| 60th Anniversary Wrestling Extravaganza | |
|---|---|
| Promotion | Pacific Northwest Wrestling |
| Date | May 21, 1985 |
| City | Portland, Oregon |
| Venue | Portland Memorial Coliseum |
| Attendance | 13,000+ |
The 60th Anniversary Wrestling Extravaganza was the first Extravaganza event, produced by Pacific Northwest Wrestling (PNW). It took place on May 21, 1985 at the Portland's Memorial Coliseum.
Don Owen was the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) promoter for PNW, having in 1942 taken over the family business his father started in 1925. [1] In honor of the Owen family's 60 years of promoting wrestling in the Northwest, they promoted the 60th Anniversary Wrestling Extravaganza.
This event took place just less than two months after the first WrestleMania. While this card didn't draw the media attention that WrestleMania did, this event was notable in many ways. The card was unique in that it featured active stars from each of the three major promotions in the United States at that time, American Wrestling Association (AWA), NWA and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In addition to having the AWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Martel, AWA World Tag Team Champions The Road Warriors and the NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair on the card, it featured two wrestlers from the WWF who had just recently competed (against other competitors) in the WWF's first WrestleMania; they were the WWF's most prominent heel, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (who established himself in PNW and was one of the territory's most popular stars while he competed there) and "Playboy" Buddy Rose (who wrestled in WrestleMania as the masked Executioner).
Ten professional wrestling matches were contested at the event and five matches were televised. In the main event, Ric Flair retained the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Billy Jack Haynes via a time limit draw. In other televised matches, The Road Warriors retained the AWA World Tag Team Champions against Curt Hennig and Larry Hennig, Rick Martel defeated Mike Miller to retain the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, Roddy Piper defeated Buddy Rose, and Sgt. Slaughter defeated Kendo Nagasaki.
The first match in the televised segment saw Roddy Piper take on Buddy Rose. Piper countered a superplex attempt by Rose into a diving crossbody for the win.
In the next televised match, Sgt. Slaughter took on Kendo Nagasaki. Mega Maharishi tried to interfere in the match on Nagasaki's behalf as he attempted to hit Slaughter with a kendo stick but Slaughter avoided the assault and Nagasaki was accidentally hit with the stick. It allowed Slaughter to deliver a lariat to Nagasaki for the win.
Next, The Road Warriors (Animal and Hawk) defended the AWA World Tag Team Championship against Curt Hennig and Larry Hennig. Road Warriors' manager Paul Ellering interfered in the match and attacked Curt while he was gaining advantage in the match. Ellering and Road Warriors triple teamed Curt and Larry until Billy Jack Haynes made the save.
It was followed by the penultimate match, in which Rick Martel defended the AWA World Heavyweight Championship against Mike Miller. Martel pinned Miller with a small package to retain the title.
Ric Flair defended the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Billy Jack Haynes in the main event. Haynes applied a full nelson on Flair near the end of the match but the forty-minute time limit expired and the match ended in a draw. As a result, Flair retained the title.
60th Anniversary Wrestling Extravaganza received positive reviews from Matt Adamson of 411Mania, who rated the event 7. He praised the event for its "historical significance" as the event marked "the cooperation between the three biggest pro wrestling companies in America (AWA, NWA, and WWF)" the very last time. He felt that the NWA World Heavyweight Championship main event between Flair and Haynes was a "really good match" and also praised the "last of the classic Rose vs. Piper feud". According to him, rest of the matches at the event were "old school spectacle". [2]
| No. | Results | Stipulations | Times [3] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bobby Jaggers and Ricky Vaughn defeated Chris Colt and Tim Flowers | Tag team match | 9:04 | ||
| 2 | Mega Maharishi defeated Billy Two Eagles | Singles match | 4:50 | ||
| 3 | Karl Steiner defeated Steve Simpson | Singles match | 10:06 | ||
| 4 | Jerry Grey vs. Rocky Ventura ended in a time limit draw | Singles match | 10:00 | ||
| 5 | Cowboy Lang defeated Little Tokyo | Singles match | — | ||
| 6 | Sgt. Slaughter defeated Kendo Nagasaki | Singles match | 10:54 | ||
| 7 | Roddy Piper defeated Buddy Rose | Singles match | 9:39 | ||
| 8 | Curt Hennig and Larry Hennig defeated The Road Warriors (Animal and Hawk) (c) (with Paul Ellering) by disqualification | Tag team match for the AWA World Tag Team Championship | 14:49 | ||
| 9 | Rick Martel (c) defeated Mike Miller | Singles match for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship | 12:24 | ||
| 10 | Ric Flair (c) vs. Billy Jack Haynes ended in a time limit draw | Singles match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship | 45:00 | ||
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