Rise of a Star

[Old School Fan]

The new All-Star Wrestling arena program is now out, detailing a pair of developments on the championship scene:

 

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

 

And on Page Two, the latest in the Renée Martel-Françoise Hardy feud:

[The Blonde Bomber]

Bouchard being the “hype girl” for Hardy is fun. It makes sense too. She’s so overwhelmed with hate for Renne she doesn’t care who does it she just wants someone to beat her. I wonder if Painchaud being with them will lead to the cheap tactics being mute. But let’s see what happens. 
 

marcel v Schmidt will be interesting. Marcel has a fire lit under his belly but gotta put Schmidt away quick unless his leg will be his downfall.

[Old School Fan]

All-Star Wrestling @ Paul Sauvé Arena
July 29, 1968 - Montreal, Quebec

 

Buster Lloyd & Terry Garvin defeated Jacques Rougeau & Carlos Colon when Lloyd pinned Colon following a headbutt.

 

Waldo Von Erich & Mad Dog Vachon defeated Don McClarty & Dale Roberts when Von Erich used the Iron Claw to force a submission from Roberts.

Six-woman elimination match

Renée Martel, Julie Painchaud & France Gall defeated Françoise Hardy, Margot Bouchard & Miss X.

⦁    First fall - Hardy pinned Gall following a crucifix cradle.
⦁    Second fall - Painchaud and Bouchard were both counted out while fighting outside the ring.
⦁    Third fall - Hardy was disqualified for throwing Martel over the top rope; despite her elimination coming only via DQ, the fans cheered loudly as Hardy was finally dealt her first loss against Renée in the ring while Hardy protested the decision vehemently for a few moments before she left the ring when the referee threatened Hardy's team with forfeiture of the match if she did not leave and return to the locker room area by the time the ref counted to ten.
⦁    Fourth fall - Renée won the match when she pinned Miss X following a flying clothesline on the rebound from the ropes.

ASW Canadian Heavyweight Championship

Hans Schmidt took advantage of the left knee injury suffered by Marcel Martel (C) in Schmidt's attack on him in Quebec City on July 26 when the German ruffian targeted the knee with a spinning toehold; despite battling bravely against Schmidt and holding his own during the match in spite of the injury, Martel, even though he refused to submit to the hold, still fell when the referee, at his discretion, ordered the match stopped to prevent Martel from incurring serious injury, resulting in Schmidt being declared the new Canadian Champion.  As Schmidt celebrated with his newly awarded title belt, Jacques Rougeau and Martel's daughter Renée came to the ring to check on the elder Martel's condition before they helped him out of the ring back to the locker room area; as they headed back up the aisle with Martel leaning on Rougeau and Renée for support, Schmidt grabbed the arena mic and taunted the injured now-ex-champion, calling him weak for requiring a woman's help (a not-so-subtle jab at Renée as well as her father) to get to the back, causing the fans to boo Schmidt viciously.

ASW World Heavyweight Championship

Ivan Koloff (C) fought Ox Baker to a no-contest when both wrestlers were disqualified for excessive brawling.

 

[smartman]

Isn't excessive brawling what you're supposed to get in a Koloff vs Baker match? I'm hoping Renee isn't going to get pulled off of shows now that "She has to take care of her injured father." That'd be so 1968. I don't remember you mentioning her mother, so I'm guessing he's single?

[Old School Fan]

22 minutes ago, smartman said:

Isn't excessive brawling what you're supposed to get in a Koloff vs Baker match? I'm hoping Renee isn't going to get pulled off of shows now that "She has to take care of her injured father." That'd be so 1968. I don't remember you mentioning her mother, so I'm guessing he's single?

Nope, Marcel Martel is married ITTL as IRL, I just haven't mentioned Renée's mother in the diary up to now as she isn't actively involved in the wrestling business.  That said, Renée won't be pulled from events because I've got more planned ahead for her, so no worries there.

