Old School Fan

Also as noted in the previous behind-the-scenes post, the Mildred Burke Invitational Tournament was going on down South while Renée Martel and Claire Lepage were back at home defending their NWA World Women's Tag Team title in All-Star Wrestling - and down that way, Michèle Richard was dominating the tournament and cleaning up the competition, both during the tournament events themselves and on the AGWA house show circuit. Because of my coverage of Renée and Claire's title defences in All-Star (and the concurrent arrival on the scene of Grand Prix Wrestling as a developing challenger to All-Star for Quebec wrestling supremacy), I didn't cover the first three nights of the Burke tournament - but now that Renée and Claire are heading down to Los Angeles to defend their belts on the final night of the tournament, here's a look at the tourney bracket for the final night of Mildred Burke Invitational Tournament V: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * And now it's prediction time: 😁 Battle royal for the AGWA Television Championship Sylvia Hackney • Irma Acevedo • Lita Marez • Panama Franco • Joyce Becker* • Jane O'Brien • Sister Lavender • Diane Syverson • Sally Vega • Jan Vallow NWA World Women's Lightweight Championship France Gall (C) vs. Barbara O'Leary NWA United States Women's Tag Team Championship Ethel Johnson & Marva Scott (C) vs. Beverly Shade & Vicki Steppe Bodyslam match (first wrestler to bodyslam her opponent wins) Earlene Brown vs. Baby Rocco NWA United States Women's Championship Judy Arnold (C) vs. Patty Stevens NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship Renée Martel & Claire Lepage (C) vs. Georgia Hase & Judy Sowinski Plus - who will win the Mildred Burke Invitational Tournament? Mary Jane Mull • Michèle Richard • Ann Casey • Paula Steele (The winner to receive the Mildred Burke Invitational Trophy and a shot at NWA North American Women's Champion Ann Calvello) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * AKA Joyce Fowler / the original Joyce Grable.

Hmmm... So, might Raven be headed back to WCW, or will he bide his time on the indy circuit before the yet-to-be-formed NWA-TNA debuts? Only time will tell... 🤔

NWA Pacific Northwest Women's Championship (for use in Rise of a Star) While there was, in fact, a championship by this name IRL, it did not come along until during the Bruce Tharpe era of the NWA (when that title was established in Portland-based Blue Collar Wrestling); ITTL, thanks to the popularity of the AGWA, the legalization of women's wrestling in Oregon (several years earlier than IRL) and the success of the joint AGWA-PNW card from September 1968, such a title did get established in PNW - and here is that belt design.

All-Star Wrestling @ Palais des Sports May 22, 1971 - Sherbrooke, Quebec* Attendance - 3,723 Raymond Rougeau defeated Sugi Sito by submission with a sleeperhold. The Kelly Twins defeated Don Serrano & Del Skinner by disqualification. Luigi Macera defeated Bertrand Proulx** by pinfall following an overhead suplex. NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship - Two Out of Three Falls Renée Martel & Claire Lepage (C) defeated Jane O'Brien & Patty Stevens, two falls to one, when Lepage made Stevens submit to a figure-four leglock in the third fall. Jacques Rougeau & Gino Brito defeated Dick Medrano & Chin Lee when Rougeau pinned Medrano following a knockout punch. ASW Canadian Heavyweight Championship Marcel Martel (C) defeated Dick Taylor (with Eddie Creatchman) when Martel clotheslined and pinned Taylor after fending off attempted interference by Creatchman. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Although Sherbrooke is the hometown of Michèle Richard (both IRL and ITTL), she has, up to this point, consciously chosen to avoid wrestling in her hometown due to her status as a heel - though that could end up changing later. ** Bertrand Proulx is the father of Lutte Internationale jobber Ludger Proulx, who later went on to establish his own indy promotion in the Montreal area, International Championship Wrestling (not to be confused with either the Poffo family's 1979-84 Kentucky outlaw promotion or the Savoldis' 1984-95 Northeast indy promotion.

