The story of two men spurned nearly at the same time by the same company that created an unforgettable series of matches that were influential in laying the groundwork for the Attitude Era.
By 1991, "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert and Mick Foley were both at a crossroads of their respective careers, although both might not have known it at the time. Gilbert, who had begun his career in 1979 had risen through the ranks of Mid-South Wrestling and UWF as both a wrestler and booker. By 1988, he had joined WCW, but his stability and status as a burgeoning main event star quickly withered as a result of (guess what) backstage squabbling and "cloak and dagger" tactics (which also caused him to lose the influence he had as a booker for the company). Not to say he didn't have quality matches during this period, such as his work with Brian Pillman, but Eddie Gilbert by 1990 had become a disillusioned mid carder whose marriage to Missy Hyatt was all but over. He left WCW and headed back to the Indys in an attempt to revive his career…
Foley, whose career had begun in 1983, was a journeyman, as well, throughout his first five years in the business. By 1988, he had debuted his character Cactus Jack for Championship Wrestling Association in Memphis, Tennessee, but was soon on the move to WCCW and eventually WCW where he actually competed at a Clash of the Champions event against Mil Mascaras. But Foley's first stint with the company was short lived even though his character of Cactus Jack had gained a considerable following in the wrestling community. Like Gilbert, Foley was a talent squandered by WCW and looking for greener pastures by 1990…
The parallel paths of Gilbert and Foley converged in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that same year as part of Tri-State Wrestling Alliance (which later would become Eastern Championship Wrestling and eventually the notorious and legendary Extreme Championship Wrestling). Under the leadership of Joel Goodhart, TWA had brought a higher octane, more volatile style of hardcore wrestling to Philadelphia, which was in sharp contrast to the standard product of WWF and WCW they were used to at the time.
Goodhart gave the Philly fans what they had wanted for years in terms of a quality wrestling show that was unpredictable and very in-your-face. Most of the shows would be housed in small venues like high school gyms, but for the larger shows he would do quarterly, Goodhart would pack in the Philadelphia Civic Center.
During the course of their stints in WCW, Gilbert and Foley had already faced one another but with their distinctive hardcore, brawling styles watered down, the results were barely a footnote in the WCW record book. But in Philadelphia, the climate was different, and Foley could relish in his role as a "gloried stunt man" (as Ric Flair once insultingly referred to Foley) while Gilbert could utilize his roots as a southern brawler.
Gilbert, himself, was instrumental in booking his series of matches with Foley, but it was Goodhart, so impressed with their first match together as part of the September show of 1990, that he favored a series of matches between Gilbert and Foley throughout 1991. The first would be a Falls Count Anywhere match that would take place on March 2, 1991.
As Foley remarked in his autobiography Have a Nice Day!, he considered the Falls Count Anywhere match to be the best of his career up to that point. And Goodhart agreed, bringing both Gilbert and Foley back for a Barbed Wire match on May 18. Foley was excited despite the punishment that would result from such a match. As Foley also remarked in his book, he wanted the match to be special and stand out from the rest on the card. Therefore, he reached an agreement with Goodhart that there would not be any juicing before their Barbed Wire match that night. (Goodhart's shows were known for lots of juicing and blading throughout many, sometimes all matches on the card)
The night of the May 18th show, Foley sat in the locker room but was perplexed when multiple wrestlers were returning to the back with blood on their forehead. What Foley found out was that Goodhart had booked a ten man "Last Blood" battle royal, where the last guy to bleed would win.
"Immediately, I ran out and caught the last five minutes of one of the sorriest affairs I'd ever seen. Ten guys, some of them had never had match before, were fighting in and around the ring. They were trying to poke, prod, gig, hit, and bust one another and themselves in an attempt to draw blood." (Foley from Have A Nice Day)
Gilbert and Foley pushed their match to the absolute limit. Literally, the referee had to stop the match because Foley had become so badly entangled in the barbed wire that he could not compete any longer. Of course normally a Philadelphia crowd would riot over such a decision, but not this time. The effort given by Gilbert and Foley had earned their respect and admiration. Gilbert passed out in the back from blood loss and exhaustion, while Foley was greeted by his wife.
The Barbed Wire match had served its purpose for TWA. The feud between Gilbert and Foley was gaining not only local but national attention as well as one of the biggest of the year. Goodhart knew a third act had to eclipse both of the previous matches. Something that would solidify this battle between Gilbert and Foley as the feud of the year above all else: A Best of Three Falls match. Goodhart raised the stakes by making each match in the three a special gimmick match as well.
Gilbert and Foley worked out the specific gimmicks of each fall, settling on fall one being a Falls Count Anywhere match, fall two being a Stretcher match, and the deciding third fall (if necessary) a Steel Cage match.
The result on August 3rd was considered by many, including Gilbert and Foley, as the best match of their career…
…
1st Fall - Falls Count Anywhere: Time, approximately 10 minutes From the get go, Foley dominates in the ring, even scoring with the Double Arm DDT (great bump by Gilbert, by the way) within the first couple of minutes. Predictably, the action heads to the outside quickly. Foley takes one of his classic back body drop bumps on the floor to swing the momentum toward Gilbert. From that point, they tour the Civic Center, trading chair shots in the process. Gilbert is busted open quickly, but he scores with a suplex and a pile driver through a table. There's also a great moment in this fall where Gilbert grabs a tray of concession items and chucks its contents at Foley. (It always seems to be a badge of honor for wrestlers to take the concession items you've paid for and use them against their opponent. Everyone seems to enjoy it. Just once I'd love to see some miser who splurged for food and drink to take umbrage and be owned by a wrestler when they confront them.)
A great Foley spot is when he breaks out his diving cannonball flip from the apron to the outside floor. It's clear he's in the best shape of his life for this match, as he also wrote in his book. Gilbert scores two Hotshots to Foley (one on the guardrail and one on the top rope), but after the second he tries to follow it up with another pile driver, which Foley reverses with a back body drop to the outside floor. This sets up Foley for a diving clothesline from the apron which gives him the three count. Winner: Foley
Gilbert gives an impassioned Mickey Rourke-esque statement from The Wrestler that if he loses again, he'll retire that night from TWA.
