The Miracle Violence Connection

Last updated
The Miracle Violence Connection
Tag team
Members Steve Williams
Terry Gordy
Name(s)The Miracle Violence Connection
Satsujin Gyorai
Super Dangerous Duo
Billed heightsSteve Williams:
6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Terry Gordy:
6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Combined
billed weight
583 lb (264 kg)
DebutJuly 9, 1987
DisbandedAugust 12, 1987
July 29, 1993 (Full-Time)
October 26, 1996

The Miracle Violence Connection was a professional wrestling tag team consisting of "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy.

Contents

History

Jim Crockett Promotions (1987)

The team originally formed on July 9, 1987, in Jim Crockett Promotions, defeating Dick Murdoch and Eddie Gilbert. They would wrestle six times together, all against Gilbert and Murdoch, winning every match but the last one, which Gilbert and Murdoch won, before disbanding. [1]

All Japan Pro Wrestling (1990-1993)

The team reunited in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in 1990 and quickly became a top tag team for the next several years under the name the Miracle Violence Connection. The two quickly found success when they defeated Genichiro Tenryu and Stan Hansen to win the World Tag Team Championship on March 6, 1990. [2] Williams and Gordy would make one successful title defense against Hansen and Dan Spivey [3] before losing the titles to Jumbo Tsuruta and the Great Kabuki on July 19, 1990. [2] In the fall of 1990, The Miracle Violence Connection entered the World's Strongest Tag Determination League and would win the tournament by finishing in first with 19 Points. [4] By winning the tournament, they also won the vacated World Tag Team Championship. [2]

The team would hold the titles for four months, making two successful title defenses against Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada and Jumbo Tsuruta and Akira Taue. [3] The Connection's second title reign ended on April 18, 1991 at the Nippon Budokan to Stan Hansen and Dan Spivey. [2] A few months later on July 6, Williams and Gordy rebounded by regaining the titles for the third time. [2] The title reign wouldn't last, three weeks later on July 24, they lost the titles to Misawa and Kawada. [2]

Williams and Gordy entered their second Tag League in the fall of 1991 and would proceed to win the tournament for the second time by finishing in first with 21 Points. [5] Along with the Tag Tournament the Miracle Violence Connection also won the vacated World Tag Team Titles for a fourth time. [2] Four months later on March 4, 1992, they lost the titles to Jumbo Tsuruta and Akira Taue. [2] For the remainder of 1992, Williams and Gordy attempted to regain the titles but failed to including a rematch with Tsuruta and Taue on October 7. [6] The two also entered the 1992 World's Strongest Tag League but finished 2nd place with 17 Points. [7]

On January 30, 1993, The Miracle Violence Connection won their fifth and final World Tag Team Title by defeating Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada. [2] After holding the titles for 4 Months, Williams and Gordy would lose the titles to the newly formed: Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue). [2] After failing to win the titles on July 26, [6] Williams and Gordy would team one last time on July 29, 1993 defeating Johnny Ace and Kendall Windham. [8] After the match, Gordy left All Japan breaking the Miracle Violence Connection up. [8]

World Championship Wrestling (1992)

On February 29, 1992 at SuperBrawl II, then WCW Executive Vice President Kip Frey announced that he was negotiating to bring Williams and Gordy back to World Championship Wrestling. They did sign with WCW as part of the company's expanding relationship with New Japan; on March 9 the duo defeated three enhancement teams at a television taping for The Main Event in Anderson, SC in contests that would not air until May. On the April 18th edition of WCW Saturday Night it was announced that Williams and Gordy would be part of the upcoming tournament for the vacant NWA Tag-Team Championship that summer.