All-Star Wrestling @ Colisée de Québec May 21, 1971 - Quebec City, Quebec Attendance - 12,000+ Don Serrano defeated Luigi Macera by pinfall following a cross-bodyblock. Paul LeDuc defeated Dick Medrano by disqualification. Raymond Rougeau defeated Butch Morgan by submission with a sleeperhold. Pepe Villa & José Corea defeated Sugi Sito & Chin Lee when Villa pinned Sito. Gino Brito & Antonio Baillargeon defeated The Kelly Twins when Baillargeon pinned Pat Kelly following a flying dropkick. Jos LeDuc defeated Tor Kamata (with Eddie "The Brain" Creatchman) by pinfall following a backbreaker. NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship - Two Out of Three Falls Renée Martel & Claire Lepage (C) defeated Jane O'Brien & Patty Stevens, two falls to one. ⦁ First fall - O'Brien pinned Lepage following a powerslam. ⦁ Second fall - Lepage dropkicked Stevens off the second turnbuckle for the pin to even the match. ⦁ Third fall - Martel forced O'Brien to submit to the Alligator Clutch for the win. Jacques & Johnny Rougeau defeated Dick Taylor & Mr. X (with Eddie Creatchman) when Jacques pinned Taylor following a knockout punch. ASW Canadian Heavyweight Championship Marcel Martel (C) defeated Michel "Le Justice" Dubois (with Eddie Creatchman) by disqualification when Dick Taylor and Mr. X ran in and attacked Martel as he was about to put the figure-four leglock on Dubois; Creatchman's men triple-teamed on Martel for a few moments before Jacques and Johnny Rougeau ran in to even the sides and they and Martel battled the heel trio until running them out of the ring soon after.

And that, of course, is just the first volley fired in the soon-to-unfold All-Star vs. Grand Prix feud (which I've read described elsewhere as being the '70s equivalent of the Monday Night Wars of 1995-2001 IRL - but we'll see how it unfolds ITTL)... 😏 Hmmm... Sounds intriguing. 🤔

As seen in the previous behind-the-scenes post, Johnny Rougeau expressed his concerns about BTS complaints involving some disgruntled wrestlers on his All-Star Wrestling roster that ended up leading to the Vachons establishing some competition for All-Star - well, that competition is now right on Johnny's doorstep as the Vachons, after having already put on a handful of cards around Quebec outside of Montreal, finally put on their first Montreal card... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Grand Prix Wrestling @ Maurice Richard Arena May 20, 1971 - Montreal, Quebec Attendance - 1,200 Jerry Brown went to a time-limit draw with Johnny Fargo*. Dale Roberts defeated Pat O'Neil by pinfall. Yvon Robert Jr. defeated Don Fargo when Robert used a rolling short armscissors to force Fargo's submission. Claude Dassary** defeated Larry Hennig by pinfall following a powerslam. AWA World Heavyweight Championship Verne Gagne (C) battled Édouard Carpentier to a double-countout. Two Out of Three Falls Reggie Parks & Billy Two Rivers fought Mad Dog & Butcher Vachon to a no-contest at one fall each when both teams were disqualified in the third fall for excessive brawling. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * AKA Greg Valentine. ** AKA Hercules Cortez.

True Grit vs The Terrors Scotty Flamingo vs Tom 'Z-Man' Zenk (the future Raven will probably cheat his way to the win here) Kevin Sullivan vs Michael Hayes Sting vs Davey Boy Smith (draw) Bam Bam Bigelow vs Dustin Rhodes Big Van Vader vs Hulk Hogan

