Rise of a Star

Old School Fan · March 5, 2022

Alex Turk Promotions @ Winnipeg Civic Auditorium

August 6, 1966 - Winnipeg, Manitoba

Roy McClarty defeated Mighty Ursus by countout when Ursus could not beat the ten-count after McClarty dropkicked him out of the ring.

Margot Bouchard, in her first Winnipeg appearance, ended the Winnipeg winning streak of Renée Martel by dubious means as she defeated Renée by pinfall when Bouchard put her feet on the middle rope for illegal leverage as she pinned Renée with a schoolgirl rollup. Prior to the match, Bouchard debuted her upgraded tough-girl look, complete with entrance music (mentioned in the previous chapter), as she made her way to the ring for the introductions, then taunted the fans and argued with them to rile them up before dominating a good part of the match with her roughhouse tactics against Renée, who later drew support from the crowd and rallied to fight back against Bouchard before the latter took advantage of a missed dropkick by Renée to cheat her way to the win.

Paul Jones defeated Paul DeGalles by submission via the Indian deathlock.

Pat Barrett defeated Red McNulty by submission with a stepover toehold.

NWA International Tag Team Championship (Winnipeg)

Haystacks Calhoun & Don Leo Jonathan defeated John Tolos & Dutch Savage (replacing Tony Borne) © when Savage was disqualified for throwing Jonathan over the top rope (Tolos & Savage retain their belts due to the DQ).

Old School Fan · March 6, 2022

The latest All-Star Wrestling arena program/newsletter is now out, with some big news to report:

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Edited September 8, 2022 by Old School Fan
Manually reformatted to include picture due to inexplicable improper auto-reformatting

Croquemitaine · March 6, 2022

Billy Red Lyons?

Don't'cha dare miss it!!!

Old School Fan · March 7, 2022

All-Star Wrestling @ Paul Sauvé Arena

August 8, 1966 - Montreal, Quebec

Margot Bouchard made her first Montreal appearance with her upgraded look and entrance music as she defeated Renée Martel by pinfall when Bouchard used a schoolgirl rollup to pin Renée, but grabbed a handful of Renée's tights for illegal leverage to score another controversial pin; Renée took issue with the dirty pin by Bouchard afterward and a brief shoving match ensued and heated words were exchanged before Bouchard left the ring to soak in the fans' boos as she made her way back to the locker room area.

Mad Dog Vachon defeated Gus Karras by pinfall following a piledriver.

Killer Kowalski battled Bulldog Brower to a no-contest when both were disqualified for excessive brawling.

ASW World Tag Team Championship

Jacques & Johnny Rougeau © defeated The Guillotines to retain their belts when Johnny got the submission win over Guillotine I with the sleeperhold.

ASW World Heavyweight Championship

Fred Blassie © defeated Billy Red Lyons by disqualification when Mad Dog Vachon ran in and attacked Blassie, leading to a brawl between the two wrestlers that spilled out to ringside and went all around the ringside area before ending up going back to the locker room area.

Old School Fan · March 9, 2022

NWA All-Star Wrestling @ Nanaimo Civic Arena

August 13, 1966 - Nanaimo, British Columbia

Renée Martel defeated Margot Bouchard by disqualification when Bouchard slugged the referee as he was trying to get Renée untangled from the top and middle ropes while Bouchard was attacking her.

Roy McClarty defeated Paul DeGalles by pinfall following a cross-bodyblock off the ropes.

Eric Froelich defeated Frank Marconi by pinfall following a series of dropkicks.

John Tolos & Dutch Savage defeated Don Leo Jonathan & Paul Jones when Tolos pinned Jones following a kneedrop. Post-match, Tolos and Savage continued attacking Jones, who quickly rallied and got help from Jonathan to chase the heels out of the ring and send the fans home happy.

Captain Kremmen · March 9, 2022

Fred and the Mad Dog!

Now you're talking a blood-letting of a match!

Old School Fan · March 10, 2022

Billy Red Lyons?

Don't'cha dare miss it!!!

From the good ol' days of Maple Leaf Wrestling (from when the Tunneys were still running it to after the WWF takeover).

Fred and the Mad Dog!

Now you're talking a blood-letting of a match!

Stay tuned and see what happens...

Old School Fan · March 10, 2022

NWA All-Star Wrestling @ Exhibition Gardens

August 15, 1966 - Vancouver, British Columbia

Paul Jones & Eric Froelich defeated Mighty Ursus & Dick Chaney when Jones used the Indian deathlock to force Chaney to submit.

