Classic Matches

On April 10, 1968, a sell-out crowd witnessed a girls tag team match headlining the card. In addition to the main event, three other matches were on the card. In the opening match, Ripper Collins defeated Frankie Allman and Peter Maivia won two out of three falls from Jerry London.

The semi-main event featured a men's tag team match with former enemies Johnny Barend and Curtis Iaukea teaming up to do battle with the current Hawaiian tag team champions Jim Hady and The Missing Link in a non-title match. After each team won a fall, time ran out and the match was declared a draw.

The main event, a lady tag team match, pitted The Fabulous Moolah and Betty Boucher on one side opposing the duo of Joyce Grable and Pat Sherry. The Grable/Sherry team took the first fall and the Moolah/Boucher duo evened upthe match by taking the second fall. The team of Grable and Sherry won the third fall when Moolah and Boucher were disqualified for fighting with referee Wally Tsutsumi.

On this date, five matches took place at the Honolulu International Center. In the preliminaries, Pedro Morales won two out of three falls from Harry Fujiwara. Billy white Wolf took a one fall decision from Jerry London and Bearcat Wright and Kenji Shibuya battled to a draw.

The first main event had Jim Hady against Ray Stevens for the United States Heavyweight belt. Hady was the title holder.

The match was two out of three falls. Hady won the first fall, Stevens evened the match up with a bombs away. In the third and deciding fall, Stevens used brass knuckles on Hady and pinned him while the referee wasn't looking to win the United States title.

The main event was a six man elimination tag team match. Johnny Barend, Ripper Collins, and Curtis Iaukea, known as "The Riot Squad," formed one team while the other side had Peter Maivia, Neff Maiava, and The Missing Link.

In a normal six man tag team bout, there are three men on each team. Each team has one man in the ring, two men standing by. But in an elimination match, when one wrestler is pinned or beaten with a submission hold, he must leave the ring and not appear again in the match.

After a series of pinned falls, Curtis Iaukea pinned The Missing Link to give his three man team, including Barend and Collins, victory over Maivia, Maiava, and The Missing Link.

This highly entertaining program featured the first cross promotional between KGMB's "Checkers & Pogo" and Ed Francis Wrestling TV shows. The midgets were in Hawaii for two weeks. During that time, midget wrestler Little Beaver appeared on "The Checkers & Pogo Show" as Mr. Checkers' little Indian Helper. On the show, Little Beaver lifted the 300 pound Mr. Checkers above his head. After Little Beaver's appearance, a contest was announced that kids could win tickets to the June 5th wrestling card and watch the wrestling matches with Checkers & Pogo

At the start of the Missing Link vs. Curtis Iaukea match, Checkers & Pogo entered the ring and Pogo got tangled up in the ring ropes and had to be loosened by Mr. Checkers. The skit was filmed for KGMB's "Wrestling from the Civic" TV show.

The card that night had four wrestling matches. In the first three matches: Peter Maivia pinned Masa Fujiwara, Curtis Iaukea downed the Missing Link, and Jim Hady took two out of three falls from Killer Karl Kox. The main event was a mixed midget 6-man tag team match between Billy White Wolf midget wrestlers Little Beaver and Joey Russell versus Ripper Collins and midgets Sky Low Low and Little Brutus.

In the locker room interviews leading up to this match, Billy White Wolf told Little Beaver he would "give him $100 if he lifted Collins above his head like he did Mr. Checkers." Meanwhile, Collins stated that "if Beaver attempted to lift me above his head and I fall on him, don't blame me if there is nothing but a greasy spot left on the mat." Most of the main event centered around the midgets. Sky Low Low pinned Joey Russell for the first fall, then Russell returned the favor and pinned Sky Low Low for the second fall. For the third fall, Little Beaver pinned Sky Low Low to give his team the victory.

(Click pictures to see larger)

(Click pictures to see larger)

This card contained 5 matches. In the first 4 matches: Tosh Togo defeated John Bull, Kenji Shibuya and Pepper Gomez wrestled to a draw. Peter Maivia and Billy White Wolf wrestled to a draw with the team of Freddie Blassie and Ripper Collins. Jean Antone defeated Betty Nicalli in a women's match.

The main event was for the Hawaiian Tag Team Championship. Johnny Barend and Magnificent Maurice defending their titles against the team of Jim Hady and Curtis Iaukea.

This match was one of the few times Iaukea wrestled as a fan favorite. In June of 1968, Iaukea and Ripper Collins lost their Hawaiian tag team titles to Peter Maivia and Billy White Wolf. After the match, Iaukea was attacked by Collins and Magnificent Maurice. In early July of that year, Johnny Barend was coming off a two month suspension and Iaukea asked Barend to team with him to get even with Collins and Maurice. Barend refused and teamed with Maurice to defeat Maivia and White Wolf for the tag team titles. Iaukea then asked Jim Hady to be his partner to get even with Barend and Maurice.

