WWWF Wrestling Action #4

For the fourth issue of WWWF Wrestling Action, tag teams take center stage. The Tag Team Championship struggle between The Valiant Brothers (with manager Captain Lou Albano) and the fan favorite team of Larry Zbyszko and Tony Garea is artistically depicted. The white and yellow "burst" behind the wrestlers really makes this cover pop, as does the large tag team belt that corrals the teams. I can still recall the joy on Albano's face when he was signing this issue and holding it up for other wrestlers seated nearby to see. In addition to the featured stars, I had referee Dick Woehrle sign the cover and Greg Valentine autograph an interior shot.

Starting out, we learn that the previous issue had completely sold out. Back issues of #1 and #2 were still available at just $2.50 a copy. Again, I will gladly take a dozen of each. Arnold Skaaland gets the "As I See It!" column and the features kick off with a look at a man completely missing from issue #3, Bruno Sammartino. The Living Legend had returned--with his infamous afro. The cover story follows, featuring Zbyszko (grossly misspelled "Zybscko") and Garea on their championship win against the Yukon Lumberjacks and new struggle with Jimmy and Johnny Valiant.

Hisashi Shinma becoming the new World Wide Wrestling Federation president and a bit on Ivan Putski precede a story on The Grand Wizard leading Greg Valentine to the WWWF Championship. Valentine was always one of Bob Backlund's quality challengers. Had Backlund needed to drop the title even briefly at some point during his long-planned run, Valentine would have been a great option as champion, even temporarily.

Next up is a great shot and brief story on WWE Hall of Famer Tatsumi Fujinami. At the time, Fujinami was the WWWF Junior Heavyweight Champion. That title and belt is one of the least remembered championships in the history of the company, largely being contested outside of the United States for the majority of its run. Fans of 1990's Japanese wrestling will remember the belt being given to the winner of the 1994 Super J Cup tournament. The belt even featured into advertising for the event.

In the centerfold we have the "passing of the torch" that the WWWF so desperately wanted at the time, a handshake meeting between Bruno Sammartino and Bob Backlund. While Backlund undoubtedly carved out his own legacy in wrestling and as WWWF Champion, he never filled the boots of "The Living Legend." Looking back in hindsight, both men stand side by side for their contributions to the WWWF and the industry itself just as they do pictured here.

High Chief Peter Maivia makes his return to Wrestling Action, this time
in a very different position than back in the debut issue. Maivia is now a rule breaker managed by Fred Blassie. The High Chief is shown, donning his villainous mustache, squeezing the life out of foes such as Bob Backlund and Chief Jay Strongbow. Heels also dominate the next few pages when Albano and The Valiant Brothers receive their own article touting their recent WWWF return.

It's here that we see photos that were used as inspiration for the drawings on the cover. Zbyszko and Garea's cover poses can also be found as photos inside of this issue. As we've seen by now, virtually all of the cover drawing reference pictures are inside the Wrestling Action issues themselves. Also here is a great shot of Jimmy Valiant perusing the debut issue of Wrestling Action in what looks to be a hotel room. Today's wrestlers return to the hotel to play video games. In the '70s, they retired to their rooms with a copy of Wrestling Action. No alcohol or debauchery whatsoever in either generation.

The fourth issue of Wrestling Action ends with a look at more of the villains of the day. Ernie Ladd gets a two-page spread featuring some great color photos and a vow to finish off Dusty Rhodes, or "The Pillsbury Dough Boy" at he calls him, once and for all. The evil members of the stable of "Hollywood Fashion Plate" Fred Blassie are also shown, including Maivia, Victor Rivera, and Spiros Arion. We finish with a brief look at "Brower Power," the return of classic brawler Dick "The Bulldog" Brower.

