Why is Athena Still Champion

I don't normally complain about the Tony Khan's booking, I know many others do, I saw let them  As a lifelong wrestling fan I am not at all a fan of the WWE's presentation, and love AEW, many people feel the opposite.  One of my good friends admits he's a WWE loyalist and feels they can do NOTHING wrong, I thoroughly disagree with his assertion.

As I said I typically don't complain about Tony's booking, but I CANNOT stand his booking of Athena as the Ring of Honor Women's Champion.  The "forever" champion is old and the recent comparisons to Bruno Sammartino is infuriating to me!

As of this posting she's been the ROH Women's Champion for 1,260 days, which is about 3 weeks longer than Bruno's second reign as WWWF World Champion and about 1,200 days less than his first reign.  She has had 37 successful defenses of her title in that time.  In Bruno's first reign I can find a record of 709 and in his second reign 214, and you know they are missing matches.

WWE states that Bruno sold out Madison Square Garden 188 times, while Cage Match only lists 160 matches for Bruno at the Garden.  Athena had 3 listed matches at the World's Most Famous arena. 

While I'm not a fan of Athena, she does have many people that are fans of her, but it is laughable to think that Athena is anywhere near as great as Bruno Sammartino.

I don't understand why she is still the champion, there have been more than on instance where timing was right for her to lose, most recently at Supercard of Honor 2026.  What should have happened at the beginning of Survival of the Fittest is that everyone should have ganged up on Athena and quickly eliminated her first.  It gives her an excuse for the loss, and makes her an immediate contender for the new champion.  

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.

Until next time!

Wrestling Matches the Day I was Born

My buddy Brandon was born on November 24, 1983 which is the same day as the inaugural Starrcade event.  I've known about this for a long time and I've wonder from time to time what wrestling shows, if any, were happening the day I was born, I mean there's no way it was as good as Starrcade 1983, but I was born on a Sunday and there had to be a show or two going on that day.

So I took to Cagematch and searched June 24, 1979 and found 7 shows across the US, 1 in Canada and 1 in Japan, let's take a look.

IWE Big Summer Series 1979, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan

Main event saw Alexis Smirnoff & Ox Baker defeat Great Kusatsu & Isamu Teranishi

Maple Leaf Wrestling, Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Ontario Canada

7 match card with a huge double main event, other matches featured Ernie Ladd, Ricky Steamboat, Paul Orndorff, Jim Brunzell, Jay Youngblood and more

NWA Canadian Heavyweight Champion: Dino Bravo defeat NWA United States Champion: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair by disqualification WWF Champion Bob Backlund defeated Greg "The Hammer" Valentine.  

AWA: American Wrestling AssociationTelevision Taping, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Matches featuring Jesse Ventura, Billy Robinson, The Blonde Bombers: Pat Patterson & Ray Stevens in tag team action, and Greg Gagne defeated AWA World Heavyweight Champion: Nick Bockwinkel

AWA: American Wrestling Association, Minneapolis Auditorium, Minnesota

select matches from the card that night include

Pat Patterson defeats Doug Gilbert

Jesse Ventura vs. Paul Elering - Draw

Greg Gagne defeats Ray Stevens by DQ

Billy Robinson & Verne Gagne defeat Bobby Duncum & AWA World Heavyweight Champion: Nick Bockwinkel

NWA Western States, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Dick Murdoch & Giant Baba defeat Blackjack Mulligan & James J. Dillon

NWA Big Time Wrestling, Sportatorium, Dallas, Texas

main event: Andre The Giant & Bruiser Brody defeated Gary Hart, Mark Lewin & The Spoiler

GCW: Georgia Championship Wrestling, Cobb County Civic Center, Marietta, Georgia

Genichiro Tenryu wrestled on the show and other matches included:

Wahoo McDaniel defeating The Masked Superstar

Ivan Koloff & Ole Anderson vs. Stan Hansen & Tommy Rich wrestled to a no contest

WWF: World Wrestling Federation, Civic Center, Wheeling, West Virginia

matches included 

Ted DiBiase defeated Baron Mikel Scicluna by DQ

WWF Tag Team Champions: The Valiant Brothers: Jerry Valiant & Johnny Valiant defeated Haystacks Calhoun & Ivan Putski by Count Out

Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling: Roanoke Civic Center, Roanoke, Virginia

this Jim Crockett Promotions card featured matches with Pedro Morales, Johnny Weaver, Len Denton, and title matches

Mid Atlantic Heavyweight Champion: Ken Patera defeated Rufus R. Jones

NWA World Tag Team Champions: Baron von Raschke & Paul Jones defeat Jimmy Snuka & Tony Atlas

Of all the shows that happened on my birthday that I found on my birthdate the Maple Leaf Gardens card is the show I would want to see the most.  We got both a Ric Flair match as well as Bob Backlund defending the WWF Championship and it was at the historic Maple Leaf Gardens. 

