Dylan Waco

Buddy Rose Match Review Number Twelve! Buddy Rose v. Hector Guerrero - Portland TV 4/14/79 Typically awesome Rose rope running spot opens this. Buddy had worked Mando a bunch in San Francisco just a few months prior to this so he knows the Guerrero's well and knows they can hang with his pace. Hector ends up going to work on Rose arm, including a nice looking arm scissors. They even did a really dope looking monkey flip out of it and then another one off of another good rope running spot. Buddy bails to the floor to cut the flow and comes back into the ring with an extended hand but Hector doesn't bite and takes Buddy right back down by the arm. Hector hits his awesome front flip counter off the back body drop attempt into another arm bar. The consistency of limb work, even across falls is a major facet of Portland wrestling, and while the multiple falls issue isn't at play in this match it is something everyone should look out for when the Portland Set hits. Hector gets cut off offensively and takes a couple of big face plant bumps. Hector comes back and they are chasing the clock at this point with Hector running through high spots to try and take a fall. He goes for a splash but Buddy catches him and hits a back breaker and then a Billy Robinson style backbreaker for the fall. This was not blowaway great, but it was a lot of fun, and the big spots were really awesome. In some ways this is more of a Hector showcase, but Buddy is right there with him.

Dave has uploaded some Montreal footage as a precursor to our eventual show on the subject. Enjoy

Well I agree with Phil on the above Arn/Regal match. Beyond that I think the Studd Stable/Dustin feud was the best thing in WCW angle wise and in some respects match wise. Bunkhouse Buck/Terry Funk vs. Arn Anderson/Dustin Rhodes - Bash at the Beach 7/17/94 is the really good match with Arn turning on Dustin. "The View Never Changes" promo has to go on, and of course this tag match Dustin Rhodes/Dusty Rhodes vs. Bunkhouse Buck/Terry Funk - Clash of the Champions XXVIII 8/28/94 Tully Blanchard vs. Terry Funk - Slamboree 5/22/94 I'd push for this pretty strongly as this was booked as just a random legends match, turned into a wild brawl with Funk out in the crowd with hat guy screaming "these are my people!" and of course later in the night debuting as a member of the Studd Stable. Flair v. Regal Marquis of Qeensbury should go on as a famous match and another really good Regal match. Larry v. Regal from Slamboree would be a solid pick but I don't consider it mandatory. Ricky Steamboat vs. Vader - Saturday Night 2/26/94 I thought that was a great match, better than their SN match from 92 with Steamboat's fiery comeback being a sequence of rabid chairshots IIRC. Bunkhouse Buck vs. Dustin Rhodes - Saturday Night 8/6/94 Not an essential match from the feud, but a really cool one that featured Buck doing the jumping belt buckle smash to the head of Dustin. One of my favorite non-Clash tv matches of the year. Brad Armstrong vs. Vader - Worldwide 9/10/94 This has no chance, but it is one of my favorite under five minute matches of all time and would take up no time on a disc. Just saying

Matches that placed in the top hundred of SC poll for WCW from 94: #19. Bunkhouse Match: Bunkhouse Buck vs. Dustin Rhodes - Spring Stampede 4/17/94 (1207 points, 17 votes, 1 first-place vote) #21. Street Fight: Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs/Jerry Sags) vs. Cactus Jack/Maxx Payne - Spring Stampede 4/17/94 (1120 points, 15 votes) #22. Wargames: Dustin Rhodes/Dusty Rhodes/Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs/Jerry Sags) vs. Arn Anderson/Bunkhouse Buck/Terry Funk/Col. Rob Parker - Fall Brawl 9/18/94 (1079 points, 13 votes, 1 first-place vote, 1 third-place vote) #25. Steven Regal vs. Larry Zbyszko - Saturday Night 5/28/94 (1064 points, 14 votes, 1 first-place vote) #26. Dustin Rhodes vs. Vader - Clash of the Champions XXIX 11/16/94 (1062 points, 15 votes) #27. No DQ Match: Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs/Jerry Sags) vs. Cactus Jack/Kevin Sullivan - Slamboree 5/22/94 (1025 points, 13 votes) #40. The Boss vs. Vader - Spring Stampede 4/17/94 (808 points, 12 votes, 1 third-place vote) #70. Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat - Saturday Night 5/14/94 (368 points, 6 votes) #71. Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat - Spring Stampede 4/17/94 (360 points, 6 votes, 1 third-place vote) #73. Bullrope Match: Bunkhouse Buck vs. Dustin Rhodes - Slamboree 5/22/94 (357 points, 5 votes) #76. Steve Austin vs. Ricky Steamboat - Clash of the Champions XXVIII 8/28/94 (350 points, 6 votes) #98. Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs/Jerry Sags) vs. Cactus Jack/Maxx Payne - Superbrawl 2/20/94 (261 points, 5 votes) Personally I thought 94 was a MUCH better year than these results would indicate. I dragged this over mainly to argue that Vader v. Boss should not miss the cut unless you are absolutely dying for space as it was a match with a fairly broad constituency for the poll, and has a really awesome feel to it. The rest of results can be found here: http://board.deathvalleydriver.com/index.php?showtopic=49768

Bah. Rotunda yes. It's my second favorite Rotunda singles match. Which isn't saying much. But it is a good match Have to ask, what's the first? IRS vs. 123 Kid from Summerslam '93? Mike Rotunda vs. Tom Zenk from Havoc '89? v. Doug Sommers from AWA TV in 86.

