#159 – Archie Gouldie vs Bad News Allen, Stampede Wrestling, December 1983
This week Dre and Black Cat head north to investigate some classic Stampede Wrestling that somehow doesn’t involve anyone in the Hart Family. They take a look at an amazing feud between two Calgary legends – Archie “The Stomper” Gouldie and Bad News Allen (who most of us would later on know as Bad News Brown in the WWF). This feud is a classic turn that involves some of the best interviews they’ve ever seen. Please support the show and pick up our new SEASON 4 BOX SET including two unreleased episodes of reviews for the 1987 Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team tournament and the documentary “Heroes of World Class Wrestling” available on DVD or for direct download. Please support the Old School Wrestling Podcast by visiting oldschoolwrestlingpodcast.com where you can find links to all of our great products. Thanks for listening and we’ll see you…..at the matches!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:40:20 — 87.4MB)
Interesting episode guys. I too haven’t had much exposure to Stampede wrestling, other than knowing the Harts ran it and that Stu would whip guys into shape in the dungeon. I can’t believe you got through the whole episode without uttering Bad News’ put down of choice, “beer-bellied share cropper”. I always like Bad News’ loner mentality in that he couldn’t even get along with other heels. In one of the Survivor Series, he got fed up and walked out on his partners. And of course at Wrestlemania 4, him and a heel Bret Hart are the last 2 left in the the battle royal and just when the announcers start speculating they’ll split the victory, Bad New attacks and eliminates Bret from behind. This starts a feud and helps turn the Hart Foundation face. Bad News was a bald loner with a bad attitude, black trunks and boots and facial hair who couldn’t get along with faces, heels, fans, or autority figure (once beat up Jack Tunney on WWF Superstars). Does this sound familiar? Stonecold Steve Austin ripped off Bad News! Total gimmick infringement!!
The celebrity jeopardy segment was classic! I especially enjoyed the Warrior running the table in the intergalactic category. When Dusty was answering the question about foie gras, I thought he might recall having tried it when he “dined with kings and queens” but maybe didn’t think it tasted as good as “pork and beans,” oh well.
Not sure how obscure this suggestion for an angle to cover on the show is but I always found it interesting. In 1993 when babyface Bret Hart was WWF Champion and feuding with heel wrestler/commentator Jerry Lawler. But down in Memphis where Lawler was beloved the feud was opposite. Jerry was the face and Bret was the heel. This played on on Memphis TV, with Bret getting help from Lawler’s broadcast partner Vince McMahon. It was Vince’s first taste of being a heel, almost five years before The Montreal Screwjob. I first briefly read about of this happening in an “Apner” mag back in the day. But now the whole thing can be found on youtube and it’s titled McMemphis.
Great episode, as always!
Growing up in Toronto in the 80s, I had my fair share of TV wrestling from which to choose. The most prominent block was 4(!) straight hours on Saturday afternoons, beginning at noon with WWF Wrestling Challenge, followed by one of the Canadian WWF programs, Maple Leaf Wrestling. After those shows came the promotions of “All-Star Wrestling” out of Vancouver at 2PM, and “International Wrestling” out of Quebec at 3PM. What a treasure trove of spin-tingling action!
On your podcast you requested odd storylines and angles from these long-past olden times. An angle I vaguely recall from International Wrestling was the introduction of Buster Brody, the long-lost “brother” of Bruiser Brody. He was brought forth by manager Eddie Creachman (or his son Floyd – also a prominent manager in the territory), if I recall correctly.
This debut occurred during an installment of the travelling feud between Abdullah the Butcher and Bruiser Brody; however, Buster stuck around awhile after Bruiser moved on to another territory. Anyway, Buster Brody was apparently on leave (or escaped) from the insane asylum and was escorted to the ring wearing a straight jacket. Not only was this a precursor to WCW’s later gimmick of Norman the Lunatic, it was also quite similar to the WWF’s introduction of Kane as the Undertaker’s long-lost brother years later.
Does anyone else remember this? Can anyone shed some light on this old angle?
I remember this well, having grown up in Montreal and being a huge International Wrestling fan. Buster Brody was actually Killer Tim Brooks and he would come out in nasty and torn sweat shorts and shirt. This was in the dying days of the territory and was likely a cost-cutting measure as Bruiser was too expensive to bring in regularly.
Speaking of International Wrestling, one of my favourite wrestling angles occurred in Montreal in the summer of 1985 and involved the Rougeau Brothers (the hometown heroes) and Jimmy and Ronnie Garvin.
Jimmy Garvin had been in the territory for a few weeks (his wife/valet Precious was from a town in Northern Ontario) and had been causing trouble for the Rougeaus and other fan favourites. He would be joined by his “brother” Ronnie Garvin, who had lost a Loser Leave Town match (and the National title) to Black Bart in Atlanta earlier in the month so that he could spend the summer in Montreal.
With both Garvins in town and the foundation set for a match between the two families, the angle would take place just prior to their scheduled match. Precious spayed her air freshener in Jacques’ face allowing the Garvins to brutalize the Rougeau family before hightailing it out of the ring.
Think about it! The Rougeaus, the first family of Quebec wrestling, getting beaten down by “outsiders” (Ronnie is actually from Montreal but was not billed as such) in the shrine of Montreal sports – the Montreal Forum, on June 24, St. jean Baptiste day, a national holiday in Quebec. The fans were ready to riot.
My words cannot do justice to this angle. Here is the video of the St. Jean Baptiste Day Massacre, one of the greatest wrestling angles ever:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb69OTXsJoE
Hey guys:
I remember watching this match at the time it happened. I grew up in Saskatchewan, so we did not hear the full story that people in Calgary would have. The reason that it is so strange and they did the Stomper’s interview later is there was a full blown riot. I only learned the full story in Heath McCoy’s book Pain and Passion: the History of Stampede Wrestling (great book for anyone who wants to relive what territorial wrestling was like). A fan went after Bad News and then the riot broke out and a woman was badly trampled. That is what Ed Whalen was reacting to. He legit quit the promotion that night as Bruce Hart who was booking hadn’t smartened Ed up that it wasn’t really the Stomper’s son and he wasn’t really going to get hurt (plus the riot was likely the capper). Not only that, but Stampede was banned from the city of Calgary due to the riot for 6 months by the Boxing and Wrestling Commission (who still had real power back in the day). According to McCoys’ book, Stu claimed that this lost him $300 grand and seems to be a main reason he sold out to McMahan. A lot of people don’t like Whalen as an announcer, but he was beloved in the territory in part due to his catch phrases, but also because anytime there was fill in for vacation or if he was off doing Flames games the replacements were all time terrible (like the guy who did the strap match, who was the commentator from the 1950s and who was in his 70s at the time).
I started watching Stampede in 1977 or 78 and by then the Stomper had moved on and this was the first time I saw him, so not much for memories of him. However, I saw all of Bad News’s run and he was fantastic. Crazy ECW style violence dropped into early 80s territory. Just before the big Stampede card where Bret was to challenge for Nick Bockwinkle’s AWA title, Bad News came out and bashed Bret with the metal part of a fire extinguisher to massive blood shed (which then played into the title match, Bret was on advantage until Nick ripped out the stitches). The Bad News – Dynamite feud was amazing.
Anyway, keep up the good work.