*The Hangman vs. Rene Goulet.
*Ivan Putski vs. Johnny Rodz
*Angel Marvilla vs. Jose Estrada
*Women's Champion The Fabulous Moolah & Beverly Shade vs. Kandi Malloy & Peggy
Lee.
*Dominic DeNucci vs. Baron Mikel Sicluna
*Greg Gagne vs. Rick McGraw
*Pat Patterson vs. Tor Kamata
*WWF Junior Heavyweight Champion Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Chavo Guerrero
*WWF World Martial Arts Champion Antonio Inoki vs. Larry Sharpe.
*Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan.
*WWF Intercontinental Champion Ken Patera vs. Tony Atlas.
*WWF Tag Team Champions The Wild Samoans vs. WWF champion Bob Backlund & Pedro
Morale - Best of Three Falls.
This was a tremendous card at the time. But the truth is, everyone came there
for one reason and that was to see Bruno destroy the arrogant and ungrateful
Zbyszko. I remember my desire to go to that show was huge as it was a big
deal. The WWWF had only held shows at Shea Stadium twice before to my
knowledge. The two other times were headlined by Bruno Sammartino as well. He
wrestled against Pedro Morales for the title and against Stan Hansen to gain
revenge for his broken neck and to save the WWWE from financial disaster. That
pending disaster was brought on by Vince McMahon Sr. getting into bed with Bob
Arum in promoting the Antonio Inoki vs. Muhammad Ali fight that was having a
lot of trouble selling tickets.
At the time I went to this show I didn’t know anyone. I had met a few of the
guys through sheer accident. Surprisingly enough, the two people I met first
were Bill Apter and Larry Zbyszko. I don’t remember any of the matches that
night being bad matches but we were all there for a reason. It was clear that
all the other matches were just put on to keep us in our seats waiting for the
Italian Superman to get to the ring. The weather was good and everything went
on as scheduled. The opening matches were nothing more than TV type matches.
This is the type of cards where favors where done such as Greg Gagne being
brought in to wrestle Rick McGraw. It was the good old days when promoters
worked hand in hand and helped each other out. This show was very high profile
and I am sure when Greg got back to Minnesota they were able to promote how he
had just wrestled on the huge Shea Stadium event. It is interesting to note
that the Gagne vs. McGraw match is the only match not included in the WWE 24/7
presentation of this event. I find it interesting because the WWE owns the
rights to the AWA and giving some high profile exposure to Greg Gagne sure
couldn’t hurt anything in the WWE 24/7 world. One would have to believe that
the reason this match isn’t included is because of “Quickdraw†Rick McGraw he
was one of the first wrestlers found dead under suspicious circumstances or at
least the first that I knew. I considered him a friend I was at his wedding he
was a good guy.
If I am incorrect why in the world lwouls WWE leave out this match when
they could leave out the Angel Marvilla vs. Jose Estrada, who remembers Angel
Marvilla anyway? They brought in Antonio Inoki and Tatsumi Fujinami from
Japan. Did any of these guys sell any tickets, of course not? It was ok to
have them on the show but many of the fans weren’t really aware of these guys.
Please keep in mind these shows were in the infancy of cable and the internet
wasn’t even a thought. The general public wasn’t aware of anyone who wasn’t on
WWF TV at the time.
In the Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan match Hulk was the bad guy and led to
the ring by Classy Freddie Blassie. It was a young and boisterous Hulk Hogan
that fought Andre the Giant on the undercard. I remember an Andre victory but
after the match Hogan left Andre laying and bleeding with a loaded armpad.
I was sure hoping that “Mr. USA†Tony Atlas could take the title from Ken
Patera that night. But it wasn’t meant to be. It might have been better if he
had wrestled Pat Patterson that night and let Atlas walk through Tor Kamata.
In the match featuring my future mentors The Wild Samoans, the Bob Backlund
and Pedro Morales team was pretty much a considered a "dream team". The
current WWF champion and the former WWF champion were to face off against a
team that seemed unbeatable. The Wild Samoans, Afa and Sika, seemed impervious
to pain and they were lead by a man that was, by far, the most hated manager
in the WWF. The manager was Capt. Lou Albano. People despised him as the most
hated manager in wrestling history. In fact, during the match on two separate
occasions, fans ran from the stands to attack Albano. This was brought on by
Lou injecting himself in the match. The Wild Samoans lost the match in two
straight falls. The fans were pretty excited about this and surprised at the
same time. It was a short time later that, due to Backlund not being able to
defend two titles, they gave up the belts and a tournament was held. The Wild
Samoans ended up winning the tournament and continuing to wreak havoc on the
WWF.
The time finally came for the steel cage match. Fans had been waiting months
for Bruno to get a clear cut, decisive victory against Zbyszko. The match went
back and forth with Bruno finally getting the advantage and pummeling Zbyszko
to a point where he easily walked out of the cage for the victory. After the
match, Zbyszko tried to shake Bruno’s hand and raise his hand in victory. It
was clear that the teacher was much better than the student in this case. I
asked Larry many times over the years why he did that. He finally said "I did
it so that all these years later you would be asking me why I did it." It made
no sense to me then and it still doesn’t to this day. This was a brutal and
vicious feud that started out by Bruno being left in a pool of his own blood
during a televised “workout†between Bruno and Larry. This was a great night
and one I will never forget. I am blessed to be able to have the chance to
discuss this and many other memories with Bruno Sammartino. I am glad that the
fans are finally getting a chance to see this great card and see Bruno
although in his mind past his prime still “The Man†and the true people’s
champion.
It was awhile back where Stan Lane was being falsely advertised for shows by
Matt Holder. I joined Brian Tramel on his Internet Radio Show as co-host. I
asked Stan Lane to appear with us to set the record straight. At that time he
announced that he was never scheduled to appear on those shows and was retired
from wrestling. I did say that if there were any situations where Stan Lane
decided to wrestle again I would be the one to break the news so everyone knew
that it was legitimate.
After discussion with Stan this week, he has decided to re-team with
Beautiful Bobby Eaton in his hometown of Greensboro, NC and in Charlotte NC.
These are special matches and events in that Nature Boy Ric Flair will be
appearing at both events. If you are not aware Ric Flair is the man that broke
Stan Lane into the wrestling business. On these two nights The Midnight
Express will be managed by “The Big Cheese†Sal Corrente. I may have the
distinction of being the only man to referee a match between these two teams
and now manage one of the teams in a match as well. If you want details of the
events you can go to www.highspots.com.
They are on Dec 5th and Dec 6th. The event on the sixth will include my friend
Jimmy Hart bringing his Nasty Boys back to Charlotte NC. It should be two
great nights promoted by Highspots. I am very glad that Stan agreed to do this
and everyone in the Carolinas area should turn out to see these legendary
teams face off. I can’t promise how many more times Stan will lace up his
boots but he will be there for these shows.
The picture for this article was just taken recently it is of former NWA, WCW
and WWF enhancement talents Tommy Angel and “Carolina’s Own†David Isley. They
were both given a chance in Nelson Royals Atlantic Coast Wrestling. I met them
both when I got my chance in late nineteen eighty eight to work full time for
Nelson Royal. In later days David Isley took over for Joel Deaton as
Thunderfoot #1 and teamed with original Thunderfoot #2 Gene Ligon. At some
point David and I formed the Rat Patrol and I became “The Big Cheese†as we
worked the Carolina Indy circuit.
This has been a piece of my mind