Wrestle Wednesday, The Bluegrass Spectacular Edition
Twas The Night Before
December 20, 2016
Louisville Cardinals 73, Kentucky Wildcats 70
December 22, 2016Wrestle Wednesday, The Bluegrass Spectacular Edition
Every Wednesday here on CameronMillsRadio.com, I will reach into the archives and find some classic wrestling related moments that happened here in Lexington, KY.
This week we dig a little deeper into history to salvage a rarely seen event, and rarely mentioned show that was held in Lexington. Jim Crockett Productions, which was affiliated with the NWA and WCW, brought “The Great American Bash” Tour to Lexington’s Rupp Arena. In the 70’s and 80’s wrestling was much different than it is today. If you were to go to a wrestling show at Rupp Arena now, it would be hosted by Vince McMahon’s WWE, Before McMahon purchased his competition in the 90’s, wrestling was operated by individual territories. In our area, which ran through Tennessee and other parts of the south and mid west, the NWA led by the likes of Ric Flair, Jerry Lawler, and Dusty Rhodes made Jim Crockett Productions a hot commodity. In what was considered a super card at the time, “The Bluegrass Spectacular” came to Lexington and certainly left a mark in the history of professional wrestling. Check out the complete results below as well as some promotional footage for the event where Jerry Lawler and many others talk about the biggest night in the history (of professional wrestling), thus far.
The Bluegrass Spectacular
Thursday, September 5th, 1985
Rupp Arena
Lexington, KY
Attendance: 9,000
Ron Bass goes to a draw with Buddy Landell
Koko B. Ware defeated Tom Branch
Jimmy Valiant defeated Paul Jones in a dog collar match
The Rock & Roll Express defeated The Midnight Express
Manny Fernandez defeated Tully Blanchard by DQ
The Fabulous Ones defeated Jonathan Boyd & Rip Morgan
The Road Warriors defeated Ivan Koloff & Nikita Koloff by DQ
NWA World Champion Ric Flair defeated Jerry Lawler by DQ
Dusty Rhodes & Magnum TA defeated Ole Anderson & Arn Anderson in a steel cage match
1 Comment
This is a huge thank you for doing the Ric Flair vs Jerry Lawler match at the Rupp Arena in Sept. of ’85. My appreciation stems from the fact that I was there but didn’t remember anything about it like who else was on the card or even what exact year it was. So imagine my joy when you printed the entire card and results. That was a hell of a card. I mean everybody who was anybody in the NWA was on that card.
I lived in Ct.& worked all week so I can afford to get out of Vince McMahon territory. I used to find cheap flights go to see matches down south so I could watch some real Wrasslin’.