Showing posts with label Billy Gunn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Billy Gunn. Show all posts

Friday, April 19, 2019

Signed Trading Cards: Billy Gunn, Iron Sheik, Best Friends, & SCU

This post is highlighting the cards that I acquired during my IndyMania Wrestling Vacation in New York City April 3rd - 6th, 2019.

The theme of this set is dual signatures!

Billy Gunn

These cards I got signed on Friday April 5th at the Wrestlecon convention.  The first card is a Smoking Gunns card released by the WWF in 1995 as part of a set in WWF Magazine.  You can read all about me getting this card signed by Bart Gunn here.  The second card is from the 1998 Comic Images WWF Superstarz set.  I got this card signed by Road Dogg a few years ago.  The final card is from the 2008 Tristar TNA Impact set.

When I told Billy the story about how long it took Bart to get the card back from her he laughed heartily and said that, that sounded about right for Bart.

Iron Sheik

These cards I got signed on Friday April 5th at the Wrestlecon convention.  The first card is from the 1985 WWF Topps set and the second is from the 1985 WWF O-Pee-Chee series II card set that was released in Canada.  I got the card signed by Nikolai Volkoff many years ago and I've been trying to get it signed by the Iron Sheik since then.

I didn't want to miss my opportunity to get it signed at Wrestlecon and neither did anyone else as Sheik's line was consistently long all day Friday and Saturday.  I'm guessing like myself many felt that at 77 this might be that last chance we have to meet him.

Trent and Chuck Taylor

These cards I got signed on Thursday April 4th at the Wrestlecon Supershow.  The first card is a 2010 WWE Topps card that I had signed by Caylen Croft back in 2017, you can read about that here.  The second card is from the All In set released in 2018 from Highspots in conjunction with the All In event.  I got both signed by Trent at this event and the All In card signed by Chuckie T.  I had gotten cards signed by both of them previously: Trent & Chuck Taylor.

SCU: Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, & Scorpio Sky

I got this cards signed on Wednesday April 3rd at Beyond Wrestling Uncharted Territory episode 1 from the Electric Haze in Worcester, Massachusetts.  This card is from the All In set released in 2018 from Highspots in conjunction with the All In event.

This is the first Scorpio Sky card that I am aware of.  I previous got cards signed by both Daniels and Kazarian.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you're at it check out my weekly podcast The Wrestling Insomniac on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network. 

Later Readers!

Sunday, February 17, 2019

Signed Trading Card: Bart Gunn

Mike Polchlopek wrestled in the WWE as Bart Gunn from 1993 until 1999.  The majority of that run was as one half over the very successful tag team The Smoking Gunns with "brother" Billy Gunn.  Together they were three time WWE Tag Team Champions.


This card was released in 1995 by the WWE and was available only in the WWF Magazine.  Specifically this card was part of the set that was included in the April 1995 issue.


Last week I got a FaceBook friend request from a woman named Jennifer that I didn't know and it wasn't the typical spam friend request this person was local but I just didn't recognize her so I figured it was a mistake and hit delete.  A couple days later I get a Facebook Messenger message from her:


"Hey! Sorry to bother you but my dad is also Michael Labbe and I think he got a piece of your mail which he accidentally opened (because of the name of course).  When he was telling me about it I remembered you from the dojo with the kids!  Did you order a wrestling card?"

I order wrestling cards multiple times a month and this is the first time that this has happened so I thought it was odd.  My oldest son took karate for two years and Jennifer was one of the teenagers that help out with Canaan's age group.  Thing is he hasn't taken Karate in five years and I just didn't recognize her.

So I pick up the envelope from her and immediately I'm confused for two reasons, her dad lives in Pittston and I live in Gardiner.  The towns are close to each other and they use the same post office for delivery but they are different towns.  Also the address on the card is from my Gardiner, PO Box which I closed out in 1995! And yes the envelope was postmarked January 15, 2019.

Original Cover
Back in February 1995 I found an address online for Mike Polchlopek in Florida and being a unique name I took the chance and mailed the card with a self addressed stamped envelope and when I didn't get it back a few months later I figured that it was never coming back.  That happens more than I'd like it too, but it's the chances you take.  To get this card back FOUR years later is crazy, to have it get sent to my old PO BOX get routed to a different Michael Labbe and for his daughter to happened to know who I was, mind boggling.

Alternate Cover
This is one of the reasons why I don't but signed cards, the story behind each autograph that I get makes it worth the effort.  This April I'm going to WrestleCon where Billy Gunn will be appearing and you can bet on the fact that I will get him to sign this card!

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you're at it check out my weekly podcast The Wrestling Insomniac on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network. 

Later Readers!

