Action Photos 15

.

.

.

Rocky "Soulman" Johnson celebrated his winning the NWA U.S. Heavyweight Championship with ACTION Wrestling readers by showing us the coveted belt close-up and personal.

.

.

.

This was taken during a Steel Cage Match at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium. Dr. Ken Ramey keeps a tight hold on Ray Stevens as Referee Frank Nocetti keeps a close watch.

.

.

.

Mr. Paul DeMarco keeps a tight headlock on Ray Stevens during that Six-Man Steel Cage Match in Sacramento.

.

.

.

While Pat Patterson keeps an eye on the action in the ring, Dr. Ken Ramey starts climbing up the ropes in hopes of escaping from the Six-Man Steel Cage Match before he gets hurt.

.

.

.

Mr. Paul DeMarco flies head-first into the top turnbuckle as Peter Maivia enjoys the action from his corner.

.

.

.

.

.

I found this film strip I shot at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium of a Texas Death Tag Team Match. Ray Stevens and Peter Maivia defended their NWA World Tag Team Championship against Pat Patterson and his partner, ?? This is the end of the match -- Hank Renner is standing on the apron of the ring, announcing the winners. Referee Larry Williams is standing by the losing team who is laying flat out on the mat. Ray Stevens is wearing a boxing helmet on his head. Why, you ask? It was to keep Pat Patterson, who was wearing his hood in those days, from slipping a foreign object through one of the eye openings, and head-butting Ray Stevens out cold. Peter Maivia, of course, had a hard head and used it to head-butt people without using anything but his head. He didn't have to worry about Pat's dirty tricks.

.

.

.

This picture actually should have been first I guess. You see a better view of Peter Maivia and Ray Stevens right after winning the Texas Death Tag Team Match, and a closer shot of Ray's boxing helmet, which did it's job! Ray did not get knocked out by Pat Patterson during this match! This is also proof that Referee Larry Williams once sported a mustache. Hank Renner is still talking. Fans in Sacramento always swarmed up to the ring to congratulate the winners and harass the losers. They could get right up against the mat, very different than most cities today.

.

.

.

I guess these are all in reverse order -- here are the winners of the Texas Death Tag Team Match -- Ray Stevens and Peter Maivia. Pat Patterson is sitting on his knees, trying to wake his partner and screaming out "No! No!" like he wants to take the last fall and "Do it over!" The atmosphere in the auditorium at this moment is hard to adequately describe. This was probably the fourth or fifth rematch between these two teams, and Pat Patterson and his partner had probably won them all, but didn't win the Championship for one reason or another. There was probably a win through disqualification, one match was probably stopped because Ray or Peter was bleeding too badly to continue, Pat had probably won one of the matches using his foreign object, only to have the win reversed the next morning by NWA President Sam Mushnick after receiving a report from the National Wrestling Alliance's secret monitor who watches the matches from a ringside seat to make sure the belts didn't change hands as a result of cheating that took place behind the referee's back.

After two months of bitter disappointments, every fan in the building was out of his/her seat at the end of this match. As happy as they were for Ray and Peter, they hated Pat Patterson just as much, and wouldn't let the two heels out of the ring after Ray and Peter had already made their way back to the dressing room. The fans would not leave the building. Hundreds of them surrounded the ring to scream at and taunt the heels.

.

.

.

Here's another view of the crowd that night after the match was over. The house lights were never turned on while the match was still in progress. Everyone stayed around that night to scream at the heels after they lost their title bid. The fans were so mad, they also wanted to see Pat his partner try to get back to the dressing room.

.

.

.

Pat Patterson waits for his police escort to get him back through the mob to the dressing room. The only thing I can think of why I don't have any photos of his partner is that he was unconscious and was going to have to be carried out on a stretcher, which happened a few times. They did not usually stay out in the ring as long as it seems they were here, because they were sitting ducks. The police may have been waiting for additional help to arrive before they even tried to get the heels through safely. Normally this situation would happen when the heels won, not lost the match -- but Pat Patterson had a lot of heat in Sacramento.

Copyright 2003 Viktor Berry •

ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

.

.

.