2nd Fall - Stretcher Match: Time, approximately 10 minutes Foley makes his entrance quickly, but Gilbert's is delayed as he continues to get bandages from the doctors. Not a problem for Foley as starts the match near the entrance way. Gilbert is bleeding again within moments (so much for the bandages). Foley dominates the match early on, and eventually gets Gilbert back to the ring. He scores on multiple bulldogs and drives Gilbert back to the outside near the stretcher. The pivot in the match comes when he leaps from the second turnbuckle to the outside, but the angle of the video doesn't really show how much he connected with Gilbert or if he connected at all because it's Gilbert who gets up first and takes over. And when I say take over, I mean he goes into "whatever the fuck it takes" mode.
He takes a large trash bin Foley had been using earlier but doesn't stop with a couple of bashes to Foley's head. He empties the contents, finding a beer bottle inside which he clearly needs to find the other half of after breaking it over Foley's head (favorite line from Happy Gilmore). Gilbert uses the half of the bottle he still has possession of (since he couldn't find the rest of it) and jabs it into Foley's forehead, drawing a considerable amount of blood. He follows with a pile driver and a DDT on the outside floor, icing the assault with repeated bashes of the ring steps. Foley is carted off on the stretcher, giving the second fall to Gilbert. Winner: Gilbert
Gilbert once again grabs the microphone and proclaims there will be a third fall in this main event, which a Keith David-looking gent from Pitch Black is delighted to hear from the front row.
3rd Fall - Steel Cage Match: Time, approximately 15 minutes After the vicious beating he gave Foley in the Stretcher Match, Gilbert struts around the ring, working the mic to fill time before Foley's entrance. Gilbert quickly reverses his earlier proclamation of a third fall by saying there will not be a third fall after all because Foley will not be able to compete. (No visual of Keith David to get his reaction to this update)
Once the cage is fitted around the ring, Gilbert awaits Foley's entrance, but he doesn't emerge after repeated playings of his Steppenwolf theme music. Gilbert gets a lot of heat (and a lot of pops) during this time as he works the mic more and more. Finally, Goodhart comes on the mic and makes the official statement that Foley cannot complete in the cage match. But wait, oh wait. The Steppenwolf music plays once more, and Foley emerges with his head now heavily bandaged. He gets on the mic now, stating the doctors cannot license the match because he's too badly hurt to which one fan responds with a very audible "Bullshit!" But do not fear, sir. Foley has little regard for matters such as a doctor's consent or advice. He enters the cage, and the third fall begins. Once again, Foley gets the early advantage and introduces Gilbert to the cage walls more than a couple of times.
I won't lie, there seems to be a little bit of confusion regarding the rules of this cage match as it moves along. The traditional cage match has the winner escaping either over the top of the cage or if there is a door available in the design. Amendments to the rules added a referee to make pin falls or submissions as another path to victory as well. This match clearly has a referee, and it looks like the wrestlers are cognizant of the "escape" clause as evidenced when Foley scales one of the walls of the cage. He doesn't turn around like he's about to go Superfly style on Gilbert. He looks like he's about to escape or at least try to. But Gilbert halts his progress, and this is where something seems to be off in the match. He drop kicks the side of the cage, sending Foley crashing to the outside floor (a nice foreshadow to Hell In The Cell 1998). But the bell doesn't ring. In fact the ref on the inside and the ref on the outside look at each other as if to say "oh, shit." Was it a botch? Was it planned? I don't know. Even the commentator admits he's confused by the rules. But quickly the ref opens the door and the match seems to pick up where it left off. The commentator reassures us, as if someone just handed him a note, that the only way to win is by pinball or submission.
But Gilbert and Foley don't go back in right away. They fight on the outside and into the crowd again. (The Keith David fan can be seen at this point. He's traveled to another section of the arena.) But once they're back inside, Gilbert takes one of the chains from the cage and uses it to choke out and beat down Foley, who returns the favor when he gets access to chain as well. Both men are faces full of blood as there just seems to be no end in sight for the assault they carry out on one another. The commentator makes a comment that only a couple hundred fans remain in the crowd, exhausted from the mayhem that's ensued; some even calling for the match to be stopped. (This is not really audible on the video, though.)
The pivot in the match comes when Gilbert clotheslines the referee out of his shoes (a shot that reminds me of one of Stan Hansen's "fuck you" lariats) which allows Doug Gilbert to run out and join the fray. They beat down Foley for awhile until Bam Bam Bigelow hits the ring, forcing the brothers GIlbert to scatter. An announcement is then heard that the referee has ruled the match a double disqualification (?) with the fans becoming livid and chanting "bullshit" as a response (which is why I doubt the creditability of the above claim that fans wanted the match to be stopped). Winner: No Contest
…
The feud by the end of the night was a push; undecided in terms of an overall victor. But the fortitude displayed by both Gilbert and Foley put the Best of Three Falls match in a unique five-star match position. Of course when you compare it to Flair-Steamboat or even Hart-Michaels at Wrestlemania it pales in comparison. Nevertheless it succeeds in taking the audience on literally a three-act journey that was both brutal and punishing yet very accessible to the fans, which historically shows, in the bigger scope of the business, where wrestling was headed by the middle and end of the 90's: unpredictable, high octane violence sandwiched in between the occasional arm drag takedown and grapevine submission.
In terms of Gilbert and Foley, their series of matches throughout 1991, including the epic Best of Three Falls match, attracted the attention of the wrestling world, and WCW made offers to both men to rejoin their ranks. However, it was only Foley who would accept the invitation. Gilbert, fearing he would be relegated to the same mid card status he was before, declined. WCW had hoped to revive their feud from TWA on their larger stage, but Gilbert also feared that WCW would water down their quality of matches and diminish the legacy they had created in TWA.
Foley's second stint in WCW would elevate him into high profile feuds as a heel with both Sting and Ron Simmons (among others) as he continued his Cactus Jack character. But of course it wasn't until he was signed by the WWF in 1996 that he ultimately reach main event status, become World Champion on multiple occasions, write best selling books, and hawk ravioli. Since returning last year to the company, he is now poised to become a member of the Hall of Fame in years to come.
