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Madison Square Garden, the mecca of professional wrestling, and the chosen site to begin a new chapter in
World Wrestling Federation history. That night was the night that Hulk Hogan was to return to MSG after a 3 year absence,
and win the WWF World Title. Only one man had a different agenda.
There are still folks out there who doubt what has become
common knowledge amongst conversant wrestling fans, and other explanations have been offered. However, five years later it
is safe to say that almost all the pieces of the puzzle have come together.
Bob Backlund had become an outdated champion
sometime before his loss to Iron Shiek. Many people blame Vince McMahon Jr. for pushing his father’s champion to the
side in an effort to bring the cartoon era into his pro wrestling product. However, it was obvious anywhere from 6 months
to 2 years prior to the title change that Backlund no longer worked a style that was appealing to the paying public. Hulk
Hogan on the other hand was a gold mine waiting to happen.
However, sometime before the title switch from Backlund to Iron
Sheik, and then from Sheik to Hogan could take place someone got to the Iron Sheik. No one knows for sure how much money changed
hands, if any, but the best guess is somewhere in the neighborhood of $50,000 - $100,000. That’s how much Verne Gagne,
then owner of the fading fast American Wrestling Association, is alleged to have paid to the Iron Sheik to break Hogan’s
leg that night and leave the WWF as champion. The plan was simple. Sheik would show up in the AWA with a replica WWF belt
and help restore the luster to the AWA.
The Sheik’s first problem was that the match was to be short, rumors are
anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes. Sheik was not to get in too much offense, and it was scripted as a slug fest, no room for a
leglock. Sheik’s second problem is that despite his reputation for fluff wrestling Hogan is no chump. He knows the politics
of the game, and under Hiro Matsuda had learned to defend himself. In fact, he knew exactly what it’s like to have your
leg broken by a shooter, something that was inflicted on him to mete out some wisdom into a green rookie. Surprise would be
everything. Pundits sit back today and ask the hypothetical question, what if the opportunity had not presented itself and
a healthy Hogan had won the belt that night? Well it probably would have sped up the WWF’s rise to glory as well as
Hogan’s. More importantly to the Mid-west fans of the Wrestling Eye, it would have changed the wrestling landscape of
the heartland.
Let’s take a quick look at what did transpire five years ago today and the fallout from the occasion.
The
Sheik was successful in getting Hogan into a leglock position about two minutes into the match, and used the force of his
own legs to break the left leg of an unsuspecting heir apparent. Hogan was taken off in a stretcher, and from all accounts
Iron Sheik fled as quickly as he could, literally leaving the arena with nothing but his robe overtop his wrestling gear.
He proceeded to take a cab to New Jersey, and then a plane to Chicago to meet up with Verne Gagne. Presumably a pay off was
made, and plans were laid out.
This created a huge riff in the wrestling continuum. You see, although the AWA and the WWF
were not officially part of the NWA (National Wrestling Alliance), this was simply a ploy at one time to keep the government
combine and monopoly people off their backs. The reality was that the AWA and WWF had protected territories just as NWA did
and often presented joint cards. Vince McMahon Jr. aimed to change all that, and the NWA was slow to react. Verne Gagne’s
solution while at least was immediate was even more old-school then the NWA board of governor’s refusal to act.
The
NWA attempted, successfully, to isolate itself from Gagne’s actions. Verne became the #1 target of Vince McMahon. Iron
Sheik was assured against prosecution or legal action due to the kayfabe rules of pro wrestling. However, rumors began to
circulate that there was a bounty on his head of cash and a contract that was going around the AWA lockeroom. With that hanging
over his head, and the NWA’s suggestion that Gagne drop the whole thing, the Iron Sheik never appeared in the AWA. He
became somewhat of a pariah, appearing in house shows here and there for small indy feds, and curiously never pushing the
gimmick of being the true WWF World champion.