[The Blonde Bomber]

Maybe we’ll get a mixed tag once Marcel returns against Schmidt and Hardy. The Canadians vs The Europeans.

[Old School Fan]

Maple Leaf Wrestling @ Maple Leaf Gardens
August 11, 1968 - Toronto, Ontario

 

Bob Boyer and Ivan Kalmikoff fought to a time-limit draw.

Ivan Koloff defeated Eric the Red when Eric was counted out as he did not make it back into the ring in time to beat the referee's count after Koloff threw Eric through the ropes to the ringside floor.

Mark Lewin defeated Joe Christie via submission with the sleeperhold.

Canadian Women's Championship

Françoise Hardy (C) defeated Renée Martel via pinfall using a head-and-arm trap pinning combo.

Wild Bull Curry & Tiger Jeet Singh defeated Édouard Carpentier & Whipper Billy Watson by disqualification when Watson, as he was being pounded across the back by Singh, inadvertently sent Singh over the top rope as he stood up near the ropes.

Steel cage match

Bulldog Brower defeated The Assassin* by disqualification.

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

* This Assassin was Canadian wrestler John Hill, who also used the ring names Guy Mitchell, Jerry Valiant (as part of the Valiant Brothers tag team with kayfabe "brothers" Johnny and Jimmy Valiant), the Stomper and Mr. X.

[Old School Fan]

While this latest chapter is a short one, it'll be going a long way regarding developing storylines in this diary...

 

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

August 1968

Johnny Rougeau was sorting through papers on his desk in his office when he heard a knock on the office door.  "Come on in," he called to the door.  "Hi, girls, glad you made it," he then said as Renée Martel, Michèle Richard and Claire Lepage stepped through the doorway into his office and he gestured for them to sit in the chairs in front of his desk.

"You said you had some news for us, but you wanted to keep it a surprise over the phone," Renée said as she and the other girls sat down.  "What's up?"

"When Johnny keeps it a surprise, it usually means it's something big," Michèle quipped.

"Right you are, Michèle," Johnny admitted.  "I got a call from Mildred Burke yesterday - she wants the three of you to come down to Los Angeles for some angles with the AGWA starting the week after this coming Monday."  Upon hearing the news, Renée, Michèle and Claire began talking excitedly between themselves.

"Did Mildred says what she's got planned for us?" Renée asked.

"I think she'll go into more detail when you get down there, Renée, but she said she has plans for you and Claire to do a tag team program against the tag champions, Shirley Hardman and Diane Syverson," Johnny said.

"Hey, I wonder if that means we'll get a run with the tag belts?" Claire said as she turned to Renée.

"Mildred didn't say, but who knows?" Johnny said with a shrug.  "And Michèle, remember that feud you had with Earlene Brown that started on the final night of Mildred's tournament back in February?"

"Sure, too bad it got cut short when we had to come back home after Renée's match with Ann Calvello," Michèle said.

"Well, Mildred wants to pick it back up where it left off because she's got a plan for it," Johnny said.

"Good, I hate leaving unresolved angles," Michèle said.

"So with the three of us heading back to L.A., what's going to happen with my feud with Françoise Hardy?" Renée said.

"I've got an idea we can do to put the feud on hold for now and then pick it back up when you return home," Johnny said.  "And when it resumes, the buildup it gets should ensure that business will pick up."  When she heard this, Renée raised an eyebrow as she smiled a little, happy to know how much of a push her feud would be getting as it built toward an eventual climax.

[Old School Fan]

On 9/22/2022 at 12:49 PM, The Blonde Bomber said:

Bouchard being the “hype girl” for Hardy is fun. It makes sense too. She’s so overwhelmed with hate for Renne she doesn’t care who does it she just wants someone to beat her.

Wait'll you see what comes up in the upcoming All-Star Wrestling arena program...

