Considering that he was older than most of the people he was wrestling Nick was in amazing shape. Just watch his first match with Curt Henning to prove it. He was awesome. RIP Nick, you'll always be the Champ.
This white boy was INFERIOR to the legendary Tony Atlas and if it were not for the myth of white supremacy this white wouldn't dare step in the ring with Tony Atlas.
I knew Nick traveled a bit to defend to Awa belt in other territories starting in 78 or so,Memphis,Houston,South West,had no idea he wrestled Tony Atlas though,thanks for posting
I never understood the whole racism thing in wrestling where promoters thought that black wrestlers couldn't draw. As a 13 year old white kid in 82 Tony Atlas was my FAVORITE wrestler. I started lifting weights because of Tony Atlas and I wanted to be like him.
Yes and i was a big Bobo Brazil fan and when atlas and rocky Johnson joined wwwf I was in awe at their massive muscles and yes I to started lifting weights
Promoters usually wanted to limit how many Professional Wrestlers of Color they wanted to have on their Roster working shows. This was not unique at that time. The same thing was true in Major Leagues baseball, The National Football League, The National Basketball Association and The National Hockey League. For the very same reason, thinking if they had too many Athletes of color, it would hurt attendance.
Before The Hulk, there was Tony Atlas. He was the first For Real 💪Jacked dude I ever seen as a little kid. It was then I knew I had to lift. Then came Big Lou and then Ahhnold. Aint No Thing like that old skool d bol 😉
Bockwinkel is smooth entertaining classic enjoyable smart beautiful showman hardworking passionate non hitting skillful to hitting but with ability to sale a match and his person he working without even be nice about it
When I was around 8 or 9 (1983-1984) Mi Best Friend and I went to the BRANTFORD CIVIC CENTRE to a WWF EVENT. At age 9 when I walked threw the Front doors of the Civic Centre Right there Standing inna the Foyer, WAS MI FIRST CELEBRITY I HAVE EVER SEEN/MET, signing autographs was the one and only TONY ATLAS. I have seen & met a few famous peeps after that inna Mi Life, But TONY ATLAS was MI FIRST. Later On inna Mi Life, Dewey "THE MISSING LINK" Robertson was 1 of Mi Friends. RIP DEWEY
Good stuff here. Interesting that Bobby Heenan wasn’t at ringside with the champ. Bronco Lubich was supposed to officiate this match but he came down with food poisoning and explosive diarrhea at a taco place in Conroe. Imagine if he had officiated the match and had an accident.
@@cantstop-wontstop2138 Your both right, but its "the suspension of disbelief." Atlas was 28 here, Bockwinkle was 48, I hope for Atlas's sake your right. And this is long before the whole 40 is the new 30 perspective was around, in 2024 it's very easy to see Bockwinkle is the better worker. Not to mention the blade job.
What's interesting about this title match: Tony Atlas was with the WWF/E at that time. So Atlas and other WWF/E stars of that era, before Vince Jr. took over, had to find work at other places when their WWF/E schedule had days off.
Atlas should have gotten one of the three big straps. He was crazy great on the mic when he let go. Just spewed crazy nonsense and it was awesome. On another note, does everyone realize Bobby The Brain was actually younger than Nick Bockwinkel?
AWA might have survived if they strapped their title around Mr. USA's waist because honestly, nobody even back in those days believes a 50 year old man can survive more than 5 minutes with anyone built like this.
Wrestling is a grown man soap opera also like the circus and carvinal . Heel's and hero and Babyface. High up decideds before the show starts who wins storyline. Good vs Bad . Anti drugs drawing money makes it although is dead and destroyed his body of drugs i mis Super Star Billy Graham not the greatest wrestler but could make a promotor money, Vince Sr .was wrong back then Bob .b was the better wrestler but later on fan's got bored 😢
@@jasonmorgan951 Yeah, if you're looking for a cartoon character you would be disappointed. He didn't look like much, he wasn't flashy, but he was renowned even amongst his fellow wrestlers for his technical abilities.
