wrestling / Columns

Ask 411 Wrestling: Has Daniel Bryan Lost a Step Post-Injury?

March 4, 2015 | Posted by Mathew Sforcina

Welcome to the only column thinking David Schultz must be feeling real lonely right about now, Ask 411 Wrestling! I am Mathew Sforcina, and I’ve got not a lot to talk about here. How about you?

Really?

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Length Of Replies: I obviously can’t change the fact that having short responses to long questions looks bad. But on the other hand, if I don’t have anything to say I’m not going to waste lines saying that. And a lot of the time, the questions I spend the most time on are the ones with short answers because I don’t find any useful info. But my apologies if you feel upset or anything with anything I type, believe me, I take every questions seriously.

Well, almost every one.

The Trivia Crown

Who am I? I debuted in WCW, surprisingly. I’ve lost to and beaten Jim Duggan. I’ve won a one night tournament to become the first person to hold a title. During my managing career I’ve managed to amass a better than half ratio of world champions to non-world champs (even without including the woman). The name of one of my finishers was stolen by someone currently in WWE. I’ve lost to someone who was fighting for their job while I’ve also lost my own job in a separate match. Not a crown jewel, I am who?

No-one? It was Davari. Debuted as a fan being interviewed on Nitro in 98, one of his finshers was the WMD, Cody beat him to keep his job while he got fired via Feast or Fired in TNA, and he was in the Embassy (but was not DA CROWN JE-WEL JIMMY RAVE!!!)

What am I? I was a last, despite a start to end me. A guy who got the win in his tag match was a manager for the main event. A title changed hands in around a minute or so. A guy who wasn’t supposed to be there was, shockingly, there to answer an open challenge. An Alliance worked out, although the guy who walked out with the big title made sure another tag team match didn’t go well. A PPV that is not all that great, I am what?

Getting Down To All The Business

Call David SpadeASpade has the first question for us.

I’ve just watched the video of Yoshiko vs Act Yasukawa in the joshi promotion STARDOM’s main event. I found it pretty disgusting to watch Yoshiko go into business for herself and abuse her opponent the way she did, now in America I would assume this would be the end of her career as she could not be trusted to work with anyone due to her horrible attitude. However would this be seen as a plus for her in the Japanese scene? We all know how much they love shoot fights (although both parties are usually aware they’re in one) and strong style wrestling. Are there any any examples of wrestlers who went on to have a long and successful career after a flagrant disregard for an opponent like this?

If you haven’t seen the incident and want to, skip ahead to 3:30ish if you wish. Basically Yoshiko beats up Act, with no real attempt to work the match despite Act trying to get back on track. Act may or may not have started it with a hard shot but that’d debatable.

Anyway, I can sort of answer this, but why rely on my vague notions when I can instead call on the guy who has forgotten more about Japanese wrestling than I’ve pretended to know, and who’s sacrificing his sanity by recapping Total Divas for you, Ryan Byers!

There are absolutely examples of wrestlers who have had long and successful careers after shooting on their opponents. Probably the example that best mirrors what Yoshiko did to Act Yasukawa is that of Akira Maeda, who legitimately and intentionally shattered the orbital bone of Riki Choshu in a November 1987 tag team match. Maeda was already established as a top star in professional wrestling prior to that match, and the incident did result in Maeda being booted (no pun intended) from New Japan Pro Wrestling, but it did not end his career. He went on to be one of the founders of the sometimes work, sometimes shoot promotion RINGS and was fairly successful as a performer there for several more years.

(Of course, Maeda also had a fairly infamous shoot with Andre the Giant, but that didn’t result in anybody being seriously injured as with Yoshiko/Yasukawa or Maeda/Choshu.)

Shooting on an opponent also did not affect the status of Antonio Inoki when he went after Croatian wrestler the Great Antonio or the Great Sasuke when he unloaded some very real kicks on British wrestler the Dirtbike Kid. In both of those instances, though, the shooter in question was the booker of the promotion and their actions were seen as somewhat justified due to perceived disrespect of the pro wrestling business by their opponents. You could even consider New Jack to be a guy who didn’t have his career affected too badly by a match getting too real, as the Mass Transit incident probably didn’t hold him back from getting any further than he would have otherwise.

