- John Edwards

My source information for this month’s article is mostly from old back copies of the wonderful kayfabe newsletter/program “Wrestling” which was sold at every Kiel/Arena card and also available through the mail via subscription. “Wrestling” was the official voice of the St. Louis Wrestling Club and was beautifully simple and kayfabe in nature. Unlike today’s dirt sheets, web sites, and newsletters, that admit story lines, angles, and who is refusing to job to who, “Wrestling” presented the matches as official news. Upcoming lineups were announced and “quotes” from wrestlers were inserted. Local TV results were announced, along with ticket prices and information. “Wrestling” was essentially a program for the upcoming card and much more. Thanks to friends of Kayfabe Memories and fans of St. Louis old school, such as Rich Tito, I have a number of back issues of “Wrestling” from the 70s and early 80s that I frequently reference for these monthly articles. In addition to the old back issue information, I use my memories of the St. Louis scene, 20+ years ago.

Black Jack Lanza Headlines in St. Louis! – 1970 & 1971

Black Jack Lanza was a huge name throughout the major federations in the 1970s and 1980s. He headlined throughout the NWA, AWA, and WWWF. He had many a match in St. Louis (accompanied by Bobby Heenan) during this time. The focus of this months’ article is on a number of matches Lanza had during a 1970-71 run at the Kiel, Arena, and “Championship Wrestling” (the forerunner of Wrestling At The Chase). 

February 6, 1970 – Lanza takes two out of three falls (remember those matches?) from an up-and-coming contender named Jack Brisco. Interesting that a few years later, Jack would be one of the best NWA Champions ever, yet in 1970 was “doing the honors” at the Kiel. On an unrelated aside, Jack wrestled a lot in St. Louis during the years prior to his NWA title. It seems like Sam liked to take the potential future NWA contenders and have them work St. Louis to see how the crowd reacted to them. He did the same with a young Ric Flair, the Von Erichs, the Funks, and so forth. 

February 20, 1970 – Two weeks later, Lanza teamed with Bob Geigel to take on the team of Dick the Bruiser and Ernie “The Cat” Ladd in the finale of the card. All I can say is Wow! I would have loved to have seen this one. Interesting on many levels – especially with the rare appearances of the “Big Cat” and Bob Geigel, and Bruiser’s known aversion to “doing the job”. Sorry, no result on this one. 

April 2, 1971 – Lanza has a title shot against strap holder Dory Funk, Jr. at the Arena, inside a steel cage! (well, OK, a seven foot high chain link fence). This was important for several reasons. One, as a rule, Sam Muchnick did not like “gimmick matches”. Two, Lanza was well-regarded enough for a NWA Title shot. Three, this match marked the return of Bobby Heenan to ringside after a December 1970 “indefinite suspension” from Sam Muchnick. Dory Funk, Jr. won the match and retained the title.