As for the match itself, Iaukea pinned Barend for the first fall. Barend and Maurice won the second fall to even up the match. In the third fall, Hady was being worked over by Barend, Maurice, and their valet Friday Allman in their corner. Iaukea entered the ring to help Hady and was stopped by referee Wally Tsutsumi. This angered Iaukea who threw the referee to the mat and the referee disqualified Iaukea's team, thus giving Barend and Maurice the third fall. After the match, Hady was carried from the ring a bloody mess.

On March 12, 1969, Promoter Ed Francis put on another outstanding card at the Civic Auditorium. The card featured two tag team matches, a grudge match, and the main event: a Texas Death Match between Professor Tanaka and Tex McKenzie.

In the first tag team match, Lord Blears and Tosh Togo defeated the team of Rocky Montero and Harry Fujiwara on a disqualification.

The next match was a grudge match between Wahoo McDaniel and Curtis Iaukea. The match was 2 out of 3 falls. McDaniel won the first fall on a disqualification after Iaukea rammed McDaniel's head into the steel post outside the ring. Iaukea won the second fall with an elbow drop in the time of 2:35.

For the third fall, McDaniel went into a mad rage and started throwing punches, chops, kicks, dropkicks, and finally pinned Iaukea with a flying tackle to win the third fall and the match in 1:30. This caused Iaukea to hit McDaniel in the back of the head with a chair and caused McDaniel to fall to the mat and he gegan to bleed profusely and even though he won the match, McDaniel had to be carried from the ring on a stretcher.

The next match was for the Hawaiian Tag Team Championship, with champion Ripper Collins & Luke Graham defending their titles against the team of Nick Bockwinkel & Bobby Shane. The first fall came in 5:00 when Collins pinned Bockwinkel using his atomic drop and a press. Bockwinkel evened up the match by using an abdominal stretch successfully on Collins, who submitted quickly.

The third fall lasted 5:50, Graham picked up Bockwinkel for a body slam when Shane ran in from behind and dropkicked Bockwinkel's back and Graham fell to the mat with the weight of Bockwinkel. Referee Wally Tsutsumi counted to three and Bockwinkel & Shane were the new tag team champions.

The main event was a Texas Death Match which is a wrestling bout with no rules. There is no time limit, no disqualifications, anything is allowed, should there be a pin fall, there will be a one minute rest period, and at the end of the period the refereee counts to 10. If the loser of the fall is on his feet, the match goes on. If not, the match is over and the man on his feet wins.

The wrestlers for the match were Tex McKenzie and Professor Tanaka. the winner of the match would meet North American Champion Gene Kiniski in the future.

The match lasted the total of five falls. Tanaka won the first fall in 25 seconds. After the rest period, McKenzie struggled to get on his feet. For the second fall, Tanaka went to throw salt in McKenzie's face and McKenzie took the salt away and threw it into Tanaka's face and then pinned him in 1:47 seconds. The third fall went to Tanaka in 1:25 after pinning McKenzie on the cement floor outside the ring. Tanaka also won the fourth fall by ramming McKenzie's head into the turnbuckle and pinning him in 1:47.

Now with four falls completed, McKenzie was bleeding from the forhead and managed to get back into the ring for the fifth fall. In this fall, McKenzie lost his temper and removed his boot which he used to smack Tanaka in the head. McKenzie dragged Tanaka outside the ring and ran his head full speed into the wooden panneling on the far side of the Civic Auditorium. Tanaka's head began to bleed and McKenzie pinned him outside the ring near the women's restroom. After the fall, McKenzie returned to the ring and the referee began to count to 10 for Tanaka to get up return to the ring. Tanaka made an attempt to return to the ring but couldn't make it back in time and McKenzie was declared the winner of the match.

This card featured two championship matches and a 6 man tag team match, plus two other matches. In the first two matches, Rocky Montero defeated Sandor Kovacs with an abdominal stretch and Bobby Shane drew with Dave Ruhl.

In the six man tag team match, Luke Graham, Ripper Collins, and Bull Ramos took on the team of Nick Bockwinkel, Paul Jones, and Jim Osborne. The first fall went to the team of Bockwinkel, Osborne, & Jones when Jones used an airplane spin and press over Bull Ramos in 13:05. Collins evened up the match for his team by pinning Osborne. The final fall came when Bockwinkel made Graham submit using an abdominal stretch. The winners, thus, were Bockwinkel, Jones, & Osborne.

