Issue 67 (June 21, 2025) 50-Year Flashback: 1975 Brisco & Bruiser in St Louis, One Thing About Don Greene, MORE!
Welcome to the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel Daily Chronicle. The daily habit for an injection of significant events that happened on this day and relative time frames in Pro Wrestling History.
June 21st in the Tunnel:
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
Steven Romero\Jay Youngblood 1955
Happy Birthday:
Mario Mancini (59)
RIP Memorial: We stop & remember those who have passed on this day and gave themselves to the business for us, the fans. We salute you and thank you.
Don Greene 6-21-2014 at the age of 83
Cora Combs 6-21-2015 at the age of 88
Select Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel Match and Event Flashbacks
50-Year Flashback: 1975
6-20-1975: Jack Brisco (CH) vs Dick the Bruiser for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship ended in a double count out at one fall each at the Kiel Auditorium in St Louis, Missouri
Pictured: Jack Brisco, NWA World Heavyweight Champion, 1975
By time June had rolled around in 1975, Jack Brisco was starting his third year holding up the accountabilities that came with holding professional wrestling's most prestigious trophy. He was making another of a handful of appearances he would make in St Louis both as Champion and with Sam Muchnick as President of the National Wrestling Alliance. Sam had been all-in on Brisco being the world champion. His matches with Dory Funk Jr both when Funk was the champion and now with Funk being the challenger, were big ticket sellers and money draws all over the affiliated offices and territories of the Alliance.
That meant money being sent to St Louis, as the President got a cut of the gross of the event with the world champion plus a fee for booking the champion and every booker in the Alliance wanted to book Jack Brisco as champion in their towns and against their top challengers. Many times, the bookers didn't necessarily want their own top stars in the World Title match, they wanted the Brisco/Funk Jr match on top of their cards. This was a rare thing that was repeated at times in some areas with Race and Flair but not anywhere near the extent of Brisco and Funk JR where the two guys in the World Championship match were neither regular guys in their towns.
Pictured: Dick The Bruiser
Muchnick had been hot and cold on Dick the Bruiser going back to 1965. Sam Muchnick had standards for his cards he presented and for the NWA World Title and he very rarely compromised those standards. One of the things he did not permit was brawling outside the ring. And, if he did allow someone to brawl outside the ring, it could only be done once by that wrestler on that card and not done by anyone else. By the same token, if a wrestler was allowed to use a chair to hit someone, that was the only time during the card a chair could be used. Bruiser broke some of those rules Sam had and put himself in serious danger of not being booked in St Louis again.
So, to me, it's ironic on this night in 1975, not only is it Dick the Bruiser being counted out in a brawl outside the ring, but it's being done with Jack Brisco, one of the consummate wrestling exemplars of the NWA World Championship. This is actually an old Doc Sarpolis finish from Texas that was used in NWA Championship matches quite a bit, actually it was used in Texas Heavyweight Championship matches first, then used a lot when Pat O'Connor was champion (and it just so happened O'Connor is the booker in St Louis for this show) when he would defend the belt in Texas.
The first fall would typically be the longest fall of the three falls; there would be a long set of heat put on the champion during the fall and the challenger would take the fall by pinning the beaten down champion. Depending on the length of the match, the first fall would generally take 50%. So, if the match were 45 minutes in length for the time limit, the first fall would be around 22 or 23 minutes long. Then, in the second fall, which was usually about half the length of the first fall, the champion would bounce back and take the fall with his finish move. Then, in the third fall, the match would get emotional with back and forth, a mixture of the first two falls, the hope spots would come in more frequently with the heat sets being shorter and the comebacks being slower until time ran out ending in a draw or a DQ of some kind on the challenger with the champion retaining the title.
This particular match was not designed to go the time limit draw variety of match because the challenger, in this case, Dick the Bruiser was not a wrestling-type performer, he was a brawler. That being said, the match then followed the same Sarpolis formula, the first fall went to the challenger, Bruiser at 7 minutes and 7 seconds. Brisco, being the resilient champion, bounced back to win fall number two at four minutes and fifty seconds and Brisco prevailing in the third and final fall via the DQ count out brawl. Also, true to form, there were no other fights outside the ring and no other DQ finishes, all others were clean pins thus distinguishing the title and keeping both challengers strong for a possible return match if so desired down the road.
One Thing I Learned Today About Pro Wrestling History:
Don Greene held the NWA World Tag Team Titles with his brother Al Greene several times in Tensessee in 1959 and 1960. Don also held the NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Title for a great run in late 1961. He and brother Al were leading tag team heels through the Tennessee Territory in the 1960s.
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I'm Tony Richards, Pro Wrestling Historian, Author and Storyteller. I share pro wrestling historical items in each issue of the Time Tunnel Pro Wrestling History Newsletter. Thanks for reading! If you enjoy my information on select events, matches and insights, please share it with folks you think might like to be a subscriber!
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