To understand what this incident means for Yoshiko’s career, you have to understand one key thing about Stardom (the promotion that the shoot occurred in) and the general women’s wrestling scene in Japan. We’re talking about real small-time, low level professional wrestling here. Though it still has some very dedicated fans, the biggest of big joshi shows these days only draws about 1,000 people, and run of the mill shows are only going to have two to four hundred in the stands. Plus, with the historic separation of men’s and women’s wrestling in Japan, there aren’t any bigger companies for a female wrestler to move up to.

In other words, barring a major shift in the popularity of joshi or the structure of the wrestling business in Japan, Yoshiko had already gotten to about as high a level of popularity that she was going to get prior to this incident occurring. She was the top woman in her company, but her company, like all joshi promotions, is just a blip on the radar of the overall pro wrestling landscape. An incident like this one couldn’t help her career, because her career really couldn’t get any better.

Plus, even though the story is still unfolding as I write this (February 25), it appears that the immediate reaction to Yoshiko has not been good. She has been striped of Stardom’s main championship and indefinitely suspended by the promotion. That sends a signal that they’re not putting her back in their top spot anytime soon, if they bring her back at all. Maybe she could leave them and head to another women’s promotion, like Oz Academy or Wave, but that doesn’t put her into any better position than what she was in before.

If anything, this entire incident strikes me as one that will briefly draw attention to a near-dead sub-genre of professional wrestling before it is promptly forgotten about, making no significant impact on the industry.

Everyone go follow Ryan on Twitter. Make him watching Total Divas mean something dammit!

Matt asks what Bryan can do to slow down.

I had a friend over to watch Fastlane on the Network, and while neither of us enjoyed the show, we did have an interesting discussion during the Bryan/Reigns match. He was very critical of Bryan’s performance and said that he hasn’t liked him since his return. Basically, he doesn’t think that Bryan’s moveset works since the injury, as he isn’t as fast as he used to be or able to really throw his body behind strikes the way someone like Adrian Neville can. Even the “Yes!” chant is different now, where he never fully extends his arms over his head, as that puts pressure on those neck muscles.

After watching Neville/Balor after Fastlane and seeing what guys with similar builds and styles to pre-injury Bryan, I have to admit that he had a point. Pre-injury Daniel Bryan was much quicker on his feet and had much crisper strikes. My friend was worried about Bryan’s future, bringing up comments from Stone Cold Steve Austin’s podcast to the effect that Austin was able to continue after a similar injury because he was able to believably transition into being a brawler. Bryan, meanwhile, may not be big enough to make that transition.

My question, then, would be how Bryan might be able to adjust his style if he has indeed lost a step or two due to the injury. I suggested that Bryan might do well adopting a more Dean Malenko mat-based offense. Thoughts?

It is a valid question, as a major part of Bryan’s appeal and how he got over was going out there and putting on stellar match after stellar match, and even if he’s fully recovered from the injury, the fact that he came so close to his career ending has to play on the guy, and so he does need to adapt his in-ring work a little to extend his career for as long as he can before he retires to his cabin to sit around with Bree and smoke pot all day.

The major stumbling block is the much derided WWE Style, which can paint people into corners at times as it forces people to adapt their style to fit the WWE’s vision as to how they should wrestle. So if Bryan does try to slow down a little, WWE may well ask, nicely, for him to speed up again because of how they see him working. Hell, tossing him into the ladder match at WM isn’t exactly a cotton ball treatment.

But either way, what is the best way to adapt his style? What’s the best thing Bryan can do here to help?

Easy. Turn heel.

Sure, you could spend months slowly teaching the fans, you can guide them through the process of turning Bryan from the fast moving high flying kicking machine to the moderately paced technical wizard that he should turn into, you can keep him face as you tone down his more extreme moves into easier, less risky versions or replacements. That’s plausible, sure.

But you can do all that overnight with a heel turn. Bryan fails to win at WM, snaps and dismembers Reigns the Raw after WM to give Rollins the belt and join the Authority and…

Wait, Bryan killing Reigns on that Raw would make him even more of a babyface…

OK, Bryan goes to NXT and drags Sami Zayn to the ring and gives him another concussion then goes backstage and breaks Bayley’s headband.

However you turn him heel, if he goes that way he can believably remove all the moves that are an issue, the dives, the running, the jumping, and become the vicious ground based technical bastard he was on the Indy scene for a while in a flash. And then in a year or so, when he turns back face, he will either be healed up fully or he can bust out the dives on special occasions again.

Speaking of Indy Darlings, Eric asks about the rumored next NXT Guy…

Sforza! Sounds like the hired gun for the Full Blooded Italians or perhaps a monster heel/comedy act with Santino as a mouthpiece?

