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Working to get the November 25th TV written and posted to get caught up, but wanted to post the lineups for the upcoming AWA major house shows. Much thanks to the promoters for Memphis, Mid-South, Mid-Atlantic, WWA and International for their generous talent arrangements that helped make these shows possible. Lineup for AWA show at the Winnipeg Arena, Winnipeg, Nov. 25th The Wild Bills vs. The Wild Italians Samu vs. Apocalypse Ken Patera & Mike George vs. Iceman Parsons & "Wildman" Jack Armstrong Paul Orndorff vs. Da Crusher AWA World Tag Titles Match : The Road Warriors © vs. The Brotherhood Of Poland Greg Gagne vs. The Super Destroyer Lineup for AWA show at the Met Center, Bloomington, December 2nd The Latin Lovers vs. The Minnesota Heartbreakers The Rock 'n' Roll Express vs. The Brotherhood Of Poland Mr. Olympia & Tony Atlas vs. Eddie Mansfield & Rick Patterson Wahoo McDaniel & Samu vs. Lord Humongous & Apocalypse Iceman Parsons & Jerry Lawler vs. Ken Patera & Mike George Greg Gagne & The Fantastics vs. Paul Orndorff, Super Destroyer & Jimmy Garvin AWA World Tag Titles Match : The Road Warriors © vs. The Wild Bills Lineup for AWA show at the Cow Palace, San Francisco, December 9th Samu vs. Apocalypse The Wild Bills vs. The Fantastics Mr. Olympia, Tony Atlas & The Latin Lovers vs. Eddie Mansfield & The Minnesota Heartbreakers Wahoo McDaniel vs. Lord Humongous Greg Gagne & ? Vs. Paul Orndorff, Super Destroyer & Jimmy Garvin Iceman Parsons, Jerry Lawler & "Wildman" Jack Armstrong vs. Ken Patera, Mike George & Boris Zukhov AWA World Tag Titles Match : The Road Warriors © vs. The Rock 'n' Roll Express

Jeff Sword is missing from the Mid Atlantic available draftee list. He went there as part of a trade for Rick Patterson. Edit : also Brad Rheingins is listed twice, under Mid Atlantic and Montreal.

I will say, though, that pairing did lead to one of my all time favorite TV matches, in that the Kongs ambushing Sid Vicious so that Flair brought out his good buddy Arn Anderson to team with him against Vader and Steve Austin.

AWA show at the Mecca, Milwaukee, November 18th “Wildman” Jack Armstrong vs. Boris Zukhov Armstrong won with the running clothesline. Mr. Olympia vs. Eddie Mansfield Both men brawled outside the ring to a double count out. Samu vs. Col. Buck Robley At long last, Samu had finally gotten his hands on the commander of the Army and went wild on the Colonel. Robley fought back hard against “Samoan Dynamite”, but Samu was determined not to be denied as he set Robley up and went to the top turnbuckle to hit the Dynamite Splash. Out of nowhere, a masked man dressed all in green camouflage came from underneath the ring, leapt to the ring apron and shoved him off the top rope, sending him crashing to the mat. As the masked man put the boots to the felled Samoan , Robley grabbed the ringside mic and started screaming into it, “APOCALYPSE! APOCALYPSE! APOCALYPSE!” The two continued their assault on Samu until the AWA officials cleared them from the ring. AWA World Tag Titles Match : The Road Warriors © vs. The Wild Bills The Wild Bills tried to steal the belts back by getting a double clothesline on Hawk assisted by the bullrope, but Hawk ducked under and came back with his own double clothesline to retain the belts. AWA American Title Match : Iceman Parsons © vs. Ken Patera In a lengthy and intense match, Patera seemed about to put it away with a piledriver, only for Parsons to counter it by flipping over his back and landing on his feet. When Patera turned around, Parsons greeted him with a boot to the midsection and set up a piledriver of his own. He never got the chance to hit it, though, as Mike George charged into the ring and ambushed him from behind, leading to the ref calling for the DQ. Greg Gagne & Da Crusher vs. Paul Orndorff & Jimmy Garvin Garvin tried to get a roll up on Crusher out of the ropes, but Crusher grabbed the top rope and sat down hard on his chest. Precious swiftly jumped up on the ring apron and distracted the ref, and when the ref went over to tell her to get down, Orndorff clobbered Crusher in the head with a ringside chair, leaving Garvin to cover the unconscious Crusher for the three count.

