Stubbs made it no secret that Brad Armstrong was as big a problem to the Stable as the Bullet, and that he wanted to take Brad out (not to mention that Brad was, in all honesty, the best wrestler in the promotion and was the biggest threat to Stubbs' championship).

At one point, in a title match at the Alabama Fairgrounds in Birmingham, Brad was injured by a Stubbs brainbuster, and Scott Armstrong, already making a comeback, stepped in and took Bradıs commitments against Stubbs.  Scott, a tall, thin young man, about 26 at the time, was a solid young worker (the oldest of Bob Armstrong's sons) and his matches with Stubbs were almost as good as Brad's. His primary weapon: a savote-kick that would turn out just about anyone's lights (ask Dr. Tom Prichard, whom he feuded with the following year).

Stubbs tried to get Scottıs superkick barred. He presented a document to Gordon Solie from the desk of then-NWA President Bob Geigel, "notifying" Continental Wrestling of the ban on the kick.  The two were scheduled for a match for the title, and during the match, Mr. Solie had CCW general manager and top referee Ron West call Geigel's office to verify the document's legitimacy.

Of course, Scott used the kick during the match and the referee disqualified him. After the match, it was determined that Stubbs had forged the signature, and the promotion ordered Stubbs to give Scott Armsrong another title shot, this time with the fall to count anywhere in the building.

"If I want to superkick you at the front door," Scott said, "if I want to superkick you at the balcony, if I want to superkick you at the concession stand, brother, it is absolutely legal, and Iıll do my dead-level best to do it!"

"You won't get my name on that piece of paper!," Stubbs shouted at Armstrong. "You will not! I won't go for it!"

Ring announcer Freddy Miller turned to promotion spokesperson Gordon Solie. "He says he won't go for it, Gordon. What about that?"

After a lengthy pause, Mr. Solie, his tone serious, replied. "He'll have no choice."

Scott couldn't pick up the belt in the falls-count-anywhere match and was injured in a subsequent title match on TV when Stubbs atomic-dropped him on a folding chair. Brad came back the same night, and his epic feud with Stubbs had even more fire.

Southeastern Heavyweight Championship

"Wildcat" Wendall Cooley, who had upset "The Exotic" Adrian Street for the Southeastern title, found himself even more emotionally involved in his feud with Street after his brother, Greg, was injured while handcuffed to Street's valet, Miss Linda.

I was at many of the cards when Street was a rulebreaker, and let me tell you something, folks: this man got serious, serious rulebreaking heat from the fans. They hated him, Linda and everything about them. Cooley, on the other hand, was the project, the Continental champion-in-waiting, and everyone wanted Cooley to get over on Street. Their feud intensified even more after Greg Cooleyıs eye injury.

"I've told you before I'm gonna send you down a road of humiliation, but I'm gonna forget that for one time!," shouted a bloody Cooley, waving a bullrope and cowbell. "I've also said I wanted Miss Linda banned, but I want her right there in the corner so she can have the best damn seat in the house! You get ready, jack!"

There was no way the average fan could have known what the bookers were planning. Little did we know that in less than a month of jeering Adrian Street like he was Iranıs Ayotollah Khomeni, weıd be rooting for him against the Studıs Stable, and that he and Cooley would be on the same side.

Southeastern Tag Team Championship

Tommy "Wildfire" Rich and Steve Armstrong were still feuding with Robert Fuller & Jimmy Golden, trying to win the tag titles back and bust up the Stud's Stable at the same time. They were joined by the Intern, who was believed to be Johnny Rich under a mask (he was).

Because of interference by Prichard, these matches eventually became six-man matches. Then, Rich & Armstrong were granted a series of title matches where Prichard & the Intern could not come to ringside.  Prichard's differences with the Intern became a feud in itself, and the two began a series of violent singles matches across the area. At one point, the Intern pinned Prichard in a loser-leaves-town, and Prichard, in a desperate attempt to get back into the area, donned a mask. He began to call himself "Dr. Ben Casey."  Casey/Prichard challenged the Intern to a match where both men would come to the ring, remove their masks and wrestle. Winner got to stay in the area, loser had to leave.

"True, Tom Prichard lost a loser-leave-town match to the Intern," "Casey" told Gordon Solie. "But he was robbed. It was highway robbery, Alabama style."

"So how do you propose to solve this situation?," Solie asked.

"I'm getting to that," he said. "You and me, Mr. Intern, come into the arena, take off these masks so all these pretty girls can see my pretty face. We take these socks off our face and the loser of the fall is gone, no ifs, ands or buts. Thatıs the way you do it."

