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7/2/83 at the Montreal Forum (14,500) The show opened with Jacques Rougeau, Sr. explaining that King Tonga and Tonga John would not be participating in the tournament based on their actions towards Jim Brunzell. "That kind of behavior will not be tolerated in the International Wrestling Association," warned Rougeau. Jim Brunzell/Phil Lafon over Sgt. Slaughter/Mad Dog Lefebvre by DQ 11:14 Brunzell and Lafon started hot, but the veteran Slaughter took the advantage after going to the eyes and booting Lafon in the stomach several times. Lafon got worked over for a while, with Slaughter several times taking shortcuts to keep the advantage. The tag to Brunzell got a good reaction and he cleaned house on both of his opponents. A Brunzell dropkick to Lefebvre looked like Slaughter was too far away to make the save, but Slaughter kicked the ref in the head instead. Post-match the heels continued the assault and Slaughter produced a pair of brass knuckles that he bloodied Lafon with. The Midnight Express over Armand Rougeau/Rene Goulet by pinfall 10:26 Prior to the match Eddie Creatchman walked out to the ring and addressed the crowd. "The fans here in Montreal make me sick. They cheer Gino Brito and the Rougeaus. There's a reason Brito and the Rougeaus stay here. Nobody else wants them. They get by on their names around here andthat has to end. A couple of guys backstage had never heard of the Rougeaus or Brito before and I had a long conversation with them. We agreed that tonight, if nobody beat us to it, we would expose the Rougeaus and Brito for what they truly are." The Midnight Express walked out to the ring and shook hands with Creatchman, already getting a lot of boos from the crowd. Armand and Goulet came out to big cheers. Armand was fired up and got the better of Rose for a very short time, mostly with right hands. Rose reversed a corner whip and hit a running back elbow into the corner. The Midnights worked the youngest Rougeau over, trying to goad Goulet into helping. The longtime veteran held his ground and patiently waited for his young teammate to make the tag, all the while urging Armand on. The tag came and it looked like Rougeau and Goulet were close to a submission victory on Condrey with an Armand sleeper, but Rose broke that up and cleared Goulet out of the ring, allowing Condrey to finish Armand with a full nelson facebuster. The British Bulldogs over The Cuban Assassins by pinfall 11:48 The Bulldogs were clearly the fan favorites early and used their cutting edge style to great effect. The Assassins stalled several times, irritating the crowd. Davey fell victim to a double team in a neutral corner that set up the Assassins for a lengthy beatdown, mostly hair-pulling, eye gouging, tights-grabbing, choking and illegal double teams. Dynamite was hot on the apron, which caused several lengthy distractions the Assassins took full advantage of. Davey finally came back, catching Starr in a big overhead press slam and tagged Dynamite. Dynamite cleaned house and the Bulldogs unleashed double teams on both of their opponents much to the crowd's delight. The Assassins weren't done yet, the Cuban Assassin rolling Dynamite up and putting his feet on the ropes for leverage for a very close two count with Davey making the save. Davey tossed Dynamite into a body press of the top on Starr for the win. The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers over Gino Brito/Tony Parisi by submission 13:38 The match was a very even, technical affair. Brito and the Rougeaus were evenly matched, with Parisi often the victim of short quick-tag sequences by the Rougeaus. The mat wrestling worked into a few slams and suplexes before the Rougeaus isolated Parisi, hit a double suplex off the second rope and Jacques applied the Quebec crab for the win. The Midnight Express (with Eddie Creatchman) over Lafon/Brunzell by pinfall 9:25 Before the match, Creatchman talked in the ring about how the Midnights had already beaten one of the Rougeaus and the other two would be next. Lafon and Brunzell, visibly upset at being overlooked, attacked the Midnights before the bell to a big pop. The Midnights made several attempts at attacking Lafon's cut before Rose grabbed an armbar, put Lafon on the mat and started punching his forehead. Lafon took a quick but brutal beating before landing a big spinkick and tagging Brunzell. Brunzell held off the Midnights for a while, but Lafon was unable to help and the tide turned. Condrey set Rose up for a second rope powerslam to get the three. The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers over the British Bulldogs by pinfall 10:10 The match was back and forth action all the way through, with Jacques showing his athleticism and both teams busting out double teams when they were in control. Davey Boy hit a running powerslam on Jacques only to have Raymond break it up just before Dynamite could stop him. Jacques reversed a rollup (the third in sequence) to pin Dynamite. Rick Martel over Dino Bravo to retain the NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship by pinfall 26:04 Martel and Bravo were both greeted with loud cheers and fought over basic holds in the early going. Bravo finally got control and began working over Martel's back. Martel countered by going after Bravo's arm and working on it for a long while. Things got a little heated when Martel didn't break for the ropes until the referee's three count and right hands started flying. A dropkick by Martel sent Bravo to the floor. Bravo fought his way out of an attempted suplex into the ring by Martel and dragged Martel to the floor in what almost turned into a double countout. Back in the ring Bravo hit a drokick and got a few close nearfalls on Martel before the champ started focusing on his back. Bravo had the airplane spin on Martel, but the champ was just close enough to grab the ropes. Bravo made it to the ropes on the Quebec crab and it looked like a stalemate. Bravo looked for a belly to back suplex, but Martel went behind and rolled Bravo up when the challenger went to the ropes, bridging back for the three. The two shook hands post-match and Martel celebrated with his NWA Canadian title. The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers over the Midnight Express (with Eddie Creatchman) by pinfall to win the Canadian International Tag Team Titles 9:46 Creatchman and the Midnights came out first, Creatchman predicting the fall of the Rougeau dynasty. The Rougeaus rushed the ring and a two on two brawl started the match. Things settled down and the Rougeaus got the better of Condrey for a while. Raymond got caught with a few Condrey right hands and seemed ripe for the picking. Rose hit a second rope powerslam that Condrey followed with a big running leg drop, but Jacques interrupted the pinfall attempt. Raymond had to battle his way through Condrey and Rose with right hands to tag in Jacques, who came in on fire. Jacques cleared Rose out of the ring and the Rougeaus double teamed Condrey. Rose was sent right back off the apron when he tried to get back in the fray. Jacques locked in a Quebec crab as the illegal man and Raymond climbed to the top rope and came crashing down with a knee drop to Condrey's back to put the Midnights away. Creatchman was fuming mad post-match, screaming at the ref about the double teaming done by the Rougeaus. The Rougeaus, meanwhile, were displaying their new hardware to the appreciation of 14,000+ fans.