Margot Bouchard defeated Renée Martel by countout when Renée could not get back in the ring in time to beat the ten-count after getting bodyslammed to the arena floor by Bouchard.

Dominic DeNucci defeated Paul DeGalles by pinfall following an airplane spin.

Dutch Savage defeated Don Leo Jonathan by pinfall following a running piledriver.

Haystacks Calhoun defeated John Tolos by disqualification due to interference when Dutch Savage ran in and attacked Calhoun. Post-match, Tolos and Savage double-teamed Calhoun until Don Leo Jonathan ran in to even the sides and helped Calhoun chase the heels out.

Old School Fan · March 11, 2022

The latest All-Star Wrestling arena program/newsletter is now out, with Fred Blassie's response to the attack on him by Mad Dog Vachon last week:

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Edited September 8, 2022 by Old School Fan
Manually reformatted to include picture due to inexplicable improper auto-reformatting

Old School Fan · March 11, 2022

NWA All-Star Wrestling @ Exhibition Gardens

August 22, 1966 - Vancouver, British Columbia

Attendance - 2,500

Eric Froelich defeated Dick Chaney by pinfall following a headscissor takedown.

Judy Arnold & Renée Martel defeated Georgia Hase & Margot Bouchard when Arnold floored Hase with the Lou Thesz press to get the pin while Renée ran in to stop Bouchard from interfering with the pinfall.

Paul Jones & Roy McClarty fought Frank Marconi & Paul DeGalles to a no-contest when both teams were disqualified for fighting in the ring all at once.

Dominic DeNucci defeated Mighty Ursus by pinfall following an airplane spin.

Don Leo Jonathan defeated Dutch Savage by pinfall following a Mormon Swing.

Old School Fan · March 12, 2022

Meanwhile, back in Montreal....

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All-Star Wrestling @ Paul Sauvé Arena

August 22, 1966 - Montreal, Quebec

Maurice Lapointe defeated Chin Lee by pinfall.

Julie Painchaud defeated Claire Lepage by pinfall following a suplex slam.

Killer Kowalski defeated Eddie Auger by submission with the clawhold.

Johnny Rougeau defeated Guillotine I by submission with the sleeperhold.

Title vs. Title - All-Star Wrestling vs. AWA

Fred Blassie (ASW World Champion) fought Mad Dog Vachon (AWA World Champion) to a no-contest when both wrestlers were disqualified for excessive brawling after they fought in and out of the ring and proceeded to spill each other's blood in the process.

Old School Fan · March 13, 2022

Alex Turk Promotions @ Winnipeg Civic Auditorium*

September 3, 1966 - Winnipeg, Manitoba

Judy Arnold & Renée Martel defeated Georgia Hase & Margot Bouchard when Renée forced Hase to submit with the Alligator Clutch while Arnold, who was brawling with Bouchard around the ringside area, kept Bouchard from getting back into the ring to prevent her from interfering with the submission move.

Marcel Martel fought Red McNulty to a time-limit draw.

Dominic DeNucci defeated Paul DeGalles by pinfall following an airplane spin.

NWA International Tag Team Championship (Winnipeg)

Don Leo Jonathan & Paul Jones defeated John Tolos & Dutch Savage © to win the title** when Jonathan pinned Tolos following a Mormon Swing.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

* This was the final known Alex Turk Promotions card to take place, as Turk closed down ATP shortly after this event, ceding the Winnipeg territory to the American Wrestling Association thereafter.

** As a result of Alex Turk Promotions ceasing operations after this event, Don Leo Jonathan & Paul Jones are listed ITTL as the last NWA International Tag Team Champions in Winnipeg.

Old School Fan · March 13, 2022

NWA All-Star Wrestling @ Exhibition Gardens

September 5, 1966 - Vancouver, British Columbia

Judy Arnold defeated Georgia Hase by countout when Hase chose to take a powder late in the bout and retreated to the locker room area.

Mixed tag team match - Two out of Three Falls

Don Leo Jonathan & Renée Martel defeated Dutch Savage & Margot Bouchard, two falls to one.

First fall - Bouchard pinned Renée by using illegal leverage via a handful of Renée's tights when she caught Renée in a schoolgirl rollup.
Second fall - Savage and Bouchard were disqualified when they were caught illegally double-teaming Renée.
Third fall - Jonathan pinned Savage following a Mormon Swing.

Kinji Shibuya defeated Eric Froelich by pinfall following a karate kick.

Don Jardine* defeated Paul DeGalles by submission via the clawhold.