The first championship match was for the Hawaiian Heavyweight Championship. Wahoo McDaniel had won the right to wrestle Curtis Iaukea for the title by defeating him two weeks earlier at the Civic Auditorium.

McDaniel started the match out quickly with two dropkicks, two body slams, for the first fall in just 40 seconds. Iaukea evened up the match in 10:30 with an elbow drop. As for the third fall, Iaukea body slammed McDaniel into the iron part of the turnbuckle and used a splash to win the third fall and keep his title in the time of 2:35. McDaniel was injured internally as a result of Iaukea's actions and had to be carried from the ring and was out of action for weeks to come.

The main event had Gene Kiniski defend his North American Title for the first time in Hawaii that he won from Professor Tanaka a month earlier. Kiniski's opponent was Tex McKenzie, who won the right to wrestle for the title after defeating Tanaka two weeks earlier in a Texas Death Match.

Kiniski won the first fall in 10:55 with a press. After the first fall, McKenzie was very sluggish and had a hard time to start the second fall. All of a sudden, his friend and tag team partner Nick Bockwinkel appeared at ringside, rubbed him down, and whispered something into McKenzie's ear. Thus, McKenzie came back to win the second fall using an abdominal stretch in 3:40 to even up the match.

The third fall again had McKenzie applying the abdominal stretch on Kiniski and as it looked like Kiniski was about to submit, he grabbed the referee Pete Peterson into McKenzie and the referee disqualified Kiniski in the time of 2:59. Thus McKenzie won the match but not the title, since the championship can't change hands on a disqualification.

This card consisted of three championship matches, plus two single matches. In the first event, Peter maivia defeated Dave Ruhl. Rocky Montero went to a draw with Ray Kamaka.

In the World Tag Team match, Don Leo Jonathan and Pedro Morales (who took the place of an injured Tex McKenzie) defeated the team of Kenji Shibuya and Mr. Saito after they were disqualified for throwing salt in Morales' face. However, Shibuya and Saito retained their World Tag Team championship since the title can't change hands on a disqualification.

In the match for the Hawaiian Tag Team championship. Nick Bockwinkel and Bobby Shane defended their titles against Ripper Collins and his new partner Killer Buddy Austin. In the first fall, Collins gave Shane an Atomic Drop then dragged him over to his corner where partner Austin did a bombs away on to Shane from the top ropes. The first fall was in the time of 10:11.

Nick Bockwinkel used the Abdominal Stretch on Collins to even up the match in 5:22. For the third and deciding fall, Friday Allman, acting as Collins and Austin's valet, used a cane to hit Shane in the back of the head when the referee wasn't looking. As a result, Shane fell to the mat and Collins pinned him to win the match. Killer Buddy Austin and Ripper Collins were then declared the new Hawaiian Tag Team Champions.

The main event was for the North American Championship with Gene Kiniski, the champion, defending his title against Curtis Iaukea. The special referee for this match was Sandor Kovacs.

The first fall went to Iaukea, who used The Big Splash and a pin in 4:42. The second fall went to Kiniski, who pinned Iaukea in the time of 10:37.

For the third fall, Iaukea threw Kiniski outside the ring and rammed his head into the time keeper's table at ringside. While the two wrestlers did their best to destroy each other, referee Kovacs counted both men out and the match was declared a no-contest. As a result, Kiniski retained his title.

On April 30, 1969 at the Civic Auditorium, Promoter Ed Francis presented four matches. In the first match, Lord Blears defeated Harry Fujiwara, in the next match, Curtis Iaukea defeated Ray Kamaka.

The semi-main event pitted Pedro Morales against Rocky Montero in a two-out-of-three fall match. The first fall was awarded to Morales via a disqualification after Montero threw him over the top ropes. Morales won the second fall and the match by using three drop kicks and a press to pin Montero in the tome of 8:41.

In main event was a rematch for the Hawaiian tag team championship. Ripper Collins and Buddy Austin, who defeated Nick Bockwinkel and Bobby Shane two weeks earlier, were giving the former champions their rematch. One specification in the contest stated that Friday Allman, Collins' valet, would be handcuffed at ringside during the match. The match was two out of three falls with a one hour time limit and championship rules.

The first fall went to the team of Collins and Austin, after Austin used a atomic drop on Shane, then pinned him. For the second fall, Bockwinkel used four drop kicks on Austin then pinned him to even up the match.

The third fall was very interesting. After about five minutes of action, both Collins and Austin kept working over Shane but refused to pin him. Pedro Morales, who was watching the match from the locker room area ran into the ring and attacked Collins and Austin. After Morales had Austin on the mat, he began to stomp on him viciously and Austin started to bleed. At this point, Promoter Ed Francis ran into the ring and was attacked by Collins and the two started to battle it out.