The House Of Sforza does not do comedy. At least until the disconnect between the acting with airs is coupled with the street thug wrestlng style.

Well speaking of fantasy booking, I have one for you, and not the usual 20 questions at once. Assuming WWE DOES strike a deal and bring in Samoa Joe, how would you book him Year One? Does he show up as Heyman’s new project after Brock leaves? Does he come in and attack the Usos to set up a Somoan turf war angle? Or does he spend a year in NXT losing weight, change his name to some Somoan word for ‘beast’ or ‘warrior’ and get the Rusev/Umaga treatment?

‘Manu’ is ‘Animal’, ‘Misa’ is ‘To Fight’. Misamanu?

I think that unless that’s what Joe really wants, or if Vince really insists, he’ll be able to avoid the Umaga treatment based on how Samoans are currently being portrayed and due to his credibility and such. Of course, there is the issue on what would they do with him?

He’d go to NXT, certainly, where he’d probably get a push as a man who is good at wrestling professionally but has a hook of being a big guy who can move fast and is Samoan, simple but effective.

Of course, upon call up that might all change. But I think that after a few months in NXT, assuming he impressed the right people, I think Joe Seanoa comes in and you do the Samoan Turf War idea in a way, in that I’d have him debut with an attack on Reigns, with the justification that it took him this long to get to the Big Leagues because whenever someone found out he was Samoan, he always got the same question.

“Are you related to The Rock?” “Oh, so you’re an Anoa’I, right?” “Afa trained you though, yes?”

Everyone thinks that Samoans have been so well represented in wrestling, but it’s just nepotism and backscratching, the Anoa’I family has kept anyone who is Samoan but not family back. Now, he has a chance to prove himself and take out the poster child for the problem, Reigns.

Then you can transition that to the Usos later on. There’s going to be questions and comparisons, so you might as well get it out of the way upfront and then move on.

Ron asks about one of the most famous double-named moves in wrestling.

With Sting’s WWE Debut coming up it raises some Sharpshooter/Scorpion death Lock questions.

Sharpshooter & Scorpion Death Lock are obviously gimmick names for the hold. What is the submission hold’s real name?

Real names of wrestling moves is a little tricky, as often the technical term is unwieldy (either a cloverleaf leg-lace Boston crab or a standing reverse figure-four leglock) and really, it doesn’t matter which name is first, just which is most well known/used. But in this case the original name, the ‘real’ name, is Sasori-gatame, which translates to Scorpion Hold. So Sting’s the closer one in terms of naming.

Who invented the hold?

That would be Riki Chōshū, a very influential Japanese wrestler of the 80’s/90’s, who most wrestled for New Japan wrestling.

Who started using the move first, Bret or Sting?

If you ever seen their match in WCW I think it was at super brawl, I recommend you do. Highly underated. Bret was having incredible matches at the time with Flair, Savage, and Sting that never get mentioned or put on DVD.

Ron Garvin.

The timeline basically goes Riki invented it, then Garvin began to use it in the mid 80’s, but Sting was the first guy to use it out of the two, he was putting Flair in the Deathlock at the first Clash of the Champions in 1988, while Bret didn’t start using it until the first set of TV tapings after Wrestlemania VII in 1991, March 26 to be exact.

And yeah, although it ended horribly, the first few big matches in WCW for Bret were great, before the flip-flopping began.

Paul is excited.

With all of the indie wrestlers being signed and prospering in NXT, the pushes of Bryan and Punk before, Rusev, Wyatt and all of the Shield members being pushed hugely, what are all of the complaints? Fine, Reigns isn’t perfect, but he’s new. HHH is in his swan song. Undertaker as well. Cena is in the mid card for the biggest show this year, same as last. When those big three are gone, won’t the WWE look a lot like a whose who of indie darlings? What will be the complaint then? Daniel is on top too long? Punk is back only for short spurts and holding people down? I know, “don’t you know what the internet is about?”. Maybe it is just me, but I’m very excited about the future of WWE.

The issue is not the talent level of the WWE. Hell, I think a lot of people would agree that right now, the WWE has the deepest talent pool of any company ever, no-one is disputing the players involved. It’s how they are being run that’s the problem.