Two today because I've been slacking. Buddy Match Review Number Ten! Buddy Rose v. Billy Anderson - AWA 3/86 Billy Andererson is a regular AWA jobber from the period in case you are wondering. Yes I'm reviewing a squash match. Rose's offense was fun here. His stomps always look great, but I liked his elbow drop sequence, his ab stretch looked cool, his knee, his suplex, fucking everything just looked really good. Anderson's comeback is really great because of Buddy's reaction to everything. Seriously his facial expression after the first hip toss is awesome and I love that he took his nutty backwards bump in a match against a jobber. Rose's DDT finish was cool too. Consensus seems to be that this is fun, but not good enough for the set. That's probably true, but I thought this was really entertaining for a squash match. I talked myself into nominating this for the AWA Set after talking this match up multiple times. It's a great showcase for Buddy Rose, sort of proving he was still a prime wrestler in 86. Depending on how the set shakes down I could actually see this as a personal pick given how much the match stands out in my mind for a competitive squash. Buddy Match Review Number Eleven! Buddy Rose & Curt Hennig vs. Assassin & Dynamite Kid - Portland TV 9/3/83 This is shortly after Buddy's face turn if I'm not mistaken. Pre-match is great with Hennig/Rose in their matching tracksuits and Rose disrobing slowly to a massive pop. First fall of this is really great as Hennig was a just a tremendous underdog babyface at this point. He bumps huge for shoulder tackles, is the perfect guy to take DK's stuff, throws a mean haymaker and had some really awesome hope spots. Really loved the fireman's carry hope spot especially and the sunset flip he and DK worked looked something epic and was a true "near fall" in the non-U.S. indy sense of the term. The spot with the tag behind the refs back was really well done, with referee Sandy Barr literally tackling Buddy to get him to the corner and Dynamite hitting a nasty diving fistdrop that Hennig sold like a gunshot. Crowd was just bananas for this and when Buddy tagged in they really lost it. Buddy goes for the hood of the Assassin and then they go into an awesome workrate/parity exchange that was totally fresh for the time and ended with a really nice Buddy roll up for the pin. Great stuff all the way around. Camera man sort of misses the beginning of the second fall with Rose dropkicking Assassin into Rose for a big double bump. Buddy gets caught after a roll up attempt and isolated by the heels. Cool variation of the typical Buddy bottom rope bump as he hooks it and saves himself at the last second by clutching to the apron only to take a couple of concrete bumps off of cheap heel shots afterward. Rose gets in some defensive hope spots that worked really well but eventually got caught with the Assassin's diving headbutt with the loaded mask to drop the second fall. Third fall opens up with Rose getting his arm worked over by the heels. Buddy sells it well but tags out pretty quick and all hell breaks lose. The Dosey-do into ab strech spot was a really great and unexpected moment. Rip Oliver ends up running in with a bullrope and they beat on the faces. Would have been nice to have a real finish, but this was still a great match. Really this is a good showcase for everyone, but Rose and Hennig were just off the charts at this point.

Bah. Rotunda yes. It's my second favorite Rotunda singles match. Which isn't saying much. But it is a good match

http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkC...2658&cmd=tc AND WE R BACK! The missing Maritimes show, re-done! Bigger, Better, Crazier! Dave, myself and special guest Andrew Lacelle cover the whole gamut of Maritimes wrestling history, from the Carnie circuit to racist promotional tactics to The (REAL) Cuban Assassin to the great Leo Burke to Rip Rogers and all spots in between. Dave does some great historical rundowns, Andrew compares Grand Prix to Memphis and I have an on air orgasm talking about Bobby Bass. Metric tons of fun. Maybe my favorite show yet.

I like the STing v. Rick Steiner tv title change a lot more than most. I think Loss likes it a good bit too actually.

AAA is pretty much the shittiest way to try and get into Lucha. I could not watch a full AAA show right now if you paid me and I would rather watch Lucha than anything else.

Buddy Match Review Number Nine! Buddy Rose/Doug Somers/Sheri Martel v. Midnight Rockers/Despina Montegues - AWA I'm too lazy to look up a date on this, but it is available from Khawk on his Supermix 38. This is one of many matches between Rockers and Rose/Somers, but this has the added dynamic of the women. On paper and in theory you might think that would be distracting and bad thing. You would be wrong. Opening Buddy/Shawn rope running was the stuff of the God's. My brother Devon calls these sort of exchanges "armdrag wrestling" and thinks Buddy is the best ever at them and I find it very hard to disagree with him. Seriously I love Buddy Rose rope running spots, especially when he's up against a plucky young babyface as he almost seems to be challenging them to see who can move faster and smoother. It reminds me of the time when I was in 7th grade and my friend Jono's got tired of me talking about how I was the fastest kid in school and challenged me to a forty yard dash. He was 5'10, 280, and had a notoriously bad back. He beat me by a good five yards. Buddy had to make Shawn look good so he wasn't going to be "beating" anyone in an athletic exchange, but I'll be damned if he wasn't right there with him. This feeds into another Buddy staple - get distracted shit talking fans and take a massive bump. On this occasion he gets the ropes shaken on him while he is standing on them jawing and takes a huge crotch bump to the floor. This is followed up by Doug pinballing around himself including getting work over by the Rockers lady friend. The heels isolate Shawn in the corner and we get a great bloody face in peril segment that included Shawn trying to pick up Sherri and carry her away AND Sherri BITING the cut! It is really insane how good Shawn was as an FIP back then and watching Sheri go fucking insane on him was really awesome given the history they would make later. Somers and Rose also bring some really sick, targeted punches during the initial heat segment. I say initial because this is the AWA, home of two heat segment wrestling. So after Doug and Buddy take some huge bumps for Marty off a hot tag, Marty takes a lunatic bump for them off of a wild back body drop to the floor. Buddy follows this up by running in and decking Shawn knocking him off the apron. Marty's FIP is a lot of fun too as they do a fun bit with him and Sheri, a sweet suplex and slingshot/forearm combo from Rose and Somers and then Sherri misses a splash and Marty makes the hot tag to Despina. This leads to a real "holy shit" heat spot as Buddy actually breaks up a pinfall attempt by kicking her in the head. All hell breaks loose with the Rose/Somers eventually bumping to the floor and The Rockers pressing Despina onto Martel for the finish. Extremely entertaining match. Sort of comparable to one of the great Heenan six-man tags that will also make the AWA Set. And yet another really sweet match from the Rose/Somers v. Midnights feud.

Missed a day so I'll do one tomorrow also. Buddy Match Review Number Eight! Buddy Rose/Art Crews v. Scott Peterson/Steve Doll - Portland TV 12/3/88 This is fat, "old" (he was in his 30's) Buddy again, in their with some of the stars of a depleted Portland universe. Buddy was in the middle of a feud with Top Gun and this was sort of a side show in that saga. The announcer suggesting that Buddy Rose killing himself wouldn't be as bad as Top Gun retiring was nice. Art Crews flies around some early and complains to the ref. Buddy ends up coming in and jumps up and down which causes Buddy's fat to jiggle and gets a great look from Buddy. This is one of the things I really love about Buddy as the fatter he got, the more creative he got in working obesity based spots. He wasn't a fat guy doing avalanches (not that there is a problem with that), but a sloppy fat guy that had let himself go and that became part of his character. Buddy is awesome cowering in the corner from every Doll offensive attempt and bitching at the crowd. Peterson gets caught in the heel corner and worked over. Crews ends up accidentally decking Rose and knocking him into the first row. Rose gets double dropkicked to the floor and Doll/Peterson take the first fall with some double team offense. Second fall is really short with Rose taking some nice bumps and winning on a roll through off of a Peterson crossbody. Third fall is Peterson in peril. Peterson makes a comeback and there is a double dropkick near fall on Rose as time runs out. Not a great match, but the first fall was pretty entertaining and it is another good example of post-prime Buddy stealing the show and being the anchor of a match with guys that were physically his superior.

