What was created was a monster inside Shaw. HE accepted not only Gamma's turban and teachings but his vast knowledge of the Hart's and his in ring experience. Shaw knew in order to break into the main events he had to go though the Hart "mafia". This meant shedding Shaw and Saginaw and embracing Makhan Singh from Karachi, Pakistan.

The angle worked on all levels. Singh knew what buttons to press. With the fans of course he pushed the race buttons but also the Alberta hockey fans as well. The 80's saw the NHL's Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames in a bitter rivalry for years. Makhan Singh instantly jumped on this and began wearing a Oiler jersey with Gretzky's#99 on the back. This infuriated fans across western Canada as outside of Edmonton,the champion Oilers were hated from Manitoba to British Columbia.(As I tell my Wife from Florida,"It's a Canadian thing":)(Has to do with the Edmonton Eskimos). It pushed Whelan over the top as he also did Flames radio broadcasts.   Singh used every opportunity the infuriate Whelan in interviews which helped put Makhan over. A very minor league angle that gave Makhan attention he needed.

One of his feuds was with Tom Maghee. A  young muscleman with a odd medical condition. When he got mad his eyes turned blood red. Gama had at the same time recruited perennial loner Steve Disalvo as a for hire mercenary for Karachi Vice. Disalvo and Singh began taking on Maghee and Super Strong Bill Kazmeier in a short lived but colourful feud. Singh used the feud to bolster his interview skills by berating Maghee and his condition. Singh never knew what politcally correct was!! The feud introduced Singh into Gama's world of sneaks attacks.Gamma also introduced Singh to brass knuckles who happily used them ever chance he had in wins over Maghee. Knowing he had extra help outside the ring Makhan's confidence soared. But he needed to make it as a singles star. So entered Steve Blackman. An absolutely amazing martial artist that is sorely underused right now

elsewhere (My rant of the month). Blackman had just entered Stampede, but while dazzling in ring, his confidence was shaky in interviews often being coached by Whelan in his early interviews. However as raw and inexperienced as he was, Gama saw potential and immediately Singh was in full Makhan mode goading the young wrestler during Blackman's interview time. Often teasing him about his interview skills. Never one to back down the quiet Blackman agreed to meet Makhan in the ring. But what he wasn't ready for was the hard fist of Karachi Vice including Disalvo, so early in his career. Makhan unveiled his full power by whipping Blackman into the corner turnbuckles and following it up with his Karachi Krunch splash. With Blackman flattened on the mat, Makhan climbed the ropes(in his Oiler jersey), mouthed off to the fans for added effect and came off the top ropes atop Blackman. Steve's martial arts were no match for Makhan's pure power. Blackman's already shaky confidence was torn apart in that feud. While he remained in Stampede for a short while after, he never fully achieved his potential sadly. Makhan had now the power to not only crush you physically but mentally too.

Steeling himself as a solid singles wrestler, Makhan took aim at another young star in Corporal Kirchner right out of the WWF. Makhan seized the chance to berate the latest WWF castoff by biting the head off Kirchner's wrestling action figure in a memorable interview. "I'm not a action figure Kirchner, I'm a wrestler". Makhan came out on top in this short lived feud... with a little help from the action figure hidden at ring side.

Next up Makhan took aim at one of the young lions in Stu's camp in Manitoba's Ron Ritchie. While being a native Indian, Ron never wore it on his sleeve. Instead he made himself a Canadian hero. This infuriated Makhan who took aim at Ron's heritage, accusing Ron of ignoring it cause he was embarrassed. This enraged Ritchie but he knew he could not take on Karachi Vice alone. This led to a tag team feud. Chris Benoit was already involved with Gama so Ritchie and Benoit teamed up against the Karachi Vice kingpins, Makhan and Gama. Both sides traded wins back and forth, with the fans the real winners.

By late 1986, Makhan Singh was in the main events he wanted, but still was without gold. The North American title was securely wrapped around Honky Tonk Wayne's waist. Not as big physically as Makhan, Wayne held onto the title with pure luck and an amazing interview style. However as often was the case in Stampede, the WWF came calling and Ferris vacated the title overnight. A tournament was established immediately to fill the vacant title.

Ironically in the final Makhan found himself against the newest Hart gem Owen. Graceful and acrobatic, young Owen plowed through the competition but was against a crafty veteran in Singh. Owen learned the first hard rules of respect as Makhan won his first Stampede title after years of toiling. Champagne poured as Singh, Disalvo, Kerry Brown, Jerry Morrow and the Great Gama celebrated in front of the pavilion in Calgary.