Every problem right now with the WWE is based on their booking, and how they can’t book ANYTHING well, outside of Miz/Mizdow, and that has its fair share of misses (Mizswoggle). Most of the IWC liked the Shield, and while we might have wanted Ambrose or Rollins, Reigns was still cool. Until WWE pushed him too hard too fast and then went too far the other way and back again. The fact he’s new and different isn’t helping the fact that he’s not been booked to his strengths, nor has he been booked how he was back in the Shield when we liked him NOR how the guy who is to beat Brock and become the new Cena should be booked.

The bouncing IC title belt feels like what would happen if you asked a three year old to book around it, everyone just taking the toy they want with no justification or explanation. The women’s division is given 3 minutes a week to showcase itself, the two biggest heels who aren’t feuding with a talk show host are the two guys who have both spent nearly 20 years jumping between alignments, you have a female authority figure emasculating male wrestlers with no ability or intention on being able to pay it off…

Every single complaint, every single problem, comes down to the booking. And having talent means nothing if it’s misused. That’s why, on average, the IWC is so upset and pessimistic.

But the kicker? The thing that really brings this all to a head? We have clear, undeniable evidence that WWE doesn’t have to be this bad. We can prove without a shadow of a doubt that WWE can be better, can put on a better show. It’s called NXT. A WWE branded, in house product, that is booked with simple, clear, believable and logical characters and storylines.

If WWE was just Raw and Smackdown and so on, you could maybe forgive it, you could justify it as just being WWE, they’re aimed at kids, that’s what they are like now. But with NXT proving you can do child friendly without being… Whatever Raw is now, with NXT there to be so much better than the thing they’re supposed to be inferior to… It leads one to want to demand better. It makes one expect better.

It proves WWE should be better.

Let’s have a palate cleanser, shall we?

Brian forces me to not just go with the obvious answer.

Love the column. The Matt/edge/lita became a big story based on backstage issues. Is this the biggest fued resulting from behind the scenes issues? Obviously an opinion question but you have good opinions.

Directly related? I mean, you can trace a pretty clear path from ‘Montreal Screwjob’ to ‘Steve Austin and Vince McMahon make all the moneys’. Sure, the original feud wasn’t Austin V McMahon, it was Bret V Shawn with Bret V Vince, Vince V WCW and Shawn V Reality, but at the end of the day the backstage issues led to the Screwjob which led to McMahon turning heel and that led to Moneys, The, All. Hell, even if you ignore everything post Screwjob, Bret/Shawn was pretty solidly ‘These two guys really don’t like each other!’

Now, there’s been plenty of matches and promos and storylines that toyed with backstage animosity/issues, but for a full blown feud, a big storyline based solely from behind the scenes… I can’t really think of anything. Benoit/Sullivan was a work that became a shoot, as was Russo/Hogan, the Cane Dewey angle was more just Foley’s frustration with wrestling than anything specific… Steve Austin in ECW didn’t really have the people he was feuding with in the company, so…

Yeah, I have to say that Edge/Lita/Hardy is the biggest storyline to directly come from backstage stuff. Unless you give me Austin/McMahon.

Joesph stars with retro-booking and ends with my favorite topic, Me.

Thanks for the reply on the union stuff a few weeks back. That was good stuff. It really helped me. Thanks.

I was just wondering if you wouldn’t mind a little bit of possible retro-booking.

By my count, in early 1996, Ted DiBiase had the 1-2-3 Kid, Sid, and The Ringmaster as part of the Million-Dollar Corporation. He may have had Tatanka or a couple of other of the 1995 carton characters left over kicking around as well. My question is . . . let’s say that the Mass 1996 Exodus isn’t set in stone yet. Let’s say DiBiase and the Kid haven’t decided to jump ship to WCW yet . . . could this be a powerhouse stable?

I mean, the Million-Dollar corporation of 1995 didn’t seem to have a lot of juice to it. Maybe it was a missed opportunity, maybe it wasn’t, but as a booker, with 1996 starting, is there an opportunity to sort of reboot the concept, keep the name, and create the Million Dollar Corporation 2.0? It just seems to me like by this point the WWF was at least taking a few steps away from the super-cartoony 1995. With the talent DiBiase has in his stable now, can we look at this as a big missed opportunity?

I’m not saying the ultimate rise of Stone Cold was worse than what we could have had, but a stable under the guidance of the Million Dollar Man with the high-flying 1-2-3 Kid, the technical wizard of Steve Austin (you can change the Ringmaster gimmick but keep him in), the muscle of Sid, and maybe you’ve got a mid-carder (or not) heel like Tatanka to round it out seems like it could have been something. On paper it just seems like there’s three very talented guys in a stable, and to me it seems like a missed opportunity. What are your thoughts? Do you see a booking scenario where it works?

