| Norvell Austin | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1951-03-09)March 9, 1951 (age 74) Pensacola, Florida, United States |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Black Panther The Junkyard Dog Norvell Austin The Shadow |
| Billed height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) |
| Billed weight | 224 lb (102 kg) |
| Billed from | Byhalia, Mississippi, United States |
| Debut | 1971 |
| Retired | September 25, 2004 |
Norvell Austin (born March 9, 1951) is a retired Americanprofessional wrestler. Austin worked for most of his career in theSouthern United States, most often intag team competition. Norvell Austin is most famous for teaming withSputnik Monroe in one of the first "mixed races"villainous teams seen in the south.[1] Austin was also part of the originalMidnight Express from 1981 to 1983.[2] Later on he would team withKoko B. Ware as one half of the "Pretty Young Things".[3]
Austin began his professional wrestling career in 1971 theFlorida/Alabama area. At the time, African American wrestlers in the south wereutilized in very specific ways. They were mainly restricted to wrestling other African Americans and if they were to wrestle white opponents, they were alwaysfan favorites who could not cheat or use underhanded means to beat their white opponents.[1] These restrictions meant that Austin worked as a face initially and mainly in singles competition since no all African American tag teams were used at that time.[1]
In late 1971 Austin along with a man who had been fighting for equality in wrestling for a long time,Sputnik Monroe formed a tag team, what was unique for the team at the time was that they wereheels (bad guys) a first for the Southern United Stateswrestling promotions.[1] Norvell would dye a blond streak in his hair to match Monroe's and even hinted that Austin could be Sputnik Monroe's son.[4] Together the team won the NWA Mid-America version of theNWA Southern Tag Team Championship from the team of Bearcat Brown and Len Rossi in May 1972. They’d lose the titles to Karl and Kurt Von Brauner about a month later.[5] Winning the tag team gold was far from the only achievement Austin and Monroe had while in Mid-America, in what was a reversal of an infamous angle that saw "The Interns" paint Bearcat Brown with white paint the heel duo dropped black paint on white wrestlerRobert Fuller. This lead Sputnik Monroe to state that "Black is Beautiful" to which Norvell Austin replied "White is wonderful", something that would become a catch phrase for the team.[1] Austin and Monroe also saw success outside the Alabama area where NWA Mid-America operated, mainly in Florida where they worked forChampionship Wrestling from Florida underpromoterEddie Graham. In Florida the team won theNWA Florida Tag Team Championship on October 10, 1972, by beating Robert Fuller andJimmy Golden. Austin and Monroe held the titles until November 16, 1972, whenJack andJerry Brisco beat them for the titles.[5]
On October 1, 1973, Austin won his first singles title when he became the NWA Mississippi Heavyweight Champion, something which helped cement Austin Novell as one of the pioneers in breaking down the racial barriers in the south.[1] In 1975 Austin teamed up with Rocket Monroe (Sputnik'sstoryline brother) to briefly hold theGulf Coast Championship Wrestling version of the NWA United States tag team titles.[5] After working together for three years which saw the team even tour Japan Norvell Austin decided that it was time to work as a singles wrestler ending his association with Sputnik Monroe.[4] From 1975 Austin kept working for NWA Mid-America both the southern part of theterritory that was promoted byNick Gulas and the northern part promoted byJerry Jarrett that would later split off and becomeContinental Wrestling Association (CWA).[6] Despite wanting to wrestle more as a singles wrestler Austin was usually booked in the tag team division, teaming with for instance Butch Malone to win theNWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship.[5] After the title loss Austin was given an opportunity to feud with his former partner Butch Malone for a brief period of time. The feud with Malone did not convince the bookers to give Austin more of a singlespush but instead put him back in the tag team division with a variety of partners such asBill Dundee,Pat Barrett andJimmy Golden all of whom he held tag team championships in NWA Mid-America or Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling (renamed Southeast Championship Wrestling (SECW) in 1978).[5]