All-Star Wrestling @ Paul Sauvé Arena May 17, 1971 - Montreal, Quebec Paul LeDuc defeated Del Skinner by disqualification. The Kelly Twins defeated Butch Morgan & Ben Sharkey when Pat Kelly pinned Morgan. Gino Brito & Antonio Baillargeon defeated Don Serrano & Dick Medrano when Brito used a figure-four leglock to force Serrano to submit. NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship - Two Out of Three Falls Renée Martel & Claire Lepage (C) defeated Jane O'Brien & Patty Stevens, two falls to one, when O'Brien was disqualified in the third fall for refusing to stop choking Lepage against the ropes. Two Out of Three Falls Jacques Rougeau defeated Mr. X*, two falls to one, when X was disqualified in the third fall for using a foreign object on Rougeau. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Mr. X was a masked identity used by Dutch wrestler Hans Mortier (real name Jacob Grobbe), who also wrestled as Tarzan Zorra in Montreal after getting unmasked.

All-Star Wrestling @ Pavillon de la Jeunesse May 14, 1971 - Quebec City, Quebec Don Serrano fought Juan Lopez to a time-limit draw. Mike Kelly defeated José Corea by pinfall. Pepe Villa defeated Dick Medrano by disqualification when Medrano threw Villa over the top rope. Johnny Rougeau defeated Pat Kelly by pinfall following a flying dropkick. Tor Kamata (with Eddie "The Brain" Creatchman) defeated Jacques Rougeau by pinfall after a distraction by Creatchman allowed Kamata to use a foreign object to stun Jacques. NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship - Two Out of Three Falls Renée Martel & Claire Lepage (C) defeated Miss X I & II, two falls to one, when Lepage forced Miss X II's submission with a figure-four leglock in the third fall. ASW Canadian Heavyweight Championship Marcel Martel (C) defeated Dick Taylor (with Eddie Creatchman) by disqualification when Creatchman sent Tor Kamata to run in and attack Martel as he had Taylor trapped in a figure-four leglock; after getting out of the hold, Taylor joined Kamata in double-teaming Martel until Jacques and Johnny Rougeau ran in and chased Creatchman and his men out for the save.

All-Star Wrestling @ Hull Arena* May 13, 1971 - Hull, Quebec Luigi Macera defeated Dick Medrano by disqualification when Medrano threw Macera over the top rope. Paul LeDuc defeated Don Serrano by pinfall following an elbow drop. The Kelly Twins (Pat & Mike Kelly) defeated Sugi Sito & Chin Lee by disqualification when Sito threw powder in Mike Kelly's face. NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship - Two Out of Three Falls Renée Martel & Claire Lepage (C) defeated Miss X I & II, two falls to one. ⦁ First fall - Miss X I pinned Lepage following a powerslam. ⦁ Second fall - Lepage pinned Miss X II following a flying bodypress. ⦁ Third fall - Martel forced the submission of Miss X I with the Alligator Clutch. Jacques & Johnny Rougeau defeated Tor Kamata & Dick Taylor by disqualification when Taylor was caught using a foreign object on Johnny Rougeau. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Hull Arena, which opened in Hull (now part of Gatineau) in 1952, was later renamed the Robert Guertin Arena and has since switched to its current name of the Robert Guertin Centre; it was supplanted as Gatineau's main arena with the opening of the Centre Slush Puppie in 2021.

Yep, there's that - and it also raises some possibilities (including getting in touch with Vince Sr. and the Cormiers - though Vince Sr.'s friendship with the Fabulous Moolah could complicate things somewhat given the bad blood between Renée and Moolah)... 🤔 Wait'll you see the first Grand Prix card that gets posted. 😉

