Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:33:34 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Larry Nelson's in the ring to get things underway, introducing the first pair of victims, so let's dive right into the action and throw it down to Rod Trongard and Lord James Blears at ringside.
Match One:
HD Haas and Harry Henderson vs. Boris Zhukov and Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie
You've got to love the jobber team. HD Haas is really Hans DeHaas, the guy they tried to get over as a foreigner against Brad Rheingans. I guess the foreign gimmick wouldn't play well against REAL foreigners. As for Harry Henderson, he must have been a big John Lithgow fan or something and picked the name right off the movie poster. Zhukov attacks Henderson with forearms before the bell and Sheik takes of his belt and starts WHIPPING THE FUCK out of Haas with it. I mean you can hear every single lick and it looks like he took a few of them in the face. Vicious stuff. Haas and Henderson get chucked out to the floor and have to re-group before the match can even get underway. Zhukov won't even let them get back into the ring and finally just grabs Henderson, ramming him into the top turnbuckles a couple of times before tagging in Sheik. Eye rake from El-Kaissie and he rakes his nails down Henderson's back, biting him for good measure. WICKED chop from Sheik and he forces Henderson to make the tag to Haas.
Sheik goes to the eyes on Haas and hammers him down with a forearm before picking him up and chopping him to the mat. Double-stomp from El-Kaissie and he tags in Boris to continue the beating. Zhukov gets a double-stomp of his own and throws Haas to the floor, following him out and SLAMMING HIM ON THE CONCRETE!! The crowd has been chanting "Sheik's a Freak" off and on during the match, which just serves to remind me of Saddam Hussien's gay turn in the South Park movie. Zhukov kicks Haas in the face as he tries to get back into the ring and Irish whips him into the ropes for a big kick to the chest. Tag to El-Kaissie and they double-Irish whip Haas over the top rope to the floor. Haas threatens Sheik with a right hand, but never actually throws it and Sheik just takes him down with a single leg and then stomps at him before putting the Arabic bad-mouth on him. Haas with a pair of punches, but Sheik cuts that shit short with an eyerake and a bodyslam.
Haas tags in Henderson and Sheik SCREAMS TO ALLAH before biting on Henderson's face like it was falafel. Standing arm-wringer from Sheik and he bites on Henderson's wrist before tagging in Zhukov. Vertical suplex from Zhukov and he kicks Henderson in the chest before pushing him into the corner for some elbows. Henderson gets rammed into the top buckle again before Zhukov tags in Sheik and Sheik gets a double-sledge to the heart. He yells again and hits a bodyslam, kicking Henderson in the face before just raking away at the eyes and face with his nails. He turns it to a neck crank and bites Henderson on the face again, yelling at the crowd and referee Scott LeDoux looks like he's had enough, nearly coming to blows with El-Kaissie over his biting. Tag to Zhukov and he kicks Henderson before ramming him into the top turnbuckle again, with Henderson selling it like he was shot with a taser. Irish whip from Zhukov and he hits a BIG clothesline for a two-count, leading to another tag to El-Kaissie. Sheik with a big bodyslam and he tags Zhukov right back in for a HEADBUTT OFF THE SECOND ROPE!! ANOTHER HEADBUTT!! There's the cover and there's the 1-2-3!!
Winners: Boris Zhukov and Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie (pinfall, Zhukov headbutt)
Match Analysis: This one was kind of boring, with Sheik relying a lot on his clawing and scratching, and Zhukov having some real generic offensive moves. If it was them against a better team that could carry the sizzle, it would have been better, but this one just kind of dragged and felt repetitive at times.
Larry Nelson has Sheik and Boris in the ring and he says that next week, Sheik and Zhukov are going to have to be in the ring with The Midnight Rockers. Sheik promises that the Rockers will never beat him and his Russian and then moves on to talk about the promoters getting together and suspending King Kong Brody and Barbarian. He says that money talks and that he's going to guarantee that with all of his money, he'll get them back in action and back into the ring. He claims he's the only man that can control them, but that there's no one who can go against them in the ring. He promises that they will win the AWA World Tag Team titles and the World Heavyweight title, with Boris adding in that the USA is going to be sorry for what they've done to Russia and Iraq. Wow, Zhukov must have been able to see into the future or something. Kind of spooky. Sheik finishes off with more yelling at Allah.
We see Greg Gagne and Larry Nelson in the AWA studios and we hear about this week's feature match between Col. DeBeers and Jake Milliman, as well as next week's feature match between Hennig and Hall against Somers and Rose for the AWA World Tag Team Championships. I don't know if that's what's coming up next or not, but I do know that DeBeers vs. Milliman is on the other side of this commercial break!
