- Steve Speed

Hello Global Wrestling Federation fans! I'm Steven L. Speed. In this month's installment, I’ll be talking about the tag team Coast to Coast Connection and Gen. Skandor Akbar.

In the 1980’s, a flamboyant wrestler came on the scene known as "Hollywood" John Tatum winning the WCCW TV title. He was also recognizable because of his valets (one of them, Missy Hyatt, would eventually leave Tatum for "Hotstuff" Eddie Gilbert in Mid South). Tatum would soon gain recognition as a tag team wrestler with partner Jack Victory winning the UWF World tag team titles. Tatum and Victory soon traveled to Texas and would have a back and forth feud over the WCCW Texas and Wild West Wrestling tag team titles against Steve and Shaun Simpson. Tatum would later gain success as a singles champion in winning the Southern title with the help of another valet named Tessa.

In 1991, "California Stud" Rod Price won the short-lived TWF tag team titles with Steve Austin. Price traveled to the Caribbean to capture the WWC Caribbean title from Super Medic III but ended up dropping the title back to Medic a week later. But, soon he was without a partner and he left for Texas where he teamed up with Tatum. Tatum participated in the GWF Light-heavyweight title tournament but lost to Jerry Lynn in the quarterfinals. Price & Tatum had their first match as a team against Steve Simpson and "Conan" Chris Walker but they lost in the first round of the tournament. Walker & Simpson later became the GWF Tag Team champions. On November 22, 1991, Price and Tatum became the Coast to Coast Connection and defeated the team of Simpson without Walker, who left for the WWF, for the GWF tag titles. Price and Tatum lost the titles a month later to "Wild" Bill Irwin and Black Bart but regained the titles on January 10, 1992. They lost the titles for the final time to Scott Putski and Terry Simms on March 20, 1992.  

Rod Price later became a singles star by winning the GWF North American title on three occasions from Scott Putski, Stevie Ray and Chris Adams. Price & Tatum wrestled with the GWF until the end of the promotion…. Tatum, however, retired after his stint with Big D Pro Wrestling. Rod Price wrestled until the end of the decade in ECW and NWA Texas.  More...