May 1971 After finishing up a trip out west for NWA All-Star Wrestling in Vancouver (with a side trip to Winnipeg for the April 29 AWA card), Renée Martel and Claire Lepage returned to Montreal for a few days off from the ring, during which time Johnny Rougeau called them over to meet with him at his office. "So, how did things go out in Vancouver?" Johnny asked the girls shortly after they arrived. "They went great, as usual," Renée replied as she handed over a documentation of the matches she and Claire appeared in. "Criss-crossing around that part of the country to defend our tag belts was a real adventure, but we heard from Gene Kiniski that our status as the World Women's Tag Team Champions helped boost the houses for our appearances at a lot of places - Port Alberni, Nanaimo, Victoria, Kamloops, Chilliwack and especially Vancouver." "We also did great on our side trip to Winnipeg for the AWA," Claire reported. "We helped draw over 11,000 for our match against Michèle and Georgia Hase, and we had Gene in our corner to counteract Michèle and Georgia having Bobby Heenan in their corner." "Excellent," Johnny remarked with a grin. "I'm glad things went well out there for you." "Before we came back to Montreal, though, Michèle told us she and Georgia had to head back down to Los Angeles for a while," Renée said. "Ah, yes," Johnny said. "Michèle had to go there because Mildred Burke booked her to appear at some events of hers over the next while. Mildred's got her annual tournament going on down in L.A. right now and she has Michèle booked as one of its participants. She wants to book you and Claire to appear for some events later on to defend your tag belts, but she doesn't need you right away - at least not until the final night of her tournament on the 25th." "Ah, I see," Renée said with a nod. "That's actually just as well too," Johnny then added, "because I'm going to need you and Claire here for the next while for some events before you both head back down South." "Why, what's up?" Claire asked. "Well, I haven't really wanted to tell you this until now," Johnny said, "but things have been kind of brewing backstage over the last little while. Some of my guys - particularly the Vachons - have been doing some grumbling over their place on the roster during that time, and at least a couple of them - and I'm not going to say who - have said they resent having to share the spotlight with female wrestlers as a regular part of my cards. Those anonymous wrestlers even complained about having to be kept off of major Forum cards to make way for the all-girl events I put on last year and back in '68." "Really?" Claire said, starting to feel somewhat small over hearing that bit of news. "I told those guys who came to me and complained about that that this is the 1970s, that this is a different time from a decade ago and that women have as much of a place in the wrestling ring as the guys do, like they did back when Mildred Burke was wrestling," Johnny said. "I told them that if they have a problem with that, it's their problem, but I'm standing by my girls and that's just how it is." "Well, good," Renée said. "I'm glad you did. If those guys who said they don't want to share the ring or the locker room area with the girls can't deal with that, that's on them - they can go wrestle elsewhere." "And it appears that's exactly what some of them have done," Johnny said. "With the success they were having as World Tag Team Champions over in the AWA, the Vachons announced they're going to set up shop here in town in direct opposition to us. They already held their first event over in Granby a few days ago and they invited the disgruntled wrestlers from our roster to defect and join them." "So what're you going to do then, Johnny?" Claire then asked. "Well, the Vachons have only put on a couple of events outside of Montreal so far," Johnny said, "but we'll wait and see what happens*..." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * And exactly what happens will be revealed with an event post at some point.

Regarding that, here's the link for the event it appears in: https://forum.greydogsoftware.com/topic/53694-rise-of-a-star/?do=findComment&comment=1476888

Real World Rise of a Star by @Old School Fan AWA 1989: A Financial Savior Is (Badly) Needed by @Captain Kremmen (FKA piperrulz) WCW 1993 : A New World of Sport by @CactusHack WCW 1992: A New Era for World Championship Wrestling by @bababooey76 WCW [1995]: The Goodbye Resolution by @angeldelayette World Wrestling Federation 1996 - Justice or Else by @bigt96 NJPW: The Tanahashi Era by @jbay Match Greg Valentine vs. Brad Rheingans @ AWA Championship Wrestling - July 1990 in AWA 1989: A Financial Savior Is (Badly) Needed by @Captain Kremmen Event AWA @ Winnipeg Arena - April 29, 1971 in Rise of a Star by @Old School Fan AWA Championship Wrestling - July 1990 in AWA 1989: A Financial Savior Is (Badly) Needed by @Captain Kremmen WWF Backlash in World Wrestling Federation 1996 - Justice or Else by @bigt96

