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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:16:46 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
For whatever reason, my DVR starts twenty minutes late and we join the show in time for a Baron Von Raschke promo, with Bischoff saying that people have been complaining and calling in, angry about the treatment that he received from The Texas Hangmen. Baron says he's recovered from the attack and that while they call themselves Psycho and Killer, he says that he's called himself an old friend to partner with him and he brings in BUCK ZUMHOFFE!! Buck looks pissed off and says that there won't be two Hangmen against one anymore because it's all coming to an end. He says that they won't be able to put anyone out of wrestling anymore, then turns to Johnnie Stewart, saying that they'll meet for the AWA Light Heavyweight Championship. Seeing Baron Von Raschke motioning with the clawhold and dancing to Buck's boombox is honestly one of the more frightening things I've ever seen.
We go to Lee Marshall with this week's Team Challenge Series report and we hear about the knockdown match with "Flapjack" Norton and Col. DeBeers, seeing highlights of Norton winning the match by knocking DeBeers down three times. DeBeers attacked Norton after the match, posting him and splitting him open, but Norton went all Hulk SMASH, when he saw his own blood and freaked out, running off DeBeers. Marshall messes up and says the Legends are leading, as well as in last place, but it shakes out with Baron's Blitzers at 40 points, Sarge's Snipers at 31 and Larry's Legends at 29. Marshall says that although it's late in the season, there's still a chance for anyone to win it all.
Bischoff welcomes us back to the show and says it's time to play word association, asking us what we think of when we think of excitement. If we said Tommy Jammer, we're right, though essentially it's an impossible game because NO ONE would say Tommy Jammer if the word was excitement. Green maybe, terrible definitely, but excitement? Certainly not the way I would have gone. Again, all this lying to the fans while doing this AWA show must have made it much easier for Bischoff when he was running WCW.
Match One-ish: Tom Stone vs. Tommy Jammer
Jammer gets a decent-sized, high-pitched, Cena squeal as he makes his way to the ring and as Jammer makes his way into the ring, STONE ATTACKS!! Right hands in the corner from Stone and he tries an Irish whip, but Jammer reverses it into a back bodydrop!! Irish whip from Jammer and there's a hard shot to the gut followed by a big kneelift!! We cut to the outside to see Ox Baker eating one of his business cards a ringside. Ox, I know that the AWA was desperate, I know they didn't have craft services but spend the buck at the concession stand to get a box of popcorn. SPLURGE, man!!! In the ring Jammer hits a pair of dropkicks off of another Irish whip and he pins Stone before he can even take his ring jacket off!!
Winner: Tommy Jammer (pinfall, dropkick)
Match Analysis: Short and to the point. Stone is a great jobber and he did well to do exactly what he needed to do to hide how green Jammer was at this point. He had athleticism, but that doesn't always translate well to the ring, and in Jammer's case, it didn't.
After the match, Baker regurgitates the card and hands it up to Jammer while he's on the apron celebrating his big win. Jammer throws the card back in Baker's face and tells him to stick it up his ass. Figuratively of course, but still, you get the point.
After the match, we have a VERNE GAGNE SIGHTING!! He's with Bischoff and Eric asks him about Curtis Hughes and Gagne talks up all of Hughes' football background and how he's a great prospect in professional wrestling. He moves to talk about The Lumberjacks and how they're two huge men and they have great agility and that they're being taught wrestling to go along with their power and size. Gagne calls The Destruction Crew unpredictable and wonders about Mike Enos' broken shoulder and if it will affect them down the road. He talks about AWA World Heavyweight Champion Larry Zbyszko, saying that he's on his way down to Guam to defend the title, as well as South America and that he's going all over the world, to new places that he didn't go, even when he was champion. Bischoff turns to the camera, puts on his shit-eating grin and lies, saying that the very best wrestling action in the world is right here on ESPN.
Match Two-ish: Steve Berg and Mike Braham vs. Mike Enos and Johnnie Stewart
Before the match, Bischoff brings up that Bloom is hurt and that while that's the official line, the rumor is that he's actually in Miami, getting pointers from the Miami Dolphins for an upcoming football match. Stewart and Berg get this one underway with Stewart looking supremely confident and shooting Berg off of the ropes out of a side headlock. Berg knocks him down with a shoulderblock and Stewart takes a minute to regroup and talks things over with Enos before going back to a lockup. Berg with right hands against the ropes and an Irish whip into a BIG backbreaker as he catches Stewart trying a cross bodyblock. Berg tags in Braham and Stewart is waiting for him with a cheap shot and a vertical suplex! Irish whip into a reverse elbow and Stewart just chokes Braham against the bottom rope before shooting him in for a powerslam. Tag to Enos and he picks Braham up in the powerslam position and rams him into the buckle, setting him up in the Tree of Woe and distracting the referee. Stewart works him over a little in the corner before getting the tag in and he whips Braham into the ropes, hitting him with the "loaded" high knee and getting the 1-2-3!!
Winners: Mike Enos and Johnnie Stewart (pinfall, Stewart high knee)
Match Analysis: Not bad for a mish-mash tag team and actually Stewart and Enos could have been entertaining in that same sense that guys like Shawn Michaels and Diesel were, with Stewart being the little gnat that gets under everyone's skin and Enos being the muscle to protect him. Decent little bout, but again, it was short and without much of a point.
After the break, Bischoff talks about Larry Zbyszko's championship reign, including losing to Mr. Saito, winning the title back from Saito, the two out of three falls loss to Nikita Koloff, and the time limit draw with The Trooper. He says that on a recently-finished tour of Guam and South America, Zbyszko beat both Kerry Von Erich and Sgt. Slaughter to defend the belt and that in today's main event, he's got a tough test in DJ Peterson. We head to a Peterson promo and he says that Zbyszko might be the ruler of Larryland and he might be sitting back counting all his money, but Peterson says he's been training and in the ring and his rankings have been on the rise. He says that today he gets his shot and he's going to make the most of it. That's it? Really? Terrible work from Peterson there. Zbyszko gets his rebuttal time and calls Peterson a tough athlete, but also a dreamer. He's dreaming if he thinks he's going to get to become the undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World. He says that Peterson is going to feel the same pain that Sammartino and Bockwinkel went through when he beat them and that Peterson's got a one-way ticket to Larryland!
Match Three-ish: AWA World Heavyweight Championship DJ Peterson vs. Larry Zbyszko (c)
Zbyszko does his usual stall job while getting his ring gear off and the bell rings with Peterson faking a charge in before backing off to circle the ring. Another near-lockup as Peterson shoots in and Zbyszko backs off. Zbyszko with a knee to the gut and a cople of hard forearms off of a lockup and he follows that with a big slam and an even BIGGER vertical suplex for a two-count. Snap mare into a knee to the back and Zbyszko tries for another pin, getting only a one-count. Irish whip and Peterson tries a sunset flip, but Zbyszko just punches him in the face. Peterson kicks Zbyszko away and hits a couple of big bodyslams, clotheslinning Zbyszko down and headbutting him in the balls as Zbyszko takes a walk. Peterson follows Zbyszko out to the floor and there's a HUGE atomic drop from Peterson on the concrete. He brings Zbyszko up to the apron and suplexes him back into the ring for a two-count!! Irish whip from Peterson and they botch a back bodydrop spot with Zbyszko improvising a front facelock and trying for a swinging neckbreaker. Peterson reverses it into a backslide and gets a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG two-count before Zbyszko rams Peterson's face into the mat and runs to the corner.
Peterson follows him in and Irish whips him across to the opposite corner, missing a charge and eating a BIG knee from Zbyszko. Belly to back suplex from Zbyszko now and both men are down, with Zbyszko rolling Peterson over for a two-count. Bodyslam from Zbyszko and he gets another two-count off of that, before turning to the reverse chinlock. Zbyszko works in his usual spot SCREAMING at the referee to ring the bell as Peterson pounds his foot on the mat to fire himself and the crowd up. Peterson elbows his way out of the hold and they trade right hands in the middle of the ring, with Peterson coming out on top. Peterson with an Irish whip into the ropes for a dropkick, but Zbyszko holds the ropes and gets a two-count off of Peterson's miss. They struggle over a suplex as they get back to their feet and Peterson hits his snap suplex, putting both men back down for a referee's count. They stagger to their feet and trade right hands again before Peterson gets a reverse atomic drop and FIRES UP!! Irish whip into a powerslam from Peterson and he picks Zbyszko up for a GUT-WRENCH SUPLEX!! Peterson to the second rope for a FLYING ELBOW!! There's the cover!! 1-2.....NO!!! ZBYSZKO KICKS OUT!!
Referee Gary DeRusha gets knocked down and as he's down and out, Peterson gets a small package for at least a five-count, but it only gets two when DeRusha comes back around. Peterson smashes Zbyszko into the top turnbuckle and hammers with some right hands, but Zbyszko gets a double-leg takedown and uses the ropes in the corner!!! 1-2-3!!! ZBYSZKO RETAINS THE TITLE!!!
Winner: Larry Zbyszko (pinfall, rope-assisted roll-up)
Match Analysis: The same quality match from Zbyszko as we usually get, no matter who the opponent is. He isn't quite on the Flair level of making terrible workers look great, but he can take guys like DJ Peterson and The Trooper, who have some level of ability, and make them look like a million bucks. That's not even mentioning that he does that while still getting over as the chicken shit heel, which is talent in its own right. He has the perfect mix of supreme overconfidence and supreme fear that every good heel needs to make their schtick work. Good main event and good work from Zbyszko in this one.
Zbyszko and Peterson have a staredown and the belt is in the middle of the ring between them. Zbyszko backs off and Peterson picks up the belt, posing with it and playing to the crowd before making his way to the back with it. We get the replay of the finish again with Peterson getting the small package for a five-count with them saying that Peterson is making his case for being champion, before throwing it to Eric Bischoff.
Bischoff is in the back with Larry Zbyszko and Zbyszko says that Peterson is a moron, still running around with his belt, making a fool out of himself. When Peterson gets back to the locker room, the commission is going to take that belt away and give it right back to Larry Zbyszko. He's going to try to get Peterson fined for stealing the belt, and Eric Bischoff talks about all the challengers for Zbyszko's belt. He runs down Mr. Saito, Sgt. Slaughter, Nikita Koloff, Col. DeBeers, The Trooper, and Zbyszko says he's beaten them all. He says he's the Heavyweight Champion of the World and that Lurtsema cost him the Koloff match and that since then, he's been getting challenges from football players and that all of them want to interfere with his career. Zbyszko says that all the challengers are like white meat and it makes him as happy as he would be if Rob Lowe came over to take out his daughter and he beat the shit out of him. He says there's one man, one champion and that he'll see all of us jerks in LARRYLAND!! Great work from Zbyszko to close the show in style!!
Final Thoughts
Well, I feel like I have to be a little lenient on the AWA, since I missed about twenty minutes of the show. There were only two squashes (though I'm sure I missed at least two more), and the main event was actually pretty good for a change. Call me a softie, or call me being lenient for messing up the DVR, but I'll go with a two-jugger for this one.
I'll harbor the small hope that things might get better, if only for day or two. Now let's get to the comments as there's a bit of a controversy a-brewing.
Fun With Comments
From Guest#0473: "Wow, Randy Harrison, the worst writer in 411mania history, is still writing his shit column that no one reads. You really need to get a life, you are wasting it clean. "
From Robert Tivari: "How much longer is it until Sarges Snipers becomes Debeers Diamondcutters? I'm trying to remember how they explained the Sarges departure from the AWA and just how exactly Debeers took over as captain of the team.
And how exactly did this post above mine make it past the filters? I have to say to him, if he doesn't like Randy Harrison's column, then don't read it. Simple as that "
From Guest#9011 (Undoubtedly the same guest as before): "Hey, Robert Tivari, fuck off. I didn't read this column, I've read them before, and it sickens me how someone can waste their lives recapping a tv show no one watches and not get paid for it. And it took less than a minute to write this."
From Scrotum Pole: "Hey, Robert Tivari, fuck off. I didn't read this column, I've read them before, and it sickens me how someone can waste their lives recapping a tv show no one watches and not get paid for it. And it took less than a minute to write this.
Posted By: Guest#9011 (Guest) on August 18, 2008 at 06:42 PM
Yet someone with even less of a life feels the need to blast someone who puts forth the best column this site has to offer. I suspect a troll Tivari, so fuck him.
Question to Harrison. Have you ever walked on a wrestling show, be it WWE, WCW, TNA, or Indy? Cause I hate to say it but I was present at Starrcade 1994 and I wanted to walk. The only redeeming quality from that night was meeting a young HHH outside walking to his car and yelling that he had no chance(OOPS!).
And to everyone, did the WWF ever try to do a shawn micheals v Curt Hennig feud? I'm sure I could wiki it but I trust you guys more. "
From Guest#0266 (Yes, STILL the same guest from the first comment): ""Yet someone with even less of a life feels the need to blast someone who puts forth the best column this site has to offer. I suspect a troll Tivari, so fuck him. "
Dead wrong, I have a full and balanced life. I have a job, I go to school, I have friends, I have hobbies, and you probably don't do any of this. It takes me less than a minute to have my meaningful opinion be heard. "
Finally on the topic, from Guest#2765 (not the same person): ""Dead wrong, I have a full and balanced life. I have a job, I go to school, I have friends, I have hobbies, and you probably don't do any of this. It takes me less than a minute to have my meaningful opinion be heard."
I was just wondering...can other people see these friends of yours too or are they just your special friends? Also, you do seem like you lead a very fulfilling life...spending your time commenting to a column you don't read and then going back to check comments left on said column to see if anyone has replied...yes, you seem to lead a rather busy day. I also go to school and work two jobs while maintaining an engagement as well as a very active social life, Randy Harrison is an entertaining writer as well as a great editor on nokaut.com...so keep checking back and cutting him down, give him those hits and continue whatever meager existance you currently call life that allows you take not only the time but effort to needlessy complain...god you're a bitchcake and a half. "
The debate on whether I deserve to even have a column here at 411mania rears its ugly head yet again as the same commenter that blasted me last time has returned. I think that the last commenter above me has pretty much said what everyone else is thinking, as well as Robert and Scrotum Pole. There has only been one person who has chosen to not like my work, and they've chosen to do so while hiding under a guest number. If you really feel like you have to click on my column to leave me hate, as well as clicking back and back, over and over to defend your hatred of me, by all means, I'll happily enjoy taking your hits and becoming even more popular and more entrenched. I've never once wanted this to be the most popular column on the site or the most-read or anything of that nature. There are lots of fans who enjoy old-school wrestling and so I do this as a bit of a side hobby for those people, as well as for myself since I enjoy watching the old shows. It rarely takes a lot of my time, or at least nowhere near the amount of time you feel like it takes, and I am actually being paid rather well for my time being put in at Nokaut.com, so I'm just doing this because I enjoy it. If that's somehow wrong to you, then so be it, but there's no need to come in here and piss on everyone's parade. The environment in this comment section is one of the better in the wrestling zone as there is a lot less trolling and a lot less negative comments than most other columns, and we all like it that way. If you keep coming back, be sure to check back for my replies, as I said before, it gives me more hits. If you don't, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. You won't be missed.
On to happier topics, from Guest: "With the abandonment of all the wrestlers at this point, It was a great chance for under card wrestlers to step up. Did anyone step up and go on to a good career? "
I don't think so. I mean there's the usual deal with Kokina Maximus becoming Yokozuna, but outside of that, I don't think there were many of the undercard guys that went on to become anything of note. If anyone knows otherwise, feel free to send in a comment, but I'm pretty sure that when the AWA dried up and went away, so did most of their mid-card.
From Guest. : "Another show with a lackluster main. Its still telling that with the AWA almost dead that quite a few of these guys would go onto better things and make it in the bigs later on down the line.
DeBeers continues to be the best thing not named Zbyszko on this show. He was probably the third best worker left outside Larry and Sarge, and the second best promo guy outside Larry. I as well enjoyed the whole gamut of emotions that ran through his face in his promo, as he sold that about as well as anyone could.
You know, initially I didn't mind Benchwarmer Bob, but with his pathetic offense there, I mean, I feel sorry Enos and Stewart had to sell that. LeDoux wasn't great or anything, but at least Larry made him look good.
I must say, I loved Big Cat in the end of his interview. Most guys if they lost would be fuming and wanting revenge for the chicanery. But Big Cat, he smiles a goofy smile and just says next time. Its the subtle old school racism I miss, although Lee's talking of Jones' hair had its moments as well."
It is telling about most of the AWA main eventers going on to success elsewhere, and it speaks more to how much Verne had lost the fans more than anything else. He had decent talent on top, he had booking that could still get the job done at times, but because the fans had become so tired of seeing the top stars go elsewhere, they stopped caring about Verne's product. Why care about a guy or cheer for him when six months down the road, he'll probably be gone? DeBeers' facial work on that promo was fantastic and his bug-eyed look at the end made me laugh out loud.
From Jasper: "If I didn't already hate The Lumberjacks I do now with them bastardizing "Werewolves of London." And is it just me or does Scott Norton look like a really pissed off Doug Heffernon from King of Queens? If your gimmick is that you can eat alot of pancakes, then you got a raw deal man.
I agree with the post above me, Col. Debeers is rocking it. His promo after the match had me busting with laughter. More Debeers, less everyone else please.
Who is Bob Lurtzama and why is he on my TV? He looks like my middle school science teacher. I've never followed football before, but was he some sort of celebrity in the 80s/90s?
Jake Milliman as The Hobbit! Book it now! "
Lurtsema was essentially a backup player on the defensive line for the Minnesota Vikings and a bit of a local Minnesota celebrity, so the AWA, in their attempts to look big-time, brought him in and started to stick him in angles. It's funny to see everyone so high on DeBeers. He was good as usual, but at this point I think he looks better than everyone merely because of how bad everyone else is. DeBeers' skills in the ring were starting to get a bit more limited so while he was still a great promo, he couldn't back it up in the ring like he did even three or four years before against the likes of Jimmy Snuka.
From Dave: "I'm curious about a few things with this episode. One of the announcers said something about the lumberjack's match about recording it and showing it to a physics class. Umm, to prove what? That if you don't study you might get stuck working for Verne? Second, how are they going to pull off a light heavy tournament? They barely have enough guys to have a heavyweight division. And as for Lurt that was completely pathetic. I mean he screwed up a double leg takedown.(How hard is it to do one, it's so basic you don't really have to explain the basic concept.) Guess the old rule of "If he can't do anything have him do the claw" still holds but it did sound weird that they're basically saying he's in the tank for the blitzers."
You're pretty much spot-on with all of your thoughts. The announcers didn't have a clue what they were talking about most times. There probably wasn't a light heavyweight tournament per se, and they just had a couple of matches at the TV tapings and then made up the rest of the matches. Finally, Lurtsema was essentially useless, but with the AWA grasping at straws, they had to try anything to get their name out there. This was their pathetic attempt at getting an "ESPN moment", despite being on the network, and the WWF would blow them out of the water by getting Lawrence Taylor a couple of years later, showing just how bush-league Verne's outfit was.
Finally, an answer to Scrotum Pole's HBK/Perfect question, from Jasper: "Yes the WWE did do an HBK vs. Curt Hennig feud. It was over the IC title circa 1993-94 ish. They met at a Summerslam and HBK retained thanks to interference from Deisel if memory serves me right. "
That sounds about right to me off the top of my head, but I could be wrong on it. I do remember that there was some sort of issue between them, but for the life of me, I can't put my finger on it.
That does it for the comments and for today's show. If anyone knows what happened in the first twenty minutes of the AWA show, feel free to let me know what I missed, though I suspect it's not much. I know I've said it before, but yes, more UWF will be coming this week, I promise. Or is that threatening? Anyhow, see you all back here tomorrow, hopefully with less drama!!
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:18:09 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Eric Bischoff and Ralph Strangis welcome us to the show and Strangis talks about how excited he is to get to work with Bischoff to call the matches on this episode. According to them, we're going to see an Iron Man Battle Royal dealie, a Team Challenge Series main event, The Texas Hangmen in action, as well as last week's main event, with Larry Zbyszko screwing DJ Peterson.
Match One: WT Jones vs. Brad Rheingans
Rheingans gets a front facelock out of the gate and rides on Jones a little bit, forcing him out to the floor as we get some of the WORST EDITING I've ever seen. We cut away from the riding to see random kids in the crowd, cut back to see Jones getting pushed from the ring, cut back to the kids, cut BACK to the same footage of Jones being pushed from the ring and then POOF, Rheingans is just standing in the middle of the ring. Jones makes his way up to the apron and gets taken on a sling shot back into the ring. Rheingans grabs a side headlock and gets shot into the ropes, knocking Jones down with a shoulderblock. He follows that with a hip toss and then gets right back to the side headlock again. Hammerlock into an amateur takedown by Rheingans and Jones just falls into the ropes to get the break. Jones muscles Rheingans into the corner and works over his gut with some right hands and kicks but Rheingans fires up and fires back with some right hands and a backbreaker for a two-count. Snap mare into a fistdrop from Rheingans and he goes back to the front facelock. AND THE CROWD GOES MILD!!!! Jones pushes Rheingans into the corner and shoulderblocks him in the gut before pulling him into the middle for a big bodyslam. Shit-talking from Jones into an Irish whip and Rheingans ducks around a back bodydrop attempt into an amateur wrestling cradle to get the three-count!
Winner: Brad Rheingans (pinfall, inside cradle)
Match Analysis: Rheingans is BOOOOOOOOORING, unless he's in with Zbyszko and that's the case here. Not a very good match at all, and even less of a good choice when you're trying to open a show strong. Yuck.
Match Two: Mike Braham vs. Col. DeBeers
Two things to note; A.) It's STILL hilarious to see DeBeers coming out to Guns n' Roses as I'm totally sure he was rocking that out on his walkman in the back on the way to the ring, and B.) I'm still amazed at how places like the AWA and ECW got away without having to pay usage fees for these kinds of songs for as long as they did. Anyhow, moving on to the match, DeBeers gets his usual quick start, snap maring Braham over and stomping him in the face before ramming him into his boot against the top turnbuckle. BIG side suplex from DeBeers into another stomp to the face and DeBeers puts Braham on his ass with a big right hand. Another turnbuckle smash from DeBeers and a kick to the gut, followed by ANOTHER turnbckle smash. DeBeers has his working combat boots on today, that's for sure. Braham fires off a couple of shots to the gut to try to get something going but DeBeers cuts him off with a kneelift right into the PANCAKE PILEDRIVER!!
Winner: Col. DeBeers (pinfall, pancake piledriver)
Match Analysis: Second verse, same as the first. DeBeers puts in his usual two minutes of work, but I have to say that Braham took that move about the best I've seen anyone take it. He sold it like he was dead. Only worthwhile moment of the show thus far.
Bischoff is in the back with The Destruction Crew and he talks about how tough Mike Enos is for wrestling with a BROKEN SHOULDER. He then talks about the Iron Man Survivor Series Battle Royal in the main event. Uh, Eric. Vince's lawyers are on line two when the cameras are clear. Bischoff asks Enos about the shoulder and how it will affect him in the battle royal and Bloom cuts him off and gives him the answer. Shades of Larry Nelson there as Bischoff gives a classic eyeroll to Bloom. Bloom calls Enos one of the toughest wrestlers in the sport today and that he guts it out, injury or no injury. Bischoff asks Enos about what he's going to do against guys like The Lumberjacks, while Wayne Bloom is banned from ringside and Enos LOSES HIS SHIT for a second, before Bloom cuts him off again. Bloom says the promoters are trying to be smart to split up The Destruction Crew to be able get rid of them. He brings up the Lurtsema attack again and says that The Lumberjacks are thinking that they can put The Crew out of wrestling once and for all, but Bloom thinks that they're too confused to do that. He says that Norton doesn't know if his tag partner is John Nord or Aunt Jemima and the interview cuts off rather abruptly for some unknown reason. Maybe Bloom really tore a strip off of Aunt Jemima or something. No matter, because for insisting that Scott Norton is dating the pancake bitch, Wayne Bloom my friend, you deserve a....
SICK BURN!!
Match Three: John Pistolka vs. Sgt. Slaughter
Slaughter does his usual tour of the ringside fans, shaking hands, kissing babies and on commentary Ralph Strangis appears to be setting things up for Slaughter's imminent demise, questioning Slaughter's fighting spirit as of late. Bischoff wisely backs off of that statement, not wanting to get his ass kicked, saying that Slaughter has a ton of spirit. We see Ox Baker at ringside saluting Slaughter and waving another business card at him as Slaughter gets into the ring and the bell sounds. Slaughter pushes Pistolka into the ropes off of a lockup and gives him a clean break before Pistolka offers up a handshake. Pistolka shoves Slaughter into the ropes off of a lockup and then hammers Slaughter in the chest instead of giving a clean break. Bischoff begins his fine tradition of telling a story about Pistolka in the AWA offices, rather than talking about the match, a skill he would hone to razor sharpness when he was announcer on Monday Nitro. Slaughter gets Pistolka against the ropes and hits him with a couple of hard forearms in the literal definition of tit for tat. Lockup number eight and Pistolka goes to the eyes and hits a couple of forearms, whipping Slaughter into the corner and following up with a standing elbow. Random cut to a slow-motion scene of some kids in the crowd as Pistolka makes his way to the top rope to drop an elbow on Sarge. Slaughter is up to his feet and he catches Pistolka with a BIG slam off the top rope, and Pistolka nearly landed on his head on that one. Short clothesline from Slaughter and he sneaks up behind to lock in the COBRA CLUTCH~! Slaughter pushes Pistolka into the corner and shoves his face in the camera to show that you don't fuck with the Sarge.
Winner: Sgt Slaughter (submission, cobra clutch)
Match Analysis: You've got to wonder if Slaughter is on his way out for the way that Strangis took a shot at him before the match started. Same type of match Slaughter always has against a jobber, though this one wasn't really much of a match because he didn't even mess up his combover. Bleah, this show is going REALLY badly so far.
Bischoff has Slaughter at ringside and Ox Baker comes over to kiss ass and says that he could make Slaughter a champion. He gives Slaughter his card and says that he's a great manager and he thinks that Slaugther is the man for him. Slaughter asks if he can guarantee that he could get a match with Larry Zbyszko and Baker agrees to that, looking more excited by the second. Slaughter says he's going to think it over and then says he's had enough time to think it over and says NO!!! He calls Baker a maggot and rips up the card, throwing it at him. Baker says that he's going to keep looking and that he's not going to wear his pajamas at night until he finds someone to manage. Ew. His saggy, wrinkly, 80-year old plum bag isn't going to help him find a client, I can tell you that right now. He better put some fucking pants on if he wants to manage someone and not have it end up in a gay porno movie.
Back from the break, we get the recap of Larry Zbyszko and DJ Peterson in the main event of last week's show for Zbyszko's AWA World Heavyweight Championship, including the finish where Zbyszko cheated to win.
Match Four: George Anderson vs. DJ Peterson
Anderson has a nice welt on his chest from an earlier bout in the night of tapings it looks like. Peterson looks ready to rumble and BIschoff speculates that Anderson's welt might be from training. Solid armdrag from Anderson starts out the match and he follows that up with hip toss. A go-behind off a lockup from Anderson but Peterson hits him with an elbow and a BIG bodyslam. He methodically picks Anderson up for a sloppy enziguri, picking him up again for a snap suplex. Peterson asks "Where's Zbyszko?" looking almost like a heel and he picks Anderson up for a shoulderbreaker before hitting a flying clothesline off the top rope!!! SCORPION DEATHLOCK (falling over while applying it) AND THERE'S THE BELL!!
Winner: DJ Peterson (submission, scorpion deathlock)
Match Analysis: Short. Pointless. Squash.
Match Five: Mike Braham and Steve Berg vs. The Texas Hangmen
We keep trucking on with yet another match and Killer and Berg start out with Killer going to the eyes and hammering away with some forearms before Irish whipping Berg into the ropes. Berg gets a couple of big shoulderblocks and lines up in a football stance for a HUGE shoulder tackle that sends Killer flying and Psycho has to come in to make the save at the two-count. Tag to Braham and Killer forearms him down before tagging in Psycho. Psycho scrubs Braham's face on the mat and then chokes him blatantly right in front of the referee, picking him up and then putting him back down with a kneelift. Choking across the top rop from Psycho and he tags in Killer, who comes off the second rope onto the back while Killer holds him across the top rope. Spinning neckbreaker from Killer into a kneedrop and he picks Braham up for a powerslam before tagging in Psycho. Hangman's neckbreaker as Psycho comes off the second rope with a double-axehandle and he follows that up with a bodyslam on Braham. Psycho pushes him into the corner and distracts the referee, allowing Killer to choke him with the hangman's noose and as Psycho comes back, he hits a big flying elbow off the ropes and a DDT on Braham. Psycho runs over and gives Berg a little "how's your father?" to put him onto the floor and then tags in Killer for more punishment. Side suplex and Killer's on the second rope for the HANGMAN'S ELBOW!! There's the cover and there's the three-count and they shove the jobbers out of the ring before celebrating with their nooses.
Winners: The Texas Hangmen (pinfall, Hangman's elbow)
Match Analysis: Another case of the same thing that always happens when The Hangmen get into the ring. I could have cobbled this same show together from squash matches on other shows if I hadn't seen it, which is really sad. It's just the same thing, over and over and over, which is part of what makes these shows such a chore. Yeah, we get it, the Hangmen are tough. Now let's put them up against AN ACTUAL TEAM.
Lee Marshall is up next with the TCS report and we hear about last week's main event with Peterson and Zbyszko, which I had no idea was an actual Team Challenge Series match, but I suppose. Marshall claims that Zbyszko has said he's taking things into his own hands and that you should never wake a sleeping tiger. Lee the math whiz has Sarge's Snipers and Baron's Blitzers tied for second, which they are with 31 points, but has Baron's Blitzers ahead by 11, despite the fact that they only have 40 points. Alright Lee, let's sit down and look at this for a second. Yes, you can take your dunce cap off. No, you can't ask the third grader next to you for the answer. 40 minus 31 equals what? Yes, Lee? No, the answer is not paintbrush, try again. Yes Lee, you can use your toes to count. No Lee, it's not Threeve. That's not even a number. The correct answer is nine, Lee. We were looking for nine. 40 minus 31 equals 9. Basic math can be a tricky bitch goddess so no need to cry in your Lunchable, Lee.
By the way, I want one of those Hoveround Power Chairs and if anyone that reads the column feels like helping me plunk down a deposit on one of those bad boys, I would be forever grateful. I especially can't wait to get my friends together and do tandem moves like those geezers at the mall. They must have thought they were the fucking Shriners or something.
Back from the break and Larry Zbyszko is with Eric Bischoff as Eric explains the rules for the Iron Man Survivor Rumble Mania Slammivers-a-battle royal. He says that three men will start and every thirty seconds after another wrestler will enter the ring and that all three teams will be represented. Larry Zbyszko will be one of the representatives for his team and Bischoff asks if he's going to be in the third straight main event because his team is down by ten points. Are we going to have to have a math lesson too, Eric? Zbyszko threatens to slap Bischoff in his smart whore mouth and says he hates a smartass. Zbyszko talks about how he's doing it because there's a million bucks at stake and time is running out on the TCS so he's going to single-handedly win it. No matter how much his team is robbed by Benchwarmer Bob and everyone else, he's getting involved because he's a LEADER and he's going to take that Holy Grail and guide his team to victory. He promises to use every dirty trick, every hook and crook, every bit of knowledge that he got from putting Sammartino and Bockwinkel out of wrestling to take his team to the TOP!!
Match Six: Team Challenge Series Match: Iron Man Survivor Battle Royal Match Baron's Blitzers vs. Larry's Legends vs. Sarge's Snipers
Lee Marshall spends three minutes babbling about the rules, and it breaks down with there being four men from each team in the match. Psyscho for Larry's Legends, Buck Zumhoffe for Sarge's Snipers and Yukon John for Baron's Blitzers will be the first three men in the ring. Every thirty seconds the bell rings and a new wrestler makes his way to the ring. It's an over the top rope battle royal. Are you all clear on it? Too bad! Are you confused? OF COURSE YOU ARE!!! Ring the goddamned bell and get this dog and pony show on the road, bitches!!
The bell rings and Zumhoffe charges in, getting backdropped over the top rope by Psycho about three seconds into the match. What a fucking jobber. To think I believed in you, Buck. For shame. Nord hammers on Psycho and Nord recovers, trying to throw Psycho over but he saves himself until the bell rings. Mike Enos comes downand attacks Nord from behind and he and Psycho lay a double-team on Nord. Nord with an Irish whip and ENOS EATS BEAVER!! Nord ties Psycho up in the ropes and moves to give him a big boot, but Psycho moves out of the way and Nord goes over the top and out to the floor. Beaver that, you stupid lumberjack. Here comes Nikita Koloff and he ducks under a double-clothesline from Enos and Psycho to land one of his own and there's a NOGGIN-KNOCKER!! Koloff picks Psycho up for a slam and tries to get him over the top, but Enos sneaks up and knocks them both out to the floor!! Here comes The Russian Brute!! He's hammering away on Enos in the corner until Enos reverses. Brute rams Enos into the top turnbuckle and chokes him across the top rope and HERE COMES ZBYSZKO!!
He and Enos immediately try to double-team Brute over the top and they lay some stomps in on him trying to get rid of him, but they can't and it's time for Curtis Hughes to get into the ring. Hughes attacks Zbyszko and Enos and they end up letting go of Brute, letting him drop to the floor. Hughes runs roughshod over both of the heels and whips Enos into the corner before hammering away on him and here comes The Trooper!! LEFT HANDS ON ZBYSZKO!! MOUNTED PUNCHES IN THE CORNER ON THE LIVING LEGEND!!! ZBYSZKO FLOP!! They pair off and as Killer comes in from behind, he throws Hughes over the top rope and to the floor. Now it's Enos, Killer and Zbyszko against Trooper and they gang-attack him until Johnnie Stewart enters the ring and now it's FOUR on ONE!! TROOPER FIRES BACK ON ALL FOUR MEN!! Stewart shows some smarts and tries to hide in the corner for a moment until Scott Norton comes down to the ring!!
Norton hammers away on Stewart and puts him over the top rope with a right hand!! ZBYSZKO GETS ELIMINATED!! Trooper with left hands on Killer as Norton hits a HUGE back bodydrop on Enos, clotheslining him up and over the top to the floor. Killer tries to beg off from Norton and Trooper and Trooper starts laying in the right hands. Trooper whips Killer in and Norton hits a big elbow, following it up with an Irish whip for Trooper to hit a big shoulderblock. Trooper and Norton have Killer and they play to the crowd, asking them which side they should throw him out on before finally DUMPING HIM TO THE FLOOR!!
Winners: Baron's Blitzers (Survivors: Scott Norton and The Trooper)
Match Analysis: What an epic clusterfuck. That was possibly the most disorganized match I've ever seen. They ran through all of the staples of a thirty man battle royal, just with twelve men and about nine minutes. It was a battle royal on crystal meth and it was WAYYY too hard to keep up with anything, which essentially means everything was lost. You could kind of tell once Norton came into the ring that he wasn't going to lose, which was a bit of a bummer, but I guess, he didn't care cause he wasn't scared.
Trooper and Norton are outside the ring with Bischoff and apparently he feels like it determined who the toughest men in wrestling are. Trooper agrees and says that he knew when he was fighting four on one, he just had to hold out until big Flapjack hit the ring. Bischoff says that the last time that a Texas Hangmen ran into something that big and strong it had eighteen wheels on it and Norton agrees, saying that it was four against two and that they cleaned house. Norton threatens Col. DeBeers and says that he hasn't forgotten what he did, while Trooper is already planning things with the million dollars. He asks Norton about a trip to the Bahamas or to Las Vegas. Awwwww, look at those two crazy kids and their honeymoon planning. Just adorable. Bischoff closes out the interview and that ends the show for today!
Final Thoughts
Yeah, this is a bad one. SIX matches in a one hour show, including a main event battle royal, and not a single redeeming minute in the bunch. That battle royal was a fucking disaster and honestly made me feel like I was watching a regular Royal Rumble match on fast forward. Five squashes and a terrible main event is a recipe for drinking and well, I sure as shit did a lot of it to get through this one. Can you say "full monty" folks? I knew you could.