Match Two:
Jake Milliman vs. Col. DeBeers
The turkey feud EXPLODES!! DeBeers has his walking stick and gets a TON of boos from the crowd, as we've switched venues to the taping in Minnesota again, with Larry Nelson and Verne Gagne on commentary. Milliman mocks DeBeers' mustache twirling and gets a USA chant started before taking DeBeers down with an armdrag into an armbar. DeBeers tries to break it, but Milliman holds on through and holds it until DeBeers gets to the corner for the break. Arm-wringer from DeBeers, but Milliman reverses it and DeBeers pushes him into the corner for the break. DeBeers with some cheap shots and he takes over on Milliman, snap maring him over into a stomp to the face. Side headlock takeover from DeBeers and Milliman gets to the corner for a break, eating a punch to the face off of it. Hard forearms to the back from DeBeers and he rams Milliman into the top turnbuckle, but Jake shakes it off!! Forearm to the chest from Milliman and a BIG POWERSLAM!! Milliman with the cover and he....only gets a two-count.
Milliman up to the second rope and he motions to the crowd for a big elbow shot, but he takes too long and DeBeers rolls out of the way!! DeBeers with a big stomp to the face and a MEASURED elbowsmash into a two-count, with DeBeers picking Milliman up. DeBeers up to the second rope for a stomp to the back of the head, following that up with a one-armed bodyslam. Short kneedrop from DeBeers and he covers for a two-count, pushing Milliman's foot across the bottom rope to break the pin. Reverse chinlock by DeBeers and Milliman fights to his feet, elbowing out of the hold, but as he bounces off the ropes, DeBeers takes him down with a knee to the gut. DeBeers with a splash that ends up landing on top of Milliman's head while he was sitting up and that looked REALLY dangerous. DeBeers covers for two off of that, picking Milliman up again. DeBeers picks him up and hits the HUGE PANCAKE PILEDRIVER for the three-count!! DeBeers gets up onto the second rope and comes off of the TOP ROPE ONTO MILLIMAN!!
Stomps for DeBeers and he's back up to the top rope for more punishment, but HERE COMES SCOTT HALL!! HALL SHOVES HIM OFF THE TOP!! RIGHT HANDS!! IRISH WHIP INTO A HUGE REVERSE ELBOW!! HALL IS KICKING SOME SOUTH AFRICAN ASS!! AIRPLANE SPIN FROM HALL INTO A SAMOAN DROP!! ANOTHER REVERSE ELBOW!! DEBEERS OUT TO THE FLOOR!! The crowd goes absolutely nuts, cheering Hall through every move. He heads over to check on Milliman as DeBeers rolls back into the ring and sneaks up behind Hall to WAFFLE HIM WITH HIS CANE!! CANE TO THE CHEST!!! DeBeers throws Hall out to the floor and follows him out for a PANCAKE PILEDRIVER ON THE FLOOR!! The crowd looks in shock and all of a sudden Hennig comes out to check on Hall and the crowd snaps out of it. DeBeers gets into the ring because the crowd wants his blood. They're throwing things at DeBeers as he twirls his mustache and struts around the ring and ringside area. Hall is lying motionless on the arena floor and here come AWA officials, Larry Nelson, medical personnel, everyone checking on Hall.
DeBeers gets onto the house microphone and starts talking shit about what happens when you stick your nose into a South African's business. He says that Hall's body is weak and that the South African has put his mark on Scott Hall. He says that Hall claims to be a proud American, but that everything an American is supposed to be isn't what it's cracked up to be. He questions Hall's guts and says he'd get up off the floor right now, and the crowd is LIVID. Hennig's up on the apron, the referees are trying to get things broken up and Hennig gets into the ring and hammers at DeBeers, but DeBeers hits him with the cane. The referees rip the cane away from DeBeers and Hennig chases him nearly all the way back to the dressing room. Larry Nelson seems nearly in tears as he's talking about the whole situation and Hennig gets on the microphone begging for a stretcher or an ambulance or something. Nelson is great here with his sad, sad oversell on the microphone, making it seem like Hall might be crippled or something.
Winner: Col. DeBeers (pinfall, pancake piledriver)
Match Analysis: The match CLEARLY takes a backseat to the huge angle that played out afterwards. Granted, this is a bit of a re-hash as DeBeers ended up doing the same thing to Jimmy Snuka, but this was one hell of a hot angle at the time. The crowd wanted to KILL DeBeers for what he did and it ended up leading to the team of Hall and Hennig dropping the titles to Somers and Rose. I tell you, the AWA in 1986 knew how to draw a TON of heat and it's a shame they couldn't capitalize on that because they had a decent line-up of stars and knew how to book angles. DeBeers played his heel role perfectly here and this was honestly entertaining stuff, even twenty years after the fact.
Match Three:
Larry Zbyszko, Buddy Rose and Doug Somers w/Sherri Martel vs. Mike Rotundo, Steve Pardee and Jimmy Snuka
Zbyszko cuts Larry Nelson's ring introduction off, claiming that Rotundo wanted five more minutes with Zbyszko, so here he is. Sherri is refrerred to as Former Ladies Champ Sherri Mantel on the graphic, which leads me to wonder if the AWA production crew was just constantly high with all of their spelling mistakes and errors. The bell rings and Martel gives her man a great big hug before heading out of the ring after geting into a bit of a row with referee Scott LeDoux.