WWF Tag Title - British Bulldog & Owen Hart (C) vs 2Cold Scorpio & Terry Funk Steve Austin vs Rocky Maivia Roddy Piper vs Elijah Hunter Hearst Helmsley & ??? vs BodyDonnas The Rockers (Michaels & Jannetty) vs The Godwinns Vader vs Goldust Intercontinental Title - Ultimate Warrior (C) vs Mankind

'The Heartbreak Kid' Shawn Michaels vs. Eddy Guerrero Comments: WCW World Heavyweight Title Number One Contender's Tournament, Quarterfinals 'The Iceman' Dean Malenko vs. 'Iron' Mike Rotunda Comments: Christian Cage and 'Living on the Edge' Sexton Hardcastle vs. American Males Comments: 'Dirty' Dick Slater and Bunkhouse Buck (w/Col. Robert Parker) vs. Steiner Brothers Comments: WCW World Heavyweight Title Number One Contender's Tournament, Quarterfinals 'The Nature Boy' Ric Flair vs. 'The Total Package' Lex Luger Comments:

Here's a new logo I'm planning to use for my Rise of a Star diary, linked to an upcoming development in the diary storyline: As with my All-Star Wrestling logo further up the thread, a smaller version of this logo (which I created from scratch, as I couldn't find an actual logo for Grand Prix Wrestling) will be used for future posts featuring cards from this promotion.

American Wrestling Association @ Winnipeg Arena April 29, 1971 - Winnipeg, Manitoba Attendance - 11,200 Bobby Jones defeated Pete Mymko by pinfall. Dave Muir defeated Bob Tuck by pinfall. "Pretty Boy" Bobby Heenan defeated Tony Condello by pinfall. Wilbur Snyder needed only four minutes to take down The Big K and defeat him by submission with the abdominal stretch. NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship - Two Out of Three Falls Renée Martel & Claire Lepage (C) defended their title against Georgia Hase & Michèle Richard (with Bobby Heenan), who Martel and Lepage sought revenge against for the events of the last two AWA cards in Winnipeg (particularly Martel's loss of the Canadian Women's title to Richard due to Heenan's distractions and a run-in by Hase) - and Heenan and his clients were fit to be tied when they saw none other than Gene Kiniski accompanying Martel and Lepage, who brought "Canada's Greatest Athlete" with them as their cornerman; thanks to Kiniski making sure Heenan could not get up to his usual shenanigans, Martel and Lepage defeated Hase and Richard, two falls to one, to retain their belts. ⦁ First fall - Richard, benefiting from a distraction by Heenan, pinned Lepage following a spinebuster slam. ⦁ Second fall - Hase and Richard were disqualified for excessive double-teaming on Lepage. ⦁ Third fall - Martel grabbed Hase in a headlock to begin the action in the fall, then Hase used a go-behind switch for a takedown, but Martel maneuvered it into a pin attempt on Hase. Renée twisted Hase’s arm and tagged in Lepage, who quickly turned the armtwist into a standing armlock. Hase finally muscled Lepage into the corner and tagged Richard, who soon fell prey to Lepage’s snap suplex. Richard neutralized Lepage with a hammerlock for some time as she and Hase again kept her tied up in their corner while Heenan kept distracting the referee, but Lepage finally fought back and tagged Martel, who took over her archrival Richard with a belly-to-belly suplex. Martel then tagged Lepage, who floored Richard with a shoulderblock and again with a hiptoss. Lepage then armdragged both Richard and Hase. Finally, Claire and Renée sent the challengers flying with double back-bodydrops. As Martel attempted a rebound off the ropes, a desperate Heenan tripped her up from outside, prompting Kiniski to chase Heenan around ringside and run the notorious manager back to the locker room area. Without Heenan around to interfere for his girls, Lepage engaged both Hase and Richard in solid mat grappling for the latter part of the bout, allowing Martel to clean up with a high-impact offense. After Lepage unleashed a flying bodypress off the middle turnbuckle on Hase, Martel tagged in and sent Hase flying with a backdrop, and then applied the Alligator Clutch against her. As Lepage ran in to keep Richard from interfering, Hase submitted, giving Martel and Lepage the title-retaining win and vindication against their rivals. While the referee handed the champions their belts, Kiniski came in and raised Renée and Claire's arms in victory as the fans cheered - but moments later, Heenan showed back up, this time accompanied by his charge Blackjack Lanza, as the loudmouthed manager started making threats against Kiniski, leading straight to the next match. Two Out of Three Falls Gene Kiniski defeated Blackjack Lanza (with Bobby Heenan), two falls to one. ⦁ First fall - Kiniski pinned Lanza following a backbreaker. ⦁ Second fall - Lanza took advantage of a distraction by Heenan to get Kiniski with a piledriver for the pin to even the match. ⦁ Third fall - Kiniski fended off attempted interference by Heenan before again catching Lanza with the backbreaker to get the pin and win the match. AWA World Heavyweight Championship - Two Out of Three Falls Verne Gagne (C) defeated Strong Kobayashi (with The Big K) to retain his title, two falls to one. ⦁ First fall - Kobayashi pinned Gagne following a backbreaker. ⦁ Second fall - Gagne pinned Kobayashi following a missile dropkick. ⦁ Third fall - Gagne subdued Kobayashi with the sleeperhold to win the fall and the match. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Prediction results: (Thanks to all who made their predictions for this card) @The Blonde Bomber - 6/7 @Lord Byron - 6/7 @piperrulz - 5/7 All-time prediction results: Lord Byron - 126/185 The Blonde Bomber - 113/153 Herrbear - 78/107 piperrulz - 65/103 Hitman74 - 10/12 kinnikuniverse - 9/10 Theheel - 7/10 Dalton - 6/6 auto45 - 5/6 Sco_xY2Jx - 2/6