[Old School Fan]

In the new issue of the All-Star Wrestling arena program, Margot Bouchard and Françoise Hardy lay down a challenge to Renée Martel:

 

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

[Old School Fan]

All-Star Wrestling @ Paul Sauvé Arena
August 19, 1968 - Montreal, Quebec

 

Ox Baker defeated Dale Roberts by pinfall following a Heart Punch.

Gino Brito defeated Doug Kent by submission with the figure-four leglock.

Buster Lloyd & Gerard Dugas battled Eddie Auger & Larry Moquin to a time-limit draw.

Loser leaves All-Star Wrestling for 60 days

Françoise Hardy & Margot Bouchard were dominating their match against Renée Martel & France Gall when Renée, who was the recipient of the majority of the abuse dished out by Hardy and Bouchard during the match, finally turned the tide and battled back against the heel tandem, soon leading to a brawl between the two teams; while Bouchard and Gall fought outside the ring, Martel caught Hardy with a flying forearm smash off the ropes and had her pinned, but the referee was out at ringside trying to break up the other fight when Bouchard caught Gall with a spinebuster slam on the arena floor.  As the referee tended to Gall at ringside, while Martel still had Hardy pinned, Bouchard took advantage of the referee distraction and took what appeared to be a foreign object out from her right boot, put it on her right hand and used it to hit Renée on the back of her head.  With Renée stunned by the foreign object hit, Bouchard then reversed the pinning positions with Hardy put on top, then she put the foreign object back in her boot and returned to her corner just as the referee returned to the ring, saw Hardy pinning Martel and made the three-count to give the win to Hardy and Bouchard, much to the anger of the fans in the arena.  As a result of the pre-match stipulation, Martel must now leave All-Star Wrestling for a period of 60 days - which the fans were not happy about thanks to the match being stolen by the actions of Bouchard, who gloated to her fallen archrival at the success of her and Hardy's scheme to eliminate her from contention for the Canadian Women's Championship currently held by Hardy.

In a non-title match, ASW World Heavyweight Champion Ivan Koloff defeated Chief White Owl by submission via the bearhug.

ASW World Tag Team Championship - Two out of Three Falls

Johnny & Jacques Rougeau defeated Hans Schmidt & Waldo Von Erich to win the vacant title, two falls to one.

⦁    First fall - Von Erich used the Iron Claw to force Johnny to submit.
⦁    Second fall - Schmidt was disqualified for striking the referee as he tried to prevent Schmidt from choking Johnny against the ropes.
⦁    Third fall - Jacques scored the winning fall when he pinned Schmidt following a knockout punch.

 

 

Edited October 2, 2022 by Old School Fan

[smartman]

Ah, the old Memphis trick of "Wrestler X is leaving the territory for a run elsewhere for 6-12 months so he loses a LLT match". Renee can go win the title in the States. Is her dad going with her since they won't know he's supposed to be injured?

[kinnikuniverse]

9 hours ago, smartman said:

Ah, the old Memphis trick of "Wrestler X is leaving the territory for a run elsewhere for 6-12 months so he loses a LLT match". Renee can go win the title in the States. Is her dad going with her since they won't know he's supposed to be injured?

This is why i love kayfabe in the pre-social media era. The sheer amount of stuff you could get away with is hilariously carney.

 

On the other hand, i just can't imagine loving being a wrestler in that time period, having to keep kayfabe up at all times. Like, c'mon man, i wanna live my life. I wouldn't mind the traveling, though.

[Old School Fan]

On 10/3/2022 at 6:27 PM, smartman said:

Ah, the old Memphis trick of "Wrestler X is leaving the territory for a run elsewhere for 6-12 months so he loses a LLT match". Renee can go win the title in the States. Is her dad going with her since they won't know he's supposed to be injured?

Nope, he won't be, but that will be explained in an upcoming chapter.

