Remembering The AWA’s Unknown Soldier

Brian Damage

In 1989, the AWA was on its last legs. The promotion had introduced a gimmick called the Team Challenge Series which was very convoluted and confusing to even the die hard AWA fans that were left in existence. During this time, Larry Zbyszko was the reigning AWA world champion. Verne Gagne decided to book a program involving Zbyszko and his title against a mysterious opponent. A masked wrestler that went by the name of ‘The Unknown Soldier.’

I guess in some ways, this Unknown Soldier character was the predecessor to WCW’s Black Scorpion gimmick…only in reverse. In this case, Zbyszko the champion was the heel, whose life would be turned upside down by the mysterious babyface the Unknown Soldier. The Unknown Soldier would drive Zbyszko nuts or something like that. It would ultimately culminate in a match for the AWA world championship.

The person who was scheduled to be under the hood as the Unknown Soldier was none other than David Sammartino. For those not aware, Zbyszko was a student under Bruno Sammartino (David’s father) both in real life and in kayfabe. Zbyszko would turn on Bruno and a student versus teacher angle became red hot in the WWWF. That was in 1980, in a completely different territory. Yet, the Larry Z/Bruno feud was so well known…at least in Verne’s mind…that he would reignite it nine years later.

As crazy as this may sound, a feud between Zbyszko and David Sammartino might not have set the AWA on fire like the original feud but at least generate some sort of curiosity from fans. Yes, the matches would probably be horrible, but how much worse could they get in the AWA during this period of time? At least, there was some sort of history there to make something out of nothing. Perhaps not. Regardless, it was all for naught as David Sammartino decided to no show his debut as the masked Unknown Soldier for whatever reason.

Without Sammartino under the mask, the angle was rendered pointless. Verne Gagne ended up replacing Sammartino with a wrestler named Ricky Rice. He was one half of a tag team called The Top Guns that were a babyface team in the company. Rice had a thinner build than the burlier Sammartino. Eventually, Ricky Rice was replaced by another wrestler. This one was a wrestler who actually came to the ring wearing tights (instead of the camouflage pants the original wore) that read Japan on the side of them.

The Unknown Soldier would unmask to reveal himself to be the veteran Masa Saito. The same wrestler who competed for the AWA back in 1984, when he was arrested along with Ken Patera after throwing a rock through a McDonald’s window and assaulting a number of police officers. Saito and Zbyszko would feud and exchange the world title back and forth briefly. What could have been if David Sammartino was in the role of the Unknown Soldier? Another Sammartino as a world champion. Interesting maybe. Then again probably not.