CHICAGO 1966

September 16, 1966

This was the card that I thought was going to be Crusher & Bruiser against Verne Gagne & Wilbur Snyder, or so I thought. The Alaskan  (Jay York) and The Big K (Stan Kowalski) had upset Gagne and Snyder earlier to earn the title match against Bruiser & Crusher.

Opening match was fan favorite Luis Martinez defeating Larry Heinimi in Heinimi's Chicago debut with the octopus hold. Heinimi would later become Lars Anderson and revert once back to Larry Heinimi again later in his career.

Second match saw Angelo Poffo beat Prince Pullins using his Italian neckbreaker hold to win the match. Third match was The Destroyer (Dick Beyer, later Dr.X in AWA) easily

defeating Jose Betancourt with his leglock.  Mitsu Arakawa used the old throwing the salt trick to defeat Bobby Managoff. At the time, I didn't realize what a great career that Managoff had. He was a world champion and was described as one of the all time greats.

First of the double main event saw Killer Kowalski go against another former world champion, Pat O'Connor. This was a great match and Kowalski won the bout to pave his way to main event status in Chicago.

Now the main event. The Alaskan and The Big K were the first to enter the ring and they received their catcalls from the crowd. After about a five-minute wait, the AWA champs Bruiser & Crusher entered the ring and a brawl broke out. The "We Want Blood" chants started from the rafters and C & B did not disappoint the fans. After one fall apiece, C & B tore their opponents apart and won the match. After the match was over, The Alaskan came