At Clash of Champions XIX on June 16, the duo defeated the Australian representatives Larry O'Day & Jeff O'Day in the opening round of the NWA Tournament. As a bonus for the Clash, it was announced by new WCW Executive Vice President Bill Watts that the quarter-finals would begin later that night; as a result in a non-title match Williams and Gordy defeated WCW World Tag-Team Champions The Steiner Brothers. While waiting for the next round to begin following the Clash, the duo would face and defeat Marcus Bagwell and Tom Zenk in house show matches. At Beach Blast 92 Williams and Gordy again faced The Steiner Brothers, this time going to a thirty minute draw. On July 5, 1992 at a house show at the Omni in Atlanta, GA, Williams and Gordy won the WCW World Tag Team Championship from The Steiner Brothers [9] [8] Shortly afterwards at The Great American Bash 92 the final two rounds of the NWA Tag-Team Championship Tournament were run. Gordy and Williams defeated Ricky Steamboat and Nikita Koloff in the semi-finals, and then beat Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham in the tournament final. [8] Their NWA title win, however, went unrecognized by the NWA.

Steve Williams and Terry Gordy then began feuding with the Dangerous Alliance, defeating Bobby Eaton and Arn Anderson in house show matches. On the September 26th edition of the Main Event, the duo sustained their first televised defeat when they were beaten by The Steiner Brothers in a non-title matchup. On the October 3rd edition of WCW Saturday Night they were then upset by Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham and lost both titles. [8] Williams and Gordy received a rematch at Halloween Havoc but were only able to wrestle Rhodes and Windham to a time limit draw. This would mark the end of Terry Gordy's run in WCW; after the tandem returned to All-Japan in October 1992 for a lengthy series of matches only Steve Williams would make future appearances for WCW. "Dr. Death" returned to the American promotion on December 12, 1992 and teamed with Big Van Vader in an unsuccessful challenge to Windham & Rhodes in Columbus, OH. On December 28 he participated in the Battle Bowl event at Starrcade and teamed with Sting to defeat Eric Watts and Jushin Liger. At the start of the event it was announced that he would be substituting for an injured Rick Rude to challenge Ron Simmons for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, but lost by disqualification. He left WCW shortly thereafter. [10]

During their relatively brief stay in WCW, their feud with the Steiner Brothers was also seen as a major feud by Japanese fans even though the two teams never faced each other in Japan. [8] Despite advances by New Japan, Gordy and Williams, out of loyalty to Giant Baba, refused to compete for the rival promotion. [8] In October 1992, Gordy left WCW, before Halloween Havoc, while Williams left in December, after Starrcade. [8]

Extreme Championship Wrestling (1996)

Williams and Gordy briefly reunited in Extreme Championship Wrestling in late-1996, facing The Eliminators at When Worlds Collide and High Incident. [8]

Legacy

Terry Gordy died on July 16, 2001 due to a heart attack. He was 40 years old. [11]

In 2004, Williams was diagnosed with throat cancer; he would eventually get surgery and was declared cancer-free for five years until 2009 when his cancer returned. He eventually died on December 29, 2009. [12] He was 49 years old.

Championships and accomplishments

  1. "JCP 1987". The History of WWE. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Will, Gary; Royal Duncan (1994). "Japan: AJPW World Tag Team Titles [Giant Baba]". Wrestling Title Histories (3 ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 26. ISBN   0-9698161-1-1.
  3. 1 2 "Real World Tag League 1990" (in German). Puro Love.
  4. 1 2 "Real World Tag League 1990". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Real World Tag League 1991". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  6. 1 2 "AJPW World Tag Team Title #22" (in German). Puro Love.
  7. "Real World Tag League 1992". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Greg Oliver and Steve Johnson (2005). "The National Era (Mid-1980s to present): The Miracle Violence Combination". The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams. ECW Press. pp. 284–285. ISBN   978-1-5502-2683-6.
  9. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=148590 [ bare URL ]
  10. http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/wcw92.htm
  11. "Terry Gordy Profile". Online World of Wrestling.
  12. "Steve Williams profile". Online World of Wrestling.
  13. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated Top 100 Tag Teams of the PWI Years: 16 Terry Gordy and Steve Williams". Pro Wrestling Illustrated . Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, United States: Sports and Entertainment publications LLC. October 18, 2003. p. 20. November 2003.
  14. Will, Gary; Royal Duncan (1994). "United States: 19th century & widely defended titles - NWA, WWF, AWA, IWA, ECW, NWA Tag Team Titles". Wrestling Title Histories (3 ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 26. ISBN   0-9698161-1-1.
  15. Will, Gary; Royal Duncan (1994). "United States: 19th century & widely defended titles - NWA, WWF, AWA, IWA, ECW, WCW Tag Team Titles". Wrestling Title Histories (3 ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 26. ISBN   0-9698161-1-1.