You could argue that this issue was the showcase of the heels. Bob Backlund saw his least coverage yet in the Wrestling Action run. Instead the focus was on many of his challengers and their devious plans to wrest the WWWF Championship away from "The All-American Boy." In the fifth and final issue we will see wrestling history right on the cover in several different instances. While Wrestling Action does not escape the 1970's, the issue is going to be all about looking forward to the 1980's. We end the five-part Wrestling Action series next week here on the blog. Don't miss it.

Georgia Championship Wrestling...34 Years Ago To The Day

Often we look back on the events in wrestling's past that will never be forgotten.  The WrestleMania's, the Starrcade's, and Monday Night Raw's that will linger in the back of our minds as long as we're fans.  But what about the forgotten shows?  The shows that, for decades and decades, could be found somewhere in the world on any given night of the week.  No record of these shows may exist aside from a card rundown, results, or sometimes even less, but these are the events that kept the business going.  Before the advent of supercards and pay-per-view, these shows were where the money was made, as were the memories.

One of those very shows took place thirty-four years from the date of the publication of this article.  It was a Georgia Championship Wrestling card in Athens, GA on Thursday night, July 17, 1980.  The cover of the program at the time, the weekly Ringsider (Vol. 80 No. 14, to be exact) featured Ole Anderson in a familiar pose.  The gruff grappler is shown on the set of the Georgia Championship Wrestling television program, making a heated point as he is interviewed by Gordon Solie. 

Inside on the first page we are treated to photos and a listing of the then-current champions.  Harley Race was the (NWA) World Heavyweight Champion, while Ivan Koloff and Alexis Smirnoff held the Georgia Tag Team Championship, Tommy Rich was the National TV Champion, and Austin Idol was the Georgia Heavyweight Champion.  Promoter Paul Jones, a man often confused '60s-'80s star wrestler and manager of the same name, is pictured as is Freddie Miller.  Known for his "Beeeeee There!" catchphrase when promoting local cards on television, Miller was also the editor of The Ringsider.

A separate piece of paper is included with the rundown of the night's card.  Fans in Athens were scheduled to be treated to The Assassins versus Ole & Lars Anderson, Bob Sweetan versus Mike George, Tony Atlas versus Dennis Condrey, and Jay Strongbow versus Eddie Mansfield.  In addition to the classic NWA Wrestling logo, a special greeting is included at the bottom.  It seems that the W.F.I.A. (Wrestling Fans International Association) was in Atlanta with their annual convention at the same time that this show was held.  There is no doubt that many W.F.I.A. members attended this card.  Anyone who wanted to be as "inside" to the wrestling business as you could be at the time was a member of that organization.  Even Juanita "Sapphire" Wright belonged to the club!

Next in the program is a full-page ad where Dusty Rhodes declares that he, indeed, "can tell you about pain."  It seems that "The American Dream" was a spokesperson for Stanback Powders at the time.  Grab a boxtop, $4.95, and this filled-out coupon and you would receive a shirt just like the one that Big Dust is shown wearing.  While the shirts are assuredly long gone, a quick Google search shows that this brand of headache powders does in fact still exist.  If only Dusty's magical fro still existed, too.  Nevertheless, this is a great example of the connection with the fans that "The American Dream" had throughout his career.

The next two pages are full shots of Tommy Rich and Austin Idol, the TV and Georgia Champions, respectively.  Rich was less than a year away from the brief peak of his career when he took the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Harley Race.  Idol would go on to make his mark in several wrestling territories, including Memphis, but never seemed to attain the level of fame and success that his talent deserved.  Looking at both men today, they certainly seem to have lived different lifestyles.  Idol looks almost identical as he did in his wrestling days, while Rich is almost unrecognizable.


Our next page is a recap of some recent tv action.  In this case, it seems that a tag team known as "The Avengers" recently appeared on the Georgia Championship Wrestling scene.  I wonder how many fans knew that these two masked bulks were actually Ole and Lars Anderson.  Apparently they unmasked in a scuffle with Koloff, Smirnoff, and manager Rock Hunter.  I guarantee that Ole's often commanding promos convinced many a fan into buying a ticket to see this feud play out.

