PNW #11 Page #2

Mayne made no appearances in 1976, but in early 1977 a wrestler entered the area who was doing a lot of talking about Mayne. Ron Bass claimed they had a feud going on in Texas and he told the fans that is why they hadn’t seen Lonnie in quite some time. Finally Mayne contacted promoter Don Owen to say I’d like to return to the NW. Their first match was on April 16th, 1977. Unfortunately for Mayne, earlier on the card Dutch Savage was meeting the late Chris Taylor. Taylor was displaying a rather rough and unorthodox style. Mayne had seen enough of the dirty deeds and ran in to help Savage, however Bass was right behind him and caught him from behind ramming his head into the steel ringpost and opening a cut on Lonnie’s forehead. Later that night Mayne went out and tried to wrestle Bass with a bandaged head. Bass was DQ’d for unsportsman like conduct and the feud heated up even more.

Mayne began other feuds in the area with the likes of Jesse Ventura & Buddy Rose. Lonnie also teamed up with Englishman Les Thornton and they upset Rose and Ventura for the tag straps on June 4th, 1977. They went on to defend against Rose and Ventura, Ron Bass and John Anson, Joe Palardi & Bobby Joe Bass. They lost the belts to Anson and Ron Bass after two months as champions.

Mayne was able to capture single victories over Jesse Ventura, Buddy Rose, John Anson, Frank Dr. X Monte, Moose Morowski, Steve Lawler, Coco Samoa and others. Another big win for Mayne came when he teamed with Jimmy Snuka & Dutch Savage to meet Bass & Angson and then World Champion Harley Race. Mayne scored the only pin fall in the match by putting the shoulders of Race to the mat.

In November of 77 another strange occurrence happened. Bass was having problems with Buddy Rose and Ed Wiskwoski. His partner John Anson was injured and he was left without a partner. Like so many others before him an enemy sought out Lonnie Mayne to help him. Mayne teamed with Bass to defend the tag championship against Rose & Wiskwoski on two different occasions. They met in a loser leaves town match that ended in a draw.

They met again one week later in another loser leaves town match and lost. Lonnie Mayne was to have one more match in Portland against Johnny Eagles, December 10th, 1977. This match was a scientific draw.

Mayne will always be remembered in Portland when he returned after a long absence he would hug fans, the ref, even his opponents at times. He was always happy to be back in the NW. Lonnie died in a auto accident in August of 1978 near San Bernadino California. A tribute was given to him in the ring on August 20th, 1978.. Twenty years later Lonnie is still remembered as the top star ever in the NW.

NEXT MONTH:

We have ranked the heels, next month we rank the babyfaces of the NW!

Back to PNW Main