As the story went, NWA rules forbade him from holding both titles. That left the International title vacant, a booking decision which effectively allowed others to step up a level. Larry Lane became the next champ, winning a tournament.

Nelson brought in yet another hooded grappler to feud with the Super Destroyer, and though the matches in this feud were nothing special, Nelson gave the gimmick a notable twist. Reggie Parks, a veteran whose chiseled physique stood out in that era, arrived in Amarillo gimmick-less and apparently without any particular motive. But he soon targeted Super Destroyer, and in the course of their feud he put on a red hood and announced that he was the Avenger. He claimed Destroyer had perpetrated some foul crime against him in another territory, and he had come for revenge. He had disguised himself by arriving without his hood.

Interestingly, both Nelson and Parks had played the Avenger before. And there was a sort of truth to the claim of a past feud. A mask-less Art Nelson had wrestled Parks-as-the-Avenger in the Mid-Atlantic. In that same territory, Parks/Avenger had feuded with the Super Destroyer, then played by Don Jardine. To complicate this history even further, Jardine himself had played the Avenger a few years earlier. Like many journeymen of their day, Jardine and Nelson changed identities almost as often as they changed their clothes. Parks, probably because of his instantly recognizable physique, does not seem to have had as many identities.

After those first few months of hooded mayhem, Nelson moved on to other booking ideas. All the other mystery men he brought in had unmasked. Only the Super Destroyer himself remained a mystery. He never revealed his face. 

Comments? Corrections? Quibbles? Email me at here.

NEXT MONTH: 

Whatever happened to Bruiser Brody?