On the last inside page, we have a half-page action shot of two men who would go on to much greater fame.  "The Boston Battler" Kevin Sullivan has Tenru in a chinlock.  The young Asian star is better known as "Tenryu" and became a legend in Japan in addition to being a well-known name here in the United States.  The second half of the page is an ad for rentals at Grove Park Apartments.  For just $125 per month, fans of GCW could rent an apartment right on 1401 Bankhead Highway, named for U.S. Senator John H. Bankhead, grandfather of the outrageous actress Tallulah Bankhead.  Apartments are still located at the address, but they no longer bear the same name nor the same low monthly rate.


We end the program with a great shot of "The Big Cat" Ernie Ladd.  Ladd would begin to wrap up his career in the 1980's, and by the middle of the decade was working behind the scenes with the WWF.  So what happened at the matches that night?  Strongbow defeated Mansfield, Atlas defeated Condrey, Sweetan defeated Mike Sharpe, and The Assassins defeated The Anderson's.  Whether or not it was actually Mike Sharpe as listed in the results or Mike George as listed on the card may forever be up in the air.  Both men were active in the territory at the time.  The results were obtained from GeorgiaWrestlingHistory.com, an invaluable tool for any fan of territorial wrestling.

I would imagine that like with many of these shows, a good time was had by all that night.  It was a time when wrestling truly was wrestling.  The stereotype of smoke-filled armories come to life.  Pro wrestling will never be like that again.  It's a different business in a different time.  But shows like these will always be the roots of the modern-day product.  In the end, it's about entering a different world for a couple of hours and letting the in-ring action take over.  That's something that, no matter the era, the industry will always provide.

My Five Favorite Jakks WWE Classic Superstars Figures

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Jakks WWE Classic Superstars line is the greatest wrestling action figure line of all-time.  Was it perfect?  Absolutely not.  There were glaring omissions, errors, and both a rocky beginning and end, but the good far outweighed the bad.  Collectors were treated to product never before thought possible.  When it seemed that the window on figures of so many past superstars had long been slammed shut, Jakks didn't just open it back up, but instead completely shattered it.

I would never expect anyone to believe me, but I actually had an almost completely accurate vision of the line around 1996.  Even in the 1990s, I wanted figures of wrestlers from the past.  The initial Jakks WWF offerings had just began to hit stores and were, sadly, less than spectacular.  One night, while perusing my own figure collection, I envisioned a figure line consisting of all wrestling legends.  The one that I pictured, in dark colored packaging with the figure positioned in the middle, was Nikolai Volkoff with his arms in the air.  Obviously this vision was helped by the original LJN figure of Volkoff, but the Classic Superstars figure that came almost a decade later was pretty darn close.

The Classic Superstars line was predated by two other lines of past stars.  The first was also by Jakks, but earlier in their stint with the WWF license.  This series was limited to just one wave and featured figures of Jimmy Snuka, Fred Blassie, Lou Albano, and Andre the Giant.  The figures had limited articulation and were more like statues, even being packaged as such.  In the late 1990's, Figures Inc. produced a line called "Legends of Professional Wrestling."  These figures were more like toys, featured a wide variety of characters, and were more in scale to the regular Jakks WWF line of the time.  In my opinion this line has been long underrated and will be revisited on this blog in the near future.

In 2004, Jakks began the Classic Superstars line.  With an initially weak lineup filled with mostly stars who had received countless figures in the past, the series gradually began to improve.  In about five odd years, hundreds of figures were produced under the banner, including many stars who, at the time, would have nothing to do with WWE.  Names like Bruno Sammartino and The Ultimate Warrior may be back in the WWE "family" now, but at the time the fact that those stars made deals directly with Jakks to be included in the line was mind-blowing.

