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Our history begins with Terry Shane Jr. standing as the Missouri State Champion as 1971 begins, thrilling fans with his technical wizardry in the ring but preparing to face the challenge of a long-time St. Louis favorite, Jack Stein.
Stein and Shane engaged in a series of top flight matchups throughout the winter of ’71, battling to several 30 minute draws before getting an increase to a 60 minute time limit which ended in 60 minute draws. Many St. Louis fans would call this the greatest rivalry of all time that came to a shocking end when Stein turned his back on the fans, using a low blow to capture the title in April of 1971. Stein took on a new attitude, sinking to whatever depths needed to keep the title around his waist. Despite several rematch attempts, Terry Shane was not able to regain the title and suffered a broken arm on the 4th of July at the hands of Stein’s new bodyguard, Eli The Enforcer.
Shane would be out of action for several months, watching from the wings as Stein fought off challenges from various St. Louis fan favorites – even defeating Blackjack Patterson who had returned to the area after losing the IWA World Title in the fall of 1971. In February, Shane returned to action to battle Stein to another thrilling sixty minute draw. This time, Shane Jr. appeared to have the title won as he locked in a spinning toe hold as time expired. A frustrated Shane petitioned Owens to book a match with no time limit.
The no time limit match was set for St. Patrick’s Day and as expected, a full house jammed the Kiel for the showdown. And in the end, Shane hooked in the spinning toehold again… and this time, there was no bell to save Jack Stein who was forced to submit in the middle of the ring. Terry Shane Jr. had regained the title and it was immediately announced that Shane would receive a shot at the IWA World Title as the new champion, “Gorgeous” Johnny Most, would be defending the title in St. Louis for the first time.
A New World Champion
Shane defeated Most with relative ease in April of 1972 and thrilled the fans when he got on the mic after the match and vowed to return to St. Louis every month to defend the title. And he did… for a few months. But soon, the schedule of the World Champion got the edge on him and Shane Jr. went six months without defending the title in St. Louis.
So, when Shane returned to St. Louis in February of 1973 with the World Title, he did not receive the warmest of welcomes from the fans who felt lied to. In one of the oddest nights in St. Louis wrestling history, the majority of fans in St. Louis actually booed Terry Shane Jr. against one of the most bloodthirsty competitors in the entire IWA, Dagger Oates. The local newspaper’s sports page featured a half page shot of Oates digging a fork into a bloody wound on Shane’s forehead with the headlines “LOCAL BOY GETS COLD SHOULDER AT KIEL.” Needless to say, Oates was disqualified for his actions and a no DQ match was scheduled for April.
But when Terry Shane Jr. returned in April, it was without the World Title as he had lost it to fellow second-generation star Cameron O’Connor in Kansas City. O’Connor came to St. Louis in April as well for his St. Louis debut – following in his father, Karl O’Connor’s footsteps. The fans immediately took to the cleancut O’Connor and cheered him on to victory over Oates as Terry Shane Jr. defeated Danny Dawson on the undercard.
The two fan favorites continued to appear on the same show after show, racking up win after win, leading up to Shane challenging O’Connor for the title on Labor Day weekend of ’73. The match, perhaps predictably, went to a 60 minute time limit draw. The two men just seemed too evenly matched for a winner to be named. Shane Jr. went to the well, calling for a no time limit match but that one ended in a double countout.
On Christmas night, a two out of three falls match occurred with Shane Jr. winning the first fall with the spinning toehold. The second fall saw O’Connor capture the fall with his father’s sleeperhold. And in the final fall, O’Connor once again hooked on the sleeper, earning a victory in the middle of the ring. With the fans roaring their approval for him, O’Connor celebrated… until a steel chair was smashed off the side of his head by a jealous Terry Shane Jr.
