New Grail Card Update 3! ITS COMPLETE!

As you can read from the title of this blog post, after over two and a half years I have finally completed my grail card from the 1988 NWA Wonderama set, card #339 Four Horsemen.

Please read the past blogs to get the full story on this card, especially Update Part 2.

May 17, 2022: New Grail Card

February 11, 2023: New Grail Card Update

June 7, 2023: New Grail Card Update 2!

JJ Dillon was announced to be at WrestleCade back in the Spring, after I missed out in May I put my sights on November.  I knew I wouldn't be able to go myself, it's the day after Thanksgiving, my wife's favorite holiday, and I went to WrestleCon this year. 

Thankfully good buddy Brandon lives in North Carolina and was willing to go to WrestleCade this year to get JJ Dillon to finish the card.  Brandon had already gotten Lex and David Crockett to sign it for me at last years WrestleCade.  

I've heard from so many people that JJ wasn't doing well, physically, and this just be one of if not his final conventions appearance so I sent 5 NWA Wonderama Cards for JJ to sign.  My buddy Brandon said JJ seems great, but was moving a little slow, he wouldn't be surprised if his conventions days were coming to an end.  

Brandon's wife took the great pictures of JJ signing the cards, JJ liked how I had them set on the paper with the corner holders, made it easier for him to sign them, he also talked about the images in each of the cards. 

These are the five cards that I got him to sign this go round, I would have preferred if he signed the logo card a bit smaller as I plan to get several other signatures on it.

  

These are the previous cards I already had signed by JJ so I have completed the NWA Wonderama cards featuring him, and I have that WCW card signed as well.  

Here the tally sheet on what I spend completing this card:

Purchased card on eBay May 9, 2022 cost $42.20

Arn Anderson signed June 10, 2022 cost $25

David Crockett signed November 26, 2022 cost $40

Lex Luger signed November 26, 2022 cost $40

Ric Flair signed January 15, 2023 cost $87.89

Tully Blanchard signed May 4, 2024 cost $40

JJ Dillon signed November 30, 2024 cost $25

Various Shipping Charges for mailing card: $23.40

Total cost: $323.49

I'm on the fence about getting this graded and authenticated.  I guess it depends on the cost.  I only know of 1 other card that is signed by all 6 men.

My buddy Jay & I attended the 2009 NWA Legends Fanfest in Charlotte, NC that featured a 4 Horsemen reunion.  I posted a blog about it back in 2015 and you can read that here: NWA Legends Fanfest 2009

At that convention we could get two items signed, Jay got this free program and he had Ole Anderson, Barry Windham, & Lex Luger sign it then, he found it recently and at my encouragement recommended that he finish it off.  I mean with that Ole Anderson signature if he didn't to, I would have done it.  Brandon was able to get JJ and Arn Anderson to sign it for him, he just needs to Ric Flair to finish the piece.

  

I'm very excited to have completed this card.  It feels great to have such an amazing piece in my collection.  I can't help but feel, what is next!?

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!

My Great American Bash 1988 Program

On July 10, 1988 the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland was the site of The Great American Bash, the final Jim Crockett Promotions pay-per-view event.  On this day, the 36th Anniversary of the event I thought it would be a great time to share, in depth, the original program from this event that I acquired at WrestleCon during mania weekend this year. 

Rolling into day 2 of WrestleCon this year, April 6th, I was slated to get a 1991 Impel WCW Card of the Four Horsemen signed by SID and Ric Flair.  This card features, Barry Windham, SID, Ric Flair, & Arn Anderson.  I had Arn sign it on June 10, 2022 at a Big Time Wrestling show in Webster, MA.

Barry Windham was supposed to sign the card in March of this year at the Wrestling Classic, however due to a Spring snowstorm his flight was cancelled.  They did do a private signing make up in June, however It was not announced until May.

That morning I get to the hall and look for SID and he is not at his table.  I ask the handlers there who tell me that SID cancelled last minute.  I had heard rumors that SID was a frequent no show or last minute cancellation type guy.  Not wanting to waste the $79 Ric Flair signature I pre-paid for I didn't want him to sign this card, trouble is I didn't bring anything else.  So the hunt was on to find something else for Flair to sign and quickly.  