$2,000 8-man Battle Royal

Dominic DeNucci won the match and the $2,000 prize when he last eliminated Dutch Savage (other participants included Don Jardine, Don Leo Jonathan, Eric Froelich, Kinji Shibuya, Paul DeGalles and Marcel Martel).

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

* Don Jardine later became best known in wrestling for competing under a mask as the Spoiler, whose top-rope walk was later famously adopted by the Undertaker.

Old School Fan · March 14, 2022

September 1966

On the September 17 edition of Superstars of the Mat, Fred Blassie made an interview appearance to discuss an upcoming match:

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INTERVIEWER: On Monday night, October 10, All-Star Wrestling will be presenting a huge Thanksgiving night card put together by promoter Bob Langevin at the Montreal Forum. Hans Schmidt makes his return that night as he teams with Dutch Momberg* to challenge World Tag Team Champions Jacques and Johnny Rougeau for the title. Also appearing on the card, Bruno Sammartino, the World Wide Wrestling Federation Champion, will return to Montreal as he defends his title against the notorious Killer Kowalski. As well, in women's action, Drummondville's own Renée Martel will step in the ring against American star Judy Sowinski**, and in the main event, Édouard Carpentier will attempt to regain the World Heavyweight title he lost last July to my guest at this time, the current champion, Fred Blassie.

FRED BLASSIE: That's right, I'm the current champion, and I'll still be the champion when I get through with that pencil-necked geek Carpentier! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

INTERVIEWER: Well, Carpentier has disagreed with your statement and he's said he feels this is his time to get the title back. In fact, he says the only reasons you got the belt were because you took the top contender spot after Hans Schmidt bowed out due to injury, and because of a sentiment Carpentier shares with the fans - that you fought like a maniac against him and threw the rulebook out the window completely to get the title.

BLASSIE: Sounds just like what a pencil-neck like Carpentier would say, doesn't it? Here's the long and short of it for you, ______ - Carpentier couldn't cut the mustard against me the night I won the belt from him and he couldn't cut it in our later rematch! Johnny Rougeau? Couldn't cut it! His brother Jacques Rougeau? Couldn't cut it! Billy Red Lyons? Same thing! Even Mad Dog Vachon couldn't get the better of me when we faced off! I've gone through all the contenders here in All-Star Wrestling and left all of 'em in the dust! After I - the King of Men - get done with Carpentier once and for all, who's gonna be left?

INTERVIEWER: Carpentier also said he's not going to give up until he gets the belt back from you, Mr. Blassie.

BLASSIE: Did he now? Well, just to show that I'm a compassionate and charitable man, Carpentier will get that match he's already been asking for, a shot at my title - but he'll get that shot under my terms, and that term is that we face off for the belt in a stretcher match! Two men enter the ring, no pinfalls, submissions, countouts or disqualifications, and the match continues until one man gets beat down to the point that he gets taken from the ring back to the locker room on a stretcher and gets declared the loser! Those are my terms, Carpentier - now the big question is, will you accept them?

INTERVIEWER: And we'll see what the answer to that question is in due time. Once again, World Heavyweight Champion Fred Blassie will defend his title against Édouard Carpentier in the main event at the Montreal Forum on Thanksgiving night, October 10 - bell time at 7:30 p.m!

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* Dutch Momberg was an early ring name used by the Dutch-born wrestler best known in the 1970s and 1980s as Killer Karl Krupp, who used an exaggerated version of the "evil German" gimmick.

** IRL, Judy Sowinski was a roller derby skater who skated from 1959 until her retirement in 1992. ITTL, she became a professional wrestler and competed intermittently until the mid-1960s, when she increased her schedule due to more states and Canadian provinces legalizing women's wrestling around that time.

Edited September 8, 2022 by Old School Fan
Manually reformatted to include pictures due to inexplicable improper auto-reformatting

Old School Fan · March 17, 2022

The newest release of All-Star Wrestling's arena program/newsletter features Édouard Carpentier's reply to Fred Blassie's challenge to a stretcher match:

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Edited September 8, 2022 by Old School Fan
Manually reformatted to include picture due to inexplicable improper auto-reformatting

Old School Fan · March 18, 2022

October 1966

The poster for the October 10 All-Star Wrestling Thanksgiving supercard is now up:

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Now it's prediction time, so here's the full match lineup below:

Ron & Terry Garvin vs. Mr. Haiti & Tony Curtis*

Paul LeDuc vs. Chin Lee

Tony Marino vs. Bull Johnson

Johnny Kostas vs. Stan Stasiak

Renée Martel vs. Judy Sowinski

Rocky Johnson vs. Tiger Jeet Singh

ASW World Tag Team Championship

Jacques & Johnny Rougeau © vs. Hans Schmidt & Dutch Momberg

WWWF World Heavyweight Championship

Bruno Sammartino © vs. Killer Kowalski

ASW World Heavyweight Championship - Stretcher Match

Fred Blassie © vs. Édouard Carpentier

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

* Not the Hollywood actor of the same name.

