3/30/85 Rockford- Rick Martel beat Jimmy Garvin 

4/5/85 Salt Lake City- Rick Martel beat Jimmy Garvin 

4/26/85 Rockford- Rick Martel beat Jimmy Garvin 

5/3/85 Denver- Rick Martel beat Jimmy Garvin

Bob Backlund was a former WWF champion. Bob had been on top for nearly six years in the WWF before dropping the WWF strap to the Iron Sheik on December 26, 1983 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. But the Backlund that arrived in the AWA during early 1985 was for from the man that held the WWF title for so long. Due to the influence of Karl Gotch in the latter part of his second WWF title reign, Bob stopped working out with weights instead opting for long endurance type exercises. This alteration in exercise resulted in a change in physique for Backlund. He was no longer as physically impressive as he was before. A few months later Backlund had his hair cut in a buzz cut manner. Bob was never a cool looking guy but that buzz hair cut made him into even more of a geek.  

After leaving the WWF in August of 1984 when he refused to bleach his hair and turn heel, Bob Backlund competed on a few Pro Wrestling USA TV tapings and for a week in Florida. Verne Gagne then brought Bob to the AWA in early 1985. Backlund wrestled twice on television before being granted an AWA title shot against champion Rick Martel. On February 22nd, 1985 at the St. Paul Civic Center, AWA champion Rick Martel and challenger Bob Backlund battled to a double countout. The match was not well received by the 10,000 fans in attendance even though it was a decent technical bout. Backlund was seen as an outsider lacking in the charisma department and made Martel look to be the more exciting of the two. The Minnesota fans were not accustomed to seeing Backlund as  the Twin Cities lagged behind other markets in wiring the area for cable television. In other words, many Minnesota fans never saw Backlund defend the WWF title on Madison Square Garden cards that aired nationally on the USA cable TV network. Backlund did receive one more title shot against Martel on April 18, 1985 in Washington DC losing the match by countout.  

The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts) made their way to the AWA in April of 1984. With Terry Gordy penciled in for a feud with Jerry Blackwell and Buddy Roberts not considered a threat in singles competition, that left the most colorful member of the Freebirds Michael Hayes open to challenge AWA champion Rick Martel. Earlier in his career, Hayes had tremendous success in helping Junkyard Dog and Kerry Von Erich become huge regional draws by being the villain fans want to see get beaten up by JYD or The Modern Day Warrior. The AWA hoped that Michael Hayes could do the same for Rick Martel. However Martel didn't have the charisma and the ability to connect with fans the way JYD or Kerry did. For that reason, the Martel/Hayes feud didn't do big box office despite being very entertaining. Here's a look at some results of the feud between AWA champion Rick Martel and Fabulous Freebird Michael Hayes. 

6/9/85 St. Paul- Michael Hayes beat Rick Martel 

6/21/85 Chicago- Michael Hayes beat Rick Martel 

7/14/85 St. Paul- Rick Martel beat Michael Hayes by disqualification 

7/20/85 Chicago- Rick Martel beat Michael Hayes    

8/8/85 Las Vegas- Rick Martel beat Michael Hayes by disqualification 

8/9/85 Salt Lake City- Rick Martel beat Michael Hayes 

8/24/85 Monroe- Rick Martel beat Michael Hayes 

8/25/85 Green Bay- Rick Martel beat Michael Hayes 

9/13/85 Denver- Rick Martel beat Michael Hayes 

9/14/85 Milwaukee- Rick Martel beat Michael Hayes 

10/15/85 Anchorage- Michael Hayes beat Rick Martel DQ 

That does it for this month. Special thanks to Mike Rodgers, Jim Melby, George Lentz, Vance Nevada and One Fan Gang for providing results. And a tip of the cap to the guys on the KM AWA board that contributed to the Martel/Backlund thread a few months ago. Without the help of all these people, columns like this one would not be possible. 

Comments, questions and corrections can be sent to jcz64@yahoo.com.   

NEXT MONTH:

I'll finish out Rick Martel's run in the AWA. After that, it's onto the High Flyers Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell.  

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