Related Research Articles

Mitsuharu Misawa Japanese professional wrestler

Mitsuharu Misawa was a Japanese amateur and professional wrestler and promoter. He is primarily known for his time in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), and also for forming the Pro Wrestling Noah promotion in 2000. In the early 1990s, Misawa gained fame alongside Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi, and Akira Taue, who came to be nicknamed AJPW's "Four Pillars of Heaven", and whose matches developed the ōdō style of puroresu and received significant critical acclaim. Despite never working in the United States during the 1990s, Misawa had significant stylistic influence upon American independent wrestling, through the popularity of his work among tape-traders in the country. Misawa is regarded by some as the greatest professional wrestler of all time. However, the physical demands and consequences of the style in which he worked and the circumstances of his death have made his legacy, or at least that of ōdō, somewhat problematic.

Barry Windham American professional wrestler

Barry Clinton Windham is an American retired professional wrestler. The son of wrestler Blackjack Mulligan, he is best known for his appearances with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW).

Michael Hayes (wrestler) American professional wrestler

Michael Seitz is an American retired professional wrestler and former musician. Seitz is best known for leading The Fabulous Freebirds under the ring name Michael "P.S." Hayes and for his role as an announcer under the name Dok Hendrix in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). He is currently employed with WWE as Vice President, Creative Writing & Booking and is also a senior producer.

NWA World Tag Team Championship National Wrestling Alliance professional wrestling tag team championship

The NWA World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship created by the National Wrestling Alliance. From 1948 to 1982, the NWA allowed member promotions to create their own territorial version of the "NWA World Tag Team Championship" without oversight from the board of directors. The first of these NWA World Tag Team Championships was created in 1950 in the San Francisco territory, which while billed as a "World" title was essentially restricted to the specific NWA territory. In 1957 as many as 13 versions of the NWA World Tag Team Championship were confirmed to be in existence. In 1982 Big Time Wrestling, based in Los Angeles, closed and abandoned their version of the championship. The following year, the World Wrestling Federation, an NWA member at the time and which had its own World Tag Team Championship, split from the NWA in acrimony. This meant that only the Jim Crockett Promotions' NWA World Tag Team Championship was active within the NWA, but still being controlled by JCP, not the NWA board of directors. In 1991 that championship was renamed the WCW World Tag Team Championship.

Terry Gordy American professional wrestler

Terry Ray Gordy Sr. was an American professional wrestler. Gordy appeared in the United States with promotions such as Mid-South Wrestling, Georgia Championship Wrestling, World Class Championship Wrestling, Jim Crockett Promotions/World Championship Wrestling and the Universal Wrestling Federation as a member of The Fabulous Freebirds. He also appeared in Japan with All Japan Pro Wrestling as one-half of The Miracle Violence Connection.

Jimmy Garvin American professional wrestler

James Williams is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring names "Gorgeous Jimmy" Garvin and Jimmy "Jam" Garvin. A member of The Fabulous Freebirds, Garvin is best known for his appearances with promotions including the American Wrestling Association, World Class Championship Wrestling, and World Championship Wrestling.

Steve Williams (wrestler) American professional and amateur wrestler, football player and author

Steven Williams was an American professional wrestler, collegiate football player, and amateur wrestler at the University of Oklahoma. Williams was known as "Dr. Death", a nickname he acquired in junior high school.

Stan Hansen American professional wrestler

John Stanley Hansen II is an American retired professional wrestler.