In 1980 a new team was formed in Southeast Championship Wrestling whenDennis Condrey's previous partner Don Carson retired. Condrey teamed up withRandy Rose and won theNWA Southeast Tag Team Championship shortly after they started teaming up.[5] The team started a storyline feud with Austin who wrestled as "The Junkyard Dog" before the more famous version of theJunkyard Dog used the name in wrestling. Austin recruited various partners such asPaul Orndorff, who were successful in capturing the Southeast tag team gold briefly.[5] In an attempt to throw Rose and Condrey off Austin would adopt the masked persona of "The Shadow" and together with Brad Armstrong defeat the team for the Southeast tag team gold on May 4, 1981, and held onto the gold until July 27, 1981, where Condrey and Rose regained the titles. After the title loss Austin turned on Armstrong and joined up with Condrey and Rose to form astable (group) known asThe Midnight Express.[7] In the bookThe Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams Condrey explains that the name did not stem from the movieMidnight Express (although later versions of the Midnight Express would use the film's theme as their own theme music) but from the fact that they all dressed in black, drove black cars and were out partying past midnight.[8] Together the three men would win the AWA Southern Tag Team title in the CWA and invoke a rule that would later be referred to asthe Freebird Rule, which allowed any two of the three men to defend the titles on a given night so that their opponents never knew what combination to expect.[9] The Midnight Express would lose the AWA Southern tag team title toBobby Eaton andSweet Brown Sugar before returning to SECW in the spring of 1982.[5]
In Southeastern Championship Wrestling, the Midnight Express would win the NWA Southeastern Tag Team Title a further six times. The Express won and lost the titles to such teams as Jimmy Golden and Robert Fuller,Mongolian Stomper and Stomper Jr.,"Dizzy" Ed Hogan and Ken Lucas and Brad andScott Armstrong.[5]
The Midnight Express disbanded in late 1983 when Norvell Austin went back to the CWA in Memphis and Dennis Condrey moved on toMid-South Wrestling. In Memphis Austin became a part ofJimmy Hart's stable of wrestlers known asthe First Family.
During a tag-team tournament in 1984 Norvell Austin was teamed up with the maskedStagger Lee on "Fargo's Fabulous Ones" (Tommy Rich andEddie Gilbert). During the course of the match Stagger Lee's mask was removed to reveal the man beneath it (Koko B. Ware), something which prompted a heel turn for Ware. Austin and Ware became a regular tag team dubbed the "Pretty Young Things" or "PYT Express".[10] The two men soon began wearing red leather jackets and each had a single white glove on in an obvious imitation ofMichael Jackson to further enhance their "pretty boy" image, and even used Jackson'ssong of the same name as their entrance music.[3]
The team managed to defeat the colossal team ofElijah Akeem andKareem Mohammad for the AWA Southern Tag Team titles in February 1984 although they would only hang onto the gold for a little under 2 weeks before Akeem and Mohammad regained the titles.[5] the PYT Express remained in Memphis for a period of time after this before moving on to other promotions such asWorld Class Championship Wrestling inTexas and later on Championship Wrestling from Florida. On February 26, 1985, Austin and Ware defeatJay andMark Youngblood to win theNWA Florida United States Tag Team Championship. Two weeks later on March 5, 1985, the team lost the titles to the Youngbloods.[5]
After dropping the gold in Florida the Pretty Young Things returned to the federation that first put them together, the Continental Wrestling Association where they won the AWA Southern Tag Team titles twice, both times fromThe Fabulous Ones (Steve Keirn andStan Lane) as they feuded with the top face team of the promotion.[5][11]
By the end of the summer of 1985 the Pretty Young Things went their separate ways with Austin returning to his old stomping grounds in Southeast Championship Wrestling. In SECW Austin was teamed up with fellow African AmericanBrickhouse Brown to form a team called "Soul Patrol". On September 23, 1985, the Soul Patrol defeated the Nightmares to win the NWA Southeast Tag Team Championship, which was Norvell Austin's tenth reign with that particular title. The Soul Patrol lost the championship to the Nightmares only a few weeks later on.[5] After the Soul Patrol broke up Austin became involved in a heated storyline with the at the time reigning NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Champion"Exotic" Adrian Street. On January 6, 1986, Austin defeated Street for the title and held on to it until Street with the help of his valet Miss Linda regained the title on February 17, 1986.
In the late 1980s Norvell Austin retired from professional wrestling, but has made a few special "Legends" appearances in the last couple of years, last time on September 25, 2004, where he teamed withRandy Rose to defeat the team of Texas Roughrider and Luke Goldberg in Continental Wrestling.[12]
"At once time, we all dressed in black. We had black Lincolns, black automobiles and everything else, and we were all out until midnight, so we went as the Midnight Express.