Is that the same old lady from SMW shows squaring off with Hogan? It sure looks like her. Granny in the Portland crowd was awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLAghm187Kw...feature=related Too Cold Scorpio v. Gangrel I also watched a really fun Togo v. Regal match from Shotgun Saturday Night that was arguably better than this, but man this was a fucking insane spotfest. Gangrel and Scorp both take lunatic bumps off of multiple crazy impactful/dangerous looking suplex variations. Scorp crushes Gangrel with a spin kick and a huge moonsault. Finish is the Impaler off Christian interference. Just a balls to the wall match. Lots of fun

This will sound like bullshit, but my friend used to work in a strip club in Orlando and there were a few Korean girls that worked with her.

Buddy Match Review Number Seven! Buddy Rose v. Chris Adams - Portland TV 2/26/83 More Buddy in 83, which means more "arguable best in the World" era Buddy. Rose is at his douchey best early on, doing push ups, cartwheeling away from a monkey flip and celebrating, slapping Adams, jawing with fans, just all the staples of his greatness. Rose does the cartwheel bit again and takes a slap of his own for a great revenge spot and Adams takes over on the arm. Rose backs into a corner and takes back over and it is done so organically it is really impressive. Nice reversal and a super kick! Tombstone on Rose! Awesome ending to the first fall. Second fall sees Adams start with a headlock base. Rose eventually back suplexes out and takes over. Really nice near fall off of a delayed vertical suplex from Buddy. Adams goes for a a reverse crossbody but Rose rolls through a gets a quick equalizing fall. Third fall starts with Buddy being methodical including one of the most deliberate and prickish looking backslides I've ever seen. Seriously he made a backslide look like an expression of egotistical excess. Adams gets a good near fall on a sunset flip and Adams is back up and taking over. Buddy sits up and sits right into a superkick and then takes an awesome delayed flip bump into the rope. Adams went for another superkick but Rose held the ropes and avoided it. They battle for a suplex and Adams wins but only gets a near fall. Double knockdown spot with Buddy falling on top of Adams for a near fall. They are really staring to kick this thing into overdrive here. Adams blocks an atomic drop attempt and hits one of his own and then a really great looking backward roll for an incredible near fall. Adams follows up with a backslide and small package for two more awesome near falls. I'm not a fan of 2.9 stuff at all but this was so well built to and executed it works really fucking well. Adams goes for a running kick into the corner but Buddy moves and Adams takes a big time bump that the announcers sell as death. Buddy grabs his "injured" leg but ends up taking an enziguri and gets knocked to the floor. Adams ends up following up with a sweet tope which was a real "holy shit" spot in 1983. It also was his demise in the match as Rose struggles back up first - and with a fans sign stuck to his sweaty back - rolls back in the ring to beat the countout and win the fall/match. This was a match that started good and slowly morphed into great. By the end I thought it was pretty much an excellent match. One of the better Adams matches I've seen and another one of my favorite matches from 1983.

Everyone needs to watch William Regal v. Dean Ambrose from yesterday's FCW tv. It's on youtube and is a really great match.

Buddy Match Review Number 6! Buddy Rose/Mr. Fuji/Billy Graham/Ray Stevens/Don Muraco v. Andre The Giant/Rocky Johnson/Jimmy Snuka/Sal Bellemo/Pedro Morales 3/5 Falls - WWF 2/19/83 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBmMBYEfCcM This is pretty heavily edited but it's something I hadn't seen before and is a unique setting so I wanted to give it a look. This is almost entirely heel in peril stuff and while I am not typically a fan of that I have no problem calling this a very "fun" match. Billy Graham is in karate mode, stays on the apron and doesn't get involved. Rocky's only in long enough to get a few razzle dazzle spots in. Bellemo is a pretty good weak link for his team. We are spared from Pedro for the most part. Stevens looks good. Fuji is Fuji, but hits a nice belly to belly for a fall on Bellemo and doesn't suck. Snuka hits his big spots cleanly. The stars of this are Muraco, Rose and Andre. It's just always to watch Andre work his drop down spot and here Muraco takes it well. Andre also does a good job selling when called upon to do so briefly toward the back end of the match. Muraco was a really fun taking over the top bumps here. The hangman was a little slow moving in execution but still looked good. The over the ropes delayed bump into the steel looked sick. The airplane spin spot with Bellemo was amusing. Buddy was the best of the bunch. His opening exchange with Rocky was fast as fuck and really show cased his athleticism. He had another equally impressive exchange with Snuka later in the match that resulted in a cool fall off of a sunset flip variation. He took his big chop bump off the ropes for Andre. Most importantly I thought he was the best guy at working the crowd. He was constantly egging them on with his mannerisms and gestures. He really exudes "cocky douchebag" after they win the first fall, but transitions nicely to "crybaby jackass" once they start dropping falls. It's hardly a great match, but it's different than the norm and a cool setting to watch him work in.

I think Gabe has always been a comically overrated booker and his idea of good wrestling and mine are in conflict so why the fuck would I ever spend a penny on one of his shows?

I think an interesting wrestling what if is "what if Terry Funk had become a movie star and didn't come back in 89?" Does Flair stay heel? Do they go back to Luger/Flair?

Would have been nice to have some representation from the AWA run on there. The Sheiks run is arguable Patera's second best run as a worker after 1980.

I'm not a member.

