Sunday, December 26, 2021

The Iron Sheik's WWF World Title Defenses

On Monday, December 20, 2021 on the horrible Peacock network WWE posted 6 Madison Square Garden shows in their old school section.  All six shows were from 1983, including the historic match where The Iron Sheik captured the WWF World Championship from Bob Backlund.


I don't recall ever watching this match in it's entirety only the finish of the match.  On the episode of All Star Wrestling that aired on Christmas Eve 1983, taped December 7th, the Iron Sheik challenged anyone to perform with his Persian clubs, no one had been successful before.  This is schtick that the Sheik had been doing for years and I saw him do it at an Indie who in Maine in 1998, I tried it, it's VERY hard to do.


On his third attempt Bob Backlund was successful and he was attacked by the Iron Sheik who struck Backlund with in the back of the neck several time injuring him.  Thirty-nine years ago today, On December 26, 1983 Backlund stepped in the ring at Madison Square Garden against The Iron Sheik who dominated the match wearing Backlund down and applying his dreaded Camel Clutch wrenching back on the champion until his Manager Arnold Skaaland threw in the towel ending Backlund's 2,135 day championship reign.

The narrative had always been that Bob Backlund never got his rematch with the Iron Sheik, but as you'll read below he did get a few return matches, including one Boston, which was a big market.  Sheik wrestled all around the then WWF territory as champion wrestling almost everyday of his 28 day reign.  

December 27, 1983 Lancaster, Pennsylvania
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik pinned Chief Jay Strongbow with his feet on the ropes

December 28, 1983 Hazleton, Pennsylvania
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik defeated Bob Bradley

December 29, 1983 Landover, Maryland
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik defeated Salvatore Bellomo

December 30, 1983 Salisbury, Maryland
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik defeated Pat Patterson by disqualification

January 2, 1984 Scranton, Pennsylvania
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik defeated Salvatore Bellomo

January 3, 1984 Allentown, Pennsylvania
Championship Wrestling television 

Aired January 7, 1984
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik submitted John Callahan

Aired January 21, 1984
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik  submitted Mike Dorsett

January 4, 1984 Hamburg, Pennsylvania
All Star Wrestling Television Taping

Aired January 7, 1984
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik submitted Denny Hill

Aired January 14, 1984
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik submitted Ken Jugan

January 5, 1984 Shippensburg, Pennsylvania
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik defeated Israel Matia

January 6, 1984 La Plata, Maryland
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik pinned Chief Jay Strongbow

January 7, 1984 Erie, Pennsylvania
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik defeated Salvatore Bellomo

January 8, 1984 Cincinnati, Ohio
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik defeated Pat Patterson by disqualification

January 9, 1984 Akron, Ohio
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik defeated Pat Patterson by disqualification

January 11, 1984 Jericho, New York
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik pinned Chief Jay Strongbow


January 12, 1984 Marlboro, Massachusetts 
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik defeated Salvatore Bellomo

January 13, 1984 Bangor, Maine
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik pinned Chief Jay Strongbow

January 14, 1984 Boston, Massachusetts
Bob Backlund defeated WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik by disqualification

January 15, 1984 Pittsfield, Massachusetts
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik defeated Ivan Putski

January 16, 1984 Oil City, Pennsylvania
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik defeated Salvatore Bellomo

January 18, 1984 Warren, Ohio 
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik fought Bob Backlund to a no contest

January 19, 1984 Monongahela, Pennsylvania
Bob Backlund defeated WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik by disqualification

January 20, 1984 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik pinned Chief Jay Strongbow

January 21, 1984 Landover, Maryland (matinee show)
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik competed in an 18 man battle royal that was won by Andre the Giant 

January 21, 1984 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik fought Tito Santana to a double disqualification

January 22, 1984 Williamsport, Pennsylvania
WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik pinned Chief Jay Strongbow

Ivan Putski defeated WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik by disqualification

January 23, 1984 Madison Square Garden
Hulk Hogan pinned WWF World Champion: The Iron Sheik to win the championship


Sheik wrestled four matches on the syndicated shows in his 28 day reign as champion, by comparison in a 6 year period Hogan only wrestled 12 matches as champion on the syndicated shows.  You can read about it here:  Hulk Hogan's Rare TV Matches

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 new book Limitless Wrestling: The First Five Years, or any of my other books as well.  

Until next time!

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Stan Stasiak's WWWF Championship Matches

Stan “The Man” Stasiak was a journeymen wrestler competing for 26 years from 1958 to 1984.  He held numerous regional championships in the United States and his native Canada, however he only held a recognized world championship a single time for nine days in 1973.  A transition champion he defeated the great Pedro Morales in and lost the title to the legendary Bruno Sammartino.  

