Shining a Spotlight 10.27.06: Magnum and Nikita

The man was born Terry Wayne Allen but he’s more famous as Magnum TA.

He began his career in 1977 in the Pacific Northwest territory, one of the nicer hotbeds for developing talent at the time. He got attention first in Florida, holding the tag team titles 5 times there as simply Terry Allen. He moved to the Mid-South area and began to gain fame as two-time tag champion and North America champion. It was here that he was christened Magnum TA. The reasons for this were obvious: With his athletic build, curly hair and thick mustache, he bore a resemblance to Tom Selleck who was finding fame on TV as Magnum P.I. The wrestling Magnum was a handsome man, a great in-ring worker and had good presence on the mic. To no surprise, he caught on with the crowds and was soon one of the most popular wrestlers in the country.

In 1984, he made the jump to Jim Crockett Promotions and the NWA and was pushed quickly into a feud with Wahoo McDaniel for the United States Championship. He pinned Wahoo in a cage match in March of 1985 to win the title, using his belly to belly suplex finisher (I know it’s hard to believe now but there was a time a belly-to-belly was a finisher). He was instantly made before the fans as he defended it around the NWA. He would lose it in July to Tully Blanchard which set up a steel cage “I Quit!”match for the belt at Starrcade ’85. The match was an incredible, brutal classic with Magnum at one point threatening to gouge Tully’s eye out with a wood plank to make him yell “I quit!” into a microphone.

So 1985 was a high for Magnum’s career. But 1986 would start even better as Ivan Koloff announced that he was sending his “nephew” Nikita against Magnum and the title.

We’d better clear this up right now. Nikita Koloff is about as Russian as I am. He was born Nelson Scott Simpson in Minneapolis. Never knowing his father, he did bodybuilding and was planning a football career but injuries cut it short. He was thinking about trying for the USFL but Road Warrior Animal suggested he give wrestling a try, giving the advice he shave his head for the tryout. Nikita won his first match in 13 seconds, learning later that Jim Crockett had decided if he tripped on the ropes, he’d be fired on the spot. At the time, Ivan had been doing his usual “evil Russian” bit with Don Kernodle as a “turncoat American” to help out. Ivan presented Nikita as his nephew while the other man kept quiet during interviews.

Considering he’d never wrestled before, Nikita improved surprisingly well. He was mainly a power wrestler with his deadly clothesline (the Russian sickle) as his finishing move but also had some surprising wrestling skills as well. He improved so well that there was no need for Kernodle so the Koloffs turned on him. Nikita started to talk more, learning some actual Russian while speaking in a thick accent. He also impressed people by keeping the act going even outside the ring, glowering and not speaking much English. Dusty Rhodes nicknamed him “The Russian Nightmare” and he played up to it wonderfully.

The two would add Krusher Kruschev (Barry Darsow, who’s probably best known as Demolition Ax) and would start to cause mayhem around the NWA. Nikita and Ivan would win the NWA world tag team title in March of 1985 and they would often rotate with Kruschev to defend the titles. Ivan and Kruschev would lose the belts to the Rock n Roll Express in July, just in time for the Great American Bash. At the Bash, Ivan and Nikita had a brutal dog collar chain match against the Road Warriors, a highlight of their feud. Nikita was also given a big shot against Ric Flair for the NWA World title. Although Flair was a heel, pitting him against the evil Russian made him a huge face and at one point, a real fan attacked Nikita. Nikita had held his own against Flair better than people expected. True, at this point, Flair could get a classic out of almost anyone but it showed Nikita was ready to be a singles star.

It was at this point that Vince McMahon made a big offer for Nikita, promising him not only more money and exposure but an immediate push to the Intercontinental title. Nikita turned it down, not only out of loyalty to Crockett but because he was about to get a big push there. On the one hand, I think Nikita could have been better off taking the offer. Not only would he have been a nice IC champ but he would have drawn monster money against Hogan at Wrestlemania 2. But then again, Nikita didn’t exactly fare badly off with what Crockett planned.