I started searching around at vendor tables looking for Wonderama Trading cards and I found one, but it's Michael Hayes slamming Flair, why would I want Flair to sign that?  I mean if Hayes had signed it, sure, but not Flair first.  I was stressing hard.

I got in line for Flair, ended up in line for over 2 hours.  I tried to sell my Flair ticket, but didn't have any luck there.  I was frustrated because it's $79 for Flair to sign something and I wasn't happy with what I was getting signed.  The vendor that I bought the card from also had an original Great American Bash 1988 Program for $60.  I just didn't want to spend more money as I had spent quite a bit already.

Ultimately, I wasn't happy with the card, I love Jim Crockett Promotions and this is an original and official piece of JCP merchandise.  My favorite wrestling to watch is JCP from 1984 - 1988 and I love the Great American Bash tours, this was the last one under the JCP banner, also this was the first ever Great American Bash PPV and the last ever Crockett PPV.  My buddy Bradford watched my place in line and I ran back upstairs and bought it.

As I neared the front of the line many people saw what I was getting signed and that it was a cool piece to get signed.  Flair even remarked how nice it was.  After getting Flair to sign it I decided to spent another $60 to have Lex Luger sign it as he and Flair wrestled in the main event on the show.  He too thought it was a beautiful piece and talked about the match.  I've met Luger twice and both times he couldn't have been a nicer guy.

I debated having others at WrestleCon who appeared on the show sign the program as well, Arn Anderson and The Rock n' Roll Express, but then I thought, no I can't get everyone on the show to sign it, and they way Flair and Luger signed it, it was too perfect.  I couldn't be happier with how this piece turned out.

 

My plan is to frame it and hang it, however I'm going to share all the pages of the inside of the program at the end of this post.

Great American Bash 1988 Results

July 10, 1988 Baltimore Arena, Maryland

NWA World Tag Team Champions: "Enforcer" Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard with JJ Dillon wrestled Sting and "The Russian Nightmare" Nikita Koloff to a 20 minute time limit draw

The Midnight Express: "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton & "Sweet" Stan Lane with Jim Cornette defeated NWA United States Tag Team Champions: The Fantastics: Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers to win the championships

Tower of Doom Match: The Road Warriors: Hawk & Animal, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin, and Jimmy "Jam" Garvin with Precious defeated Al Perez, "Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff, Kevin Sullivan, "Captain" Mike Rotunda, and The Russian Assassin with Gary Hart and "Mr. Number 1" Paul Jones

NWA United States Champion: Barry Windham with JJ Dillon defeated "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes

NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair with JJ Dillon defeated "The Total Package" Lex Luger by referee stoppage

Check out all of my posts from our wrestling trip to Philly

More Than Mania Philadelphia Adventure

More Than Mania Rasslin Photos

More Than Mania Mike with Friends and Rasslers!

More Than Mania Signed Cards

More Than Mania Wrestling Results

Read a blog post I wrote about The Great American Bash in general in 2017. 

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!

New Grail Card Update 2!

If you've been following this blog you may recall back on May 17, 2022 I posted about my new grail trading card, from the 1988 NWA Wonderama set, card #339 Four Horsemen.

The Second update was posted on February 11, 2023, here is the time line of events

May 9, 2022 I ordered the card on Ebay, total with tax and free shipping was $42.20 it was delivered on May 12, 2022. 

The first signature I was able to get Arn Anderson at Big Time Wrestling in Webster, Massachusetts he was managing Brock Anderson and Brian Pillman Jr. in tag team action who were wrestling FTR managed by Bret "Hitman" Hart.  Amazing right!

I got Arn to sign several cards that night, as well as FTR and got my picture with them and Brock Anderson.  It was a great night!

Next, I mailed the card to my buddy Brandon who attended WrestleCade 2022 held November 25 - 27 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  David Crockett was scheduled to attend and he doesn't do many signings.  I got 3 cards total signed by David, the other two NWA Wonderama cards already signed by Tony Schiavone.  He was also able to get Luger to sign it for me.  