In this entry, I present my five favorite figures from the line.  My opinion is no better than that of anyone else, but it is just that, an opinion.  I'm biased, and I present my reasons upfront.  I can still recall collectors being blown away by figures of stars like Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, and Steve Austin in the line.  While they may have been great figures, they didn't excite me as much as others did.  My view of the line was to showcase stars of the distant past, especially those who had never before received an action figure.  Although there is one exception on my list, most of my favorite figures resemble these facts.  Without further ado, in no particular order, here are My Five Favorite Jakks WWE Classic Superstars Figures...

* Goldust

Yes, the bizarre one has had plenty of figures, but this later entry into the Classic Superstars line is in a class by itself.  Originally sold only through an online retailer, the "Shattered Dreams Exclusive" is essential for any collector who favors this line.  The gold packaging of the figure is only the beginning of what makes this figure so appealing.  Goldust is clad in a soft goods robe and is equipped with the gold-strap Intercontinental Championship that he held in 1996.  The head features a facial likeness exclusive to this figure and captures the sneering look of Goldust to a T.  An updated wig accessory that could fit this figure better is just about the only missing ingredient.

* Ernie Ladd

There were plenty of "Kings" in the Classic Superstars line, but this one just might tower over the rest.  "The Big Cat" is presented here in figure form for the one and, thus far, only time.  A groundbreaking superstar in many ways both in and out of the ring, Ladd certainly got star treatment from Jakks.  The likeness of Ladd during his "King" era of the 1970's shines here, and even includes the repeatedly used crown accessory as a nice nod.  The figure is accurately taller than others in the line, making it easy to recreate his legendary feud with Andre the Giant.  Going even a bit further, Jakks made it possible to relive one of the most often seen Mid-South Wrestling main events of all-time: Ladd & The Wild Samoans against Andre, Dusty Rhodes, and the Junkyard Dog.

* Meng

The man known as Haku and Meng had figures under both names in the line, but it's the latter figure that has always counted among my favorites.  Haku was first released as a figure in the final series of the LJN WWF Wrestling Superstars line, but it's an unreleased figure of the man that especially made me appreciate the Meng figure.  When Haku made his return to the WWF in the 2001 Royal Rumble match, Jakks announced that there would be a figure of him in their Stunt Action Superstars line.  The figure ultimately never saw the light of day, but it would've looked similar to this figure since, at the time, Haku was just coming off of his WCW "Meng" run.  The Tongan superstar is one of the toughest to ever enter the squared circle and was always a welcomed addition to any roster that he graced during his storied career.

* Terry Funk

Before Jakks released this figure in the 5th series of the line, it wasn't easy to find a figure of "Middle-Aged & Crazy" Terry Funk.  Funk had both an LJN WWF and Popy Japan figure at that point, but only a Japanese figure released in conjunction with the "Beyond The Mat" movie captured Funk in the look that redefined him in the 1990's.  We would get several more versions of the Funker in later releases of Classic Superstars (including Chainsaw Charlie), but none were quite as cool and iconic as this first release.  Long live the Hardcore Legend!

 * "Outlaw" Ron Bass

Another superstar made his one and only figure appearance in the line, that being "Outlaw" Ron Bass.  This figure always stunned me, as though Bass was a territorial star and also spent some time terrorizing the heroes of 1980's WWF, it was one of the last figures that I ever expected to own.  Once again, an amazing facial likeness is a definite highlight here, and the accessories follow suit.  Even the Outlaw's bullwhip, Miss Betsy, is included for unleashing a wild west whippin' on other figures such as Brutus Beefcake and The Ultimate Warrior.

There's my five.  Do you have a different five?  Maybe you appreciated the '90s stars much more than the territorial greats.  Debates are what make lists like these fun, so let your voice be heard!  If you aren't already following us on Twitter, what are you waiting for?  @JWsWrestlingMem is our handle there, and if you're on Facebook, be sure to "Like" our page and tell us if guys like "The Funker" and "The Bizarre One" made your list!