After the feud with Foley in 1991, Gilbert continued to bounce around between independent promotions while also working shows in Puerto Rico on occasion. Unfortunately he had developed a bit of a reputation for flaking out on shows and burned numerous bridges with promoters. One of his last big feuds was a revival of one of his previous wars with Jerry Lawler in the Memphis territory, which included some of the strongest promo work of his career (which many of it was borderline shoot) and helped bring new fans into a very historical promotion.
By 1995, after an unsuccessful stint in Smokey Mountain Wrestling, Gilbert resumed work in Puerto Rico with the World Wrestling Council; this time assuming a booking role as well. On February 17, Gilbert wrestled his last match, not against Foley or Lawler or even some no-name jobber. He wrestled a bear…
Afterwards he retired to his apartment, but sadly was found dead the next day of a heart attack. Eddie Gilbert was 33 years old. The combination of residual effects stemming from a 1983 car accident along with a strong dependency on painkillers contributed to the tragic, early demise of one of wrestling's most recognizable stars.
Although Gilbert never achieved main event status in the WWF or WCW, and Foley most certainly went on to have higher profile matches in the business, the work they did together in that transitional period of 1991 holds its own special place in the pantheon of professional wrestling. Two men from different backgrounds that had that unique chemistry that not everyone can have with an opponent.
During the 1980s, heels in professional wrestling were defined very distinctly by either being extremely arrogant or cowardly (or in many cases both). Some would insult the crowd. Some would cheat whenever they could. In the case of Bad News Brown, it was a combination of a loner's mentality and a bruising in-ring style that created created a prototypical heel that was years ahead of its time.
In 1988, Wrestlemania IV had the toughest act to follow to date in the history of the World Wrestling Federation after the record breaking showcase that was Wrestlemania III at the Pontiac Silverdome. Of course leading into the fourth installment of the pay per view, the feud between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant had grown to new heights since the screw job finish that led to Hogan dropping the belt to Andre (who would then sell the belt to Ted Dibiase, later nullified by WWF President Jack Tunney.) That was the main draw in the decided 14 man tournament that would decide an undisputed World Champion.
However, a unique undercard bout was created by the WWF in the form of a 20 man battle royal that awarded the victor, simply, a trophy. Nothing more. Not a number one contendership to the later crowned WWF Champion. Just a big trophy.
With the show being billed as a "four hour spectacular," the battle royal itself only lasted roughly 11 minutes with the final two competitors being Bret Hart and Bad News Brown. At this point, Hart was a heel as part of the Hart Foundation and so was Brown, which almost created a unique situation where both men were willing to share the trophy as co-winners. Of course, a Ghetto Blaster from Brown secured a double-crossing victory that gave him the trophy… which was promptly destroyed by Hart in a fit of rage. Nevertheless, Bad News Brown was a superstar on the rise…
Long before the battle royal at Wrestlemania IV, Allen Coage (born 10/22/43, New York City) was an 18 year old making his way through the subway when he saw an advertisement for a Judo school. Fourteen years later and with over 100 national and international titles to his name, Coage, a fifth degree black belt, achieved his ultimate prize of a bronze medal at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.
Given the nickname "Bad News" by his fellow competitors, Coage transitioned to professional wrestling when he realized despite his success in Judo that the bigger pay day was in the squared circle. Under the tutelage of Antonio Inoki, Coagle worked for New Japan Wrestling under the name of "Buffalo" Allen Coage for the next four years from 1978 to 1982.
During his run with New Japan, Coage began to harness a unique kind of heel status that did not seem to stem from the classic "cheating" or "retreating" heel, but rather from the kind of guy who would kick your ass, snarl, and kick it again for good measure.
But Coage was almost exclusively a Japanese-bred wrestler in training and execution. Inoki, hoping to season Coagle sent him to the states where he had a brief stint with Vince McMahon Sr. and the WWWF. It was there that his old nickname "Bad News" resurfaced and became his new moniker.
During this time period of back and forth shuttling between the United States and Japan, Coagle became famous (or infamous) for a confrontation with Andre the Giant that spawned from a drunken bus ride that saw Andre spout a racist remark that Coagle took so personally that he stopped the bus, walked outside, and demanded that Andre step out to fight him. Andre declined and later apologized. (Hogan tells a different version of the encounter while Bret Hart and Dynamite Kid corroborate it in their biographies.)
Speaking of Dynamite Kid, it was his insistence on Coagle joining Stu Hart's Canadian promotion Stampede Wrestling that became the ultimate turning point in Coagle's career. As Hart cites in his autobiography Hitman "News was a decent worker and a hard one, but he had no psychology: He just ate up anyone in his path… Most nights, in the middle of my comeback he'd scoop my legs out out from under me, grab me by the throat and tell me, 'If you touch my head again I'll kill you, mo'fucker.' Every match I went in looking like a nine and, after he was done, came out looking like a three."
Coagle, as "Bad News" Allen, exploded as a heel in Stu Hart's territory, aggressively carving a warpath through the baby faces of Stampede Wrestling all the way to the North American Heavyweight Championship. On one occasion, his attack with a fork on Jim Neidhart was so vicious and bloody that it caused the Canadian wrestling commission to levy a suspension on Coage.
When Stampede Wrestling was annexed by the WWF in the 80's, wrestlers such as Coage along with Bret Hart and others were also brought into the main roster as well. Coage, renamed again to "Bad News Brown," continued his run as a heel destroying jobbers left and right with his "Ghetto Blaster" finishing move.
The character of Bad News Brown was all the more fascinating on the WWF stage because in a time of bold, vivid baby faces and heels that were clearly defined, Coage was something of an anomaly. Granted he was a heel, but he walked alone and never seemed to buy into the trust of others as evidenced by his turning on Bret Hart during the Wrestlemania IV battle royal and during Survivor Series matches where he'd abandon his heel partners.
As a wrestler, Coagle likened his style of wrestling as to what he would do in a street fight, and frequently pummeled opponents with devastating attacks in the corner, bringing out some of his Judo training as well. In the 90's he would have been labeled a "technical brawler" when that became a popular description of wrestlers such as Steve Austin and Goldberg.
