Big's Corner

The July 1983 issue of Inside wrestling has a special place in my heart as an "old school" wrestling fan. The match between Butch Reed and Ivan Kollof featured on in the front cover took place at Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio. That's special to me because my favorite memory as a kid was going to the Hara Arena every other Friday night for NWA Georgia Championship Wrestling. Butch Reed was over big with the fans at Hara Arena every show.

Butch was in the middle of a huge mess one evening at Hara when Buzz Sawyer came out the ring and hung Butch Reed from the top rope with a chain. Hara Arena is in the middle of Trotwood, Ohio and is mostly an African American community so hanging Butch in front of the already drunk and rowdy crowd was a bad idea. A full blown riot broke out and Buzz was lucky to get out of Hara Arena alive that night.

The other cover story in the July 1993 issue showcased some incredible photos of the most violent cage match of the early 1980's. The match was between Sgt. Slaughter and Don Kernodle facing Rick Steamboat and Jay Youngblood. The Greensboro Coliseum was sold out for weeks and the theater next door was sold out with fans who packed in to watch it on "live" closed circuit television. The match had a great build-up for several months. The stipulation to the match was that if Steamboat and Youngblood lost the match, they most split up and never wrestle as a team ever again. Don Kernodle appeared to have bladed too deep. His head looked horrible and blood was pouring from his forehead.

The "Capsule Profile" featured Tully Blanchard. Tully was the star heel in his fathers company "Southwest Championship Wrestling in Texas. The "Hotseat" interview was with Dusty Rhodes and his claims about "The Truth About The Midnight Rider". Dusty was in a feud with Kevin Sullivan at the time. "One On One" had a war of words between father and son with Bob and Brad Armstrong.

"Inside Wrestlings" Offical Rankings for the month of July 1993: "Most Hated" 1. Kevin Sullivan, 2. Greg Valentine, 3. Ric Flair, 4. Ted Debiase, 5. Kamala, 6. Dick Slater, 7. Buzz Sawyer, 8. The Great Kabuki, 9. Bob Armstrong, 10. Tully Blanchard.