AWA All-Star Wrestling for November 18th Interview Segment: The show opens with Mean Gene announcing that the following segment was recorded after the recent AWA show in San Francisco. The shot cuts to a solemn Hulk Hogan in the locker room. He is wearing slacks , a black t-shirt and dark glasses, and the right side of his face is lividly bruised. Hogan spoke in low tones as he said that, after the end of the show and his team’s victory over the New Japan show, he had been putting his gear in the trunk of his car when he was attacked from behind in the parking lot by all four members of the Japanese team , who kicked him and slammed his head multiple times into the side of his car before the were run off by security. Security wanted him to go to the hospital for medical attention, but he insisted on coming back to the locker room to speak his piece on camera. In all of the times he had gone to Japan to wrestle, he had never experienced this sort of dirty tactics and was not going to let it go unanswered. He was going to leave for Japan for a tour and would not be back until December, but he wanted to fans to rest assured that he would get revenge on Choshu and his crew, for the honor of the AWA and their great fans. “Wildman” Jack Armstrong vs. Boris Zukhov This was a full fledged slug fest between the Russian Menace and the unconventional newcomer to the AWA. Zukhov kept trying to beat Armstrong down with clobbering fists and forearms, but the Wildman kept fighting back with his own big blows. It seemed like Zukhov would finally put him way with his Hammer & Sickle finisher when he whipped Armstrong hard into the turnbuckle, but when he came in with the lariat, Armstrong ducked out of the way and came back with his own running clothesline to get the pin. Eddie Mansfield vs. Vinnie Valentino Mansfield was all business taking on one half of the Latin Lovers. Rumor has it that Mansfield had been threatened with a hefty fine if the Minnesota Heartbreakers interfered in his matches one more time, which would account for the fact that he came to the ring alone. Valentino sought to capitalize on this, dazzling the crowd and befuddling Mansfield with his high speed offense. However, Mansfield proved that he was still dangerous when he capitalized on the ref being out of position after a Valentino leapfrog to hit a nasty low blow, followed by a powerslam to get the dirty victory. Ken Patera vs. Dominic Denucci Although Patera has a justly deserved reputation as one of the most ruthless competitors, he is also a canny and well versed wrestlers, as he showed in this mostly technical bout with Denucci. The two exchanged holds and moves in a match that got the crowd on its feet, and when Denucci went in for a fireman’s carry, they cheered, thinking it might be to set up the Airplane Spin. Patera countered out of it, however, and instead locked in his own Full Nelson, forcing Denucci to give up. The Road Warriors & Moose Cholak vs. The Brotherhood Of Poland & Jimmy Garvin The Warriors and the Brotherhood had been mixing it up at house shows for the past few weeks, and bringing in their closest allies made for an even crazier match. Both teams knocked each other all over the ring, and the Brotherhood looked to steal the match away when Wiskowski took advantage of the chaos by hitting Cholak with a set of brass knucks then setting him up for a face first piledriver. Hawk had spotted this, though, and intercepted this with a top rope clotheline before covering the Polish Prince. The Brotherhood protested that Hawk was not the legal man, but the decision stood. Interview Segment : Mean Gene stood in the ring with Super Destroyer and Paul Orndorff. Gene asked, what exactly was Orndorff’s problem with Greg Gagne? Orndorff explained that, when he was in Georgia, Gagne had betrayed his partner and disgraced his name, teaming with the Super Destroyer and attacking him several times. Then, before Orndorff could get a chance to make him pay some dues, Gagne ran back home with his tail between his legs, abandoning Super Destroyer and robbing Orndorff of his chance at revenge. Well , Orndorff had come to show him for what he is to the AWA fans. Mean Gene protested that Gagne had already come clean about his actions in Georgia and was working hard to regain the trust of the fans. Orndorff said he didn’t care what Gagne claimed and the fans were saps if they believed him. Gagne was nothing but a gutless daddy’s boy whose daddy wasn’t around to protect him anymore, and he and the Super Destroyer were going to get their payback, no matter what it took. Samu vs. Lord Humongous Samu was looking for revenge himself on the entire Buck Robley’s army and tonight was taking on the big masked man, Lord Humongous. He really wanted to get his hands on Buck Robley, though, and Robley knew it, berating and antagonizing “Samoan Dynamite” while he battled it out with Humongous. Finally, Samu could take no more and dove out of the ring, crashing into Robley. Samu and the Colonel exchanged roundhouse rights and lefts as the ref had no choice but to count Samu out of the ring.

