By: Brian Hoops

Lots of notalgia news to talk about, so let's get right into it.

Nick Bockwinkel was recently honored with the highest award at the Cauliflower Alley Club Annual Convention, the Iron Mike Award. Nice article on Bockwinkel and his reaction here Bockwinkel receives Iron Mike Award. Bockwinkel is one of the true legends of wrestling and a class act if there ever was one.

Hilarious story coming out of Belgium which can be viewed here Bodybuilders flee drug testing. Apparently at a body building contest held in Brussels, a random drug test caused a majority of the competitors to pick up their gear and run out of the locker room.

Brock Lesnar was a guest speaker at a Dunkers civic gathering the other day in Minneapolis that he graduated 49th in a class of 53 in his Webster (S.D.) High School class and that if he would have graduated at the University of Minnesota, he would have been 49,000th out of 53,000.

Ric Flair was part of the Lowe's Motorspeed way All star race in Charlotte last weekend. The studio announcers were shown doing "whooo". I didn't see the entire segment with Flair, but saw the highlights and it was pretty hilarious.

It was 25 years ago that Verne Gagne put the AWA World Title belt on Rick Martel in the AWA's wrestling war against the WWF and the NWA. There is a nice interview with Martel about his title reign here Rick Martel interview. Martel was a very good babyface champion for the AWA. I have an article in this week's Torch newsletter looking at the Martel choice for champion and some alternative choices for champion in this era.

According to the Wrestling Observer, former AWA wrestler Billy Robinson, now 69 years old, is teaching at the Westside Kickboxing, BJJ and MMA gym in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Cynthia Johnson, who wrestled from 1968 through the late-80s as Princess Jasmine, passed away on 5/8 due to cancer. She was 60 years old. She worked mostly in the AWA and WWA after being trained by Dick the Bruiser. She was recently honored at the CAC banquet but unable to attend due to her illness.

The documentary on Gentlemen Chris Adams, which I would love to see but haven't yet, can be viewed at A Gentlemen's Choice. The trailer is free, but there is a cost to view the entire documentary.

Steve "Mongo" McMichael became the latest former pro wrestler inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. McMichael, who played for Texas, joins Bronko Nagurski, Ron Pritchard, Ron Simmons and Leo Nomellini as pro wrestlers in that Hall of Fame. Simmons was inducted last year. McMichael wrestled for WCW during the early Nitro years and was a member of the 4 Horsemen as well as a WCW U.S. Champion. McMichael was also in the corner of Lawrence Taylor at WrestleMania 11. Chris Spielman, star linebacker at Ohio State, is also being inducteed. Spielman was also a part of Wrestlemania 11 as a corner man for Lawrence Taylor in the main event against Bam Bam Bigelow.

A nice article about the upcoming Hall of Fame class in Amsterdam, New York can be read at Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame class

Thanks for reading. I'll have a lot more nostalgia info later during this week's nostalgia audio podcast.

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