1981 1/2/81 St Louis NWA champion Harley Race beat Ken Patera King Kong Brody and Pat O'Connor beat John Studd and Pat Kelly (sub Dick Murdoch) Missouri State champion Ted DiBiase beat Ox Baker David Von Erich beat Bulldog Bob Brown Rufus R Jones beat Mike Kelly (sub Tiny Anderson) Sandy Partlow and Buzz Tyler beat Jean Antone and Kerry Brown Bruce Reed beat Ben Deleon Patera stars off the year with a huge main event in St. Louis for the NWA title. He's largely a man without a full time home for the first part of this year, but remains a big star in the Kiel. 1-9-81 1. The Enforcer d. Kengo Kimura 2. Ken Patera d. Riki Choshu 3. Antonio Inoki/Tatsumi Fujinami d. Samoan #1/#2 1-16-81 1. Strong Kobayashi/Seiji Sakaguchi d. Samoan #1/#2 2. Tatsumi Fujinami d. Tom Pritchard 3. Antonio Inoki/Riki Choshu d. Ken Patera/The Enforcer 1-30-81 1. Kengo Kimura vs. Samoan #2 2. Tatsumi Fujinami d. Samoan #1 3. Antonio Inoki/Seiji Sakaguchi/Riki Choshu d. Bad News Allen/Ken Patera/Tiger Jeet Singh 2-6-81 1. Tatsumi Fujinami/Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Ken Patera/Bobby Duncum 2. Tiger Jeet Singh d. Antonio Inoki 2-13-81 1. Tiger Jeet Singh d. Antonio Inoki (taped 2-6) 2. Riki Choshu/Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Samoans #1/#2 (taped 2-4) 3. Antonio Inoki d. Ken Patera (taped 2-4) Interesting results from his NJPW tour. I'm not sure if this was his first tour of Japan or not, but it's the first one I've seen results from. Assuming it is, at least three main events on that first tour is pretty impressive. I think the fact that he was spread out in tags and singles is interesting as well. I wonder what a match v. Choshu would have looked like in 81. I don't have venue listings and these are just tv dates, but they show that Patera was in the mix with the biggest names in the company. 2/20/81 St Louis Missouri State champion Ted DiBiase beat Ken Patera dq Dick the Bruiser no contest Ric Flair King Kong Brody and Bruce Reed beat Baron Von Raschke and Johnny Valiant Rufus R Jones beat Buzz Tyler dq Pat and Mike Kelly drew Spike Huber and Terry Taylor JJ Dillon beat Jerry Roberts Art Crews beat Tiny Anderson Another Kiel main event for Patera. Interesting that he dropped the strap to Dibiase, ended up getting positioned for an NWA title match v. Race, and then they go back to him v. Dibiase for a Missouri Title main event after the Japan tour. I can't find a single date for Patera anywhere from March. I have no clue if he took the month off or if he did a small stint in a random territory (seems unlikely, though I guess Central States would have been a possibility). April 23, 1981 in Tokyo, Japan Sumo Hall drawing ??? Shown May 1, 1981 on TV Yoshiaki Fujiwara beat Akira Maeda. Kantaro Hoshino & Haruka Eigen beat Osamu Kido & Black Cat. Tiger Mask beat Dynamite Kid (9:29). Kengo Kimura beat Biko Botowamungo. Seiji Sakaguchi & Riki Choshu beat Ken Patera & Rick McGraw. El Canek beat Tatsumi Fujinami via DQ. Antonio Inoki pinned Stan Hansen (12:56) to win the held-up NWF Title. Ken worked this entire tour which started on April 3rd, but this is the only date I could find on an initial search. Upper mid-card tag match, though probably not of much note realistically. Him teaming with Quick Draw amuses me. May 17, 1981 (Sunday) – Atlanta, GA – Omni Coliseum [P] (Paul Jones (01) – Promoter / Georgia Championship Wrestling) > Robert Gibson over Bryan St. John > Ricky Gibson over Gypsy Joe (02) > Roberto Soto over Bobby Eaton > Georgia Heavyweight Title One-Night Tournament: Tommy Rich over Bill Irwin to advance; Ken Patera over Ray Candy to advance; Greg Valentine over Mr. Wrestling #2 (01) to advance; Mike Sharpe over Jim Duggan to advance; Rich over Nikolai Volkoff to advance; Patera versus Dusty Rhodes ended in a no contest for both to be eliminated; Valentine over Sharpe to advance; and Rich over Valentine to win the title > No Disqualification / No Time Limit Match: Ted DiBiase & the Junkyard Dog over the Freebirds (01) (Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts) / Notes: Joe substituted for the French Angel (02) in the match against Gibson, and Soto substituted for Steve Olsonoski in the match against Eaton. It was reported the purse for the tournament was $5,000. Michael Hayes was in the Freebirds’ corner during the match against DiBiase and the Dog. Patera re-debuts in Georgia in the Georgia Title tourney going out in a blaze of glory with Dusty. May 31, 1981 (Sunday) – Atlanta, GA – Omni Coliseum [P] (Paul Jones (01) – Promoter / Georgia Championship Wrestling) > Ricky Gibson & Robert Gibson over Bobby Eaton & the French Angel (02) > Steve Olsonoski over Bryan St. John > Mike Sharpe over Ken Patera by disqualification > Ted DiBiase over Nikolai Volkoff > World Tag Team Title Cage Match: Ole Anderson & Gene Anderson* over the Freebirds (01) (Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts) > Dog Collar Match: the Junkyard Dog over Michael Hayes > Bruiser Brody versus Abdullah the Butcher ended in a no contest > NWA World Heavyweight Title Match: Tommy Rich over Harley Race* by disqualification > Lights Out Match: Bruce Reed over Bruiser Brody by disqualification / Notes: Olsonoski substituted for Wahoo McDaniel in the match against St. John. Michael Hayes was in the Freebirds’ corner during the match against the Andersons. Gordy and Roberts were in Hayes’ corner during the match against the Dog. Patera worked a feud of some sort v. Mike Sharpe. Or at least he worked him around the horn. June 1, 1981 (Monday) – Augusta, GA – William Bell Auditorium (Charlie Harben – Promoter / Georgia Championship Wrestling) > Bruce Reed over Bobby Eaton > Ricky Gibson over the French Angel (02) > Steve Olsonoski over Bobby Eaton > Bryan St. John and Jerry Oates went to a draw > Ken Patera over Robert Gibson On paper this looks like a totally random card. No fucking clue what Patera v. Gibson would have looked like in 1981. Hard to even conceptualize really. June 6, 1981 (Saturday) – Chattanooga, TN – Chattanooga Memorial Auditorium (Paul Jones (01) – Promoter / Georgia Championship Wrestling) > Paul Ellering versus Bobby Garrett > Roberto Soto versus the French Angel (02) > Bruce Reed versus Bryan St. John > National Heavyweight Title Match: Steve Olsonoski* versus Jacques Goulet > Ken Patera versus Mike Sharpe Patera and Sharpe main event. 