Posted this, as a joke, in the Modern Comics Thread, about the AWA comics company, from Bill Jemas.
I was looking at it and wanted to see if I could answer the question posed in it and could, except for one guy: the one standing behind Hulk Hogan and Jim Brunzell (by the AWA logo). The photo is too fuzzy and the guy is shadowed and I can't make out enough of his features. I think it is a wrestler, not anyone from the announce team, as I recognize them Here is group, as I can make them out:
Front Row (kneeling, left to right): Verne Gagne, Billy Robinson, Buck "Rock n Roll" Zumhoff (convicted pedophile), Greg Gagne, Steve O (Olsonoski), Masa Saito (aka Mr Saito
Second Row (standing): Otto Wanz, Hulk Hogan, unknown, Jim Brunzell, Rick Martell, Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon (uncle of Luna, brother of "Butcher" Pal {Luna's dad}, and Vivian Vachon), "Sheik" Ken Patera, Sheik Adnan al Kaissie, "Mean" Gene Okerlund, "Sheik" Jerry Blackwell (aka Crusher Blackwell)
Third Row: Andre the Giant, Black Jack Lanza, "Dr D" David Schultz (the guy who slapped Jon Stossel), Ken Reznik (announcer), Superstar Billy Graham, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan
Based on who was there at the time, it appears to be Fall of 1983. The absence of Nick Bockwinkel suggests October or November, as he was wrestling for the Montreal promotion, at the time, defending the AWA World title against Gino Brito, Tony Parisi, Leo Burke, and Richard Charland. Bockwinkel was champion through 1983. Otto Wanz "won" it the year before, then Bockwinkel regained it and held it until February 23, 1984, when Jumbo Tsuruta defeated him for it (Tsuruta dropped it to Rick Martel on May 13, 1984). Superstar Billy Graham was in the AWA at that time, as were the rest.
If that time frame is right, Hogan would be leaving soon, as he was supposed to be at the original Starrcade, in 1983, which was on Thanksgiving Night, in November. He left the AWA just before (last match I see results for is November 13), in a dispute with Verne and took Vince McMahon's offer to come to the WWF. He wrestled a match in St Louis, in later October, when St Louis was being run by the Kansas City promoters (Bob Geigel, Pat O'Connor and Harley Race), aka Central States (The company name was Heart of America Sports Attractions). Sam Muchnick, the promoter of St Louis, retired in January 1982 and sold his interests to the KV group. His protege, Larry Matysik (who was the announcer and behind the scenes guy) formed his own group to promote in opposition, including a card held at the St Louis Muni Opera (an outdoor venue, where my mother took me to be tortured by Cats, in 1985). St Louis had a legendary tv show, Wrestling at the Chase, which was broadcast from the Chase Park Hotel ballroom. They had been doing this since 1959, broadcasting live on Saturday nights, with a repeat on Sunday mornings (later shot live to tape). In the old days, you would see the audience in evening wear, tuxes and gowns, watching the best matches in the country. The show was broadcast on the St Louis station KPLR, which had its studios in the adjacent building. The first announcer for the show was former St Louis baseball player Joe Garagiola, who would go on to work for NBC sports and the Today Show.
In September of 1983, KPLR ended the program, severing its relationship with the KC promoters, and starting a new one with Vince McMahon. Larry Matysik was working with the WWF and had brokered the deal. The WWF held tapings on December 27, 1983 and January 16, 1984, at the Chase Park Hotel, with Hulk Hogan at both. On January 23, he would defeat the Iron Sheik, at Madison Square Garden, for the WWF title, launching Hulkamania.
Some possibilities from that time frame for our mystery man, from that time frame include Tom "Rocky" Stone, Brad Rheingans, Chris Markoff and Bill White. Those were names I found in results from that era, for battle royals and other matches.
Stone is a definite possibility.....
He had good size and his haircut, in that era, was similar. He was a perennial jobber on tv and undercard guy at live shows, including battle royals and opening matches. Here he is against Baron Von Raschke (plus some commercial tomfoolery)..