The promotion, of course, agreed to the stipulations, and so did the Intern. I'm not sure they ever had this match; I didn't see it in the arenas. However, the next week on TV, Prichard was gloating about ridding the area of the Intern. I personally hated to see Johnny Rich go, but Prichard was just so much fun to watch, even as a heel.

The tag titles became an even bigger mess when Tommy Rich left the area to go back to Memphis. This left Steve Armstrong without a partner, but only briefly... More on that next time.

U.S. Jr. Heavyweight Championship

For the junior heavyweight title, Horner, the young scientific master, was forced to match wits with the crafty - and always hilarious - Roy Lee Welch, who had gone off the deep end.  Since feigning a knee injury in order to get the upper hand on Horner, Welch began to call himself the real king of wrestling in interviews. In June, 1986, Welch finally popped his cork.

In something I will never forget, Welch began to wear a very Jerry Lawler-esque crown to the ring, complete with a royal red robe, lined with white, just like something youıd see in a book of fairy tales. His music: "2001," of course.  Welch loved to play with the crowd, and even though his feud with Horner often got nasty, it was probably the most fun for the fans of mat wrestling to watch. Both Horner, who used a Backlund bridge as his finisher, and Welch, whose family is legendary in the business, could really go on the mat. Combined with their considerable microphone talents, these guys put on a feud for the junior title that would be rivaled only by "Nightmare" Danny Davis versus "Nightmare" Ken Wayne a few years later.

"Hey, baby, if you're feeling down..."

With the famous Foreigner tune blaring out of the speakers, Tony Anthony debuted in the Continental area as "The Dirty White Boy."  Anthonyıs arrival was very overshadowed by the entrance of Kevin Sullivan into the area and the feuds over the various titles. In fact, for most of the month of June, 1986, Anthony wrestled mid-carder Frankie "The Thumper" Lancaster in several time-limit draws and he also wrestled a lot of enhancement talent. He was even used by the promotion to further the feud of Cooley and Street - Anthony had apparently defeated Cooley for the title when Miss Linda interfered, but referee Ron West saw Linda's interference and disqualified Anthony.  If Anthony was overshadowed upon arrival, he would make up for it in the year to come...

Sullivan Comes In

As I mentioned in the opener, the Bullet had just weathered the storm of Dutch Mantell, one of the best wrestlers in regional wrestling history, and kept his mask.  Now, the Bullet would have to contend with the most dangerous man in wrestling: Kevin Sullivan, known in the Continental area as "The Mystic One."

As a young wrestling fan (I was 15, but had only began watching in August, 1985), Sullivan's entrance startled me. I had never seen anything like it). On the TV program, after a six-man tag cage match between Fuller, Golden & Prichard taking on Tommy Rich, Steve Armstrong and the Intern, the camera cut back to Solie, who said Kevin Sullivan had a message for some of the wrestlers and for the fans.

I watched intently as the screen faded to black. Then Sullivan, sitting in a directorıs chair, filled the screen. He wore a pair of Ray-ban shades and a black muscle shirt. You could see him only from the chest-up, and the background was black.

"I'd like to direct this statement," Sullivan said, sitting up in his chair, "to the Bullet. Bob - I may call you Bob, -  can't I? Bob Armstrong. One of the greatest wrestlers ever in the history of the sport. Right now, Bob, you're on top of the world. The Tennessee Stud, in his infinite wisdom, has taken men and sent them to you, first in an effort to unmask and embarrass you, and also to end your career."

"But youıve risen above it, Bob. Credit's due. You say you've beaten them all. You're on cloud nine. You're dancing, and boogalooing, and everything that you can do. Except for one thing: youıve been lured. You've been lured into a sense of false security.  You see, Bob, they were errand boys. Errand boys. But the errand boys are gone. The errand boys aren't coming anymore. You see, I'm coming now. And the difference between an errand boy and an assassin is one thing: termination."

With that, Sullivan faded to black...and so, perhaps, did the future of the Bullet.

IN TWO MONTHS:

Sullivan debuts, and to quote KISS, all hell breaks loose. Horner's U.S. Jr. title belt is stolen and in one of Continental's most famous angles, he goes into the rulebreakers dressing room to retrieve it.  Street turns fan favorite by doing one of the things that Fuller & Golden despise the most. Cooley and Prichard's stocks continue to soar. Steve Armstrong finds a more-than-capable replacement for Tommy "Wildfire" Rich.  And Sullivan brings in the New Guinea Headhunters.