Edited September 8, 2022 by Old School Fan
Manually reformatted to include picture due to inexplicable improper auto-reformatting

kinnikuniverse · March 18, 2022

I saw tony curtis and i was like "wait wut?" Lol.

Good to see Renée's matches finally moving up to midcard. She made quite the progress in 1 year.

Pretty stacked card! Goes to show just how huge the montreal territory was back in the day.

Also, how is Gino Brito doing? Is he teaming up with tony parissi already at this point? Cause that could be a good tag team to build up for a dream match against the rougeaus.

In fact, how's ivan koloff doing? Cause we're around the time period where johnny rougeau came up with the koloff character for him

Herrbear · March 18, 2022

Ron & Terry Garvin vs. Mr. Haiti & Tony Curtis*

Paul LeDuc vs. Chin Lee

Tony Marino vs. Bull Johnson

Johnny Kostas vs. Stan Stasiak

Renée Martel vs. Judy Sowinski

Rocky Johnson vs. Tiger Jeet Singh

ASW World Tag Team Championship

WWWF World Heavyweight Championship

ASW World Heavyweight Championship - Stretcher Match

Old School Fan · March 20, 2022

kinnikuniverse said:

I saw tony curtis and i was like "wait wut?" Lol.

Yep, strangely enough, that actually was a wrestler who used that name in Montreal at the time (thanks to checking the WrestlingData.com site and looking through the results for Lutte Internationale's predecessor All-Star Wrestling).

kinnikuniverse said:

Good to see Renée's matches finally moving up to midcard. She made quite the progress in 1 year.

Renée's coming along steadily, but it'll still be some time before she really makes it big in this diary. I've got some plans for her for 1967 (and something even bigger for 1968), so keep reading to find out.

kinnikuniverse said:

Pretty stacked card! Goes to show just how huge the montreal territory was back in the day.

Also, how is Gino Brito doing? Is he teaming up with tony parissi already at this point? Cause that could be a good tag team to build up for a dream match against the rougeaus.

In fact, how's ivan koloff doing? Cause we're around the time period where johnny rougeau came up with the koloff character for him

The earliest records I could find of Gino Brito and Tony Parisi (the latter sometimes using his real name, Antonio Pugliese) teaming up IRL were from Montreal in 1968, though it's possible that they may have teamed up prior to that but those matches were not documented. As for Ivan Koloff, he was still wrestling as Red McNulty at this point (1966 and into 1967) both IRL and ITTL and didn't start wrestling as Koloff until January 1968 in Montreal.

Edited September 8, 2022 by Old School Fan
Fixed quote formatting

Old School Fan · March 21, 2022

<img src="

https://i.postimg.cc/Y9dZtBp7/asw-2.png" alt=" ">

All-Star Wrestling @ Montreal Forum

October 10, 1966 - Montreal, Quebec

Attendance - 16,020

Ron & Terry Garvin defeated Mr. Haiti & Tony Curtis when Ron Garvin pinned Curtis following a knockout punch.

Paul LeDuc and Chin Lee fought to a time-limit draw.

Tony Marino defeated Bull Johnson by pinfall follwing a dropkick.

Stan Stasiak defeated Johnny Kostas by pinfall follwing a Heart Punch.

Renée Martel defeated Judy Sowinski by disqualification when Sowinski slugged the referee as he tried to stop her from pressing her knee against the back of Renée's neck to choke her against the middle rope. Post-match, Sowinski continued her assault on Renée, but missed with a clothesline after whipping her to the ropes as Renée ducked, then rebounded with a dropkick that sent Sowinski rolling out to the floor at ringside, where she traded insults with Renée while the crowd cheered the hometown girl for her efforts.

Rocky Johnson battled Tiger Jeet Singh to a double countout.

ASW World Tag Team Championship

Jacques & Johnny Rougeau © defeated Hans Schmidt & Dutch Momberg when Johnny used the sleeperhold on Momberg for the submission.

WWWF World Heavyweight Championship

Bruno Sammartino © defeated Killer Kowalski when Kowalski was disqualified for refusing to stop choking Sammartino against the ropes. Post-match, Bruno rallied and, after fighting back, cleared Kowalski out by clotheslining him out of the ring.

