Find out what’s going on in the June 1986 installment of Pro Wrestling Illustrated!
BETWEEN FALLS
The April 1986 cover of Pro Wrestling Illustrated featured Wendi Richter and this month in PWI there are two letters expressing appreciation and disappointment in the decision to have Richter on the cover. Louella from New York was very happy to have a woman on the cover of the magazine. Meanwhile, Gloria from Chicago was not a fan of the decision, at all. Instead, she thinks that Fabulous Moolah should have been on the cover since she’s an accomplished female wrestler and Richter doesn’t have the same skill.
Judy from Washington was shocked that fans were throwing so many objects into the ring during an event in Seattle. She thinks fans need to think before they act as they could seriously hurt a lot of people by doing such careless acts.
Stan from California doesn’t understand how Larry Zbyszko can be suspended for his attack on Nick Bockwinkel during their no disqualification match. The AWA suspending Zbyszko shows that the governing administration in the AWA should be run out of town.
Peter from California puts over Hulk Hogan as being a great wrestler who knows how to execute suplexs, clotheslines, atomic knee drops and an abdominal stretch. He thinks that Ric Flair has been drinking too much of his own bath water to really believe he can defeat Hogan.
Bolinda from Chicago completely agrees with Zbyszko being suspended since he had attacked the referee and could have caused permanent damage to Bockwinkel. Hopefully someone will take out Zbyszko.
RINGSIDE: written by: Bill Apter
The Midnight Express won the NWA Tag Team Championships from the Rock ’n’ Roll Express on February 2nd thanks to Condrey using a tennis racket and Cornette pulling a lifeless Bobby Eaton on top of Morton to win the titles.
Chris Adams has returned home to England after being blinded by Gino Hernandez with a black liquid. Adams had been told there’s a 75% chance he’d never see again. However, after another surgery, Adams is now at 60%.
Tom Zenk has won the Pacific Northwest Championship from Bobby Jaggers and Apter notes that Zenk looks great. Steve Williams is headed to Japan for most of March. Speaking of Japan, over 2,000 women showed up for a training session. Only six women will be trained to become professional wrestlers.
Giant Baba is likely to return to the US for an extended tour and has his sights on the NWA World Championship, which he held in 1974. Nikita Koloff and Krusher Khrushchev were going to go to Japan in April, but Krusher injured his leg and that’s not happening.
Apter has an update on Ken Patera and Mr. Saito and their prison sentences. They were sent to a minimum security prison in Wisconsin and they were to do forestry work. However, Patera didn’t cooperate because he claimed to have a bad back and thus was sent to maximum security prison. Saito remains at the original prison. They are up for parole in the spring after being denied in November.
Roddy Piper has found himself in a feud with Bruno Sammartino after insulting Bruno was slurs. Recently, Piper teamed with Bob Orton Jr. against Bruno and Paul Orndorff in a steel cage match. Everyone bled and Bruno won the match by escaping the cage first. The match took place in New Jersey.
Jesse Barr defeated Lex Lugar with a rollup to win the Southern Championship. Lugar has said he will win the championship back in a month. Bob Backlund is now a wrestling coach in Connecticut and said he’ll never wrestle professionally unless he wrestles Hulk Hogan. Backlund also had his address published to allow fans to get in contact with him.
KING’S COURT: written by: Peter King
After losing the AWA Championship to Stan Hansen, Martel had to return home to Quebec and cancelled his upcoming matches. Martel was expected to be champion for many years and his sudden loss to Hansen in New Jersey was shocking to many people. Hansen had hurt Martel’s back days prior to the title defense and had said he knew Martel’s injury more than Martel’s own doctors. Following the loss, Martel was glad he didn’t talk to the press because he might have announced his retirement.
Martel noted that he got a lot of contract offers but remains with the AWA. Martel feels better since the match in New Jersey and he wants the championship back. Martel is upset with Hansen cheating to make him submit to win the championship. Hansen had put his head on the turnbuckles for an illegal leverage. Martel can’t forget how he lost the match.
DRESSING ROOM CONFIDENTIAL: written by: Stu Saks
The article this month is dedicated to a fictional dream card and the results that were sent in by readers. Here’s a rundown of the matches.