To my knowledge he only held defended the championship one time before dropping the strap to Bruno.  The only footage I’m aware of Stasiak as champion is his title loss to Bruno which you can find on YouTube.

December 1, 1973 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Stan Stasiak pinned WWWF World Champion: Pedro Morales to win the title at 17:42 when all four men's shoulders were down following a back suplex from the champion; after the bout, Stasiak was not announced as the new champion for fear of a riot - rather the ring announcer simply said "Let's hear it for a great champion, Pedro Morales"; the title change was announced the following Saturday on television; Barney Solomon was the referee for the bout

December 4, 1973 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Championship Wrestling television taping
Aired December 8, 1973
Stan Stasiak was announced as champion for the first hour of tapings

December 5, 1973 Hamburg, Pennsylvania
All Star Wrestling television taping
Aired December 8, 1973
Stan Stasiak was announced as champion for the first hour of tapings

Photo from Shawn Stasiak's Twitter

December 6, 1973 Worcester, Massachusetts

Pedro Morales & Chief Jay Strongbow defeated WWWF World Champion: Stan Stasiak & Blackjack Lanza

December 7, 1973 North Attleboro, Massachusetts
WWWF World Champion: Stan Stasiak fought Chief Jay Strongbow to a no contest

December 10, 1973 Madison Square Garden
Bruno Sammartino with Arnold Skaaland pinned WWWF World Champion: Stan Stasiak with The Grand Wizard at 12:35 to win the title after three consecutive bodyslams

Although his title run is little more than a footnote between Morales and Sammartino, he was champion at a time when all fans knew it meant something to be champion.  It gave him immediate credibility for all of this matches in the future.  He was the fifth man to hold the title, and was trusted by Vince McMahon Sr. to be that transition champion.

A special thank you to The History of WWE for the results in this post.

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 new book Limitless Wrestling: The First Five Years, or any of my other books as well.  

Until next time!


Saturday, December 11, 2021

No Way!? They Wrestled (Sting vs. The Undertaker)

I love obscure wrestling history and lately I've been invested in learning about matches that people tend to be surprised that happened (for example: Ultimo Dragon vs. The Macho Man). I thought it would be fun to highlight some of these matches and share them with the masses.

I think all wrestling fans of a certain age had an intense desire to see Sting and The Undertaker face-off against one another. It was certainly a dream match of mine. Of course, Sting was loyal to WCW and then eventually TNA. It wasn't until 2014 that it seemed like the match that so many of us wrestling fans from the 90's wanted was going to happen. Well... it didn't. Stings run in the WWE was a joke and two of the darkest superstars never faced off in an epic battle... or did they?

On September 1st, 1990 at the Greensboro Coliseum, The Undertaker, then known was Mean Marc Callous, challenged the NWA Heavyweight Champion Sting. Sting successfully defended his title and 2.5 months later, Mean Marc would debut as The Undertaker in the WWF.

Sadly no footage exists of this match and only a single picture has made it's way onto the internet. The two legends share the ring two days prior in a tag match where Sting and Lex Luger defeated Mean Marc and Moondog Rex.



Friday, December 3, 2021

It's Sting! A WrestleCade 2021 Moment

The main reason I attended WrestleCade this year was to meet Sting. Sting is my favorite wrestler and is in the list of five celebrities I've always wanted to meet. Due to some financial restraints I was forced to skip meeting him several years ago at WrestleCade but I refused to be denied this year. It was a birthday gift to myself.

My buddy Jimmy and I found ourselves near the front of the line to meet Sting last Saturday morning. He walked in at 9:40 PM dressed in his ring gear and t-shirt and the crowd went nuts. He hyped everyone up and someone yelled, "What time is it?" and he responded, "Showtime, of course."

The lined move quickly as Sting power signed and posed with pictures. There was a concern that Sting may not make it through the massive line that had formed to meet him, but that wasn't an issue for us since we were so close to the front.

I'll be honest, it happened so fast I didn't even have a chance to speak. I wanted to tell Sting thanks for coming to AEW and tell him how much his feud with the nWo meant to me as a teenager, but by the time I walked up and shook his hand, I smiled and was on my way. My wife was kind enough to video tape the entire encounter which you can see here.


The photos were taken by the AML staff photographer and uploaded to Flickr five days after they were taken. I received simultaneous texts from Jimmy and Michael right as they were released and I'm quite thankful for that, because I still am not sure where they saw the announcement that they were ready!

I did some minor cropping, but I'm very happy with the photo. It wasn't the most interesting conversation or moment I had over the weekend, but I can say I've met Sting, the legend... The Icon and I'm so happy for it.