 |
| Tommy Jammer | |
|---|---|
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Nutri Rockne [1] Tommy Jammer Tommy Ventura Tom Walsh California Kid |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) |
| Billed weight | 240 lb (109 kg) |
| Billed from | San Diego, California, United States |
| Trained by | Eddie Sharkey |
| Debut | 1989 |
| Retired | 1994 |
Tommy Jammer is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association from 1989 to 1990.
Trained by Eddie Sharkey during the mid-1980s, he was one of several wrestlers as part of a talent exchange agreement between Sharkey and AWA promoter Greg Gagne to make his debut in the last years of the AWA. Participating in a 17-man Battle Royal to crown a new AWA World Heavyweight Champion in St. Paul, Minnesota on February 7, 1989, [2] Jammer was the first man to be eliminated. [3]
He did, however, score one of his first victories in the promotion defeating Mike Enos almost two weeks later in Marshfield, Wisconsin on February 18 and, in a tag team match with Derrick Dukes, defeated Badd Company resulting in Pat Tanaka and Paul Diamond splitting up in Rochester, Minnesota on May 6, 1989. [4]
Feuding with Jonnie Stewart during his early months in the promotion, he defeated Stewart at AWA War in the Windy City on June 23 [5] and was later scheduled to face him at the CNE Coliseum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on December 6 although Paul Diamond substituted him when he was unable to make the event. [6]
During the next year, Jammer appeared on several AWA supercards losing to Tully Blanchard at SuperClash 4 on April 8 [7] and wrestled in numerous matches as part of Baron von Raschke's "Baron's Blitzers" during the Team Challenge Series, eventually facing "Larry's Legends" (Destruction Crew and The Texas Hangmen) in an eight-man "Behind the 8-Ball" tag team elimination match on September 10, 1990. He would also feud with AWA World Heavyweight Champion Larry Zbyszko before he left the promotion in December 1990. Jammer would wrestle his last match with the AWA in Bloomington, Minnesota losing to Larry Cameron on May 3, 1991.
Like many other AWA wrestlers, Jammer began to wrestle with the Minneapolis-based Pro Wrestling America after the AWA folded in 1990. He continued to wrestle in the Minnesota area during the early 1990s, winning the NSW Tag team titles with Baron von Raschke, although he would eventually retire by the end of 1994.
The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 until 1991. It was owned and founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The promotion was born out of the Minneapolis Boxing & Wrestling Club, originally the Minnesota-based territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), breaking away from the NWA and becoming an independent territory in 1960.
Lawrence Whistler, better known by the ring name Larry Zbyszko, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is perhaps best known for his feud with his mentor, Bruno Sammartino, during the early 1980s as well as his work as a wrestler and color commentator for World Championship Wrestling. Among other accolades, he is a two-time world champion having twice held the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. Zbyszko was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 28, 2015 by Sammartino.
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James Donald Raschke is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Baron von Raschke.
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Gregory Alan Gagne is an American retired professional wrestler. He is the son of Verne Gagne. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he achieved his biggest success as one-half of tag team the High Flyers with Jim Brunzell. The High Flyers enjoyed a number of high-profile feuds within the American Wrestling Association (AWA) with the likes of Bobby Duncum and Blackjack Lanza, Pat Patterson and Ray "The Crippler" Stevens, the East-West Connection, and the Sheiks.
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Derrick Dukes is an American retired professional wrestler and boxer. He best known for his appearances in the American Wrestling Association in the late-1980s as one-half of the tag team "The Top Guns" with Ricky Rice.
Ricky Rice is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearance with the Minneapolis-based promotions Pro Wrestling America and the American Wrestling Association.
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Jim Lanning is a retired American professional wrestler, best known by the ring name Soldat Ustinov, who competed in North American regional promotions including the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and the American Wrestling Association (AWA) during the 1980s. Before his professional wrestling career, Jim Lanning was a left offensive tackle known for pass blocking - he signed as a free agent with the Dallas Cowboys and briefly played in the USFL for the San Antonio Gun Slingers.
Jake Milliman is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association and the World Wrestling Federation in the 1980s.
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AWA Championship Wrestling is a professional wrestling television series that aired on cable sports network ESPN from 1985 to 1990. It was a continuation of the earlier ESPN program Pro Wrestling USA, the co-operative venture between the American Wrestling Association (AWA) and several National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) affiliates. On February 26, 2008, ESPN Classic began reairing AWA Championship Wrestling episodes. Along with the ownership of the AWA intellectual property by the WWE, all episodes are available on the WWE Network.
Pro Wrestling America is a regional independent wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota during the 1980s and early 1990s. Founded and promoted by retired wrestler Eddie Sharkey, a longtime veteran of the American Wrestling Association and owner of the Pro Wrestling America Training Center, Pro Wrestling America featured many established wrestlers while in between the then "Big Three" as well as providing many lightheavyweight and cruiserweight wrestlers with their first national exposure, most notably, Sabu, Jerry Lynn and The Lightning Kid.
Larry Cameron was an American professional football player and wrestler.