Pardee and Rose get things underway, but not before some pre-match calisthenics from Rose. Martel is over the top with her cheering on the floor, and she really was one of the best ringside valets ever. Single-leg takedown from Rose and Pardee kicks him away into the ropes with Rose doing a cartwheel to avoid a monkey flip. Much strutting follows. Rose spits on Jimmy Snuka and then eyeballs him before getting taken down by Pardee with a single-leg. Rose kicks Pardee away and tries the same monkey flip move, but Pardee just shakes his ass at Rose to make him look foolish. Rose is so upset he heads over and tags in Somers. Top wristlock from Somers, with Pardee reversing it into an armdrag and Somers and Rose head over to talk to Sherri for a moment. Side headlock from Pardee and as Somers tries an atomic drop, Pardee goes over with it into a takedown. Somers reverses into a two-count, but Pardee rolls over and gets back to the side headlock. Somers shoots Pardee into the ropes and gets caught trying a leapfrog into a spinebuster that gets a two-count before Pardee goes right back to the side headlock. Somers grabs a handful of tights and gets a two-count, but Pardee kicks over and tags in Snuka, who grabs a side headlock of his own. Tag to Rotundo and he holds Somers for a VICIOUS chop from Snuka, into an elbowdrop that gets two before Zbyszko breaks the pin. Somers crawls over to his corner and Zbyszko finally makes the tag to get in, with a big "Larry Sucks" chant as we head to a commerical break.
Back from the break and Zbyszko is circling Rotundo, backing away as soon as Rotundo gets too close. They finally hit a lockup and Zbyszko pushes Rotundo into the corner, faking a clean break and trying a right hand, but Rotundo blocks it and gets one of his own, grabbing a side headlock and tagging in Snuka. Big crowd pop for the stand-off between Snuka and Zbyszko, but Zbyszko tags in Rose to a chorus of boos. Rose hits a kick to th gut and sends snuka into the top turnbuckle but it doesn't even phase him. Right hands from Rose and Snuka's backing him down, kciking him in the gut and NEARLY CHOPPING ROSE OUT OF THE RING!! SOMERS IS IN AND THERE'S A BIG HEADBUTT AND A CHOP THAT PUTS HIM DOWN!! ALL THREE FACES IN THE RING AND LANDING RIGHTS ON SOMERS!! SNUKA WITH A HEADBUTT AND SOMERS IS ON THE FLOOR!! Pardee and Rose end up back in the ring after that action and Rose gets a double-leg takedown, slingshotting Pardee into the turnbuckles before tagging in Zbyszko. BIG vertical suplex from Zbyszko into an eyerake and he talks some shit to Snuka before hitting a big bodyslam. Tag to Somers and he measures Pardee with a pair of right hands to the jaw before distracting the referee. Rose takes advantage and clotheslines Pardee across the top rope, sending him flying back into the ring.
Pardee fires back with some right hands to Somers' gut, but Somers goes to the eyes and quickly tags in Rose. Right hands from Rose in the corner into an Irish whip and he sends Pardee into the corner, chopping him down on the way out. Rose spits on Snuka again and he goes BATSHIT, trying to get in the ring, but Rose uses it to make an illegal switch with Somers. All three heels work him over in the corner until LeDoux turns around and catches them. Another switch puts Rose back in and he Irish whips Pardee into the ropes for a big reverse elbow, following that with a kneedrop. Vertical suplex from Rose gets blocked by Pardee and he REVERSES it, barely getting the rotund Rose over and GETTING THE HOT TAG TO ROTUNDO!! DROPKICK FOR SOMERS!! RIGHT HAND FOR ZBYSZKO!! ATOMIC DROP SENDS SOMERS INTO ZBYSZKO!! DOUBLE-NOGGIN KNOCKER PUTS SOMERS ON HIS FACE AND TIES ROSE IN THE ROPES!! Rotundo makes a tag to Snuka and he chops Somers before Irish whipping him into Rose, putting Rose all the way out to the floor. Irish whip from Snuka into a HUGE flying dropkick on Somers and he tags in Pardee, who follows with an Irish whip into a reverse elbow. Somers makes the tag to Zbyszko and Zbyszko gets the same reverse elbow, trying a dropkick to follow. Zbyszko holds onto the ropes and Pardee crashes onto his back on the mat.
Zbyszko pushes Pardee into the corner and all three men work him over, with Scott LeDoux pulling Zbysko off and shoving him away. Zbyszko charges in at LeDoux and LEDOUX BACKDROPS ZBYSZKO OVER THE TOP ROPE TO THE FLOOR!! THE CROWD GOES NUTS AS LEDOUX CALLS FOR THE BELL!! Sherri Martel ends up in the ring with Snuka and Rotundo, but Somers and Rose attack from behind!! Snuka hits a HUGE HEADBUTT on Rose, putting him on his ass and Rotundo punches Somers out to the floor. The three faces stand tall in the ring while the heels are cowering on the floor!!
