When writing my previous column on Six of the most memorable ROH moments at the Manhattan Center, it quickly became clear that this was not a subject I could squeeze into one column, and that it would probably be at least a three-part series. So with that in mind, here’s the second part of the series on ROH’s most memorable Manhattan Center moments.
Ring of Honor making the decision to leave their longtime New York City home at the Manhattan Center is truly the end of an era for the company. Having run many of their most important shows in both the Grand Ballroom and Hammerstein Ballroom sections of the building, ROH has given us a seemingly endless stream of memorable moments in that building, both good and bad. In no particular order, here are six of my personal most memorable ROH moments to take place at the Manhattan Center.
Samoa Joe may be the most legendary wrestler to ever compete in Ring of Honor. Though he wasn’t the first ROH World Champion, he is often credited with legitimizing both the title and the company with the strength of his title defenses. Nearly everything he did during his four and a half years with ROH turned to gold, and the work he did elevating his many opponents can’t be overstated.
The fact that Jay Briscoe hasn’t been pinned or made to submit in over two years is mentioned frequently on ROH shows since it’s a pretty spectacular winning streak. But ROH has been known for some pretty incredible longevity records in a wrestling world whose attention span has shrunk dramatically in the last couple of decades, so where does Jay land in terms of overall unbeaten streaks in ROH history?
We return to Dallas, Texas as we continue to follow the history of the legendary Global Wrestling Federation. When we last left off at the end of 1991, the Dark Patriot and his new manager Bruce Prichard had conspired to steal the North American Title from the Patriot and drive the American Hero from the GWF forever, Tug Taylor and his son Chaz had won a family feud against the Dirty Davis Brothers, The Wild Bunch had defeated their rivals the Coast To Coast Connection for the GWF Tag Team Title, and GWF Commissioner Max Andrews had been revealed as the mysterious leader of the Cartel.
However, many of the most important events of 1992 would revolve around Eddie Gilbert, who had first appeared as an interfering nuisance in a North American Title match, but had ended the year as GWF Television Champion. It was that title for which Gilbert was locked in a heated war with Terry Garvin, who had Gilbert’s number and his eyes firmly set on becoming the TV Champion…
When we last left off in 1991, Eddie Gilbert had come to the GWF and, through a series of devious manipulations, wound up with the Television Title around his waist. Things were going just fine until he was upset in a non-title match by Terry Garvin. Garvin got a series of title shots over the next several weeks with various stipulations involved, but Gilbert managed to hold onto the title by any means necessary each time out.
Garvin got one last shot at the title as 1992 began, and in this match the first man to throw a punch would lose the match, and the title could change hands on a DQ or countout. Gilbert, who had repeatedly relied on foreign objects, disqualifications, and countouts to retains his title against Garvin would seem to be at a disadvantage now that he was forced to face Garvin on a level playing field, but shockingly was cleanly defeated by Gilbert. Garvin brought his game to the title match and clearly walked in expecting to win the TV Title, but realized that he had been fairly defeated and made no excuses. He asked Gilbert why he couldn’t always wrestle like that instead of cheating all the time, to which Gilbert had no answer. He told Gilbert that he respected him, but that Gilbert would see him again down the line.
That rematch happened before either of them probably expected, as they met in the finals of a tournament held mere weeks later to determine the #1 contender to the North American Title held by the Dark Patriot. They had yet another great match with another new twist on the finish, as the match ended in a double knockout. However, the GWF required a #1 contender, so the first man back to his feet would win the match and the tournment, and both men frantically struggled to get up first, but in the end Gilbert made it to his feet before Garvin and became the #1 contender.
With two clean victories over Garvin, Gilbert had decisively won the feud, and was now in line to challenge the Dark Patriot for the GWF’s top title.
Wild Bunch members Wild Bill Irwin and Black Bart had closed 1991 by defeating Coast To Coast Connection members John Tatum and Rod Price for the GWF Tag Team Title, but had not seen the last of their hated enemies. As the new year opened, the Connection was granted another shot at the title, but the Wild Bunch would only grant them a rematch if Price and Tatum agreed to split as a team if they lost. Tatum and Price were very upset with manager Skandar Akbar about signing them into a match like this, but Akbar told them not to worry, he had a plan.
Irwin spent most of the rematch getting beat up, with Bart casually standing in the corner watching his partner fall victim to repeated double team attacks by the Connection. Finally Irwin got both opponents down and reached to make the life-saving tag to his partner, but instead of taking the hot tag, Black Bart hit Irwin with his own lucky horseshoe and knocked him out. The rest was academic, the Connection scored the win and regained the title, following which we got to see a backstage promo showing Akbar in the back with Bart where Akbar revealed that he had paid Bart off to turn on his partner and join his side.
Bart was determined to take out his former comrades, and shortly after turning on Irwin, Bart defeated Rattlesnake and put him out of action in the North American Title Contender’s tournament. Irwin was now on his own, and despite some tag team wins over Bart, he was defeated by Bart in a match to crown a GWF Brass Knucks Champion. Bart didn’t enjoy a long reign, as Irwin soon returned the favor and defeated Bart for the Brass Knucks Title to win the feud and prove himself the dominant member of the former Wild Bunch.
Life was good for Eddie Gilbert in the early spring of 1992. He was Television Champion, he had exorcised the demon of Terry Garvin by cleanly winning the feud, and he was now the #1 contender for the North American Title held by the Dark Patriot. However, things would soon take an ugly turn as his friend Bruce Prichard, who just happened to be the manager of the Dark Patriot, said that there was no reason for the two men to fight and offered to let Gilbert walk away from his title shot without a fight. Gilbert said thanks, but he wanted his shot and he was coming for the North American Title.
Gilbert dominated the match with the Dark Patriot and was well on his way to victory when his “friend” Bruce Prichard came in and interfered, drawing the DQ. Gilbert was incensed at Prichard, but before he even knew what was happening, Scott Anthony and Barry Horowitz, who Gilbert also thought were his friends, ran in and the four men beat Gilbert down.