Unfortunately, despite notable matches with Hulk Hogan, Jake Roberts, and Roddy Piper (who infamously painted himself half black in their Wrestlemania VI bout) Coage left the WWF in 1990 under less than amicable conditions. One reason cited for his leaving had to do with an unfulfilled promise at a World Title run that McMahon supposedly promised him. Other reasons cited indicate an overall unhappiness with the WWF.
From Coage's SLAM! Wrestling Canadian Hall of Fame article: "They never kept their word to me. It wasn't a fun time for me. You see, when I left there I was really happy. I was brought there under false pretenses. They never kept their word to me. I was just sick of the lying all the time… That was two and a half years of my life I really didn't enjoy."
After leaving the WWF, Coage spent the majority of the 90's working independent shows along with UWFi in Japan. By 1999, though, Coage's weakened knees forced him to retire as an active in-ring competitor. He shifted to color commentating for the revived Stampde Wrestling and even worked at running his own wrestling school in Calgary (while also working as a mall cop there as well).
But sadly, on March 6, 2007, Coage passed away due to a heart attack at the age of 63. He had been in the midst of recovering from hip replacement surgery only a few weeks prior. The wrestling community (or at least the one's from Coage's past) flocked to his funeral and later put up a Bad News Allen tribute wrestling show in his honor.
Although his career in the WWF was short lived and relegated to the mid-card level, Coage was a character about ten years ahead of his time. His black boots, black trunks look and bruising in-ring style combined with his combative microphone work (often referring to the crowd as "beer bellied share croppers") draws further comparison to Austin when he began his mega-star run in the late 90's. And Coage even had the on-air clashes with authority; his most famous being with Jack Tunney during a Brother Love segment.
But the 80's era of the WWF was not ready for that kind of character to take off. Not while Hulkamania and Macho Madness were in the high spots. Nowadays, of course, it's common place to have the anti-authority behavioral trait as a wrestler, but Coage was singular in that respect during his run. A man who epitomized the saying "what you see is what you get" and walked his own line all the way to the end.
How an everyday house show in Philadelphia turned into the defining moment of "The Man's" career.
Although the film Rocky would not debut in nationwide cinemas until 1976, the underdog spirit surrounded the City of Brotherly Love in 1973. Leading into the WWWF show that took place on December 1st, Stan "The Man" Stasiak was in the midst of a touring feud with World Champion Pedro Morales. The two would square off at least a dozen times, even headlining events at Madison Square Garden during the weeks leading up to the December 1st show, with each time Stasiak doing the job for Morales, who was as massive a baby face as even Bruno Sammartino was at the time.
Before the show began, the road agent entered the locker room to go over the details of the match with Stasiak. This was a conversation he was already familiar with. At least the part about the finish. But this would not be the same conservation he had had in the past. Stasiak was not only in for a surprise but would be put down the path to his own pocket of history in the WWWF.
…
Born in Quebec in 1937, George Stipich (real name) grew up a hockey player. In fact, with his large frame, he made quite a name for himself as an enforcer in the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association. But it was not only his frame that garnered Stipich notoriety but his aggressive attitude and hot temper. A quote from Stasiak lifted from Roberta Morgan's book, Main Event: The World of Professional Wrestling explains how this disposition led to his eventual career change:
On one particular night, the last hockey coach I had told me I had so many penalties that it just seemed like there was trouble every time I got on the ice. He said 'You know what you should do--become a professional wrestler, then you can really let all this steam out.' So that's what I did, and that's how it happened." (Credit to Slam! Wrestling's page about Stan Stasiak)
Stipich began his wrestling career in 1958. Already with the look of a natural, grizzled heel, he adopted the wrestling handle of Stan Stasiak, which was the name of a well known heel in Toronto during the late 1920's, who sadly passed away in 1931 due to blood poisoning suffered from a broken arm during a match.
Adding the nickname "Crusher," (later "the Man") the renamed Stasiak utilized the bear hug as a finisher and quickly drew attention in Canadian wrestling. Promoter Don Owens took a particular liking to Stasiak and brought him to his wrestling territory in the Pacific Northwest. Now billed as being from Buzzard Creek, Oregon, Stasiak adopted the infamous heart punch as his finisher and became a six time NWA Northwest Heavyweight Champion, all the while feuding with the likes of Maddog Vachon and Pepper Martin among others.
With appearances with Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling in the late 60's (where he garnered the North American Heavyweight Championship as well as the Calgary version of the NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship), Stasiak moved back east to work with Vincent J. McMahon and the WWWF.
As the WWWF World Heavyweight Champion, Pedro Morales was (as previously stated) thunderously popular in the northeast, especially in New York. A hero to the Latin American fan base, Morales was into his second full year as champion after defeating Ivan Koloff in 1971 when he began his feud with Stasiak.
…
The road agent began to run down the particulars of the December 1st match with Stasiak, who was very nonchalant in his responses about the spots leading up to the finish. The turn in the conversation came with the agent remarked that when Morales would land his belly to back suplex, Stasiak would kick out at two. This caught Stasiak off guard. After another spot, Morales would stay on the mat for the three count. Stasiak sat in silence for a moment and finally asked if the title was on the line. The agent, not thinking this was anything of significance, responded rather impatiently 'yes.' (Frank Dusek gives an amazing retelling of this where he actually gives the back and forth between Stasiak and the road agent.)
Without any prior indication until that conversation, Stasiak would, in fact, upset the reigning champion Morales to become only the fifth WWWF champion in its history. The former hockey player from Quebec was the top guy in the company.
Well, at least for nine days…
On December 10, Stasiak dropped the belt to Bruno Sammartino at Madison Square Garden, which would begin a four year reign for Sammartino as champion. (This on top of his near eight year reign from 1963 until the beginning of 1971) In the end, the decision on the booking end was to have Stasiak act as a transitional champion between the Morales and Sammartino eras. The company did not want Sammartino to go over on Morales with both men so over as baby faces at the time. (The two did, in fact, have one of the most memorable matches in wrestling history the year before at Shea Stadium, which we will look at next week, that ended in a time limit draw.)