6/12/81 St Louis NWA champion Harley Race beat Ted DiBiase Pat O'Connor won an 18 man battle royal Dick the Bruiser and Dusty Rhodes beat Ric Flair and Ken Patera dq Kerry Von Erich no contest Dick Murdoch Bulldog Bob Brown and Rocky Johnson beat JJ Dillon and Buzz Tyler (sub Bobby Jaggers) Jack Brisco beat Bobby Heenan Rufus R Jones and Terry Gibbs beat Gene Lewis and Bob Sweetan Spike Huber beat Jerry Lawler Really interesting tag match there as the former training partners - and two of the biggest heels in the business work two of the biggest babyfaces in the business. June 13, 1981 (Saturday) – Chattanooga, TN – Chattanooga Memorial Auditorium (Paul Jones (01) – Promoter / Georgia Championship Wrestling) > Mike Sharpe & Bruce Reed versus Jim Duggan & the French Angel (02) > Terry Gordy over Ted Oates > Bruce Reed and Jim Duggan went to a draw > Ken Patera over Steve Olsonoski > Dusty Rhodes versus Bruiser Brody ended in a no contest / Notes: Duggan substituted for Mr. X (27) to team with the Angel in the match against Sharpe and Reed. This is a pretty loaded show for Chattanooga. Patera v. Steve O would have been a borderline squash in the AWA a couple of years later, but was probably a semi-relevant match here. This is also a very young Gordy in his hometown. Also notable on a personal level as my dad swears up and down he went to this show with my mom who was 7 months pregnant with me at the time. Which would make this my first wrestling show in a roundabout way June 15, 1981 (Monday) – Augusta, GA – William Bell Auditorium (Charlie Harben – Promoter / Georgia Championship Wrestling) > Ricky Gibson & Robert Gibson and Bryan St. John & the French Angel (02) went to a draw > Bruce Reed over Bryan St. John > Steve Olsonoski over Jim Duggan > Ken Patera over Mike Sharpe > Dusty Rhodes over Terry Gordy by disqualification June 17, 1981 (Wednesday) – Columbus, GA – Columbus Municipal Auditorium (Fred Ward – Promoter / Georgia Championship Wrestling) > Ted Oates and the French Angel (02) went to a draw > Jimmy Snuka over Tommy Wright > Bruce Reed over Jim Duggan > Ted DiBiase & Steve Olsonoski over Terry Gordy & Bryan St. John > No Disqualification Match: Ken Patera over Mike Sharpe June 20, 1981 (Saturday) – Chattanooga, TN – Chattanooga Memorial Auditorium (Paul Jones (01) – Promoter / Georgia Championship Wrestling) > Mike Jackson over Phil Strickland > Ricky Gibson & Robert Gibson over Jim Duggan & Buck Brannigan > Ted Oates over Ted Allen > Tommy Rich versus Bruiser Brody ended in a no contest > Ken Patera over Mike Sharpe Patera and Sharpe series heats up and headlines a couple of shows on the circuit. Dusty v. Gordy and Rich v. Brody sound interesting on paper. June 21, 1981 (Sunday) – Atlanta, GA – Omni Coliseum [P] (Paul Jones (01) – Promoter / Georgia Championship Wrestling) > Terry Gordy & Bryan St. John over Ricky Gibson & Robert Gibson > Mike Sharpe over Bruce Reed > Mike Graham over the French Angel (02) > Jimmy Snuka over Terry Taylor > Ted DiBiase & Steve Olsonoski over Ole Anderson & Gene Anderson > Blackjack Mulligan versus Bruiser Brody ended in a no contest > Georgia Heavyweight Title Match: Ken Patera over Tommy Rich* to win the title > NWA World Heavyweight Title Match: Dusty Rhodes over Harley Race* to win the title Huge Omni show with Patera winning the Georgia title over God of Georgia Tommy Rich AND Dusty winning the NWA title over Harley. Two major title switches on the same show. I imagine this did a huge gate. June 24, 1981 (Wednesday) – Columbus, GA – Columbus Municipal Auditorium (Fred Ward – Promoter / Georgia Championship Wrestling) > Steve Olsonoski & Mike Sharpe versus Bryan St. John & Jim Duggan went to a draw > Ted Oates over the French Angel (02) > Jimmy Snuka over Bruce Reed > Terry Gordy versus Ted DiBiase ended in a double countout > Georgia Heavyweight Title Match: Tommy Rich over Ken Patera* by disqualification June 27, 1981 (Saturday) – Chattanooga, TN – Chattanooga Memorial Auditorium (Paul Jones (01) – Promoter / Georgia Championship Wrestling) > Ted Oates and the French Angel (02) > Robert Gibson over Ken Timbs > Ted Oates & Jerry Oates over the French Angel (02) & the Mighty Yankee (05) > National Heavyweight Title Match: Steve Olsonoski* over Bryan St. John > Georgia Heavyweight Title Match: Ken Patera* over Tommy Rich by disqualification / Notes: The Angel substituted for Bobby Garrett in the match against Ted Oates. Robert Gibson replaced Jerry Oates in the match against Timbs, as Jerry Oates teamed with Ted Oates to substitute for Ricky Gibson and Robert Gibson in the match against the Angel and the Yankee. Rich v. Patera is pretty much the main day-to-day feud in the territory at this point. Would love to see the tv from this period as I wonder how this feud was presented on tv. July 5, 1981 (Sunday) – Atlanta, GA – Omni Coliseum [P] (Paul Jones (01) – Promoter / Georgia Championship Wrestling) > Bruno Sammartino, Jr., over the French Angel (02) > Ricky Gibson & Robert Gibson over Jim Duggan & Bryan St. John > Steve Olsonoski and King Kong Mosca went to a draw > Bruce Reed & George Welles over Terry Gordy & Greg Valentine > Jimmy Snuka over Jay Youngblood > No Disqualification / No Countout Match: Bruiser Brody over Blackjack Mulligan > Georgia Heavyweight Title Match: Ken Patera* over Tommy Rich > NWA World Heavyweight Title Match: Dusty Rhodes* over Ted DiBiase In the Omni Ted gets a World title shot and Rich v. Patera is now a real blood feud. This is another show where I imagine they packed the Omni pretty tight. July 6, 1981 (Monday) – Augusta, GA – William Bell Auditorium (Charlie Harben – Promoter / Georgia Championship Wrestling) > Bruno Sammartino, Jr., over the French Angel (02) > Mike Sharpe over Gypsy Joe (02) > Georgia Heavyweight Title Match: Ken Patera* over King Kong Mosca > National Tag Team Title Match: Terry Gordy & Jimmy Snuka over Ted DiBiase & Steve Olsonoski* to win the title July 9, 1981 (Thursday) – Marietta, GA – Cobb County Civic Center (Paul Jones (01) – Promoter / Georgia Championship Wrestling) > Mike Sharpe versus Bryan St. John > Bruce Reed versus Gypsy Joe (02) > Ricky Gibson & Robert Gibson versus Jim Duggan & the French Angel (02) > Steve Olsonoski versus Terry Gordy > Georgia Heavyweight Title Match: Ken Patera* versus Mr. Wrestling #2 (01) These are cool quirky defenses for Patera. The 2 match could have been a pretty big deal although I don't think the CCCC is that big a venue. He actually worked Mosca a couple of times in GCW. July 11, 1981 (Saturday) – Chattanooga, TN – Chattanooga Memorial Auditorium (Paul Jones (01) – Promoter / Georgia Championship Wrestling) > Bruno Sammartino, Jr., over Gypsy Joe (02) at 12:00 > Women’s Match: Debbie Combs over Candy Lane at 18:00 > Bruce Reed & George Welles over Jim Duggan & the French Angel (02) at 21:00 > Jimmy Snuka over Bruno Sammartino, Jr., at 26:00 > Georgia Heavyweight Title Match (No Disqualification): Ken Patera* over Tommy Rich at 8:30 / Notes: Sammartino, Jr., substituted for Ricky Gibson in the match against Snuka. The Rich feud continues as he worked several matches with Rich in all the towns. 7/17/81 St Louis Missouri State champion Ted DiBiase beat Baron Von Raschke Ric Flair beat Pat O'Connor Jack Brisco & Kery Von Erich & Dick the Bruiser beat Dick Murdoch & JJ Dillon & Ken Patera Bob Sweetan beat Gene Lewis Joyce Grable and Wendi Richter beat Suzette Ferreira and Jill Fontaine Bulldog Bob Brown drew Buzz Tyler This was the beginning of a run Patera would have opposite Jack Brisco - yet another major star Patera had a program with during his prime run. July 19, 1981 (Sunday) – Atlanta, GA – Omni Coliseum [P] (Paul Jones (01) – Promoter / Georgia Championship Wrestling) > Ted Oates and the French Angel (02) went to a draw > Mike Sharpe over Abe Jacobs > Bruno Sammartino, Jr., over Ken Timbs > Bruce Reed & George Welles over Bryan St. John & Professor Sonoda > Steve Olsonoski over Jim Duggan > National Tag Team Title Match: Terry Gordy & Jimmy Snuka* over Tommy Rich & Ted DiBiase > Texas Street Fight Match: Blackjack Mulligan over Bruiser Brody > NWA World Heavyweight Title Match: Dusty Rhodes* over Ken Patera / Notes: Rich and DiBiase were initially declared the winners in the match against Gordy and Snuka, but the decision was reversed when the legal referee overturned it. Michael Hayes replaced the referee when he was knocked unconscious, but because he wasn’t the legal referee, the decision could not stand. Another huge show at the Omni with three really big time matches on the top of the card. Dusty v. Patera has run many places over the years at this point and now we can add a major GCW show to that list. July 25, 1981 (Saturday) – Chattanooga, TN – Chattanooga Memorial Auditorium (Paul Jones (01) – Promoter / Georgia Championship Wrestling) > Mike Jackson versus Bobby Garrett > George Welles & Abe Jacobs versus Ken Timbs & Bryan St. John > National Heavyweight Title Match: Terry Gordy over Steve Olsonoski* by disqualification > Georgia Heavyweight Title Match: Tommy Rich over Ken Patera* by disqualification Rich and Patera continues to be the default headliner around the loop. July 27, 1981 (Monday) – Augusta, GA – William Bell Auditorium (Charlie Harben – Promoter / Georgia Championship Wrestling) > the French Angel (02) over Ken Timbs > Bruno Sammartino, Jr., over Jim Duggan > Bruce Reed over Bryan St. John > Mike Sharpe over Ted Oates > Tommy Rich & Steve Olsonoski & George Welles over Ken Patera & Terry Gordy & Jimmy Snuka Pretty random six-man main event here. July 29, 1981 (Wednesday) – Columbus, GA – Columbus Municipal Auditorium (Fred Ward – Promoter / Georgia Championship Wrestling) > George Welles over Mike Sharpe > Ted Oates & Bruno Sammartino, Jr., and Jim Duggan & the French Angel (02) went to a draw > Steve Olsonoski over Bryan St. John > Tommy Rich over Ken Patera by disqualification > Terry Gordy & Jimmy Snuka over Ted DiBiase & Bruce Reed Interesting that the tag match match hurdled over Rich v. Patera as the official main even of the show. August 3, 1981 (Monday) – Augusta, GA – William Bell Auditorium (Charlie Harben – Promoter / Georgia Championship Wrestling) > Bruno Sammartino, Jr., and Steve Olsonoski went to a draw > Bruce Reed & George Welles over Mike Sharpe & Bryan St. John > Michael Hayes over Jim Duggan > National Tag Team Title Match: Tommy Rich & Ted DiBiase over Terry Gordy & Jimmy Snuka* by disqualification > NWA World Heavyweight Title Match: Dusty Rhodes* over Ken Patera by disqualification Dusty and Patera have another title match this time in Augusta. This would be his last show in Georgia as far as I can tell. 8/7/81 St Louis NWA champion Dusty Rhodes beat Ric Flair Ken Patera no contest Jack Brisco David Von Erich drew Rocky Johnson Kerry Von Erich and Dick the Bruiser beat Dick Murdoch and Baron Von Raschke Pat O'Connor beat Bobby Jaggers Bobo Brazil beat Gene Lewis dq Buzz Tyler and JJ Dillon beat Bob Sweetan and Ron Sexton Patera v. Brisco match one, underneath the Dream v. Flair. August 9, 1981 (Sunday) – Atlanta, GA – Omni Coliseum [P] (Paul Jones (01) – Promoter / Georgia Championship Wrestling) > Blackjack Mulligan, Jr., over the French Angel (02) > Professor Sonoda over Abe Jacobs > Bryan St. John and Bruno Sammartino, Jr., went to a draw > John Studd & Mike Sharpe over Bruce Reed & George Welles > the Masked Superstar over Steve Olsonoski > Lumberjack Match: Bruiser Brody over Blackjack Mulligan > Georgia Heavyweight Title Match: Tommy Rich over Ken Patera* by forfeit to win the title > Georgia Heavyweight Title Match: Tommy Rich* over the Masked Superstar > National Tag Team Title Match: Terry Gordy & Jimmy Snuka* over Ted DiBiase & Michael Hayes One assumes this is just Patera walking out and/or splitting the territory. No clue what the dispute would have been. Maybe KrisZ knows. I know he won the Brass Knuckles title in Southwest at some point shortly after this but don't have the date. In fact I can't find any Southwest results from 81 outside of the Houston shows (if you want to count those). But I'm pretty sure that's where Patera was for most of Aug-Oct. 9/11/72 St Louis Harley Race beat Kerry Von Erich Jack Brisco beat Ken Patera (Texas Death Match) Dick the Bruiser and David Von Erich beat Sgt Slaughter and Jerry Valiant Rufus R Jones drew Baron Von Raschke Billy Robinson no contest Pat O'Connor Bob Sweetan beat Buzz Tyler Gene Lewis and JJ Dillon beat Terry Gibbs and Bulldog Bob Brown Patera is still in a feud with Brisco and it is a bit of a hot feud as they go to the gimmick match here. Again they are second from the top behind another NWA staple. 