As if Gilbert didn’t have enough problems already, he also had managed to get new referee Sam Esposito on his bad side. In a match against Big Bad John where Gilbert would have to kiss Prichard’s feet if he lost, Esposito called a submission on Gilbert while he was in an abdominal stretch. Gilbert said that he knew he didn’t submit, but he was a man of his word and kissed Prichard’s feet. Soon after this, Gilbert was wrestling Barry Horowitz and Esposito flagrantly interfered with Gilbert’s attempts to win the match. Gilbert finally had had enough and struck Esposito, and he may have felt vindicated at the time, but it came back to bite him when Esposito used Gilbert’s attack as grounds to petition the GWF to strip him of the TV Title, which the GWF agreed with. Gilbert lost the TV Title without ever being defeated for it.
Gilbert soon got another shot at the Dark Patriot, and thanks to help from his former rival Terry Garvin, Gilbert actually beat Dark Patriot for the title but then had the decision reversed on him when Sam Esposito again got involved and told referee James Beard about Garvin’s interference. Gilbert would remain a thorn in the side of the Dark Patriot, costing him a win against Garvin when he was referee of a DP-Garvin non-title match, and then teamed with Garvin and referee Beard against the Dark Patriot, the Viper, and Bruce Prichard. Gilbert’s team won.
Soon after this, in a non-televised match, Gilbert finally beat the Dark Patriot for the North American Title. The two men met one final time, this time with Gilbert putting the North American Title on the line against the Dark Patriot’s mask. Gilbert again beat the Dark Patriot, and when the Dark Patriot finally unmasked, he revealed…another mask underneath. He had adhered to the stipulation of his match and unmasked, but had not revealed his identity. The Dark Patriot decided to leave the GWF after that match rather than continue battling Gilbert, but had Gilbert truly won the feud?
Since Wild Bill Irwin and Black Bart had split up, they were no longer a threat to the Coast To Coast Connection now that they were again GWF Tag Team Champions. Instead, their first challenge came from the team of Scott Putski & Gary Young, who had not forgotten about his run-in with the Connection the previous year. After several failed attempts to win the title Young and Putski were granted one final title shot, but Gary Young was injured the night of the title match and was unable to compete. Although the Connection expected a 2-on-1 massacre like when they first won the title, Putski was joined by his friend Terry Simms (the former Terry Garvin, who had now decided to compete under his real name). The makeshift pair defeated the Connection that night to win the Tag Team Title.
Several weeks later, after Young had recovered from the injury, he teamed with Putski & Simms against the Connection and Steven Dane. Young, Putski, and Simms won the match, but Young was still upset about being cheated out of his shot at the Tag Team Title. He took out his frustrations by laying out Putski and walking out on he and his new partner. Young rejoined Akbar, his former manager, and he and new tag team partner Steven Dane laid out a challenge for the Tag Team Title to Putski & Simms.
The Goodfellas, as Young & Dane called themselves, faced the champions in a match with an inconclusive double pin finish and the title was held up, but then defeated Putski & Simms in a rematch and won the title. Putski & Simms chose not to pursue a rematch, but things were far from calm in the Akbar camp. Now that he was managing both the new champions and the Coast To Coast Connection, he decided that he was going to have to cut one team, and it sure wasn’t going to be the champs. He sold the contracts of John Tatum and Rod Price to Bruce Prichard, but the Coast To Coast Connection was not pleased with this and not only refused to take Prichard on as manager, but also decided to challenge the Goodfellas for the title. Unfortunately, the feud never really got off the ground. The two teams exchanged a couple of victories but the Goodfellas were soon defeated by Native American team the Tribal Nation, Chris and Mark Youngblood, and the Connection-Goodfellas feud pretty much died out after that.
By this point you’ve probably noticed that a lot of feuds in the GWF came to an abrupt end when one person or another left the company. Joe Pedicino claimed to have a Nigerian millionaire financially backing the company (perhaps making him the first victim of the Nigerian Prince e-mail scam), but it would seem that the Nigerian backer wasn’t being as free with his money as Pedicino probably hoped, and the most glaring issue the GWF had with affording to pay their talent came in the form of constant problems with hanging on to a North American Champion.
These problems really started to become apparent in May of 1992 when Eddie Gilbert no-showed a title defense against Johnny Mantell. In reality, Gilbert had already quit the company days earlier over money issues and had returned to Memphis, but he was stripped of the title in storylines after failing to meet a ten count to get to the ring to defend against Mantell. Mantell won an impromptu challenge from Terry Simms, but was not officially the North American Champion. Mantell continued a strong push by defeating Bill Irwin in a Loser Leaves The GWF match, following which Mantell faced and was defeated by Scott Putski in a match to crown an official North American Champion.
After a series of brawls against Mantell which mostly ended in disqualifications, Putski himself no-showed a title defense against Rod Price, although he had actually been fired shortly beforehand. This time there was no argument about it, Putski was determined to have forfeited the match and Price was awarded the title by forfeit, much to the delight of he and his new manager, Gary Hart. Hart was a longtime fixture in the Dallas territory and his involvement with the GWF could be seen as nothing but a positive, and the fact that the GWF had put the North American Title on Rod Price, one of the few guys who had stuck with the company the whole time while everybody else blew out the door, gave some hope that there might finally be some stability, but the writing was on the wall: the GWF was facing serious financial problems and the situation wasn’t going to get any better.
Aside from all the other happenings in the GWF in 1992, we also got to see:
-“The Winner” Barry Horowitz
Horowitz, renowned worldwide as one of the most famous jobbers of all time, scored a single win over Terry Daniels, and it instantly went to his head. He began referring to himself as The Winner, and even put his win over Daniels out on home video for $19.95. (no, not really) He soon fell under the management of Bruce Prichard, who helped him defeat Jerry Lynn for the Light Heavyweight Title. Yes, you read that right: Barry Horowitz pinned Jerry Lynn to win the GWF Light Heavyweight Title. His overconfidence became his biggest weakness, as he soon lost the title to Ben Jordan due to a prematch stipulation where if Horowitz didn’t beat Jordan twice in ten minutes, he would lose the title. Horowitz regained the title from Jordan days later, again with help from Prichard. He ended up losing the LHW Title for the last time to “Nightmare” Danny Davis (The future co-owner of OVW, not to be confused with the WWF referee turned wrestler), and left the GWF for the bright lights of the WWF where, years later, he would revive the “Winner” gimmick during his feud with Chris “Skip” Candido.