Although his reign as champion was barely over a week, Stasiak remained in the main event picture, feuding with Sammartino in rematches for the WWWF Title, but never again ascended to the level of champion. His career would continue throughout the 70's with another notable feud with WWWF Champion "Superstar" BIlly Graham as well as with The Sheik. He was even featured in tag team programs with The Gladiator against Ray Stevens and Peter Maivia.
By 1984, Stasiak had retired from wrestling and moved back to Toronto where he worked as a security guard for many years before ultimately journeying back to the west coast. Sadly, in 1997, having already suffered from heart problems, Stasiak passed away due to heart failure.
His legacy was carried on by his son Shawn, who was signed by the WWF in 1999 and began the character of "Meat" alongside Terri Runnels and Jacqueline. His first run with the company was uneventful as he never climbed above jobber status. He had a decent run in WCW, most notably feuding with Curt Hennig before the company was bought out by the WWF. He retired from wrestling in 2002. (Ironically, his father feuded with Larry Hennig during their careers.)
In the years since Stan Stasiak's unlikely, short lived WWWF title run, the concept of the transitional champion has been used before. (Ivan Koloff was actually a transitional champion before Stasiak as well.) Mick Foley provided that role during 1999 as a buffer between the Austin-Rock feud and the eventual transition between Austin and Triple H.
The career of Stan Stasiak is the career of the consummate professional. As a heel in the classic wrestling days, he was on the downside of many feuds but was well respected and beloved in the ring as well as out of the ring. Although his reign as WWWF Champion was less than ten days, it served a point that sometimes when you go the matches, you really don't know what you're going to get.
I just finished Vern's study of Steven Seagal films entitled Seagalogy, which is one of the funniest, most critically expounding companion pieces to an actor's anthology. One of the final lines displays a humorous look at every day life. "I figure no matter how down in the dumps you are, try to always live your life as if you might shake Steven Seagal's hand later that night. Because who knows, you might." I can't help but think it would have been pretty cool to shake the hand of Stan Stasiak and ask him what those nine days were like, knowing he was (no offense Punk or Jericho) the best in the world.
The story of two grapplers from unlikely backgrounds who transformed the birthplace of Rock 'n Roll and the Blues into the premiere wrestling territory of its time, and set attendance records not touched again until the days of the NWO and Austin 3:16.
Memphis. 1959. A city in flux. A city at the nexus of a cultural revolution. Racial segregation has a stranglehold on the deep South and tensions run high. Yet, change permeates the air in the form of music being released from Sun Studios and broadcast over the radio.
Rock and Roll. Rhythm and Blues. Music that becomes universal for all races. That's the story we know about.
But there is something else happening in Memphis during this time; an unlikely element that became, on one hand influential in racial desegregation, but also united a city and changed an institution forever.
Wrestling had already been a part of the Memphis landscape prior to 1959, but it was the combination of business prowess between Nick Gulas and Roy Welch that was changing that landscape since they came into the territory in 1957. Gulas, often characterized as miserly (to put it nicely) when it came to wrestler payouts, was the outspoken mastermind of the Tennessee wrestling machine, while Welch was the quite force behind the scenes and in the locker room. (Welch's son, Buddy Fuller, would work as the local promoter in the area starting in November 1958, showcasing the events at Ellis Auditorium in Memphis.)
Memphis was just one city in the small empire that Gulas and Welch had taken over in the South that stretched east to Nashville and south into Alabama. Media coverage to drum up ticket sales and attention toward the product was traditionally and consistently relegated to newspaper or radio coverage. That was the standard form of advertisement. But Gulas, the savvy and forward-thinking businessman he was, pushed television broadcasts as a method to draw fans to the live shows.
Gulas' tactic was simple: start a feud on the television broadcast (most of the time on Saturday nights) and hype the grudge match for the following live show. Not too dissimilar to how wrestling is booked today, but it worked. In Memphis, Fuller's broadcasts would be shown on WMC Channel 5 (soon after WHBQ Channel 13), hosted by Memphis sports announcer Jack Eaton.
…
Prior to 1959, Memphis was already booming with plenty of wrestling talent in the form of Gorgeous George, Dick Hutton, and others who came to town, but it was the arrival of two men in particular who became focal points in taking Memphis wrestling to another level of popularity and providing in-ring counterparts to the Gulas/Welch/Fuller marketing and booking genius.
Late in 1958, Billy Wicks, who had worked in other southern NWA territories in Alabama and Florida, arrived on the Memphis scene with his Gulf Coast Championship title. He might have dropped the belt to Spider Galento soon after his arrival, but Wicks would quickly recover and be put into a program with the aforementioned George, who was undoubtedly the most well known wrestler as the time. This was also Fuller's first crack at the local booking roll he inherited after buying the rights from Les Wolfe.
Wicks had an immediate appeal with Memphis fans as a small but tough blue collar appealing character. The perfect foil to the glamor boy image of Gorgeous George. They're contest in December of 1958 ended in a tie, one fall a piece in a best of three.
The other key figure to arrive in late 1958 would very quickly become simultaneously the most famous, infamous, loved, and hated wrestler in Memphis: the incomparable Sputnik Monroe.
A man who embraced a moniker that would be considered the worst thing to be called in America in the 1950's, Monroe kept the name Sputnik after being called such by an elderly white lady who saw him giving a ride to a black hitchhiker and making his acquaintance. She referred to him as "nothing more than a damned Sputnik."
At 235 pounds "of twisted steel and sex appeal," Monroe quickly became a headlining heel in Memphis. One of his first matches in the territory ended, as the Memphis paper put it, "in disqualification after stomping the referee, among other things."
Monroe's unique ability to incense a crowd clashed perfectly with the heroic image of Wicks, which Fuller saw as the potential lightning in a bottle formula he was looking for to take the Memphis wrestling scene to the next level.