At the time of 9:17 of the third fall, referee Pete Peterson rang the bell and the match was ended. Collins and Austin were awarded the match on a disqualification because Morales had interfered, thus allowing them to retain their tag team titles.

On May 7, 1969, Promoter Ed Francis presented as "International Battle Royal," featuring professional wrestlers from all over the wolrld. Prior to the main event, there were five other matches whose results were as follows: Friday Allman drew with Bobby Shane, Pedro Morales defeated Tank Morgan, Dory Dixon defeated Masa Fujiwara in two straight falls. Ripper Collins defeated Ray Kamaka, Nick Bockwinkel and Billy Robinson battled to a draw.

As for the Battle Royal, the rules were: all men were to enter with a $100 entry fee and there were two referees to maintain order. One referee would be in the ring and the other would be stationed outside the ring. A wrestler could be pinned or thrown over the top ropes and hit the arena floor to be eliminated. After being eliminated, the wrestler is sent to the locker room leaving the remaining wrestlers to battle for the jackpot of $1,400. Note: Masa Fujiwara was unable to wrestle in the Battle Royal due to an injury he sustained in the match with Dory Dixon on the undercard.

The order of elimination was as follows: Friday Allman was the first to go, followed by Ray Kamaka. Curtis Iaukea, who was drop kicked by Pedro Morales, was next. Morales followed Iaukea and was forced to leave the ring area. Tank Morgan was the next man eliminated followed by Ripper Collins, Billy Robinson, Lord Blears, and Nick Bockwinkel.

This left 4 men in the ring: Bobby Shane, Dory Dixon, Killer Buddy Austin, and Rocky Montero. Both Austin and Montero started working as a team and eliminated Shane. This left Dixon alone to fight both men. Dixon then drop kicked Montero, who held on to Austin and both tumbled over the top ropes onto the arean floor, leaving Dixon in the ring alone as the winner of the $1,400 jackpot.

Fans were treated to four matches: the main event being a six man tag team match and a handicap match between Ripper Collins and Bobby Shane, plus two other matches. In the first two matches, Karl Gotch defeated Kongozan on a disqualification and the match between Tex McKenzie and Killer Buddy Austin ended in a draw.

In a special Handicap match, Ripper Collins challenged Bobby Shane, Collins stated that if he failed to beat Shane in two falls in 30 minutes, he would forfeit the match and purse. From the opening of the match Collins tried to get Shane down on the mat but it backfired when Collins threw Shane out of the ring and when Collins wasn't looking Shane came from behind and drop kicked Collins into the ropes and pinned him on the rebound in the time of 10:44.

As the clock ticked down to the 1/2 hour mark, Collins started to panic. He finally got Shane from behind and gave him an atomic drop and Shane fell to the mat. But instead of pinning him, Collins gave him four more atomic drops and Shane was out cold. then all of a sudden Dory Dixon, a friend of Shane's, came running down to the ring from the dressing room. Dixon jumped into the ring to stop Collins from further injuring Shane. Dixon bent down to help Shane and Collins kicked Dixon in the stomach and dragged him to the far side of the ring.

Gorilla Monsoon, who was acting as Collins' second at ringside, dived through the ropes at Dixon lying in the ring on his back. Monsoon then bunched off the ropes and splashed Dixon. At this point the bell rang and the referee awarded the match to Shane on a disqualification. Dixon was carried from the ring on a stretcher and Shane was helped out by Nick Bockwinkel.

The main event was a six man tag team match between Curtis Iaukea, Gorilla Monsoon, and Rocky Montero against Pedro Morales, Nick Bockwinkel, and Karl Gotch. Gotch replaced Dory Dixon, who was injured in the previous match.

The first fall came when Iaukea gave Gotch a big elbow drop and pinned him in the time of 11:42. Gotch evened up the match for his team in the time of 6:21 when he used a submission hold on Montero. The last fall came when Montero pinned Bockwinkel in the time of 3:43 giving the team of Iaukea, Monsoon & Montero the win.

On Wednesday June 18, 1969, we were treated to seven outstanding matches, all of which were main events.

In the first match, Karl Gotch won on a disqualification over Rocky Montero. Dory Dixon over Kongozan. In a tag team match, Killer Buddy Austin and Ripper Collins defeated the team of Bobby Shane and Tex McKenzie. In a grudge match, Ray Stevens defeated Pat Patterson and Gorilla Monsoon took the only fall to defeat Nick Bockwinkel.

One of the main events was a Pier-9 Brawl with 10, 2 minute rounds. Don Leo Jonathan met Curtis Iaukea. The rules were that both wrestlers wore boxing gloves and could both box and wrestle during the match. Monsoon and Montero acted as Iaukea's seconds and Bockwinkel was in Jonathan's corner acting as manager and second.

