Last month I said I would cover 1982 in this column.  While I still intend to do just that, I must admit that my memory is somewhat fuzzy from that time period, and I will probably end up covering a lot of 1983 here as well.  Anyway, there were several great feuds and title changes to report about in these two years, so let’s get started. 

One of the greatest feuds was between Chief Jay Strongbow and his younger brother Jules Strongbow (Frank Hill, no relation to Jay, whose isn’t even Native America himself, real name Joe Scarpa) and two very sinister Japanese men named Mr. Fuji and Mr. Saito.  Fuji was already a three-time tag champ along with Professor Toru Tanaka.  In fact, Fuji and Strongbow were no strangers to one another as they had feuded with each other over the tag titles numerous times in the past with Strongbow taking on different partners to try unseating Fuji and Tanaka.  Now Tanaka was getting on in years and was slowing down on taking wrestling matches in favor of a movie career.  (Don’t laugh, he did wind up doing numerous commercials and had several short spots on movies including Last Action Hero, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure and The Running Man. 

Now Fuji was a tag champ again having defeated Tony Garea and Rick Martel for the titles in late 1981.  They received a few quick rematches before Martel returned to the AWA and eventually received superstardom as their World Champion.  Garea, being left without a partner, left Strongbow to received shots at the tag titles.  He and his brother defeated the top rated tandem of Jesse “The Body” Ventura and Adrian Adonis, the East-West Connection, just before Adonis and Ventura left to join Martel in the AWA.