-Sam Houston vs The Viper
Houston, the half brother of Jake “The Snake” Roberts and former WWF Women’s Champion Rockin’ Robin, came to the GWF in 1992 and almost immediately found himself in a feud with Bull Pain. Although Bull Pain dominated Houston with repeated victories, Houston was able to come back and claim the vacant TV Title in a 15 man elimination tag match. His main challenge came in the form of the Viper, a masked man who hung around in weird places (like in the ceiling and under desks) They met in a TV Title vs Mask match, which was won by Houston, who yanked Viper’s mask off and revealed him to be Mike Davis, returning to the GWF months after losing his feud against the Taylors. Davis lost his mind following this setback, and became known as “Maniac” Mike Davis, which was basically a goofball gimmick that had him dressing in weird outfits and acting like a loon. The two men continued to feud through the end of 1992.
-Terry Simms
Following his feud with Eddie Gilbert, Terry Garvin came out in an interview and stated that, because of pressures from outside of wrestling, he would be competing under his real name of Terry Simms from that point on. As we saw earlier, he had a short run with the GWF Tag Team Title, but his year didn’t end there. He won a mini-tournament for the vacant Light Heavyweight Title with wins over Billy Joe Travis and Chaz, however his victory over Chaz in the finals was by an injury default when Chaz’s bad knee went out on him. As soon as he was healthy, Simms granted his former tag team partner the first shot at the LHW Title. Simms won the match when he got his shoulder up after Chaz delivered a German suplex with a bridge. After the win over Chaz, he would run into trouble in the form of Alex Porteau, who first defeated Simms in a non-title I Quit match when Porteau’s partner Shaun Summers snuck out to ringside and impersonated Simms by yelling “I Quit” into a microphone while Simms was out of the line of sight of the referee. Porteau posted a second victory over Simms shortly afterward when, after Simms missed a flying bodypress, Porteau grabbed a handful of tights and put Simms down to win his first LHW Title.
-The Ebony Experience
Future WCW stars Booker T and Stevie Ray spent part of their early careers in the GWF, teaming as the Ebony Experience. The two men immediately impressed everybody with their size, strength, and shocking speed and agility for men their size. After co-winning a $2000 battle royal, they defeated the Goodfellas, who had just regained the title themselves, for the GWF Tag Team Title.
Part VII: Conclusion
The GWF lost their TV deal with ESPN in late 1992, and was basically a walking corpse for the remainder of its existence. Pedicino sold off the GWF to a man named Grey Pierson, who wasn’t able to run the GWF any more successfully than Pedicino had.
Still, the effort was made to try and salvage something from the once-promising company and continue whatever storylines were left over from the Pedicino days. Sam Houston got suspended and was stripped of the TV Title, Mike Davis ended up beating the Midnight Rider (Houston under a mask) to win the title, then lost of to Manny Villalobos. The title was abandoned in late 1992. As for the Light Heavyweight Title, that was basically dominated by Porteau for the rest of the GWF’s existence, as Porteau went on to hold the title four times through 1994. Gary Young & Steven Dane had the Tag Team Title they had lost to the Tribal Nation returned to them on a technicality, but were again defeated days later, this time by the Ebony Experience. The Ebony Experience held the title three times, and Stevie Ray also held the North American Title for several months in early 1993 before losing the title back to Rod Price.
Towards the end of the GWF, several older World Class stars were brought back in in an attempt to revitalize the dying territory. Chris Adams and Iceman King Parsons both came in and had runs with the North American Title, and the Michael Hayes-less Freebirds team of Terry Gordy and Jimmy Garvin held the Tag Team Title, but the writing was on the wall. The Global Wrestling Federation finally closed its doors once and for all in September of 1994.
It’s a shame that a company that showed so much promise and early momentum and even had a TV deal with ESPN fell by the wayside so quickly, but the fact is that the GWF’s legacy is forever cemented just because of the wrestlers whose careers it helped get off the ground. You can draw a lot of comparisons between the GWF and ECW, and one of the similarities is that both companies were platforms from which young wrestlers developed before moving on to national stardom, and also a place where veteran wrestlers who were past their time in the national spotlight came to prove they still had something in the tank. The Patriot, Sean Waltman, Jerry Lynn, Stevie Ray & Booker T, Raven, Mick Foley, and Marcus Bagwell all passed through and not all of them became major players in the GWF, but it was a platform for exposure they would not have otherwise gotten. At the same time, veterans like Wild Bill Irwin, Gary Young, John Tatum, Gary Hart, and Johnny Mantell had a place to make a mark in the twilight of their careers. For the fans watching, it was a great ride with hot feuds and one of the last places you’d find solid, old school wrestling.
Unfortunately, it was not a company that had the ability to sustain itself because, in much the same way as a lot of ECW fans lived and died by that company, there was a time when the Dallas fans were equally devoted to World Class, but that rabid fanbase had largely died off by the time the GWF had come around. Also like ECW, money problems and an inability to pay the wrestlers led to the end of the company. The example of the GWF is a strong lesson to learn because, for all the hype and expectations, the GWF barely made it three years before going under, and is a stark example of why people are skeptical when companies like H2Wrestling and the WWP pop up and talk about how they are going to open up shop and immediately become major players.
It’s time to take a trip down to the great state of Texas, Dallas specifically, as we look back at the short-lived, yet infamous Global Wrestling Federation. While the GWF was a mere blip on the radar in terms of longevity, lasting only about three years, its roster has since become a who’s who of wrestlers who were just starting their careers, but would go on to great success in the late 90s and beyond. Let’s start with a bit of the background that led up to the formation of the company.