As 1974 began, Sam Owens had the headlining feud that made dollar signs dance in his eyes as the newly-turned Terry Shane Jr. would be chasing Cameron O’Connor. The feud took a personal turn in February when O’Connor missed a Kiel show due to weather and Shane Jr. took the opportunity to demand that O’Connor’s father live up to his contractual obligations. Ever the warrior, Karl O’Connor obliged and was forced to submit to the spinning toehold that Shane would not release for several moments, ending with the elderly O’Connor being taken out on a stretcher.
But as April of 1974 arrived, Owens’ dream became a nightmare as the IWA announced their intention to put the Shane/O’Connor feud on the road, sending it into every IWA territory since it was the hottest thing the promotion had. Owens was informed that he would not get either man back in the Kiel until the fall. The touring Main Event hit several territories throughout the summer of ’74 and was selling out arenas everywhere it went. The “six months” turned into much, much longer and while Owens still got the two men on occasion, it was not the extended run he was looking for.
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Nearly two years later, the duo returned to St. Louis under a storm of promotion as the IWA sent the World Title match that the world wanted to see right back into the building where it was born. However, a defiant Sam Owens opted to put his new star, Brett Bryant, in the Main Event over them. Shane and O’Connor, backed by the other IWA promoters, threatened to walk out on the huge show before Owens kicked in a bonus to keep them in the building.
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In early 1977, Sam Owens found himself in a bind as his top stars were both in other promotions. Owens reached out to his old star Terry Shane Jr. in hopes of bringing him back to town. Shane agreed and was an immediate hit upon his return, running off a lengthy undefeated streak. Within weeks of returning, he began making noise about challenging Hamilton Graham for the Missouri State Title. When Graham returned in March, he quickly agreed and a match was set for Memorial Day.
The Memorial Day showdown turned out to not be very memorable at all as Graham tore a ligament at about the ten minute mark and was forced to submit to the spinning toehold. Shane was the new Missouri State Champion but the lackluster way in which he won the title failed to rally the fans behind him. Owens quickly tried to remedy the situation by bringing in Gran Kedamono, one of the top stars from Japan, to challenge Shane. A well-received edition of St. Louis TV saw Kedamono assault Terry Shane, using the nerve hold to lay him out for a stretcher. The fans rallied behind Shane, looking for him to gain vengeance as soon as he was healthy.
Returning to action on Thanksgiving night, Shane was ready to battle Kedamono but the comeback was short-lived as Kedamono again applied the nervehold, rendering Shane unconscious for a shocking victory to win the Missouri State Title. The post-match happenings were the cherry on top as Terry Shane Sr. attempted to intervene to help his son and took a chop to the throat that left him laying.
Shane demanded a rematch for Christmas night, promising to unveil a new move that would defeat Kedamono. Kedamono accepted, swearing to finish Shane once and for all before moving on to challenge for the World Title. The match was a brutal brawl that raged all over ringside, one of the most violent encounters for the time. The end saw Shane unveil a new hold of his own, a figure four leglock, to earn a pinfall victory over an unconscious Kedamono to regain the title.
With the title back around his waist as 1978 began, Shane immediately demanded that now multi-time World Champion and longtime rival Cameron O’Connor return to St. Louis to defend the title against him. Faced with the money that a rematch two years in the making would draw, O’Connor agreed to return in the spring to defend the title against his old rival but Sam Owens had other ideas. Riding the success of the Kedamono/Shane feud, Owens had negotiated the returns of Hamilton Graham and Brett Bryant who both asked for title shots against O’Connor as well. Add in the special attraction of The Great Khan and Owens set up a “March Madness” event where the four top contenders would meet in a Round Robin tournament with the winner earning the title shot against O’Connor. Shane failed to win the tournament and spent the rest of 1978 defending his Missouri State Title against inconsequential talent while both Hamilton Graham and Brett Bryant jumped ship for other IWA territories again. Even the usually successful Thanksgiving and Christmas night shows were a box office bust and with the arrival of 1979, Shane demanded better competition from Sam Owens or he promised to follow Graham and Bryant out of the territory.
