McGuirk Wrestling Territory: August 1972
Here’s a look at the McGuirk wrestling territory in August 1972: the unlikely team of Ken Mantell & Tom Jones wins gold, Tarzan Tyler and Jim Valiant come to the territory & more!
Here are the SPOT Ratings for the month.
COMINGS AND GOINGS
Newcomers to the territory this month are babyfaces Jerry Goodvoice and Jim Valiant and heels Gypsy Joe Rosario and Tarzan Tyler.
Goodvoice also wrestled as Jerry Goodboy (or Goodbody) and Jay Clintstock over the course of his brief career in the 70s. His name shows up earlier in the year on a few shows in Canada. This is the second of two brief runs Valiant had in the territory early in his career. He had been here previously (as Jim Valen) in 1970. Valiant finished up a run in the WWWF in June and then worked for the JWA in Japan before coming here.
Rosario returned here after a Japan tour for IWE. Tarzan Tyler, real name Camille Tourville, spent most of the first decade of his pro career in Canada. He wrestled for numerous U.S. territories in the 60s and first half of the 70s, notably in the WWWF (where he was one-half of the first WWWF World Tag Team champions with Crazy Luke Graham), Florida and Georgia. Tyler appeared in Australia, Hawaii and Canada earlier in the year before coming here.
Leaving the territory during the month were babyfaces Dennis Bockwinkel and Vic Nichols and heels Alex Perez and Jack Evans.
Dennis Bockwinkel (believed to be Dennis O’Brien) and Perez went to Amarillo. Nichols next shows up for Gulas as Hillbilly Vic. Evans goes to Florida
Other wrestlers not listed in the SPOT Ratings: Bob Boyer, Chuck Bowman, Gene Lewis, Jim Garvin (primarily working as Terry Garvin’s manager and “younger brother”) and Steve Hagen and midget wrestlers Billy the Kid and Wee Willie Wilson (who both came in for a week early in the month).
CH-CH-CHANGES
Title Changes: Ken Mantell & Tom Jones defeated Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente to win the US Tag Team titles on 8/21 in Shreveport. The newspaper reports that Hart & Parente left with the belts despite losing them and that “a protest seems upcoming”. On at least one occasion later in the week, Hart & Parente were billed as champs. Bill Watts held on to the North American title all month, while Danny Hodge reigned supreme as NWA World Junior Heavyweight champ.
-----
Here are the FEUD Scores for the month.
ANATOMY OF A FEUD
This month we'll look at the feud between Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente and Ken Mantell & Tom Jones, looking at all of the known matches between them, with results and stipulations noted where available. The matches are arranged chronologically by city, so you can easily see which cities had multiple matches between them.
Keep in mind that some newspapers didn't list details, so just because a match isn't specified as a title match we don't necessarily know for a fact that it was non-title and the same can apply for stipulation bouts. Also, "Wrestler A defeated Wrestler B" doesn't necessarily mean it was by pinfall or submission.
6/12/72 Shreveport LA: Ken Mantell & Tom Jones beat Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente by disqualification in a US Tag Team title match
6/19/72 Shreveport LA: The advertised match was Hart & Parente vs Jones & Mantell in a no disqualification match; Grizzly Smith subbed for Mantell (said to be out with a “slipped neck disc”) and Jones & Smith won the non-title match
8/7/72 Shreveport LA: Ken Mantell & Tom Jones beat Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente by disqualification in a US Tag Team title match
8/21/72 Shreveport LA: Ken Mantell & Tom Jones beat Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente to win the US Tag Team titles
6/15/72 Chalmette LA: Ken Mantell & Tom Jones beat Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente by disqualification
8/31/72 Chalmette LA: Ken Mantell & Tom Jones beat Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente in a Texas Rules match
6/21/72 Jackson MS: Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente vs Ken Mantell & Tom Jones in a US Tag Team title match
7/19/72 Jackson MS: Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente vs Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente in a Texas Rules match
7/3/72 Tulsa OK: Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente beat Ken Mantell & Tom Jones in a US Tag Team title match
7/10/72 Tulsa OK: Ken Mantell & Tom Jones beat Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente
8/14/72 Tulsa OK: Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente beat Ken Mantell & Tom Jones in a US Tag Team title match
7/6/72 Greenville MS: Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente wrestled Ken Mantell & Tom Jones to a 60 minute time limit draw
7/13/72 Greenville MS: Ken Mantell & Tom Jones beat Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente in a match with a 90 minute time limit
7/20/72 Greenville MS: Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente vs Ken Mantell & Tom Jones in a US Tag Team title match
8/17/72 Greenville MS: Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente wrestled Ken Mantell & Tom Jones to a 60 minute time limit draw in a no disqualification US Tag Team title match
8/24/72 Greenville MS: Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente beat Ken Mantell & Tom Jones in a no disqualification US Tag Team title match (Hart & Parente were billed as champions going in and were said to have retained the titles here)
7/11/72 Alexandria LA: Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente vs Ken Mantell & Tom Jones
7/18/72 Alexandria LA: Ken Mantell & Tom Jones beat Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente by disqualification in a US Tag Team titles match
7/25/72 Alexandria LA: Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente wrestled Ken Mantell & Tom Jones to a draw in a US Tag Team title match
7/27/72 Wichita Falls TX: Ken Mantell & Tom Jones beat Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente in a non-title match
8/3/72 Wichita Falls TX: Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente beat Ken Mantell & Tom Jones by disqualification in a US Tag Team title match
8/10/72 Wichita Falls TX: Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente vs Ken Mantell & Tom Jones in a US Tag Team title match with the disqualification rule waived
8/1/72 Pine Bluff AR: Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente vs Ken Mantell & Tom Jones in a US Tag Team title match
8/8/72 Little Rock AR: Ken Mantell & Tom Jones beat Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente in a non-title, winner take all match
8/15/72 Little Rock AR: Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente beat Ken Mantell & Tom Jones in a US Tag Team title match
8/4/72 Oklahoma City OK: Ken Mantell & Tom Jones beat Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente (likely by dq) in a US Tag Team title match
-----
Here is the calendar of known house shows.
SELECT HOUSE SHOW LINEUPS
(unless stated otherwise, these lineups are from my own personal research)
Stipulations listed when known; keep in mind that some matches not specified as title matches may have actually been title bouts and the same can apply for stipulation matches.
8/1/72 Alexandria LA
-Duke Myers & Terry Garvin vs Igor Putski & Ivan Putski
-Silento Rodriguez vs Treach Phillips
-Siegfried Stanke vs Terry Lathan
8/10/72 Wichita Falls TX
-US Tag Team titles, disqualification rule waived: Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente vs Ken Mantell & Tom Jones
-Johnny Eagles vs Mongol
-plus two prelim bouts, likely singles matches involving participants from the tag bout
8/14/72 Tulsa OK
-One fall sudden death match: Bill Watts vs Bob Sweetan
-US Tag Team titles: Bobby Hart & Lorenzo Parente vs Ken Mantell & Tom Jones
-Johnny Eagles vs Tarzan Tyler
-Mongol vs Silento Rodriguez
-Gypsy Joe Rosario vs Vic Nichols
8/27/72 Houma LA
-Don Duffy & Duke Myers & Terry Garvin vs Johnny Eagle & Ken Mantell & Tom Jones
-plus three prelim bouts, likely singles matches involving participants from the six-man