In today's WWE, it most likely would've been. 😆 But knowing Heenan, if he were still around and healthy today, I think this would've been his response to WWE Non-Creative: "Hey, I don't need no stinkin' scriptwriters to tell me what to say on camera! Just give me a mic and let me do the rest!"

While awaiting any further predictions for the upcoming card, here's a recent interview that aired on AWA All-Star Wrestling (as seen on KCND-TV for the Winnipeg market) to promote that event: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MARTY O'NEIL: Coming up on Thursday night, April 29, the AWA returns to Winnipeg with a seven-match card at the Winnipeg Arena with a double main event and other exciting bouts. In one of the main events, Verne Gagne will be defending his World Heavyweight Championship against the Japanese powerhouse Strong Kobayashi. The other main event will feature Gene Kiniski taking on Blackjack Lanza, who will be accompanied by his manager "Pretty Boy" Bobby Heenan. Also appearing in Winnipeg that night, the World's Most Scientific Wrestler, Wilbur Snyder, will go against the notorious Big K, and in women's tag team action, the duo of Georgia Hase and Michèle Richard, also accompanied by Bobby Heenan, will challenge for the World Women's Tag Team title held by my guests at this time, Renée Martel and Claire Lepage. Welcome back, ladies. RENÉE MARTEL & CLAIRE LEPAGE: (Together) Thank you. O'NEIL: Starting with you, Claire, I understand you and Renée have a bone to pick with Hase and Richard over past events up in Winnipeg. LEPAGE: We sure do, Mr. O'Neil, and it has a lot to do with their manager, Bobby Heenan. He always gets involved in his wrestlers' matches and sticks his nose where it doesn't belong to give them the advantage, and he does the same when Hase and Richard recruit him to be in their corner when we appear in the AWA. He cost me and Renée the United States Women's Tag Team title almost two years ago when he meddled in our match against Hase and Judy Sowinski in Indianapolis, and he did the same in Winnipeg last month when he got involved and caused me to lose my match against Hase, then he got her to continue attacking me after the match. MARTEL: And Heenan, I hold you responsible for causing me to lose my Canadian Women's title to Richard thanks to your distraction of the referee allowing Hase to run in and attack me when I had that match won - then two weeks later, I got my rematch against Richard and I would've gotten the Canadian title back if you hadn't called Hase out to attack me again. Now let's get this straight, Heenan - the only reason you have for being in the corner of your wrestlers is to interfere and distract for them to give them an unfair advantage in their matches; it's wrong, it's unfair to their opponents and it robs the fans of seeing clean matches and clean wins. But on April 29 in Winnipeg, Heenan, that's where it ends when your girls Hase and Richard face me and Claire for our World Tag Team belts, because we have a surprise in store that's going to make sure you don't influence the match in your favor. (Martel points toward the left of the screen and the camera pans to reveal Gene Kiniski) O'NEIL: Well, Gene