Dat is all de people need to know!
Bill White isn't too likely...
and Chris Markoff was too old...
Markoff started wrestling in the 1960s and was a tag-team partner of Angelo Poffo (father of Leaping Lanny Poffo, aka The Genius, and Macho Man Randy Savage), as The Devil's Duo. Person in the photo is much younger.
The other strong possibility is Brad Rheingans, formerly of the US 1980 Olympic Wrestling team, which didn't get to go to Moscow, because of the US boycott. Rheingans was from Minnesota and worked out with Verne and the other wrestlers and started wrestling as a pro in the AWA, after learning to work. He also helped train new prospects, including Leon White, the future Vader. His hair is similar; but, the jawline doesn't look right...
Patera & Blackwell, as The Sheiks (managed by Sheik Adnan al Kaissie) were the AWA World Tag-Team Champions, having defeated the High Flyers, Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell, in June, and would hold it until May of 1984, when they were defeated by Baron Von Raschke and Da Crusher. Given the age of those two, I suspect they were tabbed when it looked like Ken Patera and Masa Saito were going to jail for the McDonald's incident, in April. Crusher was semi-retired and Raschke was starting to wind down a bit, too. They dropped it to the Road Warriors, in one of the better moves by Verne, as he was getting plastered by the WWF (He lost Hogan, Schultz, Okerland and Heenan to the WWF in the span of a couple of months and Brunzell was there soon after),
Zumhoff is wearing the Lt Hwt belt, which he won in June. It was mostly just a gimmick for him, as about the only person he defended it against, besides Steve Regal (not Darren Matthews, aka Lord Steven Regal aka William Regal), on Chicago cards (which were joing promoted by Verne Gagne and Indianapolis promoters Dick the Bruiser and Wulber Snyder, and Snyder was Regal's father-in-law), was Bobby Heenan, in matches where Heenan would win, but be over the weight limit, or would be matches where if Heenan's guy(s) lost, Zumhoff got 5 minutes with him in the ring, or got to put him in a weasel suit (later copied in the WWF, with Ultimate Warrior most famously doing it to Heenan). Mike Graham had been the first Lt Hwt champion and defended it regularly, but then went back to Florida. Graham mainly defended against Zumhoff, in the AWA. Zumhoff would drop the belt to Regal, who dropped it back to Zumhoff, Zumhoff was sent to prison after being convicted of "sexual misconduct," and Graham turned up in 1988 with the Lt Hwt title. At some point, he lost a match to Jim Backlund (aka Gigalo Jimmy Del Rey, of the Heavenly Bodies, in Smoky Mountain and the WWF), who dropped it in Japan, where it was used in the FMW promotion. Zumhoff reappeared in 1990, as champion, but the AWA stopped promoting and closed up for good in 1991.
In 2013, Zumhoff was again charged with "sexual misconduct," for sexually abusing his daughter, from 1999-2011, starting when she was 15. He was convicted on 12 counts and attempted to flee the court room, before he was tackled by officers of the court and further charged with attempting to escape custody. He was sentenced to 25 years, on 2 counts of First Degree and 2 counts of Second Degree criminal sexual conduct, with the sentences to run concurrently, as well as the Escape From Custody sentence. His anticipated release date is April 2031, assuming someone in prison doesn't do the state and the world a favor (though they haven't done so in the past 6 years). That POS deserves a special place in Hell.
Steve O, also wrestled under his full name of Steve Olsonoski, was trained by Verne and wrestled as a babyface there and in Georgia, where he held the Georgia Junior Hwt and TV titles, as well as the National Hwt singles and tag titles. He also did some announcing for the AWA, in their latter days, on ESPN.
Brunzell and Gagne, as the High Flyers, were a great tag-team and Greg earned his place them. His later pushes, as a single star, are questionable (especially the creation of the International TV title, to give him a belt); but, not as part of the High Flyers. Brunzell was so much better than he was allowed to be in the WWF, as the Killer Bs, with Brian Blair (though they got to have their moments).