Shortly after Monroe's death in 2006, Fuller's son Robert gave a point of view of Monroe's affinity with the crowd: "He was really pretty much just full of shit, but I learned an awful lot from him as a young guy. I got a lot of that ‘full of shit' from him. Sputnik would go to the ring, he'd start the match off as if he'd never worked the town before it. He'd make the jump for top rope and miss it before the match would even start, selling his back like crazy. Then he'd get up, madder than hell at the referee, saying the ropes weren't tight enough to make his jump over the top. He'd find 14 reasons why he busted his ass."
The buildup to their eventual feud had Wicks in tag battles against the Corsican Brothers for the Tag Team Championship while Monroe was booked in the classic wrestler-boxer program with former Light Heavyweight Champion Joey Maxim and then in an even more classic gimmick match of the time: against Brownie, a 400 pound wrestling bear.
The gimmick matches with Monroe worked in Fuller's favor and the attendance numbers were on the rise. All the while, the feud between Monroe and Wicks was beginning to take shape as well. Their first encounter would be April 6, 1959, a best of three falls, 90 minute time limit affair that Monroe won, setting up a rematch a week later. The second meeting went Monroe's way as well. In both cases, Ellis Auditorium was at full capacity.
It was during the spring of 1959, Fuller put into motion a tournament to crown an NWA Tennessee State Champion, which would be the backbone of Memphis wrestling shows through the months of May and June. Monroe and Wicks were again on an inevitable collision course.
As the tournament progressed into June, Fuller's attendance figures were burgeoning beyond the confines of Ellis Auditorium, forcing the promoter to move the June 22 semi-final show to Crump stadium where 5,000 fans were on hand to see Monroe and Wicks win their respective bouts to set up the biggest wrestling match the city had ever seen.
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Throughout Memphis, whose population had swelled to nearly 600,000 (nearly double where it had been in 1950), both Wicks and Monroe had also swelled to beyond cult status as two of the most recognizable figures in the city. Wicks, the upstanding hero was the ultimate babyface, revered throughout the cityscape.
Monroe, on the other hand continued to garner notoriety not only spurning the live crowd with his antics, but also outside of the ring as a hard drinker and "frequent cusser."
But there was something of a fascination with Monroe that could not be denied. Yes he was accurately portrayed as a stereotypical wrestling heel, but he was anything but a man of convention.
What became prevalent was that Monroe was a champion for the blacks in Memphis, stemming back to the initial incident that gave him his wrestling handle. Frequently, Monroe found company with blacks down on Beale Street in Memphis, and became an unlikely champion in the battle of racial desegregation.
Monroe's rebelliousness and inability to conform created an anti-hero persona around him that made him as much a simultaneous hero as he was a villain. And he never seemed to stray from controversy. One particular incident had him break the cane of television star Gene Barry (of the Bat Masterson television series), which instigated a brawl that made the front page of the next day's paper. (To put into perspective how big this was, the same paper carried a story about President Eisenhower's heart condition… which was a small piece at the bottom of the page.)
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The finals of the Tennessee State Championship took place on June 29, 1959. Buddy Fuller's careful, methodical booking had created a heavy demand in Memphis to see the next chapter in the rivalry of Monroe and Wicks. This time, the stakes were at their highest.
In classic booking fashion, Wicks bested Monroe to become the inaugural NWA champion for the state of Tennessee. Monroe challenged Wicks unsuccessfully in their rematch a couple of weeks later, but on August 3, Monroe claimed the belt in a best of three falls match that drew 10,000 patrons at Russwood Park (a screw job finish that had Treacherous Phillips interfere on behalf of Monroe.)
Wicks bested Phillips the next week in their brief quarrel and set up his rematch for the title against Monroe on August 17, 1959. Both Monroe and Wicks would get $500 for match, but the winner would also receive a 1959 Cadillac as a prize. Fuller created even more anticipation for the match by paying former undefeated boxing champion Rocky Marciano $5,000 to be the special guest referee.
With ticket sales soaring, Fuller once again moved the event to Russwood Park, where only three years before Elvis Presley had performed to a crowd of 14,000 fans. The reported number of tickets sold the night of the Monroe-Wicks championship bout reached 20,000. (Some sources have this actually recorded anywhere between 17,000 and 18,000.) Either way, Monroe and Wicks outsold the King and set an attendance record in Memphis that stood until the era of the Monday Night Wars between the WWF and WCW. The finish of the match had Marciano stopping the match, ruling it a "no decision" after the action got out of control. Monroe confronted Marciano about the finish and was promptly knocked down by a big right hand in the middle of the ring.
The show was historical for Memphis and was certainly influential in bringing the national wrestling spotlight to Tennessee. Monroe would get one more victory against Wicks in September before dropping the belt to "The Mighty Yankee" shortly after.
Fuller would cool the feud for the remainder of the year, but would put another clever spin on it when he would have Monroe and Wicks tag together against the Corsican Brothers in February of 1960 before having them battle each other again for the Tennessee Championship throughout the year.
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The legacy of the Monroe-Wicks feud is the culmination of a perfect storm of elements that created instant recognition in the Memphis territory. With the combination of Gulas/Welch funding the operation and Buddy Fuller doing the leg work as promoter combined with the chemistry of Monroe and Wicks, wrestling was launched to another level of popularity in Memphis that would continue throughout the decades of the territory system in professional wrestling.
Billy Wicks would continue to wrestle in the territory before finally retiring in 1972 to become a patrol officer for the Memphis Sheriff department.
Sputnik Monroe would leave Memphis for Louisiana in 1960 but would make returns to the city over the years. He made his final wrestling appearance in 1998 at the age of 70. Upon returns to Memphis, Monroe would still find himself the object of continued fanfare. "I get kissed by people on Beale Street who didn't see me wrestle. They heard from their parents or grandparents what I had done and thanked me for doing it. That's pretty emotional, to have people walk up on the street and hug you and tell you ‘thank you' for something you did 40 years ago. Its hell to see the toughest son of a bitch in the world cry when that happens." (credit http://davehoekstra.tumblr.com/post/506685176/sputnik-monroes-memphis)
In July of 2005, nearly 45 years after their legendary, record breaking battle in Memphis, both Monroe and Wicks rekindled their feud as part of a special Memphis legends reunion. Despite being slow moving at 76, Monroe one last time gave the crowd his trademark strut. Wicks leaned into Monroe, telling him he would bust his glasses. Monroe laughed in return, replying "Oh, goddammit Wicks, I'll be blind. I can't see. I'll bleed to death!" (credit http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2006/11/03/2220366.html)
Sadly, Monroe passed away on November 3, 2006 due to complications from cancer and gangrene. The Rock ‘n Soul Museum in Memphis honored Monroe with a display of his entrance jacket and wrestling trunks. An icon forever.