Anyone else have the problem where they can't paste to the board from any source at all? Is that something on my end or something I have to set at PWO?

There was a question pages back about the Japanese chants when somebody got put into a sleeper. It was, oddly enough, "Go to sleep!" Seems like it started right about the time Misawa beat Jumbo with the stepover facelock. Great stuff though.

They were great at putting together exciting and well-worked finishing stretches. If every All Japan match we had from them was clipped down to the final ten minutes or so we'd be having an entirely different discussion. The problem comes from having to wade through fifteen to twenty minutes of Gordy and Williams cutting off any hope of exciting offense and laying around in restholds to the to the last seven to ten minutes of the match that are worthwhile.

From the desk of Frank Valois:

Yeah, despite being right next door to the WWF I tape TV on the same days and have a Tuesday house show as well. Makes things easy to work with a lot of people, but hard to work with the WWF.

It does have some bearing on the TV for last week, so I'm all for it.

Has anyone else gotten a promotion they knew almost nothing about and found that it was way more up their alley than I imagined? I did some looking into Montreal and it seems like they have a very AWA vibe as far as babyfaces go. Once the heels go past a certain point and the blood feud is on, the babyface is okay to turn heel tactics around on them. It seems like the house style was a pretty fast-paced brawl with some cool spots and technical wrestling thrown in to keep it interesting. They also seem to like their heated brawls in feuds, see the Rougeaus vs. the Garvins. In speaking to others about this, they have seen French language footage of the match I saw with no X-ing out of the bloody face of Ronnie Garvin. So basically I am not making big leaps by building feuds into hate-filled brawls where the faces will take the law into their own hands if it comes down to that. My plan is to use blood sparingly on TV to make it a big deal, but house shows I am thinking there ought to be a bloody, hate-filled brawl in Montreal once every few weeks. What a great way to keep 3000 fans showing up at the Paul Suave Arena every Saturday evening and get as close to 18,000 as possible into the Forum on my big shows. I see Abby making some appearances in 1984, no way the idea of a Hansen vs. Abby bloodbath doesn't sell tickets.

That's been my intention all along.

Discussing them is less painful than watching them though, so there's that.

I haven't been able to find a Montreal territory loop either. A lot of stuff about that whole promotion seems really obscure besides a few people's youtube feeds.

Jun Akiyama has to be considered. He immediately started tagging with Misawa, Kawada, Taue, Jumbo and crew and didn't look out of place at all.