Jimmy Snuka vs. Bruiser Brody in a steel cage
Rock ’n’ Roll Express vs. The Fabulous Freebirds
Road Warriors vs. Kevin & Kerry Von Erich
Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo vs. Ivan & Nikita Koloff
Round Robin Tournament for the World Championship: Rick Martel vs. Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan
Martel vs. Hogan
Hogan vs. Flair
Flair vs. Martel
IN FOCUS: written by: Craig Peters
There was a t-shirt contest going on and a guy from Massachusetts won with a picture from an AWA event. Peters also provided a joke WrestleMania 2 card since everyone is wondering what matches will be on the show and which celebrities will be there.
Missy Hyatt talked about John Tatum and how great of a guy he is. Tatum cooks for her and cleans and takes her shopping whenever she needs new clothes. Tatum recently promised to win all his matches. Hyatt basically demanded that so she can continue to increase her wardrobe.
THE STEEL CAGE: written by: Jim Schuermann
Jim goes on to tell a fictional story about a guy named Johnny Suede in the SWA having a no disqualification Texas death match with a dangerous human being named Zulu Kono. Suede used a chair and knocked Kono out, and won the match. However, the commissioner comes out and overrules the result and suspends Suede for life. This is a very similar situation that Zbyszko finds himself in against Nick Bockwinkel and the AWA.
Zbyszko used mini nunchakus on both the referee and Bockwinkel and won the match in very short order. However, not Zbyszko is looking at being banned from the AWA forever. The AWA is being a hypocrite since they signed up for a no disqualification match. The AWA should be blamed for this since they signed off on the match. Zbyszko did what he had to do to win a legal match. Perhaps the AWA should stop promoting such matches.
ON ASSIGNMENT: written by: Liz Hunter
Hunter didn’t leave her apartment on November 25th to go to MSG for a show. Instead, she went and got some rice for her only meal because she was dealing with a nasty virus. Wendi Richter lost the Women’s Championship that day and Hunter cried herself to sleep. Hunter is claiming that Richter lost the championship to Fabulous Moolah on a fast count. Secondly, Moolah was disguised wearing a mask and that prevented Richter from being prepared. Lastly, Richter has quit the WWF because she was not promised a rematch with Moolah. Hunter believes this is an attempt to get rid of women’s wrestling all together. Hunter begs for everyone to contact promoters to keep women’s wrestling alive and get women in the main event where they belong.
OFF THE TOP ROPE: written by: Eddie Ellner
Ellner insists that he will never learn to like Hulk hogan and he was cannibal he’d learn to like Dusty Rhodes if he were in a jungle. Ellner also says that Bill Apter looks like a hairless chihuahua. Ellner agrees with another reader about how it’s ridiculous that the Road Warriors are teaming with Dusty Rhodes to take on Ric Flair and Arn Anderson. Ellner wonders if the Warriors will grow their hair out and dye it blonde.
TULLY BLANCHARD BRUTALIZES THE AMERICAN DREAM: WHERE WAS BABY DOLL WHEN DUSTY RHODES NEEDED HER MOST?: written by: Matt Brock
Brock talks about the morning of the match between Dusty and Tully and how he had a conversation with Tully at the hotel. Tully insists that Baby Doll is still in love with him and suggests that she would betray Dusty unless she was given a percentage of the money that Dusty had stolen from his fans. Upon arriving to the arena for the match it was noticeable that Baby Doll wasn’t even there. Tully beat on Dusty like a spurned lover and Dusty was confused often asking where Baby Doll was at for the match.
PRESS CONFERENCE: SCOTT HALL
Hall doesn’t want to be labeled an overnight star as he’s just out there hustling to make a living. Now that he’s a champion he jokes that he gets a better table at restaurants. Hall recently declined a $100,000 purse since he has a home, plenty of food and security. That kind of money can confuse your life. Hall is confident of his abilities and isn’t afraid to go after AWA Heavyweight Champion Stan Hansen. He thinks that his method of beating Hansen would be much different than Martel’s approach. Hall says he’d like to wrestle for maybe ten more years and go into medical school. Hall is confident that his opponents will find out just how brutal he can be in the ring. Don’t mistake his kindness as a weakness.
RANDY SAVAGE PROVES… HULKAMANIA IS DEAD! WILL WRESTLEMANIA 2 MAKE IT LIVE AGAIN?
