The image above is from a newspaper ad in the Dexter, MO "Daily Statesman" advertising a Dec. 14, 1995 card at the National Guard Armory in Dexter. For those who don't know, Dexter is my original hometown. I grew up and spent all my school days there until leaving for Arkansas State University in the fall of 2001.
The promotion running Dexter was Ozark Mountain Wrestling, owned and operated by Bert Prentice and The Colorado Kid. The company was based in Jonesboro, AR. Initially, OMW ran Jonesboro every Monday night at the Arkansas State National Guard Armory. At this point in time, OMW was starting to branch out of Jonesboro and began running towns in Southeast Missouri.
OMW began in 1994. Sometime that year, the company obtained television on Jonesboro TV station KAIT Channel 8, an ABC affiliate. The show ran late Saturday nights at 11:30 p.m. It was a 30-minute broadcast.
I first discovered the promotion sometime in the spring of 1995. Around that time, I was fortunate to get a true wrestling fix. I was able to watch OMW along with the original Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), Memphis' United States Wrestling Assocation (USWA) and Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) to go along with the national presentations of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). While OMW really didn't compare to the others, it was still a fun company to follow.
I remember being extremely excited to hear that OMW would be coming to Dexter. My best friend Jody Howard and I HAD to go to the show. Like true marks, we did everything we could to get a ringside seat. Basically, we waited three hours before the show just to make sure we were first in line. I miss those days sometimes!
The results from the card were as follows: The Giant Warrior defeated Justin St. John; Samantha defeated Debbie T. Wild; OMW North American Champion The Colorado Kid defeated "Slick" Rikki Burton; "Wildfire" Tommy Rich defeated "Superstar" Bill Dundee; 6-man Tag Team Main Event: Kid, Dundee & Warrior defeated Brickhouse Brown, Burton & St. John.
As you can see, this was a solid show. You had three top Memphis area names in Dundee, Rich and Brown plus the up and coming Colorado Kid. Samantha is the former wife of Dundee. She also managed Bull Pain at one time and was known as "Samantha Pain." That is also indeed the same Rikki Burton who still wrestles in this area on occasion. He last regularly appeared for Frank Martin's Royal Wrestling Alliance and Jamie Jay's Professional Wrestling Alliance. In the post-match between Rich and Dundee, Rich took an atomic drop on a steel chair. The chair bent up and my dad popped huge for that.
My only negative really from this show was the non-appearance of Terry Golden. Terry was my favorite OMW wrestler and I was looking forward to seeing him work. Little did I know that I would work for Golden in Memphis Championship Wrestling just a little more than five years later!
Below is a ticket stub from the event.
I hope you have enjoyed the debut of "Thompson's Markives." Be sure to catch the next edition when I review my first USWA card from 1993 at the American Legion Building in Kennett, MO. It was a big night with a main event of Jerry "The King" Lawler against the Honky Tonk Man.
(Brian Thompson may be reached by e-mail at bptbookings@yahoo.com)