Fiterman Sports Group out of Texas is the signing agent for "Nature Boy" Ric Flair.  I wasn't sure if I'd ever see Flair again, turns out I saw him in 2024 in Philadelphia, so I mailed the card off to a signing they were doing in Houston on January 15, 2023.  I mailed two cards, the second being another NWA Wonderama.  

That just left Tully Blanchard and JJ Dillon. Sadly neither appeared at WrestleCon this year.  Reaching out to others about JJ Dillon it was relayed to me that he is not in the best of health so was hoping to see him in Philly and was sad he didn't appear.

However, he and Tully as well as Barry Windham and Arn Anderson appeared at 80's Wrestling Con in Morristown, New Jersey on May 4th.  There was no way I was going to be able to go, but a friend of mine Erik had a friend name Antonio going to the show.  He connected us together and Antonio was going to be a huge solid and get it signed. 

I mailed the grail card to Antonio along with two other JJ Dillon Cards and two Tully Blanchard cards, all NWA Wonderama.  I figured might as well get some others signed.  Unfortunately during the event there was some confusion and he was only able to get Tully to sign the card.  He got JJ to sign the other cards, he just didn't give JJ the grail card.  

I can't be mad about it, he did a complete stranger a favor and he feels bad about it.  It is what it is, hopefully I can get JJ to sign this year.  Part of me wants to get that last signature myself in person, but at this point I just want to finish it off. 

 

Arn Anderson signed June 10, 2022 cost $25

David Crockett signed November 26, 2022 cost $40

Lex Luger signed November 26, 2022 cost $40

Ric Flair signed January 15, 2023 cost $87.89

Tully Blanchard signed May 4, 2024 cost $40

Total investment so far: $275.09

I think it would make sense that once complete send it to PSA for grading and authentication.  

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

Until next time!

Wrestlers on TV Shows: The 90's Part 1

When I started this post I didn't realize just how big it was going to be so here I bring to you Part 1 of Wrestlers on TV Shows: The 90's.

Check out my others posts about Wrestlers on TV Shows in the 1950's & 60's, 1970's and 1980's.

Boy Meets World
Season 2 Episode 21 "The Thrilla in Phila" Aired May 5, 1995
Season 3 Episode 13 "New Friends and Old" Aired January 19, 1996
Season 4 Episode 9 "Sixteen Candles and Four-Hundred-Pound Men" Aired November 15, 1996

Leon White aka Big Van Vader guest starred on all three episodes as Francis Albert Stecchino Sr. the father of Bully turned Good Guy Frankie Jr played by Ethan Suplee.  The season 4 episode also features Earl Hebner, Bruce Prichard as Brother Love, and Jake "The Snake" Roberts.    The first episode Vader was working for WCW, the second he was and Independent, and the third and final episode he was wrestling for WWE.

Lonesome Dove: The Series & The Outlaw Years
Season 1 Episode 17 "Traveler" Aired May 1, 1995
Season 1 Episode 21 "Snowbound" Aired May 29, 1995
Season 2 Episode 10 "Day of the Dead" December 14, 1995
Season 2 Episode 13 "Angel" January 27, 1996
Season 2 Episode 17 'The Hideout" March 21, 1996
Season 2 Episode 18 "Partners" March 28, 1996
Season 2 Episode 22 "Love and War" May 16, 1996

Lonesome Dove was a western drama that aired in syndication in the United States and on CTV in Canada.  The Second season was renames Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years.  Bret "Hitman" Hart guest starred on all these episodes as Luther Root a trapper and guide that is a friend of Newt Call who the show is centered around.

Honey I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show
Season 2 Episode 8 "Honey, I'm Wrestling with a Problem...and the Chief"
Aired November 21, 1998

Bret and Owen Hart both appear in this episode.  They are playing wrestlers that are injured at the Szalinski's residence and they have a big match coming up.  So Wayne and his friend have to take their place in the match using one of Wayne's wacky inventions in the process.  What I find interesting is at the time this was filmed Bret was working for WCW and Owen WWE.

