WWA Television
Date: September 1965
Location: Southside Armory, Indianapolis, Indiana

God bless Youtube. The WWA is an old territory that actually had two offices: one in Los Angeles and the other in Indianapolis. This show aired sometime in the 1960s but it’s almost impossible to track down the exact date. This might not even be the WWA but there’s only so much research you can do on a show that’s (possibly) nearly fifty years old. Let’s get to it.

Tom Jones vs. Gene Kiniski

Kiniski is world champion (not sure if that’s WWA or NWA) and this is a non-title match. Jones is a plucky little face who grabs a headlock to start but Kiniski takes him into the corner and pounds away on the back. The announcer answers a fan letter about what the ring is made of in great detail which is more interesting than the match itself.

Kiniski kicks him in the face but Jones comes back in with rights and lefts before stomping the champion down in the corner. Kiniski comes back with boots of his own and gets two off a slam. A lot of choking ensues and Kiniski chops him in the chest a few times. Jones finally comes back with a headbutt but gets chopped right back down. Three straight backbreakers (Kiniski’s finisher) are enough to end Jones with relative ease.

Rating: D+. Kiniski is a guy that I’ve never actually seen wrestle before but he was a solid heel in there. He acted like a jerk and choked a lot which had the fans wanting to see him lose but Jones just wasn’t the guy that was going to be able to do it. Jones was decent but there was only so much he could do out there.

House show ad with a main event of Larry Hennig/Harley Race vs. Dick the Bruiser/The Crusher. Those guys would be big deals in the AWA which makes me think this is WWA given how close the territories were to each other. Wildbur Snyder comes in to talk about the tag match and how much the teams hate each other. Snyder was co-owner of the WWA which confirms this as much as anything can. The house show is Saturday November 2, which would put this in 1968, meaning Kiniski is NWA World Champion. I love figuring that stuff out.

Assassins vs. Prince Pullins/Rocky Montero

This is 2/3 falls. The Assassins are masked guys with whips who the announcer says “claim the title of World Tag Team Champions.” That might mean they’re champions, which would confuse things even more because the Assassins last held the WWA Tag Titles in 1965. The announcer now says the Assassins ARE Tag Team Champions, so this is sometime between 1965 and 1968. Pullins vs. Assassin #1, who is the smaller of the two, gets things going. The Prince avoids a right hand as they stall early on.

Prince grabs a headlock and Montero comes in for no apparent reason, allowing #2 to come in and cheat. #1 is put down by a headlock takeover but a knee to the ribs put Prince down and allows the tag off to #2. The announcer talks about how big the wrestlers are as Montero keeps wandering around the ring, even winding up on the wrong corner at one point. Prince slugs away on #1 and tries some headbutts, which the announcer calls a popular move “among young negro wrestlers.” Different times indeed.

More headbutts sent #2 into Montero in the corner as everything breaks down. Montero actually cleans house a bit and sends the Assassins outside until it’s #2 inside again. #1 comes in as well but the good guys pick him up and ram him into #2. Not that it matters as #2 pops back up and hammers on Montero before bringing #1 in again for a slugout. Pullins comes back in again with headbutts and right hands but gets driven back into the corner. #2 slams him down and #1 adds a top rope stomp to Prince’s ribs for the first fall.

Montero and #1 start, which confuses the announcer as the people who ended the previous fall are supposed to start the next. Rocky is sent outside and holds his eye due to some shots from the gauntlet on #1 hand. The match stops almost entirely until it’s back to Pullins who is sent to the floor as well. Monster comes back in and rips at #1’s eyes as everything breaks down yet again.

Prince comes back in and cleans house as the announcer talks about the legal issues of referees getting physical. A dropkick gets one on #2 and it’s back to Montero with no tag. Prince is in almost immediately as Montero walks down the apron, meaning there’s no one for Prince to tag. It breaks down again and the top rope stomp plus a seated senton are enough to pin Montero.

Rating: D-. This was WAY too long and not good in the slightest. Montero was all over the place and looked like he had no idea what he was doing the entire time. The Assassins were just generic heels in masks which made the match pretty dull to sit through. Nothing to see here, other than Montero looking like he was lost in the match.