For many years, the Dallas territory was controlled by Fritz Von Erich, the owner of World Class Championship Wrestling. WCCW was an important member of the National Wrestling Alliance for a long time, including a sting by Fritz as President of the NWA, but they decided to break away in 1986 and they managed fairly well on their own for several years, but eventually a variety of problems (mainly a large drop in attendance) caused Fritz to sell World Class to Jerry Lawler and Jerry Jarrett, the owners of the Memphis-based CWA. Lawler and Jarrett merged the two companies together to form the USWA, with the Memphis and Dallas branches mostly promoted independently of one another. However, Jarrett and Lawler couldn’t build the Dallas territory back up to their satisfaction and the USWA pulled out of there as well, instead choosing to promote exclusively in the Memphis area.
With what had been a major territory now laying unoccupied by any promoter, former NWA announcer Joe Pedicino and former USWA Commissioner Max Andrews stepped in, taking over the territory and setting up shop in June of 1991 in the Dallas Sportatorium, which they renamed the Globaldome. The GWF falsely claimed to be a worldwide wrestling organization that had only recently decided to start promoting in the United States (strangely enough for a worldwide company, they decided to only run in Dallas). However, the talent they brought in for the first few months was a pretty good talent base to launch a promotion with. During the course of the summer of 1991, the GWF held tournaments to fill all of their titles, and these tournaments featured nationally recognized names such as Terry Gordy, Stan Lane (along with Jim Cornette), Bad News Brown, Austin Idol, Big Bully Busick, Adrian Street, Al Perez, and Axis the Demolisher (formerly Ax of Demolition in the WWF).
None of these national stars would win any of the titles in these tournaments, as the GWF chose instead to use the titles to push new, young talent. The Light Heavyweight Title was won by the Lightning Kid, a 19-year old prodigy out of Minnesota who would go on to great fame in both the WWF and WCW under such names as the 123 Kid, Syxx, and X-Pac. The Tag Team Title was won by Chris Walker and longtime Dallas mainstay Steve Simpson. Both the TV and North American Title tournaments were won by the Patriot, a future WCW World Tag Team Champion and top contender to the WWF World Title. After his impressive performance in both tournaments, it was obvious that this was the man around whom the GWF would build their promotion in its infancy.
The Patriot, a powerfully built, flag-waving, All-American hero was a solid enough choice to headline the company at a time when American pride was riding high following the Gulf War of 1991, but his title victories were not without controversy. He had defeated Al Perez in the finals of the North American tournament, but Perez’s foot was on the ropes as the deciding fall was counted. The honorable Patriot decided that he couldn’t accept a title victory in such a manner, and handed the North American Title back to GWF officials and offered Perez a rematch in the spirit of fair play. Patriot and Perez met again soon after in a rematch, and Perez was in control of the match when Eddie Gilbert, interfering on Perez’s behalf, accidentally cost Perez the match. This time Patriot accepted the victory and the North American Title, having apparently not seen the replay of Gilbert’s interference backfiring.
Now with Perez behind him, Patriot had other things looming on the horizon. For one, he was now both the North American and TV Champion, and was told by GWF officials that he couldn’t hold both titles, so he gave up the TV Title to concentrate on being the #1 titleholder in the GWF. Things wouldn’t get any easier for the man in red, white, and blue because as soon after he gave up the TV Title, a man appeared in a black body suit and mask with red stars and calling himself the Dark Patriot. The Dark Patriot claimed that he had come to Global not only for the North American Title, but also the Patriot’s very soul.
The appearance of the Dark Patriot consumed the Patriot, and it seemed he could not escape the specter of his evil counterpart. Indeed, during the third fall of a 2 out of 3 falls title defense against Scott Anthony, Anthony suddenly attacked the referee and then he and the Dark Patriot attacked the Patriot, culminating with the Dark Patriot spraying something in Patriot’s eyes and temporarily blinding him.
After several weeks, the Patriot had recovered enough to get back in the ring, and he ended up having to put up his North American Title just for an opportunity to get the Dark Patriot in the ring. The Patriot was in control of the match when commentator Bruce Prichard (whom you might remember as Brother Love in the WWF and had up to this point been playing a neutral announcer on TV) suddenly went nuts, launching an expletive-laced diatribe against the GWF and fellow announcer Craig Johnson. Prichard then went down to the ring and, as the referee lay unconscious from an errant blow, hit the Patriot with the North American Title belt, allowing the Dark Patriot to score the three count and win the North American Title.
To the dismay of the Dallas crowd, the Dark Patriot had won. The Patriot left the GWF following the loss, and would never return. The fans awaited the emergence of a hero who could take back the North American Title from the hated Dark Patriot.
Chaz, a popular young rookie from Los Angeles, did very well in the inaugural Light Heavyweight Title Tournament. Although he didn’t win the tournament, his performance was good enough to earn him a title shot several weeks later. He defeated the Lightning Kid for the LHW Title, but lost it back two days later. While he remained in contention for the LHW Title, he was also part of a popular tag team with Terry Garvin, with the pair splitting matches with Mike and Tom Davis, otherwise known as the Dirty Davis Brothers. They had a third match to settle the series, but the Davis Bros were not interested in winning matches this time around. As they beat down Garvin and taped him to the ropes, the Lightning Kid came down to the ring and handed wads of cash to the Davis Brothers. The Lightning Kid laughed as his hired goons viciously attacked Chaz’s knee in an attempt to put him on the shelf for good and ruin any chance of him ever challenging the Kid for his title again. As Mike and Tom attempted to cripple Chaz, Tug Taylor, a 300 pound Texas mainstay came down to the ring and, after accepting a wad of cash from the Kid, went up to the top rope, presumably to come down Chaz’s knee and put him out of commission once and for all. Instead, Tug delivered a double clothesline to the Davis Brothers, sending all three of the evil conspirators packing.