In the first round, both men seemed fairly matched and neither had an advantage. The 2nd round went the same. The 3rd round had Monsoon, Montero, and Bockwinkel entering the ring as Iaukea and Jonathan were outside the ring for most of the round. The fourth round didn't look good for Iaukea as Jonathan had him down 4 times in the round. In the fifth round, Iaukea gave Jonathan a left and sent him flying out of the ring where he stayed for the count of 20 seconds. Iaukea won the match on a knockout as Jonathan was unable to return to the ring in time.

The main event had Gene Kiniski defending his North American title against Pedro Morales. The match was scheduled to go the regular championship rules of 2 out of three falls with a 1 hour, 1 minute time limit.

Kiniski won the first fall in 20:17 by pinning Morales. The second fall went to Morales in 1:42.

The third fall was even shorter than the second. Kiniski got Morales in the corner and flipped him over trying for a small package to end the match. However, Morales just rolled Kiniski over into an inescapable, Double Leg Nelson, and the referee counted to three and Morales was the new North American Champion.

After the match, Ed Francis came into the ring to congratulate Morales and Kiniski took the championship belt away from him and hit Francis, who fell to the mat. Then Kiniski went stomping out of the ring to the locker room. Morales went to Francis' aid and the two left the ring together.

(1) A capacity crowd of 5,500 fans showed up at the Civic Auditorium to witness a cage match with the team of Curis Iaukea and Gorilla Monsoon vs. Ed Francis and Pedro Morales. All four wrestlers agreed to this type of match, two week earlier all four wrestlers were counted outside the ring.

(2) Four other outstanding matches took place before the cage match. The results were: Dory Dixon and Rocky Montero battled to a no fall draw, Ripper Collins and Killer Buddy Austion retained their Hawaiian Tag Team Championship by defeating the team of Billy White Wolf and Nick Bockwinkel. In a midget tage match, Little Beaver and Jamaica Kid defeated Little Brutus and Sky Low Low.

(3) For the cage match, the ring was surrounded by 130 feet of steel fencing, 8 feet high, with 3 strands of barbed wire on the top. There were two doors leading into the cage.

(4) Iaukea and Monsoon entered the ring first and were locked in by Lord Blears. Then Ed Francis entered the ring and was attacked by Monsoon, while Iaukea slammed the door shut and Morales went nuts trying to get in. Finally Morales, with the help of Blears, was able to push Iaukea aside and Blears locked all four men in the cage.

(5) The first fall came when Monsoon used a big splash on Morales in 4:32 of the match.

(6) For the second fall, Morales applied a sleeper hold on Iaukea in 8:13 to even up the match.

(7) The 3rd fall lasted only 3:03, Francis jumped on Iaukea's back and applied the sleeper hold. Monsoon ran into the ring and swung at Francis and missed and instead walloped the daylights out of Iaukea. this sent Iaukea out cold to the mat. Francis then covered and pinned Iaukea for the fall and the match.

(8) After Morales and Francis left the ring, Monsoon attacked Iaukea, who was half asleep on the mat. Monsoon began kicking, punching, and biting Iaukea until he was covered in blood in the middle of the ring. Monsoon left the ring and Iaukea had to be carried from the ring.

(1) The card on July 30, 1969 featured a grudge match between former tag team partners Curtis Iaukea and Gorilla Monsoon.

(2) Five other preliminary matches took place at the Honolulu International Center before the main event. The results were as follows: Nick Bockwinkel pinned Masa Fujiwara, Ray Stevens drew with Rocky Montero, Kenji Shibuya and Dory Dixon also drew. Billy White Wolf and Peter Maivia defeated Kurt and Karl Von Steiger on a disqualification. The tag team of Pedro Morales and Ed Francis defeated the team of Killer Buddy Austin and Ripper Collins.

(3) The main event was for the Hawaiian Championship. Iaukea, the champion, now met his arch enemy Monsoon. The match came to a standtill when Pedro Morales and Lord Blears entered the ring. Blears announced that the winner of this match would meet Morales for his North American Championship in the near future.

(4) At this point, Monsoon attacked Morales, who was still wearing his championship belt. Monsoon slammed Pedro's head into the ring post and Morales began to bleed profusely. Iaukea, who was watching the whole thing from his corner, ran over and pushed Monsoon aside and also attacked Morales. Finally, Morales had to be carried from the ring.

(5) The first fall came when Monsoon used a Big Splash on Iaukea, pinning him in 1:17 of the match.

(6) The second fall went to Iaukea in 6:45 when Monsoon attempted his splash and missed. Curtis then covered and pinned him.