9/19/81 Houston Junkyard Dog beat Dick Slater dq Gino Hernandez & Tully Blanchard beat Mil Mascaras & Manny Fernandez Bruiser Brody beat Ken Patera Scott Casey & Tiger Conway Jr & Bobby Duncum beat Buck Robley & Tank Patton & Kelly Kiniski Tiger Conway Jr beat Tom Prichard Buck Robley beat Scott Casey Tank Patton beat Bobby Duncum This would be an interesting show to have footage of. JYD was in the middle of his peak run as a draw here, that tag looks interesting and Brody v. Patera would have been a big match in Texas. 10/2/81 St Louis NWA champion Ric Flair drew Harley Race Andre the Giant and Rocky Johnson beat Sgt Slaughter and Ken Patera dq Jack Brisco beat Ted DiBiase to capture the Missouri Heavyweight title Dick the Bruiser beat Baron Von Raschke Kevin & David & Kerry Von Erich beat Greg Valentine & Johnny Valiant & JJ Dillon Rufus R Jones beat Gene Lewis Bulldog Bob Brown drew Dewey Robertson Brisco wins the Missouri title from Dibiase who had won it from Patera. Meanwhile another NWA staple match is on top, with a really neat tag match on paper featuring Patera in the semi-main. 10/4/81 Houston AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Junkyard Dog dq Gino Hernandez dcor Dos Caras Manny Fernandez beat Ken Patera to win the Brass Knuckles Title Scott Casey beat Moon Mulligan Tom Prichard beat Kelly Kiniski Tully Blanchard beat Bobby Duncum Bock v. JYD should have done really good business at this point. Manny beats Ken for the Brass Knuckles title which effectively ended his run in Texas that I am missing most results for. 10/23/81 St Louis Ken Patera beat Jack Brisco to capture the Missouri State title David Von Erich beat Sgt Slaughter Kerry Von Erich and Dusty Rhodes beat Greg Valentine and Ox Baker Billy Robinson drew Baron Von Raschke Rocky Johnson beat JJ Dillon Joyce Grable beat Kandi Maloy Dewey Robertson and Bulldog Bob Brown beat Gene Lewis and Ron McFarlane And Brisco - who had been feuding with Patera before winning the belt - proves to have been a bridge from Dibiase back to Patera with the Missouri Title. Interesting that they went that route, but it makes sense as a way to put Patera over hard and the title switch would have helped out on a show that didn't have a NWA title main event. 10/24/81 Omaha, NE @ City Auditorium Ken Patera won a 15 man $25,000 battle royal Andre the Giant beat Jerry Blackwell Ken Patera beat Baron Von Raschke Bobby Duncum beat Johnny Valiant (sub Evan Johnson) Billy Robinson beat Jerry Brown Ed Boulder beat Terry Gibbs Laurent Soucie beat Ron Sexton Also In Battle Royal: Kenny Jay, Sonny Myers, Joe Scarpello & Pat O'Connor, Not in Battle Royal: Johnny Valiant Patera debuts back in the NWA and wins a battle royal on his first night in, then works beneath only Andre v. Blackwell in a singles match. That's a pretty impressive return night. 10/25/81 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center Andre the Giant won an 18 man battle royal Bodyslam Challenge Hulk Hogan beat Jerry Blackwell Sheik Adnan beat Baron Von Raschke dq Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Billy Robinson & Rene Goulet Tito Santana beat Bobby Heenan Evan Johnson beat Eddie Boulder Patera gets paired up with Duncum pretty quickly. 10/30/81 Madison, WI Andre The Giant won the battle royal. Jim Brunzell beat Jesse Ventura. Ken Patera beat Greg Gagne. Billy Robinson drew Tito Santana Bobby Heenan beat Buck Zumhofe Laurent Soucie beat Jacques Goulet This may have been a testing ground for a High Flyers v. Patera and partner feud. 11/5/81 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena Sheik Adnan beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq Handicap Match Hulk Hogan & Andre the Giant beat Jerry Blackwell & Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura Ken Patera beat Tito Santana Billy Robinson beat Bobby Duncum dq Jim Brunzell beat Rene Goulet Laurent Soucie beat Ed Boulder Att: 5,436 Patera v. Tito on paper sounds like a really good match from this era. Patera is sort of straddling the line between mid-card and upper mid-card. 11/6/81 St Louis Harley Race beat Rocky Johnson Kerry Von Erich beat Greg Valentine Dick the Bruiser no contest Sgt Slaughter David Von Erich and Rufus R Jones vs Bob Sweetan and Ken Patera Pat O'Connor beat Ox Baker Bulldog Bob Brown beat Gene Lewis Dewey Robertson and Tommy Martin beat Ron McFarlane and Jerry Brown This is probably the "worst" Patera in St. Louis match I've seen as he's buried in the mid-card clearly beneath the three matches above him. 11/8/81 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center Hulk Hogan & Andre The Giant beat Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura & Jerry Blackwell Greg Gagne beat Bobby Duncum dq Shiek Adnan beat Buck Zumhofe Ken Patera no contest Billy Robinson Tito Santana beat Rene Goulet Laurent Soucie beat Ed Boulder It's funny to see how much Patera was eased in during this AWA run, considering how quickly he was pushed into programs of substance during his initial run there in 73. 11/11/81 Omaha, NE @ City Auditorium AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Baron Von Raschke dq Hulk Hogan beat Jerry Blackwell Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Pat O'Connor & Billy Robinson Laurent Soucie beat Ed Boulder O'Conner was still pretty good in 81. This could have been an awesome match. 