In an interview soon after, the previously heel Taylor admitted that Chaz was in fact his son, and that he had been keeping an eye on him since he entered the GWF to make sure nobody messed with him. Although he was happy to step back and let Chaz handle his own matters, the time had come when his son had needed him, and he came out to help the younger Taylor in his time of need. Tug Taylor and Terry Garvin teamed up while Chaz was on the shelf, and had several matches against the Davis Brothers, but none conclusively ended the feud. Finally, it was decided that a cage match was needed to settle the score. The Lightning Kid attempted to distract Tug and Garvin by attacking Chaz outside the cage, but Tug and Garvin pulled out the win regardless.
The Davis Bros might have thought that they were done with the Taylor family, but they were mistaken. Tom Davis was set to meet an unknown masked wrestler shortly after the cage match, when the wrestler unmasked and revealed himself to be Chaz, who had finally recovered from the knee injury they had inflicted upon him. Chaz cleaned house on both Mike and Tom and sent them scurrying to the back, but it wasn’t enough for a man who had spent weeks on the shelf because of a vicious, premeditated attempt to end his career. It was clear that the GWF was not big enough for all these men, and someone was going to have to go. Chaz decided that since the Davis Brothers had tried to end his career, he was going to do the same to one of them, and met Mike Davis in a match where whoever won would get to pick somebody from the other family to be banished from the GWF forever. Despite threats by Mike that he was going to send Chaz’s father packing, Chaz won the match and chose Mike’s brother Tom to leave the GWF.
With Tom Davis banished, Mike decided that he didn’t want to face Garvin and the Taylors by himself, and also left shortly thereafter. As for the guy who instigated the whole thing, the Lightning Kid, he was not long for the GWF either. After months of instigating trouble everywhere he went, he lost the LHW Title in a 2 out of 3 falls match to the man he had scored a tainted victory over in the initial tournament finals, Jerry Lynn, and left the GWF as well.
In a territory that had long been terrorized by a legendary heel faction known as Devastation, Inc, it was only natural that any company that ran Dallas needed a major heel faction to keep the babyfaces on their toes, and the first heel faction to try and step up and claim that mantle was the Cartel. Led by the mysterious Boss, who nobody outside the Cartel knew the identity of, the group consisted of Mahkan Singh (the former Norman and future Bastion Booger), “The Hustler” Rip Rogers, a young Cactus Jack, and “The Palm Beach Heartthrob” Scott Anthony, who would later be known as Johnny Polo and, still later, Raven. They did well in the tournaments, including all four members making the three-team finals of the Tag Team Tournament.
However, the tournaments would more or less be the end of the Cartel as a group, as only Scott Anthony hung around after the summer of 1991. However, The Boss was still in the picture, and Anthony would speak of him constantly. Now that he was on his own, Anthony’s first target was the Handsome Stranger, a well-built young man with a Lone Ranger mask who was a favorite of the female fans in the audience, whom he would give roses to on his way to the ring for his matches. Scott Anthony, disgusted with his classy demeanor and popularity with the ladies, set his sights on the masked man from Monte Carlo almost as soon as he debuted. Anthony made his first strike by dressing as a woman and hiding in the crowd at the Globaldome, launching a surprise attack on the Stranger as he made his way to the ring for a match and leaving laying in a heap.
The next conflict between the two came at the second TV Title Tournament that was held to fill the vacancy created when The Patriot gave up the title. At the beginning of the night, Joe Pedicino and Commissioner Max Andrews drew the six names that would be entered in the tournament, and the Handsome Stranger was among them. Not among them was Scott Anthony, but Anthony came out and asked “Max” (whom he appeared to be on a first name basis with) to enter him in the tournament since he had beaten up the Stranger and apparently chased him out of town and straight to WCW where he began wrestling under his real name, Marcus Alexander Bagwell. To the shock of Pedicino, Andrews agreed and Anthony was entered into the tournament.
It was not to be, because as Anthony made his way to the ring for his opening round match, the Handsome Stranger made his return, chasing off Scott Anthony and taking his rightful place in the tournament. The Stranger made his way to the finals of the tournament, finding himself up against Eddie Gilbert. Although the Handsome Stranger dominated the match and appeared close to putting Gilbert away, the referee got knocked out and was unable to count the Stranger’s pin on Gilbert. The match continued, and when both Gilbert and the Stranger wound up unconscious after a double knockout and Anthony jumped at the opportunity to even the score with the Stranger, climbing into the ring and planting knucks in the Stranger’s tights. The referee finally revived, and found the knucks on the Stranger. Seeing Gilbert knocked out, the referee had no choice but to disqualify the Handsome Stranger and award the vacant TV Title to Eddie Gilbert.
The Handsome Stranger left the GWF following the tournament (heading to WCW, where he would gain fame under his real name of Marcus Bagwell), but Anthony’s celebration would be short lived. Shortly after the tournament, Joe Pedicino came out to the interview set with a tape recorder and interrupted an interview with Anthony, claiming that he had learned who the Boss was. The next week, he played the tape and revealed The Boss to be none other than GWF Commissioner Max Andrews. It all made sense now, as Anthony had been referring to him as “Max” and alluding to some sort of personal relationship the two shared.
Although Max Andrews would eventually retain his position as commissioner, saying that he had gone undercover in the Cartel to cut the legs out from under them before they had a chance to get off the ground, Scott Anthony stuck around and continued to cause havoc in the GWF. Worse, now he had a very valuable ally in TV Champion Eddie Gilbert, and time would tell what sort of trouble the pair would cause.
Skandar Akbar, who had spent many years terrorizing the Dallas territory as the head of Devastation, Inc, returned to the scene in late 1991. Instead of reforming Devastation, Inc, he instead simply took a seat at ringside during a tag match pitting Gary Young and Jeff Gaylord against John Tatum and Rod Price, all former charges of his. He soon made his allegiance known when he interfered and helped Tatum and Price beat Young and Gaylord. Young did not appreciate his former manager’s treachery, and went to war with the Coast To Coast Connection, as Tatum and Price now called themselves. Young painted a target on himself when he accidentally injured Price’s knee in a subsequent singles match, and in an attempt to get revenge, Price, Tatum, and Sweet Daddy Falcone (who had later joined the Connection) attacked Young during a match against Wild Bill Irwin. Tatum and Falcone beat Young down and held him for Irwin, expecting that he would help his fellow heels in the attack. Instead, Irwin turned his bullwhip against the Connection and ran them off.
