Karl O’Connor competed in the late 50’s in St. Louis for promoter Kevin Robinson until Robinson suffered a major heart attack on Thanksgiving of 1962, forcing him to sell his territory to rival promoter, Sam Owens. Owens decided to kick off 1963 by honoring the heritage of Robinson’s St. Louis Slammers territory by keeping the titles in place, including “St. Louis Strangler” Karl O’Connor as the Missouri State Champion.
However, as 1963 rolled around, Owens believed that O’Connor was starting to show his age and made plans to position a younger competitor, Jack Stein, to be his franchise star. On Memorial Day of ’63, Stein defeated O’Connor in a grueling 45 minute encounter to win the Missouri State Championship.
O’Connor promptly left the St. Louis territory, feeling as though he was being “pushed out” by Sam Owens of the territory he ruled in the late 50s.
In 1965, after one final retirement tour, O’Connor announced his retirement to the St. Louis press, making the headline in The Wrestling Gazette that month read, “STRANGLER HANGS ‘EM UP.”
However on Christmas Day 1966, O’Connor returned to St. Louis, coming out of retirement to face a Japanese competitor by the name of Tojo Sato who won the Missouri State Title on Memorial Day of ’66 and reigned without a serious challenge for months. O’Connor’s submission style seemed to confuse Sato who tried his usual bag of dirty tricks to fight back but got shut down time and again. Sato got himself disqualified – a rarity in those times – and the St. Louis crowd seemed on the verge of a riot before Owens took the mic and immediately announced a two out of three falls rematch for the following month.
The rematch did big business, selling out the house for what was sure to be a title change in most fans’ eyes. O’Connor quickly won the first fall with his dreaded sleeperhold and the fans smelled a title change in the air. However, O’Connor was disqualified in the second fall for an over-the-top-rope throw to even the score. The third fall saw Sato attempt to use his ceremonial salt, hurling it at O’Connor… but blinding the official instead. Sato was immediately disqualified and O’Connor celebrated with the title belt…
…until it was announced that the title could not change hands on a disqualification. Sato retained the title as O’Connor fumed inside the ring.
A final match was announced for February of 1967… a steel cage showdown. The cage match was a bloody war – many said the bloodiest match ever to occur in St. Louis – and one that resulted in a new Missouri State Champion when Karl O’Connor caught Tojo Sato in the sleeperhold in the center of the ring, rendering him unconscious to regain the title.
While O’Connor would lose the title a few months later (he held up Owens for money and was fired), his victory inside that cage is still talked about by old time fans as one of the greatest moments in St. Louis wrestling history. O’Connor went back into retirement at the end of ’67, claiming that he would never compete again.
Proving you should never say never, O’Connor returned to St. Louis one more time on Thanksgiving Night 1970 to face old rival Jack Stein in what was billed as a “Legends Showdown.” Stein was victorious and O’Connor seemed to make his peace with his enemy, raising his hand after the match in what he would later describe as a “nice piece of closure.”
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February 1974 – Cameron O’Connor misses a show at the Kiel due to weather and Karl O’Connor makes a one night return from retirement to face Terry Shane Jr. who demanded that Karl live up to Cameron’s contractual obligations. The battle ended with Terry Shane hooking in the spinning toehold and refusing to release it for several moments after winning the match, forcing O’Connor to be carried out on a stretcher.
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As 1982 rolled around, Hamilton Graham, Terry Shane Jr., and Karl O’Connor had shocked long-time fans in the Midwest by announcing a split from their wrestling home at the St. Louis Wrestling Office in order to form their own promotion – Central States Wrestling.
At an “Opening Day” press conference, O’Connor promised a “return to basics” for wrestling in the state of Missouri. A brash Graham also made a promise – that his former employer would be out of business before 1985 was finished.
The territory set up shop in Kansas City, reaching an agreement with a local small arena to feature live shows at least two nights a month. Graham, O’Connor, and Shane Jr. also signed commitments to one another, promising to not work for other promotions for a minimum of three years. O’Connor also signed his son Cameron to a “first look” contract – promising Central States Wrestling a chance to book Cameron before any other promoters – a move that angered other promoters throughout the United States.
Cameron O’Connor, who was the reigning Missouri State Champion for the St. Louis Wrestling Office before jumping ship, was instantly awarded the Central States Title. Terry Shane Jr., still the IWA World Champion, was kept out of action for several months until his contractual agreements with the IWA could expire. Hamilton Graham, however, swore to win the Central States title from the younger O’Connor before the year was out.
Karl O’Connor immediately set out to create a master plan of expansion – starting with negotiations with the IWA. O’Connor offered to let Terry Shane Jr. and Cameron O’Connor tour four months out of the year with the IWA in exchange for regular appearances of the IWA World Title in Central States Wrestling. In a major coup, he also negotiated that the IWA would officially recognize Central States Wrestling as the IWA territory for Kansas and Missouri – a move that forced the IWA to kick the St. Louis Wrestling Office out of their alliance. The strategy was sound, hitting their former employer with a major body blow but many promoters around the nation saw the tactic as underhanded and swore not to work with the new group.
On Super Bowl weekend in 1982, Central States Wrestling hosted their first show, headlined by Cameron O’Connor defending the Central States title against local Kansas City wrestler Bobby “Blues” Moody.