(7) The match came to an end after Monsoon had a bear hug on Iaukea and in an attempt to break the hold, Iaukea sent both wrestlers through the ropes and onto the floor outside the ring. The referee started to count both wrestlers out and Monsoon was able to get up before Iaukea. As a result, Monsoon won the match and not the title, since the title cannot change hands as a result of a count out. Also, as a result of winning the match, Monsoon would meet Pedro Morales in the future for his North American title.

This fantastic championship card featured six matches. In the first match, Chief Billy White Wolf took a one fall match from Rocky Montero. Ripper Collins and Killer Buddy Austin won two out of three falls from Nick Bockwinkel and Dory Dixon in the next match. John Tolos drew with The Missing Link. Kurt and Karl Von Steiger won over the team of Bobby and Jerry Christy.

The first main event was for the Worlds Heavyweight Championship. Dory Funk Jr., the new champion, recently dethroned former champion Gene Kiniski in Florida. Funk was making his first title defense in Hawaii against Hawaiian Heavyweight Champion Curtis Iaukea. The referee for this match was wrestler Rocky Hunter.

The first fall came in 22:30 when Funk applied his Spinning Toe Hold on Iaukea, who quickly submitted.

In the second fall, Iaukea threw Funk into the turnbuckle and he fell forward and his head went into the steel post and gave Iaukea the opportunity to drag him into the middle of the ring and gave Funk a Big Splash to win the second fall in 14:07.

Both men struggled viciously for the remainder of the hour. Time ran out, the bell rang, there was no winner, and the match was declared a draw. Dory Funk thus retained his title.

The other main event of the night was for the North American Heavyweight Championship. Pedro Morales, the champion, met his mortal enemy Gorilla Monsoon. The referee again was Rocky Hunter.

When both wrestlers entered the ring, Monsoon attacked Morales and started kicking him. Hunter tried to break it up and Monsoon threw him to the mat. When Hunter tried to get up, Monsoon again knocked him down. Hunter had the bell rung and awarded the first fall to Morales on a disqualification.

Gorilla Monsoon won the second fall with a Big Splash in 1:47.

Monsoon kicked Morales at the beginning of the third fall and wouldn't let him get up. Morales finally got up and got the sleeper hold on Monsoon but Monsoon fell back into the turnbuckle and knocked Morales out. Both men were lying in the middle of the ring. Morales got up first and applied the sleeper hold on Monsoon again in the middle of the ring leaving Monsoon defenseless. Monsoon fell to his knees, referee Hunter lifted and dropped Monsoon's arm and he was out cold. The match was over and Morales retained his title in 11:20. Ed Francis ran into the ring to congratulate Morales as Monsoon lay asleep in the middle of the ring.

This Honolulu International Center Card held on September 24, 1969 featured the first appearance of The Sheik in Hawaii and Pedro Morales defending his North American Championship against Curtis Iaukea.

Prior to the main event, five other matches took place. In the first match, Ripper Collins defeated Rocky Hunter, Ed Francis defeated Killer Buddy Austin. The match between The Von Stiger Brothers vs. Neff Maiava and Peter Maivia ended in a draw as the match between Giant Baba and Gene Kiniski. The Missing Link defeated The Sheik on a disqualification when The Sheik attacked both the referee and The Link with a wooden stool prior to the start of their match.

The main event was for the North American Championship with Champion Pedro Morales defending his title against Curtis Iaukea.

As soon as the bell rang, Morales attacked Iaukea and threw him over the top rope onto the floor and went after him. Morales then threw Iaukea into the steel post of the ring twice, then body slammed Iaukea outside on the cement floor. When Iaukea was able to return to the ring, Morales body slammed him on the mat followed by a knee in the throat and a press for the first fall in the time of 3:10.

Iaukea evened up the match with a knee to Morales' stomach which put Morales on the mat. Iaukea then flew in mid air and used a big splash to end the second fall.

For the third fall, Iaukea had Morales stuck by his neck in the ropes and the fans went wild. Both men were knocked down when Morales was released from the ropes. As both men were laid out on the mat, the referee began to count both men out. As the referee counted, Iaukea craled slowly over and put his arms on Morales. The referee counted 1-2-3 and the match was over. Iaukea had defeated Morales to become the new North American Champion in the time of 9:34.

A big HIC card took place on October 15, 1969 which marked the first title of the New North American Champion Curtis Iaukea, a return match between The Sheik and The Missing Link, and a fight to the finish between Ed Francis and Ripper Collins.

Prior to the main event, four other matches took place. The first match saw Odd Job Tosh Togo battle to a draw with Karl Gotch, Pedro Morales and hahn Lee defeated the team of Stn Nelson & The Alaskan, who took the place of The Crusher, who was unable to make it to Hawaii. In another tag team match, The Von Steiger Brothers defeated the team of George Harris and McRonald Kamaka. Curtis Iaukea retained his North American title by going to a draw with Ray Stevens.

The first main event was a rematch between The Sheik and The Missing Link from a month earlier where The Sheik was disqualified for attacking both The Missing Link and referee prior to the match. The match was 2 out of three falls to a television curfew.

As soon as the match started, The Missing Link attacked The Sheik, after 6:48 of action, The Sheik gouged The Link's eyes and pinned hm for the first fall. The second fall lasted only 1:15 when The Link applied the Claw Hold on The Sheik, who quickly submitted thus evening up the match.

For the third fall, The Sheik threw The Missing Link out of the ring and went after him as The Link tried to get back into the ring. The Sheik then slammed The Link's head into the time keeper's table. Meanwhile, The Sheik's manager (The Weasel) went under the ring and held onto The Link's leg as he tried to get back into the ring. Referee Wally Tsutsumi started to count to 20 and The Link was counted out and the match was awarded to The Sheik. After being counted out, The Missing Link reache down and pulled The Weasel off him and picked him up by the neck. The Sheik seeing this attacked The Link and left him laid out on the floor of the arena.

As The Sheik was leaving the ring, all of a sudden Pedro Morales came running towards the ring and as he approached, The Sheik reached into his trunks and threw a fire ball at Morales' face and Morales fell to the ground. Next, The Sheik approached Lord Blears, who was narrating the match on KGMB TV, and once again reached into his trunks and threw a fire ball at Blears, then left for the locker room.

The final event for the evening was a non-sanctioned fight to the finish between Ed Francis and Ripper Collins with no time limit, no disqualification, no rules, and no referee. Since this was a non-sanctioned match, the crowd was given five minutes to leave the arena; as expected, no one left.

As both men entered the ring, all hell broke loose. The match was nothing but punching, biting, gouging, with both wrestlers hitting each other's head into ring posts and tables around the ring. The match went on for several minutes and soon Collins was bleeding from the head and Ed Francis got his sleeper hold on hm outside the ring. Within a minute, Collins was asleep to the delight of 8700 fans. Francis continued to stomp on Collins, who was asleep on the floor of the HIC and was pulled away by Lord Blears. Finally, Collins was carried to the locker room on a stretcher and Francis was declared the winner of the match.

On November 26, 1969, Promoter Ed Francis presented eight professional wrestling matches at The Honolulu International Center.

In the earlier matches: Tank Morgan defeated Rene Goulet, Georg Harris over Karl Von Steiger, and Freddie Blassie and Don Leo Jonathan battled to a draw. In a midget tag team match, the team of The Mighty Atom and Little Bruiser defeated Wee Willie Wilson and Cowboy Lang.

In the match for the Hawaiian Championship, Ripper Collins and The Missing Link. After each wrestler took a fall, Collins was disqualified and The Missing Link won the match. However, Collins retained his Hawaiian Championship since the title cannot change hands on a disqualification.

The biggest surprise of the night was the scheduled match between Friday Allman and Bobby Shane. As Shane waited in the ring for Allman to arrive, Allman exited the locker room then stepped aside and out came Handsome Johnny Barend who started heading toward the ring.

Barend was making his first appearance in the islands in almost a year. Barend approached the ring wearing a black cape, top hat, and dark glasses. As soon as the bell rang, Barend attacked Shane and tore him apart. Barend used three bombs away and a press to win the first fall in the time of 3:21. When the bell rang for the second fall, Barend attacked Shane, who was lying stationary on the mat. The referee went to check on Shane, who was unable to continue. Barend was awarded the fall and the match. Barend then exited the ring towards the locker room and Shane had to be removed from the ring on a stretcher.

The main event was a match for the North American Championship. Pedro Morales, the champion, put his title on the line against The Sheik. Morales wanted revenge for the time The Sheik threw fire in his face. The match was two out of three falls with championship rules.

The Sheik applied a Boston Crab on Morales to take the first fall. Morales then put The Sheik in a back breaker and got him to submit to win the second fall in the time of 1:12min.

During the 3rd fall, Morales soon got The Sheik in a sleeper hold and as The Sheik was about to go under, his manager, known as The Weasel, broke up the hold by attacking Morales. The Sheik was disqualified and Morales won the match and retained his belt.

The Honolulu International Center held its first card of 1970 on January 21. What made this card unusual was that there were no championship matches. A crowd of 6500 showed up to witness the card.