Now, lesh gettada commens before I en up fallin gover.....
Fun With Comments
From piperfan01: "Strange thing happened last night, My TIVO decided to record AWA instead of RAW, and I caught on to its plan about 20 minutes in, basically where your report started. You didn't miss much thats for sure, but that goes without saying. I'll say this though, I like my Nikita Koloffs bald, anything else is just plain wrong and unnatural. Kind of like King Kong Bundy with hair, I choose not to accept it. "
Well, our DVR's must have been in cahoots or something. I agree about Nikita being bald though. He and Bundy both looked better than way. Bundy with hair on that World Class DVD that the WWE put out looks like a disaster.
From Steven: "Here what you missed:
1. Highlights of a 6-man tag between Sgt. Slaughter, The Trooper, and Nikita Koloff against Mike Enos, Larry Zbyszko, and The Russian Brute.
2. The Lumberjacks squashed a couple of guys. Highlight of the match: WT Jones takes a boot from Yukon John while Jones was standing there not moving and doing nothing. Then, post-match interview with Lumberjacks about Flapjack Norton heading back to defend his "pancake eating" title of 298 pancakes, also talk about an "Iron Man Battle Royal" as well.
2. Russian Brute beat a jobber via the "Heart Punch". He was not accompanied by Ox Baker, and there was a storyline where the Brute was trying to get Ox Baker back to manage him, but Baker refused to do so. "
Thanks for the info, it really looks like I missed nothing. I don't feel quite so bad now.
From Robert Tivari: "Good to see the Russian Brute back. I guess the Nightstalker's gone now and at least they've given us a little bit of storyline continuity with the angle of the Russian Brute being dropped by Ox Baker and him begging for Ox to take him back. I thought this was going to be another instance of an abandoned angle that never had a chance to be resolved. Kudos to AWA for continuing with this, although it doesn't really explain the disappearance of the Nightstalker. I also like how nobody wants Ox as their manager so it gives him more fodder to take the Brute back. "
Yeah, Nightstalker kind of showed up and disappeared and I don't know if he ever wrestled on the ESPN show. I believe he had a couple of squashes on the All-Star Wrestling program, but I have no idea what happened to him in this point. It makes more sense for Clarke to have Baker as a manager since that was one of his trainers, but honestly who the hell would even WANT Ox as a manger?
From Brian: "To those that think Randy is a bad writer and shouldnt be on here, stick it up your ass.
Randy, you do a helluva job on this stuff, keep up the good work and dont let those that probably beat it 5 times a day to their own mothers bother you. "
Thanks for the support, Brian. It's the good folks like you and others that keep me going and keep me doing these shows, no matter how bad the wrestling gets.
From Rudey: "I for one am digging the AWA show recaps so please keep em going! I loved that era. The haters/trolls aren't even worth responding to. "
Again, I appreciate the support. If you think these are good, wait until I get ahold of the Wrestling Challenge shows. Then all I would need is a secondary show like NWA Main Event or something and I could be covering all three major promotions from the late 80's and early 90's. That would be awesome.
From Jasper: "No DeBeers = Zero Stars from me.
Although for some reason I was highly entertained by The Russian Brute match and I don't know why. Ox Baker rules, I'd let him manage me.
DJ Peterson is as bland as a saltine. I change the channel when he comes on.
Couple of questions though...did The Trooper or Tommy Jammer ever go the WWF? They seem like the kinda guys Vince would like to take from Verne. "
Agreed on Peterson being boring as all hell. His marble-mouth promos didn't help him any either. As for Tommy Jammer, I'm pretty sure his career dried up when the AWA did. To answer the Trooper question, just look below.
From Brett Williams: "The Trooper (Del Wilks) went on to both WCW and the WWF as The Patriot, along with other promotions such as the GWF and All Japan. "
The only thing I could correct is that I believe it was Del Wilkes. Other than that, you're solid and thanks for the information.
From Guest. : "Adding onto what you missed: They also showed a TCS report detailing the match I thought we were to see tonight, of Flapjack vs. DeBeers, in a knockdown challenge. Whoever knocked down their opponent 3 times won. Norton won it handily, so DeBeers rammed his head into the ring post after the match, causing a relatively messy blade job. It wasn't full muta scale, but the blood was trickling over Norton's face. He then Flapjacked Up, and DeBeers ran like the courageous and cunning general he is. So he was wearing gauze around his head for the tag match, and headbutted a guy to show that he don't care *slaps a tree log real hard* and he ain't scared..... though I think I just hurt my hand on the log.
I was laughing uncontrollably at Baron's promo, as the guy, while his best years were long behind him, still just had this charisma that made him perversely entertaining. When the Light Heavyweight Tourney match happens, I'll spill an anecdote on the backstage dealings of the tournament.
I was disappointed that the Larryland promos were both short, but at the very least he was sweating and looked like he did just wrestle Peterson when he went to meet Bischoff the second time, I'm going to nominate that in the 411 Exclusive Hidden Highlights column. His promos seem to have a repetitive nature to them, as you can just count that he'll namedrop Sanmartino and Bockwinkel somewhere, plus the ending of the "See you in Larryland, jerks," but then he has things like beating up Rob Lowe or the kind of joy of finding out your ex and her boyfriend got into a car wreck that at least spiced it up enough so that even if he's just cutting the same promo every time, its still entertaining. "
I can't wait to hear the backstage anecdote on the Light Heavyweight tournament, since I love hearing those little stories and things. Good times indeed and another quality comment from you, so thank you Guest.
From Frozen: "If any of you still have this show on Tivo, you've got to go back and watch the end of the Flapjack Norton match. When Gary DeRusha raises his hand in victory, you can see him slipping Norton a blade. Norton keeps looking at the blade while it's in his hand. Terrible performance. "
Because of your comment, I had to go back and see it and that was possibly the most blatant thing I have ever seen in terms of exposing the business. He might as well have held it up to the crowd and pointed at it while pantomiming dragging it across his forehead. Horrible, horrible job from Norton there.
From Scrotum Pole: "Harrison you still didn't answer if you have ever walked out of a wrestling event be it of any kind.(Starrcade 94, I was close).
I met Nikita Koloff at a Denny's in Tulsa. He was coming out with Animal of Road Warriors and we could only get a pic with one of the two, not both. I was the only one to get a pic with Koloff. The best was when I asked him for a pic and he replied sure in the most american voice since john wayne. Kinda ruined the whole russian thing.
And does anyone else think that Mike Enos was Mike Anus to the guys in the back or on the playground? "
He might very well have been. As to your Nikita story, that's awesome. You definitely made the right choice, I would have gone with Nikita a hundred times over. Getting to your question about walking out on a show, there was actually an Indy outfit that ran a show at the arena over at the University of Manitoba about ten years ago and that show was so terrible I almost walked out. I don't recall the promotion, but it was booked by Don Callis and the only reason I sat through it was because Jerry Lynn was in the main event. After the matches were over, I got to go down to the ring and get a picture with me and Lynn inside the ring, which was really cool.
From Sturge: "Frozen is totally right, it was hard to miss. DeRussa hands him the blade as he announces him as the winner and then Norton stops to look at it while in the ring...about as bad as when the Rock dropped/picked up his blade at WM17. Epic fail."
I agree, the WM17 one was almost as blatant, but at least Rock managed to keep it from looking totally lame. Plus it's The Rock, and if I'm going to cut someone some slack, it's certainly going to be him over Scott Norton.
From Dave: "Well the other guys have covered it, you didn't miss much. Basically covering the lumberjacks with Flapjack headbutting a guy while supposedly having a concussion. (To prove their "We don't care" motto. Of course it could just create a new motto "No brains no problem" but I kid since I actually like the future Berzerker and his buddy the future NWO heavy hitter.) Anyway the lead into Jammer as Mr. Excitement? Yeah, nothing says excitement like a pair of drop kicks. Oh well, keep it up Randy. Some may not appreciate it but reading your reviews has been a pleasure. (Weird thing is I look more forward to watching this bad wrestling and your review of it than just watch Monday Night Raw.) "
Thanks for the comment, and thanks again for the support. I can't tell you how flattering it is to hear people talk about your column as being their favorite on the site, or to get e-mails from people saying how they like reading about the old matches almost as much or more than watching new ones. I appreciate all of you who take the time to read my little space and I thank you all for doing so regularly.
Finally, from s : ""I passed out and I missed the first twenty minutes of the show...I knew that using these moonshine jugs as a rating system was going to be a bad idea... "
HAHA, Explains why your columns are so bad, LOL. "
Thank you. If it's the same person who chose to rag on my column yesterday, at least you gutted up enough to include an inital this time. If you're someone new, I'm sorry you don't like what I write and I guess I'll just have to live without your well thought out and honest critiques of my work. Check ya later, s.
That's the comments and that's the show folks. I know I keep saying it and I keep trying to steel my resolve, but I double-dog, super-duper SWEAR that there will be UWF in the system by tomorrow. Maybe both if I feel like I need extra punishment for something I did today. See you all tomorrow for more of my brutal trip down memory lane.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:19:05 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
The Gruesome Twosome, Bischoff and Marshall welcome us to the show and run down the line-up, with Johnnie Stewart, The Destruction Crew and The Trooper on tap, as well as an AWA Women's Championship bout in the main event. They throw it up to the ring for our opening bout of the evening, featuring Tommy Jammer. Ugh.
Match One: Randy Gust vs. Tommy Jammer
They have REALLLLLY lowered the house lights, to the point that the ring is almost glowing compared to the bleak, dark crowd. Gust talks a little shit during a staredown and throws the most hokey punch I have ever seen, begging for Jammer to either block it or duck it. Jammer ducks and hits an atomic drop before hitting the ropes Warrior-style for a clothesline. Jammer chops at Gust and throws him into the corner hard, catching him with a POWERSLAM out of it. Jammer hits the ropes Warrior-style again and even drops the Warrior Splash to get the 1-2-3!!
Winner: Tommy Jammer (pinfall, Warrior Splash)
Match Analysis: Why even bother. Seriously, I mean it worked for Magnum TA, but he had a thing called talent. This Jammer kid has shit all. There's a difference between someone who can work long matches working shorter ones to get over how good they are, and someone who can't work, having short matches to avoid exposing themselves as terrible workers. This is a case of the latter and it just kinda sucks to watch.
Match Two: Spike Jones vs. Johnnie Stewart
Stewart has a new ring robe that makes him look like a peacock and has his name bedazzled across the back. I'm sure that robe took eighteen Thai children at least a week to make. They hit a lockup and Jones pushes Stewart hard into the corner, leading to a little stalling. Another lockup and Jones shoves him across the ring again. Stewart charges in and Jones gets locks in a bearhug, squeezing a little before Stewart breaks free of it. European uppercut from Stewart and he rams Jones into the top turnbuckle before pulling him out of the corner for an impressive bodyslam. Stewart drops an elbow and gets a long two-count before hammering away with right hands. He chokes Jones across the top rope and slings him back into the ring, picking him up for a snap suplex. Jones to the gut for a shot and he follows it with a forearm shot, but Stewart cuts him off with some punches in the corner. Jones reverses and scores with right hands of his own, whipping Stewart into the opposite corner and threatening him with another right. Stewart begs off and takes another couple of shots before reversing a Jones Irish whip and OH MOTHER OF GOD I THINK JONES CRIPPLED HIMSELF!!! He tripped trying to take a chest bump into the corner and slammed face-first into the top turnbuckle while falling awkwardly. That was ugly as sin, folks. Stewart pulls down his kneepad, whips Jones into the ropes and hits him with that knee for the three-count!
Winner: Johnnie Stewart (pinfall, knee to the chest)
Match Analysis: Stewart actually showed me a little something, using some power to take Jones down on a couple of occasions, surprising me with it. It wasn't much, but when you're watching the AWA in 1990, you'll take any small moments of joy you can get.
From the ring we head to the interview area and Eric Bischoff has Buck Zumhoffe with him!! What the monkey? Zumhoffe is stirring a big pot with a shovel. He claims that since he's going to be facing Johnnie Stew-rat, he's making a big pot of stew. Well played, good Buck. He promises to take the pot of stew with him everywhere and that everyone who comes to the matches is going to get a taste of stew-rat. Bischoff asks him what kind of stew it is, and he says that it's rat stew, while pulling out two of the fakest looking rats this side of a cat toy. He promises to take care of business for the Light Heavyweight Championship and HERE COMES BARON VON RASCHKE!! Baron claims that the stew smells good, but it could use some spice. He suggests chopping up the Texas Hangmen and sticking them in the pot with the Stew-rat, saying that they need to make Hangman's Stew-rat. Von Raschke and Zumhoffe walk towards the camera, looking crazy as bat shit, and the trainwreck is over. Fuck moonshine jugs, I think I might need to start rating this show with bongs, because that was honestly the most insane promo I've ever seen without the aid of halucinatory chemicals. Bat. Shit. Crazy.
Match Three: Tom Burton vs. Sgt. Slaughter
Marshall and Bischoff talk about how Slaughter is at a crossroads in his career and possibly very frustrated. They talk about how he lost two title bouts to Larry Zbyszko in Guam and Hawaii, with both matches taking place near US military bases with lots of soldiers in attendance. They also point out how far behind in the Team Challenge Series that Sarge's Snipers are before starting to talk up Slaughter's jobber opponent, Tom Burton.
Slaughter shoves Burton off of a lockup and fixes his combover before pushing Burton into the corner on another lockup. Burton goes to the eyes to take an advantage and rakes Slaughter's eyes across the top rope before firing in a few right hands. Turnbuckle smash from Burton and another and he slaps Slaughter on the chest, causing Slaughter to fix his hair and then no-sell the move. Slaughter reverses and lands some chops of his own, stopping in mid-motion to re-comb the over again. Slaughter with an Irish whip into the corner and he follows it with a reverse elbow and more hair-fixing. Irish whip into the ropes and it's a back bodydrop for Slaughter, followed by, you guessed it, even MORE hair-fixing. Slaughter hits a short-arm clothesline, fixes his hair and locks in the COBRA CLUTCH!! Burton wiggles and squirms and then finally goes down and out. Slaughter fixes his hair after referee Gary DeRusha raises his arm too quickly and then wakes Burton out of the deep sleep.
Winner: Sgt. Slaughter's bald spot....errrr, let's try that again
The REAL Winner: Sgt. Slaughter (submission, cobra clutch)
Match Analysis: Good God, Sarge, just let the hair go gracefully. It's INCREDIBLY distracting when you push it back into place after every move. Either get some extra-hold hairspray or just cut that shit off. When Slaughter's flip-flopping hair is the most entertaining part of a match, that's not good.
After the bout, we're off to the back with Eric Bischoff and The Destruction Crew. Bischoff asks Mike Enos about possible dissension between Larry's Legends and the challengers to the AWA World Tag Team Championships, but Bloom cuts him off, as usual. Bloom says that Bischoff is talking shit about Larry's Legends and he doesn't like it. He says that they have no problem with anyone because they're wearing the gold. He supposes that the Hangmen might be upset because they don't have the belts and he says that they've put DJ Peterson and Trooper together now to try to beat them. He says that they're not worthy to get in the ring with The Destruction Crew because they've beaten no one. Bloom says that their dance card is open for any team, any time, any place. The Destruction Crew vs. Aunt Jemima and her mystery partner, Mrs. Butterworth!! BOOK IT!! Bloom says that The Crew is the best and they're going to prove it coming right up in their next match.
Match Four: AWA World Tag Team Championship Kent Carlson and Tom Bennett vs. The Destruction Crew (c)
Funny moment as The Crew make their way to the ring and all of a sudden, we're cut to a crowd shot from the Showboat in 1986 or 1987 of fans clapping wildly. Why they would be clapping for the heels aside, all that's happening is Enos standing on the apron. Another wonderful job from the AWA's crack editing team. No pre-match attack from the Crew as instead Mike Enos is motioning for a fan to get in the ring and back up his beer-fueled bravado. The fan understandably doesn't and Enos and Carlson get things underway with a lockup and an Enos knee in the corner. Enos tries a whip into the corner that gets reversed but catches Carlson with a big boot to the face on the charge in, drawing a cackle from Bloom in the opposite corner. Enos with a whip into the ropes and a HUGE powerslam into a cover, but it only gets two as Enos picks him up before the three-count could be completed. Another Irish whip and a big shoulderblock with Enos' supposed broken shoulder before he tags in Bloom. Bloom goes up to the second rope as Enos picks Carlson up in a backbreaker and Bloom DROPS THE ELBOW!! Enos dumps Carlson and he pretty much falls on his head, selling it like he's dead. Impressive looking move. Kneedrop from Bloom and he throws Carlson into Bennett to make the tag. Turnbuckle smash on the apron from Bloom and he follows it with a DEEP gut-wrench suplex after dragging Bennett into the ring. Stomp to the face from Bloom and a knee to the bag leads to a tag to Enos. Enos up on the second rope after Bloom deposits Bennett up on the top turnbuckle and he hits a HUGE belly to back suplex!!! Enos motions to the crowd and picks Bennet up on his shoulders and HERE COMES BLOOM OFF THE TOP ROPE!! WRECKING BALL TIME!!! Gary DeRusha sees it and decides that that's going too far, calling for the bell to disqualify The Destruction Crew.
Winners: Kent Carlson and Tom Bennett (disqualification, illegal top rope move)
Match Analysis: Well, they said they were going out there to teach two ham-and-eggers a lesson, and they did just that. Good in the angle advancement sense, average to poor in the actual wrestling and entertainment sense, just because it's the same thing over and over.
Match Five: WT Jones vs. The Trooper
The show drones on as Trooper slaps five with the fans at ringside on his way to the ring for our fifth match of the day. Trooper gets a quick armdrag right out of the gate as Bischoff says that Trooper and Peterson have signed to face The Destruction Crew for the AWA World Tag Team Championship and that match will be coming up soon. Trooper takes Jones over with a fireman's carry and Jones complains about a pull of the tights before grabbing a side headlock. Trooper shoots him into the ropes and drops down a couple of times before hitting a big hip toss into a DEEP armdrag takeover. Straight armbar from Trooper now and Jones shrieks like a woman as he gets to his feet and then goes to the eyes to break the hold, ramming Trooper into the top buckle. Irish whip into the corner from Trooper off of a reversal and he charges in but Jones moves and lets Trooper kiss the top turnbuckle again. Jones lays in some weak-ass kicks and drops a pair of elbows that gets him a two-count before Trooper powers out. Trooper gets some left hands to knock down Jones and there's an Irish whip into a HUGE dropkick. Another Irish whip into a back bodydrop and THERE'S THE NECK MASSAGER!! Jones sells it by motorboating his lips and slowly......drifting.......*yawn*...to sleep....
Winner: The Trooper (submission, neck massager)
Match Analysis: Trooper hits all his usuals, though it's slightly more entertaining because he ended up in there with Jones, who is quality when it comes to being a screaming jobber. At least we were spared a Trooper promo.
After the commercial break, it's time for Lee Marshall and his Team Challenge Series report!! He talks about last week's TCS main event with the crazy and convoluted battle royal. He talks about how far back the Snipers and Legends are behind Baron's Blitzers and how they needed the two points for the win to try to catch up. The Blitzers won the match and moved further ahead and NOW they have an eleven point lead over both Larry's Legends and Sarge's Snipers. Pretty quick TCS report this week, mercifully.
Match Six: AWA Women's Championship Magnificent Mimi vs. Candi Divine (c)
Mimi comes to the ring, wearing a t-shirt of herself and the crowd actually cheers for both women, despite Mimi aligning herself with Col. DeBeers and heeling it up the last time they faced off. Mimi slinks off her shirt and does it stripper-style to a big pop from the crowd, before rubbing herself down with it and throwing it to one of the lucky fans. As a side note, it appears as if Divine is using the AWA Television Championship as a stand-in for the Women's Championship belt, which is probably in someone or other's basement because Verne forgot to pay them. Also, with the amount of feathers in the ring before the match, either Candi's robe was shedding, or The Chicken Lady had an orgasm.
They finally get down to business and Mimi gets a quick single-leg takedown but Divine kicks her off and they circle each other. Another single-leg and another kick off and we're right back to Square One, (no Mathnet though, which sucks). Divine gets a single-leg into a stepover toehold and actually gets a two-count off of it, before Mimi reverses it to a toehold of her own. Divine reverses that and slaps a double-leglock on Mimi but Mimi gets a side headlock reversal as they trade wrestling holds early on. Divine reverses into a headscissors and shrieks a little as Mimi tries a reversal, finally getting one into a bridging cradle for a two-count. They circle again and Divine gets a double-leg takedown into a slingshot, sending Mimi crashing to the mat, right on her sweet boobies. Divine pulls her out of the corner and sends her to the mat again face-first this time, before hitting her with a double-axehandle that puts Mimi to the floor.
Divine tries to get the crowd behind her in the ring and they start a Mimi chant instead, with Divine picking up on it and trying to shove Mimi out of the ring as she gets abck into it. Mimi plays to the crowd chants and then gets back into the ring as Divine offers up a test of strength. Mimi turns it into a handshake and then gets kicked in the gut for her stupidity, with Divine picking her up by the hair and whipping her into the ropes for a slap to the gut. Divine follows it up with a snap mare into a bodyscissors, dragging Mimi into the middle of the ring, away from the ropes. Divine cranks on the pressure as Mimi screams and pantomimes that she's in a great deal of pain, trying to reverse it and she does reverse it into a cradle for a two-count.
Dropkick from Mimi as both women get back to their feet and Divine hits the floor to compose herself, leading to more "Mimi" chants from the crowd. They circle and get back into the ring with Divine taking over with some elbows to the back. Irish whip from Divine and it gets reversed, into a back bodydrop from Mimi. Snap suplex from Mimi gets a two-count and here's an Irish whip from Mimi and here it comes. The worst spot in AWA history. I'd heard about it over and over, but had never seen it. Divine comes off the ropes and as Mimi tries a clothesline, Divine forgets to duck. Mimi pulls her arm up and misses Divine by at least two feet, but DIVINE BUMPS IT!! AND SELLS IT!!! Jesus Christ on a crutch, that was easily the worst thing I've ever seen, and considering what we've seen from the AWA this week, that's saying something. Scott Norton, any thoughts?
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:20:02 GMT -6
When Norton feels that way, you know you screwed up BAD!! Divine botches a spot again and then nearly drops Mimi on her head with a vertical suplex before going up to the second rope, missing a big splash. Mimi whips Divine into the corner and charges in for a monkey flip, taking Divine over with a snap suplex of her own, floating over into the cover for a two-count. Divine with a couple of forearms and stomps as they make their way to their feet and Mimi gets a double-leg takedown into a slingshot, but she shoots Divine right over the top rope to the floor and there's the bell!!
Winner: Candi Divine (disqualification, over the top rope rule)
Match Analysis: Wow. I think this match set women's wrestling back about a decade. After about three minutes they were completely blown up and couldn't hit even the simplest of spots, leading to that absolute disaster at the end of the match. They're honestly lucky they didn't kill one another. What a disgrace, and they're lucky I don't do star ratings.
After the match, Mimi's out to the floor after Divine and rams her head into the apron a couple of times before Divine takes over with a couple of kicks that looked like they were aimed for the cooter. Mimi rams Divine on the announce table and climbs up there to lay some stomps in on Divine before getting back into the ring. Divine raises her hand on the outside and then chases after Mimi into the ring and screaming. She tries to play to the crowd and no one likes her. She gets her belt back and shows it off to the crowd but no one really cares. Mimi gets into the ring and they scrap again, pulling hair and clawing until Divine runs to the outside and shows off her belt again. The crowd chants for Mimi as we fade out to end another AWA show.
Final Thoughts
Sigh. Five squash matches and the worst women's match I think I've ever seen. I wonder what I should do with this one. Considering that I'm saving up giving out more jugs until I come across a show as terrible as the one with the football match, I'm really left with no choice but to give this one..
Believe me, I wanted to go more, but I don't want to wreck the curve when I'm sure something worse will be coming along soon enough. Let's hit the comments, and there are a TON of them this time out.
Fun With Comments
From Steven: "After watching the show, the least I was expecting was a 3-jugger rating from you. Horrible editing (Rhenigans Vs. Jones, showing the kids with the "rock on" sign 3 times during the show, and the Team Challenge Series segment with math problems), along with 5 squash matches and an un-enjoyable battle royal (Not like the one that ended the Team Challenge Series) really made the show suck.
Hopefully, the AWA in 1990 will have better efforts in their upcoming shows, but knowing that it's their last year as a company, I honestly don't expect it. The AWA 1990 episodes have the ability to be better than the crap we got today."
They have the ability, of course, they just won't. I'm sorry to tell you, but they won't.
From OB1 Jabroni: "Did you notice the Hidden Hightlight when Lee Marshall was doing the introductions, and on the bottom of the screen where ESPN Classic runs the sports ticker, there was the Little Leauge World Series sponsored by Frosted Flakes. I only mention it since he was the voice of Tony the Tiger for several years. I guess when the shows sucks as bad as it does, you have to find something to pass the time "
I did actually notice that and I chuckled a little. I meant it when I said that I still look for them even though I haven't done that column in ages and I keep meaning to send one in for Summerslam, so thanks for reminding me to do so.
From Jasper: "Wow what an awful show. I feel asleep during the DJ Peterson match and looks like I didn't miss much.
THE PATRIOT! I knew a recognized The Trooper's voice, but i couldn't put my finger on it.
I got excited when they went to Eric Bischoff for an interview after DeBeers match. I thought I was gonna get another great Col. promo, but was severely dissappointed when it was just The Destruction Crew until Bloom's "Aunt Jamima" line at the end. That was classic. "
You didn't miss anything, and as for Bloom and his Aunt Jemima bit, that was indeed fantastic. Bloom was a little underrated as a promo guy and I'm sorry that they got saddled with that Beverly Brothers deal in the WWF as it took away a lot of the edge that they could have had.
From Robert Tivari: "I believe Steve above me mentioned this, but did you catch the recycled crowd shots they kept showing? (the one with the kids) As if we WOULDN'T notice! This type of editing is on par with Herb Abrams UWF.
Brad Rhengans is indeed boring, but he's nowhere near as boring as DJ Peterson. Thank God he wasn't on the show last night. He can't cut a promo to save his life and the name DJ Peterson has "jobber" written all over it. The only thing he had going for him was his look.
Oh, and guess what I found on ebay? None other than a Bob Lurtsema Vikings jersey. I'm actually thinking about bidding on this. That way I could be the only person in the world with a Benchwarmer Bob jersey. Benchwarmer Bob 4 Life! "
Tremendous. Go Benchwarmer Bob. I'm sure you would be the only one outside of his family or the wall of his restaurant to have one and actually wear it. I agree about the editing and actually Peterson was pretty good in his first AWA run, but for whatever reason, be it injuries, wear-and-tear, or abuse of chemicals, he had started to go downhill in this AWA run. Sadly, the item has been removed from eBay, so I wasn't able to link to it.
From Joe K. : "People, write ESPN Classic and tell them...
I WANT MY TURKEY ON A POLE MATCH, MOTHERFUCKER! "
Agreed. Seconded. I WANT that match.
From Guest. : "Sad when the best part of the show is a throwaway line on Norton and Jemima. Although, I didn't mind the battle royal so much, even if seeing just how juiced Trooper is is getting a little unnerving, like he's about ready to explode juiced.
I do have to wonder though how much guys mix it up when facing jobbers. Like, you'll see a DeBeers or Gagne or Rheiggans or such who will do the same shtick each match, yet perform much better when in an actual match. It seems like the entertaining guys would spice up their jobber offense match by match. "
There are guys that are willing to put on a good show and mix it up with the jobbers, and then there are the guys like DeBeers and Rheingans and those that just kind of run through the motions and pick up the paycheck. It's certainly disappointing to see the same match over and over again from those guys though.
From Bryan: "I hope they keep dragging out this Ox Baker angle. Its great how not only do the faces tell him off, but even the heels don't want him. I am sure in typical AWA fashion this angle never comes to a conclusion. "
I'm pretty sure that they close up shop before they paid this one off, along with a lot of other angles, so it is what it is. It's a shame because like you said, no one wants him so it would be interesting to see which bottom-feeder he would have ended up with.
From Doug: "I am really getting a kick out of "I'll take this one, Mike." It's as if they had a plan for the break up of the destruction crew, and it is just a funny little thing. I'm trying to work that line in to everyday conversations today, just to make myself laugh.
How do you have the world champ in a gauntlet/royal rumble match and have him get eliminated off camera? how do you not use that to progress a storyline with one of his challengers for the belt eliminating him? Stupid, stupid, stupid.
PS -- Threeve - nice SNL/Jeopardy reference. that had me laughing.
Great columns - still look forward to them every day."
Thanks for the support, Doug! I loved the Bloom/Enos dynamic on promos and it would have been fun to see the eventual split-up and matches, after Bloom had spent their whole time bossing Enos around. Very Dibiase/Virgil. I agree about the elimination of Zbyszko. There was a million ways they could have made that better and instead they just dropped the ball.
From Johnathan Solomon: "You have to be a saint for watching this show on a nearly day by day basis. "
Saint Randy, I like the sounds of that.
From Misery: "Man I hope when they run out of AWA shows, ESPN Classic decides to show some Global!!! "
They should be running out of AWA shows soon, which means it's going to be repeat time, but that will leave me time to move on to other projects, like my always mentioned WWF Wrestling Challenge series, or perhaps tackling the WWE MSG Classics show on the MSG Network. I've got a backlog of about fifty of those shows that could keep me busy for awhile if I need to.
From Guest: "I never thought that there was a way to ruin a battle royal but they did. If you had teams with Captains , Why would only Zbyszko show up . I guess they could have used graphics when a wrestler came down to the ring. This is the same group that didn't know if Chief Wahoo McDaniel was Wahoo McDaniel or Wahoo McDaniels ."
They covered it a little in the promo, with Zbyszko being desperate enough to wrestle in every match so that he could keep the team together and try to get them back into the race for the championship. I agree though about the AWA not really knowing what they were doing most times.
From Dave: "So lets talk about the first match involving Brad Rheingans. Hey, do you know I have something in common with Brad, I've never won an olympic medal either.(I know, kind of low but really they keep calling him an Olympic champ most people would think he's medalled at least once.) I guess I wasn't the only one who noticed those crazy editing jumps.(When I notice that you know it's bad.) Anyway I agree with everyone here, that was one great comment out of "The Train". And as for the Slaughter match was it me or at this point are the announcers totally useless?(Lord James and Rod Tronguard are just leagues better than Bisch and the Strange guy.) The one thing I've got to comment about Larry's interview is I think he's been at it a little too long. I mean you think when he's on the golf course these days he ever says to people "Hey jerk, did I ever tell you how I " at which point the person interups "Retired Bruno and Nick, you already told me that 40 times this week." (I guess I shouldn't be too hard but I wish he could lay off on mentioning those two in literally every interview for weeks on end. I know, it's his catch phrase at this point.) So Randy I'm kind of sorry I mentioned how the TCS' stats are all screwed up. I mean now everyone has to notice Lee can't even do 3rd grade math.(I know, at this point Verne couldn't afford a $20 calculator to get the right answer of 9.) Anyway that main event was a mess. Probably would have been ok if they either trimmed it down to 8 men or gave it 15 to 20 minutes but as it was definitely too rushed. (If Verne was smarter I would have thought it was him making a joke in regards to Royal Rumble but come on, this is Verne we're talking about.) "
Also, from Dave: "Oh forgot one other thing that gave me a laugh. That kid that ran up to get the time from Ox. I don't know, maybe it's the fact he's supposed to be some big, mean, dangerous nut job and kids walk up to him and ask "Mr. what time is it?" and he pretty clamly lets them know. (Well that and the fact nobody edited that out.) BTW Why didn't they just reshoot the ending of the DJ match? (A quick editing job and nobody would know. Wait a sec, this is Verne's league so I should expect that.) "
I agree with pretty much everything, including the kid asking Ox for the time. That was pretty damn funny, and that pretty much speaks for how terrible the AWA's post-production team was at the time. I also laughed at your impression of the much older Zbyszko boring his buddies with the same old lines over and over. GOLD!!
From Guest#5620: "AWA, what can I say, good stuff, at least on TV.
BTW, if you want to hear what Randy Harrison's voice sounds like, watch this clip"
The embedding has been disabled, but essentially, it's the old Fig Newton commercial, with a guy dressed like a fig with a somewhat feminine sounding voice, singing the Fig Newton jingle. Welcome back, hater, thanks for contributing to my hit count.
From Guest#9367: "god i love these reports, keep up the good work harrison...and btw i was able to grab a pic of Guest#5260's lovely lovely girlfriend...check the link to see Here's the link "
While a little harsh, it certainly gave me a chuckle, and thanks again for the supporting the column!
From efsdv: "LOL at that clip "
The clip was funny, but the troll attempt is 2/10 at best. Again, he's counter-productive by trying to change the minds of people who click here to actually enjoy the column, as well as contributing hits to my column, continuing to further entrench my 'worst column' on the site to keep it from being bumped.
From Guest#5260: "Guest#9367, grow up. "
From Guest#5260: "Ha ha disregard that, I suck cocks."
Finally, closing up with more fun from Guest#5260: "Obviously, that comment was not made by me. And you people are a million times less mature than I am. That was a total cheap shot. "
Mr. Pot, paging Mr. Pot, we have an urgent phone call for you from Mr. Kettle. A Mr. Kettle calling for you on line one.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:21:37 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling After the horrible outings the past couple of nights, let's cross our fingers and hope for a good'un. The Two Stooges welcome us to the show and it sounds like a near-carbon copy of the last show, with The Destruction Crew, Tommy Jammer, Larry Zbyszko and The Texas Hangmen against The Tokyo Bullets on the card, with DJ Peterson opening things up when we get this card underway, right after the break! Match One: Tom Stone vs. DJ Peterson Peterson shoves Stone on his ass when he gets all up in his grill, and the match is underway before Peterson's entrance music is done playing. He blocks a right hand from Stone and hits him with one of his own before avoiding a charge and rolling Stone up for a two-count. Side headlock from Peterson and Stone pushes him into the corner for the break. Stone cheats it up and hits a couple of shoulderblocks to the gut of Peterson before hip tossing him out of the corner. Stone tries for a headscissors takeover but Peterson just dumps him over the top rope to the floor. Drop toehold from Peterson into a front facelock as Stone gets back into the ring and Stone manages to slip out and reverse to a hammerlock. Peterson reverses that with a snap mare into a reverse chinlock and hits a nice snap suplex for a two-count before moving back to the front facelock. Marshall and Bischoff BOTH work on their skills at ignoring the match, instead talking about whether Peterson and The Trooper could knock off The Destruction Crew for the belts. Peterson still working the front facelock and Stone grabs the tights to throw Peterson over and break the hold. Elbow from Stone and a shot to the gut, followed by a kneelift, allows Stone to get to the second rope. Peterson catches him with a shot to the gut off of that and whips Stone into the ropes for a huge dropkick. Peterson tries it again and Stone holds onto the rope, allowing Peterson to crash to the mat. Shoulderblock from Stone and he comes off the ropes but Peterson catches him with a powerslam. Peterson knees Stone in the "lower abdomen" groinal sack region and then locks in the SCORPION DEATHLOCK!!! Stone submits and the bell rings, it's all over!! Winner: DJ Peterson (submission, scorpion deathlock) Match Analysis: This would usually not get much from me, since it's just a squash, but they actually did some good things and Stone is an old-school jobber and one of the best. He actually managed to make DJ Peterson look good and look entertaining, which is something that not many could do in the AWA in 1990. Better start than we've had to the program in a while. Eric Bischoff is in the back and he's set to talk to The Destruction Crew, with Bischoff asking Mike Enos a question again. Doesn't he learn? Bloom cuts him off and says that they've sent a message to the AWA and that message is that if you step in the ring with The Destruction Crew, you're going to be going to the hospital or crying for your mommy. He says that that is exactly what's going to happen to Peterson and The Trooper, just not right now because they're heading to Japan for a huge tag team tournament. Bloom suggests that the Japanese are only good for small cars and transistor radios. He goes through the list of countries they'll be going to to look for competition since there's none to be had in the United States. Bloom closes out by telling Peterson and Trooper to train a little harder and wait a little longer. Match Two: AWA World Tag Team Championship Randy Gust and Steve Butler vs. The Destruction Crew w/Johnny Valiant (c) No idea where Johnny V popped up from, but I suppose. The Crew attacks early on and Bloom gets a snap mare before dropping a knee on Gust's face. He follows that up with an Irish whip into a NASTY flying clothesline. Tag to Enos and he comes in and whips Gust into the ropes for a reverse elbow. Enos does a little mocking and sends Gust through the ropes to the floor, with Bloom picking up the scraps and beating on Gust a little before rolling him into the ring. Vertical suplex from Enos and he rams Gust into Bloom's knee before making the tag. Bloom picks Gust up and slams him in the corner, letting him tag in Butler. Knees from Bloom and he whips Butler in for a reverse elbow and tags in Mike Enos. Double-Irish whip into a double-elbow now and Enos stays in and whips Butler in for a HUGE POWERSLAM!!! Hot holy hell, that was vicious. The Crew gets the referee distracted with Gust and Enos picks Butler up on his shoulders for the WRECKING BALL FROM BLOOM!!! FUCK YES!! BUTLER FELL ON HIS HEAD!! Enos covers him and counts to three with his face in the camera. Winners: The Destruction Crew (pinfall, Wrecking Ball) Match Analysis: Short and to the point, The Destruction Crew is out to hurt people. I have no idea why Johnny Valiant was even out there since it didn't even really add anything and he didn't even figure into the match in the slightest. If it hadn't been for seeing him real quick in the beginning, I wouldn't have even known he was out there. That replay doesn't do that bump any favors as it looks like Butler fell right on his neck with all of his body weight. At the very least, he looked knocked out, though he's still in the ring, holding his neck. After the break, Lee Marshall promises an update from Eric Bischoff on Butler's condition after the next bout. Match Three: WT Jones vs. Tommy Jammer Bischoff gives us an update on Butler and apparently several vertebrae in Butler's neck are dislodged and he more than likely has a concussion. In the ring, Jammer gets a side headlock into a quick hammerlock and he forces Jones to head to the ropes for a break. Fireman's carry from Jammer out of a lockup and he moves to an armbar with Jones pushing to the ropes for another break. Go-behind into an amateur wrestling takedown and Jammer forces Jones to the ropes again for another clean break. Jammer picks Jones up for a big bodyslam, but misses the follow-up legdrop, dropping a double-axehandle on Jammer. Jones with a big headbutt that sends Jammer into the corner and he loads up a couple of punches to the gut before Jammer tries a mule kick. Jones pushes through it and hammers away, raking his nails across Jammer's back before whipping him into the corner. Jones charges in and eats a big boot to the face, with Jammer now going for the abdominal stretch. Jones is squealing like a pig and he finally submits!! Winner: Tommy Jammer (submission, abdominal stretch) Match Analysis: Jammer sucks. The end. Match Four: AWA World Heavyweight Championship Todd Becker vs. Larry Zbyszko (c) Zbyszko takes his sweet time getting into the ring and getting ready for action, yelling at the ringsiders before finally ducking under a lockup and taking Becker down with a gut wrench. Zbyszko pretzels Becker with an amateur pinning combination and gets a couple of two-counts before moving to an armbar. Becker gets to the ropes and Zbyszko offers up a clean break and a handshake with Becker turning it down. Drop down to a single-leg takedown from Zbyszko and he offers up the handshake again with Becker turning it down again. Knee to the gut and a big forearm from Zbyszko into a bodyslam and he rakes his bootsoles across Becker's eyes. Zbyszko with a backbreaker into another pin attempt for a two-count and Zbyszko pulls him up before the three. Vertical suplex from Zbyszko and it's another two-count with another pick up by Zbyszko. Snap mare from Larry Z and he knees Becker in the back before hitting THE PILEDRIVER!! There's the cover and THERE'S the three-count for Zbyszko!! Winner: Larry Zbyszko (pinfall, piledriver) Match Analysis: Zbyszko rules. The end. Eric Bischoff welcomes us back to the show, and it's TEAM CHALLENGE SERIES REPORT TIME!!! Lee talks about Wendi Richter and her return to the AWA, with Candi Divine taking the AWA Women's Championship away from Richter in Winnipeg. We hear about the main event from last week with Richter and Divine locking it up and Richter learning the cobra clutch from her captain, Sgt. Slaughter, while Divine learned the clawhold from her captain, Baron Von Raschke. We see the ladies fighting until Divine gets a handful of cooch and throws Wendi Richter over the top rope for the DQ. That gave Sarge's Snipers a point and pulled them into second place, but they're still ten points behind the Baron and his Blitzers. After the report, Lee Marshall says that it's time to see a Team Challenge Series match!! Match Five: Team Challenge Series Match: Two out of Three Falls The Tokyo Bullets vs. The Texas Hangmen Essentially, this is two out of three falls, but the winner of the first fall gets to start the second fall at a two-on-one advantage. Well, we should be seeing Psycho and Killer waylaying some poor "Japanese" masked wrestler in about three minutes, give or take. The Bullets aren't wearing different colored shirts today, so I have no clue how I'll guess them apart, but we'll see. Bullet #1 and Killer start things out and Killer hits a big bodyslam, followed by another. Bullet #1 tries to get a head of steam going and goes for a shoulderblock but he can't budge Killer and instead ducks under an elbow to hit a chop and a BODYSLAM!! Surprising power there, and #1 follows it up with a deep armdrag takedown into an armbar. Tag to Bullet #2 and he comes off the top rope right onto Killer's arm before going back to the armbar. Irish whip into a hip toss by #2 and he makes the tag right back to #1 and he comes off the second rope onto the arm, taking Killer down with an arm-wringer and legdropping the arm before going to an armbar. Tag to #1 and he kicks Killer's arm, working the armbar yet again until Killer shoots #1 into the ropes and Psycho low-bridges him. Psycho picks him up and rams him backfirst into the ringpost before throwing him back in and Killer slams #1, tagging in Psycho, who slingshots OVER THE TOP ROPE into a headbutt, though he nearly botched it so it's not quite as impressive as it was two seconds ago. Belly to belly suplex from Psycho and he whips #1 in for a huge reverse elbow before distracting the referee. The Hangmen do some double-teaming and an illegal switch as Killer drops a big elbow on #1 for a two-count. Irish whip by Killer and #1 gets a sunset flip but can't pull Killer over until #2 comes in and chops him down. The sunset flip gets a two-count but Killer is able to kick out, whipping #1 into the ropes for a press slam. #1 gets a go-behind into a roll-up and there's another two-count before Killer kicks him out, all the way to the floor. Psycho grabs Bullet #1 and rams him backfirst into the ringpost before hip tossing him on the concrete floor. Side slam from Killer and he goes for the pin with a handful of tights to get the 1-2-3!! The Hangmen are up one fall to nothing and get to take the second fall with a two-on-one advantage. I'm surprised they didn't try to call this one a "power play" match or something stupid like that. The Hangmen celebrate with both men in the ring and it's now two-on-one time, so this doesn't seem like it's going to take much longer now. Bullet #1 gets ganged on in the corner and Killer and Psycho hammer away, whipping #1 in for a double-back bodydrop, following it with a double-clothesline. Killer distracts the referee to allow Psycho to choke #1 across the throat with his boot and as Killer continues to distract, Psycho headbutts #1 in the balls. They continue to work #1 over and Pyscho drops an elbow before they both Irish whip #1 in for another double-clothesline. #1 ducks it and tries for a double-flying bodypress but they catch him and just ram him into the corner. Big bodyslam and they set up for a double-headbutt spot, but #1 manages to roll out of the way and into his own corner to MAKE THE TAG!! Bullet #2 in and it's DROPKICKS FOR EVERYBODY!! Irish whip into the corner and a big back bodydrop on Killer!! Psycho rammed into the top turnbuckle!! Irish whip into a reverse elbow and the Bullets whip the Hangmen into each other in the middle of the ring!! Killer holds onto Bullet #2 as Psycho tries a clothesline, but #2 ducks and there's a MALFUNCTION AT THE JUNCTION!! Bullet #2 with a roll-up!! There's a dropkick from Bullet #1 on Psycho!! 1-2-3!!!! It's one fall apiece!! Texas Tornado rules for the third and final fall!!!! The Bullets celebrate on the floor as the Hangmen are PISSED in the ring. Third fall underway and we've got all four men in the ring, which is going to make play by play fairly impossible, but I'll try my best. The Hangmen work over the Bullets and Killer sends one of them outside to the floor for some cheapshots, but the Bullet nails him right in the balls. All four men are back in the ring and all four men are in one corner with the Hangmen doing some cheating and choking to bully the Bullets around. Psycho gets taken down off of a shoulderblock and both men go down. A Bullet gets a flying bodypress on a Hangman and a Hangman gets a pinfall on the other bullet and Gary DeRusha counts them both down for the three-count. Are you shitting me? DeRusha heads over and raises the hands of the Tokyo Bullets and they've apparently won!!! Winners: The Tokyo Bullets (pinfall, flying bodypress) Match Analysis: This was actually pretty good. I was surprised at how much the Hangmen showed ass for the Bullets and the match was actually not as terrible as I expected. I get where they were trying to go with the finish, but they really needed to give that win to someone who could use it. I don't think that the Hangmen should have lost until they either got to the titles or at least were challenging for them, but I guess they wanted to go the surprise route. Match Six: Mike George vs. Nikita Koloff This is looking like it's from an earlier taping as there are a lot more fans and the house lights are a lot higher than they are on the current shows we've been seeing lately. It could in fact be the match that we saw earlier with Nikita winning in about two minutes.Lockup and they struggle with Koloff pushing George into the corner and giving him a clean break. Side headlock from Koloff and George shoots him off into the ropes, eating a shoulderblock and then they fuck up some sort of spot, leading to George scrambling to the ropes to get a break. Side headlock again from Koloff, and as George tries to break out of it with a takeover, Koloff holds on and takes George over to the mat. George reverses to a headscissors and Koloff breaks free of that, leading to a bit of a stalemate. George takes over with a standing arm-wringer and shoots Koloff into the ropes, trying for a hip toss, but Koloff blocks it and gets a hip toss of his own. George pushes Koloff into the corner off of a lockup and gets a cheap shot behind the referee's back, but Koloff just shrugs it off and whips George into the corner. George ducks out of the way of a charge and kicks Koloff down to the mat, picking him up for a big bodyslam before grinding his knee into Koloff's back. He works Koloff over in the corner and goes to the eyes before picking Koloff up for a backbreaker. Reverse chinlock now from George, and this is indeed the match that we saw a few episodes back on the Team Challenge Series report. George drops a couple of knees to the small of the back and goes to a front facelock until Koloff reverses it to a standing arm-wringer. Koloff gets a couple of punches in but George goes to the eyes to break the momentum. Irish whip into the corner by George and he chokes Koloff with a knee against the turnbuckle for a moment before choking Koloff in the corner. Reverse elbows to the gut from Koloff and he rams Geroge's head into the top turnbuckle six or seven times before whipping George in for the flying shouldertackle!!! Knee to the midsection in the corner by Koloff and he tries an Irish whip into the corner but George reverses it. Another Irish whip from George and he tries a charge in but Koloff ducks out of the way, sending George crashing into the buckles. Koloff staggers around to clear his head and its RUSSIAN SICKLE TIME!! The ref can count to a hundred because it's all over. They do a little tangling after the match before George makes his way to the back. Winner: Nikita Koloff (pinfall, Russian sickle) Match Analysis: Eh, the match before REALLY should have been the main event because this was just a squasher. Koloff looked good, but that's probably more from his own talent than anything George did as he was well past his due date by this time. Rough way to end the show, that's for sure Final Thoughts We were chugging along pretty well until they inexplicably stuck the Koloff/George match at the end. That knocked it down a bit for me, but honestly this is one of the better AWA shows that has come down the pike in a few weeks. I was actually entertained through most of it and that Bullets/Hangmen match could have easily been a main event on one of the AWA shows in '86 or '87 and not looked out of place. I'm suprisingly lucid and suprisingly sober because it only took... ONE JUG? That's can't be right can it?? Wow, I'm shocked. Let's get to the comments before I decide to have another one just for fun. Fun With Comments From Guest. : "You got to love Mimi performing stripper motions with mostly kids in the crowd, and doing stuff that wouldn't be seen on TV for many years to come. Again, Verne Gagne: Most Progressive Booker Ever. I personally enjoyed the Destruction Crew's antics tonight, and thought that the backbreaker elbow was just brutal, although the flip dive on the Doomsday Device was pretty swank too. And they finally began to call attention to Bloom consistently cutting Enos off. I think everyone had a What the hell was that? reaction to the Mimi/Devine spot. I didn't even know it was coming and I was wondering what happened. I thought that all the botched spots afterwards were much much worse though. I'd say this is the last time Verne put the women in the main event, but he probably didn't have much else to put in there. " The botches on the suplexes were bad, but that was mainly because they both looked blown up to hell. The whiff on the clothesline is even excusable because it can happen from time to time, but for Divine to sell it like she was shot was just baffling. I agree with you about your assessment of Verne being the Most Progressive Booker ever, but I will explain my agreement further in your next comment. From piperfan01: "Ya know its a strange thing, I don't think I have ever seen a Larry Zybysko vs Sgt Slaughter match. It's a match I always wanted to see as a kid, although back then it was because I thought Slaughter was the only one that could shut that guy up for good. But I never have seen an actual match between them. Did they have many encounters? This episode they said Slaughetr lost 2 matches recently to him, but I really do think it would be a cool match to watch. That Mimi match was a trainwreck thats for sure, couldn't look away though, could have been the Mimi's thong, Divines face or all the screwed up moves, but damn that was fun to watch. The thing that really stood out for me this week is that really odd Stew-Rat promo. I was in awe of just the pure stupidity of it all, and all I could think about, was actually what your opinion of it would be, I couldn't wait to read your report and it didn't disappoint. If that wasn't Wrestlecrap worthy, I dont know what is.... " Sadly, it's all pretty much WrestleCrap worthy at this point. Here's piperfan01's answer, from the Fresh: "Piperfan01 Zbyszko and slaughter met many times including 2 championship matches on ESPN in the spring of 89. and also there are some battles from 1985 over the Americas title with one match released on each man's Kid's Classics AWA wrestling tapes." I actually bought the Sgt. Slaughter Kid's Classic tape, but have yet to see if it works or not. I can't decide if I want to risk my VCR or not, but I might just chance it one day. From 411's own Mike Campbell: "I wonder if the guy Sarge squashed is the same Tom Burton who wrestled over in UWFI?" And the answer to that one, from Random Guy: "I wonder if the guy Sarge squashed is the same Tom Burton who wrestled over in UWFI? Posted By: Mike Campbell (Registered) on August 21, 2008 at 03:39 PM Indeed it was. " From Archive: "Just wanted to say I'm glad that these programs are being covered in the 411 network. And the archiving system here is great to search old reports/matches. I guess the "pink room" era of the AWA wasn't as long as I thought. However, I'm not thrilled about the fighting going on between commenters. Even those bashing the "critics" are being unreasonable. " I enjoy doing the AWA shows as well, and I think that the "pink room" era just seemed longer in hindsight because it was thought that they almost went all the way to the end with no crowd. As for the fighting in the comments, it's mainly one rabble-rouser that incites the masses, but for the most part it's pretty civil. I thank those who came to my defense again, and am glad to have such loyal readers. From jj: "It's still better booked than TNA. " Not too far off actually. By the way, when are you finally going to appear on TV again instead of just teasing everyone with your entrance music? From Bill_tx: "Holy fucking hell, that was an atrocious show. And describing AWA's editing team as "crack" is very much correct, as they must've been high off their asses to put together the train wrecks we've seen the last few nights. Speaking of crack, the promo with the "rat-stew" was the most ridiculous thing I've seen in wrestling after the Gobbledygooker. " I don't think that it was quite into Gobbledygooker territory, but it was pretty damn close. Especially when Zumhoffe started wringing out the sock rat. The only thing that could have pushed it beyond even The Gooker would have been if Baron would have started dancing to Buck's boombox again. From Robert Tivari: "As if you needed more proof that the AWA editing team was on crack, notice the Tommy Jammer match that took place last night featured him with a mullet while the shows from a few weeks prior show him with short hair. Unless Jammer has some sort of superhuman ability to grow hair really fast, this is just terrible on the AWA's part to just tape a bunch of matches, and show them out of order as if we wouldn't notice. Also, the Benchwarmer Bob jersey is still there. I must of screwed up when posting the link. Just type in Bob Lurtsema jersey on ebay, and you'll see that its still up there, and as of right now, one person has bid on it. And count me in as another who loved Mimi's stripper moves. I really find her appealing in a trashy, 80's hair metal chick sort of way " She seemed like the kind of chick that would make out with you in the back of a club, and then when you woke up the next morning, you'd wonder how many other guys you'd kissed by proxy. As for Jammer and the hair, they taped two or three batches of shows at the same arena, so I guess they were just hoping we wouldn't notice. Either that or Jammer got extensions. By the way, as a fun little game, try to piece together which matches happened when by looking at the mat in the ring. You can tell which matches were from the taping with that football abomination because you can see the tape marks all the way across the canvas afterwards. From Scrotum Pole: "Fuck moonshine jugs, I think I might need to start rating this show with bongs, because that was honestly the most insane promo I've ever seen without the aid of halucinatory chemicals. Bat. Shit. Crazy. I don't think I have ever watched one of these shows without the use of the wacky tobaccy. This show(especially the womens match) deserves at least a 4 foot bong. And where is the troll? I guess his mom hasn't picked him up from the sitters yet. Keep strokin Randy. And if you want to join my fantasy football league its on cbssportsline under the name of 411 is Epic Fail, draft is on the 31th. " Thanks for the offer man, I will more than likely look you up on it, though I'm terrible at keeping track of fantasy teams most times. If I can get my shit together with Nokaut, I'll be on board, just promise not to hate me if it slips my mind. Another observation from Guest. : "Posting again because something occured to me for no reason whatsoever: In the insane Raschke/Zumoffe promo, why are they together? The Battle Royal established Buck on Sarge's team, yet he's here hanging out with The Baron making Stew-Rat Stew (which is almost as bad as Bart Whimpson), with the Baron talking about cannibalizing the Texas Hangmen. You know, I don't think even Russo's done that. Now Verne's doing stuff that no one has even thought of in 08. Again, Most Progressive Booker Ever. " Again, I agree, but the sad part is that he's booking the CRAP so far ahead of its time. If he had been booking good ideas ten years before everyone else we could have had Verne be the new ECW or something (Could you imagine Sabu working for Verne? That would be the best reality show EVER!). Sadly, Verne just took the worst ideas that everyone has come up with and applied them to the way he booked the 1990 AWA run. Just a shame. From T-Money: "When you said the worst spot in the history of the business, I thought for sure you meant the stew-rat promo. Seriously, I would watch Ultimate Warrior promos for 12 straight hours before I'd ever watch that again. It was so bad I felt embarrassed, It was so bad I had to take a walk outside to get over the douche-chills. " Oh, it's easily the worst promo I think I've ever seen, including this Ken Patera one. From Brian: "Stew-Rat!!!!!!!!!! I was laughing out loud as I watched that promo...not because it was any good, but because I had a friend many years ago named Stuart, who we all called Stu-Rat. He once rear ended someone at a red light because he was checking out a girl walking down the side of the road in a bikini. STU-RAT!!!!!!!!!! WHY did the AWA make the Candi Divine/Magnificent Mimi match the main event for this show? ? It's not as if this was live...they had plenty of time to edit. Did they not WATCH these matches before televising them??? (Mimi DID look grrrrreat though!!!) The Trooper...PROOF that anyone can either suck, or be good depending on their gimmick. (aka: The Patriot) Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that some children seem to have been posting comments recently. Other than lately, the comments and conversation on the AWA reports have been on an adult and intelligent level. Suddenly there seems to be a few people who only post comments intended to insult whoever actually takes them seriously. Wish I also had nothing better to do. Lee Marshall was the voice of Tony the Tiger??? Cool!!! To Robet Tivari...(Benchwarmer) Bob Lurtsema was once HUGE here in Minnesota and has MANY fans. (He had gained the fame well before working with the AWA) He remains pretty much a household name within the state. The fact that he somehow managed that as a second string NFL player is to his credit. I'd imagine that many people would bid on ebay for that jersey. (IF they even know it's there.) As always, I'm happy that you keep doing the J.O.B. Randy...and the only JUGS I prefer to yours are those with big nipples on 'em!!!!! " Thanks for the support. As for the comments, I've said from the beginning that I wasn't going to pick and choose comments, I was going to post them all when I posted the column. That means I have to take the good with the bad, but thankfully there's been far more good than bad. From Shiska With Chutzpah: ""Also, with the amount of feathers in the ring before the match, either Candi's robe was shedding, or The Chicken Lady had an orgasm." Randy, my opinion of you jumped up a few more notches for the KIds in the Hall reference. You rule . Also, which match do you think is worse? Mimi and Candi or "That Jackie Gayda Match" with Trish Stratus from RAW a few years ago? " Thank you for that. I wasn't sure if anyone would pick that one up or not, since they were never really terribly popular down here in the United States (a true crime if there ever was one), but when I saw those feathers flying around all I could think of was Chicken Lady at the strip club. I would be torn on saying which is worse because the infamous "Gayda match" was terrible because she didn't know what she was doing. I would probably give the nod to Mimi and Divine, just because they should have known better. From Tony Smark: "I managed to fall asleep during the Tommy Jammer squash and wake up to the fucking insane Stu-Rat promo. The Baron's barking at the camera about god knows what was able to wake me up from my AWA-wrestling induced coma. I hope somebody wrote that promo and was paid in Greg Gagne autographs or something. " I have to laugh that you assume that people in the AWA at that point got paid period. Good times. Finally, from rdfox: "Lee Marshall still *is* the voice of Tony the Tiger. He took over the job after the death of Tony's original voice, Thurl Ravenscroft (who you may also remember as singing the songs in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"). Chosen because of his background in radio(!) making him good behind the mic in a technical sense (no excessive sibilance, no P-popping, etc.) and his exceptionally deep voice. I was rather surprised when I first heard about it, but listening to him on the AWA shows, I can definitely hear it. Is it just me, or did we see horribly blown bumps by jobbers on consecutive nights? The guy taking the Wrecking Ball on Thursday night damn near killed himself by trying to do the 270 sell and only getting about 200 degrees out of it... " Yeah, the thing with that move is that if the jobber hesitates even a little, they're going to come up short. You could see Butler hold up a bit and it cost him unfortunately. I would assume he came out of it alright, but still scary whenever you see someone bump on their neck like that. Another huge section of comments, and one of the better AWA shows in a while has steeled my resolve so stay tuned later today for the first of last weekend's UWF shows. Tomorrow will be a double-shot as well, so be sure to be ready for two more hours of crappy wrestling to kick your weekend off with a real bang!!
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:22:56 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Lee Marshall and Verne Gagne welcome us to the show and I guess Verne was off on a summer vacation to the Goodwill Games and things of that nature. He talks about how popular Tommy Jammer is and how great The Trooper is, how tough the Texas Hangmen are, and we're going to get to see Harley Race vs. Larry Zbyszko today. Apparently, Gagne says that Zbyszko has been offering up challenges to all the champions in the other organizations and the only man that would step up was former eight-time NWA Champion, Harley Race. If he's able to work we could be in for one hell of a main event between two consumate professionals.
Match One: John Pistolka vs. Tommy Jammer
Shoving match and Pistolka misses a right hand by a mile, with Jammer getting a double-leg takedown. Jammer ducks another couple of laughable punches and grabs Pistolka in an atomic drop, kicking him in the ass a few times before ramming him into the top turnbuckle. Irish whip into the corner and Jammer misses a charge, allowing Pistolka to take over with some generic heel offense, mainly choking and punches. Irish whip into the corner from Pistolka and he follows up with a charging splash that hits!! Snap mare out of the corner by Pistolka but he misses the follow-up elbowdrop, moving to knee Jammer in the corner before whipping him across again. Pistolka charges and Jammer takes him down with a big clothesline, whipping him into the ropes for a shot to the gut before bulldogging him into the mat. WARRIOR SPLASH!! 1-2-3!!
Winner: Tommy Jammer (pinfall, Warrior splash)
Match Analysis: As long as they keep Jammer in the opening match, doing stupid shit like this, I'll be fine. Unlike Warrior, who could at least work a decent match when he was spoon-fed with guys like Rude and Savage, Jammer just seems like he's not going to get any better. That and his name annoys me because I have some sort of instinct to type it out as Tommy Dreamer and have to rigorously double-check any Jammer matches to make sure I haven't called him Dreamer by mistake.
We come back from the break to comments from Harley Race, and Race says that this is his first shot to get to take on Larry Zbyszko and that nothing would please him more than taking the coveted AWA World Heavyweight Championship, one of the few things that he has yet to accomplish. He says that it being on ESPN would make it all the sweeter. Race says that how many times he's been champion isn't going to intimidate Zbyszko and that he feels like he has just a little bit more knowledge than Zbyszko and that he's going to walk out of the ring as the AWA Champion.
Match Two: Tony Denucci and Steve Berg vs. The Texas Hangmen
Psycho and Berg start out and hit a lockup, stalemating off of it and there's a big forearm to the back from Psycho but Berg picks him up for a big bodyslam!! Here comes Killer and he gets a big bodyslam too and all four men staredown in the middle of the ring. Psycho hits the lockup again but Berg goes behind into a hammerlock, followed by another bodyslam. Psycho goes to the eyes and tags in Killer, who runs right into a hip toss and a standing arm-wringer. Takeover by Berg into a legdrop on the arm and he tags in Denucci for a shot off the second rope. Lee Marshall talks about the Hangmen and their tights and how he thought that he had solved the mystery like Angela Lansbury. Verne calls her one of his favorites, but thankfully spares us the story of how he fingerbanged old Angela back in '68. It figures that Grandpa Verne would be all hot and bothered for the Murder She Wrote gal. Denucci works the arm and tags Berg back in for antoher shot on the arm. Tag back to Denucci and he hits the same move again, following it with an arm-wringer but Killer goes to the eyes and whips him into the ropes. Denucci leapfrogs and ducks under an elbow before hitting a big dropkick. Denucci whips Killer across and hits a handspring elbow before he tries a pinfall, but Psycho comes in to break up the pin attempt. Irish whip from Denucci and Killer just steps out of the way of a dropkick, following that up with a HUGE DDT. Tag to Psycho and he picks Denucci up, tagging Killer back and Killer comes off the top rope with a HANGMAN'S ELBOW!! The referee is calling for the bell as the Hangmen stomp away at Denucci and Berg makes the save.
Winners: Tony Denucci and Steve Berg (disqualification, top rope rule)
Match Analysis: The Hangmen actually worked a bunch of the match from underneath, which was weird for them, but it worked. It almost seemed like they were in the doghouse or something since they sold more in this match than I can remember in almost any before and even when they got the upper hand, they lost due to a screwy DQ that shouldn't have been called. Things that make you go "Hmmmmmm?".
Lee Marshall and Verne Gagne debate the top rope rule, with Verne speaking for everyone at home when he says "I don't understand this rule." Well, at least Verne's honest. From there, we head to the back and Eric Bischoff has DJ Peterson and The Trooper with him. Bischoff asks Peterson about how next week it's going to be their shot at The Destruction Crew and the AWA World Tag Team Championships. Peterson says that he's seen other wrestling and he's not sure if he's watching wrestling or Walt Disney, but that the fans at home should pull up their chairs next week because they're going to see one hell of a fight. Trooper follows that up by talking about how they're at the top of their game and that they've been chasing The Crew all over the country, but that he feels like he's found the right partner. He talks about how The Crew is wearing on people's nerves and tells them to buckle up for a long and bumpy ride.
Match Three: Gary Richards vs. The Trooper
Lockup to start and Trooper pushes Richards into the ropes for a clean break. Another lockup and Trooper grabs a side headlock with Richards shooting him off and eating a shoulderblock. Trooper ducks under a couple of wild haymaker punches and hits a HUGE atomic drop on Richards, following it with a dropkick for a two-count. Standing arm-wringer from Trooper and Verne puts over how good the wrestlers that come out of Winnipeg are as he talks about Richards. Well, we have produced Chris Jericho, so he was pre-emptively right by about seven or eight years. Trooper works the armbar and knees Richards' bicep a couple of times before Richards gets to his feet and pushes Trooper into the corner for the break. Cheap shot knees and punches from Richards and he rams Trooper into the turnbuckle before trying an Irish whip into the ropes but Trooper reverses and hits Richards with an ALABAMA SLAM!! Another Irish whip in and Trooper hits a reverse elbow, picking Richards up for another whip into a back bodydrop. HERE'S THE NECK MASSAGER!!! RICHARDS TAKES A NAP ALL THE WAY BACK TO WINNIPEG!!
Winner: The Trooper (submission, neck massager)
Match Analysis: It was The Trooper. Lather, rinse, repeat time, boys and girls.
After the match, we get a promo from someone called The Butcher, and he's some new guy they've brought in to try to salvage the business. Butcher talks about coming to the AWA coming for the money being thrown around by the AWA and that Zbyszko brought him in to be an ace in the hole. He calls himself The Butcher because he knows everything about grinding meat and that anyone that wants to step into the ring with him is going to get beaten from pillar to post. He flexes the SHIT out of his muscles and it appears that The Butcher is actually former Stampede star Larry Cameron, who also had a short stint in WCW before passing away in 1993, suffering a heart attack in the ring on a tour of Germany.
Back from the break with a Team Challenge Series report and Lee Marshall talks about how Zbyszko is trying to motivate his team and failing. He points out The Tokyo Bullets beating Zbyszko's Texas Hangmen and Zbyszko himself losing again to Nikita Koloff in a non-title match. Sarge's Snipers have moved up to 34 points, ten behind Baron's Blitzers, while Larry's Legends are still sucking hind tit with 31 points and only six weeks left in the season according to Marshall. Short report this time out, though I'm not complaining.
We come back from a commercial to Eric Bischoff hyping the main event and we see the previous promo from Race before we hear from Larry Zbyszko. Zbyszko says that Race is good and has a reputation as big as Sammartino and Bockwinkel. He says that anyone that puts on boots and tights would have their greatest moment by stepping into the ring with Larry Zbyszko. Zbyszko seems shocked and appalled that Race suggested that he might not be living up to the mantle of men like Sammartino and Bockwinkel and Zbyszko loses his shit a little bit, claiming that he's lived up to and beyond every expectation that has been placed on him since he stepped into the ring FIFTEEN GLORIOUS YEARS AGO!! He tells Race that he's the man that mangled Sammartino and crippled Bockwinkel, calling him a fool and that he's going to be the third notch in Zbyszko's belt!! GET READY TO KISS HIS ZBYSZKO, HARLEY!!
Match Four: AWA World Heavyweight Championship Harley Race vs. Larry Zbyszko (c)
They annoy me by having Zbyszko come to the ring first, and WOW, on the wide shot you can see a TON of empty seats in that building. I mean a LOT. Race gets a pretty quiet response from the crowd, though we can hear one kid clearly saying WWF. Race is rocking a purple singlet, as well as a sizeable scar on his midsection from his famous run-in with a table during a match with Hulk Hogan that led to a hernia and subsequent surgery. Also worth noting here is that Race is a former five-time AWA World Tag Team Champion as well, with most of those reigns coming with partner Larry "The Ax" Hennig.
Crowd gets on Zbyszko with a "Larry Sucks" chant as Verne puts this over as a dream match for him. The bell rings and they circle before locking up and Race pushes Zbyszko into the ropes, giving him a clean break. Side headlock from Zbyszko puts Race down to a knee and Race shoots Zbyszko off the ropes, taking a shoulderblock but following it with a hip toss and kneedrop that send Zbyszko out to the floor to think things over. Zbyszko slowly makes his way back into the ring and locks up, pushing Race into the corner and hammering away with some right hands before running Race into the top turnbuckle. Right hand to the gut and Zbyszko drags Race down to the mat with a front facelock, yelling that it isn't a choke. Race turns it into a small package and gets a LONG two-count before Zbyszko goes back to the front facelock. Zbyszko talks some shit to ringside as he cranks on the pressure and race pushes Zbyszko into the corner for a break, but Zbyszko forearms him and punches Race RIGHT OVER THE TOP ROPE TO THE FLOOR!!
Zbyszko's out there after him and he rams Race's head into the timekeeper's table, even landing him on the bell once or twice!!! I would think that Race would have wanted to stay away from tables, but he is tough and crazy. Zbyszko pulls him up to the apron and hits a forearm to the chest that brings Race back over the top rope into the ring. Reverse chinlock from Zbyszko now and he screams to ring the bell as Race is trying to fight back. He pushes Zbyszko into the ropes and headbutts Zbyszko a couple of times before unloading with a pair of big lefts that put Zbyszko on his ass. PILEDRIVER FROM RACE!! BIG KNEEDROP!! RACE FOR THE PIN!! 1-2....NOOOOO!! FOOT ON THE ROPES!! Race with an Irish whip into a SLEEPERHOLD!! Zbyszko drops to a knee and onto his ass and looks nearly out cold, but he tries to fight back and manages to wiggle over to the bottom rope to get the toe of his boot on it. Big knee to the head from Race and he flings Zbyszko through the ropes to the floor and out comes Harley!! He sets Zbyszko up for a PILEDRIVER ON THE FLOOR!! ZBYSZKO REVERSES TO A BACK BODYDROP!! BOTH MEN ARE DOWN!!
Zbsyzko makes it back into the ring and Race does as well and they're both feeling the effects of this bout. Spinning back kick by Zbyszko and he hits a bunch of forearms and punches before snap maring Race over and raking his boot soles over Race's eyes. Reverse chinlock again from Zbyszko and he yells at the fans to shut their mouths as Race finally gets to his feet and pushes Zbyszko into the ropes for a break. Irish whip by Race into a big clothesline and he follows it up with a vertical suplex for another LONG two-count with Zbyszko getting a foot across the bottom rope. Race tries another vertical suplex and Zbyszko blocks it and hits one of his own!! Elbowdrop from Zbyszko misses and both men go over the top rope to the floor as Race swings at Zbyszko!!! The referee is counting and they trade punches until Race rams Zbyszko into the ringpost!!! There's the bell!! Race with big left hands and both men try to get back in the ring, still scrapping back and forth!! RACE WITH A HEADBUTT ON REFEREE GARY DERUSHA!!! They're still brawling as the jobber brigade tries to come in and peel Race off of Zbyszko. Race is flinging jobbers left, right and center and they get back at each other again until the jobbers get them apart again. Still no official word on the result of the match as Zbyszko has managed to limbertail his way to the back.
Winner: None (double countout)
Match Analysis: A really good, old-school wrestling match, with just enough newer-school highspots thrown in to make it entertaining. I figured that Race and Zbyszko would be able to work together hand in glove and they did, with it all looking pretty smooth and them getting some decent heat on a match that didn't have a lot of build, if any. I don't know if this was their only TV match or if they had anymore, but I would bet that if they met again it would be even that much better.
Eric Bischoff is ringside with Harley Race and Harley looks hot. He says that Zbyszko isn't a dummy and he's a hell of a good wrestler, but they both know that it's only just begun between them. Race says he's going to be knocking on Zbyszko's door every day for another shot and that it's not the end, but the beginning of the end. He promises to hunt Zbyszko until he gets back into the ring and once he does, there won't be an escape!!
Final Thoughts
Color me surprised, the AWA has come up with two solid shows back to back and surprise, surprise, it's the usual AWA formula. Squashes, maybe a decent underneath match and then a really solid main event. That's the way the AWA ran for YEARS on ESPN and it's nice to see them get back to the basics, even if it's only for a few episodes. Probably the best show of the 1990 batch thus far, though to me it's a toss-up with the last show.
While I'm in the spirit of giving, let's get to the comments. Maybe it'll be like Oprah and I'll just start handing our free shit. But probably not.
Fun With Comments
From Robert Tivari: "I was watching the Sgt Slaughter promo from a few shows back in which he called Johnnie Stewart "Bart Wimpson" and then Johnnie Stewart firing back while wearing a classic Bart Simpson "Underachiever" shirt (which I'm proud to say I owned back when I was 9 years old in 1990) It seems like they were really trying to push Stewart as some sort of "90's kid" despite the fact that the decade was only a few months old. Remember, grunge was still 2 years away and no one at that point really knew just what the 90's were going to be like. I'm half expecting Johnnie Stewart to show up with Vanilla Ice in his corner.
And is it just me, or did Bill Apter look like he was picking his nose on last nights show"
Yes. Yes he did. and I didn't own the Bart Underacheiver shirt, but I did own a Bart Simpson "Who the Hell are you?" shirt, as well as one with the whole family. I certainly was a stylin' 10 year old.
From Guest. : "First thing I thought when I saw that jobber land on his head was that's botchamania material. When I saw the slow mo replay I thought how did he not break his neck? There's a part of me which doubted that he had cracked Vertebrae, especially since it happened in the commentary for the next match (which for all I know was pre-taped and he may have broke his neck, though how Verne'd had the money to pay the medical bills you'd got me), but if you want to get over a move for being so dangerous that it'll kill someone, having it nearly kill someone's a good way to start.
I ended up really liking the George/Koloff match for some reason. I think its because of George, oddly enough, who was completely competent in the ring, everything looked smooth, and he didn't use that many rest holds in the match. That, with Koloff having an explosiveness missing from every AWA "Star" at the time, made for a nice short 8 minute match. "
I can see where you're coming from on the main event, but to me it seemed like it was just weird to stick them on after the two out of three falls tag. If the match with Koloff and George had come before it, I probably would have liked it a little better, but to me it screwed up the show's flow.
From Scrotum Pole: "On Zyyszko, do you think during his career he actually spent more time on the outside of the ring than between the ropes? And the heel offering a hand shake. Has that ever resulted in anything but a kick to the gut region? Reading the recap of the match kept reminding me of a bald-spotted Ted Danson. Random thought I guess.
"We see the ladies fighting until Divine gets a handful of cooch and throws Wendi Richter over the top rope for the DQ."
I wonder if Divine was able to wash off the hogantitis B she contracted after that.
Late Randy, and your the real "trooper" for recapping this. "
Thank you for the support. With everyone being so positive and heaping praise on me, it feels like I'm in a rehab or something and you all are trying to keep me clean. I appreciate all of the kind words though, and thanks for always checking out my stuff, Mr. Pole. I'm pretty sure that Divine had to have the hand removed in 1997 after it had shriveled to three or four times smaller than normal and become useless.
From Scrotum Pole: "Johnnie Stewart firing back while wearing a classic Bart Simpson "Underachiever" shirt (which I'm proud to say I owned back when I was 9 years old in 1990) Posted By: Robert Tivari (Guest) on August 22, 2008 at 06:14 PM
And I guess I am unproud of owning a I'm Bart Simpson who the hell are you t-shirt at a ripe awkward age of 16. God the shit I would wear back then. If I'm right I sported it with a fine ass pair of guess jeans, with folded over cuffed leg ends, and a rockin pair of a believe Kappas with the interchangable colored triangles. Thank you Tivari for reminded me how old I am. "
Now that sounds like one hell of a style there Scrote. I never managed to have the guess jeans or the Kappas (whatever the hell those were), since I was still in my clothes for function rather than style phase. As long as I could run around and tackle and get dirty in them, they worked for me, which is probably why I'm still most comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt to this day.
From Brian: "rdfox, thanks for the info. on Lee Marshall. I can definetly hear Tony the Tiger in his voice now that I'm listening for it.
Randy, I agree that last nights show was actually pretty good. Sure, Nikita Koloff's match wasn't one of his better ones, but it's still fun and nostalgic to watch him in the ring.
What you said..."Zbyszko rules. The end."
Those Enos/BLOOM promos are/were GRRRRRRRREAT!!!!! (heh, Tony the Tiger reference) The Destruction crew are/were simply fantastic heels.
Last...TOM STONE!!!!! He was a fabulous jobber, or as Bobby Heenan called 'em, "Ham an' Eggers" Stone was among the last of what was then a dying breed. (Now nearly extinct.) you stated it very well when you said, "Stone is an old-school jobber and one of the best. He actually managed to make DJ Peterson look good and look entertaining, which is something that not many could do in the AWA in 1990"
You described exactly what all jobbers SHOULD do...make the other guy look good even if he sucks. (Well, okay, all rasslers should do that, but ESPECIALLY jobbers) That is an art in itself and requires a lot of talent. For those who don't believe this...how many jobbers do you remember? (That question is obviously for older guys, as jobbers are mostly a thing of the past.) There's a short list of them who stick in our memories because it's very difficult to be good enough at it to make a lasting impression.
Randy (Ham n' Eggs) Harrison, you are carrying on the proud tradition of the true JOBBER. You make the AWA look good, even in the lean years that are currently being aired on ESPN Classics.
Keep makin' the waning AWA look good, and keep showing us some JUGS!!!!! "
I'm trying my best to keep the AWA looking good, but believe me it's becoming harder and harder with each passing week. I agree with what you said about the jobbers and how it's a very short list of them that we remember because either they weren't on TV regularly enough, or they weren't good at getting guys over and making the whole match look good. Stone is pretty much the king of the AWA jobbers and although he did work for Vince as well, I seem to always equate him to the AWA and hear his name being said by Rod Trongard.
From Bryan: "Johnny V was the managers of The Destruction Crew for most of '89. This was just another match showed from an earlier taping. "
That makes sense. Not that it makes it any less lame, but it makes sense now. Why they would say that he was back and then not show him at all doesn't, but I guess it was just a cover for if he slipped into a shot or two.
Finally, from greggagnesucks: "Damn,you mean Boris Karloff didn't sing the "Grinch Songs"? Bummer! "
It's tough to hear, but it's still my favorite Christmas special out of all of them, though Charlie Brown Christmas is a VERY close second. Once we get to that time of the year, you'll all be overwhelmed by my love of all things Christmas, I guarantee it.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:23:58 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Well, I'm back for more AWA action and it looks like we're heading back to the good stuff of 1985. I'll tackle the Monday and Tuesday shows with the 1990 matches a little later on this week as bonuses, but for now it's a trip back in time to 1985 and THERE'S LARRY NELSON!! Oh, how I've missed this glorious son of a bitch. He welcomes us to the show and runs down that we're seeing matches from the St. Paul Civic Center on Christmas night, 1985. He was there with Ken Resnick and Rod Trongard to call all the action and he gives us a line-up, including Marty Jannetty making his AWA debut, and a midget tag team match-up, though I can't tell that for sure because ESPN Classic has muted the word midget. Larry Nelson: "Also on this card, the (blank) tag team match. Wake the kids or if they're up and about, get them in front of the television set, the kids always love the (blank) and so does a big kid named Larry Nelson." Honestly, that sounds a little molestery now that I've transcribed it, so let's just move on. Nelson talks up a big six-man tag match featuring the Shiek's Army against Hennig, Hall and Blackwell and then moves on to the main event with Rick Martel defending his AWA World Heavyweight Championship against Stan Hansen, with the title change happening four days later in New Jersey. Let's get to the ring for the opening bout!!
Match One: Big Thunder Kiniski vs. Marty Jannetty
According to Resnick, Buck Zumhoffe was supposed to be in this slot, but Jannetty has stepped up to fill in and take his shot at the big time in the AWA. I guess the rock and roll gimmicks really are that easy to replace, and for once I think they upgraded with the replacement. Big Thunder is actually Kelly Kiniski, who was in the midst of making appearances in both World Class and the AWA. The Christmas previous to this one in 1985, he faced Buck Zumhoffe on a World Class "Christmas Star Wars" show and defeated him. I guess this was supposed to be Buck's shot at revenge or something, but it never came to pass.
Kelly's got his hair cut extremely short and looks a lot like his father Gene at this point in his career and there's the bell to get us underway. Lockup and Kiniski uses his strength and shoves Jannetty away before they hit another lockup with Kiniski pushing Jannetty into the ropes. Kiniski tries a cheap shot but Jannetty ducks it and takes Kiniski over with an armdrag and stares him down, with the crowd not really sure how to react to it. Standing head and armlock by Kiniski but Jannetty gets it right back down with an armdrag into a straight armbar. Top wristlock from Jannetty now and Kiniski shoots him off into the ropes, eating a shoulderblock and impressing me with a leapfrog over Jannetty before Marty dropkicks him right in the mush and takes him back down with another DEEP armdrag takedown into the armbar. Kiniski pushes Jannetty to the ropes for a break and attacks with some forearm shots before ramming Jannetty into the top turnbuckle. Irish whip across from Kiniski and Jannetty reverses it, catching Kiniski coming out of the corner with another armdrag into the armbar.
Resnick tries to put over that the fans are leery of watching a newcomer like Jannetty and want to see what he has before they get behind him. Yep, that's it exactly. Nothing to do with them being bored so far, they just want the new guy to show off for them. Kiniski shoots Jannetty off into the ropes and kicks him square in the gut, elbowing him in the middle of the back to put him down. Kiniski picks Jannetty up for a bodyslam but drops him across the top rope instead, following it with a whip into the ropes and a big knee to the stomach. BIG bodyslam from Kiniski, followed by an Irish whip into a clothesline and he bounces off the ropes with a hard kneedrop to the throat and chest of Jannetty. Jannetty tries a shot to the stomach to fire back, but Kiniski goes to the throat to cut it off, snap maring Jannetty over into a reverse chinlock. Jannetty gets to his feet, but Kiniski pulls on the tights to get him back down to the mat and back into the chinlock. Jannetty gets to his feet again and Kiniski just pitches him through the ropes to the floor, hammering him with forearms as Jannetty gets back up on the apron. Shoulderblocks through the ropes from Jannetty and he tries to slingshot over into a sunset flip, but Kiniski holds the top rope and blocks it.
Big kneelift from Kiniski now and he picks him up for a beautiful gut-wrench suplex that gets him a long two-count. Another snap mare from Kiniski and as he tries another, Jannetty ducks under and gets a backslide for a two-count. Kiniski rams Jannetty's head into the mat and stomps away, snap maring him over again, going right back to the chinlock. The crowd goes to a "boring" chant and Kiniski does some amateur wrestling riding before shoving Jannetty into the ropes for some knees to the stomach. Jannetty gets rammed into the top turnbuckle and Kiniski whips him into the ropes for a big hip toss before picking him up and Irish whipping him again. BIG dropkick from Kiniski catches Jannetty right in the face and there's another long two-count into ANOTHER snap mare and it's BACK to the reverse chinlock again. This is starting to get to be intolerable to watch because of it being so repetitive. Jannetty elbows his way out of the chinlock and they start running the ropes until Kiniski flings Jannetty through the ropes to the floor again. Forearms to the chest from Kiniski as Jannetty is up on the apron and Kiniski clotheslines him across the top rope, sending Jannetty back down to the floor.
Jannetty drags himself back into the ring just in time for Kiniski to Irish whip him in for a reverse elbow, followed by a delayed vertical suplex that gets a two-count. Kiniski argues with the referee and as he does, Jannetty fires a couple of punches to the stomach. Kiniski cuts that off with forearms and another turnbuckle smash before hitting the twelfth snap mare and tenth reverse chinlock of the match. He really needs to find a few more moves or at least change up his restholds a little bit. We're ten minutes into this one and Kiniski lets go of the chinlock to whip Jannetty into the ropes for a bodyslam. Jannetty floats over and pushes Kiniski into the ropes for a roll-up, but Kiniski holds onto the ropes to block it. Jannetty barely hits a dropkick and then hits another more solidly, firing away with right hands and chops before slamming Kiniski and heading up top. FLYING BODYPRESS OFF THE TOP ROPE!! 1-2-3!!! Jannetty wins and Kiniski is not happy, throwing Jannetty out to the floor and celebrating on the turnbuckles as Jannetty is declared the winner on the floor.
Winner: Marty Jannetty (pinfall, flying bodypress)
Match Analysis: This felt like the opening match on about every single AWA card I can remember seeing when I was a kid. This one felt like it was going to last forever and if Jannetty hadn't been making his debut, I'm pretty sure this one would have gone to a time-limit draw. As it was, there was about ten minutes of match and six minutes of restholds, so you can imagine what I think of it. I can understand them not wanting to rush through the opening match, but to have the new guy you want to feature come in and get his ass kicked for eight minutes before sneaking out a win seems a little silly. You could tell Jannetty was jacked up as he nearly overshot Kiniski on the finish too.
Back from the break, Ken Resnick welcomes Marty Jannetty to the AWA and wishes him a Merry Christmas. Jannetty says that this is the place to be if you want tough competition and he's happy and proud to be in the AWA. He puts over Kiniski as being a tough opponent and says that he's been working on the flying bodypress for a while. He feels like he's worked hard, but he knows he has to work harder as he comes up against top guys like there are in the AWA. He says that he's looking forward to making his presence known in the AWA and heads off to the back as Resnick puts him over as being a big part of the future of the AWA.
Match Two: Cowboy Lang and Little Mr. T vs. Little Tokyo and Lord Littlebrook
The AWA would run variations on this tag match on a bunch of different shows, including WrestleRock '86, leaving me to wonder if these four were the only four midget wrestlers around at the time. Lang and Tokyo get things underway with a lockup and Tokyo pushes Lang into the ropes, with Lang laying a bit of a spanking on Tokyo before the break and Tokyo shoving referee Marty Miller and complaining about the lack of respect from the Cowboy. Front facelock from Lang and as Tokyo shoves him into the ropes again Lang gives him the same taps and Tokyo loses it again. Side headlock by Tokyo and Lang tries to pick him up for an atomic drop but Tokyo holds on, taking Lang over. Tokyo gets shot off the ropes and Lang drops down, trying to force Tokyo into a right hand from Little T. Tokyo slows up and avoids it, showing how smart he is before turning right back into an eyepoke from Lang. Tokyo does a faceplant and as he gets to his feet, Lang goes right back to the front facelock.
Tokyo pushes Lang into his own corner and drops some shots to the gut before distracting the referee to let Lord Littlebrook do some choking from the outside. Hard little chops from Tokyo and they double-team Lang as Little T distracts the referee. Tag to Littlebrook and he works over Lang with some knees to the head and legs, even one that looked like it hit some little balls. Choke from Littlebrook into a front facelock and as Lang pushes him back and makes the tag in his corner to Little T, Tokyo comes in to distract Marty Miller and he doesn't see the tag. As Miller argues with Little T, Tokyo and Littlebrook pull an illegal switch, working him over with a headlock and an armbar. Lang makes it to his feet and every time he does, Littlebrook pulls the hair to get him back to the mat. They do the same spot again with Lang making the tag to T, and Tokyo distracting the referee, right down to another illegal switch. Tokyo with some right hands and forearms before he tags Littlebrook right back in. They trade shots to the gut and Littlebrook works some short kneelifts before taking a hard shot to the stomach from Lang, forcing Littlebrook to tag out.
Tokyo comes across and tries to cut Lang off but eats a kick to the stomach and a kneelift and THERE'S THE TAG TO LITTLE T! RIGHT HANDS IN THE CORNER AND HEADBUTTS! HIP TOSS ON TOKYO!! HEADBUTT TO LORD LITTLEBROOK!! Tokyo goes for a tag in the corner, but Littlebrook is down and out, so Tokyo grabs him by the hair to drag him up to his feet for the switch. Littlebrook realizes that Tokyo was the one pulling his hair and slaps Tokyo right in the ricehole before they make an amicable tag. Littlebrook does a little shit-talking to the front row before he locks a top wristlock on Little T, but T is able to power out of it and flexes to menace Littlebrook into making a tag. Tokyo with a quick go-behind into a full nelson, but Little T powers out of it. Side headlock from Tokyo and he goes to the throat with some cheap shots before taking T over into a reverse chinlock. Rake of the face from Tokyo and a big stomp leads to a tag to Littlebrook and the good Lord comes in to lay some boots in on Little T's face. Standing armbar from Littlebrook and T reverses it into a standing arm-wringer, taking Littlebrook over and turning it into a straight armbar.
Tokyo tries to come in to break it up, but Lang comes across and stomps on his bare foot before heading back to his corner, stepping over Littlebrook in the meantime. Tokyo tries it again as Lang has his back turned and Lang comes back across, stepping on Littlebrook again to stomp on Tokyo's toes again. He steps on Littlebrook AGAIN, making his way back to the corner and the crowd has a good laugh at the midgets' expense. T continues to work the arm and Tokyo again tries to sneak in and break it up, this time raking at the face and actually breaking the hold before Lang hits a HUGE one-armed atomic drop that sends Tokyo flying across the ring. T goes back to the straight armbar and works over Littlebrook and as Littlebrook tries to turn the hold and reverse it, Lang pokes him in the eyes behind the referee's back. The ref turns to scold Lang and Tokyo comes in from behind with an eye rake, finally managing to get Littlebrook free of the hold.
Littlebrook with an Irish whip and he hits a reverse elbow before tagging Little Tokyo in for some hard kicks to the gut. Headbutt from Little T and he gets a two-count on Tokyo before Lang and T work him over in their corner. Big slingshot from Little T and there's a tag to Lang, who slingshots Tokyo right back across into their corner. Irish whip from Lang into a big back bodydrop and a butt butt, and as Tokyo tries for a tag, Littlebrook turns his back on him, wanting no part of Lang. Lang comes over and forces the tag, and Littlebrook trips over the ropes trying to get into the ring. Lang with a full nelson on Littlebrook and as Tokyo tries to run in for a cheap shot, Lang spins and Tokyo ends up punching Littlebrook in the face. Lang makes a tag to Little T and we get a variation of the same spot with T holding Littlebrook, Tokyo pulling the punch back and then waffling Littlebrook as he holds T for a cheap shot. Miller tries to get Tokyo out of the ring, T covers Littlebrook and LANG counts a three-count. The crowd pops for that one and laughs a little more as Littlebrook and Tokyo have a little pow-wow in their corner.
Tokyo makes the tag in and works Little T over in the corner with some stomps and punches before trying an Irish whip in the corner. Lang runs across to block the buckle and T comes out of the corner with a big clothesline, taking over on Tokyo with more punches and stomps in the corner. He tries an Irish whip in the corner and Littlebrook tries the block, but T just whips Tokyo back into the same corner. All four men in the ring now and T and Lang whip Littlebrook and Tokyo into a MALFUNCTION AT THE JUNCTION! They work in the double-rowboat spot now and Marty Miller somehow ends up down on the mat and at the bottom of a pig pile. Miller chastises Little Tokyo for being at the bottom of the heap and gives them all a stern tongue-lashing. Lang and Tokyo in the ring now and Tokyo kicks Lang in the stomach, with Lang stomping on Tokyo's feet to take him down in a wristlock. All four men end up in the ring to criss-cross the ropes and Tokyo and Lang ran into each other out of it. In all the commotion to get things together in the ring, Miller misses Little T rolling Lang on top of Tokyo and as he turns around, he counts the three-count to give the pin and the win to Little Mr. T and Cowboy Lang.
Winners: Little Mr. T and Cowboy Lang (pinfall, usual midget insanity)
Match Analysis: REALLY long for a (blank) match and actually not completely terrible. It still relied on the same hack spots as all (blank) matches do, but it was the first time I'd seen it all not crammed into five minutes, so it was alright. There were lots of repeat spots from their other matches, which is to be expected, but you'd think that they might realize they were working the same territory and change things up a little bit. Ah well, it was good for what it was, which was a popcorn match or filler to let people hit the can.
In This Corner with Larry Zbyszko makes its return and his guest this week is Shiek Adnan El-Kaissie, who promises to reveal the newest member of his Army right here. Zbyszko says that it's obvious that Shiek has the financial resources to put together the most brutal force in professional wrestling today. Zbyszko says there's no doubt in his mind that he's put together the toughest group in the sport today. That leads to a discoriffic AWA Special Look at Sheik's Army, including highlights from The Barbarian and Boris Zhukov, the Mongolian Stomper and Shiek himself, with a ripping jazz flute solo from Ron Burgundy. Shiek Adnan joins the two Larry's and says that he has another addition to his Army and that he's had a surprise for the AWA. He's 6'6", 280 pounds and it's The Barbarian. Out comes Barbarian with face paint, a fur vest and a length of chain. Zbyszko calls him the most impressive man he's seen in his wrestling career so far and Barbarian rampages and sends Zbyszko scurrying away. Barbarian keeps asking for money and shakes his chain at the camera and Shiek says that if he tells him to attack, he'll attack and if he tells him to kill, he'll kill. Barbarian threatens Nelson and says that he's the best because he's the baddest. He works for the best, the baddest and the richest and Nelson is scared as hell of that chain that Barbarian is shaking around. Nelson says that he makes the wrestling world nervous and that he feels nervous so he's getting out of here. Zbyszko comes back and calls Barbarian a devastating fighting machine and that you have to respect Barbarian's athletic ability and Shiek's deviousness. Shiek shouts out some threats and the promo just cuts out to a commercial.
Match Three: AWA World Heavyweight Championship Stan Hansen vs. Rick Martel (c)
I guess we don't get the six-man match on today's show, as we've skipped right ahead to the main event of the evening for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. Hansen looks like his usual crazy self, nearly whipping the ring announcer in the head with his vest. Martel gets a John Cena response with a ton of high-pitched squeals, with a low bass line of boos. Hansen attacks right off the bell and kicks Martel down to the mat before trying an Irish whip into the corner. Hansen ends up getting reversed and Martel sends him into the corner, following that up with some rights and lefts and a BIG pair of bodyslams. Hansen grabs Martel by the hair and throws him out to the floor, following him out. Hansen tries to ram Martel into the ringpost but Martel reverses, sending Hansen's shoulder into the post. Martel makes it back into the ring and kicks at Hansen through the ropes to the floor and Hansen THROWS A CHAIR INTO THE RING!! The referee throws the chair back out to the floor and we cut away from the ring to see Larry Nelson and Nick Bockwinkel on commentary, though I'm not sure why we're hearing Rod Trongard instead of them, as that would be an interesting commentary. Might be something to do with a post-production decision where they could lay groundwork for the title change or something.
Anyhow, Hansen headbutts Martel and rams him into the top turnbuckle before hitting a hard chop to the chest. Martel fires back and rams Hansen into the buckle before pushing him into the corner for some chops and shoulderblocks. Irish whip across from Martel and he charges in but Hansen boots him square in the face. Hansen drops a couple of knees before picking Martel up in a reverse chinlock, crossfacing him and forearming him along the way as well. Another stiff forerarm shot from Hansen and he cranks the chinlock back on until Martel gets to his feet and elbows free of the hold. Hansen with a shot on the turnbuckles and a knee, Irish whipping Martel into the ropes and trying for a back bodydrop. Martel with a kick in the face and he hammers away on Hansen with some chops and punches to the chest before dropping a knee on Hansen's chest. Another kneedrop and there's a cover and a long two-count for Martel, followed by a big bodyslam. Elbowdrop and another two-count from Martel and he moves to a standing armbar, cranking the pressure on Hansen's elbow and shoulder.
Hansen armdrags Martel over, through the ropes and onto the announce table at ringside, heading to the apron and dropping a hard forearm onto Martel's chest on the table. Stomps from Hansen and he starts to choke Martel across the bottom rope before picking him up and whipping him in for a big reverse elbow. Hansen slides his kneepad down and drops the exposed bone right onto the face of Martel, covering and getting a long two-count. Martel fires off rights and lefts to the midsection, and stands up to drop Hansen with a volley of punches to the head. Martel with an Irish whip into a big hip toss and there's a cover for another two-count. Irish whip and a back bodydrop from Martel and he covers again for another long two-count, with Trongard sounding like he's nearly losing his voice. Hansen rolls to the outside and drags Martel out there with him, picking him up for a bodyslam but RAMMING HIS BACK INTO THE RINGPOST!! AGAIN INTO THE POST!! The referee calls for the bell and Hansen just continues the attack, forcing Martel's back against the ringpost before slamming him on the concrete floor!! Hansen gets back into the ring as Rod Trongard says that there is no need for Hansen to do what he's done and there's no place for men like Hansen in the sport. Hansen makes his way to the floor and beats on Martel's back with his cowbell before heading to the dressing room.
Winner: Rick Martel (disqualification, Hansen ringpost shots)
Match Analysis: These two worked a quick pace in all their matches and honestly I could have watched that all night, compared to the methodical opening bout. This was mainly here to set up the title change a few nights later, but it was still a fun little six-minute brawl that got a lot more fun stuff in than it had any right to. Say what you will about Martel's title reign, but the matches he was having with guys were pretty damn good. No personality and no response from the fans, but in terms of working and having good matches, Martel was right there. Solid closer for the show.
Ken Resnick is ringside with Nick Bockwinkel in the aftermath of the Championship match and he asks Bockwinkel about the actions of Hansen. Bockwinkel says that you just have to look at what Hansen has done the entire time he's been in the AWA, with his rule-breaking and wild behavior. He says that Hansen's made it miserable for all of the AWA officials and Bockwinkel says that maybe Hansen knew he wasn't going to be able to get it done and that he paid Martel a compliment by attacking him because he knew Martel was the better man. Bockwinkel says that if a man is as off the wall and has no respect for the rules like Hansen, this is what we can expect. He says that the actions were dumb on Hansen's part because he's short-changing himself and the interview just cuts off there. Sad that the interview was ended that abruptly, but that sweater was a thing of beauty for Bockwinkel. Sharp-dressed man.
Another commercial break and Larry Nelson welcomes us back, running down next week's card, telling us that the show is moving to Wednesday night for one night only and that next week, we'll be seeing matches from White Sox Park in Chicago, with Brad Rheingans against Steve Regal for the Light Heavyweight Championship, Buddy Roberts going one-on-one with Mexican legend Mil Mascaras and another (blank) tag team match, as well as a six-man match between Giant Baba, Tenryu and Jumbo Tsuruta aginst The Long Riders and Harley Race. We're going to get to see Stan Hansen's title win over Rick Martel again as well, in case we missed it and Larry throws it to the close of the show!! I wonder how much of that, if any, we'll actually get to see on the next episode.
Final Thoughts
In honor of the AWA getting away from their horrible 1990 shows and back into the mid-80's when the shows were actually fun to watch, I'm going to tweak the rating system a little as well. No more moonshine jugs, as moonshine is usually the drink of the depressed and downtrodden. The AWA of the mid-80's still had signs of life and promise, so to show how good a mood I'm in and how much of a party I'll be having watching these shows, the ranking system will now consist of piles of Columbian marching powder. The ranking will still go from one to four, with the twist being that the more piles of blow there are, the better the show was and the bigger the party is! I figure there's nothing more fitting to show the good of the '80s than massive snowbanks of cocaine, so let's get to the first ranking of the new system.
Well, we started out slow, picked up a little bit with the (blank) tag match and then had a really hot finish to the show with the wild Hansen/Martel match-up. It's one of those shows that got better as it went on and by the time it was done, I was actually enjoying myself, which is something I haven't been able to say about the AWA shows much lately. I enjoyed it, but didn't feel like I was in a real big party mood, so let's go with two piles and see where we go with tomorrow's show!
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:24:59 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
After an apparent oasis of relief in the form of 1985 AWA wrestling, we're plunked right back into the fresh hell that was 1990 stuff. Lee Marshall, Verne Gagne and Eric Bischoff welcome us to the show and Marshall talks about how we're going to take a trip down memory lane leading to a replay of the end of Johnnie Stewart vs. Buck Zumhoffe for the AWA World Light Heavyweight Championship. The match ends with Zumhoffe winning in somewhat controversial fashion that I'll get into when I post those reports at the end of the week. However, angry fans of Stewart have been calling in according to Verne and protesting the decision. We get everything from the end of the show, including the multiple replays afterwards. It actually looks like it might not be that terrible a match from the highlights of it that I just saw, so I'll be glad when I get the chance to get it reviewed and reported. Verne says that there are no replays in the AWA and that the referee's decision stands. They also add that we're going to see Stewart and Zumhoffe on the same team in the "Behind The 8 Ball" match, which is essentially a glorified eight-man tag match, before putting over how great the Team Challenge Series truly is.
Match One: Pete Pistulka vs. Brad Rheingans
Someone up there must REALLLY hate me as not only do I have the AWA from 1990 back, but I get a Brad Rheingans match as the first match I get to review. Good times. They hit a lockup and Rheingans pushes Pistulka into the ropes for a clean break. They trade go-behinds and Rheingans gets a takedown, forcing Pistulka back into the ropes for another clean break. Lockup again and Pistulka pushes Rheingans into the corner and works him over with punches and shoulderblocks, Irish whipping Rheingans across the ring but missing a charge. Rheingans gets a deep armdrag off of that miss and turns it into a short-arm scissors, transitioning to a straight armbar, yanking and pulling at Pistulka until Pistulka gets to his feet and rakes his bootsole across Rheingans' eyes. He chokes Rheingans across the top rope and whips him across, taking a shoulderblock and a snap mare before Rheingans rakes his boots across Pistulka's eyes. Beautiful gut-wrench suplex by Rheingans and he moves to a kimura on Pistulka, using it to get a couple of near-falls before turning it into a standing version and Pistulka pushes Rheingans into the corner for a break. Eye rake by Pistulka and he picks Rheingans up for a big slam before trying to drop a leg that misses. Rheingans with an Irish whip and Pistulka reverses, ducking down for a back bodydrop. Rheingans sidesteps it and gets his rolling pinfall attempt, cradling Pistulka for the 1-2-3!!
Winner: Brad Rheingans (pinfall, rolling cradle)
Match Analysis: The usual Rheingans snorefest. It was interesting in the sense that Pistulka apparently changed his name during the course of the tapings to become "Pistol" Pete, but when that's the most interesting thing in the contest, that's not saying much. This was the first time to see Pistulka in extended action, and he didn't actually work too terribly, but with the AWA dropping dead, he never really got a chance to get any better. If you'll note, I'm not speaking about Rheingans because even talking about him makes me feel sleepy.
We take a trip back on memory lane again, moving back to a few shows ago with the end of the Harley Race/Larry Zbyszko match for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship and the ensuing post-match brawl. That leads to a new match featuring the former eight-time NWA World Champion.
Match Two: Kent Carlson vs. Harley Race
Carlson gets a couple of right hands off of a lockup but eats a hard headbutt from Race before getting Irish whipped into the ropes for a dropkick. Harley drops a pair of big kneedrops and hits a verison of a PERFECT-PLEX FOR THE THREE-COUNT! Holy shit, Mr. Race.
Winner: Harley Race (pinfall, Perfect-plex)
Match Analysis: Quick squash that probably could have been shown BEFORE he faced off against Zbyszko for the belt, but what do I know. Pretty cool to see old Harley bust out a variant on a Perfect-plex, but other than that, there was literally nothing else that happened. Not sure what point there was to have it, but I guess it filled a minute or two.
From there, we go to a promo with Curtis "The Cat" Hughes and Buck "Rock n' Roll" Zumhoffe, with Buck talking about the million dollars at the end of the Team Challenge Series and he says that they're going to get all the points. He says that with all the kids bringing their boomboxes and chanting for rock and roll, they'll win the money and have one heck of a time. Hughes gets three words in and Zumhoffe promises that when they win the money, they'll get a new Cadillac and paint the town red. Hughes got eaten alive by crazy, drugged-out Buck during that one. No wonder he spent most of his career playing a silent but violent bodyguard.
After a break, Bischoff throws it to Lee Marshall, saying that there was an eight-man elimination "Behind The 8 Ball" match, with every elimination by pinfall, submission, or being thrown out of the ring counting as one point, with the winning team being awarded another three points. Marshall claims that the rules are simple, but hardly. Apparently, a winner would have put Baron's Blitzers into a clinch position where they would have won the Team Challenge Series, but instead Larry's Legends pulled a bit of a comeback, gaining four points on the Blitzers with only two matches left in the entire Team Challenge Series. The standings now have Baron's Blitzers with 48 points, Larry's Legends in second with 44 points and Sarge's Snipers/DeBeers' Diamondcutters bringing up the rear with 38 points.
Apparently, we're going to hear from all three captains of the Team Challenge Series giving their thoughts on their chances of being the winners of the Team Challenge Series. We cut to a promo from The Destruction Crew and Wayne Bloom is talking about how "Mr. Justice", The Trooper cheated and interfered to save DJ Peterson from the Wrecking Ball. Bloom moves on from there to say that they're going to prove that there's no dissension on Larry's Legends by working with The Texas Hangmen again this week and that destruction is coming the AWA's way while the million dollars is going to be coming their way.
We're back from another break, with ANOTHER batch of promos, which means that I'm guessing that the matches from that last set of tapings are running REALLY thin and that they have to try to fill the show any way that they can. It's time for the Captain's comments and we hear from Col. DeBeers first. DeBeers talks about how he told everyone time and time again that Slaughter was not the man to lead others into battle and that he was proven right. He says that Slaughter must be hiding and that even though he's at a deficit in points, his Diamondcutters will prevail and will win the million dollars. Bischoff talks about how Baron's Blitzers have held the lead nearly the entire series and that the standings have gotten closer as the season comes to an end, leading to a promo from the Baron himself. He says that they've lost a little ground in the TCS, but coming up in the survival battle royal, they'll get the money. He feels like his team hasn't lost their hearts and that they're going to come after Zbyszko and DeBeers and that trickery and treachery will not serve them well. We finally check in with Larry Zbyszko, captain of Larry's Legends and he says that last week they put an end to the rumors about The Crew and The Hangmen and that they won last week's 8 ball match and they're going to win this week's match as well. He says his team is calm, cool and collected and that they're ready to march right into Armageddon and that they're going to be a million dollars richer. He says that they have the motivation known as greed behind them and that it is spelled with a capital Z, for Zbyszko! Great promo work from Zbyszko, as per the usual.
Bischoff sets the stage for today's main event, featuring "Behind The 8 Ball" part two, and Lee Marshall is in the ring for the introductions.
Match Three: Team Challenge Series Match: Behind The 8 Ball Match DeBeers Diamondcutters vs. Larry's Legends
DeBeers' team consists of Johnnie Stewart, The Unknown Soldier, Buck Zumhoffe and Curtis Hughes. Zbyszko's team is the same team as last time, The Destruction Crew and The Texas Hangmen. The Crew's entrance is punctuated by an INCREDIBLY slow-motion shot of about ten people in the crowd, trying to avoid showing all of the empty seats. All eight guys do some smack-talk and then the teams break up to talk to their respective captains before the match gets underway with Hangman Killer and The Unknown Soldier starting things out. Soldier works over Killer with an arm-wringer, tagging off to Zumhoffe who continues cranking the arm. Tag to Hughes and he headbutts the arm after doing more arm-wringing and he tags Soldier back in. Soldier off the second rope with a double-axehandle on the arm and as we cut to a shot of Johnnie Stewart hiding behind a referee, we see Soldier completely WHIFF on a dropkick that Killer is still polite enough to sell. Backbreaker from the Soldier and he tags in Hughes for a couple of headbutts and a big bodyslam. He tries to drop an elbow but Killer rolls out of the way and tags in Mike Enos.
Enos hammers away with forearms but Hughes reverses an Irish whip into a clothesline and he follows that with a big splash attempt off the ropes that Enos rolls away from. Enos goes for a cover and gets a two-count, but Stewart comes in off the apron with a kick to break it up. Enos takes a swing at Stewart and Soldier on the apron catches Enos and starts choking away before Hughes and Zumhoffe do some double-teaming. Double-Irish whip into a double backdrop and Verne Gagne sets music back thirty years by singing "We Will Rock You" for a few bars. Freddie Mercury must be rolling over in his grave. Hughes hits a big dropkick that sends Enos out to the floor and he's eliminated. Bloom charges in to defend his partner's virtue and kicks Hughes in the gut before pushing him into the corner for a shit-ton of knees. Tag to Hangman Psycho and they do some double-teaming on Hughes in their corner. The two big men trade forearms and Hughes hits a big headbutt before staggering over to tag Zumhoffe in. Buck charges in for a side headlock, but Psycho reverses it and just forearms the hell out of Zumhoffe.
He makes a tag to Bloom, but for whatever reason it's never enforced and Psycho just keeps working over Zumhoffe with an elbow and an eyerake before he slams Zumhoffe hard to the mat. Blatant choking from Psycho and Killer comes in to hit a double-axehandle just as Zumhoffe and Psycho start a rope-running spot. Unknown Soldier sticks his unknown ass into the match and kicks Psycho in the gut, allowing Zumhoffe to roll him up for the three-count, making it 4-on-2 for DeBeers' Diamondcutters. Zbyszko is beside himself on the floor and Hughes starts working over Killer with a headbutt and a bodyslam. Hughes tries the elbowdrop again and misses and he tags in Unknown Soldier, who hits a big atomic drop before pucnhing Killer in the stomach off of an Irish whip. Big snap mare from Soldier and as he tries to tag in Stewart, Stewart walks away. Tag to Zumhoffe instead and they hit Killer with a big double-dropkick and Soldier drops down for a two-count. Stewart turns down another tag and Killer works over Soldier with a couple of elbows, pushing him into the corner with Bloom so they can double-team him.
Irish whip into the corner from Killer but the Soldier reverses it and sends Killer into the buckle, following that up with some ass-ugly looking move that was almost like a reverse Ace Crusher or something. Verne and Lee talk it up like the greatest thing in the history of the world as Soldier hits a big bodyslam and comes off the second rope with an elbowdrop for a two-count. Bloom makes the save and breaks up the pinfall and as Soldier tries to go up top again, Bloom shakes the rope to crotch him and send him to the floor. It's 3-2 for DeBeers' team now, though they seem to have an advantage in that Stewart won't get into the ring. Hughes and Bloom square off now and Hughes picks Bloom up for a HUGE bodyslam that gets him a long two-count before he moves to a reverse chinlock. Tag to Zumhoffe and he hits the gut before trying to set Bloom up for a piledriver but Bloom reverses to an back bodydrop. Irish whip now and Zumhoffe reverses it into a flying bodypress that gets him another two-count. As Zumhoffe rolls out of the ring he tags in Johnnie Stewart and the referee is counting for him to get into the ring!! Stewart pitches a fit on the outside of the ring circles passively away from Bloom before Bloom shoves him into the corner for some hard knees.
Irish whips from Bloom and he sends Stewart from pillar to post before bodyslamming him down for a LONG two-count with Zumhoffe barely making the save for his hated rival. Bloom with an Irish whip and Stewart hits a double-axehandle to reverse and both men are down!! Stewart tags in Buck Zumhoffe and as Stewart holds Bloom, Zumhoffe goes for a dropkick. BLOOM DUCKS IT!! ZUMHOFFE DROPKICKS STEWART OVER THE TOP AND OUT!! It's all even at 2 men apiece!! Bloom tags in Killer and as Zumhoffe tries for a bodyslam near the ropes, Stewart (still on the outside whining and complaining) yanks his foot and takes him down. Killer takes over and snap mares Zumhoffe down before locking in a reverse chinlock. Tag to Bloom and Zumhoffe gets a quick inside cradle in the corner for another two-count, but Stewart again goes to the eyes to break it up. Bloom comes off the ropes with a big splash and Zumhoffe rolls out of the way of it, though he didn't do it fast enough and Bloom still ends up catching him with a piece of it. Both men are slow to their feet and trading right hands before Zumhoffe shoulderblocks Bloom down.
Irish whip into the corner by Zumhoffe and he charges in but Bloom ducks under it, sending Zumhoffe over the top rope and to the floor!!! After a big comeback from Larry's Legends, they have it down to 2-on-1 against Curtis Hughes!!! Stewart heads over and talks some shit on Zumhoffe before attacking him from behind and RAMMING HIM INTO THE RINGPOST!! ZUMHOFFE'S BUSTED OPEN!! In the ring, Hughes and Killer have knocked each other down and the referee is counting them out, but Bloom comes in to work some double-team action. Hughes manages to fight back and get both men down, Irish whipping Bloom into the ropes, sending Bloom through them and to the floor for the elimination!! It's down to Hughes and Hangman Killer and HUGHES HAS HIM IN THE TORTURE RACK!! He drops Killer like a bad habit and comes off the second rope with a HUGE splash!! There's the cover and there's the three-count!! DeBeers' team wins!!! We cut to the outside to see the jobber brigade coming out to help Zumhoffe to the back and he's a bloody mess!!
Winners: DeBeers' Diamondcutters (Hughes pinfall, second-rope splash)
Match Analysis: Long, long, long, long. Essentially this was sloppy booking as instead of using singles matches over the course of a few weeks to tighten things up, they essentially gave both teams that were behind "gift points" to get all three teams close. Granted, this is a fake sport, but there were a lot less ham-handed ways to get to the point where all three teams could have a shot at winning in the final match. The match itself was a pretty solid eight-man tag match, but it was fairly well told early on that DeBeers' team was going to get the nod since they needed the points to get close. Probably would have been a much better match if it hadn't been so convoluted in the rules.
The Three Amigos talk about the main event and how now the standings shake out with Baron's Blitzers on top with 48 points, Larry's Legends at 47 points and DeBeers' Diamondcutters in last place with 45 points. Eric Bischoff brings up the survival battle royal on the next show, saying that all three teams are going to be involved with the members of each team being picked at random to participate. Marshall puts over how exciting the end of the Team Challenge Series is going to be as Verne tells us not to miss the finish and we're out!
Final Thoughts
Not a great show, mainly because the flow was REALLY off on it. To fit all of the main event action in without a commericial break, we went nearly thirty-five minutes with about a minute and a half of in-ring action. I'm sure that they were running out of matches to show and were just trying to get to the end of the TCS run on the fumes that were still in the tank, but there was WAY too much talking on this show for my liking, especially seeing it in hindsight and knowing that most of the talking went nowhere. Decent main event, but that's not enough to save this stinkburger...
Let's get to the comments and see how the readers have taken the jolt back to the poor action of 1990.
Fun With Comments
Fromchucky: "I thought it was called "Bavarian Marching Powder". I heard it from the movie with Michael J. Fox playing a cokehead. "
That could very well be. I can't recall the movie, but I just know that I've heard the line somewhere.
FromDavid: "I think they were the only midgets at that time. Weren't three of them involved in the Bundy/Hillbilly Jim match at Wrestlemania? "
I think that they were pretty much the only midgets. Littlebrook, Tokyo and Little Mr. T (as The Haiti Kid) were all involved in the Wrestlemania III match, along with Little Beaver.
FromGuest. : "Decent show which fit the mold of what Greg was talking about in his DVD. The midgets were for the kids, and the title change here was to set up for a feud at Wrestlerock, Bockwinkel if I recall. I don't remember the gates drawing all that well though, which would lead to the Hansen debacle. Anyways, decent show, I'm really hoping they show the six-man with Tsuruta, Tenryu, Baba, Race, and the Long Riders. "
Sadly, they went back to 1990, though I do agree that the mold of the big Christmas night show seemed to be exactly how Greg was setting things up from the various accounts I've read of his Guest Booker DVD.
FromRobert Tivari: "Kind of sad to see the 1990 episodes end. We would never find out the winner of the Team Challenge Series nor would we ever see those matches promised for "next weeks show" I'm sure you, Randy are happy about the 1990 episodes finally being over with, but as a connoisseur of bad wrestling, I am going to miss it. We would never see Tommy Jammer, Bart Wimpson... I mean Jonnie Stewart, DJ Peterson, The Tokyo Bullets, and Jake Milliman ever again, and tis a shame."
Oh, we get to see how the TCS ended and THEN I hope we go back to the mid-80's shows where I don't have to feel so crushed by watching them.
FromSteven: "For some reason, ESPN Classic used this as a filler episode. We're back to the "Team Challenge Series" as of tonight. It's too bad, because I really wanted to see the Giant Baba, "The Great" Tenryu, and Jumbo Tsuruta Vs. Harley Race & The Long Riders 6-man tag match. "
I agree, I was really hoping to get to see that six-man match, as it sounds like it would have been at least decent. Race could work with the Japanese guys really well from all of his tours over there and as long as the Irwin boys could hold their own (which I think they would have been able to in a Hansen-style fight), I think it would have been a fun one-off match.
FromLarry Nelson's Beard: "Our long national nightmare is over, LARRY NELSON IS BACK!!!! Speaking of "Colombian Marching Powder," did you see how disheveled Nelson looked? I have a feeling they taped the interview segments on Jan 2,1986, because he looked like he'd been on a five day bender.
Also, it was great to see another episode of "In This Corner," featuring the comedy stylings of Nelson and Zbyszko. Those two really worked well together. "
Yes, the "In This Corner" segments are usually comedy gold. Nelson and Zbyszko did seem to have good timing down and if Verne had thought ahead, he could have set that up as its own show, like "The Bobby Heenan Show" was. I would have loved to see that get its own half-hour.
FromMP: "Weak column. I read it for the first time and it was just meh. Your opinions are transparent/kinkoish and the jokes "if you call them that" are sophmoric." Try again."
To each their own. Thanks for giving it a shot at least.
Fromgreggagnesucks: "Remember these were originally 2 hour shows. Thats why we didn't get to see the 6 man tag and probably squashes by The Road Warriors,Jim Garvin & The Freebirds. "
That's true, and it's a shame that we didn't get to see more of it. I would have rather seen the six-man tag match instead of the Jannetty/Kiniski match, since that was pretty much as interesting as watching grass grow.
Fromyo momma: "Weak column. I read it for the first time and it was just meh. Your opinions are transparent/kinkoish and the jokes "if you call them that" are sophmoric." Try again.
Posted By: MP (Guest) on August 28, 2008 at 09:50 PM
HATER! "
Eh, everyone can have their own opinion of the column. I realize it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, especially in the instance where I'm not terribly well-known in the wrestling zone. Again, at least he gave it a shot.
FromDave: "Look on the bright side Randy, I think they've only got a week or two more of the 90's with guys like Jonnie Stewart. That reminds me, I was going to rip him for his last two matches being absolutely god awful. He had one jobber match that absolute nothing clicked and he even missed his finisher.(Which Verne pointed out.) Then there was the LW champ match which had Buck basically playing the roll of Hulk Hogan and doing it badly and ended with Jonnie clearly kicking out of a pin. I could rip on that but I read on wikipedia that right at this time Jonnie told Verne he was quiting to go back to college football. (My guess is all the screwyness was Verne telling those guys not to work so well with Jonnie.) "
I've seen the first Stewart match and I agree that it's awful. I'm just about getting to the Stewart/Zumhoffe match, and with you saying that it's not very good, I'm conflicted. They made it seem alright when they showed the highlights of it, but now I'm not so sure. It possibly could have been Verne telling the guys to make him look bad, but it was more likely just Stewart not being very solid in the ring.
Finally, fromrdfox: "ESPN Classic, you evil bitch! Tease us with a 1985 show, then go straight back to the craptacularness of 1990?
Then again, 1990 shows are entertaining in a trainwreck sort of way. That, and they actually let Larry cut his own promos instead of hosting a talk show segment, so there's fun in that, too.
All right, let's just run out the string, then, and then start over with ESPN's very first show from '85 and run 'em all in order. And, while we're at it, run all the World Class/GWF stuff you own in the slot following it! "
SECONDED!! I want to see the old, old AWA shows from when they first started, as well as the old WCCW/GWF shows. I'm really hoping that they get to those shows, though if they don't it does mean that I can get started on my WWF Wrestling Challenge project, which should be starting in the next few weeks, but could get bumped up earlier based on what happens with the AWA shows. It sounds as if the UWF run is done again for ESPN Classic, which could open up that slot and let me start the WWF shows soon.
That's it for the comments and that's it for the AWA report today. I'm still hard at work on the backlog and should have both AWA shows from Monday and Tuesday up before the end of the day today, which means there could be as many as 4 AWA reports going up in 24 hours. I realize that that could be construed as abuse in some states, but hey, I'm just glad to be getting through them for all of my fine readers. Catch you all in a bit everyone!!
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:25:45 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Lee Marshall and Verne Gagne welcome us to this episode of Championship Wrestling and apparently it's going to be a great afternoon on ESPN, featuring Johnnie Stewart, Curtis Hughes, and a tag team main event with The Destruction Crew defending their AWA World Tag Team Championship belts against The Trooper and DJ Peterson. Gagne calls it a mistake that Trooper is focusing on tag team wrestling because he's been so close to the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, essentially calling his own company's Tag Team Championship a step back. He says that Peterson is not making a mistake because he's been in more tag teams and he's more able to adapt to tag team wrestling. Marshall continues to shill the hour of wrestling in his ill-fitting sportcoat and we hit our first commercial break of the show.
Eric Bischoff welcomes us back and talks about the rigorous three-month long elimination tournament for the AWA World Light Heavyweight Championship and how both Johnnie Stewart and Buck Zumhoffe have predicted that they would come out on top and win the tournament. Bischoff states that one man will have the chance to turn prediction into prophecy and come out the victor when they meet in the ESPN main event on the next show. He throws it to the ring for the opening bout of the night.
Match One: WT Jones vs. Johnnie Stewart
I find it very hard to believe that Jones is only 235 pounds like they billed him as in the introduction, but I suppose. Also of note, Jones is in red tights this week, which looks about as baffling as it doesn when you see Umaga in red. Jones picks up some of the feathers off of Stewart's robe and blows them around the ring while mocking him, to the delight of all fourteen fans in attendance. There is literally no more than the first three rows all around ringside lit up with the rest of the arena pitch-black. It's funny to watch the 1990 shows and see the darkness get closer and closer to just swallowing up the ring altogether. Anyhow, the match has already started and Stewart has taken over with some knee-based offense before picking Jones up for a bodyslam. Kick away from Jones and he follows that up with a piar of hip tosses, dancing around as Stewart rolls out of the ring and into the abyss known as the concrete floor to think things over. It's honestly so dark out there that he almost disappeared. Jones welcomes him back into the ring with some forearms and shots to the gut before whipping Stewart into the corner and hitting a stiff forearm on his way out. Stewart gets a kick to the gut and takes over with some shots before slamming Jones to the mat, Stewart off the ropes and he misses a big kick to the side of the head before whipping Jones into the ropes for a BIG reverse elbow. Irish whip into the ropes from Stewart and Jones blocks a pair of hip tosses into a side suplex before going to the second rope. Jones goes for a big diving headbutt but misses and Stewart takes an extra second to pull down the kneepads before kicking Jones in the gut and whipping him into the ropes for a "loaded knee" cross bodyblock and he gets the three-count. I don't know why he bothers with the knee thing when he can't hit it worth a shit.
Winner: Johnnie Stewart (pinfall, "loaded knee shot")
Match Analysis: Not a bad match, but a shitty finish, mainly because Stewart can't hit his move. They try the whole "illegal knee" deal, but he can't hit it because he's just not coordinated and insists on trying to throw it horizontally rather than vertically. A Harley Race-like high knee would work just fine, but because of Stewart's silly insistence on throwing it like a cross-bodyblock he continues to miss it. That's a sign of someone who isn't as good a worker as he looks to be.
Bischoff has Stewart at ringside now and Stewart says that there's been a lot of speculation about his Porsche being repossessed and his trust fund has been taken away, but he assures all of his dozens of fans that everything is just fine. He says that there's money in the trust fund, the Porsche is in the garage, but he's missing one thing, the AWA World Light Heavyweight Championship. He says he gets a special tingle every time he sees a contract with Buck Zumhoffe's name on it and that there's an old saying that "To be the man, you have to beat the man" and he tells Zumhoffe to look in the mirror and ask himself if he feels like he is ready, willing and capable of being the man.
Match Two: Jamie Magnum vs. Curtis Hughes
I always hate the Curtis Hughes matches, strictly because my fingers seem to have an aversion to typing the name Hughes properly, leading to much correcting of many typos. Lee Marshall tries to put over Magnum the jobber as Hughes is outside shaking his groovy fat ass around ringside with the fans. He even gets up on the apron and does the same dance that JYD used to do before getting into the ring for a quick go-behind and a takedown, forcing Magnum into the ropes. Hughes shoves him off and then they hit a lockup with Hughes moving to a side headlock. Magnum shoots him off into the ropes and Hughes knocks him over with a shoulderblock, going back to the side headlock and transitioning to a hammerlock before Magnum makes the ropes again. Magnum goes to the eyes off of a lockup and chokes Hughes across the top rope before whipping him in for a clothesline. Hughes ducks under it and hits a big dropkick followed by a headbutt and he whips Magnum in for another HUGE flying dropkick. TORTURE RACK FROM HUGHES AND MAGNUM WANTS HIS MOMMY!! IT'S ALL OVER!!!
Winner: Curtis Hughes (submission, torture rack backbreaker)
Match Analysis: They're trying to put Hughes over as a lovable monster, in the same ilk as Leon "Baby Bull" White. It's rather interesting that the two guys that they tried that with in the later AWA days found better success elsewhere as heels once their careers took off and they weren't as green. Hughes has a ton of athletic ability here no doubt, but he's green and trying to make him into their version of Junkyard Dog is just not the right thing for him.
Bischoff welcomes us back and reads us a letter from a couple of little fans from Chicago and they ask about what goes through a wrestler's mind as they get ready to get in the ring for what could be the biggest match of their career. Bischoff says he can't answer it, but he throws it to a pre-recorded promo from DJ Peterson and The Trooper that he thinks will give them the answer they want. Peterson talks about how people have seen him go round and round with The Destruction Crew with multiple partners and he thinks that there isn't any reason that he and The Trooper can't beat them and take the belts. He says that he turns on the television and can't tell if he's watching wrestling or Walt Disney before promising that we're all in for one hell of a fight. Trooper says that they're at the peak of their game and ready to take on The Crew after chasing them all over the country. He feels like The Crew is old news and that they're wearing thin, he promises them a long, hard, bumpy ride before they lose the gold.
Back from the break, Col. DeBeers has some previously recorded comments, talking about how Sgt. Slaughter has abandoned his troops when the going got tough and that he's been elected the new captain in a team meeting. DeBeers says that now that a real leader of men is at the helm that the Diamondcutters are going to rise to the occasion and come out on top. DeBeers seems shocked that even Curtis Hughes voted for him to take over the team. Bischoff says that we're about to find out if DeBeers is set to lead by example in the next match.
Match Three: Tom Bennett vs. Col. DeBeers
DeBeers sneers at the camera while he takes off his military garb and starts out quickly with a side headlock and a shoulderblock on Bennett. They run the ropes and Bennett tries a hip toss but DeBeers blocks it with a shot to the gut. Rake of the eyes by DeBeers and he snap mares Bennett over into a big stomp with his military boot. He picks Bennett up and rakes his eyes across the top rope before dropping him with a pair of right hands. Bennett blocks a turnbuckle smash and puts Debeers headfirst into the buckle, trying for an Irish whip into the corner but DeBeers reverses it. He does the spot with the knee that follows and drives Bennett's face into the mat and gets a two-count off of it after he picks Bennett up. He picks Bennett up and delivers the PANCAKE PILEDRIVER, rolling Bennett over for the 1-2-3!!
Winner: Col. DeBeers (pinfall, pancake piledriver)
Match Analysis: It's the usual from DeBeers, I guess it's just more distinguished because he's a captain.
It's Team Challenge Series report time and here's Lee Marshall to give us all of the news with just four weeks left in the season. He says that Larry's Legends philosophy of momentum working for the Legends has not worked and has done nothing to keep them in the running. He mentions that Baron's Blitzers have been the only team to keep any cohesiveness as a unit and that they've made all the right moves including their wild card pick-ups. He points out the last TCS main event where Candi Divine picked up a point for the Blitzers with her DQ win over Magnificent Mimi. We see the standings with Baron's Blitzers on top with 45 points, Sarge's Snipers in second with 34 points and Larry's Legends in last with 31. Lee also brings up the Most Valuable Wrestler race, with The Trooper leading that one with 18 points won for his team. Col. DeBeers is second in that race with 12 points and Yukon John and Hangman Killer are tied for third with 9 points apiece. We see a five-way tie for fifth at 8 points featuring both members of The Destruction Crew, Jake Milliman, Nikita Koloff and Scott Norton, with Candi Divine in 10th place with 7 points. It appears as if Trooper is going to have the best chance to get the MVW award, and Lee says that all of the teams still have a chance as the points will be coming fast and furious in the last month of wrestling's hottest competition, the Team Challenge Series.
We come back from another break to see the same promo from Trooper and Peterson that we saw earlier in the show, followed by Bischoff doing some monologue work, seemingly in preparation for things like his twenty-minute long speeches during closing Nitro segments, before throwing it to the ring for today's ESPN main event.
Match Four: AWA World Tag Team Championship DJ Peterson and The Trooper vs. The Destruction Crew (c)
Bloom and Enos mouth off to the front row and show off their belts and muscles while Peterson and Trooper play to the crowd and get some cheers. All four men stare each other down while the referee goes over the instructions and we almost get a bit of pre-match action between Trooper and Enos but things settle down and the bell rings with Bloom and Trooper getting things underway. Trooper claps and gets the crowd behind him, incensing Bloom and they finally hit a lockup with Trooper pushing Bloom away into the ropes. Another lockup and they stalemate this time with Bloom trying to catch his breath against the ropes before kicking Trooper in the gut and grabbing a side headlock. Trooper whips Bloom off into the ropes and they have a stand-off over a couple of shoulderblocks before Bloom tells Trooper to hit the ropes and try one. Trooper WAFFLES him and sends him through the ropes to the floor before Enos tries a sneak attack but he gets dropped and sent to the floor as well. Bloom yells at the cameraman to get out of his face and then goads Trooper into chasing him around on the outside.
Bloom hits some cheap shots as Trooper tries to get back in the ring and turns around to flex for the crowd, but as he turns back around, Trooper is in the ring and angry as all hell. Trooper sends Bloom flying across the ring with a turnbuckle smash and takes down Bloom and then Enos with a pair of clotheslines. The Crew has a little staff meeting on the floor and they decide to talk a little strategy as Bloom gets back into the ring to tag Enos. Trooper forces Enos into the ropes and Enos hammers with some forearms and chops to the chest before an Irish whip leads to Enos attempting a flying bodypress. Trooper catches him and slams him down hard, pinning Enos for a two-count before tagging in Peterson. Peterson works a standing arm-wringer and whips Enos into the ropes, leading to Enos knocking him on his ass with a shoulderblock. They run the ropes a bit again and Peterson takes over with HUGE hip toss and a deep pair of armdrag takedowns into a dropkick that CATCHES ENOS' HEAD BETWEEN THE TOP AND MIDDLE ROPES!!
Tag to Trooper and he whips Enos into the corner, following with a MASSIVE CHARGE that misses and Trooper goes flying off of the top turnbuckle. Enos takes over with a trip takedown and tags in Bloom for some boots to the face. SHOULDERBREAKER FROM BLOOM!! He grabs a standing arm-wringer and just punches away at the shoulder, hammerlocking Trooper and slamming him on the bad arm. Tag to Enos and he picks Trooper up onto his shoulder and RAMS TROOPER'S SHOULDER INTO THE TOP TURNBUCKLE!! Great move there from Enos and he takes advantage with a cover but it only gets a two-count. Tag to Bloom and he just chokes Trooper across the top rope, drawing Peterson into the ring. As the referee gets Peterson out, Bloom and Enos hit the BADD COMPANY ROPE CLOTHESLINE SPOT!! That was fantastic!! I love seeing that move and seeing two huge guys like Enos and Bloom do it made it look that much more impressive. Trooper looks like he's dead, laying across the ropes as Bloom kicks him and throws him out to the floor. Enos on the outside and he rams Trooper into the BARRICADE OF DOOM, hitting him with it repeatedly before sending him back into the ring.
Sunset flip attempt from Trooper off of an Irish whip but Bloom just punches him in the face to block it. Tag to Enos and he hammers on the shoulder, using a fireman's carry to get Trooper to the mat and cover him for a two-count. Standing armbar from Enos and Trooper is just screaming in agony. Tag to Bloom and he comes off the top rope with a KNEE TO THE SHOULDER!! Bloom does a little shit-talking and hammers away at the shoulder before ramming it into the top turnbuckle. Tag back to Enos and he locks in a front facelock into an armbar variation that is focusing on the shoulder. Trooper tries to fight across for the tag and JUST AS HE GETS IT BLOOM RUSHES IN!! The referee chases Peterson back to the apron and The Crew hit a double reverse elbow off the ropes and make an illegal switch!! Bloom with the cover and he ONLY GETS A TWO-COUNT!! Bloom suckers Peterson abck into the ring again and they do more double-teaming and another illegal switch with Enos back in the ring. Bodyslam from Enos and he MISSES on a standing legdrop, tagging in Bloom, who charges into the ring but it's TOO LATE!! HOT TAG TO PETERSON!!
Peterson tells Bloom how it's going to be and Irish whips him into the ropes for a clothesline!! BODYSLAM FOR BLOOM!! BODYSLAM FOR ENOS!! SUPLEX FOR BLOOM!! SUPLEX FOR ENOS!! Irish whip into another hard clothesline and all four men are in the ring brawling away!! Irish whips from the faces and The Crew reverse it, SENDING TROOPER AND PETERSON INTO EACH OTHER!!! Peterson getting worked over by Enos and Bloom while Trooper rolls out to the floor and they whip Peterson in for a double-back bodydrop and a double-clothesline. Bloom lays a boot in on Trooper out on the floor and Enos has Peterson jacked up for the Wrecking Ball!! Bloom's up top and TROOPER SHAKES THE ROPE!! BLOOM CRASHES TO THE MAT!! PETERSON WITH A VICTORY ROLL AND THERE'S ONE...TWO....THREE!!! NEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!!!
Winners: DJ Peterson and The Trooper (pinfall, Peterson victory roll)
Match Analysis: A really fun formula tag match that actually got the disaffected and apathetic AWA crowd into the match. These people were sitting on their hands for seemingly everything, but they popped huge for the tag and even bigger for the pinfall, which speaks to all four guys doing exactly what they needed to to hit the perfect notes. Also fun to see in a historical sense as it's essentially the last title change in the AWA on a national level and I believe the last title change in the history of the company. A fun, hard-hitting match and perhaps a fitting epitaph on the tombstone of the AWA that is now inevitably coming. Exactly the kind of action that the AWA made famous is what sent them off into the sunset as a company. Circle of life, children.
Trooper and Peterson celebrate their victory on the floor as Bloom and Enos are LOSING THEIR SHIT in the ring. Bischoff is with the new champs and Gary DeRusha clarifies the finish and the new champions!! Trooper says that a lot of times, what it takes is taking the law into your own hands and kicking someone's butt to get what you want. Um, Del? I'm pretty sure that that's EXACTLY what they don't want people doing as law enforcement officials. Kind of throws everything into chaos. Just be quiet and be sure to hold your belt right side up. Peterson thanks Trooper for being his partner tonight and possibly forever, in a touching moment considering that now they can come out to California and get married to make it all official. Peterson says that the people supported them and that although it took a hell of a long time, they're the champions now!! Bischoff congratulates them again and we're done for the show!!
Final Thoughts
I have no problems with this show because that main event was really fun on the entertainment level, as well as the historical level. The majority of the show was the same filler that it always was, but to see the AWA return to one brief shining moment from their glory days was worth sitting through all of that. I might be overstating it some because of how much bad AWA I've watched lately, but that match was really good and it's a shame that they couldn't have done more of that. They still had the capability to have good matches, even up to the end and if they had gone local and tried to reload for another shot at competing nationally, they might have been able to make a go of it. A fun show for me, and as such it's only took one jug and that was more out of celebration for the great main event...
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:26:48 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Verne Gagne and Lee Marshall welcome us to Championship Wrestling on ESPN and Lee talks about how it's a treat today for all of the fans as today we get to see a special Team Challenge Series. Verne introduces the "Behing The 8 Ball" concept and Lee talks about how in three weeks, we're going to see the end of the Team Challenge Series, with $1 Million dollars on the line. Lee Marshall talks about the main event with Stewart and Zumhoffe for the AWA World Light Heavyweight Championship. Lee nearly loses his mind trying to shill the program and throws it to a break. No telling how depressing that must have been to do, knowing how bad the company was and that virtually no amount of shill or shuck would work.
Eric Bischoff makes his first appearance of the show, speaking on the newest wild card addition to Larry's Legends, Larry "The Butcher" Cameron. He brings up how Zbyszko brought Mr. Saito in as a wild card pick and how well that worked out for him, before moving to the opening bout of the show, featuring the same Mr. Cameron.
Match One: Jake Milliman vs. Larry Cameron
Cameron threatens the camera to get out of his face as he makes his way to the ring and jaws with the front row before getting into the ring. He's fucking JACKED to the tits and probably has more juice in him than a Minute Maid plant. I don't like The Milkman's chances against The Butcher, unless he gets a run in from The Baker. Cameron goes to the eyes right off a lockup and hammers away with right hands before choking Milliman against the corner. Hard elbow to the back of the head puts Milliman down to his knees and Cameron follows with a headbutt. Good to know that I'm still on form as not two minutes after I wrote it, Lee Marshall jokes that they have the whole grocery store covered in this match and that they only need the Produce Guy. Cameron chokes Milliman across the top rope as we cut to a crowd reaction from 1986. Cameron slingshots Milliman into the ring and whips him in for a reverse elbow but Milliman ducks it and hits Cameron into the ropes with a flying burrito. Milliman with an Irish whip and he tries a dropkick but Cameron just holds onto the ropes and lets Milliman drop himself. Punch to the kidneys from Cameron makes Milliman scream like a woman and he follows it up with a hip toss that sends Milliman across the ring and out to the floor. Forearm to the chest from Cameron as Milliman gets up on the apron and he hits a big running clothesline as Milliman gets back into the ring. HUGE POWERSLAM BY CAMERON!! 1-2-3 and it's all over!!
Winner: Larry Cameron (pinfall, running powerslam)
Match Analysis: Cameron did what he had to do and beat up the poor, lovable Milkman. He had a great look and if they had more time, they could have built him up into something and let him get some experience, but they just couldn't wait. He wasn't good enough to work at the top, but you can see that they were going to try to push him at the top anyways and he probably would have been one of their bigger stars had the promotion kept going.
Eric Bischoff welcomes us back and runs through the main event before bringing Buck Zumhoffe in for a promo. He says that he's trying to stay calm but he's been working and wrestling everyone he had to wrestle to get his title shot and now it's here. He tells Stewart that he's going to have to deal with all the little rock and rollers at ringside and they're going to drive him crazy. Zumhoffe says that it's been a long time coming, but with the help of the fans he's going to have the AWA World Light Heavyweight Championship belt around his waist. Bear in mind, this is a translation from Zumhoffese to English and he used a lot more words and sounded a whole lot crazier.
After the commercial, Lee Marshall's here with a Team Challenge Series report. We hear about the Snipers voting Col. DeBeers as their new captain and how Larry's Legends picked up a wild card pick in Larry Cameron. We get highlights from a "Meat Grinder" match between DeBeers and Cameron against DJ Peterson with Peterson taking them on in a handicap match.We see that Cameron and DeBeers came out on top, earning four points apiece for their respective teams and the standings show Baron's Blitzers on top with 45 points, DeBeers' Snipers at 38 and Larry's Legends in last place with 37 points. Bischoff speculates that it might be a photo finish for the title of Team Challenge Series champion and he promises that we'll get to the TCS "Behind The 8 Ball" match right after these messages.
We hear from The Texas Hangmen about the 8 Ball match and they say that there's no dissension between Larry's Legends. They promise a lot of surprises in store with the million dollars on the line and they'll do whatever it takes. They like to hurt people and Larry's told them that they need to hurt people. From there, we go to The Destruction Crew and Bloom is talking about the million dollars while Enos is freaking out about losing their belts. Bloom keeps taking over and talking over Enos and he says that they REALLY want their belts back and they're hungry for them. He says that when they get Peterson and Trooper in the ring, the feast is on them and DESTRUCTION IS FOR DESSERT!!! That's a great line from Bloom.
Match Two: Team Challenge Series Match: Behind The 8 Ball Match Baron's Blitzers vs. Larry's Legends
Larry Zbyszko's team features The Texas Hangmen and The Destruction Crew as Baron's Blitzer team is going to be made up of Baron himself, Tommy Jammer, Brad Rheingans and The Trooper. Lee Marshall goes through the convoluted rule structure of the match again and apparently there's no disqualification in this match, with Verne speculating that it's going to get mean and rough. All four guys talk and posture, with Baron losing his shit and trying to attack all four of the Legends team members. Bloom lays the badmouth on some of the eight or ten fans in the front row as Verne says what everyone is thinking by bringing up how old Baron is compared to the rest of his team. Marshall tries to play it off as experience, but really Baron is too old to even be in there really. Psycho and Jammer start the match out and Jammer pushes him into the ropes, giving him a clean break. Side headlock from Jammer now and he gets shot into the ropes, knocking Psycho over with a shoulderblock before going right back to the side headlock. Jammer tries to throw Psycho over the top but Killer gets in there and saves him from going over, though Psycho turns right back into the side headlock again. Psycho goes to the eyes to break it and tags in Mike Enos, but Enos runs right into an armdrag takedown. Enos goes to the eyes to break that hold and tries for a bodyslam but Jammer slips it and gets a roll-up for a two-count before Bloom kicks him in the head. Enos with an Irish whip and Jammer takes him down with a shoulderblock, adding a dropkick in to put Enos down. Irish whip and a BIG back bodydrop from Jammer and he steps back to try for a flying bodypress as Enos just lowbridges and sends Jammer flying over the top!! Jammer is eliminated and we're at 4-3 for the Legends as they pick up the first point of the match.
Baron comes in to lay some punches on Enos but as Enos gets out of the corner, he distracts the referee to let Pyscho work him over in the corner. Bloom clotheslines Baron across the ropes and Enos makes a tag to Psycho to rake at Baron's face. Psycho rams Baron into Killer's knee and then tags him in for some punches. Killer rakes Baron's face across the top rope and nearly knocks him on his ass with a headbutt, leading to some Hangmen double-teaming. They continue to do some choking and cheating behind the referee's back and Killer picks him up for a whip into the ropes. Killer misses a clothesline and BARON'S GOT THE CLAWHOLD!!! KILLER IS FADING FAST!! ALL SEVEN MEN IN THE RING AND BRAWLING!! In the commotion, Psycho knees Baron in the back to break the hold and THROWS HIM OUT TO THE FLOOR!! Another point for the Legends and they've got a 4-2 advantage in terms of manpower!!! Rheingans catches Killer off-guard and hits a WICKED belly to back suplex to get the pinfall on him!! 3-2 advantage for the Legends and Baron's Blitzers have picked up their first point of the bout!!
Bloom comes in to jump Rheingans and works him over with some HARD knees in the corner before he distracts the referee to let Enos choke Rheingans across the top rope. Tag to Enos and they work the same move in reverse, with Bloom doing the choking. Enos talks some shit and forearms Rheingans in the chest, Irish whipping him in for a back bodydrop. Rheingans gets his usual little amateur roll-up move off of it and he GETS THE THREE-COUNT!! Enos is eliminated and we're down to two men a side!! Wait, apparently Gary DeRusha is calling it only a two-count and Enos is still in the match. Tag to Psycho andhe kicks away at Rheingans, adding some forearms before choking him across the top rope. Turnbuckle smash from Psycho and he lays a tag in to Bloom for a beautiful double underhook suplex that gets a long, LONG two-count. Irish whip in by Bloom and Rheingans reverses it into a gut-wrench suplex for a two-count of his own. Bloom tags Psycho back in and he stomps away at Rheingans before Rheingans gets him in a side headlock. Rheingans takes Psycho down with some forearms and as he tries to hit the ropes for a shoulderblock, Enos drops down and LOWBRIDGES HIM AGAIN!! Rheingans is over the top and to the floor and out of the match!! 3-1 advantage for the Legends as they pick up their third point of the match!!
Trooper is in now and he drops Psycho with a HUGE dropkick following it up with a flying clothesline. Bodyslam from Trooper and he comes off the ropes but misses a big elbowdrop, allowing Psycho to push him into the corner for some hard shots and choking. Psycho rams Trooper into Enos' boot and whips him across into the corner but misses the charge in and hits the turnbuckle. Trooper into a three-point stance and he hits a hard shoulder tackle that puts Psycho through the ropes and to the floor!! 2-1 advantage for the Legends as both members of the Destruction Crew are in there against Trooper. Enos and Bloom level him with a VICIOUS double-clothesline into a double-suplex and Enos just hammers away with double-axehandles. They wail on him and Trooper starts JUICING UP!! HE'S JUICING UP!! LEFT HANDS FROM THE TROOPER!! DOUBLE-NOGGIN KNOCKER ON THE CREW!! BACK BODYDROP AND BLOOM IS OVER THE TOP ROPE TO THE FLOOR!! Enos wants a timeout as Trooper hammers away at him and Trooper whips him in for a powerslam and THERE'S THE NECK MASSAGER!!! Bloom is up on the apron and Trooper lets go of the hold to go punch him off to the floor!! Enos with a tackle from behind and TROOPER'S OVER THE TOP TO THE FLOOR!! Larry's Legends pick up the win and seven points to the Blitzers and their three points!!
Winners: Larry's Legends (Trooper over the top rope)
Match Analysis: Not too shabby as an eight-man as they got rid of Baron early, protected Trooper until the big comeback at the end and let the one guy that could work on Baron's team (Rheingans), do most of the heavy lifting. This was booked about as well as it could be booked and turned out as well as it possibly could have, but that doesn't necessarily mean it was terribly good. It felt like the opening match of a Survivor Series or something, and in this instance I don't mean that in a good way.
Back from commercial and Johnnie Stewart gets some promo time. It's the same promo we got from Stewart earlier in the week about whether Zumhoffe can muster up the balls to be the man in the ring.
Match Three: AWA World Light Heavyweight Championship Johnnie Stewart vs. Buck Zumhoffe
The end of the three-month long tournament as we finally get to see Zumhoffe and Stewart in the finals. Considering these were the only two guys that had a name and were in the weight class, I can't say I'm shocked by the outcome. Zumhoffe makes his way to the ring in an ABSOLUTELY HIDEOUS looking pink, bedazzled pantsuit/poncho combination. Zumhoffe tries to get the "Stew-rat" chant over with the crowd, but no one bites on it. They stare down over the belt and bad-mouth each other with Zumhoffe threatening a right hand before they separate to take off their respective entrance gears. Zumhoffe riles up the crowd and shows off his boombox as Stewart complains to the referee about something before kneeling in the corner for a little prayer. The bell rings and Zumhoffe is chasing Stewart down, forcing him to bail out to the floor. He tries to get "Stew-rat" going again but again, no one cares or starts to chant. Stewart hits a knee off of a lockup and hits a big bodyslam before trying an elbowdrop that misses. Zumhoffe backs Stewart into the corner and he hits the ropes to get away from Buck. Stewart stalls again out to the apron and thinks things over for a moment, complaining and yelling about the crowd before getting back into the ring.
Zumhoffe with a side headlock as Stewart gets back into the ring and he transitions that into a hammerlock. Stewart reverses to a hammerlock of his own and Zumhoffe reaches down for a single-leg that turns into a spinning toehold. Kick-off from Stewart and Zumhoffe gets back to the side headlock, using the ropes to turn it into a takeover, getting a two-count off of it. Stewart shoots Zumhoffe off the ropes but eats a shoulderblock and gets dragged right back into the side headlock. Zumhoffe uses the ropes again and gets another long two-count with Zumhoffe getting on Gary DeRusha about the count. As he argues, Stewart reverses to a headscissors and cranks on the pressure. Zumhoffe pops his head free and goes right back to the headlock, with Stewart pulling the hair to regain the headscissors. Zumhoffe does a headstand to kick free of it and he grabs the side headlock again, getting another two-count. Back to their feet with the headlock still on and Stewart shoots him off into the ropes, missing a reverse elbow before Zumhoffe hits a bodyslam into an armdrag.
Straight armbar from Zumhoffe as Gagne and Marshall debate the place in wrestling for face paint and gaudy robes and earrings and things of that nature, taking not-so-veiled shots at The Ultimate Warrior and the WWF guys. Stewart climbs over the top rope to the apron to try to break the hold, but Zumhoffe just drags him right back into the ring, ramming his arm into the top turnbuckle. Irish whip into the corner by Zumhoffe and he takes Stewart over with a modified armdrag before running him into the buckles again with Stewart taking the Flair bump over the top to the floor. Zumhoffe motions that he wants the belt as Stewart is struggling to try to get back to his feet on the outside. Stewart to the apron and calling for timeout as the referee has the count up to eight before Stewart gets back into the ring. Straight armbar from Stewart now and he runs Zumhoffe into the turnbuckles, laying some chops in before trying an Irish whip. Zumhoffe reverses it and whips Stewart in, ramming his shoulder into the turnbuckle again before crotching Stewart across the top rope as he tries to get to the top rope.
Zumhoffe with the big bodyslam off of the top rope and he drops down for a long two-count on Stewart. Atomic drop from Zumhoffe and Stewart rakes the eyes to break the momentum leading to a slugfest that Zumhoffe wins. Turnbuckle smash from Zumhoffe and he does it again, putting Stewart down to the mat. Bell-ringer by Zumhoffe and Stewart flies up over the top rope to the floor again, headbutting Zumhoffe in the gut as he crawls back into the ring. Turnbuckle smash from Stewart and he hits a HARD chop on Zumhoffe before trying an Irish whip into the corner. Zumhoffe with the reversal and he goes for the "Rock n Roll" splash that gets NOTHING BUT KNEES!! Stewart off the ropes with an elbowsmash but he MISSES IT!! ZUMHOFFE IS ON TOP AND HE GETS THE 1-2-3!!!! Stewart had his shoulder up before the three-count, but Zumhoffe has the belt!!! Stewart ATTACKS HIM FROM BEHIND AND HITS HIM WITH THE BELT!! ZUMHOFFE OVER THE TOP ROPE TO THE FLOOR!!
Winner: Buck Zumhoffe (pinfall, missed elbowdrop)
Match Analysis: Remember how excited I was to see this match? Wow, was that excitement ever misplaced. Lots of stalling in the beginning, no work in the middle and a finish from out of nowhere that is essentially a screw-job to try to build to something down the road. Part of me wonders where it would have went as it's rare to see the face get the screwy win, but this was just getting almst insufferable to sit through the AWA at this point, so I'm fine in not knowing. Kind of a good mircocosm for the AWA at the end as instead of trying to do something new with someone younger and talented, they end up going back to the old retread and trying to recapture something that's been gone for years. If Verne had tried to make a new boom instead of recreating the old one, there might have been something there, but this was just bad all the way around.
Zumhoffe is with Eric Bischoff and he's got his belt and the boom box and he says that he's a fighting champion. He says that anyone that signs a contract can be next in line for the belt. Anyone that thinks they have what it takes, can get into the ring. Zumhoffe calls it "Rockamania" and I guess he really wants to get sued. He says that as long as he has his little rock and rollers, anyone can come to the AWA and he'll handle them. Bischoff goes to the crowd to talk to some of the kids and they're all freaking out and screaming about Buck Zumhoffe. Buck leads a "rock and roll" chant and that's it for the show!!
Final Thoughts
Bad, bad, bad show. Not bad in the sense that it's so bad it's good, just bad in the sense that it was boring, the wrestlers were either too old or not very good, and the only decent workers on the show get buried in an eight-man tag disaster. I'm almost glad that the 1990 shows are over because as much as I wanted to see them, they're really getting painful to sit through on a daily basis. Ah well, at least now I've got the final match of the TCS coming up on the menu.
Fun With Comments
From Tiger Mask 69: "I'm pretty sure Umanga's baffling red tights are a tribute to Yokozuna. "
That would seemingly be the most logical explanation, but that still makes them no less frightening.
From joe: "describe the badd company clothesline spot? the one where the opponent is put in an elevated wheelbarrow over the top rope and the other tagteam memeber catipults over his partner on to the opponent?
The tag match was really good. four 250+ lbs. men busting ass. and going at a pretty fast pace. Peterson, Enos and Bloom were always underrated workers IMO, I don't know if you feel that way too. Trooper the weakest of the four even held his own. "
You described the Badd Company spot perfectly. I believe that Dunn calls it the "AWA Special", which is as good a name as any and one that I might start using soon, just to make it easier on myself. Enos and Bloom were really underrated as a tag team and I think that if there hadn't been a million good teams around in their WWF run that they might have had a run or two with the belts. Put the Beverlys in the tag team division with The Smoking Gunns and The Kid and Sparky Plugg and they get some title reigns guaranteed.
From Dave: "Not a bad match? Geez Randy you're being a heck of alot nicer to Jonnie than I was a couple days ago. He just seemed like he and Jones were on different pages and nothing clicked. Of course he screwed up his finisher so badly that even Verne pointed out he completely missed. (Again, I don't know how much of this was because Jonnie was talentless or Verne told the guys to make him look bad.)
As for the last match, it was pretty good. I'm glad they kept Lurtzema the hell away from it. (Since it would basically turned into a 3 on 2 handicap match which would make the challengers look pathetic.) That reminds me, did the Trooper ever actually lose a match in the AWA. (I'm still amazed that he actually had a decent move that could have been his finisher but he continued to use that super fake looking pinch. I mean as soon as they saw him doing the Alabama Slam they should have given it a cute name like "The Slammer" and leave it at that.) "
See, "The Slammer" would have been something that the WWF would have done in a heartbeat, and probably would have had five pieces of merchandise to support it. That's the difference between being able to see the big picture and plan ahead like Vince could, and trying desperately to stay above water, like Verne was.
From the_big_ragu: "did anyone else take notice of the fact that on these last few shows, DJ Peterson was starting to resemble John C Reily the guy from Stepbrothers and Taladhega Nights? maybe it was just me.
I think these last set of tapings really made it painfully obvious how bad it really was, and really sad that there were almost no guys left on the roster. didn't i see a match with 4 jobbers in it? i still love the awa and it was fun getting to see how it all unfolded. i remember bits and peices of it when it was first on, especially thinking Nikita would win the belt from Larry Z, and my frustration when he never did, but for the most part being 15 and seeing this presented as first run stuff just was not worth watching. i guess what they say is true, hindsight is 20/20. "
Nice catch, Peterson was starting to veer off into that territory with the way his hair looked. Yes, there is a match with four jobbers coming up in the next report, and there really was no roster left at all. They had the same pool of ten or fifteen guys that were on every show and that was pretty much it. Even the quality of their jobbers went WAY down at the end, which is what made it so brutal to watch.
From Guest#1333: "The Team Challenge Series was the worst thing in wrestling I've ever seen! What the heck was that football thing with Mike Enus and, I forget who, but what the heck was that!??! "
Imagine trying to recap it and report it five nights a week. You will feel your soul being crushed repeatedly, night in and night out.
That's it for the comments and we've only got one show left in the backlog as one of the UWF shows was a repeat hour. The 08.29.08 AWA show is coming soon and we'll see the end of the Team Challenge Series with $1 MILLION DOLLARS on the line!!! See you then folks.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:28:00 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling The Three Amigos welcome us to the show and Lee calls it the most exciting and historic day in professional wrestling history, completely disregarding that little Wrestlemania VI show that was a few months before this. Hulk Who? Ultimate Huh? Never heard of them, THIS is where the real history is!! And of course, from this momentous occasion we go to Eric Bischoff with an update on Buck Zumhoffe's condition after his altercation with Johnnie Stewart. Apparently he got stitched up and he's doing well, but the emotional wounds apparently won't be as easy to heal. Marshall builds up the main event, the Survival Battle Royal to determine the winner of the Team Challenge Series. Verne talks about how everyone is up for it and talks about it feeling like the Super Bowl, The World Series and The Masters all rolled into one. Lee picks DeBeers' Diamondcutters to win it all, while Eric thinks that Baron's Blitzers are going to go wire-to-wire to pick up the win and the million bucks. Verne says that he's happy that he's able to pick Larry's Legends, since he feels like they're the dark horse pick. We see the standings and Baron's Blitzers are in the lead with 48 points, Larry's Legends are next with 47 points and DeBeers' Diamondcutters are last with 45 points, though it's anyone's money at this point. Match One: Tom Bennett and Pete Pistulka vs. Steve Berg and Tony Denucci Yep, this is the best way to start out the "most historic night in professional wrestling history". Four jobbers. Denucci and Bennett start things out and Bennett hits a knee to the gut and follows with a bodyslam. Missed elbowdrop by Bennett and Denucci takes him over with an armdrag into a standing arm-wringer. Tag to Berg and he comes off the second rope with an elbow to the arm, continuing with the standing arm-wringer, taking Bennett down and dropping a leg on the arm. Tag to Denucci and he comes off the second rope with the same move and drops a pair of knees into the bicep of Bennett. Tag to Berg and AGAIN they hit the second rope elbow to the arm, though this time Bennett rakes the eyes and kicks Berg in the ass before making the tag. Pistulka in now and ramming Berg into the top turnbuckle before he hammers away with forearms. He rakes Berg's eyes across the top rope and tags Bennett back in for some shots to the kidneys. Berg fights back and takes Bennett down with a big clothesline. He tags in Denucci and Denucci comes at both men with flying dropkicks! Pistulka tries to attack Denucci from behind and all four men are in the ring now, brawling away in opposite corners and it's MALFUNCTION AT THE JUNCTION time for the heels!!! Berg with a HUGE powerslam and Denucci comes off the top rope with a ROCKET LAUNCHER FOR THE THREE-COUNT!! Winners: Steve Berg and Tony Denucci (pinfall, Rocket Launcher) Match Analysis: Berg and Denucci could have grown into something, but at this point it was a four-way jobber bonanza and no one cared. It shows how incredibly thin the roster was in that they couldn't have had people in the main event, as well as a couple of stars outside of it. Sad, sad, sad. Eric Bischoff has Col. DeBeers in the back and he asks if he didn't tell the truth when he promised that they would turn things around when he took over the team. He claims to have taken a band of misfits and nobodies and turned them into a well-trained unit. He says that his goal is to ensure that his team ends the Challenge as #1 and that they gain the $1 million dollars. Eric Bischoff welcomes us back and we get to see the end of the AWA World Tag Team Championship match that saw The Trooper and DJ Peterson unseat The Destruction Crew for the title belts. From there, he brings in The Destruction Crew and they freak out at Bischoff saying "former" champions. Bloom cuts Enos off and asks how Bischoff's vision is and points out that he was the legal man and that Peterson pinned the illegal man. Bloom asks where the justice that Trooper is always talking about is and that there's been a grave injustice in the AWA. Bloom objects and claims it as an injustice, saying that next time that Peterson and Trooper get in their way, they'll shove something down their throats. Bloom rightly points out that if they had beaten the wrong man, Peterson and Trooper would be whining about it. He says that they're talking rematch and once they've had their rematch, Peterson and Trooper will never want to get in the ring with them again. Match Two: AWA World Heavyweight Championship Jamie Magnum vs. Larry Zbyszko (c) Zbyszko circles and feints in and out before backing away from Magnum and jawing with the crowd. Lee Marshall and Verne Gagne talk up how great the Zbyszko/Race match was from a few shows back and talk about how they hope to see a rematch again in the very near future. Zbyszko lays the badmouth on Magnum and Magnum tries to get the crowd behind him with a "Larry Sucks" chant starting up. Lockup and Magnum pushes Zbyszko into the ropes, giving him a clean break and then clamping on a side headlock. Zbyszko tries to shoot Magnum off into the ropes, but Magnum holds onto the headlock until Zbyszko hits him with a belly to back suplex. Bodyslam from Zbyszko and he drops for a pin, getting a two-count before picking him up for another slam. Zbyszko picks Magnum up and DROPS HIM WITH A PILEDRIVER!! There's the pinfall and there's the 1-2-3!! Winner: Larry Zbyszko (pinfall, piledriver) Match Analysis: A quick one, like most of Zbyszko's TV matches were at this point, and he looked dominating like usual. There's not much else that needs to be said, though it's kind of disappointing that this is the last televised appearance of the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. Bischoff is in the back with Baron Von Raschke and he goes WAY overboard on the sports references before bringing in the Baron. Baron says that there's a madman who wants to rule the world in Iraq and that in the AWA there are two madmen who want to rule the wrestling world. He says that DeBeers and Zbyszko are like Saddam Hussien, rattling their sabers and making noise, threatening the world of wrestling with huff and puff. He says that they're willing to use treachery and trickery to get what they want, but he's been talking to his Blitzers team and they're going to step into the ring and win the big prize. Von Raschke says that the madmen, Zbyszko, DeBeers and Hussien, are all going to go down. Lee Marshall checks in with the final Team Challenge Series update and he talks about the last "Behind The 8 Ball" match with the craziness of Johnnie Stewart attacking his teammate Buck Zumhoffe. We get a shot of the standings again and Lee brings up the Survival Battle Royal one more time. Apparently, we are going to take another look at that "Behind The 8 Ball" match again after the break, along with comments from Larry's Legends captain Larry Zbyszko. Back from the commercial and we indeed again get to see the end of the "Behind The 8 Ball" match, including the Stewart attack and Hughes winning the match. That's still a high-quality bladejob from Zumhoffe in the quantity. Not so much in the quality as it was fairly blatantly done, but he got great color off of it. They're REALLLY trying to stretch to fill the hour of time as they take another commercial break after the end of that highlight package. We're back with Larry Zbyszko commenting on the end of the Team Challenge Series. Zbyszko claims that there might not be a tomorrow and goes into the Iraq and Middle East situation, saying that if the United States were so tough, we'd keep all of our soldiers here and just use our nukes to turn Iraq into a grease spot on the map. Bischoff asks what the point is and Zbyszko says that there are no games played in Larryland and that the ones that play games like Sting and Vince McMahon Jr.'s Anabolic Warrior run into the men's room when they see him in the airport. Zbyszko says that $1 million dollars is the motivator and that before Armageddon creeps up on everyone, Larry's Legends are going to win the Team Challenge Series and they're going to do it the American way. He promises to lie, cheat and steal, but no matter what, the million is coming to Larryland, SO HELP HIM GOD!!! Solid promo work from Zbyszko as always, though he kind of got off track a little in the middle of it. Match Three: Team Challenge Series Match: Survival Battle Royal Larry's Legends vs. DeBeers' Diamondcutters vs. Baron's Blitzers Lee Marshall is in the ring, explaining the rules of the Survival battle royal. Every thirty seconds, a new member of one of the teams will enter the ring and that the match will start with Brad Rheingans (Baron's Blitzers), Col. DeBeers (DeBeers' Diamondcutters) and Hangman Killer (Larry's Legends) and that the way it's decided is pinfall, submission and over the top rope. Whoever wins this match will win the Team Challenge Series and the $1 million dollars for their team. DeBeers hammers away at Rheingans against the ropes and Rheingans throws DeBeers right over the top rope. Irish whip with Killer beating on Rheingans against the top turnbuckle. The Russian Brute is the next man in the ring and Rheingans goes to the stomahc and head of Killer, hitting a belly to back suplex as Brute hits the ring. Brute charges with a clothesline that Killer ducks and Brute levels Rheingans. Rheingans was supposed to go over the top rope but stalls out halfway over and Brute and Killer have to give him a nudge the rest of the way. Brute hammers knees in the corner on Killer and Killer comes back with punches as we see Curtis Hughes in the ring now. Much punching and kicking ensues between all three men and Brute and Killer double-team on Hughes until Hughes ducks a clothesline. Brute was supposed to go over the top off of that, but he had a bit of Rheingans in him and gets caught up before falling back into the ring. Hughes kicks at Killer and headbutts him befre throwing him out to the floor. Wayne Bloom from The Destruction Crew is next and there's more punching and hammering from the heels and Hughes clotheslines the Brute out of the ring. DJ Peterson is in the ring now and he tries to slam Bloom over the top, but Bloom hits the apron and Peterson flies out to the floor. Johnnie Stewart in the ring now and Hughes holds Bloom for a punch, but Bloom ducks and Stewart punches Hughes out over the top rope. Bloom works over Stewart with punches and knees as we hear Mike Enos is the next man in the ring. They double up on Stewart and throw him over the top before they take a break, waiting for the next man. The bell rings and here comes The TROOPER!! Double-clothesline from the Crew misses and Trooper hits a big double-clothesline of his own!! Left hands for Bloom and Enos, but the numbers game is too much and they take over on Trooper. Here comes Unknown Soldier and he looks suspiciously like Col. DeBeers. As he makes his way to the ring, Trooper eliminates both members of the Destruction Crew and as Trooper celebrates, DeBeers eliminates him. The bell rings again and it appears as if Jake Milliman is supposed to be the next man in for the Legends team and he gets in there with the "Unknown Soldier". DeBeers works him over with punches and tries to put Milliman over the top rope, but he holds on. Right hands from DeBeers and he rams Milliman's head into the top turnbuckle, following it with an elbow to the top of Milliman's head. Big bodyslam by DeBeers and he just steps on Milliman's throat, picking him up for another big bodyslam. As Milliman falls he grabs at the mask and rips it off, revealing it to be DeBeers under the hood. DeBeers charges at Milliman and The Milkman ducks it, sending DeBeers over the top to the floor!! It's...it's all over!! LARRY'S LEGENDS ARE THE WINNERS OF THE TEAM CHALLENGE SERIES!! Winner: Jake Milliman (Larry's Legends Win Team Challenge Series) Match Analysis: Kind of a whimpering way to send out both the Team Challenge Series, as well as the AWA as a whole. The intervals were random, the stars were non-existent and the finish was pretty much visible from the parking lot as soon as DeBeers came back into the ring with the mask on. Zbyszko celebrates and appears to be trying to push Milliman out of the way and shove him to the back. The Destruction Crew and The Texas Hangmen all claim that they won the match while shoving Milliman out of the way and Zbyszko insists that everyone is going to get a fair share of the money. He shouts that they're ALL GOING TO LARRYLAND!! Zbyszko thanks The Hangmen, he thanks The Crew and he thanks himself for being such a genius as they still keep Milliman from getting a word in edgewise. Lee Marshall gets into the ring and brings Verne Gagne in for the presentation of the check. Marshall talks about a year ago and sitting in Verne's office talking abou the beginning of the TCS. Verne brings up all the great matches from the TCS and says that he can't believe that it's been a whole year of exciting action. Bloom is fantastic here, cutting Verne off and telling him to sign the damn check. The legal counsel for the AWA is introduced and he presents the check to Larry Zbyszko on behalf of the American Wrestling Association, Joe Blanchard and the AWA Championship Committee. Zbyszko says "Thanks a million" and says that everyone is getting an equal share. Bloom says that he's going to a deserted island with a ton of ladies. Larry busts out the "ex-wife and her boyfriend in a car accident" line again and says that THIS IS LARRYLAND!! The Three Musketeers talk about the end of the Team Challenge Series and they talk about how Milliman did the job numerous times throughout the season and that he was the man that won the money for Larry's Legends. Verne talks about how much fun the Team Challenge Series was and Lee Marshall starts to break down the success of the Legends team. Bischoff brings up that The Crew losing their tag team titles could have been a big motivator for them and the show closes out with Verne saying that this past year was probably the most fun he's ever had in professional wrestling. Nothing like ending your thirty-five year run in professional wrestling with blatant lying. Final Thoughts The same thing that you've come to expect from the AWA as there was no talent, poor pacing of the show to try to stretch matches to fill the time, and a main event that was too chaotic to be any good. I almost wish that I had gotten a show so bad that it got the full four jugs, just to put a bullet into the brain of the promotion with style, but they didn't get that bad. The show wasn't terrible, just bland and lifeless, which is to be expected from a promotion on it's deathbed. Fun With Comments From Fuzey: "Other than a FEW stars, man did AWA suck balls!! " Pretty much. The end was pretty painful. All the way up to '88 or so, it was a really good show and then it just all fell apart in a hurry. From The Kid: "I for one am happy that were back in 1990 just in time to see the exciting conclusion of the Team Challenge Series. Sarcasm aside, as long as The Rock and Roller Buck Zumhoffe is on the show you should use the line-of-coke rating system. I mean how fitting was it that he was in the Behind the 8 Ball Match? Moving on. If I have to see another Destruction Crew promo with Wayne "Let me handle this one Mike" Bloom cutting off Enos and hogging the microphone I'm gonna throw my remote through my tv set. Why can't he let Enos say a sentence, just once? Is it part of the plan or did Enos get pissed when he got cut off? I guess they were try to hide poor mic skills by having Bloom do all the talking. But it's the same format every promo and it's getting old. " It was the build for what I presume was an eventual break-up for the Crew with Enos as the huge babyface. I do agree that Zumhoffe and cocaine references go hand in glove. That much is certain. Enos was fairly terrible on the mic, and this was a way to get Bloom to do all of their talking, while booking long-term as well. Shame it never got paid off, and I really think that someone should steal the angle and run it to the end these days, either in WWE, TNA, or even ROH, where a longer-term storyline like that would work really well. From Guest: "I've been trying all day to get the classic CD(Verne Gagne Sings Queen) and I can't find it. I looked on E-bay, guess I'll try Amazon. " I'd suggest the 99 cent CD bin at your nearest goodwill, gas station or car wash. That'd be your best bet to attempt to find it. I've heard Verne really rocks shit out on "Radio Ga-Ga". From Guest. : "I think Enos' promo skills were horrible, so they did the Bloom interruption. They used to do this back in the day, even with faces (Rheiggans I think was the example I saw) where he'd be interviewed for a promo, it'd be interrupted, then he wouldn't have time to go to his promo and he'd have a sad my puppy died look on his face. Bloom's arrogance was the cover thinking about it more. The best part of the show though was Zumhoffe's promo, where he said he'd do a whole hell of a lot for $50. That was hilarious. Almost as hilarious was Bart Whimpson Stewrat hiding out the whole match, being accidentally knocked out by his partner, then beating the hell out of him. And the story on Stewart going back to play college football was the one I was going to say on the finals from a week or so back. DeBeers' reaction was also classic, though I was hoping the Diamondcutters (hey, Hidden Highlight, DDP as a former manager) would lose so DeBeers could put the whole blame on Hughes, but sadly the TCS was coming to a conclusion. And on the TCS, you know, I get Turkey on a Pole, I get the Football match, I get the Pink Room living on in infamy. But really, I've read a lot on stuff about how Behind the 8-Ball was another example of the TCS failing, and really, the matches weren't so bad. You compare the rules to TNA or WWE matches, and its relatively simple (even if there were some inconsistencies, like the not-legal men being knocked out of the ring and being eliminated, but that's another story). In the end, my mantra was true, Verne Gagne was the most progressive booker in the annals of wrestling history. And boy did he suck at it. Later. " I agree about the Zumhoffe $50 dollar line. That brought up about a million images of Buck behind dumpsters and in alleys and none of them were good. I agree that most of the matches in the TCS weren't terrible. Everyone tends to remember the horribly bad ones like the Turkey and Football matches, but in honesty, the matches where it was just straight wrestling weren't bad at all. Boring, but not bad. You've won me over to your mantra, and I agree with you about Verne being both the most progressive and worst booker of all times during that period. From l AA rry nelson: "Is it just me, or is it when you see Buck Zumhoffe for the 1st time the last thing you think is Rock & Roller? Also, why do they have him constantly playing the late 50's - 60's rock and roll out of his boom box? It was 1990! They couldnt have hooked him up with some Motley Crue, Posion, or Bon Jovi? Hell...not even some Winger at least?" I think that they kept Buck as a Rock n' Roller with the Oldies so that he could still be viewed as being harmless to the kiddies. I think that Verne figured the parents would freak if Zumhoffe came out in leather pants and a codpiece, rocking out to RATT or something like that. From Joe (So Cal): "Randy, i've enjoyed reading your reviews of these classic/awful shows the past few months... can't wait to see your comments on the 8/26 show, the Trooper jumps over the top rope to end the match. not as bad as the Mimi/Candi botched clothesline, but still pretty awful... bring on 1985!!! " Yes, I'm hoping that the 1985 shows are up next, as those are about the only ones that haven't been covered in-depth and I enjoy the rhythm of doing five shows a week. Having to take gaps due to repeats would be a pain. From Sturge: "Nice on camera blade job by Zumhoffe. Has anyone ever bladed for a lightweight/cruiserweight title before? " I'm sure there have been a few, but none that I can think of off of the top of my head. From Anita Hummer: "Is Buck Zumehoff still alive ? " Buck is still alive and kicking, and would have been around 40 at the time of the last set of AWA tapings. He's still active and promoting in the Minnesota and Dakotas area, even stepping into the ring on occasion to continue his active career. From Robert Tivari: "Wow, they've REALLY started blacking out the crowds. At first they just kind of made it look dark so you wouldn't notice all the empty seats. Now, you can't even see anything beyond the first 2 or 3 rows. I liked how they explained Slaughters disappearance from the company as going AWOL, rather than the real reason of maybe he was just tired of feuding with Bart Wimpson and the Russian Brute and wanted to work for a better company where he could face the likes of Hogan and Warrior. I know I've mentioned this before, but it still amazes me how one man (Slaughter) can go from feuding with guys who should have been (and were) left in the wrestling graveyard when the AWA folded to guys that were on the very top of the pro-wrestling pecking order seemingly overnight. Oh, and I caught that little slow motion crowd shot. What the hell was that? " It was funny that even in 1990, Verne still tried to kayfabe everything away. Yes, it's funny that a lot of the top guys that Verne had would go on to varying levels of success elsewhere, and yet when they were all under the AWA banner, the place tanked. The crowd shot was the same reason that they cut to crowd shots from the mid-80's at various points. They were trying to make people think that they still had big crowds and lots of fans, but no one believed it. Now, we grab the comments from the 08.26.08 edition of the report! Firstly, from Eric: "Well, I don't know if you've noticed or not - at the very end Verne Gagne managed to pull in multiple workers from Chicago's WIndy City Wrestling promotion. Let's count them shall we? The Texas Hangmen. The Tokyo Bullets. Johnnie Stewart. Larry Cameron. Sonny Rogers (who did a lot of jobbing but made some waves, so to speak, in Chicago.). Tony DeNucci. All graduates of the 'original' WCCW. WCCW was founded by "Super Maxx" Sam DeCero, who got his start with Dick the Bruiser's old WWA promotion in Indianapolis in the late 1970s. DeCero still runs the wrestling school, and their taped programs run on Chicago public access cable. It's hard to find, but DeCero is still keeping the school alive. Seen Christopher Daniels aka Curry Man lately? Know where he got his start? Windy City. Windy City also pulled some of the last AWA 'names' from time to time to the old International Amphitheatre. Paul Heyman popped into Chicago from time to time...usually with the Original Midnight Express in tow. Buddy Rose and Doug Somers made appearances. "Mr. Electricity" Steve Regal made some appearances. AWA jobber Rockin' Randy wasn't as much of a jobber in Windy City. There was a lot of cross promoting right near the end of the AWA....and it was interesting to see some of DeCero's guys getting some TV time. When the AWA finally folded, Chicago fans could occasionally see an old AWA favorite or two pop in for a TV taping. Not going to comment on those last days, but amusingly enough, if the AWA had just gone back to being a regional promotion at this point they might have survived. Both WWF and the NWA/WCW were able to pass them by. Gagne couldn't compete with the big dogs no matter how hard he tried. When Gagne's own son-in-law, Larry Zbyszko, took off again, you just knew the end was near. Verne couldn't call anymore favors to his old workers (see Harley Race and Buck Zumhofe) anymore. And it's a shame... And I'm out. " As always, an absolute ton of information, so thank for that Eric. I agree with your assessment that if Verne had fallen back into a regional promotion and re-loaded, he would have been able to keep going, possibly even stacking up enough talent to get another run at the big two once he had gotten things in order. File it under "What if?", I suppose. From Dave: "Well really Buck didn't have to worry about being sued. I mean can you imagine Vince and Hulkster watching that? They were probably laughing their asses off at how much of joke it was and they must have known the AWA had a mere weeks to go. Seriously, they probably said stuff like "Wow, couldn't they afford Randy Hogan for that spot?" (How's that for a reference from 20+ years ago?) Anyway I think mentioned how badly botched the end of the LH championship match was. (As I've said, Jonnie clearly kicked out, another instance where it was so obvious that even Verne commented about it.) Of course I've mentioned how screwy things were at the time.(Go read on wikipedia about Buck and they mention it. Too bad if Verne could plan anything losing a guy like Jonnie wouldn't have been a problem since he would have realized he was terrible much earlier.) As for Larry Cameron, true it looked like they would have pushed him to the moon. You know, right after saying all guys in the WWF and WCW were just body builders. Sad thing is that the guy actually died of a heart attack in 93 and the age of 41.(Just another wrestler dying young in the sport.) " I'm pretty sure that Vince would have sued just out of spite alone. He wanted to rule with an iron fist and would have done anything to ensure he came out on top, even if that meant suing a rival and essentially stepping on their throats while they were down. It is sad to remember Cameron, and sadder still to remember that he suffered the fatal heart attack while in the ring in Germany. From Chris: "Did anyone else notice the belt they used for the Light-Heavyweight Championship? It was the AWA TV Title belt This belt certainly makes the rounds. They used it as the Women's Title Belt on a show that aired last week, and Larry Zbyszko even used it as the AWA World Title when he won the battle royal for the belt (Lawler kept the original one). The funny thing to remember is that they used one of the AWA World Tag Team Title Belts as the TV Title when they were running a few shows in Tennessee before SuperClash III. Ron Garvin wore the Tag Team belt, and one of the announcers even commented on Garvin having a brand new belt! Unreal. I guess when Poppa Verne refuses to pay you, you grab anything you can that has value! " Verne was notorious for doing that and I've pointed it out on numerous occasions. I guess those belts were expensive and Verne couldn't afford to have new ones made all the time, so he just kind of made do with what he had. It all kind of adds to the bush-league look of the promotion though, which is exactly what he was trying to avoid. Finally, from greg: "was wondering does anyone know the oringal air dates for these shows in 1990 " I actually don't have the original airdates, so if anyone out there has them, feel free to send them in or post them so I can pass them along. That does it for this special holiday edition of the report! Be sure to join me back here tomorrow for the first show of the new week, presumably going back to 1985 as the 1990 shows have apparently ended their run.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:29:07 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Bischoff and Marshall welcome us to the show and I believe that I spoke far too soon in saying that they would be going back to the good shows in the mid-80's because this is still a 1990 show, as I guess they're filling in the gaps that they've missed, meaning I'm still screwed for a while yet. Bischoff claims that all the hot young ladies are here to see Tommy Jammer, and the rest of the card features guys like Yukon John Nord, The Texas Hangmen and a main event between Larry Zbyszko and Nikita Koloff.
Match One: Jamie Magnum vs. DJ Peterson
Good grief, that is possibly the ugliest jacket I've ever seen on Donna this week. It looks like she ripped the curtain off of the stage at a strip club and turned it into a coat. Peterson gets a single-leg pickup into a stepover toehold and he drops back into a straight leglock off of it. Peterson to his feet and he buries a legdrop into Magnum's stomach before nailing a hamstring pull. Modified version of an STF from Peterson now and he transitions that into another leglock as Magnum manages to crawl to the ropes. Magnum gets to his feet and goes to the eyes, taking Peterson over with a big bodyslam but he misses the follow-up elbowdrop. Peterson with a big vertical suplex and he heads up to the top rope for a FLYING CLOTHESLINE!! Peterson locks in the Scorpion Deathlock and all that's left is for Magnum to give it up, which he does rather quickly.
Winner: DJ Peterson (submission, Scorpion Deathlock)
Match Analysis: Peterson must have been fairly high at this point as he was counting 1-2-3 as he had the legs wrapped up in the Scorpion. Lots of legwork from Peterson, that actually got paid off with the finish, which was nice to see.
Match Two: Tom Stone vs. Tommy Jammer
Stone attacks Jammer before the bell and Jammer fights it off, getting a couple of legsweep takedowns before headbutting Stone nearly in the balls. Jammer moves to a toehold and hits a legdrop on Stone's knee, turning it into a stepover toehold. Stone kicks Jammer away and Jammer again gets a single-leg takedown into another leglock for a two-count. Another kick-out and another legsweep into a seated leglock and Stone rakes the eyes to get free of the hold. Stone with a BIG chop and he rams Jammer into the turnbuckle. Another attempt at it and Jammer blocks it, sending Stone into the buckle and then ramming him into the other corner for ten shots to the buckle with the crowd counting along. Jammer slams Stone's head into the mat, picks him up and does it again, jumping while he does it to add more force. Jammer with an Irish whip into the ABDOMINAL STRETCH OF SOMEWHAT MILD DISCOMFORT AND AGGRAVATION!!! Stone makes it look like death and screams a little before giving it up!!
Winner: Tommy Jammer (submission, abdominal stretch)
Match Analysis: Even a quality jobber like Stone can't mask all of Jammer's green. It was an alright match, but you could see spots where Stone was kind of spoon-feeding it to him to make sure he looked strong. Better work from Stone than Jammer in this one actually, and I still can't buy that finish, no matter how hard they try to make me.
Match Three: The Anhiliator vs. Yukon John Nord
I'm not sure who The Anhiliator is, but he looks a little bit like WT Jones. It's not, but they have very similar looks. Anhiliator tries for a bodyslam, pushing Nord into the ropes, and he actually gives Nord a clean break. Nord hammers away with some forearms to the back and ties the Anhiliator in the ropes, running off the other ropes for a BEAVER SHOT TO THE FACE!! Irish whip into a shoulderblock and Anhiliator gets to his feet pissed off!! He bounces off the ropes and Nord just takes him over with a big hip toss, kicking him in the gut and hammering away, whipping Anhiliator into the corner. Anhiliator reverses it and charges in and Anhiliator EATS MORE BEAVER!! Nord up to the second rope and he hits a HUGE guillotine legdrop that leads right into the 1-2-3!!
Winner: Yukon John Nord (pinfall, guillotine legdrop)
Match Analysis: All I could think of while watching this one was if The Anhiliator was going to work his way up the D squash ladder to take on The Eradicator in a match to determine the champion of the universe. Nothing to see here, just the usual stiff beating from Nord.
Match Four: Tony Leone and The Cobra vs. The Texas Hangmen
Psycho starts things out with Leone and Leone actually gets an armdrag out of the gate, moving to a top wristlock. They try to claim that it's Killer in the ring, but I've seen their body types enough and I know when it's Psycho in the ring and that's Psycho. Leone whips Psycho into the ropes and tries a charge in but Psycho feeds him a big boot and stomps away in the corner, choking with a boot across the throat before tagging Killer. Psycho holds Leone by the feet across the top rope and Killer comes off the second rope with a double-axehandle to the back, clotheslining Leone across the top rope. Running powerslam from Killer and he comes off the ropes with an elbowdrop that gets him a two-count. Irish whip into the ropes and a reverse elbow hits for Killer, leading to a tag to Psycho. He hits Leone with a seated bulldog move that gets him a two-count and as Leone scrambles around, he gets through Psycho's legs and into the corner for a tag to Cobra. Cobra with a side headlock and Psycho shoots him off into the ropes, allowing Killer to knee him in the back from the apron. Tag to Killer and he hits a shot to the ribs, following that up with a spinning neckbreaker into an elbowdrop for a two-count. Tag to Psycho and he hammers Cobra's ribs with headbutts before the tag comes to Killer and it's the HANGMAN'S ELBOW!!! It's all over but the medical bills, folks!!
Winners: The Texas Hangmen (pinfall, Hangman's elbow)
Match Analysis: The usual from the Hangmen and the only annoying thing I have to point out is the announcers and their constant ignorance as to which Hangman is which. It's rather easy to figure it out, yet they still try to make it much more confusing than it needs to be, which is a bit of a pain in the ass.
Lee Marshall and Eric Bischoff talk about the timeline between Nikita Koloff and Larry Zbyszko and we see highlights from the previous matches between the two men that have led to this two out of three falls main event. We see the first match with Zbyszko trying every dirty trick in the book before just waffling Koloff with the belt to get himself disqualified. Koloff cuts a promo at ringside and says that when they step into the ring next time, with all the support of the people, he's going to walk out with the title around his waist. Zbyszko hasn't seen the last of Nikita Koloff!! Bischoff says that he's favoring Koloff because the title is not on the line. Marshall says that he thinks that Zbyszko has the edge and that Koloff could beat the hell out of Zbyszko but he won't win the belt. I love how they sell it as Zbyszko has already been introduced and that we're meeting the "challenger" when this is clearly from February of 1990 and Zbyszko was in that weird "lost the belt to Mr. Saito" phase.
Match Five:Two out of Three Falls Nikita Koloff vs. Larry Zbyszko
Koloff hits the ring and CHARGES ZBYSZKO!! Zbyszko bails to the floor and Donna tries to get the hell out of there too. Zbyszko tries to sneak up on Koloff, but Koloff catches him and hammers him with some right hands in the corner, sending Zbyszko to the mat with a HUGE hip toss. Right hand puts Zbyszko into the ropes, all tangled up and Koloff whips him into the ropes for a big reverse elbow before he throws Zbyszko to the floor. Koloff follows him out and pounds on Zbyszko with a right hand before RAMMING HIM INTO THE RINGSIDE TABLE! ZBYSZKO HIT THE BELL!! It's hilarious to hear Lee Marshall talking about how the only way that Zbyszko would sign this match is if it was "non-title". Koloff rams Zbyszko into the barricade at ringside before sending him head-first into the apron. Forearm to the back and he sends Zbyszko into the ring, but Larry recovers and catches Koloff with a knee as he tries to get back into the ring. Koloff's back down to the floor and Zbyszko is out after him!! ZBYSZKO SENDS KOLOFF INTO THE BELL ON THE TABLE!! Zbyszko starts choking Koloff with the cord from the house microphone and tries to drag Koloff into the ring by a front facelock. We find out that Bob Lurtsema is the referee after the brawl on the outside and he inserts himself, almost on cue, and pulls Zbyszko off of Koloff as he chokes the big Russian against the bottom rope. Zbyszko slaps Lurtsema's hand away and starts to work Koloff over with knees in the corner before choking him across the middle rope. Koloff fires back with a kick tot he gut and they trade right hands before Zbyszko tries to ram Koloff into the top turnbuckle. Koloff stops short and sends Zbyszko into the buckle hard before mounting him in the corner for RIGHT HANDS!!! Koloff with an Irish whip into the corner and he follows that with a big reverse elbow that gets two before Zbyszko gets a foot onto the ropes. Snap mare from Koloff and a big elbowdrop to follow that gets Koloff a one-count. Irish whip into the ropes and Koloff ducks down for a back bodrydrop but Zbyszko ducks under and gets him with a roll-up and Zbyszko has a handful of tights and GETS THE THREE-COUNT!! Zbyszko is up 1-0!!!
Zbyszko is out on the floor and STILL complaining, even though he took the fall. He finally makes his way up to the apron and Koloff is telling him to get into the ring. He finally gets back into the ring and Koloff takes over with some turnbuckle smashes before whipping Zbyszko into the ropes for a FLYING SHOULDER TACKLE!! Zbyszko goes down and catches Koloff with a double-leg pickup in the corner, getting a pinfall attempt with his feet on the ropes!! Lurtsema counts two a couple of times and then sees Zbyszko's foot on the ropes and breaks up the pin. Koloff back to his feet with right hands, but Zbyszko catches him in the gut with a spinning back kick. Zbyszko follows it with a snap mare and gets another two-count before laying some stomps in and yelling at the front row. BIG BACKBREAKER by Zbyszko and he gets another long two-count off of that before moving to the reverse chinlock. Zbyszko cranks away at Koloff's head and yells at the front row again before yelling to Lurtsema that it's not a chokehold. Lurtsema checks the arm and it goes down twice with Zbyszko SCREAMING at the timekeeper to ring the bell, but Koloff gets back to his feet and hits some elbows to the gut to break the hold. Zbyszko tries for a spinning neckbreaker but Koloff reverses to a backslide!! Lurtsema is down for a quick 1-2-3 and we're tied at one fall apiece!!! ZBYSZKO SHOVES LURTSEMA ON THE FAST COUNT!!! Koloff is bent over, foaming at the mouth from the reverse chinlock as they take the break between falls.
Zbyszko attacks during the break, hammering on Koloff in the corner and choking away at him. Lurtsema tries to pull Zbyszko off the choke by the HAIR!! Hard chop from Zbyszko and he goes back to the choke, with Lurtsema trying to pull him off again. Lurtsema throws Zbyszko to the mat with a handful of hair and KOLOFF CHARGES OUT WITH A RUSSIAN SICKLE!! QUICK COUNT!! KOLOFF WINS THE FALL AND THE MATCH!! Zbyszko is sitting in the ring and he is in disbelief. Lurtsema goes to the outside and raises Koloff's hand as Zbyszko slowly makes his way from the ring. Marshall again puts over that it was "non-title", sounding like a jackass.
Winner: Nikita Koloff (pinfall, Russian sickle)
Match Analysis: This was actually a pretty good little match and while I don't necessarily advocate making a match two out of three falls and then giving it a little over ten minutes, it worked in this case. Zbyszko screaming for them to ring the bell before Koloff recovered in the chinlock was classic Zbyszko and probably the best part of the match.
We come back from a break with Zbyszko holding the belt and looking like he's just been in the ring (which I have to admit is a fun little touch of continuity), and he's railing about Benchwarmer Bob. He says that it was the biggest rip-off since the Black Sox and the Saito scandal in February, which is funny that he mentions it in the promo given the timeline of everything. He claims that the AWA World Heavyweight Championship is what guys like Lurtsema and Koloff are willing to cheat to screw him out of. He calls himself the "Living Legend" and says that he's the man challenging all the other champions and they're all scared of him. Zbyszko says that Lurtsema should be hung after that travesty of justice and he says that everyone is motivated by the graet force called GREED! He says that everyone wants and wants and he wants his title belt and he's going to do everything he can to keep it, THE AMERICAN WAY!! He's going to lie, cheat and steal to keep his belt and everyone will love him because he's the heavyweight champion of the WORLD!! Great delusional promo from Zbyszko, made even greater by the fact that it's about a match that had taken place probably months before.
Final Thoughts
Bleah. It was all matches because obviously they couldn't really do a lot of angles or interviews on matches that had already happened months before, but they really could have chosen some better matches. The first four squashes were all pretty boring and the only interesting match was the two out of three falls bout I'd already seen. This one was fairly tough to get through and I needed plenty of happy juice.
Fun With Comments
From FUZEY: "Verne should have sold out to Vince in the mid-eighties. This is the worst wrestling on TV."
If he would have been able to keep Hogan, he probably could have. Vince was essentially going to buy the whole promotion to get Hulk, and a few other scattered guys of course. Once Vince decided that Verne had too much shit going on to sell out, he just started taking guys and slowly crushing Verne out of business.
From The Scootman: "Did I miss the "Turkey On A Pole" match. If the 1990 shows are done, then when did it air. I don't even remember you recapping the pink room episodes. It's not even on YouTube. I must have my turkey fix!!!!!! "
The pink room and the Turkey match was from around the beginning of the Team Challenge Series in November of 1989, which is a year that they haven't really touched on yet on the ESPN Classic shows. There's a good chance that once we get through the rest of this 1990 crap, they might go back to that year since that's really the only year they haven't shown any shows from.
From Guest. : "As the TCS comes to an end, I think I realized a fatal flaw with Verne's promotion of it. Well outside that he was grasping at straws, but beside that. The faces were the ones who were ahead the entire time. Verne was so concerned with making the crowd go home happy that you had the face group (the Blitzers) leading for most of the time, and then either the heel group (Legends) or the face/heel group (the SniperCutters) competing to not be last. Hence, when the TCS came, it was the Legends and the Cutters showing grit, heart, and determination to come back and punk out the faces. Obviously this was the end and Verne knew it, but the heels having to come from behind to steal it from the faces just seemed like backwards booking.
Anyways, was on a Bockwinkel kick yesterday, so I was watching a bunch of his old matches and promos. One of them was with Bill Apter on one of the AWA shows, circa 1989 or so. He squashed the rumor on that show he would be coming out of retirement, and then talked about two men who he saw as the future of the AWA: Jonnie Stewart, and Derrik Dukes. Well, there's a strike permanently against Nicky for that one. "
Very solid point about Verne and his flaw in booking the promotion. I agree that he was overly concerned with the crowd going home happy, to the point of shooting the booking in the foot to do it. If the faces go over and over and over and the heels look like fools, no one is going to want to see it when it comes time for the big pay-off. Verne had it right until a couple of years after Hulk left. Then for whatever reason from about '87 on, he started booking in reverse and the wheels just fell off completely. As for Bockwinkel, I'll cut him some slack as I'm sure he was just towing the company line and didn't feel too strongly about either Stewart or Dukes. I mean, he's NICK BOCKWINKEL!!
From JLAJRC: "With the way Zbyszko and Baron talked about Iraq, you would think they were running for office. A Zbyszko/Rasche ticket would be interesting.
I'm sorta upset we didn't see the "Turkey on a Pole" match. Ever since RD inducted it on Wrestlecrap I've wanted to see it. "
A Zbyszko/Baron ticket would have been the greatest debate season for elections in the history of the United States. I agree about the Turkey match, but as I said before, there's still a pretty good chance that we'll get to see it.
From yomamma: "i could not help but to break out the AWA dvd that the WWE put out after watching the episodes that i would Tivo. all in all, this was one messed up ride. i feel bad for Vern Gagne and he seemed like good people. to add to that, vince has no right to be p/o'd at bishoff. after all, bishoff tried to do to Vince, what Vince did to the AWA: he stole thier talent.....think about it! Bishoff only did what he did because he saw someone else do it first. WAKE UP PEOPLE: competition is good for business and it makes for some damn good TV! "
That's the thing with the wrestling business though. Whatever you do to help your company survive is the "right thing to do". If anyone else does it though, it's the shittiest thing anyone could ever imagine. It ties into the whole selective memory/revisionist history mentality that permeates wrestling, even today.
From Dave: "Well first off did anybody else notice in that tag match they won by jumping off the top rope on a prone opponent.(Wasn't that illegal? I mean I thought I saw "The Talentless" Johnny Stewart get DQ'ed for it.) Well that given all the history we've seen since this stuff whenever they say "Steve Berg" I get this image in my head of a guy who swears, gives the finger, and does the JackHammer. Anyway as for the Unkown Soldier thing it did seem a little stupid they took a second before they identified him. I mean the only time I've seen it where it was more obvious who was under the masks was Doom. (Well ok, in that case you weren't supposed to know who they were. Of course it would have helped if WCW didn't only have 2 absolutely huge, super muscular black guys in the entire league which kind of limited the possibilities.) Randy, I'm glad you brought up that Zybzko line about the ex-wife line. Personally I thought it was a great one, of course I can empathize with that point of view. BTW, was I the only one that was expecting him to say they were going to divide it evenly and that they'd each get $200,000? I did find it hilarious they basically pretended that Jake didn't even exist.(Everybody was totally in character.) I've got to agree with the other poster though. The screwed up by making the Blitzers win all the time for the early going. (They should have made it closer so there was some actual tension) It was so ham handed that they had to give the other teams free points to make it close so the final battle royal decided things. Anyway bad news Randy, at least according to my Tivo. Next week is apparently repeats.(Assuming it's right of course.) That means at least for part of this if they show episodes they skipped from 86-90 they're going to be spliced in with everything else. It is amazing how far they slipped and how fast.(But if course guys at the AWA like Bockwinkle thought Stewart and Dukes were hot properties they were doomed. I guess their only chance would have been to keep Paul E. Dangerously and let him book the league. Maybe we could have gotten the EWA by 1990.) "
Great stuff here, Dave. The main thing I will touch on is the Doom/Unknown Soldier thing. I think that they were trying to do the whole "nudge nudge, wink wink" thing with DeBeers, but then realized that the people that were watching the AWA program wouldn't be able to get the subtlety. When they figured that out, they just went with the sledgehammer to drive the point home. I did like the Doom one though because as you said, they played it like they didn't know for sure who it was, though all of the announcers acted like they had an idea.
From The Adamantium Elbow: "Actually I rather enjoy watching the old AWA shows even better than current WWE. At least there the show is about the wrestlers and not GMs, CEOs, Grand Poobahs, High Muckety Mucks, etc. always sticking their two cents in.
As for Bloom always cutting off Enos I always figured it was done more to make Bloom look like an obnoxious prick rather than covering Enos' mic skills or perceived lack thereof. "
That's an interesting point to make about the show being mainly about the wrestlers. It's a real throwback at this point in time to see a show like that, but at the point that the shows were actually happening, everything was moving away from the show being about the wrestlers, which put Verne behind the times. I agree about the whole Bloom/Enos thing though, that he was basically being a dick to talk over Enos. Enos could talk alright, and you could hear when he started most times that it sounded like it'd be decent, but Bloom would cut him off. I say it again, someone needs to steal that angle and work it today.
From Greg: "I don't think The Russian Brute sold one thing during that Battle Royal. Man was he terrible. I did kinda mark out when Jake won the Battle Royal. A Horowitz-esque moment. "
Jake actually had a good run out of that Team Challenge Series and I agree that it was a Horowitz-style moment and a lot of fun to see him come out on top after years of being hammered on. I liked the fact that he was shoved to the side after his big win and still treated like a jobber by everyone, including his own team captain, during the check presentation.
Finally, from rdfox: "Sorry, Randy, but it's not over, after all. After another 1990 episode appeared on Monday night, I went to check Wikipedia to figure out just how much longer we'd be looking at the Bitter End, thinking, "It can't be more than four or five more episodes, right?"
According to them, Verne kept on running shows until fall 1990, Larry Z. didn't leave for WCW until December 12, bankruptcy wasn't filed until 1991, and Verne managed to put on one last show in May '91, headlined by the Baron and Wahoo McDaniel vs. the Destruction Crew.
More to the point, they mentioned that he managed to keep running shows in his syndication and ESPN timeslots through the end of 1991, by rerunning old matches. So we've apparently got enough shows left before ESPN finally canned it to go through the end of the year! "
Ugh. If there are matches I haven't seen on a show, I'll generally do the show and then copy and paste the other matches in, but if it's a show with matches that I've already seen, just in a different order, then you can expect me to skip it.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:30:29 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Marshall and Gagne hit the open, telling us about the show and it's pretty much the same guys with Tommy Jammer, Nikita Koloff and a look back at the Team Challenge Series. Should be a treat.
Match One: Jamie Magnum vs. Brad Rheingans
Rheingans with a big armdrag takedown right off the bell and Magnum complains about a pull of the tights. Quick go-behind from Rheingans now and Magnum hits the ropes for the break, telling an old man in the front row to shut up. Rheingans moves to a hammerlock, but lets it go when Ox Baker and Nightstalker start chasing around ringside. Rheingans puts the badmouth on them and talks a little shit before taking Magnum down with a drop toehold into a reverse leglock, letting it go to head back over to talk to Ox. Magnum pushes Rheingans into the corner and buries a couple of shoulderblocks into the midsection, whipping Rheingans across to the other corner. Rheingans moves and Magnum misses a charge, with Rheingans following it up with a turnbuckle smash into a gut-wrench suplex. Right over into a cover and Rheingans gets a two-count, moving to a wristlock into a kimura attempt, grabbing a rolling takedown into a straight armbar. Rheingans rows the boat a little with the armbar until Magnum gets to his feet and rakes his boot across Rheingans' eyes. Big slam from Magnum and he whips Rheingans into the ropes, but it's ROLLING CRADLE TIME!! 1-2-3 and it's all over.
Winner: Brad Rheingans (pinfall, rolling cradle)
Match Analysis: Honestly, it's like Rheingans and Gagne fell into the same trap to where they have the same match night in and night out, just with different jobbers. Stick a Rheingans match from six months before or six years before in here and it would have looked almost exactly the same.
Match Two: Todd Becker and Red Tyler vs. The Texas Hangmen
We've seen Red Tyler in there with The Hangmen in the past, and uh....it didn't end well. Tyler and Psycho hit a lockup and Psycho just hammers him in the corner with forearms, raking his nails across Tyler's back. Killer gets a shot in from the apron and Tyler makes a blind tag to Becker, getting a sunset flip off the ropes with Becker helping out. Psycho just works over Becker in his corner, distracting the referee and allowing Killer to choke Becker out with the noose. Tag to Killer and there's a hard shot to the short ribs, followed by a nice swinging neckbreaker. Killer with a tag to Psycho and he drops Becker with a powerslam before Psycho comes in for some clubbering. He distracts the referee and Killer chokes Becker across the top rope. Tag to Killer and Psycho whips Becker in for a boot to the gut before Killer comes in for a DDT!! Tag back to Psycho and they hit their surfboard into a seated bulldog double-team move and Tyler comes in to try to save Becker, leading to both Hangmen in the ring behind the referee's back. HANGMAN'S ELBOW OFF THE TOP!! There's the pin and there's the three-count!! CROWD SHOT FROM 1986!!!
Winners: The Texas Hangmen (pinfall, Hangman's elbow)
Match Analysis: Always fun to watch the Hangmen kill two jobbers and they did it with some style this time out. For whatever reason, both Hangmen got REALLY huge towards the end of the run, and not steroid huge, so it was good to see this match from a little earlier on. They moved a little better and didn't seem as saggy and bloated as they were right at the very end. Maybe it's just me, but something I noticed.
Match Three: The Anihilator vs. Nikita Koloff
Marshall says that he thinks that Anihilator made a mistake signing up for this match and he hammers on Koloff, attacking him from behind with shoulders to the gut and a turnbuckle smash. Koloff blocks an Irish whip attempt and works over Anihilator in the corner before whipping him into the ropes for a reverse elbow. HUGE bodyslam from Koloff and there's a kick to the gut into another Irish whip and a FLYING SHOULDERTACKLE!! Irish whip and Koloff HITS THE RUSSIAN SICKLE!! That was quick and painful for Anihilator.
Winner: Nikita Koloff (pinfall, Russian sickle)
Match Analysis: Russian shouldertackle, Russian Sickle, Russian squash. Next!!
Match Four: AWA World Heavyweight Championship The Cobra vs. Larry Zbyszko (c)
If they keep up this pace, we could have the first twelve-match, one-hour show in wrestling history. Marshall and Gagne go on about how Zbyszko is dividing the money from the Team Challenge Series and how he's stiffing guys like Mr. Saito and Jake Milliman. Cobra offers up a handshake and Zbyszko actually takes it, shoving Cobra int the corner and hammering him with forearms to the kidneys before punching him in the gut and snap maring him over. Blatant choking from Cobra and Zbyszko rakes the eyes with his boots before yelling that "This is for Saito and for the whole world". Knees in the corner from Zbyszko and there's a HUGE vertical suplex, with him talking shit at the camera about justice. Verne tries to play it off as being about the money, when Zbsyzko clearly says Japan three or four times. He picks Cobra up and hits a spinning back kick to the gut in the corner and locks in a front facelock. Backbreaker from Zbyszko gets a two-count but he pulls Cobra up before the three. He locks Cobra up and there's THE PILEDRIVER for the three-count.
Winner: Larry Zbyszko (pinfall, piledriver)
Match Analysis: It's like the greatest hits of the AWA from 1990, with every big star working the same match they always worked against a different jobber. This one had some added intensity because of Zbyszko being pissed off about losing the belt to Mr. Saito, and it was actually fun and a little sad to hear Verne and Marshall try to cover it as being about the Team Challenge Series.
Match Five: Tony Leone vs. Tommy Jammer
Jammer pulls out his wedgie and then grabs a side headlock on Leone, taking him over, but Leone reverses it into a pin attempt that gets two. Leone tries shooting him off into the ropes and eats a shouldertackle before Jammer goes right back to the side headlock takeover. Leone tries an atomic drop, but Jammer takes it right back over into the side headlock. Leone shoots him into the ropes again and eats another shoulderblock, into a flying bodypress for a two-count. Leone to the gut and he picks Jammer up for a big bodyslam in the corner, ramming him into the top turnbuckle. Forearms to the chest by Leone and Jammer fires back, ramming Leone into the top turnbuckle and whipping him across, hitting a back bodydrop as Leone staggers out. Pair of dropkicks from Jammer and he LOCKS ON THE ABDOMINA....he locks on the abdominal str.....Uh.... Well, he TRIES to lock on the abdominal stretch, but it's a lot like watching a monkey trying to do long division. He just turns it into a weird little cradle/backdrop thing and gets the three-count from it. Wow, that was horrible.
Winner: Tommy Jammer (pinfall, cradle backdrop)
Match Analysis: Jammer stinks. I mean, if you can't even handle an abdominal stretch, you shouldn't be in the ring. The finish he came up with was actually pretty inventive and looked better than the finish probably had any right to, but I doubt he'd have ever been able to pull it off again. Shame someone better couldn't have stolen it.
Match Six: Tom Stone vs. Col DeBeers
This should be quick. It's going to be pretty good though, since Stone is the creme de la jobber in the entire AWA. Lockup and Stone punches DeBeers in the face, blocking a return puncha nd getting a rolling armdrag takedown into an armbar. DeBeers with a headscissors to get out of it and he tries another, but Stone moves out of the way and lets DeBeers hit the ropes. He turns it around though and starts stomping away at Stone against the ropes, choking him across the middle rope before hitting the Bossman charge. Choking Stone against the bottom turnbuckle with his boot, DeBeers stops as we see Jake Milliman out there, with his "turkey" chant, meaning I've more than likely done this match before, but I'm just not willing to dig through the archives to find it. Marshall tries to put it that Milliman is STILL taunting DeBeers about the turkey match and that he's been doing it this entire time. Stone takes over with some shots from behind as DeBeers is distracted and a HUGE kneelift that puts DeBeers onto his face. Tremendous bump from DeBeers on that one. Stone whips him into the ropes for a back bodydrop but DeBeers blocks it and drops him with THE PANCAKE PILEDRIVER!! No cover from DeBeers though as he talks MAD shit on Milliman, pointing at him before delivering ANOTHER PANCAKE PILEDRIVER!! DeBeers rolls Stone over and looks right at Milliman as he pins Stone for the 1-2-3!!
Winner: Col. DeBeers (pinfall, pancake piledrivers)
Match Analysis: Same match you see from DeBeers a million times over. Just like everything else on this show, it's been done already and done better elsewhere. Bleah.
Lee and Verne are back in front of the green screen and they're talking about the finish of the match that saw DJ Peterson and The Trooper winning the AWA World Tag Team Championships before throwing it to highlights of the finish. From there, we head right into the main event for today's show, minus the introductions since Trooper and Peterson wouldn't have had the belts with them for the intros. Those AWA editing people are crafty I tells ya.
Match Seven: DJ Peterson, The Trooper and Paul Diamond vs. The Destruction Crew and Tully Blanchard
Verne is hilarious, claiming that the referee must have let the Crew hold onto the belts and look at them for a second because they asked him to. That's kayfabe-a-riffic right there, and even for 1990 Verne had to think people were pretty stupid not to catch on. This one is apparently an elimination six-man tag match all of a sudden. Bloom catches Trooper and rams him into the top turnbuckle, with Trooper blocking the next one. Reverse elbows from Trooper and he pounds Bloom's head into the turnbuckle, running him all the way across the ring for a HUGE turnbuckle smash!! A pair of massive, steroid-filled clotheslines send Bloom out to the floor and Trooper heads out after him, ramming his head into the ringside table. Five of the six men are out on the floor brawling and Trooper rams Bloom into the ringpost, mounting him for punches on the concrete. Diamond and Enos are in the ring, hammering away and it looks like Bloom and Trooper have been counted out of the ring. Diamond mounts Enos in the corner for a flurry of punches and he rams Enos' head into the boot of Peterson. Tag to Peterson and they hit a HUGE double-back bodydrop and Peterson works on a side headlock. Enos pushes him into the corner and gets a quick tag to Blanchard, who works some punches and a double-team with Enos in the corner. Elbow to the head by Blanchard and he whips Peterson across into the corner, but Peterson reverses.
Blind charge by Peterson and Tully hits him with a big knee before dropping him with a reverse elbow. Irish whip into the ropes and Peterson blocks a hip toss, turning it into a backslide for a long two-count. Peterson blocks Blanchard's punches and hammers him with punches of his own, whipping him into the corner and over the top rope to the floor. Diamond punches away at Blanchard on the floor and puts Tully onto his ass, leading to Peterson suplexing him back into the ring. Peterson with a cover for a two-count, but Enos breaks it up before the three. Tag to Diamond, but Blanchard takes over on him and tags in Enos. Irish whip from Enos into the corner gets reversed by Diamond and he just punches away, snap maring Enos over into an elbowdrop. Long two-count for Diamond on that one and he tags in Peterson for a kick to the ribs. Peterson and Enos fight over a hip toss and Enos stops all the flip-flopping with a WICKED short-arm clothesline. Tag to Blanchard and he slams Peterson's face into the canvas, working him over with knees before raking Peterson's eyes across the top rope. Peterson's out to the floor and Enos picks Peterson up and slams him on the barricade. Blanchard gets Peterson thrown back into the ring and he snap mares him over, trying and elbow but missing. TAG TO DIAMOND!! MONKEY FLIP FROM DIAMOND ON BLANCHARD!! RIGHT HANDS FOR ENOS AND A DROPKICK!!
Hip toss on Enos and Diamond is all fired up. He goes for a monkey flip again and Blanchard grabs Enos to hold him in the corner, sending Diamond crashing to the mat. Enos with the cover and there's the 1-2-3, eliminating Diamond. Peterson's in and working over Enos with a side headlock, forcing Enos to shoot him off into the corner. Blind charge missed by Enos and he crawls into his corner to get some advice from Tully. Tag to Blanchard now and they've got Peterson cornered for a moment before Enos heads to the outside. Blanchard JUST WHIFFS with a big left hand and they both back off before Blanchard misses a move and ends up in the corner, getting a clawhold from Baron Von Raschke at ringside. Peterson whips Blanchard into the corner and there's the CLAWHOLD AGAIN!! Peterson dropkicks Enos to the floor and heads over to pin Blanchard, but can only get two before Enos breaks it up. Right hand from Peterson and Blanchard finally manages to tag in Enos. Enos with a single-leg takedown and he drops elbows onto Peterson's knee, dropping down onto it off of the ropes and talking some shit. Tag to Blanchard and Tully's off the second rope with an elbow to the knee. Shinbreaker from Blanchard and he clamps on the FIGURE-FOUR LEGLOCK!!! Peterson's trying to reverse it and BARON HAS THE CLAW ON BLANCHARD AGAIN!!
Peterson with a headbutt to the stomach and they're brawling at close quarters in the corner with Enos sneaking in a right hand and Blanchard headbutting Peterson down to make the tag. Enos in with some stomps and he picks Peterson up for a PILEDRIVER!! Over for the cover and Enos gets a long two-count before Peterson gets his foot on the ropes. Tag to Blanchard and he snap mares Peterson into some elbows and there's a tag to Enos. Blanchard tells Enos to get on the top and he tries to whip Peterson into the corner for a clothesline, but Peterson reverses, Enos misses everyone, rams his head into the mat and Peterson pins him for the three-count!! Blanchard and Peterson with right hands and they trade atomic drops into a roll-up from Peterson, but Blanchard reverses it and HOLDS THE TIGHTS TO GET THE PIN!!
Winners: The Destruction Crew and Tully Blanchard (pinfall, Blanchard roll-up)
Match Analysis: Fun match, and I think it's the one that I missed when I missed the first part of a show last month. It probably would have been better if it hadn't been all messed up and had random people like Christopher Love showing up at ringside or the whole "Crew holding the belts cause they miss them" thing. Still a decent little six-man to finish the show and light years ahead of the rest of the squash crap on here today.
Final Thoughts
Bad show. Just bad. All the way around bad. The only thing that saved this from getting my worst score was the fact that the six-man tag match was pretty good to close out the show.
Let's get to the comments before I get even more disgusted with this disaster.
Fun With Comments
From Teijo Kahn: "I remember reading in the Apter mags about that 1991 card. I wonder who else was on it, and if we'll see some of that show one of these days. "
The card for the '91 show is below, and I'm pretty certain that there isn't any video footage of it, at least not that made it to television as the AWA's TV deals had all pretty much dried up by then. Don't quote me on it, but I'm pretty sure that there isn't any way to see them.
From Milliman_4_Pres: "If I remember correctly, once the AWA quit television tapings, they put a few of these mixed date repeat match shows together and ran them in the ESPN time slot. After this had run its course, they went to a format where the whole show was like the Mat Classic segment. Greg Gagne and others (Nick Bockwinkel, Ray Stevens, etc.) would be in the control room and show old matches of AWA stars of yesterday for a whole hour. ESPN probably won't air these shows, but I remember thinking at the time that they were much more interesting than the garbage that the AWA had produced in 1990.
According to ESPN Media Zone for Sept. and Oct., it seems they will air a couple of weeks worth of 1986 shows, then replay the train-wreck that was 1988. There was no mention of 1989 matches -- I get the feeling that they either misplaced these tapes, or somehow the WWE has them in their possession. Just a guess."
If by misplaced, you mean burnt, then you're probably right. I would love seeing a Mat Classic show instead of this crap from the 1990 show.
From Robert Tivari: "Touching on a point you made a couple of weeks ago. You are totally right about how as a kid, reading the Apter mags, you would read about these guys you normally didn't get to see (In your case, Ox Baker) and thinking that such and such was the baddest man on the planet, and when you finally got to see that wrestler you always read about, you were sorely disappointed. Thats how it was for me back then as well, and it makes me think of that especially watching these AWA shows. "
Yes. I can vividly remember seeing a picture in the Ringside section of one of the PWI magazines that had Mike Enos and Trooper in the football match with full pads on. I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen and I remember how excited I was to see that match when it was announced as being on TV a couple of weeks later. Yeah, that pretty much killed wrestling magazines for me, though I did get back into them for a little bit when Apter started that new WOW magazine that was written non-kayfabe, but when that folded I moved exclusively to the internet.
From Unknown Poster: "The TCS finale was the last original episode on ESPN. After that it was all reruns until they lost the timeslot.
On their syndicated show, they went to the "Mat Classic" format with Greg Gagne introducing matches. On this show they did an angle where Destruction Crew came into the studio and cut a promo on the "classic" wrestlers, proclaiming that they were the future of wrestling. Wahoo came in the next week to defend the honor of the old guys, and the May 91 card with the Fossils vs. Destruction Crew was announced. This was promoted on the show for a few weeks but I believe they lost their television altogether before the card happened. There is dispute over whether this counts as an "AWA" card since the organization didn't really exist by this point (filed for bankruptcy, lost their television, didn't run any sort of regular cards).
I'm not sure I agree with the idea that the booking was too pro-face in the final years...the World Singles and Tag Team titles were largely controlled by heels. If the booking deteriorated, IMO it's because the roster was too chaotic to build long-term angles, and because they were barely running house shows anyway, it didn't really matter. "
I think I would like to see the classic shows more than the 1990 ones. It wouldn't surprise me if they had ended up being better rated too. Again, The Mat Classic segments were the best parts of the mid-80's shows for me, and I really hope that EPSN Classic is able to air those at some point.
From John Doe: "I actually enjoy these shows more than I do the current product. At least then we actually get to see "wrestling" instead of an hour and a half of talking.
As for the May card in 1991.
The card was held at Bloomington-Kennedy High School in Bloomington, MN on May 3, 1991, and was promoted in the dying days of the "All Star Wrestling" Program on KMSP 9.
1) Greg Gagne & Wahoo McDaniel def. Mike Enos & Wayne Bloom, when Gagne pinned Enos (possibly an AWA Tag Team Title Change?) 2) Larry Cameron def. Tommy Jammer 3) Steve O def. Ricky Rice 4) Buck Zumhofe def. Johnny Love 5) The Karate Kid def. Tokyo Joe.
This was the last card Verne held before he officially folded the AWA."
What a line-up!! /sarcasm
FromDave: "There's not much to comment on this show. To be blunt I thought DJ looked pretty off. His "flying clothsline" was just him jumping head first at his opponent.(An injury waiting to happen) Oh, and he fell down again doing the Scorpion Deathlock. (Yes, it looks bad when you can't stay standing during your finisher.) On the second match, damn was Jammer green. I mean he doesn't even have the basic ideas down. It wasn't bad enough he had a finisher that at this point was universally considered a rest hold. To make it worse he spent a good portion of the match working up to it by attacking Stone's legs. (Someone should have explained to him that his offense would have made sense if he won via figure four, spinning toe hold, etc. But for a abdominal stretch his offense should have targeted the lower back and stomach. Basics people, basics.) Oh well, as for the 3rd match it looked like John accidently hit him pretty hard when the Anhilator got tied up in the ropes.(Guess I'm not surprised by that, I mean he did a pretty stiff style like Bruiser Brody.) Otherwise unremarkable but not the cluster the first two squashes were. The one thing that really got to me was the first Zbyzko/Koloff match they were showing. What the hell was that ringing? It sounded like Verne came across an after Christmas sale on jingle bells and attached them all over the ropes given the way things were ringing during the fight. (Hey, maybe he bought them cheap from WCW after they got rid of the Ding-Dongs. That's an idea so bad you think it would have been a perfect fit in the AWA.) Come to think of it that reminds me of one other thing that bugged me about the AWA. Why were the ropes always so loose? It seemed like alot of times high flying wrestlers were having problems because the ropes weren't tight at all.(They'd wobble so much that they were hard to climb.) Never understood why they did that especially since they didn't "outlaw" top rope moves until the end."
The AWA always seemed to have really loose ropes, even back to when the Midnight Rockers first started out in the company. When they started getting big and using more top rope moves, I noticed that they started to get tightened up a little, but once they left to go to Vince, it was back to the same really saggy, really loose ropes that looked rather dangerous. Touching on Jammer, I don't think he would have known pyschology if they tried, so instead they just went with how good looking he was. Going back to Peterson and his performance for a moment, he really did seem high as he was sloppy as all hell, and then kind of fell apart completely at the end of it. I've seen guys fall before doing a Scorpion Deathlock, but that looked really bad in that instance.
Yeah, uh, I got nothing for the end of this. Man, this show is really getting tough to watch when they're just cramming bad matches down my throat for the whole hour. See you tomorrow everyone!
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:31:28 GMT -6
86?
AWA Championship Wrestling
Larry Nelson's in the ring and we're right into the announcements for the first bout of the night! Greg Gagne is at ringside, soon to be joined by Larry Nelson, for the call of the action!
Match One: Jesse Hernandez and The Steel Gladiator vs. King Kong Brody and The Barbarian w/Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie
Brody and Barbarian attack before the bell, and they fling Hernandez out to the floor before barbarian grabs a front facelock on Gladiatro, who has some of the pastiest chicken legs I've ever seen. Irish whip from Barbarian into a big boot from Brody and there's the HUSS HUSS HUSS tag to Brody. Big bodyslam and Brody sends Gladiator out to the floor. Brody THROW GLADIATOR INTO THE TABLE!! Hernandez tries to make the save and BRODY SENDS HIM INTO THE POST!! Barbarian is outside now and he SLAMS HERNANDEZ ON THE CONCRETE FLOOR!! BRODY RAMS GLADIATOR INTO THE TABLE AGAIN!! THERE'S THE BELL!! HUSS HUSS HUSS HUSS HUSS!!!!!
Winners: Jesse Hernandez and The Steel Gladiator (disqualification, general Brody craziness)
Match Analysis: The same wild brawling we've come to know and love from Brody and Barbarian. I didn't realize how much I missed seeing them on my TV until I was stuck with the 1990 AWA shows. Nord is a WAY better and entertaining character as a Brody rip-off than he is as a Lumberjack. I can't for the life of me understand why they wanted to turn him face. Ah well, fun brawl to start the show.
Match Two: Pistol Pete vs. Brad Rheingans
Ugh. I'm not too high on this one and this is a good way to drag the show down after such a hot start. They shake hands before getting into a lockup and Pete takes Rheingans down, moving to a front facelock as Rheingans makes the ropes, giving Pete a clean break. Side headlock from Rheingans into a hammerlock and Pete runs to the ropes for the break. Standing arm-wringer from Pete and Rheingans reverses it into a fireman's carry as Nelson makes a Vison Quest reference that makes me laugh as that seems to be the seminal movie about amateur wrestling. Well, the ONLY movie about amateur wrestling, but I suppose. Pete tries for a roll-up out of a go-behind and they end up in some odd position with Rheingans bridging out before he grabs a front facelock, with Pete pushing into the ropes for a break. Hip toss from Rheingans into a one-count and he takes Pete over with a side headlock. Technically, everything is fine, but this is just dying a slow death to me. A few scattered boos from the crowd as Pete shoots Rheingans into the ropes, trying for a hip toss, but Rheingans blocks it and gets one of his own into a two-count. Standing front facelock into a neckbreaker from Rheingans and that gets him a two-count, leading to a hamstring pull. Pete begs off and tries to get to the ropes to break the momentum, pushing Rheingans into the corner and going to the eyes before raking his nails across Rheingans' back. Reverse elbows from Pete and he just chokes Rheingans before transitioning it into a nerve hold that puts Rheingans onto his back. A couple of two-counts for Pete off of it and Rheingans is trying to fight out of it, getting to his feet and finally breaking the hold with a standing dropkick. Pete gets right back onto the nerve hold, yelling at the front row and yelling at Rheingans to give it up. Rheingans is fading and barely makes it to the ropes, taking a couple of stomps from Pete before getting Irish whipped into the ropes. Pete tries for a back bodydrop but Rheingans kicks him in the face and slowly gets back to his feet to ring Pete's bell. Irish whip into the corner and he gets a SHITTY back bodydrop out of the corner that sends Pete out to the floor for a moment. Scattered boring chants from the crowd and Rheingans whips Pete into the ropes, headbutting him in the stomach and following that up with an atomic drop. Rheingans grabs Pete and gets a beautiful gut-wrench suplex to get the 1-2-3!!
Winner: Brad Rheingans (pinfall, gut-wrench suplex)
Match Analysis: The same thing we see from Rheingans over and over. Lots of pretty moves, but no real flow to the match. Rheingans was technically sound as a wrestler, but his psychology was the shits as there was nothing strung together, just a burst of spots, into a break, into another burst of spots. I just can never get into a Rheingans match when he's not in there with someone to carry him. Boring all the way, and we're down to 50% enjoyment for this show already as this match sucked all the joy out of the Brody/Barbarian insanity at the beginning.
Larry Nelson has Brad Rheingans in the ring and he asks about the hold that Pete had on him. Rheingans says he's not sure what it was, but he was underestimating Pete and looking too far ahead to next week and Boris Zhukov in the main event. He says that when he gets Zhukov in the ring with him, he's going to shut his mouth for him. He says that Zhukov made a mistake when he didn't put him out of wrestling for good and that he's going to give Zhukov the beating of a lifetime. Rheingans says his knee is near 100% and that the only thing he's worried about is Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie sticking his nose into the match. He says that you can't buy your way to the top, it takes years of work, years of hard wrestling and that next week, he's going to put Boris Zhukov out of professional wrestling.
After the break, it's time for In This Corner with Larry Zbyszko and he looks a little steamed from last week's episode, talking about how Larry Nelson pulled a fast one on him with Verne Gagne. Nelson's little boyish smirk is hilarious. Zbyszko talks about his suspension and his lawyers and that he's been getting tons of mail from the teenyboppers that they wanted to see the Midnight Rockers on his segment. He says that he's going to humor them and that maybe after they see them on this segment, the teenyboppers will wise up. That leads to a video higlight package of the Rockers, mainly featuring them in action against Rose and Somers, doing all of their great high-flying moves.
From there we get the Rockers joining the segment in two of the UGLIEST shirts imaginable. Marty says they're looking forward to making an impact in the AWA, the greatest league in professional wrestling and that they want to be the World Tag Team Champions. He brings up that they've been facing Rose and Somers and that they'll go through anyone they have to to get to the top. Shawn brings up that himelf and Jannetty have both beaten Somers on numerous occasions in singles and that they feel confident they can do it again in tag team action. Zbyszko butts in and says that he sees two young pun....two young wrestlers and he's listening to their dreams and desires and calls Shawn, "Gene". He says that they're both spoiled brats with quick moves and that they're going to go up against big tough men that the speed moves won't work. He says that Jannetty and Michaels are newcomers and they're starting right at the bottom. He says that in a couple of years they're going to be ugly and they'll have scars and "Gene" is going to have his daddy take his car and credit cards away because he's a disappointment and that Marty is going to be pushing a broom somewhere in Georgia because he couldn't hack it. He says that they're both going to realize that looking good and entertaining the thirteen year olds isn't going to make them the big money and then questions whether they have the balls to get in there and get dirty against guys like Stan Hansen, like Rose and Somers, or if they're just going to whine about their problems. Michaels says that his dad smacked him around a little and argues with Zbyszko, with Zbyszko calling Michaels' dad a "child-beater". That's just tremendous heel work right there. He asks Jannetty what his excuse is and Jannetty makes fun of Zbyszko's twelve glorious years and says that if he wants to see just how tough the Rockers are, to find a partner and step into the ring with them. Zbyszko says he'll take them on two-on-one and then says that he'll help them answer all their teenybopper fan mail, handing them some wax crayons. Jannetty asks if there's a brown one in there to help cover up Zbyszko's bald spot. OUCH!! DOUBLE-OUCH!! JANNETTY WITH THE ZINGER!!! HERE IT COMES!!!
SICK BURN!!
Oh, how I've missed that. Zbyszko says that once they've fallen out of the favor of the teenyboppers, he's going to laugh at them. He says that they'll never end up with the bank account because they're just going to keep playing the games. He ends the segment by yelling over Larry Nelson, saying that they're going to end up ugly!! Tons of fun and I have yet to see a segment of In This Corner that wasn't incredibly entertaining. Good stuff all the way around.
Larry Nelson welcomes us back and says that it's time for the Mat Classic. He brings in Ray Stevens for some guest announcing, saying that this match is from Chicago, back in 1973.
Match Three: Mat Classic Ray Stevens vs. Red Bastien
Stevens talks about how he and Bockwinkel had just beaten Bastien and Hercules Cortez for the tag team championships and puts over how good Bastien was. We see Bastien holding a side headlock, cut ahead to Stevens shooting him off and eating a shoulderblock for a two-count. Bastien does the run the ropes up to a side headlock takeover and Stevens tries to turn Bastien over into a pinfall with a handful of tights. Stevens shoots Bastien off the ropes and takes him down with a knee to the gut. Larry Nelson brings up the AWA on ESPN live show from the Bay Area and that Stevens is the promoter for that particular show. He says that they expect a great crowd and an exciting show, as we see Stevens hammering away on Bastien in the corner and Bastien firing back until Stevens goes to the eyes. Shoulderblock from Stevens in the corner and he whips Bastien across, following him across, but Bastien shoots over him, getting Stevens into a headscissors. Bastien takes a back bodydrop and flips over onto his feet, dropkicking Stevens and then taking him back over with the headscissors. They run the ropes and slam into each other and BOTH MEN ARE DOWN!! Crowd is chanting for Red and Stevens manages to get to his feet first, getting a two-count. We clip ahead to both men on their feet and they both hit right hands and go down to the mat. Clip ahead again to a reverse elbow from Bastien and as Stevens gets up, he hammers on Bastien and throws him to the floor. They head to the floor and brawl, with Stevens getting into the ring just before Bastien does and he beats the count to get the victory!!
Winner: Ray Stevens (count-out)
Match Analysis: Not as good a Mat Classic as usual as it was the old 8mm film footage so there was a TON of clipping. Hard to get into the match with all of that going on, but it was still fun to see two of the legends of the AWA going at it. Stevens being on commentary was kind of interesting as well, with him giving a little insight into the time period.
Match Four: Doug Somers vs. Mike Rotundo
The graphic under Rotundo refers to him as a former WWF tag team champion and Greg brings up that Barry Windham was supposed to be here as well, but he was injured in a match in Florida the night before. I guess it was supposed to be the US Express against Somers and Rose in this one, but they made the singles match with Windham's injury. Rotundo tries to offer up a handshake, but no dice from Somers and there's the bell to get this one underway. I'm expecting a pretty technically sound bout out of this one as both Rotundo and Somers are two very good hands when it comes to work.
Lockup and Somers pushes Rotundo into the ropes, giving him a clean-ish break off of the ropes before arguing with referee Scott LeDoux. Rotundo into a side headlock and he cranks away on it as Somers shoots him into the ropes. They criss-cross and do some rope-running with Somers getting a bodyslam in, but Rotundo kicks him away and turns it into a side headlock again, taking Somers down to the mat. Somers shoots Rotundo off the ropes again and Rotundo leapfrogs over, reverses a hip toss into one of his own and then ges the side headlock takeover again. Somers grabs a handful of tights and gets a long two-count off of that, but Rotundo manages to get it right back to the side headlock. Somers pushes Rotundo into the corner and chops him in the chest off of the break. Irish whip by Somers into the corner and he charges in after Rotundo, missing the charge and flying over the top rope to the floor. Rotundo follows him out to the floor with a hard chop and sends him back into the ring.
Right hands back and forth with Rotundo getting the upperhand with a European uppercut for a two-count before going right back to the side headlock, taking Somers to the mat. Somers again with a handful of tights and he gets another two-count off of that. Somers tries it again, but this time Scott LeDoux catches him and pulls Rotundo back over into the side headlock position. Somers fights to get to his feet and picks Rotundo up for a belly to back suplex before heading out to the top rope. Somers with a diving headbutt and Rotundo rolls out of the way, dropping an elbow and getting a two-count before moving to a reverse chinlock, CRANKING the pressure. Larry Nelson is nearly cumming in his pants over the sweaty reverse chinlock and Rotundo transitions to a front facelock. Somers gets out of it with a LOW BLOW that makes the crowd groan and he picks Rotundo up for a gut-wrench into a stomachbreaker. Kneedrops from Somers and he covers Rotundo to get a two-count, moving to stomp away at Rotundo off of it.
More stomps from Somers and he picks Rotundo up for a cheap shot to the throat. Short right hands to the jaw from Somers and Rotundo fires back with a HUGE chop. Rake of the eyes from Somers and he drags Rotundo's eyes across the top rope, stomping away and putting Rotundo out to the floor. LeDoux and Somers get into an argument and as Rotundo tries to get into the ring, Somers kicks him in the face and then rams his head against the ring apron. The count on Rotundo is up to six...up to seven...and Somers is out on the apron, ramming Rotundo into the apron again and kicking him in the face as Gagne says that Rotundo might be bleeding out on the floor. Somers starts yelling and pointing, saying "That's you Gagne!!" and as he heads over, Rotundo grabs a leg and drags Somers over to the corner, posting the knee as we see a HUGE welt over Rotundo's left eye. Rotundo grabs the other leg and posts that one too, but as he gets into the ring Somers headbutts him right on that cut. Reverse chinlock from Somers and he's biting at the cut before hammering away with right hands.
Rotundo is staggered in the corner and Somers is hammering on him, trying an Irish whip into the corner but Rotundo reverses it, sending Somers into the corner and hitting a HUGE back bodydrop out of the corner. Rotundo with a mount in the corner for a flurry of punches and he rams Somers into the top turnbuckle on the other side, covering him for a two-count with Somers getting his boot onto the ropes. Rotundo drags him into the middle of the ring and Somers is begging for a time out. Somers hits a cheap shot that might have been low and he throws Rotundo out through the ropes to the floor again. Somers tries to suplex Rotundo back in but Rotundo shifts his weight and ends up on top of Somers and HE GETS THE THREE-COUNT!!! Somers is freaking out in the middle of the ring, pitching a fit over the loss. Big crowd pop for the win in that main event!!
Winner: Mike Rotundo, (pinfall, suplex reversal)
Match Analysis: A great little old-school main event. They worked the slow style to a T and had the crowd eating out of the palms of their hands. I thought they might have lost it a little bit with all the headlocks early on, but the fans were right there with them and popped really big for the finish. Rotundo and Somers were two of the best workers the AWA had at that point and it was a really solid technical bout, that never veered into the boring territory that guys like Rheingans seemed to. Good psychology and good technical wrestling makes me a happy camper. They got helped out a little by that huge welt and cut on Rotundo's eye which got him a ton of babyface heat up to the finish as well.
Larry Nelson's got Mike Rotundo with him and he says that he came to the beautiful city of Las Vegas and found out what the AWA was going to be all about. He says that there's great talent in the AWA, but he and Windham believe in themselves and that there are lots of great tag teams but they're going to come out on top. He promises that they're going to make it to the top and that if they have to go through matches like that, he's going to. Apparently, Barry Windham injured his ankle in Florida and he's hoping that he'll only be out a week or so and then promises that they'll be wrestling in the Dome at WrestleRock '86 and that they're looking forward to it in a big way.
Final Thoughts
A really solid 1986 show in a time period that the AWA still had stars and were still capable of putting on exciting television. The only slow spot for the whole hour was the Rheingans match, but that's to be expected. The Mat Classic segment could have been a little better, but I'm not going to hold that against them. The Zbyszko/Rockers segment was tremendous, the Brody/Barbarian brawling was fun as always and the main event delivered. Since we're back in the 80's, we're back to the piles of blow to rate the show and this one was easily worth three huge snorts. Great show and fun to see the AWA I knew and loved back again.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:32:36 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Straight to the ring again with Larry Nelson ready to make the introductions. Lord James Blears and Rod Trongard are at ringside, so let's get to the action from the Showboat Pavilion in Las Vegas.
Match One: The Steel Gladiator and Jesse Hernandez vs. Buddy Rose and Doug Somers w/Sherri Martel
I guess the jobber team decided to stay together because of the success they had in winning their last match. Sadly, they didn't know they had won their last match until someone in the dressing room told them when they woke up three hours later. It's actually fun to watch a show and see that it actually has the crowd reactions from the time they were taped, not years earlier. Rose takes forever getting his robe off and then heads over to share a word with Somers before dropping to do some one-armed pushups in the corner, complete with Martel's glowing approval. Rose and Gladiator start the match out and Rose gets a quick armdrag before strutting around the ring. Gladiator comes back with an armdrag of his own, prompting Rose to complain about a hair pull. He tags in Somers and he gets a quick go-behind, but Gladiator takes Somers down with an armdrag. Irish whip into a hip toss from the Gladiator and an armbar, but Somers reverses and gets the arm-wringer of his own, tagging in Rose. Rose kicks Gladiator in the ribs and runs him into the top turnbuckle before picking him up and chopping him back down. Kneedrop from Rose and he spits at Hernandez, drawing him into the ring so he and Somers can make an illegal switch.
Backbreaker from Somers and he tags in Rose for an abdominal stretch, using Somers for extra leverage before Gladiator gets free of it in the middle of the ring. Rose rams him into the buckle again and makes the tag to Somers for a HUGE chop to the chest. Rose starts choking Gladiator with the tag rope as Somers distracts the referee and Somers gets back to work with a front facelock into a rolling takedown. Tag to Rose and he locks in the front facelock now, with Gladiator finally fighting through to make the tag to Hernandez. Rose begs off and eats a knee to the ass and a turnbuckle smash before Hernandez whips him into the corner. Rose runs off and tags in Somers, but he gets more of the same, getting armdragged over until he's begging in the corner too. Somers pushes Hernandez into the corner for a hard chop to the chest, talking to the referee about it while Rose lays in some cheap shots. Short right hand from a side headlock position by Somers and he runs Hernandez into Rose's knee before tagging him in. Rose tries a bodyslam, but Hernandez falls back into a tag to the Gladiator!! Gladiator hip tosses Rose out of the corner but eats a kick to the gut and Rose is able to make the tag to Somers. Somers hits a hard vertical suplex and tags Rose back in for a DDT!!! Rose with the cover and there's the three-count!!
Winners: Buddy Rose and Doug Somers (pinfall, DDT)
Match Analysis: Extended squash for Rose and Somers, though it wasn't very formula since there wasn't a ton of offense from Gladiator and Hernandez. It was basically Rose and Somers running through all of their moves and looking like a million bucks, while Gladiator and Hernandez hit hot tags that went nowhere. This one was pure showcase for Rose and Somers, who were pretty much the best team that the AWA had at this point, though The Rockers would soon be hot on their tails.
Larry Nelson has Rose and Somers with him in the ring, along with Sherri Martel, and he's talking about the ferocious competition in the AWA. Rose agrees with him and says that that's because Rose and Somers have teamed up. He talks about them being undefeated as a team and Somers wants to know where the tag team champions are. He wants their names on a contract and that they need to show up and lose like men. Martel says that everyone is ducking Rose and Somers and that her men want the belts. She DAMN WELL DEMANDS IT NOW!! Rose says that they won fair and square and then calls out the Rockers, Hall and Henning, and Windham and Rotundo.
Larry Nelson's in the AWA studios and he says that when they come to your area, don't miss the world's greatest wrestlers. He and Greg Gagne talk about Col. DeBeers and Gagne says that he feels like there's no need to bring politics into sports. He mentions the 1980 Olympic boycott and then brings up that there are lots of people, even on ESPN, that don't like DeBeers. Nelson brings up the main event, with Mike Rotundo and Curt Hennig teaming up to take on Larry Zbyszko and Ninja Go. Gagne asks where Scott Hall is and Gagne says that Hall had to make a special appearance somewhere and that Rotundo stepped up to the plate to fill in. Nelson talks up that match a little more, as well as an appearance from Nick Bockwinkel coming up next.
Match Two: Harley Davidson vs. Nick Bockwinkel w/his bullwhip
Bockwinkel taunts Scott LeDoux with the bullwhip a little before handing it over. Davidson's bright orange singlet/long tights combo is definitely a sight. He looks like a traffic cone with a mullet. Bockwinkel gets a go-behind into a takedown and Davidson gets to the ropes to break the hold. Side headlock from Bockwinkel into a standing arm-wringer and he drops down into a kimura takedown, transitioning that into a hammerlock. He rams Davidson into the top turnbuckle and gets a two-count off of that, but Davidson gets to his feet and fires off some punches to break the momentum. Big headbutt from Davidson and some forearm shots, including a big one to the chest and he shoots Bockwinkel into the corner. Bockwinkel reverses, sending Davidson into the corner and he whips Davidson into the ropes for a back bodydrop. A pair of HUGE bodyslams from Bockwinkel and he hits a couple of knees across the back of Davidson's neck, with Davidson's throat draped across the bottom rope. He pulls Davidson out and plants him with a PILEDRIVER FOR THE 1-2-3!!!
Winner: Nick Bockwinkel (pinfall, piledriver)
Match Analysis: This match was as much about Bockwinkel as it was about his SWANK bullrope. Your basic enhancement match to get Bockwinkel on TV and let him work up a sweat, only made interesting by Davidson's hideously bright ring gear. It makes sense because Harley colors are orange and black, but it was still retina-burning. Contrary to what people might surmise, this was not Hillbilly Jim, who apparently also wrestled as Harley Davidson in his earlier days, and was instead just some guy doing a biker gimmick.
Larry Nelson has Nick Bockwinkel in the ring, along with his manly bullwhip. Bockwinkel keeps cracking it and we hear about last week's time limit draw with Col. DeBeers. Bockwinkel says that nothing is settled with DeBeers, but he has more important things to worry about. He says that he wants a win over Stan Hansen to get his AWA World Heavyweight Championship back. He brings up the bullwhip and says that he has had to deal with people bringing chains, bullropes and nunchucks to the ring and that he's going to keep the bullwhip that an old farmer gave him because it helps keep the nonsense out of the ring. He says that when the end of the whip strikes Hansen and stings, it will take a little hide. He says that he doesn't want a piece of Hansen's hide, he wants the whole thing, pinned to the mat so that he can take what Hansen loves the most. Great promo work from Bockwinkel as usual, made as much by how he said things as by what he said. His facial expressions are magnificent and tell so much more of the story.
Match Three: Mike Richards vs. Col. DeBeers
We're out of the Showboat and off to a taping in Minnesota I do believe for this match, and we've got the dream team of Larry Nelson and Verne Gagne on commentary. This one should be quick and painful with DeBeers in against a jobber. Side headlock from DeBeers and he takes Richards down, kneeing him in the gut as he gets back up and taking him back over with the headlock. Richards reverses to a top wristlock into a hammerlock, but DeBeers just elbows him in the face before slamming Richards to the mat. DeBeers bounces off the ropes into a BIG right hand and just stomps away at Richards in the corner. Richards with a pair of right hands to the gut, but DeBeers cuts him off with a knee to the stomach, snap maring Richards over and dropping another knee to the forehead. Cover and a two-count, with DeBeers pulling him up before the three-count. Snap mare into another kick to the face and he knees Richards into the corner, including a short shot to the throat as Richards tries a comeback. Headbutt to the midsection from DeBeers and he picks Richards up for a slam, dropping him throat-first across the top rope. DeBeers measures him for a pair of kicks to the stomach and he stomps on Richards' head, picking him up for a big forearm across the chest.
Vertical suplex from DeBeers and he gets a two-count, picking him up again before the three. Another cover and another two-count with another pick-up from DeBeers. He gets a double underhook into a beautiful suplex, coming off the ropes with a HUGE stomp to the face. Another cover into a two-count and DeBeers stomps him again, following that up by raking Richards' eyes across the top rope. Richards hits a forearm shot, but DeBeers shrugs it off, throwing Richards out to the floor. Stomps on the floor from DeBeers and he makes his way back into the ring, forearming Richards in the chest and knocking him off the apron to the floor. He grabs Richards by the hair and pulls him off the apron for another HUGE one-armed bodyslam, into a pin attempt that gets two, with DeBeers picking him up again. Stomp to the face and an elbow to the throat from DeBeers and he picks Richards up again at the count of two. Nelson does a GREAT job on the play-by-play, putting over how dastardly DeBeers is. Richards makes a HUGE babyface comeback, hip tossing DeBeers out of the corner, but he misses a dropkick and DeBeers takes right back over with a stomp to the "lower abdominal region". DeBeers picks him up and it's PANCAKE PILEDRIVER TIME!! DeBeers with the cover and there's a 1...2...DeBeers picks him up again. He pulls Richards up by the hair and takes him back to PANCAKE PILEDRIVER CITY!!! He FINALLY covers Richards and ends the beating with the three-count!!!
After the match, DeBeers stands over Richards and berates him until BIG SCOTT HALL comes down to the ringside area!! He gets in the ring and threatens DeBeers, with DeBeers bailing out to the floor to twirl his mustache.
Winner: Col. DeBeers (pinfall, pancake piledrivers)
Match Analysis: DeBeers laid in one unholy ass-kicking. I honesty thought that with how many times Larry Nelson was talking about a DQ that DeBeers was going to end up disqualified for continually picking up Richards before the three-counts were complete. Vicious beating that gets DeBeers over as possibly the roughest, meanest guy in the entire AWA. It also started the Hall/DeBeers angle as we saw after the bout.
Match Four: Larry Zbyszko and Ninja Go vs. Curt Hennig and Mike Rotundo
Go is not the masked Ninja, though I unfortunately don't know exactly who it is. We're back at the Showboat now, with a CRAPLOAD of empty seats all over the building. Rotundo and Go get things underway, with Rotundo pushing Go into the ropes for a clean break. Side headlock takeover from Go and Rotundo reverses it into a pin attempt that gets two before Go moves back to the headlock. Another reversal into a two-count, and Rotundo gets back to his feet, whipping Go into the ropes and eating a shoulderblock before leapfrogging Go and taking him down with a hip toss. Go takes Rotundo down with a rolling armdrag and cranks on a short armbar, even getting a one-count before Rotundo reverses out of it itno an armbar of his own. He tags in Hennig and he and Go circle around the ring. Single-leg takedown from Go and Hennig kicks him away. Another single-leg from Go and another kick away leads to a face off in the middle of the ring. Hennig gets taken over with a side headlock, but he reverses it, putting Go into a hammerlock on the mat, chicken-winging the arm.
Go gets a drop toehold into a reverse chinlock and Hennig gets to his feet with Go on his back, throwing him over and off, dropping a knee and moving to an armbar. Go with a reversal sequence into an armbar of his own, though Hennig gets over to tag Rotundo. Rotundo gets a kick and an elbow in, taking Go over with a side headlock, but Go reverses to a hammerlock and rams Rotundo's shoulder into the corner, tagging in Zbyszko. Zbyszko slows the pace and yells at the crowd, as per the usual, and they just get on him even more for it. Zbyszko hits Rotundo in the corner and tries an Irish whip, but Rotundo reverses it and sends Zbyszko into the buckle face-first. Zbyszko hits the floor and has a core meltdown, yelling at Rod Trongard, yelling at the front row, yelling at anybody. He finally makes it back into the ring and takes Rotundo over with a fireman's carry into an armbar, but Rotundo kips up to his feet, with Zbyszko kicking his legs out from under him. They do that another couple of times and Rotundo gets over to tag Hennig in for a HUGE RIGHT HAND that ties Zbyszko up in the ropes. Hennig stomps the elephant piss out of Zbyszko while he's tied in the ropes and sends him out to the floor, to a HUGE pop from the crowd.
Zbyszko takes a breather again on the floor before slowly getting back into the ring. Hennig with a side headlock and as Zbyszko shoots him off into the ropes, Hennig drops him with a pair of shoulderblocks before getting a sunset flip for a long two-count. Zbyszko backs away into the corner and tries to make sense of what's been going on while trying to come up with a new strategy. He hits a spinning back kick to the gut against the ropes and puts Hennig out to the floor, following him out for some shots before tagging Go. Go hits a forearm to the chest that sends Hennig back down to the floor and Rotundo tries to come in and protect Hennig. The referee chases Rotundo, leading to some heel double-teaming from Go and Zbyszko on Hennig with Zbysko choking away and Go laying in the boots. Go measures a hard kick to the face of Hennig and whips him in for a big boot to the gut. He tries another kick but Hennig catches the boot and they're trading shots in the corner before Hennig gets over and makes a tag to Rotundo.
Irish whip into a reverse elbow from Rotundo and he hits a big bodyslam, followed by an elbowsmash and ALL FOUR MEN ARE BRAWLING IN THE RING!! ZBYSZKO THROWS DOWN THE REFEREE AND THERE'S THE BELL!! THE BRAWL IS STILL GOING ON AGAINST THE BOTTOM ROPES!! ROTUNDO AND HENNIG DOUBLE-TEAM GO TO THE FLOOR!! All four men calm down and face off with Henning and Rotundo in the ring and Go and Zbyszko on the apron. They talk a little smack back and forth before Zbyszko heads to the back, telling Hennig and Rotundo to kiss his ass on the way out. You can tell this was serious because Lord James Blears called it a "pier nine brawl" on the replay, and pier nine is WAY more than the usual pier six brawls.
Winners: None (double-disqualification)
Match Analysis: This was actually a REALLY good tag-team match as Hennig and Rotundo fit really well together as a team, perhaps even better than Windham fit with Rotundo. Zbyszko was his usual awesome self, and Go did just enough to look like a Japanese beatdown artist while not completely exposing his gimmick. These guys cut a great pace, kept it up for most of the match (except for Zbyszko's classic stalling) and the only thing missing from making this match one of the best of these AWA shows is a finish. It's understandable why there was a non-finish since no one could really afford to take the pin, except maybe Go, but it's still disappointing to not get a decisive winner.
After the match, Larry Nelson has Zbyszko and Go in the ring and Zbyszko calls Henning and Rotundo clowns, saying that if they would have wrestled instead of trying to brawl, the referee would have had no reason to throw the match out. He then suggests that the referee was probably friends with Rotundo and Hennig. He talks about Go and says that he is an excellent wrestler and then yells at Nelson because they're out of time. He says that the AWA is OUT OF LUCK, because if you mess with Zbyszko, you mess with Go and if you mess with both of them, you LOSE!! Great go-home line from Zbyszko to end the show!!
Final Thoughts
Another really solid show from the 1986 AWA run, with great wrestling, convincing squashes and some good angle work weaving all the way through. I love getting to see these shows again and getting to see some new action that I hadn't reviewed. A finish in the main event and this show would have gotten the full magilla, but I will go with three piles for this one. Very fun to see the good old AWA back instead of the crawling, dragging, dying corpse I was stuck with for months.
Fun With Comments
From Joe (So. Cal): "man, these shows have been great for about a week now... Brody, Hansen, Hennig/Hall, Michaels/Jannetty, White, Rose/Somers and now Rotundo/Windham. Zbyszko was great on the mic even back then, that segment with the MR last night was hilarious... i really wish i had the hardware to get this stuff from my DVR to my HD. "
Yes, the AWA shows from the mid-80's were some of the better wrestling television going. Lots of great names, lots of talent, and decent to great angles. One of the fonder memories of my youth as a wrestling fan actually.
From Larry Nelson's Beard: "What the hell was that spot on Sommer's tights during the match with Rotundo. He looked like he shit himself. "
It looks like it was just something as simple as a sweat spot in an inopportune place. I don't think that it was Somers pulling a Sylvia.
From guest: "Good to see my old friend, Earthquake Ferris, again! These were his first shows in the AWA and I was at the Showboat with many of his friends and family members. Big pops for Ferris. The boys worked hard to put him over because Ferris' family hosted a great party before the tapings! Great memories of the good old days of the AWA!
Had those ropes been tight, Ferris might have pinned Sgt. Slaughter.
Yeah, that's the story. Earthquake Ferris, America's Champ! "
I'm not sure if you're referring to a different show or not, but it's cool to hear a story like that, so thank you for sharing.
From piperfan01: "Did Kokina ever actually appear on any of the shows that they actually broadcast? Windham and Rotundo, one of my fav tag teams that I barely got to see wrestle. I never thought much of Nord as a wrestler, as a kid I thought he was boring, and I still do. Brody will always be one of the guys I find mystical in a way, Brody, Abdullah, Kabuki, Hansen, I didnt see much of them as a kid, but I loved seeing them when I did, and was in awe of them. Ray Stevens, while technically sound, always looked old to me, so I never took him seriously as a kid, kinda like Bockwinkel, but age has warmed me up to Nick, but sadly not Ray, he always looked like Mel Torme."
Kokina did wrestle on the AWA shows, we just weren't lucky enough to see any of them yet. I agree about Stevens always looking old, even when he was young. Just one of those faces I suppose. I also loved guys like Brody, Abdullah and Hansen, mainly because they were larger than life figures and moved all around the country and the world, adding to their intrigue. I have always been full of the Bockwinkel love, and will proudly say so even long after he's gone. Damn, that man could work on every level.
From Guest#4218: "Zbyszko is one of my favorites. His tag team with Arn Anderson doesn't get the credit it deserves. "
I agree completely. I loved the Enforcers and I loved Larry "The Cruncher" Zbyszko. That was one of the bright spots in WCW at a time when there weren't a lot of bright spots for me.
From Guest. : "I still remember this show from when it came out, as well as the vicious knot on Rotunda's head. The story coming out of this was that Windham no-showed, so Rotunda worked this show. I think on the next show either Rotunda or Windham was in a six-man tag, I think Rotunda, then they were both back to the NWA.
ANyways, I'm dissapointed you never got around to doing a re-report on the one show I mentioned in the columns. I mean, when the worst segment is either a Rockers match or a Zbyszko promo, you know you got a fucking good show going on. (the rest of the show featured Brody beating the shit out of Vader's ankle, crazy Shiek promo, and DeBeers/Bockwinkel). Anyways, even if I can't see these shows, its nice to read the reports. "
I seem to remember reading somewhere that Rotundo was in the AWA for not much more than a cup of coffee and that Windham may not have even made an appearance for them, though that may be wrong. I apologize for not doing the re-post of the old show, but I hope that the original post was able to be found. If not, I'll go ahead and post a link up here next report.
From Tracy: "RE: the Bastien/Stevens match.
The last double knockdown was actually a head butt by Bastien, which was a great little humor spot in the course of the match."
It was indeed and I missed it in my looking up and down, which I feel badly about. Thanks for the catch!
That ends this batch of comments and this edition of the AWA on ESPN Classic Report. See you all tomorrow for either, the next AWA report, the UWF report, or both. Who knows, it could be a double-down bonanza of classic wrestling tomorrow!! Catch you then!
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