Irwin would continue to be a thorn in the Connection’s side in the coming weeks, and the Connection attempted to put Irwin out of commission (since that’s what heel groups do in Texas), but Irwin had put together a group of his own with Black Bart and Rattlesnake Raitz, and they came to be known as the Wild Bunch. Now that the numbers were a little more even, Irwin was determined to take out the Coast To Coast Connection, and the two sides battled constantly. A six man tag was signed to settle things, but that match ended in a double disqualification when the referee lost control of the match. Nothing had been settled, and the two groups would continue to interfere in each other’s matches and get into big brawls seemingly every time they were in the same building. In another attempt to settle the feud, a Russian Roulette series of singles matches were signed, with $10,000 going to the winning side. Irwin beat Falcone to take the Wild Bunch ahead 1-0, but then Tatum beat the Rattlesnake and Price scored a cheap countout win over Black Bart due to the interference of Akbar to win the series. But winning the series wasn’t enough for the Connection. They dragged Bart back in the ring, beat him down, and shaved his beard off, an act that is acceptable in Texas state courts as legitimate grounds for death.
This was too much of an indignity for the Wild Bunch, and they challenged the Connection to a 2 out of 3 falls six man match, and they’d put up another $10,000 against the money the Connection had just won, winner take all. The Wild Bunch won the match and got all the money, seemingly ending the conflict between the two groups. However, the Wild Bunch were drawn back by the promise of championship gold, as Tatum and Price had defeated Steve Simpson 2-on-1 for the Tag Team Title when Simpson’s partner Chris Walker no-showed. Irwin and Bart got the title match and, despite gratuitous cheating on the Connection’s part, the Wild Bunch defeated them for the GWF Tag Team Title to close out the year. The Connection had been defeated by the Wild Bunch, but would soon regroup and come back to try and regain their lost title.
As we saw earlier, “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert came to the GWF and almost immediately made a nuisance of himself, getting involved in the rematch between the Patriot and Al Perez for the North American Title and accidentally costing Perez the match. Because the Patriot retained the North American Title, he had to give up the TV Title because the GWF would not allow him to hold both titles simultaneously. Ironically (or perhaps by design), Gilbert would benefit from this situation by winning the tournament for the now vacant TV Title, albeit due to interference from Scott Anthony.
Regardless of his methods, Eddie Gilbert was now the GWF Television Champion, and in one of his first matches after winning the TV Title, he faced Terry Garvin in a non-title match. Garvin, fresh off helping the Taylors win their feud against the Davis Brothers, pinned Gilbert cleanly in under five minutes. Gilbert was in shock at the loss, and would now be forced to face Garvin in a title match, but he was able to escape the second match with his title intact when he used brass knucks to knock Garvin out.
Garvin was given another shot at the title and this time not only the referee, but also three fans would search Gilbert for any weapons he had brought to the ring with him. Each of them found a foreign object on Gilbert, and the now seemingly unarmed Gilbert was sent into the ring to defend the title against Garvin. However, Rule #7 of the Official Texas Wrestling Laws Of Physics states that no matter the situation, the heel always has a weapon stashed somewhere, so of course Gilbert still had one trick up his sleeve. As Garvin again seemed ready to take the TV Title from Gilbert, Gilbert threw a fireball at Garvin and rolled him up to again retain the TV Title.
Yet another match was signed between Gilbert and Garvin, this time with the stipulation that there would be no disqualifications or countouts, so instead this one ended in a countout. The issue between Gilbert and Garvin was far from settled: Garvin had proven that he could beat Gilbert, but was unable to do so with the title on the line. Gilbert had made it through the end of the year with the TV Title around his waist, but he would face Garvin again in 1992, and it remained to be seen whether he’d be able to hang onto the title much longer.
The GWF had had a terrific first year with lots of great storylines and angles, hot feuds, and good matches. But would they be able to keep the momentum going in 1992? As with the end of any year, the events that closed out 1991 would bring other new questions.
The Dark Patriot had succeeded in running the Patriot out of the GWF forever, and was now the reigning North American Champion. Would anybody be able to unseat him in the new year? Speaking of champions, Eddie Gilbert had weaseled his way into the TV Championship, and was willing to do anything to sneak out every night with the title still around his waist. Although he had been able to hold off the challenges of Terry Garvin, would his luck run out in 1992?
The father and son team of Chaz & Tug Taylor had won the family feud against Mike & Tom Davis and driven them from the GWF. What was next for the Taylors? Would Chaz attempt to regain the Light Heavyweight Title from new champion Jerry Lynn? Or perhaps he and his father would challenge GWF Tag Team Champions the Wild Bunch? Or would the Wild Bunch first be faced with another challenge from the Coast To Coast Connection?
I’ll be back on Friday as we answer all these questions and more, as we look back at the GWF in 1992!
When we left off yesterday, Brock Lesnar had defeated Kurt Angle to regain the WWE Title after nearly killing himself trying a shooting star press. Angle had to go on the shelf after Wrestlemania to get surgery on his neck, and would therefore be unavailable to face Lesnar in a rematch for the time being. In the meantime, Lesnar occupied his PPVs with title defenses against other qualified opponents.
Lesnar’s first challenger after Wrestlemania 19 was a man he would have a very high profile match against nearly a decade later, John Cena. Cena was on his way up, but wasn’t close to where he would be a few years later. Though Cena created a new finishing move called the FU to play off of Lesnar’s F5, Lesnar came out on top.
The next month at Judgment Day, Lesnar found himself back in the ring with the Big Show, in a Stretcher Match, with the WWE Title again on the line. The big question in this one wasn’t whether Lesnar could beat Big Show, but whether he’d be able to get Big Show onto a stretcher and wheel him across the line to score the win. Lesnar showed surprising resourcefulness by using a forklift to pick up an unconscious Big Show and dump him onto the stretcher, after which he was easily able to push him over the line to victory.
