Tio originally was matched against jobbers to increase his stature as a main event star. Sometimes he was even given handicap matches to show how dominating he was. His first challenge for his television title came from Rick Zarta. Rick was a muscular man from Spain who gave a good accounting of him self in the ring. He claimed to be able to break Tio’s finishing hold, The Cobra Clutch. I’m not sure if this was what the hold was called by the promotion but that’s what everyone would know it as. Zarta was unsuccessful in his attempts to capture the belt from the Samoan but the matches were very exciting.

On the tag team front, new challengers for the current champs (Lanny and Weingeroff) were needed. The promotion combined two newcomers with a proven veteran to form a formidable group to go against them. Gary Royal, Ricki Starr, and Hustler Rip Rogers were dubbed ‘The Convertible Blonds’ for their matches in the ICW. Two of the men would wrestle in a tag-match with the third member outside the ring for potential interference. This team was usually matched with other mid-card teams with ‘The Blonds’ coming out on top. They were working towards a program with the champs to generate interest back in the tag-team area of the promotion.

With the departure of Bob Orton Jr. the Crusher Broomfield angle had to be altered. Originally Crushers contract was under the control of Randy Savage and Bob Orton Jr., who supposedly took a large percentage of the Big Man’s winnings from every match. When Orton left monetary control fell completely to Randy Savage. With Pez Whatley going bad, he was teamed with Savage to exert their will onto the Crusher in the story line. They would frequently try to bully the Crusher but usually just end up looking silly themselves.

Several new young wrestlers debuted about this same time for the promotion. Bill Martin, from Shelbyville, KY, was a smaller wrestler at about 5’7” tall. He eventually captured the ICW rookie of the year award for 1981, although I don’t remember him beating anyone of any quality. Ron Strunk was a wrestler who seemed to have a better presence in the ring that Mr. Martin, but probably lacked the personality to get any push from the promoter.