Despite their battles where Savage was left bloodied, Savage has tried to proclaim that Hulkamania is over. Hogan has a lot of intangibles that will make stopping him a hard task.Hogan has been going strong since 1984, but his matches with Savage at MSG in two straight months led to losses. Hogan didn’t seem to have a strong connection with the crowd when he wanted them to speak their displeasure. However, perhaps WrestleMania II can get Hulkamania back on track. The article also looked at how Hogan’s life has become more of a celebrity instead of being a wrestler.
WHY JIM DUGGAN IS WRESTLING’S MOST UNDERRATED SUPERSTAR
Jim Duggan was recently in New York meeting with Terri Madigan as she is looking to make a new movie star, but Duggan isn’t interested in that. She wanted to get on the Duggan bandwagon as professional wrestling is on the upswing and they want to ride his success to the top and make Duggan bigger than wrestling. However, Duggan didn’t seem to know or care about the research. She had never been talked to like that before and made sure not go down that road ever again. Duggan knows that people like Terri will promise you all the success one year and the next year be thrown to the side.
SCOUTING REPORT
Six wrestlers are highlighted this month. Focusing on their outlook for 1986 instead of the general strength vs. weakness..
Adrian Adonis: Adonis has new confidence since coming out of the closet and should aim for the WWF Intercontinental Championship in 1986.
Jesse Barr: He’ll be going to Japan in 1986 and also be working a full schedule in Florida likely wrestling Lex Luger for the Southern Championship.
Dick Slater: His focus for 1986 should be regaining the North American Championship that he had lost to Jake Roberts recently.
Bruno Sammartino: Once his issues with Roddy Piper are resolved, Sammartino would be better served to be a commentator.
Bruiser Brody: Focus on getting his schizophrenic tendencies under control.
Curt Hennig: With the AWA tag division being rather depleted, look for Hennig and Hall to travel on the road to bring prestige back to the titles.
CHRIS ADAMS: “BEING BLINDED HAS OPENED MY EYES!”
Gino Hernandez tossed poison into Adams eyes to cause blindness. Hernandez came to the ring with a bottle of liquid saying that it would cause a man to go bald. So, they agreed to have a match with that as a stipulation, but the match never got that far. Hernandez had hit a piledriver on Adams and likely could have won the match, but instead went for the poison and tossed it into Adams face. After being checked by a doctor, Adams was told there is a 75% chance he will never see again.
Adams thinks that being blinded has showed him that he can’t do it all on his own and hopes to find some friends to help him. He promises to return to Texas and wrestle there. He’ll mend some broken bridges and renew old friendships.
WRESTLING ENQUIRER
Gino Hernandez was found dead on February 2nd in his apartment. The cause of death is unknown at the time of press. Hernandez had been dead for at least 48-hours before being discovered. Hernandez had great success in World Class and had a love/hate relationship with fans in the area. He had a falling out with partner Chris Adams which was highlighted by the blinding of Adams in December.
Rock ’n’ Roll Express are set to wrestle in Mid-South while they look to get a shot at the Midnight Express. It is expected that the Express will wrestle the Sheepherders in a series of matches in the area.
Lex Lugar has demanded a title match with Jesse Barr for the Southern Championship and it was signed for February 14th. Lugar is convinced that he was robbed of the championship.
Road Warriors are near signing a contract to work in World Class, but only if they get matches with the Von Erich’s.
Jake Roberts has been in Greenwich to discuss a contract to wrestle for the WWF. Roberts does not want a manager.
Eddie Gilbert got revenge on Oliver Humperdink when he got his new partner Tarras Balba to piledriver Humperdink.
Rick Rude has been trying to get a match with Jesse Barr for the Southern Championship thinking that a former partner as champion would drive Barr nuts.
THE LAST WORD
Road Warrior Hawk: Says he woke up mean one morning and shaved his face with a straight razor and used no water or shaving cream. He had a biker lady knows to make him look mean and she did not disappoint in doing that.
Jim Cornette: He wanted to make sure his team got the titles because his mothers friends were wondering why they didn’t have any. Cornette says the titles are for his mother and that he owes her one.
Jesse Barr: Two weeks ago the fans didn’t want anything to do with him and now that he’s champion he’s so popular. He doesn’t need the fans to tell him how good he is.
Lance Von Erich: He never would wish for Chris Adams, or anyone for that matter, to suffer such a serious injury.