It’s sort of the same issue as we looked at before, as it’s less the talent and more the head, in this case the issue was DiBiase. Not that he was untalented or anything, far from it, but as you say the stable was running on fumes by 95, and part of the issue was that DiBiase was pretty much done as a character by then. All the heat he had was reliant on residual heat from his run as a wrestler, and that was almost all gone by then. It could have been extended if the Corporation had managed to do anything, but they never won any big match or feud apart from Survivor Series 1994, so the group looked second rate.

The group also fell apart slowly as guys left the company, IRS and Bundy in 95, Kama and Tatanka early 96, 123 Kid mid 96, and Sid got a neck injury and left soon after that. That’s when DiBiase was given Austin, since he had no-one left.

Now, if you say no-one leaves, plus Sid isn’t injured, and the Corporation was allowed to do stuff, sure, a stable built around Austin has potential. But they have to actually do stuff, win matches/feuds. Have the group jump new champ Michaels and Austin locks the Dream on Michaels until he’s bleeding from every hole and leaves with the belt, run a couple months with Austin claiming to be the champ before Michaels returns at Summerslam to take his belt back… Could work.

2) On that note, could you re-book King of the Ring 1995? It seems like, again, there’s more talent there on paper, under contract, than the quality of the actual event would suggest. It’s derided, and rightly so, do you see a way to spin something good out of it?

Instead of Savio V IRS, the final slot is given to Davey Boy V Owen again, since they went to a draw in the lead in. Owen cheats to win. Taker beats Mabel thanks to a Mo fuck up, HBK kicks Kama’s head off in 15 seconds, Yokozuna squashes Roadie and Owen cheats to beat Bob Holly. Taker V Shawn goes 20 minutes, Shawn getting a desperation roll up but the issue is far from settled. The tag champs then enter the ring, circle, circle… They play scissors/paper/rock, Owen wins, Yoko parodies himself at WM and falls down to give Owen the smooth sail into becoming the first double King (really have him go on and on about it, just for the comedy of how Bret already did it) and then Shawn beats Owen in a hell of a final match. You then run Shawn/Taker V Owen/Yoko along the house show circuit, while Shawn and Owen feud and Taker and Yoko feud based on how Yoko lay down and that’s not cool. Diesel fights off all of them in turn.

3) I know tournaments are considered something of a tough sell. I understand the point there, but I love them. What are some of your favorite tournaments, and do you think there’s a way to make them more marketable OR does the very concept inherently make it too difficult to market?

I think that the Deadly Games tournament at the 98 Survivor Series, while lacking in workrate, is a highpoint in Russo’s booking as the whole tournament is one storyline told very well, although it’s now dulled to all hell given that everything that happened has been done to death since then. Plus the theme song was killer.

The Smackdown tag tourney was pretty solid, with the final match being spectacular. King of the Ring had some high points, 94, 2000, and there’s always stuff like the IWA Deathmatch if you’re so inclined. But the best tourneys ever will always be the 94 Super J Cup.

4) Finally, this one may be too sensitive, so I’ll understand if you don’t want to answer it, but I want to ask.

I think I speak for a lot of us who read 411 every week when I say I look forward to these columns. I like reading them. They’re kind of a highlight, and I know some of us like to hear your stories from being in the ring and what you’ve accomplished there. You’ve really put a face to this abstract “concept” of an Australian wrestler (if that makes any sense). You’ve talked about some of your goals, so I was wondering if you would want to answer this question.

Do you feel like you’re a success, and how many more years do you think you have in you?

I hope this doesn’t come across as demeaning, but it’s just that you aren’t getting any younger, and for a guy like you to not get the degree of success would be really too bad. At the same time, I know you’re very pragmatic about these kinds of things.

Do you feel like (good, bad, or indifferent) you’ve had to adjust your goals or that you’ve come to terms with the fact that you’ll probably never rise above a certain level.

I sincerely mean no disrespect. It’s just that . . . well . . . we all love you, man. Thanks.

I shouldn’t be the face of Aussie wrestling to you. That should be guys like Mick Moretti and girls like Shazza McKenzie and Concrete Davidson and all of the Eagles clan and Gladiator Apollo and all the other wrestlers who are really great and now really pissed off I didn’t include them in this list.