That tournament was just the beginning as Hart and Singh couldn't escape each other for the rest of their Stampede runs. The two despised each other completely. Singh hated Owen's family connections and pretty boy looks. Owen hated Makhan for his cheating and mouthing off of his family and fans. Owen lived for both in ring.

In early 87, after a tour of Japan, Owen returned even further refined and managed to take the North American title away from a stunned Makhan. Owen had perfected a move where he jumped on Makhan's back and did a reverse sommersault landing on his feet in front of Makhan. Then he would dropkick Makhan who was stunned like the fans were at Owen's agility. But his reign was short lived as Makhan quickly regained the belt with a pair of brass knuckles 2 weeks later. It seems to be an eternal rule in wrestling that brass knuckles outweigh sommersaults.

Soon after the win in a blast from the past so to speak, Makhan had mysteriously injured his arm resulting in a grotesque cast from shoulder to wrist. Just like Duke Myers had done years prior, Gama had somehow gotten permission to have Makhan's cast legalized. Makhan reveled in his new toy. No longer having to reach for brass knuckles he had his weapon out in the open. But he faced challenges not only from Owen but also Jason the Terrible. After shedding the Zodiac, Jason found the cheers of the fans more soothing then Zodiac's rantings. Makhan enjoyed the challenge of the masked man. Despite Gama's fear and trepidation, Makhan and Jason went at it for weeks in tags with Owen and single matches.

By mid 1987 Makhan had pushed aside the challenge of Jason and found young Owen still breathing down his neck. They turned up the heat in probably one of Stampede's best feuds. I remember after a non title win by Owen, Makhan was so enraged he grabbed Ed Whalen's glasses in anger. But for a split second Makhan stood shocked at what he just did. But the show went on and Makhan proceeded to crush Ed's glasses which led to Ed almost losing it and hitting Makhan. Makhan goaded Ed on until Owen ran in and cleared the ring. Their final feud would begin.

Owen turned up the heat in his moves and continued his aggressive aerial moves in cage matches with Makhan across Western Canada and North Dakota. Owen proved in near wins he was more then just a pretty boy. The turning point came when Owen finally was able to remove Makhan's cast he had worn for months. Moldy and yellow Owen ripped it off and extracted revenge. Despite a run in by Gama, Owen was able to turn the tables and win the title.  Their war raged on despite the win. Makhan demanded rematches and Owen promptly accepted. I remember one of their matches at the old auditorium. It was Owen's birthday and one of my mom's friends was asked to present Owen with a birthday cake in ring. No sooner had she gotten in the ring when Makhan Singh entered the scene. He mouthed off at Owen and the fans and grabbed the cake and smashed it in Owen's face dazing him completely. After a huge bite of the cake, Makhan proceeded to pummel on Owen in the corner. But Owen fought back and in a blink of a eye he was on the top rope and rocketing straight up in the air and down on a stunned Makhan. I remember the PWI photographer racing back and forth trying to set up a shot as Owen and Makhan went at it 200mph. But like his first reign Owen's second reign as champion was short lived. With rumors of Owen leaving for the WWF flying, Karachi Vice demanded one more rematch. Owen as always said yes. This match was no different as the others as both wrestlers went at it one more time. Owen did his nip-ups and sommersaults off the top rope. Makhan did his bellowing and smashes. Owen did his off the back of Makhan flip but this time Makhan was ready. He swatted the young Hart aside as he went for his dropkick. Threw Owen into the corner and followed it up with a Karachi Krunch and went for the pin but this time with the help of Karachi Vice held onto a cane for leverage and pinned the stunned Owen Hart.

Owen left Stampede immediately after the match when Makhan refused a rematch. With Owen gone Karachi Vice was in position to keep the singles titles forever it seemed. But jealously loomed in the camp as strong man Steve Disalvo started hearing the unthinkable... Cheers from the fans. So much in fact that Gama and Makhan took exception and turned on Steve. For the first time he was on the receiving end of a Karachi Krunch. This ignited a fire under Steve.

The big men battled though the hot summer of 87. Owen's departure left a huge hole in the heroes side of Stampede. Steve filled it as well as he could. Makhan had only faced big men like Steve in Maghee and Kazmeier years before, so often Disalvo came close to winning the title but came up short week after week.

