On this day in wrestling history 12/06

[Guest Sassquatch]

ON THIS DAY IN WRESTLING HISTORY 12/06

 

1934 - One of the sport's Hall of Famers, Nick Bockwinkel, a second-generation wrestler, was born. The son of Warren Bockwinkel, a contemporary of Lou Thesz and Freddie Blassie out of the 1930s St. Louis wrestling era, son Nick was a huge star in wrestling in a career that spanned 33 years as an active competitor and he was still a main eventer when he stepped out of the ring for good in 1987 to take a job as a road agent for the WWF. Bockwinkel is most noted for his work in the AWA. His tag team with Ray Stevens in the early 70s is acknowledged as the best tag team in the world during that period and one of the great teams of all-time. He later held the AWA heavyweight title on four occasions between 1975 and 1987. Well into his 50s, he had a classic 60 minute draw that aired on ESPN on New Years Eve of 1986 with Curt Hennig. He also carried Andre the Giant to a 60:00 draw in a match said to be entertaining, which tells you the calibre of worker he was. Great technique in the ring and a strong but low-key heel interview. Bockwinkel is currently living in Las Vegas and is going to be among the wrestlers honored on 12/30 at a Minnesota Timberwolves game.

 

1953 - In one of the most important matches in Japanese wrestling history, which actually took place in the United States, Lou Thesz retained the NWA world heavyweight title beating Rikidozan in 43:00 at the Honolulu Civic Auditorium. It was this famous win over Rikidozan that led to several rematches in Japan many years later, one of which drew a 72.0 rating, which no doubt meant it was the biggest mainstream pro wrestling match in Japanese history.

 

1971 - Karl Gotch & Rene Goulet won the WWWF tag team titles from Luke Graham & Tarzan Tyler in Madison Square Garden. Gotch, considered the master submission wrestler of his era, was already a legend in Japan, but was an unknown in the Northeast even though he was well into his 40s.

 

1973 - Mitsuo Yoshida (Riki Choshu) signs a contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling to start his pro wrestling career

 

1974 - The father of The Rock, Rocky Johnson, wins the Georgia heavyweight title from Buddy Colt in Atlanta. Johnson was actually the first African American at this point to ever hold the Georgia heavyweight title.

 

1985 - After the folding of the first version of the UWF in Japan with its final show two months earlier, Akira Maeda, Nobuhiko Takada, Osamu Kido, Kazuo Yamazaki and Yoshiaki Fujiwara signed to return to New Japan Pro Wrestling. This set up some changes in the industry that are felt to this day. With major television exposure of their new shoot-based styles, it led to introduction of moves such as armbars, kneelocks, Fujiwara armbars, etc. as finishing maneuvers in pro wrestling. The next year for New Japan was momentous, because match-ups with Maeda in particular and his UWF crew against New Japan were huge at the box office, but the match everyone wanted to see, Maeda vs. Antonio Inoki, never took place because Maeda refused to do a job for Inoki. However, as the more technical wrestilng got more popular, TV ratings fell even though business was huge. It led to New Japan eventually losing its network prime time coverage and being moved to a Saturday afternoon time slot. That lessening of exposure, even though ticket sales were strong, led to wrestling losing its grip as a mainstream phenomenon in Japan. Maeda and company lasted nearly two years in New Japan before Maeda's shoot kick on Riki Choshu led to his being fired, which led to the formation of the second UWF, which was a cultural phenomenon that paved the way for Japanese wrestling to go in the direction that is has.

 

1986 - Rick Rude & Manny Fernandez won the NWA tag team titles from the Rock & Roll Express at the Omni in Atlanta.

 

1989 - Stan Hansen & Genichiro Tenryu defeated Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu at Budokan Hall to win the annual Real World Tag League tournament

 

1991 - Dynamite Kid announced his retirement from pro wrestilng at the age of 33 due to ring injuries at the finals of the All Japan tag team tournament. Kid came back to wrestle some in England and even one last match in Japan, before the pounding caught up with him and he could no longer walk. In the tournament final before a sellout 15,900 fans, and thousands more watching as an experiment in several closed-circuit locations, Steve Williams & Terry Gordy defeated Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada in 25:24 when Gordy pinned Kawada after a power bomb.

 

1996 - Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue defeated Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama to win the 20th Annual Real World Tag League tournament before 16,300 fans at Budokan Hall. Kawada & Taue had been finalists previously in 1993 and 1995, losing both times to Misawa & Kenta Kobashi. Finish saw Kawada pin Misawa in 31:37 after a power bomb. Arena Mexico held its year-end spectacular before 11,000 fans with a triangular hair vs. hair vs. mask match with Negro Casas, El Hijo del Santo and Dandy, ending with Santo and Dandy in a double bloodbath and Santo using his camel clutch submission, with Dandy losing his hair.

 

1998 - While on a live broadcast of the Capital Carnage PPV in the United Kingdom, announcer Jim Ross suffered an attack of Bells Palsy, his second such attack, brought upon by getting the word while in England of the death of his mother. For many months it appeared that Ross' career in front of the camera was over and the WWF, under writer Vince Russo, created storylines to put Michael Cole in the spot as the lead announcer for Raw. Largely to Steve Austin wanting Ross to call his Wrestlemania main event match nearly four months later, Ross was in the booth for one match, and did so well, that even with the cosmetic problems of the two incidents of Bells Palsy, Vince McMahon made the call to put Ross back as the permanent host of Raw. Ross came back to win Announcer of the Year awards the next two years and was voted by his peers into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Hall of Fame in 1999. The show itself at the London Arena before a sellout 10,441 paying $412,147 was headlined by Austin winning a four-way over Rock, Kane and Undertaker.

[Guest DeputyHawk]

has anyone seen the capital carnage show? what exactly happened with j.r.'s bells palsey attack?

[Guest Andy]

has anyone seen the capital carnage show? what exactly happened with j.r.'s bells palsey attack?

I've got the official video release, and there's no reference to it, so I guess if anything happened it was cut out.

 

Best wishes,

 

Andy