Danny Dolly vs. Dick the Bruiser

Bruiser owned the company and is a very terrifying looking human being. I looked this up online and was told it was September of 1965, making me think that the house show ad was wrong. Bruiser throws him around to start and fires off some knees in the corner. We hit the neck crank as the announcer talks about how no one has ever submitted to a chinlock. Back to the corner for choking by Dick but Dolly comes back with right hands and a headlock takeover. Bruiser easily comes back with kicks to the ribs before throwing Dolly out to the floor. Dick slams Dolly back inside and goes up for a flying knee drop and the pin.

Rating: D+. Total squash here but it was entertaining to see Bruiser clean house like that. He made a career out of destroying various jobbers and is one of the handful of old names that you’ll see hear every now and then. His look reminds me of Brock Lesnar, which was was even scarier in the 60s.

Moose Cholak vs. Tony Parente

Cholak is a big monster who won’t shake hands with the much smaller Tony. We’re also in a different arena here as there are, I kid you not, less than fifteen fans visible in the crowd. Parente goes for the legs before trying an armbar instead. Cholak goes after the leg before the guys collide in the ring which should have been much more one sided than it was. A dropkick staggers the Moose and they trade forearms with neither getting anywhere.

Something resembling an armdrag puts Parente down but he comes back with a knee to Cholak’s leg. There’s a leg lock as Moose is in a bit of trouble now. Back up and Cholak grabs a bearhug for about two seconds before sending Parente into the buckle. Tony slugs his way out of a wristlock but gets sent into the buckle again to stop his comeback. I don’t know if you can even call it a comeback as neither guy has had a long advantage yet.

Parente takes him down with an armbar and cranks back on the arm Fujiwara style before being thrown outside. Back in and Tony scares Cholak into the corner before firing off some hard right hands. Moose shrugs them off, headbutts Tony down and drops a big splash for the pin.

Rating: D. WAY too much offense from Parente here as Moose looked like he won because he survived rather than being dominant at all. The match made Cholak look like he got lucky rather than being the better man, which isn’t what you would want out of a monster like him. Bad match here but the crowd being so small was far more interesting.

Overall Rating: D-. Well at least it was short. This wasn’t a good show for the most part as the most entertaining matches were the Kiniski and Bruiser squashes. The WWA never was a huge territory and if this is any indication of what their product was like, it’s not hard to see why. Really dull show here with nothing that held my interest at all.

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Wrestling Champions From Chicago
Date: April 5, 1963
Location: Chicago Coliseum, Chicago, Illinois
Attendance: 3,140
Commentator: Bob Elson

This is about ten days after my father turned ten years old. After holding the record for about two weeks, the Washington DC shows I did have lost their spot as the oldest show I’ve ever reviewed. This is presumably a TV show from the local promotion, which means I have no idea what to expect here. Bobo Brazil is in the main event and that’s all I’ve got. Let’s get to it.

The music sounds like something out of a circus which is fitting for a wrestling show.

Apparently this is the International Wrestling Alliance which I’ve never heard of.

Brute Bernard/Skull Murphy vs. Bavarian Boys

The Boys are Rudi Jacobs and Harry Wenzel. This is 2/3 falls and I have no idea who is who here. Brute and Harry start things off. Brute and Skull look almost identical so I’m in trouble with telling who is who. They double team Wenzel and a double kick to the chest gets two. After some more cheating it’s off to Murphy who is quickly taken to the mat. Jacobs comes in and works on the leg which fires up the crowd. The Boys are tiny by comparison so this is likely power vs. speed.

Jacobs gets Bernard tied up in the ropes and hits a cross body before bringing in Harry for some kicks to the face. Back to Jacobs for some dropkicks to a still tied up Bernard. They’re picking the pace up very quickly. Harry comes in again and they head to the mat for a chinlock/bite from Bernard. The heels (Bernard’s team) double teams Wenzel in the corner and we’re told that they only have until four to break rather than five. That’s interesting.

We get a modern classic as the hot tag is made but the referee doesn’t see it. Some things never change I guess. A double slam on Harry is enough for the first fall for Murphy and Bernard. To start the second fall, things break down for a bit until it’s down to Wenzel vs. Murphy. Harry takes him to the mat and tries a surfboard (called that here) but Bernard makes the save. Rudi comes in with a MISSILE DROPKICK (that was a HUGE spot back then) for only two.

Jacobs gets caught in the corner in the same sequence we had earlier on. Murphy gets thrown across the ring in a surprising power display by the much smaller Bavarians. Back to Bernard as everything breaks down again. Some near falls are broken up until it’s Murphy hiding in the corner from Wenzel. Harry scrapes Murphy’s eye with his boot and cranks away on the arm for a bit.