On 10/4/2022 at 4:09 AM, kinnikuniverse said:

This is why i love kayfabe in the pre-social media era. The sheer amount of stuff you could get away with is hilariously carney.

 

On the other hand, i just can't imagine loving being a wrestler in that time period, having to keep kayfabe up at all times. Like, c'mon man, i wanna live my life. I wouldn't mind the traveling, though.

Certainly true when you have wrestlers who are enemies in the ring and on-camera for TV interviews (as well as trash-talking each other in the wrestling magazines), but are actually friends behind the scenes (as is the case here with Renée and Michèle/Margot with wanting to hang out more in public away from the ring, but they can't because of kayfabe).

[Old School Fan]

Prior to leaving for Los Angeles with Michèle Richard and Claire Lepage for another stint with the American Girls' Wrestling Association, Renée Martel had gone to the hair salon at Morgan's Department Store in downtown Montreal for a new hair appointment, arranged with Michèle's help while the latter was on duty at the store the day before she and the other girls took their flight down to L.A.  For her latest AGWA run, Renée decided to go for a new look, adding bangs to her long hair:

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

With the rising popularity of the AGWA, its syndicated TV program AGWA Women's Pro Wrestling was starting to get an increasing number of sponsorships, including for the Holiday Inn hotel chain, allowing the AGWA talent to stay in better-quality hotel accomodations on a discount while touring with the AGWA in exchange for the sponsorship.  On the first night of their latest tour, Renée, Michèle and Claire were staying with the rest of the AGWA roster at a Holiday Inn in Las Vegas, with the babyfaces staying on one floor while the heels were on another floor.

In their shared two-bed room, Renée and Claire were watching an afternoon matinee movie from one of the Las Vegas-area stations on the room's TV set when the movie went to a commercial break.  "So, how's your dad holding up?" Claire asked.

"Huh?" Renée, whose mind had been on the movie, replied.

"Your dad - I heard about his knee from a while back," Claire said.  "How's it doing?"

"Oh - last I heard, it was doing alright," Renée said.  "Papa's knee had been giving him some trouble lately and his doctor advised him to take some time off from the ring to let it heal, so he set that up by arranging the angle where Hans Schmidt jumped him and 'injured' him in Quebec City while he wrestled Waldo Von Erich, then followed it up with the title switch angle in Montreal a few days later.  Papa's back home in Drummondville now and he's letting my mother tend to him while he has the next few weeks off."

"Aww, that sounds nice," Claire remarked.  "But aren't you worried your mom's gonna spoil him?"

"Oh, heck no," Renée said.  "Papa still wants to do stuff around the house to keep himself busy, but Mom wants him to at least hand mowing the backyard over to my younger brother."

Claire laughed a little at what she heard.  "Well, at least it'll give your little brother something to do and keep him out of trouble," she said with a grin.

"Yeah, there's that," Renée said with a giggle.  "And speaking of work back at home, I've been wondering about how Françoise and France are minding the store while we're over here in Vegas," she added, thinking of Françoise Hardy and France Gall.

"Hey, that's right," Claire said.  "I'd heard from Michèle that France is trying to improve her fluency in English while she's wrestling in Canada."

"She is, because she wants to do TV interviews in English," Renée confirmed.  "But France is taking a more unorthodox approach to learning the language - she's trying to learn by watching American TV shows in their original English."

"Ohh, I can just picture her doing it now," Claire said with a laugh.  "Can you imagine France learning English from watching an episode of I Love Lucy?  Ricky doesn't even speak English some of the time and when he does, he butchers the language with the stuff he says."

"'Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do,'" Renée then said while imitating Desi Arnaz as Ricky Ricardo.

"'Aww, Ricky, why can't I be in your show tonight?'" Claire replied as she imitated Lucille Ball in a mock-whiny tone as Lucy Ricardo, then both girls started laughing themselves silly.