It was the perfect money feud: Magnum, the hot and handsome man who seemed to embody so much of America against this ruthless, brutal Russian monster. It’s hard for fans who weren’t that old or even not born during the Cold War to really understand the feelings against Russia at the time, that they represented all that was evil in the world. Having the feud be for the U.S. title was just the icing on the cake.

After a few matches, the feud really kicked in during a contract signing with Magnum’s mother in attendance. Nikita insulted her so Magnum naturally fought back and during the brawl accidentally struck Jim Crockett. He was then stripped of the title and it was put up for grabs in a best of seven series. The series was the highlight of the summer as the two went at it across the country before sellout crowds. Nikita won the first three but Magnum fought back to tie it up. In the final match, Nikita beat Magnum thanks to interference from Ivan and Krusher and thus the crowds had the ultimate nightmare: A Russian holding the United States title.

The heat from this was incredible and was added on in the fall when Nikita beat National Champion Wahoo McDaniel to unify the two titles. At the same time, Ivan and Krusher won a tournament to become the first US Tag Team Champions. Meanwhile, Magnum rebounded to challenge Ric Flair for the NWA title at the main event of the upcoming Starrcade. Given his popularity and the heat from the US title loss many believed Magnum would win the belt and indeed some say that was the plan.

And then came October 14, 1986, a night that would change everything.

Plane rides for wrestlers weren’t as common then as they were today, especially in the smaller regions like Crockett’s. Thus, Magnum was one of the stars who had to drive himself from card to card. On that night, he was heading along a highway on North Carolina in a rainstorm when his car skidded along the slicked roads and wrapped itself around a tree. The rescue crews had to cut the car away in order to get Magnum out. He was rushed to the hospital and treated for spinal damage and severe injuries to his left leg and side. Many of the doctors speculated it might be impossible for him to walk properly again.

This meant that there was no challenger for Flair for the upcoming Starrcade, the biggest show for Crockett. The NWA came up with the idea that since the US Champion was usually considered the number one contender anyway, Nikita would get the shot. However, they feared Flair losing the heel heat he had with the Four Horsemen. And so Dusty Rhodes came up with what truly has to be one of the most brilliant ideas of his entire life. For once, Dusty was forward thinking as he saw the beginnings of glasnost and that the time of evil Russians was going to end soon. So he struck while the iron was hot.

Dusty and Magnum had been set to face Tully Blanchard and James J. Dillon in a cage match. Dusty came out and the crowd was shocked when Nikita was following him. They were even more shocked as Nikita helped Dusty clean house on the Horsemen and Dusty led the crowd in chanting his name. In the span of a few minutes, Nikita went from one of the most hated workers in the NWA to one of the most popular. His English suddenly improved as he put over America and how he wanted to make it and Magnum proud.

The Bill Apter mags helped spread the story that over the course of their feud, Nikita had come to respect Magnum as a worthy opponent. When he heard of Magnum’s accident, Nikita was so moved that he decided to forsake his rulebreaking ways and the Soviet Union and dedicated his career to Magnum’s memory. Keep in mind, this was 1986. Russians as the bad guy had been a standard of the business for over 30 years and the idea of one presented as a face was truly uncharted territory. But Nikita managed to transform the heat from fans to positive and it paid off big-time.

Flair was impressed as well but didn’t think Nikita was ready for the top spot and so the Starrcade match became a double disqualification. Nikita would challenge Flair as 1987 began. Once again he was made an offer by McMahon and once again he turned it down. He would fight with Ivan and Krusher who of course didn’t take his embracing America well. In April, he and Dusty teamed together to win the Crockett Cup tag team tournament. An emotional moment came when Magnum came out, limping on a cane, to embrace both men. It began a rush of hope among fans that Magnum would be back, many predicting he’d face Flair for the belt at Starrcade ’88. Sadly, real life does not work like a wrestling script and Magnum was never able to wrestle again. He would remain with Crockett for a few years as a commentator but left after the sale to Turner.