This feud made Makhan realize Owen's mistakes in defending the title night after night. So Makhan teamed up with "Champagne" Jerry Morrow to take a run at the tag titles. Not only would this possibly bring home the tag titles to Karachi Vice but it insured Makhan wouldn't lose the title to Disalvo.  When he wasn't tagging with Morrow he teamed up with the newest Karachi Vice member Gary Albright, an incredibly gifted acrobatic big man. Gary too found frustration in singles and after a brief feud with Makhan was taken in under Gama's camp and was renamed Volkhan Singh.

At the same time a young Johnny Smith turned his back on Benoit and Bruce Hart and joined Karachi Vice. Between the four of them, Vice managed to keep Makhan's belt safe for over a year. Six and eight man tag wars erupted between Karachi Vice and the young lions. Smith who had teamed with Benoit and Owen for the past few years knew all their strategy and passed this on to a eager Makhan Singh, who by now was quickly becoming the head of Karachi Vice.

Late 1987 saw changes and controversy as Stampede's popularity reached its peak. Stampede was now on nationwide TV and was receiving coverage in wrestling magazines. The action continued in Stampede with Makhan teaming up with fellow Vice member Jerry Morrow and winning the International tag titles, but in controversy lost them to Bad Company Bruce Hart and Brian Pillman days later. However Makhan still continued to hold securely his singles title.

At this time a shocking announcement was made. The British Bulldogs where returning to Stampede!! With them along came Don "The Rock" Muraco. Muraco took the singles scene by storm and infuriated Makhan who hated sharing the attention. The thought of a ex-WWF-er in his backyard drove Makhan crazy with jealousy. Again despite Gama's protests Makhan put his title on the line in my home town of Regina, Saskatchewan at the venerable old auditorium. In the middle of December with little heat in the building, Makhan took on "The Rock" in front of a mostly WWF crowd hoping to see the Bulldogs and Muraco. My usual ringside seat was gone and in a small way I cheered on the big man from Saginaw. But the night was Muraco's as he won the title quite easily from Singh and ended his near two year reign to the chants of "toilet bowl".

A bit of controversy there because next week on the Stampede TV show, footage was shown of Muraco winning the title in Medicine Hat, Alberta. To this day I am not sure if Makhan won the title back between Regina and Medicine Hat as the Regina match was never recognized it seems.  But gold wasn't far behind as Singh and Volkhan immediately teamed up and took a run at the tag titles now held by an infighting British Bulldog team. Dynamite and Davey Boy had been verbally yelling at each other for several weeks in ring. At the auditorium Dynamite was angry at Davey Boy's messing up a move. And one fateful night Makhan and Volkhan pounced on this and upset the Bulldogs.  But as things seem to happen in Stampede tragedy occurred just when Stampede was ready to break into the big leagues. A very real car accident occurred on a frozen highway injuring almost all of Stampede's heroes including Davey Boy Smith and Jason The Terrible. So the Bulldogs never got their rematch. Davey did return to feud with Dynamite... but that's another story...

With little competition, Makhan and Volkhan held the tag titles well into 1989. Stampede's silver age was winding down but for Chris Benoit his career was just starting to soar. He took on under his wing a perennial preliminary wrestler in Biff/Beef Wellington (a solid dependable talent from Lethbridge, Alberta) and formed "The Youngbloods". Overconfidence was Makhan's undoing as he and Volkhan laughed off Biff and Chris. Calling them midgets, Makhan and Volkhan quickly took on the 'bloods thinking an easy feud would be ahead. They where shocked when the Youngbloods used quick tags and a blue collar work ethic. No shouting. No loud interviews. Benoit and Wellington suplexed and clotheslined their way to the tag titles in a win over the big men. 

Makhan never wore stampede gold again. I suppose he could if he wanted to because Makhan was a very determined wrestler. Once he set his sights on a title he pretty much owned it. He wasn't reckless like most villains. He knew how to work up a  crowd, announcers, and opponents. He was always straight ahead with everyone. He never turned face to get attention and always gave 100% in every match I ever saw him in. He made me scream bloody murder when he beat Owen with the help of Karachi Vice, and made me secretly cheer when Muraco came to town and won the belt in front of mostly WWF fans. Ironically Mike Shaw obtained fame in the WCW as Norman the Lunatic, while Owen toiled as the Blue Blazer in WWF after their feud in Stampede. I'll always remember their feud as one of the classics of my entire wrestling memories and as one of the best. But mostly I want to share that I swear Makhan Singh actually was having fun up there performing for everyone. And for this fan, that' s good enough.

Thanks Mike!!

NEXT MONTH:

The British Bulldogs!!! I best get rested up for that one!!