Winners: Mike Rotundo, Steve Pardee and Jimmy Snuka (disqualification)
Match Analysis: A REALLY hot six-man tag main event that tied a lot of things together into one match. Rotundo and Somers had history from their match on a previous show, Zbyszko and Snuka had their issues, Zbyszko and Rotundo had problems, etc etc. The only problem I had was with Steve "Sixth Wheel" Pardee being involved as I don't recall him being in the AWA before or after. Take him out of the mix and add in Hennig or something and this would have been off the charts. As it is, it's still VERY good and was a lot of fun from start to finish.
Larry Nelson has Larry Zbyszko in the ring and says that the people get off on chanting obscenities at him because that's their mentality. He says that LeDoux is an idiot, a liar, and he's bought off. He promises that LeDoux has manhandled him for the last time and that he's cost Zbyszko a match for the last time. He says he could break LeDoux in half like nothing and he swears that LeDoux costs wrestlers and athletes matches because he never made it. He SCREAMS at LeDoux, saying he wants him in the ring and challenges him to a match as we run out of time!!
Final Thoughts
I'll go the full boat on this one, since there was the entertaining six-man main event that had about four different storylines being progressed at once and the HUGE heat stemming from the Hall/DeBeers angle, which again tied in other characters like Curt Hennig, Buddy Rose, and Doug Somers. That was one of the cool things about the AWA at that point. Much like these days where the cool Michaels/Flair deal at WrestleMania led to Michaels/Batista and eventually Michaels/Jericho, the AWA had feuds with so many layers to them at this point with all their talent, and this show was a great example of that. Very entertaining stuff from the AWA and I am LOVING being back in the end of their glory years, even if I know the end is coming soon.
Fun With Comments
From Guest. :
"Eh, it wasn't finding the post, it was just more seeing how you'd take to it and with the Columbian marching powder and such, a re-rant I was more interested in since I always thought it was the best show outside Hennig/Bock that the AWA ever did, top to bottom.
With DeBeers, he just seemed to get over via the extended squash, being a dick and picking up opponents and the like. He seemed to just go the normal squash route when his career was winding down and he felt the weight of being in his 40s. Sounds entertaining though, the show, don't remember if I ever saw it."
That was the thing for DeBeers pretty much everywhere. He was at an age that he couldn't work twenty-minute, full-pace main events, so they let him get over with his squashes and his promos so that people would be so ready to see him get his ass beaten, they wouldn't care if it was a seven or eight minute match. He was well-booked and very well-used in the Col. DeBeers character and if he had been able to make the jump, there could have been big money in DeBeers vs. Hogan if they had done it right.
From Adam:
"This can no longer be ignored. What is this 'countdown' and what 'assault'. I feel like I've been assaulted enough with the 1990 AWA bullshit. "
Yes, the torture of the 1990 shows felt like an assault, but I can assure you that is not what the countdown is all about. All will be known soon, and that's about all I can say for now. Gotta try to build the intrigue somehow!!
From D.P. :
"Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo defeated the Fabulous Ones at Wrestlerock '86. I don't know if Barry ever made it on tv. "
I don't think he ever actually made it onto TV, for one reason or another. Rotundo seems to be doing most of the heavy lifting and then there was the WrestleRock match and that's about it. I know that there was one of the AWA shows in the past where they talked about showing that match from WrestleRock, so I would assume that it was shown, but I don't believe that Windham ever made a taping.
From Heretic:
"In that Col. DeBeers match... is that Psycho or is that Killer? I can never remember which one is which. "
Actually, Richards wasn't one of the Hangmen at all as I understand it. I believe that Psycho was Mike Moran and Killer was Rick Gantner aka Bull Pain, but that Gantner was replaced by Tom Benighaus when they were in WCW as Disorderly Conduct.
Finally, antoher thought from D.P. :
"I'm kinda torn about them showing AWA from '86 again. As much as I like Bockwinkel,Hennig,Zbyszko the Rockers and Ive pretty much seen all these matches. I would love to see the World Class shows,which ive never seen. GWF I only saw a little bit of when they first ran. The cage match with Gagne/Snuka vs. Nord and Brody should be coming up. I was left disappointed by it. "
I am really hoping that once the AWA is done, they'll get some WCCW or GWF running, but for now I'm thinking that with the money that ESPN Classic sank into their "Three Hours of Power" ad campaign, along with the bump to an earlier time slot, that we're stuck with the AWA for at least the next little while.
That's it for the comments and that's it for the AWA report for today. Hopefully we've got another older show that I haven't covered on tonight and we can all meet back here tomorrow for more wrestling, milk and cookies! If not, I've got the UWF report coming up shortly too, so I won't be too far off.