Superboy
Season 3 Episode 10 "Mindscape"
Aired December 8, 1990

Superboy was a half hour syndicated show that ran four seasons from 1988 - 1992.  In this episode an alien creature attaches himself to Superboy's body causing him to have horrendous nightmares.  Including one where "Total Package" Leg Luger guest stars as Super Boy Mark II and evil version of the boy of steel.

That 70's Show
Season 1 Episode 15 That Wrestling Show
Aired: February 7, 1999

Kitty makes Red take Eric and the gang to the local wrestling matches.  There they watch The Rock playing his father "Soulman" Rocky Johnson as he battles Ken Shamrock who was listed as Wrestler #1 in the credits.  Also on the show at Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, The Big Cat Ernie Ladd, and "Judo" Gene LeBell as the referee.

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 podcast The Wrestling Insomniac on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network. 

Until Next Time!

Signed Trading Cards: Barry Windham, Ronnie Garvin, Lex Luger, & Magnum TA

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

The theme in this post that links the wrestlers together is the NWA: National Wrestling Alliance.  All these wrestling in this post were prominently featured in that promoting during the heyday of Jim Crockett Promotions.  The NWA Wonderama cards are among my all time favorite to get signed.

Barry Windham

These cards I got signed on Friday April 5th at the Wrestlecon Convention.  The first card is from the 1988 Wonderama set for Jim Crockett Promotions, the second card is from the WCW 1991 Championship Marketing set.  Previously I had gotten a WWF card signed of him and Rotunda at the US Express.  Windham is one of my all time favorites, he was so good in the ring especially for a man his size.  His flying clothesline was tremendous!

Ronnie Garvin

These cards I got signed on Friday April 5th at the Wrestlecon Convention.  The first card is from the 1988 Wonderama set for Jim Crockett Promotions.  The second card is from the 1989 WWF Classic set released by Game Time Inc.  I recently wrote a blog about Garvin and you can about it here: Ronnie Garvin: His NWA World Championship Matches

Lex Luger

These cards I got signed on Friday April 5th at the Wrestlecon Convention.  My intention was to get three cards signed and I brought the extra and ask if he would like them.  I gave away many cards to wrestlers on this trip.  Luger at first said thank you, but then signed them all and gave them to me saying he had boxes of them at home.

Cards 1 - 3 are from the 1988 Wonderama set for Jim Crockett Promotions, cards 4 & 5 are from the WCW 1991 Championship Marketing set.  Card 6 is from the 1993 Merlin set that was released in Germany.  The final card is from the 1999 WCW Topps Embossed set.  These seven cards really show the progression of his career.

Magnum TA

This card I got signed on Saturday April 6th at the Wrestlecon Convention.  I bought the card direct from Magnum TA. It is in the style of the 1982 & 1983 Wrestling All Stars trading cards but this one is not part of either set and the back is white and blank.  I had gone over to his table just to tell him that his I Quit Steel Cage match with Tully Blanchard is one of my all time favorites.  I'm really glad that I picked it up!  Previously I had gotten an NWA Wonderama card signed by him.

I spoke with David Peck http://www.1982wrestlingallstars.com/ an expert on the Wrestling All Stars trading cards.  He let me know that a Wrestling All Stars calendar came out in 1984 for Mid-South Wrestling and that this image of Magnum TA is from January in that calendar.  This explains why the back is white and there is no traditional text.

You can watch his You Tube video on the calendar here: 1984 Wrestling All Stars Calendar

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!

Roy's Review: WrestleMania X & XI

Match 1: Owen Hart defeated Bret Hart. Very good match. One of the best opening matches in Wrestlemania history. Very good technical match and a great story to it. The Hart family feud is one of my favorite storylines in wrestling history.
8.75/10

Match 2: Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon defeated Doink the Clown and Dink. Awful, just awful.
0.5/10

Match 3: Randy Savage defeated Crush w/Mr. Fuji in a Falls Count Anywhere Match. The rules to this one were awful. They could battle anywhere and pins counted anywhere, but when someone was pinned they had 60 seconds to get back into the ring or they lost, not when they were pinned. Despite these terrible rules it wasn't a horrible match. It would have been way better had they used the normal Falls Count Anywhere rules. This was Savage's last match in WWE.
6/10