That said, I have accepted the fact that unless I go the backdoor route and become famous for something other than wrestling , or there’s a series of unlikely events, I’m probably not going to be main eventing Wrestlemania, which is sad but something that what, 30 men or so can claim? I’m not losing sleep over that. Besides, even if I do get a tryout with WWE, I suspect they might google me, find this column, and then I’m out on my ass.

Am I a success? If I went into this expecting to be able to make a living or becoming a superstar, no I’m not, but I didn’t go in with that in mind. What I can say is that I’ve held a tag title and a singles title, including the company’s main one, and thanks to wrestling I’ve been interviewed on radio, I’ve been on TV multiple times, and I’ve got to meet a whole bunch of interesting people and done some pretty cool stuff, from getting hit with a steel chair by Flash Gordon to being insulted by Jake Roberts to beating up a gold Olympian to shocking Adam Hills by knowing who Norman Borlaug. Wrestling has given me a lot, and while I still have goals, both far reaching (I will lose in the main event of a Wrestlemania god-dammit!) and realistic (I want to work Japan and USA at least once). Plus it’s led to Super Wrestling Heroes which I love doing, as well as charity work which is very cool as well. Wrestling has treated me pretty well, and I’ve had fun.

As for how long I’ll keep going… I’m actually a little rusty, I’m stepping back in the ring proper this weekend for the first time in a while so I’ll see how it goes, but I intend on doing it until I can’t physically do it, it’s no longer fun, and/or no-one wants me to, in that rough order of importance.

And on that self-important point, I bring this column to a close if you don’t give a damn about how many title defences world champions made. Which is a perfectly valid position to take, if you don’t care, see you next week. If you do care, then just scroll down a smidge…

For Your Consideration

So then, here’s the first year of WWWF World Title defences, 1963. I’ll freely admit that it’s a text dump, but it’s going to be like that regardless. But if you guys really really hate it, let me know and I’ll go back to option 2. Also, is there info you’d like me to include that I’m not? Do let me know. All of this comes from Historyofwwe.com which you should really check out. They are awesome and all.

Buddy Rogers April 25, 1963 – May 17, 1963 22 days

April 26, 1963 Tony Manousas Result Unknown

May 13, 1963 Bobo Brazil Loss by DQ
May 17, 1963 Bruno Sammartino Loss by Submission, TITLE CHANGE

0 Successful Defences, 1 Result Unknown, 2 Successful Retention.
3 Defences in 22 Days, 1 Defence every 7.3 days.

Bruno Sammartino May 17, 1963 – January 18, 1971 2803 days

May 18, 1963 Miguel Torres Win
May 20, 1963 Magnificent Maurice Win
May 23, 1963 The Shadow Win
May 24, 1963 Hans Mortier Win
May 25, 1963 Magnificent Maurice Win
May 27, 1963 Johnny Barend Win
May 29, 1963 Al Costello Win
May 30, 1963 The Shadow Win (Televised)
May 30, 1963 Tommy O’Toole Win (Televised)

June 1, 1963 Duke Hoffman Result Unknown
June 2, 1963 The Shadow Win
June 3, 1963 Hans Mortier Win 2/3 Falls Match
June 4, 1963 Pedro Rodriguez Win (Televised)
June 5, 1963 Skull Murphy Win
June 7, 1963 Skull Murphy Win
June 7, 1963 The Shadow Win Texas Death Match
June 8, 1963 Magnificent Maurice Win
June 13, 1963 Buddy Austin Draw
June 14, 1963 Johnny Barend Win
June 21, 1963 Hans Mortier Win by Pinfall
June 22, 1963 Ox Anderson Win
June 24, 1963 Duke Hoffman Win
June 25, 1963 Gordo Chihuahua Win (Televised)
June 29, 1963 The Shadow Win

July 2, 1963 Joe Quinones Win (Televised)
July 5, 1963 Skull Murphy Win
July 6, 1963 Magnificent Maurice Win
July 8, 1963 Buddy Austin Win
July 9, 1963 The Black Shadow Win
July 11, 1963 Frank Martinez Win
July 12, 1963 Hans Mortier Win 2/3 Falls Match
July 13, 1963 Buddy Austin Win
July 15, 1963 Brute Bernard Result Unknown
July 16, 1963 Baron Gattoni Win 2/3 Falls Match
July 17, 1963 The Magnificent Maurice Result Unknown
July 17, 1963 The Shadow Win by DQ
July 18, 1963 Magnificent Maurice Win
July 19, 1963 Buddy Austin Win
July 20, 1963 Brute Bernard Win
July 21, 1963 The Shadow Win
July 24, 1963 Prince Nero Win
July 26, 1963 Hans Mortier Win
July 29, 1963 The Shadow Win