Larry Nelson's in the ring to get things underway, introducing the first pair of victims, so let's dive right into the action and throw it down to Rod Trongard and Lord James Blears at ringside.
Match One:
HD Haas and Harry Henderson vs. Boris Zhukov and Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie
You've got to love the jobber team. HD Haas is really Hans DeHaas, the guy they tried to get over as a foreigner against Brad Rheingans. I guess the foreign gimmick wouldn't play well against REAL foreigners. As for Harry Henderson, he must have been a big John Lithgow fan or something and picked the name right off the movie poster. Zhukov attacks Henderson with forearms before the bell and Sheik takes of his belt and starts WHIPPING THE FUCK out of Haas with it. I mean you can hear every single lick and it looks like he took a few of them in the face. Vicious stuff. Haas and Henderson get chucked out to the floor and have to re-group before the match can even get underway. Zhukov won't even let them get back into the ring and finally just grabs Henderson, ramming him into the top turnbuckles a couple of times before tagging in Sheik. Eye rake from El-Kaissie and he rakes his nails down Henderson's back, biting him for good measure. WICKED chop from Sheik and he forces Henderson to make the tag to Haas.
Sheik goes to the eyes on Haas and hammers him down with a forearm before picking him up and chopping him to the mat. Double-stomp from El-Kaissie and he tags in Boris to continue the beating. Zhukov gets a double-stomp of his own and throws Haas to the floor, following him out and SLAMMING HIM ON THE CONCRETE!! The crowd has been chanting "Sheik's a Freak" off and on during the match, which just serves to remind me of Saddam Hussien's gay turn in the South Park movie. Zhukov kicks Haas in the face as he tries to get back into the ring and Irish whips him into the ropes for a big kick to the chest. Tag to El-Kaissie and they double-Irish whip Haas over the top rope to the floor. Haas threatens Sheik with a right hand, but never actually throws it and Sheik just takes him down with a single leg and then stomps at him before putting the Arabic bad-mouth on him. Haas with a pair of punches, but Sheik cuts that shit short with an eyerake and a bodyslam.
Haas tags in Henderson and Sheik SCREAMS TO ALLAH before biting on Henderson's face like it was falafel. Standing arm-wringer from Sheik and he bites on Henderson's wrist before tagging in Zhukov. Vertical suplex from Zhukov and he kicks Henderson in the chest before pushing him into the corner for some elbows. Henderson gets rammed into the top buckle again before Zhukov tags in Sheik and Sheik gets a double-sledge to the heart. He yells again and hits a bodyslam, kicking Henderson in the face before just raking away at the eyes and face with his nails. He turns it to a neck crank and bites Henderson on the face again, yelling at the crowd and referee Scott LeDoux looks like he's had enough, nearly coming to blows with El-Kaissie over his biting. Tag to Zhukov and he kicks Henderson before ramming him into the top turnbuckle again, with Henderson selling it like he was shot with a taser. Irish whip from Zhukov and he hits a BIG clothesline for a two-count, leading to another tag to El-Kaissie. Sheik with a big bodyslam and he tags Zhukov right back in for a HEADBUTT OFF THE SECOND ROPE!! ANOTHER HEADBUTT!! There's the cover and there's the 1-2-3!!
Winners: Boris Zhukov and Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie (pinfall, Zhukov headbutt)
Match Analysis: This one was kind of boring, with Sheik relying a lot on his clawing and scratching, and Zhukov having some real generic offensive moves. If it was them against a better team that could carry the sizzle, it would have been better, but this one just kind of dragged and felt repetitive at times.
Larry Nelson has Sheik and Boris in the ring and he says that next week, Sheik and Zhukov are going to have to be in the ring with The Midnight Rockers. Sheik promises that the Rockers will never beat him and his Russian and then moves on to talk about the promoters getting together and suspending King Kong Brody and Barbarian. He says that money talks and that he's going to guarantee that with all of his money, he'll get them back in action and back into the ring. He claims he's the only man that can control them, but that there's no one who can go against them in the ring. He promises that they will win the AWA World Tag Team titles and the World Heavyweight title, with Boris adding in that the USA is going to be sorry for what they've done to Russia and Iraq. Wow, Zhukov must have been able to see into the future or something. Kind of spooky. Sheik finishes off with more yelling at Allah.
We see Greg Gagne and Larry Nelson in the AWA studios and we hear about this week's feature match between Col. DeBeers and Jake Milliman, as well as next week's feature match between Hennig and Hall against Somers and Rose for the AWA World Tag Team Championships. I don't know if that's what's coming up next or not, but I do know that DeBeers vs. Milliman is on the other side of this commercial break!
