Wilbur took the count out of the ring. Jimmy wasn’t much better blading, now that I think about it. One of the other attractions was a pole battle royal, and there was the pole mounted to one of the ring posts. Jimmy got his blade from manager Duke George between falls, then made a mad dash at Wilbur who moved, and Jimmy “struck” his head on said pole, going down and gaffing, right in the middle of the ring. It had no context in the match, Wilbur didn’t ram him into it or anything, it just… happened. The Valiants came back and won the battle royal and “$5,000”, and Jimmy came back out for the main event, causing Bruiser to get counted out in his quest to regain the WWA title. It was a Valiant night at the wrestling corral. 

Hammond had an odd one on the 24^th, as Ivan Volkoff and Jimmy Valiant beat Bruiser and Moose by count out.The 30^th in Terre Haute saw the Valiants keep their belts with a win over Huber (subbing for Moose) and Bruiser. 

October 1^st, in the booming metropolis of Romeoville, Illinois saw Regal and Huber once again win, this time over Buddy Rogers, Jr. and the evil, dastardly Jose Pantera, aqnd Bruiser beating the Strangler on a great, all star card. Bruiser and Huber won the battle royal. On the 8^th, Indianapolis saw Huber and Regal beat the Strangler and Jerry Jaffee, Sheik defend his U.S. title by “burning” Moose Cholak. This was the bout they televised where they showed repeatedly in slow motion that the fire didn’t even come close to hitting Moose, who was just dying on the canvas. A caged Texas Death bout saw Bruiser and Snyder stop the Valiants, non title of course. Jon was in the corner, nonchalantly pulls the blade out of his tights, tries to pull the tape off and can’t get it, so he puts it in his teeth and bites it off. These guys and their blades. Bloomington, Indiana on the 14^th had the Valiants stop Snyder and Huber. The 28^th  in Jasper had Huber and Regal stopping the Bounty Hunters. Yep, it was Bobby Vann (formerly the Strangler) and Jack Cougar. The Valiants stopped Bruiser and Christy in the main. The next night in Terre Haute saw a tremendous 6 man tag, with Ivan Volkoff, Buddy Rogers Jr. and Jon Valiant stopping Regal, Huber and Moose. This bout was probably better than it looks on paper, as Rogers Jr. and Phil Heddon (Volkoff) weren’t bad hands at all. Bruiser stopped Jim Valiant and Duke George in a handicap bout. 

The November 12^th  Indianapolis show saw Huber and Regal stop Cougar and Volkoff, the Valiants stop Dom DeNucci and Snyder in a tag team title bout, and Bruiser stopping Ivan Koloff to rewin the WWA belt, only to have the decision overruled, as Dick used the illegal piledriver while the ref was down. The belt was upheld after this bout. Something to note, with Koloff on top as champ, the belt was seldom by this point EVER defended on the smaller shows, making it an Indianapolis only championship. The 18^th saw wrestling return to Terre Haute (which I might add was a small but very rowdy crowd, that loyally supported wrestling at the armory) with Jon Valiant and Duke George defeating Huber and Regal on count out, and Moose stopping Jimmy Valiant in a Lumberjack match. Bloomington, Indiana on the 25^th saw the return of Wilbur’s son Mike, who beat Duke George on DQ, Jon Valiant stopped Huber on count out, Moose stopped Jim Valiant on a count out, and Jimmy came back to win a battle royal. 

December 2^nd takes us back to Terre Haute, where in a 6 man elimination bout, the Valiants and George stopped Huber, Regal and Moose. On the 10^th in Indianapolis, which saw the return of Ernie Ladd, the Valiants had a non title “Coward’s Wave The Flag” match, which in fact was the old “German Gestapo Death” match dusted off, and Bruiser and DeNucci (with Moose as their second) stopped the Valiants (with Ladd as their second) when Ladd attacked Bruiser and DeNucci with the flag, which unfurled and the ref rules was “waved”. The annual Christmas show on the 26^th had Huber and Regal getting a DQ win over Bulldog Don Kent and Killer (Crusher) Verdue (hey, there was only ONE  Crusher in WWA land gang!), Moose and Sheik were both counted out in a US title rematch (Slicin’ Eddie found a new use for duct tape when he took a roll from the gaffer at ringside and  proceeded to tape Moose to the ropes by the throat, right in front of the ref, natch. Prior to this, the old wild man managed to bean the ref in the head with a flying chair right after the bout first started, probably not 30 seconds into it. It really made the ref, the late, great Johnny Shorn, look like a dork. When talking about the Sheik years later, he would just shake his head, the kayfabe rule being rescinded when Sheik was “working”.) The Valiants stopped Snyder and DeNucci in a tag title defense, and Brusier stopped Koloff for the vacant title in a cage. Ivan did the “Superfly” off the cage, years before Snuka made it famous. Good solid bout, and a great capper to what had been a good feud. Houses had been up for all of these bouts, around the 8,000 range.

Finishing out the year, Springfield ,Illinois on the 28^th  saw Huber and Regal stop Buddy Rogers’ Jr. and the Strangler, and the Valiants retain the WWA belts over Bruiser and Christy, who subbed for Larry Hennig. The 29^th in Terre Haute saw Mike Snyder (who was probably home for the holidays) stop Jack Cougar, Huber and Regal stop Rogers Jr. and Volkoff, the Big Whiz beat Jon Valiant and Duke George in a handicap match, and Snyder stop Jim Valiant in a cage. 

Well gang, there you have it. It only took a few years to finish this. The next one will be about, who knows????????? Hope you enjoyed this. See you in 30 or so.