So you traded the Cuban Assassin for the Cuban Assassin?

AWA Protected List Hulk Hogan Road Warrior Animal Road Warrior Hawk Ken Patera One Man Gang Jimmy Garvin Mr Olympia (Jerry Stubbs) Iceman Parsons Wild Bill Irwin Billy Jack Sheik Adnan Kaissey Buck Robley Samu Paul Orndorff Greg Gagne Up for draft Ed Wiskowski Toru Tanaka Da Crusher Boris Zuhkov Javier Cruz Lord Humongous (Jeff Van Camp) Mike Boyette Moose Cholak Rick Patterson Vinnie Valentino Tom Stanton Rocky Brewer Cal Manson Stan Stasiak Bill Rathke Ivan Putski Precious Eddie Mansfield Mike George Dominic DeNucci Tony Russo 'Wildman' Jack Armstrong

No, 36 plus 3 managers. Other way, I'd end up losing a slot, and I'm really not up for that.

I am fine with that arrangement.

Yeah, I think that was probably part of the downfall of the original plan for the 6 month draft, that it would be mandatory. It wouldn't be realistic to force somebody to possibly lose half of their roster if they didn't want to make any changes, but for people that want it, it is a chance to freshen things up (and in this case, with new promoters coming in, they can put a bit more of their own stamp on their roster).

Yeah, and worst comes to worst, if there is somebody that gets picked and the original promoter realizes they still need them, they can always work out a trade or talent sharing.

I just did a quick list and think, with a save list of 15, I might well take part in the draft. There a few on my roster that may have a bit juice left that I could possibly end up re-drafting in the later rounds, and if I don't it won't destroy any plans.

Oy, the roster question … First things first, agree with the roster cap but would like to push it up to 36, with the 1 person addition every 4 months. When this project first started, the original intent was a redraft every 6 months, with I believe a 5 person save limit. The idea was discontinued early on but at this point we would be coming up on the time when that re-draft would have taken place. Then , when the first promoter dropped out, the suggestion was made that a neighboring territory would absorb it and the roster and the leftovers would go into a draft. This was approved, but after a while , as several more promoters dropped out, it got to be unmanageable. Of the 4 promotions that absorbed other territories, 2 are no longer active, and while I won’t say that is the direct cause, bloated rosters didn’t particularly help anyone (nor was Maple Leaf’s ambitious plan to expand into the WWF’s vacant territory ultimately successful). WWA and Southeastern managed to survive this by keeping both their rosters and their booking plans manageable. Right when I was about to inherit a sweet roster from Stampede and expand into their territory, the vote was taken to change to keeping promotions dormant for future writers and roster caps. I voted for both of these measures and would do it again … if I had gotten Stampede, I might well be further behind than I am now. I agree with the 6 month re-draft being brought back to allow to freshen up rosters and that it should be optional, although I would be sitting this one out (I find my own roster to be more or less right sized and have long term plans for too many people). I think the save list might be best set at 15, althought my opinion might be moot given I will not be in this draft. The thorny question is what to do with the inactive rosters. On the one hand, it might prove too tempting to cherry pick the inactive rosters and just draft the top level wrestlers, which has the twin problems of a) leaving nothing behind but lower level wrestlers for future new promoters, and ignoring the importance of having mid-card or lower level wrestlers on one’s own roster. On the other hand, several promotions have been inactive for a long time, and it can be very frustrating seeing the likes of, say, Barry Windham, Ricky Steamboat, Buddy Rose, Kerry Von Erich etc. etc. gathering dust when they could be used well by active promoters. My opinion is we should put the inactive promotion rosters full in the draft, but make some sort of allowance for future new writers that may crop up afterwards . What that should be … well, I’m open to suggestions.