Match Two:
Jake Milliman vs. Col. DeBeers
The turkey feud EXPLODES!! DeBeers has his walking stick and gets a TON of boos from the crowd, as we've switched venues to the taping in Minnesota again, with Larry Nelson and Verne Gagne on commentary. Milliman mocks DeBeers' mustache twirling and gets a USA chant started before taking DeBeers down with an armdrag into an armbar. DeBeers tries to break it, but Milliman holds on through and holds it until DeBeers gets to the corner for the break. Arm-wringer from DeBeers, but Milliman reverses it and DeBeers pushes him into the corner for the break. DeBeers with some cheap shots and he takes over on Milliman, snap maring him over into a stomp to the face. Side headlock takeover from DeBeers and Milliman gets to the corner for a break, eating a punch to the face off of it. Hard forearms to the back from DeBeers and he rams Milliman into the top turnbuckle, but Jake shakes it off!! Forearm to the chest from Milliman and a BIG POWERSLAM!! Milliman with the cover and he....only gets a two-count.
Milliman up to the second rope and he motions to the crowd for a big elbow shot, but he takes too long and DeBeers rolls out of the way!! DeBeers with a big stomp to the face and a MEASURED elbowsmash into a two-count, with DeBeers picking Milliman up. DeBeers up to the second rope for a stomp to the back of the head, following that up with a one-armed bodyslam. Short kneedrop from DeBeers and he covers for a two-count, pushing Milliman's foot across the bottom rope to break the pin. Reverse chinlock by DeBeers and Milliman fights to his feet, elbowing out of the hold, but as he bounces off the ropes, DeBeers takes him down with a knee to the gut. DeBeers with a splash that ends up landing on top of Milliman's head while he was sitting up and that looked REALLY dangerous. DeBeers covers for two off of that, picking Milliman up again. DeBeers picks him up and hits the HUGE PANCAKE PILEDRIVER for the three-count!! DeBeers gets up onto the second rope and comes off of the TOP ROPE ONTO MILLIMAN!!
Stomps for DeBeers and he's back up to the top rope for more punishment, but HERE COMES SCOTT HALL!! HALL SHOVES HIM OFF THE TOP!! RIGHT HANDS!! IRISH WHIP INTO A HUGE REVERSE ELBOW!! HALL IS KICKING SOME SOUTH AFRICAN ASS!! AIRPLANE SPIN FROM HALL INTO A SAMOAN DROP!! ANOTHER REVERSE ELBOW!! DEBEERS OUT TO THE FLOOR!! The crowd goes absolutely nuts, cheering Hall through every move. He heads over to check on Milliman as DeBeers rolls back into the ring and sneaks up behind Hall to WAFFLE HIM WITH HIS CANE!! CANE TO THE CHEST!!! DeBeers throws Hall out to the floor and follows him out for a PANCAKE PILEDRIVER ON THE FLOOR!! The crowd looks in shock and all of a sudden Hennig comes out to check on Hall and the crowd snaps out of it. DeBeers gets into the ring because the crowd wants his blood. They're throwing things at DeBeers as he twirls his mustache and struts around the ring and ringside area. Hall is lying motionless on the arena floor and here come AWA officials, Larry Nelson, medical personnel, everyone checking on Hall.
DeBeers gets onto the house microphone and starts talking shit about what happens when you stick your nose into a South African's business. He says that Hall's body is weak and that the South African has put his mark on Scott Hall. He says that Hall claims to be a proud American, but that everything an American is supposed to be isn't what it's cracked up to be. He questions Hall's guts and says he'd get up off the floor right now, and the crowd is LIVID. Hennig's up on the apron, the referees are trying to get things broken up and Hennig gets into the ring and hammers at DeBeers, but DeBeers hits him with the cane. The referees rip the cane away from DeBeers and Hennig chases him nearly all the way back to the dressing room. Larry Nelson seems nearly in tears as he's talking about the whole situation and Hennig gets on the microphone begging for a stretcher or an ambulance or something. Nelson is great here with his sad, sad oversell on the microphone, making it seem like Hall might be crippled or something.
Winner: Col. DeBeers (pinfall, pancake piledriver)
Match Analysis: The match CLEARLY takes a backseat to the huge angle that played out afterwards. Granted, this is a bit of a re-hash as DeBeers ended up doing the same thing to Jimmy Snuka, but this was one hell of a hot angle at the time. The crowd wanted to KILL DeBeers for what he did and it ended up leading to the team of Hall and Hennig dropping the titles to Somers and Rose. I tell you, the AWA in 1986 knew how to draw a TON of heat and it's a shame they couldn't capitalize on that because they had a decent line-up of stars and knew how to book angles. DeBeers played his heel role perfectly here and this was honestly entertaining stuff, even twenty years after the fact.
Match Three:
Larry Zbyszko, Buddy Rose and Doug Somers w/Sherri Martel vs. Mike Rotundo, Steve Pardee and Jimmy Snuka
Zbyszko cuts Larry Nelson's ring introduction off, claiming that Rotundo wanted five more minutes with Zbyszko, so here he is. Sherri is refrerred to as Former Ladies Champ Sherri Mantel on the graphic, which leads me to wonder if the AWA production crew was just constantly high with all of their spelling mistakes and errors. The bell rings and Martel gives her man a great big hug before heading out of the ring after geting into a bit of a row with referee Scott LeDoux.
