Steven Regal, Jim Cornette and Abdullah the Butcher at the NWA 50th Anniversary convention
I bought a Northwest Airlines round trip ticket - 87,000 yen (about $730). It took me about 11 hours, 20 minutes from Narita to Detroit, and about 1 hour, 30 minutes from Detroit to Philadelphia. Cherry Hill, New Jersey was located 10 minutes from Philadelphia's historic and business districts. The National Wrestling Alliance held their "50th Anniversary" convention and show in the Cherry Hill Hilton to celebrate all things wrestling.
The Fan Convention (9:00am - 7:00pm) : Tickets were $8 in advance ($10 at door). About 20 merchandise tables were selling everything from T-shirts to memorabilia to wrestling masks to videos. I bought 20 old programs from the '60s-'70s ($180). Lou Thesz, Freddie Blassie and his Japanese wife, Harley Race, Abdullah the Butcher, Tully Blanchard, Jim Cornette, Doug Gilbert, Pit Bulls, Stevie Richards had their tables for autographs and Polaroids. We paid $10 to red haired Missy Hyatt; we could have our photo taken holding her breasts, face-first in her cleavage or holding her behind. She goes to medical school in New York City now, and was rumored to be WWF bound. Sandman and Peaches came by to see their friends.
The 4th Annual Cauliflower Alley Club East Coast Convention Luncheon Banquet (2:00pm) : The CAC is a 30-year-old organization that was founded in California to celebrate wrestling stars for years. The CAC currently boasts about 2,200 members worldwide. The CAC honored the likes of Lou Thesz, "Classy" Freddie Blassie, Killer Kowalski, Danny Hodge, Dory Funk Jr., Harley Race, Abdullah the Butcher, Tully Blanchard and Gordon Solie. Tickets were $55 each.
Masanori with "Classy" Freddie Blassie
[Jim Ross on Freddie Blassie]
"A Rembrandt. He was an artist who had an amazing gift."
["Classy" Freddie Blassie SHOW]
"When you wrestle guys like Lou Thesz, you get old real quick."
"Jim Ross wears that goddamn cowboy hat. He wants everyone to know he's from Oklahoma. BIG DEAL!"
"There's no other organization that has done as much for me as the WWF…A lot of people don't like Vince McMahon Jr., but I could care less."
Dory Funk Jr., Masanori and Harley Race
[Dory Funk Jr. on Harley Race]
"I guess I've got to face him again. He beat me for the world's heavyweight title, and then beat my brother a few years later."
[Harley Race]
"Wrestling has been my LIFE. It's great to be honored by your peers."
Jim Cornette and Masa show off the hottest fashion
[Jim Cornette on Abdullah the Butcher]
"This one may be for mature audiences only."
[Abdullah the Butcher]
"Well, I'm not used to talking, but I can talk."
[Cornette on Butcher]
"Abdullah's House of Ribs and Chinese Food in Atlanta (2387 Fairburn Rd. S.W., 404-629-2332) where none of the forks are plastic !"
Masanori with Tully Blanchard (Once a Horseman, always a Horseman...)
[Cornette on Tully Blanchard]
"The biggest drawing tag team feud of all time (Midnight Express vs. Tully & Arn).
[Tully Blanchard]
"We are rich girls' lovers and poor girls' dreams. You know it's amazing the things you come up with at 10 am in the morning in Atlanta. It was just an honor and a privilege to be a part of professional wrestling in the '80s and '70s."
Abdullah the Butcher, Gordon Solie and Masanori
[Jim Ross on Gordon Solie]
"NO ONE ever really replaced Gordon Solie on TBS. There will only ever be one Dean of professional wrestling."
[Gordon Solie]
"I had a 45 minute acceptance speech, but you're lucky, I've got laryngitis."
Barry Houston, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, Masanori and Ted Hart (grandson of Stu, nephew of Bret and Owen)
NWA 50th Anniversary Show (8:00pm) "The Wrestling Event Of A Life Time". The show was held at the Cherry Hill Hilton 's "Crystal Ballroom". Tickets were from $35 to $20. There were two large crystal chandeliers shining on the ring. The crowd was estimated at 400+. George Napolitano, Bill Apter, and Cage Nakayama (Weekly Pro-Wrestling) were taking pictures for their magazines at ringside.
Howard Brody (President of the NWA) gave a welcome message to the crowd. The show was featuring wrestlers from many of the NWA-affiliated member territories (The NWA currently boasts 25 member promotions). They all came together for this event, and some WWF names were involved, including many of future's stars.
(1) NWA Midwest Tag Team Title Match:
Kevin Quinn & "Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels beat "Devastating" Danny Dominion & Sexy H. Steele with Michael "The L.A. Connection" Star (NWA Midwest) to win the title about 8 minutes. Quinn and Daniels are real brothers, and they have a Japanese mother. Christopher is a good worker.
(2) T.N.T. (NWA Ohio / West Virginia) & Primo Carnera III (NWA Northeast) with his manager (?) beat Patch (PWA) & Lord Zieg (NWA New York) with his valet in about 6 minutes. I like Zieg's valet.
Masanori with Zieg's valet (EDITOR'S NOTE: Between this and the Missy Hyatt photo session, now I REALLY wish I could have been there--Rob)
(3) NWA Canadian Heavyweight Title Match :
Winnipeg's E.Z. Ryder with his valet "Strawberry Fields" (NWA CWF) beat "Bad Intentions" Paul Atlas (NWA Canada East = fiction) to win the title about 5 minutes. NWA CWF promoter Ernie Todd was there. The match was originally scheduled to be a 3-Way Dance between E.Z. Ryder, Mr. Gills (NWA PNW/ECCW), Slater Jeffers (NWA Maple Leaf Wrestling ) or "Iron" Mike Rosselli (NWA PNW/ECCW), but the other 3 all no-showed.
