Rasslin' Riot!

I was a huge fan of AWA All-Star Wrestling as a kid. Run by legendary Verne Gagne outta Minneapolis, the American Wrestling Assosciation ruled the Midwest in those pre-WWF days with a roster that included greats like Ray "The Crippler" Stevens, Blackjack Lanza, Larry "The Axe" Henning, Mad Dog Vachon, Baron Von Raschke and greatest of 'em all, The Crusher (plus crafty managers like Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and Lord Alfred Hayes). Every week some match would get outta hand and all the rasslers would come running from the back for a giant free-for-all brawl. I tried to capture that feeling of unleashed mayhem in this piece, which in its original form was meant to be the cover for a comp called Blood Red Battle Royal Volume 2. Due to some pointless craziness that was going on in my life at the time I blew the deadline on that project for the first and only time in my professional career. Sorry, Jeff. Anyhow I redrew and revised the original design last year and finished adding the color and tweaking it up this very morning, so here it is to send out 2009 with a bang! Much more to come in 2010 so... Stay tuned for MORE WHETHER YA LIKE IT OR YA DON'T LIKE IT, YA BETTER LEARN TO LOVE IT ACTION!