Pardee and Rose get things underway, but not before some pre-match calisthenics from Rose. Martel is over the top with her cheering on the floor, and she really was one of the best ringside valets ever. Single-leg takedown from Rose and Pardee kicks him away into the ropes with Rose doing a cartwheel to avoid a monkey flip. Much strutting follows. Rose spits on Jimmy Snuka and then eyeballs him before getting taken down by Pardee with a single-leg. Rose kicks Pardee away and tries the same monkey flip move, but Pardee just shakes his ass at Rose to make him look foolish. Rose is so upset he heads over and tags in Somers. Top wristlock from Somers, with Pardee reversing it into an armdrag and Somers and Rose head over to talk to Sherri for a moment. Side headlock from Pardee and as Somers tries an atomic drop, Pardee goes over with it into a takedown. Somers reverses into a two-count, but Pardee rolls over and gets back to the side headlock. Somers shoots Pardee into the ropes and gets caught trying a leapfrog into a spinebuster that gets a two-count before Pardee goes right back to the side headlock. Somers grabs a handful of tights and gets a two-count, but Pardee kicks over and tags in Snuka, who grabs a side headlock of his own. Tag to Rotundo and he holds Somers for a VICIOUS chop from Snuka, into an elbowdrop that gets two before Zbyszko breaks the pin. Somers crawls over to his corner and Zbyszko finally makes the tag to get in, with a big "Larry Sucks" chant as we head to a commerical break.
Back from the break and Zbyszko is circling Rotundo, backing away as soon as Rotundo gets too close. They finally hit a lockup and Zbyszko pushes Rotundo into the corner, faking a clean break and trying a right hand, but Rotundo blocks it and gets one of his own, grabbing a side headlock and tagging in Snuka. Big crowd pop for the stand-off between Snuka and Zbyszko, but Zbyszko tags in Rose to a chorus of boos. Rose hits a kick to th gut and sends snuka into the top turnbuckle but it doesn't even phase him. Right hands from Rose and Snuka's backing him down, kciking him in the gut and NEARLY CHOPPING ROSE OUT OF THE RING!! SOMERS IS IN AND THERE'S A BIG HEADBUTT AND A CHOP THAT PUTS HIM DOWN!! ALL THREE FACES IN THE RING AND LANDING RIGHTS ON SOMERS!! SNUKA WITH A HEADBUTT AND SOMERS IS ON THE FLOOR!! Pardee and Rose end up back in the ring after that action and Rose gets a double-leg takedown, slingshotting Pardee into the turnbuckles before tagging in Zbyszko. BIG vertical suplex from Zbyszko into an eyerake and he talks some shit to Snuka before hitting a big bodyslam. Tag to Somers and he measures Pardee with a pair of right hands to the jaw before distracting the referee. Rose takes advantage and clotheslines Pardee across the top rope, sending him flying back into the ring.
Pardee fires back with some right hands to Somers' gut, but Somers goes to the eyes and quickly tags in Rose. Right hands from Rose in the corner into an Irish whip and he sends Pardee into the corner, chopping him down on the way out. Rose spits on Snuka again and he goes BATSHIT, trying to get in the ring, but Rose uses it to make an illegal switch with Somers. All three heels work him over in the corner until LeDoux turns around and catches them. Another switch puts Rose back in and he Irish whips Pardee into the ropes for a big reverse elbow, following that with a kneedrop. Vertical suplex from Rose gets blocked by Pardee and he REVERSES it, barely getting the rotund Rose over and GETTING THE HOT TAG TO ROTUNDO!! DROPKICK FOR SOMERS!! RIGHT HAND FOR ZBYSZKO!! ATOMIC DROP SENDS SOMERS INTO ZBYSZKO!! DOUBLE-NOGGIN KNOCKER PUTS SOMERS ON HIS FACE AND TIES ROSE IN THE ROPES!! Rotundo makes a tag to Snuka and he chops Somers before Irish whipping him into Rose, putting Rose all the way out to the floor. Irish whip from Snuka into a HUGE flying dropkick on Somers and he tags in Pardee, who follows with an Irish whip into a reverse elbow. Somers makes the tag to Zbyszko and Zbyszko gets the same reverse elbow, trying a dropkick to follow. Zbyszko holds onto the ropes and Pardee crashes onto his back on the mat.
Zbyszko pushes Pardee into the corner and all three men work him over, with Scott LeDoux pulling Zbysko off and shoving him away. Zbyszko charges in at LeDoux and LEDOUX BACKDROPS ZBYSZKO OVER THE TOP ROPE TO THE FLOOR!! THE CROWD GOES NUTS AS LEDOUX CALLS FOR THE BELL!! Sherri Martel ends up in the ring with Snuka and Rotundo, but Somers and Rose attack from behind!! Snuka hits a HUGE HEADBUTT on Rose, putting him on his ass and Rotundo punches Somers out to the floor. The three faces stand tall in the ring while the heels are cowering on the floor!!