Kurt Angle returned to the ring a few weeks later, and Smackdown GM Stephanie McMahon decided that the best way to make a bang with the first Smackdown-only PPV, Vengeance 2003, was to headline it with a Triple Threat Match for the WWE Title, featuring the three men who had dominated the title picture for the last year: Brock Lesnar, Big Show, and Kurt Angle. Angle hit both men with Angle Slams and then pinned Lesnar to regain the WWE Title, proving that his time wasn’t over and that he could beat Brock.
Unfortunately for Angle, Brock didn’t see it that way, and the loss made him snap and resort to the vicious tactics he used to eliminate the competition on his way up the ladder. After one incident where Lesnar used an F5 into the ringpost to destroy the one remaining knee of Zach Gowen, Lesnar rolled into Summerslam to face Angle for the title. Even though Lesnar came in armed with a new vicious streak in addition to his already overwhelming skills, Angle became the first man to make Lesnar tap out when he put him in the anklelock and Lesnar was unable to make it to the ropes.
Lesnar and Angle had each beaten the other in a singles match for the WWE Title, so it was decided that the only way to settle the feud was in a one hour Ironman Match on an episode of Smackdown in September of 2003. Lesnar again showed an ability to think outside the box by hitting Angle with a chair to give up a fall by DQ, but that left Angle in bad enough shape that Lesnar was able to score a couple of easy pinfalls in a row. Lesnar’s strategy put him several falls ahead of Angle, so even though Angle was able to score some falls of his own as they approached the time limit, he wasn’t able to make up the difference and Lesnar walked out a three-time WWE Champion.
Lesnar’s amazing rise to the top and dominance of the competition closely mirrored that of Bill Goldberg, who had come to WCW in 1997 and remained undefeated for over a year, winning the WCW World Title after only ten months in the business. As it happens, Goldberg came to WWE the night after Wrestlemania 19 and won the World Title from Triple H only days after Lesnar reclaimed the WWE Title from Angle. They started bumping into each other backstage in much the same way Lesnar and Angle did the year before, and with the two top titles in the company around the waists of two of the most dominant forces of the previous decade, it was immediately obvious what they would both be doing at Wrestlemania.
That was still several months away, however, and both men had a long way to go if they wanted to hold onto their titles until then. Lesnar defeated the Undertaker in yet a third PPV main event at No Mercy, this time in a chain match, but Survivor Series 2003 saw Lesnar tap out to Chris Benoit in the elimination match that opened the show. Goldberg, on the other hand, won the main event of Survivor Series by beating Triple H to retain his title. Goldberg came out looking better that night, but his celebration would turn out to be short lived, as he lost the title back to Triple H at the following month’s PPV.
Lesnar made sure to rub it in Goldberg’s face when he saw him at the Royal Rumble, and gloated about still having the WWE Title around his waist while Goldberg had nothing. Goldberg had a few choice words for Lesnar, but wound up eating them when Lesnar came out during the Royal Rumble and gave Goldberg an F5, causing him to be eliminated and miss the chance to earn another title shot.
Goldberg decided to return the favor and bought a front row ticket to watch Lesnar defend the WWE Title against Eddy Guerrero in the main event of No Way Out 2004. Just as Lesnar appeared to have Guerrero’s number after a referee bump, Goldberg jumped the rail and speared Lesnar, setting him up for Guerrero to hit the frogsplash and pin Lesnar to win the title. Now Goldberg was the one laughing, and Lesnar wanted to tear him apart and get revenge.
The match we all knew was coming was signed for Wrestlemania 20, and just to add a little more star power to the mix, Stone Cold Steve Ausitn was announced as the special referee for the match. It was well known by this point that Goldberg had signed a one year deal and would be leaving after Wrestlemania 20, so all signs pointed to Lesnar beating Goldberg and going on to a successful WWE career as Goldberg faded into obscurity.
Then a funny thing happened: PWInsider.com reported that Brock Lesnar had given WWE his notice and would be leaving the company following Wrestlemania 20 as well to try and get into the NFL instead. Though Brock was well known as a prima donna with a crappy backstage attitude, the idea that he was quitting after the push he had gotten and the plans WWE obviously had for him was something a lot of people found difficult to grasp. Regardless, it was 100% true and that certain Wrestlemania win now seemed a lot less likely than it did the day before the news of Lesnar’s departure broke.
Wrestlemania 20 became one of the most surreal scenes I can remember, because while WWE fans who knew the backstage happenings hadn’t ever really accepted Goldberg and weren’t heartbroken to see him go, they now turned on both men and showered them with “na na na na, hey hey, goodbye” chants when they came out for their match. By contrast, Steve Austin got the best reaction out of the three of them even though he was only supposed to be the referee. Both men looked less motivated than they ever had in their careers, and while the fans verbally tore both men to pieces, they went through the motions and did as little as possible until Goldberg kicked out of the F5, then hit the spear and Jackhammer for the win.
Lesnar got in Austin’s face after the match, then flipped off the booing fans who were basically telling him not to let the door hit him in the ass on the way out, but Austin brought the fans around with a kick to the gut and a Stunner that sent Lesnar packing for the next eight years. Goldberg came into the ring and shared a beer with Austin, but everyone who had ever watched Austin during his in-ring career knew what was happening next. Sure enough, Goldberg got a kick to the gut and a Stunner as well, and the true top star in WWE celebrated with a beer bash while the two failed heroes disappeared from the company.
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Lesnar’s first run in WWE a decade ago was interesting enough that you could have made a movie out of it, and despite the way he left, the impact he had on the company during his two years there was unquestionable. He had blown through every top star the company had, and had proven himself to be a top notch worker and a hell of a promo to boot. As much as it sucked to see someone burn WWE the way he had (especially given the effect we now know that decision has had on the way WWE treated up-and-coming wrestlers in the years to follow), it also felt like a huge loss to see somebody as talented as Lesnar voluntarily walk away. Even though he eventually came back as many suspected he would, it’s hard not to think about all the great matches and angles we missed out on over the last eight years, and think about how different WWE might be today if he had stuck around.