I remember when my daughter was born I was watching WWECW on Sci-Fi when her mother alerted my that her water had broken, however Addison was born the next day.  I looked up my 3 kids and the number of shows on one of them was shocking

Canaan January 18, 2006: 6 shows

Addison May 13, 2009: 6 shows

Wesley March 21, 2015:122 shows...122!!

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.

Until next time!

The Last Match: Memphis Wrestling Legends

 In this post we look at the Last Match of Memphis Wrestling Legends.

Jerry "The King" Lawler

January 21, 2023 Winston-Salem, North Carolina 
AML: Ac⁠ts Of War Games 2

defeated the Beer City Bruiser

The King is one of the most well known wrestlers in the world for not only his over 50 years in the ring but his near 30 years as a commentator in the WWE, 20 spent with partner Jim Ross.  There is no way i could summarize Lawler's career in a short paragraph, he's a former among his numerous championships that he held is is a former AWA World Heavyweight Champion.  He also held one championship 57 times that was known as the:

NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Mid-America version)

NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Memphis version)

Mid-Southern Heavyweight Championship

AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship

USWA Southern Heavyweight Championship

USWA Heavyweight Championship

MCW Southern Heavyweight Championship

Memphis Wrestling Southern Heavyweight Championship

Had it not been for health issues, I think Lawler would still be wrestling occasionally today.  In fact of I don't think we have actually seen the last match of Jerry "The King" Lawler, I think he has one more left in him.  The photo of us is from April 15, 2006 in Lynn, Massachusetts for Big Time Wrestling.  That night The King defeated Kamala the Ugandan Giant in a Lumberjack match. 

Sputnik Monroe

March 7, 1988 Memphis, Tennessee, Mid-South Coliseum

CWA: Continental Wrestling Association

defeated by Billy Wicks

One of the most controversial wrestlers of his area, Sputnik began wrestling in 1945 and is viewed as many as a civil rights activist for the support of his black fan base.  He captured numerous regional championships and was also inducted into the 2018 WWE Hall of Fame.  You should go watch the terrific documentary Memphis Heat where Sputnik's career is heavily covered.  He passed away in 2006 at the age of 77.

"Fabulous" Jackie Fargo

October 30, 2004 Memphis, Tennessee, Mid-South Coliseum

Memphis Wrestling Throwback Night III - "A Nightmare In Memphis" 

with Corey Maclin & Stan Lane defeat Jerry "The King" Lawler & The Rock 'n' Roll Express: Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson

The mentor of Jerry Lawler and one halve of the original Fabulous Ones, Jackie Fargo was the original King of Memphis wrestling.  He began his career in 1950 with his full time run winding down in the mid 1980's with a handful of matches before his final match in 2004.  I read he may have a had a match in 2006 but I cannot find the details of that match.  I met Jackie at the 2009 NWA Legends Fanfest where he signed this photo for me. He passed away on my birthday, June 24, 2013.

  

Jerry Jarrett

December 12, 1995 Memphis, Tennessee, Mid-South Coliseum

USWA: United States Wrestling Association

with Frank Morrell defeated Bob Armstrong & Gene Johnson

As Jerry's mother Teeny was a wrestling promoter, Jarrett first began in the wrestling business at the age of 7 selling programs.  At age 14 he began promoting his own shows and didn't set into the ring until 1965 at the age of 22 or 23.  His in ring career spanned 30 years, however he is better known today as the promoter and partial owner of numerous wrestling companies including Continental Wrestling Association, the USWA: United States Wrestling Association, and was a founder of NWA TNA.  Along the way he worked as a consultant for WCW and it was set to take over the WWF should Vince McMahon had been found guilty in the steroid trial.  He passed away in 2023 at the age of 80. 

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Until Next Time!

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.