11/13/81 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena Hulk Hogan & Andre The Giant beat Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura & Jerry Blackwell Greg Gagne beat Pat Patterson Tito Santana beat Sheik Adnan dq Ken Patera beat Jim Brunzell Bobby Duncum beat Johnny Valiant Patera is starting to look like a guy Verne has no real plan for. That's sort of the feel he had for me watching most of the AWA footage up until the Sheiks run. 11/20/81 St Louis NWA champion Ric Flair beat David Von Erich Dusty Rhodes beat Sgt Slaughter Missouri State champion Ken Patera beat Bulldog Bob Brown Pat O'Connor and Rufus R Jones (sub Rocky Johnson) beat Crusher Blackwell and Bob Sweetan Dewey Robertson beat Ron McFarlane Billy Robinson drew Gene Lewis Chan Chung and Jerry Brown beat Tommy Martin and Buzz Tyler Patera third from the top defending against the awful Bob Brown. Really a pretty weak match for a champ of any type to have. 11/25/81 Chicago, IL @ International Amphitheatre Retirement Match Verne Gagne beat Adrian Adonis AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Billy Robinson Bodyslam challenge Hulk Hogan beat Jerry Blackwell Pat Kelly & Mike Kelly beat Dick the Bruiser & Wilbur Snyder Tito Santana beat Ed Boulder This was probably a really strong show as you have four big time matches up top. Patera/Duncum v. High Flyers would have been an important match, though you could easily argue it was the third most relevant on the show after Verne's "retirement," the AWA title match and Hogan v. Blackwell. 11/26/81 St. Paul, MN AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Sheik Adnan Arm Wrestling Hulk Hogan beat Jesse Ventura Billy Robinson & Tito Santana & Jim Brunzell beat Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum & Jerry Blackwell Adrian Adonis drew Buck Zumhofe Evan Johnson beat Kenny Jay Judy Martin beat Joyce Grable Billy may have been a sub for Greg on this show. Interesting to see Blackwell teaming with his future partner here. 11/28/81 Milwaukee, WI AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Tito Santana Greg Gagne beat Sheik Adnan Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura no contest Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum Judy Martin beat Joyce Grable Billy Robinson no contest Jim Brunzell Jerry Blackwell beat Buck Zumhofe (sub Johnny Valiant) Laurent Soucie beat Tom Stone (sub Ed Boulder) Pretty crazy heel v. heel match here tag match that is a result you wouldn't really expect to find. 12/3/81 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada @ Arena AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell no contest Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura Jerry Blackwell beat Billy Robinson AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Sheik Adnan Ken Patera beat Buck Zumhofe Bobby Duncum drew Tito Santana Judy Martin beat Joyce Grable referee: Mad Dog Vachon Att: 5,124 Patera v. Buck is a total throw away match on this show. 12/4/81 St Louis Ric Flair won a 14 man battle royal NWA champion Ric Flair beat Jack Brisco Missouri State champion Ken Patera beat Jack Brisco (sub Kerry Von Erich) David Von Erich beat Sgt Slaughter dq Crusher Blackwell & Gene Lewis & Bob Sweetan beat Pat O'Connor & Tommy Martin & Bulldog Bob Brown Dewey Robertson beat Chan Chung Rufus R Jones beat Ron McFarlane Bruce Reed drew Jerry Brown Brisco does double duty in two different title matches and loses both. This was a big step up for Patera in St. Louis as the previous two shows he'd been used in pretty meaningless matches. 12/5/81 Omaha, NE @ City Auditorium Bodyslam challenge Hulk Hogan beat Jerry Blackwell Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Jesse Ventura & Jerry Blackwell (sub Adrian Adonis) Judy Martin beat Joyce Grable Sheik Adnan beat Billy Robinson dq Tito Santana drew Laurent Soucie Another one of these heel v. heel match ups. What an odd mini-program to run. 12/6/81 Green Bay, WI @ Brown County Veteran’s Memorial Arena Handicap match Hulk Hogan beat Bobby Duncum (sub Adrian Adonis) & Jesse Ventura Ken Patera beat Greg Gagne via pin Joyce Grable vs Judy Martin was canceled Bobby Duncum beat Billy Robinson via pin Bobby Heenan drew Laurent Soucie 12/12/81 Milwaukee, WI AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura Hulk Hogan beat Jerry Blackwell Ken Patera beat Billy Robinson Bobby Duncum drew Tito Santana Laurent Soucie beat Nacho Berrera Patera still being used in pretty random matches. He's not an under card performer by any stretch but no one is going to confuse him as a top level heel either. 12/25/81 St. Paul, MN @ Civic Center AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Billy Robinson Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Hulk Hogan & Tito Santana dq Non Title Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan Rene Goulet beat Kenny Jay Curt Hennig drew Evan Johnson This is a pretty cool match up for Patera/Duncum team on a show where the top three matches all could have drawn some people and Buck v. Bobby was actually a fairly hot feud at the time. 12/26/81 Denver, CO @ Auditorium Arena AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Tito Santana Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Billy Robinson & Baron Von Raschke Hulk Hogan beat Shiek Adnan Greg Gagne beat Bobby Heenan Jim Brunzell beat Rene Goulet 12/30/81 Rockford, IL @ Boylan High School Jerry Blackwell no contest Hulk Hogan Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum beat Jim Brunzell & Baron Von Raschke Rene Goulet drew Evan Johnson Sheik Adnan beat Tom Stone Patera/Duncum started to get a push as a top heel team. Perhaps they were looking ahead for future High Flyers opponents for the loop? 1981 was a real transition year for Patera. He went from being the biggest heel in the WWF to being a journeyman of sorts working NJPW tours, Southwest, St. Louis, Georgia and the AWA all in the same year. The Georgia run appears to have been a strong success with the Sharpe and Rich feuds looking hot and him getting multiple NWA title matches there. I assume he won PWI Heel of The Year off of the strength of the Rich feud (and maybe some overlap from the previous end of the year stuff v. Pedro and Bruno). He started out the year as a real star who worked stars only, but by the end of the year was slipping into mid-card status in the AWA, though the Duncum team was being positioned to have some legs. Over all 81 was a pretty major drop off, despite the fact that there are plenty positives you can point to.

I actually don't understand what isn't to like about Lucha matwork and this is coming from someone who didn't get into Lucha until the last three years. I suppose if someone hated all matwork I could see how they would hate Lucha matwork. But I don't understand what about Lucha matwork would be unappealing.