With Brock Lesnar making such a huge impact since returning to WWE the night after Wrestlemania, it’s easy to forget just how long he had been gone. His last match was at Wrestlemania 20 in 2004, and it was eight years before he showed his face in WWE again, so a lot of current fans may not have been watching or even been born yet when he left. With that in mind, I thought it’d be a good time to take a walk down memory lane and help the uninitiated fill the blanks in on Brock’s first run in WWE.
After winning the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship in 2000, Lesnar was recruited right out of college by WWE (then the WWF) and signed to a developmental deal. By all accounts, Lesnar was extremely gifted and likely to make an impact whenever he was eventually called up to the main roster. He did just that, running in and attacking Rikishi on an episode of Raw in March of 2002, hoisting the 400-pounder up on his shoulders to deliver what would come to be known as the F5.
Lesnar was off like a shot from there, and with his manager/agent Paul Heyman at his side, he started tearing through everyone thrown in his path. After easily annihilating both Hardy Boyz by himself, Lesnar defeated Rob Van Dam in the finals of King of the Ring 2002 (which happened to be the last PPV version of the tournament) and set his sights on winning the WWE Title. After scoring one-sided victories over both Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan, Lesnar signed to challenge the Rock for the WWE Title at Summerslam 2002. This match became infamous not only for being Lesnar’s first title win, but also for a strange scene in which the Rock (who was supposed to be the babyface) was loudly rejected by the fans in favor of Lesnar. The crowd reaction had a visible effect on the Rock, and he eventually wound up on the receiving end of the F5 as Lesnar won the WWE Title for the first time.
In addition to being an undefeated champion who claimed the title a mere four months after his TV debut, Lesnar had also set the record as the youngest WWE Champion in history at 24 years old. Given the huge push he had gotten in just a few short months, there was no doubt that Lesnar was the one whom the company planned to be THE guy going forward.
Lesnar also became the catalyst for the creation of the World Championship when Smackdown GM Stephanie McMahon announced that she had signed Lesnar exclusively to her brand in September of 2002. Raw GM Eric Bischoff responded by declaring that the title was now disputed, and he created a separate World Title that he awarded to Triple H, and the two titles have remained separate for the near-decade since.
Lesnar’s first program after the move to Smackdown was with the Undertaker, who was in the midst of his American Badass biker years. Much like the Hogan, Flair, and Rock matches, the series with the Undertaker was designed to give Lesnar a rub and make him look unbeatable by having him destroy another top star. After going to a double DQ at Unforgiven 2002, they had a rematch in Hell In A Cell the following month at No Mercy. This was Undertaker’s match, he was in the first one and had been in several since, but this didn’t stop Lesnar from obliterating the Undertaker until he was bleeding buckets. Lesnar did more damage to the Undertaker than anyone we had ever seen before, and the F5 that finished the match was almost a formality.
Things start coming unraveled when Lesnar was set to defend the title against the Big Show at Survivor Series 2002 because, with all due respect to Big Show, nobody believed for a second he was going to walk out of that match with the title. His time in WWE had seen him routinely embarrassed and jobbed out to nearly everyone on the roster, and had even been sent down to developmental for months to get his weight and attitude under control at one point. Given the way Lesnar had been plowing through main eventers, there was no reason to believe that Big Show was going to be anything but a flavor-of-the-month challenger for Brock.
However, Lesnar suffered a real, and fairly serious, injury to his ribs wrestling Big Show at a house show, and he was in such bad shape afterward that it was questionable whether he would even be able to wrestle at Survivor Series. Lesnar showed his characteristic toughness by wrestling anyway, and even though the match was only a few minutes long, he still managed to suplex Show all over the place and hit the F5. When he went for the pin, Paul Heyman pulled the referee out of the ring to stop the count, and that gave Big Show the opening he needed. Big Show hit Lesnar with several chairshots and then chokeslammed him onto the chair to hand Lesnar his first loss and claim the WWE Title against all common sense.
I’m not sure the decision to take the title off of Lesnar like that seems any smarter to me now than it did back then, but the idea was that now they would build to Lesnar getting the title back at Wrestlemania. It wouldn’t be from Show, however, because he lost the title at the following month’s PPV to Kurt Angle, aligning us for what looked on paper to be far better than a Show/Lesnar rematch. Both Lesnar and Angle had well documented amateur wrestling careers and were excellent performers to boot, so it was expected that they’d probably cross paths at some point. They had been teasing the match for months by having Lesnar and Angle bump into each other backstage and have tense staredowns, and now it looked like it was going to happen at the biggest show of the year.
Lesnar needed to win the Royal Rumble to get that title shot, but first he would have to beat Big Show earlier on the PPV to even earn a spot in the Rumble match. We didn’t see a repeat of Survivor Series, because Lesnar dusted Big Show in just a few minutes and then went on to win the Royal Rumble and earn his Wrestlemania title shot.
Lesnar vs Angle was now on as the main event of Wrestlemania 19, and while it was an excellent match, it was also infamous for a scary moment where Lesnar tried to do a shooting star press as the finish. It didn’t seem like the kind of move a guy his size should be able to pull off, but he had done it in developmental and it made sense that he’d save it for this match. Unfortunately, he either didn’t position Angle close enough to the corner he was coming off of, or he didn’t get enough rotation, or whatever it was, because he went up in the air and came right down on top of his head and knocked himself out.
Incredibly, Lesnar finished the match and beat Angle as planned, but he didn’t remember anything afterward, and you could see from the look on his face when they handed him the belt that the lights were on, but nobody was home. The doctors checked him out the instant he came backstage, and they said that anybody else would have broken their neck doing that, but Lesnar was so muscular that it actually saved him. He didn’t come away completely unscathed and needed a few weeks off, but amazingly suffered no long-term damage from the incident.
Angle, on the other hand, was suffering from a neck that needed surgery and would not be around to continue the program with Lesnar for another few months. Lesnar would have to find challengers elsewhere, and we’ll pick his story back up tomorrow as he defends his title against a man he would see again nearly a decade later, John Cena.