My view is, 60 days for no communication at all, 90 days for not posting a show. Edit : just to clarify, the 90 days applies to people who post and say, for whatever personal life reasons, they will be unable to post shows for a stretch but once that temporary situation ends they will be able to continue writing. In those cases they can maintain their promotion as long as they start back up again within the 90 day timeframe. (With some flexibility for individual cases. For example, if someone is forced to be away for 93 days but absolutely commits to being back up and running at the end of that, we don't have to limit ourself to the letter of the law. On the other hand, if someone posts one show within the 90 day time frame, then posts one more in the next 90 days, then we might want to discuss with that person whether or not they can really maintain the commitment.) If a person does not post at all with no warning for 60 days, in that case we mark the promotion as inactive. Also, if a person falls a week or two behind due to time issues (such as myself), then we should give them leeway to get caught up. However, if a promotion is behind for whatever reason in more the 4 weeks plus timeframe, but then is able to start up again, then the promoter should be encouraged to consider the promotion "on vacation" during that time. When they start back up again, they can pick up where they left off booking-wise, but consider it as being at that point going forward in the calendar. That way, they don't have to feel the pressure of "Oh my God, how am I ever going to get caught up on 6 weeks worth of writing?"

I agree with all of that.

Inching towards getting caught up, TV and two huge arena shows have been posted for the AWA : http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/31376-american-wrestling-association-results/page-7

AWA show at the Oakland Arena, Oakland, November 13th The Wild Italians vs. The Minnesota Heartbreakers The Wild Italians won when Denucci got the Airplane Spin on Tom Stanton Lord Humongous vs. Vinnie Valentino Humongous won with the modified Cobra Clutch Moose Cholak & Samu vs. Col. Buck Robley & Maj. Cal Manson While Samu and Robley brawled outside the ring, Cholak beat Manson with the running splash. Greg Gagne & The Sake and Old Milwaukee Connection vs. Super Destroyer, Paul Orndorff & Jimmy Garvin Super D, Orndorff and Garvin won when Orndorff got the piledriver on Tanaka AWA American Title match : Iceman Parsons © vs. Mike George Parsons won with the jumping clothesline Hulk Hogan, The Road Warriors & Mr. Olympia vs. Riki Choshu, Animal Hamaguchi , Kuniyaki Kobayashi & Osamu Teranishi In a return match from two nights before, the AWA seemed much more ready for the onslaught of the Ishingun. The New Japan team still came out guns a-blazing but the AWA favorites fired back from the get go and gave as good as they got. Highlights of the match included Road Warrior Animal hitting Animal Hamaguchi in a brutal lightning-quick power slam and Choshu copying on of Hogan’s signature spots and nailing him with a lariat on the ring apron and sending him hard to the floor. It looked like recent history was about to repeat, as Choshu wound up the lariat and got set to dispatch Olympia, but the masked man ducked down at the last moment and Choshu went charging past. By this time, Hogan had recovered enough on the outside to pull down the top rope, and Choshu in turn came crashing to the outside. As Choshu and Hogan brawled at ringside, Olympia hit a precision flying dropkick on Teranishi and got the victory for the AWA team. The crowd roared its approval as the Road Warriors raised Olympia on their shoulders in celebration.

Lineup for AWA show at the Cow Palace, San Francisco, November 11th Ken Patera vs. Stan Stasiak Patera won with the shoulder breaker. Samu vs. Cal Manson Samu won with the Dynamite Dive (flying splash). Battle Of The Bullies : The Wild Bills vs. The Brotherhood of Poland In an expectedly chaotic match, Wiskowski looked like he was about to get the win when he set Haynes up for a face first piledriver, only for Irwin to come off the ropes and nail him in the head with the cowbell, taking the match for the Wild Bills. Greg Gagne & The Sake and Old Milwaukee Connection vs. Paul Orndorff, Super Destroyer & Jimmy Garvin Super Destroyer seemed to be getting the victory when he has about to get a superplex on Gagne, but Crusher knocked him off the ropes and Gagne hit a flying kneedrop for the one two three. Special Attraction Match : Col. Buck Robley vs. Eddie Mekka Mekka was clearly at a size disadvantage (among other things) against Robley but brought some back up in the form of the Road Warriors and Moose Cholak. Robley, for his part, was accompanied by the Wild Bills and Lord Humongous. Mekka, wearing an oversized t-shirt and boxing shorts, figured his best approach was to stick and move, peppering Robley with jabs before dashing out of the way of any retaliation. Ultimately, reality ensued when Robley finally caught his arm and fired back with a short lariat. The Roadies and Cholaks jumper on the ring apron, looking to help their good buddy, but the Bills and Humongous pulled them off and started brawling. It looked like it was all over for Mekka when Robley got him set up for a piledriver, but while the ref was distracted by the fighting at ringside, Samu came out of nowhere and charged the ring, nailing Robley in the jaw with a thrust kick and placing Eddie on top of him. When the ref saw that Mekka was covering Robley, he gave the count to end the match. The Colonel was livid but the Big Ragoo had gotten the victory. Hulk Hogan, The Road Warriors & Mr. Olympia vs. Riki Choshu, Animal Hamaguchi , Kuniyaki Kobayashi & Osamu Teranishi This was an epic battle between the AWA favorites and the aggressive New Japan team . Hogan had the most experience wrestling in Japan , but even he was startled at just how ruthless the Ishingun were. He and his allies rallied and the match went back and forth, but when Choshu hit Olympia with the lariat to the back of the head, followed by a running senton by Teranishi, that was all she wrote. The Ishingun stood triumphant as the AWA crowds looked on in shock.

AWA All-Star Wrestling for November 11th Paul Orndorff vs. Bill Rathke This was the first appearance on AWA TV for Orndorff since he attacked Greg Gagne at the Met Center show and he was clearly out to make an impression. He manhandled Big Bill Rathke, taking down with several brutal powerslams before finishing him off with the Piledriver. Time will tell how this will serve him against Gagne, who is blazing mad for his interference in his match with the Super Destroyer. Samu & Moose Cholak vs. Buck Robley & Cal Manson For this part of his campaign against Col. Buck Robley’s Army, he brought in big Moose Cholak to be his partner, and that certainly seemed to intimidate Robley. Robley wanted no part of the action keeping him out of the ring and leaving his right hand man, the Major, to be dismantled by Samu and Cholak. After Samu finished off Manson with the Dynamite Drop, he tried to goad Robley into throwing down with him, but the Colonel said no dice and dragged Manson out of the ring, marching him back to the locker room. Billy Jack Haynes vs. Ivan Putski In this rare match up of two of the most notorious villains in the AWA, both men had their tag partners at ringside, and neither Bill Irwin nor Ed Wiskowski were shy about letting their presence be felt. Haynes and Putski blasted each other with power moves and cheap shots until Billy Jack looked like he would polish off (tee hee) Putski with a powerful bear hug, but Wiskowski, taking advantage of the ref being distracted by Irwin, came off the top rope and clobbered Haynes in the back of the head with his boot. Putski got the pinfall and the two teams brawled after the bell. Isamu Teranishi & Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. The Latin Lovers This gave the AWA fans their first look at these Japanese superstars and the result was an exciting technical match , with a dazzling matwork display by Teranishi and Cruz and Kobayashi and Valentino busting out their exciting , high velocity moves before Kobayashi caught Valentino in a fisherman suplex for the win. Greg Gagne & Da Crusher vs. Super Destroyer & Jimmy Garvin Gagne was still itching to get his hands on Super Destroyer after his last match with him was so rudely interrupted, but he now had the added distraction of Paul Orndorff at ringside. Nevertheless, he and Da Crusher seemed to be getting the better of Super D and Garvin, with Garvin getting locked in the Gagne Sleeper, but Orndorff entered the ring and clipped Gagne from behind, forcing the ref to call for the DQ. Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi vs. Mr. Olympia & Iceman Parsons After the display of good sportsmanship by the earlier Japanese teams, the AWA team was shocked by the violent ruthlessness of Choshu and Hamaguchi. The came out full bore, startling Olympia and Parsons with their violent aggression. Hamaguch drove Parsons down hard with brutal suplexes and Choshu seemed like he was trying to break Olympia in half with several nasty arm and leg locks. Olympia tried valiantly to rally, but when Choshu jackhammered him in the back of the head with a pair of lariats, that was it and the Japanese team took the victory. The AWA is starting to realize what they are in for at the big 8 man tag match in San Francisco.

Still here, hope to get partly caught up today.

That is just crazy awesome.

Lineup for AWA show at the Cow Palace, San Francisco, November 11th Ken Patera vs. Stan Stasiak Samu vs. Cal Manson Battle Of The Bullies : The Wild Bills vs. The Brotherhood of Poland Greg Gagne & The Sake and Old Milwaukee Connection vs. Paul Orndorff, Super Destroyer & Jimmy Garvin Special Attraction Match : Col. Buck Robley vs. Eddie Mekka Hulk Hogan, The Road Warriors & Mr. Olympia vs. Riki Choshu, Animal Hamaguchi , Kuniyaki Kobayashi & Osamu Teranishi

I'm still a bit behind, need to get out this week's shows (hopefully will have those done by the end of the weekend) but have just posted last week's AWA TV and house show. Some big things happening at that house show, so check it out.

AWA show at the Met Center, Bloomington, November 4th The Minnesota Hearbreakers (Rick Patterson & Rocky Brewer) vs. The Wild Italians The Minnesota Heartbreakers won when Brewer pinned Russo after a powerslam. Samu vs. Maj. Cal Manson Samu was extremely aggressive with Maj. Cal Manson, just unloading on him and bloodying the second in command of the army before finishing him with the Dynamite Drop. After the match, he silently pointed at Col. Buck Robley, as if to say the he was next. The Latin Lovers vs. The Brotherhood Of Poland The Brotherhood Of Poland won after Putski hit the Polish Hammer on Cruz. Grudge Match : Greg Gagne vs. Super Destroyer This started out as an all out brawl, with a game Gagne matching the Super Destroyer blow for blow but gradually being worn down by the bigger man. Gagne was able to turn the corner by going back to his technical wrestling roots, countering the Super D’s punches with takedowns and high impact dropkicks. It looked like Gagne was finally able to put him away with the Gagne Leglock, but a man came out of the crowd into the ring and attacked Gagne, leading to the DQ. Both men beat down Gagne and the mystery man spiked him with a piledriver, assisted by the Super Destroyer. The man got on the ringside mic and revealed himself to be Paul Orndorff, who said that Gagne couldn’t outrun his past any longer. Sake & Old Milwaukee Connection vs. Ken Patera & Mike George George and Patera won with a double running shoulderblock on Tanaka. AWA American Title Match : Iceman "King" Parsons © vs. "The Continental Lover" Eddie Mansfield Mansfield had all three members of the Minnesota Hearbreakers in tow. Seeing the numbers against him, Parsons whistled towards the back, and his friends Mr. Olympia and the Latin Lovers came out to stand at ringside and watch his back. While the war was waged in the ring, a second battle seemed about to break out at any time at ringside until tempers finally exploded and all 6 men started brawling with each other. Parsons went up to the top turnbuckle and Patterson looked like he was going to knock him off, only for the Heartbreaker to be tackled to the ground by Vinnie Valentino. Parsons then hit the Rumper Stumper on Mansfield to keep the title. AWA World Tag Titles Match - No DQ, No Countout, No Time Limit, 2/3 Falls : The Road Warriors © vs. The Wild Bills The champs came exploding out of the blocks and charged the ring, tossing Billy Jack Haynes from the ring and hitting Irwin with a double clothesline for the quick first fall. The fans exploded as they got the 3 count and cheered as they dominated the Wild Bills, but the two tough soldiers of Col. Robley’s Army fought back, taking advantage of the No DQ stipulation by bludgeoning them with their cowbells until they bled and tying up Animal with their bullropes after a running kneedrop to get the second fall. It was now even and at this point, the Road Warriors were on the defensive. The Wild Bills bludgeoned down both Warriors until they looked set to finish them off, the Irwin trying to get the Superplex on Hawk while Haynes set Animal up to be lariated out of the ring. However, Animal ducked at the last second and back body dropped Haynes out of the ring as Hawk blocked the superplex, and Animal then rushed over and hoisted Irwin atop his shoulders. Hawk followed up with a big flying clothesline that sent Irwin crashing to the ground and got a roar of approval from the fans (a move that some in the crowd dubbed the Doomsday Device.) Hawk got the final pin and the Road Warriors held onto the belts. AWA World Title Match : Hulk Hogan vs. ? Unusually, the champ, Hulk Hogan, was the first to the ring, as “Eye Of The Tiger” played over the PA and the fans cheered him on. Both he and the crowd seemed anxious to find out who the mystery opponent would be. Their questions were answered when “Bad Reputation” by Joan Jett came over the PA and none other than Ted Dibiase made his way to the ring. Dibiase was methodical in his approach to the ring but the moment the bell rang, he exploded on Hogan, viciously pounding on his still injured eye. The champion wasn’t about to give in without a fight, but it looked like he was up against someone who might have been his equal as a brawler. Dibiase was able to get Hogan in the figure four and for an agonizingly long time looked like he might just be able to force the Hulkster to give up the title, but the champ was able to power through and reverse it until Dibiase was able to make it to the ropes. With both men severely battered, they continued to slug it out. Hogan was able to hit a staggering Axe Bomber to send Dibiase out of the ring, but Dibiase was able to make it back into the ring , and as the two wounded gladiators continued to exchange blows, the ring bell rang once more, signaling a 30 minute time limit draw. After the match, Hogan held out his hand for a handshake as a show of respect to Dibiase and the match they had both had, but Dibiase just gave him a look of contempt and walked away.

Ask me at any given time what my roster most needed, and my consistent reply would have been 2 more babyfaces, 2 more heels and more depth to my tag roster. Then I recently did the math and realized that I had 4 babyface teams and 4 heel teams, which is pretty good for the territory and the time. For all that I started with a tag roster consisting of the the Road Warriors and a team that CFCW and I had to put together in the draft, I realized I had to stop looking at in terms of the late 80s WWF and NWA/WCW I grew up with and make what I could of the roster I had.