A moment later, a knock came on the door of Renée and Claire's room.  "I wonder who'd be paying us a visit right now?" Renée said as she got up from her bed to see who was at the door. Upon opening the door, she saw Joyce Fowler standing in the hallway to greet her, wearing a bikini along with a wrap around the top of her hips covering the bikini bottom.  "Oh, hey, Joyce," Renée greeted her.  "What's up?"

"Hey, you know we got a swimming pool here at the hotel, right?" Joyce replied.  "And it's too nice a day outside to be spending it indoors watchin' TV and we don't wrestle until tomorrow, so how 'bout coming to join me at the pool for a swim?"

"Well, we hadn't really planned on going swimming today..." Renée started to say.

"Are you kidding?" Claire said as she popped up beside Renée, holding up her own bikini which she had already quickly taken out from her suitcase the moment she heard Joyce mention the hotel pool.  "You got two bikinis of your own stashed away in your suitcase, just waiting for you to show off at the pool or by the beach."

"Hey, now there you go," Joyce then said with a grin.  "The fresh air and the exercise'll do you good too, so what do y'all got to lose?  Go for it."

Renée could not help but giggle.  "Okay, you sold me on it," she agreed, going over to her bed and putting her suitcase on it to retrieve one of her bikinis.

"Great, I'll be right out!" Claire then said as she dashed into the bathroom to change into her bikini.

"I see it doesn't take much to convince Claire to join in on the fun," Joyce then said with a small laugh as she walked into the girls' room.

"Yeah, then there's Michèle," Renée said.  "When we go on these AGWA tours, she never packs less than five bikinis in her luggage for the trips," she added, getting Joyce laughing again.

Edited October 6, 2022 by Old School Fan

[smartman]

August in Vegas? Outside? They've all dehydrated themselves in about 30 minutes even swimming occasionally. Vegas is fun, but it's inside fun only. 110 degrees and 10% humidity.

[SonOfSharknado]

Don't forget, this is 1968 Las Vegas, before we spent half a century cooking the earth to death. The heat might be more bearable. 

[Old School Fan]

8 hours ago, smartman said:

August in Vegas? Outside? They've all dehydrated themselves in about 30 minutes even swimming occasionally. Vegas is fun, but it's inside fun only. 110 degrees and 10% humidity.

 

4 hours ago, SonOfSharknado said:

Don't forget, this is 1968 Las Vegas, before we spent half a century cooking the earth to death. The heat might be more bearable. 

Luckily for the girls on the day they went swimming at the hotel pool, weather conditions in Vegas were like this:

August 23, 1968 Weather History in Las Vegas

[Old School Fan]

American Girls' Wrestling Association @ Las Vegas Convention Center
August 24, 1968 - Las Vegas, Nevada

Attendance - 6,530

 

Handicap match

Baby Rocco squashed Carrie Lloyd & Samantha Sheridan when she big-splashed each wrestler and pinned them both simultaneously.  Post-match, Rocco grabbed the arena microphone and started ranting as she demanded that she get better competition in the ring.

Georgia Hase & Margot Bouchard (with "The Queen" Mae Young) defeated Sally Vega & Linda Moody* when Bouchard pinned Moody following a spinebuster slam.

Earlene Brown defeated Patty O'Hara by pinfall following a big splash.  Post-match, Margot Bouchard, looking to pick up where she left off in her feud with Brown, ran out to ringside and started arguing with Brown for a few moments, with Bouchard threatening to get into the ring to confront the big ex-Olympian before arena security showed up and escorted Bouchard back to the locker room area.

AGWA United States Tag Team Championship - Two out of Three Falls

Renée Martel & Claire Lepage defeated Shirley Hardman & Diane Syverson (C) (with Mae Young) by disqualification in the third fall when Young ran in and attacked Martel as she had Syverson caught in the Alligator Clutch (Hardman & Syverson retain their title due to the DQ).  With Lepage down at ringside after Hardman slammed her to the floor, Hardman ran back into the ring and helped Young double-team Martel before Joyce Fowler ran in for the save for Renée and cleared the heels out.

