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Because of my lack of knowledge of wrestling history at this point, I had no idea of the significance of one of the feuds in early 1986.   I didn't know that it was almost unthinkable that Mr. Wrestling II work as a rulebreaker.

II came in around February, 1986, and to the shock of most of the fans in the crowd, joined up with Ron Fuller and his Stud's Stable in the fight against The Bullet and the Armstrong family.

Obviously, I could tell everyone was surprised, but later, of course, I realized that II was a legend, and for him to even be a part of the Continental area was a treat for us, although his career was winding down at a fast pace at this point.

At any rate, II had a series of strap matches against the Bullet, who could do no wrong. The Bullet won the short-lived feud, and went through the Stud's Stable roster, if I can paraphrase "Nightmare" Danny Davis, "like 'Ex-Lax' through a widow woman."

The Stable just couldn't get over on the Bullet, no matter how hard they tried. Although I was just catching on to the WWF, Fuller's pursuit of The Bullet's mask was a lot like Bobby Heenan trying to take out Hogan, although the Continental feud was a lot funnier - for anyone who hasn't seen Robert Fuller & Jimmy Golden, they are a riot. And they did their best to make The Bullet's life miserable - it just usually worked out the other way.

So The Bullet continued his run through the Stable, and his run as the promotion's most popular wrestler. Some other things happening:

 - The tag titles were a hot commodity. Tommy & Johnny Rich rid the area of The Nightmares, who had dominated the Southeastern Tag titles for over a year. The feud was bloody; it featured great interviews; specialty matches, like "the Nightmare cage;" the shock of seeing Johnny Rich covered in Kayo Syrup and feathers (the "Birmingham Bird," as The Nightmares referred to); the Riches taking off The Nightmares' masks, and The Nightmares having their heads shaven.

But once The Nightmares were gone, the Riches couldn't overcome the challenge of Fuller & Golden, who were reunited and building a head of steam as monster rulebreakers.

 - Ron Fuller left the promotion on TV, appearing semi-regularly in interviews from time to time to allegedly send in guys after The Bullet's mask. This would become very important in the latter part of the year.

 - Tom Prichard, a newcomer to the area, began a hot feud with U.S. Junior Heavyweight Champion "White Lightnin'" Tim Horner. Horner, perhaps Continental's greatest mat wrestler who was so funny and sarcastic in most interviews that he could have worked as a "bad guy," was equally matched by the hillarious and unpredictable Prichard, who had a charisma most wrestlers in Continental didn't.   Prichard, kind of a minor player in his earliest Continental days, would become arguably the promotion's top star before it closed. And he earned it.

 - The entrance of Wendall Cooley in the area. Adrian Street, the Southeastern champion for months, had just finished a hot feud with Norvell Austin, and Cooley was matched up against Street.

The two were complete, utter opposites, and could match each other move-for-move. Although all the girls loved Cooley because of his good looks, he was a man's man, a true tough guy, an avid hunter, fisher and big sports fan. Cooley early-on professed to be from Texas, but would later admit he was from Milton, Florida, a city in the panhandle.   Cooley, who had shoulder-length black hair and a beard, was about 230 pounds, always in excellent shape. He reminded me of a somewhat lighter Ric Flair -- that same wrestling style and ability to roll his shoulders off the mat at a count of 2 3/4.

Although very skilled, Street was Cooley's direct opposite, a Gorgeous George-like figure with feminine tendencies (some believe Dustin Runnels' horrible "Golddust" character was patterned after Street).   But what George did in the 50's was tame to Street's act. Street turned things up a notch, often pinching the rear end of another competitor or referee (and of course, there is the time he kissed Jimmy Golden on TV, believe it or not; more on that in a future column).   Street fashioned himself as a metal songwriter and record artist, and even had a small recording studio. If he wanted to look wild, he accomplished it.

His long blond hair would normally be fixed in two ponytails, and he wore glitter-filled makeup. His elaborate ring outfits and ring persona seemed to point to an easy win, but Street was anything but. Street was a wrestling machine, and combined with the interference of valet-manager Miss Linda (his wife, although we weren't supposed to know that), Street was practically unbeatable. Cooley's feud with Street saw the SE title swap back and forth like a see-saw, complete with matches in which the loser had to wear a dress, the loser had to wear a saddle, and later, matches that were much more violent.

NEXT MONTH :    In the next installment, if I can borrow a line from Emeril of The Food Network, we're gonna kick things up a notch. You guys should know that I actually have Continental on tape from June 1986 until the promotion folded, every show. We're going to detail, month by month, feud by feud, exactly what made Continental special, and we're going to slow things down. Next time, rather than look at the remainder of 1986, we're going to focus on June through August, the hot, hot summer of 1986.

I'll tell you about the very first card I ever attended (great card; I still remember the matches).

We'll discuss the legendary feud between Brad Armstrong and Jerry Stubbs for the Continental title, a bloody feud featuring some great wrestling moves that many Continental fans say was the best feud over the Continental strap in the promotion's history. We'll continue to look at The Bullet, and discuss a brief but entertaining feud with "Dirty" Dutch Mantell that would come back to haunt the masked man. We'll talk about how Prichard earned the name "Doctor" Tom - I don't know how many stories circulate about this, but this one is the actual truth - and we'll discuss the shocking fan favorite turn of "Exotic" Adrian Street.

Until next time…