ASW World Heavyweight Championship - Stretcher Match

Édouard Carpentier defeated Fred Blassie © in a brutal and bloody contest to regain the title when Blassie was taken from the ring back to the locker room area on a stretcher after Carpentier, who was down for much of the match thanks to Blassie's savage tactics, rallied and fought back to eventually bring Blassie down with a ferocious beating as the fans rooted Carpentier on.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Prediction results:

Herrbear - 6/9

All-time prediction results:

Herrbear - 27/36

Hitman74 - 10/12

Theheel - 7/10

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Captain Kremmen · March 22, 2022

I would love to have seen that Blassie-Carpentier match.

I can picture the fans being totally into it.

Bloody and violent. Just like a stretcher match should be.

Captain Kremmen · March 24, 2022

You should also post this at wrestlingclique.com.

You'll get way more views and comments over there.

It's a good, quick read and will get a lot of attention there.

Old School Fan · March 25, 2022

I would love to have seen that Blassie-Carpentier match.

I can picture the fans being totally into it.

Bloody and violent. Just like a stretcher match should be.

Without a doubt. I also have a chapter coming up detailing behind the scenes at the Forum on the night of that match.

Old School Fan · March 25, 2022

Backstage in the locker room area at the Montreal Forum during the early part of the undercard of the Fred Blassie-Édouard Carpentier main event, Renée Martel, accompanied by her father Marcel (who was not wrestling that night), was talking with Bruno Sammartino and Rocky Johnson when Bruno told Renée about his bringing her up to Vince McMahon Sr. shortly after the last time he was in Montreal. "...and I thought it wasn't worth having to go get training from Moolah as a condition of going to wrestle for Vince, so I decided to not take his offer," Renée explained, talking about the offer she had received from the WWWF last December in the letter sent to Johnny Rougeau's office.

"Especially after all the training you already got," Bruno said in agreement. "When I asked Johnny about you earlier, he said that as good as you were last time I saw you, you've improved steadily since then."

"I did, and Papa had a big hand in that improvement," Renée said as she looked at Marcel, who nodded.

"She's also kept herself in fighting shape by supplementing her training with Stu Hart whenever we're back in Calgary," Marcel said. "She's always willing to learn and she wants to keep improving and keep her skills and timing sharp."

"Good, it never hurts to keep improving yourself in the ring," Bruno said.

"About McMahon's offer, how much was he willing to pay you to appear for him?" Rocky then asked.

"He never said how much specifically, but he did offer big paydays in his letter," Renée replied. "Still, bigger paychecks wouldn't have been worth it if it meant having to join Moolah's camp and wrestle exclusively for her. I'd never say never to taking some matches in the WWWF at some point in the future, but only if Vince dropped his and Moolah's requirement of having me join Team Moolah - otherwise, no chance."

"Well, that's alright," Rocky said. "It never hurts to have a home base like you got here in Montreal, but it's also good not to be tied down working for one promoter like you would've been with Moolah if you took the offer."

"And that's the way I like it," Renée said, just as she spotted Fred Blassie coming around the corner. "Hey, Fred, all set for your big match tonight?" she then asked.

"As set as I'll ever be," Fred said. "And after tonight, that'll be the last time you see me around here for a while."

"Really? How come?" Renée said.

"A couple of weeks ago, Johnny got a call from Roy Shire over in San Francisco," Fred said. "Roy wanted me there to work an angle for him against Bill Watts*, the United States Champion over there, so I put in my notice with Johnny and I'm finishing up here tonight by dropping the World title back to Ed."

"Ah, well," Renée said. "Sorry to see you go after tonight, but...it's sure been interesting having you around, and you should come back here next chance you get," she added as she went to give Fred a hug.

"I just might take you up on that invitation," Fred said. "Maybe even go for teriyaki at one of the steak houses in town again. Or, if you get a chance to start wrestling down in the States at some point and you and your dad are down in L.A. to wrestle while I'm there, stop by and pay a visit."

Renée looked toward Marcel, who nodded. "It's a deal," she said with a grin.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

* Yep, the same "Cowboy" Bill Watts who later founded Mid-South Wrestling (later the Universal Wrestling Federation), which gave us Junkyard Dog, Jake Roberts, Sting, Hacksaw Duggan, Ted DiBiase, One Man Gang and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and was also a stopover for the Fabulous Freebirds.

Old School Fan · March 27, 2022

While the next chapter is in progress, here's a YouTube wrestling clip I came upon unexpectedly featuring someone we all know:

(from NWA Hollywood Wrestling, June 1981) (Note: the commentary is in Spanish)

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