Owens’ solution was to sign a big money deal for Clubber O’Riley, an Irish brawler who was lighting box offices on fire in the Northeast. O’Riley debuted to much fanfare, beating up enhancement talent for weeks as he began to work himself into contention for the title. With no time to waste, Owens put O’Riley and Shane together for a special St. Patrick’s Day show.
It was a serious styles clash with Shane’s sweet science and O’Riley’s brutal brawling not meshing for an enjoyable match. After thirty minutes of hodpodge, Shane won with a rollup. The crowd cheered but it was obviously looking for more. A rematch the following month was better but was still lacking the firepower that Owens needed to draw the full houses for the Kiel. Surprisingly, it was the same match that drew the first sell-out in several months… but with a different style.
Frustrated by the brawling style of O’Riley, Shane grew more aggressive in his televised matches. Gone were the wristlocks and abdominal stretches, replaced by haymakers and headbutts. After O’Riley attacked him during an interview, Shane responded with one of the more violent brawls in St. Louis history. As a desperate Owens called for a no-DQ match, the fans at the Kiel were treated to an out-and-out bloodbath that went all over the ringside area. It was unique for the St. Louis area and Owens seemed to have a hit on his hands.
The following month saw another bloodbath.. then another… and another… and soon, the crowd began to thin out once more. Owens had gone to the well over and over in 1979 and by the time that Shane chased O’Riley out of town, the house was a little over half-full. With 1979 coming to an end, Shane made one final plea to Sam Owens to make the match he wanted – a World Title shot at Hamilton Graham.
Owens obliged, backed by the IWA trying to save the St. Louis territory by offering them Graham’s services for an exclusive six month period. Owens immediately announced the agreement to the world, booking Hamilton Graham for the first show of 1980 taking on Terry Shane Jr. in a non-title match. This was a more seasoned Graham returning to St. Louis, his physical appearance being marked by a curly head of hair and thick sideburns. He had gotten into more legal trouble during his time away from St. Louis and was turning into quite the dislikable guy which made him the perfect foil for Terry Shane Jr.
For six solid months, Owens booked the two men against one another. And for six solid months, he sold the house out with some of the most epic matches the sport has ever seen. In a six month period of shows, there was seven 60 minute draws and three 90 minute draws plus one double DQ when the two men shoved down the ref to get at each other.
On the final night of Graham’s exclusive St. Louis stay, there was one final showdown… and in the end, Terry Shane Jr. had won the World Title. It was a huge moment for the city of St. Louis and for Terry Shane Jr. who had toiled so long to get another shot at the gold. But as the World Champion often did, Shane immediately left St. Louis to embark on the grueling championship schedule. He would return to St. Louis once every couple of months, yielding two more 60 minute draws with Graham before the year was out, concluding their series of matches that led to them winning Feud Of The Year as well as Match Of The Year.
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With Cameron O’Connor back as the Missouri State Champion, Sam Owens lured Terry Shane back to St. Louis under the premise of a series of Champion vs Champion matches for the back of half of 1981. The matches once again thrilled the pure wrestling fans in the area but younger fans were turned off by a six year old feud rearing its head once more. Owens had a nasty backstage argument with Shane over a payday for one of the matches after a bad house which resulted in Shane immediately leaving the company. Shane was very angry at his former employer and alongside Hamilton Graham and Cameron O’Connor, Shane opened Central States Wrestling.
Central States Wrestling was designed to be a direct competitor to the St. Louis Wrestling Office and as such, was not immediately made a part of the IWA. As such, Shane continued to work for the IWA, fulfilling his contractual obligations until he could start full-time with CSW. However, Karl O’Connor had other ideas, striking up secret negotiations with the IWA Board. As a result, O’Connor struck a deal that allowed both Shane and his long-time rival Cameron O’Connor to tour four months out of the year for the IWA, staying in CSW for the other eight months. In exchange, the IWA would allow regular appearances of the IWA World Title in Central States as well as officially recognizing Central States as the IWA territory for Kansas and Missouri. This shocking agreement effectively kicked the St. Louis Wrestling Office out of the IWA, a major blow for the group as they tried to recover from the loss of three of their top draws.