Twenty years ago today, on February 25th, 1992, Gene Kiniski’s final appearance in the ring occurred in Winnipeg, Canada for the West Four Wrestling Alliance (WFWA) promotion. Kiniski would perform in four matches on the card. The fourth, and final bout, was a three man tag team match with Kiniski’s partners being a young Chris Jericho and Lance Storm. Their opponents were “Bulldog” Bob Brown, “Champagne” Gerry Morrow, and The Natural. “The Natural” went on to be known as Don Callis (a.k.a. The Jackel and Cyrus).
Welcome to another episode of Stampede Wrestlings classic moments. This time around I bring you the Magnificent Don Muraco, who had only recently left the WWF and ventured to Calgary. The” Magnificent One” would find great success in the Stampede promotion. He won the Heavyweight Championship by defeating Mike Shaw( Bastian Booger, Norman The Lunatic) in late 1988. He would defend that title against all comers in the territory, only to drop the title against Davey Boy Smith about 5 months later in a series of great matches! Don Muraco’s Tag partners for this match were the legendary British Bulldogs, who had recently returned to their wrestling roots back to Calgary from a tour of Japan, after leaving the WWF. Their opponents for this match were The Cuban Commandos, the constantly cheating team that the Bulldogs had recently defeated for the Stampede tag team belts. Joining that veteran heel tag team was Makhan Singh, who Don Muraco was fighting with for the heavyweight title. Worth noting in this video is the use of the ” yellow cards” which the Stampede referees sometimes used to ” warn” wrestles before they were disqualified with a “red card”. Enjoy the match, its a ” ring – a ding-dong- dandy”! I shall return with more classic wrestling action from Calgary next time!
One of the great things about Stampede Wrestling was its inter promotional matches. Many classic encounters took place in Calgary between the Stampede roster and champions from other wrestling territories such as the AWA, NWA, Japan and even other Canadian organizations. Here is a classic encounter out of Stampede Wrestlings rich past thats bound to interest wrestling historians. A young Bret Hart challenges the 4 year world title reign of the legendary AWA heavyweight champion, Nick Bockwinkle. Bret was legitimately injured at this time and, of course, in the early “learning phase” of his career. However that did not stop Bret , the future “best there ever will be” and Nick,who was at the time “the best there was” from putting on a good wrestling match for all the fans. Worth noting is the mention of Davey Boy Smith winning the Stampede light heavyweight title, earlier in that same night. Worth also noting are the post match interviews by Ed Whalen with Nick Bockwinkle and “Dr. D” Shultz ,who of course, competed in Stampede for several years. Dr. D also competed in the AWA, NWA, WWF and is most famous for his assault on a reporter who told him wrestling was fake! Enjoy the classic match, check out www.wonderpodonline.com for more PatMan picks and videogame podcasts, and I will see you all back here for another “ring-a-ding-dong-dandy”, next week!
Welcome to another episode of PatMan Picks Stampede Wrestling classics. This week I am going back in time to a point further than I remember actually watching Stampede Wrestling on television as a kid. I don’t know if my fellow Calgary man G was watching the promotion as far back as what is seen in this classic video, but I don’t personally remember actually seeing a lot of Jake Roberts or Big Daddy Ritter competing in Stampede, so its a nice treat to watch them now. As we all know, both men would become very famous wrestlers in the WWF and in other promotions around the world. However, in this video we can clearly see that both men are still in the early stages of their careers, still learning how to “evolve” into the the big super stars that they would eventually become. Worth noting this time around is that Jake Roberts was the current Stampede North American Heavyweight champion while Daddy Ritter ( JYD for most of you) was the former North American champion making this a pretty big match in Stampede for the time. But there was something else on the line in this match that maked it even more special and more interesting for classic wrestling fans. The winner of the match would go on to face the legendary Harley Race, for the world championship title on a future card in a Stampede Wrestling event. It truly was a wonderful time in wrestlings past where world champions form the big organizations would sometimes come to places like Stampede and wrestle in special matches against local territorial champions. See you all on the next PatMan Picks, and why not check out Wonderpod Videogame podcast epsidoe 71 & Patman picks PC classics over at wonderpodonline.com!
One of my favorite battle royals in Pro Wrestling history must be the classic at WM4. And as mentioned in our Stampede Wrestling podcast, as kids growing up in Calgary that match was extra special for the likes of G and myself. There were several Stampede Wrestling alumni in that big match including Junk Yard Dog, Danny Davis and Jim“The Anvil” Neidhart. The final two competitors in this famous WWF battle royal ended up being Bret Hart & Bad News Brown. The chemistry they displayed in the ring as they teamed up to eliminate their other opponents was no fluke, however. They had, of course, worked together many times before in the past back in the days of Stamped Wrestling. I can recall many great matches between the two back in the day, including ladder matches and no disqualification matches which aired on TV and entertained fans in countries all over the world well before both men ended up in the WWF. I bring you today one such classic match between Bret Hart and Bad News Allen in Stampedes famous past. Its for the North American heavyweight title, held by a young Bret Hart facing his challenger, one mean looking Bad News Allen. Worth noting is, as always, the heels in Stampede wrestling getting away with all sorts of mischief, which also as always, is driving the crowd absolutely nuts. Also worth noting are the post interviews by both Bret with his brother Bruce and the hilarious ending of Bad News Allen’s post interview with his entourage of heels as they insult Ed’s tie? Its both interesting and entertaining to watch these future wrestling superstars in their younger years. Bret truly is in the learning stages of how to become the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be. And what better place to hone his skills than right in his home city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. See you all next time for another edition of PatMan Picks ,Stamped Wrestling classics! Oh and for those who dont know who I am, I am on Wonderpod Videogame podcast over at www.wonderpodonline.com and have other PatMan picks and Patman plays articles over there, if you want to check them out!