Kiniski, that is a surprise alright. GENE KINISKI: You bet it is, Mr. O'Neil. That same night in Winnipeg, I got one of the toughest wrestlers in the business, Blackjack Lanza, one-on-one in the ring - or at least it will be one-on-one if his manager Bobby Heenan stays out of it, if he knows what's good for him. But before that, Renée Martel and Claire Lepage asked me to be in their corner for their match against Georgia Hase and Michèle Richard to make sure Heenan doesn't get involved. I've watched match footage of you and your wrestlers, Heenan, and Renée and Claire are right about you - when you get involved, you turn the tide unfairly in your wrestlers' favor to enable them to win, and that's not what this sport is about, so that night in Winnipeg, I'm gonna be in Renée and Claire's corner to make sure, Heenan, that you mind your P's and Q's and you don't get involved more than you have to. After that, it'll be me and Lanza, his clawhold versus my backbreaker, and when it's all said and done, both Lanza and Heenan will find out why they don't call me "Canada's Greatest Athlete" for nothing and why I spent three years as the World's Heavyweight Champion in the NWA. O'NEIL: So there you go, folks, Gene Kiniski, Renée Martel and Claire Lepage lay it on the line against Bobby Heenan and his wrestlers coming up on April 29 at the Winnipeg Arena as Kiniski appears in the corner of Martel and Lepage as they defend their World Women's Tag Team title against Heenan's duo of Georgia Hase and Michèle Richard, before he battles another one of Heenan's group, Blackjack Lanza, right after that... KINISKI: Now before we go, Mr. O'Neil, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow Canadians watching us in Winnipeg and the American viewing audience for inviting me into your homes via TV, I'll see you at the Winnipeg Arena on April 29 when I go against Lanza - and as usual, you did a great job with this interview. O'NEIL: Anything else you'd like to add, Renée? MARTEL: Sure, Mr. O'Neil, for our French-speaking fans out in Winnipeg... (Switching to French) J’aimerais inviter nos partisans francophones de Winnipeg à venir nous voir, Claire et moi, à l’aréna de Winnipeg le 29 avril, lorsque nous défendons notre titre mondial féminin par équipe. O'NEIL: And tickets for that event are on sale at the Arena box office and at the wrestling office at the Marlborough Hotel on Smith Street in downtown Winnipeg, so be sure to get them before they sell out! And on that note, we'll be right back with more action after a word from our sponsors.

PS Lucha vs The Fantastics La Cultura Torcida vs The Outsiders Diamond Dallas Page vs Kevin Von Erich Nobuhiko Takada vs Powerhouse Simmons Lex Luger vs Stan Hansen Ric Flair vs Barry Windham

Makes perfect sense, too bad it didn't occur to WCW Creative to come up with that IRL. 🤔

I guess with the name change, that promotion's looking to expand beyond Wyoming and become the dominant promotion in the Rocky Mountain area.

While awaiting predictions on the AWA Winnipeg card (and while I work on a TV interview post preceding that event), here's one of the card's participants, Bobby Heenan, in a TV promo back in his early "Pretty Boy" days: