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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:28:48 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
The audio is ALL fucked up and I can barely hear what's going on as we start out and Larry Nelson's in the AWA studios, talking about how we're going to get to see Greg Gagne, Kevin Kelly, Tommy Rich and how Rich was part of the newcomer's block last week and how we're going to see an extra focus on those that are aligned with Paul E. Dangerously, including the ORIGINAL Midnight Express. Then I go deaf as the commercials come on at full volume and I had the dial cranked to hear the shitty audio of the AWA show. These are the pains I go through for you people.
Match One: Mike Tolos vs. Greg Gagne
From the same tapings as last episode's batch of matches so the ring is still effervescently white. Gagne starts out quick with a pair of armdrags and Tolos goes to the floor before coming back in to take ANOTHER armdrag into an armbar. Tolos gets to his feet and goes to the eyes before clamping on a hammerlock. Gagne gets a single-leg pick-up to get out of it and then cartwheels away from a Tolos monkey flip attempt before he NEARLY CRIPPLES HIMSELF ON A FLYING HEADSCISSORS. Sweet merciful crap, that was UGLY. He gets over on it but he was perilously close to ramming his head into the mat. Gagne hops around like his knee got tweaked but I think it's just covering for the blown spot. He hammers and chops Tolos against the ropes, ramming him into the turnbuckle before getting another single-leg takedown and locking in a stepover toehold. Gagne turns it into a leglock and cranks on it before Tolos goes to the eyes to break the hold. Irish whip into the corner by Tolos and he follows with an elbow. Tolos tries for a slam but Gagne gets a small package for two and then takes over with some shots and a BIG kneelift. Irish whip into a back bodydrop and it's GAGNE SLEEPER TIME BITCHES!! Tolos goes limper than I was after hearing about a Mini-Me porn and the referee calls for the bell!! Gagne continues to limp after the match but my kayfabe-sense is still tingling a little.
Winner: Greg Gagne (submission, Gagne sleeper)
Match Analysis: The usual Gagne vs. jobber match that was only made interesting by the near-crippling. I really think that he was just selling the knee to try to cover the botch, but I'll give him credit for at least doing that. A lot of the other guys that botch moves (and there are a LOT of them), don't even bother trying to make up for it. It doesn't make the match good, but at least Gagne showed a little pride in his work.
We head to the AWA studios and Larry Nelson's got Verne Gagne with him and Nelson asks about trends in wrestling and Gagne talks about how history is repeating itself and Verne talks about how he was a great wrestler and is a wrestler that's there to wrestle, not hype himself. Gagne says that when he was a big star, people were interested in seeing wrestlers wrestle and that he thinks that the same is true now. He says that people are starting to see through the hype of the other leagues and he actually mentions the WWF and NWA by name. He actually has the GALL to claim that you don't need a snake to win a match. If that's your idea of wrestling sir, then I don't think I'd like to watch it. Gagne tries to put over the AWA as the territory with real wrestlers and Larry Nelson blows it five seconds later by bringing up Nick Kiniski. Gagne says that Kiniski was in the WWF and that he came to the AWA to WRESTLE and then brings up Adrian Adonis and how he was sick of the hype and left New York. Yeah, I'm sure his being half a ton had nothing to do with that at all. Just because you tell people that they're over the hype, won't make it so. I'm just saying is all, Verne. The talk turns to Tommy Rich and The ORIGINAL Midnight Express and Verne continues to talk about how they WRESTLE in the AWA. WRESTLE, WRESTLE, WE WRESTLE!! ALWAYS WRESTLING!! Good lord, that really came off like pandering, bordering on begging.
Match Two: Rocky Stone vs. Kevin Kelly w/Madusa
Someone needs to take that crimping iron away from Madusa, STAT. Kelly is still doing his Mr. Magnificent gimmick and yeah, I'm not paying attention to anything else because Madusa is spanking her own ass. I'm done for the next little bit...I'm sorry, what? I have to really cover the match? I just want to..stare and...spank it honey. Oh FINE, I'll do the match now. Kelly hits the posedown routine and talks some shit to the front row, offering some of the rubes to come into the ring and get themselves a taste. By the by, Madusa looks like she needs a nose-job badly, like Jennifer Aniston before Friends. Kelly pushes Stone into a corner off of a lockup and gives him a clean break, taunting the crowd a little before getting a knee to the gut and some forearms to put Stone down. Kelly rams Stone into the top turnbuckle and then snap mares him over into a neck crank. He works on that for a little bit and then turns it into a reverse chinlock, taking Stone back down to the mat and turning it back into the neck crank. Back to the reverse chinlock as Kelly is pushing the limits of his moveset and he gets some forearms to the chest before continuing to crank on Rocky's head like it's a bottle cap. Stone looks like he's out and just before the match is called by the ref, Kelly goes back to the reverse chinlock. Stone goes to the eyes to get free and rams Kelly's head into the top turnbuckle but Kelly gets the knee to the gut again and Irish whips Stone in for a forearm/clothesline move before finishing him off with a not-very-snapped suplex. Kelly covers and gets the 1-2-3 as Verne does his best to put Kelly over on commentary, talking about how he thinks he sees a bit of a yellow streak in Kelly. Yeesh.
Winner: Kevin Kelly (pinfall, "snap" suplex)
Match Analysis: Ugh. When even jobber extraordinaire, Rocky Stone can't make you look good, there's no hope. Kelly was big and strong and had the body, but he just couldn't put it together in the ring in any credible way that would make you believe he could be a top star. At least Madusa was smoking in her leather miniskirt though.
Match Three: Art Washington vs. Tommy Rich
Washington starts out quick with a side headlock takeover, but Rich counters it into a headscissors straight away. It's kind of fun to wtach a Tommy Rich match without having to hear Lee Mullet talk shit about his weight. Verne on color commentary talks about how Rich drove Sherri Martel out of the AWA in a segment we'll get to in the comments section later on. Washington gets to the ropes to break the hold and they're back to their feet with Rich getting a drop toehold into a front facelock. Washington gets to his feet and pushes Rich into the corner, trying a cheap shot but Rich blocks it and lands a right hand of his own. Washington gets anotehr side headlock but Rich turns it into a belly to back suplex and gets a long two-count. Amateur wrestling takeover leads to another two-count and Rich holds the front facelock again, forcing Washington into the ropes for a break. Washington is PISSED, but ends up back on the mat after an armdrag takeover. Washington rolls right into the ropes though so Rich is forced to break the hold. They lace fingers but Rich breaks it quickly, hip tossing Washington over before backing away and grabbing a side headlock, cranking and grinding at Washington's ears. He transitions to a go-behind and tries for a roll-up but only gets two before going back to the front facelock. Again, this moveset is just...screaming depth. Washington breaks the front facelock with some shots to the gut and gets a kneelift before going to the eyes. He Irish whips Rich into the corner and charges in missing the SOFTEST TACKLE IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. Honest to crap, he skipped into the turnbuckle. There are no words really. Rich grabs him and rams him into the turnbuckle before Irish whipping him in for a reverse elbow. Rich tries another Irish whip but Washington reverses it with Rich just running past him and then hitting the ass-ugliest Thesz Press I've ever seen for the three-count. One of Rich's feet didn't even get off the ground, though it was just as much Washington's fault it looked like. Just hideous. It looks even worse on the replay.
Winner: Tommy Rich (pinfall, "Thesz Press")
Match Analysis: Is there something in the air at this TV taping? Botches are EVERYWHERE and none of the contracted talent looks any good in their squashes. Horrible match, in every sense of the word.
Larry Nelson is back with us, talking about the AWA's trip to the Montana State Fair and then he tells all the other State Fair's to forget about all the glitzy, glittery wrestling leagues and book the AWA for their wrestling action. Honestly Larry, I don't think you have much to worry about because outside of their noted "Tent Tour", I don't think that the WWF would touch State Fairs with a fifty-foot pole. That lucrative market is ALL YOURS BABY~! He thanks the people that helped everyone put the Montana shows on and here comes Curt Hennig!!! Hennig says that he's so proud of himself because he did what Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and Andre The Giant couldn't do. He defeated Nick Bockwinkel and became the World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion. Hennig says from coast-to-coast he is the only wrestling champion that matters before he does a little plugging to try to get people out to the house shows. I'm guessing this must have been around when attendance started to nose-dive after the SuperClash II debacle.
Match Four: Chris Curtis vs. Steve Olsonoski
Oh joy. They lock up and immediately Trongard makes fun of Curtis for having a farmer's tan sunburn. Not on both arms mind you, just on the one. That makes it classier you know. It's going to be distracting me for the entire match now that he mentioned it. They break when they hit the ropes and then lock up again with Olsonoski getting a takedown into a hammerlock ON THE BURNT ARM!! What an asshole. He transitions to a front facelock but Curtis makes the ropes to break the hold. Curtis goes to a standing arm-wringer and Olsonoski rolls out of it into a hip toss before they do a stand-off. Curtis calls for the test of strength but Steve O turns it into a headlock, getting shot off into the ropes and both men do some rope-running. Olsonoski gets a hip toss at the end of it and a drop toehold before picking Curtis up and chopping him back down. Backbreaker scores for Olsonoski and he moves to a top wristlock on the mat, holding it until Curtis hits the ropes for the break. Curtis pushes Olsonoski into the corner after Steve O gets a go-behind and rams his ass into Olsonoski's gut a couple of times as Verne keeps trying to put over the technical wrestling, chastising the fans that shout "Boring" for not knowing how great what they're seeing is. That's right, you don't need to listen to those paying customers, Verne. YOU'LL SHOW 'EM ALL!! TECHNICAL WRESTLING WILL REIGN SUPREME!! Right hands from Curtis and he chokes Olsonoski across the top rope before working him over in the corner. Irish whip in and Curtis gets a kick tot he gut before dropping a knee for a two-count. Curtis falls over trying for a snap mare and finally succeeds on it, moving to a reverse chinlock as Olsonoski tries to get the crowd behind him with some hand-clapping. Olsonoski gets to his feet and armdrags Curtis over before rolling out of the way of a couple elbowdrops. He gets up on the second rope and comes off with a double-axehandle before Irish whipping Curtis in for a BIG dropkick. Olsonoski tries for a vertical suplex and can't get Curtis up before he gets him over the second time around. Steve O nearly whiffs picking Curtis up off of an Irish whip before getting an airplane spin. He drops Curtis like a bad habit and then covers him for the 1-2-3!!
Winner: Steve Olsonoski (pinfall, airplane spin)
Match Analysis: This is seeming less like AWA Championship Wrestling and more like an episode of WWF Superstars, just with shittier wrestling. I just.....yeah, I don't even know what to say really. Steve O bores me to tears and the most entertaining part of this match was watching Curtis try to work around his sunburn.
Match Five: Jim Evans and Stony Burke vs. The ORIGINAL Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose) w/Paul E. Dangerously
Burke has a trucker hat with his name across the front, which moves him to the top of the redneck list, ahead of Chris Curtis and his one-armed farmer's sunburn. Paul E. still has that hideously fantastic suit on and does his usual introduction of the Midnight Express. The crowd gives them NO reaction whatsoever. Barely a peep, so I'm guessing they're still trying to get themselves over with the AWA crowd. Condrey and Burke are set to get things underway and Condrey gets a short kneelift into a front facelock takeover, trying for a pin before going back to the front facelock. Condrey gets up and just throws Burke out to the floor, with Rose helping him out to the concrete and then throwing him back into the ring. Tag to Rose and Condrey gets an Irish whip, Irish whipping Rose into Burke for a clothesline. Jumping kneedrop from Rose and he tags Condrey back in for a couple of puncehs to the ribs. Burke fires some forearms and grabs a side headlock, dragging Condrey into the corner to tag Evans and Condrey makes his own save, working over both jobbers before pushing a dropkick to the side and hitting a HARD snap-suplex. Tag to Rose and Rose gets a big bodyslam before going up to the second rope for a fistdrop. Irish whip from Rose and he gets a reverse elbow, tagging in Condrey for a DOUBLE-UNDERHOOK SUPLEX!! Dangerously talks some shit into the camera and in the middle of the ring, Condrey gets an abdominal stretch, turning it into a pinning combination that gets two. Condrey tags in Rose and he picks Evans up for another slam before hitting a VADER SPLASH!! Two-count but Rose picks him up before the three, tagging Condrey back in and he just bullies Evans to the mat, scrubbing his face against the canvas. Condrey gets a couple of two-counts after a three-quarter nelson and Condrey picks Evans up for a POWERSLAM. Burke comes into the ring and while the referee deals with him, the Express do some double-teaming, making an illegal switch with Rose hitting a suplex on Evans. Tag to Condrey and he hits a forearm before picking Evans up for a backbreaker, CRANKING on it even after he drops Evans onto his knee. Condrey goes to a roll-up but only gets two, and he tags in Rose for the Irish whip clothesline again. That gets another two-count but Rose was acting like it was supposed to be three. EVANS IS SHOOTIN', BROTHER!! Rose picks him up and slams him again, dropping a knee across the chest before tagging in Condrey. CONDREY WITH A BRAINBUSTER!!! GET 'IM A BODYBAG...YEAHHHHHH!! Suffice to say, it's all over. The replay shows that it was actually a fairly unprotected brainbuster so it could have done a little damage.
Winners: The ORIGINAL Midnight Express (pinfall, Condrey brainbuster)
Match Analysis: This was WAYYYY too long. Really, by at least five minutes, if not more. Granted the match was only seven minutes long or so, but they really could have accomplished the same thing in two minutes. My big pet peeve reared its ugly head again as they ran out of things to do so the Express repeated some of their spots over again later in the match. Possibly one of the worst main events that I've seen yet on these AWA shows.
After the match, Larry Nelson brings in Wahoo McDaniel and DJ Peterson, who looks nothing like a molester with that mustache and permed mullet, no sir he doesn't. Not in the least. Peterson talks about the competition in the AWA and and he says that they'll be putting 110% in the whole time. McDaniel talks about the Cubans at the Pan-Am Games before he turns his attention to the Russians. He says that you better be able to wrestle when you come to the AWA and that if you can't take care of yourself you're in trouble. Wahoo says that all the tough competition is coming to the AWA and that the competition is what makes wrestlers great. He guarantees that they'll be tag champs as Larry Nelson asks them about the Midnight Express. Peterson says that they're one of the best tag teams in the world and McDaniel talks about how they used to be the NWA tag champions, which shows how tough the competition is before he adds that they don't CARE how tough the competition is. Wahoo, I buy as a badass. Peterson, yeah...you know what? UH UH!
Back from the commercial and I guess that last squash was indeed the main event. Larry Nelson's in the studio, talking about the fan of the week and that he wants to send a "wuzzup" to Polish Joe. NINJA STAR WARS FTW~! Nelson runs down the action from today's show, and he calls Tommy Rich a force to be reckoned with in the AWA. He tells us all to come back next week and we're out!!
Final Thoughts
Bad. Worst show yet. Bad show make Randy cry. Comments now.
Fun With Comments
From Norm: "While it is true Verne was very protective of Kayfabe and kept Bischoff largely in the dark, Larry Nelson was "smartened up" very early on by AWA promoter Wally Karbo. Wally taught him how to speak carny, about the various wrestling holds, the anatomy of matches, etc. So Larry did have a lot of insight into the operations of the AWA.
I read Bischoff's book and actually was hoping to read about his time in the AWA because he was there during the infamous Team Challenge Series and pink room of doom era. Unfortunately, he glossed over his AWA experience and focused mainly on his stupid Ninja Star Wars business and his time in the WCW and WWE. Man, he went on and on for pages about that Ninja Star Wars...
Larry Nelson, on the other hand, imparts lots of good AWA behind-the-scenes history and *NOT* just gossip. He was very deep in a lot of the things going on. Unfortunately, Larry was gone by the time TCS and the pink room rolled around. "
I'll have to give it a look sometime and see how it is. Bischoff's book is another one I haven't had a chance to pick up, but it sounds interesting, even minus the AWA stuff. Thanks for the insight.
From HMFiles: "Technically speaking, Steve O was not a jobber as described here (or at least not always a jobber.) He did have significant success in Georgia in the early 80s and Pacific Northwest after that. That being said, however, he was anything but significant in 1987. If someone asked me about Steve Olsonoski at that time, my deeply educated response would have been ".... Who?" "
Yeah, technically he wasn't a jobber, but when you're more known in the territory as a referee instead of talent, that says something. I just never got Steve O, but then again, I hated bland babyface champion Rick Martel too. Just too one dimensional for my liking really.
Here's some things on the hot topic of Nick Bockinwkel. Firstly, from Sprite: "Yeah, BotchWinkel was gold, but never the man Flair was, sorry PMullian1987, I calls them like I sees them. The big fish in the small pond gets only small fish to eat on. The AWA was like a turd pool during this time, so shit was all he got, blame Gagne for that. Flair worked more dates, more promotions, and was the BETTER performer in the ring. Botchwinkel carried the AWA to ruins, while Flair carried the NWA to the promise land. Compare Starcade to Wrestle(inset a,ny AWA crap here), case closed. I will give Botch credit though, he carried the torch for a dimmly lit company for a long time. In the end, Botch got what he deserved, a fanless end to a fanless career. "
Next up, from Bockwinkel (not the real one..I think): "The NWA only lasted a bit longer than the AWA, you realise that. All the territories were murdered by McMahon"
Nextly, from PMullin1987: "Also Sprite, in order to burst your stupid little bubble, in 1979 Bockwinkel was offered the NWA championship. He defended the AWA title quite regularly in NWA strongholds Georgia, the Mid-Atlantic, and Texas. Fritz Von Erich and Paul Boesch were his biggest supporters and he won the NWA vote of confidence to be given the belt. However Bockwinkel declined it, saying that he preffered the lighter travel schedule of the AWA. Flair was second choice to the one and only Nick Bockwinkel, idiot. "
Finally, from Guest. : "Why someone would come in and post hatred for a wrestler retired twenty years now, I have no clue. Sprite, you're entitled to your opinion, if that is your opinion. But for my money, Bockwinkle (and really... Botchwinkle? I can't remember Bockwinkle ever botching a move in his whole life, and if he did he was smooth enough to transition it into the match and make it look natural) was the best in the ring.
Anyways, I liked the main event tonight, even if it dragged at times. Blackwell was definitely past his prime, although the old too tired to stand on the apron so I'll just lean on the turnbuckle sell he did was done many years earlier. It could've been worse though.
Anyways, for those who were asking about Bock's last match, it wasn't the match vs. Zbyszko. From the site I quoted a couple weeks ago of territory stuff:
5/3/87 Denver Nick Bockwinkel beat Super Ninja COR
6/17/87 Green Bay Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Larry Zbyszko & Brian Knobbs
6/21/87 Rockford Curt Hennig & Larry Zbyszko beat Nick Bockwinkel & Greg Gagne DQ
7/11/87 Las Vegas Nick Bockwinkel beat Larry Zbyszko
7/12/87 Denver Nick Bockwinkel beat Larry Zbyszko
8/3/87 Minneapolis or 8/1 Nick Bockwinkel beat Curt Hennig DQ
Alright, first things first. Bockwinkel was one of the greatest professional wrestlers alive. Anyone who thinks otherwise is either biased or a fool. He was money on the microphone and possibly the most fluid wrestler ever to lace on boots. I second what Patrick said about Bock being offered the NWA Title and turning it down and if he had taken it then, I'm not sure if we would have seen Ric Flair get his shot at greatness because Bockwinkel would have taken that slot and done just as well with it in my opinion. As for Guest's statement, granted this wasn't Bockwinkel's FINAL match, but it was his last big match on television for the most part, and he was pretty much done soon after that, minus those couple of spot show matches. You could tell even as Bockwinkel left the ring that it was nearly the end as he kind of stood and waved and tried to drink in as much of the memory as he could. And thank you for the awesome images Guest. Always appreciated.
From Josh: "its amazing how Verne could go from Paul E Dangerously to Big K in the span of one year. Its like going from a prime rib steak to spam.
Ok enough with food analogies. A little fact: Nick Bockwinkel would be a announcer for a short time on the MSG network with Lord Alfred Hayes and Gorilla Monsoon. I dont know if it was a one time deal but i remember him announcing a Harts/Demolition(?) match and being pretty good. It was recently on WWE 24/7 "
Yes, Bockwinkel did some commentary work for the WWF as I remember him from a couple of the MSG house shows as well. I believe he did it for a few months and then ended up disappearing again. As for the Paul E. to Big K drop, that's an absolute CHASM in terms of talking ability. Two completely different universes.
From Barack and Roll Express: "Lance Allen vs. Mitch Snow=WORST EVER MATCH! They should make everyone in FCW watch this one. A textbook example of what NOT to do in a wrestling match. One botched spot after another and a crappy ending. No wonder AWA didn't last much past this era. Vince would have never let this one on TV.
Hey, wasn't this show taped? Why would they leave this match in? Surely Verne Gagne wasn't that dumb ... ?"
I agree. Possibly one of the best examples of two guys that had no business being on television, yet being there because of their look. Yes, this show was taped. No, I don't know why they would have kept it to show it. Yes, Verne Gagne was that dumb.
From Scrotum Pole: "I laughed myself into a fetal position when I heard Adonis weight(290's). Must have been from his drivers license. And I love me some Paul E. With that hairstyle and look he could have played Michael Keaton's stunt double in Mr. Mom. "
Yeah, Adonis would have been 290 if he cut off both of his legs and one of his arms. Maybe.
From Guet#9893: "Wow, a skinny Paul E with hair. That's got to be the most surprising thing on the whole show.
Oh on that first match, they screwed up the cross body block. How do you screw up a cross body block? "
Paul E. with hair is ALWAYS a trip. As for the cross bodyblock, I counter your question with another question. How do you screw up a Thesz Press?
From Guest. : "And just to add onto my post above, some more micro wrestlers for you, including a Curt Hennig you can use somewhere in here:
Kurt's Mirco Wrestlers "
Thanks again for the awesomeness Guest!
Finally, from greggagnesucks: "If any one is interested they are showing Wrestling Challenge from the beginning on WWE 24/7 Online. It's well worth the 4 bucks a month just to hear the exchange between Ernie Ladd,Johnny V & Gorilla Monsoon. Funny stuff. Plus they have an AWA section and well over 500 other matches.They even have Slick's "Jive Soul Bro" video and classic matches. Check it out "
Stay tuned greg, there is a plan in the works for me to begin doing some of the WWE 24/7 online content, including said Wrestling Challenge episodes. I just have to get some things to fall into place for me in terms of other work on other sites, but keep your eyes peeled for my takes on the 24/7 online catalog coming soon!
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:30:42 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Larry Nelson welcomes us to the show and talks about the HUGE international television spectacular that will be at the Showboat Pavilion in Las Vegas the next night, as well as plugging some house shows on the circuit. He talks us through the show, including saying that we'll get to see Nick Bockwinkel and Curt Hennig in an incident that still has Bockwinkel on the shelf and out of wrestling. He plays up the Hennig/Zbyszko conspiracy and then talks about the main event for the program. We'll see where this goes, but it already sounds LOADS better than last night's show.
Match One: Tom Stone and Mike Tolos vs. Wahoo McDaniel and DJ Peterson
Same set of TV tapings and the crowd actually comes alive a little bit for Peterson and Wahoo gets a big round of applause, one of the bigger I've heard in the past three days. Peterson and Stone start things out with Peterson pushing Stone into the ropes and giving him a clean break. Side headlock from Stone and Peterson shoots him into the ropes for a BIG powerslam. They run the ropes with Stone trying for a bodyslam, with Peterson going behind and reversing it into a roll-up attempt. Stone holds onto the ropes but Peterson catches him turning around with a monkey flip that sends him flying. Stone falls backwards into his corner and makes the tag to Tolos. Side headlock from Peterson and he gets shot into the ropes, with Stone catching him with a cheap shot knee from the outside. Tolos tags in Stone and he gets a couple of right hands before trying an Irish whip into a back bodydrop but Peterson gets a sunset flip for a two-count before Tolos breaks it up. Peterson tags in Wahoo and it's time for some CHOPS!! Tolos tries to rake the eyes but Wahoo gets one of his own before picking Tolos up for a big bodyslam. He picks Tolos up for another big chop and pushes him into the corner to tag in Peterson. Peterson takes Tolos across with a HUGE hip toss and then takes him over with a side headlock, tagging Wahoo back in again. For some odd reason, Tolos continues to work on Peterson, pushing him into the corner for a couple of shoulderblocks before going out to the apron. Wahoo just grabs him by the tights and rips him back over the top rope into the ring, hitting a couple of tomahawk chops, throwing one for Stone on the apron. Wahoo gets the Irish whip into the BIG chop and tags in Peterson who hits a nice snap-suplex before getting up to the second rope for his "TNT" shoulderblock. He tags in Wahoo for one more NASTY chop and Wahoo gets the cover for the 1-2-3 as Peterson dropkicks Stone out through the ropes to the floor.
Winners: Wahoo McDaniel and DJ Peterson (pinfall, Wahoo chop)
Match Analysis: Eh. It seems like the McDaniel/Peterson team came about because neither one of them had anything better to do, and as such they didn't bring a ton of fire with them into matches like this. It was a solid opening match, but certainly not the big deal that the AWA was hyping McDaniel and Peterson into. Color me underwhelmed.
Back from the break, Larry Nelson is EXCITED, hyping up THE event in professional wrestling, Curt Hennig defending the AWA Championship against Greg Gagne. He brings in Gagne who says that he's never been this excited for a wrestling match in his career. Gagne talks the same things that Curt Hennig did in the last episode, saying that Hogan and Andre couldn't beat Bockwinkel but Hennig did. Gagne says he's gotten more phone calls from friends and family and everyone else voicing their concerns and he knows it's going to be a....tough....match....CURT HENNIG IS HERE!!! He tells "Greg" that he's always moaning and groaning about championship matches and that it's the first and ONLY match he's going to have because he's SICK of the Gagne family. Hennig runs down Verne, calling him a phony and Hennig says that he's a REAL World's Champion before Gagne SLAPS HIM IN THE FACE!! Hennig calls him a "no-good son of a bitch" about five times and goes ballistic, storming off camera. This should be a very interesting main event.
Match Two: Lance Allen vs. Kevin Kelly w/ Madusa
Oh good Christ, if it wasn't for Madusa, I believe we'd have the first ever match in this show that I would fast forward through. Allen flexes at Kelly and Kelly flexes at Allen, with that being the first tip-off that this is going to be a total spotfest. My predicition, Kelly wins after hitting a triple-jump, hurrancanrana, moonsault twister press. Kelly tries to offer up a handshake and KNEES him in the gut before flinging him out to the floor. Nope, didn't see that one coming at all. Kelly hits a couple of forearm shots to put Allen back down to the floor and he does some more posing as well. Kelly follows Allen out to the floor and rams his head into the apron before making his way back into the ring. Allen gets up to the apron and gets a shoulderblock to the gut to get back into the ring, trying to pick Kelly up for an inverted atomic drop but fucking that up too. Kelly gets a couple of right hands before he puts Allen down with a reverse elbow off of an Irish whip. Standing arm-wringer from Kelly now, into a straight ARMbar and he forces Allen down to his knees. Back to the standing arm-wringer and Kelly takes him back over into the armBAR again. Allen tries to play fired-up babyface but gets shoved into the corner. Irish whip from Kelly and Allen reverses it, following up with some weak forearm shots before he hip tosses Kelly out of the corner. Kelly cuts that shit off with some punches before Kelly Irish whips him in for a forearm/clothesline. Kelly cinches him up for the "snap" suplex and gets the pinfall for the three-count.
Winner: Kevin Kelly (pinfall, "snap" suplex)
Match Analysis: Yeah, this wasn't as bad as Allen's last match, but that's mainly because Kelly kept it simple and controlled the match with VERY basic offense. This was just here for Kelly to get another squash and show off his muscles and it did both jobs.
We're back after seeing about five "Three Hours of Power" commercials for ESPN Classic's new block of shows featuring the AWA. I wonder if this is like an ECW on TNN situation where the only ads that the AWA gets are during their own show. Anyhow, we see Scott LeDoux jumping rope in his training facility while Donna talks about how it's been over a year that LeDoux has been out with an injury at the hands of Larry Zbyszko. She asks Scott to refresh people's memories of the incident. LeDoux talks about how a in a match against Zbyszko, Zbyszko came off the top with a kneedrop, breaking his arm. We see the scar from the surgery and he talks about how long his road to recovery has been. LeDoux promises that he's going to get revenge and says that Zbyszko wanted him out of the way because he knows that he can't beat Scott LeDoux. He runs down all the names in boxing that couldn't put him out of the sport and he promises that Zbyszko won't be the one to end it. The more I look at this "training center" the more it looks like Scott LeDoux's garage. LeDoux makes a few more random threats and then waffles a heavy bag with Zbyszko's picture taped onto it. I will note that it's a cool touch that he has pictures of Zbyszko hanging on his garage door though, seemingly to motivate and remind him of what he's working so hard to recover for. A nice little callback and one of those kinds of things that the AWA would tend to forget on occasion.
Match Three: Greg Gagne vs. Larry Zbyszko
Hmmm...same TV taping and Gagne's knee looks fine, so methinks that yesterday's knee injury was total kayfabe. Gagne comes out a house of fire off the bell, chasing Zbyszko around the ring until he bails out to the floor. Zbyszko slowly makes his way back into the ring, pushing Gagne into the corner off of a lockup and Gagne threatens him with a right hand. Zbyszko backs off and complains to the referee about the closed fists, dragging this match to the usual Zbyszko pace. Zybszko gets a hammerlock off of another lockup and Gagne manages to reverse it, forcing Zbyszko to get the break by ducking out through the ropes. Zbyszko dawdles on the apron before he FINALLY gets back into the ring, grabbing a side headlock on Gagne. Gagne shoots him off into the ropes and Zbyszko gets a couple of shoulderblocks before Gagne leapfrogs over and hits a drop toehold into a leglock. Zbyszko does a little screaming and yelling before he grabs the bottom rope to break the hold. Zbyszko leans a leg outside the ropes to break the pace of the match and complain again to the referee about closed fists.
Gagne backs Zbyszko up against the ropes and they lockup again with Gagne blocking a right hand and landing one of his own to Zbyszko's schnozz. Zbyszko decides that that's enough action and takes a powder back to the apron, jawing with the front row before getting back into the ring. He takes Gagne down with a single-leg and actually starts working a leglock but Gagne drops his other leg right across Zbyszko's face, breaking the hold. More complaining to the referee from Zbyszko and we're five minutes in with about eight moves. That's actually a pretty good ratio for a Zbyszko match. They lockup with Gagne pushing Zbyszko into the ropes and while he tries for a clean break, Zbyszko trips him and shoves him down, triggering Gagne's temper. Zbyszko hops out to the apron again and is clearly trying to frustrate Gagne with his actions, with the strategy seeming to be working. Gagne gets an armdrag into an armbar and drags the sole of his boot across Zbyszko's head, drawing even more squalls from him.
Gagne clamps on a side headlock takeover and begins to work over that headlock, with Zbyszko trying to get free with a handful of hair. He gets to his feet and shoots Gagne off the ropes, taking a shoulderblock and another before he gets a hip toss on Gagne. Gagne kicks him away and gets the side headlock takeover again but Zbyszko transitions that to a headscissor reversal almost immediately. Gagne works out of the headscissors and moves himself right back to the side headlock but Zbyszko gets a handful of hair to get Gagne back into the headscissors. Verne Gagne on color commentary continues to try to push the "America is sick of the hype and wants wrestling" nonsense as Greg does a beautiful headstand to get free of the headscissor hold and he clamps the headlock on again. Of course, Zbyszko goes right back to the hair and drags Gagne back into the headscissors, but it looked good for a moment I suppose.
Zbyszko gets a two-count off of the headscissors and while the match has slowed even further, I notice that Gagne has a sleeve on under his left kneepad so maybe there really was something to the knee injury deal. Gagne gets free with a handful of hair of his own and headbutts Zybszko, hitting a right hand into the side headlock but AGAIN, Zbyszko uses the hair to reverse to a headscissors. Gagne bridges to get back to a kneeling position and breaks free, cartwheeling around a Zbyszko monkey flip attempt and taking him over with a flying headscissors that looked a LOT less dangerous this time around. Single-leg takedown from Gagne into a hamstring pull and he starts kicking at Zbyszko's legs before dropping into an Indian deathlock. Gagne wrenches away at the deathlock and Zbyszko goes to the hair to break the hold, forcing Gagne into the ropes as Gagne grabs a front facelock. Spinning back kick to the body lands for Zbyszko in the corner and he takes Gagne down with knees and punches before dropping some knees onto the back. Backbreaker now from Zbyszko and he gets a two-count as the pace has FINALLY started to pick up in this match.
Irish whip from Zbyszko now and he gets the abdominal stretch locked in, grabbing the trunks when the referee isn't looking. Gagne finally manages to get free, breaking the hold with a hip toss, but Zbyszko is right back on him, looking for a vertical suplex. Gagne blocks it and reverses it into a small package that gets a two-count but Zbyszko is back onto his feet, hitting a BIG belly to back suplex for a long, long two-count. Irish whip in from Zbyszko and Gagne holds onto the ropes, causing Zbyszko to miss a dropkick and crack the back of his head on the mat. Gagne tries for a slam but loses it and Zbyszko ends up on top for another two-count before they get back to their feet and end up doing a double-KO spot off of the ropes. Referee Gary DeRusha is counting, all the way up to seven before Zbyszko gets abck to his feet. Kick-away from Gagne puts Zbyszko right back down to his back and he follows that up with a right hand and a chop before ramming Zbyszko's head into the mat. Gagne is BORE-ING UP!!! HE'S KICKIN' MAD!! He kicks Zbyszko in the corner before Irish whipping him in for a HUUUUGE back bodydrop. DROPKICK FROM GAGNE AND ANOTHER!! Zbyszko's out through the ropes to the floor. Gagne rams Zbyszko's head into the apron and slams him onto the concrete floor before ramming him into the apron again as the referee's count hits ten. Gagne and Zbyszko do a little more brawling on the outside before Zbyszko takes a walk as the crowd doesn't seem too happy with that outcome.
Winner: None (double count-out)
Match Analysis: A VERY slow-paced match, and a really old-school contest where the action didn't pick up until about fifteen minutes in. The problem with that being that in the old-school matches, they'd get half an hour or forty minutes, while this one only got seventeen so we got fifteen minutes of restholds and weardowns and two minutes of real action. Again, Gagne needs to be carried to have hot matches, and Zbyszko is usually a heat magnet, but for some reason this one fell flat. I'm sure they've had better matches, but for some reason this one just didn't seem to click. Both guys did their indvidual parts well, but as a whole, there was something missing.
After the match, Zbyszko gets back on the apron and teases getting back into the ring with Gagne wanting the referee to restart the match but eventually he drops down to the floor. Zbyszko makes Gagne chase him around the ringside area for a little bit and talks a little shit from the opposite side of the ring before Greg Gagne heads to the back.
After a commercial, we're back in the AWA studios with Larry Nelson running down the day's action, talking about how Bockwinkel was hurt after Zbyszko hit him with the nunchucks, despite the fact that we didn't get to see that segment. He pimps the Showboat show and the house shows again before getting to the Fan of the Week. He has an Irish fan of the week and has trouble pronouncing the name McEvoy. Have another drink Larry, it's been a hard eight minutes of work for you today. They continue to run the "Polish Joe" gag and Nelson thanks us for watching and we're done!!
Final Thoughts
Well, this wasn't as bad as last night's show, but it wasn't very good either. There were only three matches and none of them were worth any mention. It sucks that there wasn't even anything that was FUNNY bad during the show, so it all just ended up being kind of pointless. Let's get to the comments, folks, I have a barbecue to tend to.
Fun With Comments
From Nick: "I work until 10 pm and I gotta tell ya, I love drinking a beer and a shot of whiskey and watching this after work every night. I really hope they keep playing them in order. Even the brutally awful matches are wonderful to me for their nostalgia value ( mind you im drinking while watching ) I agree with you that that was easily the worst main event they've played so far, but for my money the best main event I've seen so far was Wahoo vs Manny the bull. They actually looked like they were beating the crap out of each other. I missed the Nick Bockwinkle farewell match ( working overtime) and I'm fairly pissed off about that. Also- my new favorite drinking game is taking a shot every time someone says what a great athlete Greg Gagne is. Even the heels go out of their way to point out that Greg Gagne is a real threat. God bless your nepotism Verne!! Great article, keep it up man! "
Thanks for the support and in terms of Gagne, he's not the worst, but he's definitely not one of the best. An even better drinking game for tonight's show would have been to drink every time Zbyszko hit the hairpull. You'd have been drunk in about four minutes.
From Joe K. : "Check out the pinstripe suit on Paul E. I'm surprised someone didn't pop out to call him a "faargen, corksucking icehole!"
And thanks for posting the Tommy Rich vid again. There's another gif someone need to get...the Larry Nelson high-five and crazy old pervert dance!"
If anyone EVER gets that one, I need to have it. Badly. I'm thinking of trying to make some requests in GIF threads to see if I can get them.
From PMullin1987: "Yeah, this is probably the worst show they've aired yet. When the high point of the show is Steve Olsonoski's match with a jobber and a botched(to a degree due to Evans not being protected) brainbuster Verne needs help.
I do however love the fact that Verne actually was willing to go on the air with his "the name on the marquee is wrestling," speech. Marty Jannetty used to repeat it but would change the word wrestle with fuck and have the boys rolling in tears.
We have to take this as a semi-positive though, because quite frankly it can't get any worse than it did with this show. Tomorrow has to be a step up. Maybe we'll get a Hennig or Zbyszko match?"
I remember hearing the story about that Jannetty speech and would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that one. As to your last comment, we got a Zbyszko match, it just wasn't a good one.
From old awa fan: "It's sad to see Verne reduced to pushing "WRESTLING!!!" when the masses were desiring some sports entertainment mixed in with their wrestling. Verne just couldn't change with the times. Even his claims of wrestling ring false as he mostly had scrubs and jobbers working for him at this point. AWA, the dying years...
Anyone who ever wants to start or run a wrestling fed should watch the history of AWA to learn what Verne did right and what he did wrong. "
It was desperation time for Verne so he was just going to try anything to keep the business running. Everything he was saying was pretty much exactly counter to what the real sentiment was in the country, but he just kept saying it and saying it, hoping that eventually people would buy into it. They didn't though and you know how the story ends.
From Joe Bass Jr. : "As long as McMahon has the AWA library, we'll NEVER have a Nick Bockwinkel DVD set..Plus most of McMahon's main audience were born after 1994! "
I think that there would actually be a pretty strong chance for a Bockwinkel set. I wouldn't put money on it, but he's someone that everyone in the sport respects and was someone that was a standard-bearer for wrestling through the 70's and early-80's as arguably one of the top draws of that period. They're doing one for Hennig, so anything is possible, but the fact that he never really worked outside of the AWA makes it a little less likely. It's got less to do with Vince owning the library and more to do with Bockwinkel's lack of WWF time because Vince will put out anything if it's going to make him money.
From Josh : "God bless Paul E that man must have to be from the Madonna school of character reinvention to go from Michael Keaton's evil twin brother to Sonny Crockett (89 era NWA) to Patrick Bateman (watch American Psycho if you dont know what im talking about) to a scummy sports agent to well...being fired by vince mcmahon "
As much as Verne didn't know how to change with the times, Paul E. is the living embodiment of someone changing with the times and adapting as the buiness adapted to stay relevant. His career is a testament to his brains for the business as he knew exactly what to change and when to keep himself on top. It's fun to think about what might have happened if Verne had ever thought about giving the book to someone and Paul E. had still been with the company.
From Frozen: "I'm telling you, if Verne could have closed the deal on having his next pay-per-view held at the Idaho State Fair, he'd have turned the tide against the WWF. Alas.... "
Idaho was huge, but Wyoming. Now THERE was the lynch pin that could have sent Vince crumbling. Oh, what could have been.
From Scrotum Pole: "GET 'IM A BODYBAG...YEAHHHHHH!!
HAHAHAHA!!! Nice Karate Kid reference. I had such a crush on the young Elizabeth Shue(especially after Adventures in Babysitting).
Shitty show or not, your recaps add at least one star to every match.
Quick question. Why did the Midnight Express split? I remember watching NWA and it being Condrey/Eaton and then switched to Lane. Was it because Condrey wouldn't give up the pink doorag he wore around his neck? I mean that screamed SanFran GP parade. "
And an answer from greggagnesucks: "According to Dennis Coundry on the Midnight Express Shoot dvd ,he simply left to spend time with his woman (the bitch gave him an ultimatum-her or wrestling) He regrets he did what he did by not telling Bobby or Jim that he was leaving after a show and split. There was a lot of hatred between them for years. Over time they patched up their differences as witnessed by the shoot and the "Midnight Express Reunion" in ROH a few years back. It is interesting to see them cringe when asked about it on the shoot though.Eaton still gets irratated about the whole thing. Apparently they had a lot of shows booked and had to find someone right away,which they did by convincing Stan Lane to leave Steve Keirn and destroy "The Fabulous Ones" leading to sour grapes between SL & SK who were set to become AWA tag team champs.(not a bad move on Lane's part because this was the late 80's and AWA was doomed.) I guess it worked out for Keirn too,'cause he went to WWF and became Skinner and still works them training new stars in FCW. Lane had a brief run as an announcer but never as an in-ring talent(maybe due to Keirn?) on Superstars. It's amazing how Verne was so set on "wrestling" but had a douchbag like Houdini on every other show. Does anybody here know who this guy was? Was Mitch Snow repackaged by Vince as Mark Starr? I remember him having one match on All American and then disappearing. Take care guys! "
To address Pole first, I would have done unspeakably horrible things to the Adventures in Babysitting version of Elizabeth Shue, even with that hideous coat and scarf she wore in that damn movie. In terms of the Midnight Express split, that's one of those stories that not too many people actually know about so thanks for sharing it greg. Lane was an announcer on Superstars but also hosted some of the Canadian shows, a la Dok Hendrix, as I can still remember Lane pimping house shows all through the Canadian Prairies in my younger days. And just because I can and you all know you want to see it over and over again, I give you Mitch Snow vs. Lance Allen in all of it's HIDEOUS FUCKING GLORY!!
From Scrotum Pole: "Check out the pinstripe suit on Paul E. I'm surprised someone didn't pop out to call him a "faargen, corksucking icehole!"
"You faargen bastagee."! My mutha hit me once, ONCE! Johnny Dangerously reference. Nice! I'm so glad most who post on this column are adults and just post funny shit and intelligent questions and just enjoy the show without all the whining over ratings and who has what belt. Have a safe 4th of July. Late "
Indeed, outside of a couple of douche-filled comments in the early-going, I love that things are talked about and debated fairly rationally and that the comments section has regulars and newcomers alike that are willing to talk without getting into name-calling and petty crap that seems to pervade the comments section elsewhere in the wrestling zone. My cap is off to all of you and let's keep the intelligence level up!
From Rob: "The single worst Thesz Press EVAR. I never got why Tommy Rich was ever hired outside of the South. I never, ever bought him as a serious threat on any level, and he was even more unintelligible on the mic than a coked-up Ricky Morton.
I would suggest that the reason the Original Midnight Express got no reaction was because they weren't very good. At that point, Stan Lane had replaced Condrey and improved the Midnight Express tenfold. Teaming the Hedgehog with Randy Rose was a good idea in theory, but they couldn't touch Cornette's Express in the ring. Thus, I don't think anyone took them seriously.
Is Greg Gagne the worst example of nepotism in wrestling history? Erik Watts is the only name I can think of that was worse. Dustin Rhodes could really go in his prime, Bischoff's buddy DDP turned into a fine worker at one point, and even Shane McMahon was entertaining at times. Greg was just SO BORING on every level."
Yes, that Thesz Press was god-awful, in every sense of the word. I don't think he ever really got on anywhere else outside of the NWA for that very reason. He was just too Southern and not very good so he didn't get scooped up by Vince. The guys that didn't go to New York were either making too much money where they were or they weren't good enough and Tommy falls into that second category. I wouldn't call Gagne the worst case of wrestling nepotism because when he was tagging with Jim Brunzell they had a very good run. It was just a case where Greg was a terrible singles wrestler. At least Verne saw it and never put the title on him, because THEN it would have been the ultimate case of nepotism by a country mile.
Finally, from Brian: "I haven't commented in quite some time. Still read your articles, just haven't watched the shows. (They are just too pathetic at this point. Hang in there...it's your JOB!!!) Honestly, I wish I'd seen the final Nick Bockwinkel match though. I have SO many memories of not only his matches, but of his awesome interviews as well. Bockwinkel was SO good, even those who hated him would tune in to hear what he had to say. (Let alone to watch his mathes.) As a teenager, me and my buddies used to attend the AWA monthly card at the St. Paul Civic Center on a regular basis. I can't even begin to count how many times I saw Nick Bockwinkel 'rassle at live shows...
My favorite memory of him though is from a match in which he was the "special guest referee." The match was at a casino and well after the AWA had given up. Larry Zybysko was facing Tito Santana...Tito had Zybysko in a submission hold and Larry was screaming in agony...I hollered out "Finish him off Larry!!! You've got him right where you WANT him!!!!!" Nick Bockwinkel was shaking in laughter!!!!! If I live to be 150, I will always remember that. I got a hardcore man from the "kayfabe" age to giggle at one of my comments!!!!! THANK YOU Nick Bockwinkel!!!!! "
Yes, it's my job and believe me it's tempting to just bail sometimes, but my love for crappy wrestling and my dozens and dozens of fans push me to soldier on through the piles and piles of shit the AWA is seemingly prepared to heap on me.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:31:42 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling Larry Nelson is ringside at the Showboat with Herb Mills and they talk about the wrestling action we'll see today. I don't know who Herb Mills is, nor do I care, so I move on. Match One: Bryan Costello vs. Mitch Snow And this is what I get for being mean to Herb Mills. He must be Jesus' favorite singer or something. Snow gives a "Hang Loose" when he gets introduced, which makes me want to smack him. His nickname is "Jammin" which leads me to believe he's probably a bottom that's seen quite a bit of jamming in his day. Snow offers a handshake, Costello tells him to go fuck himself and they move on with Costello geting a side headlock on right out of the gate. Snow tries to power out but Costello grabs the hair to keep him locked into the hold. Snow finally shoots him off the ropes and they do a criss-cross with Snow doing shitty leapfrogs until he gets a reverse monkey flip that puts Costello onto his ass. Costello claims a pull of the tights and Snow would have to be a contortionist to have done that. Snow offers the handshake again and Costello tells him to go fuck his mother and we get another Snow shrug before he grabs a side headlock. Costello tries to get out with top wristlocks but Snow grabs the hair to avoid the reversals. They do the criss-cross again with Costello getting the leapfrog but when he tries for the reverse monkey flip, Snow just drops a fist between his eyes. Costello staggers into the corner and the pace slows down before they hit a lockup and Snow gets a side headlock takeover. Mike Tenay in the front row looks unimpressed. Snow cranks on the headlock and Costello gets a reversal into a two-count before getting to his feet, shooting Snow into the ropes. Shoulderblock from Snow and a hip toss follows, leading to a big bodyslam. Snow tries to go up to the second rope but Costello grabs him and hits a BELLY TO BACK SUPLEX!! GO BRYAN GO!! Costello drops an elbow and picks Snow up to punch him in the face. Costello with an Irish whip and Snow barely reverses it into a hideous knee to the gut. Right hands from Snow and he gets an Irish whip into a dropkick that he nearly whiffs on. Snow climbs to the top rope and backflips into the ring as Costello tries to shove him off and hits the JELLY DROP for the three-count. Winner: Mitch Snow (pinfall, Jelly Drop) Match Analysis: Snow sucks. The end. Match Two: Art Washington vs. Adrian Adonis w/ Paul E. Dangerously Paul E. makes the introduction, calling Adrian, "the late Liberace's favorite wrestler". Tremendous. Adonis doesn't even take the towel off of his neck to start wailing away on Washington, throwing him through the ropes to the floor and PAUL E HITS HIM WITH THE PHONE!! That was fantastic. Adonis slings Washington back into the ring over the top rope with his towel, hitting a kneelift before raking the back of Washington. He chokes Washington across the middle rope and follows that up with a running BUTT DROP onto Washington's throat. Adonis kicks him again and rakes his chest before stomping on him again. Adonis chokes away on Washington and then hits an elbow to the side of the head before locking in Goodnight Irene!! Washington's fading and he's DONE!! The bell rings and Adonis won't let go of the sleeper!! Dangerously is pleading with him and he FINALLY lets go, as Verne talks about how he doesn't want any children trying to use that sleeperhold and that it's a very dangerous move. Winner: Adrian Adonis (submission, Goodnight Irene) Match Analysis: Short and to the point. Adonis was trying to get over as a badass instead of a joke and it was fun to watch him go to work, even though this wasn't a very good match. Dangerously must have been on about a dozen pots of coffee a day here though. Larry Nelson's with Kevin Kelly and his manager, Madusa Miceli and Larry talks to Madusa first, and she has $10,000 dollars in the bag for the arm-wrestling challenge. Madusa is a pretty terrible talker at this point, though it's funny that Larry wants to talk about her clothes like a total queen. She smacks his hands away and says that her clothes were and are custom-designed just for her. Larry brings up Kelly's old manager, Sherri Martel, though not by name, and Kelly calls her old news before he wants to talk about Tommy Rich. He says that people are looking at the best conditioned athlete in the world and gets in a decent line about slapping the doctor and taking a cab to the gym the day he was born, but he has a VERY annoying voice, so it only partially works. He tells Nelson to do some pull-ups on his arm or to take a couple of laps around his back before giving a few flexes to end the interview. We come back from that break to see Nelson in the AWA studios looking rather crestfallen and speaking in hushed tones about the situation with Nick Bockwinkel. He talks about how Bockwinkel has been seriously injured and that no one knows when or if he'll be back. He talks about the match between Curt Hennig and Bockwinkel in Minneapolis and that once Larry Zbyszko came to ringside, things went downhill from there, promising us footage of how Bockwinkel sustained the injury before throwing us to the end of that match. Match Three: AWA World Heavyweight Championship Nick Bockwinkel vs. Curt Hennig (c) This is from the same batch of tapings the past couple of shows have been taken from, so I'm not sure why they haven't shown this one since it would be, you know, a GOOD match. I digress. We're joined in progress with Hennig holding Bockwinkel in a full nelson, realling cranking on it until Bockwinkel reverses it to one of his own. Hennig gets his feet on the top rope almost immediately and Bockwinkel breaks the hold, dropping him onto the mat on the back of his head. Hennig takes that as his cue to slip out under the bottom rope and he takes a breather on the floor, with the count getting all the way up to seven before he gets back into the ring. Lockup and Bockwinkel pushes Hennig into the corner with Hennig reversing and missing a right hand, punching the top turnbuckle and they separate and jaw a little. Bockwinkel pushes Hennig into the corner again, getting a couple of hard right hands to the gut before hip tossing Hennig out to the center of the ring. Hennig tries to take another break on the floor, but Bockwinkel ends up following him out, ramming his head into the apron before heading back into the ring. Bockwinkel's back out to the apron for a running kick and Hennig SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOWLY makes his way back into the ring again. He begs off a little bit and Bockwinkel plays along before taking Hennig down with a side headlock. They trade counters with Bockwinkel throwing headlock takeovers and Hennig getting headscissors, doing them in quick sequence until Hennig rolls out to the floor. Big pop from the crowd on that one and it was actually an exciting spot that someone should use today. Hennig's back into the ring, pushing Bockwinkel into the ropes off of a lockup and getting some hard right hands and chops before Irish whipping Bockwinkel into the corner. HARD uppercut from Hennig puts Bockwinkel to a knee and Hennig kicks him in the head to put him on the mat before he chokes a little with the sole of his boot. Shoulderblocks in the corner from Hennig now and he Irish whips Bockwinkel into the corner again but Bockwinkel reverses it sending Hennig HARD into the buckles. Irish whip into the ropes and Bockwinkel follows it up with a knee to the gut and he gets a quick two-count before Hennig takes over with some right hands, kicking Bockwinkel to the floor. Hennig drags Bockwinkel back up onto the apron and hits him with a big right hand, but Bockwinkel fires back with shots of his own, including a shoulderblock, and he gets back into the ring to get a bodyslam on Hennig for a one-count. Bockwinkel rams Hennig into the top turnbuckles a few times and Hennig is on Rubber-Legged Avenue. VICIOUS right hand from Bockwinkel gets him a two-count and he transitions to a headscissors, figure-fouring his legs around Hennig's head and neck. Referee Gary "White Shoes" DeRusha continues to check the hold and check on Hennig and Hennig is holding on, finally breaking free and dropping a knee onto Bockwinkel's knee. Bockwinkel moves out of the way of the second kneedrop though and starts following Hennig around, turning him upside down by kicking his legs out. Hennig staggers to the corner and eats more leg kicks until Bockwinkel drags him into the middle of the ring for the figure-four leglock. Hennig gets to the ropes though to break and after Bockwinkel drops his weight down onto Hennig's knee he locks it in again. Hennig breaks free and rolls to the floor, dragging Bockwinkel across the apron for some hard forearm shots. Rod Trongard does a great job calling back to their one-hour classic match, talking about how Hennig had Bockwinkel in the figure-four as time expired as Hennig continues to hammer away, getting up onto the apron to stomp on Bockwinkel a couple of times. Irish whip from Hennig and he punches Bockwinkel in the gut, picking him up off of that for a backbreaker that gets two. Hennig takes over, ramming Bockwinkel's head into the top turnbuckle five or six times before starting to work over the kidneys with double-axehandles. He kicks Bockwinkel in the back and then Irish whips him over into the corner, following in with right hands. Irish whip again and this time Bockwinkel reverses with Hennig taking a Bret Bump and eating a hip toss. Bockwinkel continues to press with right hands and Irish whips Hennig into the opposite corner, kicking him in the gut and whipping him into the ropes for a back bodydrop. Bockwinkel gets a long two-count off of that and picks Hennig up for a BIG bodyslam that gets another VERY, VERY, long two-count. Bockwinkel grabs a side-headlock, Hennig shoots him into the ropes and they do the double-KO spot in the middle of the ring. They both stagger to their feet with Hennig getting a right hand into a STANDING DROPKICK!! He heads up to the top rope and Bockwinkel catches him, popping him with a right hand and crotching Hennig on the top rope. Irish whip into the corner by Bockwinkel and he follows it up with a hip toss and a big bodyslam for another two-count. Bockwinkel picks him up and he LOCKS IN THE ORIENTAL SLEEPER!! Hennig low-bridges him into the top turnbuckle though and Bockwinkel Irish whips him into the ropes. Hennig ducks under a clothesline and HITS THE AXE!! Hennig picks him up for a right hand and then drops down to cover for a two-count. More right hands from Hennig and Hennig goes to the top rope again, but this time he moves out of the way of the dropkick, knocking down Gary DeRusha inadvertantly. DeRusha rolls to the floor and Bockwinkel has Hennig set up for a piledriver but HERE COMES LARRY ZBYSZKO!! ZBYSZKO TO THE BRAIN STEM WITH THE NUNCHUKS!!! Hennig positions Bockwinkel and ZBYSZKO GOES UP TO THE TOP ROPE AND SPIKES HIM DOWN WITH THE PILEDRIVER!!! Bockwinkel gets his hand raised as the bell rings, but the damage has already been done sadly. Winner: Nick Bockwinkel (disqualification, Zbyszko-ference) Match Analysis: A bit of a slower match than most of their usual work and there seemed to be some repeated spots, but it was still Hennig and Bockwinkel so how bad could it be? Hennig and Zbyszko got MOLTEN heat from the crowd for crippling Bockwinkel, it's just a shame that they didn't parlay that again. If they had pulled the same thing on someone from the current roster that would have been able to get their revenge on Hennig and Zbyszko, it could have been a VERY hot program on the top of the card. Another missed opportunity. After a commercial, Larry Nelson has Curt Hennig with him, in possibly the ugliest sportcoat I've ever seen. Hennig talks about last week's promo with Greg Gagne and how Gagne gave him the "Slap Heard 'Round The World". Hennig says that it doesn't make Gagne a big man, it makes him a coward. He says that NO ONE slaps a man of his dignity and wrestling pride and gets away with it. Hennig makes a dated Paul Molitor reference and says that Gagne's hitting streak is over too. He swears that Gagne's slapping days are over and his wrestling days will be over too. Hennig calls himself the original man of mayhem and that wherever he steps into the ring, mayhem will follow. He gives Nick Bockwinkel as an example of what happens when you step to the champ and then runs through the list of challengers, saying if they want mayhem, they came to the right place. Curt was a money talker, through and through. That's about all that needs to be said. Match Four: Nick Kiniski vs. Steve Olsonoski Ring Announcer Mick Karch calls Olsonoski "The Polish Prince" which makes me giggle endlessly. So they have Hennig/Bockwinkel and THIS is how they choose to end the show? Ugh. The bell rings and both guys do some jobber stretches before they hit a lockup. Olsonoski pushes him away and we get a CLIP into Kiniski grabbing a side headlock. THANK YOU JEEBUS!! Olsonoski tries to get out of the headlock with a top wristlock but Kiniski grabs the hair to take him down. Kiniski pushes Olsonoski into the corner and kicks him in the gut before grabbing a straight armbar into a rolling takedown. Headscissors from Kiniski gets a one-count and Mike Tenay is again not impressed. Olsonoski breaks free of the headscissors and gets to a side headlock with Kiniski shooting him off into the ropes. Steve O gets a shoulderblock and then hops over a bodyslam attempt, getting a rollup on Kiniski for a LONG two-count. Olsonoski gets the crowd clapping behind him and Kiniski takes a powder to the floor to think things over. Back into the ring and Olsonoski gets a side headlock out of a lockup, holding onto it tightly as Kiniski tries to shoot him into the ropes. Kiniski goes over the top rope to try to break the hold and Olsonoski commits blasphemy, stealing Bockwinkel's spot and pulling Kiniski back over the ropes before dropping him to the mat. Olsonoski gets all fired up and Kiniski begs off in the corner before Steve O offers up a handshake. Hammerlock now from Steve O and Kiniski reverses with a drop toehold but Olsonoski reverses that with another hammerlock, dropping a couple of knees onto the elbow. Kiniski gets to his feet and Olsonoski turns the hammerlock into a standing arm-wringer, taking Kiniski over with it but they break the hold and get back to their feet. Olsonoski tries for the Greco-Roman Knucklelock and gets it but Kiniski pushes himself off the rops to put Olsonoski down. Kiniski holds him down for a two-count and Olsonoski breaks free from the hold with a scissors that makes Verne make possibly the weirdest noise I've ever heard him make. It was like a whimper that got cut off because his voice cracked. Disturbing. Steve O gets an Irish whip into the corner and slowly follows it up with another standing arm-wringer but Kiniski reverses that into an Irish whip into the ropes. Knee to the gut from Kiniski and he follows that with a bodyslam and a legdrop for a two-count! Kneelift from Kiniski into another Irish whip and he gets a punch to the gut before trying to lock Olsonoski into a Boston crab. Steve O grabs the bottom rope to break the hold but gets Irish whipped across into the corner and Kiniski follows him with a big clothesline before snap maring him over. Reverse chinlock from Kiniski and the referee is checking if Steve O can continue or not. The crowd REALLY gets behind Steve-O but just as Steve O armdrags out of it, Kiniski locks it right back in, squashing the hope. Kiniski talks a little shit as he clamps on that chinlock and Steve O gets to his feet with the crowd behind him, getting a couple of elbows to the gut but Kiniski yanks the tights to get the chinlock back on. Kiniski picks him up for a slam but NO, HE DROPS STEVE O ACROSS THE TOP ROPE THROAT-FIRST!! Kiniski gets a couple of chops and punches to the throat before he locks that chinlock on again. Kiniski turns it into a choke and has to break it, with Steve O hitting some elbows to the stomach and a shoulderblock before getting a cross-bodyblock for a two-count. Kiniski ducks under a punch and takes Olsonoski down, dropping an elbow on him before choking him across the top rope. Flipping cradle from Kiniski gets two and he Irish whips Steve O into the corner but MISSES THE CHARGE!!! RIGHT HAND FROM STEVE O!! IRISH WHIP INTO A REVERSE ELBOW!! BIG BODYSLAM AND STEVE O IS UP TO THE SECOND ROPE!! HE WALKS THE ROPE ANNNDDD....misses the elbowdrop. Kiniski ties Steve O up in the ropes and works him over before trying to charge in but Olsonoski gets away from the ropes and Kiniski goes up and over. Kiniski gets back to the apron and SLINGSHOTS OLSONOSKI OVER THE TOP TO THE FLOOR!! Kiniski drops off the apron with an elbow and rams Olsonoski into the apron before he RAMS HIM INTO THE POST!! THERE'S THE BELL FOR THE DQ!!! Winner: Steve Olsonoski (disqualification, ringpost shot) Match Analysis: Kiniski is clinical, technical and boring as FUCK. Olsonoski is clinical, technical and slightly less boring. I'll say it again. They could have ended the show with the Bockwinkel/Hennig finish and the hot promo from Hennig but instead they busted out with this crap. Yuck. Final Thoughts Outside of Bockwinkel/Hennig, this was the very definition of a throwaway show. As I said before, there were opportunities for the AWA to turn things around but they couldn't see them. People hated Zbyszko and Hennig for putting Bockwinkel out of the sport, but they lost all the heat from that attack because there was no one to fight in the payoff. Booking 101 says that the heels need their comeuppance in the end, and there was no comeuppance for Hennig until Lawler and even then, it had nothing to do with the hot Bockwinkel angle. A real shame. Before I get too depressed, let's get to the comments. Fun With Comments From OB1Jabroni: "Greetings Harrison, missed the last couple shows, seems like a good thing however judging by the comment sections. This show blew again, the only good thing about it was the espn ticker at the bottom of the screen keeping my abreast of baseball scores. Happy 4th to ya and everyone reading " Actually, I was watching the Olympic Trials stuff and the hockey news myself, so agreed to the happiness that at least the ticker was there. From Dave: "Gee, Scott Ledoux was talking about a surprising incident? Wait, you mean the incident he was talking about wasn't that there was 15k people at an AWA event? To me that was the more surprising thing. Oh, as for Greg Gagne. For one thing he's wrong and Hogan actually did beat Bockwinkle.(But it's some screwy nonsense that we expect from the AWA with a win in a no DQ match not counting.) Anyway I know I run down the AWA alot but honestly Greg is not the worst case of nepotism I've ever seen in wrestling. That'd be Mike Von Erich. (Wow was small, couldn't talk, couldn't wrestle, didn't like wrestling yet was pushed as the re-incarnation of David Von Erich.) I'm thinking the only reason people don't run him down alot today is because he committed suicide. (Which alot of people think was because of being stuck in the wrestling business where he really didn't fit and apparently knew it.)" Yeah, Mike Von Erich had no business being in the ring, especially after he got fried by that infection that fucked up his brain. There was no reason for him to be in the ring and while he wasn't the worst case of nepotism to me (that will always be Erik Watts), it was obvious that he didn't need to be there. Good point about the LeDoux thing though, that was pretty damn funny. From Brian: "Randy, Thank you SO much for the you tube footage!!!!!!!!!! Nick Bockwinkel has to be among the most UNDER appreciated all time greats. Even his induction into the WWE hall of fame somehow didn't seem to do him justice. As for you...I think you ought to be an honorary member of Al Snow's "J-O-B squad" for having to watch and report on the recent BRUTAL cards on the AWA classic shows. (Heh...CLASSIC???) You are a true jobber and appreciated as such. I rank you right up there with some of my other favorite AWA jobbers, such as: Jake (The Milkman) Milliman Tom Stone George (Scrap Iron) Gadaski and my all time favorite... Kenny (Sod Buster) Jay!!! Keep doing the J-O-B!!!!!!!!! " Not a problem, Brian. Glad to help and that you were able to check out the match. I appreciate the sentiment when you added me to the "Squad", and I admit I am awed to be in company of such luminaries and legends like Gadaski and Jay, the Lawnmower Man. From Adam: "Let see...Zbyszko vs Stevens-Check...Zybszko vs Bockwinkel-check...Zybszko vs Gagne-check...alright done with the AWA; what's next? " The AWA death-rattle as far as I know. That should be a real treat. From Fepic Ail!: "According to my DirectTV scgedule, AWA is scheduled on Saturday with one episode at 1 PM, then some basketball games, then two more episodes from 6 - 8 pm, then boxing. Doesn't sound like much of a marathon." No, but I think they changed that after they've started pushing the AWA shows hard through the week. I checked out the first episode and it was a repeat from WAY back near the beginning in the 1986 shows, so we'll see what the other two are. Still hoping for a bonus review at some point. From KayFaber: "I think I was hypnotized by the jiggling of Scott LeDoux's man-boobs. Yep - Holmes, Spinks, Norton, they couldn't put him out of the sport. But they beat him like a red-headed stepchild. Even MIKE WEAVER. Anyway, I guess LeDoux's had a controversial run on the Minnesota State Boxing Commission, after being elected a county commissioner. What is it with Verne's wrestlers running for office? ("The Big K" ran unsuccessfully, and then there was that Jesse fellow.) "Saturday afternoon" episodes?? THANK YOU!!!! " I've heard and read bits and pieces about LeDoux's work in Minnesota, but don't know too much about it, so if anyone is in that area or has more info, feel free to pass it on. And, YOU'RE WELCOME!! Finally, from Scrotum Pole: "hat'd be Mike Von Erich. (Wow was small, couldn't talk, couldn't wrestle, didn't like wrestling yet was pushed as the re-incarnation of David Von Erich.Posted By: Dave (Guest) on July 04, 2008 at 03:44 PM The Von Erich's. I met Kevin Von Erich after a show in my high school gym when I was around 12. One of the nicest wrestlers I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, outside of Flair. Is it possible that WWE doesn't own all the World Class footage and ESPN still does? For a while in Tulsa some 10 years ago a basic local channel aired old World Class and Memphis wrestling, and an hour of something called Wildside or something to that effect which showcased a young AJ Styles. "Just an Idea": I'm not sure about the rest of the commenters but I have a plethera(yes Efi), a plethera of pics with wrestlers when I was a kid. So how about a AWA Classic fan/wrestler pic of the week. As bad as my haircut was in those days I would be glad to start us off. Just an idea. Late." That sounds like it would be fun, though a lot of the AWA days took place before quality cameras so we'd have to see who else could submit, but I think that you'd have dibs on the first few weeks all on your own.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:32:44 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
After a rowdy Fourth of July weekend (including no new shows on Saturday sadly), the MAJOR LEAGUE of professional wrestling is BACK!! No Larry Nelson, just straight to the ring!
Match One: Kevin Collins vs. Larry Zbyszko
Collins actually had a good look about him and could work a little. It's a shame he couldn't have put on a little more muscle mass or been a bit more talented a worker because he might have turned into something. Zbyszko gets a sign from a fan in the front row that reads "Larry Zbyszko is The Champ" and brings it into the ring to shove it in Larry Nelson's face. He talks a litle shit to the camera and we're underway! Well, as underway as you can be with a Zbyszko match. He gets a fireman's carry into a hammerlock and Collins pushes him back into the corner to break the hold. Go-behind from Zbyszko gets reversed by Collins and Zbyszko reverses that one into a roll-up that gets him two. He offers up a handshake to Collins and stops himselt a couple times as the crowd gets on him and they shake hands with Zbyszko KICKING HIM IN TH...oh...he just shook his hand. Wow, I did NOT see that one coming. Punch to the body and a snap mare from Zbyszko leads to a big bodyslam but Collins gets a BIG slam right back. Of course, Zbyszko claims a pull of the tights, but hey, it's Zbyszko. He needs to complain like plants need sunshine. Forearm to the back and another snap mare from Zbyszko gets a two-count and he gets a bodyslam for another two-count. Collins with a slam of his own and HE gets a two-count!! Zbyszko catches Collins in a small package as he tries for another slam and gets the three-count? Again, I did NOT see that one coming.
Winner: Larry Zbyszko (pinfall, small package)
Match Analysis: Too quick and too meaningless, but I guess it filled time. I'm not sure why they bothered even putting it on the show, but I guess it's Zbyszko acting like his usual heelish, asshole self, so it wasn't all bad. Just a bit sudden with the finish.
Larry Nelson's with Curt Hennig now, calling him a headliner anywhere in the world. Hennig says it's a pleasure to be on ESPN and he asks what could be better than seeing the AWA on the marquee and Hennig's name on the top of the page. Nelson answers Hennig's question with another question (I hate when people do that), and asks him about the Greg Gagne situation and the face-slapping. Hennig says that he never turned on Greg Gagne and that if people watch the tape, Gagne made a mistake in that match and Hennig corrected him and gave him what he had coming. Hennig says that someone slapping the World Heavyweight Champion on national television has a problem, promising that what Gagne gets in return will be a lot worse than a slap in the face. He wants to break legs and break noses and snap fingers because he's worked hard to become the World Champion. Hennig says he's still the nice guy he always was, but he'll break your legs in a second to win because he knows that's what it takes. He says that he's a Hennig, he's a winner and he's going to remain Heavyweight Champion of YOUR world. More money from Curt. Again, a shame that he and Zbyszko were so good at this time that they made all of the top faces look silly.
After another break, Larry Nelson comes back to pimp the main event and then wants to talk about the newcomers. We see highlights of JT Southern and DJ Peterson in the tag match I reviewed last week and then highlights of the Nick Kiniski/Steve O match from last show. Nelson says that Kiniski reminds him a lot of his dad, Gene before threatening that we're going to see Nick Kiniski wrestle again. He promises that we're going to talk to two amateur wrestlers next before we get another commercial.
Larry Nelson's got The Koslowski Brothers, Heckyl and Jeckyl and they talk about the Pan-Am Games and the World Championships and just meh. I don't care. These two have the charisma of a bowl of oatmeal and from the blank stare of the uglier one, the same IQ I'd guess. What the hell is going on with this show tonight?
Nearly a half-hour in and we've had three minutes or so of wrestling. Larry Nelson's back with us and talking about how there have been problems between DJ Peterson and Wahoo McDaniel vs. The Russians, Ustinov and Zhukov. It's time for a recap of this feud and how it's still escalating.
Match Two: AWA World Tag Team Championship DJ Peterson and Wahoo McDaniel vs. Soldat Ustinov and Boris Zhukov (c)
Joined in progress with Ustinov missing a big elbow off the ropes and Peterson gets a slam but misses an elbow of his own. Ustinov gets a HUGE bodyslam and tags in Zhukov, who charges right into an armdrag from Peterson. Armbar from Peterson and Zhukov pushes him into the corner for some forearms before he Irish whips him into the corner. Zhukov gets cross-bodyblocked charging in and there's a two-count before Ustinov comes in and makes the save. There are a LOT of empty seats at the Showboat for this one and The Russians take over with Zhukov making a tag and they hit a double-reverse elbow on Peterson. Big clubbing forearm to the back from Ustinov and he Irish whips Peterson in for a HUGE clothesline that gets a two-count. He rams Peterson into Zhukov's boot and makes a tag, leading to a double-Irish whip and a double-boot to the gut. Zhukov makes another quick tag and they get another double-Irish whip into a double-back bodydrop and Peterson tries to reverse it into a double-sunset flip but overshoots them and has to scoot back to grab them. The Russians both try to charge at Peterson and he drops down, letting them run into each other. Wahoo's in and both faces get back bodydrops before they send the Russians to the floor. Peterson makes the tag to Wahoo and he armdrags Zhukov down into an armbar move, stepping over it to increase the pressure. He rakes the sole of his boot over Zhukov's eyes a couple of times and they trades chops and forearms before Wahoo takes over and Irish whips him into the corner, following up with a BIG chop that puts Zhukov down for a two-count. Ustinov makes the save and Zhukov rolls out to the floor to stall again before getting back into the ring and making the tag to Ustinov. Ustinov gets a top wristlock and takes Wahoo to his back with a handful of tights and works the hold down on the mat. Wahoo gets a chop to break the hold but Ustinov just stomps on his head before locking in an armbar. Peterson rushes in and punches Ustinov but he won't let go of the hold, choking Wahoo before tagging in Zhukov. Zhukov works over McDaniel in the corner before luring in Peterson to let Ustinov take over with some choking as he wraps the tag rope around Wahoo's neck. Armbar from Zhukov now and there's a tag to Ustinov but Wahoo armdrags Zhukov over and makes a tag to Peterson!! Running clothesline to Ustinov! Right hands to Zhukov! Ustinov rammed into the top turnbuckle!! Irish whip into the corner and Peterson gets a big back bodydrop before he gets up on the second rope and hits his TNT shoulderblock!!! 1...2...NOOOOOO!! ZHUKOV'S GOT THE CHAIN!!! HE'S WHIPPING WAHOO!! HE'S WHIPPING PETERSON!!! WAHOO THROWS A CHAIR INTO THE RING!!
Winners: Wahoo McDaniel and DJ Peterson (disqualification, Zhukov's chain)
Match Analysis: Eh. It wasn't great or anything, but it was there. Peterson and Wahoo didn't really make a very good team to me because while the best teams usually had two opposites, there were at least a few things that were similar about them. This was just...bleah. Kind of slow, kind of plodding, no real excitement until Zhukov started whipping bitches with his chain.
After the match, Larry Nelson says that either Wahoo or DJ will get into a chain match with either of the Russians at any opportunity before promising six-man tag action when we get back!
No six-man match, we move right to the ladies instead.
Match Three: Peggy Lee Leather vs. Madusa Miceli w/Kevin Kelly
Peggy Lee has the mullet going, which is always an unfortunate look for a woman and Madusa seems a little less buxom than she does later on in her AWA stint. Madusa bails to the outside and stalls before finally getting into the ring and getting shoved to the mat with her back turned. Peggy mocks Madusa's prissy attitude before shoving her down to the mat off of a lockup and forearming her. Madusa heads over for a little strategy talk with Kelly on the outside and they lockup again with Madusa pushing Leather into the ropes. Madusa gets an Irish whip into the corner and comically misses a charge before Leather tries a cradle for a two-count. Front facelock from Leather now and she turns it into a standing arm-wringer. Madusa reverses to one of her own and drops Leather to her knees before kicking her in the gut. Madusa gets some forearms to the back of the head before she slings Leather back into the ring off of the ropes. The camera misses something as Leather knocks Madusa down and takes over with a camel clutch variation, letting it go to just stand on the back of Madusa's head. Leather grabs Madusa by the hair and bounces her face off of the canvas before she kicks Madusa in the ass. Madusa is in full comedic over-sell mode here with her eyes bugging out of her head before she runs around the ring and jumps into the arms of Kelly on the floor. Leather wants the Greco-Roman knucklelock and gets it, with Madusa kicking her in the gut to break it before she takes over with right hands and stomps. Kneelift from Madusa that sends Leather flying but she fires right back, kicking Madusa right in the stomach. Forearm to the face from Leather gets a two-count and Madusa just flings her through the ropes to the floor. She follows her out and rams Leather's head into the apron and AGAIN!! Leather gets a shot to the gut and SLAMS MADUSA ON THE FLOOR!!! She rolls Madusa back into the ring and picks her up for another big slam! They struggle against the ropes and Madusa gets a vertical suplex that nearly drops Leather on her head. It looked like they were tring to set up for Kelly to interfere but they couldn't figure it out. Madusa gets the pinfall off of the suplex anyhow though. Ugly, UGLY finish.
Winner: Madusa Miceli (pinfall, suplex)
Match Analysis: Yeah, Madusa was pretty terrible at this point. I like that she went the comedy route, which was the only way she was going to be able to hang with Peggy Lee, who was already a very adequate worker. It still didn't make this very good, but at least it made it entertaining when Madusa would oversell and look like even a kick in the pants was killing her.
Match Four: AWA World Heavyweight Championship DJ Peterson vs. Curt Hennig (c)
This could either be decent or terrible, depending on if Peterson just lets Hennig do most of or all of the work. They circle and lockup with Peterson shoving Hennig off it into the corner. They repeat the same sequence and Hennig gets a hip toss off the third lockup as they start out slow and steady. Another lockup and Hennig gets the hip toss again, sending Peterson to kneel in the corner to recoup. Side headlock from Hennig now and Peterson shoots him into the ropes with Hennig getting a shoulderblock before taking a HUGE hip toss from Peterson. BIG dropkick and a nice armdrag takeover and Hennig rolls himself out to the floor with the crowd really behind DJ already. Hennig makes his way back into the ring and gets himself into the side headlock again but Peterson reverses it to a top wristlock. Down goes Hennig and Peterson moves to a straight armbar, moving Curt to the middle of the ring. Hennig shoots Peterson off and eats a shoulderblock but gets a good drop toehold, though Peterson reverses a front facelock to one of his own, forcing Hennig into the corner to break.
A lockup into a side headlock from Peterson now and Hennig goes to the hair before shooting Peterson off into the ropes. Peterson avoids a drop toehold and gets an armdrag, moving from the arm to a reverse chinlock. He picks Hennig up and gives him a bell-ringer before getting a small package for two. Side headlock takeover by Peterson gets another two-count and Hennig finally gets to his feet, pushing Peterson into the corner and taking over with a shot to the eyes. Hennig rams Peterson into the top turnbuckle and chops the piss out of him, ducking away from a wild swing by the blinded Peterson. HARD Irish whip into the corner and Hennig gets a double-axehandle to the back as well, kicking away at the kidneys. Short forearm to the kidneys now and Hennig gets a somewhat ginger looking backbreaker before he gets Peterson hung up in the ropes and gives him some right hands. Peterson goes to the gut to try to break the momentum but Hennig takes him down into the modified Camel clutch again. More kicking from Hennig and a VICIOUS chop before he Irish whips him into the corner again. Peterson gets a double-kick but it only pushes Hennig away as he comes back with some stomps in the corner. Hennig sets him up and delivers a HUGE vertical suplex and Peterson crawls out to the apron.
Right hands from Hennig and Peterson crawls back into the ring and gets Irish whipped into the ropes for THE AX~! Hennig's up to the top rope and PETERSON CATCHES HIM!! RIGHT HAND AND HENNIG'S CROTCHED ON THE TOP!! Irish whip into the corner from Peterson and another right into a beautiful belly to belly suplex. 1...2...NOOOO!! Hennig JUST kicked out!! Even Verne thought that was three. Irish whip into the ropes and a reverse elbow from Peterson and here's the cover again...1....2.........KICKOUT BY HENNIG AGAIN!!. Mike Tenay at ringside looks rather entertained now that they're getting to the finish, smiling and counting along. Small package from Peterson gets another two-count. Irish whip from Peterson and Hennig holds onto the ropes and Peterson goes CRASHING to the mat!! Hennig whips Peterson into the corner and Peterson explodes out with a clothesline but Hennig ducks and Peterson WAFFLES referee Gary DeRusha. Hennig gets a big clothesline and stomps away at Peterson before he goes out to the crowd and WRESTLES one of the hard metal-framed chairs from a fan at ringside. I mean wrestled it and yanked it away. Hennig throws it into the ring, picks Peterson up and SLAMS HIM ON THE FRAME!!! This isn't a folding chair, this is a hard-framed chair!!! Hennig stomps away and HERE COMES WAHOO MCDANIEL!! HUGE CHOP FROM WAHOO and Hennig rolls out to the floor, grabbing his title belt and hitting the bricks. The referee FINALLY calls for the bell and CURT HENNIG'S THE WINNER!!!
Winner: Curt Hennig (disqualification, Wahoo-ference)
Match Analysis: Started out REALLY slow, but it REALLY picked up towards the end and the finish was rather hot. Peterson wasn't the best guy in the world but Hennig could make anyone look credible and did it here. The crowd was biting on the near-falls at the end and salivating for the title change and I don't think they would have if it had been anyone other than Hennig in there with him. A money promo early in the show and pulling a great match from a less-than-stellar worker in the main event. No wonder Hennig was the promotion's MVP in 1987.
Final Thoughts
This show was pretty terrible. The pacing was awful and the only thing that was worth it was the Hennig promo and the last three or four minutes of the main event. Five minutes of a 45-minute show does not a thumbs-up make. Zbyszko's match was too short to be good, the women were terrible and ALL of the boring talking in the beginning really got me out of the flow of things. They really need to look at editing these shows a little better to keep big chunks of talking like that from happening. Thumbs down and it's time to get to comments!
Fun With Comments
From nick: "there was a mini marathon of awa on espn classics today. they showed marty jaqnnetty and shawn micheals team up for the first time AND scott hall and curt hennig are your tag team champions!!! awesome stuff!!!"
If you'll check the archives of the AWA on ESPN reports, there are columns on all of those earlier shows. Be sure you to give them a look if you haven't yet!
From Brett Williams: "Interesting debate I'd like to start here:
who do you think was the move OVERRATED and OVERPUSHED worker? The two wrestlers we'll debate are Greg Gagne & Mike Graham. IMO, both had zero charisma and while talented in the ring work-wise didn't have the promos skills and/or drawing power in main event status."
From Scrotum Pole: "Hands down Brett Williams I have to go with Gagne. If I have to see him do another dropkick I believe I will make a trombone dart gun to shoot myself with. And his overall physique reminds me of Mr. Slim Goodbody. And on crowd reation I believe Gagne's biggest fans were the plants his dad gave free tix to. To be honest I'm not that familiar with Mike Graham so I'm sure an arguement could be made there. Great question.
Harrison: Headscissors from Kiniski gets a one-count and Mike Tenay is again not impressed. Nicely done!
On my idea for submitting pics: I really don't have that many from the AWA era except for Michael P.S. Hayes, Terry Gordy, and Nikita Koloff(not sure he was ever there though). I just figured the fans of your column could submit pics of wrestlers from the past just for a good laugh and I will be more than glad to start it off with my P.S. Hayes pic. It's pretty good quality but I will need to download to a computer to be sure. Late "
From (guest): ""who do you think was the move OVERRATED and OVERPUSHED worker?"
That would be George Gulas "
Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner in (guest). Gulas was horrible, and still got crammed down people's throats. It is a very interesting question though and I'll keep it open for debate from the rest of the readers.
From Josh: "Apu Nahasapeemapetalon plus Paul E Dangerously
God what a combo. "
From Mike: "The quote was not by Apu. It was by a convenient store clerk in the town where The Simpsons borrow The Flanders' summer home. Not all Indian convenience store clerks are Apu!"
I got my episodes mixed up between that one and the one where Apu had to naturalize to the US. I guessed wrong on that one. Oops.
From Tyler B: "First time reading your column. And it will not be my last. Just got my cable renewed. ZBYSZKO is a total HEEL in person too. I met him in Nashville and although he ran you down like a future opponent he would at least sign an auto or give you a picture. I mean he would find your flaw and just ride you on it. Of course I was a pudgy/huskey teen so he went straight to my size and asked me if I had ever been kicked out of an all you can eat buffet. What a dick. But I loved him for it. And on the pic idea from Scrotem Pole, I have some great ones from that era but have never downloaded them to a computer yet so will we see. Great Column!"
Zbyszko seems like he would be an ass to stay in character, but if you caught him dropping the kayfabe I bet he'd probably be fairly nice. Thanks for the support and I'll be looking forward to seeing you again soon!
From Rob: "Heels today should study Larry Zbyszko to learn how to truly be hated. The man had it down to a science. Yeah, the stalling makes you want to find the nearest shotgun and kill the man, but it obviously serves its purpose of riling up the crowd. His yells when he's getting beaten are classic, and even the timing of his moves are heelish in a way. I'd forgotten how good he was back in the day. That's the problem today - still way too many cool heels and not enough old school "let's jump the rail and get this guy" heels. "
I agree. There aren't any BAD heels left, they all have to get their catchphrases in or do their little smirking smart-assy heel promos. It's a real shame because like people always say, getting people to love you is easy, but getting them to hate you and REALLY mean it is the true challenge and the true mark of a pro.
From Dave: "Got to agree with you on at least one thing. Why when you have a good main event quality match wouldn't you have it as you know, the main event? Also Steve-O's moniker is "he's popular" ? I mean that sounds like something his mom says about. (Oh, he's a very popular boy.) There's that rule of thumb "If you have to tell people you're popular, you're not"
As for worse case of nepotism it's either going to be Watts or one of the Von Erich's. (I've already discussed Mike) You know, I really used to hate Greg but he won me over with that Crusher impression.(Yes, for once I'm actually serious. Greg got me laughing and I'm a sucker for comedy bits by wrestlers) After that I'll give him a bit of a break. "
I agree, that big with him doing the impression of The Crusher was awesome. To me, it doesn't make up for the years of terrible wrestling he imposed on the world, but it was still funny stuff.
Finally, from TJack: "This recent talk about Von Erich's and WCCW reminded me of something that nobody else has mentioned yet... It seems astonishing that WCCW still agreed to work with AWA for SuperClash III, even after Big Daddy Verne screwed them out of their ESPN deal. One of the AWA's "big secret announcements" in late 1987/early 1988 was extending their contract with ESPN and simultaneously getting ESPN to stop showing other wrestling leagues, including WCCW. Golly, that had to be a HUGE bitter pill for the Von Erich's to swallow in order to work professionally with the Gag-me's. It's like willingly dating your rapist."
That's...an interesting way to put things. I also noticed that there haven't been a lot of people that talked about that part of things. I'd think that there was a chance that the lines of communication had been open before 1988, but I'm guessing that it was just desperation that brought them all together. That's the sad fact of trying to stay in business against Vince's juggernaut.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:33:54 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Larry Nelson joins us and does his usual spiel, talking us through the show. I notice they did a lot of talking on these shows about what we had seen or would be seeing. I guess they figured they had to try lock in the viewers with the promise of something big. Kind of funny to see him struggle with whether or not they're going to the ring or a commercial. Again, the kind of stuff that shouldn't make it into a post-produced show.
Match One: Jim Evans vs. Nick Kiniski w/ Kevin Kelly and Madusa Miceli
Kiniski goes out to the floor to take his ring jacket off and as he does, Kevin Kelly and Madusa make their way down to ringside to be in his corner. He offers up a test of strength before hitting a lockup, pushing Evans into the corner and giving him a clean break. He gets a top wristlock and drops Evans to the mat with it before letting out a contented "whoo!". He picks Evans up and slams him, picking him up off the mat to try it again but Evans slips over the top and tries a roll-up off the ropes. Kiniski just grabs the top rope and Evans slams backwards onto the mat. Kiniski gets a backbreaker and a HARD forearm to the kidneys before Evans tries a comeback with punches to the gut. Kiniski just rams him into the top turnbuckle and gets a WICKED chop before flinging Evans out to the floor. Kelly on the outside picks him up to slam him but just throws him back into the ring instead. Kiniski locks him up for a vertical suplex that gets two but Kiniski picks him up before the three-count. Kiniski picks him up off the mat with a double-choke and then holds Evans' arms behind his back to let Madusa get a slap in. Kiniski hits a short clothesline and then picks Evans up and takes him over to the ropes, snapping his neck across the top rope. Irish whip in from Kiniski and he hits a reverse elbow as the crowd starts to turn on this one a little. Kiniski kicks him hard in the chest and then picks Evans up for a PILEDRIVER!! 1-2-3 and it's all over, folks!!
Winner: Nick Kiniski (pinfall, piledriver)
Match Analysis: Squash to get Kiniski over, though I don't think there was ANYTHING that they could have done to get him over. He was just a black hole of charisma and while technically sound in the ring, didn't do anything to make himself look any different from all the other Johnny Boots and Tights out there. He had the pedigree, he just wasn't any good.
We come back from commercial and Larry Nelson talks about Tommy Rich and his concern about the whole Nick Kiniski/Kevin Kelly connection before throwing it to comments from Rich. He laughs like he's coked off of his shit and then cuts his promo about how Rich almost ripped Madusa's dress off like he did with Sherri Martel. Rich talks about Nick "Kinitchki" and then goes on about how he's always there watching Kelly and Madusa's back. He talks about Sherri Martel's dress and how it's hanging in his closet. I've heard that lots of serial rapists tend to keep momentos like that. Cause when the Wildfire gets crazy, IT BE CRAZY TIME!! Rich threatens all three of them again and says it doesn't matter because he's on the rise again. He says that he beat Harley Race for the NWA Championship and that he doesn't care who he has to beat because he wants his shot at the AWA World Heavyweight Title. Rich continually calling him "Kinitchki" made me laugh.
We're back from the break and Larry Nelson brings up the passing of Scott "Hog" Irwin, and then throws it to Irwin's last match from WrestleRock '86.
Match Two: AWA World Tag Team Championship The Long Riders (Scott and Bill Irwin) vs. Curt Hennig and Scott Hall (c)
We get to see The Long Riders make their entrance on their motorcyles to the Metrodome before we clip to the match with Scott Hall riding Bill to the mat with an armbar. Hog threatens to come in and Hennig leans in to cut him off. Bill gets to his feet and Irish whips Hall into the ropes but he made a blind tag to Hennig and Irwin doesn't realize it until Hennig's walloping him with punches. Hennig hits a dropkick and knocks Bill down for a two-count but Irwin makes the ropes, as well as Hog coming in with a kick. Both men stand in the middle of the ring and trade right hands with Hennig coming out on top. He puts Irwin onto his back and gets a roll-up for a two-count before grabbing a side headlock. Irwin pushes Hennig into the corner and Irish whips him across hard, missing the charge and ramming face-first into the corner. They trade misses on elbowdrops and Hennig gets a side headlock takeover. Irwin grabs the tights to try to reverse and get the pin but the referee sees it and makes him break. Wild Bill gets back to his feet and shoots Hennig into the ropes and they do a fun spot where Hennig drops down right next to Irwin and eyeballs him out of the ring. The Irwins talk some strategy before Bill gets back into the ring and locks up with Hennig for a Greco-Roman knucklelock. They trade kicks to the gut and Hennig gets a monkey flip, rolling through with it into a two-count. Irwin gets a big knee to the gut off of a lock-up and he rams Hennig's face into the boot of Hog before making the tag. Hog comes in with some right hands and picks Hennig up for a BIG bodyslam. Hog taunts Scott Hall into the ring and then pushes Hennig into the corner, tagging Bill in again. Irish whip into a BIG clothesline from Bill Irwin and he tags Hog back in. Hog gets a double-chop to the throat and grabs a side headlock. Hennig inches over to the tag but Wild Bill comes in to distract the referee and the Long Riders work over Hennig in their corner as Hall gets put back out to the apron. The Irwins exchange again and Bill gets a big bodyslam before going up to the second rope and missing a splash. Hennig rolls and makes the tag to Hall and Hall slams Bill before punching on Hog and he rams their heads together. Irish whip on Bill by Hall and there's a tag and a BIG dropkick from Hennig. All four men are in the ring brawling and Hennig gets thrown over the top to the floor. Hall picks up Bill and slams him hard. Hog throws Hall to the outside and follows him out to beat on him as Hennig collects himself and heads up top. Hennig off the top with the FLYING DROPKICK!! There's the pinfall and it's over!!! Hog's got his motorcycle boot off and he WAFFLES Hall and Hennig with it before he helps Bill out of the ring.
Winners: Curt Hennig and Scott Hall (pinfall, Hennig top rope dropkick)
Match Analysis: A good match that mostly followed formula, but it worked with the hot crowd. A nice touch by the AWA to show Irwin's last match and probably one of the only matches I haven't seen from that WrestleRock '86 show, so it was good times. Not a match that would set the world on fire or revolutionize anything but a solid, old-school tag match.
Nelson comes back after the match and says a few words about Scott Irwin and it ends with them showing a picture of Scott Irwin as a ring announcer introduces him over the PA. A nice tribute from the AWA and I'm glad that I got to see it.
Back to the AWA studios and Larry Nelson talks about how dangerous battle royals are and how ambulances have to be standing by at the arena for how dangerous a match it is. We get to see highlights from a previous AWA battle royal, which looks to be from the Riviera in 1985. We've got guys like Larry Hennig, Larry Zbyszko, Nick Bockwinkel, Ray Stevens, Boris Zhukov, Sgt. Slaughter and Baron Von Raschke in there. Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy are in there too. We see various highlights of the action and it cuts to Steve O picking himself up off the floor. Jobber. We see Brad Rheingans get flung out by Bockwinkel and Stevens. Jobber. We cut to the end again with Sgt. Slaughter throwing both Hayes and Gordy over the top to win the whole she-bang. From there it's like the intermissions on the old WWF Royal Rumble pay-per-views as we get a ton of guys cutting ten-second promos about the battle royal. Kevin Kelly thinks that the match is right down his alley and he's the best. Larry Zbsyzko thinks that this is the only way he's ever going to get a title shot at Curt Hennig, while Greg Gagne talks about how he plans on being the last man in. Nick Kiniski promises that cream rises to the top and so does he, and we finish up with Paul E. Dangerously, he says that he's talking for Adorable Adrian and The Midnight Express and that it doesn't matter if he breaks the phone over someone's head to help his men win because he always has a spare. He cackles away and we move to ugly JT Southern talking about how him and DJ will be in the middle of the ring, counting the cash. Um, only one guy wins JT. He doesn't look like math is his strong suit anyhow. We close out Promopalooza with Curt Hennig, wearing sunglasses that look like he just came from hunting, saying that the most exciting thing in wrestling and the most dangerous thing in sports is the battle royal and that they're all battling to face him for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. Larry Nelson again puts over how dangerous the match is, calling it "deadly" though I think he's overstating things just a little.
We come back from commercial again to see the end of last episode's DJ Peterson/Curt Hennig match. We see the last few minutes of the match, including Hennig's attack with the chair and the post-match deal with Wahoo McDaniel. From there, we go back to Nelson in the studios and he talks about how Hennig held onto the title despite the controversial nature. Nelson says that it's not over between those two and that he thinks that Hennig knows it too before we hit another commercial.
Again, in the studios, we get Larry Nelson building up the main event between Boris Zhukov and Wahoo McDaniel and how they're going to be in a Russian Chain match. He brings in Zhukov and OH DEAR SWEET JESUS, Ustinov's hair is out of control. Someone get him some Soul Glo, STAT!! Zhukov talks about how he beat up that Pollock, Steve Olsonoski and says that he's not afraid of the chain match. He says it's like a strap match but that the chain is more dangerous because of the damage it can do. He says that if he gets through this one, he's going to get a title match with Curt Hennig. He talks about the way to win and calls Wahoo a "stupid Indian". Ah, sweet racism. I had almost forgotten that I was watching wrestling in the 80's because there hadn't been any racism. I know nothing makes me feel more comfortable than hearing it all again now twenty years later. I still marvel at how they got away with a lot of this stuff back in the day.
Match Three: Russian Chain match Boris Zhukov w/Soldat Ustinov vs. Wahoo McDaniel
Referee Gary DeRusha finally manages to get Wahoo hooked up to the chain but Zhukov begs off from it and heads to the outside before the match can start. Wahoo whips the chain at him and he goes back down to the floor before they finally get him connected and we're underway. Wahoo shortens the length and moves in closer, popping Zhukov with the chain a couple of times before they both go after each other's throats, choking each other with the chain. Right hand from Wahoo with the chain and they separate with Zhukov trying to whip Wahoo with the chain. Wahoo ducks away from it and gets a hard chop that puts Zhukov onto his ass. He moves in and chokes the piss out of Zhukov with the chain in the corner and Zhukov reverses it, beginning to choke Wahoo down. Zhukov whacks Wahoo with the chain and then starts whipping him on the back and stomach with it. He wraps the chain around his hand and levels Wahoo with it as McDaniel is bleeding badly. Zhukov chokes Wahoo to the mat with the chain and then stomps at the cut before trying to tie Wahoo's hands together with the chain. Wahoo kicks him off and takes a whip from the chain before chopping Zhukov down and whipping HIM with the chain. Right hand from Wahoo with the chain wrapped around his fist and they get the spot with Wahoo pulling Zhukov into the ringpost from the opposite side. Zhukov is busted open nwo too and Wahoo drops an elbow on him before picking him back up and Irish whipping him in for a big back bodydop. Wahoo whips him again with the chain before choking away at Zhukov with it, nearly putting him out. Zhukov headbutts Wahoo in the stomach and punches him with the chain again to send him out to the floor through the ropes. The crowd chants for Wahoo and Zhukov starts to celebrate but Wahoo yanks the chain again and clotheslines Zhukov across the top rope. Wahoo gets back into the ring and he ties Zhukov's hands together with the chain and starts to drag Zhukov over, touching the corners. There's one.....there's two....there's three...Wahoo stomps on Zhukov and Zhukov kicks him off, RIGHT INTO THE FOURTH CORNER!!
Winner: Wahoo McDaniel
Match Analysis: A good, short, bloody match that probably could have used ten more minutes or so. I know it's weird to say that with a Wahoo match, but he could still do brawls well. It was when he was expected to wrestle that the wheels would fall off a little. Fun to see and while they got in the same old spots, they managed to make it interesting still. Good main event for a change, which was good to see from a show that's been having problems lately.
The match is over but is appears the beating isn't because here comes Soldat Ustinov and he unchains Boris before trying to tie Wahoo up in the ropes with the chain. The Russians lay a good two-on-one beatdown on Wahoo with stomps and knees and punches and HERE COMES MITCH SNOW!! HERE COMES JT SOUTHERN, TOMMY RICH, STEVE O!! They force the Russians from the ring and save Wahoo from more of a beating as Wahoo is announced as the winner of the match! Thats it for our main event and that's it for the show!
Final Thoughts
Bleah. Again, pacing issues cripple this show as they have three matches and only two of them were from the current timeframe for the show. Granted, the one that they showed from the past was in tribute to the deceased Scott Irwin, but it was still a plodding show that didn't have much going for it. The matches were good but not great, and all of the promos and talking and recap stuff just killed the show for me. Thumbs down, nothing to see here, let's get to comments.
Fun With Comments
From Bryan: "Not having watched a whole lot of AWA before these reruns I have one question. Where was Sgt. Slaughter between Wrestlerock and the pre Superclash III Memphis tv tapings? I had always been under the assumption that he was in the AWA during this time, but it is obvious that he was not. Was he in Japan, Indy's or busy with G.I. Joe stuff? "
I believe that he was doing the G.I. Joe deal for the most part during that timeframe, though there's not a lot known about what he was up to. Most everyone can agree that it wasn't wrestling so it was probably just the stuff surrounding the show and action figures bit.
From Dave: "Oh so many things to comment about
So DJ Peterson had his back fixed by Dr. Zinn? That brings up an obvious question, why would you trust the sworn enemy of Johnny Quest to do anything?
Another thing, did they say Peggy Lee did aerobics? If that's true why is her butt so incredibly huge?
One last thing in the last match. Damn that ref sold that clothsline. I mean Curt couldn't have done a better job. (Really a good job, too bad he's better at making the moves look good than alot of the wrestlers were.) "
I have no idea about Peggy Lee and her aerobics but yes, her ass was HUGE. DeRusha was a great seller on his ref bumps as he made it look believable but not so over the top corny that you could tell he was faking and being a terrible actor.
From KayFaber: "I guess it was mildly interesting to see Larry Nelson try to get the amateur wrestler to bite on his bit about the eeeevill Eastern Bloc, Boris-and-Natasha judge who screwed him out of his medal, and the amateur just ignored it.
The recent shows seem to have a lot of promos on them. Am I right that the AWA originally ran in two hour slots, so these programs are all halved? I wonder what we're missing on the cutting room floor? "
I believe it alternated between two hour and one hour shows and I'm guessing that these are the two hour shows being cut down. On today's show it sounded like we missed seeing Tommy Rich in action and the ending of the Steve O/Soldat Ustinov match. There could have been more, but frankly neither segment we missed sounds terribly interesting. I think they're trying to edit the show to maintain some level of continuity, which could explain all the talking that's been on the past couple of episodes.
Finally, from OB1 Jabroni: "The Scott Hall shoot had a funny story of when Marty Janetty and DJ Peterson were staying at a hotel room and they booked it under Halls name, (since Peterson looked like Hall). They then proceeded to trash the room and left Hall with the bill. Long story short, Hall busted up Marty pretty good when he found out. He metioned his stay in AWA and is pretty interesting. Youtube has it if anyone is interested "
I have seen that interview and believe me, that story is a funny one. I've really gotten into shoot interviews lately and have seen some good ones from guys like Piper, Nash, Raven, HBK, Bret, and am in the middle of a Jerry Lawler shoot from 2001 now. I've always liked hearing those kinds of stories and find them entertaining. To me, one of the best segments of a shoot I've ever seen was the one with Honky Tonk Man and Raven where they debunked the millions of internet myths that have cropped up about the wrestling business. That was comedy gold.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:35:01 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
The usual open for the show and Larry talks us through last week's main event and wonders if things will ever be settled between Wahoo and Boris. That sounds like the pitch for a new sitcom on the CW. He also gets into the Fan of the Week contest and the winner from Indiana and I guess he's getting a Ninja Star Wars game and ugh, Donna's Report makes its return this week. Fantastic.
Match One: Tony Leone vs. Mitch Snow
We've got Rod Trongard and Larry Zbyszko on commentary this week, which should be a very interesting combination. Leone jumps Snow from behind with forearms before the bell rings and rams him into the top turnbuckle. He tries an Irish whip but Snow gets his backflip off of the top rope and takes over with a variety of armdrags, hiptosses and a big bodyslam before he dropkicks Leone out to the floor. Snow slingshots Leone off the apron and back into the ring over the top rope before getting a headlock takeover. Leone reverses to a two-count and then shoots Snow into the ropes but Snow takes him down with a shoulderblock and gets the side headlock takeover again. Leone rakes the eyes to break the hold and takes over with a couple of horrible right hands. Snow fires back with rights of his own and Irish whips Leone in for a back bodydrop and then whips him in for the JELLY DROP!!! Snow sets him up for a piledriver and HE POWER BOMBS LEONE FOR THE THREE-COUNT!! Trongard calls it a "different type of maneuver" and sounds like he had no clue what just happened.
Winner: Mitch Snow (pinfall, power bomb)
Match Analysis: And Mitch Snow is still horrible. At least it was short, but yeah, he's pretty bad all the way around.
Larry Nelson pimps an autograph session in Iowa before their house show there and rattles off a list of a few more cities before bringing in Larry Zbyszko, talking about the battle royal series. Zbyszko makes fun of the lakefront resort that is hosting the autograph session in Iowa, talking about how it must be full of spudheads with fishing hats on and beer coolers. Nelson rolls his eyes and corrects Zbyszko again while Zbyszko goes into talking about the Pope and that people don't like him because he has dignity. He brings up the past with Sammartino and Putski and then says he's trained for years to be able to take other human beings and throw them around like garbage. He accuses Stanley Blackburn of not living up to his word and then SCREAMS THAT HE WANTS THE HEAVYWEIGHT...CHAMPIONSHIP...OF THE WORLD!!
Back from the break and it's time for -shudder- Donna's Report. She talks about the quality wrestling and that the AWA is the more wrestling, less hype league. Apparently Donna hasn't watched the rest of these shows earlier in the week when it's half an hour of talking and ten minutes of wrestling. We get another AWA video about how the AWA is the wrestling league, with voice-overs from guys like Larry Nelson and Curt Hennig putting over the wrestling in the AWA. Highlights of the AWA in action now with guys like Nick Kiniski, Kevin Kelly, Curt Hennig, Greg Gagne, Mitch Snow, Wahoo McDaniel, Steve O, DJ Peterson and others. It's actually not a terrible video package, but it still seems like they're pandering and trying to tell the people what they want, rather than listening to what the people say they want.
Match Two: Nacho Barrera vs. Steve Olsonoski
NACHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!He attacks Steve O before the bell, going to the eyes and stomping him in the corner. Barrera with an Irish whip ino the opposite corner but he misses the charge and takes a couple of shots from Olsonoski before getting rammed into the top turnbuckle. Barrera begs off and tries to get out of the ring but Olsonski chokes him against the middle rope before armdragging him over into an armbar. Kneedrop to the arm and another gets him a one-count. Rolling hammerlock takeover from Steve O gets him a two-count and Barrera wants to try for a handshake now, though Olsonoski is leery. Olsonoski goes to shake and Barrera pops him one right in his Polish mush. He kicks at Steve O in the corner before picking him up for a big slam. Elbowdrop from Nacho gets a two-count and he grabs a side headlock but gets shot off into a criss-cross and it ends with Barrera getting a hip toss and Olsonoski kicking him away into a variation of a drop toehold that gets two. Seeing him working the armbar, Olsonoski looks a lot like a younger David Duchovny from the first couple of seasons of The X Files. Doesn't make him any better as a worker, but a fun fact nonetheless. Olsonoski picks him up for a BIG bodyslam and follows it up with an elbowdrop. He Irish whips Barrera in and gets a big dropkick, going up to the second rope for the ropewalk elbowdrop. There's the pinfall and there's the three-count!
Winner: Steve Olsonoski (pinfall, ropewalk elbowdrop)
Match Analysis: Nacho was way out of shape, Olsonoski was bland as usual, but it was oddly entertaining because I spent most of the match wondering how Nacho Libre would have been booked in the AWA. That made things much more enjoyable picturing him bouncing Steve O all over the ring.
Match Three: Rick Gantner vs. Tommy Rich
This should be fun since this is the first full-on babyface Rich match I've seen in forever (I'm not counting that abortion of a match with Valiant since he was heelish and it was terrible), so let's get to it. Rich chases Gantner around the ring and Gantner leans outside the ropes before locking up with Rich. Hammerlock by Rich but Gantner makes the ropes quickly to break the hold. Top wristlock now from Rich and Gantner makes the ropes, claiming a hairpull. He charges on Rich and eats a couple of armdrags and a big hip toss before Rich gets a judo chop. Irish whip into the corner from Rich and he snap mares Gantner out for a two-count, grabbing a reverse chinlock. Gantner gets a headbutt to the gut and a right hand, pushing Rich back into the corner for more right hands before he rakes Rich's eyes across the top rope. Irish whip from Gantner and Rich ducks under a clothesline, hitting a cross bodyblock for a two-count before getting back to the reverse chinlock. Gantner goes to the gut to break the hold and gets a double-axehandle before picking Rich up for a sidewalk slam. Gantner takes his sweet time getting up to the top rope and Rich catches him with a big bodyslam. HARD kneelift from Rich and he Irish whips Gantner in for the THESZ PRESS for the 1-2-3!!
Winner: Tommy Rich (pinfall, Thesz Press)
Match Analysis: Alright, I've seen it now and I'm not terribly impressed. That Thesz Press is still terrible and I don't know how Rich ever got it over as a finisher. If he had a decent finisher that made an impact it might have made this one a little better and could have put Tommy over as a bit more of a threat. As it is, the rest of his offense was a little bland and late-'70s/early-'80s style so I guess the finisher fits.
Larry Nelson says that he wants to talk about the AWA battle royal series, which will be street fight battle royals. In comes Paul E. Dangerously with a sign that reads "Paul E. for Rookie of the Year" and he hands it off to Nelson. Nelson holds it with a repulsed look on his face like he was being forced to hold a tit or something. What a Nancy-boy. Honestly, he's holding it like he's going to catch AIDS from it or something. You can always count on Larry Nelson for classic over-reaction. Paul E. shoos Nelson out of the interview area and takes over, plugging the house shows and acting like an ass before he addresses Tommy Rich. He says that Rich needs to stop saying that Paul E. is his manager and that they could have split amicably but now Tommy is living dangerously. Paul E. says that Rich has messed with the Dangerous Alliance and that he's making a big mistake. He questions whether ripping some broad's dress off makes him a man and then calls Larry Nelson a goof for high-fiving him. He does a pretty good Tommy Rich impression to mock his promos and threatens that Rich is the first on Adrian Adonis' hit list. He finishes off with more random threats on what was a VERY strong promo. God bless Heyman for being such a great talker and being distinctive and unique in that period of time.
Match Four: Mike Tolos vs. Adrian Adonis w/Paul E. Dangeroulsy
Zbyszko has a theory about Adonis and how his gameplan is to be aggressive and use his extra weight before he gets tired out. They hit the lockup and Adonis backs off to give him a clean break when they hit the ropes. Tolos pushes Adonis into the ropes off of a another lockup and does something that looks a lot like jiggling Adonis' man-titties. Another lockup and Adonis pushes Tolos into the ropes, taking over with a hard forearm and some chops before Irish whipping Tolos in for a big shoulderblock. Adonis chops Tolos down to the mat and then kicks him square in the face. He pitches Adonis through the ropes to the floor and DANGEROUSLY WHACKS HIM WITH THE PHONE!!! Adonis brings Tolos back into the ring and follows with some right hands before picking Tolos up with a hard bodyslam. Front facelock into a neckbreaker by Adonis and he gets a two-count in before picking Tolos up off the mat. He lays a little more of a beating on Tolos, raking his ails across his back before using the tag rope to choke Tolos a little. Adonis locks on the Goodnight Irene and Tolos is out cold. Adonis lets the hold go immediately and celebrates the win and as Paul E. distracts the referee he hits a BIG SPLASH!!! He slaps at Tolos to wake him up and the crowd boos Adonis pretty good for his post-match heelery.
Winner: Adrian Adonis (submission, Goodnight Irene sleeper)
Match Analysis: Still trying to get Adonis over as a badass, but I don't think it's going to work as long as he's wearing those pink tights with the fluffers glued onto them. He really needs to get away from that entirely and not have the pink tights if he wants to be taken seriously. With the regular robe, regular hair and the pink tights, he looks kind of foolish. Still a great worker, just hidden behind flab and the embarassing fallout of his run with the WWF.
After the break, Larry Nelson does a career retrospective on the current AWA World Heavyweight Champion, Curt Hennig. He talks about Hennig running through Portland after his first stint in the AWA and how it gave him confidence to come back to the AWA, becoming one half of the tag team champions with Scott Hall. They show highlights of his classic one-hour draw with Nick Bockwinkel and talk about how Hennig went to Japan for six weeks afterwards. Nelson talks about how Hennig's attitude changed and we see highlights from the return match with Bockwinkel that ended controversially with Henning pulling Bockwinkel over the top rope while Bockwinkel had the sleeper locked in. We move to SuperClash II and we all know how that ended, with close-ups of Hennig handing the roll of dimes off to Zbyszko after the match. From there we see highlights of Hennig's turn on Greg Gagne in a tag match in Minneapolis and highlights of Zbyszko and Hennig putting Bockwinkel out of wrestling. Nelson moves on to talking about the top challengers like Greg Gagne, Jerry Blackwell, DJ Peterson and Wahoo McDaniel and the segment ends a little abruptly.
Match Five: AWA World Heavyweight Championship Wahoo McDaniel vs. Curt Hennig (c)
Hennig circles and leans himself against the ropes in the corner to break and finally gets a lockup, getting shoved back into the corner and taken over with an armdrag by Wahoo before he ducks out to the floor.Wahoo threatens Hennig on the apron and he slowly makes his way back into the ring as Zbyszko on color commentary continues with his "no roll of dimes, conspiracy to keep me from getting my title shot" schtick which is always entertaining. Side headlock takeover by Wahoo and he gets a one-count, holding onto the headlock and cranking it a little before Hennig gets back to his feet and shoots Wahoo off the ropes, taking a shoulderblock and a HARD chop before he backs away to slow the pace down again. Hennig's out on the apron and Wahoo gets a smack on Hennig's back that gets his attention. Hennig's back into the ring with a go-behind and Wahoo breaks it by just elbowing him in the face. Side headlock from Wahoo and he lets it go as Hennig works him over with some right hands in the corner. Wahoo fires back with a chop and Hennig shoves Wahoo back into the corner and chops him, taking another HARDER chop from Wahoo and he slows the pace and backs off again.
Side headlock now from Hennig and Wahoo is looking to reverse it into a top wristlock and Wahoo pulls the hair to put Hennig down to the mat. The referee catches him and forces him to break the hold and Wahoo gets a go-behind into a takedown and Hennig backs away before grabbing a side headlock. Wahoo shoots Hennig into the ropes and nearly chops him OUT OF HIS BOOTS, sending Curt to the floor!! Hennig's getting razzed by the front row while he's on the concrete and he slooooooowly makes his way up the steps and back into the ring. Single-leg takedown by Hennig and he gets a hamstring pull into a spinning toehold and he's realy working it, spinning faster and faster. Hennig gets a two-count off of it before he turns it from a spinning toehold into a seated leglock. Wahoo pulls the hair to get out of it and they separate to their feet with both men threatening right hands. Hennig gets some short knees off of a lockup and Wahoo looks to be loading up a chop but Hennig backs away from it. They scuffle into the corner with Wahoo getting a Three Stooges nose-puller and Hennig doesn't like that at all, firing back with chops and right hands on Wahoo. They trade chops with Wahoo coming out on top, Irish whipping Hennig in for a HUGE chop that gets him a two-count and Hennig rolls out to the apron.
Tomahawks by Wahoo to Hennig on the apron and Hennig goes down to the floor, pulling something out of his trunks. Here comes Wahoo over and Hennig WAFFLES HIM WITH THE RIGHT HAND!! Wahoo is down in the middle of the ring and Hennig gets right hands again as Wahoo is cut open!! MORE RIGHT HANDS!!! Hennig makes the cover and he gets the pin on Wahoo for the 1-2-3!!! It's all over, holy crap!!
Winner: Curt Hennig (pinfall, handful of dimes)
Match Analysis: Hennig sells like a champ as usual, cheats to win with the roll of dimes and furthers the only real angle the AWA has at this point in time.
After the match, Wahoo is a bloody mess and here comes nearly all the faces out of the locker room to try to stop the bleeding from the cut and get him onto a stretcher. Larry Zbyszko is tremendous, saying that he doesn't like seeing people get carried out on stretchers but he LOVES justice and that if Wahoo had wrestled and showed some self-pride and dignity Hennig wouldn't have hurt him so bad. He says that he doesn't care who the world champion is, as long as it's him before he talks shit on Wahoo and his chops. The replay shows dimes flying all over the place after Hennig hit him with the dimes and the roll split open and that's the end of the show. Wait, I missed seeing where I send in my Fan of the Week card at the beginning!!! I thought I was going to get to see Larry Nelson again!! DAMMMIT!!
Final Thoughts
The pacing of the show was MUCH better this time with way less large breaks of talking and it was kind of cool to get to see the Hennig timeline piece. Donna's Report was ass as usual and did absolutely nothing other than pushing the tired "We Wrestle" garbage they were trying to cram down people's throats. A pretty good main event match though and it's definitely enough to save the show from thumbs down. Since all the rest of the matches were of the spaghetti squash variety though, I'd say it's thumbs in the middle for me.
Fun With Comments
From James: "So I take it that this Peggy Lee doesn't give anyone "Fever"?"
Scarlet fever maybe. Is that the one that comes with a rash?
From Brian: "Thumbs Down?
I must disagree. I actually enjoyed the chain match and the Wrestlerock '86 match is better than what could have gone in that spot. Two matches that arent squashes on one show gets the thumbs up from me.
Great reviews though, very well done. "
To me the wrestling was alright if not pretty good, but the pacing of the show was just terrible and it really got me out of it. I liked the tag match from WrestleRock and it was easily the best match on the show but again, when the best match of your show is from two years ago and only has one guy out of the four that's still in the promotion, that's not a good sign.
Finally, from Eric: "1987/88 was such a transitional year for the AWA. There were ta couple of things happening at this time: Verne was going out of his way to bring in well-known names to the area. At least ones who hadn't done much time in the promotion, i.e. Tommy Rich and Wahoo McDaniel. Adrian Adonis was an easy sign because after the WWF got done passing him off as a fat Adrian Street character, he was thankful for the television time. Unfortunately he'd ballooned up 150 pounds over his former wrestling weight (when he was teaming with Jesse Ventura as the "East/West Connection" - his normal working weight was around 250), and would have probably stayed with the AWA had he not died in the car crash in Canada a year or so later.
Kevin Kelly languished in the Missouri/Central States area. Nick Kiniski (tho you loathe him in the same vein as Brad Rheingans) had that pedigree of NWA World Champion Gene Kiniski. Kiniski also did a little time with World Class Championship wresting as a curtain jerker for the most part.
DJ (aka Dave) Peterson worked mainly in Missouri before dropping into the AWA. Like Jim Cornette before him, Paul Heyman started out as a photographer at house shows...and wound up in front of the camera. His spastic managerial style was fun for awhile.
The big problem that Gagne had was spending (in his eyes) a lot of money on outside talent while neglecting to bring up his own? The last one that was any good? Curt Hennig. Only when it became apparent that the AWA was losing everyone to the WWF did the Nasty Boys and the Destruction Crew come along. In time, they'd be gone too.
And you're right about the Riviera battle royal. It's from what was left of the Pro Wrestling USA run...when the Freebirds, Jimmy Garvin, Steve Regal, the Sarge, Zbyszko, etc. When Crockett dropped out of the PUSA promotion, Gagne still had a decent group of workers.
Otherwise, this seems to be another halved episode. There used to be more interview segments, promo-ing house shows, the stray taped house match...and lots of commercials.
I certainly could take or leave this episode. The Wahoo/Zhukov match wasn't bad. Zhukov was on his way out to (where else?) the WWF to team with Nikolai Volkoff soon anyway...so he definitely did the job.
And I'm out... "
Firstly, welcome back friend, long time no see! As to the information, I believe that Adonis was looking to make a comeback either in Japan or New York at the time of his accident, but that was just from what I've heard from various shoots and things, so I could be mistaken. The halved episodes are killing me lately because like I said, to keep continuity it seems as if they're showing more talking and angles rather than actual in-ring action. Again, thanks for the comments and info and don't be a stranger next time.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:36:17 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
The AWA is back and so am I! I still think that that Larry Nelson bit during the open is an actionable statement, especially with the nobodies that and lack of actual wrestling from the past couple of shows.
Match One: M.L. Williams vs. Buddy Landell
I won't even call Landell his nickname since I think that it's a disgrace to both Buddy Rogers and Ric Flair. They circle a little and Landell just kind of shoves Williams into the corner. Williams gets a go-behind and tries a roll-up but Landell reverses it and rides him a little before hitting a forearm to the back. Snap mare over from Landell and he goes to a reverse chinlock on Williams. Williams pushes Landell into the corner and gets a clean break of the hold leading to another locku..NO! Landell kicks him in the gut and fires him into the corner for a reverse elbow before going back to the chinlock. They get to their feet and Landell just flings him out through the ropes to the floor, stomping on Williams' hand as he tries to get up on the apron. Shoulderblock by Williams on the way back in and he gets all the way back into the ring with some right hands into an Irish whip into the corner. He catches Landell with a back bodydrop and tries another Irish whip into the ropes but Landell holds onto the ropes and Williams misses his dropkick attempt. BIG elbowsmash from Landell and he goes straight into the figure-four leglock and Williams gives it up!!
Winner: Buddy Landell (submission, figure-four leglock)
Match Analysis: Call me biased, but I can't stand Buddy Landell. This was bland and heatless and a terrible way to start the show for me.
Match Two: Tony Leone vs. Adrian Adonis w/Paul E. Dangerously
Dangerously always looks so proud of himself after he makes those introductions. You can barely see Adonis making his way to the ring because the area with the crowd is SO dark to try to cover up all the empty seats. He finally makes it into the light and gets a little razzing from the front row on his way into the ring. Leone makes some motions to Dangerously and turns his back on Adonis and Adonis attacks!! Forearm shots and chops lead to Adonis taking Leone over with a snap mare and a hip toss. Leone tries a top wristlock but Adonis just shoots him over as Dangerously gets on one of the commentary microphones and says that they're going to show why no one leaves the Dangerous Alliance without paying a price. Kneelift from Adonis pushes Leone into the ropes and he hits a DDT!! Adonis picks up the limp Leone and whips him into the ropes for a reverse elbow and he goes down again. Adonis picks Leone up for a suplex but drops him stomach-first ONTO THE TOP ROPE!! He gets the slingshot clothesline on Leone with his neck under the bottom rope and rakes Leone's eyes across the top rope. Fingernail rake from Adonis now and he gets a standing short-elbow to the top of the head before he locks in GOODNIGHT IRENE!! Leone is out cold and the referee is calling for the bell!!
Winner: Adrian Adonis (submission, Goodnight Irene sleeper)
Match Analysis: Squash, but it served the purpose as they're still trying to get Adonis over as a legit threat. Not to mention that it furthered the angle between Rich and The Dangerous Alliance, which isn't a terrible thing. The feud might not end up being any good, but A for effort in just trying to keep some coninuity going.
After the match, Adonis refuses to let go of the hold and HERE COME THE JOBBERS!! THERE GO THE JOBBERS!! Adonis elbows Mike Tolos down and throws Lance Allen out of the ring as HERE COMES TOMMY RICH!!! Adonis thinks better of it and takes a walk to the floor as Rich checks on Leone's condition. Adonis and Rich have a staredown on the floor as Dangerously tries to drag Adonis away from the situation. He finally does and Tommy Rich heads back to his locker room as Rod Trongard speculates on if we'll see Rich and Adonis locking it up in the future.
We're back with Larry Nelson in the AWA studios and he says that the AWA has just released the latest rankings for all divisions of the promotion. We look at the Top Five Ladies first and it breaks down like this;
5. The Killer Tomato 4. Susan Green 3. Despina Montages 2. Madusa Miceli 1. Candi Divine
He assumes that that will change as Miceli has just eliminated Divine from the women's title tournament. From there it's the tag team division. America, here is YOUR top six!!
6.The Nasty Boys 5. Kevin Kelly and Nick Kinitchki 4. Wahoo McDaniel and Tommy Rich 3. DJ Peterson and JT Southern 2. The ORIGINAL Midnight Express 1. Soldat Ustinov and Boris Zhukov (champions)
His little insights are hiliarous as he reads the listings off and he promises that we'll see the numbers two and three teams against each other in a grudge match to see which team gets to challenge the Russians for the championship. That should be terrible.
From there we "quickly" get to the Top Eleven in the men's rankings. I love how the AWA subtly tries to get itself over. We have SO MANY STARS, they can't possibly be contained in a measly top ten. TOP ELEVEN BABY~!
11. Kevin Kelly 10. Jerry Blackwell 9. Jerry Lawler 8. DJ Peterson 7. Larry Zbyszko 6. Tommy Rich 5. Nick Bockwinkel 4. Wahoo McDaniel 3. Adrian Adonis 2. Greg Gagne 1. Curt Hennig (champion)
What a load of HORSESHIT!! Adonis has squashed a bunch of nobodies and is at number three, Zbyszko will have a stroke when he finds out he's at seven. Of course, Greggy-Boy is in the number two slot. What a disaster. Thankfully the segment is over.
Match Three: AWA World Heavyweight Championship Mike Tolos vs. Curt Hennig
Some skank in the crowd is shrieking at Curt while waving an 8x10 of Wahoo McDaniel. I hate to tell you honey, but he's not going to autograph someone else's glossy so sit down and shut up. They lockup and Hennig gives Tolos a clean break off of the ropes. Another lockup into the corner and Hennig paintbrushes him this time. Go Curt!! Side headlock from Hennig and Tolos shoots him off into the ropes, taking a shoulderblock, getting leapfrogged and then nearly getting dropkicked out of his boots by Hennig. BIG hip toss out of the corner from Hennig and he follows it up with a big dropkick again. Irish whip from Hennig and Tolos reverses it and follows in with a reverse elbow. Another Irish whip into the corner by Tolos and he pops right out of it WITH THE AXE!!! PERFECT-PLEX!!! THREE-COUNT!! Hennig looks PISSED!!
Winner: Curt Hennig (pinfall, Perfect-plex)
Match Analysis: Pissed-off heel Hennig delivers an epic ass-kicking. I don't even think Tolos got a move in. Not to mention that I love getting to see the Perfect-plex anytime makes me a happy camper.
Match Four: Rick Gantner vs. Greg Gagne
Ring announcer Mick Karch calls Gagne "sensational" and I call him "a liar". They hit a lockup and Gantner gets a side headlock but Gagne goes to a top wristlock. Gantner gets a handful of hair to reverse the hold and Gagne reverses that into a hammerlock. Gantner complains about a hairpull but gets taken right over with an armdrag. Gagne chases Gantner around the ring and locks him up in the corner for a hip toss. Gagne gets a go-behind into a hammerlock but eats a reverse elbow from Gantner before he takes over with right hands and a choke in the corner. Irish whip into the corner from Gantner and he does the SLOWEST.....CHARGE....EVER...and eats a kick to the gut. Gagne rams Gantner into the top turnbuckles, taking him from corner to corner around the ring and Irish whipping him into the opposite corner, catching him coming out with a back bodydrop. Gagne hits a pair of dropkicks and Gantner goes down, allowing Gagne to pin him for the 1-2-3!!
Winner: Greg Gagne (pinfall, dropkick)
Match Analysis: Eh. The same match Gagne has with any jobber. The funny thing is that everyone gets on Bret Hart and John Cena for being guys that have limited movesets or "Five Moves of Doom", but Gagne was the same way. All of his jobber matches were total formula and he'd use the same moves in usually the same sequence with an Irish whip leading to a backdrop, leading to dropkicks and either a pinfall or the sleeper. Bleah. Not very entertaining to me.
Larry Nelson hypes the battle royal series after the match and brings in Mitch Snow for some words. He begs Snow to give us the thumbs and Snow gives us the "hang loose". Snow talks abou the big things happening in the AWA including the TV title tournament and he mentions that he's drawn Larry Zbyszko in the first round. Good luck there, Mitch. He moves on to talk about the battle royal series and how he can wear his cowboy boots and his spurs and pull them off to hit someone in the head. He leaves stage right and in from stage left comes Kevin Kelly, Nick Kinitchki and Madusa Miceli. Nelson acts like a letch around Madusa in her red leather outfit and then tries to get a few words with Kinitchki. He says that there are two reasons why they're going to win that battle royal, pointing to himself and Kelly and he says that they have the bodies, they have the babes and after the battle royals they'll have the bread too. Kelly agrees and says that the NFL has just went on strike and he shows all the letters that the NFL teams have sent to him begging him to join their teams. He runs down those teams and says that he and Slick Nick are coming to tear it apart in every town.
Match Five: The ORIGINAL Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose) vs. JT Southern and DJ Peterson
Paul E. rips the microphone from Larry Nelson and says that the three things you never do are that you don't fight city hall, you don't bite the hand that feeds and you don't mess with The Dangerous Alliance before he introduces his ORIGINAL Midnight Express. Dangerously mocks Tommy Rich and wonders where he is before Nelson can introduce their opponents. All four men threaten each other with their ring gear and this one must be a VERY serious match because Condrey has taken off his bandana dickie around his neck and tied it around his knee. Ugly JT and Condrey start things out and the crowd chants "Paul E. sucks" as they lockup and Condrey pushes Southern into the ropes. They lockup again and Condrey shoves Southern off a couple of times before pushing him back into the corner and getting a kneelift to the gut and another. Condrey mounts the ropes for some punches but Southern comes out of the corner with a reverse atomic drop. Regular atomic drop for Randy Rose and the Express slam into each other and decide to take a powder out to the floor. Condrey is almost all the way to the back as Randy Rose calls for a timeout. Dangerously's jacket is off and he's flung it to the floor after that last exchange.
Tag from Condrey to Rose as Southern works some right hands and I don't think Southern's noticed it. Knee to the gut from Condrey and here comes Rose with some right hands but Southern gets a side headlock takeover before tagging in Peterson. They lockup and Peterson gets a side headlock clamped on and Rose pushes him into the corner, tagging Condrey who takes over with a couple of punches to the stomach. Peterson goes right back to the side headlock on Condrey though, cranking at it until Condrey tries to reverse into a top wristlock. He can't get it reverses and tries to reach out for the tag but Peterson kicks Rose's hand away. Rose takes exception and gets into the ring but ends up getting caught and Peterson takes both men over with a headlock/headscissors combo. Hip tosses GALORE for the Express and they head back out to the floor to talk it over as Southern and Peterson exchange high-fives. Condrey does the old "line in the sand" bit in this corner and looks for a finger-lace before getting a side headlock on Peterson.
Tag to Rose and he gets some shots in before Peterson fires back and gets right back to the side headlock. Peterson gets shot off into the ropes but gets a BIG right hand on Rose that drives him off into the corner. Another side headlock from Peterson and Rose shoots him off again but this time Condrey eats the right hand and Rose ends up right back in the side headlock. They work the headscissors reversal spot a few times between Peterson and Rose and Rose makes it over to tag in Condrey. Condrey with a shot to the gut and he snap mares Peterson over before he misses a kneedrop. Tag to Southern now and they hit a double-reverse elbow before Southern goes to a reverse chinlock. Condrey pushes him into the ropes and buries a knee to the gut before punching him square in the face. Tag to Randy Rose and he whips Southern into the corner but misses the charge. Southern drops an elbow and gets a two-count before going back to the side headlock takeover.
Rose pushes Southern into the corner and drives his shoulder into Southern's stomach before chopping him hard. Big bodyslam from Rose and he's up on the second rop but he MISSES THE FISTDROP!! Tag to Peterson and he holds a full nelson as Southern kicks him in the stomach. Side headlock on Rose and he manages to tag in Condrey, who works an Irish whip into the ropes. Rose knees Peterson in the back from the outside and Condrey takes him down with a BIG clothesline. Double-chop to the throat from Condrey and he rakes his nails over Peterson's back. A big atomic drop from Condrey lands and he tags in Rose, who starts stomping away at the lower back of Peterson before grabbing a reverse chinlock. Peterson is close to being out but fights out of it and elbows Rose in the gut. He rushes of the ropes with a shoulderblock and tries it again but Rose takes him down with a VICIOUS clothesline. Rose cuts off Peterson and Irish whips him in before tagging Condrey in. Drop toehold from Rose and Condrey drops a big elbow before hitting a backbreaker.
Snap suplex from Condrey gets a long two-count and he goes back to the reverse chinlock. He works the chinlock a little more before dropping some right hands down on Peterson's head. Tag to Rose after he rams his head into Rose's knee and Rose keeps working over the back before punching away at Peterson in the corner. Peterson tries to fire back but gets cut off and there's a tag to Condrey. Irish whip in and Peterson ducks under a double-clothesline before he takes both men down with clotheslines of his own. HOT TAG TO SOUTHERN!! BODYSLAM ON ROSE!! RIGHT HANDS FOR CONDREY!! IRISH WHIP AND CONDREY EATS A CLOTHESLINE!! 1-2....NOOO!! Southern has the abdominal stretch locked in but the referee is trying to get Peterson out of the ring. ROSE HAS THE PHONE!! HE'S ON THE SECOND ROPE!! He WAFFFFLES THE FUCK out of Southern with the phone just as the referee turns around and he calls for the bell.
Winners: DJ Peterson and JT Southern (disqualification, phone shot from Rose)
Match Analysis: A pretty good and pretty hot formula tag match that I was hoping would actually get a finish. I figured it would be a phone job because they had to keep both teams strong, but after it being such a decent match, I was kind of hoping they'd avoid it. One of the better main events that they've had on lately, even if it wasn't anything that would set the world on fire.
After the match, DJ waggles the phone at Larry Nelson as he makes the announcement of the winners of the match before he tries to help his partner to the back. He is PISSED OFF!!
Larry Nelson welcomes us back to the studios now and he talks about all the excitement going on in the AWA with the Women's title tournament and Television tournament and gets into Kevin Kelly and Madusa Miceli. He talks about the return of the Mat Classic and I'm pissed that I didn't get to see that. He promises to hopefully see another Mat Classic next week. He talks about Wahoo being pissed off at Curt Hennig and that his reputation has been damaged by Curt Hennig, as well as his vision. He brings up the main event and the interference at the end of the match and how DJ Peterson and JT Southern are the number-one contenders. He moves to the Fan of the Week from Sweden and pimps where to send in your cards and letters before closing out the show.
Final Thoughts
A middle of the road show with a lot more wrestling than talking, which is good. The bad news is that a lot of the wrestling was just kind of there. Nothing major in terms of the squashes minus Hennig looking awesome, and the main event was good but not great. I liked that there was a lot less of the talking and that the show was paced a little better this time, but it's not enough to get it all the way to a thumbs up. Thumbs in the middle for me on this one, though again, the main event was a pretty good bout.
Fun With Comments
From Barack Says: "Col. DeBeers needs to work on his South African English. He sounds like he's from the South. "
I personally found it funny that the angrier he got, the more he lost his accent. It was the only thing that kind of humanized him and gave a little nudge and wink that it was a character. Otherwise he'd have pretty much been a monster and hideous human being. I mean I get that that was the point, but still. It just made me chuckle to hear him drop the accent from time to time.
From Guest. : "You know, haven't posted in a while, but its just so odd, the late 87 shows bored me to death, compared to the '88 shows, although those ones didn't have Steve O and Mitch Snow and Tommy Rich for the most part pushed. Tonight was the best show since Bockwinkle/Zbyszko, even with the three black holes of charisma, so I was interested in it. I loved how the dimes flew everywhere right after Hennig KTFO Wahoo, and how he was pretty much carrying the company at this point. "
That part with the dimes flying was awesome and I am planning on nominating Hennig for a Hidden Highlight this week because you could see him tearing the roll open with one hand before he waffled Wahoo with it to ensure that they'd fly everywhere. That was tremendous.
From elguapo1974: "I remember the "turkey hunt" match. It's probably the only match that Jake Milliman (yes, the Milkman) ever won on TV. DeBeers ended up in this position because Slaughter had gone to the WWF(E). I think it was the last match the AWA ever aired on ESPN before now. Vern was beyond broke by this time, hence the need for the "closed facility." "
I think everyone remembers that turkey hunt match, just because of the silliness of it, as well as the Milliman win. Call me a sucker but that closed facility gimmick was kind of cool. Sad, but still kind of cool too.
From Gary: "Eric is wrong,it was Kelly Kiniski(another son of Gene's)that was a jobber in World Class,not Nick. "
Eric will address the Kiniski situation later.
From Bryan: "Wow that was some kind of propaganda piece by Donna. The AWA was just sounding so pathetic in 1987 trying to push there "we wrestle" campaign. I will say that Mitch Snow was about the last person that I would think would break out the power bomb in 1987 in America.
The turkey hunt match was not the last AWA match on ESPN. It was not even the last match in the Team Challenge Series. After Millman won the turkey match, there was a little feud between him and DeBeers where DeBeers tried to get his revenge. The last match in the Team Challenge series was a battle royal from what I remember. By this time they were back into some small arena and not in the pink security room.
There is a clip on YouTube of a Harley Race vs Larry Zbyzsko title match which was from the final AWA tv show. "
That last AWA show was so damn sad. And yes, the last match in the Team Challenge Series was the battle royal that ended up determining the winning team.
From Adam: "UWF wrestling Sunday Morning!!!! Wait...what am I saying, has it come to this? "
I don't even know what that means, but if there's UWF wrestling on Sunday, I'll be watching it.
From Joe K. : "It was hilarious when they showed the replay of Hennig plowing Wahoo with the roll of dimes and Zbyszko exclaims "Wow, looks at the beads of sweat flying all over the place!" in reference to the dimes flying in the air. Tremendous!
And yeah, I marked out in hearing Paul E.'s dead on Wildfire impression. He's done that at conventions and once in a blue moon on ECW TV and it's always a laugh riot. YOU READY TO GET FARRRRRRRRED UP? WHEN IT'S CRAZY TIME, IT BE CRAZY TIME! HIGH FIVE, LARRY NELSON! HIGH FIVE! DO THAT CRAZY OL' PERVERT DANCE YOU DO! "
Wildfire will be a constant source of entertainment in this column until the very end. He was unintentionally hilarious. Zbyszko on commentary was gold and it sucked that they took away his edge on the WCW shows. He could have been as good or better than Heenan if they'd let him go full-on heel.
From KayFaber: "It was funny to see Donna say the AWA is all about "wrestling, not gimmicks," at the moment her video montage showed a fake Russian getting choked with a chain. "
That irony wasn't missed on me either. I guess she forgot to include gimmick matches and pretend foreigners.
From Rob: "Larry Zbyszko was pure GOLD on commentary during the title match. Talking about how Wahoo had to resort to low tactics like chopping a man in the throat and between the eyes. It was just beautiful. As was Larry talking about how Wahoo brought the stretcher job on himself by only doing "chop, elbow, kick, chop, elbow, kick", while Curt brought "the science" to the match. If he had called it "the game of human chess", it would have brought tears of joy to my eyes. If Hennig hadn't been so great and so hot as a heel, Larry would have been the perfect heel champion for the AWA in '87. "
Again, Zbyszko on commentary was awesome and he was the best color guy that the AWA could have had. They really should have had him do color and wrestle since he was that good at it while still being one of the top heels on the wrestling side.
From John Doe: "The Turkey on the Pole match was not even close to being the last match in the AWA. This match took place around late 1989 and the AWA continued on for about another year.
The Pink Studio thing came about because something happened and they weren't able to use their regular arena for their tv tapings. The kayfabe reason was that there was too much interference in the matches so the room with security guards would be more secure. "
Yeah, there was still a lot of disaster left in the AWA before it finally tapped out and called it quits.
Finally, from Eric: "Gary:
Both Kiniski brothers wrestled in World Class in the 80s, just in different time periods.
Nick rose to early fame with the old Southwest Championship Wrestling/Texas All-Star Wrestling promotion in the early 80s, where he generally played the face role. Amusingly enough, he tag teamed with Paul Diamond as the "American Breed". Neither one was American. Go figure.
Nick's brother, Kelly, never played a face role. Nick did until he moved to the AWA. He wound up in WCCW (after spending roughly a year with the AWA) where he ultimately retired. He career lasted roughly seven years. Wikipedia lists Kelly as briefly wrestling in the AWA in the 1984 timeframe but I don't recall him on any house shows in the Chicago area. Nick came in when the AWA was slowly declining, and never made it above mid-card with Kevin Kelly as a tag team partner.
His brother, Kelly, didn't fare much better. Low to mid-card all the way.
The Kiniski family had a pretty strong connection to Verne Gagne. Gene Kiniski was one of the first wrestlers to hold the belt (other than Gagne) in the AWA. He also worked with Dick the Bruiser in Indiana. So the whole family did quite a bit of time in the Midwest.
And I'm out... "
Thanks for all the information on Canada's number-two wrestling family behind the Harts ( I said behind the Harts, don't come shooting on me Bret!!), and thanks for the great post as usual Eric
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:37:19 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Larry Nelson gives us a big welcome and talks about the main event being a first-round bout in the Television Title tournament featuring Larry Zbyszko vs. Mitch Snow. He talks about the battle royal coming up at the Showboat with $1 Million up for grabs and then brings in Curt Hennig in a LEATHER FUCKING TUXEDO!!!! Now THAT is class people. He asks what he hit Wahoo McDaniel with in the main event and Hennig claims that he tore off a part of his fingernail and gave Wahoo a big right hand in return for all the cheating Wahoo had been doing. Nelson talks about how fans at ringside saw coins flying and had some in their hands after the bout and Hennig explains it away by saying it's Vegas and people carry change in cups. He thinks that someone could have hit the jackpot before calling himself a wrestling champion and that Larry Zbyszko saw nothing when he was at ringside. He claims it could have been sweat flying off of Wahoo's head before he gets angry goes through the list of guys he's injured since he's been the champion. He throws out a couple of catchphrases and leaves the interview area while Larry Nelson throws it up to the ring for our opening bout.
Match One: Lance Allen vs. Buddy Landel
He's back after being a SERIOUS bone of contention in the comments for last episode. I'll get to that later though as they go straight into a lockup. Allen shoves Landel off into the corner and they go back to another lockup. Allen shoves him off again and looks sort of fired up before he does a little posedown to try to show up Landel. Landel gets a couple of kneelifts off of a lockup and hits Allen with a standing dropkick before taking him over with a fireman's carry. An armbar from Landel now and Allen turns the tide a little in the corner with some right hands, Irish whipping Landel across before he charges in and EATS A KNEE!! I've always been more of an elbow man myself, since they taste a little less gamey. Landel rides Allen down to the mat with a front facelock and turns it into a choke a time or two, even using the ropes for an illegal advantage. He lets go of the hold and drops a legdrop onto Allen before he picks him up and works him over in the corner. Big hip toss out of the corner from Landel and he covers Allen for a two-count before pickin ghim up and hitting a bodyslam. Landel bounces off the ropes with a corkscrew elbow into one of the ugliest figure-four leglocks I've ever seen and he forces Allen to submit!
Winner: Buddy Landel (submission, figure-four leglock)
Match Analysis: Eh. Again, I've said my piece on Landel in the last show and it is what it is. He's been decent enough in both matches so far, just really bland. This one was no different and it didn't help that he had Lance Allen in there with him, who is a terrible jobber.
After a commercial break, Larry Nelson pimps the house show circuit and then brings in Greg Gagne for some comments, including his thoughts about the million-dollar battle royal. Greg pimps the softball tournament they're going to have in Las Vegas and then the streetfight battle royal. He explains the rules saying that everyone has been asking and everyone's been talking about it. He says that it's going to be a dangerous match and he hopes that he can come out on top. He mentions that he's going to wrestle in Zurich and Cannes and that he's focused on the series of battle royals all over the country and that the winners of the battle royals will be able to get the opponent of their choice in the match of their choice and he tells Hennig that he's going to be coming for him and that he's going to be gunning for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship.
Back from the break, Larry Nelson says it's time to talk about some of the newcomers in the AWA and that while they're new in the AWA, they're not new in wrestling. He starts with Tommy Rich and his NWA World Heavyweight Championship reign, as well as his most popular wrestler awards before sending us to the end of a match between Rich and Tony Leone from the Showboat. After a couple of minutes of back and forth action, Rich gets the submission with the spinning toehold. So he's got a lame finsher AND a lame submission finisher. Bleah. Nelson brings up the Sherri Martel incident again and probably gets to half-staff under the desk and then he turns the attention to Paul E. Dangerously and we get to hear the end of the promo where he tells Larry Nelson to shut up. Larry looks like he's got a headache just from holding the microphone and hearing Paul E. talk. We see a bit of action from the ORIGINAL Mignight Express and they finish off the job team with their Rocket Launcher finisher. From there he talks about Paul E. Dangerously's other charge, Adrian Adonis before he throws it to an Adonis promo where he looks a lot tougher and he talks a lot tougher than he has ever. Nelson's in the background and he looks like he's going to throw up, huffing and puffing and flailing his arms around like a child in a Wal-Mart. I tell you this, Larry Nelson knew how to sell pretty much anything and had facial expressions that told you the whole story. Even when he was campy he was still entertaining.
Match Two: Mike Tolos and ML Williams vs. Kevin Kelly and Nick Kiniski w/Madusa Miceli
I'm a big fan of Tolos' "Nobody Parties Like The Greeks" shirt. He should have had that merchanidsed, it could have been big. This is one of the first matches that Kelly and Kiniski tag-teamed together if I'm not missing my mark. Kiniski pushes Williams into the corner and knees Williams in the gut before hip tossing him out. A big stomp from Kiniski and he gets a bodyslam in while Greg Gagne on color talks about the contrived and very convoluted system for scoring the first round of the TV Title tournament. Elbowdrop from Kiniski and he picks Williams up for a BIG vertical suplex. Hard forearm shot form Kiniski but he lets go of Williams and it lets him scramble over to the corner to tag in Tolos. Tolos eats a couple of open-handed chops and Kiniski "rams" Tolos' head into Kelly's knee before making the tag. Kelly comes in and gets a back bodydrop off the ropes before he picks Tolos up for a backbreaker. Irish whip into the ropes and Kelly takes him down with a reverse elbow before throwing Tolos into the corner to let him make the tag. He kicks Williams in the gut and Irish whips him into the ropes for a nearly-missed clothesline. BIG bodyslam from Kelly and he tags in Kiniski who picks Williams up for another slam but clotheslines him across the top rope instead. Williams staggers in to tag Tolos and Kiniski flips him over the top rope into the ring and beats on him a little more with a kneelift, a snap mare and a rake of the eyes and he tags in Kelly. They double-Irish whip Tolos in and Kelly takes him down with a clothesline before Kelly tags in Kiniski. Irish whip into a reverse elbow from Kiniski and he gets the PILEDRIVER for the three-count!!
Winner: Kevin Kelly and Nick Kiniski (pinfall, piledriver)
Match Analysis: These guys could have been a good team as a power and speed team, but for whatever reason these two just didn't mesh. Kiniski was too technical with no flash and Kelly was all sizzle and no steak. This was an ok match, but honestly the only thing that kept me from thinking it was four jobbers was that the announcers were talking about how great Kiniski and Kelly were.
Larry Nelson does the house show pimpage and then brings in Wahoo McDaniel for some talk time and he talks about what Curt Hennig did to his eye. He says that it's all well and good if Curt wants people to believe he didn't hit him with anything. He's not saying that Hennig had anything in his hand, but that no one in his entire career had EVER hit him with a regular punch that was enough to bust him open, do damage and cause vision loss in his eye. So he's not saying it, he's just saying it. Gotcha. He says he doesn't care what Hennig did but he's going to come back and do something to Curt right back. He says that he's had to fight from the bottom for his entire career and that somehow he ends up on top and he says that somewhere down the line he's going to get his hands on Curt Hennig and when Hennig makes a slip Wahoo's going to beat him so bad that MAYBE someone from Hennig's family will still be able to recognize him. Ouch.
Match Three: Tom Stone vs. Tommy Rich
Rich must have been into the good smack with Landel in the back because he nearly falls getting through the ring ropes before the match even starts. Stone attacks before the bell but Rich takes over with a back bodydrop into a snap suplex. Big bodyslam from Rich and he moves to a figure-four leglock and here comes Paul E. Dangerously on the apron to distract the referee. HERE COMES ADRIAN ADONIS!! FAT PINK SPLASH ON RICH!! ANOTHER FAT PINK SPLASH!! Adonis whips Stone into referee Gary DeRusha and Paul E. is in the ring now, directing traffic. THEY'RE PUTTING A DRESS ON TOMMY RICH!!! HELL YES!!! ADONIS IS PUTTING ON THE LIPSTICK AND PAUL E IS BADMOUTHING THE FUCK OUT OF HIM!! THIS IS AWESOME!!! Here comes the Jobber Brigade and Adonis and Dangerously calmly make their way out of the ring. Rich realizes what the hell just happened and starts punching out the jobbers!!! He picks up the dress and throws it out of the ring and he is PISSED!!! Larry Nelson has him at ringside and asks him about what happened and Rich says that he's had a lot of things happen to him but he's never had someone leave him like that. He talks about how no one respects Adonis and he calls him a cancer and that he's going to cut out the cancer!!
Winner: None
Match Analysis: No match, but one HELL of an angle. This wasn't something that was done a lot by the AWA, but when they did go this way, they did it well. Adonis was trying to leave a lot of the persona he had been in New York behind and this seems like it was a good way to start. I really think he needed to not be wearing the pink tights anymore if he wanted to be a badass, but that's just me. Rich sold it lilke a champ in the post-match promo as well. Very well done all the way around.
Larry Nelson joins us after the break, absolutely disgusted at the actions of Adrian Adonis but not SO disgusted that he's not going to sell those house shows. Come on out and see the AWA, Abbotsford!! Where we WRESTLE (and stick men in dresses). No hype, just WRESTLING (and dresses). He brings in Ray Stevens who says he's never seen that ever in his career before and that they only thing he can think of is that Paul E. and Adrian Adonis must have sick minds because they tried to humiliate Tommy Rich. He also says that he wouldn't want to be in the shoes of someone who did that because if anyone did it to him, he'd be chasing them down a back alley and anywhere else. He tells Paul E. and Adonis to look over his shoulder because he knows that Tommy Rich will be after them. Larry makes sure to mention that HE JUST MIGHT GET HIS HANDS ON ADONIS....at The Salt Palace in Salt Lake City on October 15th or in Denver on Friday the 16th. HERE COMES PAUL E. DANGEROUSLY, SPITTING MAD!! He says he told Tommy Rich that things would get intense and that it would be a personal issue before bragging that they embarassed him on national television. He says that they're not idle threats, before getting in a line about Jim and Tammy Faye and how Tommy is the new make-up queen of the wrestling hour. He says that if Tommy ever, EVER SHOWS HIS FACE AGAIN, he'll show why he's the baddest man, The Express is the baddest tag team and why Adrian ran Roddy Piper out of wrestling. That was so fucking money.
Larry's still in the studio and continues threatening us with a Mitch Snow main event match. He explains the convoluted point system again with wins counting as five points and losses counting as minus five points. Wins by DQ or count-out get 2.5 points and losses get 2.5 points. Both wrestlers get a half point for a draw and that doesn't sound at ALL retarded. Nope, it doesn't. He says that we may want to keep score at home. Fuuuuuuuuuck, NO!! The official scores will be taken care of by Al DeRusha. What, Polish Joe's not so good with numbers? Eh, let's just get to the main event.
Match Four: Mitch Snow vs. Larry Zbyszko
Come on Larry, cripple him with the nunchucks!! PLEASE!! They got right to a lockup with Zbyszko pushing Snow against the ropes and giving him a clean break. Another lockup and Snow pushes Zbyszko into the corner for another clean break. Zbyszko catches Snow with a quick hip toss and takes him over but Snow comes back with an armdrag takeover. Another lockup into the ropes and Snow gets a side headlock. Zbyszko shoots him off into the ropes and eats a shoulderblock before he gets Snow down with a hip toss that gets two. Snap mare from Zbyszko and he gets another two-count before moving to a hammerlock. Snow reverses the hammerlock and moves to a straight armbar with Zbyszko pushing him into the ropes for a break. Zbyszko with a go-behind and Snow reverses it to one of his own and they trade armbars and hammerlocks before Zbyszko gets a roll-up for a quick two-count. Kick to the gut and a right hand from Zbyszko and he rams Snow's head into the top turnbuckle before hitting a big back suplex on him. Right hand to the gut from Snow now and Zbyszko comes back with an Irish whip and a HUGE knee to the stomach. Snow fires back again to the gut and Zbyszko rakes the eyes before trying an Irish whip but Snow kicks him in the chest. Right hands from Snow and he Irish whips Zbyszko in for a BIG dropkick that gets him a two-count.
More right hands from Snow and Zbyszko goes to the eyes again to get a breather. Forearm smashes from Zbyszko into a vertical suplex and he gets a long two-count before moving to a reverse chinlock. The crowd starts themselves a "Larry Sucks" chant as Snow tries to get back to his feet and he starts to work elbows to the stomach. Snow shoots himself off the ropes and gets a sunset flip for a two-count before he works a backslide for another long two-count. Zbyszko tries for a bodyslam and Snow gets a small package for two, but Zbsyzko gets a WICKED spinning back kick, mauling Snow with punches before he flings him through the ropes to the floor. Zbyszko's outside after him and RAMS HIM INTO THE RINGPOST!!! The referee calls for the bell and it's all over!! Zbyszko protests the decision in the ring and Snow looks all angry and enrages on the floor while still selling the shoulder from the post shot.
Winner: Mitch Snow (disqualification, ringpost shot)
Match Analysis: This was the beginning of a match and then a DQ finish. Nothing more, nothing less. Neither guy had even broken a sweat before the bout was finished and they didn't really pull any rabbits out of their hats in this one. When you've got a ten-minute match and Zbyszko's style is to stall for the first five minutes, it doesn't lead to a very good match.
Larry Nelson talks about how this is the original wrestling league and then goes into what happened with the main event between Zbyszko and Snow. He talks about the TV Title tournament and says that Snow will get 2.5 points and Zbyszko will go to -2.5 points. Yep, there's no way this will end up getting fudged or made up at all. Totally legitimate tournament, Verne.
Final Thoughts
Not a very good show, but there was the hot angle in the middle and a money promo from Paul E. and that's enough to pull it into a thumbs in the middle for me. The wrestling wasn't very good, but strangely for once, the angles were really strong. The TV Title tournament scoring crap is so convoluted it seems like an utter disaster, but it's the AWA so would you expect it to be any other way? But yeah, the show in the beginning and the end wasn't very good but the middle picked up enough to pull this one out of the gutter. Not by much, but with how the shows have been lately, it's better than nothing.
Fun With Comments
Let's get all of the discussion on Buddy Landel out of the way all at once. First from The Man: "You have to be a complete mark if you're not going to call Buddy Landell "The Nature Boy" because it would be a "disgrace". The guy was a damn good wrestler, and could have been as big a star as Flair, or at least close to it, if it weren't for drugs. The guy is the Nature Boy. "
From OB1 Jabroni: "First of all, it is Buddy Landel, not Buddy LandelL. Only one L please. Anyway, he is a GREAT worker, gold on the mic, look at his Mid-Atlantic resume for futher reference. Drugs played a part in his downfall, but the guy is solid. Ask HBK and watch their match during Landel's run in SMW. He took the Brokeback kid to the limit in a solid matchup. Gotta quit ragging the southern boys in the AWA Harrison, they all can't be yanks like Gagne ya know "
From Josh: "Ah Buddy Landell
When a wrestler screws up his push and fucks up everything the company does to push him (Jeff Hardy etc) i often refer to the Buddy Landell rule.
Landell was given a nice push by Jim Crockett including a feud with Flair and a win at JCP's biggest show (Starrcade 85) over a much superior worker for a important title , Terry Taylor. Okay the National title was worth as much as Christie Brinkley's ex-husband's wedding vows but still. Bill Watts tried to push him and he fucked that up. Everywhere he went he fucked up.
On a related note, WWE should no must BRING in Tommy Rich and pair him with Khali. The backstage segments would be better than any PPV. "
From Adam: "Buddy Landel won the National title from Terry Taylor at Starrcade 85, then about 3 weeks later he went on a coke binge, missed the TV tapings, and the next thing you know JJ Dillon is with Tully Blanchard & Dusty has the National title. "
From Barack Says: "I agree with you about Greg Gagne, he was pretty worthless. Boring as crap in the ring and on the mic.
Buddy Landel ... WTF?? I guess Verne figured nobody had heard of Flair anywhere but Florida or Georgia, presenting this guy on a national stage like he was the heir to the Buddy Rogers name. Nice high-jumping elbow to the leg in the next show. The guy was obviously a solid worker, but Naitch he ain't.
Paul E. was at his prime in those days. What a great heel manager he was. He should give lessons in personality to some of today's wrestlers (Shelton Benjamin and Cody Rhodes come to mind) "
To me, the whole Buddy Landell thing is a sore spot for me because he was a guy that worked decently, could talk decently and could have been groomed into something good if he had been able to work with Ric Flair for a few months. He threw it all away and I have no use for guys that do that. Not Jeff Hardy, not Kennedy, and I could go on. Guys that are in line to get big pushes and throw it down the drain with drugs lose my interest rather quickly and Landel was no exception. I don't think he was the same after that incident in '85. He was decent and had flashes, but was never able to get back to where he was. I guess it's just a matter of personal preference.
On to happier subjects! From Doug: "You know what else I loved about the top "11"? The fact that three of the guys were "injured" according to Larry Nelson. If they're injured, why are they still ranked? Is it because you don't have 10 wrestlers to rank? 10. Jerry Blackwell (injured) 5. Nick Bockwinkel (injured) 4. Wahoo McDaniel (injured)
That really made me laugh!
Great reviews - always look forward to reading them after I watch the show. "
Thanks for the support. I also found it funny that they tried to do a rankings list with guys that were hurt. I guess they didn't have much choice since there were only about a dozen guys that were above the jobber level in the AWA at that point.
From Scrotum Pole: "From Adam: "UWF wrestling Sunday Morning!!!! Wait...what am I saying, has it come to this? "
I don't even know what that means, but if there's UWF wrestling on Sunday, I'll be watching it.
Dude He's dead nutz on with that one. Just checked my digital cable guide and it starts at 7 central am and ends at 8.Sweeeeeettt! And please write a column on it."
Well, you just might be getting your wish. It looks like I'm picking up the UWF shows, as well as the NWA Wrestling Showcase show, so I'll be around a little bit more in the wrestling zone as the weeks go on.
Finally, from James: "Another Nick Kiniski factoid: he actually had a run in the WWF before this. I only remember him beating jobbers for awhile then leaving. That and the announcers always talking about what a great strategy it was for him to leave the ring to take off his jacket (cause then he wouldn't get sneak attacked, you see) "
Another fun fact about the jacket. Kelly Kiniski when he was in Mid-Atlantic had the exact same style of jacket (possibly the same jacket) as I saw him in a pull-apart on the Ric Flair DVD and knew who it was instantly because of said jacket.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:38:27 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Larry Nelson welcomes us to the show and pimps a big main event that he wants to keep a surprise for all of us great wrestling fans before mentioning that we're going to get a two-ring battle royal in this week's Mat Classic segment. He gets to the fan of the week deal and she'll be getting a Ninja Star Wars game for her efforts. Lucky bitch.
Match One: Bryan Costello and Frankie DeFalco vs. Alan West and Mitch Snow
The jobbers don't even get an introduction, which should tell you that they're not even the good kind of jobbers. Costello and West start things out and West goes to an arm-wringer off of a lockup and he whips Costello into the ropes for a big hip toss into an armdrag takeover and Costello leans out of the ropes to break the momentum. Interesting looking armbar-style takeover now from West and Costello's had enough of that and goes to the eyes. He goes for a back bodydrop but West cartwheels away, dropkicking DeFalco off of the apron before Snow comes in to dropkick Costello in the back, right into a slam from West. Another armdrag follows for West and Costello rolls out to the floor for a breather. It seemingly works as Costello gets a side headlock but he gets whipped into the ropes and, after a blind tag, West punches him in the gut and Snow follows with a kneelift. Side headlock from Snow and Costello just pushes him into his corner, allowing DeFalco to get the tag in and work on Snow in the corner. Irish whip from DeFalco but West runs over and uses his body to block it and Snow struts out and blocks a right hand, firing a few of his own before he hits a big dropkick. Tag to West and he hits a belly-to-belly suplex for a two-count but picks DeFalco up to tag in Snow. Snow comes off the top with a sunset flip, barely getting over West and DeFalco but he manages to get him over for the 1-2-3!!
Winners: Alan West and Mitch Snow (pinfall, top rope sunset flip)
Match Analysis: And yet ANOTHER attempt to re-create the Midnight Rockers begins. The funny thing is that they already had one team in DJ Peterson and JT Southern that were trying to go that way, but I guess they figured that they'd have a back-up for the back-ups just in case or something. Snow was floundering and going nowhere as a singles star and West was still too green to do anything good on his own, so I guess by putting them into a team Verne did me a favor, confining their dual suckiness into one match.
The AWA notebook runs through the tag team rankings with The ORIGINAL Midnight Express up top, followed by DJ and JT, Kevin Kelly and Nick Kiniski, Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee and The Nasty Boys. That's not a lot of talent there.
Match Two: Jim Evans vs. Dick Slater
This is announce as Slater's AWA debut and he has Curt Hennig making his way down to the ring with him before heading to the back again. Slater's over-exaggerated Funk-isms are pretty funny to watch as he hotfoots his way into the ring. They go to a lockup and Slater hits a hard forearm shot with Evans in the ropes and then throws him through the ropes to the floor. We here about how he's fresh from the WWF and how he's come to the AWA for competition, but you know how credible that is. Go-behind and a front facelock from Slater, riding him amateur-style before moving to a hard chinlock. Spinning neckbreaker from Slater now and he gets an elbow to the back of Evans' neck before stomping on him and flinging him out to the floor again. Slater hits a hard headbutt as soon as Evans gets back into the ring before peppering him with jabs and dropping him with a big elbow. He tries for a slam but Evans gets a small package for two, angering Slater into beating him up some more. Slater tries an Irish whip but it gets reversed and he holds onto the ropes as Evans tries a dropkick, sending him crashing to the mat. Slater loads up a HUGE right hand and then goes up to the second rope for a big forearm/elbowsmash that gets him the three-count.
Winner: Dick Slater (pinfall, second rope elbowdrop)
Match Analysis: Just here to introduce Slater to the AWA crowd and to put over that he was a WWF and NWA guy that has come to the AWA for the COMPETITION!! CAUSE WE WRESTLE!! WE'RE NOT HYPE!! YOU'LL NEVER SEE US PUTTING SOMEONE IN A DR....wait..we did that last week? Uh..nevermind. The match was nothing to write home about and honestly didn't do much for me.
It's birthday time on the AWA program and I guess Oliver North and Jack O. Lantern are having birthdays this week. What the fuck, are they even trying anymore? I guess they figure no one's paying attention anyhow, but it's still really lame. I can just picture Verne guffawing away in the truck, trying to get one of the producers to write silly names.
Verne: "Come on, wish a happy birthday to I.P. Freeley, it'll be GREAT!!" Producer: "Verne, are you alright?" Verne: "The name on the marquee says WRESTLING asshole,I know exactly what I'm doing!! Look at how well business is running. Now I want to say Happy Kwanzaa to Oliver Clozoff, how do I enter that into this crazy electric machine."
Larry Nelson's back and plugging more house shows, including giving a shout-out to his favorite Canadian city, Winnipeg!! Hell yeah!! He brings in DJ Peterson and JT Southern and asks DJ about his title shot with Curt Hennig. Peterson talks about the finish and how he doesn't think that slamming someone on a chair is wrestling. He says that sooner or later his number's going to come up again and that he's going to kick Hennig's ass when he gets the chance. JT gets asked about Paul E. and the telephone and Southern says that he's sacrificed so much for his chance to be a world champion and kind of rambles on before saying that the phone is going to be Dangerously's shortcoming. Ugly AND he cuts a terrible promo. What in the hell did Verne see in this guy anyhow?
Match Three: Mat Classic Two-Ring Battle Royal
Larry Nelson and Ray Stevens introduce the bout with Nelson talking about how the country was in 1974 when this bout took place and then asks Stevens about the wrestling business then. Stevens says that it was an exciting time back then when he was wrestling all across the country and all over the world, defending his tag team titles with Nick Bockwinkel. They throw it to the battle royal and we see some of the participants including Sailor Art Thomas, Superstar Billy Graham and even Ray Stevens, sporting a rather impressive pair of muttonchops. Mad Dog Vachon, Cowboy Bob Ellis, Nick Bockwinkel, Ivan Koloff, Pepper Gomez, the names go on and on. The action finally starts and we only see the action in one ring and since it's 8mm footage, there are WAY too many cuts to call any action. It's just the usual battle royal punching and kicking though as Stevens says that the winner in each ring of the battle royal would end up wrestling each other to determine who was the utlimate winner. The final five in the ring end up being Graham, Gomez, Bockwinkel, Stevens and Wilbur Snyder. Stevens eliminates himself while charging at Wilbur Snyder against the ropes and the faces and heels pair off and we pan back to see that someone has already won the battle royal in the other ring as Gomez and Snyder ram the heels' heads together. Bockwinkel and Graham gang up on Wilbur Snyder and send him flying out to the floor before turning their attentions to Pepper Gomez. Gomez fires back and works over both men but Graham shoves Bockwinkel and Gomez over the ropes to win his ring's portion of the battle royal. They talk a little more about the battle royal and send it to a commercial before we get to more mat action!
I don't even bother with putting a winner because they claim that Pepper Gomez won but that would be physically impossible. It looked like someone in an Olympic singlet on the other side of the ring so I'm thinking maybe it was Kenny Patera and Billy Graham that won their respective rings. Either way, we didn't even get to see them hook-up to decide the real winner so it while it was cool to see the footage, it was ultimately a waste of time.
Match Four: Mike Richards vs. Tommy Rich
Rich looks ready for action and the bell rings to get things underway. Rich gives Richards a clean break off of the ropes and they hit another lockup with Richards getting a go-behind before they separate. Side headlock from Richards and Rich tries to fight him off, shooting him into the ropes before hitting a big hip toss and an armdrag takedown into an armbar. Richards shoots Rich off the ropes now but eats a soulderblock and another after a criss-cross sequence and Rich takes Richards back down with a side headlock. Richards back to his feet and he pushes Rich into the corner, trying to throw a cheapshot but Rich blocks it and pops Richards one in the face before taking him over with a drop toehold. Front facelock from Rich and Richards pushes him back into the corner and gets a cheapshot to the gut, firing Rich up for a bunch of right hands to the head and body. Irish whip into the corner by Rich and he snap mares Richards out of the corner, right into a reverse chinlock. Richards makes the ropes and gets the break, stalling for a minute to try to slow Rich down. Rich spits on him or at him and tries to goad Richards into a fight, ending up taking a kneelift and a hard elbow to the back of the head before he goes to the eyes. Guess that spitting didn't work out too well did it Tommy? Rich gets a boot up in the corner and stops Richards in his tracks, following it up with a second rope elbow and a quick kneelift before they do a rope-running sequence into the Thesz press and Rich gets the pinfall!! Mike Tenay looks bored to tears in the front row. I know your pain Mike, believe me.
Winner: Tommy Rich (pinfall, Thesz press)
Match Analysis: Eh. Rich's offense is so bland it makes it hard to get behind him unless he's in there with someone great. Richards isn't great so this one pretty much sucked a dick. Ironic considering Rich's finisher.
Match Five: Pete Sanchez vs. Adrian Adonis w/Paul E. Dangerously
Dangerously introduces him as "Tommy Rich's favorite wrestler" and he comes down to the ring with pink hair and his eye make-up that he wore during the WWF run. Sanchez tries to get the crowd behind him and goes for a lockup but Adonis just pushes him into the corner for a clean break. Another lockup and Adonis gets a couple of boots in and a HARD chop before hitting an elbow to the head off of the ropes. Irish whip into the ropes from Adonis and he hits a shoulderblock that drops Sanchez like a bad habit. Sanchez with a couple of shots into Adonis' pregnant gut, but Adonis just absorbs them in his flub and knocks Sanchez down with a big right hand for a two-count. BIG back bodydrop from Adonis off of an Irish whip and he gets a rake on the back before snap maring Sanchez over. He backs off to the ropes and hits a BIG FAT SPLASH on Sanchez. GOODNIGHT IRENE IS LOCKED IN!!! Sanchez is out cold!!! The referee calls for the bell and Adonis jaws with the front ro...THERE'S ANOTHER BIG FAT SPLASH!!
Winner: Adrian Adonis (submission, Goodnight Irene sleeperhold)
Match Analysis: Adonis squash, schizo-ing back and forth from Adorable Adrian to Ass-kicker Adonis. Kind of weird to see him go between the two, sometimes in the same motion and was essentially here to get Adonis on TV after his big angle last week and allow for some interview time for Paul E. after the match to keep the heat on.
More house show pimpage from Larry Nelson and here comes Paul E. and he talks about how everyone in wrestling is talking about how Adrian Adonis put Tommy Rich in a dress. Paul E. talks about how the entire Dangerous Alliance went to a party in North Hollywood and everyone was congratulating them for what they did to Rich. Um, Paul? I've been to North Hollywood and unless it's gone WAY down hill in the past twenty years, that place doesn't look like it would sustain much of a party. That is a rough looking part of town, let me assure you. Apparently Robin Leach was there as was Billy Crystal and Dangerously takes advantage and starts rattling off terrible impressions. He says that what they did has never been done to a former World Champion before and that even Adrian's friends thought it was "pretty nathty". Nelson's eye roll when Paul E. starts talking in the lisp is TREMENDOUS!! He says that they've set the wrestling world on fire and proven that you don't mess with The Dangerous Alliance.
Match Six: Jerry Blackwell vs. Kevin Kelly w/Madusa Miceli and Nick Kiniski
Apparently, this is a first round match in the Television Title tournament. Ray Stevens goes through the convoluted tournament structure again and the two big men lock horns in the mdidle of the ring with Kelly pushing Blackwell into the turnbuckle and giving him a clean break before hitting some poses. Another lockup and Kelly shoves Blackwell off into the corner, giving us another posedown before drinking up some adulation from Kiniski and Miceli. Blackwell gets a kick in the gut and rams Kelly into the top turnbuckle before headbutting Kelly through the ropes to the floor. He gives us a little chub posedown and tells Kelly to bring it back into the ring. Kelly gets back in and offers up a handshake but Blackwell's not buying, pulling Kelly into a knee to the gut and Irish whipping him in for a HUGE shoulderblock and Kelly rolls back out to the floor. Blackwell does more posing and hamming it up in the ring and Kelly has a little confab session on the outside with his crew before rolling back into the ring. Blackwell offers up a handshake but Kelly gets the knee this time, hammering away with some forearms against the ropes before he Irish whips Blackwell into the ropes for a BIG reverse elbow. Kelly gets a two-count off of that and rams Blackwell into the top turnbuckle a couple of times before Kelly PICKS HIM UP AND BODYSLAMS HIM!! HOLY SHIT!! He drops an elbow for another two-count and then hits a hard forearm to the back of Blackwell. Right hand tot he gut from Kelly but Blackwell fires back with rights of his own. Kelly comes off the ropes with a big right hand and then Irish whips Blackwell in for a big clothesline. Blackwell ducks it and drops Kelly with a big clothesline of his own, pulling Nick Kiniski into the ring as he was up on the apron. Blackwell works over Kiniski and rams his head into Kelly's and the referee is calling for the bell. Blackwell works over Kiniski in the corner but Kelly gets a HARD knee to the kidneys and they both start to beat down Blackwell. Blackwell gets a pair of headbutts to make his own save and the referee heads over to the announce table and says that he's thrown the match out.
Winner: None (double disqualification)
Match Analysis: Kelly was a horrible worker and Blackwell was near-death at this point, so it was about what you would expect. I don't know how anyone is supposed to get ahead in this godforsaken tournament when no one gets a clean finish over anyone, but that's beside the point I suppose. The match had its moments like when Kelly managed to heave Blackwell up and slam him, but those moments were few and far between. You could see from a mile away that Kiniski was going to get involved and that sucked a lot of the excitement out of the near-falls for me.
Larry Nelson breaks down the match we just saw and talks about another fan of the week, leading me to believe that this is two episodes edited into one. Nelson talks about the chance he had to interview some Elvis impersonator and pushes the impersonator's shows at the Showboat before sending us off and asking us to come back next week, right here on ESPN. What an odd way to end the show.
Final Thoughts
Not a single redeeming thing on the show from top to bottom. The opening tag was terrible just beacuse Mitch Snow was in it, the Slater match was heatless and dull, the Rich match sucked, the Adonis match was too short, and the Kelly/Blackwell match had two of the worse workers in the company. How the hell did Verne think that this was the way to turn the corner? Paul E. saves the day with a solid promo as always, but really when a forty-five second interview spot is the highlight of your show, you know that your promotion is in a sad fucking state. Thumbs down on this one and let's flush it before we move on to the comments.
Fun With Comments
From Shiksa With Chutzpah: "WOW!! Paul E. Dangerously, his wrestlers and their angles are the most watchable part of these shows for me. I can't be alone in thinking that. "
Yes, he and his stable are actually the best part of the show right now outside of the usual goodness from Hennig and Zbyszko. This again leads to my point that the AWA was fucked because they didn't have a decent face to save their lives once Bockwinkel left. All there was left was Greg Gagne, an aging, broken-down Jerry Blackwell and bland guys like Tommy Rich and when the promotion is full of heels with no strong faces to stand up to them, the intrigue is gone and no one cares.
From A Rat Riding ona Piece of Poop: ""It looks like I'm picking up the UWF shows, as well as the NWA Wrestling Showcase show"
Yay! Herb Abrams goodness! AWA reviews were just warming up for the Abrams UWF! "
Yeah, that's exactly what they were. Honestly, I think I must be a masochist for agreeing to subject myself to things like this. Either that or just absolutely greedy when it comes to getting attention in the wrestling zone.
From Guest. : "You know, I said it before, and I'll say it again: Verne Gagne is the most progressive promoter of all time. Now, we can add in overly convoluted tournaments to his mix. It'd be over two decades before TNA would bring those out the mothballs. Go Verne! "
There is a long history of convoluted and shitty tournaments in wrestling, from TNA to the NWA, to any number of smaller promotions. I think that the problem is that people try to get too cute with things most times and forget that wrestling at its best is also wrestling at its most simple. Anyone doubting whether Verne truly was behind the Team Challenge Series need look no further than the ricockulous scoring system for this tournament.
From Rob: "Actually, the NWA would have their own convoluted tournament pretty soon after this - Starrcade '89. Tournaments should be very simple - you draw up brackets, and if you lose, you're out. Period.
I too was hoping that Zbyszko would cripple Mitch Snow, or at least put him out of wrestling for a while. Snow just has jobber written all over him. I'd rather watch Tony Leone or Dennis Stamp.
Adonis vs. Rich is just begging for an old school, bloody cage match. "
I don't think Rich could ever do a cage match that would do justice to his work with Buzz Sawyer in Atlanta, but it could have been a fun bout. The AWA tended to save the cage matches for their huge shows and since we were a ways off from one of those types of runs, either on house shows or for the one big stadium shows, the cage match was never meant to be. Shame since it could have been a nice blow-off for the whole thing.
From Brian - Pittsburgh: ""Adonis vs. Rich is just begging for an old school, bloody cage match."
Instead we will get a TV main event in a few weeks of shows (in Dec of 1987) that is actually parted of the oft imitated, never duplicated TV Title Tournament.
BEST TOURNAMENT EVER!!! - I am definately kidding. "
Finally from Dave: "So is it me or does Lance Allen look like Opie Cunningham on roids? Oh and before I forget I know I don't make fun of people's grammar(since I'm terrible) but did Larry Nelson actually say "keepen"?
As for "Tame Ice" Tommy Rich it could be worse. He used to do the Thesz press so it basically looked like he was having sex with the other guy. (I wish I was kidding about that.) "
Oh no, he still does the Thesz press on these shows, as evidenced by the match above. As for Larry Nelson's grammar, he was probably sloshed so it ended up sounding kind of slurred. I don't blame him though cause I'd drink too if I had to deal with that shit week in and week out. Actually I have to deal with it on a nightly basis. Why the fuck am I not drinking?!?
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:40:34 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling Larry Nelson welcomes us to the broadcast and introduces us to the Fan of the Week, who is a poor little crippled boy that got in a car accident and had his mother write a letter to the AWA. He gets a magazine and some autographed AWA pictures, which I'm sure will soothe the sting of not being able to use his legs. Nelson runs down our lineup and it's a big one with Greg Gagne, Wahoo McDaniel, Dick Slater and we're threatened with Mitch Snow in the main event, though he's going to be in with Curt Hennig so I'm sure Hennig will slap the monkey piss out of him. Match One: Tony Leone vs. Wahoo McDaniel w/Billy Jack Strong Not sure where they're taping this one but it looks like there was a problem with the power and they're taping with the emergency lights on. Dark and REALLY hard to see but I soldier on. We see Strong on the outside, who is more likely to be known by Steve DiSalvo from his Stampede Wrestling days. Wahoo gets a lockup and Leone takes over with some shots in the corner before he goes to the eyes but Wahoo chops him right over the top rope to the floor. Leone slowly makes his way into the ring and gets taken over with a side headlock immediately. Leone gets to his feet and pushes Wahoo into the corner for the break but Wahoo just hits him with a forearm and then gets the backbreaker in before moving to a reverse chinlock. Tomahawk chop from Wahoo and he Irish whips Leone into the ropes for a HUGE chop into a suplex and he gets the 1-2-3!! Winner: Wahoo McDaniel (pinfall, suplex) Match Analysis: Short and inoffensive, but that counts for most of Wahoo's matches at this point since he was so old and broken down. Still kind of weird to see Billy Jack Strong in a full-on Indian headdress at ringside, and I think that this is one of the only times that that actually happened. Decent enough for how short it was, but nothing earth-shattering. Match Two: Jim Evans vs. Nick Kiniski w/ Kevin Kelly and Madusa Miceli This one is a replay of a match from a show a couple of weeks ago so we'll just copy and past this one in here now. Nice to see the Showboat though where I can actually make out the wrestlers instead of that weird half-lit arena they were using for the first match. Kiniski goes out to the floor to take his ring jacket off and as he does, Kevin Kelly and Madusa make their way down to ringside to be in his corner. He offers up a test of strength before hitting a lockup, pushing Evans into the corner and giving him a clean break. He gets a top wristlock and drops Evans to the mat with it before letting out a contented "whoo!". He picks Evans up and slams him, picking him up off the mat to try it again but Evans slips over the top and tries a roll-up off the ropes. Kiniski just grabs the top rope and Evans slams backwards onto the mat. Kiniski gets a backbreaker and a HARD forearm to the kidneys before Evans tries a comeback with punches to the gut. Kiniski just rams him into the top turnbuckle and gets a WICKED chop before flinging Evans out to the floor. Kelly on the outside picks him up to slam him but just throws him back into the ring instead. Kiniski locks him up for a vertical suplex that gets two but Kiniski picks him up before the three-count. Kiniski picks him up off the mat with a double-choke and then holds Evans' arms behind his back to let Madusa get a slap in. Kiniski hits a short clothesline and then picks Evans up and takes him over to the ropes, snapping his neck across the top rope. Irish whip in from Kiniski and he hits a reverse elbow as the crowd starts to turn on this one a little. Kiniski kicks him hard in the chest and then picks Evans up for a PILEDRIVER!! 1-2-3 and it's all over, folks!! Winner: Nick Kiniski (pinfall, piledriver) Match Analysis: Squash to get Kiniski over, though I don't think there was ANYTHING that they could have done to get him over. He was just a black hole of charisma and while technically sound in the ring, didn't do anything to make himself look any different from all the other Johnny Boots and Tights out there. He had the pedigree, he just wasn't any good. Curt Hennig and his welding goggles join us for interview time and he says that he defends the belt like a true champion should before Larry Nelson asks if Hennig brought in Dick Slater to injure some wrestlers and act as a bounty hunter on Hennig's behalf. Hennig thinks it's funny to hear people's opinions and he says that he's a true wrestling champion that's never needed anyone or anything to help him. He says that Wahoo is out of professional wrestling just like Nick Bockwinkel is and if he ever comes back he's going to beat him out of wrestling again. Larry Nelson asks Hennig to answer the question and Hennig says that there isn't and that maybe Nelson should ask that to Dick Slater. He puts it over as a mutual admiration society, no more and no less. Match Three: Chris Zarna vs. Dick Slater w/Curt Hennig Slater takes offense at being called "Dirty" Dick by Mick Karch and threatens to slap him for saying it. Zarna gets a sloppy armdrag but Slater makes it to his feet and pushes him against the ropes, giving him a clean break before he armdrags Zarna and rakes his bootsole across the eyes. Forearm to the back by Slater and he flings Zarna out through the ropes to the floor, dragging him back in for another forearm and he starts peppering jabs in before hitting a big right to drop Zarna. Front facelock into a big vertical suplex from Slater and he hits a reverse elbow to the back of Zarna's head. Irish whip from Slater and Zarna reverses it, charging into the corner and taking a big knee to the gut from Slater. Slater goes to the throat and then picks Zarna up for a slam and clotheslines him across the top rope. He comes off the ropes and hits the choking butt-drop across the second rope before picking Zarna up for a short clothesline. Slater hits an elbowdrop before rolling Zarna up with a gut-wrench into a bridge for the three-count. Winner: Dick Slater (pinfall, gut-wrench roll-up) Match Analysis: Slater was decent enough and enough of a brawler, but this was just to help further the angle where he and Hennig are "in cahoots" but not "in cahoots". This was the standard squash from Slater, though I notice he went a little more technical and didn't do as much of the punchy-kicky brawling he was known for, which made it a little better. Match Three: Rick Gantner and Mike Richards vs. Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee This is interesting because it's only been one show as far as I know and Dundee and Lawler have already lost their AWA Tag Team Championship to The ORIGINAL Midnight Express. Gantner and Lawler get things started and Gantner pushes Lawler into the corner, trying for a right hand but Lawler blocks it and gets a punch of his own in. Another lockup and Gantner pushes Lawler into the ropes and Irish whips him across but Lawler catches Gantner as he tries to kick him and trips him to get a takedown before dropping a fist on Gantner's face. Irish whip from Lawler and Gantner catches a Lawler boot but Lawler hits the enziguri and shows Gantner up again. Lawler gets some jabs and a big right hand that puts Gantner on his ass and then Lawler shows some moveset with a kick to the gut and a SPINNING BACK KICK TO THE HEAD! Holy unexpected, Batman. Lawler gets another big right hand and Gantner has had enough and decides it's time to make a tag. Dundee gets the tag as well and armdrags Richards over before he pushes Richards into thecorner for an Irish whip. Richards reverses it and charges in as Dundee jumps over him off the second rope and monkey flips him over for a two-count. Dundee tries to drag Richards to his feet but he's awful sandbaggy and Richards just kind of slumps out to the floor. Dundee gets him back into the ring and snap mares him over, dropping a short knee for a two-count that Richards tries to kick out of and Gantner comes in to take a right hand and a dropkick. Right hands on Richards now and down he goes again and there's a tag to Lawler. Lawler lifts Richards up and hits the PILEDRIVER!!! No pinfall as he tags in Dundee and Dundee gets a short sunset flip to get the pinfall. Lawler gets a right hand on Gantner after the bell that sends him a little squirrelly. Winners: Bill Dundee and Jerry Lawler (pinfall, Dundee sunset flip) Match Analysis: Just here to keep Dundee and Lawler on people's minds and play up the screwjob finish of the match they lost to the Midnights. I still don't get why Dundee and Lawler got that transitional reign that they did, but I guess they couldn't have had two heel teams wrestle for the title and make the switch since all heels get along and all babyfaces get along. At least, that's according to Verne Gagne and his 1953 booking manual. Larry Nelson talks about the AWA on the road in North Dakota and Minnesota before they move west to Denver, the Showboat in Las Vegas and then a spot-show in Utah. He brings in Paul E. Dangerously and says that last week he came out to tell everyone about the Midnight Express' win of the tag championships. He talks about the controversy surrounding the title change and his possible use of the telephone. He threatens to leave the AWA with the Midnights with him if the AWA tries to stop the revolution of the Dangerous Alliance. He says that instead of leaving, they're going to stay and they're going to tear the AWA apart. Match Four: Pete Sanchez vs. Greg Gagne Sanchez pushes Gagne into the ropes and they actually get a clean break and Gagne gets a go-behind into a hammerlock, cranking on the arm until Sanchez makes the ropes for a break. Sanchez gets a side headlock on and Greg pushes him into the ropes, shotting him off for a rope-runner before Gagne gets a hip toss into a couple of armdrag takeovers and Sanchez makes his way out to the floor to think things over. Sanchez gets back into the ring and grabs a side headlock off of a stiff lockup and Gagne reverses it to a top wristlock, taking Sanchez down to the mat. Sanchez gets a cheap shot to the gut and then hammers away on Gagne with forearms before smashing him into the top turnbuckles a few times. Irish whip into the corner by sanchez and gagne gets a boot up to kick sanchez in the face on the charge in. Gagne with an Irish whip now and he gets a big back bodydrop into a pair of dropkicks and THERE'S THE GAGNE SLEEPER!! It's all over but the snoring, folks. Winner: Greg Gagne (submission, Gagne sleeper) Match Analysis: Again, it's the same Gagne match over and over again. I'm seriously considering a Gagne match template just to save me the time when he's actually on TV. This was 100% pure, uncut, meh. Larry Nelson talks about the Fairs and how the AWA is going to have a booth at some fair expo deal to try to get them to book AWA shows. He brings in Dick Slater and Slater says that he's tired of people calling him "Dirty" Dick and then forces Nelson to apologize. Nelson brings the bounty hunter deal up and wonders who he's here to hurt and who hired him. Slater says nothing and that his reputation precedes him in the AWA. He says that he comes and goes as he sees fit and if someone wants to pay him a large sum of money to take care of someone he will. He says that if he says he's going to take someone like Tommy Rich, Greg Gagne or Wahoo McDaniel out he will, whether he has to do it face to face or behind their back. Match Five: AWA World Heavyweight Championship Mitch Snow vs. Curt Hennig (c) Hennig's got Dick Slater on the outside with him for this one, but seriously, is he really going to need him for Mitch Snow? Doubtful. Hennig and Snow lockup but they stalemate and just shove each other off. They do some quick chain wrestling and reversals on a hammerlock before they seperate again and stare each other down. Hennig gets a big hip toss off of another lockup and they're doing the slow-paced start where they're evenly matched to get over that Snow is a serious contender. Another hip toss from Hennig and he moves to a side headlock, but Snow shoots him into the ropes and drops down before getting a big hip toss of his own and an even bigger dropkick that sends Hennig to the floor to catch his breath. Snow cheerleads himself as Hennig gets back into the ring and Hennig is stalling big-time to try to break Snow's momentum, even badmouthing him and shoving him. Shoving from both men now as Snow stands his ground and they shit-talk each other a little and Hennig gets into an amateur wrestling position and Snow rides Hennig all the way to the ropes and then shoves him through the ropes to the floor. Hennig is pissed on the outside as the crowd taunts him mercilessly. Snow drops down to the referee's position himself now and Hennig KICKS HIM IN THE GUT!! Beautifully done by Hennig and he stomps away at Snow before laying in a HUGE chop and he goes to work on the kidneys with some knees and right hands. Irish whip into the corner from Hennig and Snow crumples to the mat. Hennig picks him up and forearms him back down before locking in a modified camel clutch and raking at Snow's face with his hands. Snow comes back with a right hand to the stomach but Hennig cuts him off and continues to hammer away at Snow with boots. Snow backs away and gets another couple of right hands in but Hennig comes back again, taking Snow down with a double-axehandle before he turns Snow over into a Boston crab. Snow is in agony on the inside and as we cut to Slater on the outside we see a fan in the front row waving a Hulkamania poster. I fully expect Verne to rush off from the commentary table and tackle that fan down to steal their poster momentarily. Snow makes the ropes and Hennig breaks the hold and just stomps at the lower back, picking him up to land more forearms to the ribs and kidneys. Another HARD Irish whip into the corner from Hennig and he's a little slow to follow up and Snow gets a couple of headbutts to the stomach but Hennig cuts off the comeback again. Backbreaker from Hennig and he gets a two-count off of that before pushing Snow into the corner and chopping away at him. Irish whip attempt from Hennig gets reversed and Snow follows him in with some right hands before Irish whipping Hennig into the ropes. BIG DROPKICK from Snow and he Irish whips Hennig into the ropes again for a back bodydrop. A third Irish whip into the JAM SLAM!! Snow with the cover..1...2...NOOOOOO!!! Hennig's foot is on the ropes!!! Irish whip time and there's a double-reversal and Hennig sends Snow slamming into referee Gary DeRusha!! Hennig with an Irish whip and he misses clothesline as Snow ducks under and gets a cross-bodyblock. Hennig kicks out from under that and picks Snow up to CROTCH HIM ON THE TOP ROPE!! Hennig wakes up the referee and moves over to pin Snow and gets the three-count!! Winner: Curt Hennig (pinfall, crotching on the ropes) Match Analysis: Not a bad match, just one that you could see was going to get a screwy ending. Hennig couldn't look bad by not beating Snow and Snow couldn't take the clean pinfall loss if they wanted to set him up as something bigger down the road, so they painted themselves into a corner and had to do the ref bump. The good news is that it played right into Hennig's character so it wasn't all bad, and Hennig actually pulled a serviceable match out of Snow, so credit to him for that. Larry Nelson runs down the show and talks about how Mitch Snow showed he has what it takes, it's just a matter of time. He runs down Gagne's match, Dundee and Lawler's match, as well as Dick Slater's match and the possible connection between Slater and Curt Hennig. He gives more props to the poor little crippled boy they chose for Fan of the Week and pimps out the prizes before telling us to come back next week for more AWA action! Final Thoughts A real boring show to come back on unfortunately. Lots of squash matches, no fantastic promos and a semi-entertaining main event all add up to a thumbs down from me. There were no real peaks and valleys for this show, it just kind of started out in the semi-bad rut and flatlined there for the entire hour. Ah well, they can't all be winners, let's get to the comments!! Fun With Comments From Steve: ""Richards isn't great so this one pretty much sucked a dick. Ironic considering Rich's finisher." Even worse, on the replay after the match, they camera zoomed in on Richards' face when Rich was pinning him 1-2-3. "Dick"ery at its finest. Oh yes, and Dick Slater was on the show too. I could think of a good tagline for this show after watching it: "According to AWA Announcer Larry Nelson, who doesn't even know what a 2-ring Battle Royal is, a match between Jerry Blackwell and Nailz in 1987 would sell out arenas all across the country. That's this episode in a nutshell." " Pretty much nailed it right there, Steve. Poor Larry Nelson. He tried so hard but he just wasn't very good at his job. I mean the WWF had Mean Gene, the NWA had Tony Schiavone and the AWA had Larry Nelson. I think you see what I mean in that equation. Larry had great facial expressions and sold everything like it was death, but he just didn't seem like he was someone who could report things and be the "straight news" type that Mean Gene and Tony were to an extent. It's not to say that Larry wasn't entertaining, it was just more in the "I can't believe he said that" way than in a good way. From Josh: "Verne could be a stubborn SOB could he? That can help (vince) and kill your business. It killed Verne cause he was stubborn in a bad way. Paul E and Hennig are now in a position where not even they cant save this show. Verne was too busy shoving Olympic wrestling segments featuring guys who had the combined personality of a brick town the throats of 1% who watches his show. On another note, the hot chick i was studying with just slammed the door and left cause i spit soda on her from laughing like a Joker laughing gas victim when i read your description of Verne in the truck. "how do I enter that into this crazy electric machine?" Tremendous my friend. Since you mentioned the Simpsons, I would add Greg is the Smithers to Verne's CM Burns but without the homoerotic overtones. " Verne was stubborn all the way, right up until the doors closed and held on bitterly to what he had. I agree that the Olympic segments are pretty godawful, but those are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the AWA's problems. They were a distant third at this point and everyone, including Verne to an extent, saw it. By the way, I'm glad you liked my little piece of business in there and I'm glad you enjoy the column! From Dave: "I didn't mean that Tommy wasn't doing the Thesz press. I meant at one point in his career it look ALOT more like he was just having sex with the other guy.(IE grinding his hips during the pin. Yeah it was pretty disturbing.) Anyway that leads into something, "Dirty Dick" Slater. Why would anybody brag about that and I really feel sorry for his girlfriend since she's on the receiving end, literally. (One of my friends from years ago pointed out that interpretation for that nick name. Now I can't watch any of his matches without giggling everytime they say his nick name.) Oh and one other thing, a sunset flip as a finish? I mean a god aweful one at that? That kid can't do anything right." Yeah, Rich's homoerotic overtones always touched me as a little off-putting. As for Dirty Dick, maybe that's why he was getting so pissed about being called that on this show. It must have been cutting into his supply of rats or something. From Guest: "One thing you had to say about the AWA at this point . They always used the top jobbers.They should have probably had a jobber tournament. I can see Dennis Stamp and Tony Leone both in the finals with a double count out (no decision). " I guess it's a situation where they had to have the top of the top jobbers to make their green talent look good. It's not as noticeable when you've got good talent in there with the job guys, but when it's some lackey like Kevin Kelly or later on The Top Guns, it's VERY noticeable how much better a good job guy makes the match. At least that's one thing Verne did right. From Doug: "Has there been an AWA show yet with no stereotypes? I think everyone has had at least one of the following - a Soviet wrestler, a South African racist, or a gay wrestler/gay wrestler bashing - for every show. The real question is did we ever get the Russions, the good Colonel, AND Adrian Adonis on the same episode? That's where Vern missed the boat. " From Guest. : "Doug: No, Adonis was dead by the time DeBeers returned to the AWA. DeBeers did team with Soldat and Teijo Khan in a six-man though during the Alliance to End Hulkamania V.0.5 On Rich: If you've read the infamous sleaze list that's out there, its alleged Rich did some "favors" for his NWA title reign. And tonight's show sucked, its sad that the best part of the show was a cringe-worthy racist promo by Paul E. Although, I thought Blackwell/Kelly was a hell of a lot better than I thought it'd be. I'll call that Baron Von Raschke syndrome, in that you're expecting a match to be absolutely horrid cause of the participants, then you're surprised when its only half-bad. " I had heard about the "favors" in the past but I wouldn't want to speculate any further since a lot of that is indeed speculation. I'd agree about being surprised that the Blackwell/Kelly match wasn't atrocious, but it was still pretty damn terrible. As for the racist stereotypes, that was part of Verne living in the past. Stereotypes sold HUGE in the seventies and even into the early-eighties, but that time was slowly starting to pass in wrestling and Verne just didn't see it. Sure there were examples of it in the NWA and WWF even into the nineties, but it wasn't as blatant as it was in the AWA. Old-school mentality I suppose. From OB1 Jabroni: "Randy my man: Why do u do this to urself brother?? First the AWA, then NWA Wrestling Showcase, and now the UWF?? Did Santa put coal in your stocking?? Props for taking on the new roles man, I dig the NWA stuff, whenever that don't rerun shows, and the UWF has been done be4 on here, but hopefully with a little more of your style, it may be fun to watch again. Just don't get away from the MMA stuff you do, it is the best in the nest. I may see u in the future whenever they need Ohio Valley Wrestling reviewed on here... " I do it because no one else would touch them with a twenty-foot pole. That and I have to say that it's almost fun in a bizarre way to see how bad these shows can get before I develop a serious enough dependency on drugs or alcohol that I need treatment. I'm proud to say that I have my addictions under control for the time being, but that could change at a moment's notice if we start getting into the very end shows of the AWA with Jake Milliman: World Beater. By the way, look for the UWF report to be up later today or tomorrow and the NWA Wrestling Showcase shows to start once I get some logistics cleared up. As for the MMA, I am still plugging along with that stuff at Nokaut.com where I'm the editor of the site, so be sure to tell all of your friends about the site and come by to check it out. From soy: "why wont they air episodes past 1988? seems like they only stay in the '86-'88 range. I would like to see the train wreck that is 1989 until closing. " I don't know, but I hope they get there soon. I am very interested and excited to get to see the end of days of the AWA with my nearly 28-year-old smark eyes as opposed to the mark eyes when I was nine and ten. From paulErules: "I almost woke my wife and kids up I was laughing so hard at Paul E's chinese and gay impressions. They reminded me of that old ECW t-shirt that said "Politically incorrect and damn proud of it". Also how come the F wasn't bleeped out when the announcers said WWF? I guess ESPN isn't afraid of the panda bear." I think that this show is so far under the radar that no one cares. That and I think that the settlement only keeps WWE from referring to themselves as WWF. Guys on ESPN still say WWF all the time and on one cares so I think it's just a matter of keeping the WWE from using it. People saying it on occasion elsewhere isn't enough to get the panda lawyers freaking out. Finally, some comments on the hot topic of the past week...my absence! Firstly, from Guest#6797: "no AWA columns the past couple days...what will we do " From Tracy: ""no AWA columns the past couple days...what will we do" Randy must have finally cracked... " From Shiska With Chutzpah: "Poor Randy. He's somewhere in an asylum in a strait-jacket rocking back and forth in a padded room going, "Greg Gagne wins again, Greg Gagne wins again, the Wrestlerock Rumble means The End of All Mankind..." We love ya and miss ya, Randy " Finally, from D.P.: "UGHHH. i waited until I got to work this weekend so i could read the reviews and they arent up =( . anyways,man I tell you the more I see Lawler wrestle the less impressed I feel about him. he wrestles almost the same match 20 years later against the politically incorrect heel of the week on the indys.make the other guy look like crap. i think his finisher sucks too. Dundee is worse. I felt bad for the Midnights in their title match. Hennig and Paul E are the highlights of the show sadly Paul E wont be around much longer. they arent great or usually good(except Adonis sometimes) but Adonis,Rich,Slater,Southern and Perterson etc. are alot better than most of the stuff coming into the AWA soon. " I would like to thank Shiska for the very nice e-mail as well, wondering if I had indeed finally thrown my bowl of Froot Loops against the wall and gone over to the crazy side. I was actually taken away with other work that kept me from getting the AWA reports up and done, but I have the shows on the DVR and this week there will be bonus reports from the Tuesday and Wednesday episodes of last week. I could never abandon all of my precious little snowflakes and leave them without the joys of watching a man crumble under the weight of shitty wrestling. Somebody PLEASE think of the children!! And that does it for comments and for this comeback edition of the AWA on ESPN Classic Report. Keep your eyes peeled for the bonus reports as well as the UWF crap-tacular and I'll see you all back here tomorrow for more classic wrestling!
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:41:54 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Larry Nelson welcomes us to another episode and another Fan of the Week winner, some old bat from Michigan who loves her the wrasslin'. We get the rundown of the show and it sounds like it's a bit of the dregs, although we're going to get a tribute to Mad Dog Vachon and we're going to see some highlights from one of his matches from the past.
Match One: Rick Gantner vs. Billy Jack Strong w/Wahoo McDaniel
The graphic has him listed as Steve Strong, but at least they got everything else right so they've got that going for them. Strong looks juiced to the tits by the way, in case you're interested in that kind of thing. I mean he's not Batista with veins that look like garden hoses, but he's close. They hit the lockup after Strong taunts Gantner a little and Strong just shoves Gantner off into the corner. Gantner charges and tries a couple of shoulderblocks but Strong doesn't budge and Gantner goes flying both times. Top wristlock now from Gantner and Strong throws him off to the mat, making sure he hits all the power spots. Now that his moveset is exhausted, expect a finish right away. Verne on color wonders what kind of Indian tribe Strong belongs to and I can say right now, without hesitiation that he's a full-blooded Caucasaw. Strong pushes Gantner into the ropes and gives him a clean break, which pisses him off to no end. He yells at the referee then turns back to Strong, pushing him into the corner before hitting a couple of cheap shots. Gantner gets a side headlock and rakes Strong's eyes across the top rope before going to the gut with some punches. He rams Strong into the top turnbuckle and goes for an Irish whip but Strong reverses and hits a HUGE clothesline coming out of the corner. NASTY jumping DDT from Strong and he hits a big bodyslam before getting a belly to back suplex with a bridge for the three-count.
Winner: Billy Jack Strong (pinfall, belly to back suplex)
Match Analysis: Eh. Nothing offensive and it was just here to get Strong introduced to the people as Wahoo's protege. Seriously, I don't recall him being around for much longer after this so it didn't really go anywhere, but it was kind of funny to see them trying to pass Strong off as a great "Indian" star.
We come back to Wahoo McDaniel in the interview area and that he has a bit of a distraction as he's going to team with Jerry Blackwell and Tommy Rich to face off with The Dangerous Alliance. McDaniel talks about how good his partners are and that it's going to be interesting when they get in with Dangerously's men. He kind of loses his place when it comes to the promo and then gets into Adonis lying about his weight and then says that Adonis might hurt someone but if he does, he's going to have an Indian on his trail. Soldat Ustinov busts in with a picture of Lenin and he and Larry Nelson argue about whether Ustinov can show it until the commercial break.
Match Two: AWA Television Championship Tournament Soldat Ustinov vs. JT Southern
JT covers all of his bases getting into the ring, shaking hands with a crippled kid in the front row and a nun. If he doesn't win now, it's because Jesus hates him. Rod Trongard still calls JT a "David Lee Roth lookalike", but if Roth looked like that, I'm pretty sure he would have kissed the front end of a bus by now. The match finally gets underway and Ustinov pushes Southern into the ropes off of a lockup but actually gives up a clean break. Another lockup and Southern shoves Ustinov into the corner, getting a couple of armdrag takedowns when Ustinov charges. The classy folks in the high school gym start chanting "Russia Sucks!" and Ustinov takes over with a standing arm-wringer but Southern reverses it with the power of the "USA" chant. Ustinov gets to his feet and then chops Southern before Irish whipping him into the ropes. They stalemate on a shoulderblock then JT throws a right hand that looks so shitty that Ustinov doesn't even duck it before grabbing Southern and hitting him with an atomic drop. Ustinov goes for a big elbowdrop but Southern rolls out of the way, getting to his feet for an armbar on the big Russian. Ustinov shoves him into the corner and goes to work on him before Irish whipping him into the corner. Ustinov misses the charge in and gets taken over again with another armdrag takedown and Southern goes back to the standing arm-wringer. Ustinov reverses and hits some forearms to the shoulder before kicking Southern in the gut. Irish whip from Ustinov and he hits a BIG hip toss that gets him a long two-count. Another Irish whip and there's a HUGE Russian boot from Ustinov that gets him another, even LONGER, two-count. Reverse chinlock now and Ustinov cranks away as Southern sits on the mat and listens to him call spots. Elbows to the gut by Southern but Ustinov stops the comeback, Irish whipping him in for a big clothesline that gets two. Stomps from Ustinov and he hits a big bodyslam before missing a legdrop off the ropes and JT and Ustinov trade shots with Ustinov coming out on top of things. Irish whip in from Ustinov and Southern gets a sunset flip into a two-count but Ustinov just hammers away with forerarms. Turnbuckle smash from Ustinov into a BIG vertical suplex and there's another two-count on JT before Ustinov just chokes the piss out of him. Ustinov stomps away now and then chokes Southern across the top rope, slingshotting him back into the ring. Ustinov gets another long two-count off of a bodyslam and he picks Southern up for anoth...SMALL PACKAGE FROM SOUTHERN!! 1-2-3!!! Southen rolls out to the floor and celebrates the big win as Ustinov curses and stomps around in the middle of the ring.
Winner: JT Southern (pinfall, small package)
Match Analysis: Started out fairly decent but the wheels seemed to come off at the end and Southern was doing everything at half-speed. It was an alright match, just really distracting at the end when Southern was moving super slow on his charges and his comebacks. I'm not sure if he took a stiff one and ended up being a little foggy for the match or if it was just him being blown up three minutes in, but it was a problem for the match. At least Ustinov can say he wasn't the worst guy in the match for once.
Larry Nelson pimps the house shows and we hear someone screaming at him off-camera. He finishes the pimpage and there's Paul E. Dangerously laying on the new AWA set and talking on his phone. He asks about how much time he has to talk about the Midnights and says that since they won the titles he's been fielding offers from Mexico, Japan, South America and everywhere that wants to see The ORIGINAL Midnight Express in action. He says that he's heard about Nick Kiniski and Kevin Kelly talking about how the Midnights don't deserve the belts. He gets all indignant and says that anyone that wants a title shot will get one because they don't back down from anyone.
We hear about Mad Dog Vachon and how unpredictable a wrestler he was and we get to see highlights of a match featuring Vachon and Verne Gagne against Jerry Blackwell and Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie from Super Sunday in 1983. It's the same match that has been featured in a previous AWA show in the Mat Classic segment where Sheik's cast gets ripped off by Vachon and Gagne and Gagne pinning Sheik after a jumping kneedrop onto the arm of El-Kaissie. We get Mean Gene in the ring with Gagne and Vachon and Verne says that it felt great to be out of retirement while Vachon says that it proves that Verne and the Mad Dog are still man's best friends and it's dog eat dog. Verne says that there's only one Mad Dog Vachon. This leads to Verne talking with Larry Nelson and he says that if one person can overcome the accident that he suffered, it'd be Mad Dog Vachon. He talks about their past and that Vachon was the most unpredictable wrestler he's ever met. Verne mentions Mad Dog's word and how it was good as gold and that you could always trust what the Mad Dog had to say. Verne tells a story about how they were flying from Omaha to Minneapolis and that Mad Dog opened the door of the plane to look at the stars and that they all thought that the plane was going to go down.
Match Three: Wahoo McDaniel, Tommy Rich and Jerry Blackwell vs. The ORIGINAL Midnight Express and Adrian Adonis w/ Paul E. Dangerously
The Express have the AWA Tag Team Championships with them and it's almost weird to see a wrestler wearing their belt since no one does that these days. McDaniel threatens Rose and then starts things out with Condrey and they lockup with McDaniel threatening a chop before Condrey leans into the ropes. Standing arm-wringer from Condrey and Wahoo chops his way out of it, going to the eyes and sending Condrey into the wrong corner for Blackwell to pop him one in the chops. Tag to Rich now and he takes Condrey over with an arm-wringer, dropping a knee onto the bicep before locking in an armbar. Condrey goes to the eyes to break the hold and tags in Randy Rose but he gets slammed right out of the gate before Rich grabs a side headlock into a takeover. Rose shoots him off into the ropes and tries a couple of elbows and clotheslines but misses them all and Rich takes him down with a cross bodyblock. That gets a one-count as Adonis comes into the ring and the referee breaks the count. Side headlock from Rich and he tags in Blackwell and the big man hits a running forearm to the back of the head. Rose manages to recover a little and pushes Blackwell into his corner, tagging to Adonis, who works over Blackwell with some chops in the corner. Verne on color assures his place in hell by talking about the nun on the outside, questioning if it's a real nun or if it's even really a "she". Yep, call that woman of God a possible tranny Verne, that's one hell of a good idea when business is flopping. He can flood cities at the drop of a hat and yet you tempt fate by pissing Him off when your company is hanging by a thread.
Tag to Condrey and they double-team Blackwell in the corner before Condrey stomps away and tags Rose. They do some double-teaming and Rose hits some shoulderblocks on Blackwell before tagging Adonis in. Adonis hits a front facelock into an arm-wringer and makes a tag to Condrey and they keep on the arm of Blackwell with that arm-wringer.Blackwell drops Condrey with a big headbutt but he manages to tag in Rose to cut of the comeback. Rose comes in to eat a ton of headbutts and staggers a little before pushing Blackwell back into the corner and tagging in Condrey. Condrey works some knees to the gut and then taunts McDaniel to allow Adonis and Rose to do some double-teaming. Tag to Adonis and he hits a big elbow to the arm and PICKS UP BLACKWELL FOR A BODYSLAM!!! HOOOOOOOOOOOLY SHIT!! Adonis goes down holding his back and takes a second to get up before bouncing off the ropes for a big splash. BLACKWELL MOVES!! TAG TO TOMMY RICH!! Right hands on Adonis and a BIG back bodydrop. More rights from Rich and Adonis goes to the eyes and hits a drop toehold to make the tag to Randy Rose. Rose picks Rich up for a big bodyslam and goes to the top rope for a VADER SPLASH!! Two-count off of that and Rose goes to a reverse chinlock to grind at Rich's face.
Rich makes it to his feet and works some reverse elbows, shoulderblocking Rose down but Rose hops right back on him with a hard shot that gets him another two-count before going back to the reverse chinlock. Rose tries a fistdrop but Rich rolls out of the way, crawling his way over to his corner as Rose does the same. Adrian Adonis comes in and distracts Wahoo and the referee gets him out of the ring, allowing Condrey and Rose to make the illegal switch and Condrey tries to take over with an Irish whip but Rich hits a forearm and MAKES THE HOT TAG TO WAHOO!! CHOPS FOR EVERYBODY!!!! Adonis goes up top and gets caught and slammed off by Tommy Rich as Wahoo grabs a small package on Randy Rose in the middle of the ring. 1....2....3!!! It's all over!!!
Winners: Tommy Rich, Jerry Blackwell and Wahoo McDaniel (pinfall, Wahoo small package)
Match Analysis: A pretty good little six-man main event. The crowd was either really dead or poorly mic'd, which was a bit distracting but all six guys put in a really good effort and it was fun to see Adonis manage to get Blackwell up for the big slam. McDaniel getting the pinfall on Rose furthers an angle with Wahoo and Rich possibly getting a shot at the title and it looks like they were going to try to push a Blackwell/Adonis deal as well, so there was lots going on which is a little unexpected for the AWA. Solid main event all the way around.
We get Larry giving us our usual rundown and he puts over the AWA as the original wrestling league. He sends best wishes to Mad Dog Vachon again and talks about that match we saw featuring him and Verne Gagne as a tag team and then brings up the old hag that's the Fan of the Week again before pimping the address. Next week, more wrestling, AWA, out!!
Final Thoughts
This was actually not that terrible a show. Strong's squash match was interesting in the fact that you weren't sure whether he was going to pop from all the "supplements' coursing through his veins. The Ustinov/Southern match flagged a little but was still perfectly acceptable wrestling. End things off with a six-man tag match that was actually pretty hot towards the end and I'd say that this show was a solid thumbs in the middle. One more solid match or one of the the three matches being a great one would have put it to the thumbs up, but honestly with how rough these shows have been lately, I'll take thumbs in the middle. To the comments!!
Fun With Comments
A little thin on the comments, but that's to be expected after such a long delay.
From Scrotum Pole/Randy Marsh: "Nick Kiniski looks like the result of a Greg the Hammer Valentine 95 pound couric. "
Kiniski looked a lot like a Greg Valentine that got stuck in the drier. Shame he didn't have that little spark that made Valentine so entertaining to watch because it would have made things a lot better for him in the long run.
Finally, from Teijo Kahn: ""Not sure where they're taping this one but it looks like there was a problem with the power and they're taping with the emergency lights on. Dark and REALLY hard to see but I soldier on."- It's the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater's Williams Center. They hyped up the big Lawler/Dundee vs. Midnights match on two shows last week, and then showed that and other matches taped there last Thursday. "
Ahhhh..thanks for the info. I'll be looking for that Thursday episode to see if I can find it online to be able to do the title change. As for the first title change with Lawler and Dundee winning the belts, expect to see that show coming up later today as one of the bonus AWA reports to cover the shows I missed last week.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:43:12 GMT -6
87
AWA Championship Wrestling
Larry Nelson welcomes us to the show and says that he has a very confusing situation to talk about, saying that Boris Zhukov ran away from the AWA after being driven out by Wahoo McDaniel. Since Zhukov was part of the AWA Tag Team Champions when he left, his partner, Soldat Ustinov was allowed to pick any partner he wanted and picked Doug Somers. He talks about how Bill Dundee and Jerry Lawler beat Doug Somers and Soldat Ustinov to become the new Tag Team Champions and that early in the program we're going to see Soldat Ustinov and Doug Somers defending their titles and at the end of the bout we'll see Lawler and Dundee with the straps. Yeah, not at all devaluing to the titles.
Match One: AWA World Tag Team Championship JT Southern and DJ Peterson vs. Soldat Ustinov and Doug Somers (c)
DJ and JT come to the ring with some shitty guitar rock version of "Locomotion" which is really bad. Peterson gets ahold of Ustinov's flag, tears it off the pole and then breaks the pole before the match starts and Ustinov looks like he wasn't expecting that to happen. MANLY RUSSIAN TEARS~! Somers and Peterson start things out and they hit a lock-up with Somers shooting Peterson into the ropes for a rope-running sequence before Peterson hits a big hip toss. Another lock-up and Somers pushes Peterson into the corner for a big chop but gets reversed on an Irish whip and hits the corner hard before rolling to the outside. Tag to Ustinov now and Rod Trongard makes fun of Ustinov shaving his head to get rid of his weird Russian 'fro as Ustinov grabs a side headlock. Peterson tries to get free into a top wristlock but Ustinov just powers him right back into the headlock. Peterson shoots Ustinov off into the ropes and gets flipped inside out with a shoulderblock before he hits a jumping headscissors into a one-count. Ustinov's had enough and tags Somers back in and he tries to suck Peterson into a test of strength in his corner. Side headlock from Somers and he hits a punch to the nose before snap maring Peterson over and stomps on his face. Tag to Ustinov with a double-axehandle and they slug it out in the middle of the ring before Ustinov takes over and snap mares Peterson into a reverse chinlock.
Transition to a side headlock and Peterson takes Ustinov over with a belly to back suplex before making the tag to JT Southern. Irish whip into a back bodydrop from Southern and he snap mares Ustinov right into a chinlock. Now that's how you use a hot tag JT, hit two moves then go to a resthold. Great psychology. Ustinov pushes Somers back into the corner and Somers takes over with the tag rope while the referee is distracted with DJ Peterson. Tag to Somers and he starts stomping and choking away at Southern, picking him up for a short right hand. BIG vertical suplex from Somers and Ustinov tags in for more stomping. Irish whip into the ropes and Ustinov hits a BIG boot to the chest for a two-count. Right hands from Southern but Ustinov just takes over with more shots and then drags Southern by the hair to his corner to tag in Somers. Right hands from Somers and a turnbuckle smash before he tags Ustinov back in. Irish whip from Ustinov and it's RUSSIAN BEARHUG TIME!!! Southern hits a couple of right hands and breaks the hold but Ustinov holds onto the tights, nearly mooning the crowd with Southern's ass before dragging him by the boots into his corner and tagging Somers. Short kneedrop from Somers gets a two-count and he unloads with a right hand but Southern fires back with shots and Irish whips Somers in for a big back bodydrop before he tags in Peterson!
Snap mare into an elbowdrop and Peterson hooks the leg to get a two-count before Somers ends up in the wrong part of town. Southern holds him in the corner and Peterson runs in with a knee to the gut, following it up with a snap suplex that gets a long, LONG two-count. Peterson gets ahold of Somers' legs and drops a boot to the back of the thigh before getting a hamstring pull and tagging in Southern. Southern covers and gets a two-count before he snap mares Somers over into a kneedrop and another hamstring pull. Southern gets both legs and drops all of his weight onto the inside of Somers' thigh a couple of times before getting another two-count. Southern slingshots Somers up into the corner and Peterson is waiting with a big right hand. Tag to Peterson and he gets a roll-up for one before snapping Somers off the ropes and locking in a reverse leglock. Ustinov comes in to break it up and save Somers and things kind of fall apart for a minute as they try to get the right guys into the ring and it ends up with Southern and Ustinov in the ring and Southern getting a dropkick before Irish whipping Ustinov into the ropes for a big reverse elbow. Southern hits another elbow but Ustinov goes to the eyes and throws Southern through the ropes to the floor. Somers lays a couple of boots in on Southern from the apron and Ustinov drags him back up to the apron by the hair, dropping a couple of hard forearm shots that send him back down to the floor.
Somers again with the boots as Southern tries to get back into the ring and Peterson heads over to check on Southern on the floor. Southern finally rolls back in and Ustinov works him over with a couple of forearms before getting snap mared over into a reverse chinlock. Ustinov pushes Southern into the corner and makes the tag to Somers but Southern hammers away at him and makes the tag to Peterson!! Peterson with a big Irish whip into the corner on Somers and he follows it up with a monkey flip that he rolls through on for a two-count. Irish whip in and Peterson hits an ASS-UGLY dropkick that gets a two-count before Ustinov makes the save. Big bodyslam from Peterson and he's up on the second rope and hits his TNT shoulderblock!! Ustinov saves Somers again and all four men are brawling in the ring until Peterson tries a roll-up on Somers. Ustinov catches him and grabs him by the hair, throwing him over the top rope right in front of the referee and that's it, he's calling for the bell!
Winners: DJ Peterson and JT Southern (disqualification, over the top rope rule)
Match Analysis: This wasn't actually too terrible. I mean it wasn't great or anything and there was the screwy finish, but all four guys busted ass and actually put on a decent little match. There was some repetitiveness in the spots, but when there's three greener guys and one veteran in the ring, that's to be expected. They covered it up as well as they could though and the result was actually quite watchable. A very unexpected surprise to start the show.
Back from the break, Larry Nelson says that now that we've saw two teams fighting for the AWA Tag Team Championships, we're going to see two men in action who are the new champions. We head to the interview area in Memphis to see Dundee and Lawler with Lance Russell and Dundee talks about not selling the Midnight Express short and that they don't plan on losing their newly-won titles. Lawler says that it's always tougher to keep a belt than it is to win it and that night in and night out you face the toughest competition in the world. He puts over how good the Express is and that he's had a personal run-in with Dangerously in Memphis. He lays out how Dangerously, Tommy Rich and Austin Idol cost him a match where his head got shaved and that he's out for revenge on Dangerously.
Match Two: Van Van Horne and Bryan Costello vs. The ORIGINAL Midnight Express
Van Van Horne and Dennis Condrey open up and Condrey does a little amateur wrestling before he hits a big slam on Van Horne and rams him into the knee of Randy Rose on the outside. Tag to Rose now and HE gets a big slam before coming off the ropes with a kneedrop that gets two. Tag to Condrey and he hits a big kneelift before forcing Van Horne to make the tag to Costello. Kneelift and a forearm from Condrey on Costello and he takes him over with a big snap suplex before stepping over him to tag in Rose. Irish whip into the ropes and Rose hits a BIG clothesline, tagging in Condrey for more punishment. Condrey chokes Costello across the top rope and pops Van Horne one in the face before making a tag to Rose. They work Costello with some forearms and Rose Irish whips him into the ropes again for a back bodydrop. Tag to Condrey and Rose Irish whips Costello in, taking him down with a drop toehold before Condrey hits a big splash on the back. He grinds Costello's face into the canvas before doing another bit of amateur wrestling and taking Costello over with an Oklahoma roll for a two-count. Headbutt from Condrey and he whips Costello into the corner so he can tag Van Horne back in. Condrey shoves Van Horne into the corner and tags in Rose, who gets a big inverted atomic drop in on Van Horne before stomping away at him. Tag to Condrey and Van Horne gets a couple of right hands in as he tags Costello and they work over Condrey in their corner for a moment. Condrey makes his own save, knocking both jobbers down and walking over to tag in Rose. Rose tags Condrey right back in and Irish whips Costello into the corner before whipping Condrey into Costello for a reverse elbow. They hit a sweet-looking doubleteam move as Rose lowbridges Costello as Condrey hits a big clothesline and the referee can count to a hundred because this one is all over!!
Winners: The ORIGINAL Midnight Express (pinfall, low-bridge clothesline)
Match Analysis: Squash to build the Midnights towards an eventual AWA Tag Team Championship match. Nothing offensive and the Midnights managed to keep it short enough to avoid repeating their signature spots which is a very good thing. Dangerously's manic energy at ringside is always a treat too.
Match Three: Kevin Collins vs. Adrian Adonis
Adonis waddles his way to the ring and tells the crowd to shut up as Verne Gagne talks about how Adonis reminds him a lot of Gorgeous George from back in the day. I'd actually say it's a pretty direct rip-off. They hit a lock-up and the referee has to get in between them to separate them before they lock-up again with Adonis pushing Collins into the corner. Another forced separation from the referee and Adonis suckers Collins in, blocking a right hand and dropping one of his own before just kneeing the piss out of Collins. Adonis chokes him across the top rope before he chops him down and follows that up with a kneedrop. Adonis flings Collins through the ropes to the floor and off-camera, Collins takes a phone shot from Paul E. before rolling slowly back into the ring. Sloppy neckbreaker from Adonis and he locks in GOODNIGHT IRENE!!! It's just a matter of time now. The referee calls for the bell and Adonis won't let go of the sleeper hold. Dangerously and the referee can't get Adonis off and they're continuing to ring the bell and just as two of the jobber squad make their way into the ring Adonis lets it go and leaves, stomping on Collins for good measure. The referee talks to the ring announcer and he's reversed the decision. Adrian Adonis has been disqualified and the winner of the match is Kevin Collins! Verne runs into the ring and helsp to wake Collins up from the effects of the hold as Rod Trongard talks about how dangerous the hold is and the effects of the hold if it's held on for too long.
Winner: Kevin Collins (disqualification, not breaking the sleeper)
Match Analysis: Another squash for the Dangerous Alliance and again, it's mainly trying to get Adonis over as a bad-ass, while still letting him have his fruity moments. I like that they're doing the injury angle with him holding the sleeper after the bell and that they actually did a reversal on the decision, but it still seems a little counter-productive. I understand they're trying for contrast with the ass-kicker in pink, but it just doesn't work for me.
After the commercial, Paul E. Dangerously joins us to talk about Dundee and Lawler's comments from earlier in the show, wearing a white fedora and a sweater he must have stolen from Bill Cosby's closet. What a hideous sweater. He talks about how in any wrestling publication you'll see stories about how Lawler got his head shaved by the Dangerous Alliance in the Mid-South Coliseum. He says that this is Lawler's chance to get his revenge but he's not going to get it because there's no way that they're great enough to get past the Express. He says that The Midnights are the only team that Lawler and Dundee have never beaten and gets angrier just thinking about it. Nelson accuses Paul E. of being scared and Dangerously just threatens Lawler and Dundee again before the promo finishes up.
Back from another break and Larry Nelson talks about the sad situation of Mad Dog Vachon and his partial amputation of his leg. He brings out former AWA Champ Verne Gagne and he talks about how he's known Vachon since the late 40's and puts over how great Vachon was and how tough he was. He talks about how Vachon was a man of his word and they all wish him the best before going to a match in progress.
Match Four: AWA Tag Team Championship Bill Dundee and Jerry Lawler vs. Doug Somers and Soldat Ustinov (c)
We indeed join this match in progress with Ustinov holding Dundee in the big RUSSIAN BEARHUG!! Dundee is struggling to hold on and Ustinov is just crushing away at him but he gets a couple of shots to the eyes and breaks free of the hold but Somers tags in right away and drops some elbows to keep Dundee in trouble. Two-count for Somers after the elbowdrop and he follows that up with a BIG vertical suplex. Tag to Ustinov and he stomps away at Dundee, whipping him into the ropes for ANOTHER RUSSIAN BEARHUG!! Dundee again with right hands to break the hold and Lawler sneaks in and kicks Ustinov RIGHT IN HIS RUSSIAN NUTS!! Dundee is too hurt to tag though and Ustinov tags in Somers, who rams Dundee into the turnbuckle. Stomps to the lower back from Somers and he picks Dundee up by the tights for a gut-wrench suplex. Tag to Ustinov and he Irish whips Dundee in for the BIG boot to the face before scooping him up for a HUGE bodyslam that gets another two-count. Ustinov rams Dundee's head into Somers' knee and Irish whips him into the ropes again for A THIRD RUSSIAN BEARHUG!!! This has to be covered by the Geneva Convention or something because three Russian bearhugs are some sort of torture I'd think. At least it feels like torture watching it over and over. Lawler dropkicks Dundee in the back and throws Ustinov off-balance but Ustinov just tags in Somers and he stomps away at Dundee before pushing him into the corner for a HARD chop. Somers puts the badmouth on him a little before stomping some more and Irish whipping him into the ropes for a big back bodydrop that gets two. Dundee gets a small package off of a Somers suplex attempt but they're too close to the ropes and Somers just chokes the shit out of him for having the gall to even attempt to mount an offense.I mean REALLY choking him..for a good thirty seconds or so before he tags in Ustinov. Irish whip from Ustinov and it's RUSSIAN BEARHUG NUMBER FO...oh, it's a sunset flip from Dundee that gets a one-count. HARD forearm shot from Ustinov and he Irish whips Dundee in and NOW IT'S RUSSIAN BEARHUG THE FOURTH!! I guess my prognostication skills are off by about half a minute. Dundee goes to the eyes again to break the hold but Ustinov tags in Somers and Somers chokes Dundee across the bottom rope. Lawler's seen enough and comes in to pop Somers with a right hand but Somers still keeps on hits another vertical suplex as the ring announcer says that we're sixteen minutes into the match with forty-four left to go. What an arbitrary time to make that announcement. Somers goes up top and clumsily dives off and smacks his head on the mat as Dundee rolls out of the way. HOT TAG TO LAWLER!! DOWN COMES THE STRAP!!! RIGHT HANDS FOR SOMERS AND USTINOV!! DOUBLE NOGGIN-KNOCKER!! IRISH WHIP AND A HUGE RIGHT FOR SOMERS!! Tag to Dundee and Somers takes over on him as Lawler and Ustinov brawl on the other side of the ring. Somers tries to run Dundee into the turnbuckle but Dundee climbs up to the second rope and comes off with a big splash!! ONE, TWO, THREE!!! NEW CHAMPIONS!! THE COLISEUM GOES WILD!! Lance Russell puts it over as the first World Titles to be held by two wrestlers from the Memphis area and the crowd is still going nuts.
Winners: Bill Dundee and Jerry Lawler (pinfall, Dundee splash)
Match Analysis: REALLY repetitive with the spots and that's even in only seeing six or seven minutes of the match. This was by no means a mat classic, but the pop of the crowd for the title change was pretty impressive. It's cool to see a couple of the Memphis guys finally get their due when for years and years they could never manage to get over on a World Champ that came to town. It's a little telling though too because when business was up in Memphis they didn't need to pop a crowd by doing a title change like that. Just goes to show that business was tough everywhere, even in places that were traditional wrestling hotbeds, which ended up leading to the co-promotion albatross that seemingly killed off the remaining territories. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not talking a lot about the match because it wasn't a lot to write home about.
Larry Nelson kisses Lawler and Dundee's ass and talks about how great it is to have champions that the AWA can be proud of before throwing it to commercial. Back from the break, Nelson runs down the show and the title change and sucks Lawler and Dundee's nuts again, calling them "fine people", before he pimps out the Wisconsin TV taping where they'll defend the AWA Tag Team Championship against the ORIGINAL Midnight Express. He does the Fan of the Week blubbering and butchers the kid's name four or five different ways before promising that if you send your cards and letters to the AWA that YOU could be the one having your name mispronounced on national television!! He does the usual pleading for us to watch again next week and we're out!
Final Thoughts
I would go with a slight thumbs up for this show, mainly because of the opening tag match and the title change in the main event. It's still a little silly to show the champs defending at the beginning of the show and losing at the end of the show, but I guess they figured they had the footage and they were going to use it come hell or high water. Outside of the tag matches, there was nothing worth noting, which is why it's only a slight thumbs up, but the fact that the crowd was so molten for that title change warmed my heart a little and pushed me to the positive side.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:44:20 GMT -6
87
AWA Championship Wrestling
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas for the AWA and they've got out their wreaths and all of the bells and whistles for the Holiday season. Larry says he has a lot to talk about and that they're going to cover 1987 in a four-part series, saying that this year it's going to be January, February, and March of '87 being covered. He pushes the Fan of the Week business and then moves on to talk about the Women's Title tournament, as well as the TV Title Tournament, with a main event of Nick Kiniski vs. Greg Gagne. I think that could finally be enough to push me over the edge. He talks about the first match of the card then throws us to it, already in progress.
Match One: DJ Peterson vs. Kevin Kelly w/Madusa Miceli
There are stips for this one and it goes like this. If Peterson wins, he owns Madusa for thirty days, if Kelly wins, Peterson is gone from the AWA permanently. We join the action with Kelly working over Peterson in the corner and then whipping him across, but Peterson reverses the whip and catches Kelly with an armdrag takeover into an armbar. Peterson is in "Johnny Boots and Tights" mode, with no real discernible look. He drops down with Kelly's arm and then goes to a reverse hammerlock. Kelly pushes him into the ropes and then hits a knee to the gut on the break, flinging Peterson out to the floor. Peterson digs a shoulder into Kelly's gut and slingshots over the top for the sunset flip, but Kelly just hauls off and pops Peterson in the face, like a bitch. Kelly picks him up an hits a BIG vertical suplex before he lays some stomps in on Peterson's back. Bodyslam from Kelly and he misses the big elbowsmash, though I'm not surprised since he ran up to drop it like a Special Olympian. He whips Peterson into the ropes but gets kicked in the face and Peterson follows it with a shot to the gut while Kelly tries for a double-axehandle. Right hands from Peterson and he goes fo a whip of his own, putting Kelly down with a back bodydrop, following that with a running clothesline for a two-count. Irish whip into a BIG dropkick from Peterson and he sets him up for another whip and another dropki...Kelly holds onto the ropes and Peterson crashes to the mat. Kelly goes for the big powerslam now and DOWN GOES THE REFEREE!! Kelly counts the pinfall himself and boots referee Gary DeRusha before he picks Peterson up again for another big slam. Peterson holds onto the ropes but Madusa is on the apron, hitting his hands with her shoe. Peterson lets go of the ropes but the momentum sends him backwards on top of Kelly and here's the referee!! 1-2-3!!! Peterson gets Madusa for thirty days!!! Nick Kiniski hits the ring and tries to argue the decision and Alan West comes out to serve as back-up for DJ and DJ's got a hold of Madusa on the outside!! He cavemans her up onto his shoulder and Rod Trongard seems a little too excited at the prospect of Peterson giving Madusa a spanking.
Winner: DJ Peterson (pinfall, Madusa-ference)
Match Analysis: A hot finish for this one and the crowd loved it, but it was a case of Green and Greener. Both guys were terrible in the ring and it showed but because of the angle around it the fans ate it up. The sadder statement is at the end of the match when the lights came up and you could see that the house was barely half-full for their Thanksgiving spectacular. The beginning of the end I tell you.
Larry Nelson talks about the end of the match and how next week we'll get our first look at The Adventures of DJ and Madusa. He also promises that Kevin Kelly is pissed and out for revenge.
Match Two: AWA Tag Team Championship Mike Starr and Sonny Rogers vs. The ORIGINAL Midnight Express w/Paul E. Dangerously (c)
Starr and Rose get this one underway and Starr has the pasty jobber complexion down cold. Rose offers up a handshake but Starr doesn't take it so he takes Starr down with a drop toehold and then scrubs his face on the mat before tagging in Condrey. Condrey just stomps the fuck out of Starr and then pushes him into the corner to force the tag to Rogers. Drop toehold from Condrey now and he picks Rogers up for a big bodyslam before whipping him into the ropes for a reverse elbow. Big slam from Rose and he hits the Vader Splash for a two-count, moving from that to a snap mare and a reverse chinlock. Tag to Condrey and he drops Rogers with an elbow to the back of his head before scrubbing HIS face into the mat. Condrey rides Rogers and amateur wrestles him into a pinning combination but only gets two. He hits a big backbreaker on Rogers and stomps away at him before ramming him into the buckle and tagging in Rose. Rose clotheslines Rogers against the top rope and tags in Condrey and he just FUCKING WAFFLES Rogers with a clothesline that gets the three-count.
Winners: The ORIGINAL Midnight Express (pinfall, Condrey clothesline)
Match Analysis: At least they kept it short enough to have The Midnights look strong over the jobbers. They're building them up as killers for the Midnight Rockers return to the AWA and this one definitely did its job. By the way, Starr was possibly the jobbiest looking jobber I've ever seen and I'm almost offended that he didn't take the pin.
Larry Nelson talks about 1987 and how big a year it's been for the AWA and that there are big things expected for 1988. In comes Kevin Kelly and he freaks out and says that he's going to break Peterson in half next time and that the referee had better learn how to count to three. Curt Hennig follows in and sweet JESUS, those sunglasses are getting bigger every week. He looks like he's going to be Hennig says he's in wrestling for one reason and that's to hold the heavyweight championship of the world. He talks about the new year and new wrestlers and that he's everything all the other wrestlers wish they could be. He calls himself the greatest, then promises to be champion all the way through 1988.
Match Three: Mike Tolos vs. Wahoo McDaniel
Sadly, Tolos has lost his snazzy Greek shirt that could have put him over big time, but he is rocking a fedora though, so it's not all bad. Granted he has a vest on as well, which makes him look a little fruity. Some grandma in the crowd looks ALL KINDS of hot and bothered over Wahoo making an appearance, which is both understandable considering his age, and disgusting considering how wrinkly the old lady is. That will haunt me for months. They circle and Wahoo pushes Tolos into the corner off of a lockup before getting a go-behind and taking Tolos down with an amateur move. He just kind of cuddles on Tolos on the mat for a minute and Tolos rolls over to the ropes for the break. Tolos gives Wahoo a clean break in the corner and then Wahoo reciprocates with a clean break off of the ropes. Wahoo decides he's had enough of this clean break shit and chops the hell out of Tolos in the corner and they trade shots with Wahoo coming out on top (did you really have to question who was going to win that struggle?). Snap mare from Wahoo into a reverse chinlock and he moves to a neck crank which Tolos helpfully sells like he's dying. Tomahawk chop from Wahoo and he shoves Tolos into the corner for shoulderblocks to the gut. Another chop and another snap mare into another neck crank. Wahoo is really exhausting the moves tonight. Another tomahawk chop and he gets two but picks Tolos up in a bit of a dickish move. Here comes the Irish whip and here comes the HUGE CHOP into a short elbowdrop and there's the three-count.
Winner: Wahoo McDaniel (pinfall, big chop)
Match Analysis: The same match Wahoo has all the time, except even more repetitive as he did spots over and over. I know I harp on that a lot but if he's got four minutes, he shouldn't be repeating whole sequences of moves and trying to put it over as "psychology".
Back to Larry Nelson in the AWA studios again and he brings in Greg Gagne to talk about the main event with Nick Kiniski. Gagne says that there are a few guys that are close to the fifty point barrier and that he's hoping to be one of the two that gets there. He puts over how tough Kiniski is and his amateur credentials before Larry Nelson asks about the AWA Women's Title tournament. Gagne brings up the DJ Peterson incident and then puts over how good the women's match will be tonight. Gagne puts over a couple of guys at ESPN and then he turns his attention to Curt Hennig and the heavyweight championship, saying that both are high on his list for 1988.
Match Four: Greg Robertson vs. Adrian Adonis w/Paul E. Dangerously
I will say that you can tell who the AWA was going to push and how thin their talent was, considering you see the same guys week in and week out. Granted, all the weekly shows back then did the same thing but in the AWA it was seemingly the same six guys over and over again. Adonis talks to the referee about his robe and OH GOD, HE PEARL HARBORS ROBERTSON!! Adonis just works him over in the corner with knees, chops and fingernail rakes. Adonis finally gets the robe off and pounds on Robertson some more before he hits a HUGE slam!! He bounces off the ropes and hits an even HUGER SPLASH!!! Services for Mr. Robertson will be held in the Showboat Pavilion parking structure, as soon as they can spatula his ass off the canvas.
Winner: Adrian Adonis (pinfall, big splash)
Match Analysis: Short, meaningless and squashy. Next.
Larry Nelson talks about how next week we're going to get to see Adrian Adonis vs. Tommy Rich and then he brings in Paul E. Dangerously to talk about that situation and the TV Title tournament. Paul E. says that everything in the AWA revolves around himself and then lays out that the Midnight Rockers are coming back on Christmas Day because they want a piece of the Midnight Express and the AWA Tag Team Championship. He says that Tommy Rich won't be wearing the TV Title in 1988 because he's going to make sure that Adrian keeps him from making it to the finals, let alone winning the belt. SO HELP HIM, TOMMY RICH IS GOING OUT FOR GOOD!!!
Larry Nelson goes to the year in review and we cover January, February and March, including the Col. DeBeers/Jimmy Snuka episode, as well as the wars between The Midnight Rockers and Rose and Somers. Larry Nelson talks about how it was the bloodiest fued in wrestling history before we throw it to the end of their famous match from the Showboat that was on Shawn Michaels' first DVD set. He talks about the match between all four men and the match in Bloomington where the Rockers had their last shot at the titles with Larry Nelson in their corner. I believe this one was on the AWA DVD set but I could be wrong. Anyhow, the Rockers get the pin and win the belts. Of course, after all that chase, they got to keep them for three whole months before losing them to the Russians, which made the whole chase seem a little pointless but I digress. Nelson moves on to talk about Hennig/Bockwinkel from New Year's Eve '86 and how that carried over into 1987, showing the end of that classic bout, as well as the rematch from the Showboat. That's the one that had Bockwinkel putting Hennig in the sleeper and Hennig pulling Bockwinkel over the top rope as the finish. That was also the one the drove Hennig off the deep end I do believe. Nelson brings up the next match from Hennig and Bockwinkel but that that match is going to have to wait until next week's segment, as will Mr. Saito, Sgt. Slaughter and Leon White. I'm tingly with anticipation.
Match Five: Nick Kiniski vs. Greg Gagne
There is a smattering of boos in with the cheers when Gagne is introduced, which always makes me laugh. The bell rings and we're underway with Gagne chasing Kiniski around before pushing him into the corner off of a lockup. Side headlock from Kiniski and Gagne shoots him off into the ropes, trying for a hip toss but Kiniski blocks it. Gagne goes up and grabs a headscissors, taking Kiniski over and following it up with an armdrag takedown that sends Kiniski out to the floor. Top wristlock from Kiniski as he gets back into the ring and he takes Gagne down into a straight armbar, moving from that to a short-arm scissors. Gagne reverses it into a roll-up for two but Kiniski pulls the hair and regains the advantage. They work the same reversal spot a couple of times until the referee catches Kiniski and makes him break the hold. Gagne gets all fired up and threatens Kiniski with clenched fists until Kiniski bails to the floor. Back in the ring and they trade hammerlocks and reversals until Kiniski makes the ropes and breaks the hold. Gagne with an armdrag takedown into an armbar and Kiniski screams and sells before whipping Gagne into the ropes for a shoulderblock. Leapfrog from Gagne into a reverse monkey flip and he takes Kiniski back over with another armdrag into the armbar again. Another shot into the ropes and Gagne gets the shoulderblock this time but eats a BIG knee to the gut from Kiniski. Backbreaker from Kiniski now and he covers to only get a one-count before whipping Gagne into the ropes for a CANADIAN BEARHUG!! SQUEEZE HIM LIKE THEY TAUGHT YOU IN THUNDER BAY!!! Gagne breaks free for a moment but Kiniski whips him into the corner and catches him in the bearhug again. Gagne gets the underhooks and hip tosses Kiniski over but Kiniski takes over again and gets the abdominal stretch with two minutes left, grabbing a handful of tights to get some extra leverage. Gagne hip tosses Kiniski to break the hold and takes a big slam from Kiniski but manages to roll out of the way of an elbowdrop and both men are down with a minute left. They hit the ropes and it's a double-shoulderblock that puts BOTH MEN DOWN!! Kiniski goes for a slam and Gagne gets a small package for two before whipping Kiniski in for the big backdrop! Dropkick from Gagne and he gets a two-count again and hits a HARD kneelift on Kiniski just as the bell rings to signal the time limit expiring.
Winner: None (time limit draw)
Match Analysis: I saw the draw coming a mile away when it was going to be Gagne and Kiniski because they're both such technical marvels. It's funny that even when you hear who's going to be on a show with these AWA shows, you have an idea of how the match is going to finish before it even starts. Nothing wrong with this match, just nothing spectacular about it. The beginning of a good twenty-minute match, with the only problem being that we don't get the hot ending, just the slow beginning.
Final Thoughts
Ugh. A chore of a show to sit through. All squashes or shorter finishes of matches all the way up to the bland main event. I think that bland is actually being nice to it in that technically it was good, but in entertainment value it was the shits. Terrible show all the way around and thumbs down from me, if you even had to ask. Let's hit the comments.
Fun With Comments
From piperfan01: "I still have nightmares of the Minotaur in WCW,(those contact lenses freaked me out) imagine my horror when I saw him last night on AWA. Imagine me laughing when I saw him portray an indian protoge of Wahoo. Keep up the good work! "
I have the same deal with Rey Rey's contacts. Not to the same fearful extent, they just look really weird when he has them in. I agree that it was pretty laughable that they were trying to push him as being the next great Indian star. To his credit though, as least he had a look. Wahoo would go from this guy to Chief Jay Strongbow Jr. so you can imagine his disappointment in the whole thing.
From PMullin1987: "I never expected the six man to be as good as it was, in spite of the dead crowd it really delivered for me. Its a testament to how great a worker Adrian really was that even at his size he was still very athletic and very capable of entertaining stuff. While Blackwell and Wahoo were really handicapped by this point, they were guys the crowd had been invested in for a good portion of time and they needed them to bring interest to matches and then they could allow guys like Adrian, Rich, and the Midnights to carry the matches.
I also thought I'd add in that I just finished "Adventures in Larryland," Zbyszko's autobiography, and it was damn good. For long time readers of the column and old AWA fans, I'll give one thing away, there were three different guys who portrayed Larry's ninjas. The first was Mr. Go, who was a small Japanese guy who Larry isn't sure of where he ended up. The second ninja was a 6'5 280 pound Japanese guy named Harold who Larry really liked. Harold had a mad crush on one of Larry's friends, so he set him up with her...Sherri Martel. Larry said Harold lost about 50 pounds because Sherri made him so nervous. The third ninja? The only Polish ninja ever in existance, Larry's good buddy Steve "O" Olsonoski.
Good show. Hopefully we get some Larry or Curt on the next one though. "
Thanks for the info on Larry's book. It's another one that's definitely on my must-read list and thanks for the info on the ninjas. I remember reading somewhere that the last one was Steve O, but I hadn't much on the first two, so that's awesome. Moving to the match, I was shocked at how decent that match was, considering that, like you said, Wahoo and Blackwell were WELL past their expiration dates. Adonis, Condrey and Rose all knew how to cover those things well though and the match looked decent.
From Teijo Kahn: "That six-man was shown last week, though since I think you missed that show, it's all good."
I still have Wednesday's show to get to and hopefully Thursday's if I can find the footage somewhere, but thanks for the information. I at least know that one of those shows got ten minutes shorter to recap!
From Guest. : "Tonight's 6-man would've been better had we not seen it last week during your hiatus. I think Verne, while wanting to give Lawler a favor, didn't want two heels going at it just yet, so he did the switch-off in Memphis, then the Midnights had a fine little tag match where they beat Lawler and Dundee, though I think those two did have a legitimate defense under their belts before dropping them.
Otherwise, ok show, 87 is finally starting to morph into 88, as the shows post-Bockwinkle were real bad until they got a talented group of bad wrestlers. "
I agree about Verne wanting to do Lawler a favor to try to woo him into the co-promote and I guess winning the titles like that would have helped pop business a little. I missed the match between them and the Midnights, but I'm hoping to catch it before the end of the week this week. And yes, we're steaming headlong into 1988, which a lot of has been covered already, so here's hoping they skip it and go right to the stench that was 1989.
From t-money: "One thing that must be mentioned is the fact that the AWA can't decide if Wahoo's name is "McDaniel or McDanielS" each time he's on the show it's different... announcers, other wrestlers, and even the on screen graphics all take turns getting it wrong. One of the biggest "stars" of the company and they can't even get his name right, how embarassing.
Can you imagine if any other company did this?? Imagine if in WCW Tony Schiavone intermittently called Ric Flair, Ric Flairs "
I know that WWF Champion Hulk Horgan wouldn't have stood for it for a second, I'll tell you that much. A lot of the problems like that seemingly stem from Verne using a different production crew for every show. Rather than having a crew he took with him, every taping used local crews and I guess with their varying degrees of knowledge in television and the wrestling business, mistakes were expected.
From Scrotum Pole: "Is the AWA version of the Midnight Express the same one that Cornette brought into WWF(E)?
And on Adonis, the way he works so stiff(I know it was more common in the 80's) but did he ever have an altercation with another wrestler either in the ring or backstage? Just by his look and size, I could see some green newbie thinking Adonis was a fat puss and taking offense to his style and Adonis basically cracking him over the head with his bottle of White Diamonds perfume by Liz Taylor.
Late "
No, the Midnight Express that Cornette brought into the WWF was essentially a huge rip-off team with Bart Gunn and Bob Holly. A real stinker of a team too. I mean they were both tag team guys but they just didn't mesh very well together and it all fell apart rather quickly, along with the rest of the NWA invasion deal. As for Adonis and a confrontation, the answer is below.
From JLAJRC: "Do you know anything about the Ninja Star Wars game Larry kept pimping on the show? You would think for something he talked about frequently they would actually show the thing once in awhile.
What a great coincidence that they talk about Mad Dog Vachon accident on this episode, while on WWE 24/7 they are showing the "In Your House: Good Friends, Better Enemies" PPV which had Vachon sitting in the front row but having his prosthetic leg ripped off to be used as a weapon during the Diesel/Shawn Michaels match. "
I agree that it's a fun coincidence about the match with Vachon's prosthetic leg being aired now. That's one of my favorite matches from that timeframe and I'll have to check it out again sometime. As to the Ninja Star Wars game, the faithful readers tackle that one below.
From guest: "JT Southern was part of the Memphis scene and was well liked.It's hard to know what the crowd liked. Then what makes it funnier is the shots of the crowd taken during the match. They usually make sure they go to crowd so they miss the finisher or take a shot of people that look like they are waiting for their bus. "
JT Southern was well-liked but he was god-awful. I agree that it's hard to tell what the crowd liked because he wasn't necessarily handsome, he wasn't necessarily gifted in the ring, he wasn't necessarily the best built guy. He was just kind of there and had a bit of a bland personality. I guess it's one of those things where someone comes along that looks a little different and he'll get cheered to the moon, just for being something that isn't the normal day-to-day. The shots of the crowd in these shows are pretty funny, especially when you can clearly tell they're editing in footage from old shows.
From Boomerang: "Welcome back, Mr. Randy. I enjoy your musings -- keep up the good work!
I was FFing through the 6-man match last week, but had to stop when I saw Adonis pick up Blackwell. WOW!!
About the nun in the first row of the crowd -- looked like a dude to me. There must have been a frat party that night.
Lastly, did a Midnight Express ever work in the WWF? I can recall Stan Lane wrestling some (as well as doing a fair bit of announcing -- Mr. Kennedy has nothing on Lane's voice), but did Bobby Eaton ever work for Vince? "
The closest a version of the Midnight Express ever came to working the WWF was as you said, Stan doing the announcing, and as I said, the shitty knock-off version. Bobby Eaton is one of the few guys that can hang his hat on saying he never worked for Vince McMahon, though I'm sure by now he's probably got a legends deal going. It was fun to see Lane and Pritchard as The Heavenly Bodies though, and it's a shame that that version of the team didn't get a good run in the WWF.
From Guest. : "Ninja Star Wars: This was Bischoff's first exposure with the AWA, where I think him and a friend came up with a game dealing with throwing little ninja shuirukens at each other, hence Ninja Star Wars. Cause Verne liked to help out the locals, they got some pub on the AWA. "
That seems to be about the extent of it as far as I can tell. Eric got his way in and had them pimp out his game, which he apparently had WAY too many of if I recall correctly.
Finally, from PMullin1987: "In response to Scrotum Pole, the late Adrian had one notorious scuffle with Danny Spivey in the WWF backstage. Adrian instigated it and according to every wrestler interviewed who was present Spivey gave him quite the beating. "
I believe I remember reading about that one in Hogan's book and that if they hadn't pulled Spivey off of him, he'd have probably killed Adonis. Then again, this is Hulk Hogan talking and seeing as he slammed 900-pound Andre in front of 250,000 people at WrestleMania III with Jesus himself counting the pin, I'd take the "killing" portion of that with a grain of salt.
That's it for the comments and there were a lot of great ones in there so keep them coming! See you all tomorrow and catch you later for the UWF show by the end of the day..I promise!!!
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:45:29 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Larry Nelson wishes us a Happy Holidays from the AWA instead of Merry Christmas because I guess Verne doesn't want to piss off the Jewish folks that are probably running the banks that fund his little wrestling show. Though I will note that there is a Christmas tree on the set and not a Menorah in sight. Tempting fate. Onto the wrestling, we're going to see Tommy Rich vs. Adrian Adonis in our main event as well as Mitch Snow and Tanaka in tag team action. Curt Hennig will be here too and from there Nelson throws us to a replay of the end of the match between DJ Peterson and Kevin Kelly where Peterson won Madusa for thirty days. That leads to seeing Peterson in action with his new slav...errr..valet.
Match One: Tony Leone vs. DJ Peterson w/Madusa Miceli
Miceli is wearing what looks to be footie pajamas and has glasses on, making faces as she has to hold Peterson's ring gear. Leone has a top wristlock right from the the get-go as Madusa sits on the ring steps and pouts. Peterson reverses to a hammerlock and rolls Leone up for a two-count before they lock up again and Peterson gets a takeover into an armlock. Leone gets a headscissors but Peterson does the headstand pop-out into the headlock, though Leone turns it into a front facelock with a choke. Peterson powers him up and hits a BIG reverse atomic drop, following that up with a bodyslam for a one-count. Armbar from Peterson now and Leone slings him into the ropes but ends up getting taken over with an armdrag. Grandma Madusa continues to pout on the outside as Peterson drops a leg onto Leone's arm. Takedown into another armbar from Peterson and Leone goes to the gut to break the hold before choking Peterson against the top rope. Peterson fires back with a mule kick and some forearms before slinging Leone in for a big dropkick. Cover and Peterson only gets a one-count before taking Leone over with a snap suplex. Peterson to the second rope and it's time for the TNT SHOULDERBLOCK!! Count to a hundred ref, he's finished!!
Winner: DJ Peterson (pinfall, TNT shoulderblock)
Match Analysis: Basically here so that Peterson could make Madusa look foolish and start to pay off the "His for thirty days" storyline. The match was nothing special, the interaction between Peterson and Madusa was a little uncomfortable when it came to the end and he was dragging her around by the ass, but I suppose. I'm still shocked they managed to make Madusa look homely.
After the match, Madusa tries to make a getaway but Peterson catches her by the britches and drags her to the back. Yep, nothing at all demeaning about that at all. The crowd is laughing though, so I guess Verne feels justified with the sexism.
Larry Nelson talks about the whole deal with DJ Peterson and Madusa and we're going to hear from Kevin Kelly but first here comes Soldat Ustinov with the eyes of a tweaker, talking about how he wants the suspension on Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie to be lifted. He talks about how he needs the Sheik to become greatest wrestler in A Double A. He shows the Lenin picture again and then promises that he and Shiek will run the A Double A. In comes Kevin Kelly looking PISSED. He talks about how he was beating on Peterson for 12 to 15 minutes before the finish of that match and he says that when he gets ahold of Peterson again he's going to beat him like he's never been beaten before. Generic heel promo but Kelly's leather jacket looked kind of cool. Well, as cool as a leather jacket can look I suppose.
Match Two: Dennis Stamp and Mike Tolos vs. Mitch Snow and Tanaka
Tanaka is of course one half of the soon to be made Badd Company, though he's a face for now, which is a weird thing to see from him. He's still in the ring gear which means that Diamond stole the look from him for the team. Trongard says that this is his first look at Tanaka so he must have just started in the promotion. Tolos gets a go-behind as he and Tanaka start out and but Tanaka breaks free and threatens a chop before he lands a hard one that puts Tolos on his ass. Tag to Snow and Snow locks up with Tolos, getting taken over with a side headlock, though Snow does roll it over for a two-count. Tolos keeps grinding away on the headlock and Snow gets to his feet and makes a tag to Tanaka and shoots Tolos into the ropes. Tolos runs the ropes and Tanaka jumps off of Snow's back to hit a flying forearm for a two-count in a pretty cool looking move. Tolos rakes Tanaka in the eyes and makes a tag to Dennis Stamp, who takes over with an arm-wringer. Tanaka reverses it and chops Stamp down to the mat before they stare each other down. Side headlock from Stamp after a lockup and Tanaka shoots him in, eating a big shoulderblock before he takes Stamp down with a HUGE chop that gets a two-count. Stamp rolls over and tags Tolos again as Tanaka does a little conferring with Snow. Lockup and Tanaka pushes Tolos into his corner, making a tag to Snow and Snow hits a big running clothesline off of a Tanaka Irish whip. Snow whips Tolos in himself and really screws up a dropkick, nearly landing on his head before tagging in Tanaka. An Irish whip from Snow into a punch in the gut and Tanaka hits a DDT for the three-count.
Winners: Mitch Snow and Tanaka (pinfall, Tanaka DDT)
Match Analysis: Crazy to see Tanaka as a babyface, especially knowing how awesome a team he'd form once Badd Company came along. He must have done a little time here and then gone back to Memphis to start the team with Diamond since when they came in later in '88, everyone acted like Tanaka was a new star instead of a returning one. This match is a testament to how good Tanaka is because he managed to get a win AND make a Mitch Snow match watchable. That's talent, my friends.
Larry Nelson REALLY puts over Tanaka after the match before bringing in Curt Hennig with his hideous goggles. Hennig calls himself the "all-around cowboy" saying he can handle any situation or sport and represents the AWA better than anyone can. He talks about a baseball banquet he was at and rattles off some of the baseball stars of the time, saying that they were all fawning over him and that they wanted to be like him. Hennig says he's going to remain the number one man in everything he does and that those baseball players will never be as good as he is.
Match Three: Art Washington and Mitch Snow vs. The ORIGINAL Midnight Express w/Paul E. Dangerously
Two Mitch Snow matches in one show, I should be so lucky. Paul E. does a great intro about how the Express have more secret moves than Oliver North and Randy Rose comes out with his tongue wagging nearly to his chest. That thing would make a cow and Gene Simmons jealous. This would be after their debut, but before they won the tag titles and was probably just edited in to fill some time in the show. Rose and Snow start out and hit a lockup with Rose grabbing a side headlock. Snow tries to power to a top wristlock but Rose just yanks his hair and takes him down. Another side headlock from Rose and he shoulderblocks Snow off of the ropes but Snow gets the backflip into the hip toss spot and Rose begs off into the corner. Rose pushes Snow into their corner and tags Condrey but Snow manages to get himself free before the double-team. He grabs a side headlock on Condrey and takes him over, though Condrey cradles for a two-count. Condrey to his feet and he knees Snow in the gut, picking him up and hitting a stiff backbreaker before ramming him headfirst into Rose's knee in the corner. Condrey grinds Snow's face across the canvas and then tags in Rose for some stomps and punches. Rose gets a front facelock into a rolling takeover for a two-count and Snow tags in Washington but Rose sees it and starts walloping on Washington, grabbing a front facelock again and tagging in Condrey. Condrey throws Washington out through the ropes to the floor and Dangerously WAFFLES him with the phone before Rose comes off the second rope to the floor with a double-axehandle. Washington gets thrown back into the ring by Rose and Condrey Irish whips him into the ropes for a big reverse elbow before slamming him hard to the mat. He picks Washington up by the ears and whips him into the ropes, tagging in Rose and whipping Rose into Washington for a HARD clothesline. Dennis gets the tag back and slams Washington again, powerslam style as he tags Rose and HERE'S THE ROCKET LAUNCHER!! 1-2-3!!! Beautiful finish. The only way it could have been prettier is if Snow had taken it.
Winners: The ORIGINAL Midnight Express (pinfall, rocket launcher)
Match Analysis: Huge squash as this was seemingly in the build to the AWA Tag Team Championships for the Express. Again, the only thing better would have been if they had crushed Snow with the rocket launcher and put him out of wrestling forever. The usual paint-by-numbers stuff from the Midnights, which isn't to say it was bad, just predictable.
Larry Nelson welcomes us back to April, May and June in review from 1987. He talks about The Blaster and Otto Wanz in the AWA as well as the disappearance of Col. DeBeers in that timeframe. He brings up Easter Sunday in the AWA when Curt Hennig turned on Greg Gagne and cost his team the tag team tournament that was held on that day. We see highlights of Hennig just fucking SMACKING Gagne as he looks to make the tag to Hennig. Hennig and Gagne decide to brawl a little before Hennig goes to the outside and gets a chair!! Axehandle to Gagne and GAGNE'S INTO THE POST!! HELL YES!! Nelson talks about the change in Hennig's attitude and his frustration at not being able to win the AWA World Heavyweight Championship from Nick Bockwinkel. That leads to SuperClash II and we see the finish of that main event from the Cow Palace where Hennig won the belt. From there, we move to Nelson talking about Soldat Ustinov and Boris Zhukov winning the AWA Tag Team Championship from The Midnight Rockers before he talks about the Summer of 1987 which is coming up next week.
Match Four: AWA World Heavyweight Championship Kevin Collins vs. Curt Hennig (c)
Hennig looks rather proud of himself and the boos that he's geting as he struts to the ring and plays to the crowd as he stands on the apron. Hennig finally makes it into the ring and gets a go-behind before he flips Collins onto his back for a one-count. Another go-behind from Hennig now and this time Collins feeds him a back elbow to break the hold before shoving Hennig into the corner off of another lockup. Collins wants a Greco Roman knucklelock now and Hennig goes for it, kneeing Collins in the gut before chopping him and taking over with a shit-ton of punches against the ropes. Irish whip in and Hennig gets a shot to the gut before hammering away at Collins again and hitting a big kneelift. Right hand and another knee to the head from Hennig and he lines up another HARD right hand. Irish whip from Hennig but Collins reverses and catches Hennig with a slam coming out of the corner, following it up with a big back bodydrop and a hip toss. Hennig cuts it off with a shot to the gut and a knee to the head but Collins stays with it, Irish whipping Hennig into the corner. Collins with a charge in and HENNIG KICKS HIM FULL FORCE IN THE FACE WITH BOTH FEET. Vicious looking move. Collins is on queer street and Hennig takes advantage with the PERFECT-PLEX!! There's the three-count and it's all over. Hennig gloats after the bell about being the champion and being the greatest.
Winner: Curt Hennig (pinfall, Perfect-plex)
Match Analysis: This was a weird little match. Back and forth until Hennig just punted him in the face and hit the finish. Not sure why they had Collins get so much on the champion unless they had plans for him that evaporated. I mean, Collins had a decent look and looked like he had a few moves, but I guess it just wasn't in the cards for him. Makes this match look a little odd in retrospect though.
The AWA Notebook features Curt Hennig being quoted while he's complaining about the Gagne sleeper and how it was a chokehold when Verne used it on Larry and that it's still a choke now whenever Greg uses it.
Match Five: Tommy Rich vs. Adrian Adonis w/Paul E. Dangerously
This would be the match that was talked about in the comments as the "blow-off" after Adonis put Rich into the dress. Adonis attacks before the bell and gets a couple of shots in, throwing Rich to the floor but Rich comes right back into the ring and hammers away on Adonis with right hands and a BIG bodyslam and Adonis is BEGGING for mercy. More right hands from Rich and he slams Adonis' head into the mat before Irish whipping him in for a HUGE reverse elbow that nearly sends Adonis over the ropes and to the floor. Mounted punches from Rich now and he Irish whips Adonis into the corner and Adrian GOES UP AND OVER TO THE FLOOR!! RICH RUNS ADONIS AND DANGEROUSLY INTO EACH OTHER ON THE FLOOR!! ADONIS GOES TO THE POST!!! RICH BACK TO THE OUTSIDE AND HE FLINGS ADONIS BACK INSIDE!! Right hands and a BIG back bodydrop from Rich and he goes up to the second rope for a fistdrop. The crowd is going crazy and even Mike Tenay is loving it. Dangerously is on the phone, frantically yelling into it as Rich gets a neckbreaker for a two-count, following it up with another big kneelift. Irish whip into the corner from Rich and he gets an ABDOMINAL STRETCH!! With how much abdominal Adonis has, this move could be a fatal one. Adonis reverses and gets out of it with a hip toss but he misses the big splash and Rich gets another two-count. Irish whip into the corner by Adonis and Rich comes out right into Goodnight Irene!!! Rich rams Adonis into the top buckle and then SLAPS ON HIS OWN SLEEPER!!! Adonis runs Rich back into the corner and right into the referee. Dangerously gets some baby powder and RICH GETS IT IN THE EYES!! CLOTHESLINE FROM ADONIS!!! He's out on the apron and going up to the top as Dangerously holds Rich down on the canvas and ADONIS COMES OFF THE TOP ONTO RICH'S ARM!!! He's up top again and here comes WAHOO MCDANIEL AND GREG GAGNE!! Gagne checks on Rich while McDaniel pushes Adonis off the top rope and makes him the star of the new hit reality show, "Ow, My Balls". Adonis gets chased off to the back while Rich is holding his wrist and he looks like he's in very bad shape in the middle of the ring. Apparently there's no official decision from the referee and we see a replay of Adonis' top rope splash.
Winner: None
Match Analysis: Rich got his revenge but paid for it in the end. They tried to use this to continue the hot feud and it seemed like it would work, but I'm not sure how much longer Rich was in the AWA for, at least in this context, so I don't think it ever accomplished it's goal. It was fun to see the crowd at the Showboat go nuts for Rich kicking Adonis' ass in the early-going though. The crowds were pretty dead by that point, so seeing them that hot for anything was fun.
Larry Nelson talks about how he's not sure about Tommy Rich's condition, that he only knows that the arm is hurt. Glad you got that medical degree aren't you, Larry? He brings in Paul E. Dangerously and he's cackling about how Tommy Rich was saying for weeks that he was going to get rid of Adrian Adonis and the Dangerous Alliance but that it didn't quite happen that way. Dangerously revises some history and talks about how he found Rich as some Italian do-wop singer on a corner in Brooklyn and that it was all Dangerously's idea to blond up his hair, call him Tommy Rich, give him the "Wildfire" nickname, the whole nine. He says that when they all came to the AWA, Rich suddenly forgot about the Dangerous Alliance and he has to pay for that. He finishes by saying that if Tommy comes back again, he won't be satisfied with Tommy's arm, he'll be satisfied when Tommy's not breathing.
Larry Nelson does his little finish spiel as usual, with the recap of the show and the Fan of the Week pimpage, including telling us about the continuing review of 1987 that will have part three next week. He says that a fan from Florida sent a specific request for a Mat Classic and that they'll try to get it on next week before he begs us all to come back next week. Well ok, begging might be a little much, but he's definitely begging with his eyes. That does it for this episode of the AWA though.
Final Thoughts
Not a bad show, just a bland one. The only real heat came at the end and even then it was short-lived because the heels took over again and did a number on Rich after it seemed like he was getting his revenge for the dress incident. Hennig's match wasn't much of anything and the rest of the show was just meh. It was mildly interesting to see Tanaka doing his babyface schtick with a different partner as you end up getting so used to seeing him team with Diamond, but that oddity isn't anywhere near enough to save the show. Thumbs down on this one.
Fun With Comments
From Teijo Kahn: "These shows made me interested to look at the PWI 1987 in Review issue, and I learned that Dr. X and Hector Guerrero won, then lost, the AWA tag titles from/to Lawler and Dundee. I don't know if Verne ever acknowledged that one on TV. "
I don't believe that one was ever acknowledged on TV, though I could be wrong. It was one of those phantom changes that I'm guessing was to keep popping the Memphis territory, and I'm surprised it's even mentioned in the title history since I'm sure a lot of people would have never known outside of Memphis.
Again, from Teijo Kahn: "Another sidenote from that magazine- in the Predictions '88 section, a fan predicted that the AWA would continue to claim that it's "The Major League of Professional Wrestling," even though Superclash III would be held at a high school gym, with only Verne Gagne, Larry Nelson and a janitor in attendance. "
I actually remember that issue of PWI and it's a shame that they've fallen so far with the death of kayfabe. I used to LOVE getting to read PWI, Inside Wrestling, Wrestling All-Stars, Wrestling Eye, Sports Review Wrestling, The Wrestler, and all of those old magazines. I'd beg and beg my mother to get me the latest ones whenever I saw them and if I didn't get them I'd stay by the magazine rack and read as much as I could while she shopped. As for the predicition, it wasn't that far off from the real situation sadly.
From piperfan01: "I agree with your statement about it being a chore to watch the AWA around this time period. Funny thing is, I can remember myself thinking the same thing way back then as a kid. I love pro wrestling and will watch anything I can get my hands on, even if its watching Greg Gagne vs Boris Zukoff for the 1000th time. The wrestlers I hated as a kid have not improved with me getting older. Wrestlers such as Greg Gagne, Nick Kiniski, Doug Sommers, Dennis Condrey I hated watching them as a kid and I still do. The same cannot be said for Larry Z and the ninjas, Buddy Rose, I have gained much more appreciation for them. Boogie Woogie Man, I cannot believe I actually enjoyed the guy and wondered why he never got a title shot"
I agree. It's interesting to watch these shows from a different perspective and see things differently as you get older and smarter to the business. I HATED Zbyszko when I was a kid and would change the channel sometimes when he came on. Now I realize that he was easily the most entertaining part of the show.
From Blanky: "In regards to a company changing a wrestler's last name, WCW went back and forth with Mike Rotundo, calling him Rotunda one week and Rotundo the next. Stupid WCW. "
I remember Rotunda as being the WORST guy for that. It seemed like even the announcers would change how they pronounced it between matches. I'm sure he's glad that now he's remembered more as IRS and that he doesn't have to listen to people butcher his name night in and night out.
From PMullin1987: "You know, I heard Gagne vs. Kiniski in the main event and I was hoping it'd be a Mat Classic with Verne wrestling Gene. Instead we get their kids who have the combined charisma of a football. I wanted to give the match a chance, because not everything Greg was involved in was a sleeperhold, and since Kiniski was a semi-name maybe it could be something.
It wasn't. Hennig's the best part of the show despite being on it for less than 30 seconds. I hope he's on tomorrow since Larry's down with Crockett now waiting for a feud with Dusty that never happens. If nothing else Adonis vs. Rich should be good with the dress angle and two guys who could actually work. "
Honestly, I don't think that Verne/Gene would have been a much better match really. I thought that Adonis and Rich was going to be good too with the dress angle, but we know how that ended up after the finish of the match. Hennig is usually the best part of any show during this timeframe, even if he's only on camera for three seconds in the background of someone else's interview.
From Joe K. : "I had to laugh at the prospect of Wahoo McDaniel giving some old lady "the vapors" as he was coming down to the ring.
And dammit, they aren't offering the Ninja Star Wars games to the Fan of the Week anymore! I'm still waitng for mine! "
I think that by that point, the old lady's "vapors" had dried up and she was just kind of producing dust. It was still frightening to see her hot for Wahoo's old, pudgy bod though.
From James: "To repeat my (unseen?) comment from an earlier show, I remember how when they originally broadcast the Lawler interview about his history with Paul E., they bleeped out Tommy Rich's name. Always thought it was funny that they tried to mask the past of someone currently working for them as a babyface.
I would also be remiss if I didn't mention J.T. Southern's brief stay in WCW in 1992, where he was the heel who COULD play the guitar feuding with the babyface who COULDN'T (Van Hammer).
And Steve DiSalvo is STILL THE DIAMOND STUDD TO ME, DAMMIT!
Dangerously talks about managing Tommy Rich in Memphis and how he wants Rich to stop introducing himself as being associated with The Dangerous Alliance. I guess that's kayfabe for you, if it didn't happen in our territory, it didn't happen at all. Great memory on that JT Southern bit. I had tried to repress that memory of his WCW time, especially since Van Hammer was involved. As for the Hulk Hogan video, that's just good stuff all the way around.
From Guest: "I think that also happened with Eddie Guerrero and how to spell his name, though admitedly I've screwed it up quite a few times.
And we can't forget sexism in Wrestling with that opening angle. I'm sure a female wrestler being sold into slavery would fly real nice today, being made to do demeaning women things. "
The whole slavery thing probably wouldn't fly very well, unless they REALLY played it up for comedy to avoid having it be demeaning and classless. As for Eddie/Eddy, I think it's just one of those personal preference things where he was Eddie in WWE and Eddy in WCW, so people can feel comfortable using either. The one thing was that it was consistent from one company to another, where with Rotunda/Rotundo and McDaniel/McDaniels it would change from week to week within the same company.
Finally, from Scrotum Pole: "Did all wrestling orgs at this time have some sort of Russian stable? I know NWA did. WWF had Volkoff and Koloff at times. World Class?? Not sure, but I use to attend Mid-South and UWF in Tulsa every other Sunday night and they had a stable of Russians that were bad ass. All they had to do was name a Hacksaw Duggan/Dr. Death vs Russians and the place was packed and freakin nuts. God I miss Skandar Akbar and his crazy ass antics.
"Another tomahawk chop and he gets two but picks Tolos up in a bit of a dickish move."
Sometimes with your wording and description I swear we were separated at birth. "dickish move." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! If you tell me you refer to people who skateboard as skate or die fags then we should have a DNA test. Late "
I am serious, I'm going to buy those UWF tapes I talked about in the latest UWF report and run them just for my own personal amusement. I think World Class had foreign heels but there weren't any Russians, so they might have been the only ones that didn't. The funny thing is that it was mainly the same Russians, just moving from territory to territory. And again, I appreciate your support and I'll ask my mom if there were any adoptions or anything in my family, just to make sure we weren't separated at birth.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:47:08 GMT -6
87
AWA Championship Wrestling
Larry Nelson wishes us all a Happy Holidays again and mentions that he hopes that Santa Claus is going to be nice to all the great AWA fans. From there he moves to the Fan of the Week nonsense and this week it's some 94 year old coot. Honestly, he probably only watches the AWA every week because he can't get out of his handi-bed to change the channel. At least he's getting Ninja Star Wars. He'll be a hit when the geezers get some yard time.
Match One: Dennis Stamp vs. Adrian Adnois w/Paul E. Dangerously
Great piece of business as Dangerously brushes Adonis' hair and Adonis yells at him for doing it wrong. When Dangerously tries again, Stamp bullrushes and gets a roll-up off the ropes for two, knocking Dangerously out to the floor. Stamp gets a HUGE back bodydrop for another two-count, ducking under a clothesline to put Adonis down for another two-count. Stamp tries an Irish whip into the corner but Adonis reverses and catches Stamp with a BIG knee out of the corner. Adonis down for the cover and he gets the 1-2-3!!
Winner: Adrian Adonis (pinfall, high knee)
Match Analysis: It was quick, but damned if it wasn't entertaining. Adonis can make anything entertaining, but Stamp did his part too by making it seem believable that he could pick up the win. It was something different from the usual jobber match that the AWA put on, so I liked it and I appreciate the effort.
Larry's back in the AWA studio, talking about the AWA holiday action including a big show on Christmas night in Minneapolis. I wonder if they're going to have more slave-a-riffic action to really celebrate the holiday like they did with Thanksgiving. He brings in Greg Gagne and he wishes everyone a Merry Christmas before namedropping more of the ESPN staff. He talks about how he wants to make 1988 a great year for Greg Gagne as Larry brings up Bob Orton Jr. being in the AWA. Greg speculates it's to help Adrian Adonis and brings up the Tommy Rich situation again, saying that Adonis probably knew every wrestler would be after him after he broke Rich's arm so he put out the call to Orton. Not really a lot of new information here, just Greg kind of restating what Larry Nelson had said previously.
Match Two: Sonny Rogers and Greg Robertson vs. Kevin Kelly and Nick Kiniski w/snazzy matching robes
Kiniski and Robertson start out with a little chain wrestling and reversal sequence and Kelly and Kiniski even have MATCHING TIGHTS!! They lockup again and Kiniski gets a standing arm-wringer but Robertson gets a reversal before hitting Kiniski with an Irish whip and an armdrag takeover. Kiniski tries to get free of it but Robertson rolls with him, holding onto the armbar even after Kiniski hits a bodyslam. Robertson holds the armbar and Kiniski pushes him into the corner, hitting a big knee to the gut and a chop before he tags in Kelly. NASTY forearm shot from Kelly and he whips Robertson in for a reverse elbow before throwing him into his corner to tag Rogers. Kick to the gut from Kelly and he PRESS SLAMS Rogers while talking shit to him the whole time. Backbreaker from Kelly and there's a tag to Kiniski who hits an eyerake with the sole of his boot. Irish whip into the ropes from Kiniski and Rogers ducks under a reverse elbow, but gets caught on a cross bodyblock and Kiniski gets a backbreaker. That gets two but Kiniski picks him right back up and hits the PILEDRIVER!! That one easily gets Kiniski the three-count and the victory.
Winners: Kevin Kelly and Nick Kiniski (pinfall, piledriver)
Match Analysis: Another quick one, but this one was less entertaining. Kelly wasn't really any good and Kiniski wasn't very interesting so instead of masking each other's weaknesses the team seemed to accentuate them. At least they had good jobbers that knew how to work and bounce, but that alone doesn't make a match any good.
Match Three: Rick Gantner vs. DJ Peterson w/Wahoo McDaniel
This is from a different set of tapings altogether and has the white SuperClash III AWA ring. This is also from the tapings before Peterson had won Madusa so he's got Wahoo in his corner. Quite a drop-off I'd say. Gantner leans outside the ropes before they even get a lockup in and there's a good bit of stalling before they actually get down to business. They finally hit a lockup and Peterson gets a quick hammerlock that sends Gantner into the ropes for the break. Peterson gets a standing arm-wringer and another hammerlock that puts Gantner into the ropes for another break and then catches him with a pair of armdrags that send Gantner out to the floor. Gantner gets flung back into the ring and Peterson moves to an armbar out of an armdrag takeover and cranks away on it. Irish whip in from Gantner and Peterson gets a leapfrog into a dropkick and then goes right back to the armdrag and an armbar. Short-arm scissors from Peterson now and he drops a couple of knees on the inside of the arm before crucifixing Gantner for a two-count. Gantner goes to the eyes to break the hold and pops him in the face before raking his eyes across the top rope. Peterson fires back with some forearms and a big legdrop for another two-count before going back to the armbar. Gantner sells it and screams like Peterson is trying to stick a sledgehammer up his ass. He recovers and rakes the laces of his boots across the eyes of Peterson before trying an Irish whip in the corner. Peterson reverses and sends Gantner into the buckles chest-first, getting a roll-up for the 1-2....no. Wait a minute, the referee counted three but didn't ring the bell. I think Gantner was supposed to kick out of that but didn't and the referee tried to save him. Wahoo is PISSED on the outside as Peterson Irish whips Gantner into the corner and MISSES THE CHARGE, crotching himself on the middle turnbuckle!! Right hands from Gantner and he picks Peterson up for a BIG side slam before snap maring him over and hitting a kneedrop. Gantner to the top but Peterson catches him and SLAMS HIM OFF THE TOP!! Irish whip into the corner and Peterson hits a back bodydrop before heading up to the second rope for his TNT SHOULDERBLOCK!!! He gets the cover and it's all over but Gantner's screaming.
Winner: DJ Peterson (pinfall, TNT shoulderblock)
Match Analysis: Botched ending aside, this wasn't a terrible match. Like most of the other wrestling on the show, it's nothing special, just an acceptable jobber match. I'm not sure why Wahoo was out there as he did nothing outside of tearing a strip off of the referee for the screwy finish sequence. I get that they were trying to get Peterson a rub from Wahoo, but there was absolutely nothing gained from having him at ringside.
Back from the break, Larry gives us the house show rundown again before bringing in Kevin Kelly to commit a little assault on the English language. Kelly talks about how he's going to need a few more bank accounts for all of his money and brings up his $10,000 arm wrestling challenge and how no one takes him up on it anymore. He says 1987 was a magnificent year for him and that he beat up Jimmy Schlnuka (Kelly's mangling, not mine), Buddy Rose and Doug Somers and a lot of other guys. He says that he's beat the guys at the top all year and that those who led, now have fled because of Mr. Magnificent. He says Joan Rivers wants him for an appearance on her show but he had to turn her down because he's making a new workout tape with Jane Fonda. He threatens Curt Hennig and the title and that's about the end of it. Horrible, HORRIBLE promo from Kelly and even his motions in front of the camera looked green.
My feed on the Dish actually cuts out here and I think I missed about ten minutes of the show, but I'm guessing there wasn't much on in between. Another jobber match or maybe the 1987 year in review segment or something. Meh. No worries.
Match Four: AWA Tag Team Championship Alan West and Mitch Snow vs. The ORIGINAL Midnight Express w/Paul E. Dangerously (c)
We join this one in progress as my satellite kicks back in and Snow is on his way to the outside, chasing Paul E. around ringside. The faces on the outside and heels on the inside end up in a tug of war with Paul E. as the rope and the Express win as Dangerously scampers through the ring and ends up safe on the other side. He gets a man-hug from Rose on the outside and whines to the referee as things settle down for Snow and Condrey to get down to action in the ring. Condrey gets an arm-wringer and tags in Rose, who keeps on the arm and takes Snow over before getting the hold reversed. Snow works the arm in the ring while Paul E. pouts on the outside and threatens the cameraman. Snow gets a legdrop on Rose's arm and an armbar before Rose starts laying in the chope to break the armbar but he can't do it. Snow keeps on with the standing armbar out of those HARD chops and tags in West. West holds Rose with a full nelson and Snow catches him with a big right hand before West goes back to the arm-wringer. Drop toehold form Rose and Condrey gets the tag in to work over the knee with some stomps and a stepover toehold. Tag to Rose and he hits a splash on the leg before moving to a straight leglock and hitting a quick tag back to Condrey. He drops all of his weight down on West's knee and tags Rose again and the assault on the leg continues with Rose grabbing a reverse leglock, talking shit to West the entire time. Another tag and another stomp from Condrey into ANOTHER leglock, this time a double-leglock before Condrey starts kicking and stomping away at the leg.
West tries to get over to the corner but Rose is tagged in and he kicks West's leg out from under him and goes back to the straight leglock. West finally kicks Rose off and tries to get to the corner again but Rose hits a legsweep and tags in Condrey for another stepover toehold. Condrey keeps on him with stomps, kicks and punches before tagging in Rose and there's another legsweep. Rose baits Snow into the ring and Condrey gets some cheap shots in on West's leg before making an illegal switch. Quick tag back to Rose and here comes Mitch Snow to lay some right hands in on Rose and Condrey as the referee checks on Alan West and his knee. Condrey THROWS SNOW OVER THE TOP TO THE FLOOR!!! DANGEROUSLY CRACKS SNOW WITH THE PHONE!! Condrey and Rose work over the leg viciously and HERE COMES TANAKA!! TANAKA AND SNOW WORKING OVER THE EXPRESS!! BACKDROP FROM TANAKA ON ROSE!! RIGHT HANDS AND THE EXPRESS BAIL OUT!!
Winners: The ORIGINAL Midnight Express (disqualification, Tanaka-ference)
Match Analysis: A hot finish, that's for sure, but the match itself was terribly plodding. The Express worked the leg, without having a ton of leg-based offense so it ended up being rather boring. I don't know why they had West in there to begin with when he seemingly was injured but I guess it was a way to get them from Snow and West to Snow and Tanaka.
Larry Nelson comes back after the break and does the house show deal AGAIN and brings up a show he forgot the other five times he did the pimping earlier in the show. He brings in Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie and he says that 1988 is going to be the Arab year. He talks about how he's going around the world to get the biggest and most dangerous wrestlers and Nelson brings up how John Nord wanted the suspension lifted so that he could get his hands on El-Kaissie. Shiek says that he's not worried because he has Soldat Ustinov to protect him. Soldat gets his Lenin picture out again and Sheik starts yelling in Arabic and it's like something out of Hunter S. Thompson's nightmares as the show closes out.
Final Thoughts
Another show that was pretty much a miss as the AWA was in full-on holiday mode and outside of the Rich/Adonis deal and the DJ Peterson/Madusa deal, there wasn't a lot going on for angles. Even at that, neither of those were really mentioned in this show, outside of the Gagne promo talking about Rich's arm. The wrestling was decent but not great though nothing was outwardly bad so I'd go for a thumbs in the middle on this show, though it's leaning pretty heavily towards down. Let's hit the comments!
Fun With Comments
From Matthew: "the best dangerous alliance is the WCW version with rude,arn,bobby eaton,Larry Z,madusa and paul E "
Agreed, and I am a big fan of the War Games match that had the Dangerous Alliance in it since that was always a personal favorite match of mine.
From piperfan01: "World Class didn't have any russians that I can recall, but what they did have was crazy evil Asians. Kabuki, Tojo Yamamoto, and the obviously non-asian PY-Chu-Hi or something close to that. Even as a kid I never understood why he was hailed as being Asian. Wait I forgot about Crusher Yurkoff, he was an evil Russian!...He would move on to being Bam Bam Bigelow, but I do remember a stint as a russian in World Class under the name Crusher Yurkoff or Yurkov or something close to that, am I crazy? "
No crazy here. He was indeed Crusher Yurkof for a short stint in the World Class area. As for PY-Chu-Hi, I never understood that either, but it was entertaining to see him call himself that rather than Phil Hickerson. I preferred his work as Hickerson though, but that's just a personal thing.
From Rob: "Man, you took me back talking about those old wrestling magazines. I bought and read PWI and The Wrestler religiously. I STILL have the issue of PWI where Sting won his first NWA World title at the Great American Bash. Those mags were just awesome to read back when everything seemed real. I remember one issue of PWI where they claimed to have created a lifelike simulation game and fed in the data of all the tag teams in the world for a tournament. They claimed that you could actually see the teams wrestling on the computer screen, and in the end, the program proved that the Steiners were indeed the best tag team in the world. All I could think about was that I had to get my hands on that computer game. "
I recall the issue you were talking about and that one was a good one. I also used to like when Wrestling Superstars used to have their dream matches with guys from rival promotions or different countries square off in a bunch of categories before they would declare a winner of the match. One of my more vivid memories of my mark/magazine days was reading the Supercard magazines from PWI and loving getting to see all the coverage on the big shows like Wrestlemania, The Crockett Cup, SuperClash and all of these shows that I never got to see when I was younger. Those were the days.
From Some Guy: "Don't forget Austin. "
This is in regards to the first comment about the Dangerous Alliance, and indeed, we can't forget about Austin as he was a vital cog in that incarnation of the Alliance and being part of that group seemingly added another dimension to the heel character he was playing at the time that was all part of the evolution from Stunning Steve to Stone Cold.
From PMullin1987: "Have to give a thumbs up to this one, which defies the laws of nature because Mitch Snow appears twice.
As far as Tanaka as a babyface, this was in the early stages of the regular AWA/CWA talent call ups, and Pat had been working as a babyface in Memphis teaming with Jeff Jarrett against Tojo Yamamoto and his cronies.
Testament to Tanaka that his appearance made me kind of excited for a match with Mitch Snow involved, and he wouldn't even be kicking the shit out of him.
Rich/Adonis was good while it lasted, but the non-finish was expected because once business started going down the tubes the AWA really embraced the idea of screwing people out of clean finishes.
If I remember correctly, this did do it for Rich in the AWA, and he'd head back down to Memphis to feud with Jimmy Valiant and be buried by Lee Marshall on commentary. "
Yeah, that sounds about right for what happened with Rich. I always wondered when I was watching the SuperClash shows and they were burying Rich if he might have left before that angle with Adonis was played out or if he maybe got fired and then brought back as part of the whole co-promotion between the AWA, CWA and WCCW.
From TJack: "Regarding a promotion that can't decide what to call someone... how TNA and Jaqueline Moore?
Miss Texas Miss Tennessee The Pride of Tennessee Miss (or Ms.) Jackie Miss (or Ms.) Jacquelyn Miss (or Ms.) Jacqueline Jackie Moore Jacquelyn Moore Jacqueline Moore
And now I guess she's the "Inc." (or perhaps "Ink" in a subtly-derogatory borderline-racist connotation) in "Beer Money Inc." "
I had forgotten about the many incarnations of Miss Jackie, though to be fair, I forget a lot of what goes on in TNA, just from the sheer number of angles they try to cram down people's throats.
From Steve: "I'm a bit surprised that you didn't mentioned this, but during the AWA Birthday greetings which came on after the Tanaka/Snow Vs. Stamp/Tolos match, a birthday shoutout was given to a guy by the name of "L. Whistler".
It turns out that this "L. Whistler" was the same guy who just left the AWA to go to the NWA and team up with Al Perez. Yep, I'm talking about everybody's favorite "Spudhead" spotter, "The Living Legend" Larry Zbyszko. It was nice of the AWA to acknowledge one of its top guys after he left the promotion. "
I actually saw that and thought it seemed familiar, but didn't put the two and two together until you brought it up, so thank you for that. At least they were wishing a happy birthday to a real person and not the made up names that I ragged on them for a couple weeks ago. The cool thing is that it was actually around his real birthday too, which falls on December 5, so they were being straight for once.
From Guest. : "IIRC, Tanaka and Diamond had teamed for a little while in CWA before this, so I'm guessing like the poster above said that Tanaka was called up before Diamond was. Personally, I always thought Tanaka was the better of the two, as Diamond looked to have a stiff aura around him on everything he did, though he meshed well with Pat, and did ok for himself, so he's not bad by any stretch. Still better than most in the AWA.
Main event was awesome, as evidenced by the crowd going crazy for it. I don't even mind the no-finish as seeing Adonis balance himself on the ropes, then fall (I don't think he jumped at all) onto Rich's arm was fantastic. Plus, since I remember the finals of the TV title tournament, it would be Adonis losing to Greg Gagne, at which point I think Heyman was phased out with Adonis for Cowboy Bob, and replaced by the Legendary Big K. In any case, having Adonis going strong into his match with Greg, with a litterally crushing win over Rich was probably done to put Greg over further. "
The main event was cool as a straight match but to me it sucked that it didn't go anywhere afterwards because of how hot the crowd was for the whole thing. From the dress incident to Rich finally getting his, the crowd loved the angle but it didn't end up getting the real pay-off it deserved.
From Scrotum Pole: "With how much abdominal Adonis has, this move could be a fatal one. Sweet!!!! I would have loved to see a match between Adonis and that fat ass friend of Borat. Not naked, though their guts would hide any actual nudity.
To Rob: I lived for the new release day of PWI, The Wrestler, and Wrestling All-Stars. But they were always months behind with their columns and matches and I mostly bought them for the posters and the indy results. I know I can't be the only one who did this but me and my buds had favorite wrestlers at the time and we tried to see who could cover their entire room in posters. At the time my room was filled with The Midnight Rockers, Lex Luger(Horseman Days), and Nikita Koloff.
Come on Randy, what posters adorned the walls of harrison. I have to go with Curt Hening or Ric Flair, (and a secret boner for Rick Rude). Late "
For me, my posters were mainly hockey posters, though I did have a Hennig and Flair up, as well as the Road Warriors. Despite having the WWF as the only wrestling promotion that had TV in my area, I didn't really like a lot of the WWF guys.
Finally, from Brett Williams: "On a recent episode, does anyone remember who Dennis Condrey wrestled in a singles match in the TV Title Tourney?
Also did this tourney even really happen? As in was the point system mean anything? "
The "tournament" did happen, but honestly there was no real rhyme or reason to any of it and I think it was just a ploy to try to get people caring more about their matches when there wasn't much else of a reason to. The point system meant diddly and shit and I think they just eventually decided to have Adonis and Gagne fight for the belt to at least have one decent match in the whole tournament.
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