In the preliminary matches, Jack Bence and The Missing Link battled to a draw, as did Tank Morgan and Don Leo Jonathan in "The Battle of Giants." Earl "Mr. Universe" Maynard defeated Masa(Harry) Fujiwara

The next match was a rematch straight from the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Ed Francis signed The Masked Gladiator and Pat Patterson against the team of Ray Stevens and Peter Maivia. In the first fall, Stevens took a beating in the opposition's corner and was pinned by Patterson in 7:42. Maivia evened up the match for his team by pinning The Gladiator in the time of 17:04. The match ended in draw when neither team was able to gain the third fall.

The main event was the team of "Murder Incorporated" Gene Kiniski, Ripper Collins, & Johnny Barend against the team of Hahn Lee, Pedro Morales, & 640 lbs. Haystacks Calhoun. This match came about when Barend and Collins hired Kiniski as a tag team partner and challenged Lee and Morales to find a third partner for a 6 man tag team match. They hired Calhoun as the "hired gun."

The first fall went to the team of Lee, Morales, and Calhoun when Morales applied the sleeper hold on Kiniski in the time of 10:18. Kiniski evened the match for his team by pining Lee in the time of 2:04.

The match ended when all members of the team entered the ring at the same time and ignored all the rules. Calhoun started swinging a horseshoe attached to a steel chain at Kiniski and Barend. Meanwhile, Morales and Lee took turns in biting the head of Collins which started to bleed. At this point, referee Pete Peterson disqualified both teams and fined each team $1000.

This incident between Johnny Barend and Pedro Morales took place due to a series of events between the two wrestlers:

(1) Back on December 25, 1969, Morales defended his North American Title against Barend at the Honolulu International Center (HIC). Prior to the match, a group of fans gave Morales a Christmas present of "a gold watch." Morales gave the watch to his friend wrestler Hahn Lee for safe keeping. During the third and deciding fall, Lee staggered out to the ring covered in blood. He told Morales that "They got the watch." While Morales and the referee went to Lee's aid, Barend took out a metal object and hit Morales, knocking him out. Barend then pinned Pedro and won the match.

(2) The following Saturday on KGMB TV's 50th State Wrestling show, Hahn Lee told the audience that he was attacked by Ripper Collins and Friday Allman, who took the watch from him. Meanwhile, Collins, Friday, and Barend would appear on TV wearing the watch and teasing Morales and Lee.

(3) Promoter Ed Francis ordered Barend and Collins to defend their Hawaiian Tag Team titles against Morales and Lee with the condition that if Morales and Lee won, the gold watch would be returned. On March 4, 1970, Morales and Lee defeated Barend and Collins.

(4) Finally, on March 14, 1970, during the locker room interviews, Lord Blears stood by as Collins gave Morales a long overdue Christmas present. Johnny Barend stood by with a big smile on his face. Friday Allman is on the left.

(5) When Morales opened the present, it contained a toy with a note attached saying "Merry Christmas Greaseball."

(6) Then Barend pulled out a pouch containing the real watch along with a hammer, lay the watch on the ground, and then smashed it to bits.

(7) Morales went nuts and attacked Barend. Pedro had to be separated from Barend by Hahn Lee, Ed Francis, and French Canadian wrestler Rene Goulet.

(8) Two weeks later, Morales would meet Barend in a stretcher match at the Honolulu International Center. The loser of the match would have to be carried out of the ring on a stretcher.

On June 10, 1970 at the Civic Auditorium, five matches took place. In the opening match, Tank Morgan and Masa Fujiwara battled to a draw. Hard Boiled Haggerty defeated Mac Macfarland and Billy Robinson took two out of three falls from Hahn Lee with a pin fall and a press to win his wrestling match.

In a special challenge match, Pedro Morales wrestled a masked wrestler by the name of "The Convict," who stood 7 feet one inches tall and weighed 487 pounds. Morales won the match in 11:44 when the Convict was disqualified and fined for knocking out referee Wally Tsutsumi and for roughness outside the ring.

The main event was for the Hawaiian Championship with a clause in the contract stating a no disqualification rule. The champion Ripper Collins put up his title against Sam Steamboat. Promoter Ed Francis ordered the match due to the fact that on April 29, Collins wrestled Steamboat for the title and got himself disqualified on purpose by hitting the referee thus allowing Collins to keep his title.

The match was 2 out of three falls with a one hour time limit. Steamboat won the first fall by applying an abdominal stretch submission hold on Collins. The second fall went to Collins by giving two knees to the stomach of Steamboat and then using a splash to even up the match.

The third and deciding fall had both wrestlers on the ropes, Steamboat managed to pin Collins for the third and deciding fall and become the new Hawaiian Champion. However, the following Saturday on KGMB's 50th State Wrestling TV show, Steamboat told the audience that he was informed by some friends that Collins' foot had been outside the ropes on the deciding fall. Knowing this, Steamboat didn't feel right and asked promoter Ed Francis to give Collins a rematch as soon as possible.