I don't particularly see the need for it. Once I get my two project teams firmly established they will be abroad for six months (Tongans) and three months (Can Ams) at the least while I bring in people to run fresh programs with the Rougeaus and Midnights. I can't see the Tongans having hugely long runs in Montreal after that, coming back for maybe six months at a time to terrorize the general public before getting run off again. Albano is going to be a big part of the act, so he's part and parcel of any trades. I think my timeline on the Midnights has them leaving in early 1985 or mid 1985 with a caveat that I want one borrowed-in three month run a year down the road or so. Beyond that most of my guys are Montreal-based wrestlers. I could see borrowing Lefebvre out to Dylan for a three or four month run in late 84 at this point. I want to let him get something done with Lefebvre before Christmas 85 and I think he'll be necessary with the Tongans (partially) and Midnights gone in 85. So redraft or not, by 1986 the only consistent part of my roster in the main event will be the Rougeaus.

I love this as the first six man between Kawada and Misawa as enemies. This and the tag two days earlier are really incredible matches from guys who have never had to carry a main event in these configuratons. If you're Baba after these two shows you have to be happy with the results given the knowledge that Jumbo isn't going to be able to carry things any more and you know Hansen won't be around forever.

The International Wrestling Association is proud to announce some of it's lineup for the now confirmed October 30th Montreal Forum show. The exciting tag team from Stampede Wrestling, the British Bulldogs will be making another appearance, wrestling young Armand Rougeau and his mentor, Rene Goulet. The bruising Greg "the Hammer" Valentine from Maple Leaf wrestling will be wrestling on the card. Andre the Giant will be facing the wild brawler from Texas, Stan "the Lariat" Hansen. Hansen will also be appearing at the July 20th TV taping in Paul Suave Arena, taking on International icon Gino Brito. The winner of the tournament to crown new tag champions will be defending their titles. Their challengers will be determined in the weeks between shows. There are rumors circulating that Sgt. Slaughter will be back from Puerto Rico to wrestle on this show as well, but they have not been confirmed. Get your tickets now!

As a Canadian promoter I have very little interest in my talent being really over in the States. I would like to know what the three candidates positions are on Canada and a possible Canadian subdivision where the Canadian title and possibly a Canadian tag team title of some kind tour around. This is not to say that talent out of Quebec is unavailable to promoters in the U.S., just that there is little interest in how said talent is viewed by the fans there. That being said, we want our talent to enjoy success wherever they may go after they are done working for the International Wrestling Association. We understand the same is true of other promoters and can promise that all talent we host will be treated as if the International Wrestling Association were their home promotion. We expect that any talent we send abroad will be treated the same.

It seems like we should give Fred Ward the benefit of the doubt on the Battle of Atlanta.

From the desk of Frank Valois, sent to every other promoter:

From the desk of Frank Valois: The International Wrestling Association would gladly host Rocky Hata and Nobuyoshi Sugawara for four months and feature them as a midcard tag team. Young Armand Rougeau, the youngest and least experienced of the famous Rougeau family, would benefit from being in the ring with a pair of technically proficient wrestlers. Hata and Sugawara would also be working with one of our most experienced veterans, the Frenchman Rene Goulet. Goulet was Ric Flair's opponent in his second match as a pro wrestler and is known for his consistency. Hata and Sugawara would be used as heels and given reign to work a more aggressive, violent style. We hope this is acceptable to Mr. Baba and that International and All Japan will enjoy a good working relationship going forward.

Ambrose as an extremely disturbing Doink ripoff would be all kinds of fun. There would have to be random "misses" on how the make-up was applied each time also. Different spots where there was supposed to be make-up, big enough to notice on camera but no more. Enzo as the stupidest possible Million Dollar Man sounds good too. Constantly buying stuff for a yawning Carmella, who still pays more attention to Cass. It would be far easier for me to watch than their obnoxious face bullshit.

I don't think so.

I'm sorry, it was the Guys Eligible in August 1983 thread. Should we maybe have a focused thread for that discussion and figure out what we want to do?

I thought it had been stated that we wouldn't have the draft at 6 months in the August Freelancers thread? I'm okay with either, but I'd prefer we picked one and stuck with it.

I thought Dana looked better in-ring than she has up until now. She seems to have found a way to hide her many flaws as a worker behind basic matwork and heel posturing. It'll serve her well in squash matches and tags for sure. Enzo's bullet crossbody is an interesting move. I still want a Jason Jordan push more than an Enzo/Cass push. The Hype Bros are actually a pretty good fit. I don't see it as a main event act, but as a fun 5 minute midcard match weekly it works. Rhyno did pretty well with his time on offense in that match. Balor made everything he did look good too. Owens being a complete and total dick to the announce team was great. Graves sucking up to Owens was the worst part about that match, which is surprising given what the match was. next week is going to be a tag match. Owens/Rhyno vs. Balor/Joe leading into the 4th show.