Monday, October 9, 2017

Who is the most prolific tag team wrestler


In my lifetime there have been a few teams with longevity that is unreal.  For example The Rock n' Roll Express have been teaming since 1983 and are still going strong and The Road Warriors and The Dudley Boys were together for twenty years.

I'm a big fan of tag team wrestling and some wrestlers are better at it than others.  Some guys, like Billy Gunn, are good singles wrestlers but great tag team wrestlers.  In this post I take a look at wrestlers who excelled at tag team wrestling with different partners. 


"Enforcer" Arn Anderson
A member of the legendary Four Horsemen and Anderson Family "The Enforcer" first began teaming with Jerry Stubbs in the Alabama territory Southeast Championship Wrestling capturing the NWA Southeastern Tag Team Championship three times.  He had a fourth title reign with Pat Rose before leaving for Jim Crockett Promotions.

Once he arrived in the Carolina's he began teaming with Ole Anderson as The Minnesota Wrecking Crew.  Together the Anderson's captured the NWA National Tag Team Championships on April 28, 1985 holding them until early 1986 when Ole was injured.  The titles were later abandoned and replaced with the United States Tag Team Championships.

Next Anderson began teaming with Tully Blanchard, one of the greatest tag team of all time.  The duo would capture two NWA and one WWF World Tag Team Championships.  In the WWF Anderson and Blanchard were known as the Brain Busters.  Returning to WCW Anderson held the WCW World Tag Team Championships with Larry Zbyszko, "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton, and Paul Roma.

In total Anderson had 11 reigns as Tag Team Champion with 7 different partners.


Stan Lane
Stan Lane was a Fabulous One, a Heavenly Body, a former member of the Midnight Express, and a 33 time tag team champion.

From 1982 until 1987 Steve Keirn and Stan Lane teamed as the Fabulous Ones touring the Southern territories and setting them on fire.  They captured the tag team championships twenty times in four different promotions including becoming 15 time AWA Southern Champions.  After breaking up they reunited briefly in 1991 in the USWA adding championship to their Legacy.

Lane joined the Midnight Express in early 1987 and it didn't take long for the duo to win tag team gold as he and partner Bobby Eaton defeated Ronnie Garvin & Barry Windham just four months after their formation.  They would hold the US Tag Team titles twice and the World Tag Team Championships one time during their near four year run as partners.

 April 9, 1992 Lane arrived in Smoky Mountain wrestling teaming with Tom Prichard to form The Heavenly Bodies managed by Jim Cornette.  The were the first ever SMW Tag Team Champions and just over a year later in May 1993 Lane left the team having held the titles five times.

In an interesting twist, Stan Lane wrestled his first match as a member of the Midnight Express on January 1, 1987 in Atlanta for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and is final match as a member of The Fabulous Ones in a Barbed-Wire Cage Match in the CWA on February 16, 1987.


"Beautiful" Bobby Eaton
Best known as being one half of the Midnight Express with "Loverboy" Dennis Condrey and later "Sweet" Stan Lane, Eaton has 23 reigns as tag team champion with ten different partners.

With Dennis Condrey they held 7 different championships a total of nine times ranging from little known regional and independent titles and the NWA World Tag Team Championship 3 times. With Stan Lane the duo held the NWA United States Tag Team Championships three times and the NWA World Tag Team Championship once.

Eaton held tag team championships with "Enforcer" Arn Anderson, Rikki Nelson, Sweet Brown Sugar, Duke Myers, Lanny Poffo, George Gulas, Mexican Angel, Great Togo, and others.


Billy Gunn
Gunn had three long term tag team partners starting with Bart Gunn than the Road Dog Jesse James and finally Chuck Palumbo.  With these three partners Gunn held six different championships 16 times.

As one half of the Smoking Gunns in the WWE they are three time tag team champions.  Prior to joining the WWE they wrestled as The Long Riders holding the International Wrestling Federation tag team championships twice.  They teamed together just for 3.5 years.

Gunn first teamed with Road Dogg Jesse James on the October 4, 1997 episode of Monday Night Raw.  over the next 18 years the duo would team on and off in multiple promotions including the WWE, TNA, and a few dozen independent promotions.  Known primarily as New Age Outlaws and being a part of Degeneration-X they also teamed under the names James Gang and Voodoo Kin Mafia in TNA.

In between his time teaming with Road Dogg, Gunn teamed with Chuck Palumbo under the tag team Billy & Chuck.  The duo were only together for about a year holding the World Tag Team Championships two times.  They created a tremendous buzz as their characters portrayed being in a relationship together.

Other men holding multiple tag team championships with different partners includes

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you at it check out my weekly podcast Podcast of 1,000 Holds on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network. 

Later Readers!