Winners: Mike Rotundo, Steve Pardee and Jimmy Snuka (disqualification)
Match Analysis: A REALLY hot six-man tag main event that tied a lot of things together into one match. Rotundo and Somers had history from their match on a previous show, Zbyszko and Snuka had their issues, Zbyszko and Rotundo had problems, etc etc. The only problem I had was with Steve "Sixth Wheel" Pardee being involved as I don't recall him being in the AWA before or after. Take him out of the mix and add in Hennig or something and this would have been off the charts. As it is, it's still VERY good and was a lot of fun from start to finish.
Larry Nelson has Larry Zbyszko in the ring and says that the people get off on chanting obscenities at him because that's their mentality. He says that LeDoux is an idiot, a liar, and he's bought off. He promises that LeDoux has manhandled him for the last time and that he's cost Zbyszko a match for the last time. He says he could break LeDoux in half like nothing and he swears that LeDoux costs wrestlers and athletes matches because he never made it. He SCREAMS at LeDoux, saying he wants him in the ring and challenges him to a match as we run out of time!!
Final Thoughts
I'll go the full boat on this one, since there was the entertaining six-man main event that had about four different storylines being progressed at once and the HUGE heat stemming from the Hall/DeBeers angle, which again tied in other characters like Curt Hennig, Buddy Rose, and Doug Somers. That was one of the cool things about the AWA at that point. Much like these days where the cool Michaels/Flair deal at WrestleMania led to Michaels/Batista and eventually Michaels/Jericho, the AWA had feuds with so many layers to them at this point with all their talent, and this show was a great example of that. Very entertaining stuff from the AWA and I am LOVING being back in the end of their glory years, even if I know the end is coming soon.
Fun With Comments
From Guest. :
"Eh, it wasn't finding the post, it was just more seeing how you'd take to it and with the Columbian marching powder and such, a re-rant I was more interested in since I always thought it was the best show outside Hennig/Bock that the AWA ever did, top to bottom.
With DeBeers, he just seemed to get over via the extended squash, being a dick and picking up opponents and the like. He seemed to just go the normal squash route when his career was winding down and he felt the weight of being in his 40s. Sounds entertaining though, the show, don't remember if I ever saw it."
That was the thing for DeBeers pretty much everywhere. He was at an age that he couldn't work twenty-minute, full-pace main events, so they let him get over with his squashes and his promos so that people would be so ready to see him get his ass beaten, they wouldn't care if it was a seven or eight minute match. He was well-booked and very well-used in the Col. DeBeers character and if he had been able to make the jump, there could have been big money in DeBeers vs. Hogan if they had done it right.
From Adam:
"This can no longer be ignored. What is this 'countdown' and what 'assault'. I feel like I've been assaulted enough with the 1990 AWA bullshit. "
Yes, the torture of the 1990 shows felt like an assault, but I can assure you that is not what the countdown is all about. All will be known soon, and that's about all I can say for now. Gotta try to build the intrigue somehow!!
From D.P. :
"Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo defeated the Fabulous Ones at Wrestlerock '86. I don't know if Barry ever made it on tv. "
I don't think he ever actually made it onto TV, for one reason or another. Rotundo seems to be doing most of the heavy lifting and then there was the WrestleRock match and that's about it. I know that there was one of the AWA shows in the past where they talked about showing that match from WrestleRock, so I would assume that it was shown, but I don't believe that Windham ever made a taping.
From Heretic:
"In that Col. DeBeers match... is that Psycho or is that Killer? I can never remember which one is which. "
Actually, Richards wasn't one of the Hangmen at all as I understand it. I believe that Psycho was Mike Moran and Killer was Rick Gantner aka Bull Pain, but that Gantner was replaced by Tom Benighaus when they were in WCW as Disorderly Conduct.
Finally, antoher thought from D.P. :
"I'm kinda torn about them showing AWA from '86 again. As much as I like Bockwinkel,Hennig,Zbyszko the Rockers and Ive pretty much seen all these matches. I would love to see the World Class shows,which ive never seen. GWF I only saw a little bit of when they first ran. The cage match with Gagne/Snuka vs. Nord and Brody should be coming up. I was left disappointed by it. "
I am really hoping that once the AWA is done, they'll get some WCCW or GWF running, but for now I'm thinking that with the money that ESPN Classic sank into their "Three Hours of Power" ad campaign, along with the bump to an earlier time slot, that we're stuck with the AWA for at least the next little while.
That's it for the comments and that's it for the AWA report for today. Hopefully we've got another older show that I haven't covered on tonight and we can all meet back here tomorrow for more wrestling, milk and cookies! If not, I've got the UWF report coming up shortly too, so I won't be too far off.