AGWA United States Championship

Joyce Fowler defeated Ann Calvello (C) (with Mae Young) by disqualification when Young pulled the referee out of the ring as he was counting a pinfall attempt by Fowler on Calvello after Fowler dropped the champion with a high knee on the rebound off the ropes (Calvello retains her title due to the DQ).  Young then got up on the ring apron and climbed between the ropes to confront Fowler as a brawl between the two broke out before Shirley Hardman, Diane Syverson and Margot Bouchard ran in and Pearl Harbored Fowler, leading to a four-on-one attack by the Queen's Court before Fowler was saved when Renée Martel, Claire Lepage and Earlene Brown ran in and chased off the heel stable.

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

* Roller derby skater IRL.

 

 

Edited October 8, 2022 by Old School Fan

[The Blonde Bomber]

Something’s gotta be done about Mae Young. Her constant interference is a burden to the fans and wrestlers. Perhaps Mildred Burke steps in to enforce for the opponents of Young’s ladies.

[smartman]

Time for a gimmicked shark cage that one of the bigger heels rips open Miss Piggy-style to free her so she can interfere one last time before being barred from ringside. Or just a hefty fine for touching the officials, whether they're into it or not as I'm sure Young will say they are.  

[CactusHack]

On 10/7/2022 at 1:33 AM, Old School Fan said:

 

Luckily for the girls on the day they went swimming at the hotel pool, weather conditions in Vegas were like this:

August 23, 1968 Weather History in Las Vegas

I feel like this sort of comment is what elevates historical diaries so well. You can use real world information for specific days / times to accentuate the story and give awesome context.

[Old School Fan]

In her home office at her Columbia, South Carolina estate, Fabulous Moolah was sorting through files at her desk when her phone began ringing.  She let the phone ring twice before picking up its handset to answer, "Hello?"

"Hey Moolah, it's ______," a female voice answered, that of Moolah's Los Angeles contact.

"Ah, howdy, darlin'," Moolah replied.  "How's things goin' in your neck of the woods?"

"Personally, good, but wait 'til you hear the news I got," the contact said.  "Renée Martel's back in Los Angeles."

Moolah cursed under her breath while putting her left hand over the microphone part of the phone's handset for a moment.  "So what's the scoop on her right now?" she then asked.

"She's out of town on tour right now, but she's scheduled to appear at a TV taping at the Convention Center in Anaheim on Tuesday," the contact reported.  "She's got a championship match coming up for the AGWA United States Tag Team title - I found out the moment posters for the event went up."

"I don't like this, ______ - I don't like it at all," an unimpressed Moolah said.  "Any type of attention that Martel girl gets is too much attention 'cause it takes attention away from me and my championship reign.  I'm still choked about losin' control of my title back to the NWA Board of Directors back in February and I blame Martel and Mildred Burke for that by rattin' me out to the NWA about my San Diego tournament and about my sendin' you to deal with her at Burke's tournament the week before that - and don't worry, the NWA still doesn't know that you were involved, but only because you managed to avoid getting caught when you escaped the arena after the attack on her."

"So, what do you want to do about Martel now?" the contact asked.

"Hmm, well..." Moolah said hesitantly.  "All that heat I caught from the NWA over February's died down since then.  Still, I don't want Martel to get any sort of championship success while she's down there - it's bad enough that she won the Burke tournament and got all that attention from it, and I don't want a repeat of that.  I know what I could have you do on Tuesday, though..."

[The Blonde Bomber]

This mystery contact angle has me eyes peeled to see who it could be. True long term storytelling over here.

[Old School Fan]

On 10/11/2022 at 4:23 AM, The Blonde Bomber said:

This mystery contact angle has me eyes peeled to see who it could be. True long term storytelling over here.

Wait'll you see what comes up in the upcoming event post...