Otto Wanz was the chief wrestler and promoter of the Catch Wrestling Association, in Austria and Germany and regularly brought over talent from the AWA for his month-long tournaments. Vader got his first run on top there, as Leon "Bull Power" White, before going to New Japan to become Big Van Vader. Wanz was a powerlifter and boxer, and took part in strongman competitions, though he liked to eat. He purchased a short run with the AWA title (for purportedly $25,000) and defeated Nick Bockwinkel for the title, dropping it back to him 41 days later. He was big then, but got even bigger in his latter days in the CWA and had to wear the championship belt with an extender buckled onto it. He was amazingly over in his home territory, despite not being able to do much other than strongman spots, in the ring. Pretty much like the German equivalent of the UK's Big Daddy.
Saito was an Olympic wrestler, for Japan and was the other wrestler involved in the McDonald's Melee, with Ken Patera. Patera had stopped at a McDonald's, for food, around Midnight, after matches in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The restaurant was closed; but, according to Patera, they had their lights on, because they were shooting a commercial. He also claims that a young adult had also stopped there, thinking they were open. When he was refused service, Patera hurled a decorative boulder through the window of the restaurant . He claimed it was the young adult; but, the size of the rock and the size and background of Patera suggest his pants are on fire. He went back to his hotel and police officers, armed with Patera's description, traced him there and went to the room Patera was sharing with Saito. Saito was uncooperative and started fighting with officers, as did Patera. By one account it took 6 officers to finally subdue Saito. Both were sentenced to two years in prison. Stories are that Saito was a model prisoner, but was denied early release, after serving 18 months, because of the assaulting of police officers. Same stories say Patera was mostly an a-hole in prison; but, everything I have seen of him outside the ring says that's just his normal personality.
Lanza was a long time wrestler for both the AWA and the Indianapolis-based WWA, wrestling with Blackjack Mulligan, under Bobby Heenan, as well as solo, still with Heenan. He would face Andre in matches in the AWA. Graham had been through the AWA in different occasions. He was coming off of doing his karate master gimmick, against Bob Backlund, in the WWF, which he says was a sort of protest against having had to drop the title when he was more over than Backlund (even though he knew up front he wasn't going to get more than a year with the WWF title). Schultz had been working in Stampede, after working memphis and followed Hogan to the WWF, where he slapped ABC News' John Stossel, as covered on Dark Side of the Ring. It pretty much ended his wrestling career.
Sheil Adna al Kaissie was legit born in Iraq and, allegedly, was a classmate of Saddam Hussein. He wrestled under scholarship at the Univ. of Oklahoma and began wrestling professionally there, as Adnan Kaissie, In Portland and the old WWWF, he wrestled as a Native American, Billy White Wolf. He turned up in the AWA, in 1981, under his own name, as Sheik Adnan, vowing to win the title. He then became a manager of Crusher Jerry Blackwell, then added Ken Patera, after buying his contract from Bobby Heenan. Behind the scenes, he had injuries and needed someone to work with Blackwell, since he couldn't wrestle. He stayed with the AWA to the end, then turned up in the WWF as General Adnan, when Sgt Slaughter did the turncoat gimmick. The really ridiculous part of that (aside from Slaughter, who never served in the Marines, siding with the Iraqis in the Gulf War) was the iron Sheik was added as Col Mustafa, despite everyone knowing who he was and that he was both legit and storyline Iranian, and Iran had only recently lost the Iran-Iraq War (thanks in no small part to aid from the US and the Bush Administration). However, I doubt that 90% of the audience knew anything about the Iran-Iraq War and probably only about 40-50% of the WWF audience knew who Adnan al Kaissie was.
1983 was the last great year for the AWA, as they did big business up until Hogan's departure and then it started crumbling. They survived and were still doing okay through 1985; but 1986 onward was downhill, with only brief plateaus.