As Wrestlemania is a time to honor and look back on the great wrestlers and matches of yesteryear, the cultural phenomena created in Memphis in 1959 was groundbreaking for the business on multiple levels from the savvy booking all the way down to incredible in-ring chemistry that could tell a story that would keep fans coming back for more. Sorry Rock and Cena, but you've got nothing on Monroe and Wicks.
One of the first true Icon vs. Icon matches of its day...
1972. WWWF televised event. Two of the biggest stars in the business teaming together for an epic tag team match. One, the current World Champion in Pedro Morales. The other, the former (and eight year reigning) World Champion, Bruno Sammartino. In our lifetime, it was like a Hogan and Warrior or an Austin and Rock team up. Their opponents, the heavy heels Professor Tanaka and Mr. Fuji. Without a doubt, the kind of tag team match where the fans expected the heels to get their comeuppance for their previous wrongdoings.
But then came a turn in the match. Fuji, in trademark fashion, threw salt into the eyes of Sammartino, blinding him into an inadvertent attack against Morales who came into the ring to help his partner. As Morales hit the mat, Tanaka followed Fuji's play and blinded Morales with his own toss of salt. Suddenly, the two allies found themselves mistakenly battling each other, thinking they were Tanaka and Fuji. When the dust (or salt) settled, the match was clearly over, but the result created heat between Sammartino and Morales with each man blaming the other for the circumstances.
Vincent J. McMahon knew what he had on his hands. Something that had not been done in wrestling before. Two mega faces at odds with other. The perfect centerpiece for his outdoor event at Shea Stadium.
The Match Of The Century.
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Born in 1935, Bruno Sammartino was an immigrant to America from Italy, whose family planted roots in Pittsburgh, PA in 1950. The teenage Sammartino, having already survived a life threatening battle with rheumatic fever, took on the hobby of weightlifting to build up his slender, gaunt frame.
Sammartino's success in the weight room nearly earned him a spot on the 1956 US Olympic team, but he was edged out by eventual gold medalist in the '56 games, Paul Anderson. But his impressive feats of strength, which became a sort of local event each time, caught the eye of a local wrestling promoter in the area who recruited Sammartino into his fold. Not only was Sammartino a specimen in terms of his 6'1" 280 pound frame, but his Italian ethnicity was a draw to many of his fellow countrymen in the Pittsburgh area.
His first match was a 19 second squash of Dmitri Grabowski.
As a wrestler, Sammartino was an instant draw and was selling out the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. But he would quickly extend his popularity beyond Pennsylvania when he began working Madison Square Garden in 1960. Again, Sammartino would instantly achieve a wave of popularity and became a main event draw in New York before the year was over. (It didn't hurt that he was able to lift and slam the over 600 pound Haystacks Calhoun either.)
As foreshadowing to his eventual relationship with Vincent J's son, Sammartino developed a strained relationship with the elder McMahon which stemmed from the obvious root of dissension in wrestling between performer and promoter in the form of broken promises and unfulfilled payouts. On a couple of occasions he would part with the WWWF for greener pastures (Toronto, for example), but would find his way back through various circumstances.
This was a significant time in the history of the WWWF with McMahon's schism from the NWA and creation of his own World Champion in the form of Buddy Rogers. But the promotion stood on fragile legs and needed a popular face to ultimately bring legitimacy to the WWWF and put fans in the seats. McMahon knew Sammartino would be the answer to the latter, but it was Sammartino who negotiated a title run for himself if he was to return to the promotion.
A deal was reached, and Sammartino faced Rogers at the Garden with belt on the line. Supposedly the true finish of the match was not revealed to Rogers until he was in the ring with Sammartino, more specifically in a headlock by Sammartino. Allegedly Sammaritno said to him in the midst of his grip "We can do this the easy way or the hard way." The match lasted all of 48 seconds with Sammartino getting the win via his submission. Rogers quickly exited the ring after doing things the easy way.
The resulting win began a record setting run for Sammartino as he would hold the WWWF Title for nearly eight years, a record that still stands today. Along the way he bested all of the top heels in the business from Killer Kowalski to Freddie Blassie to Gorilla Monsoon and set numerous attendance records at arenas. Sammartino was the no doubt the most popular wrestler in the country and became a living legend in the business.
However, as all good things must come to an end, so did Sammartino's reign as champion. Having become exhausted from the workload of the last eight years, Sammartino dropped the belt in a shocking loss to Ivan Koloff; a finish that was so unexpected and jarring that the fans were silent in disbelief. Many were crying as the defeated Sammartino walked back to the dressing room.
But as the prophetic Yoda uttered in The Empire Strikes Back, "There is another." And again it would come from foreign soil to take American wrestling by storm.
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Born in 1942, Pedro Morales was a Puerto Rican immigrant who started his career in professional wrestling at the age of 17. Although his career began in New York, it was his move to Los Angeles that jump started his career in the business.
As a worker for the WWA promotion, Morales earned the respect of veterans with his technical proficiency as well as incredible endurance in the ring. In 1965, he defeated The Destroyer to become the WWA champion and would win it again that same year after a rematch with Luke Graham (who defeated him five months after his first title win).
After a nine month reign as champion in the singles ranks, Morales shifted to tag team action and became a four time tag team champion as well. In 1968, with WWA in the midst of organizational changes, Morales moved to Hawaii and resumed his prominence in the singles and tag team ranks, wining NWA titles for each in the territory.
The turning point in Morales' career would come with signing with McMahon and the WWWF in 1970. As a natural baby face in the same vein as current champion Bruno Sammartino, Morales again was respected for his incredible physical abilities and brought yet another element of popularity to McMahon's WWWF with his rapport with the Puerto Rican community. With Sammartino about to exit from the main event scene, McMahon needed another fan favorite to carry the torch.
