McGuirk Wrestling Territory: September 1976

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In September 1976, the Spoiler and “the Axe” come to town, Tom Jones leaves the area (which WAS unusual), the never-ending NWA World Junior Heavyweight title tourney is almost over & more!


Here are the SPOT Ratings for the month.



COMINGS AND GOINGS

Newcomers to the territory this month are babyfaces Abe Jacobs, Larry Hennig and Pat McGinnis and heels Choi Sun, Jim Starr, Sonny Rogers and the Spoiler.

Jacobs came here from Amarillo for his one and only stint in this territory. Hennig came in from the AWA for just a few weeks and then went to New Japan. McGinnis came here from the WWWF.

I don’t have much info on Choi Sun. He came here from NWA Hollywood and was aligned with Scandor Akbar. Jim Starr had made some appearances here over the summer as the Medic but started working here on a more regular basis without a mask in September. Sonny Rogers (Laurie Hey, real-life brother of Buddy Roberts) came in from Florida; he had last been here in March ’76. The Spoiler’s last full-time run here had been back in 1973, though he made sporadic appearances in between. He had been in Georgia over the summer and worked a few dates for New Japan in late August.

Leaving the territory during the month were babyface Tom Jones and heels Gene Lewis, John Ravens and Treach Phillips. In addition, Bill Watts reduced his in-ring schedule towards the end of the month.

Jones went to Georgia for a couple of months and would then return here in November. I don’t have any records for Lewis (Gene Petit aka Cousin Luke) until March 1977 when he’s in East Texas. Ravens goes to Gulf Coast, where he works as Lord Raven. Treach Phillips seems to have pretty much retired at this point, though he’s got a few weeks’ worth of bookings here in the summer of ’77 and a handful of matches for a few years after that.

Other wrestlers not listed in the SPOT Ratings: Pat O’Connor came in early in the month for two bouts against Scandor Akbar, winning both (at least one of which was by disqualification).

CH-CH-CHANGES

No title changes this month. Bill Watts still holds the North American title, Bob Sweetan & Killer Karl Kox are the US Tag Team champions and the tournament to crown a new NWA World Junior Heavyweight champion is still ongoing (but almost over). It was not a “bracketed” tournament, but rather a series of elimination matches hodge-podged together in certain towns without much consistency.

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Here are the FEUD Scores for the month.


ANATOMY OF A FEUD

This month we'll look at the feud between Bobby Jaggers & Randy Tyler and Mike Kelly & Pat Kelly, looking at all of the known matches between them with 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.

LAFAYETTE LA
8/27/76 Bobby Jaggers & Randy Tyler vs Mike Kelly & Pat Kelly
9/24/76 Bobby Jaggers & Randy Tyler vs Mike Kelly & Pat Kelly

TULSA OK
8/30/76 Mike Kelly & Pat Kelly beat Bobby Jaggers & Randy Tyler

SHREVEPORT LA
8/31/76 Mike Kelly & Pat Kelly beat Bobby Jaggers & Randy Tyler

NORTH LITTLE ROCK AR
9/2/76 Bobby Jaggers & Randy Tyler vs Mike Kelly & Pat Kelly

HOUMA LA
9/5/76 Bobby Jaggers & Randy Tyler vs Mike Kelly & Pat Kelly
9/12/76 Bobby Jaggers & Randy Tyler vs Mike Kelly & Pat Kelly

MONROE LA
9/6/76 Mike Kelly & Pat Kelly beat Bobby Jaggers & Randy Tyler
9/13/76 (Kelly Twins must wear different color tights) Mike Kelly & Pat Kelly beat Bobby Jaggers & Randy Tyler

ALEXANDRIA LA
9/14/76 Bobby Jaggers & Randy Tyler vs Mike Kelly & Pat Kelly

LORANGER LA
9/18/76 Bobby Jaggers & Randy Tyler vs Mike Kelly & Pat Kelly

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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.

9/1/76 Jackson, MS
Buck Robley & Dick Murdoch vs Ken Patera & Killer Karl Kox
Grizzly Smith vs Scandor Akbar
Nelson Royal vs Pat Barrett
Pat Kelly vs Randy Tyler
Bobby Jaggers vs Mike Kelly

9/6/76 Monroe, LA
Lumberjack match: Grizzly Smith vs Ken Patera
Bob Sweetan vs Buck Robley
Bobby Jaggers & Randy Tyler vs Mike Kelly & Pat Kelly
Rick McGraw vs Silento Rodriguez

9/16/76 North Little Rock, AR
Lights out match: Buck Robley vs Killer Karl Kox
Nelson Royal vs Scandor Akbar
Bob Griffin vs Bob Sweetan
Pat Barrett vs Rick McGraw
Pat McGinnis vs Ted Heath

9/25/76 Greenwood, MS
Bob Sweetan & Scandor Akbar vs Buck Robley & Grizzly Smith
Bob Griffin vs Jim Starr
Silento Rodriguez vs Sonny Rogers


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