Where Wrestling's Regional History Lives!
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Where Wrestling's Regional History Lives! |
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- Jason Hess Hello
and welcome to another installment of Houston Wrestling stories on
KayfabeMemories.com.
In our look back to the 1980’s wrestling scene in Houston, we
will often find stories that were wilder and more interesting behind the
curtain than in front of it.
In this edition we will take a look at one of the more
famous/infamous happenings at the Sam Houston Coliseum….and it
happened as a direct result of a newspaper columnist, and his
subscription to a well known pro wrestling newsletter, or “dirtsheet.”
The furor over it made for some interesting booking….just to
prove someone wrong. February
1986: The
incident began with a popular newspaper columnist from the Houston Post
named Ken Hoffman.
Hoffman, who now writes for the Houston Chronicle, (the Houston
Post shut down years ago, and Houston is a one-major-newspaper city;
albeit the largest in the country) loved/loves to talk about wrestling
in his tri-weekly column.
Often, Hoffman would write about the latest comings and goings in
the wrestling world, after both major newspapers quit putting the
wrestling results in the sports sections. Before
the national breaking of kayfabe in 1997-98, Hoffman was breaking
kayfabe in his columns when wrestling was brought up.
One such column, based upon knowledge Hoffman received from the
most popular wrestling newsletter on the market, actually changed the
course of Mid-South booking. In
early January 1986, Jake “the Snake” Roberts was a babyface, feuding
with then-North American champion Dick Slater.
Roberts, who had turned babyface and feuded with Humongous (Jeff
Van Kamp, not Sid Eudy), decided to set his sights on Slater, and when
blinded with powder in a match with him, actually performed the DDT on
Slater’s valet, Dark Journey.
The two had matches across the Mid-South, with many of them
ending inconclusively.
The two men agreed to another bout, with the added stipulation of
no disqualification to supplement the North American title up for grabs.
The date would be February 14, 1986 at the venerable Sam Houston
Coliseum. I do not recall whether there was a concerted push to “bring your sweetheart” on Valentine’s Day, but the crowd at the Coliseum that night was loud, although I am not privy to the actual gate or draw. What I do know is that something went down that night that was a small precursor to what has happened to pro wrestling, and the people that book and write storylines. More...
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