see champions show class and come to the ring with no loud music or explosions and not grabbing a microphone to run his mouth for 20 minutes before the match starts.

Today in Wrestling History October 4th

1960 - Hard Boiled Haggerty & Len Montana defeated Murder Inc. (Tiny Mills & Stan Kowalski) to win the AWA World Tag Team Title in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This ended Murder Inc.'s second run with the belt.

 1972 - Antonio Inoki defeats Karl Gotch for the New Japan Real World Heavyweight Title in Tokyo, Japan. This would be one of two title changes (Gotch wins the belt back later in the month) for the belt, which pretty much existed solely for the purpose of the Gotch-Inoki matches.

 1975 - Tosh Togo defeats Jose Miguel Perez in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, to wint he WWC Puerto Rican Heavyweight Title, and ending Perez' third reign with the title.

 1979 - Tatsumi Fujinami ends Ryuma Go's two-day reign as WWF Junior Heavyweight Champion by defeating him in Tokyo, Japan and regaining the title. Fujinami's second reign with the gold would end when he vacates the title and moves into the heavyweight division.

 1981 - The NWA held a tournament to determine a new United States Champion. The previous champion, Wahoo McDaniel, was forced to vacate the title after being injured by Abdullah The Butcher.
The tournament was held in Charlotte, North Carolina. Here are the results:
 First Round: - Pat Patterson defeated Mike David.
 - Ricky Steamboat defeated Nikolai Volkoff.
 - Leroy Brown defeated Super Destroyer.
 - Ivan Koloff defeated Ron Bass.
 - Sgt. Slaughter defeated Johnny Weaver.
- Jay Youngblood defeated Steve Muslin.
 - Jacques Goulet defeated Dusty Rhodes.
 - Ole Anderson defeated Ron Ritchie. Quarterfinals:
 - Ricky Steamboat defeated Pat Patterson.
 - Leroy Brown defeated Ivan Koloff.
 - Sgt. Slaughter defeated Jay Youngblood.
 - Jacques Goulet vs. Ole Anderson went to a double countout.
Semifinals:
 - Ricky Steamboat defeated Leroy Brown.
 - Sgt. Slaughter received a bye.
Finals:
 - Sgt. Slaughter defeated Ricky Steamboat.

 1992 - El Canek defeats Dos Caras to retain the UWA World Heavyweight Title in the main event of a show in Mexico City that draws over 28,000 fans.

 

 1993 - Marcus Alexander Bagwell & 2 Cold Scorpio defeat The Nasty Boys to win the WCW World Tag Team Title in Columbus, Georgia. 

 1993 - A battle royal was held on Monday Night Raw to fill the vacant WWF Intercontinental Title (champion Shawn Michaels temporarily split with WWF over a contract dispute) with the rules being that the final two participants would meet in a singles match the following week for the title. Razor Ramon and Rick Martel were the co-winners, and would meet the following week, with Ramon winning the belt.

 

The History of the AWA World Title

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.

SuperClash 1985

In September of 1985 the AWA and NWA co-promoted a "super card" from Comiskey Park in Chicago Illinois, called SuperClash.  
This was to compete with the fast growing WWF and was part of Pro Wrestling USA.

The Co Main Event was this:

AWA World Heavyweight Title

Champion Rick Martel  vs  Stan "Lariat" Hansen




NWA World Heavyweight Title

Champion "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair   vs  Magnum TA

Match of the Day

Twenty Five years ago today
1985 - The National Wrestling Alliance and American Wrestling Association hold their third joint-promoted "NWA/AWA Star Wars" event at the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The results:
- Ron Bass defeated J.J. Dillon.
- NWA World Midgets' Champion Little Tokyo defeated Cowboy Lang to retain the title.
- AWA World Women's Champion Sherri Martel defeated Debbie Combs to retain the title.
- Jake Roberts defeated Paul Ellering by disqualification.
- NWA World Tag Team Champions The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton) defeated The Long Riders (Bill and Scott Irwin) to retain the title.
- Sgt. Slaughter defeated Chris Markoff and Boris Zhukov in a handicap match.
- NWA United States Heavyweight Champion Magnum T.A. defeated Tully Blanchard to retain the title.
- NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair defeated Dusty Rhodes by disqualification to retain the title.
- The Road Warriors (Animal and Hawk) defeated Ivan Koloff and Krusher Khruschev.
Match of the Day
- Stan Hansen defeated AWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Martel by submission to win the title. Hansen had Martel in the Brazos Valley Backbreaker (Boston Crab) and when Martel would try to power out of it, Hansen would press his head against the middle turnbuckle to keep the hold on. Martel eventually submitted.

Rick Martel

Today is the 54th birthday of former AWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Martel.

Here from May 13th 1984 in St Paul Minnesota, Rick Martel defeats AWA Champion Jumbo Tsuruta.
This is the night that Martel would win his one and only World Heavyweight title. He held the belt until Dec 31st 1985 when he would submit to Stan Hansen's boston crab.