As for Nikita, his face turn continued to carry him well. As the Great American Bash began, Dusty, Nikita and the Road Warriors would feud with the Four Horsemen, culminating in the first ever War Games match. In July, Nikita finally dropped the US title after 11 months to Lex Luger in a somewhat overlong cage match. There are rumors that Crockett wanted to turn Nikita heel again after the loss but the fan heat was still intense so instead they had him beat Tully Blanchard in August to win the TV title and had another long reign with it. At Starrcade ’87, he defeated Terry Taylor to unify the NWA and UWF TV titles. Shortly after that, McMahon came calling yet again, promising Nikita a run with the IC belt and a big feud with Ted DiBiase for the WWF title. Nikita was seriously considering it, even talking to Rhodes and Crockett about his options. However, before he could sign, he got word that McMahon really planned for him to job in a mid-card feud to Rick Rude and the only reason he wanted Nikita was to push down one of Crockett’s biggest stars. Needless to say, Nikita stuck with the NWA.

Unfortunately, the fact that he was even considering jumping ship caused Crockett to push Nikita down the card. He lost the TV title to Mike Rotunda as 1988 began and came up short in a title match with Flair at the last Crockett Cup tournament. He lost the finals for the vacant US title to Barry Windham and was feuding with Al Perez as the summer began. He and Sting briefly feuded with the Four Horsemen but it was clear Nikita had fallen out of favor with the higher-ups, especially as Turner took over.

However, like Magnum, it was a real-life tragedy that would cut Nikita’s career short. In 1989, after only two years of marriage, his beloved wife, Mandy, died of Hodgkins disease. Her death completely devastated Nikita and he spent time away from the ring. He would do brief runs in the AWA in 1990 and WCW in 1991 and ’92 but it was clear to many that his heart just wasn’t in it anymore. He would team with Sting in ’92 for a War Games match and feuded with Rick Rude for the US belt. At Halloween Havoc ’92, he suffered a hernia after being power-bombed by Vader and decided it was time to call it quits.

Today, Terry Allen is a born-again Christian running a cell phone tower company with his wife and son. Nikita (who legally changed his name to his wrestling persona) is also a born-again Christian who works with Ted DiBiase in various ventures. Aside from a brief run in TNA in 2003, he’s pretty much stayed away from wrestling, now touring with a ministry, still speaking with the Russian accent in public now and then.

One can only wonder how different wrestling would be if not for the accident. It seems clear Magnum would have beaten Flair and he and Kolloff would have reignited thier feud, this time with the NWA World title on the line. It probably would have been quite hot during 1987 and packed in arenas. Magnum might have been just the great charisma face Crockett needed to really compete with McMahon and might have kept JCP going for a while. The question is whether he would have stayed loyal to Crockett or accepted an offer from Vince at which point he might have been the fill-in for Hogan in 1988 or ’90. Either way, he and Nikita would have been even bigger stars that would have reigned for quite a while.

Both men are no doubt happy and have gone on with their lives. But I suspect that at least once a week, they think back to that time 20 years ago when they were the hottest thing in wrestling. I’m sure they must hold some regret in their hearts they never got to continue the feud for the NWA World title, a feud that would have cemented them as legends. It’s a tragedy in some ways that it ended the way it did. But then, life isn’t as fair as wrestling fans would like it. At least the two men can always remember that for one wonderful summer, they made fans happy to be involved with this sport. And that’s the best legacy you can leave with.

A shorter column this week but check out the others around:

Jordan Linkous imagines an AJ Styles/Shawn Michaels match

The Fink looks at the Women’s Title Tournament.

The Goodness checks out what John Cena needs to do to improve.

Just S’Pose takes on the big question of what might have been if Hulk Hogan hadn’t gone into wrestling. Ron’s choice for his replacement is unique to say the least, check it out.

Julian counts down the top 10 Heel Turns.

Evolution Schematic tackles…Norman Smiley?

Meehan checks out the aftermath of Bound For Glory.

Don’t forget Hidden Highlights, Column of Honor, Triple Threat, Crystal Ball, Ask411 and the rest.

For this week, the spotlight is off.