(4) NWA New England Junior Heavyweight Title Match (3-Way Dance) :
Tre with "Boston Bad Boy" Tony Rumble vs. "Super Surfer" Ray Odyssey vs. The Inferno Kid--Count-out at about 13 minutes, and Tre retained the title.
WWF Funking Dojo Battle Royal
(5) WWF Funking Dojo 14-man Over The Top Battle Royal :
This battle royal featured current and future stars of the WWF courtesy of the WWF Funking Dojo training facility. "Coach" Dory Funk Jr. was observing his students in action from ringside. "Dr. Death" Steve Williams won in about 14 minutes. The participants, in order of first eliminated to the winner, were : Devon Storm, Steve Corino, Giant Silva, Christopher Daniels, Barry Houston (Black Hearts Agony), Babu (Crowd loved him), Ted Hart (a grandson of Stu Hart, and he took an amazing bump), Shawn Stasiak (Stan's son), Glenn Kulka (former Canadian Football League player), Canadian Andrew Martin, Kurt Angle (1996 U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist), Dr. Tom Prichard, Tiger Ali Singh, and Steve Williams. After the battle royal, Dr. Tom attacked me and tried to get my Dory Funk Jr. jacket. He is still a very good wrestler.
(6) Abdullah the Butcher with Tony Rumble beat up T-Rantula and Black Widow (NWA East / PWX) and a ring announcer in about 8 minutes. Harley Race came out to make the save. T-Rantula was from Dom DeNucci's wrestling school like Cactus Jack, Shane Douglas, and Dr. Mark Curtis.
The ring announcer announced the presence of Killer Kowalski, Danny Hodge, Harley Race and the WWF's Jim Ross.
(7) NWA North American Tag Team Title Match :
WWF's Headbangers (Mosh & Thrasher) with "Bobcat" beat the Tennessee Volunteerz (Reno Riggins & Steve Dunn) (NWA Music City) with James E. Cornette via disqualification in about 8 minutes.
(8) NWA2000 AWC Tag Team Title Match :
Ace Darling & Devon Storm beat The Misfits (Harley Lewis & Twiggy Ramirez & Madonna Wayne Gacy) to win the title in about 9 minutes. The Misfits will be a good tag team for Japan.
(9) NWA World Tag Team Title Match (Four Corners Match) :
11:00 Team Extreme (Kit Carson & Khris Germany) (NWA Southwest) out
15:00 Tully Blanchard & Dr. Tom Prichard out
17:00 The Border Patrol with Ronnie P. Gossett, Jr. (NWA All-Star) out
The Brotherhood ("Suicide" Erich Sbraccia & Knuckles Nelson) with Tony Rumble (NWA New England) won the title. Tully was supposed to team with Barry Windham, but Windham no-showed.
I met NWA All-Star promoter Greg Price. He is a nice man and close friends with Rob Van Dam.
Lou Thesz and Killer Kowalski were introduced and came into the ring. A ring announcer once again announced the presence of Lou Thesz, Freddie Blassie, Killer Kowalski, Danny Hodge, Harley Race, and Gordon Solie.
(10) NWA World Heavyweight Title Match :
Dan "The Beast" Severn (WWF) with Dory Funk Jr. made "The Real Man's Man" Steven Regal (WWF) submit in an old-style scientific match in about 26 minutes. Regal had his ring shoes on the wrong feet. After 10 months off, the former "Lord" and "Blue Blood" finally started up with the WWF as a "Real Man's Man".
(11) Rage in the Cage (NWA vs. Hot Stuff International) :
Doug Gilbert, Lance Diamond, Steve Corino, and Rik Ratchett with Dennis Coralluzzo beat Stevie Richards, The Pit Bulls, and a masked man (?) with Missy Hyatt (The former wife of Hot Stuff Eddie Gilbert managed the H.S.I against a team head by Eddie's brother, Doug) in about 10 minutes.
Doug Gilbert and Jim Cornette
I had an opportunity to travel with Doug from Philadelphia to Detroit the next day, and he told me old stories. He is a "son of wrestling". He had already done an angle with his father Tommy against Scandor Akbar and Ed Wiskowski (Colonel DeBeers) for Leroy McGuirk in Tulsa, OK, when he was 10 years old in '80.
Get Well messages were collected for Dr. Mark Curtis (Brian Hildebrand).
The NWA is trying to do similar conventions, likely in different areas of the USA and Canada in the future (Maybe Charlotte, NC next year).
[Special Thanks to:] Mr. George Mayfield, Mr. Bob Magee, and Ms. Cathy Fitzpatrick; also Mr. Dory & Mrs. Marti Funk , Mr. Abdullah the Butcher, and Mr. Doug Gilbert.
The new NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt
(EDITOR'S NOTE: For information on the Cauliflower Alley Club, visit their webpage on Scott Teal's Whatever Happened To... website.)
You may contact Masanori at masa_h@mail.goo.ne.jp
Visit the American Pro Wrestling Message Board (Japanese language only)
http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~dnak/
Return to past articles by Masanori
The Way It Was | View From The Rising Sun | The Way I See It
SMW Tribute | WCW/WWF Satire | Rob's Photos
Wrestling Links | Sign Guestbook | View Guestbook
E-mail messages are ALWAYS welcome at smokyrobmoore@bigfoot.com
Get your own Free Home Page