August 1, 1963 The Shadow Win
August 3, 1963 Joe Quinones Win
August 6, 1963 Killer Kowalski Draw
August 8, 1963 Buddy Austin Win
August 9, 1963 Buddy Austin Win
August 10, 1963 Gene Kelly Win
August 13, 1963 Frank Martinez Win (Televised)
August 15, 1963 Johnny Barend Win
August 17, 1963 The Shadow Win
August 23, 1963 Killer Kowalski Win by Submission
August 24, 1963 Cal West Win
August 26, 1963 Hans Mortier Win by DQ
August 27, 1963 Buddy Austin Win (Televised)
August 27, 1963 Tony Nero Win (Televised)
August 31, 1963 Buddy Austin Win (Televised)
August 31, 1963 Tony Nero Win (Televised)

September 5, 1963 Brute Bernard Result Unknown
September 9, 1963 Hans Mortier Win
September 11, 1963 Hans Mortier Win
September 12, 1963 Gordo Chihuahua Win
September 14, 1963 Hans Mortier Draw by Time Limit 2/3 Falls Match
September 17, 1963 The Shadow Win by Count-Out (Televised)
September 21, 1963 Ox Anderson Win
September 21, 1963 Hans Mortier Win
September 24, 1963 Cal West Win (Televised)
September 27, 1963 The Crusher Win 2/3 Falls Match

October 3, 1963 Brute Bernard Win
October 4, 1963 Gorilla Monsoon Loss by Blood Stoppage
October 5, 1963 Frank Martinez Win (Televised)
October 7, 1963 Hans Mortier Win
October 15, 1963 Hans Mortier Win by DQ (Televised)
October 17, 1963 Killer Kowalski Draw
October 18, 1963 The Crusher Win by Submission No DQ/CO Match
October 19, 1963 Paul Reinhardt Win
October 21, 1963 Gorilla Monsoon Draw by Double Count-Out
October 26, 1963 Paul Reinhardt Win
October 26, 1963 Hans Mortier Draw
October 28, 1963 Killer Kowalski Loss by DQ

November 1, 1963 Magnificent Maurice Win
November 4, 1963 Killer Kowalski Win by Pinfall
November 5, 1963 Boris Malenko Win (Televised)
November 6, 1963 Killer Kowalski Win by DQ
November 9, 1963 Killer Kowalski Result Unknown
November 11, 1963 Hans Mortier Win
November 12, 1963 Pedro Rodriguez Win (Televised)
November 14, 1963 Brute Bernard Win
November 15, 1963 Hans Mortier Result Unknown
November 16, 1963 Killer Kowalski Win No DQ Match (Televised)
November 18, 1963 Gorilla Monsoon Win by Count-Out
November 19, 1963 Tony Nero Win (Televised)
November 20, 1963 Hans Mortier Win
November 26, 1963 Frank Martinez Win (Televised)
November 26, 1963 Klondike Bill Win
November 27, 1963 Hans Mortier Result Unknown
November 28, 1963 Klondike Bill Win
November 29, 1963 Killer Kowalski Win
November 30, 1963 Joe Quinones Win (Televised)

December 4, 1963 Killer Kowalski Result Unknown
December 4, 1963 Hans Mortier Win
December 6, 1963 Hans Mortier Win
December 7, 1963 Gorilla Monsoon Loss by DQ
December 9, 1963 Gorilla Monsoon Loss by DQ
December 10, 1963 Gorilla Monsoon Loss by DQ
December 11, 1963 Gorilla Monsoon Loss by DQ
December 12, 1963 Hans Mortier Win
December 14, 1963 Joe Quinones Win (Televised)
December 16, 1963 Dr. Jerry Graham Win by Ref Stoppage
December 19, 1963 Pedro Rodriguez Win (Televised)
December 26, 1963 Killer Kowalski Loss by DQ
December 30, 1963 Gorilla Monsoon Win

So Far: 92 Successful Defences, 8 Results Unknown, 113 Successful Retentions.

Come back next week for 1964.

Oh, and Billy Gunn sucks.