On June 29th, 1961, the NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion Pat O’Connor stood across the ring from “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers. In front of a raucous Comiskey Park crowd of 38,622 fans, the men wrestled a Two out of Three Falls Match that lasted 21:30 minutes and ended with Rogers picking up the final pinfall, becoming… Continue reading The Meteoric Rise & Stunning Fall Of Fred Kohler’s NWA Chicago Wrestling Empire
Tag: NWA Mid-America
The Death Of Ray Gunkel & How It Catapulted Ox Baker Into Pro Wrestling Infamy
On June 30th, 1972, Ray Gunkel climbed into the Municipal Auditorium ring in Atlanta, Georgia to wrestle Ox Baker for the NWA Brass Knuckles Championship. He supposedly wasn’t even meant to be in the match. Four days prior, Baker had won the title from Beppo Mongol (who would go on to greater fame as Nikolai… Continue reading The Death Of Ray Gunkel & How It Catapulted Ox Baker Into Pro Wrestling Infamy
Pomp And Circumstance: The Brilliance Of Gorgeous George
I was 11 years old in 1988. I’d become a bit too much for my mom to deal with, so she shipped me off to live with my dad for awhile. By that time, I was already knee deep in my wrestling fandom and was a regular TV viewer of WWF, NWA, AWA and WCCW.… Continue reading Pomp And Circumstance: The Brilliance Of Gorgeous George
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