Vince McMahon had a plan, the exact timing and rollout sequence we may never
know. However, it is believed that his eyes were on the Stampede territory in those early days of 1984. He was on the verge
of striking a deal for wrestlers and territory with Stu Hart. McMahon though was cash poor in those days and had to spend
his finances wisely. His plans changed when Hogan’s leg was snapped. McMahon had to answer the question, how will we
get by for the next year? A decision was made to try and replace Hogan with an inferior copy, and then bring in Hogan when
he was ready. The field was narrowed down to 4 candidates. The only internal one was Roddy Piper. The problem with Piper was
that he was scheduled to be on the other side of the Hogan war, and although he could be turned back later it was considered
a stretch to have the fans cheer him so rapidly. The best choice was thought to be Ric Flair, but it never materialized. Some
suggest it was Flair that blocked it, some suggest the NWA, others that a cheaper alternative was found, while some suggest
it was Hogan himself that stopped it as he felt threatened. The other two candidates were Rick Steamboat and Kerry Von Erich.
In the end it was a matter of look, and von Erich was chosen.
This of course led McMahon to buy out Fritz Von Erich’s
Texas territory and the contracts of his wrestlers. In turn he did not have the cash to buy out Stampede. Would we have seen
the British Bulldogs as World champs in the WWF instead of the Freebirds? It’s fun to think about. Von Erich of course
didn’t work out all that well, and overall the Texas guys proved to be disharmonious in the WWF lockeroom. Hogan would
come back after a year of injury and it was like he never missed a step.
Getting to the point of this article however is
the ties that were forged between the small group known as River City Wrestling and the much larger World Wrestling Federation.
McMahon may have feared that Verne Gagne was going to make a play for Stampede, we’re not sure, however he guaranteed
some cash, and found some investors and climbed into the ring with RCW based out of Winnipeg, Canada. At the time only Winnipeg
was a RCW stop but it was a key city for the AWA. McMahon helped RCW buy out Stampede, and helped, mentored, and encouraged
them to start to expand into the Mid-West and Great Plains. In the old days this would have brought a world of pain to RCW
from the NWA, but they were trying to distance themselves from the AWA. So, the NWA did not like what was going on with Stampede-RCW-WWF
but did nothing to try and stop it.
For RCW it was a short term gold mine. They went from being an indy fed, although
one bursting at the seams with talent, to being a regional player in a short span of time. The immediate and intermediate
effects on RCW were varied;
• Expansion into western Canada; Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Northwest Ontario.
•
Expansion into the Great Plains and mid-west, putting their footprints down from Idaho to Illinois.
• Early exposure
to McMahon’s revolutionary changes to the business including PPV’s and the cartoon era.
• Time slot expanded
from one hour weekly show to a two-hour format.
• Working and talent agreements with both the WWF and its Japanese
partner New Japan Pro Wrestling.
In the short term it was a gold mine indeed for the little indy fed that could. They
would enter 1984 a blip on the wrestling radar screen and leave it as a regional fed. This led to the glory years of RCW,
arguably 1985-1987. However, they were caught with their pants down like everyone else when Vince McMahon’s pocketbook
came a calling. This past year 1988 has seen RCW scale back their operations to a large degree, and has seen their talent
leave for the behemoth WWF. Make no mistake about it, RCW is struggling to stay alive in 1989. Somewhere Verne Gagne is both
smiling and crying.
Will RCW find a way to survive into the next decade? Or will they go the way of the AWA, parachute
pants, and The A-Team? More and more the wrestling shows that you the readers of the Wrestling Eye are finding presented in
your mid-western hometown arenas are by the WWF, and opinions are mixed. The WWF is like the shopping mall that killed the
mom and pop groceries and hardware stores; a little bit of everything under one roof, a tractor beam like pull for the consumer,
but not a whole lot of industry expertise or real selection. The mall is here to stay kids, and so it appears is the WWF.
This
is Matt Resling signing off, and remember just ‘cause you have Cauliflower ears don’t mean you’re a vegetable!
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