Three More Pre-WCCW Hidden Gems Clips Added to WWE Network!

For whatever reason, there was no advance word of what was coming this week...but the clips were uploaded a short time ago, and we're talking some SERIOUS rarities this time around, folks!

First up is what appears to be most of the 2/28/77 Texas Death Match pitting Fritz Von Erich against The Original Sheik in Fort Worth! Naturally, since The Sheik was a member of Gary Hart's stable, there's plenty of attempted interference by the "Playboy" -- which is countered by several babyfaces on Fritz's behalf, including a 17-year-old Kerry Von Erich!

Next is a complete episode of Texas Championship Wrestling, a series which was taped at the Sportatorium for syndication in the Texas Panhandle. Closing this show (which was recorded on October 28, 1980) is an eight-man elimination tag match with Fritz, Kevin and David Von Erich and Bruiser Brody taking on Gary Hart's stable, consisting of Stan Stasiak, Gino Hernandez, Gary Young and Pak Song. No finish is shown as TV time runs out a few minutes into the bout. Sadly, this appears to have been the last North Texas appearance of Song, whose health was failing due to Marfan syndrome.

Finally, we have Bruiser Brody vs. The Great Kabuki in a 6/7/81 "Texas Death cage match" at Reunion Arena (actually, it's the standard first-man-to-exit-the-cage-wins type; for some reason, cage bouts were sometimes erroneously hyped as Texas Death Matches in those days). In an additional stipluation, a win for Brody earns Fritz Von Erich five minutes in the cage with Gary Hart!

As always, we recommend WWE Network News for the latest info on WCCW and any other new footage being added to the service. Enjoy!

WWE Network Adds Another WCCW Hidden Gem!

As part of its "Twelve Days of Hidden Gems" pre-Christmas rollout, WWE Network has now added the rarely-seen 1981 Christmas Star Wars Show! The 70-minute video includes:

• Ernie Ladd vs Jose Lothario for the Texas Brass Knuckles title
• El Solitario vs Killer Brooks for the World Light-Heavyweight championship
• Fritz Von Erich vs The Great Kabuki in a Texas Death Match
• Kevin, David & Kerry Von Erich vs Frank Dusek, Wild Bill Irwin & Ten Gu in a two-ring tag match (previously available on DVD as part of WWE's Most Powerful Families in Wrestling set)
• A two-ring battle royal (announced as a 16-man event, although there are only 14 actual participants!)

Three preliminary matches are missing from the show (and may not have been taped): El Negro Assassin vs Richard Blood; Al Madril & Blue Demon vs Arman Hussein & Carlos Zapata; and Little Tokyo vs Tiny Tom. (BTW, just to warn everyone who wants to avoid spoilers, we've updated this card's listing in our Results section.) As with the first-ever Reunion Arena Star Wars card, don't expect the same production values as the later syndicated series; like that show, this one is also shot with only one camera.

As always, we'll provide further updates if and when more World Class content is added to the Network; you can also get the latest info at WWE Network News.

Early David Von Erich Match Coming to WWE Network

A heads-up for WCCW fans subscribing to WWE Network :the Hidden Gems collection will now include new footage every week, according to WWE Network News. Among the material to be available this Thursday, May 24th: a best-of-three-falls non-title match from August 15, 1977, pitting then-19-year-old David Von Erich (who had only been wrestling professionally for about two months at that point) against the NWA's World Heavyweight champ at the time, Harley Race!

Please note that this is NOT the famous David/Fritz vs Race gauntlet match from St. Louis TV...we checked that calendar date in the WCM Results section, and it tuirns out that the match being added is from Fort Worth, and thus would have been taped by KTVT (we don't know if the bout, or any part of it, aired on Saturday Night Wrestling). Interesting to say the least, as the master videotapes of the Channel 11 show are known to have usually been erased and reused due to their high cost!

Be sure to check WWE Network News every week for info on further North Texas wrestling classics to be uploaded to the service!

WWE Network Heading into Home Stretch with Syndicated WCCW Eps

Don't forget that for continued updates on WCCW upload status, you can click either here or here. At this writing, most of 1988's episodes are up, which means we've now reached the Jerry Jarrett era (that's roughly the last two years of WCCW TV, including the USWA Dallas shows).. WWE Network News has also begun including a listing of what's still missing in their posts; so far, there's been no indication of whether or not WWE Network will be posting any of those episodes at a later date.

As always, please keep in mind that from all reports, the master tapes were subjected to serious temperature and humidity extremes over the years (they were stored in a barn in north Texas, to be exact). This can result in deterioration of magnetic tape, including videotape, although an amazing number of eps have survived with relatively little or no damage.

WCM Sends Best Wishes to the Nature Boy

As many readers are probably already aware, Ric Flair is, at this writing, hospitalized in critical condition following surgery for a reported intestinal blockage. Other health issues are said to have resulted including kidney failure, for which Flair is on dialysis.

Ric's daughter, WWE superstar Charlotte Flair, has posted a message to fans on Instagram: "Hi guys, On behalf of my family and I, we want to THANK everyone for the prayers, texts, calls and support. Our Dad is a FIGHTER and your continued thoughts and prayers MEAN THE WORLD to us. We will update everyone when we have more information."

World Class Memories sends all our best to Ric for a speedy and full recovery, and to his entire family.

We're Baa-aaack...!

Greetings, WCM readers! If you're reading this, it means the worldclasswrestling.info domain has been successfully redirected here and we want to thank you for your continued support!

Just a bit of explanation for what you're seeing: the site is now hosted on Blogspot because (1) it's free, and (2) believe me, it's a LOT less of a hassle to do it this way. We are in the process of rebuilding, so you'll see the material from the old site slowly being transferred here in the form of blog posts, which will be easily locatable through either the table of contents or archive listings in the sidebar. We'll also be posting news updates in between (as well as on our Facebook page), so if you want to read only those posts, just click "News" under Posts by Category.

You'll no doubt be pleased to know that we're adding literally hundreds of shows to our Results section that weren't listed before, and we'll be posting other new material as well.  We've also created a new YouTube channel, to which we'll be adding many clips posted by other YT users, as well as the ones from our old channel. We only ask that you be patient...remember, the old site took about a year to build and we all have day jobs.

(Yes, that's right, I said we ALL have day jobs because this site is now a THREE-person operation. Please welcome the newest contributor to WCM: Michael Moody, son of World Class and WWE legend Percy Pringle/Paul Bearer! Michael is going through Percy's collection of WCCW memorabilia as time permits, and we can hardly wait to check it out!)

New Ciclon Negro Tribute at SLAM! Wrestling

For those interested in the pre-WCCW history of Texas wrestling, we'd like to call your attention to Greg Oliver's newly-posted remembrance of legendary Venezuelan grappler Ciclon Negro (Black Cyclone; real name Ramon Eduardo Rodriguez).

Ciclon, who passed away on February 20th of this year (while WCM was offline), began wrestling professionally in 1956 and made his Sportatorium debut on September 20, 1960, defeating Tony Borne. His final appearances in the Dallas-Fort Worth area took place in 1974. He was equally adept at wrestling and brawling, but preferred playing the heel role.

After retiring from wrestling in the early '80s, Ciclon disappeared from the public eye, determined to live a normal life along with his wife Cheryl (the primary interviewee for the article).  Wrestling historians found it impossible to track Ciclon down for interviews during his lifetime, but Oliver was finally able to establish contact this year with Cheryl Rodriguez, with help from members of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's family.

Greg Oliver is one of the sport's greatest chroniclers, and this well-written tribute to Ciclon Negro is highly recommended.