Match 4: Women's Champion Alundra Blayze defeated Leilani Kai. Kai was way past her prime and Blayze had only about 3 moves. This was pretty bad.
2/10

Match 5: Men on a Mission (Mo and Mabel) w/Oscar defeated Tag Team Champions The Quebecers (Jacques and Pierre) w/Johnny Polo by Count-Out. This match kinda sucked because MOM is terrible. Plus the count out finish on the biggest PPV of the year didn't help out either.
3.75/10

Match 6: WWF Champion Yokozuna w/Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette defeated Lex Luger with Mr. Perfect as special referee to retain. This was a pretty good match. I've always thought that Luger and Yoko had good matches with a really good story just for some reason the finish always ruins it. It kinda sucks that Perfect's back got re injured because the finish of this one was a good set up for a feud between him and Luger.
7/10

Match 8: Earthquake defeated Adam Bomb w/Harvey Wippleman. A 35 second squash
0/10

Match 9: Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon defeated Shawn Michaels w/Diesel in a Ladder Match to retain. This was absolutely crazy for 1994. Way ahead of its time. These guys killed it and deserved to win match of the year.
10/10

Match 10: Bret Hart defeated WWF Champion Yokozuna w/Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette to win the WWF Championship. Solid match but nothing really special. It was kinda what you would expect from these two. The finished really sucked. Yoko falling off the 2nd rope when going for the banzai drop and losing, awful.
6.75/10

This show is memorable for 2 reasons, the ladder match and Bret vs. Owen. The 2 Yoko matches would have been way better if the finishes didn't suck. Why did he always have bad finishes as champion? 

Match 1: The Allied Powers (Lex Luger and The British Bulldog) defeated Jacob and Eli Blu w/Uncle Zebekiah. This match sucked. The only time the Harris Brothers were even remotely good was in ECW. Luger and Bulldog were a bad team. Mostly because Luger was terrible.
3.5/10

Match 2: Razor Ramon w/1-2-3 Kid defeated Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett w/The Roadie by DQ. A DQ finish at Wrestlemania is terrible, especially in a title match. Aside from that this was a solid match as these 2 always had. The DQ came when Razor had Jarrett up in the Razor's Edge and The Roadie came in and clipped his knee.
7/10

Match 3: The Undertaker w/Paul Bearer defeated King Kong Bundy w/Ted Dibiase. This match was awful because Bundy is awful. Dibiase had the urn at the beginning of the match. Taker got it back but Kama came out and stole it back.
3.5/10

Match 4: Owen Hart and Yokozuna w/Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette defeated Tag Team Champions The Smoking Gunns (Billy and Bart) to win the titles. Yoko was Owen's mystery partner. This was a solid match and a great moment for Owen. I kinda wanted to see this match go a few more minutes.
6.5/10

Match 5: Bret Hart defeated Bob Backlund in an I Quit match with Roddy Piper as special referee. This was awful. About every 15-20 seconds, Piper was jamming the microphone in someones face, asking "Waddya Say?" If Piper had stayed out of it, it may have been better but the wrestling was bad too. The finish sucked to because Backlund didn't even say I Quit. He said Yeah instead.
3/10

Match 6: WWF Champion Diesel w/Pamela Anderson defeated Shawn Michaels w/Sycho Sid and Jenny McCarthy to retain. This was a good match but not nearly as good as many people say. I don't think it should have been Match of the Year. It was a good match up until the ending. The finish was super rushed.
7.5/10

Match 7: Lawrence Taylor w/The All-Pro Team defeated Bam Bam Bigelow w/The Million Dollar Corporation. The 2 teams got into a brawl before the match even started. Taylor did okay but had a super limited moveset. This match was watchable but not really anything more. It wasn't the worst match on the card and it had a guy who was making his wrestling debut.
5/10

This is one of the worst Wrestlemanias. There really isn't a match that is worth getting excited for. Bret Hart had a terrible match and Shawn Michaels' match was good but not great.

Thanks for reading, please take a moment to check out our other post, leave a comment, and give the facebook page a like

Later Readers!