Genichiro Tenryu

Genichiro Shimada, better known as Genichiro Tenryu is a retired Japanese professional wrestler and professional wrestling promoter. At age 13, he entered sumo wrestling and stayed there for 13 years, after which he turned to Western-style professional wrestling. "Tenryu" was his shikona. He had two stints with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he spent the majority of his career while also promoting Super World of Sports (SWS), Wrestle Association R (WAR) and Tenryu Project. At the time of his retirement, professional wrestling journalist and historian Dave Meltzer wrote that "one could make a strong case [that Tenryu was] between the fourth and sixth biggest native star" in the history of Japanese professional wrestling. He is a 5 times professional wrestling world champion.

Akira Taue is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. He is also a former All Japan Pro Wrestling Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, a former GHC Heavyweight Champion and has had fourteen 5 Star Matches as awarded by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Toshiaki Kawada

Toshiaki Kawada is a Japanese semi-retired professional wrestler best known for his work in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), whom he worked for from his debut in 1982 up until 2008. In All Japan, he was a 5 time Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, a 9 time World Tag Team Champion, three time winner of the Real World Tag League and a two time winner of the Champion Carnival. He was also recognised as the ace of the promotion from 2000–2005.

Jumbo Tsuruta

Tomomi "Tommy" Tsuruta, better known by his ring name Jumbo Tsuruta, was a Japanese professional wrestler who wrestled for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) for most of his career, and is well known for being the first ever Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, having won the PWF Heavyweight Championship, the NWA United National Championship, and the NWA International Heavyweight Championship, and unifying the three titles. He is also known for being one-half of the first World Tag Team Champions with Yoshiaki Yatsu, having won the NWA International Tag Team Championship and the PWF Tag Team Championship, and unifying the two titles.

Marcus Laurinaitis is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, The Wrecking Crew (Fury) & Terminator. He wrestled primarily in Florida (FCW), Japan, and Europe (CWA), as well with World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He is the brother of fellow professional wrestlers John Laurinaitis and Road Warrior Animal.

Masanobu Fuchi Japanese professional wrestler

Masanobu Fuchi is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he is also a director and the co-head booker. Fuchi has exclusively worked for All Japan since his debut in 1974, and holds the record for the longest World Junior Heavyweight Championship reign at 1309 days. Fuchi became a freelancer in 2009, but officially re-signed with AJPW in 2013 as both a director and wrestler, making him the longest tenured member of the All Japan roster.

George Hines is a retired American professional wrestler, best known by his ringname Jackie Fulton, who competed in regional and independent promotions including the American Wrestling Association, East Coast Championship Wrestling, the National Wrestling Alliance, World Championship Wrestling and, most notably, his brief but memorable stint in Smoky Mountain Wrestling where he teamed with his real life brother Bobby Fulton as The Fantastics.

Richard Aslinger is a retired American professional wrestler, known by his ring name Richard Slinger. Slinger was a long-time mainstay of All Japan Pro Wrestling and later Pro Wrestling Noah, where he was one of two gaijin heels to compete in the promotion. He is also one of several Noah wrestlers to be featured in the Japanese video game King of Colosseum II.

The Holy Demon Army (HDA) was a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue. The HDA competed in All Japan Pro Wrestling during the 1990s and is considered the most successful and dominant team in the history of All Japan as they held the World Tag Team Championship a record six times, as well as having won the World's Strongest Tag Determination League on two occasions.

Revolution was a professional wrestling stable in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) led by Genichiro Tenryu.

The Great American Bash (1992) World Championship Wrestling pay-per-view event

The 1992 Great American Bash was the fourth annual Great American Bash professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the eighth annual Great American Bash event overall. The event took place on July 12, 1992, at the Albany Civic Center in Albany, Georgia. It was the last Great American Bash held until 1995.

This is a list of Japanese professional wrestler Mitsuharu Misawa's championships and accomplishments. Misawa (1962-2009) debuted for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in 1981, and began work as the second incarnation of the Tiger Mask gimmick in 1984. He achieved some success as the character, but when he unmasked mid-match in May 1990, Misawa was pushed to the top of the company, and became one of AJPW's most decorated wrestlers of the 1990s. When he led a mass exodus to start his promotion Pro Wrestling Noah, he continued to have great success until his death in an in-ring accident. Misawa also received significant critical acclaim from domestic and international publications throughout his career.