The predicament he was faced was having one baby face defeat another, which was a taboo booking move in wrestling. Thus, Ivan Koloff, a mega heel at the time, was utilized as a transitional champion to take the belt off Sammartino, which would set up Morales for his championship match.
On February 8, 1971, Morales defeated Koloff at Madison Square Garden to become the fourth WWWF World Champion in its history much to the delight of Morales' mega fan base in New York.
Morales would carry the torch as the face of the WWWF throughout 1971 and deep into 1972. However, despite the heavy fan base he carried in New York, Morales was unable to generate the same fanfare outside of the Garden. Although still a popular baby face champion, the WWWF again was slumping in attendance, and McMahon thought a significant main event match was needed to legitimize the championship reign of Morales to the fans.
Again, McMahon reached out to Sammartino.
"I had to take this match to prove I was a worthy champion, even though I didn't want the pressure again." - Bruno Sammartino from Ross Davies' biography Bruno Sammartino
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The planned show was an outdoor event to be showcased at Shea Stadium, which only six years previous had housed The Beatles to over 40,000 fans and only three years previous the World Series winning Mets. McMahon knew to bring the fans in he needed a main event that was as big as a heavyweight boxing bout. With the events having transpired in the tag match with Morales and Sammartino, the groundwork had been laid for such a battle.
The Showdown at Shea took place on September 30, 1972.
Over 22,000 fans braved a very cold and rainy day to see the match dubbed "The Match of The Century." As we've all found throughout the years of watching mega events like this, how the fans will react can never be predicted. The usually heavy favored Sammartino was jeered by the fans, something he had not really encountered in his career as a wrestler.
Davies' biography on Sammartino offers the suggestion that Sammartino was disliked that day because the fans "who attended the monthly cards at Madison Square Garden were angry that Bruno was no longer appearing on a regular basis. Morales had replaced him in their hearts."
The match was a technical wrestling exhibition in every sense of the word, and showcased not only the incredible stamina of each individual but also the focus to tell a compelling story inside the ring.
After several near falls and an attempted run-in by George "The Animal" Steele, the match finally had to be called a draw after an incredible 75 minutes due to the curfew instituted in New York. Morales and Sammartino had not only gone Broadway but well beyond anything anyone had expected. At the conclusion of the bout, both Morales and Sammartino embraced, once again unified as a tag team as well as friends.
McMahon's gross was close to $141,000 for the event which nearly became a record for an outdoor wrestling show. The initial response was positive and reflected in an influx in attendance but unfortunately began to wain with Morales still in the top spot throughout 1973. McMahon knew the inevitable course of action: he needed Sammartino back as champion.
Sammartino again had reservations, still remembering the strain of the heavy schedule he had during his first title reign, but finally reached an agreement with McMahon which would reduce his schedule and also provide some monetary compensation from ticket sales.
To get the belt back on Sammartino without going over on Morales, McMahon had Stan "The Man" Stasiak win the title from Morales on December 1, 1973. McMahon, fearing a riot if Stasiak defeated Morales in New York, chose Philadelphia, PA as the venue for the changing of the guard. Stasiak (like Koloff before him) was a transitional champion designed to hold the belt until Sammartino was ready to re-assume his spot at the top of the wrestling world.
Nine days later, December, 10, 1973, Sammartino defeated Stasiak in the main event at Madison Square Garden and would go on to hold the title for another four years. The fans were back in droves.
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In the coming years, McMahon (and his son) would deliver two more Showdown at Shea events to New York in 1976 and 1980. The 1976 show had Sammartino successfully defending his WWWF Title against Stan Hansen, while the 1980 show famously pitted him in a cage match with his protege turned heel, Larry Zbysko,
Interesting note: the under card of the 1976 Showdown at Shea had Andre the Giant facing boxer Chuck Wepner, who was the inspiration for the film Rocky which would debut later that year in theaters. The fight itself would also be the inspiration for the match between Thunderlips (Hulk Hogan) and Rocky Balboa in Rocky III.
After his run as WWWF Champion, Morales left the company in 1974 and worked various promotions throughout the country until staging a comeback to the renamed WWF in 1980. Morales not only went on to win the tag titles with Bob Backlund (which had to be immediately forfeited because Backlund was World Champion and by the rules of the time could not hold more than one title) but also claimed the WWF Intercontinental Title after defeating Ken Patera in his old stomping grounds of Madison Square Garden. The win was significant for Morales because he became the first ever Triple Crown Winner in the history of the WWWF and WWF. He would wrestle for the company until 1987 when he finally retired from the ring, and was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame in 1995.
Sammartino would retire from the WWF in 1980 but return in 1984. Although he worked a number of matches with his son, David, in tag team action, Sammartino did feud with both Macho Man Randy Savage and the Honky Tonk Man for the Intercontinental Championship before finally calling it quits in 1988.
Unfortunately, Sammartino's relationship with the company would become more and more strained due to his criticisms over issues such as steroid use and questionable story lines. His outspoken position on the direction of the WWF/E has kept him out of the Hall of Fame as well as many other honorable mentions. (He is also missing from the past and present roster on the new website.)
There was almost a breakthrough in 2004 while in the midst of a possible DVD release of Sammartino's greatest matches as well as a possible position working on WWE 24/7 Classics, but the negotiations fell through once again over the present direction of the company. The RAW that week was in Pittsburgh, and Sammartino was invited to attend but declined despite being told of the main event featuring Triple H and Chris Benoit. Sammartino added he would have attended if Benoit was wrestling Kurt Angle.
With Wrestlemania less than a week away, tons of great matches have been talked about and discussed and analyzed to death on this website. Granted, the Showdown at Shea was not a match that took place at Wrestlemania, but with the Rock-Cena match being billed as one that is "Once In A Lifetime," it's interesting to look back to a similar "Match of the Century" that took place during a time when the company was still on the verge of succeeding and failing with every event promoted and how two massive stars with two different fan bases produced wrestling history.