Back to Jacobs for a lot of whipping into the corner before putting on a leg lock that I can’t see the details of. Murphy blocks a snap mare attempt from Wenzel before Harry goes back to the arm. The idea of selling hadn’t quite been perfected at this point. Johnson comes back in for a bunch of dropkicks and gets a very fast submission off an abdominal stretch. Yep, very different time here.

The third fall begins with Murphy claiming a back injury and not wanting to face Wenzel anymore. The ever nice referee makes him come in anyway and things slow down a bit. We keep stalling for a few more minutes so it’s off to Jacobs instead. The big guys take over with some cheap double teaming until it’s down to Murphy vs. Wenzel again. Bernard comes in and finally gets in some offense with knees to the chest and a lot of stomping. This doesn’t last long as it’s quickly back to Jacobs but it was fun while it lasted.

Rudi pounds away in the corner and sends Brute flying before it’s off to Murphy again. Skull hides in the corner and brings Skull back in immediately. These are really fast paced tags. Murphy and Brute tag about three more times in fifteen seconds before we get down to Brute vs. Jacobs again. The abdominal stretch goes on (called the Cobra Twist here) Bernard again but Skull comes in with a headbutt, giving Bernard the winning pin on Jacobs to end the match.

Rating: B-. I don’t know if it’s the expectations for this to be slow because it’s old or what, but this match was REALLY fun. They played up the power vs. speed formula before the formula had been invented and it came off like a really entertaining match. I’m really surprised by that and it’s worth seeing more from these guys. Good stuff.

The Bavarian Boys complain about getting cheated. They have a right to and talks of a rematch are heard. Some German is also heard.

IWA World Title: Bobo Brazil vs. Moose Cholak

This is 2/3 falls as well and I think Bobo is challenging. Moose is a BIG guy, weighing well over 300lbs. His nickname is Golden and he wears headgear ala Rick Steiner. Moose wins a slugout to start and sends Bobo to the mat. Bobo isn’t a small guy at all either so this is going to be a brawl I’d assume. They slug it out again and Bobo takes him down this time before putting on a quick chinlock.

Moose punches him into the corner but Bobo comes back with chops. He goes after Moose’s headgear but can’t quite get it off. Moose headbutts Bobo (Bobo’s finisher) and they slug it out again. Bobo staggers him with a headbutt of his own so they head to the mat. Moose kicks away at the leg and cannonballs down on it like Flair. Bobo shrugs that off and works on the arm a bit. Moose is whipped into the corner and literally the ring moves. Out of nowhere Cholak hits a knee to the chest and a splash for the first fall.

Bobo chokes him into the corner to start the second fall and goes after the gear again. We hit the chinlock again before Moose bails to the apron. Moose misses a charge in the corner and Bobo backdrops him down to tie us up at a fall apiece. Moose takes him to the mat by the arm to start the third fall. There’s a half nelson by the champ into a bodyscissors as we kill some time. After a few two counts in the bodyscissors by Moose, Bobo escapes and puts on a chinlock of his own.

The champ makes it to a rope as we’re told that the curfew is almost up. They go to a test of strength and I think you know what’s going to happen here. Bobo is in trouble but headbutts his way out of trouble. Instead of power, Brazil tries to take it to the mat but winds up in the ropes instead. Cholak goes after the leg again in a hold that looks like a cover.

Bobo hooks a headscissors but Moose hooks one of his own at the same time. Basically they look like they’re…..never mind. Moose headbutts away a bit more to take over but it seems to tick Bobo off. He chops away in the corner and hits the Coco Butt which is acting way more like a signature move than a finisher. They slug it out until the curfew and the draw.

Rating: C. This would have been WAY better if they cut out about five minutes of the time killing. Bobo was always a crowd favorite because he had a ton of charisma. I’m not familiar with Cholak but he did pretty well out there. He makes for a solid heel champion, even though I can’t find much information on this particular title.

Moose insists on being announced as champion. He wants a rematch with more time, despite saying Bobo is a poor sport.

Overall Rating: B-. I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to. They had some very solid matches on here and promos to set up rematches when one ended with cheating and another in a draw. I’d love to see some more from this territory as the show was really entertaining. Good stuff here and worth checking out.

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